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Alabama Senate runoff poll: Steve Bannon 54, Donald Trump 46
AllahpunditPosted at 2:01 pm on September 22, 2017
Roy Moore by eight over Luther Strange is exactly what I would have guessed will happen next Tuesday night, and not just because the last two polls of Alabama have had Moore by that margin. An eight-point win “feels” right: Trump’s support and Strange’s incumbency make it hard to believe he’s going down by double digits but Moore has led every independent runoff poll comfortably. And he and his surrogates have been shrewd in painting his candidacy as a vote for Trump even though Trump’s backing the other guy in the race. Strange may stand with Trump, the pitch goes, but Moore stands with Trumpism. It’d be amazing if a single rally held by POTUS in the state is enough to nuke that message and undo an eight-point lead.
But Trump’s going to try, tonight at 8 p.m. ET in Huntsville.
There’ll probably be a final poll or two released Monday to gauge whether his appearance had any effect on the race. Until then, here’s where things stand:
54% said they would vote for Roy Moore, while 46% said Luther Strange.
The survey also indicated President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Luther Strange would only sway 2 out of 10 Republicans, planning to cast votes in the runoff.
When asked, “President Donald Trump has endorsed Luther Strange and announced visits to Alabama to campaign for him. Did the endorsement by the President make a difference in deciding for whom you would vote?”, 20% of those polled said the President’s endorsement did make a difference, while 80% the president’s endorsement did not make a difference.
I don’t know if “only” is the right word there. It all depends on how much of a difference Trump’s endorsement makes. If five points moves from Moore to Strange this weekend after tonight’s rally, hoo boy.
The conventional wisdom among populists is that Trump’s acting against his own interests by backing the McConnell-endorsed Strange instead of the populist Moore. I don’t see it. Ideologically it makes sense *if* you believe that (a) Trump is a committed nationalist and (b) Strange is a committed establishmentarian, but neither is really true. Trump is a Trumpist more than a nationalist, an important distinction, and Strange has made it as clear as he possibly could during this runoff that he’ll roll over for Trump whenever the president needs him to. He spent most of last night’s debate with Moore recounting his bromance with POTUS, so desperate is he to peel away some of Moore’s populist support. He’s not a Trumpist by temperament but if voting like one gets him elected and keeps getting him elected then he’s a Trumpist for all intents and purposes.
And from Trump’s perspective, who could ask for more? Moore may talk the populist talk but in the end Strange is probably as reliable a vote for Trump as Moore is. Maybe even more so: Moore has his socially conservative hobbyhorses, after all, which Trump doesn’t share, and Moore seems willing to obstruct Senate business for his own ends even when Trump might not approve. He’ll rock the boat, which sounds good to Trump’s fans but shouldn’t sound as good to a president who doesn’t always want it rocked. If you’re Trump, you’re better off having an establishmentarian whom you can control than a populist whom you can’t. In fact, having Moore around could be a special pain in the ass for Trump in that Moore might build his brand by trying to “out-Trump” him. Imagine, for instance, Trump caving on a DREAM deal that doesn’t include wall funding and Moore voting no because “that’s not why the American people elected this president.” Moore in the Senate could end up as a populist scold against the White House, holding Trump to account on his campaign promises, which I’m sure is exactly what Steve Bannon’s hoping for. All that’ll do from Trump’s standpoint is make his job harder by turning his base against him. Why not try to stop Moore now by getting Strange elected instead?
Here’s Sarah Palin at last night’s rally for Moore in Alabama warning the crowd, “The forgotten man and woman in this country, they stood up, and we beat the swamp. But, alas, 10 months later, guys, the swamp, it’s trying to hijack this presidency.” Moore made the same point at the debate earlier, noting, “The problem is President Trump’s being cut off in his office. He’s being redirected by people like McConnell who do not support his agenda.” The idea that Trump is somehow being manipulated by evil establishmentarians is key to Moore’s pitch since it keeps him on the right side of the president’s fans while giving them a reason not to vote for the president’s preferred candidate. It’s not Trump who’s sold out or gone native. God forbid! It’s the sinister Mitch McConnell taking advantage of a poor, newbie president. That implication, that maybe Trump isn’t quite equal to the task of doing battle with “the swamp,” entirely contradicts the message of his candidacy last year. He sold himself as the ultra alpha male who would bend the dummies and losers in Washington to his will; now here are Palin and Moore, eight months after the inauguration, suggesting that perhaps he’s no match for the human turtle, Mitch McConnell. If they’re right then they should be calling Trump a fraud, not kissing his ass about how he bears no blame. And Trump would be well within his rights to take offense at the insinuation that he’s some weak-willed dullard whose strings are being pulled by McConnell.
Tags: Alabama bannon gorka Luther Strange palin populism roy moore Senate trump
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Right this very minute at some farming operation in Iowa animal activists may legally be running an undercover sting operation to reveal inhuman treatment of animals.
That's because last month the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, and senior Judge James Gritzner, threw out a 2012 Iowa law that made it a crime for people to gain access to agricultural facilities by “false pretense.”
The law criminalized undercover operations by activists and oh yeah journalists. And from Big Ag's standpoint it was oh so successful. Since 2012 if the Animal Legal Defense Fund is to be believed there were exactly zero undercover investigations against animal operations – livestock and puppy mills more specifically.
But Gritzner ruled that false speech under the Iowa statute is protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds Gritzner writes:
“If the state is going to restrict protected speech, the restriction must be “actually necessary” to achieve the state's compelling interest...A prohibition is actually necessary if there is a “direct casual link between the restriction imposed and the injury to be prevented. Defendants have produced no evidence that the prohibitions of (the statute) are actually necessary to protect perceived harms to property and biosecurity.”
Gritzner bluntly and with no wiggle room writes the First Amendment protects false statements “whether they be investigative deceptions or innocuous lies.”
Needless to say Big Ag in general and the Iowa pork industry in particular is freaking out. The Iowa Pork Producers Association attempted to put a happy spin on the defeat while suggesting the case may move up the court judicial ladder for review.
The IPPA wrote “We were relying on the courts to help us protect our rights to lawfully conduct our businesses and care for our animals...it was never the intent of farmers to infringe on others' constitutional rights.”
Wrong IPPA. Let's call this exactly what it is.
Big Ag has a long and cozy relationship with Iowa lawmakers who were more than willing to make “production facility fraud” illegal in order to cover up Big Ag sins.
Stuff like burning the beaks off hens without painkillers at Iowa's Sparboe Farms or smashing pigs against production floors at Iowa Select Farms.
Well. Kudos to Gritzner for seeing the truth and ruling that lawmakers cannot hand out sweetheart statutes to their special interest groups while trampling over constitutional rights.
Of course Big Ag won't let this stand without a fight. I'm sure IPPA lobbyists and their ilk are huddling with friendly Iowa state lawmakers to write a law that address conduct rather than speech.
And what about a federal statute prohibiting undercover investigations under false pretenses you might wonder.
Likely it would be a difficult uphill slough. The courts have already struck down similar ag-gag laws in multiple states as unconstitutional.
In the meantime Big Ag you are on notice. Abuse animals at your legal peril.
About Dave Dickey
Dickey spent nearly 30 years at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s NPR member station WILL-AM 580 where he won a dozen Associated Press awards for his reporting. For 13 years, he directed Illinois Public Media’s agriculture programming. His weekly column for Big Ag Watch covers agriculture and related issues including politics, government, environment and labor. Email him at dave.dickey@investigatemidwest.org.
This column reflects the writer’s own opinions and not those of Big Ag Watch.
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Ten Common Sense Tips For Successfully Selling Your Car Online
Filed to: ask car buyingFiled to: ask car buying
I'm planning on listing my car on Craigslist for sale in the coming weeks and want to get the most out of the car that I can. What are some tips on the whole process?
If you're completely new to the car-selling process it can be quite a novel experience. It places the seller in both an offensive and defensive position, where every move needs to be strategic to get the most money out of the buyer. To answer the question posed by CommodoreAxis, here are a few tips that anyone can use to get the best value out of their transaction.
(Photo by trailersoftheeastcoast on Flickr)
10. Do Your Homework.
In car sales, there's nothing more valuable than knowledge. Well, maybe one of those inflatable tube men. But other than that, the one thing that can make or break your sale is how much you know about the car. Here are a few things you should know about the car you're selling:
Year/Make/Model/VIN/Factory Paint Color Code/Date of Manufacture
Does the car have any outstanding recalls? Has any recall work been performed?
What are the common issues for this particular car? Have they been addressed?
How large is the displacement of the engine? On average, how many miles per gallon does the car return combined?
What is the average selling price for a car in this condition?
Wikipedia or specific car forums are indispensable information hubs to learn about a specific make and model. A few choice hours spent learning about the thing you're selling can translate into actual dollars when selling time comes around. Or you can just hire this guy:
(Photo by Tricia on Flickr)
9. "Book Value" Is Almost Worthless.
Every time I'm asked about a car I purchase or sell, the issue of "book value" always rears its inaccurate and obfuscatory head. There's a simple reason book value doesn't work (in nearly any market), and that's because culture and attitudes affect market trends at a much faster rate than any static depreciation valuation can keep up with. There's a reason a '94 Toyota Supra Turbo 6-Speed with 50,000 miles has a book value of $29k, but you can't find any for less than $40,000 in a condition that would be considered drivable, much less "excellent" — it's because demand has overcome the supply.
The opposite can also be true, where a car is severely overvalued in Kelley Blue Book or NADA, but much cheaper in the market.
A great metric on what cars are actually worth is eBay, but it's not enough to browse listings. On the left sidebar, when choosing search parameters, make sure "completed listings" is checked. This way, you'll be able to see the cars that sold, but more importantly, you'll see the cars that didn't sell. This is an invaluable metric because you can do a direct comparison between the quality of the sold and unsold listings and see what in particular works in the marketplace to get the most buck for your listing.
8. Get The Vehicle History.
It's quite surprising how often this is left out in private sales. Although it is in the best interest of the buyer to do this, having a private seller than can pull a current history report of the car they're selling adds to the seller's credibility, and gives the buyer a reason to trust that the seller is portraying everything honestly. You can get a report from one of the two major vehicle history services, Carfax or Autocheck. A single report can be as little as $20, and it can mean the difference between a questioning buyer giving you a lowball chance offer, and a confident buyer giving you fair market price.
7. Get The Vehicle Service History.
This is the sort of thing that you can't exactly replicate, but it can make a astronomical difference in selling price. If you have the paperwork associated with parts purchased and work orders for a car, it shows not only that the car was taken care of, but that the owner puts a certain amount of pride in the car they're selling. It helps to put everything in a folder, with the dates of service or receipts in chronological order. Hell, laminate them if you can. But what happens if your car didn't come with documented service history?
You have a few options:
Go to the car manufacturer's dealer and request service history. Most dealers will provide you with paperwork if you're the legal owner, either for free or a nominal fee, but some dealerships have policies against this. Usually a service tech can pull it up for you and at least let you know if anything major was done to the car at the dealer level.
If you can't acquire any information from the dealer, make sure to start collecting receipts for the work you've done personally. A partial service history that reflects the car's current state is much better than no history at all. It helps to go to the dealer and perform a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) and get it in writing so the buyer knows exactly what state the car is in and if they'll need to do any reconditioning after the initial purchase.
6. Detail The Car Thoroughly.
One of the first things that turns buyers off in an inspection is a filthy car. Detailing a car is indeed an art, but it need not be an expensive or arduous one. You'd likely be fine giving the car a cheap hand wash locally, but detailing allows you to virtually polish money into the finish of the car. Here's the methods I use when I sell cars:
Interior cleaning materials:
Mr Clean Magic Eraser Pack
Leather Conditioner/Cleaner
PlastX
Invisible Glass (Ammonia free)
Bissell Little Green Machine
Dawn Simply Clean Dish washing Liquid, Original Scent, 12.6…
Exterior cleaning materials:
2 buckets
Meguiar's Gold Class Car Wash
Meguiar's Clay Bar
PC 7424XP w 6" backing plate
3 pads for agressive cut , medium cut and fine cut/polish.
Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound
Meguiar's M205 Mirror Glaze Fine Compound
Collinite 845 wax
Carrand 94102 Car Wash Bucket - 3 Gallon Capacity
I also followed these tutorials, made by Larry Kosilla at AMMO NYC and /DRIVE:
Audi R8 BLACKBIRD: Basic Car Wash Techniques -/DRIVE CLEAN
Top Ten Detailing Mistakes -/DRIVE CLEAN
Interior Detailing: Tools, Techniques, and Materials -/DRIVE CLEAN
Polishers and Swirl Removal Tips -/DRIVE CLEAN
Here are some of my finished products:
5. Take as many detailed pictures as possible.
When a person is browsing car listings online, the more information they can get about a specific car, the more likely they'll find something that appeals to them. Make sure to take as many high-resolution pictures as possible. Modern point-and-shoot cameras have great dynamic range and amazing quality. Stay away from taking pictures with cell phone cameras, as their lenses leave a lot to be desired, and have a tendency of compressing images and decreasing quality in less-than-optimal lighting environments. If you can get your hands on a DSLR camera with a decent lens, go for it.
Use a cheap tripod to stabilize the camera when the camera needs to take longer exposure shots, for example, in the interior, where there may not be enough light. Unless you know how to use flash, remove it and just go for longer exposures. The forward-facing flash on most cameras is simply too harsh to make a picture look natural in low lighting.
Davis & Sanford EXPLORERV Vista Explorer 60” Tripod with Tripod…
Craigslist has a limit of 8 pictures per listing, and eBay has a limit of 24, but with a little HTML trickery, you can add as many pictures as you want in the description. If you're not comfortable with this method, you can always link to an online photo album like Flickr or Photobucket where you have the pictures stored. Refrain from doing too many "artsy" shots and just stick with how the car naturally looks. Make sure to include the engine bay, trunk, underside, and any other place that a savvy buyer would look in an initial inspection.
This is a good sale picture:
(Photo by M 93on Flickr)
While this is not:
(Photo by Victoria Johnson on Flickr)
If possible, make two walkaround videos of the car — one starting the car from cold, and one starting from warm, also outlining any condition issues not covered with the pictures.
4. Be Anal In Your Description.
Since the buyer will likely be living with the car, they will notice all of the car's issues, both minor and major. It's important to call attention to these issues so the seller and buyer are on the same page. This is a tactic to increase the seller's credibility, and to give the potential buyer less wiggle room in price negotiations. Here are some examples of questions that should be answered with the description:
Does the car have small or large imperfections in the paint?
Was it repainted?
Did it have any accidents that weren't reported on the vehicle's history report?
Are the tires matching? What is the condition of the set?
Does the car leak any oil?
Does the car need an alignment?
Have you experienced any intermittent or long-term faults?
Has any major repair work been done?
Obviously, answering questions like these make for a quite lengthy description, but there's an easy way to make the information more digestible - break it up into sections (Interior, Exterior, Engine, Suspension, Wheels/Tires, Electronics, Drivability), each one describing the features of that particular part of the car, then outlining the condition. For example, a buyer can refer to the interior section when they want to know what options were installed, and if they're in good working order. It lets the buyer have as much information as possible, and allows them to skip to the parts they're most interested in.
3. Be Easy To Reach.
If you're posting on Craigslist or anywhere else online, ALWAYS include a number. It's insanely frustrating to see a good deal, but the seller only has email as a viable means of contact, and — surprise, surprise — they don't check their mail all that often, so when they eventually get around to checking their mail, whoever sent them mail last will likely be the first one to get a reply. Don't be that guy.
If you're worried about strangers having your number, I'll introduce you to a concept called the phone book. If you're still apprehensive, Google gives you a free, area code specific number to use as a call forwarding service. This works extremely well and as soon as you receive the call, you'll know that it's specifically about the sale of the car.
The service also saves the text messages you get to email, so you can reply quickly without giving away your real number.
2. Leave The Buyer Alone.
When you've finalized a time for the potential buyer to come see the car, make sure to have all the paperwork (mentioned above) handy. Give them the keys to look around and start the car, and stand back so they can do their inspection. You can mention any change in condition that wasn't reflected in the description (recent repairs, mileage changes), but as a general rule, only speak when spoken to.
Answer questions truthfully, and remember that it's perfectly fine to say "I don't know" if you're stumped on a particular query. If the buyer requests a test drive, sit in the passenger's seat and do your best to keep to yourself, guiding the buyer to the appropriate roads. It's fine to strike up conversation to ease the rapport, but be careful not to get too impersonal, as that can convey the idea that you're not serious about the sale price.
"I can't believe someone wants to buy this piece of crap! I mean — what a smooth drive, right?" (Photo by redjar on Flickr)
1. Don't Buckle On The Price.
If your car is desirable enough, you'll have people practically knocking your door down to buy it. A fair number of these individuals will want a significant discount on the price, for any number of reasons. It's important that you choose a price that's realistic, based on market value (not sentimental value), and that you don't dip below that price if there is enough demand.
If your price is negotiable, inflate it by 10 percent, with a "Best Offer" option. That way the buyer feels like they saved some money and the seller gets the most that they can for their car. It's win-win, which is the best way to approach a transaction in general.
(Photo Credit: Flickr.com)
Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world's cheapest Mercedes S-Class , a graffiti-bombed Lexus , and he's the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn't feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.
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Relix
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Portugal. The Man, House of Blues, Boston, MA – 4/22
Portugal. The Man’ s Jagermeister Music Tour has endured an uneven couple of weeks after losing their drummer in the middle of a show in New Orleans earlier in the month. They finished that gig with help from the drummer of opening act The Lonely Forest, and cobbled together some subsequent dates by foregoing drums altogether for a good portion of the show and playing much more acoustic. By the time they hit the stage at the House of Blues in Boston this past Sunday, however, they had found a drummer to sit in for the entire show (Kane Ritchotte – who was excellent), and perhaps making up for lost time the band responded with a pounding, high-energy, jam-filled set.
Portugal. opened the show with same trio of songs they’ve been mixing and matching at the start of much of the tour: “All Your Light,” “The Woods,” and “So American.” The show really kicked into gear, though, a couple of numbers later, when the driving rhythm of “The Devil” (hard to envision that song without drums) segued into a scorching cover of The Beatles “Helter Skelter.” It was the first of two nods the band would make to the Fab Four over the course of the night. Indeed, while Portugal. The Man’s sound is regularly compared to early ‘70s glam rockers like David Bowie and T-Rex, I think their most recent album (2011’s In The Mountain, In The Cloud ) owes more to latter-era Beatles than anything else.
The band started to lay out some extended jams on “AKA M80 The Wolf,” the Beatles-esque “Floating,” “Senseless” and “Colors,” with John Gourley and touring guitarist Noah Gersh trading spirographing leads over Zach Carothers’ anchoring bass lines. Other highlights included the Pink Floyd-ish “Chicago” (maybe it’s Pink Floyd-ish to me solely on basis of the opening lines: “The pig’s spitting taxes and unwanted tasks/We say, ‘send me to the battle please, sir!’”) and the Bowie-like “Got It All” and “Do You.”
About halfway through the hour-and-45-minute show, it became increasingly clear to the crowd (as sometimes happens) that they were witnessing a first-rate performance by a band earning its keep for the night. The cheering got louder and louder as Portugal. (and The Man) reeled off one jam after another, barely pausing for breath: “Everyone Is Golden,” “Head Is A Flame,” “My Mind,” and yet another drum-laden crowd-pleaser, “Bellies Are Full.” They closed out the set with a jam of “Sleep Forever” morphing into the classic refrain from “Hey Jude,” followed by a single-song encore of “And I” before Boston city ordinance 16-26.6 required them to wrap things up.
It remains to be seen whether Portugal. The Man can find a long-term solution to the drummer issue (they lost their original drummer, Jason Sechrist, late last year). But given the importance of a full rhythm section to their overall sound, one hopes they can figure it out, and avoid any Spinal Tap-like spontaneous combustions down the road.
Both openers – local band The Okay Win and Washington-based The Lonely Forest – were worth arriving early for. The current leg of the Jagermeister tour continues through mid-May, with a dozen or so upcoming dates in the Midwest and California.
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Reviews & Photos
Home » KOVIC
Joiners presents...
KOVIC
Age restriction 14+
Tue 08 Oct 2019 19:30
Mark Konstantinovic (Kovic) is a British singer-songwriter and producer, born and raised in Brentwood, Essex, to a Serbian father and English mother. Known for his unique vocal and flamboyant jackets, his first momentum-accelerating single titled “Drown” was released in 2017, produced by Jonny Coffer (Beyoncé , Emile Sandé) & Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag n' Bone Man), and co-written with goliath songwriter Jamie Scott (Jesse Ware, Ed Sheeran).
The track was picked up by the head music supervisor at EA and playlisted the FIFA soundtrack, catapulting Kovic into the biggest gaming placement of the year, notably joining the top 50 viral Spotify charts across a number of EU countries, and gaining millions of streams within months of release.
The debut album for Kovic was released in late 2018, featuring a contrasting collection of tracks from haunting ballads to summer infused BBQ playlist candy, “Running Underwater” continues to grow momentum on streaming platforms, as his live touring starts to make the upgrade from small acoustic rooms, to sold out clubs, it’s not long before we can expect arena’s to follow suit.
All of this comes from an artist who aside from dedicating years to the studio and crafting alongside A* talent, runs his own record label and still handles every aspect of his career independently.
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Home > January 1, 2019 - Volume 80 - Issue 1 > Effect of Hormonal Contraception on Pharmacokinetics of Vagi...
Thought you might appreciate this item(s) I saw at JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Effect of Hormonal Contraception on Pharmacokinetics of Vaginal Tenofovir in Healthy Women
Increased Tenofovir Diphosphate in Injectable Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Users
Thurman, Andrea R., MD*; Schwartz, Jill L., MD, MPH*; Brache, Vivian, BS†; Chen, Beatrice A., MD, MPH‡; Chandra, Neelima, PhD*; Kashuba, Angela D.M., PharmD§; Weiner, Debra H., MPH║; Mauck, Christine, MD*; Doncel, Gustavo F., MD, PhD*
JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes: January 1, 2019 - Volume 80 - Issue 1 - p 79–88
doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001864
Objective: Endogenous and exogenous contraceptive hormones may affect mucosal pharmacokinetics (PKs) of topical antiretrovirals such as tenofovir. We present PK data from healthy women using tenofovir vaginal gel, at baseline (follicular and luteal phases) and after oral contraceptive pill (OCP) or depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) use.
Methods: CONRAD A10-114 was a prospective, interventional, open-label, parallel study. We enrolled 74 women and 60 completed the study (32 and 28 who selected OCPs or DMPA, respectively). Participants used 2 doses of tenofovir gel separated by 2 hours, without intercourse, and were examined 3 or 11 hours after the last dose. We assessed pharmacokinetics in plasma, cervicovaginal (CV) aspirate, and vaginal tissue.
Results: In general, there were no significant differences in mucosal tenofovir and tenofovir diphosphate concentrations (P > 0.23) in the follicular and luteal phases, except for lower mean tenofovir tissue concentrations (P < 0.01) in the follicular phase. Tenofovir concentrations significantly decreased in CV aspirate (P < 0.01) after contraceptive use, but overall remained very high (>106 ng/mL). Mean tissue tenofovir diphosphate increased to 6229 fmol/mg after DMPA use compared with 3693 and 1460 fmol/mg in the follicular and luteal phases, respectively (P < 0.01). The molecular conversion of tenofovir into tenofovir diphosphate was more effective in DMPA users (molecular ratio of 2.02 versus 0.65 luteal phase, P < 0.01).
Conclusions: Both menstrual cycle phase and exogenous hormones affect topical tenofovir mucosal and systemic PKs. However, high levels of tenofovir and tenofovir diphosphate were observed in the CV mucosa in the presence or absence of OCPs and DMPA, with tissue levels exceeding benchmarks of predicted mucosal anti-HIV efficacy (tenofovir >1.00 ng/mL in CV aspirate and tenofovir diphosphate >1000 fmol/mg).
*CONRAD, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk and Arlington, VA;
†Profamilia, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
‡University of Pittsburgh, Magee-Women's Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA;
§University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; and
║FHI360, Durham, NC.
Correspondence to: Andrea R. Thurman, MD, CONRAD, Eastern Virginia Medical School, 601 Colley Avenue, Norfolk, VA 23507 (e-mail: thurmaar@evms.edu).
Supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) under Cooperative Agreements GPO-A-00-08-00005-00 and AID-OAA-A-14-00011.
The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their institutions, USAID or the United States Government.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's Web site (www.jaids.com).
Accepted September 03, 2018
Effect of Hormonal Contraception on Pharmacokinetics of Vaginal Tenofovir in Healthy Women: Increased Tenofovir Diphosphate in Injectable Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate Users
JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes80(1):79-88, January 1, 2019.
Articles in PubMed by Andrea R. Thurman, MD
Articles in Google Scholar by Andrea R. Thurman, MD
Other articles in this journal by Andrea R. Thurman, MD
depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, oral contraceptive pills, HIV, tenofovir
Bone Mineral Density Declines Twice as Quickly Among HIV-Infected Women Compared With Men
Vulnerabilities at First Sex and Their Association With Lifetime Gender-Based Violence and HIV Prevalence Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women Engaged in Sex Work, Transactional Sex, and Casual Sex in Kenya
Pregnancy Outcomes in the Era of Universal Antiretroviral Treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa (POISE Study)
Individual and Network Factors Associated With Racial Disparities in HIV Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men: Results From the RADAR Cohort Study
Brief Report: Quantitative Assessment of Brief Messages About HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among HIV-Infected and HIV-Uninfected Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino MSM
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Love Through Trouble
Read Ruth 1-4
Are you looking out for yourself and doing what’s best for you? Plenty of influential people will tell you to do just that. Put your own goals and dreams first, ahead of anyone or anything else. On one level, that might sound like reasonable encouragement to achieve your full potential. But too often, true love and loyalty are lost in selfish pursuits. Rare is the person who puts his or her own interests aside for the good of others. But God rewards such rare devotion with extraordinary purpose.
Ruth was willing to put aside her individual hopes and dreams in order to build a life around her relationship with a mother-in-law whom she loved and refused to leave when tragedy struck. Tragedy and loss are inevitable aspects of life, but they don’t have to ruin us or rob us of purpose. Ruth is a prime example of how love and loyalty can turn hurt into hope and bring triumph out of tragedy. Her life can inspire us to remain true through troubles, to put others’ needs first, and to trust God with the outcome.
How does the book of Ruth portray hope during troubled times? Why do godly people experience tragedy and adversity, and how can God produce good through such times? (Ruth 1:3) What disadvantages did Naomi have at the beginning of this book? (Ruth 1:5) Why did Naomi feel she was facing hardship, and how is this similar to the feeling many people experience during tough times? (Ruth 1:13) What inspired Ruth to remain loyal to Naomi? (Ruth 1:16) What was extraordinary about Ruth’s love and loyalty to her mother-in-law?
After moving to Bethlehem, how did Ruth continue to demonstrate character, humility, diligence and responsibility? (Ruth 2:2) In what ways did Boaz demonstrate his character? (Ruth 2:4) How did Naomi’s perspective change throughout the book of Ruth? (Ruth 2:20) What or who is a kinsman-redeemer? In what way did Boaz become a redeemer for Ruth and her family? (Ruth 4:10) How did Jesus Christ fulfill the role of Kinsman-Redeemer for us? In what ways did God reward Ruth for her love and loyalty to family and to Himself? (Ruth 4:17) What can you learn from Ruth’s example?
Give God thanks for His love, hope, care and guidance through tough times. Thank Him for remaining faithful to you, even when you struggle with doubts. Thank Jesus for being your friend and Redeemer. Ask God to help you be a person of love and loyalty to Him, to fellow believers and to others whom you can influence for Christ.
Who has been a Ruth to you during a time of loss or loneliness? When have you been like Ruth for someone hurting or in need? Think of someone who inspired or encouraged you in the past. If the person is living, write a note thanking him or her for the encouragement. Then find a specific and practical way to follow this person’s example, encouraging someone else the way you’ve been encouraged. Also, consider how you can make a difference in an elderly person’s life this week. Possibilities include mowing a lawn, visiting a nursing home, sending a card, making a call, praying with someone at church, or allowing yourself to be mentored by someone you respect.
Ruth 1-4
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Seaworld Dr at Mariners Cove, Main Beach
Direction All East North
Services departing in the next 90mins from Seaworld Dr at Mariners Cove, Main Beach
Route 705 North
Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Main Beach, Sea World
705 Bus North, 3 mins, scheduled for 11:45 AM. To Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Main Beach, Sea World. 11:45 am 3 mins
Route 704 East
Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World
704 Bus East, 4 mins, scheduled for 11:40 AM. To Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World. 11:40 am 4 mins
704 Bus East, 16 mins, scheduled for 11:55 AM. To Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World. 11:55 am 16 mins
705 Bus North, 28 mins, scheduled for 12:00 PM. To Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Main Beach, Sea World. 12:00 pm 28 mins
704 Bus East, 34 mins, scheduled for 12:10 PM. To Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World. 12:10 pm 34 mins
704 Bus East, real-time unavailable, scheduled for 12:25 PM. To Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World. 12:25 pm 47 mins
704 Bus East, real-time unavailable, scheduled for 12:40 PM. To Helensvale, Harbour Town, Southport, Main Beach, Sea World. 12:40 pm 12:40 pm
705 Bus North, real-time unavailable, scheduled for 12:45 PM. To Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Main Beach, Sea World. 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
705 Bus North, real-time unavailable, scheduled for 1:00 PM. To Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Main Beach, Sea World. 1:00 pm 1:00 pm
Summary information for Seaworld Dr at Mariners Cove, Main Beach
Seaworld Drive, Main Beach between Seaworld Drive and Seaworld Drive, approximately 91m from Seaworld Drive
Seaworld Dr at Mariners Cove, Main Beach service updates
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Front Mission Evolved: Hands-On With The Wanzers
Michael McWhertor
Filed to: Tgs09Filed to: Tgs09
Tgs09
Square Enix's attempt to shift the Front Mission series from turn-based strategy role-playing game to third-person shooter was finally playable to the public at Tokyo Game Show. That gave us a chance to see just how Front Mission has "evolved."
The demo that we played—once on the PlayStation 3, once on the Xbox 360—was largely the same as the hands-off demo Square Enix and developer Double Helix showed at Gamescom last month. That meant lots of Wanzer on Wanzer action, plus a taste of the on-foot, outside-the-mech gameplay.
Front Mission Evolved Impressions Of Wanzer Draggin'
Square Enix is spinning off its Front Mission franchise, best known for its turn-based tactical…
First, we played the PS3 version, picking the "medium assault" class mech that came pre-loaded with a semi-automatic rifle and lock-on missiles. That class of Wanzer also came equipped with a nasty right hook, one that we relied on when the rifle ran out of ammo, a constant plugging of enemy mechs having drained our supply. Fortunately, the TGS demo appeared to be pretty liberal with the bullets.
The action, as we'd previously reported, was not exactly "blistering." It was methodical, walking through what appeared to a loading dock and other industrial areas, regularly met with enemy forces. Fortunately, we had an AI-controlled co-op buddy helping us out. And we quickly became accustomed to the "skate" controls, essentially a little turbo boost, letting the Wanzer slide through a level at faster than walking speed.
On the second play through, this time on an Xbox 360, we picked the Sniper class. As you're probably going to guess, this class came armed with a sniper rifle and one of those handy barrage missile launchers. It was also decked out with a repair backpack. Whenever the Wanzer was looking worse for wear, a quick press of the B button would heal the thing.
That, combined with a constant drip of ammo and enemies that weren't very challenging, didn't add much tension to the giant mech gunplay in Front Mission Evolved. Sure, you can strategically shoot off legs and arms to slow down and disarm enemies, respectively, but what's the point? We felt pretty comfortable just tossing a few target-seeking missiles at our foes and keeping the trigger pulled.
Technically, though, Front Mission Evolved appears to be capable. It's not the flashiest game, graphically, with lame explosions and bland environments, but it gets the giant mech job done. Controlling the Wanzers were simple. Evolved doesn't ask much of your controller dexterity, at least based on what we played in the TGS demo.
Oh, there's one more thing.
After successfully killing a few dozen enemy Wanzers, the Tokyo Game Show demo offered us a look at the on-foot portions of the game. We simply had to walk through a few corridors, gunning down anyone who wasn't our character. Two weapons were offered, an assault rifle and missile launcher. The latter was to be used against the Wanzer that was air-dropped in at the climax of the demo, so we're not sure if it feels as feeble as the standard issue rifle.
At this point, these on-foot sections feel less polished than when piloting a Wanzer. The camera and controls during these portions felt looser, less reliable. It reminded us from a presentation standpoint of the Earth Defense Force series, but less frantically fun than that third-person shooter.
While the Wanzer piloting portions of Front Mission Evolved weren't spectacular, the mechs do have a sense of heft to them. The action may be lead-footed, but it is appropriately slow and chunky. It took some effort on our part to add variety to the combat, but it wasn't wholly unenjoyable enough to make the second play through a chore. The segments of the demo played outside of the mech, however, definitely stood out as needing further attention.
The TGS demo dated Front Mission Evolved for a Spring 2010 release somewhere, giving the developers some time to improve upon some of the game's current faults.
Recent from Michael McWhertor
Parachute Fights, Naked Henchmen and Getting 'Whored,' All in the First 17% of Saints Row: The Third
Saints Row: The Third Screen Shots
Seaward and Onward
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KRLA Forum
KRLA Staff and Friends
MAJOR MEDIA CAMPAIGN!
Hear the spots!
The RTL Educational Foundation has committed to a long run on WHAS Radio to educate listeners on abortion.
Please join the KRLA Team by signing up! After logging in you will be able to post a comment.
PHOTO CREDITS: 4D Ultrasound of fetal yawning at 30 weeks of pregnancy by Dr. Wolfgang Moroder. Baby yawning by Jeuwre. Human fetus at 10 weeks.
10 week old fetus
Learn about Kentucky’s Dismemberment Law.
July 14: An anniversary to honor
Published Jul 14, 2019 ↤ KRLA Forum
The first “Baby Body Parts for Profit” video by David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress was released four years ago today.
The YouTube video exposé begins with a flashback to Connie Chung reporting on ABC’s 20/20 program: “Big money is being made from the sale of fetal body parts.” That was March 8, 2000.
Her statement was followed by Chris Wallace questioning Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt* about the practice. Feldt’s comment was: “Where there is wrongdoing, it should be prosecuted.”
As you can see from the narrative captured from the program, Wallace wants to know why a special syringe is used if a woman agrees to donate her fetus. Read the entire transcript here.
The practice of changing the abortion procedure, lengthening it, to get fetal parts, was furthered confirmed by the Center for Medical Progress investigation. David Daleiden who had formerly worked for LiveAction followed the lead of 20/20.
The ABC exposé was nearly 20 years ago; Daleiden’s was in 2015. Yet, just last month on June 18, Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley sent a letter to AG Barr and FBI Director Wray, demanding to know what has become of the fetal tissue (used to be “fetal body parts”) probe. They set a deadline of July 2 to hear a response. That was almost two weeks ago.
Maybe this will be the day we find out if justice will be served to those who broke laws, profiting from sales of human body parts, changing abortion procedures, and breaking other applicable laws including:
Laws protecting human research subjects and patient privacy
Laws regulating anatomical gifts for transplantation, therapy, research and education
Laws protecting late-term and born-alive infants
Laws pertaining to public funding for fetal tissue research and abortion providers.
For any who desire to read more in retrospect, the following links are provided. We also want to note that this subject matter is strongly related to Dismemberment Abortion.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp is pushing for an end to Planned Parenthood’s harvesting of aborted baby body parts for sale | Breitbart.com 17 July 2015
Pelosi picks six strong abortion rights supporters for the GOP-led panel on Planned Parenthood, “setting up a showdown over the already-controversial probe” | TheHill.com 04 November 2015
Officials from California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office – a longtime financial supporter of Planned Parenthood – ordered a search of Daleiden’s apartment… | Breitbart.com 06 April 2016
On October 7, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H. Res. 461, which created the Select Panel on Infant Lives and empowered the panel to investigate issues including “Federal funding and support of abortion providers,” as well as all “relevant matters with respect to fetal tissue procurement.” The Panel Chairman, Congressman Marsha Blackburn, has scheduled a hearing to explore information about the pricing of the tissue and whether abortion clinics and middleman businesses were making a profit from the transfer of fetal tissue. | Docs.House.gov (date .Pdf posted not known)
The Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives Final Report (commentary) | ConcernedWomen.org 21 February 2017 | The 470-page Report
Trump Admin Cancels FDA Contract to Purchase Body Parts of Aborted Babies for Tax-Funded Research | LifeNews.com 25 September 2018
Trump’s NIH to spend $20 million “to develop or further refine ethical alternatives to fetal tissue research” | NationalRightToLifeNews.org 11 December 2018
NIH Director: Aborted Fetal Tissue Will ‘Continue to Be the Mainstay’ for Research | Breitbart.com 18 December 2018
President Trump Cancels $2 Million Contract to Purchase Body Parts of Aborted Babies for Research | LifeNews.com 05 June 2019
Lindsey Graham-Chuck Grassley questions to AG Barr and FBI Director Wray | Judiciary.Senate.gov 18 June 2019
* Gloria Feldt was PP president from 1996-2004. “When Feldt became president in 1996 Planned Parenthood’s abortion income was about $50 million. In 2004 the abortion income rose to $104 million. In 1996 abortion accounted for 27.6 percent of clinic income. At the end of her tenure it accounted for more than 36 percent of clinic income. During Feldt’s presidency, however, affiliates across the country dropped from 147 to 122 and clinics dropped from 938 to 850.” View more.
david-daleiden
baby-body-parts
dismemberment-abortion
Appeals court affirms major pro-life victory for Gov. Bevin, Commonwealth
Published Jun 29, 2019 ↤ KRLA Forum
FRANKFORT, Ky. | Friday, June 28, 2019
In a major pro-life victory for Gov. Matt Bevin and the people of the Commonwealth, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today denied EMW Women's Surgical Center's petition for rehearing of the House Bill 2 ultrasound case.
In April, the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of HB 2 (2017), which requires an abortion provider to provide mothers with an ultrasound and a description of what it depicts, as well as the opportunity to hear the fetal heartbeat, before she chooses to terminate her pregnancy.
Earlier this month, the Louisville abortion clinic asked the Court to rehear the case en banc (before the entire bench) in a desperate attempt to undermine the Kentucky law, which passed with the support of more than 87 percent of state legislators.
The Courier-Journal quoted the ACLU attorney from NY who called the law ‘medically unnecessary’ and not supported by medical groups including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association. Read more.
In the linked video, Gov. Bevin discusses the victory!
ultrasound-law-case
ultrasound-law
Judge Stivers demands that Bevin Administration expedite its review of pending PP license
Planned Parenthood may soon be permitted to do abortions in its downtown Louisville facility on 7th Street.
Judge Greg Stivers wants to know ASAP if the state finds grounds to deny the license.
“You better move this one up to the front of the line," Stivers told Chad Meredith, a lawyer for Bevin.
"Yes, sir. I understand," Meredith said, according to a transcript of the telephonic conference the Courier Journal obtained.
"It can be done," Stivers said. "There's no question it can be done."
Added Stivers: "I can't understand why the secretary of that cabinet could not, could not get this license, this updated license, processed within 45 days."
Meredith responded that the cabinet "will absolutely move heaven and earth" to get the license application processed within that time.
That does not guarantee a favorable decision from the state.
We believe that Deputy General Counsel Meredith is being polite, but Planned Parenthood's clinic in Louisville was denied a license because it did not have any Transfer Agreements, as required by Kentucky law. For background, see here. The TA Appeal before the Sixth Circuit will be heard on August 8. Before that time, it is unlikely that PP's license status will change. Please pray that the Appeal will be favorable for babies.
The Attempt to Reverse the Ultrasound Law Successful Appeal
Published Jun 3, 2019 ↤ KRLA Forum
For background on the Ultrasound Law continuing legal case, see this post and this page.
The EMW-ACLU Appeal to overturn the Bevin Administration’s successful Appeal to save Kentucky’s Ultrasound Law— is pending and may be read by anyone who desires to have a PACER account. PACER stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records.
The opening pages of the EMW-ACLU Appeal list all the attorneys who are working on the case. Then, a Statement of Corporate Affiliations and Financial Interests asks two questions:
Is said party (EMW) a subsidiary or affiliate of a publicly-owned corporation?
Is there a publicly-owned corporation, not a party to the appeal that has a financial interest in the outcome of this litigation?
Shouldn’t there be a third question?
3. Is there a publicly-funded corporation that will benefit from this Appeal if it succeeds?
Answer: Yes, Planned Parenthood receives $500 million annually from the U.S. taxpayers and will certainly benefit if this Appeal succeeds.
And how about a fourth question?
4. Is there an innocent public group who will be harmed financially if this Appeal succeeds?
Answer: Yes, the taxpayers of Kentucky will be the losers, since they will pay the tab for the extensive legal work performed by numerous attorneys from the ACLU of New York, the ACLU of Kentucky, and a law firm from New York, not to mention all the attorneys working for EMW since the suit was first filed— following the passage of HB2 in 2017 by the Kentucky Legislature.
Of course, a new Appeal could send the case to SCOTUS, so we assume it could take some time to determine who pays. We do not know all the legal ins and outs.
And another question:
5. Who pays the ACLU?
Not EMW. The ACLU does not charge its clients for its services. So, EMW can thank George Soros and others who donate to the ACLU for helping them to pursue their Appeal.
But maybe the full panel of the Sixth Circuit will turn down the Appeal. Watch for more news.
ultrasound-law-appeal
Political Action Transfer Agreement Artists for Life Pro-life Events Euthanasia D&E Law Appeal Eugenics Legislation Ultrasound Law Appeal Planned Parenthood PEOPLE Video Louisville
Abortion Statistics
A Ryan Bomberger meme
Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform
Patients' Rights Council
Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics
Kentucky's Family Foundation
Life Legal Defense League
A Ryan Bomberger Meme. Click to read about President Trump's website to counter social media censorship.
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You are here LABOKLIN / Products / Infectious Diseases: Pathogenic Agents and Antibody Detection / Viruses / Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV)
Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus 1+2 (RHDV 1+2) - PCR
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD), also known as rabbit calicivirus disease or viral haemorrhagic disease, is a highly contagious disease of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). It occurs in both wild and domestic rabbits and causes peracute, acute or subacute diseases.
RHD is caused by caliciviruses, small, non-enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses. Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) is closely related to the european brown hare syndrome virus, which causes a similar disease in hares (Lepus spp.). There are several genetically and serologically different variants of RHDV. Until 2010, six different genotypes were known which cross-react serologically. These are called “classic” RHDV or RHDVa. A new serotype, called RHDV2 or RHDVb, was first detected in France in 2010 and has since spread throughout Europe and other parts of the world. The disease caused by RHDV2 is similar to that of classic RHDV strains but is associated with a slightly lower (but extremely variable) mortality rate. RHDV2 can also infect some hare species and, unlike RHDVa, also infects very young rabbits.
From January 2015 to June 2017, only 0.6% of Laboklin samples were RHDV/RHDVa positive, but 37.4% were RHDV2 positive. RHDV/RHDVa was only detected in samples from Germany and the Netherlands, while RHDV2 was detected in animals from Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Finland.
RHDV/RHDVa and RHDV2 are mainly transmitted orally. Contaminated herbage can play a role here. Insects also act as mechanical vectors.
Infected animals often show general clinical symptoms such as anorexia and lethargy, but also neurological symptoms such as opisthotonus, excitement, ataxia or paralysis. Conjunctivitis and respiratory symptoms such as dyspnoea and nasal discharge (possibly bloody) are also frequently observed. In some cases, an increased tendency to bleed can be observed. The chronic form of RHD only occurs in a small number of animals which then develop jaundice.
Hepatomegaly and splenomegaly are the most common pathologies. Histologically, acute necrotising hepatitis can be detected in affected animals. Bleeding and blood stasis in various organs are frequently observed. Affected rabbits often die within a few days.
In addition to the clinical examination and histopathology, RHD is mainly diagnosed by virus detection using real-time PCR. Due to the genetic differences between the RHDV strains, both RHDV/RHDVa and RHDV2-specific methods must be used.
Treatment is not possible. A prophylactic vaccination is recommended. Several vaccines are available. It must be noted that vaccination should take place against both RHDV/RHDVa and RHDV2. Currently, RHDV2 cases are being observed in Germany, but classic RHDV strains still occur.
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HBPD hires Michael Fullerton as new officer
Posted by Claire Stremple | Jul 3, 2019 | News | 0 |
Officer Michael Fullerton with Police Chief Heath Scott. (Stremple/KHNS)
The Haines Police Department has been down an officer for nearly a month after the retirement of Brayton Long. This week, the department selected a new officer. KHNS met with Michael Fullerton at the Police Department.
https://khns.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/03NewOfficer.mp3
The most recent inductee to the Haines Police department began work on July 1st. Michael Fullerton met with KHNS while being fitted for new gear at the public safety building.
He says he was very proud to put the Haines Police Department badge on for the first time.
He says this position is a good fit.
“My goal is to help people. That’s what makes me happiest,” he said.
“This position affords me that opportunity.”
Officer Fullerton moved to Haines about four years ago with his family. He says that he and his wife made the right decision in coming to Alaska.
“I love being in a small community,” he said.
“I really enjoy all aspects of our community. I think its a great combination of people. It’s really nice to have such a diverse group of people in the community. It can be difficult, but that’s one of the things that makes it vibrant and interesting.”
Fullerton has law enforcement experience. He worked for the Alaska State troopers in Fairbanks before taking on this new role. He left the troopers late last year to spend more time with family.
Fullerton joins Police Chief Heath Scott, Sergeant Josh Dryden, and Officers Chris Brown and Adam Patterson as the fifth member of the Department.
PreviousKHNS 4th of July Programming Schedule
NextGovernor ends state contribution to school projects, Haines Borough to pick up the tab
National book distributor ends wholesale to retailers, book store owners assess options
“Good start”—some Skagway residents want to see a plan for ore dock clean up go further
Haines Assembly candidate profiles – Will Prisciandaro
High winds hamper weekend travel
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Max Ride and her best friends are up against a deadly force, but Fang is gone just when they need him most. Will they be ready for the ultimate showdown?
Max Ride and her best friends have always had one another’s backs-no matter what. Living on the edge as fugitives, they never had a choice. But now they’re up against a deadly force that’s racing across the globe, and just when they need him the most, Fang is gone. He’s creating his own gang that will replace everyone-including Max.
Max is heartbroken over losing Fang, her soul mate. Her closest friend. But with Dylan ready and willing to fight by her side, and she can no longer deny that his incredible intensity draws her in. Max, Dylan, and the rest of their friends must soon join forces with Fang and his new gang for an explosive showdown in Paris that’s unlike anything you’ve ever imagined . . . or read.
Genre: Teen & Young Adult / Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Friendship
On Sale: February 14th 2011
Trade Paperback Large Print
Raves for the blockbuster MAXIMUM RIDE series:
#1 New York Times Bestseller
An ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults
An ALA/VOYA "Teens' Top Ten" Pick
A VOYA Review Editor's Choice
A New York Public Library "Books for the Teen Age" Selection
A Book Sense Summer 2007 Children's Pick
A KLIATT Editors' Choice
A Children's Choice Book Awards Author of the Year for MAX
Praise for Angel:
A YALSA Teens' Top Ten Pick
"A strong installment in the series...full of...many fantastic flying descriptions that will make readers wish they had wings."
"The latest young adults' thriller from James Patterson continues the gripping Maximum Ride series." (5 stars)—Star Magazine
Praise for Fang:
"Patterson has created another thrilling adventure that is sure to capture readers' imaginations.... [His] quick-paced tale of adventure, betrayal, and redemption is full of vibrant and memorable characters. It truly has bit."—School Library Jouranl
"This will excite legions of fans waiting for this installment in the flock's story."—Booklist
"[B]reathtaking... Maximum Ride fans will not be disappointed in 'Fang.' The high-flying plot and new twists leave the reader begging for more of Max and the flock."—Burlington-Times News
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Sarah Collins's posts
Sarah Collins
sarah-collins-archive
AVQ&A
Surprising songs in concert
Nathan Rabin, Cory Casciato, Kyle Ryan, Jason Heller, Josh Modell, Joel Keller, Sarah Collins, Noel Murray, Ryan McGee, Marah Eakin, Claire Zulkey, and Tasha Robinson
Have you ever attended the concert of a favorite band and been surprised by a song you never thought they’d play? I have seen Wilco several times, and at one show in 2010, they played the song “More Like The Moon” from an EP released around the time of A Ghost Is Born. Wilco is usually good about playing songs other…
Fictional foods we want to try
Cory Casciato, John Semley, Kyle Ryan, Jason Heller, Scott Von Doviak, Joel Keller, Phil Dyess-Nugent, Erik Adams, Sarah Collins, Ryan McGee, Sonia Saraiya, Brandon Nowalk, Emily Todd VanDerWerff, Claire Zulkey, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski
1.3KSave
If you could try any fictional food or drink, what do you think you’d go for? Personally, I’ve always wanted to score a bottle of Star Trek’s Romulan ale—and maybe have a Klingon raktajino lined up for my hangover later. Thanks! —Eli Jah Rasta
Best album-opening one-two punches
Nathan Rabin, John Semley, Kevin McFarland, Kyle Ryan, Jason Heller, Josh Modell, Zack Handlen, Scott Tobias, David Anthony, Marc Hawthorne, Sarah Collins, Joel Keller, Noel Murray, Ryan McGee, Marah Eakin, Emily Todd VanDerWerff, and Tasha Robinson
Scott Tobias asks: In a classic Scharpling & Wurster bit called “Kid eBay,” the last track on their album Hippie Justice, Wurster calls in as the eponymous online auction whiz-kid. Eventually, the conversation turns to this question: What is the best one-two punch to kick off an album? Wurster’s character submits…
30 Rock, 30 Rock, and a few other things this week on The A.V. Club
SketchHistory, our new look at how some of comedy’s most famous sketches came to be, premièred this week with Mr. Show’s “Dalai Lama” and “Monk Academy.” Mr. Show alums Scott Aukerman, David Cross, Valerie Faris, and Jonathan Dayton gave us an oral history of the sketch, including lines like, “I remember…
Pop culture too extensive to start
Nathan Rabin, Cory Casciato, Jason Heller, Josh Modell, Scott Tobias, Joel Keller, Sarah Collins, Noel Murray, Emily Todd VanDerWerff, Marah Eakin, Claire Zulkey, and Tasha Robinson
Your pop-culture resolutions for 2013 focused on stuff you finally plan on getting around to this year, which made me wonder, are there any cultural touchstones you’d like to get into, but that seem too extensive to even start? For me, this includes Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcasts. I’m sure…
Prepare for this evening’s devastation by revisiting 30 Rock’s best moments
Over the past couple of weeks, we here at The A.V. Club have been tirelessly writing about 30 Rock in an effort to avoid its inevitable end. Turns out refusing to accept reality doesn’t actually change it, and tonight, very much against our will, we will be forced to say goodbye to a show that has delighted us for…
30 Rock, Fringe, more finales, cancellations, and other news this week at The A.V. Club
Saturday Night Live, Jessica Chastain, and more this week on The A.V. Club
Our Sundance coverage started today with a film in which Michael Cera takes a wild, drug-filled odyssey. If that’s a sign of things to come, you’ll want to check back every day from now until next Friday, January 25.
Watch Elliott Smith cover John Lennon and The Kinks in this Paul Thomas Anderson–directed video
Because Thursday’s as good a day as any for crying at work, a old video of Elliott Smith finally made its way to YouTube. The footage comes from an unaired VH1 pilot for a music-session show starring Jon Brion and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, from right around the time the two were collaborating on the Magnolia …
Television returns, film buries its dead, and more this week on The A.V. Club
The last of our best-of lists, our New Year’s resolutions, and more this week on The A.V. Club
We did a 10-day tour with VHS Or Beta last year, and now we’re using all the footage we collected to bring you with us. For the next three weeks, we’ll be showing two videos a week, each documenting a different night of the tour. We kicked off the tour in Newport, Kentucky at the historic Thompson House.
You’ve got to go on waiting for the miracle to come: 63 of our most anticipated entertainments of 2013
Nathan Rabin, Cory Casciato, John Semley, Kevin McFarland, Kyle Ryan, Jason Heller, Steve Heisler, Josh Modell, Zack Handlen, Joel Keller, Phil Dyess-Nugent, Noel Murray, Ryan McGee, Emily Todd VanDerWerff, Sarah Collins, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski
1. TV shows are back! (throughout the year)
You name it, and there’s a new season of it this spring or fall. Excited for more Mad Men? We’re betting that’s back in March again. How about Girls and Enlightened? They’re back in a matter of weeks! Dexter wraps up what will hopefully be its final season next fall, and…
The best TV of 2012, the worst New Year's Eve, and more this week on The A.V. Club
Best of lists, Christmas films, and more this week on The A.V. Club
The best music, comedy albums, and so much more this week on The A.V. Club
This week, The A.V. Club was new to The Simpsons, an actual dream come true for many, many people in our office. You can watch the clip here, and you can read how it happened here.
The Walking Dead, an apocalypse-ready gift guide, and more this week on The A.V. Club
As part of our ongoing attempts to undermine the Nielsen system, we launched TV Club Power Rankings. Our new list of TV’s best shows combines the Nielsen numbers with our grades, readers' grades, and the “What We Watched” chart for what is hopefully a more accurate assessment of the TV landscape.
Happy holidays… for now: The A.V. Club’s apocalypse-ready 2012 Gift Guide
Josh Modell, Sean O'Neal, Erik Adams, Sarah Collins, Andrea Battleground, Noel Murray, Keith Phipps, Marah Eakin, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski
December 2012: For two, maybe three years, humanity has dreaded its approach, thanks to a highly selective interpretation of the Mayan calendar exploited by New Age types and makers of crappy blockbuster films starring John Cusack. And now it’s here. So if the world is fated to end on December 21, what’s the point of…
The Simpsons and sexual metaphors this week on The A.V. Club
After years of complaints, we bent to the public will and began covering notable web series and short-form TV in 15 Minutes Or Less. First up, Issa Rae, whose Awkward Black Girl series has been successful enough to earn her an ABC pickup for her new pilot, I Hate L.A. Dudes.
Patton Oswalt, Red Dawn, and more this week on The A.V. Club
We eased into our end-of-the-year coverage by catching up with some of the albums that fell through the cracks this year. This week, we reviewed Woods and Menomena, which were both respectable. We also reviewed Alt-J, which somehow wasn’t as good.
This week at The A.V. Club: Alison Brie, a Sklar brother, and more
On Monday, we launched Watch This, a new daily feature recommending alternative films for a new theme every week. This week, we picked vampire-film alternatives to Twilight, which included everything from the newly released Vamps to George Romero’s Martin. They’re all great for those who don’t want to…
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A surgeon involved in repairing the clitoris of excised women answers Habib Ellouze’s grotesque remarks
Following the grotesque comments by Islamic Tunisian elected official Habib Ellouze who characterizes the excision as an “esthetic operation,” as one that has “no consequences to women’s sexual pleasure,” and above all one that is “beneficial against body odors,” Dr. Henning, volunteer gynecological surgeon for Clitoraid – a non-profit organization based in the U.S. – decided to counter these preposterous comments, hoping to educate the most influential populations and to avoid more unnecessary sufferings done to women.
“Each week, excised patients come to my gynecological office for consultation. They come with deep physical, emotional, and mental scars from their excision that they seek to cure by any means necessary. And when I hear such shameful comments by Mr. Ellouze, I cannot remain silent,” declares Dr. Henning.
Dr. Henning is a member of a growing group of doctors from around the world involved in the surgical restoration of the clitoris of excised patients. This surgical procedure is one that was perfected by a French surgeon. Dr. Henning has practiced as a certified gynecological surgeon for 30 years in the U.S., where an estimated 300,000 of the 140 million excised women live.
“No, Mr. Ellouze! Excision is not esthetic!” Dr. Henning emphasized, “It is devastating for the victim, for her self-esteem, and for her loved one. Did you know that many women suffer excrutiating pain during sexual intercourse due to their excision? At best, they can tolerate the suffering, but feel no sexual pleasure whatsoever. As a result, their partners feel angst for not being able to sexually satisfy them and end up abandoning them.”
“As for the beneficial aspects of the excision on body odors, Mr. Ellouze, this one defies the most elementary logic, not to mention the medical profession itself!” Dr. Henning added. “How could the amputation of a body part be recommended for hygiene purposes? The clitoris plays no role in a woman’s body odors, any more than a penis does in a man’s body odors! Every woman was born with a clitoris for the simple reason that it is essential for her to maintain her psychosexual balance. Therefore, to mutilate the clitoris of little girls is to violate children’s fundamental rights.”
This is why Dr. Henning chose to volunteer as a surgeon and is helping to restore the clitoris of excised women. To this end, he will go to Burkina Faso in October for the grand opening of Clitoraid’s humanitarian hospital. The hospital will be entirely dedicated to give excised victims the possibility of experiencing sexual pleasure, thanks to top notch professional surgical care and psychosexual therapy to counter the deep scars brought about by the excision.
Eliane Wurmser, person in charge of Clitoraid in the Middle-East added: “We hope that our hospital in Burkina Faso will inspire other countries to follow suit and that similar private clinics will be built to help more women. And why not in Tunisia where the government has always firmly rejected this inhumane practice?”
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Sr. Administrative Coordinator
General Summary/Purpose:
The Sr. Administrative Coordinator (SRA) position provides complex administrative support for Instructional Design/Office of Education Quality and also supporting the Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning. Administrative Coordinator for Clinical Practice and also supporting the Associate Dean of Clinical Practice Partnerships.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
Coordinates special projects to help plan, oversee and document all aspects of projects related to the Office of Clinical Practice and the Office of Educational Quality and Innovation, working closely with the Associate Dean for Clinical Practice and the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning.
Manages, updates, and maintains Outlook calendar for Associate Deans
Manages and coordinates workshops for Associate Deans
Prepares meeting materials and itineraries
Compiles data
Tracks and reconciles expenditures
Provides proofreading and editing for spelling, grammar, and punctuation of correspondence, scholarly articles, and web postings authored by the faculty members and prepares final version for signature and/or dissemination.
Type routine correspondence and reports from dictation or handwritten copy.
Answer telephone, screen callers, relay messages, and greet visitors
Pick up and deliver materials as required
Screens and routes communication, including sensitive and confidential information, requiring knowledge of office projects, personnel, and constituencies.
Maintains websites
prepares manuscripts
Constructs list of references for academic papers
Assists with grant preparation
Maintains records through filing, retrieval, retention, storage, compilation, coding, updating and destruction
Knows the formal and informal SON goals, standards, policies and procedures, which may include some familiarity of other departments within the school/division
Is sensitive to the interrelationship of both people and functions within the school
Coordinates the flow of business in a diverse environment
Initiates, coordinates and monitors status of projects, communicates information and requests on behalf of the Associate Deans
Supports and staffs SON task forces and other working groups as assigned
Reserves rooms and AV support for meetings
Catering arrangements
Take minutes for committee meetings in a timely manner and post meetings minutes, including organizing and updating Wiki site, folder access or box as needed
Manage calendar invites, provides agendas and other material for committee meetings
Create agendas for committee meetings, including collecting agenda items and documents from committee members, building timeline and distributing agenda in a timely manner. Coordinate, track , and communicate online
Make travel and accommodation arrangements for Associate Deans
Proactively coordinates plans and organizes project deadlines and/or deliverables
"Resolves sensitive and organizational issues affecting multiple projects"
Independently make decisions regarding the interpretation of data and information to be used for presentations, compilation and preparation of reports and identification of issues which require the Associate Dean's immediate attention
Reconcile monthly financial statements with invoices and supporting documentation.
Ensures all transactions are recorded, approved and paid according to University and other applicable policies
Provides administrative support for mid-year and annual faculty reviews.
Coordinates planning of Faculty Task Force Groups
Additional Duties: Teaching & Learning
Coordinates special projects to help plan, oversee and document all aspects of projects related to the Office of Educational Quality and Innovation, working closely with the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning.
Support special projects related to national education program recognition and accreditation/regulatory requirements.
Provide support for education grants such as the Nursing Faculty Loan Program
Manage workshops (peer review, monthly meetings relative to teaching)
Support faculty teaching peer-evaluation process and training
Manages school wide joint and adjunct appointment database (temporary will move under Associate Dean for faculty)
Data analysis: summarizes and reports data in table and graph form
Analyze and compile appropriate data when needed. Educational data/program effectiveness
Provide regular EBI summary reports by track, program, and school by year and store these reports in the R drive
Prepare an excel document with individual track, program, and school summary reports with factor and sub-scale scores and mean total scale scores by program and bar charts with mean subscale scores and total scores by course by year.
Prepare report for student grade summaries by individual track and program
Organize seminars and workshops for faculty development including preparing materials, correspondence and communication with university and external partners, reserving conference rooms, requesting catering, request parking for guest speakers and visitors
Additional Duties: Office of Clinical Practice
Maintain Board of Nursing Database for distance education across all states -
-contact BON's in different states
Advise Associate Dean of Practice of any changes in state requirements
Make travel and accommodation arrangements for faculty
State Board of Nursing Approvals
High School Diploma/GED.
Five (5) years progressively responsible administrative experience.
Additional education may substitute for required experience, to the extent permitted by the * JHU Equivalency Formula: 30 undergraduate degree credits (semester hours) or 18 graduate degree credits may substitute for one year of experience. Additional related experience may substitute for the required education on the same basis. For jobs where equivalency is permitted, up to two years of non-related college course work may be applied towards the total minimum education/experience required for the respective job. *
Bachelor's degree preferred.
Five (5) years' experience in providing progressively responsible administrative experience.
Special Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Online team meetings, note taking, organizing taskforce meetings, consolidating notes.
Experience working on a wide variety of special projects and special assignments.
Excellent oral and written communications skills and computer skills.
Sound judgment and independent decision making ability.
Experience dealing with senior- or executive-level individuals and confidential or sensitive information.
Highly organized with ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and to work within a cross functional environment.
Must have demonstrated experience and facility in a range of computer programs and technology tools such as MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Zoom/Skype, Box.com.
Classified Title: Sr. Administrative Coordinator
Working Title: Sr. Administrative Coordinator
Role/Level/Range: ATO 37.5/03/OF
Starting Hourly Pay Rate Range: $19.72 - $27.00/ Commensurate with Experience
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Monday - Friday hours 8:30a - 5:00p / 37.5 hours per week
Exempt Status: Non-Exempt
Location: 06-MD:School of Nursing
Department name: 10001255-Academic Affairs
Personnel area: School of Nursing
The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.
If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at jhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.
The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work. Your recruiter will advise accordingly.
During the Influenza ("the flu") season, as a condition of employment, The Johns Hopkins Institutions require all employees who provide ongoing services to patients or work in patient care or clinical care areas to have an annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved medical or religious exception. Failure to meet this requirement may result in termination of employment.
The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.
Note: Job Postings are updated daily and remain online until filled.
https://www1.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/eeoc_self_print_poster.pdf
http://hrnt.jhu.edu/legal.cfm
Internal Number: 16269-en_US
About Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University remains committed to its founding principle, that education for all students should be grounded in exploration and discovery. Hopkins students are challenged not just to learn but also to advance learning itself. Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and entrepreneurship are all encouraged and nourished in this unique educational environment. After more than 130 years, Johns Hopkins remains a world leader in both teaching and research. Faculty members and their research colleagues at the university's Applied Physics Laboratory have each year since 1979 won Johns Hopkins more federal research and development funding than any other university. The university has nine academic divisions and campuses throughout the Baltimore-Washington area. The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Whiting School of Engineering, the School of Education and the Carey Business School are based at the Homewood campus in northern Baltimore. The schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing share a campus in east Baltimore with The Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Peabody Institute, a leading professional school of music, is located on Mount Vernon Place in downtown Bal...timore. The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies is located in Washington's Dupont Circle area.
Sr. Coordinator, Information Systems Washington, DC 20005
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Joe's Art Books
Reviewing artbooks and more
Pseudomorph of Love
Review - Photo's - Video
Pseudomorph of Love is an art book with art works of the artist Haruko Ichikawa, who is known for her manga Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Lustrous) which is still currently publishing since October 25, 2012. Houseki no Kuni also got a 12 episode anime adaptation on October 7, 2017. As a result of a great anime adaption the manga series attracted lots of new fans.
Haruko Ichikawa is a great artist with attention to detail, especially for the crazy black/white ratio drawings which will leave you astonished and longing for more. And so on November 22, 2017 the art book Pseudomorph of Love got released which focuses on the art works of Houseki no Kuni and a couple of other original art works not based on a serie.
Buy Pseudomorph of Love
CDJapan - Amazon NA - Amazon UK - Amazon DE - Amazon FR - Amazon IT
Opening the art book for the first time welcomes you with a red transparant page, the color of love. The first 55 pages are colored Houseki no Kuni art works. The next 15 pages are the famous Houseki no Kuni black/white pieces of art. Finally the other pages are Houseki no Kuni manga pages drafts and original art works which shows more of Ichikawa's talent of black/white drawings.
The retail price of 2800 yen (25 dollars, 22 euros) makes it a really great buy if you're a fan of Houseki of Kuni or love unique art works. Enjoy the photos and video:
Made with ❤ by Jonas V.
Your number 1 review website for artbooks and more.
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Hi, I'm John. I'm a visual storyteller.
This one's about me.
Years On Earth
Films Seen in 2018 (not nearly enough)
From Kevin Bacon
Typically, directors develop their passion for films and then begin making them.
My experience was different. I developed my passion for films by making them.
My high school had a cinematography class, and they loaned me a camcorder with free reign.
Within just a few days, filmmaking became my focus.
And those films ultimately led me to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts:
NYU Film
At Tisch I made a name for myself as a detail-oriented director and editor. I’m hands-on, and like to be immersed in every aspect of production.
In school I wrote, directed, and edited 9 short films, while assisting on dozens of others. You can find my best ones on /films.
Ridley Scott Associates
Outside of the classroom I interned for the production company of Ridley Scott — director of Alien, Gladiator, and The Martian.
Warrior Poets
I also interned for Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of Super Size Me. I collaborated with his team on several recent projects.
Footage from my documentary, To Write Love on Her Arms, was even featured on:
My latest short, Adopt Me, premiered to a sold-out crowd in 2013 at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in NYC.
Film Degree Completion
But the prospect of only a film degree wasn’t leaving me fulfilled.
I’m passionate about the business world.
About finance. About startups. About innovators.
And NYU didn’t teach me enough about the film business.
So with just 2 classes left at Tisch, I transferred to SUNY Geneseo, where I majored in financial analysis and business administration.
SUNY Geneseo
In business school I completed coursework on strategic management, security valuation, sales & negotiations, marketing, and ethics. I graduated with one piece of paper but essentially two degrees: Film & Business.
Varsity Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field
I spent two years on the track team, and after just one I was named Sprints Captain, leading 45 NCAA athletes on and off the track.
Adirondack Funds
Outside of school I interned for a mutual fund with over $275M in assets. I assisted and shadowed both the fund managers and the marketing director during investor relations and financial analysis.
Freelance Photographer
I also continued to market & design services for weddings, magazines, car unveilings — anything to enhance my filmmaking capabilities (and pay for Thursday night drinks).
Business Degree Completion
Now I’m building smarter homes at Wink.
We bring all of your smart devices into one simple-to-use application.
I work in customer service as the Lead Tech.
If any team member is stumped, I’m the one who fixes that.
I love what I do.
Each year my goal is to watch a movie a day.
Most years I fail miserably.
2016 was a leap year, so I made sure to get my act together.
Films in 2014
If I feel like I have something important to say, sometimes I’ll blog about it.
And even if I don’t, sometimes I’ll still blog about it.
I’m currently writing my first feature film.
It’s an expansion of the premise from Adopt Me.
It has all-new characters, and a much more grounded feel.
Cups of Coffee Consumed (Probably)
Gather feedback and
perpetually re-write.
Send it into the wild.
Keep grinding until we
turn ink into reality.
A (Far from Complete) Mixer of My Influences
Calvin & Hobbes
And if you ever hit a roadblock in life, just remember my favorite quote:
"If you can laugh at yourself loud and hard every time you fall... people will think you're drunk."
− Conan O'Brien, Speech at Harvard
Looking to reach out? Email Me
Questions for the Self-Driving Car Future
Teller on Magic
The Brand-Confused World of IMAX and LieMAX
Other Homes
Over 7 Billion people don’t read this blog.
Reject the herd mentality by hitting subscribe.
No spam, just posts.
© 2019 John Canfield
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Category Archives: Minerals
Resource Scarcity and Climate Change
Posted by John Loeffler in Africa, Americans, Asia, Civilization, Climate Change, climate crisis, Depletion, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Disaster, Drinking Water, Earth, Economy, Energy, Environment, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, Experts, food, Fossil Fuel Industry, Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Gas, Global, Global Warming, Greed, Humanity, Humans, Minerals, Mining, Natural Gas, Oil, power abuse, Power-hungry, Resources, Scarce, Science, Scientific Evidence, Scientists, Tar Sands Oil, tyranny, U.S., Uncategorized, United States, War, World, World-Wide
Africa, Central Asia, climate change, disaster, Drinking Water, Energy, environment, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, experts, food, gas, global, Global Warming, Humans, Mining, oil, resources, scarce, Scarcity, U.S, War, world-wide
Brace yourself. You may not be able to tell yet, but according to global experts and the U.S. intelligence community, the earth is already shifting under you. Whether you know it or not, you’re on a new planet, a resource-shock world of a sort humanity has never before experienced.
Two nightmare scenarios — a global scarcity of vital resources and the onset of extreme climate change — are already beginning to converge and in the coming decades are likely to produce a tidal wave of unrest, rebellion, competition, and conflict. Just what this tsunami of disaster will look like may, as yet, be hard to discern, but experts warn of “water wars” over contested river systems, global food riots sparked by soaring prices for life’s basics, mass migrations of climate refugees (with resulting anti-migrant violence), and the breakdown of social order or the collapse of states. At first, such mayhem is likely to arise largely in Africa, Central Asia, and other areas of the underdeveloped South, but in time all regions of the planet will be affected.
To appreciate the power of this encroaching catastrophe, it’s necessary to examine each of the forces that are combining to produce this future cataclysm.
Resource Shortages and Resource Wars
Start with one simple given: the prospect of future scarcities of vital natural resources, including energy, water, land, food, and critical minerals. This in itself would guarantee social unrest, geopolitical friction, and war.
Read more important information here: http://www.alternet.org/environment/resource-shock-how-resource-scarcity-and-climate-change-could-produce-global-explosion?paging=off
Our World’s ‘Dead Zones’ & Why They Are There!
Posted by John Loeffler in .0001% Elite, 99.999% of the World, abuse, Adults, Agriculture, America, American, Americans, Animals, Aquifer, Billionaires, BP, Bribery, British Petroleum, Cancer, Cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, CEOs, Charts, Chemicals, Children, Class Warfare, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Clean Water Act, Common Sense, Congress, Contamination, Coral Bleaching, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, Crackdown, crime, criminal, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Depletion, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Jobs, Dirty Politics, Disaster, Domestic Policy Failure, Drinking Water, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, Elite, Emergency, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Exxon-Mobil, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, Farm Fields, Farmers, Farming, Federal Government, Formations, frack waste, Fracking, Fraud, Gas Companies, Geography, Global, Greed, Halliburton, Health, Health problems, Horizontal Fracking, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hurricanes, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Inadequate, Infrastructure, Koch Brothers, Kyoto Protocol, Lakes, Lawsuits, Leaks, Lies, liquid waste, Lobbyists, Marine Biology, Marine Life, Marine Mammals, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Mississippi River, Money, Money Laundering, Monopolization, Monsanto, Natural Gas, nightmare, Nutrient Depletion, Obama, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Ocean Desalinization, Oil, Oil Companies, operations, Pandemic, penalties, Photos, Plastic, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Problems, public health hazard, Rivers, Runoff, Safe Drinking Water Act, Safety, Safety Violations, Sand Fracking, Science, Scientific Evidence, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, Silica, Solutions, Special Interests, Species, Species Extinction, State of Emergency, Streams, Tar Sands, Technology, The Great Lakes, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, Victims, Violation, Voters, Wall St., Washington D.C., Wastewater, Water, Water Pollution, Wealthy, weather, weather anomalies
Atlantic Ocean, Dead Zone, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Marine biology, Mississippi, Mississippi River, Oil spill
From this
To this
Coral bleaching is on the rise thanks to warming waters throughout the world due to global warming and man-made chemicals dumped into our waters. As the world heats up, our fresh water ice caps melt. Devastating consequences due to global warming include fresh water entering our oceans’ natural currents from the Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. This fresh water slows down the oceans’ natural salt water flow, and will eventually halt our oceans’ currents causing even bigger problems for humanity!
That is a whole different story, however it relates to increasing dead zones in saltwater and freshwater bodies thanks to man-made global warming due to the burning of finite fossil fuels. Global warming and the dumping and runoff of man-made chemicals are destroying the Gulf of Mexico, oceans, seas and large freshwater sources like the Great Lakes. Our world relies on these waters to help sustain our seafood supplies and shrinking sources of freshwater which are vital to help sustain a overpopulated earth.
Let’s take a look at one specific area, the Gulf of Mexico, which explains why we are experiencing massive coral reef bleaching, and the deaths and disappearances of fish and other sea creatures.
The most current map of dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico may not reflect BP’s massive oil spill on April 20, 2010. It does not take into consideration that BP’s oil spill killed off a large, untold number of species of ocean dwellers like the 29 marine mammals that live in the gulf including dolphins and whales. Why does the Gulf of Mexico have huge areas where the waters are devoid of most or all living organisms? There are two main reasons.
One factor is the shallow water depths in the Gulf of Mexico which is the world’s ninth largest body of water if technically separated from the Atlantic Ocean. The average water temperature of the gulf during the summer months ranges from the upper 70’s to upper 80’s. 90 degree waters are not uncommon, and marine life cannot live in what is close to bath water temperatures for humans! Why do you think hurricanes that enter the gulf during the warm months gain so much energy? The weather systems have two forces that they need which are extremely warm water and hot temperatures to help them morph from a tropical storm into a enormously destructive hurricane. Global warming has caused not just air temperatures to rise but water temperatures to increase as well. Coral reefs are fragile, and they cannot live in such a warm, polluted environment.
The other synthetic reason why our oceans and the Gulf of Mexico are experiencing slow to rapid die-offs of coral reefs and the various forms of marine life that rely on them as a inter-connected life support system is man-made chemical waste. Is it just coincidence that the ‘Dead Zone’ in the gulf is near where the Mississippi River flows into it? Fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide run-off from farms flow into tributaries of the Mississippi River and directly into the river itself. Industrial farms and factories have uncontrolled flows of pollutants like nitrogen and phosphorous that ultimately end up in the Gulf of Mexico where they create algae blooms and oxygen depletion. No oxygen = no life. Other major toxins enter our waters via illegal dumping of chemical waste that companies purposely do, because they do not want to deal with the expense of properly disposing of their garbage or toxic waste. Any trash that enters the Mississippi River will end up in the Gulf of Mexico, and it will kill or scare off all marine life, thus creating ‘Dead Zones.’
What about what is already in the Gulf of Mexico? That limited source of energy that we spend more energy to get at than what it actually produces: Oil! Take a look at the number of oil platforms in the gulf along with their locations, and think about the tainting of water and the life in it due to drilling for oil!
Then acknowledge that drilling for oil results in oil spills which have a profound and lasting effect on the environment in general including the Gulf of Mexico:
This is a U.S. problem, but it is not limited to just America! Take a look at the dead zones throughout the world as we heat up, melt away, and pollute like there is no tomorrow!
Notice that even the Great Lakes, the world’s largest source of freshwater, is in trouble directly due to pollution including plastics! There are vast areas in the oceans too that are nothing more than giant, floating garbage dump sites! This is the way we treat our planet, and the dying of our oceans’ and other waterways’ is akin to the ‘Canary in the Coalmine’ scenario. Unless we drastically alter the course of society’s sails, then we are in for some rough waters ahead!
by John E Loeffler – Fountain City, Wisconsin
Sources: http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/bp-gulf-oil-spill-cheat-sheet-a-timeline-of-unfortunate-events.html
http://marinelife.about.com/od/habitatprofiles/tp/GulfofMexicoMarineLife.htm
http://www.ehow.com/list_6330428_ten-largest-bodies-water.html
http://weather.weatherbug.com/beach-and-boating/coastal-water-temperatures.html?bb_regionid=4&zcode=z6286
http://deepseanews.com/2010/06/oil-platforms-in-the-gulf-how-many-and-who-owns-them/
Welcome to Sand Fracking Country & Glacier Sands LLC!
Posted by John Loeffler in .0001% Elite, 99.999% of the World, abuse, Agriculture, America, American, Americans, Animals, appeal, Aquifer, ban, Bankruptcy, Bribery, Cancer, Cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, Careers, CEOs, Chairman, Chemicals, Chief, Children, Class Warfare, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Clean Water Act, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Common Sense, Congress, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, covert, covert operations, Crackdown, crime, criminal, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Depletion, desert, Design, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Jobs, Dirty Politics, Disaster, DNR, Domestic Policy Failure, drill cuttings, Drinking Water, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, Elite, Emergency, Energy Information Administration, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, Farm Fields, Farmers, Farming, Federal Government, Fracking, Fracking Leaks, Fraud, Gas Companies, Genocide, Geography, Global, Global Dominance, GPS, Greed, Halliburton, Health, Health problems, highways, home, Horizontal Fracking, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Inadequate, Infrastructure, Interstates, Intrusive, Invasion, Jobs, Kyoto Protocol, Lakes, Lawsuits, Leak, Leaks, Lies, Liner Leaks, liquid waste, Lobbyists, Local Government, Lost, Marcellus Gas Shale, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Methane, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Minnesota, Mississippi River, Money, Money Laundering, Monopolization, moratorium, Murder, Natural Gas, nightmare, Nutrient Depletion, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Occupy, Occupy Movement, Oil, Oil Companies, operations, Pandemic, Petitions, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Political Activists, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Pond Liner Leaks, Poor, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Problems, public health hazard, Radiation, Radium 226, Radon, residents, Resistance, Rivers, roads, Rock, Runoff, Safe Drinking Water Act, Safety, Safety Violations, Sand Fracking, Scandal, Science, Scientific Evidence, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, Silica, Special Interests, State Government, State of Emergency, Storage Ponds, Streams, Structural Support, Technology, Texas, training, Transportation, travel, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, Victims, Violation, Voters, Washington D.C., Wastewater, Water, Water Pollution, Wealthy, welfare, Well Water, WHO, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, World Health Organization (WHO)
breaking, Brian Iverson, cancer, cancer-causing, Cancerous, carcinogen, Carcinogenic, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Clean Water Act, criminal, Crystalline Silica, environmental, environmental disaster, Frack Sand, fracking, fraud, fraudulent, Glacier Sands LLC, greed, greedy, Horizontal Fracking, Hydraulic Fracking, hydraulic fracturing, Ike Thomas, known carcinogens, law, Minnesota, Mississippi River, money, Monopolies, monopoly, poison, poisonous, power, power-hungry, Ryan Thomas, Sand, Sand Fracking, Seven Sands LLC, Silica, Silica or Sand Fracking, Silicosis, Snake, snakes, Texas, Toxic, Toxic Chemicals, violations, Wisconsin
Is that not a pretty picture? It is what happens to our land when we rely on finite sources of dirty fossil fuel energy. Say goodbye to the trees, the animals, and a clean environment! The picture is not of a Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking site. It is a picture of the lesser known Sand Fracking that goes on to supply the needed Silica sand for the extremely toxic Hydraulic Fracking process of which there are now 65,000 wells and counting throughout the U.S.
The premium sand that is ideal for Hydraulic Fracturing or Horizontal Fracturing has been found by businessmen, mainly from Texas, and the high quality sand is in Wisconsin and Minnesota! A little-known company called Glacier Sands LLC a.k.a. Seven Sands LLC is responsible for this “gold rush” in the Sand Fracking industry. Their webpage looks innocent, but looks can be deceiving!
Speaking of deception, welcome to Glacier Sands LLC’s Leadership: http://glaciersands.com/about-glacier-sands/leadership/
Let’s break down three key people in their leadership: Brian Iverson, Ryan Thomas and Ike Thomas. Brian Iverson drew the attention of Texas businessmen Ike and Ryan Thomas, and he formally set up Glacier Sands LLC a.k.a. Seven Sands LLC in 2011 using a Wisconsin address although he lived in Minnesota. Brian Iverson has not only been accused of investment fraud related to a group of mining investors from Montana, but he also filed bankruptcy a little over two years ago to cover over $21 million of debt he accrued related to former business deals “and personal guaranties he gave as security for business loans.” Source: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/07/09/frac-sand-or-farmland-wisconsin-farmers-face-showdown-rescheduled-august-9
Boy, this Brian Iverson guy sounds like bad news! He’s shady at best, and he has hooked up with two Texas businessmen since 2011 to completely destroy (see picture above) Wisconsin and Minnesota’s pristine environment by slithering in like a snake to slowly poison innocent citizens who have lived here for generations. What for? GREED, of course! Brian Iverson needed help to become financially successful, because he has a dirty past of screwing people over, then filing bankruptcy for his losses! Iverson is the epitome of selfishness! He obviously does not care about people in general or his workers, since I am sure he is aware of the dangers of Silicosis and cancer.
Sand Fracking for Crystalline Silica is known to cause Silicosis and cancer. Source: OSHA: http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/crystalline-factsheet.pdf The Silica sand from Sand Fracking can blow for miles if not continually watered down according to lame government standards. At best, the Crystalline Silica produced from Sand Fracking to use in Hydraulic Fracking will only affect nearby areas to include the Mississippi River. That is bad enough if you live in a state where Sand Fracking sites are popping up faster than they can be properly studied for health risks before approval! Without proper studies on the harmful effects and affects of fracking, county boards like Buffalo County, WI just delay the permit for Sand Fracking until all of the ‘angry citizen’ dust has settled. Then, they go in and vote 3-0 in favor of what nobody wants except for the dirty fossil fuel industry and big business like Glacier Sands LLC! I wonder how many board members and other officials get paid to pass legislation for mining that is NOT wanted by a vast majority of U.S. citizens in general? Probably more than one can possibly imagine! Brian Iverson had help from Ike and Ryan Thomas though. Anything coming out of the most polluted state (Texas) in the U.S. for over a decade and running cannot be good!
Ike Thomas’s Linked in profile suggests a man with deep roots in dirty energy and big business: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=135550272&authType=name&authToken=3tMX&locale=en_US&goback=%2Enpv_135550272_*1_*1_name_3tMX_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1 He has a company called JusRyn (President since 1980) that is not only hard to find (a red flag), but when you do find Ike’s company it’s listed in the white or yellow pages! This seems a bit fishy to me, but what do you expect from a Texas businessman? What about Ryan Thomas? His Linked in profile says it all including bragging about being a Frack Sand supplier! He has similar business roots like Ike Thomas with dirty mining and dirty energy leading the way: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ryan-thomas/18/592/664.
Is this what our country wants? A monkey barrel of bullies overrunning our local governments to feed their lust for money and power? Apparently so, because I do not see anyone standing up en masse to protest fraudulent businessmen. Businessmen who sucker farmers or anyone else with many acres of land via a greed-laden but small payout for ruining not only the farmer’s or individual’s land, but the land, water, complete infrastructure to include roads and buildings of towns and cities, and health of humans and animals!
Do you think that Glacier Sands or any other “Fracking” business is going to pay for human health problems which show up years or decades later, or the contamination of our land and water in general? They will be long gone by the time we catch up to the mess they have left behind! Taxpayers, as usual, will be stuck cleaning up dirty mining’s mess due to lack of current concern or ability to do much of anything to stop the Sand Fracking nightmare that consumes Wisconsin and Minnesota! It’s such a shame too, because if you can stop the Sand Fracking from happening then you can halt the even more dangerous Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking that uses Crystalline Silica in large quantities. Fracking, like Glacier Sands is doing, has already turned America’s landscape from this
By John Loeffler – Fountain City, Wisconsin
Glacier Sands: http://glaciersands.com/about-glacier-sands/leadership/
Twin Cities Daily Planet: Frac Sand or Farmland: Wisconsin farmers face showdown http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2012/07/09/frac-sand-or-farmland-wisconsin-farmers-face-showdown-rescheduled-august-9
OSHA Fact Sheet: http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/crystalline-factsheet.pdf
Jusryn Inc.: http://www.directorycentral.com/business/tx/granbury/jusryn-inc-2814118.html
Loopholes Shield Fracking Industry While Families Pay the Price!
Posted by John Loeffler in .0001% Elite, 99.999% of the World, Abortion, abuse, Adulthood, Agriculture, Alabama, America, American, Americans, Animals, Aquifer, Arkansas, Assistance, ban, Bilderberg Group, Bill Gates, Billionaires, Bribery, California, Cancer, Cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, Careers, CEOs, Chairman, Chemicals, Chief, Children, Class Warfare, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Clean Water Act, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Common Sense, Congress, Constitutional Amendment, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, covert, covert operations, Crackdown, crime, criminal, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Depletion, desert, Design, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Jobs, Dirty Politics, Disaster, Divest, DNA, DNR, Domestic Policy Failure, drill cuttings, Drinking Water, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, Elite, Emergency, Emergency Management Agency, Energy Information Administration, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, Farm Fields, Farmers, Farming, federal courts, Federal Government, FEMA, Formations, frack waste, Fracking, Fraud, freedom restrictions, Gas Companies, Genocide, Geography, Global, Global Dominance, Government-Run Mass Media, GPS, Greed, Halliburton, Health, Health problems, highways, home, Horizontal Fracking, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Inadequate, Indiana, Infrastructure, Intrusive, Invasion, Iowa, Jobs, Kentucky, Kids, Koch Brothers, Kyoto Protocol, Lakes, Lawsuits, Leak, Lies, liquid waste, Lobbyists, Local Government, Lost, Marcellus Gas Shale, Mass Surveillance, Massachusetts, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), Men, Mental Health, Mental Health Disorders, Mental Stability, mentally ill, Methane, Michigan, middle class, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi River, Money, Money Laundering, Monopolization, moratorium, Murder, Natural Gas, Nebraska, New England, New World Order, New York, nightmare, Nutrient Depletion, Obama, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Occupy, Occupy Movement, Ohio, Oil, Oil Companies, Oklahoma, One World Government, operations, Pandemic, Parents, penalties, Pennsylvania, Petitions, Photos, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Police, Police State, Political Activists, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Population Control, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Presidential Elections, Problems, Psyops, PTSD, public health hazard, Radiation, Radium 226, Radon, residents, Resistance, restrictions, Rhode Island, Rivers, roads, Runoff, Safe Drinking Water Act, Safety, Safety Violations, Sand Fracking, Scandal, Science, Scientific Evidence, Security, Security Breach, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, Shelter, Silica, Special Interests, Spying, State Government, State of Emergency, Sterilization, Storage Ponds, Streams, Structural Support, Super-PACS, Surveillance, Surveillance Cameras, Tar Sands, Technology, Tennessee, Texas, Tracking, training, Transportation, travel, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Dollars, U.S. electric power grid, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, Victims, Video, Violation, Voters, Washington D.C., Wastewater, Water, Water Pollution, Wealthy, welfare, Well Water, West Virginia, WHO, Women, World Health Organization (WHO), Wyoming
Hagy family, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania
02-27-2013 Ecowatch
Laurel Peltier
In 1989, Dusty and Tamera Hagy bought 81 rural acres in Jackson County, West Virginia. Twenty-one years later, the Hagys sued four natural gas drilling firms alleging the natural gas wells drilled on their property in 2008 contaminated their drinking water and caused physical harm.
