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Brexit news: UK wins £9 trillion prize as 'small' EU replaces | Policy
Aug 28, 2021 Honey Shortle
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said she hopes to conclude negotiations on accession to the Comprehensive and Advanced Agreement (CPTPP) by the end of next year. The £9 trillion block includes Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore, as well as Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Vietnam.
Ms Truss said negotiations with a bloc of 11 countries were central to the UK government's trade agenda for "Global Britain" after Brexit.
She stressed that concluding the talks by next year would allow Britain to benefit from the massive economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
The minister added: "Two thirds of the world's middle class will live in Asia by 2030 and the kinds of products they demand are the kinds of things the UK produces – whether it's high-value goods or high-quality food and drink… and digital products, data products and financial services."
Ms Truss said Britain should look for jobs outside the European Union as the bloc's economic size is expected to decline.
A member of the European Parliament in southwest Norfolk explained: "In 20 or 30 years, the EU will be a smaller part of the global economy, and countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, which are part of the CPTPP, will get a larger share."
Ms Truss had also hoped the US would join the partnership after she left in 2017 to allow a US-UK trade deal.
"The US was one of the TPP's front pages, and the new administration didn't want to join in," Bain Politics added in the podcast.
"But who knows what might happen in the future."
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To facilitate the accession process, the UK also wants to conclude bilateral trade agreements with CPTPP countries.
Ms. Truss said negotiations with Canada and Mexico were expected to begin in the coming months.
A trade agreement with New Zealand is also expected to be finalized in the coming days.
"Communicator on fire. Internet specialist. A lifelong reader. An extreme TV fanatic. Musician or instrumentalist. "
Honey Shortle
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Blinkin to the Ukrainians: Don't let Moscow divide you
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Jan 20, 2022 Honey Shortle
Ukraine: Blinken to Ukrainians: Don't let Moscow divide you (Update)
On Wednesday in Kiev, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Ukrainians should stick to each other, especially in…
Ropa najdroższa od 7 lat – Inwestycje.pl
W jednym z niedawnych komentarzy pisałem o przedwczesnej radości wielu komentatorów liczących na rychły spadek inflacji. Choć w perspektywie roku…
Half of Polish companies plan to invest in climate-friendly activities within 3 years – Inwestycje.pl
The percentage of Polish companies anticipating increased investments is now 80%, a result close to the EU average. Almost half…
Older UK residents 'can't afford heating'
Millions of older people in Britain are experiencing an energy crisis, and a leading charity representing seniors says people are…
Immigrants save Germany from a crisis similar to that of Great Britain
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Commentary: People in poverty want some joy, too
by WS Chronicle
By John Ralley
For Winston-Salem State University psychology professor Michele Lewis, two recent news stories were jarring, one about officials shutting down The Wharf, a popular outside seafood market in Washington, D.C., because patrons were not practicing social distancing, another about Los Angeles police breaking up a backyard birthday party for a child in a modest neighborhood. Both photos showed large numbers of African Americans. Those continuing to gather include some of low financial resources.
Online commenters on the news stories said how bad it was that the people were not following the health rules. While Lewis felt this was troubling from a health perspective, she also felt that the photos showed people experiencing joy by coming together, an experience that may be especially important to them now as pressures of living in poverty mount even more during the pandemic. Black people, she said, are of collectivist cultures, meaning "I am because we are."
"I think a lot of people forget people in poverty want to feel good, too," she said. "People outside might want to judge and say, 'They don't care about the virus.' It's not that. You want to feel some joy, whether you have $20 in your pocket or $2. People are doing things that bring a boost of pleasure to the brain, and being together brings pleasure at minimal financial expense."
Lewis, an associate professor in the department of psychological sciences, studies the bio-psycho-social effects of poverty. As a 2017-18 Fellow at WSSU's Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM), she explored whether optimal decision-making and motivation are compromised by poverty. During the summer of 2018, she and student researchers met weekly with 11 Black women experiencing poverty, most of whom were residents of East Winston. Regarding the women, Lewis highlighted just how intense the pressures of decision-making are in poverty. The pandemic has increased those pressures.
Anecdotally, Lewis said, she knows of African Americans gathering for family cookouts, birthdays and other events during COVID. "There's psychological and spiritual healing that comes from this being together as one," Lewis said. "People in poverty are no different from anyone else in wanting to experience joy, but they do it in a way that is affordable and familiar to them. Instead of harshly judging these decisions, this should be understood.
"Frontline workers who are African American are driving buses [in the pandemic]. They're still cleaning buildings. They're still cooking. If you're collectivist in your cultural inclination, being with your closest friends and family is going to remain important. This is social selectivity rather than social distancing."
She hopes to build on the work she started with the women in East Winston. "For the women, their family and their children, in particular, were ongoing sources of motivation and wellness for them. Repeatedly, the women referred to their strength coming from their children. They wanted to do things to benefit their community, and the kids coming after them."
The sense of collectivism is a source of strength in dealing with the pressures of poverty. As one example, Lewis said the women she worked with "were very irritated by folks commenting on why they would want to have an iPhone if they are challenged by poverty."
"What is it about living in poverty that reduces other people's ability to see them as human and wanting technologies that others enjoy?" she asked.
The women strategized daily about how to stretch their limited dollars. "It's very taxing on the brain," Lewis said. "Everyone has to make decisions daily involving money. But depending on your social class, the way you do it is different." For example, she said, parents might want to give their child a birthday party, even if that cost means a late payment on a bill. The priority is on bringing joy to the child, the same as upper-middle-class parents want to do.
"COVID has added yet another layer of stress to the brain's decision-making and executive-functioning," she said. "Just imagine what is happening to families of low resources who've already been stressed out, who don't have the luxury of working from home … The way we people of different social classes strategize about money is different. It shouldn't be regarded as better or worse. It should be regarded as just different."
The pandemic has underscored inequities in transportation, childcare and education. Lewis believes that policymakers should support policies and programs that bring assistance in the area of psycho-spiritual wellness, so that healthy-togetherness initiatives can be funded as important forms of coping.
It is also, she said, "very important not to dehumanize, in our minds, people in poverty."
John Railey is the writer-in-residence at CSEM. He can reached at [email protected]. To learn more about CSEM, go to www.wssu.edu/csem.
Commentary: Election 2020: The coming chaos
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Julian Goldman, MD
About Julian Goldman, MD
Dr. Goldman is an anesthesiologist at the MGH and Medical Director of Biomedical Engineering for Mass General Brigham. He is the Director of the Medical Device Interoperability Program - a multi-institutional federally program founded in 2004 to advance medical device interoperability to improve patient safety and HIT innovation. http://www.mdpnp.org
Dr. Goldman completed his anesthesiology residency and medical device informatics fellowship at the Univ. of Colorado, and served as a Visiting Scholar in the FDA as well as an executive of a medical device company. He is an IEEE EMBS Distinguished Lecturer, chairs several national and international committees that develop standards for the safety, performance, and interoperability of medical equipment. His awards include the AAMI Foundation/Institute for Technology in Health Care Clinical Application Award, the International Council on Systems Engineering Pioneer Award, and the American College of Clinical Engineering award for Professional Achievement in Technology. More information is available at www.jgoldman.info
Intelligent clinical monitoring systems
International medical device standardization
Technology and Clinical Techniques for Anesthesia in the Operating Room
Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine
MD, SUNY at New York City (Downstate)
Residency, University of Colorado Health
Fellowship, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Clinical Informatics, American Board of Preventitive Medicine
Anesthesiology, American Board of Anesthesiology
OSW - Connecticut
Medical device interoperability to build smarter and safer clinical environments
Development of medical device safety and performance standards
Foundational requirements for the deployment of apps for advanced clinical capabilities such as smart alarms, safety interlocks and closed-loop control
Description of Research
My research group, the Medical Device Plug-and-Play (MD PnP) Interoperability Program, is accelerating the adoption of safe, secure, interoperable medical devices to enable the creation of complete and accurate electronic health records and cost-effective development of innovative medical apps for diagnosis, treatment, research, safety and quality improvements, equipment management, and adverse event detection and reporting. We are working to develop sharable software tools and applications that will enable a broader community of researchers and manufacturers to implement medical device interoperability with a focus on improving patient safety. Our work includes identifying clinical problems that could be solved through reliable, comprehensive medical system integration, and the implementation of those solutions through the development of open standards and technology in our lab "sandbox". We work closely with the FDA, DoD, VA, NIST, NSF, NIH, manufacturers and other groups to help align clinical, research, manufacturing, policy and regulatory needs. We are involved with the development of international safety and performance standards for anesthesia and respiratory care equipment and interoperability. Our program website contains information about specific initiatives.
View my most recent publications at PubMed
Select Publications:
Arney D, Fischmeister S, Goldman JM, Lee I, Trausmuth R. Plug-and-play for medical devices: experiences from a case study. Biomed Instrum Technol 2009; 43:313-317. PMID: 19670943
Hatcliff J, King A, Lee I, MacDonald A, Fernando A, Robkin M, Vasserman E, Weininger S, Goldman JM. Rationale and architecture principles for medical application platforms. In: Proceedings from the IEEE/ACM Third International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (ICCPS); 2012: 3-12.
Goldman JM, Schrenker R, Melendez L, Hampton R, Driscoll W. Implications of the New FDA Medical Device Data System (MDDS) Regulation for Automated Clinical Documentation. Proceedings of American Society of Anesthesiologists: Equipment, Monitoring and Technology. October 2011.
Arney D, Goldman JM, Bhargav-Spantzel A, Basu A, Taborn M, Pappas G, Robkin M. Simulation of Medical Device Network Performance and Requirements for an Integrated Clinical Environment. Biomed Instrum Technol 2012 Jul-Aug;46(4):308-15. |
Aberdeen Lifeboat rescues two surfers being swept offshore by current
Aberdeen's two RNLI lifeboats launched minutes apart around 9.00am this morning, Sunday 27 September 2020 following a call to the UK Coastguard from a member of the public concerned that two surfers appeared to be in danger at Aberdeen Harbour entrance.
Library image courtesy Mark Gray/RNLI Aberdeen
Aberdeen's inshore lifeboat 'Buoy Woody 85N' searches off Aberdeen Beach
The surfers had paddled out beyond the surf line and were now being swept further and further offshore, unable to make their way back to shore due to a combination of tide and wind against them.
The inshore lifeboat (ILB) 'Buoy Woody 85N' was first on scene with her crew of three, having been guided to the precise location – around half a mile offshore at the Footdee end of Aberdeen beach - by Aberdeen Coastguard Rescue Team volunteers ashore.
The two experienced surfers were uninjured but said they were both exhausted, having been in the water for almost two hours. They and their equipment were taken aboard the ILB to be returned to shore.
With the tide approaching high water, violent surf running up the beach, and the small inflatable inshore lifeboat loaded to capacity, it was decided the safest means of extraction would be to transfer the surfers to the all-weather lifeboat (ALB) 'Bon Accord', which had now arrived on scene, in the calmer water beyond the surf line.
Cal Reed, Aberdeen Lifeboat's coxswain on this service, says: "We took the surfers on board 'Bon Accord' and our casualty care-qualified crew confirmed they were none the worse for their experience – but grateful for the offer of assistance from the lifeboat."
"The member of the public who made the initial phone call did the right thing: if you think you see someone in difficulty at sea, always call 999 and ask for the Coastguard."
'Bon Accord returned the surfers and their equipment to the lifeboat berth in Aberdeen Harbour where they met the Coastguard Rescue Team around 9.20am. The lifeboats were washed down and readied for further service by 10am.
Terry McNeill
Lifeboat Press Officer, Buckie Lifeboat Station
Aberdeen Lifeboat Station |
Home / Careers / Why Choose WMHS
Why Choose WMHS
Looking to make your next career move to Western Maryland Health System? Nestled in the mountains of Western Maryland, Allegany County and the tri-state area offer a quality lifestyle ideal for both couples and families. Located away from the pressures of urban life, Cumberland offers a moderate cost to living and public, private and higher-level education options, as well as recreational and cultural activities.
Benefits Contact Current Opportunities About WMHS
WMHS opened its state-of-the-art hospital on Willowbrook Road in Cumberland in 2009
Our main hospital has 211 beds and covers 585,000 square feet
We have over 200 physicians practicing throughout the community
The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Service Systems designates WMHS with the areawide center for Trauma, Stroke, and Cardiac Intervention
The WMHS Heart Institute opened in November 2000 and provides a comprehensive range of diagnostic and treatment services, including open-heart surgery and interventional cardiology
The Schwab Family Cancer Center at WMHS is accredited by the American College of Surgeons and offers a full range of cancer services
Long-term care services for WMHS are provided through the Frostburg Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, an 88-bed facility
WMHS has three urgent care facilities, one in Cumberland, one in Frostburg and another in West Virginia
WMHS has two primary care locations, one in Cumberland and one in LaVale
Our Medical Center
Western Maryland Health System is a progressive, integrated healthcare network that includes a new state-of-the-art hospital, a nursing home, and a comprehensive range of outpatient services. We offer a comprehensive range of general and specialty services for medical, surgical, pediatric, and obstetrical patients.
Cancer Center (Oncology)
Cardiac Heart Insitute
Center for Clinical Resources
Frostburg Nursing and Rehab Center
All About Our Area
A quarter of a million visitors come to Western Maryland and the tri-state area each year. Enjoy the good life our region has to offer: scenic beauty; outdoor activities; cultural events and festivals; the arts; friendly, safe communities; and life at a pace you can enjoy. Our area is a gem in the mountains.
Our area's mountains, rivers, lakes, and nearby state parks are great for camping, hiking, fishing, boating, canoeing, hunting, swimming, and biking. Within a one-to-two hour drive are popular four-season resorts which offer many activities for the outdoor enthusiast, as well as relaxing spa amenities. The region has numerous golf courses, including a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course that overlooks Lake Habeeb at Rocky Gap State Park.
Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort
Rocky Gap State Park
Canal Place
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
Garrett County
Deep Creek Lake, Maryland
Maryland State Parks
Potomac Highlands of West Virginia
Spruce Knob and Seneca Rocks
Black Water Falls State Park
Canaan Valley State Park
Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad
Fly fishing in West Virginia
Seven Springs Ski Resort
Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State Parks
Ohiopyle State Park
A wide range of cultural events and activities are available regionally through Frostburg State University, Allegany College of Maryland, and the Allegany Arts Council. Broadway productions come to life at the Cumberland Theatre–the region's only professional theater. Downtown Cumberland is also home to a growing number of artisans and galleries. Plus, there are plenty of dining options around town. Allegany County boasts a number of locally owned and operated bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, and bars. Whether you're in the mood for traditional American dishes or Mexican, Asian or Italian cuisine, we have it. Keep in mind that a vast array of cultural events in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Pittsburgh are only about two hours away.
Tour Cumberland Maryland
Western Maryland and the tri-state area boast a cost-of-living below metropolitan standards, so housing dollars will go farther. All types of housing possibilities exist–from a home in a historic district of Cumberland, a contemporary home in a pleasant neighborhood, or a home with a fantastic view in a pastoral setting.
Our region offers a variety of both public and private schools for families with children. For individuals seeking higher education, there are four colleges within the tri-state area that provide a great education close to home.
Allegany County Public Schools – Cumberland, MD
Garrett County Public Schools – Oakland, MD
Mineral County Public Schools – Keyser, WV
Bishop Walsh School – Cumberland, MD
Calvary Christian Academy – Cumberland, MD
Allegany College of Maryland – Cumberland, MD
Frostburg State University – Frostburg, MD
Garrett College – McHenry, MD
Potomac State College (WVU) – Keyser, WV
Allegany County Chamber of Commerce
Garrett County Chamber of Commerce
Maryland Mountains
Mineral County Chamber of Commerce |
Woodstock is named in the Top Ten of T‑Mobile's Hometown Techover Finalists.
Woodstock is named in the Top Ten of T‑Mobile's Hometown Techover Finalists.
One of These 10 Small Towns is About to Win Big. Meet the T‑Mobile Hometown Techover Finalists.
From Guadalupe, Calif. in the West all the way to Wareham, Mass. in the East, these 10 small towns make the finals in T‑Mobile's Hometown Techover: a community‑wide tech upgrade valued at more than $3 million
BELLEVUE, Wash. — July 15, 2021 — It techs a village. This past April, T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) unveiled a contest to win a T-Mobile Hometown Techover — a $3 million tech makeover for an American small town, including a $200,000 grant, 5G network enhancements, a Little League® baseball field refurbishment, a free concert featuring multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line … and so much more. The chosen town will become the 5G model for communities across the U.S., showcasing the power of the country's largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network — T-Mobile's. Thousands entered, and 10 extraordinary communities representing the heart of small-town America were selected as finalists:
Borough of Stroudsburg, Pa. is nestled in the Poconos and home to a historic downtown filled with small businesses that are the heart of the economy.
Dunn, N.C. is a beautiful small town in central North Carolina with a walkable downtown and nurtures tourism with small businesses and museums.
Girard, Kan. is a town in southeastern Kansas with dedicated teachers who want to help improve their students' connectivity.
Guadalupe, Calif., located on the Central California coast near the famous Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, has an economy dependent on the surrounding farms that feed America.
Hopkinsville, Ky., a charming southern agricultural community with one of the most diverse populations in Kentucky, neighbors the Fort Campbell Army installation.
Kalispell, Mont. is one of the fastest-growing small cities in the United States located in northwest Montana and is known for its incredible outdoor recreation and proximity to Glacier National Park.
Tipton, Ind. has a high concentration of veterans within its community and is honoring them with Hometown Hero banners displayed on their downtown streetlamps.
Wareham, Mass., is a diverse New England town situated just outside Cape Cod on picturesque Buzzards Bay. The economy is rooted in the fishing and agriculture industries and bolstered by tourism, manufacturing and commerce.
Washington, Mo. is a growing community nestled along the Missouri River that serves as the retail and industrial development hub of the county.
Woodstock, Ill., listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a diverse city known for its historic downtown district and turn-of-the-century town square.
"Right on the heels of celebrating America's birthday, it's time to celebrate the small towns at the very heart of our country," said Jon Freier, Executive Vice President of Consumer Group at T-Mobile. "As the 5G leader, we're committed to helping bridge the digital divide, and getting rural America as well-connected as Big City USA. This three-million-dollar Hometown Techover is just one example of how we'll get to work … and it's just the beginning."
A panel of judges from T-Mobile and Smart Growth America will determine a winner based on project feasibility, the town's need for a network upgrade, and town leadership interest and engagement. Later this summer, one of the 10 finalist towns will be crowned the T-Mobile Hometown Techover winner, but in typical T-Mobile style, the remaining nine finalists will not go home empty-handed. The finalists will each get a $50,000 grant to help jump-start or complete a project in their community, too!
The grand prize-winning town will score a mass of tech goods and services for the community-as-a-whole as well as individual households, worth more than $3 MILLION. Among the goodness:
Community Grant: A $200,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant and consulting services from Smart Growth America
Play Ball: Little League® field refurbishment including a tech upgrade and T-Mobile Little League Call Up Grant support
Public Space Tech Upgrade: An Un-carrier style upgrade to a public space like a library, community center or town square
Access to T-Mobile Resources: Concierge enrollment in T-Mobile's Project 10 Million and Connecting Heroes programs
And last, but certainly not least, the bash of all bashes!: A FREE concert this fall for the winning town with 18-time chart-topping, multi-platinum duo Florida Georgia Line
America's 5G Leader
The winning Techover town is going to be the 5G model for everyone else. But even if you are not in the Techover winning town the Un-carrier's 5G now covers 300 million people with Extended Range 5G! T-Mobile's Ultra Capacity 5G is expanding at an incredible pace and now covers 150 million people across the country, with plans to cover 200 million people nationwide this year. Ultra Capacity 5G can deliver blazing fast 5G speeds in more places than anyone else, with average download speeds of 325 Mbps with peaks of 1 Gbps, while Extended Range 5G is great for blanketing the country including rural and remote areas. T-Mobile's 5G network spans 1.6 million square miles — that's nearly 2x more coverage than AT&T and 4x more than Verizon — and the Un-carrier keeps widening its lead.
