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Home › Books, DVDs & CDs › Product
Sarah's Last Wish - by Eve Hillary
This is a chilling glimpse into the dark side of health care. It is a true story and even more frightening it happened here in Australia!
Mark Westley and his wife, Dianne raised their six children on a charming country property. The Westleys were a typical, close-knit Australian family who enjoyed happy, healthy lives - until the day eleven-year-old Sarah was struck down by a severe mystery illness. Sarah’s parents rushed her to several small country hospitals in search of help. Yet before adequate tests had been performed, doctors announced that Sarah was pregnant - an outrageous misdiagnosis that triggered a devastating chain of events for the family. It was only when Sarah was finally transferred to a large teaching hospital that doctors discovered the true diagnosis: a rare condition they had never seen before…and wanted to study.
When Mark and Dianne asked the usual questions about their daughter’s treatment, doctors stonewalled them. Unable to penetrate the strange medical secrecy surrounding Sarah’s case, her parents set out on their own to find the best treatment available for their daughter. However, two of Sarah’s doctors had other ideas, and summoned the help of a government department with police powers to force their will on the young girl. The unsuspecting family suddenly found themselves up against a powerful industry and an utterly ruthless state system. Nothing could have prepared them for the horrors they would have to face…
SKU BK-SLW-EH
Weight 600.0 g
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You are here: Home » News » SIC Team Rider Lina Augaitis Takes 1st Place At BOP
SIC Team Rider Lina Augaitis Takes 1st Place At BOP
October 12th, 2014 by davi
By: Allie Brown
Dana Point, CA – SIC Maui (Sandwich Islands Composites) had an awesome outing from the SIC Global Team rider Lina Augaitis, as she finished 1st overall for the 2014 Battle Of the Paddle at Salt Creek. Racing on SIC production boards, Augaitis earned 2nd place in the elite course on her X 12 PRO and 1st place on her X 14 PRO Lite in the distance race. Augaitis was carried to the stage by her SIC Team members.
“I was focused these last two weeks and really worked on my weaknesses of buoy turns and surfing,” said Augaitis. “Saturday I went into the race with an aggressive attitude and instead of letting the waves own me, I wanted to own them. I pulled a podium performance surprising myself and everyone else and proving that hard work and having the right focus can lead to success.”
“Lina put down a blistering pace to catch up with the leaders in the first lap,” said Braly Joy, SIC Marketing Director. “As they came around the final buoy, Lina was just seconds behind the leader Annabel Anderson. With a big set rolling through, Annabel caught the first wave and was not able to make the drop. This left the door wide open for Lina as she took full advantage, catching the next wave and riding all the way to the finish line.”
“Lina was second to last at one point,” said Christopher Parker of SUPRacer.com. “However she fought back through the field and gave herself a chance at the death …and when Annabel got cleaned up by that clean up set, Lina made the most of the opening and pounced, surfing a wave in with uncharacteristically good style to claim a very ecstatic and deserving win.”
Augaitis started off the season with a few minor wins and a podium in the distance race at BOP 2013. With the continuous support from the SIC family, Augaitis has added some major wins to her resume, winning two world series races. Augauitis won the ISA World Championships distance course in Nicaragua. She won the long distance race and the title of the Fastest Female Paddler on Earth at Lost Mills (Auguaitis’s first SUP race in Europe). Augaitis is the current World Series leader going into the finals at Turtle Bay this weekend.
“On Sunday I had a horrible start, but instead of giving up I put my head down and paddled as hard as I could,” said Augaitis. “My SIC Pro Lite was gliding under my feet around the course and I felt very in sync with my board and paddle. I would see a pack out front and decide to catch them and when I did, I found the next one. Until I found myself in the back of the pack where Annabel was paddling. Coming into the beach I thought I was in 2nd place until the sea of people on the beach were all yelling, ‘RUN! RUN! RUN!’ I just could not believe that I had done it.”
“A BOP champion, I can’t believe this dream has truly become a reality. I have to thank SIC and all of my sponsors, and the community of SUP for all of their support from around the world, I truly could not have done it without peoples kindness and open arms. Live, love, laugh… DREAM!”
About SIC Maui
SIC Maui (Sandwich Islands Composites) is the vision of master shaper/designer, Mark Raaphorst. Mark has more than 20 years experience building surfboards, windsurfers and outrigger canoes. He is credited as being one of the pioneers of stand up paddleboards and for creating some of the most winning race boards in the world. SIC boards are designed for speed and agility. Their sleek styling, piercing waterlines, quality craftsmanship and attention to detail have also earned SIC the reputation of being the “Ferrari of SUP boards.” For more information on SIC, please visit www.sicmaui.com
About Battle of the Paddle
The Rainbow Sandals Gerry Lopez’s Battle of the Paddle is the perfect way to immerse yourself in the rich tradition of Southern California’s original surf lifestyle, and the dynamic paddle sport known as Stand Up Paddleboarding. Rainbow Sandals Foundation is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that is organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. The Foundation supports middle school and high school educational and athletic programs, contribute to organizations that provide after school enrichment activities such as the Boys & Girls Club of America and Ocean Institute, provide instruction in the sport of stand up paddle boarding and raises funds for such charitable and educational activities by hosting the Battle of the Paddle event. For more information on Battle of the Paddle, please visit www.battleofthepaddle.com
SIC Team Athlete Lina Augaitis Wins 2014 Stand Up World Series
Are you Ready? Battle of the Paddle next weekend Sept. 29 & 30
Stand Up World Series Finals to be the most spectacular yet, going LIVE this weekend at Turtle Bay
Lina Augaitis Talks SUP Community
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« Dramatic Racing on Day 1 of the World Series Finals at Turtle Bay sees Kai Lenny & Fiona Wylde victorious
Kai Lenny secures the Finals win, Zane Schweitzer the Sprints, and Connor Baxter the 2014 World Title »
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S.I.T. Sinners and Papa Mark's Pledge
Ralph Oxner is America's beacon of light! -- The Lake Weekly [article excerpt]
Ralph Oxner hailed 'The New Captain America!' -- Total World View [newspaper headline]
The Ox: Lord and Master of the Underdogs! -- Peruse Digest [newspaper headline]
In destination to Southeastern Institute of Theology, Richard Briggs traveled along Interstate 95 North for twelve hours straight, discounting three gasoline fill-up stops. During the long trek, his erotic escapade dominated his thoughts, and his collegiate future was relegated secondary in his mind. That desperate housewife, Nicolette Talley, had made him promise to keep in touch. What a woman!!! What an experience!!!
The small, but affluent, town of Lake Forest kindly greeted him with its quaint decor of tall pine trees, sleepy streets, and old houses. Richard found it to be a serene scene, and a welcomed contrast from bustling South Florida. Driving a few miles farther, he visually met Southeastern Institute of Theology (S.I.T.). The site remarkably accentuated the town's overall beauty, he found. Then he parked alongside the curb and hopped out of the car to explore afoot.
Richard walked all over the ornate campus, admiring everything he saw. Its appeal was characterized by: architecturally sophisticated school buildings; high brick walls; a four foot high stone wall surrounding the campus's circumference; towering oak trees; spacious, bright green lawns; neatly-trimmed hedgerows; colorful flower gardens, some with fountains of flowing water; a network of maze-like concrete walking paths bordered by shrubs; picnic areas with tables and benches; and open recreation spaces, including basketball and tennis courts. Richard especially liked the beautiful array of plant life all about the exquisit campus! He felt like he was treading on the culturally refined, majestic grounds of Oxford University in Great Britain, instead of a seminary in a small American town.
Richard loved strolling about, gazing upon the structures and landscape. But he had driven a long time and his biological clock was ringing its alarm for sleep. So the tired young man decided to call it a day. Richard had elected to rent a bungalow within walking distance of the school instead of staying in the dormitory with the slightly younger crowd. He was bent over the bed unpacking his suitcase with his back toward the wide-open door. Suddenly, he turned around and looked up in reflexive response to a high pitched vocalization. "Howdy, neighbor," it said.
Standing in the threshold was a slender, teenage interloper of medium height with dirty-blonde hair, droopy brown eyes, a queer smile, and a "JESUS SAVES" shirt.
"I saw the door open; thought you wouldn't mind me walking in. My name is Andy Peevler."
"Hi, Andy. I'm Richard Briggs." A handshake followed.
"Well, welcome to S.I.T., Brother Briggs."
"Thanks."
"So, where are you from, Richard?"
"Fort Lauderdale, Florida."
"Wow! I'd love to live there! Sun and fun galore! But for me, Lake Forest, North Carolina is a big step up; I'm from Pittsburgh."
"Bummer! Makes me shiver just thinking about it," commented Richard.
"You said it!" agreed Andy. "Up there, we call it 'The Frozen Zone.' And I coined the term 'Pits-Burr'--as in living in Pittsburgh is the pits, because it's cold (burr). It's a joke! Get it... 'Pits-Burr.' Hahahaha!!!" Andy folded his arms and rolled up his eyeballs to demonstrate the feel of a cold climate. He went on, "At least down here, I won't have to bundle myself up every day and shovel snow on a regular basis."
"That sounds like a big plus!" remarked Richard, hoping the conversation would soon come to a close. Andy was a bit too chatty and effeminate for his liking, and a little annoying. But he didn't notice anything too wrong with the fellow. And good ole' Richard could get along with just about anybody!
"Well, we may be from opposite atmospheric extremes, but one thing we have in common is that we've dedicated our lives to serving the Lord," noted Andy.
"You said it, Andy!" Richard robustly concurred.
"How do you plan on serving him, Richard?"
"I'm going to be a pastor."
"And yourself?"
"A missionary. My calling is to travel abroad and spread the word to backward people. But, currently, what I love doing the most is helping children; I'm a youth counselor."
"That sounds like a very charitable activity," Richard said.
"Oh, it is! Very much so! A lot of single mothers need help raising their sons... and that's where I come in. I'm really into boys!"
"You sound like a nice guy!" the naive, unsuspecting Floridian stated.
"Well, Brother Richard, I'll let you get set up and settled in. It was a pleasure meeting you."
"Likewise," Richard returned. Then he resumed unpacking his suitcase.
Richard finished unpacking and wanted to call his best friend to tell him all about his new town and new school. Hylja answered the phone, and Richard asked to speak to Marcus. She moved the phone away from her face, but he still heard her call out, "Marcus, Richard's on the line!"
"Tell that white boy I'll be there in a little while," he replied from another room--that, too, loud enough for Richard to hear from the phone's receiver, although barely.
Hylja put the phone up to the side of her face again. "Richard, Marcus said..."
"Yeah, I know. I heard him," Richard interjected. Then he said, "Hylja, would you please tell that black boy to stop whatever he's doing and come to the phone immediately?! Doesn't he know that I take top priority?!" he jokingly quipped.
"Ha. He's been on the computer all day replying to loads of E-mails. A lot of important people have been sending him message after message and... Well, I'll let him tell you about it. Hold on." Hylja lowered the phone away from the side of her head again, and her normally soft, sweet voice was louder and more authoritative this time: "Marcus, those E-mails can wait! Don't keep Richard on hold any longer!"
"Okay, I'm coming!" he responded. His beautiful girlfriend handed him the phone, and he cordially greeted his best friend: "Mr. Richard Briggs, the man of the cloth! How's it rolling, buddy?" Marcus's voice sounded even more upbeat than usual. Richard could tell that he was in an exceptionally good mood.
"Well, I was planning to tell you how I'm doing, but now I'm more interested in what's going on in your life. From the sound of what Hylja said, I surmise that something big has happened."
"It sure has, bro! My agent has been negotiating with Neon Leon, the hip-hop mogul. He's the CEO of Cornrow Records."
"Yeah, I know," Richard said hastily -- eager to hear the good news and wanting him to get on with it and cut to the chase.
Marcus continued, "Neon Leon wants to sign me to Cornrow."
"That's great, Marcus!!!" Richard emphatically said. He was teeming with excitement for his best friend.
"Yeah, and I owe it all to you, Rich!"
"To me??" Richard said, confused.
"Neon Leon was vacationing in Miami when he heard Shadow on the Wall on K87.5. He actually called me up and said he loved my song. Thanks a million for sending it to the radio station! I mean, 'thanks a million' literally! After Cornrow releases my album--if it goes platinum, which I think it will--I'm going to write a check out to you for one million dollars! That's my pledge!!"
"And I'm gonna hold you to that promise, bro. That's the only way I'll ever acquire that much money. A preacher doesn't get paid nearly as much as a rap star."
"Not unless he's Billy Graham or Pat Robertson," Marcus pointed out.
"Yeah, well, I don't plan on ever being as successful as those guys."
"Hey, you never know! I always had big dreams, and look what's happening to me!"
"Well, I'm really happy for you, Marcus! Or should I start calling you 'Papa Mark?' "
"While the world calls me 'Papa Mark,' you can still call me 'Marcus' because we're friends."
"That sounds good! Congratulations, again, Marcus! I wish you the best of luck on your recording career. But you're so talented that I don't think you'll need any luck!"
"Thanks, Rich. I wish you the best of luck with your pastoral aspirations. You're not the most articulate guy in the world, so you'll need all the luck you can get!"
"Ha! Thanks a lot!!" Richard said in a humorous, backhanded tone, which denoted his surprise at the funny knock. "I'll let you get back to those important E-mails."
All right, Rich. Thanks for calling."
"Bye, buddy."
Richard had mixed emotions about the news. He wanted the best for his best friend, but he also knew that fame and fortune would irrevocably change things between them. If today was any indication, he figured he'd be lucky just to be able to contact 'Papa Mark' once a year. And although he knew that Mr. Watson was a man of his word, he considered the 'one million dollar pledge' unreliably impetuous. He thought it was sworn during a period of starry-eyed exhilaration. Richard had no doubt, however, that God led him to send the demo tape to the radio station. Things were turning out according to the Almighty's will, as always!
Ralph's sea odyssey was such a pleasurable experience thus far that he frequently dreaded the day he'd have to return to land. Piano lessons, entertainment, socialization, relaxation, and therapy--all concluded--signified that another splendid, routine day aboard the great ship was in the books. Now it was time for the aspiring author to pick up where he left off on his book. Consistently, he'd written at least two hours every night for nearly a month. The autobiography was progressing well, but he knew that there was a lot more to write and, subsequently, numerous revisions to make before he could consider it a finished product.
Chapter 4: Hell Camp
I was only 11-years-old, in the fifth grade, when my life started to unravel BIG TIME. My parents could never afford nice clothes for Harold and me, barber shop haircuts on a regular basis, nor school cafeteria meals. We would invariably show up on campus in worn-out old hand-me-down clothes which rarely fit. Most of our pairs of shoes were so shaby they looked like they were falling apart, and they were holier than Mother Theresa. If our hair had grown any longer, birds could've built nests on top of our heads. And, pitifully, we inwardly drooled while we sat at the lunch table watching everyone else devour their scrumptious meals in front of us.
Only a blind person wouldn't have noticed that we were severely poverty-stricken children. I mean, we stuck out like a sore thumb. That made us easy targets for the plethora of cruel kids at our tough, inner-city school. Every day we were emotionally victimized by their verbal assaults and taunts.
Mom and dad told us to 'just ignore them.' We tried! It was good advice, but we were far from emotionally mature enough to let the myriad of insults roll off our shoulders. Instead, they built up in our memories like lava in a volcano. And, as everyone knows, volcanoes erupt!
One summer day, a little punk walked up to my face and told me that my parents were so poor they couldn't afford to pay attention. Without hesitation, I started fighting. I knocked out his front teeth, bruised his eye, broke his nose, and busted his lower lip. After I was finished swinging away, his bloody mug looked like it had been through a twelve round bout with Rocky Marciano. The principle was outraged when he saw it, and he told me that I was a crazy maniac capable of killing someone. He was aware that I was taking psychiatric drugs and seeing the school counselor--both of which were pushed on me on account of the mental anguish I had been experiencing from all the ongoing teasing and bullying, and of no help whatsoever. Due to the fact that he harbored prejudices against "mentally ill people," which I wasn't, he overreacted and sought to punish me above and beyond what I deserved. With my naive parents' approval, he arranged for me to be sent off to Base 54 -- a wilderness "rehabilitation" complex for juvenile delinquents. It was more than ten miles from civilization. And it was run like a combo Marines/Auschwitz camp by sadistic, authority-lusting military men and law enforcement bullies. Fittingly, its nickname was 'Hell Camp.'
I HATED that place!!! It was horrible! I still have nightmares about the things that happened to me there. Once, I refused to eat dirt as a mandatory punishment for not finishing my chores on time. My Unit Commander felt disrespected because I blatantly disobeyed his order. At Base 54, the first rule you learn is that you NEVER disobey an order. He flew off the handle: screaming and cursing me like a madman. The he socked me in the stomach so hard that it took all the air out of my lungs. As I was hunched over, I felt his muscle-bound arm wrap around my neck in a terrifyingly tight choke-hold. I couldn't breathe at all, as my consciousness was gradually slipping away. I thought I was in the process of dying, but luckily (or unluckily?) I just passed out.
When I regained consciousness, my body was lying on a hard floor; my eyes and mouth were covered with straps of duct tape; my arms were stretched behind my back on account of the handcuffs that were clamped around my wrists; and my ankles were shackled together. My heart started pounding. I was completely helpless. Moments later, I heard the door open and feet walk in the room. It was those familiar heavy boot treads. Two gruff voices started talking about killing me. With stone-cold seriousness, they deliberated over the ideal means. The first proposed method was hanging with a bed sheet tied into a knotted noose. That was rejected in favor of slashing my wrist and then dropping the knife near my body. For about fifteen minutes, the monsters debated over the best way to make it look like a suicide and cover up all the murder evidence. I felt sure that death was imminent. But the apex of my panic came when I heard their next idea! It involved operating a construction-worker friend's bulldozer. I distinctly recall the one seeming to be in charge say, "We'll get away with it! He's a nobody, a disposable piece of trash. They'll barely bother looking for him. We'll just say he escaped and ran away, and we don't even need to kill him first. He'll be covered up by twenty feet of dirt in the middle of nowhere. Nobody will ever find his worthless body! Don't worry about it!"
They'd reached their final decision; I was to be buried underground... while still alive! I remember lying there on the floor--bound, blindfolded and gagged--thinking that they'd most likely avoid being investigated, much less prosecuted, since I was, indeed, in the middle of nowhere and, like he said, I was of 'nobody status' to society. Just a violent, worthless juvenile delinquent in its eyes.
My hope was very low, but I still had a drop of it left in my psychological tank. Thus, my frazzled mind was frantically trying to figure out how I would fight them off, come time to do so. But mounting a defense would've been virtually impossible in my artificially handicapped condition. I couldn't see, hit, kick, or even bite my enemies. I couldn't even stand on my own accord, and I was bound so tight that I could barely move a muscle. I prayed that they'd take off my handcuffs before they tried to burry me--to save a pair of cuffs. Perhaps they would do it if they thought I was unconscious, I thought. So I quit squirming and lied on my belly as still as a rock.
They exited the room, or so I supposed; I heard their boot steps walking away, and I heard the door open and close. The room was soundless, but the voice inside my head was silently screaming. The magnitude of my horror was unbearable! I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Repeatedly, I attempted to swallow my tongue in order to choke to death on it. That was my only possible method of escape from asphyxiation while being trapped under a mound of Earth.
It must have been three hours later (three hours of emotional hell) when I heard the door reopen. This time, it was slammed shut, indicating an expression of anger. My tormentors had returned, and my heart started pounding even faster. I hoped that I'd have a heart attack! My wrists were very sore from hours of trying to slip them out of the tight cuffs. Before a single word was uttered, I felt a hard kick against the side of my head. It sure as heck didn't feel good, but I had more to worry about at the time!
"This little bastard has caused us to go to a lot of trouble!" the kicker disdainfully exclaimed. Then his partner nonchalantly said, "Let's just stuff him in the body-bag and toss him in the trunk and get this mess over with!"
The 'playing unconscious' plan was quickly forgotten in my desperation as my legs flailed and my torso wiggled frenetically. I was actually moving quite well considering my extremely restricted physical predicament. My larynx was screaming, but the duct tape successfully suppressed sound waves from escaping my mouth orifice. I was in a state of utmost hysteria!
Suddenly, I heard a loud burst of wicked laughter from multiple sources like a disharmonic demonic chorus. It confused me until approximately seven seconds later when I heard the comment, "The joke's on you, Oxner!" break through the persistent laughing. The whole thing was totally contrived; it was all a sick joke, I thought. But I was soon to find out that it was more than that. There was, indeed, a purpose to my torment that went beyond mere sadistic toying. As the robust laughter ebbed, the other sicko stated, "You deserve to be buried alive, but you're not worth the time or effort, you fucking bastard!" Then, my duct tape blindfold was painfully stripped off, and I saw the speaker's hateful eyes staring down at me. Him, I'd never seen before on the camp grounds. But I gathered, judging from the array of badges and pins decorating his uniform, that he was a high ranking military man. Then, my burning, blurry eyes focused, as best they could, on the other man; evidently the one whom he'd been conferring with about my doomed fate. That guy was obviously his subordinate. He was younger, bigger, and dressed in orthodox soldier attire without all the medals and insignias. They both looked like street thugs in uniforms. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I lied on the floor in an ambiguous state of fear and relief.
My wrists and ankles were still bound. The pair grabbed a hold of each arm to drag my body and prop my back against the wall. That's when I became visually aware of a third man's presence in the room.
This one was older, and he wore a suit and tie. The big-shot military man with the honors adorning his uniform pointed at him and said, "This gentleman has some questions to ask you. If you don't fully cooperate with him, we'll drink a lot of beers and piss on your ugly face for a long time. And then we REALLY WILL bury you alive!" Then he peeled away the strand of silver tape over my mouth.
The so-called 'genleman' held a pen and clipboard. He didn't bother to introduce himself to me, which I construed as arrogant and disrespectful... as if I expected anything more!! The callous bastard began by telling me to express, as best I could, what was going through my head during the episode. Then he sat on a stool in the corner of the room, ready to take notes on what I said. (I decided to participate in his stupid fear-factor experiment and, unnervingly, told him how I felt at each stage of it because I was much too afraid to refuse to cooperate... after what they'd (already) done to me.) He was a psychiatrist! The whole damn thing was a freaking mind experiment! I felt like a guinea pig in a laboratory.
My biggest fear had always been to be buried alive! It's almost as if they KNEW my phobia. But how could they have known??? The only person I ever revealed it to was my school counselor. And she SAID that everything we talked about was confidential.
Three months of hard labor followed; I suppose they didn't consider my aforementioned ordeal sufficient punishment for the order violation. The labor was so strenuous that my body still has not recovered from it, and probably never will. I am plagued by a recurrent shooting pain in my chronically stiff lower back that is excruciating. Sometimes it gets so bad that I cannot walk, or even stand on my own feet.
The day after my last day of hard labor, and with less than three weeks remaining on my six month sentence, even more trouble came my way! The meanest, toughest kid in the camp got in my face and said, "I heard you've been talking trash about me!" with seething hostility in his voice. I didn't know (what) he was talking about! I had never said a single word about him to anyone. I assumed that one of my peers told him the falsehood. However, upon inquiry, he revealed that the transmitter of the lie was Dr. Metzger, the psychiatrist. Of course, since I didn't say anything about him to anyone, I denied the allegation that I did. So,he could either believe [me] or the white-collar, respectable psychiatrist... and, predictably, he chose the latter.
He pushed me in the chest. I didn't retaliate because I knew that that would be Metzger's wish, and the camp's excuse to give me more hard labor. I tried talking to him. I wanted to make him understand what was going on. I said, "Listen to me! This is all a game to Metzger. He's just yanking your chain to see how you'll react. It's a human behavior experiment, like the kind he performed on me. (He was informed of my biggest fear and set up a test to see how I would emotionally react to it.) He's just using you! You're nothing to him but a case study. Can't you see that??!!"
Unfortunately, the bellicose kid was in no mood to listen to reason. He swung at my head. Forced to defend myself, I ducked the intended blow and, in one swift motion, I landed a hard right uppercut to his chin. He fell like a ton of bricks. I would have been a great boxer! He was down for the count. I got scared for him, as well as for myself, when I saw that his eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. I ran to get help. Eventually, a siren-roaring ambulance came to load him into the back and carry him to the hospital. Soon afterward, MY transit arrived in the form of a military police car, and MY destination was the juvenile detention center. I hope Metzger was proud of himself for the results he instigated! That son of a bitch shrink!
I remained behind bars while I awaited trial. I told my lawyer exactly what transpired, and I insisted that I acted purely in self-defense. But he said that a jury wouldn't believe me, and he coerced me into pleading guilty. In retrospect, all he would've had to do was get that kid on the stand and ask him why he was mad at me. It would've come out that Metzger set the whole conflict in motion. Now I realize that the sleazy barrister was working for the best interests of the D.A., as opposed to mine. It's no coincidence that he switched over to prosecuting cases, and rose to the ranks of 'Lead Assistant D.A.' within two years. Promotion was his reward for arranging my long-term incarceration. The D.A. wanted to appear like he was tough on crime in order to get reelected. Those ambitious scoundrels were in cahoots with each other, to my utter detriment. I was their "sacrificial lamb."
He assured me that if I pled guilty, I'd only get a few years probation. But he knew otherwise! I'm sure the judge was in on it, too! My heart sank when the black robbed bastard passed sentence: six years in the youth penitentiary. After he sternly announced his unjust verdict and banged the gavel on the wood to make that cruel sound to my ears, I turned to look at my lawyer. He totally ignored me as he shuffled papers and put them in his briefcase. Not only did he make no attempt to console me in my time of despair, he failed to say one word to me, or even make eye contact. It was unbelievable how cold he was at that moment, in my darkest hour! I felt like I had been hung-out-to-dry by everyone in my life, with the exception of my brother.
Ralph opted to stop typing for now, and recommence on the morrow with tales of his youth-prison experiences.
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#BridgingStories (2nd edition)
#BridgingStories (1st edition)
#BridgingStories call (1st edition)
#BridgingStories: after the workshop
Glimpses from the exhibition week
STORYTELLER'S CAFE
#BRIDGINGSTORIES II
Photojournalism Camp with John Stanmeyer
Selected Applicants
The Storyteller’s Cafe NGO, through the support of the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, is organizing a photojournalism camp led by National Geographic photographer John Stanmeyer. The aim of the camp is to bring together young photographers from Armenia and Turkey, joining the two groups through shared passions and hands-on learning of photographic storytelling techniques. Participation in the camp is free.
The overall project will take place in three phases:
1. Photojournalism Camp, Dilijan, Armenia, August 4-12, 2019
2. Working Period, during which each photographer will work from their towns and villages creating images and publishing to the @bridging.stories Instagram account and preparing selected images for the coming exhibition in January 2020
3. Exhibition in Armenia and Turkey to be held in January 2020
We received about 90 applications from Turkey and Armenia. 10 participants from each country have been selected for the project. Applicants from Armenia are Arshaluys Barseghyan, Karen Petrosyan, Laura Abrahamyan, Lilit Melkomyan, Lusine Margaryan, Mariam Terezian, Mari Sahakyan, Tamara Harutyunyan, Tatevik Azaryan. Participants from Turkey are B. Toprak Karakaya, Cagla Demirbas, Ekin Çekiç, Esen Küçüktütüncü, Hayal Çiçek, M.Emin Berk, Nelin Baykaldı, Öyküm Hüma Keskin, Sevilay Kelek, Suat Palalı.
The project will be led by the National Geographic Photographer John Stanmeyer, VII Photo Agency member Anush Babajanyan from Armenia, and a prize-winning photographer from Turkey Sabiha Cimen. During the camp in Dilijan the participants will discuss and practice the basic concepts of photography, storytelling, and self-publishing through social media. The camp will concentrate on the creative storytelling power of photography, the ability to build narratives and create concise bodies of work. The images will highlight the similarities and parallels of interests and experiences shared by young people from both countries.
Following the camp this August, the participants will be expected to photograph around their home towns and villages. For this purpose, the participants will use their smartphones (in the absence of such, Storyteller’s Cafe NGO will provide photographers with smartphones). In the months coming after the camp Anush, John and Sabiha will curate online the works of the photographers and by the end of the 4-month period of work and online publishing to @bridging.stories on Instagram, the co-teachers will edit a selection of photos in order to produce a photo exhibit. The exhibition will take place in Armenia and Turkey in January 2020.
Anush Babajanyan is a member of the prestigious VII Photo Agency and a National Geographic Society Grantee based in Armenia, focusing her work on social narratives related to women, issues of minorities, and conflict aftermaths. In addition to working extensively in the Caucasus, she also continues to photograph in Turkey and Central Asia.
National Geographic Photographer John Stanmeyer has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award in 2000 and Magazine Photographer of the Year, as well as numerous World Press and Pictures of the Year awards.
Sabiha Çimen is an Istanbul-Turkey based self-taught photographer with an emphasis on portraiture, still life and Islamic culture. She is a World Press Photo Foundation, Joop Swart Masterclass 2018 participant. Sabiha is a 3rd prize winner of 2018 PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant. Her master thesis on subaltern studies was printed by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
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Myliddy fisheries harbour revival project gets underway
The fishing community in Myliddy was thriving before the war; three decades later, a massive Government sponsored development project seeks to restore livelihoods for thousands of families resettling in the area after nearly three decades of displacement
By P.Krishnaswamy
The harbour with the pier as it is. pic courtesy: tnamediaoffice
With the Government launching a restoration project for the Myliddy fishing harbor, displaced fishermen in the Jaffna peninsula are preparing to return to their traditional fishing grounds in the area.
Last year, after occupying it for nearly three decades, the military released the Myliddy fisheries harbour and 54 acres around it, allowing displaced fishing communities to finally return home and be assured of livelihood means.
Land had been released in the area prior to 2017, but returning residents struggled to resettle, with no access to the fisheries harbour which was their main source of livelihood before the war.
Last Wednesday, President Maithripala Sirisena inaugurated the Myliddy fisheries harbour restoration and development project, that researchers and economists in the formerly embattled Northern Province would benefit particularly small scale fishermen in the Tellipalai and Myliddy areas.
President Maithripala Sirisena, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa and TNA MP Mavai Senadhiraja lay the foundation for the fisheries harbour. Picture courtesy pmd
Velupillai Thavachelvam, President of the Federation of Jaffna Fishermen’s Cooperative Unions (FJFCU), representing 118 unions, told the Sunday Observer that over 1000 families had already returned to their traditional lands near the fisheries harbour and more were set to return.
About 15,000 fisher families who were living in the Myliddi habour and its environs got displaced in 1990 due to the conflict and lived in several parts of the Northern Province. Livelihood problems were acute for these displaced fishing communities, who encountered grave livelihood problems with virtually no relief or rehabilitation assistance, Thavachelvam explained.
In the intervening period, owners of large fishing vessel fleets engaged in illegal bottom trawling in the abandoned fishing grounds of the displaced fishing community, he added. He accused sections of the security authorities of conniving with them, and urged the Government to take stern action against such persons. Poachers from across the Palk Strait were not only engaged in poaching but also in drug trafficking, turning the region into a hub for drugs, he said.
Thavachelvam said the returning fishing community needed better fishing gear, facilities and vessels, including multi-day boats, so that the region will once again become a fisheries economic hub, contributing to increased national fish production and improved livelihood of the local communities, he added. The fishing community in Myliddy had been thriving before the war, said Jaffna-based political economist, Dr Ahilan Kadirgamar. The restoration and development of the Myliddy harbour will largely benefit small scale fishermen in Jaffna, he said.
The ADB was also developing a fisheries harbour in Point Pedro, but that would be a deep sea fishing harbour that will assist larger scale fisheries. “Most fishermen in the Northern Province are small scale,” Dr Kadirgamar told Sunday Observer.
While the harbour has been returned to the civilian population, there was no infrastructure left, and that is the aim of the Government’s restoration project, Dr Kadirgamar explained.
“It needs an auction hall, and the harbour has to be dredged to create a place to keep a few hundred boats safe during the monsoon which hits this area pretty hard, net-mending centres and toilets and other facilities for the fishermen,” he explained.
By the end of the year, the restoration project should be partially complete and at least a few boats may be sheltered from the strong winds and rain during the next North-East monsoon, Dr Kadirgamar, who has been involved with the Government and other actors about getting the restoration project off the ground revealed.
Government officials say the master plan for the fully operational Myliddy fishing harbour had been designed by the Lanka Hydraulic Institute (LHI). The development project will include the renovation of a 150 year old building complex, the construction of a fuel station, ice factor, boat and engine repair workshop, a fish processing and canning centre and fishing gear shop.
The President had decreed that the Myliddy habour restoration would be undertaken as an accelerated development project, said Secretary to the Presidential Task Force on North and East Development (PTFNED) V. Sivagnanasothy.
Most importantly, the project will also include the dredging of the breakwater basin at a cost of Rs 150 million, Sivagnanasothy explained.
Restoration of the quay walls, jetties and navigation lights, development of other shore facilities such as auction hall, net mending hall, community hall and market hall will also be part of the renovation and restoration process, he added.
When he visited Jaffna last Wednesday to inaugurate the harbour restoration project, President Sirisena also ordered the army to release schools in Myliddy still occupied within two weeks, following a request by TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senadhirajah. The President had also indicated that this will be reviewed further at the next PTFNED meeting, Sivagnanasothy said.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Fisheries Harbour Project, TNA MP Mavai Senadhirajah thanked the Government for making the Myliddy fisheries harbour operational and urged authorities to further develop the agricultural and fisheries sectors in the North and East and take steps to release all lands of the people back to them before long.
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Through a review of official records spanning nearly 25 years, Sunday Observer has traced the origin and evolution of the...
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Iraj faces the music over banned FB page
Popular singer, Iraj Weeraratne, following the saga of his Facebook page going down on Friday (05), claims that he suspects...
Dead end in Trinco-5 case?
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Scholarship on Death Row
The four ceiling fans, at full speed, didn’t cool down the hot room but,from time to time,a welcome breeze would blow in...
Racism in schools : Ministry takes action
The Ministry of Education has called for an inquiry into the incident where a teacher attached to Parakrama Maha Vidyalaya...
Will this be an election year ? : Elections Commission awaits go-ahead
With the countdown to December narrowing and the election heat getting intensified, different political parties making...
Sustaining measles elimination
Sri Lanka passed another milestone of progress in public health as the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the country...
Drought disrupts ‘Yala’ season
The Agriculture Department warned that the harsh, dry weather conditions gripping the country at present will disrupt the...
The Theatre of Reconciliation: Potentials, tensions and practices
Sri Lanka currently faces multiple challenges in relation to rebuilding social trust among communities. In the aftermath of...
A plea for justice
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The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane - Mahatma GandhiThe aftermath of the Easter suicidal...
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Crown’S Case ‘A Movie Script’
Armando Sargeant and Johnny Mackey at an earlier court appearance. Photos: Terrel W Carey/Tribune staff
As of Thursday, December 7, 2017
By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
THE attorney for one of three men accused of the 2015 murder of former Queen’s College elementary teacher Joyelle McIntosh yesterday likened the Crown’s case against his client to a “movie” in which he was given a “script” by police to say untrue things about his involvement in the crime.
Dorsey McPhee, in delivering his closing address to jurors on behalf of Johnny Mackey of Bonaby Alley, said his client served as the “actor” in this movie produced by the Crown, which was in turn directed by the investigating officer in the matter, Sergeant Jamal Evans.
Mr McPhee further petitioned members of the jury to “humanise” his client as they deliberate on a verdict, as he said his client has a “soul given by God” and a “right to be free”.
He further submitted to jurors that justice means to “free the innocent” and “convict the guilty”.
Meanwhile Sonia Timothy, attorney for the teenager accused of fatally shooting McIntosh, petitioned jurors during her closing address to determine the “truth” in the matter, and to question the validity of the confession her client made to police about him shooting the deceased.
Charging the teenager’s confession was merely “words spoken to stop the brutality,” Ms Timothy asked jurors to consider whether her client’s confession was a “true reflection” of what happened on the night of November 11, 2015 when McIntosh was killed.
And besides her client’s confession to police, which he previously claimed he was forced to make, Ms Timothy said there is no evidence before the jury connecting the teenager to the crime.
The matter was adjourned to today for the continuation of the closing addresses by the one remaining defence counsel, David Cash on behalf of Armando Sergeant, as well as that of the Crown, represented by Viola Barnett and Akeyra Saunders.
It is alleged the teenager, who was charged as a juvenile along with Mackey and Sergeant of Kemp Road, attempted to rob McIntosh at gunpoint of her 2009 silver coloured Toyota Corolla worth $6,000.
During the failed carjacking, the victim was shot multiple times in her head and body. She later crashed into a wall at the intersection of Parkgate and Village Roads.
All three have denied the allegations, and while taking the witness stand previously, each of the accused said they were beaten by police to give false confessions concerning their alleged involvement in the crime.
Teenager ‘confessed’ to teacher’s murder
Defence claims it 'produced more evidence than Crown' in teacher's murder trial
Attorney says not enough proof in teacher killing case
Teacher murder trial resumes in court today
Teacher murder jury sees interrogation videos
Commenting has been disabled for this item.
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New to Trinity?
Our Pastor and Lay Leaders
Tree House Afterschool Program
Apple Tree Preschool
BLAST Sunday School
New Song Music Ministry
Faith Furniture
Ministries within Trinity
Costa Rica Mission
Brazil Medical Mission
RaGE Youth Group
BLAST Teen Study Group
Contemporary Worship is a high energy family oriented service of praise and worship with the New Visions Band, video, multimedia presentations, drama, our Interpreter Dancers and a message that deals with things that really matter in your life.
Contemporary Worship Service is every Saturday Eve at 6:00 PM and Sunday Morning at 9:30 AM
New Visions Band
The New Visions Band leads Trinity in praise and worship through song each week. Their contemporary sound brings excitement and life to the words we sing. Through guitars, keyboards, drums and vocals this group is a main part of the worship at Trinity. They believe their gifts are used to help bring the hearts of others closer to Christ.
Interpretive Dance
The Interpretive Dancers are and integral part of Trinity's Worship. This type of dance originated in Singapore and was brought to Cost Rica through a mission project. Trinity's first mission team to Costa Rica in February 2000 brought the excitement of the dance back with them. Each move that the dancers make is a reference of Scripture.
Drama & Video Ministry
The team communicates God’s messages through skits, plays and puppetry...
Home Celebrate Contemporary Worship
Welcome to Mohawk Valley Trinity United Methodist Church. At Trinity we see ourselves living on the edge of a new mission frontier for the 21st century, which starts right at the door of the church and extends across the globe. We understand that in our rapidly changing world people need to connect to God in new ways that are multi-cultural and multi-sensory. Whether you’re a spiritual seeker or a committed Christ-follower, we’ll communicate in a way that’s easy for you to understand and apply to your daily life. We believe that no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been – you matter to God. If you live in the Utica/Mohawk Valley area, or are just planning to visit, we hope you will join us for worship. There are tremendous programs and ministries for people of all ages and stages in their spiritual journey.
8595 Westmorland Road
Copyright © 2019. Mohawk Valley Trinity United Methodist Church.
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Verve People
Verve Man
Verve Trendsetters
What Makes Alia Bhatt So ‘Cool’?
Text by Sitanshi Talati-Parikh. Photographed by Tarun Vishwa. Styling by Nirali Mehta. Assisted by Aanshi Gupta. Make-Up and Hair by Bianca Hartkopf, Toabh Talents
We explore the effortless charm of the darling of Indian cinema, a girl whose journey started young, but with a promise of longevity
Taffeta butterfly print dress, by Dolly J; Phileo choker with tassels from Outhouse. Both in New Delhi. Trickle neck-piece, from Misho; black stone ring, from Prerto. Both in Mumbai. Black and gold heels, by Prabal Gurung, New York.
She’s waif-like, with fine features and aggressive sideburns. You would expect her to be loud and vivacious, but her off-camera persona is quietly dignified with moments of impetuousness. At Verve’s Best Dressed cover shoot, she inadvertently transforms breathtakingly into India’s answer to Audrey Hepburn. She’s poised and controlled, even though a stray, unstifled yawn delicately slips by between shots. Grievances, if any, are kept under wraps, evidenced only by the slight movement of the eyes which her very tuned-in press representative, Priyanka, catches. The blower gets switched off when the dress billows too much, her hand stays next to it, and she quietly strives for the perfect pose that keeps the skirt from doing a Marilyn Monroe while facing the lens with youthful zeal.
Unlike a tall, lissome model that you would want to make a clothes hanger, you nearly want to shoot Alia Bhatt with the bare minimum on, because she is, literally, comfortable in her own skin. And yet, she transforms in front of the spotlight with every kind of outfit that comes her way. Flirty dresses that lend romantic appeal, punk rock chic with attitude, jackets that demand attention and couture befitting an urban sophisticate. It’s all Alia, and you could keep going. Wielding props from metallic studded headphones to virginal blooms, she carries off the ready smiles and pouts like she was to the camera born.
It’s this chameleon-like adaptability to clothes, moods and the environment that makes her come alive on screen with a natural aura. She isn’t someone who needs the ‘right’ look or the ‘perfect’ environment to perform. Alia is a heady cocktail of daintiness amid sharpness: the limoncello that is quietly, unobtrusively intoxicating, without a harsh edge. And she has a wry sense of humour. It’s not slapstick and perhaps not sharp enough to be British, but it is blunt. When she can’t hear our creative director’s suggestions over the loud music, her lips curl into a slight smile to knock the bite off the words, “Either scream or don’t talk!”
Alia Bhatt: a heady cocktail of daintiness and sharpness
Swarovski tieup, from Outhouse, New Delhi. Black pearls with stars, by Nitya Arora, for Valliyan; black peep-toe heels, by Christian Louboutin. Both in Mumbai. Animal-print chiffon dress, by Prabal Gurung, New York.
The one ‘look’ that suggests longevity is the all-encompassing smile that radiates oomph and naïveté all at once: the glow of youth and the vigour of a woman. Alia Bhatt has an incredible fan following online, despite the live gaffes that have had the country in disbelieving splits. But then, refreshingly, like India rubber, she bounces back, laughing at herself, finding humour in the absurd and her fan base swells with overwhelming uproar. And that is style. The skill to be suave in situations that don’t appear favourable, to shrug those perfect shoulders and create your own brand of cool; that’s what makes Alia Bhatt stand out from the crowd. “I can’t answer questions about what others think about me or what image I am portraying. I prefer not to think about why I am not like the others. Then I will become conscious of it and I will try and be this fabricated version of myself which is not fun, and then you are taking yourself too seriously.”
She doesn’t need to be an intellectual, she’s smarter than that. Intellectuals alienate the masses, smart people know that being a nonchalant but authentic version of yourself is magnetic in a world of make-believe and press imagery. “You can’t develop that. You either have it or not. It’s actually not even an ability, it’s just who you are. I think a certain way, which I assume is how it’s supposed to be, and which reflects how I have been brought up. Because of the fact that people keep talking about it now, I feel that it’s a big deal to not take yourself too seriously.”
At 23, she is admittedly a dreamer, but in other words, she runs the happy risk of losing interest rapidly — and you have to work really hard to engage her. Much like a girl of her age, in today’s age. It’s a generation that perhaps isn’t heavy on wisdom, but is wise beyond their years. Wise enough to understand that in a world of ephemeral wants and multiple choices, it’s best to go with the flow. To know who you are and ignore naysayers and disbelievers. Because where’s the time for that? Alia Bhatt epitomises the young woman of today — self-assured but not self-reflective or conscious. “I know when people say things like ‘youth icon’ it bodes a sense of responsibility. I just hope that when they look up to anyone, or look at anyone, they see a real person they can connect with rather than the images portrayed on screen as characters.”
Fringe-embellished jacket, by Pankaj & Nidhi, New Delhi. Animal-print high collar wool dress, by Kenzo x H&M, Mumbai.
It’s important, to her, that this ‘real person’ be well-put-together. “If I am going out for an event, or a party, I always want to look impressive. And that’s not to impress one person in particular!” Who’s her definition of a best-dressed person? “Somebody who stands out without trying too hard; who can combine looks with a certain ease, which is not ‘black heels, a bodycon dress, tight and fitted right here, and perfect hair’. That’s nice, but there has to be some personality, something interesting about the way the person dresses. Either the combination, or the kind of clothes, keeping the trends in mind. Someone who basically understands their body, self and clothes.”
As spirited women from Indian cinema have often grappled with the question of publicity and image, Alia is very firm that being an actor of worth isn’t enough. “It is important to be well dressed. You can’t just be focusing on your talent. You have to be visually appealing. If you are beautiful, you would present yourself beautifully also.” Alia isn’t alien to making a good impression, in every way she can. Much like Angelina Jolie’s internet-breaking wedding gown decorated with the artwork of her children, Alia’s stylist came up with the idea of a ‘doodle dress’ during the promotion of her film Shandaar last year. “I feel really bad — we are constantly getting these lovely letters, drawings, paintings and pictures from our fans and we never get to do anything with them apart from looking at them and probably saving them. This way I can actually wear them, since clothes are such a big part of our lives. It was an ode to the fans.”
She’s recently bought adult colouring books, to rewind to a childhood passion. “It’s exciting, therapeutic and de-stressing; it’s complicated, but so much fun! And it’s still hard to stay inside the lines — which is important, to make it look neat and pretty.” And that defines Alia, striving to stay inside the lines, without toeing the line. Someone who always puts her best foot forward, even if she manages to put her foot in her mouth occasionally.
Keep reading for 17 things you didn’t know about Alia Bhatt…
Pages: 1 2 | View as one page
Tags: Alia Bhatt, Bollywood, Bollywood Actress, Cover story, Fashion, Featured, Indian Cinema, People, Shandaar, Style
Related posts from Verve:
NDTV Editorial Director Sonia Singh on Her Style Mantra
There’s Something About Alia
Sridevi – An Unforgettable, Legendary Superstar
Between Action And Cut With Aditi Rao Hydari
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Build a marketing database & infrastructure for lead nurturing.
Network services provider MLL Telecom markets its services to customers in mobile phone operators, systems integrators and public sector organisations. They are a specialist operator and, as a result, their entire audience probably numbers just a few thousand individuals. Conscious of the need to focus marketing resources on exactly these people, MLL asked unity dc to build the data infrastructure which would enable them to run targeted lead-nurturing campaigns in email, direct mail and web, and support activity at exhibitions.
MLL had an existing database of contacts in Goldmine but felt it was outdated and in need of cleansing. Having worked to understand MLL's specific marketing needs, and the complex structure of their target audience, unity*dc designed and built a bespoke marketing database. On top of this, unity*dc built campaign infrastructure so that the database would integrate directly with email distribution, the website, and provide for selection and export for Direct Mail and other activity.
After engineering and building the structure of the new CRM infrastructure, we went to work on the data itself, cleansing and validating several thousand records, combining data from MLL's old database, lists from recent telemarketing and other sources. We structured and codified the data to reflect the way MLL would need to use it, enabling the segmentation of contacts to run highly-targeted campaigns. Finally, we made sure every record complied with anti-SPAM measures and data protection legislation, by running an opt-in email campaign.
MLL now have a clean, up-to-date database which can be used for lead nurturing and targeted tactical campaigns. MLL's sales staff can add to using the intuitive front-end, ensuring it stays up-to-date. Smart integration with the MLL Telecom website means that any future contacts signing up for information will be captured, validated and de-duplicated automatically and in real-time, with no administrative overhead. The result is a robust data infrastructure can power targeted direct communications in any media, without the usual administrative headaches.
Like many companies, we had a legacy sales contact database holding contacts from many years - out-dated and active contacts all mixed together. We wanted to make use of the data to run targeted campaigns. Communicating to both public and private sectors brings a particular set of constraints and unity*dc built a new marketing database structured specifically around our needs. unity*dc painstakingly cleansed our existing data, fixing and retaining as much of it as possible, so we now have a clean, compliant, up-to-date database which we can use to power targeted campaigns in any medium.
Richard Brandon, formerly CMO of MLL Telecom
Lead nurture projects
John Cassidy Headshots website
Rocks Jewellers email marketing
"We are completely delighted with Jeremy and the team at unity*dc, they have delivered us a superbly crafted website exactly as we envisaged and it was a delight to do business with them as nothing was too much bother."
Tim Croft,
previously at Kiss the Fish Ltd
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Fredric Brown
(pseudonyms innclude Bob Woehlke; 1906-72)
"There are no rules. You can write a story, if you wish, with no conflict, no suspense, no beginning, middle or end. Of course, you have to be regarded as a genius to get away with it, and that's the hardest part -- convincing everybody you're a genius."
-- Fredric Brown
According to his wife, Fredric William Brown hated to write. So he did everything he could to avoid it -- he'd play his flute, challenge a friend to a game of chess, or tease Ming Tah, his Siamese cat. Plotting was a stickler, too. If Brown had trouble working out a certain story, he would hop on a long bus trip to nowhere and just sit and think and plot for days on end.
But when Brown finally did return home and plant himself in front of the typewriter, Jesus! the man did it all! Hard-boiled mystery, paradoxical sf, short fantasy, black comedy-and sometimes, all of the above. That's what makes Brown's work so damned fun. He crossed genres like a demon, plotted like a madman, and continually stretched the boundaries of any given genre into his own strange, private geography.
His career began in the mid-1930s, while working as a proofreader and typesetter for the Milwaukee Journal. Brown started churning out short mystery stories for pulps such as Street & Smith's Detective Story, Thrilling Detective and Detective Fiction Weekly, and after nearly a decade, wrote The Fabulous Clipjoint, the first of seven hard-boiled novels featuring the nephew/uncle detective team of Ed and Am Hunter. The Edgar Award-winning novel was about young Ed's quest to solve his drunken father's murder; the further adventures have the familial duo investigating less personal -- yet just as deadly -- matters.
However, Brown's mystery work isn't limited to the exploits of the Hunters. There's also The Far Cry, a chilling tale of a loveless marriage, spiritual malaise and an eight-year-old murder. And The Lenient Beast, about a kindly vigilante on a moral murder-spree. And The Screaming Mimi, about an alcoholic reporter's quest to find a Jack the Ripper-like killer roaming the streets of Chicago. And Madball, and His Name Was Death, and many, many others. (That's not even mentioning the science fiction Brown wrote, which many people remember him for today.) For a man who loathed the act of sitting his ass in front of a typewriter, he certainly manage to crank out an impressive number of volumes (see list below).
No matter what Brown book you pick up, you can count on two things:
An O. Henry-style twist ending from hell.
Outrageous wordplay. Brown's shock endings still shock, even forty or fifty years after their creation. (I challenge anybody to out-guess a Brown story before its end. You simply can't do it, even after years of Hollywood cheapo-shock 'em fare fine-tuning your expectations.) Amazingly, the same goes for his novels -- The Far Cry, for instance, packs a 10-alarm firecracker of an ending at the end of a 60,000 word novel. You try that sometime.
As for the second charge, a cursory glance at the titles in any Brown story collection will give you a taste of his pun-ishment of the English language. ("Nothing Sirius," "Pi in the Sky," and "A Little White Lye" among the best groaners.)
Brown spent a lot of effort and money on his titles, too. Writes Robert Bloch in his introduction to The Best of Fredric Brown:
"I recall [Fred] once paying ten dollars for the right to use one suggested by a friend for a mystery yarn; the resultant story was called 'I Love You Cruelly.'" According to longtime friend Walt Sheldon, Brown would construct an entire story from a single, lurid title. "[One] title was 'I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen.' I had a story to fit this title and he sold me the title for five bucks. When my story was published the editor of the magazine had changed the title to 'Blood on My Hands.' Fred gleefully refused to return my five bucks."
In other words, Fredric Brown was a man who hated to write, but absolutely loved putting words together. It's a paradox he would have probably enjoyed.
Brown's work can be difficult to find, but it's certainly worth the effort. (Someday, some brave, genius publisher-hint, hint! -- is going to reissue all of his works in handsome paperback editions à la Jim Thompson.) I've collected nearly 2/3 of the Brown oeuvre; and actually, I hope I don't find the rest all at once. I like to parcel out my Fredric Brown and savor a little bit at a time, like a fine Merlot. And like the best wines, vintage Brown doesn't lose its flavor. In many ways, Brown was very much a writer of the 1990s, stuck in the thin, professorial body of a writer from the 1950s.
(Actually, in 1984, Dennis McMillan began to publish the ambitious multi-volume Fredric Brown Pulp Detective Series, collecting all the best of his previously-unreprinted work, mostly, but not exclusively, in the crime field. - editor)
By the way, even if you're a hardboiled-type who doesn't give a rat's ass for science fiction, you'd probably still like Brown's weird take on the genre. His sf tales are full of the same mind-blowing paradoxes, clever word plays, and jaw-dropping plot twists that make his mysteries so enjoyable. A great place to start is with What Mad Universe, a wild send-up of every science fiction cliché of the 1940s and 50s. Or, try Nightmares and Geezenstacks (if you can find it), a short but brilliantly-packed collection of Brown's trademark short-shorts: mind-blowing, paradoxical pulp tales, told in 500 words or less.
The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947; Ed and Am Hunter)...Buy this book
The Dead Ringer (1948; Ed and Am Hunter)
Murder Can Be Fun (1948; aka "A Plot for Murder") ...Buy this book...Kindle it!
The Bloody Moonlight (1949; Ed and Am Hunter) ...Buy this book...Kindle it!
What Mad Universe (sf, 1949) ...Kindle it!
The Screaming Mimi (mystery, 1949)...Kindle it!
Compliments of a Fiend (1950; Ed and Am Hunter)
Here Comes a Candle (1950)
Night of the Jabberwock (1950) ...Kindle it!
The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches (1951)
Death Has Many Doors (1951; Ed and Am Hunter)
The Far Cry (1951)
We All Killed Grandma 1952)
The Deep End (1952) ...Kindle it!
Madball (1953) ...Buy this book
The Lights in the Sky are Stars (1953; sf )
His Name Was Death 1954; sf)
Martians, Go Home (1955; sf)
The Wench is Dead (1955)
The Lenient Beast (1956)
Rogue in Space (1957; sf)
The Office (1958; mainstream)
One for the Road (1958)
The Late Lamented (1959; Ed and Am Hunter)
Knock Three-One-Two (1959) ...Kindle it!
The Mind Thing (1961; sf)
The Murderers (1961)
The Five Day Nightmare (1962)
Mrs. Murphy's Underpants (1963; Ed and Am Hunter)
"The Moon for a Nickel" (March 1938, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"The Cheese on Stilts" (January 1939, Thrilling Detective; Carter Monk)
"Blood of the Dragon" (February 1939, Variety Detective Magazine)
"There Are Blood Stains in the Alley" (February 1939, Detective Yarns)
"Murder at 10:15" (May 1939, Clues Detective Stories)
"The Amazing Dip" (July 13, 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly; aka "Trouble in a Teacup")
"Murder Draws a Crowd" (July 27, 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly)
"The Prehistoric Clue" (July 1940, Ten Detective Aces)
"Town Wanted" (September 7, 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly)
"Footprints on the Ceiling" (September 1940, Ten Detective Aces; Carter Monk)
"The Little Green Men" (Fall 1940, The Masked Detective; Carter Monk)
"Herbie Rides His Hunch" (October 19, 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly)
"The Strange Sisters Strange" (December 28, 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly; Carey Rix)
"Number-Bug" (Winter 1941, Exciting Detective)
"Fugitive Imposter" (January 1941, Ten Detective Aces)
"The King Comes Home" (January 1941, Thrilling Detective)
"Life and Fire" (March 22, 1941, Detective Fiction Weekly; Henry Smith)...Buy this book
"Big-Top Doom" (March 1941, Ten Detective Aces)
"The Discontented Cows" (March 1941, G-Men Detective)
"Client Unknown" (April 1941, The Phantom Detective; Carey Rix)
"Selling Death Short" (April 1941, Ten Detective Aces)
"Homicide Sanitarium" (May 1941, Thrilling Detective; Eddie Anderson)
"Your Name in Gold" (June 1941, The Phantom Detective)
"Six-Gun Song" (July 1941, 10-Story Detective Magazine)
"Star Spangled Night" (July 1941, Coronet)
"Wheels Across the Night" (July 1941, G-Men Detective)
"Little Boy Lost" (August 2, 1941, Detective Fiction Weekly)
"Listen to the Mocking Bird" (November 1941, G-Men Detective)
"You'll End Up Burning!" (November 1941, Ten Detective Aces)
"Thirty Corpses Every Thursday" (December 1941, Detective Tales)
"Trouble Comes Double" (December 1941, Popular Detective)
"Bloody Murder" (January 10, 1942, Detective Fiction)
"Clue in Blue" (January 1942, Thrilling Mystery)
"Death Is a White Rabbit" (January 1942, Strange Detective Mysteries)
"Twenty Gets You Plenty" (January 1942, G-Men Detective)
"Little Apple Hard to Peel" (February 1942, Detective Tales)
"Death in the Dark" (March 1942, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"The Incredible Bomber" (March 1942, G-Men Detective; Henry Smith)
"Mad Dog!" (Spring 1942, Detective Book Magazine)
"Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter" (March 1942, Strange Detective Mysteries)
"Twice-Killed Corpse" (March 1942, Ten Detective Aces)
"Moon Over Murder" (Spring 1942, The Masked Detective)
"A Cat Walks" (April 1942, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"Who Did I Murder?" (April 1942, Detective Short Stories)
"Murder in Furs" (May 1942, Thrilling Detective)
"Suite for Flute and Tommy-Gun" (June 1942, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"Three-Corpse Parlay" (June 1942, Popular Detective)
"A Date to Die" (July 1942, Strange Detective Mysteries)
"Two Biers for Two" (July 1942, Clues Detective Stories)
"You'll Die Before Dawn" (July 1942, Street & Smith's Mystery Magazine)
"Get Out of Town" (September 1942, Thrilling Detective)
"A Little White Lye" (September 1942, Ten Detective Aces)
"The Men Who Went Nowhere" (September 1942, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"Nothing Sinister" (September 1942, Street & Smith's Mystery Magazine)
"The Numberless Shadows" (September 1942, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"Satan's Search Warrant" (September 1942, 10-Story Detective Magazine)
"Where There's Smoke" (September 1942, Black Book Detective)
"Boner" (October 1942, Popular Detective)
"Legacy of Murder" (October 1942, Exciting Mystery)
"The Santa Claus Murders" (October 1942, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine; short version of "Murder Can Be Fun")
"A Fine Night for Murder" (November 1942, Detective Tales)
"I'll See You at Midnight" (November 1942, Clues Detective Stories)
"The Monkey Angle" (November 1942, Thrilling Detective; Carter Monk)
"Satan One-and-a-Half" (November 1942, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"A Lock of Satan's Hair" (January 1943, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"The Spherical Ghoul" (January 1943, Thrilling Mystery)
"The Wicked Flea" (January 1943, Ten Detective Aces)
"Beware of the Dog" (February 1943, Ten Detective Aces; aka "Hound of Hell")
"Death Is a Noise" (February 1943, Popular Detective)
"Hound of Hell" (February 1943, Ten Detective Aces; aka "Beware of the Dog")
"The Sleuth from Mars" (February 1943, Detective Tales)
"A Change for the Hearse" (March 1943, New Detective Magazine; Henry Smith)
"Encore for a Killer" (March 1943, Street & Smith's Mystery Magazine)
"Handbook for Homicide" (March 1943, Detective Tales)
"Trial by Darkness" (March 1943, Clues Detective Stories)
"Cadavers Don't Make a Fifth Column" (April 1943, Detective Short Stories)
"Death of a Vampire" (May 1943, Strange Detective Mysteries)
"Death's Dark Angel" (May 1943, Thrilling Detective)
"The Freak Show Murders" (May 1943, Street & Smith's Mystery Magazine)
"Market for Murder" (May 1943, The Shadow)
"The Corpse and the Candle" (July 1943, Dime Mystery Magazine Jul 1943
"Madman's Holiday" (July 1943, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"Blue Murder" (September 1943, The Shadow)
"Tell 'Em, Pagliaccio!" (September 1943, Street & Smith Detective Story Magazine)
"Whispering Death" (September 1943, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"Daymare" (Fall 1943, Thrilling Wonder Stories)
"Death Insurance Payment" (October 1943, Ten Detective Aces; Henry Smith)
"The Motive Goes Round and Round" (October 1943, Thrilling Detective)
"The Djinn Murder" (January 1944, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"Murder in Miniature" (January 1944, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine)
"The Ghost of Riley" (February 1944, Detective Tales)
"The Devil's Woodwinds" (March 1944, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"Homicide Sanitarium" (May 1944, Thrilling Detective)
"The Jabberwocky Murders" (Summer 1944, Thrilling Mystery)
"The Ghost Breakers" (July 1944, Thrilling Detective)
"The Gibbering Night" (July 1944, Detective Tales; aka "The Gibbering Murders")
"Murder While You Wait" (July 1944, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"Bucket of Gems Case" (August 1944, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine; aka "Mr. Smith Kicks the Bucket;" Henry Smith)
"To Slay a Man About a Dog!" (September 1944, Detective Tales)
"A Matter of Death" (November 1944, Thrilling Detective)
"The Night the World Ended" (January 1945, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"No Sanctuary" (March 1945, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"Compliments of a Fiend" (May 1945, Thrilling Detective; later expanded as The Bloody Moonlight)
"Ten Tickets to Hades" (May 1945, Ten Detective Aces)
"Murder-on-the-Hudson" (June 1945, Thrilling Detective, as by Bob Woehlke)
"Compliments of a Fiend" (July 1945, Thrilling Detective)
"Dead Man's Indemnity" (April 1946, New Detective Magazine; heavily edited version of The Fabulous Clipjoint )
"The Song of the Dead" (July 1946, New Detective Magazine)
"Obit for Obie" (October 1946, Mystery Book Magazine; later expanded as The Deep End)
"Mr. Smith Protects a Client" (December 1946, Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine; aka "Whistler's Murder;" Henry Smith)
"A Voice Behind Him" (January 1947, Mystery Book Magazine)
"Don't Look Behind You" (May 1947, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"Miss Darkness" (1947, Avon Detective Mysteries #3; aka "Wait in the Dark")
"I'll Cut Your Throat Again, Kathleen" (Winter 1948, Mystery Book Magazine)
"The Dead Ringer" (Spring 1948, Mystery Book Magazine; Ed & Am Hunter)
"The Laughing Butcher" (Fall 1948, Mystery Book Magazine)
"If Looks Could Kill!" (October 1948, Detective Tales)
"Cry Silence" (November 1948, Black Mask)
"Red-Hot and Hunted!" (November 1948, Detective Tales)
"This Way Out" (February 1949, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"Murder and Matilda" (Summer 1949, Mystery Book Magazine)
"The Cream of the Jest" (July 1949, New Detective Magazine; aka "Last Curtain")
"Crisis, 1999" (August 1949, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine; Bela Joad)
"Each Night He Died" (August 1949, Dime Mystery Magazine)
"The Cat from Siam" (September 1949, Popular Detective)
"The House of Fear" (September 1949, New Detective Magazine)
"The Deadly Weekend" (Fall 1949, Mystery Book Magazine; condensed edition of The Screaming Mimi)
"Death and Nine Lives" (Spring 1950, Black Book Detective)
"Blind Lead" (June 1950, Detective Tales)
"The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches" (Summer 1950, Mystery Book Magazine; aka "The Dancing Sandwiches")
"The Nose of Don Aristide" (Summer 1950, 2 Detective Mystery Novels Magazine)
"Walk in the Shadows" (Fall 1950, Giant Detective)
"The Dome" (August 1951, Thrilling Wonder Stories)
"The Pickled Punks" (June/July 1953, The Saint Detective Magazine; condensed from Madball)
"See No Murder" (June 1953, New Detective Magazine)
"The Wench Is Dead" (July 1953, Manhunt; later expanded)
"The Little Lamb" (August 1953, Manhunt)
"Experiment" (February 1954, Galaxy; part of "Two Timer")
"Sentry" (February 1954, Galaxy; part of "Two Timer")
"Premiere of Murder" (May 1955, The Saint Detective Magazine)
"The Perfect Crime" (June 1955, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"The Letter" (July 1955, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"First Time Machine" (September 1955, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
"Line of Duty" (April 1956, Manhunt; condensed from The Lenient Beast)
"Murder Set to Music" (January 1957, The Saint Detective Magazine; aka "Murder to Music")
"The Amy Waggoner Murder" February 1958, The Saint Detective Magazine; condensed from One for the Road)
"The Late Lamented" (February 1959, The Saint Mystery Magazine; condensed from The Late Lamented; Ed & Am Hunter)
"Abominable" (March 1960, Dude)
"Granny's Birthday" (June 1960, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine)
"Before She Kills" (1961, Ed McBain's Mystery Book; Ed & Am Hunter)
"The Assistant Murderer" (May 1961, ; also "Hobbyist") Playboy
"Of Time and Eustace Weaver" (June 1961, Ellery Queen/s Mystery Magazine)
"Fatal Facsimile" (September 1962, The Saint Mystery Magazine; Henry Smith)
"The Missing Actor" (November 1963, The Saint Mystery Magazine; Ed & Am Hunter)
"Why, Benny, Why?" (November 1964, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)
Fermented Ink: Ten Poems (1931?)
Shadow Suite: Fifteen Poems (1932)
These two self-published volumes constitute Brown's first published works. He printed them up himself on his own time while working for a printer.
Space on My Hands (1951; sf)
Mostly Murder (1953; mystery)
Angels and Spaceships 1954; sf)
Honeymoon in Hell (1958; sf)
Nightmares and Geezenstacks (1961; sf short-shorts)
The Shaggy Dog and Other Murders (1963; mystery)
Daymares (1968; sf)
Paradox Lost (1973; sf)
The Best of Fredric Brown (1976; introduction by Robert Bloch)
Homicide Sanitarium (1984; McMillan #1))..Buy this book
Introduction by Bill Pronzini; the first in Dennis McMillan's ambitious series of reissues.
Before She Kills (1984; McMillan #2)
Carnival of Crime (1985)
Madmen's Holiday (1985; McMillan #3)
The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches (1985; McMillan #4)
The Freak Show Murders (1985; McMillan #5)
Thirty Corpses Every Thursday (1985; McMillan #6)
Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter (1986; McMillan #7)
Red is the Hue of Hell (1986; McMillan #8)
Brother Monster (1987; McMillan #9)
Sex Life on the Planet Mars (1987; McMillan #10)
Nightmare in Darkness (1987; McMillan #11)
The Water Walker (1987)
Who Was That Blonde I Saw You Kill Last Night? (1988; McMillan #12)
Three Corpse Parlay (1988; McMillan #13)
Selling Death Short (1988; McMillan #14)
Whispering Death (1989; McMillan #15)
Happy Ending (1990; McMillan #16)
The Water-Walker (1990; McMillan #17)
The Gibbering Night (1991; McMillan #18)
The Pickled Punks (1991; McMillan #19)
Hunter and Hunted (2002; Ed and Am Hunter))..Buy this book
An handsome omnibus edition published by Stewart Masters, comprising the first four novels in the acclaimed series: The Fabulous Clip Joint, The Dead Ringer, The Bloody Moonlight, and Compliments of a Fiend. A second volume was planned, containing the remaining Ed and Am Hunter novels and stories.
Miss Darkness: The Great Short Crime Fiction of Fredric Brown (2013) . Buy this book
Collection of over thirty hard-to-find gems. A real treat.
Murder Draws a Crowd (2017)...Buy this book
The first volume of the long-anticipated Fredric Brown Mystery Library, collecting all his mystery and crime short stories and novellas.
Death in the Dark (2017)...Buy this book
Second volume of the long-anticipated Fredric Brown Mystery Library, collecting all his mystery and crime short stories and novellas.
COMIC ADAPTATION
"The Dangerous People" (1989, The Bank Street Book of Mystery)
CRACK-UP)..Buy this book
(1946, RKO)
93 minutes, black & white
Tagline: Could I KILL ... and not remember?
Based on the short story "Madman's Holiday" by Fredric Brown
Screenplay by John Paxton, Ben Bengal and Ray Spencer
Directed by Irving Reis
Produced by Jack J. Gross
Starring Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall, Ray Collins, Wallace Ford, Dean Harens, Damian O'Flynn, Erskine Sanford, Mary Ware
Art curator survives a train wreck that never happened.A clever plot, but gawd! O'Brien gives possibly the sleepiest performance ever seen in film noir.
(1958, Columbia)
Tagline: Suspense around every curve!
Based on the novel by Fredric Brown
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Produced by Harry Joe Brown and Robert Fellows
Starring Anita Ekberg, Philip Carey, Gypsy Rose Lee, Harry Townes, Linda Cherney, Romney Brent, Alan Gifford, Oliver McGowan , Red Norvo, Stephen Ellsworth, Vaughn Taylor, Frank J. Scannell
A stripper gets tossed in the loony bin.
UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO
(1969, CCC Filmkunst GmbH/Glazier/Seda Spettacoli/Germany/Italy)
English title: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
Based on the novel "The Screaming Mimi" by Fredric Brown
Screenplay by Dario Argento
Directed by Dario Argento
Original Music by Ennio Morricone
Produced by Salvatore Argento
Executive producer: Artur Brauner
Starring Tony Musante, Suzy Kendall, Enrico Maria Salerno, Eva Renzi, Umberto Raho, Renato Romano, Giuseppe Castellano, Mario Adorf, Pino Patti
Horrormeister Dario Agento's debut, very loosely adapted (and uncredited) from Brown's novel. The film was a smash in Argento's homeland.
L'IBIS ROUGE
(1975, Les Films de l'Epée/M. Films/France)
English title: The Red Ibis
Based on the novel "Knock Three One Two" by Fredric Brown
Screenplay by Jean-Pierre Mocky and André Ruellan
Directed by Jean-Pierre Mocky
Produced by Jean-Pierre Mocky and Jean-Claude Roblin
Starring Michel Serrault, Michel Simon, Michel Galabru, Jean Le Poulain, Evelyne Buyle, Michel Francini, Dominique Zardi, François Bouchex, Karen Nielsen, François Guillaume, Maurice Vallier, Jean-Claude Rémoleux, Philibert Suédois, Jacques Mayar, Georges Lucas, Barbara Val, Jacques Fortunas
MARTIANS GO HOME...Buy this video
(1990, Image Entertainment)
Screenplay by Charles S. Haas
Directed by David Odell
Associate producers: Elon Dershowitz, Michael Flynn
Produced by Michael D. Pariser
Starring Randy Quaid, Margaret Colin, Anita Morris, John Philbin, Ronny Cox, Timothy Stack, Bruce French, Gerrit Graham, Dean Devlin, Roy Brocksmith, Nicky Katt, Troy Evans, Steve Blacknell, Allan Katz, Cynthia Ettinger, Brent Hinkley
Comedy about song writer who causes an Martian invasion..
VIELLE CANAILLE
(1992, France 3/J,M./Centre Européen Cinématographique)
English title: Old Rascal
Based on the novel "His Name Was Death" by Fredric Brown
Screenplay by Gérard Jourd'hui and Dominique Roulet
Directed by Gérard Jourd'hui
Produced by Gérard Jourd'hui
Starring Michel Serrault, Anna Galiena, Pierre Richard, Jean-Pierre Bouvier, Catherine Frot, Laurent Gamelon, Maaike Jansen, Jean-Claude Leguay, Marion Loran, Nathalie Schmidt, Béatrice Audry
ÇA NE SE REFUSE PAS
(1998, ID/France)
Based on a novel by Fredric Brown
Screenplay by Alain Adijes, Eric Woreth
Directed by Eric Woreth
Produced by Caroline Adrian, Marie Masmonteil
Starring Isabelle Renauld, Jean-Marc Barr, Stéphane Rideau, Julie Gayet, Frédéric Pierrot, Daniel Duval, Didier Flamand, Jean-Marie Winling, Cécile Garcia-Fogel
LA BÊTE DE MISÉRCODE
(2001, JPM/France)
Based on the novel The Lenient Beast by Fredric Brown
Produced by Jean-Pierre Mocky
Starring Bernard Menez, Jackie Berroyer, Patricia Barzyk, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Catherine Van Hecke, Diane D'Assigny, Dominique Zardi, Jean Abeillé, Rodolphe Pauly, Ludovic Berthillot, Roger Knobelspiess
(1966-69, NBC)
American sci-fi series
Created by Gene Rodenberry
Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols et al.
"Arena"
Episode based on a story by Fredric Brown
Teleplay by Gene L. Coon
Directed by Joseph Pevney
(1981, ABC)
American TV anthology, à la Twilight Zone, hosted by James Coburn, that only lasted 16 or so episodes. At least one story was based on a story by Fredric Brown. Other stories were based on work by or contributed by Robert Bloch, Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, William Link, Robert R. McCammon, William F. Nolan and Cornell Woolrich.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS
(1985, NBC)
Revival of popular anthology. At least one story was based on a story by Fredric Brown.
Seabrook, Jack,
Martians and Misplaced Clues: The Life and Work of Fredric Brown..Buy this book
Bowling Green State, 1993.
A spare, but interesting homage to Brown.
The Fredric Brown List URL
I'm pretty excited about this, seeing that it's likely Linn Brown (Fred's only living relative) is going to be taking part in the discussions.
Respectfully submitted by Duane Swierczynski. Additional bibliographic information by Kevin Burton Smith. Special thanks to Damien for pointing out why everyone needs an editor, and to Darrell Kastin for the word to the wise.
Drop a dime. Your comments, suggestions, corrections and contributions are always welcome.
"...and I'll tell you right out that I'm a man who likes talking to a man that likes to talk."
Web site by The Thrilling Detective Web Guy..
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Bundy's
Rancher Standoff
Shot in the Face — Execution Style: Eyewitness Says Oregon Militiaman Murdered by Cops; “He Had His Hands in the Air”
When this government wants you dead, you are dead. The media is completely complicit. None of this should be a surprise, it happens regularly. -W.E.
D.C.CLothesline
The daughter of LaVoy Finicum, the Oregon militiaman shot dead by police during a traffic stop on Highway 395 yesterday, claims that her father was “murdered” execution-style with his hands in the air, an account backed up by an eyewitness to the incident.
Protesters involved in the weeks-long occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, including leader Ammon Bundy, were apprehended by law enforcement as they traveled to the city of John Day to attend a community meeting set up by local residents.
“Everyone obeyed orders to surrender except two people: LaVoy Finicum and Bundy’s brother, Ryan Bundy,” a law enforcement official told CNN.
Media reports about the incident simply state that “shots were fired,” although Finicum’s daughter Thara Lynn Tenney posted a message on her Facebook page last night asserting that her father had already surrendered before he was gunned down.
“I want the world to know how my father was murdered today. His hands were in the air and he was shot in the face by the American authorities. Ammon Bundy reported there are 6 witnesses to this evil,” wrote Tenney.
Thara Tenney
Fredonia High School
· 2 Mutual Friends
· January 26 at 11:47pm · Eagle Mountain, UT ·
I want the world to know how my father was murdered today. His hands were in the air and he was shot in the face by the American authorities. Ammon Bundy reported there are 6 witnesses to this evil.
41 Likes · 85 Comments · 3,186 Shares
Her testimony was echoed by another eyewitness, Victoria Sharp, who was in the car with Finicum when the group were pulled over by cops and federal agents.
Sharp claims that Finicum put his hands out of the car window and asked the police to allow the women to leave the car.
“They shot at him, but they missed him,” said Sharp, adding that the group then attempted to drive away in the car but were shot at again by police.
“When we crashed and stopped for a second, he got out of the car, he had his hands in the air, he’s like ‘just shoot me then’….and they did, they shot him dead,” said Sharp.
“He was just walking, with his hands in the air, I swear to God, and they shot him dead and after he was down on the ground, shot him three more times,” said Sharp, adding that the vehicle was again “bombarded with bullets” as well as tear gas rounds.
Sharp says that the group tried to “find something white” so they could display it as a sign of surrender. She challenges news reports that only six shots were fired, asserting, “they shot at least 120 shots altogether.”
Sharp also claims that none of the individuals in the car pulled out a gun at any point and that the incident was an “ambush” with “FBI snipers in the trees” surrounding the vehicle.
“They had their hands out of the window to show they were not firing, nothing, we showed no aggression at all,” said Sharp.
Sharp’s testimony is contradicted by another individual who said he spoke to Ammon Bundy’s security guard and that LaVoy Finicum had “charged” at police officers after he exited the vehicle.
Protesters who remain at the occupied federal building have vowed to continue their stance as authorities continue to insist they want a “peaceful” resolution to the matter.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.
Labels: Bundy's Police State Rancher Standoff
Planned Parenthood's Temp President Says Christians Can Support Abortion, Here's What Billy and Franklin Graham Have Said
Justin Bieber calls for Popsicle to return double-stick treat: 'We need those back!'
The Odd Squad Weighs in on Bigotry
Students say ‘Trump quote’ on immigration is super racist — but are shocked when they discover comments were actually from Obama
“If We Don’t Speak Now”
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Obama's Disastrous Legacy
Obama is proud of himself.
He and his devoted followers believe he has left America in better shape than when he found it.
To avoid the accusation of bias and (fake) "fake news," let's use the mainstream news media and government websites, in almost every case, to prove that Obama and his core followers are misjudging their own country and the world.
1. His Benghazi policy was deadly for four Americans.
These deaths happened in September 2012, before his re-election, so the DNC had to adopt a false narrative about a video because terrorist groups were supposedly in retreat.
Politico: Final Benghazi report details administration failures
2. Obama withdrew the troops from Iraq prematurely.
We should have kept a military base there for as long as we have in Germany, Japan, and Korea. But Obama believes the standard leftist lie that America around the globe causes problems, not solves them.
CBS News: Leon Panetta Criticizes Obama for Iraq Withdrawal
3. The rise of ISIS "took me by surprise."
It did not surprise all of U.S. intelligence. The generals told him trouble was brewing.
CNN: ISIS rise surprised Obama, US intelligence
4. Syria and northern Iraq are disaster zones.
Refugees are streaming out of the area.
NPR: As East Aleppo Falls, Accounts Of Carnage – Then A Cease-Fire
5. ISIS has gone global.
CNN: ISIS goes global: 143 attacks in 29 countries have killed 2043
6. U.S.-Israel relations has deteriorated under Obama.
L.A. Times: Obama's tense relationship with Netanyahu colors Obama's legacy on Israel
His recent refusal to vote against the U.N. resolution that restricted Israel's right to build where it thinks best in Jerusalem indicates the deterioration.
WaPo: U.S. declines to veto U.N. Security Council resolution for Israel to stop Jewish settlement activity
7. Russia did provocative flybys near our ships.
The Hill: Russia rattles nerves by buzzing US ship
8. Obama said on a live mic to Medvedev that he'd be more "flexible" after the 2012 election.
N.Y. Times: Microphone catches a candid Obama
9. The Iran deal is a betrayal without getting anything in return except promises.
We will one day wake up to hear the news that Iran can weaponize nuclear power.
N.Y. Times: Iran tests long-range missile, possibly violating nuclear accord
10. About 400 million dollars for hostage payment.
We should have gotten the hostages out from the very beginning – without begging or paying.
CNN: US sent plane with $400 million in cash to Iran
11. American ships captured by Iran showed weakness to a second-rate terrorist nation.
CNN: Navy report: Failure at every level for US ships captured by Iran
12. The Cuba deal got nothing in return.
Dissidents are still in prison; the economy shows no sign that it will come out from under communist oppression.
PBS: What does the U.S. get out of the Cuba deal?
13. China's expansion in South Pacific will cause conflict.
Like Russia, China took the measure of the leftist president and concluded he is weak.
ABC (Australia): China extends its influence in the South Pacific
14. He shows no caution in his immigration philosophy – both from south of the border and from Syrian war zones.
CNN: Deadlocked Supreme Court deals big blow to Obama immigration plan
The Hill: Obama vows to 'speed up' efforts to admit Syrian refugees
These suffering humans need safe zones closer to home.
15. He is all in for climate change.
One question: Did the climate change before humans got here? Of course. So there are many factors to its changes beyond a prosperous economy that the left wants to put in shackles.
White House: FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Highlights Opportunities for Building Community Climate Resilience across the Nation
16. Gitmo prisoners have been released and gone back to fight for terrorist groups.
WaPo: Obama administration approves its largest single release of Guantanamo detainees ever
17. The corporate tax rate is higher than it is in other industrialized nations and third highest in the world.
"The United States has the third highest general top marginal corporate income tax rate in the world, at 38.92 percent."
Tax Foundation: Corporate Income Tax Rates around the World, 2016
18. Median household incomes have dropped over the past seven years.
It has dropped from about 57K (2007-2008) to about 52K (2014). Thankfully, however, the incomes have recently risen, but rising from the basement is a small step.
Real Clear Markets: The Obvious for the Decline in Median Income (The obvious is that people are working fewer hours.)
19. Obamacare is still a disaster.
In 2016, the overall premium increase across the fifty states is 25%. In many states, the rise is much higher. It means that businesses won't hire full time, and they reduce the number of hours their current employees can work.
Fiscal Times: Here's How Much Obamacare Premiums Are Rising in All Fifty States
20. We're broke: The national operating debt has reached gargantuan proportions.
The debt is almost $20 trillion, about $3-4 trillion over the yearly GDP.
Federal Debt Clock
21. The stimulus didn't stimulate, but put us deeper in debt.
Investor Politics: 7 Ugly Truths about Obama's $787B Stimulus
22. As of November 2016, the U-6 unemployment number is 9.3%.
This measurement, not the U-3 line, reveals the true unemployment number.
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Economic News Release
23. Economic growth is slow.
It hasn't broken through 3% – a historic record. "On Friday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that 2015 U.S. real GDP (RGDP) growth was 2.38%. No matter what revisions are subsequently made, 2015 will have been the tenth year in a row that RGDP growth came in at under 3.0%. The longest previous such run in U.S. economic history was only four years, and the last time that this happened was during the Great Depression (1930 - 1933)."
Real Clear Markets: Obama's Sad Record on Economic Growth
24. The federal government has grown more than it did under Bush and Clinton.
CNNMoney: Did Obama really make government bigger?
The article's answer: "By many measures, the federal government has indeed grown during Obama's tenure."
The bigger the public sector, the smaller and slower the private sector.
Domestic and Social Issues
25. The IRS harassed conservative groups.
"The IRS admitted that it targeted nonprofit political advocacy groups with the terms 'tea party' or 'patriot' in their names."
WaPo: Everything you need to know about the IRS scandal in one FAQ
26. As of December 2016, there have been five terror attacks on U.S. soil since Obama took office.
That number doesn't count the ones that have failed.
Free Beacon: There Have Been Six Successful Acts of Islamic Terrorism on American Soil Since 9/11: Five happened after 2008
For another report in September 2016, see the New Observer Online: ISIS Terror Attacks Sweep US.
27. Racial division is worse.
N.Y. Times: Race Relations Are at Lowest Point in Obama Presidency, Poll Finds
28. Black people are doing worse economically.
Atlantic: How Barack Obama Failed Black Americans
29. The murder rate has gone up.
Chicago leads the way with a 41.8% increase over last year, but there 14 other troubled cities.
N.Y. Times: A Handful of Cities Are Driving 2016's Rise in Murders
USA Today: Chicago hits grim milestone of 700 murders for 2016 and the year's not over
30. Heroin smuggling into the U.S. from Mexico has increased.
USA Today: Why heroin is Mexican drugcartels' new product of choice
Open borders – based on a refusal to tighten them up – allows for the surge.
31. P.C. culture has become more intense.
WaPo: Liberal intolerance is on the rise on America's college campuses
Obama never said "Merry Christmas" on White House greeting cards. Trump says he intends to change that P.C. policy.
Atlantic: Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays, Round 2,016: The perennial debate gets a new coat of cheer from Donald Trump.
32. The rise of the radical left has led to less religious freedom.
Bakers and florists have lost their businesses because they refused to share in a same-sex commitment ceremony.
PBS Newshour: Why some wedding businesses say 'I don't' to gay couples
33. His SCOTUS appointments have not respected the Constitution.
The left loves it because they need to lead stupid sheep, also known as the Average Common Sense American, toward their enlightenment.
But Article Three is slapping around Article One. It's rule by judges, a kritocracy.
34. He spent $85 million for vacation expenses over eight years, paid by our taxes.
The Blaze: Here's how much the Obama family has spent on vacations over the last eight years
35. Executive orders were abused.
They were a reaction to GOP congressional victories in 2010 and 2014. It's not so much the sheer number of orders (though that's bad enough), but the scope of them.
Federal Register: 2016 Barack Obama Executive Orders
USA Today: Obama's executive orders you never hear about
36. The only good news: The Democrat Party has been decimated.
"His legacy regrettably includes the more than 1,000 Democrats who lost their elections during his two terms. Republicans now have total control in half of America's states."
N.Y. Times: Was Barack Obama Bad For Democrats?
Obama has been an eight-year mistake for this wonderful country. It's soon to be a happy day when he is gone.
James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted The GOP is on a national losing streak and How the left misreads world affairs.
Labels: Obama
Meghan McCain tells Ivanka and Jared to speak up after Trump rally: 'Where are you?'
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All categories Assessor Building Inspection City Clerk EMS Engineering Fire Human Resources Knox Boxes Maps & GIS Municipal Court Museum Parks & Forestry Planning Police Department Property Taxes Public Works Recreation & Aquatics Sun Prairie Media Center Tax Increment Financing Traffic Control
Knox Boxes
Parks & Forestry
Recreation & Aquatics
Sun Prairie Media Center
Can you tell me if a certain business in the city is licensed?
Not every business that operates in the city is licensed by the City of Sun Prairie. The City licenses some types of businesses while the county and state license other types of businesses. You can contact our office at 837-2511 to inquire about licenses issued by the City of Sun Prairie. If you have a problem with a particular business, you can contact the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin at 800-273-1002.
1. Where do I vote?
There are four sites for polling purposes in the City of Sun Prairie. You are required to vote in your appropriate district. To find out where you vote, visit My Vote Wisconsin.
2. How many animals can I have licensed in the city?
According to city ordinance, in order to protect the public health and public sanitation, the number of dogs and cats you can have is limited to no more than 2 dogs and 2 cats, or 3 animals (3 dogs, or 3 cats) of any 1 of the 2 species, shall be kept in or upon 1 residential unit or by 1 or more persons constituting 1 residential unit, unless the premises be licensed as a kennel. Get more information regarding this ordinance.
3. How can I apply for an Operator's License? (Bartender's License)
Anyone applying for a new operator's license must complete the Responsible Beverage Server Training course or show proof that they have been a licensed operator in the last two years in another Wisconsin municipality.
Information for obtaining an Operator's License can be found here.
4. What items do I need to apply for a Dog License?
State Statutes and the City of Sun Prairie Ordinances requires all dogs five (5) months of age or older, to be vaccinated for rabies and licensed. Licenses are valid as of January 1st and expire on December 31st of each year and are to be purchased on an annual basis.
Additional information on how to obtain a Dog License can be found here.
5. Can you tell me if a certain business in the city is licensed?
6. Can I serve wine/beer at my business to the public for a grand opening, ladies night out, anniversary, etc?
Businesses that are open to the public and have no appropriate alcohol license cannot sell or give away or provide tastings of alcohol, including beer, wine, or spirits, to the public.
An alcohol license is required to serve alcohol beverages. Wis. Stat. s. 125.04(1) states that no person (person includes individuals, corporations, LLC’s, etc.) may sell or engage in any other activity for which this chapter provides a license without holding the appropriate license. The City of Sun Prairie forfeiture for violation of this statutory provision ranges from $250 - $500. The penalty under state law is a forfeiture of up to $10,000, nine months in jail, or both (Wis. Stat. s. 125.04 (13)).
If a business does not have an alcohol license, alcohol beverages cannot be sold or given away. Wis. Stat. s. 125.09(1) prohibits “consumption” of alcohol in unlicensed public places. For example, a business at an unlicensed premise cannot have an open house, grand opening, or event that caters to the general public and serves alcohol.
Any charge made directly or indirectly for the alcohol beverage requires the person in charge to hold the appropriate license. The term “sale” is broadly defined. “Sale” is a transfer with consideration or transfer without consideration, if made to evade law, or any shift, device, scheme, or transaction for obtaining an alcoholic beverage (Wis. Stat. s. 125.02(20)).
- Examples of indirect charges include, but are not limited to, a ticket price including an alcohol beverage, cost of a meal including an alcohol beverage, a purchase of a service with a “free” alcohol beverage, or a donation required in order to consume an alcohol beverage.
Wis. Stat. s. 125.315 prohibits the “giving” of fermented malt beverages to evade law (i.e., businesses such as credit unions, barbershops, salons, etc., giving away beer to customers without a fermented malt beverage license). Wine and spirits also cannot be given away in the same manner under Wis. Stat. s. 125.67. Again, the penalty under state law is a forfeiture of up to $10,000, 9 months in jail, or both (Wis. Stat. s. 125.66).
7. How can I rent a community room?
Community rooms are available for renting through the City Clerk's Office or our Recreation Department. Contact us at 608-837-2511 or via email for availability.
8. What's the population of Sun Prairie?
In the last 10 years, the City of Sun Prairie has been one of the fastest growing communities in Dane County. As of January 2019, the city's population was 33,966. Please call 608-837-2511 or email us for more information.
9. Can I get something notarized at City Hall?
Yes. There are Notary Publics in the City Clerk's Office. This service is provided at no charge.
10. What are the Recycle Center hours?
The Sun Prairie Recycle Center is located at 1798 South Bird Street. To view the hours the Recycle Center is open, please visit the Department of Public Works page.
11. My organization would like to sponsor a raffle. How do I go about this?
Raffles are governed by the Wisconsin Division of Administration. If you have questions regarding Raffles, please call 608-270-2552 or 800-791-6973 or visit their website.
12. How can I contact one of the Sun Prairie Schools?
The best way to obtain information regarding the public schools is by visiting the Sun Prairie School District website.
13. Where can I apply for a marriage license?
Marriage licenses are available at the Dane County Clerk's Office.
14. Where can I obtain a birth certificate?
If you were born in Dane County a copy of your birth certificate is available in the Register of Deeds Office at the County Building, located at:
15. Where can I obtain a passport?
Passports are available at the Post Office. At some locations, they may even take your passport photo. Please visit the USPS website for more information.
16. How do I contact the Sun Prairie Post Office?
Click here to go to the official United States Postal Service's Office's website. Or you can call (608) 834-1662 to reach someone at the local Sun Prairie office.
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By Markus Motum
A stylishly illustrated non-fiction book about the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity.
Discover the incredible story of the search for life on Mars, told from the unique perspective of Curiosity, the Mars Rover sent to explore the red planet. Markus Motum's stylish illustrations and diagrams reveal how a robot travelled 350,000,000 miles to explore a planet where no human has ever been. Shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize 2018.
Categories: Non-Fiction
'“I think that this book can be enjoyed by a range of readers, with older readers appreciating the depth of information provided.”' Juno
'“Motum is definitely an illustrator to watch.”' LoveReading
This title isn't currently available in any other formats
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Co-Presidents
CICC Steering Committee
CICC Advisory Board
ICRtoP Steering Committee
Coalition for the ICC
ICRtoP
WFM-IGP staff
International Justice, Rule of Law and Human Rights
Peace, Human Security and Conflict Prevention
International Democracy, Global Governance, Federalism at the Global & Regional Level, UN Reform
Environmental and Economic Governance
Prominent World Federalists
Institute for Global Policy
WFM Resolutions
WFM Minutes, Resolutions and Decisions (Members Only)
Federalist Debate
WF News
Union of European Federalists
WFM Associated Organization | www.federaleurope.org | info@federaleurope.org
The Union of European Federalists (UEF) was founded in 1946 with the aim to achieve the European Federation as a first step towards world federalism; its members were among the founders of the World Federalist Movement in 1947. Encouraged by the establishment of the European Union, members have begun to advocate for federalism in other regions.
The UEF is present in more than 20 European countries and has been active at the European, national and local levels for more than 50 years, organizing campaigns, meetings, seminars and conferences throughout the continent.
Towards a Constitution for Europe
A European Constitution is an important starting point toward the goal of a United Federal Europe. Today UEF campaigns for the ratification and quick implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, convinced that its reforms will help the democratic improvement in the functioning of the European Union.
Campaigning for a European Government
The UEF also works in the promotion the creation of a European executive body, a European Government, which should be legitimized by the will of the people in the European Parliament elections. UEF leads the campaign "Who is Your Candidate?" asking the European political parties to nominate their candidate for President of the European Commission. The party winning the majority in the next European Parliament elections should be able to appoint the President of the European Executive that should be the European Commission.
UEF European Secretariat, Square de Meeûs 25
B - 1000 Brussels, Belgium
T: +32 (2) 508-3030 +32, F: +32 (2) 626-95 01
info@federaleurope.org
http://www.federalists.eu/
Organization type:
World Federalist Movement of Japan
WORLD FEDERALIST MOVEMENT-INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL POLICY
Become a member of WFM
155 E. 44th St, Suite 1715
Phone: +1212 599-1320
Fax: +1212 599-1332 The Hague
Bezuidenhoutseweg 99A
2594 AC, The Hague
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Meaning : From The Wheat Field, From the wheat field,
Origin : English,
If you have information about this name, share it in the comments area below!
Wheatley Expression, Wheatley Soul Urge, Wheatley Inner Dream
Numerology information Wheatley:
Name Number: 9. Meaning: Divine, God, Goodness, Truth, Unconditional love, Gift, Free will, Ideal, Whole, Endless
Additional information Wheatley:
English Meaning: The name Wheatley is an English baby name. In English the meaning of the name Wheatley is: From the wheat meadow.
Definition funny of Wheatley:
cutting a class when you had a quiz.. the teacher finds you later on that day, you don't get in trouble and you can make up the quiz.
Wheatley nearly kills Chell and Glados so many times it's not even funny.
Wheatley is a bad school.
Expression information Wheatley:
People with this name tend to be passionate, compassionate, intuitive, romantic, and to have magnetic personalities. They are usually humanitarian, broadminded and generous, and tend to follow professions where they can serve humanity. Because they are so affectionate and giving, they may be imposed on. They are romantic and easily fall in love, but may be easily hurt and are sometimes quick-tempered.
Soul information Wheatley:
People with this name have a deep inner desire to inspire others in a higher cause, and to share their own strongly held views on spiritual matters.
Songs about Wheatley:
Don't Say You Love Me (Jeremy Wheatley Single Mix) by Erasure from the Album Don't Say You Love Me (Jeremy Wheatley Single Mix)
Something That You Said (Jeremy Wheatley Mix) by The Bangles from the Album Doll Revolution
The Wheatley Song by Harry Callaghan from the Album The Wheatley Song
Wheatley Science by Aperture Science Psychoacoustic Laboratories from the Album Portal 2: Songs to Test By (Collectors Edition)
Wheatley's Song by Miracle Of Sound from the Album Wheatley's Song - Single
Wheatley's Song by Miracle Of Sound from the Album Level 1
Friday Night (Jeremy Wheatley Single Mix) by The Shires from the Album Brave (Deluxe)
Why, Wheatley, Why? by BrainForce V from the Album Why, Wheatley, Why?
The Girl And The Robot (Jeremy Wheatley Radio Edit) by Röyksopp from the Album The Girl And The Robot
Ooh Yeah (Jeremy Wheatley Radio Mix) by Moby from the Album Ooh Yeah
I Could Fall In Love With You (Jeremy Wheatley Extended 12" Mix) by Erasure from the Album I Could Fall in Love With You
I Could Fall in Love With You (Jeremy Wheatley Radio Mix) by Erasure from the Album Light At the End of the World
Sally Wheatley by The Dubliners from the Album 25 Years Celebration
Sally Wheatley by Dubliners from the Album Heritage Songs
99 Feet of Snow (feat. Katherine Wheatley) by Wendell Ferguson from the Album Wendell Ferguson's Cranky Christmas
Always Tonight (Jeremy Wheatley Mix) by Catherine Feeny from the Album Hurricane Glass
Angel (Feat. James Wheatley) by Jon Wheatley from the Album Angel
At a Loss (Michael Howard Wheatley Remix) by Hazel from the Album At a Loss
Ballad for Phyllis Wheatley by Margaret Walker from the Album The Poetry of Margaret Walker
Bonny Sally Wheatley by John Woodvine, William Southgate from the Album Northern Drift/Joe Lives!
Friday Night (Jeremy Wheatley Single Mix) by The Shires from the Album Brave
Give Thanks (feat. Kevin Wheatley & Chrystalyn Terrell) by Total Praise from the Album Just Praise
A Guy Like You (Jeremy Wheatley Radio Edit) by Alison Moyet from the Album The Turn (Re-issue - Deluxe Edition)
I Could Fall in Love With You (Jeremy Wheatley Radio Mix) by Erasure from the Album I Could Fall in Love With You
I'll Cry for You (feat. Evelyn Wheatley) by Jon Wheatley from the Album I Adore You
Introduction, Phyllis Wheatley by Jean M. Brannon from the Album Blacks in the American Revolutionary War
IOU Feat Michael Wheatley (Main Mix Instrumental Mix) by Davidson Ospina, Michael Wheatley from the Album IOU
IOU Feat Michael Wheatley (Main Mix) by Davidson Ospina, Michael Wheatley from the Album IOU
IOU Feat Michael Wheatley (Ospina Afro Deep Instrumental Mix) by Davidson Ospina, Michael Wheatley from the Album IOU
IOU Feat Michael Wheatley (Ospina Afro Deep Vocal) by Davidson Ospina, Michael Wheatley from the Album IOU
Lark (feat. Piotr Orzechowski, Daniel Toledo & Joshua Wheatley) by Stephen McHale from the Album Weird Glitches
Morning Star/Getting upstairs/Wheatley Processional by Chris Leslie from the Album Dancing Days
Ninety-Nine Feet of Snow - Katherine Wheatley On by Katherine Wheatley from the Album Let It Snow! Unique Canadian Winter Music
Part I - The Struggle: Phyllis Wheatley by Langston Hughes from the Album The Glory of Negro History
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) by Dorothy Washington from the Album The Negro Woman
Phillis Wheatley - An Hymn to the Evening by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poet - Volume 5
Phillis Wheatley - An Hymn to the Morning by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poet - Volume 5
Phyllis Wheatley - An Hymn to the Evening by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poets of the Eighteenth Century
Phyllis Wheatley - An Hymn to the Morning by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poets of the Eighteenth Century
Phyllis Wheatley - On Virtue by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poets of the Eighteenth Century
Phyllis Wheatley - On Virtue by Ghizela Rowe from the Album The Female Poet - Volume 5
Prison Letter (feat. Brendan Wheatley & Chris Cotton) by John Henry's Farm from the Album Ghostrain
Promise Me Eternity (Feat. James Wheatley) by Jon Wheatley from the Album Angel
Sally Wheatley by Bob Fox from the Album Box of Gold
Sally Wheatley by Pete Scott, Tony Davis from the Album The Day of Life
Sally Wheatley by Adam McCulloch from the Album In These Times
Sally Wheatley by Alex Glasgow, The Northern Sinfonia from the Album Songs of Vol. 3 & Now and Then
Sally Wheatley by Dubliners from the Album The Best Of The Dubliners
Books about Wheatley:
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World - Sep 1, 2006 by Margaret J. Wheatley
So Far from Home: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World - Oct 8, 2012 by Margaret J. Wheatley
Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future - Feb 1, 2009 by Margaret J. Wheatley
Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time - Feb 13, 2007 by Margaret J. Wheatley
Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now - Apr 11, 2011 by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze
Perseverance - Sep 1, 2010 by Margaret Wheatley and Asante Salaam
Mutation (Twenty-Five Percent Book 1) - May 4, 2015 by Nerys Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings - Feb 1, 2001 by Phillis Wheatley and Vincent Carretta
Organometallic Chemistry: Volume 40 (Specialist Periodical Reports) - Sep 29, 2015 by Ian Fairlamb and Jason Lynam
Common Core Curriculum: English, Grades K-5 (Common Core English: The Wheatley Portfolio) - May 12, 2014 by Common Core
Applied Numerical Analysis (7th Edition) - Aug 10, 2003 by Curtis F. Gerald and Patrick O. Wheatley
The Poems of Phillis Wheatley: With Letters and a Memoir - Dec 17, 2009 by Phillis Wheatley
Movies about Wheatley:
The Heart of Bassett Place: W. Gertrude Brown and the Wheatley House - The Story of an African-American Settlement...
Rebecca Wheatley - the New Me Workout
1980 Roberto Duran vs Wellington Wheatley - Boxing2011 NR
The Heart of Bassett Place. W. Gertrude Brown and the Wheatley House. The story of an African-American settlement...2006
1980 Roberto Duran vs Wellington Wheatley - Boxing
Wiki information Wheatley:
Dated location, English civil parish, Location, Statistical region, City/Town/Village, Administrative Division
Wheatley is a large village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 5 miles east of Oxford.
Fictional Character, Video Game Character
Wheatley is a BAFTA Video Game Award nominated video game character.
Dated location, HUD County Place, Location, Statistical region, City/Town/Village, HUD Foreclosure Area
Wheatley is a town in St. Francis County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 355 at the 2010 census, down from 372 in 2000.
Phillis Wheatley
Writer, Deceased Person, Name source, Author, Person
Phillis Wheatley was the first published African-American woman and first published African-American poet. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family...
Tyrone Wheatley
Measured person, Person, Award Nominee, Athlete, American football player, Topic, Sports official, Identity
Tyrone Anthony Wheatley is the running backs coach of Michigan and a former professional American football player who played 10 seasons in the National Football League and was one of the most successful high school and collegiate athletes in...
Writer, Fictional Character Creator, Military Person, Person, Deceased Person, Author, Film story contributor, Influence Node
Dennis Yates Wheatley was an English author whose prolific output of thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s. His Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian...
Wheatley High School
School, Educational Institution, Employer, Organization
Phillis Wheatley High School is a secondary school located at 4801 Providence Street in Houston, Texas, United States with a ZIP code of 77020. Wheatley, which serves 6 years, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Wheatley, named...
Film writer, Person, Film editor, TV Director, Award Nominee, Topic, Film producer, Film director, Musical Artist
Ben Wheatley is an English director of feature films, TV comedy shows, adverts and idents, animated shorts and internet viral ads.
Glenn Wheatley
Pop rock Artist, Record Producer, Film producer, Musician, Musical Artist, Person, Topic
Glenn Dawson Wheatley is an Australian artist manager and entertainment industry executive. He is married to actress Gaynor Martin, and has a son, musician Tim Wheatley. Wheatley began his career as a musician in Brisbane in the mid-1960s and in the...
Wheatley Heights
Dated location, City/Town/Village, Statistical region, Location
Wheatley Heights is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,130 at the 2010 census. The CDP is named after the hamlet in the same general vicinity.
Wheatley, Ontario
Location, Statistical region
Wheatley is a community in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, within the municipality of Chatham-Kent. It lies about 12 kilometres east of Leamington. Nearby parks include Two Creeks Conservation Area, which has 15 km of hiking and bicycling paths,...
Alan Wheatley
Actor, Film writer, Film actor, Influence Node, Person, TV Actor, Deceased Person
Alan Wheatley was an English actor and former radio announcer.
The Wheatley School
School, Organization, Employer, Educational Institution
The Wheatley School is a public high school serving grades 8 through 12 located in Old Westbury, Long Island, New York and part of the East Williston Union Free School District. The school district encompasses all of East Williston and parts of...
Terrence Wheatley
Person, Athlete, Measured person, Identity, American football player
Terrence Wheatley is an American football cornerback who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Colorado and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Wheatley has also been a member of the...
Thomas Wheatley
Actor, Topic, Film actor, Person
Thomas Wheatley is a British actor, born Jonathan Wheatley in Essex in 1951. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read Modern History. He worked for a while in the shipping industry, in...
John Wheatley, Baron Wheatley
Politician, Deceased Person, Military Person, Person
John Thomas Wheatley, Baron Wheatley PC, KC was a Scottish Labour politician and judge.
Wheatley Hill
Dated location, Administrative Division, Statistical region, English civil parish, City/Town/Village, Location
Wheatley Hill is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the west of Peterlee, near Thornley and Wingate.
Rebecca Wheatley
Actor, Musical Artist, Person, TV Actor
Rebecca Wheatley is a British actress and musician. Wheatley grew up in Teddington, Middlesex, where she went to St Catherine's convent school, before gaining her BA in English literature from the University of Wales, Lampeter. She is best known as...
Kevin Wheatley
Award Winner, Deceased Person, Military Person, Person
Kevin Arthur Wheatley, VC was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Wheatley was one of four Australians to...
John Wheatley
Deceased Person, Politician, Name source, Person
John Wheatley was a Scottish socialist politician. He was a prominent figure of the Red Clydeside era.
Facebook pages same name Wheatley:
Ismael, Horst, Giuseppe, Foxy, Dorian, Garrison, Dejan, Eskil, Kei, Daniele, Wheatley,
Ichigo, Khayyam, Caitlin, Gloriann, Siegfried, Lisbeth, Emeli, Riona, Alexandru, Cessna, Yvie,
Sessilee, Giavanna, Shelly, Brooks, Clay, Gruffudd, Jacqueline, Peter, Ken, Paul, Hallan,
Aziin Soulurge Chanson Expression Turkenich Expression Worrick Expression Paulokat Soulurge Zavelsky Soulurge Santigian Expression Khaleela Expression Shaughnessy Expression Avika Expression Khuhawar Expression Miaozong Expression Danica Expression Palas Innerdream Charmoli Soulurge Satto Innerdream Yorkley Expression Dauzart Expression Shattan Expression Rakiyah Expression
1983 - [[Mikk Pahapill]] -Estonian decathlete
1983 - [[Jan Schlaudraff]] -German footballer
1985 - [[Hopsin]] -American rapper, producer, and actor
1985 - [[Chace Crawford]] -American actor
1985 - [[Panagiotis Lagos]] -Greek footballer
Hans-Peter, Gisela, Lankin, Halil, Fedin, Dirkjan, Giortano, Gustaw, Fritz, Lolani, Glena,
Seisoku, Grenique, Sravanisharma, Tsys, Eslam, Nevaeh', Fromanteel, Nemanich, Manali, Ugetsu, Venson,
Rovelli, Dobles, Pankina, Leska, Maktoum, Crowl, Hesselgesser, Polden, Agostino, Kupczynski, Luchet,
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Witch Hunts... Exposing The Lies
by Kerr Cuhulain
Introduction by
Wren Walker
Year 2005:
Take a Stand! Ministries
Allan Yusko’s Bible Prophesy and Rapture Report
Dogs and the Environment
OnMission's Crusade for Kids
Contender Ministries
Reactions II
Crossroads Ministries/Berit Kjos
jesusissavior.com
Pam Schuffert
Ed Decker: Saints Alive in Jesus
South African Police Services Occult Related Crime Unit
The Cycle Continues
Witch Hunts - Exposing The Lies
Chapters WhoisWho Traditions Basics Books Bardic Cats Essays-A Essays-T Earth Festivals Fest Tips Gay Holidays Issues Military Music Opinions Parenting Protection Site Notes TV/Movies Traditions Unity Weekly U WitchVox WitchWars White WM3 WrenRants
Witchvox Chapter: Chapter Page Views:
JACK CHICK: Tracts for Every Occasion (part 1)
Jack Chick founded Chick Publications, in Chino, California, 37 years ago. Chick Publications now calls Ontario, California, it's home. Jack Chick is without a doubt one of the most ardent disseminators of Satanic myths. Chick is a talented comic artist, prolific writer and extremist fundamentalist Christian. Chick Publications is best known for its comic book style tracts. Chick publishes mini (tract) comics, full sized comics, books by individuals such as "Dr Brown" and Bill Schnoebelen and a newsletter called "The Battle Cry." Chick's publications are recommended as a resource by organizations such as the National Information Network, the Religion Analysis Service, Cultivate Ministries, Christian author Jerry Johnston and Frontline Ministries (all of these will be discussed later in this series).
Chick seems to specialize in gathering together con artists from all over and either publishing their works or using them as resources for his own. The list of fraudulent anti-Pagan "experts" that Chick supports includes John Todd (AKA Lance Collins), "Dr Rebecca Brown" (AKA Ruth Bailey) and her associate Edna Elaine Moses and Bill Schnoebelen. Chick is the publisher of Bill Schnoebelen's books Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie (which we discussed earlier in this series), Lucifer Dethroned, and Blood on the Doorposts: An Advanced Course in Spiritual Warfare.
Chick relies upon the following Christian organizations for information:
Watchman's Ministry, based in Dallas (for anti-Mormon information).
Institute of Contemporary Christianity of Oakland, New Jersey (for anti-"Armstrongism" and anti-Jehovah's Witness information).
Dr. A. R. Rivera: An ex Jesuit who also provides the material for four of Chick's comics and supplies much of his anti Catholic/Jesuit material.
Chick's publications are crammed full of biblical quotations and references. The following list of books that Chick uses as resources reveals much about his fundamentalist Christian beliefs:
The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop, Loiseau Bros, Neptune, NJ. Chick seems to use Hislop's book more than any other in his footnotes.
The Late Great Planet Earth, Hal Lindsey, Zondervan Publishing House (Bantam Books).
The Illegal Trials of Jesus, Carl Wingo, Christian Truth and Victory Publications.
Noah's Ark: Fact or Fable? V.M. Cummings, Creation Science Research Center.
Get All Excited, Jesus is Coming Soon, Dr Charles R Taylor.
Jehovah's Witnesses, Salem Kirban, Moody Press (Chick uses this as a source of anti-Jehovah's Witness stories).
Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis, Patrick O'Connell, Christian Book Club of America.
Evolution and Faith, Dr Bolton Davidchester, The Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Co.
What is The Scientific Certainty of Evolution, Scientific Representations, PO Box 2384, Culver City, CA, 90230.
Creation: Acts, Facts, Impacts 1974, Institute for Creation Research, San Diego, CA.
The Creation Explanation, Kofahl and Seagraves, Harold Shaw Publisher.
The more incredible claims made by Jack Chick in his numerous publications can be summed up as follows:
The Vatican controls international banking through the Jesuits and a secret society that he calls the "Illuminati."
The Vatican financed the Nazi party in post World War 1 Germany and the communist revolution in Russia.
That Jesuit priests coached Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in writing "the Communist Manifesto".
That the Jesuits were behind the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
That the book Mein Kampf was written by a Jesuit priest, not Adolf Hitler.
That all religions besides Chick's version of fundamentalist Christianity are forms of "Baal worship."
That the Russians will invade Israel and start World War III, which Chick figures will be the Armageddon of Biblical prophecy.
One really good example of Chick's bizarre claims can be found in his comic book Sabotage, which I will describe in more detail later. In Sabotage, Chick states that the entrance to Heaven can be found in the Orion Nebula. Chick goes on to day:
"Its a heavenly cavern so gigantic and brilliantly beautiful that words cannot describe it. It was found by gigantic lenses plus long exposures of photographic plates. Astronomers agree its huge opening is more than 16 trillion miles in diameter... Its exquisite beauty and luminous colours are unlike anything on this earth. Professor Learkin at Mt Lowe observatory fives us the following description: 'for the depths of the Orion Nebula appear like torn and twisted objects and river masses of shining glass, irregular pillars, columns of stalactites in glittering splendor and stalagmites from the clear walls of ivory and pearl, studded with millions of diamonds and shining stars'... This could well be the entrance into the glory of Heaven, that we'll pass through at the Rapture".(1)
Chick apparently got the information for this from "the Daily Review-Editor's Mailbag 20 Feb 70."(2) Chick does not identify where this newspaper originates. Obviously Chick takes Learkin's description literally.
Chick publishes a newsletter: "Battle Cry." It is obvious from the title that Chick is a supporter of the fundamentalist concept of spiritual warfare. "Battle Cry" serves as a platform for Chick to promote his publications and ideas. "Battle Cry" recently went on line. The caption under the title on the front page of "Battle Cry" is Galatians 4:16 and reveals Chick's paranoia: "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"
In "Battle Cry," Chick frequently attacks Wiccans. For example, the May 1990 issue included several articles about Bill Schnoebelen and his book Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie. You will recall that I discussed the inaccurate nature of Schnoebelen's claims in an earlier article. In this issue of "Battle Cry" Chick also featured two articles: "The Universal Goddess: Satan's World-Wide Counterfeit" and "New Age Seer Says Mary is Isis."(3) The "new age seer" referred to here is Earlyne Chaney, while the first article twists the works of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, neither of whom are Wiccans. Both articles attempt to link Wicca, the New Age and the Catholic Church together as part of a supposed Satanic conspiracy masquerading as an "earth mother religion". Chick makes the following remarks:
"The goddess is a universal pagan idol. As soon as mankind rebelled against the Creator, Satan infected this distortion into their worship."(4)
"The powerful emotions which are stirred by this mother image have been increasingly manipulated to enlarge the borders of hell".(5)
"1 Corinthians 10 tells us that behind every idol is a devil (demon). As Bible believers we can only heartily agree that behind Isis and the 'Virgin Mary' is the 'same great soul'-but that soul is one of the supreme demonic impostors in Lucifer's hierarchy."(6)
"The New Age movement comprehensively blends all of Satan's major lies. It combines evolution, reincarnation, divination, spiritism, priestcraft and socialism".(7)
"Hislop shows the origin, how Satan took the worship of the Eternal Father, Jehovah and turned it upside down to worship the 'Mother Goddess' instead."(8)
One certainly gets the impression that Chick is anti-feminist here. The Hislop referred to in this case is Alexander Hislop. I mentioned that Hislop is the author of the highly inaccurate and hysterical anti-Catholic book, The Two Babylons, earlier in this article. Hislop's book is frequently quoted by disseminators of the Satanic Conspiracy myth. Jack Chick has based many of his arguments on Hislop's book and is simply paraphrasing Hislop's nonsense here.
In a May 1999 "Battle Cry" article, "Wicca: Seduction of the Innocents," Chick claims that "white witchcraft" is a doorway to Satan's kingdom. Chick lists Silver Ravenwolf's book Teen Witch as a "cookbook of mystical exercises" that can be used to place curses on people you don't like. "Got a bad bus driver?" Chick asks, "Cast a spell on him."(9) Chick complains that the number of New Age authors and publishers is increasing and states: "While these authors claim no connection to Satanism, ex-Wiccan William Schnoebelen says, 'Wicca is one of the more seductive deceptions that Satan has come up with." The article then turns into an advertisement for Schnoebelen's books Wicca and Lucifer Dethroned, both published by Chick.
In the November 2000 issue of Battle Cry, we find the article "Mayor Discovered 'Minister' Would Pray to the Wrong God." This begins by describing how Bryan Lankford, a Wiccan minister of the Order of the Inner Circle, wished to open a Dallas city council meeting but was prevented by the mayor, Ron Kirk. Chick then comments that the Pagan Federation in Britain receives 100 information requests per month. This then turns into another ad for Schnoebelen's book Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie.
(Continued... Click HERE for page II)
Kerr's Bio: Kerr Cuhulain the author of this article, is known to the mundane world as Detective Constable Charles A Ennis of the Vancouver Police Department, Youth Services Unit. Ennis, a child abuse investigator for the VPD, is the author of several articles on child abuse investigation that appeared in Law & Order Magazine. Better known to the Pagan community by his Wiccan name, Kerr Cuhulain, Ennis was the first Wiccan police officer to go public about his beliefs 25 years ago. Kerr is now the spokesperson for Officers of Avalon. Kerr went on to write three books: The Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca (Horned Owl Publishing) as well as Wiccan Warrior and Full Contact Magick: A Book of Shadows for the Wiccan Warrior. (Llewellyn Publications).
Email Kerr: cuhulain@telus.net
Llewellyn Publications: www.llewellyn.com
Officers of Avalon: www.officersofavalon.com
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Home > brain trauma
brain trauma
Dave Mirra suffered from CTE when found dead
Doctors confirm that the BMX star who was found dead in a truck on February 4th, 2016, Dave Mirra suffered from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). The disease is often found in
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LOVE AND RENT
I lived in a Cleveland Heights duplex — a side-by-side. Joe, the landlord, lived in the other half. He wore a sleeveless T-shirt, smoked cigars and nagged his wife.
A note taped to the thermostat — on my side of the house — read: “Whoever is turning the thermostat up and not turning it down, is throwing money out the window!” I lived with a social worker, a Case Western Reserve nursing student from a strawberry farm in Lake County, and a telemarketer. I met these guys off a bulletin board at Case.
I practiced guitar in the basement, trying to be Bob Dylan.
When the social worker moved out, a woman came by to look for a room to rent. I met her at the house’s front door and said, “We’re looking for somebody clean, quiet, and . . .”
“Cute?” she said. She was wearing taped glasses. Nevertheless, she was not bad looking.
The strawberry farmer said to me, “You think she’s Jewish?” (He was always looking out for me.)
“She’s a nurse from West 45th Street,” I said. “Not likely.”
The woman rented the room. Then the landlord’s wife, Gertie, kicked her out. Gertie said, “Girls spell trouble. I’d rather deal with men. You should take that as a compliment, fellas. Why would a girl who makes a good living want to live here anyway?”
Joe, the landlord, chimed in, “We have to be indiscreet about this. What if you all start bringing in girls? It’ll look like a whorehouse. You’ve always been gentlemen till now.”
I went down the basement to practice. I was making $9/hour teaching blues harmonica at the adult-ed program. Not bad for 1977.
The nurse moved out, to her own place, a nearby double, and I called her and we went out. We hit it off. I told my parents, “She’s from West 45th Street.”
My father said, “Are her parents devout Catholics?”
“She’s Jewish.” (She was. I wasn’t pulling my dad’s leg, for a change.)
My mother said, “I’m getting a new dress now. Get married. You can get divorced later. You promised you’d get married when you’re 27 and you’re 27. A Jewish girl in nursing?”
“Because she wants to marry a doctor,” my father said. “Anything wrong with her? She’s a 26-year-old unmarried Jewish girl.”
“Girls are more independent nowadays,” my mother said.
The girl and I got married the next year.
The girl, Alice Shustick, 1977
Footnote: Alice lived on West 45th Street because it was somewhat near Tri-C West nursing school, and the rent was cheap.
1 John Hilton { 07.23.14 at 11:50 am }
so–how’d things work out?
2 Bert Stratton { 07.23.14 at 1:16 pm }
To John Hilton:
So far so good, John. (35 years.)
3 marc { 07.23.14 at 3:15 pm }
I’ll be married 40 years in September.
4 Ken G. { 07.23.14 at 9:42 pm }
I hope she found the place cute. Current mansion, too.
5 Sylvia MK { 07.24.14 at 8:00 am }
Thanks for sharing – I loved reading this!
6 David Korn { 07.24.14 at 9:19 am }
Bert, this is great. When I started reading I thought it might be one of your assumed-character sketches, like where you write as a seduced college co-ed or a Mississippi delta blues musician, so I am glad this is you checking in with reality. Great quip from Pippi, great picture too.
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Home Forums > Main WW2 Talk Forum > Theatres of War > War Against Japan >
Japanese bloody killed abuse European POWS during the world war 2.
Discussion in 'War Against Japan' started by tivew, Aug 1, 2011.
BarbaraWT Member
tivew said: ↑
I am a Chinese.May I ask a question?
How the European view the When Japanese soldiers kill them,abuse them? Are they very fear Japanese ? or very hate them?
I don't encourage hate crime, but I am very strange, These Japanese abuse European so cruel.
But USA take Japan as so-call ally after world war 2. Are USA want use of Japan or other intention?
It's unimaginable for a Asia people!
TiView I agree with you! Australians of the WW2 generation suffered terribly as Prisoners of the Japanese. Conditions were more like Concentration camps. We descendants have not forgotten what happened and view the Japanese with distrust, despite their “good manners” in ordinary civilian life.
BarbaraWT, Aug 28, 2018
davidbfpo Well-Known Member
I have returned to some online research on the British intervention in French Indo-China after the Japanese surrender and this thread appears to be the best place to add this - although I am not adding anything on the thread's title.
The catalyst for this was helping a family member research a relative a British officer, Robert Prentice, who served in the 3/8th Gurkha Rifles and commanded a company there. The 3/8th C.O. was a Ted Russell, a regular officer from the 9th Gurkha Rifles. In one letter in the 1980's he refers to: 'The maps we had were French and they erred considerably having been printed before the Japanese occupation.'
For the main formation involved see: 20th Infantry Division (India) - Wikipedia under the command of General Gracey. Note the division's British battalions were removed in April 1945: https://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/944PIAA.pdf and most, if not all the division's Indian soldiers were professionals who faced the prospect of demobilization upon returning to India.
The Divisional Commander, General Gracey, is the focus of a book - not read by me yet - which was published in 2014 by Palgrave: 'Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire General Gracey in Asia 1942-1951' by T.O. Smith, an Associate Professor of History at Huntington University, USA, whose speciality is in decolonisation and political violence in South and Southeast Asia.
Palgrave's website shows parts of the chapters can be previewed is: Vietnam and the Unravelling of Empire - General Gracey in Asia 1942-1951 | T. Smith | Palgrave Macmillan
It is available still via: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vietnam-Unravelling-Empire-General-1942-1951/dp/1349496561
The intervention in French Indo-China was called Operation Masterdom and there is a summary here: Masterdom | Operations & Codenames of WWII
There is a superb chapter on the intervention by Daniel Marston, an accomplished military historian of the Indian Army. He refers to the 32 Brigade arriving in October 1945 and cites the 3/8th C.O. twice in the footnotes. The brigade left in late December 1945. Not the irony the chapter is on a Japanese MoD website. See: http://www.nids.mod.go.jp/english/event/forum/pdf/2014/08.pdf
To my surprise the Imperial War Museum (IWM) Oral History Collection has only one interview with an officer from the 3/8th and Reel 5 refers to the time in Saigon. Alas it is not available online: Bainbridge, Harry (Oral history)
In 1970 a small paperback was published 'The British in Vietnam; by George Rosie; it has been criticised since, but this review reflects the controversy around the intervention: VIETNAM 1945 » 14 Nov 1970 » The Spectator Archive
davidbfpo, Jun 6, 2019
morrisc8 Under the Bed
These are original photos from my collection.
One of a series of Photos from a crewman onboard American LST 1012
( Tank landing Ship) which was at the Invasion of Sicily and Italy Naples 1944 and Shanghai and Transported Japanese Prisoners of War to Japan in 1946.
Photos 1 and 2. 1946 China - Longkou - Japanese POWs queuing loading on an LST
Last photo.1946 China - Shanghai - a Japanese POW who said he had Killed 1300 Chinese with a Machine Gun. No ID for him.
morrisc8, Jun 6, 2019
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Royal Jewel Rewind: Nobel Prize Ceremony 2009
#94251979 / gettyimages.com
In ten days, the Swedish royal family will gather in Stockholm for the presentation of the majority of this year's Nobel prizes. (The peace prize is presented separately in Oslo.) In the lead up to this year's ceremony, we're going to be looking back to the jewels worn at Nobels past, starting with the ceremony held five years ago in 2009.
The three senior Swedish ladies all attended the Prize ceremonies in 2009. It was a big year for the Bernadottes: Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Madeleine both made engagement announcements (though Madeleine would call hers off the following spring), Daniel Westling received a successful kidney transplant, and Prince Carl Philip celebrated his 30th birthday.
For the prize ceremony, Queen Silvia chose the large diamond tiara known by the Bernadottes as "Queen Sofia's tiara" -- and generally called the "Nine-Prong" by royal jewel lovers. It was made around 1860 for Sofia of Nassau, the wife of King Oscar II; today it's a part of the Bernadotte jewel foundation.
Silvia paired the tiara with a collection of diamond and pearl jewelry. Her necklace, a single strand of pearls, is a major Bernadotte heirloom. The necklace, which features a diamond clasp, was a part of the collection of King Carl XIV Johan. The diamond and pearl drop earrings are equally important; they have been in the family since the early nineteenth century and were reportedly worn by Joséphine of Leuchtenberg. Silvia often wears the necklace and the earrings together as a set.
The brooch that Silvia has used to secure the sash of the Order of the Seraphim is the diamond floral brooch from the Brazilian (or Braganza) parure. The brooch was a part of the grand diamond set left in 1873 to Joséphine of Leuchtenberg by her sister, Amélie, the widow of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil. Opposite the brooch, Silvia wears the diamond-studded family order of her husband, King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Thanks to the inventive work of one of the photographers covering the event, we can also see that Silvia wore a diamond bracelet on her right wrist, plus the three rings she usually wears on her left hand: her diamond engagement ring, her wedding band, and a diamond and ruby ring.
Crown Princess Victoria also selected a diamond tiara for the 2009 Nobels: the family's diamond six-button tiara. The six diamond buttons on this tiara are floral, featuring ten small round diamonds hugging a larger floral cluster of seven additional diamonds. These buttons are the same diamond rosettes that were attached to the coronation crown of King Carl XIV Johan in 1818; the tiara itself was apparently assembled during the second half of the twentieth century for the use of Princess Lilian. Victoria wore the piece at this event with two additional rows of diamonds at the base.
With the button tiara, Victoria wore a set of jewels from the family's nineteenth-century diamond and amethyst parure. These diamond and amethyst pieces are said to have belonged to Empress Joséphine, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Victoria wears the parure's earrings, the necklace made of two bracelets, and one of the brooches.
Victoria also wore two bracelets, plus her diamond engagement ring, the Order of the Seraphim, and her father's family order.
Victoria wasn't the only Bernadotte to pick a button tiara for the ceremony. Her younger sister, Princess Madeleine, wore the family's diamond four-button tiara for the first time in public. While the other tiara features diamond rosettes, these diamond buttons feature seven round diamonds encircling a central diamond in a sunburst design. The Bernadotte women have been wearing this simpler button tiara since the mid-twentieth century.
Madeleine's necklace is actually the converted version of another tiara: it's the modern diamond fringe tiara from her mother's private jewelry collection. In 2013, Madeleine wore this piece as her wedding tiara. She also wore a simple pair of diamond drop earrings.
Madeleine used a small round diamond brooch to secure the sash of the Order of the Seraphim. She's also wearing her father's family order, plus a piece of jewelry that has long since left her jewelry box: the diamond engagement ring given to her by Jonas Bergström.
On her right wrist, Madeleine appears to be wearing another gift from Jonas: a Cartier love bracelet. Like the engagement ring, it's long gone; she hasn't been seen wearing this piece in public since 2010. (From this angle, it also appears that Madeleine has used a second small diamond brooch to secure the back of her sash, something royal ladies frequently do.)
Stay tuned later today for the first of our holiday wishlist posts!
Labels: nobel jewels , royal jewel rewind , Sweden
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Board index ‹ Main Forum ‹ DVD / Blu-ray
Star Wars Box Set rumour (Now with 100% Less Rumor!)
Betamax and beyond
by happydude3 on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:04 pm
I for one, am happy as a clam. Those happy, happy bastards.
from www.thedigitalbits.com:
"Also today... a follow-up on something we've been telling you to expect for quite while now. 2007, as you may well be aware, is the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars' debut in theaters. You'd have to be stupid not to know that Lucasfilm is going to have big DVD release plans with which to celebrate the anniversary, and we've been telling you that was the case for many months now.
Indeed, during our last visit to the Ranch for the DVD release of Episode III, producer Rick McCallum confirmed that a box set of all six films was going to happen eventually, and animation director Rob Coleman even let it slip that the puppet Yoda from Episode I had already been replaced with a new CG Yoda to match Episodes II & III for the "future" release. T-Bone over at Star Wars Universe recently speculated about this box set, and we've been quietly checking in with our industry sources on it as well.
Well, we've confirmed it: There IS a big, ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary DVD box set planned for 2007. There will be more changes to the films, and there will be LOTS of new, never-before-seen special features - all the good stuff that was held back by Lucasfilm from the original Trilogy DVD release a few years ago. Think deleted scenes and more.
We don't know if good, genuinely-REMASTERED versions of the original theatrical editions of the films will be included or not (though how you could call the set "ultimate" without them, we don't know).
We don't expect high-definition versions yet, as those formats are just too new. We don't have ANY other details for you yet, so please don't ask. But as you consider whether or not to purchase the "limited edition" DVDs due on 9/12... we thought you should know that more IS absolutely on the way next year."
happydude3
TOMBOY BEANPOLE
by Brocktune on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:08 pm
GGGGGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
motherfuckers!
i think its time i just started having my paycheck direct deposited into lucas's bank account.
although, what he really deserves is to have my fuckin jack booted foot direct deposited into his money grubbing ass.
but who the fuck am i kidding?
like im not gonna buy it.
Brocktune
Location: Pico & Sepulveda
by Chairman Kaga on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:15 pm
Hmmmm If they include deleted scenes for the OT like Luke building his saber at the beginning of Jedi and released it with both versions of the OT films I think it would be worth the wait.
Chairman Kaga
by austenandrews on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:19 pm
Guess I'll cycle my current ones into the kids' discs.
Gordian Algebra, my new webcomic
austenandrews
SUSAN CAGLE
Yeah, now I'm not sweating ignoring this new set coming out in September. I'm one (probably of the few) who applauds Lucas' marketing approach of keeping the franchise alive, although I completely empathize with the folks it pisses off. But I personally can't wait for any new footage even marginally related to Star Wars so this will be well met, indeed. Holy crap, I just realized I sound like I belong in a Ren Fair.