The Hagys’ water contamination lawsuit demonstrates how the natural gas industry has built a near-perfect “federal legal exemption’s framework” that when combined with lax or absent state regulations and the legal system’s high costs, inherently approves of citizen collateral damage with no restitution.
The consequence of this framework is that the burden of proof is placed on plaintiffs who, at best, are forced to settle with natural gas companies, thereby sealing the case from public scrutiny, scientific examination and legal precedence. Because the Hagys didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement with the natural gas companies involved, their legal case gives the public a rare window into how fracking lawsuits play out in reality.
Natural gas is a critical resource. Fifty percent of American residences use natural gas. Natural gas is seen by some as a bridge fuel essential to the U.S.’s strategy to gain energy independence from foreign oil imports. Yet we must ask ourselves: Is the current fracking system one we should support? Are changes needed to level the playing field for all parties involved in fracking? Can fracking be done safely?
The land man cometh
Dusty and Tamera Hagy unwittingly fell into the fracking trap the day they bought their land in 1989. “We loved our 81-acre property, it was our life. We had paid off the mortgage and spent a lot of money fixing the place up. We raised our two boys there, buried our animals there and were planning to give our boys some property,” said Dusty Hagy.
Mineral rights, fracking chemicals and natural gas federal environmental laws were all Greek to the Hagy family before a pleasant Equitable Production Company representative visited the couple in October 2007.
Equitable Production Company’s representative informed the Hagys that four natural gas wells were soon to be drilled on their property about 1,000 feet up the hill from their home.
In West Virginia, surface land ownership is separate from mineral rights. Mineral rights are the portion of the profits received from minerals extracted from land. Another party owns the Hagy property’s mineral rights which were granted hundreds of years ago. The Hagy family receives no gas royalties and didn’t sign a formal gas leasing contract, though, they did sign plenty of “papers” believing they did not have a choice.
Fracking starts – trucks, noise, explosions, and chemicals
On Nov. 11, 2007, trucks, back hoes, tree cutters and workers converged on the Hagy property uphill and upstream from their home. Equitable outsourced the drilling to BJ Services and for the next six months the holler, or enclosed valley, was flattened for a six-acre natural gas well pad.
Tamera Hagy describes life during the drilling and fracking: “It was nothing like what I had expected. This was a huge operation that lasted day and night for eight months. Trucks went up and down the road 24/7. The smell of fumes would make you sick. One night we heard something like a giant drill bit drilling and vibrating under our house.”
Dusty visited the well pad often and learned from the job crew that this fracking job wasn’t going smoothly. One worker mentioned that they had hit a lake of water and were moving the rig. Another worker shared in this audio tape #3 how the cement casing “went bad” and was re-cemented. Of the four open and lined fracking wastewater ponds, one overflowed and later broke, spilling the fracking wastewater into the nearby creek that flows from the well pad past the Hagy family’s home. In March 2008, Dusty noticed that another fracking pond’s wastewater was emptied by hose into the woods. After finding foam and oil slicks in the creek next to their well, and then when their large pond turned green, the Hagys knew something wasn’t right.
Dusty lodged a formal complaint with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Nov. 17, 2008. DEP records reveal a gas inspector visited the site at the well’s completion and issued no violations. DEP records also reveal the three natural gas wells began producing gas in July 2008 and the wells today continue to produce about 3,000 m.c.f. of gas per month.
Be careful what you sign
As Dusty describes the Equitable representative, “We liked him, and he was a nice enough guy in the beginning and we believed everything he told us at face value.” Equitable said the natural gas drilling was simple and would cause minimal damage on 1.5 acres. When Dusty asked if fracking used anything dangerous, they were told that only water and sand were used, no chemicals were ever mentioned. A water test prior to drilling supported the Hagy’s belief that their water well was clean and safe.
On Oct. 22, 2007, Equitable paid the Hagys $19,000 to cover surface damages to their land and trees because building a well pad trashes the landscape. “I believed the Equitable guy when he said the check was just for surface damages. My property was valued at nearly $200,000. It was stupid to sign that paper, I should have gotten a lawyer,” explained Dusty. Because the well pads used more than the original 1.5 acres, Equitable paid the couple another $10,000 for damage on an additional four acres.
Later in 2008, Dusty learned the papers they had signed to receive the payments were actually damage release contracts attempting to exempt Equitable, and all drilling providers, from any and all damages associated with the drilling. “Other than shooting the family dog, this ‘contract’ covered near everything,” said Dusty Hagy.
Family gets sick—headaches, rashes and vomiting
The family drank, bathed and cooked with their well water from November 2007 to November 2008 during the gas well drilling and fracking. Ironically, the Hagy family had boasted about their pristine well water and even after their adult sons moved out, the boys brought jugs of well water back to their homes.
The Hagys began to notice changes to their water in early 2008. Their water volume was dropping and the water’s color changed from clear to brown. Often black particles were floating in water drawn from their well. Despite overwhelming evidence otherwise, Equitable never reported any issues that would impact the Hagys’ well water.
Adding to the changing water quality, both Dusty and Tamera said they were oddly tired, and woke up with “bad headaches, like a hangover.” Both smelled an “acid” odor in the house and their eyes would burn in certain rooms.
The Hagys didn’t put “two plus two together” until their youngest son went to his family doctor in Columbus, Ohio in October 2008. Their son had complained of nausea and was spitting up blood. His doctor treated him for acid reflux, a disorder he’d never experienced before, and suggested he stop drinking his parent’s well water. The son’s symptoms disappeared soon after he discontinued drinking his parent’s well water.
Tamera Hagy developed a rash that her primary care physician diagnosed as contact dermatitis, a skin inflammation caused by a foreign source. Expert medical testimony in court documents reveal the Hagys’ health symptoms mirrored chemical exposure.
Water tests reveal drinking water was bad and Hagys vacate property
Based on their complaints, Equitable re-tested the Hagy water well on Nov. 8, 2008 and their water had clearly changed. The turbidity, or murkiness, was six times greater post drilling (0.5 to 3.2) and iron, manganese and calcium levels increased significantly (Dusty replaced one hot water heater during this time due to calcium build-up).
Water tests conducted later also revealed arsenic, lead, barium and Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, an organic compound linked to fracking wastewater. The radon levels of the Hagy well were 1,233 pCi/l with the maximum contaminant level set at 300. When those radon levels were compared to area wells, the Hagy’s radon in their drinking water was markedly higher than eight local U.S. Geologic Survey wells in the area.
However, the water tests conducted before and after drilling were limited and included no tests for known fracking chemicals or volatile organic compounds.
In November 2008, Equitable told the couple, “the water was bad” and to stop drinking the well water and the company began supplying bottled drinking water.
On Jan. 13, 2009, Dusty and Tamera vacated their home and have never moved back. “We thought we were going to die,” said Dusty Hagy.
Relations with Equitable were getting tense; Dusty even began recording phone conversations. Repeated requests for a list of the chemicals used in fracking went unanswered.
Equitable admits “your water’s been affected because of our drilling process.”
Dusty Hagy assumed Equitable would fix the water issue based on phone conversations (audio tape #1) with his Equitable representative who stated on the phone:
“ … for whatever reason the water’s been affected because of our drilling process. But the horizontal portion of it I don’t think had anything to do with it. Something we did had something to do with it. We have done something to the water, and no one was doubting that, but it wasn’t the horizontal part. I’m not doubtin’ that fact and I don’t think anybody’s doubtin’ that, the horizontal portion wouldn’t affect it.”
Equitable offered to drill a new water well which the family declined because they believed the aquifer itself was contaminated. This belief stemmed from a neighbor’s claim that 30 of his animals had died in 2008 during the gas drilling. Plus, Equitable tied any restitution to the couple signing an non-disclosure agreement, or gag order, meant to silence the Hagys and negate any future claims.
Hagy family sues drilling firms
As this phone conversation (audio tape #3) with Equitable reveals, once the family sought legal representation in March 2009, all contact with Equitable stopped. Bottled water deliveries and hotel payments stopped. While the couple searched for a rental home, they lived in their un-heated camper. On a positive note, once they vacated their home, their negative health symptoms dissipated.
The Hagys sued Equitable Production Company, BJ Well, Halliburton and Warren Drilling in October 2009. In short, even with the taped calls, drilling records, photos, videos and water tests, the Hagys’ lawsuit was “dismissed” in August 2012. Judge Goodwin’s opinion stated, “The case presents no genuine issue of materials fact for a jury to determine.” The lawsuit is in the appeals process and the litigation costs to date are $175,000.
How does this happen?
Though the Hagys’ lawsuit appears to provide evidence of water contamination, their dismissed lawsuit supports the claim, “There are no known cases of drinking water contamination from fracking,” often touted by pro-fracking groups.
This claim isn’t true, at least 4 confirmed cases of water contamination exist:
1987 Parson’s Family, W. Virginia — Outcome: settled.
2011 Paradise Road, Bradford County, PA — Outcome: settled.
2012 Fiorentino vs. Cabot Oil, Dimock, PA — Outcome: settled.
2012 PA. DEP, Bradford County, PA — Outcome: settled.
Why so few confirmed cases and no case tried before a jury?
More than 40,000 shale gas wells have been drilled since 1996 and at least 825 serious fracking complaints have been lodged, yet only 40 fracking lawsuits have been filed. To date, a jury has never heard a fracking lawsuit.
The answer:
The natural gas industry is regulated on a state-by-state basis because of the federal legal exemptions granted to the industry.
Predatory, private contracts signed between firms and individuals favor gas companies.
The U.S. legal system’s high litigation costs dissuade lawsuits.
How the “the Big 7” exemptions play out in reality
The natural gas industry is exempted from seven major federal environmental laws. These laws in their simplest forms are intended to protect people, places, water and air. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tasked with enforcing these laws. Because the natural gas industry isn’t regulated by the U.S. EPA at the federal level because of the legal exemptions, natural gas drilling is regulated on a state-by-state basis.
The chart below outlines the seven federal environmental laws exemptions, with many exemptions dating back decades.
http://ecowatch.org/2013/loopholes-shield-fracking-industry/
The latest three exemptions were strategically written into the 1,500 page Energy Policy Act of 2005 and are now infamously named the “Halliburton loophole.” These three short paragraphs focused on eliminating water pollution oversight and also eliminated the strict environmental reviews that federal projects must undertake.
When these exemptions are combined, the benefits to natural gas industry are: no federal EPA oversight therefore pushing fracking regulation to the state level, no scientific testing, no environmental studies, no health and geologic studies and no liabilities for drillers of chemical releases into waterways and air.
The 2005 Energy Policy Act’s strategy was to provide the U.S. with “an abundant, domestic and affordable sources of fuel.” Since 2005, the gas industry has been unhampered by federal regulations and the newer shale gas drilling has grown quickly; U.S. natural gas from shale reserves has grown from one percent to 35 percent of the U.S. supply. This new supply of 8.5 trillion cubic feet of gas has forced natural gas prices down by 50 percent, even spurring coal-based electrical plants to convert to natural gas.
The coffin nail: Toxic Release Inventory exemption
The least known exemption though, the 1986 Toxic Release Inventory of Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, may offer the natural gas industry the biggest shield from liabilities and the greatest obstacle for parties alleging fracking water contamination.
In response to the Bopal, India disaster, when Union Carbide released a harmful gas into an urban area which killed more than 20,000 people, Congress required industries to list harmful chemicals on the Toxic Release Inventory to the EPA. The EPA collects and then disseminates that information to the public and local governments.
Yet, oil and gas companies were exempted from the Toxic Release Inventory, therefore chemical disclosure is different for each of the 29 fracking states. To boot, shale gas production, or fracking, is concentrated in relatively gas-friendly states: Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, West Virginia, Colorado and North Dakota, listed in order of gas production volume.
According to an in-depth National Resources Defense Council report which compares today’s hodgepodge of state-level fracking regulations, no state requires full chemical disclosure. Even new regulations in Texas, the largest shale gas producer, require chemical reporting but do not require “proprietary” chemicals to be listed which can account for 50 percent of the chemicals used in one fracking. The report also concludes that state reporting is inconsistent and significant portions of data are missing altogether.
Adding to the lack of chemical disclosure, only two states (West Virginia and Colorado) inform residents about new wells before drilling. This means that in 27 states, residents are not notified of new drilling, making it impossible to conduct comprehensive (and expensive) water testing before the drilling.
How exemptions play out in the law-can you prove what you drank?
In 2007, Equitable wasn’t legally required to disclose the chemicals used in the fracking, therefore no doctor, no person or group knew what chemicals to test for or what caused the foam in the creek, the color changes in the pond or the compromised water well.
Though water tests revealed the Hagy property drinking water had changed since the drilling had occurred, the tests were not apples-to-apples comparisons. During the lawsuit’s evidence discovery process, the natural gas firms finally furnished the list of chemical used on the Hagy property which verified the fracking chemicals used weren’t “just water and sand,” as quoted by the Equitable contact.
The absence of verifiable chemical data is displayed in Judge Goodwin’s opinion and order to grant a motion for Summary Judgement, which in layman’s terms means the Hagy lawsuit was dismissed. The burden of chemical exposure proof was placed on the plaintiffs, “to demonstrate amount, duration, intensity and frequency of chemical exposure.” A catch-22.
Gas leases and contracts: The devil’s in the fine print
Adding to the chemical disclosure catch-22 is that most gas leases heavily favor natural gas drillers. In 2011, The New York Times analyzed more than 110,000 shale gas leases and concluded; over half of gas leases provide landowners no restitution in the event of harm, most exclude any explanation of potential harm and a majority of leases include automatic contract extensions that require no landowner approval. Natural gas wells can produce for decades and gas lease contracts can be automatically renewed in perpetuity. Many leases include clauses mandating that damage disputes be heard in arbitration outside of the legal system.
The door-to-door leasing agents who represent gas drillers, a.k.a. landmen, are tasked with getting natural gas leases signed by landowners. Feedback from many landowners is that landmen are very persuasive, personable and often mis-represent facts. These revealing talking points pages were reportedly found by a Ohio homeowner who had been visited by a West Bay Exploration’s leasing agent. The talking points, marked confidential, give sales agents advice to, “not talk about the anti-fracking documentary Gasland, to not discuss chemicals or fracking and to speed up the lease signing before people think about the drilling.”
Many natural gas leases border on predatory in nature as it appears the gas leasing process relies on the ignorance of rural, landowners to enter into binding, private contracts with natural gas drillers.
The Hagys claim they were absolutely unaware they had signed a damage release waiver, twice even. “The Equitable representative sat right on my porch and said the cash was a small payment for the trees and land damage. It wasn’t until November 2008 that I even found out I supposedly had signed away any rights,” said Dusty.
These two damage release forms inadvertently signed by the Hagys have reared their ugly heads during the lawsuit process as another reason Equitable and BJ Services claim they are not liable for any water, health or property damage; the companies claim the Hagys signed away any rights to liabilities and restitution.
Suing a gas company—expensive and grueling
“Fracking has been the tragedy of the commons—freedom to a common, brings ruin to all,” according to Maxwell Kennerly, a trial lawyer at The Beasley firm in Philadelphia. Legally it’s been impossible for plaintiffs to precisely pinpoint exactly what happened underground or link exact chemicals to a situation when those chemicals aren’t divulged and the drilling process isn’t accessible. Any lawyer taking these cases has to be prepared to put their own money and resources on the line to be a trailblazer.”
The first legal team hired by the Hagy family in 2009 dropped the Hagys’ case one year later. During that year the family lost valuable time in conducting water tests and gathering evidence. Their current lawyer, Kevin Thompson, of the Law Offices of Thompson Barney in Charleston, West Virginia, has taken the case on a contingency fee basis. The Hagy family has paid no out-of-pocket expenses. The lawsuit’s litigation costs to date top $175,000.
Lastly, there is an emotional toll for using our legal system to get restitution; it’s a grueling process according to Dusty Hagy. “It’s been hell. For over two years, we’ve been reliving this awful experience. In the back-of-our-minds we realize this may be all for nothing. My wife and I feel we had our most important asset stolen from us, the drinking water that makes our property a place to live, not just 81 acres for animals. It feels like the whole system is stacked against us.”
Where are the Hagys?
Interestingly, the Hagys and 70 of their neighbors who live on a 5-mile stretch of Sugar Creek Road have petitioned Southern Jackson County Public Services to extend public water service to their homes at cost of $2 million. The project is on an 5-year waiting list and there is no guarantee it will ever be completed. According to Karl Vielhaber, general manager for the Southern Jackson County Public Service, the property owners have petitioned for municipal water because most claim their water wells are contaminated from gas drilling. Most of the homeowners haul water to their homes from a coin operated water source.
Dusty and Tamera have moved to a new property with a mortgage, and they still own their vacated property. Equitable’s three natural gas wells still produce gas today and may for years on the Hagys’ vacant property.
The winners and losers
A clear winner in fracking so far is natural gas industry. Fracking cases settled out-of-court provide critical benefits for the gas industry because the settlements include “gag orders” so that injured parties can not discuss the case and its contents. Financially, settlements reduce liabilities for natural gas firms by eliminating unpredictable jury awards. More importantly, settlements help the industry maintain their public relation’s campaign to the media, elected officials, the financial industry and the American consumer that natural gas drilling is clean and safe.
American consumers are also winners in the fracking story. According to the Energy Information Administration, residential gas prices are about 50 percent less than the 2008 natural gas price peak.
Fracking’s losers are the private landowners who have been negatively impacted by fracking and may or may not have received proper restitution. Collectively, the public loses as closed settlements shut down any learning, studies or analysis needed to create uniform industry best practices and build legal precedence for future cases.
Based on evidence and public pressure, Congress finally approved the U.S. EPA to conduct scientific fracking studies. The final study will be available for peer and public review December 2014.
Fracking regulations are slowly developing. The Obama Administration announced federal regulations mandating methane capturing at well sites. State legislatures are slowly developing new rules with Pennsylvania creating some of the toughest legislation over wastewater recycling and charging per well fees to pay for damages. But, as the Center for Energy Economics and Policy’s website and National Resourced Defense Council report illustrate, fracking regulation is complicated and convoluted.
Stories like this can often leave readers with an uneasy question: “What can I do?” Hear are a few ideas.
Contact your federal and state elected officials. Your state elected officials are key as fracking is exempt from federal regulation and it seems Washington is struggling to make any changes with pretty much anything. Sending a quick email to your state delegates and senator with a link to this post takes 30 seconds and alerts your elected officials that fracking is on your radar screen. Make your opinion on the current process known.
Choose a fracking group from below that matches your point of view and sign-up for their newsletters. Add them to your twitter feed or friend on facebook to keep abreast of new regulations and issues. If you’re a Flipboarder, add fracking to your list.
The groups below often include easy “call-to-actions” where your voice can be heard. Interestingly, all but a few people in these groups and grassroots organizations are volunteers.
Maryland: Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Choose Clean Water and Maryland’s Food & Water Watch
Pennsylvania: Protecting our Waters, Susquehanna Riverkeepers and Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air
West Virginia: Frackcheck WV and West Virginia Surface Owner’s Rights Organization
New York: Damascus Citizens for Sustainability
Mid-Atlantic and National: Food & Water Watch, Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council andEnvironmental Working Group
If you’re interested in reading the natural gas industry’s point of view, Energy in Depth is their policy and communications group.
All photos taken by Dusty Hagy except the photo and story below is from the West Virginia Surface owner’s Right’s Organization.
Source: http://ecowatch.org/2013/loopholes-shield-fracking-industry/
The DOW Will Come Crashing Down!
Posted by John Loeffler in "The Greatest Depression", .0001% Elite, 99.999% of the World, abuse, Addiction, America, American, Americans, Assistance, Bankruptcy, Banks, Bilderberg Group, Billionaires, Bribery, Careers, CEOs, Chairman, Chief, Children, China, Citizens United, Civil War, Class Warfare, Common Sense, Congress, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, covert, covert operations, Crackdown, crime, criminal, Crooked, curfew, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Department of Homeland Security, Depletion, Depression, desert, Design, Destruction, Detention, DHS, Dictator, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Politics, Disaster, DNR, Domestic Policy Failure, Double-Dip Recession, DOW, Dow Jones, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, Elite, Emergency, Emergency Management Agency, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, FBI, FDA, FDA Czar, federal courts, Federal Government, Federal Reserve, FEMA, Fraud, freedom restrictions, Gas Companies, Genocide, Geography, Global, Global Dominance, Gold, Government-Run Mass Media, Great Britain, Greatest Depression, Greed, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Inadequate, Infrastructure, Insider Trading, Intrusive, Invasion, Kids, Koch Brothers, Leak, Lies, Lobbyists, Local Government, Lost, Major Banks, Martial Law, Mass Surveillance, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Mega-Banks, Mental Health, Mental Stability, Michael Taylor, middle class, military, military exercises, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Money, Money Laundering, Monopolization, Monsanto, Murder, National Defense Authorization Act, National Guard, NATO Allies, Natural Gas, NDAA, New World Order, nightmare, Obama, Oil, Oil Companies, One World Government, operations, Orwellian, Pandemic, Poisoning, Police, Police State, Political Activists, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Population Control, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Privacy, Problems, Psyops, public health hazard, Recession, residents, Resistance, restrictions, Russia, S&P 500, Safety, Safety Violations, Scandal, Security, Security Breach, Seeding, Seeds, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, soldiers, Special Interests, Spying, State Government, State of Emergency, Stock Market, Super-PACS, Surveillance, Tar Sands, Technology, Totalitarian, Tracking, troops, tyranny, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Dollars, U.S. electric power grid, U.S. Gold Reserves, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. military, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, urban warfare, USDA, Victims, Video, Violation, Violence, Voters, Wall St., War, Wars, Washington D.C., Wealthy, Weapons
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed closer to its recently set all-time high with a close on Friday, February 22, 2013 at 14,000.57
This facade will not last much longer! The amount of “insider trading” going on is so big that Google’s own CEO sold off 42% of his total portfolio – all Google shares! Market analysts on the inside track are sounding alarm bells, so that certainly cannot be good! Talks of ‘major’ “corrections,” otherwise known as “crashes,” are growing in intensity and numbers. Europe is falling apart including our close ally England, and countries like Spain, Italy and France are bankrupt! Last week, Spain begged for another bailout, but the EU, at Germany’s nudging, said “NO!” “We don’t have the funds to prop you up” were supposedly uttered. The U.S. economy is not any better!
Our GDP, or Gross Domestic Product, dropped last month. The last time it dropped the market hemorrhaged. It’s one leading indicator of where our economy is really at, and a helpful warning of a possible and substantial drop in the Dow and all other markets across the globe. Unfortunately, what goes up so far (and the Dow will likely peak high one more time before it crashes and burns) must come down to equally sustain a balance. Here’s the problem though.
The U.S. Government has been fudging its economic books for far too long. “Cooking the books” as the old adage goes! You can only make crap up for so long before it over-spills into the general public. That process is just barely beginning, but it has begun. Americans want to know the truth from their leaders, but the web of deception is so twisted and tangled that citizens are unlikely to hear the full truth of what is really going on?
We are mostly adults. We can handle the lies, mass corruption, the raping of the middle class along with the poor class, again. But, listening requires too much effort these days! Americans are interesting. We have been brainwashed into having the attention spans of gnats, so we forget about the really urgent issues our country faces thanks to the CEOs, big banks and mega-corporations running our U.S. Government and running the U.S. into a brick wall with reinforced steel and concrete! The U.S. economy will come to a complete standstill after it collapses and/or China and Russia flip the switch and completely stop buying up U.S. dollars and debt. THEN, we will have no other choice to pay attention, because it will be a matter of life and death. Our dependence on oil, our addiction to it, has made it very hard to stop our govt. from gobbling up the world’s natural resources like a cocaine addict following a white line! After all, oil makes up most of what consumers buy these days, from a toothbrush to a car tire. We passed the peak, finite fossil fuel oil’s maximum output for the rest of earth’s existence back in 2008. Saudi Arabia is running low on oil now, because we consume such massive quantities of it. They had 25% of the world’s oil. We could use a little oil or lube right now.
The historical collapse of the U.S. markets and the economy is going to happen. It’s inevitable that the false economic security bubble that we are living in is going to burst which will cause a massively painful slide into a negative abyss. Worst of all, we may not have the resources to just jump-start the burnt out motor of the U.S. economy. Buy seeds, and not Monsanto’s GMOs! Buy organic. You’ll be planting your own food in the near future!
Tell Your Senator “No More Dirty Mining!”
Posted by John Loeffler in .0001% Elite, 99.999% of the World, abuse, Addiction, Agriculture, Alabama, America, American, Americans, Animals, appeal, Aquifer, Arkansas, Assistance, ban, Bilderberg Group, Bill Gates, Billionaires, Bribery, Cancer, Cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, Careers, CEOs, Chairman, Chemicals, Chief, Children, Class Warfare, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Clean Water Act, Colorado, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Common Sense, Congress, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, covert, covert operations, Crackdown, crime, criminal, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Depletion, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Jobs, Dirty Politics, Disaster, Divest, DNR, Domestic Policy Failure, Drinking Water, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, Elite, Emergency, Emergency Management Agency, Energy Information Administration, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, Farm Fields, Farmers, Farming, FDA, FDA Czar, Federal Government, FEMA, frack waste, Fracking, Fraud, Genocide, Geography, Geothermal Energy, Global, Global Dominance, Government-Run Mass Media, Greed, Halliburton, Health, Health problems, highways, home, Horizontal Fracking, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Hydro-electric Power, Inadequate, Indiana, Infrastructure, Intrusive, Invasion, Invest, Iowa, Jobs, Kentucky, Kids, Koch Brothers, Kyoto Protocol, Lakes, Lawsuits, Leak, Lies, liquid waste, Lobbyists, Local Government, Lost, Marcellus Gas Shale, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), Melinda Gates, Men, Mental Health, Mental Health Disorders, Methane, Michigan, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Minnesota, Mississippi, Mississippi River, Money, Monopolization, moratorium, Natural Gas, Nebraska, New England, New World Order, New York, nightmare, Obama, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Occupy, Occupy Movement, Ohio, Oil, Oil Companies, Oklahoma, One World Government, operations, Pandemic, Parents, Pennsylvania, Petitions, Photos, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Police State, Political Activists, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Population Control, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Problems, Psyops, public health hazard, Radiation, Radium 226, Radon, Renewable Energy Source, residents, Resistance, restrictions, Rivers, roads, Rock, Runoff, Safe Drinking Water Act, Safety, Safety Violations, Sand Fracking, Scandal, Science, Scientific Evidence, Security, Security Breach, Senator Ron Johnson, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, Silica, Solar Cells, Solar Energy, Solar Power, Solutions, Special Interests, State Government, State of Emergency, Storage Ponds, Streams, Structural Support, Super-PACS, Tar Sands, Technology, Tennessee, Texas, Tracking, training, Transportation, travel, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Dollars, U.S. electric power grid, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, Victims, Violation, Voters, Wall St., Washington D.C., Wastewater, Water, Water Pollution, Water Power, Wealthy, Well Water, West Virginia, WHO, Wind Power, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Women, World Health Organization (WHO), Wyoming
America, Americans, Animals, catastrophic, Creeks, Deadly, Divest, Energy, environment, environmental disaster, EPA, Geothermal, Global Warming, Humans, Hydro-electric, Improper, Invest, Iron, Lakes, Lethal, Local Government, Minerals, Mining, Moral, Ore, Overflow, poisonous, Policy, pollution, Regulation, Renewable Energy, Rivers, Runoff, Senator Cullen, Solar, Standards, State Government, State Governors, Streams, Tipping Point, Toxic, U.S., U.S. Government, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Unhealthy, Wind, Wisconsin, workers, Worthless
I live in the beautiful state of Wisconsin, with the exception of the bone-chilling cold during January and February! One of my state’s senators sent me a letter informing me that, in short, mining here can be done safely with minimal environmental impact.
There is no such thing as “safe mining!” The two words when put together are polar opposites of each other. I like my idea better, so I emailed it off to him! You can do the same with all of your state’s elected officials, including your governor, by sending them a clear, resounding message that it is (way past) time to divest from dirty, finite energy and invest in cheaper, clean, renewable energy starting today! Our climate is screaming for help, and we can no longer let our legislators promote their hidden, greed-laden agendas!
Here is a copy of a brief letter that I just sent off to Senator Cullen:
Dear Senator Cullen:
There is no need for mining of any kind in the great state of Wisconsin where I was born and raised! Mining for finite, dirty energy sources is dangerous, unhealthy to the workers, and unhealthy to the rest of Wisconsinites, since there is always pollution runoff or overflow. This runoff or overflow is NOT properly regulated by the EPA or its WI branch!
We have a vested interest to divest from dirty energy and invest in clean, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro-electric and geothermal power. Our environment desperately needs this in order to avert catastrophic weather changes that are steadily increasing in numbers and intensity! For the sake of humanity and its future generations, please take mining off of Wisconsin’s energy table! We deserve better, cheaper energy alternatives, and most importantly, so do our children!
Please email your representatives today!
U.S. Senate: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
U.S. House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/representatives/
State Governors: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Governors.shtml
What’s The Secret? Industry’s Fracking Fluids Exposed!
Posted by John Loeffler in abuse, America, Animals, Aquifer, ban, Billionaires, Bribery, Cameras, Cancer, Cancer-causing, Carcinogenic, Careers, CEOs, Chairman, Chemicals, Class Warfare, Classified, Clean Air Act, Clean Energy Act, Committee On Energy And Commerce, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Common Sense, Congress, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, crime, criminal, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, D.C., dangerous, Deception, Depletion, Design, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Dirty Politics, Disaster, DNA, DNR, Domestic Policy Failure, drill cuttings, Drinking, Drinking Water, Earth, Economics, Economy, Education, EIA, Elite, Emergency, Emergency Management Agency, Energy Information Administration, Environment, environmental disaster, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Epidemic, Exposure, Extinction, extreme, extreme measures, Extremely Dangerous, Failing Education, Failure, Failures, Farm Fields, Farmers, Farming, Federal Government, FEMA, Formations, frack waste, Fracking, Fraud, Gas Companies, Geography, Global, Global Dominance, Government-Run Mass Media, GPS, Greed, Halliburton, Health, Health problems, Horizontal Fracking, House of Representatives, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Inadequate, Infrastructure, Intrusive, Invasion, Jobs, Lakes, Lawsuits, Leak, Lies, Lobbyists, Local Government, Lost, Marcellus Gas Shale, Mass Media, Mass Surveillance, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), Mental Health, Mental Health Disorders, Methane, Millionaires, Minerals, Mining, Money, Monopolization, moratorium, Natural Gas, New World Order, New York Times, nightmare, Obama, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Occupy, Occupy Movement, Oil, Oil Companies, One World Government, operations, Pandemic, penalties, Pennsylvania, Petitions, Photos, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Political Activists, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Poor, Power, power abuse, Power-hungry, President Barack Obama, Problems, public health hazard, Radiation, Radium 226, Radon, residents, Resistance, restrictions, Rivers, Rock, Runoff, Safe Drinking Water Act, Safety, Safety Violations, Scandal, Science, Scientific Evidence, Security, Security Breach, Shale, Shale Gas Exploration, Silica, Special Interests, State Government, State of Emergency, Storage Ponds, Streams, Super-PACS, Surveillance, Surveillance Cameras, Technology, Texas, Tracking, Transportation, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Dollars, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, U.S. President, U.S. Senate, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, Unclassified, Unconstitutional, Uneducated, United States, Unlawful, unnecessary, Victims, Violation, Voters, Washington D.C., Wastewater, Water, Water Pollution, Wealthy, Well Water, World Health Organization (WHO)
Fluids, fracking, Industry, Report, secret, Uncovered
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MINORITY STAFF
CHEMICALS USED IN HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
PREPARED BY COMMITTEE STAFF FOR:
Henry A. Waxman – Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Commerce
Edward J. Markey – Ranking Member Committee on Natural Resources
Diana DeGette – Ranking Member Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………….1
II. BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………………………………2
III. METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………….4
IV. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING FLUIDS AND THEIR CONTENTS…..5
A. Commonly Used Chemical Components…………………………………………..6
B. Toxic Chemicals………………………………………………………………………..8
V. USE OF PROPRIETARY AND “TRADE SECRET” CHEMICALS…..11
VI. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………….12
APPENDIX A……………………………………………………………………………………………13
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hydraulic fracturing has helped to expand natural gas production in the United States,
unlocking large natural gas supplies in shale and other unconventional formations across the
country. As a result of hydraulic fracturing and advances in horizontal drilling technology,
natural gas production in 2010 reached the highest level in decades. According to new estimates by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States possesses natural gas resources sufficient to supply the United States for approximately 110 years.
As the use of hydraulic fracturing has grown, so have concerns about its environmental
and public health impacts. One concern is that hydraulic fracturing fluids used to fracture rock
formations contain numerous chemicals that could harm human health and the environment,
especially if they enter drinking water supplies. The opposition of many oil and gas companies
to public disclosure of the chemicals they use has compounded this concern.
Last Congress, the Committee on Energy and Commerce launched an investigation to
examine the practice of hydraulic fracturing in the United States. As part of that inquiry, the
Committee asked the 14 leading oil and gas service companies to disclose the types and volumes of the hydraulic fracturing products they used in their fluids between 2005 and 2009 and the chemical contents of those products. This report summarizes the information provided to the Committee.
Between 2005 and 2009, the 14 oil and gas service companies used more than 2,500
hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 chemicals and other components. Overall, these
companies used 780 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products – not including water added
at the well site – between 2005 and 2009.
Some of the components used in the hydraulic fracturing products were common and
generally harmless, such as salt and citric acid. Some were unexpected, such as instant coffee
and walnut hulls. And some were extremely toxic, such as benzene and lead. Appendix A lists
each of the 750 chemicals and other components used in hydraulic fracturing products between
2005 and 2009.
The most widely used chemical in hydraulic fracturing during this time period, as
measured by the number of compounds containing the chemical, was methanol. Methanol,
which was used in 342 hydraulic fracturing products, is a hazardous air pollutant and is on the
candidate list for potential regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some of the other
most widely used chemicals were isopropyl alcohol (used in 274 products), 2-butoxyethanol
(used in 126 products), and ethylene glycol (used in 119 products).
Between 2005 and 2009, the oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing
products containing 29 chemicals that are (1) known or possible human carcinogens, (2)
regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health, or (3) listed as
hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These 29 chemicals were components of more
than 650 different products used in hydraulic fracturing.
The BTEX compounds – benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene – appeared in 60 of
the hydraulic fracturing products used between 2005 and 2009. Each BTEX compound is a
regulated contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act and a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Benzene also is a known human carcinogen. The hydraulic fracturing companies injected 11.4 million gallons of products containing at least one BTEX chemical over the five year period.
In many instances, the oil and gas service companies were unable to provide the
Committee with a complete chemical makeup of the hydraulic fracturing fluids they used.
Between 2005 and 2009, the companies used 94 million gallons of 279 products that contained at least one chemical or component that the manufacturers deemed proprietary or a trade secret. Committee staff requested that these companies disclose this proprietary information. Although some companies did provide information about these proprietary fluids, in most cases the companies stated that they did not have access to proprietary information about products they purchased “off the shelf” from chemical suppliers. In these cases, the companies are injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.
II. BACKGROUND
Hydraulic fracturing – a method by which oil and gas service companies provide access
to domestic energy trapped in hard-to-reach geologic formations — has been the subject of both enthusiasm and increasing environmental and health concerns in recent years. Hydraulic
fracturing, used in combination with horizontal drilling, has allowed industry to access natural
gas reserves previously considered uneconomical, particularly in shale formations. As a result of
the growing use of hydraulic fracturing, natural gas production in the United States reached
21,577 billion cubic feet in 2010, a level not achieved since a period of high natural gas
production between 1970 and 1974.1 Overall, the Energy Information Administration now
projects that the United States possesses 2,552 trillion cubic feet of potential natural gas
resources, enough to supply the United States for approximately 110 years. Natural gas from
shale resources accounts for 827 trillion cubic feet of this total, which is more than double what
the EIA estimated just a year ago.
Hydraulic fracturing creates access to more natural gas supplies, but the process requires
the use of large quantities of water and fracturing fluids, which are injected underground at high
volumes and pressure. Oil and gas service companies design fracturing fluids to create fractures and transport sand or other granular substances to prop open the fractures. The composition of these fluids varies by formation, ranging from a simple mixture of water and sand to more complex mixtures with a multitude of chemical additives. The companies may use these
[1 Energy Information Administration (EIA), Natural Gas Monthly (Mar. 2011), Table 1, U.S. Natural Gas Monthly Supply and Disposition Balance (online at www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9070us1A.htm) (accessed Mar. 30, 2011).
2 EIA, Annual Energy Outlook 2011 Early Release (Dec. 16, 2010); EIA, What is shale
gas and why is it important? (online at http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/about_shale_gas.cfm)
(accessed Mar. 30, 2011).]
chemical additives to thicken or thin the fluids, improve the flow of the fluid, or kill bacteria that can reduce fracturing performance. Some of these chemicals, if not disposed of safely or allowed to leach into the drinking water supply, could damage the environment or pose a risk to human health. During hydraulic fracturing, fluids containing chemicals are injected deep underground, where their migration is not entirely predictable. Well failures, such as the use of insufficient well casing, could lead to their release at shallower depths, closer to drinking water supplies. Although some fracturing fluids are removed from the well at the end of the fracturing process, a substantial amount remains underground.
While most underground injections of chemicals are subject to the protections of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA), Congress in 2005 modified the law to exclude “the underground
injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing
operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities” from the Act’s protections.6
Unless oil and gas service companies use diesel in the hydraulic fracturing process, the
permanent underground injection of chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing is not regulated by
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Concerns also have been raised about the ultimate outcome of chemicals that are
recovered and disposed of as wastewater. This wastewater is stored in tanks or pits at the well
site, where spills are possible. For final disposal, well operators must either recycle the fluids
for use in future fracturing jobs, inject it into underground storage wells (which, unlike the
fracturing process itself, are subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act), discharge it to nearby
surface water, or transport it to wastewater treatment facilities. A recent report in the New York
[U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources
of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs (June 2004) (EPA
816-R-04-003) at 4-1 and 4-2.
For instance, Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection has cited Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation for contamination of drinking water wells with seepage caused by weak casing or improper cementing of a natural gas well. See Officials in Three States Pin Water Woes on Gas Drilling, ProPublica (Apr. 26, 2009) (online at www.propublica.org/article/officials-in-three-states-pin-water-woes-on-gas-drilling-426) (accessed Mar. 24, 2011).
John A. Veil, Argonne National Laboratory, Water Management Technologies Used by
Marcellus Shale Gas Producers, prepared for the Department of Energy (July 2010), at 13
(hereinafter “Water Management Technologies”).
42 U.S.C. § 300h(d). Many dubbed this provision the “Halliburton loophole” because
of Halliburton’s ties to then-Vice President Cheney and its role as one of the largest providers of
hydraulic fracturing services. See The Halliburton Loophole, New York Times (Nov. 9. 2009).
See EPA, Draft Hydraulic Fracturing Study Plan (Feb. 7, 2011), at 37; Regulation Lax
as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers, New York Times (Feb. 26, 2011).
Water Management Technologies, at 13.]
Times raised questions about the safety of surface water discharge and the ability of water
treatment facilities to process wastewater from natural gas drilling operations.
Any risk to the environment and human health posed by fracturing fluids depends in large
part on their contents. Federal law, however, contains no public disclosure requirements for oil
and gas producers or service companies involved in hydraulic fracturing, and state disclosure
requirements vary greatly. While the industry has recently announced that it soon will create a
public database of fluid components, reporting to this database is strictly voluntary, disclosure
will not include the chemical identity of products labeled as proprietary, and there is no way to
determine if companies are accurately reporting information for all wells.
The absence of a minimum national baseline for disclosure of fluids injected during the
hydraulic fracturing process and the exemption of most hydraulic fracturing injections from
regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act has left an informational void concerning the
contents, chemical concentrations, and volumes of fluids that go into the ground during
fracturing operations and return to the surface in the form of wastewater. As a result, regulators
and the public are unable effectively to assess any impact the use of these fluids may have on the environment or public health.
III. METHODOLOGY
On February 18, 2010, the Committee commenced an investigation into the practice of hydraulic fracturing and its potential impact on water quality across the United States. This investigation built on work begun by Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman in 2007 as Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The Committee initially sent letters to eight oil and gas service companies engaged in hydraulic fracturing in the United States. In May 2010, the Committee sent letters to six additional oil and gas service companies to assess a
[Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers, New York Times (Feb. 26, 2011).
Wyoming, for example, recently enacted relatively strong disclosure regulations,
requiring disclosure on a well-by-well basis and “for each stage of the well stimulation
program,” “the chemical additives, compounds and concentrations or rates proposed to be mixed and injected.” See WCWR 055-000-003 Sec. 45. Similar regulations became effective in
Arkansas this year. See Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission Rule B-19. In Wyoming, much of
this information is, after an initial period of review, available to the public. See WCWR 055-
000-003 Sec. 21. Other states, however, do not insist on such robust disclosure. For instance,
West Virginia has no disclosure requirements for hydraulic fracturing and expressly exempts
fluids used during hydraulic fracturing from the disclosure requirements applicable to
underground injection of fluids for purposes of waste storage. See W. Va. Code St. R. § 34-5-7.
See Ground Water Protection Council Calls for Disclosure of Chemicals Used in Shale
Gas Exploration, Ground Water Protection Council (Oct. 5, 2010) (online at
http://www.wqpmag.com/Ground-Water-Protection-Council-Calls-for-Disclosure-of-Chemicals-in-
Shale-Gas-Exploration-newsPiece21700) (accessed Mar. 24, 2011).]
broader range of industry practices. The February and May letters requested information on
the type and volume of chemicals present in the hydraulic fracturing products that each company used in their fluids between 2005 and 2009.
The 14 oil and gas service companies that received the letter voluntarily provided
substantial information to the Committee. As requested, the companies reported the names and
volumes of the products they used during the five-year period. For each hydraulic fracturing
product reported, the companies also provided a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) detailing
the product’s chemical components. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) requires chemical manufacturers to create a MSDS for every product they sell as a
means to communicate potential health and safety hazards to employees and employers. The
MSDS must list all hazardous ingredients if they comprise at least 1% of the product; for
carcinogens, the reporting threshold is 0.1%.
Under OSHA regulations, manufacturers may withhold the identity of chemical
components that constitute “trade secrets.” If the MSDS for a particular product used by a
company subject to the Committee’s investigation reported that the identity of any chemical
component was a trade secret, the Committee asked the company that used that product to
provide the proprietary information, if available.
IV. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING FLUIDS AND THEIR CONTENTS
companies used 780 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products in their fluids between 2005
and 2009. This volume does not include water that the companies added to the fluids at the well
site before injection. The products are comprised of a wide range of chemicals. Some are
seemingly harmless like sodium chloride (salt), gelatin, and citric acid. Others could pose a
severe risk to human health or the environment.
[The Committee sent letters to Basic Energy Services, BJ Services, Calfrac Well
Services, Complete Production Services, Frac Tech Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services,
RPC, Sanjel Corporation, Schlumberger, Superior Well Services, Trican Well Service, Universal
Well Services, and Weatherford.
BJ Services, Halliburton, and Schlumberger already had provided the Oversight
Committee with data for 2005 through 2007. For BJ Services, the 2005-2007 data is limited to
natural gas wells. For Schlumberger, the 2005-2007 data is limited to coalbed methane wells.
29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2)(i)(C)(1).
29 CFR 1910.1200.
Each hydraulic fracturing “product” is a mixture of chemicals or other components
designed to achieve a certain performance goal, such as increasing the viscosity of water. Some
oil and gas service companies create their own products; most purchase these products from
chemical vendors. The service companies then mix these products together at the well site to
formulate the hydraulic fracturing fluids that they pump underground.]
Some of the components were surprising. One company told the Committee that it used
instant coffee as one of the components in a fluid designed to inhibit acid corrosion. Two
companies reported using walnut hulls as part of a breaker—a product used to degrade the
fracturing fluid viscosity, which helps to enhance post-fracturing fluid recovery. Another
company reported using carbohydrates as a breaker. One company used tallow soap—soap
made from beef, sheep, or other animals—to reduce loss of fracturing fluid into the exposed
rock.
Appendix A lists each of the 750 chemicals and other components used in the hydraulic
fracturing products injected underground between 2005 and 2009.
A. Commonly Used Chemical Components
measured by the number of products containing the chemical, was methanol. Methanol is a
hazardous air pollutant and a candidate for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It was
a component in 342 hydraulic fracturing products. Some of the other most widely used
chemicals include isopropyl alcohol, which was used in 274 products, and ethylene glycol, which
was used in 119 products. Crystalline silica (silicon dioxide) appeared in 207 products, generally
proppants used to hold open fractures. Table 1 has a list of the most commonly used compounds in hydraulic fracturing fluids.
Table 1. Chemical Components Appearing Most Often in Hydraulic Fracturing Products Used Between 2005 and 2009:
Chemical Component & No. of Products Containing Chemical
Methanol (Methyl alcohol) = 342
Isopropanol (Isopropyl alcohol, Propan-2-ol) = 274
Crystalline silica – quartz (SiO2) = 207
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (2-butoxyethanol) = 126
Ethylene glycol (1,2-ethanediol) = 119
Hydrotreated light petroleum distillates = 89
Sodium hydroxide (Caustic soda) = 80
Hydraulic fracturing companies used 2-butoxyethanol (2-BE) as a foaming agent or
surfactant in 126 products. According to EPA scientists, 2-BE is easily absorbed and rapidly
distributed in humans following inhalation, ingestion, or dermal exposure. Studies have shown
that exposure to 2-BE can cause hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells) and damage to the
spleen, liver, and bone marrow. The hydraulic fracturing companies injected 21.9 million
gallons of products containing 2-BE between 2005 and 2009. They used the highest volume of
products containing 2-BE in Texas, which accounted for more than half of the volume used.
EPA recently found this chemical in drinking water wells tested in Pavillion, Wyoming. Table
2 shows the use of 2-BE by state.
Table 2. States with the Highest Volume of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Containing
2-Butoxyethanol (2005-2009):
State & Fluid Volume (gallons)
Texas = 12,031,734
Oklahoma = 2,186,613
New Mexico = 1,871,501
Colorado = 1,147,614
Louisiana = 890,068
Pennsylvania = 747,416
West Virginia = 464,231
Utah = 382,874
Montana = 362,497
Arkansas = 348,959
[EPA, Toxicological Review of Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether (Mar. 2010) at 4.
EPA, Fact Sheet: January 2010 Sampling Results and Site Update, Pavillion,
Wyoming Groundwater Investigation (Aug. 2010) (online at
http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/PavillionWyomingFactSheet.pdf) (accessed Mar.
1, 2011).]
B. Toxic Chemicals
The oil and gas service companies used hydraulic fracturing products containing 29
chemicals that are (1) known or possible human carcinogens, (2) regulated under the Safe
Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health, or (3) listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. These 29 chemicals were components of 652 different products used in hydraulic fracturing. Table 3 lists these toxic chemicals and their frequency of use.
Table 3. Chemicals Components of Concern: Carcinogens, SDWA-Regulated
Chemicals, and Hazardous Air Pollutants
Chemical Component, Chemical Category & No. of Products
Methanol (Methyl alcohol) – HAP = 342
Ethylene glycol (1,2-ethanediol) – HAP = 119
Diesel19 – Carcinogen,SDWA,HAP = 51
Naphthalene – Carcinogen,HAP = 44
Xylene – SDWA,HAP = 44
Hydrogen chloride (Hydrochloric acid) – HAP = 42
Toluene – SDWA,HAP = 29
Ethylbenzene – SDWA,HAP = 28
Diethanolamine (2,2-iminodiethanol) – HAP = 14
Formaldehyde – Carcinogen,HAP = 12
Sulfuric acid – Carcinogen = 9
Thiourea – Carcinogen = 9
Benzyl chloride – Carcinogen,HAP = 8
Cumene – HAP = 6
Nitrilotriacetic acid – Carcinogen = 6
Dimethyl formamide – HAP = 5
Phenol – HAP = 5
Benzene – Carcinogen,SDWA,HAP = 3
Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate -Carcinogen,SDWA,HAP = 3
Acrylamide – Carcinogen,SDWA,HAP = 2
Hydrogen fluoride (Hydrofluoric acid) – HAP = 2
Phthalic anhydride – HAP = 2
Acetaldehyde – Carcinogen,HAP = 1
Acetophenone – HAP = 1
Copper – SDWA = 1
Ethylene oxide – Carcinogen,HAP = 1
Lead – Carcinogen,SDWA,HAP = 1
Propylene oxide – Carcinogen,HAP = 1
p-Xylene – HAP = 1
*Number of Products Containing a Component of Concern = 652
According to EPA, diesel contains benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. See
EPA, Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic
Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs (June 2004) (EPA 816-R-04-003) at 4-11.
1. Carcinogens
Between 2005 and 2009, the hydraulic fracturing companies used 95 products containing
13 different carcinogens. These included naphthalene (a possible human carcinogen), benzene (a known human carcinogen), and acrylamide (a probable human carcinogen). Overall, these companies injected 10.2 million gallons of fracturing products containing at least one carcinogen. The companies used the highest volume of fluids containing one or more
carcinogens in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Table 4 shows the use of these chemicals by
Table 4. States with at Least 100,000 Gallons of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Containing a Carcinogen (2005-2009)
Texas 3,877,273
Colorado 1,544,388
Oklahoma 1,098,746
Louisiana 777,945
Wyoming 759,898
North Dakota 557,519
New Mexico 511,186
Montana 394,873
Utah 382,338
2. Safe Drinking Water Act Chemicals
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA regulates 53 chemicals that may have an
adverse effect on human health and are known to or likely to occur in public drinking water
systems at levels of public health concern. Between 2005 and 2009, the hydraulic fracturing
companies used 67 products containing at least one of eight SDWA-regulated chemicals.
Overall, they injected 11.7 million gallons of fracturing products containing at least one chemical
regulated under SDWA. Most of these chemicals were injected in Texas. Table 5 shows the use
of these chemicals by state.
For purposes of this report, a chemical is considered a “carcinogen” if it is on one of
two lists: (1) substances identified by the National Toxicology Program as “known to be human
carcinogens” or as “reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens”; and (2) substances
identified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health
Organization, as “carcinogenic” or “probably carcinogenic” to humans. See U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program, Report on
Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition (Jan. 31, 2005) and World Health Organization, International
Agency for Research on Cancer, Agents Classified by the IARC Monographs (online at
http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/index.php) (accessed Feb. 28, 2011).
The vast majority of these SDWA-regulated chemicals were the BTEX compounds –
benzene, toluene, xylene, and ethylbenzene. The BTEX compounds appeared in 60 hydraulic
fracturing products used between 2005 and 2009 and were used in 11.4 million gallons of
hydraulic fracturing fluids. The Department of Health and Human Services, the International
Agency for Research on Cancer, and EPA have determined that benzene is a human
carcinogen. Chronic exposure to toluene, ethylbenzene, or xylenes also can damage the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys.
Table 5. States with at Least 100,000 Gallons of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Containing a SDWA-Regulated Chemical (2005-2009)
New Mexico 1,157,721
Colorado 375,817
Oklahoma 202,562
Mississippi 108,809
In addition, the hydraulic fracturing companies injected more than 30 million gallons of
diesel fuel or hydraulic fracturing fluids containing diesel fuel in wells in 19 states. In a 2004
report, EPA stated that the “use of diesel fuel in fracturing fluids poses the greatest threat” to
underground sources of drinking water. Diesel fuel contains toxic constituents, including
BTEX compounds. EPA also has created a Candidate Contaminant List (CCL), which is a list of
contaminants that are currently not subject to national primary drinking water regulations but are
known or anticipated to occur in public water systems and may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act in the future. Nine chemicals on that list—1-butanol, acetaldehyde, benzyl
[U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry, Public Health Statement for Benzene (Aug. 2007).
EPA, Basic Information about Toluene in Drinking Water, Basic Information about
Ethylbenzene in Drinking Water, and Basic Information about Xylenes in Drinking Water (online
at http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/index.cfm) (accessed Oct. 14,
Letter from Reps. Henry A. Waxman, Edward J. Markey, and Diana DeGette to the
Honorable Lisa Jackson, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Jan. 31, 2011).
EPA, Contaminant Candidate List 3 (online at http://water.epa.gov/scitech/drinkingwater/dws/ccl/ccl3.cfm) (accessed Mar. 31, 2011).
chloride, ethylene glycol, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, methanol, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, and
propylene oxide—were used in hydraulic fracturing products between 2005 and 2009.
3. Hazardous Air Pollutants
The Clean Air Act requires EPA to control the emission of 187 hazardous air pollutants,
which are pollutants that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as
reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental and ecological effects. Between
2005 and 2009, the hydraulic fracturing companies used 595 products containing 24 different
hazardous air pollutants.
Hydrogen fluoride is a hazardous air pollutant that is a highly corrosive and systemic
poison that causes severe and sometimes delayed health effects due to deep tissue penetration. Absorption of substantial amounts of hydrogen fluoride by any route may be fatal. One of the hydraulic fracturing companies used 67,222 gallons of two products containing hydrogen fluoride in 2008 and 2009.
Lead is a hazardous air pollutant that is a heavy metal that is particularly harmful to
children’s neurological development. It also can cause health problems in adults, including
reproductive problems, high blood pressure, and nerve disorders. One of the hydraulic
fracturing companies used 780 gallons of a product containing lead in this five-year period.
Methanol is the hazardous air pollutant that appeared most often in hydraulic fracturing
products. Other hazardous air pollutants used in hydraulic fracturing fluids included
formaldehyde, hydrogen chloride, and ethylene glycol.
V. USE OF PROPRIETARY AND “TRADE SECRET” CHEMICALS
Many chemical components of hydraulic fracturing fluids used by the companies were
listed on the MSDSs as “proprietary” or “trade secret.” The hydraulic fracturing companies used
93.6 million gallons of 279 products containing at least one proprietary component between 2005 and 2009.
[Clean Air Act Section 112(b), 42 U.S.C. § 7412.
HHS, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Medical Management
Guidelines for Hydrogen Fluoride (online at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mhmi/mmg11.pdf) (accessed
Mar. 24, 2011).
EPA, Basic Information about Lead (online at http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadinfo.htm)
(accessed Mar. 30, 2011).
This is likely a conservative estimate. We included only those products for which the
MSDS says “proprietary” or “trade secret” instead of listing a component by name or providing
the CAS number. If the MSDS listed a component’s CAS as N.A. or left it blank, we did not
count that as a trade secret claim, unless the company specified as such in follow-up
correspondence.]
The Committee requested that these companies disclose this proprietary information.
Although a few companies were able to provide additional information to the Committee about
some of the fracturing products, in most cases the companies stated that they did not have access to proprietary information about products they purchased “off the shelf” from chemical
suppliers. The proprietary information belongs to the suppliers, not the users of the chemicals.
Universal Well Services, for example, told the Committee that it “obtains hydraulic
fracturing products from third-party manufacturers, and to the extent not publicly disclosed,
product composition is proprietary to the respective vendor and not to the Company.
Complete Production Services noted that the company always uses fluids from third-party
suppliers who provide an MSDS for each product. Complete confirmed that it is “not aware of
any circumstances in which the vendors who provided the products have disclosed this
proprietary information” to the company, further noting that “such information is highly
proprietary for these vendors, and would not generally be disclosed to service providers” like
Complete. Key Energy Services similarly stated that it “generally does not have access to the
trade secret information as a purchaser of the chemical(s). Trican also told the Committee that
it has limited knowledge of “off the shelf” products purchased from a chemical distributor or
manufacturer, noting that “Trican does not have any information in its possession about the
components of such products beyond what the distributor of each product provided Trican in the
MSDS sheet.
In these cases, it appears that the companies are injecting fluids containing unknown
chemicals about which they may have limited understanding of the potential risks posed to
human health and the environment.
Hydraulic fracturing has opened access to vast domestic reserves of natural gas that could
provide an important stepping stone to a clean energy future. Yet questions about the safety of
hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals
used in hydraulic fracturing fluids. This analysis is the most comprehensive national assessment
to date of the types and volumes of chemical used in the hydraulic fracturing process. It shows
that between 2005 and 2009, the 14 leading hydraulic fracturing companies in the United States
used over 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products containing 750 compounds. More than 650 of
these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated
under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or listed as hazardous air pollutants.
[Letter from Reginald J. Brown to Henry A. Waxman, Chairman, Committee on Energy
and Commerce, and Edward J. Markey, Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
(Apr. 16, 2010).
Letter from Philip Perry to Henry A. Waxman, Chairman, Committee Energy and
Commerce, and Edward J. Markey, Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment (Aug.
6, 2010).
E-mail from Peter Spivack to Committee Staff (Aug. 5, 2010).
E-mail from Lee Blalack to Committee Staff (July 29, 2010).
Appendix A. Chemical Components of Hydraulic Fracturing Products, 2005-2009
Chemical Component, Chemical Abstract Service Number & No. of Products Containing
1-(1-naphthylmethyl)quinolinium chloride 65322-65-8 1
1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid, 2-hydroxy-, trisodium salt, dihydrate 6132-04-3 1
1,2,3-trimethylbenzene 526-73-8 1
1,2,4-trimethylbenzene 95-63-6 21
1,2-benzisothiazol-3 2634-33-5 1
1,2-dibromo-2,4-dicyanobutane 35691-65-7 1
1,2-ethanediaminium, N, N’-bis[2-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methylammonio]ethyl]-N,N’-
bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N’-dimethyl-,tetrachloride 138879-94-4 2
1,6-hexanediamine dihydrochloride 6055-52-3 1
1,8-diamino-3,6-dioxaoctane 929-59-9 1
1-hexanol 111-27-3 1
1-methoxy-2-propanol 107-98-2 3
2,2`-azobis (2-amidopropane) dihydrochloride 2997-92-4 1
2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide 10222-01-2 27
2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulphonic acid sodium salt polymer * 1
2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol 52-51-7 4
2-butanone oxime 96-29-7 1
2-hydroxypropionic acid 79-33-4 2
2-mercaptoethanol (Thioglycol) 60-24-2 13
2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one 2682-20-4 4
2-monobromo-3-nitrilopropionamide 1113-55-9 1
2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid 37971-36-1 2
2-phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid, potassium salt 93858-78-7 1
2-substituted aromatic amine salt * 1
4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone 80-08-0 3
5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one 26172-55-4 5
Acetaldehyde 75-07-0 1
Acetic acid 64-19-7 56
Acetic anhydride 108-24-7 7
Acetone 67-64-1 3
Acetophenone 98-86-2 1
Acetylenic alcohol * 1
Acetyltriethyl citrate 77-89-4 1
Acrylamide 79-06-1 2
Acrylamide copolymer * 1
Acrylamide copolymer 38193-60-1 1
To compile this list of chemicals, Committee staff reviewed each Material Safety Data
Sheet provided to the Committee for hydraulic fracturing products used between 2005 and 2009. Committee staff transcribed the names and CAS numbers as written in the MSDSs; as such, any inaccuracies on this list reflect inaccuracies on the MSDSs themselves.
Acrylate copolymer * 1
Acrylic acid, 2-hydroxyethyl ester 818-61-1 1
Acrylic acid/2-acrylamido-methylpropylsulfonic acid copolymer 37350-42-8 1
Acrylic copolymer 403730-32-5 1
Acrylic polymers * 1
Acrylic polymers 26006-22-4 2
Acyclic hydrocarbon blend * 1
Adipic acid 124-04-9 6
Alcohol alkoxylate * 5
Alcohol ethoxylates * 2
Alcohols * 9
Alcohols, C11-15-secondary, ethoxylated 68131-40-8 1
Alcohols, C12-14-secondary 126950-60-5 4
Alcohols, C12-14-secondary, ethoxylated 84133-50-6 19
Alcohols, C12-15, ethoxylated 68131-39-5 2
Alcohols, C12-16, ethoxylated 103331-86-8 1
Alcohols, C9-11-iso-, C10-rich, ethoxylated 78330-20-8 4
Alcohols, C9-C22 * 1
Aldehyde * 4
Aldol 107-89-1 1
Alfa-Alumina * 5
Aliphatic acid * 1
Aliphatic alcohol polyglycol ether 68015-67-8 1
Aliphatic amine derivative 120086-58-0 2
Alkaline bromide salts * 2
Alkanes, C10-14 93924-07-3 2
Alkanes, C13-16-iso 68551-20-2 2
Alkanolamine 150-25-4 3
Alkanolamine chelate of zirconium alkoxide (Zirconium complex) 197980-53-3 4
Alkanolamine/aldehyde condensate * 1
Alkenes * 1
Alkenes, C>10 alpha- 64743-02-8 3
Alkenes, C>8 68411-00-7 2
Alkoxylated alcohols * 1
Alkoxylated amines * 6
Alkoxylated phenol formaldehyde resin 63428-92-2 1
Alkyaryl sulfonate * 1
Alkyl (C12-16) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 68424-85-1 7
Alkyl (C6-C12) alcohol, ethoxylated 68439-45-2 2
Alkyl (C9-11) alcohol, ethoxylated 68439-46-3 1
Alkyl alkoxylate * 9
Alkyl amine * 2
Alkyl amine blend in a metal salt solution * 1
Alkyl aryl amine sulfonate 255043-08-04 1
Alkyl benzenesulfonic acid 68584-22-5 2
Alkyl esters * 2
Alkyl hexanol * 1
Alkyl ortho phosphate ester * 1
Alkyl phosphate ester * 3
Alkyl quaternary ammonium chlorides * 4
Alkylaryl sulfonate * 1
Alkylaryl sulphonic acid 27176-93-9 1
Alkylated quaternary chloride * 5
Alkylbenzenesulfonic acid * 1
Alkylethoammonium sulfates * 1
Alkylphenol ethoxylates * 1
Almandite and pyrope garnet 1302-62-1 1
Aluminium isopropoxide 555-31-7 1
Aluminum 7429-90-5 2
Aluminum chloride * 3
Aluminum chloride 1327-41-9 2
Aluminum oxide (alpha-Alumina) 1344-28-1 24
Aluminum oxide silicate 12068-56-3 1
Aluminum silicate (mullite) 1302-76-7 38
Aluminum sulfate hydrate 10043-01-3 1
Amides, tallow, n-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl],n-oxides 68647-77-8 4
Amidoamine * 1
Amine * 7
Amine bisulfite 13427-63-9 1
Amine oxides * 1
Amine phosphonate * 3
Amine salt * 2
Amines, C14-18; C16-18-unsaturated, alkyl, ethoxylated 68155-39-5 1
Amines, coco alkyl, acetate 61790-57-6 3
Amines, polyethylenepoly-, ethoxylated, phosphonomethylated 68966-36-9 1
Amines, tallow alkyl, ethoxylated 61791-26-2 2
Amino compounds * 1
Amino methylene phosphonic acid salt * 1
Amino trimethylene phosphonic acid 6419-19-8 2
Ammonia 7664-41-7 7
Ammonium acetate 631-61-8 4
Ammonium alcohol ether sulfate 68037-05-8 1
Ammonium bicarbonate 1066-33-7 1
Ammonium bifluoride (Ammonium hydrogen difluoride) 1341-49-7 10
Ammonium bisulfate 7783-20-2 3
Ammonium bisulfite 10192-30-0 15
Ammonium C6-C10 alcohol ethoxysulfate 68187-17-7 4
Ammonium C8-C10 alkyl ether sulfate 68891-29-2 4
Ammonium chloride 12125-02-9 29
Ammonium fluoride 12125-01-8 9
Ammonium hydroxide 1336-21-6 4
Ammonium nitrate 6484-52-2 2
Ammonium persulfate (Diammonium peroxidisulfate) 7727-54-0 37
Ammonium salt * 1
Ammonium salt of ethoxylated alcohol sulfate * 1
Amorphous silica 99439-28-8 1
Amphoteric alkyl amine 61789-39-7 1
Anionic copolymer * 3
Anionic polyacrylamide * 1
Anionic polyacrylamide 25085-02-3 6
Anionic polyacrylamide copolymer * 3
Anionic polymer * 2
Anionic polymer in solution * 1
Anionic polymer, sodium salt 9003-04-7 1
Anionic water-soluble polymer * 2
Antifoulant * 1
Antimonate salt * 1
Antimony pentoxide 1314-60-9 2
Antimony potassium oxide 29638-69-5 4
Antimony trichloride 10025-91-9 2
a-organic surfactants 61790-29-8 1
Aromatic alcohol glycol ether * 2
Aromatic aldehyde * 2
Aromatic ketones 224635-63-6 2
Aromatic polyglycol ether * 1
Barium sulfate 7727-43-7 3
Bauxite 1318-16-7 16
Bentonite 1302-78-9 2
Benzene 71-43-2 3
Benzene, C10-16, alkyl derivatives 68648-87-3 1
Benzenecarboperoxoic acid, 1,1-dimethylethyl ester 614-45-9 1
Benzenemethanaminium 3844-45-9 1
Benzenesulfonic acid, C10-16-alkyl derivs., potassium salts 68584-27-0 1
Benzoic acid 65-85-0 11
Benzyl chloride 100-44-7 8
Biocide component * 3
Bis(1-methylethyl)naphthalenesulfonic acid, cyclohexylamine salt 68425-61-6 1
Bishexamethylenetriamine penta methylene phosphonic acid 35657-77-3 1
Bisphenol A/Epichlorohydrin resin 25068-38-6 5
Bisphenol A/Novolac epoxy resin 28906-96-9 1
Borate 12280-03-4 2
Borate salts * 5
Boric acid 10043-35-3 18
Boric acid, potassium salt 20786-60-1 1
Boric acid, sodium salt 1333-73-9 2
Boric oxide 1303-86-2 1
b-tricalcium phosphate 7758-87-4 1
Butanedioic acid 2373-38-8 4
Butanol 71-36-3 3
Butyl glycidyl ether 2426-08-6 5
Butyl lactate 138-22-7 4
C10-C16 ethoxylated alcohol 68002-97-1 4
C-11 to C-14 n-alkanes, mixed * 1
C12-C14 alcohol, ethoxylated 68439-50-9 3
Calcium carbonate 471-34-1 1
Calcium carbonate (Limestone) 1317-65-3 9
Calcium chloride 10043-52-4 17
Calcium chloride, dihydrate 10035-04-8 1
Calcium fluoride 7789-75-5 2
Calcium hydroxide 1305-62-0 9
Calcium hypochlorite 7778-54-3 1
Calcium oxide 1305-78-8 6
Calcium peroxide 1305-79-9 5
Carbohydrates * 3
Carbon dioxide 124-38-9 4
Carboxymethyl guar gum, sodium salt 39346-76-4 7
Carboxymethyl hydroxypropyl guar 68130-15-4 11
Cellophane 9005-81-6 2
Cellulase 9012-54-8 7
Cellulase enzyme * 1
Cellulose 9004-34-6 1
Cellulose derivative * 2
Chloromethylnaphthalene quinoline quaternary amine 15619-48-4 3
Chlorous ion solution * 2
Choline chloride 67-48-1 3
Chromates * 1
Chromium (iii) acetate 1066-30-4 1
Cinnamaldehyde (3-phenyl-2-propenal) 104-55-2 5
Citric acid (2-hydroxy-1,2,3 propanetricarboxylic acid) 77-92-9 29
Citrus terpenes 94266-47-4 11
Coal, granular 50815-10-6 1
Cobalt acetate 71-48-7 1
Cocaidopropyl betaine 61789-40-0 2
Cocamidopropylamine oxide 68155-09-9 1
Coco bis-(2-hydroxyethyl) amine oxide 61791-47-7 1
Cocoamidopropyl betaine 70851-07-9 1
Cocomidopropyl dimethylamine 68140-01-2 1
Coconut fatty acid diethanolamide 68603-42-9 1
Collagen (Gelatin) 9000-70-8 6
Complex alkylaryl polyo-ester * 1
Complex aluminum salt * 2
Complex organometallic salt * 2
Complex substituted keto-amine 143106-84-7 1
Complex substituted keto-amine hydrochloride * 1
Copolymer of acrylamide and sodium acrylate 25987-30-8 1
Copper 7440-50-8 1
Copper iodide 7681-65-4 1
Copper sulfate 7758-98-7 3
Corundum (Aluminum oxide) 1302-74-5 48
Crotonaldehyde 123-73-9 1
Crystalline silica – cristobalite 14464-46-1 44
Crystalline silica – quartz (SiO2) 14808-60-7 207
Crystalline silica, tridymite 15468-32-3 2
Cumene 98-82-8 6
Cupric chloride 7447-39-4 10
Cupric chloride dihydrate 10125-13-0 7
Cuprous chloride 7758-89-6 1
Cured acrylic resin * 7
Cured resin * 4
Cured silicone rubber-polydimethylsiloxane 63148-62-9 1
Cured urethane resin * 3
Cyclic alkanes * 1
Cyclohexane 110-82-7 1
Cyclohexanone 108-94-1 1
Decanol 112-30-1 2
Decyl-dimethyl amine oxide 2605-79-0 4
Dextrose monohydrate 50-99-7 1
D-Glucitol 50-70-4 1
Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate 117-81-7 3
Di (ethylene glycol) ethyl ether acetate 112-15-2 4
Diatomaceous earth 61790-53-2 3
Diatomaceous earth, calcined 91053-39-3 7
Dibromoacetonitrile 3252-43-5 1
Dibutylaminoethanol (2-dibutylaminoethanol) 102-81-8 4
Di-calcium silicate 10034-77-2 1
Dicarboxylic acid * 1
Didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride 7173-51-5 1
Diesel * 1
Diesel 68334-30-5 3
Diesel 68476-34-6 43
Diethanolamine (2,2-iminodiethanol) 111-42-2 14
Diethylbenzene 25340-17-4 1
Diethylene glycol 111-46-6 8
Diethylene glycol monomethyl ether 111-77-3 4
Diethylene triaminepenta (methylene phosphonic acid) 15827-60-8 1
Diethylenetriamine 111-40-0 2
Diethylenetriamine, tall oil fatty acids reaction product 61790-69-0 1
Diisopropylnaphthalenesulfonic acid 28757-00-8 2
Dimethyl formamide 68-12-2 5
Dimethyl glutarate 1119-40-0 1
Dimethyl silicone * 2
Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate 577-11-7 1
Dipropylene glycol 25265-71-8 1
Dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether (2-methoxymethylethoxy propanol) 34590-94-8 12
Di-secondary-butylphenol 53964-94-6 3
Disodium EDTA 139-33-3 1
Disodium ethylenediaminediacetate 38011-25-5 1
Disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate dihydrate 6381-92-6 1
Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate 12008-41-2 1
Dispersing agent * 1
d-Limonene 5989-27-5 11
Dodecyl alcohol ammonium sulfate 32612-48-9 2
Dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid 27176-87-0 14
Dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid salts 42615-29-2 2
Dodecylbenzenesulfonate isopropanolamine 42504-46-1 1
Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, monoethanolamine salt 26836-07-7 1
Dodecylbenzenesulphonic acid, morpholine salt 12068-08-5 1
EDTA/Copper chelate * 2
EO-C7-9-iso-, C8-rich alcohols 78330-19-5 5
Epichlorohydrin 25085-99-8 5
Epoxy resin * 5
Erucic amidopropyl dimethyl betaine 149879-98-1 3
Erythorbic acid 89-65-6 2
Essential oils * 6
Ethanaminium, n,n,n-trimethyl-2-[(1-oxo-2-propenyl)oxy]-,chloride, polymer with
2-propenamide 69418-26-4 4
Ethanol (Ethyl alcohol) 64-17-5 36
Ethanol, 2-(hydroxymethylamino)- 34375-28-5 1
Ethanol, 2, 2′-(Octadecylamino) bis- 10213-78-2 1
Ethanoldiglycine disodium salt 135-37-5 1
Ether salt 25446-78-0 2
Ethoxylated 4-nonylphenol (Nonyl phenol ethoxylate) 26027-38-3 9
Ethoxylated alcohol 104780-82-7 1
Ethoxylated alcohol 78330-21-9 2
Ethoxylated alcohols * 3
Ethoxylated alkyl amines * 1
Ethoxylated amine * 1
Ethoxylated amines 61791-44-4 1
Ethoxylated fatty acid ester * 1
Ethoxylated nonionic surfactant * 1
Ethoxylated nonyl phenol * 8
Ethoxylated nonyl phenol 68412-54-4 10
Ethoxylated nonyl phenol 9016-45-9 38
Ethoxylated octyl phenol 68987-90-6 1
Ethoxylated octyl phenol 9002-93-1 1
Ethoxylated oleyl amine 13127-82-7 2
Ethoxylated sorbitol esters * 1
Ethoxylated tridecyl alcohol phosphate 9046-01-9 2
Ethoxylated undecyl alcohol 127036-24-2 2
Ethyl acetate 141-78-6 4
Ethyl acetoacetate 141-97-9 1
Ethyl octynol (1-octyn-3-ol,4-ethyl-) 5877-42-9 5
Ethylbenzene 100-41-4 28
Ethylene glycol (1,2-ethanediol) 107-21-1 119
Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (2-butoxyethanol) 111-76-2 126
Ethylene oxide 75-21-8 1
Ethylene oxide-nonylphenol polymer * 1
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid 60-00-4 1
Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer 24937-78-8 1
Ethylhexanol (2-ethylhexanol) 104-76-7 18
Fatty acid ester * 1
Fatty acid, tall oil, hexa esters with sorbitol, ethoxylated 61790-90-7 1
Fatty acids * 1
Fatty alcohol alkoxylate * 1
Fatty alkyl amine salt * 1
Fatty amine carboxylates * 1
Fatty quaternary ammonium chloride 61789-68-2 1
Ferric chloride 7705-08-0 3
Ferric sulfate 10028-22-5 7
Ferrous sulfate, heptahydrate 7782-63-0 4
Fluoroaliphatic polymeric esters * 1
Formaldehyde 50-00-0 12
Formaldehyde polymer * 2
Formaldehyde, polymer with 4-(1,1-dimethyl)phenol, methyloxirane and oxirane 30704-64-4 3
Formaldehyde, polymer with 4-nonylphenol and oxirane 30846-35-6 1
Formaldehyde, polymer with ammonia and phenol 35297-54-2 2
Formamide 75-12-7 5
Formic acid 64-18-6 24
Fumaric acid 110-17-8 8
Furfural 98-01-1 1
Furfuryl alcohol 98-00-0 3
Glass fiber 65997-17-3 3
Gluconic acid 526-95-4 1
Glutaraldehyde 111-30-8 20
Glycerol (1,2,3-Propanetriol, Glycerine) 56-81-5 16
Glycol ethers * 9
Glycol ethers 9004-77-7 4
Glyoxal 107-22-2 3
Glyoxylic acid 298-12-4 1
Guar gum 9000-30-0 41
Guar gum derivative * 12
Haloalkyl heteropolycycle salt * 6
Heavy aromatic distillate 68132-00-3 1
Heavy aromatic petroleum naphtha 64742-94-5 45
Heavy catalytic reformed petroleum naphtha 64741-68-0 10
Hematite * 5
Hemicellulase 9025-56-3 2
Hexahydro-1,3,5-tris(2-hydroxyethyl)-s-triazine (Triazine) 4719-04-4 4
Hexamethylenetetramine 100-97-0 37
Hexanediamine 124-09-4 1
Hexanes * 1
Hexylene glycol 107-41-5 5
Hydrated aluminum silicate 1332-58-7 4
Hydrocarbon mixtures 8002-05-9 1
Hydrocarbons * 3
Hydrodesulfurized kerosine (petroleum) 64742-81-0 3
Hydrodesulfurized light catalytic cracked distillate (petroleum) 68333-25-5 1
Hydrodesulfurized middle distillate (petroleum) 64742-80-9 1
Hydrogen chloride (Hydrochloric acid) 7647-01-0 42
Hydrogen fluoride (Hydrofluoric acid) 7664-39-3 2
Hydrogen peroxide 7722-84-1 4
Hydrogen sulfide 7783-06-4 1
Hydrotreated and hydrocracked base oil * 2
Hydrotreated heavy naphthenic distillate 64742-52-5 3
Hydrotreated heavy paraffinic petroleum distillates 64742-54-7 1
Hydrotreated heavy petroleum naphtha 64742-48-9 7
Hydrotreated light petroleum distillates 64742-47-8 89
Hydrotreated middle petroleum distillates 64742-46-7 3
Hydroxyacetic acid (Glycolic acid) 79-14-1 6
Hydroxyethylcellulose 9004-62-0 1
Hydroxyethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid, trisodium salt 139-89-9 1
Hydroxylamine hydrochloride 5470-11-1 1
Hydroxypropyl guar gum 39421-75-5 2
Hydroxysultaine * 1
Inner salt of alkyl amines * 2
Inorganic borate * 3
Inorganic particulate * 1
Inorganic salt * 1
Inorganic salt 533-96-0 1
Inorganic salt 7446-70-0 1
Instant coffee purchased off the shelf * 1
Inulin, carboxymethyl ether, sodium salt 430439-54-6 1
Iron oxide 1332-37-2 2
Iron oxide (Ferric oxide) 1309-37-1 18
Iso amyl alcohol 123-51-3 1
Iso-alkanes/n-alkanes * 10
Isobutanol (Isobutyl alcohol) 78-83-1 4
Isomeric aromatic ammonium salt * 1
Isooctanol 26952-21-6 1
Isooctyl alcohol 68526-88-0 1
Isooctyl alcohol bottoms 68526-88-5 1
Isopropanol (Isopropyl alcohol, Propan-2-ol) 67-63-0 274
Isopropylamine 75-31-0 1
Isotridecanol, ethoxylated 9043-30-5 1
Kerosene 8008-20-6 13
Lactic acid 10326-41-7 1
Lactic acid 50-21-5 1
L-Dilactide 4511-42-6 1
Lead 7439-92-1 1
Light aromatic solvent naphtha 64742-95-6 11
Light catalytic cracked petroleum distillates 64741-59-9 1
Light naphtha distillate, hydrotreated 64742-53-6 1
Low toxicity base oils * 1
Maghemite * 2
Magnesium carbonate 546-93-0 1
Magnesium chloride 7786-30-3 4
Magnesium hydroxide 1309-42-8 4
Magnesium iron silicate 1317-71-1 3
Magnesium nitrate 10377-60-3 5
Magnesium oxide 1309-48-4 18
Magnesium peroxide 1335-26-8 2
Magnesium peroxide 14452-57-4 4
Magnesium phosphide 12057-74-8 1
Magnesium silicate 1343-88-0 3
Magnesium silicate hydrate (talc) 14807-96-6 2
Magnetite * 3
Medium aliphatic solvent petroleum naphtha 64742-88-7 10
Metal salt * 2
Metal salt solution * 1
Methanol (Methyl alcohol) 67-56-1 342
Methyl isobutyl carbinol (Methyl amyl alcohol) 108-11-2 3
Methyl salicylate 119-36-8 6
Methyl vinyl ketone 78-94-4 2
Methylcyclohexane 108-87-2 1
Mica 12001-26-2 3
Microcrystalline silica 1317-95-9 1
Mineral * 1
Mineral Filler * 1
Mineral spirits (stoddard solvent) 8052-41-3 2
Mixed titanium ortho ester complexes * 1
Modified alkane * 1
Modified cycloaliphatic amine adduct * 3
Modified lignosulfonate * 1
Monoethanolamine (Ethanolamine) 141-43-5 17
Monoethanolamine borate 26038-87-9 1
Morpholine 110-91-8 2
Mullite 1302-93-8 55
n,n-dibutylthiourea 109-46-6 1
N,N-dimethyl-1-octadecanamine-HCl * 1
N,N-dimethyloctadecylamine 124-28-7 3
N,N-dimethyloctadecylamine hydrochloride 1613-17-8 2
n,n’-Methylenebisacrylamide 110-26-9 1
n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 139-08-2 1
Naphthalene 91-20-3 44
Naphthalene derivatives * 1
Naphthalenesulphonic acid, bis (1-methylethyl)-methyl derivatives 99811-86-6 1
Natural asphalt 12002-43-6 1
n-cocoamidopropyl-n,n-dimethyl-n-2-hydroxypropylsulfobetaine 68139-30-0 1
n-dodecyl-2-pyrrolidone 2687-96-9 1
N-heptane 142-82-5 1
Nickel sulfate hexahydrate 10101-97-0 2
Nitrilotriacetamide 4862-18-4 4
Nitrilotriacetic acid 139-13-9 6
Nitrilotriacetonitrile 7327-60-8 3
Nitrogen 7727-37-9 9
n-Methylpyrrolidone 872-50-4 1
Nonane, all isomers * 1
Non-hazardous salt * 1
Nonionic surfactant * 1
Nonyl phenol ethoxylate * 2
Nonyl phenol ethoxylate 9016-45-6 2
Nonylphenol 25154-52-3 1
Nonylphenol, ethoxylated and sulfated 9081-17-8 1
N-propyl zirconate * 1
N-tallowalkyltrimethylenediamines * 1
Nuisance particulates * 2
Nylon fibers 25038-54-4 2
Octanol 111-87-5 2
Octyltrimethylammonium bromide 57-09-0 1
Olefinic sulfonate * 1
Olefins * 1
Organic acid salt * 3
Organic acids * 1
Organic phosphonate * 1
Organic phosphonate salts * 1
Organic phosphonic acid salts * 6
Organic salt * 1
Organic sulfur compound * 2
Organic titanate * 2
Organiophilic clay * 2
Organo-metallic ammonium complex * 1
Other inorganic compounds * 1
Oxirane, methyl-, polymer with oxirane, mono-C10-16-alkyl ethers, phosphates 68649-29-6 1
Oxyalkylated alcohol * 6
Oxyalkylated alcohols 228414-35-5 1
Oxyalkylated alkyl alcohol * 1
Oxyalkylated alkylphenol * 1
Oxyalkylated fatty acid * 2
Oxyalkylated phenol * 1
Oxyalkylated polyamine * 1
Oxylated alcohol * 1
Paraffin wax 8002-74-2 1
Paraffinic naphthenic solvent * 1
Paraffinic solvent * 5
Paraffins * 1
Perlite 93763-70-3 1
Petroleum distillates * 26
Petroleum distillates 64742-65-0 1
Petroleum gas oils * 1
Petroleum gas oils 64741-43-1 1
Phenol 108-95-2 5
Phenol-formaldehyde resin 9003-35-4 32
Phosphate ester * 6
Phosphate esters of alkyl phenyl ethoxylate 68412-53-3 1
Phosphine * 1
Phosphonic acid * 1
Phosphonic acid 129828-36-0 1
Phosphonic acid 13598-36-2 3
Phosphonic acid (dimethlamino(methylene)) 29712-30-9 1
Phosphonic acid, [nitrilotris(methylene)]tris-, pentasodium salt 2235-43-0 1
Phosphoric acid 7664-38-2 7
Phosphoric acid ammonium salt * 1
Phosphoric acid, mixed decyl, octyl and ethyl esters 68412-60-2 3
Phosphorous acid 10294-56-1 1
Phthalic anhydride 85-44-9 2
Pine oil 8002-09-3 5
Plasticizer * 1
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) 24938-91-8 1
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), alpha-(4-nonylphenyl)-omega-hydroxy-, branched
(Nonylphenol ethoxylate) 127087-87-0 3
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), alpha-hydro-omega-hydroxy 65545-80-4 1
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), alpha-sulfo-omega-(hexyloxy)-, ammonium salt 63428-86-4 3
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl),a-(nonylphenyl)-w-hydroxy-, phosphate 51811-79-1 1
Poly-(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)-alpha-undecyl-omega-hydroxy 34398-01-1 6
Poly(sodium-p-styrenesulfonate) 25704-18-1 1
Poly(vinyl alcohol) 25213-24-5 2
Polyacrylamides 9003-05-8 2
Polyacrylamides * 1
Polyacrylate * 1
Polyamine * 2
Polyanionic cellulose * 2
Polyepichlorohydrin, trimethylamine quaternized 51838-31-4 1
Polyetheramine 9046-10-0 3
Polyether-modified trisiloxane 27306-78-1 1
Polyethylene glycol 25322-68-3 20
Polyethylene glycol ester with tall oil fatty acid 9005-02-1 1
Polyethylene polyammonium salt 68603-67-8 2
Polyethylene-polypropylene glycol 9003-11-6 5
Polylactide resin * 3
Polyoxyalkylenes * 1
Polyoxyethylene castor oil 61791-12-6 1
Polyphosphoric acid, esters with triethanolamine, sodium salts 68131-72-6 1
Polypropylene glycol 25322-69-4 1
Polysaccharide * 20
Polyvinyl alcohol * 1
Polyvinyl alcohol 9002-89-5 2
Polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinylacetate copolymer * 1
Potassium acetate 127-08-2 1
Potassium carbonate 584-08-7 12
Potassium chloride 7447-40-7 29
Potassium formate 590-29-4 3
Potassium hydroxide 1310-58-3 25
Potassium iodide 7681-11-0 6
Potassium metaborate 13709-94-9 3
Potassium oxide 12136-45-7 1
Potassium pentaborate * 1
Potassium persulfate 7727-21-1 9
Propanol (Propyl alcohol) 71-23-8 18
Propanol, [2(2-methoxy-methylethoxy) methylethoxyl] 20324-33-8 1
Propargyl alcohol (2-propyn-1-ol) 107-19-7 46
Propylene carbonate (1,3-dioxolan-2-one, methyl-) 108-32-7 2
Propylene glycol (1,2-propanediol) 57-55-6 18
Propylene oxide 75-56-9 1
Propylene pentamer 15220-87-8 1
p-Xylene 106-42-3 1
Pyridinium, 1-(phenylmethyl)-, ethyl methyl derivatives, chlorides 68909-18-2 9
Pyrogenic silica 112945-52-5 3
Quaternary amine compounds * 3
Quaternary amine compounds 61789-18-2 1
Quaternary ammonium compounds * 9
Quaternary ammonium compounds 19277-88-4 1
Quaternary ammonium compounds 8030-78-2 1
Quaternary ammonium compounds, dicoco alkyldimethyl, chlorides 61789-77-3 2
Quaternary ammonium salts * 2
Quaternary compound * 1
Quaternary salt * 2
Quaternized alkyl nitrogenated compound 68391-11-7 2
Rafinnates (petroleum), sorption process 64741-85-1 2
Residues (petroleum), catalytic reformer fractionator 64741-67-9 10
Resin 8050-09-7 2
Rutile 1317-80-2 2
Salt of phosphate ester * 3
Salt of phosphono-methylated diamine * 1
Salts of oxyalkylated fatty amines 68551-33-7 1
Secondary alcohol * 7
Silica (Silicon dioxide) 7631-86-9 47
Silica, amorphous * 3
Silica, amorphous precipitated 67762-90-7 1
Silicon carboxylate 681-84-5 1
Silicon dioxide (Fused silica) 60676-86-0 7
Silicone emulsion * 1
Sodium (C14-16) olefin sulfonate 68439-57-6 4
Sodium 2-ethylhexyl sulfate 126-92-1 1
Sodium acetate 127-09-3 6
Sodium acid pyrophosphate 7758-16-9 5
Sodium alkyl diphenyl oxide sulfonate 28519-02-0 1
Sodium aluminate 1302-42-7 1
Sodium aluminum phosphate 7785-88-8 1
Sodium bicarbonate (Sodium hydrogen carbonate) 144-55-8 10
Sodium bisulfite 7631-90-5 6
Sodium bromate 7789-38-0 10
Sodium bromide 7647-15-6 1
Sodium carbonate 497-19-8 14
Sodium chlorate 7775-09-9 1
Sodium chloride 7647-14-5 48
Sodium chlorite 7758-19-2 8
Sodium cocaminopropionate 68608-68-4 2
Sodium diacetate 126-96-5 2
Sodium erythorbate 6381-77-7 4
Sodium glycolate 2836-32-0 2
Sodium hydroxide (Caustic soda) 1310-73-2 80
Sodium hypochlorite 7681-52-9 14
Sodium lauryl-ether sulfate 68891-38-3 3
Sodium metabisulfite 7681-57-4 1
Sodium metaborate 7775-19-1 2
Sodium metaborate tetrahydrate 35585-58-1 6
Sodium metasilicate, anhydrous 6834-92-0 2
Sodium nitrite 7632-00-0 1
Sodium oxide (Na2O) 1313-59-3 1
Sodium perborate 1113-47-9 1
Sodium perborate tetrahydrate 10486-00-7 4
Sodium persulfate 7775-27-1 6
Sodium phosphate * 2
Sodium polyphosphate 68915-31-1 1
Sodium salicylate 54-21-7 1
Sodium silicate 1344-09-8 2
Sodium sulfate 7757-82-6 7
Sodium tetraborate 1330-43-4 7
Sodium tetraborate decahydrate 1303-96-4 10
Sodium thiosulfate 7772-98-7 10
Sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate 10102-17-7 3
Sodium trichloroacetate 650-51-1 1
Sodium tripolyphosphate 7758-29-4 2
Sodium xylene sulfonate 1300-72-7 3
Sodium zirconium lactate 174206-15-6 1
Solvent refined heavy naphthenic petroleum distillates 64741-96-4 1
Sorbitan monooleate 1338-43-8 1
Stabilized aqueous chlorine dioxide 10049-04-4 1
Stannous chloride 7772-99-8 1
Stannous chloride dihydrate 10025-69-1 6
Starch 9005-25-8 5
Steam cracked distillate, cyclodiene dimer, dicyclopentadiene polymer 68131-87-3 1
Steam-cracked petroleum distillates 64742-91-2 6
Straight run middle petroleum distillates 64741-44-2 5
Substituted alcohol * 2
Substituted alkene * 1
Substituted alkylamine * 2
Sucrose 57-50-1 1
Sulfamic acid 5329-14-6 6
Sulfate * 1
Sulfonate acids * 1
Sulfonate surfactants * 1
Sulfonic acid salts * 1
Sulfonic acids, petroleum 61789-85-3 1
Sulfur compound * 1
Sulfuric acid 7664-93-9 9
Sulfuric acid, monodecyl ester, sodium salt 142-87-0 2
Sulfuric acid, monooctyl ester, sodium salt 142-31-4 2
Surfactants * 13
Sweetened middle distillate 64741-86-2 1
Synthetic organic polymer 9051-89-2 2
Tall oil (Fatty acids) 61790-12-3 4
Tall oil, compound with diethanolamine 68092-28-4 1
Tallow soap * 2
Tar bases, quinoline derivatives, benzyl chloride-quaternized 72480-70-7 5
Tergitol 68439-51-0 1
Terpene hydrocarbon byproducts 68956-56-9 3
Terpenes * 1
Terpenes and terpenoids, sweet orange-oil 68647-72-3 2
Terpineol 8000-41-7 1
Tert-butyl hydroperoxide 75-91-2 6
Tetra-calcium-alumino-ferrite 12068-35-8 1
Tetraethylene glycol 112-60-7 1
Tetraethylenepentamine 112-57-2 2
Tetrahydro-3,5-dimethyl-2H-1,3,5-thiadiazine-2-thione (Dazomet) 533-74-4 13
Tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium sulfate 55566-30-8 12
Tetramethyl ammonium chloride 75-57-0 14
Tetrasodium 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid 3794-83-0 1
Tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate 64-02-8 10
Thiocyanate sodium 540-72-7 1
Thioglycolic acid 68-11-1 6
Thiourea 62-56-6 9
Thiourea polymer 68527-49-1 3
Titanium complex * 1
Titanium oxide 13463-67-7 19
Titanium, isopropoxy (triethanolaminate) 74665-17-1 2
Toluene 108-88-3 29
Treated ammonium chloride (with anti-caking agent a or b) 12125-02-9 1
Tributyl tetradecyl phosphonium chloride 81741-28-8 5
Tri-calcium silicate 12168-85-3 1
Tridecyl alcohol 112-70-9 1
Triethanolamine (2,2,2-nitrilotriethanol) 102-71-6 21
Triethanolamine polyphosphate ester 68131-71-5 3
Triethanolamine titanate 36673-16-2 1
Triethanolamine zirconate 101033-44-7 6
Triethanolamine zirconium chelate * 1
Triethyl citrate 77-93-0 1
Triethyl phosphate 78-40-0 1
Triethylene glycol 112-27-6 3
Triisopropanolamine 122-20-3 5
Trimethylammonium chloride 593-81-7 1
Trimethylbenzene 25551-13-7 5
Trimethyloctadecylammonium (1-octadecanaminium, N,N,N-trimethyl-, chloride) 112-03-8 6
Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane 77-86-1 1
Trisodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate 150-38-9 1
Trisodium ethylenediaminetriacetate 19019-43-3 1
Trisodium nitrilotriacetate 18662-53-8 8
Trisodium nitrilotriacetate (Nitrilotriacetic acid, trisodium salt monohydrate) 5064-31-3 9
Trisodium ortho phosphate 7601-54-9 1
Trisodium phosphate dodecahydrate 10101-89-0 1
Ulexite 1319-33-1 1
Urea 57-13-6 3
Wall material * 1
Walnut hulls * 2
White mineral oil 8042-47-5 8
Xanthan gum 11138-66-2 6
Xylene 1330-20-7 44
Zinc chloride 7646-85-7 1
Zinc oxide 1314-13-2 2
Zirconium complex * 10
Zirconium dichloride oxide 7699-43-6 1
Zirconium oxide sulfate 62010-10-0 2
Zirconium sodium hydroxy lactate complex (Sodium zirconium lactate) 113184-20-6 2
* Components marked with an asterisk appeared on at least one MSDS without an identifying
CAS number. The MSDSs in these cases marked the CAS as proprietary, noted that the CAS was not available, or left the CAS field blank. Components marked with an asterisk may be
duplicative of other components on this list, but Committee staff have no way of identifying such
duplicates without the identifying CAS number.