#5GforAll
T-Mobile Hometown Techoveris just one of the many initiatives underscoring T-Mobile's commitment to rural America. The Un-carrier's pledge includes free 5G phones with any working trade-in, amazing deals on plans, a new broadband option for 10 million rural households — T-Mobile Home Internet — and a commitment to build hundreds of new stores and create 7,500 new jobs supporting the wireless needs of communities across rural America. T-Mobile is also committing $25 million to small town grants during the next five years to help fund community development projects in rural areas across the country to help jumpstart stalled projects and get new ones off the ground. More than just bringing wireless, T-Mobile wants to be part of the community and help small towns thrive.
For more information about T-Mobile's commitment to small towns, visit T-Mobile.com/AcrossAmerica.
For full details of the T-Mobile Hometown Techover, head here.
Follow T-Mobile's Official Twitter Newsroom @TMobileNews to stay up to date with the latest company news.
5G: capable device required. Some uses may require certain plan or feature; see T-Mobile.com. Most Reliable: According to an audit report conducted by independent third party umlaut containing crowdsourced data for user experience collected from September 2020 until February 2021. Full details at: www.umlaut.com/en/benchmarking/USA. Fastest: According to Opensignal Awards – USA: 5G User Experience Report April 2021, based on independent analysis of average speeds from mobile measurements recorded during the period December 15, 2020 – March 14, 2021 © 2021 Opensignal Limited.
About T-Mobile
T-Mobile U.S. Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is America's supercharged Un-carrier, delivering an advanced 4G LTE and transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity for all. T-Mobile's customers benefit from its unmatched combination of value and quality, unwavering obsession with offering them the best possible service experience and undisputable drive for disruption that creates competition and innovation in wireless and beyond. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Sprint. For more information please visit: https://www.t-mobile.com.
About Florida Georgia Line
GRAMMY-nominated duo Florida Georgia Line have been making history since 2012. The global superstars are the first and only Country act to achieve two RIAA DIAMOND-certified singles with 11X PLATINUM, #1 breakout "Cruise" (the best-selling digital Country single of all time – SoundScan) and 10X PLATINUM, #1 "Meant to Be" with Bebe Rexha (holding the longest reign on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at 50 straight weeks). With their fifth studio album, LIFE ROLLS ON (BMLG Records), featuring #1 hit "Long Live," FGL keeps proving themselves as in-demand collaborators and "one of the format's premier musical shapeshifters" (Esquire), including recent releases "Lil Bit" (Nelly), "It's About Time" (Russell Dickerson), plus "Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen." (Chase Rice). FGL's tallied 18 career #1 singles, 13.2+ billion global streams, sold more than 40 million tracks and 4.7 million albums worldwide, logged 1.7 billion video views, and played to over 4 million fans spanning massive arena and stadium headline tours. Honored by ACM, AMA, Billboard, CMA, and CMT Music Awards, their creative empire also includes FGL House Party Radio with Florida Georgia Line on Apple Music Country, and thriving business initiatives: FGL House, meet + greet, Round Here Records, Tree Vibez Music, Tribe Kelley, Old Camp Whiskey, and Wolf Moon Bourbon (with Jason Aldean).
About Smart Growth America
Smart Growth America envisions a country where no matter where you live, or who you are, you can enjoy living in a place that is healthy, prosperous, and resilient. We empower communities through technical assistance, advocacy, and thought leadership to realize our vision of livable places, healthy people, and shared prosperity. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/.
16 Best Small Towns in Illinois (that You Shouldn't Miss!)
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Woodstock Harley-Davidson's Windy City Motorcycle Training Academy partners with McHenry County College to offer a new program
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Arts and Culture Continues with Grant Support in Woodstock
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Minister for Defence Materiel - Interview with SKY News, Canberra
TRANSCRIPT: INTERVIEW WITH SKY NEWS, CANBERRA
TOPICS: Force posture initiatives.
KIERAN GILBERT: The big announcement of this visit by the US President has been the increase in the military engagement starting with the company of 250 marines, next year increasing to a peak of 2500 by 2016/17. With us to discuss that we have the Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare. Jason Clare thanks for being here. The numbers aren't enormous by American standards but very significant for Australia. How do you see this in terms of the alliance, where does it take it and how does it change it?
JASON CLARE: We all know we're strong allies and good friends - as the President said last night we don't always speak the same language but we understand each other and this is about expanding what we're already doing.
You're right, America has about 60,000 Marines and other personnel in South Korea and Japan so by those standards it's quite small. But it is important in the work that we do together. We already do a lot of training together. Every two years we'll have 14,000 marines and other US personnel training as part of Talisman Sabre. But this makes it more regular. It means that it's every six months during the dry season in the north.
And for the Australian Army which is now moving to operating amphibious craft with the Australian Navy and that means these big ships, bigger than our last aircraft carrier that can carry 1000 troops as well as 100 vehicles, they're the sort of ships that are on the spot when there's a humanitarian emergency and natural disaster in our region. We need to know how to use them, how to operate them. We haven't done it at that scale before. The Americans have been doing it for decades and they'll be very helpful in helping us skill up.
DAVID SPEERS: But this isn't just about humanitarian and disaster relief operations, it's about combat as well. I mean when we get to the question of why we're doing this, we're here from governments both sides, I think this is about the shifting strategic power in this region, let's be blunt, is it about China?
JASON CLARE: It's not just about China. It's about all of Asia. It's becoming - Asia's becoming the economic centre of the universe. We talk about this being the Asian century. What we announced yesterday and what I suspect the President will say in his speech to Parliament today shows that he gets that too. He understands it. You know we are talking David about in the next decade the world - the biggest middle class the world's ever seen on our doorstep, it means half a billion people ripped out of poverty in the region but it also means jobs. It means jobs for Australians and it means jobs for Americans. That's why it's in our interest. And the point I would make is that as the world changes, so it's natural that America's force posture will change.
DAVID SPEERS: But we have seen the Chinese being a bit more assertive, a bit more aggressive in their claims on territorial waters in the region, this has been seen as a response to that by the United States and the reaction from China that this announcement has been pretty negative. They're saying this may not be in the interest of countries in the region. Are they wrong to be worried about this?
JASON CLARE: Well I guess what I would say to that is it should come as no surprise that Australia and the United States are allies. We've been at it now for 60 years, friends even longer and this is an expansion of what we already do. American - let's be [audio cuts], it's been America's presence in our region that has underpinned the security of this part of the word now for at least 40 years and the point I would make is as Asia becomes more important, as it becomes more important to economic growth, so it's important that America's presence increases rather than reduces because that's what will underpin all of the opportunities that we're talking about from the growth of Asia.
KIERAN GILBERT: What about the other argument that's being made, I suppose in the context of the uranium debate but more generally about the need to engage more with Deli and that's what the United States had argued for, for Australia to build those links up as a counter balance to China.
JASON CLARE: Well I think the President made it very clear in answer to a question yesterday, it was a decision that the Prime Minister has made to take forward to the Labor Party's National Conference because we think it is in the national interest of Australia. We need to work closely with all of the countries of our region. Work closely with China, work closely with India, because of the economic opportunities that it provides us with.
And I should make the point Kieran that not only are we increasing military exercises and training with the United States but at the same time we're doing the same sort of thing with China. We had a very senior general from the Chinese PLA out here last week as part of a series of talks.
This year - no sorry last year - we held the first of the live fire exercises between our two navies and when the Prime Minister was in China early this year she invited the Chinese to have more ship visits from the Chinese Navy.
So this is all about working more closely together. You'll see a lot more of that over the coming days of the East Asia Summit which for the first time the United States will be part and unlike APEC...
KIERAN GILBERT: So China's got nothing to worry about?
JASON CLARE: Well unlike APEC we're talking about growing the economy of the region. This is about making sure that we get the security right and that's going to require China and the United States and the rest of us working closely together. If we get that bilateral relationship between China and the United States right, then all of us stand to gain from it; China, the United States and Australia.
DAVID SPEERS: The Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare, thank you for joining us.
JASON CLARE: Not at all. Thanks David, thanks Kieran. |
Rebuilding the Heybridge Chunker
The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, is a canal that spans 14 miles from Chelmsford in Essex to the sea lock at Heybridge near Maldon. The canal, which opened in 1797, was once a trade route, and is now used mainly for leisure purposes during the summer months.
Waterways that cross the canal are diverted underneath it by culverts that are known locally as chunkers. The chunker at Heybridge carries the flow of the Langford ditch and, like the canal, is more than 200 years old. It suffered a partial collapse in 2005 when the old elm timbers gave way, causing part of the canal to leak into the drainage channel. Some 230 properties upstream, some of which had been built in the flood plain, were put at risk of flooding.
Temporary measures such as sandbags and additional pumps failed to solve the underlying problems and in 2009, Royal HaskoningDHV was asked to undertake the detailed design of a new 35m long culvert, provide site supervision, and commercial project management of the construction.
Chris Fosbeary, Royal HaskoningDHV's project manager, recalls the scene: "We needed to pile across both sides of the canal bed to secure it, and then excavate the chunker. We diverted the stream into the canal and pumped out the water, but it was still pretty wet down there. The chunker was replaced with a new culvert and we constructed headwalls at both the intake and outfall ends.
"There were a number of constraints relating to the project which included the grounds of a converted mill, now a Grade 2 listed building, were on one side of the chunker, so we could only get vehicular access from the other side. On the other side of the chunker services which could not be diverted including a medium pressure gas main were present. As we were working in a residential environment and due to the issues with services, we were careful to keep noise and vibration to a minimum. For example, the steel piles were pressed into the ground using a hydraulic press system, instead of driving them with an impact hammer as you would normally do.
"Working in a conservation area brought additional constraints, such as the need to obtain consent to remove trees that were obstructing the work.
"We refined and outline design previously produced by another consulting engineer to make cost savings and meet environmental objectives. We stripped out a lot of concrete from the original design and used steel sheet piles instead, which reduced the carbon footprint significantly as were able to use recycled piles and was also more cost effective.
"As designers we have to design out as many hazards as is reasonably practicable, and using pre-fabricated products instead of casting concrete on site reduced the health, safety and environmental risks significantly."
Royal HaskoningDHV has considerable experience in this area and in 2010 developed a culvert design guide with the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), focusing on the whole-life asset management of culverts and their assessment as part of a catchment system.
Other skills also played a part in the work. Our Environment experts carried out an environmental appraisal and prepared an action plan. Our specialist contaminated land team were called in to investigate a patch of oil contamination in the ground water to ensure it did not impact on the work. Ground investigation was carried out to determine the nature and properties of the underlying soil. The Infrastructure and Buildings team carried out structural surveys of nearby buildings.
Work began in December 2009 and had to be completed by April 2010 to allow the canal to reopen for the summer season. If the work had not been completed on time, the next available opportunity to work on the site would have been in October 2010. There was no slack in the programme and in quick succession the initial surveys and studies were completed, the designs were prepared and refined, and the construction work was completed by external contractors. It was important to award the construction contract directly to one chosen contractor to avoid the time consuming process of competitive tendering, and working with the client's Procurement team, Royal HaskoningDHV was instrumental in enabling this to happen.
Chris Fosbeary praises the contribution of all involved: "We worked well with Environment Agency's supply chain. The client was very receptive and was closely involved throughout the design and construction."
The project was completed on time and cost 40 per cent less than the original budget. The flood risk has been reduced by using a 1.2 metre pipe which increases the capacity of the new chunker and improves its ability to carry water away from the area. The new design will enable the Environment Agency to implement a wider flood alleviation scheme, and the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation is open to the public and more secure than ever before.
Download the full Heybridge Chunker Case Study
Flood Risk Management Modelling and Design |
EPA Fails to Repay Communities and Businesses Affected by Mine Waste Spill
The Environmental Protection Agency just announced that it will not repay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from a mine waste spill the agency accidentally triggered in Colorado.
The EPA said the claims could be refiled in federal court, or Congress could authorize the payments.
Attorneys for the EPA and the Justice Department conclude that the EPA is not allowed to pay the claims because of sovereign immunity, which prohibits most lawsuits against the government.
The EPA claims to have spent over $31.1 million on the spill, including remediation work, water testing, and payments to state, local and tribal agencies.
Farmers who lost crops or had to haul water because rivers were unusable for irrigation because they were polluted by the spill. Rafting companies and their employees sought lost income and wages because they could no longer take visitors on river trips, and some homeowners sought damages because their wells were affected. All and all, a total of 73 claims were filed.
"We had direct revenue losses of $50,000-plus," said Alex Mickel, owner of Mild to Wild Rafting in Durango, Colorado.
Mickel was left with the impression that the EPA would compensate for economic losses.
"That just amazes me that they would do just a complete reversal," he said in an interview. Mickel said he would consult with his attorney on his next move.
The spill that happened in August 2015 at the Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado released 3 million gallons of wastewater tainted with iron, aluminum, manganese, lead, copper and other metals. The San Juan and Animas rivers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah were all polluted with stretches of waterway turning an orange-yellow.
Some of these affected rivers pass through Indian reservations.
Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye says the nation will continue to push for compensation.
"It was devastating to both the Navajo Nation and to the farmers," he said. "Even today, people still question if the water is clean enough for farming, livestock or human consumption."
The EPA says the water quality in the rivers has returned to pre-spill conditions, but with the spill happening as recently as 2015, people remain skeptical.
Anger and disappointment has been expressed by members of Congress. New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, all Democrats, accused the agency of reneging on a pledge.
"We are outraged at this last-ditch move by the federal government's lawyers to go back on the EPA's promise to the people of the state of New Mexico — and especially the Navajo Nation — that it would fully address this environmental disaster that still plagues the people of the Four Corners region."
Members of Colorado's congressional delegation say they will introduce legislation to repay economic damage.
An EPA-led contractor crew triggered the spill while doing exploratory excavation work at the mine entrance in advance of a possible cleanup. The Gold King is only one of hundreds of inactive mines in the Colorado mountains that continues to spew polluted water into rivers.
State, federal and tribal officials have been critical of the EPA for causing this spill and for how it has handled the aftermath. The Navajo Nation and the state of New Mexico have already sued the agency in federal court, and other lawsuits are beginning to come up as well.
Last month, the EPA said it would pay $4.5 million to state, local and tribal governments to cover the cost of their emergency response to the spill, but the agency rejected $20.4 million in other requests for past and future expenses, citing federal law.
TexasGOPVote.com/flickr
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In early January, five liberal ideologues wrote up plan 180, a strictly confidential strategy document titled "PLC Strategy 2000." It essentially lays out the steps that the new Alemán government must take in its first six months to assure that the Liberals remain in power at least until 2016. Substantial parts of the document were leaked to the Nicaraguan bulletin Bolsa de Noticias, and published in its March 14 issue. The document is genuine and it is revealing envío offers translated extracts from the leaked document below.
Envío team
The Liberal Party is an historic party rooted in national history. Independence was the product of illustrious men who carried our libertarian ideas: Miguel Larreynaga, José Cecilio del Valle, the wise Gregorio Juárez from León, and other great men. The forging of the nation had in Central American patriots like Francisco Morazán, Justo Rufino Barrios and our own Máximo Jerez the courage to politically and militarily oppose the efforts of creole Conservative oligarchies to break the Central American Federation and sink us in obscurantism and localism.
The lack of vision of Castellón and Valle, leaders during the National War, allowed the Conservatives to displace and persecute Liberalism for 30 years.
The glorious Liberal Revolution occurred in 1893, led by José Santos Zelaya who defeated the Conservative Party of Granada and opened an era of political, judicial and economic modernity for Nicaragua. Sustained Liberal nationalism for 17 years awakened the suspicions of the United States, which, in alliance with the Conservatives, precipitated the displacement of General Zelaya and Liberalism.
After 19 years of obscurantism, corruption and stagnation by the successive Conservative governments, the Constitutionalist War erupted, which concluded with the rise to power of General José María Moncada.
In a new epoch in which the United States leaned toward stability, Liberalism retained power, residing in the military and negotiating abilities of General Anastasio Somoza García. Somoza's hard hand and his distrust of allowing power to alternate, transmitting it only to his own children and other relatives, eroded Liberalism, accused of corruption and of being a dynasty. In 1979, dissident Conservatives and Liberals, supported by capital and by Carter, joined Sandino-communism, who in few months destroyed the work of Liberalism throwing it into painful exile.
In the 1990 elections, the Nicaraguan people turned their back on Sandinismo, electing the UNO government. Liberalism united with the Resistance, much more than Conservatives, was the national pillar of this struggle and those who most influenced President Reagan to hit the Sandinista regime hard. Nonetheless, Liberalism was completely marginalized after April 1990, forced to frontally oppose the betrayal of the Chamorro-Lacayo-Ortega co-government. From the mayor's office in Managua, Arnoldo Alemán initiated the genuine reconstruction and rise of Liberalism, the focal point of which was the PLC [Alemán's Constitutionalist Liberal Party]. After 17 years of humiliation, exile, confiscations and political ostracism, we Liberals won power again in 1996.
We Liberals have ushered in a new epoch. The issue is not only to have won the elections in 1996. It is about the opening of an era in which we are bursting again on the national scene with great opportunities to affirm our hegemony for at least the next 20 years. This must be our horizon and our historic target. The government presided over by Dr. Alemán must be the instrument to firmly initiate the removal of the obstacles that today oppose this proposition. The current order of things is not so favorable to the Liberals and we must decidedly change it knowing how to evade paying the consequences.
The Liberal Alliance is fragile. Our first longing must be Liberal reunification under a single banner taking the PLC as the center. The rebirth of the great Liberal Party is the first task. This unification will be realized sooner and more effectively if, attending to pragmatic reasons, the Liberal family comes together as in 1855, 1893 and 1936, around an authentic caudillo of quality, which in this case is Dr. Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo.
Liberal reunification must be complete or not be at all. From 1979 to date, an essential part of Liberalism has been attacked and accused of larceny, Somocismo, tortures and genocide. It is the Liberal duty to welcome them, defend them and legitimize them against the Sandinista and conservative pretension, beginning with the family members of the last three Somoza presidents and those who collaborated with their Liberal works, from the army or the government. Their economic means, friends and influence would be of great assistance.
The country's political picture has been distorted. The historic parallels must be reestablished. We cannot accept the Frente Sandinista usurping the place that corresponds to the Conservative Party. Liberalism has governed the country with the concurrence of the Conservatives in various epochs. Politically liquidating Sandinismo from the country's stage in an integral fashion is the task of this government. Liberalism cannot alternate with Sandinismo as the opposition or permit it to exist over the long term.
In 1979, the economic power of the members of the Liberal family, consisting of thousands of agricultural, industrial, commercial and financial businesses, was confiscated and later split up among the Sandinistas. This undermining of our economic influence in society, the product of centuries of industrious work, continued during the Chamorro government, in both cases as a historic vendetta aimed at weakening the resurgence of Liberalism. The "privatization" practiced by the Chamorro government was deliberately done to favor its Conservative friends and clans, to end our hope of recovering our goods, and while the majority of us were outside the country. The recovery of goods is indispensable to have an economic base for our political plans. Without this base we cannot get very far.