I don't empathize with them. If people feel the need to purchase multiple versions of movies over and over again they deserve to get taken for a ride.
It kinda depends on the cost. If I spend $150 on one set and the next year they release a better set, that would irk me. If I spend $15 a disc? Eh, that's not worth sweating over.
by bamf on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:33 pm
Ya, and its all going to be pan-scanned. Anamorphic wide screen will come out the following year, but only half of the series. The year after that it will be the ultra super edition with all films in anamorphic widescreen, but only in a 2 channel stereo mix. Then Blu-ray takes off and...
EDIT, /sarcasm
by Fried Gold on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:39 pm
Moans
Buys it.
Fried Gold
Location: ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░
by darkjedijaina on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:57 pm
gah. a new CGI Yoda to match the newer ones?
darkjedijaina
BAD ASH
Just in The Phantom Menace.
by wonkabar on Fri Aug 25, 2006 10:58 pm
I just want those godamned Biggs scenes
wonkabar
CHIEF OF THE BEEF
Location: The Double Douche
for those of you that give a shit about the OT cutscenes, but dont want to spend the cash, i give you T-Bone
the website has undergone a little reconstruction since the last time i was there, but that shit is stiil gold!
by magicmonkey on Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:10 pm
Yup, all I'd buy it for is deleted scenes, if Yoda is replaced then that is shit. But, should please the kids I guess. Finally I get to see Luke and Biggs sharing a cup of Tatooine tea.
magicmonkey
I AM fucking Zen
Location: Shanghizzo
darkjedijaina wrote: gah. a new CGI Yoda to match the newer ones?
Over the crap puppet from Phantom Menace....hell yes.
i was actually hoping that lucas would shoot all new puppet yoda scenes to replace the cgi yoda in eps 2 and 3.
Chairman Kaga wrote:
i just think it's ce-rap to change shiz like that for a 'new edition'. you make the movie. the movie is great or okay or bad. don't keep going back and changing stupid little crap, y'know? i mean, if you're only concerned about making money, go ahead...but i won't buy it. and i'm a huge fan of SW. but i refuse to pay money for shiz like that. in fact, i never bought the dvd versions of the OT. granted, when my VHS wears out, i probably will...but, y'know.
Brocktune wrote: i was actually hoping that lucas would shoot all new puppet yoda scenes to replace the cgi yoda in eps 2 and 3.
This time, marionettes.
austenandrews wrote: This time, marionettes.
in the cantina band this time:
by buster00 on Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:04 am
austenandrews wrote:
Howdy Doody Time, it is...mmmm....
by Shane on Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:33 am
After all the anticipation, excitement and decades of obsessing over star wars, I just don't care.
I think I am now just tired of it all.
I waited forever in line for ep I, I came dressed up and got a second job at night flipping burgers to buy more toys.
I watched the OT every day after school as a kid. I lived Star Wars for decades, and I don't think I can bring myself to even want the big boxed set.
I wanted deleted OT scenes for years, and would have bought it one million times over. This is just too little too late for me.
Georgie boy has somehow managed to leave a bad taste in my mouth. And I don't have a problem with the new trillogy as much as some. I just think the guy is an ass and he really knows how to burn me out of something I once held dear.
by monorail77 on Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:07 am
I'm buying!
I had promised myself NOT to buy the ones coming out this Sept, because of the shit quality and refusal to remaster. But I was beginning to cave. "Maybe I'll just buy Star Wars" I said "Just so I can see the Death Star blow up like it should, without those stupid rings."
But this news strengthens my resolve. I will merely RENT the Sept ones (if I can find them!) and wait for the 2007 sets!!!
monorail77
Oh, and can not wait for the 2007 TV show (live action, one hour drama) nor for more Clone Wars animated toons!
"All we have is language; that's the one tool that enables us to grasp hold of our lives and transcend our fate by understanding it."
-Harlan Ellison
by Chilli on Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:52 am
Nope. Not buying. Not giving any more money to the idiot who turned my moderate affection for the prequels into blistering hate, and made one of my five worst films of all time in ROTS.
Star Wars TV show... McCallum describing it as 'Deadwood in Space' is the biggest piece of BS press I've ever read.
Bison: [to his architect] The temple above us was the wonder of the ancient world. Bisonopolis shall be the wonder of my world. But I think the food court should be larger. All the big franchises will want in.
The Unfriendly Ghost
by Shane on Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:49 pm
Deadwood in space is the perfect way to go with the series, but I don't think it will be. In fact I am not looking forward to the series either.
by Tyrone_Shoelaces on Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:52 pm
Deadwood in space? I'll believe that when David Milch is running it. Like George is gonna let a Jedi call someone a cocksucker.
Tyrone_Shoelaces
Location: Northern Frontier
by minstrel on Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:54 pm
I won't be buying the set. I already have all of these movies. And you know what? I never, ever watch any of them. I just sorta remember them, and in some cases, not very fondly.
"Everybody is equally shitty and wrong." - Ribbons
Leader of the Insquirrelgency
Location: Area 52
by moose4787 on Sat Aug 26, 2006 7:33 pm
As much as this erks me, I will still buy it, if for no other reason than to see Han shoot first. I will also get the 6 pack or what ever it is because I have reframed from buying the new ones on dvd becuase I knew that somthing like this would be comming out. And you know there are going to be awasome bonues features and hopefully new commentarys.
Xbox live profile: Moose4787
moose4787
PRIMITIVE SCREWHEAD
by sonnyboo on Sat Aug 26, 2006 8:06 pm
Shane wrote: I wanted deleted OT scenes for years, and would have bought it one million times over. This is just too little too late for me.
Then buy the official CD-Rom set called "BEHIND THE MAGIC" and you an see all the Episode iV deleted scenes and it's legit. According to the STAR WARS INSIDER, the original editor of A NEW HOPE had made a 2.5 hour rough cut (pre FX shots) that played too slow and that's why Richard Chew & Marcia Lucas were brought in with Paul Hirsch to re-edit. A single black & white print of that cut still exists in the Lucasfilm archives and there were a LOT of little tidbits & small changes to it (IE vignettes of aliens screwing around in alleys of Mos Eisley etc.). This is where some of the cut footage found on the aforementioned CD-Rom set (and bootlegged online often) came from.
The quality & ability to restore (it's black & white and only exists that way) will be hard, so keep your expectations on deleted scenes pretty low.
I have not bought the 2006 DVD's with the original cuts because I have them on laserdisc from 1995 with THX remastered sound (4.1 only and non-anamorphic).
As I have tried to state before - it is NOT possible to make a true anamorphic remastered version of the originals. The negatives and even interpositives are deteriorated past recovery. They recovered what they could for the 1997 SPECIAL EDITIONS, and that's why there are re-shoots (IE the dewbacks & revised sandcrawler scenes) because there the original negative is missing from the optical house that did the original transitions in 1977, etc. Similarly many elements from the original trilogy just plain do NOT exist today. That's one of the reasons they remastered them in 1997 and did restoration on what they could. The only negatives that exist today are the SPECIAL EDITION.
The debate can still rage on with George's choice to remaster it solely as the special edition rather than simultaneously make an original as well, but as it stands today - IT IS NOT POSSIBLE to remaster the original.
sonnyboo
REAL DRAGON
Location: Hollywood, Ohio USA
by Fried Gold on Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:41 pm
Or maybe not:
The Digital Bits wrote: You know that mega-bombad 9-disc Ultimate Star Wars Saga box set that's been in the works for a few years now? The one that was expected to be released later this year to celebrate the 30th Anniversary? Yeah... maybe not so much anymore. We've been hearing from multiple sources now that the folks up at Lucasburg were surprised enough at the lackluster sales of last year's Star Wars Trilogy DVD re-run ("Now with Han shoots first!") that they're afraid they might have gone to the Sarlacc Pit one too many times, so to speak. There's talk apparently that the box set could get delayed a year or two to amp up demand for the films on disc again. Don't know how serious this all is, but that's the word that's blowing in the wind.
I just don't get Team Lucas anymore. They release the same DVDs we all already own last year and try to pull the "Hey, we're doing you all a favor by giving you the special non-anamorphic, zero-effort original versions as a bonus item!" and then they're actually flummoxed when they don't sell. What the REST of us know, is that they didn't sell because they were crap, and because everyone is waiting for the damn box set.
Ugh. I hate being the guy who has to bring you frustrating Star Wars DVD news, but it seems like it happens EVERY damn year. Please don't Force choke the messenger. I'm feeling a bit like Captain Needa these days...
Many Bothans died to bring you this information.
Last edited by Fried Gold on Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
by LaDracul on Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:42 pm
I really wish I knew about this last year...
Are they going to put the lost Biggs and Cammie scene in?
BTW, the gal that played Cammie was also in the beginning of "Rocky Horror".
LaDracul
Location: Gothamized Chicago
by so sorry on Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:44 pm
On the next After School Special, Luke's uncle touches him in his special place...
by DaleTremont on Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:54 pm
When I first glanced at this I thought it said "Hella good Star Wars Sex Bot rumour."
Oh well =)
DaleTremont
Loincloth Bronson
Location: Москва, bitches!
by Brocktune on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:03 pm
lame.
those stupid fucks should have just waited to put the han shoots first versions on this fucking set.
gentlemen.
by Fried Gold on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:04 pm
Touched By A Jedi
by havocSchultz on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:04 pm
DaleTremont wrote: When I first glanced at this I thought it said "Hella good Star Wars Sex Bot rumour."
In that version - Greedo always shoots first...
havocSchultz
is full of stars...
Location: living amongst a hazy nothing...
May the Force Cum With You
This is not the sex you're looking for...
by DinoDeLaurentiis on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:13 pm
"Leia? She's a my SISTER, eh? HOLY CRAPPA!"
DinoDeLaurentiis
SHE'S A THE SARAH SILVERMAN
Location: Private Villa inna Santorini
by Cpt Kirks 2pay on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:16 pm
Not another farking one!!!
I only came to this thread to ask one simple question...
Does it have the ROTS extended Space Battle? That's all I wanna know.
I really can't be arsed to read the rest of this thread.
Cpt Kirks 2pay
STAR WARS The Laser Disc Edition?
by TheButcher on Fri Oct 25, 2013 3:19 pm
Time for another special edition!
Yoda's Death In Newly Discovered STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI Behind-The-Scenes Clip
Another clip from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi laser disc, that contains rare behind-the-scenes footage, has been released.
This one feature Luke Skywalker asking Yoda if Darth Vader is his father.
TheButcher
ZONE NEWS DIRECTOR
Location: The Bureau of Sabotage
Star Wars Original Trilogy Blu-ray Rumors
by TheButcher on Thu Jun 05, 2014 10:06 am
The Digital Bits:
About All These Original Star Wars Blu-ray Rumors…
Bill Hunt wrote: Now consider this: Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise in 2012 for $4 billion. That’s billion with a ‘B’. And they intend to continue with Saga with new episodes that tie directly into those original films. This isn’t another prequel trilogy aimed at a new generation of kids – they’re shooting squarely at Gen-Xers with these new films. The same Gen-X that's built up all those bad feelings surrounding Star Wars over the years. What do you suppose is the quickest and surest way to wipe out all that ill will in one stroke, and at the same time ensure that nearly every of those kids who first discovered Star Wars back in the 20th Century (now 40 and 50-something adults) jumps on the bandwagon for the new sequels?
Of course, Disney is going to release the original, unaltered films!
Are you kidding? The folks at Disney have $4 billion riding on this little investment and they aren’t stupid. The only reason the original versions haven’t been properly released before this is that George Lucas didn’t want it to happen… but Lucas is no longer in control of such decisions. There’s simply no way Disney would have paid $4 billion without the right to do what they wanted to with this franchise. And what they want to do is exploit the crap out of it for years to come.
Bottom line: We’d be absolutely shocked if the original, unaltered Star Wars films don’t A) return to theaters, B) get released on Blu-ray and DVD, or C) both, prior to the theatrical debut of Episode VII in December 2015. I mean seriously. You don’t need to be a Jedi or a Sith to see that the Force is strong in this rumor.
Re: Star Wars Box Set rumour (Now with 100% Less Rumor!)
by so sorry on Thu Jun 05, 2014 10:18 am
Mixed feelings on this news.
When a film that I love gets the "blue-ray" treatment, what I look for is a review of how the Blue Ray transfer is handled. Its not worth it to me unless there is a jump in quality of the picture. All the extras and bonuses and shit that big blu-ray releases have, that's all fine and well, but really its about the picture/sound quality. So from that point of view I would hope that there would be some work done to the OT to up the quality to make it worth my money. SO...there were some things in George's reissues that weren't the worst things in the world (like cleaning up the tie fighters flying around with black boxes around them), but of course his changes to the movie itself were downright terrible (Han shooting first, the addition of Jabba etc etc etc).
by TheBaxter on Thu Jun 05, 2014 11:22 am
as someone who still refuses to buy the OT on blu-ray (when they added the Vader "NOOOOOOOO" to ROTJ, that straw broke this camel's back; i haven't even watched that version of the film yet) i would welcome these with open arms. when they first announced that Disney was buying the rights to SW, my first thought wasn't "hooray, more SW films" it was "hooray, now we can maybe finally get the original films on blu-ray without all that added crap."
i'd like to see digital restoration, a surround mix (based on original sound elements), cleaning up of the fx, etc. basically all the standard stuff that gets done on these reissues but that doesn't actually change or alter the film, the story, or the characters themselves. but if given the choice between lucas's v8.1.3b version of the films, and the original unchanged films with no "clean-up" work done, i'd gladly take the latter.
the funny thing is, lucas so mishandled the whole thing that he's turned his whole fanbase against his own preferred versions of the films. if he'd done like PJ did with the LOTR films, putting out the theater cuts alongside the "expanded" versions, people would probably like the expanded versions just as much or maybe even better. i mean, most people would rather watch PJ's expanded LOTR films than the theatrical versions. but by refusing to release them he's turned them into a sort of "holy grail" that the fanbase has mythologized into something greater than it really is.
and i still firmly believed the ROTJ "NOOOOOOOOOOO" was inserted purely as a big "FUCK YOU" to all the fans who complained about his beloved prequels.
TheBaxter
Carlos Danger
by Spandau Belly on Thu Jun 05, 2014 11:40 am
If they can put out an edition of BLADE RUNNER with five different cuts of the movie, I don't see why a film that is infinitely more popular can't warrant the same treatment.
I also would fall in with the middle group who prefer the updated effects, but doesn't like the changes to the content of the films.
Bill Hunt wrote: they intend to continue with Saga with new episodes that tie directly into those original films. This isn’t another prequel trilogy aimed at a new generation of kids – they’re shooting squarely at Gen-Xers with these new films.
I don't think I agree with Bill Hunt on his assumption about the new trilogy. I think Disney is just as interested in pleasing the kids who grew up on the prequels as they are interested in pleasing the middle-aged dudes who grew on the originals.
Maybe Abrams himself is more interested in winning back the older audience, but there are other fingers in this pie.
Spandau Belly
self-fellating peacock
Location: ????
by TheBaxter on Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:29 pm
Spandau Belly wrote:
i think they want to get as many from both groups as possible. casting the old-timers for the OT crowd, and hoping the PT generation is cool enough with these films (and maybe became fans of the OT films as well) to show up too. hell, by the time this film comes out, it will have been a decade since ROTS, so i'm sure they're hoping to get a whole 'nother new generation into these films as well.
there are other fingers in this pie.
by Fievel on Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:47 pm
TheBaxter wrote: the funny thing is, lucas so mishandled the whole thing that he's turned his whole fanbase against his own preferred versions of the films. if he'd done like PJ did with the LOTR films, putting out the theater cuts alongside the "expanded" versions, people would probably like the expanded versions just as much or maybe even better. i mean, most people would rather watch PJ's expanded LOTR films than the theatrical versions. but by refusing to release them he's turned them into a sort of "holy grail" that the fanbase has mythologized into something greater than it really is.
I completely agree with this. I'll use another film as an example - E.T. I actually loved the added bathtub scene when it was re-released in 2002. The expression in E.T.'s digital eyes was great and I laughed out loud at that scene. The guns-to-walkie-talkie's fiasco was an atrocious change, but if I was to watch it, I'd love to see that bathtub scene in spite of the walkie talkies.
Spandau Belly wrote: If they can put out an edition of BLADE RUNNER with five different cuts of the movie, I don't see why a film that is infinitely more popular can't warrant the same treatment.
Absolutely. More money in their pocket, too.
Mainly two new groups - the college aged people that grew up with the prequels and the young kids that have been watching The Clone Wars.
Probably could include the potential audience of the new show Rebels (my 6 year old is going apeshit over the previews). I guess people like my son fall in a new group - kids of people who grew up with the OT.
Achievement Unlocked: TOTAL DOMINATION (Win a Werewolf Game without losing a single player on your team)
Fievel
Mouse Of The House
Location: White Lake, MI
by TheButcher on Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:33 am
Star Wars ‘Despecialized Edition’ in the Works
with Stephen Hawking?
Why I Doubt Disney Is Releasing The Unaltered STAR WARS OT On Blu
Devin Faraci wrote: Comicbook.com is reporting that Disney plans to release the original Star Wars trilogy in their original, untouched form, on Blu-ray. The report claims that Disney has been hampered by getting the orginal negatives into good shape. There's one problem with this report:
Disney doesn't own Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi. Fox does. They also own the distribution rights to the Prequels.
The rights to Empire and Jedi and the Prequels will revert to Lucasfilm (and thus Disney) in 2020, but Fox will retain the rights to Star Wars forever. In perpetuity. And they'll never give it up. Will they work with Disney to do some sort of release? Sure - there's a lot of money to be made. But unless a deal has been quietly made to give Disney the distribution rights to the original trilogy, there's no chance the Mouse House is working on a rerelease. Now, if the report said that Fox was working on a new Blu, I might believe it. But if the sources don't even know who owns the movies, how can they know anything about remastering or release plans for them?
And there's one more wrinkle I've heard from sources at Fox: as long as George Lucas is alive they're not willing (or able? I'm not clear here) to go against his wishes and release the untouched originals. That was the situation earlier this year, when a rumor about a rerelease of the untouched originals was circulating. Unless something has changed in-house I wouldn't expect movement on these in the immediate future.
...ONE LAST TIME
by TheButcher on Sun Aug 24, 2014 1:49 am
Star Wars 1995 VHS release Trailer
Return to DVD / Blu-ray
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Funny Mpumalanga Premier has summit in stitches
by 013NEWS Reporter | Sep 28, 2016 | Business, Featured, News, Politics
Delegates who attended the provincial economic summit over the weekend laughed a lot as the funny Mpumalanga Premier was tackling issues on the podium.
David Mabuza, tipped to be the next deputy president of the ANC when it holds its national elective congress next year, clearly is personable and commands a lot of authoritative influence over provincial and regional leaders of the ANC and its alliance partners in the Mpumalanga province.
He is referred to as “Zuma’s son” in ANC corridors and the “boss of the Premier League”.
Sources within the ANC over the weekend told 013NEWS that Mabuza was the only provincial leader to be given an ANC branded helicopter for the local government elections campaigns and that ‘signified’ he was now the kingmaker.
“He has been given the powers by Zuma to decide who takes charge after him. DD can now decide whether he wants to be the president or deputy president,” a source in the provincial executive committee of the ANC told 013NEWS on Saturday morning before going into the summit’s commissions.
“His team nationally is very strong and most members of the NEC are aware,” he said.
The chopper, written on the side, ‘Chairperson DD Mabuza is here’, was used by him to “save time and reach everywhere in one day”.
SEE ALSO: Rising unemployment worries Mabuza – FULL TEXT
At the start of the provincial economic summit on Friday evening in Mbombela’s Nutting House lodge, provincial alliance leaders made presentations on behalf of the organisations they lead and Cosatu provincial deputy chairman Oupa Bodibe called on the alliance economic summit to take resolutions to ‘shut down’ the business of the Umbhaba Banana Estate owner, Roy Plath, who fired 300 banana farm workers late last year.
“Organising workers means a commitment must be made that we cannot tolerate the obstructions of the organisation of workers. Workers must be organised. Unlike the meeting I come from in Tonga today where those workers have been staying at home for the past 11 months, without any income, without any food and denied the right to a trade union or an opinion,” Bodibe told delegates.
“So when I left that meeting they said to me I must request this summit that Mpumalanga province must urge the national government to shut down the Umbhaba estate. Remember the owner has refused to meet the Premier, has refused to meet Cosatu and all stake-holders in our society ,” he said.
But when Mabuza took to the stage to address the summit, he said: “Listening to my partners here who have presented the problems, they say ‘this summit must do this, this summit must do that’. Just to correct there, comrades were supposed to say ‘we must do this’ because no one else will come with solutions other than all of us”.
“Now as the alliance we have fought hand in hand to usher in this political freedom that we are enjoying today, we pride ourselves that we have got a Constitution, we have got a state, we have got Constitutional institutions that were put in place, however we know we have not fulfilled certain places of our National Democratic Revolution, which is about economic freedom,” Mabuza said to a highly attentive summit attended by mayors, ministers, national and provincial executive committee members of alliance partners, media and businesspeople.
He then took a swipe at both credit rating agencies for “watching only South Africa” and the SACP for wanting to leave the alliance, asking “where are you going during this difficult time?”, having delegates in stitches.
“The challenges provincially and nationally include the sluggish economic growth leading to slow employment opportunities to our people and in certain areas we have lost jobs,” Mabuza said.
“The poverty level has grown, the inequality gap has grown and despite all the efforts to try and better the lives of our people but the negative happens.
“On another level, the state of our economy is under severe scrutiny and we are very careful that we might be rated or downgraded.
“We have also learnt that there are people that are rating us, looking at our problems, whether our country is too risky or what.
“You talk about Treasury, you talk about NPA wanting to talk to the Minister of Finance [Pravin Gordhan], the rand fluctuates,” the Premier said as delegates began to laugh a lot.
“And grading agencies are looking at us to say we are corrupt”.
He said the problems of the poor to get employment were affected “by a number of factors” and “we must agree that capital is now an active player in influencing transformation”.
“The state of being downgraded to a junk status means we have reached a useless stage, no one can trust you, no one can borrow you a cent. But ask yourself why only South Africa is being scrutinised and not our neighbouring countries? Because we are seen as a pillar and a player that can turn the situation around in Africa, therefore we are being scrutinised.
“Probably that’s a good thing but this state of being downgraded makes all of us very scared of attempting any new policy initiatives because you are at a point where you can make mistakes,” he said.
He said it was now high time that local businesspeople invest in their own economy than the opposite and then slammed those tenderprenuers who wanted benefits from the school feeding scheme and RDP houses, saying in cases where a builder was expected to put four bags of cement, the builder put one and “you think you are building that house for a dog?”
SEE ALSO: Mabuza wants Govt to fund poor to build own RDP houses, produce quality bricks
“Why do we think that there is somebody coming outside to invest here, where is our local businesspeople who must invest in their economy? No one is coming, we are on our own”.
He then said that he heard that the SACP in the province wanted to leave the ANC.
“Where are you going?” he said to laughter, “Hey, you can’t leave here, this is all our problems, not an ANC problem,” he said, adding people were now tired of internal fighting.
Rising unemployment worries Mabuza – FULL TEXT
These are closing remarks by Mpumalanga ANC chairman and Premier, David Mabuza, at the end of the provincial economic summit of the tripartite alliance at Nutting House Lodge in Mbombela on 25 September 2016
David Dabede Mabuza
[Salutations]
The Context
Programme Director, we have come to the conclusion of this momentous gathering of our glorious movement – the African National Congress.
When we took a decision that to hold a provincial economic summit, we did this against a backdrop of a world economy that is stagnant, fragile and in most cases declining to levels last seen during the financial crisis.
The world economy is intertwined, interdependent and what happens globally has a direct impact on our economy.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reports that due to what it calls stalled industrialization in the Sub Saharan Africa, African countries are not likely to see another commodity-led boom soon.
This is indeed a wake-up call to us South Africans who are overly depended on commodity prices that are not supported by beneficiation. It talks directly to us as a mining Province.
A call for beneficiation
We have listened to the resolutions of the commissions and all without exception are calling for urgent attention to beneficiation of all our products.
We cannot continue to pay lip-service to these calls. We export our minerals; our agricultural produce, our forestry products, our steel and some of our petro-chemical products as raw materials and buy them back from our trading partners as finished beneficiated products at exorbitant prices.
Every workshop, conference, summit even economics books written that tries to address economic challenges that we are facing, talks about the dire need for beneficiation yet nothing or very little ever gets done. We simply cannot continue on this trajectory. It is a dead end that will cost us dearly.
If we cannot convince our private sector partners about the urgent need for beneficiation of raw input materials into final products, we will be left we no other choice but consider starting our own state owned and supported initiatives that will drive beneficiation.
We have already made pronouncement on using state sponsored projects to support co-operatives that will supply the feeding schemes, build people’s housing projects and supply linen to hospitals. All these will be backed by products that are manufactured and produced by our own small enterprises and cooperatives.
Partnership with Department of Small Businesses
We welcome the commitment made by Cde Lindiwe Zulu, that her department of small business development is taking a leading role in supporting black-owned small and emerging businesses through state owned Developmental Finance Institutions (DFIs) like Small Enterprise Finance Agency ( SEFA) and Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA)
I therefore call upon our own finance agency, MEGA assisted by the Department of Economic Development to seize this opportunity afforded to us by Cde Zulu to work with her department and other institutions like SEFA but also leverage private sector funding and boost our capability to fund these government backed initiatives.
Partnership with Dardlea
We appreciate and are grateful of the financial and technical support that our farmers are receiving from the national department of agriculture, rural development and land affairs.
However, we call upon this department to consider working with us in the province to avoid duplication, overlapping activities, wastage, double deeping by some of our beneficiaries who get assistance from both national and provincial governments at the expense of other beneficiaries on similar projects.
We believe that by working together combining our limited resources we can do more than what we are achieving when working in silos.
We also commend the department for having acknowledged the limitations and sometimes failures in these programmes.
We all need to take stock of our farmer support programmes both at national and provincial level; asses what works and what does not work, make necessary improvements and jointly plan on how we intend uplifting our people.
The current approach is self-defeating and we will never see the impact of our efforts. Our interventions must be directed to those who are already farming and working the land.
Judging by the amount of money that has been spent by both national and provincial governments on black farmers, we should be having more black commercial farmers today than what is on the record.
The issue of access to land and how we can get back the land that was sold on auctions after it was successfully handed over to the beneficiaries through land restitution needs careful consideration.
We are also beginning to see a new phenomenon where land that was leased to black farmers is now sub-leased to white farmers. People need to know that they cannot sub-lease without the written prior concern of the land owner.
We would like to once more call upon Amakhosi nezinduna to stop allocating fertile agricultural land for settlement purpose. We appeal to them to work with municipalities on this issue and find lasting solutions on land use.
A different model for cooperatives in agriculture & agro processing
Comrades you will recall that in early 2014, I visited Italy to among others understand how and why cooperatives in that part of the world are successful.
We came back with only one answer; that small sized cooperatives that operate in silos of small groups of individuals sometimes with little or no business experience do not work.
The Portuguese and the Italians did not invent cooperatives but they have perfected this invention focussing on cooperatives that are worker owned and or worker owned and consumer owned as well as producer owned particularly in agriculture and agro-processing.
We therefore believe that time has come for us to consider a different model of cooperatives. The current model is better suited for subsistence farming and very small holder farming. It has no space or future in commercial farming of any size big or medium sized.
As government we need to consider a pilot project in agricultural sector where we assist a collective of many cooperatives to form backward and forward linkages that includes primary cooperatives, secondary cooperatives and tertiary cooperatives under one umbrella body.
This will give our people competitive advantage through economies of scale; allow them to play a meaning role in the mainstream economy like all other well established companies that started as cooperatives in this country.
If we fail to do this our people will remain in the periphery of economic activities in this province. The much talked about radical economic transformation will become a pipe dream.
We believe that for manufacturing to gain any momentum, state owned enterprises need to invest and expand manufacturing activities that create employment, increase income and demand on one hand and on the other accelerate increases in productivity so that the vicious circle of quality income leads to a better buying power which again leads to an increase in demand.
We simply cannot depend on exports anymore in a world populated by consumers with insufficient buying power and too much debts and producers with large profits and no appetite to invest back these profits
We need to support our domestic industries and where possible do whatever it takes to sustain them through these difficult periods. We should have not allowed the steel industries in Middleburg to collapse.
The UN Conference and Trade Development has singled out South Africa as the only country in Sub Saharan Africa whose manufacturing has reached a scale needed to drive accumulative process of linkage building.
This is positive development for us and we need to capitalize on it. Significant investment by our SOEs and the private sector will lead to other related industries benefiting and also investing thus resulting in quality income linkages as well.
Mining is one such industry that has the capacity to positively but sometimes very negatively impact on other industries particularly manufacturing. The recent decline in mining caused by the collapse of commodity prices had a domino adverse effect on other sectors.
The demand for coal by Eskom power stations and exports of coal and other minerals should sustain this industry until we see improvements in commodity prices.
This is one industry where beneficiation needs to happen without any further delays.
We understand the call by comrades that the provincial government should explore ways and means of owning mines. We are just not sure whether under current fiscal constraints we can afford to spend money by investing on mines.
We believe that once conditions are favourable and commodity prices have improved, we can explore this proposal through Mega.
It will have to be a public private sector partnership since government alone cannot venture into this mammoth task. We have no experience of running mines. Mega does have a mine in which as government we have invested in. We already have one foot into this industry.
On several occasions our comrades have raised sharply their concerns about the attitude of the regional office of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR ) Emalahleni. The office is said to display arrogance of unparalleled proportions and treat our people with disdain. Our young people want nothing else but opportunities to be part of this industry.
I am also made to understand that DMR was invited to this summit and for reasons unknown to us chose not to come. Our youth in this province are not given opportunities to become junior miners, yet people who come from outside the province get first preference.
I do not believe that the Ministry is aware of this and I will raise it with the Minister of DMR.
Township and rural economies
Comrades the issue of township and rural economic development is an idea whose time is long overdue. For too long our people have been indicating to us that they are not getting our attention and as a result their small businesses are suffering.
We decided to behave like ostriches, burying our heads in the sand and hoping that solutions will come from heaven. As a result of our inertia, township and rural economies are now dominated by other people from outside the country resulting in tensions.
We must turn this situation around. The revitalisation of the existing industrial parks and the building of the new ones will provide a much needed infrastructure that will boost economic activities in these areas that are impoverished and destitute.
We therefore expect MEGA in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development to occupy this space and provide much needed support to our people. This will bring hope in an environment that is devoid of hope. We expect this to be done within a very short space of time.
Comrades, year after year – time after time we are promised that this industry will soon return to its former glory. We are now told that unresolved land claims are a deterrent to domestic and foreign investments.
The question that begs to be answered is how come have we are failing to provide solutions to this problem. The land restitution act allows us to compensate land claimants should their claims succeed. Why do we use this as an excuse when there are other alternative viable solutions?
This points to lack of creativity and absence of leadership in this area of work. We must as a matter of urgency review our tourism strategy and incorporate development of international air routes.
Sero Report
I appeal to branches of the movement to engage with the Socio economic report to provide responses and address the issues that are raised in that report.
We have met deliberated and made proposals. The question is what next. Is this the end of it? Are we going back home and continue with our business as usual?
I suggest that the resolutions of this conference should find expression in the Premier’s Coordinating Forum (PCF). Decisions should be taken at that forum on how and by whom and by when these resolutions should be implemented
Fighting Mpumalanga alliance partners to hold economic summit
by 013NEWS Reporter | Sep 21, 2016 | Politics
Quarrelling Mpumalanga alliance partners are coming to share the same room once more.
This time they will be discussing the problems of the poor together.
The office of the Mpumalanga provincial ANC secretary, Mandla Ndlovu, this week announced the coming weekend as the weekend of the provincial economic summit.
A resolution to convene an economic summit was taken by the provincial ANC congress that elected chairman David Mabuza for a third term late last year, in order to discuss these ‘intensely’.
Spokesman Sibusiso Themba said: “The conference had noted that certain sectors, especially mining and manufacturing were shedding jobs at alarming and concerning manner and that attention had to be given to this sorry economic reality”.
Themba said the economic summit is scheduled for 23 to 25 September 2016 at the district head offices of the eHlanzeni municipality in Mbombela and was being convened by the provincial alliance partners of the ANC – Cosatu, SACP and Sanco.
This comes after an Alliance Summit on 2 and 3 April 2016 that also resolved that such summit be convened to address the economic problems of poor people.
The Alliance Summit was convened by the national leadership of the ANC to mend sour relations between the personable leader of the ANC, David Mabuza, and the quite influential leader of the SACP, Bonakele Majuba, in the province.
But Majuba had since described relations mended by the summit as ‘suspicious’, saying it was only meant for the public image of the ANC towards the 3 August 2016 local government elections.
SEE ALSO: Inside the SACP Mpumalanga elective congress
“I want to join my counter-part and the leader of the ANC in the province, comrade DD Mabuza, that together with comrades from Cosatu and comrades from Sanco we must sustain what we started at the Alliance Summit,” Majuba told delegates during an SACP provincial congress that elected him for a fourth term two weeks ago.
Sources inside the ANC on Tuesday told 013NEWS that regional alliance summits would follow by November this year across the province to “strengthen the alliance further, engage and implement regionally the resolutions taken by the provincial Alliance Summit”.
READ ALSO: Ndlovu tells SACP congress: “We must implement alliance summit resolutions now”
Themba said during the Alliance Summit they also resolved as alliance leaders a need to convene an economic summit “to intensely look into the economic reality and discuss many options that could assist to address the situation”.
Themba said the matter that gives alliance leaders stress was the issue of the “unhealthy rising unemployment”, Themba added: “The Alliance Summit felt that there wasn’t sufficient time at the summit to intensely interrogate the issue and appropriate resolutions and that an economic summit be convened so that all alliance partners can agree on a collective and singular provincial economic blue-print”.
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Awarded the Top 25 Cloud Solution Providers in the APAC region
1-Net achieves Prestigious OSPAR Accreditation
Awarded the Most Promising Data Center Services 2017 by NetworkWorld Asia Information Management Awards
Attained Outsourced Service Providers Audit Report (OSPAR)
Attained Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS)
1-Net Singapore officially opens 1-Net North Data Center
1-Net North is the first commercial data center in Southeast Asia with Tier III Constructed Facility certified by the Uptime Institute
Launch the Data Center Corridor initiative with Epsilon and KVH to interconnect multiple data centers in Singapore and to the rest of Asia
1-Net Cloud-Alchemy, officially joins Canonical to be the Southeast Asia’s first Ubuntu certified public cloud service provider
Announcement to launch the first Tier III certified data center in Southeast Asia with both Certification of Design Documents and Certification of Constructed Facility by Uptime Institute.
Launched the new 1-Net brand identity – The One.
First Data Center company in Singapore to be awarded the SS 564: 2010 Green Data Centers – Energy and Environmental Management System Certificate.
First Data Center company in Singapore to achieve Business Continuity Management Certification for BS 25999 (International Standard) and SS 540 (Singapore Standard).
Announced the completion of the 1st Phase Data Center Expansion.
1-Net has been a founding member of Asia Data Center Alliance which aims to provide seamless, cross border and one-stop shop services across the Asian region. Other alliance members are The AIMS Asia Group, Malaysia; CMC Telecom, Vietnam; HK Colo, Hongkong and TCC Technology, Thailand.
Member of Singapore Internet Exchange.
First in Asia to provide the Multi-platform Assets Management and Distribution System called NexMedia for digital media. This is partnership with Microsoft and HP with the support of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).
Achieved ISO 27001 Certification for Information Security Management System.
Awarded ISO 9001:2000 certification for Quality Management by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance for our Quality Management System.
Awarded BS7799-2: 2002 certification for Information Security Management by TUV SUB PSB for our data center operations.
First IDC provider in South East Asia to be awarded TruSecure certification for our Data Center and Managed Firewall Services.
AT&T has chosen 1-Net as their International Hosting Center.
Awarded contract to provide IDC design, consultation & training services to an Internet Service Provider in Thailand.
Awarded contract to manage Mediacorp, Asia’s largest broadcaster’s network and was instrumental in the setting up of the systems and applications infrastructure.
Received and awarded long term contracts from private and public sector institution
Established to manage the nation’s broadband infrastructure.
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The Singapore Army Really Hyped Its New Hunter AFV
tags: Hunter AFV, MINDEF, Singapore Army, Singei Gedong, Southeast Asia, ST Engineering
Via MINDEF.
When the Singapore Army marked its 50th birthday on June 11 the occasion served as the public debut for the branch’s upcoming battle taxi. The Ministry of Defense made no secret of its plans to field locally made vehicles for the army’s modernization. Foremost was a tracked fighting vehicle that could move a section of infantry and fight beside them. This is a different requirement from the Terrex wheeled APC, which is built on an Timoney chassis and is amphibious–the Terrex is supposed to move soldiers in and out of combat. The Hunter Armored Fighting Vehicle that appeared in Singei Gedong Camp on Tuesday is equipped to move and fight in any environment.
The Hunter AFV subscribes to a new trend in troop carriers where armor and firepower, rather than mobility and a small profile, are the prized features. Leading examples to date are Russia’s T-15 “heavy” infantry fighting vehicle and the ongoing efforts at upgrading Israel’s Namer APC with a main armament and an active protection system. Defense ministries are also fixated on the idea that a single type or “platform” can be rebuilt for multiple roles.
With the adoption of the Hunter AFV pushing the Singapore Army’s aging M113 APCs to retirement, the branch can boast having the most advanced troop carrier in the region. The larger ground forces of Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam maintain an assortment of APCs, none are even close to matching what the Hunter AFV. Other than the obvious layers of armor around its hull and turret, the Hunter AFV has front, side, and rear cameras for 360 degree visibility and an oscillating EO/IR sight allows the commander and crew to see in the night time and find targets.
Broad visibility and detection is one of the strongest influences on armored warfare today. This is in line with the emergence of networked battlefields, where the instantaneous data received by fighters is as vital as the resources at their disposal. Besides its data tools, the weaponry on a single Hunter AFV is a force multiplier par excellence. The unmanned turret is armed with a 30mm cannon and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun. The MINDEF and Singapore’s own media revealed there are two anti-tank missiles in the turret, but their launcher is unseen–they’re loaded in a collapsible panel that flips open when the missiles are ready to fire. If these are non-line of sight missiles like the Singapore Army’s Spike-MR’s they can hit targets as far as five kilometers away.
But the most awesome feature of the Hunter AFV is its crew compartment. Behind the driver is the commander and gunner side-by-side, facing a wall of touchscreens. This offers the crew a helpful interface for not just running the vehicle but monitoring its performance and the risks they face. The likelihood of urban combat demands the Singapore Army have vehicles able to survive being struck from any direction. Soldiers enter the Hunter AFV from a hydraulic ramp in the rear. The Hunter AFV seats eight dismounts who are able to view their surroundings using the external cameras on the hull; gone are the viewing slits and gun ports that were universal to APCs in the 1970s and 1980s.
ST Engineering is responsible for the production of the Hunter AFV and there are still no plans if new variants are rolling out soon. The Singapore Army have a long tradition of fielding light tanks. Before the arrival of the Leopard 2SG, ex-Israeli AMX-13’s were the most powerful combat vehicles at the army’s disposal. Now that locally made weapon systems are so cutting edge, the Hunter AFV with a 105mm gun, tandem 35mm cannons, or extreme-range surface to-air and surface-to-surface missiles aren’t hard to imagine on it. In fact, South Korea’s K21 IFV was spun off to these exact variants.
from → APC, Asia, Singapore
← Pay Very Close Attention To This Iranian Missile
Seven Reasons Why You Must Read Empire Of The Winds →
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Good Digestion: It’s Been a Bumpy Road to Full-Scale Adoption of Anaerobic Digestion Technologies at Ethanol Plants
Agriculture, Agriculture/Food Processing Residues nonfield crop, BioRefineries, Biorefinery Infrastructure, Business News/Analysis, California, Canada, Federal Agency, Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues, Funding/Financing/Investing, grants, Infrastructure, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Sustainability, Texas, Wisconsin
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Despite the promise of methane from anaerobic digestion technology, low natural gas rates and other factors have kept ethanol producers from jumping in with both feet.
…On top of the digester, Western Plains Energy utilizes sorghum, or milo, as a feedstock in addition to corn. In October, the plant received $899,861 for production of ethanol from a renewable biomass, other than corn, through the USDA’s Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels program. By putting ethanol production from sorghum and power generation from an anaerobic digester together, the ethanol plant is hoping it will merit an advanced biofuel designation. “The digester gives us a chance to dramatically reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully qualify as an advanced biofuel for our ethanol at the end of the pathway analysis by the EPA,” (CEO Steve) McNinch says.
…The main feedstock for the digester is manure from Pioneer Feeders, a 40,000-head feedlot about six miles from the ethanol plant. All the manure produced at the feedlot will be delivered to the ethanol plant by 25 trucks daily, McNinch says. The ethanol plant has an agreement with the feedlot to return all the organic fertilizer produced at the end of the digester process to the feedlot for the first year, followed by decreasing amounts after that. Eventually, the ethanol plant will market and sell the fertilizer itself.
The fertilizer produced during the digestion process is weed, seed and pathogen free.
…California ethanol plant, Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC, struggled to get local approval for an anaerobic digester after objections by the ethanol plant’s neighbors about odor, impact to air and water quality and possible contamination by pathogens—things digesters actually improve or prevent. The project was put on hold in June, though by November it was tentatively moving forward again pending approval by the county planning commission. In response to those concerns, changes were made to the proposed project, including no trucking of manure, says Daryl Maas, project manager. Instead, it will all be delivered via a pipeline from a nearby dairy. In addition, a pasteurization step has been added at the back end of the digester. The 58 MMgy plant was awarded a $4.68 million matching grant from the California Energy Commission to build the $10 million project. (READ MORE)
…Convincing ethanol plants to move forward with anaerobic digestion is a slow and heartbreaking process, according to David Rein, a process engineer with Rein & Associates of Moorhead, Minn. Rein spoke on the topic at a conference put on by the Energy & Environmental Research Center in July at the University of North Dakota. The company has been conducting bench and pilot studies of biogas production from thin stillage since 2006 and completed feasibility studies that resulted in three separate grant awards to ethanol plants, which ranged from $1.6 million to $3.2 million. All three grants were through the USDA Repowering Assistance Program, which offers biorefineries funding to use renewable biomass as a replacement fuel source for process heat or power. The funding, which would have provided for only a fraction of the full project cost, was ultimately turned down by all three ethanol plants, Rein said at the EERC conference. READ MORE
Albertabio-natural gasBioRefineriesCaliforniaCanadaCommunity involvementcorn/maizeDepartment of Agriculture (USDA)grain sorghum/milograntsgrants-stateKansasmethane/biomethaneMinnesotaNorth DakotasorghumSouth DakotaSustainabilityTexasWisconsin
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Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance
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FAO Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers: AFSA Report
January 29, 2019 by Tammi Jonas
Report on AFSA’s attendance at the FAO Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers: Unlocking the potential of agricultural innovation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
FAO Headquarters, Rome, 21–23 November 2018
Katie Johnston
Vice President, AFSA
AFSA is a member of the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), a global alliance of grassroots civil society organisations that work to uphold the rights of peasant farmers, fisherfolk, rural women and youth, the landless, traditional food gatherers and eaters, pastoralists and herders, and indigenous peoples. Working for the principles of food sovereignty, the IPC has, since 2003, provided the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (the FAO) with expert advice, relating specifically to the on-ground needs and demands of these peoples, and specifically in relation to family farming. In addition to working closely with civil society, the FAO are also bound, via donations and the context of the member states, to work with government, private enterprise, and research organisations. The IPC represents the people working in food production outside these areas (though some members do work in research organisations that support community development and food sovereignty).
In November 2018, the FAO held the Symposium on Innovation in Family Farming at the FAO Headquarters, Rome, which I attended. This symposium followed on from the international symposium on The Role of Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition, held in February 2016 at the same location. In the interim, the FAO held a regional meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September 2017. Follow-on regional meetings in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North Africa and the Near East where scheduled for 2017-18 after this Asia-Pacific meeting but did not go ahead. In short, the IPC members who attended this meeting (of which AFSA was one) were so effective at raising questions about the nature of biotechnologies in a genuinely sustainable and democratic food system at this regional conference that the donors for the subsequent regional meetings decided not to go ahead with the funding. As a result, the FAO effectively ‘re-launched’ the international conference under the new title of ‘Innovation in Family Farming’. So here we are.
As a member if the IPC, I also attended three days of strategising, pre-symposium, which allowed the group to craft key points on our definition of innovation, and the collective message we were committed to putting forward during the sessions. We also heard member stories regarding developments in agricultural innovation and updates around increased centralised control and corporatisation of the food system. Another great reminder for me on the importance of collective action and how working together for a common purpose serves to be so effective. This was also a chance for me to really understand how the outcomes of food sovereignty (or lack of, in a lot of cases) differ wildly from country to country. For example, in Australia we face issues such as regulation being ineffective or inappropriate for small-scale farmers, land being mismanaged as a result of our government’s focus on Big Ag, and deep injustices towards our First Nations people and loss of knowledge of traditional food systems. While many IPC members also expressed similar concerns, they also told stories of gross injustices towards farmers, such as one Uruguayan member detailing the deaths (murder) of 80 of their farm leaders in his region in the last two years. For me, hearing stories like this really reminded me of the importance of why AFSA is involved in this international work and of our collective mission to fight for food sovereignty.
What does ‘innovation’ mean for AFSA, and for the members of the IPC?
As with all issues relating to food and rights, AFSA assesses ‘innovation’ with reference to the six pillars of food sovereignty:
Focuses on food for people – food must be nutritious and culturally appropriate, which can only be possible when production is diversified, and specific to each locality, and in relation to community needs. It is not possible when food is commodified and food systems homogenised – innovation must focus on building resilience and diversity, not simply improving efficiency or supporting scalable models.
Values food providers – smallholder and family farmers must be included in discussions about appropriate innovation and technologies, not simply marketed to. They must be seen and listened to and considered as definitive decision makers on technical innovations relating to food sovereignty and production.
Localises food systems – food must be seen first as community sustenance and only secondarily as something to be traded further afield. Innovation must ensure that local and regional needs are met before the supply of distant markets.
Localises control – innovation must enable smallholder and family farmers to value, use and share resources local to their territories, lands and waterways in socially and ecologically sustainable ways and efforts must be by made by all stakeholders, critically government bodies, to recognise and respect these means of control. Privatisation of resources is not considered innovation under the tenets of food sovereignty.
Builds knowledge and skills – innovation must foster exchange of knowledge and enable community development for family farmers. This includes traditional knowledge of skills, methods and seeds, as well as community-developed new practices. Technologies that undermine this ability are rejected. Instead, innovations should involve appropriate research and research systems in close cooperation with family farmers and other small-scale food producers to support the development of agricultural and other food-production knowledge, skills, methods and inputs with, by, for and among family farmers and other small-scale producers.
Works with nature – innovation must protect natural resources, promote biodiversity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and where required, focus on the regeneration of depleted landscapes. As such, the promotion of agroecological farming methods are key, and industrial farming methods that damage the environment and the health of those that inhabit it are to be avoided, and should not be considered as innovative.
What did the Symposium deliver?
The Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers hosted approximately 600 people, comprised of roughly 76 government delegates, 300 NGO representatives and the remainder a mix of academics and private sector attendees. Held over three days, the Symposium comprised a number of plenary sessions with various speakers, six parallel sessions made up of four panel speakers per session and an ‘Innovation Fair’ held throughout the symposium to highlight global examples of innovation in family farming. Each session was chaired and two United Nations Rapporteurs recorded the proceedings. Chair summaries from each parallel session informed the final Chair Summary, which would inform the report released by the FAO after the Symposium.
The opening plenaries set the scene for what the IPC members had assumed would be another, slightly veiled iteration of the promotion of biotechnologies in the food system. Several speakers highlighted innovation in terms of regional-specific solutions and the importance of capacity building. These included Jaana Husu-Kallio, the Permanent Secretary of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who spoke of the Finnish government’s decision in the 1940’s to purchase food from local producers to implement their free school lunch program, a program that continues to this day and has improved health and social outcomes for Finnish students. Anil Gupta, Founder of the Honey Bee Network in India also discussed the importance of grassroots experimentation for family farmers, cross pollination of knowledge and ideas and open source networks for farmer technologies. He spoke of both the power of technology to create meaningful and empowered change, but also of the need to implement the precautionary principle, in regards to technology in the hands of people and corporations who seek to exploit its use for profit only. These discussions were in line with AFSA and the IPC’s views on innovation and technology centred around democracy, community development, capacity building and knowledge sharing.
We also heard from some speakers in the opening plenaries whose visions for what ‘innovation’ and indeed ‘family farmers’ do and should look like did not align with ours. Marco Gualtieri, the Founder and Chairman of Seeds & Chips, Milan, presented on ‘Driving the future of food: Innovation, millennials and technology’. He gave no indication in his presentation of what his company does (from what I could garner from the internet, they are a start-up that aims to foster new innovations in the food system but I am still unclear on what they actually do), and his presentation focused heavily on the ability of technology to meet the needs of “young farmers” in order to “make agriculture sexy again”. His slides showed women using mobile phones and operating drones and he discussed the pressing need to “feed the world” and invest in high tech solutions. Interestingly, he did not mention family farmers once during his time on stage and although he threw in the need to have a “holistic vision”, many of us were left baffled by his stage tagline, “Let’s Get This Done!” This catch cry was thrown at the audience a few times with most of us left wondering, “get what done?” I am still unsure at the time of writing.
Yeming Wang, General Manager of tech giant Alibaba International (who have expanded into the online and physical food retail markets recently) graced the stage to discuss ‘Tackling the global imperatives for sustainable development using artificial intelligence’. Again, no mention of family farmers throughout his presentation, but he did show a video of ‘farmers’ in a Chinese city-based laboratory monitoring swine health to avoid disease. Apparently, they take the pigs outside to forest-bathe and play with balloons occasionally (although I fear just for the purpose of recording this film), but rest assured the laboratory-dwelling pig minders keep their lab coats on at all times. He also mentioned that Alibaba’s gross annual profit is equivalent to the GDP of the country ranked 20th in the world (Switzerland, in case you’re interested). I don’t know how true this is or if it was just a showpiece, but also consider that this would mean that a transnational corporation makes more money per year than every country listed from 21 down in GDP rankings. Anyway, back to innovation in family farming, which we have been torn away from for the entire duration of this man’s speech.
We also heard how considerable donations from countries with sizeable agri-tech portfolios had helped fund the Symposium, which raises questions around what the FAO and its member countries are expected to provide in return, and also around how balanced the proceedings could ever have been based on these contributions.
To our surprise, the parallel sessions did not prove to be as full of self-deluded grandeur or false promises of solutions not at all specific to family farmers as we had anticipated. A welcome relief. I attended three sessions with panellists including farmer organisation and association leaders, academics, private agricultural operators/managers, activists, government representatives and agricultural researchers. Broadly, the focus from people from developing countries was on capacity building, ensuring the preservation of local skills and knowledge and retaining control over means of production, while the focus from people from developed countries, in particular the United States (given that people from the US disproportionately represented people from developed countries on the panels), was on high-tech solutions that would increase scalability and efficiency in order to ‘feed the world’. One particularly noteworthy USDA panellist outlined her idea of innovation as being her ability to order her Turducken online at Christmas (the one time in the year when she cooks, she doesn’t like to otherwise), from a company six states away from the one she lives in. She was also impressed at how her requirement for Chinese vegetables at this time of year can be fulfilled by farmers from countries outside the US, or at the very least, across the country. That, to her, was the very definition of innovation, but thankfully, this varied wildly across panellists, with many discussing the need for inclusion of family farmers in decision-making processes, support for family farmers to innovate via funding and other means of support, capacity building for local communities, appropriate monitoring and assessment of technologies and context-specific learning and innovations.
Symposium outcomes
For anyone unfamiliar with FAO Symposium proceedings, sessions are held for discussions on pre-determined topics, comprising of eight (in this case) total panellists, after which the session moderator opens the floor to questions from ‘sectors’ of society - farmers, civil society organisations, research institutions, government bodies, and private enterprise. During this time, representatives from each sector make ‘interventions’, or comments on the discussions. Each session has notes taken by the UN Rapporteurs and these notes inform the Chair’s Summaries for each session, and in turn, the final Chair’s Summary for the Symposium.
One of the key messages that members of the IPC crafted pre-symposium, is that agroecology is a viable solution to feeding the world, as it holds up under all the food sovereignty tenets. During the parallel sessions, while agroecology wasn’t spoken about often during the panel discussions, it was mentioned numerous times during the intervention period, by all sectors (farmers, civil society, research institutions, government), with the exception of private enterprise. This in itself is a telling indication that a solution such as agroecology benefits all members of society with the exception of those whose sole requirement is to create profit. These mentions were heartening, however when the draft Chair’s Summary was released at the end of the Symposium, there was no mention of the agroecology as a form of innovation, or indeed at all. Again, possibly an indication of the immense impact private enterprise donors and high-tech focused government donors had on the outcomes of the Symposium. As such, members of the IPC, myself included, made interventions in the final plenary session which highlighted this error, among other issues we took with the final summary.
I am pleased to report that upon reading the final Chair’s Summary from the Symposium, the FAO has taken (most of) the points that members of the IPC wanted revised, and have updated or included them in the document. Critically, the term agroecology was included in the document, as part of point 5 of the Key Elements for Sustainable Agricultural Innovation, albeit lumped in with scaling up (not always possible to retain sound ecological or social practices) and agricultural biotechnologies. This still conflates expensive, high-tech solutions that are not always accessible or appropriate for small-scale family farmers with the comparatively low-tech, low-risk and ecologically-sound and socially-focused solutions proposed within the regimes of agroecology and food sovereignty. Still, these amendments were made and were made possible by the importance placed on them by those of us who stood up to draw a line on what we believe to be acceptable forms of innovation in the context of family farmers, climate change, social structures and the need to overhaul agricultural systems and recognise the knowledge and importance on family farmers globally. They are the people who will feed the world and relying on the power of technology to do it disregards the requirements of land and people and overlooks current injustices resulting from the commoditisation of our food systems.
AFSA and all members of the IPC firmly reject the idea that the food system should be corporatised, and often, when we think of innovation, we think of technology and associated processes that heighten efficiency and increase scaling up capacity. But innovation is so much more than technology. While many of the ‘success stories’ highlighted at the Innovation Fair during the Symposium did embrace a particular technology, often it was to monitor territory-specific pest or weather events, improve skill-sharing capacity, track improvements in agricultural yield resulting from promotion of biodiversity and seed selection, or educate customers via increased transparency in the supply chain or labelling schemes specific to a particular product or community. Technology to communicate, monitor and predict particular outcomes is wonderful, necessary and will no doubt make many farmer’s lives easier.
That said, these technologies or forms of ‘innovation’ overlook deeply problematic injustices created by the profit-driven and extractive economies in the first place. During the Symposium, there was continual mention of 4IR mainstays such as drones, big data and other forms of expensive tech options, and a call to provide these for family farmers. Little discussion however, was had on how to enable family farmers to afford or access these technologies. Ultimately, much of the discussion felt like a big marketing drive, whereby family farmers were considered as only consumers, and not one of the most important parts of a functioning society.
As members of the IPC and the global food sovereignty community, our fear is that ‘innovation’ will become another greenwashed trend term, destined to be bandied around like the word sustainability. The current ambiguity of such terms allows anyone who deems their mission or product to fit within them to market to their selected audience – a large one in this case given the requirement of humans to eat at least three times a day. Are the biggest tech giants marketing their wares to the poorest farming communities? Marginalised communities with no access to income and who are not the recipients of donor funds? The answer remains to be seen but our feeling is that where a company or government body cannot obtain some sort of return on investment, no.
To focus on adapting seeds or systems via genetic modification and high-tech solutions, to deal with the ‘inevitability’ of climate change is dangerous. It sends the message that we can address only the symptoms of our agricultural problems, and not the root cause. While adaptations will of course be necessary given the extent to which governments and corporations have buried their heads in the sand up until this point, simply adapting to every problem will only lead to more problems.
Agroecology suggests the application of ecological principles for the management of agricultural systems. It provides a framework for observing and learning from natural ecosystems and is the only solution that addresses underlying issues associated with conventional farming and poor management and that has the capacity to address issues of soil erosion, water harvesting and use, ecosystem services, feeding communities and caring for the environment. It has the capacity to capture carbon, build topsoil and address social issues adequately. Its focus is on people-centred skills, knowledge and participation and aims to foster justice and democratisation in food systems. It is an example of true innovation. Agroecology has been recognised as a key driver in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and our focus now must be on how we can operationalise agroecology for food-producing communities.
I am honoured to have been able to participate at this Symposium, and with members of the IPC to continue our food sovereignty mission. It is critical that the voice of the people continues to be heard in spaces such as the FAO, where important practical and policy work is being undertaken to address global issues surrounding food, and we must ensure that these voices do not get drowned out by money and power.
If you would like to read more about the importance of and research behind agroecology, head over to Agroecology Now!
Thanks to the IPC for funding my attendance at the Symposium (note: AFSA’s international work is not funded by its members) and to all those willing to turn up and represent your respective communities. LET’S GET THIS DONE (just kidding!).
Filed Under: Agroecology, International Tagged With: biotech, FAO, innovation, Rome
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Call out: Expressions of interest sought for the voluntary role of Australasian Sub-regional Coordinator – Civil Society and Indigenous People’s Mechanism (CSM) for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (UN CFS) October 2019 July 10, 2019
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Agroecology and ‘Other Innovations’ – Australia on the wrong side of history June 28, 2019
FSANZ proposes ‘licence to sell lettuce’ – AFSA says NO June 18, 2019
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Bahamas Travel Advisory
CheapCaribbean recommends that you visit the U.S. Department of States’ website, which includes important information on foreign travel. You may also visit the Bahamas official website.
Zika Virus Update
The Zika Virus warning has recently been removed in Caribbean territories. The Zika Virus has been undectable in the past 12 months, posing little risk to Caribbean travelers.
Caribbean Public Health Agency
Dominican Republic Airport Security Update
As of June 30, 2018, food, drink, coffee and spices must be packed in checked luggage when departing the Dominican Republic. In addition, medication is not permitted to be carried on an aircraft without a written prescription or a valid doctor note. Items purchased at the airport, once through security, are permitted to carry on the aircraft. See below for a full list of items required to be packed in checked luggage and not permitted to go through airport security:
Sharp Object Restrictions:
Cuticle clippers
Box cutter
Razor/clippers
Metal files
Cork screw
Cattle instruments
Liquid/Other Restrictions:
Alcohol (Only alcoholic beverages containing more than 24% but less than 70% in volume of alcohol in containers that do not exceed 5 liters with a net total amount per person of 5 liters of said beverages may be transported in checked baggage. Alcoholic beverages containing less than 24% by volume of alcohol are not subject to any safety restrictions.)
Shaving cream/gel
All other gels
Contact solution
Metal cleaner
Medication (must have a valid dr note or prescription)
Air passengers may carry on any liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes provided they are in a container of up to 3.4 oz./100ml, and all such containers must fit into a clear 1-quart resealable bag.
Exemptions: Medications and infant and child nourishments.
Medications: Inform the TSA officer that you have medically necessary liquids and/or medications and separate them from other belongings before screening begins. Also declare accessories associated with your liquid medication such as freezer packs, IV bags, pumps and syringes. Labeling these items can help facilitate the screening process.
Infant and child needs: For the purposes of our screening procedures, an infant is defined as a child who must be physically carried by an adult throughout the screening process. A toddler is defined as a child who receives assistance in walking by an adult throughout the screening process.
Notify the TSA Officer: Formula, breast milk and juice for infants or toddlers are permitted in reasonable quantities through the security checkpoint. Remove these items from your carry-on bag to be screened separately from the rest of your belongings.
Inform the TSA officer at the beginning of the screening process that you carry formula, breast milk and juice in excess of 3.4 ounces in your carry-on bag. These liquids are typically screened by X-ray.
Nicaragua Travel Advisory
CheapCaribbean is always monitoring the latest news and events of all its destinations to ensure the utmost safety and security of our customers. Due to an increased travel advisory in Nicaragua, the U.S. Embassy is asking citizens to reconsider travel to this destination. In response, CheapCaribbean temporarily will not be offering packages to Nicaragua (MGA) for travel through 08/31/18. We have been and continue to be in frequent contact with our partners in the area to ensure the utmost security and safety of our customers. We appreciate and encourage you to call us anytime at 1-800-915-2322 with any additional questions. You may also visit the Nicaragua Travel Advisory Page.
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CheapCaribbean recommends that you visit the U.S. Department of States’ website http://travel.state.gov/, which includes important information on foreign travel. Use common sense while vacationing abroad.You may also visit the Mexico Travel Advisory page.
National Press Release
Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson directed TSA to implement enhanced security measures at certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States.
As the traveling public knows, all electronic devices are screened by security officers. During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening.
TSA will continue to adjust security measures to ensure that travelers are guaranteed the highest levels of aviation security conducted as conveniently as possible.
Ban on Samsung Galaxy Note 7
The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued an emergency order banning all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices from commercial air transportation, effective on October 15, 2016 at noon Eastern Time. Passengers may not travel with this device in any form, whether on their person, in a carry-on bag, in a checked bag or shipped as cargo on any flights to, from or within the United States. The DOT has provided additional information about the ban on their website. If passengers attempt to travel by air with their Samsung Galaxy Note7 devices, they will be denied boarding. Anyone violating the ban may be subject to criminal prosecution in addition to fines.
Hazardous Materials Restrictions
The FAA has issued "Hazardous Materials Restrictions" effective as of Jan. 1, 2015 - Federal law forbids the carriage of hazardous materials aboard aircraft in your luggage or on your person. A violation can result in five years' imprisonment and penalties of $250,000 or more (49 U.S.C. 5124). Hazardous materials include explosives, compressed gases, flammable liquids and solids, oxidizers, poisons, corrosives and radioactive materials. Examples: Paints, lighter fluid, fireworks, tear gases, oxygen bottles, and radio-pharmaceuticals. There are special exceptions for small quantities (up to 70 ounces total) of medicinal and toilet articles carried in your luggage and certain smoking materials carried on your person. Special restrictions and limitations for transporting Hazardous Materials and specifically Lithium Ion batteries, refer to FAA - Pack Safe to learn more. for more information. In the event a carry-on bag cannot be accommodated in the passenger cabin and has to be placed below in a cargo bin for any reason, any electronic device or spare Lithium-ion or any other type of battery permitted in carry-on baggage MUST be removed from the carry-on bag and remain in the possession of the passenger in the passenger cabin. For further information contact your airline representative.
IMPORTANT NEW PASSPORT LAWS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Beach Lovers, if you haven’t had your passport renewed since 2006 or 2007, now’s the time to do so. Why? Because your passport is only good for ten years. Citizens entering the U.S. from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda carry a passport.
Some countries require that your passport must be valid for more than six months before you can enter. While there are more countries around the world that require this, the beach in our sun ‘n sand universe to which this rule applies is Nicaragua. Good to know, right?
The Effect on You. The Passport Bureau has experienced a big uptick in applications. We’re talking millions. If you’re planning a beach escape, you don’t want to delay in renewing your passport–it can take up to six weeks.
Read more on our blog.
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Gujarat BJP leaders work undeterred
By Vishal PatadiyaVishal Patadiya, Ahmedabad Mirror | Updated: May 16, 2019, 06:16 IST
Thaker addresses booth workers
Amid violence and fear of backlash in West Bengal where the BJP is trying to gain ground, hundreds of leaders and workers of Gujarat BJP are working day and night to win Dum Dum and Barasat LS seats assigned to them. The Gujarat team is handling the ground work for both the seats. Amit Thaker, in-charge of Gujarat team in West Bengal said they are under threat from Trinamool Congress but will not leave the state before the election. As per Thaker, their hotel rooms were vandalised by the police who later interrogated them.
Thaker has been in West Bengal since the polling in Gujarat concluded on April 23. Talking to Mirror, Thaker alleged, “Trinamool Congress is making all efforts to intimidate BJP workers but my team is undeterred and will be back to Gujarat only after the election is over. We have prepared a list of voters in the age group of 18 to 23 years per booth. Our cadre has contacted around 3 lakh such voters in two Lok Sabha seats in co-ordination with the West Bengal BJP team. This will make enable us to gain 50,000 to 60,000 voters who can turn around the results.”
As per Thaker, “When I was away from my hotel in Kolkata, the police raided my room and did not spare a single corner in their search. When I came back at 1.30 am, police interrogated me on why I was living alone and the purpose of my visit.”
Gujarat BJP youth wing chief Dr Rutvij Patel, who was attacked in one of the incidents of violence, told Mirror, “I am looking after the Barasat seat and working with about 50 leaders from Gujarat. My residence was raided and car was attacked by TMC workers.
When the driver called the police asking them to save him, cops arrested him and put him behind bars. There is no human rights here. When Amit Shah’s road show was going on, I was with him. Amid the crowd of 3 to 4 lakh people, Kolkata police was nowhere to be seen. It was the CRPF which gave him security. Had CRPF guards not been there, Amitbhai and the other leaders would have been in danger.”
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “champion liar” and accused the BJP of conspiring to destroy the state’s culture and heritage.
“Modi is a champion liar. I have seen many Prime Ministers but never seen a liar prime minister like him. Speaking in Bengal, he dares to lie in broad daylight saying Amit Shah was attacked. It is them who attacked Bengal’s culture, it’s them who vandalised Vidyasagar’s statue,” alleged Banerjee while addressing a rally in Agarpara in North 24 Parganas district.
From News
Cabinet gives nod to NMC Bill, National... Cabinet gives nod to NMC Bill, National Medical Commission to replace MCI
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Most disgusting thing you have witnessed or taken part of on the job?
Nurses Mar 16, 2009 (56,905 Views 101 Comments)
by Solid Snake (New Member)
822 Visitors; 6 Posts
You are reading page 6 of Most disgusting thing you have witnessed or taken part of on the job?. If you want to start from the beginning Go to First Page.
Mar 17, 2009 by Jarnaes
Jarnaes has 14 years experience and specializes in US Army.
Inmates are ingenious when it comes to getting over on the system. They have nothing but time to find and exploit a weakness in the system. Go work in corrections, you'll be amazed...
This particular prison was medium custody setting, so the guys were not locked down 23 hours a day. They could go to the rec. yard, the library, attend various classes and some had jobs in the kitchen etc., etc. Lots of time, space and opportunity.
Mar 17, 2009 by detroitdano
GI bleed poop smells horrid. Way worse than C. diff.
We had a guy who had dropped like 2 grams with one bowel movement that decided he should continue to poop all the way across his room and out in the hallway. He called for a nurse as he stood in the carpeted hallway with bloody stool piled up around his ankles. He was confused, I'll give him that, but damn, I really wish he would have stayed in the room because it smelled up the floor for at least 2 days. We had people coming down from the 6th floor to our floor (1st) and they said they could smell it as soon as they got in the stairwell.
Mar 17, 2009 by feralnostalgia
You folks do realize that now all of those lovely young folks that were thinking about entering Nursing as a profession (and come help us alleviate this shortage) are now signing up for the teaching profession after reading this stories? Good grief...
haha, I love these threads. I'm worried I won't be sufficiently prepared for the grossness once I start my clinicals, so I want to kill the idea of gross before I have to see the reality of gross. half the time it's the idea that makes me gag, anyway. I'm actually eating hummus while reading this, too...haha
holy poop, batman.
who'd he have sex with, king kong???
and sex through a stoma???
yowza.
this may be way too much information, even for this thread, but it's recently become popular among some gay men (maybe straight folks too, I wouldn't know) to stick the entire arm up there. I don't know how popular, but I've seen it all over the internet lately. I am gay, and completely grossed out every time somebody talks about this. I don't know who the hell invented this kind of sex or why people get off on it, but it's there all the same. don't get me started on "body-modification" and sex. I used to think I was experienced and jaded...come to find out I'm practically a nun. I wonder if testosterone is a neurotoxin sometimes...
fisting is kinda a joke among internet geeks...one of my friends pointed out that in google trends you can see a huge and sudden increase in google searches for "anal fisting" as soon as broadband internet became widely available in the Czech Republic, which totally wins the "kinkiest nation in the world" award, in my book. (though we're pushing darwin award territory here.) apparently it was popular there for some reason, and it infiltrated the porn industry shortly after they got plentiful internet access. after porn studios started producing it, a bunch of people got the smart idea to try it themselves. I guess it's one of those industries where "new" is exciting and better. if I had to guess what kind of sex ruined a sphincter, this would be at the top of the list.
no sir. not for me. there's more than one way to skin a cat. ain't happenin. *shudder* what ever happened to kisses and cuddles?
Edited Mar 17, 2009 by feralnostalgia
Mar 17, 2009 by Flare, ASN, BSN
2 Followers; 5 Articles; 33,852 Visitors; 3,965 Posts
Who was the genius that decided that carpeting in a hallway adjoining to a patient area was a good idea!!?
Mar 17, 2009 by ozoneranger
ozoneranger specializes in pulmonary, ortho, cardio.
The VP who's brother owns a carpet sales & cleaning operation.
Follow the money. Money never lies.
Mar 17, 2009 by flygirl43
LOL funny! I have a story about an obese woman that couldn't wipe and was quite familiar with BBQ tongues. Even brought them into the hospital for self maintanance. Have problems doing BBQ. Gross
Mar 17, 2009 by leslie :-D
53,633 Visitors; 11,191 Posts
this may be way too much information, even for this thread, but it's recently become popular among some gay men (maybe straight folks too, I wouldn't know) to stick the entire arm up there.
un-freaking-believable.
my mind just cannot go there.
it sounds like a version of s&m maybe????
which, btw, is not ltd to the gay population.
just, wow...
Mar 17, 2009 by mama_d, BSN, RN
mama_d has 10 years experience as a BSN, RN and specializes in tele, oncology.
I worked for a staffing agency for a VERY brief while for my first job...it lasted like three weeks. Mostly flu shot clinics and stuff like that, with some private duty thrown in.
Anyway, I had a shift as a nurse for a patient who had come home to die. She had been diagnosed with rectal cancer a short time earlier and was an extremely small woman to begin with; probably didn't weigh 100# soaking wet before she got sick. Between the surgeries for the cancer, which her body was incapable of healing from, and the pressure ulcers she got in her debilitated state, her backside was gone. From her genitals to half-way up her back was completely open. I almost passed out doing her dressing change; she had a Foley in and YOU COULD SEE THE FOLEY BALLOON along with her bones and other abdominal organs. It was by far and away the most horribly disgusting things I have ever seen in my life. And she required sterile wet to dry dressing changes q2hr (why sterile is beyond me, it was already obviously hideously infected, and why wet to dry is again beyond me, because there was so much fluid being produced by her body that there was no way it made any difference wet or dry). Apparently the pressure ulcers and the infected surgical wounds had met in the middle, so to speak, and eaten away all of her tissue. Thank God the cancer had spread to her brain and she was apparently not there at all; she died the shift after mine.
Not as gross, but still pretty bad...doing wet to dry dressing changes on a pressure ulcer on a prolapsed uterus. And the time I had a diabetic with dry gangrene on their foot and their big toe fell off while I was changing the kerlix dressing...I just held it in place and rewrapped it, I was so freaked out. Then I forgot to warn the oncoming shift about what had happened. Oops.
Edited Mar 17, 2009 by mama_d
Mar 17, 2009 by herecomestrouble
herecomestrouble has 25 years experience and specializes in geriatrics,med/surg,vents.
I didn't see this in a hospital but the grocery store last week,I was in the produce section buying apples and there was a woman next to me doing the same thing,she turned to me,put her finger over her trach and said "these apples look really good don't they"took her finger off the trach and went right back to picking up apples.EEEEWWWWWW.Needless to say I didn't buy any fresh fruit that day.
Mar 17, 2009 by ShayRN
ShayRN has 18 years experience and specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.
I had one similar to Mama D. Had a lady with rectal cancer. She didn't want to "burden" her children with her illness. Was the primary babysitter for her young grandchildren. While at their homes she would take the babys' diapers and put them in her pants for the secretions. By the time the family suspected something was wrong (the diapers weren't containing the smell any longer) the cancer had eaten away her entire rectal cavity. They went from thinking mom is healthy, to mom has cancer, to mom is dying in a matter of 3 days. By the time she came to me I could put my entire fist up to my wrist in her open coccyx. Every time I spread her cheeks apart to dress it she screamed bloody murder. Finally, started her on a morphine drip and got pain under control. She died a day later, sad, sad, sad. People really don't do their loved ones any favors when they "protect" them.
Mar 17, 2009 by Cranmans
This thread is: sick, twisted, gross, sad, and laugh out loud funny; but I cannot stop scrolling down and reading y'alls post.
Mar 17, 2009 by It'sMe, RN, BBA, MBA
Up to the last 3 posts I was ROFLMAO! Couldn't type because of the tears of laughter. :rolleyes:The last 3 though are sad and makes you feel for the poor people that go through this trauma.:smackingf
After 32 years you would think I could say "seen it all" but not after reading this! Now I just want to make the images get out of my head. :lol_hitti I think I will grab my wife and move to a deserted island. :uhoh21: Many very, very weird people out there....
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Tribal Wars 2 9+
Build your villages and expand your empire! Ally yourself with other players to form mighty tribes! Protect your people against your enemies! And turn the tides of war!
Tribal Wars 2, the free online strategy game, is the successor to InnoGames’ online hit Tribalwars. You become the ruler of a city in a war torn medieval universe and you have to defend your followers and your village and expand your empire to ensure its survival. To succeed you have to rely on your strength and your strategic skills.
But you won’t be able to do all of this on your own. Rally other players to your cause, build a tribe and form alliances with other tribes. Your political decisions could mean the difference between triumph and defeat in the world of Tribal Wars 2.
Tribalwars 2 is available in the browser and on your mobile device. You are able to use the same account across all your different devices. You used your browser to send one of your armies to attack an enemy’s village? Check the results of the attack on your smartphone and prepare your cities for the counter-attack using your tablet! All features of the game are available on all different devices.
• Build glorious villages with 16 different types of buildings
• Wage war with 13 different types of units
• Create army presets to plan your attacks
• Conquer other villages and compete with your enemies for their territory
• Form tribes with other players to create an empire and rule the world of Tribal Wars 2
• Trade resources with other players
• Choose an Order and get access to different types of elite units
• Play the same account cross platform on all your different devices
Learn more about the game on our website http://www.tribalwars2.com
Become a fan on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tribalwars2
Add us to your Google+ circles at https://plus.google.com/+Tribalwars2/posts
Subscribe to our youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/tribalwars2
General Terms and Conditions: https://legal.innogames.com/portal/en/agb
Imprint: https://legal.innogames.com/portal/en/imprint
We are constantly updating our app to bring you the full game experience into the app. Get the latest version for all of the available features and bug fixes. Thanks for playing Tribal Wars 2!
DPJTPA , 08/13/2018
4/5 Stars - Enjoy It For What It Is
I previously played TW1 & TW2 and recently came back to play TW2. I play it on my iPad and have zero issues with crashes. The browser version also works fine and offers additional functionality that you don’t get on IOS. The game is free so the devs need to make $ somehow. If you spend $ you have an advantage just like all other games that are freemium. I hope my $ spent to unlock additional build slots carries over to the new world once the current world ends...that’s my concern. The game is fun and engaging IMO. I recommend it highly!
Sad Taco Cat , 09/07/2018
I played Tribal Wars on the computer and saw they had added the app to the iPhone. I’m not sure about a crashing problem, but there are so many issues with the screens in the game. For example, the troop recruitment screen in the barracks has almost never worked for me. I sent a Trouble ticket with pictures of the issue but they don’t have a solution. I have not been able to recruit the “ram” unit which is critical to the game, the issue still hasn’t been fixed from what I’ve seen. You either need to play on computer or pay to purchase units.... I feel the developers are going to a strictly elitist format where either you have a lot of time to sit in front of a computer and play or you “pay to win” format............. people playing without money, or an insane amount of time; good luck.
Gagoron , 07/16/2019
Just one thing
The game is great. Never took away from the old TW1 style yet was able to add more to the game. My only issue is everything done on the pc can’t be done on mobile. I personally don’t have a pc and can only play mobile. Not home long enough to be on pc. But if that could be improved somehow, that would be great. 5 star for TW2 all in itself though
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Forge of Empires: Build a City
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Celtic Tribes - Strategy MMO
Lords & Knights - Medieval MMO
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Airline Turkish Airlines
IATA / ICAO: TK / THY
Fleet size: 285
Base airport: Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST)
Airline Turkish Airlines is an airline from Turkey. Airline founded in 1933. Turkish Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance alliance. Base airport is Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST). Airlines operates flights to more than 322 destinations.
Turkish Airlines fleet consisted of 285 aircraft, average age of aircraft 6.3 year.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Esenboga International Airport (ESB) 107
Esenboga International Airport (ESB) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 96
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Antalya Airport (AYT) 88
Antalya Airport (AYT) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 87
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) 85
Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 80
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Milas-Bodrum Airport (BJV) 74
Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Trabzon Airport (TZX) 65
Milas-Bodrum Airport (BJV) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 61
Trabzon Airport (TZX) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 61
TK17 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Pearson International Airport (YYZ) 0 feet. 0 knots. B77W
TK557 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Cotonou Airport (COO) 0 feet. 0 knots. B739
TK33 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) 0 feet. 0 knots. B77W
TK2834 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Trabzon Airport (TZX) 0 feet. 0 knots. B738
TK61 Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. A333
TK168 Noi Bai International Airport (HAN) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. A333
TK55 Changi International Airport (SIN) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. B77W
TK595 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Nouakchott International Airport (NKC) 0 feet. 0 knots. B739
TK316 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Erbil International Airport (EBL) 0 feet. 0 knots. B738
TK21 Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. B77W
TK57 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. B77W
TK69 Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. A333
TK1787 Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) Copenhagen Airport (CPH) 0 feet. 0 knots. B738
TK2021 Kayseri Airport (ASR) Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST) 0 feet. 0 knots. B738
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Tag Archives: AFCON 2019
10 hours ago Sports 0
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, appeared to ignore head coach of the national team, Gernot Rohr, during the presentation of bronze medals. The Super Eagles clinched third place at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, thanks to a 1-0 win over Tunisia on Wednesday night. Odion …
Nigeria striker, Odion Ighalo, is on course to finish the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, as the top scorer. Ighalo netted the winner for the Super Eagles, as they claimed bronze with a 1-0 win over Tunisia on Wednesday. It was his fifth goal of the tournament. The Shanghai Shenhua …
AFCON 2019: Moses reacts to Nigeria’s 2-1 defeat to Algeria in semi-final
3 days ago Sports 0
Super Eagles winger, Moses Simon, is confident that he and his team-mates, will recover from their 2-1 defeat to Algeria ahead of Wednesday’s third-place playoff. William Troost-Ekong’s own goal gave the Desert Foxes the lead, before Odion Ighalo levelled in the second half. However, with the last kick of the …
AFCON 2019: NFF told to sack Rohr immediately after semi-final defeat to Algeria
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Peterside Idah, has called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to sack head coach of the Super Eagles, Gernot Rohr, immediately. This follows the team’s defeat to Algeria in an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final clash on Sunday. Nigeria failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of …
AFCON 2019: Ighalo leads highest goal scorers ahead of final/third-place playoff [Top 20]
Nigeria striker, Odion Ighalo, is now the leading scorer in the Africa Cup of Nations, ahead of the final fixtures this week. Ighalo scored from the spot, as the Super Eagles lost 2-1 to Algeria, in their semi-final clash on Sunday. The Shanghai Shenhua striker is now ahead of three …
AFCON 2019: What Senate President said as he joins Super Eagles in Egypt ahead of Algeria clash
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan departed Abuja on Sunday, leading a presidential delegation to cheer Super Eagles in their match against Algeria in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt. Mr Mohammed Isa, the Special Assistant to Lawan on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in …
Lawan expresses confidence in Eagles, departs for Egypt
4 days ago Metro 0
Related Assets forfeiture: Presidential panel seals Nwaoboshi’s properties 3 hours ago Nigeria Costain bridge to be completed in September, says Hamzat 2 hours ago Nigeria Algeria army arrests five on suspicion of planning ‘attacks’ 1 hour ago World Senator Ahmad Lawan. Photo/Facebook/senatorahmadlawan The President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan …
2019 AFCON: Arsenal star speaks on favourite team to win trophy in Egypt
Arsenal forward, Alex Iwobi, has said that the four teams in the semi-final of the 2019 African Cup of Nations are all favourites to win the trophy. Nigeria will clash with Algeria in one of the semi-final matches while Tunisia take on Senegal in the other game. Iwobi said that …
AFCON 2019: Algeria’s Bensebaini names top team, good players in Nigeria’s Super Eagles
Algeria defender, Ramy Bensebaini, has identified the Super Eagles of Nigeria as a top team in Africa. He also said that Gernot Rohr’s men are composed of several good individual players, adding that Algeria’s task to overcome the three times African champions looks so difficult. The Rennes star stated this …
AFCON 2019: Nigeria to face Algeria in semi-final
Nigeria will take on Algeria in one of the semi-final matches of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday in Egypt. The Super Eagles had booked their place in the last four yesterday, following a 2-1 win over South Africa. This evening, Algeria needed penalties to defeat Ivory Coast, …
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May 14, 2007 Mission, Our World 7 Comments
Do the Poor Dream? -Part 2
The World Bank announced this month that 968 million people lived on less than a dollar a day in 2004. That’s down from 1.25 billion in 1990 according to The Economist (2007 April 28th Issue).
Here’s the closing paragraph of the article:
When you live on a dollar a day it may be painful to confront your circumstances too squarely, or even to aspire to better things. The “great redeeming feature of poverty,” George Orwell wrote after his excursions in the social gutters of Paris and London, is “the fact that it annihilates the future.”
But the poor do have choices, it seems. Typical poor households could spend up to 30% more for food, if they would divert devoting their funds towards “alcohol, tobacco and festivals.” “Festivals” includes weddings, funerals, and religious outings and take up to 10% of a households budget.
The authors attribute this spending to either escapism:
“this spending might be motivated by escapism –the poor have a lot to escape.”
Or Social emulation:
“Even those in absolute poverty care about their relative standing.”
These two reasons could be cited for affluent westerners as well. I wonder if they failed to recognize [or at least to mention] the human desire to celebrate, socialize, dream and feel -if but for a moment -happiness. Are these not attributes/needs of all people including the poor? The poor are human. They hate. They feel shame. They feel trapped. They feel love. They feel hope. They create. They dream.
It’s because the poor dream, and hope, and hurt, that this question really matters:
“Lord, When did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?” Matthew 25.37
7 thoughts on “Do the Poor Dream? -Part 2”
Interesting stuff, I worked a lot in Paisley both in the Police and with the church with the urban poor, often homeless. The percentage who were addicts, either to drugs or drink was overwhelming. They would often spend all of what little money came their way on their addictions and get involved in petty crime to fund more.
At one level this was a real source of frustration to me as their actions were quite literally killing them and depriving their dependents, especially children, of their right to the basic things of life, warmth, food and clothing. Yet I could often understand why they lived as they did. They were living embodiments of Paul’s adage in Ephesians that to be without God is to be without hope. Drugs and drink numbed the pain of their hopelessness.
It was only when we as the church could offer a dream, the dream of a life of significance and love that such hopelessness could be overcome.
James Petticrew , May 14, 2007 at 6:55 am
Great thoughts, and thanks for saying it. They are the majority, yet they get the minority of our attention and energy. So where does that leave me with Jesus, as you say…
Next month I’m going to an orphanage in Cambodia where about half the kids have AIDs, and then we hope to begin a relationship that will lead to regular groups of Japanese volunteers going with us (my family) to serve there. I hope we’ll concretely serve and bless the kids in some small ways and nourish their dreams. We’re also going because we’re so needy. We’re desperate (I’ll speak for myself, my family, and on behalf of the Japanese as well). I want to go sit at the feet of these kids and bring others with me. Hopefully, the result will be more than just “short term trips” but people who know Jesus and live different lives than they would have — and maybe a few who begin to dream powerful, new dreams and give their lives to help the cause of the poor and outcast. And some day in the Kingdom we’ll thank these kids for empowering us…
(BTW, we’re mostly bringing Japanese who don’t know Jesus and some who do. We want them to discover that the desperate desire they have to love and serve others is pointing them to Jesus. We want to show them the way by walking it with them, and then inviting them on the journey with us.)
PS: A book tip – I’m reading “sub-merge” by John Hayes, a book about living among the poor that’s worth a read. It comes from real life and it’s filled with stories from a community who are learning to live this out together.
Andy , May 14, 2007 at 8:06 am
poverty battles against hope—but this does not mean it decimates all dreams.
the poor can and do dream. in fact, i’ve been to many oppressed and impoverished places where a “blessed hope” (the promise of a better life beyond this one) is the most tangible of dreams—and btw, one that rich westerners find more and more difficult to connect with.
moreover, i think it could be argued that unearned wealth and privilege may ultimately be a far more potent dream suppressant than poverty. as just one example, it is not uncommon for those who live in the comfort and privilege of a western suburbia to say that suburbia is the place where dreams go to die.
Shaman , May 14, 2007 at 3:38 pm
wow. truly profound. Andy, thanks for the words of encouragement about your upcoming journey into Cambodia. I pray that what you seek to see happen will come about by the Spirit.
We are trying to do similar things in my context as well. Heading to Mali, West Africa in two weeks to further a soybean development project. Two who do not know Jesus intimately will be coming with us. Also making attempts at this journey with the poor with middle and high school students in the states. Unsure of how to pursue this since many are western suburbanites who, as Shaman comments, are in the “place where dreams go to die.” However, I am hopeful that their desire to live beyond themselves, though still in nascent form, will continue to grow.
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth.”
jpo , May 15, 2007 at 11:45 am
Have you read Ruby Payne’s “A Framework For Understanding Poverty?”
It’s a great read and would be helpful on this topic.
Mike L , July 18, 2007 at 7:28 pm
I can relate to the article cited. We minister to inner city families at our church. And the growing trend we see is that poverty in our area might not fit the definition of poverty in other areas of the world. The poor families in our area may live in run down homes and apartments, have need of many things, but they still have a playstation, cell phones, cable tv, and 20 inch rims on the car.
Kurt , July 20, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Kurt, I hear you. Same in our ‘hood (South Central LA). Yes, they have dreams, some big, some sadly small, some really odd. My wife once asked a neighbor girl “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?” (context: high school kids from some American inner city flying overseas in a cultural exchange somethingorother)
The girl thought carefully for a bit, and answered “Hollywood.”
That’s a 30-minute bus ride from here.
Sad and stunted dream of a girl in poverty? Or was she sophisticated enough to know that there is a way to go to Hollywood that makes it significant and thrilling and fulfilling, a worthy dream, but the city bus isn’t the vehicle to take you to THAT Hollywood? Does she really need my or anyone’s help to get there? But what happens to a dream deferred?
I’ll let Langston Hughes answer that one.
Nic Nelson , August 10, 2007 at 1:18 am
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Play Cards with Your Dragons: The New Hero’s Cycle Involves Surrender Not Struggle, Sacrifice Not Slaying, Compassion Not “Toughness,” and Silliness Not Stoicism
Loving Warriors and Silly Heroes: The Necessary Hero Dances Above Dissonance, Lightens Up in the Face of Stress, and Sees Divinity Not Demons Behind It All
Apocalypse – No! Chapter Thirteen: Peaceful Warriors and Silly Heroes
You Just Can’t Slay a Volcano: The Necessary Hero Uses Surrender, not Struggle … For Why Would You Not Be Borne Up by a Universe That Is You
We Need Compassionate Warriors, Not Fighters: It’s Not Enough Just to Slay Dragons, We Need to Jump Into Volcanoes
Volcano-Jumping: A Different Heroic Response
This different kind of heroic response—which characterizes the perinatal arena and is sorely needed at this time in history—is exemplified in another contemporary movie of cult status. We will deal with it in some detail to bring out the elements of the kind of hero that is now required to stop the cycles of destruction that have currently driven us to the abyss…to the very edge of a “volcano.”
In “Joe Versus the Volcano,” the main character, played by Tom Hanks, is given a heroic task. But unlike a typical hero’s cycle task which stereotypically involves the slaying of a fire-spewing dragon, Joe is asked to give up his life by jumping into a fire-erupting volcano.
The connection between volcano and dragon is that at the second-line or psychodynamic level the fire-spewing aspects of the perinatal, which might be compared to a volcano, can be seen as “embodied” or reduced in the form of a dragon. In the same way, the volcanic energy of perinatal feelings is initially embodied in easier-to-face and “dragonized” psychodynamic, second-line, or childhood traumas and feelings.
You Just Can’t Slay a Volcano
But what may seem to work at the second-line or psychodynamic level—the conquering or slaying of negative feelings…and notice that I said “seem”—has no place at all at the perinatal. For here the pain energy is overwhelming and pervasive. Thus the difference is analogous to that between facing the energy of a dragon and facing that of a volcano.
The Heroes We Need – The New Hero’s Cycle
First Anima, Then Community
Keep in mind that this movie shows Joe, earlier on, going through all the major stages of the hero’s cycle—the retreat from mundane reality, the sailing off into a new and exotic realm of existence and adventure.
It even depicts a typical “dragon slaying”—the hero’s conquering of inner fears and risking of one’s life for another that results in the uniting with anima energy–the saving of the damsel. So earlier on there is a dealing with psychodynamic energy, just as in “Nothing but Trouble” Chevy Chase deals with psychodynamic material and enacts a dragon slaying by risking his life to rescue Demi Moore from a giant chopping machine. But, also similarly, this results in the opening up of another level, requiring a completely different—indeed, opposite—response. Thus, in “Joe Vs. the Volcano,” Joe is asked to give up his life to save an entire community, not merely to risk his life to rescue his anima, his feeling self.
Risking It All
The ensuing plot has interesting elements as it shows Joe having to decide whether to sacrifice his newly won relationship with his anima ally for the benefit of an entire—but anonymous—community. This demonstrates that at a progressed level of the spiritual process—that having to do with one’s inter-connection with the larger community of living things, not just one’s personal unconscious—one must risk even one’s newly regained creativity, inner child playfulness, and personal feelings, i.e., one’s anima.
But in telling fashion, in order to make the higher “community” sacrifice the anima elements that have been let go of, symbolized by Meg Ryan as the anima damsel, end up going with Joe to his chosen fate and are borne up, renewed, along with him.
Borne Up by a Beneficent Universe
On Joe’s part, the climax shows the same quality of a beneficent Universe aiding a true and dharmic heart. Joe (with his anima) face what they think is death. Instead they find themselves “borne up” by the volcano, not consumed; and they are deposited (reborn) in a typical perinatal watery surround—the ocean, symbolizing therefore a spiritual birth. This is a perfect depiction of how surrender, not “heroic” resistance, is done and why it needs to be done currently, as I have been pointing out.
“Away From the Things of Man”
In the end, the main characters are floating in the middle of a wide open sea—signifying the immensity of potentiality that is now open, and facing a gigantic moon on the horizon—symbolizing the beneficent nature of the Universe to which they are opening, that is, it is beautiful and lit with possibilities.
They are seen sitting on only their luggage—symbolizing the “stripped down” nature of the self, that is, stripped of ego trappings of status, vainglory, defenses, and so on. Their final comment at the very end of the film is that they do not know where they’ll end up but only that it will be “away from the things of man”—indicating their desire to never go back to the drama of ego and its puerile catacomb pathways of darkened experience.
The Universe Is You
We see then that in this movie, like “Nothing but Trouble,” the heroic response required is surrender, not resistance or control, and that the response from the Universe is cooperative and helpful, and hardly antagonistic as was feared, especially at earlier levels.
This is in keeping with the discovery at the perinatal, which borders it on the transpersonal, that in fact the Universe, not only is not antagonistic, not only is beneficent and helpful, but in fact is no different from oneself, indeed is oneself…and one begins to wonder why one would ever expect not to be borne up by a Universe that is now seen as inextricably united with one’s Self.
While the interpretation of Joe Versus the Volcano presented in the video below – Joe vs. the Volcano: Losing my Soul, Part One – is annoyingly suffused with theological terminology – hell, devil – and suffers from the paranoia that happens lacking a perinatal or even a Jungian understanding, it does succeed on a more superficial level of basic insight. It does get the highly metaphorical and philosophical import of the film and picks up on major themes of the movie. It strikes me as having the problem of just understanding religion while knowing nothing about psychology. And it suffers, as I’ve put it elsewhere, from the problem of projecting one’s perinatal underbelly onto the Universe or of funneling revelation through the filter of personal pain.
Silly Heroes and Evolution in Attitudes to the Perinatal: The Necessary Hero Jives with the Monsters, Dances Above the Dissonance, and Is Ever Aware of Divinity Everywhere
What the World Needs Now … Is Loving Warriors and Silly Heroes: Jiving with Your Monsters, Dancing Above the Dissonance, and The Universality of Divinity Remembered
Responses to the Perinatal
Returning now to “Nothing But Trouble,” an aspect of it that has significance for dealing with perinatal issues is the way different characters are shown responding to the embodiment of arbitrary justice, the judge. In the wonderfully Kafkaesque courtroom scenes, we see several different types of people—representing different responses to unconscious material—hauled before the judge. The musicians, signifying artists, creative people; the hedonistic criminals; and the main characters, representing average people, each present distinct attitudes, which are responded to differently by the representative of the unconscious, the judge.
Jiving With Your Monsters
The musicians are able to create rhythm and flow. Therefore they are able to get through the experience unharmed. Indeed, they are even able to elicit a response from the judge—getting him to join in. In this way we see how creative people can actually use perinatal material and get it to cooperate for desired ends. We might consider how this relates to the writing of “Nothing but Trouble” itself.
Peter and Dan Aykroyd, in creating this movie, are, like the musicians in the movie, getting the unconscious to “play along,” to create something beyond what either the writer or the unconscious could accomplish separately. Much of what is interesting in art is done this way: The deeper fear-evoking material is allowed to come in and enrich, enliven, freshen with new ideas and perspectives, stimulate, and invigorate the creative production.
Beware the Tar Baby
On the other hand, the arrogant banker contends with evil, and, like Brer Rabbit with tar baby, gets stuck.
Notice also that the really contentious ones—the alcoholic drug-using criminal hedonists—are completely lost. Thus the two extremes, as well as the average person are depicted.
Lighten Up!
But the truly striking element that indicates an advanced way of dealing with the perinatal material is shown in the genre of the movie itself. As a comedy, it shows a non-attached and transcendent approach. Chevy Chase and Demi Moore, especially Chevy Chase, show an aloofness and silly playfulness in the face of horror and death that has spiritual implications. Like a Tibetan mystic, Chase refuses to get sucked in to the involved drama confronting him. Like a Christian saint about to be martyred, he jokes, teases, and gets silly with the instruments of horror and evil. Similarly, Demi Moore humors and plays cards with her would-be monsters.
Silly Heroes
Standing within the Witness higher self, they are able to take the entire situation lightly—acting and reacting in the moment to each unique situation as it presents itself. One moment Chevy Chase is confronting his own demise, the next moment he is in a love scene. He alternates a frightful encounter with relaxing and smoking a cigar.
If we want to know what real and transcended behavior is, we might do well to get our hints in the depictions of unattached playfulness — as presented by modern Western actors like Bill Murray, Demi Moore, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase, Robin Williams, Bruce Willis, and Jim Carey—rather than in the repressively calmed not-with-it-ness—not-witness—that is sometimes mistaken for spiritual attainment.
Darkening Down
Incidentally, this element of humor shows an entirely different way of dealing with the perinatal than most other movies that deal with this kind of material. The movie, “Brazil,” is a good example of this difference. Not only is “Brazil” cast in an eerie, somber, and tragically hopeless and futile air—indicating that one’s response here is to “believe in” the reality of such material—but the only escape in this movie is in a purely conceptual, fantasy way.
The main character cannot face the horror ultimately. He flips out into a reassuring dream sequence brimming with BPM I and BPM IV imagery. Interestingly, reflecting the pattern of progression of our expressions in feeling therapies, the dream includes a BPM III scenario to get him to those later bucolic realms.
But in “Brazil” these are only daydreams. This fact shows a refusal to face this perinatal material or to surrender to it. Rather, in fantasy, one overcomes the horror. It is as if one continues using familiar ego techniques—hero’s journey methods, dragon-slaying methods—for dealing with material on a deeper level where they no longer work—where they are in fact counterproductive.
Thus, these techniques can only succeed in dreaming. Terry Gilliam, the creator of “Brazil,” shows us that the hero, in reality, is doomed.
However, one might interpret the main character’s escape into fantasy as a victory over evil forces. That the ending lends itself so readily to such an interpretation is a telling indictment of the state of progress of some of us in dealing with perinatal material. Apparently, there are those so lost that the only success possible seems to be in insanity or death.
Evolution In Attitudes to the Perinatal?
However, in “Nothing but Trouble,” the main characters do face and deal with all the material. Sometimes they fight it; sometimes run from it; sometimes play with it; sometimes joke, tease, spar, or get silly with it; sometimes are swallowed by it and carried along…but always they are creatively facing and dealing with it. This different air about and attitude towards the perinatal material can be said to be an advance from the earlier movie, “Brazil,” representing perhaps a progression of our collective consciousness in our attitudes and manner of dealing with the perinatal.
Dancing Above the Dissonance
Such a prospect is, indeed, the auspicious legacy of such a creative project. Though it is doubtful they did so consciously, the Aykroyd brothers and the producers of “Nothing But Trouble” deserve our gratitude for their efforts in lighting forward our collective reality endeavor.
Beyond that, we can take hope in the possibility that Western culture may be rising itself, however minimally at first, above the dramas of light and darkness that have plagued it for so long. The Manichean tendency can lead only to ever-spiraling cycles of resistance and assault. Yet we are seeing currently, not only an erosion of defiantly uni-dimensional ego perspectives, not only a movement toward facing and dealing with our inner darkness, but an integration of opposing forces, a dancing above the leela—the play—of light and dark.
The Universality of Divinity Remembered
The perennial understanding of the universality of divinity, both within and without us, in the lowest as well as the highest of places, is the bright at the center of the perinatal bedlam about us. We are guided as well by this gleaming, a rising moon of promise and possibilities.
Continue with Apocalypse – No! Chapter Fourteen: To Move the World – A Race Against Time
Return to Apocalypse – No! Chapter Twelve: Atman Projects Versus Surrender Solutions
Posted in Anthropology, Art & Entertainment, audio, authenticity, being yourself, Birth, Child Abuse, Consciousness, Environmentalism, Evolution, God, individualism, Metaphysics, Mystical, nonconform, Philosophy, Politics, Primal Spirit, Primal Spirituality, Psychology, Religion, Spirituality, video
Tags: 60s, alcoholic, america, apocalypse, art, artists, attitudes, banker, Bill Murray, Birth, BPM I, BPM IV, Brazil, Brer Rabbit, Bruce Willis, celebrities, characters, Chevy Chase, childhood traumas, collective consciousness, comedy, Consciousness, control, courtroom, creativity, cult status, CULTURE, Dan Aykroyd, darkness, daydream, death, Demi Moore, demise, die, divinity, drama, dreams, Ego, entertainment, Environment, erupting volcano, evil, evolution, fantasy, fear, feeling therapy, generation, genre, God, healing, health, hell, hero, hero’s journey, heroic task, higher self, horror, humor, imagery, insanity, issues, Jim Carrey, joe versus the volcano, judge, justice, Kafka, leela, life, light, matrix, monster, moon, movie, musicians, mystic, negative feelings, nothing but trouble, occupy wall street, pain, peaceful warriors, perinatal, Peter Aykroyd, planet, playfulness, politics, possibility, promise, psychology, repression, Robin Williams, Shiva, silliness, sixties, society, tar baby, tease, Terry Gilliam, Tom Hanks, transcendent, trauma, truth, typical hero, unconscious, universality, warrior, womb, world, writer, www youtube
Incidentally, this element of humor shows an entirely different way of dealing with the perinatal than most other movies that deal with this kind of material. The movie, “Brazil,” is a good example of this difference. Not only is “Brazil” cast in an eerie, somber, and tragically hopeless and futile air — indicating that one’s response here is to “believe in” the reality of such material—but the only escape in this movie is in a purely conceptual, fantasy way.
Continue with Apocalypse? Or Earth Rebirth? A Smaller Number of Us — Standing in the Right Place and With a Lever Big Enough — Might Be All That Is Needed to Move the World
Return to You Just Can’t Slay a Volcano: The Necessary Hero Uses Surrender, not Struggle … For Why Would You Not Be Borne Up by a Universe That Is You
Posted in Anthropology, Art & Entertainment, audio, authenticity, being yourself, Birth, Consciousness, Environmentalism, Evolution, individualism, life, meaning, nonconform, Philosophy, Politics, Primal Spirit, Primal Spirituality, Psychology, Religion, Spirituality, video
Tags: 60s, alcoholic, apocalypse, art, artists, attitudes, banker, Bill Murray, Birth, BPM I, BPM IV, Brazil, Brer Rabbit, Bruce Willis, celebrities, characters, Chevy Chase, collective consciousness, comedy, Consciousness, control, courtroom, creativity, CULTURE, Dan Aykroyd, darkness, daydream, death, Demi Moore, demise, die, divinity, drama, dreams, Ego, entertainment, Environment, evil, evolution, fantasy, fear, feeling therapy, generation, genre, God, healing, health, hell, hero, hero’s journey, higher self, horror, humor, imagery, insanity, issues, Jim Carrey, judge, justice, Kafka, leela, life, light, matrix, monster, moon, movie, musicians, mystic, nothing but trouble, occupy wall street, pain, perinatal, perinatal issues, Peter Aykroyd, planet, playfulness, politics, possibility, promise, psychology, repression, Robin Williams, Shiva, silliness, sixties, society, tar baby, tease, Terry Gilliam, Tom Hanks, transcendent, trauma, truth, unconscious, universality, warrior, womb, world, writer
"these times are the coming together of heaven & earth.... "we walk in realms of the mythical, the archetypal....… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… @sillymickel 8 minutes ago
RT @VABVOX: I hate to break it to the historically challenged, but the Founders were in fact radical leftists who spent all their time crit… @sillymickel 7 hours ago
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25.05.2019–22.09.2019 Earthbound Middelheimmuseum
On 24 April 1976, Cuban-born artist Ana Mendieta (1948–1985) performed at the ICC (Internationaal Cultureel Centrum) in Antwerp in a newly developed performance program. Forty-three years later, Earthbound is the first solo exhibition of Ana Mendieta in Belgium and will act as an enlightening introduction to her oeuvre.
Ana Mendieta is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and prolific artists of the postwar era. Mendieta’s particular way of merging performance, earth art and sculpture resulted in a unique and remarkable form of artistic expression. In her short but intense artistic career she produced an exceptional body of work that included performances, films, installations, sculptures, photographs and drawings. Mendieta was not only a pioneer in form but also in the content of her work by acknowledging investigations of history, gender and culture.
The exhibition at Middelheim's Braem Pavillion opens up perspectives on how we relate as human beings to our surrounding environment. Through a direct bodily connection with nature, Mendieta’s works seek both a means of individual self-representation and a connection to universal ancestral power. The works selected for Earthbound all express Mendieta’s fascination with earth, water, air, fire and their elemental energy. By acknowledging that nature and its elements are active and have agency, she was able to think beyond the boundaries of religion, history and identity.
This intimate project makes clear that Mendieta’s works not only raise fundamental questions about normative social systems but also represent a shift in perspective on recent sculpture traditions, from a vision determined by figurative sculpture, to one connected with land art and performance.
This exhibition is a collaboration with the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection & Galerie Lelong & Co.
Artist talk with Ria Pacquée, Raquel Cecilia Mendieta, Ricardo Brey, Johan Pas and Sara Weyns, moderated by Pieter Boons
Welcome by Sara Weyns, Director Middelheim Museum
Official opening of the exhibitions by Nabilla Ait Daoud, Alderman for Culture
Introduction to the exhibitions by Pieter Boons, Curator Middelheim Museum
16:15 – 17:45, 16:30 – 18:00, 17:00 – 18:30, 17:30 – 19:00
Guided tours by museum guides (in Dutch, departure at the castle)
Food trucks & DJ’s
Middelheimlaan 61
+32 3 288 33 60 middelheimmuseum@stad.antwerpen.be
middelheimmuseum.be
Also at Middelheimmuseum:
07.07.2019–25.08.2019 Middelheimmuseum
Ria Pacquée, Suchan Kinoshita, Tsubasa Hori, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Minja Gu, Joëlle Tuerli… Ria Pacquée invites. Summer performances in the Middelheim Museum
Ria Pacquée They are looking at us, we are looking at them
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Capital allowances SBA update
Newsletter issue - July 2019. HM Treasury and HMRC have recently published a summary and response document relating to the consultation on a new capital allowance for structures and buildings (SBA). Broadly, the SBA allows businesses that invest in new builds or renovations on or after 29 October 2018, to claim tax relief at 2%…Read More
HMRC clarify VAT zero-rating of transport of disabled passengers
Newsletter issue - July 2019 HMRC have issued Brief 3 (2019), which aims to clarify that the Department's policy on the scope of the VAT zero rate for transport services has not changed following the Upper Tribunal (UT) decision in Jigsaw Medical Services Ltd (2018) UKUT 0222. In this case, the UT heard an appeal…Read More
Tax-free childcare - don't miss out!
Newsletter issue - July 2019 HMRC are currently running a campaign to remind people that they could get up to £2,000 per child, per year, towards childcare costs. Broadly, eligible parents/guardians may receive government top-ups of £2 for every £8 that they pay into a tax-free childcare account, up to a maximum of £2,000 per…Read More
Tax-efficient remuneration with pension contributions
Newsletter issue - July 2019. Tax relief is generally available on pension contributions at the taxpayer's highest rate of income tax paid, meaning that basic rate taxpayers get relief on contributions at 20%, higher rate taxpayers at 40%, and additional rate taxpayers at 45%. In Scotland, income tax is banded differently, and pension tax relief…Read More
July questions and answers
Newsletter issue - July 2019. Q. If my husband and I give our house to my children but continue to live in it, will inheritance tax be chargeable on the property when we die? A. The inheritance tax residence nil rate band (RNRB), which is currently being phased, is designed to help people in your…Read More
July Key tax dates
Newsletter issue - July 2019. 5 - Deadline for PAYE settlement agreement for 2018/19 6 - Deadline for 2018/19 forms P11D and P11D(b) to be submitted and copies of P11D to be issued to relevant employees Deadline for employers to report share incentives for 2018/19 14 - Return and Payment of CT61 tax due for…Read More
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Men’s Soccer Concludes Non-Conference Play With Shutout At Dakota Wesleyan
Posted on October 17th, 2017 by Trent Jackson
MITCHELL, S.D. – The Gustavus men’s soccer team wrapped up its non-conference schedule Tuesday afternoon with a 5-0 victory at Dakota Wesleyan, improving its overall record to 11-5 on the season.
Five different scorers found their way on the scoresheet for Gustavus, all coming in the second half, highlighted by a collegiate first from Will Richards (So., Hudson, Wis.), a career-high two assist game from Kyle Monson (Jr., Verona, Wis.), as well as a goal and assist each from Matt Murakami (Sr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Arthur Parens (Jr., Wayzata, Minn.).
The Black and Gold outshot the Tigers 7-3 and led 5-1 in corner kick opportunities despite the scoreboard reading 0-0 at the intermission.
“A hard earned, well deserved win today,” said Head Coach Mike Middleton. “We set up the result with our first half performance. We ran them ragged, forcing them to defend for long periods in that first half.”
Alex Wilson (Sr., Ashland, Wis.) opened the scoring at the 69th minute to get the Gusties on the board with his second goal of the season. Murakami assisted on the eventual game-winning goal.
The Gusties tallied four more goals in the final 20 minutes of the half, with Richards, Parens, Murakami, and Luke Laurich (So., Batavia, Ill.) picking up goals.
“We opened them up in the second half and were able to capitalize on the extra space created after the oppositions first half exertions. We had some really nicely crafted goals, which is nice to see. And, shared around the team, proving we can be dangerous from a number of areas,” Middleton commented.
Leading Dakota Wesleyan 19-6 in shots while owning an 8-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities, the Gustie defense held strong as well. Goalkeepers Matt Bateman (Jr., Savage, Minn.) and Anders Severson (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.) combined for the shutout in net, with Bateman recording three saves.
“The lads are flying at the moment. We certainly look like we are in good form. The lads must keep their feet on the ground though as we know what happens to hotdogs- they get burnt,” Middleton concluded.
Gustavus wraps up its regular season next week with two matches ahead, heading to Hamline University on Tuesday and returning home to host Macalester College on senior day next Saturday.
Tags: alex wilson, anders severson, arthur parens, gustavus men's soccer, kyle monson, luke laurich, matt bateman, matt murakami, will richards
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A lot goes on within our little creative campus. Even more goes on beyond. Find it all below…
You can take a look at the productions that our BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Dance, Costume and Performance Design and Make-up for Media and Performance students are working on by visiting our box office here.
You can take a look at what’s on at TheGallery here.
AUB AlumniAUB Students UnionAUBHumanActingAnimationArchitectureCampusCommercial PhotographyCostumeCreative Events ManagementCreative WritingDanceDrawingFashionFilmFine ArtFoundationGraphic DesignIllustrationInterior ArchitectureMake-UpMaster of ResearchModelmakingPhotographySummer Shows 2018TextilesUniversity NewsVisual CommunicationVisual EffectsWhat's On
Clydbourne Park
Presented in two acts set 50 years apart, Clybourne Park explores the fault line between race and property. Act One takes place in 1959, as white community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in 2009...
The Visit... A Brechtian style play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and directed by Kirstie Davis. The play challenges what the power of money can do to a run-down town that was once wealthy. Millionaires Claire Zachanassian visits the town with one...
As If. As You Like It is irreverently, but respectfully, reinvestigated, interspersed with other romantic texts from the Elizabethan era and songs from many eras. A drama that is provocative, radical and relevant to our own age, reveals itself....
Oh What a Lovely War
Oh What a Lovely War. Told through the songs and documents of the period, 'Oh What a Lovely War' is a satirical attack on military incompetence and the disregard for human life in the First World War. It remains a chilling reminder of man’s...
Shining... Inspired by The Shining by Stephen King & Stanley Kubrick’s film, Shining is a collaborative performance from BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Costume and Performance Design, BA (Hons) Make Up for Media and...
Into the Woods. In 2017, third year students from AUB’s BA (Hons) Acting, Costume and Performance Design and Make-Up for Media Performance courses worked together with Kokoro to bring the production to the stage. This was the...
AUB Productions presents Ctrl C as part of the Shelley Frankenstein Festival
AUB is marking the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein with a season of plays to celebrate its author Mary Shelley
AUB Productions presents Mary Shelley as part of the Shelley Frankenstein Festival
AUB Productions presents Freakenstein as part of the Shelley Frankenstein Festival
AUB is marking the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein with a season of plays to celebrate its author Mary Shelley including Freakenstein
AUB Productions presents Blood and Ice as part of the Shelley Frankenstein Festival
AUB is marking the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein with a season of plays to celebrate its author Mary Shelley including Blood and Ice
AUB Acting graduate Kevin Leslie beats Spiderman star Tom Holland to international award
The star of both The Rise of the Krays and The Fall of the Krays has won another acting award
AUB BA (Hons) Acting graduate Kevin Leslie nominated for two international awards
A BA (Hons) Acting graduate has been nominated for two international awards alongside the stars of Spider-Man Homecoming, Black Panther and Star Wars: The Last Jedi
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Home Events Van Pelt sinks scorcher to lead 2012 Perth International
Van Pelt sinks scorcher to lead 2012 Perth International
Van Pelt on his way to the third round lead at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club
BO VAN PELT holed a 60 foot birdie putt on the final green to take a one shot lead into the final round of the 2012 ISPS HANDA Perth International.
Four behind Argentinian 20 year old Emiliano Grillo overnight, the American turned five shots adrift but came home in 32 for a 67 and 12-under par total.
Van Pelt’s countryman and World Number Ten Jason Dufner matched his five under par round to sit second on 11-under, while Grillo three-putted the last for a 73 and third place on 10-under.
Grillo initially stretched his advantage when he holed a 12 footer at the sixth and got down in two from a fairway bunker at the ninth to turn in 34.
It was Dufner who initially began applying pressure, The Ryder Cup star chipping in at the seventh to start a run of five birdies in six holes.
Grillo dropped shots at the tenth and 11th, responded with a birdie at the short next, but bogeyed the 16th and 18th for a costly inward 37.
Van Pelt curled in a ten footer at the first for birdie but gave the shot back at the sixth after a poor bunker shot.
The World Number 24 two-putted the long seventh and 11th for birdies, holed from 12 feet at the next and chipped to two feet at the 15th before his spectacular finish.
“Once in a while a hole just gets in the way,” said Van Pelt. “I felt like I hit a pretty good second shot, just carried about five yards further. I was just trying to get the ball down there and two-putt and get out of there, and lo and behold, it goes in the hole.
“There’s still a lot of golf to be played. It was just nice to finish with a birdie like that and hopefully take that into tomorrow.
Dufner parred his way in from the 13th, and the highest-ranked player in the field was delighted to have given himself a chance going into Sunday.
“It was a nice day to get a good score and move up and have a realistic chance of not having to do anything crazy tomorrow and being in contention to try to win the tournament,” Dufner said.
Fourth place is shared by Spain’s Alejandro Cañizares and England’s David Howell on 7-under.
Aussies Greg Chalmers and Steve Jones are next on six under along with Kiwi first round leader Michael Hendry.
Chalmers confident
Despite being six shots back from Van Pelt, Chalmers is confident that he can be in contention to win what is Australia’s richest golf tournament this summer.
“I hope it blows again tomorrow and I hope it stays dry and fast, because the greens are getting really bouncy and it’s tough to score, I think that makes it much more doable for someone coming from behind to shoot a low number and possibly overtake everybody,” said Chalmers, who overcame a six shot lead to win the 2011 Australian PGA Championship.
“I think it’s doable. I think there’s a low number out there, I really do. This golf course, no one’s torn it up yet, and I think there’s a 7 under out there or an 8 under if you drive the ball in play and things go your way.”
Lesser known Australian Jones was buoyant after his round believing his success is based on an improved mental approach.
“I just tried to calm myself and be more level on the course, and focus on the next shot, if you hit that shot, the next one’s good and just limits the damage,” said Jones. “I think I feel my confidence has been building and it’s been good.”
2012 Perth International Leaderboard
Perth International
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Score 10 out of 10 on Larry Canning’s new “Nice Action Tour”
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Maryland Weather | Code Red Extreme Heat Alert For Baltimore Extended Through MondayBaltimore's health department has extended a previously-issued Code Red Extreme Heat Alert through Monday.
Baltimore Gets Its ‘Hon’ Back
Filed Under:Cafe Hon, Denise Whiting, Hampden, hon, Trademark
HAMPDEN, Md. (WJZ) — The owner of Cafe Hon makes a huge about-face.
The word “hon” no longer belongs to Denise Whiting.
As Mary Bubala explains, she did away with the trademark to save her business.
“It was never mine to own in the first place,” Whiting said.
Denise Whiting — the owner of Cafe Hon — is renouncing the “hon” trademark.
“It belongs to the people of Baltimore, and the thing is that now, Baltimore is going to defend it so I don’t have to hold onto it, I don’t have to keep it. It was never mine to start with,” said Whiting.
It’s a complete reversal for Whiting, who until now, dismissed the protests and backlash. But Monday, she admitted her restaurant is failing.
“If it doesn’t turn around I will shut the doors,” said Whiting.
It’s why Chef Gordon Ramsey is at Cafe Hon taping “Kitchen Nightmares.”
He’s improving the food and dealing with a major PR fiasco over Whiting’s trademarking all things “hon” — from the use of the word to the scale of items like cat-eye glasses at Honfest.
“It’s caused a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, and it’s helped to damage the restaurant and she realizes she was making a mistake,” said Ramsay.
But will this move save their business? The community reacted strongly to her trademarking “hon.” So much so that a lot of people boycotted her restaurant. Will they come back?
“I think it’s the absolute right decision. It wasn’t doing her any good and I don’t think she had any real claim on that word,” said David O’Brien.
“I think I stopped eating there because the food wasn’t that great honestly and there are other options on the Ave I liked more,” said Beth Isaacson.
“I am just one of those people who haven’t been in there for a while for those same reasons, and I will go back if she’s really apologizing and is sincere,” said Carl Ford.
“I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” said Whiting.
Whiting began trademarking the word “hon” back in 1992.
Cafe Hon has 50 employees and has been in operation for 20 years.
sorry Hon says:
It appears to me that Denise Whiting is only renouncing her trademark to win back customers and to save her restaurant. I see no real reason to celebrate her or to support Cafe Hon any longer. Sorry Hon…
Jolene says:
She’s only doing it to save her restaurant! I wish I could curse in this comment! She has me livid! NEVER patronize her restaurant. LET IT FAIL!!! Let her learn some REAL HUMILITY! This is a monster of a woman and I wish we could drive her and her family out of this city, not just the restaurant!
Richard Crystal says:
She could have done this without all the PR nonsense and Gordon Ramsey in which case i would have thought better of her. I guess Chef will change the title of this episode to “PR Nightmares”? I can’t help but wonder if the mediocre food and outlandish prices will be addressed.
it will go back the way it was when ramsey leaves. She will still be a B. Thats while I wil not eat there any more
Back to cleanin’ turlets agin HON!
aamzdwu says:
She is a sneak. she is not giving up all of her copyrights . The problem with Denise is she thinks she is smarter then everyone else and can pull the wool over everyone elses eyes. I i will never go back in there again,she is just not a nice person and the food is not that good.
willie joe says:
You reap what you sow.
Hon guest says:
Wow. Some harsh comments here. I hosted a bridal shower for my sister at Cafe Hon and had nothing but a good experience with the restaurant and Denise Whiting.
You’re probably a carpetbagger. A come-here transplant with no real roots in Baltimore who finds Cafe Hon to be an entertaining novelty and like to gawk at working class Baltimore women from whom the stereotypes were based.
honner says:
Is that a typo? Shouldn’t it be sale and not scale?
Seems like someone’s chickens are coming home to roost. I hope the place goes under. I especially love how she doesn’t “need to defend it anymore”. Well, last time I checked, the only person we needed to protect a long standing colloquialism from was Denise Whiting. A pox on her and Cafe HON.
callitlikeISeeit. says:
I thought it was cool – Cafe Hon..It was nice diner atmosphere…
However Gordan Ramsey’s food sucks so he isn’t going to help her out. I went to his restaurant in LAS Vegas and it was horrible. So if she thinks he is going to help her with the PR, then she must be mistaken. The type of people she caters to isn’t going to like her new menu either. Maybe she might have fixed the hon issue but the food might need to be reconsidered.
Nope, she never fixed the hon issue either. The woman is batting zero. Time to hang it up, Denise.
What a shame. To see the lives of 50 employees be affected by the greedy decisions of the owner. The business was probably doing very well until her ego got in the way. Baltimore is a blue collar town, where ego’s of that size are and will forever be shunned. The fact that she let herself get that disconnected and lost the sense of what Baltimore is should be the reason why she should close her doors. When you connect to your customer base, especially in Baltimore, they’ll love you forever. When you loose that connection and loose that sense of community to satisfy your own ego, you seal your fate.
Eileen Ayers says:
From day one, she looked down on the people in Hampden and I question why she picked Hampden to open a restaurant. My only answer is she thought she could take over and apparantly she doesn’t know the people of Hampden. We have been here for years. Your puny little 22-23 yrs mean nothing. So close your doors and go back home. After your antics in Hampden, I don’t think any other neighborhood wants you either
BYE Felicia...(Denise) says:
I, personally, am grateful to this gal. She single-handedly brought Baltimore residents together. We may argue and fight like brothers and sisters, but we ARE brothers and sisters and will unite to defend our family.
Denise, you should have admitted your folly and apologized rather than play the martyred defender of a WORD. Look what you did over a word.
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Aquaman Confirmed For Early Amazon Prime Screenings
Sean P. Aune
The rumors were true, and it’s now official: Amazon Prime members will have the opportunity to see Aquaman at early screenings.
Amazon announced on Monday that it would be holding screenings for the film at over 1,000 theater locations on Dec. 15, at 7pm local time. “Prime offers the best of shopping and entertainment and these early showings of Aquaman are yet another pleasant surprise for members, and one that I’m personally also looking forward to,” said Cem Sibay, Vice President of Amazon Prime. “We love delivering smiles whether it’s through an incredible deal during the holidays or inviting members on a journey to Atlantis with us in this action-packed adventure before anyone else.”
“Aquaman is the Super Hero for everyone: he has unique, aquatic superpowers, but he’s also a surface dweller just like us—if we were all as cool as Jason Momoa, that is!” said director James Wan. “Bringing this epic origin story and the wondrous underwater world to the screen has been an amazing experience for the whole cast and crew, and I’m so excited for Prime members to be our first audience for Aquaman.”
You can head over to Amazon to get your tickets, but you will need to be a Prime member. Some staff members have already signed up. Dec. 21 just seems so far away.
In the meantime, be sure to check out the Aquaman trailer also released earlier.
Fun Jug Media, LLC (operating Batman-News.com) has affiliate partnerships with various companies. These do not at any time have any influence on the editorial content of Batman News. Fun Jug Media LLC may earn a commission from these links.
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You are at:Home»Battle Rattle»Lejeune Marines set Guinness world record for longest chain push-up
Lejeune Marines set Guinness world record for longest chain push-up
By Gina Harkins on November 25, 2013 Battle Rattle, Camp Lejeune
North Carolina-based Marines will make it into the next book of Guinness World Records for achieving the longest push-up chain in history.
Marines and sailors who performed a 138-person chain push-up broke the Guinness World Record, the organization annouced last week.
(Lance Cpl. Justin Rodriguez/Marine Corps)
Guinness World Records announced the fan favorites for records broken this year on Friday. Included was the longest chain push-up, which involved 138 Marines and sailors. They were linked together while they completing three push-ups, with their legs resting on the shoulders of the person behind them.
The attempt to break the record took place in September aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., according to a Marine Corps news release.
The event was organized by Camp Lejeune’s Single Marine Program. Cpl. Andrew Zheng, a musician with the 2nd Marine Division Band, said he initially wanted to hold the attempt to break the record in his home town, but once he saw the interest from Marines, he decided to enlist the help of the Single Marine Program organizers, according to the release.
They began researching the proposal to set the record. The planning took five months, the release states.
“We hoped to instill high morale and build camaraderie within the Marines aboard base,” Zheng said “We wanted to create a memorable event the Marines could be proud of and bring light to their time stationed here.”
After linking all 138 Marines together, Zheng gave the command to perform the three push-ups over a loud speaker. They submitted evidence to the Guinness World Records headquarters for evaluation.
Other fan-favorites this year included the largest human water-skiing pyramid, the world’s tallest sunflower and the longest conga ever performed on ice.
You can vote for the Lejeune Marines as your fan favorite here.
DTRON on November 27, 2013 10:46 am
And i bet none of these Marines can call for fire or call in a 9 line. Good job training.
Pingback: Lejeune Marines set mark for longest chain push-up — OFFduty+
1234IDeclareThumbWar on December 1, 2013 3:13 pm
lol got’em, beautiful point DTRON.
Corps is getting softer. EVERY MARINE should at least know their Zmist if not a 9 line.
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BiEPAG
Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group – BiEPAG
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Erdoğan in Sarajevo: It’s my Party and I’ll campaign in Europe if I want to
Democratic Consolidation
Erdoğan in Sarajevo: It’s my…
Strolling through Baščaršija, Sarajevo’s old bazaar and cultural legacy of the Ottoman Empire, on any given day, you will probably encounter more Turks than any other nationality. Last weekend was no exception to that. Yet in addition to the tourists coming from Turkey, thousands of diaspora Turks from Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries were brought to Sarajevo as part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit organised by the newly-established Balkan branch of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD). According to Turkey’s ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Haldun Koç, it was a working visit from Erdoğan’s side and not a political rally ahead of next month’s presidential elections in Turkey.[1] Judging from statements from the crowd gathered outside Sarajevo’s Zetra Olympic Hall before the event, however, people had traveled from Vienna, Stuttgart, Brussels and Copenhagen to meet Erdoğan.
Arriving in Sarajevo on 20 May, Erdoğan was met by Bakir Izetbegović, the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and leader of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). The ceremony began in an almost full Olympic Hall with the national anthems of the two secular states, followed by chants of ‘Allah-u Akbar’ (God is great) coming from the audience. Another round of religious chanting followed Izetbegović’s controversial statement describing Erdoğan as “a man sent from God” with a special mission. Praising the historical ties between the two countries and citing words from Hadith, Izetbegović said: “Every 100 years, God sends nations one person to return them to their religion.” While Bosnia was sent Alija Izetbegović, the first president of newly-independent Bosnia and Herzegovina and father of Izetbegović himself, the Turkish nation was sent Erdoğan. Drawing on words from the Qur’an, Izetbegović went a step further and urged the Turks to “be on the right path. You, European Turks, you should support your leader.”
While Izetbegović was glorifying Erdoğan during his speech, talking in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Erdoğan’s message was not to Bosnia, the Bosnians or the thousands of Turks (along with supporters from Bosnia, Albania, and Serbia’s Sandžak region) who gathered at the Zetra Olympic Hall. Mobilizing his diaspora from across Western Europe to Sarajevo, Erdoğan’s speech on European soil was addressed to the Turkish diaspora, but the message was to the Western European countries, who “claimed to be the cradle of democracy” yet had failed the class. Bosnia, on the other hand, had proved to be a true democracy by giving Erdoğan and the Turkish diaspora the opportunity to gather in Sarajevo.
It is important to read the meeting from both sides, as Erdoğan’s Sarajevo visit not only benefitted his own political agenda, but Izetbegović’s as well. For Ankara, the rally was a clear message to the Western European countries that have banned Turkish political rallies on their soil following Erdoğan’s campaign for last year’s controversial constitutional referendum.[2] By gathering the Turkish diaspora in Bosnia, Erdoğan proved their loyalty to the Turkish state, his capability of mobilising them, and that he could still meet them in Europe despite negative sentiments from some countries. While this could be seen as Erdoğan’s power and the influence he has on his supporters abroad, it is a sign of weakness at the same time, as Bosnia is one of the few places in Europe where Erdoğan can gather the European Turks.
The rally furthermore revealed Erdoğan’s influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although this influence is largely limited to the Bosniaks given the close ties between Izetbegović and his SDA and Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). With the general elections coming up in Bosnia in October 2018, however, appearing with Erdoğan and having his support is important for Izetbegović, as Erdoğan’s support will provide an additional push for SDA. While Turkey is not an alternative to European integration for Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, the close ties between Izetbegović and Erdoğan might have an indirect effect on the country’s EU integration, as Izetbegović, by supporting Erdoğan in his election campaign and vice versa, whether deliberately or not, has legitimised Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, moving closer to Moscow.
With Dodik turning towards Russia and Izetbegović towards Turkey, two countries whose aims and motives in the region European leaders have expressed concerns about on several occasions,[3] Moscow and Ankara are trying to build their influence among Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks respectively, drawing on close cultural, historic, and religious ties. In a country that still bears deep wounds from the wars of the 1990s, having two political leaders counting on foreign powers to increase their influence domestically might contribute to intensifying interethnic disputes and have severe consequences for reconciliation, not to mention a negative impact on the country’s willingness to pass reforms critical for its EU bid.
[1] http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/ambasador-posjeta-erdogana-sarajevu-je-ranije-planirana
[2] http://www.dw.com/en/turkey-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-plans-election-rally-in-europe/a-43511756
[3] http://www.dw.com/en/eu-looks-to-contain-russian-influence-in-the-balkans/a-37891857 and https://ahvalnews.com/western-balkans-turkey/turkeys-increasing-influence-balkans-worries-eu
Gül Üret is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Southeast European Studies (CSEES) and a PhD candidate at the University of Graz. She is currently researching transnational migration from Turkey to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece, and the emergence of new diaspora formations in Sarajevo and Athens. Gül completed her Masters degree in International and Global History at Aarhus University, Denmark, with a focus on Turkish foreign policy and soft power in the Balkans.