Source: Report –
*Permanently Removed From Internet Search Engines
Fracking Hell: The Untold Story
Posted by John Loeffler in Animals, Carcinogenic, Contamination, Corporations, Corruption, Cover-up, crime, Crooked, Crystalline Silica, dangerous, Deception, Depletion, Destruction, Dirty Fossil Fuels, Disaster, drill cuttings, Earth, Economics, Economy, Environment, environmental disaster, EPA, Extremely Dangerous, Failure, Failures, frack waste, Fracking, Geography, Global, Global Dominance, Greed, Health, Health problems, Horizontal Fracking, Human Rights, Human Rights Violations, Hydraulic Fracking, Hydraulic Fracturing, Inadequate, Infrastructure, liquid waste, Lobbyists, Marcellus Gas Shale, Massive Corruption, Massive Fraud, Minerals, Mining, Money, moratorium, Natural Gas, New York, nightmare, Ohio, operations, Pennsylvania, Poisoning, Poisonous Chemicals, Poisonous Compounds, Politicians, Politics, Pollution, Power, Power-hungry, Problems, public health hazard, Radiation, Radium 226, Radon, Safety, Science, Scientific Evidence, Shale, Silica, Special Interests, State Government, Technology, Texas, Transportation, U.S., U.S. Citizens, U.S. Government, U.S. Government T.V. News Filtering, Unacceptable, Uncategorized, United States, Unlawful, Violation, Washington D.C., Wastewater, West Virginia
An original investigative report by Earth Focus and UK’s Ecologist Film Unit looks at the risks of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale. From toxic chemicals in drinking water to unregulated interstate dumping of potentially radioactive waste that experts fear can contaminate water supplies in major population centers including New York City, are the health consequences worth the economic gains?
Marcellus Shale contains enough natural gas to supply all US gas needs for 14 years. But as gas drilling takes place, using a process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” toxic chemicals and methane gas seep into drinking water. Now experts fear that unacceptable levels of radioactive Radium 226 (and deadly Radon too) in gas development waste.
Fracking chemicals are linked to bone, liver and breast cancers, gastrointestinal, circulatory, respiratory, developmental as well as brain and nervous system disorders. Such chemicals are present in frack waste and may find their way into drinking water and air.
Waste from Pennsylvania gas wells — waste that may also contain unacceptable levels of radium — is routinely dumped across state lines into landfills in New York, Ohio and West Virginia. New York does not require testing waste for radioactivity prior to dumping or treatment. So drill cuttings from Pennsylvania have been dumped in New York’s Chemung and other counties and liquid waste is shipped to treatment plants in Auburn and Watertown New York. How radioactive is this waste? Experts are calling are for testing to find out.
New York State may have been the first state in the nation to put a temporary hold on fracking pending a safety review, but it allows other states to dump toxic frack waste within its boundaries.
With a gas production boom underway in the Marcellus Shale and plans for some 400,000 wells in the coming decades, the cumulative impact of dumping potential lethal waste without adequate oversight is a catastrophe waiting to happen. And now U.S. companies are exporting fracking to Europe.
Source: http://www.linktv.org
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Destinations India Jaipur
Legend and mystery arise from the walls of ancient Jaipur, telling the tales of bygone heroes, colorful culture, and adventurous safari. Rajasthan is the largest state in India and its state capital is Jaipur, a city that features an array of things to do as well as some of the most luxurious accommodations in all of India. Experience them for yourself when you book a luxury India vacation with Ker & Downey.
Once ruled by the richest family in India, Jaipur’s orderly street grid and opulent palaces stand out as one of the best examples of India’s glorious past. Hawa Mahal, the palace of the winds, is a fine example of the high priority of craftsmanship and stature that influenced the city’s blended Mughal and Rajasthani architecture.
Jaipur is full of palaces and forts, each dazzling in its own right. Perhaps one of the city’s strangest and most unique sites, however, is the Monkey Temple, a peaceful Hindi temple nestled between two granite cliffs. The ascent is challenging and the grounds are not well maintained, but every evening one of the temple’s sacred pools is taken over by monkeys, creating some of the most unique juxtapositions of India’s cultural and ecological heritage.
Rajasthan is near the Thar Desert along its northwestern border and also bears witness to the end of the Ghaggar River near the archaeological ruins at Kalibanga, the oldest site discovered in the subcontinent.
Also in this region lies the world’s oldest mountain ranges, the Aravalli Range, and the nearby world-famous Dilwara Temples, a sacred pilgrimage for Jains. Eastern Rajasthan, on the other hand, is known for its two national tiger reserves, Ranthambore and Sariska, as well as Keoladeo National Park, famous for its bird life.
This royal region is ideally suited for Ker & Downey, experts in experiential luxury Jaipur, India travel. You’ll feel the glamour and exclusivity of the maharaja as Ker & Downey attends to every desire, and ensures that your experience matches the grandeur of the destination.
Custom Journeys to Jaipur
Palaces of India
Ker & Downey’s Palaces of India is a 12-night luxury itinerary featuring fascinating sights and experiences with palace hotel accommodations. Discover Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur, and the Taj Mahal.
12 nights / 13 days Details
Big Cats of India
Tailor-made and all-encompassing, this 19-day luxury India tiger safari seeks out all of India’s most iconic sites, from the elusive tigers to the enchanting Taj Mahal.
Designer India Unveiled
Balance India’s best new designer hotels with its splendid treasures of old on this 13-day Ker & Downey journey. Our excursion highlights India’s must-see sights and unexpected destinations.
India Regions
Agra and Surrounds
Alila Jaipur
Oberoi Hotel Rajvilas
Tree of Life Resort & Spa
Kashmir and Punjab
National Parks of India
Northeast India
The World’s Most Colorful Cities
Experiencing India’s Holi Celebration
Extraordinary Journeys with Ker & Downey
All Aboard Ker & Downey’s Favorite Luxury Train Journeys
Luxury Tiger Safaris by Ker & Downey
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“Elizabeth’s Story, A Meredith Vieira Special” premieres on NBC Friday, Oct. 4 at 9 pm CT
Posted 8:55 pm, October 3, 2013, by Ted Malave, Updated at 05:08PM, October 4, 2013
NBC News’ Meredith Vieira sits down with Elizabeth Smart for a candid and revealing interview about survival, eleven years after she was abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night.
For the first time, Smart will reveal the riveting details of life with her captors, as told in her memoir, My Story, coming out October 7.
“Elizabeth’s Story – a Meredith Vieira Special,” airs on NBC Friday, October 4 at 10p, following an all-new “Dateline.”
Held captive in 2002 by religious fanatic Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee, 14-year old Smart was chained up, sexually abused and dressed in disguise. Held first in the mountains of Utah, Smart’s captors took her to Southern California until she devised a plan to convince them that they should all return to Utah, hopeful that her chances of rescue would be better – closer to home.
She was right -- nine months after she was abducted, Smart was rescued. She ultimately found the strength to confront her kidnappers in court and move on with her life.
Today, Smart has courageously transformed from “victim” to “advocate.” She created the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to help prevent crimes against children, and is traveling around the country to educate, inspire and foster change.
Vieira will be live on "TODAY" Friday, October 4 with an exclusive clip from the interview, and Smart herself will appear in a live, exclusive interview on "TODAY" on Monday, October 7.
In the meantime, following is a sound bite from “Elizabeth’s Story – a Meredith Vieira Special.” If used, must credit NBC News.
Elizabeth Smart shares with Meredith Vieira what it was like to be held for nine months by Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee:
“To her, I was a slave, and to him, I was an object,” Smart says.
“Did you even feel like a person?” Vieira asked her.
“No. How could I? I mean, here I was, a 14-year-old girl, ripped from my family, from my friends, from the people I loved. Being raped every day, not knowing when I'd be able to eat next, not knowing when I'd be able to drink next. And being chained to a tree -- I didn't feel human,” Smart replies.
“What does that do to a child?” Vieira asked.
“I don't think there's anything worse you can do to a child,” Smart says.
p brensinger
excellent , excellent piece by meridith viera………..she is the greatest inteviewer….good work.
Angus McQueen, CEO of Oklahoma’s Ackerman McQueen, dies
Russell Westbrook is officially a member of the Houston Rockets
Uncle of missing Utah 5-year-old charged with aggravated murder, child kidnapping
News Special Reports
‘The Innocent Man’s Daughter’ speaks out about losing her mother, father to crime and how she’s recovered
Utah man says woman broke in to pet his dogs, got a drink and made herself at home
Man shaken after finding 2-year-old girl alone outside of Oklahoma City fitness center
Virginia artist transforms helmet into tiara for 5-year-old who was shot in the head
Missing 4-year-old Maleah Davis had been removed from her Texas home after abuse claims
Linda Cavanaugh reflects on Channel 4’s 70 years
After 71 years of marriage, a husband and wife die on the same day
Medical examiner releases findings in death of woman after husband charged with murder
House fire victim speaks out after neighbor caught herself on camera setting the blaze
DNA leads to arrest of convicted pedophile in Missouri girl’s cold case murder
In Your Corner
Update: Metro woman reimbursed after firefighters mistakenly sent to her home
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Defining Innovation at a 225-Year-Old Law Firm
By Mike Tyler, Director of IT Client Services, Cadwalader
Mike Tyler, Director of IT Client Services, Cadwalader
I was recently speaking with a partner at the storied, 225-year-old law firm—Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft—where I co-lead the Technology Department. We were discussing the messaging app that uses color codes to indicate when you’re busy, free, or out of office. He said that when he first joined Cadwalader more than two decades ago, the receptionist would flip a switch to light a little bulb at the switchboard when he arrived at the office. When he left, the light would be turned off. He told me bragging rights went to the attorney whose bulb burned out first.
Working for such a distinguished firm, I’ve come to understand the responsibility of taking care of something that has been and will be passed on to future generations. It’s an attitude that is often expressed to me by our attorneys. There is a twist to this, however. As the story above suggests, longevity is not built on the past. It comes from an intense focus on now and on doing. One day you look up and you discover you’ve been doing it a long time.
In our environment, the pure, intellectual churn of daily business challenges impels innovation. (I can’t speak for how the firm’s founders served their clients in 1792, but I suspect it was comparable.) The way I practice Information Technology at Cadwalader is not as the technologist up against staid tradition, but as the leader of a team fully committed to make technology keep pace with our needs.
There’s a simple sign taped on my office door:
“Do things
(what if we do the wrong things?)
don’t do the wrong things.”
I didn’t make it up (although I did write the words and print the sign). It comes from everywhere in the firm. A global law firm is a busy place. Expectations are immense and the talent is boundless. If we ripped out every wire, screen, computer, gizmo and gadget my group has installed, our lawyers would still find a way to do their work and serve their clients. It’s important for my department to remember this. When I get into discussions about the potential benefits of AI at law firms, sometimes I just have to laugh. Why would I need artificial intelligence when I am surrounded by the real thing? (I’ma proponent of what some of these systems can do, but there needs to be a new name - intelligent they are not.)
So how do you do technology innovation at a firm in continuous existence since the days of George Washington and what are some examples of successful innovation? You go where the business goes and become part of what the business is doing:
• because lawyers are working everywhere - mobile connectivity (I am editing this on a plane in MS Word on my iPhone)
• because lawyers do research - search tools
• because lawyers are collaborative - document management
• because lawyers are entrusted with their clients’ information - security
• because lawyers are entrepreneurial - financial dashboards
Most important of all, the idea of client service has to animate the technology. It is the only reason things should be plugged in and turned on. We create a local network effect with off-the-shelf and custom-built tools, deal rooms, work flows and discovery platforms so that client and lawyers can connect as seamlessly as friends and family do on social media — but with ISO-certified protocols in place to provide the security that’s required and expected of privileged communication.
I occasionally think about my counterparts from the eighteenth century. Would they drop their quills in awe at the sight of typed letters flying across bright, dazzling, double-monitor screens powered by a convertible, two-in-one, touch laptop? Probably. But I’m sure they would soon realize we were doing very similar things with different tools. We are a law firm, not a technology department with a law firm attached. Innovation begins with our lawyers and the work they do. In the new millennium we follow their lead, just as we’ve done for three centuries.
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Home Consumer Law Georgia Macon
Macon, Georgia Consumer Lawyers
Emmett L. Goodman Jr
Macon, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 47 years experience
(478) 745-5415 544 Mulberry St
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy and Social Security Disability
Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law
Mr. Goodman, originally from Macon Georgia, received a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, from Mercer University, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Mr. Goodman graduated from Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law. During this time, he was an associate editor of the Mercer Law Review and a member of Phi Alpha Delta Honors society. The Law Office of Emmett L Goodman Jr. LLC is a full service legal team with 75 years of experience specializing in Consumer Collections, Commercial Collections, Commercial Law, Personal Injury, Social Security Disability, Real Estate...
Lisa Sampson-Roberts
(478) 621-5018 3318 Vineville Avenue
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy and Tax
Samantha Embry
Lawrenceville, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 3 years experience
(678) 631-7744 1744 North Brown Road Suite 200
Free ConsultationConsumer, Criminal Defense, DUI & DWI and Personal Injury
Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
Samantha Embry is a solo practitioner at Embry Legal LLC, a client focused law firm. Her practice concerns itself with helping individuals recover from unexpected events and protecting individuals from unfair trade and unethical ways of doing business. This includes protection from predatory lending, unfair debt collection and credit reporting practices, product liability claims and personal injury claims. Her areas of practice are criminal law, personal injury, and consumer law.
Prior to graduating law school, she worked in the Insurance Industry for almost fifteen years handling personal injury claims including bodily injury litigation in automobile cases and...
Mr. Auden L. Grumet Esq.
Atlanta, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 21 years experience
(770) 458-3845 1720 Peachtree Street, N.W.
North Tower, Suite 333
Free ConsultationConsumer, Collections, Foreclosure Defense and Real Estate
Mercer Univ-W.George L.S
Primarily devoted to representation of consumers in a variety of credit, banking, contract, real estate, warranty and related matters, as well as representation of businesses in complex commercial litigation.
Alexander D. Weatherby
Atlanta, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 8 years experience
(404) 442-9000 4200 Northside Parkway NW
Free ConsultationConsumer, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury and Products Liability
University System of Georgia - University of Georgia
Alex D. Weatherby joined Carr & Weatherby, LLP as an associate in the August of 2010. He has since been promoted to named partner. He graduated from Samford University in 2006, with Summa Cum Laude honors. He, then, attended University of Georgia School of Law, receiving his juris doctorate degree in May of 2010, with Cum Laude honors. Mr. Weatherby’s practice is entirely devoted to litigation. He represents plaintiffs and defendants in the fields of personal injury, wrongful death, insurance coverage disputes, and class actions. While in law school, Mr. Weatherby was a member of...
Michael Familetti
Marietta, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 34 years experience
(770) 794-8005 142 S. Park Square
Consumer, Bankruptcy, Business and Landlord Tenant
A 1981 graduate of SUNY Albany, and a 1984 graduate of Vermont Law School. Former Federal Attorney with the SBA and FDIC. Published bankruptcy author. Profiled in Atlanta Journal Constitution and other papers for handling of several high-profile legal matters. We represent individuals and small businesses in a wide variety of matters, including divorce, state court litigation, bankruptcy and other areas.
Joshua Adam Davis
(404) 496-6468 1100 Peachtree Street NE
Free ConsultationConsumer, Communications, IP and Patents
Emory University School of Law
I am an attorney, scientist, and technology enthusiast with a decade of experience at large firms where I litigated disputes involving patented technologies. Now with my own law practice, I serve consumers, other individuals, and businesses of all sizes in dealing with legal issues that arise in the modern world of e-commerce and technological innovation.
LITIGATION - LEGAL ADVICE - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - ONLINE BUSINESSES and WEBSITES - TRANSACTIONS - CONTRACTS - ADVERTISING - REGULATORY COMPLIANCE - BRAND PROTECTION - STARTUPS - ENTREPRENEURS - SOCIAL MEDIA - FAIR COMPETITION - TRADE SECRETS - NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS - COMMERCIALIZING INVENTIONS
Give me a call...
Scott Fortas
(440) 315-9936 1934 N. Druid Hills Road
Free ConsultationConsumer, Criminal Defense, DUI & DWI and Traffic Tickets
Attorney Scott Fortas has been practicing law in the state of Georgia since 1999. He founded the Fortas Law Group in 2006 to provide legal assistance to those in need of traffic ticket, speeding ticket and criminal defense including all moving traffic violations. Mr. Fortas has successfully litigated and settled hundreds of criminal, lemon law and auto fraud cases and claims for Georgia consumers in courts across the state of Georgia. Mr. Fortas managed the Georgia division of Krohn and Moss, Ltd. from 1999-2005 prior to forming The Fortas Law Group, a criminal defense, lemon law and auto...
Joseph Powell Mcclelland
Decatur, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 18 years experience
(404) 381-8584 545 N. McDonough Street, Suite 210
Free ConsultationConsumer, Insurance Claims, Personal Injury and Products Liability
Loyola School Of Law New Orlea
Consumer lawyer and personal injury lawyer that is a member of the New York Bar and a member of the Georgia Bar. Consumer law is representing consumers against debt collectors, credit bureaus and banks. Joseph McClelland represents clients that are receiving unwanted calls to their home phone and cell phone under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act across the state of Georgia. We help stop unwanted cell phone calls without permission by autodialers. All consultations are free of charge. Call us for questions with the FDCPA, FCRA...
David Edward Oles Esq.
Alpharetta, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 24 years experience
(770) 755-1622 5755 North Point Pkwy UNIT 25
Free ConsultationConsumer, Business, Divorce and Employment
David Oles is an attorney in Alpharetta, GA with 25 years’ experience litigating extremely complex divorce, family and business law cases. A graduate of Harvard, contact the Oles Law Group when you need a business, family law or divorce attorney.
Richard Hays Goolsby Sr.
Martinez, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 41 years experience
(706) 863-5281 4416 Columbia Road, Suite 100
Martinez, GA 30907
Free ConsultationConsumer, Appeals, Business and Products Liability
The University of Georgia School of Law
I enjoy practicing law at The Goolsby Law Firm, LLC with my oldest son in Augusta and Martinez, Georgia. We deal with divorce cases, personal injury, criminal defense and other litigation on a daily basis. As a former federal prosecutor in Augusta, Georgia for over 20 years, I have tried some of the largest fraud and public corruption cases in Georgia and U.S. history.
Conyers, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 39 years experience
(404) 288-4444 2385 Wall Street
Free ConsultationConsumer and Collections
John Marshall L.S. (Atlanta)
Admitted to the Georgia Bar 1979..
Ashley Anne DiGiulio
Atlanta, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 17 years experience
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy and Divorce
Georgia litigation, contracts and consumer Attorney With The DiGiulio Law Firm, LLC. based in Atlanta GA, Marietta GA, Lawrenceville GA
Lawrence A. Silverman
(404) 879-5226 800 Johnson Ferry Rd
Larry Silverman founded Southeast Consumer to help people being harassed by debt collectors. In his over 25 years of practice, Larry has handled over 1000 cases and gone to trial for numerous civil and criminal cases. He is licensed to practice in Florida, New York, and Georgia, and protects clients from predatory collection agencies, junk debt buyers, and financial institutions. He is not afraid to take a case against a large organization, and can provide you with the guidance and support you need to stop aggressive creditors from taking advantage of you. Call Southeast Consumer Law for a free phone...
Jason Baine Thompson
Fayetteville, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 18 years experience
(678) 621-1320 101 Devant Street
Free ConsultationConsumer, Administrative, Business and Collections
Cumberland L.S./Samford
Partner at a mid-size firm specializing in business law and business litigation. Our firm handles most matters, including personal injury, medical malpractice, family law, and wills/estates/trusts. Looking for any opportunities to assist business owners and others in the community. Specialties:Business transactions; business litigation; general litigation; municipal law.
Charles M. Clapp
(404) 585-0040 5 Concourse Pkwy
Charles Clapp is the owner of CMC Law | Law Offices of Charles Clapp, an Atlanta Bankruptcy Law Firm specializing in consumer and small business bankruptcy.
Steve Koval
(404) 350-5900 3575 Piedmont Road
15 Piedmont Center -- Suite 120
Free ConsultationConsumer, Business and Civil Rights
American Univ (DC)
Attorney Steve Koval has lived in Atlanta for almost thirty years. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Emory University with a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science, and served as president of Emory's student body. He earned his law degree from American University's Washington College of Law in 1986. With over twenty years of experience litigating cases, Steve has been called on to lecture locally and nationally before professional associations including the American Bar Association and the Atlanta Bar Association. He has successfully argued several cases before the Supreme Court of Georgia. Steve is an active member of the National...
Emory Lee Clark
(770) 488-9334 233 Peachtree Street NE
Consumer and Bankruptcy
Misty A. Oaks
Atlanta, GA Consumer Law Lawyer
(888) 581-6257 1256 Gates Circle SE
Consumer, Arbitration & Mediation, Bankruptcy and Business
Attorney Misty A. Oaks, Founding Partner and Principal Member of The Oaks Firm, stepped out on faith when she started her own legal practice in 2009. What started as just a dull roar turned into roaring thunder, when considering the number of satisfied clients and the rapid growth of The Firm. She oversees every aspect of The Firm’s operations, while her main areas of practice are: Home & Auto Loan Modifications, Chapter 7 & 13 Bankruptcy, Foreclosure Defense, and Civil Litigation. Attorney Oaks graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, North...
Ronald Ehlbert Smith
(678) 462-7777 P.O. Box 8586
Consumer, Arbitration & Mediation, Bankruptcy and Collections
A native of Atlanta, Ron Smith earned his J.D. Degree from Nova Southeastern University in 1981 and first practiced law as a state prosecutor in central Florida. Mr. Smith's service to others includes his background as a Certified K-12 Teacher and Undergraduate through Graduate Instructor in several subject areas. Since 1965 he continues to work as a lay minister for various Christian and charitable ministries. His private law practice since 1984 has been an extension of these ministries so as to help people deal with a variety of legal matters. For several years Mr. Smith owned and managed a...
Kevin Joseph Pratt
Suwanee, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 17 years experience
(770) 614-4811 3461 Lawrenceville Suwanee Rd
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy, Business and Criminal Defense
Kevin J. Pratt PC, founded in 2002, provides professional and aggressive legal representation to clients across Georgia. With offices off I85 in Suwanee Georgia, convenient to Gwinnett, DeKalb, Hall, Barrow, Forsyth, Jackson, and Fulton Counties. We take on cases throughout Metro Atlanta and Georgia. We have the real life and legal experience necessary to get the job done right. The focus of our practice is primarily criminal defense and civil litigation defense. Our firm also provides legal representation in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. In addition to being an attorney, Kevin J. Pratt is a...
John Terry Brown
Commerce, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 36 years experience
(706) 335-6800 7 State Street
Commerce, GA 30529
Free ConsultationConsumer, DUI & DWI, Divorce and Family
Born in Toccoa, I have been a Georgian all of my life. I received a Debate Scholarship to the University of Georgia. I was an active participant on the University of Georgia Debate Team throughout my undergrad years, and I became the Captain of the debate team my Junior and Senior years. I received my B.A. from the University of Georgia graduating with honors in 1970. After receiving my bachelor's degree, I enrolled in the University of Georgia School of Law and received my J.D. in 1973. While in law school, I...
Daniel Dwight Bowen
(404) 880-3310 235 Peachtree Street, NE
Sabrina Parker
PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 23 years experience
(770) 246-1331 4725 PEACHTREE CORNERS CIRCLE
Consumer and Divorce
David D. Dupee
(404) 292-5225 P.O. Box 450642
Consumer, Civil Rights, Personal Injury and Social Security Disability
David Cowan Rayfield
Columbus, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 17 years experience
(706) 324-0050 1111 Bay Ave, Suite 450
Consumer, Asbestos, Business and Insurance Claims
T. Michael Flinn
Carrollton, GA Consumer Law Lawyer
(770) 832-0300 402 Tanner Street
Consumer, Divorce, Domestic Violence and Products Liability
Michael has over twenty five years of trial experience serving Carroll County and the West Georgia area. Michael proudly calls himself a consumer lawyer. He frequently represents consumers in auto fraud and lemon car claims and personal injury claims. Michael has spent the last ten years as a Special Assistant Attorney General representing the interests of the State and the County in protecting children in deprivation cases. He spent the previous 11 years as Carroll County Public Defender. Michael has personally tried hundreds of cases before the State and Federal Courts of Georgia. He has also done pro bono legal...
Matthew T. Berry
(800) 414-3328 2751 Buford Hwy NE #600
Consumer, Bankruptcy and Divorce
Nathan Patrick Bowden
Norcross, GA Consumer Law Lawyer
(770) 248-2885 40 Technology Pkwy S
Consumer, Business and Real Estate
Richard Ferrell Evins
Woodstock, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 24 years experience
(770) 592-2780 345 Creekstone Ridge
Free ConsultationConsumer, Business and Collections
John Marshall Law School
Richard F. Evins is an attorney with over 22 years of experience practicing primarily in the areas of commercial and business litigation, collection law, consumer credit and contract law. His offices are in Woodstock, Georgia, part of Metro Atlanta, and the firm handles legal matters statewide. Mr. Evins litigates a broad range of disputes including those related to commercial contracts, consumer law, business disputes, residential and commercial leases, small claims and general civil matters. He also defends consumers against the collection of medical bills, student loans, retail installment contracts, credit cards and other consumer debt. Mr. Evins practices in the...
James Morgan Setters
Dalton, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 25 years experience
(706) 529-4783 313 N Selvidge St # 105
Consumer, Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Defense
Taking care of my client is what I do best. I dedicate my time to you. I obtained my BS degree from Trevecca University’s Physician Assistant program in 1983. Afterwards, I obtained by Doctorate of Jurisprudence from John Marshall Law School and started practicing law.dalton bankruptcy attorneyI am admitted to practice law in the State and Federal Courts of Georgia, the Eastern District of Tennessee and the US Court of Appeals for the Six Circuit. I currently practice in the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia, as well as, the Eastern District of Tennessee. I have more than...
Brian R. Cahn
Dallas, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 25 years experience
(770) 445-1723 206 East Memorial Dr.
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy, Business and Foreclosure Defense
Brian R. Cahn, North Georgia Bankruptcy Attorney Serving Dallas, Cartersville, Calhoun & Dalton. Attorney Brian R. Cahn devotes a significant portion of his legal practice to helping the people of northwest Georgia obtain relief from debt. He handles consumer bankruptcies under Chapters 7 and 13 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, as well as business bankruptcies under Chapter 11. He also assists clients in debt settlement, rebuilding credit and foreclosure defense. Creditor harassment is often an immediate concern for those with financial difficulties, and he knows how to stop the calls and collection notices that torment his clients. The bankruptcy law group at...
Michael D. Hurtt
(706) 226-5425 215 W. Gordon St.
Free ConsultationConsumer, Bankruptcy and Foreclosure Defense
Michael D. Hurtt – Managing Attorney Mike Hurtt has practiced law for over 35 years at the same location in Dalton, GA, specializing in consumer defense and bankruptcy law. He has defended clients in hundreds of collection and deficiency balance lawsuits and he has filed thousands of successful bankruptcy cases. He is on the Board of Trustees at Dalton State College and is an active member in the local community. Education – B.S. West Georgia College 1974; J.D. John Marshall Law School 1977; Admitted to Georgia Bar August 9, 1977.
Timothy Eugene Moses
AUGUSTA, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 25 years experience
(706) 860-8030 6 George C. Wilson Ct.
Consumer, Business, Collections and Employment
Richard Thomson
Gainesville, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 35 years experience
(678) 971-4964 715 Queen City Parkway
Our mission is to provide affordable, individualized representation to our consumer clients. Financial problems create a tremendous amount of stress and uncertainty. It is our goal to help alleviate that stress and to work with you to achieve your goal of financial stability. The key to obtaining these mutual goals is frank and open communication – on both of our parts. We are not a “sign ’em up and get ’em out” operation and we do not want to be. To that end, we will strive to provide you all of the information and tools that...
Michael Edward Bierman Esq.
Canton, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 18 years experience
(770) 479-3113 221 E Main St
Free ConsultationConsumer, Business and Criminal Defense
Sam G. Nicholson
(706) 722-8784 4137 Columbia Rd
Consumer, Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury and Products Liability
Donna Lynn Harding
Acworth, GA Consumer Law Lawyer with 17 years experience
(770) 975-9265 3330 Cobb Parkway, Ste 17, PMB 143
Todd Butler
Cairo, GA Consumer Law Attorney with 19 years experience
(229) 377-1683 110 1st Ave, NE
Cairo, GA 39828
Free ConsultationConsumer, Civil Rights and Personal Injury
The OneCLE Lawyer Directory contains lawyers who have claimed their profiles and are actively seeking clients. Find more Macon, Georgia Consumer Lawyers in the Justia Legal Services and Lawyers Directory which includes profiles of more than one million lawyers licensed to practice in the United States, in addition to profiles of legal aid, pro bono and legal service organizations.
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Ighalo On Target Again
Super Eagles forward Odion Ighalo was on target as he saved the day for Changchun Yatai in their 1-1 stalemate with Shanghai Shenhua in Saturday’s Chinese Super League encounter.
The visitors looked destined to get a win from the Changchun Stadium after Yunding Cao’s wonder strike in the 31st minute.
The 29-year-old strike came in the 71st minute after he was set up by Serbian, Nemanja Pejcinovic.
The former Watford striker has now found the back of the net five times from five games, though, his Chinese Super League outfit are few points above the relegation zone
They were reduced to 10-men eight minutes from time when Sun Shilin was given a matching order for a second bookable offence.
Ighalo who was on parade for the entire duration now has rise his goal tally to 12 goals in 16 matches this season to joint second top scorer in the Super League along with the Isreali international, Eran Zahavi.
Changchun Yatai are 12th position in the league standings with 18 points from 16 games and they will lock horns with Guangzhou Evergrande in their next outing on August 11.
Related Topics:Odion Ighalo
FRANCE 2018: Falconets Tackle Old Foe, Germany, In Group D Opener
Samuel Eto’o Leaves Turkish Club Konyaspor
Ighalo Unveils Multi-million Naira Mansion In Lagos
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Channing Tatum joins Ryan Reynolds in Free Guy
by Gary Collinson
Flickeringmyth
It looks like we can add another name to the cast of the upcoming Ryan Reynolds-headlined action comedy Free Guy, with The Daily Mail reporting that Channing Tatum has been spotted on set shooting scenes for the movie.
Free Guy is being directed by Shaun Levy (Night at the Museum) and sees Reynolds playing a lonely bank teller who discovers that he’s actually an Npc, a background character in a video game. Teaming up with an avatar (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer), he sets out to prevent the makers of the game from shutting it down and destroying his world.
Given that Tatum hasn’t officially been announced as part of the cast, it may be safe to assume that he’ll be playing a minor role or simply making a cameo of some kind.
Free Guy is set for release on July 3rd, 2020 and features a cast
See full article on Flickeringmyth
Free Guy (2020)
Night at the Museum (2006)
Killing Eve (2018)
Ryan Reynolds (I)
Utkarsh Ambudkar
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Thermophysics and Aeromechanics
Experimental study on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of a counter-flow wet cooling tower with foam ceramic packing
Q. J. Kong
D. Y. Liu
P. Wang
D. Q. Xie
Q. Wu
X. Y. Zhao
An experimental investigation of coinstantaneous heat and mass transfer phenomena between water and air in a counter flow wet cooling tower filled with a new type packing named “FCP-08” is presented in this paper. The packing consisted of foamed ceramic corrugated board with sine waves and surface retention groove is 1.0 m high and have a cross sectional test area of 0.68×0.68 m2. The present investigation is focused mainly on the effect of the water/air mass flow ratio on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of the cooling tower, for different inlet water temperatures. The results show that the cooling water range R and the cooling tower efficiency e decrease with the increase of water/air mass flow ratio L/G. Meanwhile, the cooling characteristic coefficient KαV/L slightly decreases with the increase of water/air mass flow ratio and the value is obviously higher than that of other packing investigated before. The expression of cooling characteristic coefficient related to water/air mass flow ratio and inlet water temperature is obtained by linear fitting. The comparison between the obtained results and those found in the literature for other types of packing indicates that cooling performance of the tower with foam ceramic packing is better.
cooling tower heat and mass transfer characteristics foam ceramic packing water/air mass flow ratio cooling performance
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (key project; No. 51509076) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (key project; No. BK20150816).
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© Q.J. Kong, D.Y. Liu, P. Wang, D.Q. Xie, Q. Wu, and X.Y. Zhao 2019
1.Jiangsu University of TechnologyChangzhou, JiangsuChina
2.Hohai UniversityNanjing, JiangsuChina
3.Hohai UniversityChangzhou, JiangsuChina
Kong, Q.J., Liu, D.Y., Wang, P. et al. Thermophys. Aeromech. (2019) 26: 267. https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869864319020100
Received 25 December 2017
Accepted 23 May 2019
DOI https://doi.org/10.1134/S0869864319020100
Publisher Name Kutateladze Institute of Thermophysics SB RAS
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Advances in Cryptology — CRYPTO ’87
Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptographic Techniques
CRYPTO 1987: Advances in Cryptology — CRYPTO ’87 pp 369-378 | Cite as
A Digital Signature Based on a Conventional Encryption Function
Ralph C. Merkle
First Online: 01 December 2000
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 293)
A new digital signature based only on a conventional encryption function (such as DES) is described which is as secure as the underlying encryption function -- the security does not depend on the difficulty of factoring and the high computational costs of modular arithmetic are avoided. The signature system can sign an unlimited number of messages, and the signature size increases logarithmically as a function of the number of messages signed. Signature size in a ‘typical’ system might range from a few hundred bytes to a few kilobytes, and generation of a signature might require a few hundred to a few thousand computations of the underlying conventional encryption function.
Signature Size Encryption Function Modular Arithmetic Count Field Infinite Tree
Download to read the full conference paper text
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1.ElxsiSan Jose
Merkle R.C. (1988) A Digital Signature Based on a Conventional Encryption Function. In: Pomerance C. (eds) Advances in Cryptology — CRYPTO ’87. CRYPTO 1987. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 293. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
First Online 01 December 2000
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48184-2_32
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Acting, psychosis and love
“We are all actors in life”, my professor said in the first lecture on the topic identity.
With these sentences you definitely get the attention of students bored by gray theory. I would have liked to call it “fake news”.
Not just that: Suddenly, I felt the need to justify myself.
Like a storm cloud, dissatisfaction and resentment spread through me and the seminar hall. Does he want to tell us all now, that we are liars? That we are not genuine?
Yes and somehow no.
I know now what he meant: Life is not that easy. We do not behave the same everywhere. The reaction is depending on the situation, the form of the day, previous experience and systems in which we live our lives.
In the hip-hop scene it is always like a mantra “keep it real”. But is it real when you’re farting on the bus because you just feel like it?
Is it really real when you go to work with sweatpants and a slouchy shirt?
And what does your mother say about being “real” if you spurn her lunch and sit down at the family table with a doner kebab by Ali’s kebab diner next door? Will she not be disappointed and feel rejected? A Turkish proverb says it right: “Hatır için çiğ tavuk yenir.” Translated: “For love and to please the people we love, we are able to eat raw chicken.” Not an option for me as a vegetarian. But for me as a Turkish girl and as someone who likes to be loved, the concept is very attractive.
I also remember relating to “being real” how consciously “German” – for me that means correctly – I behaved when the police controlled me in broad daylight. “Yes. Yes, of course. Of course I have a warning triangle. Safety first.” When I told my friends this story, it sounded different: “Thank God my father had thrown a warning triangle in my trunk, otherwise it would have become expensive!”
Telling the cops that in terms of safety I’m not the brightest candle on the cake and my first aid kit is not as well stocked as it looks from the outside, would have cost me – despite my realness – a warning.
“Real” would be also if you could write in application letters what you think. In my former job as a career counselor, I had an autistic candidate whom I wanted to get a job. I asked him to write an application. He wrote probably the most honest application letter I’ll ever see. There were phrases like “I would like to be able to afford a vacation and a home with my salary.” And: “I’m not interested in out-of-work activities and prefer to work without the social accessories.” This honesty was just refreshing and really REAL. I then had to transform this extremely open and honest writing into a version of the snooty petition as we know it: Dear gizmo. I learned about Blabla that you are looking for THAT… To be honest, I would rather have sent the former version that my Asperger client made before. Because we do not work only for the satisfaction of “something had to be done”, but more for the money.
Does the motto “Keep it real” make us happy? Not really, right? It’s like a call to anarchy when I say: Just do what you want, then you’ll be happy. It’s not that easy. We are not islands. Even if we were islands – islands are defined as sand or rock accumulation in waters. Even they are related to something. Even they are defined and only then have an identity.
Without sea no island. Without environment no human. Sometimes it is also necessary to “play” a role in order to balance your environment. As an example: It makes me happy when I see others happy.
So yes, I act and am – and I reluctantly agree – quite well in it. I like juggling with my facets, because with this I am soliciting my different personalities. My personal mosaic of realities.
Speaking of personalities. What made me think a lot was a thesis of a psychologist with whom I talked about finding a partner. Because obviously I didn’t find one. I asked her the question: What came first – my single or my cat-lady identity? I was hoping for a firework of theses from the category “Guide to happiness”. Just as my friends did: “Do something for yourself!”, “Put down your expectations”, “Don’t be any funnier than him”, “Go out more”. My typical single-woman-cat Toni looked at me reproachfully, because I was hardly at home. Instead of scratching fur, I scratched my hair and complexion with nourishing argan oil. Even with my Drag Queen painting on my face á la “Because I am worth it” I still feel strange, but hey: It’s about reproduction. It’s about the existence of and above all MY species. Miss turkish Single at 33. Huihuihui. You are such a daredevil, Funda.
Back to the psychologist: As I complained to her reveling in my role as a long-suffering lonely lover, something unexpected happened. Not a word of compassion. But: “I anyway see love as a form of socially wanted psychosis.” Boom. Just like that. Was psychosis not an illness? Something that goes hand in hand with the loss of reality? Well, that’s right. Basically I do not really appreciate the love-state. Rather, it paints a lot of pink freckles on the things which are actually black kinks in the optics. And I don’t mean only in the look of someone. I remember friends talking about their partners, and then I remember the moment I met them. “It’s a normal guy”, I thought to myself.
My Turkish education came to my help again. I remembered a story that my father told me about the lovers Leyla and Mecnun. Mecnun saw Leyla and fell in love with her, he spoke in the highest tones of her rosy cheeks, her delicate voice, the true joy of life that he saw in her and her deep eyes. He wanted her to be his wife. The village elders went to the neighboring village to see this beauty – and were disappointed. They went back to Mecnun and said: “Mecnun, this Leyla is as dry as a thorny branch and has a hooked nose. How can you think she is beautiful? We’ll find something better for you.” Mecnun replied: “You should see her through my eyes. When the heart loves, your eyes look full of love. ” As a pragmatist, you can actually speak of a “perceptual disorder”. But it is desired. Wanted. Fall in love and become happy. Some train these perceptual distortions downright. Today it is called a meditation or dream trip. Breathe in, enter a place of rest, of peace.
To anyone who has experienced war and murder, this parallel universe, this “matrix”, appears like a cure. We deliberately move away to survive.
A baby screams in a train, I plug in headphones and listen with maximum volume relaxing music and I wish I would sit between butterflies and fragrant meadow instead of hygienic questionable train seats with unwanted screaming around me. We like to filter the reality and the pink-hearts-violin-filter is just a nice filter for a lot of us. A wanted psychosis, which we warmly welcome. Because to throw a few more triggering theses in the room: “Neurotic is the new Erotic.” And: “Imperfection is the new perfection.” It’s your turn to get upset and do the reality check. On your marks, ready and go.
Funda Doğhan
Wo bist du mein Heimatland?
The final attempt to strum
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A Mosaic Grows in Pittsboro
by Francis DiNardo
It was May 2014 and I was walking from my car parked behind Joyful Jewel to MY bench in front of Virlie’s when I noticed what appeared to be 2 women scrawling chalk graffiti on the outside wall of Beggers and Choosers (now Screaming for Vintage). As a native of New Yorker I had strong feelings about graffiti so I made it a point to insert myself into this situation. I didn’t realize at that moment how this event would change the course of my summer and result in a beautiful, unique mosaic on the face of Pittsboro!
Building owners Pam and Snuffy Smith had commissioned a work of art to be placed on the side of their building. The two local artists — sculptor and bluegrass musician LaNelle Davis and artist Beth Goldston — were starting work on an elaborate mosaic composed from pieces of broken pottery and shattered mirrors. The material was selected because of its ability to reflect sunlight during the day and the headlights of cars going around the Pittsboro traffic circle at night. The effect is stunning!
As the mosaic gradually took shape over the summer I made it a point to stop there at least two times a week in order to monitor the progress. I shortly realized that the project was much more than the creation of a mosaic: it was also a piece of performance art. LaNelle and Beth entertained a constant flow of curious people who were fascinated by the ongoing work. I was deeply impressed by the artists’ patient responses to the never ending questions, most of which were the same questions asked over and over again. I not only delighted in taking photos of the work, but I took many pictures of the people who stopped to watch and talk.
The design features a beautiful blue stylized bird rising from the ground amid colorful flowers and vines as it wraps around the corner of the building. Every time I look at that mosaic I imagine it continuing to grow around the front corner of the building and extending itself across the facades of the rest of the buildings on Hillsboro Street. I even imagine the theme being incorporated into the sidewalks of Hillsboro Street that are slated for reconstruction in the near future. Okay so I’m a dreamer but I think this mosaic could serve as the beginning of a unique, iconic work of art which would distinguish the Pittsboro business district from that of any other town.
This impressive work of art will stand for years as one of Pittsboro’s unique features and will serve as an attraction that will draw people from all over the area. If you haven’t yet seen it then you need to stop and look at and feel this beautiful creation.
Have you seen the other examples of Lanelle Davis’ mosaic work? Tell us about it. There’s even another wall mural in Pittsboro by LaNelle Davis. Do you know where it is?
Main Street Pittsboro2018-05-23T03:51:34-04:00October 28th, 2017|
Francis DiNardo December 1, 2017 at 6:22 pm - Reply
By the way, I made a glaring typo in the article – it was May 2014, not 2015.
Getting old is such a drag!
Priscilla Nichols December 3, 2017 at 1:36 am - Reply
That is such an awesome project and I can’t wait to go and see it in person. (Lanelle you still amaze me.)
lesley December 12, 2017 at 4:20 pm - Reply
The tile mural doesn’t disappoint! We can guarantee that you’ll be delighted. #FinditinPittsboro
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A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ... Share Your Faith Products
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. ... Christian Canvas Art
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. Cite this page: Editor: Stephen Smith. Publication date: Jun 3, 2019. Publisher: OpenBible.info. Christian Gifts
He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. Under it were figures of gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. Its thickness was a handbreadth. And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths. ... Share Your Faith Products
He measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also measured the inner nave and the porches of the court. The thresholds, the latticed windows and the galleries round about their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement.read more.
Christian art, CHRISTIAN ART, Christian artwork, christian prints, CHRISTIAN ARTISTS, Christian Art Depot, framed Christian art, Christian framed art, pictures of Jesus, Christian artists, inspirational art, religious artwork, religious art prints, Christian, art gallery, art work, artwork, artworks, canvas prints, canvases, custom framed art, custom framing, decor, fine art, fine arts, giclee, giclees, giclee on canvas, home decor, images, inspirational, interior decorating, interior decorators, limited edition prints, limited editions, lithograph, lithographs, open edition prints, open editions, original art, paintings, paper, photographs, photography, photos, pictures, poster, posters, print, prints, reproductions, religious, spiritual, tapestries, tapestry, vintage originals
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge. ...
He made an altar of bronze, twenty cubits long and twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high. Then he made the sea of cast metal. It was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, and five cubits high, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference. Under it were figures of gourds, for ten cubits, compassing the sea all around. The gourds were in two rows, cast with it when it was cast. It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. Its thickness was a handbreadth. And its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held 3,000 baths. ... Bible Verse Wall Art
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You are here: Home | Women | Coats & Jackets | Vintage Denim Bomber Jacket Print Lined UK 12 Medium (RBP)
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Vintage Denim Bomber Jacket Print Lined UK 12 Medium (RBP)
Vintage 90's Lined Denim Bomber Jacket by TODAY'S NEWS......Zip/press stud fastening, 4 outer pockets....Has padding.......'Item shows some fading/ingrained dirt marks to the denim inside the collar area and cuffs and item will need cleaning'.......When buying vintage denim please expect some minor wear/marks and colour fade....Colour may differ slightly depending on the colour calibration of the device you're viewing on. ACTUAL FITTED SIZE UK 12 (Medium).. STATES A UK MEN'S SMALL......... Can be worn oversized by smaller sizes depending on your desired look-PLEASE CHECK THE MEASUREMENTS..... MEASUREMENTS : Armpit to Armpit 23", Neck/collar seam to cuff 31.5", Length 26"... MODEL is 5ft 6" and a UK 8. PLEASE NOTE; This item is vintage and may show signs of wear & age to the denim and linings. Any obvious flaws / faults will be mentioned in the listing. All items are Unlaundered and Unpressed. Love Bich Clothing :-)
Condition: Vintage
Vintage Era: Early 1990s
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Comics, 1989, 1989, April,
Web of Spider-Man Vol 1
Tom DeFalco/Editor-in-Chief
Charles Vess/Cover Artist
Peter David/Writer
Val Mayerik/Penciler
Val Mayerik/Inker
Janice Cohen/Colourist
Jim Salicrup/Editor
Peter Parker (Earth-616)/Appearances
Mary Jane Watson (Earth-616)/Appearances
Kathryn Cushing (Earth-616)/Appearances
Lorraine Mandell (Earth-616)/Appearances
Winston Shepherd (Earth-616)/Appearances
Homo sapiens/Appearances
Manhattan/Appearances
Daily Bugle/Appearances
Bedford Tower/Appearances
Harlem/Appearances
Web-Shooters/Appearances
Spider-Man's Belt Camera/Appearances
Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 49
Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 #49
Tom DeFalco
Charles Vess
"Corner Business"
Val Mayerik
Janice Cohen
Jim Salicrup
Web of Spider-Man #48
Appearing in "Corner Business"
Mary Jane Watson Parker
Kate Cushing
Lorraine Mandell
Winston Shepherd (Only appearance; dies)[1] (drug dealer)
Sal (Drug Lord) (Only appearance)[1]
Ms. Taylor
Races and Species:
Daily Bugle
Spider-Man's Web-Shooters
Spider-Man's Belt Camera
Synopsis for "Corner Business"
A drug dealer named Winston Shepherd is waiting on his street corner for potential customers. Soon, a kid who is going through withdrawal comes to purchase some drugs. Unfortunately for the boy, he doesn't have enough money to buy more. Suddenly, Spider-Man arrives on the scene. He tells the kid to beat it and get some medical help for his addictions. He then webs up Shepherd and dumps his drug supply, all the while his camera is snapping photos of the encounter. With Winston webbed up to a lamp post, the wall-crawler swings away and recovers his camera. The drug dealer wonders what he ever did for Spider-Man to get on his case. The wall-crawler doesn't respond, but he thinks about how he targeted this particular drug dealer because of his wife, Mary Jane.[Continuity 1]
It all started that morning when Mary Jane spotted her friend and fellow model, Lorraine Mandell. Lorraine was with Winston and apologizes for blowing off Mary Jane for their lunch date. Lorraine make up an excuse, and after introducing Mary Jane to Winston, she invites her friend up to her apartment. There, Mary Jane wonders where Lorraine has the energy to hustle like she does. Lorraine says she takes speed, but Mary Jane thinks that she is joking. A few minutes later, Mandell excuses herself to go to the bathroom. Suddenly, Mary Jane hears a crash from the bathroom and goes to see if Lorraine is okay. Seeing drugs on the floor, Mary Jane realizes that Lorraine wasn't joking about the drugs. Lorraine is feeling sick and MJ suggests that they go to a hospital, but Lorraine refuses, telling her friend to bring her to bed instead. Meanwhile, Peter Parker is meeting with Kate Cushing at the Daily Bugle, looking for a photo assignment. That's when the phone rings for him, it's Mary Jane and she tells him how Lorraine is in trouble and he rushes out of the building. Changing into Spider-Man, Peter swings down to Lorraine's neighborhood.
Changing back into his civilian guise, Peter is soon in Lorraine's apartment. He and Mary Jane try to explain her the dangers of doing drugs and suggest that she go to a drug rehabilitation program. Lorraine explains that she tried that already, but it was too expensive and didn't help. When they suggest a state-run facility, Lorraine refuses this as well, saying it is pointless. However, the Parkers refuse to give up and insist on getting her help. Outside of the bedroom, Mary Jane points out Lorraine's drug dealer from the window and tells him to go after the dealer as Spider-Man, as getting the police involved won't be a strong enough deterrent to get rid of the dope pusher. Peter caves in and leaves as Spider-Man, intending to come back at night to give Winston a visit. Meanwhile, Mary Jane keeps trying to call various facilities to see if they can take Lorraine in, but the lines are all busy. Lorraine once more tells MJ to forget it, however, she refuses to give up on her friend and decides that they will show up in person the next day. Later, Peter returns to the Daily Bugle and pitches an idea about tailing a drug dealer for a Bugle story. Kate thinks this would be dangerous, but tells him to get on it. This is what brought Spider-Man to the street corner to confront Winston that night.
Returning home, Peter discovers that Mary Jane is not home yet and calls Lorraine's house. He learns that Mary Jane is still there and had decided to stay the night to keep an eye on her friend. Peter tries to convince her that she can't force Lorraine to go to rehab, she has to want to go herself. Mary Jane tells him to worry about Winston, while she deals with her friend. Peter explains that he gave Winston a good scare as Spider-Man but also tagged him with a spider-tracer so he can continue to harass him and force him to leave. The next day, Spider-Man finds Winston in the Village trying to sell drugs there. Once again, Spider-Man catches him, discards his drugs and warns him to get out of town. In a panic, Winston goes to a payphone to call his supplier, Sal, and that he needs to get more supply. Concerned that Spider-Man might follow Winston, he tells him to take the subway to the drop location, thinking that Spider-Man won't be able to follow him there. While at a rehab facility, Mary Jane is frustrated with the amount of time she and Lorraine have had to wait. They are told to fill out some paperwork and that there is a long wait list for treatment that could take up to six months. Mary Jane is upset because Lorraine needs help right away.
Meanwhile, Winston arrives at the drop and recovers the drugs from a trash can. No sooner does he have it, Spider-Man gets the drop on him again and dumps the drugs. Once more, Spider-Man warns the drug dealer to leave town. Getting desperate for money, Winston continues to try to sell his drugs, but Spider-Man is there every time, scaring away his customers away. At the same time, Mary Jane and Lorraine go from facility to facility, finding that none of the free clinics have any room. Giving up on these, Mary Jane decides to take Lorraine to the Mount Vernon Drug Rehabilitation Center. There, they learn that they can take Lorraine right away, however, she will have to be at the facility for eighteen months and it will cost a great deal of money. Since Lorraine allowed her health insurance to lapse, she gives up and storms out of the facility. Taking a cab, Mary Jane suggests that Lorraine get help from her parents. However, Lorraine explains that her parents didn't approve of her going to New York to become a model and is mortified about asking them for money to go to rehab. Still, Mary Jane still isn't ready to give up yet. In another cab, nearby, Winston is having a cab driver zig-zag across town in the hopes he can lose Spider-Man and make some money.
Later, Mary Jane drops Lorraine at home and tells her to hang tight before leaving. As soon as Mary Jane is gone, Lorraine decides to leave her apartment, unable to take her addictions anymore. Meanwhile, Spider-Man continues to track Winston through the city. Along the way, he worries that Mary Jane is going overboard trying to help Lorraine. In the warehouse district, Winston goes to the drug lab owned by Sal to ask for help. Sal is furious that Winston would come when Spider-Man has been following him all over the city. Drawing a gun, Sal shoots Winston. Hearing the gunshots from outside, Spider-Man realizes that he is too late and comes crashing through the window. Sal and his men begin opening fire on the wall-crawler. At that moment, Mary Jane returns to Lorraine's apartment with good news: she was able to get some people in the fashion industry to get the money together so she can get help. Unfortunately, Lorraine is still gone, so Mary Jane decides to wait for her to come back. Back at the warehouse, Spider-Man easily knocks out Sal and his men. He then approaches Winston, who wants to know why the hero was harassing him. Spider-Man explains that he was after him for what he had done to Lorraine. Surprisingly, Winston doesn't know who Lorraine is and dies from his wounds. Although Winston won't hook anyone on drugs again, Spider-Man feels dirty about the whole ordeal. Still, he snaps the photos he needs for the Daily Bugle.
Getting the photos developed, Peter turns them into Kate Cushing who is impressed by the whole series of photos. She thinks that the pictures a Pulitzer material, but Peter isn't exactly pleased with the prospect. Going back to Lorraine's apartment, Peter finds Mary Jane standing outside in tears. She explains that Lorraine was found in an alley after having a drug overdose and she was rushed to the hospital, although the doctors don't think her chances are very good. She tells Peter that she called Lorraine's parents and that they are coming out to look after her. Still, she feels like there was ore she could have done. Soon, Peter and Mary Jane head for the hospital to see Lorraine. Not long after they have left, a cab pulls up on a street corner and a new drug dealer gets out and begins working the corner.
When Mary Jane learns that one of her friends, Lorraine Mandell, has gotten hooked on drugs, she does all that she can to help her. . .and her husband, the ever-amazing Spider-Man, goes after the pusher who sold her the drugs!
Continuity Notes
↑ Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by the demon Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545.
Discuss Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 49 on the forums
Images from Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 49
↑ 1.0 1.1 First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks
Retrieved from "https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Web_of_Spider-Man_Vol_1_49?oldid=4813907"
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Clark Kent Quits 'Daily Planet' — To Start A Blog?
By Stephanie Haberman 2012-10-22 20:12:28 UTC
Superman has called it quits — on print, at least.
In the upcoming issue of Superman, Clark Kent, Superman's photojournalist alter-ego, quits his job at his newspaper, "The Daily Planet".
According to USA Today, he doesn't go quietly. In fact, Kent resigns in a "Jerry Maguire-type moment," loudly in front of the entire staff. The beat reporter emphatically emphasizes his unhappiness with how journalism has given way to entertainment.
"Go easy on us," another journalist tells Kent. "Times are changing, and print is a dying medium."
SEE ALSO: ‘Newsweek’ to Shutter U.S. Print Edition After 79 Years
According to the comic's author, Scott Lobdell, Kent will likely start a blog. "I don't think he's going to be filling out an application anywhere," Lobdell says. "He is more likely to start the next Huffington Post or the next Drudge Report than he is to go find someone else to get assignments or draw a paycheck from."
Just putting this out there, Mr. Kent — we're hiring.
Photo via Newsarama
Thumbnail via flickr, josephleenovak
Get Your Tickets to Mashable Media Summit
The Mashable Media Summit 2012 will explore the impact that technology is having on media, and how digital media is affecting our lives and changing the world. This one-day conference will bring together the brightest minds in media, including content creators, technology leaders, entrepreneurs, social media executives and journalists.
Date: Friday, Nov. 2, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: The TimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street, New York, NY 10036
Tickets: Purchase tickets on Eventbrite.
A Look Back at Last Year's Mashable Media Summit
Mashable Media Summit 2011
Media Summit 2011
The Mashable Media Summit on Nov. 4 at the Times Center in New York City attracted professionals in digital, tech, advertising, sales, marketing, mobile and publishing from all over the world.
We had a packed house in attendance for this year's Media Summit.
The Future of Social Media
Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable, speaks on the future of social media, its current landscape and what trends to expect for 2012.
This year's Media Summit was located at the Times Center in New York City.
Social Media Grows Up: The Evolving Role of Social Media in News Organizations
Mashable's community manager Meghan Peters chats with Katie Rogers, social media manager at The Washington Post; Anthony De Rosa, social media editor at Reuters; and Drake Martinet, social media editor at AllThingsD.
Teaching – and Learning From – The Old Grey Lady
Brian Stelter, a media reporter and blogger at The New York Times speaks at the Media Summit.
The Filter Bubble: How to Fix Content Curation
Eli Pariser, author and chairman of the board at MoveOn.org, discusses how human editors and algorithms can work together to get users clicking on content that matters.
What Facebook's New Features Mean For Journalism
Adam Ostrow, executive editor and senior vice president of content, Mashable speaks with Vadim Lavrusik, journalist program manager of Facebook, about how the social network's new features can help journalists.
The Evolution of Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated Group editor, Terry McDonell, talks about the magazine's transition from print to digital with Mashable's Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff.
From Tactile to Mobile
Josh Koppel, co-founder and chief creative officer of ScrollMotion, speaks on the reinvention of content experience and engagement.
TV Makes You Smarter
Christy Tanner, TV Guide's general manager and executive vice president, explains how technology is changing entertainment for better and for worse.
TV Guide Audience
A member of the audience asks TVGuide general manager and EVP Christy Tanner about technology's changes to the entertainment industry.
Who Owns Your Identity?
Mashable Senior Vice President Robyn Peterson speaks with Andy Mitchell, strategic partner of development at Facebook about how much of our identity is shared to third-party sites. Also on stage is Patrick Harding, CTO of Ping Identity, and Tim Dierks, senior vice president of engineering at Huffington Post.
Mashable Senior Vice President Robyn Peterson speaks with Andy Mitchell, strategic partner of development at Facebook; Patrick Harding, CTO of Ping Identity; and Tim Dierks, senior vice president of engineering at Huffington Post about how much of our identity is shared to third-party sites.
Tor Myhren, Grey president and chief creative officer, talked about the ultimate user experience, and how different it is today from when he was a teen. Here he is at age 14.
Tor Myhren, Grey president and chief creative officer, talked about the ultimate user experience, and how different it is today from when he was a teen.
The Problem of Prediction
Tony Haile, CEO of Chartbeat, discusses how real time data changes what you should be doing.
Mashable's Big Announcement
At Mashable Media Summit, we announced the Mashable Publisher Platform, a new editorially curated syndication experience that brings content from select publishers to our site.
The Importance of Being Awesome
Faris Yakob, chief innovation officer of MDC Partners’ kbs+p and founding partner of Spies & Assassins, covers from art and copy to arduinos and code, and how important it is to be awesome.
AT&T Brings 4G to NYC
Larry Solomon, AT&T's senior vice president of corporate communications, announced that 4G LTE will be coming to New York City.
Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, AT&T.
Bloomberg TV anchor Emily Chang talks tech with Foursquare's General Manager Evan Cohen.
The New Model of Content and Commerce
Lauren Indvik, marketing and media associate editor at Mashable, is joined by a panel including Alexis Maybank, founder and chief marketing officer of Gilt Groupe
; Maureen Mullen, research and advisory lead of L2; and David Granger, editor in chief of Esquire.
The Future of Social TV
Mashable's entertainment editor Christina Warren talks with a panel including Alex Iskold, GetGlue founder and CEO; Jesse Redniss, vice president of digital, USA Networks; and Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin Labs, about the future of social media in its relationship with television.
Breaking Down Content Barriers
Michael Lazerow, founder and CEO of Buddy Media talks about the rules of content that need to be changed for social media.
Sponsors for the Mashable Media Summit 2011
Getting Ready for the Post-Conference Reception
Media Summit 2011 Reception
A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for the Mashable Media Summit. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.
Topics: Conversations, Media, Culture
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Old Style Plastic (Junior) Meccano
Details and Downloads of the Manuals
Meccano Ltd introduced Plastic Meccano for younger children in 1965, It was renamed Junior Meccano in 1979. It lasted until 1993 when it was replaced by a totally new Junior Meccano system. Details of the various set manuals are noted below. Also included are the Study Kits produced by Educational Productions Ltd in collaboration with Meccano. The instruction leaflets/manuals can be downloaded by clicking on the appropriate image.
UK MANUALS
Plastic Meccano was first introduced in 1965 with three sets - 'A', 'B' and 'C'. So far I know of the four instruction leaflets during this era each of which covered all sets. Were there any others?
A combined instruction leaflet for the sets A, B & C, which is thought to date from 1965/7. Not certain whether this or the next instruction leaflet came first. It was a large double sided sheet.
(No reference No.)
A slightly different combined instruction leaflet for the sets A, B & C which is thought to date from 1965/7. Not certain whether this or the previous instruction leaflet came first. It was a large double sided sheet.
A combined instruction leaflet for the sets A, B & C which followed on from the previous two. It is thought to date from 1967 to 1970. It was a large double sided sheet.
(Ref 72937).
Other printings
An identical leaflet with Ref 160020, which probably dates from 1970.
There were four main sets during this era - '100', '200', '300' and '400'. The manuals were reprinted several times during the era. The various printings can be identified by being either 'Meccano Tri-ang Ltd', 'Meccano (1971) Ltd', '©1973', '©1974' or '©1975'. If anyone can supply scans/information on printings not shown below it would be appreciated.
NOTE - The Track Pack remained in production until Meccano production stopped in the UK in 1981
The instruction leaflet for set 100. It was a single double sided sheet.
(Ref 160035, Meccano Tri-ang Ltd)
Other printings known
Ref 160035, Meccano (1971) Ltd
Ref 160036, © 1973 Meccano Ltd
The instruction manual for sets 300 and 400.
(Ref 162180, Meccano & Airfix Logos, ©1975)
(Ref 162180, Meccano (1971) Ltd)
(Ref 162180, © 1974 Meccano Ltd)
The Caterpillar Track Accessory Pack instruction leaflet.
Due to Trade Mark objections by Caterpillar Ltd it was subsequently renamed the Flexible Track Accessory Pack.
(Ref 153041, Meccano & Airfix Logos)
During this period, Boots sold the Set 100 Plastic Meccano set under their own name. thought to date from the mid 1970s.
There were four main sets during this era - 'Playpack', '1', '2' and '3'.
The instruction leaflet for the Playpack set. It was a single double sided sheet.
(Ref 160039, ©1976, Airfix Logo)
The instruction leaflet for set 1. It was a single double sided sheet.
(Ref 160041, ©1977, Meccano & Airfix Logos)
The instruction manual for set 2.
(No Ref No., ©1977, Meccano & Airfix Logos)
The Plastic Meccano Parts Check List for the 1977 range.
There were two main sets during this era - 'A1' and 'A2'. These were the last sets produced by Meccano(UK) before production stopped due to the Airfix group collapsing
The instruction leaflet for set A1. It was a large double sided sheet.
No ref no., ©1979, Meccano & Airfix Logos)
FRENCH MANUALS
Meccano France released three sets in the 1970s, Sets '1', '2' and '3'. These were identical to the UK '100', '200' and '300' sets.
The instruction Manual for the French set 1
Following the closure of the UK factory, Plastic (Junior) Meccano was reintroduced in 1986 from France with three sets - '1 Star', '2 Stars' and '3 Stars'. At present I have not seen any manuals for these sets. If anyone can supply scans it would be appreciated.
There were two sets during this era - 'A' and 'B'.
The combined instruction leaflet for sets A & B. It was a large double sided sheet.
STUDY KITS
Two series of Study Kit cards utilising the new Plastic Meccano were produced by Education Production Ltd in collaboration with Meccano Ltd in 1968.
The instruction cards for Study Kit 1 - Geometry and Structures
The instruction cards for Study Kit 2 - Pulleys, Gears and Levers
A set of Teachers Notes came with the Study Kit 2
Page content last updated - 6 December 2018
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Posted: 4:00pm Wednesday 03 Jul, 2019
Hibiscus Coast Highway crossing costs out of control
A crossing like this could be put across Hibiscus Coast Highway, near Orewa Estuary, but the cost is beyond the local board’s budget.
A pedestrian and cycle crossing over Hibiscus Coast Highway at the southern entrance to Orewa (near Estuary Arts Centre) is on the community’s wish list and would be a much needed safety improvement, but Auckland Transport’s (AT) cost estimate of $390,000 could put it beyond the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board’s reach.
This one crossing could cost more than all four that were added in Orewa Town Centre a year ago, at a total cost of $381,000 plus $4800 for two safety audits.
Since then, the local board has been given a Community Safety Fund of just over $756,000 from AT’s safety budget. Members came up with four projects – all pedestrian crossings – that they hoped to spend the money on.
Two of them are in the North Shore area that the local board covers. The two local projects are both crossings over Hibiscus Coast Highway – the one in Orewa, at 214 Hibiscus Coast Highway, is to make it easy to connect from the popular Te Ara Tahuna walk and cycleway to the paths on the beach side, and the other is near the toilets at Hatfields Beach.
Initial consultations with AT’s experts recommended the one in Orewa be a signalised ‘Toucan’ crossing, which has a separate strip for walkers and cyclists. The signals operate when pedestrians push a button.
The Hatfields Beach crossing was adjusted to a pedestrian island refuge, due to speeds through that area, and was costed roughly at $260,000.
The total estimate for the local board’s four projects came to $1.1 million.
Local board chair Julia Parfitt says she was “gobsmacked” when she saw the suggested cost for the Orewa crossing but the local board is determined to make it happen.
She is meeting AT representatives soon to convince them that the Orewa crossing should be funded from AT’s larger pot of money for safety-related projects, due to its sub-regional significance.
“The consultant was surprised at the volumes crossing there,” Mrs Parfitt says.
AT’s figures show there have been three accidents causing injury at the site in the past five years, one of which was serious. A count done last year revealed that around 11,120 vehicles go through this location each day, each way.
AT spokesperson Mark Hannan says that the estimated cost covers preliminary and general works, traffic management, signs and markings, signals, CCTV, footpaths and urban design, including lighting.
Mrs Parfitt says she hopes to convince AT that the need for the Orewa crossing is urgent. “I hope it could be started before Christmas so it’s in place in time for the busy summer season,” she says. “We want to see this done and will ask for it to be made a priority.”
Crafty co-op still going strong
New look refuse and recycling centres reopening this week
Cellphone site causes concern
Farmers look for smooth gun handover
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Hide or group unachievable badges
There are multiple badges that one cannot achieve anymore, like badges for participation in the Documentation Beta or badges that are marked as retired. I find it to be extremely demotivating to have those badges show up in the list of badges. I would like to propose two possibilities here:
Change the unachievable badges to be in a group named "Retired"
Hide them, mark them (add a grayscale or something), etc.
This would make it so much more interesting to go after badge completion, because one could achieve 100% badge progress again - having unmarked badges that just cannot be achieved is rude to people who strive to get all badges.
Are there any real arguments against this?
discussion feature-request badges
NikxDa
NikxDaNikxDa
"extremely demotivating"? You are doing it wrong. Consider something like "how to use SO and enjoy it". – Hans Passant Feb 19 '17 at 23:52
I do not want to say that SO is only about "hunting" the badges. I just like to see some progress there while I continue answering and helping; having unachievable badges doesn't help with this. – NikxDa Feb 19 '17 at 23:54
I've long since wished for this; the current situation is just lazy and frustrating to me. – TylerH Feb 20 '17 at 15:52
I could envision something that sets the opacity lower on badges which are no longer obtainable...
...but I also worry that any change to this view may send a more confusing message than intended, given that faded out/disabled/crossed out text implies something different than something that's simply not awardable. Grouping them together works, but then you still get the question of, "Why?"
There's also the fact that these badges exist on other sites and could have been awarded...
...but are no longer eligible to be. Communicating that these people have the badge and others can't get it isn't something that's accomplished with simply hiding or dimming the badges.
Remember: Stack Overflow isn't the only site in the network. It's by far the largest site in the network, but it's no snowflake when it comes to these kinds of things. A change in this sort of UI should be beneficial and significant to all sites, not just SO.
MakotoMakoto
If the base assumption ("seeing badges which are unawardable is somehow bad") is true, then it will be beneficial to all sites. Adding a few bits of logic which only hides/demotes/strikes-through/… those badges when they are in fact not achievable anymore would help with the generality of this proposal. – Jonas Schäfer Feb 20 '17 at 6:30
@JonasWielicki: I can't speak for the SO devs but I wonder if the overhead of adding that degree of custom logic to each site is worth it. Blanket rules would cover most of it but I'm not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze. – Makoto Feb 20 '17 at 6:49
@JonasWielicki: Take the Analytical badge. It's long-since retired, but even new sites still have it listed in their badges list, which leads me to believe that this logic is not bespoke. Making it bespoke or introducing new logic for this...not 100% confident it would fix much since there hasn't been all that much friction over unearnable badges. – Makoto Feb 20 '17 at 6:53
I think it would be very beneficial, because adding opacity or grouping them will (1) make clear that those badges are unachievable and (2) introduce a difference between special case badges and normal badges. This would benefit the site, because users will get a clearer image of badges - unachievable ones are taken out of focus. – NikxDa Feb 20 '17 at 12:38
On hover of lower-opacity badge entries, you could show full opacity (like downvoted posts) and offer a tooltip that says "These badges are no longer achievable on this network". – TylerH Feb 20 '17 at 15:48
@Makoto The Analytical badge is even listed on brand new sites; I think that all sites have all badges and as such the system could be hard to fix. – wizzwizz4 Feb 22 '17 at 22:30
@wizzwizz4: Yes, I reach that conclusion in an earlier comment I had made. – Makoto Feb 22 '17 at 22:44
Building on Makoto's answer, I think it would be very well possible to just hide those badges for people who can't get them anymore, and add a message explaining that some unobtainable badges have been hidden. I don't see how that could cause any major problems.
SplittyDevSplittyDev
The lower-opacity solution is interesting, I hadn't thought about that.
Another solution, which I proposed on this duplicate question is to remove those badges from the "unearned" tab (though that does also change the definition of "unearned" to "not earned and available", which is asymmetric to our definition of "earned" which may include badges that are no longer available).
Another solution is to add an "available" tab to the right of the "all" tab that includes all badges that can still be earned.
pushkinpushkin
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged discussion feature-request badges .
Can the “unearned” badges tab exclude unavailable badges, or can we get an “available” tab?
Unobtainable badges, should they shown in “unearned tab”?
Platinum Badges
More information on badges
Progress bar for badges
Badges as motivation
Synonymise [capture-group] with [capturing-group]
Change the description of the 'Explainer' badges
Trade badges for points
Precognitive and Beta Badges
Synonymise [capture-group] with [regex-group]
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Posts tagged ‘thrash’
Album Covers That Changed My Life
I love album covers, especially on vinyl LPs. Narrowing my list down to eleven wasn’t easy. To do so I had to omit thousands of my favourites, among them the homoerotic Teutonic imagery of Accept and Rammstein, the loincloth-clad would-be warriors Manowar, the nonchalant symbolism of Scorpions, the eerie imagery of Venom, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond and Blue Öyster Cult, the razor blades and metallic robot creatures of Judas Priest, the masking-tape-nippled, cameltoe-pantied, oiled-up, chainsaw-wielding anarchisexuality of Wendy O. Williams, the two-steps-from-transexuality preening poseurishness of LA glam metallists, the otherworldly wonder of Magnum’s Rodney Matthews artworks…you get the idea. These eleven are not necessarily my favourite album covers, but they are the ones that, for reasons which will be explained, had the biggest impact on me.
1. AC/DC – If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
My equal-favourite album of all time (the other being Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction’s Tattooed Beat Messiah). Its cover affected the 10-year-old me in a visceral way when I saw it for the first time (on a snowy winter’s day in an East Kilbride record shop called Impulse). I picked up the vinyl LP and – after a few minutes of staring at both sides of the cover – walked to the counter shaking with excitement and bought this chunk of high-voltage riffage. Walking the mile and a half home through the snow, I gazed at the cover in amazement: on the front Angus is impaled by his own guitar while Bon looks over his shoulder like a demon; on the back Angus is face down and dead, a Gibson SG headstock jutting from a bloody exit wound, and Bon nowhere to be seen (prophetic, as Bon was to check out of this world soon afterwards). And the sound? Immaculate! From the roar of Glasgow Apollo’s crowd (the greatest gig venue I’ve ever set foot in) to Bon’s banshee screams on High Voltage to the never-bettered guitar tone of Angus and Malcolm Young, the energy levels on this album are higher than any ever captured on record before or since.
2. Motörhead – Ace of Spades
This one shouldn’t need explanation. The band image – equal parts biker, bandito and shoot-you-in-the-back bastard – was perfect. This cover didn’t just convince me to buy the album: it inspired me to buy a bullet belt, too. Little Filthy Phil Taylor was the scuzziest-looking thing I’d ever seen, so naturally I loved him!
3. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
This cover scared the bejeesus out of me as a child. I was afraid of only one thing back then: witches. I’d fight any boy, man or beast. I’d boot a vampire in the balls if he crossed my path. I’d set a werewolf on fire if he bared his teeth at me. Witches, though, were a different story. They terrified me. The spectral female figure on the front of this album looked like a definite witch – the scariest I’d ever seen: a pant-shittingly frightening wyrd woman who would haunt my dreams and rip out my soul if I so much as dared to play the album. So I played it over and over, staring at the cover for hours, certain that facing my fears was the only way to banish them. The building on the cover is Mapledurham Watermill. I’m happy to report that it hasn’t changed much. With a bit of Crowleyesque jiggery-pokery, some Satanic slap and tickle, and a shamanic forest dance (or, if you prefer, a short walk from the car park), you can look upon the watermill from the same angle as the cover photographer did back in 1970. And if you’re lucky, a pale figure in black might appear on the water’s edge…
4. Rush – Permanent Waves
Symbolism run amok. In the background a man waves, unaware of the approaching tidal wave that’s about to wash him away. In the foreground a woman with a demi-wave hairstyle smiles as her skirt flutters in waves, offering the viewer a cheeky glimpse of panties. Genius.
5. Candlemass – Nightfall
The most numinous of these eleven, Nightfall‘s cover features the Thomas Cole painting Old Age. If you fancy a look at the original, pop over to the Smithsonian Institute and have your mind blown by this spectacular piece of art. For me, it provokes memories of early childhood with its Sunday School, biblical parables, and pondering the existential mysteries of the Universe.
6. Deep Purple – Deep Purple in Rock
The cover features the giant heid of Ian Gillan…carved into rock! Ritchie Blackmore’s there too, as are the other three legends from the Mark II lineup of Deep Purple (Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Jon Lord). Based on the larger-than-life sculptures on Mount Rushmore (where the heads of American presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt are hewn into the rock), this cover goes one better by having five heids. And even an idiot knows that five heids are better than four. As a child, I found this vinyl LP in a Menorcan record shop during a summer holiday. Nearly pissed myself with excitement. Bought it on the spot. Iconic.
7. Diamond Head – Living on…Borrowed Time
Like AC/DC’s If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It), this cover uses back and front to deliver its message. For the full effect, take the gatefold vinyl album, open it and enjoy the wide landscape art (by Rodney Matthews, who also created legendary covers for rock legends Nazareth and Magnum, among others). Of all Rodney’s work, this is the piece I find most captivating.
8. Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden
When artist Derek Riggs created Eddie ‘the Head’ (Iron Maiden’s now-famous mascot, who has graced all the band’s covers – albums and singles – evolving through many incarnations along the way) he couldn’t have foreseen the enormity of the impact his monster would have on heavy-metal culture and identity. Derek’s body of work is now legendary, his character Eddie the universally recognised figurehead of the Iron Maiden juggernaut. Each Maiden cover has breathtaking attention to detail, little flashes of self-referencing humour, and a unique mood. I find the cover of this, their debut album, hypnotic. The scene communicates an eerie and palpable sense of nocturnal danger. As for Eddie, is he a punk or a metalhead? Is he alive or is he dead? Is he friend or foe, or sexual pest? Or all of the above, like some Schrödinger’s zombie? These are the things I’ve wondered as I’ve gazed into his eclipse-in-the-abyss eyes. An utterly inspired cover with unparalleled atmosphere. I can’t get enough of it.
9. Testament – Souls of Black
Pick up a copy of this on vinyl and look at the cover. See it. There are over 20 tortured faces in the clouds and sea. The more you look, the more you’ll see. I’m still finding new ones and I’ve had the album since its release in 1990. Beautifully symmetrical logo in blood-red font. Hooded dark wraiths. Stolen heart wrapped in black thorns. A beautiful inversion of Christian iconography.
10. Jean Michel Jarre – Oxygène
It’s difficult to look at this cover without contemplating the destruction mankind has wreaked on Mother Earth. Job done, Monsieur.
11. Pink Floyd – The Division Bell
One of my favourite albums and a cover to match, courtesy of longtime Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson (RIP, you transcendent genius). Division and union in one scene: an eternal paradox. A metaphor for the Universe. The building in the background is Ely Cathedral. If you fancy seeing the giant heads, go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. They’re above the entrance to the museum’s third floor.
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Critical Incident Stress Management
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Review - The Nature and Structure of Content
by Jeffrey C. King
Review by Brian Glenney, Ph.D.
Jul 20th 2010 (Volume 14, Issue 29)
Many linguists and philosophers of language inspect the structure of talk to understand the nature of thought. Others, like Jeffrey King, claim that the structure of talk is a window to the nature of reality itself. On his view, linguistic expressions instantiate propositions or facts: to utter a sentence 'Axel sings' in the right conditions is to instantiate a particular proposition, a singular fact about the world. Propositions are not mysterious entities that merely provide a common basis for our thought and talk. According to King, propositions are specific ways we find the world to be.
King's account of propositions is candidly and articulately argued in this somewhat technical work. His clarity of expression makes this otherwise difficult work in the field of philosophy of language accessible for most. His engagement with issues in fields like metaphysics, mathematical logic, and cognition in general makes it a good resource for contemporary work in these areas.
Here's a brief overview: Chapter 1 provides the recent historical context of propositions by reviewing the views of Frege and Russell. Chapters 4-7 and Appendix provide a general defense of King's overall account of propositions. King's own account is featured in Chapters 2-3 and is the focus of this review.
On King's view, we do not come to facts about the world by perceiving them (more on this later), but by our linguistic expressions that represent them. And when we inspect our linguistic expressions, we find a set of complex entities, called “propositions,” with a fine-grained structure of parts and relations that mirror ways we find the world to be--that represent objects, properties, and relations in the world.
This complex structure of linguistic expression allows King to respond to a number of previously open questions about propositions:
1) What are propositions like?
2) Where did propositions come from?
3) Have propositions always existed?
4) How is that we are familiar with propositions?
We find what propositions are like when we decompose the structure of our linguistic expressions carefully in the context of their utterance. There, King argues, we arrive at a finely structured set of elements that unambiguously specify one and only one proposition. The sentence, 'Axel sings', represents one particular fact in the world where Axel and the property of singing are constituents of the proposition instantiated by the relation between them and so compose in the same way as the meaning of words in the sentence 'Axel sings'. King's technical statement of his basic thesis is as follows:
[T]here is some context c and some words a and b of some language L such that a has x as its semantic value relative to c and occurs at the left terminal node of the sentential relation R that in L encodes the instantiation function and b occurs at the right terminal node and has as its semantic value in c y. (King: p. 41)
'Axel sings' is true on this account if and only if Axel really does stand in a relation to the property of singing. And the truth conditions upon which it is the case that Axel sings are “an intrinsic and essential property of the proposition” that Axel sings. (King: p. 61) According to King, this provides the outline of an account of how/why propositions represent, which is essentially just to specify the nature of propositions. And since there is no other similarly robust and demystified account of propositions available, King understands his account to be the best.
The nature of propositions as finely structured linguistically expressed facts provides a basis upon which to answer the remaining three questions from above: propositions, 2) originate in the linguistic expressions which represent them, 3) have been in existence as long as there have been linguistic expressions of them (i.e. propositions, and thus facts, have only been around as long as humans have been able to express them) 4) are made available to our acquaintance by our acquaintance with linguistic expressions.
King's answers to these questions demand a deep interdependence between linguistic expressions and facts about the world. But surely we can perceive facts. I can arrive at the truth of Axel singing by hearing him sing, and I might hear him sing and find out this fact without any linguistic representation or utterance: with only a perceptual representation. For instance, I might be in possession of an “Axel neuron” and I might have a representation of the property of singing in my auditory cortex. Axel, as visually represented, and the property of singing, as represented in audition, might then be bound together and feed forward to conscious awareness wherein the fact of Axel singing and its truth-value would be instantiated. Given this possibility, I see no need for involvement of linguistic representations to appreciate certain perceivable facts and their truth-values.
Perhaps King could respond with the claim that we perceive facts once they have been represented by a linguistic expression. But if propositions are just facts, they would have to be the very things that we perceive, and perceiving propositions represented only by linguistic expressions just seems rather mysterious. Furthermore, perceived propositions would not have the fine-grained structure demanded by propositions represented linguistically. And even if perceptual representations encode facts more coarsely, as they seem to, it remains an open question as to whether they are the same facts as those represented linguistically. Such open questions, however, typify advances in knowledge, advances such as the project outlined in King's excellent book.