The current composition of the government, even though it reflects our pre-electoral agreements, weakens the Liberal unification and the cohesion required to really govern. The only sure thing that Liberalism has is the Executive, where the economic resources and other legal and social means are found that we need to consolidate ourselves. The agreements and alliances have to be transferred to the National Congress and the other branches, canceling them in the Executive as quickly as possible.
The Liberal government does not have control over essential apparatuses of power: the Army and the Police. Nor does it have its own media. The Supreme Court is balancing itself with a correlation left by the previous governments. There is a core of opposition in the Comptroller General's office and problems for the President in the person of the Comptroller himself.
All these problems must be dealt with in the first six months, when the government is internally and externally strong. In this period the reactions are weak and with little support. The important thing is to act decisively. For that it is indispensable that the measures that are proposed be carefully implemented by an interdisciplinary team centralized in the presidency that has skilled personnel in legal and political aspects.
The executive branch must be cleansed of functionaries and employees that do not respond to our guidelines. Do not commit the error of the Chamorro government, which coexisted with its adversaries.
Quality Liberals who enjoy the full confidence of the President will be designated in the executive posts of the Banks, Treasury, Income Department, INF [National Investment Fund], Customs, Transport and Airports, and where economic means can be mobilized.
Measures must be designed to have control and influence over all the media. The best journalists should be employed by the President himself in the state entities. Control state publicity, which is 36% of all national publicity. Weaken the opposition media and reward those that align themselves.
The call to dialogue must be based on Liberalism and on the President in person and must be directed only to the FSLN, with the understanding that we represent the other forces and that a third way must not be strengthened. This dialogue is the opportunity to unmask the FSLN's lack of democratic vocation and to project it as -piñatero-. Upon the failure of the dialogue, the closest Conservative Party (Calero) will be called as interlocutor.
The property issue has three objectives: clean up the Liberal period demonstrating that the two previous governments were more corrupt; pressure for the return of properties that really interest us, leaving those turned over to smallholders in the first phase; make a hard-hitting move on the economic base in Sandinista hands.
The most important objective is to effectively recover properties. The claimants of the best and largest are the family members of the Somoza Presidents. To see to it that these properties are returned to them, we must project that the Sandinista leaders stole them and that they are not a social reform. Data must be sought to attack the nine Comandantes, electing the main ones responsible for the confiscatory measures. Do not attack the agrarian reform frontally. Highlight the mansions, the Sandinista potentates, etc., everything that hits at public opinion. Begin on the weakest side until they are isolated. In a second plan "uncork" the corruption of CORNAP and Dayton Caldera and Antonio Lacayo and what can be gotten out of the Chamorro government. It would be interesting to make and publish a list of the companies that conservatives (the Chamorros, Calderas, Baltodanos, Lacayos, Cuadras) stole from the state.
In the broadest sense of property, advance in practice by giving play to the pressures of the claimants on the ground and in the courts all over the country. Coordinate with the judicial branch so that this coincides with cleaning out the judges in the civil courts. The members of the armed forces have to be given security for now that we will respect their houses. In the end everyone will have to pay for them.
Proceed to the privatization of the important businesses that are still managed by the state: the Nicaraguan Bank, which should again be a Liberal bank; TV Channel 6, which is the only one with national coverage and key for our electoral campaigns (do it in harmony with the old owners); the same with Radio Nicaragua, which is bankrupt. For now the PLC doesn't have its own media.
Push for the recovery of some big companies that have already been privatized and that are reclaimable by the Somoza-Urcuyo family or its successors. Others can be negotiated with investor friends of the Cuban American Foundation in exile, successful Nica friends in the United States, the Guatemala Group and others.
Procure the weakening and even rupture of the links between the FSLN and its bases of support. This first requires a social package: provide property titles to the poor, give out materials and credit, pardon or subsidize debts, support leaders. Second, the economic and financial oxygen that these groups receive from an array of nongovernmental organizations, the majority of them close to the FSLN, should be cut.
These first measures will bring domestic tension, most presumably with Sandinismo. Two scenarios are advisable. The first is to maintain monetary stability and fiscal controls by all means so as to dry up and cushion the pressure so that there is a field of stability in the country, appreciated by all, that will isolate the Sandinistas. Second: despite any tension, an energetic and positive action by the President and an image of acceptance, control and tranquility should be projected in the media. With peace on the surface we will be able to maintain the torment underneath. |
Teachings of Lord Caitanya: Chapter 32 – Conclusion
18. After taking permission from Ramananda Raya Lord Chaitanya return to __________.
a) Mayapur.
b) Shantipur.
c) Vrindavan.
d) Jagannatha Puri.
01. In the ___________ Purana it is said that liberation and transcendental life follow all the devotees of God.
a) Adi.
b) Vishnu Purana.
c) Narada Purana.
d) Garuda Purana.
02. How can one will be the most insignificant person?
a) If one will be the devotee of Supreme Personality of Godhead.
b) If one will be very famous personality in whole universe.
c) If one will not be a devotee of Supreme Personality of Godhead.
d) If one will not be a famous personality in whole universe.
03. What is the most valuable thing in the world?
a) valuable Jewel.
b) material sense gratification.
c) mystic powers.
d) Love of Radha-Krishna.
04. What is considered to be the most painful existence?
a) Seperation from a material loving personality.
b) separation from a pure devotee.
c) separation from a material body.
d) separation from a material family & friends.
05. Out of many so-called liberated souls, who is actually liberated?
a) One who is situated in Brahma Jyoti.
b) One who is situated in Hevenly Planets.
c) One who completely saturated with the devotional love for Radha and Krishna.
d) None of them.
06. And out of all songs, which song is the best of all?
a) any song which describes the pastimes of Radha and Krishna.
b) any song which glorifies describes the demigods.
c) any song which describes the inpersonalism philosophy.
07. What a person should be think of?
a) Pastimes of Krisna-Radha.
b) to become a very rich personality in whole world.
c) to be get merged in brahman.
08. What is the best type of meditation?
a) always meditate on the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna.
b) always meditate on the Brahma.
c) always meditate on demigod for material enjoyment.
d) always meditate on ourself.
09. Where should a person live, giving up all other pleasures?
a) Heavenly planets.
b) Vrindavan.
c) hellish Planet.
d) Brahma lok.
10. Who is the most worshipable Deity?
a) Sri Ganesh.
b) Shiva.
c) Brahmajyoti.
d) Radha-Krishna.
11. Those who have no taste for Krishna consciousness or spiritual life are just like ________.
a) peacocks.
b) voltures.
c) Crows.
d) swan.
12. __________ who are in love with Radha and Krishna enjoy fruit just like the cuckoo.
a) materialists.
b) mayavadis.
c) transcendentalists.
13. Shukadeva Gosvama confirms that the gayatri mantra was first imparted within the heart of __________ by the Supreme.
a) Shiva.
b) Narada.
c) Svayambhu Manu.
d) Brahma.
14. Who can able to know about the real identity of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?
a) who are fortunate enough to understand Lord Caitanya.
b) who understand the Vrindavana pastimes of Radha and Krishna.
c) who get the mercy of Sri Rupa Gosvami.
d) All of them.
15. How many days spend by Lord Chaitanya with Ramananda Raya?
a) 10 days.
b) 11 days.
c) 12 days.
d) 13 days.
16. The preliminary discussions between Lord Caitanya and Ramananda Raya are considered as to be like ____________.
a) bronze.
b) copper.
c) gold.
d) silver.
17. The fifth dimension discussions between Lord Caitanya and Ramananda Raya are considered to be like ______________.
a) gold.
b) silver.
c) touchstone.
d) bronze. |
Boston Stores could be back in Milwaukee this holiday season
Posted: 5:02 PM, Sep 17, 2018
By: Rachael Glaszcz
The parent company of Boston Store says it's planning on opening some stores in the Milwaukee area this holiday season after the retailer closed earlier this year.
Bon-Ton is now owned by CSC Generation Holdings, Inc., a tech company based out of Indiana. The company's goal is to save retailers from Amazon.
Online Message Hints Boston Store May Come Back
"We feel it's really important to have that brick and mortar presence to engage both with our brand and the brands that we stock," said Bon-Ton Stores vice president of communication Fred Hulls.
Hulls said the company is looking to open stores ahead of the holidays in six states: possibly two or three stores in the Milwaukee area including Brookfield. The company is even considering reopening stores in their previous location.
"If we can negotiate the right terms and the building is right we will definitely reopen the right locations," Hulls said, "but we're not opposed to looking at new locations either."
The new store concept will be a little different than what we are used to. In addition to buying goods and returning things you bought online the stores will have employees to offer personal styling advice and interior design advice.
Hulls said previous Boston Store employees will have first dibs at jobs in the new stores, "We are looking to recruit mainly full-time staff which is quite unusual in retail, offering them full benefits."
Full-time and full benefits, but staff will not have the traditional Monday through Friday shift.
"The new concept store will have longer hours from Thursday to Sunday where people want to shop."
There will also be new payment options such as lease-to-own where customers can get a product in one day and pay for it over time.
Bottom line, the new Bon-Ton Stores wants the same quality Wisconsin has come to love in the Bon-Ton Brand.
"We are working extremely hard to give you the brands you expect, and the price points and savings you're used to," Hulls said.
Previous employees are encouraged to apply for positions by going to any of the Bon-Ton Stores websites including Bostonstore.com. |
Close Home Tournaments BDO World Championship Youth
BDO World Championship Youth
The BDO World Championship for youth is held once in 1986, but then it disappears from the calendar until it returns in 2015. The preliminaries are played around the Winmau World Masters. The final is played in January of the following year on the stage of the 'big' World Championship.
From 2015, the tournament is played at the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green. In 2020 the new BDO board moves the tournament to London. The Indigo at the O2 is the new venue.
The title is won by a Dutchman three times, an Englishman twice, and an Irishman once. Justin van Tergouw is the only player to win the World Championship twice in 2017 and 2018.
When it becomes clear in 2020 that the BDO will no longer survive, the tournament also comes to an end. After 43 years, of which the youth had their own tournament for 7 years, the tournament that made darts in England, and across the world, is over.
Photographer: MasterCaller.com
BDO World Darts Championship Youth - 2020
Nathan Girvan
Killian Heffernan
Joshua Richardson
Jordan Boyce
Colin Roelofs
Mark Day
Lee Woodrow
About BDO World Championship Youth
09 January 1986 35 years ago |
11th C. Basilica of Aquileia
Created by: Tosolini Productions LLC
The Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia is part of one of the greatest unexcavated archaeological reserves of its kind. It is built on the remains of two different churches: a 5th century, three-nave Early Christian basilica (subsequently destroyed) and a church dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.
Since its beginnings, the Basilica was rebuilt in the 11th century, and massive additions and embellishments were made during various periods, resulting in a magnificent showcase of architectural and religious history. In this model, get close-up access to the 4th century mosaic floors full of Christian symbolism. In the apse, view 10th century frescoes of Mary and Mark the Evangelist.
Aquileia was one of the largest and richest cities in the Roman Empire, and then a dominant hub in Central Europe until the 18th century. The Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.
Continue exploring with a tour of the Cathedral's exterior.
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59012 S/Sgt. David Gibson Wishart MM (1886 – 1973)Wishart14182018-04-17T16:27:15+01:00
59012 S/Sgt. David Gibson Wishart MM (1886 – 1973)
David Gibson Wishart was born on 18 February 1886 at 1 Gray's Buildings, Rosemount Place in Aberdeen. He was the fifth of nine children of David Wishart, a cloth lapper from Dunfermline, and his wife, Janet Gibson.
When he was twelve, David's father died of tuberculosis, and the family went to live in an apartment at 24 Esslemont Avenue where David likely attended Rosemount School, which was nearby. By 1911 he had gained employment as a chemist's assistant, and perhaps it was his experience with medicine that prompted him to join the Royal Army Medical Corps following the outbreak of war with Germany in August 1914.
Little is known about David's military career other than that he left for Egypt on 27 July 1915 and rose from the rank of private to staff sergeant. In 1918 he was awarded the military medal while serving with the 133rd Field Ambulance in France and then Flanders. Shortly after David left for the war, his younger brother John died in hospital after being wounded at the Battle of Bellewaarde.
After the war, David lived in London with his wife Jessie (who he married in 1915) and two children were born of the union in 1920 and 1925. By 1939 he was living on Bounces Road, Edmonton where he ran a chemist's shop and at some point, moved to Sussex where he died aged 86 on 14 January 1973. |
NBA signs Wilson as official game ball for all leagues
Admin Sportz Front
The National Basketball Association (NBA) of America and Wilson Sporting Goods Company have announced a multiyear global partnership that will make Wilson the official game ball of the NBA, Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, NBA 2K League and Basketball Africa League (BAL).
The partnership will tip off at different times by the league. The NBA Wilson game ball will first be used during the league's 75th anniversary season in 2021-22. The other debuts will be during the 2022 WNBA season, 2021-22 NBA G League season, 2021 NBA 2K League season and the inaugural BAL season.
"This partnership with Wilson returns us to our roots as we plan for the future," said Salvatore LaRocca, NBA President, Global Partnerships. "We were partners for 37 seasons dating back to when Wilson manufactured the first official NBA basketballs in 1946, and we look forward to growing the game of basketball together."
"Our commitment to growing the game of basketball on the global stage is at the heart of Wilson and our new partnership with the NBA," said Kevin Murphy, General Manager, Wilson Basketball. "Our passion for this game and the league runs incredibly deep, as does our history with it. And as we start this new chapter in the game, our focus and energy will be on supporting the league and the players, coaches and fans with the most advanced, high-performance game basketballs possible."
Wilson will manufacture the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League game balls using the same materials, eight-panel configuration and performance specifications as current game balls and will also source the same leather currently used in the NBA. The NBA and its players will work jointly with Wilson to develop and approve the new game ball.
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TCS 10K Bengaluru campaign salutes Covid -19 heroes
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Love of golf drives exec's profession path | Information, Sports activities, Jobs
Jack Damioli, a Brookfield native, bought all for a profession within the luxurious resort enterprise as a 10-year-old working as a golf caddy at Yankee Run Golf Course.
Damioli graduated from Brookfield Excessive Faculty in 1977. He went on to attend Youngstown State College from 1977 to 1979 after which transferred to Ohio College, the place he graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science diploma in leisure administration and a Grasp of Science diploma in sports activities administration in 1983.
A longtime and avid golfer, Damioli's ardour for golf started when he started working on the Yankee Run Golf Course as a 10-year-old, which later led him to a profession within the luxurious resort enterprise. He lettered for 3 years on the Brookfield Excessive golf group, was captain his senior 12 months and went on to be a member of the YSU golf group from 1978 to 1979. He taught golf bodily training courses at Ohio College from 1981 to 1982.
He was inducted into the Brookfield Native Colleges Alumni Corridor of Fame in 2020, however the official ceremony didn't happen till final 12 months due to the pandemic.
Damioli started his resort profession within the spring of 1983 because the bag room supervisor within the golf division at The Greenbrier in Sulfur Springs, W.Va. Throughout his 23-year profession at The Greenbrier, he labored in virtually each operational division and was the overall supervisor of the resort from 2000 to 2006. The Greenbrier was an 800-room, full-service, luxurious resort, encompassing 6,500 acres with complete convention assembly house, eating and leisure amenities.
From 2006 to 2013, Damioli was the president and basic supervisor of The Gasparilla Inn & Membership in Boca Grande, Florida. This 160-room, full service, boutique luxurious resort is positioned within the barrier islands of Southwest Florida, providing a full array of eating and leisure amenities, together with a full-service marina. Throughout his tenure on the resort, he led a group within the rebirth of the historic property bodily, financially and from a service perspective.
In January 2014, Damioli joined The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., as vp and managing director. In March 2015, he turned the seventh president of The Broadmoor and its associated companies, which embody The Ranch at Emerald Valley, Cloud Camp, Fly Fishing Camp, Seven Falls, The Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway and The Broadmoor Growth Firm.
Damioli is a member of the board of administrators of the American Lodge and Lodging Affiliation, in addition to a member of the Resort Govt Committee. He's additionally a member of the Colorado Lodge & Lodging Affiliation, Colorado Thirty Group, Air Drive Academy Basis and a board member of the Care and Share Meals Financial institution for Southern Colorado and The Broadmoor World Area. Damioli obtained the Hotelier of the Yr award from the Colorado Lodge & Lodging Affiliation in 2018.
Over time, Damioli was president of the Southern Innkeepers Affiliation in 2005 and 2006, and a member of the Younger Presidents Group from 2002 to 2006. Throughout his hospitality profession in West Virginia, Florida and, now, Colorado, he has additionally served on many native civic and nonprofit boards.
Of the assorted organizations and initiatives Damioli has been concerned with throughout his profession, he mentioned none have been extra impactful or personally significant because the meals rescue program The Broadmoor lately applied with the native hospitality group in Colorado Springs.
Damioli and his spouse, Rachel, met at Ohio College and have been married for 37 years. They dwell in Colorado Springs and have two daughters, Deanna, 28, and Elizabeth, 25, who each dwell and work in Colorado. He mentioned he nonetheless enjoys taking part in golf as a lot as he can, in addition to exploring the various miles of mountaineering trails and pure magnificence Colorado has to supply.
To counsel a Saturday profile, contact Options Editor Burton Cole at [email protected] or Metro Editor Marly Reichert at [email protected].
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Sparkling Sri Lankan Gems & Jewelry
Home / News / Sparkling Sri Lankan Gems & Jewelry
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Sri Lanka is an island of everything, simply well known as the paradise of tea and gems. Throughout the history of Sri Lanka, this country known as "Rathna Deepa" which means "The Island of Gemstone". Sri Lanka has its own unique tradition of gems and jewellery, And on a simplistic level, jewellery is a signifier of social class and wealth. It is also important in defining traditions that are both cultural and religious, as well as in spiritual remedies that are associated with energy, power and healing properties.
The meanings attached to similar types of jewellery (such as rings and necklaces) differ across cultures share different meanings such as symbols of traditional marriages.Tour packages in Sri Lanka
Playing "Rabana"- the drum
In Sri Lanka, Jewelry that was initially used to depict and differentiate royalty, the upper classes and caste has morphed into representations of millennia long cultural characteristic and traditions. Most if not all ethnicities have some form of aristocratic associations with Jewelry.
Kandyan Jewelry is an example of this. It's not uncommon for Sri Lankan to wear Kandyan Jewelry at weddings as costume jewelry or accessories to match modern clothing even if family lineages do not trace back to the hill country. Another cultural belief of Jewelry revolves around the use of gold and precious stones that have their own spiritual meanings. In the past, the use of precious stones was somewhat limited to pendants, rings and earrings but has evolved to include embedded necklaces and other pieces of adornment.
Gold has stood the test of time and is a common theme in Sri Lanka. While it is seen as a need and even an investment, its aesthetic value is undeniable. So enamored are both sexes with this precious metal that imitation gold jewelry is also popular, which provides roadside jewelry shops a small but regular income from electroplating.Tour packages in Sri Lanka
Jewellery or components like precious stones, blood diamonds, for example can make a country or continent world famous, for both good and bad reasons. The industry of Sri Lankan gems has 70 of the world's 200 varieties of colorful gem stones. Present day, gems are a mainstay of the country's tourism industry although its ancient roots date back to records of Marco Polo, Ptolemy and Persian traders. The heart of Sri Lanka's gem industry lies in Ratnapura – "The City of Gems" while some estimates suggest than more than 80 percent of the Island's rock formations could hold gem deposits.
Sri Lanka's gem, diamond and Jewellery industry contributed in excess of US$ 350 million to the country's exports in year 2015. But beyond monetary values, the popularity of its star gem the Ceylon sapphire holds away.