Category: Democratic Consolidation June 1, 2018
Tags: Bosnia and HerzegovinaElectionsTurkey
Author: BiEPAG
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Custance, William (1794)
Fakenham, Norfolk; cabinet maker(1794)
Bankruptcy announced in 1774, and from 6 October of that year his stock was sold by auction. It consisted of ‘several very handsome mahogany double and single chests of drawers, two mahogany bureaus, wardrobes, several mahogany…
Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840
Gillow (c. 1730–after 1840)
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The name ‘Gillow’ has been firmly associated with furniture making from at least the 1730s until the present day, though the active participation of the Gillow family ceased in the early 19th century. The firm was based in Lancaster though a full London…
Grange, Charles (1710–63)
‘The Royal Bed’, Snow Hill, London; upholder and cabinet maker(1710–63)
Free of the Upholders’ Co., 13 September 1710, and master in 1748. Took as apps William Horsley, 1717–29; Barry Johnson, 1732–40; James Grange, his son, 1740–49; William Hunter, 1741–49; Richard Wallin, 1747–54; John Stephens, 1750–58; James Wootton, 1754…
Hunter, William (1755–c.1760)
in Token House Yard, near the Royal Exchange, London; upholder and appraiser(1755–c.1760)
Rococo trade card, c.1760, states that he ‘Makes after the Newest Fashion all sorts of Four Post & Standing Beds. Likewise Sells all sorts of Upholstery & Cabinet Goods… Feather Beds, Chair…
Kemp, George (1755–97)
Cornhill London; upholder, cabinet maker and glass grinder(1755–97)
Son of George Kemp of Ramsgate, Kent, mariner. Father of Matthew Kemp and George Kemp jnr, both members of the Upholders’ Co. George Kemp snr was made free of the Upholders’ Co. by redemption under the terms of the 1750 Upholders’ Act on 28 August 1755.…
Mayhew, John and Ince, William (1736–d. 1811)
London; cabinet maker.(1736–d. 1811)
and Ince, William (d. 1804), London, cm. The partnership of John Mayhew and William Ince (1758/59–1804) was one of the most significant, probably the…
Murray, George (1757–d.1768)
Tweedmouth, Northumb.; cabinet maker, upholder and carpet manufacturer(1757–d.1768)
Took apps named Oliver in 1757 and Cowen in 1758. [S of G, app. index] Advertised in Newcastle Courant, 13 June 1767 that he ‘has just imported from Sussex, a large quantity of Field Turnip Seed … which he proposes to sell…’. Dead by 13 February 1768,…
Nickson, Samuel (1802–27)
Bridge St Row, Chester; cabinet maker and upholder(1802–27)
Listed also at Commercial Buildings in 1816. Free 3 July 1802. Subscribed to Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803. Developed an extensive business and in 1815 claimed to be employing workmen from Gillows, and Tatham & Co., London. In that…
Seddon, George (1753–1868)
Aldersgate St, London; cabinet maker(1753–1868)
The firm of Seddon was the largest furniture-making firm in London in the last quarter of the 18th century when it employed more people, held more extensive stocks and produced a wider-range of goods than any other furnituremaking business It remained of…
Smith, John and successors (1698–1832)
Cambridge; joiners cabinet maker, upholder and undertakers(1698–1832)
The first record of John Smith is when St John's College made a payment to him in 1698. Regular payments appear in his name from 1719, most are for general joinery work although he was paid in 1734 ‘for Chairs for ye Audit Room 24 at 18s, 2…
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Home › (H) Book Review › Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment
Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment
By AATF Admin on September 5, 2014 • ( 0 )
Alexander Chow’s work on Chinese Christian thought combines careful sympathy, impressive ambition, and bold, insightful suggestions for future constructive projects.
The sympathy is evident in his thoughtful readings and vivid reconstructions of a panoply of thinkers, past and present. Chow’s clear and concise presentations of the thought of Watchman Nee, T. C. Chao, and K. H. Ting, the central figures of analysis at the heart of his monograph, would, by themselves, well justify the publication of this work. Besides these, Chow’s writing displays ample evidence of time well-spent ruminating on the works of contemporary Chinese thinkers such as Zhuo Xinping and Liu Xiaofeng as well as various theologians from Christian history—Maximus the Confessor and Gregory Palamas are particularly important, but other voices from Tertullian to Teilhard du Chardin are kept alive in a running, coherent conversation.
The impressive ambition of the monograph can be gleaned from the range of this partial list of thinkers alone. Chow succeeds in tying together a number of rich traditions: Western or Latin Christianity, the Chinese Christian descendants of this Western tradition, contemporary Chinese intellectuals, Eastern Orthodoxy past and present, and the three great “Chinese religions”—Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
Chow manages this vast range of thought by maintaining a precise theological focus on his central constructive conceit, which also serves as the subtitle for his work: “heaven and humanity in unity,” or tianrenheyi. While the development of this idea has a long history within the indigenous Chinese traditions, Chow convincingly shows that historical and contemporary Sino-Christian thinkers across the liberal-conservative spectrum have also found resonance and intellectual impulse in the merging of the transcendent and the human.
The three axes of sin, synergy, and union along which Chow analyses the contours of various presentations of tianrenheyi are judiciously chosen and heuristic. Historically, Chinese Christians have drawn on Western sources. They have thus been deeply affected by the Augustinian perspective, wherein fallen human beings must rely for salvation on divine initiative. Meanwhile, classic Chinese thought has offered a vision of omnipotent humanity, able to attain transcendence through self-cultivation. By closely examining their conceptions of sin, synergy, and union, Chow shows that the Chinese intellectuals who are heirs to both traditions have historically found creative ways to attenuate this tension. In so doing, he creates exciting, original spaces for future intellectual work beyond the supposed polar opposites of Augustinian anthropological pessimism and Chinese anthropological optimism. Chow also makes a compelling case that this ground has been well-furrowed by fellow travelers in Eastern Orthodoxy. In the mystical tradition of Orthodoxy, the doctrine of theosis, or deification, has played a dominant role since the beginning. One can only hope that Chow’s suggestions will be taken up by future theologians and intellectuals with the promise of new insights and implications not only for China’s future but the ecumenism of the church universal.
While Chow’s introduction of Eastern Orthodox sources into the Chinese conversation is one the most original and exciting aspects of his work, his use of Justo Gonzalez’s three categories of Christian theology as derived through the work of missiologists Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder sometimes feels forced. Gonzalez’s three categories utilize Tertullian, Origen, and Irenaeus as exemplars of three types of theology, arbitrarily called A, B, and C respectively. Type A thinkers are primarily concerned with the theological theme of the law, type B with truth, and type C with history. Chow claims that his subjects Nee (A), Chao (B), and Ting (C) exemplify these three types. Ting probably fits his category the best, but each of these thinkers developed an idiosyncratic, independently interesting approach to Christian thought. Since Chow is evidently such a careful reader, one wonders why he felt compelled to shoehorn them into these pre-existing categories. Indeed, Chow’s hermeneutical honesty often has him qualifying the ways in which, for instance, Watchman Nee seemed to show traces of B and C type thought. In fact, Chow’s placement of Nee as a “prototypical type A thinker” (61) may have blinded him to the ways in which Nee focused much of his energy on shifting the conversation among conservative Christians away from the merely legal ramifications of sin in favor of recognizing its deeper noetic and historical effects.
There is also a surprising lacuna in Chow’s work. Chow mentions Witness Lee and is aware of Lee’s later appropriation of certain Orthodox themes. Still, it is surprising that a book devoted to Chinese Christianity and theosis does not pay more attention to a significant Chinese theologian whose mature thought was almost wholly dedicated to the topic of deification. This neglect may simply be a reflection of the wider academic ignorance concerning Lee’s work. Nevertheless, given Chow’s admission that the “vast majority of Chinese churches… maintain fundamentalist or evangelical theological dispositions” (104), it is unfortunate that he does not spend more energy fleshing out the wider implications for sin, synergy, and union that can be found in the thought of more conservative Christians like Nee and Lee.
Neither of these critiques and none of the minor orthographic and stylistic infelicities of this book should detract from the admirable scope and aplomb of Chow’s first monograph. I, for one, am eagerly awaiting the future efforts of this exciting new voice in Sino-Christian thought.
Paul H. B. Chang
PhD Candidate in History of Christianity, The University of Chicago Divinity School
‹ Introduction To The Yoido Full Gospel Church
God in Chinatown: Religion and Survival in New York’s Evolving Immigrant Community ›
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firefighter injured
The Pete Dern story: Navigating a new normal
KFSN
By Liz Harrison
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- No one knows about the uncertainty of life more than Fresno Fire Captain Pete Dern.
One minute he was on top of a roof fighting a garage fire, the next minute he was fighting for his life.
Severe burns left him with a permanent disability. So the once healthy and strong firefighter, husband and father is trying to navigate a new normal.
It's been a long four years of surgeries, recovery and more surgeries. And therapy - agonizingly painful hand calisthenics to help manipulate his thumb and improve dexterity.
Right now, Pete Dern says he's taking a break from any more medical procedures. He wants to focus on his wife Kelly and his daughter Mckenzie.
"I want to be the father and husband I was -- for all the things you do when you're a good dad and a good husband. I want to do those again.
He and Kelly now take walks, and they talk and enjoy the simple things in life.
"Stop and look at the sunset, look at the sunrise. Just be happy you're alive every day," Kelly says.
Pete and Kelly's roles in the marriage have reversed. Kelly quit her job as a teacher while Pete was in the hospital to care for her husband full-time. She and Pete are so grateful to their family friends and the entire community for donating time and finances so she could stay at home.
"There were a lot of wonderful people, a lot of blessing, a lot of prayers that got us through," she says.
Adds Pete:
"I still get hugs from random people I don't know in the grocery store who say, 'Ah, you're alive', and it feels good. I appreciate all that."
As a family, the Derns have gotten involved with Champ Camp, a week-long camp for young burn survivors where they can just be kids.
"The funny thing is I'm supposed to be the counselor but those kids are helping me because I can't tie my shoes. They're amazing. I'm learning. I'm learning about dealing with burns from them. Because some of them have been burnt for their whole lives, I'm the rookie in the camp now," he says.
Pete's colleagues at the fire department hope his future plans include coming back to teach young firefighters.
"Pete still has his place here. The gear may be gone, but his locker is still here. He was a part of this station, he's a part of this family and this is one of our small ways to pay homage for everything he did for us. And we keep a place for him," says firefighter Wiley Erikson.
Pete has remained close to his firefighter friends. He says they will always be part of his family.
Whether he will return to duty in some fashion is undecided.
"Maybe perseverance is what I can teach - not as exciting as teaching helicopter flying or rescue skills, but it's something. Now if only I could learn patience, I'd be set," he says.
Pete Dern is the very definition of perseverance - fighting against impossible odds to get to where he is today.
But he wants to make sure that everyone knows how much he appreciates all of those who helped him, worked on him physically, prayed for him and his family and supported them in any way. "The list of people is extensive and I don't want to leave anyone out," he says.
Thank you to the Fresno Fire Department and the Leon S. Peters Burn Center. Without their help, this story never would have been possible.
Other stories in this series:
The Pete Dern Story: The day life changed
The Pete Dern Story: Pete's hands
The Pete Dern Story: Going to Bora Bora
The Pete Dern story: Communicating love through one spot of unburned skin
fresnofirefirefighter injured
Copyright © 2019 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.
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Chicago Weather: Lake-effect snow, temps plunge
January 20, 2014 (CHICAGO)
Dangerous Cold: How to prepare for winter storms, extreme cold | Winter driving tips | Health, safety tips | Protecting your pets | What you need in your car | What you need to do at home | Chicago Warming Centers
On Monday night, heavy equipment was on the move as City of Gary salt trucks loaded up for the fight ahead.
"We anticipate that we'll be able to keep up, but it will be difficult given the rate of snowfall," said Karen Freeman-Wilson, Gary Mayor.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened two weeks ago, when a slew of spinouts forced the closure of two northwest Indiana interstates, officials on Monday are advising against non-essential travel.
The Indiana Dept. of Transportation warned drivers to expect 1-2 feet of snow over 24 hours, and added snow could fall heavily overnight at up to 2-3 inches an hour. INDOT crews were expected to be out for a straight 24 hours, working on 12-hour shifts. INDOT authorities asked drivers to be aware of plows and allow them space to work. INDOT said motorists should expect difficult driving conditions, and should avoid nonessential travel.
"If you don't have to travel in a winter storm, it's always best to stay home," said Matt Deitschley, INDOT spokesman.
Gary's mayor says the city is on budget thanks in part to the state's emergency declaration from that storm earlier this month.
"It allowed us to be reimbursed for the expenditures that we had to use or make during overtime and calling contractors out," said Freeman-Wilson.
Indiana toll road authorities have put travel restrictions in place for all triple-trailers and other large cargo trucks. That goes into effect at 11 p.m. and runs at least through the morning. Indiana State Police will be out in force. They're working extended 12-hour shifts to help stranded motorists.
Cold to follow lake-effect snow
While the Chicago area braces for another round of cold weather, it won't likely rival what we were dealing with on this night 29 years ago.
January 20, 1985 remains the coldest day on record in the city of Chicago. It was 27 degrees below zero – and that was the air temperature, not the wind chill.
The average temperature since December 1 has been 21.2 degrees - 5 degrees below normal and 3 degrees above the average of Chicago's coldest winter in 1903-1904.
A narrow lake effect snow band -- dumping as much as two inches of snow per hour at times -- will move ashore in Cook County about midnight, then pivot east into northwest Indiana, the National Weather Service said.
Accumulations could vary greatly as areas near the lake could see 6 to 12 inches of snow, while western Cook County could see no snow at all, the weather service said.
A lake effect snow warning is in place for eastern Cook County from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday. Lake County, Ind., is under the same warning from midnight until noon Tuesday.
Parts of Will County east of Interstate 57 could see 3 to 6 inches of snow, and a less serious lake effect snow advisory is in effect for those areas from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Traveling in areas affected by the lake-effect snowfall could be dangerous, as visibilities can drop to zero within minutes, forecasters say.
As if the snow isn't bad enough, temperatures will start to fall Monday as a cold front moves into the Chicago area, meteorologists said. Overnight lows will only reach zero or minus 4 degrees, which will feel like minus 5 to minus 15 with the wind chill.
Temperatures Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will mimic Monday's, with temperatures near zero and wind chills as cold as minus 20 to 25 degrees, meteorologists said.
This particular blast of cold air is not the polar vortex itself, but rather a byproduct of the system that regularly moves through Canada and into the United States, meteorologists said.
By Friday, highs in the area are expected to climb to 24 degrees, falling to 15 at night, forecasts show.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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Adventure and Active
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Fodor’s Book Club: 13 Books to Inspire Your Travels This Spring
By Teddy Minford
This should be the most important item in your carry-on.
Books have a way of deepening our appreciation of travel–even without ever leaving the house. From irresistibly juicy novels to candid short stories and non-fiction books that will change your view of the world, these books are the perfect travel companion. This spring, we’re introducing Fodor’s Book Club, a chance to read along with our editors as they choose a wanderlust-worthy book each season.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
This hyped second novel from the writer of Conversations with Friends is more a series of vignettes and conversations than a traditional book. It’s a story about two people who are sometimes friends and sometimes lovers as they navigate the rough seas of their late teens and early twenties. It’s about a relationship, but the third-most important character in the book is arguably the setting: Trinity College in Dublin, with its cozy apartments, prestigious ceremonies, revered classrooms, and wild parties.
Where to read it: On your way to a college reunion or graduation ceremony to remember the good (or bad) old days.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
New in paperback this spring, The Salt Path was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards. The memoir tells the story of a couple who makes an impulsive decision to head out on a once-in-a-lifetime journey–the 630-mile Southwest Coast Path that winds from Somerset to Dorset along the coast of Cornwall and Devon. The trail takes them along on a rugged and wild journey with hardships and even a bit of humor.
Where to read it: On the blustery and grey Cornish coast.
This Is the Place I Was Telling You About by R’el Dade & Marcus Lloyd
Fans of the gorgeous Instagram account @theplaceiwastellingyouabout will love this new guide. Part coffee table book, part city guide, This Is The Place I Was Telling You About takes readers to the coolest cafes, bars, hotels, and street corners in New York City–all with gorgeous photography and heartfelt descriptions.
Where to read it: At home, while planning your next trip to Brooklyn.
Follow This Thread: A Maze Book to Get Lost In by Henry Eliot
Unlike any book you’ve ever seen before, this beautifully designed book makes the case for throwing away the roadmap and getting lost. The pages take you through the cultural history of mazes, from Greek mythology to The Shining , with words that are sideways and upside down, encouraging readers to interact with the book the same way they would with a maze.
Where to read it: On a park bench, contemplating the secret twists and turns of life.
La Passione: How Italy Seduced the World by Dianne Hales
Italy is an inherently romantic place, and this book will tell you why. From Renaissance paintings to modern film and fashion, La Passione explores la passione italiana, “the primal force that stems from an insatiable hunger to discover and create.” For both Italophiles and people who have never visited, this book might just end up luring you into purchasing a plane ticket to Italy this summer to experience la dolce vita yourself.
Where to read it: Lounging at one of the Amalfi Coast’s iconic beaches while sipping a limoncello.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
While Brexit looms on the horizon, all eyes are on Nothern Ireland. This nonfiction book brings light to a side of the country that most Game of Thrones tourists these days never see–curfews, violence, and political and religious divides.
Where to read it: On your way to a Brexit protest.
Instructions for a Funeral by David Means
With dark humor, David Means’ short stories are disturbingly transportative, teleporting readers to a time, a place, and a feeling. With both love stories and murder stories, Instructions for a Funeral shows us the tender, the weird, and the violent sides of life. From a story about FBI agents on a stakeout in Kansas to ruminations on addiction, it’s a portrait of America.
Where to read it: On a cross-country train trip a la Caity Weaver .
The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal
The Cook is a romantic whirlwind of a novella that focuses on one man and his kitchen education. Narrated by a mysterious admirer, the book is a love letter to the art of cooking. The writing is indulgent, descriptive, and nearly perfect, with each chapter told through the lens of a dish and a place from Berlin to Bangkok, but mostly in Paris. The mouth-watering descriptions and beautiful writing (translated from French) will have you googling flights to Europe (or making a dinner reservation at Balthazar ) just a few pages in.
Where to read it: Sipping wine and nibbling olives at the bar at The Four Horsemen (or the coolest natural wine bar in your city).
The Women’s Atlas by Joni Seager
An atlas for feminists, this coffee table book and guide to the world tells you exactly how human rights stack up in each country, from maternal death rates to gender income disparity. It’s an eye-opening examination of our world with facts displayed in infographics, charts, and maps. It’s fascinating to see how the United States compares (or doesn’t) to “first-world” countries and overexploited countries alike and it’s an invaluable resource for people who travel.
Where to read it: In your happy place, because this book is more depressing than uplifting.
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Sure to be an instant classic, Daisy Jones & the Six is like the book version of Almost Famous –but with a female lead singer. It’s a whirlwind of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, bringing readers on a wild ride through the ’70s with a fictional oral history of one of the country’s biggest bands.
Where to read it: In a rented bungalow in Venice Beach.
The Weight of a Piano by Chris Cander
One of those books that spans continents and generations, The Weight of a Piano focuses on one piano, built in Germany, lost in America, and what it means to two different women.
Where to read it: On a trip to Germany to indulge your musical fantasies at Schloss Elmau’s legendary concert hall .
Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World by Anu Taranath
The decolonization of travel is an important topic and one that most people don’t understand the nuances of. Beyond Guilt Trips seeks to educate people–from families planning a summer service trip to college kids studying abroad–on how to travel responsibly and how “doing good” might have unintended negative consequences.
Where to read it: On a staycation, as you contemplate how you travel and why.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles ***Fodor’s Book Club Pick***
Delightful, absurd, and whimsical, this best-selling novel feels like a Wes Anderson film written as a book. New in paperback, A Gentleman in Moscow is about a Count marooned at one of Moscow’s finest hotels after the Bolshevik revolution. It will have you (oddly) longing to be transported to Stalinist Russia to live inside this hotel with the characters, plotting all sort of hijinks and mad capers.
Where to read it: In Moscow, of course. While the Hotel Metropole is not quite what it used to be, the nearby Ritz Carlton Moscow will fulfill your old-school Russian Count dreams.
See more at Fodor's Travel
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The Most Beautiful Young Supermodel In The World
January 21, 2019 recardo Fashion 0
The 24-Year-Old girl, known for her lips and the distance between her teeth, is the most beautiful young supermodel in the world.
The Most Beautiful Young Supermodel
Lindsey Wixson Born on April 11, 1994, born in Arkansas City KS United States.
She entered the fashion world from age 10. She has participated in fashion shows in the fall and winter of 2011 and has been introduced to Fashion World by the Marilyn Fashion Agency.
The Second Beautiful Supermodel In The World
The Ten Most Wonderful Models’ Girls In The World
This 24-Year-old model has an incredibly attractive face, and everyone knows about the shape of her lips and the distance between the teeth.
The young American girl, although she has a very young age, has attracted the attention of others with her lips and teeth in most magazines, and this has created a situation for brands to advertise their products through her lips and teeth and beautiful face.
It’s interesting to know that she inherited the shape of her beautiful lips from her father.
Lindsey’s height is 178 cm and has blue eyes.
At the age of adolescence, she liked to be a chef or a lawyer. But despite her young age, tall, and amazing beauty of her face made many people offer him the opportunity to act as a model.
Lindsey began working on modeling since 2009 and achieved success in 2010.
We hope you enjoy these pictures and please don’t forget to leave your comments.
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Advantages of Waterloo
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Waterloo EDC Blog
Q&A: Why Vidyard keeps its roots in Waterloo while expanding globally
Posted by Waterloo EDC on June 18, 2019
Vidyard, creator of an innovative online video platform for business, is one of Waterloo’s most exciting scale-ups. It was one of Deloitte’s 2018 Fast 50 and Technology Fast 500 Fastest Growing Companies, and when the Impact Centre at the University of Toronto studied which Canadian businesses had the best chance of becoming a “unicorn,” Vidyard made that list too.
Founded in 2010 as a video...
Topics: tech, startup, talent, artificial intelligence, Q&A
SAP announces significant expansion of Waterloo operation
German software giant SAP is adding 30-40 new positions at its Waterloo location, increasing their total employment to approximately 260. The company plans to add another 50 jobs over the next two or three years.
Topics: technology
Three ways Waterloo helps security companies unlock innovation
As technology becomes more powerful, security becomes more central to businesses. Whether it is cloud-based business applications, bank transfers or over-the-air updates to cars, our lives are becoming more and more hackable.
Thankfully, Waterloo’s business community is developing security solutions that make the world a safer, more secure place.
Topics: security, technology, talent
Quantum Benchmark is at the leading edge of the quantum revolution
Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre at the University of Waterloo (Credit: Institute for Quantum Computing)
Quantum Benchmark, a Waterloo startup launched in 2017, is getting ready to power the age of discovery about to be unleashed by quantum computers.
The company now employs 14 people and is part of Waterloo’s vibrant and growing cluster of quantum computing companies.
Topics: quantum, technology, startup
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Mars InSight
NASA’s InSight Spacecraft Attached to Atlas V Rocket for Launch
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars Lander is transported to Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Daniel Herrera
Technicians and engineers position NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars Lander atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Leif Heimbold
NASA’s next Mars lander is one significant step closer to beginning its journey. Secured inside its payload fairing, the agency’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft was transported from the Astrotech facility to Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The payload fairing was hoisted up inside the Vertical Integration Facility and attached to the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for May 5, 2018.
InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the Red Planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. InSight is part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The spacecraft, including cruise stage and lander, was built and tested by Lockheed Martin Space in Denver. Several European partners, including France’s space agency, the Centre National d’Étude Spatiales, and the German Aerospace Center, are supporting the mission. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.
Author Linda HerridgePosted on April 27, 2018 Categories InSight
Atlas V Prepared to Boost NASA’s InSight to Mars
At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage are lifted for positioning on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 3. The rocket will launch NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft for its trip to Mars.
While processing of the InSight spacecraft continues in the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg, the Atlas V booster was transported to the launch pad on March 3, 2018 (photo on the left). Three days later, technicians and engineers assisted as the Centaur upper stage was mated atop the Atlas V (photo on the right).
On March 8, the boattail fairing was mated atop the Centaur. The boattail is an adaptor providing an interface between the Centaur and the payload fairing encapsulating InSight. Once encapsulated in its payload faring, InSight will be transported to the launch pad and mounted atop the Atlas V. Liftoff is scheduled for May 5, 2018.
InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet’s interior by measuring its heat output and listening for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.
Atlas booster photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
Centaur lift photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Arron Taubman
Author Bob GranathPosted on April 19, 2018 Categories Uncategorized
InSight Resources
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Mission Website
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Landing Milestones
Landing Events Flickr Album
Farewell to Mars
NASA’s InSight Sends First Pictures
NASA’s InSight Spacecraft Has Touched Down on Mars
InSight Blazes Through Top of Martian Atmosphere
MarCO CubeSats Relaying InSight Data
Mars InSight National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Official: Brian Dunbar
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Live: Jen-Hsun Huang Kicks Off NVIDIA’s 2016 GPU Technology Conference
April 4, 2016 by Bob Sherbin
8:50—We’re 10 minutes or so out from the start of NVIDIA’s seventh annual GPU Tech Conference, kicked off by CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.
The first GTC took place in a set of hotel ballrooms a few blocks away. Today, we’re in the largest hall in the San Jose Convention Center.
We’re expecting a crowd of more than 5,000. That’s up from 4,000 last year, a growth rate that’s tracked pretty steady since the start of the show.
The stage is set: our GTC 2016 keynote is about to begin.
8:55—The room’s virtually all black. The stage is about five feet off the ground.
And on the vast screen is an NVIDIA-green moving image that, as it scans looks like a multi-level rendering of the brain’s neural network. With some electronics thrown in between.
8:58—There are a lot of media and industry analysts here. Upwards of 300 or so, a record for GTC. And we’re expecting probably 100 or so financial analysts and investors.
A great many of those here, though, are scientists and analysts of the computational sort — those who rely on NVIDIA GPUs to help them crunch the rising sea of data that’s engulfing us.
A lot are associated with universities, close to 200 of them. Virtually every one of the top 100 university comp sci departments are here.
There are also hundreds of companies represented—certainly the dozens of major web-services companies that use artificial intelligence. But also industrials, oil and gas, retail.
9:00—NVIDIA usually has cool warmup music for the room. Err, less so this time. But folks don’t seem to mind.
They’re waiting for Jen-Hsun who’s usually exceptionally prompt. Count on it. He’ll be in trademark black leather jacket, dark pants and have a great story to tell.
9:05—The music’s shifted a third time. That must mean we’re getting close. I have to admit. I’ve seen some of this already.
It’s going to be a great show, with a ton of news. We’ll do our best to keep up on the blog. But keep an eye on the NVIDIA Newsroom and blog, where we’ll be posting in real time.
9:08—We usually are prompt in getting things started but folks are still coming into the room.
There are a few overflow rooms, as well, which will be used if need be, which seems inevitable.
Okay, the music’s dying down. The so-called Voice of God has come up telling folks to sit down, quiet their phones, and settle in for the fireworks.
9:10—Things usually start off with a video, and there’s going to be one worth the price of admission…..
9:11—Each year, we kick off GTC with a video. Part tribute to researchers. Part inspiration. Part sheet entertainment.
This year, it’s playing out the magic and power of artificial intelligence. And in grand scale. The screen’s 100×15 feet. The resolution just a hair from 4K.
The video starts with a moment of deep blackness. Cue Peter Coyote. He’s a one-time counterculture figure who now sounds like a casual sophisticate. His voice demands adjectives associated with wine tasting.
He’s talking about a Big Bang like spark of inspiration. One that triggers insights that lead to breakthroughs. First cut is to a rendering of the CERN collider doing research on the Higgs-Boson “God particle.”
9:12—Now, some cool examples from around the world of image-recognition – like identifying an elephant in the grass (okay, maybe not hard to locate if the grass isn’t that tall, but tricky if you’re a piece of software) and coral reefs. Our narrator notes that AI can allow scientists to do in a month what once took a decade.
Screen reveals more magic – Baidu Deep Speech 2 turning spoken Mandarin into text. And Horus Technology allowing the blind to see.
Now up: autonomous vehicles like Holland’s WEpod (you can already catch a ride on it if you’re in the low lands) and self-navigating drones for search and rescue. Next up: cool robots, including UC Berkeley’s BRETT, a self-learning robot enmeshed in what looks like a Montessori School exercise of fitting a block into a square hole. And, of course, Google DeepMind’s AlphaGO making fast work of the world’s most brilliant player of Go. That’s a game with more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe. Fun fact: The Go board animation here accurately recreates every move in Game Three of the five-game match (yep, AlphaGO won that one).
The message: The technologies that GTC is all about help the thousands of researchers and scientists in the room make breakthroughs that are changing the world.
9:14—Okay, with that opener about the collective imagination, fueled by by technology, Jen-Hsun Huang takes the stage.
The theme is “A New Computing Model.”
NVIDIA builds computing technologies, he said, for the most demanding computer users in the world. We build them for you.
Your work, he says, is done at such a gigantic scale. Your work with stakes so high, impact so great. Your work needs to be done within your lifetime.
The computers you need aren’t run of the mill. You need supercharged computing: GPU Accelerated Computing.
9:15—GTC is about GPU Computing to share your discoveries and reveal your innovation.
GTC is getting bigger than ever: GTC is 2x as large as 2012. But we’re doing them around the world now—in Japan, in Europe, and smaller ones elsewhere.
It’s essential for what you’re doing. So, we’ve dedicated NVIDIA to a singular craft: To advance craft so we can do amazing work. so we can do our work so well. you can do your work.
NVIDIA’s CEO delivering GTC 2016 keynote
9:17—Supercomputer, high performance computing has doubled in two years time. 97 percnet of all high performance computers now include NVIDIA technologies.
“I want to tahnk you for adopting NVIDIA so you can do your work.”
He’s going to talk about five things: A tool kit, VR, Deep learning chip, deep learning box, deep learning in auto
Industries that come are broad and wide ranging – in 4 years time, CUDA developers have increased by a factor of 4x
9:21—First announcement is the NVIDIA SDK.
He calls it the essential resource for GPU developers. This SDK – that is, software development kit – has different flavors:
NVIDIA GameWorks—it includes technologies that make physics apply in games, that makes hair look realistic, that enables waves to really shimmer, and fire to flame like it does in true like. “Recreating the world is essential to great games,” Jen-Hsun says. There are subtleties that convince us that what we’re seeing is real – whether in shadows or dark or sunlight.
NVIDIA DesignWorks—this is to make photo-real graphics. Iray creates photorealistic images from designs so it’s not just beautiful but accurate. We have a new library called MDL which shows how real surfaces react in the real world—so carbon fiber, gold, brass, plastic all look the way they do in the real wold. Optix and Path Rendering allow other images to looks beautiful.
For more on today’s software announcements, see “NVIDIA Details Major Software Updates to Sharpen GPU Computing’s Cutting Edge“
9:29—ComputeWorks: CUDA is computing architecture of our GPU, it’s revolutionized accelerated computing and democratized high performance computing. On top of CUDA is a library called cuDNN, which allows neural net developers to create their frameworks to run as fast as possible. It lets you run DNNs 10-20x faster. Today, we’re rolling out nvGRAPH to show relational data so we can understand how large data plays out in a social-based graph. IndeX helps you wade through terabytes of data by simulating data and render the volumetric image. It’s the world’s largest visualization platform.
Jen-Hsun announces that CUDA 8 is coming, along with the latest version of cuDNN.
NVIDIA VRWORKS—lets you see graphics close up, without latency, which relates to the puke-factor (my words, not Jen-Hsun’s). This is integrated into game engines, head-mounted displays and the like.
NVIDIA DRIVEWORKS—it’s a suite of algorithms that allow car developers and startup to create self-driving cars. It’s still in development but accessible to a few partners at this point but more broadly available in Q1 2017.
For more on CUDA 8, see “CUDA 8 Features Revealed” on Parallel Forall.
9:30—Next one up is NVIDIA JetPack: this is for Jetson, our platform for autonomous machines like robots and drones. The GPU Inference Engine, or GIE, will be available next month for inferencing As a result Jetson TX1, our latest platform for autonomous vehicles, can process inferencing on 24 images per second per watt—an unprecedented level of energy efficiency. “This makes CUDA the highest performance and most energy efficient way to do deep learning.”
9:37—So, that’s it for the NVIDIA SDK, “a tool kit for you” (assuming you’re a developer)
We’re now on to VR—It’s not just a gadget. It’s a whole new platform. LCD displays were revolutionary, opening door to everyday graphics and mobility.
VR is just as powerful—the latest generation of head mounted displays are light with high resolution.
Video games are an obvious application—who wouldn’t want to be on the field of battle or chasing monsters. You can imagine that in VR. It’s also easy to see how VR will design how we design products – you can stand next to a car or building. But there are also cool things about VR, that can take you places you can only dream up. Places that are beyond your ability to reach. Surely, it will transform communications, as with Microsoft’s Hololens, so that someone who seems to be far away is literally standing before you.
Today, we’re going to take you to places you only dreamed up.
The first is Everest (which you can see at GTC’s VR Village—an area crammed full of VR demos (unlikely to find a village idiot there). This recreates Mount Everest, pixel by pixel and uses PhysX to simulate swirling snow.
NVIDIA’s CEO Huang with a VR Mount Everest behind him.
Jen Hsun nows shows a VR experience that brings Everest to the full 100-foot screen, all simulated, no movies here. It does look like a National Geographic special, but this is computer graphics. Real enough for you to worry about snow blindness, hypothermia and whether you need to eat lunch from foil packets. There are 108 Billion pixels in this experience.
9:44—There are other places where you can dream of going but can’t really go.
Jen-Hsun announces a VR experience of Mars, a reconstruction of eight square kilometers of Mars surface, from photos taken by NASA and other work.
Because this was made with NASA and Fusion Media, we’ve recreated the whole Mars experience that you can enjoy. The Rover is physically simulated, so it bumps the way it would on Mars, the lighting shows what it would be like in Mars. There’s even a lava tube that’s twice as tall as the Empire State Building—the only way to enjoy is VR.
Incredible recreation of Mars. He now shows this, although it’s all rendered, it looks like Matt Damon should pop up. Even the noise of the rover was recorded by driving the rover at the Johnson Space Center.
If we were to send someone to Mars, who would deserve first ticket. Who would be the most excited? There’s only one adult-child explorer who loves to do something no one has ever done—that’s Steve Wozniak, that is, the Woz, who co-founded Apple (and has a street named after him in San Jose, just a few blocks from the convention center)
Woz is shown on screen. He said a few weeks ago in an interview that he’d buy a one-way ticket to Mars if he could. So, why do you want to go to Mars, Jen-Hsun asks Woz? “Because it’s so hard”
“If it was possible to go, would you go?” Jen-Hsun asks. “What would be your profession?”
“I would,” Woz says. “My profession would be global marketing for Mars.”
NVIDIA’s Jen-Hsun Huang and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak disucss VR on Mars
9:46—“If you land, first thing you should do is find Matt Damon,” Jen-Hsun says.
Woz says first thing he’d do is dig out the letters “MOM” to say hello back down to Earth.
Woz straps on a head-mounted display. He’s now maneuvering around space and we can see the experience that Woz has, as Jen-Hsun thanks to Cisco for helping us beam all this back to the San Jose Convention Center.
Woz is looking for rover. “Whooaaa, I feel like I’m actually here. I’m entering the rover, Whooa, oh my God.”
“I’m going back to do my job,” Jen-Hsun says, wrapping up his conversation with Woz.
“Am I on Everest afterward,” Woz asks. “This is going to be incredible for whoever gets to do this.”
9:53—Jen-Hsun says that for product design, it’s got to be photoreal. This requires a whole new rendering technology. To get something photoreal, you need something that picks up every single photon, and how each photon interacts with surfaces.
In the case of design, it’s utterly important. So, we’re announcing Iray VR.
For more on today’s Iray VR announcement, see “NVIDIA Brings Interactive Photorealism to VR with Iray.“
We created a new technology that renders light probes throughout the room you want to interact with. They’re light probes that show how light would emanate from each spot, each is a 4K render, which takes an hour to render on eight GPUs. We need to render 100 probes, or 100 hours. We rasterized each scene from point of view of your eye. We chose best and mixed and processed it so it picks out the best from a combination of light probes.
With very low latency and our work with VRWorks, we can allow you to include Iray in VR.
“What’s amazing is that it’s beautiful, Jen-Hsun says, “But I want you to enjoy it here.”
Jensen shows a headmounted display that shows NVIDIA’s iconic new building, which is in the process of being built. It will be 500,000 square feet for 2,500 employees and filled with natural light. It’s a collection of intersecting triangles that are white and off gray. In real time, Jen-Hsun shows a 3D version of the building. Even crusty reporters are saying, “wow.”
NVIDIA’s Huang shows off Iray VR during GTC 2016
9:55—This will be unbelievable for people doing architectural walk throughs and designing cars.
We want people to enjoy VR, Jen-Hsun says, irrespective of the computing device they have. So, we’ve also made Iray VR Lite for those who don’t have a supercomputer. It can’t render 3D as beautifully as Iray. But with a press of a button it creates a photosphere that’s completely ray traced. You download Iray plugins and an Android viewer, like Google Cardboard. And we have this experience on the show floor at GTC.
10:03—We’re now shifting gears away from VR.
One of the biggest things that ever happened in computing is AI. Five years ago, deep learning began, sparked by the availability of lots of data, the availability of the GPU, and the introduction of new algorithms (see “Accelerating AI with GPUs: A New Computing Model“).
In past five years, there’s been one article after another announcing new breakthroughs in AI, thanks to deep learning. 2015 will be a defining year for AI, the computer industry and likely for all of humanity. This year marked something quite special. A few highlights:
ImageNet: Microsoft and Google were able to recognize images better than a human for the first time. Deep networks are now hundreds of layers deep, givingmachines superhuman capabilities
Researchers at Berkeley’s AI Lab built Brett – we saw him in the opening video – that was able to teach itself. The “tt” sounds for tedious tasks that it’s able to address, like hanging up clothes.
Baidu used one deep-learning network to train in two languages – Mandarin and English
Rolling Stone magazine wrote about Deep Learning – maybe it’s first dive into complex science
AlphaGo, by Google DeepMind, beat the world’s leading Go champion. When IBM Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess, scientists said it would take a century for that to happen with Go. This has happened in far less time. to do it, AlphaGo played itself millions of times to learn how to beat the greatest living champion.
What this says is computers powered by deep learning can do tasks that we can’t imagine writing software for. Deep Learning isn’t just a field or an app. It’s way bigger than that. So, our company has gone all in for it.
10:09—Jen-Hsun now describes how, in the final analysis, all deep learning is similar, though it can do profoundly different things.
Using one general architecture, one general algorithm, we can tackle one problem after another. In the old traditional approach, programs were written by domain experts. Now you have a general deep learning algorithm and all you need lots of data and lots of computing power.
In the ImagNet competition, a few years ago, computer vision alone was used. Now it’s all deep learning.
Jensen now shows an amazing slide called “The Expanding Universe of Modern AI”
It shows how modern AI gone from research organizations like Berkeley, NYU, and Carnegie Mellon, to expand into core technology frameworks, which is enabling AI as a platform through IBM Watson, Google and Microsoft Azure. These, in turn, have enabled AI startups – there are more than 1000, which have attracted more than $5 billion in funding. Deep learning has now it’s brought in industry leaders using AI – companies ike Alibaba, Audi, Bloomberg, Cisco, Ford, GE, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
10:13—Why is is that Deep Learning is becoming such a large hammer, like Thor’s Hammer? Deep Learning, is a concept that’s easy to apply. You can use frameworks like Google’s TensorFlow to train your own network.
Industry analysts say AI will be a big industry. It won’t be an industry, it’s a computing model. Some say $40B by 2020. John Kelly on IBM’s Watson team believes cognitive computing will be a $2 trillion industry. Our goal isn’t to have computers and be productive – it’s to have insight.
Speaking of the pervasiveness of AI… you have an example of its power in your pocket right now.
So fire up your smartphone or tablet during our keynote.. We won’t mind. Now take a look at your home screen.
Chances are our GPUs are powering more than a few of your favorite apps.
Microsoft uses GPUs to power cutting edge speech recognition apps. Shazam relies on GPUs to recognize that tune you’re hearing on the radio. Yahoo is using them to help sort through images uploaded from your smartphone to Flickr.
You can find more than enough examples to fill up the home screen on your smartphone.
If you want to know what’s next for GPU-accelerated computing, look no further.
The artificial intelligence boom (see “Accelerating AI with GPUs: The New Computing Model”) being driven by a new, GPU-powered technology known as deep learning has led to a new generation of apps that put the power of GPUs just a tap away for hundreds of millions of consumers.
NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showing an M40 during his GTC 2016 keynote
10:20—“Tesla M40 is quite a beast. It’s a beast of a GPU accelerator for internet training. We have something smaller, an M4, for inferencing.”
There’s no reason to use FPGAs or use dedicated chips. Our GPU is not only energy efficient, it’s universal. You could use transcoding, image processing, as well as deep learning. These two products have become our fastsest growing business, adopted by internet service providers across the world.
Every internet service company would benefit. There’s every bit of evidence deep learning will be in every industry.
What’s really amazing: Deep Learning has been using one approach—supervised learning. This approach to training is laborious because the vast majority of the world isn’t labeled.
FAIR, Facebook’s AI Research lab, is using unsupervised research where you can just blast your network with a whole bunch of data, and it figures out what to.
Mike Houston, an NVIDIA AI researcher, joins Jen-Hsun on stage to describe how we’ve shoved 20,000 pieces of art into a neural network, all from the Romantic era. Having done that, we can now tell the computer to draw a landscape, and it draws one in the style of the art that it’s been shown. “It’s a neural network with artistic skills,” Jen-Hsun says.
I’m partial to pastoral images, Houston says. So, you can type in “pastoral,” and in shows something that’s between a farm and forest. You can ask it to draw a beach and that’s what shows up. You can take a sunset, ask the network to remove the clouds, remove the people and it generates new art altogether.
Jen-Hsun Huang delivering GTC 2016 keynote
10:24—These supercomputers are being trained with so much data, they need to get much bigger. We need autonomous machines to study all the time and learn in real time.
As a result, we decided to go all in for AI, to design an architecture dedicated to accelerating AI.
There’s a big reveal coming. “The Most Advanced Hyperscale data center GPU ever built.” It’s the Tesla P100.
It’s the first GPU built on NVIDIA’s 11th generation Pascal architecture. It’s built to blaze new frontiers for deep learning applications in hyperscale data centers. It’s got muscle—150 billion transistors, with 20 teraflops of half-precision performance.
For more on Pascal, see “Inside Pascal: Inside NVIDIA’s Newest Computing Platform.”
10:31—When he says 21.2 trillion teraflops at half precision, there’s broad applause.
There are 14 megabytes of register files.
Here’s what’s really amazing about the P100. We have rules in our company, Jen-Hsun says. You need to be thoughtful about the risks you take, he says, adding that we say no great project should never rely on three miracles. But this relies on five miracles, Jen-Hsun says.
First, is its architecture.
Second, NVLink, which delivers a 5x increase in interconnect bandwidth across multiple GPUs, or 160 gigabytes a second.
Third, its 16nm FinFET fab technology – this is world’s largest FinFET chip ever built with 15 billion transistors and huge amounts of memory.
Fourth, is CoWoS with HBM2 Stacked Memory, which unifies processor and data in a single package – there are 4,000 wires connecting Pascal to all the memories around it.
And fifth, AI Algorithms.
This is the result of thousands of engineers working for several years. We’re willing to go all in on something on sheer belief, with so much uncertainty.
10:33—P100 represents giant leaps in many fields.
There’s a string of big names who are endorsing Pascal and the breakthroughs it will enable.
One of the biggest is the big dog of deep learning, Yann LeCun, director of AI Research at Facebook.
Baidu chief scientist, Andrew Ng, who keynoted at GTC last year, said, “AI computers are like space rockets. The bigger the better. Pascal’s throughput and interconnect will make the biggest rocket we’ve seen.”
Another is Microsoft’s Xuedong Huang, their chief speech scientist (and no relationship, by the way, to Jen-Hsun Huang)
Servers with P100 are being built by IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell and Cray
We’re in production now. We’ll ship it, “soon.” First it will show up in cloud and then in OEMs by Q1 next year.
NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang unveils NVIDIA DGX-1, the world’s first deep-learning supercomputer
10:39—We decided to build the most advanced computer that anyone has ever built. We decided to build NVIDIA DGX-1, the world’s first deep learning supercomputer.
It’s engineered top to bottom deep learning, 170 teraflops in a box, 2 petalops in a rack, with eight Tesla P100s.
It’s the densest computer node ever made.
“This is one beast of a machine”
To compare this to something everyday a dual xeon processor has 3 teraflops. This has 170 teraflops. With a dual Xeon it takes 150 hours to train Alexnet; with DGX -1 it takes two hours.
“What’s shocking is this: when you scale out, the communication between processors is such a larger burden,” Jen-Hsun says. “It would take 250 nodes to keep up with one DGX-1.
“It’s like having a data center in a box.”
“Last year, I predicted a year from now, I’d expect a 10x speed up year over year,” Jen-Hsun says. “I’m delighted to say we have a 12x speedup year over year.
The fastest computer a year ago let us cut cut down training from a month to 25 hours with four Maxwell GPUs. This year, it will take two hours of training time with eight Pascal GPUs.
10:46—Jensen brings out a Baidu researcher, who used to be with NVIDIA, Bryan Catanzaro, who he calls “my hero.”
“You’re not only gracious and graceful, but few people know as much about deep learning,” Jen-Hsun says.
“At Baidu we’re really excited about using Pascal and NVLink to train recurrent neural nets,” Bryan says. “At Baidu we care a lot about sequential problems, like speech.:
There are two major ways to parallelize neural nets, Bryan explains. One is model parallelizing (where you can assign different problems to different processors). The other is data parallelism (where a data set is so huge, you can chop it into pieces and assign different pieces to different processors). Pascal is going to really help out, he explains. Bryan then talks about what Baidu is working on now.
“When we combine model parallelism with persistent RNNs with data parallelism, we can use more copies of the model, enabling us to scale to more processors,” Bryan says. “We’re working with 32x bigger models.”
“We’re really excited about the possibilities of Pascal and NVLink,” he adds. “They’ll let us churn through more data and more quickly.”
Baidu’s Bryan Catanzaro.
10:52—TensorFlow will democratize AI, Jen-Hsun explains. It will make it available for every industry, every researcher.
Now Jen-Hsun introduces Rajat Monga, TensorFlow technical lead and manager at Google.
Jen-Hsun explains that Rajat has told him that inside Google, in just a year, there was exponential growth in the use of AI accelerated deep learning. That it’s grown from 400 to 1200 applications.
“What’s cool is you open sourced it,” Jen-Hsun says. “That made it possible for us to start adopting TensorFlow for DGX-1 right away. “We took open source, and adopted it for DGX-1.”
Jen-Hsun asks Rajat about his hopes and dreams for tensor flow.
“We want it to work with all sorts of devices,” Rajat asks “We’d love to see the community try it out, push it into new territories.”
“TensorFlow will democratize deep learning” Jen-Hsun says. “That’s a huge contribution to humanity.”
10:57—Jen-Hsun says that DGX-1 will cost $129,000. Compared to that, 250 servers at $10K a piece would be $2.5 million, plus another $500,000 for interconnect between servers.
This draws applause.
So, who should get it first? It should be pioneers of AI – universities like Berkeley, NYU, Stanford, Montreal, Toronto, and the Swiss AI lab, Jen-Hsun says. “We’ve chosen them to be first recipients,” he adds.
I’m also super happy to announce that we’re joining in a venture with Mass General Hospital, Jen-Hsun says. We’ll be a founding technical partners of MGH’s Center of Clinical Data Science. Mass General nowhas 10 Billion medical images which could be used to enable deep learning capabilities for radiology. This will be extended, in time, to pathology and other initiatives, Jen-Hsun says.
10:59—The Tesla family now includes:
M40/M4 for hyperscale HPC
K80 for multi-application HPC
P100 for strong-scale HPC
DGX-1 for early adopters
11:06—Last thing: AI is coming to cars.
We’ll continue to follow the model of “Sense. Plan. Act,” Jen-Hsun explains, to help cars drive themselves.
So, we’ve decided to build a car computer for this, the NVIDIA PX .
This is world’s first Deep Learning-powered car computing platform. It’s one scalable architecture, from DNN training to cluster, infotainment, ADAS (advanced driver assistance), autonomous driving and mapping. And it’s an open platform.
Last time I showed you, we’d been working on object recognition for our own system. We’ve now achieved the number one sore on KITTI, the self-driving industry benchmark. Also, those in places 2-8 are all GPU accelerated. This will make cars and streets safer and change the way we design cities.
We can detect cars in the front, in back, in the side, Jen-Hsun explains. You can detect objects all around you while running the smallest version of DRIVE PX, which is about the size of Hershey candy bar, and can process 180 frames per second.
NVIDIA’s CEO Huang shows DRIVE PX 2.
We can also make sure you can map. You should be able to use cameras with photogrammetry, or structure from motion, and Lidar to help map the world around you.
Jen-Hsun now shows an image of Baidu’s self-driving car computer. They built a super-computing cluster that fits in the trunk of a car.
We took all of this horsepower and shrunk it into DRIVE PX2 with two Tegra processors and two Pascal next-gen processors. This four chip configuration will give you a supercomputing cluster that can connect 12 cameras, plus lidar, and fuse it all in real time.
You stream up point clouds, which are accumulated and compressed in the cloud to create one big high definition map. This will also be a mapping platform. So you’ll have DRIVE PX 2 in the car and DGX-1 in the cloud.
For more about what we’re doing with high-definition mapping, see “Beyond GPS: How HD Maps Will Show Self-Driving Cars the Way.”
11:11—Our technology can track 15,000 important points per second per camera. It Can collect 1.8 million points a second. We load this into sky, register it and calibrate it using DGX-1.
We created this so every mapping company in the world can map cars – companies like Here, TomTom, Zenrin. We need to map the world so cars can drive safely.
Let me show you something else, Jen-Hsun says.
We’ve been working for some time to create an alternative approach, like Brett the robot, which learns by itself. It learns what action it needs to take.
We’ve been working on a project with “BB8,” one of our three autonomous cars.
It runs our deep-learning network, which we call DAVENET – named an earlier NVIDIA robot we showed up at last year’s keynote speech.
Jen-Hsun shows a video filled with bloopers of almost BB8 swerving into trees, over cones, and nearly running into signs. But after three weeks of training, it maneuvers far better on the New Jersey Turnpike, and across roads without lanes.
“You saw what happened,” Jen-Hsun says. “DAVENET figured out how to drive without lanes, in the rain, in the fog… as we continue to drive, this car will take on superhuman capabilities.”
11:14—Jen-Hsun winds up by showing the world’s first autonomous race car. It’s designed by Daniel Simon, a legendary car designers. It weighs 2,200 pounds.
This is for the first global autonomous racing series – ROBORACE. There will be 10 teams, with 20 identical cars. And DRIVE PX2 will be the brain of every car. It will be part of 2016/17 racing season.
That’s it. Jen-Hsun says.
We talked about five things today:
The NVIDIA SDK;
Iray VR;
Telsa P100—the most advanced GPU ever made for hyper-scale data centers;
NVIDIA DGX-1—which puts the power of 250 servers in a box for just $129,000;
HD mappng and AI driving.
The audience applauds. They’re a bit staggered by the volume of news, I think it’s fair to say
For more on our role in the world’s first racing series for autonomous vehicles, see “Go, Autonomous Speed Racer, Go! NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 to Power World’s First Robotic Motor Sports Competition.”
Tune into our live video stream of Jen-Hsun Huang’s keynote, below.
Live streaming video by Ustream
If you are having difficulties loading the webcast, watch directly on uStream or Livestream.
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Williams prepared for target on his back after upset of Hurd
The new junior middleweight titleholder is ready for the challenges that await.
The chatter from the Saturday win continues, with fight fans still lingering in the aura of that Julian Williams upset conquest over Jarrett Hurd on Saturday on Hurd’s turf in Virginia, near Hurd’s Maryland home base.
Now we can look back and ponder and try to get clarity on what level of an upset it was.
Williams came on the Randy and Gerry SiriusXM show Monday and talked about that W, and got me thinking some more about where he rates, where Hurd rates and all that.
“They didn’t overrate him, but they underrated me. They made it seem like I was kind of like some stepping stone, and I was just going to come in and lay down,” said the 27-1-1 boxer.
“I think it gave Hurd a false sense of confidence, because they were pumping him up so much, they were promoting him so much. I think it kind of made his head a little bit big, he started smelling his own underarms a little bit, and I think it came back to bite him in the butt.”
That deserves an LOL — ”smelling his own underarms a little bit,” not sure exactly what that means, but I like it.
“J Rock,” 29, went on. He said he picked up on things, that it seemed to him like Hurd and company thought “it was gonna be a walk in the park.” He saw those guys as being very relaxed, and he said he stayed quiet, because he wanted them to keep sleeping on them.
So that is hindsight. What about next for “J Rock”? He said money and glory will factor in.
“Those are the first two things I worry about, the biggest fight for the most amount of money,” he shared. Yes, he’d like to avenge the loss Dec. 2016 KO loss to Jermall Charlo, but he could re-do the Hurd thing, and then battle the winner of the Jermell Charlo-Tony Harrison scrap (June 23), and then go to 160 and fight Jermall in a sequel. “How great would that story be?”
Sagely, Williams noted that it will be hard; because he was being slept on, and now he will have a red target sign on his back.
Talk to me, readers. What do you think should be next for the Philadelphia boxer, who impressed with his ring generalship and post-win in-ring speech, when he shared that he’d been homeless as a teen, and so was truly able to feel the full depth of the victory?
Listen to the Everlast “Talkbox” podcast, hosted by Woods, if you like
Ten-man West Brom pay penalty as Aston Villa reach play-off final
The Pelicans getting Zion Williamson is the twist the Anthony Davis saga needs
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March 24, 2016 March 24, 2016 ~ A. Leanne ~ Leave a comment
It was dark in the platypus habitat, and I was happy for that when I realised there were tears streaming down my face. I’ve always dreamed of getting up close with them, but you can’t see a live platypus outside of Australia. In that moment, I realised that I had done the “impossible.” It tumbled into me that we are actually here- this is real this is HAPPENING!
And so I stood there and wept. I wept for joy, and I wept for the little girl I was so long ago- the girl who was told time and again that my options were limited; that I could only ever go so far in life; that opportunities really only come for those who have the luxury of options- and that didn’t include me.
I watched the goofy, bumbling creature knock about- bonking up against the stones and plants in her underwater habitat- searching endlessly for food. I tried to take a photo, but the slippery girl was too fast, too random in her movements to track. Perhaps I need to reconsider the rhino as my soul-match animal. I see a lot of myself in the platypus.
Since I couldn’t get a clear photo of her, I went over and got this shot of a skeleton. If you want to see her live, you’ll have to come on down here yourself. I’ll make the bed for you.
While I was rapt with the platypus, O was equally entranced by the Tasmanian devils. I have to admit that these guys were a lot cuter than I had anticipated, which perhaps says more about how gross I thought they would be, rather than a testament to their cuteness. One of the devils was particularly active, trotting about through the three large, interconnecting habitats. He was playing to his audience, clambering up on a log to greet us with that- that one sharp snaggletooth the only indication of what he is capable of doing to us should we actually attempt to touch him.
And, I realised, I could probably have touched him if I wanted to. There seems to be a different safety standard regarding proximity to beasts here.
We saw the dingos next. To which O stated “It’s just a regular dog.”
I think the dingos would disagree, but no one ever asked them.
Aside from the platypus, I was most excited to see the wombats. I am a weirdo freak for wombats. This is the animal that makes me shake joyful fists in front of my chest and make that “squeee” sound that happens when you see something too cute to comprehend. But wombats are A) nocturnal, B) lazy, and C) less impressed with me than O was with dingos.
So, I took pictures of them sleeping. A lot of pictures. An embarrassment of pictures. And then found a little hidey-hole where O and I pretended to “cuddle up” to them. I would have stayed there all day, but some other families saw what I’d found and wanted to get in on the action, too. I’ll spare you the multitudes of images and just post these two.
For those of you who know me- you know how actually terrified of birds I am. Yes, I kept chickens- but those don’t count- and no one ever said I wasn’t scared of them, too. I didn’t get any photos of the section of pathway that is flanked by bird enclosures. This was partly out of fear paralysis… okay, it was entirely that- but I did find it interesting that cockatoos come in more colours than just white. We saw black ones, pink ones, grey ones.. all of them equally disturbing. Something about those raptor eyes. The evidence is clear- these are just dinosaurs in feather drag. They will kill us all.
Which brings us to the big birds.
In the kangaroo enclosure, there were also emus. I was fine, so long as they were wandering away from me- but then one came right at us. Yeah- nah. Not so much with the cool then.
Far away from all the other everything, there was also a cassowary. A very scary cassowary. With big claws and a chilling glare. Again, I was surprised that nothing but a chainlink fence was between us and this cold-blooded killer. If we had wanted to reach through and touch it, we probably could have. Maybe this is Australia’s way of serving survival-of-the-fittest.
Some random photos before the jump to kangaroos. “Jump”- get it?! Ahhahaaa- I kill me sometimes.
X and O trying to get our bearings.
The kangaroo enclosure was super cool. Except for the part where there was an echidna overlook which overlooked exactly zero echidnas. I assumed that they were just hiding somewhere, sleeping. But I met a man a few days ago who said he used to eat porko-sammies, or porcupine(meaning echidna) sandwiches, as a child. He said they were delicious. So, maybe someone ate the echidnas. I don’t know.
Anyway- there were so many kangaroos! This photo is nowhere close to representative. These were only a handful of the ones who were in the designated no-visitor “Kanga Lounge.” There were many more. I would put the number in the hundreds.
At $2/each at the gift shop, we bought two bags of kangaroo feed, which was more than enough. Kangaroo food, by the way, looks suspiciously like guinea pig food. Turns out, these ‘roos are so calm and well fed that you don’t even have to try to ply them with treats. They don’t even bother to look up when you approach. Some of them just lounge on their sides, pellets scattered around their heads, occasionally making the half-effort to nibble from your hands.
If you look carefully at the below picture, you can see that the kangaroo that O os feeding has a joey in her pouch. He kept sticking his feet and head out, but she would shove him back in. Guess she wanted all the snacks for herself. I can get down with that.
X thought this lifestyle was exactly his speed.
Ya know, just hanging out with a lazy ‘roo- like ya do.
Now, about the koalas. There are lots of koalas at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. “Heaps” of koalas- as they would say here. There are at least twelve different “houses” and a koala forest for them to … do whatever koalas do (sleep?).. in.
There is also a part where you can cuddle and have photos made with koalas.
Before we get too far, I must say that I admire the system they have in place for this. The koalas are all hand-raised, so they are accustomed to being handled, but they are also put on a time-limit of half an hour per day of visitor contact. Also “cuddling” is merely an adorable term for standing very still and holding them. The keeper instructed us on how to hold our hands just so, and to “act like a tree- BE a tree!” She then placed and positioned Minty on me, and I did my best to tree-cuddle her wooly tummy. And Minty grabbed my boob pretty hard, and I did my tree-like best not to jerk away. This was for a family photo, after all.
So, if this were a review- I would give Lone Pine all the stars. We didn’t get to see the sheepdog show, or the Tasmanian devil feedings. They also have a reptile house that was closed when we got there, and barnyard with tiny goats and chickens and some guinea pigs that we didn’t get photos of.
And, despite the kids insistence on never smiling for any photograph never-ever, they did actually have a wonderful time. We’ll certainly be going back when our visitors from the US start showing up.
Boggs Road Gaol- Part Two
In Part One, I tried to focus on the small kindnesses at Boggo Road, but that paints too simple a picture of this place. It was, as all acknowledge very publicly, “A HellHole.”
Opened in 1883, the prison grew and changed quite a bit before its closure in 1989, or 1999, or 2002 (depending on which part you are talking about). However, some things always remained the same.
Modern electrical and plumbing updates were never made in the windowless cell blocks. This meant that inmates were subject to brutal heat, cold, persistent darkness, and having to relieve themselves in urns that would be taken to a “slop yard” for rinsing every day. Every day, that is, if they were allowed out of their cells.
In 1935, a woman named Constance Clyde (who was arrested for reading tea leaves, and refusing to pay a fine for it) wrote an article for a local newspaper about her experience there.
I include this section mostly because I feel a strong fondness for Ms. Clyde. She a suffragette, contemptuous of Puritanism, and writer of short stories, poetry, and investigative journalism. Most of all- she was not one to be fucked with, and I respect that. I like her.
Back in Boggo Road, court-ordered floggings were issued feely, and deaths by suicide, murder and medical neglect reached into the hundreds. Escapes were frequent in the early years, and not unheard-of later. Riots began to break out as early as 1921, but became extremely violent and frequent in the 1970’s and 80’s. Prisoners staged hunger strikes and stand-offs with guards and personnel. Prison staff were also prone to striking, or just plain giving up on trying to maintain order in the trouble-plagued complex. It fell into chaos.
International attention was garnered in 1987/88, as Brisbane prepared to host the World Expo. Instead of changing to modernise or raise
Of the 42 people executed by hanging at Boggo Road, at least two of them are now known to be innocent, including the only woman executed. Her name was Ellen Thompson. And true, it was much more complicated a storyline than just that she was framed for killing her abusive husband- it almost always is. The fact, though, that the politicians, judiciary, and wardens knew her to be innocent before they proceeded to murder her is appalling.
Her body, like all the others, was dumped in an unmarked grave in the nearby Brisbane State Cemetery.
Later, the site was marked with a plaque. We know because this plaque on the entrance to the pedestrian bridge we cross to get to UQ told us so.
The boys and I have looked for the grave. But the cemetery is quite large, and we have had no luck so far. I am determined to find it in this lovely stoneyard.
There is a blossoming friendship between my family and a man named Larry Campbell, who spent more than his share of time (off and on) at Boggo Road. He has a stand at the Farmer’s Market in the prison plaza every Sunday, where he sells his many self-published books and a few other mementos. He speaks passionately about prison reform and the importance of early intervention and youth opportunities to promote pro-social behaviours. He speaks little about the conditions he suffered under at Boggo Road- but his books explain why he is loathe to utter the words aloud.
The woman who acted as our tour guide was brought here as a child- her father employed as a guard. She clearly loves this place. There is no sweetener added to her recounting of what happened. She acknowledges the full range of experiences- from kitty cats to stabbings- with a matter-of-factness that is refreshing. There is no pageantry here.
So what is to become of this place?
Efforts to privatise the site have met some resistance, but as many of us know- pushing back against corporate interests is Sisyphean. And yet, we keep rolling those damn boulders up the hill, don’t we?
There is currently a petition to maintain the prison as a heritage site. You can like them on Facebook and keep up with tours, speaking engagements, and Inmate and Indigenous Art Shows.
I am dismayed that they want to gentrify the Boggo Road complex by converting this space into a “cultural centre” where- for the right price- you can take in a meal where once people starved, or purchase luxury items in a place where human beings had to physically fight to secure jam or toilet paper.
It doesn’t have to remain in stasis as a trophy of historical denigration, but it shouldn’t be converted into a showcase of modern materialism.
What about a community hub- with free programming to offer opportunities to lower-income families? What about a library dedicated to social justice literature? What about a Peace Centre?
Men and women had their dignity stolen here. We should give it back to them by honouring their memories and utilising this space in a way to promote resiliency of the communities in this area.
Boggo Road Gaol- Part One
March 13, 2016 ~ A. Leanne ~ Leave a comment
We pass the jail every weekday. It sits at the top of the hill, across the street from O’s school. And it is lovely, and tragic, adorned with rusty razor wire- pretty much everything that piques my interest. I knew we would go on the tour, and I knew I had to write about it.
And yet I was surprised at my own resistance to writing this post.
There are countless coming-out processes, innumerable private shames to overcome, often impressed upon us by outside forces. Ways of being, ways of thinking, things we have done, or had done to us… a bottomless well of ambivalence:
Do we own these things publicly and take whatever the rewards or consequences are? Knowing that there are rewards.
Do we bury them in fear of negative repercussion? Because maybe it has been used to diminish or damage us in the past?
The jail (or “gaol,” as was the old spelling) waits for me everyday. I walk right up to it and sit in its shade as I wait for my youngest child to meet me after school. And I often think about what the tour guide told us- though the jail was “officially” closed in 1989, the women’s unit stayed in operation into 2002. If I had been here then, I could have been here then.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The tour. We should talk a bit about the tour.
It was originally called a “gaol” because it was a temporary stop for convicts on the way to the gallows. Forty-two people were hanged there. More on this later. Suffice it to say that, eventually they realised they couldn’t just kill everyone and turned it into a “prison”- or long-term incarceration.
In 1903, they moved the men’s prison across the way and converted the space we toured into a women’s jail. In that time, women were subject to laws that prohibited their being intoxicated, “disruptive” (read: loud or outspoken) in public, using curse words, indecency (which was left up to the arresting police to decide), and any number of other arbitrary rules often made up on the spot to put them in their place. Many women were also arrested for petty crimes such as theft (usually from markets- to feed children), prostitution, and other survival crimes.
The women were typically only there for a few days or weeks, though there were some long-timers. The guards were generally sympathetic to the sensitive nature of the women in their charge and allowed women to protect their identities from the swarms of journalists, who flocked to the grounds, by facing away from the cameras. This allowed them to go back to their everyday lives without the shame of having been seen in the newspapers. They were able to tell friends and neighbours that they had been off visiting family, or some other excuse, to save face and – potentially- their livelihoods, homes, and children.
In addition to the vegetable gardens that provided produce to the jail, there were also flower garden that the women were allowed to cultivate and tend. This brought a touch of beauty and homeyness to an otherwise dreary place (it was later removed after the space reverted to male housing and the inmates pulled out the brick edgers to use as weapons). Around this time, there also appeared a community of jail cats that guards and inmates alike doted on. You can see a cat door cut into the bars of this cell (lower right corner).
And here I have to reckon with the fact that the only way for me to impress upon you the importance of these small acts of kindness is for me to turn my face to the camera.
I was in “prison” in 2001. If I had been here then, I could have been here then.
I put “prison” in quotations because it really is a hyperbolic title- it was just a jail. But: Pennsylvania *shrug* they like to make things mundane sound important.
In the women’s unit- our “yard” consisted of a paved basketball half-court, edged with fifty foot tall chainlink fence. Through it, we could see vast expanses of green valley dipping down to touch the edges of a forest. And above the treetops there, the soft tops of the Allegheny mountains that glowed lilac in the setting sun.
We inmates would crush against the fence to look at a herd of deer passing by, and point out the flocks of birds passing over on their way South. In late Summer, we would reach through the metal mesh and pull up dandelions and clovers to put in our hair. These were always taken away by Ms. Brookens- the oldest, and cruelest, guard there. She slapped me once in the mouth, hard, for having a four-leaf clover tucked behind my ear.
But some of the guards were kind. They left the radio on “by accident” after lights out so we could have dance parties in our cubes (like cells, but open- think Orange is The New Black), and let us convert the crafts we made with the Mennonite volunteer squad into contraband jewellery. The most special thing, though, was when they let us keep a bunny.
It was Autumn, and the grass outside made one last push to grow before it shrivelled up yellow and died. Though the groundskeeper hadn’t been out in weeks, I suppose he felt he should take care of it before the snow came and matted it all down- which would make it impossible to mow come Spring. Usually, the guards hustled us all inside when the lawn men were out- worried we would flash them (which we would) or have them throw in contraband (which, I sure we would have tried). The guard who was with us that day was easygoing. She just yelled at us to keep our clothes on and let us stay out. It was, after all, one of the last warm days we would have for a while. She even rolled up her uniform legs to get some sun on her shins.
As the tractor-mower crested the hill, we could see small movements on the ground in front of it. Rabbits. Maybe seven or eight of them scurrying, panicked, ahead of their certain doom. Someone screamed, and we all started waving our arms. The driver did as I am sure he was strictly instructed, and dutifully ignored us. We watched as one, and then another, poor creature disappeared beneath his wheels. The mother rabbit was pushing her babies- darting from one, shoving it with her nose, and then over to another. One lost its footing and came rolling toward us- safely out of the way of the machine- just as its mother and sibling were sucked under.
Most of the women by then had taken themselves to back inside, disgusted or dismayed, or just bored with trying to prevent the carnage. There were only a few of us left outside- all from the same, smaller cell block- and the guard. The mower turned and disappeared down the crest of the hill, leaving the bunny alive, but shell-shocked.
We made kissing noises at the poor creature, trying to lure it over to us. It was paralysed with fear, but we eventually managed to woo it. She- we guessed it must be a “she”- was small enough to fit easily through the small openings in the fence. We yanked some grass through the fence and tried to hand feed her. She was, understandably, not hungry. We passed her from person to person- stroking her ears and nose- making cooing sounds. We asked the guard if we could keep her.
The answer was no. She could lose her job just for letting us hold it out here. But, not to be deterred, we asked her to look at its face- how could we send this sweet orphan back out to her certain death? We were allowed one night- “ONLY ONE”- she said- and that was only because she was back on duty the next morning. And we had better keep our lips ZIPPED.
Only a handful of us know about the rabbit, and we gathered in the cube of the two that had been decided as caretakers. They had a laundry bin we could use as a pen, and some extra vegetables brought back from dinner. We didn’t sleep that night, five of us laid across the small floorspace, wrapping legs and arms around each other. Letting “our” bunny explore the space between us, feeling special when she chose to sniff at our pants and fingers. We shared stories of loss and violence- using the bunny’s fate to frame our own- hoping we were each the one shoved out of the way of the machine in our stories, rather than being left to churn under its blades.
The next day, the guard smuggled the bunny out after her shift. She gave it to her daughters, and brought us in photos and updates on her wellbeing.
Eventually, we would all be released from that place. I wonder still how many escaped the gnashing of the machines in our lives- be it poverty, addiction, racism, or any number of other brutalities.
I wonder how many of us rabbits are still out there running.
People In The Neighbourhood
March 4, 2016 March 11, 2016 ~ A. Leanne ~ 1 Comment
When trying to think of a title for this post, I was mind-blasted by this song from Sesame Street. When I went to grab the video to share, I was delighted to find this version, starring David instead of Bob (who usually sung it), and starring a male librarian and female plumber. Seems things were a bit more progressive on the ‘Street then than they are now (don’t even get me started on baby-voiced characters and dopey girl fairy-things).
Our first trip to UQ campus was on a Sunday, weeks before the students and faculty returned. We spotted more turtles in the lake than people on the sidewalks that day. As we entered the main quad, I noticed a woman walking.
She had teak-colorer skin speckled with dark freckles across her nose and cheeks, thin silver dreadlocks, and wore a light blue linen dress. She looked so much like a friend back home, I did a double take- which, of course, she noticed. I fumbled out a “Hi, how ya doin’?” before peddling away.
On our way back through, we saw her again. This time, she was walking with another woman. She flagged us down and asked where our accent was from. When I told her, she clapped her hands and did a little hop. She told us that she is from Chicago, but moved here on a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship (!) fifteen years before. She gave me her card and told me to contact her soon.
Like an overeager suitor, I agonised over how long to give it before reaching out. It was a little over a week- mostly because I temporarily lost track of where I put her information (found it in with my sporks- don’t ask- I have no idea). I emailed her some basic info about how we came to be here and asked about possible connections we may have through Rotary.
She called me a few days later. Turns out she works in Trans-Cultural Mental Health and is nearing the end of her PhD program at another nearby university. We talked for a long time that first day. She shared that she seeks out other Americans because even after nearly two decades, she still gets lonely and homesick here. She offered some helpful hints and things she still finds surprising. We arranged a weekly call time to stay in touch and, hopefully soon, set up some in-person coffee dates.
We’ve spoken a few times now- sharing our experiences, challenges with coursework and professional life, and building a friendship. I am so grateful for Deb’s honey voice. I am so happy that she stopped us that day, and that I overcame my awkwardness to reach out to her.
BusStop Wally
On days that it’s my turn to walk Xabien to school, I stop to say hello to Wally. Wally always blinks at me like he is surprised that anyone noticed him there. Wally is the type of person that most people might not notice.
He is small and elderly, with a tattoo on his forearm that has gone muddy with age- a blue blob that was a ship, or a dancing lady, or something that was important to him when he was a youth shipped overseas in the armed forces. He has a hopeful smile and eyes surrounded with white lashes. His teeth are tiny.
Wally sits at the bus stop near the shopping plaza with exactly four plastic bags full of fruit and crackers and tins of flavoured tuna cocktail. I am always happy to see him.
The first time I waved at him, he looked behind himself to make sure it was him I was greeting. We escalated to “hello” and, later, comments on the weather. One day, Wally was accompanied at the bench by another older man. We said hello, as usual, and as I walked away I heard some grumbling about my tattoos from other-guy. Then, I heard Wally say, “You hush. That’s a nice girl, that.” I pretended not to hear any of it.
Yesterday, I took the leap to ask Wally his name. We laughed that it was about time we were properly introduced. Today, I stopped to ask how he was doing.
He told me that he likes to get out to the shops early, to beat the heat. It’s hard, he said- his wife’s been gone for a few years, and she used to do all the shopping. He always thought it was a simple task. Today he got himself a Turkish Delight candy bar as a special treat just for making it through the chore. I told him that it seemed a great way to drive the blues away. He agreed, and added that sharing the fancy tuna fish with his cat while they read the newspaper together was another. His bus came and he said he’ll see me tomorrow. Maybe I’ll bring him a Cherry Ripe.
Mahesha and Naveen
We would pass them occasionally on the way back home. The bright broad brim of Nabil’s hat announced that he attended O’s school. It was particularly noticeable because most of the other students live the opposite way down the hill. Ours were the only two bobbing blue heads this side of the railway bridge.
They approached at the school one afternoon. Mahesha presents a cat-like combination of shyness and extroversion. Naveen has her smile and dips behind her skirts, more to get my attention than to hide from it. This is his first year at school, and she hasn’t met many of the parents yet.
We spent some time talking and discovered that they moved to Brisbane from Sri Lanka eight years ago, when her husband attended UQ. She likes it here, but says that sometimes it gets lonely. Her mother recently moved in to help out with their two month old daughter.
She told us that they see us walking home, and would like to walk with us. But Naveen complains about it hurting his legs too much, so they take the bus instead. The hope is that seeing O, the “big kid,” do it everyday will inspire him to give it a try. We ask every day, and Naveen consistently defers. So we walk and they ride, and we often end up at the bus stop at the same time. We have at least the last few blocks home together.
Gabe and Dave
Before our internet was set up at the house, Brian and I spent a lot of time at the library trying to keep up with emails and other dispatches from home. *Well- we still spend a lot of time there, actually- it’s nice, and they have air conditioning*
One day, I noticed scored the rare seat at an actual table. This never happens- it’s quite a bustling, small library. I happened to sit next to Gabe and Dave.
Gabe promptly started blowing raspberries at me. Dave told me that Gabe would like to say “hello” and showed me the iPad he used to communicate. Gabe reached over and pressed the icon again. The computer said “hello.” I said hello back to Gabe and introduced myself. There was a flurry of tablet-tapping, and Dave translated it for me, “We are checking emails right now. You can email me if you like.” I said I would love to do that someday.
I saw Gabe and Dave again this morning, while waiting for the nail salon to open up. Gabe swerved his walker over to me and we chatted for a few minutes. He told me that I needed to get a sparkly colour. So I did.
Pool People
I am endlessly fascinated with the people I see and meet at the Southbank swimming area. There are your to-be-expected “beach” people: ridiculously fit surfer type guys that are constantly emerging from the water like a cologne ad (seriously- how do they ever get in there if they are always walking out, shoving carelessly damp hair from their eyes?), tan and shapely girls lolling about on towels pretending not to enjoy all the attention their tiny bathing suits attract, confused and frustrated parents lugging about diaper bags and trying to chase down maverick toddlers who are made extra slippery by ten layers of sunscreen, and the ever present scowlers- people who seem to go there just to cast scornful glares on the people who dare to go out and enjoy themselves. I generally see them as a collective- more a backdrop to my own entertainment than individuals in their own right.
There are a few people, though, whose images got lodged in my brain. I find myself wondering about them, hoping to see them again.
Two women in long jeans and beautiful silk hijab kicked off their sandals and dangled their perfect pedicures over the edge. A boy and a girl clambered over them and cannonballed into the water. They paddled around a bit before making their way back to the women. The younger woman scooted closer to the edge of the pool, her denim-clad legs in up to the knees now, so that the children could each ride her feet while she kicked them up and down. They were giggling and shouting in Arabic. The other woman threw back her head and slapped her friend on the back. In an instant, the younger woman was in the water, having given in to her children’s urging to join them. She waded around for a few minutes before turning and diving under the water. As she passed me, she twisted her body around to come to the surface face-up. Her expression was beatific. She was still there, playing in the water in her long jeans, when we left an hour later.
Another mother led her children to the edge of the water, but did not get in herself. Her children were both nervous, chattering in their makeshift swimsuits of neon-coloured stockings that hung loose from their narrow hips and bunched around their ankles. Mom pointed at the pool and told them not to be afraid but, no, she would not come in with them. They moved incrementally into the water, squealing first that it was cold, then warm, then arguing with one another over how cold or warm it was. Eventually, they were in up to their bellies. Mom sat down next to me and said “This is their first time. We don’t have any pools where we come from. It’s quite exciting.” She dangled her fingertips in the water and shuddered.
A man with white-blond hair and a giant iron cross tattoo carried two equally blond little girls on his shoulders into the deepest part of the pool (which is not very deep). They jumped off and splashed around screaming “Daddy help!” until he retrieved them, and drug them along the top of the water back to the ramp end. When they got there, he told the girls to be gentle and not bother Mommy, because she was tired and needed to rest. He then got out and walked over to a woman leaning against a baby carriage in the shade. He took the fussing newborn and carried her ever-so-gently into the water, kissing and nuzzling her brown cheeks until she quieted. The older sisters came up, each giving the baby pats and smooches. Dad told them to be careful not to get water on her face, as he ran his fingers through her full head of curly, black hair.
Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, clambered into the water. They were loud and obnoxious, as teens left on their own tend to be. The girl wore her ankle-length dress into the water despite the fact, pointed out by her friends, that she had a bathing suit on underneath. They teased each other about a wasp floating dead in the water, until I scooped it out and threw it up into the rocks. Which was, perhaps, a mistake- as then their attentions turned to me. It is never comfortable to be in the spotlight of a teen-group gaze. “Oi! Mad tats!” shouted the redhead, ogling me. The girl asked how many tattoos I had, and I responded that I’m not really sure- I don’t count them individually anymore. Her eyes boggled “Hey! How you talk! Are you American or something?” I nodded and she yelled, “An American! That’s MAD! Completely mad, mates! We met an American! I knew coming to the city would be an adventure.” The redhead asked me if I was married and, not to be discouraged, said “I would double-marry you! I don’t mind sharing. tell your husband, okay?” Later, I did. Brian seemed less enthusiastic about the prospect than the teenagers did.
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NCAA Adopting New Ranking System NET for Men's College Basketball to Replace RPI
Mike Chiari@mikechiariTwitter LogoFeatured ColumnistAugust 22, 2018
Keith Srakocic/Associated Press
The NCAA announced Wednesday that a new ranking system called NET will be used to evaluate teams during the 2018-19 men's college basketball season, replacing RPI.
According to the announcement, the NCAA Evaluation Tool will take game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses into account.
NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt said the following about implementing the NET system:
"What has been developed is a contemporary method of looking at teams analytically, using results-based and predictive metrics that will assist the Men's Basketball Committee as it reviews games throughout the season. While no perfect rankings exist, using the results of past tournaments will help ensure that the rankings are built on an objective source of truth."
Per Stadium's Jeff Goodman, Gavitt said the first NET rankings will likely be released in late-November or early-December on a weekly basis. They will then later be released on a daily basis.
The NCAA announced that NET will weigh all games evenly regardless of when they take place during the season, and the margin of victory will have a cap of 10 points to discourage running up the score against inferior opponents.
The Rating Percentage Index (RPI) has been used in men's college basketball since 1981, and it will continue to be used for women's basketball during the 2018-19 campaign.
RPI takes only the winning percentage of a team and its opponent, as well as the winning percentage of teams the opponent has faced, into account.
NET figures to provide a more scientific ranking due to the inclusion of margin of victory, game location and both offensive and defensive statistics.
Binghamton CBB Player Calistus Anyichie Dies at Age 19
Tyler Conway
Coaches Are Not Happy with NCAA Drastically Reducing the Recruiting Calendar
Gary Parrish
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NextReplanting mangrove forest in the Bay of Assassins
LMMATimor-Leste
The crocodile’s children: community-led marine management on Atauro
The community of Ilik-namu have decided to take control of their future and begin managing their marine resources.
Nick Piludu on Oct 4, 2017
There was a crocodile in the sea, the legend says.
The crocodile got stuck in a strong current and drifted away, eventually getting stranded on a foreign shore.
There was a boy, the legend says.
The boy saw the crocodile and got closer, for he was brave and kind. The crocodile asked for help, and the boy brought him back to the ocean, where the crocodile prepared to swim away. But before leaving he told the boy:
“I am now in debt with you. If you ever want anything from me call me, and I will come.”
Time passed, and the boy’s feet grew restless, and his heart started to long for the sea. He called on the crocodile.
“I wish to travel. Take me where the sun rises, please.”
And that was how the boy and the crocodile took to the sea, and travelled for many a moon. And then the crocodile grew tired, and had to stop.
“It is time for me to rest, boy. I will now sleep forever, but you can stay with me.”
And the crocodile went to sleep, and his bones turned into rocks, and hills, and mountains. Trees grew on them, and the boy started there a new family, and that is how Timor-Leste came to be.
The crocodile of Timor-Leste with the Cristo Rei on its nose | Photo: Gilraj Singh
Timor-Leste’s origin myth is an often-told story, and the first piece of the puzzle in understanding the deep relationship the Timorese – Lafaek-oan, or the crocodile’s children, in Tetun – have with the ocean. This relationship is the frame under which I work when I first start talking to coastal communities about their marine resources.
My ultimate goal is to understand what marine management approaches can work on Atauro Island, but first I need to establish a dialogue with the communities
My ultimate goal is to understand what marine management approaches can work on Atauro Island, but first I need to establish a dialogue with the communities, build a little trust. Talk to people, share food, learn bits of their language. This all takes time. Marine management talks will happen, at some point, later on. I have time. Or so I think.
My first talks, in a few villages on Atauro’s east coast, all follow a certain pattern. We find shelter from the sun under the shade of one of the many trees scattered around the villages, bare feet in the dust, hundreds of tree sparrows flying around us, wrestling scraps of food from the omnipresent chicken. I start with asking about the village – what is the best thing about living here? Answers are consistent. It’s good to be part of a tight-knit community, the feeling of kinship is particularly strong, although at times stained by village politics and old grudges. I move on to the next question, what is the worst part of your community? Again, the answers are consistent, but this time in a manner that surprises me. Every single answer can be traced to insufficient natural resources.
Community consultations in Beloi village | Photo: Nick Piludu
Photo: Martin Muir
The word for Timorese in Tetun is “Lafaek-oan” or “the crocodile’s children” | Photo: Martin Muir
Communities have been leading a subsistence lifestyle for generations, but things have been changing, resources don’t ever seem to be enough anymore. There’s an underlying tension as people bring their concerns up. Water is scarce, rats are eating all the produce, and of course, fish catches are decreasing.
Coastal communities on Atauro base their livelihoods on subsistence farming and fishing. Men leave their homes early in the morning to fish the most productive reefs surrounding the island.
“The sea is our office, and we have to go to work every day”, one of the fishermen tells me laughing, before he starts describing his fishing methods.
“The sea is our office, and we have to go to work every day”
It’s hard to point out a main technique, or a primary target. Fishing seems to be very unspecialised and opportunistic, multiple gears are used at the same time, and the target is whatever can be found in the water. What is clear though is the deep knowledge these fishermen have of Atauro’s waters.
Participatory mapping exercises produce detailed data on the most productive areas for fish, the seasonality of currents, winds, and catches, the deep channels where megafauna can be found. But the data is not just a dry list of coordinates, species and gear. It is interwoven with stories of the past, featuring clever octopus escaping fishermen in their kurita-uma, their octopus-homes in the reefs; accounts of dugong hunting sessions and the fierce battles between man and beast – “I am never going to try to hunt them again, they are too strong,” a fisherman whispers; advice on how you should not fear the saltwater crocodile, as it will only kill you if you don’t have a good heart, or if you cheated on your woman and she has put a curse on you; and of immense schools of large fish darting through the reefs, of fishing days when the whole village could celebrate a plentiful catch.
Participatory mapping exercises | Photo: Nick Piludu
What is clear in our talks is the deep knowledge these fishermen have of Atauro’s waters | Photo: Martin Muir
“You were lucky if your family managed to eat all the fish you had caught in a day,” I am told by one of the elders of Ilik-namu village, now blind and almost deaf. “It’s not like that anymore,” the other community members quietly mumble, nodding.
Two of the women taking part in this meeting, who have been so far been silent, give a look to their representative. It looks like there is something brewing. The representative takes the floor, and starts advocating for marine management measures that would allow the community to feed their children in the future.
“The women all agree,” she says, “we want a new tara bandu.”
“The women all agree,” she says, “we want a new tara bandu. The other villages already have them, and if we don’t do it too, who’s going to let us fish in their waters when the fish is gone?”
Tara bandu literally means “the hanging law”, as it traditionally involves the hanging of culturally significant items from a wooden shaft to place a ban on certain agricultural or social activities within a given area. They are used in rural areas where the central government is a distant entity, and recently communities in Atauro have been experimenting with using them to create locally-managed marine protected areas (LMMAs).
The women of Ilik-namu want a new tara bandu | Photo: Nick Piludu
Flags are hung to mark a locally managed marine area in Adara village | Photo: Sean Clement
I know it’s not the first time that this has been discussed in Ilik-namu, and that certain fishermen didn’t respond positively in the past, worried about losing their fishing grounds. But this time the conversation seems to take a different direction. The fishermen appear concerned, and seem to be considering the idea seriously for the first time. Some rapid exchanges in Tetun follow, the women’s representative passionately arguing her case while the fishermen’s body language suggest that they might be accepting that she has a point.
There is a quiet moment after the decision is taken, and then one of the elders turns around and tells me it is time for them to start thinking about the future and managing their marine resources. “We need to discuss with the wider community,” he says, “and make a final decision, but would you be able to support the process?“
Well, that happened way earlier than I expected, but we shake hands as I confirm we would be very happy to.
We have a new LMMA to put together – let’s get to work.
Contribute to critical marine conservation in Timor-Leste as a Blue Ventures volunteer.
Blue Ventures would like to thank our supporters and funders including the Darwin Initiative through UK Government funding, the GEF through UNEP under the Dugong and Seagrass Project, and Wilstar.
Posted in:LMMA, Timor-Leste
Tagged in:LMMA, marine conservation, small-scale fisheries
Posted by Nick Piludu
Nick was Country Manager in Timor-Leste for two years before moving to Bristol as Blue Ventures' Conservation Programmes Manager.
Najim Oct 5, 2017 at 9:12 am
Nick, I am so proud and happy to see this processing into local communities taking truly ownership. way to go!
Nick Oct 10, 2017 at 8:25 am
Thanks Najim! And thanks for doing your bit 🙂
roger vaughan Oct 9, 2017 at 4:41 am
‘this is great news, Nick. It bodes well for the Timor Leste program succeeding in the longer term. As a former BV volunteer there, I loved the island, the people and the reefs, and want to see the program help the communities protect their resources.
I can’t commit to a full program, but would love to come for 3-4 weeks fairly early next year. Are you open to that short a participation? I have 7 BV expeditions (1 Madagascar, 1 Malaysia, 4 Belize, and 1 Timor Leste) under my 73 year old belt.
Ben Honey Oct 9, 2017 at 9:48 am
Great to hear from you Roger, thanks for your comment.
Yes, I’m sure that will be possible. Our Expeditions team will be in touch with you shortly.
Glad to hear this Roger! Yes, as Ben said shorter periods are possible. Looking forward to have you on site (again!).
Cintia Gillam Oct 10, 2017 at 4:19 pm
Great blog!! A great way to have more women attending meetings is to supply on-site childcare with a volunteer.
Replanting mangrove forest in the Bay of Assassins
All in the same boat: integrating conservation and health in Kaledupa
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Classroom Ideas, Current Event Connection, Geography In the News, Main
What Were Camels Doing in Ancient Britain?
Evidence suggests that camels came with Roman legions to sites throughout Southern Europe. (Dr. Caitlin R. Green)
What else was going on in Londinium? Use our great resource to learn more about Roman London.
Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit.
The red area indicates the extent of the Roman Empire in the early second century CE, while pink areas indicate Roman client states. Dots are where remains of dromedary or Bactrian camels have been identified.
Map by C.R. Green (based on a map of the Roman Empire by Tataryn, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. CC-BY-SA-3.0)
This sweet second-century mosaic from Bosra, Syria, depicts a camel train, or caravan. Bosra was the capital of the Roman province of Arabia.
Photograph by Jadd Haidar, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0
Discussion Ideas
Take a look at the map above, and compare it with this fantastic map of ancient Roman under Emperor Trajan, around 117. What are some Roman provinces or regions where archaeologists have identified remains of camels?
Britannia (Great Britain)
Gaul (France)
Hispania (Spain)
Pannonia (Hungary)
Moesia (Serbia, Kosovo)
Bosporan Kingdom, a client state (Ukraine)
Why is the discovery of camels unusual in these areas?
Camels were nowhere near indigenous in these regions. They had to be deliberately imported.
Dromedary camels, also called Arabian camels, have a wide species range, extending throughout Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Central Asia. Dromedaries have a single hump and are not endangered.
Bactrian camels have a narrow species range, in the Gobi desert of China and Mongolia. Bactrians have two humps, and are critically endangered.
How did ancient Romans get their hands (and their goods) on these exotic animals?
Ancient Rome was an incredibly cosmopolitan society, with political and social influence extending well beyond its home in the Mediterranean basin. Roman trading networks reached sub-Saharan Africa, India, and even Southeast Asia and China.
Dromedary camels would have been very familiar to ancient Romans through extensive contact with provinces and nearby kingdoms in North Africa and Western Arabia.
At the time of the Roman Empire, the Silk Road was already well-established. Silk Road trade allowed peoples of ancient Rome to be at least somewhat familiar with both raw materials and finished goods from places outside the Roman Empire itself—goods such as spices, silks, and exotic animals.
Bactrian camels would have to have been imported from outside the empire, through traders and merchants on the Silk Road.
How might the Romans have used camels throughout their far-flung empire? Read the terrific blog post from Caitlin Green for some help.
Most historians and archaeologists think camels “were being primarily used as pack animals/beasts of burden for both Roman military and civilian traffic.” Almost all camel finds have been located near major Roman roads, lending evidence to this theory.
What other animals were used as pack animals during this time? Examples might include horses, oxen, and mules.
Some camels may have been luxury pets of wealthy landowners or zookeepers.
What other “exotic” animals did wealthy Romans keep as pets? Examples might include birds such as parrots and peacocks, rhinoceroses, and giraffes.
A “small number of sites show evidence for the butchery and consumption of camel meat.”
What other meats did ancient Romans eat? Examples might include fish, pork, and doormice. Yes, doormice.
Some historians have suggested that some camels may have been used in public shows (like circuses).
What other animals were frequently used in entertainment? Examples might include lions, tigers, and crocodiles.
Are camels still used for hauling cargo over long distances?
Yes!! Dromedary camels are entirely domesticated, and have been for nearly 2,000 years. (That’s right—there are no wild dromedaries, although there are some wild Bactrians.) “Although the role of the camel is diminishing with the advent of technology and modern means of transport, it is still an efficient mode of communication in remote and less-developed areas” throughout North Africa and Arabia. In fact, technology is still relying on these “ships of the desert”—check out Google’s camel-cam street view.
TEACHERS TOOLKIT
Dr. Caitlyn R. Green: Were there camels in Roman Britain? A brief note on the nature and context of the London camel remains
Nat Geo: Ancient Roman Tablets Reveal Voices of the Earliest Londoners
Ancient History Encyclopedia: Trade in the Roman World
carylsue 11/13/2017 11/19/2017 Ancient Rome, animals, camels, history, pack animals, Silk Road, species range, the world, trade
Previous Previous post: This Week in Geographic History, November 13 – 19
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Embrace the Outdoors at These Glen Cove Parks
Glen Cove's outstanding public amenities make it one of the best places on Long Island to get more bang for your buck. While known for its lovely beaches, Glen Cove also has amazing parks and recreation, including an incredible public golf course.
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Photos from the Garvies Point Summer Boat Cruise
Family Fun in Glen Cove This Summer
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The sun is shining bright, boats are out on Hempstead Bay and temperatures are on the rise- it's Memorial Day Weekend in Glen Cove! Kick off the season with a series of great, family-friendly events. Free events are available all summer long in Glen Cove, and The Beacon at Garvies Point is close to them all.
Looking Forward To The Perfect Day At Garvies Point
While all of our buyers have their own vision of what a perfect day at Garvies Point will include, most just say, " we are just so excited for this new adventure."
A Life Aquatic: Meet The Finnertys
We're really excited about all the new things coming to Garvies Point, we're really taking advantage of all of it. It's really an incredible lifestyle and we are just so fortunate to call it home.
We can't wait to move to Garvies Point
We spent some time with our buyers to find out what attracted them to The Beacon at Garvies Point. Watch this video to hear from our buyers, in their own words, why they can't wait to move in!
Garvies Point Road
Construction on Garvies Point Road, The Beacon (condominiums), and Harbor Landing (rentals) will be complete in late 2019. Read more for construction updates.
Anglers Club
The Anglers Club will move into a new building later this year at Garvies Point. View photos and plans.
10 Things You Didn't Know About Glen Cove
From major league ball to fine arts, Glen Cove has an intriguing past and a bright future. Check out our list of the top 10 things you didn't know about Glen Cove.
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← Quick impressions after a long day
This year’s wrong BCS argument →
Semi-tough: Observations from the goal line
Whatever was said and done in the Georgia locker room at halftime yesterday, Mark Richt needs to gather that all together, crumple it into a little ball, douse it with gasoline, set it on fire and bury the ashes at sea. Boy, what a letdown.
My question from watching that game isn’t whether Georgia had to play perfectly to beat an excellent LSU team – Georgia, after all, was winning 10-0 mid-second quarter despite two brutal whiffs on touchdown passes by King and Mitchell – but whether Georgia’s best effort of the year would have been enough to pull off the upset.
We’ll never know, of course, but that halftime lead, the only one which LSU has faced the entire season, suggests it would have at least been a close call. That it never came to that in the end I think boiled down to three key spots in the game:
Georgia’s second series of the second quarter. I don’t know if was the result of the Dawgs’ worst field position of the game up to that point, lack of faith in the receivers after numerous drops, a desire to shorten the first half or complete faith in what Grantham’s defense was doing, but Bobo’s play selection was a disaster. Two Crowell runs that were easily stuffed for little gain and a slow developing pass play which resulted in a huge sack put Georgia back at its own three for a punt. Up until then, Bobo had been aggressive, calling for passes on first down frequently; if he didn’t have Chavis back on his heels, he at least had him guessing. The only first down Georgia gained over the rest of the first half was via a personal foul penalty and the Dawgs wouldn’t get their next one until the waning moments of the third quarter with the game already out of hand.
Touchdown, Tyrann Mathieu. This, of course, was Georgia’s immediate reward for Bobo’s play calls. Given its special teams struggles over the season, punting to Mathieu with Butler standing on the end line was a risky proposition to begin with, but with the way the Dawgs’ defense was playing, ignoring the lower risk strategy of a kick towards the sidelines was unnecessary. It was Russian roulette and the gun went off in Georgia’s face. It didn’t cost Georgia the lead, but you could sense the energy and confidence sliding back to LSU’s side of the stadium in the aftermath.
The Murray fumble. Statistically speaking, Aaron Murray is going to enjoy a better career at Georgia than David Greene, but Greene is still my gold standard for Georgia quarterbacks of the Richt era simply because he learned early on about playing within himself and not trying to do too much. That’s a lesson Murray hasn’t learned yet (to be fair, it’s one that Shockley and Stafford struggled with, too). You can’t help but love his competitiveness but that desire to make something happen when everyone around him isn’t gets him in trouble,and such was the case on the opening series of the second half. Not only was it a huge momentum shift at the worst possible time, but it also served to throw the defense’s mindset, which had been rock solid in the first half, completely out of sync. Ten minutes later, the game was over.
I’m not in the mood to bore you with my usual series of bullet points. Instead, I’ll leave you with some of my feelings walking out of the Dome.
It’s been a good year for Georgia football. Richt has righted the ship. This team proved in the first half that it deserved to be in the SECCG. And the loss, while certainly disappointing, can serve to be a platform for better days.
There are plenty of lessons to be learned. Some are pretty obvious: the running game needs shoring up with better (and more reliable) personnel, depth is a high priority on the offensive line and special teams personnel also needs upgrading (huge difference in speed between LSU’s coverage teams and Georgia’s). That’s all fixable with continued success on the recruiting front. And strength and conditioning, while improved, still has a ways to go.
But the biggest challenge that lies ahead is about attitude. This team learned how to compete again. Now it needs to learn how to finish. It’s good enough to take off a play or two and still whip Georgia Tech. And it can survive losing its cool against an improving Vanderbilt team. But not giving your best 100% of the time against a beast like LSU… well, that gets you beat by 32 points. If Georgia’s players and coaches want to return the program to the élite status it enjoyed a few years ago, that’s the biggest thing they need to absorb from yesterday’s loss.
If I’m Greg McGarity, that’s the discussion I’m having with my head football coach in the upcoming weeks. After mentioning how much I enjoyed watching the defense’s play in the first half, of course.
197 responses to “Semi-tough: Observations from the goal line”
The hardest part for me to stomach was how it seemed like we just laid down and quit. Maybe that was a result of losing faith in the offense after CMB seemed to go conservative in the second quarter combined with a reenergized LSU team.
After a spectacular first half, the defense was a let down in the second half as well. Even after Murray fumble I thought we would be able to stuff them for a FG.
I knew we had to play a perfect game. The fumble, two INTs, dropped passes, and horrific punt coverage put an end to our SECC hopes.
CTG doesn’t get paid enough.
BTW, Senator you were 100% correct about VT. My apologies.
I don’t think the defense quit so much as completely lost its focus. You can’t get away with that against a team as good as LSU.
And seemed to tire out. I saw limping, hands on hips and slow motion movements of an exhausted group. S&C could be better but I think the fatal flaw in the entire game was our lack of quality depth across the board. They simply wore us down.
This, of course. More than play calling which did not meet our standards (Although I have never understood exactly what those are…plays that work are good calls, plays that don’t, whatever the reason are bad calls.)
LSU played at least 10 or 12 defensive linemen during the game. We played five.
But, of course, Mike Bobo should be fired because of our lack of depth on the defensive line.
Ah Scorpio you have stumbled upon the quintessential standard for criticizing an offensive coordinator: if a play works it is a good call, if it does not work it is a bad call. Go over and read the in-game posts at dawgsports sometimes it is hilarious in how much it verifies that view point. If we throw a deep pass on first down and it works, it goes something like this: “Yesssssssssssss! Go Tavarres Go!”; “Touchdown baaaaaaabbbbbbyyyyyy!” no one says, “boy what a bad call, but I’ll take the TD”. If it does not work its more like this…”First and bomb, great call Bobo, chump.”; “Why not try and establish a ground game there so we don’t have second and long” blah, blah, blah.
Why did UGA lose the SEC Championship Game? To paraphrase Bill Clinton: “It’s the refs stupid.” When LSU needed help the refs gave it to ’em. That and not enough depth, none at RB.
The offense had regressed back to the point of leaving the D out to dry which had been kept to a minimum since the second game. That and LSU is relentless and deep.
LSU’s relentlessness comes from the depth. One team could stand up to its offense not moving the ball for half the game and the other could not. And that’s why Alabama and LSU are better than everyone else in the country.
Geez, I thought oversigning didn’t give a competitive advantage. Strange that the two biggest oversigners are the top 2 teams in the country.
No one ever said it didn’t give an advantage. Insider trading gives an advantage and like oversigning it is wrong.
Insider trading is illegal. Oversigning is not.
Bingo. Imagine an NFL team with 10 more guys on the roster than their opponent. They would dominate also. Unfortunately “oversigning” is not agaist the rules.
No but it is ethically wrong. I should’ve been more clear.
Which brings it around to the point: If oversigning is legal and you don’t do it then you are at a disadvantage against teams that do (read: LSU and Bama).
Not to confuse the issue or anything, but I thought Ole Miss was the most egregious oversigner in the league…which puts a different perspective on the argument for damn sure.
And we aren’t deep. Crowell wasn’t. healthy. Behind him, we have two backs under 180lbs. And the better of those two couldn’t play in the second half.
Our starting five offensive linemen had to go against a group of defensive linemen that were kept fresh throughout the game by substitution.
We need more linemen, more running backs, and more special teams athletes.
H-Town Dawg
That’s what it’s all about. Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting!
Tyronn Mathieu was recruited, but not offered, by Bama and Tennessee. When he wasn’t LSU picked him up as an afterthought. There is more luck involved in recruiting than anyone wants to recognize.
As an outsider, I agree with you–the U.Ga. defense seemed to lose its focus and its confidence. LSU’s entire team seemed to sharpen its focus and confidence. I think the Dogs played hard and didn’t quit.
Red Blackman
I agree, for the most part.
Now, for the truth as I see it……
You can place Georgia’s offensive woes on attrition and poor coaching from a former assistant. I am sorry but Carlton Thomas, Richard Samuel and Brandon Harton are not SEC caliber tailbacks. The dismissal of Meshaun Ealey and Dontavious Jackson coupled with the ignorance of Caleb King put Georgia in a huge hole from a depth standpoint.
The offensive line coaching and talent evaluation under Stacy Searles was a complete joke. We have been reduced to four guards and a center for an offensive line. I’m pretty sure that given the time, Will Friend will return the Georgia offensive line into an elite pro style offensive line.
All in all I am pleased with the progress this year. We need some depth at running back and OT. As it stands right now, we have no elite offensive tackles on the roster. For the style of offense we run, that is a huge problem. Thank you, Stacy Searles.
As for the defense, all I can say is ….Wow. Nice game fellas.
It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.
Yea. Thanks Red. And thanks go to Bluto who put up more material than possible to follow and comment on Fri..
Not sour grapes, but LS Lieux held like they were in love with our receivers after the ball was in the air while the refs stared at and did not call it. Did anyone notice that IGA receivers only looked questioning toward the refs using their hands, but no hanky-snatching drivel mimicry. That affected our O as much as dropped passes. Jus’ sayin’.
They still will be fun to watch in the bowl. It will be interesting to watch the recruiting and follow the summer prep after the Spring Game. Go Dawgs! and thanks for picking it up last summer. Knowing we are better than our record, the insertion of Rome and Drew next year and the buildup to next season will capture our interest and , I imagine , will make for good blog-cheering and discussion.
G Marmalard
No sour grapes but . . . Does anybody else feel like bama and lsu have about 25% more players than the rest of us. Is this the fruit of oversigning? And if so why don’t we get on board ? Seriously. Do u think guys prima dona when they know there are 3 more just as good and somebody has to go? I feel like ga got beat by a roster yesterday. Not scheme not execution by lsu, just a huge army of athletes with endless reinforcements.
Take away the extra players and we still get beat…that’s a good team. But we handle discipline differently, recruiting differently, graduation rates differently, etc. They do it their way to win. We do it our way because it’s right. When the standards aren’t the same, don’t expect fair and equal outcomes.
Please don’t go all GT on us and start making excuses.
Do you think that Richt wouldn’t dismiss a player engaged in a parking lot stomping/beating? He dismissed Mettenberger for playing grab-ass before Murray had established himself as the starter.
I disagree. We have over 100 guys on the roster, same as most other teams. We’ve got to build depth and strength.
Look at Mike Gilliard. The only reason he got to start and play early on was because of injuries. Turns out he was pretty good. We’ve got other guys like him on the sidelines. We just need to continue to evaluate them and develop them. We’ll get there.
Right on, AusDawg85.
Oversigning is the elephant in the room regarding quality depth, imo. I still don’t want UGA to go down that path by exploiting recruits and players, but the NCAA/SEC offices need to curtail this practice by setting standards that must be adhered to. I recommend allowing everyone to oversign by 2-3 to allow for attrition AND allow them to keep those extra signees of they are able to keep everyone eligible. This isn’t a whine, but we may have the same number of players with a uni, but we are way below the “real” scholly numbers, and we were in August/September.
The game was won by LSU last night for two reasons: 1) OL could not block well enough even if we had every running back on hand for the last two years and, 2) our ST coverage and blocking is totally unacceptable. Everyone can stretch and try to blame Bobo for a paly call here or there (what team couldn’t after the fact), but the coaches did not lose this game. UGA had a chance, we squandered it. Even this close to a emotional game where we went from the mountain top to the pits, I still like the direction we are heading.
Attaboy, Mac! Let’s hold the fan line in keeping with what we ask of our team.
As usual, spot on Senator. I’m too dazed as well to dwell on deep analysis at this point. Scratching my head about CMB’s decisions and lack of depth in key positions were fatal flaws in both games at the Dome.
It’s been a very good season…better than most expected, and showed promise for the future. But I hope both the AD and HC are truly able to see the situation for what it is, and commit to further improvement. To sit back now and just recruit “5 stars” thinking that’s all that is missing would be tragic.
baltimore dawg
so you do blame bobo. . . .
ChicagoDawg
The way the team prepares and shows up for the bowl game will show how much things have been turned around. Showing up each day for practice with a sense of urgency and playing the game with passion will truly demonstrate that things are back on track. I believe (hope) they are, but the next month will be a critical time for both the staff and the future of this particular set of returning players.
Rusdawg
They need to approach the bowl game as if it was a season opener. This will be the opening salvo of the 2012 season. We’re done with 2011. Everything from today forward is about 2012.
No. Please don’t treat it like the season opener.
The Original Cynical in Athens
3 plays in the game:
1. The blocks in the back on the punt return. Yes, it was stupid to punt the ball right to the guy, but if the refs do their job, we go into the half up at least 10-0.
2. The Murray fumble. You summed it up perfectly, Senator. All Murray has to do is not f*ck it up. A punt was a win in that game. And then he f*cked it up by trying to be a hero again.
3. The horse collar on Cornelius Washington. Pretty much summed up the 2nd half. We finally made a great play to stop them and it ends up being one of their better offensive plays of the night.
I still have no idea what happened. Strangest game I have ever seen. Only thing I can compare it to is that ’96 or ’97 UK basketball team with Mercer, Delk, Walker, etc, when you were playing even with them for 8 minutes and look up and your suddenly down by 10 without them or you really doing anything of note.
The result of the game was why i had been hoping all year that Scu would have to be the recipient of that beatdown last night. Everything good that happened throughout the season must now be called into question. Murray once again pissed his pants in an important game. The dropsies came out for the first time this season. Bobo rolled over and freaked out as soon as the going got tough. This team would have been a lot better off not playing in this game, beating up on some mediocre Big 10 team in a bowl game and going into next year riding high. Now, all of the warts that had been hidden for 10 weeks are fully exposed again and we have to wonder if they will somehow gain the mental fortitude to overcome them next year?
Yeah, trying to run up-field on a closing pocket to pick up big first down on a critical second half opening drive is “f*ck(ing) it up by trying to be a hero” and the 14pts of dropped passes, along with other drops, were sign that he “once again pissed his pants in an important game.” Great analysis.
Gary Danielson made one decent point all night. At one point when Murray took off he yelled, “just slide.” The kid just needs to learn that with a defense as good as UGA’s, a punt it not a bad thing.
As soon as we lost the field position battle, we lost the game. LSU completed 5 passes. They had two drives of over 36 yards, both of which were late in the game. Murray has to learn to understand the concept of time and place within the framework of the game being played. Last night was a battle of attrition, and failed to grasp the importance of field position.
Agreed, but if he slides there < 2yds shy of the sticks then people in the stands and on the boards are talking about a lack of heart and unwillingness to lay it on the line in an SECCG. Trying to "be a hero" would be throwing into triple coverage or be Fran Tarkenton and scrambling 30yds deep only to get sacked. Murray, with his mistakes yesterday, was NOT the problem and he hardly "pissed his pants" or "fucked it up."
Agree, Murray did not piss his pants. That’s just silly and more than a little unfair to a kid who always leaves it all on the field.
You and the Mayor are the same person or at least friends.
No. I disclaim any and all responsibility. I also do not think Murray did anything but try his guts out.
“Trying to be a hero” suggests a level of ego to Murray that I don’t think is a fair characterization. To me, the kid’s been a consummate team player. He just tried to do too much there. You hope he learns from it.
Cosmic Dawg
Murray did what he was supposed to – he tried to get the first down. He just fumbled. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try to run the ball occasionally, it means he should try to fumble less.
How the hell do you “try to fumble less”? Shit happens from a cognitive sense of not trying? You were correct to begin with, “He just fumbled.” End of story.
Is there a ‘Best of Les Miles halftime speeches’ available? Might be a good stocking stuffer for coach. Just sayin’…
At the end of the game he said that he had no halftime speech. They just reminded everyone to do what they always do; – play hard and win.
Get a running game that you can count on and the rest will take care of itself. Once their d-line took away the run in the second quarter it was over and nothing grantham, richt or bobo could say or do was going to change the outcome. I just hope that IC gets it together mentally and physically and that he and Marshall can carry the load in 2012. If so we’ll be playing in this game next year.
Good and succintly analytic post, Derek. No need for us to nitpick players or coaches.
Depth, depth, depth. I understand the attitude part you reference, but that game was about quality, ready to play depth. If I’m McGarity I asking Richt how they plan to better manage the number of players on the team. I’m all for the feel good story of walkons being awarded scholarships, and that will continue as players do stupid things to get shown the door, but it’s clear to me that the roster is too thin and has too many kids that should be playing FCS instead of SEC football. Part of that is the coaches had to play with what was dealt by poor evaluation, coaching and behavior, but Richt has to find a way to bring balance in numbers back to the squad.
+1. When guys don’t have it like it or not CMR has to show ’em the door. They are taking up a scholarship and a spot on the 85 list that should go to someone else. Roster management. That is the bottom line.
Duuuh. What do you think he did this year?
I think he awarded a bunch of schollys to kids that are probably great students, do more than what is asked and weren’t good enough physically to be offered SEC scholarships.
I support Richt, but he and McGarity need to get a strategy together to eliminate the inability to fill a full roster with true scholarship players and not walk-ons that were awarded scholarships because the staff failed to get a full complement of players. It won’t eliminate the King’s and Ealey’s from fucking the numbers, but you can’t sign 20 when you need 25.
I also understand how productive the 2011 recruiting class has been and the staff did a good job putting it together. I’ll also note that it’s sad that they felt the need to call it a “Dream Team”. Richt is coaching in a state where every year could bring a “Dream Team” like haul. What made it highlighted was that Richt certainly didn’t have any “Dream Team” classes the previous three years and his rep in recruits homes have been hurt by the product on the field and his job status. Recruiting and roster management are huge if you intend to compete in this conference and our guy has to get better at it.
The ATH
Maybe that’s a negative, but maybe not. The last time we really “finished strong” after avoiding the sec champ was ’07. That team wasnt very hungry coming in number one.
I agree. If the coaches can use the whipping we took yesterday as a teachable moment throughout the offseason, we’re better off going 11-3 than 11-2, because now they know just how high the bar for a MNC is, and that the 10-game streak was nice, but there’s still more work to be done.
Good thought, (the other one). You realize those initials spell “too” as in “me too”, don’t you?
Andy Coleman
Senator, you’re right on about that series being the pivotal point in the game. That series was followed by 3 more just like it, even into the 3rd quarter. Bobo stalled, and the crap hit the fan.
If you think I’m pinning the loss on Bobo, you’re overstating my point.
I know you’re not on the new OC train like I have been for the past four years, I’m just amazed that you admit how crucial it was when we nutted up on that series.
Do you recognize that there may be a direct correlation between play calling changing all of the sudden during a game, and Murray going all bankers mid game?
Both Bobo and Murray were dealing with an offensive line physically challenged all night, running backs who had trouble hitting the holes faster than LSU’s linebackers closed them and receivers who couldn’t hold on to passes to save their lives.
I really doubt Murray was thinking to himself on that third down play, “I gotta do something here… Bobo’s playcalling is killing us.” He was just a kid in a pressure situation trying to make a play to help his team. It blew up. Hopefully he’ll learn from his mistake. That’s all I recognize.
I bet Murray wondered why he was handing it off up the gut on 1st and 2nd down for the 4th possession in a row, only to have Crowell/Thomas run into a wall. There are ways to neutralize D-lines, and off tackle dives and draws on 1st and 2nd down are not them.
“There are ways to neutralize D-lines”? How closely were you watching the game? It wasn’t just LSU’s d-line that was an issue. Those linebackers were obscenely fast closing down the gaps. It was clear that Georgia’s running backs weren’t prepared for that. Although to be fair, until you play against them, I’m not sure how you could be prepared.
Ok, let me change my post to “neutralize fronts”. Either way, same point. Please understand that I think LSU was a better team than the Dawgs. But, I don’t want that to be the case in a few years. I want what is best for this team, and in my (I’m a virtual nobody, but a loyal alum/fan none-the-less) opinion, Bobo ain’t it! Bobo makes top dollar, and we have proven (Grantham) that top dollar can get you a whole lot more if you pick wisely.
Bobo does not in fact make “top dollar” by OC standards (I think his salary was somewhere in the $200-250,000 range). Regardless of that fact there was nothing Bobo could do last night, the line couldn’t block after the first few series, our RB’s didn’t hit what small holes were there before they closed, and nobody was getting open against those DB’s. In order to “neutralize” aggresive defenses one would normally run screens and draws, in the case of last night the two bubble screens we ran (and a swing pass to Carlton Thomas) lost yardage, while the draws were losing yardage after the D linemen were shedding their blocks and gobbling up our guys behind the line of scrimmage. Bobo was calling the game safe in order to prevent the “big mistake” which would let LSU back in the game and unfortunately that happened anyway. There was really no other option to turn to, they were squatting on our short routes with safety help over the top. We lost to one of the best defenses in recent memory, with all the youth we have on our offense there is no shame in that.
The receivers sure looked open to me before the play calling took a dive. Some of you are failing to realize that the crap hit the fan AFTER our play calling changed drastically.
P.S. Bobo will make almost $400,000 this year after bonuses. That ranks him in the top 10% of OC’s in the nation. Go look it up if you don’t believe me.
Maybe you should try and walk on if you think that you could hit those receivers last night. They may have looked “open” but they weren’t, that is what zone coverage looks like. I saw a front 7 for LSU whipping our OLine and zone coverage to take away the outs and slants with safety help over the top.
I was a walk on on the UGA baseball team back in 1998, then I got my hand amputated in a wreck. I’m not nearly as accurate with the one that’s left.
According to this:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2010-coaches-contracts-database.htm
He was around 40th out of 907 for 2010, but he got a decent raise this year and about 5-10 that were above him got head coaching jobs.
That’s all assistants mind you, not just OC’s. I’m sure the Senator knows a better database to look that up. I’ve got a crying 6 month old, so I gotta get off this thing! Peace out Dawg fans!
“Peace out” yourself, Andy. You have serious flaws in your reasoning and your anti-Bobo rant. We put that crap to bed on here or perhaps you haven’t kept up very well. Your criticisms are over the top and you ignore the arguments that settled that in most fans minds a couple of months ago. Since you chose to ignore the good analytical input on here that righted the fan’s minds concerning Bobo, we should just ignore you. Everything you say in “MM QBing” can be said about any and all O coaches in D-1 ball and every college out there. Go fly your specious kite where someone who gives a damn might listen.
How’s the weight loss coming? It might get better if you dump your load of shit somewhere else.
Agree 100% about the first series of the second half. No way we should have started with dive plays. That set the wrong tone, and the Murray’s fumble really hurt.
OKDawg
I think the series in the second quarter where the game shifted and backed UGA up for the punt coincided with 1. LSU realizing we had no running game and turning up the heat on Murray and 2. Our offensive line (with no depth for rotation) beginning to spring leaks. Throw in what you mentioned, Senator, re: drops by our receivers and our defense playing lights out, and I don’t skewer Bobo for playing it more conservative at that point (backed up on our end of the field). Kicking to Mathieu with a short field was the more critical tactical error in my opinion.
Two series prior to the second quarter series bobo supposedly screwed up on:
1st-10, LSU44 3:19 C. Thomas rushed to the right for 1 yard gain
2nd-9, LSU43 3:12 C. Thomas rushed up the middle for 16 yard gain
Last first down prior to bobo supposedly screwing up:
1st-10, UGA39 12:10 A. Murray sacked by K. Adams
Clearly running it on the next series was dumb.
Bobo wasn’t willing to give up on play action. That meant he had to call some runs to try to keep Chavis and the LSU defense honest.
Bobo wasnt going to give up on play action because he wanted Murray to be alive for his junior year.
Bobo wasn’t giving up on play action because he typically runs it 20+ times per game. To the point that rushes start to smile!
*rushers
Dawg 39
LSU had little success running the ball in the first half. They had to keep trying it to keep our D honest. Then their longest run is finally one straght up the gut. To not keep trying to develop the ground game would be stupid for both teams. Murray would have been killed. Bobo called a good game. Very similar to the one called by the Tigers. Bobo will be the QB coach & the OC for the next few years. Nobody with any real input wants to change that. Give it a break, people.
+infinity
For those who settle for mediocrity. And, I’m a semi Richtophile as Sports & Grits would say. I just feel sorry for his inability to fire people. It’s his best and worst trait I suppose.
I actually strongly disagree with you here.
I hope you don’t think I’m being unreasonable, but I don’t think LSU “had to keep trying it to keep our D honest.” LSU had to keep running the ball because that’s all they could do. They didn’t have another option. I think the deep passes they attempted were an effort “to keep our D honest.” They ran it over and over and over because they had no other choice. They found ways to make that work and once they found what was working they kept doing it.
They threw those deep passes so that we couldn’t just load up the box and sell out to stop the run the whole game. But they only threw 13 passes the entire game. They ran it because that’s what they do and that’s what they’re built to do. Murray wasn’t getting killed when we ran for like 34 yards in the first half and carved up LSU’s secondary passing the ball on short routes. Did Bobo call a similar game to the LSU OC? No, he didn’t. They found out they were having limited success running up the middle and tried running it outside. When that worked, they kept on doing it. We were having success on short passing routes and started running it up the middle into a loaded box. When that didn’t work, we continued to do it. We wasted downs and then threw Aaron to the wolves on 3rd and long. That was bad play-calling. After the first quarter, we shut down what was working (like in the Auburn game last year) and stopped being aggressive. From then on, we never gave ourselves a chance.
Adam, amen brother.
Red Blackman gets the whole picture. It all starts on the offensive line. The current interior line is not a good run blocking squad. They seem slow of the line and do not get their pads down. That being said, there is not one RB on the squad who can hit a gap and break out. Not one. Now the line can push with Samuel and Malcome. The most important player in the game is the Frosh RB for LSU, Hilliard. He is a load with speed. Yo i could tell the Dawgs D wanted nothing to do with him. I’m puzzled how over the past 3-5 years CMR has not learned what a former Auburn coach told hime one time. To win big in the SEC you had better have a solid, consistent running game. Running teams are just more physical and disciplined in a big game.
I’m back where I was last season. Think the Dawgs need a QB/RB position coach. Murray has played a lot, I mean alot of snaps, but his progression, technique, and maturity is not where it should be, and I’m not sure he can get it there. For me there is even an off field differnece between him and Mason. Mason seems to be more mature and understand the game better. Plus I think he a better passer and could manage a game better than Murray.
Will Friend and Coach T have their work cut out for them for the bowl and the off-season. Let’s see how this line can improve by bowl time. I’d recruit linemen hard along with some SEC caliber RB [hint, Lattimore, Richardson, Hilliard].
To watch that game and think our real problem is at qb is to be a total idiot. Sorry to be rude, but that is just stupid. You don’t understand football; quit trying.
See my post below Mark only does what Bobby Bowden taught him, he is still after 11 years looking for his Warwick Dunn. We recruit midgets at running back not for a change of pace but for our running backs. None of our RB’s would be on Alabama or LSU’s 3 deep and that includes IC. We are not a power team Alabama and LSU are power teams. We are a multiple offense that if everything goes well can be effective but we are not going to line up and power the ball against good defenses period.
Yeah that is why Bama recruited IC so hard last year, so he could sit on the bench….
Just Chuck
Lots of guys look like world beaters in high school and many work out in college but some don’t. Jasper Sanks is probably our best example. We need a running back who doesn’t get put on his ass trying to pass block and, for sure, one who can keep his mouth shut and not cost us penalty yardage when it looks like we might be getting something started on offense.
You are totally right about OL problems. We have a mediocre, albeit enormous OL, that has no depth at all.
I am not sure why you’re thinkin Mason is better than Murray. Murray set the season record for TD’s after losing the best receiver ever to play for GA to the NFL, without a decent RB, and throwing to a bunch of freshman, all whille running for his life most of the season. Mason has thrown a couple of balls in mop up duty. I’ve said this before about QB’s and Richt. He’s coached 2 Heisman winners and the winningest QB in the history of college FB (until McCoy broke his record for wins). I am betting Mason is not better than Murray. And that’s why Mason is not starting and may transfer after this season.
Mason seems to be more mature and understand the game better. Plus I think he a better passer and could manage a game better than Murray.
Based on what, pray tell? Garbage time performances?
Herschel Blogger
he must look mature when they cut to shots of him standing near Richt.
to be pissed at Aaron after that game, and this season as a whole, is just wrong.
Brian Dawg
I am not pissed at Aaron, but before you anoint him, at least be honest and say that he lost a fumble and threw two picks. That’s three times HE gave the ball back to LSU. Don’t pin the whole loss on our line or our RBs.
But you’re ready to anoint Mason?
An awful lot of quarterbacks threw INTs against that LSU team. With time in the pocket, Murray is among the best.
We won’t since there is plenty of blame to go sround on this non-NFL team we have fielded this year. If you think that our O linemen are great(and I love all that they have tried to accomplish this season) take a look at the film in the last of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th when we were sending Malcolm up the middle . The left guard was blocking, Jones and Zander had started a push next to him, when #22 LSU came under and flipped a 300+ lb player backwards and off the line then dove left to help stop the play. What should have been a big hole got plugged by an undersize player blocking correctly by getting under the UGA lineman’s pads.
Yeah, we were tired, but it was an incorrect block on our part, no fault of others in the backfield nor the rest of the line where the play was going.
Stop the fault-finding on individual players for individual plays because, point is, there is plentyof nitpicking fault-finding to go around. And there is plenty of good fight as well. Don’t start this dumb rant that was picked apart and put to bed before. The players have owned up before and said they didn’t perform the plays as Bobo had taught and called. It is just ignorant to call this bullshit up again and watch recruits say that they hear it and go elsewhere. What in four hells are you trying to accomplish?
The fact of the matter is the Dawgs dropped 2 sure TD passes that coupled with the White TD and the “no way in hell” that should have been a punt return TD (a block in the back coupled with tossing the ball away before the goal line) would have made it 21-0 at halftime and a completely different game all together. After all the screw ups the Dawgs got down on themselves and the defensive letdowns began.
dawgfan17
This. Who knows what happens after that but if we simply catch the passes that hit us in the hands the game is totally different. If the defense lost any focus it was because they watched as good a half of defense that anyone can play go to waste to dropped passes. If we go up 21 the defense fights and claws all the way to the end. Not sure if we win but I really love our chances at that point.
Here’s hoping OSU is in the title game over Bama just to piss of the Paul Finebaum nutbags.
We were who we thought we were. I wrote on a blog “dawgsports” I think that I saw this game as another SCU type game. We gave it away. The drops, the fumble, the special teams play, etc same as the SCU game. Richt, God love him, only knows what Bobby Bowden taught him and Bobby never had to worry about anything but kickers. FSU’s walk-ons were fast enough for the ACC. Until he changes his hard head about Special Teams we had better score a lot of points to make up for them.
LSU was who they have been the whole year. They have no offense until their depth wears you out. They have 4 count them 4 SEC RB’s that could start for us or anybody else except for the other power Alabama. The D played there a$$es off but could not withstand the fresh legs in the second half. As long as UF and UGA don’t over sign we are screwed, it just remains to be seen if Steve can over sign enough to control the East. UA and LSU have the West and the SECCG locked up for the foreseeable future.
I just hope that there are some good OL guys that want to play ASAP but OL is the one position that takes time to build and I don’t see
us going the JUCO route on it.
“We gave it away”? You must be joking. That was *nothing* like the SC game. Yesterday’s game was like the cliche movie scene in which a 5’2″ 100lb. loser punches the schoolyard bully in the face, maybe draws a drop of blood, and then proceeds to get pummeled mercilessly. We gave nothing away. Nothing.
Huh?! Two dropped passes in the end zone and three turnovers isn’t giving anything away?!
Wow, they had 235 yards, 95 of which came on ONE drive, yet end up with 42 points and you don’t see the parallel? The turnovers and STs blunders changed that game from a possible “last drive” game…and that is before we dropped all the passes (including the two for TDs.) We didn’t dominate the WHOLE game like we did SC, but we gave them the short fields and cheap scores.
+1. Was it 28 points off turnovers and long punt returns? I lost count.
Play calling. Called 85 plays to their 45+. They get 42 points…21 in one quarter. We get 10 off 85 snaps. That is just damn puzzling. And Bobo had said they wanted to run more plays this season. Well, he sure got that against LSU, but it did not help the scoreboard. Bobo is the most unproductive OC in the D1 football. Never put anyone in motion to get them to the edge, create space, slow the rush, gas the LSU D line and LBs to the outside.
LSU is good, but when you only get 237 yards of offense, 45+ snaps,have less than quarter of time than UGA, no first downs thru 2 quarters, and only 10 yards of rushing…how good are these guys? Not good enough for me to say they are the best yet. More so when UGA could have had 21 points and that lead going into the 2nd half. Have that with a running game and the SECCG belongs to the Dawgs. Plus, I’m amazed how many missed honey boys fumble through the end zone. I told my grandson he did not score because the ball did not cross the line. Now why did it take so long for the coaches, TV, announcers, and every freaking body else not to see that.
Frankly, I’m for moving the game out of Atlanta and the Dome. Shame a faciltiy is as bad as this hosts a SEC championship game. Metor Atlanta does not deserve to host the game anymore. Move the game back into the conference, not an ACC site. I’d been for playing it in Baton Rouge or the home field of the highest rank team of the divison champs. CMR has better success outside the Dome.
Let’s see we were 2 drops from quadrupling bama’s output over four quarters and OT in one quarter and you blame bobo’s play calling and …. The building???? WTF!?!
Let’s move the SECCG to Jacksonville!
or at least rotate it between the Dome and Jacksonville! Oh, the sheer logic of it all!
WTF is wrong with the Dome? WTF is wrong with metro Atlanta? Whatever dude. Why would you give the best team even more of an advantage?
Your lack of logic is shocking.
Is it just me or does it seem that all of a sudden the “2-personality fans” are showing up again? It’s like their negative presonalities don’t want to understand what has already been resolved and now they chip in as if they have been laying in wait.
Loved the defense in the first half, what a bunch of warriors! We lost, but I like the direction the team is going in and I hope McGarity somehow lets the recruits know that Richt will still be here for years to come. Gotta get this next class signed, the Dream Team has already made an impact, need to get another stellar class.
Call me crazy but we may look back on this season and this game as exactly what our program needed when we needed it. The season to make the program and fans believe again and the game as a reality check as to what we still need to do to go from good to elite. Does it suck to watch one of arguably the best college teams ever just come back and embarass you? yes. But it does not diminsh the path we took to get here. This team has the ingredients to be great again and I am doubtful they will lay an egg in the bowl game or “quit”. Starting 0-2 then relling off 10 straight shows moxie, talent, and most of all fight and resolve regardless of how your schedule is perceived. There’s work to be done for sure but to state this year was an abberation is an insult to a team full of damn good dawgs.
+1 This is why I will never get the reasoning that is wishing uSC was playing in the SECCG instead of UGA.
Good for you, Charlotte. Spot on.
S.E. Dawg
I think it’s going to be hard to finish as you say while other schools oversign and we do not. When a school as LSU has quality depth three and four deep, that makes it tough. We don’t have that and it shows and makes it difficult to compete on their level. I know, beating a dead horse but it is what it is.
^True dat!
I saw a really young team yesterday. My biggest disappointment is that the score wasn’t as indicative of the effort that I thought our guys put up. We really were playing four offensive guards yesterday, and we have to do something about consistency in our RB position. If we can do that we definitely have a bright season ahead next year.
Funny, I saw an incomplete team yesterday. Guards playing tackle, lack of RBs, and not enough depth on the O-line and D-line.
Honestly, I´m VERY happy we played this game. For one, we dominated the best team in the country for 30 minutes. The coaches had a winning game plan. We couldn´t execute it for 60 minutes against a team with a 6-deep of 1st-rounders at every position, but did you see that defense? And those open receivers? There´s plenty to build on there.
More importantly, our young team was able experience elite competition. Nothing increases focus and motivation like getting your whatchamacallit handed to you. This game, and the reality check it provided, will be bugging our players and coaches throughout the off-season. To me, that´s a good thing.