© 2010 Brian Glenney
Brian Glenney is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Gordon College, in Wenham, MA, working in the area of philosophical psychology. www.ppl.gordon.edu
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Michael Gehron
Thrice Told Tales
12. Great Red Island
July 9, 2018 By Michael Leave a Comment
The thought of heading to Madagascar excited me. I planned to rekindle my writing habits and skills. And I began to see my time on the great red island as a second ‘writing sabbatical’.
I read every book I could lay my hands on about the exotic locale. And I dug into pirate lore with particular zeal. Madagascar had its piratical heydays in the late sixteen and early seventeen hundreds. The little half-moon of an island named Ilse St Marie was a pirate legend. The one thousand pirates who lived there proclaimed it an independent pirate nation. It is still home of the world’s only ‘pirate cemetery’.
I scoured the libraries for all the relevant literature. I even commissioned a book trader to locate a copy of, ‘Madagascar or Robert Drury’s Journal’ last printed in 1890. Here’s the first paragraph from the books’ Wikipedia page:
‘Robert Drury (born 1687; died between 1743 and 1750) was an English sailor on the Degrave who was shipwrecked at the age of 17 on the island of Madagascar. He would be trapped there for fifteen years. Upon returning to England, a book allegedly recounting his memoirs would be published in his name in 1729. Though it was an instant success, the credibility of the details in the book would be put into question by later historians. Modern scholars have proven though that many details in the book are authentic and that the story itself is one of the oldest written historical accounts of life in southern Madagascar during the 18th century.’ The book is thought by some to a fictional work by Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, because it tells a very similar tale, is written in the same style and published by the same publisher in the same general time frame.’
I reminded myself of my mantra. “If you don’t write particularly well, you’d better have something interesting to write about.” To me, pirates came about as close as I expected to get to fitting that particular bill. So I searched for a viable plot which would leverage the exotic locale.
Eighteen months after arriving I had a solid first draft of a manuscript I called ‘The Left Hand of God’. But mentioning what appeared after eighteen months of writing is getting a bit ahead of myself. I just wanted to set the stage. Let me start again by covering the early days…
The last leg of our trip took us from the East coast of Africa across three hundred miles of Indian Ocean. The sky below the plane consisted of a patchwork of puffy clouds spaced as evenly as pieces on a chess board. The light caught the rain falling beneath many of them and reflected it as a field of miniature rainbows.
We landed in the capital, Antannanrivo. The city is twenty degrees south of the equator and five thousand feet in the air. The bright red soil of the island was set against emerald green fields of rice. Dan Vagness, the Peace Corps volunteer with whom I’d lived in Afghanistan, had grown up on the island. He had fixed its image in my mind, saying, “The plants and animals found there exist nowhere else in the world. It looks like a world created by Dr. Seuss.”
Nancy, as usual, hit the ground running. I’d get a peek on the cheek and a ‘goodbye’ at first light and not see her again until after dark. She left no doubt that she expected me to handle the task of setting up our lives. While she may not have said it out loud, her message was clear. “I put my life on hold for the last six years – now it is your turn.” I thought I was ready for it, but that is not how it turned out.
It turns out I made a terrific mess of things. We got off to a disastrous start and it didn’t improve much from there. To begin with, I hadn’t appreciated how small and tight the ‘official’ American community would be. As the newest members of that clubby group, we were initially the object of interest. We garnered the pro forma dinner invitations and such. I was typically asked what I planned to do to fill my time as the ‘trailing spouse’. But I was too insecure about my writing to declare my plan out loud. Instead, I disingenuously said that I had been working hard for the past few years. I was looking forward to some down time. I may as well have made the ‘I’m a loser‘ sign by plastering my thumb and pointer finger against my forehead.
Several well-intentioned people said that the Embassy could help me. They had ‘family member’ opportunities. But I remained resistant to their entreaties…and soon the word went out. “The guy’s a loser,” the grapevine said. And my self-induced social ostracism only served to fuel my growing self-doubts.
Nancy meanwhile seemed hell-bent on reliving her Peace Corps dream. And she had been one wild volunteer. I have always had serious difficulty keeping my jealous tendencies in check. But her ‘I’m leaving home’ attitude, mixed the romantic characters with whom she was now engaged, proved a toxic combination. Add to that mix my prescription for a known paranoia inducing anti-malaria drug. The upshot was I was getting crazier by the day. My mood swings jumped from deep depression to near maniacal rage. And it got consistently worse over eighteen months.
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False Start, Phantasm, Divination, Closing the Chapter & Life’s Three Paths (1.0 – 2.0)
The Path I Choose, Once Again – From the Top, Walkout, Strike Three, Misguided (2.1 – 3.3)
Death on the Trail, Paperback Writer, Afghanistan Pt. 1-2, Kabul Coup (3.3 – 5)
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Geek[1], Nancy, Never Go Back, Geek[2], Dave (8.2 – 10)
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Archive for 14:07 JST March 1, 2011
TOKIO’s Yamaguchi will become one of the new faces of morning television
14:07 JST March 1, 2011 momoedgewood Leave a comment
"ZIP!" the new show Yamaguchi will be co-hosting
TOKIO’s Tatsuya Yamaguchi (39) has been named as one of the three main personalities for Nihon TV’s upcoming morning show “ZIP!” starting in April, reports Mainichi Shimbun and Sports Hochi.
The Johnny’s star will be joined by EXILE’s MAKIDAI (35) and comedian Taizo Harada (40). The three will take turns every day in hosting the show along with two Nihon TV announcers.
“ZIP!” will replace the long-running “Zoom in!! SUPER” morning show, and TV producers hope it will bring a new, “happy and fun morning to Japan”.
TV producers have said Yamaguchi was chosen because he has been able to make the transition from a pop star idol to a man, and can therefore bring something new to the show.
All three have been familiar faces on prime time television in Japan, but to become the new faces of morning television, each of them will now have to come into the TV studio by 4:30am for the show’s 5:50am start.
Categories: TOKIO Tags: Tatsuya Yamaguchi, TOKIO, TV
First ever music collaboration for V6
13:11 JST March 1, 2011 momoedgewood 2 comments
☆Taku Takahashi (m-flo) collaborates with V6 for SP theme remix (photo thanks to BARKS)
Junichi Okada’s upcoming SP movie is about to get some more V6 in it, reports Oricon and BARKS.
The movie’s main theme “Security Police” has been remixed by music duo m-flo’s ☆Taku Takahashi for the upcoming movie “SP THE MOTION PICTURE 革命篇 (Kakumei volume, Revolution volume)“. It has been reported music producer group REVOLUTIONS had asked ☆Taku Takahashi to create a revolutionary music scene using “Security Police”. The DJ in turn asked Johnny’s if V6 could sing the song.
The resulting song has become “SP ‘Break The Wall’ feat. V6&☆Taku Takahashi (m-flo)”. The song will not be released as a CD, and will only be available from a mobile download site starting on March 2.
Although V6 have had songs written for them by various household name musicians in the past, this is the first time they have collaborated with one. V6 leader Masayuki Sakamoto said he was proud of their finished product.
“For V6 this was our first time being featured on a song and releasing it on a mobile download site. We’re really looking forward to seeing how people react. ☆Taku-san made this into an amazingly cool song so I think people will be able to enjoy listening to a different kind of V6,” he said.
☆Taku Takahashi said V6 were a revolution, while the SP theme’s original composer Yugo Kanno had said he thought the remix version with V6’s singing was cool.
“SP THE MOTION PICTURE 革命篇 (Kakumei volume, Revolution volume)” opens in Japan on March 12.
Extra links: REVOLUTIONS website
“Break the Wall” (if you missed the link above)
Categories: V6 Tags: Junichi Okada, movie, single, V6
Tokyo citizen Shunsuke Kazama pulls off farm boy role
Shunsuke Kazama with director Gitan Ohtsuru (photo thanks to SponichiAnnex)
Johnny’s talent Shunsuke Kazama (27) talked about turning from a Tokyo city boy to a farm boy, and then to a visual rock musician at an event for his upcoming movie “前橋ヴジュアル系 (Maebashi Visual Rockers)” in Tokyo on February 28, reports Cinema Today, Sponichi Annex, Sankei Sports, and TV Asahi.
The story follows a group of country boys who form a visual band and dream of making it big. It has been reported Kazama had said wearing heavy visual rock band makeup was an unforgettable experience.
“My face is very plain so it was great to be able to dress up like this. [But in between takes] I’d look at myself in the mirror and laugh,” he said.
Kazama also said it was a challenge to take on a project where he would not be dancing.
“I worked really hard to make my performance believable,” he said.
The other believable role had been what his character looked off the stage and on the farm.
“I was worried my Tokyo lifestyle would ruin things if my city boy habits came out, but then when I tried on the farm clothes, I looked better than I had imagined,” he said.
The Johnny’s talent also said he was not fazed by the fact this was his first lead role in a movie.
“I never took notice of it while I was filming, but now I’m gradually beginning to realize what it means,” he said.
Finally, like the characters in the movie who grow to love their work more and more, the press had asked Kazama what he himself was into these days.
“I think I’m dead serious when I’m reading manga at manga cafes. My happiness only costs 400 yen an hour.”
“前橋ヴジュアル系 (Maebashi Visual Rockers)” opens in Japan cinemas from April 9.
Categories: Johnny's Junior Tags: Johnny's Jr, movie, Shunsuke Kazama
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The promise and challenge of technology in language learning
Many language schools are thinking about innovation these days. Innovation – in terms of programmes, student services, or any other aspect of the student experience – can be a basis for differentiating a school in a crowded marketplace. It can also be an important counter to the challenge of commoditisation in language learning. This is no small question for the industry, as the extent that competing schools are undifferentiated from one another tends to shift the competitive dynamic in the marketplace to push prices down over time.
Evaluation & Accreditation of Quality in Language Services (Eaquals) is a leading international provider of monitoring services in the language education sector, with over 125 accredited members in 30 countries. And so it is perhaps not surprising that both sources and strategies for innovation were the subject of considerable discussion at the Eaquals International Conference in Malaga, Spain last week.
What we talk about when we talk about tech
The conference gave particular consideration to the role of technology in language learning, and the potential of technology as a source of innovation for schools. We have reported previously on the growing consumer demand for technology-enabled language learning – a market that is forecast to double its revenues to US$1.6 billion by 2018.
Digital language learning is a broad category that includes:
Online learning, whether self-paced or collaborative;
Digital learning resources (e.g., e-textbooks, e-gradebooks, interactive media);
Mobile learning apps, including educational games and other mobile services.
The ways in which language schools can apply any of these technologies are equally broad. For example, a school may choose to offer online learning, whether as a stand-alone programme for remote students, as a complement to classroom instruction for students on site, or a tool to use before or after studying abroad.
Additionally, a school may choose to provide mobile devices or mobile apps to allow students greater opportunity for independent study outside of class time. Teachers may bring technology into the classroom in the form of new teaching tools, such as interactive whiteboards or computer-based assessments, and more.
The benefits of e-learning
Aside from its strategic significance to the school, technology holds great promise for students as well. It can support more independent and personalised learning, and, in the best case, allow students to accomplish more and progress faster in their studies.
The rationale for adopting technology at a classroom or school level is therefore fairly straightforward:
It responds to consumer demand;
Improves student performance;
Extends what teachers can accomplish in the classroom;
Conveys a certain sophistication and cutting-edge flair for the school’s language programmes.
In short: it boosts the competitive edge of the language centre, helps to differentiate its programmes and services, and, in so doing, ultimately helps to attract and retain more students.
This competitive advantage is being further enabled by various standards for the use of technology in schools, including accreditation models for online learning programmes, that are beginning to grow up around the burgeoning consumer demand for digital language learning.
Eaquals, for example, regularly reviews and updates their accreditation scheme to ensure it remains fit for purpose, and they have recently developed a new set of quality indicators for online language programmes in response to the increasing use of learning technologies in language schools.
We caught up with Sarah Aitken, Eaquals Executive Director, who explained, “As the use of IT becomes mainstream in language education, Eaquals accreditation will be able to continue to apply a principled approach to evaluating and supporting quality across our member centres. Eaquals Quality Standards are already designed to be relevant in all educational contexts and the ability to accredit new types of language teaching institutions will support our growth strategy as well as keep Eaquals at the forefront of innovation in our sector.”
Eaquals members have been increasingly engaged with issues raised by the use of handheld IT devices in language learning and are grappling with issues such as how to direct resources to e-learning and how the technology will be used both in and out of the classroom. Eaquals wants to ensure that their accreditation scheme covers all academic activities within their current member language centres, focusing on the quality of course delivery and the learner experience.
The newly updated Eaquals Quality Standards apply to online course delivery models as well as “traditional” models. A working group is refining practical inspection procedures and producing guidance documents for applicants and inspectors, and a full launch of the scheme is expected later later this year.
Such quality measures to recognise, develop, and reward good practice in online learning will prove vital as the industry evolves, particularly as educators face challenges when implementing e-learning.
Scott Thornbury’s seminar at the Eaquals conference looked at the other side of the potential in e-learning. A celebrated author and associate professor in the Master of Arts in TESOL at The New School in New York, Mr Thornbury outlined the common challenges that schools encounter when adopting new technologies. These include the following:
Variability in hardware and software, including access to devices as well as the Internet, used by both teachers and students;
Administrative challenges with respect to students forgetting to bring devices, losing passwords, requiring tech support, etc.;
Mixed levels of enthusiasm and expectations from stakeholders, management, and teachers;
Variable motivation of teachers to adopt new tools or processes in the classroom;
Lack of training for teachers in the use of technology in their teaching;
Issues around motivating learners (e.g., to follow a self-paced online lesson or adopt a new mobile app);
Extremely competitive and congested marketplace, with adoptions and teaching practices varying considerably from school to school or even class to class.
Other speakers argued that schools tend to set their expectations too high in terms of what technology can accomplish. Then, when things don’t go as planned, there is a tendency to think that “digital doesn’t work” and technology becomes a scapegoat for other problems a school may have.
Ultimately, the key to more reasonable expectations and an effective tech adoption, say experts, is to have a plan.
In other words, a clear digital strategy is essential when integrating technology into learning. You must consider:
How will expanded adoption of learning technology fit into your strategic plan?
What material will be online as opposed to in books and/or delivered face to face?
Will you use online services, mobile devices, or other technology tools?
How will you promote any new technology adoptions or features in your marketing materials?
Will you use material from a publisher or will you create your own e-library? (The former providing convenience and up-to-date coursework, the latter distinguishing you from the competition, boosting your profile, and perhaps offering you a revenue stream should you decide to license it.)
These are just some of the key questions to be asked, and underlying them all is a goal of purposeful innovation – that is, innovation with sound business goals that has a chance to create or reinforce some competitive advantage. As Michael Carrier, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Cambridge English, put it at the conference, “Innovation must be connected to the value proposition. It must be connected to the value for the customer and for the business in terms of revenue generation.”
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This entry was posted in Africa, Asia, Australia/Oceania, Europe, Language Learning, Middle East, Most Popular, North America, Online Learning, Regions, South & Central America, Technology and tagged language travel industry, blended learning, student recruitment, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, online education.
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Chinese study destinations and post-study plans changing this year
Survey shows study abroad decision process is changing, with more factors at play
US visa data shows declining international numbers
Brazil’s outbound numbers surged in 2018
The growing popularity of international K-12 schools in China
The crucial role of parents in international student recruitment and retention
Canada takes another step toward a new international education strategy
UK announces new international strategy with a goal to host 600,000 students by 2030
What makes international students happy? Research shows the answer depends in part on country of origin
24/7 Recruiting: How to use multiple channels to keep your marketing going around the clock
Further evidence that international students are increasingly prioritising employment outcomes
Canada eases application requirements for post-study work permits
Planning for success at student fairs and events
Canada’s foreign student enrolment took another big jump in 2018
France launches new international recruitment strategy
Study compares post-study employment offers and outcomes for international students
New Zealand moving to smooth pathways between language learning and degree studies
Germany’s foreign enrolment grew again in 2018
Widespread reports of work permit delays for foreign students in US
Nepalese government signals willingness to limit study abroad
More than eight million graduates from Chinese universities this year
Economic impact of foreign students in Spain estimated at €2.2 billion
In the sharing marketplace, video is king
US immigration reaffirms that I-20s should not be sent to agents
How and when international students use school websites and social media in planning for study abroad
Survey highlights challenges for foreign students in the Netherlands
Emotion-based branding strategy connects feelings to actions
Internships in demand, but not always easy for students to undertake
New Zealand educators raise the alarm about visa delays
Ireland: Number of non-EEA students in higher education jumps by 45% over five years
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With The Lonely Island's third studio outing, The Wack Album, the famous comedy trio rap, croon, and shout about topics ranging from semicolons (which they use incorrectly throughout "Semicolon") to their playboy philosophy on physical embracing ("Hugs"). While The Wack Album features huge talent—ranging from Justin Timberlake to Hugh Jackman—and radio-ready hooks, The Lonely Island's true talent lies in its ability to craft perfectly paced jokes that will leave you both singing along and sore from laughter.
The Wack Album The Lonely Island
Dramatic Intro
Go Kindergarten (feat. Robyn)
Hugs (feat. Pharrell Williams)
Diaper Money
Yolo (feat. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar)
Semicolon (feat. Solange)
Where Brooklyn At? (Interlude)
You've Got the Look (feat. Hugh Jackman & Kristen Wiig)
I'm a Hustler (Song?)
Spring Break Anthem
I Run NY (feat. Billie Joe Armstrong)
I Don't Give a Honk
3-Way (The Golden Rule) [feat. Justin Timberlake & Lady GaGa]
I F****d My Aunt (feat. T-Pain)
We Are a Crowd
The Compliments (feat. Too $hort)
We Need Love
Perfect Saturday
℗ 2013 Universal Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
More By The Lonely Island
Incredibad
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Original Soundtrack)
The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
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Nigeria to unify exchange rates – Osinbajo
Nigeria will close the gap between the official and black market rates for the Naira against the dollar “very soon”, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said.
Vice President Osinbajo told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the gap between the official and parallel market isn’t helpful.
The official and black market naira foreign exchange rates will be “unified” this year, but there is no time frame for when it could happen, Osinbajo said.
“If you look at the economic recovery and growth plan it is the expectation that this is a conversation we are having with central bank.” He said.
The naira’s official rate, controlled by the government, has hovered just above 300 to the dollar since it was devalued in June.
This is still 40 percent stronger than rates on the parallel market, a gap that is discouraging investment from overseas and leaving Nigeria short of foreign currency.
Financial institutions, among others, have argued that Nigeria must allow its currency to float freely to solve its foreign exchange woes, a measure which has met opposition from President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria’s lack of dollars has been exacerbated by a crunch in oil production, caused by militant attacks on facilities in the crude-rich regions in the southeast Delta region, and low global prices for oil, on which the government depends for 70 percent of its revenues.
“The current output is 1.7-1.8 million barrels per day and it could improve very quickly as soon as we sort out things in the Delta,” Osinbajo said.
In an effort to end militant attacks and remain “actively engaged”, Osinbajo travelled to the southeast Delta region for talks with militants earlier this week, he told reporters.
Additionally, Nigeria aims to sell Eurobonds worth $1 billion in March, said Osinbajo, rather than February as originally hoped, which could help refill the government’s coffers. – VON
The post “Nigeria to unify exchange rates says VP Osinbajo” appeared first on https://nigeriacircle.com Beyond news. Connect. Empower your future.
U.S. Existing Home Sales Jump More Than Expected In May
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Dip More Than Expected To 216,000
FOMC Holds Interest Rates, Signals Future Cuts
U.S. Housing Starts Drop Unexpectedly From Upwardly Revised Level
U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Unexpectedly Drops In June
NFP: U.S. adds 75K jobs vs 175K expected, least in 3 months
ADP: U.S. Private Sector Job Growth Slows More Than Expected In May
PMI: U.S. Service Sector Growth Unexpectedly Accelerates In May
Posted on June 3rd, 2019
U.S. Construction Spending Unexpectedly FIat In April
Posted on June 1st, 2019
U.S. begins collecting higher tariffs on Chinese goods arriving by sea
China tariff hikes on U.S. goods take effect
Last updated on June 1st, 2019,
Africa Now World Largest Single Continental Market
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Unexpected excursion into phytoplankton ecology
Context, behind the scenes, and unexpected research path behind phytoplankton bloom dynamics study
David Needham
“Have you ever seen anything like this before at SPOT?” I asked a colleague, Alle Lie, when we looked at our initial sample, the first of what would be ~60 samples we collected at the San Pedro Ocean Time-series (SPOT) off of southern California between March and August 2011. The seawater was unusually cloudy and a slight bit green and we could see the red eyespots of copepods as they buzzed around in the sample as it sat in borrowed lab space at USC’s Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Santa Catalina Island.
View of Santa Catalina Island and Minke whale from a monthly cruise aboard the R/V Yellowfin at the San Pedro Ocean time-series station (SPOT). SPOT is about 33 km off of southern California and about 15km from Santa Catalina Island and has a water depth of 900m.
Of course, we expected relatively rich conditions given that March is a productive month at SPOT, but our initial chlorophyll measurement of ~10 µg/L is the highest discrete value measured over 15 years of monthly samples at SPOT. It’s not that the events of this scale are rare (they happen most years), but they are very ephemeral; our best guess from satellite measurements is that blooms of this magnitude typically only persist only over a few days at SPOT in a given year.
8-day average MODIS satellite chlorophyll a concentrations at SPOT 2002-2013 shows that chlorophyll is usually low (~0.2 µg/L), but very often has spring time peaks (above 5 µg/L). The date in red indicates the peak associated with our daily time-series study in 2011.
Almost all of the samples were collected from the commuter ferry Miss Christie, Captained by Gordon Boivin and occasionally Trevor Oudin. At 7:30AM, we would depart from the Port of Los Angeles (the largest port in the USA), typically loaded with 25-30 sleepy school children prepared to see Wrigley, where they would hear about on-going science, and snorkel or kayak around Catalina’s pristine kelp forests. About 2/3 of the way into the ~50km trip, we would make a 5-10 minute stop to collect 20L of water by tossing a bucket over board a few times, measure the temperature, and continue the 35 minutes to Catalina, where we trudged the 20kg of water up the seemingly giant hill to the lab.
View of the lab at the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies from the water front. Note the large, steep hill on the path to the lab.
For this particular study, we processed the samples by filtering several liters of water for size-fractionated DNA samples, collecting for dissolved nutrients, measuring phytoplankton biomass, and preparing microscopy slides for bacterial and viral total counts. Over the course of the study, many undergraduate and graduate students, and even the first mate of the Miss Christie helped with the sampling of this extensively sampled project. Of course, truly daily samples would have been ideal during March, but we missed a few dates due to weather (2 days) and the boat not commuting on Sundays.
As for the science, our goal was to examine the dynamics of the bacterial and archaeal communities during spring-to-summer as well as their top-down and bottom-up controls, including protists and viruses. Using primers which enable observation of all 3 domains (quite accurately, as we’ve shown, see Parada et al. 2015), we first focused on the free-living bacterial and archaeal communities via 16S and noted, as expected, Roseobacteria and Flavobacteria associated with the bloom conditions. However, we were surprised to see that Marine Group II Archaea peaked to over a few days to ~40% of the sequences halfway through the March daily time-series. While Archaea were once thought to be extremophiles, we now know that one lineage, nitrifying Marine Group I (or Thaumarchaea), numerically dominate below 200m in the ocean. While the distribution and niche of Marine Group II, with no cultured representatives, remains less well understood, although some studies have indicated they may be enriched on particles in the water. Therefore we soon sequenced the larger size fraction samples to see if this mysterious group was even higher there. 50%? 70%? No, they were approximately the same proportion of bacterial/archaeal sequences there, but on this size fraction we noticed the bacterial/archaeal dynamics were unexpectedly rapid. Further, our primers indicated something else unexpected: on average, 40%, and up to 70%, of the 16S sequences on the particle attached fraction were of chloroplast origin, and the dominant taxon via chloroplast identification changed on a nearly daily basis early in the time-series, including very high sequence similarities to a “who’s who” of toxic algae relatives and taxa known to form extensive blooms along the West Coast of the United States. Despite a century studying blooms, this didn't fit with the conceptual model of 'generic' diatom blooms transitioning gradually to smaller taxa over weeks. Although we did not intend at first to study phytoplankton, this surprising result fell into our laps. We also had some other surprises, such as highly related diatom species (probably too close to distinguish by microscopy) with quite different ecological dynamics. We found that the traditional view that blooms are controlled by physics and chemistry was only part of the story, since the other microbes apparently play a major role as well.
Epifluorescence microscopy images of diverse phytoplankton, bacteria, archaea, and viruses collected from the San Pedro Ocean Time-series. We show in the accompanying report that multiple micro-organisms like these can vary rapidly (dominance changing from day-to-day at a single oceanic location) following a spring bloom, likely the consequence of competition, predation, and other apparently strong ecological forces.
Read the paper: Pronounced daily succession of phytoplankton, archaea, and bacteria following a spring bloom
We thank the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Science, the National Science Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Antiviral Activity of Binase against the Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus
Back to Behind the paper
Post-doc, University of Southern California
Andrew Jermy over 3 years ago
Very nice David, thanks for posting!
Hi again - I just created a new channel called 'Behind the paper', would you mind moving this post there? To do this you would click on the drop down at the top right select My posts then Edit post and select the correct channel on the left hand side. Thanks!
Nonia Pariente over 3 years ago
Very nice post! took me back to my postdoc days in SoCal. Do you know what happened in Jan 2011? Chlorophyll levels were huge!
David Needham over 3 years ago
Thanks, that's a very good observation, and interesting question; it does seem somewhat unusual and levels were super high, indeed. We don't know, but the data we have do provide some hints so I will speculate! :)
Our monthly SPOT cruise that month was on January 11th, 2011 and we observed somewhat elevated chlorophyll, ~2 µg/L versus ~20 µg/L for the 8 day average from MODIS. I suspect that the large bloom suggested by MODIS happened after our cruise. Generally, the water column is well-mixed during our Southern Californian "winter" months, down to at least 20 m but more typically between 30-40 m. However, this particular month, for some reason, perhaps unseasonably warm air and calm seas, the mixed layer depth was only about 12.5 m (so most of the plankton stay mixed within the well-lit waters longer) and nutrients were 2-4x higher than usual for that time of year (January is already one of the higher months). Couple that with what appears to be warming air temperatures (~6C, January 10th-15th, https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard? ID=KCACATAL2#history/tgraphs/s20110101/e20110131/mmonth , which which seems to correspond to clear skies (from UV index at LAX ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/long/uv/cities ) and relatively calm seas (not shown), and perhaps you have a recipe for a bloom!
The correct link to the January weather nearby SPOT, for what it's worth: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KCACATAL2#history/tgraphs/s20110101/e20110131/mmonth
Thanks David!!
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CSNbbs / Active Boards / Lounge / The Sports Bar / Pro Sports
/ O's get Lopez
O's get Lopez
The Old Bastard
I Root For: Heels
Signed today.
BALTIMORE -- Javy Lopez agreed to a $22.5 million, three-year deal with Baltimore on Monday, giving the Orioles a big hitter and another addition to their rebuilding program.
The deal for the All-Star catcher is contingent on the free agent passing a team physical.
"Javy Lopez provides us with a solid catcher and another explosive bat for our lineup," Orioles vice president of baseball operations Mike Flanagan said in a statement.
A news conference was scheduled for noon Monday. Lopez's agent, Chuck Berry, was not immediately available for comment.
Lopez, 33, hit .328 last season for the Atlanta Braves, with 43 homers and 109 RBIs, both career highs. It was his best year since 1998, when he hit .284 with 34 homers and 106 RBIs.
But the cost-cutting Braves decided not to re-sign him and didn't offer salary arbitration Dec. 7, meaning he couldn't re-sign with them until May 1.
Baltimore already has added shortstop Miguel Tejada. The 2002 AL Most Valuable Player agreed a week ago to a $72 million, six-year contract.
Team officials have also been speaking with the agent of outfielder Vladimir Guerrero. Before reaching the deal with Lopez, there had also been negotiations with prominent free agent catcher Ivan Rodriguez.
Flanagan said Lopez is a "veteran presence" who "played a big part in creating and maintaining Atlanta's winning environment over the last decade."
Baltimore has finished fourth in the AL East for six consecutive seasons behind the New York Yankees, Boston and Toronto.
Lopez gets a $1.5 million signing bonus, $5.5 million in 2004, $7 million in 2005 and $8.5 million in 2006. He can earn an additional $350,000 per year in performance bonuses: $100,000 each for 450 and 500 plate appearances, and $150,000 for 550 plate appearances.
GDawgs88
It was nice knowing ya Javy. :wave:
Herd Fan 4-Life
I Root For: Marshall
Location: Huntington, WV
I predict last year was a fluke.
SouthLink02
I dont think last year was a fluke by all means but he wont come close to repeating that performance. He will end up hitting 25-35 HR's at most and a little under 100 RBI's at most as well. His health, BB/K, and defense will continue to decrease
TUDIEHARD
He won't put up great numbers but will still be a top 5 catcher.....Why, WHY DID U LET HIM GO!!!!???????????
tysramm1
could the braves be in the running for getting pudge, or do they have someone/ pudge is also too expensive?
TUDIEHARD Wrote: He won't put up great numbers but will still be a top 5 catcher.....Why, WHY DID U LET HIM GO!!!!???????????
Because he wasnt worth the money and they have a .300 catcher with solid defense in line right now.
tysramm1 Wrote: could the braves be in the running for getting pudge, or do they have someone/ pudge is also too expensive?
We can't afford Pudge, and we already have Johnny Estrada.
Think about how the ball jumps out at Camden Yards. He should do OK>
cbfranchise3
GDawgs88 Wrote:
Whoa!!!!!
Hide the women and children, its Johnny Estrada!
Just kiddin. :D
Estrada will struggle next year and wont show much power but a .290+ average should be expected.
If someone's hitting .290, I woudn't say he's struggling.
He better be decent. Wasn't he the guy they got in the Millwood deal?
GDawgs88 Wrote: If someone's hitting .290, I woudn't say he's struggling.
I am speaking of ups and downs...
Gotcha...
cbfranchise3 Wrote: He better be decent. Wasn't he the guy they got in the Millwood deal?
Yes. I think Schuerholtz wants to prove that he didn't totally ripped off in that trade, so he's giving Estrada a shot.
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Second arrest made in connection to David Ortiz shooting
A spokeswoman for the national prosecutor's office in the Dominican Republic said a second person has been arrested in the investigation into the shooting of former Red Sox star David Ortiz. There is ...
The Latest: 2nd arrest made in shooting of David Ortiz A spokeswoman for the national prosecutor’s office in the Dominican Republic says a second person has been arrested in the investigation into the sho...
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Six detained in David Ortiz shooting Six suspects, including the alleged gunman, have been detained in the shooting of Ortiz, the Dominican Republic's chief prosecutor said. Authori...
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David Ortiz undergoes third surgery after shooting Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has undergone a third surgery for complications resulting from being shot in his native Dominican Republic, the team said...
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Cops grill inmate suspected of planning David Ortiz shooting A prison inmate in the Dominican Republic may have helped plan the assassination attempt on baseball legend David Ortiz, according to a new report. A...
David Ortiz shooting was case of mistaken identity, attorney general says AG says Ortiz was not intended target in shootingAt least 11 people have been arrested in case so far Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot in ...
Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz back in Boston after shooting in Dominican Republic Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz suffered serious internal injuries after he was shot in the back while at a bar in his native Dominican Republic, ...
Who is Victor Hugo Gomez, the alleged mastermind behind the David Ortiz shooting? The mastermind behind the attack that saw former baseball star David Ortiz seriously wounded orchestrated the shooting from the United States, where ...
Cops announce 14th suspect arrested in David Ortiz shooting Dominican Republic police made another arrest this weekend over David Ortiz’s shooting — the 14th since the former Red Sox slugger’...
Man held in David Ortiz shooting charged with drug, weapons offenses A man being held in the Dominican Republic in connection with the shooting and serious wounding of retired Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz was charge...
Pedro Martinez breaks down in tears while talking about David Ortiz shooting Pedro Martinez broke down in tears Monday night while talking about the shooting of his friend and former Boston Red Sox teammate, David Ortiz. ...
Arrest made in fatal shooting of Maryland rapper Tre Da Kid Police say they've charged a Baltimore man with murder in the fatal shooting of popular Annapolis rapper Tre Da Kid. &#...
Dominican baseball players 'embarrassed' over David Ortiz shooting: 'It's an international shame' Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic feel “embarrassed” by the shooting that wounded David Ortiz at a Santo Domingo bar over the...
David Ortiz shooting suspect wanted in 2017 New Jersey armed robberies Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, who police said admitted to shooting David Ortiz, is connected to two 2017 armed robberies in Clifton, New Jersey. ...
Dominican authorities promise to reveal motive, mastermind in David Ortiz shooting Dominican authorities say they’ll announce this week who wanted “Big Papi” dead — and why. In a new statement about the botched shooting of revered f...
Footage shows moments leading up to David Ortiz’s point-blank shooting Newly released surveillance video in the shooting of former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz shows a meeting between suspects in two cars and the accused ...
Intended target in David Ortiz shooting claims he doesn’t have a ‘single enemy’ The man who cops identified as the intended target in the David Ortiz shooting says he has no idea why someone would want to kill him, claiming in a ...
David Ortiz shooting suspect indicted on drug conspiracy charges in New Jersey New Jersey man Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, suspected of shooting David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic, was indicted on drug conspiracy charges Thursday. &...
David Ortiz shooting shakes Yankees pitcher: 'It's the reason why my mom doesn't want me to go back' A shooting in the Dominican Republic that left former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz wounded on Sunday resonated with many players across baseball a...
David Ortiz shooting: Baseball legend needed parts of organs removed Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz had to have parts of his intestines and colon, as well as his gallbladder, removed after being shot in his ...
For the Dominican Republic, six U.S. tourist deaths, the shooting of David Ortiz and an image problem In a country of azure waters and white sand beaches — which attracts more American visitors than France — cancellations are up, hotel officials say, ...
Baseball star David Ortiz awake in Boston after surgery for Dominican shooting David Ortiz, the retired baseball star who played for the Boston Red Sox, was awake and stable after undergoing surgery in Boston on Monday night for...
David Ortiz wasn't intended target of Dominican Republic shooting, police say Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was not the intended target of a shooting earlier this month in his native Dominican Republic, officials sa...
Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz leaves Dominican Republic hospital for Boston after bar shooting David Ortiz is on his way to Boston Monday after the former Red Sox slugger affectionately known as “Big Papi” was ambushed by a gunman at a bar in t...
David Ortiz shooting is called a case of mistaken identity. Many Dominicans are skeptical When the Dominican Republic youth baseball league where David Ortiz got his start plays this weekend, its founder hopes to steer clear of debates ove...
Sheriff: Arrest made in 3 apparently random shooting deaths NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 22-year-old Louisiana man has been arrested in connection with three apparently random shooting deaths in a New Orleans suburb. ...
Police Describe Some Pretty Unexpected Details In Ongoing Investigation Of David Ortiz's Shooting David Ortiz was flown from Santo Domingo to Boston Monday, where he received further medical attention following emergency surgery in the Dominican R...
Dominican Republic faces tourist backlash after David Ortiz shooting, multiple deaths The Dominican Republic has been in the news for all the wrong reasons ⁠— and it's concerning potential tourists. ...
Eddy Feliz Garcia, suspect in David Ortiz shooting, charged with ‘attempted homicide’ A suspect in the shooting of former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was charged with “attempted homicide” and “criminal associationR...
Dominican Attorney General: Former Red Sox Player David Ortiz Shooting Result of Mistaken Identity SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The Dominican Republic’s lead prosecutor said Wednesday that former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was n...
11th suspect arrested in David Ortiz's shooting as details emerge on who allegedly paid for attempted hit Dominican Republic authorities arrested an 11th suspect in the murder-for-hire plot against former Rex Sox player David Ortiz as details emerge on wh...
Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz leaves Dominican Republic hospital heading for flight to Boston after bar shooting Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz leaves Dominican Republic hospital heading for flight to Boston after bar shooting ...
Pedro Martinez sends David Ortiz emotional message after shooting: 'Can’t wait to hear your voice' Pedro Martinez broke down in tears Monday night when asked about his longtime friend and former Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz, who was seriousl...
David Ortiz shooting highlights crime plaguing Dominican Republic, slugger had called on police chief to 'take care of' it David Ortiz hoped the Dominican Republic would have increased security prior to Sunday night shooting that left him with a gunshot wound in the torso...
Jenelle Evans Made Up Story About David Eason Shooting Her Dog For Publicity, Police Say Did Jenelle Evans' husband David Eason really shoot and kill their dog? Police have now closed their investigation into the case due to lack of evide...
Doctors upgrade David Ortiz's condition to 'good' after shooting David Ortiz's condition has been upgraded to ‘good’ by his doctors, his wife Tiffany said in a statement as he recovers in a Massach...
PCSD arrest man in connection to series of dumpster fires TUCSON – Right now the conditions are just right for fires, currently, there’s been a rash of dumpster fires that have been intentionally...
Man shot and killed by US marshals was wanted in Mississippi in connection with shooting A 20-year-old black man whose shooting death by a fugitive task force sparked a night of violence and unrest in a Memphis, Tenn., neighborhood Wednes...
Man arrested in connection to reckless shooting at Rose Canyon Lake Campgrounds TUCSON – Pima County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a man in connection to reports of reckless shooting near Rose Canyon Lake Campgrou...
David Ortiz flown to Boston after being shot in a bar David Ortiz left the Dominican Republic aboard an air ambulance bound for Boston after the former Red Sox slugger affectionately known as Big Papi wa...
David Ortiz's condition now 'good,' still in hospital "David's journey to good health has been bolstered by the many expressions of love that have come to us from across the globe," Ortiz's wife said in ...
Mom of suspect in David Ortiz attack says he’s a fan of the Red Sox icon The man in custody for the shooting of David Ortiz couldn’t have been involved in the attack — because he’s a fan of the baseball legend, the suspect...
Red Sox send best wishes, aircraft to David Ortiz The Boston Red Sox have sent their best wishes, and an aircraft, to ex-slugger David Ortiz after he was shot in the Dominican Republic. Red Sox Presi...
David Ortiz may have been targeted by hired killers Authorities in the Dominican Republic believe David Ortiz was targeted for a hit carried out by two local police officers, according to a report. Law...
David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic Reports indicated Leo Ortiz, David Ortiz’s father, said his son was resting following surgery and that no organs were damaged in the shooting. Doctor...
Shaken Red Sox send best wishes to David Ortiz Ortiz is recovering after being shot in the Dominican Republic on Sunday and is expected to be flown to Boston sometime Monday for further treatment....
Red Sox send their best wishes to ex-slugger David Ortiz BOSTON (AP) — The Red Sox are sending their best wishes to former teammate David Ortiz, who was shot in the Dominican Republic on Sunday night. Red S...
Before David Ortiz was shot, the Red Sox were struggling. Now, they’re coping. Defending World Series champions have hardly looked like their dominant 108-win selves from last season -- and that was before one of their most stor...
David Ortiz Is Celebrated, and Now Wounded, in His Homeland Ortiz has described growing up surrounded by violence in the Dominican Republic, and he became a victim this week despite being one of the country’s ...
David Ortiz gets police escort to Massachusetts hospital David Ortiz aka “Big Papi” was transferred from his native Dominican Republic to a Massachusetts hospital late Monday. The ex-Boston Red ...
Reports: David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The father of David Ortiz says the former Boston Red Sox slugger has been shot and wounded in his native Dom...
Red Sox say plane carrying David Ortiz has landed in Boston. BOSTON (AP) — Red Sox say plane carrying David Ortiz has landed in Boston. The post Red Sox say plane carrying David Ortiz has landed in Boston. appe...
David Ortiz back in Boston after being shot in Dominican bar David Ortiz is back in Boston for medical care, a day after authorities say the former Red Sox slugger affectionately known as Big Papi was ambushed ...
David Ortiz moves out of ICU two weeks after being shot in Dominican bar Red Sox fans have plenty to cheer about Saturday night. Beantown hero David Ortiz has been moved out of the intensive care unit, two weeks after he w...
Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic Former Major League Baseball star David Ortiz was shot and wounded Sunday at an club in the Dominican Republic, reports said. The retired Boston Red ...
David Ortiz ‘Resting Comfortably’ After 2nd Surgery in Boston Ortiz’s wife, Tiffany, said he was expected to remain at the hospital for several days while investigators in the Dominican Republic continued invest...
David Ortiz reportedly told doctors: ‘Please don’t let me die, I am a good man’ The David Ortiz shooting was reportedly caught on surveillance video — with the suspected gunman hopping off a motorcycle and pumping a single ...
David Ortiz up and walking after being shot in Dominican Republic “Big Papi’’ has taken his first steps since being seriously wounded over the weekend. A rep for David Ortiz said the former Red Sox superstar walked ...
Pedro Martinez breaks down during interview about David Ortiz Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez broke down in tears Monday as he paid tribute to former Red Sox teammate David Ortiz, who is recovering from woun...
David Ortiz underwent a third surgery for gunshot wound Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz has had a third surgery, coming weeks after a gunman shot him in the back in his native Dominican Republic, ...
Footage indicates sophisticated attack on former Red Sox hero David Ortiz Video indicates new level of sophistication in attack on OrtizEx-Red Sox slugger was shot on Sunday in Dominican RepublicDominican prosecutors say wi...
Suspects offered $8,000 to kill baseball's David Ortiz The alleged shooter of David Ortiz has been arrested along with four others in a group offered nearly $8,000 to kill the former Boston Red Sox star a...
Dominican prosecutors reportedly ID man who funded David Ortiz hit Prosecutors have identified the man who provided the financial backing for the David Ortiz hit, according to reports. It’s unclear if Alberto M...
David Ortiz's condition upgraded to 'good,' his wife says David Ortiz's condition has been upgraded to "good" by doctors more than a week after the former Boston Red Sox star was shot in the Dominican Republ...
David Ortiz doing ‘fine’ after surgery for gunshot wound Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was in stable condition and doing “fine” Monday after a gunman ambushed him in the Dominican Republic, acco...
Former Red Sox star David Ortiz shot in Dominican Republic Former Boston Red Sox great David Ortiz is in stable condition following surgery after suffering a gunshot wound Sunday. ...
Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz back in Boston after being shot in Dominican bar Ortiz had been in stable condition in intensive care at a Santo Domingo hospital after doctors removed his gallbladder and part of his intestine, acc...
Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz shot in back: Dominican police Ortiz's father, Enrique (Leo) Ortiz, told ESPN's Enrique Rojas that "David is injured and that they took him to a medical center, but they did not te...
David Ortiz 'resting comfortably' after undergoing second surgery, wife says Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz underwent a second surgery at a Massachusetts hospital and is stable and resting following being wounded in...
Wife: David Ortiz in good condition, out of intensive care BOSTON (AP) — David Ortiz’s wife says he has moved out of intensive care. Tiffany Ortiz said in a statement distributed by the Red Sox on Satur...
Ex-Boston Slugger David Ortiz Shot At Dominican Republic Bar SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was hospitalized Monday following surgery for a gunshot wound afte...
David Ortiz had complained about lack of security in the Dominican Republic Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz complained about the lack of security in his native Dominican Republic in 2015 — four years before he was badly wo...
David Ortiz was rushed to hospital in friend’s Rolls-Royce David “Big Papi” Ortiz was rushed to the hospital in a black Rolls-Royce owned by a wealthy friend, who said he first thought the gunfire was f...
Former MLB star David Ortiz shot and wounded in the Dominican Republic Retired MLB star David Ortiz was shot and wounded in the Dominican Republic. Ortiz is in stable condition. ...
Here's why authorities say David Ortiz was mistakenly attacked in the Dominican Republic The shooting of baseball legend David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic left fans wondering why would anyone try to kill Big Papi. Turns out, according...
David Ortiz’s children post heartfelt Father’s Day messages David Ortiz’s children and wife posted heartfelt Father’s Day messages on Instagram to the retired Boston Red Sox slugger, who was shot and wounded a...
Fans pray for David Ortiz at Fenway Park ceremony Fans prayed for MLB great David Ortiz at Fenway Park on Monday, as the former Red Sox slugger known as “Big Papi” recovers from an ambu...
Video shows sophisticated attack on ex-slugger David Ortiz SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Dominican prosecutors say witnesses and security camera footage indicate that the attempt to kill former Red...
Man who paid for hit on David Ortiz reportedly identified by Dominican authorities The man was said in court documents to be a fugitive who used a go-between to pay approximately $7,800 for the shooting of Ortiz, who was injured in ...
Suspects offered $8K for hit on David Ortiz, alleged shooter in custody A group of crooks were offered $8,000 USD to kill former Red Sox star David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic — and the alleged gunman is now in custod...
Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz shot due to mistaken identity: Dominican AG Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot in the back by a gunman who mistook him for the real target, another man who was seated at the same table...
David Ortiz’s teen son posts heartfelt message on Instagram Among the many tributes and well-wishes pouring in for David Ortiz was one from his own son, 14-year-old D’Angelo, who wrote, “Pops I Love u.” “There...
Police: David Ortiz shot in ambush at Santo Domingo bar Authorities say Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was ambushed by a man who got off a motorcycle and shot him in the back at nearly point-bla...
The Latest: Police: David Ortiz shot at Santo Domingo bar SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Latest on a shooting that injured former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz (all times local): 12:05 a.m...
Former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz shot in the Dominican Republic Former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz was shot in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, according to Felix Durán Mejia, a spokesman for the Dominican Na...
David Ortiz shot in botched hit job ordered for his friend: authorities The gumman who shot retired Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in the Dominical Republic was actually hired to snuff out the baseball legend’s friend — but ...
David Ortiz is in good condition, out of intensive care: wife Tiffany Ortiz said in a statement distributed by the Red Sox on Saturday that the ex-Boston slugger remains hospitalized and is in good condition, al...
'Mastermind' in Ortiz shooting arrested Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they have arrested the mastermind behind the shooting in which former baseball star David Ortiz was shot on...
Red Sox legend Ortiz stable after shooting in DR Former Red Sox slugger and Dominican star David Ortiz is expected to make a full recovery after being shot at a club in Santo Domingo, Dominican Repu...
Red Sox, fans rally around Ortiz after shooting Ortiz is recovering after being shot in the Dominican Republic on Sunday and is expected to be flown to Boston sometime Monday for further treatment....
Arrest Made In Utah Student’s Murder The search for a missing Utah college student has come to a grim end. Salt Lake City Police say the remains of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck were disco...
Police identify man they claim paid hit men to shoot Red Sox star David Ortiz World Series champion was attacked in Dominican RepublicDR authorities say they are closing on motive Dominican authorities on Monday identified the ...
Dominican Republic prosecutors identify alleged man who paid for hit on David Ortiz Dominican authorities identified the man they believe paid hit men to try and kill David Ortiz, adding that they were closing in on the motive. ...
Former Red Sox star David Ortiz has third surgery to address complications from a gunshot wound David Ortiz underwent a third surgery to address complications from a gunshot wound he suffered more than a month ago at Dominican Republic bar. ...
Dominican prosecutors identify man accused of paying for attempted hit on David Ortiz Police are searching for the man accused of paying for the attempted hit on former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, identified as Alberto Miguel R...
Red Sox, Big Papi fans rally around David Ortiz during Game at Fenway Park The team asked fans to observe a moment of reflection shortly before its game against the Rangers at Fenway Park and posted on the videoboard. ...
Alleged shooter arrested in $8,000 plot to kill baseball's David Ortiz The alleged shooter of David Ortiz has been arrested along with four others in a group offered nearly $8,000 to kill the former Boston Red Sox star a...
Accused David Ortiz shooter indicted on drug charges in New Jersey The bumbling Dominican hitman who allegedly confessed to accidentally shooting baseball legend David Ortiz was indicted in New Jersey Thursday for co...
Dominican Republic officials believe they have identified man who paid David Ortiz hitmen Dominican Republic authorities identified the man they believed paid hitmen to try and kill David Ortiz and that the mastermind was still at large an...
David Ortiz receives tons of support as he recovers from gunshot wound Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is receiving tons of support from former teammates, current Major League Baseball players and more as he re...
David Ortiz’s lawyer slams affair claims, says former slugger has ‘no enemies’ The lawyer for David Ortiz says the former Red Sox slugger “is innocent in what happened” to him in the Dominican Republic — and de...
Dominican Republic Officials Identify Man Who Allegedly Paid For Hit On David Ortiz Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic identified several new suspects yesterday in the David Ortiz shooting case, including the man they say planned ...
David Ortiz’s legacy and ‘aura’ through the eyes of one shaken Hall of Famer Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who knows from auras, sat in a Yankee Stadium broadcast booth Monday afternoon and thought back to the first time he witne...
New York man hounded on social media says he didn’t order hit on David Ortiz A Dominican man in New York says he’s being wrongly accused on social media of ordering the shooting of former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz — an...
Man who allegedly paid for hit on David Ortiz reportedly identified by Dominican authorities The man was said in court documents to be a fugitive who used a go-between to pay approximately $7,800 for the shooting of Ortiz, who was injured in ...
Watch: Pedro Martinez brought to tears while describing David Ortiz Pedro Martinez was brought to tears while talking about his former teammate and friend David Ortiz, who is recovering after being shot in the Dominic...
DR AG: Ortiz shooting case of mistaken identity The Dominican Republic's lead prosecutor said former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was not the target of a shooting at a nightclub in his hometown on J...
Red Sox, Big Papi fans rally around Ortiz after shooting The Boston Red Sox and their fans are rallying around David Ortiz, a day after the popular former slugger known as Big ...
Suspected mastermind in Ortiz shooting arrested Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they have arrested the mastermind behind the shooting of baseball great David Ortiz earlier this month in a...
Police: $30,000 offered in shooting that wounded Ortiz SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Police say a suspected drug trafficker offered to pay $30,000 for the shooting that wounded baseball slugger...
DA: Suspect in Ortiz shooting likely wanted in Pennsylvania U.S. prosecutors say one suspect in the shooting of former Red Sox superstar David Ortiz is believed to be wanted in Pennsylvania for attempted homic...
D.R. Attorney General: Ortiz not target of shooting The orchestrated attack that resulted in David Ortiz getting shot at a nightclub earlier this month was not meant to target the former Boston Red Sox...
Arrest made in investigation of subway brake incidents NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police have made an arrest in their investigation into a series of subway emergency brake activations. Police said on F...
Drug lord may have hired David Ortiz shooter over alleged affair with his wife Authorities in the Dominican Republic believe David Ortiz was shot by two police officers hired by a drug lord who thought the former Red Sox slugger...
Accused David Ortiz gunman claims slugger wasn’t intended target The man accused of shooting David Ortiz in a botched $8,000 hit job claimed from jail Thursday that the baseball legend wasn’t his intended target — ...
Man who drove David Ortiz to the hospital describes holding his hand as they sped from the scene The man who drove former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz to the hospital after he was shot in the Dominican Republic described holding his hand in...
David Ortiz needed third surgery after suffering complications from gunshot wound, wife says Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz underwent a third surgery for complications after suffering a gunshot wound in a shooting at a Dominican Re...
Reports: David Ortiz Hospitalized After Being Shot In Dominican Republic Robbery Attempt According to multiple reports, retired Red Sox slugger and former World Series MVP David Ortiz was hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the Dominican...
Cabbie who allegedly drove hit men knew David Ortiz pal was intended target: report Authorities in the Dominican Republic believe a local cab driver knew that the David Ortiz shooting was going to happen, with investigators saying he...
David Ortiz shot for $8G bounty, police reveal, as investigators try to piece together motive for hit Police in the Dominican Republic announced Wednesday a half-dozen men, including the gunman, were arrested in the plot to kill one of the nation’s bi...
Pilot David Henderson Named In Emiliano Sala Manslaughter Arrest Emiliano Sala died when a plane carrying him and pilot David Ibbotson came down in the Channel on January 21, just days after he had joined Cardiff C...
5 suspects, including gunman, arrested in Ortiz shooting Dominican prosecutors say witnesses and security camera footage indicate a new level of sophistication in the attack on former Red Sox star David Ort...
The Latest: 5, including gunman, detained in Ortiz shooting The chief prosecutor in the Dominican Republic says five people, including the alleged gunman, have been detained in the shooting of former Red Sox s...
MLB notebook: Authorities say Ortiz wasn't targeted in shooting The orchestrated attack that resulted in David Ortiz getting shot at a nightclub earlier this month was not meant to target the former Boston Red Sox...
Dominican AG: Ortiz shooting result of mistaken identity SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic’s lead prosecutor says former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was not the target of...
David Ortiz is being treated at a Boston hospital as Dominican Republic police try to figure out why he was shot A day after David Ortiz was flown to Boston to recover from a gunshot wound, police in the Dominican Republic are working to find out why the legenda...
David Ortiz's wife, Tiffany, thanks friend for 'heroism' after husband shot at Dominican Republic bar David Ortiz’s wife, Tiffany Ortiz, thanked a friend Thursday who helped save her husband’s life after he was shot and wounded at a Dominican Republic...
David Ortiz's accused shooter, suspected cohorts led into court in helmets, bulletproof vests Newly released photos show the nine suspects in the botched hit on the life Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz being escorted into a Santo Domingo cou...
Video Shows Sophisticated Attack on David Ortiz, as Ex-Slugger Remains in Intensive Care (SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic) — Dominican prosecutors say witnesses and security camera footage show that the attempt to kill former Red ...
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Show Low police arrest man connected to double shooting The Show Low Police Department issued a brief statement late Tuesday morning announcing that John Russell Thomas was in custody. No additional inform...
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Jenelle Evans and David Eason Get New Puppies After Dog Shooting Incident Jenelle Evans and David Eason won't let their recent drama stop them from expanding. The reality TV duo recently adopted two Anatolian Shepherd pupp...
Former Red Sox star David Ortiz 'stable, awake' after second surgery in Boston David Ortiz underwent a second surgery after being transported to a Boston hospital on Monday night from the Dominican Republic. &...
Boston Red Sox Legend David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz Said to Be Resting After 2nd Surgery in Boston Legendary Boston Red Sox slugger David “Big Papi” Ortiz was “resting comfortably” Tuesday after undergoing a second surgery in Boston to repair wound...
David Ortiz 'making good progress,' including taking a few steps, wife says Retired Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has been able to sit up and take a few steps over the past 24 hours, according to his wife, Tiffany. ...
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Jenelle Evans Denies Making Up Story About David Eason Shooting Her Dog For Publicity Jenelle Evans is denying a claim by police that she fabricated a story about her husband David Eason shooting her dog. In May, the North Carolina na...
Opinion: From Big Papi to 'big brother,' David Ortiz's baseball impact a true love affair David Ortiz was shot through the back in Dominican Republic and is in stable condition after surgery. Here is why no player may be as loved. &...
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Bosnian arrested in Germany in connection with Paris Bataclan attacks Dresden prosecutors say a Bosnian man linked to the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan nightclub in Paris is under arrest in Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state....
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CCSD: 3 arrested in connection to meth sales in Sierra Vista SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. –Three people in connection to the sale of methamphetamine in a Sierra Vista motel were arrested on Monday, police said. Accordin...
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Serial killer indicted in connection with Ohio cold cases A California inmate who claims to have killed more than 90 people across the United States was indicted Friday, accused of killing two Cleveland wome...
Mesut Özil and Unai Emery clearly do not have a connection. But will Arsenal act? | Amy Lawrence Club’s highest earner has underperformed this season and his manager has also left many fans underwhelmed. But the board does not appear to have the ...
Trump says products will need to be made from 75% American goods to be labeled ‘American-made’ The order will gradually boost the percentage of U.S. components for qualifying American-made products from 50 percent to 75 percent. The threshold w...
Woman arrested in connection with death of ex-Arkansas lawmaker Linda Collins LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Authorities on Friday night said they’ve arrested an Arkansas woman in connection with the killing of a former state senator who ...
Cardi B indicted by grand jury in NY in connection with strip club brawl Cardi B was indicted by a grand jury in Queens on Friday, a Queens District Attorney's Office spokesperson confirmed. &...
Thousands of Linksys routers leaked detailed device connection records If you were looking for more proof that all of your connected devices were out to get you, look no further than a new report from Bad Packets chief r...
Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga share an ‘overwhelming connection': report When rumors of a brewing romance between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga began swirling after “A Star Is Born” was released in October 2018, many believ...
Teen appears in court in connection to east side triple-homicide TUCSON – A 16-year-old appeared in court Monday for his involvement in an east side shooting that resulted in three deaths in November. Back on...
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Telegram Hit by DDoS Cyber-Attack, Users May Experience Connection Issues Telegram has been hit by a "powerful" distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack and users in the United States and other countries may experience c...
Estranged husband pleads not guilty in connection with missing mother's disappearance Jennifer Dulos' estranged husband and his girlfriend pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges related to Dulos' disappearance in Connecticut 18 days ago...
Kendrell Lavar Lyles arrested in connection with killings of transgender women in Dallas A man was arrested in connection with the slayings of two transgender women in Dallas — including one who was seen being attacked in an online video ...
Cardi B indicted by grand jury in New York in connection with strip club brawl Cardi B was charged with two counts of felony attempted assault and various lesser charges in connection with a fight last year. &...
16 charged in connection to Bangladeshi student burned alive for reporting sexual harassment Sixteen people in Bangladesh were charged on Wednesday in connection to the murder of a teenage girl who was burned to death last month after reporti...
Kevin Spacey interviewed by Scotland Yard in connection with London-based assault allegations Variety reports today that actor Kevin Spacey—the subject of numerous allegations of sexual assault that helped kick off the #MeToo movement back in ...
Louisiana deputy's son charged with federal hate crimes in connection with fires at black churches The suspect in a string of fires that destroyed three black churches in rural Louisiana earlier this year was indicted on federal hate crime charges ...
CORRECTS: Arkansas woman arrested in connection with the killing of a former state senator found dead outside her home. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — CORRECTS: Arkansas woman arrested in connection with the killing of a former state senator found dead outside her home. (Cor...
The Unrelenting Martha Moxley Murder Saga: Old Money, Cold Justice, the Kennedy Connection and Endless Twists "Michael jumps to conclusions. I can't be friends w/ Tom, just because I talk to him, it doesn't mean I like him. I really have to stop going over th...
Suicide texting case: HBO film shows bizarre connection between Michelle Carter and 'Glee' A new HBO documentary shows that troubled teen Michelle Carter used dialogue from the TV show to encourage her boyfriend to kill himself in 2014. &#...
'Plus One' is rare indie rom-com with Trump connection Short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was set to finance the film "Plus One" at one point -- but departed to work for Do...
Ortiz has third surgery after complications Former Red Sox star David Ortiz had more surgery because of complications from a gunshot wound, his wife said in a statement. Ortiz is in "good spiri...
Tiger Woods' lawyers: Woods has no connection to bartender's death, want lawsuit tossed Attorneys for Tiger Woods ask a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by parents of a 24-year-old bartender. ...
DR authorities ID man they say paid Ortiz hitmen Dominican authorities on Monday identified the man they believe paid hit men to try to kill David Ortiz, adding that they were closing in on the mast...
Ortiz remains in 'guarded' condition in ICU Red Sox legend David Ortiz remained in guarded condition in the surgical intensive care unit at a Boston hospital Thursday morning, his wife, Tiffany...
Red Sox send plane to transport Ortiz to Boston Doctors have cleared David Ortiz to travel, and the Red Sox have sent the team plane to the Dominican Republic to bring him back to Boston for furthe...
Ortiz back in Boston, taken to local hospital David Ortiz was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital on Monday night after being flown to Boston from the Dominican Republic on a plane sent by th...
MLB notebook: Ortiz 'flashed that smile' in recovery Former Red Sox star David Ortiz is in stable condition after a second surgery in Boston, his wife Tiffany Ortiz said in a statement provided by the t...
Ex-Red Sox star Ortiz shot in back, expected to be OK David Ortiz, a three-time World Series champion during his career with the Boston Red Sox, was shot in the back Sunday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Re...
The Latest: Ortiz’s wife says he ‘continues to heal’ SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Latest on the shooting for former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz (all times local): 12:50 p.m. The wife...
Wife: Ex-Red Sox slugger Ortiz recovering from 3rd surgery Former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz recovering from 3rd surgery after experiencing complications resulting from his gunshot wound ...
Red Sox president: team flying Ortiz to Boston The Boston Red Sox management and the team's fans expressed shock and dismay Monday after the news that beloved former player David Ortiz was am...
Ex Red-Sox star Ortiz upgraded to 'good' condition The condition of retired Red Sox star David Ortiz has been upgraded to good by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he remains ...
Ortiz en route to Boston after leaving hospital A day after he was shot at a club in Santo Domingo, David Ortiz has left the Dominican Republic hospital where he underwent surgery and is en route t...
Wilder picks rematch with Ortiz for next bout The rematch means there won't be an undisputed title fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder this year, a match that looms as the biggest in ...
Plot that wounded Ortiz unraveled because of many mistakes SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The plot that resulted in baseball superstar David Ortiz getting shot in the back began unraveling within an...
MLB notebook: Ortiz is Boston-bound for gunshot recovery The Boston Red Sox have sent a team plane to the Dominican Republic to transport former star David Ortiz to the city for medical treatment, ESPN's En...
Indians manager Francona: Ortiz ‘a very special person’ CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona says David Ortiz is “a very special person, not just to me, to a lot of people.”...
The Latest: Ortiz leaves Dominican Republic on air ambulance Ex-Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has left the Dominican Republic aboard an air ambulance en route to Boston after the retired player affectionately kno...
MLB notebook: Ortiz back in Boston for gunshot recovery Former slugger David Ortiz arrived in Boston on a Red Sox team plane and was taken to a hospital on Monday, a day after he was shot in the back while...
Ortiz back in Boston for gunshot wound care Former slugger David Ortiz arrived in Boston on a Red Sox team plane and was taken to a hospital on Monday, a day after he was shot in the back while...
Ortiz in Boston to receive care for gunshot wound David Ortiz was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital on Monday night after being flown to Boston from the Dominican Republic on a plane sent by th...
Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz make the best of a bad situation Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz II isn't the heavyweight title fight the world wants to see, but it's still a very good one, writes Elliot Worsell The ...
Police arrest man connected to fatal hit-and-run TUCSON – The man connected to a fatal hit-and-run earlier this month has been arrested, police confirm. Authorities say 32-year-old Justin Lang was a...
NM state senator shocked by DWI arrest: ‘Are you serious?’ ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico state senator expressed surprise when he learned he was being arrested on a drunken driving charge, slurring his spe...
Women in cardiac arrest less likely than men to get help from bystanders (Reuters Health) - Women who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital are less likely to receive help from bystanders and have less chance of surv...
Concern about Ortiz clouds Boston's 4-3 loss to Rangers Danny Santana doubled to lead off the 11th inning and scored on Elvis Andrus' single to give the Texas Rangers a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox on...
The Latest: Ortiz leaves hospital bound for flight to Boston David Ortiz has left a hospital in the Dominican Republic aboard an ambulance bound for the airport for a flight to Boston after the former Red Sox s...
Reports: Taco beef results in arrest of A&M DB Derrick Tucker reportedly was charged with assault causing bodily injury after the Texas A&M defensive back allegedly struck another man in the head ...
London Police Arrest 4 After Gay Women Are Attacked on Bus The Metropolitan Police of London said four teenagers were arrested after two women reported being assaulted, harassed and robbed on a bus by men who...
London bus attack: fifth arrest after homophobic assault Couple say they will not be frightened into hiding their sexuality after the attackA fifth arrest has been made in connection with the homophobic att...
Police arrest man in hit-and-run death of girl at bus stop Investigators say they've arrested a 19-year-old man who they say drove away after his pickup truck struck and killed an 8-year-old girl at a school ...
Dwight Gooden’s arrest is a damn shame Dammit. That was the only reaction. That was the only way to respond to the news. It’s been the only way to react to the worst of the news involving ...
Venezuela's Lopez says he met generals during house arrest Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez believes President Nicolas Maduro's government will fall "in weeks," he told journalists in Caracas Thurs...
Man Charged With Assault, Robbery, Resisting Arrest LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Lexington man is in jail on robbery, assault and other charges following an incident on Georgetown Street. Authorit...
The Kremlin got blindsided by the backlash to a journalist's arrest At first glance, the arrest of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov seemed to be the latest in a string of attacks on the free press in Russia. But ...
Investigative journalist put under house arrest in Moscow Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was placed under two months' house arrest in Moscow on Saturday while he is investigated for drug peddl...
Your smart speaker could tell if you're experiencing cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest frequently happens at home, and victims don't always have someone around to call for help. Your smart speaker might one day fill...
CBI Summons Ex-Kolkata Top Cop, Arrest Likely Today: Sources Former Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar could be arrested tomorrow if he appears for questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Sarad...
Sweden won’t appeal decision not to arrest Assange STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish prosecutor won’t appeal a decision not to detain WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is now jailed in Britain and ...
Police arrest MI man tied to deaths, assaults Detroit Police Chief James Craig says he believes a man being held in connection with the deaths of three women and charged in the sexual assault of ...
She Hit 'Record' Before Falling To Death. Footage Led To Husband's Arrest The 27-year-old had headed to Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Saturday to catch a baseball game with her new husband, Bradley S. Jenkins, and some of t...
UK police arrest 44 on historic child sex abuse allegations LONDON (AP) — Police in northern England say they have arrested 44 people in connection with allegations of child sex abuse between 1995 and 2002. We...
Pakistani police arrest Hindu vet on charges of blasphemy Pakistani police say they have arrested a veterinarian from the country's tiny minority Hindu community on charges of desecrating Islam's holy book i...
Police arrest 4 teens over homophobic attack on London bus LONDON (AP) — Police have arrested four teenagers on suspicion of attacking two women on a London bus because they were lesbians. Authorities didn...
Ex-Cowboys player wanted on probation violation after arrest Former Dallas Cowboys player previously convicted in a drunken driving crash that killed a teammate is now wanted for violating his probation ...
Mexican church leader still its 'apostle' after rape arrest The leader and self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexico-based church with branches in the U.S. that claims over 1 million followers, has...
Multiple arrests at Moscow protests over journalist's arrest Police warned that a march against alleged police framing of a journalist would be illegal. Protesters marched regardless and were met with a heavy r...
| Nigeria sharia police arrest four over 'Facebook' wedding Four men have been arrested in the northern Nigerian city of Kano for allegedly carrying out a false marriage on Facebook, which the Islamic enforcem...
U.S. Prepares to Arrest Thousands of Immigrant Family Members Some of those targeted might end up being held in hotel rooms until their travel documents can be prepared. ICE’s goal is to deport the families as q...
South side barricade situation ends with arrest TUCSON – The man involved in a barricade situation at a residence on the south side has been taken into custody, Tucson Police Department says....
Ethiopian authorities arrest dozens after coup attempt In Ethiopia, an Amhara region party spokesman has said scores of its supporters have been arrested. The sweep in Addis Ababa follows a bid by a milit...
NYPD won’t arrest students for low-level offenses in schools Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday that he’s ordered cops to stop arresting or summonsing Big Apple students “whenever possible” for a host o...
S. Carolina sheriff ordered to pay $200K for wrongful arrest LEXINGTON, S.C. (AP) — The sheriff’s department of Lexington County, South Carolina, has been ordered to pay $200,000 to a woman wrongfully arr...
Iranian police arrest 30 people during yoga class Authorities in Iran arrested 30 people as they took part in a private yoga class in Gorgan, a city in the north of the country, according to an offic...
| Sudan forces arrest protest leaders who met Ethiopia PM Sudanese security forces have arrested two prominent rebels and an opposition leader, a day after they met the Ethiopian premier during his reconcili...
US Mayor Apologizes After Violent Arrest Videos Emerge The mayor of Phoenix apologized on Sunday after videos emerged showing police in the southwestern US city violently arresting a family with young chi...
"As A Mother Myself...": US Mayor Apologises Over Violent Arrest Video The mayor of Phoenix apologized and called a community meeting for this week amid public anger over a viral video showing police pointing a gun at th...
Jeffrey Epstein wants to be released on house arrest at his $77M mansion In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, Epstein's lawyers argued that home confinement, along with electronic monitoring, surveillance and a bond ...
Thais arrest Italian on run after George Clooney conviction BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police say they have arrested an Italian man wanted in his home country after fleeing a jail sentence handed down for fraudulentl...
Reporter’s Arrest Sets Off Widespread Protests in Russia The sense that the police manufactured drug charges against a muckraking journalist, Ivan Golunov, has drawn rebukes from activists, celebrities and ...
Rescue captain remains under house arrest after questioning The German captain who defied Italian authorities and rammed her migrant rescue ship into a border police motorboat while docking remained under hous...
Pakistan’s police arrest father for killing transgender son PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police have arrested a man for murdering his own transgender son, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officer ...
Jets TE Herndon suspended 4 games by NFL for 2018 DWI arrest Jets second-year tight end Chris Herndon has been suspended without pay by the NFL for the first four regular-season games for violating the league&a...
Florida cops arrest man who said he stole pool floats to use for sex A Florida man arrested in the theft of stolen pool floats told cops he sexually pleased himself with the inflatables instead of raping women, court p...
Russian journalist Ivan Golunov put under house arrest A prominent Russian investigative journalist has been released from jail and placed under house arrest after being charged with intent to sell drugs ...
Lexington police make arrest in violent robbery LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington police have made and arrest in a robbery case from two weeks ago, officials said. Authorities said 23-year-...
Family of slain ex-Arkansas lawmaker “sickened” by arrest LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The family of a former Arkansas state senator who was found dead outside of her home says it is “sickened and upset...
Police defend arrest of 12-year-old in western Michigan GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Police in western Michigan are defending their actions in the arrest of a 12-year-old black boy following online criticism...
Venezuelan authorities arrest 2 Guaidó security guards Venezuelan authorities have detained two members of opposition leader Juan Guaidó’s security team and accused them of trying to sell weapons belongin...
Palestinian forces arrest participant in US Mideast workshop JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Authority says it has arrested one of the few Palestinian participants in the White House-led Mideast peace conferen...
Mexico: Arrest warrant issued for former Pemex chief The former CEO of state-run oil giant Pemex, Emilio Lozoya, is wanted on corruption allegations. One of Mexico's most well-known businessmen has also...
Off-duty MTA conductor cuffed for flashing gun, resisting arrest An off-duty MTA Conductor was arrested for resisting arrest after baring a firearm Sunday morning, according to police. Najae Paige, 29, entered a bu...
Greek police arrest 2 for forging IDs for sale to migrants Greek police say a Syrian man and a Bulgarian woman have been arrested with a stash of stolen passports and IDs which they were in the process of for...
Lexington Police Arrest Dozens In 3-Day Shoplifting Sweep LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington police said they recovered thousands of dollars in merchandise and arrested dozens of suspects in a recent ...
Greek police arrest 2 for forging IDs for sale to migrants ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek police say a Syrian man and a Bulgarian woman have been arrested after being found with a stash of stolen passports and I...
90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? Shows What Colt Did After Larissa's Second Arrest There are three constants in life: death, taxes and 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? couples having copious amounts of drama. In the Sunday, June ...
Pakistani police arrest supporters of opposition party ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police have arrested dozens of activists from an opposition party to prevent them from reaching the main office of an anti...
Police defend arrest of 12-year-old boy in western Michigan Police in western Michigan are defending their actions in the arrest of a 12-year-old black boy following online criticism about the officers' respon...
New arrest in murder of German politician Walter Lübcke Three weeks after the Kassel district president was shot dead, DNA evidence has prompted a new arrest. The 65-year-old was found with a gunshot wound...
An Arrest, a Reconciliation and Plenty of Tears on 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? One couple reconciled, another imploded, all in a day's work for TLC's 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? season four. Colt and Larissa, you may rec...
Japan police arrest 7 Chinese in mass drug smuggling TOKYO (AP) — Japanese authorities have arrested seven Chinese men on suspicion of smuggling what was believed to be a record amount of stimulants by ...
Legal experts question deputy’s arrest over Parkland tragedy This undated photo provided by the Broward County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office shows Scot Peterson, a former Florida deputy who stood outside instea...
Mexican judge suspends arrest warrant for ex-Pemex head MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican federal judge has lifted an arrest warrant issued for a former head of the state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos in a co...
Cambodian police arrest 7 marking death of government critic Cambodian police say they have detained seven people in connection with activities marking the third anniversary of the killing of a prominent govern...
Northern Irish police arrest man over Lyra McKee murder Police investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland have arrested a 46-year-old man under counter-terrorism legislation, bro...
Pennsylvania woman charged with DUI bites officer during arrest, prosecutors say New Jersey prosecutors said a Pennsylvania woman has been charged with driving under the influence after she allegedly took off from police on Saturd...
Police arrest naked intruder at Southern California home CORONA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California woman says she and her twin daughters were terrorized by a man who stripped out of his clothes and wielde...
Russian newspapers put up rare, united front following journalist's arrest Three Russian newspapers used their front pages in a unique cry for press freedom Monday after a journalist known for his extensive career investigat...
Russian police arrest protesters at Moscow opposition rally Thousands of protesters have urged the electoral commission to reinstate independent candidates for elections in September. One candidate said author...
Adam Hicks Pleads Not Guilty to Robberies More Than a Year After Arrest UPDATE: Adam Hicks appeared in court on Wednesday, where he pled not guilty to three felony counts of attempted second-degree robbery and two felony ...
Decades After US Couple Killed While Hiking, An Envelope Leads To Arrest Law enforcement called on March 6, crunching up the dirt driveway to the baby-blue single-story house in Lakewood, Wisconsin, an isolated town of aro...
Arrest in probe of German politician Walter Lübcke's death A probe into the death of a German regional politician has resulted in an arrest, the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper has reported. Walter Lübcke wa...
Jailed financier Epstein seeks to be released under house arrest American financier Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday asked a federal judge to let him out of jail and allow him to remain under house arrest as he awaits t...
Gibraltar police arrest captain of detained Iranian tanker Gibraltar police said they have arrested the captain and chief officer of the detained Iranian Grace 1 supertanker accused of violating EU sanctions ...
London Police Arrest Fifth Suspect in Attack on Lesbian Couple LONDON — Police in London have arrested a fifth suspect on suspicion of punching two women on a bus because they are lesbians. Authorities didn...
Arrest in decades-old murder case stuns Wisconsin town LAKEWOOD, Wis. — Word of the arrest — via a friend’s text message — hit Wayne Sankey like a thunderbolt. “I said, ‘You gotta be kid...
Jailed financier Epstein seeks release under house arrest American financier Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday asked a federal judge to let him out of jail and allow him to remain under house arrest as he awaits t...
| NY police arrest man allegedly planning Times Square attack A New Yorker described as sympathising with Islamic extremists was to face a judge on Friday after being arrested on suspicion of planning an attack ...
London police arrest 5th suspect in attack on lesbian couple LONDON (AP) — Police in London have arrested a fifth suspect on suspicion of punching two women on a bus because they are lesbians. Authorities didn&...
Detained Russian journalist Ivan Golunov under house arrest Russian authorities have charged well-known investigative reporter Ivan Golunov with attempt at "large-scale" drug dealing as his colleagues claim a ...
Carlos Ghosn's wife says Nissan orchestrated his arrest in 'conspiracy' 'A few people within Nissan decided to get rid of my husband, that that was the easiest way not to do the merger,' Carole Ghosn tells CNBC....
State Police arrest 61 housing protesters in New York capitol ALBANY — Lawmakers celebrated Animal Advocacy Day in the capital, but it was the tenants’ rights groups that turned the State Capitol into a zoo. Six...
Turkey slams alleged Cypriot arrest warrants against crew ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is warning that it would give “the necessary response” to Cyprus following reports that Greek Cypriot author...
Afghanistan ex-football chief Karim wanted on arrest warrant Afghanistan authorities issued an arrest warrant for the ex-head of Afghan Football Federation Keramuudin Karim after he was banned due to sexual abu...
Police checked kidnapping suspect's room hours before arrest Authorities say police visited the motel room of a Texas man suspected of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl but didn't see the child, who was eventually ...
"Effort To Intimidate The Press": Editor's Guild On Journalist's Arrest The Editors Guild of India issued a statement today, condemning the arrest of a freelance journalist, an editor of a TV channel and its owner over al...
Police checked kidnapping suspect’s room hours before arrest FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Authorities say police visited the motel room of a Texas man suspected of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl but didn’t see...
Israeli police arrest 17 at annual Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Thousands of advocates showed up Thursday to Jerusalem's Gay Pride Parade, an event that might have been marred by a knife attack if it wasn't for at...
"Yelling Expletive At Cop Free Speech, Not Grounds For Arrest": US Court The mere act of yelling an expletive at a police officer is constitutionally protected speech and not grounds for arrest, a federal appeals court rul...
Phillies remove Odubel Herrera stadium banners after arrest The Philadelphia Phillies have begun to remove banners at Citizens Bank Park that feature Odubel Herrera after the outfielder's arrest on a domestic ...
Dutch police arrest Syrian suspected of war crimes, terror Dutch prosecutors say police have arrested a Syrian on suspicion of war crimes and terrorism in his home country where he allegedly was a commander i...
Police: Footage shows wrongful arrest of Baltimore passerby Baltimore police have presented body camera footage that they say shows a veteran officer wrongfully chasing down and arresting a pedestrian who crit...
Australian police arrest 3 over alleged Sydney terror plot CANBERRA, Australia — Three men were arrested on Tuesday over an Islamic State group-inspired plot to attack a variety of Sydney targets including po...
Hardline Myanmar monk's supporters protest arrest warrant Hundreds of supporters of Myanmar nationalist monk Wirathu protested at the country's most sacred Buddhist pagoda on Thursday against a warrant issue...
Arrest warrant ordered for former Pemex CEO Lozoya -local media A federal judge has issued an arrest warrant for a former chief executive of Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), Emilio Lozoya, and a...
In Trump probes, Congress wary of power to arrest, fine A power that the U.S. Congress has not wielded since the 1930s may remain unused for a while longer as Democrats turn to the courts -- not long-dorma...
P Chidambaram, Son Karti Granted Protection From Arrest Till August 1 A Delhi court Thursday extended till August 1 the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in ...
Russian court extends arrest for American accused of spying MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court has extended the arrest for a former U.S. Marine who faces espionage charges. The court ruled on Friday to keep Michiga...
Hungary orders arrest of Danube cruise captain after crash A court in Budapest has ordered the captain of a Viking ship be formally arrested over a boat crash that left seven South Koreans dead. More than 20 ...
Catholic school principal quits after DC strip club arrest BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana Catholic school principal has been arrested after visiting a strip club while on a school field trip to the natio...
UK police arrest 34 at Hells Angels 50th anniversary event LONDON (AP) — U.K. police have arrested 30 Hells Angels bikers during a three-day event marking the motorcycle club’s 50th anniversary in Brita...
Arrest In 43-Year-Old Murder Case Stuns Wisconsin Town (Marinette County Sheriff via AP) LAKEWOOD, Wis. (AP) – Word of the arrest – via a friend’s text message – hit Wayne Sankey l...
Gender-bending Snapchat feature leads to arrest of California cop A California police officer was arrested after a 20-year-old man used the gender-swap filter on Snapchat to pretend to be a 16-year-old girl and patr...
Hungary: Arrest hearing held for captain in deadly collision A court hearing is underway in Hungary to decide whether the captain of a river cruise ship should be arrested after his vessel collided on the Danub...
Italian authorities arrest rescue boat captain after docking The Sea-Watch humanitarian vessel was carrying 40 migrants when it docked at the port in Lampedusa in defiance of Italian orders after a weeks-long s...
Cowboys TE Rico Gathers suspended 1 game by NFL for marijuana arrest The NFL suspended Dallas Cowboys tight end Rico Gathers one game for a violation of the league's policy on substance abuse. &...
Report: Louisville Police Arrest Ex-NBA Player Grundy In Fatal Hit-Run Anthony Grundy LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WLWT) —Louisville police have arrested a former NBA player in connection with a fatal hit-and-run after he turned him...
Police arrest woman in former Arkansas state senator's slaying Authorities have arrested a woman in connection with homicide investigation into former Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins-Smith's death last week....
Migrant activist’s arrest in Arizona has Good Samaritans spooked AJO, Ariz. — Ever since federal agents arrested a local activist for helping two illegal immigrants in this parched desert town near the Mexican bord...
Driver charged in 7 motorcycle deaths has arrest records in 6 states The man charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide after he collided with motorcyclists in Lancaster, N.H. has arrest records in six states. &#...
Putin fires top police officers involved in journalist’s arrest MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed two senior police officers involved in the arrest of an investigative journalist on drug char...
Vladimir Putin Fires Two Police Officials Over Journalist's Arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday fired two police generals involved in a discredited criminal case against a journalist, an episode that ...
NYPD cops injured in attempt to arrest car break-in suspect Two NYPD cops were injured as they tried to arrest a car break-in suspect in Brooklyn early Monday, authorities said. Kevin Janvier, 25, was either b...
Indian police arrest 78 in Bitcoin call center scam A call center scam that targeted US citizens and requested payment in Bitcoin has been busted by police in India resulting in the arrest of 78 people...
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Tig Notaro interviews James Van Der Beek despite having no clue who he is
Tig Notaro
Under A Rock With Tig Notaro
Screenshot: Funny Or Die (YouTube)
Most talk show interviews come with the unspoken assumption that the host either knows a whole lot of background information about their guest or, failing that, is at least able to recognize who they are. Well, a new series from Funny Or Die featuring comedian Tig Notaro is here to make sure that’s no longer the case.
In its first episode, Under A Rock With Tig Notaro demonstrates just how wrong we’ve been to always assume that the old ways are best, as Notaro sets out a paradigm-shifting format where interviews consist of just trying to figure out why this person the host is talking to is famous.
The video, whose description promises that Notaro “cannot recognize famous people,” sees the comedian sitting down with James Van Der Beek and asking him a bunch of questions about who he is and what he does for a living.
“I don’t watch many TV shows or films so I’m really bad at recognizing famous people, Notaro says at the start. This point is made clear when she introduces Van Der Beek with a warm, “Please welcome...this person.”
“I don’t mean to objectify you, but you’re a handsome man,” she begins before going on to flip convention and ask her guest how he knows who she is. As the interview continues, Notaro reads hints meant to help her piece together Van Der Beek’s identity. She asks how old he is; tries to figure out why, at one point in time, Van Der Beek needed police protection to appear in public; and puzzles out the significance of a picture of a Dawson-free creek..
Notaro then stares at a drawing of a van, a shovel digging a hole, and a bird’s face, attempting to decode a name she guesses is “Bus Dig Beak,” “Dig The Beak,” or “Van Dig Beak.”
“Is your name James Van Der Beek? Okay, I’ve heard that name,” she says after cracking the code and getting his first name from a pool of three options.
The show, helped along by Notaro’s jokes and Van Der Beek’s enthusiasm, shows just how much potential talk shows have been missing out on for years. Rather than brief hosts on their guests or provide them cue cards filled with important background information, Tig Notaro shows that it’s way more entertaining to watch celebrities play an elaborate, public-facing game of charades.
[via Vulture]
Send Great Job, Internet tips to gji@theonion.com
More Stories About Celebrities Whose Names We Don't Know
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Contributor, The A.V. Club. Reid's a writer and editor who has appeared at GQ, Playboy, and Paste. He also co-created and writes for videogame sites Bullet Points Monthly and Digital Love Child.
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Blow your nose, dry your eyes, and learn how The Blair Witch Project's "confessional" scene was filmed
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How customized antibiotic combinations could defeat 'superbugs'
Woodruff Health Sciences Center | June 17, 2019
Susan Chana
susan.chana@emory.edu
Quinn Eastman
qeastma@emory.edu
A sneaky form of antibiotic resistance called "heteroresistance" is more widespread than previously appreciated, Emory researchers found. But tracking heteroresistance might guide the choice of antibiotic combinations that can defeat bacteria regarded as invincible.
Fooling the test: Antibiotic resistant bacteria look susceptible May 9, 2016
Bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotic missed by standard tests March 6, 2018
Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in USA present a triple threat June 8, 2018
A Future Without Antibiotics? March 1, 2018
Health, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Research, School of Medicine, Health Sciences Research, Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine's Department of Medicine , Yerkes
A sneaky form of antibiotic resistance called "heteroresistance" is more widespread than previously appreciated, scientists at the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center report.
At the same time, tracking heteroresistance might guide the choice of antibiotic combinations that can defeat bacteria regarded as invincible, the researchers think. Combinations chosen in this way were effective in saving mice from otherwise lethal infections, but their efficacy in hospitalized patients needs to be demonstrated.
The results were published Monday, June 17 in Nature Microbiology.
Heteroresistance means that standard tests used in hospital labs would not always detect resistance to a given antibiotic, because only a small sub-population of the bacterial cells are resistant to the drug. But that sub-population quickly emerges and thrives, when that particular antibiotic is thrown at the bacterial infection, says David Weiss, PhD, director of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center and associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Emory University School of Medicine, Emory Vaccine Center and Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
"We can think of heteroresistance as bacteria that are 'half resistant'," Weiss says. "When you take the antibiotic away, the resistant cells go back to being just a small part of the group. That's why they're hard to see in the tests that hospitals usually use."
In clinical labs, heteroresistance will sometimes be incorrectly classified as "susceptible," which could lead to treatment failure. Other times, it will be classified as uniformly resistant.
Weiss and his colleagues examined 104 bacterial isolates from a CDC-supported surveillance program in Georgia (Multi-site Gram-negative Surveillance Initiative), tracking multi-drug resistant "superbugs" (Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE). They found that more than 85 percent were heteroresistant to at least two antibiotics.
Viewed in one way, this result is alarming: a lot of those bacteria are resistant to antibiotics in a deceptive way. However, it could actually be an opportunity. If bacteria were heteroresistant to two antibiotics, Weiss and his team found that combining those two antibiotics was more effective at killing them. That's because the resistant sub-populations were independent and did not rise and fall together. If scientists grew the bacteria in the presence of one antibiotic, or knocked out resistance to that antibiotic genetically, heteroresistance to other antibiotics was not affected.
As pointed examples, the researchers chose two isolates of pan-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria, Nevada-2016 and AR0040. The first came from a woman who had died in a Nevada hospital in 2016. This "superbug" stimulated alarm from public health officials, because standard laboratory tests showed it was resistant to 26 different antibiotics, including a last resort drug called colistin.
For two antibiotics, the Nevada bacteria were actually heteroresistant. Used together, those antibiotics could eradicate the bacteria in culture, the Emory researchers found. A similar approach, but with different antibiotics, prevented mice from succumbing to an otherwise lethal infection with AR0040.
Combinations of antibiotics have been used for a long time but their effectiveness is inconsistent. What's new is the insight into why they work. Microbiologists have thought that some combinations of antibiotics might work together synergistically - one antibiotic working to weaken one part of the bacteria, while the other hits a different spot. But Weiss says that the reasons that combinations work might be explained by multiple heteroresistance.
"Multiple heteroresistance may explain a significant proportion of antibiotic combinations previously identified as synergistic," the authors write.
The current paper covers carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria, which the CDC has designated as a major threat. Heteroresistance has been observed in other types of bacteria as well; more research can document how widespread it is.
Weiss cautions that if heteroresistance to multiple antibiotics ever did become linked in a strain, the combination approach wouldn't work. For now, it could be a way to squeeze more effectiveness out of antibiotics that bacteria have developed resistance to.
"We're saying: don't toss those drugs in the trash, they may still have some utility," Weiss says. "They just have to be used in combination with others to do so."