The Ceylon sapphire is a brilliant cornflower of cerulean blue and its considered to be of the highest quality. The stone is very popular that it enjoys a reputation extending as far back as biblical times.
An 18 carat blue sapphire was at the center of Lady Diana's and later the Duchess of Cambridge's engagement rings. In year 2014, the world's largest Blue sapphire which weighted 1,409.4 carats was found in a mine in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan Blue Sapphire
Gem mine in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka
Search for the Gems
And as the heady variety of Jewellery from precious stones and metals to costume jewellery that is worn evolves, the value and meanings associated with them will no doubt be defined and redefined through the ages.
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Doro no kawa / Muddy River (1981)
It might be hard to contextualize the state of Japanese art film in the 1980s. For whatever reason, it is the least accessible (in terms of distribution, home video release) and least interesting decade in the country's film production, at least in the west. The golden age of the 1950s was a thing of the past, replaced with kinetic, chaotic, and "radical" aesthetic of the Japanese New Wave and Art Theater Guild that produced most of the "serious" films that came from Japan in the 60s and 70s. Muddy River, which is filmmaker Kohei Oguri's debut, is a conscious throwback to the aforementioned "golden age" of Japanese cinema, a shomin-geki pastiche. It nails the visual style of that era, while introducing a uniquely quiet tone to the proceedings.
Nobuo lives with his parents in a noodle shop along the river. It functions as the family's main source of income. He seems to latch on to relationship with other adults because he has no friends that are his age. Nobuo meets Kichi, a boy who seems to be his age. Despite their shy personalities, the two start something of a friendship. Kichi lives in a houseboat along the river with his sister, Ginko and his mother, who we never see. Because of this assumed neglect, Nobuo invites Kichi and Ginko over to his house, both of whom fit in well with Nobuo's parents and the family's noodle business. Nobuo's father promises he'll take the two boys to an upcoming festival, but then he disappears.
Most of Oguri's debut is a slow-burn, with excellently photographed frames quietly building into a sequence. However, the film's opening is as jarring and electrifying a sequence as I've ever seen. It follows the aesthetic of the rest of the film, but it is so quick and precise in its commentary. We begin with a shot of the noodle shop, Nobuo greets the guest, a man who drives a horse cart. He's upset by the visible injury of the man's ear, but the man erases the tension by offering Nobuo his horse cart. "I'm going to buy a truck" he says, which is followed by some musing on the progression of technology. A few moments later, oncoming traffic jolts the horse, and the cart crushes and kills him. In this short sequence, we get a pretty clear political discourse. Not that the rest of the film is particularly outspoken, but this discourse does mesh with the rest of Oguri's vision. The horse cart man (which is how everyone refers to him as) is done in by the very thing that prevented his financial demise. Man's hopeless labor is what keeps him alive, but it is also this labor that kills him, quite literally. The illustration is blunt, and maybe the reason for the scene is more about pathos than politics, but it is representative of the film's other labors. Pardon the pun, but their work barely keeps them afloat.
It's worth mentioning that Oguri's motivations here aren't one-dimensional, they aren't strictly related to politics. It's no surprise that such a political image opens a film that could be categorized as "humanist" when one considers that he is channeling Ozu, Naruse, et al. Those two filmmaker, and a few of their brethren have never been categorized as political filmmakers, but in their work I do see critiques of social infrastructures, but their salience comes from the fact that it's all woven into something that's grounded in reality. Yes, "humanist" or whatever, but political because it is personal. Oguri is working from the same template. One might argue that this more importantly a film about disappointment, anguish, and other emotional sensations that aren't as easy to read, analyze, and study. However, I think they're are connected.
This is a film told from the perspective of a child and because of that we must assume some naivety. Time is constructed in a opaque way, so we don't know how time has passed in the film's duration, but it is a pretty crucial period in Nobuo's life. In the film's running time, he confronts death twice, and sex once. It's interesting that these events are all abstractions of living and loving. I mean, grizzly freak accidents aren't how we're meant to encounter our mortality and discovering your best friend's mother is a sex worker isn't how we're meant to discover sexuality. Is there anything inherently wrong about learning about life this way? In Oguri's hands, these aren't transgressive moments, but instead common "coming of age" fodder. He frames these moments with such care and grace that their impact on Nobuo isn't sensationalized. He isn't quite sure what they mean, and the film isn't going to force what it should mean to him.
"Coming of age" tales aren't traditionally framed as stories about the socialization process, but Oguri seems keenly aware that the two are related. The sadness felt by the adults, who are periphery characters, seems like a introduction to children that things aren't going to be that amazing. Of course, Nobuo, Ginko, and Kichi aren't particularly upbeat. Kichi seems the least aware of his situation, where as the other two children have come closer to the learning the "harsh truth" or whatever. In reality, I don't think we just one day lose our innocence and become cynical assholes. It's a gradual process, one that doesn't always result in the same type of person. Nobuo is wrestling with his conditions, Ginko has peacefully accepted their limitations (and it's broken her heart), while Kichi tries to outwardly reject it. It's important, I think, to clarify that none of these children are meant to represent stages of maturity. Such an idea would undercut the film's grace, as it is not a work meant to make declarative statements about the unrest of daily existence. We know it's there, Oguri knows it's there and we haven't found the "right" answer to endure the daily struggle. It sucks being a kid, basically.
Categories : Reviews
Our Sunhi (2013)
I could probably tell you what it's like to have your heartbroken, but in doing so I would be making a gigantic assumption. The assumption that all experiences are the same, and while having your heartbroken might feel the same to everyone, the context of how that happened is very different. I don't mean in the case that everyone has their own story, but instead that my perspective, as a straight, white, cis male isn't the only one in the situation. There's countless films, yes even art films, that will impose this perspective. The sad dude isn't the only participant in this situation, though, and Hong Sang-Soo's latest, Our Sunhi, is one of the most crucial examples I can think of that tries to decenter the perspective of the failed romance narrative.
Sunhi, a recent college graduate, returns to her place of higher learning. She's interested in getting Professor Choi to write her a letter of recommendation. Although he confesses that she was his favorite student, his letter, written in 30 minutes, is unimpressive. She continues to hang around campus, hoping to get him to write something more flattering. During that time she runs into an old flame, Moon-soo. After several drinks (as per usual for Hong) it's revealed that he's still very much in love with her, while she is more ambivalent. She also runs into her mentor, Jae-hak, who has been harboring a crush on her as well. Again, she proceeds with drinking.
The American title here is particularly fascinating, Our Sunhi, which implies a plural possessiveness over the film's central protagonist. The perspective is obviously that of the three men in love with her, Professor Choi, Moon-soo, and Jae-hak. The language here indicates the downfall of all their romances, as their possessiveness is not particularly compatible with Sunhi's intentions to go to grad school in America. This isn't to say that the three men in the film are particularly unpleasant. They seem nice enough, and with the exception of Moon-soo (when drunk), Sunhi enjoys their company. They're all attractive enough too! One might ask what's her problem, but the reality is that love isn't an solvable equation, it isn't a game show with correct answers or "right" behavior. It's a weird and dumb and amazing thing that is often inexplicable. Hong isn't implying there's something transcendent about romance, but the opposite. It's banal, but it still functions in a way that cannot be predicted.
So what's the big deal then? Hong's just made another movie about how emotions and people are complicated, right? Well, yes, he has, but I do think there's something political to be found in his musings. The film's most telling bit of dialogue comes from Jae-hak, who asserts that women are realistic, and men are too emotional. In the western world, the inverse statement is often accepted as conventional wisdom. Women are visceral, men are logical. However, we have plenty of evidence of the opposite here. It's Moon-soo who seems a step away from tears in every scene. It might not be that either gender is inherently more emotional, but instead of our emotional relation to each other, which is of course crucial in the films of Hong and his hero, Rohmer. Both make films that are so particular in how heterosexual relationships function (and more often, fail) that they kind of have to be about gender because there's so little room for deviation. The men in Hong might seem more emotional, but that's because they are confronting women about their relationships and they don't see anything outside of a romance as being worthwhile. So when the women say no, they cry.
Moon-soo is the most emotional character here and maybe he is really sad, but part of his heartbreak is self-inflicted. He only sees the romantic potential in Sunhi. She sees him on the street while in a chicken restaurant. She invites him to join him, but he's hesitant. He submits, but assumes she's leading him and when his romantic intentions are spoken, he feels teased by Sunhi's rejection. He can't see his relationship with Sunhi beyond what happened in the past because in it, he possessed her. She was his Sunhi, and he can only assume that she says no because he did something wrong, or he's inadequate. Maybe he is, but this assumption hurts his psyche, and doesn't allow him to even account for Sunhi's own feelings. The centering on the male in all romantic narratives forces a breakup to be seen as a problem to be fixed. You must correct your mistakes and then you'll "win" her back. The friendship that Sunhi herself craves should be a win if Moon-soo does care about her. Now, I'm not an idiot. I understand it's perfectly reasonable to not get over someone. It's happened to me, but I am suggesting that heartbroken dudes aren't doing favors for their own pain by centering the relationship on themselves. It's possible that's why things didn't work out in the first place.
I don't think anyone has called Hong a political filmmaker, but I do think there's something political happening in a film like this. Sure, it's about relationships but at the risk of sounding banal, the personal is political. In this case, Sunhi's unease is caused by coming into contact with men who see her being "to date." These are the nice men of the world. They want to caress her, make her feel nice, take care of her, etc. Their intentions are pure but that doesn't make them saints, nor does it mean Sunhi should date any of them. The revolutionary impulse in Hong is that he provides us with relationships that aren't tragedies because they don't work out, but instead tragedies because the heartbroken men never learn and thus, women like Sunhi go through a cycle of men who are perfectly nice but still come at the potential relationship with a skewed perspective. I see this shit everyday among well-meaning male peers who want to "get a girlfriend" assuming it's a thing you make happen. Hong's achievement here is showing men that are lonely because they won't be loved and contrast it with the far worse prospect: being a woman and wanting to be consumed whole by men for the sake of love. Maybe he hasn't decentered the "lost love" narrative from men, but he has tried to make a film that suggests there's another participant in a breakup and that participant is like, another human being. I don't see that a lot.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Awhile back, I was deeply impressed by Elio Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven , which while not earth-shattering, showed some hints of radicalism that was often separated from conventional narrative filmmaking in Europe at the time. This earlier effort feels a bit less complicated, it basically tracks a fascistic, disciplined, and ideal embodiment of police force. It's political implications seem pretty cut and clear, especially when the nameless detective's opposing figure is a young radical. However, as with the other Petri film, I think there's a lot of (perhaps unintentional) stuff to unpack here. Yes, this is a well-crafted thriller and the surface of its political commentary is interesting, but I find the deeper I dig into Petri's world, I start to find the most fascinating elements.
A nameless inspector visits a mistress. She playfully asks him "how will you kill me this time?" before the two engage in sex. The jarring foreplay becomes a reality in less than a minute. He cuts her throat, then proceeds to leave her apartment, intentionally leaving behind signs of his presence there. He arrives at the police station, and it becomes evident that the man has enjoyed great success in his profession. He's been promoted from the head of the homicide division to the political division. He gives an impassioned speech where he cries for repression to held maintain the order of the public sphere. In the mean time, he begins investigating the murder of his mistress, with the belief that his place in the law also puts him above it.
On the surface, we have a film with a very explicitly stated idea: that the agents of law do not adhere to the law and thus, their power breeds absolute corruption. The inspector himself sums this all up towards the film's conclusion: "[It's] a disease I probably contracted from my prolonged use of power." This is not the most revolutionary sentiment, but what many perceive as the charm of the film is that is able to be so critical of power but do it in an entertaining way. Sure, maybe it's not actually that far from Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street, but the main discussion of that film is whether or not it condones or condemns its toxic wielding of power. There is no question about it in Petri's film, the protagonist is absolutely the villain. Some might say this is a problem with the film, it's too didactic. I'm not inclined to disagree on this, but the film itself has a lot more to offer beyond its direct insinuation that state power is, well, bad.
In his essay on the film, Evan Calder Williams mentions that the lack of any female presence in not only Petri's film but in other radical films of the period is a limitation and a problem. He's absolutely right. The two Petri films I've seen have zero female characters with any agency, and while I acknowledge this as the problem it is, I find it saying something interesting in this particular case. The nameless inspector here murders his mistress, and one of the contributions to this act is his jealousy of her new relationship with a young radical, Antonio Pace. Pace knows the inspector is the murderer, but instead of being outraged, he seems almost gleeful. Upon recognizing him as an agent of the state, he begins to smirk. He's not at all upset or distraught that he's lost his lover, he's ecstatic because her death is just more information to throw against the police state.
In this particular case, we can see why Pace and the inspector are so careless with their lover's body. She is a charming enough character, but the film never grants us much beyond some flashbacks that just go to reassert that she's kinky and critical of the inspector's masculinity. The film comes down to a personal standoff between Pace and the inspector, their showdown has taken place on the body and blood of a woman, and neither particularly cares about said body's destruction. I think there's something to be said about this, because it insinuates that in the face of other oppressed groups, radical leftist men are just as likely to silent said voices as the state. This isn't to say that I, myself am critical of the radical left, but instead of the men who constantly assert their status as such but only show interests in the institutions that affect them.
There's actually other things to take away from the nameless inspector, like that he's haunted by his inadequate masculinity or at least his inability to perform in the private. He is, after all, the most disciplined of figures but in the context of real human interaction, particularly affection, the regulated body and mind isn't enough. In the film this ends up being represented as "haha the fascists are bad at sex" which sounds a little more trivial and more satirical. I'd hate to place this in the field of satire, though, because the word is often associated, to me at least, with uncritical liberal musings on culture. Here, we have an incisive critique of the police state, and toxic masculinity being a part of its opposition as well. This idea is sort of important to me, because it still seems relevant today. Yes, authority is bad, but as inspector himself says "Authority makes me the father and you the children" and the gendered power dynamic does not dissolve just because you're a leftist. |
Increased or reduced future rainfall for India? Global warmist can't make up their minds!!!
The IPCC, in its 2007 report, predicted that global temperatures will rise by 2-4.5°C by the end of this century, with a 2.7-4.3°C increase over India by the 2080s. The panel also predicted an increase in rainfall over the Indian sub-continent by 15-20 percent and that the sea level would rise by 88 centimetres by 2100.
There would be losers and winners in any climate change and if the IPCC model predictions are any yardstick to go by, then India had every reason to be more than happy with global warming as it would have brought increased rainfall that in turn would have boosted agricultural production and productivity in the country.
But alas, none of these model predictions have todate actualized. In fact, Indian rainfall has been relatively stable, if anything, with a negative departure around one per cent from normal.
Now, climate alarmists have switched into reverse gears in their prediction, if the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany research study is to be believed and published as a runup to the Global Climate Summit to be held at Qatar from Nov. 26-Dec. 7 this year. Here are the salient points of the study:
- The study, in the journal Environmental Research Letters, projected a temperature rise of 4.6 degrees C (8.3 F) over pre-industrial times by 2200. UN scenarios indicate a gain of between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees C (2.9-11.5F) by 2100.
- Monsoon failure becomes much more frequent" as temperatures rise. The Indian monsoon is likely to fail more often in the next 200 years threatening food supplies, unless governments agree how to limit climate change
- The monsoon rains could collapse about every fifth year between 2150 and 2200 with continued global warming, blamed mainly on human burning of fossil fuels, and related shifts in tropical air flows and the "failure" as a deficiency in rainfall would be between 40 and 70 percent below normal levels. Such a drastic decline has not happened any year in records dating back to 1870 by the India Meteorological Department, they said.
- "In the past century the Indian monsoon has been very stable. It is already a catastrophe with 10 percent less rain than the average,"
- The study projected a temperature rise of 4.6 degrees C (8.3 F) over pre-industrial times by 2200. UN scenarios indicate a gain of between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees C (2.9-11.5F) by 2100.
- By modelling past data, the researchers found that there are two monsoon modes. In the first, spring sees the troposphere over land being warmer than that above the ocean. Moist air moves over the continent and the resulting rainfall releases latent heat. This reinforces the tropospheric temperature contrast, and stabilizes the air circulation, in what the team dubbed the wet moisture-advection feedback.
- In dry years, in contrast, less humid air in the upper troposphere tends to sink over both land and the Arabian Sea. This suppresses rainfall and keeps sea-level pressure anomalously high throughout the summer. As a result, the direction of the monsoon flow in the upper troposphere tends to change from generally westward to northward or even eastward. In the same way that rainfall sustains a wet monsoon regime, the team believes this anomalous circulation pattern may be a self-amplifying feedback that can sustain a dry-monsoon regime – the "dry-subsidence" feedback.
- But the study said that the shifts would disrupt air flows known as the Pacific Walker circulation, which usually helps to drive the Indian monsoon by bringing high pressure to the western Indian Ocean.
- In years with an El Nino weather phenomenon, which warms waters in the eastern Pacific, the Walker pattern gets shifted eastwards, bringing high pressure over India. That pattern suppresses the monsoon. "As temperatures increase in the future, the Walker circulation, on average, brings more high pressure over India, even though the occurrence of El Nino doesn't increase," a statement about the findings said.
We question many of the assumptions of the study:
1. Are there evidences of accelerated global warming?
One of the most cited global surface temperature dataset as used in climate science and treated as the gold standard of the IPCC is UK's HADCRUT compiled by the Met Office's Hadley Center and the now-disgraced Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia — the institution at the centre of the infamous Climategate scandal that exposed so-called "climate scientists" fudging numbers, covering up contradictory data, conspiring to attack dissenting experts, and unlawfully trying to evade freedom of information requests. The data combines surface and sea temperatures. While the Hadley Centre is responsible for the sea surface temperatures, the CRU takes care of the land temperatures.
The latest report by HadCRUT published the above graph that admitted that there is no statistically significant global warming for past 16 years. By their own null hypothesis, if there is an absence of statistically warming for 15 years, then the global warming hypothesis stands falsified.
Now the HadCrut graph finds high correlation with the temperature graph of India as compiled by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) as quoted in the report titled 'Climate Change and India: A 4X4 Assessment', (2010) Ministry of Environment & Forest, India. Read here.
While the mean warming for last century is 0.51 deg C; from 1940-1990 it was 0.20 deg C/100 years while from 1997 warming is flat at 0.09 deg c/per 10years.
Observational data confirms that there is no evidence of accelerated warming as Potsdam Institute's hysteria generation. In fact, all indications point to the fact that we have already entered into a global cooling cycle which will start accelerating from now on.
Can Rainfall Decrease 40-70%?
It is significant that the Potsdam Institute themselves accept their findings controversial and admit their model prediction of 40-70% has not occurred during recorded history, going back to 1870 and the rainfall till now has been stable.
As seen from the above graph, Indian monsoon has been demonstrating a 30 year alternating cycle of excess-deficient rainfall periods. We have now entered the next 30 year cycle of excessive rainfall cycle. Rainfall by and large fluctuate within the +/- 20% range.
It is interesting that Potsdam Institute predict "monsoon rains could collapse about every fifth year between 2150 and 2200" and not in our life time. How many of us will be around in 2150 or 2200 to ensure their prediction had been accurate.
And yet, in one of the IPCC reports viz AR3 2001, they however admitted:
"The climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible."
It follows that the IPCC's models are not falsifiable and thereby are not scientific models. What the IPCC reports provide in lieu of "predictions" are computer simulated "projections" based on several assumed scenarios.
It must be appreciated that the Potsdam Institute's prediction are not predictions but model projections. The difference between the two terminologies is as follows:
- a projection is a mathematical function that maps the time to the computed global average temperature;
- a prediction is a proposition that states the outcome of a statistical event.