And I´ll say it again: it´s great to be a Georgia Bulldog! Auf geht´s Bulldoggen!
I understand Mason gets mop-up play. But his performance in the fourth quarter was good. I think he sees the field better, gets the ball out quicker, and is as accurate. We know Murray was second string to Mettenburge before his off field issues. But I can not put any reliance on an OC decision making and judgment based on his play selection in the first few series in the 3rd quarter. That was an embarrassment. If you do not think so, then consult the 18 rankings in the polls. Bobo and McClendon are some of the most tenured coaches on staff. Granted the O numbers improved, but when you look at Murray’s performance against Carolina, Boise, LSU, Kentucky…well, I am all in with Ben Dukes.
But let’s discuss the play book. When LSU went man up on the WR and TE well, that sealed Bobo. They could not get downfield and the line could not hold their DL and LB out. They killed the timing on pass plays. That is why they started to the shorter routes. Now do you not think going in [game plan] you expect that from Chavis. Georgia’s receivers go get the ball, b ut LSU out played them for most of them. But Murray has had 2 full seasons to develop. How many will it take him? Because under the current scheme and coaching it will not go forward. Murray had numbers against Auburn and Tech. Hell Alabama passed at will on Auburn. And anybody can throw on Tech. Those games were not accomplishments. The running game. heck most of us have gave up on that….none for 3 seaons. Martinez was an issue on D and it took CMR 3 years to get around to that change but only after pressure. No, the LSU game was a game not only to win but to show recruits you have an OC and RB coach to move up your
play. Did not happen. Wait on Friend to see what another year produces, .
We know Murray was second string to Mettenburge before his off field issues.
No. We don’t know any such thing. G-day play doesn’t mean shit. And Richt said that Murray was his number one all along.
Jeebus, Will, you put more weight on meaningless playing time than anyone else who comments here.
I usually think that your posts are scattershot, but that you make a lot of good points. But your fixation on Murray in this comment thread is absurd. When was Murray second string to Mett? I don’t recall ever seeing any indication of that in the offseason, regular season or G-day game. I’m sorry, but if Mason was better than Murray, he would be starting. There has never been a time in Richt’s tenure when he consistently started the less capable of two quarterbacks. But, as always, the guy on the bench looks better (even if the starter is likely to be All-SEC, apparently).
Will, before last season started, I had that argument with Hale and it amounted to “stop the posturing for Murray to start and let good ole competition decide it with Mett”. Unfortunately, Mett did himself in and noone influenced the outcome except Mett. That is long gone water under the bridge. Whether one is better on the playing field than the other will probably be measured next year when Mett is the QB for LSU.
Not to say that Murray is a darn good QB is disingenuous at this point. Add a great heart, Bulldog courage , leadership and a quality person and we have our Dawg of Dawgs who can take a lick and keep on…. . He has shown resolve when we needed it, great skill when throwing to Freshmen in their first year of SEC play and attitude galore. So is he a few ticks shy of perfection and did we propose that he would stack even higher his Soph year? Yeah. You seem to forget last year when he ran down the sideline and dove in the endzone and fearlessly endured the dizzying hits in the Auburn and other games. Give me this indestructable man all last year, this year and for the future. He will work on the things you feel leaves him shy of perfection and the Second Coming (and he already is half qualified there by birth). Patience with him has been well earned. Let’s try to line up with him and go after “their” ass. That’s the least he deserves.
No one wants to be the super QB that can and will lead us to a NC than Murray. To compare with other QBs-in-waiting is folly. We don’t know if they could take the licks or fail entirely where he has already proven himself. We need to quit worrying whether QB#2 or #3 will not wait patiently for their perceived chance. If they do or don’t wait has nothing to do with Murray and his abilities. As I remember he came in as a 5-star vs Mason as a 3-star. Hell, we have another 4 or 5-star waiting in the wings (LeMay). Do you wish to put Mason above him? Mason will do what he has to do for his future and whatever he chooses, I have no argument. But to compare him with Murray at this point is a no-brainer and I sure hope Mason stays to duke it out next year.
“Hell, Alabama passed at will on Auburn.” A flea-flicker and a misdirection TE throwback are trick and constraint plays. By definition, they´re the opposite of passing “at will.” The same applies to 3- to 5-yard TE out routes and RB screens.
I don’t recall but did LSU have any self-inflicted wounds yesterday?
I really don’t recall anything. Maybe a personal foul?
It’s hard to beat the best team in the country when you throw a pick 6, fumble on the 20, can’t run the ball and can’t cover a punt (albeit against an amazing return guy).
We fell to 0-2 when turnovers and poor special teams coverage hand the other team 4 TDs or more.
Hard fought game and UGA gave their best shot. The miscues and drops have got to be frustrating, though.
Unrelated, though, what is the whole story behind Grantham’s lip thing at the second half? Tracy said hip had a bloody lip but the shots of him looked like he was wearing Lady Gaga lipstick in the second half….wtf
I noticed that too. But I had the sound turned (as usual) so I don’t know what was said.
Hard to blame the coaches or the players they got wore out by a deeper team So did a few other teams this year). The game plan to start was pefection but as the game wore on it played into LSUs hands and with the depth they have due to oversigning and lack of attrition. I know I have been critical of IC but was glad to see him give it a go with a bum ankle. The oline played hard to begin with but that Dline has given everyone fits all year.
Give Grantham’s agent a call and do what it takes to keep him happy.
Bobo ‘s future should be decided by someone that knows more about football than me. Sometimes he looks good and sometimes, well not so much.
Ga Girl in DC
At the top of my Christmas list for UGA is an OC who is the offensive equivalent to Todd Grantham. I think Richt’s loyal-to-a-fault history makes it unlikely that I’ll get my wish, but I can still dream.
That is a shameful post if you are a Dawg fan. Your separation on quality is based on what?Backing the general line of the bullshiters?
Ga Girl, just to fill you in…if you dislike Bobo, you cannot be a Dawg fan. It’s a rule. Balls said so. It’s all bullshit too, even if you’ve posted valid arguments. Wait, never mind, nothing is valid if it doesn’t concur with Balls’ own opinion. He’ll just curse at you and call you names on his computer. You know, the way grown-ups debate.
UGA was beaten by a better team. That is the game in a nutshell. LSU did not expect the passing attack but they caught on and dropped their safeties back. They have probably the best D backfield in college football and lots of depth on D, so Bobo saw fewer hats in the box and tried to get the running game going. When you can’t run the ball and you are in the shadow of your own goalpost and all those ballhawks back there are licking their chops and waiting for you to throw you are in trouble. To me UGa’s biggest areas to improve are special teams, Rbs and O line. Then depth on the D line. LBs and DBs seem set.
Bobo did not drop the balls throw to him,he did what any person with good sense would do. He went to another rout when at least two maybe three touchdowns were left on the ground with drop problem. The game plan had nothing wrong with it. The youth and nerve problems and etc will have to wait. The bigger problem we have now is driving from the back seat and gripes with every breath. We need to appreciate this years efforts instead of crying all the time. It gets old and hurts the program.
DCityDawg
A few simple thoughts.
1- Coaches should have never punted to Tyrone. Kick it out of bounds. There’s 14 points we gave away.
2- Murray’s meltdowns continue, missed several wide open receivers (I counted 10), and threw in 2 intereceptions and a fumble. This is getting old, and I am tired of watching a great team unravel because of Murray’s boneheaded plays and decision and inaccurate throws.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Is this a planned invasion from Dawg Vent? The blog, not you Dawg Vent.
Wow really 10 WIDE OPEN receivers…..dude there haven’t been 10 wide open receivers against LSU all YEAR, much less last night.
Bobo had no back up plan in case Crowell couldn’t go.
Like Branden Smith. Or Malcome.
Terrible preparation.
Did you miss the first quarter?
We should have either gone with Malcome or Smith at running back, the whole game, maybe both. It was our only shot. We were not prepared. Thomas and Crowell did nothing. Had to have a better plan than that. Bobo’s plan seemed to be pass every play, Chavis adjusted to that after the first quarter, and we nevber scored again. Did you watch the 2nd-4th quarters? Who made better adjustments? Wasn’t Bobo. It’s not who has the best first half. It’s who makes the best adjustments and who has the best game plan and backup game plan. Along with Murray’s inability to execute passes to wide open receivers, and punting the ball all game to a Heisman candidate, we deserved to lose.
I smell a troll.
Did Bobo? Why did he call two completely different games?
Hobnail_Boot
Senator, gotta squabble with you on point #3.
You know what Murray’s fumble reminded me of? Greene’s fumble in Baton Rouge on 9/20/03. Greene was outstanding, but also fallible.
They beat us, but we beat us, too.
1. No reason why a program like Georgia shouldn’t have more depth on the o-line, year in and year out – sorry, I just don’t get it. We’re acting like it’s a fact of nature or the result of a lottery or something that we don’t have more o-linemen ready to go.
2. I don’t know how much you pin on the o-line and depth, but the fact is that Murray gave it away three times yesterday. A lot of players may not look ready for prime time, but you put them on the field and they make it happen. I am a huge A. Murray fan, I really am, but I think it’s time to let Mason take every third or fourth series.
3. I’m not a Bobo hater, but after the creative, inventive first quarter, we went back to throw the bomb and run the draw what seemed like every single play. I’m not sure we tried to throw a 10 or 15 yard pass in the 2nd quarter. Maybe he dialed them up and they were covered, but I was heartsick every time I saw #1 in the game as the lone back in in the backfield. I do not understand not bringing in Tree and Figgins to lead the way in a power I running game at that point.
Here’s the deal – we keep saying “Once we found out we couldn’t run on them” or “after our o-line got gassed” – to let Bobo off the hook, as though these are surprises. The whole point of having an OC is so he can evaluate where our team’s strengths can be stressed and our weaknesses can be minimized vs our opponent. It may be that there was no way to beat LSU yesterday, but handing Crowell the ball so he could stand in the backfield waiting to get hit (rinse, repeat, x 50) is not really dialing it up, is it? I have given Bobo credit for calling a great game in the first quarter, but he kept doing the same thing over and over in the 2nd quarter, with predictable results. In fairness, we dropped a lot of passes, but you have to keep working.
4. Not sure I’ve seen anyone mention this, but I believe our D really fell apart when LSU started running the option. I thought that was as big a factor as the stupid punt returns. We had no answer for that.
How many times did Bobo say in a post game interview “Well we took our foot off the gas because the defense was playing so great.”
What a lazy piece of shit.
The defense giving 110% doesn’t mean the offense can give 20%.
Not only is that a stupid plan, but it is a level of laziness and complacency that rots the whole team.
Mike Bobo is a cancer. He absolutely must go.
Im right there with you Muck. Its so disheartening when intelligent fans like Senator take up for a guy like Bobo that won’t go balls out like Grantham.
Who’s a “balls out” OC in your mind?
Spurrier & Sean Payton come to mind immediately. Spurrier goes with what he’s dealt better than them all. He even knows when its the RIGHT time to go conservative. Of course no one is perfect. Id have to do some major research to find who fits the mold that UGA could coral.
Andy, if Richt can hire either one of them, I’ll be the first one to cheer him on.
Since you’re on record as wanting Bobo gone, how ’bout giving me a realistic replacement of somebody who’s “balls on”.
You’ve called me out. How long do I have to research? I love so many spread guys, but it scares me to go all spread in the SEC. I love our current scheme of pro set base with spread undertones. I’ll put up a post on my blog this week of my wife, work, and the youngin’s don’t get in the way. They always come first!
I hear you on having a life. 😉
Richt’s not gonna go spread. And to be honest with you, I’m not convinced you can win the current version of the SEC running the spread unless you’ve got a freak at QB. There are way too many dominant defensive teams.
Holgerson’s offense threw for 460+ on LSU. 533 yards of offense.
West Virginia has a bad defense and they lost by 26.
But… that included 4 turnovers to none.
WVU punted, LSU scored. WVU gets a good 3rd and long conversion, but fumbles and LSU gets the ball. WVU forces them to punt. WVU gets a good drive going and throws a pick and LSU scores. Then WVU drives down and scores down 13-7. Looking good and LSU hits a deep pass (one of their few all year) and goes up 20-7. Then a pick returned to the 1 and it’s soon 27-7 LSU. WVU’s Offense makes some good adjustments and comes out and scores twice. Now it’s 27-21. About to be a game… 99 KO return for a TD. 34-21 WVU gets the ball and a TO on downs early in the 4th on 4th and 3. LSU gets the ball back and scores 40-21. WVU driving… fumbles and LSU goes down and scores again. 47-21.
Actually kind of similar to our game except that WVU continued to have success. Killed themselves on offensive mistakes and ST errors. But Holgerson’s offense was moving the ball on LSU. without stupid turnovers, they likely would’ve kept on scoring. we had our stupid turnovers… but we had long since given up on scoring.
i think there are other offenses that would be plenty successful in the SEC.
If they ever reduce the SEC regular season to one game, you have a valid point.
I just think that people don’t know at this point. I wonder what a school like Florida/Bama/LSU/Georgia would do with a good DC, a good recruiting coordinator and Mike Leach. The SEC schools have the best players and best position coaches/coordinators. But the quirky offensive guys haven’t often been given a fair shake in the SEC. Al Borges and Tony Franklin are NOT Dana Holgerson or Mike Leach IMO (as far as talent, innovation, etc.) They’re not even Kevin Sumlin.
Just like the argument that the Air Raid (and similar offenses) could never succeed in the NFL… I really wonder. Maybe if they were given a few years and some serious talent, they could. West Virginia is going to keep getting better, but they won’t be in the position to consistently compete with the SEC elite because it’s WVU. They won’t have the players. They won’t have the defensive staff. If Florida runs Muschamp out on a rail in 3 years and they hire Holgerson and a competent defensive staff, who knows what will happen? Those guys have never been in that position because the general thinking has always been “it won’t work.” People said that about Urban’s system. Maybe Urban had to have Mullen and Tebow to make things work. Maybe he’s going to OSU because Braxton Miller is there and he’ll leave in 3 years when Braxton finishes up.
I see your point about the one game thing, but… I’m not sure that means that those other systems *couldn’t* be successful. We’ve only ever even seen those systems played by lesser teams against the SEC elite in games like the WVU/LSU game this year or in BCS games. If Leach were going to a big school (and maybe he will be in a few years), maybe we’d have a better idea. The highest I can remember these guys being is at Kentucky (Mumme/Leach), or Leach being the OC at Oklahoma in Stoops’s first year. Have they gone and failed somewhere else at a big time school?
Did people think Spurrier’s offensive philosophy wouldn’t work when he went to Florida? I’m not old enough to know, honestly. Did people say that SEC defenses were too physical and too good for his offense to succeed throwing the ball all over the place? That’s an honest question, not a rhetorical or sarcastic one.
But, even with all that… I’m not saying we have to switch schemes. I’m actually not even on the side that Bobo is terrible at his job. I just think that there’s a pretty good chance that we could hire someone better and that UGA should have the best coordinators we can possibly. The defensive staff seems to be much better at their jobs than the offensive staff is currently. And I don’t see how we can justify that. Again, I’m not blaming Bobo entirely or anything. I just think that we could do better.
Do you honestly think that if Richt went after a new OC the same way he went after a new DC (and staff) that we wouldn’t improve on offense?
I also think that Chad Morris coming from Tulsa to Clemson had a huge impact on their success this season. They made a change and it made a big difference.
Adam’s right. CMR should go after an NFL coach to be OC. You said above that you want a name and here it is–Bill Musgrave, QB coach of the Falcons.
No longer. I think he’s reunited with Matt Schaub as the Texans’ OC.
Musgrave is the OC of the struggling Minnesota Vikings.
Though it is his first year and he has a rookie QB, so it’s hard to say much about him.
But I wasn’t sure if you meant that as mocking me or not, Mayor. I know I may be rambling to some degree, but I’m trying to be pretty reasonable.
If Bobo is as inept as you say and he clearly needs to go, it would seem as though you could readily produce any number of better candidates. Candidates who are not active NFL head coaches that have won a Super Bowl or an active SEC head coach who has won a MNC.
Yes, and I hear you on being called out with no good reply. “Fix it before you break it ” might be a good motto for you Andy.
Richt should be able to land either one of those guys. Also, if Grantham lands another gig this off-season, let’s hire Bill Belichick as our new DC.
I will not be happy unless we hire Vince Lombardi as our QB coach.
I apologize to all I have offended by not having good replies like the two above (Chicago Dawg and Spence).
If we don’t get Ditka I am not making my Hartman fund contribution. I just won’t stand for sub standard coaching. Maybe Joe Gibbs is available…..
Turner Gill and Mike Sherman, should they not get HC offers, would be proven guys-I think you go after a guy with a resume if you pull the plug on Bobo
Here’s the best I’ve got for now: http://theugablog.blogspot.com/2011/12/curious-case-of-bobo.html
Andy, with all due respect, the kind of guy you want for OC isn’t the kind of guy Richt would hire.
I refuse to believe that, though it may very well be true, because I love Richt so damned much.
That’s McGarity’s job to find.
It isn’t my job to find an awesome OC.
I didn’t have to know the perfect replacement back when I knew Martinez needed to be fired. I was on this very blog saying it for years while defenders said it was fine. Its no different now with Bobo than it was then with Martinez.
The worst counter argument of all is “if he’s so bad, who do we replace him with.”
How the heck is that my job to know? I have my own job and life. I watch the Bulldogs and I watch maybe 15 or 20 other college games a year. I don’t watch 200. That’s McGarity and his staff’s job.
So let me get this straight…..you KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bobo sucks. I mean his awful and an affront to football loving people everywhere, but yet you can’t name one guy to replace him. If you can’t name one replacement on what are you basing the criteria for which you use to judge Bobo’s performance?
I’ll hang up and listen….
If he’s anything like most of us, his family and job get in the way of memorizing potential OC candidates names. Most of my spare football reading and watching time is given to all things Dawgs. I do watch hundreds of high school, college, and NFL games each year, but shockingly I don’t know but a handful of OC’s by name. Most of them would be impossible to get, so give me a day or two to write piece on potential candidates. Then you can call me names all you want! Like Neal Boortz always says, “if I had a dollar for every time I heard ‘you’re an idiot’…..”
My point is that both of you (hmmmm….maybe it’s just you posting under two names) seem to have this raging hatred for Bobo but you offer no alternative. You can’t even say why type of offensive philosophy you would replace him with. If you can offer a viable and realistic (realistic being the key word) but I am betting you can’t. Look I was all over Bobo the past two seasons for his playcalling and inability to adjust to what the defense was giving him, this year starting with the S.Carolina game he has turned the corner. I think that every game since (to include last night) has had a solid offensive game plan. The execution has been lacking in some areas but the plan has been solid. When you have a patch work Offensive line and zero depth at the RB position it kind of limits what you can call and where on the field you can call it. There are going to be some head scratching calls but there are for every OC in every game. There were a few in the Falcons game today and I don’t hear anyone calling for him to be fired. Statistics are the only way to compare Bobo’s performance to everyone else’s and based on that I would say he is doing a good job. Before you or someone else trots out the “he pads his stats against the crappy teams” I am using only SEC numbers and guess what…..all the OC’s pad their stats against crappy teams. Why the hell do you think Tebow played into the 4th quarter in blowouts? Stat padding to win the Heisman.
Newsflash: Bobo is just as responsible for execution as he is for the gameplan.
* He’s responsible for our shitty Oline.
* He’s responsible for our shitty run game.
* He’s responsible for our joke tailback situation over the last 5 years.
* He’s responsible for our offense choking and giving away craploads of turnovers and TAINTS (Touchdown After INTerception) in big games.
==> He is responsible for every single aspect and facet of our offense.
Why is it somehow necessary for me to know the replacement in order to be aware that Bobo is doing a shit job?
Our offense sucks. We pad our stats against sucky teams. We disappear in big games. That’s what I see right in front of me as I watch our team.
I don’t live and breathe college football. I don’t want 200 games a year and scout new OC talent from other teams. That’s Greg McGarity and CMR’s job.
Your family doesn’t seem to get in the way of the time spent blathering on blogs and watching hundreds of highschool, college, and NFL games.
Sure they do, otherwise it’d be 1000’s.
How in the hell is it my job to find a replacement?
I can’t cook, but I know if the food in front of me tastes like shit.
I’m sorry but I’m not the AD. Its not my job to find a good OC. But as a fan and a donor I can sure as hell tell when our OC sucks ass.
/apology for profanity
Bad analogy. You’re not a cook here, you’re a food critic. And how are we supposed to judge your ability to assess Bobo’s value without the context of knowing whom you believe is a competent OC?
I’m curious where you got that quote from. This is the only thing I could find:
“We pretty much called everything we had on our sheet,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said.
Not saying you didn’t hear it, but that’s a pretty different sentiment from what else he said.
Let me translate that for you: “I called all the situational plays that were listed on my predictable call sheet, after I went conservative because Grantham’s D was playing lights out.”
So you’re saying that’s what Muckbeast heard, rather than what Bobo said?
I was just being a smart A.
Let’s stay on this. It is one thing to have an opinion, but if someone is attributing quotes that are made up just to support that opinion that is a real issue for the credibility of the blog for you Senator. I may have made some different calls during the game,, perhaps used different personnel packages, but I saw nothing that indicated the offense backed off. And if Bobo said something that dumb in a game we never led confortably, then maybe he does need to go…I just don’t believe it in the context it was quoted. Our problem was lack of OL blocking, period, and it has been for years.
Senator, I was paraphrasing what he’s said in like 10 different interviews throughout the season.
Ah now the omnicient Muckbeast can read minds too.
I argue with muckbeast on here quite often (though sometimes it’s all internalized and I resist the temptation to actually post about it), but Bobo has said in post-game interviews that he slowed down the offense because the defense was playing so well and he didn’t want to risk us making a mistake on offense.
That has, many times, explicitly been his plan this year.
I do see how “don’t screw this up for the defense” is different from “stop scoring and hope the defense wins it” in theory. But in practice… they sure do look a lot alike.
Just a quick hypothetical: if the offense were scoring quite a bit, and the defense (as I said hypothetically) could choose between playing hard and trying to keep the other team from scoring or just let them burn 5 minutes and kick a FG every time they had the ball… would it be ok for them to just let the other team kick those field goals? Or would we still want them to try to force turnovers and get stops? If the defense’s goal was to simply limit mistakes and not do something that could cost us the game ASSUMING the offense continued to play lights out, would we be happy with the defense?
The offense has relied on the defense to help us win close games by not letting the other team score a single point in the second half while the offense has been useless for long stretches. How is that fair? That kind of game turns into a blowout win for teams who produce on both sides of the ball.
Read minds?
Bobo is the one who said it. I’m sorry that I don’t have the exact quote, but everyone here who has been following the season knows what I am talking about.
He’s given that same excuse after countless games when he shut off the offense in the 2nd or 3rd quarter like a lazy assclown.
Junkyard Dawg '00
Just like you know that your gay a$$ hovercard is shit, but you fail to replace it? In all due respect Muckbeast, you and Andy’s argument about this is as compelling as a two year old child’s attempt to speak on the subject. You both can’t name a single coordinator that you’d rather have, you both ignore the stats that prove Bobo is one of the better OC’s in the conference (which is an NFL talent rich defensive conference), and Bobo is a disciple of coach Richt and, as such, runs the offense under the philosophy of Richt. So, honestly, just enjoy the turnaround this year for what it was and send in your donation and ticket money next month and if you don’t contribute any money then maybe it wouldn’t hurt you two to shut up and let the big boys handle it.
I dont typically argue using stats because of instances like throwing 5TDs in a quarter against New Mexico State. There is a place for them in some instances. I could give you 10 names off of the top of my head Id rather have as OC, but I would rather research and give readers real candidates, not pipe dreams. I told you the two best in the game in my opinion, Spurrier and Payton. Now, if you really want to hear my legitimate candidates, Ill put them on UGABlog.com within the week.
BanjoEarl
When Malcome averaged over 7 yards a carry, and the other guys were at about 1 or 2 yards per carry, why didn’t we try that earlier in the game?
Did you see who was on the field when Malcome did most of his damage?
Yeah. LSU defensive players.
Even LSU has a 3rd string (and walkons) and honestly at the end of a blowout like that why would you not have them out there.
C’mon, Mayor, you can do better than that.
The comments about how UGA has not recruited depth at OL are simply wrong. Yes, we lack depth there, however it is not because we have not signed big uglies.
2007 – We signed 8 offensive linemen (they would be seniors if they redshirted). Bean, Boling, Ben Harden, Scott Haverkamp, Chris LIttle, Tanner Strickland, Sturdivant, and Vince Vance (JUCO).
2008 – 4 OL signed. Cordy, AJ Harmon, Ben Jones, and Jonathen Owens.
2009 – 4 OL. Chris Burnette, Kwame Geathers, Dallas Lee and Austin Long
2010 – 3 OL – Brent Benedict, Gates, Kolton Houston
2011 – 6 OL. Watts Dantzler, Zach DeBell, Hunter Long, Nathan Theus, Xavier Ward
That’s a total of 25. In that time, LSU signed 4, 6, 4, 2, and 4 for a total of 20. UGA signed 25% more OL in the past five years than LSU.
Bama signed 2, 3, 7, 3 and 4 in those years (19).
The thinness of UGA’s offensive line is not because of lack of recruiting numbers. Perhaps it is talent evaluation, development, bad luck, or some combination thereof. It is NOT because of over signing.
Hopefully those that signed last year will be ready to play significantly next year along with John Theus.
Got to figure out how to win like LSU.
In 2nd half we should have:
1- made this a field position battle
2- run the ball and punt it high
3- rely on defense
4- rely on special teams
5- not turn the ball over
And Santa Claus with his reindeer making up the rest of this wish list.
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Boss Nova Odyssey
Author: Michael Graham
Michael Graham was a seasoned businessman who'd traveled the globe, first as the son of an airline professional and then for his own career. Spending time in government, advertising, and the hospitality industry, he crisscrossed America and eventually headed a global division of the world's largest ad agency. At sixty years old, he had done more than most men could fit into one lifetime. Yet he needed one more adventure. In his twenties, Graham had opened a restaurant in Utah. Now he wanted to start an Asian eatery in São Paulo. It was not a city he knew well, and its people were even more unfamiliar to him. Even better-or worse-he spoke absolutely no Portuguese. This venture was designed to test him to the max. Before much time had passed, Graham found himself in the perfect storm of red tape, uncertain financial capital, and customers who refused to be pleased. The daunting nature of the challenge he'd set for himself made him wonder why he had undertaken it in the first place. Was it simply a way to stave off the anxiety of aging? Or could this project bring him a kind of success he'd never experienced before?
Blame It On The Bossa Nova
Author: James Brodie
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
-"Hello Alex. How nice to see you again." He pressed the end of the barrel to my forehead. "... It's loaded. I do hope we don't slip on any ice, or you don't make a sudden movement." "He's mad,” said the bloke on my left. "... A looney." I was suddenly sweating with fear at the sight of his maniacal face and the sensation of metal touching my face. How easy it is to die, I thought... stupidly, accidentally... how unimportant to them, how very important to me. I would be slumped in the back reposing into infinity and they would be nervously glancing at their watches wondering how long it was to opening time. It’s 1963. The Cuban Missile Crisis is building rapidly towards its climax. The Swinging Sixties are beginning in earnest. An age of politics, espionage, danger, and sex. Alex Marshall, a young dropout with nothing better to do than to fall in love with a French girl, suddenly finds himself very popular indeed. Recruited as a secret agent by not only the British, but also the Soviets and the Americans too, he is whisked away and plunged deep into the world of international espionage and dangerous politics. Blame it on the Bossa Nova is a fast-moving, engaging mix of spy story, political thriller, and love affair. Frankly told from the perspective of Alex himself, now a much older and questionably wiser man, he takes the reader for a ride as he relives his dangerous years, uncovering some enlightenment in the process.
The Odyssey Of Homer Translated From The Greek Vol 1 5
Catalog Of Copyright Entries
Great Guitarists
Author: Richard Kienzle
Offers profiles of the most influential blues, jazz, country, and rock guitarists and indicates some of each artist's best recordings
Independent Music And Digital Technology In The Philippines
Author: Monika E. Schoop
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Since the turn of the century, the impact of digital technologies on the promotion, production and distribution of music in the Philippines has both enabled and necessitated an increase in independent musical practices. In the first in-depth investigation into the independent music scene in the Philippines, Monika E. Schoop exposes and portrays the as yet unexplored restructurings of the Philippine music industries, showing that digital technologies have played an ambivalent role in these developments. While they have given rise to new levels of piracy, they have also offered unprecedented opportunities for artists. The near collapse of the transnational recording industry in the Philippines stands in stark contrast to a thriving independent music scene in the county's national capital region, Metro Manila, which cuts across musical genres and whose members successfully adjust to a rapidly evolving industry scenario. Independent practices have been facilitated by increased access to broadband Internet, the popularity of social media platforms and home recording technology. At the same time, changing music industry structures often leave artists with no other option but to operate independently. Based on extensive fieldwork online and offline, the book explores the diverse and innovative music production, distribution, promotion and financing strategies that have become constitutive of the independent music scene in twenty-first-century Manila.
Flatbush Odyssey
Author: Allen J. Abel
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Limited
The author's wry account of his return to the place of his youth is filled with the stories of the residents, families, and workers along Flatbush Avenue, the Brooklyn neighborhood's main thoroughfare.
Author: James Vinson
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Conflict Sociology: A Sociological Classic Updated (Studies in Comparative Social Science)
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English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary, Fourth Edition (A L Lange Series)
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Entertainment » Television
Song Of Parkland
by Louise Adams
Monday Feb 11, 2019
'Song of Parkland'
The theater kids were rehearsing when the gunman stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last Valentine's Day.
They were practicing songs from "Yo, Vikings," a kids musical the students were getting ready to present to their community, like they did every year.
When the fire alarm went off, their teacher Melody Herzfeld wanted them to finish the song. The teens credit that decision with saving their lives once they realized what they thought were fireworks were actually gun shots.
Amy Schatz's short (30 minute), simple HBO documentary "Song of Parkland" recounts how theater also saved the students and the school as they recovered from the senseless massacre that took 17 lives. There was drama on stage, but none with the police, as Herzfeld sheltered her young actors in the theater storage room for two hours.
"It was like a war zone," Herzfeld says.
But the student interviewees knew the show must go on, eventually.
"We need to finish what we started," one says. "Our lives were disrupted, but we can keep moving on from something tragic."
"Working on a show gives us a sense of normalcy, strength."
The ensemble feels that theater has always been a safe zone, and remains so after such a tragedy.
Herzfeld reports that ten of her students became the face of the activism following the shooting, and one says that theater training helped them to speak up, figuratively and literally. They created and spoke at the national activism event March for Our Lives.
The group also realized they needed to finally put on the Vikings musical, which they did. They also wrote and recorded songs about their experience, singing "We're just 17; we grew up too fast."
The MSD theater kids were invited to the 2018 Tony Awards, where they sang "525,600 Minutes/Seasons of Love" from Rent.
When they returned home, they continued to sing, and to heal.
Louise Adams is a Chicago freelance writer at www.treefalls.com (and a nom de guerre).
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← CAROL WOODS: FAKE IDs USED IN FRAUD, GANGSTALKING, + ARCHIVE 3 JULY 2016
MAURICE KIRK: SHOCKING POLICE/JUDICIAL CORRUPTION: “ANOTHER S WALES POLICE CONSPIRACY GOES SERIOUSLY WRONG” 4 July 16 + archive →
MICHAEL SHRIMPTON: “BREXIT: THE BETRAYAL” – EXPOSING HEATH video – JAILED + DEFENCE STATEMENT + “Secret Service Framed Me” + more
Posted on July 5, 2016 by butlincat
Shrimpton: Brexit, the Betrayal – “Veterans Today” 4 July 2016
By Michael Shrimpton on July 4, 2016
The latest intelligence in London is that Number 10 and the Cabinet Office are planning to defy the electorate and reverse Brexit. Cameron, the Tory whips and Sir Jeremy Heywood, the pro-EU Cabinet Secretary, are backing a Remain campaigner, failed Home Secretary Theresa May, in the Tory leadership election.
The first sign of trouble came on Friday June 24th, when Cameron’s resignation was not followed immediately by Heywood’s. Heywood is known as a screaming Euro-fanatic, no offense intended, so much so that he wrecked the Civil Service’s already tattered reputation for impartiality by openly supporting Remain.
He is arguably the most hated civil servant in Britain since the notorious Sir Horace Wilson, architect of the shameful Munich Agreement and the man who tried to stop the Spitfire, so desperate was he to let the Luftwaffe through. Some on the Right are already calling for him to be tried for High Treason, although I am not sure why, since Blair abolished the death penalty for treason.
The problem for Cameron and Heywood is that the Tory Party is overwhelmingly patriotic and Eurosceptic. Party members voted overwhelmingly for Brexit and the idea of another pro-EU, Remain campaigner following Cameron as Leader is beyond ludicrous. May’s candidacy is a gratuitous insult to the Party membership, no offense intended. She has in the past made Eurosceptic noises, but that’s all they were – noises. She revealed her true, pro-EU colors when she signed up for the Remain campaign.
To get round the problem May has reportedly teamed up with the man who stabbed Boris Johnson in the back (in fairness, some are saying that he stabbed Boris in the front), Michael Gove. Like May, Gove is a ruthless, charmless, centrist machine politician, again no offense intended. He is smarter than May, but just as ambitious and manipulative. He is a long-term Cameron ally, and it was no surprise when his campaign was given the nod by the Cabinet Office-controlled Electoral Commission, which backed Remain.
The idea seems to have been that Gove and May would be on the same ticket, with Gove being offered the job of Chancellor, but pretend to be standing against each other. If true, that would explain why Gove has no campaign structure in place and repeatedly ruled out standing for the top job, stating, accurately, that he lacks the qualifications to be Prime Minister.
With the ballot sewn up (the membership only gets to choose between the top two) the Party would be denied the choice of a Eurosceptic. Thankfully, the Party in the country has smelt a rat and Gove’s campaign is faltering, so much so that May is having to transfer some of her supporters to him.
Andrea Leadsom, the smart and telegenic Eurosceptic minister, is likely to be get onto the ballot. Liam Fox MP is a nice chap, with respect, with sound views on Europe, although he is a supporter of UK NATO membership, but he is trailing badly. His supporters need to switch to Andrea Leadsom, but it is likely that he will be eliminated in the first ballot anyway, on Tuesday.
The EEA Stitch-Up
The mechanism Cameron, May and German Chancellor Merkel have apparently chosen to reverse the historic Brexit vote is the European Economic Area Agreement. Much less well-known than the Treaty on European Union, this ties in Norway and Iceland to the so-called single market. Membership involves the uncontrolled dumping of German goods and Eastern European and Iberian Peninsula labor onto the target countries. This would meet two of Germany’s four key demands.
Don’t forget that the UK is not only the EU27’s largest export market, it is also the most profitable, since EU exporters tend to charge rip-off prices to British consumers.
The third key German demand is the right to continue distributing dangerous narcotics in the UK. This is linked into their first demand, since most of the German-sponsored cocaine and heroin shipments into the UK come in EU-registered trucks, which are not normally stopped and searched. If a German shipment is stopped they can always get the Cabinet Office to lean on the bent Crown Prosecution Service to drop the charges, or on the Ministry of Justice to appoint a judge to the case who has been around to see Miss Whiplash, as it were. Not all judges’ interest in correction is confined to criminal justice policy.
There are two main drug distribution cartels in the UK, which seem to be divided geographically (they both distribute cocaine and heroin). Each reports to the German operation in London, GO2, which in turn is part of the DVD. The UK is the second most profitable market for German-sponsored narcotics after the US. Aside from the huge revenue stream (we are talking maybe 300 metric tons of coke a year, and by coke I don’t mean Diet Pepsi), the Germans see this as a useful means of undermining society and inflicting British casualties, about 30,000 a year, mostly young people.
The fourth key German demand is that the UK economy continue to be strangled in debt by not having HMRC collect the vast sums in unpaid tax on high-yield trading operations secreted off-shore. At least £1.5 trillion pounds in unpaid tax is held in offshore accounts by British banks, businesses and high net worth individuals, each of whom is liable to pay tax ,if domiciled in the UK, on their offshore trading operations. Nearly all UK mortgages are bundled up and traded offshore, e.g., hence the panic in the courts when informed consumers ask who really owns their mortgage.
It is thought that May and Gove would be willing to cave in to all four key German demands, although May is so intelligence-illiterate (she is the Home Secretary after all), with respect, that she may never have heard of GO2. She is also economically illiterate, with respect, like George Osborne, who would hardly have been made Chancellor of the Exchequer by the Cabinet Secretary had he known his sums. She may not know, therefore, that British banks and businesses own more cash offshore than onshore.
If May becomes Prime Minister and Michael Gove Chancellor it would be a black day for democracy in Britain. There would be massive unrest once it became clear that they were willing to dump between 1.5 and 2.5 million European economic migrants on the UK over 5 years, in order to relieve the pressure on competing European economies, depress wages and maintain a permanent white underclass.
The high figure assumes Turkish membership of the EU, which would allow Turkish nationals unrestricted access to the UK labor market. Turkey is a key German ally in the Near East and Berlin has already signified its acceptance of Turkish membership of the EU to Ankara.
The dispossessed would be likely to respond violently to this betrayal of democracy. If they are able to use the existing far-right links to the Army and the Royal Marines they would probably be able to arm themselves with modern automatic weapons with a high cyclic rate, allowing them to inflict heavy casualties on European migrants.
They would also be able to arm themselves with mil-spec armor-piercing rounds, which would penetrate the thin ‘bullet-proof’ jackets worn by the police. The state of police morale in this country is poor – most forces would probably collapse once casualties had climbed into even three figures. The police are bullies, with respect, and like most bullies they are weak.
To add to this combustible mix the muppets who run this country have slashed the Army to the point where it can no longer mount an adequate guard on its armories and magazines. They’re OK during the week, but at the weekend it’s Guns’R’Us, apparently.
The fly in the ointment is Spain. They refuse to recognise the right of the people of Gibraltar to stay British and have been making menacing noises, accompanied by armed violations of the Gibraltar Maritime Frontier. So far the Royal Navy has not responded with lethal force, although I am hearing that they have come close a few times.
The ‘Dons’ are in an uppity mood and are probably revising their 2002 invasion plan. The master Spanish attack plan for Gibraltar does not involve a frontal assault across the British Lines, but flanking maneuvers using amphibious landings, supported by tanks, at multiple points.
If the Spanish respond to Brexit by invading Gibraltar we are unlikely to repeat the strategic mistakes of the Falklands War, where we failed to declare war on Argentina, failed, absurdly, to bomb Buenos Aires with our V-Force and generally didn’t kill enough ‘Argies’. The result, inevitably, is that Argentina still suffers from blood-lust and is hankering after a second war, which might see an Argentine invasion of the Falklands coordinated with a Spanish invasion of Gibraltar.
As we saw after 1945 with Germany it’s a big mistake to let your enemy off lightly – whole suburbs were left standing in some German cities in 1945, which was ludicrous. Pussyfoot with your enemy as we pussyfooted with Germany and Japan in World War II and they’ll just come after you again.
If there is another Anglo-Spanish War (the last was the Peninsula War, although that was more of a war in Spain, against our community partner Napoleon, rather than against Spain), the RAF will bomb Madrid and other strategic Spanish targets. Although France, Germany and Italy would probably stay neutral (the NATO treaty was not designed to deal with aggression by one NATO member against another), the sight of the RAF bombing the European mainland would be likely to have an adverse impact on any UK/EU negotiations.
There needn’t be any negotiations at all of course. The UK could and should go for a clean break, using the Vienna Convention, rather than opt for the messy and pointless Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. We aren’t going to get anything worthwhile from our European enemies.
Our hopes for Brexit, democracy, peace and prosperity rest on Andrea Leadsom. From what I’m hearing she’s the next Mrs Thatcher, but slightly more approachable (even I never called Mrs Thatcher ‘Maggie’!).
Interstellar Velocity
Not much space this week for a response to comments, nor a review (The Man From U.N.C.L.E. next week), however the query about how you accelerate a mass beyond light speed deserves a response.
The answer was provided by the great Sir Isaac Newton, a more intelligent man than Einstein. If you accelerate a stream of sub-atomic particles past C, or light speed, in an interstellar engine in one direction, your interstellar ship will travel in the other. The boys at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have already accelerated a particle stream beyond C, although they were forced to deny their results under German pressure.
There is no upper limit to the mass of an object which can be propelled faster than the speed of light. Whole galaxies are doing it, and a galaxy is pretty big.
You would need a lot of energy to power a ship of course – not much point trying to power your interstellar ship with a wind-farm, e.g. Happily, such an energy source is available to us, and it wouldn’t need much more than a Ford Pinto sized gas tank. It’s called nuclear fusion.
Fusion research in the UK is being held back by the EU, as part of its agenda to hold back the human race. Once Brexit is actually delivered we will be able to pour money into fusion research.
The sort of scientist who believes in man-made global warming, i.e. very silly scientists, will tell you that it’s all about perspective, or the distance between receding galaxies and the Sol System expanding by more than the speed of light. That’s bollocks, with respect.
When I used to thunder past Golf GTIs (Rabbits, to you guys – good name for a Volkswagen) in my Bentley Turbo R I would rapidly put space between my car and the ‘Hun’. The reason the space between the two cars expanded rapidly was because I was travelling rapidly.
Although German opposition to the peaceful exploration of space has seen space technology largely stagnate since Apollo, we have been making huge progress in areas like composites, life support systems and computers, which will be more than useful when we come to design first interplanetary and then interstellar space ships. Pace most science-fiction movies you would no more design such a ship to be launched through the atmosphere, by the way, than you would put wheels on the Queen Mary. You use would use shuttlecraft, a la Star Trek, although these shuttles would have a visible means of propulsion.
For journeys into interplanetary space you wouldn’t need or want faster than light speed of course, indeed it would be wholly impracticable. Interstellar speeds would be reserved for interstellar space, where there is less to hit.
By the way, one commenter on last week’s column appeared to hint that I might be anti-German. I don’t know where he got that idea from. As I explain in Spyhunter, I am no more anti-German than Bomber Harris.
source: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/07/04/shrimpton-brexit-the-betrayal/
Jail for pervert barrister who said nuclear bomb would blow up the Queen at the London Olympics
Michael Shrimpton on the USS Enterprise in 2006
A barrister who made a high-level hoax call saying a nuclear bomb was poised to blow up the Queen at the London 2012 Olympics has been jailed.
Michael Shrimpton, 57, of Jusons Glebe, Wendover, was found guilty last year and today he was sentenced to 12 months at Southwark Crown Court.
Michael Shrimpton has been jailed for 12 months
In April 19 2012, Shrimpton contacted the office of the Defence Secretary Philip Dunne, and David Lidington MP claiming a nuclear warhead had been placed in London, possibly near to a hospital to be detonated at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
He claimed that intelligence had been blocked from being passed through official channels because the Germans had infiltrated MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
Both offices say they thought the calls were a hoax, but they had to be passed to the Olympic Security Team and the police due to the nature of the threat.
The court heard that Shrimpton is a self-appointed intelligence expert who suggested a sinister German intelligence agency was responsible for this plot to blow up the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
Shrimpton had come to the attention of various police forces over the years and following the London terrorist attacks in July 2005, he earned himself the official label of ‘an intelligence nuisance’.
He was described by the prosecution counsel as an “unrelenting networker, desperate to associate himself with persons in real power and influence, and using any even marginal association with such people to bolster his credibility with other such people”.
On handing down the 12 month sentence HHJ Judge McCreath said: “I must have regard to the very clear risk of disruption which Mr Shrimpton must have recognised when he made the false reports.
“This is a case that cries out for immediate custody, it is impossible for me to suspend the sentence in this case, however I am prepared to take a merciful approach.”
Last year Shrimpton, who says he legally advised General Pinochet in the nineties, failed in his appeal against a conviction for possesing indecent images of children.
He said that images of young boys found on a computer memory stick were put there by secret service agents, and that he was the victim of a government stitch-up.
Senior investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Andrew Mottau, from the South East Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “The nature of such a claim had to be taken very seriously, despite it transpiring to be a hoax.
“This incident could have caused enormous disruption at a time of heightened tension and resulted in the diversion of valuable resources.
“I hope today’s sentence serves as a reminder that wasting police time is a serious offence and anyone who does it can expect to be robustly dealt with.
“I would like to thank the large number of witnesses in this case, their support cannot be understated and their testimony was vital in securing this conviction.”
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “This case involved the making of two bomb hoaxes on 19 and 20 April 2012 relating to the London 2012 Olympics when preparations for the Games were at an advanced stage.
“During the hoaxes Michael Shrimpton passed extraordinary and dramatic information about a threatened nuclear attack on the Games to senior authority figures. Although the information passed was outlandish and fanciful, there was a great deal of national tension in the months preceding the Games and it would have been foolish to reject or ignore the threats, especially when made by a professional man.
“Shrimpton is a barrister with a fascination for politics, the military and intelligence. The bomb hoaxes were not so much an attempt to cause disruption, but a mechanism to gild his self-constructed reputation as an intelligence expert. However, the imparting of such false information had the potential to cause enormous disruption, diversion of scarce resources, and wasted public money.
“Shrimpton represented himself during the trial and pleaded not guilty to the offences claiming he acted in good faith to pass on the information from his ‘sources’ and did so without malice or intent. However, he was found guilty by a jury on 25 November 2014, of two counts of communicating false information with intent after a two week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
“Due to the hard work and dedication of the prosecution team a just outcome has been achieved and Michael Shrimpton, who is not just a harmless eccentric, but a menace has today been sentenced accordingly.”
source: http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/jail-for-pervert-barrister-who-said-nuclear-bomb-would-blow-up-the-queen-at-the-london-olympics-1-6566127
Michael Shrimpton Exposes Ted Heath (and others)
davidicke
MICHAEL SHRIMPTON QC: OFFICIAL DEFENCE STATEMENT IN FULL
Published on: Sep 14, 2015 @ 10:48
“Barrister Michael Shrimpton at Southwark crown court, London, Britain – 06 Feb 2015
Barrister Michael Shrimpton, 57, was today jailed for 12 months after he called a close colleague of former Defence Secretary Philip Hammond to say that a nuclear warhead had been brought to east London and was going to be used to attack the Queen”
Michael Shrimpton’s Official Defence Statement in full:
IN THE CROWN COURT AT SOUTHWARK
B E T W E E N:-
R E G I N A
– and –
M I C H A E L S H R I M P T O N, E S Q U I R E
D E F E N C E C A S E S T A T E M E N T
At all material times the Defendant acted in complete good faith, as a good citizen should, drawing to the attention of the proper authorities intelligence which came into his possession, via prosecution witness Neil Jones (page 129), whose good faith in the matter is not disputed. The intelligence indicated a potential nuclear or radiological threat to the Games of the XXX Olympiad (“the London Games”), with surface detonation and a Ground Zero within 2.5 miles of the Olympic Stadium in East London. The intelligence appears to have been passed to Mr Jones via multiple sources, including a cut-out in Belgrade and the respected intelligence commentator Benjamin Fulford in Tokyo. It followed published threats by the al Qaeda terrorist organisation of a catastrophic (“Level Three”) attack against the United Kingdom during the Games period, specifically mentioning London as the target city.
As an illustration of his good faith, the Defendant used his best endeavours to try and verify the intelligence before contacting the authorities. The approach to the Secretary of State for Defence, in his capacity as a member of the National Security Council of the United Kingdom, was on the informal advice of a retired Director-General of Intelligence, Air Marshal Sir John Walker, whom the Defendant contacted on his mobile telephone. The Defendant was known to the Air Marshal, a distinguished air intelligence officer and former commander of a nuclear strike wing. The actus reus of the offence is not made out in respect of either count in the indictment. No positive assertions as to the presence of an Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) in London were made in either call, i.e. the intelligence was qualified. The notes of the conversations are inaccurate to the point of being garbled. The note by Mr Barry Burton of the MOD was not made until the following day and the note by Ms Sarah Sproat is little more than a summary on a ‘Post-It’ note. In the ordinary course of events each call, having been made on a digital telephone exchange, would have been recorded by Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) under the Echelon system, the Defendant’s voiceprint being held by GCHQ, the American National Security Agency (NSA) and other Allied signals intelligence agencies under the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing arrangements. On the balance of probabilities recordings of both calls are being withheld by GCHQ from the CPS in order to prejudice the defence. On balance the Director GCHQ probably has the sanction of the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, to withhold this material evidence from the CPS, the Defendant and the court. The Defendant respectfully adopts the conclusions of Benjamin Fulford (www.Veterans Today.com, already disclosed) that (1) the Cabinet Secretary reports to the Director General Operations 2 (GO2) and (2) the current Director GO2 is Sir John Scarlett, former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
3. The intelligence briefing to the MOD, which it was intended to back up with a briefing to the Foreign Secretary, hence the call to David Lidington MP’s agent, was substantially accurate and was confirmed by radiation signature readings taken by US military satellites, probably KH-13s, of the National Reconnaissance Office, in low earth orbit between 2200 hours Zulu (GMT) and 0100 hours Zulu on 20th/21st April 2012. These readings, which were downloaded to a ground station near Fort Belvoir, Virginia, USA, indicated that a source of weapons-grade plutonium was present adjacent to, then on, the Blackwater River Estuary in Essex. This Satellite Intelligence (SATINT) is consistent with reporting of a viable IND being removed from the UK by a German SSK. The SATINT would have been made available to GCHQ as a matter of course under the UKUSA (originally BRUSA) Intelligence Treaty and on balance is probably being withheld from the CPS, the defence and court. The intelligence was also confirmed in broad terms in November 2012 at the Lancaster House GICNT seminar, the Powerpoint presentations of which should be disclosed (the Defendant has learnt from several of the participants that there were no formal papers).
The Nature and Sources of the Defendant’s Intelligence Expertise
4. As set out in Part 1 of Spyhunter the Defendant is an intelligence and national security specialist, as confirmed by the amount of intelligence material in his possession when his new flat was unlawfully raided by Thames Valley Police. Since nothing of evidential significance to the prosecution, save for one Exhibit (AAH/4, a notebook), which simply confirms the point made in paragraph 2 supra, as it listed a number of people and agencies via whom the Defendant was trying to verify the intelligence, or vice versa, the Defendant does not intend making an application under PACE s.78 to exclude any of the illegally seized material. The Defendant has never held himself out as an intelligence officer. If the prosecution wish to assert that he has made such a claim they must call the person who alleges that claim was made to him or her, i.e. objection will be taken at trial to inadmissible hearsay statements.
5. The Defendant has advised and represented intelligence officers, including “Juliet Lima”, now living in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, from whom the prosecution has taken a statement and whose connection to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was acknowledged in interview. He has had an article published in a specialist peer-reviewed intelligence publication, the respected Journal of International Security Affairs, whose then Editor, the late Ambassador Harvey Feldman, had long-standing links to the CIA. He has also been invited to speak at intelligence conferences, including the Intelligence Conference (INTELCON) at Crystal City, Virginia, USA in February 2005, the Intelligence Summit, at the same venue (the Hyatt Crystal City) in 2006 and the Intelligence Conference at Gregynog, Wales in 2013. He has also taught the subject, online, using an encrypted online teaching programme called “Educator”, at Masters Degree level, as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the American Military University and has recently written an intelligence text, Spyhunter: The Secret History of German Intelligence. The Defendant has also acted as Human Intelligence (HUMINT) source for a number of Western intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the Metropolitan Police. In 2010 the Defendant provided accurate intelligence about memory sticks holding raw intelligence data being in the possession of the murdered GCHQ officer Dr Gareth Williams to Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who led the police investigation into Dr Williams’s death. The facts that he was murdered and was in possession of memory sticks were subsequently confirmed at the inquest into his death. The Defendant was about two years ahead of any other HUMINT source to the Met on the memory sticks.
6. The Defendant has also been consulted by the media on inter alia intelligence matters, including by the makers of the BBC TV series Spooks. The attempt to denigrate him by Kudos may simply reflect an anxiety not to lose contracts from the BBC, which pays for a substantial amount of Kudos Productions’ output. The hearsay opinions about him attributed to the Spooks scriptwriters are not accepted and the prosecution are put to strict proof of them.
7. The Defendant has visited inter alia the Department of Defense (Pentagon) and the White House in Washington DC. He has conferred at the Pentagon with inter alia Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, military advisers to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Director of the Office of Net Assessment, Dr Andrew Marshall. Pace the with respect intelligence illiterate assertions of the officers in interview Dr Marshall remained at the Pentagon well beyond retirement aged (he is presently aged over 90). The most powerful intelligence officer in the Pentagon, Vice-President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld were protégés of his. The Defendant successfully represented the late General Pinochet Ugarté in negotiations in Washington DC in 1999/2000 designed to secure the general’s release from house arrest in the United Kingdom, in breach of the United Kingdom’s international obligation of comity with the Republic of Chile, of which the general was a former Head of State.
8. The CIA and the White House were represented informally in those negotiations by the late Lieutenant-General Vernon Walters, formerly Deputy Director and briefly Acting Director of the CIA. An exceedingly high-powered individual General Walters acted as an advisor to every American President from Harry S. Truman onwards. He was heavily involved in the arrangements for the Paris Peace Talks which concluded US involvement as a belligerent in the Vietnam War, and advised President Richard Nixon in respect of the US rapprochement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During the course of the Pinochet negotiations the Defendant was invited to lunch by Ambassador (as he became) John Bolton. That lunch was held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Ambassador Bolton, subsequently, was gracious enough to invite the Defendant to attend the Ambassador’s swearing in as Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs by Justice Thomas of the United States Supreme Court, at the State Department in Washington, in 2001. Thames Valley Police are well aware of this as they rang the Defendant on his mobile phone following an incursion by gypsies onto land in Aylesbury, Bucks in which he held a moiety interest, and the Defendant took the call just as his limousine arrived at the State Department.
9. On 27th February 2006 the Defendant was flown out to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in the North Atlantic in a Grumman Greyhound C-2 Carrier On Board Delivery (COD) aircraft, as part of the of the United States Navy’s Distinguished Visitor Program. The Defendant was invited to a one on one working breakfast with a Flag Officer. The matters discussed must of necessity remain confidential, on the grounds of national security, not least as none of the Thames Valley Police (TVP) officers or CPS officials involved in this prosecution, with respect, has a sufficiently high security clearance. Whilst it is not unknown for a British civilian, not connected to the government nor a member of the intelligence services, to be flown onto and catapulted off an American nuclear carrier it is not an everyday occurrence
Intelligence Successes in which the Defendant has participated.
10. The Defendant is well used to working with others in the broader Allied Intelligence Community (INTELCOM) and freely acknowledges that others have participated in some of the intelligence successes identified below. In relation to Operation Vulcan he has never denied that he worked as part of a team, loosely defined. That does not mean that there was direct contact between members of the team. Given the level of intelligence monitoring of the Defendant’s phone lines and e-mail no intelligence source or officer could contact him by electronic means including via digital telephone exchange without exposing their identity to inter alia GCHQ, Siemens, the covert German Deutscher Verteidigungs Dienst intelligence agency and GO2. The Defendant respectfully adopts the statement in the Washington Post for 9th June 2013, commenting on the NSA’s Prism programme (which the Defendant supports) that “intelligence analysts are typically taught to chain through contacts two “hops” out from their target.” The context is admittedly different, but applies just as well to the deniable supply of intelligence by an agency wishing to remain in the background. It follows a fortiori that the telephone call tracing exercise carried out TVP was with respect pointless. The fact that public money was wasted on it at all simply reflects with respect the intelligence illiteracy of the officers involved.
The Defendant correctly categorised the 7/7 terrorists as non-suicide bombers within two weeks of the attacks and so informally briefed in West Midlands Police Special Branch at the first specialist conference on the 7/7 attacks, held at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall on 26th July 2005. The Defendant also warned the Metropolitan Police, at or around midnight on 19/7, after a SO12 (Special Branch) officer visited his then home on Watermead, near Aylesbury, about the possibility of an al Qaeda attack on the London Underground on 22/7. The police failure to act on this warning placed dozens if not hundreds of lives at risk. In the events which happened the al Qaeda terrorists were concerned that their detonators had been rigged for immediate detonation, as on 7/7, and withdrew them from the explosives. The Defendant correctly appreciated that Jean Charles de Menezes was not an “electrician” but a rogue Brazilian intelligence officer, ex ABIN, who was working for al Qaeda as a mercenary electronics expert. If the prosecution wish to assert that he was working as an electrician in London they are challenged to say where and to produce evidence. MI5, MI6 and GCHQ all hold relevant files on de Menezes, which should be produced.
In relation to nuclear threats and nuclear terrorism Operation Vulcan was the Defendant’s fifth success. In August 2000, as set out in Spyhunter, he correctly appreciated that al Qaeda were seeking to acquire weapons-grade U-235 uranium from a covert source in the Philippines. That was the background to the fax to the Defendant on 24th August 2000 from Dr Henry Kissinger, which TVP have. Since U-235 would only be used in a Level 3 catastrophic attack and the only one in the planning stages in August 2000 was 9/11 it is a reasonable inference that al Qaeda and the DVD originally planned to leverage the 9/11 attacks with Improvised Radiological Devices (IRDs). The relevant US files will have been made available to MI6 under the UKUSA arrangements.
The Defendant also correctly appreciated that the scientific intelligence officer Dr David Kelly CMG was murdered and that the motive for his murder, by GO2, was to prevent him passing on to his contacts in Tel Aviv the fact that President Chirac of France, at German request, had covertly shipped, by SSK, several quantities of weapons-grade plutonium from the covert French stockpile. The Defendant further appreciated, and so advised the proper Israeli security authorities, the National Nuclear Safety Administration in the US and Mohammed el-Baradei, then the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, that the Iranian enriched uranium programme was an intelligence blind and that Iran was in possession of operational, plutonium-cored, nuclear warheads. These conclusions are disputed within INTELCOM but the Defendant stands by them and notes that both the United States and Israel abandoned plans for a first use of nuclear weapons against Iran. So far as the Defendant is aware his conclusions are now widely accepted by intelligence agencies throughout the Middle East.
After the Defendant became aware that Dr Kelly, along with David Cameron, then a Conservative Central Office official and now First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister, accompanied UK-manufactured nuclear weapons casings to South Africa, suitable for the South African Blackburn B-103 Buccaneer S. Mk 50 delivery system, with its unique rotary bomb-bay, and that three of the SA weapons were supplied in turn to Iraq and the Iran he correctly appreciated a possible threat to Houston, Texas. The SA weapons were covert, since the Republic of South Africa was officially not a nuclear-armed state, and the weapons were designed for easy covert shipment in a standard ISO container with rails welded to the floor, using a cradle designed by a British engineering firm. Since they could easily be shipped in a container they were a security nightmare, since any Iranian-flagged container ship could deliver a device to any port in the Western world. If the containers were lead-lined, as they would be bound to be, detection would be difficult, until the advent of muon tomography, partly inspired by this very threat.
The Defendant’s appreciation that Houston was a possible target was probably correct. After he so advised the FBI he was invited into a meeting in the FBI Houston Field Office in February 2005, driving there from Los Angeles, via meetings with inter alia the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Tuscon, Arizona (a DEA Supervisor involved in that meeting, India India, now retired, kindly agreed to take a call from the second officer in the case, DS Mottau, who has refused to speak to him, evidence the Defendant says of TVP’s bad faith and unwillingness to due diligence the Defendant’s statements). There was Iranian intelligence (VEVAK) activity on the ground in Houston and the nearby port of Galveston. One of these weapons was probably detonated by North Korea, confirming the theoretical yield of 15 kilotons (KT). The Defendant’s appreciation that a 15KT detonation in a container ship moored in Galveston harbour would significantly damage Houston, home to a large part of America’s energy sector, was correct. The Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), MI5, MI6 and GCHQ all have files on these weapons. The then Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord Boyce, may be able to confirm to the Attorney-General, it being a matter entirely for him, that British Special Forces were charged with intercepting these devices on the ground, near the Iraq/Syrian frontier, shortly before the Iraq War, at a time when the weapons were under the control of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In 2010/11 the Defendant correctly appreciated the possibility that one or more of these devices might be used by Iran to threaten the London Games, by mooring a container ship downstream of the Thames Barrier in the Thames Estuary, where the blast radius would pose a threat to the Olympic Stadium. This appreciation seems to have been shared by Admiral Lord West of Spithead (page 122).
In 2007 the Defendant correctly appreciated that Madeleine McCann’s kidnap was sponsored by the German DVD, whose existence is acknowledged by Commodore English (page 132). As a matter of law the prosecution may not traduce the evidence of their own witness, not least as intelligence is a highly specialist area, requiring high IQ, the CPS officials and TVP officers involved with the case with respect lack any meaningful intelligence expertise or experience whatsoever and none of them is qualified to contradict the Commodore on matters falling within his specialist area of expertise. The largely inadmissible smear report circulated by Leicestershire Police contains outright fabrications, including the false claim that an officer of Leicestershire Police spoke with Major-General Julian Thompson, RM (ret’d). The willingness of TVP Special Branch to adopt these smears without putting the allegations to the Defendant or checking them with respect drags down their credibility as well.
GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and DIS all have relevant files on the McCann kidnap and murder. The Pentagon and CIA files will also be available under the UKUSA arrangements. The current Metropolitan Police inquiry is a farce with respect and arguably a cruel hoax upon the poor parents, who have been systematically and cruelly misled by the police, who are partly responsible for their daughter’s murder. The Cabinet Office and intelligence services are perfectly well aware that the poor girl was murdered in or around December 2008, and that her photograph was sent via e-mail to Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, who selected her for kidnap and sexual abuse. GCHQ have a copy of the e-mail, with Madeleine’s photograph annexed as a JPEG file, which was intercepted by the NSA at the e-maul switching centre at RAF Minwith Hill, Yorkshire. It should of course be disclosed. The Prime Minister of the day, Tony Blair, was probably aware that she had been located to a high degree of probability on board the MV Naomi Corlett in Moroccan territorial waters. The rescue mission proposed by Gerard Group International LLC, on whose Advisory Board the Defendant then sat, was blocked, it would seem for political reasons, as the UK Government was fearful of the damage which would be done to Anglo-European relations by the exposure of the President of the European Commission as an active paedophile, and moreover one who was being blackmailed by the most powerful German intelligence agency (the DVD), who were supplying him with kidnapped toddlers to abuse, in order to satiate his perverted sexual desires. Leicestershire Police are suppressing inter alia an e-mail to them from the Cabinet Office, annexing a chain e-mail from the Foreign Office, complaining about the Defendant’s level of access to IMINT and Communications Intelligence/Intercept (COMINT) material. The Defendant respectfully asserts this is being done for fear of the credibility it would give the Defendant.
The Defendant correctly appreciates that terrorism is a state-sponsored phenomenon. He took a leading role in making the link between 9/11 and Iraq, in particular in identifying the terrorist training facility in Iraq (Salman Pak) where the 9/11 pilots were trained and the equipment on which they were trained (a Boeing 767 simulator seized from Kuwait Airways in August 1990). GCHQ are well aware of this intelligence, as relevant NRO/NSA IMINT was passed to them, but have chosen to suppress it. The Defendant did offer to give evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry but with respect its report is likely to be a whitewash. TVP, and UK police in general, are prevented by doctrinal constraints from dealing with Level 3 terrorist attacks. Viewing terrorism as a spontaneous phenomenon carried out by groups with a grievance, real or imagined, as they do, with respect they are unable to grasp that successful terrorist organisations are backed by intelligence agencies. They also fail to grasp that terrorist attacks in the UK are normally assisted from the inside by GO2. This helps explain their with respect pathetic failure to get to grips with the IRA’s murderous campaign and a whole series of policing failures, including the Brighton Bombing, where they nearly managed to lose the Prime Minister. The police at best are only able to deal with a Level 2 attack, almost invariably after the event, as policing in the UK, unlike the USA after 9/11, is not intelligence led. With a nuclear/radiological attack the police with respect are hopelessly out of their depth, indeed at best can only be spectators. The official counter-terrorist strategy, CONTEST, is with respect risibly inadequate and calculated to perpetuate the failures of the campaign against the IRA, such as it was.
The Defendant also correctly appreciated that Osama bin Laden was not personally religious, i.e. that his public image was a front. In coming to that conclusion he was informed by his knowledge, gained in part through high-level direct and indirect Saudi contacts, including the late H.E. Prince Mohammed, Governor of the Eastern Province, who before his assassination supported the Customer Buy-Out bid for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motors co-ordinated by the Defendant in 1997/1998, without wishing to give offence to any Muslim, that Islam was a fraudulent religion. That is because the Koran was not dictated by God, as Islamic theologians proclaim, but by a series of theologians at the Vatican, hence the original being in Latin and the requirement for early Islamic scholars to speak Latin. The Defendant also understood that the first author of the Koran died before the work could be completed, explaining the differences between the earlier and later chapters. That in turn helps explain the deep division between Sufi and Salafist Muslims, which in turn has a bearing on understanding Islamo-fascist terrorist organisations such as al Qaeda. Understanding that bin Laden only wore religious dress when on public view (e.g. when recording propaganda videos) helped in tracking him. This analysis was of interest inter alia to the NSA and FBI, which may help explain why the illegally seized material included a name in the Arabian Peninsula intelligence section of the FBI. Intelligence analysts and policy-makers who view Islam as a genuine religion, and fail to understand that al Qaeda is sponsored by the DVD, inevitably will be unable to accurately predict its targeting priorities. TVP, e.g. have mocked the Defendant for stating that al Qaeda had probably targeted British rail infrastructure. It is of course easy to mock that which you do not understand. Bild carried reports in the week beginning 19th August 2013 that al Qaeda was targeting rail infrastructure in Europe, citing US intelligence reports.
The Defendant also passed on intelligence on several planned assassination attempts on President George W. Bush. Since urgent warnings were passed to the Secret Service via telephone GCHQ will on balance have a record of them. It is highly improbable that the Secret Service would agree to the release of files from its efficient Intelligence Center in Arlington, but the GCHQ files should suffice. The Defendant has been in contact with the Secret Service, who have agreed to speak to TVP. The absence of a Secret Service witness refuting the Defendant’s claims, which are not being made for the first time and in any event appear in Spyhunter, is noted, as is the absence of a witness from the FBI, to whom the Defendant has also spoken.
The Boeing Sentry AEW Mk 1 Grounding
The political grounding of the Sentry fleet, our best defence against a nuclear terrorist attack, at the critical time provides powerful support for the reasoning of the Vulcan team, and powerful evidence that the Cabinet Office, as Benjamin Fulford has stated, are penetrated by Germany’s GO2. Of course the aircraft could have been sortied, had there been the political will, as there was nothing wrong with them. The MOD would not have misled the public, and in turn the court, with the with respect nonsensical explanations put forward, without Cabinet Office backing. The prosecution position on the Sentries is built upon an obvious lie, that an RAF Sentry has been withdrawn from service. Seven Sentries in all were delivered by Boeing, and all seven are still in service, six in squadron service and one as a training aircraft, all at RAF Waddington. The prosecution would not have put themselves in such an exposed position, potentially damaging to the credibility of TVP and the CPS as organisations (clearly both should be broken up), had not they not fallen with respect for their own propaganda and refused to accept that the Defendant is an air intelligence specialist sufficiently high-powered to be able to confirm from both Boeing, the airframe manufacturer, and Lockheed Martin, the prime maintenance contractor, that there were no reported problems with the Boeing E-3 Sentry in 2012.
Nuclear Warheads Available to the German DVD for Terrorist Purposes as of 01APR12
As of 1st April 2012 there were probably up to seven (7) nuclear warheads available to the DVD, although there are areas of uncertainty over the deployment of a nuclear warhead trigger for the Boxing Day Tsunami and if so how many were deployed, the North Korean nuclear programme and the possible splitting of acquired warheads, i.e. the division of fissile material so as to create two or more smaller viable devices. TVP have never accepted with respect that there are any nuclear warheads unaccounted for, a facile position with respect, unsupported with INTELCOM, indeed, again with respect, it borders on fantasy. Officially there are no missing nuclear warheads of course, but the official position is simply adopted so as to not to alarm the public. A total of four, diallable, 500KT P700 Granit warheads were removed from the SSGN Kursk in August 2000 (the already submitted article on Soviet cruise missiles, which need not be evidenced as it is a published text from a reputable source, and may be cited in the same way as an extract from a learned specialist journal, accurately sets out the history of the Soviet/Russian SLCM programme). A further four 550 KT, non-diallable, SS-19 warheads seem to have been acquired from Kiev on behalf of Iran by the DVD agent Viktor Bout in or about 2002. Two, possibly three, of these may have been deployed in earthquake-triggering undersea detonations (GCHQ have access to the seismic surveys of each event). One may have been retrieved since April 2012 by the CIA in a successful sting operation. There may have been two of the SA 15 KT devices still in circulation, although they appear to have been sent to North Korea, where both may have been detonated. It is the threat posed by these warheads which stimulated the immense research effort into methods of countering covert IND insertion, including muon tomography, able to penetrate lead shielding.
The purported interview transcripts are incomplete and inaccurate, and are not accepted. Strictly the interviews are inadmissible, as there are no admissions, however there is no objection to the discs being played to the jury. The Defendant will be giving evidence, there is no departure from any of his statements in interview, all of which were given in good faith and are accurate, save as some confusion over Skype (the Defendant has been a long-term Skype user and has used Skype terminals other than his own, but Skype software was not in fact downloaded onto seized mini-laptop computer) and playing the discs would to a large extent, the court may agree, take the place of evidence in chief.
Disclosure/Abuse of Process
There has been a wholesale failure to disclose material intelligence files in the possession of JIC, the Cabinet Office, MI5, MI6, TVP Special Branch, SOCA, CTC, GCHQ and DIS, such as to corrupt the trial process and with respect call into question the integrity of both TVP and the CPS. The DPP has very properly, with respect, been forced to stand down and hopefully his replacement will work to a higher ethical standard, ditto the new Director-General of MI5. Clearly Sir Jonathan Evans could not continue as D-G after the Service’s multiple failures over Vulcan, which happened on his watch and nearly cost tens of thousands of lives. The Director of SOCA has also been forced out and rightly so, with respect. Again the defence respectfully hope that his successor will work to a higher ethical standard and stop withholding relevant material, including the Defendant’s role as a CHIS, from the defence and the court.
The Defendant should explain the concept of collateral intelligence attack. When it becomes desirable in the national security interest to force say the director of an intelligence or law enforcement agency from office it is almost unknown for the real reason to be made public, particularly in a nation such as the UK where the state bureaucracy is penetrated by a hostile intelligence agency and has only limited functionality (the CPS with respect is a classic example of a penetrated state prosecutor, hence the Defendant’s conclusion, expressed in Spyhunter that it is in the national security interest of the United Kingdom for it to be broken up). The director in question will usually come under counter-intelligence scrutiny and may or may not be placed under surveillance. If the surveillance or standard MISE checks throw up concerns over corrupt practices, as was the case with the outgoing Director of SOCA (improper concealment of private business dealings) these can be used to force the Director to resign, usually ‘to spend more time with his family.’ This can either be done directly, or indirectly through say an oversight committee or tame journalists in the media. For the avoidance of doubt, although several hundred media contacts were in the unlawfully seized material, this not something the Defendant himself would ordinarily do, although he might be sounded out informally by intelligence officers about concerns they might have, or asked for suggestions as to a suitable successor.
Lines of Cross-Examination
These are indicated in the attached Annex, which it is hoped is a helpful way of setting them out.
MICHAEL SHRIMPTON
A N N E X
Hannah Edwards
Why was the Defendant’s voicemail not treated as a hoax if that was genuinely her view? The Defendant would also with to further clarify the timeline and why the political references he gave were not taken up. If the prosecution wish to take statements from them they are at liberty to do so.
Barry Burton
What was actually said? Why was no note taken at the time? What exactly was said by the Cabinet Office and to whom did he speak? Why is there no statement from that person? To which agencies was the intelligence passed on and why, if it genuinely the view of MOD that the Defendant’s briefing on Vulcan was given in bad faith? What checks were made with DIS? Did TVP go back to Burton after DIS, DIA and ONI names and numbers were seized from the Defendant’s home? Why were the MOD willing to mislead the public, TVP, the CPS and the court over the Sentries? Who grounded them? What is the state of MOD’s knowledge on Vulcan? Why were the referees the Defendant named not consulted, as a background check on him? Can Burton confirm the accuracy of the names and numbers for MOD in AAH/18? Have checks been made, e.g. with former Chiefs of Staff, as to whether they know the Defendant? Are MOD aware of the United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA)? Is it right that the Defendant is associated with them? How many former Chiefs of Staff are associated with UKNDA? What follow-up contact has there been with the Pentagon, the RAN and the Indian Navy over Vulcan, in particular over associated naval activity in the Indian Ocean? Why was the call not recorded? What have MOD done to retrieve the Echelon recording from GCHQ?
Cecile Brits
Why was the Defendant’s e-mail not acted upon? What checks if any were made with e.g. AWRE Aldermaston about the phrase ‘emissions-silent’, standard terminology for a nuclear security specialist? What qualifications does Ms Brit possess which suit her to make judgments about nuclear security? Can she confirm that Sir David Nicholson has been forced to resign in disgrace following over 1,000 unnecessary deaths at a hospital for which he was responsible? Was that scandal the real reason for his resignation or was it his contribution to the grotesque security failure over Vulcan, which placed many more lives at risk, including that of our beloved Sovereign?
Sarah Sproat
What actually was said and why were the recordings not kept? Does she support David Lidington’s re-selection as MP?
Margaret Haddow
Does she support David Lidington’s re-selection? Is it right that ACCA is split, on the issues of gay marriage, HS2 and Europe, on which issues the Defendant is opposed to David Lidington? Can she confirm the circumstances in which the Defendant defected to the Conservative and Unionist Party in 1997? Can she confirm that the Defendant is known to senior figures on the Right of the Party?
Delma Beebe
Can she confirm that the Defendant and John Randall MP are known to each other? The media reports of the Defendant’s defection and the associated press conference, attended by John Randall and the Defendant, at which he was introduced as a Tory should be put to her, as a courtesy. They were served as an annex to the dismissal submissions.
DC Hurt
Where are his notes, supporting his claim that the Defendant stated that he was an “intelligence officer”? Was this officer mistaken about that, or is he simply lying, in order to discredit the Defendant? If he was lying was asked to lie by a superior officer and if so which officer?
DC Cussen
Agreed, as to fact.
DC Hughes
Agreed, as to fact. Clearly the legality of the search and seizure are disputed but those are matters for the civil proceedings.
Lynsey Blas
Why have there been no follow-up enquiries re the Defendant’s intelligence contacts? What has been done to review Neil Jones’s telephone records, even after it became clear that he and the Defendant were in regular communication at the material time? Why was nothing done to verify the Defendant’s statements in interview, save for pointless checks of his phone records, even after he had made it clear that cut-outs were being used? Did she notice a van opposite 8 Jusons Glebe when the illegal raid was being carried out? What contact has there been with MI5 and GHCQ? Why were MI6 and the Foreign Office not contacted after the ministerial statement to the press on 1st November 2012 confirming a nuclear threat to the London Games? What has been done to put material statements by the Defendant to other prosecution witnesses? Why are the two letters from MI5 to the Defendant being suppressed?
Monika Krupska
Agreed as to fact.
DC Havelock
As per Lynsey Blas, with additional questions about contact with MI5. Intel contacts in AAH/18 and 19 will be put to this witness. Why can the claim in interview that Ambassador Bolton gave a statement not be supported by a statement from the Ambassador? Why were no checks made with Major-General Howes in Washington or MOD re Director Marshall of ONA at the Pentagon? Does this officer now accept the truth of the Defendant’s statements about the age and status of Director Marshall? Why do TVP still support CONTEST when it’s risible nonsense and has been an obvious failure? Does this officer now accept that SECTU are out of their depth in dealing with terrorism and do not understand it? What nuclear warheads do SECTU accept are in circulation and available to al Qaeda? Why could SECTU not do a basic Internet search and locate the websites missed by those responsible for Olympic security? What contact has there been with the Russian GRU and SVR? Why is there no statement from the US Secret Service? Does this officer accept that TVP have a history of lying about the Defendant and concealing material facts from the Bar Council and High Court judges? Why was the Special Branch report on the ID of the bogus Iranian Bar Council complainant not disclosed? Why have Special Branch had the Defendant under surveillance for “thirty years” (the officer’s own words in interview) and why have TVP Special Branch been party to the dissemination of smears on the Defendant including the blatant lies that he was forced out of Tanfield Chambers and the Military Commentators Circle? Why did TVP SB smear the Defendant to Christopher Story, aiding the latter’s assassination by the DVD and was this officer in any way involved in the disgraceful murder of the British intelligence officer Dr David Kelly CMG?
Andrew Todd
Why was this witness party to gross breaches of security and confidentiality? Who is John Lynes, to whom does he report and why is there no statement from him? Does he accept that the Security Liaison Office are penetrated by GO2? Did any of the Principals approve of the actions he took? Has he been asked to verify the contact details at the Palace seized from the Defendant? Why have the Defendant’s Palace and Lord Lieutenancy files not been disclosed? Does he accept that the Defendant was in communication with the Palace over a successful attempt to prevent the theft of monies from a joint account in which one of the Principals had an interest?
Matthew Beckess
Squadron Leader Evans
With whom did you consult before issuing your statement? Why have you not dealt with the discrepancy between your statement and the public statements at the time of the MOD? What was the “engineering issue”? Which aircraft was “disposed of”? What aircraft were delivered to the RAF and how many are still in service? Where is the audit trail for this alleged “engineering issue”? Why was Boeing, as the design authority for the E-3, not notified? Ditto the USAF, Royal Saudi Air Force, Armée de l’Air and NATO? The known hull losses and production history of the E-3 will be examined in detail. Where is the statement from Lockheed Martin? Is it right that Lockheed Martin maintain the aircraft? Why is there no reference to them in his statement? Were the Vulcan team correct in their conclusion that that the Sentry was the one aircraft in the RAF inventory able to carry suitable radiation sampling equipment? Does this officer accept that the RAF have a long history of radiation sampling, e.g. Operation Chanti 01 (543 Squadron, ex El Pumerillo AFB Peru, following a French nuclear test, probably at Mururoa Atoll, 20th June 1974, Handley Page HP80 Victor B(SR) Mk 2 XL193)? Does the Sentry have the ability to deploy muon tomography packages? What nuclear devices are assumed to be available for terrorist insertion into the UK? What intelligence follow-up was there to the NRO/NSA satellite confirmation of the Vulcan intelligence? What intelligence ‘wash-up’ has there been to the E-3 Fleet’s failure to detect the Vulcan devices, in particular consultation with the USAF AEW community? What about the Cambridge Airport King Air crash and its monitoring of the Olympic site?
Commander Gareth John
What was the Fleet’s disposition as of 21st April 2012? Why is there no reference to contact from ONI, ‘wash-up’ after Vulcan and the SOSUS records? What contact was there with the Indian Navy, RAN and USN over the incident in the Indian Ocean involving an SSK, NE of the Comoros Islands? Does this officer accept that there is a covert Iranian submarine base in the Comoros Islands? What was done if anything about the covert SSK facility in the Philippines identified by the Vulcan team?
Katie Swinden
This witness’s offensive characterisation of the Defendant’s dealings with Kudos will be challenged. Was she involved in the attempt to deceive BBC Bristol over the Defendant’s retention by Kudos?
Justin Glass
The political differences between the Defendant and this witness, particularly over the EU, will be explored, along with the strong links between EAG and the Foreign Office. It will be suggested that there is a degree of political bias in his statements.
DC Naughton
Was this statement cleared with the Chief Constable? If not, why not? Why was there no investigation of the Defendant’s analysis that Shimon Peres (not “Perez”) had pulled out of the Opening Ceremony on security advice from the Mossad? If the witness cannot even spell the name of Israel’s veteran Head of State how could be set himself up as an expert on Jewish religious observance? Is he Jewish? How many Jewish religious services has he attended? Has he ever visited Israel? The witness will be challenged as to his apparent rejection of the Defendant’s briefing to BTP on 10th August re 7/7, 21/7 and Jean Charles de Menezes. Why have those officers not been called, not least as the reference to their views is clearly inadmissible?
Katie Rothman
Clarification will be sought as to why the Defendant was invited and the attendees at this seminar. Has Professor Neumann been passed the name of Patricia Wilson in the Chancellor’s office in Berlin and if not, why not? Does the witness know who Patricia Wilson is?
DS Palmer
This witness will be strongly challenged as to the circulation by TVP of smears of the Defendant and various lies in his statement, including the false claim that TVP SB officers visited him. Was this officer involved in the smear operation which helped the DVD to murder the Defendant’s friend and source Christopher Story FRSA and the cover-up of Dr Kelly’s murder? Why have SB put the Defendant under unlawful surveillance for 30 years? Who authorised the surveillance? Why does he think the Defendant’s Wikipedia entry was placed by him?
Karen Isted
Cross-examination will be limited to identifying by name the West Midlands SB officer who attended the RUSI seminar on 7/7.
Robert Adkins
The same issue as to the SB officer arises.
Susan Elliott
Why have Leicestershire Police lied about the Defendant? Who authorised the lies? Why is the e-mail from the Cabinet Office being suppressed, along with the tapes of the briefing by the Defendant on the McCann kidnap? Why did Leicestershire Police facilitate Madeleine McCann’s continued kidnap and murder by passing on highly confidential intelligence to Lisbon after they had been warned that Lisbon were penetrated? What does this officer know of the blocking by the Cabinet Office and DIS of the planned JARIC/NSA hook-up? What steps were done to verify the contents of the Barham report? How does this witness explain the kidnap and continued hiding of the young girl from sight if the Gerard Group analysis is rejected? If Madeleine is still alive, where is she? Why was nothing done to retrieve the Montpelier CCTV footage of Madeleine? Does the witness accept that the police inquiry was not intelligence led and was largely a farce, being based upon the facile premise that a kidnap on this scale could have been organised by a lone paedophile with no intelligence agency backing?
Paul Farmery
How did the OIC manage to miss multiple Internet references to a catastrophic/nuclear attack on the London Games? What steps were in place to detect a nuclear attack on the Games and when was the ramp-up hinted at by Alistair Burt MP in November 2012 implemented? What detection devices were in place and when were they put there? Why is there no reference to the Cambridge King Air? Why were the public fobbed off with such an obviously untrue explanation as to why the King Air was overflying the Olympic site? Why did it crash? The generalised incompetence of the civilian security arrangements for the London Games, leading to the need for military intervention to assist the civil power, will be examined. Is it not true that one reason for the dramatically increased military involvement was that intelligence reports had started to circulate of a nuclear/radiological threat? Is this witness contradicting the Security Minister at the Foreign Office? If not how does he explain the discrepancy between his statement and the minister’s press briefing?
Admiral Lord West of Sptithead
Has the e-mail from him to the Defendant been shown to him? Why did he send it? Why did he not deny the analysis put to him by the Defendant at the time? Has he heard of Sir Louis le Bailly, an equally distinguished predecessor as DGI? Is he aware that Sir Louis and the Defendant knew each other and has he been shown the dedications by Sir Louis when making gifts of his two splendid little books to the Defendant? What does Lord West know of naval deployments on 20th/21st April? Does he still accept that he was right to be concerned when in government with the potential Iranian threat? Can His Lordship comment on the Kursk sinking, the article on Soviet cruise missiles served on the CPS, which he should be shown in advance, and does he accept that the Kursk was carrying 4 nuclear-tipped SS-N-19s? If not, why not, given Russian naval doctrine for attacking US CVBGs? What about the SA 15KT nukes? What are his views on the Defendant’s observations on naval matters in Spyhunter? How usual is it for British civilians to be flown by the US Navy onto a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier?
Air Marshal Sir John Walker
How did Sir John advise the Defendant in their call(s)? Does he accept that the Defendant has intelligence expertise? Has he been told about the number of intelligence contacts found when his home was raided? What does he know about RAF radiation sampling capabilities? Were the Vulcan team correct to assume that the Sentry was the right ‘bit of kit’ for the job? What does he know of the SA nukes, the Kursk nukes, the stolen SS-N-19s and the development of muon tomography? What does he know of Commodore English? Is he aware that Commodore English has confirmed the existence of the DVD and GO2? Same questions for Sir John, as a former DGI, re Sir Louis le Bailly, as for Lord West. What does Sir John know about the McCann kidnap and murder by the DVD? Questions re the Barham report, prepared at his suggestion for the JIC. Does he accept that Leicestershire Police were only allowed to lead the investigation in the expectation that they wouldn’t get anywhere, as they were known to be incompetent, to the extent that they were a laughing stock in INTELCOM? What does he know of Juliet Lima, the U-2 pilot represented by the Defendant? General questions re the analysis in Spyhunter, e.g. of the abortive coup in the UK in 1968.
Michael Wyatt
What passed between him and the Defendant in their telephone calls in April 2012? What does he know of GO2? General discussion re the utility of ambulances and liveried vehicles for transporting illicit material and radiation masking. What does he know of the Olympic security ramp-up and the deployment of muon detectors? What does he know of the DVD and the Vulcan devices? Are their security concerns re the TVP Chief Constable? What is his intelligence background? What does he know of the McCann kidnap? What conversations has he had with Sir John Scarlett concerning the Defendant, Operation Vulcan and Operation Canberra (the McCann kidnap/murder investigation)? What intelligence files is he aware of which have been suppressed in this case?
The witness will be taken through Operation Vulcan from the beginning. Why was he concerned? What statements were being made on the Internet? What discussions did he have with Ben Fulford in Tokyo? Can he assist re his other sources? What can he say about a Type 23 frigate deployed off the Kent coast on 20th and 21st April 2012? What does he know of the exfiltration of the first device, code-named Vulcan One? What about Vulcan Two? What about the Kursk? What nuclear devices are out there, in his opinion? Are there any MISE concerns re the Chief Constable of TVP? What does he know of the McCann kidnap and murder and the assassination of Christopher Story? How well did he know Mr Story? What track record does Mr Jones have in the intelligence field?
Commodore English
What is his intelligence background, starting with the Nazi Party rally at Nuremberg 1937, continuing through World War II and thereafter? Did he interrogate former Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess? Exploration of his statements, which are accepted, re the DVD and GO2. What does he know of Vulcan One and Two? What does he know of the McCann case? Exploration of his knowledge of the DVD’s SSK fleet and movements, with particular reference to Vulcan and McCann. What can he say about the relationship between GO2 and the Cabinet Office? What does he know of the Kelly and Story assassinations?
Nicola Slater
Why the change in TVP’s investigations, both as to line and personnel? Why have the MI5 letters been suppressed? What is her true opinion of the intelligence contacts, details of which were seized in the raid on the Defendant’s home? Discussion of the failures of the investigation generally.
DS Mottau
As per DC Havelock and DC Slater.
PLEASE NOTE: It is my very strongly held belief that plausible as Michael Shrimpton may seem it is my belief that many of his claims are little more than delusional and theories largely fed by his own imagination.
I feel able to make these statements as I have known Michael Shrimpton for numerous years and he was a house guest on his return from his parental home in Australia for almost a month and it was during this time that he abused my hospitality by embroiling me in his fancifull claimed bomb plot regarding the Olympics by, without my knowledge, using my home phone to make some of the calls to issue the bomb hoax/story.
I was interviewed by the police on the matter and provided a detailed statement and was unequivalently exhonerated of all blame even seeking to intercede on behalf of the Police to try to arrange an accomodation with Michael Shrimpton that would have spared the public purse the cost of prosecution of his offences – sadly Michael Shrimpton did not wish to remain silent on his claims of a bomb and admit an error of judgement but was determined to try to defend his claims in Court!
Michael Shrimpton will, being trained as a barrister, be defending himself in Court!
As I recall there is a saying about attorneys who defend themselves having a fool for a client! I fear this may prove the case for this particular barrister also.
Make of his strange claims what you will but to me they read with all the plausibility of a publication by Brian Gerrish or the bizarre claims of those involved in promoting the Hollie Greig scam or the claque of trolls abusing and obfuscating to support gross negligence and dereliction of parental duty by Kate & Gerry McCann in leaving 3 babies unattended to go out for the evening.
To be fair to Michael Shrimpton he can produce the most implausible of stories in a manner which is both humerous and to some plausible his stories are not as transparently self serving and at times dishonest as those of Nigel Farage but they do fall more into that style of entertainment than credible facts of gravitas.
The case came to Court on the due date and I am reliably informed that the case was adjourned & is now scheduled to be heard on 10-Nov-2014.
. Regards,
Greg_L-W. .
Posted by: Greg Lance-Watkins
This entry was posted on 14/03/2014 at 04:11 and is filed under Crown vs Shrimpton, Michael SHRIMPTON, Uncategorized. Tagged: Crown vs Shrimpton, GL-W., Greg Lance-Watkins, Greg_L-W, Michael Shrimpton. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Viscount Monckton said 10/03/2015 at 02:05Section 51(2) of the Criminal Law Ac 1977 makes it an offence to give false information about a bomb threat. It was this section that was used against Michael Shrimpton. But Section 38B of the Terrorism Act 2000 revives the offence of misprision of a felony rightly stamped out in the Criminal Justice Act 1967 and makes it an offence not to report a bomb threat. Michael Shrimpton plainly believed there was a bomb threat (whether he should have believed it is another matter). It was, therefore, his duty to report the threat, which he did in the usual way via the MI5 reporting phone line.Be that as it may, anyone who now reports a suspected terrorist act to the authorities would be mad to do so. The nitwits who govern us did not think this through before they prosecuted, and I fear that lives may now be lost as a direct result of their stupidity in bringing this case and the hanging judge’s vicious sentence. Terrorists will have a field day in the UK now, because anyone who has heard of the Shrimpton case will not go near the police or MI5 with any suspicions. The law will need to be changed to get this idiotic judgment set aside, and fast.
Greg Lance-Watkins said 16/03/2015 at 11:53Hi,Having known Michael for many years and being all too well aware of his personna, character and obsessions and having had him as an uneasy house guest for aroumnd a month I do NOT believe Justice was the outcome of this trial.I believe Michael Shrimpton should have received a legal caution and enforced treatment under the mental health act. As a result of what would seem to be a total miscarriage of justice which has so badly let Michael down I fear for his future both in the short and long term.Reply
Regards, Greg_L-W.
It is my belief that Under Law Michael Shrimpton acted correctly based on his belief and that his belief was neither criminal nor mischievous but delusional.
as I have made clear, I believe that the trial and sentencing of Michael Shrimpton was NOT justice done and seen to be done but rather a total miscarriage of justice.
I declare an interest as a long-standing friend of Michael, who gave me sound advice on the West Highland sleeper case almost 20 years ago. He has not really been well in recent years, and both the fact of the trial (which should never have taken place) and the savagery of the sentence raise for the first time in my own mind that Michael may have been right after all in what he reported to the authorities, who for some reason thought that putting him in prison for a year would keep him quiet and make his story go away. The reverse will be the case.
Viscount Monckton said 16/03/2015 at 13:40 We are indeed agreed that justice has not been done. I am taking steps to rectify the situation. The Home Office is playing hard to get and says it will not tell me for six weeks where Michael Shrimpton is. This is unacceptable. I am arranging for Questions to be put down about its slovenly misconduct in this regard. In the meantime, Michael is at grave risk of harm and there will be repercussions if the Home Office’s refusal to disclose his location timeously contributes to any actual harm.
source: http://www.gl-w.com/2014/03/14/michael-shrimptons-official-defence-statement-in-full/
Ex-judge: ‘Secret service framed me over child porn’
Hayley O’Keeffe
hayley.okeeffe@jpress.co.uk 01296 619761
17:25Monday 20 October 2014
A former judge claims secret service agents planted child porn on his computer memory stick in a plot to discredit him.
Michael Shrimpton, an outspoken critic of foreign affairs who advised Chilean dictator General Pinochet, said officers switched the memory stick, which also contained a book he was writing on German intelligence practices,
An appeal against his conviction heard his home in Jusons Glebe, Wendover was searched in April 2012 after he contacted the Ministry of Defence to warn them about an attempt he had uncovered to detonate a dirty nuclear bomb at the Olympics.
However, police instead arrested Mr Shrimpton and found a number of memory sticks which were bagged and labelled by officers.
Only one, which was found in a green glasses case next to Mr Shrimpton’s bed, was found to have contained deleted files, 40 of which were found by police specialists to be indecent images of young boys.
Mr Shrimpton, a barrister and former immigration judge who once advised Pinochet during his fight against extradition from Britain in the nineties, was sentenced to a three year supervision order, a five year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and was told to sign the Sex Offenders Register for possessing indecent images.
Representing himself, the 57 year old told the hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court sitting at Amersham that he believes intelligence services engaged a tactical interception system called G12, to monitor the search on his home and tamper with the items recovered.
He also claimed that he can prove his credentials as an intelligence specialist using a certificate gained when he was flown out to the USS Enterprise Navy aircraft carrier in 2006, and said that address books at his home contained direct numbers for world intelligence agencies.
Prosecuting, Richard Barton told Judge Karen Holt that he did not dispute that Mr Shrimpton had been aboard the USS Enterprise, but did not accept that it was as an intelligence specialist.
He also accepted that Mr Shrimpton’s own laptop computer was not the one used to download the indecent images onto the memory stick.
In court Mr Shrimpton said that he believed police did not have authority to take the laptop or memory stick, because his home is also used as his chambers for law work and could have contained legally sensitive information.
Speaking to the Bucks Herald outside court Mr Shrimpton said that he was ‘not worried’ about the case, and dismissed it as an effort to discredit him for being outspoken about key political issues as an intelligence specialist.
He said: “With every respect to the CPS and TVP this prosecution, based on an allegation of possession of a memory stick which has neither my fingerprints nor DNA on it, is a farce.
“TVP also admit my fingerprints are not on the laptop they have, which, absurdly, they claim is the one they unlawfully seized from my new home in April 2012.
“I wrote my new book Spyhunter on the original laptop. Spyhunter is a 330,000 word intelligence text, the writing of which involved at least a million keystrokes, i.e. the prosecution are alleging that a laptop which I touched at least a million times is mine even though there is not single fingerprint of mine on it, nor any of my DNA.”
The former chairman of Watermead Parish Council has been outspoken on issues including the search for Madeleine McCann, the 911 attacks, the war in Iraq, and international government involvement in the sinking of the Titanic.
Most recently he spoke out claiming that Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 was shot down by a Chinese missile.
source: http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/ex-judge-secret-service-framed-me-over-child-porn-1-6368337
more tripe:
Jail for pervert barrister who said nuclear bomb would blow up http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/…/jail-for-pervert-barrister-who-said-nuclear-bo… Cached6 Feb 2015 – Michael Shrimpton on the USS Enterprise in 2006 … Michael Shrimpton has been jailed for 12 months. On April 19 2012, Shrimpton contacted …
Michael Shrimpton: Barrister who claimed Nazi spies were …
http://www.mirror.co.uk › News › UK News › London 2012 Olympics
Similar7 Feb 2015 – Michael Shrimpton, 57, made the claim in a hoax phone call just … Shrimpton was sentenced for both counts for 12 months to run concurrently.
Nazi bomb hoax barrister handed 12-month jail sentence … http://www.legalcheek.com/…/breaking-news-nazi-bomb-hoax-barrister-hande… Cached6 Feb 2015 – Michael Shrimpton’s professional fate in the hands of bar regulator as … Olympic Games bomb hoax has been sentenced to 12 months in jail, …
Michael Shrimpton faces jail for claming German spies were …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/Fantasist-barrister-faces-jail-sparking-security-sc…
Similar25 Nov 2014 – Michael Shrimpton, 57, is facing jail after being found guilty of phoning …. 12. Click to rate. Freeman of England, London, 9 months ago.
Hoax caller jailed after claiming bomb would detonate … http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/…/11777567.Hoax_caller_jailed_after_claimi… Cached 6 Feb 2015 – Barrister Michael Shrimpton, from Wendover, was labelled an … in Jusons Glebe, has now been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment after …
JUSTICE DENIED: Michael Shrimpton.barrister, author, CSA …
google-law.blogspot.com/…/michael-shrimptonbarrister-author-csa.html
14 Apr 2015 – Barrister and author Michael Shrimpton was jailed in London today. … Michael Shrimpton Tell about Ted Heath the pedophile and child murderer …. 2015 (65). ▻ September (3). ▻ August (7). ▻ July (12). ▻ June (5) … We learn this month that Barry George has been denied compensation for being falsely …
Barrister Michael Shrimpton, 57, was today jailed for 12 …
http://www.rexfeatures.com/…/barrister_michael_shrimpton_at__southwark_cr…
6 Feb 2015 – Barrister Michael Shrimpton, 57, was today jailed for 12 months after he… 6 Feb 2015 : 4419056a LRN. Download; Lightbox …
Michael Shrimpton – Barrister gets 12 months in prison | UK …
ukcriminallawblog.com › In the news
6 Feb 2015 – Introduction. We looked last year at the, frankly somewhat bizarre, case of Michael Shrimpton – the barrister and former part-time Judge, who …
Shrimpton gets jail time for false report – Obama Conspiracy …
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/…/shrimpton-gets-jail-time-for-false-report/
7 Feb 2015 – One of many birther hopes that didn’t pan out, British barrister Michael Shrimpton was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in jail for making …
Hayley O’Keeffe on Twitter: “Bomb hoax barrister Michael …
https://twitter.com/misshoknews/status/563688634327773184
Bomb hoax barrister Michael Shrimpton jailed for 12 months. Copy online at http://www.bucksherald.co.uk soon. 5:20 AM – 6 Feb 2015. 0 retweets 0 favorites
17 July: Michael Shrimpton: “May or Shan’t?” VT – 300000 EURO-IMMIGRANTS / YEAR TO UK WILL CONTINUE
http://butlincat.blogspot.com/2016/07/michael-shrimpton-may-or-shant-vt.html
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged michael, shrimpton. Bookmark the permalink.
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Tag Archives: Courting Mr. Emerson
With a penchant for quirky characters, Melody Carlson once again treats readers to an entertaining story with an eclectic cast. The uniqueness of Courting Mr. Emerson is not only found in its characters, but also in their stories. While I would have appreciated a bit more depth in some aspects of the storyline, I did find it to be an enjoyable read overall.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. No review was required, and all thoughts expressed are my own.
When the fun-loving and spontaneous artist Willow West meets buttoned-up, retired English teacher George Emerson, it’s not exactly love at first sight. Though she does find the obsessive-compulsive man intriguing. Making it her mission to get him to loosen up and embrace life, she embarks on what seems like a lost cause–and finds herself falling for him in the process.
A confirmed bachelor, George vacillates between irritation and attraction whenever Willow is around–which to him seems like all too often. He’s not interested in expanding his horizons or making new friends; it just hurts too much when you lose them.
But as the summer progresses, George feels his defenses crumbling. The question is, will his change of heart be too late for Willow?
Learn more about the book and the author.
Tags: #BookReview: Courting Mr. Emerson by Melody Carlson, Buzzing About Books, Contemporary fiction, Contemporary romance, Courting Mr. Emerson, Melody Carlson, Revell Reads
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Turkey waits to search residence of Saudi counsel - Daily News Egypt
Politics Turkey waits to search residence of Saudi counsel
Turkey waits to search residence of Saudi counsel
Pompeo arrived for brief visit to Turkey after meeting with Saudi king
Daily News Egypt October 17, 2018 Be the first to comment
Turkey is preparing in order to search the Saudi consul’s residence in Istanbul on Wednesday, as part of the investigations over disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
While Turkish investigators were planning to search house of the Saudi counsel, he left Turkey, leading Saudi Arabia to relieve him from his post and refer him to investigation.
The minister’s remarks came after his meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which he described as “beneficial and fruitful”.
Pompeo arrived for a brief visit to Turkey, after meeting with the Saudi king, crown prince and foreign minister in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Following Pompeo’s meetings, US President Donald Trump warned against rushing to blame Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump previously said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman had denied knowing what happened to Khashoggi.
This came as media outlets reported that the men who are suspected of killing the journalist has close links with the Saudi ruler.
The New York Times reported that four of 15 people named by the Turkish authorities as suspects in the case, have links to the crown prince, according to the country’s Interior Ministry.
According to the newspaper, one of the men has been photographed accompanying the crown prince on recent foreign visits.
The kingdom has come under intense international pressure since the disappearance of the journalist after he visited the consulate on October 2 to obtain papers that would have allowed him to marry his Turkish fiancée.
After inspection of Istanbul’s Saudi consulate, Turkish officials said that they found more evidence that Khashoggi was murdered.
Topics: Jamal Khashoggi Turkey
https://cdn1.dailynewsegypt.com/2018/10/17/turkey-waits-to-search-residence-of-saudi-counsel/
Western media role exposed Khashoggi’s true fate
Suspects of Jamal Khashoggi murder should be tried in Istanbul, not in Saudi Arabia: Erdogan
Op-ed review: Media role in Khashoggi case, hopes for Saudi justice
“Intention was not to kill him,” new Saudi narrative on Khashoggi’s mysterious ‘death’
Media issues in Khashoggi case
Crime at consulate, after 18 days Saudi Arabia admits ‘death’ of Khashoggi
Op-ed review: Al-Sisi’s visit to Russia, travel ban, Khashoggi case
Pompeo meets king Salman over Khashoggi disappearance
Disappearance of Khashoggi threatens future of US-Saudi relations
US, Saudi Arabia on economic collision course
Saudi Arabia’s Syria strategy: Rewriting the Middle East’s political map
International sports associations caught between dollar signs and human rights ideals
ANALYSIS: Arab revolts bring Islamist regional vision closer
October 17, 2018 Breaking News
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Knowledge hub enters Egypt’s private university scene - Daily News Egypt
Interviews Knowledge hub enters Egypt’s private university scene
Knowledge hub enters Egypt’s private university scene
Project attracts several universities worldwide, to offer degrees in different specialties: El-Sewedy Education CEO
Nada Deyaa’ January 13, 2019 Be the first to comment
With technology taking over the world in current decades, education remains one of Egypt’s main challenges in meeting the industrial market. Lack of good quality education, practical training, and relying on outdated taught theories as educational sources, are the common struggles facing millions of graduates who eventually find themselves unfit for international market requirements.
With the aim of fighting an educational system that brings the world an untrained, poorly educated graduate, El-Sewedy Education, an Egyptian education investment and management company, opens its doors to students starting from the 2019 academic year.
Knowledge Hub is El-Sewedy Education’s multidisciplinary project, consisting of different multinational universities located within the same campus. In their Egyptian campus, the internationally accredited universities offer students the chance of being taught the same curriculum students are taught in their native countries.
Coventry UK is the first university to sign the partnership agreement with the group. The hub offers students an education which meets international standards, through techniques that are being used for the first time in Egypt.
Daily News Egypt interviewed Ihab Salama, CEO of El-Sewedy Education to discuss further El-Sewedy Education’s new project, its goals and its future plans, the transcript for which is below, lightly edited for clarity:
Why did El-Sewedy Group decide to open a new university in Egypt?
The idea came when we started a corporate social resposibility activity four years ago, called El-Sewedy Technical Academy, which basically focused on vocational education. The programme accepts students after grade nine and teaches them a German curriculum which qualifies them to meet market needs.
From this day, we witnessed the impact on the community, and presently we feel that what Egypt really needs currently is the youths’ good quality of education. The country is in a deep need of well-educated generations, and education is no longer about the theoretical part, it has become more of how you connect with the current industry, as well as how you receive your practical training.
What does your university offer students differently?
We offer students a different model which is called the knowledge hub. The idea of that model is to attract several universities from all across the globe, each in their area of strengths, in order to offer their degrees in different specialties.
The campus is also designed in cluster areas in which technical studies’ students from different universities are combined together in one area. So, there’s an area dedicated to engineering school from all universities, while another is allocated to medical studies, and a third for social sciences and arts.
The beauty of these clusters is not only the degree you get from each university, but the inter-disciplinary connection you can create between all these universities.
Moreover, we provide students with a new educational system that is called the flipped classroom type of education, which is being offered for the very first time in Egypt. This system is different from the ordinary teaching system in which the professor stands in the middle of the classroom, dictating to students what to learn, and they have to memorise what they are being told; rather it is more about interaction, collaboration, and integration.
The flipped classroom system focuses on teaching students how to work in groups, encourages them toward critical and analytical thinking, as well as problem solving. Students in that system get their training ahead and use the group work to come up with a solution to the problem they have, which eventually teaches them what they need to learn. We believe this will change the landscape of education in Egypt.
How do you plan to overcome the challenge you have with several other private universities in Egypt?
I do not see any challenge. We do not compete with private universities in Egypt. Our model is completely different than all of theirs, as we are opening a university branch in Egypt which will host in one campus several world accredited universities.
As a start, we are opening a branch for Coventry, a British University in Egypt. As an academic partner, they come with their curriculum, teaching techniques and methodologies, quality assurance and control. So, El-Swedey University does not offer its students a degree, the graduation certificate they get is from Coventry University.
Our students will be registered in Coventry University and the certificate they get holds the same accreditation as students who graduate from Coventry, the UK, which is a total different aspect than private universities.
However, many of private universities’ certificates in Egypt are internationally accredited, what is the difference your university offers regarding that?
All private universities in Egypt grant students local degrees.
These universities offer an accredited curriculum.
The curriculum itself can be accredited worldwide because it is similar to other taught curriculums despite being improved locally. Nonetheless, our students are officially considered Coventry graduates or any of the signed-with universities’ graduates.
Since you are opening a branch from mother universities in Egypt, will the teaching staff be from Egypt or from the mother country?
All the heads of the departments will come from the mother branch and will be supported by professors from the same university as well.
However, a part of our focus as well is not only the students, but also to develop the way of teaching for Egyptian professors. So, we will provide them with training programmes in order for them to match the criteria of the mother universities, and upgrade their teaching methods.
That way we are benefiting the society from both ways: the students and the professors.
When are you planning to open you doors to students?
We are opening our admission next year. September 2019’s academic year will be ready to host students.
Where is your campus located?
It is located at the New Administrative Capital. It is a piece of 50 acre land, and we are only opening the first phase of it by the new academic year, with a five- to seven-year expansion plan.
What are the study fields the university is offering in the first year?
Engineering with all its fields and programmes, all the computing courses and media.
Will there be any exchange programmes between Egypt and the mother universities?
Yes definitely. The students have the right to go for a semester or a year to the mother university and vice versa. They are eventually all registered at the same university, yet different branches.
What is the tuation fee range of Knowledge Hub?
We have not yet announced that, but the fees will be within the top fee range of private universities in Egypt.
At the end of the day, we are offering a different education model in which there is a partnership with a foreign university and several professors coming from all across the globe to teach your students.
Are you offering scholarships?
Yes. We will offer an athletic scholarship and top students will be released from fees.
Will you offer post-grad studies?
Definitely, but not from the first year. We are also planning to open our doors for masters students.
The campus will also be a hub for entrepreneurship to encourage students to open their own startups and support the innovation of entrepreneurship.
From your point of view, what are the main challenges facing you in the Egyptian market?
To be honest, we have substantial support from the government from all aspects in order to make this a successful experience.
We are mainly facing challenges in schools with the type of education students get. However, we will look into it, as it is our role to bring these students up to the highest level in order to match the type of education we are offering them, which will later on make them meet the criteria the employment market needs.
Another challenge we are facing is to deliver this new education model to both students and parents for them to understand the difference between a private university and a branch campus.
Topics: CEO of El-Sewedy Education El-Sewedy Education Ihab Salama knowledge hub
Culture reporter, passionate reader and writer, Animals lover and Arts follower.
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https://cdn1.dailynewsegypt.com/2019/01/13/knowledge-hub-enters-egypts-private-university-scene/
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No Jokes at Laughing Buddha
By: Grant Y
The notion of a beer connoisseur may sound like a novel concept to those outside of the Pacific Northwest, but as the hops capital this side of the planet, Washingtonians are a bit finicky than most about their beer. It's no surprise then that hundreds of small microbrews and even some now famous breweries, such as Redhook, have all spawned right in our backyard.
One of the rising stars on the microbrews scene is Laughing Buddha, an Belgian style brewery with Asian-inspired flavors. Among the beers offered are the Mango Weizen, a summer ale made with wheat and mango, the Pandan Brown Ale, brewed with pandan leaf and palm suger, the Ginger Pale Ale, flavored with ginger, galangal, and Mandarin orange peel, and the Dragon King Lager, a "classic Japanese" lager, brewed in small batches using the first press.
Chris, overlooking brewing equipment
We met the owners of Laughing Buddha, Chris Castillo and Joe Valvo, for a first-hand tour of their brewing operations, located in the heart of Seattle's industrial district. Long-time friends, the idea of a Far East themed beer had been fermenting between the young, 30-something duo for years. Possessing an appreciation of craft beers along with complimentary skills in brewing and business, Chris and Joe decided two years ago to make that idea a reality.
While both founders consider themselves brewmasters, Joe takes the head role in crafting the recipes while Chris, who recently quit his marketing position at Microsoft, acts as the front-man of the business.
The name of their brewery, Laughing Buddha, was inspired by a combination of personal faith and branding. Both founders consider themselves Buddhist and even sport a traditional religious shrine in the front lobby -- with offerings of beer, of course.
Various bottles from Laughing Buddha
Growth has been fast from the beginning, which included a forced move to a new South Seattle location to ramp up on capacity. Upgrading their facilities with equipment from a failing brewery in San Andreas, Laughing Buddha jumped from the status of home brew to a 15 barrel or 500-gallon brew house.
One attribute to Laughing Buddha's success is duo's uniquely flavored beer, which follows the New Belgium tradition - a live and let live mentality - rather than the German Reinheitsgebot standard, which only allows water, barley and hops. Sales at stores like Uwajimaya and Whole Foods have been brisk, along with demand at Asian restaurants and bars.
"We were trying to fill a specific need," Chris states, when asked how they came up with Laughing Buddha's offerings. The implication is that the Northwest, known for it's German powerhouses like Redhook, could also be in the mood for something a bit more ethnic; a ginger pale ale and nigiri in place of a pork sausage and porter.
Brewing beer for a living might seem like a dream job, don't tell that to the tired duo, who as the only employees, put in 12 to 15 hours a days to keep up with demand. All brewing is done manually and in two-week batches. After each batch is brewed, a bottling truck comes to the brewery to pack the beer, much like at other microbreweries in the region.
To add even more volatility to the mix, recent gas prices and a withering drought in Eastern Washington has sent hops prices soaring, causing every single brewery to scramble for limited hops "We're all affected," Chris says, though he adds, "It's a really good community, everyone is really helpful."
If the young brewmasters' success continues, their new location in South Seattle that is already starting to feel small might have to give way to bigger facilities. With Portland in their sights for the coming year, Laughing Buddha is hoping to keep their growth at a healthy rate.
However, asking whether or not the pair has experienced growing pains, Chris grimaces like a weight-lifter with 800 pounds above his head, "You'd better believe it."
Laughing Buddha can be purchased at Whole Foods, Uwajimaya, Top Foods, Central Market and is served at a growing list of bars in the Seattle area. For a full list, please visit their website at: http://www.laughingbuddhabeer.com.
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In Ouagadougou for FESPACO, stay tuned for more updates →
Daula Hotel Workers Report Not Being Paid for Four Months
(c) Carmen McCain
[NOTE: This blog post my own follow-up to a Daily Trust article by Abdullahi Yahaya Bello published on 11 December 2010. I report what I have been told by the striking staff of Daula Hotel. I have not interviewed the Kano State government. Where I quote, I am reconstructing conversations I had in Hausa and jotted down as notes in my notebook. I did not tape record the conversations, so they are not exact quotes]
[UPDATE: 18 March 2011. When I stopped by Daula Hotel this morning, the sign on the gate had been taken down, and people were working. When I asked them if they had been paid, they told me they had been paid for two months, and had stopped striking but were still waiting to be paid for three more months]
Daula Hotel, the Kano State owned hotel built in 1974/5, was once one of the nicest hotels in Kano. You can see it in the lines, in the airy covered walkways lined with trees and flowering bushes.
It is no longer. I took these photos exactly a month ago 13 January 2011, after a growing curiosity about the closed gates and the handwritten banner flapping outside I saw every time I passed. The hotel lies in ruins, as if in an abandoned city, after a war.
Daula Hotel has 140 staff. The few that were standing around in the hotel compound when I visited told me that they had not been paid since October 2010. In addition, they said they haven’t been getting their annual leave, and for ten years haven’t recieved their NSITF trust fund or retirement benefits. The families of those who have died, they said, receive no pension.
The 11 December 2011 Trust article reports:
Weekly Trust findings show that since Daula Hotel, owned by the Kano state government was commissioned in 1975, there have been no major capital injection or rehabilitation work carried out apart from the cosmetic facelift given to the hotel in 1999 when Nigeria hosted the Under 17 World cup. Mismanagement by successive governments and appointed managers of the hotel, Weekly Trust learnt, also led to the present state the hotel found itself.
According to Comrade Sadeeq Suleiman, branch chairman of the National Union of Hotel and Personal Services, the workers and the hotel are dying gradually. “To say that Daula Hotel has collapsed is an understatement as you have seen after going round the place. We think that there is a deliberate attempt by government to kill this hotel. If not, how can the Kano state government allow this hotel to decay while they have retainership in other hotels in town where they pay bills of nothing less than N350 million for accommodation, feeding and other sundry matters monthly? Yet when they send their guest here, they don’t pay. It will baffle you to know that it takes more than six months for the government to settle just N2 million they owe Daula. If they give us half the amount they spend in other hotels, we won’t be where we are today. They say we are a parastatal but they don’t treat us like a parastatal. Every month we have to go on strike before we can get our salaries. We don’t have service charge and above all, our pension contribution for 10 years was not remitted to the NSTIF. We are suffering. Those who retired have died without pension. We are hounded by landlords all the time and even children school fees are a problem”, he lamented.
For Comrade Dickson Aya, Assistant- General Secretary, National Union of Hotel and Personal Services, one of the pioneer staff of Daula Hotel, it beggars believe that Daula could be so ruined. “I was one of the pioneer staff of Daula Hotel in 1975. This hotel was not just the best hotel in Kano, it was the pride of the north. At its peak up to the late 1990s, we operated at full capacity. If you don’t book in advance, you can’t be sure of getting a room. We had about 300 staff strength then; we generated nothing less than N10 million monthly. Salaries were paid on the 20th of every month and service charge was 15th of every month. We had the best laundry in town. Other hotels liaised with us to send them guests when our hotel is filled up. Weekends were something else. I cannot imagine that the same Daula today can’t operate 30 rooms successfully. It will shock you that we now generate sometimes about N40, 000 in a month.”
He said the Shekarau administration is the worst thing to happen to Daula Hotel. “Seven years ago, things were not this terrible. At least, we were still patching things. But today, we are at a standstill. Governor Ibrahim Shekarau came here two years ago and saw the condition of the place. He met everywhere leaking and promised to address the problem in two weeks. Up till now, we have not seen anything from him. We know that those in government have connived with other hotels in town where they inflate hotel bill to get their share. We are aware that if government bill is N5 million, they add another N5 million as their own share. I am a seasoned hotel administrator and I know what I am saying. What we are saying is that we are tired. If they don’t do something fast our frustration has gotten to a level where we can burn down this hotel. The cheating is too much,” he threatened.
Isa Umar, another staff of Daula Hotel said government has politicized Daula Hotel. That most of the people they post as managers to the hotel don’t know anything about hotel management. “Over the years, most of the managers they brought just came and connived with people in the Ministry of Commerce, the supervising Ministry to run the place down. The so called senior managers who are there don’t help matters either. On a monthly basis, they write all kinds of requisition that they never buy. Requisition for food, diesel, drinks, beddings and so on. Why can’t the government come and check all these things they claim to be buying. Today, it is Mai-ruwa (water vendors) that supplies the hotel with water. No borehole. Do you know that rats and snakes have chased guests out of their rooms in this hotel? Those in the laundry now use their leg and soda to wash clothes because the machines are bad. Look even those who have turned Daula into short service centre no longer patronize us because things have worsened. We are appealing to the government to come to the rescue of the staff and the hotel”
A source who prefers anonymity, told Weekly Trust that the government has retainership with Tahir Guest Palace, Hotel Horizon, Royal Tropicana, Kano Guest Inn, Niima Guest Palace, among others. None of these hotels, according to him, is up to Daula but yet government neglected the place and prefers spending millions with these hotels. He said if government can give Daula N50 million every year, it will save huge resources they are expending on hotels and Daula too will generate profit for the government.
I delayed writing this blog post right away because they told me they hoped to be paid in the next few days. I did not want to post all these photos if they were about to be paid. Several told me that the governor had approved for them to be paid, but the ministry of commerce was delaying the payment. Today, when I visited Daula again, several asked me, “What happened to those photos? What happened to the piece you were going to write?” It has now been four months since they have been paid, three months since they’ve gone on strike.
Striking staff took me around the hotel, through the lobby, footprints marked in the deep dust and then layered over again. We walked through the overgrown gardens, and up the stairs into rooms where the doors hung off their hinges. Insulation dripped from smashed ceilings, and spider’s webs screened broken windows.
Of the 192 rooms in the hotel, only thirty-five are functioning, they tell me. I ask them to take me to a functioning room. Dirty mattresses hang off of old bedframes, the walls are stained. A light bulb dangles from a wire in the bathroom. “How much would this room be if I want to stay?” I asked. “N5000,” they tell me.
The habitable room. (c) Carmen McCain
“How are you surviving?” I ask, “not having been paid for so long? How do you eat?”
“We try to manage,” they smile, grimly. “We ask relatives for help. We live on what little bit we’ve been able to save.”
“I have five children,” one man told me. “They have kicked them out of school. I haven’t been able to pay their school fees.”
“We’ve gone to the Public Complaints Commission, but they didn’t do anything. Daily Trust, Freedom Radio, NTA has reported it but nothing has come out of it. We are fighting for our rights, but the ministry of commerce says we don’t want to work. We want to work but how can we when we are not being paid? There are old people who have been working at the hotel from the beginning who are dying without seeing their pensions?”
“How long has the hotel been like this,” I ask?
“We’ve been needing renovations for a while,” they told me, “but we were managing. For the past seven years it has been worse. For the past five years, we have had to strike in order to be paid our salaries, but this time it has been three months. The governor came to inspect the place around 3-5 years ago, but nothing changed.”
As they took me around the hotel, I could see that the place could be beautiful. The bones are all there. The garden is overgrown but alive. The fixtures, though broken, are attractive. I could imagine it a pleasant place to stroll on a cool Kano evening. But, for now, with its layered over footprints and shattered glass and dusty lion fixtures, it reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s description in his fantasy novel The Magician’s Nephew of an abandoned planet where everyone has died.
The pool at Daula has an apocalyptic feel about it, drained of water, lawnchairs scattered haphazardly, a random couch, backless with the stuffing coming out.
Once they had taken me around to the pool, the workers thanked me and left me to make my way back out.
The light had nearly gone by then, and the photos came out dull and gray.
This entry was posted in Kano and tagged Daula Hotel, Kano, salaries not paid, strike. Bookmark the permalink.
2 responses to “Daula Hotel Workers Report Not Being Paid for Four Months”
Chinelo Onwualu | February 19, 2011 at 11:19 am | Reply
Wow, what a waste of such a beautiful space. I hope it can be brought back to its former glory.
seonag birch | February 17, 2013 at 4:52 pm | Reply
I grew up in Kano in the late 70s and can remember the Daula Hotel as it was and the many happy childhood memories made there, it saddens me to see it like this.
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School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine /
Department of Tropical Medicine /
Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation Certificate (Graduate)
Department of Epidemiology
Department of Global Biostatistics and Data Science
Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences
Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences
Department of Health Policy and Management
Department of Tropical Medicine
Public Health and Tropical Medicine, MPHTM
Tropical Medicine Certificate (Graduate)
Tropical Medicine, MS
Tropical Medicine, PhD
Joint and Combined Degrees
Undergraduate Public Health
Certificate in Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is critical as donors, governments, and other relevant stakeholders attempt to validate their investments and improve public health program performance. Students with a Certificate in Methods in M&E can expect to acquire the necessary skills to assess the performance, effectiveness, and impact of global public health programs. The courses offered will enable students to work effectively with global public health organizations involved with M&E and program implementation. The Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine is recognized for its expertise in M&E, and for producing students with strong marketable skills in this area. Students with this certificate will be prepared for jobs within the public and private sector that focus on M&E across a broad range of public health areas. Jobs in this area include M&E specialists and advisors, technical advisors, data analysts and program managers.
Certificate Purpose
Students will meet the following learning objectives to earn a certificate in M&E:
Utilize and apply the basic terminology and definitions of M&E including basic epidemiological measurements, impact evaluation, indicators, precision, bias, internal and external validity, logical frameworks and public health program goals, measurable objectives, inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts;
Calculate basic measures commonly used in M&E;
Draw appropriate inferences from M&E data;
Work with stakeholders to conduct evaluations and improve programs; and
Communicate M&E information and findings to other lay and professional audiences.
Students enrolled in a MPH, MSPH, MPH&TM degree program at Tulane SPHTM.
Certificate Competencies
Students obtaining a certificate in M&E can expect to acquire teh following competencies:
Understand the theory and role of M&E of global public health programs, and explain the importance of M&E data for informing public health programs and decision making (courses providing competencies include GCBH 6280, GHSD or GCHB 6270, and TRMD 6200);
Ability to monitor and assess the implementation, effectiveness, and impact of public health programs (courses providing competencies include: GHSD or GCHB 6270, TRMD 6200, TRMD 7440, GCHB 8250, BIOS 6040, BIOS 6800, EPID 7120); and
Ability to work effectively with donors, governments, implementing organizations and other relevant stakeholders to validate investments and improve global public health program performance (courses providing competencies include: GCHB 6270 and TRMD 6200).
Number of Credits Required for Completion: 15
SPHL 6050 Biostatistics for Public Healt 3
SPHL 6060 Epidemiology for Public Health 3
Proficiency in the use of statistical packages.
GCHB 6340 M&E of Global Health Programs 3
EPID 7120 Epidemiologic Methods II 3
BIOS 6040 Intermediate Biostat 3
Select two courses in applications of monitoring and evaluation methods (examples). 6
GCHB 8250
Advnced Rsrch Mthds in GH
TRMD 7440
Houshld Smplng Apps in Dvlping
Montrg/Eval of HIV/AIDS Prgms
In addition to the main requirements of the certificate as stated above, students are expected to take three additional credits in a topical area relevant to M&E. These three credits, which may be made up of one or several courses determined and documented in advance ,in collaboration with the certificate leader, are intended to provide deeper and/or topic specific training in an area relevant to M&E. This training might come in the form of measurement in a topical area, additional methodological training appropriate for M&E experts, or in applications of M&E approaches to specific public health problems or areas. Examples of classes include GCHB 8250 Advanced Research Methods in Global Health, TRMD 7440 Household Sampling Applications in Developing Countries, and GCHB 7140 Monitoring and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Programs. These credits will enrich this largely methods focused certificate by providing additional training in th.e M&E of a topical area of interest to the student and/or by expanding their knowledge of relevant M&E methods
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5 Ways Keith Urban’s 2018 Graffiti U World Tour Elevates the Game
Angela Stefano
Jason Kempin, Getty Images
Keith Urban breaks out guitar tricks -- a short solo here, a small change in the recorded melody there -- with such ease, you sometimes don't even realize he's doing it until it's already happened. The country superstar is a pro, and he owns the stage effortlessly on his 2018 Graffiti U World Tour.
Urban delivered two-plus hours of music to a jam-packed crowd in Canandaigua, N.Y., on Sunday evening (July 8), bringing together classic hits, new material and even his very first No. 1 song. From his dual-stage setup to his talented band, everything about Urban's 2018 tour is high quality -- well worth the ringing in your ears the next day.
Read on for The Boot's take on how Urban elevates the live music game on his 2018 Graffiti U World Tour.
NEXT: Top 10 Keith Urban Songs
Source: 5 Ways Keith Urban’s 2018 Graffiti U World Tour Elevates the Game
Filed Under: Keith Urban, Kelsea Ballerini
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Races to decide California Democrat Supermajority
04 Nov, 2014 by Brian Calle
Nationally, Republicans have already taken the majority in the United States Senate and now the question is whether the Republican wave will hit California. In California, the GOP is attempting to block a Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature. To do so the GOP must net a single seat in the Senate, or two in the Assembly, to stop a supermajority from forming in both houses of the Legislature.
STATE SENATE:
There are two majorly competitive state Senate races of note: one in Orange County that Republicans hope to pick up and one in King County Republicans must hold.
In Orange County District 34 puts Republican Janet Nguyen against former Democrat Assemblyman Jose Solorio.
So far, only absentee ballot results are in but based on expected turnout Nguyen has a commanding lead that may prove insurmountable:
According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters Nguyen has 62.8% of the absentee vote to 37.2% of the vote held by Solorio.
In King County, District 14, between Republican Andy Vidak and Democrat Luis Chavez, is turning out to be extremely competitive. Though Vidak won his primary race against Chavez by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, money has been flowing in from outside groups in an attempt to turn the race.
As of now, only absentee ballots are in and the race is incredibly tight. Vidak has 52% of the votes in and Chavez has 47.8 percent of the vote.
One surprise tonight is possibly Senate District 32. It was thought to be a safe Democrat seat but in recent days polls have shown it tight. As of now Republican Mario Guerra has 55.3% of the vote to Democrat Tony Mendoza’s 44.7% of the votes so far counted.
STATE ASSEMBLY:
In the Assembly, Republicans best chances to stave off a super majority are Assembly Districts 36 and 65. Democrat Assemblyman Steve Fox is opposed by Republican Tom Lackey in AD-36 and Democrat Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva is opposed by Republican Young Kim in AD-65.
As of now both Republicans are leading in the polls. Check our blog for up-to-date numbers.
Other competitive Assembly races include:
District 16, the race between Republican Catharine Baker and Democrat Tim Sbranti for the seat vacated by termed-out Democrat Joan Buchanan will go down to the wire. The Sbranti campaign has significantly outspent Baker and the district has a seven point registration advantage for democrats. Still, Baker has kept it competitive.
District 66, incumbent Democrat Al Muratsuchi should be able to hold against Republican challenger David Hadley.
District 40, Democrat Kathleen Henry is facing Republican Marc Steinorth for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Mike Morrell. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.
District 65, incumbent Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva is facing Republican Young Kim. Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva won by 4 points in 2012. The race will be really close, and they probably won’t be able to call a winner for a few days.
More semi-competitive races, but still worthy of mention:
District 8, incumbent Democrat Ken Cooley will need to fend off Republican challenger Douglas Haaland in the general election. Cooley won by 9 points in 2012 and finished over 10 points ahead of Haaland in the June primary.
District 32, incumbent Democrat Rudy Salas is facing Republican Pedro Rios. These two faced one another in the 2012 election, and Salas won by almost 6 points.
District 42, Democrat Karalee Hargrove will face Republican Chad Mayes in the general election for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Brian Nestande. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.
In District 44, Democrat Jacqui Irwin is facing Republican Rob McCoy in the general election for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Jeff Gorell. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.
LetitCollapse 4 November, 2014, 22:12
“Nationally, Republicans have already taken the majority in the United States Senate and now the question is whether the Republican wave will hit California.”
So what? The GOP had the House, Senate and the POTUS for part of the Booosh presidency? Did the nation win or lose as a result? Anybody with a brain would conclude that we lost. The moral of the story is that under the one-party political system that is currently in place in America – that it doesn’t matter who’s in office – the outcome remains the same. The system has turned into a farce. It’s only adversarial on it’s face. As you dig deeper and use your brain you realize that the dems and the pubs wear different colored jerseys but play on the same stinkin’ team!!! HAH! And it’s THEM against YOU!!! HAH! 🙂
Why do you think there’s not even ONE congressperson of the 535 who is a third party candidate??? BECAUSE THE SYSTEM IS RIGGED TO KEEP THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES AT BAY!!! That’s why!!! A third party candidate doesn’t have a snowball’s chance at winning a seat in high office. First, the campaign financial rules eliminate third party candidates from an real consideration and, secondly, the media eliminates them from any national or regional exposure to the public!!! Americans are brainwashed by news anchors like Brian Williams – who is a spokesperson for the ruling class!!! So is Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and Rachel Madow and Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. All of them protect the ruling class! Otherwise, they wouldn’t be where they are!!!