"Also, we can't tell beforehand what combination will work - there isn't any magic combination," he adds. "You have to test the strain. But that isn't so much different from testing bacterial strains for resistance to individual antibiotics anyway."
The co-first authors of the Nature Microbiology paper are graduate student Victor Band and postdoc David Hufnagel. Additional Emory co-authors include Sarah Satola, PhD, Monica Farley, MD, Jesse Jacob, MD, and Eileen Burd, PhD. Weiss and colleagues have applied for a patent based on the methods described in the paper.
A majority of funding for the research came from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI106699, AI141883), with additional support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Georgia Emerging Infections Program is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weiss's lab is part of Emory Vaccine Center and based at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, supported through NIH Director's Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (Primate centers: P51OD11132).
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Betting News > Football > Premier League > Man of the moment Jamie Vardy receives Top Goalscorer Boost
Man of the moment Jamie Vardy receives Top Goalscorer Boost
Leicester man scoring for fun this season
oud.com/feed/odds-feed/getLadOdds.php?eventID=221390037&marketID=267744856&categoryID=626〈=en
There’s little doubt that Jamie Vardy will be one of the most-talked about players in 2015, with the Leicester City forward stealing headlines on a weekly basis.
The England international sits top of the Premier League goalscoring charts with 15 goals from 16 appearances, including a record-breaking run of goals in 12 consecutive matches.
He’s the pacey outpost of a Foxes team which has taken English football by storm this term, and the club currently look down on all the other 91 Premier and Football league clubs.
With regular golden-boot chasers Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez both missing portions of the campaign through injuries, Vardy has led the way for much of the season.
And as it’s Christmas, Ladbrokes are feeling generous.
The bookmaker are boosting the unstoppable forward to be top Premier League goalscorer from 6/4 to 2/1.
Romelu Lukaku is the former Fleetwood man’s closest challenger – three goals behind – but Leicester’s marauding displays this term are putting Vardy in pole position.
The east Midlands club have netted in every League game this season, and even more impressive is that they’ve netted two or more on 12 occasions.
It’s quite an offer for a man who couldn’t be denied by Arsenal, Manchester United or Chelsea this term.
And by the way, Vardy has more league goals this season than Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, so what are you waiting for?
Tags Jamie Vardy odds Leicester City odds Premier League tips and News
Richard loves his sport, especially if it involves the sound of tyres screaming around a race track. He's not fussy though and his '90s Premier League nostalgia and knowledge of team nicknames is tough to match.
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Regularly spaced strings of festive, low-voltage lights dropped from the ridge line to the sidewall, red bulbs alternating with white. Twinkling white lights surrounded the main entrance.
One of the four Peterbilts housed the power source. The only sound in the night was the rhythmic chug-and-growl of gasoline-fed generators.
Above the twinkling lights of the main entrance, a banner warned
PREPARE TO BE ENCHANTED!
Heeding that warning, we drew our pistols, checked to be sure the magazines were fully loaded-though we had checked them before leaving home-and eased them in and out of our shoulder holsters a few times to assure ourselves nothing would inhibit a quick draw.
No one had come forward to greet us when we parked and got out of the car. In spite of the tents and the lights, the meadow seemed to be deserted.
"We're probably misjudging Virgilio," Jimmy said.
"If Konrad Beezo thought he was a monster, then he's probably a saint," I reasoned. "Because when was anything Konrad said ever less than full-on nuts?"
"Exactly," Jimmy agreed. "And if Punch thinks he's a festering canker on Satan's ass-"
"-swine of swines-"
"-animated sewage-"
"-worm from the bowels of a syphilitic weasel-"
"-spawn of a witch's toilet-"
"-then he's probably a sweetheart," I concluded.
"Ready?"
"Let's go."
"Okay."
We had tied shut the silver box. Jimmy carried it by the new red ribbon, and together we crossed the meadow to the tent. We went inside.
Under the big top, the meadow grass had been mown short, but no sawdust had been spread.
The bleachers to accommodate the paying public had not been assembled. This was meant to be a show for an audience of two.
At each end of the tent, they had erected the sturdy frames that supported platforms and trapezes for the aerialists. Rope ladders and loop lines provided access to the heights.
Aimed toward upper realms, banks of footlights revealed flyers in the air. The men looked like cape less superheroes in silver and red tights. The women wore one-piece, legless, silver-and-red gymnast uniforms, their bare limbs fetching.
They hung by their hands from trapeze bars, hung by their knees. They arced, they somersaulted, they twirled, they flew, they snared one another out of thin air.
No circus band played; no music was necessary. The performers themselves were music-elegant harmony, exquisite rhythm, symphonic in the complexity of their routines.
Jimmy put down the box of money.
For a few minutes we stood entranced, still aware of the weight of our wardrobes, pistols heavy in our holsters, but all thought of danger relegated to the backs of our minds.
They concluded with a particularly amazing series of midair exchanges during which aerialists flew from trapeze to trapeze with stunningly precise timing, three in flight at any time, only two trapezes available, collision and catastrophe always a possibility.
Out of this bedazzlement of wingless birds, one of the men soared high off a bar, twirled in midair, folded into a somersault position, and tumbled down, down. At the last moment he spread his arms like wings, came out of the ball position, and landed on his back in the safety net.
He bounced high, bounced again, rolled to the edge of the net, and dropped to the ground, on point like a ballet star, his arms raised above his head, as though he had just completed an entrechat.
From a distance of thirty feet, he appeared to be handsome, with bold features, a proud Roman nose. His barrel chest, broad shoulders, slim hips, and trim figure made him an imposing man, lionesque.
Although his hair was coal black and though he appeared to be no older than forty-five, I knew this must be Virgilio Vivacemente, for from him radiated the pride of a king, a master, a paterfamilias.
Because even in 1974 he had been the patriarch and the brightest star
of a famous circus family, father of several children, including his twenty-year-old daughter Natalie, he must have been seventy or older this night in April. He not only appeared much younger, but had just proven himself to be athletic and extraordinarily limber.
The circus life seemed to be his fountain of youth.
One by one, the other performers dropped from high flight into the net. They bounced, descended to the ground, and lined up in a crescent behind Virgilio.
When they were all earthbound, they raised their right arms high overhead. Then, theatrically lowering their arms to point at me and Jimmy, they said in unison, "The Flying Vivacementes fly for you!"
Jimmy and I started to applaud, but caught ourselves, and also stopped grinning like children.
Members of the troupe were male and female, all good-looking, including a girl who appeared to be eight or nine and a boy of ten. They bounded out of the tent like gazelles, gamboling together as though the demonstration high in the big top had required' no serious effort, had been mere play.
Through the performers' entrance where the group made their exit came a tall muscle-bound man with a scarlet robe over his arm. He went to Vivacemente and held this garment while the star slipped his arms into the sleeves.
The carrier of the robe had a brutal, scarred face. Even at a distance, his eyes seemed as menacing as those of a viper.
Although he departed, leaving us alone with his boss, I was glad we were carrying pistols. I wished we'd thought to bring attack dogs.
The heavy yet beautifully draped robe was of a luxurious fabric, perhaps cashmere, with padded shoulders and wide lapels. In it, the aerialist had the air of a 1930s movie star, when Hollywood still had glamor instead of glitz.
Smiling, he approached us, and the closer he drew, the clearer it became that he had taken measures to stave off the effects of time. The glossy black shade of his hair was too inky to be real; it had come from a bottle. Perhaps he had earned his physique with vigorous and relentless exercise-and with steroids for lunch every day-but age had been trimmed from his face by battalions of scalpels.
We have all seen unfortunate women who began having extensive face-lifts much too young and who submitted to subsequent surgeries too frequently, until by their sixties-sometimes even sooner-their faces have been stretched tight to the point of snapping. Their Botoxed brows look like plastic. They cannot completely close their eyes even to sleep. Their nostrils have a permanent flare, as though they are perpetually testing the air for an offensive odor, and their enhanced lips are pulled and puckered into a permanent pouty half-smile that inevitably reminds us of Jack Nicholson playing the Joker in Batman.
But for the fact that he was a man, Virgilio Vivacemente looked like one of those unfortunate women.
He came so close that Jimmy and I involuntarily backed up a step or two, which elicited a sharky smile from our host. Apparently, part of his manipulative style was to invade the space of others.
When he spoke, he had a baritone voice closer in register to bass than to tenor. "Of course you know who I am."
"We've got a pretty good idea," Jimmy said.
Because the ten-year-old boy who delivered the box of money had been terrified of having the crap beat out of him by this man, and because of the offensive implications of the money itself, we refused to extend to him courtesy that he had not earned. He'd chosen to play a game called Who's the Big Dog?and we could bark as loud as he could.
"In every corner of the world," said the patriarch, "everyone knows who I am."
"At first we thought you were Benito Mussolini," I said, "but then we realized he'd never been an aerialist."
"Besides," Jimmy said, "Mussolini's been dead since the end of World War II."
I said, "And you don't look like you've been dead nearly that long."
Virgilio Vivacemente smiled more broadly, and his smile even less resembled a smile than it did a knife wound.
Although the tightness of his face made the nuanced meaning of his various smiles impossible to read, I recognized the glaze that came over his eyes as he listened to Jimmy and me. He was a man who possessed no sense of humor whatsoever. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
He didn't realize that we were joking between ourselves, and because he didn't grasp our tone and intent, he also didn't realize that we were insulting him. To his ear, we were talking gibberish, and he was wondering if we might be mentally retarded.
"Many years ago, the Flying Vivacementes became stars of such worldwide renown," he said with sonorous self-importance, "that I was able to buy the circus of which I had once been an employee. And now today there are three Vivacemente circuses playing at all times in every significant venue in the world!"
Pretending suspicion, Jimmy said, "Real circuses. You even have elephants?"
"Of course we have elephants!" Vivacemente declared.
"One? Two?"
"Many elephants!"
"Do you have lions?" I asked.
"Prides of lions!"
"Tigers?" Jimmy asked.
"Snarling hordes of tigers!"
"Kangaroos?"
"What kangaroos? No circus has kangaroos."
"No circus is a circus without kangaroos," Jimmy insisted.
"Absurdity! You know nothing of circuses."
I said, "Do you have clowns?"
Vivacemente's stiff face froze entirely. When he spoke, his baritone voice issued between teeth set edge to edge like the jaws of a nutcracker:
"Every circus must have clowns to draw the weak-minded and silly little children."
"Ah," said Jimmy. "So you don't have as many clowns as other circuses do."
"We have all the clowns we need and more. We are infested with clowns. But no one comes primarily for clowns."
"Lorrie and me, all our lives, we're crazy about clowns," Jimmy said.
"Or is it," I proposed, "that all our lives, clowns have been crazy about us?"
"Crazy is in there somewhere," Jimmy said.
The aerialist blustered on: "Our biggest draw is always the immortal Flying Vivacementes, the greatest circus family in all of history. In all three of my shows, every member of every aerialist troupe is a Vivacemente, related by blood and by talent that makes lesser performers weep with jealousy. I am the father of some, the spiritual father of all."
To me, Jimmy said, "For a man who has achieved so much, you might expect his pride to be overweening, but how wrong you'd be."
"Humble," I agreed. "Remarkably humble."
"Humility is for losers!" Vivacemente thundered.
"I've heard that somewhere," Jimmy said.
"Gandhi?" I suggested.
Jimmy shook his head. "I think it was Jesus."
Eyes glazing again with the conviction that we were idiots, Vivacemente said, "And of all the Flying Vivacementes, I am supreme. On the trapeze, I am poetry in motion."
Jimmy said, ""Poetry In Motion," Johnny Tillotson, top ten, back in the early '60s. Good beat, you could dance to it."
Ignoring him, Vivacemente boasted, "Transiting the high wire, I am moonlight walking, the love of every woman, the envy of every man." He drew a breath, expanded his big chest, and continued: "And I am rich enough and determined enough always to get what I want. In this case, I am certain that what I want is what you will want, because it will bring
wealth and great honor to you as you otherwise would never have known."
"Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money," Jimmy said, "but it isn't wealth."
Vivacemente winked to the extent that his trimmed eyelids were capable of completing a wink. "Fifty thousand is just earnest money, proof that I am sincere. I have calculated the full sum to be three hundred and twenty-five thousand."
"And what do you expect in return for that?" Jimmy asked.
"Your son," Vivacemente said.
Jimmy and I could have left the big top and driven home without another word to the maniac aerialist. Having walked out, however, we would not have understood his reasoning, and we would not have had peace, wondering what his next move might be.
"His name is Andy," said Vivacemente, as though we needed to be reminded of our only son's name. "But I will create a better name, of course, something classic, less plebeian. If I am to shape the boy into the greatest star of his generation, I must begin instructing him before his fifth birthday."
As darkly funny as all this might be, it had also become too scary to play his game any longer.
I said, "Andy, which will always be his name, has no talent as an aerialist."
"He must. He has Vivacemente blood. He's my Natalie's grandson."
"If you know about that, then you also know he's Konrad Beezo's
grandson, too," Jimmy reminded him. "Surely you'll be the first to admit he's too much clown for the high wire."
"He is not tainted," the patriarch said. "I've had him watched. I've studied the films of him. He is a natural."
Films of him.
Although the night was mild, my heart had gone cold.
"People do not sell their children," I said.
"Oh," Vivacemente assured me, "people do. I myself have bought the children of certain Vivacemente cousins in Europe, whose family lines were strong enough to produce fine aerialists. I have bought some of them from the cradle, some at the age of two and three, but always before the fifth birthday."
With revulsion that no doubt eluded our host as much as did our humor, Jimmy pointed to the box on the ground. "We brought your money back. That's the end of it."
"Three hundred seventy-five thousand," Vivacemente offered.
"Four hundred thousand."
"Four hundred fifteen thousand."
"Stop it," Jimmy demanded.
"Four hundred twenty-two thousand five hundred, and that's my final offer. I must have this special boy. He's my last chance, my best chance, to create another like me. The blood of aerialists is concentrated in him as never before."
As Vivacemente's tucked and tightened face tried to express the operatic emotions that raged in him, I half expected it to crack at every corner and peel up from the bone.
He pressed his hands together as if in prayer, and he began to beseech Jimmy instead of bullying him: "If I had known in 1974 or any time during the years immediately after that Natalie had given birth to twins, that you had been given to the baker and his wife"-the word
baker issuing from him with the acidic disdain of a blue-blood snob"I would have come for you, I swear. I would have bought you back or rescued you one way or another. I always get what I want. But I thought I had only one son and that the vicious Beezo had fled with him."
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Dirty Work
Canvassing for Bernie, Hillary Rodham Clinton vs. welfare. Must Rhodes Fall? Why Are We In the Middle East? New Russian political poets. Judith Levine remembers Ginsberg v. New York, Sarah Nicole Prickett reads the Stanford letters, Lizzie Feidelson deep cleans apartments.
The Intellectual Situation
Nikil Saval
The first sunny day of the year, I get a neighborhood of “turf ” (as the campaign calls it) closer to downtown—closer, specifically, to the Whole Foods—and the results speak for themselves. Door after door, Clinton, Clinton, Clinton. “I haven’t decided yet, but I’m leaning toward Hillary Clinton.” Do you want to discuss why? No, as the door slams in my face. Still, most of the houses are empty, or people don’t answer the door—somewhere around 80 percent.
Mark Krotov
#worstelectionever
In 2016, Twitter, like money, was speech. Trump capitalized on this dynamic better than his competitors: his tweets were the weirdest and the vilest, his Borscht Belt fascism a perfect fit for the medium. But all the candidates got in on gestural speech — I couldn’t open Facebook without seeing a post from Mic, or Uproxx, or Occupy Democrats, or some other part-time semiotic organization, analyzing the meaning and implications of Clinton’s A/B-tested not-quite-remarks.
Stephen Squibb
Prince Trump
Donald Trump is definitely not a politician. Nor, for that matter, is he a businessman — that would be Mike Bloomberg — and his claims to being one only obscure the class basis of his appeal. Trump is not a professional of any kind. He is a prince, closer in substance and style to the great hereditary inheritors of the past. This, far more than anything else, is what attracts his constituency, who, however inarticulate they may appear on cable news, believe intuitively that only someone inoculated against the entanglements of professional life can hope to carry their banner through the city with any effectiveness.
Namara Smith
The Woman's Party
One of the more telling exchanges of the Democratic elections took place this past February, when Rachel Maddow, moderating the New Hampshire primary debate, asked Hillary Clinton to respond to Bernie Sanders’s charge that she was not a true progressive. Clinton answered that she was “a progressive who likes to get things done” — and accused Sanders of sitting out the past three decades of Democratic politics. “Every step along the way I have stood up and fought,” she said, “and have the scars to prove it.”
Nakul Krishna
Rhodocycles
“You must promise me something before we start.”
“Certainly,” I said.
“You must promise me—that you will not spend the next eight weeks ranting at me about colonialism. Well, if you must, one week of ranting is fine. Maybe two. But after that I’m afraid you really will have to do some real work.”
Sarah Nicole Prickett
The Stanford Letters
Emily Doe’s account is like an episode of Law & Order: SVU with the victim’s face and body blurred out and her voice turned up. Given that she remembers nothing between midnight (when she wandered away from the party) and 4:15 AM (when she woke up at the hospital), she can’t tell us how the violation felt, which weirdly works in her favor: men rape women so often that rape stories start to feel plagiarized.
Jesse Ruddock
Where's Your Boyfriend?
Tristan held on to the bench with both hands as they jerked into reverse and pulled away from the dock. Treble Island had come and gone. The boat hit the waves harder without the weight of the other passengers, and he felt each wave as a blow to the stomach. From his stomach a bad feeling rose into his chest and spread across the tops of his shoulders like big hands pressing him down. He was soaring and drowning, or he was crying, that was it.
Judith Levine
Kiddie Porn
Once in a while, my parents allow some critically authorized highbrow “erotic” periodical like Eros or Evergreen to breach our doorway. But they draw the line at Playboy, in spite of its long, left-leaning pieces by and about important men like Vladimir Nabokov and James Baldwin. Mom and Dad aren’t prudes, they’re snobs. They consider comics, Mad magazine—even mysteries—degraded forms of literature. What would they think of Man to Man? I don’t have to ask.
Lizzie Feidelson
The Clean
While I worked, the owner of the cleaning company followed on my heels. “Good pour,” she said when I tipped the bucket of gray water into the toilet. As the day wore on, I’d catch sight of her standing at the periphery of whatever giant living space I was crouching in, peering around the doorframe while I stacked books. Later, while evacuating Cheerios from between the couch cushions, I saw her pick up the miniature rake in the family’s decorative tabletop Zen garden and carefully comb the sand with its tiny teeth.
Gabriel Winant
Who Works for the Workers?
You can’t ever really be ready for the class war, but much of the job of working-class strategy is to stage and escalate conflict at the most advantageous moments. So-called legacy unions represent living traditions with institutional memories of what worked and what didn’t against an individual boss, in a given industry, or among workers of particular types. It’s an error to perceive union defeat as evidence of some strategic mistake. American workers can do everything right and still lose.
New Russian Political Poets
What these poets have in common is a desire to address contemporary Russian realities, and to occupy, through the medium of poetry, a position that has been both the glory and the curse of Russian poetry for the past two hundred years. That is, to be something more than poets.
Kirill Medvedev
Brecht, 1933
He’s still on top:
spinning out his dialectic
pillorying the fascists
demanding that his books also be burned on the square
and organizing an antibourgeois theater.
I see students, fire
people marching, fire
trembling, feeling, blind
invincible and kind, fire
Elena Kostyleva
The Language of Violence
“So you attempt to persuade the rapist not to rape you,” my analyst says.
I clarify: “I wasn’t trying to persuade him not to rape me. I was trying to persuade him not to kill me. I was offering rape in exchange for my life.”
End of session
Roman Osminkin
Four Poems
you know how sometimes you want to write about the working class
you go to the factory district
but there is no working class
just a bunch of hipsters drinking coffee
The "Afghan" Market: Kuzminki
Hello? Yeah, eight spots. I’ll do the cashing out tomorrow.
Two of the coats are rotten: give them to Zoya to sell.
What of it? Stolen coats are still clothing.
I can’t now. Tell Alik not
To fuck up the order. He’s got to feel it out.
No, don’t buy nutria. Later.
This Quiet Place Today
Dirty Pretty Things, Never Let Me Go, Under the Skin, and now The Lobster—British art-house cinema is obsessed with organ harvesting. Forcing people into strange rooms to rob them of their organs or, in the case of The Lobster, to recalibrate their organs and thereby change them into animals . . . I don’t think this is something preying on the minds of Americans. Our worries are more immediate. We’re more likely to be mowed down by an assault rifle in public than we are to have our organs harvested for use by the upper class or space aliens.
Why Are We in the Middle East?
Unlike many journalists and historians who see the wars in the Middle East as a series of isolated conflicts that happen to have taken place in a single region over several decades, Andrew Bacevich, a career Army officer turned military historian and foreign policy critic, sees a sustained military campaign that began with Jimmy Carter and continues today. “From the end of World War II to 1980, virtually no American soldiers were killed in action while serving in [the Greater Middle East],” Bacevich writes. “Since 1990, virtually no American soldiers have been killed in action anywhere except the Greater Middle East.”
Like McCarthy and the New York Intellectuals of yore, Gary Indiana has acquired the status of a novelist-critic, gleeful in his evisceration of public morality and correction of popular taste. But they had an audience and a sense of ponderous grandeur: Indiana, condemned to a less “intellectual” time, mans his post at the margins. His great theme is solitude.
Dear Editors, George Blaustein promises us “religious stereotyping” and “conspiratorial thinking” in his remembrance of Antonin Scalia, and he does not fail. As an editor of First Things, I have joined in some of the conspiracies he describes, and as a dogmatic Catholic, I fulfill some of the stereotypes. From this position, I’ll offer two objections and one amen.
Issue 34: Dirty Work
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More articles by authors published in this issue.
Issue 4 Reconstruction
In the age of BookScan, only an unpublished writer is allowed to keep his dignity.
The league needs…the blessing of the federal government in the form of an exemption from the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Eff You
Time is Real
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July 5, 2019 /in Blueline, Case Studies, Residential /by nuflowtech-admin
Cracks in a 525mm concrete stormwater pipe threatened sign-off and a move to the next stage of development, until Nuflow stepped in with a simple and cost-effective solution.
Hazell Bros, Civil Construction, South East Queensland.
A 5-metre crack had been found in a 525mm concrete stormwater pipe under a roadway during an independent, pre-sign-off survey.
THE NUFLOW SOLUTION
10-metre reline with Nuflow’s standard Blueline system for structural repairs.
TIME TAKEN TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE
Half a day
DISRUPTION TO SERVICES, LIFESTYLE, FUNCTIONALITY
Almost none
COST SAVING OVER DIGGING
Project could achieve Main Roads approval and move on the next stage of works.
Work in the surrounding area could continue as usual while the repair was done because of the very small footprint created by the Nuflow team.
TROUBLE IN THE PIPING
It may have been a fairly straight-forward pipe repair for Nuflow franchise partner, Justin Rabbette (Flowwise), but it still saved the client a couple of days in delays and around $4,500.
As construction on one stage of a large real estate development in south-east Queensland neared completion, an independent survey of a large concrete stormwater pipe revealed a problem.
A robotic survey of the 525mm pipe, which was situated beneath a newly-laid roadway, showed a relatively large stress fracture in the concrete, most likely caused by the vibrations from the rollers as they worked on the road above.
Without an approved repair that had the strength and integrity needed to support the traffic that would be using the roadway above in the future, sign-off for that stage would not be given and the development would not progress.
WHY PIPE RELINING WAS THE BEST SOLUTION
Civil construction company, Hazell Bros, Site Manager, Jesse Bar, said that because so much work had already been completed above the cracked pipe, relining was considered the best option.
“When the CCTV footage found the crack we already had a few layers of gravel over the pipe, so it was cheaper and easier to get a reline with Nuflow rather than pull it all out and start again,” he said.
“If the damage had been over a much greater length of pipe it might have been cheaper to have pulled it out ourselves, but given it was a relatively small section it worked out cheaper to get it relined.”
WHY NUFLOW WAS THE BEST SOLUTION
Bar did some research and contacted Nuflow to find out what they could offer.
They sent the report through to Rabbette, itemising where the line of damage was within the pipe and asking for an estimate and a rundown of what the repair process would be.
Rabbette says that whilst the job wasn’t difficult, the size of the pipe and the conditions at the site made things more interesting.
“Being a 525mm pipe, well that’s quite large, so you have to be certain to get things right,” he said.
“Also, it was a new estate, so it was a very isolated site with no shelter or cover and it was a really hot day.
“There was no major infrastructure we could access – so no power or water – and we had to work on an open bitumen road that was generating a lot of Queensland heat up at us.
“That can impact cure times, so we really had to work hard to get things right under the conditions.
“We brought our own generator and filled the storage tanks with water, and we were well prepared with back-up plans.
“Thankfully the job went exactly to plan, so we didn’t have to use the back-ups, but the conditions certainly didn’t make things easy.”
THE PIPE REPAIR PROCESS USED
With the protected embankment of the road being a no-go area, they set up their truck on the bitumen and did all their cleaning and preparation from the bottom side access point and installed a drag-through line into the pipe.
“We made the liner on site, pulled it into place and inflated it,” he said.
“It took about two and a half hours to get the liner ready and into place and then we had a cure time of about three hours.
“Once we deflated the bladder we filmed the repair with CCTV to make sure it was in the right place and that it had adhered to the pipe work properly, and then wrote up the ITP sheet, which details things like our chemical mixture, the serial number of the liner, ambient and resin temperatures and what time each of the procedures took place.
“That information is then all fed into a national register, which is used by the research and development team to keep improving the products and in case there is ever a warranty issue.”
ADVANTAGES OF NUFLOW’S CIPP RELINE & FEEDBACK
Another advantage of the CIPP relining system used by Rabbette was the minimal impact it had on the progression of final works and its greater ability to fix pipes of large diameters.
“Relining can be done by our CIPP method or by the inversion method,” he said.
“Inversion might be more applicable in long runs of pipes of smaller diameter, but it becomes more difficult the larger the pipe because you need so much more energy to invert the (larger) sleeve.
“It’s also not as cost-effective for smaller sections of damage or where there are multiple cracks or breaks in the pipe.
“Ours is a very simple set up and has a far lower footprint because we need very little equipment apart from our truck.
“That means we use up very little site space compared to the inversion method, so other work can carry on around us.”
Despite the difficulties, Rabbette said the job went well, finished ahead of schedule and saved the client time and money.
“Even though they still had all their machinery there on site, if they’d had to dig up all the gravel, kerbs and landscaping and replace everything it probably would have cost seven or eight thousand dollars and three or four days of work time,” he said.
“But by using us I’d say they saved four or five thousand and lost hardly any work time, so they were pretty happy.”
And Bar agrees.
“They came out and did the job well,” Bar said.
“We’ve never had any issues from it and as far as I’m concerned it’s all fixed and approved, and that’s what matters.”
OZWATER ’19 – NUFLOW’S IMPORTANCE WITHIN THE WATER INDUSTRY YOUR KITCHEN RULES
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Home Politics and government Protest and reform Women Together Arts and crafts Woodhatton Spinners and Weavers
1980 - late 1990s
Theme: Arts and crafts
This essay written by Alison Carew was first published in Women Together: a History of Women's Organisations in New Zealand in 1993. It was updated by Alison Carew in 2018.
An informal craft group, Woodhatton Spinners and Weavers was started in 1980 by approximately eight women who met through Woodhatton Playcentre in Wainuiomata. The group had two main functions – creative and social. Many of the women had felt frustrated at the lack of outlets for their creative energies and opportunities to share and develop their skills. All were full-time mothers who found it difficult to combine craft work with caring for small children. Existing craft clubs seemed to cater mainly for older women, and were not geared to having babies and toddlers present.
The chance to meet with other women, and discuss mutual interests and problems while their children played together, was as important as the craft work. Many of the original members lived in the rural area around Wainuiomata, on small 'hobby farms'; some had no regular transport. For a number, the group became their only regular social event.
The women met at noon every second Tuesday (a non-playcentre day), at each member's home in turn. After a leisurely pot-luck lunch, they settled down to work. Most had portable spinning wheels or small tapestry looms. Over the years, the group widened to include other crafts such as embroidery, patchwork and knitting.
The afternoon's work was punctuated by attending to the needs of children, who on the whole played amicably among the toys, wheels and bags of fleece. On warm days the group often moved out to spin in the sun. At 2.45 pm there was a flurry of packing, tidying and washing dishes before collecting older children from school.
The talk at meetings ranged far and wide, from the practical to the philosophical to the personal. The closeness which developed within the group extended to supporting each other through pregnancies, births, illnesses, family crises and marriage breakdowns.
Membership remained steady at around ten, with six or seven at each meeting. The physical limitations of house meetings kept the group small and intimate. Friends who showed an interest would be invited to join after everyone had approved. Although many left to re-enter paid employment once their youngest child turned five, a few stayed.
The only formal office was that of treasurer. Members paid 50 cents at each meeting; this covered the group's subscription to The Web, the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society's magazine, and the capitation fee for affiliation to the society, allowing members to take part in workshops, courses and festivals. In 1983, for example, several members attended a memorable two-day workshop in Lower Hutt run by leading spinning tutor Jenny Poore, while other members minded their children. The group also organised its own workshops. Lower Hutt weaver Kathleen Low demonstrated the use of plant dyes, and members who had been on a felting course shared their new skills.
In 1993 the group was still meeting regularly, although numbers had dwindled as economic necessity drew more women back into paid work. By then there were fewer spinners and weavers, perhaps because self-sufficiency had lost some of the appeal it had in the 1980s, when members took great pride in raising and shearing their own sheep, spinning the fleeces, and knitting or weaving the yarn into clothes for their families and furnishings for their homes. But the group continued to provide companionship, support, and an outlet and inspiration for creative skills.
Alison Carew
1994 – late 1990s
By the late 1990s the group had stopped meeting. Several families had moved away, some women returned to paid work, and the more committed spinners and weavers found other outlets for their creativity. Like many such groups, the Woodhatton Spinners and Weavers had met a particular need at a particular time, and then disappeared.
RELATED TO WOODHATTON SPINNERS AND WEAVERS
Death of Frances Hodgkins
Death of Colin McCahon
Rita Angus
George French Angas
Frances Hodgkins
Toss Woollaston
Charles Heaphy
History of New Zealand painting
Links - arts and literature
No comments have been posted about Woodhatton Spinners and Weavers
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The Third Annual Oddball Christmas Story- The Lonely Boy on Christmas by Jason Wright-Editor
Oddball Magazine December 23, 2013 March 12, 2014 1, 3, 3TV, Adrienne Drobnies, Alex Duridas, Alexander Shore, Allie Gold, Andrew Borne, Art, Authors and Artists, Biker Poetry, Bill Barnum, Bill Barnum, bipolar poetry and art, Blaine Hebbel, Brendan Trider, Bridget Galway, C.C Arshagra, Chad Parenteau, David Krancher, David Miller, Dennis Daly, Destiny Kinal, Doug Holder, Erin Lynne Burns, food criticism, G. David Schwartz, George Panagopolous, Go JoeGO Go! Poems for José Gouviea, Gordon Marshall, Gordon Marshall, HIS House, Ira Joel Habel, It's All One Thing, Jagged Thoughts, James Conant, Jason Wright, Jennifer David Marshall, John Kotula, John M. Pungitore, José Gouveia JoeGo Gouveia, Julianna Murphy, Justin Lowery, L's Friend Dan, Leah Barsanti, Leanna Balloffet, Lee Varon, Lewis Reginald Morris, Linda Griggs, man the storm's music, Marc D. Goldfinger, Martin WIllis Jr., Matt Ganem, mental health support, Michael McSweeney, music reviews, musings, Oddball Politics, OJ Mooney, Om Gee, Pat Bartevian, Photography, Poem, Poet, poetry, Poetry, Rachael Ieszenberg, Regina Valluzzi, Rob Martin, RubbaBoots Photography, S. Major Tingey, Sabrina Gravanti, sense one, Shahnawaz Achhiwala, Shamaiah Tibet, Shamiah Turner, Short Stories, Spare Change, Stacy Esch, Stone Soup Servings, T.J Edson, Tessy the Wonder Dog, Tim Gager, Toni Bee, Video, Visual Poetry, Zeke Russell, zines
There once was a town it seemed that was always cold. Even when it was warm it still was always cold.
The people were mean. The people weren’t green. The people weren’t clean. They all forgot their dreams and no one could sleep.Not even sheep, could make them dream.
They all had forgot their meaning, and what it meant to be free.
They lived their lives as shadows. they lived in poor man castles, some were drunk and staggered, and some were slaves in shackles.
They all had forgotten, what once was their motto,— to live in darkness, you could never cast a shadow, and in the darkness, shadows never follow!
And when the light shines from the sun in the seasons, whether frost bitten hands, or those wearing mittens, the sun always shined on the ones who asked for wisdom
and one did….the lonely boy on christmas.
and this lonely boy just wanted one thing for christmas, a dog or a kitten, wrapped up with a ribbon, a bright blue ribbon. If he had a dog… he could pet him with his mittens and watch him chase pigeons, and play fetch with the children.
But it never happened, no gifts were given to him on this christmas.
or any christmas.
there he sat in the town of castles and shadows, where the cold seemed to sting, everyone and everything.
and he began to reminisce of his families last christmas, the last time he was given a kiss on his head, and that warm feeling he had, and the last words ever said by his dad.
“you must live by yourself we can no longer take care of you”
and he said to them “I’m just a boy…what do you expect me to do?”
but his father and mother, they didn’t love one another, and they didn’t really mean to say what they said, so one day they both got into their cars and left.
But before they left they both kissed him both on the cheek, and said
“I’m sorry son, that we have to leave. Here are the keys this is your very own castle. And never leave, always stay in the shadows. We will always be with you, but we must leave and we hope for your forgiveness
and then they had left the lonely boy on Christmas.
At the same time there was a young widow, who always sat by the window, with a sad glow, waiting for her husband to come home.
He and her, also lived in this world.
The world that was mentioned in part one, a world of no fun, where noone could smile in fear of being stung. because the cold was too cold, and some were too poor to
buy coats, and besides,
the castles were hidden by shadows, and moats protected by ghosts, but still there was hope that her love would come home. and every day she wrote from a journal
that was given to her, from her husband who had disappeared, in the cold of the winter, and made her from married and happy, to a way too young widower.
Her name was Rosaline, and she was only eighteen when she found the man of her dreams. But one day he left to go to the store, and was never seen anymore, and
people had said that he had gone missing, in a cold storm, on a frosty Thanksgiving, and they stopped searching after a few weeks, cause noone could survive out in the
cold on those peaks. But Rosaline, never stopped looking out that window, till one day it started to snow. and then it suddenly stopped. And out from they sky an angel
just dropped.
Before I tell you how the angel dropped, and why the snow stopped, we must go back to the spot where the boy sat patiently, waiting for the day, when his family
would come back, and how all he wanted was that dog for christmas, a little dog wrapped up with a bright blue ribbon, but really
gifts were not on his wish list, just a little slice of happiness, outside of all that darkness
That day the boy decided to leave, he said to himself, I’m going to get a tree, so he left his castle and stepped out of the shadows, and headed to the forest outside of
the meadow, and began a long walk out of the darkness and into an even darker forest. He could have went left, and went towards the shore, he decided to go
north, and ventured forth towards, the forest and the trees, and the bright north star. He knew little of where he was, but it was better then where he would be, and
besides it was Christmas he wanted a tree.
Before he left, he dressed in his warmest clothes, hat and coat, and scarf to protect his nose, and the only possession he had with him, was a backpack of provisions,
and a compass, and a map. And off he went, and took his first step out of the darkness, while in that same town a widower wept.
Oh Where did he go, got lost in the snow? She sang to herself, while she sat by the window. Oh where did he go? And when will he return, to give me his love, I so
desperately yearn”
She repeated these lines, like she was hypnotized, the saddest moment in a beautiful life. She was only 23 when he said good-bye and went out into that cold november
winter, and was never seen alive, but keep faith good reader, a good love never dies.
“Oh where did he go? When will he return? why did you leave me, it wasnt your turn.” She sang this song in morning, she sang it still mourning, and that was when she
realized, that her eyes were not blind, and in her heart she believed he was alive.
At the same time she sang by her window in that empty house, the compass was pointing telling the boy to go south.
But the map said that the meadow, was the way to go, but his heart told him to follow the star, and into the dark, he ventured in, to the deep forest, where
the trees lied there in.
Well dear reader, you must be weary of me, so let me tell you how the boy found his tree.
And also a brand new family.
It starts where we left, with the boy’s lonely trek, and ends, well were not quite there yet. So the boy began his climb into that deep forest, while the angels sang to him,
this simple chorus. Follow the star son, follow the star, follow the star son, follow the star. Yes, the boy was lonely and scared, for sure, but in his head and heart he
was strong and secure. People would leave him, for that he was sure, but never his family, that scar was the worst, and his head began to hurt. But before the tears
started to fall, he took a step and all of a sudden he was not by himself, and while he was down and thinking about life, he somehow had wandered onto the thinnest of
ice.
Oh reader, Oh me oh my, What did this boy do on that thinnest of ice. He walked oh so carefully, and he could hear the ice creak, and then there was the crack in the
ice he could see. He thought to himself, dang if I wasn’t thinking about all my problems, I might have seen this coming, and i could have done something, instead
of being stuck where I am, and then something happened.
The ice cracked, and splintered
and cracked, and splintered and cracked,
and the ice fell underneath his feet, and the boy was suddenly over his head, and while under the coldest degrees, he began to see,
Christmas wasn’t about getting presents or trees….it was about being happy. He was under the water gasping for air, trying desperately to be freed from a horrible death indeed,
then at this moment
a hand reached out to him. And now enters the man, Jim, the widowers husband.
Hey Kid!! Hey Kid!! Can you hear me? Grab my hand! Hey Kid!! Hey Kid!! Can you hear me, grab my arm, I’ll pull you in. That was the voice of the widowers husband.
All the boy could hear was a muffled sound, but saw the arm, and tried desperately to get out. He grabbed the strange hand that had come from above, and Jim pulled
him out with the strongest of tugs. Jim pulled the boy off of the ice, and made sure that he was alright. Can you hear me kid?! Can you hear me?!
But the boy was barely breathing, cold and shivering. What could be done to save the lonely boy on Christmas?
Jim started a fire with some sticks around him, and hoped and prayed that something could heal him. But as the fire grew stronger, soon the boy breathed in, and looked into the eyes of the man that saved him.
And at this very moment, the widower was sleeping, and dreaming what seemed to be the same thing. It was about a boy who fell on a dark night of the thinnest of ice,
and her husband was surely alive, and saved this boy’s life.
The widower hadn’t left her house since her husband had disappeared, but she had to leave, her heart was telling her so, that she had to go, out of the darkness and
back into that snow. And as she left, she took a deep breath, and that was when she realized for the first time her self, that the darkness she lived in, this town, of castles
and shadows, there were more places to see, like the place in her dream. She visioned a stream, lit up by a bright star, and there she ventured out into the dark.
And there she sang.. My heart tells me to follow my dreams, and I will sing this song until he hears me. So she began singing. My heart tells me to follow my dreams,
andI will sing till my angel hears me. And just like that, the star lit up the whole place,
and though they were far apart, she could see his face. By the place in her dream, right by the stream, where she would find her Jim, and where she found…..me.
Yes I was the lonely boy on Christmas, but now that I have grown, I am no longer alone. My family, Rosaline and my father Jim, we live outside of the darkness, where the shadows live. And though you must find your own way, and sometimes follow that dream, to get the biggest tree, or play station three, all you really want is a good family, and maybe a dog. Like the dog that I have. But really in the end a mom and a dad, and people that love you. And believing that the right star will shine above you.
So there you have it.
Merry Christmas to all of you, and all of yours. May love and light unlock all your doors.
from Jason
Image by Q, A, O, P, Space via Flickr
Jason Wright is the founder and Editor of Oddball Magazine. His “Jagged Thoughts” column appears weekly.
Holiday Poem, holiday poetry, Jason Wright, mental health alliance, my favorite poem, Poem, poet, poetry
Previous 3TV Presents, A Youtubed Poem by Nate Maxson
Next 3TV Presents: A Saint Dismas Christmas
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The Underground Garden: Universal Freestyle
Oddball Magazine May 5, 2016 May 5, 2016 The Underground Garden
Pick your region, This was blasting out of windows and cars every summer in the 80’s. Period. “It’s a really unique form of music.” It’s street music, it’s urban — it’s almost like uptempo R&B.” Per Armand Van Helden.
Tonight! At the Milky Way in JP DJ Nomadik’s UNIVERSAL Thursday returns!
This ongoing open mic has themed este Cinco de Mayo The Freestyle Edition! “80s vs 90s Latin freestyle edition. We taking it back!”
Hosted by Essex a/k/a Anthony Schofield, all types of talent are invited to the stage and mic. Sign-up for the limited spots begin at 9:30 p.m. and everybody has a chance to win tickets to Red Bull Academy’s Festival’s Freestyle Concert in New York featuring Freestyle pioneer producers and DJs Jellybean Benitez and Louie Vega with performances by vocal divas Shannon, Lisa Lisa, Judy Torres and others on Friday, May 13th!
Per tradition, once everyone has expressed themselves on the mic, everyone gets to express themselves on the dancefloor! DJ Nomadik and myself will be playing Freestyle music all night! I’m too excited to get these beats on the tables!
“Freestyle was mostly vocals, and a few [more instrumental] tracks. For me, when I look at songs that stand in years, songs with vocals stand out because you can sing along. It goes back to that primal thing.” Those who know, Love! Let’s sing and dance our hearts pure!
You’re invited to the Milky Way at La Bella Luna, 258 Amory Street, JP Tonight! This is a 21+ event and cover is $7. Poets, MCs, singers, dancers, FREESTYLE HEADS, Lovers, everybody welcomed!
THE BEAUTIFUL LOVE: On Thursday, June 2nd at 9 p.m., join Nomadik, Soulkore and Prince Lovers at the Purple Boston Prince Tribute. Rest in Power.
We’re looking forward to it all!
Liza Zayas is a lover of writing and dancing and celebrates both as a singer and songwriter performing as Luna del Flor. You can hear her collaborative sounds and experience life through her storytelling. She invites you to dance. Her poetry seeks to initiate dialogue by intentionally expressing consequences of love, lust, ego and self-respect.
Anthony Schofield, Armand Van Helden, Cinco de Mayo, essex, Jamaica Plain Massachusetts, Jellybean Benitez, Judy Torres, La Bella Luna, Lisa Lisa, Liza Zayas, Louie Vega, Milky Way Club Jamaica Plain, Nomadik, Prince, Shannon, Soulkore Productions
Previous It’s All One Thing #130: Jack The Bear (Another Lugubrious Poem)
Next The Oddball Show with Mars Jupiter
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Remembering The Pill
by Matthew Schmitz · June 5, 2010
James Matthew Wilson takes a critical look at the anniversary of The Pill:
[T]he only alternative to those technocratic solutions that, by definition, try to put decision outside the range of moral action and choice, is the alternative of cultivation: that tenuous self-government that requires a long memory, and an acceptance of our dependence on others and our fragility within the world of creation. Contraception is not a consumer choice — it is certainly not a “lifestyle choice.” It is, rather, an entire way of life, promising to the human being a second nature grafted technologically on top of (and repressing) one’s first nature. As such, it involves not simply asking questions about what one should or should not do in order to attain to human happiness, but rather it transforms one’s conception of what happiness is — what the purpose and meaning of human life is. And once one changes ends, one changes just about everything that lies on the path as well — including oneself.
This in response to a thoughtful, provocative piece by R.J. Snell at Public Discourse.
Ballots Behind Bars
Court Watching Note
Morning Ed: Law & Order {2018.09.26.W}
Jason Kuznicki says:
Contraception is not a consumer choice — it is certainly not a “lifestyle choice.” It is, rather, an entire way of life, promising to the human being a second nature grafted technologically on top of (and repressing) one’s first nature.
How does this differ from, say, the Internet? Or the automobile? Or antisepsis?Report
JosephFM in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:
@Jason Kuznicki, If this argument actually was referring to the automobile rather than hormonal contraception, I might be inclined to agree with it.
Especially when I’m stuck in traffic.Report
Whata ya mean “repressing one’s first nature”, white man?
Lordy! The handwringing and romanticizing of a time before women could exercise some control over their reproductive lives is… what should I call it, misguided? uniformed? patronizing? sick?
For all of womankind’s existence on this planet, sexuality and reproduction have been overlapping but far from equivalent aspects of identity and experience. And you know what, they still overlap. But thanks to the wonders of modern science, they overlap now in ways that give women more (here’s the scary word, so whisper it softly) choice about the entire structure of their brief existence in this vale of tears.
I don’t have a clue what this is supposed to mean: “…the alternative of cultivation: that tenuous self-government that requires a long memory, and an acceptance of our dependence on others and our fragility within the world of creation”. That each of us has to grow up and, when given choices, learn to think seriously about them and take responsibility for what we choose, both as to how they affect ourselves and others? If so, then I hate to break it to the author, but that’s always been the case, even before the Pill or any other exotic technology that might make contraception more reliable. And it still is.
Apparently, as we’ve lost all this wonderful cultural memory of our “first natures”, we’ve also lost any recollection of what it was like for our “first natures” to have to choose between total abstention and risk of preganancy, even within the confines of the sacrament of marriage.Report
Jason Kuznicki in reply to nadezhda says:
@nadezhda,
You said it, sister. I wish for just a generation it could be men who bore children in their bodies. How the world would change!Report
nadezhda in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:
@Jason Kuznicki, LOL. Indeed!
But this whole nostalgia trip is more pernicious than the usual problem of clueless men pontificating on behalf of all humankind. I even see some younger women getting sucked into nostalgia wallowing who never experienced the “lost culture” they’re mourning. Lots of folks who bemoan the “new smorgasboard of life-style choices” when it comes to reproduction actually can’t imagine what it would mean, as a really day-to-day lived experience for themselves and their friends and families, to not have the choices that are now available. They take for granted gender relations that, while far from perfect, have been thoroughly transformed for the better in the past 5 decades. Take away reproductive choice, reclaim our “first natures”, and it’s back to the kitchen for you, baby doll. And that’s no joke.Report
Matthew Schmitz says:
Nadezdha and Jason,
I can’t speak for Jame Matthew Wilson (perhaps he will chime in here in the comments), but his writing has never struck me as patronizing or sick-minded. Nor do I see any indication that he is uninformed.
Wilson is offering an account of what makes a life good. Rather than explain why that account is unconvincing to you, you have dismissed his argument with a series of labels. You have called him a nostalgist for reminding you of the nature whose abolition is the false fancy of our time. You have called him a chauvinist for arguing that men and women should have real, reasoned moral choice. Wilson’s vision of the good life may be repellent or compelling, but let’s debate that rather than accusing him of prejudiced habits of mind.Report
Jason Kuznicki in reply to Matthew Schmitz says:
@Matthew Schmitz,
Both nadezhda and I simply noted that Wilson’s writing is almost pure doubletalk. One should not be afraid to say it when it’s true. Wilson wants “real, reasoned moral choice”? He has it. Right now. I have no idea — literally no idea — what he’s complaining about.
Adding a choice — like the pill — does nothing to the menu of choices you had before. You are still free to choose them if you like. What Wilson seems to be upset about, in plain language, is that others are no longer forced to choose exactly as he would prefer.
A near-perfect analogy exists between his claims and the anti-anesthetic arguments of the nineteenth century. Suffering an unchosen situation, “cultivating” one’s personal character, is good. And technology is going to ruin it. It’s too bad we don’t have this form of suffering anymore.
Easy to say when you’re not on the operating table.Report
Matthew Schmitz in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:
Snell and Wilson make their point about choice in response to the observation by the Princeton Office of Population Research that, “the future lies instead with fool-proof contraceptives that require almost no thought or action.” Snell and Wilson observe — and I tend to agree with them — that this is a future in which choice, in a non-trivial sense, will have been reduced. Of course, there is another non-trivial sense in which it will have been increased. I do not think that by noting both I beomc guilty of doubletalk. I have merely noted one irony of history.Report
Even on your own terms, then, the complaint fails. The biggest change we will see with the advent of “fool-proof contraceptives that require almost no thought or action” will be that fewer people will choose permanent sterilization.
Those who are now using ordinary contraceptives won’t see much of a change — except that it might work a bit better — but those who might otherwise have chosen permanent sterilization will now have a choice that preserves fertility. You ought to be cheering, I’d think.Report
@Jason Kuznicki,
The situation you outline strikes me as quite possible. Maybe someday we’ll have data that bears it out. All the same, I think the critique offered by Snell stands.
Also, I tend to agree with your comment on contraception in the Tushnet post.Report
Cascadian in reply to Matthew Schmitz says:
@Matthew Schmitz, I fail to see how having something easy and reliable constitutes the lack of choice. If these lads want to take the Benedict option and join the Amish, godspeed.Report
Barry in reply to Matthew Schmitz says:
@Matthew Schmitz, “…that this is a future in which choice, in a non-trivial sense, will have been reduced. ”
No. It will have been made easier.Report
nadezhda in reply to Matthew Schmitz says:
@Matthew Schmitz, @Matthew Schmitz, I thought I’d made clear in my initial comments that I have significant substantive objections to the discussion you linked to. Apparently not. So I’ve elaborated below why I find it difficult to take the discussion seriously in the authors’ own terms.
However, I have to take up what you seem to think the discussion is about. You appear to equate the “good life” (for whom and how it was better than life as is now possible for women is unclear) with the opportunity to make “real, reasoned, moral choices”. But pre-contraception sexual activity didn’t involve much freedom or opportunities for women to make morally responsible choices about sexual activity. Rather than a moral calculus of self-control being set against the power of sexual desire, the primary controlling element was fear — fear of pregnancy and its consequences, especially but not exclusively for the unmarried, of social and economic catastrophe.
When we eliminate fear as a principal driver of or constraint on behavior, we’re actually enhancing our opportunity for meaningful personal moral action. And it’s that challenge — that we actually have to be responsible for our moral choices rather than have social structures dictate through punishments what is “moral” behavior — that so many folks yammering about a mythical lost “good life” seem to be so scared of.
The challenge we face today is not that we are deluding ourselves with the “false fancy” that we’ve abolished hu(wo)man nature. The challenge is that we now have to be adults and learn to control our behavior through moral reasoning about our actions and their consequences, for ourselves and others, in a world characterized by the abundance of choice and fewer societal disciplines. Women no longer have the “luxury” of being controlled by fear in a world of limited opportunities that repressed much of womankind’s “first nature”. Which seems to me to be a move in the right direction toward a better definition of “good life”.Report
Matthew Schmitz in reply to nadezhda says:
If mere choice was what we valued, there would be no reason for hostility toward those who make one choice and urge their fellow citizens to do the same.Report
I dunno. I have no problem using strong words toward people who hold beliefs I consider notably wrong. These people may of course continue believing what they do. That’s their choice. I’m not restricting their choice in the least, nor would I.
But honoring the freedom of conscience requires also permitting me to think less of someone who calls me “mendacious” merely for thinking that the birth control pill was a really good thing for women, and by extension, for men.Report
At no point did I call anyone in this argument “mendacious.” If I left the impression that that was my view, than I sincerely apologize.Report
You did not, but Wilson did:
I would suggest that far from being of little or no consequence, the Pill has been one of the decisive transformative causes of our society from one of memory and cultivation to one of increasingly listless and dehumanized automata and the disingenuous rhetoric of choice. Those most likely to concede the scale of this transformation are usually those most likely to blurt the deluded language of “autonomy”; they admit the scope, but lie about its nature. So let us peer through the screens of evasion and mendaciousness for just a moment: in one half century contraception has shown itself to be perhaps the most various, unpredictable, and significant public event imaginable; its effects easily outstrip those of the spewing oil in the Gulf; indeed, the Pill’s radius of effect, in terms of range and variability, exceeds even that of the atomic bomb. Let us now return to the climate of our forgetting.
As they say, I resemble those remarks.Report
Mike Schilling in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:
the Pill has been one of the decisive transformative causes of our society from one of memory and cultivation to one of increasingly listless and dehumanized automata and the disingenuous rhetoric of choice.
And let’s not forget the Designated Hitter rule.Report
@Matthew Schmitz, With the history of hostility around these matters, I see know reason why turn around isn’t fair play. Of course, there are better answers than nasty hostility:
nadezhda in reply to Cascadian says:
@Cascadian, Thanks! I needed that. 😉Report
@Matthew Schmitz, Perhaps it’s because those people deploring contraception are the fellow travelers of those who not only deplore it, but are trying to restrict it.
Additionally, most of the criticism (all?) is based on the fact that Wilson is pretty much straight up lying in his critique.Report
I’m typically sorry when I offend someone. But not this time. The fact that their discussions were triggered by the possibility of a new long-lasting contraceptive technology doesn’t alleviate the problems with their fuzzy, nostalgic handwringing that has au fond some pretty unsavoury assumptions about women and/or is inexcusably cavalier about how women’s lives have been transformed, taking both the good and bad together, dramatically for the better over the past 5 decades.
First, with a more reliable technology (and reliability is the important benefit of a long-acting contraceptive), women will still have decision-points. They simply will have fewer of them over their lifetime. And btw, even if science could produce a contraceptive that’s effective for a decade at a time, it wouldn’t be chosen by most women in their child-bearing years — at least not until they’d decided their child-bearing was over. Women (and typically their partners) want more, not less, control over timing pregnancies.
So let’s say the manufacturer offers a two-year option. During child-bearing years, a woman will have to make a serious, reasoned choice each time the contraceptive needs to be “renewed” as to whether pregnancy is an outcome she desires or at least is comfortable with. So it seems to me, there’s going to be more rather than less thoughtful moral reasoning (including taking into consideration the interests of her regular sexual partner if she has one) compared with decision-making at the moment of sexual intercourse (not the best time to be making careful decisions) or when she automatically pops a pill in her mouth in the morning as she half-asleep brushes her teeth.
So any argument that long-term contraception somehow makes women less morally responsible falls apart on examination. It’s true that the technology has significant implications for the social structures which define the choices available and provide incentives and disincentives for certain types of behavior. But all that means is that we should be celebrating, not bemoaning, the fact that women have been liberated, not just sexually, but to be able to make more careful, thoughtful, reasoned moral choices that have profound implications for the entire structure of their lives (and I’d add for the lives of their partners).
Both authors show an implicit nostalgia about a Golden Age of a culture that was somehow “better” because it had firmly fixed “moral anchors”. But it wasn’t a Golden Age — just ask any woman who came of age pre-Pill. And life pre-contraception — because it so radically restricted the choices, moral and otherwise, available to women — in fact “repressed” all of the “first nature” of womankind other than her nature as defined by her reproductive capacity. To argue otherwise seems to me, at best, misguided and patronizing.
What the authors are rending their garments about is that pharmaceutical contraception (as distinct from condoms or diaphragms) separates for women the choices about the consequences of sexual activity from the choice to engage in a particular act of sexual intercourse. And this “represses our first nature” which, implicit in their reasoning, equates women’s sexuality with reproduction. Woman’s “first nature” is that she can’t engage in sexual pleasure without the concommitant risk (in many cases, in effect punishment or if you prefer, “consequences”) of pregnancy. And if she separates sexual pleasure from the possibility of punishment, then our culture loses its moral bearings.
And that’s, to put it kindly, all stuff and nonsense.Report
Hear, hear!Report
@ Matthew Schmitz [I’d use the reply button, but it’s converting the entire comment into a link]
You wrote: If mere choice was what we valued, there would be no reason for hostility toward those who make one choice and urge their fellow citizens to do the same.
We’re not discussing a woman’s individual choice as to whether she should use a particular form of contraception or even no contraception. If you want to convice a woman she should eschew contraception in order to add “fear of pregnancy” to the other factors she should consider when deciding whether to engage in a particular act of sexual intercourse, be my guest. Undoubtedly, some women find the argument persuasive, hence the recent fashion in “virgin vows”. That’s their choice, and more will-power to them!
But I was addressing the arguments used by the authors whose writings you endorse that the “contraceptive revolution” has produced a cultural collapse because it’s destroyed the possibility of exercising thoughtful, reasoned, responsible moral choice. I find that an absurd position and have argued why. Taking moral responsibility for one’s sexuality and reproduction is a whole lot more than to f**k or not to f**k.
Your authors are conflating the structure of a woman’s entire life, and the moral choices she makes for herself and others, with her reproductive capacity. Or to use the lingo you quoted, woman’s “first nature” is defined and forever limited by the uncertainties of biology and all its social and economic implications for gender roles. And accordingly, we’re “repressing” our “first nature” if we take advantage of technology to separate the consequences of our sexual behavior (about which we must make thoughtful, morally responsible choices) from our reproductive choices (about which we must also be thoughtful and morally responsible). But as previously I explained, even before the Contraceptive Revolution, a woman’s sexual identity and experience overlapped with, but were not the same as, her reproductive biology. I find the poverty of imagination, and lack of empathy, displayed by equating a woman’s “first nature” with her reproductive capacity simply staggering.
I guess that means that every new opportunity the post-Contraceptive Revolution has made possible for women, and every decision I’ve made (not always wisely, but usually fairly thoughtfully) over the course of the past some-odd decades about career and family and loving partnerships, was actually violating my “first nature”. Gee, I guess that means that everything I’ve done that wasn’t dicated by my reproductive biology wasn’t true to my “first nature” — wonder where that exotic stuff came from if not from my “nature”? Have I unknowingly adopted an artifical or ersatz “nature”? Who invented that ersatz nature – Satan? Or maybe it’s my bad nature that was able to flourish because my “first nature” was “repressed”. Seriously. Sounds absurd, right? But those are the ridiculous implications of the vocabulary and logic of the articles you’ve endorsed.
And you think what I wrote was hostile and offensive?Report
I think a good analogy would be somebody bemoaning the decline of serfdom, and claiming that serfdom freed people to make more genuine moral choices.Report
Simon K in reply to Barry says:
@Barry, Well it did. Just not the serfs.Report
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Defending the Sex Discrimination Argument for Lesbian and Gay Rights: A Reply to Edward Stein
49 UCLA Law Review 519 (2001)
Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 15-28
21 Pages Posted: 4 May 2015
See all articles by Andrew Koppelman
49 UCLA Law Review 519 (2001), Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 15-28
49 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 519 (2001), Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 17-17
Edward Stein’s is only the latest and most systematic of a growing number of criticisms of the sex discrimination argument, from the left and the right. Stein’s doctrinal objections to the argument misconceive the reach of present doctrine, which treats all sex-based classifications with deep suspicion. His empirical doubts misapprehend both the argument’s claims and the enduring connections between heterosexism and sexism. His only persuasive claim is his moral objection, which argues that the sex discrimination argument ignores, and may render invisible, a central moral wrong of anti-gay discrimination. This is a profound moral difficulty, but it is one that is present in almost any legal argument, and perhaps in language as such. It therefore cannot be an objection against any particular argument.
Keywords: gay rights, sex discrimination
JEL Classification: K10, K30
Koppelman, Andrew M., Defending the Sex Discrimination Argument for Lesbian and Gay Rights: A Reply to Edward Stein (May 1, 2015). 49 UCLA Law Review 519 (2001); Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 15-28. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2601762 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2601762
Andrew M. Koppelman (Contact Author)
Northwestern University School of Law ( email )
375 E. Chicago Ave
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Heuristics and Biases in Thinking About Tax
U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper 03-31; USC Law School, Olin Research Paper No. 03-22; and USC CLEO Research Paper No. C03-23
28 Pages Posted: 12 Nov 2003
See all articles by Edward J. McCaffery
Edward J. McCaffery
USC Gould School of Law
Jonathan Baron
University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology
Date Written: December 12, 2003
The principal findings of behavioral economics and cognitive psychology over the past several decades have been to show that human beings deviate from ideal precepts of rationality in many settings, showing inconsistent judgment in the face of framing and other formal manipulations of the presentation of problems. This paper summarizes the findings of original experiments about subjects' perceptions of various aspects of tax-law design. We show that in evaluating tax systems, subjects are vulnerable to a wide range of heuristics and biases, leading to inconsistent judgment and evaluation. The prevalence of these biases suggests that there is room for skillful politicians or facile political systems to manipulate public opinion, and that tax system design will reflect a certain volatility on account of the possibility of eliciting preference reversals through purely formal rhetorical means. More troubling, the findings suggest the possibility of a persistent wedge between observed and optimal public finance systems.
McCaffery, Edward J. and Baron, Jonathan, Heuristics and Biases in Thinking About Tax (December 12, 2003). U of Penn, Inst for Law & Econ Research Paper 03-31; USC Law School, Olin Research Paper No. 03-22; and USC CLEO Research Paper No. C03-23. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=467440 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.467440
Edward J. McCaffery (Contact Author)
USC Gould School of Law ( email )
699 Exposition Boulevard
University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology ( email )
HOME PAGE: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~baron
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Do Doctoral Students' Financial Support Patterns Affect Their Times-to-Degree and Completion Probabilities
NBER Working Paper No. w4070
56 Pages Posted: 5 Jan 2007 Last revised: 17 Aug 2010
See all articles by Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
ILR-Cornell University; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Panayiotis Mavros
Wayne State University - Department of Economics; Aarhus University - School of Economics and Management
Date Written: May 1992
Projections of forthcoming shortages of Ph.D.s abound. Part of the reason is that American college graduates are much less likely to receive doctorates today than thcy were 20 years ago. Two important factors in this decline may be the increase in the length of time necessary for doctorate students to complete their programs that occurred over the period and the low completion rates of entrants into doctoral programs. Among the policies urged to prevent future Ph.D. shortages are increasing support for graduate students. Surprisingly little empirical evidence is available on how different types of support (fellowships. research assistantships, teaching assistantships) are likely to influence times-to-degree and completion rates. Our paper uses data on all graduate students who entered Ph.D. programs in four fields during a 25-year period at a single major doctorate producing university to estimate how graduate student financial support patterns influence these outcomes. We find that completion rates and mean durations of times-to-completion are sensitive to the types of financial support the students received. Other things held constant, students who receive fellowships or research assistantships have higher completion rates and shorter times-to-degree than students who receive teaching assistantships or tuition waivers, or who are totally self-supporting. A major finding Is that the Impact of financial support patterns on the fraction of students who complete programs is much larger than its impact on mean durations of times-to-degree.
Ehrenberg, Ronald G. and Mavros, Panayiotis, Do Doctoral Students' Financial Support Patterns Affect Their Times-to-Degree and Completion Probabilities (May 1992). NBER Working Paper No. w4070. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=476178
Ronald G. Ehrenberg (Contact Author)
ILR-Cornell University ( email )
Higher Education Research Institute
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )
IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )
Bonn, D-53072
Wayne State University - Department of Economics ( email )
656 W. Kirby
Aarhus University - School of Economics and Management ( email )
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Organic Slant
Challenge Conventional Culture
You are here: Home / Health / Researchers find infectious prions throughout eyes of patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Researchers find infectious prions throughout eyes of patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
December 13, 2018 by Captain Organic Planet Leave a Comment
Researchers find infectious prions throughout eyes of patients with deadly sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a discovery that reveals both a biohazard and a potential diagnostic tool
By the time symptoms of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) are typically discovered, death is looming and inevitable. But, in a new study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and UC San Francisco, report finding tell-tale evidence of the condition’s infectious agent in the eyes of deceased sCJD patients, making the eye a potential source for both early CJD detection and prevention of disease transmission.
Writing in the November 20 issue of the journal mBio, co-corresponding author Christina J. Sigurdson, DVM, PhD, professor of pathology at UC San Diego and UC Davis, and colleagues discovered high levels of prions in the eyes of 11 deceased patients, all with confirmed sCJD.
“Almost half of sCJD patients develop visual disturbances, and we know that the disease can be unknowingly transmitted through corneal graft transplantation,” said Sigurdson. “But distribution and levels of prions in the eye were unknown. We’ve answered some of these questions. Our findings have implications for both estimating the risk of sCJD transmission and for development of diagnostic tests for prion diseases before symptoms become apparent.”
Prions are misshapen forms of a normally harmless protein. It is not known what causes the normal prion protein to misfold and become pathogenic. In humans, prions accumulating in the brain produce lesions that can lead to rapidly progressive neurodegeneration. Patients commonly die within a year of diagnosis.
Sporadic CJD is the most common form of the disease (85 percent of cases); patients have no known risk factors. Hereditary CJD involves a genetic mutation associated with CJD, and approximately 10 to 15 percent of CJD cases in the United States are hereditary. In acquired CJD, the disease is transmitted by exposure to the brain or nervous system tissue, usually through certain medical procedures, such as corneal grafts. Rare cases involve persons eating meat from cattle affected by a disease similar to CJD called bovine spongiform encephalopathy or “mad cow disease.”
Sigurdson, with co-corresponding authors Michael D. Geschwind, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at University of California San Francisco Memory and Aging Center, Byron Caughey, PhD, at the NIH Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, and others sampled eyes and then NIH researchers used a highly sensitive real-time assay called the RT-QuIC test developed by Caughey to measure postmortem prion seeding in different tissues of the eye, such as cornea, lens, ocular fluid, retina and optic nerve. Prions were found throughout the eyes of all eleven tested sCJD patients (who had agreed to donate their eyes upon death), with the highest seed levels in the retina — in some cases only slightly lower than in the brain. Analyses of the eyes from six control samples without diagnosed sCJD were negative for prions.
“Collectively, these results reveal that sCJD patients accumulate prion seeds throughout the eye, indicating the potential diagnostic utility as well as a possible biohazard,” wrote the authors.
The RT-QuIC test is used by clinicians to diagnose sCJD in people, usually through cerebrospinal fluid and nasal brushings. The researchers plan to further evaluate its utility in eye tests, and expand to evaluate the eyes of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies to determine whether aggregated proteins from those conditions are present.
In the meantime, the authors recommended that ophthalmology exams employ either single-use instruments or equipment decontamination procedures to eliminate risk of prion transmission from patient to patient. And they said they hoped the findings would spur greater efforts to develop corneal grafting techniques, such as biosynthetic corneas, to eliminate iatrogenic disease transmission.
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Filed Under: Health Tagged With: cornea, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, eye, eyes, infection, infections, mad cow disease, prions, retina
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/the_eyes_have_it?_ga=2.155310840.277356356.1544713094-653377513.1544713094
About Captain Organic Planet
C.O.P. (Captain Organic Planet) is on a mission to inform anyone with an open mind that our food is far from natural; it is synthetic and fake. I believe our food supply is contributing to most of our diseases. The sad thing is it doesn't end there. Everywhere around us are dangers; in our household, in our water, and in your shampoo. Every aspect of your life is contributing to your health, wellness, sickness and disease. Challenge Conventional Culture. Live Life With An Organic Slant. L.iving O.rganically V.ibrates E.nergy
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Stainer: The Crucifixion
by Clare College Choir, CambridgeClare College Choir
John Stainer's "The Crucifixion" is England's best-known example of the musical "Passion" -- inspired equally by the "Passion" settings of J.S. Bach, the oratorios of Felix Mendelssohn, and traditional Anglican service music. The resemblance to Bach is in the structural alteration between choruses and solo-voice recitatives; Mendelssohn's influence can be felt in the richness of some of the choral writing, as well as the occasional interplay between soloists and chorus as characters in the drama (similar to passages in "Elijah," for instance); and the entire work sounds like Anglican service music: understated, proper, accompanied by organ, and heavily reliant on choral passages for its expressive content. The Anglican influence explains the work's narrow appeal; the music does not reach out and demand to be heard, and in less than inspired hands it sounds pedantic -- a fatal blow when dealing with subject matter as emotionally potent as the suffering and death of Jesus. But in the right hands, details that often go overlooked or unrealized breathe life into the work. Well-timed changes of organ registration add dramatic shading to the narrative tenor and bass solos, coloring their words and punctuating long stretches of text that can ramble without sonic signposts. Attention to the pacing and dramatic content of the choral passages, especially the famous "God so loved the world," makes poignant vignettes out of hymn-like simplicity. And making sure that the words are clear, and not swallowed up in soup of vocal sound, allows the listener to get involved. Unfortunately, Timothy Brown and the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, along with soloists James Gilchrist and Simon Bailey, pass up most of those opportunities in this 2004 Naxos recording. Stephen Farr's organ accompaniment explores only a narrow range of sounds, often seeming perfunctory. Brown's choral conducting is fluid, but sometimes rushes through passages that could afford to breathe more, and in general lacks pacing. The Clare College Choir doesn't quite find a satisfactory blend; individual voices stick out, especially from the tenor section. Gilchrist and Bailey bring solid vocalism and good energy to their solos, but both of them sound hamstrung by a slavish approach to rhythm. In the end, though Stainer's music sounds acceptable here, it sounds more dated and less interesting than it should, and doesn't make a strong case for its own popularity. If you're looking to familiarize yourself with Stainer, or especially "The Crucifixion," try Barry Rose's recording on EMI with the Guildford Cathedral Choir first; it's a more vivid and imaginative realization.
Album Credits
catalogNumber:
The Crucifixion, for tenor, bass, chorus & organ
Performance Credits
Clare College Choir, Cambridge Primary Artist
This is a clear, meticulous, tasteful performance of a work which in itself does not instantly call to mind any of those adjectives. Not that it (the performance) is lacking the warm, direct, and reverent attributes which are also the work's own.
Gramophone - John Steane
eriks esenvalds the doors of heaven
hear my prayer hymns and anthems
johann simon mayr miserere
rutter psalmfest
samuel sebastian wesley anthems
the complete haydn masses
Alexander Kastalsky: Memory Eternal
It used to be that Russian choirs had the edge in recording material from that ...
It used to be that Russian choirs had the edge in recording material from that country, but New York's Clarion Choir has gotten the drop on them with a world premiere of music by Alexander Kastalsky. The sound, from New ...
And So It Goes: Songs of Folk and
Canada's Elora Singers developed in tandem with a music festival in the small Ontario town ...
Canada's Elora Singers developed in tandem with a music festival in the small Ontario town of the same name. The choir is made up of professional singers, and they were led for many years by the conductor on this 2018 ...
Arvo Pärt: Berliner Messe; Magnificat; Summa
A satisfying survey of Arvo Pärt's mature style, this 2004 release from Naxos presents several ...
A satisfying survey of Arvo Pärt's mature style, this 2004 release from Naxos presents several key works from 1977 to 1992, which helped establish the composer's reputation as a modern master of sacred choral music. Perhaps the most appealing aspect ...
Brahms: Choral Music
This collection of short choral pieces by Johannes Brahms is an unusual one in present ...
This collection of short choral pieces by Johannes Brahms is an unusual one in present times, partly because many of the choral parts are quite demanding. For a choral club in the 19th century, however, it wouldn't have been so ...
Eriks Esenvalds: The Doors of Heaven
If you dipped into the music at random, you might guess that Latvian composer Eriks ...
If you dipped into the music at random, you might guess that Latvian composer Eriks Esenvalds shares the minimalist style of many of his Baltic contemporaries. There are sparse, limpid passages, but elsewhere he is lush, with dense multipart textures ...
Finzi: Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice and Other
Finzi Lo the Full Final Sacrifice and Other Choral Works,St Johns College Choir Cambridge ...
Finzi Lo the Full Final Sacrifice and Other Choral Works,St Johns College Choir Cambridge
Maximilian Steinberg: Passion Week
The work on this Grammy-nominated recording has a complex history: it was written by its ...
The work on this Grammy-nominated recording has a complex history: it was written by its composer, a Lithuanian Jew who had converted to Christianity to marry the daughter of his teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, just as the Soviet Union got serious about ...
Mozart: Missa Brevis in D major; Missa Brevis
Mozart Missa Brevis in D major Missa Brevis in B flat major Regina Coeli,St Alban ...
Mozart Missa Brevis in D major Missa Brevis in B flat major Regina Coeli,St Alban Cathedral Choir
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Texas Music
by Rick Koster, Kinky Friedman (Afterword), Nick Patoski (Foreword by)Rick Koster
Hardcover(First Edition)
This definitive history of Texas music from the 1920s to the present combines elements of a textbook, a tribute, a coffee table book, and a zealot's diary into "the" seminal work on the subject. From Buddy Holly and Janis Joplin to Willie Nelson, ZZ Top, and gospel singer Kirk Franklin--all the music legends of Texas are accounted for and profiled in detail.
Rick Koster spent fifteen years as a working rock musician before his hair turned gray and he became a writer. A native of Texas, he now lives in New London, Connecticut, with his wife, where he covers music and books for The Day. He also writes a monthly book column for the Dallas Morning News, and his pieces have appeared in the Dallas Observer, Houston Press, Offbeat, and American Way.
Introduction vii (4)
Acknowledgments xi
Part 1: Country 1 (76)
1. Singing Cowboys and Range Songs
2. Texas Shapes Early Country
3. The Dawn of Western Swing
4. The Honky-Tonk Tradition
5. Progressive Country and the Austin Spirit
6. Post-Redneck Rock and the Rise of Young Country
7. Renegade Traditionalists and Country Punk
Part 2: Rock 77 (64)
1. Buddy Holly and the Fifties: The Birth of Texas Rock
2. Texas Rock Grows Up and Crawls
3. The Seventies: Ear Shredding and Frozen Yogurt Pop
4. Rock Will Never Die (No Matter What)
5. Punk, the Wave They Called "New," and Various Alternatives
Part 3: Blues 141 (48)
1. The Southern Oral Tradition and Country Blues
2. Early Electricity and the California Exodus
3. Postwar Blues and the Chitlin Circuit
4. Stevie Ray Vaughan and the New Respectability
Part 4: Folksingers and Songwriters 189 (22)
1. Early Folksters and the Seventies Archivists
2. The Emergence of the Singer/Songwriter
Part 5: The Flavors of Ethnicity 211 (22)
1. North of the Border-The Age of Conjunto
2. Selena and the Rocketing of Tejano
3. Sounds of the Melting Pot
Part 6: Soul, R&B, Funk, Disco, and Rap 233 (30)
1. Out of the Blues
2. Disco, Gospel, and the Poetry of the 'Hood
Part 7: Easy Listening, New Age, and Classical 263 (16)
1. Opera (Not Soap or Oat), Classical, and Musical Theater
2. Easy Listening (My Parents Love This Stuff!) and New Age
Part 8: Jazz 279 (38)
1. Scott Joplin, Charlie Christian, and the Piano and Guitar Giants
2. Ornette Coleman, the Texas Tenors, and Various Single-Reed Men
3. Trumpet Kings, a Trombone Meister, and Miscellaneous Virtuosos
Bibliography and Sources 317 (14)
While readers know that Texas is a mighty big state that has produced plenty of great music over the years, they may well be unprepared for the sheer number of musicians who were either born or spent their formative years there. Just about every musical genre has had more than its share of Texas influence: country from Gene Autry to LeAnn Rimes, blues from Blind Lemon Jefferson to Stevie Ray Vaughn, and rock from Buddy Holly to the Butthole Surfersnot to mention folk, jazz, disco, soul, rap, and even easy listening. Journalist Koster, who claims to have an immense record collection, presents an enormous amount of material in an engaging, humorous manner, helped along by frequent sidebars highlighting a "Criminally Underrated Artist" or a "Guitarist Who Changed Modern Music." This book is indispensable to any library where there is interest in music history, and Texas librarians who fail to purchase it should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.Dan Bogey, Clearfield Cty. P.L. Federation, Curwensville, Pa.
Veteran music journalist Koster surveys music from the state with the most to offer. In addition to well-researched and historically savvy sections on country, rock 'n' roll, and blues, Koster tackles folk, ethnic music, a variety of black musical styles, easy listening, classical, and jazz. While some formats are inevitably relegated to, at best, a passing treatment, Koster is able to apply his amazing expertise about these forms and combine this knowledge with a smart and funny writing style. His special genius is his ability to link famous names with well-known songs where the relationship has previously been unknown. For instance, how many readers will already know that the Champs, who recorded "Tequila" in 1958, had Texans Jim Seals and Dash Crofts as guitariststhe same Seals and Crofts who went on become easy- listening stars in the '70s? His principal weakness is his seeming desire to cast everyone as a Texan. Jimi Hendrix, he points out, was not born, never lived, and did not die in Texas, but he did, Koster notes, once buy a guitar from bluesman Jimmy Vaughan. Robert Johnson is included because he made all his extant recordings in Texas, although he is most often associated with the Mississippi Delta players he inspired. On the other hand, Koster gives proper attention to ground-breaking Texas acts like the indescribable Butthole Surfers and Austin folkster Meredith Louise Miller. Koster also intersperses his text with boxed profiles of "Criminally Overlooked Musicians," to bring attention to some truly influential artists who have gone unnoticed. A lively and affectionate study for music lovers of all stripes. (100 b&w photos, 7 maps, not seen)
Koster is not only informative; hs is also a supurb storyteller.” Dallas AM News
“[Koster's] book will delight music fansand maybe even create some new ones.” Chicago Tribune
“If you are a fan of musicnot just Texas music, but all kinds of musicthis is a book you want to own.” Dallas Morning News
“One of the most comprehensive sureys of Texas music.” Austin Chronicle
“Texas Music is a triumph...Koster succeeds masterfully.” Santa Fe Weekly Alibi
book by darnella ford
book by edgar m bronfman
book by laurence canty
book by roger evans
book by howard harrison
book by gabriella giannachi
Includes an exclusive EP as a companion to the book!John Oates was born at the ...
Includes an exclusive EP as a companion to the book!John Oates was born at the perfect time, paralleling the birth of rock ‘n roll. Raised in a small Pennsylvania town, he was exposed to folk, blues, soul, and R&B. Meeting ...
For Vanessa, a low-income housing complex in the middle of the desert in El Mirage, ...
For Vanessa, a low-income housing complex in the middle of the desert in El Mirage, Arizona, represents all that is wrong with her life. Her neighbors get it on all night long, she sees an abusive husband kill his wife, ...
Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix & The Post-War Rock
Called by Entertainment Weekly The best book on Hendrix, Crosstown Traffic rode their A-list for ...
Called by Entertainment Weekly The best book on Hendrix, Crosstown Traffic rode their A-list for over two months and won the prestigious Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award. Roots-savvy British critic Charles Shaar Murray assesses the lifework of guitarist Jimi ...
Dreamworld: Two Books in One: Dreamfire & Dreamfever
Kit Alloway's Dreamfire and Dreamfever are now available in paperback for the first time, together ...
Kit Alloway's Dreamfire and Dreamfever are now available in paperback for the first time, together in one stunning package. Discover the exciting and turbulent world of the Dreamwalker in this convenient bind-up.Unlike most 17-year-olds, Joshlyn Weaver has a sacred duty. ...
Gypsy Lord: The Lord's Trilogy
He was Dominic Edgemont, Lord Nightwyck, heir to the Marquis of Gravenwold. But he was ...
He was Dominic Edgemont, Lord Nightwyck, heir to the Marquis of Gravenwold. But he was also a dark-eyed, half-gypsy bastard....When tall, handsome Dominic sees one of his Romany band whipping a beautiful, flame-haired captive, he never dreams she is a ...
Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance
A distinguished Jewish leader and philanthropist argues for openness and joy to reinvigorate Judaism in ...
A distinguished Jewish leader and philanthropist argues for openness and joy to reinvigorate Judaism in America.After a lifetime of fighting the persecution of Jews, Edgar M. Bronfman has concluded that what North American Jews need now is hope, not fear. ...
Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles
A Top Ten Music Book Bestseller in The Independent (UK)Brings the era to vivid life. ...
A Top Ten Music Book Bestseller in The Independent (UK)Brings the era to vivid life. The mythic moments are all here. Magical Mystery Tours is a tour de force. -Entertainment WeeklyGrowing up in a postwar Liverpool suburb, Tony Bramwell was ...
Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects
Basically, this is the real thing. No rock star contrivance, no intellectual perspective, no master ...
Basically, this is the real thing. No rock star contrivance, no intellectual perspective, no master plan for world domination. You're talking about four guys from rural Washington who wanna rock...Everett True, Melody Maker, March 18th, 1989In 1992, Nirvana's breakthrough anthem, ...
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Hatsune Miku Merchandise
Price : $50 to $100
Category : Otaku Apparel & Cosplay > Other Accessories
Hatsune Miku, whose name means "the first sound from the future," is the 16-year-old Vocaloid pop sensation with eye-catching turquoise twin tails! The android diva's legions of devoted fans love her for her beautiful voice, trendy style, and cute and captivating appearance.
We're proud to offer an exciting lineup of Hatsune Miku items, including figures, Hatsune Miku inspired fashion and accessories, art books, magazines, CDs and DVDs, plus loads more!
Racing Miku, Snow Miku, Kagamine Rin, Megurine Luka, Kagamine Len, KAITO, MEIKO, Sakura Miku, Rody
DBC x Hatsune Miku Key Case
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Cheaters like Trump See Cheaters Everywhere
by Leo Gerard | Aug 30, 2016 | Blog, Conservatism, Democracy, This Is The GOP
Two Republican judges ceded their principles last week to Ohio Republicans intent on suppressing the African-American vote. The Ohio GOP, like their counterparts nationally, have decided that if they can’t win minority voters, they will cheat.
So over the past decade, Republicans across the country have perpetrated fraud in the form of voter ID laws, limits on early voting, restrictions on voter registration and other onerous requirements to make it difficult for minorities, young people and senior citizens to vote – requirements described as voter suppression in numerous lawsuits filed to overturn them.
Last week, two George W. Bush-appointed judges said Ohio Republicans could eliminate “Golden Week” when registration and voting may occur on the same day. The third judge on the panel, one appointed by President Barack Obama, dissented, writing that abolishing the week “imposes a disproportionate burden on African-Americans.”
Now along comes Donald Trump claiming he’ll lose the election only if Democrats cheat at the polls. He pointed his finger at Pennsylvania and Philadelphia in particular. The City of Brotherly Love is a filthy den of schemers and scam artists, according to Trump. Pennsylvanians living west of the city line are little better in Trump’s estimation.
Trump besmirched Pennsylvania’s reputation despite the fact that Keystone GOP officials admitted in a lawsuit won by voting rights groups in 2014 that there was absolutely no in person voter fraud in the state. None. But that doesn’t matter because when Republicans like Trump cheat, they think everyone else cheats too.
Image via DonkeyHotey.
At an Aug. 12 rally in Altoona, Trump called on his supporters to sign up to stand sentry as poll watchers “in certain areas” which other speakers made clear was Philadelphia. So, essentially, Trump was asking white, rural residents to travel to Philly, which is 45 percent black, and try to intimidate voters. Good luck with that.
Here’s what he said: “We’re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times. . .If you do that, we’re not going to lose. The only way we can lose, in my opinion – I really mean this, Pennsylvania – is if cheating goes on.”
U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, a Republican from southeast of Pittsburgh, spoke on Trump’s behalf at the event, accusing Philadelphians of nefarious deeds:
“The people in western and central Pennsylvania have to overcome what goes on down in Philadelphia. . .The cheating, what they do – we’ve got to make sure we’re doing the job here in central Pennsylvania.”
The thing is: There is no cheating. The GOP could find absolutely no case of in person voter fraud – not one – when it desperately needed one, just one, to justify its burdensome voter ID requirements after they were challenged in a lawsuit by the ACLU of Pennsylvania and other voting rights groups.
In the end, the state of Pennsylvania, then completely run by Republicans – governor and both houses of the legislature – stipulated in court that, in fact, there was no in person voter fraud in Pennsylvania. So, of course, there was no way the GOP could justify its excessive voter ID requirements that would have disenfranchised as many as three quarters of a million Pennsylvanians.
This had followed a swirl of publicity around a videotaped statement by GOP leader of the Pennsylvania House, Mike Turzai, in which he announced that the then-new voter ID law was “gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.”
That would occur, of course, by disenfranchising people who intended to vote for President Obama’s reelection, including many Philadelphia residents. It would occur by GOP cheating.
In 2014, Pennsylvania courts overturned the voter ID law. This year, the Ohio decision aside, that has been the trend of most court rulings. Many judges have cited the disproportionate effect these voter suppression laws have on minorities. And just like in Pennsylvania, the laws’ defenders have failed to provide evidence of the in person voter fraud that the legislation is supposedly intended to prevent.
The ACLU and voting rights groups have secured victories in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas and North Dakota this year.
In July, a federal appeals court struck down the North Carolina voter ID law, saying it deliberately “target[ed] African-Americans with almost surgical precision” in an effort to depress black voter turnout. As to the lawmakers’ contention that the legislation was needed to prevent in person voter fraud, the judges said voter ID, “imposes cures for problems that did not exist.”
In the Badger State, the judge wrote, “The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections.”
In North Dakota, a federal judge found the voter ID law placed an undue burden on Native Americans and wrote, “No eligible voter, regardless of their station in life, should be denied the opportunity to vote.” He found that voter fraud in the state has been “virtually non-existent.”
On July 20, a federal appeals court ruled that the Texas voter ID law violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. This was the fourth time in nearly four years that a federal court decided that the law discriminated against black and Hispanic voters. But, still, the Texas GOP wants to implement it.
They’re the cheaters. The North Dakota Republicans are cheaters for trying to prevent Native Americans from voting. North Carolina Republicans are cheaters for deliberately targeting African Americans with surgical precision to prevent them from voting. Pennsylvania Republicans are cheaters for trying to prevent African-Americans, students, seniors and other likely Democrats from voting in an attempt to assure Romney a victory and their own re-elections.
Trump is a cheater as well. He cheated small businessmen and craftsmen repeatedly during his multiple bankruptcies, denying them payment for work they performed for him in good faith. Likewise, Trump reported on his sworn financial disclosure forms to election regulators that the Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla., was worth $50 million, but when it came to paying taxes on the property, he told Palm Beach County it was worth a measly $5 million. Similarly, Trump bought $65,000 in jewelry from a New York store, then had an empty box shipped out of state to evade sales tax – in a scam he got caught at.
That’s how he can accuse Philadelphia and Pennsylvania – without any evidence at all – of trying to steal the election from him. He’d do it.
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… waves-standing
music …
A 32.83 ms fragment of the EBS alert tone is shown in the oscilloscope display below. (The full tone lasts 22.5 seconds.) The beat structure is plainly visible at this scale. There are approximately 3.5 cycles of the beat and 29.75 cycles of the carrier visible in the display window. Determine the frequencies of the two tones used to produce the alert.
Write something else.
Write something different.
Write something completely different.
The telephone "off the hook" warning in the United States is composed of four pure tones: 1400, 2060, 2450, and 2600 Hz.
How many beat frequencies are present in this combination?
What are the beat frequencies?
A student has two tuning forks, one with a frequency of 349 Hz and the other with an unknown frequency. When struck together, the tuning forks produce three beats per second. What are all the possible frequencies of the unknown tuning fork?
As a part of a performance, a vocal trio sang the following three notes: C 264 Hz, F 352 Hz, and A 440 Hz. After the performance your friend who was at the performance with you makes the following observation: "When the trio sang those three notes it sounded like there were more than three singers. Hey, you took physics! How did they do that?"
Explain in no more than three sentences how it is possible for three people to produce more than three notes while singing.
What are the frequencies of the extra notes?
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Depressive Disorder
Depressive Disorder Overview
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Depressive disorder affects more than 300 million people all over the world, and is the main cause of disability. It has nothing to do with age or social conditions. Sadness, the loss of interest, or lack of concentration are some of the symptoms that characterise this illness. It can be treated, and if treatment is followed correctly, it can lead to a remission of the disorder. Medication and psychotherapy is the cornerstone of the treatment.