According to Popperian principles, a theory is only scientific if it is falsifiable. Popper additionally argues that though we cannot prove that a theory is true, we can certainly show that a prediction is false. A prediction can be tested to discover it is not true by using the logical concept - 'modus tolens' to either validate or refute the theory:
If the theory is true, then the prediction is true
The prediction is not true.
Therefore, the theory is not true.
It follows that Potsdam Institute's hypothesis and consequently models are not falsifiable and thereby are not scientific models as they are projections not predictions.
Now even if we were to treat Potsdam Institute's projections as predictions, why did all the international models went awry predicting this year's South West Monsoon? If we were to take Potsdam Institute seriously then they should have good track record in predicting Indian monsoons. They have none. Even our IMD is far better than them. And we are expected to sheepishly believe the Potsdam Institute's 150-200 years predictions, when none us, including our children would be alive to verify it is true.
The difference between climate and weather is that climate is average weather over a long period, now usually considered as 30 years. If a model is unable to predict the current season's monsoon, only the naive would treat their 150-200 years projection as gospel truth. Consider this in concluding, the IMD a few days admitted that they had no models to predict the North East Monsoon! |
Proteomic and biological characterization of the venom of the redtail coral snake, Micrurus mipartitus (Elapidae), from Colombia and Costa Rica
741-A7-611
Rey Suárez, Paola
Núñez Rangel, Vitelbina
Gutiérrez, José María
Lomonte, Bruno
Venoms of the redtail coral snake Micrurus mipartitus from Colombia and Costa Rica were analyzed by "venomics", a proteomic strategy to determine their composition. Proteins were separated by RP-HPLC, followed by SDS-PAGE, in-gel tryptic digestion, identification by MALDI or ESI tandem mass spectrometry, and assignment to known protein families by similarity. These analyses were complemented with a characterization of venom activities in vitro and in vivo. Proteins belonging to seven families were found in Colombian M. mipartitus venom, including abundant three-finger toxins (3FTx; ~60% of total proteins) and phospholipases A2 (PLA2; ~30%), with the remaining ~10% distributed among L-amino acid oxidase, P-III metalloproteinase, Kunitz-type inhibitor, serine proteinase, and C-type lectin-like families. The venoms of two M. mipartitus specimens from Costa Rica, also referred to as M. multifasciatus in some taxonomic classifications, were also analyzed. Both samples were highly similar to each other, and partially resembled the chromatographic and identity profiles of M. mipartitus from Colombia, although presenting a markedly higher proportion of 3FTxs (~83.0%) in relation to PLA2s (~8.2%), and a small amount of acetylcholinesterase, not detected in the venom from Colombia. An equine antivenom against the Central American coral snake, M. nigrocinctus, did not recognize venom components of M. mipartitus from Colombia or Costa Rica by enzyme-immunoassay. Four major components of Colombian M. mipartitus venom were isolated and partially characterized. Venomics of Micrurus species may provide a valuable platform for the rational design of immunizing cocktails to obtain polyspecific antivenoms for this highly diverse group of American elapids.
Micrurus mipartitus
Elapid toxins
Venomics |
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Commercial Pilot Question Bank - Pilot Certification and Limitations
The FAA Commercial Pilot test bank contains questions pertaining to Pilot Certification and Limitations . The following list contains only a relatively small percentage of the pertinent questions. Our software, which you are free to download now at no cost, will generally contain a much more complete set of questions associated with this test bank. This list is intended only to familiarize you in a general way with the questions of the Commercial Pilot test bank.
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Sample Questions from the FAA Commercial Pilot Test Bank
When is the pilot in command required to hold a category and class rating appropriate to the aircraft being flown?
What flight time must be documented and recorded by a pilot exercising the privileges of a commercial certificate?
What is the minimum age requirement for a person to be issued a student pilot certificate for the operation of balloons?
A commercial pilot who gives flight instruction in lighter-than-air category aircraft must keep a record of such instruction for a period of
The carriage of passengers for hire by a commercial pilot is
In what type of operation, not regulated by 14 CFR part 119, may a commercial pilot act as pilot in command and receive compensation for services?
To serve as second in command of an airplane that is certificated for more than one pilot crewmember, and operated under part 91, a person must
Which is true with respect to operating limitations of a 'restricted' category airplane?
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Renard Professorship in Islamic Studies
The Department of Theological Studies at SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY seeks to hire a tenure-track (Assistant) or tenured (Associate) specialist in early Islam as the inaugural John Renard Professor in Islamic Studies. Research proficiency in classical Arabic religious texts is expected, along with the ability to work in primary source texts essential for Late Antiquity studies more broadly. Special consideration will be given to scholars with expertise in early encounters between Islam and Christianity and/or Judaism. The appointment is expected to begin on August 1, 2022.
The Renard Professorship is named after emeritus colleague John "Jack" Renard, a renowned scholar of early Islam who taught in the Department of Theological Studies at SLU for more than forty years. This hire will be one of at least two new faculty appointments in late antique Mediterranean religions. We are especially interested in candidates whose research interests and methodologies expand existing departmental expertise. Faculty teach two courses per semester. Our new colleague will contribute to our department's commitments to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education through their research, teaching, and service.
Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree for appointment. The successful candidate will demonstrate significant scholarly promise, and in the case of a more established scholar, will also have a distinguished record of research and publication. Regardless of rank, the successful candidate will demonstrate dedication to graduate and undergraduate teaching and mentorship, a commitment to service to the department, college, and university, and a willingness to contribute to the continued development of a methodologically diverse and collaborative department. Regardless of their own religious affiliation, the successful candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to the university's Catholic and Jesuit mission, which affirms the importance of diversity and fosters an inclusive work environment (https://www.slu.edu/about/catholic-jesuit-identity/mission.php).
Pedagogical Statement (1-2 pages) that includes a list of 2-3 new courses the applicant would like to develop
Example of Scholarship (short writing sample or other media that demonstrates your scholarly approach to the study of early Islam)
Please also submit three letters of reference; letter writers should email their letters directly to [email protected] (using subject header "Islam Search - Recommendation for [Applicant Name]"). Applications will be accepted until December 15, 2021. Questions about this position should be directed to the Search Committee Chair, Peter Martens ([email protected]). |
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Love Joy Church Strengthens Outreach
"We work hard to create a Sunday worship experience that people want to attend."
The Lovejoy District is a diverse neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. It's also the namesake of a growing church now located in nearby Lancaster, NY. The aptly named Love Joy Church started as a bible study group in the neighborhood in 1978. It has since blossomed into a thriving community, rooted in service and focused on local and global outreach.
Lead Pastor Jonathan Burgio explains, "Our goal is to give people a reason to come to church. We work hard to create a Sunday worship experience that people want to attend."
To realize this goal, Jonathan and the entire staff place a strong focus on music.
"First of all, music is very biblical. There are 150 Psalms, the Song of Solomon, and many other places in the bible where it's clear there were hymns to be sung together," says Jonathan. "Second, music is a great engaging way for people to connect with God. We feel a great worship experience will encourage people to attend in person, and it opens their hearts to receive from God."
The sound system they were using was 21 years old and falling apart. An entirely new system was needed, and so the church connected with Timothy Harris of TSH AV. Timothy recommended a complete overhaul of their sound and lighting system and brought in an acoustical consultant, Haverstick Designs.
"I was very happy to hear we would use an acoustical consultant. Why would I spend a lot of money on a brand new sound system but then not have the room acoustics properly tuned? I felt it was not only a good thing but a necessity."
Jonathan and Timothy sat down to develop a plan for the system based on the style of service Love Joy desired. Once this was clearly communicated, the rest of the process went smoothly.
The first step was to address the acoustics. Timothy gathered the data that Haverstick Designs needed to get to work. Using computer modeling, they were able to predict the acoustical performance of the room before and after treatment. The goal was to strike a happy balance in the approach so that speech is clearly understood, and the music is powerful and enveloping.
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For the side-walls, a different type of treatment was needed. While the side-walls are also reflective and needed absorption, some of these reflections can actually be helpful to the audience. They can help a congregation feel more comfortable singing along and participating in the service, as their collective sound also gets reflected back from the side-walls. The result of this blend is a more unifying experience.
To address this, our PERF™ Acoustical Panels were deployed in these locations. They have a reflective, perforated sheet between the panel core and the fabric-wrapped finish. This allows for excellent absorption in the low and mid frequencies while leaving the high frequencies relatively unchanged. They perform quite differently than our traditional FulFill panels while looking exactly the same to the observer.
All of this went on in the background while Jonathan and his staff carried on their work.
"The best part of working with TSH AV was that they handled everything. They even tested and set up the equipment in their warehouses before installing it in our church."
"We went from complaints every single week to virtually none"
So, after all the time and money invested in the upgrade, how did it turn out?
"We are in love with the final results. The biggest improvement is that we can have the volume up loud, and it doesn't hurt people's ears as our old system did. The acoustical treatments make a huge difference. Our sound quality is excellent. We went from complaints every single week to virtually none, and the service is actually louder. The quality is so excellent now, it doesn't hurt your ears.
Not long after the installation was completed, COVID-19 disrupted the services for Love Joy Church, as it has disrupted all of our lives. They had to quickly move their services online.
"We were not prepared for this AT ALL. However, we now have multiple cameras and are successfully live-streaming our services. The new sound system and acoustics have really helped us deliver an excellent product. The new lighting Timothy Harris set up is making our live stream look professional."
"The last thing I'll say is that if you are going to put a sound system or lighting into your church, let the professionals do it. I am sure you can save on labor, I am sure you can find cheaper products, but in the end, the quality will not be the same. There are so many little details that you don't see coming. It is not worth the hassle, work, and time, to save a few bucks and then still not have an excellent product."
"We are delivering the most important message in the world, and we should do it with excellence. Any pro will tell you that you need an acoustical analysis of any room. Do it, it's worth it."
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Tag Archives: Girl Crush
Sarah Dessen Week
Posted in Author Love, Fake Boyfriends, Girl Crush, Made Up Words, Swoon City, The Reviews by Tee
It's Sarah Dessen Week!!!!!!!!
We're following suit with a couple of blogs we love, The Reading Housewives of Indiana and YA Bibliophile, in celebrating Sarah Dessen Week. Sarah's new book, What Happened to Goodbye comes out tomorrow (holla!) and we are pretty much freaking out over here. For the rest of the week we'll deconstruct Dessen's themes and distinct voice and analyze the strengths of her protagonists ( Snort. I can't even type that with a serious face). Okay, actually we're gonna spazz out about the awesomely awesome heroines, the totally swoony boys and pretty much slobber all over her books.
As our first order of Sarah Dessen-y business we are going to repost a review of one of our all-time favorite books, The Truth About Forever. If you have not read it, please check it out…like now. One word: Wes.
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
(originally posted November 26, 2010)
The truth is, I love this book
Sixteen-year-old Macy Queen is looking forward to a long, boring summer. Her boyfriend is going away. She's stuck with a dull-as-dishwater job at the library. And she'll spend all of her free time studying for the SATs or grieving silently with her mother over her father's recent unexpected death. But everything changes when Macy is corralled into helping out at one of her mother's open house events, and she meets the chaotic Wish Catering crew. Before long, Macy joins the Wish team. She loves everything about the work and the people. But the best thing about Wish is Wes—artistic, insightful, and understanding Wes—who gets Macy to look at life in a whole new way, and really start living it.
When Macy's jerkface of a boyfriend, Jason, asks her for a summer break—via e-mail, no less—she is understandably shocked. He doesn't break up with her exactly, but he wants them to take the summer to review their goals so that when he returns home they can commence to make a decision regarding their future. Yeah, I know. Macy shouldn't have put up with that. But girlfriend did, though instead of pulling a Bella and acting half-dead, she surprises herself by accepting a job at Wish Catering. The chaos and frenzy she experiences there offer a reprieve from her disappointment over Jason, and more importantly, over her father's recent death.
Dessen is such a gifted writer. It feels as though the words flow from her books with such ease and simplicity. She's never overwritten and never tries too hard to honestly capture moments of sadness, embarrassment or humor. She has the innate ability to transport her readers to normal places with normal circumstances while somehow making them all seem truly magical. And with this book more than any of her other novels, she has created characters who are so wonderfully vivid and charming that I can't help but wish I could crawl inside their world and live there.
Outside of Macy—who is so realistic in her need to have a perfectly planned life—there is Wes, the artistic Dreamy McDreamerson (Sa-woon!). Wes is a boy who has a bit of a troubled past but is now responsible and devoted to helping care for his younger brother, Bert. And Bert, oh Bert. It's impossible not to love that adorable dork head. He drives an old ambulance (which he refers to as the Bertmobile. Hello Cuteness!) and is all about Armageddon and end of the world stuff—and he's serious about that crazy biz. Wes and Bert have neighbors (who are also co-workers at Wish because it's run by the boys' aunt) Kristy— who encourages Macy to forget her bonehead ex so she can find a truly extraordinary boy— and Monica, Kristy's little sis (I mean, how can I not love someone who mumbles phrases like "Donneven" and "Bettaquit?" She's like the freaking Donnie Brasco of Sarah Dessen books. Fuggetaboutit).
Macy's interaction with her new co-workers quickly goes from catering jobs to solid friendship. She tries at first to be anti-social, preferring to go home and study for her SATs, but finally bends to the pressure of Kristy's constant invitations to join the group when they hit the town (meaning good old-fashioned keggers). Since they're together so often, Macy and Wes start playing an ongoing game called Truth (like Truth or Dare without the dare) and, as a result, they develop a close relationship.
This isn't a story with intense physical action or complicated plotlines. It's about life, recovering from loss—both of Macy's dad and of her perfectly mapped out expectations—and finding love; not only the sweet romantical kind, but the stuff that comes from being stripped down to your truest self and knowing you're still accepted. And even though there isn't lots kissing, this book is still Swoon City.
Crush Intensity: 5/5 This is a perfect, sweet book that will always remain one of my all-time favorites.
Soundtrack: Oh man, the Strokes are the stuff eargasms are made of. I think "Someday" is a perfect fit for The Truth About Forever.
Memorable Quote:
"Wes, come on," I said. "Are you seriously not aware of how girls stare at you?"
He rolled his eyes, leaning back on his palms. "Let's get back to the idea of you being perfect."
"Seriously, what's it like?"
"Being perfect? I wouldn't know."
"Not being perfect." I sighed. "Being…"
As I tried to come up with something, he flicked a bug off his arm.
"…gorgeous," I finished. Two weeks earlier, this would have mortified me: I could just see myself bursting into flames from shame. But now, I only felt a slight twinge as I took another sip of my beer and waited for him to answer.
"Again," he said, as the parking lot girls passed by, eyeing both of us, "I wouldn't know. You tell me."
LOVE. THIS. BOOK!
Author Love, Fake Boyfriends, Girl Crush, Reviews 12 Comments
Donneven Think About Skipping This
When Macy's jerkhead of a boyfriend, Jason, asks her for a summer break—via e-mail, no less—she is understandably shocked. He doesn't break up with her exactly, but he wants them to take the summer to review their goals so that when he returns home they can commence to make a decision regarding their future. Yeah, I know. Macy shouldn't have put up with that. But girlfriend did, though instead of pulling a Bella and acting half-dead, she surprises herself by accepting a job at Wish Catering. The chaos and frenzy she experiences there offer a reprieve from her disappointment over Jason, and more importantly, over her father's recent death.
The Best Series Evahhhhh!
Posted in Author Love, Corn Haters and Other Villains, Fake Boyfriends, Girl Crush, Michael freaking Moscovitz, Swoon City, The Reviews by Tee
The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot
Look out War and Peace cos this shizz is epic
All she ever wanted was for her best friend's brother to notice she was alive—and to pass freshman Algebra. But now that her dad's told her she's heir to the throne of the country of Genovia (and that her horrible Grandmere is going to be giving her princess lessons every day after school) Mia Thermopolis has enough problems to fill a lifetime of diaries….
I'm going to tell you a secret: The Princess Diaries is my favorite book series of all time. No, really. I read these books so often I can probably recite them. So let's just say that I am totally restraining myself by not reviewing each book individually ( there are alot of them).
Let me start with the basics. This series takes Mia from the beginning of her freshman year of high school—when she is a flat-chested, self-conscious girl unaware of her royal status—to the end of her senior year of high school where she has gained far more maturity and composure (ok, not really). As the reader, you know everything there is to know about Mia because girlfriend spends a whole lot of time spazzing out and writing in her journal.
Mia and Grandmere wouldn't be caught dead like this
Even though Mia is the princess of the small country of Genovia, her life closely resembles that of any normal teenager. She has a huge crush on her best friend Lilly's brother (moment of silence for the one, the only Michael freaking Moscovitz), she's got hair that resembles an upside down YIELD sign and she's barely passing Algebra (which is really bad since her mom is dating her Algebra teacher). The only thing different for Mia is that she spends her afternoons enduring princess lessons from her grandmere; a chain-smoking, sidecar-drinking bish with tattooed eyebrows who is nothing like Julie Andrews people. Nothing.
Throughout her high school years we see Mia transform from an awkward fourteen-year old to an adult—one that doesn't necessarily have all the answers but who has made enough mistakes to know what not to do. From crushes and insecurities to things like prom and The Sex, it's hard not to recognize yourself in each journal entry. Cabot has created an entire cast of characters to love, including Mia's kick ass parents; her best friend Lilly ( love her and hate her); Boris (he tucks his sweater into his pants. How can I not love him?); Tina (the hopeless romantic); her big crush Michael, who is the ultimate hero because he isn't annoyingly perfect; and most of all, Mia herself.
Guys, these books are hilarious. Part of the time you'll be laughing at funny conversations and lists the characters make and part of the time you'll be cringing at the embarrassing things Mia says and does (two words: Sexy Dance). Meg Cabot is also the master at throwing in pop culture references, including the best reference of all, Star Wars. Her writing is funny and full of cringeworthy moments not unlike those most people experience growing up. When it comes to young adult books, she is the standard by which all authors should be measured.
Crush Intensity: 100/5 Yeah, I know that makes no sense. I'm at the Edward and Bella level of intensity with these books (yes kids, they are exactly my brand of heroin).
The Way I See It:
We'd need to nerd up Britt Robertson a bit
Mia is one of those girls who has no idea she's actually cute because she's so self-conscious and awkward. Throughout the series she learns to deal with her height and flat chest so that near the end she actually comes into her own. She goes from being a girl who tries to blend in with her surroundings to a beautiful young woman who is finally sure of herself.
We'd need a time machine, but Brandon Routh has something Michaely going on
The guy who played Michael in the real movie is adorable, but tiny in an I-Want-To-Put-Him-In-My-Purse-And-Carry-Him-Around-Like-A-Puppy kind of way and not in a Michael-Moscovitz-Fake-Man-Of-My-Dreams kind of way. If I were making the movie, I think someone tall with dark hair and eyes would have to play the part. Neither of these actors look a thing like the Mia and Michael in my head but they embody something that could be like the real people (because they're real, right?).
Memorable Quote: Gah ! There are so many!
Soundtrack: Why would I create one when someone has already done so? PS. I might have song #3 on my iPod. Just sayin.
If I Could Make a T-Shirt: I would make a Skinner Box one obvs, to show that I am a fan of Michael's band (because, yes…he's a genius, he's cute and he's in a band. Is there nothing he can't do?). There's one on Meg Cabot's website but it has the boy fit I so totally dread. Grandmere would have a heart attack if she saw it.