Switching the system over to Republicans feeds you with the illusion that things will change. THEY WON’T FOLKS!!! For God sakes, GROW UP!!!! HAH! Be adults!! If I can figure this stuff out – you oughta be able to as well!!! 😉
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Cancer Communications
Somatic mutations in renal cell carcinomas from Chinese patients revealed by targeted gene panel sequencing and their associations with prognosis and PD-L1 expression
Jie Wang†1,
Jianzhong Xi†2,
Hanshuo Zhang3,
Juan Li2,
Yuchao Xia4,
Ruibin Xi5Email author and
Zhijun Xi1Email author
Cancer Communications201939:37
© The Author(s) 2019
Received: 18 February 2019
Accepted: 12 June 2019
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is among the most common human cancers in the United States, with approximately 63,990 new patients and 14,400 deaths annually [1]. However, RCC is not among the top 10 malignancies in China in terms of incidence and mortality [2]. The clinical and molecular features of RCC differ among distinct pathological types, mainly clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC), and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC). The most common subtype of RCC is ccRCC worldwide. According to The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the somatic mutation landscape of RCC has been revealed by whole-exome sequencing (WES) or whole-genome sequencing (WGS). In our previous WES study, we validated most of the significantly mutated genes reported by the TCGA and identified several novel somatically altered genes [3]. The TCGA study showed that only somatic mutations in BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) were associated with patients’ poor survival outcomes among all significantly mutated genes [4]. In our previous WES study, BAP1 was somatically mutated in 2 of 15 ccRCC samples [3]. Nevertheless, all of these RCC patients lacked follow-up information. Hence, further analysis is needed to determine whether there are any somatically mutated genes associated with the prognosis of Chinese patients with RCC. However, WES or WGS is time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, compared with targeted sequencing, WES was more likely to generate false positives and false negatives due to insufficient base coverage [5].
In recent years, immunotherapy has played an increasingly important role in the treatment of advanced RCC and other malignancies. Based on the current understanding, programmed death-1 (PD-1) can combine with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) to confine T cell activity in the tumor microenvironment, and inhibition of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway can increase the anti-tumor immune response [6]. Nivolumab, a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, has been validated for the treatment of advanced RCC based on the overall survival (OS) benefit [7]. A recent study has shown that PD-L1 expression was a predictive factor in terms of response and OS benefit from nivolumab plus ipilimumab combination therapy or nivolumab monotherapy as a second-line treatment for advanced RCC [8]. In our previous study, we identified several somatically mutated genes associated with PD-L1 expression in RCC tumor cells, including CSPG4, DNAH11, INADL, and TMPRSS13 [3]. However, the sample size in the previous study was only 26 specimens, which was a little bit small. In the present study, we aimed to validate these discoveries with a larger sample size and investigate the association between somatic mutations and PD-L1 expression in RCC tumor cells.
In the present study, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) RCC specimens from 40 patients were investigated using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and targeted sequencing. We designed a gene panel comprising of 173 genes, which contained the newly identified somatically mutated genes, the genes somatically mutated in at least two samples in our previous WES study, and the recurrently mutated genes reported in the TCGA and Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) database. The sequencing depth was set to 500×. All the identified somatic mutations were annotated using Annovar [9]. The functional significance of missense mutations was predicted via several algorithms, including SIFT, PolyPhen2 HDIV, PolyPhen2 HVAR, LRT, MutationTaster, MutationAssessor, and FATHMM. The somatic mutations scored with at least two algorithms as deleterious were deemed as deleterious variants. Other variants, including nonsense, frameshift, and canonical ± 1 or ± 2 splice site mutations, were considered to be pathogenic according to the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) [10]. Among these 40 RCC patients, 27 were males and 13 were females, with a median age of 57 years (range 22–76 years). The median follow-up for these 40 patients was 74 months (range 15–86 months). Details of their clinicopathological information are listed in Table 1.
The clinicopathological information of 40 RCC patients
Tumor grade
TNM stage
AJCC stagea
OS (months)
DFS (months)
ccRCC
T3aN0M0
Survival (metastasis)
T3bN0M0
PRCC
T2N0M0
ChRCC
RCC renal cell carcinoma, TNM tumor-node metastasis stage, AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer, OS overall survival, DFS disease-free survival, ccRCC clear cell renal cell carcinoma, PRCC papillary renal cell carcinoma, ChRCC chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, NA not available
aThe 7th edition of the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual was used
Among all the significantly mutated genes in ccRCC from the TCGA database, VHL, PBRM1, SETD2, KDM5C, PTEN, BAP1, MTOR, and TP53 were the eight most significantly mutated genes [4]. All the eight genes were validated in the present study, whereas only six were validated in our previous WES study [3]. In the present study, VHL was somatically mutated in 10 ccRCC specimens, including five frameshift mutations, namely, p. K159fs, p. L135fs, p. P2fs, p. S183fs, and p. R58fs, all of which had not been reported previously and were deemed to be very strong evidence of pathogenicity. PBRM1 was somatically mutated in 7 ccRCC specimens, 5 PRCC specimens, and 3 ChRCC specimens. Most of the mutations in PBRM1 were frameshift mutations, which had not been reported previously and were predicted to be deleterious. The tumor mutation burden (TMB) of the 40 RCC specimens was calculated based on the custom-designed 173-gene panel. The TMB was significantly higher in RCC specimens with somatically mutated PBRM1 than in those without somatically mutated PBRM1 (P = 0.020). The sequencing depth in the present study was higher than that in our previous WES study. Consequently, more somatic mutations in each single specimen were revealed in the present study than in the TCGA data. There was usually more than one type of mutation identified in a single gene in multiple specimens. For instance, BAP1 was somatically mutated in 3 ccRCC specimens in the present study, namely a frameshift deletion (p. S432fs) and insertion (p. P462fs) in sample 9, a deletion–insertion mutation [p. E642_I643delins (39)] in sample 13, and a frameshift insertion (p. P339fs) and deletion–insertion mutation [p. I191_D192delins (18)] in sample 20. Mutated BAP1 or loss of BAP1 expression was reported to be associated with poor outcome in ccRCC [4, 11]. However, no significant association between BAP1 and prognosis was found in the present study.
In our previous WES study, we identified several newly somatically mutated genes, including HGC6.3, DDX51, NWD2, CDC42EP1, NPIPB5, HSCB, HMCN2, and PCDHB9 in ccRCC; DEPDC4, PNLIP, SARDH, and ZAN in PRCC; and KRTAP4-8 in ChRCC [3]. All of these genes were enrolled in our custom-designed gene panel for further investigation with a larger sample size. As such, most of these newly identified somatically mutated genes were validated in the present study, except for HMCN2 and PCDHB9 in ccRCC and DEPDC4 and ZAN in PRCC. Three somatic mutations in DEPDC4 were identified in ccRCC specimens, namely 2 frameshift deletions (p. F150fs and p. R21fs) and 1 deletion–insertion [p. E147_L148delins (8)], all of which were predicted to be deleterious. Among the 40 RCC patients with complete follow-up information, univariate survival analysis with log-rank tests revealed that the disease-free survival (DFS) was shorter in patients with the maximum diameter of tumor > 7 cm than in patients with the maximum diameter of tumor ≤ 7 cm (P = 0.003) and shorter in patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage III than in patients with AJCC stage I–II (P < 0.001). In addition, we found a slight trend towards an association between DFS and somatically mutated DDX51 (P = 0.144). The three variables with P < 0.15 were all enrolled in the multivariate Cox regression survival analysis, which showed that somatically mutated DDX51 (P = 0.017) and AJCC stage III (P = 0.006) were independent risk factors for DFS among RCC patients (Table 2 and Fig. 1). However, no significant association between somatically mutated genes and OS was found in the present study. Among the 20 ccRCC specimens in the present study, DDX51 was somatically mutated in 5 specimens with six mutations, namely, a deletion–insertion mutation [p. K611_V612delins (35)] in 1 specimen, a missense mutation (p. S116N) in 2 specimens, two frameshift insertion mutations (p. G147fs and p. H28fs) in 1 specimen, and a frameshift deletion (p.A273fs) in 1 specimen. Notably, the frameshift deletion (p. A273fs) was located in the DEAD protein domain of DDX51 (Fig. 2). The missense mutation in DDX51 in both specimens was predicted to be benign or neutral, whereas the deletion–insertion mutation and three frameshift mutations were most likely to be deleterious according to the ACMG guidelines. Furthermore, somatic mutations in DDX51 were also identified in two other RCC subtypes, including a frameshift deletion (p. R519fs) in PRCC predicted to be deleterious and a missense mutation (p. P123R) in ChRCC predicted to be benign or neutral.
Multivariate Cox regression analysis for the DFS of RCC patients
Mutated DDX51
1.338–19.432
AJCC stage III
Maximum diameter of tumor > 7 cm
DFS disease-free survival, RCC renal cell carcinoma, CI confidence interval, DDX51 DEAD-box helicase 51, AJCC American Joint Committee on Cancer
The Kaplan–Meier disease-free survival (DFS) curves of 40 renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. a Survival curves of patients with or without nutated DEAD-box helicase 51 (DDX51); b survival curves of patients with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stages I–II or III
Mutation Mapper interprets mutations with protein domains of DEAD-box helicase 51 (DDX51). The mutations are presented by circles and colors: green (missense), black (frameshift), brown (stop-gain)
In our previous study, PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was detected in 6 (23%) of 26 RCC specimens: 3 ccRCC specimens, 2 PRCC specimens, and 1 ChRCC specimen [3]. In the present study, PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was detected in 6 (15%) of the 40 RCC samples: 1 ccRCC sample, 4 PRCC samples, and 1 ChRCC sample (Fig. 3). Combined with the 26 RCC specimens investigated in our previous study, PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was positive in 4 (11%) of 35 ccRCC specimens. We identified 6 genes, VHL, INADL, MUC4, RAD21, CSPG4, and BAP1, that were somatically mutated in 3 of the 4 PD-L1-positive ccRCC specimens. Nevertheless, only mutated RAD21 and BAP1 were associated with PD-L1 expression in tumor cells. Among the 35 ccRCC specimens (15 from our previous WES study [3] and 20 in the present study), Fisher's exact test revealed that the PD-L1-positive rate in tumor cells was higher in specimens with somatically mutated RAD21 (P = 0.002) and BAP1 (P = 0.006) than in specimens without those mutated genes. The somatic mutations in BAP1 (p. P352fs, p. H193Q, p. S432fs, and p. P462fs) and RAD21 (p. F2 L, p. F304S, p. R402fs, and p. L515fs) detected in the 3 PD-L1-positive ccRCC samples were all predicted to be deleterious.
Immunohistochemical staining of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in renal cell carcinoma specimens. a, b Yellowish-brown PD-L1-positive staining on cell membrane in a G1 tumor; c, d PD-L1-negative staining in adjacent normal tissue
In conclusion, RCC patients with somatically mutated PBRM1 tend to have higher TMB than those without it. The somatically mutated DDX51 is an independent risk factor for DFS among RCC patients and could be a new candidate gene for predicting the prognosis of RCC. The somatically mutated RAD21 and BAP1 are associated with PD-L1 expression in ccRCC tumor cells and might serve as a potential predictor of the response to immunotherapy with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in ccRCC patients.
Jie Wang and Jianzhong Xi contributed equally to this work
RCC:
ccRCC:
PRCC:
papillary renal cell carcinoma
ChRCC:
chromophobe renal cell carcinoma
TCGA:
The Cancer Genome Atlas
WES:
whole-exome sequencing
WGS:
whole-genome sequencing
PD-1:
programmed death-1
PD-L1:
programmed death-ligand 1
FFPE:
formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded
AJCC:
American Joint Committee on Cancer
IHC:
COSMIC:
Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer
ACMG:
American College of Medical Genetics
TMB:
tumor mutation burden
DFS:
BAP1 :
BRCA1-associated protein 1
DDX51 :
DEAD-box helicase 51
We thank Yongchen Ma’s contribution for performing the immunohistochemistry staining.
The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81272829).
YX and JL contributed to the acquisition of whole data independently and presented the same results. JW, HZ, and JL were responsible for DNA extraction, library preparation and immunohistochemical assays. JW and ZX were involved in the diagnosis and the recruitment of the patients in our affiliated hospitals and follow-up study. YX, HZ, and JW contributed to statistical analysis and data interpretation. ZX and RX contributed to revising it critically for important intellectual content. ZX, JX, and RX designed and organized the study. JW drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The study protocol conformed to the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki and all experiments involving human tissues and clinical data were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines. The present study was approved by the biomedical research ethics committee of Peking University First Hospital. Written informed contents were acquired from all the patients.
Department of Urology, Peking University First Hospital and Institute of Urology, National Research Center for Genitourinary Oncology, No 8, Xishiku Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100034, P. R. China
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China
Beijing Genex Health Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing, 100195, P. R. China
Chongqing Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Precision Medicine, Chongqing, 401336, P. R. China
School of Mathematical Sciences and Center for Statistical Science, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China
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Home Insights “We need more women in funding, here’s why”, says a man.
“We need more women in funding, here’s why”
40% of accountants’ directors are women. Only 8.5% help with funding.
Oliver Cummings in accountant, women in funding
Yes, we all know that there’s no gender parity in business. We know that we need more women on boards. This is not news. We’ve been talking about this for many years.
Increasingly, however, businesses are starting to recognise that employing more women is a driver of positive economic change. For example, a recent study by McKinsey forecasts that eliminating the gender gap in its entirety could add USD 28 trillion, or a 26% boost to global GDP by 20251.
The growth in some sectors, while slow, is encouraging. According to Darina Barrett of KPMG U.K., “The gender balance in European national governments is continually improving with women currently in 29 percent of government roles.2” Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for our industry. Of the 176 global central banks, just 14, or 8%, had a woman as governor as of August 2015.3
Female accounting firm directors in UK
Data from Companies House
Curious to know precisely what the breakdown of female directors is in UK accounting firms, we pulled together information from publicly available sources to create an arithmetic persona of the population of accountants across the finance-heavy counties in the UK. These were the findings:
Of the 24,870 accounting companies we assessed, there are 40,560 Directors
Max number of directors: 106
Min number of directors: 1
Average number of directors: 2
60% of these were male directors, with an average age 50. The remaining 40% was made up of female directors with an average age of 43.
Curious to know how this figure compares with financial technology – generally – and lending, specifically, we analysed the 235 individuals working for our 80+ institutions who are using Capitalise (as per June 2017). The result was: only 20 (8.5%) are female.
Is there a hormonal imbalance in the attitude to funding risk?
It is common knowledge that women and men have a different attitude towards risk tolerance. Men tend to take on more debt, use all of it, and not seek advice when they encounter difficulties. Women, however, take a lower amount of debt, try not to use it and, when they struggle, will seek advice.
Could this risk-aversion be biological? Columbia Threadneedle Investments say that, “Studies have shown that when it comes to assuming risks, men’s brains are more geared towards risk-taking. Male brains actually experience a bigger burst of endorphins when faced with a risky or challenging situation.”
Our data indicates that, for whatever reasons, while 40% of UK accounting firms directors are women, they are clearly not represented when it comes to their attitude towards lending.
This needs to change.
Capitalise data indicates that when our female accountants introduce a transaction to lenders they are extremely effective - despite only 9% of Capitalise’s introducers being female, 80% of their funding searches result in an offer empowering their clients to success.
Having access to funds can make the fundamental difference between a business remaining comfortable, but stagnant, and its explosive success. While lending may be perceived as risky, we are keen to manage this perception.
Business funding need not be unnecessarily risky.
At Capitalise, we are geared towards helping small businesses find the funding that they need – with the assistance of their most trusted advisor, their accountant. Our partnership with 80+ institutional lenders and 235+ individuals within those organisations throughout the UK, allows us to help businesses unlock their full potential by matching an appropriate lender to their finance needs.
Capitalise helps both genders get comfortable with risk – by knowing what options are available, which one are most suitable, and which ones are most affordable.
We need more women in funding
According to the Women’s Business Council, “Equalising women’s productivity and employment to that of men’s levels has the potential for increased gross domestic product of 35% in the UK. This could be equal to an additional (almost) £600 billion to our economy. This much money could clear a third of our national debt.”
We don’t just owe it to our clients, we owe it to our country.
1 Source: McKinsey Global Institute “The power of parity: How advancing women’s equality can add USD12 trillion to global growth”, September 2015
2 Source: KPMG, “The Time is now: Real change, real impact, seize the moment. Women in Alternative Investments”, December 2016
3 Source: Cambridge Judge Business School, “The rise of women in society: enablers and inhibitors. A global study.” Sucheta Nadkarni, Elaine Oon INITIAL FINDINGS RELEASED AT WOMENOMICS CONFERENCE / LONDON, 8 APRIL 2015.
accountant women in funding
Oliver Cummings
Olly brings a wealth of experience to Capitalise - he is a trained accountant (Ernst & Young), an ex-banker (Smith & Williamson, HSBC), an ex Venture Capitalist (Nauta Partners) and more recently helped establish and scale the partnerships team at MarketInvoice, the invoice financing business. He is passionate about helping small businesses get the funding they need, and is a mentor at several small business accelerator programs.
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clever_mischief —
Clever Mischief Chapter 14: You Must Remember This
by rose_whispers ( rose_whispers)
at February 10th, 2006 (09:21 am)
Clever Mischief, Chapter 14: You Must Remember This
Date: Monday, September 19, 2005
Character: George, Hermione
Rating: Any Age
The package was well-hidden in George's satchel as he skirted along the shore of the lake. It amused him to enter Hogwarts grounds through the front gate rather than illicitly through their secret passage, but he wasn't on a mission of mayhem today. Well, not really. He had a trick or two to set in motion, but nothing that could be tied to this little visit.
No, on this sunny afternoon, he was hoping to find Hermione so that he could deliver to her the straightforward and not-in-the-least-bit-booby trapped package that he and Fred has created, much to George's amusement. George had always been better at remembering dates, after all, and when he'd mentioned yesterday that September 19th was Hermione Granger's birthday, Fred had blurted just a little too quickly, "We should get her a gift."
"Should we, now?" George had chuckled.
"Yes. Neighbourly thing to do. From the two of us."
"In between trying to drive her slowly mad."
"Precisely."
George hadn't bought it for a second. He wasn't sure how Hermione felt, but it was fairly obvious that Fred was infatuated once more. Maybe he would drop a few hints to the Hogwarts librarian and see what kind of response it garnered. After all, if Fred was happy, George was happy. And when they were happy, they were productive, which meant they were also profiting and able to renovate the horrid little flat above the shop that much quicker and move out of Rosie's even more horrid little room. At any rate, the twins now had a birthday gift for Hermione, and George had a lifetime's worth of blackmail material because Fred had avoided his eyes and muttered something about being busy, suggesting that George should deliver the present today alone. George had performed a wide and impressive range of chicken noises before setting off for the school.
He thought about Hermione as he strolled across the lawns. It wasn't that difficult to understand what Fred saw in her, after all. She was beautiful in an unassuming, self-possessed kind of way, and she was fiercely intelligent. George and Fred had spent enough time with her during the war to get to know her more than as their little brother's friend. George liked to think he'd known her well back then, and as much as he enjoyed mocking Fred and competing with him in a contest of pranks against Hermione, he truly did enjoy her company and he hoped to get to know her again.
He was just about to head up to the school, guessing that between the final class and dinner, Hermione would probably be unoccupied, when he saw a familiar figure heading in his direction.
Twenty-six didn't feel any different than twenty-five, Hermione mused as she left the castle and started to walk toward the lake. She hadn't given particular thought to her birthday since she was younger, appreciating any presents or birthday wishes but never going out of her way to remind anyone or to do anything to celebrate. After a certain age, it was just the same as any other day, really, so why bother?
However, she had to admit that it was always nice when someone remembered. Harry and Ron had, of course, sent her owls that morning and made plans to meet her for lunch on the upcoming Saturday. Kingsley and Neville had surprised her the previous evening with a book they'd chipped in together to buy her, one she'd been thinking of purchasing for several months, and they'd all had ice cream and tarts for dessert in the greenhouse. Shay had stopped by for breakfast, awake far too early and ending up falling asleep beside his plate of eggs, and she knew from years' experience that Ginny would send her something entirely inappropriate by the end of the day, accompanied by a cheeky note designed to make Hermione blush and mutter.
There had been tea with Minerva where not a word was mentioned about the significance of the date. But there had been a hug at the end, which only happened on her birthday and Christmas, and a kind smile from her favorite professor as she was told to go enjoy the remainder of her day with the threat of being hexed if she went back to work. She doubted Minerva would actually hex her for working but, well, it was better not test the Headmistress.
So she had gone to her room, picked up a book, and was now on her way to the lake. It would be quiet this time of day as most students were finishing their last class and doing homework before dinner. There was a particular spot that was a favorite for reading and just relaxing whenever she felt the urge, so she immediately headed there.
She was nearly there when something caught her attention. She was surprised to see red hair shining in the afternoon sun and had to admit she was curious when she realized it was George, the confident way he walked slightly different from Fred. "Afternoon, George," she called out in greeting, smiling as she pushed her hair away from her face and studied him with just a hint of suspicion.
"Ah, good afternoon to you, Madam Granger," George said, sketching out a formal bow to her. Well, she was certainly making things easy for him, wasn't she? It was odd to see someone that he'd grown to adulthood with looking so, well, adult after all. He actually had to suppress the immediate urge to prank her on the spot because she was an authority figure.
With a wink, he said, "And how are we today?"
"My day has been good, actually. Not quite my typical day, which explains why I'm on my way to the lake with a new book. I plan to enjoy the sunshine and just relax for a little while before dinner. And what brings you to my school, Mister Weasley?" she asked rather bluntly, though her smile softened her words.
"Your school?" George teased. "I hadn't realized the deed had passed into your delicate hands, Madam Granger."
"Oh, you wouldn't have heard. It was listed in the Daily Prophet after you and Fred went to Canada," she said matter-of-factly, nothing in her tone betraying her lack of sincerity or her amusement. She held up her hands and noticed ink stains on her fingers. "Alas, my hands are far from delicate, Mister Weasley."
"Lovely hands all the same, though," he teased. He flicked his wand and a blue-and-white checkered picnic blanket flew out of its tip and wafted on the breeze to settle beneath a rather comfortable looking old tree that many a student had reclined beneath over the years. "I'm here for a little relaxation too."
Hermione smiled as she watched the blanket land on the ground near her favorite spot. "A little more to the left and beneath the older tree between the two very large roots," she informed him with a slight smirk as she walked past him. "That is, if you were planning on joining me for the moment of relaxation. If not, do keep the blanket where you have it, but I must warn you that the sun will shine directly in your face in another half hour."
George tilted his head to look at the sun before he flicked his wand, directing the blanket to the spot in question. "I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon. Is that better, fair lady?"
"I don't recall being asked if you could join me," she teased as she unbuttoned her robe and slid it off her shoulders. "I simply observed that your blanket was in the wrong place if you wished to join me. That was nothing but a reflection on the location of the blanket and not an invitation, dear sir."
George followed the path of the blanket, picking his way over the ancient ruptured roots of the trees, and sprawled across it inelegantly. "Too true, Hermione. Then again, maybe there isn't enough room for you here anyway. You could just sit next to the blanket on the cold, hard ground and we can have two separate moments of isolation. Now, now- no talking to me, and I won't talk to you." He nearly managed not to grin.
She arched a brow and deliberately spread out her robe beside his blanket. A wave of her wand and the robe expanded to an adequate size for one person. "Perhaps I don't need your blanket, George," she mused thoughtfully. "I dare say that you might have to be nicer if you wish to enjoy my company this afternoon. After all, I have this entertaining book and you've nothing but the thoughts in your head. I do think that I've the advantage in that situation." She winked at him and grinned in a cheeky manner that she usually only displayed with Seamus before she looked pointedly from her robe to the blanket and waited for his invitation.
George looked up into the overarching branches above them. "Was that the wind? It couldn't be Hermione talking, as she didn't invite me to share her private moment." He counted three beats before glancing at her slyly. "Though of course, should she wish to share my private moment, she's more than welcome to..." Was she blushing? How odd.
It was only after she'd winked and grinned that Hermione had remembered that this was George Weasley and not Seamus. Well, she'd known all along, of course, but there was a huge difference in winking at Shay and winking at George. Even though it had been intended in fun, she felt heat cross her cheeks as she suddenly found the stitching on the blanket interesting. "The wind is a nagging swot now, is it?" she asked as she repeated one of George's favorite comments to her during those days at Godric's Hollow. "If I were the wind, I might be offended at being compared to me."
She rolled her eyes and pulled her skirt up to her knees so she could sit down comfortably on the blanket. "I am merely taking pity on a young man with nothing to keep him entertained but his own thoughts, which we know are few and far between," she declared loftily as she transfigured her robe into a comfortable pillow and leaned back against the tree before giving George a smile. "How has your day been, George?"
Nagging swot. George smiled in remembrance. Yes, that's what he'd called her back then. Affectionately, of course. He scooted over as she made herself comfortable.
"Oh, you know, keeping busy," he said dismissively. She didn't need to know that he'd been designing several deceptively elaborate pranks to play on her, of course. "A little product testing, a little shopping. And you?"
"It's always busy when the students are here," she told him. "I was actually able to order a few new texts for the library this year so they're coming in sporadically, which is nice. I have a bad tendency to read just about anything I receive before placing it on the shelves, you know? I've been accused of doing so because I have no life by a well-meaning friend but I prefer to think of it in terms of making sure I know what is on the shelves of my library."
She blew on a stray lock of hair that seemed determined to keep falling from her messy knot and looked at him curiously. "What sort of products are you testing? Or is that a secret and I've not got the clearance to know? It seems several of your newest products are keeping the professors quite busy, especially the hair product. You'll have to tell me the secret of how you manage to make the color last so long and change the locks so thoroughly. It was quite fascinating."
"Top secret, that," he agreed. "Though I'm delighted to hear that the hair charms work so well. We spent quite a bit of time on those- drove our neighbours absolutely batty when we first developed them."
"Top secret, huh?" She resisted the urge to sulk at not finding out what series of charms they used but it made her more determined to analyze it herself just to show him she'd found out. It was comfortable sitting here with company, a fact that was somewhat surprising. While Hermione had several close friends, she appreciated her privacy and enjoyed spending time on her own. It was a welcome escape from the sometimes tediousness of her days to just sit by the lake and lose herself in a book.
Hermione watched as George plucked a fallen twig off the ground by the blanket and with a whispered enchantment and a flick of his wand, he transfigured it into a purple tulip. She had to admire his skill at transfiguration. There had been a time years ago when she'd been young and believed knowledge came only from books and had to be practiced a certain way to be valid. The Weasley twins had managed to blow that theory out of the water by the time she was sixteen. She'd had to acknowledge that they were both skilled wizards and far more intelligent than she'd ever given them credit for. It had been rather predictable, she saw looking back now, that she had developed a crush on them both eventually, though her infatuation with George hadn‘t lasted very long (one month and twenty-four days, to be exact) and was, she thought, possibly caused by the tension of OWLs and Umbridge in the latter half of her fifth year, though she knew it had nothing to do with her previous crush on Fred, thankfully, as neither infatuation was quite the same.
George watched her curiously as she seemed to lose herself in memory. "You weren't kidding about that private moment thing, then?" He leaned over and tucked the tulip behind her ear to help hold that pesky stray bit of hair in place.
"There we are," he said. "A birthday flower for the birthday girl." He sat back again, looking up at the patches of sky visible through the branches above them.
When George tucked the pretty tulip behind her ear, his fingertips casually brushing against her cheek, she decided that thinking of past crushes was not anymore wise than considering herself possibly currently infatuated with George's brother. His twin brother who happened to look very much like him in that identical-twin-sort-of-way. She was only belatedly beginning to remember how similar in appearance they were. It was fortunate that Hermione had firm control on such silly things as hormones and idle thoughts. "Tulips are my favorite," she told him as the awkward feeling quickly passed. "Wait, you remembered it was my birthday?"
He winked and settled back on his elbows, breathing in the fresh autumn air. "'Course. Never thought I'd be back in this place, you know? When Fred and I made our escape in seventh year, I thought that was it. There we were- clear career path, enough capital from Harry to start a business, more than enough product ideas between us to keep that business going... It's odd how life seems to bring you back where you never thought you were meant to be, isn't it?"
He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm prattling on like some poncy philosophical bastard. What about you, love? You must be happy to be ensconced in the Hogwarts library. You always spent so much time there when we when we were younger."
"Prattle on all you'd like. I find it interesting, actually. I agree about life. I honestly never imagined coming back here. When I was younger, I had clear ideas. I'd work at the Ministry and actually make a difference somehow. Then I learned how corrupt it was and realized that I could never play those sorts of games, the lying and kissing arse to get agendas approved and such. It's just not me."
"We used to joke that you'd be Minister for Magic by the time you were twenty, whether the rest of the world liked it or not," George said. "'Course, we could have told you about the corruption. Dad used to come home with horror stories, but optimistic bloke that he always has been, he never let it get him down. I think half the reason he loved his department was how free of all the rest of it he was."
She laughed as she moved to lie on the blanket and look at the pretty afternoon sky. "I'm far too blunt to have actually done anything except perhaps get my arse tossed out of the wizarding world," she said with a smile that faded as she thought back through the years. "After the war, I had nothing save for unwanted press coverage and an Order of Merlin, neither of which helped me think of a possible career."
"We use our Order of Merlin medals as coasters," George interjected.
She choked back laughter. "Minerva gave me a chance when no one else would, let me have this opportunity, and it turned out to be something that I dearly love. However, it was never anything I considered doing before I actually accepted her offer. I might have enjoyed learning and the library, but I had grandiose dreams of doing something important and it took several blows from reality before I actually found somewhere to belong."
"It's odd to hear you call McGonagall 'Minerva'. Don't know that we could ever get around to that. She used to let us get away with far more than she ever punished us for, though. Crafty old cat, that one. I wouldn't doubt if she'd been a prankster in her own right when she went to school here."
"Minerva has become a good friend over the years. She's very crafty and there are times I could swear she was actually in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor because she's quite cunning and manipulative when necessary," Hermione said with a fond smile. "I daresay she'd be a formidable opponent when it came to subtlety and pranks so you boys better be on guard once she finds out, if she's not already, that you're both causing trouble in our school."
He turned onto his side, propping his head up on one hand. The breeze riffled through Hermione's hair, and the sunlight filtering through the trees seemed to infuse her with a strangely calming glow. "You do seem happy here," he declared. "And I rather think you're doing more for the future of the world by helping these little blighters out than we do. Though of course, we do keep life interesting for you lot who have to look after them."
She rolled her head to the side and smiled at George. "It's nice here," she told him honestly as she reached up to brush a leaf away from his long hair. "Still can't get used to this." Her fingers ran through his soft locks as she smiled. "I didn't know what I was going to do when I was in the hospital and now I've found somewhere that I seem to belong in a place I never really expected. I am happy, actually. There was a time when I---well, I wasn't sure if happy was in my future. Now, though, I have great friends and a job I love, plus I enjoy watching the students grow up and become young men and women. It's rewarding even if all I do is give them books to help them on their journey. And yes, you and Fred are certainly helping make this school year an interesting one."
"We were worried about you when you were in the hospital," George admitted, leaning into her touch a little so that she could free him of whatever had nestled there. He frowned a little as he remembered. "But you got back on your feet and we on ours- albeit on a different continent. I don't regret that we made a life there, but you've no idea how good it is to be home. Even we didn't have any real idea..."
"That's all you can do after something like that," she said softly as she thought back again to those days. "You have to keep living and move on, even if that just requires taking it one day at a time. I'm glad you and Fred have come home. I hadn't realized just how quiet life was with you two on another continent."
He shook his head, not willing to lose himself in reminiscence just now, neither about their shared wartime experiences nor about his time in Canada, far away from the life he and Fred had grown up with. With an impish grin, he twined his fingers with hers where they played with his hair. He gave her a friendly squeeze. "Do you approve of our flowing locks?"
Hermione laughed. "I'm getting used to it," she admitted as she tugged playfully on his hair. "I think it suits you, actually. Tell me more about Canada. I must admit that I know very little bit about the country at all. What did you both do there?"
"Canada was excellent. We settled in a small wizarding enclave on the west coast. Almost like Hogsmeade, but- well, you grew up as a Muggle, love. You know what hippies are, right? It's like Hogsmeade meets Haight-Ashbury. We learned a lot about Muggle culture, and a lot about Muggle spirits." George dropped their hands to the blanket between them, not really aware that their fingers were still twined.
She rested her cheek against her palm and listened to him, hearing the enthusiasm in his voice as he spoke of their former home. "I know hippies," she told him as she rapidly ran through her knowledge of Muggle culture. "Free spirits, and I seem to recall something about peace and love. It sounds like a fascinating place. Do you plan to go back or are you home to stay?"
"We think we're back to stay. We're pretty solidly set up at Zonko's, and we're nearly done refurbishing the flat above the shop. Just like old times in Diagon Alley, wouldn't you say?"
"Better times, I think. Have you decided when you're going to have an official opening yet?" she asked curiously as she tugged on a loose thread on the blanket and lightly stroked a cut on the back of his knuckle.
George had forgotten the way he and Hermione had always been able to converse so easily and naturally. She'd been a treasured friend during the war, and they'd often sat up late into the night after Fred, who always retired earlier than George, had gone to sleep. They would strategize or just talk about life, their friends and family, and the future or the lack thereof. She was so comfortable to be around.
"We haven't settled on a grand opening date just yet, love," he said. "But trust me, you'll know when the time comes. It'll be very hard to miss."
"I'll expect an invitation, of course," she informed him firmly, her smile softening her words. "I'm sure you'll both be glad to be finished with the flat. I adore Rosmerta but I'd not want to spend an extended period of time at the Three Broomsticks."
"Well, I for one definitely won't miss the 3 B's. Our room is really rather squalid. Ron would be terrified of the spiders we've had to shoo out. I take it you frequent Rosie's place on the weekends?"
"I usually go to Hogsmeade on Saturday and occasionally on Sunday depending on what I have to do for the day. Sometimes I just stay here and get a little work done for the upcoming week or nag my friends. I enjoy the walk to Hogsmeade, though, and it helps me get a bit of exercise, which is good considering my fondness for chocolate.
"You know, Mister Weasley, you never did answer my earlier question," she reminded him in her most stubborn tone so he'd know that a distraction wouldn't be likely to work a second time. She met his gaze and gave him her most stern ‘your book had better be back on time or else' look. "What brings you to my school this lovely afternoon?"
The question hovered before him as George pondered how best to answer. He couldn't very well say, "Well you see, I'm going to set several elaborate, time-delayed pranks for you to drive you out of your tree", could he? No. He could say... oh, right! He didn't have to make up an excuse, he had a built-in one just laying there in his satchel. "Funny you should ask, love. We just happened to remember that today is your birthday, so we got you something. Accio Hermione's birthday gift."
A package wrapped in shiny red foil floated serenely out of George's bag and wafted through the air, landing in his outstretched hand. "Here you are, then. Happy birthday!"
"You brought me a present? Thank you, George." To say she was surprised was an understatement. Shocked might be a more appropriate word. Hermione sat up and pushed her hair away from her face where it had fallen from the tulip and the clip that held it in a messy bun. She stared at the gift and then looked at George before she smiled. "Should I open it or should I check for hexes first?" she asked only somewhat jokingly. She pulled her legs up and took the package from him, balancing it on her knees as she touched the bow before she slowly began to unwrap it.
George could read the shock in her expression and was secretly pleased. He and Fred had decided upon what they hoped was the perfect gift, and working from memories and old product designs, they'd created and charmed the gift themselves, just for her. "What do you think?" he asked as she unwrapped the foil.
Hermione was one of those people who was careful when unwrapping a gift. She didn't rip or tear the paper. Instead, she gently broke the seal in each place and unfolded the paper until she saw a small box. All she could do was stare inside when she saw Crookshanks. Well, it wasn't him, of course, but it was a perfect replica of him as a kitten right down to the whiskers.
The plushie was soft to touch and she smiled as it began to purr when she removed it from the box. "How did you---" She looked from the kitten toy to George and smiled. "It's perfect," she told him before she impulsively leaned over to kiss his cheek. She wasn't expecting him to turn and smile right before her lips brushed against his.
He couldn't help but share her delighted smile. So their choice of gift had been the right one after a-
A thrill of unexpected warmth tingled through him when her lips met his and his eyes widened. They both pulled back immediately, shock hanging in the air between them. He meant to apologize, really he did. He could even feel the words sticking oddly in his throat.
Oh. Hermione blinked. That had been most unexpected. She licked her lips and considered making some sort of joke to laugh it off. Instead, she swayed slightly and unconsciously leaned forward, her eyes fluttering closed as their lips met again. They pulled away and she met his gaze as she opened her eyes.
For the life of him, he didn't quite know why he was leaning forward again, only that it seemed like the right thing to do. After all, she was leaning also. The next press of lips against lips was tentative, explorative, and his eyes closed as he savored the warm friction of this one spot of connection. Her lips parted as she reached up and moved her fingers into his long hair, her tongue brushing against his lips as she kissed him or perhaps he kissed her.
George's breath caught at the twin sensation of her fingers and her tongue, and with a low, unconscious growl he slipped his tongue between her parted lips, tasting her in an embrace that was now anything but hesitant. He cradled her face in his hands, holding her close as he deepened the kiss. This was too good, deliriously good.
His fingertips were rough against her skin, she noted idly before he growled and deepened the kiss. Hermione shifted on the blanket and pressed closer to him, her free hand resting on his broad shoulder as she kissed him back. It had been far too long since she'd been kissed like this and she responded eagerly as she tightened her grip on his soft hair.
She was warm and alive beneath his touch and he ran his fingertips along the curve of her neck, groaning a little at the softness of her skin. She felt so irresistibly good in his arms, and he wanted nothing more than to lower her back down against the blanket, to taste her everywhere and-
He pulled back sharply as his questing hand grazed the soft swell of her breast. Fuck. This was Hermione. Hermione Granger, erstwhile friend, Hogwarts librarian, and current object of his own twin brother's affections. What the fuck was he doing? "Hermione," he breathed, brushing her cheek with his thumb again.
Hermione whimpered softly when she felt his hand lightly touch her breast, warning bells going off in her head as her eyes opened. It was too much, far too much, and she was relieved when he raised his hand from her chest to touch her cheek. What the bloody hell was she doing? She couldn't do this. "George," she whispered in a breathless tone she couldn't remember ever hearing before. "I---I should go. It's nearly dinner."
George blinked. "Dinner, right. I..."
But she'd already scrambled up, clutching the Crookshanks replica and her book. He watched her hasten resolutely back to the school with a "thank you" thrown over her shoulder, unable to form a more articulate sentence.
Fucking fucking fuck. What the hell had he done? He and Hermione had never had a thing like this before. Never. Friends, yes. Good friends, even, in the end. But she was Fred's girl, not his. It had never even occurred to him that he himself might find her attractive, nor that, given the way she'd just responded, she'd return the feeling. But no- no feelings were involved here. This had been nothing but the heat of the moment. Lovely day, lovely companion with whom he shared nostalgic memories, and the fact that he hadn't kissed anyone in far too long. That was it. It had to be. He couldn't be longing to touch her again. It was unheard of. Part of him wanted to head straight back to Hogsmeade but he would not run from this. He was here for a reason- he had pranks to pull and a bet to win with Fred. His stomach did an embarrassed back flip. What the hell kind of brother was he? Fred would kill him.
He banished these thoughts as best he could as he stood up and made the picnic blanket disappear with a wave of his wand. Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he set off toward the Quidditch pitch, trying to focus on his plans and not on the way Hermione Granger tasted.
Posted by: The one you want to love ( squrrlpoptart)
Posted at: February 10th, 2006 07:45 pm (UTC)
Can I kiss George like that?
-Leargh
Posted by: rose_whispers ( rose_whispers)
*offers George up* Be our guest ;)
Clever Mischief: All Parts
Rose Whispers (Author)
Inell (Author)
Odyssey (Illustrator)
Books & Freckles for more Hermione/Fred/George
Bit of Mayhem for more Hermione/Fred
clever_mischief
Clever Mischief
This is a Fred/Hermione/George multi-chapter fic written by Rose_Whispers and Inell.
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Active Trans Celebrates Cool Regional Transpo Projects at Its Yearly Gala
Ron Burke, left, with members of Bronzeville Bikes. Photo: Steven E. Gross
The Active Transportation Alliance gave shout-outs to several groundbreaking local initiatives at its annual awards ceremony, held on Tuesday in Revolution Brewing’s taproom. The advocacy group lauded complete streets projects in Batavia and Elgin, new trails in the Cook County Forest Preserves, bike advocacy in Bronzeville, and the Divvy bike-share system.
Maybe there’s something in the Fox River’s water, but both of the riverside suburbs have recently built groundbreaking streetscapes. Last year, the City of Batavia transformed a one-block stretch of River Street, on the east bank of the Fox, into a car-lite, people-friendly zone, inspired by Dutch-style woonerfs or “living streets.” The street layout blurs the line between pedestrian and vehicle space, encouraging drivers to proceed with caution, and creating a more pleasant environment for walking, biking, shopping, and relaxing at sidewalk cafes.
Gateway to River Street in Batavia. Photo: John Greenfield
“Most of the on-street parking has been removed, and the design invites people to wander or cross the area wherever they desire,” Active Trans director Ron Burke noted during the ceremony. “It’s very pedestrian- and bike-friendly, and it invites street closures for various activities. The absence of curbs leaves more space for planters, seating, and art.”
Elgin, another western ‘burb that the Fox River Trail runs through, opened the Riverside Drive Promenade in August. This was the last 1,500 feet of downtown riverfront to be redeveloped, stretching from the city’s main library to a riverboat casino. The $13 million walkway project included a new section of bike path, traffic calming on the adjacent street, permeable pavers, and bioswales. Canopies shaped like shuttlecocks provide shade for people relaxing on the waterfront.
Elgin’s Riverside Drive Promenade under construction. Photo: the city of Elgin
“This project highlights the beautiful Fox River, while rolling out the red carpet for people walking and biking,” Burke said “It’s loaded with environmentally friendly features, as well as river overlooks and shady spots to sit down and linger.”
The Cook County Forest Preserves have a number of exciting trail projects in the works. Last month, they opened a new, one-mile segment of the North Branch Trail, between the Chicago Botanic Gardens and the Green Bay Trail and Metra’s UP-N Line. A southern extension of the trail, from Devon/Caldwell to Foster/Kostner, is planned, although it’s facing opposition from neighbors.
Proposed route for the southern extension of the North Branch Trail.
In the southeast corner of the county, the forest preserve is connecting the Thorn Creek Trail to both the Burnham Greenway and the Old Plank Road Trail. Other paths are being developed at the Orland Grassland and the Oak Forest Heritge site. “Perhaps the forest preserve’s most significant step forward was the beginning of construction on the west half of the new Calumet-Sag Bicycle Trail,” Burke said.
The community group Bronzeville Bikes was recognized for its work promoting cycling in the historic South Side community known as “The Black Metropolis.” Starting in 2013, they’ve organized weekly bike rides highlighting the neighborhood’s history, art, and sustainability efforts, as well as free repair sessions at the Bronzeville Community Garden.
The Bronzeville Bike Box. Photo: Melissa Manak
This year, the group opened the Bronzeville Bike Box, a mini cycle shop housed in a 20-foot shipping container. They also put on the Bronzeville Spoketacular this summer as part of a Metropolitan Planning Council placemaking contest, featuring repairs, safety lessons, a ride and, best of all, free ice cream. “Up until the launch of the Bike Box, people in the area did not a have a place to bring their bikes for repair,” Burke noted. “The shop is now getting, on average, about 25 visitors a day.”
Finally, Active Trans saluted Divvy, which has seen about 2.9 million trips in the past six months. The system will be expanding from the current 300 stations to 545 stations next year, including locations in Evanston and Oak Park. “During its first year in Chicago, Divvy has done something amazing,” Burke said. “It has transformed transportation in Chicago. Thanks to Divvy, using a bike in Chicago on a daily basis is suddenly much easier and more affordable for a lot more people.”
Filed Under: Streetsblog Chicago
Woonerf in the West Suburbs Offers a Sneak Peek at Uptown Streetscapes
By John Greenfield | Jun 30, 2014
On a recent bicycle trip, I came across a Dutch-style woonerf or “living street,” in the western suburb of Batavia, where Streetsblog Chicago reporter Steven Vance attended high school. The street layout blurs the line between pedestrian and vehicle space, encouraging drivers to proceed with caution, creating a more pleasant environment for walking, biking, shopping, […]
Dr. Adonia Lugo Discusses Her Book “Bicycle/Race” This Thursday at IIT
By Lynda Lopez | Apr 2, 2019
This event, which looks at who needs to be at the table during transportation planning conversations, is timely since it takes place two days after Chicago elects its first Black female mayor.
Advocates Request a Fair Share of Bike Resources for Black Communities
By John Greenfield | Dec 19, 2014
A group of African-American bike advocates says they want to do whatever it takes to make sure more black Chicagoans have a chance to enjoy the health, economic, and social benefits of cycling. They’ve called for the city and state, as well as other advocacy groups, to commit to a more equitable distribution of bike […]
Could Bronzeville Become Chicago’s Next Biking Mecca?
By John Greenfield | May 8, 2014
[This piece also runs in Checkerboard City, John’s transportation column in Newcity magazine.] “When we first started Bronzeville Bikes, the question was, ‘If we build it, will they come?’” says cofounder Bernard Loyd. The group encourages cycling in the Near South community once called “The Black Metropolis” with free repair sessions, neighborhood tours and more. “The […]
A Wish List for Better Walking and Biking in the Black Metropolis
[Last year the Chicago Reader launched a weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership allows Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We syndicate a portion of the column after it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the […]
Active Trans Marks 30 Years With 5 Big Goals, New Sister Organization
By John Greenfield | Jul 15, 2015
Streetsblog Chicago is on vacation from July 13-17 and will resume publication of Today’s Headlines and daily articles on Monday, July 20. We’ll keep in touch this week via social media and occasional posts. The scrappy little advocacy group that was founded in 1985 as the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is now the Active Transportation Alliance, […]
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Dr Emmanuelle Fantino
Senior Research Scientist & Senior Research Scientist
e.fantino@uq.edu.au
Yeo, Abrey J., Henningham, Anna, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Galbraith, Sally, Krause, Lutz, Wainwright, Claire E., Sly, Peter D. and Lavin, Martin F. (2019) Increased susceptibility of airway epithelial cells from ataxia-telangiectasia to S. pneumoniae infection due to oxidative damage and impaired innate immunity. Scientific Reports, 9 1: . doi:10.1038/s41598-019-38901-3
Jones, Anya C, Anderson, Denise, Galbraith, Sally, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Gutierrez Cardenas, Diana, Read, James F, Serralha, Michael, Holt, Barbara J, Strickland, Deborah H, Sly, Peter D, Bosco, Anthony and Holt, Patrick G (2018) Personalised transcriptomics reveals heterogeneous immunophenotypes in children with viral bronchiolitis. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, . doi:10.1164/rccm.201804-0715OC
Luo, Lin, Wall, Adam A., Tong, Samuel J., Hung, Yu, Xiao, Zhijian, Tarique, Abdullah A., Sly, Peter D., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Marzolo, María-Paz and Stow, Jennifer L. (2018) TLR crosstalk activates LRP1 to recruit Rab8a and PI3Kγ for suppression of inflammatory responses. Cell Reports, 24 11: 3033-3044. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2018.08.028
Schagen, Johanna, Sly, Peter D. and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2018) Characterizing well-differentiated culture of primary human nasal epithelial cells for use in wound healing assays. Laboratory Investigation, 98 11: 1478-1486. doi:10.1038/s41374-018-0100-1
Tarique, Abdullah A., Sly, Peter D., Cardenas, Diana G., Luo, Lin, Stow, Jennifer L., Bell, Scott C., Wainwright, Claire E. and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2018) Differential expression of genes and receptors in monocytes from patients with cystic fibrosis. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, . doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2018.07.012
McNally, Paul, O'Rourke, Jennifer, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Chacko, Archana, Pabary, Rishi, Turnbull, Andrew, Grant, Tim, O'Sullivan, Niamh, Wainwright, Claire, Linnane, Barry, Davies, Jane C. and Sly, Peter D. (2017) Pooling of bronchoalveolar lavage in children with cystic fibrosis does not adversely affect the microbiological yield or sensitivity in detecting pulmonary inflammation. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis , 17 3: 391-399. doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2017.10.016
Brealey, Jaelle C., Chappell, Keith J., Galbraith, Sally, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Gaydon, Jane, Tozer, Sarah, Young, Paul R., Holt, Patrick G. and Sly, Peter D. (2017) Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization of the nasopharynx is associated with increased severity during respiratory syncytial virus infection in young children. Respirology, 23 2: 220-227. doi:10.1111/resp.13179
Yeo, Abrey J., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Czovek, Dorottya, Wainwright, Claire E., Sly, Peter D. and Lavin, Martin F. (2017) Loss of ATM in airway epithelial cells is associated with susceptibility to oxidative stress. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 196 3: 391-393. doi:10.1164/rccm.201611-2210LE
Tarique, Abdullah A., Sly, Peter D., Holt, Patrick G., Bosco, Anthony, Ware, Robert S., Logan, Jayden, Bell, Scott C., Wainwright, Claire E. and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2017) CFTR-dependent defect in alternatively-activated macrophages in cystic fibrosis. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 16 4: 475-482. doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2017.03.011
Dickerhof, Nina, Turner, Rufus, Khalilova, Irada, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Sly, Peter D. and Kettle, Anthony J. (2017) Oxidized glutathione and uric acid as biomarkers of early cystic fibrosis lung disease. Journal of Cystic Fibrosis, 16 2: 214-221. doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2016.10.012
Baturcam, Engin, Snape, Natale, Yeo, Tiong Han, Schagen, Johanna, Thomas, Emma, Logan, Jayden, Galbraith, Sally, Collinson, Natasha, Phipps, Simon, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Sly, Peter D. and Spann, Kirsten M. (2016) Human metapneumovirus impairs apoptosis of nasal epithelial cells in asthma via HSP70. Journal of Innate Immunity, 9 1: 52-64. doi:10.1159/000449101
Spann, Kirsten, Snape, Natale, Baturcam, Engin and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2016) The impact of early-life exposure to air-borne environmental insults on the function of the airway epithelium in asthma. Annals of Global Health, 82 1: 28-40. doi:10.1016/j.aogh.2016.01.007
Tarique, Abdullah A., Logan, Jayden, Thomas, Emma, Holt, Patrick G., Sly, Peter D. and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2015) Phenotypic, functional, and plasticity features of classical and alternatively activated human macrophages. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 53 5: 676-688. doi:10.1165/rcmb.2015-0012OC
Logan, Jayden, Chen, Linping, Gangell, Catherine, Sly, Peter D., Fantino, Emmanuelle and Liu, Kenneth (2014) Brief exposure to cigarette smoke impairs airway epithelial cell innate anti-viral defence. Toxicology in Vitro, 28 8: 1430-1435. doi:10.1016/j.tiv.2014.07.012
Fantino, E., Gangell, C.L., Hartl, D. and Sly, P.D. (2014) Airway, but not serum or urinary, levels of YKL-40 reflect inflammation in early cystic fibrosis lung disease. BMC Pulmonary Medicine, 14 1: 1-6. doi:10.1186/1471-2466-14-28
Spann, Kirsten M., Baturcam, Engin, Schagen, Johanna, Jones, Carmen, Straub, Claire P., Preston, F. Maxine, Chen, Linping, Phipps, Simon, Sly, Peter D. and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2014) Viral and host factors determine innate immune responses in airway epithelial cells from children with wheeze and atopy. Thorax, 69 10: 918-925. doi:10.1136/thoraxjnl-2013-204908
Norman, Rosana E., Veerman, J. Lennert, Scott, James, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Bailie, Ross, Sly, Peter D. and Cleghorn, Geoffrey (2013) Environmental contributions to the leading causes of disease burden among Australian children. Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, 56 5: 481-484. doi:10.1097/MPG.0b013e3182848a23
Liu, Faye F., Peng, Cheng, Escher, Beate I., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Giles, Cindy, Were, Stephen, Duffy, Lesley and Ng, Jack C. (2013) Hanging drop: an in vitro air toxic exposure model using human lung cells in 2D and 3D structures. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 261 701-710. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2013.01.027
Burns, Christopher J., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Powell, Andrew K., Shnyder, Steven D., Cooper, Patricia A., Nelson, Stuart, Christophi, Christopher, Malcontenti-Wilson, Cathy, Dubljevic, Valentina, Harte, Michael F., Joffe, Max, Phillips, Ian D., Segal, David, Wilks, Andrew F. and Smith, Gregg D. (2011) The microtubule depolymerizing agent CYT997 causes extensive ablation of tumor vasculature in vivo. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 339 3: 799-806. doi:10.1124/jpet.111.186965
Tyner, Jeffrey W., Bumm, Thomas G., Deininger, Jutta, Wood, Lisa, Aichberger, Karl J., Loriaux, Marc M., Druker, Brian J., Burns, Christopher J., Fantino, Emmanuelle and Deininger, Michael W. (2010) CYT387, a novel JAK2 inhibitor, induces hematologic responses and normalizes inflammatory cytokines in murine myeloproliferative neoplasms. Blood, 115 25: 5232-5240. doi:10.1182/blood-2009-05-223727
Burns, Christopher J., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Phillips, Ian D., Su, Stephen, Harte, Michael F., Bukczynska, Patricia E., Frazzetto, Mark, Joffe, Max, Kruszelnicki, Irma, Wang, Bing, Wang, Yue, Wilson, Neil, Dilley, Rodney J., Wan, Soo S., Charman, Susan A., Shackleford, David M., Fida, Rosa, Malcontenti-Wilson, Cathy and Wilks, Andrew F. (2009) CYT997: a novel orally active tubulin polymerization inhibitor with potent cytotoxic and vascular disrupting activity in vitro and in vivo. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 8 11: 3036-3045. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-09-0076
Burns, Christopher J., Bourke, David G., Andrau, Laura, Bu, Xianyong, Charman, Susan A., Donohue, Andrew C., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Farrugia, Michelle, Feutrill, John T., Joffe, Max, Kling, Marcel R., Kurek, Margarita, Nero, Tracy L., Nguyen, Thao, Palmer, James T., Phillips, Ian, Shackleford, David M, Sikanyika, Harrison, Styles, Michelle, Su, Stephen, Treutlein, Herbert, Zeng, Jun and Wilks, Andrew F. (2009) Phenylaminopyrimidines as inhibitors of Janus kinases (JAKs). Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 19 20: 5887-5892. doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2009.08.071
Burns, Christopher J., Harte, Michael F., Bu, Xianyong, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Joffe, Max, Sikanyika, Harrison, Su, Stephen, Tranberg, C. Elisabet, Wilson, Neil, Charman, Susan A., Shackleford, David M. and Wilks, Andrew F. (2009) Discovery of CYT997: a structurally novel orally active microtubule targeting agent. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 19 16: 4639-4642. doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2009.06.079
Pardanani, A., Lasho, T., Smith, G., Burns, C. J., Fantino, E. and Tefferi, A. (2009) CYT387, a selective JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor: in vitro assessment of kinase selectivity and preclinical studies using cell lines and primary cells from polycythemia vera patients. Leukemia, 23 8: 1441-1445. doi:10.1038/leu.2009.50
Matveenko, Maria, Banwell, Martin G., Joffe, Max, Wan, Soosan and Fantino, Emmanuelle (2009) Biological evaluation of ent-narciclasine, ent-lycoricidine, and certain enantiomerically-related congeners. Chemistry and Biodiversity, 6 5: 685-691. doi:10.1002/cbdv.200800319
Williams, Neal K., Bamert, Rebecca S., Patel, Onisha, Wang, Christina, Walden, Patricia M., Wilks, Andrew F., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Rossjohn, Jamie and Lucet, Isabelle S. (2009) Dissecting specificity in the Janus Kinases: The structures of JAK-specific inhibitors complexed to the JAK1 and JAK2 protein tyrosine kinase domains. Journal of Molecular Biology, 387 1: 219-232. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2009.01.041
Burns, Christopher J., Harte, Michael F., Bu, Xianyong, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Giarrusso, Marilena, Joffe, Max, Kurek, Margarita, Legge, Fiona S., Razzino, Pasquale, Su, Stephen, Treutlein, Herbert, Wan, Soo San, Zeng, Jun and Wilks, Andrew F (2009) Discovery of 2-(alpha-methylbenzylamino) pyrazines as potent Type II inhibitors of FMS. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 19 4: 1206-1209. doi:10.1016/j.bmcl.2008.12.073
Walter, Mark, Lucet, Isabelle S., Patel, Onisha, Broughton, Sophie E., Bamert, Rebecca, Williams, Neal K., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Wilks, Andrew F. and Rossjohn, Jamie (2007) The 2.7 angstrom crystal structure of the autoinhibited human c-Fms kinase domain. Journal of Molecular Biology, 367 3: 839-847. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2007.01.036
Lucet, Isabelle S., Fantino, Emmanuelle, Styles, Michelle, Bamert, Rebecca, Patel, Onisha, Broughton, Sophie E., Walter, Mark, Burns, Christopher J., Treutlein, Herbert, Wilks, Andrew F. and Rossjohn, Jamie (2006) The structural basis of Janus kinase 2 inhibition by a potent and specific pan-Janus kinase inhibitor. Blood, 107 1: 176-183. doi:10.1182/blood-2005-06-2413
Smith, Margaret J., Sharples, Robyn A., Evin, Genevieve, McLean, Catriona A., Dean, Brian, Pavey, Geoff, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Cotton, Richard G. H., Imaizumi, Kazunori, Masters, Colin L., Cappai, Roberto and Culvenor, Janetta G. (2004) Expression of truncated presenilin 2 splice variant in Alzheimer's disease, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia brain cortex. Molecular Brain Research, 127 1-2: 128-135. doi:10.1016/j.molbrainres.2004.05.019
Antonarakis, SE, Blouin, JL, Lasseter, VK, Gehrig, C, Radhakrishna, U, Nestadt, G, Housman, DE, Kazazian, HH, Kalman, K, Gutman, G, Fantino, E, Chandy, KG, Gargus, JJ and Arm, E (1999) Lack of linkage or association between schizophrenia and the polymorphic trinucleotide repeat within the KCNN3 gene on chromosome 1q21. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 88 4: 348-351. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19990820)88:4<348::AID-AJMG11>3.0.CO;2-N
Dror, V, Shamir, E, Ghanshani, S, Kimhi, R, Swartz, M, Barak, Y, Weizman, R, Avivi, L, Litmanovitch, T, Fantino, E, Kalman, K, Jones, EG, Chandy, KG, Gargus, JJ, Gutman, GA and Navon, R (1999) hKCa3/KCNN3 potassium channel gene: association of longer CAG repeats with schizophrenia in Israeli Ashkenazi Jews, expression in human tissues and localization to chromosome 1q21. Molecular Psychiatry, 4 3: 254-260. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4000508
Gargus, JJ, Fantino, E and Gutman, GA (1998) A piece in the puzzle: an ion channel candidate gene for schizophrenia. Molecular Medicine Today, 4 12: 518-524. doi:10.1016/S1357-4310(98)01358-6
Li, T, Hu, X, Chandy, KG, Fantino, E, Kalman, K, Gutman, G, Gargus, JJ, Freeman, B, Murray, RM, Dawson, E, Liu, XH, Bruinvels, AT, Sham, PC and Collier, DA (1998) Transmission disequilibrium analysis of a triplet repeat within the hKCa3 gene using family trios with schizophrenia. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 251 2: 662-665. doi:10.1006/bbrc.1998.9484
Vargas, GA, Isas, JM, Fantino, E, Gargus, JJ and Haigler, HT (1998) CCG1/TAF(II)250 regulates epidermal growth factor receptor gene transcription in cell cycle mutant ts13. Journal of Cellular Physiology, 176 3: 642-647. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4652(199809)176:3<642::AID-JCP21>3.0.CO;2-#
Bowen, T, Guy, CA, Craddock, N, Cardno, AG, Williams, NM, Spurlock, G, Murphy, KC, Jones, LA, Gray', M, Sanders, RD, McCarthy, G, Chandy, KG, Fantino, E, Kalman, K, Gutman, GA, Gargus, JJ, Williams, J, McGuffin, P, Owen, MJ and O'Donovan, MC (1998) Further support for an association between a polymorphic CAG repeat in the hKCa3 gene and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry, 3 3: 266-269. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4000400
Chandy, KG, Fantino, E, Wittekindt, O, Kalman, K, Tong, LL, Ho, TH, Gutman, GA, Crocq, MA, Ganguli, R, Nimgaonkar, V, Morris-Rosendahl, DJ and Gargus, JJ (1998) Isolation of a novel potassium channel gene hSKCa3 containing a polymorphic CAG repeat: a candidate for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder?. Molecular Psychiatry, 3 1: 32-37. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4000353
Vargas, GA, Fantino, E, GeorgeNascimento, C, Gargus, JJ and Haigler, HT (1996) Reduced epidermal growth factor receptor expression in hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia and Tabby mice. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 97 11: 2426-2432. doi:10.1172/JCI118689
Keys, D. A., Lee, B. S., Dodd, J. A., Nguyen, T. T., Vu, L., Fantino, E., Burson, L. M., Nogi, Y. and Nomura, M. (1996) Multiprotein transcription factor UAF interacts with the upstream element of the yeast RNA polymerase I promoter and forms a stable preinitiation complex. Genes and Development, 10 7: 887-903. doi:10.1101/gad.10.7.887
Fantino, E, Marguet, D and Lauquin, Gjm (1992) Downstream Activating Sequence Within the Coding Region of a Yeast Gene - Specific Binding Invitro of Rap1 Protein. Molecular & General Genetics, 236 1: 65-75.
Marguet, D, Fantino, E and Lauquin, Gjm (1988) Gene Cloning From Yeast Chromosome-Specific Mini-Library Isolation of the Srp1-Related Dna-Sequence Located On Chromosome-Xv. Febs Letters, 234 2: 421-425. doi:10.1016/0014-5793(88)80129-7
Jones, A. C., Anderson, D., Read, J. F., Serralha, M., Holt, B. J., Galbraith, S., Fantino, E., Varghese, J., Gutierrez Cardenas, D., Sly, P. D., Strickland, D. S., Bosco, A. and Holt, P. G. (2018). Infants hospitalised for severe viral bronchiolitis manifest dysregulated interferon (particularly types 1 & 3) responses. In: Congress of the European-Academy-of-Allergy-and-Clinical-Immunology (EAACI), Munich Germany, (12-12). 26-30 May 2018.
Spann, K., Baturcam, E., Yeo, T., Snape, N., Schagen, J., Thomas, E., Logan, J., Galbraith, S., Phipps, S., Fantino, E. and Sly, P. (2016). Susceptibility of the asthmatic airway epithelium to viral infection is due to both cellular and viral factors. In: Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand and the Australian & New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science, Annual Scientific Meeting, Perth, Australia, (112-112). 1–6 April, 2016. doi:10.1111/resp.12755_2
McNally, P. G., O'Rourke, J., Fantino, E., Chacko, A., Pabary, R., Turnbull, A., Wainwright, C. E., Linnane, B., Davies, J. C. and Sly, P. (2016). Pooling of Bronchoalveolar Lavage in Children with Cystic Fibrosis Does Not Affect the Microbiological Yield and May Allow Earlier Detection of Pulmonary Inflammation. In: The 30th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, Orlando, Florida, United States, (288-288). October 27–29, 2016. doi:10.1002/ppul.23576
Baturcam, Engin, Yeo, Tiong Han, Schagen, Johanna, Snape, Natale, Thomas, Emma, Di-Masi, Janine, Galbraith, Sally, Phipps, Simon, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Sly, Peter and Spann, Kirsten (2015). Airway epithelial cells from asthmatic adults support elevated human metapneumovirus infection due to impaired apoptosis. In: 10.1 Respiratory Infections. 27th International Congress of the European Respiratory Society, Milan, Italy, (). 9-13 September, 2017. doi:10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA5034
Baturcam, Engin, Yeo, Tiong Han, Schagen, Johanna, Thomas, Emma, Di-Masi, Janine, Phipps, Simon, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Sly, Peter and Spann, Kirsten (2014). Elevated hMPV, but not RSV, replication in the nasal epithelium of asthmatic adults is facilitated by an IFN-independent integrated stress response. In: SI: 2014 ICIS Abstract Issue, ICIS Conference. 2nd Annual Meeting of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society (ICIS), Melbourne, VIC Australia, (29-29). 26 - 29 October 2014. doi:10.1016/j.cyto.2014.07.013
Chen, A., Lourie, R., Martin, M., Burr, L., Hasnain, S., Fantino, E., Bowler, S., Mcguckin, M. and Serisier, D. (2014). Human Neutrophil Elastase Activity and Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity Are Markers of Disease Severity in Non-Cf Bronchiectasis. In: Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand and the Australian & New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science 2014 Annual Scientific Meetings, Adelaide Australia, (87-87). 4-9 April 2014. doi:10.1111/resp.12263_6
Fantino, E., Gangell, C. L., Franke, M., Sly, P. D. and Arest, C. F. (2013). YKL-40 measured in BAL fluid but not in serum or urine is a biomarker of lung damage in children with CF. In: Abstracts of the Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand and the Australian & New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science 2013 Annual Scientific Meetings. Thoracic Society of Australia & New Zealand and the Australian & New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science 2013 Annual Scientific Meetings, Darwin, NT, Australia, (61-61). 22-27 March 2013. doi:10.1111/resp.12046
Liu, K., Franke, M., Fantino, E. and Sly, P. D. (2012). Influence of Growth Factors and Glucocorticoids in Media On Epithelial Cell Responses. In: Respirology. unknown, unknown, (54-54). unknown.
Zisman, Lawrence S., Jain, Ritu, Chin-Dusting, Jaye, Andrews, Karen, Court, Naomi, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Farrugia, Michelle and Burns, Christopher J. (2010). CYT387, a novel Jak1/Jak2 inhibitor, prevents progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension in the rat monocrotaline model. In: Meeting Abstracts. American Heart Association Scientific Session 2010, Chicago, United States, (). 13-17 November 2010.
Feutrill, J., Andrau, L., Bourke, D. G., Bu, X. Y., Bukczynska, P., Bums, C., Court, N., Donohue, A., Fantino, E., Farrugia, M., Joffe, M., Kling, M., Kurek, M., Nero, T., Nguyen, T, Palmer, J. T., Sikanyika, H., Treutlein, H., Wan, S. S., Wilks, A. and Zeng, J. (2009). Small molecule inhibitors of Janus kinases. In: American Chemical Society National Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A., (). 22 -26 March 2009.
Feutrill, John, Bukczynska, Patricia, Burns, Christopher, Fantino, Emmanuelle, Harte, Michael, Kruszelnicki, Irma, Phillips, Ian, Su, Stephen, Tranberg, Lisa, Wang, Bing, Wang, Yue and Wilks, Andrew (2009). Discovery of CYT997, a potent vascular disrupting agent and inhibitor of tubulin polymerization. In: Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society. 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Salt Lake City, USA, (). 22-26 March 2009.
Bumm, T., Tyner, J. W., Deininger, J., Loriaux, M., VanDyke, J., Druker, B. J., Burns, C. J., Fantino, E. and Deininger, M. W. N. (2008). Effects of CYT387, a potent novel JAK2 inhibitor on JAK2-V617F induced MPD. In: 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, San Francisco Ca, (316-317). 6-9 December 2008.
Bourke, DG, Palmer, J, Donohue, A, Feutrill, J, Andrau, L, Kling, M, Nguyen, T, McNally, M, Bu, X, Burns, C, Sikakanyika, H, Fantino, E, Kurek, M, Joffe, M, Wan, SS, Court, N and Bukczynska, P (2008). MEDI 95-N,4-Diphenylpyrimidin-2-amines as inhibitors of Janus kinases. In: Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society. 236th National Meeting of the American-Chemical-Society, Philadelphia Pa, (). Aug 17-21, 2008.
Lucet, I. S., Fantino, E., Styles, M., Wilks, A. W. and Rossjohn, J. (2005). The structural basis of Janus Kinase 2 inhibition by a potent and specific pan-Janus kinase inhibitor. In: Thirty-third meeting of the European Histamine Research Society, Cologne, Germany, (S89-S89). April 28–May 2 2004.
Chandy, KG, Fantino, E, Wittekindt, O, Kalman, K, Tong, L, Ho, T, Cahalan, MD, Gutman, GA, Crocq, MA, Ganguli, R, Nimgaonkar, V, Morris-Rosendahl, DJ and Gargus, JJ (1998). CAG repeats in a K+ channel gene, hKCA3: A candidate for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder?. In: Biophysical Journal. , , (A26-A26). .
Chandy, KG, Fantino, E, Kalman, K, Gutman, GA and Gargus, JJ (1997). Gene encoding neuronal calcium-activated potassium channel has polymorphic CAG repeats, a candidate role in excitotoxic neurodegeneration and maps to 22q11-q13, critical region for bipolar disease and schizophrenia disorder 4.. In: American Journal of Human Genetics. , , (A305-A305). .
Fantino, E, Soughayer, J, Tuscan, M and Gargus, JJ (1996). Growth factor activated cation channel isolated via functional cloning is mammalian homolog to yeast Sec62. In: Molecular Biology of the Cell. , , (67-67). .
Respiratory Disease
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Polyenso
Quick Sort
Review: Polyenso – Year of the Dog EP
6 months ago •Adam Grundy
On the third album from the St. Petersburg trio, Polyenso, Year of the Dog finds them stretching the boundaries of their already dynamic sound on this experimental EP. Polyenso are on the brink of something remarkable here on this release. If you can tune into the world of this band and lose yourself in the music, you’re in for a treat.
Interview: Polyenso (Video)
3 years ago •Jackie Cular
Polyenso are an indie rock band featuring Alex Schults, Brennan Taulbee, and Denny Agosto. At this year’s Bonnaroo I talked with the band about their latest release, Pure in Plastic. You can find the full interview below.
Interview: Polyenso
3 years ago •Craig Ismaili
A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to attend the Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a high-energy weekend filled with great bands (both up-and-coming and established). One of the best bands I saw was Polyenso, who played an early Saturday set on the Buford Highway stage. Afterward, I got to sit down for a bit and chat with the band about their new record The Pure In The Plastic, what they’re anticipating most from their upcoming tour with PVRIS, and how their songs change in a live setting.
PVRIS Announce Openers For Tour
3 years ago •Jason Tate
PVRIS have announced the openers for their upcoming headlining tour. Lydia and Cruisr are the main support, and then Beach Weather will be opening from May 11th through May 24th and Polyenso from May 25th through June 9th.
Articles + Features
Polyenso – Year of the Dog EP
Adam Grundy reviews the latest EP from Polyenso.
Craig Ismaili interviews Polyenso at Shaky Knees.
Chelsea Wolfe – "American Darkness" Video
Oxymorrons at Warped Tour (Video Interview)
Sleep on It – "Under the Moment" Video
Off With Their Heads – "Be Good"
Sleater-Kinney – "The Center Won't Hold"
Red Hearse – "Half Love" Video
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Feature, News
Harry George Johns releases new music video for ‘Tie Your Own Noose’ Debut mini-album available now Live dates in March – May including Live At Leeds
Harry George Johns releases new music video for ‘Tie Your Own Noose’
Debut mini-album available now
Live dates in March – May including Live At Leeds
“‘Post Breakdown Blues’ is a uniquely evocative set of musical documents” – This Is Fake DIY
“Honesty. Humanity. A directness that is difficult to avoid.” – Clash
“Post-Breakdown Blues is a stunning piece of work.” – Gig Ape
‘Tie Your Own Noose’ is the second video to accompany ‘Post-Breakdown Blues’. Shot entirely in Leeds, it tells the story of a man whose world falls from beneath him, mirroring the theme of Johns’ debut record itself.
Harry George Johns’ Post-Breakdown Blues is an incredibly personal diary of a dark and desperate time. As Winter 2011 was in full flow, Harry found himself confronting issues such as mental illness, heartbreak and homelessness. He stayed on a mate’s floor with a laptop and a few microphones, and inspired by this dark time, Harry wrote and recorded Post-Breakdown Blues. You can download the collection of songs on his Bandcamp on a ‘pay what you want’ basis.
If fans want to get to know the man behind the music, they will have the opportunity to write Harry a letter – that’s right, an actual physical letter, and Harry will reply with a personal note and exclusive tracks only available via old fashioned snail mail.
Following a one-off date supporting Amelia Curran in London, Harry will be taking his brooding solo acoustic stylings on the road in March and April. He’ll also be playing Live At Leeds in May. Keeping things as DIY as possible, he has handpicked several intimate venues with more dates to be added –
March 7 – Wakefield, The Hop
March 9 – Norwich, Olives
March 14 – Leeds, Sela Bar
March 23 – Coventry, Inspire
April 06 – Carlisle, The Royal Scot
April 13 – Lincoln, Café Aroma
April 20 – Edinbrough, Hendersons @ St Johns
https://twitter.com/harryjohnsrules
CHROMATICS announce full European tour dates including UK shows in London, Manchester, Bristol & Glasgow. Tour also features DESIRE & IN MIRRORS
Slow Riot release new single ‘Betrayed’ via Straight Lines Are Fine
Hallucinists
Prawn Launching Spring Tour with Gates on March 15th
Saltland set to release ‘I Thought It Was Us But It Was All Of Us’ 14 May 2013 on Constellation.
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Circuit Sweet Introducing, Feature, News
Dangers of Love- New band Formed By Members of Great Cynics, Apologies, I Have None and Honey Joy – Share Debut Track
Dangers of Love release debut track
Members of Great Cynics, Apologies, I Have None
“Like a London Teenage Fanclub! Grand Prix era, too, production-wise” – Paul Smith, Maxïmo Park
Dangers of Love are an indie rock ‘n’ roll band, who are in equal measures dazzling and self-aware.
The London band was formed by Giles Bidder (Great Cynics), Joe Watson (Apologies, I Have None), Rob Sinclair and Matt Tinsley.
Sinclair and Bidder started writing songs when they moved into a flat together in Deptford, causing the re-defining of Bidder’s reality-founded lyrics and pop structure found in Great Cynics. Shaped by Sinclair’s lead guitar parts, the songs took on a whole new level to create a succinctly British rock and roll twang.
Their new EP, ‘Vol. 1’ was produced and mastered by Joe Watson, and artwork covered by Giles Bidder. It does not yet have a release date.
Speaking of the video, Bidder says: “We talked about capturing the sides of people that we wouldn’t usually notice. All those people on your periphery are far more real than the thoughts in our heads, and the song is a reminder that so often you don’t notice the things that actually do matter. ‘Dangers of Love’ is a celebration of embracing truth and reality.”
A release date for ‘Vol. 1’ is yet to be set. But judging by the track above, this is seriously one of the most exciting acts about at present, the forthcoming EP can’t come soon enough!
https://www.instagram.com/thedangersoflove
https://twitter.com/dangersofliebe
https://www.facebook.com/dangersoflov3/
Mt. Doubt release new single ‘Mouthwash’ + tour dates!
Cage The Elephant share new track from new album “Tell Me I’m Pretty” out on December 18th
ÁSGEIR TEAMS UP WITH INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE FOR RARE 7″ TREASURE HUNT – SHARES COVER OF TALLEST MAN ON EARTH’S ‘THERE’S NO LEAVING NOW’
New Orleans Prog-rock band Matron Release New EP Standing Water Via Strange Daisy Records
ARCHITECTS release brand new single/video ‘Modern Misery’
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Let us share with you what we’ve learned before.
$ 2 Billion
Organizations served
Teaming Up for Success
Goal: $10 M Raised: $10 M
The Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) had recently updated their strategic plan which included several capital improvements and increased scholarship funding. Significant resources were necessary to achieve the desired outcomes. The school had never had a campaign before and the board and staff were very anxious about it. The board chair had worked with The Compass Group in the past and facilitated an introduction. Compass partnered with CRMS to conduct a Readiness Assessment to evaluate internal and external capacities to implement a successful campaign. Based on the findings of the ...
The Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) had recently updated their strategic plan which included several capital improvements and increased scholarship funding. Significant resources were necessary to achieve the desired outcomes. The school had never had a campaign before and the board and staff were very anxious about it. The board chair had worked with The Compass Group in the past and facilitated an introduction. Compass partnered with CRMS to conduct a Readiness Assessment to evaluate internal and external capacities to implement a successful campaign. Based on the findings of the Readiness Assessment, the board of CRMS voted to advance a campaign. CRMS partnered with Compass to implement the recommendations of the assessment. Teaming with new development leadership, Compass provided both high-level strategic direction, board development, and training and day-to-day advice regarding systems, processes, and team building. The accountability and guidance from Compass enabled CRMS to successfully complete a $10 million campaign, providing the resources necessary to advance the strategic plan. Even more importantly, the staff, board, and volunteers acquired the skills needed to fundraise on their own.
Less Reading
"It brought our team together for the long term. Everything I’ve learned in that campaign I’ve institutionalized throughout our organization."
Lisa Raleigh
Los Alamos Historical Society
Successful Small Shop/Creating a Culture of Philanthropy
Planning Study
The Los Alamos Historical Society (LAHS) was a small-town museum struggling to grow beyond their limited staff and facilities. A new community opportunity on the horizon spurred an interest in growing their member base, expanding their programming, and improving their fundraising productivity. Past campaigns had underperformed, and they were eager to understand why and to address weaknesses directly with a new campaign and different strategy. LAHS had an Executive Director, but no fundraising staff and a board that had not done a campaign before. In addition, there had been no successful ca...
The Los Alamos Historical Society (LAHS) was a small-town museum struggling to grow beyond their limited staff and facilities. A new community opportunity on the horizon spurred an interest in growing their member base, expanding their programming, and improving their fundraising productivity. Past campaigns had underperformed, and they were eager to understand why and to address weaknesses directly with a new campaign and different strategy. LAHS had an Executive Director, but no fundraising staff and a board that had not done a campaign before. In addition, there had been no successful campaigns in this community. Together, The Compass Group and LAHS executed a Planning Study to identify the right campaign strategy and created a campaign plan specifically for their circumstances. Compass provided the necessary structure, training and direction for this small but worthy organization to maximize on this opportunity and raise more money than the community had ever seen for a nonprofit. The campaign provided invaluable education for the board and staff to develop a culture of philanthropy as well as skills to further the goals of the organization. Compass adapted campaign management service to the unique needs of LAHS. Last year, LAHS had their most successful end of year campaign to date. They have established a healthy and growing membership base and honed their story to inspire and engage new supporters.
"Our new ability to fundraise has transformed the organization. Compass showed us how to turn generosity into philanthropy - it was a huge culture change."
Heather McClenahan
Building the Pipeline/Board Engagement
National Park Trust (NPT), a land trust and environmental education nonprofit, is dedicated to preserving parks today and creating park stewards for tomorrow. While the organization’s staff is small, its impact has been great in large part because of the dedication and commitment of the Executive Director. Compass was engaged initially to conduct a Planning Study which recommended NPT challenge its board to deepen its collective philanthropic commitment to the organization. Since the study, NPT and Compass have been working in partnership to create a unique service model. This model inclu...
National Park Trust (NPT), a land trust and environmental education nonprofit, is dedicated to preserving parks today and creating park stewards for tomorrow. While the organization’s staff is small, its impact has been great in large part because of the dedication and commitment of the Executive Director. Compass was engaged initially to conduct a Planning Study which recommended NPT challenge its board to deepen its collective philanthropic commitment to the organization. Since the study, NPT and Compass have been working in partnership to create a unique service model. This model includes board and staff development, fundraising training, cultivation and stewardship planning, a digital audit, the creation of a legacy society, and an emphasis on building a pipeline for the future. Board engagement is reaching new heights and more money is being raised for the organization than at any time in its history. A pipeline is being created that will allow it to build capacity and sustainability well into the future.
"The Compass Group has worked closely with our board on a fundraising strategy and provided the tools and techniques that they were able to implement immediately to engage new friends and supporters of National Park Trust."
Grace Lee
Executive Director, National Park Trust
Wyoming Chapter – Leap of Faith
The Nature Conservancy – Wyoming Chapter knew they had to conduct a campaign in order to meet their strategic plan objectives. However, none of the staff had ever done a significant campaign before and, more importantly, not many of their board members had either. The thought of a $40 million campaign was scary to everyone! The Compass Group conducted a Planning Study for the Chapter. The results provided a roadmap for success that empowered the board to join hands and endorse a campaig...
The Nature Conservancy – Wyoming Chapter knew they had to conduct a campaign in order to meet their strategic plan objectives. However, none of the staff had ever done a significant campaign before and, more importantly, not many of their board members had either. The thought of a $40 million campaign was scary to everyone! The Compass Group conducted a Planning Study for the Chapter. The results provided a roadmap for success that empowered the board to join hands and endorse a campaign. Compass was then retained to facilitate implementation of the study recommendations through campaign management. The campaign was not only successful for the chapter, but it also transformed the board and staff. They learned to work together, trust each other and commit to do whatever it took to be successful. The Chapter itself became a model for The Nature Conservancy's network on how to successfully engage volunteers in a campaign. The campaign surpassed their goal, raising $42 million. The service provided by Compass enabled the organization to build a fundraising program for the future and establish a culture of board leadership in fundraising that has lasted beyond the campaign. Now the chapter is halfway through their second campaign that has a goal of $50 million.
Wolf River Conservancy
Wolf River Conservancy (WRC), in Memphis, TN is not only dedicated to protecting the habitat within the Wolf River watershed, but they are also spearheading the Wolf River Greenway project, which is a corridor of protected green space along the river. Funding for the project required both public support and private fundraising. The Compass Group worked collaboratively with WRC to secure funds from state and local municipalities, as well as individuals, corporations and foundations in the area that believed in the project. The initial campaign goal for the Greenway project was $20 million. D...
Wolf River Conservancy (WRC), in Memphis, TN is not only dedicated to protecting the habitat within the Wolf River watershed, but they are also spearheading the Wolf River Greenway project, which is a corridor of protected green space along the river. Funding for the project required both public support and private fundraising. The Compass Group worked collaboratively with WRC to secure funds from state and local municipalities, as well as individuals, corporations and foundations in the area that believed in the project. The initial campaign goal for the Greenway project was $20 million. Due to WRC’s initial success, the goal was doubled, and the campaign ended up raising over $40 million. Working with the Executive Director, community leaders, the board, and the development staff, Compass provided campaign management service, solicitation strategy, board training, and development.
"Our experience in working with The Compass Group has been very important to the continued development of our organization. As we moved from a ‘grassroots’ organization to a professional land trust, managing a multimillion dollar project the counsel from Compass for both fundraising and board/organizational development has been invaluable."
Keith Cole
Executive Director, Wolf River Conservancy
Olivet College
Building Capacity
Development Audit
Olivet College (Olivet) is a small liberal arts institution located in southwest Michigan. Having experienced the benefits of working with The Compass Group at a previous institution, Dr. Steven Corey asked Compass to conduct a Development Audit shortly after he began his presidency. The audit provided valuable insight and direction toward building the capacity of Olivet in anticipation of a multimillion dollar campaign. A year was spent implementing the recommendations of the audit. When Olivet was ready, Compass conducted a Planning Study to test the feasibility of a $40 million capital...
Olivet College (Olivet) is a small liberal arts institution located in southwest Michigan. Having experienced the benefits of working with The Compass Group at a previous institution, Dr. Steven Corey asked Compass to conduct a Development Audit shortly after he began his presidency. The audit provided valuable insight and direction toward building the capacity of Olivet in anticipation of a multimillion dollar campaign. A year was spent implementing the recommendations of the audit. When Olivet was ready, Compass conducted a Planning Study to test the feasibility of a $40 million capital campaign. Partnering with new leadership in the Advancement Office, Compass assisted Olivet in the implementation of the Planning Study recommendations, while continuing to monitor progress in meeting audit goals that were focused on improving the culture of philanthropy and building a high performing fundraising team. Olivet publicly launched its $42 million campaign in October 2017, having raised $30 million during the quiet phase.
"The greatest impact of the campaign has been the enhanced engagement of our alumni and donors, and the strengthening of the culture of philanthropy in support of our college. That is what helped generate the largest single gift in the college's history, three successive years of record giving, and a campaign that, while only partially completed, has already raised more than double any prior campaign. None of this is possible without the engagement and support of our alumni and donors."
Steven Corey
President, Olivet College
Santa Fe Preparatory School
Goal: $7 M Raised: $10 M
Santa Fe Preparatory School (Prep) had completed a strategic plan which called for a $7 million investment. These funds would support the design and construction of new $4 million library and classroom building, creation of a more unified campus design plan with a central plaza and a re-worked traffic scheme, and increased endowment. The Compass Group was retained to partner with Prep to conduct a Planning Study and assist them with the execution of the campaign. A campaign was new for Prep’s staff and board leadership, and fundraising in Santa Fe, NM was very competitive. The recommendat...
Santa Fe Preparatory School (Prep) had completed a strategic plan which called for a $7 million investment. These funds would support the design and construction of new $4 million library and classroom building, creation of a more unified campus design plan with a central plaza and a re-worked traffic scheme, and increased endowment. The Compass Group was retained to partner with Prep to conduct a Planning Study and assist them with the execution of the campaign. A campaign was new for Prep’s staff and board leadership, and fundraising in Santa Fe, NM was very competitive. The recommendations from the Planning Study provided both insight and direction that, when implemented, enabled Prep to be successful. The highlight of this campaign was the way that Prep’s staff and board leadership worked together. They relied on each other, trusted each other, supported each other, and cheered each other on to success. They even named themselves the “Dream Team” – and had t-shirts to make it official. That attitude and teamwork created an enthusiasm and culture that remains in place today. Prep has had a successful $10 million campaign since and is planning to launch the next one. In addition, Prep's library was unique in that it received LEED Gold Certification, making it only the second LEED certified building in New Mexico and the first to be awarded gold status.
"I honestly don't know how we could have successfully completed our ambitious capital campaign without the expert advice and personal encouragement of Frank Pisch and his Compass Group team. Where we saw challenges, he saw opportunities."
Bill Conway
Board Chair, Santa Fe Preparatory School
Memphis Union Mission
Memphis Union Mission (MUM) has a long and successful history of supporting homeless men, women and children in the Memphis, Tennessee area by providing short term housing, education, rehabilitation and helping them transition into the workplace and independence. Historically, the bulk of MUM’s generous support had been from churches, businesses and individual small donors. They had never conducted a multi-million dollar campaign before. Understanding that the MUM staff and board did not have this kind of campaign experience, the Chairwoman of the Steering C...
Memphis Union Mission (MUM) has a long and successful history of supporting homeless men, women and children in the Memphis, Tennessee area by providing short term housing, education, rehabilitation and helping them transition into the workplace and independence. Historically, the bulk of MUM’s generous support had been from churches, businesses and individual small donors. They had never conducted a multi-million dollar campaign before. Understanding that the MUM staff and board did not have this kind of campaign experience, the Chairwoman of the Steering Committee recommended a partnership with The Compass Group (Compass). Having worked with Compass in another successful campaign, she valued the guidance and structure Compass would bring to MUM’s effort. Launched in 2016, the $15 million campaign to build a new Opportunity Center began with the expansion and engagement of a very strong Campaign Steering Committee comprised of community leaders and philanthropists. Compass initially conducted a feasibility study which provided a road map for the campaign, identified prospects and provided the information necessary to create specific strategies for solicitation. Working with the Steering Committee and staff of MUM, Compass guided the implementation of the campaign plan and the recommendations from the feasibility study. The highlight of the campaign was a $2.5 million challenge grant received from a national corporation. This challenge immediately created credibility, excitement in the community and urgency resulting in the successful completion of the campaign in 24 months.
"The Legacy of Hope campaign was the largest in the Mission’s history, and Compass’s wise counsel during this process was invaluable. We are so grateful for everything Compass has done to help make our vision become a reality. You have made a tremendous difference in this ministry, in the lives of the people we serve and in our community."
D. Scott Bjork
President and CEO, Memphis Union Mission
Environment / Animals
• American Red Cross – Loudoun Chapter
• American Red Cross – Prince William Chapter
• ANERA
• Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club
• Ave Maria Home
• Benedictine Sisters of Virginia
• Boy Scouts of America
• Chi Omega Fraternity
• The Children’s Center
• Common Table Health Alliance
• Community Foundation for Northern Virginia
• Community Foundation of Jackson Hole
• Conference of Minority Transportation Officials
• Delta Health Alliance
• Emmanuel Center
• Family & Child Services of DC
• Give Kids The World
• Goodwin House Foundation
• Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Teton Area
• Habitat for Humanity of Virginia
• Hopkins House
• KIPP New Jersey
• Lebanon Family Health Services
• Maryland Legal Aid
• Memphis Goodwill
• Memphis Tiger Swimming
• Memphis Union Mission
• New Hampshire Public Radio
• Palmer Home for Children
• Rippleffect
• Toledo Community Foundation
• United States Tennis Association – Mid-Atlantic Region
• Volunteers of America
• Wyoming Community Foundation
• Youth For Tomorrow
• American Cancer Society
• American Cancer Society – Great Lakes Division
• Ave Maria Foundation
• Inova Alexandria Hospital
• Inova Fair Oaks Hospital
• Inova Fairfax Hospital
• Inova Grants Management
• Inova Health Foundation
• Inova Mount Vernon Hospital
• Inova Research Center
• Loudoun Healthcare Foundation
• The Marrow Foundation
• National Marrow Donor Program
• Whitman-Walker Health
• The Access Fund
• Earthjustice
• Alice Ferguson Foundation
• The Alliance Center
• Audubon Naturalist Society
• Bahamas National Trust
• Bucks County SPCA
• Chincoteague Natural History Association
• The Conservation Fund
• Friends of Acadia
• Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters
• Humane League of Lancaster County
• Land Trust Alliance
• Manassas Battlefield Trust
• Marine Resources and Education Center in Salt River Bay
• Memphis River Parks Partnership
• Mesa Verde Foundation
• Montgomery County Humane Society
• National Outdoor Leadership School
• National Park Foundation
• National Park Service
• National Park Trust
• National Parks Conservation Association
• National Parks Friends Alliance
• National Wildlife Refuge Association
• Natural Resource Council of Maine
• The Nature Conservancy in Arizona
• The Nature Conservancy in Colorado
• The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut
• The Nature Conservancy in Maine
• The Nature Conservancy in Missouri
• The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire
• The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey
• The Nature Conservancy in Patagonia
• The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina
• The Nature Conservancy in Texas
• The Nature Conservancy in Vermont
• The Nature Conservancy in Virginia
• The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming
• The Nature Conservancy Worldwide Office
• NatureBridge
• Potomac Conservancy
• Teton Raptor Center
• Teton Regional Land Trust
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation
• Wolf River Conservancy
• Wyoming Outdoor Council
• Yellowstone Association
• Yellowstone Park Foundation
• Aspen Education Foundation
• The Awty International School
• Bozeman Schools Foundation
• Chewonki Foundation
• Colorado Rocky Mountain School
• Colorado Springs School
• Discover Compass
• The Fay School
• Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
• Germantown Education Foundation
• High Mountain Institute
• Indian Creek School
• Jackson Academy
• Landon School
• The Langley School
• Norwood School
• Our Lady of Good Counsel High School
• Oxford School District
• Perkiomen School
• Rio Grande School
• St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School
• St. Croix Country Day School
• St. Louis Church and School
• Saint Andrew’s School of Boca Raton
• Sandy Spring Friends School
• Santa Fe Preparatory School
• Sidwell Friends School
• Stanwich School
• StoneBridge School
• Telluride Mountain School
• Teton Valley Ranch Camp Education Foundation
• United World College – USA
• Ursuline Academy of Dallas
• Whitby School
• Woodland Presbyterian Church and School
• Alcorn State University Foundation
• American University
• American University of Rome
• Antioch College
• Antioch University
• Arkansas State University System Foundation, Inc.
• The Catholic University of America
• Center City Consortium
• Challenger Center for Space Science Education
• College of the Atlantic
• George Mason University
• George Washington University-School of Law
• Institute of Economic Studies
• LaSalle University
• Loyola University Maryland
• Missouri Valley College
• Mount St. Mary’s University
• Northern Virginia Community College
• Olivet College
• Prescott College
• St. Mary’s College
• Stevenson University
• University of Delaware
• The University of Mississippi
• The University of Mississippi Law School
• The University of Mississippi Medical Center
• The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy
• Arena Stage
• Buffalo Bill Center of the West
• College Park Aviation Museum
• Colorado Youth Symphony
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
• Everyman Theater
• Facing History and Ourselves
• Friends of Happy Retreat
• Gettysburg Foundation
• High Country News
• Historic Tennessee Theater Foundation
• International Folk Art Market
• Jackson Hole Center for the Arts
• Los Alamos Historical Society
• Mount Rushmore Society
• National Cherry Blossom Festival
• National Children’s Museum
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• The National Theatre
• National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Oatlands Historic House & Gardens
• Port Discovery Children’s Museum
• Radio America
• Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
• Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Robert Bull has been a godsend – we have been well guided and supported. We are right on track and look forward (with a little luck!) to completing our $80M campaign by the end of 2020. We are very grateful for The Compass Group’s part in our progress!!
Carrie VanDusen Director of Philanthropy, TNC New Jersey
“The feasibility study opened doors to conversations with donors who might not otherwise have met with us to talk about the campaign. It was also very helpful to know that many people interviewed self-identified as donors. And it also gave us information on support for a comprehensive campaign and we learned that people didn’t object to a (rather large) increase in our reserve funds.”
Patty LummisCampaign Co-Chair, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Teton Area
“Compass was invaluable in helping move our development operations forward. From embarking on a capital campaign to assisting with growing our annual fund, planned giving and endowments, Compass became an integral component of our efforts and we learned a tremendous amount from their guidance.”
Lisa Raleigh, PhDDirector of Development, CRMS
“When I started in my new role as President of the Foundation, I saw immediately that there was great potential for growth. The team from Compass helped me identify what needed to be done to meet that potential and worked directly with my team and the finance and human resources departments to significantly build our capacity. As a result of that work we are raising more money each and every year.”
Tony BurchardFormer President, Invoa Health Foundation
“I honestly don’t know how we could have successfully completed our ambitious capital campaign without the expert advice and personal encouragement of Frank Pisch and his Compass Group team. Where we saw challenges, he saw opportunities.”
Bill Conway Board Chair, Santa Fe Preparatory School
Tell us a bit about your unique organization and we can lay out an approach to help you reach your goals
info@compassgroup.com
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Food Sushi – The World Famous Japanese Food
Sushi is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the most popular dishes among the Japanese themselves who usually enjoy sushi on special occasions
What has become a Japanese culinary art with delicious flavour and colourful form, actually evolved from very meagre beginnings?
In the 7th century, Southeast Asians introduced the technique of pickling. The Japanese acquired this same practice which consisted of packing fish with rice. As the fish fermented, the rice produced a lactic acid which in turn caused the pickling of the pressed fish. Nare-Sushi is 1300 years old and refers to the finished edible product resulting from this early method.
As with most foods, there are several variations and different ways to cook it. All it takes is a little bit of courage to try out the different variations and who knows, you may find something that you like.
Sushi is one of the best nutritional sources available to us. There are hundreds of recipes for making sushi: the basic hand rolled sushi and vegetable hand rolled sushi, but there are also several ways to get unique while making sushi
Sushi is one of the best nutritional sources available to us, which may be one reason people are turned off by it. Some people have it in their head that all health food is going to taste bad. Others may be turned off by the fact that it is seafood. But sushi is packed with lean protein, nutrients, and is low in fat.
A couple of other healthy parts to sushi are the seaweed wrap, wasabi and ginger. The seaweed wrap, which is called nori, is rich with vitamins and minerals that get lost with many other kinds of foods. As for wasabi and ginger, they contain antibacterial qualities and ginger also aids digestion and improves circulation.
By now you get the point that sushi is good for you, but that does not make it appetising to everyone. However, there are hundreds of recipes for making sushi. There is the basic hand-rolled sushi and vegetable hand-rolled sushi, but there are several ways to get unique while making sushi. If you are not a big fish fan, try out somen sushi noodle with wasabi oil and soy syrup. This is a little more complex to make, but worth it when it is cooked. As with the recommendation above, you can find the recipe at the food network online. Some of the main ingredients you will find with this dish are half kilos of somen noodles, chopped scallions, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and wasabi oil.
Not everyone is going to be a big fan of sushi. But try to muster up the courage to try the different variations and recipes out there, because it can be one of the better kinds of seafood you will try. Just because it is seafood and healthy for you; it does not mean you will not like sushi. So give it a chance.
To begin with, we recommend you to try one of the many recipes that offer Belgrade’s take-a-way restaurants “Sushi Go” (www.gosushi.rs).
Ana Novcic
Japan donates €81,850 to the Clinical Centre of Serbia
2019 Sakura Scholarships Awarded
JTI and Embassy of Japan award Sakura Scholarships
Japan – Partners 2017
Special editions 1st January 2017
CorD Special Edition Partner: Japan 2017
H.E. Junichi Maruyama, Ambassador Of Japan To Serbia
Changing The Image Of Serbia
Interviews 31st December 2017
Many Japanese people still think Serbia isn’t perfectly safe, due to the wars that the entire Western Balkan region went through in the 1990s. In that sense, the challenge for the Serbian side is to disseminate the correct information on Serbia to Japanese people for the purposes of erasing such a stereotyped image of Serbia. Please be assured that the Embassy of Japan in Serbia is always on your side – Junichi Maruyama
Radoš Gazdić, Acting Director Of The Development Agency Of Serbia (RAS)
Upswing Recorded In Serbian-Japanese Cooperation
As of recently, Serbia has been able to boast that, thanks to its active foreign investment policy, it has also become an attractive destination for Japanese companies. Also testifying to this is the visit of a JETRO delegation to Serbia after a gap of almost a decade. The occasion of this visit saw the trade sectors and the industries of ICT, construction, energy, chemicals, automotive and food production highlighted as potentially interesting areas for investment
Goran Pekez, President Of The Japanese Business Alliance In Serbia
Our Cooperation Should Be Even Stronger
Interviews 20th December 2017
Open discourse between the state and industry is something that has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to improving the business environment in Serbia. Members of the JBAS are renowned companies that are very willing to cooperate with the Serbian Government and contribute to even stronger relations between Japan and Serbia
Kobayashi Hideya, Resident Representative, JICA Balkan Office
SMEs – Essential For The Serbian Economy
The Development Agency of Serbia (RAS) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) recently announced the continuation of their joint project to advise and support the operations of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia
Danijela Čabarkapa, Executive Director Of The Japanese Business Alliance In Serbia
Bridge Between The Public And Private Sectors
The Japanese Business Alliance in Serbia wants to contribute to promoting Japanese business culture, to support the arrival of new Japanese companies in Serbia and enable the inclusion of the Japanese business community in the creation and improvement of conditions for doing business in Serbia
Azhaiyp Kozhakhmetov, Operations Director, JT International A.D. (JSC) Senta
Fusion Of Business And Philosophy
Japan 20th December 2017
“We owe our success, among other things, to the applying of the Kaizen business philosophy in our work, which is a specific way of thinking that encourages the creativity of employees, contributing to continuous progress,” explains Azhaiyp Kozhakhmetov, Operations Director at JT International a.d. Senta
Japanese Heritage Inspiring Future From The Past
Tjhe cultures and traditions of Japan are passed down through stories based on unique regional histories and traditions. The Agency for Cultural Affairs recognises these stories as Japanese Heritage.The Agency aims to revitalise local communities through comprehensive maintenance and utilisation of these attractive tangible and intangible cultural properties and their strategic promotion in Japan and overseas
XXXII Olympic Summer Games, Tokyo 2020 Connecting Millions Of Visitors To The Future
The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, are planned to be held from 24th July to 9th August 2020 in Tokyo. It will be the second time that Tokyo has hosted the Olympics.
Japan 21st December 2016
Tradition Of Partnership and Friendship
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Andrew Weatherall
There is a certain breed of DJ who exists outside of the music industry bubble. With a career spanning over 30 years, Andrew Weatherall is perhaps the quintessential example of this. His considered approach to dance music is evident throughout his fabled rise; from being instrumental in the first wave of dance music in the UK, to his production work for the likes of Primal Scream, and the twisted dub, house and electro of Warp favourites Sabres Of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen. It’s also present in his latest output, the dubby, krautrock and disco influenced project The Asphodells alongside Timothy J Fairplay. Through his incredibly varied output, one defining constant is a sense of timelessness, a persistent sense of cool in an unsteady electronic music landscape – an authenticity and depth of musical experience that most can only scratch the surface of.
This sense of existing out of time is evident in his mix for us. From the seductive DJ Sotofett opener through to blissed out mid-tempo chugs and irresistible, fizzing house and electro, it’s a class act, showing us just why Weatherall is one of the most respected figures in leftfield dance music.
Andrew Weatherall plays Beat Herder festival which takes place in Lancashire, 17-19 July
Freedom in jazz – Mixed by Leroy Burgess
Boogie and soul legend Leroy Burgess stitches together the finest jazz cuts
In Photos: Lovebox Festival 2019
Gunnersbury Park, London 12 July
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Living on the Earth
Skies Over Crestone
Spiritual Centers
Digital Newspaper Archives
Federal Judge ruled environmental analysis for DAPL inadequate, Army Corps must redo Lake Oahe study
Posted by Crestone Eagle | Jun 30, 2017 | Current Headlines | 0
A small victory for water protectors at Standing Rock
by Lisa Cyriacks
On June 14 US District Judge James Boasberg ruled on the third lawsuit filed by Standing Rock and the neighboring Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.
In his ruling, Judge Boasberg ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers must redo its environmental analysis on sections of the pipeline that cross under Lake Oahe on the Missouri river. Although the current ruling allows the pipeline to continue to transport oil, he also left open the possibility that Energy Transfer Partners could be forced to cease DAPL operations as a remedy for these violations.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has long argued that the pipeline violates rights protected in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 as well as the constitutional right to religious freedom.
Two previous legal challenges against the pipeline failed to halt the construction. The first contended that the corps failed to properly consult with tribes about the threat that construction posed to sacred sites in the project’s path. The second argued that Dakota Access desecrated sacred waters and violated Lakota religious freedom.
This third, partially successful lawsuit focused on the potential environmental impacts of the pipeline and the US Army Corps’ failure to adhere to environmental law.
In December 2016, President Barack Obama denied permits for the last section of pipeline, recommending further study on alternative routes to the easement that allowed the pipeline to run beneath Lake Oahe.
Shortly after he was sworn in, President Donald Trump, however, ordered the Corps to issue the permits.
Energy Transfer Partners, the company developing the pipeline, completed the construction linking the two ends of the pipeline. Oil started flowing earlier in June.
Counter-terrorism tactics
In late May, the investigative-news website, The Intercept, published documents revealing how a shadowy, international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan was hired by Energy Transfer Partners not only to stifle opposition but also to infiltrate and discredit the DAPL opposition movement.
Documents reveal that internal TigerSwan communications described the movement as “an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component” and compare the anti-pipeline water protectors to jihadist fighters.
The Intercept obtained documents that reveal the efforts of law enforcement and private security contractors to stakeout DAPL opponents between October and December 2016. This timeframe also saw growing national attention to reports of law enforcement’s often brutal response to the demonstrators as the number of water protectors living in the camps grew to roughly 10,000.
The Intercept’s published online exclusive report details TigerSwan’s sweeping enterprise, covering nine months and five states. Activists were monitored through aerial technology, social media monitoring, and direct infiltration. A propaganda campaign was also launched in an attempt to shift public opinion
The company, made up largely of special operations military veterans, was formed during the war in Iraq. Energy Transfer Partners hired the global security firm to suppress the indigenous-led movement centered on protection of water. Leaked situation reports indicate that during the company’s first weeks working on the pipeline, TigerSwan operatives met with law enforcement in Iowa and North Dakota.
As the water protector movement expanded from North Dakota to other states, so did the surveillance. A report dated March 29, for instance, points to a meeting between TigerSwan and “the Des Moines Field Office of the FBI, with the Omaha and Sioux Falls offices joining by conference call. Also in attendance were representatives of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Department of Homeland Security, Iowa Department of Emergency Services, Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Iowa Department of Wildlife. Topics covered included the current threat assessment of the pipeline, the layout of current security assets and persons of interest.
As state legislatures around the country pass laws criminalizing protest and policing continues to be militarized, the fact that a private security firm retained by a Fortune 500 oil and gas company coordinated its efforts with local, state, and federal law enforcement to undermine the protest movement has profoundly anti-democratic implications.
The pipeline became a rallying point for both climate activists and indigenous civil-rights advocates in April of last year, as thousands of people—many of them Native Americans—gathered on the Standing Rock reservation to protest and physically obstruct the pipeline’s construction. By late October, Standing Rock had become the largest Native protest in the United States with the highest profile in four decades.
“We applaud the courts for protecting our laws and regulations from undue political influence and will ask the court to shut down pipeline operations immediately,” said Dave Archambault, III, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in a publicly released statement.
This victory has significant implications for the future of energy infrastructure and the climate, demonstrating that indigenous movements can potentially provide significant aid in the defense of the planet and its people against large oil and gas corporations.
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Communing with Artifice
Weblog of Someone
Parade of fruit
clockwise from left: dale-dale, pan de árbol (in bag), granadilla, cacao, macambo seed, pan de árbol
[This is really a post-script to what is otherwise a completed blog series. Karen was our designated documenter-of-fruits, and I couldn’t post this without consulting with her–a bit difficult as she is presently in Massachusetts. After a couple of email exchanges, we’ve put this together as what will be the final post for my blog of South America 2011.]
As I saw it, nearly all vegetable matter we sampled (with the exception of citrus, banana, guava, and pineapple) would be unfamiliar to a typical norteamericano. Even some of the familiar items would turn out to offer surprises–I (embarrassingly) never actually ate a straight-up regular banana while I was there, figuring that it wouldn’t be appreciably different from the ones we buy in the states. Karen now tells me that they were way better and that she downed twelve of them just in the couple of days after I left. Sheesh.
The parade of exotic fruit started from shortly after my arrival. Seth, having lived in Iquitos since October of 2010, knew what most things were, but we bought interesting produce all the time–usually something Karen or I couldn’t recognize at a market or on the stand of a street vendor. Other times–such as during one of the botanical tours–we would be shown a tree in someone’s huerta and if there was a ripe fruit available we could for a sol or two get one opened on the spot for an immediate sample. Here’s a running list of the fruit, compiled from my notes and Karen’s.
camu camu on the property of the gentleman who sold us leva nearby to the River Itaya
Camu-camu. Myrciaria dubia in the Myrtaceae –we bought some from a street vendor and prepared and agua fresca back a the hostel. a very tart, small dark red fruit with a rather large seed. washed, then placed in a bowl submerged with water and crushed by hand, forming a chunky juice which was then strained; added sugar to taste…very refreshing. Making an agua fresca seems to be the principal way in which this fruit is consumed–I didn’t see any other preparations. The plants are tall bushes that grow on the riverbanks in the flooded zone, i.e., dry during the low-water period but under water when the river is high. It turns out that I have a congener of this plant (Myrciaria cauliflora, the Jaboticaba) growing in my back yard–it’s a very slow-growing plant.
Mocambo. Theobroma bicolorin the Malvaceae–formerly classified within the Sterculiaceae (for the benefit of the geezers ;-)) – first, we enjoyed the creamy, flesh inside this large pod, then you remove the seeds and roast–slightly salted, they make a great snack! This was definitely a favorite. We first encountered just the roasted seeds at a fruit stand, and they were so good that from then on they sort of became an obsession.
seed, right out of the fruit and covered by creamy, fragrant, sweet pulp
Compared with other items toasted mocambo seeds were a bit pricey, and when Karen found them in a supermarket in a packaged-food form, they were singly wrapped–little did we know at the time how labor-intensive their preparation was. We also found them being roasted on skewers at the market in Bellavista Nanay.
endosperm after peeling away the seed coat. it looks like the germ got bitten off of this one
It wasn’t until Wilder opened up a whole fruit for us at Yanayacu (see video) that we got a full appreciation for the whole fruit. The outer shell is very tough and can be dried hard for use in handicrafts (there was a goblet made from a mocambo shell at our hostel). The creamy pulp surrounding the seeds is fragrant–reminiscent of durian, though much less strong–and sweet. And after eating off the fleshy part, the slimy remains are slippery and hard to hold as you’re trying to peel off the leathery seed coat to expose the edible endosperm and germ. It’s a lot of work–pleasant work, though–to get just one of the seeds to fry or roast for a snack. Between Wilder, Seth, Karen, and me, we peeled all twenty or so of the seeds that was in the fruit that Wilder opened.
the inflorescence of Artocarpus gives rise to a multifaceted globular compound fruit
Pan de árbol. Artocarpus camansi in the Moraceae. This was identified for us as “breadfruit,” but on further investigation (at home), the true breadfruit is not seeded and is a different species, A. altilis. This plant we saw and tasted was really the breadnut, which is closely related to breadfruit. Both breadnut and breadfruit are not native to Peru, originating in southeast Asia. We purchased the cooked seeds (which look like a small chestnut) from a roadside stand. starchy texture. I can sort of understand this as adding body and calories to a larger, more complex dish, but peeling these pistachio-sized chestnuts for a lump of bland foodstuff was not particularly inspiring.
some good stuff to take back to the hostel for later: that's a pineapple on the left (Karen's right) and a copazú, which Seth later turned into a lovely frullato
Copazú. Theobroma grandiflorum in the Malvaceae. Karen’s notes has this as having a very pungent aroma, though I remembering that it smelled kinda nice. (Then again, I love the smell of skunks.) Although we bought a nice copoasú, neither Karen nor I were unable to document its opening and preparation, all because of Seth. 😀 This sneaky kid goes and opens the thing and makes an agua fresca when we weren’t looking. The drink was white-ish with a pale green tinge, kind of like what you might expect for a honeydew licuado. The fragrance was not strong at all, and I remember thinking that it was good, though I can’t recall the flavor well enough to describe it.
Since the pic with Karen also shows a pineapple (Ananas comosus of the Bromeliaceae), I ought to mention that while this is grown as a cash crop in this area, it is not native to the Amazon basin (though it is native to South America).
dale-dale look and taste incredibly like potatoes, but peeled and eaten raw they have a crisper texture.
Dale-dale. Calathea allouia in the Marantaceae, which is the arrow-root family. The tubers look and taste remarkably like small potatoes (in the literal sense and not the metaphorical “small potatoes”). The texture of the dale-dale, which are peeled and eaten raw, is crisp and watery–more water-chestnut-like than potato-like. This is another crop native to this part of the world.
It appears there dozens of species of Calathea (and perhaps other genera of Marantaceae) that grow around here, and I should mention that the larger-leaved varieties are harvested for use in the preparation of juanes–the tamales made with rice instead of masa.
aguaje palm fruit for sale at the market in Bellavista Nanay. the labor-intensive part of peeling off the tough, red shell is done by skilled hands.
Aguaje. Mauritia flexuosa in the Arecaceae. The oval-shaped fruit of this palm–about the size of a large kiwi–are brownish red before peeling. Displays of the peeled fruits add brilliant color to every market we saw in Iquitos. The edible part is really just the thin layer of richly flavored (not sweet) orange pulp between the hard shell and a leathery seed coat, and a large, inedible seed makes up the bulk of what you buy. Two approaches to eating the thing are A) just scrape the orange stuff off with one’s incisors, and B) peel the seed coat off with the pulp and scrape the good stuff off like one does with artichoke leaves. I liked the second approach much better. The orange pulp is also mixed with sugar and water to make a very nice beverage and also to make some yummy popsicles–which Seth loves–and are sold by street vendors.
yummy suri grubs--larvae of the giant palm weevil Rhynchophorus palmarum--are harvested from rotten aguaje palm trunks and stewed or roasted for a fine (if greasy) snack food
The aguaje fruits may be harvested by climbing mature trees and cutting off the infructescenses, but sometimes the trees are just cut. The advantage to killing the tree is that it makes habitat for the suri grubs–large, edible larvae of what must be one big beetle. The suri are therefore also kind of a “food product” from the aguaje palm, and they are truly delicious, either stewed or roasted.
the cashew nut is inside the little thingie on the left. the rest of the fruit is a seed-free mass of mildly sweet pulp (when ripe)
Cashú. Anacardium occidentale in the Anacardiaceae. What we all know as cashew nuts are just a part of the much larger fruit that we never see in our markets. The large, seedless fruit to which the nut-sack attaches (sorry, that’s just what it is), is a mild-flavored pulpy fruit widely used throughout the tropics as the base of a fruit drink. We picked fresh from the tree, the one we sampled wasn’t quite ripe.
Another Spanish name for the cashew is marañón, which is also the name of the river we set sail from in Nauta–one of two rivers (the other being the Ucayali) that become the Amazon River in Perú.
Granadilla. Passiflora ligularis (I think) in the Passifloraceae. Compared with the P. edulis that I grow at home in California, this fruit has a softer, pulpier skin and sweeter (or at least less acid) juice. I have had other varieties of maracujá elsewhere, and to me this was pleasant though not as good as the large, orange variety found in Brazil.
cacao pod, opened and showing the pulp-covered seeds. The pulp is the part you eat fresh
Cacao. Theobroma cacao in the Malvaceae. This was kind of an old friend for me–I’d had it a few times before (not counting in the form of chocolate). You open the shell to expose rows of seeds covered by a slimy, fragrant and very sweet pulp. Toss a couple in your mouth, suck the pulp off, and then spit out the seeds. Yum.
Sapote. Hmmm. another embarrassing gap in my records–no notes and no pics. I do recall a pleasant, sweet flavor and a very sticky sap–particularly in the skin. Fruits known as “sapote” may come from either the Sapotaceae or the Rutaceae, and based on the stickiness I’m inclined to think that the green fruit we ate (on a couple of occasions) were in the former group. But I’m not sure.
Posted by communingwithartifice
Filed in Peru, South America 2011
Last walk in the forest: near Zungarococha
For my last couple of days in Peru, the plan is to keep things simple and relatively close to home. Seth has one more sample he needs to collect at a field site–a bioluminescent fungus that lives in the bark of one of his trees. After that he and Karen will be at work deciding which of his belongings are going to stay in long term storage at the IIAP station and either pitching or packing the rest. They will be leaving Peru and returning to the States, just a couple of days after I’m heading onwards to Argentina.
Seth’s sites are something like twenty kilometers farther down the Iquitos-to-Nauta highway. He probably doesn’t need more than a few minutes to do his collection at one of the sites but wants to show us a couple of different important habitats that we haven’t yet seen: varillal and chamisal, both growing on patches of white sand soils, which is nutrient-poor as compared with the red clay that is the more common soil type in the Amazon.
For most of the earth’s history the Amazon flowed in directions different from its present manifestation, initially draining the western half of the supercontinent of Gondwanaland before South America split off from Africa. With the South American plate moving westward and into/over the Nazca plate, the resulting orogeny gave rise to the Andes on the western edge of the continent like a geologic beaver dam, blocking the great river’s access to the Pacific. In the ensuing epochs, enormous inland seas form and drain. There’s a period where the basin drains northward into the Caribbean, but that stops after uplift of the the northwestern edge of the South American plate extends eastward across Venezuela. An inland sea forms again until finally a path out and into the Atlantic opens up, and that’s my oversimplified paleo-hydrological understanding of how things got to the way they are today. The Amazon drains the largest and one of the most rainy (15-25 meters of rain per year) watersheds in the world. That comes to something close to 300,000 cubic meters of water per second during high-flow periods. The size of the river is unimaginable until it is seen.
embiopterids are easily located by the shield of silk that covers them on the trunk of a tree
But let’s get back to Seth and his scientific focus. Given that the Amazon basin has never had much opportunity for uplift, it is very flat. And given its history, the soils tend to be the fine-grained stuff–silt and clay eroded from outlying highlands and deposited as lake bottom. There’s hardly a rock to be found around here. Different sediments from different sources vary in their quality–the silts washed off of the Andes most recently is very fertile while the patches of white sand–eroded from who-knows-where but it is much older stuff–is comparatively devoid of nutrients. This low-lying part of the Peruvian Amazon is especially patchy in soil type, and when you add the fact that parts of the forest become flooded during high-water periods and some areas drain nicely and others stay mucky, this adds yet another dimension of diversity of the “physical environment.” If you were to strip away all the life from this area, you’d still be looking at a lot of variation despite the fact that topologically it’s a relatively flat and featureless landscape.
"huffing" the crushed leaflet from a volatile Protium
Instead of being the classic “highly diverse rain forest” you might associate with upland tropical forest, this area is characterized as a mosaic of diverse kinds of forest with no one type having great numbers of species (low alpha diversity) but having an impressive level of biodiversity when taken on a larger scale that incorporates the different habitats (high beta diversity). People studying biodiversity in these parts gravitate towards questions about how the soil heterogeneity may or may not contribute to overall diversity in an evolutionary way–i.e., did new species originate within this area because of the patchy nature of soil types. I think Seth’s doc advisor is one of these people.
Well, that’s making a short story long. The point of it all is that after nearly a week in Peru we still hadn’t seen the reason for Seth’s being here. And as things turned out, we wouldn’t get to–not this time, anyways. Up to this point our trip had been perfectly free of unforeseen delays–we had been able to cram our activities and new experiences in one after another, pausing only at the end of the day when I could scarcely muster up the energy before crashing to put some words into these blog entries to make the framework for what could be later be completed into the posts you’re seeing here. But now. A chubasco struck, making the prospect of a 26 km mototaxi ride less than appealing (but giving me time to write in my room at the hostel, which was good I suppose). With the weather clearing later in the morning, Seth headed out to the IIAP station to make the solution he uses for collection. By the time Karen and I met up with him there it was time for a very late lunch, leaving us with not nearly enough time to make it to the distant field sites.
an as-yet-undescribed species of Protium. we know at least that this is one of the volatile forms
We opted instead for a visit to a site just past Zungarococha, a community where Seth is considering making a home when he comes back to Peru next June. Though it’s not far from the IIAP Quistococha station, the road there is unpaved and badly rutted, and our mototaxi’s front tire was already low at the outset but was completely flat before too long And so we had to walk the rest of the way–which we all wanted to do anyway since the mototaxi ride was both painfully bumpy and painfully slow.
Seth finally got a chance to show us some Protium, the funny little plants that claim part of his fascination–at least the part that he’s obliged to show in order to keep his doc advisor pleased with him. Protium’s family, the Burseraceae, is the source of both frankincense and myrrh, and we had found some copal (local frankincense, the solidified resin of Protium copal) for sale in the market at Belen. The Protium of the Amazon are basically divided into three kinds: sap with highly volatile aromatics, sap with latex, and clear sap. The volatile ones actually spew out a little hydrocarbon-y aerosol when a leaflet is broken off from the rachis. They’re like living butane canisters and should come with signs cautioning people to not smoke nearby.
found throughout the neotropics, Paraponera is called the "bullet ant" after the way it hurts if you get bitten and stung (more like two bullets)
After having a bit of a survey of three or four species of Protium and a good number of Protium look-alikes, other plants and arthropods, it was time to return to the city. We walked most of the way back to the highway, past an agricultural station of the university, a swimming hole (located near a pig farm and it smelled a bit, too), Zungarococha, and then we caught a mototaxi to take us back to the station.
Later back at the hostel we had a beer-tasting for my final night in Iquitos–actually Karen and I had already decided that Cusqueña was hands-down the best option (though not an Amazonian brew), and we were just trying to determine the runner-up.
Cusqueña (the blond one, not the dark one in this pic), was easily the most drinkable of the beers we tried
We theoretically could have made it out to see the chamisal the next day (same day as my departure), we never did-the weather in the morning was again not especially cooperative. Instead, we went through our photos from the trip, taking a few notes to help jar our memories when it came time to catalog and document. After I left Karen and Seth spent the remaining time–two days–just packing and cleaning. Yeah, I pretty much just stayed through the fun part and when there was work to do I was gone already. Upon returning to the states Seth was headed first to a wedding, then to Woods Hole for a summer course, then on to Berkeley for the regular grad student-y stuff (like teaching undergrads). Karen will be in New England, near her family home, for a while.
My next stop will be in Argentina, on a visit to my good friend Mike who lives in Buenos Aires.
Wilder, the guide
Wilder could identify most plants to species and also place them within their taxonomic families
Wilder is 33 years old and a native of San Juan de Yanayacu. His home is one of the dozen or so huts lining the river, all built on stilts to stay relatively dry when the river crests at a high water mark that predictably will reach to a few inches below the floor–and if it gets any higher the families just retreat back into the forest until the water drops. All together the residents of San Juan de Yanayacu number somewhere around forty adults, and all of their names are written on a chalkboard as you enter the village.
Wilder’s mother died only six months after he was born, and he lost his father during the cholera epidemic of the early 1990s. Thus from the age of ten, he and his older brother brought themselves up in their home village. Wilder served in the army, and after returning from war (I think Peru was at war with Ecuador at around the time he was soldier-age) he got a job with the tour company that we used, and eventually this led to his job as ecotourism guide, a profession that perfectly fits the person he is.
He speaks effusively and with great animation in a way that allows a listener with only a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish to understand pretty well. Although he knows the names of almost all the life in the forest by their names in Spanish, English, Quechua (a local dialect deriving from a blend of Spanish and a language of Andean origin), and Latin, Wilder speaks only Spanish and Quechua. If his English were better, he might be wooed away from this tour company by higher salaries that could be paid by companies catering specifically to visitors from non-Latin countries. I’m not sure guides for those companies actually are paid more, but you’d think they would be, given that some of those tours are costing ten times what we paid. In any case Wilder feels a strong loyalty to this tour agency, and if I were in the management I’d want to make sure to keep Wilder happy.
When he’s not away shepherding visitors into, out of, and around the reserve, Wilder lives with his wife and six kids in a house built on stilts overlooking the Yanayacu. Entering from a stairway you come into one of the structure’s two main rooms. The first room has a couple of spare pequi-pequi engines on the floor as well as half a dozen nesting hens. There’s also a wooden strongbox closed off by a hasp and padlock–I’m imagining this is where all valuable possessions would go, since the open nature of homes here–no door or complete walls anywhere in the house except for the strongbox–provides little security against theft.
Wilder's home is the one with the balcony.
The second room has a steel basin for wood-fueled cooking fires. All water comes directly from the river and is boiled to sanitize prior to drinking. As an off-topic note I watched once as Wilder took a long drink from the river directly, though he said that by no means should we follow him in that particular example. For our canteen refills the lodge supplied purified water from Iquitos.
There was also a small balcony extending off the front of the house facing the river. Every time our pequi-pequi passed the village Wilder waved to his kids who were watching and waving back from the balcony. It was a bit unsettling to see four or more little kiddies perched on a small platform some fifteen feet off the ground, but Wilder laughed and said that the only time they get concerned about kids on the balcony is when the river is high, because because being farther out into the river, the water would be flowing faster under the balcony compared with the flow underneath the floors of their house, and at these times they do keep a much more watchful eye over the niños.
being a good guide doesn't mean taking yourself seriously all the time
The account I’ve written so far is based either on what Wilder told us about himself or what I have observed directly. I’m now going to extend more speculatively on the bigger question of what Wilder is all about, and why he so deeply impressed Seth, Karen, and me as a sort of beacon of the hope that we all should have for the continued preservation of the exquisite beauty of the Peruvian Amazon.
sky and treetops on the Yanayacu reserve
From our discussions with even urban Iquiteños, it was clear that people are aware of how human exploitation has eroded the quality of habitat. It’s too damned easy to make the case that pollution and overfishing have not been sustainable activities on, say, the River Itaya. Anyone older than ten can reminisce about times when the water was cleaner and fish more abundant. No one, however, is old enough to remember when the Itaya had anything close to the abundance of life seen in places like the river around Wilder’s home. So splitting time between his home and Iquitos Wilder more than anyone has the awareness of what has been lost, and in his job he demonstrates a strong sense of pride in not only the marvels that a relatively pristine Amazon habitat offers but also the way in which his village can maintain that habitat through sustainable land use and a community effort, which is in certain ways better than protection through governmental fiat. Yes, the government can establish an immense national park and restrict development and exploitation within the park boundaries, and logistically speaking it is a gargantuan or impossible task to oversee enforcement of sustainable practices in a national park the size of Pacaya-Samiria. At Madre de Dios, another huge national park in the south of Peru, illegal gold mining by tens of thousands of people has destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of primary forest and dumps something like 40,000 kg of mercury into the environment annually. It’s just crazy stupid, stupid shit. When sustainable practices are imposed from the outside there’s not going be any real buy-in on the part of the people. Contrast that with situations where the reserve is manageably sized and if the impetus for preservation and the enforcement of sustainability is generated by the residents–this is the ideal described by Wilder of his “home reserve” on the Yanayacu.
clean, trash-free water with tons of fish, abundant animals, and primary forest are the key attractions of protected areas in Peru
Wilder is also a naturally-gifted educator and a leader. If there’s ever a need for passionate advocacy for continuation and further growth of the Yanayacu reserve, I can see Wilder being right there, speaking to the way that the quality of life in the village is directly proportional to the quality of habitat and size of the reserve–both from the standpoint of revenue from ecotourist visitors as well as the availability of wild foods–fish in particular.
Wilder's favorite hat
Filed in Peru, South America 2011 ·Tags: community reserve, Peru, reserve, Wilder, Yanayacu
Last day on the Yanayacu, Victoria amazonica
the leaves of this mature Victoria amazonica were approximately 1.60 meters in diameter
Wilder came to our hut to wake us up at 2:05am (and yes, we asked him to do this since none of us had alarm clocks). By 2:30 we were heading downriver on a pequi-pequi with 12-year old Danilo as boatman. There would be no stops along the way as our destination was quite distant–about an hour and a half away. We went down the Yanayacu almost to its mouth with the Amazon and followed one of its tributaries to one of the lagunas pantanales–floodplain lakes adjacent to the Amazon.
Victoria amazonica flower
Our objective was to see a natural stand of Victoria amazonica, the giant water lily that I had seen only in botanical gardens–most recently in Japan at one of the hells of Beppu. Easily recognized by its enormous round leaves that look kinda like gigantic pizza pans, there is enough buoyancy to support a small child. Just seeing this plant under any circumstance (especially for the first time) is a mesmerizing experience. Seeing it in nature is sort of a biologist’s dream–at least for this biologist. Seeing it flower was just a geeky, over-the-edge thing i thought I’d ask for, and when Wilder agreed to do take us out on a nocturnal flower-watching trip I was just blown away. My most excellent traveling companions Seth and Karen were down, and this is how we ended up on an Amazonian lake well before sunrise. During the daytime the flowers look more or less like purple-ish tennis balls just below or just above the water’s surface. At night the flowers open and attract beetle pollinators.
the beetle seen here had been trapped by the petals of the flower--part of the pollination mechanism
I had seen Victoria a few times before, but I was still struck by the size of the leaves in this stand. We estimated the largest leaves to be over 160 cm in diameter. The open flower was a spectacular spray of magnolia-like mostly-white petals (I think they start out purple, though) and as large around at its base as a dinner plate. We saw a few cane toads hanging out on the enormous pads (maybe taking advantage of the beetle traffic into and out of the flowers?).
el amanecer
For the next hour or so–as we waited to witness an Amazon sunrise–Wilder entertained us with some pretty weird stories that blended his village’s history with traditional folklore. Danilo slept curled up on one of the boat’s seats using my backpack for a pillow.
ayahuasca, Banisteriopsis sp. This is one of three plants revered throughout the Amazon as a gift to the Amazonian people from the great anaconda god at the beginning of time. (The other two were manioc and coca.)
Once the sun was well up it was time for us to return to the lodge to pack for the trip back to Nauta. Looking back on our time at the Yanayacu lodge, we really did a lot in a very short time. I could see myself coming to know the plants, fish, and birds much better with a few more days or weeks in a place like this. Seth was actually considering buying his own spot along the river in the village. All he would need is a boat and a place to hang his hammock (and mosquitero!).
Psychotria, source of a key ingredient in the ayahuasca mixture
chacruna, apparently a mint, also used in the ayahuasca mixture--perhaps to mitigate its horrible flavor
tobacco (the small plant with only a couple of leaves at the top, and a chopping block for ayahuasca bark
We had a little delay at the village–the lodge manager had forgotten an important bit of luggage and had to make a run back to pick it up before we could push onwards towards Nauta. I took this advantage to press Wilder for one more little tour focusing on the ayahuasca plant that he had told us he knew about in the forest near the village. A short hike over some sloppy terrain brought us to the promised Banisteriopsis, which turned out to be a rather young plant and more of a vine than a liana. Nearby was a shaman’s hut where the resident shaman performed the ayahuasca ceremony. Wilder showed us the other plants involved in the mixture, which involves boiling down an aqueous extract of several plants into a small volume that is drunk by both the shaman and his “patient.” The ensuing effects typically involves a lot of vomiting and psychedelic visions of becoming an animal–the anaconda and jaguar figure heavily in one version of a trip, while another common result is being attacked by alien robots (or so I’m told). The active ingredient of ayahuasca is a beta-carboline which tends to be degraded by monoamine oxidases in the gut–no good if the psychotropic chemical gets broken down before it can have its effect (all that vomiting and no robots–that would suck). This is why mixing ayahuasca with another plant, specifically the tryptamine-containing Psychotria, is important. Tryptamines serve two purposes. First they inhibit the monoamine oxidases, thus allowing the ayahuasca chemical to stick around for long enough to get absorbed. Second, they are psychotropic in their own right, so you end up getting a double-whammy of mind-warping fun (or so I’m told). The other plant agents that are added to the mixture–Wilder said that a mint-like chacruna, forest tobacco, and highly caffeinated yoco plant were also essential in the ayahuasca potion–vary substantially in different parts of the Amazon.
ajo-sacha, which means (in Quechua) "like garlic"--indeed the wood of this liana smelled exactly like garlic
I was a bit disappointed to see the set-up here. The Banisteriopsis was really just a sapling and appeared to be planted for the purpose of adding credibility to having a resident shaman who could perform the ayahuasca ceremony for the benefit of tourists.
pink river dolphin. according to Quechua legend the river dolphins transform into young men to seduce village women by their most excellent dance moves.