Depressive Disorder explained in first person
It’s important to impress on the patient and their family that they don’t have to force themselves to feel happy, to think positive, want to do things, and be cheerful. This is an illness, a disorder. It isn’t something anybody chooses.
Joana Guarch Psychologist
A positive message, just what my doctor told me “it’ll take a while, but you won’t always feel like this, we’re here to help.” And it’s true; he was right.
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Topics: 1948 show, bambi ii, disney, fc2006, igallop, pixar
Music: At Last the 1948 Show Album - The Ferret Song
Mood: lonely
I absolutely have to highlight this commercial of a pronouncedly furry nature, by way of sumatrae. You can download it here (8.5MB), or here (1.9MB; almost the same frame size, just using a newer codec).
For FC2006 furry goodness, there are photos available from several furs, including Nuku Fox, Timduru, and Junkvist, with several more listed here. (But none of patch_bunny so far! No fairAnd you can see much better headshots of him here too!)
A few of my favorites:
<td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td>
One high point of Bambi II must be Patrick Stewart as Bambi's father. What a wonderful voice for a buck..
Given it's turned into an earworm, I feel I must share The Ferret Song (770K) with you, from At Last The 1948 Show Album, a pre-Python project from John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Marty Feldman, and Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Woohoo! I'm free of the old ISP. ^_^ The connection went down a little after midnight on Wednesday, preceded a few minutes hence by an email from the new one, noting my username and password. Checking the router log confirmed I was getting authentication failures, so I just dropped the new u/p in place and restarted the router. Voilà!
And the site is fully functional, now with 1GB for clips and miscellanea, compared to the previous 250MB. This outfit's not as cheap as the other, but they're a clueful bunch with an utter lack of sliminess. (Sad, really - the other had been an excellent provider, until they began their descent into ever twistier terms and conditions. For light usage, they're still good)
Mercifully, it looks like the Disney/Pixar deal was negotiated sensibly, retaining Pixar more or less independent: "Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will become chief creative officer of the animation studios and principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering [...]. Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as president of the combined Pixar and Disney animation studios [...]. The two companies will remain separate, with Pixar keeping its brand name and headquarters in Emeryville, near San Francisco. Maintaining Pixar's unique creative character was a priority in the talks, executives said." So maybe this will turn out to be a bit like the NeXT deal after all.. ^_^
I'm sure austin_dern will be grateful to learn of patch_bunny's discovery of the iGallop, which, we are warned, is currently only available in HK and Singapore - it "supposedly mimics the trot of a horse, and promises 'flat abs, firm behind and toned thighs'", with, one assumes, the guarantee of a 1910 vibrator belt machine.
Anyone who frequents CuteOverload.com and knows Doctor Who might like this icon I just spotted..
<td> </td>
Ahh! Okay, now I know what to look for. That's the only occurrence I've noticed yet, too, but it looks like there's several more image repositories coming up in the next day or so.
Entry duly edited. ^_^
Author: patch_bunny
I posed for over a dozen photos, and many people centered on me in the parade. There's gotta be more. :)
Like the icon. Ahhhh, free time...
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The Fortieth Birthday Party of Procol Harum
Palers' Band / Palers' Project
BtP presents • Procol Harum's 40th Birthday Celebrations • 20 / 21 July 2007
On 21 July 2007, the second day of the Procol 40th Birthday Celebrations, The Palers' Band will play at the Party taking place at 2–00 pm in St John's Smith Square, on the stage where Procol Harum played the night before. Later that evening The Palers' Project will open for Gary Brooker and Guests, who will be unveiling 'Procol Rarum', the Lost Songs of Brooker and Reid.
The Palers' Band is the scratch ensemble of musician-fans who set out, following a spell of intensive rehearsal, to replicate favourite Procol / Fisher / Brooker / Trower tracks in the penumbra of the real band's performances. This has previously happened, to great mutual enjoyment, at Guildford, UK, in 2000, Kristiansand, Norway, in 2001, Manchester, UK, in 2001, Hollywood, USA, in 2003, and Lejre, Denmark in 2006.
The Palers' Project is a studio project that has so far not played live: it has released three double CDs of Procol Harum song-treatments – Lost in the Looking-Glass (2002), From Shadow to Shadow (2004) and Trace of a Feeling (2006) – and 21 July will be a first-time airing for some arrangements from these recordings. The essential distinction is that the evening's performances will not sound like the Brooker / Reid originals: they will sound like the re-invented, revisited tracks featured on the Palers' Project albums. The personnel will overlap with the Palers' Band players from the afternoon, but it won't be exactly the same.
Who's playing?
The Palers' Band will be based as usual on musical fans who respond to the sign-up page here, with one difference from usual: because of restricted performance time, and because of the nature of our rehearsal facilities, we won't necessarily be able to take all comers (in 2006 we were about 25 players), and participants will possibly get to play fewer numbers than has been the case in the past.
The Palers' Project personnel will be invited to participate, based on the requirements of the particular Brooker/ Reid songs to be featured; they will probably find themselves working rather harder than the Palers' Band (above), since they will be performing to the London public rather than to a partisan audience of friends.
What songs?
Afternoon: in the past we've solicited repertoire suggestions from would-be Palers' Band participants; this time, the aim is to play only songs that the Palers' Band has never tackled before. This freshness will make good fun for players and listeners alike at the 2–00 pm party.
Evening: The Palers' Project repertoire will be Brooker/Reid songs, chosen by the BtP team (in consultation with Gary Brooker), with performability and variety in mind.
Where do we rehearse?
Studio space and accommodation are pricey in London, so BtP has hired Rehearsal Room No 1 (28 feet by 28 feet) and backline in a studio complex in Southend-on-Sea, home of The Paramounts and arguably the ancestral breeding-ground of Procol Harum. Guitarists and bassists will need to bring their own instruments but piano, drums and clone-wheel organ will be supplied, along with all necessary amplification (for guitar, a Marshall 4 x 12 JCM2000). Because of the demands of playing later in St John's Smith Square, we will not this time be using the full panoply of musical exotica (marimba, balalaika, mandolin and so on) that distinguished the Lejre outing. Southend is not a part of London – it's 42 miles from where the gig is, c. ten pounds on the train – so we shall not be using the same gear in rehearsal and on stage.
When do we practise?
Rehearsals are on Monday 16, Tuesday 17, Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 July 2007. Friday will be a day for travelling to the London Basecamp Hotels and resting before the Procol Harum gig. You don't have to be there for all the days, but please don't absent yourself from a session you previously signed up for, as that skews the schedule for everyone.
On this occasion 'Beyond the Pale' will cover the hire of gear and studio (from 10 am to 11 pm daily) for these four days' rehearsal: participants' expenses will be accommodation, travel and food, which we are not providing. [Nobody's expected to rehearse for all of that time, of course].
Where do we stay?
BtP has arranged good prices in a Southend hotel, where Palers habitually stay when Gary Brooker / No Stiletto Shoes play in Southend. There is a mixture of double and single rooms and holiday apartments to suit all probable requirements; all those prices include tax and breakfast, and they are in force from Sunday 15 July until departure on Friday 20th. Don't book yet: you'll need a special code to get access to our reserved accommodation. Full hotel details are here
The hotel is about fifteen minutes' walk from the studio; in a shared taxi, or 'cab', one will end up paying less than two pounds a head each way.
What else is there to do in Southend-on-Sea?
Most of our overseas visitors will be intrigued to sample the quintessential British holiday experience that Southend has to offer: the very long pier, the amusement arcades, the pubs and hotels, and the general Thames Estuary feel of a resort that (some would claim!) is to an extent trapped in a time-warp. It is not a place of great architectural or historical renown but the people are friendly; no doubt some pilgrimages to formerly famous musical sites can be contemplated.
Respond to The Palers' Band sign-up page, and the Southend Accommodation page.
More about the 40th anniversary celebrations
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November 18, 2015 November 18, 2015 Mr. Wapojif
Camel Casing: In The Making Of This Glorious Headline, no Camels were Harmed
The most dramatic use of camel casing in the history of ever!
Camel casing is an intensely contentious subject in the world of digital marketing. Most of us, whether we’re aware of it or not, write headlines all the time. Whether it’s an email, letter of outrage to McDonald’s, or a love letter to your insignificant other about why they’re lucky to be going out with you, you’re using headlines all the time. Truly, headlines make the world go round.
Conversely, camel casing makes the world go up and down; it’s the practice of highlighting compound words. In layman’s terms, this means making the inferior scumbag words look puny and pathetic, whilst highlighting the big important words with capital letters. Professional Moron neither supports nor criticises the practice, and today we examine it in pedantic detail. Hurray!
I Fail to Comprehend Camel Casing!
Pay more attention, will you? It’s a hotly contested arena in the marketing and journalism worlds. For some, it’s as vital as pointing out celebrity cellulite, whilst others believe it’s as pertinent as a madman juggling nuclear warheads. “Why is everyone so angry about camel casing, sir?” you may well ask. Because they’re contentious, dimwit!
We’ll use an example headline to highlight this most provocative of issues. One is with camel casing, the other without.
The Cat Sat on the Mat
The former highlights, through camel casing, how the cat sat on the mat. The latter, through higher casing, highlights how the cat sat on the mat. The big difference between the subject matter is the duplicitous use of the noun “cat”. When one uses camel casing, the subject matter becomes about camels, not felines, and thusly the headline should read “The Camel Sat on the Mat”.
This is the big problem with camel casing – having to change the subject matter, regardless of whether camels are relevant. For instance, if you write an article about the Queen’s new dentures and use camel casing, British people will presume the article’s writer is blaspheming against the Queen (for example, “The Queen is Enjoying New Dentures!” translates as “The Queen is a Donkey!”) By jove, we won’t stand for this!
On a different note, many marketers believe camel casing can brainwash victims into buying stuff through clever camel casing. Behold!
Buy 2 and Get 1 Free!
The use of a capital letter for “and” is a psychological trick known as an antihistamine in the world of business led citizen fund removals. You’ll now, no doubt, be braying like a camel to get a hold of whatever is 2 for 1 – in this (camel) case, we were thinking about slippers. Definitely a bargain!
But why are Camels involved?
Camels enter the equation as they are experts on diction, grammar, and surviving for long periods of time in the featureless wasteland of deserts (and some desserts). They haven’t provided consent for their inclusion, and, as a result, every camel case example you see is an infringement on camel copyright. Unfortunately, as camels are aren’t the brightest of sparks, they can’t sue anyone.
Camel Casing is neither proactive or active, intelligent or stupid, brilliant or not brilliant – it simply exists. Kind of like a camel. And like a camel, with one or two or three humps, camel casing will head off into the desert on long, boring missions to make your advertising experience all the more merry. Go forth, consumers, and buy slippers. It is Christmas, after all!
Yo, yo, yo, yo! Share if you want, fool!
Camel Casing
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Making Sense of the Dynamics Business
Is Microsoft's Dynamics business holding strong or dropping fast? For partners and industry experts alike, that question is especially tricky to answer these days.
By Rich Freeman
Glance fleetingly at Microsoft's Dynamics business unit and one might easily conclude that it's an organization in distress.
After all, in October 2008, Microsoft reported that customer billings for the four ERP applications and one CRM solution in its Dynamics product line grew 10 percent in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year. That's down sharply from the 18 percent growth the company recorded in the previous year's first quarter, and the 19 percent Q1 growth it enjoyed the year before that.
Moreover, in the last eight months alone, Microsoft's U.S. Dynamics organization has shaken up its partner management team and announced a senior leadership, with Dave Willis, a former Microsoft regional executive, succeeding Craig McCollum as vice president of sales.
Sounds like trouble, right? Not so fast. Given the reeling state of the global economy, 10 percent growth is arguably pretty brisk. And if Microsoft is anxious about Dynamics sales, it's sure doing a good job of hiding it. "We're continuing to see growth," says Doug Kennedy, vice president of Microsoft's worldwide Dynamics partner organization. "We're seeing some of the opportunities slip a little bit, but not the majority of them."
Meanwhile, just to confuse matters further, many Dynamics partners are sounding downright cheery these days. "We had a record-setting 2008, both in revenue and profits," says Jeff Creighton, vice president of operations for Gold Certified Partner Computer Support Services Inc. (CSSI), a business solutions provider with headquarters in Lewisburg, Pa. So what, he asks, if demand has been softening a bit lately? "In general, we're looking for an up year." Same goes for Green Beacon Solutions LLC, an ERP, CRM and marketing automation integrator and Gold Certified Partner based in Newton, Mass. Sure, customers are taking a little longer to approve new purchases. "But it hasn't really affected our revenues at all," says Sharon Ward, Green Beacon's director of solution strategy.
To borrow from Alice, of Wonderland fame, it's a picture that gets "curiouser and curiouser" the more one looks at it. Is Microsoft's Dynamics business in freefall or holding strong in a brutal market? It could be months before anyone knows for certain.
Mysterious Numbers
Of course, it would be somewhat surprising if Dynamics revenue wasn't sliding given overall trends in the business solutions market. IT analyst firm IDC expects ERP spending worldwide to grow 5 percent in 2009. "That's much slower growth than what we saw a few years ago," observes Albert Pang, IDC's director of enterprise applications research.
Moreover, recent sales figures from Microsoft competitors seem consistent with that tepid outlook. Last September, for example, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle Corp. reported a 9 percent revenue increase for its applications business in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 as compared with the same quarter a year before. That sounds good until you consider that application revenues were up a whopping 36 percent in Q1 of fiscal 2008 versus Q1 of 2007. Meanwhile, Oracle's second quarter application revenues came in at $1.484 billion this year, a scant $2 million more than the same quarter 12 months earlier.
"Lots of projects that were sold in the beginning of the year are keeping the services teams busy."
Jeff Pyden, Managing Director, OmniVue Business Solutions
Oracle, however, concentrates more heavily on the enterprise market than Microsoft, making its financial results an imperfect point of comparison. Yet business isn't looking much better for The Sage Group plc, a U.K.-based maker of business solutions for small and midsize companies, including the Peachtree accounting program and ACT! contact management system. Its revenues grew an anemic 4 percent worldwide in the second half of the 2008 fiscal year-and they actually dropped 2 percent in North America during that period.
Still, Microsoft's quarterly reporting practices make it difficult to know whether Dynamics is performing better or worse than that. Since July 2006, Microsoft has issued a single set of results for its entire Business Division, which, in addition to the Dynamics line, is responsible for Microsoft Office, Exchange Server and numerous other products. Moreover, the key metric it does break out separately for Dynamics -- "customer billings" -- differs somewhat from the revenue numbers other business solution vendors report. Revenue, Microsoft says, is subject to accounting rules governing when sales can and can't be recognized. Customer billings, however, encompass everything the company charged someone for in a given period, making it a "pure measure" of how the Dynamics business is truly faring.
The upshot of such reporting peculiarities, though, is that even veteran Microsoft-watchers have difficulty assessing how well or poorly Dynamics is doing. "You can intuit opinions, but you can't look at a balance sheet and say 'There are the numbers,'" observes Chris Alliegro, who covers Dynamics for Directions on Microsoft, the Kirkland, Wash.-based analyst firm. The sharp decline in customer billings is a worrying sign, Alliegro notes, but it serves as inconclusive evidence that the Dynamics business is struggling. "Based on that one number, you can't really say with much confidence one way or the other."
Cushioning the Impact
That Dynamics partners generally claim to be doing fine at present only further muddies the waters. Perhaps, Alliegro speculates, they simply haven't felt the slowdown yet, thanks to all the in-process deployments they're still completing. Implementing an ERP or CRM solution is a lengthy process, after all, and difficult to cancel midstream. Indeed, at least some partners say that services rather than new software licensing is what's fueling growth at present. "Lots of projects that were sold in the beginning of the year are keeping the services teams busy," reports Jeff Pyden, managing director of Gold Certified Partner OmniVue Business Solutions, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based reseller that focuses on Dynamics GP, SL and CRM.
Furthermore, even upbeat partners are starting to feel bumps in the road. CSSI, for example, has recently seen several Dynamics deals go up in smoke at the last minute when customers decided instead to buy QuickBooks, Intuit Inc.'s comparatively bargain-basement accounting package for small businesses. And many partners say customers are taking longer to make up their mind these days. "They're being exceptionally cautious in terms of wanting to make absolutely sure they're making the right decision," says Ward, of Green Beacon Solutions.
Even so, several factors may be cushioning the sluggish economy's impact on the Dynamics channel. For starters, ERP solutions have simply become too strategic for most businesses to do without, even in a recession. "They still need to run their business, so they still need the services we offer," says Sandra Glick, president of Gold Certified Partner CriticalEdge Group Inc., a Dynamics GP and CRM reseller in Hamden, Conn. Moreover, some partners are already seeing their clients gear up for an expected recovery now by upgrading their business software. "Customers are using this time to get themselves ready for the next rise in business," says Ed Cowen, president, CEO and sole employee of TTD Enterprises LLC, a Dynamics GP and CRM reseller and Registered Member in Schaumburg, Ill.
Thinning the Dynamics Herd?
Partners wonder whether sluggish sales might prompt Microsoft to consider reducing the number of ERP products it offers.
Microsoft has said that it's got no intention of cutting its Dynamics partner budget despite the struggling economy. But partners still wonder whether some ERP products are at risk of becoming endangered species due to slowing sales growth. Might hard times ultimately lead Microsoft to reduce the number of products it sells under the Dynamics brand?
"It's fair to ask," says Directions on Microsoft lead analyst Chris Alliegro. Currently, four ERP systems, gained in a series of acquisitions several years ago, share the Dynamics banner. Microsoft has loudly proclaimed its intention to continue offering all of them.
But that doesn't mean all four products are assured of receiving equal research and development support or sales emphasis, Alliegro notes. Both Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV have been strong performers in recent years, he continues, so if Microsoft does end up short-changing any of its ERP applications, Dynamics GP and SL are the likeliest candidates.
-- R.F.
In addition, Microsoft and its Dynamics partners enjoy some critical advantages relative to key competitors such as Oracle and SAP AG of Waldorf, Germany. Chief among those advantages: a customer base skewed heavily toward small and midsize businesses. According to IDC, global sales of ERP software to companies with fewer than 1,000 employees will climb a robust 12 percent this year to $10.4 billion. Plus, IDC's Pang adds, the sheer scale and diversity of Microsoft's Dynamics client base make abrupt revenue declines less likely. "They have hundreds of thousands of customers," he observes. "Perhaps that will allow them to weather this storm better than other vendors."
Meanwhile, many partners say that economic turmoil is actually driving greater demand for certain applications at present, including CRM solutions. "A lot of people are starting to look for efficiencies in their organizations," notes Creighton. "Things like sales-force automation and better tracking of leads are a natural extension of that." Similarly, with so many difficult trade-offs to weigh, many companies are deploying business-intelligence solutions to tap into the real-time data in their ERP systems. "If you're going to make better decisions, you need better information," Glick observes.
Pyden, of OmniVue, is also seeing increased interest in hosted business applications. So far, Dynamics CRM is the only Dynamics product officially available in Software as a Service mode, but that hasn't stopped numerous partners from delivering hosted versions of Microsoft's ERP systems on their own. Small businesses in particular often find such offerings attractive, because the shared infrastructure and subscription-based fee structures free them from costly upfront outlays on hardware and licensing. "There's a lower end of the market that's really ripe for the hosting message right now," Pyden says.
Marketing Muscle
Still, while few Dynamics partners appear to be suffering right now, Microsoft is taking steps to keep sales flowing during the recession anyway. Most conspicuously, since November, the company has been offering certain Dynamics customers 36 months of interest-free financing. "That's a pretty good deal," says Steve Reed, vice president of sales at Fullscope, a Dynamics AX integrator and Gold Certified Partner based in Athens, Ala. It's already helped Fullscope rescue several teetering opportunities.
Other partners, however, point out that those 0 percent loans are available only to "qualifying" Dynamics customers. "Their qualification standards are as strict as the outside market," Pyden notes, so customers who couldn't get credit before are generally having no more success borrowing from Microsoft. Moreover, only new Dynamics customers qualify for the program, leaving the existing customers doing much of the spending right now out in the cold. "It ends up being not as helpful as we thought it would be," Creighton says.
On a more positive note, some partners see Microsoft being more aggressive in the marketing arena. For example, the company recently helped Cowen underwrite a direct-mail campaign, and when he reported strong results, he promptly received funds for a second go-round.
Of course, some aspects of Microsoft's Dynamics business have changed in the last year, including the structure of its U.S. partner management team. Microsoft has said little publicly about the reshuffling it executed last July, and was unable to provide further details by press time. However, a source close to Microsoft told RCP in December that the move involved moving Dynamics partner account managers from the field and centralizing them.
Few partners have noticed much difference. "It really hasn't had much of an impact at all," Ward says. "We had good relationships with all of the field people before and we have good relationships now." Glick, meanwhile, views the changeover as a net gain. "We still have the same partner account manager, but we're actually getting a lot more attention from him," she says. "That could be one reason our revenue is up."
Most partners have less to say about Craig McCollum's abrupt departure last December. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the outgoing exec wanted to "spend time with his family and pursue other opportunities both inside and outside the business applications industry." But the switch caught some partners off guard. "I was shocked, obviously," Pyden says. "I don't know what happened." Just the same, Pyden admires Willis, previously a regional vice president with Microsoft's U.S. Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners Group, and expects him to do well. Like many other partners, however, Glick isn't sure yet what to make of the new vice president. "I guess I'll find out when we meet him at Convergence," she says, alluding to Microsoft's annual Dynamics partner conference, to be held March 10-13 in New Orleans, La.
Until then most partners will have their hands full adapting to the challenges of a constantly changing market. "We're really just going back to basics," Ward says. That means zeroing in hard during sales pitches on perennially compelling topics, like ease of use and rapid return on investment, as well as subjects that gain added appeal in a weak economy, such as cost reduction. Kennedy encourages partners to propel opportunities as quickly as possible through the pipeline. "You almost have to treat every day like it's year-end," he says. With business conditions shifting so rapidly, deals on the brink of closing can vanish overnight.
The relative prosperity Dynamics partners say they're enjoying could prove equally vulnerable. Indeed, Microsoft has already removed its companywide revenue forecast for the 2009 fiscal year in anticipation of further economic misery. "It's hard for me to imagine the Dynamics partner channel won't be impacted by that," Alliegro says. For now, however, Fullscope's Reed isn't worrying. Recession or no recession, he says, certain fundamental sales rules continue to apply: "If I'm walking in the door to a business and I'm able to demonstrate to that business that by spending $1, they're going to save $2 or it's going to put them in a position to make $5, they're always willing to hear that."
Prior Redmond Channel Partner coverage of Microsoft's field shakeup and leadership change is here.
A Microsoft press release about its interest-free financing offer is here.
Customer-oriented information on the Microsoft interest-free financing offer is here.
Partner-oriented information on Microsoft Financing, including details on the zero-percent financing offer, can be found here.
Rich Freeman is a Seattle, Wash.-based freelance writer specializing in business and technology.
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search filter Books & JournalsAll JournalsCamera Obscura
About Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies
Volume 26, Number 2 (77)
Research Article|September 01 2011
An Editing Room of One's Own: Vidding as Women's Work
Francesca Coppa
Camera Obscura (2011) 26 (2 (77)): 123-130.
Francesca Coppa; An Editing Room of One's Own: Vidding as Women's Work. Camera Obscura 1 September 2011; 26 (2 (77)): 123–130. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/02705346-1301557
Vidding is a thirty-year-old remix practice in which predominantly female media fans reedit television or film into music videos. Vidding is important not only as an art form in its own right but also as a subcultural — and often feminist — reinterpretation of and confrontation with mainstream media culture. The feminist manifestations of vidding range from the creation of deeply felt emotional odes to television and film, to the analytical teasing out and foregrounding of subtextual or secondary meanings, to bitingly critical engagements with the mainstream media's political failings. In all these cases, vids serve both to magnify and to aestheticize the audience's readings of the mass media. The three essays address different aspects of this practice and its surrounding culture. Francesca Coppa explores the historical and sociopolitical implications of a female-dominated art form that heavily utilizes technological tools and skills; Coppa and Rebecca Tushnet discuss the legal implications of vidding as a particularly gendered form of remix art and debate the ways in which its underground aesthetics have and have not mainstreamed alongside the rest of remix culture; and Kristina Busse and Alexis Lothian demonstrate the contentious relationships that can develop when fanvids enter the realm of academic discourse.
All four authors are themselves fans and academics, practitioners and theorists who continually negotiate the artistic, political, legal, academic, and communitarian constraints we discuss in our essays. Rather than seeing those complex negotiations as a drawback, we suggest that these very tensions have created this culturally rich form. It is this complexity that makes vidding an enticing object for academic analysis, but even more so an important aesthetic and political contribution to feminist art and scholarship.
© 2011 by Camera Obscura
In Practice: Vidding
Web Of Science (9)
How to Suppress Women's Remix
Scholarly Critiques and Critiques of Scholarship: The Uses of Remix Video
List of Installations by Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman Filmography
vidder
Interlocutors
Women and TV
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HomeBack to where it began…
Work in processStay tuned!
BlogStuff around Rivieras 63-73
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Get in touchDrop me a line and you’ll get a feedback
Special shirt designs created for the “DECEPTION”
08/12/2018 /0 Comments/in Car Show, Custom /by Schmiddy
An other pleasure to create this design for my good friends Kenneth and Kenny Jr.
This graphic design based on the flyer I did recently for these cool guys, will be printed on a short sleeve work uniform they wanna wear at car shows, where they promote their “Deception”.
Watch out of the back of these guys!!!
The Deception is a Father/Son project – a 1964 Buick Riviera restoration which took many years. (I had already told about this car in previous blogs… Check them out!).
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/shirt-design-deception-back.pdf-2018-08-12-17-35-30.png 906 1237 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2018-08-12 15:50:592018-08-13 13:55:36Special shirt designs created for the "DECEPTION"
Flyer created for Kenny’s Deception
It was such a big pleasure to create an info flyer for my good friends Kenneth and his son Ken.
This Flyer is a give away they use at car shows where they promote the Deception – a 1964 Buick Riviera they restored while years! This car is just a bomb!!! 浪 (I had already told about this car in previous blogs…)
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Flyer-Deception.png 1138 1747 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2018-08-04 12:09:282018-08-04 12:41:15Flyer created for Kenny's Deception
Clean ’65 Buick Riviera by Top Notch Customs
Coco Chanel once famously said, “Fashion fades, only style remains the same.” Some things just never lose their cool factor. Certain trends have come and gone in the car world, especially lowriding, but others never get old. Even unmodified, few would argue that a car like the 1965 Buick Riviera looks all that dated. In fact, according to its owner, Rudy Trevino, it even drives like a modern car.
Enjoy the whole article by Phil Schwartze and Beto Mendoza written in May 10, 2016 on the Low Rider Network:
https://www.lowrider.com/rides/cars/top-notch-customs-builds-clean-65-buick-riviera/
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1965-buick-riviera-shaved-door-handles-modlings.jpg 807 2048 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2018-03-23 15:46:192018-08-04 16:35:49Clean ’65 Buick Riviera by Top Notch Customs
Kenny’s Deception at Chicago World Of Wheels 2018
Kenneth and his son Kenny Becker had a wonderful time at the Chicago World Of Wheels sowing their amazing “DECEPTION”, a full customized ’64 Buick Riviera. We had some lines about it here before. Find also a short interview with Kenny about his outstanding car here.
Kenny’s 64 Riviera made a good impression at the show. Won First Place in Class, Outstanding Engine, Outstanding Paint and a really Special Award from Rad Rides by Troy. THANKS Troy for selecting the Riviera!”
The award is in recognition of Troy Trepanier father Jack who pass a few years ago. Jack was a wonderful car guy that shared his love of cars with his son Troy and fellow car Enthusiast.
If you don’t know Troy Trapanier or Rad Rods by Troy check this link: www.radrides.com …Kenneth say about him, he is the BEST Custom Car builder in the nation! Troy has built Riddler Cars and this year he was selected by his piers as the Best Car builder at SEMA.
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/29196208_1651977841555334_7210153752337055744_o.jpg 1772 1772 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2018-03-13 16:31:582018-06-06 10:12:37Kenny's Deception at Chicago World Of Wheels 2018
Schmiddy’s ’65 Buick Riviera designed by Steve Stanford
03/13/2018 /0 Comments/in Custom /by Schmiddy
After some deliberations – I was unsure if it would work at all – so I decided to contact Steve Stanford last year (2017)…
In my eyes, he is worldwide one of the best Hotrod draftsmen, if not the best, and I asked him whether he would draw me his vision of my ’65 Riviera… Right, even here in the small Switzerland he is quite famous! 😉
As I tried to find a webpage or any contact possibility to reach Steve, I found him on Facebook. So I dropped few lines with my request and Kat and her brother Sean Morris, both longtime friends of Steve and the masterminds of “Steve Stanford Designs”, answered me. Two wonderful people who helped me to get access to Steve… They coordinated everything very kindly and professionally in the background. After a very sympathetic and funny phone call with Sean and Steve, I could give some key points on how I would like to have the drawing of my Riviera (kind of hotrod, but not too exaggerated).
Few days after our call, Kat told me that Steve had started to draw my car. I was extremely excited and had no idea how the drawing would come out! I couldn’t wait to hold it in my hands and see what masterpiece Steve had created. At that time I was in Florida for a couple of weeks over Christmas/New Year with my wife and some friends, so I asked Steve to send the drawing to my local address in Kissimmee instead to my home in Switzerland where nobody could take care of.
When I received the package and opened it, the surprise was absolutely perfect and my joy was endless!!!
Today I am very, very happy, proud and so grateful to own an original drawing by Steve, this artwork is now in a special custom frame and in a well deserved place and I look at it every day for a few minutes! (…and discover little details each time…).
Thank you again Steve, Kat and Sean! I love you, you all are my heroes who made one of my dreams come true!
So, step by step, I will restore and customize my ’65 Riviera as a great man has designed it!
For those who doesn’t know Steve that well, check this cool youtube video:
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/IMG_1196.jpg 3024 4032 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2018-03-13 09:20:102018-09-08 19:06:22Schmiddy's '65 Buick Riviera designed by Steve Stanford
Interview with Ken Becker Jr. about his 64 Riviera “Deception”
11/21/2017 /2 Comments/in Car Show, Custom, Found on YouTube /by Schmiddy
Nicknamed “Deception”, this beautiful custom Riviera was built by Ken and his father — also Ken — in a garage the low-slung street cruiser was a seven-year frame-off build. Power comes, appropriately, from a Nailhead engine, modernized by a Buick “Star Wars” air cleaner. The body modifications include shaved door handles, hidden headlights, and frenched 1989 Cadillac taillights, and that classy two-tone green paint. The interior features 2010 Cadillac CTS front buckets.
Ken said he likes the way the Riviera’s chiseled bodylines were a ’60s alternative to the round curvy lines of the ’50s.
Source: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/43rd-msra-back-50s/
Written by Tim Bernsau on August 29, 2016
Photographer: Robert McGaffin
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/1964-buick-riviera.jpg 1360 2040 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-11-21 10:07:092017-11-21 16:45:58Interview with Ken Becker Jr. about his 64 Riviera "Deception"
1965 Buick Riviera (sold)
07/03/2017 /0 Comments/in For sale, Found on ebay /by Schmiddy
1965 Buick Riviera, 20,981 original miles, nailhead engine NO RESERVE!
This beautiful 1965 Buick Riviera cruises down the highway shining as if it were new. The car runs and drives great. This Buick has 20,981 original miles. The miles are still stated as actual on the title. Great sounding rumble from the dual exhaust. Original radio is still in the vehicle as pictured. One of very little produced, one of very little in this condition! This car will not last long.
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/57.jpg 1200 1600 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-07-03 08:59:072017-11-21 09:31:361965 Buick Riviera (sold)
1964 Buick Riviera Custom
07/02/2017 /1 Comment/in Car Show, Custom, Found on YouTube /by Schmiddy
1964 Buick Riviera Custom & Engine start up @ World of Wheels on My Car Story with Lou Costabile
This is Ken Becker being interviewed about his son’s (Ken Becker Jr.) 1964 Buick Riviera. The only thing more special than the car is the relationship between the two of them. The talent and knowledge they share about classic car restoration is secondary only to the bond they share, it’s quite special. “Deception” (The name of Kenny’s 1964 Riviera) took 7 years in a home garage and became such a work of art, such a labor of love… a must see for any classic car enthusiast!
(Citation of Ken’s daughter on Youtube)
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/maxresdefault.jpg 1053 1681 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-07-02 15:12:022017-11-21 16:29:011964 Buick Riviera Custom
1965 Buick Riviera on 15″ supreme wheels
06/13/2017 /0 Comments/in Custom, Found on YouTube /by Schmiddy
1965 Buick Riviera slammed on air ride suspension. 15″ supreme wheels with whitewall tires and Bellflower pipes. Such a gorgeous car!
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/1-1965-Buick-Riviera-65-Rivi-Supreme-Wheels-Bellflower-Tips-Clamshell-Air-Bags-Bagged-YouTube-2017-06-13-12-53-45.png 485 1274 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-06-13 10:52:392017-11-21 17:00:091965 Buick Riviera on 15" supreme wheels
The 1965 Buick Riviera Custom that was debut by Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop at The SEMA Show 2016
Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop has been building cool for many years. This 1965 Buick Riviera is no exception. There are no major body mods but it has the “Look” that we are accustom to from Bobby Alloway.
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Monosnap-2017-05-30-13-36-21.png 845 1521 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-03-29 15:15:162017-11-21 17:03:32The 1965 Buick Riviera Custom that was debut by Alloway's Hot Rod Shop at The SEMA Show 2016
1966 Buick Riviera – Jay Leno’s Garage
Randy Cark, owner of Hot Rods and Custom Stuff, stops by the garage to show Jay a custom 1966 Buick Riviera that has an eye-popping gold paint job that took his team 1,500 hours to complete.
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Beitrag-bearbeiten-‹-Riviera-65-—-WordPress-2017-05-30-15-55-26.png 805 1437 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2017-02-22 15:14:322017-11-21 17:22:511966 Buick Riviera - Jay Leno's Garage
Rodder’s issue #71 – Rivi-Design by Steve Stanford
I’ve always had a thing for Steve Stanford … His drawings are so perfect and no one manages to grasp the “soul” of a car better than he does! His grandiose art is to draw a car as if the car itself had been asked what it would look like!
I am as you all know, a Buick Riviera fan. Or rather a Riviera 65 fan! When I saw the drawing of a Rivieras 65 by Steve Stanford in Rodder’s #71, I knew I must have the original drawing. I got in touch with Rodder’s in good spirits and asked how I could come up with this drawing… I was almost laughed at and they told me that I had no chance to get this drawing because it was privately owned.
This somehow made me sad… But anyway, I will not give up and find another way to get a drawing from Steve Stanford!
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Stanford-Opener.jpg 856 1400 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2016-11-09 18:26:182019-04-09 19:31:26Rodder's issue #71 - Rivi-Design by Steve Stanford
JF Launier 2014 Ridler Winner Owner/Builder Interview
The 2014 Ridler Award winner J.F. Launier tells how it feels to win the award… What it took to get there, what’s next and of course a little about the 1964 Buick Riviera “Rivision” the award winning car. ScottieDTV caught up with him at the Top five Street Machine Awards at the Goodguy’s PPG Nationals. It was a top five there to. Very cool…Check it out!!!
https://riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2AEEF4F300000578-0-image-a-38_1438180991285.jpg 382 636 Schmiddy http://www.riviera65.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_riviera65_small-1-300x146.png Schmiddy2016-03-14 13:22:302017-11-21 17:07:34JF Launier 2014 Ridler Winner Owner/Builder Interview
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Nicole Arsenault
York University
Expired Andrew Plunkett
Sustainability Coordinator
Number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff engaged in sustainability research:
Total number of the institution’s faculty and/or staff engaged in research:
Number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that include at least one faculty or staff member that conducts sustainability research:
The total number of academic departments (or the equivalent) that conduct research:
A copy of the sustainability research inventory that includes the names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:
AC9_ York_Departments List.xlsx
Names and department affiliations of faculty and staff engaged in sustainability research:
See Appendix A: http://taskforce.info.yorku.ca/files/2014/10/final-draft-full.march11.pdf
A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the research inventory:
In order to develop a coherent sense of the range and character of sustainability
research at York, the Sustainability Task Force assembled an inventory of Faculty members.This process involved an online review of all faculty profiles in relation to the
vision of sustainability developed by the Task Force. A preliminary inventory was
circulated to all Associate Deans Research for further suggestions. The internal inventory of sustainability research can be updated on a regular basis and reflects the rich diversity of sustainability research across York.
A brief description of notable accomplishments during the previous three years by faculty and/or staff engaged in sustainability research:
The website URL where information about sustainability research is available:
http://taskforce.info.yorku.ca/
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Home Economy Russia, Turkey Create $1bn Joint Investment Fund
Russia, Turkey Create $1bn Joint Investment Fund
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and the Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) have announced the creation and launch of the Russia-Turkey Investment Fund during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Moscow this week, TASS news agency reported.
“At the initial stage, the investments in the funds’ projects will amount to 200 million euros. The total size of the Russia-Turkey Investment Fund is 900 million euros,” the RDIF said in a statement, adding that the corresponding agreement was signed in the presence of Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The parties have started developing joint projects with a special focus on the technology, healthcare and infrastructure sectors.
“This is an important milestone for TWF and we believe initiating investments through RTIF in focused sectors will cement the relationship of both sovereign investment funds and further strengthen the relationship between Turkey and Russia,” said Zafer Sönmez, managing director of the Turkey Wealth Fund.
According to Sonmez, the RTIF will play a crucial role in promoting a culture of co-investment, attracting top quality FDI, and catalyzing opportunities for the regional growth of Turkish and Russian companies.
The RDIF also signed a deal with Turkish contractor Rönesans Holding for a joint project to establish training and research hospitals at universities in different regions of the country.
According to a company statement, state-of-the-art medical training and city hospitals will be established, where a single database and a common technology platform will be used to connect to the medical centers of leading Russian universities and foreign universities.
Previous articleShell Breaks Partnership with Gazprom on Baltic LNG Project
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The Russian government has approved a bill establishing additional permitted cases of resident currency transactions, the government wrote on its official website on Saturday,...
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European Companies More Optimistic about Russia, Poll Shows
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RVA Comics X-Change: Issue 10
Ash Griffith | January 8, 2019
Topics: comics, DC, Die, Heroes In Crisis, Image, Immortal Hulk, Marvel, Miles Morales, RVA Comics X-Change, Spider-Man, Stranger Things, third eye comics, Venom Unleashed, Web of Venom
Good afternoon, comics fans! Welcome to not only the first Comic X-Change issue of the new year, but the big whopper – Issue Number 10! For such a special issue, and to kick this brand new year off right, I decided to reach out to one of my very best comic friends and gurus, Kevin Smith of Third Eye Comics in Mechanicsville.
This issue, we’ve got some good hearty amuse-bouches for you to appetize your palate after the holidays. Kevin is bring us some big hitters to watch for in the lands of Marvel and DC, and then I’m going to close us out with the big topic my brain can’t shut up about – Stranger Things Season 3. Let’s get down to business, y’all.
“Miles Morales: Spider-Man #2” by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garron
“Previously [Miles Morales] had taken over one of the Spider-Man books that Peter had started years ago, but now he has one all to himself.” said Smith.
“The Immortal Hulk #12” by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett
“[Bruce] Banner was killed about three years ago in Civil War II, and thought to have been gone for awhile, and had been brought back,” said Smith. “Marvel’s taking The Hulk back to his origins, the way he was back in the 60s when he was created, where Banner and Hulk are more of a Jekyll and Hyde creature now.”
“Web Of Venom: Venom Unleashed #1” by Ryan Stegman, Juan Gedeon, and Kyle Hotz
“I’m really enjoying this because [Venom writer Donny] Cates has decided to take Venom and, instead of just being one character, [write] the mythology and the history of the symbiotes,” said Smith. “[He’s] taking them back literally to the dawn of time.”
“Heroes in Crisis #5” by Tom King and Clay Mann
“DC has created this super secret place called Sanctuary,” said Smith. “Someone has gone into the Sanctuary, somebody has found the video files of the heroes where they take their masks off and confess what happened.”
“Die #2” by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans
“This is something best described as the kids from Stranger Things, mixed with the kids from IT, mixed with Jumanji,” said Smith.
On January 1st, Stranger Things fans were gifted not one but two wonderful presents, and just as we thought the holidays were winding down to a close. Both the official release date poster artwork (above), and a new trailer that also confirmed the official release date, were released as we rung in the new year. We still have just under another six months to go before all of our questions are answered in eight new episodes, but let’s take a look at some things.
“One summer can change everything.” So the new season will take course over the course of the summer of 1985, which we kind of figured when the first teaser came out and showed Mother of the Year Steve Harrington working his new summer mall job. The final episode title is “The Battle of Starcourt,” so while it’s safe to assume that the mall is where the showdown with the big-bad is going to play, is it centered around July 4th? What specifically about July 4th is so crucial?
Also, why are four of the kids stoked for the fireworks, while El and Mike are the only ones wigging out?
Let’s also backtrack a little bit more and dig deeper into theory land. A month or two ago, David Harbour posted on his instagram about shaving his mustache. While this in and of itself is innocuous enough given that he has been filming Hellboy and probably has a new project to work on, something else feels weird. He did go into a long speech about how Hopper was the greatest role of his life…
Now granted, he could just be generally excited that filming is over, and ready to see how fans react to the new season. Or you could be me, dig much deeper, and question if Harbour just released a backdoor spoiler. Is it a possibility that beloved asshole sheriff Chief Jim Hopper dies this season?
Guess we’ll find out in another one hundred and seventy-seven days. But who’s counting?
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SEARCH SABR.ORG
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Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal
Chadwick Award
Hothead: How the Oscar Charleston Myth Began By Jeremy Beer
Even though Oscar Charleston was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976, many of today’s devoted baseball fans do not recognize his name, and when Charleston is thought of at all, it is often as a talented but temperamental hothead. Charleston began to gain this reputation because of an event that occurred at the end of his rookie season in 1915 with the Indianapolis ABCs. The story of how that happened is usually highly condensed and often mangled. It deserves to be told in full.
‘Little League Home Runs’ in MLB History: The Denouement By Chuck Hildebrandt
An examination of one of baseball's most entertaining and memorable plays, the “Little League Home Run.”
Marvin Miller and the Birth of the MLBPA By Michael Haupert
Journalist Studs Terkel called Marvin Miller “the most effective union organizer since John L. Lewis,” longtime president of the United Mine Workers and founder of the CIO. The 2016 season marked fifty years since Marvin Miller’s arrival on the baseball scene, and this is the story of how it happened.
The 'Strike' Against Jackie Robinson: Truth or Myth? By Warren Corbett
The story of the St. Louis Cardinals' quashed strike in 1947 has become part of the Jackie Robinson canon, a vivid illustration of the racist resistance he faced during his rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Stanley Woodward's story in the New York Herald Tribune won an award for best sports reporting of the year, and the writer Roger Kahn called it “the sports scoop of the century.” Yet hard evidence of a strike plot is lacking.
More Than Ballplayers: Baseball Players and Pursuit of the American Dream in the 1880s By Marty Payne
This essay is intended as an exploratory survey of baseball players of the 1880s, what they did in the offseason, and how — or if — they planned for their future economic security. The purpose is to examine how the individuals of this era responded to the economic opportunities offered by their baseball careers and their pursuit of the ever-so-nebulous American Dream.
A Pitching Conundrum: Tim Keefe and Old Hoss Radbourne By Brian Marshall
The 1950 rule defining pitching wins has been used as the criterion to define Old Hoss Radbourne's single-season record of 59 in the 1884 season. But a conundrum has become apparent. If the 1950 rule defining pitching wins is to be applied to Radbourne’s wins, then shouldn't it also be applied to Tim Keefe’s wins during his consecutive game win streak in 1888?
The Effect of Stride Length on Pitched Ball Velocity By Stephen P. Smith, Easton S. Smith, and Thomas G. Bowman
One philosophy of pitching holds that pushing off the rubber as hard as possible and landing as far from it as possible generates the most velocity, while another holds that shortening stride length and "pulling off" the rubber will generate the most. In both theories, stride length is a critical component, both for establishing the timing of the kinetic chain of events and for distributing mechanical energy from the lower body to the throwing hand. Velocity is an asset pitchers have always wanted; so what is the best way to achieve an increase in velocity?
Calculating Skill and Luck in Major League Baseball By Pete Palmer
One of the author's favorite topics is the contributions of skill and luck in baseball. He recently ran 1,000 simulations of a 162-game schedule that is the same as is currently being used in the majors — two leagues of 15 teams, three divisions each, with interleague play — where every team was the same and games could be decided by a coin flip, a random number generated by the computer. Here are the results.
The Chances of a Drafted Baseball Player Making the Major Leagues: A Quantitative Study By Richard T. Karcher
In June of each year, Major League Baseball conducts its amateur draft. The purpose of this study is to determine a drafted baseball player’s chances of making the major leagues based upon the round a player is drafted, age when drafted and signed, and position. Historical data were compiled for all players drafted and signed through the twentieth round from 1996 through 2011.
Doubleheaders with More Than Two Teams By David Vincent
A modern fan goes to the ballpark to see two teams battle each other. This is almost always a single game on one day at one venue. However, baseball had a tradition for many years of playing two games on Sundays and holidays such as the Fourth of July. Most doubleheaders featured the same two teams in both games, but there are a number of these sets in major league history that do not fit this pattern. Many of these featured three teams in one ballpark, but others are even more unusual.
The Many Faces of Happy Felton By Rob Edelman
Happy Felton, an all-around entertainer of a long-gone era, won fame in television’s infancy as the creator and host of Happy Felton’s Knothole Gang — a kiddie-oriented television program broadcast live from Ebbets Field. The Knothole Gang is as much a part of the Golden Age of post-war Brooklyn, and the era’s Dem Bums nostalgia, as Jackie and Pee Wee, Newk and Gil and Hilda Chester.
With a Deliberate Attempt to Deceive: Correcting a Quotation Misattributed to Charles Eliot, President of Harvard By Richard Hershberger
Tracing the origin of a Harvard University president's famous quotation about a curveball.
The Path to the Sugar Mill or the Path to Millions: MLB Baseball Academies’ Effect on the Dominican Republic By Thomas McKenna
For many Dominican children, a future in the sugar cane fields, the hotel or travel industry, or some other low-paying job may seem inevitable. But when Major League Baseball (MLB) began obtaining talent, Dominican boys could dream of making heaps of money hitting home runs. For a few, baseball became the path out of poverty, while the vast majority were left with a future draped in it
Henry Chadwick Award: Lyle Spatz By Mark Armour
A profile of 2017 Henry Chadwick Award winner Lyle Spatz.
Henry Chadwick Award: Larry McCray By John Thorn
A profile of 2017 Henry Chadwick Award winner Larry McCray.
Henry Chadwick Award: Daniel R. Levitt By Mark Armour
A profile of 2017 Henry Chadwick Award winner Dan Levitt.
Henry Chadwick Award: Peter C. Bjarkman By John Thorn
A profile of 2017 Henry Chadwick Award winner Peter C. Bjarkman.
Appendix: Fun Facts About Little League Home Runs By Chuck Hildebrandt
Fun facts and general observations about Little League Home Runs.
Download the e-book version of Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal By SABR
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Editor's note: Spring 2017 Baseball Research Journal By Cecilia M. Tan
Read a note from the editor of the Spring 2017 BRJ.
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Collaborations between the Arts & Sciences making the secrets of the
world we live in more intelligible to the human imagination.
SciArt at The Cavendish
Navigation About Community Get Involved SciArt at The Cavendish Contact Links & Resources
SciArt at The Cavendish Laboratory
SciArt in Cambridge's first SciArt Exhibition at the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory took place from the 19th - 24th March 2018 as part of the Cambridge Science Festival 2018.
We invited Artists inspired and informed by Science, working in all media to submit work with some relationship to Physics or its language - Mathematics - and therefore tie in with the theme of Cambridge Science Festival 2018 “Making Sense of the World”.
There was a diverse array of work on show: paintings, films, photography, sculpture, installation, kinetic and wearables. The show was held in various spaces in the Cavendish Laboratory and showcased artworks produced by members of the SciArt in Cambridge Community as well as as internationally.
The the private view took place on Tuesday 20th March followed by an evening of artists' talks in the Pippard Lecture Theatre. Click the buttons below to explore the event further.
View Online Gallery
See Event photos
Further details can be found on the Cavendish Laboratory Website and the Cambridge Science Festival Website.
Thank you to our kind sponsors:
Carl Zeiss Microscopy
The Institute of Physics
Please note that no one profited from this exhibition, nor were artists charged to participate. It was organised by volunteers who love SciArt, to raise the profile of SciArt as a first step from a small grass roots community.
Any funding received was put towards dressing the lab for the exhibition, organising an event for artists to network + associated expenses.
There were opportunities for Artists to sell their work at this exhibition. No commission was taken.
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How many people perished in both Wizarding Wars (the Voldemort ones)?
is there a good estimate on how many people (wizards, muggles or both) perished in both Wizarding Wars (the Voldemort ones)?
I'm fine if the Death Eater side is included, either as a separate #, or part of total.
There seems to be a lot, based on 3 quotes:
... Inferi have not been seen for a long time, however, not since Voldemort was last powerful ...He killed enough people to make an army of them, of course. (Albus Dumbledore in HP6 about Inferi and Voldemort)
The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you... (Voldemort announcing Harry Potter's death)
There was enough wizard blood spilled (quote from memory so inexact - Voldemort explaining why he'd rather accept Neville Longbottom to his service than kill him at the end of Battle of Hogwarts in HP7)
Related: How many people actually participated in the original Voldemort conflict?
harry-potter voldemort statistics
Mat Cauthon
DVK-on-Ahch-ToDVK-on-Ahch-To
The only data we have on the subject seems to be be dlanod's quote about disppearences every week (for ~500 weeks) and a quote form the books:
Pettigrew screamed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters for everyone to hear, and then killed twelve Muggles by blowing up the street with a Blasting Curse, which created a crater large enough that the sewer pipes were showing.
so if we say in a 1 on 1 duel there's the possibility for one death of a wizard and ~10 muggles. As well as this if groups fight as in the the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, then we have this source
Once there, the six D.A. members were cornered by a dozen Death Eaters, whom they managed to fend off until the Order of the Phoenix came to their rescue. In the skirmish, the prophecy was destroyed, Voldemort was seen by the Minister for Magic himself, eleven of the Death Eaters were captured, and Sirius Black was killed by his cousin.
Only one death again! Wizards can hold their own it seems. I'm inclined to say if Voldemort has his wits about him he'd go for pin-point strikes on wizarding families (less well defended than DA and Phoenix members) as well as more defended targets, whether on purpose or by happenstance.
I'd average it out to 5 wizards and 10 muggles a week, on average, as a maximum bound, any more is unsustainable. And 1:5 as a lower bound; Volde' doesn't like to shed wizarding blood if he can.
That then equates to 500 - 2,500 wizards, and 1,000-5,000 muggles. In total this is about 1.5K-7.5K, well within the standard deviation of the deaths per year in the UK, 1970-1981 so should have gone undetected statistically.
I'd guestimate we have significantly fewer for the second war, only a handful (maximum ~50?) though I'm shakey on the specifics. Most of these I think would be form the Battle of Hogwarts.
So I'd say ~1.6K-7.6K humans died during the two wizarding wars, most of the giants, and very few other magical beings to my knowledge.
AncientSwordRage♦AncientSwordRage
Hey ASR, check out scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/120520/… for a possible question! – Anoplexian Mar 24 '16 at 14:25
I would put any decent estimate at least in the 1000s, if not the 10000s. The war lasted for 11 years and, as Sirius said, "Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances". If we take him literally, that's over 500 weeks of deaths and disappearances, and he was only referring to wizarding families. By all accounts similar numbers of Muggles were murdered.
dlanoddlanod
I could imagine the number of deaths per week started out small since there were fewer Death Eaters at beginning of the First Wizarding War. The weekly death toll probably increased as the war dragged on and more people joined Voldemort's side. – RichS Aug 4 '17 at 15:18
Thanks for mentioning the Sirius quote. Can you say which book that came from? Was it Order of the Phoenix? – RichS Aug 4 '17 at 15:19
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged harry-potter voldemort statistics or ask your own question.
Why is the intake of students for Hogwarts so small compared to the number of witches and wizards in Britain?
How many people actually participated in the original Voldemort conflict?
How many people died during Grindelwald's reign?
How many people did Voldemort kill?
Why is Harry's protection so unique?
How many times did Voldemort attempt Avada Kedavra upon Harry?
When did Wormtail become a Death Eater?
How much of a myth was Tom Riddle? And did the Death Eaters know he was a Half Blood, not a Pure Blood?
Why were weapons like Mandrakes and Acromantula, which kill indiscriminately, used in the Battle of Hogwarts?
Why was Molly still wearing her cloak?
Why did Harry Potter trust Snape?
How many people in the wizarding world knew where Harry Potter lived?
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PCMag Asia | Consumer Electronics Reviews, Ratings & Comparisons | Camera | News
Consumer Electronics Reviews, Ratings & Comparisons
Xiaomi Debuts New Action Camera
By Kuan Lim
The Xiaomi Yi Action Camera costs less than $70, and it is capable of recording 1080p 60fps video
Look out, GoPro, as Xiaomi is releasing a new affordable action camera for adrenaline junkies. According to tech website TechCrunch, the new action camera is called the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera, and it comes with a 16MP camera that uses the new Sony Exmor R BSI CMOS image sensor. This allows it to record video at 1080p video at 60 frames per second.
With an asking price of 399 CNY (~$64), the Yi Action Camera sells at a fraction of an entry-level GoPro camera ($130) but has more features and capabilities - the Yi Action Camera is lighter at 72 grams, has a larger memory capacity of 64GB, and can go as far as 40 meters underwater.
SEE ALSO: How to Set Up an Amazon Echo
Apparently, you can even strap the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera to a cat for the purrfect shot
There are a couple caveats to the Xiaomi Yi Action Camera. The first is that Yi Action Camera is limited to China, and is sold through the flash sale model on Mi.com store, so getting your hands on a unit will be challenging.
Secondly, it doesn't come with any accessories. A 'Travel Edition' of the Yi Action Camera comes with a selfie stick, but it will set you back 499 CNY (~$80).
Not the best application of an action camera, but at least your selfies will look good
Xiaomi hasn't officially announced whether the Yi Action Camera will make its way down to this region, but we will keep you updated as soon as we have the latest information.
Consumer Electronics Reviews, ...
Digital Camcorders Reviews, ...
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Kuan Lim Editor
Kuan Lim has been writing about games and tech for over 6 years, and he forsees that he will continue to do so for the coming years. When he's not busy fiddling around with the latest mobiles and notebooks, he spends his time playing the latest video games or making imaginary sandcastles with his adorable daughter. See Full Bio
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Gaming with MSI - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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Gaming with MSI - Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
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PCMag Asia | Cloud Services | Guide
The Best Hosted Endpoint Protection and Security Software of 2018
By Matthew D. Sarrel
We test and compare nine of the top Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) endpoint protection software solutions for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) to use to secure their networks.
Bitdefender GravityZone Elite
F-Secure Protection Service for Business
Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud
Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Serv...
Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Prot...
Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus
McAfee Endpoint Protection Essential for SMB
Panda Security Endpoint Protection
Policies Target Device Device User Device Device Device Device Device Device Device
Manage by Group
Manage by Tag
Full Audit Log
Windows Version
Mac Version
Mobile Agent for Android
Mobile Agent for iOS
Malicious Website and Anti-Phishing Defense
External Device Control
Native Encryption Management
Read Review Bitdefender GravityZone Elite
Review ESET Endpoint Protection Standard
Review F-Secure Protection Service for Business
Review Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud
Review Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud
Review Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services
Review Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection
Review Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus
Review McAfee Endpoint Protection Essential for SMB
Review Panda Security Endpoint Protection
Matthew D. Sarrel
Featured in This Roundup:
Pros: Excellent detection rates. Easy-to-use remote management. Powerful intrusion detection abilities. Useful tools for doing forensics.
Cons: Phishing detection was weak. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering is still in easy access. No manual sandbox options.
Bottom Line: ESET Endpoint Protection Standard is powerful, easy to use, and comes at a good price. While it lags a bit in detecting phishing websites, it excels at detecting exploits locally and from the network, and, overall, is a solid Editors' Choice winner in this category.
GFI LanGuard
Pros: Easy, fast installation. Intuitive interface and workflow. Comprehensive reporting includes regulation specific reports.
Cons: On-screen report previews are improperly formatted and impossible to read.
Bottom Line: GFI LanGuard is a powerful and intuitive network security scanner, vulnerability assessment and patch management tool with a great workflow-driven interface. However, outstanding reporting is marred by poor on-screen formatting.
Symantec Endpoint Protection 11
Pros: Comprehensive, centrally managed business endpoint security. Useful deployment wizard. Small install package. Effective anti-malware.
Cons: Windows only. Remote management requires IE. Client messages can be confusing. Learning how to configure can take time.
Bottom Line: Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud is an excellent security product but comes up short in a few annoying ways. It's missing antiphishing capabilities and lacks a well-rounded reporting feature.
Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection
Pros: A very well-designed hosted management console. Innovative policy management mechanics. Highly customizable email alerts. Very lightweight client with fast installation and scanning. Intuitive and streamlined management GUI. Perfect score in hands-on malware blocking test. Very good malicious URL blocking. Good phishing protection.
Cons: Reports are designed to be viewed on-screen and cannot be exported or saved as a PDF file. Very few reports. Help is very good in some areas but inadequate in others.
Bottom Line: SaaS endpoint protection software Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection includes outstanding client protections, and its graphical policy management is a standout feature.
Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security
Pros: Customizable portlets on main dashboard. Outstanding pop-up and context-sensitive help. Data protection, device control, and application control augment antimalware functionality. Excellent malicious URL protection. Outstanding anti-phishing protection.
Cons: Deployment and configuration options, while flexible, are overly complex. Notifications emails lack customization.
Bottom Line: Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security is a SaaS endpoint protection software solution combining excellent anti-malware, malicious URL, and anti-phishing protections with a highly customizable management console.
Exabeam
$ 25000.00
Pros: Highlights suspicious activity that manual systems miss. Able to develop behavior profiles through past data. Extremely intuitive and easy to use.
Cons: Cloud version exists but is normally not provided.
Bottom Line: Exabeam is an enterprise security software package that's designed to ferret out security risks and attacks by watching user behavior.
Pros: Beautiful mobile-friendly user interface (UI). Highly informative graphs on Status page. Outstanding malicious URL protection.
Cons: No email alerts. Few reports. Lack of customizable dashboard.
Bottom Line: Panda Endpoint Protection is a SaaS endpoint protection software solution that couples a well-designed and responsive management console with outstanding protections.
Sophos Cloud Endpoint Protection
Pros: Streamlined, intuitive, and elegant management console. Easy to assess security status, set policy, and respond to threats. Context-sensitive help lowers the learning curve. User-based policies make sense in today's one-user-multiple-device world.
Cons: Base policy for local agent control is too permissive. Lack of role-based administration. E-mail alerts and thresholds are not customizable.
Bottom Line: SaaS endpoint protection software solution Sophos Cloud Endpoint Protection combines an outstanding management console with good protection scores in our lab tests. Server lockdown, user-based policy management, and new application control features are its strong suits.
Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services
Pros: Intuitively organized and easy-to-navigate cloud portal simplifies agent and device management. Highly configurable notifications and email alerts. Very good help.
Cons: Lack of role-based administration. Massive (700 MB) local agent installation. Informative but inflexible reporting.
Bottom Line: Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services is a solid offering for SaaS endpoint protection software for small to midsize businesses (SMBs), with a very good cloud portal. This software gets a lot right but falls short on several fronts, especially its enormous agent installation.
Pros: Very good malicious URL protection. Streamlined user interface (UI) shows admins just enough info. Excellent alerting capabilities simplify ongoing management.
Cons: Fair phishing detection. Policy can't be assigned and managed by group. Lacks role-based administration and full audit logs.
Bottom Line: AVG CloudCare is a value-priced, easy-to-deploy and administer, cloud-based endpoint protection solution. It offers good protection, but lacks some required business features for larger organizations. Nonetheless, AVG CloudCare is a good option for small business without complex security environments.
Nothing in IT changes more quickly and requires more sophistication than effective network and data security. That's difficult for enterprises who can afford specialist staffers, but it's difficult for budget-conscious small to midsize businesses (SMBs) even though those organizations face the same security challenges as their larger counterparts. Although precise estimates vary, somewhere around half of all security incidents affect organizations with less than 1,000 employees. Sure, data breaches at the IRS and Target are what make the news, but it's important to remember that the threats to SMBs are very real and just as common, even if staggering dollar figures aren't always involved.
In many cases, an SMB's IT administrator faces the same threats that teams of his or her enterprise counterparts face, except that he or she is likely to face them alone while trying to deal with 20 completely unrelated issues at the same time. This makes designing a security solution for an SMB audience a difficult contrast between ease-of-use and state-of-the-art technology shielding.
Small fish still make big target, though. In a Visa and National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) survey of 1,000 small business owners, 85 percent of respondents believed that enterprises are more targeted than they are, yet another survey by the same group found that 20 percent of small businesses suffered a data breach in 2013.
So, as long as your data holds value, criminals don't care how big your company is. Data that holds value includes employee and customer personal and banking information, sensitive corporate intellectual property (IP), sales and product information, and company financial information such as payroll data. There's also another angle: Criminals can use the systems of a small business to exploit trust relationships with larger businesses. If this is the case, then the small business is held responsible for the damages done.
In fact, some hackers actively target small businesses precisely because they're small. Since they don't have the resources necessary to adequately shield against intrusion, they're the low-hanging fruit, and many carry information just as valuable as that of larger organizations, especially in aggregate. It takes less effort to steal financial data and act on it. Furthermore, because no defenses are in place, the attacks are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to trace without enough logged data to use in a typical forensics process.
Small But With High Stakes
Obviously, the stakes are high in SMB security. Therefore, selecting hosted endpoint protection and security software is a critical decision for IT admins of SMBs. In many ways, you're choosing a partner that is going to help you secure servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. This is likely to be a long-term partnership because you don't want to evaluate software solutions, roll one out, remove it, re-evaluate, and re-deploy. So, look for someone who has a track record of combating threats by evolving, refining, and adding new protection tech as applicable.
This partnership is solidified when you choose a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) package instead of an on-premises package because, instead of buying software that you run yourself, you'll have daily interactions with software that's administered and updated by your vendor. SaaS, or cloud-based, hosted endpoint protection and security software has the advantage of reducing the complexity formerly required by their on-premises predecessors that typically run on dedicated servers. SaaS hosted endpoint protection and security software saves you a great deal of time and effort that would otherwise have gone into hardening and patching the underlying server operating system (OS) and patching the management console and its underlying infrastructure. This is not to say that there isn't significant value in keeping your environment patched. Endpoint protection is typically the last line of defense. It's better to limit exposure to threats in the first place and one of the best ways, bar none, is to keep up to date on your patch management chores.
Cloud-based services can also be managed outside the office, meaning that admins can manage their endpoint protection on the road or from branch offices by using multiple kinds of internet-connected devices, without loss of function or security. That's possible to do when the management server is run on-premises but usually with significantly increased difficulty. In many cases, a hosted management console can be easily accessed and used from a mobile device. As an SMB security admin, imagine getting an email alert on your phone that the business owner has encountered malware, and then being able to log in to the management console from your phone's browser and initiate remediation activities.
Another important advantage is that SaaS software solutions provide protections and updates to devices that are off the corporate network. When your co-workers take their laptops on the road with them, they continue to be protected and you retain the ability to monitor and manage their devices. Previously, once a laptop left the office, a security admin might have had to wait until it returned (or was connected via a virtual private network or VPN) to assess its security status, push updates, adjust policy, or remediate threats. In some cases, this actually extends beyond the endpoint protection software and includes things such as being able to patch the OS and related software remotely. As mentioned earlier, this can have just as big of an impact, if not a bigger one, than simply ensuring that the threat database is current.
Many SMBs' employees rely heavily on mobile devices to do their jobs. This means that mobile platforms represent as rich a target to hackers and malware as office-based systems. Many businesses overlook mobile device security, leaving this data-rich target unprotected or entirely in the hands of employees who may or may not deploy consumer-grade protections.
Security vendors are responding to these threats and have added protections for Android and iOS tablets and smartphones. Make sure to ask endpoint protection software solution providers if mobile is included (or at least available) and can be managed through the same hosted user interface (UI). You'll find richer security support for Android than for iOS. Much to the chagrin of customers, Apple selfishly continues to push its marketing agenda that iOS devices are safe from malware and refuses to work with security vendors. Vendors offer to manage devices (e.g., locate and remote wipe) and security policy (e.g., password strength, application control, and Wi-Fi settings) for Android and iOS while offering full security software (e.g., anti-malware app scanning, firewall, and intrusion prevention) only for Android. That doesn't mean that iOS can't support useful security software because it can, just with a few more hoops than Android. However, there's VPN and Safe Browsing apps already included in most implementations of iOS so there may be less need for third-party solutions.
Evaluating the Software
Picking the right hosted endpoint protection and security software solution is an important decision for an SMB. Choosing the wrong product could result in creating a false sense of security amongst users and management, and creating a management nightmare for admins. Products that are needlessly complex are fine for enterprise security admins who live and breathe inside a management console. But you don't want to waste an SMB security admin's time and effort—two things that are not in overabundance in any SMB.
For this reason, and because there are significant differences between them, management consoles should be a critical decision-making factor when selecting a hosted endpoint protection and security software solution for your SMB. The best management consoles are uncluttered, intuitive, and have context-sensitive Help waiting in the wings. Dashboards should provide a thorough assessment of company-wide security status and, when something is wrong, provide a quick and easy way to dive deeper, assess the issue, and resolve it. Reports should be helpful and informative whether they are active or passive or both. Policies should be preconfigured using best practices, with the ability to quickly and easily make changes should the admin desire.
For a busy SMB security admin, alerts and notifications can be critical time-savers. Some may choose to stay logged in to a hosted endpoint protection and security software solution, occasionally glancing at dashboards and interactive reports. Others may deploy their agents and then move on to other matters, depending upon notifications and scheduled reports to keep them up to date on the security of users and devices. If this is the case, then pay particular attention to the number of possible notifications (e.g., malware detected, web content policy violated, and potential malicious URLs visited) and the capabilities of the product to manage (e.g., set thresholds and escalations) the alerts.
For traveling employees, it's also good to look for extras. Some software will include a VPN that will allow secure browsing from coffee shops or when traveling out of the country. This is great for protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks where an attacker will intercept information as it's being transmitted across the web. Other handy tools, such as password management software and data shredders, are also not uncommon.
New Demands of Data Safety
Ransomware has been a major cause of concern over the past year and that's likely to continue in the foreseeable future. Detecting it is a top priority, but the race between hackers and security professionals will always be a close one. When hackers lead the race, it's important to know how to get that data back. Part of what today's endpoint protection solutions should offer is a way to roll back changes that malicious software, such as ransomware, perform on your system. While everyone hopes that their favorite product will win, making sure your data is preserved takes precedence.
Digital theft also doesn't have to take place over the internet. A good old-fashioned hammer still works on a car window. If a thief runs off with your laptop, then having its data encrypted is the key to not having the incident come back to haunt you later. Typically, once a physical machine is compromised, there is little that can be done to stop an intruder. But encryption is one of the few methods that's not only been proven to work but is also cheap and easy to implement. Some endpoint protection products offer encryption management right on their dashboards. For the forgetful road warrior, this can be a life-saver in the event of a scenario such as the one described earlier. Admins should look for management capabilities in this regard as well; for example, that encryption can be enforced as a policy as opposed to being implemented on a device-by-device basis.
In the wake of the recent Equifax breach, it's more important than ever that endpoint protection software include additional barriers beyond simple antivirus, anti-malware, and anti-phishing software. Even firewalls only partially do the job. A platform that combines all of these capabilities as a cohesive and well-managed whole is what you should be looking for. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are also sorely needed at the small business level but it has been challenging to afford or understand IDS outside of larger enterprise. This is partially due to a dearth of SMB-oriented software and partially due to a skills gap in SMB versus enterprise IT security professionals. SaaS solutions, such as the ones reviewed here, can go a long way toward leveling the playing field.
In addition, there are certain vulnerabilities which are under-serviced. For example, PowerShell, Microsoft's vision for how the command line should work in the present and future, has been used in a number of new ransomware variants. This is predominantly for convenience and the fact that PowerShell commands tend to be passed off as automatically legitimate. While many enterprises lock down these types of apps for users, small businesses tend to leave them wide open because they're either required by power users to do so or they're unaware of the vulnerabilities.
This issue is not just limited to PowerShell, however. Threats that stem from the still-popular Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) also often slip through security nets mainly because they're so widely used in small business circles as cheap customization and workflow solutions. What makes these types of threats extra dangerous is that they pose as simple Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel documents. Because macros using VBA are so common, they can easily be passed off as legitimate, letting an attacker compromise and potentially gain control over a victim's machine.
New Tech for an Old Problem
The challenge, then, is to select a product that can fend off known threats as well as detect odd behavior that hasn't been seen before. To help, quite a few endpoint protection products have introduced a form of machine learning (ML) to their anti-malware engines. A sizeable portion of them are also able to detect the style of threats that would be seen during a direct cyberattack, which can more quickly point to a source and a solution.
As a bonus, this same tech can sometimes pick up script-based attacks that have, in the past, gone mostly undetected. This will hopefully put a dent in the successful deployments of ransomware and other data-gathering attacks. As malware and ransomware writers are veering more toward this style of engagement, it's become a major factor in what will truly add security to a small business. Unfortunately, malware scanners aren't always sensitive enough to pick up these threats by using just their default settings and increasing the aggressiveness sometimes has a performance impact on users. Finding the right balance can often be a challenge and may result in some dissatisfied users in the short term. But you need to weigh that carefully against the cost of compromised systems and data.
At the end of the day, it becomes a question of, "What's good enough?" The answer will vary from customer to customer depending on specific needs, custom processes, and risk factors. However, one thing is clear: The internet is an ocean of dangerous waters and those waters are only getting deeper. Having an adequate defense isn't just important, it's critical.
Featured Hosted Endpoint Protection Reviews:
Bitdefender GravityZone Elite Review
Bottom Line: Bitdefender GravityZone Elite succeeded where the others did not, by stopping a direct attack in a simulated real-world environment. The reporting capabilities and configurability are top-no...
ESET Endpoint Protection Standard Review
Bottom Line: ESET Endpoint Protection Standard is powerful, easy to use, and comes at a good price. While it lags a bit in detecting phishing websites, it excels at detecting exploits locally and from th...
F-Secure Protection Service for Business Review
Bottom Line: F-Secure Protection Service for Business is a solid choice for a hosted endpoint protection software solution, marred only by a slight weakness in exploits packed with scripting languages su...
Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud Review
Bottom Line: Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud is an excellent security product but comes up short in a few annoying ways. It's missing antiphishing capabilities and lacks a well-rounded reporting featu...
Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud Review
Bottom Line: Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud excels at protecting systems, but doesn't do so well at capitalizing on their cloud management console. While serviceable, this endpoint protection system ...
Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services Review
Bottom Line: Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services has a lot to offer in the way of traditional protection but it lags behind when detecting some common scripted threats. However, its device ...
Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection Review
Bottom Line: Against standard malware, Webroot SecureAnywhere Business Endpoint Protection is an excellent product. But we found it has trouble detecting more bleeding-edge attacks, such as the newer scr...
Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus Review
Bottom Line: Avast Business Antivirus Pro Plus is simple and offers a decent level of detection for unknown threats. But it falls short on reporting and lacks mobile device support.
McAfee Endpoint Protection Essential for SMB Review
Bottom Line: McAfee Endpoint Protection for SMB is a good endpoint protection system for protecting your devices but it drowns users in how configurable it can be. With some streamlining, it could be mor...
Panda Security Endpoint Protection Review
Bottom Line: As a malware detection and prevention platform, Panda Security Endpoint Protection performs well. However, against active attackers, it lacks some of the basic defenses that are in place in ...
GFI LanGuard Review
Bottom Line: GFI LanGuard is a powerful and intuitive network security scanner, vulnerability assessment and patch management tool with a great workflow-driven interface. However, outstanding reporting i...
Exabeam Review
MSRP: $25000.00
Sophos Cloud Endpoint Protection Review
Bottom Line: SaaS endpoint protection software solution Sophos Cloud Endpoint Protection combines an outstanding management console with good protection scores in our lab tests. Server lockdown, user-bas...
AVG CloudCare Review
Bottom Line: AVG CloudCare is a value-priced, easy-to-deploy and administer, cloud-based endpoint protection solution. It offers good protection, but lacks some required business features for larger orga...
Kaspersky Small Office Security Review
Bottom Line: Kaspersky Small Office Security is an extremely basic web management console tacked onto Kaspersky's consumer product. It lacks many of the features businesses require and will only appeal t...
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Matthew D. Sarrel matt@mattsarrel.com
Matthew D. Sarrel, CISSP, is a network security, product development, and technical marketing consultant based in New York City. He is also a game reviewer and technical writer. To read his opinions on games please browse http://games.mattsarrel.com and for more general information on Matt, please see http://www.mattsarrel.com. See Full Bio
More From Matthew D. Sarrel
Kaspersky Small Office Security
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Defendant excretes in courtroom
Obama awards arts medals to Mel Brooks, Audra McDonald, others
Integrated welfare scheme necessary to achieve change — Former NIS chief
Eze Vincent Duru, a former Deputy Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), says for government to achieve the desired change, it must introduce an integrated welfare scheme for workers.
Duru, who is the Chairman of Njaba Council of Traditional Rulers as well as the traditional ruler of Okponakuma Community in Imo, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.
He said a good and comprehensive welfare scheme was necessary to achieve positive change through democratic governance.
Duru said that government in introducing change must plan and ascertain who the change resistors and agents of change were to be able to manage change.
“In introduction of change policies, the Nigerian Government should note that civil and public servants are the resistors, while the political class is the change agent,’’ he said.
He said for government to achieve the desired change, the welfare of workers must be addressed to discourage workers from corruption and other misconduct which subverted policies and programmes of government.
“The issue of disparity in salary payment must be resolved; the insurance scheme which addresses the housing, car and other essential needs of workers should be properly designed by government.
“Like in the United States where I undertook a course, these welfare issues are no longer there and no worker is ready to cheat the system and once these problems are addressed, corruption will be unattractive in Nigeria,’’ Duru said.
He said it took the U.S. many years to get solution on how to address corruption through the introduction of an integrated welfare scheme for workers.
Duru said that the legislature and government should come up with better legislation to check imbalance in the system, pointing out that “whether in the military, paramilitary and public service sharp practices abound.’’
He also stressed the need for government to effectively equip the security agencies, especially the border patrol units of NIS, saying Nigeria’s porous borders had compounded problems.
Duru said he introduced the border patrol unit of NIS and headed a number of NIS commands.
He expressed regret that because of the leading role Nigeria was playing in ECOWAS, immigrants from neighbouring countries abused the ECOWAS protocol, treaties and conventions by flooding into Nigeria.
“It is too late for Nigeria to opt out of ECOWAS, my advice is that government should adequately fund the security agencies so as to enable them to fish out foreigners residing illegally with a view to deporting them,’’ he said.
NAN recalls that the government recently launched a national re-orientation programme with a view to encouraging Nigerians to adopt the right attitudes for national development.
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You’re the #1 reason we created our new “IR Success Platform”
Q4 IR conference: designed to drive strategic impact to your IR program.
Tabling change in 2019: 5 big trends impacting IROs everywhere
The Russell Rebalance: Ready for the biggest trading day of the year in your stock?
Passive Investing and ESG: The Convergence of IR and Corporate Governance
By Adam Frederick
I’m old enough (and have the grey hairs proving it) to remember the bull market stock booms of the 80s and 90s. This is really when Wall Street met main street, and mutual fund investing became mainstream for retail investors. It also spawned the age of “Rock Star” portfolio managers like Peter Lynch, Tom Marsico, Jeffrey Vinik, Ken Heebner, and many others. Stock-pickers became the market gurus of a generation and investors eagerly poured money into their funds – often paying high management fees to do so.
Over the past decade, however, there’s been an undeniable trend in investor appetite for passive investment strategies (over active Investments). As I wrote back in February, in 2016 alone, passively-managed funds saw net inflows of $563 billion, while their actively-managed counterparts witnessed net outflows of $326 billion. According to data from Morningstar, that trend continued through 2017, with net inflows of $470 billion into passive strategies, versus $175 billion net outflows from active managers. Further analysis shows just how concentrated those net inflows in passive vehicles were, “in 2017, 81% of all new investor dollars went to Vanguard or BlackRock.” That’s a truly staggering stat.
What this means for IR
An initial response to this tectonic shift toward passive investing might be, “so what. It doesn’t impact me.” But, that couldn’t be further from the truth. While it’s true that shareholder engagement with Passives might differ from strategies used with active managers, IROs simply can’t ignore them. In other words, passive investing doesn’t mean passive ownership.
One of the biggest ongoing trends that’s impacting the IR function is in governance, referred to more generally as Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG). Firms like Vanguard and BlackRock have become so large that their stakeholder influence is palpable. By almost default — based purely on their size and indexed investing style — these two firms are among the top shareholders of the most publicly traded companies in the US. That’s a lot of power to hold over the capital markets. Their size alone means they have tremendous influence over such factors as: executive compensation, board member elections, board diversity, reporting transparency, voting rights, and even oversights on IR strategy. It’s here that IR meets governance.
ESG-related issues have also become more of a hot button topic for Activist investors — and not just from the typical “activist” names. Sure when it comes to activist campaigns, investors like Carl Icahn and Bill Ackman get a lot of press. But of late, Indexed names have become noticeably more “active” in their ownership. We’re seeing some of the largest indexers in the world campaign public companies to improve their governance practices, as well as social and environmental relations and footprints. This is a major shift in thinking by a huge segment of the investor community that, for decades, has essentially been “out of sight, out of mind” for most IROs.
Governance and IR
The passive investing and ESG trend will only continue to climb and converge. But don’t just take my word for it: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has recently estimated that passive ETF assets, which incorporate ESG related factors, will grow from $25 billion today to more than $400 billion in a decade. The need for IR professionals to focus on these areas will increase exponentially. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the IR function in general, which has evolved from a communications vertical to more of a finance function over the past 10 years, will see yet another evolution: the convergence between IR and the Corporate Secretary. Understanding and managing shareholder expectations and demands, especially in this ever-increasing passive ESG-focused investment environment, will undoubtedly change the day-to-day workflow of the modern IRO.
Ultimately, it will no longer make sense to focus your targeting efforts solely on actively managed portfolios. In addition to speaking with active buy-side managers about their models and your company’s story, you’ll have to manage relationships with key passive investors and strategically incorporate a governance-related focus. This will also mean understanding passive investor ESG mandates, voting trends, areas of focus, and proxy guidelines. Managing these relationships and keeping your management team and board abreast of any challenges (as well as of any ESG vulnerabilities) will not only illustrate the true power of IR, but also help drive tremendous enterprise value.
But be careful not to mistake this trend as a complete usurping of active investment. At the end of the day, active investing will always have a place in the market. There’ll never be a lack of investor appetite for higher risk-adjusted returns above-indexed funds. That being said, it’s clear that passive investing and ESG mandates are not just temporary fads. There’s simply too much money and momentum behind these movements, which will only increasingly influence the IR workflow. The growing demands on IR resources stemming from passive, ESG-related issues are here to stay and becoming ever more prevalent. As time goes on, the IRO’s role will have to adapt with this evolving environment and the inevitable convergence of IR and governance.
Adam Frederick is the Senior Vice President of Intelligence at Q4 and blogs regularly about trends in investor relations and the capital markets.
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Unholy Tension in Lanka’s Muslim East
Different interpretations of Islam by Thawheed and traditional school divide the community
by Chris Kamalendran, Asif Fuard and cameraman Saman Kariyawasam in Kattankudy, The Sunday Times, Colombo, August 9, 2009
The tiny coastal village of Kattankudy, a ten minutes drive from the eastern capital of Batticaloa, lies in a picturesque setting. Its boundaries hug the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other.
The predominantly Muslim locality, with a population of less than 50,000, has drawn world attention for its highest density of population in Asia. Twenty-three years ago, it held the record for the highest birth rate in Sri Lanka.
If dwellings stand cheek by jowl in two or three storied homes, the empty spaces are mostly paddy fields. That is the main source of income followed by fishing. In recent years, the handloom industry has grown. Showcases in shops overflow with colourful garments, shoes and a variety of other items. Outlets for used motor vehicles and motor cycles add to reflect the new prosperity.
The busy streets become busier during nights with vendors selling finger food of all sorts – samosas, cutlets, pickled olives and fried fish to name a few. Black coffee, with a close resemblance to the Arabian gahwa, is a favoured beverage than tea. Saruwath stalls that serve a concoction of sugar syrup, water and colouring topped with ice are ubiquitous. There are crowds all-round.
Beneath the seeming calm and the hive of activity, lies a boiling cauldron. It is heating up threatening to spill into sectarian violence within the Muslims. The reasons, unlike the July 24 incidents in the village of Mahagoda in Beruwala, are not ideological alone. There, a Moulavi (cleric) of the Masjidur Rahman, belonging to the now well-known Tawheed group, preached a Friday (Jumma prayer) sermon, which, a rival group alleged, provoked their devotees – devotees of the neighbouring Bukhari mosque.
The gateway to Kattankudy, a hotspot of intra-religious tension.
Both these groups are Sunnis, to which sect the vast majority of Sri Lankan Muslims belong. However, many Sri Lankan Muslims are the followers of the traditional Islam as against the newly-growing Tawheed group, which claims to practise the same religion in its “purest form.” The Thawheed group abhors some of the practices of the traditional school. The dispute led to the July 24 attack on the Masjidur Rahman in Beruwala. Two people were killed and more than 40 wounded, prompting the Police to arrest 132 persons.
They now await trial.However, Kattankudy is a kaleidoscope murkier and multi-faceted. Besides the ideological war, the resort to violence, threats and intimidation through arms and kidnappings highlight an increasingly disturbing picture. It has alarmed the security authorities and Muslim community leaders alike. Many academics, professionals and even ordinary citizens are aware of the goings on but do not want to speak. Some fear reprisals whilst others are too embarrassed.
Underscoring this concern are remarks of Dr. S.M.M. Ismail, Vice Chancellor of the South Eastern University. He said, “It is very difficult to comment about the present situation and the tension within the groups. Also it is a very sensitive subject.”
Sharpening the ideological divide between the puritanical Thawheed and their rivals, the passive traditional followers, was the recently-concluded separatist war by Tiger guerrillas. On August 4 1990, a thirty strong group of guerrillas attacked a mosque in Kattankudy during Isha (night) prayers, killing 147 Muslims prostrating before Allah (God). Successive governments thereafter began to train and arm the Muslim villagers.
Thirty-two-year-old Mohamed (nom de guerre since he did not wish to be identified), once rich and now a textile hawker, told the Sunday Times, “I was one of the first batches of 300 recruits enlisted. After the Police screened our names, we received weapons training for 35-days at a location in Mannar.
Thereafter we functioned as Home Guards and carried assault rifles.” At least two others related similar tales.
The damaged mosque of a Sufi order or traditional Islam
“Members of the Thawheed group destroyed two of my houses in Kattankudy in December 2006. I ran a motor spare parts shop. Stocks worth Rs 4.5 million were lost. In fear, I left the area and now live in Dehiwala,” said Mohamed.
The Eastern Provincial Council elections last year became a turning point. Muslim villagers alleged that armed groups from the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP or Tamil People’s Liberation Tigers) had begun attacks on them. The TMVP, on the other hand, blamed it on the Muslim group. For security authorities in the East, this was a delicate issue since TMVP candidates contested on behalf of the ruling party. Some of the Muslim Home guards engaged the TMVP cadres and vice versa. Bitter clashes ensued. In the process, most of the Muslim Home Guards deserted ranks with their weapons.
Sections of these fleeing Home Guards styled themselves as Jihad to fight an unusual religious war. The word Jihad in the Islamic lexicon means a holy war waged by Muslims against infidels. However, in this instance, the men linked to the Thawheed group, treated members of their own community, the traditional followers as “infidels” or as they call it “Kafir” (a non-believer of the truth). Thus, a campaign of terror against the traditional followers of different sects, their customs and practices became the order.
Fowzul Ameen (47), a businessman from Kattankudy, was forced to leave the area. He tells the story: “In December 2006, Jihadi militants exhumed the body of their spiritual leader of Tharikathul Mufliheen, a traditional group, from his grave in a mosque. They damaged more than 117 houses in the area and threatened to gun down the devotees if they do not follow the teachings of their sect.” In this instance, Thawheed was opposed to the concept of shrines.
Return to Islam: But to which Islam?
He said, two years earlier, Jihadi militants together with Thawheed clerics had destroyed a library and a meditation centre at Deen Road, Kattankudy. Around 20 houses of the traditional followers were destroyed. “We do not believe in propagating Islam with a sword or a gun. This is against Islam and we have been a peaceful community of Muslims. We are now helpless in the wake of the Thawheed-backed Jihadi group,” he said. He charged that the group had burnt two of his houses in Kattankudy.
On July 31, this year, a Thawheed group allegedly abducted Moulavi Mohamed Rizvi who was on his way to the Oddamavadi Grand Mosque. He was taken blindfolded to an unknown location, beaten up and had his beard shaved. The cleric was questioned about remarks he had made a week earlier against the Thawheed group. The Islamic cleric was freed two days later. He did not show up at his mosque for Friday Jumma prayers and has now taken shelter outside the village. DIG (Eastern Province) Central, Edison Gunatillalke confirmed to the Sunday Times that members of the Thawheed group were interrogated but declined further comment. The inquiries were proceeding, he said.
Last Wednesday, Abdul Samad alias Kaju Samad, described by Police as a procurer of weapons for the Jihad group, was found dead in Eravur. Police said he had gunshot injuries. He had been “abducted and killed” by an “unidentified group”, they claimed. Residents in the locality declined to speak about the incident.
Fear of possible attacks on mosques where non-Thawheed devotees gather has led to tight security. We saw both Army and Police Special Task Force (STF) commandos stand guard outside the Badriya Jumma Mosque in Kattankudy. They were on duty to prevent any possible attacks from the Thawheed group. Large crowds had turned up for a flag hoisting ceremony in honour of Sheikh Kwajah Syed Mohinudeen, (a saint buried in Ajmeer in India). There are 42 mosques in Kattankudy.
“You cannot force religion down anyone’s throat,” the Moulavi of this mosque Mohamed Rauf told The Sunday Times. On November 7, 2006, Jihadi gunmen allegedly fired 35 rounds from an assault rifle to kill him but he escaped. He had been a strong critic of Thawheed. “Then, the Police did not accept what we said. They thought it was the LTTE,” he claimed.
Azmi Fowzul Ameen Rauf Moulavi Zahran
We spoke to 28-year-old Alim (full name withheld) who was one time recruiter for the Jihad group. He admitted he had trained young recruits to fire weapons. “This was done at the beach during nights. Some coconut trees in the location are scarred with bullet marks,” he told the Sunday Times. “I later realised I was doing something wrong and dissociated myself from all Thawheed activities,” he said.