Stalker Moment: (not normally a feature for us, but roll with me here) I took my then eight-year old daughter to meet Meg Cabot at a book signing because she is a huge Allie Finkle fan (Ms. Cabot's middle grade series for girls). I totally used my kid as a beard because most everyone there was between the ages of eight and ten. When we got up to the table to meet her, she was so nice and gave my daughter all kinds of advice on writing (she wants to be an author someday) and then she told me not to be embarrassed of my MM love because she wrote those books for her and her grown up friends. So ha! And then she signed my Forever Princess book and I spazzed out in the parking lot. Good times.
Author Love, Corn Haters and Other Villains, Fake Boyfriends, Girl Crush, Parcheesi, Reviews 56 Comments |
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Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (KALU) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.
Posted by Clifford Jones on May 13th, 2019 // Comments off
Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (NASDAQ:KALU) by 12.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 567,632 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 82,725 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Kaiser Aluminum were worth $59,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantamental Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. LS Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 285.9% in the fourth quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum in the first quarter valued at $249,000. Amalgamated Bank acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $218,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $225,000. Institutional investors own 99.49% of the company's stock.
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In other news, COO Keith Harvey sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.94, for a total transaction of $94,940.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several equities analysts have issued reports on KALU shares. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Kaiser Aluminum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 16th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of Kaiser Aluminum from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.33.
NASDAQ KALU traded down $3.36 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $93.33. The company had a trading volume of 25,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 110,540. Kaiser Aluminum Corp. has a 1-year low of $83.29 and a 1-year high of $119.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.29 and a quick ratio of 2.14.
Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.02. Kaiser Aluminum had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The business had revenue of $395.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $404.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Kaiser Aluminum Corp. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Kaiser Aluminum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.09%.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: This report was originally reported by Baseball Daily News and is owned by of Baseball Daily News. If you are accessing this report on another website, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of United States & international trademark & copyright legislation. The original version of this report can be viewed at https://www.baseballdailydigest.com/news/2019/05/13/kaiser-aluminum-corp-kalu-shares-sold-by-victory-capital-management-inc.html.
About Kaiser Aluminum
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation manufactures and sells semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products. The company offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used principally for aerospace and defense, automotive, consumer durables, electronics, electrical, and machinery and equipment applications.
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BlackBerry Ltd (BB) Shares Bought by Stevens Capital Management LP
Wakefield Asset Management LLLP Acquires 3,779 Shares of Progressive Corp (PGR)
Analyzing FFD Financial and HMN Financial
Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Hastings Group Price Target to GBX 220
Floor & Decor Holdings Inc CEO Sells $2,708,186.14 in Stock
Ares Management Corp CEO Michael J. Arougheti Sells 127,400 Shares
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd to Post FY2020 Earnings of $12.00 Per Share, Raymond James Forecasts |
Zelenskyy Wants To Meet Putin In Order To Express And End To The War
By Abraham George
In an attempt to "bring an end to the war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Local sources claim that Russian soldiers "thwarted" an attempt to evacuate citizens from the destroyed city of Mariupol, where many people remain stranded. Meanwhile, a Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa resulted in the deaths of six people, including a baby, and injured another eighteen, as hopes for an Orthodox Easter truce faded. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said during a news conference that whoever initiated this war will be able to finish it.
As long as it resulted in a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, he was "not terrified" of meeting with Putin.
Talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were always a priority for Zelenskyy. Not because I want to, but because I need to in order to resolve this problem diplomatically. "We have faith in our partners, but we have no faith in Russia," he said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv tomorrow, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its third month. Russian forces "dispersed" roughly 200 inhabitants who had gathered at the evacuation meeting location announced by Kiev, according to Mariupol city official Petandryushchenko, who posted on Telegram that the evacuation had been prevented. According to him, he and others were urged to get on Russian-controlled buses. And Kiev warned that the death toll in Odessa would almost certainly climb.
Zelensky wants to end the bloody war
"Five Ukrainians were murdered and 18 were injured. " Even so, those are the only ones we could locate. Andriy Yermak, chief of Ukraine's presidential office, stated on Telegram that the death toll is likely to be high. A three-month-old baby was one of the victims. Two Russian TU-95 missiles fired from the Caspian Sea were intercepted by Ukraine's air defense systems, according to the Ukrainian air force. However, four other missiles were reported to have struck the city, including civilian facilities. The air force's southern command claimed on Facebook that two missiles struck a military site and two struck residential properties.
When Moscow's forces tried to attack Odessa, which is primarily Russian-speaking, Ukraine refused their efforts. The Port City shopping mall in Mariupol had been the site of an announcement that people should congregate at 12 o'clock midday on the nearby highway.
This time, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk declared, "We will try to evacuate women, children, and the elderly once more today" via Telegram. In recent days, Ukraine had to postpone evacuations out of Mariupol due to a lack of agreement from Russia. Yesterday evening, Ukrainian President Viktor Vereshchuk swore that his country would keep trying to evacuate civilians from the damaged city. "I can sympathise with your situation. Many of the corridors have been vandalised. Nonetheless, she urged Telegram users to keep going until they succeed.
A weekend truce between Ukraine and Russia had been hoped for, as both nations were celebrating Orthodox Easter. Nevertheless, hopes were dashed when negotiations between Moscow and Kiev came to a halt and Russia declared its intention to annex all of Ukraine's eastern and southern provinces to its borders. The conflict in Ukraine will enter its third month tomorrow. but a senior Russian military general declared that "the second phase of the special operation" – as Moscow refers to its invasion of Ukraine – has just begun.
Screens show results from voting by the United Nations General Assembly as member countries pass a resolution to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council
Rustam Minnekaev, a Russian army major general, said yesterday that one of the Russian army's goals is to take full control of the Donbas and southern Ukraine. Many parts of the eastern and southern Donbas region have been taken over by Russian forces after they were forced to withdraw from Kyiv and northern Ukraine. Russian-speaking inhabitants in Moldova's pro-Russian enclave of Transnistria are "being oppressed," according to Gen. Minnekaev, who stated their goal was to "create a land corridor to Crimea," which Russia annexed in 2014. Following a stop in Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy next week to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
According to a UN statement, Guterres will meet with Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian foreign minister on Thursday, two days after his visit to Moscow. Putin will meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, Guterres has addressed letters asking for these face-to-face encounters to try to reclaim the UN's initiative in the conflict.
Vladimir Putin Said To Have Survived Major Assassination Attempts
Ex-MI6 Chief Addresses A Potential End To The Reign Of Putin In Russia
Russia Ex-Spy Advises Putin Of Massive Fallout In War Against Ukraine
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Russian Soldiers Back Out From Capturing Ukraine's Kharkiv City
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the last of us Episode 3
Marvel Reportedly Eyeing Ryan Gosling For 'Fantastic Four' Movie |
The Digital Health Society: latest updates
Following the latest board meeting of the Digital Health Society (DHS) here below some important news to share on activities and progress over the past few months.
Appointment to the Board of Directors
We are delighted to announce that Rachel Dunscombe will become a non-executive Director.
Rachel Dunscombe is the CEO of the NHS Digital Academy leading learning in Digital Health for the UK. She is also a visiting Professor at Imperial College Medical School as well as Global ARCH collaborative leader at KLAS research and strategic advisor for Salford Royal/NCA NHS Group. She serves on the UK government AI advisory committee and is Director of Digital – The Northern Care Alliance NHS Group. Rachel is a strategic advisor to the Secretary of State for Health and is founding CHIME ambassador in the UK. She ranked #6 on CIO Magazine's CIO 100 list in 2018 as well as Talent Unleashed's most disruptive CIO in Europe 2016.
She joins Prof Angela Brandt of the University of Maastricht, Priit Tohver (Advisor for E-Services Innovation, Ministry Of Social Affairs In Estonia), Bleddyn Rees (Deputy Chair of the ECHAlliance) and Brian O'Connor (Chair, ECHAlliance).
Legal and organizational structure
DHS is a registered not for profit legal entity in the Republic of Ireland. The ECHAlliance (www.echalliance.com) who were instrumental in creating the Digital Health Society during the Estonian Presidency are providing support to ensure the smooth running of DHS.
The Operational Team of the DHS is based in Barcelona (Spain) and composed by Valentina Tageo, International Projects Lead at the ECHAlliance, and Federica Porcu, who is providing administrative assistance.
DHS position on the Brexit
Given the obvious uncertainty about the outcome, we have been asked by both our European and UK supporters, what will BREXIT change for the DHS.
The Board's view is that the DHS will continue to extend a warm and collaborative welcome to our friends and colleagues in the United Kingdom irrespective the decisions on Brexit.
There is a desire within our community to maintain long established mutually beneficial relationships and to have the DHS act as an open bridge between the UK and Europe, as indeed it does with many countries globally.
Mission 100 million Digitally Connected Healthier Citizens
We continue to engage many stakeholders directly and there is a great deal of interest. We are participating in a number of parallel initiatives, which have similar objectives to the DHS, we operate in a collaborative fashion and engage with those when there is an opportunity to avoid reinventing the wheel and to break down silos.
For example, we are participating through the ECHAlliance in the recently launched European project DigitalHealthEurope, a new H2020 Coordination and Support Action (CSA).
The objective of the project is to provide comprehensive, centralised support to the digital transformation of health and care (DTHC) priorities of the Digital Single Market. The project will support large-scale deployment of digital solutions for person-centred integrated care by identifying, analysing, and facilitating the replication of highly impactful best practices.
Furthermore, following the EU Health Summit held in Brussels last November 2018, we have supported the preparation of the paper "A Shared Vision for the Future of Health in Europe. Paving the way in 2019 and beyond" which is available here. Such document distils recommendations for the next European Commission and European Parliament to bring the necessary changes about.
Task Force News
The Dutch Ministry of Health & Sport (Leaders of the Task Force 1) will host a DHS Online WORKSHOP next 17th April from 09:30 to 12:00 CET about Digital Maternity and Baby Care (more information and registration here).
More info on activities of the Task Forces will be published soon and uploaded onto the website.
How to join and support the DHS
The DHS is a multi-stakeholder Movement which depends on the active support from many, please accept our thanks for engaging.
We are redesigning the Task Force and making it easier for you to participate and join the one/s you feel more interested in.
Please if you wish to continue receiving DHS news and express your willingness to contribute to any of the Task Forces please fill in this short form.
Feel free at any time to visit the DHS website or email us on [email protected].
Brian O'Connor |
Twitterrific adds a tip jar to help keep updates free
By Joseph Keller
Twitterrific, the popular Twitter app for iPhone and iPad, has been updated to version 5.14.4. The update adds an inline search field to the top of most timelines, letting you quickly search for specific words and tweets. You can also use Command-F on an external keyboard to start using the bar.
This release also adds the Tip Jar to Twitterrific. With the Tip Jar, you can help fund the ongoing development of Twitterrific through in-app purchases. Iconfactory's Ged Mahex explained the move on the company blog:
The Tip Jar is our way of continuing to offer free and notable updates to Twitterrific while still (hopefully) paying for the cost of development. Since it's launch in December of 2012, Twitterrific has been updated over 40 times – all for free. Rather than stopping development on Twitterrific version 5 and launching an all-new paid version 6, we've decided to include the Tip Jar in the hopes that users who enjoy and love the app will give generously so we can continue to provide updates.
There are five tipping options in Twitterrific, ranging from the Chickadee level at $0.99 to the Peacock level at $19.99. Once you tip, the jar will disappear from its home on the Twitterrific sidebar for 30 days.
Aside from these additions, Twitterrific 5.14.4 comes along with a number of other improvements and fixes. You can grab the update for free from the App Store now.
Free - Download Now (opens in new tab)
Joseph Keller
Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
Twitterrific
I think this is a great idea. I am sure some people will complain saying this is a way to beg for money, but personally they have done an amazing job with this app and the updates only make it better.
I'm perfectly good with this and I've already tipped. Sent from the iMore App |
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Big dreams to change the world – happy International Youth Day!
Published on August 12, 2018 by Watipa Community Interest Company
Young people are the leaders of today – and of tomorrow. We know that at Watipa, and here is another example in the context of the global response to HIV.
On this International Youth Day, we are calling for meaningful, frequent, and wide engagement of adolescent girls and young women in the strategic development, planning, and delivery of programmes and services aimed at serving them… in lots of areas, including the response to HIV.
Why adolescent girls and young women in particular? Not only do they (we) have big ideas about our health and how we want to change the world, but also because as a group we are among the most vulnerable to acquiring HIV. Global estimates from UNAIDS indicate that young people represent 34% of all new acquisitions, with adolescent girls and young women accounting for most of these.
Meet Aisha Bukenya, a Watipa scholar who is a final year pharmacy student at Kampala International University and as well a passionate youth advocate on gender issues, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and HIV and AIDS and meet Kristen de Graaf, who is the Watipa Executive Officer and an Associate with the ATHENA Initiative. Both Aisha and Kristen attended the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam in July 2018, AIDS 2018. This conference had the highest participation of young people of any conference so far. Collaborative mechanisms for young people to organize and mobilize youth leaders have been linked to the conferences since 2002 like the YouthForce.
Aisha and Kristen had share their reflections and insights here about the experiences of young women at the conference, and their hopes for young women's leadership in the response to HIV and in changing the world…
Aisha Bukenya, Watipa scholar, Uganda
I have big dreams to change the world, that is no secret, and I hope to approach this from the healthcare point of view and that is why for me HIV and AIDS is a very essential topic. I was more than glad to be part of the recently concluded International AIDS conference in Amsterdam and I wasn't just there for myself but also on behalf of all the other young people, especially adolescent girls and young women around the globe.
It was nice to be given a chance to interact with so many different but like-minded people. It was energizing. It was beautiful to hear so many stakeholders speak about the need to pay attention to adolescent girls and young women and it was amazing too to learn about the progress so far made.
It is my sincere hope and desire to see that we are not just given space to speak but to be given the opportunity to lead because we have done that a lot! We need to be given the power to implement our thoughts and ideas and to be able to translate our discussions into realities.
We as young people, have had the role of speakers at meetings and conferences but this never translates into meaningful participation. This has gone on for far too long and it is time we create a new model that represents the youth leadership we have been fighting for.
As a young woman part of the ATHENA Initiative and a UN Women volunteer, I want to see more stakeholders share with us their power, I want to see donors take some more risks with funding youth organisations and to remove unnecessary barriers, I want to see that instead of only speaking roles, we actually do have the power to decide and to act upon our decisions! That is the only way that we will have meaningful youth leadership and the only way that together, we will win this fight against HIV and AIDS come 2030!
Kristen de Graaf, Watipa Executive Offi cer, London
In addition to my role with Watipa, I have the privilege to work on projects that engage adolescent girls and young women around pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), HIV prevention and SRHR in Eastern Africa. This body of work included coordinating the Women's Networking Zone (WNZ) at the conference.
Born out of women's parallel organizing at the Durban conference in 2000, the WNZ is a community-focused, women led forum that runs parallel to international and regional AIDS conferences. The WNZ is a vibrant and inclusive space to ensure knowledge, expertise and opportunities of these conferences are accessible to and benefit from engagement of women and girls around the globe.
This year's WNZ programme featured sessions led by young women around Dolutegravir (an antiretroviral for treatment of HIV), self-care and engagement with UNAIDS. In addition to these sessions, an 'Adolescent Girls and Young Women Power Hour' was convened every day with a focus on leadership, advocacy and mentorship for young women attending the conference.
For me, the most impactful moments of the conference where the opportunities for young women to engage in a rich and vibrant dialogue on SRHR, meet with leaders in HIV and women's rights, get updates on HIV research and build advocacy on the issues that matter most to young women. One of these moments was where Gunilla Carlsson, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, lead a session with a group of young women to hear directly from them what their priorities were and to learn from their expertise and experience.
This International Youth Day, my hope is that this model of meaningful engagement and consultation will be replicated in more broadly and frequently so that young people, and young women in particular, can continue to lead with their expertise and lived experience.
Happy International Youth Day! We're changing the world! #SafeSpaces4Youth
Categories 2017scholars, Health, HIV, Human Rights, Kristen, Scholarships, Watipa, Young Leaders•Tags #SafeSpaces4Youth, #YouthDay, Uganda, Women
Previous Young people: Leaders of today, and tomorrow!
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Watipa report: published today and featured on UNAIDS website
Launched today: Study by Watipa scholars for UNAIDS and the PACT about the role of young people in community responses to HIV
Early warning signs – the effects of the Mexico City Policy in Cambodia and Malawi
A Right to Education – Introducing the 2018 Watipa Scholars
Watipa scholarship program expands to celebrate International Human Rights Day
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Career Wellness: It's Important to Your Health and Well-Being - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico
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It doesn't seem like a crazy aspiration. We spend so much time of our time working, wouldn't it be nice to actually enjoy what we do? Who doesn't want to spend their time doing something interesting, rewarding and personally fulfilling?
While some of us have found the happy zone, there's a significant number who aren't feeling it. Gallup reveals people who have a high sense of career wellbeing are more than twice as likely to thrive in their lives overall. Sadly, only 20 percent of people strongly agree that they like what they do each day. That means four out of five individuals don't like what they do.
For Millennials, job dissatisfaction is even higher. Deloitte found 49 percent say they will quit their jobs within the next two years.
Why is career well-being so important? What role does it play in overall well-being? Jim Harter, PhD, is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and chief scientist for Gallup's Workplace Management and Well-Being Practice. He says career well-being is critical. His book, Well-being: The Five Essential Elements, reveals of the five elements of well-being (career, financial, physical, community and social) career well-being is the most foundational element. Poor career well-being is even linked to poor health.
It's clear, our good health and well-being depend on having something meaningful to look forward to each day. If you are a reluctant 9-to-5er and feel your true purpose is to provide a safe and happy home for your family, you can still feel fulfilled and at peace with your current job because you are tending to your personal values. Your job makes possible something that is important to you.
Also, think about what inspired you when you first accepted your job. Did something speak to you? Has the job changed, or have you forgotten why you wanted it in the first place? Try to reconnect with what you were excited about originally. You can also explore ways to better align your job with your personal interests?
Remember to also look for fulfillment in your personal life, too. We've all heard the saying, "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life!" Unfortunately, that may not happen for everyone. That's why it is so important to find our passions and purpose inside and outside the jobs we do to pay the bills.
Personal growth author Lori Deschane offers some heartfelt advice:
Work for a cause
Not for applause.
Live life to express
Not to impress
Do you have something you are truly passionate about and wish you could get paid to do it? Let us know about it in the comments below.
Sources: Career Wellbeing with Jim Harter, Chief Scientist for Gallup's Workplace Management and Well-being Practice, Redesigning Wellness, 2019; 49% of Millennials Would Quit Their Job Within 2 Years, Forbes, 2019
Originally published 7/5/2017; Revised 2021
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Miller Camera Support, LLC Debuts New Cineline 70 Fluid Head At The 2014 Nab Show
By Mackenzie Gavel 07 April 2014
Leading Camera Support Company Introduces New Fluid Head for Film & Digital Productions
LAS VEGAS, april 7, 2014—Miller Camera Support, LLC, a leader in the production of innovating camera support solutions, will feature its brand new Cineline 70 Fluid Head at the 2014 NAB Show (Booth C9520). This advanced camera support technology is purpose-built for film and digital production cinematographers who desire a new dimension in professional camera support.
"With increasing pressure in the film and television industry to cut production costs, along with the rapidly declining prices of cameras and lenses, cinematographers are in need of a high-quality pan and tilt head that is as affordable as it is reliable," says Gus Harilaou, Regional Manager for the Americas, Miller Camera Support, LLC. "The Cineline 70 Fluid Head is currently unmatched in the industry, offering cinematographers a feature-rich, cost-effective solution that not only improves workflow but boosts production value by reducing labor costs due to easier rebalancing after re-rigging and better quality shots due to smoother pans and tilts."