On trip back we made a short stop for a swim at a sandy beach on the Amazon frequented by dolphins. Getting back under way, the bright, sunny weather we enjoyed at the beach was replaced by a violent chubasco, through which Wilder had to stand watch at the prow to alert the boatman in the back to floating logs and other water hazards.
On returning to Iquitos we had dinner at el Zorrito–a favored eatery among Iquiteños–to celebrate the completion of an unforgettably splendid excursion. This wasn’t a first choice for us, and we were probably lucky with Seth’s slightly random decision to walk into the tour office that we did. I strongly suspect that the quality of experience offered by companies varies widely. If anyone wants the specifics of the tour operator that we went with, just ask.
Filed in Peru, South America 2011 ·Tags: Amazon, ayahuasca, ayahuasca ceremony, giant water lily, lagunita pantanale, Peru, Victoria amazonica
Yanayacu, part 2
Apart from getting eaten alive by zancudos last evening’s hike was fun–not too ambitious, as there was little daylight left. It turned out to be a before-dinner thing, and after dinner Wilder took us out on a pequi-pequi to look for caiman.
many trees are protected by herbivore- and climbing- deterrent thorns
sap of the Hura tree is toxic and causes skin burns
Of all the scary things lurking in the forest, one of the nastiest is Hura, a tree that flows with highly toxic sap that also causes serious skin burns. I might insert here a story about the hapless dude who shimmies up one of these bad boys with spurred tree-climbing boots and ends up in the hospital with chemical burns over most of his body. Wilder demonstrated respect for the tree’s toxic potential with the way he stood at a distance from the trunk while poking it with a machete and then stepping quickly back. The pressure was great enough for the sap to squirt out and then flow freely from the tiny wound.
four bats huddled in the hollow of a tree
We saw some mammal life— group of four bats huddled in the overhang of a partly hollowed tree, a family of night monkeys watched us from a high tree, an arboreal rodent peeked out from its tree-hole. Wilder showed us a cannonball fruit and explained how if we heard any loud wood-on-wood knocking sounds from the forest, it would probably be the black capuchin monkeys breaking these fruit open by slamming them against a tree trunk. Underneath the hard, heavy shell is a purple meat that is pungent and sour and is used by the monkeys as a purgative treatment for parasites.
The caiman hunt was our first encounter with Danilo, a twelve-year old whom I had seen chopping wood for the lodge’s kitchen. The strategy was a familiar one–use a flashlight to spot the animals by the red reflected back by their eyes. Caiman here hide out for the whole day coming out to hunt by night. We were advised that while it’s mostly safe to swim in the river during the day, swimming at night was a very bad idea because of the caiman and also a good abundance of electric eel, another nocturnal threat.
note the red eyes and mosquito-covered back and legs on this smoky jungle frog
bespectacled Seth, spectacled caiman, bespectacled Karen. the guy wearing contacts does not belong in this picture
On spotting a caiman Wilder would direct Danilo to guide the boat towards the animal and using bankside trees and vines to pull us towards the animal. Where the tangles of vegetation were too thick to penetrate, Wilder went on foot and with just a bit of effort came back to the bpat first with a small black caiman in one hand and a large frog (Leptodactylus? Rana?) in the other. Not long after that, Wilder missed at an attempt at a larger spectacled caiman but managed to find it again. Apparently they don’t always swim away after being attacked. On a brief stop on the bank we spotted a red-eyed frog that was covered by feeding mosquitos. The whole time we were on the water fishing bats swooped around, occasionally we could see one touch the water briefly but I didn’t get to see a fish taken. There were plenty of fish to be had–it’s easy to see how even random skimming of the water is likely to pay off with all the fish a bat could eat. In the course of paddling or motoring through the river, it’s not unusual to have several fish jump into the boat.
one of a few of the fishies that jumped into the boat
Things we heard but did not see included river dolphin, which make a loud, low, resonant grunt as they surface to breathe I didn’t hear when we saw dolphin during the day–possibly because the noise of the pequi-pequi drowned it out. Another loud voice of the forest that I never got to put with a face was that of the horned screamer, which is described as a sort of jungle turkey though it sounds like an angry monkey 😉
not a bird, but the one animal that we could get a good pic of while birding. this is a large freshwater snail called "churro"
Early the next morning we took a paddle-only birding excursion for about a kilometer down from the lodge. Several species of wading birds, of course. The largest of these was a white heron–I don’t recall seeing any storks, though. Raptors included the mama vieja (black-collared hawk), a black caracara and a golden caracara. Another spectacular sighting that is common in this part of the Amazon is the kingfisher known locally as catalán and is the largest of five kingfisher species native to this area. We saw a large woodpecker which I think is the Guayaquil species and looks like the Ivory-billed woodpecker that I doubt I’ll ever see. Several passerines, too–there’s the kiskadee named after what it seems to be saying with its call, “Victor Dias” according to Wilder, though I remember deciding in Costa Rica that bird was really saying, “Mira a los gringos!” Small parrots called “paraquitos” flocked above the treetops, and larger parrots like green and red macaws flew in and out of view. Chestnut-cheeked aracaris were the only toucans I saw. Not being much of a birder, I still managed to get a good look and listen at species that would be “holy crap” moments most anywhere else.
what started out as a whole sardina was attacked mercilessly by carnivorous piraña
After breakfast we took a pequi-pequi with Wilder and Danilo to do a little fishing in one of the lakes adjacent to the river. Using tackle that’s a bit more primitive than what I’m used to (stick, line, swivel, hook) and chicken skin for bait, we caught sardina, sábalo, piraña, and pacú (the “vegetarian piraña”). Kept a few of the bigger ones for dinner.
looks like a sábalo and a pacú on the bottom of the boat
After lunch, we had time for a quick swim in the river before the whole group was heading over to the village–Canadians to play friendly soccer match with the local kids and for us there would be botanical/cultural tour. For me the swim would be the one opportunity I had to wash some of the stench off my shirt–I just swam a few meters with the shirt on before wringing it out and hanging it to dry. Once the shirt was off and I was about twenty meters downstream I learned that human in the water here is just another thing for the fish to gnaw at. I was being pecked at–and rather aggressively–and that image of the cow being skeletonized in a piranha-themed horror film burgled into my consciousness. It didn’t help knowing that there were most certainly carnivorous piranha in the Yanaycu (as well as caiman, stingrays, and electric eels), and the effect was unsettling enough for me to not want to stay in the water for very long.
the stove in Wilder's house makes use of a real wood cooking fire
The list of fish I either caught or ate in Peru would go something like this: sardina, corvina, pacu (aka “vegetarian piranha”), sábalo, piranha (the carnivorous one), donzella (a large spotted catfish that I didn’t make note of as a whole fish but we ate some at the Yanayacu lodge). In addition, we saw plenty of the tiny mojarrita in the water–I had experienced these little biters in Brazil and I’d guess that they were taking part when I was the main dish in the feeding frenzy. Locals love an armored catfish that is common in these waters. The staff at the lodge had some in their canoe, and I saw them being roasted by a street vendor in Nauta. Plenty of others I saw on grills and in the market that I didn’t have time to try–for me that’s a good enough reason to come back for another trip.
the macambo seeds we helped prepare earlier in the day. sauteed by the lodge cook
On the botanical tour the plants Wilder showed us were mostly the useful plants that he kept in his huerta for food and for medicine. Wilder also showed us his home–I’ll do a short post on this later. This was also where I spent 60 soles on tchotchkes handmade locally and entirely from forest products–truly beautiful stuff, and I really wish I had more than 60 soles in my pocket. We bought a macambo and dismantled it on a bench near Wilder’s house, eating the sweet, creamy, and aromatic pulp off the seeds and then peeling the seed coat off and saving the endosperm for dinner. And yes, we actually did get to eat some of the fish we caught as well as the macambo as a very special “second dinner” after we had polished off the meal that was served to everyone. Food at the lodge was generally excellent.
After a full day we are retiring early, as tomorrow will start with a 2:30 am wake-up. Wilder has agreed to take us to view the flowering of the giant water lily, Victoria amazonica.
Filed in Peru, South America 2011 ·Tags: birding, caiman, fishing, Hura, macambo, red-eyed frog, Yanayacu
Yanayacu, day 1
llegando a Nauta en la carretera Iquitos-Nauta, the highway that should never have been built
The quick part: we were picked up from the hostel a bit earlier than the agreed-upon 6am and had an uneventful overland trip to Nauta city, the other terminal of the Iquitos-Nauta highway.
piranha asada. for breakfast at the central market of Nauta
I took breakfast at the market–piranha, rice,and beans–while Seth and Karen were off buying bottled water. The group we will be sharing the lodge with are “los canadienses,” who turn out to be six twenty-something medical students from U of British Columbia, and they seem pretty road-worn after their already-completed travel through southern Peru and Bolivia. All six of them have suffered some degree of GI distress at least once, and a couple of them are feeling poorly, but hey–I figure that with their collective talent and education (and what sounds like a nice stash of pharmaceuticals in tow) they can treat themselves.
Nauta port on the Rio Marañon
Nauta city is on the Rio Marañon about three or four kilometers upstream of where it joins with the Ucayali and “becomes” the Amazon.
one of the impressive things about the Amazon is how it receives the flow of several tributaries that would be enormous rivers on their own--many of them are bigger than the Mississippi
We’ll need to travel down the Marañon and then down the Amazon, and then make a right turn (south, approximately) into a tributary system that includes the River Yanayacu. Along the way, we dodge many logs and other flotsam (and we hit others). We make a brief pause to see some river dolphins. Most were gray dolphins, but both Karen and I saw a pink dolphin as well. They are maddening to photograph–I tried but never got one on a still photo.
the color of the Yanayacu is decidedly darker than the Amazon. Blackwater rivers are stained from the organic material in the forests that they drain
The part of the Yanayacu closest to the Amazon flows through a pantanal area–wet grassland and lake area that is completely under water during high-river times. Pantanal gives way to early successional and secondary forest, which then gives way to primary forest in some areas. Unlike red- or white-water rivers like the Amazon or the Marañon, the Yanayacu is a blackwater river–low nutrient, low sediment loads water that is stained dark by the tannins in the rotting leaves on the floor of the forest that the river is draining.
the level of the river from the high-water period can be seen in the forest
Like most of the area’s other rivers, the Yanayacu had dropped substantially over the past few weeks, and the high-water mark that could be clearly seen on the riverside forests showed us how much lower the river was now compared with where it was just a month ago–about a twelve foot drop, I estimated.
a pantanal area of the Yanayacu
This pantana is sort of an Amazonian version of the intertidal. Because the Amazon and the Marañon run a reddish café con leche color, rich with young, nutrient-rich material eroded from the Andes, the sediments deposited during high water offer an annually renewed bank of fertile, weed-free soil. As the water recedes, rice is planted. A lot–perhaps most or all–of it will be consumed locally. Here as in much of Latin America rice, yuca (including yuca brava, in the form of fariña), and plantain are the important starchy staples.
a stop at the village was required for all visitors to the reserve
In the fields and on the table I saw very little corn, and the consumption of wheat-based products is limited–some cakes but little bread and there it’s only the soft, white stuff, i.e., not so tasty but serviceable for toast or sandwiches.
Wilder's home, as seen from the river. Pretty much anyone moving up or down river will be witnessed by someone in this village
The village of San Juan de Yanayacu is the gateway to the reserve. In order to offer visitors an Amazon experience that includes more animals than just mosquitoes, the local human population of this drainage has agreed to refrain from hunting and other forest-destructive activities and to police the use of the land by others, including its visitors. All passengers in our boat–nine travelers and five of the tour company/lodge’s staff–had to disembark here. Travelers pay a land-use fee that helps support the village.
our lodge on the Yanayacu
Apart from wanting to make sure no visitor is allowed to slip in without paying, I suspect it is the norm for river folk to keep track of who is upriver of them. It’s probably a habit the has developed out of necessity living in a place so remote and relatively untraveled. Every noisy pequi-pequi and perhaps even every nearly-silent canoe will be witnessed at least one pair of eyes.
large trees characteristic of primary forest, seen from the River Yanayacu
On the wall of the Centro de Vigilancia–which is one of two semiserious-looking buildings, the other being the schoolhouse–there’s a blackboard with the names of all village residents. I asked Wilder which one was the teacher, and he said the teacher doesn´t live in the village but is rather someone that the government sends out to stay and conduct lessons for about three days each week. Sometimes the teacher shows and sometimes not. There have been periods of weeks where the teacher is a total no-show. Some of this gap is filled by NGOs who I suspect infuse a little education with a whole lot of fostering stupidity–there’s a long history of infestation by religious ideas from Europe of various stripes, starting with the catholics who took enough of a head start to claim the vast majority of brains here and across South America.
hard at work writing this blog
From the village we headed upriver further to the lodge, which is also the last human outpost on the Yanayacu. just a bit upstream from the lodge, the river is choked with water hyacinth so all of our exploration over the next couple of days will be either around the lodge or downstream. Right now, I’m blogging from a hammock on the balcony outside our room to the sound of Canadians trying to spear fish in the river below. Later there will be an evening nature walk with Wilder, our guide. Tomorrow we have another appointment with Wilder for early morning birdwatching.
one of the activities offered by the lodge is fishing, which can be done by hook and line or by spear.
Padrecocha, Pilpintuwasi
butterfly (a Heliconius, I think) in the butterfly enclosure, where adults fly around, feed, mate, and lay eggs, which are then collected and taken to the nursery
a luxury cruise vessel with glass walls on the cabins. passengers get to watch the Amazon go by from the comfort of their beds
Spent a good part of the morning contemplating what to do for a longer excursion from Iquitos. Seth’s initial ideas of heading out to a field station were looking less attractive now. Porvenir, which is way up the River Nanay, was not out of the question but the station was being occupied and thus there would be a good chance for some awkwardness about where people are sleeping. On top of that, the fast boat we’d need to get to the station would be up there and not down here. No bueno. Genaro-Herrera was still a serious possibility. It’s an IIAP field station up the River Ucayali, and it retains the services of a local guide named Nixon who is by all accounts a fabulous botanist. The downsides are a relative paucity of animal life and a fairly substantial level of human impact. To get to Genaro-Herrera in a slow boat would mean departing in the evening from Iquitos and sleeping on the boat. The stop for Genaro-Herrera was something like 4 am, and if we were to. miss our stop it would mean that we would end up stranded somewhere upriver with nothing to do while we waited for a boat going back our way. That would suck.
a glass-winged butterfly
not really a butterfly, but still a colorful character. this one was selling gum in the streets of Iquitos
Choice number two. Just before my arrival in Iquitos, Karen and Seth were approached by a tour operator front man who offered to take us into Pacaya-Samiria, a national park where there’s famously a lot of cool stuff, and Seth has never been there but has been wanting to go. It sounded great based on the front man’s sale pitch, but a quick look at their flier betrayed a strong possibility of something less than a genuine commitment to sustainable ecotourism–there seemed to be a preponderance of photos of twentysomething gringos wearing facial paint and Witoto garb–in the water and pretending to wrestle anacondas that they didn’t catch.
I don´t remember the name of this jungle turkey lookalike 😦
We found later that Pacaya-Samiria really should be out of the question for a three- or four-day trip. It is quite remote and would require a full day of travel just to get to the park’s boundaries and perhaps another full day from there to the park’s more spectacular sites. The recommended time allotment should be more like seventeen to twenty days.
similar to what we saw in Belen, boatmen jostle to offer rides to people headed up the Nanay
As kind of a long shot and based on a gut feeling by Seth we pulled into a tour operator office on the same street as our hostel and took in their spiel. They run a lodge in a community reserve on a blackwater tributary flowing into the Amazon from the south, not too far downstream from the point of confluence of the Marañon and the Ucayali. As it happened a group of Canadians would be heading up to the lodge the next day, and we could get the same student price if we jumped in with them–360 soles per person for land and water transport, two nights lodging, meals and guides. In and around the reserve we could see primary forest, plenty of animals, and also Victoria amazonica, the giant waterlily that I was hoping to see flowering. Sounded good and doable, so we signed up and put down a deposit. As I write, the plan requires that we be ready for pick up tomorrow morning at 6.
Seth on the Rio Nanay
That settled we now could proceed to the other part of what we had programmed for the day, a trip up the River Nanay to the community of Padrecocha and the Pilpintuwasi butterfly farm. Took a mototaxi to the port of Bellavista Nanay on the other end of town–Iquitos is the tip of a peninsula forming between two Amazon tributaries, yesterday’s Itaya and the Nanay.
lesser anteater, Tamandua tetradactyla. this guy is arboreal and has four toes
the chrysalis board. sorted by species. some of the butterflies have come out but have not yet hardened their exoskeletons to the point they can fly
The basic story behind Pilpintuwasi is that an Austrian named Gudrun decided to set up a butterfly breeding center in Padrecocha with the intention of exporting larva and chrysalis to Europe and elsewhere for use as living displays of Amazonian butterflies. There was some maddening bureaucratic stuff with the Peruvian government not facilitating the plan by issuing the necessary permits for exporting the live animals, and somewhere along the line she decided to go ahead and breed the butterflies mostly for display on site, with many being simply released, as they are all natives of the local forests. She purchased a sizable bit of land in Padrecocha–just a short pequi-pequi ride up the River Nanay from Iquitos and opened the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm.
in the juveniles room at Pipiltuasi. host plant is collected in the forest and provided to the babies. after forming a coccoon or chrysalis, the pupae get pinned to the board
To anyone who is going to be spending an extended amount of time around here, finding a place “just upriver of Iquitos” has got to be a viable and very attractive option for long-term living quarters. Out of earshot from the city’s enormous noise pollution problem are communities of varying sizes where a bit of land and a rustic shack could be bought for the equivalent of a few hundred USD. More on this later.
white capuchin monkey female, trained as a thief (they make you remove all grabbable jewelry before entering the area with animals) and later abandoned
So back to Gudrun. During the failed process for acquiring permits, some of the biologists noted that she could care for and exhibit confiscated or orphaned wildlife (that might otherwise have to be destroyed) and they started dropping off animals.
Pedro Bello, the jaguar eats four kilograms of meat per day. his cage is rather spacious, and oh yes--he made it perfectly clear that he would kill me if he had the chance.
About nine years ago she was brought a baby male jaguar orphaned by (illegal) hunters. With the addition of Pedro Bello (the jaguar), visitors increased dramatically and not long thereafter Gudrun was given a sizable donation from an English visitor to build a large and secure enclosure for Pedro. There are now–in addition to the butterfly farm–several enclosures housing captive rescued animals of the forest. Some, like Pedro, were orphaned, others were confiscated from illegal traders. One of the capuchin monkeys had been trained as a pickpocket/thief but was later abandoned and then brought to Gudrun. Lacking survival skills that would have come from growing up in the forest, none of them are candidates for release into the wild.
blue morpho, fresh out if its chrysalis
Perhaps most people (and particularly those with kids) come to see the orphaned/confiscated animals that–unlike at the Iquitos Zoo– are quite well cared-for and healthy. Walking in we saw the anteater enclosure. There was one lesser anteater, which is arboreal, and one greater anteater that doesn’t climb. These two are allowed to feed themselves from forest ants during long walks in the care of a boy hired from the village. In the short time we were there, we saw the ocelot and the sloth being exercized by one of the voluteers, an Australian named Kimberly. Gudrun is also doing a good job of keeping a steady flow of cheap or free help from both locals and volunteers.
The River Nanay, a low-nutrient blackwater river, is the source of water for the entire city of Iquitos. It, too, has a sawmill and plenty of people using the river upstream, but compared with the Itaya, the River Nanay is practically crystalline-pure. Had Porvenir been available, we would be motoring a fast boat several hours up this river to a tiny settlement where Seth’s dissertation advisor keeps a little field station. A little ways upriver from Iquitos there’s a white sand beach where Seth goes swimming from time to time.
fried stuff (no onion) dipped in forest honey
lagarto asado--grilled caiman. these are almost certainly juveniles
The market adjacent to the port of Bellavista Nanay was really nice. Upon returning from Padrecocha we bought and ate fried dough dipped in natural honey collected from wild bees (it’s very dark), macambo seeds on skewers, tacacho (a balled-up mass of plátano embedded with a small chunk of fatty pork gristle, fried and then kept hot on the parilla), and aguaje fruit that make up bright orange street displays at the front of the market and all over Iquitos. The edible part of aguaje fruit is a thin orange layer on a leathery aril between a large seed and a very tough outer shell. The labor-intensive peeling of the outer shell to expose the edible part (which then must be scraped off the leathery part) is deftly done by the women who sell them. I also bought an icy glass of aguaje juice–or rather a licuado made from spinning aguaje pulp with sugar and water in a blender.
aguaje palm fruits, peeled and ready to eat.
We also bought a nice
on the parrilla: macambo seeds on the skewers and tacacho on the banana leaf
palometa–a pacú-like characid–right off the grill of the seller who seemed least interested in gouging us. This fish went MIA for a worrisome period back at the hostel, but we finally managed to find it and we ate it with the last of the dale-dale we had left over–which were still okay from a couple of days earlier unlike the breadfruit that had molded out–and a sugar-free (only because we had no sugar) camu-camu juice, which we learned must be pressed from the fruit rather than blended with the seeds and subsequently strained (which is what Seth attempted to do).
the remains of our palometa
I’m turning in early, because we need to be ready to roll by 6 am tomorrow morning.
Belen, River Itaya
It’s late in the evening and I’m pretty overwhelmed–to the point where it’s difficult even to write from under the burden of the impressions taken in over the experiences of today.
Guillermo. Belen resident and our tour guide
desayuno at la casa de Guillermo, served by his wife and consumed at the same little table in the space beneath their stilted home in Belen
sardina, beans, rice, egg, and plátano. a really, really good breakfast for well under a buck.
When we started out I was under the general understanding that we would be touring Belen and the lower portion of the River Itaya, which is one of the two rivers framing the city of Iquitos. Belen represents most of where the city touches the Itaya and it includes Iquitos’ floating slums, made iconic in the great old Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo–yeah that one with Klaus Kinski and Claudia Cardinale. By midmorning, however, it was clear that this would be no avenue-of-the-stars tour of a movie site but rather a procession of human encounters that would leave me both exhausted and enlightened.
people build their homes to allow them to adjust with changes in the level of the river.
Our guide for the day–pre-arranged by Seth–was Guillermo, a diligent if somewhat laconic man of around fifty who is also a resident of Belen. Guillermo picked us up at the hotel with his motokar (the noisy, chimaeric half-buggy/half-motorcycle that carries everybody everywhere in Iquitos). After getting under way, we asked him to make a stop for breakfast. He took us to his home, which is in the part of Belen that actually becomes dry land during the low water period. As it was three weeks after the peak of high water season and the water was receding fast, we were able to get there easily in Guillermo’s mototaxi. His wife makes a little extra money by cooking a large pot of food and offering sit-down breakfasts at a little table in the space below their home. The meal was simple–rice and beans, an egg, plátanos–your choice of maduros or verdes (the equivalent of Cuban tostones)–and I had a fish known locally as a sardina, which was not the Clupeoform sardine familiar to coastal peoples. Extra flavor comes from the addition of a universally-present criolla, a light salsa made from finely chopped red onions, salt, charapita peppers (a small, round, yellow, and very hot chile), water and lime juice.
it's perfectly normal for a house to have no walls
pequi-pequi boats. all-purpose mid-sized transport throughout the area (and perhaps throughout the Amazon)
As I found later on our visit to the mercado, smaller fish and particularly the Cypriniforms and Characids (?) are typically prepared by making dozens of neatly parallel gashes on each side of the fish, cutting to but not through the vertebrae. This has the effect of allowing the salt to penetrate and flavor the flesh while it also renders the smaller bones that extend laterally from the vertebrae edible once the fish is cooked. The sardine was excellent. I’m planning to dedicate a whole post to the fishes later, so I won’t talk more about them now.
Guillermo said that these larger transports carried workers from Iquitos to pineapple fields in outlying areas
I want to make it clear that this neighborhood where Guillermo and his family and a few thousand others live is seasonally either on the shore of the River Itaya or in the River Itaya, depending on the water level. All houses here are built on stilts, and just three weeks before my arrival the river crested so high that many residents had to retreat, living in the streets until the water receded to the point where they could occupy their homes again. The little nook where we ate breakfast would have been eight feet or more under water.
this particular transport nearly rammed our pequi-pequi!
From Guillermo’s house we walked about 100m to the river just below the market area, where several boatmen jostle to offer riverine taxi rides to locals as well as touristic passages to folks wanting to see more of the floating city. With the latter of these offering an opportunity to make abundantly more than the former, non-Peruvians are descended upon somewhat aggressively as they appear on the scene. Our guide either had pre-arranged to go with Eduardo “el Colorado,” or picked him on the spot–I’m not clear on that part, but in either case we hopped onto his pequi-pequi (as these boats are called locally, named after the noise made by the two-stroke motors they use) and made our way to see the floating part of Belen. Throughout the morning hours there is a steady flow of labor out of Belen on much larger pequi-pequi boats to agricultural jobs, e.g., at pineapple fields on the Amazon, and there’s also a steady flow of produce in. We saw plátanos. Lots of plátanos being carried in and unloaded at the base of the market.
close by to each floating house is a floating outhouse (no es una casita para el perro!)
Just across the river’s main channel is the “floating ghetto,” unlike Guillermo’s neighborhood, this part of Belen never dries out. Houses here are built on balsa wood pontoons that must somehow be moored to the shore or bottom in a way that can withstand the currents during periods of high flow on the River Itaya. Crappers are cute–doghouse-sized outbuildings with a very simple plumbing system–a hole cut into the floor.
the floating homes of Belen are built atop balsawood pontoons (rather than stilts)
to facilitate milling, logs are identified to their kind of wood by the letters painted onto their ends
The River Itaya is obviously far from pristine anywhere close to Belen, but the gross-out element diminishes albeit gradually as you move upstream. The floating houses and their shitters disappear and are replaced by huge rafts of logs that come to the Itaya’s lumber mills–relatively little of it comes from upstream on the River Itaya, which has been heavily exploited and there are not that many marketable trees. Most of the logs come on large rafts that are somehow kept all together as they are floated down from drainages higher on the Amazon and then amazingly pulled/pushed upstream from the mouth of the Itaya by teams of men in tiny pequi-pequi tugs. Some logs also arrive by ship.
lower-density wood floats relatively high in the water
higher-density wood needs to be "helped" in order to stay afloat
Our guide noted that the quality of timber is generally proportional to its density. He pointed out a raft of high-floating logs as “bad wood,” and another raft was “excellent” wood because the logs had to be lashed to balsa logs so they wouldn’t sink. Given that Guiillermo built his home out of local woods in the stilt-born part of Belen, this method of assessing wood quality is understandable for purely practical reasons–you would want the strongest and most rot-resistant material, which is more likely true of dense woods. I wonder if someone from the floating part of the city would have the same criteria for grading timber.
this dude in a blue hat came out of his cane fields to yell at us for disturbing his fruit trees. he was happier with us once he sold us leva and took us on a tour of his property (for a small fee)
The best of the sawn lumber is exported to markets in Europe and Asia, and the rest stays in South America. The scraps that aren’t saleable at all are piled in a huge riverside heap and made available for free to locals needing to build/upgrade/maintain their property. I’m guessing that the need for home repair materials is pretty great around here generally but especially in districts like Belen.
cutting sections of peeled cane for sampling by the tourists. yellow cane was softer and better for fresh eating. black cane was much more fibrous but had richer flavor (and it's also the one he uses for his leva)
this is the press used for converting cane into raw juice, which is then allowed to ferment to become leva
Upstream from the mills is the military installation and a few riverbends beyond that we pulled up to the bank to look for a place that was rumored to produce aguardiente–the locally-distilled trago or hard liquor. It turned out that this colorful toothless dude’s “product” was actually leva–the fermented raw cane juice, pressed on site from sugar cane grown on site. Very sweet, gently carbonated and the color of bilge water, and apart from appearance it was no worse than most lambrusco or white zins that I have had.
the dude sold two versions of leva: a milder, sweeter one (in the blue bucket) and a more alcoholic and more pungent one (in the white bucket)
juanes are made like tamales--wrapped in the leaves of a plant from the Maranthaceae--but with rice. the filling is some kind of meat (this one is chicken) and you can sort of see the olive
A bit farther upstream we visited what I later found to be typical for riverside communities: a location on the river off the main channel where boats can land and goods loaded/unloaded, a square grassy “plaza” large enough to accommodate a regulation soccer field and surrounded by some number of small protestant or pentecostal churches, wide and straight avenues with concrete walkways just wide enough to accommodate motokar traffic with plenty of space on either side for you to get out of the way when such vehicles are coming through.
the Itaya is polluted and overexploited by Iquiteño standards, and yet fishing can still provide an enhancement to the evening's dinner.
government-provided concrete walkways in riverine communities are typically nice and straight
On the way back Eduardo’s motor died and wouldn’t start back up. Guillermo was being a hero by paddling us back towards Iquitos with the boat’s only oar–and he was moving us along at a good clip–when we got an assist from another pequi-pequi the rest of the way back to Belen.
standard watercraft for one or two people is still the dugout canoe, crafted from a single log. the process for hollowing out the canoe involves burning, chipping and scraping with various adzes and hatchets
fish for sale in the market of Belen
Last adventure of the day was negotiating the market in Belen. I bought some rubber boots. Seth got some copal–the frankincense-and-myrrh-like resin from one of his beloved Protium trees–and some natural honey for Seth’s girlfriend in Michigan. A one point I was stopped by some of the merchants from whom we had made purchases, and they warned me to guard my camera very carefully because they had seen someone watching me with the intent to steal it. They only allowed me to proceed once they saw that the camera was zipped into my pocket.
suri, the grubs that grow in the core of cut aguaje palms. they are sold stewed or grilled, and they taste a bit like the fatty part of pork ribs
Your average Iquiteño has very little material wealth and even the grimiest, shoddily-dressed tourist will make himself a target just for flashing a portable digital camera from Costco. The consensus regarding crime in Peru is that it is nearly exclusively directed against property. Theft is somewhat rampant, but violent crime is rare. That said, you never know if a perp is drugged out, so if you are accosted the only smart thing to do is to hand over the goods and then get the hell out. Possessions can be replaced.
suri on a stick. they really were pretty good, though I think the stewed ones were tastier
By US standards, costs here are very modest. Full breakfast for three in Belen was 6 soles. A juane or a tacacho from a street vendor–either one of these being a very substantial snack or lunch– is 2 soles. At the time of my travel one US dollar exchanges for about 2.75 soles. Do the math.
I think people here are aware that currency exchange rates grossly favoring visitors from most of the rest of the world, your typical tourist–even one from Lima–could easily afford to pay more than what would be a fair price for Iquiteños. Some try to take advantage of this by asking higher prices from tourists. If you’re aware of what locals pay, you can usually negotiate down if you are quoted an inflated price. But let’s face it–if you’re in your first week in Peru, even an avariciously inflated price could seem like a bargain.
This already ridiculously long post could be extended in different directions, but it’s already ridiculously long. Period.
our return to Belen
Filed in Peru, South America 2011 ·Tags: aji, Belen, charapita, Iquitos, Itaya, juanes, leva, Peru, sugar cane, suri
Afternoon 1: IIAP–Quistococha (near Iquitos)
This is Seth.
Seth was a student of mine a while back. Okay quite a while back–probably something like 1997 or 1998. Since leaving our little two year college he’s gone on to a lot greater things: a baccalaureate from Davis, a few years of science-focused traveling and coursework, and now doctoral research at Berkeley. Needless to say that I’m quite proud to have been a part of this. So when Karen–Seth’s mom–told me that she was planning to visit her son in Perú where he is doing the field portion of his dissertation work, naturally I just invited myself to join in the role of intrepid naturalist tag-along.
And this is Karen.
Karen is an extraordinarily delightful person whose acquaintance I have enjoyed for almost as long as I’ve known her son. And no, she is not my spouse, but she is a traveling companion over the next week. Adri is with the boyz doing their idea of fun stuff in the old world, and not one of them would have any motivation to take a trip like this or be sufficiently badass to endure the discomforts of being on the road in tropical Latin America. Karen is exactly that motivated badass, and I will be posting pics that will include my traveling companions, one of whom is an attractive female of approximately my age. Get used to it. I have Adri’s blessing (and frequent flier miles!) to take this trip, and that should be good enough for anyone.
Seth K., jungle scientist, outside his dormitory at IIAP-Quistococha
First stop after landing Iquitos was the Instituto de Investigaciones en la Amazonia Peruana, or IIAP (pronounced “yap”). There are actually a handful of stations operated by the IIAP, some like Genaro-Herrera are pretty remote. This one is just a couple of kilometers down from the airport on the Iquitos-Nauta highway. Given its proximity to a significant urban center, this is probably one of the principal sites. Several buildings, including living quarters for resident researchers, labs, offices and everything else. Seth had a shade house built here for the rearing and isolation of various seedlings in soils with varying degrees of fungal abundance and diversity.
DNA extraction room
room with minus-twenty freezers for sample storage
In addition to offices, living quarters, some pretty decent lab facilities IIAP Quistococha also has a pretty extensive array of fish ponds, as one of the major objectives of the IIAP is the support of applied research, i.e., stuff that is intentionally directed towards benefitting the human condition. IIAP’s focus on sustainable aquaculture in historically poor areas of the world is thus of key political importance when it comes to self promotion. That and the baby manatees. Yes, this is also a riverine mammal rescue center, which means that every time a nursing momma manatee gets killed and the orphan recovered, it comes to the IIAP. And the soles put onto the donation pot by an increasing flow of tourists who come to see and bottle-feed the babies is proving to be a significant source of revenue.
feeding the rescued baby manatees is one of the touristy activities offered at IIAP Quistococha
Unlike in Florida where manatees mostly die as speed bumps under the hulls and rudders of high-speed watercraft, manatee mortality here is mostly the result of hunting for “carne del monte” i.e. bushmeat, and apparently manatee tastes a lot like pork. So basically it’s a Disney script–Mom gets killed and baby goes on its adventure, finally ending up somewhere like this if it’s lucky (but more likely that it won’t be so lucky and will end up on a parrilla somewhere). Ultimately the plan for the reared-out juveniles is release into the wild somewhere that is sufficiently remote or otherwise protected that they would have a decent chance of surviving.
Cauchero bar offers only one beer, Amazonica.
Seth’s “cheap ‘n’ lovely” lodging selection turned out to be the hostel Casa Samantha on the seventh block of (Calle) Nauta. It’s a nice, central location from which it’s a short walk or motokar ride to practically anywhere in Iquitos. Good thing Seth pre-arranged our stay because the place is filled up–mostly with hippie kids traveling across South America on the cheap. Water quality from the tap is awful–a nasty color and smelling of sulfur and rust, which according to Seth is uncharacteristic of the city water generally and that it’s probably more a plumbing problem isolated to the building. Iquitos municipal water supply is probably not too safe to drink (though he knows people who drink water straight from the tap), but it doesn’t usually look or smell this bad. Showers are cold–I’m told there’s no hot water anywhere in the city–and for us it’s not really a shower either, because there’s no shower head that would get continually clogged by all the grunge in the water.
mototaxis are the main way of getting around in a city that can't be driven to from the rest of the road-connected world. All terrestrial vehicles have to arrive here by ship.
None of this is really a problem, though. A person stays healthy and clean by drinking purified water, which is sold be street vendors in five-gallon plastic bottles. The stinky water is adequate for washing and rinsing.
Muchas buenas noches, amigos.
Filed in Peru, South America 2011 ·Tags: IIAP, Iquitos, manatees, Peru, Quistococha, tropical research
Beppu/Oita
Brasil 2014 World Cup
India 2013/2014
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Best things to do in Tokio
33, Zentralpark Shinjuku
“Also known as Central Park, you are surrounded by skyscrapers. Regular food fairs and events are held here. There are sculptures including the Peace Carillion, which is a set of 12 hanging bells. Just a step away from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the park also contains a Kumano-Jinja shrine if you want to stop in for a quick prayer”
82Empfehlungen vor Ort
34, Sunshine City Alpa
“A 60-story high-rise tower. I will move from the first floor to the 59th floor with a sky restaurant in 36 seconds. "Nanjatown" on the second floor is an amusement park created by Japanese game makers. A mass of famous pot-stickers [Gyoza] shop specially chosen from all over Japan. Please try the local food [Gyoza]. ”
106Empfehlungen vor Ort
35, Hanazono Shrine
“If you leave the park through the Shinjuku gate and follow the curving road for one block, you will see a Doutor coffee shop and Starbucks on your left. Turn left and you will be on Yasukuni Street. Cross it, and pretty soon you will see the gates leading to Hanazono Shrine on the right.”
36, Samurai Museum
“Great thing to do in Tokyo, the museum has lots of examples of Japanese armour, weapons and other things. You can try going for a tour of the museum, and the staff seemed interested in their subject and very positive and enthusiastic to talk about it to visitors. They let you try on a helmet and wield a katana Worth the ticket price!”
37, Roppongi Hills
“This composite facility includes over 200 restaurants and stores, the first cinema complex in the city (TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills), a world-class hotel (Grand Hyatt Tokyo), Mori Museum, and a viewing platform "Tokyo City View," providing a variety of functionality all in one place.”
38, Tokyo Midtown
“Like the famous Tower in Roppongi Hills. Restaurants and brand stores lined.”
39, Hachiko Statue
“Come meet Tokyo's most famous pooch, Hachikō. This Akita dog came to Shibuya Station everyday to meet his master, a professor, returning from work. After the professor died in 1925, Hachikō continued to come to the station daily until his own death nearly 10 years later. The story became legend and a small statue was erected in the dog’s memory in front of Shibuya Station. The surrounding plaza is Tokyo’s most popular rendezvous point and is always abuzz.”
40, Takashimaya Shinjuku
“TAKASHIMAYA is the famous depart in Shinjyuku. You can see all kinds of stuffs. Fashion, Foods, gears,,,,, Anyway, must go. ”
Sublocality Level 2
41, Uenokoen
“Ueno Park: Cherry Blossoms, Museums, Zoo. You can spend all day long. Museums are closed on Mondays.”
42, Hanayashiki Amusement Park
“Hanayashiki has been in business since 1883 and still draws crowds. There are around 20 rides, more appealing for nostalgia than thrills – including Japan’s oldest steel-track rollercoaster and a haunted house. Most have been upgraded over the years, but their scope is limited due to the park’s small size. The nostalgia is palpable, and there's a sense of boisterous fun in there somewhere amidst the rust. At the very least, it makes for a nice alternative to Asakusa's otherwise austere attractions.”
Ramen-Restaurant
43, Ichiran Ramen
“Ichiran is a chain, but it is arguably the best one in Japan so it is worth mentioning here. The secret to its success is perhaps the spicy powder and the flour-based noodles made by Ichiran itself. And the deep flavor of their soups is just irresistible. Going there is a fun experience not just for the ramen, but how you order it. Buy your ticket from the vending machine, then fill out an extensive order form about how you want your ramen. It's the most customizable ramen there is. You can choose the level of spiciness, the amount of garlic, the intensity of the dashi seasoning stock and much more! Forms are in English and Japanese.”
44, Tokyo DisneySea
“-Disney Sea I recommend for couples and adults. Disney sea has more "adult" friendly rides, like roller coasters and high speed rides! ”
Malerischer Ausblick
45, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building observation room
“Enjoy commanding views of downtown Tokyo from a height of 202 meters. The observatories are intended to inform and educate people about Tokyo and TMG policy while taking in the stunning views below. We hope that you will take a moment from your visit to think about the future of "Tokyo" while gazing out the window at the city. 地上202メートルの高さから東京のまちを一望できます。 展望室からの眺望を楽しみながら東京や都政に対する理解と関心を深めてはいかかですか。 また、入場料は無料になります！”
46, National Museum of Western Art
“The National Museum of Western Art: Interesting permanent exhibition of Matsukata Collection as well as their special exhibitions. The building is designed by Le Corbusier. ”
47, Omotesando Hills
“'Omotesando Hills' a building packed with high-brand boutiques, interiors, gourmet restaurant, and even the art gallery And don’t miss out the building itself, the spiral slope at the heart of building is a must-see.”
Elektronikladen
48, Yodobashi Camera Shinjuku West Main Store
“An excellent showcase of a large-scale Japanese electronics store. Yodobashi Shinjuku West, the flagship, houses an abundant variety of cameras, appliances, televisions, watches, video games, and more ”
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Rupert Murdoch Talks About Succession, Politics, And His Greatest “Screwup”: Fortune
By David Lieberman
David Lieberman
Financial Editor
@DeadlineDavidL
More Stories By David
Viacom Secures Data Leak That Research Firm Deemed Potentially “Catastrophic”
T-Mobile And Sprint Shares Rise On Report Of “Active Talks” About A Merger
Herb Scannell Tapped To Be CEO Of Mitú, Latino-Focused Video Producer
April 10, 2014 7:46am
Rupert Murdoch is all over Twitter. (“My family are horrified that I’m on it,” he says.) But in agreeing to sit down for a broad interview with Fortune, one of the media industry’s most powerful moguls signals that he’s finally ready to return in a serious way to the public stage that he has largely abandoned as he grappled with his UK hacking scandals and a bitter divorce, as well as uncertainty about the prospects for his media empire — which he split into two companies last year — and his succession plans. You should check out the piece by senior editor-at-large Pattie Sellers. Here are a few of the highlights:
Related: Rupert Murdoch Says There May Be Multiple ‘Avatar’ Sequels: Fortune
Succession: His sons James and Lachlan are first in line to take over although “I’m going to be here for a long time. And so will [Fox COO] Chase Carey and [News Corp CEO] Robert Thomson.”
The effort to bring Lachlan back intensified after a private meeting with James at last year’s Allen & Co confab in Sun Valley. “We had two or three hours together. Lachlan was not not going to come back. It was a question of how we would work together.”
Related: Lachlan And James Murdoch Given Big New Roles At News Corp
Daughter Liz Murdoch’s decision not to join the News Corp board: Rupert says he’d “rather not go into that.” A lot of close families “have good arguments. That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.” And it’s “more than possible” that she’ll return to the family business.
Who’ll be the GOP’s 2016 presidential candidate: Murdoch says former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is “my number one” calling him “a man of very fine character.” He also has “particular admiration” for Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie “could recover” from inquiries into his possible role in manufactured traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge. Murdoch agrees with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on “a great number of things” but disagrees on foreign policy “too strongly perhaps to vote for him.”
His view of Hillary Clinton: He left open the possibility of supporting her but “it would depend on the Republican candidate totally.” He adds that he “could live with Hillary as President. We have to live with who we get. We don’t have any choice.” (more…)
This article was printed from https://deadline.com/2014/04/rupert-murdoch-talks-about-succession-politics-and-his-greatest-screwup-fortune-712530/
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Christmas Come Early For John Paulson
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson posted gains in his firm’s main strategies in November, in part from an investment in Extended Stay America Inc., according to two people familiar with the matter. Paulson’s event-driven Advantage fund surged 13 percent in November and 30 percent this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private...Paulson Partners Enhanced Fund, the leveraged version of the firm’s merger-arbitrage strategy, gained 2.3 percent in November and 28 percent this year, the people said. Paulson Partners increased 1.2 percent last month and 16 percent year-to-date. The Recovery Fund, which seeks to benefit from growth in the economy, is the firm’s best-performing strategy in 2013. The fund rose 6.5 percent in November, bringing returns since the start of the year to 55 percent, according to the people. The Paulson Credit Opportunities Fund increased 3.2 percent last month, bringing returns for 2013 to 20 percent, the people said. Paulson’s Advantage Plus fund, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies and uses leverage, rose 6 percent in November and 28 percent this year, according to the people. [Bloomberg]
John PaulsonHedge Fundsperformancehedge fund managers
John Paulson Has Earned Himself Another Celebratory Photo Shoot
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51 to 100 of 13928 Per page: 20 50 100
Heather Adair University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy
John G. Adair University of Manitoba Psychological responses to drought in northeastern Brazil
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Ori Adam 0000-0003-0334-0636 ETH Zurich Department of Earth Sciences Role of changes in mean temperatures versus temperature gradients in the recent widening of the Hadley circulation
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Mit Reit Paper
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Reits in India
Return Attribution
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Teoco Case Assignment
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What Investors Look for
Structuring Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund: The Case of US Industrial and Retail REITs
Cervantes Lee
MBA in Finance, 2001
B.A., Economics, 1997
Submitted to the Department of Architecture in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of
Science in Real Estate Development
2008 Cervantes Lee
The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of
this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created.
Signature of Author_________________________________________________________
Certified by_______________________________________________________________
Lynn Fisher
Associate Professor of Real Estate
Accepted by______________________________________________________________
Brian A. Ciochetti
Chairman, Interdepartmental Degree Program in
Structuring Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund:
The Case of US Industrial and Retail REITs
Submitted to the Department of Architecture on July 30, 2008 in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Real Estate Development
The private capital business for public REITs was started by Kimco Realty, Developer Diversified, AMB and
ProLogis during the years 1998-2000, at the time when the public equity was not easily available. Over the
past decade, public REITs have used their private capital funds to take out REITs existing portfolios and
newly completed projects, to finance land purchases and development pipelines, and to diversify their rental
income into a fee income business.
Given the limited disclosure of public REITs in their private capital funds and a lack of standardized industry
terms and practice applicable to this field, this research can be described a fact-finding study. By studying
each of the private capital funds managed by 7 leading REIT managers, I categorize these funds in terms of
fund type, inception year, fund life, fund style strategy, investment target, geographical focus, fund terms,
target leverage, key investors, parent REITs ownership, gross fund assets, distribution frequent and incentive
In addition, I argue that the private capital business of public REITs would not have grown successfully
without fuel of the merchant development activities under the public REITs framework. This is particularly
true with respect to the industrial REIT sector. I carefully examine the case of ProLogis business model,
comprised of three indispensible pillars - merchant building, fund management and core portfolio, to
substantiate this claim.
By creating a new structure diagram of public REIT-sponsored private capital fund, I demonstrate the
co-opetition phenomenon among pension funds, real estate investment managers (REIMs) and public
REIT private capital funds in the value chain of the institutional real estate investment. The concept can be
described by the fact that two primary investors (pension funds and REIMs) of this field could themselves
replicate what public REIT private capital funds are doing. I also relate this observation to the real estate
M&A deals that occurred in 2007, where REIMs were observed to arbitrage between public REIT and
private real estate markets by taking the public REITs private.
Moving forward, public REIT-sponsored private capital fund is well positioned to grow as it complements
a niche market for pension funds and REIMs to add private real estate exposure in a predictable and
sizeable format. However, concerns on above 75% FFO coming from merchant development and
private capital for leading REITs (such as ProLogis) may trigger regulatory scrutiny from Internal Revenue
Service, as this represents a huge deviation from original purpose of being a REIT to act as passive
investor for core portfolio holding and pay out as dividends most of its net income.
In an extreme scenario, REITs like ProLogis may voluntarily or involuntarily spin off their private capital
business. Under current capital market conditions, this might actually unlock public REITs shareholder
value. Referencing from mid-cap asset managers comparable (such as Eaton Vance and Janus Capital),
REITs private capital business can be valued from the 4x price-earnings multiple to a likely 20-30x range.
Thesis Supervisor: Lynn Fisher
Title: Associate Professor of Real Estate
Never had I thought I could have completed my real estate study at MIT Center for Real Estate, one of the
best master-level real estate programs in the U.S.
There are a number of individuals I would like to thank for helping to make my thesis study possible.
Firstly and foremost, I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional love that have carried me
through all the hardship that I have been.
They have educated me to be strong and courageous in work and
life, and have always believed in me that I can do a little better. I am always grateful that they are my parents
and I am their son.
Second, I want to thank my family: my wife, Irene Hsieh for helping me with the daily routines of family life
so that I could have time I needed to get my thesis research completed; our baby, Chih-Kang (16-month old)
for all of the times that he would have preferred to be playing with me, but instead sat by moms side, playing,
reading or watching TV.
I would like to thank AIG Global Real Estate to broaden my understanding of principal real estate
investment. In particular, I want to thank James Chou, my direct supervisor at AIG Taiwan for his many
encouragements in the past 4 years. I am also thankful to Wendell Dickerson, Managing Director of
Transaction Review Group at New York, who wrote me recommendation to MIT and brought me in AIG
New York Office for a short internship in January, 2008.
I would like to thank Professor Kathleen Smalley at Harvard Law School for her enlightening teaching on
basic corporation law, real estate transactions and extension study into REIT structure.
I also want to thank my thesis advisor, Professor Lynn Fisher, at MIT for her mentoring on the research
question identification, thesis proposal preparation and thesis writing. She is passionate, smart, responsible
and diligent. Her patience, frankness, insight, and advice have made my thesis completion possible.
I feel appreciated to faculty and staff at MIT Center for Real Estate for bringing in industry leaders, who
share students their various real estate perspectives that are currently shaping the industry in the U.S.
My gratitude also goes to my elder sister, Stephanie Lee for encouraging my further study; to my big brother,
Jeffery Lee for his best support and taking care of parents while I am away from home.
Last but not the least, I am so proud to be a part of 2008 Class. Thank you all my classmates for a great
year together on campus.
Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................ 9
Purpose of the Thesis..........................................................................................................................................9
Research Motivation .........................................................................................................................................10
Research Questions...........................................................................................................................................13
Research Methodology .....................................................................................................................................14
Expectation .......................................................................................................................................................15
Chapter 2 Evolution of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Business ................................................... 16
Chapter 3 Characterization of Private Capital Funds under Public REITs .................................................. 35
Fund Strategy Setting ........................................................................................................................................37
Core-Fund Is It Really Core? Value-added Fund Is It Really Value-added?............................................54
Analysis of Private Capital Income The Case of AMB Capital Partners...........................................................58
To Consolidate or Not........................................................................................................................................64
Chapter 4 Merchant Development under Public REITs ............................................................................. 70
Merchant Development for Public REITs and their Private Capital ...................................................................71
Merchant Development Economics ..................................................................................................................78
Chapter 5 Investors Perspective............................................................................................................... 85
Structure Diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund..........................................................................86
Choice between Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate ...............................................................................94
Evolving Role of Real Estate Investment Manger ..............................................................................................97
Chapter 6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 108
What We Have Learned?.................................................................................................................................109
The Future of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund .............................................................................112
References ................................................................................................................................................ 116
Appendix ................................................................................................................................................ 120
1. REIT History............................................................................................................................................................121
2. Total Capital Raised from REIT Sector (1992-2007)................................................................................................123
3. Equity REIT Structure (Traditional REIT, Up-REIT, Down-REIT) ...............................................................................124
4. Organizing and Qualifying as a REIT.......................................................................................................................128
5. Taxable REIT Subsidiary..........................................................................................................................................132
6. Vertical Integration of REIT ....................................................................................................................................134
7. Private Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs ..............................................................................................137
8. 2007 New Separate Accounts/ JV Partnership from Pension Fund.......................................................................148
9. 2007 New Commitments to Commingled Funds from Pension Funds..................................................................149
10. Analytical Comparison Tools for Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate..........................................................156
11. Pension Fund Survey Result (2007)......................................................................................................................163
12. Fund Strategy Sample Morgan Stanley Real Estate (MSRE)...........................................................................167
13. Ernst & Young Real Estate Private Equity Fund Category.....................................................................................169
About the Student..................................................................................................................................... 171
Figure 1.1: Gross Private Fund Assets for 7 Studied Public REITs ................................................................................11
Figure 1.2: Private Capital Income as % of Net Income of Public REITs .......................................................................11
Figure 1.3: Classification of Private Capital Fund under Public REITs ..........................................................................12
Figure 2.1: Type of REITs ..............................................................................................................................................17
Figure 2.2: Equity Market Capitalization Outstanding for Public REITs........................................................................17
Figure 2.3: Market Cap vs. Number of REITs................................................................................................................18
Figure 2.4: Breakdown of REIT Sector by Product Type and Asset Class .....................................................................19
Figure 2.5: Key Event for Public REITs Private Capital Business (Prior to Year 2000) ..................................................20
Figure 2.6: Public Equity Raised via IPO and SEO (1992-2007) ....................................................................................22
Figure 2.7: Breakdown of Public Equity Raised Through 5 Instruments (1992-2007)..................................................22
Figure 2.8: Organization Structure for AMB Property Corp.........................................................................................24
Figure 2.9: Typical Taxable REIT Subsidiary under REIT ...............................................................................................25
Figure 2.10: Public Equity Raised vs. Private Equity Fund by REITs..............................................................................27
Figure 2.11: Private Equity Raised by Public REITs, Breakdown by Sector...................................................................27
Figure 2.12: Key Event and Remark for Public REITs Private Capital Business ............................................................28
Figure 2.13: Industry Comment Evolution for Public REIT Private Capital Business ....................................................30
Figure 2.14: Benefits and Challenges of JVs and Funds ...............................................................................................32
Figure 3.1: Private Capital Business Strategy Summary for 7 Studied REITs................................................................38
Figure 3.2: CalSTRS Series of JV Program with First Industrial....................................................................................41
Figure 3.3: GIC Real Estate's JV Programs with 7 Studied Public REITs ........................................................................42
Figure 3.4: Comparison of Commingled Funds among 7 Studied Public REITs............................................................44
Figure 3.5: Fund Structure of AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II ................................................................................46
Figure 3.6: Regency Centers Fund Summary ...............................................................................................................48
Figure 3.7: Promote Structure and Incentive Distribution Frequency Summary for AMB Fund Family......................50
Figure 3.8: Promote Step Function of AMB Alliance Fund III.......................................................................................51
Figure 3.9: Distribution Waterfall Sequence............................................................................................................52
Figure 3.10: Example for Basic Distribution Waterfall .................................................................................................52
Figure 3.11: Fees to DDR in DDR Markaz II ..................................................................................................................53
Figure 3.12 : Fund Comparison between Regency Retail Partners and AMB Alliance Fund III....................................54
Figure 3.13: Real Estate Investment Style and Purity - by NCREIF...............................................................................55
Figure 3.14: Portfolio Level Definition .........................................................................................................................55
Figure 3.15: Net Returns under Various Investment Strategies...................................................................................56
Figure 3.16: Calculation Formula for Levered Equity Return .......................................................................................56
Figure 3.17: Leverage Returns by Applying Various Debt Ratios .................................................................................56
Figure 3.18: Enhanced IRR Returns by Adding Debt Ratios .........................................................................................57
Figure 3.19: Fee Structure for AMBs Value-Added Private Capital Funds...................................................................58
Figure 3.20: Private Capital Income Breakdown and its Percentage of AMB's Annual FFO.........................................59
Figure 3.21: Incentive Fee and Management Fee Income for AMB (2001-2008F) ......................................................59
Figure 3.22: Asset Mgt, Acquisition and Incentive Fees and their YoY Growth in 2004- 2007 ....................................60
Figure 3.23: Private Capital Income Component for AMB in 2004- 2007....................................................................60
Figure 3.24: Fees and Expense for Various Real Estate Investment Products..............................................................61
Figure 3.25: First Industrial FFO from JV Funds ...........................................................................................................63
Figure 3.26: Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs ...........................................................................................65
Figure 3.27: Moodys Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs ............................................................................66
Figure 3.28: Moodys Qualitative Factors For Consolidation .......................................................................................67
Figure 3.29: Standard REIT Bond Covenant Requirement ...........................................................................................68
Figure 3.30: Covenant Analysis for 7 Studied REITs .....................................................................................................68
Figure 3.31: REIT Liquidity for 7 Studied REITs ............................................................................................................69
Figure 3.32: Development Pipeline Ratio for 7 Studied REITs and Industry Average ..................................................69
Figure 4.1: ProLogis Business Model ...........................................................................................................................73
Figure 4.2: ProLogis FFO Breakdown of Core Portfolio, Merchant Gain and Asset Mgt Fee .......................................74
Figure 4.3: AMB FFO Breakdown of Core Portfolio, Merchant Gain and Asset Mgt Fee .............................................74
Figure 4.4: Regency Center Business Model................................................................................................................74
Figure 4.5: Funding Sources and Investment Uses for Regency Center (2000-2007) ..................................................75
Figure 4.6: Regency FFO Breakdown ...........................................................................................................................75
Figure 4.7: 2007 FFO Breakdown for 4 Retail REIT Managers......................................................................................76
Figure 4.8: 2007 FFO Breakdown for 3 Industrial REIT Managers................................................................................76
Figure 4.9: Valuation Creation via Merchant Development (3-yr project) ..................................................................78
Figure 4.10: Valuation Creation via Merchant Development (2-yr project) ................................................................79
Figure 4.11: REIT's IRR (from Project Inception, Contributing to Fund and a 9-yr Fund Life)......................................80
Figure 4.12: Sample IRR for REIT (from Project Inception, Contributing to Fund and a 9-yr Fund Exit)......................81
Figure 4.13: 2007 ROA and ROE for 7 Studied REITs....................................................................................................81
Figure 4.14: Cashflow Comparison between Private Property Mkt and Public REIT Market ......................................82
Figure 4.15: AMB Net Asset Value ...............................................................................................................................83
Figure 4.16: Analytical Framework for Property Investment Structures .....................................................................84
Figure 5.1: Structure Diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund ..................................................................86
Figure 5.2: Pension Funds Real Estate Fund Investment (2007-20081Q) ...................................................................87
Figure 5.3: Pension Funds and REIMs Investment Allocation in Public REITs Private Capital ....................................88
Figure 5.4: Pension Funds JV/Fund Investment with Public REITs vs. with REIMs......................................................89
Figure 5.5: Top 50 Public Pension Funds Based on Real Estate Holdings (As of March 31, 2008) ...............................90
Figure 5.6: JV Parter Selection Steps GE Real Estate.................................................................................................93
Figure 5.7: GE Real Estate Investment Fund Summary with Public REITs ....................................................................93
Figure 5.8: Strategic Options for Institutional Investors while Perceiving Higher Value in Private RE.........................95
Figure 5.9: Correlation among NCREIF Property Types ...............................................................................................95
Figure 5.10: Responsibilities and Functions of Real Estate Investment Manager........................................................98
Figure 5.11: Top Real Estate Investment Managers, Ranked by Tax-exempt RE AuM .................................................99
Figure 5.12: Private Real Estate Investment Products and Attributes .......................................................................100
Figure 5.13: Expanded REIMs Role............................................................................................................................101
Figure 5.14: Real Estate Mergers and Acquisitions in 2007 .......................................................................................102
Figure 5.15: Major Real Estate M&A Transactions in 2007........................................................................................103
Figure 5.16: Acquisition Offer Comparison on Equity Office Shares..........................................................................103
Figure 5.17: Historical REIT Sector M&A Activity.......................................................................................................104
Figure 5.18: Time-weighted Index Return (Gross of Fee Returns).............................................................................105
Figure 5.19: Total Gross Return Annualized 5-Yr Universe Statistics.......................................................................106
Figure 6.1: Comparison for 3 US Open-ended Commingled Funds, Managed by Public REITs..................................109
Figure 6.2: Peer Valuation Comparison ProLogis vs. 6 Asset Managers .................................................................114
Figure 6.3: Re-Valuation on ProLogis' 4 Income Types ..............................................................................................114
Structuring Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund: The Case of US
Industrial and Retail REITs
1.1 Purpose of the Thesis
I am investigating private capital funds sponsored by public Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in order
to show how the funds are structured and managed, and why, so that the reader will understand why public
REIT private capital funds (the field) came into existence, what role they currently play in the REIT
industry and what challenges this form of REIT organization faces.
terms and practice, I describe the thesis to be more a fact finding mission. I do not target the research to be
100% academic real estate or corporate finance research. The intended readers are industry participants,
who care about how this field has been evolving for the past decade and what this particular field will become
in next 3-5 year time frame.
I am also a beneficiary of this research, as the research serves my self-study purpose of understanding the
public REIT industry, real estate private capital funds and the combination of both in public REIT-sponsored
private capital funds. This particular area is where I would like to explore my next career upon graduation.
Inspired by Mr. Hamid R. Moghadams, Chairman/CEO/Founder of AMB Property Corporation, speech on
AMB business and its private capital funds at MIT Center for Real Estate on November 6, 2007, I chose
AMB Capital Partners, the private capital arm of AMB Property Corporation, as the starting point of this
research. I handed in a term paper on AMB Capital Partners, for a Harvard Law School elective class on
Real Estate Transactions in early May, 2008.
The class was taught by Professor Kathleen Smalley.
In next three months, I expanded the term paper into a master-level thesis on Structuring Public
REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund: The Case of US Industrial and Retail REITs, under the instruction
of Dr. Lynn Fisher at MIT Center for Real Estate.
As a student at MIT, I have had the luxury to take
interview with key industry participants, who have helped me clarify many of research questions.
In my thesis, I will show this particular field (private capital under public REITs) has yet to be fully
understood by industry organizations, and in fact, the terminology has not been standardized. Various
organizations1 have provided industry statistics or house comment on this field every now and then. There
is no organization to date that has provided a guide for institutional investors to understand the nuts and
bolts of the private capital business under public REITs.
By creating a new structure diagram of public REIT-sponsored private capital fund, I will demonstrate the
replicate what public REIT private capital funds are doing.
I will also relate this observation in the context
of the real estate M&A deals that occurred in 2007, where REIMs were observed to arbitrage between
public REIT and private real estate markets by taking the public REITs private.
I hope the thesis shall serve as a good first attempt to summarize the industry facts with respect to public
REIT-sponsored private capital funds. To my knowledge, this topic has not been fully explored in the
academic literature in the field.
1.2 Research Motivation
The primary question investigated in this thesis is how public REIT-sponsored private capital funds are
structured and managed in order to fund the growth of public REITs..
The private capital business for public REITs was started during year 1998-2000, by Kimco Realty, Developer
Diversified, AMB and ProLogis at the time when the public equity was not easily available.
Over the past
decade, public REITs have been shown to use their private capital funds to take out REITs existing
portfolios and newly completed projects, to finance land purchases and development pipelines, and to
diversify their rental income into a fee income business.
Figure 1.1 summarizes the leading public REITs who are actively involved with managing private capital funds.
Over the years, public REITs have grown their funds to the point where they are now meaningful in size
(gross fund assets > REIT market cap).
The current average REITs equity share in the private capital funds
falls between 10%-25%, a significant drop from 50% during 1998-2000.
Includes NAREIT, NCREIF, The Townsend Group, Real Estate Alert, The Institutional Real Estate Letter, Real Estate Analytics, Pension Real Estate
Association, Moodys Investors Service, and Fitch Rating.
Figure 1.1: Gross Private Fund Assets for 7 Studied Public REITs
REIT Shares
($Bn)
(Mn Shares) Liabilities
($ Mn)
Gross Fund Typical REIT's
Share in Private
Capital Fund
AMB Property
First Industrial
Realty Investors
Industrial)
Kimco Realty
Source: Priced on July 3, 2008 on Google Finance; 2008 1Q reports for 7 REITs.
Figure 1.2 suggests private capital income in 2007 for the 7 leading REIT private capital manager has
accounted a meaningful average 12% share for the parents FFO. These 7 leading REITs were identified by
studying public REIT financial reports and by various equity research reports.
Three of them are classified
under industrial REIT sector; the rest four are under retail REIT sector. It is interesting to note that private
capital fund in this field has yet played an integral part in the business growth of other REIT sectors (such as
residential, office, hotel, mixed, self-storage and healthcare).
Figure 1.2: Private Capital Income as % of Net Income of Public REITs
Item for Yr 2007 (Unit: $Mn)
FFO/Share
Fee Income from Private Capital
Private Capital Income as % of Net Income
Source: 4Q 2007 financial reports for 7 REITs
Private capital income usually includes two parts stable fee income (including property management, leasing
fees, acquisition fees, development fees, disposition fees, fund asset management fees) and variable fees(i.e.,
incentive fees or promote) on a fund-by-fund basis depending on each funds specific fee arrangements
with investment partners.
Public REITs private capital funds have been seen partnering mostly with pension funds and real estate
investment managers, rather than local developers (summarized in Figure 1.3). This marks a distinction:
REITs usually enter into a project-level joint ventures with local developers, in addition to their self-owned
development projects.
Simon Property, the largest retail REIT in the US with market capitalization at US$
19.8 Bn (priced on July 1, 2008), takes the project-level JV approach with various local developers, and no
third party fund information is reported on its public financial statement.
Figure 1.3: Classification of Private Capital Fund under Public REITs
Value-Added
JV Program
Fund Sample
Regency Retail Partners Regency Center
Several Institutional
Take out existing
REIT's portfolios or
newly completed
ProLogis North American
Industrial Fund
Investors ; GIC Real
Estate leads
Kimco Prudential JV
To acquire a REIT or (To acquire Pan Pacific
identified properties in Retail Properties Inc.)
a specific geographical
TIAA Florida Retail LLC
Land acquire land
and Development suitable for
in a new market
REIT Manager
Weingarten Realty TIAA-CREF
AMB-SGP Mexico
GIC Real Estate
FirstCal 3 LLC
California State
Teachers Retirement
System (CalSTRS)
Source: 1Q 2008 reports for 7 studied REITs; the research
In the research, I do not aim at analyzing the type of project-level joint ventures. Rationale behind REITs
development project-level JV with local developers is generally believed to tap into new market or leverage
local developers specific knowledge with respect to either permitting or local market.
That shall be the
reason why I do not observe public REITs to structure development JV funds with pension funds or REIMs,
because these two institutional investors nearly have no local development skills.
To make the terminology consistent within the whole research, I will use private capital to describe the
combination of single-partner joint venture and commingled fund. The term JV/Fund, used by
Moodys Investors Service, is equivalent to what I describe as private capital. I may use these two terms
interchangeably in the research.
Typically, JV used in some research reports (including Moodys and
PREA) refers to project-level joint ventures. This type of JV will not be covered in my research.
Benefits of the private capital business to a REIT may include leverage shareholder capital into
REIT-managed funds, capital recycled into new development, economics of scale for asset management,
stable fund management fee income and potential for incentive reward for outperformance, and developing
strategic partnerships with institutional investors.
The benefits to the institutional investors of co-investing with a public REIT have been attributed to access
to the best real estate development and management teams, alignment of interests, depth of senior
management and established corporate structures, and predicable and sizeable pipeline deals.
Despite the potential benefits, some considerations need to be taken into account by investors in these types
of private capital deals, such as potential conflict of interest, exclusivity, geographical focus, right of first
refusal, rotational policy risk, appraisal value, control and monitoring, GAAP-consolidation, exit strategy,
buy/sell provision, and the fiduciary role of public REITs.
1.3 Research Questions
The study will attempt to answer the following research questions.
1. Legal and Structure Issues
1.1 How do these private capital funds fit in the Up-REIT legal structure or Down-REIT?
1.2 What are the pros and cons for public REITs to serve as the "general partner" for the funds?
1.3 How do public REITs make fee income from the private capital funds?
1.4 What is Taxable REIT Subsidiary (TRS)? How does TRS contribute to the growth of this field?
1.5 How do public REITs solve potential conflict of interest, exclusivity issues, GAAP-consolidation and
portfolio exit issues?
1.6 What is merchant development? What is merchant developments role in this field?
1.7 What is the limitation (cap) for private capital funds managed by public REITs? Will equity size of
the public REITs be the main constraint, or some other factors (such as development pipeline)?
2. REIT Industry vs. Institutional Real Estate Investment Field
2.1 Why public REITs prefer to raise money through private capital as opposed to making a secondary
offering in the public capital markets?
2.2 What is the rationale for pension funds and REIMs to make investment in REIT-sponsored private
capital funds?
2.3 How much real estate was allocated to this field from pension funds and REIMs?
2.4 Why are these private capital funds more commonly seen in industrial and retail REIT sectors and
not quite as often seen in residential REIT and office REIT sectors?
2.5 Which private capital model works better for public REITs take-out vehicle, strategic acquisition
program land acquisition and development vehicle? What is public REITs consideration for
various fund vehicles?
2.6 What is the investment partnerships perspective on various fund terms (open-end vs. closed-end;
fixed fund life vs. perpetual)?
2.7 Why REIMs is the preferred choice for pension funds, rather than public REIT-sponsored private
2.8 What is the future for public REIT-sponsored private capital fund?
2.9 Will the public REIT private capital platform spillover to other REIT sector leaders?
3. Bottom line to REITs
3.1 Does private capital business increase REITs earnings volatility?
3.2 How do public REITs build track record to growth their private capital funds?
3.3 What is the organization chart for private capital fund business under public REITs?
3.4 What is the real cost to run private capital business management time, separate operational
structure, etc?
3.5 How is the private capital business segment valued in public REITs? What are the reasonable
earnings multiples for private capital income in public REITs? Do we need to assign different
multiples for fixed management fees and for more volatile incentive fees?
1.4 Research Methodology
Research method, in principle, will be qualitative so as to better describe the private capital strategy of 7
studied public REITs. Numerical sample and financial statement of public REITs will also be used. Study
and industry interview in my research will cover as following:
- Literature Review Study will include academic research, REIT securities rules, IRS Code, practical journals,
public financial reports for listing REITs, and prospectus for offshore fund listings (including Macquarie
DDR Trust, Macquarie Countrywide Trust, and ProLogis European Properties Fund).
- Industry Interview will cover private capital managers (under REITs), REIT lawyers, pension funds, real
estate investment managers, real estate fund of fund managers, and industry associations (including
Pension Real Estate Association and NCREIF).
- Real Estate Investment Manager Study will include GIC Real Estate, GE Real Estate, Macquarie Real
Estate, Prudential Real Estate Investors, and Morgan Stanley Real Estate.
- Pension Fund Study will cover CalSTRS and statistics from Pension Real Estate Association, Real Estate
Alert, and The Institutional Real Estate Letter.
- Equity Research Report Study will be widely used, including Green Street Advisors, Merrill Lynch,
Citigroup Research, Bear Sterns and JP Morgan.
1.5 Expectation
The research aims at summarizing the industry trend recently gaining momentum in the public
REIT-sponsored private capital fund by answering the proposed research questions at Section 1.3. In the
meantime, this study is expected to put forward a structure diagram for both public REITs (to act as
management partners) and institutional investors (as investment partners), which fully explain the cost and
benefit and strategic objectives for the two sides.
I will also make prediction about the future of public REITs private capital fund. I conclude the research
by exploring three forward-looking questions, including 1). Will the REIT private capital platform spillover to
other REIT sector leaders? 2). Shall or will ProLogis turn into a fund management company? 3). How shall
the private capital business valued in public REITs setting?
Evolution of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Business
In order to understand the evolution of public REIT-sponsored private capital fund, I look into a series of
industry data and article, REIT legal structure and code, and industry comment (including rating agencies,
equity research firms, pension funds and real estate investment managers).
In my view, the documentation of this fields evolution can provide a good overall picture of this niche
segment under public REITs.
I hope the fact-finding work of Chapter 2 could lay a good foundation to keep exploring the other topics in
Chapter 3 (Characterization of Private Capital Funds under Public REITs), in Chapter 4 (Merchant
Development under Public REITs ) and in Chapter 5 (Investors Perspective).
Topics to be covered in Chapter 2 will include the following:
1. REIT Industry and its Market Capitalization
2. Start of Public REITs Private Capital Business
3. Why Started in 1998? The Case of Kimco Income REIT
4. How Public REIT Finances its Business Growth
5. REIT Modernization Act of 1999 for Taxable REIT Subsidiary
6. Sample TRS Structure AMB Capital Partners
7. JV/Fund Fee to Add Public REITs Bottom Line
8. Private Equity Outpace Public Issuance in REIT Sector
9. Key Events and Remark for Public REITs Private Capital Business
10. Industry Comment Evolution for Public REITs Private Capital Business
11. Moodys Comment Funds Are an Untested Business for REITs
12. Industry Interview Comment for Public REITs Private Capital Business
REIT Industry and Its Market Capitalization
Since the 1960s2, the REIT industry has grown into a group of passively managed real estate companies to
fully integrated real estate investment companies that has the market capitalization of US$ 312 Bn in the end
of year 2007.
Figures 2.1 shows that there are four types of REITs (Equity, Mortgage and Hybrid) and in
addition, REIT can be structured either as public or private. In the public REIT arena, Equity REIT
accounts the majority of them in terms of market capitalization and number of listing companies, as
presented in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.1: Type of REITs
An Equity REIT is an entity that owns and operates income producing assets. Many of these companies are fully
integrated organizations meaning they engage in the acquisition, development, and management of commercial
real estate for their own account.
A Mortgage REIT is an entity that lends money to an owner of real estate and therefore does not have direct
ownership of the asset.
A hybrid REIT is a cross between and Equity and a Mortgage REIT.
Public vs
REITs can either be publicly traded (most are listed on the NYSE) or privately held. According to the National
Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (the REIT sectors trade organization) there are 151 publicly traded
REITs of which 118 are equity REITs, 28 are mortgage REITs and 5 are hybrid REITs as of March 2008.
Source: NAREIT (2008)
Figure 2.2: Equity Market Capitalization Outstanding for Public REITs
Please refer detailed REIT history to Appendix 1.
118 Equity REITs account 77.6% of total public REITs and 92.5% of total market capitalization. Equity
REITs market capitalization of $312.0 Bn at 07YE has dropped 29% from 06YE at $438.1 Bn due to a series
of REIT mergers and privatization in year 2007. Merrill Lynch (2008)3 also attributed this M&A trend
due to the strict regulations of the SOX Act, which placed more cost pressure on smaller companies.
Figure 2.3 illustrates the changes of REIT market capitalization vs. number of REITs.
Figure 2.3: Market Cap vs. Number of REITs
Source: NAREIT (2008), David Geltner et al. (2007)
Merrill Lynch, Nuts & Bolts: REIT Primer #3, page 29, June 3, 2008.
Figure 2.4 summarizes the breakdown of each individual REIT by product type and asset class. Retail and
Industrial/Office together has the largest capitalization pie at 48.8%.
In our case analysis in the thesis, the identified leading REITs that are actively involved with private capital
business mostly fall into the subcategory of Industrial (ProLogis, AMB, and First Industrial) and Shopping
Centers (Kimco, DDR, Regency and Weingarten).
Kindly note that shopping centers4 refers to neighborhood center (30,000 ~ 150,000 square feet, 1 or more
anchors by supermarket or drug store) and community center (100,000 ~ 500,000 square feet, 2 or more
anchors by discount department store, supermarket, drugstore, home improvement or large special discount
apparel) types of retail.
Regional Malls here used refers to typically malls with leasable floor area in
between 400,000 ~ 800,000 square feet and with 2 or more anchors by full-line department store, junior
department store, mass merchandise discount department store. Simon Property, the largest retail REIT, is
categorized in regional malls.
Figure 2.4: Breakdown of REIT Sector by Product Type and Asset Class
# of REITs
REIT Sectors
Equity Mkt Cap ($ Mn)
Equity REITs
Industrial/Office
Regional Malls
Lodging/Resorts
Hybrid REITs
Mortgage REITs
Industry Totals
Source: Nuts & Bolts: REIT Primer #3, Merrill Lynch, June 2, 2008
Equity market cap, per NAREIT, does not include operating partnership units or preferred stock.
Equity market cap in millions of dollars; March 31, 2008.
Definition for retail format is referenced from Merrill Lynch, Retail Quarterly, page 4, May 5, 2008.
Start of REITs Private Capital Business
Each REIT has its own business objective to start its joint ventures and fund management programs.
joint venture movement began to evolve in the late-1990s, but there were just very few participants. Mostly
JV/Funds started during year 1998-2000, where the public capital market was shut off for these REITs
secondary equity financings.
The private capital business for public retail REITs was started by Kimco Realty (1998) and Developer
Diversified (1999). For industrial REIT, AMB Property (in 1998) also resumed its investment management
business and set up a 50-50% fund joint venture with Erie Insurance Co. to acquire industrial properties in
the U.S.
Prior to AMBs IPO in 19975, AMB has been a real estate investment management firm since 1983.
ProLogis also raised its first commingled fund in Europe, serving as a take-out vehicle for its newly developed
and stabilized properties in Europe.
At the time, there was huge skepticism about these JV deals within the rating agency community, most
claiming that6 REITs that use JVs as vehicles to bury debt and boost effective leverage, particularly where
such practices cause REITs to incur debt outside of their targeted ranges.
Figure 2.5: Key Event for Public REITs Private Capital Business (Prior to Year 2000)
Key Event
Kimco Realty first raised 45-55% JV fund with New York State Retirement Fund to acquire retail
properties across the US.
AMB Property set up a 50-50% fund joint venture with Erie Insurance Co. to acquire industrial properties
in the US.
DDR set up its first core take-out fund with DRA Advisors, a real estate investment manager
DDR set up Coventry Real Estate Partner, a real estate investment firm joint venture with Prudential Real
Estate Investors
ProLogis raised a commingled fund with 7 institutional investors for ProLogis European Fund I.
Source: the Author
Referenced from AMB Property Corporation Company History available at
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/AMB-Property-Corporation-Company-History.html, accessed on July 1, 2008.
6 Jay Siegal, SVP of Moody Investors Service, Effects of REIT JVs on Credit Ratings, National Real Estate Investor, Vol. 41 Issue 12, p34, 1p.,
October 1, 1999.
Why Started in 1998? The Case of Kimco Income REIT
The formation of Kimco Income REIT (KIR, 1998) best explained the capital market environment why
REITs would desire to create a portfolio of stabilized, income-producing properties matched with a low cost
of private debt borrowing. KIR, a 45-55% JV established in 1998 with New York State Common
Retirement Fund, is to acquire retail properties across U.S by borrowing individual non-recourse loans at 75%
leverage.
Kimco invested 43% in the equity and pension trusts and other investors have invested in
remaining 57%. Kimco manages the properties for fee income.
According to Kimcos 2002 annual report7, Kimcos public capital structure was about one-third debt and
preferred stock, and two-thirds equity in year 1998. Kimcos average equity cost of capital is estimated at 12%.
Stabilized retail property yield at 1998 (9.0%) was smaller than Kimcos average cost of capital (12%). The
average interest rate on KIRs non-recourse debt is 7.05%.
This structure enable Kimco to hedge interest rate and credit risk in the long-term lease by obtaining 10-yr
non-recourse mortgages on each individual shopping center. Kimco holds a non-controlling limited
partnership in KIR and accounts for this investment under the equity method of accounting. I will further
discuss the related controlling and accounting issue in Section 3.4 (To Consolidate or Not).
How Public REIT Finances its Business Growth?
I look into how public REITs have been financing their business growth for the past 15 years (1992-2007)
and explore how and why in 1998-2000 public REITs started to seek private capital.
First data8 obtained from NAREIT shows the IPO (Initial Public Offering) and SEO (Secondary Equity
Offering) raised from public capital market during 1992-2007. The text in Figure 2.6 is adapted from David
Geltner et al. (2007) in Chapter 23, page 590.
At page 2-3, Milton Cooper, CEO & Chairman of Kimco Realty, stated the formation rationale for Kimco Income REIT.
Please refer raw data to Appendix 2 on Total Capital Raised from REIT Sector (1992-2007).
Figure 2.6: Public Equity Raised via IPO and SEO (1992-2007)
Figure 2.7, gathered from NAREIT, shows the breakdown of public equity raised through 5 five instruments
(IPO, SEO, preferred shares, unsecured debt and secured debt) during 1992-2007. I observe that debt-like
instruments (preferred shares, unsecured and secured) are more widely used after year 1999. This fact also
coincides with the REIT equity market crash during 1999-2000. REIT then turned into more debt-like
capital raising or private capital financing (for some REITs only). I will further explore this topic in Section
3.1 (Fund Strategy Setting).
Figure 2.7: Breakdown of Public Equity Raised Through 5 Instruments (1992-2007)
REIT Modernization Act of 1999 for Taxable REIT Subsidiary
There is also another catalyst to the ever-evolving REITs private equity capital since 1998. Taxable REIT
Subsidiary (TRS) was created in 1999 REIT Modernization Act that went into effect on January 1st, 2001.
TRS is a non-REIT company, wholly owned or partially by a REIT parent. According to IRS Code (
856(l)(1) and 856(l)(2)), TRS status is automatic, and no election is needed with respect to any corporation if
more than 35 percent of the total voting power or value of the outstanding securities of such corporation is
owned by a REIT.
Kimco Developers, Inc, (KDI) provides a good example how Kimco Realty utilizes TRS Rules to set up
this subsidiary in year 2001.
Kimco Realty Corporation has several subsidiaries that are structured as
wholly-owned TRS including Kimco Developer Inc. KDIs primary operating business is to build retail
properties for retailers or for local developers.
In November/December 2004 Real Estate Portfolio interview9, Milton Cooper, co-founder of Kimco in
1960 and current CEO/Chairmen, stated The REIT Modernization Act (1999) enabled Kimco to enter into
new activities, including development for sale, owning more than 10% of the stock of non-REITs through
taxable subsidiaries. In my view, this statement best explains how REIT Modernization Act of 1999 has
boosted the growth of REIT industry through TRS.
Sample TRS Structure AMB Capital Partners
TRSs investment service function for REITs private capital can be evidence by AMBs case.
AMB Capital
Partners L.L.C, a wholly-owned TRS of AMB Property L.P (the operating partnership of AMB Property
Corp.), provides the investment management services to AMBs private capital clients.
AMB Property Corporation10, a Maryland corporation (the Company), commenced operations as a fully
integrated real estate company effective with the completion of its IPO on November 26, 1997. The
Company elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) under Sections 856 through 860 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
As of December 31, 2007, the Company owned a 96.1% general partnership interest in the Operating
Partnership, excluding preferred units. The remaining 3.9% common limited partnership interests are
By Bergsman, Steven, Uncle Milton, Real Estate Portfolio, NAREIT, November/December 2004.
Referenced from AMB 2007 10K report, page 4.
owned by non-affiliated investors and certain current and former directors and officers of the Company. As
the sole general partner of the Operating Partnership, the Company has full, exclusive and complete
responsibility and discretion in the day-to-day management and control of the Operating Partnership.
Three Wholly-owned subsidiaries
AMB Capital Partners, Headlands Realty Corporation and IMD Holding Corporation are three direct
subsidiaries of the Operating Partnership.
1. AMB Capital Partners, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (AMB Capital Partners), provides
real estate investment services to clients on a fee basis.
2. Headlands Realty Corporation, a Maryland corporation, conducts a variety of businesses that include
development projects available for sale or contribution to third parties and incremental income
programs.
3. IMD Holding Corporation, a Delaware corporation, conducts a variety of businesses that also include
development projects available for sale or contribution to third parties.
Figure 2.8: Organization Structure for AMB Property Corp.
Figure 2.9 illustrates how a REIT sets up a TRS to provide services to their sponsored private capital funds.
Figure 2.9: Typical Taxable REIT Subsidiary under REIT
It is commonly seen that operating partnership in a REIT does the following types of entity formation.
1) To form a single membership L.L.C.
Tax consequences can be passed through the owner. REIT thus will only be taxed on income not
distributed to shareholders.
2) To form several JV L.L.Cs to accommodate the various project level joint ventures with other investors.
Tax consequences can be passed through the owners. REIT will thus only be taxed on income not
distributed to shareholders. The non-REIT venture partners will be subject to their own tax status.
3) To form L.P. and act as general partnership to the private equity fund.
Tax consequences can be passed through the general partner and limited partners. REIT will thus only
be taxed on income not distributed to shareholders. The non-REIT limited partners will be subject to
their own tax status.
By utilizing TRS, a REIT (through wholly-owned TRS) can provide investment service to 3rd party fund
clients on a fee base. Fee income earned at TRS will be subject to regular corporate income tax.
Please refer more information about REIT legal background to the following Appendix.
Appendix 3 - REIT Structure (Traditional REIT, Up-REIT, Down-REIT)
Appendix 4 - Organizing and Qualifying as a REIT
Appendix 5 - Introduction of Taxable REIT Subsidiary (TRS)
JV/Fund Fee to Add Public REITs Bottom Line
Over the years, public REITs have grown their funds to the point where they are now meaningful in both size
and their contribution to the bottom line of public REITs, as I have introduced in Figure 1.2 (Private Capital
Income as % of Net Income of Public REITs).
Public REITs have used their private capital funds to take out REITs existing portfolios and newly
completed projects, to finance land purchases and development pipelines, and to diversify their rental income
into a fee income business.
Private Equity Outpace Public Issuance in REIT Sector
According to Christopher Vallace11(2007), the amount of private equity raised by REITs has outpaced public
issuance in 2007 first half. For shopping center and industrial REIT sectors, the private equity fund raised
have exceeded the public equity market since 2005 (Please refer to Figure 2.10). In addition, during the
same sample period (2002 2Q 2007), industrial and shopping center REIT sectors have jointly raised
approximately 75% of total private equity raised by public REITs since 2002 (in Figure 2.11). Christopher
Vallace (2007) further contributes this phenomenon due to the following reasons:
Access to product: Retail and industrial products have traditionally been the most difficult sectors for
institutional investors of their direct access.
Importance of scale and national operating infrastructure: REITs have the scale and national operating
infrastructure that mostly other type of investors doe not have.
Critical mass for product-focused REITs: These REITs provide institutional investors the opportunity to
achieve their targeted allocations to the product type.
Vallace, Christopher, Public REITs as Managers of Private Equity, IFE Real Estate Investing, Fall 2007; Available at
http://www.ifecorp.com/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/M3907.pdf; Accessed on July 2, 2008.
Figure 2.10: Public Equity Raised vs. Private Equity Fund by REITs
All Sectors and Shopping and Industrial Sectors
Source: Christopher Vallace (2007)
Figure 2.11: Private Equity Raised by Public REITs, Breakdown by Sector
Key Events for Public REITs Private Capital Business
Major event and remark for the evolution of REITs private capital business is summarized in Figure 2.12. I
observe that the REIT ownership in typical private capital fund has decreased from 50-50% single partner JV
(in 1998) to 20-80% open-ended commingled fund (in 2004-2007).
I also find that Macquarie Bank has three joint venture funds (with Regency Centers, ProLogis, DDR) that
were listed in Australia Stock Exchange (during 2001-2003). Some public REITs acquisitions through JV
funds with REIMs can also be found in Kimcos expansion footprint.
GIC Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investment managers globally, sponsored by Singapore
Government, is also noticed to play an integral role in the evolution of US REITs private capital.
GIC Real
Estate has made a series of fund investment with ProLogis, including Europe (1999), Japan Fund 1 (2002),
Japan Fund II (2005), North America (2006) and South Korea fund (2007).
Figure 2.12: Key Event and Remark for Public REITs Private Capital Business
Kimco Realty first raised 45-55% JV fund with New
Set up a JV structure template for nearly equal share
York State Retirement Fund to acquire retail
single-partner JV with public pension fund
-The first JV investment program for US REIT with insurance
AMB Property set up a 50-50% fund joint venture with
Erie Insurance Co. to acquire industrial properties in
-AMB resumes its investment management business line after
a year break for 1997 IPO.
DDR set up its first core take-out fund with DRA The first JV fund formation with a real estate investment
Advisors, a real estate investment manager
manager.
DDR set up Coventry Real Estate Partner, a real
The first joint venture subsidiary formed with a real estate
estate investment firm joint venture with Prudential
-The first commingled fund for REIT private capital business
ProLogis raised a commingled fund with 7 institutional -The first international fund, raised by US REITs
investors for ProLogis European Fund I.
-GIC Real Estate, a Singapore real estate investment manager,
made its first attempt to invest with a US REIT
REIT Modernization Law 1999 allows a REIT to own up to 100% of stock of a taxable REIT subsidiary that can provide
services to REIT tenants and others. (TRS Rule takes effective from January 1 st, 2001)
AMB set up a 50-50% JV with GIC Real Estate for US GIC Real Estate, the first foreign real estate investment
manager, to target US market investment with a US REIT.
AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II raised
The first REIT commingled fund targeting US market
Set up of Macquarie Countrywide Trust, an Australia
listed (25-75%) fund JV between Regency Centers
and Macquarie Bank
The first Macquaries REIT fund invested in the US retail real
Remark for the REIT Private Capital Business
-GIC Real Estate continues to participate ProLogis
ProLogis set up first Japan Fund with GIC Real Estate international fund program
-The 2nd international fund for US REIT peers, both by ProLogis
Set up of ProLogis North American Properties Fund
V., Australia listed fund (20-80%), between ProLogis
and Macquarie Bank, named as Macquarie Property
Trust (MPR).
- The 2nd Macquaries three JV fund in the US.
- The first failed listed vehicle for US REIT. ProLogis bought
back from Macquarie in 2006
Set up of Macquarie DDR Trust, an Australia listed
The 3rd Macquaries REIT fund invested in the US retail real
(15-85%) fund JV between DDR and Macquarie Bank estate
AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III raised
The first open-end commingled fund among US REITs.
Kimco acquired Price Legacy Corp by setting
acquisition fund (15-85%) with DRA Advisors
First REIT acquisition ($1.5 Bn) through its managed private
First Industrial enters first 10-90% JV with CalSTRS
Started a total 5 JV programs with CalSTRS in 05-08
Weingarten refocuses private capital as its new
Started its 5 JV programs in a row.
ProLogis European Properties Fund IPO in
Kimco acquire Pan Pacific Retail Properties by
acquisition JV fund (15-85%) with Prudential Real
The 2nd public REIT acquisition ($4.1 Bn) for Kimco via its
managed private capital fund
Regency Retail Partners raised its first open-ended
commingled fund
The first open-end commingled fund for US retail REIT
Marked the first commingled fund (managed by US public
REITs) exit via IPO
(ProLogis is now contemplating the same model for its Japan
Fund)
Feb, 07
Blackstone acquired Equity Office (#1 Office REIT) for
The largest private equity buyout deal in US REIT sector
$39.0 Bn consideration
Simon Property acquired Mills Corp (#5 retail REIT)
by joint venture with Farallon Capital for $7.9 Bn
Hilton Hotel (#2 hotel group) bought by Blackstone for
Blackstones 2nd largest real estate transaction
$26.0 Bn
The largest retail REIT merger by partnership with a private
Archsteon-Smith (#3 residential REIT) was bought by
The acquisition marked the largest residential REIT buyout
Oct.07 Tishman Speyer (private developer) and Lehman
jointly by private developer and private equity fund
Brother Global Real Estate Group for $22.2 Bn
I conclude Figure 2.12s Key Event Summary by adding four M&A sector consolidation deals (office, retail,
hotel and residential) initiated by either private equity fund alone or JV between private equity fund and real
estate developer/operator. These four deal marks the private capitals largest involvement within the
history of US REIT sector.
I will elaborate on this topic in Section 5.3 (Evolving Role of Real Estate
Investment Manager).
Some big private equity funds, such as Blackstone Real Estate Group, do not make investment with public
REITs private capital funds; instead, they take the public REITs private, when they perceive higher value in
private real estate than public REIT shares.
Some leading REITs, such as Simon Property, can call on private equity funds (Farallon Capital in this case) to
co-invest in the REIT acquisition. Tishman Speyer, one of the largest private real estate developers in the
US, was able to draw Lehman Brothers private capital fund to make the REIT acquisition with Tishman. I
also observe that those 4 REIT taken-private REITs do not have significant private capital strategy along with
their REITs core portfolios. I will further explore this co-incidence in my conclusion in Section 6.1.
Industry Comment Evolution for Public REITs Private Capital Business
Figure 2.13 sets forth the evolution how industry leader perceive the JV/Fund (private capital) business under
the public REITs framework. It is very interesting to observe the comment evolution from Moodys and
Fitch Rating, two leading rating agencies on REIT sector in the past decade.
Moodys in 1999-2000 held a negative view toward REITs joint venture vehicles, as Moodys thought REITs
were actually boost effective leverage by adding other off-balance-sheet financing without consolidating debts
into parent REIT. Fitch Rating in 2004 claimed these JV activities leads to rating volatility. Moodys in
2006 still held conflict of interest and fiduciary role concern for these JV funds. In 2007, Fitch Rating
finally made a net-positive comment for these REIT mangers, as institutional capital is sort of a vote of
confidence that REITs have created additional fund management business.
Figure 2.13: Industry Comment Evolution for Public REIT Private Capital Business
Rickie Fulman
JV Between REITs and Pension Funds are the new hot topic in the real estate industry
Mike Kirby, Founder
Green Street Advisors
He expects to see more of these types of joint ventures during the year, because REITs
have no other sources of capital
Benjamin Gifford, CIO,
Morgan Stanley Real
REITs normally prefer to raise money in the public markets, but because of their low
valuations, they have been seeking other ways to access capital
Jay Siegal, SVP
Moody Investors Service
Arleen Issacs-Lowe, VP
Moodys Investors
Expects greater use of JVs between REITs and real estate developers and investors, and
cautions that JVs can have significant and complex efforts on REITs that investors need to
Moody's negatively views REIT that use JVs as vehicles to bury debt and boost effective
leverage, particularly where such practices cause REITs to incur debt outside of their target
ranges.
To the extent that it is an institutional quality partner with capital wherewithal and consistent
holding horizon and investment objectives as the REIT. JV allows the REIT to leverage
their development and management expertise.
Typically JVs are funded with mortgages which encumber assets and thereby have senior
claims over and above the REIT's unsecured lenders.
REITs may be putting more stabilized assets into a JV, leaving the REIT itself with more
riskier development activity because that is how they are funding their development.
Neil Weilheimer
After years of JV to financing deals, public REITs are being advised to stop.
Off-balance-sheet accounting may mask true leverage. It is now to come down disclosure.
Bondholders could get the shaft if REITs dump their higher-quality assets into the venture.
That leaves them holding weaker assets that must generate cash to pay down debt.
US REIT JVs may be more burdensome than intended.
conflicts that may ultimately lead to rating volatility.
Tara Innes, M
Fitch Ratings
These JVs possess inherent
Venture partners are often sophisticated real estate investors able to insure that only the
highest quality assets are contributed to the venture, which may result in adverse selection
for a REIT's core portfolio.
As a result, all development risk is incurred within the core portfolio, which introduces
earnings volatility, acts as a drag on a core portfolio's performance and places the brunt of
the financing risk on unsecured lenders.
Hank Thoams
CalSTRS
JVs appeal to institutional investors because the structure allows them to invest in a
particular strategy with more control than they would have in a commingled account.
Charlie Wurtzebach
MD of North American
Henderson Global
There has been an increase in JVs as institutional investors have gotten more
sophisticated, filled out their core allocations and become more comfortable with the asset
Arleen Jacobius
Real estate investment firms are entering JVs with REITs, such as UBS North American
Property Fund and Macquarie Real Estate.
These JVs and funds can be highly leveraged with secured debt which is off-balance sheet,
weakening REITs' financial and strategic flexibility, and making an analysis of the REIT's
true financial profile more difficult. However, there are varieties of leverage approaches, so
each REIT's situation needs to be examined individually.
Moody's Special
With the availability of debt financing, and cap-rates at low levels REITs are still incented to
access "cheap" JV/Fund equity vs. issuing their own common stock or other more
expensive forms of capital.
Conflict-of-interest concerns, and attendant fiduciary liability, may arise over how
opportunities are allocated among REIT-owned properties and JV/Fund properties for
example, the way tenants are incentivized to a property in the REIT or in the JV
Kemba J. Dunham
Mary Lou Fiala
President & COO
Regency Centers
Industrial and retail REITs have typically been in the forefront in their use of JVs and funds.
But now, health-care, multifamily and office REITs are using them too, particularly as
capital sources see how they can successfully work.
These structures also enable REITs to diversify their revenue stream as they earn various
fees from the JVs by managing their properties - that is on top of the rent the REITs earn
from the real estate in their own portfolios.
These fees are typically a matter of basis points ad most of these deals have incentive
clauses which determine how much is paid. These fees can be "fairly lucrative to really
lucrative".
For our shareholders, we feel it's a better investment of our capital to be in development.
Our joint venture partners would love to be part of that, but it is a choice we have not given
Paul Congleton
MD, N.A Fund
As a REIT we are required to distribute most of our income to our shareholders, and as a
result we don't generate and retain enough cash to fund the capital needs of the business
going forward. For us to continue to build buildings, we need to have access to capital. The
most efficient and profitable way for us to do that is through private fund management."
We view joint ventures net positively.
Steven Marks
MD, Fitch Ratings
They increase the risk of adverse selection, putting higher quality assets into a joint venture
and leaving unsecured bondholders with less favorable assets on the balance sheet. Joint
ventures also have the potential to distract management now that the REIT has a large
institutional partner relationship to manage.
On the positive side, joint ventures validate REIT managements and the REIT platform.
Institutional capital is willing to invest and that's a vote of confidence that REITs have
created sustainable businesses.
Dr. Brad Case
VP, Research
NAREIT
Barden Gale
Starwood Capital Group
The reason for the shift is in the past two years, institutional investors realized that
partnering with REITs on real estate transactions brings in higher returns than investing in
commingled funds and separate accounts
These joint ventures also give pension funds more control than traditional direct real estate
investment.
If they want to sell a property owned by the joint venture, they sell it, and pension funds
have been able to negotiate fairly low management fees while still giving the REIT a slice of
the profits
Source: NAREIT, Pensions & Investment, Moody's, WSJ and Fitch Ratings
Moodys Comment Funds Are an Untested Business for REITs
Moodys in January 2006 in Rating Methodology for REITs and Other Commercial Property Firms report
made a summary of Benefits and Challenges of JVs and Funds as in Figure 2.14.
Figure 2.14: Benefits and Challenges of JVs and Funds
Benefits of JVs and Funds
Challenges of JVs and Funds
Alternative source of capital and cash
Diverts management time from core business; high hassle
Short-term stable stream of cash flow from management and
leasing fees
Permits participation in deals the REIT could not do on its own
JV and funds investments are illiquid, and de facto control is
limited, too
Winding up JVs and funds can be complex and create
substantial funding needs to buyout partners
Can dilute concentration of large assets
Boost REITs control over a property sector or geographical
region by allowing it to manage more properties with less
capital commitment
Conflicts of interest may arise in form of allocation of
tenants, assets or resources
Is a more leveraged, risky strategy than direct ownership,
often done to make the numbers work due to the modest
returns on the asset
Diversifies property firm's business, potentially providing more
diversification of income streams, asset types and location
Partner may offer expertise the property firm does not have
Transparency challenges surrounding fee structure (true
deal economics), performance, debt obligations,
liquidity/sale limitations
Usually have high levels of secured debt
Source: Moodys (January 2006)
I will address the benefits and challenges discussed by Moodys (January 2006) for this field in Chapter 3.
Moodys made a statement that Funds Are an Untested Business for REITs in April 2006 in a report called
REIT Joint Venture and Funds: Weighing the Pluses and Minuses. Moodys attributes the reasons are as
1. Strategic and financial burden to REIT:
JV and funds constraints REITs strategic flexibility.
2. Liquidity:
Equity stakes in JV and Funds, in general have limited liquidity.
3. Increase in Earnings Volatility:
Fund management fee and incentive distributions from the JV/Funds show high earnings volatility.
4. The Matter of Nonrecourse JV/Fund Mortgage:
Moodys concern was on REITs borrow non-recourse mortgages debt against the strong properties in the
JV/Funds, leaving parent REIT with substandard properties on the book.
5. Exit Strategy:
Moodys refer some cases, the REIT is de facto, if not dejure, obligated to take the assets onto its own
balance sheet. This will creates funding, liquidity and asset risk to the parent REIT.
6. Conflict of Interest:
Moodys attributes this due to the possible conflicting objective of the REITs two roles parent REIT
and REIT manager.
7. Adverse Asset Selection:
Moodys worries if better properties are held through JV/Fund structure, its bondholders end up with
weaker assets.
8. Use of Management Time:
Moodys comment is JV/Fund occupies much time effort of management team and become a distraction
from REITs core business.
9. Weakened Transparency:
Moodys comment was the current financial report of JV/funds as required by GAAP falls short of
providing investors a good full picture.
Moodys comment from rating agency perspective in this field, in my view, seems a strong statement and
correct. I will demonstrate another strong qualitative consolidation decision tree by Moodys in Section 3.4
(To Consolidation or Not).
Industry Interview Comment for Public REITs Private Capital Business
An interview with a senior management of a leading REIM in US, his comment for Why we have never seen
your firm JV with public REITs Private Capital Business? was I dont like public REITs to always take out
their portfolios at appraisal value. If I am diligent enough, I could always find some deals with off-market
price and good return potential.
We also want the control. In their private capital funds, we seem to be a
pure money partner only. We sometime feel were competing with public REITs private capital business,
cause were chasing the same clientele public pension funds in the US.
The other interview with a US CEO with one of the largest European pension fund, his comment for Why
we have never seen your firm JV with public REITs Private Capital Business? was Public REIT share
investment is a quick and better way to add real estate exposure for us in the US. JV funds provide little
liquidity to our desire.
Moodys comment on REIT Fund are an untested business and other two comment from one REIM, and
one pension fund should explain part of reasons why some institutional investors are still keeping a good
distance with pubic REITs private capital programs.
Investing through REIM is still pension funds
preferred choice for real estate fund allocation. I will elaborate this topic in Section 5.1 (Structure Diagram
for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund).
Characterization of Private Capital Funds under Public REITs
3.1 Fund Strategy Setting
3.2 Core-Fund Is It Really Core? Value-added Fund Is It Really Value-added?
3.3 Analysis of Private Capital Income the Case of AMB
3.4 To Consolidate or Not
I follow the fact-finding work in Chapter 2 (Evolution of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund) and
further explore the what, how and why for these public-sponsored private capital funds. Key task in
Chapter 3 is to characterize the public REIT-sponsored private capital business in sequence of four sections
listed.
In addition, I create Chapter 4 with respect to Merchant Development for Public REITs, one very
important characterization of this field, to further explain this growing segment in some public REITs and
show how this segment affects the private capital business managed by public REITs.
By studying all available public information for the REITs private capital funds, I have first provided Private
Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs in the Appendix 7.
In Section 3.1, I discuss the fund strategy setting in the following sequence.
1. Fund Type
2. Fund Investors
3. Single Partner JV vs. Commingled Fund
4. Deal Exclusivity vs. REITs Role
5. Distribution Frequency and Promotes
In Section 3.2, I examine the statement for public REITs private capital funds: Core-Fund is it really core?
Value-added Fund is it really value-added?
I investigate NCREIFs fund style strategy definition and
examine if public REITs value-added funds are just to add the leverage against the properties in the funds.
In Section 3.3, I first analyze AMBs private capital income by breakdown of its asset management (stable fee
income) and incentive fee (volatile).
From Dr. Bradford Case12, I have learned the fact Public REITs 3rd
party investment funds typically charge lower fees than other core real estate fund or separate accounts
managed by REIMs. I then provide reasoning with respect to Why public REITs charge inexpensive for
their REITs private capital funds?
In Section 3.4, I further examine the consolidation criterion for public REITs private capital funds. I also
show some monitoring indicators that can be used by institutional investors to check if there is a funding gap
for them to provide capital to fund REITs development growth. Topics to be covered are as following.
1. The Start of Kimco Income REITs Off-balance-Sheet Financing
2. Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs
3. Moodys Methodology on Consolidation
4. Bond Covenant Requirement for Public REITs
Bradford Case, Ph.D., Vice President, Research & Industry Information, NAREIT, How to Invest in Real Estate, Presentation at MIT Center for
Rea Estate, April 15, 2008.
Fund Strategy Setting
In this Section, I base on Private Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs(Appendix 7) to provide my
analysis on Fund Strategy Setting.
First, I discuss the fund style strategy observed and its matching JV programs objective (Core Fund
Take-out vehicle; Value-added Fund Specified Acquisition program; Opportunistic Fund Strategic Land
and Development in a new market) that are commonly seen as the combination in the REITs private
capital arena.
Secondly, I demonstrate how investment objectives of pension funds (CalSTRS as one example) or REIMs
(GIC Real Estate) can be aligned with public REITs private capital business.
Thirdly, I explain the difference between Single Partner JV vs. Commingled Fund. With respect to
single partner JV, ProLogis California Fund (1998) and Kimco Income REIT (1999) are used as two examples.
With reference to commingled funds, I further investigate three funds. 1) Kimco Income Fund I (2003), 2)
AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III (2004), and 3) Regency Retail Partners (2006)
Forth, I discuss the deal exclusivity vs. REITs role by referring to the evolution of target market changes in
Regency Centers fund family.
I demonstrate how the ambiguity of deal exclusivity may arise from the
self-created discretion (AMB DFS Fund I as example) and geographical overlapping (ProLogis California
Fund (1999) vs. ProLogis North American Fund V (2002)).
Fifth, I examine the incentive distribution frequency and how incentive design i.e. promote are calculated.
I first study AMBs private capital business in order to comprehend its creativity to structure
distribution frequency mechanism differently.
Three types of promote structure are examined. 1).
Series of IRR-based Hurdles; 2). Distribution Waterfall; 3). Revised Distribution Waterfall.
that the first type is more commonly used in the industrial REIT sector.
1). Fund Type
Figure 3.1 summarizes the private capital business strategy for the studied 7 REITs. Each REIT deploys its
private capital program as part of its business strategy. I have provided Major Fund Strategy for each
REIT in the 3rd column in Figure 3.1. Take-out vehicle seems to be the most commonly adopted strategy
for the 7 studied REITs.
In terms of number of funds and fund gross asset (FGA), ProLogis is by far the leading private capital
manager in the public REIT arena. $18.8 Bn FGA of ProLogis fund family at 2007 year-end is larger than
its equity market capitalization of $13.6 Bn (priced on July 3, 2008). The fact (FGA > REITs market
capitalization) also applies to other 6 studied leading REIT managers.
Figure 3.1: Private Capital Business Strategy Summary for 7 Studied REITs
Fund Style
Major Fund Strategy
Take-out vehicle and
Int'l Expansion
Leverage operating
platform - due to
limited balance sheet
Core VA Opp Fund Funds
Ownership Leverage
GIC RE
Eaton Vance
55-75% GIC RE
65-80% CalSTRS
Acquisition of 3rd party
GE RE
55-75% DRA Advisors
NY State
Take-out and
acquisition vehicle
50-70% Prudential
In fund management business, assets under management (AuM) is the most commonly used term to describe
the total value of assets that a fund manager manages and administrators for its customers. However, AuM
for REITs fund management (private capital) is not often used, in my view, due to the following three
First, AuM is seldom reported or quoted in REITs public financial statement and only FGA is released in the
supplement financial report to each quarters 10Q Report.
Second, most funds may quote committed capital when they announced their first closings of funds.
However, no further information would be periodically updated in the REITs public available information
with respect to the committed period and amount, and how much money has been deployed into fund
management (private capital).
Third, different REITs use different methods to recognize its ownership in the funds. Taking 20% fund
ownership as an example, AMB appropriates equity capital worth of 20% ownership into the fund. On the
other side of spectrum for 20% fund ownership, ProLogis contributes 80% of wholly-owned assets to its
managed fund and defers 20% gain as a reduction of ProLogis basis in fund. Thus, AuM is not commonly
used by ProLogis fund management (private capital) business.
Key partners, in principle, comes from two categories Pension Funds (such as CalSTRS and New York
State Common Retirement Fund) and REIMs (GIC Real Estate, AEW and GE Real Estate). I will take
investors perspective and explore this topic in Section 5.1 (for pension funds) and Section 5.3 (for REIMs).
In principle, there are three types of funds that I have earlier categorized in Figure 1.3 (Classification of
Private Capital Fund under Public REITs). I further explain these three funds below.
A. Core Take-out Fund
Firstly, some funds, hereafter defined as Core Take-out Fund serve as specific take-out vehicles for the
existing stabilized portfolio or pre-specified newly completed projects, upon stabilization.
Most of these
funds are categorized as core strategy as its fund style with typical leverage in between 40-60%. In Section
3.2, I will further discuss why for the same fund style strategy, some REITs (such as AMB) classify this type
of fund as Value-Added.
B. Valued-Added Fund
Value-added Specified Acquisition Fund is the second fund type, as I have observed. By teaming up
(mostly) REIMs, the fund objective is to acquire 3rd party REIT or identified 3rd party properties in a specific
geographical coverage.
Kimcos PL Retail LLC Fund is one typical value-added fund example. Kimco Realty Corp.13 and DRA
Kimco Realty 2004 Annual Report, page 39.
Advisors L.L.C, in December 2004, acquired Price Legacy Corp, a west coast-based REIT for $696 Mn.
Kimco and DRA formed a joint venture, PL Retail L.L.C., to complete the transaction with cash. Kimco
owns a 15% non-controlling interest in PL Retail. The total transaction, including financing was around
$1.2 Bn. Price Legacy14 was a publicly traded REIT that consisted of 33 shopping centers(7.6 million s.f)
and one parcel of undeveloped land. .
C. Opportunity Fund
Opportunistic Development Fund is the third fund type I have observed. FirstCal 3 LLC (2007) is a
10-90% land development JV between First Industrial and CalSTRS with geographical focus in the US. GE
Real Estate also forms a development joint venture with AMB, named AMB DFS Fund I, LLC (2006), to
build and sell properties in the US.
Opportunity fund is by far outnumbered by core fund and value-added
funds in this field. The reasons, I believe, is due to
a) Explicit Reason: Public REITs have seen to form various project-level development joint ventures
with local developers. I have discussed in Section 1.2 why I do not aim at discussing this type of
project-level JV in the research
As pension funds or REIMs nearly have development skills, that is the
reason why I have not observed many public REITs to structure development JV funds with either
pension funds or REIMs
b).Implicit Reason: Wall Streets growth preference is to see more REITs development gains left in
parent REITs (through exit by take-out vehicle managed by the parent REITs), rather than be restored at
JV/Fund level.
I will investigate this topic in Section 5.1 (Merchant Development for Public REITs and
its Private Capital).
2). Fund Investors
Key fund investors noticed in this field include two types pension funds and REIMs. I will use CalSTRS
as one example for pension funds, and GIC Real Estate as one example for REIMs to understand their
respective investment objectives in this field.
CalSTRS (California State Teachers' Retirement System), the national 2nd largest public pension fund with
asset over $170.33 Bn15, as of May 31, 2008.
CalSTRS reports real estate market value of $20.15 Bn,
equivalent to 11.8% of its overall allocation.
Both its real estate allocation and its percentage are on the top
Price Legacy Corp. was formed through the 2001 merger of Price Enterprises Inc. and Excel Legacy Corp. Previous to that, Price Enterprises
was a REIT spun off from Costco Companies Inc. Excel Legacy was spun off from Excel Realty Trust.
Available at http://www.calstrs.com/Investments/Invport.asp Accessed on July 5, 2008.
5 listed among US public pension funds16. During 2005-2007, CalSTRS has consecutively set up 5
investment programs with First Industrial, worth of $657.0 Mn with fund style strategy mostly in
opportunistic development projects (in Figure 3.2). This type of closer business tie between public pension
fund and REIT manager is uncommon17. I will elaborate this topic in Section 5.1 (Structure Diagram for
Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund).
Figure 3.2: CalSTRS Series of JV Program with First Industrial
Total Equity 10% FR Equity Fund
Geographic Leverage
in JV Fund
(US$ Mn)
Fund Gross
Asset ($ Mn)
Co-investment Venture
2008 European Land/Development*
2008 Canadian Land/ Development *
2006 Land/ Development JV
(FirstCal3)
2005 Core (FirstCal2)
2005 Development/ Repositioning
* Summary term sheets from First Industrial's corporate announcement on January 8, 2008.
Source: First Industrial 4Q 2007 Supplement Financials, page 40.
The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd (GIC), established in 1981, is one of the
global leading sovereign wealth funds with asset over $100 Bn, managing the foreign reserves of Singapore.
GIC Real Estate is GICs real estate investment arm. It is ranked as one of the top 10 real estate investment
firms in the world18. GIC Real Estate has 7 offices in Singapore, London, New York, San Francisco, Seoul,
Shanghai and Tokyo, with close to 150 staff from all over the world.
In Figure 3.3, I found that GIC Real Estate has started making investment in industrial private capital funds
since 1999 with ProLogis European Properties Fund, where GIC acts as one of the investors for this
closed-end commingled fund.
During 2001-2005, GIC has signed up 3 exclusive single-partner JV19. funds
with ProLogis and AMB in three countries Japan, Mexico, and US. In 2006-2007, GIC also acts as lead
investor for two billion-sized commingled funds with ProLogis fund family (ProLogis European Properties
Fund II and ProLogis North American Industrial Fund).
Please refer to Figure 5.5 Top 50 Public Pension Funds Based on Real Estate Holdings in Section 5.1
Because I argue that CalSTRS could have the financial capabilities to take private First Industrial, a $1.2 Bn market capitalized REIT.
Available at http://www.gic.com.sg/ourbiz_realestate.htm Accessed on July 5, 2008.
I did not find enough information to confirm if GIC Real Estate is the sole investor in ProLogis Korea Properties Fund (2007).
Figure 3.3: GIC Real Estate's JV Programs with 7 Studied Public REITs
Fund Life
ProLogis Korea
Properties Fund
infinite-life
ProLogis North
open-end;
indefinite life
ProLogis Japan
AMB-SGP
Mexico, L.L.C
($ Mn) Strategy
Exclusive for newly
developed properties in
Korea and will also
cover 3rd party
28 investors;
50-60% GIC RE takes 16.9%
GIC RE- the
55-60% largest
Exclusive take-out
vehicle for newly
2005 10 yrs
Extension of Japan
Fund I
2011 (7 yrs);
2004 7 years
To acquire industrial
properties in Mexico
Properties Fund I
AMB-SGP , L.P.
2011 (10 yrs);
2001 10 years
IPO-10 yrs;
IPO in April
as of 07YE
REIT's
ownerAsset
To acquire newly
properties in US
Europe. Current Externally managed by
GIC RE, ABP,
TIAA, PGGM
* Fund Size information for ProLogis European Properties (AMS:PEPR) uses market cap of PEPR, Euro 1.69 Bn on July 3, 2008.
Exchange Rate 1 Euro = 1.57 USD
Source: 1999-2007 Annual Reports of AMB and ProLogis; the Author.
A curious question naturally occurs to me how GIC Real Estate manages two REIT partnership
relationships, particularly when these two REITs in every inch being direct competitors across the goble. Or
my next question will not AMB feel concerned for its AMB-SGP fund with the same US geographical
focus as ProLogis North American Industrial Fund (where GIC Real Estate is also the largest investor)?20
I did not have chance to take interview with the mentioned three parties (ProLogis, GIC Real Estate and AMB) on this specific topic during my
thesis research period. I believe it will be very interesting to learn about how each party will respond to these two questions.
3). Single Partner JV vs. Commingled Fund
In terms of number of investment partners, there are basically two types of JV structures observed in the
public REITs private capital business Single Partner JV and Commingled Fund. What is the rationale
for public REIT to structure either single partner JV or commingled fund?
The research question, in nature, is a function for the appetite for the investor partners and a REITs
risk-return expectation for the particular JV fund. Some institutional investors have larger investment
capacity/appetite and also seek to be more involved in project-level selection process, thus choosing to be the
single partners in such JV funds. These single partner JV funds normally have a strong built-in monitoring
and control mechanism for investment partners.
A. Single Partner JV
Single Partner JV means there is only one investment partner with a public REIT for a specific fund. It is
usually tailor-made to suit the need for the investment partner. Single partner JV between CalSTRS and
First Industrial, as earlier discussed in Section 3.1.2 (Fund Investors), is one good example.
Investment partner, who normally owns the controlling interest and act as limited partner to the single
partner JV fund.
Yes, it looks quite controversial how can investment partner be structured as limited
partner that owns controlling interest. On the other hand, pubic REIT acts as general partnership with
non-controlling interest.
Controlling interest used in REITs public financial statement refers to the absolute ownership
percentage. In that sense, an investment partner owns majority interest and takes the limited partnership
position in the fund; where as a public REIT has less interest than investment partner and serves as general
partnership position to the fund. I will further investigate this topic in Section 3.4 (To Consolidate or Not).
In the early days of this field (before year 2000), the ownership split was often at 50-50% for this type of
fund. The REIT will mostly manage the JV, and receive fee income (development, property management
and leasing fees) from the JV Fund.
I use ProLogis California Fund (1998) later to demonstrate the
investment objective between investment partners and public REITs.
Kimco Income REIT (1998),
discussed in Chapter 2 (Why Started in 1998? The Case of Kimco Income REIT), is another example.
ProLogis California (1999) is a 50-50% JV with New York State Common Retirement Fund with a 10-yr term.
It is a typical early-day (1998-2000) equal share JV with public pension fund in this field.
The fund serves as
an exclusive take-out vehicle for ProLogis exiting stabilized projects in Los Angeles/Orange County market.
ProLogis earns property management, leasing and development fees from the JV Fund, but there is no
promote structure in this fund.
B. Commingled Fund
The second type is commingled real estate fund for multi-investor vehicles.
According to Investopedia21, a
Forbes Media Company, commingled fund is defined as a fund consisting of assets from several accounts
that are blended together. Investors in commingled fund investments benefit from economies of scale,
which allow for lower trading costs per dollar of investment, diversification and professional money
Figure 3.4 provides comparison of commingled funds managed by the studied 7 REITs.
itself in this field, in my view, has demonstrated the renovation from smaller single partner 50-50% JV fund
size in 1998-2000 to a larger fund size with a reduced REITs ownership at 15-25% in 2004-2007.
Figure 3.4: Comparison of Commingled Funds among 7 Studied Public REITs
Fund Fund REIT's
Size Owner
Strategy ($ Mn) - ship
ProLogis 2007
openend
ProLogis European
16.9 Properties Fund
Take-out Fund in
23.20 GIC RE takes the
% lead
for US and Canada
AMB Europe
21% 20 investors
for Europe
Regency Retail
Regency 2007
Ohio State Teachers vehicle for large
and several others
format newly
developed retail.
Alliance Fund
Grouping 12
investors in a private Take-out vehicle in
REIT, acting as LP to US
Fund II
Kimco Income
closed2003
Mostly transfer the
portfolio of
Mid-Atlantic Realty
Trust in 2003.
Available at http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/commingledfund.asp, accessed on July 7, 2008.
The first commingled fund observed is Kimco Income Fund I, established in 2003. The fund raised money
from several insurance companies. It is a closed-end fund with finite fund life. The fund objective is to
transfer the newly acquired Mid-Atlantic Realty Trust (in 2003) by the parent REIT with 40% leverage to a
private capital fund that can be levered to 60%.
The rest 5 commingled funds (all open-ended), in my view, is the leading public REITs private capital
products that go out and compete well with other real estate funds managed by REIMs.
Three of them
have US domestic market focus. In my observation, these three funds22 are no difference from typical
core/value-added funds raised by leading US REIMs (such as BlackRock, ING Clarion Partners and
Prudential Real Estate Investors) in year 2006-2007. They have the same clientele (mostly public pension
funds), similar fund terms and leverage capacity.
I will diverge a little bit to show the revolution of commingled funds in this filed. I will also examine the
product feature of AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II and explain why/how Alliance Fund III is an
enhancement on Alliance Fund II. Regency Retail Partners, the first commingled fund in retail REIT sector
will also be investigated.
a). AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III and its Enhancement from Fund II
AMB further innovates the commingle fund into an open-end structure in 2004.
Fund III, L.P.
AMB Institutional Alliance
is believed to be the first US open-end commingled fund managed by public REITs.
A key benefit is the flexibility the fund offers different investment horizons, appealing equally to those, for
example, with an eight-year horizon or with a 20-year outlook. New and existing investors can purchase or
redeem fund shares quarterly at net asset value without being held to arbitrary fund formation or termination
dates.
AMB Alliance Fund III is actually an enhancement from AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II (2001). AMB
Alliance Fund II is a close-end fund and structured through a private real estate investment structure (private
REIT). In my view, AMB Alliance Fund II can be described as quasi-commingled fund. Figure 3.5 shows
its fund structure.
ProLogis North American Industrial Fund, Regency Retail Partners, and AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III.
Cited from AMB Capital Partners LLC, Sponsor Interview Series of The Institutional Real Estate Letter, 2006.
Figure 3.5: Fund Structure of AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II
AMB Institution Alliance Fund II is a co-investment partnership between AMB Property L.P and AMB
Institutional Alliance REIT II, Inc., a limited partner of the Alliance Fund II, which includes 14
institutional investors as stockholders as of December 31, 2007.
According to John Roberts 24, he
attributed this private REIT structure is designed to solve UBTI25 (Unrelated Business Taxable
Income) issues for their endowment and foundation investors.
AMB Capital Partners L.L.C, a wholly-owned subsidiary elected to be a TRS under REIT Code, provides the
investment services to AMB Institutional Alliance Fund II, L.P. AMB Property L.P, the operating
partnership of AMB Property Corporation, serves as general partnership to the Fund. Liability shield is
noticed for the limited partnership of AMB Institutional Alliance REIT II, Inc.
Source: John Roberts, President of AMB Capital Partners L.L.C. A sponsor interview The Institutional Real Estate Letter (2001).
Definition: Unrelated Business Taxable Income. Income earned by a tax-exempt entity that does not result from tax-exempt activities. The
entity may owe taxes on this income. UBTI does not include most types of passive income, such as dividends, interest, and most property
rentals. UBTI does not include the unrelated debt-financed income, as defined in IRS Section 514. Instead of investing in a partnership that
holds debt-financed real property, a tax-exempt organization, such as Pension Trust, can invest in a private REIT which incurs acquisition
indebtedness. Because a REIT, unlike a partnership, is a separate taxable entity, the debt-financed income rules of Section 514 generally do
not apply and both dividends and capital gain from the REIT are not generally UBTI, provided the shares in the REIT is not debt-financed and
subject to the pension held REIT rules described in Appendix 4 Organizing and Qualifying as a REIT. (Source: Thomson West, 2007, page
6-38.3 on Tax Benefit UBTI Avoidance.)
b). Regency Retail Partners
Regency Retail Partners, raised in December 2006, is the first open-ended, infinite-life investment that
is managed by US retail REITs.
According to Regency Centers 26, the fund is looking for $565Mn
equity (Regency retains 20% interest in the developed projects sold to the Fund) and aiming $1,400 Mn
gross assets by setting 60% leverage limit.
The fund has exclusive access to Regencys future
development pipeline that meets the following criteria:
US community centers greater than 250,000 sf including tenant-owned GLA
Two or more anchors comprising at least 50% of the GLA
95% leased with average anchor lease terms of at least 10 years
Regency Retail Partners Fund will buy these completed developments from Regency Center at fair market
value. Acquisition assets from third parties meeting the criteria will be subject to a rotation policy with
Regencys other co-investment partners.
Regencys accounting policy27 only recognizes the gains from sales to co-investment partnership (80%) the
portion of the sales not attributable to parent REITs ownership interest. This accounting policy is quite
similar to ProLogis fund model. I will further discuss this topic in Section 4.1 Merchant Development for
Public REITs and its Private Capital.
Two key words shall be flagged in the fund description for Regency Retail Partners exclusive access and
rotation policy. I will continue this discussion in next section.
4). Deal Exclusivity vs. REITs Role
I want to show the importance of deal exclusivity in this field by first referring to the evolution of target
market changes in Regency Centers fund family. I then demonstrate how ambiguity of deal exclusivity
may arise from the self-created discretion (AMB DFS Fund I, as example) and geographical overlapping (in
ProLogis fund family).
Evolution of Target Market for Regency Centers Funds
Regency Centers has been setting up a series of JV investment program with several leading institutional
investors since 2000, as summarized in Figure 3.6.
I use the same Figure to investigate how Regency
Centers creates various target market for its fund family.
Regency Centers 2008 annual meeting presentation slides, page 21.
Regency Centers 2008 annual report, page 46.
Figure 3.6: Regency Centers Fund Summary
RC's
Fund Name/ JV
Openended
CountryWideDESCO
To acquire Desco's 32 properties of retail portfolios
(mostly anchored by Schnuck grocery stores) in St.
Louis, Illinois, Indiana and Tennessee. Desco is the
development arm of Schnuck Markets Inc.
investor Core
Take-out vehicle for Regency's newly stabilized
development projects in the US
Mostly take-out vehicle for Regency's newly
developed grocery-anchored shopping center at
"non-core" markets
- Initially two parties contribute existing neighborhood
centers into JV
- Continue to acquire 3rd party shopping centers at
Regency's Core Markets
Oregon Public
The Fund has the right to acquire all future
Regency-developed large format community centers, 1,411.4
upon stabilization.
Source: 4Q 2007 Financial Supplement, page 18; 2007 Annual report, page 44-46.; the Author
The 1st fund, Oregon State Fund (2000), aims at acquiring 3rd party shopping center at Regencys defined
core markets. The 2nd fund, Macquarie Countrywide Trust (2000-2004), is set up to take-out Regencys
newly developed grocery-anchored (single tenant anchor) at the non-core markets. The Macquarie fund
agreement does provide Regency with an exit strategy to divest its non-core assets, either outside of
Regencys geographical focus or possibly in markets with weaker-than-average demographic profile. The
first two funds, in my view, already created discretion room about how Regency defines the core-market
along with time evolution.
Its 3rd fund with CalSTRS also generates greater discretion area, as the fund objective is a broadly defined
term serve as Take-out vehicle for Regency's newly stabilized development projects in US. The latest
fund, Regency Retail Partners, defines the exclusive access right to acquire all future Regency-developed large
format community centers, upon stabilization, as long as the properties meet the three criterion in page 47.
In my observation, target market of CalSTRS JV Fund (2005) may have some geographical overlapping with
Regency Retail Partners large format community centers. That might be the reason why Regency uses the
term of rotational policy in Regency Retail Partners fund description.
However, what worry me most is the fiduciary role conflict between being general partner of Regency Retail
Partners and being the parent REIT listed in New York Stock Exchange? It seems to me that Regency
Center (the parent REIT) cares more about how to make money for the limited partners of Regency Retail
Partners over the parent REIT. Because Regency Retail Partners have first right of refusal to take out nearly
every large format retail product that Regency is to be involved in the future.
I further show that deal exclusivity ambiguity may arise from the self-created discretion in fund description.
AMB DFS Fund I, L.L.C is single partner JV between GE Real Estate and AMB. The fund target is to build
and then sell projects in the US, other than those AMB identifies as its target.
Fund II and Fund III have defined they will serve as take-out vehicle for newly stabilized properties at AMB
defined target market in the U.S. In our view, this type of public information disclosure creates obscurity
by itself. Shareholder investor of AMB Property Corp. (the parent REIT) will have difficulty reading across
these lines.
The third example is due to the geographical overlapping between a public REITs family funds.
ProLogis California Fund (1999) vs.. ProLogis North American Fund V (2002) is one of the examples.
In ProLogis 2002 annual report28, ProLogis stated that ProLogis California Fund has the right of first refusal
with respect to ProLogis stabilized developed projects (excluding properties developed under built to suit
lease agreements), in the Los Angeles/Orange County market, subject to the property meeting certain
specified criterion, including leasing criterion, and the property fund having the capital to acquire the property.
Stabilized development properties offered to ProLogis California that are not accepted then be offered to
ProLogis North American Properties Fund V.
ProLogis North American Properties Fund V. (2002), was a 20-80% Australia listed fund between ProLogis
and Macquarie Bank, named as Macquarie Property Trust (MPR). Established in March 2002, the Fund was
set up to have Right of First Offer to acquire all the ProLogis newly stabilized properties in US and Canada
through December 2003, but excluding properties in Los Angeles/Orange County market. This term is
generally believed to be associated with ProLogis California Funds right of first refusal in Los Angeles/
Orange County market
ProLogis ended MPRs Right of First Offer for contribution of North American assets in 2005. In 2006,
the fund became apparent that the fund could no longer raise capital among retail Australia investors due to
perceived low yields on US industrial assets and cutting for the exclusive take-out for ProLogis US and
Canada assets.
Green Street Advisors in an article29 for Avoiding the Macquarie ProLogis Trust Pitfalls
quotes, With the gloomy asset growth prospects and a strengthening Australia dollar, MPR stock began to
ProLogis 2002 annual report, page 25 and page 99.
Page 40, Green Street Advisors, European Industrial Sector Coverage Initiation, January 27, 2008.
languish and traded at a discount to NAV.
Then, ProLogis created North American Industrial Fund in 2006, serves as the exclusive investment vehicle
for newly developed properties in US and Canada. This seems to signal the beginning of end for MPR.
ProLogis eventually bought the asset back in July 16, 2007 at close to NAV price, and spun them into a new
series of other ProLogis funds.
The two episodes in ProLogis family funds ProLogis California vs. MPR, and MPR vs. North
American Industrial Fund shall, in my view, serve as good learning lesson to understand the importance
of deal exclusivity and potential pitfalls for institutional investors investing with these funds.
5). Distribution Frequency and Promotes
In my observation, core and value-added funds normally have distribution frequency and promote
payout at the funds dissolution.
project sales.
Some opportunity funds have incentive distribution at upon
Purpose of Promote (i.e. incentive design fee) is to align the interests of passive
institutional investors with the active managing REIT partner.