“We are not at all responsible for any incidents. Our members who number around 2,000 practice true Islam. We strongly oppose those who resort to un-Islamic practices,” Moulavi M.C. Zahran, the Propaganda Secretary of the Thawheed group in Kattankudy told the Sunday Times. “There have been all forms of allegations against us. They say we got funds from West Asia. They say we have weapons and are a militant group. We strongly deny these allegations,” he said.
“We have a duty to correct the Muslims who are going on the wrong path. That is what we are doing,” claims M.P. Azmi, a Thawheed follower. He adds, “We have every right to criticise those who practicse Islam in a wrong manner. The recent unrest in Mahagoda, Beruwala, was the result of those Muslims not being able to take criticism and accept true ideology.”
Thawheed members are followers of the Wahabi school, named after Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahab (1703-1792), described as the first modern Islamic fundamentalist. Wahabism’s explosive growth began in 1970s when Saudi Arabian charities started funding Madrasas (religious schools) and mosques. We learnt that such Madrasas operated in Kattankudy. In one instance, A Wahabi preacher identified as Aliyar Riyadi conducted Quran recitation classes in a Madrasa in Kattankudy for youth in the area. Riyadi had spent considerable time in Saudi Arabia and had delivered sermons on the need to preach “true Islam.” He had been strongly critical of those who did not follow such practice. A resident of Kattankudy, he was forced to leave the area after he came under the close watch of security authorities.
Another who was due to spend time in Madrasas was Kovai Ayoob, a preacher from South India. As reported in the Sunday Times of August 2, the Controller of Immigration, P.B. Abeykoon urged the Police to arrest him for deportation. Immigration officials say Ayyoob had left Sri Lanka on August 3 after the news that he was wanted spread. However, before departure, he had used a mobile telephone from a secret location to speak to devotees of a Thawheed mosque in Kattankudy. His speech was aired over loud hailers. Ayoob said he was unable to visit the mosque since the Police were on the lookout for him.
The visits of preachers from South India as well as some West Asian countries lay bare details of a well-connected network to radicalise followers of Islam in Sri Lanka. They are being funded heavily. “What we are unravelling is only a thin tip of the iceberg. There is plenty more,” says a high-ranking security official who spoke on grounds of anonymity.
He said their “first task” was to unravel the entire network. “It is only thereafter that tougher action can follow,” he added. Already, some organisations in South India, which are directing most activity have been located, the source said.
Riyad S. Al Khenene, Counsellor of the Embassy of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia told The Sunday Times, “Any suggestions that our Government is helping in the activities is absolutely false and unfounded.”
He added, “Saudi Arabia is a friend of Sri Lanka. We have helped in the tsunami reconstruction. We have helped IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons now in camps in the Wanni) by donating two tons of food and other relief items. We do not differentiate people on the basis of community”
However, Mr. Al Khenene made an important revelation when he said, “we know that certain wealthy persons (meaning non-state actors) are helping various religious groups in Sri Lanka to put up mosques. But this has nothing to do with the Government of Saudi Arabia.”
The Police confirmed this further. “We have found that Muslim militants and their sect receive large donations of money from West Asian countries. They even give scholarships to Muslims to study religion in their countries,” I.G.W.R. Kandewatte, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Kattankudy) said.
With the Tiger guerrillas militarily defeated, security authorities in the east now want the one time Home Guards and others who inherited their weapons to surrender them. DIG Gunathilake spoke with Muslim groups on June 19 to appeal to them to formally announce the surrender call. This amnesty ended on July 2 (and later extended for two more days) but we learnt that most groups retained their weapons. Both the Army and STF commandos have now begun raids to seize illegal weapons.
A warning on what portends came from the sanguine remarks of Mohamed Fakhrudeen, a gram vendor. Speaking in Tamil, interspersing every sentence with the word “Doray” (equivalent to Sir), he said “they (Tiger guerrilla) took to weapons and see what happened. They wanted land. Here, they want to hold a gun and like repairing a clock, programme our brains. All are scared now.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090816/News/nws_23.html
BTF: Land Grab and Cultural Genocide of the Tamils‘ Homeland on Sri Lanka
Oakland Institute at UNHRC: Militarisation and Land Grab
Sri Lanka’s Bloody Easter Puts Spotlight on a New Terror Threat
Posted April 30th, 2019 .
Filed under Military, Religion.
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Reliable. Fast. Exclusive
OP.Ed / In-depth
★ President Farmajo between “Qaybo” and Reform
★ UN agency repatriates 64,761 Somalis refugees from Kenya
★ Somali pirates hijack Iranian fishing vessel – Somali official
★ THE GUNS OF OCTOBER: How The Invasion Of Somalia Changed Kenya
★ Review Rejoinder: Response to Kapteijns’ Revenge on The Suicidal State in Somalia
★ Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya)
★ Rule Of Law Out in Somalia: A Grand Finale for a Rogue Somali President assisted by Rogue Representatives of the International Community
★ Is the EU Dumping Nuclear Waste in Somalia
★ Arms embargo restricting Somalia’s security
★ Communique on the Electroral model for 2016
Todays Date
Turkey-Africa: Solidarity and Partnership
Nov 10, 2014 by Editor -
On August 19, 2011, under the shining sun of Africa, the plane carrying Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family and a large delegation composed of the different segments of Turkish State and society landed in Mogadishu.
This was one of the first international flights destined for Somalia after a very long interval. This flight turned the course of events in Somalia which had been in turmoil for so long with chronic instability and prolonged social strife creating, in turn, serious humanitarian crisis, coinciding with severe drought and famine.
That day, a new partnership was born out of the ashes of civil war and humanitarian disaster. From that time onwards, Turkish and Somali people have been striving intensively shoulder to shoulder to ease the effects of the persisting dire situation and to rebuild the country. The phoenix is now ready to sprout its wings: We are talking about the revival of social, economic and political life in Somalia. The work for a new and better future is in progress.
Turkey has already made a change and working for more change not only in Somalia, but in Africa.
“Africa belongs to Africans, we are not here for your gold” were the remarks of the then Prime Minister Erdoğan when he addressed the Parliament of Gabon in January 2013.
Turkey has never been in a colonial position or relationship with the Continent. On the contrary, African nations looked for help from Ottomans in their struggle against colonial oppressors. Furthermore, it is known that our War of Independence which we fought close to a century ago under the able leadership of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, has had a strong influence on the African peoples in their struggle for liberation and independence. Echoes of this past have been heard all along when the Turkish Navy was making port visits in 24 African nations.
Turkey has never been indifferent to the developments in Africa. History has brought Turkish and African peoples together, created an affinity among them and allowed them to establish strong ties. We have always been in solidarity with the African peoples in their righteous struggle for freedom from colonialism and national independence.
It is always a source of great joy for us to feel that the peoples of Africa have thought of Turkey as a close and friendly country.
Africa, with its centuries long distilled virtue and wisdom, its young and dynamic population and vast natural resources is, above all, a continent of opportunity for the countries and peoples of Africa.
With this fact in mind, Turkey sees Africa as the cradle of civilization and one of the epicenters of the future of humanity. Indeed, we rejoice at the political, democratic, economic social and cultural rejuvenation and process of transformation in so many African countries.
Turkey’s first diplomatic representation in sub-Saharan Africa goes back to the very beginning of 20th century, the first Turkish Consulate was established in 1912 in Harar, Ethiopia. Today, channels of interaction and communication are vastly expanded with around 39 Turkish Embassies across the Continent and Embassies of 32 African countries in Ankara. Yet, a large number of diplomatic representations is only one side of the coin. People to people contacts have also been gaining strength day by day. There are now thousands of people from Africa, studying, working and living in Turkey and vice versa.
Turkish Airlines has become one of the major international carriers of the Continent flying directly to nearly 40 destinations. There are ever growing Turkish investments, many being exemplary of their kind in a number of African countries that employ local labor force, use home-produced resources and export final products to third countries. Turkish private businesses will be investing over 100 million USD in the coming 2-3 years in Mogadishu alone. In the last decade, our total trade with the sub-Saharan African countries have increased tenfold in volume.
Since 2005, the year of Africa in Turkey in conjunction with Turkey’s Opening Policy towards Africa, there has been increased engagement with the African countries. Turkey has become an important partner for development, trade and investment in Africa.
Today, we undertake all that we can to support effectively the efforts of the African Union and African countries for lasting peace, genuine democracy, sustainable development and welfare for all.
In 2013, Turkey ranked the third in the world after the US and the UK in terms of total humanitarian assistance and the first in terms of the ratio of its development assistance vis-à-vis its GNP, becoming the host nation of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. Solidarity with African countries plays an important role in this achievement. We have accomplished almost all the goals we set out to realize following the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit of 2008.
Turkey’s opening policy towards Africa is now successfully completed. We embarked upon a new policy in 2013: Turkey-Africa Partnership which takes the motto of “African issues require African solutions” as the main principle. In the II. Africa-Turkey Partnership Summit to be held in Malabo on 19-21 November 2014, we will lay out the groundwork for the next four years. The theme of the Summit is “A New Model for Partnership for Strengthening of Sustainable Development and Integration of Africa”. We will agree on new milestones and objectives in our common quest for further cooperation in the interests of both sides. We will adopt two documents during the Summit: the Declaration and the Joint Implementation Plan for 2015-2018.
As part and parcel of this new Partnership Policy, we pursue a multilayered approach in Africa. We establish close political relations by intensifying bilateral high level visits and, by acting as the voice of Africa, to advocate the rights and the positions of African nations both at bilateral and multilateral fora. We partner with African nations in the economic sphere to overcome their challenges through more trade, investment and humanitarian assistance. Moreover, whenever requested, we stand ready to play our role through diplomacy to contribute to the peaceful settlement of conflicts and disputes. We do not consider ourselves as outsiders to the continent, rather a strategic partner working together to make further advances in the areas of democracy, good governance and prosperity.
Turkey will remain committed to fully supporting the African Union in achieving its goals on the priority areas which will further consolidate African ownership of African issues. That is why we feel that it is a privilege for Turkey to be a strategic partner of the rising Continent of Africa.
Our multifaceted activities and efforts throughout the Continent in the past decade are certainly a clear testimony to our continued determination to further develop our relations and build stronger ties with the African countries, the African Union and the African regional organizations.
Bahrain Specialised Hospital opened in Mogadishu
by Editor - Nov 8, 2014
U.S. expresses deep concern about political feud within Somalia’s leadership
by Editor - Nov 11, 2014
Exclusive: Sharmarke’s Dangerous S ...
Mogadishu, Somalia ( SOMALI AGENDA)- Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke has finalized the composition of the Technical Taskforce Team according to documents obtained by SOMALI AGENDA. The Technical Taskforce mandated by the National Leadership...
High-level Corruption in Somalia Facilit ...
Mogadishu, Somalia (SOMALI AGENDA)–On January 21st of this year, SOMALI AGENDA published an exclusive story on a South Korean fishing vessel the Poseidon that made an emergency stop in Mogadishu. The Poseidon carried 37...
Nick Kay joins chorus against cabinet
Mogadishu, Somalia (SOMALI AGENDA)–Opposition to Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke’s cabinet continues to gain momentum as key members of the Federal parliament threaten to reject the newly named cabinet. Shortly before the cabinet was...
Farah Shiekh Abdulqadir: A man on a Miss ...
EDITORIAL Since the publications of series of SMS messages between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his powerful Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Farah Sheikh Abdulqadir by SOMALI AGENDA, surrogates of Farah have frantically worked...
President Farmajo between “Qaybo” and Ref ...
by Editor - May 24, 2017
UN agency repatriates 64,761 Somalis refugees ...
Somali pirates hijack Iranian fishing vessel ...
THE GUNS OF OCTOBER: How The Invasion Of Soma ...
Tweets by @SomaliAgenda
UN agency repatriates 64,761 Somalis refugees from Kenya
Somali pirates hijack Iranian fishing vessel – Somali official
Militants Attack 14 villages in Southern Somalia
Suicide bomber kills five in Somalia’s northern Puntland region
President Farmajo between “Qaybo” and Reform
THE GUNS OF OCTOBER: How The Invasion Of Somalia Changed Kenya
Review Rejoinder: Response to Kapteijns’ Revenge on The Suicidal State in Somalia
Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya)
Milatariga Somaliya iyo Qaabka Loo Tabaro
Barnaamijka Muqdisho Iyo Maanta: Horumarka Deegaanka Garasbaarey
Gaadiidka Nadaafada Moqdisho
Muqdisho Iyo Maanta: Horumarka Degmada Yaaqshid
Copyright © 2014 Somali Agenda LLC. All rights reserved. The reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission or republication of any material from http://www.somaliagenda.com is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of SOMALIAGENDA. You may print out a copy of an article for your personal, noncommercial use.
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Tag Archives: independent detroit music
Marquise Porter releases new album ‘Not Them, Vol. 1’
The songwriter and producer of hip hop known as Marquise Porter has released his latest official album, “Not Them, Vol. 1.” The album contains eight original Marquise Porter tracks for an approximate total listening time of half an hour. It has been proudly published as an independent release without the involvement of the corporate music industry on the Boar Entertainment Group record label. Clever, innovative and packed with that old-school gangsta style, “Not Them, Vol. 1” showcases Marquise Porter as an aggressive and ambitious rapper with rhymes and lines for miles and miles.
Detroit, MI’s Marquise Porter cites as main artistic influences only the Notorious B.I.G., Raekwon, and E40. Porter’s own sound takes elements from each of these and adds something fresh and unique for a result which will appeal to fans of the ’90s gangsta sound and the updated, contemporary East Coast mode, alike. With an emphasis on pared-down beats, in-your-face lyrics and plenty of melodic hooks, “Not Them, Vol. 1” by Marquise Porter has a little something for every fan of hip hop.
Asked to describe the overall meaning of “Not Them, Vol. 1,” Marquise Porter writes, simply, “Unity, great times, hip hop, and the streets.”
Asked to describe his start in hip hop, Marquise Porter names his “brother/longtime friend Corey Peschi,” whom he first met in jr. high. His current official bio states that “Over the years the two discovered their mutual love and creativity for hip hop,” but also that Corey Peschi was not long for the world. Following his passing, Marquise Porter signed as an artist with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes (TLC) but she, also, passed away in 1998. Porter went on to write and perform as an independent artist alongside producer Saint Denson, with whom he would record popular tracks such as “In the City,” “Almost Lost Detroit,” and “313.”
Marquise Porter’s current representation, Boar Ent. Group, have stated that “Not Them, Vol. 1” is only the “first of a series Marquise and BOAR ENT. plan to release, and he is excited as well as happy to be a part of the BOAR family.”
“Not Them, Vol. 1” by Marquise Porter on the Boar Entertainment Group label is available from over 600 quality digital music stores online worldwide now. Get in early, hip hop fans.
www.MondoTunes.com
“Not Them, Vol. 1” by Marquise Porter –
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Them-Vol-1-Explicit/dp/B07Q599L3K/
Tagged boar, independent detroit music, marquise porter, new detroit hip hop, new hip hop, not them, vol. 1
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SHOWSETSHUB.COM
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Tags Austin
Tag: Austin
Black women political prisoners of the police state
Black women who have confronted the abuses of America’s white authority have suffered its punishment throughout our history. Anarchist Lucy Parsons, born in 1853, is one of the few Black women mentioned in labor histories – usually as the wife of the martyred Albert Parsons, who was executed in the wake of Chicago’s Haymarket Riot of 1886.
Wanda’s Picks for September 2012
With the storm approaching New Orleans, I spoke to Dwight Henry, co-star in the film, “Beasts of a Southern Wild,” currently in Bay Area theaters. I spoke to three men who are riding the storm out: Parnell Herbert, Angola 3 activist and playwright, Mwalimu Johnson, community organizer and prison abolitionist, and Malik Rahim, former Black Panther.
Wanda’s Picks for February 2012
This is the month we wear our Blackness with pride – so walk on, walk on. I want to thank Rhodessa Jones, Shaka Jamal, Pat Jamison, Elaine Lee, Walter Turner, Vera Nobles and Elouise Burrell for your leads and references for South Africa.
The new land grab in Africa
The issue at stake is not only one of increased food insecurity, but an attack on food sovereignty or peoples’ right to produce their own food. Land grab is a violent act to take away peoples’ right to food, access to their ancestral land, their social and historical ties, and their overall right for human dignity.
Hail to the new queen of Bay Area hip hop: an...
Oakland has never had a dominant rapper who’s a woman in its long rap history. Today, the Sobrante Park bred Silence the Violence activist and rapper Queen Deelah is the one who is turning heads from the Town all the way to Austin, Texas. Recently while I was in Austin, I ran into Deelah, the transplant who had taken over the sleepy Texas city in a matter of months.
Supreme Court upholds core provision of the Voting Rights Act
"In a decision announced this morning, the Supreme Court upheld the 1965 Voting Rights Act - a law that has done more to expand and strengthen our democracy than any other," said Donna Brazile, who learned first hand as Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, the first election stolen by George W. Bush, mostly by suppressing the Black vote. "It's good news - but the fight to protect voting rights doesn't end there. Attacks on this critical law will not stop. And voter suppression tactics will continue to plague our elections."
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Are you liable for misconduct by scientific collaborators? What a recent court decision could mean for scientists
Retraction Watch readers may have followed our coverage of the case of Christian Kreipke, a former Wayne State researcher who was recently barred from U.S. Federal funding for five years. That punishment followed years of allegations and court cases, along with half a dozen retractions. The case has been complicated, to say the least, and led to a 126-page decision by a judge last month. Here, Boston-based attorney Richard Goldstein, who represented the scientist in Bois v. HHS, the first case to overturn a funding ban by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI), tries to explain what it could all mean.
Can you commit research misconduct if you fail to detect false data from another scientist?
The answer is yes and here’s how it can happen.
You work in a well-regarded laboratory that receives government funding. You are frequently a principal investigator (PI) and a lead author. The lab suffered from some disorganization so when you took over, you demanded quality work and hired a new lab administrator.
Things are generally good but life in the laboratory is demanding. The size of the lab makes it impossible for you to validate every piece of data. So, you often have to trust that a colleague’s work is reliable and truthful, including from collaborators at other facilities. Funding, as always, is a problem, which means you can’t buy enough equipment and data security software; tracking who did what is difficult. Some lab employees (inherited from your predecessor) have professional or ‘personnel’ issues and you suspect some will leave the laboratory. And of course, there is growing pressure to publish, attend conferences, make new findings, and to keep the funding stream going. There is never enough time.
All of that probably sounds familiar, but here’s where our story takes turn for the worse.
One day, you are summoned to a meeting with the institution’s research integrity officer (RIO) and told some data in a paper are falsified and they began a misconduct investigation. You are shocked. You know the data but didn’t validate them personally before publication and you don’t know precisely who did the work.
One always worries about errors, but deliberate falsification and misconduct? You are angry but soon become uneasy as you wonder why you weren’t the first to hear about the problems with the data. Your shock and unease turn to dread when the RIO looks you square in the eye, hands you a sheaf of documents, and says you are being charged with misconduct, being placed on leave, and must immediately turn all over all of your files, data, and laptops.
As the weeks go by, you learn you are the only person in the lab under investigation. You maintain your innocence and no evidence ever emerges that you falsified the images or knew they were false. You have your suspicions as to who falsified the data, but the dean doesn’t seem interested. No one else is charged. It is starting to feel like you’re being railroaded.
After hiring a lawyer, you protest this “selective prosecution.” You also alert the administration to the waste of research funds and financial mismanagement. Your institution finds you – and only you – committed misconduct. You are terminated.
Years pass, lawsuits and hearings pile up. You win a victory when your employer is found to have retaliated against you — but the misconduct finding stands. The U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI), adopting the institution’s report, brings formal misconduct charges and bars you from receiving Federal funding for 10 years. How is this possible if you had no knowledge the data were false? You believe it is wrong and appeal, hoping a neutral judge will rectify this injustice.
The administrative law judge (ALJ) agrees to hold a hearing, the first such ALJ hearing in over a dozen years, and after months of waiting and more briefs and legal fees, he issues a 126-page decision.
Your debarment is upheld, although the judge reduces it to five years.
Not just a hypothetical
If you’ve been a regular reader of Retraction Watch, you will recognize this as the case of Christian Kreipke, a researcher formerly at Wayne State University in Detroit. Although the long-running Kreipke case has been discussed previously, the ALJ’s May 2018 decision has something important for everyone. I suspect that – for many years to come – it will be referred to by ALJs, by ORI, by university administrators, by RIOs, by investigation panels, by science journalists, and by lawyers.
However, there is something especially important in the decision for senior scientists, especially PIs and lead authors.
As a lawyer who represents scientists in misconduct cases, one of the most difficult issues is the responsibility of lead authors and PIs for work done under their supervision. Although the Kreipke decision is important for many reasons, this part of the decision could affect lab practices everywhere.
Perhaps the most significant fact in the case is that Kreipke did not falsify or fabricate any data. Nor did he know any data was false. The first time he learned of false or fabricated data was when he was told by the RIO after the commencement of the investigation. Kriepke’s problem was that he didn’t detect the falsification done by another scientist.
Nevertheless, the ALJ concluded, without much difficulty, Kreipke committed misconduct. Nor did it matter to the ALJ that Kreipke was the only one charged with misconduct.
What it means to be “reckless”
Followers of research misconduct cases will know that a scientist commits misconduct merely if he or she “recklessly” allowed the inclusion of false or fabricated data. But what does it mean to be “reckless?” The Kriepke decision is important because it puts some “meat on the bones” of this legal term. The ALJ said that including false or fabricated data without validating its accuracy is reckless if one “used materials without exercising proper care or caution and disregarded or was indifferent to the risk that the material were false, fabricated, or plagiarized.” It is not a defense if you assumed others performed research reliably and truthfully reported those results to you. As far as the ALJ was concerned, Dr. Kreipke didn’t do enough to validate the data.
After Kreipke, can one rely on the work of others? One of the witnesses said “[We’ve] known each other for 25 or 30 years. And because of that association, I would have accepted what came out of that laboratory without question unless I saw something.” Even though this kind of trust was a common practice, the ALJ decided it was not a defense because it may result in false or fabricated data. A PI or corresponding author cannot just accept “on faith” the data were correctly labeled and were accurate representations, even if it was coming from a longstanding collaborator or a trusted scientist in one’s own lab.
The ALJ said that an author, editor, other contributor is not presumptively liable for false material just because their name is on a grant application or article. However, if one is a PI or first author, that person is presumably responsible for the content of the work.
Higher validation standards?
What does it mean? More importantly, what do PIs and lead authors now have to do to protect themselves from allegations of misconduct? Can any data be trusted or does the PI or lead author have to verify everything personally?
Some would say the Kreipke decision sets an unreasonably high standard for validating research on a collaborative project and upsets long established norms. Others might say the ALJ got it right and Kreipke, as a lead author and PI, had a personal responsibility to police the work of others and to ensure it was accurate and verifiable.
What is now clear is that senior researchers, lab supervisors, PIs, and lead authors can no longer accept the work of collaborators at other labs or, for that matter, the work of scientists in their own lab, without insisting on (or conducting) some level of validation. More importantly, even if there has not been a hint anyone’s work is suspect, the senior scientist, PI, or lead author must demand the work be validated. In a misconduct case, the lab’s procedures for verifying data will now come under close scrutiny. The Kreipke case establishes that a PI, lead author, or lab head who fails to validate data or employ adequate validation procedures may be personally liable for misconduct, even if the scientist had no knowledge of falsification or fabrication.
Accuracy in reported research is a core value. Scientists entrusted with government funds should take all necessary steps to ensure research issued under their name is correct. The possibility of a research misconduct finding creates a powerful incentive for scientists in a supervisory capacity to demand valid and accurate data. The Kreipke case shows that a scientist is at risk for a research misconduct allegation if he or she does not validate data, even if it comes from a long time collaborator or a trusted colleague.
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Posted on August 13, 2018 August 13, 2018 Author Richard GoldsteinCategories ori investigations
26 thoughts on “Are you liable for misconduct by scientific collaborators? What a recent court decision could mean for scientists”
Paul Brookes says:
I’m not keen on Goldstein’s narrative at the start. Specifically this bit…
You work in a well-regarded laboratory that receives government funding. You are frequently a principal investigator (PI) and a lead author. The lab suffered from some disorganization so when you took over…
Either you’re the PI of the lab, or you’re not. You can’t “frequently be a PI”, there’s no such thing in academia! There’s senior authorship, if that’s what Goldstein is getting at, but that’s not the same as being a PI (the PI).
Is Kreipke claiming that he inherited all the bad stuff from his predecessor when he “took over” the lab? Again, this is not really how things work in academia – labs don’t just get given to someone with all the (salaried) people included when a senior scientist leaves. If Kreipke was really put in charge, then surely he would have had the ability to make hiring/firing decisions, and keep only those people he trusted? Instead, he chose to keep them and (it seems) put his own name as PI and senior author on their data when he published it.
Then there’s the glaring issue of authorships – many of the papers retracted by Kreipke are with him as first author, not senior (last) author, and not as PI. Generally in academia, the first author is the person who generates the data. This does not fit with the notion of coming into a lab and taking over as PI.
Missing from the narrative is how the old PI came to leave, the succession of power from the old PI to Kreipke, and who the “read bad actors” were. The main PI associated with Kreipke appears to be Jose Rafols, but he’s disappeared from Wayne State’s website.
Perhaps someone from there can chime in on how Rafols came to leave? It seems from Goldstein’s narrative that Kreipke is trying to blame his predecssor for all this, but maybe he can’t say it directly because that might open up defamation liability.
Once again, lawyers get involved and everything gets confusing!
Sylvain Bernes says:
Exactly! Best Comment of the Year!
Dr. Jondoe says:
Sometimes that is how things work. It’s certainly not the most common scenario, but I’ve seen it happen multiple times. And unfortunately, hiring/firing decisions aren’t always that straightforward.
What you think is “generally” true in academia isn’t entirely accurate. Consensus about authorship order and responsibility varies widely by discipline (and sometimes by location), and there is limited formal guidance on the topic generally. ICMJE to my knowledge gives no specific guidance on author order beyond defining the responsibilities of corresponding author, for example.
It’s so easy and tempting to apply our own experiences to situations to justify our own proclamations of what “should” be the ideal case, but we should avoid doing so. Even your PI comment isn’t accurate — yes, in many cases the lab’s PI is the PI for any given project being done in that lab, but again, this is not always the case. I can pull any number of IACUC or IRB filings at my institution where the named PI is not the same name on the lab door.
I will also point out that one cannot simultaneously advocate for severe, career-ending consequences for misconduct and bemoan the increased role of attorneys in these processes. The latter is to a significant degree a consequence of the former.
Fernando Pessoa says:
“Sometimes that is how things work. It’s certainly not the most common scenario, but I’ve seen it happen multiple times.”
Could you give some examples? It sounds like you must be near the top of the management tree to have “seen it multiple time”.
Boboramus says:
Of course you can “frequently be a PI”. Whether or not you are the PI depends on a study-by-study basis… It doesn’t depend on “do you run a lab or not”.
Because most of my research is collaborative, I am usually not the PI on most of the research that I do. But I am frequently a PI.
Adede says:
You are mixing up “PI” and “senior author”.
Not-a-PI-but-I-play-one-on-TV says:
No, Boboramus is not. The principle investigator is head of a grant (the “study-by-study basis”). The PI may or may not be the lead author on any papers produced through the research funded by the grant. They may or may not be the senior author on papers produced through research funded by the grant. They may or may not have their own lab – there are a number of post-doc PIs out there, because to be a PI you again just have to be the head person in charge of a grant.
Richard Goldstein says:
Mr. Brookes: The source of my knowledge of the case comes from the ALJ’s 126 decision, which I had to summarize given space limitations. I urge people to read it but, unfortunately, despite it’s length, there are some ‘facts’ it doesn’t discuss in much detail, such as the state of lab when Dr. Kreipke took over. My posting also had to gloss over there was a lot of conflict between lab members, including that one scientist got a ‘protective order.’ In any case, I am not defending or exonerating anyone; my objective was to point out that ‘senior scientists’ (be they PIs, lead authors, or whatever) are at risk if they don’t validate the work of others. Judging from comments, that is a sentiment many seem to share.
Joshua Feder MD says:
I would like to see some articles on how to do such validation.
DisgruntledFormerGradStudent says:
Implement practices from industry:
1. Institute and document training programs for any protocols that are standard throughout your lab.
2. Institute a calibration and preventive maintenance program for all equipment from the basics (e.g. pipettes, scales) to the complex (e.g. dynamic material analyzers, flow cytometers).
3. Review and sign lab notebooks.
4. Look at raw data with your trainees and ensure the appropriate statistical analysis was done.
5. Set foot in the lab on more than one day per year.
6. Consider setting up an audit system. Industry labs and manufacturing facilities are audited on a regular basis – at least annually if not more. No reason we can’t audit research labs other than no one wanting to foot the bill.
The number of times that I witnessed poor lab practices in grad school at a research university left me rather jaded. It’s difficult for me to trust findings from a good number of academic labs because of this. Grad students training other grad students is like the blind leading the blind. Unfortunately, due to the nature of scientific academia, this can mean that the errors of grad students are passed down and even PIs don’t know how to properly conduct their research.
oldnuke says:
So from which lab did the bad data originate? What is to prevent yet another PI from trusting data from this same source and falling victim?
Klavs Hansen says:
‘What is now clear is that senior researchers, lab supervisors, PIs, and lead authors can no longer accept the work of collaborators at other labs or, for that matter, the work of scientists in their own lab, without insisting on (or conducting) some level of validation.’
Excuse me, isn’t this what everybody does when coauthoring a paper? Or are we talking about ‘Do this and put my name on the paper. Add X and Y because they need papers and Z because I owe one’?
Guillaume Goyette-Desjardins says:
I too would like to read more articles on how to validate data, or are the very least what would be the core principles to ensure that this story does not repeats itself with other innocents.
“After hiring a lawyer, you protest this “selective prosecution.” You also alert the administration to the waste of research funds and financial mismanagement. ”
I take that to mean that Kreipke alerted the administration to the waste of research funds and financial mismanagement after he hired a lawyer and after the misconduct investigation started.
Could attorney Richard Goldstein clarify that point?
If Kreipke alerted the administration to waste and mismanagement after the misconduct investigation started it sounds like clumsy virtue signalling and distraction, verging on retaliation.
Mr. Pessoa: The facts of the Kreipke are detailed and had to be condensed for the posting. If you read prior posts on the case, you will see had a dual appointment (at the VA and at WSU) and the retaliation occurred at the VA, not at WSU, which is where he was found to have committed misconduct. The selective prosecution issue is different from retaliation and, as the ALJ noted, troubling. Ultimately, neither concerns about selective prosecution nor proof of retaliation prevented the ALJ from affirming the ORI debarment. I’d be happy to discuss this in greater detail if you wish.
Disgruntled is absolutely right. In industry, auditing is done both by internal auditing groups and by regulatory agencies as well. And in addition to the auditing, lab notebooks & other data sources have 2nd person sign-off. There is a very high level of accountability.
When outside labs are used (i.e., outside the company), it’s common practice to audit them as well.
Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) are common & often required in industry. This includes validating that all instruments are functioning as required. While fraud can still happen in industry, with all of these checks in place, it’s very hard to do so (particularly at large companies that have these many controls in-place).
Our lab in grad school had nothing like this. (virtually no checks & balances).
It’s ironic that the public trusts academic labs more so than industry labs.
John H Noble Jr says:
The problem might go away if the latest IT capabilities were to be employed to keep everybody honest from the get-go. Block chain smart contracts might do the job. See: Nugent T, Upton D, Cimpoesu M. Improving data transparency in clinical trials using blockchain smart contracts [version 1; referees: 3 approved]. F1000 Research 2016; 5:2541 (doi: 10.12688f1000research 9756.1). https://f1000research.com/articles/5-2541/v1.
All of the traditional approaches that depend on assumptions about the trustworthiness of people haven’t worked, so why not take a chance on trying something new? Moral hazard puts everybody at risk of dishonesty. It is part and parcel of the human condition. Rationality argues for a change in behavior. To resist is insane by one definition of “insanity”: “Repeatedly doing the same thing expecting different results.”
@DTX
I have worked in industry and in collaboration with academia, and I’m afraid all the checks and balances you discuss are thrown out of the window when data “analysis” occurs. This includes clinical trial data whereby professors/ Medical PIs, Grant PIs and an “external” auditor checks, and even including the final report sent to the MHRA. As a 30+ years researcher I don’t believe 99% of published research (this is the medical field, UK) preclinical and clinical, and I have done both.
I think maybe the dude could pull off “I dunno where this data came from I just published it” for *one* paper. I might have some sympathy for that; miscommunication is a possibility.
This is like… 6 papers? 7? If your entire career is built on data you can’t even source and try to disavow when it turns out to be fraudulent… come on. This article doesn’t even pass the most basic sniff tests for plausibility. I think that if every paper I’d published turned out to be full of data I couldn’t explain, people might rightly conclude that I’d committed career-long fraud.
rfg says:
I’d go farther.
Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe that if you put your name on a paper as an author that you are responsible for the entire paper, even if you are buried in the middle.
Yes, the first authors, senior authors and – i would argue seasoned authors – have prime responsibility for inspecting the data and assuring that it is valid.
That’s why arguments such as – those weren’t “my” papers (even though I was an author) that were retracted – did not ring true to me.
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/03/05/probe-into-carlo-croce-reached-defensible-and-reasonable-decisions-says-external-review/
If you are an author, you are responsible. Espicially if data in the paper is questioned (through legitimate channels), it’s your responsibility to ensure that the data is correct or that it is corrected. If the data was falsified or fabricated or seriously in error it’s your responsibility to see that the scientific literature is corrected. Doesn’t matter where you are on the author list.
Come on, people! Much of this discussion is entirely irrelevant. Misconduct is unrelated to position–PI, first author, last author, corresponding author, etc. In research misconduct, as with other misdeeds, the person(s) who did it, did it. There may be other people who were unwitting participants at one level or another and these or others may have some accountability. That doesn’t mean, however, they did the deed.
If a bank teller embezzles funds from the bank, did the branch manager do it? No, the teller did. Maybe the manager didn’t have effective oversight or compliance checks in place, but the TELLER did the crime, not the manager. And maybe the manager will face some sanctions for lax oversight. But that does not mean the manager did the embezzling.
It appears crystal clear that the issue in this case/decision is the fact that ORI’s “scientist-investigator” was not qualified (in the legal sense, not the common usage) by the attorney. Kreipke uses this in his statement indicating that the judge said he was unqualified. Again, that’s a legal determination; in common terms, I’d be willing to bet that the “scientist-investigator” in very formidable and unexcelled in his qualifications!
The outcome of this trial is exactly and entirely because the judge excluded ORI’s investigative results. As stated previously, it’s difficult to imagine the leap of faith required to discount essentially everything a person says, but then accept that their misuse of data is accidental.
It seems to me that this case has the potential to rewrite the whole story of research misconduct, moving it into the realm of quantum-like phenomena: no more local reality.
Alex Runko was one of the good ones. The failure to adequately establish his qualifications and credentials for the purposes of this case falls wholly on ORI. He no longer works there, but he was excellent at his job and was very highly regarded by the RIO community.
“Come on, people! Much of this discussion is entirely irrelevant.”
It should be obvious to readers of RW that scientists – more than bankers – have not only a duty, but an obligation, to self-correct.
IOWS we’re all responsible to self-police data integrity. Ask any grad student who has taken a [good] research ethics course.
It’s explicitly why whistleblower “gas-lighting” laws were created.
What ORI has done – correctly IMO – is to validate this basic tenant at least as it applies to first and senior authors. It should apply to all authors and science would be better off if it did.
Frank Galvin says:
I believe you entirely missed his/her point.
What does this finding do to cross-discipline collaborations? The whole point of undertaking such a collaboration is that I don’t have the skill or capacity to test this, but I know someone who does. As I am not an expert, I can’t fully verify the data. Maybe I can notice a badly Photoshopped figure, but beyond that I have to trust that my fellow researcher is properly representing the data.
Excellent observation. It has been my experience a scientist on a project is often required to rely on the expertise of another. In my practice, many cases involve a ‘false’ image. Once the problem is identified, the other scientists on the project are often in the position of trying to explain whey they didn’t catch it. As a lawyer, I can only say that there is no one rule that will apply in all cases; each situation is different. However, the Kreipke case makes it clear that a scientist must exercise ‘due care’ for the accuracy of work contributed by others. In practical terms, this means that, as a general rule, one must implement procedures and safeguards designed to guard against errors and fraud. What procedures and safeguards are adequate will differ in each situation.
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VARIOUS: Asia-Pacific steps up surveillance measures as more suspect swine flu cases emerge
Title: VARIOUS: Asia-Pacific steps up surveillance measures as more suspect swine flu cases emerge
Date: 30th April 2009
Summary: DENPASAR, BALI, INDONESIA (APRIL 27, 2009) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE OF DENPASAR AIRPORT IN BALI SIGN OF DENPASAR AIRPORT PASSENGERS QUEUING AT IMMIGRATION CHECKPOINT VARIOUS OF PASSENGER IN QUEUE WEARING A PROTECTIVE MASK (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIDENTIFIED PASSENGER SAYING: "I think it is a good idea, I think they've done it very quickly, we've only just heard about this flu and and they've already done it here." VARIOUS OF AIRPORT OFFICER SETTING THERMO-SCAN CAMERA THERMO-SCAN CAMERA OFFICER CHECKING THERMAL SCANNER ON SCREEN THERMO SCANNER ON SCREEN
Reuters ID: LVA3GOKOY9AV2C9LLLJ6XHCVGP5Z
Topics: Health
Story Text: Countries across the Asia-Pacific region stepped up preparations to prevent swine flu from entering as health officials put more suspect cases under surveillance on Tuesday (April 28).
South Korea was conducting clinical tests on a person who has the symptoms of swine flu.
"On April 28, three people were reported as suspected patients of the swine influenza infection and two have tested negative. Precision testing is being conducted on one of the people," said Jun Byung-yool, head of Infectious Disease Response of the South Korean Centre for Disease Control at the Health Ministry.
The 51-year-old woman was in southern Mexico until April 25 and returned to South Korea with a stop-over in Los Angeles, Jun said.
Her condition did not appear to be life-threatening and South Korea would have more results from testing as early as Wednesday (April 29), he added.
"Suspected cases are being reported continuously. Those will be tested first by related health organizations according to guidelines prepared by the Centre for Disease Control," said Jun.
The World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert for the swine flu virus to phase 4, indicating a significantly increased risk of a pandemic, a global outbreak of a serious disease.
The last such outbreak, a "Hong Kong" flu pandemic in 1968, killed about one million people.
In China, surveillance at airports have been stepped up and in Australia, the Health Minister said it was a matter of time before cases appeared.
"We have got tests at the moment going on for under twenty people across Australia. It is a small number but the introduction you made about the World Health Organisation now stepping up their alert does make it increasingly likely but not inevitable that we will have some case presenting here in the future," said Nicola Roxon, Australia's Health Minister.
The World Health Organisation has warned that the new flu virus, a mixture of swine, human and avian flu viruses that has killed up to 149 people in Mexico, could start a global epidemic.
"I think it is very difficult given the amount of travel that now is in the world and what seems to be a disease which is virulent and able to spread human to human that we will have no cases in the future, But we need to do is to take every step we can to ensure that we limit the number if possible it would be great if there were no cases but I think that is a fairly difficult thing to predict," she said.
In Indonesia, where avian influenza has killed more than 100 people in recent years, thermo-scan cameras were being put up at airports to monitor people coming into the country.
"I think it is a good idea, I think they've done it very quickly, we've only just heard about this flu and and they've already done it here," said one unidentified tourist at the airport in Bali.
The swine flu is not caught from eating pig meat products, but several countries imposed import bans on pork from the United States. Stocks in companies such as airlines were also hit as investors worried about the impact on travel.
Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year. The new strain is worrying as it spreads rapidly between humans and there is no vaccine for it.
Embargoed:15th May 2009 13:00
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Florida Historical Quarterly, Episode 16: Vol. 91, No. 3, Winter 2013
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Episode 16: Vol. 91, No. 3, Winter 2013
Florida Historical Quarterly, Ep. 16
St. Augustine (Fla.)
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For this episode, FHQ Assistant Editor Dr. Daniel S. Murphree interviewed Dr. Paul Hoffman, Paul W. and Nancy W. Murrill Professor of History at Louisiana State University. Professor Hoffman is the guest editor for this special issue, the first of a series of issues that re-examines the five hundred years of Florida history since the landing of Ponce de Leon in 1513. He is also the author of "The Historiography of Sixteenth-Century La Florida," which appeared in this issue of The Florida Historical Quarterly. This issue addresses Florida during the 16th century, and four more issues will be published over the next four years to re-examine subsequent centuries in Florida history.
Murphree, Daniel S.
Original 29-minute and 2-second audio podcast by Daniel S. Murphree, 2013: The Florida Historical Quarterly, Florida Historical Society, Cocoa, Florida.
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Hoffman, Paul
Florida Historical Society
University of Central Florida, Department of History
The Florida Historical Quarterly, Florida Historical Society, Cocoa, Florida.
Florida Historical Quarterly Podcast Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
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29-minute and 2-second audio podcast
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Originally created by Daniel S. Murphree and published by the The Florida Historical Quarterly.
Copyright to this resource is held by the Florida Historical Society and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.
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Burke, Mike
Cepero, Laura
RICHES MI
Hoffman, Paul E. "The Historiography of Sixteenth-Century La Florida." The Florida Historical Quarterly. 91, no. 3 (Winter 2013): 308-348.
"The Historical Archaeology of Sixteenth-Century La Florida." The Florida Historical Quarterly. 91, no. 3 (Winter 2013): 349-374.
"Entangled Borderlands: Europeans and Timucuans in Sixteenth-Century Florida." The Florida Historical Quarterly. 91, no. 3 (Winter 2013): 375-400.
"Sixteenth-Century Florida in the European Imagination." The Florida Historical Quarterly. 91, no. 3 (Winter 2013): 401-418.
Florida Historical Quarterly Podcasts Collection
American Indians; Amerindians; archaeology; borderlands; cartography; citrus; colonialism; colonies; colonization; colony; Columbian Exchange; conquerors; conquistadors; Daniel S. Murphree; diseases; domestication; epidemic parotitis; Europeans; expeditions; explorers; feral hogs; FHQ; Florida Historical Quarterly; flu; Hernando de Soto; indigenous; influenza; Jacksonville; Jean Ribault; John McGrath; Jonathan DeCoster; Juan Pardo; Juan Ponce de León; Kathleen A. Deagan; La Florida; legends; measles; mumps; myths; Native Americans; oranges; Paul Hoffman; peach; peaches; Pedro Menéndez de Avilés; pigs; pox; red plague; resource exploration; River of the Holy Spirit; Santa Elena; smallpox; Spaniards; Spanish; Spanish Florida; St. Augustine; Timucua; Timucuan; Tristán de Luna y Arellano; Variola vera
Murphree, Daniel S.. “Florida Historical Quarterly, Episode 16: Vol. 91, No. 3, Winter 2013.” RICHES of Central Florida accessed July 16, 2019, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/7496.
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Home > Fiction Stories >
Surviving My Life
"Surviving My Life"
“Get back in there until next time,” Jacob’s father said as he gently pushed his son into a small room that had a mattress on the floor and no windows. Jacob did his best to suppress his tears as he once more glanced at his surroundings. He looked hopefully into his father’s brown eyes, but all his father did was smile and shut the door which was then followed by several “clinks” and “clanks” as the door was locked and bolted. Jacob shivered as the vivid picture of his father’s smile haunted his mind. He did what he could to shake the feeling away, but he felt so filthy. He desperately desired to take a shower and rip his clothes off, but he was only allowed to bathe once every three days and clean clothes were brought to him in the mornings. Another set of images rushed through his mind and soon he couldn’t help himself and he broke down into a bucketful of tears.
Jacob collapsed on his bedraggled looking mattress and crawled up into a ball weeping without relent. His father had been…playing with him, as was put to Jacob, for about five months now. At first everything seemed really gentle and delicate to Jacob, even though something about it felt wrong, but his father treated him relatively well. However, in two months things changed and his father became crueler and shortly after that his mother got involved as well. Jacob wanted them to stop, but they refused and if he screamed they punished him severely. He had received at least two black eyes from his parents and countless bruises all over his body. He pleaded and pleaded with them to stop, but they wouldn’t. They kept him locked up whenever they weren’t having their way with him and he remained there until they wanted to play with him again.
Now, Jacob had completely given up resisting or fighting his parents and only wanted to make it through their “playtime.” He even stopped crying, at least until he was able to retreat back to his room where he let it all out. Cooperating with his parents gave him some perks; his parents allowed him to keep a few stacks of books and comic books in the room. By now he had read most of them, and would often try to get more but to do that he would have feign enjoyment with his parents during “playtime” in order to get what he wanted. He hated it, but he figured he had to survive somehow. The most recent book that his parents gave him was The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. It was a very old book that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him, but he read it anyways. He tried to use his imagination to make it more interesting. Also in his stacks were Superman and Batman comic books and other superhero types. He also had a lot of books on history and science which interested him a lot. He personally considered himself a very intelligent ten year old.
Jacob had a very strange upbringing. His parents married when they were very young, and at one point he had an older sister, but she died when he was five years old. He had also had a younger brother, but he died too when he was eight. He was sad when all of his siblings died, but he never understood or knew why they even died. His parents had forbidden him to ever speak of them. He had gone to school up until his parents took him out and not too soon after his father began “playtime” with him. Jacob missed his friends, missed playing with them, and missed school but he couldn’t persuade his parents to let him go back. He had given up on trying to attain that and instead now focused on surviving. This however was difficult at best most of the times.
He was fed once a day and that was usually a dry sandwich and stale chips with a small glass of water, although sometimes they included a real treat and gave him a shiny red apple. His father told him that they wanted to keep him nice and thin because that made him perfect for “playtime,” and if he became fat then they’d have to stop playing and Jacob would have to disappear. In order to survive, Jacob did what he had to without complaining as he knew that his parents would kill him if he became too fat. Sometimes to prevent this from happening he wouldn’t even eat the food provided so that he could be absolutely certain that he’d never get fat. Another thing that made surviving difficult was what he had for a toilet in the room. It was big, orange, five gallon bucket. His parents wouldn’t empty it for days at times and the stench would become so rancid that he would vomit on occasion. This would make the stench worse of course and Jacob would then just dry heave.
Drying the tears from his eyes, Jacob went over to the stack of books and pulled out a large book that was titled Nature and its Order. He began to flip through the vividly colored pages of trees, animals, and flowers. He then came across a picture of the sun and stared longingly at it. It had been at least five months since Jacob last saw the sun and felt the warmth on his face. He recalled now faint memories of him playing soccer on the soft green grass with the wind gently blowing through his hair. He missed it very much and yearned to experience it again, but how was he going to? No one had apparently missed him since his departure from school, not even his so called friends had even cared to see what had happened to him. No one but his parents knew that he was essentially even alive; no one cared. He had been abandoned by every living being and would therefore have to fend for himself.
Hours passed by as Jacob read the science book and then he eventually fell asleep. He suddenly awoke though to the “clanging” sounds of the door being unlocked. He set the book aside as his body began to shake. Beads of perspiration began to drip from his head as he anxiously awaited for the door to be opened. After all of lock had been undone, the door creaked opened and Jacob closed his eyes. Moments passed and nothing happened, and it became eerily quiet. Jacob slowly opened his eyes and to his surprise standing in front of him were two large and rusty robots. Jacob felt his breathing stop and his heart plummet into his stomach. The two metallic beings gazed at him with their bright green eyes. Both of them clamped their four hands with a crushing sound and then something like the sound of static radio being tuned began to whistle from their mouths. Eventually the static ended and their voices became clear.
“You must come with us, The Prince and Princess are expecting your company.” The robots declared. Jacob nodded his head and began to walk out of the room. He hadn’t gotten far beyond the threshold that he gasped in astonishment. Instead of the house that he was use to seeing, instead he saw a vast and barren landscape. It was cluttered with piles of junk (old cars, tanks, jets, and nuclear submarines) and yet there were patches of green gardens with trees covered in shiny red apples. In some regards it was an amazing sight, and in some others it was rather terrifying. The sky had a reddish hue and the sun was orange. The breeze was hot and the air smelled of burnt metal.
“Get moving,” the other robot said. Jacob moved just as one of the metal hands tried to slap his face.
“Where are we going?” Jacob asked uneasily. The robots both pointed beyond their near surroundings to and island that was shaped like a boot. Jacob gazed at it clearly perplexed as he knew that it wasn’t Italy but it appeared exactly like it. He began to wonder where he was and what was going on. “Where am I and who are you?”
“We were not programmed to answer questions but merely to take you to The Prince and The Princess; you will come with us, or we will begin cleansing procedures.” The robot finished saying as an electric saw replace one of the arms and whirled to life. Jacob gulped and nodded his head. The robot paused for a moment and then the saw was retracted. Jacob sighed and began following the two robots down the street. He glanced to his left and saw a rabbit dressed in combat camos armed with two heavy machine guns trying to kill a cat that was running away from it. It was the strangest sight and neither of the robots even flinched. Jacob shook his head and then glanced to his right and saw a large rat strangling a snake. He shivered as the rat choked the last of the breath out of the snake and then began leaping around for joy. He then heard chirping above him and looked up to see a giant sparrow attacking a hawk. Where am I, Jacob asked himself silently.
The road that he and the two robots were traveling on was cracked and broken. All three of them hadn’t gone too much farther when suddenly leaping up from behind a pile of junk was a man covered in guns, knives, bullets and army regalia.
“Die you soulless slaves!” The man screamed as he began to fill each of the robots with bullets from the two machine guns he was holding. The robots were caught off guard and were unable to use their guns due their heads being riddled with bullets. Jacob suddenly became aware that the man shooting the robots looked a lot like Bloodsport from one of his “Superman” comic books. There were some major differences, but for the most part he looked like the villain that attacked one of the greatest comic book heroes of all time. Once there was nothing left of the robots but scrapped metal smoking away, the man stopped. He slung his weapons over his shoulders and pulled out a cigar. He took a shiny lighter and began to smoke. He noticed Jacob’s gaze.
“How’d a kid like you end up with a bunch of smoking scrappies like them?” The man asked gruffly, but Jacob didn’t immediately answer; he was far too stunned. “They cut out your tongue or something kid, or are you just shy? You won’t survive in these parts being shy I’ll tell you that much. In order to live, you have to fight, kill, maim, and drink lots of vodka otherwise you’ll just crawl up under a bed and weep until you haven’t any eyes left.”
“Where am I?” Jacob managed to stammer out. The man looked at him incredulously.
“Poor devil, they wiped your memory clean too, what a shame.” The man said. He puffed a large cloud of smoke before answering Jacob. “In short, kid, this place reminds everyone so much of hell that is what we called it. Welcome to the land of Hell.” The man said as he spread his arms out and went in a circle displaying the barren landscape. “Here the weak must be strong to survive, and the strong perish or become even stronger unless the weak rise up and keep them in check. Take that lamb over there.” The man said as he pointed behind Jacob who turned around to see a lone lamb that wasn’t white but covered in brownish stains. It was an unusually large lamb too. The creature was pulling a man that was tied up with ropes and chains trying to break free.
“That lamb over there is leading that man over there to that chopping block, because you see, kid, if that lamb doesn’t do it to that man, that man will do it to him and that lamb desperately wants to live.” The armed man said finishing with a small chuckle. “Kind of ironic isn’t it?”
“It’s kind of weird. Where I come from sheep don’t do things like that.” Jacob mentioned.
“Well they do that all of the time around here.” The man said. He then threw his cigar into a metal bucket filled with some kind of liquid which then ignited into a brief firestorm before dying out. “If you plan on sticking around here, you’ll need to get a lot of weapons and learn how to aim to kill first. Asking questions to potential enemies will get you killed, so remember to never ask questions; that’s a stalling tactic that they’ll use to distract and then kill you.”
“Who are you?” Jacob asked the big burly man.
“I have a lot of different names, but the one that I prefer being called is Teacher; because I teach those damn machines lessons every time they try to kill me, or some other poor soul. What’s your name kid?”
“I’m Jacob,” Jacob answered nervously as he looked from the ground and then back up at Teacher, trying not to have continuous eye contact.
“Kid, you’re going to have to have a better name if you expect to come even close to surviving out here. We’ll have to work on that, but for now I’ll call ya J; Jacob is really wussy. Who gave you that name?” Teacher asked as he motioned for Jacob to follow him.
“Um…my parents called me that,” Jacob answered as he crawled over a small pile of junk being careful to avoid all of the fires.
“That figures; they must not have cared that much for you.” Teacher answered with a slight snarl.
“Why do you say that?” Jacob asked curiously. The thought never occurred to him before that his parents didn’t care for him. Teacher stopped and glared at Jacob for a few moments and then motioned to the landscape around.
“Look where you are, J; this is a barren wasteland, you are in Hell right now. If your parents really cared about you, you’d have never ended up here.” Teacher said and then continued moving on ahead; Jacob quickly followed him. “This is the place where people and things go when they are no longer cared about by anyone; so congratulations, no one loves or cares about you.”
Jacob found that statement to be a little harsh, but was Teacher right, did anybody care for or about him? He supposed that his parents didn’t care about him and…well now that he thought about it there wasn’t anyone else that he’d really met in his entire life. From what his parents had said, they refused to have contact with any of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, or even cousins. His family and him live an isolated life, and he hadn’t a clue why. Jacob soon became filled with hungry curiosity as to why his parents did all of the things that they did to him.
“So is that why you’re here, Teacher, because nobody cares for you?” Jacob asked curiously as his fear of the man began to wash away, but he quickly changed his mind as Teacher abruptly stopped and turned glaring fiercely at Jacob.
“It’s none of your business why I’m here.” Teacher growled. Jacob looked on in fear as Teacher continued to glare. After a few moment’s the gruff man loosened his expression and turned away to keep walking on. “You see, J, that’s your problem right there; people see the fear in your eyes before you even know that you are afraid yourself. People that love and hate you will use that to their advantage to get whatever they want from you, and after they have that then they’ll toss you aside.”
“But…why would someone who loves you do such a horrible thing?” Jacob inquired curiously as he hurried after Teacher who sighed.
“J, you have a lot to learn before we’re done here.” Teacher began saying. “Why do people love you?” He asked Jacob who shook his head. “Don’t know, well neither do most people. People like your parents, friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even pets love you because they get something out of it; your attention, gratitude, praise, indebted sense of servitude, and whatever other god damned things you can think of. People only love you so that they can take what they want without putting anything back in.”
“That’s not true; not everyone is like that.” Jacob emphatically stated. “God and Jesus aren’t like that, both of them are kind, generous, and all forgiving.” Teacher looked back at Jacob and grinned.
“Kid, God is about the most jealous son of a bitch in the universe; he killed people merely for touching the wrong instrument, and wiped out countless peoples just because he didn’t like how they were behaving. And as for selfless,” Teacher chuckled loudly. “What do you do when you sin? You get on your hands and knees and beg God for forgiveness and promise Him that you’ll never do it again. You pray to Him for everything, you behave nicely so that he’ll give you nice things and not ruin your life, and you promise to only serve Him and nobody else. God is the epitome of selfishness, but since the brooding tyrant is all powerful and supposedly the source of everything, I guess he can be that way. It sucks for us low life humans though, especially the ones that don’t have the rosy and perfect lives.”
After Teacher finished speaking Jacob thought heavily about the man’s ideas. They were very unconventional and resembled nothing that he had been taught about God and Jesus, but he wondered if Teacher was right. What if he was right about everything, especially people who apparently loved him? He knew that his parents had a unique perspective about how to show and demonstrate their love and care for him so much so that they wanted to keep it hidden from the world so that it would remain special as their little secret. At first this made Jacob feel special, as if he was the only boy in the world that had parents who would treat him like that. After while though it didn’t matter and all he could think about was getting away from his parents and hiding forever. No they hadn’t loved him, but now that he thought about it what did actual love look like? How did he not know that his parents weren’t showing him real love and he was merely not enjoying it like they were?
“What’s love, Teacher?” Jacob asked befuddled.
“Don’t know myself,” Teacher answered quickly. “I gave up searching for the answer a long time ago. You could say that love became useless to me. You see, love gets in the way of survival. Love is a luxury for people who have perfect lives that are all together and live in neat little white houses and come home to see family after a long day’s work. Love is what happens when you sleep with a beautiful woman in our case, or a man in a woman’s case. As they say down at the opera house, love is casualty of survival; you can’t love and survive at the same time.”
“How do people love you if everyone is only out to get what they want and don’t care about you?” Jacob asked. Teacher thought for a few moments before answering.
“Say you’re a stinking, wretched bastard of a child that shouts, screams, steals, and lies; why would anyone want to love you?” Teacher asked. Jacob thought about it and shrugged his shoulders. “That is precisely the point, J, people get nothing out if it but trouble and most “good natured” people don’t want to deal with crap like that. You find people who put up with damned behavior like that and still treat you better than you deserve, then perhaps you may have found genuine love. It’s hard to know though, humans are such sneaky bastards and do everything they can to manipulate weak and hopeful minds.”
“How do you know all of this stuff, Teacher?” Jacob asked suspiciously. Teacher immediately began laughing.
“Good, very good; you’re beginning to catch on. Never trust people, rule number one. Rule number two, rely on only the most reliable person which is yourself; people will fail and disappoint you most likely every time.” Teacher said. He then tossed Jacob a small handgun.
“What’s this for?” Jacob asked as he uneasily inspected the weapon.
“You’ll either learn to protect yourself or die; the choice is yours. Remember this though, if you die in Hell, what do you think the afterlife will be like. Never die, that’s rule number three.” Teacher answered as he began rapidly descending a hill that led down into a ravine that was covered in red sludge.
“When do I get a bigger gun?” Jacob shouted back as he tried not to trip and fall. He had never seen sludge, or whatever it was, like that before. It was thick and sticky, but the weird thing was that it was going upwards instead of downwards. For Jacob it felt as if he was fighting against a strong current of water.
“When you learn more, you’ll get a bigger gun, but for now kill the bad guys with that and you’ll do just fine.” Teacher shouted back as he neared the bottom of the steep hillside.
“How do I know if someone’s a bad guy or not.” Jacob answered back louder before Teacher got farther away and accumulated more speed. It was obvious that he had done this a numerous amount of times since he was going so fast and able to maintain his balance without plummeting forward into the red sludge.
“Usually those are the people that are trying to harm you, but always be safe and shoot first; asking questions from potential enemies will get you killed down here, so always protect yourself and kill not maim and that’s rule number four.” Teacher said as he reached the bottom of the ravine and waited for Jacob who was about to answer but he lost his balance and tumbled down the ravine getting red sludge all over him. He reached the bottom unharmed, but he felt all queasy inside and as he tried to stand up he couldn’t steady himself. The whole world seemed to be dancing around him as his vision came back together he was able to focus and saw Teacher chuckling loudly at him with a huge smile on his face.
“Usually everyone falls a lot sooner then when you did, that’s a good sign; I think you have a great deal of potential, J. Come on, it’s not much further from here.” Teacher said as he started moving down the ravine. Jacob sighed as he attempted to stand to his feet, but the red sludge was making it difficult.
“Could you please help me?” 襘;Jacob asked loudly. Teacher stopped and regarded him with a firm gaze.
“No one down here is going to really help you, so help yourself and that’s rule number five.” Teacher said and then went back to his quick pace. Jacob growled in frustration and with great difficulty pulled himself off of the ground and stood to his feet and began hastening after Teacher.
“Where exactly are we going?” Jacob asked almost breathlessly.
“The opera house,” Teacher answered. Jacob was about to ask why they were going to an opera house but as the ravine opened widely there was a gargantuan structure made of ruined stones that resembled something like a megalithic cathedral and a medieval castle. It was gigantic, but dilapidated as if it had been shelled by cannons repeatedly over a span of a hundred centuries. In the background were mountains with green tops while the lower parts were burnt orange. The ground before the opera house was nothing but flat. Various kinds of antennas, satellite dishes, electrical towers, and wind mills in all varied shapes and sizes were sticking up from the ground, like flowers. Jacob thought it was odd and that there wasn’t a single tree or shrub anywhere to be seen; all he saw was metal, and even the air still smelled like burnt metal.
The closer they got to the opera house the darker everything seemed to become. Jacob figured this was because the opera house was in the shadow of the mountains, but somehow he felt as if that was not the only reason. After running a little, Jacob was able to catch up to Teacher who was jogging briskly. There was a long broken down wall that surrounded the perimeter of the opera house that they passed by. Teacher slowed down to a slow walk, Jacob did the same and pulled out his weapon when he saw Teacher pull a machine gun from off his back. Together they moved into the structure; the front set of doors were hanging off their hinges and creaking noisily in the wind as they swayed back and forth.
The inside of the opera house was nothing special, Jacob thought, as he looked upon the remains of what could have been considered to be the foyer, but when they emerged into the theater room itself, now that was a different story. It seemed like this was the only part of the building that was in good condition. All of the seats were worn, but appeared to be comfortable with their royal blue cushions. There were also box seats high above with scarlet red curtains blowing in the breeze. Around the stage was the orchestra pit which was clean, neat, and tidy as if ready for an immediate performance. The stage had a finely polished cherry wood floor and long thick black curtains that hung from high above. All over the walls were paintings of angels battling demons and gargoyle statues eerily smiling. For Jacob, it was an exciting if at times creepy sight to behold.
Teacher carefully moved down towards the orchestra pit and pointed the machine gun around him various times before seeming satisfied that all was secure. He sat down and set all of his weapons aside. Jacob did likewise and waited. Within moments a crackling sound of a record being played could be loudly heard echoing throughout the theater room. Next came loud trumpets and drums playing to a grand crescendo. The curtains then were pulled aside and revealed a gigantic background of red, green, and blue spatters of paint. A loud voice that sounded male and then female spoke.
“Presenting the worst of us and the best of them; terrible and pathetic, but fascinating to keep us all coming back. I give you…….That!” Immediately a man dressed in tattered clown clothes came prancing onto the stage. His white face was severely scarred and his boots were bright red, but the oddest thing was that string was tied connecting his arms to his shoulders and legs to his abdomen. He resembled a large puppet on strings.
“Oh gently we go screaming, up and down we go. Though try we not our heart is breaking as we are tossed to and fro. We laugh, we rant, we hope, we pray….what happens next, well, none dare say.” The puppet sang and then begun dancing. Jacob looked upon the man in confusion, although when he glanced at Teacher he noticed the man was smiling and enjoying himself. Jacob returned his attention to the man on strings and hoped that he could be similarly humored. “Upon the books we pour our looks, though to the trash we all get thrashed, and frighten Miss Muffet away. Light does shine with some wine, and through the dark ah, yes we do see a lark and frighten Miss Muffet away again. Too sad this tale, but yet I try to find a rhyme with too little time. So here I end this tale, which if I continued would all make us bale. Thank you one and all for your support, that without we would all die of warts.” The puppet man finished singing and then stood still. The music stopped and Teacher clapped as the puppet man bowed.
“Another fine performance, That,” Teacher said as applause broke out from all over the opera house from wherever the record player was coming from. Jacob clapped, but he didn’t know why; the song the puppet man had sung was weird and boring, he definitely didn’t like it but considered it would be best to be polite and clap.
“You are hatefully kind, Teacher,” That said as he began to walk down the stage. “It was the worst of my performances yet this day, and no one has once had the common decency to tell me that it was terrible. All of my critics are fans, and none of my fans are critics; how can I grow if everything that I do is good?” That stated sounding very much like a prima donna. He then noticed that Jacob was there and his eyes became filled with rage. He then pulled out a machete and leapt on top of Jacob and put the blade up against Jacob’s throat.
“What is this bastard doing here?” That asked as he gazed hatefully into Jacob’s fearful eyes, who was also breathing laboriously and carefully watching the blade pushing into his skin. Teacher meanwhile watched with mere curiosity.
“He’s just a boy that I found a bunch of scrappies trying to take to the Prince and Princess, so if you kill him then it’s on your head.” Teacher said very calmly. He then yawned and took out shiny pocket watch. “Besides, it’s past the killing hour anyways; we better start drinking if we don’t want to be drunk tomorrow.”
“Fine,” That said as he withdrew his machete and stood to his feet. “He’s your problem though; if he turns, then I’ll cut his head off and smash it into a fine pulp with a hammer. I’ll be in the grand salon when you want to join me for some drinking.” That said coldly and then stalked out of the theater room and vanished from sight. Jacob was still breathing furiously and he glared at Teacher who had pulled out a cigar and was smoking.
“You were going to just sit there and let him kill me!” Jacob shouted angrily as he stood to his feet. “And he didn’t kill me why? Because you both have to drink early so you can be sober for tomorrow.” Teacher inhaled some smoke and then blew it out on Jacob’s face.
“J, you forgot about rule number five; even though I like you, I ain’t ever going to help you. You get in a bind you get yourself out or die; like I said, no one is as reliable as yourself. And by the way, when all you have is tomorrow the best way to survive it is by drinking yourself into a numb stupor, and since we’re hunted during the day we have to be careful when we drink.” Teacher stated as he stood to his feet and tossed Jacob a cigar and then the lighter. “Come on, I’ll think you’ll enjoy yourself.”
“What was all of that about it being after the killing hour?” Jacob asked curiously as he began to feel much more calm which even to him was odd considering he just had a sharp object held against his throat.
“Oh that, well let’s just say that, That, only kills and becomes enraged during specific times. Fortunately for you, you came around just after when this usually happens, or he wouldn’t have been able to stop and your head would be a small pile of mush.” Teacher said in a manner as if it was common knowledge and something that happens constantly. Jacob gazed at Teacher profoundly horrified as he followed him where That had disappeared to. It was a hall, dimly lit with candles that went down into what seemed like the basement he guessed. There were some stairs and eventually they ended up where there were a bunch of scratchy looking wooden doors, but Teacher chose the one at the end of the hall. Without hesitation Teacher pushed the door open and Jacob was greeted by the noxious fumes of smoke and alcohol.
The room was decadently filled with paintings, gold jewelry, intricately detailed mirrors, and the largest couches and padded chairs he had ever seen. Laying sprawled all over the largest couch was That drinking a bottle of whiskey. All around him though was candy: Laffy Taffy, chocolates, lollipops, licorice, Jollyranchers, and so much more that Jacob couldn’t see rightly. His mouth began to water and he soon forgot about the smoke and the smell of alcohol. Teacher tossed his weapons aside and plopped down on the nearest couch. He popped open a bottle of rum and drank a long swig from the bottle before setting it down and throwing a couple pieces of chocolate into his mouth.
“I see you got the really good stuff out tonight.” Teacher said as he looked at the label on the bottle of his rum before taking another long drink. “And the food as well,” He quickly added as he gazed happily upon the mounds of candy.
“I thought it would be fitting and proper considering that we had a guest with us.” That replied as he glared at Jacob, who in return felt distinctly out of place suddenly and was trying to retreat back to the door.
“Hey where do you think you’re going?” Teacher demanded and Jacob stopped abruptly where he was and looked confused. “Have a seat, have a drink and eat some candy for tomorrow we may die or we may live.” Teacher said as he held out a brown bottle to Jacob and motioned to the couch across from him. Jacob took the bottle and hesitantly sat down.
“What’s in it?” Jacob asked suspiciously as he jostled the liquid around and inspected it.
“Don’t be so stupidly suspicious, J, it’s merely a bottle of tequila. So drink some and eat some candy.” Teacher replied on the edge of exasperation.
“I don’t think I’m suppose to drink because of my age, and mother…” Jacob was arguing but Teacher cut him off.
“Your mother ain’t here, J, so drink; you’re what…ten or eleven; I first got drunk when I was nine, knew how to properly smoke a cigar by age ten, and had my first whore by thirteen. You’ll be fine, and you might find it even enjoyable.” Teacher added with a smile. Jacob reluctantly tipped the bottle back and sipped some of the liquid and about almost gagged.
“It’s disgusting, I’m not going to drink that!” Jacob exclaimed and was about to throw the bottle on the ground when That pulled out a pistol and aimed it at his head.
“No one, throws away liquor in the opera house, or anywhere near me.” That growled at his eyes bore deeply into Jacob’s frightened eyes. Teacher rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Now little whelp, you’re going to drink that bottle now, or I’m going to blow your head off your body.” That said. Jacob gulped and looked at Teacher who was merely laying on the couch waiting to see what would happen next. Very carefully Jacob put the bottle by his lips and even though the smell made his stomach blanch he drank, and drank, and drank, and drank until he thought he was going to pass out. He threw the empty bottle on the floor and collapsed back into couch. He felt like he was going to vomit and he seemed scarcely aware that there was clapping occurring. As he was lying on the couch he suddenly began to realize how soft and comfortable the red velvet cushions were. He closed his eyes and felt good for the first time in the longest that he could remember.
“Now, that’s the spirit,” That shouted. “Take it like a man boy, and perhaps there’ll be some hope for you yet.” That finished saying and then returned to his bottle and shoved candy down his throat. Jacob began feeling all tingly and warm and the room began to get fuzzier, blurrier, and slower; like slow motion in the comic books and films, but he thought it was cool.
“Here try one of these,” Teacher suggested as he tossed Jacob a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. “I started with em, so they should be good enough for you.” Jacob clumsily picked up the cigarettes and pulled one out and lit it like he had seen the grown ups at school and on television. He breathed in the smoke and then let it out, but he did something wrong because soon he was coughing his head off, but smiling at the same time. Soon Jacob was laughing, something he hadn’t done in an extremely long time. Teacher and That were also laughing.
“It tastes bad, but I feel so good.” Jacob said with a wide smile and then hiccupped which made him and the others laugh even harder.
“Perhaps he’ll be alright, Teach; hey perhaps you stumbled onto my comedy routine that I’ve been missing for so long.” That thought aloud and then began laughing again and in doing so accidentally got liquor all over himself which made him begin to laugh hysterically.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Teacher said as he calmed himself down from laughing so much; tears were in his eyes. “Rule number six around here, J; eat and drink until your body can’t take no more.”
“Right, Teacher,” Jacob responded as he continued smoking the cigarette, but he wasn’t coughing as much. He then picked up another bottle and forced the top off and began drinking it as much as he could. He stopped for some air and then took a puff of smoke. Teacher and That were talking to each other while also laughing their heads off; Jacob was smiling widely even as things began to get slower, and slower. Soon he had this urge in his stomach, but he didn’t want to move he just wanted another drink and wanted to continue smoking. However, this urge wouldn’t relent and soon he found himself facing the floor as vomit came out of his mouth and landed with a resounding “splat” on the floor.
“Oh!!!! Look at him now!” That exclaimed and began laughing so hard that he fell off of the couch and was pounding his fists on the floor hysterically. Teacher was merely laughing while he smoked his cigar and drank his rum. Jacob kept vomiting, and vomiting until there was nothing left. He then looked up when there was a lull in the vomiting and held up his hand for quiet. Both That and Teacher waited in anticipation to see what he would do.
“Can someone get me another bottle of this stuff!” Jacob shouted before he bent his head back towards the floor and vomited some more. That and Teacher both this time were equally laughing hysterically. Jacob finished vomiting and had a big smile on his face and laid his head down on the couch. The world around him became slower. He moved his hand in front of him and it seemed magical how he was able to move his hand and see its wake as he moved it left to right. The room began to darken and soon there was nothing but darkness.
襘;
*襘; *襘; *
Jacob awoke with a splitting headache. He rubbed his eyes and stared up at the ceiling and saw in big numbers spread across the ceiling that it was eight o’clock in the morning. He very slowly sat up but every time he moved his head no matter how the slight the motion, his vision spun and he felt faint. He had never drunk alcohol before that very night and now he knew why. If he had it his way, he’d never drink again. He looked over and saw That was snoring peacefully away with multiple empty bottles of alcohol all around him and two that he was cradling in his arms. Teacher was also snoring, quite loudly, but he instead had two large machine guns between him. Aside from the snoring the room was quiet but was drenched with the acrid stenches of vomit, sweat, and alcohol; simply breathing in the air made Jacob want to vomit.
Standing up, Jacob began to search for some water but could find nothing but candy and various bottles of alcohol. Not willing to give up despite how he currently felt, he left the room and began to search everywhere, but there was no water to be found. Suddenly he began to panic about something he had always taken for granted; what if he was unable to find any water? What if he died from dehydration? Each room that he went into though was empty, and aside from specks of dust nothing else was present. Jacob continued his search until he was back into the theatre room. He breathed in the fresh clean air and felt the warmth of sunlight as the rays came down through the cracks and gaps of the opera house. There was a cool breeze and as he stepped out and onto the front steps he gazed across the fields of junk and antennas, and although it was messy and dreadful to look upon it felt beautiful somehow. He sat down and watched as a hummingbird flew past him and over to a large bunch of roses that glowed turquoise blue.
Never before had Jacob ever felt this…safe before in his entire life. It was as if he was finally at peace and everything was going to be alright; nothing would ever harm him again. He was smiling when suddenly he heard the scraping of metal and felt the sharp edge of cold steel pressed against his throat. Hesitantly, Jacob turned to see who it was and to his relief it was Teacher gazing down at him with his usual admonishing glare.
“Rule number six, always be prepared to die.” Teacher said and then pulled the knife away from Jacob’s throat and sat down. “You keep up with this ridiculous behavior of yours then you’ll never survive here.”
“I’m only a kid, I don’t know why you’re expecting me to act like you, an adult who has been one for a long time. It’s not fair to ask me to be able to do the things that you and That do so well so quickly.” Jacob retorted angrily but with an air of confidence that he didn’t have before. Teacher grinned at him.
“Good, you’re getting some backbone, that’ll definitely help. Don’t expect me to feel sorry for you though just because mommy and daddy didn’t want you, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a kid or not. The scrappies will kill you regardless, and the Prince and Princess will kill you if you’re old and use you if you’re really young. Therefore if you wish to survive and remain free then you have to act like an adult, and if you don’t know then you’ll have to learn quickly or die trying. It sucks either way, but then that’s what the booze and candy is for; without it, we’d all go mad.”
“What happened to…” Jacob began to say but a loud explosion shook them from where they were sitting and threw them to the ground. Teacher was up in an instant with his monstrous machine gun pointed where the source of the explosion emanated from. Jacob’s ears were ringing but he sluggishly stood to his feet and reached for his handgun but couldn’t find it. Thinking what he seemed to be thinking, Teacher tossed Jacob a small machine gun. Jacob caught it with surprise and looked at Teacher expectantly.
“Aim and shoot; kill anything that tries to kill you.” Teacher said and then fired at an incoming line of scrappies. Behind the infantry were larger versions of the scrappies except on wheels and treads mounting large cannons. Jacob watched in stunned amazement as Teacher fired fearlessly and relentlessly at the incoming robots who didn’t seem to mind the bullets at all. As if coming out of a trance, Jacob began to fire as well at anything that appeared robotic. Both of them took cover behind a large stone pillar that was lying sideways on the ground. Jacob pulled the trigger and didn’t let go and then suddenly his machine gun stopped firing.
“It’s stopped shooting bullets,” Jacob declared panicky. “What do I do?”
“Eject the magazine and get a spare one from behind my pack!” Teacher shouted as he continued to fire at the incoming column of robots. Jacob very quickly began to look over his machine gun to try and figure out how to accomplish what Teacher had told him to do. He clicked some metal button thing which released the empty magazine, and then he grabbed what looked like a similar magazine from behind Teacher and pushed it in until it “clicked” and then he remembered watching a movie about how a soldier cocked something and then began shooting.襘; Jacob did the same thing and then aimed at the robots and holding his breath pulled the trigger and the machine gun began spitting out bullets. Jacob suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of pride as he knocked down one robot after the other. However he began to realize something; no matter how many they destroyed more kept coming and the bullets had no effect on the larger ones.
“What are we going to do?” Jacob shouted as he and Teacher ducked for cover as a mortar hit near them.
“When we get the chance, we make a run for it and hope that we live!” Teacher shouted back. “And that’s rule number seven; never fight a battle that you can run away from.” Teacher said as a couple of mortars barely missed them and hit a part of the opera house which came crumbling down. “How we’re going to get out alive though with those monster scrappies bearing down on us though is beyond me at the moment.” Both of them then heard a loud shout followed by two “whooshing” sounds and both of them saw two rockets fly by and hit two of the larger robotic machines. Teacher and Jacob turned around to see That reloading two RPG launchers and he was covered with warheads.
“Run for it boys, I’ll cover our retreat and make these scrappies regret ever coming to the opera house for today’s performance!” That shouted and then launched two more rockets causing further chaos to the robotic column. Teacher grabbed on Jacob’s shirt and pulled him away from the opera house. The two of them then ran as fast as they could for the terrain ahead of them which was full of thick bushes and green trees. Teacher would stop occasionally and shoot at the robots, but soon both he and Jacob were out of range; they continued running into the forest until they had gone far enough in that the foliage would hide them. Both of them stopped to breathe.
“Is That going to follow us?” Jacob asked curiously but Teacher shook his head.
“Nope,” Teacher said as his breathing began to slow down and he began to regain his composure. “That never runs from a scrappy line until the absolute last moment, and he’ll run back into the opera house and hide; he knows that place better than any living thing around and they’ll never find him.”
“What about us?” Jacob asked as he slumped down against a tree.
“Well, we keep going into the mountains and lie low for a while and hopefully we’ll meet some old friends of mine.” Teacher said as he tried to look through the thick canopy of leaves and trees to get a bearing on where they were. He then looked down at Jacob who was cradling the machine gun comfortably in his lap and grinned. “Not too bad, J, and you even took a number of them out to boot without shooting yourself or me. Are you sure you haven’t had survival training or anything like that before?”
“Not at all,” Jacob responded breathlessly. “Although, I’ve read several books about wars, history, science, and superheroes; those ones tend to have pictures that detail all of the action.”
“You can read books?” Teacher asked incredulously and Jacob nodded his head. Teacher thought for a moment and nodded his head. “Alright, I know where we’re headed. Pick yourself up, J; those scrappies will be hot on our asses soon enough and we want to reach the base of the mountains before sunset.” Teacher said and then began hustling through the forest dodging branches and vines here and there as he went. Jacob sighed, but he leapt to his feet and hurried after Teacher.
The forest hadn’t gotten any thinner and the sun was getting lower. Jacob felt very tense and he was exhausted. Teacher hadn’t let him rest for very long each time that they had stopped; he kept stressing how urgent it was for them to reach the base of the mountains. Even though he didn’t appear to be worried, Jacob knew that he was even more worried than he was about them not reaching their destination in time. The air was beginning to get colder, which despite his jean pants and long sleeved flannel shirt he also was getting colder. Teacher didn’t seem fazed by the chilly air at all, in fact Jacob noticed that the man seemed to thrive in situations where the odds were totally against him.
“Are you sure we can’t stop, make a fire, and call it a night?” Jacob posed as he hefted the machine gun he was carrying over his already aching and tired shoulder. Teacher glanced over his shoulder momentarily and right then and there Jacob knew what his response would be.
“You go right on ahead and light a fire and may all of the luck that exists in Hell be with ya, but I’m going to keep on going.” Teacher responded with simple frankness. Jacob sighed and trudged on.
“Why is it so important to get to this place of…wherever we are going?” Jacob asked annoyed, which is what happened to him when he was tired and under a great deal of stress.
“You might say that it’s not real safe to be caught outdoors after it has gone dark. Shelter is always best to be had when the sun has gone down; I’ve heard a lot of strange and weird stories about individuals who were caught out in the darkness, and none of them are pretty to tell.” Teacher responded.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Jacob retorted quickly. Teacher looked over his shoulder briefly with a slight grin on his face.
“That spine is finally beginning to appear I see. You’re right, J, I haven’t answered you, nor do I intend to. You can ask me all of the questions that your little heart desires, but I will decided which ones to answer if I answer any of them at all.” Teacher finished saying. Jacob looked upon his compatriot with disdain.
“You’re really mean, you know; you’re just like my parents!” Jacob said loudly with his tone layered in ferocious hate. Teacher stopped and turned to face Jacob; his expression was unreadable, but Jacob continued. “When I asked them questions they never told me anything, but only said that it was going to be good for me. The both of them kept me in the dark constantly, never treating me like I had a reason to know anything but what they wanted me to know. Well, I’m tired of being treated ignorantly, I’m tired of things being kept hidden from me, and I am sick of being told that I don’t need to know something!” Jacob shouted as he pointed at Teacher who merely gazed at him. “I have a right to know what I am getting into! So stop treating me like a damn child!”
For a few moments Teacher and Jacob looked upon each other; Jacob’s gaze was full of anger and malice while Teacher looked upon him neutrally. On Jacob’s part, he felt better after shouting at Teacher and telling the man what was on his mind, and at that moment he didn’t care what the consequence of his behavior was. He had said it, and he meant every word of it. After thinking that he caused his companion to go mute, Teacher began to slowly clap his hands which echoed eerily in the darkened forest.
“Spoken, like a true child of Hell.” Teacher said with a surprisingly proud smile on his face. Jacob was suddenly taken aback by the comment, for to him that immediately sounded like a negative declaration. “Don’t be hateful or upset, it’s actually a compliment. You found your voice buried under all of the helplessness that you learned while suffering at the hands of your parents. This is something many newcomers to this place take a very long time to discover, but you, J, you are very different from anyone I’ve ever met. This is why I am so insistent that we reach the mountains before nightfall; there is a very…unique individual I’d like you to meet.” Teacher finished saying with a faint smile upon his face before turning and continuing to walk.
Jacob couldn’t move for a few moments, but then something inside of him seemed to nudge his feet and he began to walk. He was stunned by Teacher’s response; the man hadn’t yelled at him, hadn’t belittled or laughed at his complaints or minimized what he was feeling. His parents had always turned him aside when he was trying to tell them how he felt when they were…showing him love, but he distinctly remembered them smiling and snickering as if he Jacob had no feelings or intelligence to be concerned about. Another thing that he found interesting was Teacher’s encouragement of the attitude and behavior that he displayed when speaking with him about his thoughts. His parents had always discouraged any thinking that wasn’t aligned with their own and chastised him and his brothers whenever they questioned anything contrary to what their parents taught and or believed. Teacher was different though; it was like he wanted Jacob to think for himself, and to have his own ideas about life and what he did with it.
“Thank you, Teacher,” Jacob stated softly. Teacher looked over his shoulder confused.
“And why are you so generously thanking me?” Teacher inquired.
“You…have been helping me find my way through this place; without your assistance and guidance, I’d most likely be dead or in the hands of the Prince and Princess. Oh, and I’m sorry for shouting at you.” Jacob said with a slight look of guilt on his face.
“Rule number eight; don’t ever be sorry for anything that you do or say, it makes you weak, but worse it makes you look weak to others which can wind up getting you killed. As for helping you out, I did nothing really; you followed the rules and helped yourself out, all I did was make introductions and show you the way. You need to give yourself more credit than you think you deserve, J. Ah look we’ve finally arrived.” Teacher stated cheerily as he and Jacob emerged out of the trees and stood before the indomitable rugged mountain range. The rocky surface stretched high above them both and on other side was a deep ravine which led into the mountain range, leaving behind all manner of green shrubbery exchanging it for the gray and red rocks. Jacob carefully followed Teacher as they entered the wide ravine, which had very steep inclined walls on either side.
Over his shoulder, Jacob could see that the glimmers of sunlight were quickly fading yet Teacher didn’t appear stressed whatsoever. Jacob began feeling prickly all up and down his spine and small beads of perspiration were building along the edge of his forehead. The path they were treading was rocky and unstable but their determination pushed them forward without fear or hesitation. On and on they walked as the sun got lower and lower. Jacob continued to look over his shoulder and check on the status of how much light they had left. When he kept seeing their time was growing short, the pit in his stomach continued to grow larger and larger.
“Hey, Teacher, we’re about to lose all of our sunlight; how close are we to this place that you’re speaking of?” Jacob asked, but as he was balancing himself on some shifty rocks he hadn’t noticed that Teacher had stopped and was pointing up the ravine. Jacob stopped just in time before he rammed into Teacher. He looked up to where his compatriot was pointing and sighed. Their destination was a ledge that they virtually had to climb up the ravine face to get to, and it didn’t look that easy. Without hesitation, Teacher began to climb effortlessly up the steep ravine face and soon after Jacob was able to psych himself up, he followed. Even though Jacob had a good deal of determination, he did not have a lot of strength. He struggled to steady his balance and maintain his grip as Teacher sped up to the ledge. Snarling with frustration, Jacob redoubled his efforts and climbed.
Despite having bloody hands and a scratched up face, Jacob made it to the ledge though he was completely out of breath. Teacher was waiting patiently with a bottle of water drinking it as if he had gone out for his morning walk. After taking a couple of swigs he handed the bottle to Jacob who downed a good deal of the clear liquid.
“Not bad, J, you’re keeping up and not dying still, that’s good.” Teacher said with a small laugh as he gave Jacob a firm pat on the back, who looked less then pleased or enthused.
“So what’s in there?” Jacob motioned to the hole that went deep into the mountain from the looks of it. The sunlight was almost gone. Walking up to the entrance, Teacher took two rocks and clapped them loudly together and then did something quite strangely.
“I come for shelter, let us in or we will shoot you.” Teacher sang, in an almost operatic voice, although to Jacob it might have also seemed like it was something out of a musical.
“Fine, fine, get in before you lose all of your sunlight!” A man barked out loud suddenly appearing at the door and motioning for them to enter with a rather long whip in his right hand. Without another word Teacher entered and Jacob hurried behind him. The cave passage was dark and damp. The path seemed to go downwards but then it would sharply go up and more than once Jacob hit his head on the cave ceiling and had to bend down low. Eventually he saw faint glimmers of light and then he and Teacher emerged into a rather large room which was well lit and furnished with desks, beds, chairs, bookshelves, and a rather crude sort of kitchen.
“Well sit down before you die of exhaustion,” the man said as he came up from behind Jacob, who he gruffly pushed past and had a seat on a rocking chair. “You interrupted me while I was drinking and having the most wondrous thoughts.” The man said as he tipped a bottle back and drank the whole thing before tossing it aside and drinking another.襘; Suddenly, Jacob began to notice that their host appeared to be quite handsome, at least from popular culture standards. He had short, messy brown hair and green eyes. He was slender, but appeared to be quite muscular. His face was smooth and his skin seemingly perfect without any blemishes.
“What’s your name?” Jacob asked curiously as he took a seat from their host. The man looked at Jacob as if both irritated but intrigued.
“I’m called Gorgon, and you are?” Gorgon asked as he downed another bottle of alcohol before tossing it to the ground with a “crash” and getting another.
“My name is Jacob, but everyone call me J. You got a nice place here.” Jacob said looking around trying to be polite. Gorgon smiled at him.
“Young boy, you are a terrible liar; you’re going to have to do better than that if want to avoid getting shot between those naïve eyes of yours.” Gorgon said as he pulled out a handgun and aimed it at Jacob and fired. Jacob ducked out of the way but there wasn’t a need; Gorgon was aiming for a portrait behind him. Jacob looked at the man incredulously who began laughing hysterically. “That was a warning boy, next time I shoot you between the eyes. Where did you dig up this load of crap, Teach?” Gorgon asked with a sneer as he threw his empty bottle to the ground and grabbed another one.
“I killed a couple of scrappies and he’s been tagging along with me ever since; I’ve been sharing with him the ropes about how to survive, and although he’s a got a while to go, he’s learning pretty quickly.” Teacher said as he sat down and popped open a bottle of whiskey.