The robust Cineline 70 Fluid Head is ideal for use on feature films, documentaries and high-end television commercial productions that require heavy payload, frequent re-rigging and a diverse range of lenses and cameras. It is set to accommodate industry-leading camera mountings, including Arri, Sony, RED, and Canon, and also features an Arri-compatible side-loading camera platform, along with an easy-to-fit 1225 Mitchell Base Adaptor (optional) to suit traditional Mitchell Flat Base tripods.
With a lightweight design, the heavy-duty fluid head offers advanced precision fluid drag control with ultra soft starts and smooth stops and perfect diagonal drag transition. For easy setup changes during and in between takes its counterbalance systems with "all-in-one-location" rear-mounted controls easily allow users to capture the big picture. In addition to providing these industry standard benefits, the Cineline 70 Fluid Head also features an extended sliding range to promote quick and seamless rebalancing of the rig when lenses and accessories are changed resulting in weight distribution shifts. Constructed of corrosion resistant alloy, the Cineline 70 Fluid Head offers dual side mounts for monitors and accessories, as well as an assistant's box front mount.
About Miller Camera Support Equipment
Founded in 1954, Miller Camera Support Equipment designs, manufactures and delivers professional fluid heads and tripods to the film and television industry, providing support for the world's leading camera operators. Celebrating sixty years in the industry, Miller is a longtime, global leader in the field of contemporary camera support and holds the first patent for fluid head design for film cameras, which it obtained in 1946. Today, Miller's tripod and camera support systems are frequently used during electronic news gatherings (ENG), electronic field production (EFP), and digital video applications by the world's leading networks, production houses, corporate, educational and government institutions in more than 65 countries. For more information, call +61 2 9439 6377 or visit www.millertripods.com. |
University of Nebraska Board of Regents to make campus visit to UNK 2013
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents will make a campus visit to the University of Nebraska at Kearney on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The Board will hear presentations on academic initiatives and campus growth, tour parts of campus, and hear from students, among other activities.
All meetings will take place in UNK's Ockinga Seminar Center, 2505 20th Ave.
The full itinerary for Friday's campus visit is as follows.
8:15 a.m. Chancellor's welcome and overview
8:30 a.m. Mobile Learning
Presenters: Jane Petersen, assistant director of instructional technology services, and Kathryn Zuckweiler, associate professor of management and associate dean of graduate studies and research
9 a.m. Featured Academic Program – Supply Chain Management
Presenters: Steve Schulz, assistant professor of marketing and management information systems, and Tom Henning, president and CEO of Cash-wa Distributing Co.
9:30 a.m. Walking Tour (Health Science Education Complex/South Campus development sites)
10 a.m.Health Science Education Complex/Pre-Professional Programs
Presenters: Charles Bicak, senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, and Peggy Abels, director of health programs and the Kearney Health Opportunities Program
11 a.m. South Campus Development
Presenters: Barbara Johnson, vice chancellor for business and finance, and Douglas Bisson, vice president and community planning manager for HDR Engineering Inc.
11:45 a.m. Foundation Progress
Presenter: Peter Kotsiopulos, vice president and UNK campus director of development for the University of Nebraska Foundation and executive director of the UNK Alumni Association
Noon: Lunch
12:15 p.m. Student Interactions/Perspectives
Presenters: Justin Vogel, Scottsbluff; Colleen Kellar, Rapid City, S.D.; and Whitney Nelson, Hastings
1 p.m Break
1:10 p.m. Department of Justice Violence Against Women Grant
Presenters: LeAnn Obrecht, director of counseling and health care, and Trish Holen, assistant director of the Women's Center
1:30 p.m. UNK Central to Nebraska – Impact Data & Wrap-up
Presenter: Chancellor Doug Kristensen |
→Best Basement Dehumidifier
Best Basement Dehumidifier
Thanks for taking your time to read our article on the best dehumidifier for a basement. Basements up and down the country can typically suffer from dampness, mildew and stale odors. All of these problems are caused simply by having too much moisture in the air and that is caused by a lack of proper ventilation.
We are also aware that most people know when they have a problem in their basement, as it is pretty easy to spot. Knowing which dehumidifier to buy is usually the biggest problem for most people, so hopefully we can offer you the best advice on doing just that.
Three things matter when it comes to buying a dehumidifier for a basement and those are:
The size of the basement
The amount of water in the air (humidity)
The typical temperature of the air
For now though we will show you a list of the top 10 best dehumidifiers for the basement. Underneath those we have included a full buyer's guide, which we recommend reading first.
Top 10 Best Basement Dehumidifiers
No 1 Choice - Vremi 1,500 Sq. Ft. Dehumidifier for Medium Spaces and Basements Review
No 2 Choice - hOmeLabs 4,500 Sq. Ft Energy Star Dehumidifier for Basements Review
No 3 Choice - Hisense 70 Pint Dehumidifier DH-7019K1G Low Temp Operations - Great for Basements Review
No 4 Choice - Inofia 30 Pints Dehumidifier for Mid-Size Basements Review
No 5 Choice - TOSOT 70 Pint Dehumidifier for Basements up to 4500 Square Feet Review
No 6 Choice - MIDEA MAD50C1ZWS Dehumidifier 70 Pint - Ideal for Basements Review
No 7 Choice - Danby DDR095BDPWDB 95 Pint Dehumidifier Review
No 8 Choice - Keystone High Efficiency 70-Pint Dehumidifier Review
No 9 Choice - Honeywell 50 TP70WK 70 Pint Energy Star Dehumidifier for Basement Review
No 10 Choice - Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 70 Pint Dehumidifier Review
Basement Dehumidifier Buying Guide
Basement Size
Amount of Water in the Air
How Do Basement Dehumidifiers Work?
Dehumidifier Brands
Tips When Buying A Basement Dehumidifier
Automatic Shut Down
Automatic Restart
Built In Pump
Low Temperature Feature
Auto Defrost Feature
Ventilator, Dehumidifier or Both?
Just below we have listed the top 10 best dehumidifiers for a basement.
Vremi 1,500 Sq. Ft. Dehumidifier Energy Star Rated for Medium Spaces and Basements (96%)
hOmeLabs 4,500 Sq. Ft Energy Star Dehumidifier for Basements (92%)
Hisense 70 Pint Dehumidifier DH-7019K1G Low Temp Operations Great for Basements (92%)
Inofia 30 Pints Dehumidifier Mid-Size Portable For Basements and Large Rooms (90%)
TOSOT 70 Pint Dehumidifier for Basements up to 4500 Square Feet (90%)
MIDEA MAD50C1ZWS Dehumidifier 70 Pint with for basements (90%)
Danby DDR095BDPWDB 95 Pint Dehumidifier (90%)
Keystone High Efficiency 70-Pint Dehumidifier (86%)
Honeywell 50 TP70WK 70 Pint Dehumidifier for Basement (82%)
Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 70 Pint Dehumidifier (76%)
Buyer Satisfaction
Click on Image to read more reviews at Amazon
This is suitable for basements up to 1,500 square feet
It can remove up to 22 pints from the air per day
It is Energy Star certified
It has a very clean look with wheels and handles to make it easy to move
It is also very quiet
You can adjust the moisture setting and then you simply let it run its continuous 24-hour cycle until the tank is full
It shuts off automatically
There is a drain hose outlet for continuous draining (NOTE: hose not included but a garden hose is ideal)
This dehumidifier will reduce odors and allergens by removing bacteria from the humid air
The unit has a very useful Turbo mode - this mode increases the fan speed from 129 cubic feet per minute to 138 cubic feet per minute for faster moisture removal and odor reduction
Measures 16.1 x 10.4 x 19.9 inches, and has a 1 gallon water tank capacity
It can remove up to 50 pints and a great choice for wet basements
This model has wheels and handles
Comes with a 2-year warranty, plus an extra 6 months if you register on the manufacturer's website
It also has a drain hose outlet for continuous draining
This unit reduces odors and allergens by removing bacteria from humid air through its built-in pump compressor
Like the one above, this also has a Turbo mode that increases fan speed from 165 to 188 cubic feet per minute)
Measures 15.4 x 11 x 24.3 inches, and has a 1.8 gallon water tank capacity
Please note this model is part of the Amazon renewed product range
It is a very quiet dehumidifier
It uses a handy slide-out bucket to empty collected water
Will operate at temperatures as low as 38°F
Comes with a removable, washable filter
This one also has a programmable 24 hour on/off timer
Has a bucket full indicator to avoids overflows
Also has a filter indicator that lets you know when to wash your filter
Suitable for basements up to 1000 sq. ft
This is a 30 pint dehumidifier that can remove up to 4 gallons moisture from the air in a 24 hour period
With this unit you set your desired humidity, and this dehumidifier will level out the humidity intelligently
It has a switchable fan speed & programmable timer
It also has a drain port where you can attach a drain hose to achieve automatically continuous draining
Has a recessed handle making it easy to carry
The manufacturer offers a 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee & 1-Year Quality Guarantee
This is a 70 pint Dehumidifier which is perfect for whole basements
It can remove up to 70 pints (9 gallons) of moisture from your home in 24 hours
Also has a gravity drain hose connection to empty water into your sump pump or floor drain
It is Energy Star Rated
If you experience a power outage all TOSOT dehumidifiers will revert back to their previous settings once power is restored
This is a large 70 pint dehumidifier that can cover a large basement up to 4500 square feet
This unit can collect up to 50 pints of water a day
You can also adjust the humidity level between 35% to 85%, making it ideal for a basement
It has an auto restart function that limits disruption due to power outages
It is quiet with a maximum 51 decibel volume
The tank is easy to empty and you can also connect a standard .75 inch female garden hose to the built in socket for gravity fed continuous draining
It has a reusable filter that improves air quality
The manufacturer offers a one year parts and labor warranty on this product
This is the 95 pint model which is best suited for basements, but there are also 30, 50 and 70 pint options with this Danby dehumidifier suitable for smaller basements
It has electronic controls with a blue LED display
It comes with 2 fan speeds (Low and High)
It has a low temperature feature that allows the system to continue operating in temperatures as low as 41ºF
It also has auto restart which means this unit will restart after a power failure
This dehumidifier removes up to 95 pints of moisture in a 24 hour period
Suitable for basements up to 6,000 square feet
Also has an automatic shutoff feature that prevents the bucket from overflowing
Has a direct drain option
It also has a 24-hour timer
This is a 70 pint dehumidifier and as such can remove up to 70 pints of moisture from the air per day
This model is suitable for basements up to 4500 square feet
It has full electronic controls with LED display and a 24-hour timer
There are range of settings that include include normal, Turbo and auto-defrost
It has a 1. 6 gallon water tank with transparent water level indicator
It also has a full bucket alert with automatic shut-off
This is another 70 pint (9 gallon) dehumidifier suitable for basements
It is Energy Star efficient
Honeywell Dehumidifiers are top rated by an independent, U. S. -based product safety-testing agency since 2016 and all Honeywell Dehumidifiers are backed by a long, Five Year warranty
Has a removable and easy to clean durable air filter
The water tank is detachable with comfort-grip handle and anti-spill tank guards
It also has a continuous drain outlet
Uses a digital humidistat control that activates dehumidification based on pre-set room conditions
Also has a 24 hour energy-saving timer, sleep mode, low temperature operation, and auto-restart after power failure features
This isa 70 pint dehumidifier
It has a 13 pint tank with handle, splash guard, full tank alert and auto shut-off
It also has a drain outlet for continuous operation
It has a low temperature operation
Comes with ready-select electronic controls with digital humidity readout
It also has a 24-hour on/off timer and control lock
This is a very good video from the Consumer Report's Team.
This is the easiest one to work out. It is simply the length of the basement measured in feet multiplied by the width of the basement also measured in feet. So for example if the basement was 32 feet long and 24 feet wide the square feet size would simply be 32 x 24 which is 768 square feet.
The reason this measurement is important is that most manufacturers will state on their dehumidifier what square feet size the unit is designed to handle. This measurement is simple to do and makes a very good starting point.
Some basements will have dry air and in that case a dehumidifier will not be required. In fact in very dry basements, a humidifier may be required.
Some basements may be a little damp, moderately damp and others can be very damp. That matters as dehumidifiers have a tank capacity. This is where the moisture from the air is turned into water, and then held in a bucket inside the dehumidifier.
You can measure the humidity easily. This can be done with something as simple as a humidity gauge, or a humidity meter. These are called generally speaking hygrometers. These are not that expensive with an average cost of around $9-15.
We don't want to get over technical, but they measure what is called relative humidity. For your general health and comfort this humidity reading should sit anywhere between 40-50% on that scale. Anything greater than that means there is simply too much moisture (water) in the air in your home.
We would recommend the Habor Digital Hygrometer which is under $10, and gets great reviews online.
The temperature in your basement is also very important, when it comes to buying the right dehumidifier. The temperature will depend on the weather, but also on the ventilation (or lack of ventilation) in your basement.
The main reason we include temperature as a measurement, is that refrigerant style dehumidifiers, may freeze up if the temperature in the basement drops below 59 degrees Fahrenheit. You can buy units with auto-freeze protection, but they are more expensive. However, the general point is that they will stop working if the coils inside the unit freeze over.
There are two types of dehumidifier:
If you live in an area, where the basement temperature can get cold, then you are better to buy a desiccant type of dehumidifier, as they don't have coils and as such can not freeze.
In warmer climates, the refrigerant model is a better option as they are generally speaking more efficient.
These work by using a fan, which pulls in the surrounding air, and then makes that flow over coils which are very cold.
This makes the moisture in the drawn in air turn to water. When that happens the water then drops down into a bucket. In the simplest of terms, the water or moisture in the air is removed, before being pushed back out again. It is a simple but quite clever process.
If you live in a cooler climate, then for your basement you should give serious consideration to a low temperature dehumidifier, as they ave the capability of continuing to draw moisture even at lower temperatures.
There are many different features available on these dehumidifiers, and the guide we have produced below, takes you through those.
The leading brands in dehumidifiers such as Frigidaire, Danby, Delonghi and Soleus all have leading lines in basement dehumidifiers, so personally we would recommend that you stick with those.
You may find other smaller brands out there, but the ones that we have mentioned above do produce good quality products.
There are several important features to consider before you purchase a dehumidifier for your basement and we have highlighted these below. One of the most important considerations of all though is where will you actually be placing this?
These are not quiet appliances and the noise can get to you after a while.
Within the home itself these can get very noisy. In a basement this might not be an issue, but just be aware that these can have a constantly loud enough sound to be REALLY irritating.
We would class this as a mandatory feature. This feature ensures that the machine will close down when the bucket is filled and will avoid a complete mess. Just picture what the scene could look like if you did not have this feature and let's face it who wants or needs a flood.
Our advice is just not to buy a dehumidifier that does not have this feature. Most of the newer models do. Older models did not have this, so if you are changing those out, insist on this feature.
If you are running any appliance then you want it to be as efficient as possible. Thankfully almost every dehumidifier has now been made to pretty exacting standards.
They still cost money to run though, and the bottom line is, the more efficient the appliance, the less it costs to run.
Energy Star Compliant is awarded to products and ensures that they contribute to making the best use of energy in terms of efficiency.
Many homes suffer from power outages. Having this feature will ensure it restarts when the power comes back on. This is especially important if you have a dehumidifier in a holiday home.
Some of the more advanced appliances will also remember your actual settings.
Few dehumidifiers have a built in pump which we would recommend. If you decide against this then we would recommend a continuous gravity drainage rather then having to constantly remember to empty buckets.
Make sure your dehumidifier has either a Patented pump like that you find in a Danby or the option of a garden hose attachment.
This is a must have feature if you live in a cooler climate. Low temperature dehumidifiers will still function at temperatures below 65 degrees.
Below this appliances without this feature are prone to water freezing on the coils of the appliance and producing a build up of ice.
Eventually this will stop the fans from working and burn out the motor. This is a common problem so make sure you have this feature if you live in a cool climate.
Similar to the above the auto defrost feature will turn off the appliance's compressor when the desired humidity level has been reached. This also prevents the coils from becoming covered in ice.
If someone is gong to be sleeping or working in the basement, then a ventilating system working in conjunction with a dehumidifier is by far the best option. The ventilation in a basement really does depend on how it was constructed and built in the first place.
In any basement, ideally you want to have what is called natural ventilation. That is simply a method where air can flow in and out of a basement. This is as simple as something like two windows facing each other, and when opened they create a natural airflow.
If the airflow with a setup like this is too low, then a simple way to fix that is to install window fans. One should be set to draw the air in, and the other set to exhaust the old air.
Sometimes even those may not be enough. At that stage we would recommend getting expert advice to get a proper ventilation system installed.
Basements are often used to store paint, gas and other materials. Any humidity along with those smells would be unhealthy for anyone working or sleeping in a basement. Good ventilation is an absolute must, and a dehumidifier will work well with that to remove excess moisture.
We hope that this guide has helped you to understand what to look for when it comes to buying a dehumidifier for your basement. The reality is that most basements in home, simply because of their location, attract a certain amount of dampness.
All you can really hope to do is to control that dampness. Take some preventative measures that will help reduce the moisture in the air. One great tip is to make sure that any down spouts and guttering is clear of debris and leaves. The purpose of those is to keep rain away from the walls of your home.
It is also a really great idea to apply some type of waterproof coating to the walls and floors of a basement. The more moisture you can keep out the better. What's left in the basement, can then be quickly removed with a good quality dehumidifier.
Why Are Dehumidifiers so Expensive
What Is Humidity In The Home
Understanding Dehumidifier Ratings
Crawl Space Dehumidifiers |
Biden Prepares For Major Failure
(DCWatchdog.com) – President Joe Biden has started doubting his ability to keep his campaign promise of uniting America, something he may be giving up on as he adopts a partisan tone ahead of the midterm elections.
Biden's doubts about uniting the country were expressed in an off-the-record lunch with New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman, who revealed that Biden gave him the impression that "he's worried that while he has reunited the West, he may not be able to reunite America."
Friedman added that unity is "the reason [Biden] decided to run in the first," adding that the President understands "that without some unity of purpose and willingness to compromise, nothing else is possible."
However, critics point to Biden's lack of understanding of the country and lack of effort as the reason he can't unite America.
"He can't unite America because he doesn't understand America," Reagan biographer Craig Shirley noted, adding that the President doesn't "understand the bully pulpit or presidential leadership."
Republicans mocked Biden's concern about not being able to unite the country, "I, too, worry about not being able to accomplish the things I never tried," GOP strategist Matt Whitlock tweeted.
While embattled Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) tweeted, "Biden will have a hard time reuniting America because virtually everything he and his fellow radical leftists have pushed on society has further divided us."
But it's not only Republicans who are disillusioned by Biden's efforts. Democrats have also voiced disappointment.
According to a report by the Washington Examiner, Christopher Hahn, podcast host of Aggressive Progressive, noted that "Biden underestimated the depth of division felt by a very large percentage of Americans."
Hahn continued, "That, coupled with increasing economic pain being felt by millions of families, due to inflationary forces largely beyond his control, has made it difficult to unite the nation as he hoped he could." |
Opinions – 4/2/12: Maryland Court of Appeals
By: Daily Record Staff April 1, 2012
Interrogation after invocation of Miranda rights
BOTTOM LINE: The conversation that ensued after defendant's invocation of his right to an attorney constituted an impermissible custodial interrogation and, therefore, defendant's inculpatory statements should have been suppressed.
CASE: Phillips v. State, No. 58, September Term, 2011 (filed Mar. 16, 2012) (Judges Bell, Harrell, Greene, Adkins, Barbera, WILNER (retired, specially assigned) & Cathell (retired, specially assigned)). RecordFax No. 12-0316-20, 18 pages.