The promote fees could be cash or
non-cash, depending on the specific terms of each private capital funds.
I first look into AMBs private capital business and comprehend its creativity to structure distribution
frequency mechanism differently.
Three types of promote structure will also be discussed 1). Series
of IRR-based hurdles; 2). Distribution Waterfall; 3). Revised Distribution Waterfall.
In AMBs fund family (in Figure 3.7), the creative features may also include its distribution frequency.
The first fund, AMB/Erie, L.P. (1998), AMB uses 3 years incentive distribution frequency in its
perpetual term fund with Eric Life Insurance Co.
The promote structure is also believed to fit the
life insurance business nature more on yield (rather than capital gains) and long term asset liabilities
matching.
The promote structure is structured as 15% above a 6% real IRR (adjusted for CPI).
Figure 3.7: Promote Structure and Incentive Distribution Frequency Summary for AMB Fund Family
Co-investment
Fund I, FCP-FIS 2007
AMB DFS Fund
I, LLC
AMB Japan Fund June
I, L.P.
AMB's
Europe Open end
20% above a 9% IRR
25% above a 12% IRR
GE Real
US (3) Perpetual
Upon project
13 institutional
June 2013 (8 yrs);
extendable 2 years
AMB Institutional
Alliance Fund III,
AMB-AMS , L.P.
Alliance Fund II,
AMB Partners II, Feb.
AMB/Erie, L.P.
Dec. 2011 (7 yrs);
MT, SPW and
TNO (1)
Dec. 2012 (8.5 yrs) ;
Alliance REIT
II, Inc.(2)
(estimated)
March 2011 (10 yrs);
extendable 10 years
Erie Insurance
15% above a 6% real
IRR (adjusted for CPI)
Source: 1Q 2008 AMB Financial;1998-2007 Annual Reports; the Author
The incentive distribution AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III (2004), the open-end fund, is stated as
Incentive distributions of 15% of the return over a 9% internal rate of return and 20% of the return
over a 12% internal rate of return to investors on a 3 year basis or at the end of a funds life.
series of IRR-based hurdles is one of the three types of distribution design as commonly seen in REIT
private capital funds.
It is the most commonly observed promote structure in this field.
illustrates how the step function works for AMB Alliance Fund III.
Figure 3.8: Promote Step Function of AMB Alliance Fund III
Source: Page F-38, S15-S22, S32-S40, AMB Property Corporation, 10-K, 2007
I believe the 3-year incentive distribution frequency for an open-end indefinite life fund is associated
with the business nature of being a listed REIT.
income for REITs private capital business.
Wall Street prefers the stable asset management fee
The Street also expects to see the incentive promote
return to kick in a predicable time intervals not only at the funds dissolution.
Three years should
be an acceptable recurring time frame for The Street, also for the institutional investors as well.
The 2nd promote structure is called Distribution Waterfall, less frequently seen in REIT private
capital fund arena.
It is more commonly used in a project-level joint venture and non-real estate
private equity funds 30 (such as high-tech venture capital).
Distribution waterfall could follow the
below sequence
Figure 3.9: Distribution Waterfall Sequence
a). Return of capital first to limited partners (LP)
b). Preferred return of a percentage, typically 10% to LPs
c). 80/20 (GP/LP) or full speed catch-up until GP receives a 20% of total profits
d). 80/20 (GP/LP) profits thereafter
Where catch-up is defined as: Catch-up is when a investors (LP) return reaches the defined hurdle rate, giving
them an agreed level of preferred return, the fund manager (GP) enters a catch-up period, in which the fund
manager may receive an agreed percentage of the profits until the profit split determined by the carried interest
agreement is reached.
A basic numerical example for one-year fund life is provided in below.
Figure 3.10: Example for Basic Distribution Waterfall
Equity Contribution
Investor (LP)
Manager (GP)
Exit Value (1-yr)
Preferred Hurdle
Catch-up Speed (GP:LP, %)
80-20 thereafter
Preferred Return to LP
$2.5*
Distribution Waterfall
Catch-up to GP
80-20 hereafter
Equity Multiple
* $2.5 = $10 * 20%/80%
Source: the Authors calculation based on INREV, Core Definition, page 29, December 2006.
INREV is European Association for Investors in Non-listed Real Estate Vehicles.
Please refer to more detail in the chapter 8 of Distribution Waterfall in J-Curve Exposure (2007).
Assumed one-year project level exit value is at $115. Following a sequence of waterfall, the investor
(GP) could obtain total $112 return back, equivalent to 1.12 equity multiple.
Fund manager, the LP,
could get a total of $3.0 return, made up of $2.5 catch-up and $0.5 ($2.5 remaining returns 20%). $3
return to the fund manager is equivalent to 20% profit out of total gain $15 (=$115-$110).
The third promote structure we have observed is within many of Developers Diversified Realtys joint
venture programs. We call it as Revised Distribution Waterfall, a revision based on the 2 nd
promote structure that we have just discussed.
In DDR Markaz II LLC (2004) joint venture with Kuwait Financial Center.
The fund objective is to
take out DDR's 13 stabilized properties. The equity contribution is 80-20% between Kuwait Financial
Center and DDR.
The cash flow distribution is proportionally to equity contribution of 80-20%.
For the promote structure, it is stated31 as
a). Pro Rata in proportion to DDR and Markaz equity interest until both have been allocated an
amount equal to a 11.5% annual rate of return and
b). 50% to DDR, and 50% DDR and Markaz in proportion to their equity interest.
On top of the equity participation to NOI and promote, DDR also makes the following fees in this JV.
Figure 3.11: Fees to DDR in DDR Markaz II
Property Management Fee
4.0% of revenues
Development Fee
5.0% of total costs for all improvements
Asset Management Fee
6.25% of net operating income
6.0% on new leases on years 1-5; 3.0% on remainder of term(spaces < 5,000 sf)
5.0% on new leases on years 1-5; 2.5% on remainder of term(spaces 5,000 - 10,000 sf)
(without co-broker)
4.0% on new leases on years 1-5; 2.0% on remainder of term(spaces 10,000 - 20,000 sf)
$2.00 per square foot (spaces > 20,000 sf)
4.0% on new leases on years 1-5; 2.0% on years 6-10 (ground leases)
Renewals earn 50% of fees on new leases
6.0% of gross sales price up to $500,000
Commission on Outparcel
5.0% of gross sales price $500,000 - $1,000,000
4.0% of gross sales price over $1,000,000
Source: Joint venture summary of DDR, 4Q 2006 Financial Supplement of DDR, page 56
In some other DDRs JVs (such as Coventry II DDR Bloomfield LLC 32), DDR might also charge the
tenant coordination fees at 5% of all hard and soft costs.
Joint venture summary of DDR, 4Q 2006 Financial Supplement of DDR, page 56.
In this section, I want to exam the following statement for public REITs private capital fund.
Core-Fund is it really core? Value-added Fund is it really value-added?
I take NCREIF fund style strategy definition and examine if a REIT value-added fund is just to add the
leverage against the properties in the fund. My answer to this question is very likely. Value-added funds
in this field could be achieved just by adding leverage from their core-fund natured stabilized properties.
My initial idea is pure take-out vehicle shall be deemed as core-fund for institutional fund partners, as the
take-out properties and property prices can be pre-specified and pre-programmed before the formation of
the fund. I demonstrate how this ambiguity is existent in this field by looking into two fund examples in
Figure 3.12.
Figure 3.12 : Fund Comparison between Regency Retail Partners and AMB Alliance Fund III
Open-end,
indefinite life,
(60%
various investors leverage)
vehicle for large
structured as
private REIT
Take-out vehicle in
Alliance Fund III
leverage)
These two funds are both well-known among real estate institutional investors. Both funds have innovative
open-ended structure, indefinitely life design and 60% target leverage, and serve as take-out vehicle for its
parent REIT in the US. The only difference is Regency Retail Partners Fund is marketed as core-fund;
whereas AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III is categorized as value-added fund.
In NCREIFs real estate investment style white paper33, the specific (numerical) leverage ratio is not clearly
given for three investment styles, both at asset level definition and at portfolio level. NCREIF only states
low leveraged for the Core investment style, moderate leverage for Value-Added style and high
leverage for the Opportunistic style.
Real Estate Investment Styles: Trends From the Catwalk, NCREIF Styles White Paper Committee, Oct 2, 2003.
Figure 3.13: Real Estate Investment Style and Purity - by NCREIF
Asset Level
Assets that exhibit one of more of the
following attributes achieve a
Assets that achieve relatively significant portion of return from
high percentage of return from appreciation, exhibit moderate volatility
income and that are expected and/or are not currently considered
to exhibit low volatility.
core property types. However, if the
overall risk level is excessive, the asset
should be classified as Opportunistic.
An asset that is expected to derive most
of the return from appreciation or which
may exhibit significant volatility in returns.
This may be due to a variety of
characteristics such a exposure to
development, significant leasing risk, or
high leverage, but may also result from a
combination of moderate risk factors that
in total create a more volatile return
Core Attributes
Value Added Attributes
Opportunistic Attributes
Major property types only
office, industrial, retail
(neighborhood/ community
centers, regional/super
regional malls), multifamily
Non-traditional property types, including
Major property types, plus other retail,
speculative development for sale or rent
hospitality, senior living, storage
and land
Operating, Leasing-up
Development and redevelopment
High occupancy
Moderate to well leased, substantially
pre-leased development
Low economic occupancy
Low rollover concentration
Moderate rollover concentration
High rollover concentration
Lease Rollover
Low total near term rollover
Moderate total near term rollover
High total near term rollover
Low leverage
Moderate leverage
High leverage
Institutional market/location
Institutional or emerging markets
Secondary and Tertiary markets and
Investment structures with
significant control
Investment structures with significant
or moderate control, but security or
preferred position
Investment Structures with minimal
control, unsecured positions
Source: Real Estate Investment Styles: Trends From the Catwalk, NCREIF Styles White Paper Committee, Oct 2, 2003.
Despite no numerical leverage example given, NCREIF at portfolio level definition does specifies the portfolio nature
for three fund styles and their return and risk distribution (income return vs. appreciation return).
Figure 3.14: Portfolio Level Definition
A Portfolio that includes a preponderance
of core attributes.
A Portfolio that generally includes a mix of
core investments and others that will have
less reliable income streams.
As a whole, the portfolio will have low lease
The portfolio as a whole is likely to have
exposure and low leverage. A low
moderate lease exposure and moderate
percentage of non-core assets is
acceptable.
As a result, such portfolios should achieve
a significant portion of the return from
relatively high income returns and exhibit
appreciation and are expected to exhibit
relatively low volatility.
moderate volatility.
A Portfolio of preponderantly non-core
investments that is expected to derive
most of its return from appreciation
and/or which may exhibit significant
volatility in returns.
characteristics such as exposure to
development, significant leasing risk,
high leverage, or a combination of
moderate risk factors.
Joanne Douvas (2003) published an article, titled Opportunity Funds: Reining in the Fees when she was
with JP Morgan, as illustrated below.
Figure 3.15: Net Returns under Various Investment Strategies
Levered Core
9.5%-10%
10.5%-11%
12%-13%-14%
10.26%-14.26%
22.8%-24.9%-27.1%
Unlevered Gross
Levered Gross Return (%)
Cost to Invest (bps)
70 bps
85-140 bps
200-350 bps
480-495-510 bps
Net Return
9.41%-12.86%
15%-17.5%
Source: "Opportunity Funds: Reining in the Fees", by Joanne Douvas, Head of Real Estate Fiduciary Services, JP
Morgan, March 18, 2003
Joanne Douvas has specified the numerical example with respect to for four-type of investment strategy (core,
levered core, value-added and opportunity fund) and 5 attributes (LTV, unlevered gross return, levered gross
return, cost to invest, and net return) of the funds available in the 2003 market place.
One of her conclusion is that an investment manager shall be only paid the fees according to the risk/return
spectrum. The GP should be judged and rewarded based on its de-levered performance, a standard that is
neutral to the amount of leveraged utilized.
I show leveraged returns under various debt ratios by using the formula in David Geltner et al.34(2007).
Figure 3.16: Calculation Formula for Levered Equity Return
R (Equity) = R (Debt) + Leverage Ratio (Property Return - Debt Cost)
where leverage ratio is defined as total asset over total debt
In this formula, the equity returns equals the debt return plus the leverage ratio times the difference between
the property return and the debt return. For an unleveraged property return at 9%, applying 250% leverage
ratio (i.e. 40% debt ratio) at 5.0% cost of debt, the equity return could be levered to 11.7%. I also show the
levered returns by applying various debt ratios in Figure 3.17.
Figure 3.17: Leverage Returns by Applying Various Debt Ratios
Unlevered Return for Property
Cost of Debt
Debt Ratio
Levered Return
Target Debt Ratio
Leverage Ratio
Equity Return
Levered equity return calculation at Chapter 13, Page 310, David Geltner et al (2007).
Figure 3.18: Enhanced IRR Returns by Adding Debt Ratios
Figure 3.18 illustrates a 330 bps return is enhanced by adding 20% leverage (from 40% public REITs norm
to 60% at REIT's private equity fund).
In my view, by making additional leverage (from the parent REITs 40% leverage to 60% at private capital
fund) in a REITs take-out fund of newly completed and stabilized properties, a REITs private capital fund
can generate higher return, given the same risk/return profile of the core stabilized asset portfolio.
3.3 Analysis of Private Capital Income The Case of AMB Capital Partners
In this section, my plan it to analyze the income from private capital funds, managed by public REITs.
base on AMBs case to conduct the analysis. From Dr. Bradford
Case35,
I have learned the fact Public
REITs 3rd party investment funds typically charge lower fees than other core real estate fund or separate
accounts managed by REIMs. I then provide reasoning with respect to Why public REITs charge
inexpensive for their REITs private capital funds?
Given the limited information for private capital income breakdown (fund management fee and incentive fee
breakdown) for most public REITs, I use AMB private capital data available to analyze this topic. On the
fee spectrum, I investigate how much a typical REIT private capital fund charges.
From Figure 3.19, I found that the private capital income typically consists of acquisition and development
fees, asset management fees and priority distributions, and promoted interests and incentive distributions. I
also observed that even with AMBs fund family, each fund may have its own service fee breakdown and the
calculating formula for different fees. Taking asset management fee for example, three funds all have its
calculation formula to derive the asset management fee.
Figure 3.19: Fee Structure for AMBs Value-Added Private Capital Funds
Alliance Fund III (2004)
Europe Fund I (2007)
90 basis points acquisition fee on
the acquisition cost of third party
Priority distributions of 7.5% of net
operating income on stabilized
Japan Fund I (2005)
Priority distributions of 1.5% of 80%
of the committed equity during the
75 basis points on the gross asset
investment period and then 1.5% of
value of the fund
unreturned equity
70 basis points of total projected
costs as asset management fees
on renovation or development
Incentive distributions of 15% of
the return over a 9% internal rate
of return and 20% of the return
(Promote)
over a 12% internal rate of return
to investors on a periodic basis or
Incentive distributions of 20% of the
return over a 10% internal rate of
return and 25% of the return over a
13% internal rate of return to
investors at the end of a funds life
at the end of a funds life.
Source: Page F-38, S15-S22, S32-S40, AMB Property Corporation, 10-K, 2007.
Same as footnote 12 in page 36.
to investors on a periodic basis (3
years)
I further look into the breakdown for AMB private capital income during 2001-2007. Figure 3.20 and 3.21
summarizes the private capital income breakdown in the past seven years and additional one year forecast,
made by AMBs in its 1Q 2008 Analyst Meeting Material.
Figure 3.20: Private Capital Income Breakdown and its Percentage of AMB's Annual FFO
Mgt Revenue
Incentive Fee
Private Capital Income
AMBs annual FFO
Private Capital Income as % of FFO
Source: 2001-2007 annual reports and 1Q 2008 Supplemental Analyst Package.
Unit: $ Mn
2008 (E)
Figure 3.21: Incentive Fee and Management Fee Income for AMB (2001-2008F)
Three points, in my view, is worth to note in analyzing AMBs private capital income
(1) Private capital income is volatile, because incentive fee is based on promoted interests and incentive
distributions, resulted from the various annual performance results.
(2) Management revenue is at stable growth, aided by the contractual fee nature for acquisition and
development fees, asset management fees and priority distributions
(3) Private Capital Income has become a substantial FFO contributor to its bottom line only second to
rental revenue from core portfolio and development profits. I will explore further in Chapter 4
(Merchant Development under Public REITs).
I further look into more detail breakdown of private capital income during 2004-2007. Figure 3.22 and Figure
3.23 suggest both asset management fee and acquisition fee have shown strong growth momentum. The
incentive fees, as earlier discussed, is fluctuating over time, mostly depending on the realization of private real
estate values.
Figure 3.22: Asset Mgt, Acquisition and Incentive Fees and their YoY Growth in 2004- 2007
Asset Management Fee ($ Mn)
YoY (%)
Acquisition Fee ($ Mn)
Incentive Fee ($ Mn)
Source: 2004~ 2007 annual reports and 1Q 2008 Supplemental Analyst Package
Private Capital Income ($ Mn)
Figure 3.23: Private Capital Income Component for AMB in 2004- 2007
Following the analysis of public REITs private capital income by looking into AMB data, I further investigate
how much fees a REIT typically earns from fund management.
Bradford Case presentation at MIT.
Figure 3.24 is summarized from Dr.
Dr. Case showed a 50 bps fees cost to invest with REITs private equity funds, which is lower than core real
estate funds 110 bps charged by typically real estate investment managers (such as TIAA-CREF or Prudential
Real Estate Investors). ProLogis public available information quotes this fee around 75-80 bps cost36 to
Figure 3.24: Fees and Expense for Various Real Estate Investment Products
RE Investment Products
Fees and Expense (bps)
Equivalent of Gross RE
REIT 3rd-party investment mgt
3% ~ 4%
Core real estate funds
Separate accounts
Value-added/opportunity funds
Source: Investing in Real Estate Through REITs (and Otherwise), Bradford Case, Ph.D.,Vice
President, Research and Industry Information, NAREIT, April 15, 2007 at MIT Center for Real Estate.
Dr. Cases number in 2008 is in line with Joanne Douvas figures compiled in year 2003 (in Figure 3.15: Net
Returns under Various Investment Strategies).
Why Public REITs Private Capital Fund Charges Cheaper than REIMs Funds?
For this question, I provide my reasoning as following.
a). REITs Have Better Economic of Scale then REIMs
Public REITs typically do not distinguish between assets owned directly by REITs and those held in the fund.
Employees spend same effort on assets owned or co-owned by REITs. A lot of REITs do not managed
properties in which they do not have any ownership stake. This approach allows properties under REIT
management to benefit from public REITs various level initiatives, including sharing the same umbrella
insurance policy and the establishment of customer services and branding (particularly important for
industrial REIT funds).
b). REIT Fund Management Faces Cost Mark-up from REIMs
I will make a hypothetical example from a corporate pension fund investing money at real estate investment
managers separate account.
ProLogis NAREIT Presentation, June 4, 2007, page 17, $350K management fee/ $4.6 Mn equity = 0.76%
Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI), a REIM, manages a full-discretionary $1,000 Mn separate account
for a corporate pension plan (such as Dows, AT&T), charging Dows 115 bps of AuM. Dows expects this
$1,000 Mn to be fully invested in private real estate within 3 years with a target return rate of 10% per annum.
PREI can source available investment opportunities in direct real estate, core real estate funds, value-added
funds, opportunistic real estate funds and real estate funds of fund.
As most REITs private capital funds being levered core with net return at 9.4%-12.9% (Joanne Douvas
2003 number in Figure 3.15) and PREIs charge of additional 115 bps fee, the net return for Dows might fall
short of 10% target.
Thus, REITs private capital funds have to collect fewer fees to attract PREI to join
their REIT JV/Fund platform.
As of the matter of fact, in KimPru (2006) single partner JV between
Kimco Realty and PREI, PREI was actually placing 3 separate accounts money for the clients in KimPru JV.
Christopher Vallace (2007) also confirms the avoidance of double promotes and other duplication of
services/fees could improve net investor IRRs in many situations as much as 100-150 bps through reduction
in the gross project level to net investor IRR leakage.
c). Private Capital Business Increases other Fees Stream for Public REITs
Since public REITs normally manage and operate the JV assets, the REITs can earn a series of property
management, leasing, development fee and so forth. Thus, the return on public REITs invested capital in
the funds could be significantly enhanced. The self-managed nature of public REITs marks a distinct point
vs. REIMs outsourcing strategy for property management and leasing management. REIMs normally
engage 3rd party professionals at market rate price, such as Jones Lang Lassalle, CBRE or other local
property management and brokerage firms. That is also why public REITs charge lower fund management
fee than REIMs.
d). Public REITs Care More about FFO and NAV (Different Bottom Lines from REIMs)
The bottom line for public REIT and REIMs is slightly different the former cares more about FFO growth
and NAV (because of Wall Streets analysts); the latter cares more about price earnings multiple. I further
explain this topic by analyzing how First Industrial has its own approach to interpret the fund management
FFO contribution to its parent REIT (in Figure 3.25).
First Industrial combines JV Funds pro-rate share of operation NOI, Fees (contractual and fixed) and
incentive payment, and pro-rata share of Net Economic Gains as Total FFO from JV Funds in its financial
supplement reports. First Industrials JV Funds FFO as a percentage of parent REITs FFO already
reached 25% in 2006. In my observation, 25% of FFO from private capital segment in a public REIT is not
a small number.
Figure 3.25: First Industrial FFO from JV Funds
FFO from ($'000)
Pro-rata Share of Operations
Incentive Payments
Pro-rata Share of Net Economic Gains
Less: Allocation of Income Taxes
Total FFO from JV Funds
FR's annual FFO
JV Funds FFO as % of FR's FFO
Source: First Industrial Supplement Financials of 4Q 07' (p.51), 06' (p.45) and 05' (p.46).
1). Beginning from 4Q 2006, First Industrial changes the way it allocated its income tax provision to its FFO from
2). No breakdown of fees and incentive payments are provided in 2004/2005
3). "Net Economics Gains" results from all property sales; it measures the value created in the Company's capital
recycling activities.
In my view, as Wall Street evaluates the public REIT share price by giving a P/FFO multiple, it is reasonable
to see some REITs such as First Industrial eager to grow FFO through their REIT private capital platform.
In this section, I studied the original idea of this field (off-balance-sheet financing) in 1998 and why REIT
would continue to run its private capital business through this type of financing arrangement. Even for up
to 49% ownership funds, some public REITs prefer not consolidating the JV funds debt into the parent
REIT. I start this section by looking into the consolidation decision tree applicable for most public REITs,
and compare that with Moodys consolidation methodology.
In addition, I further investigate the standard public REITs bond covenant requirement that most governs the
debt capacity of public REITs. Then, I also refer to three Figures (3.30 REIT Covenant Analysis, 3.31 REIT
Liquidity and 3.32 Development Pipeline Ratio) used by Wall Street that can be used as monitoring indicators.
Pension funds or REIMs can use these three Figures to check if there is a funding gap for them to provide (or
structure) private capital to fund public REITs development growth.
The Start of Kimco Income REITs Off-balance-Sheet Financing
To consolidate the JVs debt or not is one of the key financing decision when public REITs set up its owned
series of JV fund programs. Kimco Realty made it clear in Kimco Income REIT (KIR) (1998) case.
The fund objective for Kimco Realty was to hold non-controlling limited partnership in the KIR Fund and
accounts for this investment under the equity method of accounting. This shall be deemed as off-balance
sheet financing for parent Kimco Realty.
In my view, Kimco Realty actually runs KIR on a daily-basis and definitely has some control over the major
buy/sell decision (or recommendation right at least) of the property portfolio. Kimco Realty, just like some
public REITs, keeps highlighting they are non-controlling limited partnership, thus using the equity method
of accounting and avoiding consolidating fund-level debt into the parent REIT.
Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs
Most public REITs annual reports provide summary of significant accounting policies and the
consolidation policies mostly are also included. I investigate Regencys consolidation policy in its 2007
annual report, and summarized its Consolidation Decision Tree in Figure 3.26.
Figure 3.26: Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs
Regency Centers consolidation decision tree is quite similar to other 6 studied REITs. Most REITs have
10-25% ownership interest in their private equity funds, and clams they own non-controlling partnership in
the funds. They typically take non-consolidation approach and use equity method to record their
investments at cost in JV/Funds.
Moodys Methodology on Consolidation
Moodys has developed its quantitative and qualitative consolidation for balance sheet treatment in a report,
titled REIT Joint Venture and Funds: Weighing the Pluses and Minuses in April 2006.
sub-section is the excerpt of Moodys methodology.
Moodys take quantitative factors in determine the analytical treatment for REITs' JVs/funds to determine if
an individual JV/Fund will be fully consolidated, pro rata consolidated, or treated as a cost/equity
method investment in a REIT's financial statements.
Moodys also considers qualitative factor if a
treatment different from the quantitative outcome is appropriate.
public REITs is provided in Figure 3.27.
Moodys consolidation decision tree for
Figure 3.27: Moodys Consolidation Decision Tree for Public REITs
Source: Moodys (2006)
1. The following characteristics result in full consolidation:
an equity stake of greater than 50%, and
involvement in managing the properties in the JV/fund
2. The following characteristics result in pro rata consolidation:
an equity stake greater than 50%, and
ii. no participation in managing properties in the JV/fund
iii. an equity stake of 20% to 50%, and
iv. involvement in managing the properties in the JV/fund
3. The following characteristics result in equity, or cost method, accounting (primarily equity method except for instances
of very low ownership):
an equity stake of 20% to 50%, and
iii. an equity stake less than 20%
If the properties are deemed to be "mission-critical" for the REIT, we would tend to do a full consolidation, regardless of
REIT ownership level.
Figure 3.28 shows the qualitative factors that Moody's considers determining the analytical treatment of
individual JVs/funds.
Figure 3.28: Moodys Qualitative Factors For Consolidation
1. Nature and purpose of structure: Merchant building, JVs, Funds
a.)
Merchant building Normally these are short-term arrangements in which the REIT is committed to buy
the property when developed. These are often fully consolidated as Moody's considers these to be offbalance sheet development financing due to the REIT's residual risk to purchase property.
b.)
JV Property acquisition/investment vehicles. Often pro rata consolidated as risk/rewards are shared
between REIT and partner under many structures.
c.)
Funds Normally institutional investment vehicles in which the REIT takes a small stake to demonstrate
parallelism of interest, and is normally focused on management and other fees, such as promotes
2. Timing and process to liquidate (buy-out provisions)
3. Any guarantees/funding agreements among investors in the JV/fund
4. Rights of JV/Fund partners (kick outs, participations) and any history of using these rights
5. Types of management activities performed
6. Amount (if any) of financing provided to JV/Fund by owners
7. Likelihood of REIT providing non-contractual support to the JV/fund
8. REIT's "normal" timeframe for holding JV/Fund investments
9. Character of properties
10. Size of JV/Fund in comparison to overall REIT operations
11. Strength of partners
12. Management strategy, and how fees might affect REIT's decision-making
In my view, Moodys has stricter qualitative factors than public REITs consolidation decision tree. For JV Fund
that REITs have involvement in managing the properties, these funds will be required to
consolidate into the parent REITs balance sheet, if by applying Moodys qualitative measures.
Bond Covenant Requirement for Public REITs
I further investigate the standard bond covenant requirement for public REITs. Art Gering (2004) wrote an
article on Bonds REIT Bonds in Sept/October issue of NAREIT Real Estate Portfolio Magazine. Figure
3.29 summarized the standard REIT bond covenant requirement that Art Gering mentioned.
There are three incurrence tests and one maintenance test for REITs bond financing. Incurrence Test means
additional debt cant be incurred if any of these covenants are violated; Maintenance Test means it must be met
at all times, not just when the new debt is incurred. Art Gering (2004) states The unencumbered property
portfolios ensured by debt covenants are a vital resource for REITs. The flexibility it provides enhances the
recovery prospect unsecured bondholders. REIT covenants also promote stability in a firms debt rating.
Figure 3.29: Standard REIT Bond Covenant Requirement
Test Type
Standard Ratio
Undepreciated
Book Leverage
Total Debt / (Total Book Capital + Accumulated Depreciation)
Incurrence
Secured Debt
Total Secured Debt / (Total Book Capital + Accumulated Depreciation)
Fixed Charge
EBITDA / (Interest Expense + Capitalized Interest + Preferred Dividends)
Unencumbered
Unencumbered Asset / Unencumbered debt
>150%
* Incurrence Test means additional debt cant be incurred if any of these covenants are violated ; Maintenance Test means it
must be met at all times, not just when the new debt is incurred
Source: "Bonds - REIT Bonds", Art Gering, Real Estate Portfolio Magazine, Sept/Oct 2004.
Bear Stern37 (2008) and JP Morgan Research38 (2008) provide a good covenant analysis framework. 7 studied
REITs statistics are summarized in Figure 3.30. I find First Industrial has only marginally met the requirement
for recurring EBITDA coverage of 1.5x. That might also explain why First Industrial has been seeking various
off-balance-sheet fund management programs (with CalSTRS) to fund its asset growth during 2005-2007.
Figure 3.30: Covenant Analysis for 7 Studied REITs
Recurring EBITDA Coverage
Total Debt/
Debt/ Total Required Recurring Interest Interest
($Mn)
Expense Incurred Charge
Interest Incurred = EBITDA/ (Interest Expense+ Capitalized Interest)
Interest Incurred = EBITDA/ (Interest Expense+ Capitalized Interest+ Preferred Distributions)
Source: "REIT Quarterly", page 40, Bear Sterns, March 10, 2008; North America Credit Search, p.20 and p.23, JP Morgan, March
In Figure 3.31, Bear Sterns Research (2008) tracks the REIT liquidity by following closely each REITs bank line
availability, cash position, debt maturity (2008 and 2009), expected development funding and REITs Free Cash
Flow. Bearn Sterns comes out a liquidity dollar amount, to be equivalent of a percentage of total assets and
shareholder equity of each REIT. For example, First Industrials $144 Mn negative liquidity will be equivalent of
its 22.15% total shareholder equity. This ratio further indicates the need for First Industrial to seek additional
capital to fund its development projects. Off-balance-sheet financing through private capital funds shall be a
good option for First Industrial.
Berliner, Susan; Litwok, Yoni, REIT Quarterly- Half Full?, Bear Sterns, March 10, 2008.
Streeter, Mark; Katz, Dave; Gieskes, Joost J., Total REIT Call REIT Sector Quarterly Reference, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc, North America
Credit Research, March 28, 2008.
Figure 3.31: REIT Liquidity for 7 Studied REITs
Unit: $ Mn, as of 07YE
Bank Line Cash
Maturity Maturity Development Cash Liquidity
Availability Position
ProLogis Trust
(1) Expected development funding for 2008-2009
(2) Free cash flow, estimated by Bear Sterns
Source: "REIT Quarterly", page 45, Bear Sterns, March 10, 2008
Total SH
Liquidity/
SH Equity
In Figure 3.32, Bear Sterns (2008) provides a development pipeline ratio for REIT industry. I have
summarized 7 studied REITs and add a covered REITs average (total 29 listing REIT covered by Bearn Sterns).
Columns from left to right are total development pipeline in dollar amount, percentage of the pipeline pre-leased
or funded, pipeline as % of total assets, pipeline as % of shareholder equity, pipeline as % of book capital,
pipeline as % of total market capitalization. 7 studied REITs on average have slightly higher pipeline ratio than
the 29 REIT average. ProLogis, Kimco, and AMB are the three REITs with the largest total development
pipeline, all worth above $1.5 Bn.
Figure 3.32: Development Pipeline Ratio for 7 Studied REITs and Industry Average
(As of 07YE)
Preleased
Pipeline ($ Mn)
Pipeline/ Total
Pipeline/
Book Capital Mkt Cap (%)
7 Studied REIT Avg
Covered REIT Avg.*
*The average for Bear Sterns covers 29 listing REITs
Source: "REIT Quarterly", page 46, Bear Stearns, March 10, 2008.
In my view, this Development Pipeline Ratio Figure along with the previous two Figures (REIT covenant
analysis and REIT Liquidity) can also serve as monitoring indicators for pension funds and REIMs to see if there
is a funding gap for them to provide (or structure) private capital to fund REITs development growth
Merchant Development under Public REITs
4.1 Merchant Development for Public REITs and its Private Capital
4.2 Merchant Development Economics
Chapter 4 is the extension of Chapter 3, part of the characterization of private capital funds under public
REITs. Merchant development, in my view, is one key component that cannot be missed in analyzing the
private capital business under public REITs.
In Section 4.1, I relate merchant development activity to the parent REITs and their private capital. I
explain this concept by examining the following topics.
1. What is Merchant Development?
2. Merchant Development vs. The REIT Modernization Act (1999)
3. ProLogis Corporate Distribution Facilities Services (CDFS)
4. CDFS Assets Are Not Depreciated
5. ProLogis Business Model Industrial REIT
6. Regency Center Business Model Retail REIT
7. FFO Component Comparison for Industrial and Retail REIT
8. Why Merchant Development Gain Accounts >50% FFO for Industrial REITs?
In Section 4.2, I demonstrate the nature of merchant development economics and explain why public REITs
like to pursue the merchant development, or to the next level, to contribute the merchant gains to the fund.
This is particularly true for ProLogis business model which I have discussed in Section 4.1. I cover the
following topics in this section.
1. Valuation Creation via Merchant Development
2. Valuation Creation via Merchant Development into Fund
3. Cashflow Comparison between Private Property Market and Public REIT Market
4. Price/Multiples for Various Income Streams of a Public REIT
5. Moodys Analytical Framework for Property Investment Structures
Merchant Development for Public REITs and their Private Capital
I start this section by giving the definition of merchant development. Then I explain how merchant
development business model was made possible by the introduction of The REIT Modernization Act (1999).
I use Kimco Developers Inc. (KDI), a wholly-owned TRS of Kimco Realty to see how it plays an important
role to grow Kimcos overall business.
I further look into ProLogis CDFS business segment and discuss
how this segment is heavily associated with the ProLogis fund growth and ProLogis business strategy.
continue to make an example in Regency Center to explain if there is strategy differentiation between retail
REITs and industrial REITs (ProLogis).
I end this section by comparing FFO breakdown into 3 components core portfolio, fund management
fee and incentive and merchant development gains for industrial and retail REITs. I found industrial
REITs FFO relies heavily on merchant development gain than retail REITs. The result is not surprising, as
evidenced by ProLogis external growth being all restored and accumulated in its CDFS business.
ProLogis then makes 80% development gain by contributing 80% equity interest to its managed funds, where
ProLogis maintains 20% interest.
What is Merchant Development?
Merchant development is the business by which REITs develop new properties, but rather than operate them
in their core portfolios, REITs may sell them to investors or sometimes to users (office tenants, mall operator,
hotel operator, or industrial space occupiers).
Kimco Developers, Inc, (KDI) wholly-owned TRS of
Kimco Realty Corporation, provides an activity overview for the merchant development under public REITs.
KDIs primary operating business is to build the retail properties for retailers or for local developers. KDI,
established in 2001, have developed over 12 million square39 feet of retail centers all over the country.
pursues the development of shopping centers with national credit tenants, both on Kimcos balance sheet and
through joint ventures with local developers. KDIs income is generated from the gain on sale of
development properties. The income is volatile, depending on the amount of assets sold and price achieved
above cost.
Development figures cited from http://www.kimcodevelopers.com/about.asp , accessed on July 8, 2008.
ProLogis Corporate Distribution Facilities Services (CDFS)
Corporate Distribution Facilities Services (CDFS) segment of ProLogis is the largest industrial merchant
developer in the US. CDFS originates from ProLogis customers who wanted ProLogis to build them a
industrial facilities for a fee. With the formation of ProLogis European Property Fund (1999) and ProLogis
California Fund (1999), ProLogis development activity was classified as CDFS. In European, European
Property Fund was structured to take out every stabilized built-out facility, subject to the property meeting
certain leasing and other criteria. The full description ProLogis European Fund is provided as following40:
ProLogis is obligated to contribute stabilized developed properties in certain specified markets in Europe to
ProLogis European Properties Fund, subject to the property meeting certain leasing and other criteria through
With the evolution of past few years, today CDFS segment of ProLogis represents41:
Development of real estate properties that are subsequently contributed to a property fund in which
ProLogis has an ownership interest and act as manager, or sold to third parties.
To acquire properties with the intent to rehabilitate and/or reposition the property prior to it being
contributed to a property fund.
To acquire a portfolio of properties with the intent of contributing the portfolio to an existing or future
property fund.
To engage in other development activities directly and through joint ventures in which ProLogis invest.
CDFS Assets Are Not Depreciated
Gains on real estate sales, according to NAREITs FFO measures, should be excluded.
NAREITs FFO
measures adjust GAAP net earnings to exclude historical cost depreciation and gains/losses from the sales of
previously deprecated assets42. ProLogis addresses this issue by not depreciating the assets (either newly
developed or acquired) in CDFS business segment. Any gain and loss over its historical book cost goes into
ProLogis CDFS calculation. This accounting treatment has long been an argument within the industry and
NAREIT for the past few years. I will elaborate this topic in Section 6.2 (The Future of Public
REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund).
ProLogis 2002 10K, page70.
ProLogis 2007 10K, page 8.
Excerpt from page 3 of ProLogis 2005 annual report.
ProLogis Business Model Industrial REIT
Figure 4.1, in my view, well summarizes ProLogis business model.
There are three business elements
merchant building, core portfolio and fund management.
Figure 4.1: ProLogis Business Model
Source: ProLogis NAREIT Presentation, June 4, 2008
ProLogis builds distribution properties, and contributes to its managed property funds, once the properties
are stabilized. A portion of development profits (typically 20%) is co-invested into the Funds. ProLogis
manages the property fund earning fund management fees as well as the proportional net operating income
for the properties held in the Funds.
The 80% capital is recycled into the next development projects.
In my view, ProLogis fund management (i.e. private capital) is very strategic to its business growth. In 1999,
ProLogis decided that public capital market is not likely to provide additional capital to fund their business
growth (similar to the rational of Kimco and DDR in 1998-2000).
ProLogis decided to access capital to
defined investment objectives by carving out the existing portfolio, properties in California for example; or
taking out newly developed properties in each specific country (Japan, Europe, Korea and etc) and recycle its
capital into new projects. By doing so, ProLogis continues to use the same resources to generating a fee
income to its fund management business. ProLogis typically maintains 20% ownership in each ProLogis
managed funds.
Figure 4.2: ProLogis FFO Breakdown of Core Portfolio, Merchant Gain and Asset Mgt Fee
Source of FFO
$ Mn
Core Portfolio
Fund Mgt Fee
Merchant Gain (CDFS)
Source: Page 6, Citigroup Research, 1Q 2008 Result on ProLogis, April 24, 2008.
Figure 4.2 illustrates the breakdown of ProLogis FFO (2006 actual, 2007 actual, 2008 est.). Merchant gain
(CDFS) and fund management fee together accounts 75% of its annual FFO. ProLogis number is
observed as the highest in the REIT industry. The same number for AMBs case is at 55% for 2007 (in
Figure 4.3). ProLogis is highly regarded as the best merchant developer and fund manager in the public
REIT arena.
Figure 4.3: AMB FFO Breakdown of Core Portfolio, Merchant Gain and Asset Mgt Fee
Private Capital Fee
Development Profits
Source: Page 6, Citigroup Research, 1Q 2008 Result on PLD, April 16, 2008.
Regency Center Business Model Retail REIT
I want to investigate if leading REIT
managers business model would be
different between industrial REITs and
retail REITs.
Figure 4.4: Regency Center Business Model
I examine this topic by looking into the
business model of Regency Center in
Figure 4.4.
I find that Regency Center has the similar
business model as ProLogis three key
elements.
1). Core Portfolio
2). Merchant Development
3). Co-Investment Partnership
Source: Regency Center, 1Q 2008 Analyst Meeting Material
Regency Centers, in 1Q 2008 Analyst Meeting slides, also discussed how its co-investment partnership has
made its capital recycling possible, and to minimize its requirement for new equity.
Regency stated, Since
2000, Regencys over $8.0 Bn investment has less than 5% funded by new equity, as illustrated in Figure 4.5
Figure 4.5: Funding Sources and Investment Uses for Regency Center (2000-2007)
Development Completions and In-Process Developments
Acquisitions and Partnership Contributions
Total Investment Uses
Property and Outparcel Sales
Partnership Capital
Debt, Preferred, Free Cash Flow
Common Equity and Units Total Sources
Total Sources
Source: Regency Company presentation on 1Q 2008.
FFO Component Comparison for Industrial and Retail REIT
Figure 4.6 shows Regency Centers FFO breakdown in three elements during 2004-2007. Kindly note that
property NOI from typical 20-30% ownership of Regency managed funds (total fund gross assets at 07YE is
$4,664 Mn) is also included as part of core portfolio income. The statistics suggest that merchant
development gain is a little volatile, but it does provide significant FFO contribution (20% in 2007) to
Regency Center as a public REIT. Asset management fee also had grown to a level of 10% of its total
annual FFO since 2006.
Figure 4.6: Regency FFO Breakdown
Merchant Development
Source: 4Q 2005-2007 Financial Supplement, Regency Center
The combination of asset management fee and merchant development gains account 29.5% of 2007 Regency
FFO, which is the highest among 4 studied retail REITs (illustrated in Figure 4.7). The same average
number for 4 retail REITs stands at 18.90%.
Figure 4.7: 2007 FFO Breakdown for 4 Retail REIT Managers
Kimco *
Merchant Development Gain
* Core Portfolio of Kimco Realty also includes income from Kimco Preferred Equity, Kimco Exchange Place and Kimco Select
Investment and Retail Property Solutions.
Source: WRI, KIM, Regency, DDR 4Q 2007 Financial Supplement
Figure 4.8 provides the 2007 FFO breakdown for 3 industrial REIT managers.
The average number for
fund management and merchant development reached 13.1% and 51.5% respectively. On merchant
development gains, the 51.5% average for industrial REITs is substantially higher the average 11.2% of four
retail REIT managers.
Figure 4.8: 2007 FFO Breakdown for 3 Industrial REIT Managers
Fund Mgt Fee and Incentive
Source: ProLogis, AMB, First Industrial 4Q 2007 Financial Supplement
In summary, ProLogis and Regency Center, the two leading fund managers in public REIT arena, have
provided good frameworks to look into their merchant building, core portfolio and fund management that, in
my view, is the three indispensible components for the success of public REITs private equity business.
Why Merchant Development Gain Accounts >50% FFO for Industrial REITs?
In my view, growth of public REITs FFO can come from internal and external drivers.
driver includes occupancy growth and NOI growth from same-store properties, which will be condensed in
core portfolio growth. External driver includes merchant development and fund management income.
I found industrial REITs FFO (51.5% of FFO) relies heavily on merchant development gain than retail
REITs (11.2%). The result is not surprising, as evidenced by ProLogis external growth being all restored
and accumulated in its CDFS business.
In addition, the finding can also be supported by the fact that an
industrial facility is more a single tenant tailor-made than retail one.
Industrial merchant developers, such as ProLogis, can take the order from the clients first before the
development projects rolling into ProLogis development platform.
Project inception to completion and
stabilization (selling to Fund) takes 1-2 year time frame as ProLogis described.
Conventional distinction between REITs and other real estate companies is that a REIT must acquire and
develop its properties primarily to operate then as part of its own portfolio, rather than to resell them once
they are developed.
However, given the fact that REITs are required to dividend out 90% net income
(around 50-70% FFO) and reserve little capital on balance sheet to deploy new projects, I have observed
leading REITs to capitalize on merchant development and fund management as part of REITs key strategies.
I will further examine the impact of merchant development-skewed FFO from the regulatory perspective in
Section 6.2 (The Future of Public REITs Private Capital Fund).
In this section, I demonstrate the valuation creation by 1). One-time off merchant development gain and, 2).
Contributing 80% interest to a REIT private capital fund.
Firstly, I start with a three-year development project and exit as an example.
Second, I shorten the merchant
development into a two-year project in order to better reflect the industrial facilities development nature for
ProLogis. Third, I model ProLogis business logic to contribute 80% equity interest to the fund and defer
20% gain after a 9-yr fund exit.
I demonstrate return on invested capital for a total 11-year project life
(2-yr development project plus 9-year fund life) lower than a 2-3 year development projects but substantially
higher than the parent REITs Return on Equity (ROE).
In addition, I make a comparison table for private real estate and public REIT, and show the value driver for
these two segments of real estate business. I then examine the NAV breakdown of AMB to understand
how Wall Street values various price multiples on NOI form core portfolios, private capital income, merchant
building income, and NOI from unconsolidated JVs. These 4 assigned capitalization rates may also reflect
capital markets view on the risk profile for these four income sources.
Valuation Creation via Merchant Development
Figures 4.9 assumes a development project with following nature: total development cost $500 Mn, funded by
60% equity and 40% debt, a 9% stabilized yield on development cost, and a 6% exit cap rate (as of 2Q 2008
market data). Capitalizing the stabilized $45 Mn NOI at 6%, the development sale price can reach $750 Mn.
This project provides $250 Mn value creation and 1.83 return on equity invested, equivalent to 22.4% IRR.
Figure 4.9: Valuation Creation via Merchant Development (3-yr project)
Development Delivery Cost ($ Mn)
a portfolio of properties assumed
Debt (Principal and Interest payment)
Stabilized Yield on Development Cost
Avg. of Kimco, DDR, ProLogis at 4Q 2007 Reports
Stabilized NOI Yield on Cost ($ Mn)
= $500 Mn * 9%
Exit Cap Rate
1Q 2008 Market
Development Sales Price
= NOI/ Exit Cap Rate
= Sales Price - Development Delivery Cost
Return on Equity Invested (X)
= (Sales Price - Debt)/ Equity Invested
IRR (%)
Assuming 3 years projects (2 year ground development
plus 1 year stabilized)
I extend the model into a 2-year development to simulate the business nature of ProLogis industrial
portfolio build-out in Figure 4.10. Using the same yield parameters, the IRR could be enhanced to 35.4%.
Figure 4.10: Valuation Creation via Merchant Development (2-yr project)
Stabilized NOI Yield on Cost
Contributing Cap Rate
2 years project assumed; ProLogis' case for industrial
product build-up
Valuation Creation via Merchant Development into Fund
I created three separate calculations in Figure 4.11 1). Gross Asset Value at Fund Inception, 2). Earnings
Calculation for Asset Sale to Fund and 3). Exit at Fund Life's End, T=9 in order to better demonstrate a
valuation creation process via a 2-year merchant development, merchant development gain into the fund, and
9-year fund management life and exit at Yr 11.
1). Gross Asset Value at Fund Inception: Gross asset value at fund inception is $750 Mn, i.e., the
development sales price at Figure 4.10. With the fund platform, the leverage ratio is assumed at 60%,
20% higher than 40% assumed at parent REIT level shown in Figure 4.19 and 4.10. Thus, $300 Mn equity
capitalization is required for this $750 Mn fund portfolio. ProLogis seeks 80% external equity money ($240
Mn) from investors. $240 Mn is also shown at Figure 4.12 as 80% asset ownership sales to fund investors.
ProLogis charges 80 bps for fund management fee and no fund incentive fee is considered in this simplified
model. Annual fund management will be $1.92 Mn (=$240 Mn investor equity * 0.80%). For the Funds
cost of debt, I assume 5% by using ProLogis credit. Annual fund interest expense will be $22.5 Mn (=$450
Mn debt * 5.0%).
2). Earnings Calculation for Asset Sale to Fund: Development sales value is assumed $750 Mn, net of
$500 Mn total development cost, $250 development gains recorded.
Total $250 Mn development gain can
be split $200 Mn for the 80% sale to the Fund and $50 Mn as deferred gain for ProLogis. Only $200 Mn
development gain recognized at Asset Sales to Fund at T=2.
3). Exit at Fund Life's End, T=9: I assumed 0% capital gain, by using same cap rate for exit and NOI
$45 Mn (zero NOI growth assumed). $750 Mn disposition price equals to development sales value when
project portfolio is sold to Fund at T=2. Fund-level exit gain $300 Mn achieved after repayment of debt
principal $450 Mn. Exit gain then splits into Investors $240 Mn (80%) and $60 Mn (20%) for ProLogis.
Figure 4.11: REIT's IRR (from Project Inception, Contributing to Fund and a 9-yr Fund Life)
Gross Asset Value at Fund Inception
$45 Mn NOI/ Contributing Cap Rate 6.0%
REIT Equity
Investor Equity
Est. Fund Mgt Fee (bps)
Annual Mgt Fee Income
ProLogis' number, 1Q 2008 data point
Property NOI
Property Yield
= $45 Mn/ $750 Mn gross asset value
Assumed at fund life's end, T=9
Assumed, by using REIT's credit
$450 Mn debt * 5.0%
Annual Fund Interest Expense
$500 Mn development cost * 9%
Earnings Calculation for Asset Sale to Fund
Development Sales Value
Less: Total Development Cost
Development Gain
Gain Recognized (80%)
Development Gain* 80% Sale
Deferred Gain (20%)
Reduction in ProLogis' basis in Fund
Disposition Price
Stable $45 Mn NOI/ 6.0% Exit Cap
Less: Debt Principal Repayment
Fund-level Exit Gain
Exit at Fund Life's End, T=9
Proceeds to Investors
Proceeds for REIT
Assumed 0% Capital Gain, by using same cap rate for
exit and NOI $45 Mn
Footnote: No fund incentive fees considered in the model
Source: the Authors calculation based on p. 17, Simplified Example of Capital Recycling Model of ProLogis, NAREIT
Week Presentation on June 4, 2008
Figure 4.12 shows an 11-yr project lifes IRR at 26.9%. It is assumed a 2-year development project and a
9-yr fund life starting from asset sales to Fund.
Detailed calculation is explained below.
At Yr 0, ProLogis (the REIT) incurs $300Mn equity investment cost. At Yr 2, ProLogis recognizes
development gain of $200 Mn and 80% asset ownership sales to fund investors of $240 Mn. As 20% equity
ownership to the Fund, ProLogis can accrue $9.0 property NOI per year (=$45 Mn * 20%) and $1.92Mn
annual fund management fee.
In the same time, ProLogis needs to pay 20% annual interest expense at $4.5
Mn (=$450 Mn * 5.0% * 20%).
For fund disposition, ProLogis can be allocated of $60 Mn gain (=20% * $300 Mn fund level exit) and
recognize $50 Mn deferred gain at the exit of total project.
Figure 4.12: Sample IRR for REIT (from Project Inception, Contributing to Fund and a 9-yr Fund Exit)
Project Life ($ Mn)
Yr 0
Equity Investment Cost
Development Gain Recognized (80% Sale)
80% Asset Ownership Sale to Fund Investors
Property NOI (20% to REIT)
Interest Expense (20% incurred to REIT)
Fund Mgt Fee Income
Disposition Proceeds for REIT
Deferred Gain Recognized
Net Cashflow
T=1 T=2 T=3 T=4 T=5 T=6 T=7
Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7 Yr 8 Yr 9 Yr 10
Yr 11
(4.5) (4.5) (4.5) (4.5) (4.5) (4.5) (4.5)
1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92
This simulated IRR return is less than 35.4% IRR of direct property sale in the previous 2-year life example
(Figure 4.10). But it does say in the longer time frame (11-yr), ProLogis can earn 26.9% IRR on equity
investment cost of $300 Mn vs. two-year at 35.4% IRR through one-time off merchant gain. This 26.9%
return on invested capital is actually higher than the 7 studied leading REITs ROE at 6-10% (2007 figures in
Figure 4.13). 2007 ProLogis ROE of 14.6% ranks the highest among the 7 studied REITs.
Figure 4.13: 2007 ROA and ROE for 7 Studied REITs
7 REITs Avg
Return on Average Assets
Return on Average Equity
Equity Asset Ratio
Source: Google Finance on July 15, 2008.
Using this numerical example, I have demonstrated how lucrative of fund management segment (i.e.
private capital) under public REITs can be.
The IRR-enhancement, as demonstrated, can come from the
following five elements.
1). A pre-determined price for development project exit the most important part!
2). A gearing increase from 40% (of Development Cost) at parent REIT level to 60% (of Development
Sales Value) at fund level, thus equity capital recycled for the parent REIT.
3). Sale of typical 80% equity to external investors
4). Fund management income (yet modeling the incentive fee).
5). Future NOI growth for higher fund exit value (assuming no exit cap rate gain)
Cashflow Comparison between Private Property Market and Public REIT Market
Figure 4.14, combined from David Geltner et al. (2007) and Merrill Lynch43, provides a good summary of the
cashflow comparison between private property market and public REIT market. Private property market
valuation is based on NOI/ Cap Rate, which is different from public REIT market on Share Price =
(AFFO/Share) * (P/AFFO Multiple) or other yield spread metrics listed in Figure 4.14.
Figure 4.14: Cashflow Comparison between Private Property Mkt and Public REIT Market
Private Property Market
Annual Cash Flows from Operations
Public REIT Market
Effective Gross Income (EGI)
- Operating Expenses (OEs)
= Net Operating Income (NOI)
- Capital Improvement Expenditure (CI)
= Property-before-tax Cash Flow (PBTCF)
- Corporate Overhead (G&A Expense)
= EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortization)
- Debt Service (DS)
=Equity-before-tax Cash Flow (EBTCF)
- Interest
= Funds from Operation (FFO)
- Adjustment for Straight-line Rents
- Amortization of Mortgage Debt
= Adjusted Funds from Operation (AFFO)
Asset Value = NOI/ Cap Rate
Share Price = (AFFO/Share) * (P/AFFO Multiple)
Share Price = (NAV/Share) * (Premium to NAV)
Yield Spread REIT dividend yield vs 10-year Treasury Yield
Yield Spread REIT dividend yield vs. BBB Corporate Bonds
Net Asset Value = REIT Assets Value (as valued in property market *)
REIT Liabilities**
No. Shares Outstanding
* As estimated by REIT analyst, e.g.: mass appraisal:
Divide REIT holdings into major market segments (e.g., Offices in Boston, Warehouses in Chicago);
Identify NOI (like EBITDA) associated with each segment;
Estimate current property market prevailing cap rates in each segment;
Apply estimated cap rates to estimated NOI to estimate asset value in each segment.
Add and adjust for:(i)Land holdings and construction in progress;(ii)Non-asset based earnings (e.g., prop.mgt
fees) using estimated P/E ratio.
** Theoretically should be market value of debt (often book value used in practice).
Source: David Geltner et al. (2007); Merrill Lynch (June 2, 2008)
Nuts & Bolts: REIT Primer #3 Page 14, Merrill Lynch, June 2, 2008.
Price/Multiples for Various Income Streams of a Public REIT
In Figure 4.15, I examine AMBs NAV breakdown, as estimated by Citigroup Research (2008). Citigroup
broke the private real estate value into 4 components (1). NOI form core portfolios, (2). Private capital
income, (3). Merchant building income, and (4). NOI from unconsolidated JV. Citigroup also assigned
different capitalization rates for these 4 income streams 6.5% (15.3x price earnings multiple) for NOI and
NOI from unconsolidated JV, 10.0% (10.0x) for private capital income and 25% (4.0x) for merchant building
These 4 assigned capitalization rates also reflected Citigroups view toward the risk return profile
for these four income sources.
Figure 4.15: AMB Net Asset Value
($ in thousands, except per share data)
Net Operating Income
Assumed Capitalization Rate *
Private Market Value of Consolidated Properties
Assumed Capitalization Rate
Value of Management Income
Merchant Building Income
Value of Merchant Building Income
NOI from Unconsolidated JV
Market Value of Unconsolidated Properties
Development Pipeline - Costs to date
Land Held for Future Development
Development Projects for Held for Sale
Total Cash and Equivalents
Accounts Receivable and Other Assets
Private Market Value of Assets
AMB's share of total debt
Perpetual Preferred Stock
-$3,832,860
Private Net Market Value of Assets
Diluted Shares and OP Units Outstanding
Net Asset Value per Share
Premium/Discount to NAV
Implied Cap Rate
* "Spot Rate" NAV estimates 6.50% Cap Rate on 1Q08
Source: Citigroup Investment Research on AMB, April 16, 2008.
I will further use the same methodology to discuss the true value of private capital income and merchant
development in Section 6.2 (Shall or Will ProLogis to Turn into a Fund Management Company?).
Moodys Analytical Framework for Property Investment Structures
Moodys (January 2006) provides a similar analytical framework and set the guidelines to evaluate a REIT
company, as shown in Figure 4.16.
Moodys defines Joint Ventures as project-level joint venture and Moodys views it less risky than real estate
fund business. Real Estate Funds, in Moodys definition, can be either single-partner JV or commingled
funds that I have covered throughout the thesis. Moodys assigns higher risk profile in real estate funds due
to his concern on Fund business is new to REITs and have not yet been proven as sustainable businesses.
For merchant building gains, Moodys takes haircut to reflect volatility of this source of cash flow.
Figure 4.16: Analytical Framework for Property Investment Structures
Merchant Building
Growth trajectory of revenues as percentage of total revenues; analyze stability
Income from development fees and gains is haircut to reflect volatility of this source of cash
flow; over time and with stronger track record, these reductions can be reduced
Fund business is new to REITs and have not yet been proven as sustainable businesses
As a track record is created, a rising portion of these revenues would count as recurring
Assets on balance sheet are illiquid, not leverageable.
Balance sheet and income statements are analyzed on a pro rata consolidated basis
If the JV is strategic to the REITs overall business, we fully consolidate
Viewed as less risky than fund businesses
Non-domestic
Subject to a high level of scrutiny, additional worries include skill base of REIT, FX and tax risks,
and liquidity
Source: Moodys rating methodology, page 15, January 2006.
In my view, Moodys has truly indicated the volatile business nature of merchant development in this field.
The analytical framework for merchant building, provided by Moody, is also helpful to the industry.
Investors Perspective
5.1 Structure Diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund
5.2 Choice between Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate
5.3 Evolving Role of Real Estate Investment Manger
In Chapter 5, I follow the analysis of Chapter 3 (Characterization of Private Capital Funds under Public
REITs) and Chapter 4 (Merchant Development under Public REITs) by taking investors perspective and
exploring how and why these public-sponsored private capital fund to meet the objectives of institutional
investors.
In Section 5.1, I create a structure diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund and discuss the
following four topics in order to understand how and why these public-sponsored private capital funds are
structured.
1. Pension Funds New Allocation to Public REITs Private Capital in 2007- 2008 1Q (Flow Concept)
2. Pension Funds and REIMs Investment Allocation in Public REITs Private Capital (Stock Concept)
3. Why are REIMs the Preferred Choice for Pension Funds?
4. REIMs JV Partner Selection Different from Pension Fund?
In Section 5.2, I further investigate 1) What are the factors determining allocation between public real estate
and private real estate, and 2) Why are REITs private capital funds may be a wise choice if institutional
investors feel that there is a greater value in private real estate than public real estate.
I will also discuss the
analytical comparison tools for Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate in Appendix 10.
In Section 5.3, I examine the following topics in order to understand the role of real estate investment
manager in the public REITs private capital fund business.
1 Convention Role of REIMs
2. Product Lines of Top REIMs
3. Expanded REIMs Role
4. Historical REIT Sector M&A Activity
5. Performance of Real Estate Investment Manger
6. Why Public REITs Private Capital for Pension Fund?
Structure Diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund
In Chapter 3, I have identified major investors in this field (pension funds and REIMs), and explained the
deal angel/rational for three participants (public REITs, pension funds, and REIMs) in this field. I have
thus created the structure diagram for public-sponsored private capital fund in Figure 5.1. In this section,
I further investigate the following 4 topics.
1. Pension Funds New Allocation to REITs Private Capital in 2007- 2008 1Q
2. Investment Allocation of Pension Funds and REIMs in REITs Private Capital
3. Are REIMs the Preferred Choice for Pension Funds?
4. REIMs JV Partner Selection Different from Pension Funds?
Figure 5.1: Structure Diagram for Public-sponsored Private Capital Fund
Pension funds may add real estate exposure mostly through four channels: 1). Direct property acquisition, 2).
Investment in public REIT shares; 3) Investment with real estate investment managers (either in the real
estate funds or via separate accounts); 4). Investment in REIT-sponsored private capital fund.
REIMs may also acquired direct properties themselves or through JV and fund strategies like REITs private
capital funds in four major types of investment public REITs, property portfolio, stabilized properties
and development projects.
Some large-sized public REITs, such as such as Simon Property and Vornado
Realty, also make these four major types of investment without setting up their own private capital funds. In
this Section, in order to make our analysis simplified, I exclude REIMs and public REITs direct investment in
four major types of investment.
In order to understand the real estate fund allocation for pension funds, I examined a study from Real Estate
(2008) and see how much new real estate equity was allocated through Separate Account/JV
Partnership and Commingled Fund during 1Q2007~1Q2008.
These two investment vehicles can be
managed by either REIMs or public RETs private capital.
Figure 5.2 shows pension funds real estate fund investment in 2007-20081Q. Total real estate fund
investment by pension funds during the studied period is $36.2 Bn, of which $29.95 Bn (82.7%) went into
commingled funds and $6.23 Bn (17.3%) went to separate accounts/JV partnership. The average
investment size for separate account/JV partnership is $160.9 Mn, 55% larger than the average of $104.0 Mn
for commingled fund. The data suggests pension funds much more prefer commingled funds as their real
estate fund investment vehicles.
Figure 5.2: Pension Funds Real Estate Fund Investment (2007-20081Q)
# of Investments
Avg Size ($ Mn)
Separate Account/ JV Partnership
Total Real Estate Fund Investment
Source: the Authors calculation based on Real Estate Alert (2008)
Pension Funds New Allocation to this Field in 2007- 2008 1Q (Flow Concept)
Only two separate accounts/ JV partnership with public REITs were noted in 1Q 2007 ~ 1Q 2008.
CalSTRS made two single-partner JV partnership funds with First Industrial total $265 Mn (Please refer to
Appendix 7). Ohio State Teachers made one $ 100 Mn investment in Regency Retail Partners, managed by
Regency Centers. (Please refer to Appendix 8). Surprisingly, among Pension funds total 1Q07~1Q08 real
estate allocation of $36,222 Mn, only $365 Mn (=$265 Mn + $100 Mn from two deals above) or 1.01% was
made in REITs private capital business.
Please refer to Appendix 8 for 2007 New Separate Accounts/ JV Partnership in 2007 and Appendix 9 for 2007 New Commitments to
Commingled Fund.
Pension Funds and REIMs Investment Allocation in this Field (Stock Concept)
How much real estate was allocated from pension funds and REIMs to the studied 7 REITs private capital
considered in this thesis? I am unable to show such statistics because there is overlapping between pension
funds real estate allocation and REIMs total real estate private equity fund raised.
REIMs actually has
raised mostly of their real estate private equity funds from pension funds. In Figure 5.3, I estimate that total
equity investment from pension funds and from REIMs in this field is at 14.0% and 11.1% respectively.
calculation is derived from through following steps (shown in Figure 5.3):
1). Equity investment from pension funds and REIMs in public REITs Private Capital: $22.03 Bn
$22.03 Bn = Total Gross Fund Asset $55.1 Bn* 50% assumed Debt Asset Ratio * 80% assumed Equity
Holding from Pension Funds and REIMs
2). Total Pension Funds Real Estate Allocation45: $ 157.0 Bn
3). Real Estate Private Equity Fund Raised 1998 - 2007 1H46: $ 197.7 Bn (E&Y Statistics47)
4). % of Pension Funds Real Estate Allocation in Public REITs' Private Capital: 14.0%
(=Total Pension Funds Real Estate Allocation/ Equity Investment in Public REITs Private Capital)
5). % of REIMs Investment in Public REITs' Private Capital: 11.1%
(=Real Estate Private Equity Fund Raised 1998 - 2007 1H/ Equity Investment in Public REITs Private Capital)
Figure 5.3: Pension Funds and REIMs Investment Allocation in Public REITs Private Capital
Total Gross Fund Asset of 7 REITs Private Capital Funds, 07YE
50% Equity Assumed (50% Debt Asset Ratio)
80% Equity Holding from Pension Funds and REIMs
Total Pension Fund' Private RE Equity Allocation at 2007 YE
Real Estate Private Equity Fund Raised 1998 - 2007 1H
Amount ($ Mn)
(B)= A*50%
(C)= B*80%
% of Pension Funds Real Estate Allocation in Public REITs' Private Capital (F)=C/D
% of REIMs Investment in Public REITs' Private Capital
(G)=C/E
(1). Refer to Figure 3.1 (Private Capital Business Strategy Summary for 7 Studied REITs)
(2). Derived from assets holdings of 2,814 plan sponsor, total assets $6,337.6 Bn, 2.5% in RE equity, PREA (2007).
(3). "Market outlook: Trends in the RE private equity industry", page 1, Ernst & Young (2007).
Source: the Author's Calculation based on PREA (2007) and Ernst & Young (2007)
$157.0 Bn figure from PREA (2007) is quite close to $144.3Bn real estate holdings from top 50 public pension funds at 2007 year-end at Figure
5.5 (sourced from Real Estate Alert (2008).
Real estate private equity funds raised during 1998-20071H is an accumulated flow concept, equivalent to a stock concept used to
describe how much real estate private equity funds capital supply in the market on June 30, 2007 (a particular day), assuming these funds all
have 10-year fund life.
The author understands there is overlapping between real estate private equity funds raised and pension funds real estate allocation.
Because pension funds also make investment in these real estate private equity funds raised during E&Y studied period. The purpose of this
calculation is to show the magnitude difference between pension funds real estate allocation and real estate private equity funds raised.
In summary,
1).Flow Concept: Pension funds new real estate fund allocation to the studied 7 REITs private capital in
2007- 2008 1Q was only at 1.0% of pension funds total real estate fund investment of $36.2 Bn; the
remaining 99% went real estate investment managers.
2).Stock Concept: The estimated allocation from pension fund and REIMs to the 7 studied leading REITs
private capital business is at 11.1-14.0% range from either pension funds or REIMs real estate statistics.
Why REIMs is the Preferred Choice for Pension Funds?
Why pension funds make so much less JV/Fund investment with public REITs than REIMs? I compare
public REITs private capital and REIMs in Figure 5.4 along a number of dimensions. The important
differences are: 1) REIMs have more generalists and specialists, 2) REIMs have more product flexibility, 3)
Very few private capital fund products available from leading public REITs.
Figure 5.4: Pension Funds JV/Fund Investment with Public REITs vs. with REIMs
Public REITs Private Capital
RE Investment Manager
Mostly Core, VA; few Opportunistic fund
Fund products (Core, VA, and Opportunistic fund)
and separate accounts
Fund Raising Cyclicality
Less, but in most case restricted to its
existing portfolio size or development
Highly cyclical
Limited Role
Can do macro-level advisory or project level
Can do single partner JV and commingled
More varieties
Organization Limitation
Constrained by REIT Ruling and Code
Much less
Fee Charge
# of Good Investment
Much less. Only a handle of leading REITs in
Abundant in both generalist and specialist REIMs
each sector
Co-investing Opportunity
and Side Fund
Not seen
Could be structured
Buy-sell Provision
Very commonly used in single-partner JV.
REIT has average 20% equity in JV/fund.
Not commonly used.
REIM usually has equity stake less than 5% in the
managed fund
In REIMs, there are many good generalists and specialists (please refer to Section 5.3 Evolving Role of Real
Estate Investment Mangers). However, in the public REIT arena, some sector leaders have very limited
JV/Fund management programs, such as Simon Property (retail), Avalon Bay Communities (residential),
Boston Properties (office), Vornado Realty48 (diversified), and Public Storage (self-storage).
The industrial
REIT sector is the only exception to this phenomenon. The top three industrial REITs (ProLogis, AMB
and First Industrial) all have significant activities for JV/Fund management programs. Therefore, I surmise
that that pension funds may not feel comfortable investing with a public REIT which has a limited track
record in managing private capital business, and maintains FFO growth in the parent REIT.
REIMs have more product flexibility than REITs private capital.
Pension funds are not commonly involved
in single-partner JV deals with public REITs until they have made substantial direct real estate investment and
accumulated relatively larger percentage of real estate allocation.
A series of single-partner JV fund between
CalSTRS and First Industrial is one example that pension funds must have substantial real estate allocation
before they move to next level single-partner JV funds with public REITs.
In Figure 5.5, I observed
CalSTRS has $18.35 Bn (=$7.12 Bn + $11.23 Bn) real estate holding plus commitment at 2007YE, equivalent
to 10.6% of its $173.7 Bn total assets.
For Figure 5.5, I take an excerpt of Real Estate Alerts publication on March 31, 2008.49 Those real estate
figures exclude REIT shares, timber and agriculture. Calpers (California Public Employees' Retirement
System), New York State Teachers, CalSTRS, New York Common Fund, and Ohio Teachers are the major
fund investors I have identified in this field (as discussed in Chapter 3). These pension funds all have
substantial real estate direct ownership and commingled fund investment experience either with REIMs or
public REITs.
Figure 5.5: Top 50 Public Pension Funds Based on Real Estate Holdings (As of March 31, 2008)
Pension Name
RE*
Net Chg
RE Holdings Holding plus
CommitDirect
ComHolding in Holding
as % of
Commit- ment
ment at
Owner- mingled
at 07YE
in 07'
Total Assets as % of Total
07YE
Assets at 07YE
Calpers
$263,000 $17,978 $2,050
New York State Teachers
Florida State Board
Washington State Investment Board
California State Teachers (CalSTRS)
New York Common Fund
Ohio State Teachers
Michigan Retirement
Pennsylvania Public School Employees
Illinois Teachers
Los Angeles County Employees
Vornado Realty, in my view, also sits on the other spectrum of public REITs. Vornado basically has evolved into a REIT investment holding
company, and has various project-levels JVs (rather than fund JV programs) and investment subsidiaries.
Available at http://www.realert.com/Public/MarketPlace/Ranking/index.cfm?files=disp&article_id=1044685626. Accessed on
Massachusetts Pension Reserves
Oregon Public Employees
Wisconsin Investment
Ohio Public Employees
Colorado Public Employees
Virginia Retirement
Pennsylvania State Employees
Iowa Public Employees
Texas Teachers
New York City Retirement
Alaska Public Employees and Teachers
San Francisco Employees
New Jersey State Investment
Alabama Teachers
Illinois State Board
Maryland State Retirement
Nevada Public Employees
Louisiana Teachers
Tennessee Consolidated Retirement
Missouri Public School Employees
Ohio School Employees
Minnesota State Board
Ohio Police & Fire
Los Angeles Fire & Police
Hawaii Employees
Chicago Public School Teachers
Sacramento County Employees
Alabama Employees
San Bernardino County Employees
Illinois Municipal
Kansas Public Employees
Arkansas Teachers
Los Angeles City Employees
Arizona State Retirement
Orange County Employees
Mississippi Public Employees
New Mexico Permanent Funds
San Diego County Employees
2,470,854 144,287 35,622
Real estate figures exclude REIT shares, timber and agriculture.
Source: Real Estate Alert, March 31, 2008
In addition, while pension fund are selecting REIT fund partners, they look into not only the fund product
itself, but also the parents balance sheet strength and any other prior engagement with other pension funds
or REIMs as well.
In my observation, taking CalSTRS vs. First Industrial for example, CalSTRS must have
considered the factor First Industrial has no prior-engagement with other institutional investors. Or say, the
JV relationship between CalSTRS and First Industrial can be further strengthened along the timeline.
In industrial REIT area, there were two close relationships observed between GIC Real Estate and AMB in
US or GIC Real Estate and ProLogis in international markets. First Industrial is the third largest
industrial REIT in terms of development pipeline and market capitalization.
It seems that CalSTRS may
have paired with First Industrial because there were no other strong enough industrial REITs left for
CalSTRS selection.
Buy-sell Provision More Consideration Required for REITs Private Capital
In Figure 5.4, I also mentioned that buy-sell provision in public REITs private capital fund may also affect
pension funds investment decision.
Pension funds also need to consider the implication of the buy-sell
provision when investing with public REITs private capital funds.
In terms of buy-sell provision, a typical REITs take-out fund has been seen to be structured as either 7-10
years life or perpetual. Sometimes, a buy-sell provision, which provides that either pary can sell its
respecitve interest by offering its share to partners; and if no price can be agreed upon, either can sell to a
third party. In som JV/Funds, there are speficied holding horizons and there is a predetermined sort of exit
strategy which is either they will go to the market, or one of the JV partners has the opportuntiy to buy at an
appraised value.
Both these two types of buy-sell provisions are commnly seen in REITs single-partner JV.
However, the buy-sell provision mentioned above is not commonly seen in the fund produt of REIMs, as
REIMs typicllay own less than 5% of equity stake in funds. It will be difficult for REIMs to exercise any
meaningful buy-sell exit.
The business objective for REIM is to earn fee income and performance fees,
which is no different from REITs private capital. REITs private capital, however, has other key busines
objective that is to support the parent REITs contiune growth of FFO. Therefore, pension funds need to
consider this factor when they are investing with REITs private capital funds.
REIMs JV Partner Selection Different from Pension Funds?
Are there any difference between pension funds and REIMs with respect to partner selection of public
REITs? In fact, I find no differences. I also examined the case of GE Real Estate. GE Real Estate
reveals how it works for joint venture partner selection in a practical journal50. GE says it has a
tried-and-true method for putting the deal together.
Abrams, Sandra Lea., Joint Ventures on Rise in Real Estate World, Investment Dealers' Digest, Vol. 70 Issue 24, p33-34, June 14, 2004.
Figure 5.6: JV Parter Selection Steps GE Real Estate
First, it identifies a best-in-class operator, one that knows its ways around the industry and has solid track record.
Second, GE Real Estate volunteers to provide the majority of the capital, although the partner, be a real estate company or
REIT, will still put a significant amount of the money as well.
Third, the partnership may make the major decision on what to buy together, but the day-to-day operating decisions are left to
GEs joint venture partner.
Source: Investment Dealers' Digest (June 14, 2004), page 33-34.
According to GE Real Estate, GE can make investment decisions based on REIT partner recommendation
for which property to buy or to hold at which price.
In statitstics for Private Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs presented in Appendix 7, GE has
made two joint ventures with Kimco and AMB respectively. Figure 5.7 suggests that GE did indeed pick up
the best-of-breed REIT partners (Kimco in retail sector and AMB in industrial sector), provided the majority
of capital (80%-85%) and left Kimco/AMB responsible the day-to-day operation.
Figure 5.7: GE Real Estate Investment Fund Summary with Public REITs
Kimco Real Estate
Portfolio (KROP)
AMB DFS Fund I,
in JV Fund Investment
in RE ($ Mn)
GE Equity
To acquire established retail
properties in the U.S. *
To build and sell industrial
na.
Source: Kimco/ AMB 4Q 2007 Supplement Financials
* During Aug 2006, Kimco and GE agreed to market for sale the property portfolio.
The most siginifcant difference that I can discern between REIMs and pension funds in selecting REIT
private capital manager is the cost mark-up51 from REIMs (if REIMs are managing pension funds money).
That is also part of the reason more JV/Fund partnership between REIMs and public REITs are found on
value-added funds and opportunitistic fund.
Please refer to Cost mark-up analysis of REIMs in Section 3.3.
I have identified major investors for REITs private capital funds. In terms of asset allocation for
institutional investors, I further investigate 1) What are the factors determining allocation between public real
estate and private real estate, and 2) Why a REITs private capital fund may be a wise choice if institutional
For questions 1, I examine David Geltner et al. (2007) findings on choice between public real estate and
private real estate. For question 2, I analyze the options available for institutional investors while they
perceive higher private real estate value.
In addition, I provide the analytical tools and key parameters used in deal making in Appendix 10.
Choice between Public REIT and Private Real Estate
David Geltner et al. (2007) made three findings52 about institutional investors allocation between public
REIT and private real estate investment.
1. REITs provide more liquidity than private market investment for average investors, but they also provide
less diversification of a wealth portfolio that is dominated by stocks and bonds. This is because REIT
returns tend of be more highly positively related with stock and bond returns that are private property
2. REITs are the preferred route for small, non-specialized investors who want some real estate in their
3. Larger, more sophisticated investors will typically have the ability, and gain some benefit, from using both
REIT and private market investment vehicles simultaneously in various mixes depending on their
objectives and where they perceive the market to be in terms of the real estate asset market cycle.
Strategic Options for Institutional Investors
If institutional investors perceive higher value in private real estate in next 3 years, what are the strategic
options for them? I observed 5 possible strategic options listed in Figure 5.8 with the action and
comment for each option.
Chapter 23, page 620, David Geltner et al. (2007).
Figure 5.8: Strategic Options for Institutional Investors while Perceiving Higher Value in Private RE
Direct Real Estate
Need to decide a real estate sector first
Require time to acquire direct real estate and build up
in-house staff for acquisition and asset management
Investing in Equity
Buy shares from the open stock exchange
Public REIT in most of time are not proxy for private
real estate exposure
Buyout a Equity REIT
Acquire a public REIT, break up into several Depending on the financial strength of institutional
portfolios and decide which to sell first
investors and also the capital market financing.
Investing with REIM's
To seek new fund available or buy from
secondary real estate limited partnership
New fund might not be readily available in the market;
New fund requires time to build-up portfolio
Either structure single partner JV or invest in
Time-effectiveness, target can be pre-identified.
Investing with a public any new commingled fund. Fund aims at
No need to add in-house staff for real estate
REITs private capital taking out existing portfolio or development
acquisition and asset management
Each option listed in Figure 5.8 has its own merits and costs (or drawbacks) associated with the option taken.
In my observation, investing with a REITs private capital fund for institutional investors may provide the
merits of time effectiveness for capital deployment because of the pre-identified acquisition targets.
Targets could be the take-out of existing stabilized portfolio and development pipeline after stabilization, or
other strategic initiatives that public REITs have identified, such as acquiring a property portfolio from other
REITs or real estate companies, or acquiring other REITs. Institutional investors, therefore, typically do not
have to add in-house real estate staff by investing in this field.
The asset management work, in most cases, is
provided by pubic REITs at cost or at cost plus some mark-up.
Which Private Real Estate Sector to Choose?
Which sector should institutional investors choose in considering adding private real estate exposure? I
address this question by showing the correlation matrix among various real estate property types.
5.953 shows correlation matrix among 5 property types by using NCREIFs databank.
Figure 5.9: Correlation among NCREIF Property Types
Source: Mark Anson et al. (2005)
Anson, Mark J.P., Susan Hudson-Wilson, Frank J. Fabozzi; Privately Traded Real Estate Equity, Journal of Portfolio Management, Real Estate
Special Issue, Fall 2005.
Mark Anson et al. (2005) suggests that even within private real estate, property-type strategy selection is also a
key factor when constructing a private real estate portfolio.
In most cases, if institutional investors (including pension funds and REIMs) do not have sector expertise or
investment experience in certain direct real estate sectors, partnership with leading REITs in they preferred
sectors may be a good strategic option.
Several analytical tools will be provided in Appendix 10 to show the portfolio construction logic that is widely
used among institutional investors. The tools can also be used to make comparison between public real
estate and private real estate.
1. Historical Annual Return Comparison for Equity Products
2. Comparative Total Return Investment Correlation (1997-2007)
3. Six Equity Return Series (1998-2007)
4. NAREIT Equity Return and NCREIFs NPI Index (1978-2007)
5. Private RE Cap Rate and Equity REIT Dividend Yield vs. 10-yr Treasury (Q93 ~ 4Q07)
6. Average Yield Pick-up against 10-yr Treasury
7. NCREIF Return Quarterly Breakdown (1Q97-1Q08)
8. NCREIF Current Value Cap Rates by Property Type (4Q93-1Q08)
9. Yield Pick-up against 10-yr Treasury for Four Property Types (4Q93-1Q08)
10. Index of Commercial Property Value: Private vs. REITs (2002 = 1.00)
11. Market Cap Weighted Price/NAVs for Selected Real Estate Sectors
12. Price/NAVs for Total REIT Average (1996-2008)
First, I investigate the evolution of the REIMs (by size) and their responsibilities and functions. I further
examine the fund style strategy for top 50 REIMs. I found that even within top 50 lists there are some
specialists who only focus one or two product lines for clients.
Second, I examine some opportunity funds target (managed by REIMs) has been further extended into
acquisition of public REITs and real estate operating companies. Investment in REITs private capital funds
for some REIMs is only one type of their investment choices.
Third, I add the 2007 market trend in this section by showing some real estate M&A statistics, as I plan to
explore how REIMs capital market capabilities can afford them the ability to take the entire public REITs
private, particularly in year 2007. REIMs real estate M&A deal size is substantially larger (went well above
$10 Bn in 2007) than the deal done with public REITs private capital funds54.
I conclude this section by examining the performance of REIMs. I find out that bottom 20% fund return
could easily go below zero for value-added and opportunistic funds after adding the cost-to-invest.
This marks a substantial difference for public REITs commingled value-added funds most of these funds
have a good predictable return with low volatility, which I have demonstrated in Section 3.2 (Core-Fund
Is It Really Core? Value-added Fund Is It Really Value-added?).
The largest being Kimcos private capital acquisition on public REITs was at $1.0-$4.0 Bn range in 2006.
Conventional Role of REIMs
David Geltner et al.55 (2007) listed the responsibility and functions of real estate investment managers.
Professional real estate investment management may involve a number of tasks and function, as summarized
in Figure 5.10.
Figure 5.10: Responsibilities and Functions of Real Estate Investment Manager
Investment advisory services
- Advice regarding macro-level real estate investment decisions
- How should client invest in real estate: Strategy (allocation, styles), Tactics (timing,
reallocation, buy/sell), management (vehicles).
- Micro-level function to Search, Find, Diligence, Negotiate/Structure, Close on behalf of the
Asset selection and transaction clients.
- May pursue development project by joint venture with a REIT or private development with
the necessary local expertise and development experience
Investment product
- To offer somewhat standardized "products" or "vehicles" for investors
- Enable underlying physical assets to serve the variety of investment needs and
objectives of a heterogeneous population of investors
- Asset Management: involves the oversight of an entire portfolio of properties; mostly carried
out "in-house".
- Property Management: operational management of physical real estate; often contracted
out to specialized property management firms.
Support functions Communications and
- Gather, analyze information, support investment decision making, firm marketing, client
- Larger investment management firms may have research department, headed by "quant"
type Ph.D, sits as an ex officio voting member on the firm's investment committee.
Source: David Geltner et al. (2007), Appendix for Ch 26, " The Real Estate Investment Management Institutional Landscape"
David Geltner et al. (2007) also states not all investment firms undertake to provide or offer all of the
products or services described here. As a general rule, at least two or three of the previously described
products and services are bundled.
If for separate account clients, REIMs typically provides investment advisory services before the next level of
asset selection and transaction execution. In that case, research support function (led mostly by Ph.D in
leading REIMs, such as ING Clarions Dr. David Lynn and Prudential Real Estate Investors Dr. Youguo
Liang ) may jointly provide advisory services for strategy allocation first.
Product Lines of Top REIMs
Figure 5.11 is the ranking of top REIMs, ranked by tax-exempt real estate assets under management by
Institutional Real Estate Letter, in June 2008. Each managers investment strategy is also listed. Top firms
Referenced from Appendix 26, The Real Estate Investment Management Institutional Landscape.
may cover all three strategies core, value-added and opportunistic funds. There are also some specialty
REIMs.
Presima, for example only invests in global real estate securities. Liquidity Realty Partners, focus
on private real estate secondary investing. Some REIMs also mange product line of public REIT securities,
such as Morgan Stanley, LaSalle Investment Management and Citi Property Investors.
Figure 5.11: Top Real Estate Investment Managers, Ranked by Tax-exempt RE AuM
Fund Style Strategies
Real Estate Investment Manager
Morgan Stanley (1)
JP Morgan Asset Mgt - Real Estate
LaSalle Investment Management
UBS Global Real Estate
RREEF America
Prudential Real Estate Investors
CB Richard Ellis Investors
Principal Real Estate Investors
ING Clarion
INVESCO Real Estate
AEW Capital Management
Macfarlane Partners
Tishman Speyer
Heitman
Rockpoint Group
Apollo Real Estate Investors
Colony Capital
GE Asset Management
Westbrook Partners
Kennedy Associates RE Counsel
Brookfield Asset Management
DRA Advisors
JER Partners
Rockwood Capital
American Realty Advisors
Capri Capital Partners
URDANG
AMB Capital Partners
Sentinel Real Estate Corp.
AFL-CLO Building Investment Trust
BPG Properties Ltd
The Campbell Group
Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors
The Union Labor Life Insurance Co.
L&B Realty Advisors
KBS Realty Advisors
The Tuckerman Group
Transwestern Investment Co.
Washington Capital Management
Sarofim Realty Advisors
McMorgan & Co.
Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.
Presima (2)
Lowe Enterprises Investors
Tax-exempt
RE AuM
Total RE
Waterton Associates
Citi Property Investors
Forum Partners
Liquidity Realty Partners (3)
GEM Realty Capital
Timbervest
BayNorth Capital
Hart Realty Advisors
1). RE AuM represents gross fair market value of real estate asset managed by Morgan Stanley on behalf of the firm and its clients,
presented at direct ownership interest. Excludes real estate-related public equity securities and mutual funds
2). Presima invests in global real estate securities
3). Liquidity Realty is a secondary buyer of real estate fund and partnership interests
Source: Page 43, 44, Institutional Real Estate Letter, June 2008
In terms of private real estate investment product types (in Figure 5.12), most REIMs manage clients money
in closed-end funds, discretionary separate accounts and non-discretionary accounts.
Figure 5.12: Private Real Estate Investment Products and Attributes
Open-End Co-mingled
or Unit Trusts (PUTs)
- On-going portfolio of properties (no finite life)
- Investors can buy in (cash out) at regular frequent intervals (monthly, quarterly).
- Unit value is based on NAV (appraisal-based) of fund, which typically includes some small nonreal-estate holdings (primarily cash).
or Real Estate
("RELP")
- Similar to the open-end product; only the investors cannot cash in and out at will.
- The fund is closed to new investors once it is capitalized, and it faces a finite lifetime at which
point it will be liquidated.
- RELPs marketed to individuals in 1970s and 1980s for tax shelter purpose.
Private REITs
-a structure that facilitated co-investment and active management by the investment manager
- Facilitates ownership transfer, potential IPO (incubator REIT)
- at least 100 shareholders and no five or fewer shareholders can own over 50% outstanding
shares.
Discretionary Separate
- Investor hires investment manager to buy and manage properties on investors behalf, with the
manager having the discretion as to which properties to buy and sell.
- Each separate account is managed on behalf of a single investor, allowing a more
custom-tailored service for larger investors.
- For larger investors.
Non-discretionary
- Same as discretionary separate accounts, only the manager cannot make final property-level
purchase and sale decisions without approval by the client.
- Even larger investors, requires some in-house real estate expertise.
Expanded REIMs Role
In the extreme case of some opportunities funds (managed by REIMs), I observe the investment products
can be further expanded into Figure 5.13.
Figure 5.13: Expanded REIMs Role
REIMs can acquire public REITs, real estate operating companies and other big property portfolios, as
demonstrated by the major real estate M&A activities (including some hotel operating companies) in Figure
5.14. Large REIMs, such as Blackstone Real Estate Group, Morgan Staley Real Estate, The Carlyle Group
and Apollo Investment, are very active in the real estate M&A arena. REIMs acquired public REITs either
by themselves or by joining forces with leading REITs.
Figure 5.14: Real Estate Mergers and Acquisitions in 2007
Acquired Entity
Equity Office Properties
Blackstone Group
Price ($ Mn)
Archstone-Smith
Tishman Speyer, Lehman Brothers
Extended Stay Hotels (Blackstone)
Lightstone Group
Mills Corp.
Simon Property, Farallon Capital
CNL Hotels & Resorts
Morgan Stanley Real Estate
Crescent Real Estate Equities
Manor Care
Carlyle Group
Inland Retail Real Estate
Developers Diversified Realty
New Plan Excel Realty
Centro Properties (Australia REIT)
Reckson Associates Realty
SL Green Realty
Slough Estates USA
Health Care Property Investors
Equity Inns
Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund
Highland Hospitality
Sunrise Senior Living
Hospitality Properties
Affordable Residential Communities
Farallon, Helix Funds, GEM Realty
Formation Capital, JER Partners
Innkeepers USA
Apollo Investment
IPC US REIT
Behringer Harvard REIT 1
Red Roof Inns (Accor)
Citi, Westbridge Hospitality
Apple Hospitality Two
Republic Property
Liberty Property
Winston Hotels
Inland American Real Estate
BNP Residential Properties
Babcock & Brown
Apple Hospitality Five
Eagle Hospitality
Apollo, Aimbridge, JF Capital
America First Apartment Investors
Sentinel Real Estate
Columbia Equity
Centracore Properties
Tendercare
Government Properties
Source: Real Estate Alert (2008)
Extendicare
Record Realty
Figure 5.15 provides the largest consolidation plays among the four REIT sectors in the history of public
REITs. I have earlier discussed this topic in Chapter 2 and observed that these four taken-private REITs
coincidently do not have a significant private capital strategy along with their REITs core portfolios.
Figure 5.15: Major Real Estate M&A Transactions in 2007
Acquiring Firm(s)
Business Nature
NYSE Firm Acquired
Business NYSE
Ticker (Sector Ranking) Nature Ticker
The Blackstone
Private Equity Fund
(Real Estate Group)
Equity Office
- Simon Property
- Farallon Capital
Retail REIT (#1)
N.A
(# 5)
Owner/
Private RE Developer
Archstone-Smith Residential
-Tishman Speyer
Resi-Lehman Brothers
dential
Real Estate Group
* No major M&A transaction in Industrial REIT sector
Source: The Institutional Real Estate Letter, January 2008.
In Blackstones Equity Office deal, there was one episode that Vornado Realty (a public REIT) led a
consortium (including Vonrado Realty, and two leading real estate private capital firms: Starwood Capital and
Walton Street Capital) and attempted to outbid Blackstones cash offer of $ 23.0 Bn for 100% EOP shares.
EOP Board of Trustees still chose the deal proposed by Blackstone on February 1, 2007, mostly because
Blackstone offer was 100% cash and due to the fear of the prolonged closing risk for Vornados nearly
half-share-half-cash offer.
Figure 5.16: Acquisition Offer Comparison on Equity Office Shares
Vornado offer
Blackstone Offer
Last Offer Date
Vornado-led Consortium:
- Vonrado Realty (public REIT)
- Starwood Capital (REIM)
- Walton Street Capital (REIM)
Offer to acquire EOP
US$ 23.3 Bn
($ 56.0 /share)
($54.0/ share)
Each share could convert into
- $31.0 in Cash (55.4%)
- $25.0 for Vornado Shares (44.6%)
All Cash
Dividend incurred before
the closing
Vornado will pay pro rate share of EOP quarterly
dividend at $0.33/ share until deal close
Flexibility for EOPs unit
Unitholders can exchange for same package as EOP
shareholders or receive VNOs Class A Operating Units
Breakup fee *
Vornado will reimburse $500 Mn fee for EOP.
$ 500 Mn
* The amount that Blackstone would receive if another unsolicited offer should be accepted by EOP.
Source: The author based on Vornados 8K announcement on Feb 1, 2007
http://www.vno.com/investor_relations/documents.phtml
Historical REIT Sector M&A Activity
According to Merrill Lynch Research56, over the past 12 years there have been 56 public-to-public mergers
and 38 privatizations of publicly traded real estate companies including the blockbuster $40 bn takeover of
Equity Office by Blackstone in February 2007. Merrill Lynch states while most public to public mergers
provide few synergies on an operational basis, we expect the sector to experience a handful of mergers on an
annual basis as REIT managers either come under operational pressure or become tired of running public
Among those public-to-public mergers, I also observed some public REITs jointly acquire some other REITs
by teaming up with REIMs, as evidenced by some of Kimco Realtys single-partner JV fund (such as $4.1 Bn
Pan Pacific Retail Properties acquisition with Prudential Real Estate Investors in 2006, and $1.5 Bn
acquisition of PL Retail with DRA Advisors in 2006) to acquire other public REITs. Kimcos deal size is
typically between $1.0 ~ $4.0 Bn in 2006. The deal size initiated by public REITs private capital fund is
normally found smaller that public REITs acquisition by private capital funds or REIMs (easily go higher than
$10 Bn in year 2007).
Figure 5.17: Historical REIT Sector M&A Activity
Public-to-Public M&A
Public-to-Private M&A
# of Deals
Value ($Mn)
For those public-to-private M&As, the general belief is that private equity funds or REIMs perceive higher
value in a public REITs private real estate portfolio than together as a public REITs market value.
Nuts & Bolts: REIT Primer #3, Merrill Lynch, page 29, June 3, 2008.
Performance of Real Estate Investment Manger
I had hoped to present some evidence about the performance of public REITs private capital funds, but
unfortunately there is no publicly available information. NCREIF does have one set of core fund index that
provides quarterly return over 26 private open-ended funds. In my data statistics in Section 3.1 (Fund
Strategy Setting), I have noted there are 4 non-listed commingled open-end core funds in Figure 3.4
(Comparison of Commingled Funds among 7 Studied Public REITs). Neither of them has been pooled
into the statistics of NFI-ODCE Index57 by NCREIF, however.
I plan to end this section by showing performance of REIMs, as surveyed by a joint force between NCREIF
and The Townsend Group. The Townsend Group is the largest pension fund advisor in the U.S. The
research report was named Real Estate Fund Indices Preliminary Report, 4th quarter 2007 and released
on May 27, 2008.
The report first shows the time-weighted index return (gross of fee returns) for core, value-added and
opportunistic funds.
The mean return statistics of year 2003-2007 for three types of funds are 15.4%,
18.7% and 32.2% respectively.
Figure 5.18: Time-weighted Index Return (Gross of Fee Returns)
5-yr Std Deviation
Source: NCRIEF & The Townsend Group (May 27, 2008)
The statistics suggest the investment manager selection among a value-added and opportunistic funds are
much more important than core funds, because there is a large variation in returns for value-added and
opportunistic funds (3.83% and 9.45% standard deviation respectively). An institutional investor,
presumably, may end up with low teen (below 12%) return for value added funds and opportunistic funds.
This return is actually less than the mean of core funds at 15.40%.
The NFI-ODCE stands for NCREIF Fund Index Open-ended Diversified Core Equity). It is a fund-level capitalization weighted, time-weighted
return index and includes property investments at ownership share, cash balances and leverage (i.e., return reflects the funds actual asset
ownership positions and financing strategy).
The report also has a total gross return statistics (top quartile, median, and bottom quartile) of funds (Core,
Value-added and Opportunistic) that have full 5-year history.
Again, the 1-standard deviation dispersion
statistic for core funds is 1.48%, much less than 10.81% for value-added funds and 17.14% for opportunistic
Figure 5.19: Total Gross Return Annualized 5-Yr Universe Statistics
Top Quartile
Bottom Quartile
Dispersion (1-std deviation)
# of Funds
Leverage (at 07' YE)
*For Funds with full 5 year history
Source: Real Estate Fund Indices Preliminary Report, NCREF & The Townsend Group, May 27, 2008
The statistics58 further suggest some value-added funds may provide negative return (= 18.41% - 2 deviation
*10.81% = -3.22%).
The bottom-quartile return for opportunistic funds is even worse (= 23.6% - 2
deviation *17.14% = -10.68%).
The return statistics shown in Figure 5.19 has yet net of Cost-to-invest.
After netting Cost-to-invest of 200-500 bps, suggested by Joanne Douvas (2003) shown Figure 3.15 (Net
Returns under Various Investment Strategies), the net return of the bottom 25% value added and
opportunistic funds can easily go below zero.
Why Public REITs Private Capital for Pension Fund?
If one institutional investor plans to add real estate valued-added fund exposure, it would be fair to say that
picking the right public REITs commingled fund might be a wise decision, because most of public REITs
valued added funds are actually enhanced leveraged returns from the core properties (please refer to
Section 3.2). The biggest challenge is that there may be few public REIT-sponsored private capital funds
always available in the market. This matters more if the institutional investors wants exposure to different
property types.
In particular, those private commingled funds sponsored by public REIT are mostly exclusive take-out
funds in public REITs major markets. ProLogis North American Industrial Fund (2006), the largest fund
$1,500 Mn, serves as the exclusive take-out fund for US and Canada; AMB Institutional Alliance Fund III
Despite no return distribution given, normal distribution of return statistics is assumed for the three types of funds.
(2004), $1,006 Mn in size, is the exclusive take-out vehicle in US; Regency Retail Partners (2007), expected
$565 Mn fund size, is the exclusive take-out vehicle for larger format newly developed retail centers. If
Public REITs are slowing down their development activities in a certain market, it would be difficult for
public REITs to structure such fund products for institutional investors.
Considering $1,000 Mn equity fund size of AMB Alliance Fund III (with 55% leverage cap), the Fund would
have take-out purchase power of $ 2,222 Mn assets. AMB currently is a $4,820 Mn capitalization company
with 46% debt. Net Asset Value for AMB Property as whole stands at $2,603 Mn. In Figure 3.32
(Development Pipeline Ratio for 7 Studied REITs and Industry Average), I have shown AMBs total
development line as of 2007YE stands at $1,713 Mn. AMB Fund III can almost take out the entire existing
development pipeline or 66% of AMBs assets (some double counting between AMBs development pipeline
and Net Asset Value)!
Therefore, I have observed these over $1,000 Mn funds, are structured as perpetual open-ended investment
vehicles for public REITs. These funds serve as on-going development funds for the parent REITs.
These funds are also unlike Finite life fund product that has limited life (8-10 years) and the corresponding
need to dispose the assets after the first 3-5 year investment period.
6.1 What We Have Learned?
6.2 The Future of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Business
In Section 6.1, I provide a quick overview of what we have learned about the private capital fund that is
managed by public REITs. I highlight three main contributions and conclusions of this research:
1. Identification of Leading Open-ended Commingled Funds managed by Public REITs
2. Merchant Development Adds Fuel for Private Capital Business
3. Co-opetition Exists Among Pension Funds, REIMs and REIT Private Capital
In Section 6.2, I conclude by exploring a few forward-looking questions:
1. Will the REIT Private Capital Platform Spillover to Other REIT Sector Leaders?
2. Shall or Will ProLogis to Turn into a Fund Management Company?
3. How shall the private capital business valued in public REITs setting (along with question 2)?
What We Have Learned?
In this thesis I have characterized and described the phenomena of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital
Funds. I briefly explored the nature of public REITs and private capital, managed by these public REITs.
Finally, I combined the two in order to answer:
What does this industry black box (Public
REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund) aim at providing public REITs and fund investors (pension funds and
REIMs). What is the value proposition of this particular field in the past (1998-2000), as of now (2008) and
in the future (next 3-5 years)?
Given the limited disclosure by public REITs about their private capital funds and a lack of standardized
industry terms and practice, I have explained to the audience (the best I can) about why and how private
capital funds, sponsored by public REITs, are structured and managed. The thesis, in essence, is a
fact-finding research journey. I have also provided some analytical framework with respect to the
characterization of these private capital funds, merchant development, structure diagram of these funds, and
investor choices on various real estate fund products.
I want to draw readers attention in the following three findings to conclude my thesis.
Leading US Open-ended Commingled Funds managed by Public REITs
We have learned these private capital funds started from the year during year 1998-2000, where the public
capital market was shut off for these REITs secondary equity financings. By looking into the structure and
target market of top 3 open-ended commingled funds (with fund size over $500 Mn) in Figure 6.1, this field
can be described to have experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade.
Figure 6.1: Comparison for 3 US Open-ended Commingled Funds, Managed by Public REITs
Fund REIT's
Size OwnerStrategy ($ Mn)
GIC RE takes the
20.0% Various.
investors in a
private REIT, acting US
as LP to the Fund
The above-mentioned three funds, in my view, are no different than leading REIMs core strategy or value
added funds, in terms of clientele base, fund terms, and leverage capacity.
The only difference, I can ascribe,
is the public REITs typical ownership of 20%, an ownership concentration which is highly unlikely to be
observed in REIMs over half billion core/value added funds.
The 20% ownership from REITs actually
reveals a great alignment of interest indicator, which institutional investors highly regard while investing
with public REITs private capital funds.
Merchant Development Adds Fuel for Private Capital Business
We have also learned that these public REITs would not have grown successfully without the added fuel from
the merchant development activities. This statement is particularly true when applied to the industrial REIT
sector. The best case is demonstrated by ProLogis solid business model comprised of three indispensible
pillars merchant development, core portfolio and fund management.
Merchant development gains and fund management together have accounted around 75% of ProLogis 2007
FFO (in Figure 4.8: 2007 FFO Breakdown for 3 Industrial REIT Managers). In this sense, ProLogis does
not seem like a REIT anymore, because REITs are supposed to be passive investors for core portfolio
holding and pay out as dividends most of their net income.
Is it possible that industrial REITs, such as ProLogis could gear up that 75% pie to the next level, say, 80%,
85% or more? Then, next question would be, Will ProLogis maintain its qualification as REIT? Should
people describe ProLogis as a fund management company, such as Eaton Vance, Janus Capital or Franklin
Resources, or a merchant developer, such as Pulte Homes, D.R. Horton, Lennar Corp. in the home building
industry?
I will continue this discussion (or worry, to be exact) from the REIT Codes perspective in the
next Section (6.2).
Co-opetition59 Among Pension Funds, REIMs and Public REITs Private Capital
By looking into the structure diagram for public REIT-sponsored private capital fund (at Figure 5.1), I
concluded that two primary investors in these funds, pension funds and REIMs, could also be competing
with public REITs private capital funds. Evidenced by major real estate M&A activities in 2007, REIMs
and pension funds are seen to compete with public REITs private capital funds directly for four types of
Co-Opetition, a business school term, created in 1997 by Adam M. Brandenburger (Harvard Business School) and Barry J. Nalebuff (Yale
School of Management). It refers to Competition and Cooperation. The authors argue most businesses and their transactions lie
somewhere between the two poles (Source: Amazon.coms editorial review, accessed on July 18,2008)
investment that we have observed (public REITs acquisition, property portfolio, stabilized properties, and
development projects).
On that, we have categorized the observation into Expanded REIMs Role in Figure 5.13. As I have
discussed in Section 5.3 (Evolving Role of Real Estate Investment Manger), I found that the acquired REITs
in 2007 did not have significant private capital strategies along with their REITs core portfolios. Does that
co-incidence suggest private capital business under public REITs provides immunization for parent REIT
to be taken over?
I would argue from the REIMs arbitrage perspective (to take public REITs private) that once a leading REIT
has its private capital business, its business nature has turned into a combination of both public and private
real estate. Thus, the acquiring REIMs would find difficult to accurately evaluate the true value of a public
REIT. In additional, the built-in buy/sell agreement in most of the public REITs private capital funds
would (be very expensive!) also deter the acquiring REIMs from making big offers to public REITs.
Kindly note that I do not categorize the activities for REIMs to make investment (mostly minority) in public
REIT securities as the co-opetition phenomenon.
In either separate account or commingled fund setting
for public securities investment, REIMs investment objective for clients is to seek capital growth and
dividend income from public REIT sector, rather than to own majority holding of a REIT company or to
take a public REIT private. Most of these funds also have limitation to hold direct real estate and liquidity
requirement in their public REIT portfolios.
6.2 The Future of Public REIT-sponsored Private Capital Fund
To conclude my research, I explore a few forward-looking questions:
Spillover of REIT Private Capital Platform to each REIT Sector Leaders
Should there be no significant REIT Code changes in the next few years, I am confident the REITs private
capital funds will spillover from industrial and retail sectors to other REIT sectors as well (such as office and
residential sectors). However, this scenario, in my projection, will be only limited to each sectors top 3, or at
most, top 5 firms. There are two rationales for this prediction.
First, institutional investors, while investing in REITs private capital fund, are also betting on the
sustainability of the parent REITs continued execution of it private capital fund strategy. The fund strategy
is mostly referred to take out REITs existing core properties or newly developed and stabilized properties.
As more institutional investors are chasing sizable real estate deals from leading real estate developer and
operators, public REITs in my view, is one of the most reliable partners who can accurately execute the
particular real estate strategy for institutional investors in a sizeable and predicable format.
Second, on the REIT side, if the Street maintains a positive view toward REIT peers (such as Kimco,
ProLogis and AMB) for their continually growth of private capital platform, other sector REIT leaders,
including Simon Property60 and General Growth Properties (regional mall), Boston Properties and SL Green
Realty Corp. (office), AvalonBay Communities Inc. and AIMCO (residential), Public Storage(Self-storage),
and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. and Hospitality Properties Trust (hotel), will also test and try to see if any of
their portfolio can be easily carved-out and to embrace their own private capital platform.
Those sector-leading REITs might be able to jump directly to an open-ended commingled fund, without
starting from single-partner equal share JVs that were done in 1998-2000 by Kimco, AMB, DDR, and
ProLogis.
However, a track record may take more time to build, as competition for the same investor
clientele will be more fierce.
For REIT sector leaders (in terms of market capitalization), please refer to July 2008 REIT Watch, by NAREIT for the REIT valuation
information, page 6-12.
Shall or Will ProLogis to Turn into a Fund Management Company?
The forward-looking question is a response to the following three concerns that I have mentioned in the
previous chapters and now summarize below.
First, a recent concern about above 75% FFO coming from merchant development and private capital for
leading public REITs (such as ProLogis) may trigger regulatory scrutiny from Internal Revenue Service.
Because this represents a huge deviation from original purpose of being a REIT to act as passive investor
for core portfolio holding and pay out as dividends most of its net income.
Second, NAREIT, as discussed at Section 4.1, has negatively commented on ProLogis arbitrage of the
FFO definition with respect to its CDFS business. ProLogis takes an un-depreciated CDFS asset
approach and claims that the gain from sales of CDFS assets should not be excluded from NAREITs
definition of FFO.
Third, if there were legal concerns about ProLogis favoritism toward its private capital clients and negligence
of its fiduciary role to other investors, ProLogis might come under regulatory scrutiny and be torn apart.
This concern does not apply to ProLogis only. Lot of individual investors (or/ and some institutional
investors) have been questioning for the public REITs investment activites in the past few years Which
hat a REIT is wearing on a particular deal? Is it for parent REIT? Or is it for its private capital fund? The
scrutiny result could be that only ProLogis core portfolios would maintain REIT status, while the CDFS
(Merchant Development) and fund management business of ProLogis would be required to form a new
entity or two separate entities.
Would this be bad for ProLogis? Not exactly.
I only address this question from the capital market perspective. Other factors, such as organization strategy
and synergy, economics of scale vs. scope, vertical integration etc, shall also be considered.
Under current REIT regime, merchant development gain, in Section 3.3 (Analysis of Private Capital
Income The Case of AMB Capital Partners) receives a 4x price multiple (equivalent to 25% capitalization
rate assumed) in the Street.
A profit-growing merchant builder can be compared to a growth stock in the technology sector or retail
sector, in some sense.
Therefore, I expect that a merchant builders price multiple, under general capital
market conditions, can easily go above a 10x price multiple.
On the fund management (private capital) side, I provide a peer valuation comparison for ProLogis vs. 6
leading asset managers in Figure 6.3. The average asset managers 2008 forward P/E multiple as of its July
21, 2008 closing price, was 22.7x on average
Figure 6.2: Peer Valuation Comparison ProLogis vs. 6 Asset Managers
($ Bn)
2007 Net Income
P/ E
(2008F)
(2007A)
Janus Capital
Legg Mason
T. Rowe Price
Franklin Resources
*Closing Price on July 21, 2008. For ProLogis AuM, we use $18.78 Bn Fund Gross Asset * 80%
Source: Google Finance
If the market is willing to re-do the sum-of-the-part analysis on ProLogis (based on cross sector comparison),
the sum of ProLogis three business lines valued separately could be greater than its combined value now as it
is being traded in the REIT sector.
Figure 6.3 provides a simulated valuation result based on actual data from Citigroup Research on ProLogis
NAV report on April 22, 2008.
I apply new and lower cap rates (i.e. higher PE multiple) for the merchant
development gain (25% down to 10%) and net asset management fee (from 10% down to 5.0%) to reflect
higher value to these two types of income.
I find a 30% valuation increase from doing the
sum-of-the-parts analysis.
Figure 6.3: Re-Valuation on ProLogis' 4 Income Types
FFO Breakdown
Amount * Original New Cap
Private MV Private MV
($ Mn) Cap Rate
Direct Ownership Property NOI
No change on Cap Rate
ProLogis' Property Fund NOI
Applying 10x PE Multiple
Net Asset Management Fee
30% Valuation Increase
*Recent quarter annualized by Citigroup Research
Source: the Author's calculation based on Citigroup Research, 22 April 2008 on ProLogis
I do not want to conclude this section (or my thesis) to be about the potential split up of ProLogis.
I use
this perspective to analyze the evolution of public REITs private capital that has gone on throughout the last
decade. The capitalization rate changes provide a suggested answer to our last question (listed in Section 1.3,
question 3.5):
How is the private capital business valued in public REITs? What are the reasonable earnings multiples for
private capital income in public REITs? Do we need to assign different multiples for fixed management fees and
for more volatile incentive fees?
I conclude that we should reconsider to assign different multiples (something like shown in Figure 6.3) to
re-evaluate the real value driver involved with various business segments of a public REIT. Investors now
have no good idea about how to price correctly various income streams of a public REIT.
I feel some of the leading public REITs have been working hard to minimize investors concern in this regard.
Those REITs have now provided the breakdown information of their private capital income (fixed asset
management fee vs. volatile incentive fees). They also structure their opened commingled funds as
perpetual meaning it will provide recurring fee income to the parent REIT. The recurring fee income
from private capital segment is more like the franchise value of a fund manager (even in the REIT setting),
thus it is fair to apply a higher multiple for those recurring fee income.
Conclusion and Prediction
In conclusion, this field is maturing toward greater transparency and efficiency under the public REIT
framework and along with the broader real estate private capital industry.
Moving forward, public
REIT-sponsored private capital fund is well positioned to grow as it complements a niche market for pension
funds and REIMs to add private real estate exposure in a predictable and sizeable investment format.
As real estate in nature is a capital intensive business, I will not be surprised to see more leading public REITs
(not only limited to the 7 studied REITs) raising open-ended commingled funds with fund size over $1.0 Bn
in next 24-36 months with an aim to take out its existing portfolios or to fund its development pipeline. In
the mean time, some small-sized REITs with a clear geographical focus might start contemplating their own
private capital strategy to aid their continuing business growth.
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1. REIT History ........................................................................................................................................... 121
2. Total Capital Raised from REIT Sector (1992-2007)............................................................................... 123
3. Equity REIT Structure (Traditional REIT, Up-REIT, Down-REIT) .............................................................. 124
4. Organizing and Qualifying as a REIT...................................................................................................... 128
5. Taxable REIT Subsidiary ......................................................................................................................... 132
6. Vertical Integration of REIT ................................................................................................................... 134
7. Private Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs ............................................................................. 137
8. 2007 New Separate Accounts/ JV Partnership from Pension Fund...................................................... 148
9. 2007 New Commitments to Commingled Funds from Pension Funds................................................. 149
10. Analytical Comparison Tools for Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate......................................... 156
11. Pension Fund Survey Result (2007)..................................................................................................... 163
12. Fund Strategy Sample Morgan Stanley Real Estate (MSRE).......................................................... 167
13. Ernst & Young Real Estate Private Equity Fund Category.................................................................... 169
1. REIT History61
According to Thomson Wests (2007) study, the origin of REITs can date back the 1880s in the form of
Realty Trust Concept. Massachusetts Trust was the vehicle used to pool ownership of real estate,
because early state law often prohibited corporate ownership of real estate. In addition, the use of a
business trust had beneficial income tax consequences; because the entity was treated as a trust for income
tax purpose, it was not subject to tax at the entity level on the income it distributed to it beneficiaries.
However, this beneficial tax treatment ceased in 1935. In the landmark decision of Morrissey v. Commissioner62,
the Supreme Court held that business trust should be taxed as corporation. Thus, the business trusts
income was subject to double taxation once at the trust level and again at the shareholder level.
President Eisenhower signed the 1960 Real Estate Investment Trust Tax provision which re-established the
special tax consideration qualifying REITs as passthrough entities, thus eliminating the double taxation.
purpose was to allow small investors to pool their investments in real estate in order to get the same benefits
as might be obtained by direct ownership, while also diversifying their risks and obtaining professional
Though REITs, investors are able to participate in large, high quality real estate interests that are selected and
managed by knowledgeable, experienced professionals. REITs obtain funds not only by selling shares, but
also by issuing other forms of securities and by borrowing.
With these pooled funds, REITs can purchase
or finance major real estate projects.
According to Thomson West, despite the advantages of the REIT structure, the industry experienced very
little growth for over 30 years, believed for two main reasons.
One was that REITs were basically passive portfolios of real estate. REITs were permitted only to own real
estate, not to operate and manage it. This meant REITs need to use third party independent contractors,
whose economic interest might diverge from those of the REITs owners, to operate and manage the
properties. This was an arrangement that investment marketplace did not accept warmly.
Second, during these years (1960-1980) real estate investment were colored by tax shelter-oriented
Referenced from Chapter 1 (Overview and History of REITs) of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Thomson West, Volume 29, 2007.
Morrissey v. Commissioner, 296 U.S. 344 (1935).
characteristics. Though the use of high debt levels (70-90% leverage) and aggressive depreciation schedules,
interest and depreciation expenses significantly reduced taxable income in many cases leading to so-called
paper losses used to shelter a taxpayers other income. Since a REIT is geared specifically to create
taxable loss on a regular basis and a REIT is not permitted to pass losses through to shareholders like a
partnership, the REIT industry could not compete effectively for capital against shelters.
In the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (the 1986 Act), Congress changed the real estate investment landscape.
First, by limiting the deductibility of interests, lengthening depreciation periods and restricting the use of
passive losses, the 1986 Act drastically reduced the potential for real estate investment to generate tax
shelter opportunities. This meant, going forward, that real estate investment needed to be on a more
economic and income-oriented footing.
Second, the 1986 Act permits REITs not merely to own, but also to operate and manage most types of
income producing commercial real estate.
Third, the 1986 Act has also subjected real estate for the first time to the at-risk rules. Under the at-risk
rules, a taxpayer is not permitted to deduct losses generated by any business activity against compensation or
income derived from other business activities unless the individual is at risk for such amount.
This Tax
Reform of 1986 also helped set the stage for a wave of equity REIT IPOs in the mid-1990s.
REIT Modernization Act of 1999
Federal tax law change whose provisions allow a REIT to own up to 100% of stock of a taxable REIT
subsidiary that can provide services to REIT tenants and others.
The law also changed the minimum
distribution requirement from 95 percent to 90 percent of a REIT's taxable income consistent with the
rules for REITs from 1960 to 1980.
Taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS) was created in 1999 REIT
Modernization Act that went into effect in January 1st, 2001.
2. Total Capital Raised from REIT Sector (1992-2007)
Total Capital Raised from REIT Sector (1992-2007)
IPO Equity
Secondary Equity
Common Shares
Secondary Debt
Preferred Shares
Unsecured Debt
Total Capital
Source: REIT Watch, NAREIT (2008)
3. Equity REIT Structure63 (Traditional REIT, Up-REIT, Down-REIT)
Appendix 3 is an excerpt on David Geltner et al. (2007) and Michael Brody64 (2007).
Equity Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)
According to NAREITs Definition (2007), an equity real estate investment trust, or equity REIT, is a
company that owns, and in most cases, operates income-producing real estate. To be a REIT, a company
must distribute at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders annually in the form of dividends
1). Traditional Public REIT
This structure is very straightforward. The public owns the stock of the REIT. The REIT owns the real
estate, collects rent and pays dividends to its shareholders.
Source: the Authors rewrite on Michael Brody (2007)
Most REITs before 1992 used this structure. They sold stock for cash and used the cash to buy real estate,
frequently from the founders of the REIT.
According to David Geltner et al. (2007), The KIMCO IPO in November 1991 is widely credited as the
beginning of the modern REIT era, as it was the first of the new breed of large, well-established private
real estate companies to choose to go public by using a REIT structure
Kimco used the traditional REIT
structure for its IPO.
This provided Kimco with access to the public capital markets and provided its shareholders with liquidity.
In addition, KIMCO was previously a taxable corporation. By making a REIT election, it was permitted to
Excerpt of Chapter 23(REITs) of Commercial Real Estate Analysis &Investments, David Geltner et al., Thomson South Western, 2007.
Michael Brody, Doing Business With REITs and Joint Ventures, Partner at Latham &Watkins LLP, 2007 ICSC Law Conference, San Diego,
California, March 1, 2007.
deduct its dividends in calculating its federal income tax, and generally avoid the payment of that tax.
While property may be transferred to a corporation in exchange for its stock on a tax free basis in many
circumstances, a Treasury Regulation relating to REITs made that transfer fully taxable to the transferor.
This prevented other property owners from converting to a traditional REIT structure, since they were not
willing to pay the resulting income tax. While this regulation has since been amended to allow a tax free
contribution of property to a REIT in limited circumstances, few REITs have been able to make use of this
provision. The umbrella partnership REIT, or UPREIT, was developed to address this tax problem.
2). Up-REIT
While property generally cant be contributed to a REIT in exchange for its stock without triggering a taxable
gain, it can be contributed on a tax free basis to a partnership in exchange for partnership interests (subject to
certain limitations, generally described below).
The first public UPREIT is generally believed to have been the Taubman transactions, which made the IPO
on November 22, 1992. In the typical UPREIT, the developer (or partners of the Existing Partnerships)
and a newly-formed REIT become partners in a new partnership termed the Operating Partnership. For
their respective interests in the Operating Partnership ("Units"), the developer contributes the properties and
the REIT contributes the cash proceeds from its public offering. The REIT typically is the general partner
and the majority owner of the Operating Partnership Units.
The developer, the former owners of real properties, usually end up holding limited partnership interests and
the REIT has a general partnership interest in the UpREIT. Generally, the LP interests are not listed or the
subject of a registration statement as is the REIT stock. Consequently, an UPREIT structure typically
provides the holders of LP interests with the right to convert their partnership interests into REIT stock.
The conversion itself will be taxable to the holder of the partnership interest.
Michael Brody (2007) gave an example by using a context of an IPO. If a REIT sells its stock for $20/share,
the REIT would contribute that cash to its operating partnership (or OP) in exchange for OP units valued
at $20/unit. Similarly, property contributed to the OP by property owners is transferred in exchange for OP
units valued at $20/unit. As a result, each REIT share and each OP unit represents an undivided and
equivalent interest in the same pool of real estate (i.e., the properties owned by the OP).
After a period of time (often one year), the partners may enjoy the same liquidity of the REIT shareholders
by tendering their Units for either cash or REIT shares (at the option of the REIT or Operating Partnership).
This conversion may result in the partners incurring the tax deferred at the UPREIT's formation. The
Unitholders may tender their Units over a period of time, thereby spreading out such tax. In addition, when a
partner holds the Units until death, the estate tax rules operate in such a way as to provide that the
beneficiaries may tender the Units for cash or REIT shares without paying income taxes.
3). DownREIT
A DownREIT is structured much like an Up-REIT, but the REIT owns and operates properties other than
its interest in a controlled partnership that owns and operates separate properties.
The only difference between an UPREIT structure and a DownREIT structure, is that in a DownREIT, the
REIT owns assets outside of its interest in the Operating Partnership.
Why are DownREITs Needed?
The first public UPREIT was Taubman Centers, Inc., which went public in 1992. Prior to that, all public
REITs were traditional REITs, with no OP. In addition, most of these REITs owned a substantial amount
of property before they became aware of the UpREIT structure.
However, transferring all of this property to an OP, in order to become an UPREIT, would be both
expensive (i.e., possible transfer tax, property tax reassessment, etc.) and time consuming (reviewing leases
and loans for consent rights, etc.). In order to avoid this time and expense, traditional REITs have typically
chosen to use the DownREIT structure, in which their previously owned property continues to be owned by
the REIT, and is not contributed to the OP.
What Does This Structure Difference Mean to Contributors?
According to Michael Broady (2007), the minor structural difference between an UpREIT and a DownREIT
adds economic complexity to the transaction.
In the DownREIT structure, the Unitholders own OP units,
which represent an indirect interest in the OP's property and entitle the Unitholders to distributions
attributable to such property. However, a share of REIT stock represents an indirect interest in both the
OPs property and the REIT's separate property, and entitles the REIT shareholders to distributions
attributable to both pools of property. As a result, REIT shares and OP units in a DownREIT are not
always fungible (i.e., the distribution per OP unit may not always be equal to the REIT dividend per share).
4. Organizing and Qualifying as a REIT65
The section is an excerpt on Thomson West (2007) research.
According to Thomson Wests Research, IRS is concerned that REITs might use their tax-favored status to
gain a competitive advantage over non-qualifying entities in the operation of active trade or business. For
this reason, a REIT must satisfy four tests on a year-by-year basis.
These tests relate to its organizational
structure, assets, source of income and distribution of income.
1). Organization Test
To qualify as a REIT, an entity must meet the following eight organization rules.
I have summarized from
Thomson West (2007) and Kathleen Smalley (2008) in the below table for the related IRS Code with respect
to the organization test.
IRS Code
856 (a)
856 (a) (1)
It must be managed by one or more trustees or directors
It must be taxable as a domestic corporation but for the provisions of the Cod specially
A REIT must be organized as a corporation, business trust, or association
applicable to REITs
It must not be a financial institution or insurance company.
856(h)(1)(2)
It must not be closely held within the meaning of the personal holding company provisions
of the Code.
Not have more than 50% of its stock owned by 5 or fewer individuals during the last half
of its taxable year (after the first taxable year in which the entity elects to be taxed as a
REIT)
It must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons
It must have such beneficial ownership evidenced by transferable shares or transferable
certificates of beneficial ownership.
856 (c) (1)
It must file with its tax return an election to be treated as a REIT, or have made such an
election for a prior taxable year that remains in effect
Source: the Author based on Thomson West (2007) and Kathleen Smalley (2008)
2). Asset Test
At the close of each quarter of the taxable year, a REIT's assets must meet the following tests
75% test:
The REIT's assets must be at least 75% by value in real estate, cash and cash items
Referenced from Chapter 2 (Organization and Qualifying as a REIT) of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Thomson West, Volume 29, 2007.
856 (c)(4)(a)
(including receivables), and Government securities
25% test
No more than 25% by value of the RE IT's assets can be held in securities other than
856 (c)(4)(b)(i)
government securities
Taxable REIT
856 (c)(4)(b)(b)
No more than 20% of the total asset by value can be represented by securities of taxable
REIT subsidiaries.
Except TRS and securities includible under 856 (c)(4)(a):
limitation on
non-TRS asset
856 (c)(4)(b)(iii)
I) Not more than 5% of the value of its total assets is represented by securities of any one
II) The trust does not hold securities possessing more than 10% of the total voting power of
the outstanding securities of any issuer.
III) The trust does not hold securities possessing more than 10% of the total value of the
outstanding securities of any one issuer
The term real estate assets means real property (including interests in real property and
interest in mortgages on real property) and shares (or transferable certificates of beneficial
Real Estate Asset
interest) in other real estate investment trusts which meet the requirements of this part.
Such term also includes any property (not otherwise a real estate asset) attributable to the
856 (c)(5)(B)
temporary investment of new capital, but only if such property is stock or a debt instrument,
and only for the 1-year period beginning on the date the real estate trust receives such
capital.
Interests in real
estate property
856 (c)(5)(C)
The term interest in real estate property includes fee ownership and co-ownership of land
or improvement thereon, leaseholds of land or improvements thereon, option to acquire land
or improvements thereon, but does not include mineral, oil, gas royalty interests.
(3). Income-Source Test
In addition to meeting the organizational requirement and asset tests, an entity wishing to qualify for
treatment as REIT must meet two separate tests regarding the sources of its income. These tests are
designed to ensure that REITs are used principally as vehicles for passive investment, with an emphasis on
real estate investment.
(A) 95% Test 856 (c)(2)
At least 95 percent of its gross income (excluding gross income from prohibited transactions) is derived from
(A) dividends;
(B) interest;
(C) rents from real property;
(D) gain from the sale or other disposition of stock, securities, and real property (including interests in
real property and interests in mortgages on real property) which is not property described in
section 1221(a)(1);
(E) abatements and refunds of taxes on real property;
(F) income and gain derived from foreclosure property (as defined in subsection (e));
(G) amounts (other than amounts the determination of which depends in whole or in part on the
income or profits of any person) received or accrued as consideration for entering into agreements
(i) to make loans secured by mortgages on real property or on interests in real property or (ii) to
purchase or lease real property (including interests in real property and interests in mortgages on
real property); and
(H) gain from the sale or other disposition of a real estate asset which is not a prohibited transaction
solely by reason of section 857(b)(6)
REITs need not invest exclusively in real estate-oriented investments in order to meet the terms of the 95
percent income-source test; in fact, the 95 percent income-source test, standing along, does not require
REITs to make any investment in real estate. Rather, this test is designed to ensure that entities qualifying as
REITs operate as passive investment entities and do not engage in operating in active trade or business,
thereby competing unfairly with non qualifying business that must distribute profits on an after-tax, rather
than a pretax basis.
(B) 75% Test- 856 (c)(3)
(A) rents from real property;
(B) interest on obligations secured by mortgages on real property or on interests in real property;
(C) gain from the sale or other disposition of real property (including interests in real property and
interests in mortgages on real property) which is not property described in section 1221(a)(1);
(D) dividends or other distributions on, and gain (other than gain from prohibited transactions) from
the sale or other disposition of, transferable shares (or transferable certificates of beneficial interest)
in other real estate investment trusts which meet the requirements of this part;
real property);
solely by reason of section 857(b)(6); and
(I) qualified temporary investment income; and
Thus, permissible income under the 75 percent income-source test, with the exception of qualified temporary
investment income, must relate in some way to real estate investment by the REIT. It is the 75 percent
income-source test that operates to ensure that REITs derive the bulk of their income from real estate as
opposed to other forms of permitted passive investments.
Together, the income tests require that the bulk (in most cases, 75%) of the REIT's gross income come
from passive ownership of real estate and that an additional 20% come from real estate or other passive
investments. The remaining 5% can be any items that satisfy the 75% or the 95% test, or they can be bad
The key exception to this general description is that the REIT is allowed to have additional
investment income in the period immediately following the raising of new capital, which eliminates the need
to use newly raised capital immediately to buy real estate.
(4). Distribution Test
A REIT must distribute at least 90% of taxable income, with some adjustments, to its shareholders. 857
(a)(1).
The REIT receives dividends paid deduction for qualifying dividend distributions. The REIT is subject to
corporate tax on amounts retained and not distributed.
5. Taxable REIT Subsidiary66
The following section is an excerpt on Thomson West (2007) research.
According to Thomson West (2007), there are two types of wholly owned corporate subsidiaries under REIT
regime.
(1). Qualified REIT subsidiaries 856(i).
A qualified REIT subsidiary is a wholly owned subsidiary (that does not elect to be a taxable REIT
subsidiary). A corporation which is a qualified REIT subsidiary shall not be treated as a separate
corporation, and all assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of a qualified REIT
subsidiary shall be treated as assets, liabilities, and such items (as the case may be) of the real estate
investment trust.
(2). Taxable REIT subsidiaries (TRS)
A TRS is a non-REIT corporation owned wholly or partly be a REIT that has joined its REIT stockholder
in an election to be treated as a TRS. TRS status is automatic, and no election is needed with respect to
any corporation if more than 35 percent of the total voting power or value of the outstanding securities of
such corporation is owned by a REIT ( 856(l)(1) and 856(l)(2))
A TRS need not be controlled by a REIT. A TRS can provide services to REIT tenants even if such
services are not considered services customarily furnished in connection with the rental of real
property ( 856 (d) (7)(c)). A TRS can develop, manage, or operate properties for third parties.
However, a taxable REIT subsidiary cannot be in the business of operating lodging or health care
facilities ( 856(l)(3)).
In our understanding, this is also the reason why hotel REIT is not commonly
seen to manage the third party clients money.
All activities of a TRS are fully subject to a corporate level tax. A REIT is allowed to own 100% of a
TRS and may own numerous TRSs provided that not more than 20% of the value of a REITs total asset is
represented by one or more TRS securities.
Referenced from Chapter 3 (Taxable REIT Subsidiaries) of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Thomson West, Volume 29, 2007.
A REIT derives income from an affiliated TRS by way of dividends. Dividends are non-real estate
source passive income.
Because a REIT is required to have at least 75% of its income from real estate
sources, dividends from TRS, aggregating with all other non-real estate income are limited to 25% of a
REITs gross income.
Worth to note, the incentive fee to the fund manager (derived from selling the assets held under JV
funds) can be attributed as part of 75% Test: good income under IRS 856 (c)(3) - gain from the sale
or other disposition of real property.
6. Vertical Integration of REIT
David Geltner et al. (2007) states large REITs are actively-managed, vertically integrated firms, providing
commercial real estate goods and services for their customers (tenants and users of space). The REIT
can be self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that acquires, develops, operates and
manage their self-owned and jointly-owned properties., as diagramed in the following chart.