“I’m assuming the scrappies were taking him to see the Prince and Princess of Hell.” Gorgon declared as he spat on the ground.
“Most likely,” Teacher said as he set his bottle down and lit a cigar. He tossed one to Jacob along with the lighter. Jacob took the cigar, lit it, and began smoking; he had remembered his lesson and was having a much easier time with this one.
“Have you explained to him what they do to little boys like him?” Gorgon motioned. Teacher shook his head.
“I didn’t have to; the boy seemed to know for himself what they do for pleasure.” Teacher said as he reached for another bottle of whiskey.
“So other than being on the run like you usually are, Teacher, why come here for shelter?” Gorgon asked. It became silent for a few brief moments as Teacher finished his drink and both Gorgon and Jacob curiously waited for what Teacher was going to say.
“I suppose you could say I was feeling nostalgic partly, but the other is that J here can read and write, and he is a damn fast learner. Remind you of anyone in particular?” Teacher posed as he blew a puff of smoke in Gorgon’s direction. The room became even more silent than before. Gorgon looked pensively at Teacher who stared right back at him just as intensely, and then he regarded Jacob who appeared ignorant and innocent.
“It’s possible I suppose, Teacher, but the last time he was here he failed and brought more misery and shame on all of us who were young and full of hope. What makes you so certain that this time will be any different?” Gorgon asked. Teacher shrugged his shoulders.
“We aren’t getting any younger looking, although you always have looked handsome and young…” Teacher said
“Traits that I will never hold in high regard for as long as I live; I’m not sure why people value such things.” Gorgon interrupted appearing most anxious at Teacher’s words.
“…Well, the point is, Gorgon, that we aren’t what we were then and now we are much wiser and much older; call it a fifth sense, but I feel really lucky about this young boy here succeeding where the other failed.” Teacher stated confidently as he pointed his cigar to Jacob. Clearly confused, Jacob was about to ask what they were talking about, but Gorgon was already speaking.
“What do you plan to do?” Gorgon asked simply.
“I brought him here for you to inspect and give me your judgment call, and then the two of us will go to the palace; you’ll pass the word along and everyone will join up and attack the palace with you and That leading the charge. It’s as good of a plan that we’ll ever have, and those two dunderheads will never be expecting it.” Teacher stated with a wide smile.
“Let’s see where this takes us then,” Gorgon replied with his own smile and the two raised their bottles to each other. As Gorgon as about to drink out of his own bottle there was a big “bang” and his bottle broke into millions of shards of glass. He looked up and saw that Jacob was pointing a gun at him, but then he pointed it at Teacher.
“I am tired of people treating me like I’m not here and not worth considering when planning something. My parents treated me like an ignorant toy, neither one of you will get the opportunity to do the same thing. Now listen up, Teach, I better get some answers really quick or I’m going to shoot you first in your privates, then your chest, and if you’re lucky then I’ll kill you.” Jacob said very quietly as he aimed the gun at Teacher’s lower extremities. Teacher grinned.
“You made it, J, you have what it takes to survive…”
“I don’t give a damn about your stupid philosophy, Teach; tell me what I want to know without the lecture or I’ll pop one right now.” Jacob said as he pointed his gun a little lower. Teacher cleared his throat before speaking.
“When Gorgon, myself, and many others were young as you now are, we found ourselves in this place in a similar position such as yourself. A boy came who was smarter, quicker, and braver than all of us; he led an attack against the Prince and Princess. It failed though, but he was able to get out of Hell somehow. Before the assault he had told a select few of us that if he died or vanished he would return again how ever many times it would take to get rid of the Prince and Princess forever. I think that some part of you is him, and that whether or not you’re conscious of it, you are here to kill the Prince and Princess.” Teacher finished saying. The silence that ensued was stifling. Very slowly Jacob lowered his gun and pointed it at Gorgon’s face.
“Is what he said true?” Jacob asked Gorgon who quickly nodded his head.
“Every word of it, I swear.” Gorgon said. Jacob loosened his grip on the gun and set it on a table next to him and popped open a bottle of whiskey and began to drink it down. Once he was finished he tossed it to the ground and grabbed two more bottles, his gun and stood up from his chair.
“Excuse me gentlemen, while I drink myself into a crazed stupor,” Jacob declared and sauntered out of the room and into another part of the cave. He had grabbed a nearby lantern for light; he didn’t fancy drinking in the dark. He found a comfortable niche that seemed secluded and far away enough from Teacher and Gorgon. He took a long drink of whiskey and collapsed up against the cold wall of the cave. He felt numb all over both physically and mentally. He didn’t know what all of the crap about him being here before and leading people to kill or stop this Prince and Princess was, but he wasn’t fulfilling any circle of life prophecy gig no matter what anyone said. He finished the first bottle and began drinking the second one and then everything began swirling, and upon feeling very warm he closed his eyes.
With a jerk, Jacob awakened. He heard screaming and shouting from down the cave. He pulled out his pistol, grabbed the lantern and began to follow the sounds. As he got nearer to the source of the screaming it sounded like a small child, a boy. When the screams became so loud that they were pounding in his ears, he turned a bend and there at the entrance of the cave where he and Teacher and entered was a small boy convulsing and screaming. The boy was frantically trying to get something off of him but there was nothing there. Jacob set the lantern down and tried to figure out how he could help the young boy. He heard footsteps behind him and was relieved to see Gorgon standing there.
“It’s about time one of you showed up, help me with him.” Jacob asked, but Gorgon didn’t move. “Help me,” Jacob pleaded but yet Gorgon didn’t budge. “HELP ME!” Jacob screamed and then Gorgon took out his pistol and shot the boy in the head. The screaming stopped, but the boy was dead; his lifeless body hung limp cradled in Jacob’s arms. Jacob looked down at the helpless corpse and tears welled up in his eyes as he set the body down and then looked upon Gorgon fiercely drawing his own sidearm and pointing it at Gorgon’s face.
“You wicked bastard, I asked you to help me, not to kill him!” Jacob shouted, but Gorgon didn’t flinch at all.
“You don’t understand, J, I did help him; look and see how peaceful he is.” Gorgon pointed to the expression on the corpse’s face. Jacob looked and the expression actually looked quite peaceful. “This boy somehow was able to escape the clutches of the Prince and Princess; this is what happens to every boy that crosses the threshold of their palace doors. This is what could have happened to you if Teacher hadn’t destroyed those scrappies…” Gorgon said heatedly and then stopped. He gazed down at the small corpse and kneeled beside it. Jacob lowered his gun.
“…This is what happened to me,” Gorgon said as a tear fell down from his eye. Jacob felt confused.
“But…you’re alive, Gorgon, you didn’t get shot in the head…” Jacob began saying but Gorgon shook his head.
“No that isn’t what I was referring to. I was once a…captive of the Prince and Princess, but I was able to escape and run into the mountains and avoid the detection of the scrappies. I cried day and night for weeks and weeks hoping that something would find me and put me out of my misery. I came across Teacher though, and another who called himself Bub, he was the one that Teacher and I were referring to when he was telling you of our attempt to get rid of the Prince and Princess. Somehow they were able to help me without killing me, and I was eventually able to learn all of the rules of survival and the three of us made quite a trio. I have never forgotten what the Prince and Princess did to me when I was a boy, and I seemed cursed forever as I remain young and handsome just the way they…well let’s just say that all of their prey have that in common.” Gorgon finished saying as he closed the eyes of the corpse and crossed the arms.
“Couldn’t you have tried to help the boy, like Teacher and Bub helped you though; did you really have to kill him?” Jacob asked. Gorgon stood to his feet and gazed solemnly at Jacob.
“It is better to give peace than help, rule number nine. If Teacher is correct about you, J, then you can put a stop to all of this if you wish.” Gorgon said and then turned to leave. Jacob quietly gazed at the corpse. “Oh by the way,” Gorgon said as he turned back to face Jacob who looked at him. “This boy is one of hundreds that are usually kept within the palace; some nights there are parties and the boys are handed…well, they get to know the other guests quite well. Keep that in mind as you make your decision.” Gorgon then returned to the room. Jacob knelt by the corpse and did nothing but gaze upon the peaceful face for a few moments, and then with all of his strength he pushed the corpse out of the entrance of the cave and watched as it plunged down into the ravine.
“I hope you found peace,” Jacob said quietly before retreating back into the cave.
Jacob had awakened early in the morning and was sitting at the mouth of the cave staring absent mindedly across the ravine. Blood had stained the stone where the young corpse had been late that night; Jacob sat next to the spot. The lifeless body could not be seen below anywhere in the area where Jacob had pushed it off. He only could surmise that something had eaten it, or taken it away for whatever purpose. Despite all of the alcohol and candy he had eaten that past night, he felt fine unlike the first night that he had tried all of that. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and began to smoke one; he never realized how much whatever was wrapped up inside of the paper could calm one down. All he had ever heard was that cigarettes were bad for you, but he reasoned that seeing a young boy get shot was bad, and that people hunting you down too was bad. Smoking seemed so trivial when compared to those kinds of things as did the consumption of alcohol. Suddenly, a new way of thinking entered Jacob’s mind and he felt so…so…liberated.
“Not a spectacular view, but one worth at least waking up alive to see.” Teacher said as he stretched behind Jacob and took a seat beside him and looked across the ravine as well. Both of them were silent and peacefully gazing at the dull view. “Once, from what I’m told, this valley use to be green and full of life, but then there was an accident and something annihilated all of the foliage and animal life that dwelt here. It’s a real shame, but at least we’re still here.”
“We aint living much of a life though,” Jacob said glumly as he tossed a rock out into the ravine.
“Gorgon told me about the boy last night, J; there’s nothing to be angry or upset about. I’ve killed many who were experiencing the same thing and I never looked back on it, not once.” Teacher said plainly. Jacob gazed at him piercingly.
“Were the same things done to you that were done to Gorgon?” Jacob asked with tears beginning to well up in his eyes. For a moment Teacher just looked at Jacob, but then he sighed and nodded his head.
“I was one of their favorites actually, and the only benefit of that was that they wouldn’t hand me around to others they would just keep me for themselves. Not much of a consolation prize, but you have to find something positive or go mad. I was able to escape with great difficulty and made my way in the wastelands. After a number of escapees got away we began to form a group and all of us managed to evade the forces of the Prince and Princess. Some got recaptured, many died though rather than go back. I’ve done a number of things which civilization would consider horrible, but I’ve never looked back; not dwelling on the past in rule number ten.” Teacher finished with a smile, but Jacob wasn’t grinning. He felt as if he was about to explode with emotion.
“How did you survive, how could you with what they did to you?” Jacob pleaded desperately.
“I made a choice every day to live and forget the past; everyone has to make that choice, me, Gorgon, even you…” Teacher was saying.
“But, that’s…that’s…so…very…hard,” Jacob sputtered as tears began to drop from his face although he tried his best to stop them. He pushed on his forehead strongly as if to somehow force the images out of his mind. “I tried to get away from my parents, I tried to get my mind and thoughts away from them but…I couldn’t. Everything I read, everything I heard, everything I looked at I saw something in it about what they did to me and how they did it. When I flipped through a book about animals, there was a picture of two lions pouncing on a gazelle and a picture of them jumping on me while I was laying naked in bed flashed through my mind. A comic book hero that hugs his sweetheart, I imagine my parents hugging me while…” but Jacob couldn’t finish the sentence and he collapsed into tears. Teacher watched him for a few moments before he took both of Jacob’s shoulder’s and gazed right into his red eyes.
“Now listen to me, J, what happened to you was worse than monstrous and it sucks that it was your parents that did it to you, but here are the facts; you aren’t with your parents any more. You don’t have to live in fear anymore, you don’t have to be near them anymore, you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. Living a life not full of regret and guilt is a choice you’re going to have to make each day. You can feel sorry for yourself as much as you want and try to get people to also feel bad for you, but ultimately dude you are all you have. Living and thinking that way will hurt yourself and nobody else, so stop wasting all of your energy on it. Okay?” Teacher finished saying firmly as he patted Jacob hard on the back. Jacob choked momentarily on his tears but then stopped and calmed himself back down and he was able to muster a grin.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to help anyone?” Jacob asked with a faint smile. Teacher shrugged his shoulders.
“I only gave you some advice, now you have to make up your own damn mind about what you’re going to do.” Teacher said and then he took a cigarette and lighter from Jacob. “I was wondering where these disappeared to,” he said with a smile as he stuffed them back inside Jacob’s jacket pocket once he had lit one. “So what are you going to do?”
“Well,” Jacob said as he dried his face and took a deep breath. “I want to kill the Prince and Princess,” he finished with firm resolve. Teacher’s eyes got a little big but then he snickered. “First though, I think we need to have a couple of drinks and get some bigger guns.”
“I thought you might say all of that, and I know the perfect individual to go to concerning these matters.” Teacher said as he stood up and turned to walk back inside of the cave.
“He won’t shoot me point blank if I leave a drop of whiskey in the bottle will he?” Jacob asked sarcastically as he blew a puff of smoke towards Teacher, who turned around with a faint grin on his face.
“No, I don’t think she will.” Teacher responded back and then disappeared into the shadows. It took Jacob a few seconds to process what Teacher had just said.
“Hey wait!” Jacob said as he stood to his feet in bewildered surprise and went after Teacher.
Jacob carefully walked around the glowing pink pools of oozing liquid that bubbled. The air was filled with the stench of rotten cotton candy, and the sky was thick with black clouds that thundered loudly and every now and then flashes of red lightning would burst across the skies. He and Teacher had left the comforts of Gorgon’s cave, who had promised to spread the word far and wide to prepare one and all to assault the palace. Jacob though was pointing a gun at Gorgon’s head when he made this promise, and Jacob also swore that if Gorgon didn’t do what he pledged to do, that he would personally hunt him down and chop him into fine dust. With that said, Teacher and Jacob descended down into the ravine and passed through the mountain pass. After they had emerged from the mountains, new terrain appeared. It was marshy, with water seemingly in each step and the air thick of moisture.
Eventually after treading through the marsh for a while they passed through a forest of trees that had black bark, black leaves, but oddly enough there were pink flowers on the trees. And they even once came across a large moose chasing a gigantic brown bear, which caused quite a ruckus. For Jacob, seeing such odd things was beginning to become normal for him as he knew full well that where he was before a brown bear would never run from a moose. The closer they got to the edge of the forest Jacob began to notice an acrid stench that turned his stomach. He smoked some cigarettes to distract himself from the noxious smell, but it was to no avail so he did his best to ignore it. Once they were through the black forest they stood before perhaps one the oddest sights Jacob had seen yet.
It appeared that the vast ground before them had been some sort of lake but had long ago dried up. Instead of water, there were pools, large and small, of oozing pink liquid and right up close the stench was even fouler. The perimeter of the old lake was marked by a high mountain wall with a gap for what appeared to be a river of the oozing pink liquid. In the center of the noxious pink ooze was a large house but it looked like it was a factory, or rather very industrial like. There were massive steel chimneys all over the roof spitting out an abundance of steam and green smoke. Every now and then from the sides of the house there were be sudden roars and great bursts of fire. The house itself was made out of red brick and the windows had steel bars to block anyone from getting in or out. Jacob wasn’t too eager to go inside, but he followed Teacher anyways; he thought since he had gotten this far without dying it was unlikely that death would be coming for him anytime soon.
“Hey, Teacher, why does this person live in this stinking and festering place?” Jacob asked as he carefully walked on a narrow piece of rock between two of the pools of the pink ooze. “And what is this stuff?”
“No one rightly knows what this pink crap is or where it came from, but one thing is for sure you never want to touch it with your naked skin. As for why she lives here, I guess she likes it; I’ve never asked her why she lives here. It might be a good question to ask her; I highly doubt she’s had any company for a long time.” Teacher replied with a smile as he effortlessly weaved himself around the pink pools of ooze. Jacob followed his path but with great difficulty.
“How do you know this woman?” Jacob asked almost losing his balance and plummeting face forward into some of the pink ooze, but he caught himself just in time and tried to calm his beating heart.
“I would hardly call her a woman, but she is the finest weapons forger around these parts and makes the fiercest whiskey. Aside from myself, she has a hell of an aim with any gun and can take out scrappies with simple ease. I think you’ll like her.” Teacher said as they got closer to the house.
“Just like That and Gorgon right? I don’t know about your friends, Teach, a lot of them seem sketchy to me.” Jacob said with sarcasm, but Teacher didn’t respond as he was standing in front of the massive two steel doors to the entrance of the house. With one last hop, Jacob made it to the landing and stood beside Teacher waiting. With a deep breath Teacher rapped on the door with the small knocker which echoed thunderously within the house. After a few moments Jacob heard some clamor within the house and then loud footsteps coming closer to them. The doors were yanked open as if they were made of paper and standing in front of them was a rather tall woman with black smudges all over her face and wearing a gray jumpsuit. She had a mechanical eye on her right side, and on the other wore an eye patch. She had long blonde hair that was tied up in a pony tail. She didn’t look too pleased.
“What the hell do you want, Teacher, and who’s the whelp?” The woman asked gruffly.
“You certainly haven’t acquired any charm since we last saw each other, Rosie, perhaps you shouldn’t stick your head up those yellow smoke pipes all of the time.” Teacher said with a wry smile, but Rosie didn’t look amused.
“Get your head out of your ass, Teacher, and tell me what you want; I’m busy working and don’t have time for small talk.” Rosie replied irritably as she checked her left arm which was covered in old and scratched up watches.
“This is, J, and he’s going to take out the Prince and Princess and to do that he’s going to need some weapons and while he’s doing that I’m going to be killing as many scrappies as I can and therefore I’ll need some weapons as well. Savvy?” Teacher said as he gazed at Rosie who softened her gaze and nodded her head.
“That’s the most sense you’ve made since I’ve known you, Teacher, yeah I got some stuff for you and the boy so you both can come in, but don’t touch anything. I have a lot of weapons in progress and the last thing I need is to have a couple of idiotic crusaders mess it all up.” Rosie said as she stood aside and motioned for them to enter.
“Yeah whatever,” Teacher said casually as he crossed the threshold with Jacob right behind him. “That’s what you said last time when I knocked over that vat of smelted iron ore, and all you did was try to blow my head off with a sawed off shot gun.”
“It could have been worse; I could have actually blown that saggy globe of yours into fine particles of dust, but that’s what happens when I get mad, my shooting is terrible.” Rosie said as she began to lead them through the house. The interior fortunately didn’t smell like the outside, but there was a metallic taste in the air and it smelled of sulfur and smoke. There was metal of some kind wherever Jacob looked and the floor was covered in dust and fine shavings of metal. Hanging on the walls were various tools on shelves or just outright hanging. There was a blow torch hanging by its cord still lit, knives that had been simply stuck into the wall, and odd looking tools that Jacob had never seen before. Guns of all kind were also everywhere hanging on the walls carelessly or lying on the ground in small or large piles.
“You have a lot of guns, Rosie.” Jacob said as he glanced from the walls to the floors.
“It’s my hobby; the only sad thing is I don’t get to use them as frequently as I’d like. I haven’t gone scrappie hunting in such a long time, but I guess you both will even up the score for me a little. Just through this door right here,” Rosie motioned as she opened a rusty metal door that creaked. Jacob and Teacher stepped in and their eyes grew wide.
“Those damn scrappies won’t know what hit them by the time I get finished with them.” Teacher said smiling widely as he gazed at the immense cache of weapons. There were assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, flame throwers, hand guns, experimental laser guns, various kinds of explosive ordinance, knives and swords, and some rather interesting looking bow weaponry. Jacob too was glowing with eagerness and excitement. He began picking up the various assault rifles and trying the weight out and how it felt in his hands; it was as if he was in a candy shop.
“I thought you boys might enjoy this room, although, Teacher, you know that I need payment.” Rosie said as she took a cigar from her pocket and stuck it in her mouth before grabbing a nearby blow torch and lighting it. Teacher paused for a moment and thought.
“You still accepting sex as payment for your weapons?” Teacher asked lifting his left eyebrow; Rosie rolled her eyes.
“Not from you, Teach; you exhausted that payment method long ago. No I need something much more valuable than that, and I think I know what you can give me.” Rosie said with a conniving expression on her face. Teacher regarded her warily.
“What can I get for you then?” Teacher asked.
“The Prince and Princess have in their possession the largest reserve of metals so they can build all of their scrappies. These materials tend to be the finest, and they keep them in a storeroom far below their palace. Get them to me after you kick their asses and we’ll consider the deal square.” Rosie stated as she blew a cloud of smoke towards Teacher. Jacob watched as Teacher thought heavily on the matter and then nodded his head.
“I believe we have a deal, just as long as the weapons work.” Teacher warned.
“Feel free to test as many as you desire; the next room is equipped for shooting and blowing stuff up; just remember not to kill each other.” Rosie said as she pointed to the adjoining room before getting up and leaving.
“Oh, I’ll try not to scratch him too much,” Jacob said with a devious smile as he picked up two rapid fire sub machine guns. Teacher smiled and tipped his hat to him.
For hours and hours Teacher and Jacob tried out a number of weapons until their minds were satiated with destruction. After that they had their fill of candy and tasted Rosie’s finest whiskey; although Jacob was young and inexperienced at drinking alcohol, he knew that it was the good stuff. However during their merriment in one of the larger salons, Rosie was nowhere to be found. Jacob found this to be quite odd as he understood it that everyone drank alcohol together until they passed out or stuffed themselves voraciously with candy until they couldn’t get anymore inside of their stomachs. He almost asked Teacher about it, but felt wiser that it wouldn’t be such a great idea. Eventually the two of them drifted to sleep; Teacher on the couch surrounded by empty bottles and Jacob on a sofa on his stomach with a half empty bottle in one hand and candy wrappers littered everywhere.
Hours later Jacob jerked awake when he heard something “clink” to the ground. He moved his head to the left and saw the bottle that was in his spinning around. He sat up and massaged his aching head; he didn’t know if he’d ever get used to the after affects of being drunk. Brushing aside all of the candy wrappers, Jacob sat up and stretched. He was a little tired, but he also was a little hungry. Eagerly he looked for some more candy but apparently he and Teacher had consumed the lot they had obtained from Rosie. He wondered where she kept it. He put his boots on and left the room; Teacher was snoring sound asleep. The house seemed empty and eerie as there was the constant sound of steam hissing and every now and then a “clank” “clank” which made Jacob pause before continuing on once again. He had no idea where he was going but knew that there had to be a kitchen somewhere where he could get some chocolate milk, cheese pretzels or something that was tasty. He was about to open a door to peek in and see if it was the kitchen or a food storeroom, but something caught his ear and he turned his head down the dimly lit hall. It was…music, piano music for that matter. Jacob slowly began to follow the faint sound, which led him down the dimly lit hall.
At the end of the hall, Jacob could see where two large doors were opened and the piano music became louder with each step that he took. The music sounded like nothing he had ever heard of before; beautiful, peaceful yet sad. He strode through the doors cautiously and glanced around a rather large and empty room for the most part. Framed pictures of various splatters of paint were hanging on the wall. The floor was metal but a large and thick rug covered most of the room. The outside wall was made completely of glass doors and windows all of which were opened; white sheer curtains were hanging over them gently blowing in the wind. There on the piano playing gently, yet passionately was Rosie; all cleaned up and looking quite lovely. Even her eye patch and mechanical eye were gone. Jacob sat down on a nearby stool and listened.
Rosie played, seemingly not even aware that Jacob was listening. Jacob, not wanting to disturb her, said nothing and quietly sat entranced by the blissful sounds with each note that she gently played. With a quiet finish the piece came to an end and the music stopped. For a moment the sounds of the breeze blowing through the curtains seemed to have created their own music. Rosie then looked up from the keyboard to where Jacob was sitting. She smiled at him and he managed to put a grin on his face.
“That was very nice,” Jacob said trying not to sound sheepishly.
“You’re an easy critic, J, come on over and have a drink; all of the company that Teacher usually brings are snoring soundly from all of the alcohol and consumption of candy.” Rosie suggested pointing to a cushiony chair nearby. Jacob didn’t hesitate but exchanged the rather uncomfortable stool for something much easier on the ass. Rosie poured him something the looked like wine in a goblet that was made out of glass or crystal.
“You’re a very gracious host,” Jacob stated as he took the goblet and smelled the wine, which was different than what he was getting use to. “What is it?” Jacob asked trying to hide his disdain for the stench that was pouring into his nostrils.
“The men around here prefer to douse and drench themselves in whiskey, beer, and other such alcohol; I prefer wine though, I think you’ll actually like it, especially with some chocolate.” Rosie said with a smile as she pulled a large box of various shapes of chocolate from behind her. Jacob’s eyes grew big and he went right for the milk chocolate truffles. He bit into them, and he was in bliss; he had them once before when his mother let him try some from a present that he and his father had gotten her for mother’s day. Suddenly something flashed in Jacob’s mind; screaming, crying and pain, such pain and then embarrassment. He choked on the truffle and had to cough it out.
“That isn’t usually what people do when offered chocolate, but then again you are only a boy.” Rosie said as she leaned back in the chair and began sipping on her wine. She gazed upon Jacob as if she were the scientist and him the curious artifact. Jacob drank the wine and eventually he was able to stop coughing and shift his mind to other things, because for a moment there everything had become fuzzy and white.
“I guess, that’s what happens when you have too much candy and fine whiskey together.” Jacob said with a wry smile on his face, and immediately he knew that she could see through him and sense his pain. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable he tried to talk, as he had seen…others do. “Ah…that was a great song, where’d you learn how to play?”
“My mother taught me,” Rosie responded after a moment of silence. “Then after the lessons she would hand me off to her male customers who liked to feel up little girls. I think I was six years old when a man first had me, and after that all mother’s customers wanted to keep trying new things with me, and by the time I was eleven I was considered an expert in pleasing men of all ages. I was making my mother more money then she got teaching piano, and soon she became so rich that she wanted to get more girls. By this time I was fourteen and had enough, so I had one of my mother’s customers take me away, because I gave him the illusion that I would be his. After I got all of his money and what not, I ran away and ended up here. Now I build weapons and machines to destroy those bastards that robbed me of everything.”
“Wow,” was all that Jacob could manage to say, and he didn’t mean it in a casual or disrespectful way, but he hadn’t a clue what else to say. Rosie grinned at him, but for all her looks to Jacob she appeared so callous and void of…anything really happy. “Why do you play the piano if it reminds you something painful?” Rosie set her wine glass down and sat back on the piano bench brushing her fingers against the keys.
“When I was there with my mother, all I had was the piano and the music of the all the different artists that had written the sheet music that I had been given; there was nothing else. The piano and the music it made became a…sort of comfort, something that I could go to when I was happy or sad, angry or passionate; it was the only consistent and reliable thing in my life. Although my mother taught me so much, the piano gave me something my mother never could or would.” Rosie stated sadly, although her expression remained firm as steel; it was in her tone that a hint of sadness could be detected.
“What couldn’t your mother give you?” Jacob asked curiously. Rosie sighed.
“You should know the answer to that one, J,” Rosie began as she glanced at Jacob. “What didn’t you get from your mother?” The question made Jacob’s heart sink to his stomach, and despite his best efforts more images began racing through his head. He stood up and turned his back towards Rosie and let a few tears fall from his eyes. He then breathed in deeply and turned to face her making certain his face was clear with a smile on it.
“How should I know, but I do know that Teacher and I have to leave early, so thanks for the wine, chocolates and the music. Have a good rest of the night.” Jacob said awkwardly and then hurried off. More images began to flash through his head, and then there was screaming and lots of crying. Tears began to flow from Jacob’s eyes and he covered his ears as if that would blot out the sounds, but they wouldn’t stop. He pushed open the door to where he and Teacher were staying and found three bottles of whiskey. He began drinking one immediately and didn’t stop until it was all gone, he then began drinking the next one until that one was finished, and while he was drinking the third one he passed out.
“Wake up you stupid son of bitch,” Jacob heard a voice say loudly before he felt something wet fall on his face. He sat bolt upright in bed wiping the liquid from his face, which happened to be beer. He then felt two hands grab him and then throw him against the wall. When he adjusted his eyes he saw that Teacher was the one who was forcing him up against the wall and he didn’t look very happy.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jacob shouted as he tried to force Teacher off of him, but his compatriot was far too strong for that.
“I shouldn’t have to wake you up from a deep slumber so that we can get going; damn, I’d shoot you now if you weren’t so useful to me, you worthless bastard!” Teacher shouted right in his ear. Jacob wanted to cry at first, but he began to feel intense anger rising up inside of him.
“What did I do to you, what did I say?” Jacob demanded as he glared at Teacher who remained infuriated still.
“You had more to drink in the early morning hours didn’t you? And not just one a little drink, you drank close to three bottles!” Teacher screamed and then threw Jacob on the floor. After he balanced himself out he pulled out a hand gun and aimed it at Teacher’s head and pulled back the trigger. Teacher didn’t even seem to notice. “That is why we drink late at night, J, so we don’t have problems like this in morning, so that we can move out if necessary. Your damn stupidity could have cost us our lives!”
“I couldn’t help myself, I needed to forget!” Jacob shouted back angrily. On the outside he was furious and seemed like he could shoot, but on the inside he was ready to burst into tears; he desperately wanted to hug somebody who truly loved and cared for him. Someone who wouldn’t hurt him, someone who would protect and watch out for him. Teacher looked at Jacob incredulously.
“And what pray tell did you want to forget about that you endangered both our lives for?” Teacher asked still glaring at Jacob who didn’t budge.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jacob said plainly.
“What was it?” Teacher responded in frustration.
“I said let it be!” Jacob shouted back louder, but Teacher wouldn’t stop.
“Nightmares, memories, your parents, this whole fucking world!”
“I said I DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!”
“TELL ME!” Teacher shouted back even louder than Jacob who cowered back a little upon seeing Teacher’s face and hearing his voice.
“I wanted to forget the things that my parents did to me, okay!” Jacob shouted back and then took the gun, cocked it, and fired at the couches. He drained the gun of bullets and then picked up a machine gun and riddled the couch with more bullets until they were gone. He was screaming hysterically by now and then he picked up a flame thrower and set the couch ablaze. He was about to pull the pin out of a grenade when Teacher stopped him.
“Jacob!” Teacher shouted, and reflexively Jacob stopped. He looked at Teacher, his eyes all red and his face seemingly distorted, and then burst into tears and let himself collapse face first onto the floor. For a moment Teacher stood completely still as he listened to the uncontrollable sobs of Jacob, but he then hesitantly knelt down beside Jacob and put his hand gently on Jacob’s back. Within seconds, Jacob was leaning up against Teacher who had his arm around him, still crying though but for the time being he felt safe. It was the use of his entire name by Teacher, and at that moment Jacob knew that beyond all of the survival skills, lessons and rules that he had taught him, the man cared for him.
“All of us here have things we long to forget, that’s why we all drink and do other things so that we can forget and try to live; it isn’t easy, J, but if we can’t control our pain then it will take over our minds. A mind overrun with pain is useless, and that’s how we can get killed.” Teacher said and then he gently took both hands and held Jacob’s face in front of his. “Never again let your pain take you over, never again, J.” Teacher said softly.
“Okay,” was all that Jacob could manage to say. His eyes were bloodshot and his voice a little hoarse sounding from all of the shouting. “I swear I won’t ever let it happen again.”
“We’d best be on our way then,” Teacher stated as he stood up abruptly. Jacob dried his eyes and took a couple of deep long breaths.
“I’ll get all of the weapons we need,” Jacob stated and went about collecting the firearms that he and Teacher had agreed upon, although Teacher also collected a number of weapons to put on his own person and carry. Rosie appeared, standing in the doorway, in her overalls and sooty face once again; the beauty that Jacob had seen appeared to have been all a faced or maybe it was the other way around.
“Just remember our deal, Teach; and if you forget or don’t come through then I’m going to put such a bounty on your head that even the scrappies will leave the service of the Prince and Princess to hunt you down.” Rosie stated with her usual tone of sarcasm and seriousness.
“You don’t have that much to worry about, Rosie. If this doesn’t work out then I’ll be dead, and if it does then you’ll definitely get your materials; after all with your weapons, my brains, and his stupid sense of destiny we can’t fail.” Teacher declared with a big old grin on his face.
“You just kept telling yourself that, Teach,” Rosie said with a faint smile on her face before vanishing to one of the many corridors of her house.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, J, before she changes her mind.” Teacher said as he picked up one last weapons and then walked out of the room. Jacob was right behind him towing all of the weapons that he could carry. They hadn’t gotten too far outside of the building when something occurred to Jacob.
“Hey, Teacher, how are we going to get around all of this bubbling pink slime?” Jacob asked as the smell once again assaulted his nostrils. Teacher pointed a strange looking boat that was docked next to the house.
“Well, I don’t want to haul these things all the way over to the realm of the Prince and Princess from here. Come on, load up the boat.” Teacher said as he tossed his bundle of weapons to Jacob who almost toppled with the weight but he carried them over to the rather large boat and dropped them in. It was made out of metal and had a large amount of space on the deck; it reminded Jacob of some of the speed boats that he had seen in some of the geographical magazines his parents had given him. This boat however was uglier, and he couldn’t for the life of him see where the motor was. Once everything was loaded up, Teacher took a seat by the captain’s wheel and lit a cigarette; Jacob sat across from him in the co-pilot’s seat.
“So, how are we going to get this thing moving without an engine?” Jacob asked, but Teacher didn’t look that concerned. Finally, after Jacob coughed to make certain that Teacher heard him his compatriot merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Eh, don’t worry about it; we should be under way in a moment or two.” Teacher answered casually and then leaned back and closed his eyes. Jacob was about to ask him how they were going to go anywhere without a motor, but suddenly they were propelled forward and Jacob fell backwards off his seat. The boat lurched away from Rosie’s place and in seconds they were speeding away through the big lake of pinke ooze. Jacob managed to pull himself up and sat back on the chair, he then looked over at Teacher who was still relaxing.
“How are me moving without a motor?” Jacob asked loudly over the noise of the splashing of the pink ooze.
“Hamsters,” Teacher replied plainly. Jacob arched his eyebrows at Teacher. “On steroids probably knowing how fast we’re going; Rosie is a very impatient woman, never enjoys a nice luxurious voyage.” Teacher said. Jacob thought about it and chuckled to himself, and the more he thought about the ludicrous notion, the more it amused him. Eventually he kicked back his feet as well and relaxed; he even pulled out a cigar and began to quietly smoke as Teacher was. The two of them journeyed in silence for hours and hours. The scenery wasn’t much; everything was dead or at least had the appearance of being dead. And very soon, despite the noise and the stench of the pink ooze, Jacob fell asleep.
Jacob awoke when he felt a gentle slap against his head. He yanked out his pistol, cocked it, and leapt to his feet. He looked around and could see nothing that indicated an imminent threat. Teacher was lighting a cigar and steering the boat through a narrow valley; there was still pink ooze everywhere but he had either gotten used to the stench or the smell was gone. The sun was low in the sky and there was a chilly breeze blowing through the air. Jacob put his gun away and noticed something. There was a kind of foreboding about in the chilly air, a sense that made him think of the comic books where at the end of a set the villain and hero would have an epic final battle.
“Have a nice little nap?” Teacher asked with his usual knack for pleasantness.
“I guess,” Jacob responded with equal amiability. He looked down the river of pink ooze and saw that they were approaching a cave which the pink ooze flowed through. “Hey, are we going into that cave?”
“Yep,” Teacher responded simply.
“Are we going to stay there for the night?” Jacob asked curiously as he glanced up at the sun.
“Nope,” Teacher answered quickly.
“What do you mean?” Jacob interjected worriedly. “What about the sun light? If we get caught out in it then we’ll be…”
“There is no sleep for us tonight, J. That cave right there in front of us leads underneath the palace of the Prince and Princess. We should without any difficulty be able to infiltrate the palace and kill them while all of the decent citizens of Hell create a distraction for us.” Teacher stated without much hesitation. Jacob looked at him and suddenly felt very cold inside as his heart collapsed into his stomach. Even after all of the talking and planning they had actually come to the place where it all began.
“Oh, okay,” Jacob feigned in cool confidence, but he knew that Teacher would be able to see through his weak faced. That however wasn’t the point; if he had panicked and showed weakness then he would be far worse off. By pretending that he had everything under control he remained in control of himself and that was how it should be, at least that is what Teacher had taught him. As they passed into the cave leaving the light of the sun behind them, Jacob felt a damp shiver pass over him. It was weird but it was as if he could…sense that the Prince and Princess were near. He looked up and knew that high above them at this very moment the two of them were doing…something. Suddenly Jacob felt something uncontrollable in his stomach and he leaned over the boat and vomited.
The lurching and retching lasted almost a couple minutes and then stopped. Jacob let his bodyweight fall up against the hull of the boat and he pulled out a small bottle of Rosie’s whiskey. After he took a couple of swigs he relaxed and closed his eyes. He didn’t know why he had the sudden urge to vomit, but he knew it had something to do with the Prince and Princess.
“I certainly hope that isn’t your primary fighting skill, or I’ll just shoot you in the head now and get it over with.” Teacher stated with a wry smile on his face. Jacob rolled his eyes.
“If you haven’t noticed, the pink ooze kind of stinks, and I only have the stomach of ten year old boy, not the experienced iron stomach of a man despite what I tell my brain.” Jacob retorted swiftly. Teacher nodded his head satisfyingly and smiled largely.
“Very good, J, your lying is getting much, much better; soon you’ll be able to fool anyone into believing what you want them to believe. You’ve come such a long way since when I first found you; I am very impressed.” Teacher said with the smile still on his face, and Jacob couldn’t help but notice that there was some warmth in his mentor’s expression. It was as if Teacher was genuinely proud of Jacob and what he had become, and something happened inside of Jacob; he felt…good, something he had never felt before in his life. He hadn’t a clue what this feeling was, but all he knew was it felt good and he felt so very content.
“You’re just getting easier to fool because you’re getting old.” Jacob stated as he didn’t want to show weakness by being all emotional like. Teacher chuckled to himself.
“Perhaps I taught you a little too well, but we’ll see how everything goes tonight.” Teacher said as the sound of a muffled explosion reverberated in the cave, followed by another, and then one that wasn’t quite so muffled and shook the cave. “And there’s our distraction. Hopefully that will draw the majority of the scrappies away from the interior of the palace, and then we should have very little difficulty eliminating anything remaining in our way. It shouldn’t even be that hard to kill the Prince and Princess, that is if you can keep yourself from vomiting in front of them.”
“Hah, hah,” Jacob said as he pulled out a pair of hand guns and loaded them both. He then let out a huge breath and closed his eyes. I am ready for this, I can do this; I can kill the Prince and the Princess.
Teacher tied the boat up at a nearby jagged rock, where he and Jacob got off at. There was a small passage that led away from the river of bubbling pink stuff; he and Teacher moved forward into it. It was dark, so very dark. Jacob began to feel his heart beat faster, and faster; his breath was beginning to become more laborious. Even though Teacher had a small flashlight that shone green, there still wasn’t enough light. Suddenly he felt as if all of the air was closing in and pressing down on him and that there was nowhere to go. He then felt a tender hand on his shoulder and then met Teacher’s confident gaze.
“Think of peace, J, think of what you desire most that you lack…” Teacher said and then paused as Jacob focused his breathing and cleared his mind. “Think of safety, and you will always find it. Let’s go, I think we’re very close now.” Teacher said as he pulled his machine gun off from around his shoulder. The smothering feeling vanished from Jacob and oddly enough the reverse happened; he felt a steady calm, a calm that seemed to indicate cool confidence. Taking a deep breath he pulled out two automatic handguns and followed Teacher on a path that led them on an upward incline.
After traveling through twisting and turning passages for about ten minutes, the vibrations from the explosions were becoming more prominent and clear. Now both Teacher and Jacob could see the foundations of the palace, and Jacob in particular could once more feel the presence of the Prince and Princess. Then oddly enough Jacob could hear something odd, something he wouldn’t have expected to find under the foundations of a palace; running water, and quite a bit of it. He and Teacher rounded a corner and there at the end of the crudely cut out cave passage was a thin blanket of water gently flowing. Jacob thought it was odd and that it was a dead end but Teacher kept on going.
“How are we going to get passed that?” Jacob posed as he stopped in bewilderment, but Teacher didn’t say anything and he didn’t stop; he passed right through the water and off to the left side. Jacob frowned and quickly followed after his associate imitating the same maneuver. He got wet but he was swift enough to keep himself from getting completely drenched. After he emerged away from the water he looked and saw that the water fell down into a large pit which then filtered out down into a river he supposed. The rest of the room was filled with wooden casks of wine and beer he figured, and it was a very large room most likely their wine cellar.
“How’d you know about this place and how to get in it?” Jacob asked Teacher who was carefully making his way towards the stairs.
“I remember it very well from the time when I used it escape this place, several years ago, although I did almost take a wrong turn a couple twists ago, now that would have been bad.” Teacher said with a full smile, but Jacob could tell as they both began to ascend the stairs that the man had so much sadness and pain buried in his voice. Jacob knew all about that pain, and knew why it was never spoken about and ignored. The person would have to admit to themselves that the two people who should give their own lives to protect that which was entrusted to them, ended up being two people who destroyed those lives for their own simple pleasure. That would make anyone feel…well less than valuable.
“Well thank goodness you remembered it all, otherwise this whole party would have been for nothing.” Jacob responded now sounding more and more like Teacher with each passing moment. They reached the top of the stairs, Teacher slowly opened the door and cursed under his breath when it creaked loudly, but there was nothing for it. Jacob hoped that while Teacher was peering out of it that he wouldn’t see anything that would sound an alarm. He then nodded for Jacob to follow him as he exited the door. Both of them emerged into a rather odd looking hallway, Jacob noted as he gently closed the door behind him.
The floor was checkered black and white (polished very, very well), and the walls were made of mirror. Gas lamps brightly lit the hall so there didn’t seem to be a speck of darkness despite there being any windows present. The whole area was overwhelming for Jacob who hadn’t a clue how anyone possibly navigated around if this is what the entire palace looked like.
“How the hell are we going to know which way to go?” Jacob whispered forcibly as he glanced around. Teacher looked down at him with a grin and then appeared hurt.
“Why, J, I do believe you are doubting my skills, and my remarkable memory. I walked these halls enough times to find their private chambers in my sleep, not to mention there are a network of secret passages that they used to get around and meet with their special children without anyone noticing. Our first stop is this way.” Teacher motioned as he led the way to the right of the cellar. Jacob hustled after him and the pair came to a flight of stairs with the same pattern as the floor. Teacher motioned for them both to carefully go up the stairs, which step by step they did. There was a large door made of red, polished wood that Teacher eased opened a little and peered through. Just through the crack in the door Jacob could hear a cacophony of sounds seeming to indicate that people were panicky and scurrying around in a disorganized fashion. Teacher turned around and nodded his head to the left.
“Follow me, J, and whatever you do, don’t discharge a single bullet otherwise the whole palace guard will be on top of us; just blend in with the chaos and nobody will notice us.” Teacher said taking a deep breath and then he shoved the door open and charged over to the left grabbing a stack of books and papers in his arms as he went; Jacob immediately grabbed a couple of lamps and followed Teacher. Jacob tried to focus only on where Teacher was going, but his eyes quickly glanced around and he could see that people were running and carrying stuff everywhere. Some of those people were well dressed, some of them were dressed like peddlers, and some of them were dressed like Nazis from World War II. When Jacob noticed that he did a double take to make certain he was correct, but there they were; men dressed in the black SS Nazi uniforms. He shook his head a little and noticed that everything grew hazy and white for a moment but then he focused and everything became clear again.
Teacher led the way through the chaotic room safely and to a secluded nestled corner of the room which was surrounded with bookshelves. Teacher dropped the stuff he had been carrying and Jacob did likewise, who then pulled out his automatic hand guns and waited for Teacher. As if he were searching for a book, Teacher was thumbing through all of the shelves.
“Ah Moby Dick, never liked that one,” Teacher said as he tossed the book aside. Jacob arched his eyebrows curiously as he watched the book “plop” to the shiny checkered floor. “Of Human Bondage, she always was a sucker for the depressing stories.” Teacher commented once more as he tossed the book. Jacob was becoming a little impatient.
“I’m glad that you have excellent taste in books, Teach, but now isn’t really the time to get all literary critic like; we have to go now before someone discovers that we are armed to the teeth.” Jacob stated nervously as he glanced over his shoulder and then looked back at Teacher who was still perusing as if he hadn’t heard a word of what was just said.
“After all of these years, they let their collection get out of alphabetical order; how very disappointing.” Teacher commented with a tisk-tisk. Jacob was again about to remind him of what was at stake, but then Teacher exclaimed in wonderful jubilation, “ah-hah.” He then pulled out one last book holding it in front of Jacob. “Last but not least, The Scarlet Letter, he always had wished the ending was different; he wanted the woman to die, not the man.” Teacher said with a sigh as Jacob jumped back a little when he heard some “clicking” and “clanging” emanating from the bookshelf which then slid over to reveal a narrow stairwell. “Shall we go meet the stewards of Hell?” Teacher posed with a fierce grin and he began to ascend the stairs. Jacob followed after him once he made certain no one was behind them.
Once they had gone up a few stairs, Teacher pulled a lever and the bookshelf closed behind them and once more Jacob and his new mentor began to ascend the stairs. Jacob was very glad that he was still so young as the stairwell was so small and he could see that Teacher was annoyed with the tight space. There was very little light coming from the delicately small soft glowing lamps, but it was enough for Jacob to see his assorted arsenal. When he touched his weapons he felt assured, and even though they were getting closer to the Prince and Princess, he didn’t feel nervous or scared. He was unusually calm. Yet with each passing step they took, he could feel the presence of the Prince and Princess getting stronger. After a while the feeling became so powerful that it was as if it was a pungent stench that hovered above a rotten corpse. When Teacher and Jacob had gone up countless flights of steps, Jacob was beginning to get tired but he didn’t ask Teacher to slow down. He didn’t want to show weakness now of all times, when it was about to be finished.
“One more flight of stairs to go, J, so don’t collapse on me now.” Teacher said almost reading Jacob’s mind, but the words encouraged Jacob and he knew that he could push himself on. So on both of them went through the last flight of stairs that stopped in front of a rather odd looking door. It was very pink, and hanging outside of it was a purple ribbon bow. Teacher pulled down his machine gun and took a deep breath. “No matter what happens, or what you see, J, remember why you decided to do all of this.”
“It’s seared into my mind forever, Teacher; I’ll never forget it.” Jacob responded coldly. Teacher nodded his head and counted down with his fingers; ONE, TWO, THREE and then he and Jacob burst through the door and emerged into what could be considered a nursery for a three year old child. Both of them immediately noticed an adult male dressed in royal clothes from the eighteenth century about ready to get on top of a small boy dressed similarly, but very frightened. Without thinking Jacob scowled vehemently at the man, aimed his gun, and shot the man in the head as he put his hands up and began to plead for his life. As the bullets riddled his head, blood spattered the wall behind him soiling the perfect baby blue wallpaper. The boy looked up at Teacher and Jacob in shock and quickly moved over to the corner huddling in fear. Jacob was about to give the boy some comfort but Teacher pointed to the door leading out of the room.
“Let him be, J, there’ll be time for that later.” Teacher said as he kicked open the door and jumped into the room. Jacob followed him out and laid his eyes on something that made him yearn to vomit, and it was only because he was able to force himself to suppress it that he didn’t vomit. Food and drink was everywhere on tables that stood low to the ground. The room was sumptuously decorated in silks of red, purple, white, blue, and green. What was most disturbing was seeing all of the men and women getting up hastily from their positions on the floor and dressing themselves as dozens of boys tried to cover themselves up with whatever they could find. Jacob felt something cruel rise up in him. He holstered one of his automatic pistols and took out something with more precision.
“You dirty bastards,” Jacob whispered under his breath as he began to pick off the adults one at a time as quickly as he could. He tried to shoot them all in the head, but sometimes he missed and had to shoot them multiple times wherever he could. Teacher joined in, but he used his machine gun because he had much better aim than Jacob did. After a matter of seconds all of the adults in the room were dead, or either bleeding to death. Both Teacher and Jacob lowered their weapons and looked upon the bleeding corpses with delight, but their joy melted when they saw the many young boys scattered amongst the corpses. “Lead on,” Jacob motioned. Teacher nodded his head and swiftly ran across the room to a large set of doors. Jacob followed Teacher and as he was about to exit the room he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down at a rather handsome young boy covered up in a white silken blanket.
“Thank you,” the young boy said with tears in his eyes and then looked down at the floor and pulled the blanket around him even tighter. Jacob nodded his head reluctantly and then exited the room with Teacher. He wished that there was more that he could do for the boys, but they had to help themselves just as he did and learn what he learned to survive. The two of them emerged into a long hall next which several scrappies seemed to be guarding. Both Teacher and Jacob immediately opened fire and quickly dispatched all of the guards with little difficulty.
“Better hurry up before they send their elite guard up here to save them from death.” Teacher said as he rushed towards the single door at the end of the hall which was pure white with golden door handles. Teacher kicked the doors open and aimed both of his machine guns throughout the room; Jacob came up behind him. The room was huge and had ten grand looking beds in it. Their attention was drawn to a single bed where a very well dressed man was attempting to drag a young boy over to the massive window. He stopped however when he saw Teacher and Jacob pointing their guns at him. It was the Prince with another one of his play partners.
“You worthless son of a bitch,” Teacher said and just as he was about to shoot the Prince, from behind him the Princess came out from her hiding place and stabbed him in the back. Jacob quickly shot her in the head and she dropped down in front of him. The Prince then got a gun in his hand, but Jacob filled his arm and hand with bullets and then stopped. He stood still like a statue, holding the gun at the Prince who was kneeling on the floor panting and looking somewhat defeated. Teacher had crawled out of the way and had propped himself against the wall. For a moment there was silence, except for hoarse breathing.
“It’s good to see you again, Jacob; I thought you were dead.” The Prince said as he looked up and smiled warmly at Jacob who suddenly noticed his insides felt like jello. “I’ve missed you so much and all of the fun times we’ve had together, why did you run away from us? We love you so much, and you are so precious to us. She was devastated when she had learned that you ran away; she mourned for days and days that she could no longer care for you as we both had done. How could you do that to her, to us; your family? How could you abandon us?”
“I…um…” Jacob stammered and soon his hand was trembling. He tried to focus his gun on the Prince’s head and pull the trigger, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The Prince smiled warmly and shook his head.
“You don’t have to do this, Jacob, my son; I will love you despite what you’ve done and forget your sins if you put the gun down and come over here and embrace me as your father. Do you hear me, Jacob, I love you!” The Prince said as tears began to trickle down from his eyes.
“Jacob,” Teacher said gently from up against the wall. Jacob glanced over and saw his friend cradling the knife wound and looking rather pale. “Remember the rules I taught you?”
“Please lower your gun, Jacob; you don’t want to kill your own father.” The Prince urged with still more tears pouring down his face.
“There is one rule left for you to learn.”
“Listen to me, Jacob, I’m your father I love you, I’ve protected, I’ve raised you and given you the love you need.”
“Rule number eleven is…forget all of the rules and you’ll be free; free yourself, Jacob.” Teacher said as he coughed up some blood. Jacob looked at Teacher and then looked at the Prince, and then back at Teacher. He then dropped his weapons and ran towards the Prince.
“Father!” Jacob exclaimed with tears in his eyes as he embraced the Prince who wrapped his arms around him. “I love you so much, and I’ve missed you.”
“Oh my precious, precious son of course you have.” The Prince declared as he stroked Jacob’s hair. He then looked into Jacob’s face and smiled. “We will have more fun ahead of us and you can rule with me. You see, Teacher, I have them all under control ultimately; none of them can resist me.” The Prince declared with a wide smile but then he grimaced when Jacob took a four inch blade and stuck it through his throat.
“You fucking pig, do you think you’re the only one who can lie and put on a great performance? I hope you and that bitch rot in the depths of darkness and fire for all of eternity!” Jacob whispered into the Prince’s ear and then yanked out the knife and stood to is feet slowly as he watched the Prince collapse to the ground choking on his own blood. Jacob felt nothing, not happiness nor joy; he felt peace. He turned around and walked over to Teacher who didn’t look so good.
“Not bad, J, you really are free now.” Teacher said as he looked into Jacob’s eyes. Jacob knelt down and grinned at Teacher.
“I am free, Teacher, thanks to your guidance. I wouldn’t have been able to come this far without you, and now you’re going to die and I’m going to be left alone all over again.” Jacob said sadly. Teacher shook his head.
“You were always alone, J, and you will always be alone; nobody will ever understand what you have done, and nobody will ever care enough to try and figure it out. Remember the rules, and they will protect you; remember most of all though that being free doesn’t mean anything.” Teacher finished saying and then his body convulsed and then went still. Jacob gazed at the corpse of his friend and teacher and sighed. A part of him wanted to cry, but a larger portion dismissed the feeling. He let his body collapse against the wall next to Teacher and sat calm and still for what seemed like hours. He heard footsteps and thought that it was either the scrappies or part of the resistance against the Prince and Princess.
Jacob blinked his eyes and looked at the door to see police officers, detectives, and other emergency personnel rush through his parent’s front door. He looked down in front of him and saw his mother in a pool of blood; he looked to his right and saw his father lying prostrate also in a huge pool of blood. He looked to his left though and saw no sign of Teacher, and then he noticed that the room he was in was the living room at his parent’s house, not the palace of the Prince and Princess. Was it all a dream, Jacob thought to himself. He shook his head, it was too real to be a dream; Hell was a real place, a place that he would return to and finish setting things right. A police officer approached him and knelt down in front of him with a kind expression.
“Hello there son, my name is Officer Mitchell, what’s your name?” Officer Mitchell asked politely. Jacob exhaled deeply before answering.
“My name’s, J, and I’ve been in Hell for a long time; how are you doing?” Jacob asked with his eyebrows raised.
Two months later, Jacob was packing his clothes from a psychiatric facility that he had spent time at after he had killed his parents. At first he was under arrest for killing his parents, but then they dismissed the charges on the basis of severe emotional distress when the authorities had discovered the sexual abuse by his parents and several of their friends. He had named the friends that had sexually abused him and they were all on their way to prison for multiple charges. He remembered what he had overheard the psychiatrist say to his uncle who was taking him in. He had told everyone about his adventures in Hell, and even though everyone found them interesting and insightful none of them truly believed that he had been at this place.
Therefore the psychiatrist told Jacob’s uncle that because of the severe sexual abuse his brain had disassociated so severely that Jacob had actually believed that he was in a real place with real characters. Apparently the psychiatrist hadn’t a solid explanation why the disassociation had lasted so long, but with Jacob emerging from it after he killed his parents that was the goal of the disassociation; to protect him from his parents. Since his parents were dead there was no longer any need for the dissociation and thus he returned to reality. Jacob didn’t believe any of this, but he stopped trying to make people believe him and what he experienced. He instead stuck to Teacher’s rules and knew that with them he would be free despite what everyone said or did. He just wished that he knew what Teacher’s last words meant; they had confused him every day since he had heard them. He had to get back to Hell and find out. How would he do that though? He didn’t know how he got there in the first place. Ideas flooded through his mind as his uncle drove him to his family’s house, endlessly yacking merrily about how fun it was going to be for Jacob to live with them, but he didn’t care and wasn’t paying close attention.
As Jacob stepped out of the pristine looking mini-van and gazed upon the beautiful white house with a breathtaking garden around it, and the family eagerly awaiting him on the porch, he knew he had to get back to Hell as soon as possible. He began trying things, anything he could; alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, speed, crystal meth. At age fifteen he had been to drug and alcohol rehab seventeen times. Then he tried something different; he hired himself out to pedophiles for sex, thinking that is what would trigger the event to lead him back to Hell. It didn’t work despite the amount of money he made and all of the sex he had. When he was twenty-one he almost raped a young boy hoping that would send him to Hell, but he stopped as he couldn’t bring himself to even begin the act. He fled the scene of his ultimate shame and drove, and drove until he realized something; he was never going to be able to return to Hell.
The realization weighed heavily on Jacob, and soon tears were falling from his eyes. He would never be able to return to the place where he felt whole, where he felt peace, where he felt he fit in and could call it home. In the world he was in currently, he felt people looked at him as if he were a monstrous creature and yet he couldn’t shoot them for their cruelty as he would have been able to do in Hell. The only person he’d ever felt attached to he couldn’t return and seek out or the wisdom of Teacher’s old friends. Then it hit him, the words that Teacher spoke as he died; “being free doesn’t mean anything.” And Jacob knew he was right, he didn’t feel anything and he didn’t have anything which meant he had one last option and hoped that it would take him to Hell. He took a deep breath and slammed on the accelerator and steered his car straight off the bridge. As his car plunged towards the canyon floor, a smile came to his face as he thought about Rosie’s workshop and Gorgon’s cave hideout, and how could he forget That’s performances. But when the car impacted on the ground and he died, he woke up to something he would have never imagined possible.
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What has happened to horror?
Written by Sophie Ashwood
Every time there is a new horror film out every horror fan wants to see it. “A new horror? Fantastic!”
Until you actually go to the cinema and then realise, “wow, what a load of crap”. Horror films nowadays are just made for the gore factor. The horror genre has been around for over a century now so we all know the conventions. They’re even being told to us in films such as Scream. This is why it’s so hard to find an actual scary film anymore. They’re all jumpy or gory but nothing ever scares anyone. Well, when I say anyone I am excusing the percentage of people who scream when the eerie music starts or a door opens by itself. That percentage know absolutely nothing about horror and honestly, I hope it stays that way otherwise there would be no action or blood seen in a film again.
You may be wondering what my point is in this post. To be honest, I’m just putting out the question and trying to get you to think. Classic horrors such as Nosferatu used shadows and music to scare the audience. It was the element of imagination which made people feel terrified. Nowadays it’s only the gore that is used which is purely there to disgust the viewer, not scare them.
Horror has lost it’s uniqueness and one day I hope I can bring it back.
I love the adrenaline you can get from being scared but knowing afterwards that everything is fine and ‘it’s only a film’. Horror films make the perfect escapism. They have the music, the mise-en-scene and just the reputation for being completely different to reality.
The only thing I hate is when films such as Paranormal Activity are released and there’s a huge hype about how ‘terrifying it is’ or how ‘rubbish it is and it’s a waste of money’. Please, just stop! I do not care what the majority vote is about a certain film. If I want to see it I shall.
When I did watch Paranormal Activity it made me jump. It did scare me. It was the first film to have done that in years. Some of my friends couldn’t even sleep afterwards. You might be thinking I’m just talking rubbish right now but this is all true and it’s because we allow ourselves to be involved in the film. We allow it to draw us in. Other people are so intent on rejecting anything they don’t believe in, anything that might pull them away from their beliefs or just their routine, that they just push away anything else. That’s what I believe anyway.
Horror films should be about the scare not about how disgusting the film is. Hostel and Saw are perfect examples of this. They are made purely for the gore factor and yes, times change and things evolve but we mustn’t forget what the purpose is of a horror film. I don’t want horrors to turn into a generic genre. Yes, most genres are now evolving and there are hybrid genres being created but horror is something which needs to be remembered. The element of the scare is crucial and people are forgetting that it’s important.
I’ve heard so many things about how horrors do not even need a good storyline. Apparently, if the film has enough blood and guts the audience won’t care. Really? Is this what it has come to? Because I don’t want to carry on being a horror fanatic if that’s what has become of horrors.
Bring me a horror film which is scary and not just made for the money and isn’t over the top with blood and we shall see. Horror might return to the greatness it once was instead of being the conventional rubbish it has become.
December 15, 2010 April 7, 2018 · Posted in Opinion · Tagged Blood, cinema, conventions, Gore, Guts, history of horror, Horrors, hostel, Monsters, Paranormal Activity, ranting, rules of horror, saw, scary, Scream ·
5 thoughts on “What has happened to horror?”
I agree. Horror films have lost their edge.
Cain says:
I don’t think it’s the horror movies losing their touch, rather it’s the viewing public who have been so desensitized that modern horror has little to no impact anymore. In the 70’s, when Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist were released, people were throwing up in the aisles, fainting, running out screaming, and even holding prayer circles outside of the theaters in certain places. Now, in the 21st Century, the world has pretty much seen as much violence by the age of 12 as the last generation had seen their whole lives. Horror movies today, or at least the vast majority of them, rely on cheap “jump scares”, the same tired cliches, and the inevitable sequel/remake. I think, and I don’t think I’m the only one who would agree, that horror movies are going to have to take that next step and go to the next level of shock and horrify. I thought that The Hills have Eyes remake did a very good job as far as going to a new style of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats, wondering in fear if the baby was going to be eaten, and the explicit levels and displays of violence. Horror films are going to have to start targeting more delicate subject matter, like rapes, harming/killing children/babies, focusing on personal agony, and more explicit deaths like the man in the outhouse in THHE when he eats a shotgun shell. We, as humans, have seen too much real life horror to be scared anymore by onscreen horror movies. Am I wrong?
Sophie Ashwood says:
That’s exactly my point and if I hadn’t just be ranting for ages I would have gone into more depth about the public being desensitized as I wrote my media coursework on it before. I think that screenwriters have become lazy though as they now know how people have expectations of the horror genre and they are just trying to disturb them rather than scare them and as you said, we do see a lot of horror in real life so we have become desensitized to what we see on screen. Honestly, I just want someone to actually make something which is unique and stop creating the same old storyline because it is repeated in nearly every horror we see today which has made them all predictable.
It’s probably mainly to do with the audience as that is who they are trying to cater for but I’m fed up of seeing the same generic rubbish and CGI effects. Maybe technology has ruined films as well. But really it might just be humanity who are ruining genres as we have high expectations and as we have evolved films have stayed the same.
I would just like to know who created the photo you used?
I found it on Google from this website: http://www.skullsnbones.com/profiles/blogs/black-metal-screams-metal-or
The Gore Factor ♥ – Top 10 gory horror films
News stories could be worse than gore-fest horror films
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Spotted: The Weightless – Rain
Today I’m introducing you to Kasper Lindgren, or The Weightless which he uses as his artist name when making piano music. Kasper is a Swedish composer, pianist, born and raised in the capitol, Stockholm.
The Weightless is my first own project, here I can freely create music I feel to do. There are no rules or some special genre that stands in the way of The Weightless, therefore the first series of songs becomes solo piano and we will see in which direction the next series of songs goes.
Rain was released in January 2019, and is the first single of many coming this year from The Weightless.
Tell us something about Rain!
This is a song I’ve been playing for a long time. The song has had many different parts over the years but became like this when I recorded it. I want to capture the Nordic melancholy but still with a sense of hope.
Thank you for sharing this with us Kasper! Looking forward to hear more music soon!
Check out these links for more information about The Weightless:
Facebook / Instagram / Spotify
Spotted: Philip Campbell – Seeking
Spotted: Bhaveek N. Makan – Borivali
Spotted: Poor Colour Palette – Long Grass
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Virat Kohli vs Mahendra Singh Dhoni in IPL Exhibition Match in USA?
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IPL 2013 Preview: Royal Challengers Bangalore set for must-win clash
The statistics, however, are not especially damning. In the seven matches Bangalore have lost, Gayle has scores of 1, 4, 18, 34, 61, 33 and 77. In victories, Gayle's numbers are: 92, 13, 85, 13, 49*, 175*, 21 and 4.
Written by Wisden India Staff
As the low clouds of the spot-fixing controversy hung over the sixth edition of the Pepsi Indian Premier League there was an unusually cheery soundtrack to the Chennai Super Kings' Friday evening practice session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. A 150-strong group of young women cricketers, in the city for a training camp, were in the stands right behind the nets from which the batsmen launched towering sixes. While the real impact of the spot-fixing saga on viewer interest will be known in the weeks to come, when television ratings are computed, there seemed to be no dip on the ground.
For Chennai, who have led the pack all season and were never really in danger of not making the cut, despite the Mumbai Indians eventually taking top spot, their final league match of the season, on Saturday (May 18) against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, merely afforded a chance to reaffirm all that was good about their methods. Even without being able to put their best team on the park - Faf du Plessis would have walked into the eleven if not for a back injury - Chennai have had enough power in their ranks to cover all bases.
For Bangalore, the road has been less comfortable. After starting strongly, they have had to scrap for wins. Initially, it was playing away from home that posed a problem, but just as that hurdle was crossed, inconsistency came to the fore. While Bangalore insist that they are not over-dependent on Chris Gayle, and when you have Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in your ranks there's no obvious reason why you should rely on one batsman, irrespective of who he is, opposition bowlers will always fancy their chances once they get Gayle early.
The statistics, however, are not especially damning. In the seven matches Bangalore have lost, Gayle has scores of 1, 4, 18, 34, 61, 33 and 77. In victories, Gayle's numbers are: 92, 13, 85, 13, 49*, 175*, 21 and 4. What this tells us, in numbers, is something we instinctively know: when Gayle goes big, it puts Bangalore in prime position, but even when he does not fire there have been times when others have pulled their weight. While winning without Gayle might be eminently feasible, the chances of Bangalore losing increase exponentially when he does not get to at least a half-century.
"There is a huge amount of planning done on Chris Gayle and we are no different. We have been lucky enough to get him out on a number of occasions," said Stephen Fleming, coach of the Super Kings. "We just have to make sure we bowl in the areas that we want to, and hopefully it will be our day. Gayle has been dynamic, and his consistency, especially on this ground, has to be admired. We could have our work cut out for us if it is a high-scoring game and if any of their top-three get away."
What has been a problem for Bangalore, is the lack of quality in the domestic line-up. While Vinay Kumar has bucked the trend, as he always seems to, and found ways to pick up wickets even on the flattest of decks, Bangalore's young Indian batsmen have failed to deliver. The injury to Mayank Agarwal did not help matters, but even taking that into consideration, Bangalore have not found a way to ease the dependency on their foreign four. They have played KL Rahul well out of his comfort zone low down the order, let Abhinav Mukund largely languish on the bench, and steadfastly refused to trust in Saurabh Tiwary.
For Bangalore now, the situation has come to such a pass that it is not enough for them to merely win - they can at best get to 18 points while three teams already have 20 or more - but must depend on the Sunrisers Hyderabad not doing well enough. No team likes to lose control of their destiny, and this could just cost Bangalore a spot in the final four.
Teams: (from)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (capt), KP Appanna, KL Rahul, Arun Karthik (wk), Sheldon Jackson, Murali Kartik, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, Pankaj Singh, Prashanth Parameswaram, Harshal Patel, Sandeep Warrier, RP Singh, Sunny Sohal, J Syed Mohammad, Saurabh Tiwary, Jaydev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar, Vijay Zol, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, AB de Villiers (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Moises Henriques, Andrew McDonald, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul, Daniel Vettori.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Ravichandran Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Dirk Nannes, Jason Holder, Chris Morris, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohit Sharma, Shadab Jakati, Anirudha Srikkanth, Baba Aparajith, Imtiaz Ahmed, R Karthikeyan, Ronit More, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ben Hilfenhaus, Ben Laughlin.
Topics mentioned in this article Cricket IPL 2013 Royal Challengers Bangalore Kolkata Knight Riders Kochi Tuskers Kerala Deccan Chargers Sunrisers Hyderabad Pune Warriors India Kings XI Punjab Chennai Super Kings
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HC Refuses to Act Against 'Obscene Stage Performance' in IPL 2012
Ranji Trophy: Parvinder Awana's fifer gives Delhi first innings lead against Odisha
Under-19 cricketer files FIR accusing official of sexual assault
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IPL Final: Players to watch out for
Both finalists of IPL 5, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, have had their stand out players who have carried their sides into the title clash. Both also have captains who have led from the front and whose performances will again be crucial to their teams' chances in the summit clash. A look at all the players who are likely to make a huge difference in the result of the IPL final.
Gautam Gambhir: The skipper has led from the front and has proved his team's owner Shah Rukh Khan's decision to revamp the squad at the end of season 3 was a right one. With six fifties and a strike-rate of about 145, Gauti finished the league stage only behind Chris Gayle in the list of top-scorers. In fact KKR rely so heavily on their captain that if the opposition gets Gambhir out early they will really fancy their chances of lifting the Cup.
Sunil Narine: The man with the mystery ball and the magic arm. His deliveries have continued to fox batsmen and along with Gambhir he is the biggest reason behind KKR's success this season. With an economy of under six and 24 wickets in 14 games, Narine is the second highest wicket-taker this season with only Delhi's Morne Morkel with more scalps. After having guided them into their maiden final, KKR will depend on the West Indian spinner to take them all the way to the title.
Shakib Al Hasan: He has been given only seven games but has proved his worth in the short run. Shakib has picked up 11 wickets and struck a match winning 42 on a difficult pitch in KKR's last league game against Pune Warriors that sealed the second spot for Kolkata in the points table.
Jacques Kallis: He hasn't exactly been in swashbuckling form getting runs at a strike-rate that is marginally over 100 but he has provided stability at the top of the order with 340 runs in 16 games. Add to that his 14 wickets and the all-rounder again shows just why he is one of the greatest ever to have played the game.
Manoj Tiwary: With Yusuf Pathan having a torrid tournament, barring the last game, the responsibility in the middle-order has increased on Tiwary. He hasn't had an exceptional tournament but has been the best of the middle-order. He will be expected to step up for Kolkata especially if Gambhir departs early.
MS Dhoni: He rarely sparkled in the league phase but has been at his best since the playoffs began, mirroring the Super Kings' performance. In the playoffs, Dhoni has played some of the shots of the tournament, including the longest hit of the season and two of his trademark helicopter sixes as Super Kings went on a rampage. His late innings burst will again be vital to CSK's success as will be his astute captaincy.
Mike Hussey: It may have been Murali Vijay's blinder in the IPL eliminator that blew away the Delhi Daredevils but it will be his opening partner Michael Hussey's consistency that Chennai will bank on for the final. Dhoni benched their most reliable batsman of the league phase, Faf du Plessis, to make way for Hussey in the playing XI once he joined midway through the tournament after fulfilling his international duties. And Mr. Cricket hasn't disappointed his captain so far.
Dwayne Bravo: Chennai have not one but two fantastic allrounders in Dwayne Bravo and Albie Morkel who can turnaround a match on their own - with ball or bat. Both have been brilliant for their team in patches but given how late down the order Albie comes and how Bravo has been smashing boundaries in the playoffs it may just be the West Indian playing the bigger hand in the game.
Ben Hilfenhaus: He has been one of the biggest factors in Chennai's reversal of fortunes since making a dismal start to the season. His addition after missing first half of the season due to international duties has brought balance in the side and added teeth to Chennai's bowling. His early wickets, especially if he gets rid of KKR skipper Gambhir, would give Chennai a huge edge. The Australian has so far picked up 12 wickets in 8 matches at an economy rate of under 7.
R Ashwin: With 13 wickets in 17 matches Ashwin hasn't been as impressive this season. However, with the final being played at Chepauk one can expect the spinner to play a big role. He already did in the eliminator against Delhi, which was also contested at Chepauk, when he picked up 3/23 - his best bowling figures of IPL 5.
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Lead UK Aircraft Carrier's Use of Outdated Windows Could Backfire, Get It Hacked
© AP Photo / Russell Cheyne
Fears have been raised that Britain's largest ever warship could be vulnerable to cyberattacks. The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sets out for sea trials this week amid fears about it using an outdated Microsoft Windows XP operating system.
200 industrial employees are working alongside the 700 strong Ship's Company during @HMSQnlz sea trials #QNLZatSea pic.twitter.com/SHaGdFK7Go
— QEClass Carriers (@QEClassCarriers) 26 June 2017
The carrier, which was assembled in the Scottish port of Rosyth and was specially designed to duck under the Forth Bridge in London, left the Forth estuary in the early hours of Tuesday (June 27), and will spend a week in the North Sea doing sea trials.
More exclusive DE&S images of HMS Queen Elizabeth, while she rests at anchor ahead of the turning tide & sea trials#QNLZatSea #Defence pic.twitter.com/Uuz9GS8dPC
— DE&S (@DefenceES) June 26, 2017
The software used by the £3.5 billion (US$4.46 billion) aircraft carrier is the same kit which let down the NHS, which was hit by a ransomware attack last month.
The Wannacry ransomware hit 300,000 computers in 150 countries.
Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, meaning it does not receive updates which might protect users from hackers.
HMS Queen Elizabeth revealed to be running Windows XP pic.twitter.com/jUM2F6DKuW
— Pétrus (@MenAreLikeWine1) 27 June 2017
"Best security practice dictates you always have everything up-to-date that's pretty simple and relatively easy to do for you and your users. But when you have very specific software that handles very specific hardware such as an MRI or a CT machine, or something defending the boys or the offensive utility the navy has onboard, you're left with a can of worms in regards to having the software updated to current operating systems, and the problems they present to old software and support agreements to those that fix bugs or enhance it," a cybersecurity expert told Sputnik.
"If, as suggested, they are using Windows XP, I would expect the additional security controls would be put in place through threat modeling the likelihood of adversarial reach," they added.
Britain is set to renew its fleet of submarines equipped with nuclear missiles at a cost of £31 billion (US$39 billion) and last year former defense secretary Lord Browne said there could be no guarantee of a reliable nuclear deterrent without an "end-to-end" assessment of the cyberthreat to the system.
The idea of a rogue nation taking control of one of the Royal Navy's aircraft carriers may seem like a plot of a James Bond movie, but cyber warfare is real.
CC BY-SA 2.0 / Defence Images / HMS Queen Elizabeth
HMS Queen Elizabeth Under Construction with HMS Prince of Wales
In 2010 a computer worm called Stuxnet was discovered by researchers in Belarus.
The digital warhead had been created by the US and Israel to derail the Iranian nuclear program, and it apparently succeeded.
The newly-launched HMS Queen Elizabeth, which runs Windows XP, has revealed its state-of-the-art minesweeping technology. pic.twitter.com/1xxeBXKZMP
— Richard Littler (@richard_littler) 27 June 2017
The US spent millions of dollars creating the Stuxnet malware and then infecting the computers of contractors who passed on the virus to the computers at a vital centrifuge in Iran.
Earlier this year, Russia's President Putin and Iran's President Rouhani condemned the use of Stuxnet after a US general admitted to lying about it during a federal investigation.
Kim Zetter, who wrote a book, Countdown to Zero Day, about Stuxnet, said: "Modern computer-controlled hardware will always have someone trying to gain access to it and someone will always be trying to gather information on their enemy so it is important for these systems to be secure and always checked for vulnerabilities."
"Cyber is the new battlefield for intelligence and posture, that's clear everyone has enemies, I would go as far to say that your allies and friends would be considered fair game too. The military do a great job of suppressing knowledge of incidents," a cybersecurity expert told Sputnik.
Great @RoyalNavy photos of @HMSQnlz sailing from Rosyth today. Fantastic 🇬🇧 naval design, engineering & innovation. #GlobalBritain. pic.twitter.com/MMGYeuY2U5
— Kevin McGurgan (@KevMcGurganFCO) 26 June 2017
He said: "If they expose anything to the public internet, it would become a target just like everything else online, your IoT [Internet of Things] toaster, your website.
"If vulnerabilities exist they will be found and exploited — whether that be a crypto locker attack or more likely exfiltration of military data. Flaws can always be found, it might take longer depending on the technology, but security is always done in layers, and decisions are usually well informed at this level," they told Sputnik.
Plenty of room! @HMSQnlz passes beneath all three of the Forth bridges on her way to the open sea #QNLZatSea https://t.co/rgh8OvylyP pic.twitter.com/TQJc4NFbCL
— Royal Navy (@RoyalNavy) 26 June 2017
Commander Mark Deller, who is in charge of the aircraft on HMS Queen Elizabeth, said this week: "The ship is well designed and there has been a very, very stringent procurement train that has ensured we are less susceptible to cyber than most.
"We are a very sanitised procurement train. I would say, compared to the NHS buying computers off the shelf, we are probably better than that. If you think more Nasa and less NHS you are probably in the right place," he said.
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computer virus, ransomware, cyber threats, Stuxnet, military, cyber security, hacking, Windows XP, Windows, National Health Service (NHS), Royal Navy, Rosyth, Iran, Israel, United States, North Sea, United Kingdom
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SWOT Oceanography
SWOT will revolutionize oceanography by detecting ocean features with 10 times better resolution than present technologies. The higher resolution of SWOT is required to distinguish structures that occur on scales of 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) or shorter, where most of the ocean's energy is mixed and transported. Such small-scale ocean features contribute to the ocean-atmosphere exchange of heat and carbon, major components in global climate change. Moreover, SWOT's detailed information on ocean circulation will improve understanding of the ocean environment including motion of life-sustaining nutrients and harmful pollutants.
Oceanography Objectives
Characterize the ocean mesoscale and sub-mesoscale circulation (15 – 200 km or about 9 – 124 mi, overall) at spatial resolutions of 15 km (~9 mi) and greater.
Scientists Invited to Collaborate in Satellite Mission's Debut [EOS]
Fine-Scale Transport of Heat & Carbon
Currently, there is a poor understanding of fine-scale circulation where most of the ocean's motion-related energy is stored and lost. For example, SWOT will unveil unprecedented details about sub-mesoscale eddies. These ubiquitous, relatively short-lived, swirling currents are often "spun off" of major currents such as the Gulf Stream, whose larger (i.e., mesoscale) eddies have been revealed in satellite sea surface height and temperature maps for decades.
Circulation at sub-mesoscales is thought to be responsible for transporting half of the heat and carbon from the upper ocean to deeper layers. Such downward ocean motion has helped to mitigate the decades-long rise in global air temperatures by absorbing and storing heat and carbon away from the atmosphere. Knowing more about this process is critical for understanding global climate change.
Predicting the Ocean Environment
Not only will SWOT's global measurements of small ocean features help to improve climate prediction models, these data will also reveal new details about the transport of many important substances. Some nutrients suspended in seawater are "essential ingredients" for microscopic plants and algae known as phytoplankton, which fuel the entire marine food web. Thus the distribution and transport of nutrients by currents and eddies is tied to the productivity of marine fisheries and the health of our living ocean.
Fine-scale ocean motion is also responsible for transporting pollutants such as crude oil, harmful river discharge, and debris (e.g., from tsunamis). Precisely tracking the location, speed and direction of potentially harmful materials will aid in natural hazard assessment, prediction, and response. In addition to modelling the dispersal of substances entrained in seawater, understanding the motion of water itself will be valuable. SWOT data will be used to improve ocean circulation forecasts, benefiting ship and offshore commercial operations, along with coastal planning activities such as flood prediction and sea level rise.
Featured Science Investigations
Assimilation and Interpretation of High-Wavenumber Variability in the Ocean for SWOT
[2017] PI: Sarah Gille
The objective of our research in support of SWOT is to develop 4-dimensional variational assimilation (4d-var) methods that include both quasi-geostrophic and tidal motions in order to build the capabilities to map, evaluate, and interpret SWOT observations, with a specific focus on the California Current region, which has been identified as one of the target regions for calibration and validation of SWOT (Wang et al., 2016). Our aim is to distinguish balanced, geostrophic motions from the myriad other processes that influence SSH variability at the ocean surface.
Calibration and Validation of SWOT Oceanographic Products Using the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration in West Crete, Greece
[2017] PI: Stelios Mertikas
The main goal of this research is to answer these questions and carry out absolute calibration and validation (Cal/Val) of the SWOT products using the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration (PFAC) in west Crete, Greece.
Characterization of Global Internal Tides at High Horizontal Resolution
[2017] PI: Samuel Kelly
This project aims to improve the prediction and characterization of internal-tide sea surface displacements using global numerical simulations with 1/100 (~1 km horizontal resolution. The high resolution simulations are conducted using the linearized Coupled-mode ShallowWater model (CSW; Kelly et al., 2016), which can resolve small-scale internal tides that are absent in coarserresolution general circulation models (which typically have horizontal resolutions of 4-10 km). The increased resolution improves the representation of internal tides throughout the global ocean, however the largest improvements occur in regions where internal tides have short wavelengths, such as coastal seas, regions of complex bathymetry, and areas of energetic mesoscale circulation.
Characterization, Modeling and SWOT Potentiality to Measure Hydro-Meteo-Marine Phenomena in the Coastal and Estuarine Systems
[2017] PI: Benoit Laignel
The main objective of the COTEST project (Characterisation, modeling and SWOT potentiality to measure hydro-meteo-marine phenomena in the coastal and estuarine systems) is to better understand the interactions of the hydro-meteo-marine phenomena on the hydrodynamics in the estuarine and coastal systems (nearshore and shoreline) and SWOT's ability to reproduce these hydrodynamics and phenomena.
Coastal Ocean Continuum in surface Topography Observations (COCTO)
[2017] PI: Nadia Ayoub and Pierre De Mey
This proposal will focus on three main objectives: Objective 1: Advance our understanding of fine-scale dynamical processes (O(1km) to O(10km)) within the estuary-mouth-plume-shelf-break-ocean continuum; Objective 2: Identify the signature of these processes in current and future measurements, in particular Sea-Surface height (SSH) and other surface measurements; and Objective 3: Characterize the potential impact of future SWOT measurements, together with complementary in situ measurements, on the estimation of those processes.
Developing an Effective Assimilation of SWOT Data in Mercator Ocean Systems (DESMOS)
[2017] PI: Pierre-Yves Le Traon
The main objective of our project is to prepare the assimilation of SWOT in Mercator Ocean and Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) high resolution ocean models. Assimilation of SWOT data together with conventional altimeter missions into ocean analysis and forecasting models is an essential and (most likely) mandatory step to develop a wide use of SWOT data for ocean applications.
Development of Calibration/Validation and Assimilation Methods of Wide-Swath Sea Surface Height Measurements in the Western North Pacific and Surrounding Marginal Seas
[2017] PI: Kai Matsui
In this proposal, based on our experience in observations and assimilation mainly in the western North Pacific and surrounding marginal seas, we will develop new observations for small scale sea surface height features, calibration and validation methods for SWOT, and SWOT data assimilation methods.
[2017] PI: Kyla Drushka
A critical step in interpreting the SWOT signal will be to distinguish the mesoscale signals (wavelength > 50 km) from the other signals that will be detected by SWOT (e.g., submesoscale features, internal waves and tides, swell). This is a nontrivial problem, as these processes are not well understood or modeled. A further complication is that SWOT will have a temporal resolution of 10-20 days, making it difficult to identify the quickly evolving submesoscale field and internal waves. Tackling this problem requires a better understanding of ocean dynamics across the range of scales and regimes that SWOT will measure.
Fluxes of Heat, Carbon, and Oxygen at SWOT Scales
[2017] PI: Shafer Smith
There are many complex issues involved in maximizing the usefulness of SWOT observations. Our particular focus is on better understanding how SWOT may aid in better establishing the role played by submesoscale phenomena in mediating fluxes of the biogeochemical tracers. Can SWOT help determine submesoscale contributions to global budgets? What are the primary lateral and temporal scales responsible for transport? Which submesoscale processes play the most important roles in vertical fluxes? We are addressing these questions with suites of submesoscale-resolving regional simulations, described briefly in this document.
Mesoscale and Sub-Mesoscale Vertical Exchanges from Multi-platform Experiments and Supporting Modeling Simulations (MULTI-SUB)
[2017] PI: Ananda Pascual
The general objective of MULTI-SUB is to quantify and improve our and understanding of vertical exchanges associated with oceanic mesoscale and sub-mesoscale features (e.g fronts, meanders, eddies and filaments) through the combined use of, in-situ and satellite data in synergy with numerical models. The ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of the impact of finescale processes on biochemical variables. We will focus on a range of scales (30-100 km) traditionally not resolved by conventional altimeters.
Modeling Internal Wave Signals and their Predictability for SWOT
[2017] PI: Brian Arbic
We are working with high-resolution global simulations, of the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and the MITgcm, that are simultaneously forced by atmospheric and oceanic fields and that therefore resolve both mesoscale eddies and internal wave motions.
New Dynamical Tools for Submesoscales Characterization in SWOT Data
[2017] PI: Guillaume Lapeyre
The altimetry mission SWOT will provide Sea Surface Height (SSH) data-sets at unprecedented resolution (10-100km) with a 2D coverage in space. Such a data-set requires development of new diagnostic tools to unveil different dynamical aspects of the mesoscales (horizontal scales around 300km) and submesoscales (around 30km) that can be extracted from the SSH signal.
Ocean Mesoscale, Sub-mesoscale, and Internal Wave Variability and Dynamics
[2017] PI: Roger Samelson
The overall project goals are to assess how oceanic mesoscale, sub-mesoscale, and internal wave signals may be manifest in SWOT measurements and how to use SWOT data to develop new physical insight into these phenomena, and to contribute to addressing the associated challenges posed to the SWOT mission.
OSIRIS: Ocean, Sea-ice and Rain Investigations for SWOT
[2017] PI: Francesco Nencioli
The OSIRIS project brings together the work plans of seven investigators from five UK organizations. The consortium gathers a broad range of UK expertise which will contribute to different aspects of SWOT research priorities for oceanography and cryosphere.
Participation in the SWOT Science Team: Marine Geophysics
[2017] PI: David Sandwell
One of the secondary objectives of the SWOT mission is marine geophysics. The current accuracy of the ocean surface slope derived from traditional altimetry is about 2 microradians at 13 km wavelength, which is equivalent to 2 milligals of accuracy. SWOT, with its smaller footprint and additional cross-track slope measurement, could improve the gravity accuracy by perhaps an order of magnitude and also improve spatial resolution especially on the shallow continental margins.
Research and Development of SWOT Measurements in the Canadian Oceans
[2017] PI: Guoqi Han
The scientific objectives for this proposal are (1) to improve knowledge of coastal currents, mesoscale and submesoscale features, tides, marine winds and waves from existing nadir altimetry data, RADARSAT images, in situ measurements and numerical models in Canadian marine waters, and (2) to improve models for tide, circulation, internal tide and wave, and surface wave and to develop techniques that can effectively integrate simulated SWOT data into these models.
SPAce altimetry for Water and Energy Transfers modeling (SPAWET)
[2017] PI: Catherine Ottlé
The overall objective of the SPAWET project is to improve the characterization and modelling of lakes and groundwater buffering impacts based on the use of future SWOT data. For that purpose, we propose to develop and apply advanced and complementary hydrological models and to explore the potential of SAR altimetry for enhancing their performances. These developments will therefore improve the overall simulation of the hydrological cycle through a better quantification of lake evaporation and groundwater contribution to river discharges.
SWOT and the Ice-Covered Oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic: Sea Surface Height and Sea Ice Freeboard
[2017] PI: Ronald Kwok
This project addresses research opportunities offered by the SWOT mission that pertain to observations of sea surface height and sea ice freeboard/thickness of the ice-covered oceans.
SWOT in the Tropics: A Case Study in the South West Pacific
[2017] PI: Lionel Gourdeau
This proposal aims at federating people from different communities working on climate, turbulence, models and observations in order to investigate how the high-resolution and high-frequency (1-day) measurements of SWOT could be dynamically interpreted and used in the tropics. The ultimate purpose is to propose for the next SWOT call a cal/val experiment based on the results of this proposal.
Transition Scale from Geostrophic Flows to Wave Motions in the World Ocean
[2017] PI: Bo Qiu
The overall goals of our project as part of the SWOT Science Team are, (1) to aid SWOT mission science preparation by evaluating spatio-temporal variability of SSH and surface velocity signals from available repeat ship-board ADCP measurements and high-resolution OGCM output from 1/48° MITgcm (llc 4320), and, (2) to advance our understanding of new upper ocean dynamics at O(5-200km) scales by analyzing high-resolution OGCM output and ADCP data, with the goal to maximize SWOT's scientific return.
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