In my view, it is because the significant relaxations of REIT constraints (David Geltner et al. (2007)) that
makes the two levels of vertical integration of modern REIT possible.
Major REIT Relaxation Summary
Bill/ Act
Act of 1986
REITs permitted to self manage, no longer have to hire an external manager.
This permits REITs to be much more active, integrated corporations, similar to typical industrial
firms (only still subject to the four REIT tests on organization, asset, income-source and
distribution tests).
REITs permitted to look through a pension fund to count it as a number of investors equal to its
members (avoids Five or Fewer Rule for pension fund investment in REITs).
REITs permitted to engage in non-REIT type activity via Taxable REIT Subsidiaries (TRS), in
which the subsidiary is subject to corporate income tax (e.g., 3rd-party property management,
3rd-party fund management, brokerage, and property trading).
Source: Chapter 23: REIT, David Geltner et al. (2007)
Two Levels of Vertical Integration for Modern REITs
2nd Level vertical Integration
(with Co-investment JV program)
1st Level Vertical Integration
Source: Slide 5, Chapter 23: REIT, David Geltner on Real Estate Capital Market Class, MIT 2008; the Author
rewrites for the 2nd level vertical integration
The right-hand diagram above includes the co-investment fund program, bringing the 2nd level flexibility of
REITs vertical integration.
Below table is an excerpt of the leading REIT companies (in various sectors) that have shown vertical
integration capabilities in developing their business.
Company Description of Major Leading REITs in Each Sector
ProLogis is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT)
that operates a global network of real estate properties, primarily industrial distribution
AMB Property Corporation (AMB) is a self-administered and self-managed real estate
investment trust. The Companys acquires, develops and operates industrial properties
in distribution markets tied to global trade in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Simon Property Group, Inc. (Simon Property) operates as a self-administered and
self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT). Simon Property Group, L.P. (the
Operating Partnership) is a majority owned partnership subsidiary of Simon Property
that owns all of its real estate properties. The Company is engaged primarily in the
ownership, development and management of retail real estate.
Kimco Realty Corporation (Kimco) is an owner and operator of neighborhood and
community shopping centers. The Company is a self-administered real estate
investment trust (REIT) and its management has owned and operated neighborhood
and community shopping centers.
General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP) is a self-administered and self-managed real
estate investment trust (REIT). GGP, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, operates,
develops, acquires and manages retail and other rental properties, primarily shopping
centers, which are located primarily throughout the United States.
Vornado
Vornado Realty Trust (Vornado) is an integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) and
conducts its business through Vornado Realty L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (the
Operating Partnership). Vornado is the sole general partner of, and owned approximately
90.1% of the common limited partnership interest in, the Operating Partnership at December
Boston Properties, Inc. is a fully integrated self-administered and self-managed real estate
investment trust (REIT), and an owner and developer of office properties in the United States.
AvalonBay
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company engages
in the development, redevelopment, acquisition, ownership and operation of multifamily
communities in high barrier-to-entry markets of the United States.
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. operates as a self-managed and self-administered real
estate investment trust (REIT). It owns properties and conducts operations through
Host Hotels & Resorts, L.P., which is a limited partnership, of which Host Hotels &
Resorts, Inc. is the sole general partner, and in which it holds approximately 97% of the
partnership interests.
Public Storage, formerly Public Storage, Inc., is a fully integrated, self-administered and
self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) whose principal business activities
include the acquisition, development, ownership and operation of self-storage facilities,
which offer storage spaces for lease
& Resorts
Source: Priced on July 3, 2008. Google Finance for price information and company description.
7. Private Capital Summary for 7 Studied Public REITs
In this section, I summarized 7 studied REITs private capital fund information from available public
financial reports and analyst meeting materials.
First table is the private capital fund summary for 7 REITs.
Table 2-8 covers the specific REITs fund
Kindly note that since the industry terminology is not yet standardized, I may use private fund,
co-investment, investment fund or JV partnership to represent the actual terms specifically used in a
REITs financial statement.
Private Fund Business Strategy for 7 Studied Public REITs
Fund Summary of ProLogis
Key Co-investment Venture Summary of AMB
First Industrial's Co-investment JV Fund Summary
Investments in Real Estate Joint Ventures and Partnerships for Weingarten Realty
Kimco Realty Investment Fund Summary
Regency Centers Fund Summary
DDR Fund Summary
(1). Private Fund Business Strategy for 7 Studied Public REITs
Fund Strategy
Fund GAM
platform - due to limited
Geographical Carve-out
Incl. Listing
With Open-ended Commingle
European Fund II (2007)
N.A Industrial Fund (2006)
below 50%
CalTRES
Macquarie DDR DDR Domestic Retail Fund I
(Closed-end, 2007)
Kimco Income Fund I
Regency Retail Partners (2007)
(2). ProLogis
PLD's
(Mn sf)
Properties Fund II
Take-out vehicle for ProLogis Europe and other
properties from the acquisition of Parkridge
Holdings' European industrial business
28 investors; GIC Real
Estate takes the lead
Exclusive investment vehicle for newly
developed properties in Korea and will also
cover 3rd party acquisitions
ProLogis Mexico
10 yrs + 5 yr
developed properties in Mexico
9 institutional investors
American Industrial
Citigroup converts its bridge financing (US$ 550
Mn) stake for ProLogis' buyback of Macquarie
ProLogis Trust into a 63% equity interest.
Fund III
To acquire a portfolio of 122 industrial properties
from a third party
an affiliate of Lehman
Brothers, who provided
interim debt financing to
the property fund.
- Exclusive investment vehicle for newly
developed properties in US and Canada
- Initial portfolio include 80% ownership
interest in ProLogis North American Properties
Funds II, III and IV from an affiliate of Arcapita
Bank B.S.C.
Extension of Japan Fund I
American Properties
Funds VI-X
Joint acquisition with Eaton Vance Management
on Keystone Property Trust, a public REIT
Eaton Vance Management
GIC Real Estate - the
largest investor
American Property
Fund XI
To acquire newly developed properties in
Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya
Take out recently developed at ProLogis'
targeted distribution markets throughout the
ProLogis California
Properties*
Before IPO-10
yrs; After
IPO-Indefinite
The State Teachers
Retirement System of Ohio
Take out existing stabilized projects in
California; mostly from the properties in newly
acquired Meridian Property Trust in 4Q 1998.
New York State Common
Initially take-out vehicle for newly developed
project in Europe.
Current - Externally managed by ProLogis
ABP, GIC Real Estate,
*Trades on Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker PEPR from April 25, 2006.; ProLogis European Properties also owns 30% ProLogis European Fund II.
Source: ProLogis Annual Report, 2000-2007, and 1Q 2008; the Author
(3). AMB
As of 07 YE
AMB Europe Fund I, June
FCP-FIS
Take-out vehicle
GE Real Estate
To build and sell
AMB Japan Fund I,
AMB-SGP Mexico,
L.L.C
To acquire
GIC Real Estate industrial
Alliance Fund II, L.P. 2001
AMB Institutional Take-out 80%
Alliance REIT II, Development
Inc.(2)
Leverage (000 sf)
ownership ($ Mn)
June 2013 (8 yrs); At
extendable 2 years dissolution
Dec. 2012 (8.5
yrs) ; extendable 4
March 2011 (10
yrs); extendable 10 10 years
AMB Partners II, L.P.
Source: 1Q 2008 AMB Financial Statement; 1998-2007 Annual Reports.
(1). Three Dutch pension funds, advised by Mn Services NV.
(2). Comprised of 14 institutional investors as stockholders and one third-party limited partner as of December 31, 2007.
(3). Target US Market, other than those AMB identifies as its target markets.
(4). First Industrial
FR's equity
2008 European
Land/Development JV *
2008 Canadian Land/
Development JV *
2006 Land/ Development
2006 Net Lease
2005 Core JV
2005 Development/
Repositioning JV
2003 Net Lease JV
* Summary term sheets from First Industrial's corporate announcement on January
8, 2008
Gross Investment in Total JV Debt
RE ($ Mn)
(5). Weingarten Realty Investors
BIT Retail
BIT Investment
Thirty-Six, LP
Taking-out existing Atlanta, Florida
3 property portfolio and Texas
Fund Size Ownership
Total GLA
Interest Properties ('000 sf)
Term (yrs)
(initial
seed of
$123 Mn)
TIAA Florida Retail
Specified portfolio
AEW SRP, LLC
AEW - Institutional
Specified portfolio Pacific
Eagle AN, LP
Collins *
Take-out existing
Source: 4Q 2007 Supplement Financial, page 11-12 ; NAREIT Investment Forum Presentation Slides on June 4, 2008.
BIT Retail Retail joint venture with PNC Realty Investors, Inc. (a member of PNC Financial Services Inc. ) and its client, the AFL-CIO Building Investment
TIAA Florida Retail LLC Joint venture with an institutional partner, TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate.
AEW SPR, LLC Retail joint venture with an institutional partner through AEW Capital Management
AEW - Institutional Client Joint venture with an institutional partner through AEW Capital
Collins Primarily a development joint venture in the Texas Rio Grande valley
BIT Investment Thirty-Six, LP Industrial joint venture with Mercantile Real Estate Advisors and its client, the AFL-CIO Building
Investment Trust
Eagle AN, LP Industrial joint venture with American National Insurance Company
(6). Kimco Realty Corporation
CoFund
investment Since Style
KimPru
KUBS
PL Retail
Kimco's
Non-recourse Recourse
Total JV Avg Weighted
Equity in
GLA Investment
Debt Interest Avg Term
JV Fund Property (Mn sf)
in RE
Payable ($
Rate (months)
Mn)
A new JV between
Kimco and SEB GmbH
to purchase 9
Immobilien-Inve shopping centers from
stment GmbH
the Kimco Retail
Opportunity Portfolio
(KROP).
3 separate
Prudential Real
Portfolio in the
merger between Kimco
and Pan Pacific
Retail Properties Inc.
To acquire retail
properties primarily
UBS Wealth Mgt
financed through the
use of individual
Property Fund
mortgages in North
Comingled
funds from
insurance cos.
portfolio of Mid-Atlantic
Realty Trust (MART) in
2003 into KIF .
a joint venture formed
to acquire Price
Legacy Corp.
institutiona 2004
l programs
include GE
Pension Trust,
DRA, La Salle
Investors and
(KROP)
- To acquire
established retail
properties in the U.S.
GE Capital Real
- During Aug 2006,
Kimco and GE agreed
to market for sale the
property portfolio.
properties across U.S
Source: Kimco 4Q 2007 Supplement Financials, page 39 ; 2007
annual report, page 54-59.
(7).Regency Centers
Open-ended,
The Fund has the right to acquire
Core (60% all future Regency-developed
large format community centers,
JV-RRP
JV-D
JV-RC
JV Code
Properties ('000 sf)
CountryWide-DE 2007
Australia listed
To acquire Desco's 32 properties
of retail portfolios (mostly
anchored by Schnuck grocery
stores) in St. Louis, Illinois,
Indiana and Tennessee. Desco is
the development arm of Schnuck
Markets Inc.
Single investor
Take-out vehicle for Regency's
newly stabilized development
Mostly take-out vehicle for
Regency's newly developed
grocery-anchored shopping center
JV-M
JV-MD
JV-M2
- Initially two parties contribute
existing neighborhood centers into
- Continue to acquire shopping
centers at Regency's Core
JV-C
JV-C2
JV-CCV
Source: 4Q 2007 Financial Supplement, page 18; 2007 Annual report, page 44-46.
3,219.5 1,982.4
(8). Developers Diversified Realty
Since Style
Partners Share
of Gross Asset
DDRTC Core Retail
2007 VA
For the $3.2 Bn company acquisition of
Inland Retail REIT
Inland-SAU Retail
Joint venture with the State of Utah
assumed through Inland REIT acquisition.
Fixed-Term
DDR Domestic
Retail Fund I
2007 Core
Act as partial exit for previous JV with
Kuwait Financial Center and take-out vehicle Indefinite
for DDR
TRT DDR Venture I 2007 Core
Take out 3 newly completed assets
Dividend Capital Total Realty Trust
Coventry II
Target external value creation opportunities
in re-development, re-leasing,
re-positioning, or ground-up development
Coventry Real Estate Fund II
DDR Markaz II
Take out DDR's 13 stabilized properties.
Kuwait Financial Centre S.A.K.
and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait
B.S.C.
Macquarie DDR
Take out DDR's existing 11 community
shopping centers across 8 states at initial
yield at 8.1%
(Australia
Listed)
Macquarie Bank
Coventry I (Retail
Value Investment
Program )
Focus on the acquisition, redevelopment
and repositioning of retail properties and
- 5 separate accounts advised by
- Coventry Real Estate Partners
acts as GP
DDRA Community
Centers Five. L.P
DDR contributes 6 existing properties valued
at $238 Mn at a 9.325% cap.
Mostly 50-50% JV with local developers
Various,
mostly 50%
Coventry Real Estate Partner, formed in 1998, is a JV between Prudential Real Estate Investors and Developers Diversified.
Source: DDR Corporate Presentation in May 2008; Macquare DDR Trust Product Disclosure Statement, Oct. 2003; Real Estate Alert on Coventry Fund, May 22, 2002
8. 2007 New Separate Accounts/ JV Partnership from Pension Fund
New Separate Accounts/Joint Venture Partnerships in 2007
Consultant Investment Manager
As of 3/31/2008
American Value Partners
BlackRock Realty Advisors
Brookfield Properties
Campus Realty
Elm Street/JAH Capital
Fairfield Residential
AVP M Street Investors
BrookCal
CampusCal
JV of Elm Street/JAH Capital
Fairfield California Housing
Core-plus
First Industrial Realty
First Industrial Canada
First Industrial Europe
High-yield debt
Fortress Group
Drawbridge Special Opportunity
INGCal Tactical
Townsend ING Clarion Partners
Lillibridge Healthcare
LilliCal
Lowe Enterprises Investment La Solana Co-investment
MS Resort Co-investment A
PCCP
PacifiCal 3
PacifiCal Land
Sealy & Co.
SeaCal
University Communities
UCal
Urban Retail Properties
UrbanCal
WRPF 9 Presidential Towers
Hines Brazil Fund 2
Hines Mexico Fund 2
Xander Group
India Real Estate Private Equity
Townsend BlackRock Realty Advisors
City Investment Fund
RV Kuhns MayfieldGentry Realty
City Lights Investment
Venture Center LLC
General Motors Investment
Kimex
Kimex Land Fund 1
Loews Hotel
Atlanta Hotel JV
ORG Real Property
Lake Hempstead Fund
Lake Success Fund
Townsend Group
Cayuga Lake Fund
Seneca Land Fund
Bozzuto Development
Multifamily JV
Exeter Realty
Pioneer Property Partners 3
Regency Retail Partners
Guggenheim Partners
Callahan Capital Partners
Denver Office Portfolio
State Investment
Common Fund
SWIB Canadian Investors
Southern California Business
RREEF
Commitments of $5 million or more by Top 50 public pension systems
Source: RE Alert, March 31, 2008
Courtland J.P. Morgan, IDI
9. 2007 New Commitments to Commingled Funds from Pension Funds
Very few REIT-sponsored commingled funds has been noticed in the following statistics compiled by Real
Estate Alert (March 31, 2008). Only DDRs Retail Fund was found to be invested $200 Mn by Ohio State
Teachers. Mostly of pension funds investment in commingled fund in 2007 went to real estate investment
managers, such as ING Clarion, Blackstone Group, CBRE Investors, and Principal Real Estate Investors.
2007 New Commitments to Commingled Funds
Alaska Public
Employees &
Knupp
State Teachers
ING Clarion Capital
ING Clarion Debt Opportunity Fund 2
Rothschild Realty
Five Arrows Realty Securities Fund 5
Real Estate Partners 6
CIM Group
CIM Real Estate Fund 3
Real Estate Venture 7
Real Estate Growth Fund 3
Canyon Capital Realty Advisors
Canyon Johnson Urban Fund 3
Canyon Value Opportunity Fund
Strategic Partners Asia Fund 2
Strategic Partners Opportunity Fund 5
Strategic Partners Value Fund 5
High Yield CMBS Fund 3
Fairfield Strategic Apartment Fund 3
Fortress Investment
Florida Coinvestment Fund
IL&FS Investment Managers
IL&FS India Realty Fund 2
JER Europe Fund 3
Lowe Enterprises Investment
Resort Finance Investment Partners
Macquarie Global Property Advisors
MGP Asia Fund 3
MGP Europe Fund 3
5 U.S. Co-Investment
Special Situations Fund 3
RLJ Capital Partners
RLJ Real Estate Fund 3
Rockpoint Real Estate Fund 3
Stronghold Investments
Niam Nordic Fund 4
Thomas Properties
Thomas High Performance Green
ARA Group
ARA Asia Dragon Fund
Structured Real Estate Fund 3
European Development 2
U.S. Debt Co-investment Vehicle
Asia Opportunity Fund 3
Mortgage Value Investors
Chicago Public
Ennis Knupp
Kansas Public Partners
Xander JV Fund 1
Mezzanine Partners
Walton Street Capital
Walton Street Real Estate Fund 6
Miller Global Properties
Miller Global Fund 6
Beacon Capital Partners
Strategic Partners 5
BlackRock Retail Opportunity Fund
U.S. Office Value-Added 2
Special Situations Property Fund
Enhanced Property Fund
PRISA 2
Granite Property Fund
Prime Property Fund
Colony Investors 8
Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners 3
Strategic Partners Europe Fund 3
Strategic Partners U.K. Fund 3
Hotel Income & Equity Fund 2
ING Clarion Partners
Lion Industrial Trust
American CityVista
CityView LA Urban Land Fund 1
Growth & Income 6
Urdang & Associates
Urdang Value-Added Fund 2
Valencia Capital Management
Next Block Medical Fund 1
Capmark
Capmark U.K. Realty Partners
Capri Capital
Capri Urban Investors
Medical Office Fund 2
Maryland State Partners
Retirement RV RV Kuhns
Kuhns
Missouri Public
New City Asia Partners
AEW Value Investors 2
Forum Asian Realty Income Fund 2
Heitman Value Partners 2
Praedium Group
Praedium Fund 7
Secured Capital Japan
Real Estate Partners Asia
Gateway Capital
Gateway Capital Real Estate Fund 2
L&B Medical Properties Fund 2
AEW Core Property Trust
Europe Real Estate Partners 3
Japan Logistics Fund 2
Income & Growth 5
Lone Star Partners 6
Lone Star Partners
Lone Star Real Estate Fund
Noble Hospitality Fund
Capmark Commercial Realty Partners 3
Five Mile Capital Partners
Structured Income 2
L&B Diversified Strategy Fund
Tucker Development
Tucker Development & Acquisition
Real Estate Sidecar Fund 6
Angelo, Gordon & Co.
AG Realty Fund 7
Place Properties/Blue Vista Capital
Student Housing Fund
American Value Partners 1
American Value Partners Fund 1
Carlyle Realty Partners 5
Heitman America Real Estate Trust
Phoenix Realty
Metropolitan Workforce Housing Fund
Westbrook Real Estate Partners 7
Apollo Real Estate Advisors
European Real Estate Fund 3
Grove International Partners
Redwood Grove International
Genesis Workforce Housing 2
Stockbridge Capital Partners
2Real Estate Fund 3
Cerberus Real Estate Capital
Blackacre Institutional Partners 2
DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners 4
Exeter Property
Exeter Industrial Value Fund
ING Clarion Development Ventures 3
O'Connor Capital Partners
North American Property Partners 2
Ohio Police &
Ohio School
Penwood Real Estate
California Select Industrial Partners 2
Perella Weinberg
Real Estate Fund 1
PLA Residential Fund 3
Fillmore Capital Partners
Fillmore West Fund
Rockspring Property
TransEuropean Property 4 Fund
Black Creek Group
Mexico Residential Fund
DDR Domestic Retail Fund 1
Alpha Investment Partners
Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund
Real Estate Opportunistic Income Fund
U.S. Office Value-Added
Western National Group
Realty Advisors Fund 2
Real Estate Finance Corp.
Real Estate Special Situations Mortgage
Feil Organization
RCG Longview Equity
Strategic Property Fund
Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners 3
Madison Marquette
Madison Marquette Retail Enhancement
Morgan Stanley .
5 U.S
Starwood Capital
Starwood Global Opportunity Fund 8
AIG Global Investment
AIG Asian Real Estate Partners 2
Invesco Realty Advisors
Invesco High Yield Debt Fund
Square Mile Partners
Square Mile Partners 2
Apartment Venture 3
Camden Property
Camden Multifamily Value-Add Fund
Tricon Capital
Tricon 9
Limetree Capital
Emerging Beachfront Land Investment
Capital Trust
CT Opportunity Partners 1
Multi-family Value-Added Fund 1
10. Analytical Comparison Tools for Public Real Estate vs. Private Real Estate
Several analytical tools will be provided in this Appendix to show the portfolio construction logic that is
widely used among institutional investors. The tools can also be used to make comparison between public
real estate and private real estate.
First, I will go over some statistics by referencing the dataset we gathered from NAREIT, National Council
of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) and some academic studies. NCREIF is an association
of institutional real estate professionals who share a common interest in their industry. NCREIF produced
quarterly, the NCREIF Property Index (NPI), shows real estate performance returns using data submitted to
us by their data contributing members. The NPI is used as a private real estate industry benchmark to
compare an investor's own returns against the industry average.
The first data table below compares historical annual return for various equity products. The table suggests
NAREIT Equity REIT return is more volatile than NPI annual return. The Russell 2000 Index67, developed
Russell Investment Group measures the performance of the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe.
Historical Annual Return Comparison for Equity Products
NPI Annual
Equity REIT
Nasdaq US Treasury
Composite 10-yr Note
Source: REIT Watch (May 2008), NAREIT and NCREIF
The second data table provides the correlation statistics of the previous historical annual return for various
equity products. The dataset suggest NAREIT Equity REIT only has one medium-level correlation between
Russell 2000 during 1997-200 and has negative correlation with NPI Annual Return, S&P 500 and Nasdaq
Composite. For NPI Annual Return, it has negative correlation with NAREIT Equity REIT and low-mid
positive correlation with other equity products. The statistical result below is not obvious to support David
Geltner et al.s Finding 1 (in Section 5.1) during our sample period of 1997-2007.
http://www.russell.com/Indexes/characteristics_fact_sheets/US/Russell_2000_Index.asp, accessed on July 12, 2008.
Comparative Total Return Investment Correlation (1997-2007)
US Treasury
10-yr Note
NPI Annual Return
NAREIT Equity REIT
Russel 2000
US Treasury 10-yr Note
Source: REIT Watch, May 2008, NAREIT
The third data chart illustrates the equity return series for 6 equity products in first table. Nasdaq
Composite seems to the most volatile one. NPI Annual Return dataset looks to have the lowest volatility
among these 6 equity series.
Six Equity Return Series (1998-2007)
Source: REIT Watch, May 2008, NAREIT and NCREIF
The fourth data chart takes longer time series to depict the return profile of NAREIT Equity Return and
NCREIFs NPI Index. NPI annual return shows less volatility than NAREIT equity return.
NAREIT Equity Return and NCREIFs NPI Index (1978-2007)
Source: NAREIT and NCREIF (2008)
The fifth and sixth data benchmarks quarterly private real estate cap rate and equity REIT dividend yield
against 10-yr treasury yield. The average yield-pickup against 10-yr treasury for private real estate cap rate
and REIT dividend yield is 220 bps and 48 bps respectively in the studies quarterly data from 4Q93 ~ 4Q07.
Private RE Cap Rate and Equity REIT Dividend Yield vs. 10-yr Treasury (Q93 ~ 4Q07)
Average Yield Pick-up against 10-yr Treasury
The seventh data chart is three return series for NPI Index, broken down into total return, income return
and capital return. The average quarterly returns for these three series during 1Q 1978 ~ 1Q 2008 is 2.49%,
0.59% and 1.90% respectively. Transforming these quarterly data into annualized data will be 9.96% for
total annual return, 2.36% for annual income return and 7.60% for annual capital return.
NCREIF Return Quarterly Breakdown (1Q 1997-1Q 2008)
Source: NCREIF (2008)
The eighth and ninth data is on NCREIF Current Value Cap Rates by Property (Residential, Retail,
Industrial and Office) during 4Q 1993 ~ 1Q 2008.
NCREIF Current Value Cap Rates by Property Type (4Q93-1Q08)
Yield Pick-up against 10-yr Treasury for Four Property Types (4Q93-1Q08)
Average annual yield pickup against 10-yr Treasury for 4 sectors are summarized in below table
Residential real estate seems to have the lowest cap rate among these four products types reported by
NCREIF.
Average Yield Pick-up Summary for Four Property Sectors
Annual Yield Pick-up
Public REIT vs. Private Real Estate Who Leads?
My next research question would be either public REIT or private real estate leads the other of the
David Geltner et al. (2007) provides a good diagram as below. David Geltner
uses the data series of private real estate and public equity REIT during 1991-2007. His research result:
Public REIT (Red Line) in most of the time led the performance of private real estate (Blue Line).
Only until 2004-2007, private market valuation rose above market valuations.
Index of Commercial Property Value: Private vs. REITs (2002 = 1.00)
Source: David Geltner et al. (2007), Chapter 23 Course Slides, Page 68.
I further use Price/NAV for selected real estate sectors to observe the P/NAV pattern. Merrill Lynch
research (2008) provides a good statistics in next page for total REIT and various REIT sectors of their
P/NAV ratios since 1996 till June 2008. Historical average P/NAV is traded at 1.03.
Market Cap Weighted Price/NAVs for Selected Real Estate Sectors
Office *
Jun-00
Avg **
Min**
Max**
* Price/NAV's for Aug-96 through Jun-02 are for the office/industrial sector; ** Aug-96 to Present
Source: REIT Valuation Handbook, Merrill Lynch, June 27, 2008.
Price/NAVs for Total REIT Average (1996-2008)
Source: REIT Valuation Handbook, Merrill Lynch, June 27, 2008
11. Pension Fund Survey Result (2007)
In Appendix 11, I will base on 2005 and a First Look at 2006 Survey Results, published by Dr. Jim
Clayton of Pension Real Estate Association in February 2007.
The Pension Real Estate Association68 is
a nonprofit organization whose members are engaged in the investment of tax-exempt pension and
endowment funds into real estate assets. Founded in 1979, PREA currently lists over 1,800 members,
representing over 500 member firms across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.
According to Jim Clayton (2007), data result is this section is based on the responses from 67 PREA
member firms that at the time of the survey held more than $2,123 billion in assets and $146.8 Bn related
real estate investment, of which $129.5 Bn are holdings in real estate equity. Related real estate investment
includes private real estate equity, debt and public real estate (REIT, REOC, CMBS).
PREA Reporting Group Profile, 2005
Assets (US$ Mn)
Allocation (%)
> $25B in assets
< $25B in assets
Asset Breakdown by Plan Type
State or Municipal
Holdings in Real Estate-
Total Assets Reported
Breakdown by Plan Size
Related Investments*
Holdings in Real Estate Equity
* Includes private real estate equity, debt and public real estate (REIT, REOC, CMBS).
Source: Jim Clayton (2007)
Among the sample of 2,814 plan sponsors, the real estate equity holdings is $157 Bn, accounting 2.48%
of total assets of those 2,814 plan sponsors total assets of US$ 6,338 Bn. For public REIT holding, it
is categorized as a portion of US Stock. Jim Clayton states the allocation of 2.5% in real estate equity
is not informative because the vast majority of plans included do not invest in private real estate. The
$157 Bn real estate equity is held by only 711 of the more than 2,813 sponsors.
Source: http://www.prea.org/about/index.cfm, accessed on July 12, 2008.
Plan Sponsor Asset Allocation, 2005
Cash and Short-Term Debt
U.S. Stock*
Foreign Equities
% of Total Assets
* Includes real estate investment trusts (REITs)
Source: "2005 and a First Look at 2006 Survey Results", Jim Clayton, Feb 2007, Pension Real
Estate Association.
(All Plan Sponsors with Total Assets > $250 million)
Jim Clayton further analyzed the 711 member plans who have made private real estate investment. Real
estate allocation for top 50 plans stands around 6.3% and with all 711 plans at 5.6%
2005 Real Estate Allocation among 711 plans with real estate equity investment
Total Plan Assets
Top 50 Plans
Top 100 Plans
201 ~ 711 Plans
All 711 Plans
US$ Bn
% Dist.
$ Bn
% Allocation
711 plans with real estate ranked in descending order by $ of real estate equity.
Source: PREA and Standard and Poor's Money Market Directory
Jim Clayton further confirms the data suggested is in line with two other data research S&P Money
Market Directory and Pension & Investment. S&Ps real estate allocation for all plans stands at 6.1%
while Pension & Investment at 5.75%.
2006 Real Estate Equity Allocation
S&P Money Market Directory
All Plans ($ Bn)
Top 50 Defined Benefit Plans - 2006
YoY Increase
Plan Asset
Total Plan Asset
Source: PREA, Pension & Investments, Standard & Poors Money Market Directory
Comment on PREA Survey (2007) Result on Pension Funds Real Estate Allocation
In PREA Survey (2007) there are no specific statistics for public REIT-sponsored private capital funds
(either in single partner JV funds or commingled funds).
number for the commingled funds.
PREA does have investment allocation
However, the commingled funds could be investment with either
REIMs or public-sponsored private capital funds. Most pension funds private real estate allocation
goes to commingled funds and direct investment, accounting 78.8% or $ 88.58 Bn of total $112.4 Bn
private real estate investment among the surveyed 67 PREA investor members (that collectively had $2.1
Trillion total plan assets).
For the Joint Venture of $12.2 Bn (10.8% of total private real estate), I am uncertain about whether these
are project-level joint ventures or single-partner JV funds from the statistics.
With no breakdown of
Joint Venture and Commingled Fund, I have no grounds to estimate what JV/Fund investment size is
managed by public REITs.
PREA Report also suggests two things that are relevant to our discussion. 1) Larger pension funds do
more joint ventures than small ones (with total plan assets < $25 Bn), 2) Public REITs comprised only
about 12.5% of total real estate investment (public and private) and are held with no significant allocation
difference between larger plans or small plans.
Real Estate Investment Structure Allocation of PREA Members, 2005
Commingled Funds
Total Private
Reporting Group
By Total Plan Assets
% of Private RE
% of Total RE
> $25 Bn
< $25 Bn
Total Public
Total Private and Public
* Based on 67 PREA Investor Members that collectively had $2.1 Trillion total plan assets and $129.5 Bn, or 6.1%
of plan assets
Source: Pension Real Estate Association (2007)
Jim Clayton also summarized the survey result of the fund style strategy among those plan sponsors.
The 2005 vs. 2006 suggests that there is decrease in core strategy of 6.4% and increase in value-added
strategy and opportunistic strategy (3.4% and 3.0% respectively).
Distribution of Private Real Estate Equity Investment by Strategy, 2005
YoY % Change
YoY Distribution Change for Three Types of Real Estate Investment Strategy
12. Fund Strategy Sample Morgan Stanley Real Estate (MSRE)
According to Morgan Stanley Real Estates website69, Morgan Stanley has had a dedicated real estate
business since 1969, the longest uninterrupted real estate industry presence of any Wall Street firm.
Morgan Stanley has over 500 professionals in 25 offices worldwide, focused exclusively on the real estate
franchise with $99.6bn real estate asset under management.
The following expected return chart is an excerpt from page 4 and 13 of Portfolio Construction,
Morgan Stanley Real Estate on NCREIF Winter Meeting, February 22, 2006.
Below chart describes the risk-return profile that MSRE views in 1Q 2006 for various real estate
investment strategies.
Expected Return (%)
Global Public RE Value-Added Opportunistic Securities
-International
It is worth to note some REIMs also mange product line of public REIT securities, such as Morgan
Stanley, LaSalle Investment Management and Citi Property Investors.
Retrieved July 12, 2008 on http://www.morganstanley.com/realestate/msr-re-investing_01.html
Available Options by Strategy
- Warehouse in Major Distribution
- Major Metro Infill Office
(CBD and Suburban)
- Apartment
- Office with significant vacancy
Near-term Lease Exposure
- Wholesale to Retail
Recovery play in tech
oriented markets
- Hotel, repositioning
- For sale residential
- Community Shopping
Grade B/C Assets
- Center with Market
- Dominant Grocery Anchor
- Power Center
Urban in-fill development
- Lifestyle Center
- Stabilized, Dominant Hotel
Apartment, B with
Hotel, recovery
Mezzanine Debt
Source: Portfolio Construction, Morgan Stanley Real Estate on NCREIF Winter Meeting, February 22, 2006
As the comment of some industry participants from REIM fields, they do have a similar investment
template to what MSRE does for Available Options by Strategy listed above to make sure the
proposed investment portfolio falls into the right fund strategy and products.
13. Ernst & Young Real Estate Private Equity Fund Category
An excerpt from page 23 of Luxembourg Real Estate Funds A Comprehensive Survey by Ernst &
Young, January 2006.
The different style of funds can be summarized in the following diagram.
Analysis of funds by investment risk
Source: Ernst &Young (2006)
Core Fund
According to Ernst & Young (2006), at the lowest end of the risk spectrum, core funds aim at
achieving a stable flow of rental income, rather than dramatic capital gains, through investments in
stabilized properties with long-term leases that have highly predictable cash flows and are located in strong,
well diversified and low risk markets. Additionally, such funds use relatively little debt (less than 40%) in
their capital structure to leverage returns on equity. They act as a safe, regular income-generating assets
in an investors portfolio.
Opportunistic Fund
According to Ernst &Young (2006), on the other end of the spectrum are the opportunistic funds,
which aim at large capital gains rather than a stable flow of rental income and are focused on deals that
have significantly higher risk profiles. These deals include distressed assets requiring significant
re-leasing of vacant space, property repositioning or redevelopment, assets in tertiary markets without
deep liquidity, and international assets whose promoters must navigate political and currency risk.
Opportunistic funds also are highly leveraged (typically 60% - 80%) to boost equity returns and tend to
exit deals on a short-term basis with typical holding periods ranging between 3-5 years.
Core-plus and Value-added Fund
According to Ernst &Young (2006), in between the extremes of core funds and opportunistic funds
there is a combination of profiles with varying degrees of investment returns on equity and leverage
Core plus and value- added funds tend to achieve a base of predictable income through
investments in stabilized properties with medium term leases generating predictable cash flows, and are
located in diversified and low to medium risk markets. In addition, there may be an element of their
portfolio (normally 20%) aimed at development or more opportunistic investments. Such funds
leverage equity from 40% to 60% and tend to exit investments within a period of five years following
the initial investment.
About the Student
Born: October, 1975
At MIT Center for Real Estate, Cervantes wishes to learn more about
real estate investment and development skills in the setting of property
level, joint venture, private equity, and public REITs. He also takes Real
Estate Transactions course at Harvard Law School and Venture Capital
and Private Equity at Harvard Business School.
BA, Economics, 1997
In January 2008, Cervantes did a short internship with AIG Global Real
Estate Headquarters at New York with Transaction Review Group.
MBA, Finance, 2001
For the past three years (2004 - 2007), Cervantes has served as the real
estate investment manager at AIG Nan Shan Life Insurance Co., the 2
largest life insurer in Taiwan with total assets over US$ 35 Bn. He is
the first hire and directly reports to Head of Real Estate Investment
Director. Cervantes has assisted in building first US$ 800 Mn real
estate portfolio (nearly zero real estate exposure before the Team
set-up) over 11 investment projects, including hypermarts, power
center, regional malls, office, industrial office, residential development
and REIT IPOs in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Candidate, 2008 Class
M.S. Real Estate Development
Massachusetts Institute of
He was ranked as one of the top three investment managers by AIG
Global Real Estate Asia in 2005 and 2006. Before attending MIT,
Cervantes was assigned as Deputy Head of Real Estate Investment
Department, and managed 5 recruited investment analysts daily work.
Prior to joining AIG Nan Shan, Cervantes has some working experience
with Colony Capital in real estate investment and Credit Lyonnais
Securities Asia in banking and property research. Cervantes also has
20-month civil service experience as second lieutenant and
transportation officer for R.O.C Navy (Taiwan).
Email: cerlee@mit.edu
cervanteslee@yahoo.com
Cervantes has received Certified Commercial Investment Member
(CCIM) Designation in 2007. He is an active member in Urban Land
Institute and International Councils of Shopping Centers. He has been
a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI) since 2005. He passed
CFA Level I Exam in 2001. He is native in Mandarin and Taiwanese, and
has working knowledge of English and Japanese.
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This article is about the plant. For other uses, see Wheat (disambiguation).
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Subfamily: Pooideae
Tribe: Triticeae
Genus: Triticum
T. aestivum
T. aethiopicum
T. araraticum
T. boeoticum
T. carthlicum
T. compactum
T. dicoccoides
T. dicoccon
T. durum
T. ispahanicum
T. karamyschevii
T. macha
T. militinae
T. monococcum
T. polonicum
T. spelta
T. sphaerococcum
T. timopheevii
T. turanicum
T. turgidum
T. urartu
T. vavilovii
T. zhukovskyi
Serial No. 42236 ITIS 2002-09-22
Wheat (Triticum spp.)[1][2] is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East but now cultivated worldwide. In 2013, world production of wheat was 713 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize (1,016 million tons) and rice (745 million tons).[3] Wheat was the second most-produced cereal in 2009; world production in that year was 682 million tons, after maize (817 million tons), and with rice as a close third (679 million tons).[4]
This grain is grown on more land area than any other commercial food.[citation needed] World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined.[5] Globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in human food, having a higher protein content than other major cereals, maize (corn) or rice.[6] In terms of total production tonnages used for food, it is currently second to rice as the main human food crop and ahead of maize, after allowing for maize's more extensive use in animal feeds.
Wheat was a key factor enabling the emergence of city-based societies at the start of civilization because it was one of the first crops that could be easily cultivated on a large scale, and had the additional advantage of yielding a harvest that provides long-term storage of food. Wheat contributed to the emergence of city-states in the Fertile Crescent, including the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads, biscuits, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, noodles, couscous[7] and for fermentation to make beer,[8] other alcoholic beverages,[9] and biofuel.[10]
There are six wheat classifications: 1) hard red winter, 2) hard red spring, 3) soft red winter, 4) durum (hard), 5) Hard white, 6) soft white wheat.[11] The hard wheats have the most amount of gluten and are used for making bread, rolls and all-purpose flour. The soft wheats are used for making flat bread, cakes, pastries, crackers, muffins, and biscuits. A high percentage of wheat production in the EU is used as animal feed, often surplus to human requirements or low-quality wheat.[12]
Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for livestock, although the straw cannot be used as feed.[13] Its straw can be used as a construction material for roofing thatch.[14][15] The whole grain can be milled to leave just the endosperm for white flour. The by-products of this are bran and germ. The whole grain is a concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, while the refined grain is mostly starch.
Wheat is one of the first cereals known to have been domesticated, and wheat's ability to self-pollinate greatly facilitated the selection of many distinct domesticated varieties. The archaeological record suggests that this first occurred in the regions known as the Fertile Crescent. Recent findings estimate the first domestication of wheat down to a small region of southeastern Turkey,[16] and domesticated Einkorn wheat at Wadi el Jilat in Jordan—has been dated to 7,500-7,300 BCE.[17]
1 Origin
2 Farming techniques
4 Plant breeding
4.1 Hybrid wheat
5 Hulled versus free-threshing wheat
6 Naming
6.1 Major cultivated species of wheat[citation needed]
7 As a food
7.1 Nutrition
7.2 Worldwide consumption
7.3 Health concerns
7.4 Comparison of wheat with other major staple foods
8 Commercial use
9 Production and consumption
9.1 Farming systems
9.2 Futures contracts
9.3 Geographical variation
9.4 World's most productive wheat farms and farmers
10 Agronomy
10.1 Crop development
11.1 Pests
Origin[edit]
Spikelets of a hulled wheat, einkorn
Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, as mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were preferentially chosen by farmers. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the spikelets) remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter and disperse the spikelets.[18] Selection for these traits by farmers might not have been deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these traits made gathering the seeds easier; nevertheless such 'incidental' selection was an important part of crop domestication. As the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plant's natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild.
Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE. Jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds at Iran dating back as far as 9600 BCE.[19][20] Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of einkorn wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria, suggest the domestication of einkorn near the Karacadag Mountain Range.[21] With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE.[22]
Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 (at Cayonu) and 8400 BCE (Abu Hureyra), that is, in the Neolithic period. With the exception of Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 dated remains of domesticated emmer wheat were found in the earliest levels of Tell Aswad, in the Damascus basin, near Mount Hermon in Syria. These remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, but brought the domesticated grains with them from an as yet unidentified location elsewhere.[23]
The cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE.[24] "The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries." [25] By 3000 BCE, wheat had reached England and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China. The first identifiable bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a granary dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Greek Macedonia.[26]
Wheat continued to spread throughout Europe. In England, wheat straw (thatch) was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century.[27]
Farming techniques[edit]
Wheat harvest on the Palouse, Idaho, United States
Young wheat crop in a field near Solapur, Maharashtra, India
Technological advances in soil preparation and seed placement at planting time, use of crop rotation and fertilizers to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as a viable crop. Agricultural cultivation using horse collar leveraged plows (at about 3000 BCE) was one of the first innovations that increased productivity. Much later, when the use of seed drills replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in the 18th century, another great increase in productivity occurred.
Yields of pure wheat per unit area increased as methods of crop rotation were applied to long cultivated land, and the use of fertilizers became widespread. Improved agricultural husbandry has more recently included threshing machines and reaping machines (the 'combine harvester'), tractor-drawn cultivators and planters, and better varieties (see Green Revolution and Norin 10 wheat). Great expansion of wheat production occurred as new arable land was farmed in the Americas and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Genetics[edit]
Wheat genetics is more complicated than that of most other domesticated species. Some wheat species are diploid, with two sets of chromosomes, but many are stable polyploids, with four sets of chromosomes (tetraploid) or six (hexaploid).[28]
Einkorn wheat (T. monococcum) is diploid (AA, two complements of seven chromosomes, 2n=14).[1]
Most tetraploid wheats (e.g. emmer and durum wheat) are derived from wild emmer, T. dicoccoides. Wild emmer is itself the result of a hybridization between two diploid wild grasses, T. urartu and a wild goatgrass such as Aegilops searsii or Ae. speltoides. The unknown grass has never been identified among now surviving wild grasses, but the closest living relative is Aegilops speltoides.[citation needed] The hybridization that formed wild emmer (AABB) occurred in the wild, long before domestication,[28] and was driven by natural selection.
Hexaploid wheats evolved in farmers' fields. Either domesticated emmer or durum wheat hybridized with yet another wild diploid grass (Aegilops tauschii) to make the hexaploid wheats, spelt wheat and bread wheat.[28] These have three sets of paired chromosomes, three times as many as in diploid wheat.
The presence of certain versions of wheat genes has been important for crop yields. Apart from mutant versions of genes selected in antiquity during domestication, there has been more recent deliberate selection of alleles that affect growth characteristics. Genes for the 'dwarfing' trait, first used by Japanese wheat breeders to produce short-stalked wheat, have had a huge effect on wheat yields world-wide, and were major factors in the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico and Asia, an initiative led by Norman Borlaug. Dwarfing genes enable the carbon that is fixed in the plant during photosynthesis to be diverted towards seed production, and they also help prevent the problem of lodging. 'Lodging' occurs when an ear stalk falls over in the wind and rots on the ground, and heavy nitrogenous fertilization of wheat makes the grass grow taller and become more susceptible to this problem. By 1997, 81% of the developing world's wheat area was planted to semi-dwarf wheats, giving both increased yields and better response to nitrogenous fertilizer.
Wild grasses in the genus Triticum and related genera, and grasses such as rye have been a source of many disease-resistance traits for cultivated wheat breeding since the 1930s.[29]
Heterosis, or hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of maize), occurs in common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult to produce seed of hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale (as is done with maize) because wheat flowers are perfect and normally self-pollinate. Commercial hybrid wheat seed has been produced using chemical hybridizing agents; these chemicals selectively interfere with pollen development, or naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe (particularly France), the USA and South Africa.[30] F1 hybrid wheat cultivars should not be confused with the standard method of breeding inbred wheat cultivars by crossing two lines using hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the progeny many (ten or more) generations before release selections are identified to be released as a variety or cultivar.
Synthetic hexaploids made by crossing the wild goatgrass wheat ancestor Aegilops tauschii and various durum wheats are now being deployed, and these increase the genetic diversity of cultivated wheats.[31][32][33]
Stomata (or leaf pores) are involved in both uptake of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere and water vapor losses from the leaf due to water transpiration. Basic physiological investigation of these gas exchange processes has yielded valuable carbon isotope based methods that are used for breeding wheat varieties with improved water-use efficiency. These varieties can improve crop productivity in rain-fed dry-land wheat farms.[34]
In 2010, a team of UK scientists funded by BBSRC announced they had decoded the wheat genome for the first time (95% of the genome of a variety of wheat known as Chinese Spring line 42).[35] This genome was released in a basic format for scientists and plant breeders to use but was not a fully annotated sequence which was reported in some of the media.[36]
On 29 November 2012, an essentially complete gene set of bread wheat has been published.[37] Random shotgun libraries of total DNA and cDNA from the T. aestivum cv. Chinese Spring (CS42) were sequenced in Roche 454 pyrosequencer using GS FLX Titanium and GS FLX+ platforms to generate 85 Gb of sequence (220 million reads), equivalent to 5X genome coverage and identified between 94,000 and 96,000 genes.[37]
This sequence data provides direct access to about 96,000 genes, relying on orthologous gene sets from other cereals. and represents an essential step towards a systematic understanding of biology and engineering the cereal crop for valuable traits. Its implications in cereal genetics and breeding includes the examination of genome variation, association mapping using natural populations, performing wide crosses and alien introgression, studying the expression and nucleotide polymorphism in transcriptomes, analyzing population genetics and evolutionary biology, and studying the epigenetic modifications. Moreover, the availability of large-scale genetic markers generated through NGS technology will facilitate trait mapping and make marker-assisted breeding much feasible.[38]
Moreover, the data not only facilitate in deciphering the complex phenomena such as heterosis and epigenetics, it may also enable breeders to predict which fragment of a chromosome is derived from which parent in the progeny line, thereby recognizing crossover events occurring in every progeny line and inserting markers on genetic and physical maps without ambiguity. In due course, this will assist in introducing specific chromosomal segments from one cultivar to another. Besides, the researchers had identified diverse classes of genes participating in energy production, metabolism and growth that were probably linked with crop yield, which can now be utilized for the development of transgenic wheat. Thus whole genome sequence of wheat and the availability of thousands of SNPs will inevitably permit the breeders to stride towards identifying novel traits, providing biological knowledge and empowering biodiversity-based breeding.[38]
Plant breeding[edit]
Sheaved and stooked wheat
In traditional agricultural systems wheat populations often consist of landraces, informal farmer-maintained populations that often maintain high levels of morphological diversity. Although landraces of wheat are no longer grown in Europe and North America, they continue to be important elsewhere. The origins of formal wheat breeding lie in the nineteenth century, when single line varieties were created through selection of seed from a single plant noted to have desired properties. Modern wheat breeding developed in the first years of the twentieth century and was closely linked to the development of Mendelian genetics. The standard method of breeding inbred wheat cultivars is by crossing two lines using hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the progeny. Selections are identified (shown to have the genes responsible for the varietal differences) ten or more generations before release as a variety or cultivar.[39]
The major breeding objectives include high grain yield, good quality, disease and insect resistance and tolerance to abiotic stresses include mineral, moisture and heat tolerance. The major diseases in temperate environments include the following, arranged in a rough order of their significance from cooler to warmer climates: eyespot, Stagonospora nodorum blotch (also known as glume blotch), yellow or stripe rust, powdery mildew, Septoria tritici blotch (sometimes known as leaf blotch), brown or leaf rust, Fusarium head blight, tan spot and stem rust. In tropical areas, spot blotch (also known as Helminthosporium leaf blight) is also important.
Wheat has also been the subject of mutation breeding, with the use of gamma, x-rays, ultraviolet light, and sometimes harsh chemicals. The varieties of wheat created through this methods are in the hundreds (varieties being as far back as 1960), more of them being created in higher populated countries such as China.[40]
Hybrid wheat[edit]
Because wheat self-pollinates, creating hybrid varieties is extremely labor-intensive; the high cost of hybrid wheat seed relative to its moderate benefits have kept farmers from adopting them widely[41][42] despite nearly 90 years of effort.[43] F1 hybrid wheat cultivars should not be confused with wheat cultivars deriving from standard plant breeding. Heterosis or hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of maize) occurs in common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult to produce seed of hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale as is done with maize because wheat flowers are complete and normally self-pollinate.[39] Commercial hybrid wheat seed has been produced using chemical hybridizing agents, plant growth regulators that selectively interfere with pollen development, or naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe (particularly France), the United States and South Africa.[44]
Hulled versus free-threshing wheat[edit]
The four wild species of wheat, along with the domesticated varieties einkorn,[45] emmer[46] and spelt,[47] have hulls. This more primitive morphology (in evolutionary terms) consists of toughened glumes that tightly enclose the grains, and (in domesticated wheats) a semi-brittle rachis that breaks easily on threshing. The result is that when threshed, the wheat ear breaks up into spikelets. To obtain the grain, further processing, such as milling or pounding, is needed to remove the hulls or husks. In contrast, in free-threshing (or naked) forms such as durum wheat and common wheat, the glumes are fragile and the rachis tough. On threshing, the chaff breaks up, releasing the grains. Hulled wheats are often stored as spikelets because the toughened glumes give good protection against pests of stored grain.[45]
Naming[edit]
For more details on this topic, see Taxonomy of wheat.
Sack of wheat
Model of a wheat grain, Botanical Museum Greifswald
There are many botanical classification systems used for wheat species, discussed in a separate article on Wheat taxonomy. The name of a wheat species from one information source may not be the name of a wheat species in another.
Within a species, wheat cultivars are further classified by wheat breeders and farmers in terms of:
Growing season, such as winter wheat vs. spring wheat.[15]
Protein content. Bread wheat protein content ranges from 10% in some soft wheats with high starch contents, to 15% in hard wheats.
The quality of the wheat protein gluten. This protein can determine the suitability of a wheat to a particular dish. A strong and elastic gluten present in bread wheats enables dough to trap carbon dioxide during leavening, but elastic gluten interferes with the rolling of pasta into thin sheets. The gluten protein in durum wheats used for pasta is strong but not elastic.
Grain color (red, white or amber). Many wheat varieties are reddish-brown due to phenolic compounds present in the bran layer which are transformed to pigments by browning enzymes. White wheats have a lower content of phenolics and browning enzymes, and are generally less astringent in taste than red wheats. The yellowish color of durum wheat and semolina flour made from it is due to a carotenoid pigment called lutein, which can be oxidized to a colorless form by enzymes present in the grain.
Major cultivated species of wheat[citation needed][edit]
Hexaploid Species
Common wheat or Bread wheat (T. aestivum) – A hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in the world.
Spelt (T. spelta) – Another hexaploid species cultivated in limited quantities. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the closely related species common wheat (T. aestivum), in which case its botanical name is considered to be Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta.
Tetraploid Species
Durum (T. durum) – The only tetraploid form of wheat widely used today, and the second most widely cultivated wheat.
Emmer (T. dicoccon) – A tetraploid species, cultivated in ancient times but no longer in widespread use.
Khorasan (Triticum turgidum ssp. turanicum also called Triticum turanicum) is a tetraploid wheat species.[2] It is an ancient grain type; Khorasan refers to a historical region in modern-day Afghanistan and the northeast of Iran. This grain is twice the size of modern-day wheat and is known for its rich nutty flavor.[3]
Diploid Species
Einkorn (T. monococcum) – A diploid species with wild and cultivated variants. Domesticated at the same time as emmer wheat, but never reached the same importance.
Classes used in the United States:
Durum – Very hard, translucent, light-colored grain used to make semolina flour for pasta & bulghur; high in protein, specifically, gluten protein.
Hard Red Spring – Hard, brownish, high-protein wheat used for bread and hard baked goods. Bread Flour and high-gluten flours are commonly made from hard red spring wheat. It is primarily traded at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.
Hard Red Winter – Hard, brownish, mellow high-protein wheat used for bread, hard baked goods and as an adjunct in other flours to increase protein in pastry flour for pie crusts. Some brands of unbleached all-purpose flours are commonly made from hard red winter wheat alone. It is primarily traded on the Kansas City Board of Trade. One variety is known as "turkey red wheat", and was brought to Kansas by Mennonite immigrants from Russia.[48]
Soft Red Winter – Soft, low-protein wheat used for cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, and muffins. Cake flour, pastry flour, and some self-rising flours with baking powder and salt added, for example, are made from soft red winter wheat. It is primarily traded on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Hard White – Hard, light-colored, opaque, chalky, medium-protein wheat planted in dry, temperate areas. Used for bread and brewing.
Soft White – Soft, light-colored, very low protein wheat grown in temperate moist areas. Used for pie crusts and pastry. Pastry flour, for example, is sometimes made from soft white winter wheat.
Red wheats may need bleaching; therefore, white wheats usually command higher prices than red wheats on the commodities market.
As a food[edit]
Wheat is used in a wide variety of foods.
Wheat, hard red winter
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
1,368 kJ (327 kcal)
Thiamine (B1)
Riboflavin (B2)
Niacin (B3)
Pantothenic acid (B5)
Folate (B9)
1.9 μg
Trace metals
Link to USDA Database entry
μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams
IU = International units
Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database
Raw wheat can be ground into flour or, using hard durum wheat only, can be ground into semolina; germinated and dried creating malt; crushed or cut into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur also known as groats. If the raw wheat is broken into parts at the mill, as is usually done, the outer husk or bran can be used several ways. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes, pies, pastries, cakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy, boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g., Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wheaties).
Nutrition[edit]
100 g (3.5 oz) of hard red winter wheat contain about 12.6 g (0.44 oz) of protein, 1.5 g (0.053 oz) of total fat, 71 g (2.5 oz) of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 g (0.43 oz) of dietary fiber, and 3.2 mg (0.00011 oz) of iron (17% of the daily requirement); the same weight of hard red spring wheat contains about 15.4 g (0.54 oz) of protein, 1.9 g (0.067 oz) of total fat, 68 g (2.4 oz) of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 g (0.43 oz) of dietary fiber, and 3.6 mg (0.00013 oz) of iron (20% of the daily requirement).[49]
Much of the carbohydrate fraction of wheat is starch. Wheat starch is an important commercial product of wheat, but second in economic value to wheat gluten.[50] The principal parts of wheat flour are gluten and starch. These can be separated in a kind of home experiment, by mixing flour and water to form a small ball of dough, and kneading it gently while rinsing it in a bowl of water. The starch falls out of the dough and sinks to the bottom of the bowl, leaving behind a ball of gluten.
In wheat, phenolic compounds are mainly found in the form of insoluble bound ferulic acid and are relevant to resistance to wheat fungal diseases.[51] Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids present in high amounts in the bran layer (e.g. pericarp, testa and aleurone layers) of wheat and rye (0.1-0.3% of dry weight).
Worldwide consumption[edit]
Wheat is grown on more than 218,000,000 hectares (540,000,000 acres),[52] larger than for any other crop. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. With rice, wheat is the world's most favored staple food. It is a major diet component because of the wheat plant’s agronomic adaptability with the ability to grow from near arctic regions to equator, from sea level to plains of Tibet, approximately 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level. In addition to agronomic adaptability, wheat offers ease of grain storage and ease of converting grain into flour for making edible, palatable, interesting and satisfying foods. Wheat is the most important source of carbohydrate in a majority of countries.[citation needed]
Wheat protein is easily digested by nearly 99% of the human population (all but those with gluten-related disorders), as is its starch.[citation needed] Wheat also contains a diversity of minerals, vitamins and fats (lipids). With a small amount of animal or legume protein added, a wheat-based meal is highly nutritious.[53]
The most common forms of wheat are white and red wheat. However, other natural forms of wheat exist. For example, in the highlands of Ethiopia grows purple wheat, a tetraploid species of wheat that is rich in anti-oxidants. Other commercially minor but nutritionally promising species of naturally evolved wheat species include black, yellow and blue wheat.[5][54][55]
Health concerns[edit]
Main article: Gluten-related disorders
Several screening studies in Europe, South America, Australasia, and the USA suggest that approximately 0.5–1% of these populations may have undetected coeliac disease.[56] Coeliac (also written as celiac) disease is a condition that is caused by an adverse immune system reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein found in wheat (and similar grains of the tribe Triticeae which includes other species such as barley and rye). Upon exposure to gliadin, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with the bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction. That leads to flattening of the lining of the small intestine, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients. The only effective treatment is a lifelong gluten-free diet.
The estimate for celiac disease among people in the United States is between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of the population.[57][58][59]
While gluten sensitivity is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it is not the same as a wheat allergy.
Recently non-celiac gluten sensitivity has been identified as a further gluten sensitivity condition that differs from celiac disease and wheat allergy.
Comparison of wheat with other major staple foods[edit]
The following table shows the nutrient content of wheat and other major staple foods in a raw form.[60]
Raw forms of these staples, however, are not edible and cannot be digested. These must be sprouted, or prepared and cooked as appropriate for human consumption. In sprouted or cooked form, the relative nutritional and anti-nutritional contents of each of these grains is remarkably different from that of raw form of these grains reported in this table.
In cooked form, the nutrition value for each staple depends on the cooking method (for example: baking, boiling, steaming, frying, etc.).
Nutrient content of major staple foods[61]
STAPLE:
Maize / Corn[A]
Rice (white)[B]
Rice (brown)[I]
Wheat[C]
Potato[D]
Cassava[E]
Soybean (Green)[F]
Sweet potato[G]
Sorghum[H]
Yam[Y]
Plantain[Z]
Component (per 100g portion) Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount Amount
Water (g) 10 12 10 13 79 60 68 77 9 70 65
Energy (kJ) 1528 1528 1549 1369 322 670 615 360 1419 494 511
Protein (g) 9.4 7.1 7.9 12.6 2.0 1.4 13.0 1.6 11.3 1.5 1.3
Fat (g) 4.74 0.66 2.92 1.54 0.09 0.28 6.8 0.05 3.3 0.17 0.37
Carbohydrates (g) 74 80 77 71 17 38 11 20 75 28 32
Fiber (g) 7.3 1.3 3.5 12.2 2.2 1.8 4.2 3 6.3 4.1 2.3
Sugar (g) 0.64 0.12 0.85 0.41 0.78 1.7 0 4.18 0 0.5 15
Calcium (mg) 7 28 23 29 12 16 197 30 28 17 3
Iron (mg) 2.71 0.8 1.47 3.19 0.78 0.27 3.55 0.61 4.4 0.54 0.6
Magnesium (mg) 127 25 143 126 23 21 65 25 0 21 37
Phosphorus (mg) 210 115 333 288 57 27 194 47 287 55 34
Potassium (mg) 287 115 223 363 421 271 620 337 350 816 499
Sodium (mg) 35 5 7 2 6 14 15 55 6 9 4
Zinc (mg) 2.21 1.09 2.02 2.65 0.29 0.34 0.99 0.3 0 0.24 0.14
Copper (mg) 0.31 0.22 0.43 0.11 0.10 0.13 0.15 - 0.18 0.08
Manganese (mg) 0.49 1.09 3.74 3.99 0.15 0.38 0.55 0.26 - 0.40 -
Selenium (μg) 15.5 15.1 70.7 0.3 0.7 1.5 0.6 0 0.7 1.5
Vitamin C (mg) 0 0 0 0 19.7 20.6 29 2.4 0 17.1 18.4
Thiamin (mg) 0.39 0.07 0.40 0.30 0.08 0.09 0.44 0.08 0.24 0.11 0.05
Riboflavin (mg) 0.20 0.05 0.09 0.12 0.03 0.05 0.18 0.06 0.14 0.03 0.05
Niacin (mg) 3.63 1.6 5.09 5.46 1.05 0.85 1.65 0.56 2.93 0.55 0.69
Pantothenic acid (mg) 0.42 1.01 1.49 0.95 0.30 0.11 0.15 0.80 - 0.31 0.26
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.62 0.16 0.51 0.3 0.30 0.09 0.07 0.21 - 0.29 0.30
Folate Total (μg) 19 8 20 38 16 27 165 11 0 23 22
Vitamin A (IU) 214 0 0 9 2 13 180 14187 0 138 1127
Vitamin E, alpha-tocopherol (mg) 0.49 0.11 0.59 1.01 0.01 0.19 0 0.26 0 0.39 0.14
Vitamin K1 (μg) 0.3 0.1 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 0 1.8 0 2.6 0.7
Beta-carotene (μg) 97 0 5 1 8 0 8509 0 83 457
Lutein+zeaxanthin (μg) 1355 0 220 8 0 0 0 0 0 30
Saturated fatty acids (g) 0.67 0.18 0.58 0.26 0.03 0.07 0.79 0.02 0.46 0.04 0.14
Monounsaturated fatty acids (g) 1.25 0.21 1.05 0.2 0.00 0.08 1.28 0.00 0.99 0.01 0.03
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (g) 2.16 0.18 1.04 0.63 0.04 0.05 3.20 0.01 1.37 0.08 0.07
A corn, yellow B rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, unenriched
C wheat, hard red winter D potato, flesh and skin, raw
E cassava, raw F soybeans, green, raw
G sweet potato, raw, unprepared H sorghum, raw
Y yam, raw Z plantains, raw
I rice, brown, long-grain, raw
Commercial use[edit]
Harvested wheat grain that enters trade is classified according to grain properties for the purposes of the commodity markets. Wheat buyers use these to decide which wheat to buy, as each class has special uses, and producers use them to decide which classes of wheat will be most profitable to cultivate.
Wheat is widely cultivated as a cash crop because it produces a good yield per unit area, grows well in a temperate climate even with a moderately short growing season, and yields a versatile, high-quality flour that is widely used in baking. Most breads are made with wheat flour, including many breads named for the other grains they contain like most rye and oat breads. The popularity of foods made from wheat flour creates a large demand for the grain, even in economies with significant food surpluses.
Utensil made of dry wheat branches for loaves of bread
In recent years, low international wheat prices have often encouraged farmers in the USA to change to more profitable crops. In 1998, the price at harvest was $2.68 per bushel. USDA report[62] revealed that in 1998, average operating costs were $1.43 per bushel and total costs were $3.97 per bushel. In that study, farm wheat yields averaged 41.7 bushels per acre (2.2435 metric ton/hectare), and typical total wheat production value was $31,900 per farm, with total farm production value (including other crops) of $173,681 per farm, plus $17,402 in government payments. There were significant profitability differences between low- and high-cost farms, mainly due to crop yield differences, location, and farm size.
In 2007 there was a dramatic rise in the price of wheat due to freezes and flooding in the northern hemisphere and a drought in Australia. Wheat futures in September, 2007 for December and March delivery had risen above $9.00 a bushel, prices never seen before.[63] There were complaints in Italy about the high price of pasta.
Production and consumption[edit]
A map of worldwide wheat production.
Main article: International wheat production statistics
The combine Claas Lexion 584 06833 is threshing the wheat. Then he crushes the chaff and blows it across the field.
The combine Claas Lexion 584 06833 mows, threshes, shreddes the chaff and blows it across the field. In the meantime he loads the threshed wheat at full speed on a trailer.
In 2011, global per capita wheat consumption was 65 kg (143 lb), with the highest per capita consumption of 210 kg (460 lb) found in Azerbaijan.[64] In 1997, global wheat consumption was 101 kg (223 lb) per capita, with the highest consumption 623 kg (1,373 lb) per capita in Denmark, but most of this (81%) was for animal feed.[65] Wheat is the primary food staple in North Africa and the Middle East, and is growing in popularity in Asia. Unlike rice, wheat production is more widespread globally though China's share is almost one-sixth of the world.
"There is a little increase in yearly crop yield comparison to the year 1990. The reason for this is not in development of sowing area, but the slow and successive increasing of the average yield. Average 2.5 tons wheat was produced on one hectare crop land in the world in the first half of 1990s, however this value was about 3 tons in 2009. In the world per capita wheat producing area continuously decreased between 1990 and 2009 considering the change of world population. There was no significant change in wheat producing area in this period. However, due to the improvement of average yields there is some fluctuation in each year considering the per capita production, but there is no considerable decline. In 1990 per capita production was 111.98 kg/capita/year, while it was already 100.62 kg/capita/year in 2009. The decline is evident and the per capita production level of the year 1990 can not be feasible simultaneously with the growth of world population in spite of the increased average yields. In the whole period the lowest per capita production was in 2006."[66]
In the 20th century, global wheat output expanded by about 5-fold, but until about 1955 most of this reflected increases in wheat crop area, with lesser (about 20%) increases in crop yields per unit area. After 1955 however, there was a dramatic ten-fold increase in the rate of wheat yield improvement per year, and this became the major factor allowing global wheat production to increase. Thus technological innovation and scientific crop management with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, irrigation and wheat breeding were the main drivers of wheat output growth in the second half of the century. There were some significant decreases in wheat crop area, for instance in North America.[67]
Better seed storage and germination ability (and hence a smaller requirement to retain harvested crop for next year's seed) is another 20th century technological innovation. In Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat harvest as seed for the next crop, leaving only three-quarters for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average seed use of wheat was about 6% of output.
Several factors are currently slowing the rate of global expansion of wheat production: population growth rates are falling while wheat yields continue to rise, and the better economic profitability of other crops such as soybeans and maize, linked with investment in modern genetic technologies, has promoted shifts to other crops.
Farming systems[edit]
Woman harvesting wheat, Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, India
Burning of rice residues after harvest, to quickly prepare the land for wheat planting, around Sangrur, Punjab, India.
In the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as North China, irrigation has been a major contributor to increased grain output. More widely over the last 40 years, a massive increase in fertilizer use together with the increased availability of semi-dwarf varieties in developing countries, has greatly increased yields per hectare. In developing countries, use of (mainly nitrogenous) fertilizer increased 25-fold in this period. However, farming systems rely on much more than fertilizer and breeding to improve productivity. A good illustration of this is Australian wheat growing in the southern winter cropping zone, where, despite low rainfall (300 mm), wheat cropping is successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous fertilizer. This is achieved by 'rotation cropping' (traditionally called the ley system) with leguminous pastures and, in the last decade, including a canola crop in the rotations has boosted wheat yields by a further 25%.[68] In these low rainfall areas, better use of available soil-water (and better control of soil erosion) is achieved by retaining the stubble after harvesting and by minimizing tillage.[69]
In 2009, the most productive farms for wheat were in France producing 7.45 metric tonnes per hectare (although French production has low protein content and requires blending with higher protein wheat to meet the specifications required in some countries). The five largest producers of wheat in 2009 were China (115 million metric tonnes), India (81 MMT), Russian Federation (62 MMT), United States (60 MMT) and France (38 MMT). The wheat farm productivity in India and Russia were about 35% of the wheat farm productivity in France. China's farm productivity for wheat, in 2009, was about double that of Russia.[4]
In addition to gaps in farming system technology and knowledge, some large wheat grain producing countries have significant losses after harvest at the farm and because of poor roads, inadequate storage technologies, inefficient supply chains and farmers' inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Various studies in India, for example, have concluded that about 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts lost at the retail level. One study claims that if these post-harvest wheat grain losses could be eliminated with better infrastructure and retail network, in India alone enough food would be saved every year to feed 70 to 100 million people over a year.[70]
Futures contracts[edit]
Wheat futures are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, Kansas City Board of Trade, and Minneapolis Grain Exchange, and have delivery dates in March (H), May (K), July (N), September (U), and December (Z).[71]
Geographical variation[edit]
Top wheat producers
(in million metric tons)
1 China 115 117 126 122
2 India 80 86 95 94
3 United States 60 54 62 58
4 Russia 41 56 38 52
5 France 40 38 40 39
6 Canada 23 25 27 38
7 Germany 24 22 22 25
8 Pakistan 23 25 24 24
9 Australia 22 27 30 23
11 Ukraine 16 22 16 23
10 Turkey 19 21 20 22
12 Iran 13 13 14 14
13 Kazakhstan 9 22 13 14
14 United Kingdom 14 15 13 12
15 Poland 9 9 9 9
— World 651 704 675 713
Source: UN Food & Agriculture Organization [72]
There are substantial differences in wheat farming, trading, policy, sector growth, and wheat uses in different regions of the world. In the EU and Canada for instance, there is significant addition of wheat to animal feeds, but less so in the USA.
The biggest wheat producer in 2010 was EU-27, followed by China, India, USA and Russian Federation.[73]
The largest exporters of wheat in 2009 were, in order of exported quantities: United States, EU-27, Canada, Russian Federation, Australia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Upon the results of 2011, Ukraine became the world's sixth wheat exporter as well.[74] The largest importers of wheat in 2009 were, in order of imported quantities: Egypt, EU-27, Brazil, Indonesia, Algeria and Japan. EU-27 was on both export and import list, because EU countries such as Italy and Spain imported wheat, while other EU-27 countries exported their harvest. The Black Sea region – which includes Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine – is amongst the most promising area for grain exporters; it possess significant production potential in terms of both wheat yield and area increases. The Black Sea region is also located close to the traditional grain importers in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.[73]
In the rapidly developing countries of Asia, westernization of diets associated with increasing prosperity is leading to growth in per capita demand for wheat at the expense of the other food staples.
In the past, there has been significant governmental intervention in wheat markets, such as price supports in the USA and farm payments in the EU. In the EU these subsidies have encouraged heavy use of fertilizer inputs with resulting high crop yields. In Australia and Argentina direct government subsidies are much lower.[75]
World's most productive wheat farms and farmers[edit]
The average annual world farm yield for wheat was 3.3 tonnes per hectare (330 grams per square meter), in 2013.
New Zealander wheat farms were the most productive in 2013, with a nationwide average of 9.1 tonnes per hectare.[76] Ireland was a close second.
Various regions of the world hold wheat production yield contests every year. Yields above 12 tonnes per hectare are routinely achieved in many parts of the world. Chris Dennison of Oamaru, New Zealand, set a world record for wheat yield in 2003 at 15.015 tonnes per hectare (223 bushels/acre). In 2010, this record was surpassed by another New Zealand farmer, Michael Solari, with 15.636 tonnes per hectare (232.64 bushels/acre) at Otama, Gore.[77]
Agronomy[edit]
Wheat spikelet with the three anthers sticking out
Crop development[edit]
Wheat normally needs between 110 and 130 days between sowing and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and soil conditions (winter wheat lies dormant during a winter freeze). Optimal crop management requires that the farmer have a detailed understanding of each stage of development in the growing plants. In particular, spring fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and growth regulators are typically applied only at specific stages of plant development. For example, it is currently recommended that the second application of nitrogen is best done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about 1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale). Knowledge of stages is also important to identify periods of higher risk from the climate. For example, pollen formation from the mother cell, and the stages between anthesis and maturity are susceptible to high temperatures, and this adverse effect is made worse by water stress.[78] Farmers also benefit from knowing when the 'flag leaf' (last leaf) appears, as this leaf represents about 75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period, and so should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to ensure a good yield.
Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes and Zadoks scales being the most widely used. Each scale is a standard system which describes successive stages reached by the crop during the agricultural season.
Wheat at the anthesis stage. Face view (left) and side view (right) and wheat ear at the late milk
Diseases[edit]
Main articles: Wheat diseases and List of wheat diseases
Rust-affected wheat seedlings
There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses.[79] Plant breeding to develop new disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides, used to prevent the significant crop losses from fungal disease, can be a significant variable cost in wheat production. Estimates of the amount of wheat production lost owing to plant diseases vary between 10–25% in Missouri.[80] A wide range of organisms infect wheat, of which the most important are viruses and fungi.[81]
The main wheat-disease categories are:
Seed-borne diseases: these include seed-borne scab, seed-borne Stagonospora (previously known as Septoria), common bunt (stinking smut), and loose smut. These are managed with fungicides.
Leaf- and head- blight diseases: Powdery mildew, leaf rust, Septoria tritici leaf blotch, Stagonospora (Septoria) nodorum leaf and glume blotch, and Fusarium head scab.[82]
Crown and root rot diseases: Two of the more important of these are 'take-all' and Cephalosporium stripe. Both of these diseases are soil borne.
Stem rust diseases: Caused by basidiomycete fungi e.g. Ug99
Viral diseases: Wheat spindle streak mosaic (yellow mosaic) and barley yellow dwarf are the two most common viral diseases. Control can be achieved by using resistant varieties.
Pests[edit]
Wheat is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including The Flame, Rustic Shoulder-knot, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Turnip Moth. Early in the season, many species of birds, including the Long-tailed Widowbird, and rodents feed upon wheat crops. These animals can cause significant damage to a crop by digging up and eating newly planted seeds or young plants. They can also damage the crop late in the season by eating the grain from the mature spike. Recent post-harvest losses in cereals amount to billions of dollars per year in the USA alone, and damage to wheat by various borers, beetles and weevils is no exception.[83] Rodents can also cause major losses during storage, and in major grain growing regions, field mice numbers can sometimes build up explosively to plague proportions because of the ready availability of food.[84] To reduce the amount of wheat lost to post-harvest pests, Agricultural Research Service scientists have developed an "insect-o-graph," which can detect insects in wheat that are not visible to the naked eye. The device uses electrical signals to detect the insects as the wheat is being milled. The new technology is so precise that it can detect 5-10 infested seeds out of 300,000 good ones.[85] Tracking insect infestations in stored grain is critical for food safety as well as for the marketing value of the crop.
Agriculture and Agronomy portal
Deficit irrigation
Wheat growing history of the USA
Wheat middlings
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This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Wheat", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wheat.
Information on wheat genome sequencing
Price history of wheat, according to the IMF
Photos of wheat fields
Watch Australian science documentary on developing drought-resistant wheat
Wheat Foods Council Est. 1972
NAWG—Web site of the National Association of Wheat Growers
CIMMYT—Web site of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
Triticum species at Purdue University
A Workshop Report on Wheat Genome Sequencing
Molecular Genetic Maps in Wild Emmer Wheat
Winter Wheat in the Golden Belt of Kansas by James C. Malin, University of Kansas, 1944
Varieties of club wheat hosted by the UNT Government Documents Department
Triticum aestivum: facts, developmental stages, and inflorescence at GeoChemBio
Major topic "Triticum": free full-text articles in National Library of Medicine
"Gold Harvest Feeds The World" Popular Mechanics, July 1949, post World War Two modernization of wheat harvesting
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By Max DeNike
News The Snitch Only in SF
News The Snitch Tech
Millennial Problems: Most Pokemon-Obsessed City Is NOT S.F.
News The Snitch Housing, Tech
S.F. Renters Partying Like It’s 2009
News The Snitch Yesterday's Crimes
Yesterday's Crimes: Rolling Stones, Hells Angels and Busted Heads at Altamont
By Bob Calhoun
News The Snitch Crime
S.F. Residents Beware: Razor Scooter Thug Is Roaming Streets
News The Snitch Celebrities, Law & Order, Sports
Woman Who Attended Beyoncé, Jay Z Concert at AT&T Park Sues Over Collision
News The Snitch Controversy
SF Police Union Just Won’t Stop
Crime / Government Family Guy Not Guilty: Bayview Dad Acquitted of Police Battery
Posted By Joe Eskenazi @EskSF on Mon, Dec 3, 2007 at 10:28 AM
Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince said that parents just don't understand.
Well, count in Bayview father of three Ronald Brown: He didn't understand why police should come to his house, beat him up, and then charge him with battery.
The 43-year-old beat the rap last week when he was acquitted of two counts of resisting arrest and battery on a police officer after officers showed up in the wee hours to take Brown's stepson into custody. According to the Public Defender's office, this was yet another case of big city cops proving they're often not flaming liberals with nothing but joy and equanimity toward racial minorities in their pure, honest hearts.
“It was clear that the police officers involved in this case were not truthful on key points of their testimony,” says Deputy Public Defender Peter Santina. “A parent has a right to know why their child is being arrested and where he is being taken. An incident like this would have never happened to a white family living in Pacific Heights or Noe Valley."
More from the Public Defender's office:
On October 18, 2006, at 1:30 a.m., Brown was awoken by a knock at his
door. When he opened the door, Brown saw his 16-year-old stepson being
pulled away by Police Officer Marvin Cabuntala. When he asked the officer
why he was arresting his stepson, Officer Cabuntala told him that his son
was being detained for questioning. Brown repeated his inquiries and
followed the officer and stepson onto the sidewalk. Brown was then
approached by several other officers, including Officer Christian Berge and
Officer Jesse Farrell, and was knocked to the ground and placed in a
chokehold.
During trial, the officers involved admitted knocking Brown to the
ground and applying a chokehold, but claimed their actions were justified
by Brown’s actions. On direct examination, Officer Berge testified that
Brown refused to obey another officer’s orders not to interfere with his
stepson’s arrest. At one point, Officer Farrell attempted to arrest Brown,
who, according to police, physically resisted.
Brown took the stand in his defense and denied resisting arrest or
striking any of the officers. The defense also presented evidence that
Officer Farrell had engaged a pattern of using force against civilians
during arrest and that he had been involved in at least twelve incidents
involving force against civilians between 2004 and 2006.
-- Joe Eskenazi
Follow @sfweekly
Tags: Police Brutality, Public Defender's Office, Ronald Brown, Image
Joe Eskenazi
@EskSF
Joe Eskenazi was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left. "Your humble narrator" was a staff writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015. He resides in the Excelsior with his wife, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.
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One more thing: VoIP on the iPhone?
If Cisco and Apple's iPhone trademark settlement doesn't point towards VoIP, …
Iljitsch van Beijnum - Feb 23, 2007 10:12 pm UTC
with 0 posters participating
After some verbal grandstanding and many deadlines, Cisco and Apple worked out their differences regarding the iPhone trademark. The unusually short press release mentions:
In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for
interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise
This leads Wired's Cult
of Mac to speculate about the possibilities of of voice over IP
compatibility between Cisco products and the iPhone.
However, the Cisco (or rather, Linksys) iPhones aren't so much VoIP phones that use the standard SIP protocol (Cisco does make these for the enterprise market), but rather proprietary Skype or Yahoo Messenger phones. As such, it's hard to see how interoperability would even be possible, unless Apple's iPhone were to come with its own version of these applications. Apple hasn't exactly been forthcoming with details about what will and what won't run on its iPhone, but curiously missing in action during Steve Jobs' demo was Apple's own instant messaging and voice chat program, iChat.
But here's a more fundamental question: why does Apple's iPhone have WiFi in the first place? All the applications that that Steve Jobs demoed would work well enough over EDGE. EDGE is not particularly fast, but it's not that slow. Mail and the kind of web pages that are usable on a hand-held device (even a relatively powerful one) don't require multi-megabit per second Internet access speeds. Would the same company that keeps putting last year's graphics cards in top segment computers spend extra money on a WiFi chip just to speed up applications that don't really require the extra speed? It's not like we get to sync or buy from the iTunes Store wirelessly. Or will we?
I'm pretty sure there is one more thing, something that really needs the 802.11 capability. VoIP would fit the bill perfectly. With VoIP on board, the iPhone can replace existing fixed phones and more easily justify its steep price tag. It also makes sense that Apple would like to keep this secret from Cingular (or maybe just the overseas wireless networks that it's no doubt negotiating with right now) in order to get the best deal possible. When Steve then drops the VoIP bomb on them right before the iPhone becomes available, the carriers are already committed and it won't be easy to back out. Or maybe the carriers are in on the deal and are working on mobile-VoIP integration as we speak. This is where a user calls over VoIP/WiFi/ADSL at home and over the cell network elsewhere.
Or maybe the raison d'être for the iPhone's WiFi is something completely different. But somewhere, somehow, there's another shoe that has yet to drop.
Iljitsch van Beijnum Iljitsch is a contributing writer at Ars Technica, where he contributes articles about network protocols as well as Apple topics. He is currently finishing his Ph.D work at the telematics department at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in Spain.
Email iljitsch.vanbeijnum@arstechnica.com // Twitter @iljitsch
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Policy —
Appeals court: warrant required before Feds can read e-mail
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled once again: the government can't …
Jacqui Cheng - Dec 14, 2010 9:32 pm UTC
The government must obtain a valid search warrant before infiltrating your e-mail in a criminal investigation, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The appeals court ruled Tuesday on US v. Warshak, noting that e-mail "requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment," and that law enforcement can't demand for an ISP to give up e-mail with just a court order.
The story behind the case goes back to 2006, when the Feds gained access to e-mail belonging to Steven Warshak, the man behind the "natural male enhancement" product Enzyte. At the time, Warshak had already incurred the wrath of the FTC, which said that there was no evidence that his products worked and found that his company routinely signed up callers for a monthly subscription plan that was difficult to cancel. Soon the FBI and the Postal Inspectors got on Warshak's case for mail and wire fraud as well.
The government was able to gain access to Warshak's e-mail thanks to a court order—a move that requires a significantly lower burden of proof than a full-on warrant. Warshak pushed back on the grounds that the search violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals eventually ruled in Warshak's civil case that his e-mail was indeed Constitutionally protected and that the ability to get the court order without notification was no longer allowed.
Although that previous ruling from the appeals court still stands, the latest decision is related to Warshak's criminal case (he was convicted in 2008 on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering, and received a 25-year prison sentence). The Sixth Circuit once again agreed that a warrant is necessary before the government can access a citizen's e-mails through an ISP.
"Given the fundamental similarities between e-mail and traditional forms of communication, it would defy common sense to afford e-mails lesser Fourth Amendment protection," wrote the court.
"It follows that e-mail requires strong protection under the Fourth Amendment; otherwise the Fourth Amendment would prove an ineffective guardian of private communication, an essential purpose it has long been recognized to serve," wrote the court. "[T]he ISP is the functional equivalent of a post office or a telephone company. As we have discussed above, the police may not storm the post office and intercept a letter, and they are likewise forbidden from using the phone system to make a clandestine recording of a telephone call—unless they get a warrant, that is."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had heavily backed Warshak's position, applauded the latest ruling.
"Today's decision is the only federal appellate decision currently on the books that squarely rules on this critically important privacy issue..." the EFF said in a statement. "We hope that this ruling will spur Congress to update that law as EFF and its partners in the Digital Due Process coalition have urged, so that when the government secretly demands someone's email without probable cause, the email provider can confidently say: 'Come back with a warrant.'"
As for Warshak, the court upheld his criminal conviction but threw out his 25-year sentence, with a remand for resentencing.
Jacqui Cheng Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more.
Email jacqui@arstechnica.com // Twitter @eJacqui
oldcoot60 Ars Praetorian
That doesn't mean they won't continue to do it anyway; not all ISPs will refuse the requests without warrants. It all depends on the accused having a decent lawyer and the money to defend against the charges. If you're poor you're still going to get screwed.
Cherlindrea Ars Tribunus Militum
Well, yeah, I imagine it'll be just like telephone companies. FBI (or NSA or Homeland Security or whoever it was) went to the telcos and said they wanted to tap people's phones for suspected terrorism, and few of them asked to see a warrant. No reason to believe ISPs will be any different at all.
Larson Smack-Fu Master, in training
Silly question, but does ISP also include other hosted email like Gmail or Hot Mail?
77 posts | registered Dec 4, 2003
ylandrin Ars Centurion
Being poor fortunately doesn't mean that you are not savvy. If you:
a) hold on all and every paper that you get
b) request and explore all legal recourse that you have
c) go to the EFF with a strong enough case,
then the EFF will probably have a pleasure paying for your legal fees if that would warrant a legal precedent for heavy fines against ISPs that do not follow due procedure and hand over private coms without a warrant.
Telcos don't do that anymore, after being bitten by a few high-profile cases, and I bet it's the only thing required to make ISPs follow.
Hinton Ars Legatus Legionis et Subscriptor
I don't understand, isn't the police subject to the courts? If a court rules, a warrant automaticly follows?
16203 posts | registered Apr 21, 2001
Pirokobo Ars Tribunus Militum
Con artist scores big win for privacy and due process.
Hinton wrote:
No. It's a matter of how far out a court is willing to stick its neck. A court order is fairly easy to issue but isn't supposed to allow violation of privacy. A search warrant grants legal power to violate privacy but can only be issued if the police can give a definition of what they expect to find. Discoveries that don't pertain to the search warrant may not be admissible as evidence.
Last edited by Pirokobo on Tue Dec 14, 2010 5:00 pm
@Hinton
No, a court order and a warrant are two wildly different legal beasts, and have different process requirements. The warrant requires reasonable cause (a.k.a. some legally acceptable partial proof that something illegal has been committed), the court order only requires the "will of the court".
crustytheclown Ars Praefectus
Search warrants are based on probable cause and require a judge to sign off on them. The fact that the government doesnt like to even get a search warrant shows hows corrupt we have let these agents get. Search warrants are notoriously easy to get. Many judges dont really challenge the probable cause or affidavits police provide. Im just glad one appellate court stood up to these completely unconstitutional actions by police.
Now sue the living crap out of ISP, telcos, and anyone else giving away personal info to police without search warrants and these corporations will protect privacy stuff better. Hitting the wallet is the only way to keep these hoodlums in line.
JustinS Ars Legatus Legionis
oldcoot60 wrote:
Thanks to this ruling evidence obtained in the way you describe isn't usable by a prosecutor. Cops might not get the warrant, but they certainly should if they want to obtain a conviction.
10121 posts | registered Aug 22, 1999
PandaCheese Ars Praefectus
Mr. Warshak is one R away from an awesome name.
Kyeotic Ars Scholae Palatinae
Larson wrote:
Reading the decision, ISP is not used. They simply note that obtaining the email requires a warrant. So, to answer your question, it looks like this decision does cover Gmail.
fjpoblam Ars Scholae Palatinae
tyrsius wrote:
Okay, so: another silly question. As worded, it seems to me the decision has to do with *stored* email. Am I correct that email *in transit* is NOT protected? (I.e., there is no protection against "mail-tapping"?) (Could be a thin line, I suppose...catch it before it gets stored.)
whquaint Ars Tribunus Militum
This sounds great to me. Score one for privacy rights.
2636 posts | registered Oct 4, 2005
AHuxley Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Read e-mail vs track/sort the ip/to/from headers?
Thats the very old trick that is used. A massive passive database of who is connected to who. One person gets a real court sneak and peek letter, anyone one connected gets their email lists sorted - who they are connecting to and so on.
Or a voice print of interest is detected over a city that was recored years ago and all the people getting direct calls and their numbers called are logged.
They dont listen to every call, but they collect all the numbers and wait.
So if they dont listen/read they can collect all connecting details they want.
152 posts | registered May 9, 2007
Maran Garand Ars Praetorian
fjpoblam wrote:
IANAL, and I did not read it all, but I believe that by this ruling, email is considered protected regardless of location or method of interception. So I believe "email-tapping" without a warrant would be just as unacceptable as "wire-tapping" or "mail-intercepting/reading" without a warrant.
The judge, in his opinion, stated that an email is analogous to a letter, and noted that the police cannot intercept and inspect a letter in transit without a warrant. He also referred to wire-tapping. It seemed to me, he carefully crafted arguments that the email should be treated as protected. And did not leave room for any obvious loopholes, like "email-tapping".
It therefore seems to me, that even though an unencrypted email is basically the equivalent of a post card to any of the servers handling it (unless it is encrypted of course, then is more like a letter in a security envelope), the police are still not allowed to intercept the email without a warrant, any more than they are allowed to wire tap a phone call.
The ruling indicates that the officers gathering the evidence really should have needed a warrant, but had made a "good faith" effort to gather the data legally, so the evidence was allowed. But, in the future, the court would not allow evidence gathered in such a manner (without a warrant) to be used.
But as AHuxley mentioned, I believe they can still legally track who is corresponding to whom, as long as they don't actually inspect the email contents without a warrant.
LavosPhoenix Ars Centurion
Now what about information in the cloud? That needs to be protected via the 4th as well.
334 posts | registered Nov 5, 2007
WaltC Ars Praefectus
Cherlindrea wrote:
Nah...I don't think the telcos are any more interested in "providing taps" for the government than ISP customers are interested in having their emails read illegally. It costs money to gather this kind of evidence, and an ISP would be a fool to just blindly accede to some detective's request for a customer's email--any ISP doing that without the compulsion of a warrant is a real dunderhead. Indeed, as of this ruling, being accused of stupidity might be the least of the troubles an ISP would face for releasing this information without a warrant.
Rindan Ars Tribunus Militum et Subscriptor
crustytheclown wrote:
I don't think you will have to. Companies are pretty lazy when it comes to this sort of thing. They take the path of least resistance. If it seems legal for a court to issue a court order for e-mail, they will just do it. The alternative is a legal battle with the state. Now the rules have flipped. It is clearly illegal to hand out e-mails without a court order. Companies being lazy are just going to shrug and ask for the warrant. The new rules are much easier for ISPs. Before, they had to violate trust with customers and waste manpower gathering e-mails on flimsy grounds and get nothing in return. Now, they get to respond to respond to court orders with a form letter and wait for a warrant before they start riffling through your spam mail. It is easier and cheaper for ISP, good for privacy, and great for rule of law. It is a win for everyone.
MyGaffer Ars Scholae Palatinae
If they need a warrant to read regular mail they should need a warrant to read e-mail. Its all personal communication.
Merovingian Ars Praetorian
tpg0007 wrote:
It will hereafter be known as email's Warshak Test.
441 posts | registered Jan 5, 2006
Wida Ars Praetorian
On one hand, civil rights are upheld. On the other, some sleazy SOB gets off.
crm-114 Ars Praetorian
"We hope that this ruling will spur Congress to update that law as EFF and its partners in the Digital Due Process coalition have urged, so that when the government secretly demands someone's email without probable cause, the email provider can confidently say: 'Come back with a warrant.'"
Be careful what you ask for. When Congress updates a law it is usually more than you bargained for. Pray they (Darth Congress) don't change it further.
oblivion Ars Tribunus Militum
Wow, you mean the courts actually leaned toward constitutional rights? I hope it continues. Kinda sucks but I feel like they will do the wiretap anyways and then argue through lengthy court battles that they were actually 'in the right'
3.3volts Ars Praetorian
WaltC wrote:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _v._AT%26T
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... /Room_641A
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... l_database
Please read the above. The telcos get bid-less jobs if they cooperate, and most of the abuse is not by the police but by the NSA, and it costs quite a bit less to just hand over all of your data than to carefully select a certain piece of data and triple verify it for a criminal prosecution.
So far almost all of the major telcos have been more than friendly towards the government, and the government has been friendly right back. This allows them to perpetuate monopolies. Monopolies are fine for utilities like ISPs and telephones, but only if they are regulated to prevent abuse. They haven't been adequately policed, and surprise, telcos spend some of the most on bribery *ahem* "political donations" to both parties.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news ... dy-att.ars
Goofball_Jones Ars Tribunus Militum
Then don't use a "telco" for your email if you're that paranoid. Google has shown in the past that they can be uncooperative with the government and governments in general. According to the EFF in their statement about this case: "the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers". That means what it means. All you armchair lawyers tin-foil hat wearers that posted above cynically suggest that ISP's and telcos will just give the government whatever they want anyway, should re-read the decision.
Google and other email services want to instill confidence in their users..which are their customers...which is where they get the lion-share of their money. Do you really think they want the bad-press from now on if they were to just hand over anything the government wants without a warrant when they can easily and legally just say "you need a warrant"? Step away from the cynical hysteria for a moment and put on your critical thinking cap.
Seriously, here's all I see in this thread:
"The courts ruled that law enforcement needs a warrant to search your emails".
"Oh yeah? Well....they'll just continue to do it anyway. It's a conspiracy! They're all out to get you!"
Maestro4k Ars Praetorian
What's really pathetic here is it sounds like they would have _easily_ been able to get a warrant. There was plenty of proof of criminal activity and they knew what they expected to find. So they were too lazy to do it right (right = being damn sure it'll hold up in court) and now the guy may get a lesser sentence than he deserves because of that.
Grashnak Ars Tribunus Militum
Maestro4k wrote:
What this guy said is very true. This is all about lazy police work - getting a search warrant, WHEN YOU HAVE CAUSE, is not hard. If you don't have cause, then - duh - you can't get a warrant. It's a pretty simple mechanism to protect us from over zealous officials. It is hardly an onerous standard for the cops to meet.
zelannii Ars Praefectus
OK, 1) any judge who can issue a "court order" can equally issue a warrant, in fact, it's LESS paperwork to issue a warrant.
2) The "burden of proof" to issue a warrant is probable cause. A warrant simply has to follow due process. The only real difference between a court order and a warrant is that a warrant is served by authorities, and a court order can mandate just about anyone to perform the action of collection of the specified items. There's an "oath of affirmation" involved in acquiring a warrant, ad a court order doesn't technically require that, however, court orders typically come later in a process after a person has already been charged and the case is IN COURT. Anything collected with a court order in place of a warrant may or may not be admissible, and that is determined later IN court, where anything captured with a warrant is essentially ruled admissible by pre-review. That is one major difference.
3) This ruling means they can't ask an ISP to hand over your email without a warrant, but a court order CAN still be issued to order YOU to turn over your own email, no differently than they can order you to do such for personal records. You "could" refuse, but you would be in contempt of court, then they'll issue a warrant to get it anyway. A court order is simply a bench order, documented, telling you to do something so the court and city don't have to make the expense themselves (and waste the time) to get get it personally.
4) this in no way prevents the government from snooping in-flight messages, so long as they only access the headers (previously rules by the supreme court to be no different than the OUTSIDE of a postal letter, which is in public hands until final delevery). Unencrypted messages in flight can also still be accessed through due process without a warrant through a bench order, or probable cause in some cases, but it still requires a documented PROCESS. They can't (and never could) simply access all e-mail in flight, they have to access messages exclusive to activity in open cases or persons of interest, and they still don;t need warrants for that.
This only effected court orders to 3rd parties, its a minor ruling, and an expected one. It doesn't prevent the govenment or other authorities from getting this beyond making them use a single sheet of multi-part form that are so rare for a judge to refuse they make national news when warrants are declined to be issues.
badfrog Ars Scholae Palatinae
Goofball_Jones wrote:
It's a sign of the times Goofball.
The average person (well, the average person who follows these types of stories anyway) has seen our rights, particularly as they pertain to digital information, be steadily eroded over the last decade or so, oftentimes by people conducting spirited end-runs around existing blocks in the system. It's not a conspiracy so much as it's just people working a well-defined system to get the results they want most expediently, and not caring too damn much if some innocents are violated along the way. Places us right in the middle of a slippery slope.
While I'm happy to see some sanity return to interpretations of Fourth Amendment protections to digital communications, I'm also of the opinion that, under the circumstances, cynicism is certainly warranted.
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Building block:Brik-tor
The A. C. Gilbert Co.ca.1900
The Strong National Museum of Play
Rochester , United States
Alfred Carlton Gilbert was something of a 20th-century Renaissance Man. He received a medical degree from Yale University, won an Olympic medal for pole vaulting, and even worked as a magician. In 1909 he became a partner in the Mysto Manufacturing Company, producing supplies for magic shows. Gilbert's true forte, however, lie in the toy-making industry. In 1913, he introduced the famous Erector set, an American version of the popular British-made Meccano toys. Three years later, Gilbert bought out his Mysto business partners and founded the A. C. Gilbert Company. The company, guided by Gilbert's strong belief in importance of science, technology, and invention, created toys to introduce and interest children in these fields. In addition to the Erector set, A. C. Gilbert produced toy trains (under the name American Flyer), microscopes and chemistry sets, building blocks, and other toys with educational value. Though the company went out of business in 1966, Gilbert earned a spot amongst the most popular and successful toy companies in American history.
Title: Building block:Brik-tor
Creator: The A. C. Gilbert Co.
Date Created: ca.1900
Location: New Haven, CT
Subject Keywords: father, boy, girl, house
Type: Construction Toys and Blocks
Medium: cardboard, brick, steel, paper
Object ID: 107.3837
Play set:Gilbert Electrical Set
Game:Baseball Game
Soldier:Paper Soldiers Set No. 2
Game:Ring My Nose (clown face on the box lid)
Card game:The Game of Nations
Card deck:Wild! Playing Cards
Puzzle:The Sectional Fire Department Puzzle
Card game:The Game of Authors Illustrated.
Puzzle:Streetcar Puzzle
Postcard:New Mexico
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Home » Community » World News Section
World News Section
Random Japan
Sunday, August 14, 2011 - 10:01am
A homeless man who racked up a ¥180,000 taxi fare from Tokyo to Osaka was arrested after revealing that he only had ¥6,000 to his name.
The National Police Agency sent a team of six judo instructors to teach martial arts to Afghan police officers at a training center in Turkey.
A 24-year-old Tochigi man was arrested for stealing 18 pairs of underwear from the home of a female high school student.
It was reported that mosquito nets made by Sumitomo Chemical Co...read more
It was reported that mosquito nets made by Sumitomo Chemical Co. are partly responsible for the recent drastic decline in malaria deaths worldwide.
¥1 million
Bonus payment that beverage giant Kirin will award to all 21 members of Japan’s world championship women’s soccer team
Households that were unprepared for the switch from analog to digital TV broadcasting on July 24, according to newspaper reports
Percent of Japanese men and women in their early 30s, respectively, who are single, according to The Daily Yomiuri
NEWS THAT BYTES
An Osaka man who created a computer virus dubbed ika-tako—which replaced files in infected PCs with pictures of squid and octopuses—was sentenced to six months in prison, marking the first time a case involving a computer virus has been prosecuted for destruction of property in Japan.
Meanwhile, the MPD busted a Gifu man under a new law that makes it illegal to store a virus on a computer.
The president of a Saitama-based internet ad agency and one of his employees were arrested for selling “40 million email addresses per year to online dating site operators.”
It was reported that the National Police Agency thinks that the growing number of cybercrimes in Japan is “due possibly to a decline in ethics among internet users.” Gee, ya think?
That Sake
Was Nothing But Trouble
Quick Before
Anyone Notices
I'm A Real Fake Doctor
Can't You Tell?
Tsunami survivors have heavy hearts on eve of obon
BY ATSUSHI MATSUKAWA STAFF WRITER
Buddhist priest Honen Tanno in Sendai's Wakabayashi Ward is reading a sutra in the stifling hot August air while standing in a pine forest on the beach.
His low voice mixes with the gentle sound of the waves. Although the clatter of heavy machinery sometimes interrupts, Tanno, 41, clad in a black clerical garment, retains his tranquility.
Tanno lost many of his acquaintances in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Even though he is a priest, he was perplexed in the same way as nonclerical people were after the March 11 event shattered so many lives.
Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 10:46am
[ a bump to the front with a 'welcome back, Mishima'. Hope you're safe and it's all good where you are! - luaptifer]
GOTTA BOUNCE
After winning 10 straight national trampoline championships, 27-year-old Haruka Hirota decided to retire from the sport due to a rule change regarding how much time the athletes spend in the air.
Former Livedoor boss Takafumi Horie decided to go out in style, s...read more
Former Livedoor boss Takafumi Horie decided to go out in style, sporting a Mohawk haircut and wearing a T-shirt bearing the phrase “Go To Jail” as he began his prison sentence for fraud.
Forty-year-old tennis queen Kimiko Date Krumm gave Venus Williams a run for her money at Wimbledon, before finally bowing out 6-7 (6), 6-3, 8-6 in nearly three hours in the second round.
In Sapporo, four “Super Grandmas” aged between 75 and 88 set a world record in the 400-meter medley for swimmers with a combined age between 320 and 359 years. Their combined age was 322 years and they shaved a full 40 seconds off the record.
Doara, the popular mascot of the Chunichi Dragons baseball club, was sent down to the minor leagues to work on his flips after a few mishaps.
Yoshie Soma, a 69-year-old special adviser to the president of Kobe University, was named one of the “most distinguished women in chemistry and chemical engineering in the world” by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. She discovered a copper carbonyl catalyst in the 1960s that has been used in paint for cars and the bottom of ships.
People who responded when ex-engineer Yasuteru Yamada called for elderly “suicide corps” volunteers to help quell the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant
Foreign visitors to Japan in May, down 50.4 percent and the second largest year-on-year decline, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization
Prefectural governors, out of 47, who said nuclear power plants should be abolished or reduced in the future, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey
Governors polled who would not commit, choosing “none of the above” or not answering the question at all
KIDS TODAY
A 3-year-old girl in Osaka got behind the wheel of her mom’s Porsche SUV and drove into a supermarket, slightly injuring a woman.
The 17-year-old son of Yomiuri Giants slugger Alex Ramirez is pitching in a Kansai independent league this season. Young Alexander Ramirez says his goal is to strike out his old man one day.
Nineteen-year-old golf sensation Ryo Ishikawa had a few problems recently with his driving… in a car, that is. It was discovered that Ryo had been driving on an invalid international permit. He “humbly apologized,” bowed several times, and all was forgiven.
Certificates allowing free use of some highways in northern Japan were being advertised on the Yahoo Japan Auction website. The certificates were apparently issued by the mayor of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, and were intended for disaster victims.
France decided to destroy green tea leaves imported from Shizuoka “after detecting radioactive cesium at more than double the European Union’s limit.”
Headline of the Week: “Japan research team shows black hole at center of galaxy built of many black holes” (courtesy of the Mainichi Daily News).
Nippon Ham Fighters ace Yu Darvish uncorked a wild pitch as his scoreless innings streak came to an end in a 2-1 loss to the Hanshin Tigers. Darvish had tossed 46 innings without giving up a run.
Meanwhile, Chunichi Dragons reliever Hitoki Iwase set a new NPB saves record when he closed out the 287th game of his long and illustrious career.
The, “Atsui, nes?” were flying on June 22, the summer solstice, as the temperature hit 35 C or higher in 13 locations throughout Japan.
Explains His Stupidity
Make Sure Your Lies
Are Happy Lies
Hey! I'm Busy
I Can't Possibly Stop
Kan under fire from his own team
Cabinet gets apology for flip-flop on reactor restart
By MASAMI ITO
Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized to his Cabinet on Friday morning over the confusion he caused by his sudden order that "stress tests" be conducted on all nuclear power plants in Japan.
During a closed meeting with Cabinet ministers, various participants expressed dissatisfaction with Kan, who is now intent on holding the safety tests before now-idled reactors are restarted.
The administration scrambled to unify its policy and is expected to announce new safety guidelines, including the stress tests, as early as possible.
United Arab Emirates has a new Prince
standingup
Sunday, May 15, 2011 - 12:05pm
The United Arab Emirates has a new Prince with a different twist, this one was hired. This weekend the New York Times reveals the rulers of the United Arab Emirates have hired former Blackwater founder and owner, Erik Prince for the purpose of creating their own private mercenary army.
We knew Prince had left the U.S. and taken up residence in Abu Dhabi. Now we have a better idea of why...
For Mr. Prince, the foreign battalion is a bold attempt at reinve...read more
For Mr. Prince, the foreign battalion is a bold attempt at reinvention. He is hoping to build an empire in the desert, far from the trial lawyers, Congressional investigators and Justice Department officials he is convinced worked in league to portray Blackwater as reckless. He sold the company last year, but in April, a federal appeals court reopened the case against four Blackwater guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
To help fulfill his ambitions, Mr. Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, obtained another multimillion-dollar contract to protect a string of planned nuclear power plants and to provide cybersecurity. He hopes to earn billions more, the former employees said, by assembling additional battalions of Latin American troops for the Emiratis and opening a giant complex where his company can train troops for other governments.
Knowing that his ventures are magnets for controversy, Mr. Prince has masked his involvement with the mercenary battalion. His name is not included on contracts and most other corporate documents, and company insiders have at times tried to hide his identity by referring to him by the code name “Kingfish.” But three former employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements, and two people involved in security contracting described Mr. Prince’s central role.
One must read the entire article to grasp the full implications of Prince's latest incarnation. But don't look for the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East to spread to the UAE.
A Voice Speaks Out: Lara Logan on her sexual assault in Egypt
ePluribus Media
Sunday, May 8, 2011 - 10:38pm
Many people have heard of the ordeal that Lara Logan went through during the Egyptian riots. Now, Lara speaks out and tells what happened.
We hope that Lara's recovery continues, and thank her for her voice and bravery. Her decision to speak out may help protect others against having to endure such horrible experiences. Sexual assault is a very real, and very prevalent, problem.
Nobody should ...read more
Nobody should ever have to experience it.
Hat-tip to Christina Rad's blog entry about this.
DXC hosts young volunteers for Global Youth Service Day
DXC
Monday, March 21, 2011 - 12:04pm
DAYTON – For the fourth straight year, the Dayton Christian Center (DXC) will partner with the United Way of Dayton’s Volunteer Connection Center to host youth volunteers as they join forces for Global Youth Service Day. This year, Global Youth Service Days occur on April 15 and 16 with the DXC Bright Youth, Better Dayton project taking place on Friday, April 15.
As with last year’s project, the young people will be going about the neighborhood around DXC picking up trash and generally cleaning up the environment. Each student will be issued protective gloves and bright, reflective...read more
As with last year’s project, the young people will be going about the neighborhood around DXC picking up trash and generally cleaning up the environment. Each student will be issued protective gloves and bright, reflective vests for safety reasons.
“Our mission statement is ‘Enriching and Empowering Lives, One Choice at a Time,’ DXC Associate Executive Director Sarah Williams said recently. “We see that as a quality of life issue as well as quantity. We feel that a nicer, cleaner, more attractive neighborhood is also a safer one, and one where people can enjoy life more and take more pride in it, too.”
According to Williams, last year’s event was a great success. She said that the students had a lot of fun, but worked very hard and that was appreciated by the neighborhood residents.
Begun in 1988 by Youth Service America and the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) and then called the National Youth Service Day, the program now encompasses more than 1,500 projects throughout the country. In 2000, the program was renamed the Global Youth Service Day and was very successfully extended worldwide.
“We think it’s very important for young people to understand service to the community and to experience the rewards it brings,” Williams said. “We work with a lot of youth groups from all over this part of Ohio and we’ve always enjoyed it. The young people we’ve had volunteer with us have always worked very hard and they’ve been a joy to be around, so this is a wonderful experience for us.”
Williams said that the students will remain within walking distance of DXC offices at 1352 W. Riverview Ave, collecting trash and debris, placing it bags and disposing of it at a central point. Time permitting, she added, the youths will be taken by the company van to more distant streets. If the weather is uncooperative, Williams said, the students will be placed in the childcare classrooms at DXC where they will work with teachers and staff members.
DXC began their partnership with Global Youth Service Day in 2007 and has held a project every year since then. DXC is a United Way Partner Agency and a faith-based community organization founded in 1922 by the National Baptist Ministries, USA.
Killed in Benghazi: Mohammad Nabbous, the "face of citizen journalism" in Libya
Monday, March 21, 2011 - 4:13am
Via The Guardian,
The death has been announced of Mohammad Nabbous, described as the "face of citizen journalism in Libya".
Nabbous was apparently shot dead by Gaddafi forces in Benghazi on Saturday.
Known as "Mo", Nabbous set up Libya al-Hurra TV, which broadcast raw feeds and commentary from Benghazi, on Livestream.
Video from the Guardian article, via YouTube
A Google search on the term "journalists targeted" yields quite a few results, indicating the potential power and impact that live reporting can have on fluid, dangerous situations - particularly in this age of ubiquitous and instant communication. Any time that there's a potential for oppression through violence, those doing the oppression know how important it is to keep the truth hidden as long as possible. A few samples from the search results as of this report:
Journalists targeted in Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya:
New York, February 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities today in Bahrain, Yemen, Libya to cease their attempts to prevent media from reporting on anti-government demonstrations. Bahraini authorities used live ammunition--including fire from a helicopter--against peaceful protesters and journalists, according to news reports. Pro-government thugs attacked at least two journalists in Yemen, and the Libyan government appeared to be shutting down Facebook, Twitter, and Al-Jazeera's website as a means of silencing reporting on protests.
Journalists Targeted by Warring Factions in Ivory Coast:
The New York-based Committee to protect Journalists [CPJ] says both sides are using media outlets allied with them to disseminate their political message.
Media houses have been used to inflame passions and win the hearts of civilians in both the south and the rebel-controlled north, says Mohamed Keita, the CPJ Africa advocacy coordinator.
[...snip...]
Thirty people were killed recently when they marched on the offices of the state-controlled television station to demand the resignation of its director.
"It is becoming unbearably dangerous for media outlets and their journalists to operate in Ivory Coast,” says Keita. He calls on both sides to “refrain from targeting the press or using politically motivated censorship."
Turkish newspaper claims more journalists targeted by ruling party:
Turkey’s ruling party has a list of 70 people, including journalists and opposition figures, to be kept under surveillance or detained in the scope of the Ergenekon investigation, a daily newspaper has claimed.
The truth hurts. Sometimes, ensuring that the truth gets out can be deadly.
Be careful out there. Without journalists - and without citizen journalists - the forces of oppression and decay can operate with less fear of opposition.
We need to stand together, and we need to keep those who have given their all to keep the rest of us informed, and safe, in our hearts and minds.
Support your local citizen journalists and their efforts - remember, they're doing this for all of us.
Note: For those interested in the fate of the four missing NYT journalists, they'd been held in Libya and are now scheduled for release. Via the Boston Herald,
NEW YORK — Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi have said they will release four New York Times [NYT] journalists who were captured during fighting in the eastern part of the country, the newspaper said today.
The journalists are reporter Anthony Shadid; photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario; and a reporter and videographer, Stephen Farrell. In 2009, Farrell was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan and was rescued by British commandos.
Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, told ABC News reporter Christiane Amanpour during an interview that the journalists were in Libyan custody, and on Thursday evening Libyan government officials told the U.S. State Department that all four would be released, the Times said in an article on its website.
[...Read the rest at the Boston Herald...]
US Embassy, Tokyo: Citizen Evacuations Have Begun
Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 5:23am
Via Dolores M. Bernal's News Junkie Post,
The US Embassy in Tokyo has officially announced that it will start evacuating American citizens and their families off Japan starting on Thursday, local Japan time. The Department of State cited the "deteriorating" nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant as the reason to take Americans to "safehaven."
The safehaven locations so far are in Korea and China — Seoul and Taipei respectively. Citizens wishing to go back to the US will have to make their own arrangement...read more
The safehaven locations so far are in Korea and China — Seoul and Taipei respectively. Citizens wishing to go back to the US will have to make their own arrangement from these locations.
An updated item from the US Embassy site in Tokyo provides the following information:
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo informs U.S. citizens in Japan who wish to depart that the Department of State is making arrangements to provide transportation to safehaven locations in Asia. This assistance will be provided on a reimbursable basis, as required by U.S. law. U.S. citizens who travel on US government-arranged transport will be expected to make their own onward travel plans from the safehaven location. Flights to evacuation points will begin departing Japan on Thursday, March 17. There will be a limited number of seats available on evacuation flights departing from Narita and Haneda airports on March 17. Priority will be given to persons with medical emergencies or severe medical conditions.
Persons interested in departing Japan via USG-chartered transportation should proceed to Narita and Haneda airports or contact the US Department of State and Embassy Japan by sending an e-mail to JapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by calling 1-202-501-4444. Please provide the following information:
U.S. passport number, and
any special medical needs.
Immediate family members (spouses and children) who are not U.S. citizens must be documented for entry into the safehaven country and/or U.S., if that is your final destination.
We hope that the ongoing situation in Japan can be resolved quickly, preventing further damage and destruction in a nation already reeling from a series of tragic events.
If you can provide any assistance, please do so. There's an excellent list of organizations put together by Lili Ladaga from Yahoo! News. The list there provides some details in a description about giving. In order to get the list of organizations out to the public with the donation links intact, I've listed the organizations directly below, using the links provided by Lili @ Yahoo - so you'll notice that any click-thru tracking credits Yahoo! with the source ID. That's a good thing. Still, check out their original source material for more information, and do what you can to help:
AMERICAN RED CROSS: Donate here.
GLOBALGIVING: Donate here.
SAVE THE CHILDREN: Donate here.
SALVATION ARMY: Donate here.
AMERICARES: Donate here.
CONVOY OF HOPE: Donate here.
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: Donate here.
SHELTER BOX: Donate here.
Post Nuclear Japan, Pre Disaster United States
MichaelCollins
Monday, March 14, 2011 - 7:24pm
Bumped and promoted. Originally posted 2011-03-14 04:37:12 -0400. -- GH
The Japanese disaster at Fukushima I is a human tragedy of striking proportions. As many as ten thousand citizens may be dead in the general catastrophe, with many more at risk for radiat...read more
The Japanese disaster at Fukushima I is a human tragedy of striking proportions. As many as ten thousand citizens may be dead in the general catastrophe, with many more at risk for radiation poisoning at levels yet to be determined. The fact that Japan is a highly organized and wealthy nation in no way diminishes the intensity of the losses and pain experienced by the victims. (Image)
Political and economic implications will emerge rapidly. As the whole world watches, the Japanese experience creates windows of opportunity to learn how to avert future meltdowns at nuclear ticking time bombs placed throughout Europe, the United States, India, and China.
Events have overwhelmed the highly professional Japanese bureaucracy. In a late Saturday night report by CNN, the chief cabinet minister said that he presumed that there was a nuclear meltdown in reactors one and two, with three on the way. A nuclear regulatory official hedged by referring to the "possibility" of a meltdown, which he said could not be confirmed since workers couldn't get close enough to see. The same regulatory official told CNN,
"We have some confidence, to some extent, to make the situation to be stable status," he said. "We actually have very good confidence that we will resolve this." March 12
Experts outside the government referred to the situation as desperate given the use of saltwater as a last resort for cooling the nuclear material.
See interactive map at International Nuclear Safety Center
Japanese Energy and Economic Disruption
Eighty percent of Japanese energy relies on imports. Nuclear plants provide about 30% of the electric production for the industrial base. The loss of the Fukushima I plant, for example reduces the nuclear output by 10%, just for starters. It also derails the big plans Japan has for nuclear power through 2050. Over 60% of domestic needs will be met by a robust nuclear program according to one optimistic estimate.
The following graph shows the contributions electrical production:
Assume a 20% loss of nuclear power production with the elimination of Fukushima's 10% contribution and other reactors that may go offline due to preemptive safety precautions. Japan faces a near term energy shortage. The loss of 20% of nuclear production, for example, could translate into a 6% percent reduction of overall electric production. Hydroelectric and renewables are not capable of rising to the occasion as replacements. That leaves thermal/fossil plants. More imports and more pollution will go hand in hand for the next few years. Japan will pay much more attention to the Middle East, the source of 90% crude oil imports, with less focus on planned spread of nuclear plants.
This is speculation. The situation may be much worse. One thing is certain. The government regulator's confidence that "we will resolve this" seems far-fetched at best.
The damage to plant, equipment, and infrastructure led to the shut down of several automobile plants. United States exporters will feel the impact of lower Japanese corporate revenues. China, Japan's top trading partner, may well see the loss of investment and export opportunities. In addition, China may have a new competitor for crude oil due to the disruption to Japan's overall energy supply system.
Still mired in the great stagnation since 1985, healthcare costs, rebuilding requirements, and the implosion of energy production in the Fukushima Prefecture will hit the domestic economy very hard in short order.
As if that weren't bad enough, exports faltered in January. The country showed a 500 billion Yen trade deficit for the first month of 2011, the first drop in a string of sizable surpluses since February 2009. Japan's people and economy are in for hard times. (Graph)
What if… Lessons for the United States
What would happen if a massive earthquake hit one of California's nuclear plants? California represents 13% of the US GDP, 12% of the population, and ranks number eighth in global economies. Seismic disasters are not a new phenomenon in the Golden State.
Certainly, energy companies, politicians, and regulators considered this possibility. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) produced scientific research for years fine tuning the timing, intensity, and inevitability of future earthquakes. USGS states, "the chance of having one or more magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquakes in the California area over the next 30 years is greater than 99%." The chance for a magnitude 7.5 or greater earthquake is set at 46%. (USGS)
Was anyone paying attention? Apparently not. The seismic risk map shows the danger of earthquakes for the state.
California's two nuclear power plants are located on or near major fault lines. The Diablo Canyon facility is of particular concern. Californians have been anywhere from upset to outraged at the Diablo Canyon nuclear facility from the start. More than two million people get electricity from the plant. Designed to withstand a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, there are reasons to be less than confident in this estimate. The plant operator, PG&E, completely misinterpreted blueprints in the initial construction of "certain crucial pipe supports in the reactors containment room." The misinterpretation involved constructing the pipe supports in a "mirror image" of the intended design.
Diablo Canyon is just 2.5 miles from the Hosgri Fault, a major portion of the San Andreas Fault. Construction proceeded despite the discovery of this massive fault early on.
Recently, PG&E executives diminished the importance of the Shoreline Fault less than an mile offshore from the nuclear plant. This fault was discovered in 2008. The Santa Barbara Independent reported that, "Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officials and PG&E executives have insisted there’s no cause for alarm; the plant, they maintain, is designed to withstand far more force than the new fault" will generate.
The Independent interviewed USGS Chief Scientist, Tom Brocher. He noted the possibility that the Shoreline Fault runs under Diablo Canyon's reactors is "speculative" but not ruled out. Brocher said, "You’re bringing into the picture the possibility that an earthquake could crack the ground surface. This would be a disaster beyond anything we've seen in Japan:
"The prospect of such a calamity -- with two nuclear reactors operating above ground and pools of spent fuels so dangerous they have to be kept submerged in water at least five years before they can be moved to steel-reinforced concrete casks -- is the stuff of nightmarish disaster scenarios." Nick Welsh, Santa Barbara Independent.
Sitting Ducks
As meltdowns and nuclear disaster continue in Japan, we should anticipate the impact of similar disasters at one or several of those red dots from the interactive global map of nuclear facilities. Natural events, plant failures, and sabotage provide an array of scenarios that can cripple a region or entire nation.
The potential of nuclear catastrophes is dismissed by energy company sponsored and nuclear friendly government reports claiming probable nuclear plant safety in the face of well-documented risks. The nuclear firms and Japanese authorities vouched for the safety of Fukushima I. All of that was to no avail.
Nevertheless, the administration's proposed energy solution, the American Power Act, contains provisions for nuclear industry bailouts which are central to future energy needs. The industry largesse will help achieve the act's goal of a 60% increase in power from nuclear reactors.
Will someone please calculate the probability for - we are doomed.
We are led by fools.
This article may be reproduced entirely or in part with attribution of authorship and a link to this article.
The Money Party RSS
Dual & Dueling Natural Disasters: Major Earthquakes, Tsunamis in Japan
Friday, March 11, 2011 - 7:05am
Above the fold: Information and links regarding emergency communication and people finder services. Please DO NOT use these pages or access the links unless you are actually looking for someone, particularly if you are not located in or around the affected areas.
Please provide any corrections to translated text in comments
Google Activates Person Finder page
Google activates Person Finder for Japan quake, tsunami
Google Inc. has just activated a Person Finder page to help people concerned about loved ones in the area affected by Friday's...read more
Google Inc. has just activated a Person Finder page to help people concerned about loved ones in the area affected by Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The Person Finder page can be found at http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/ and it is available both in English and Japanese.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=84797#ixzz1GI7GlnlV
via SF Gate
In Japan: Emergency Message Board
NTT East Voice171/Web171 Page
災害用伝言ダイヤルをご利用できる電話、提供開始時期、
Overview and emergency messaging
Available for telephone emergency messaging service, offering start date,
We explain our message and phone number can be registered.
災害用伝言ダイヤルの録音と再生方法を具体的に
Specifically, the way emergency messaging service for recording and playback
We explain.
We explain
[Source Page on NTT East]
NTT West Web171 Page
災害用ブロードバンド伝言板の概要とご提供のしくみおよび
Mechanism and overview of broadband Disaster Message Board
災害用ブロードバンド伝言板の 登録 および 閲覧 方法を具体的に
Broadband disaster message board for registering and viewing messages
[Source Page on NTT-West]
Tsunami Video
Earthquake Report
Egyptians are walking the razor's edge of social media
Connecticut Man1
Monday, February 7, 2011 - 10:41am
The rise of the revolution in Egypt can be attributed in large part to social media:
Inside Egypt's Facebook Revolt
www.newsweek.com
After hundreds of arrests in Cairo Wednesday, some protest organizers have gone missing and are presumed jailed. Now activists are using Egypt’s oldest social medium to keep up the fight.
In the days leading up to this read more
In the days leading up to this week’s street protests in Egypt, the largest the country has seen since the 1970s, Ahmed Salah was busy spreading the word around Cairo—“in every possible way,” as he put it. A veteran activist who said agitation is his genes, Salah, 45, tapped into his usual network, called family and friends, hit the streets, and posted updates on the Web. “On the 25th, we are trying to give people a bit of hope, and a chance to express themselves,” he said in a phone interview last week. But he said the regime would fight back.
As this Egyptian woman seems to be attesting to, it starts small and can build from there. And it was not without its risks:
Asmaa Mahfouz, Organizer of Egypt Demonstrations, Talks About Her Use of Facebook to Take Action
Because any action organized on Facebook or other social media appears to be a dangerous line to walk as it can lead your enemies in the regime right to you:
Egyptian police targeted protesters via social media | Raw Story
www.rawstory.com
Egyptian police used the very instrument that sparked the recent anti-government rebellion, social media, to catch its youthful organizers, according to a published report.
Gabrielle, a 25-year-old French-Egyptian property lawyer, told The Daily Mail in a recent interview that activists in communication with each other via the Internet have been "rounded up."
"They have our names from Facebook postings and Twitter," she said. "Some have not been heard of since."
I am left wondering how many of the disappeared activists and organizers will wind up in the hands of the same kind of authorities the US would use to render people into torture and are likely never to be seen again?
"Torture by Proxy" (AKA: "Extraordinary Rendition" in the USA)
routes via Wikipedia.
From Scarce at Crooks and Liars:
Egypt's history of rendition and torture for the U.S.
So did Fran Townsend (former Homeland Security Advisor under George Bush) just admit we sent (via rendition) detainees to Egypt to be tortured? Sort of, unintentionally.
Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake has more.
When Mona Eltahawy explicitly described what many of us learned from Jane Mayer–Hosni Mubarak’s appointed Vice President, Omar Suleiman, has a long history of cooperating with us in accepting and torturing people rendered to Egypt–and when Wolf asks whether this went on in the Bush Administration (it dates back to the Clinton Administration), Townsend explains the best known example is that of Maher Arar. Wolf corrects her that that involved Syria.
Poor Fran can't even keep her torture states straight. She should have remembered former CIA agent Bob Baer's famous maxim:
"If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear - never to see them again - you send them to Egypt."
You can see the Fran Townsend sortof "confession to torture" video at C&L.
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2014 EFFIE GREATER CHINA GALA
106 effective cases were awarded at Effie Greater China’s 2014 Gala, which took place on Sunday, October 26th at the Guiyang International Eco-conference Center as part of the 2014 annual Festival. The event attracted over 600 marketing and advertising professionals from across the region.
Winners of 22 products and services categories and 8 specialty categories were awarded.
Gold Effies were presented to: Cheil Pentai and Samsung for their case, “Samsung UHD TV-Discover True Detail”; Baidu and Charm for “Baidu App— ‘Let every score has meaning’ entrance marketing project”; Harbour City Estates Limited for “Rubber Duck Joy to the World Campaign”; Publicis and Tencent for “The Voice Donor”; BBDO and Starbucks for “Look Up Movement”; BBH and WWF for “The Digital Earth Hour: Reaching Millions of People in One Hour”; Ogilvy and Volkswagen for “Eyes on Road”; Verawom and Avon for “ Avon ‘Over natural collection, the critical moment’ ”, and 19 other entries.
There was no Grand Effie winner this year.
For more information on Effie Greater China’s 2014 Festival, please visit Effie Greater China’s website.
About Effie Worldwide Championing the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness, Effie Worldwide spotlights marketing ideas that work and encourages thoughtful dialogue around the drivers of marketing effectiveness. The Effie network works with some of the top research and media organizations worldwide to bring its audience relevant insights into effective marketing strategy. The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre‐eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand's success. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with over 40 global, regional and national programs across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East/North Africa and North America. Effie initiatives include the Effie Effectiveness Index, ranking the most effective companies and brands globally and the Effie Case Database. For more details, visit www.effie.org. Follow @effieawards on Twitter for updates on Effie information, programs and news.
Effie Greater China Website
Effie Effectiveness Index
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EFFIE WORLDWIDE RELAUNCHES BOARD OF DIRECTORS
New Board Members are a who’s who of industry influencers with marketing leaders from Unilever, Coca-Cola, Google, Facebook, NBCUniversal, CAA, Wharton, Nielsen & agency representatives from each of the major advertising holding companies
NEW YORK (March 31, 2017) — Effie Worldwide announced today a new board of directors formed to further impact the nonprofit’s mission to serve as a forum for marketing effectiveness. The board includes representation from major brands, entertainment and media companies, and a position for an agency from each of the top 5 advertising agency holding companies, as well as an independent agency seat.
Since 1968, Effie has been championing and improving the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness through the Effie Awards, Effie Index and educational initiatives in over 48 programs throughout the world.
“For nearly fifty years, Effie Worldwide has served as the industry barometer for marketing effectiveness, holding us all accountable to delivering value back to our businesses. We strive to be the source of truth for what makes marketing effective,” said Carolyn Everson, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook, who has also served as Chair of Effie Worldwide’s current Board of Directors for the past two years. “Our incoming Board of Directors was strategically planned to include leaders who impact and influence today’s marketing ecosystem, and who will steer the mission of Effie for the future.”
Daryl Lee, Global CEO, Universal McCann, who has served on the board since 2011 is the incoming Board Chair of Effie Worldwide, when the new board transitions in June 2017. Past Board Chair Taylor Gray, Partner at Revlyst, will serve as Treasurer. Ellen Hyde Pace, Global Client Leader of Red Fuse Communications, who has been committed to Effie's mission since 2002, as a board member and frequent North American Effie Awards Judging Chair will serve as Secretary.
The incoming Effie Worldwide Board of Directors include:
Jack Bamberger, SVP, Global Head of Agency Development, AOL
Torrence Boone, VP, Global Agency Sales & Services, Google
Wendy Clark, President & CEO, DDB North America
Carolyn Everson, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
Jae Goodman, Chief Creative Officer & Co-Head of CAA Marketing, Creative Artists Agency
Pam Hamlin, Global CEO, Arnold Worldwide
Catharine Hays, Executive Director, Wharton Future of Advertising Program
Dave Hohman, EVP & Managing Director, Agency Solutions, Nielsen
Tamara Ingram, CEO, Worldwide, J. Walter Thompson Company
Kristin Lemkau, Chief Marketing Officer, JPMorgan Chase
Vineet Mehra, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Ancestry.com
Nigel Morris, CEO, Americas, Dentsu Aegis Network
Ann Mukherjee, Global Chief Marketing Officer, SC Johnson
Michelle Peluso, Chief Marketing Officer, IBM
Bea Perez, Chief Sustainability Officer, SVP Global Partnerships, Marketing Assets & Innovation, Licensing & Retail Attractions Chair, The Coca-Cola Company
Carla Serrano, CEO, Publicis New York, Publicis North America
Keith Weed, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Unilever
Karina Wilsher, Partner, Global COO, Anomaly
Linda Yaccarino, Chairman of Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships, NBCUniversal
One of the first items on the agenda for the board of directors is to find a successor to Neal Davies, Effie Worldwide’s current President & CEO, who will be moving his family back home to the United Kingdom this summer. Neal joined Effie Worldwide in 2014 as the first agency and marketing veteran to lead the organization. During Neal’s leadership, Effie Worldwide experienced significant growth globally and expansion of its educational programs throughout the world. Neal helped migrate Effie from an awards show to a forum for the industry, with an increased focus on education and learning.
“Neal put ‘worldwide’ in Effie Worldwide, by partnering with our licensees to sharpen their programs, growing entries, and fueling an even greater brand purpose. He has served as an ambassador to our industry, spotlighting Effie Worldwide on the global stage. We are grateful for his leadership and vision, and are looking forward to nominating someone to drive this important work forward,” said Everson.
“Having spent the last year working with Carolyn and Daryl to assemble the new board, I know it would have been an incredible experience to have stayed on and worked with this stellar group of people,” said Davies. “I will stay involved from Europe and look forward to becoming a judge again. Wherever you are in the world, there’s no better way of keeping our industry honest than the Effies.”
About Effie Worldwide
Effie Worldwide is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that stands for effectiveness in marketing communications, spotlighting marketing ideas that work and encouraging thoughtful dialogue about the drivers of marketing effectiveness. The Effie network works with some of the top research and media organizations worldwide to bring its audience relevant and first-class insights into effective marketing strategy. The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand's success. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with the Global Effie, regional Asia Pacific, Euro, Latin American, North American and Middle East / North Africa Effie programs and more than 40 national Effie programs. For more details, visit www.effie.org. Follow @effieawards on Twitter for updates on Effie information, programs and news. The Effie Effectiveness Index identifies and ranks the marketing communications industry’s most effective agencies, advertisers, and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from Effie Worldwide competitions.
Rebecca Sullivan
for Effie Worldwide
rebecca@rsullivanpr.com
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