FACTS: William Nibblett was stabbed to death in his home. Charles Phillips was arrested for the murder and was transported to the State Police barrack in Salisbury and placed in a conference room with Lt. Michael McDermott.
At about 4:15 p.m. on the day of the arrest, Detective Scott Mitchell gave Phillips the Miranda advice of rights, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), and Phillips signed a written Miranda waiver. Mitchell then left the room, and McDermott engaged Phillips in some general conversation. Phillips did not want to talk about involvement in the case, so, in an effort to establish a rapport, the conversation dealt with Phillips' personal life.
After about 45 minutes, Mitchell barged into the interview process and interrupted it. According to McDermott, Mitchell became confrontational with Phillips, indicating that he thought Phillips may have been involved in the homicide, at which point Phillips said that he wanted an attorney. At McDermott's request, Mitchell then left the room.
McDermott then advised Phillips that his invocation of the right to counsel meant he could not speak to him regarding this case. McDermott further advised Phillips that if he decided to tell his story to the detective, Phillips simply had to reaffirm that he didn't want counsel and that the detective could talk to him. Phillips decided that he wanted to continue talking.
Only ten minutes elapsed between the time Phillips asked for an attorney and the time he agreed to continue an interrogation. The Miranda advice was not repeated prior to the commencement of the taped interrogation.
In his taped statement, Phillips acknowledged that, in the course of an altercation regarding money that the victim owed him, Phillips grabbed a knife away from the victim and that the victim "ran into" the knife.
Phillips moved to suppress his incriminating statements. The trial court denied the motion. Phillips was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder and armed robbery and was sentenced to life. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed.
Phillips appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed.
LAW: The Supreme Court held in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981), that: (1) an accused "having expressed his desire to deal with the police only through counsel, is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police" and (2) "when an accused has invoked his right to have counsel present during custodial interrogation, a valid waiver of that right cannot be established by showing only that he responded to further police-initiated custodial interrogation even if he has been advised of his rights." Id. at 484-85.
Whether a conversation between a suspect and the police constitutes an interrogation for Miranda/Edwards purposes is usually fact-dependent. Often, particularly in the Edwards context, what transpires is not a continued "grilling" or even a direct question-and-answer exchange, but something more subtle, requiring a reviewing court to look beyond merely parsing the conversation.
"Interrogation means more than direct, explicit questioning and includes the functional equivalent of interrogation," which includes "any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody) that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect." Blake v. State, 381 Md. 218, 233 (2004) (quoting Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 300-01 (1980)).
Further, (1) "[a]lthough the test of whether the police should know their words or actions are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response is an objective one, the intent of the police is not irrelevant," (2) "[i]f a police officer acts with a purpose of getting a suspect to talk, it follows that the officer has reason to know that his or her conduct was reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response." and (3) "[w]e focus on the defendant's perspective rather than on the police officer's intent." Blake, 381 Md. at 233-34.
In Blake, the 17-year-old suspect was arrested at his home between 4:30 and 5:00 a.m. in connection with a murder that had occurred about six weeks earlier. Wearing only underwear and no shoes, he was taken to a police station and advised of his Miranda rights. He invoked his right to counsel and then was placed in a holding cell.
About a half hour later, a detective came to the cell, handed Blake a copy of the arrest warrant and a Statement of Charges, explained the charges, noted that they were serious, and told Blake that he needed to read them carefully. The Statement of Charges advised that Blake was charged with first degree murder and that the penalty for that crime was death. In fact, because Blake was under 18, he was not subject to the death penalty. As the detective was leaving, another detective appeared and said to Blake, "I bet you want to talk now, huh!" Blake then agreed to talk and after a re-advisement and waiver of his Miranda rights, made some incriminating statements.
The Court of Appeals concluded that the detective's remark that triggered Blake's willingness to talk "could only be interpreted as designed to induce [Blake] to talk and was improper." Blake, 381 Md. at 235-36.
In People v. Bradshaw, 156 P.3d 452 (Colo. 2007), the suspect was arrested for a parole violation and taken to a police station, where he was questioned about a recent complaint of sexual assault and theft. When the officer informed him that the victim had said that Bradshaw had grabbed her, Bradshaw indicated that if she said that, he needed to speak with a lawyer. Ignoring that response, the officer asked whether the contact was consensual, to which Bradshaw replied in the affirmative.
At that point, the officer asked whether Bradshaw wanted to speak with a lawyer and Bradshaw said yes.
The detective responded that, if Bradshaw wanted a lawyer, he would stop the questioning and that any further questioning would have to be voluntary. At that point, Bradshaw agreed to talk. On that record, the Colorado court held that the interrogation never ended and that the detective's failure to honor Bradshaw's request for an attorney constituted a violation of the right to counsel.
The case closest on point is State v. Gonzalez, 25 A.3d 648 (Conn. 2011).
Gonzales was arrested for murder and taken to a police station. Before giving him the Miranda advice, the detective told Gonzalez that he would be booked and that the police were giving him the opportunity to tell his side of the story. Gonzalez then asked for a lawyer. The detective told him to sit there and that he would be booked. After about a minute, Gonzalez blurted out that he was not a murderer, and the detective reminded him that he had asked for an attorney and that he should be quiet.
When Gonzalez again said that he was not a murderer, the detective again reminded him that he had asked for an attorney but added that it would have to be his choice to speak without an attorney and inquired whether he wished to do so. No Miranda warnings had yet been given. Gonzalez responded in the affirmative and made some incriminating statements.
The detective's statement that the interview provided an opportunity for Gonzalez to tell his side of the story was not a routine booking question allowed under Miranda and was "dissimilar to statements or questions directed at suspects that this court has determined were permissible because they were not reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from a suspect." Id. at 656. It was not, the court added, "an objectively neutral question unrelated to the crime" but was "directly related to the murder investigation for which the defendant had been arrested, charged, and was presently being held in custody." Id. at 656. On that record, the court concluded that the conversation was the functional equivalent of an interrogation which, without the benefit of the Miranda advice, was impermissible.
The message conveyed when the police, having first established a rapport with a suspect who has been arrested and may be facing imminent incarceration, tell the suspect that they want to hear his or her side of the story is that the police are trying to be fair and that dialogue may be helpful to the suspect. That, of course, is rarely the case in fact, but the objective, and sometimes the reality, is that the suspect will believe it to be so and will respond accordingly.
The record revealed that to have been the case here. Phillips was not there as a neutral witness. He was a suspect in a murder. During the first conversation, Phillips was asked about the case and did not want to talk about his involvement. McDermott then switched to more general things. It was after Phillips invoked his right to an attorney that Detective McDermott told him that he wanted to get his side of the story.
The conversation between Phillips and McDermott, after Phillips invoked his right to an attorney, constituted the functional equivalent of an impermissible continuing suppression. Therefore, the inculpatory statements that Phillips made during that conversation should have been suppressed.
Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals was reversed.
COMMENTARY: At the beginning of the hearing on the motion to suppress, defense counsel advised the court that Phillips was interviewed by the police and he asked for a lawyer, and it was because that request was not honored that the motion to suppress was made. Following the testimony, the State's Attorney noted that the issues were whether Phillips had initiated the conversation and whether doing so constituted a waiver of his right to counsel.
Although Edwards itself was not cited during the proceeding, Oregon v. Bradshaw, 462 U.S. 1039 (1983), which was an Edwards case, was cited. It was clear from the entire context that counsel and the court understood that to be the issue. The trial court ruled that Phillips had initiated the conversation that led to the inculpatory statements and knew what he was doing.
Thus, the issue was preserved for appellate review.
PRACTICE TIPS: Although an express written or oral statement of waiver of the right to counsel usually is strong proof of the validity of any waiver, it is not necessary to establish a waiver. An implicit waiver suffices and a waiver may be implied through "the defendant's silence coupled with an understanding of his rights and a course of conduct indicating waiver." Berghuis v. Thompkins, 130 S. Ct. 2250, 2261 (2010).
Disbarment
BOTTOM LINE: Disbarment was the appropriate sanction when, in response to an inquiry from an agency regulating the practice of law in another jurisdiction, attorney deliberately submitted altered and misleading documents concerning the her compliance with a rule governing the practice of law in that jurisdiction.
CASE: Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Smith, No. 10, Sept. Term, 2011 (filed Mar. 19, 2012) (Judges Bell, Harrell, Battaglia, Green, Adkins, Barbera & MCDONALD). RecordFax No. 12-0319-20, 9 pages.
FACTS: Darlene Smith was admitted to the Maryland Bar in June of 1997. She was also admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Smith initially worked as a judicial clerk for the Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. She subsequently practiced law at a number of firms in the District of Columbia and Maryland, including as a solo practitioner, before settling at the District of Columbia office of Drinker, Biddle & Reath in mid-December of 2008. Although she had practiced law for more than 10 years, largely in offices located in the District of Columbia, Smith had never been admitted to the District of Columbia Bar.
Under the rules governing the practice of law in the District of Columbia, lawyers not admitted to there are permitted to practice law in some circumstances, so long as the attorney makes certain public disclosures about the attorney's bar status.
In particular, under D.C. Rule 49, an attorney admitted in another state may practice in the District of Columbia for 360 days, provided, among other things, that the attorney's practice is directly supervised by a member of the Bar, that the attorney applies for admission to the Bar within 90 days after commencing practice in the District of Columbia, and that there is notice to the public of the attorney's bar status.
Another provision of the D.C. rules allows an attorney located in the District of Columbia to provide legal services in federal court or federal agency proceedings if admitted to practice before the federal court or agency and if the attorney gives prominent notice in all business documents of the practitioner's bar status and that his or her practice is limited.
In January of 2009, Smith applied for "Admission Without Examination" to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions. On October 20, 2009, the Admissions Committee wrote to Smith and asked her to explain why she had delayed seeking admission for such a long period of time, and whether she had complied with the requirements of D.C. Rule 49 and the related advisory opinions of the District of Columbia Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law.
Smith responded in a letter dated December 8, 2009, in which she stated that her law practice had been an "exclusively federal practice" and that her business cards, correspondence written on firm letterhead, and promotional materials provided the appropriate notice that her admission to the bar was only in Maryland and that she limited herself to a federal practice.
In her letter, Smith enclosed promotional materials and other documents identified as redacted copies of correspondence from her current and previous law firms. The enclosures purported to document the assertions in her letter and included legends stating that Smith had been admitted only in Maryland and that she limited herself to federal practice.
In fact, those disclosures did not appear on the original versions of many of those documents, but had been added by Smith shortly before she submitted them to the Admissions Committee. In January of 2010, Smith met with the General Counsel of Drinker Biddle & Reath to discuss her application.
In February 2010, Smith wrote to the Admissions Committee, and admitted altering many of the documents she had enclosed with her December 8, 2009, letter. Specifically, she acknowledged that she had altered copies of her past correspondence written on Drinker Biddle & Reath stationery, to add the legends "admitted only in Maryland" and "practice limited to matters and proceedings before federal courts and agencies," and had similarly altered the samples of correspondence she had submitted from three other law firms where she had practiced before joining Drinker, Biddle & Reath.
The Attorney Grievance Commission subsequently charged Smith with violating several provisions of the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct ("MLRPC"). Among the charges were alleged violations of MLRPC 5.5(a) (unauthorized practice of law in another jurisdiction), MLRPC 8.4(a) (misconduct involving a violation of the rules), MLRPC 8.4(c) (misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), and MLRPC 8.4(d) (misconduct prejudicial to the administration of justice). The matter was referred to a circuit court for hearing and determination.
The circuit court judge concluded that Smith did not engage in the unauthorized practice of law but that she did violate the other rules cited by the Commission. No exceptions were filed to the judge's findings and conclusions.
A hearing on those findings and conclusions was scheduled before the Court of Appeals on February 2, 2012. Smith failed to appear, and the Court of Appeals disbarred her in a per curiam order.
LAW: The Court of Appeals agreed with the hearing judge's conclusion that Smith violated MLRPC 8.4(a) (misconduct involving a violation of the rules), MLRPC 8.4(c) (misconduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation), and MLRPC 8.4(d) (misconduct prejudicial to the administration of justice). An attorney who permits false or fraudulent documents to be executed and filed on the public record or falsely certifies or signs documents violates MLRPC 8.4(c) and (d). See, e.g., Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Coppola, 419 Md. 370 (2011). Thus, there was no need for extended analysis of the application of MLRPC 8.4 to Smith's conduct.
Smith stipulated that she fabricated exhibits to her bar application to advance her misrepresentations to the Admissions Committee concerning her compliance with D.C. Rule 49 – actions that involved dishonesty, fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation. An applicant's fabrication of evidence designed to mislead a bar examiner is prejudicial to the administration of the laws governing the practice of law.
When an attorney submits fabricated evidence to cover up a violation of disciplinary rules, the appropriate sanction is ordinarily disbarment, absent "compelling extenuating circumstances." Attorney Grievance Comm'n v. Payer, ___ Md. ___ (2012). Smith proffered various circumstances in mitigation, including that she had no prior pattern of misconduct, that she had not appeared in court actions in violation of the District of Columbia rules, that she had resigned from her law firm because she recognized that her conduct was sanctionable, that she had cooperated with Maryland disciplinary authorities, and that she was "very embarrassed."
While these were factors that the Court might consider in fashioning an appropriate sanction, they were not so compelling as to cause the Court to deviate from the presumptive sanction of disbarment in this case.
Smith's misconduct was not a reflexive exculpatory statement of one unexpectedly confronted with a misdeed. Rather, it was a carefully contrived effort that required a detailed alteration of samples of her past correspondence spanning more than a decade and several law firms. The additions of bogus disclaimers about her bar membership were clearly material to the inquiry of the Admission Committee about her past compliance with D.C. Rule 49.
Indeed, the alterations were the only reason for submitting those particular pieces of correspondence, which were otherwise unrelated to her bar application. The admitted purpose was to mislead the Admissions Committee into believing that she had consistently complied with D.C. Rule 49. Her subsequent correction of her fabrications was apparently triggered by a meeting with the General Counsel of her law firm. The nature of the violation, coupled with the aggravating factors, made disbarment appropriate.
Accordingly, Smith was disbarred.
COMMENTARY: It was impossible, and unnecessary, for the Court of Appeals to determine whether a truthful description by Smith of her past practice to the Admissions Committee would have resulted in a sanction against her by District of Columbia authorities and later action by the Court of Appeals and, if so, whether mitigating circumstances would have moderated that sanction.
The obstruction of a bar inquiry through the submission of fabricated evidence by an experienced member of the bar is an instance of dishonesty that incorporates a number of factors that have been deemed aggravating. See American Bar Association Standards for Imposing Lawyer Sanctions, §9.22(b), (e), (f), (i).
PRACTICE TIPS: Factors that have been deemed "aggravating" by the American Bar Association include dishonest or selfish motive, bad faith obstruction of disciplinary inquiry, submission of false evidence, and substantial experience in the practice of law.
criminal procedure Disbarment maryland maryland court of appeals Miranda rights opinions professional responsibility 6:00 pm Sun, April 1, 2012 Maryland Daily Record
Daily Record Staff
Tagged with: criminal procedure Disbarment maryland maryland court of appeals Miranda rights opinions professional responsibility |
That's so Raven Symone: No guns on campus because 'rape culture'
Brodigan
'The View' was discussing the ability to carry a gun while on a college campus. You know, The Second Amendment. Raven Symone, of course, said something that was just... so Raven.
We also have to — I'm sorry, but we also have to consider — and I hate to — there's a rape culture on campuses. And then you're gonna put guns in the hands. And then you're gonna put alcohol in the hands. And then you're gonna blame them for something without giving them the right education in the first place. That's unacceptable.
Oooookay, Raven Symone. Let's get down to just how entirely full of human fecal matter you are.
For starters, rape culture isn't a real thing. Much like "white privilege" and putting "-splain" after a noun, "rape culture" is just another phrase leftists invented to divide the country, push an agenda and delegitamize anyone who disagrees with them. For any reason. At all. You sexist. As a matter of fact, nearly every major story that leftists trot out as proof of "rape culture" turns out to be false. One of the biggest examples that comes to mind is "Mattress Girl." Remember that girl who claimed that she was raped, and so she carried a mattress on her back across Columbia University for the rest of the year? Yeah she lied. No really, it was all just a lie (read "Mattress Girl Made The Story Up" here). The other one was the big Rolling Stone rape hoax. And I do mean hoax. Remember, the media ran with that one for years. That was really the catalyst for this whole "rape culture" meme in the first place. Only, it was completely untrue (watch "The Office's Ed Helms Eviscerates Rolling Stone For Hoax Story" here). Did these falsely accused men get their lives back? Their names restored? Nope. The damage was done. Their reputations were "raped" as it were.
Second, IF rape culture were real, which it isn't, but if it was, which it's not... you'd want women to be able to protect themselves. If women are legally allowed to carry a firearm, guess what? Their chances of survival go up! "Oh but what if the guy has a gun!" Well, then you're no worse off. Here's the reality. If a man wants to rape a smaller woman, whether or not he has a gun... she's getting raped. The only differentiating factor would be if said woman had a gun. Hence the term "the great equalizer."
Finally, and this is the big one, claiming that "rape culture" is a thing CHEAPENS THE CRIME OF PEOPLE WHO WERE ACTUALLY RAPED!
Here's let me 'splain for you... |
Rouhani's Incomplete Victory in Iran's Parliamentary Elections
Is Restoring the Iran Nuclear Deal Still Possible?
One Step Forward, One Step Back
The Making of an Impasse
A Sisyphean Struggle
The Escalation Ladder
Planning for a Post-JCPOA Reality
Dealing with No Deal
Halting the Downward Spiral
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani greets people after casting his ballot for both parliamentary and the Assembly of Experts elections at a polling station in Tehran on 26 February 2016. AFP/Iran Presidency
Commentary / Middle East & North Africa 04 May 2016
Iran's new parliament has many new faces, and, for the first time, more women members than clergymen. But with no clear victor after the 28 April completion of Iran's parliamentary elections, Senior Iran Analyst Ali Vaez argues in this Q&A that President Hassan Rouhani will face many challenges and that rapid change is unlikely.
Ali Vaez
Senior Adviser to the President & Project Director, Iran
https://twitter.com/AliVaez
In the 28 April run-off elections for parliament, Iranians have filled the 68 seats left vacant in the first round of voting back in February, when candidates for these seats failed to win more than 25 per cent of the votes. Now that it is over, can you tell us who has won and who has lost?
The tallies vary from one news outlet to another. For example, the Associated Press reports that supporters of President Hassan Rouhani won 143 out of the 290 parliamentary seats, while the New York Times put that number at 122. This discrepancy is the result of the absence of a traditional political-party system in Iran, the fluidity of the country's factional landscape, and its confusing characterisation into moderates, hardliners, conservatives and reformists.
Iran's political landscape can be divided into four camps: those who prioritise the system's republican institutions (republicans) and those prioritising its theocratic bodies (theocrats). The former camp is generally aligned with President Rouhani and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, while the latter takes its cues from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Each camp is further divided into pragmatists and radicals, or those who seek, respectively, more gradual or faster change. With this in mind, I would argue that the new parliament is composed of 123 republicans (almost all pragmatists), 80 theocrats (mostly pragmatists, with a few radicals) and 84 independents.
From Rouhani's perspective, this is certainly a satisfactory result. The republicans gained political ground and ousted leading radical theocrats (a group that was a real nuisance to the Rouhani administration). The theocrats who control most media platforms and election-management bodies stacked the deck against the republicans through negative campaigning and heavy pre-election disqualifications of candidates. Dealt a bad hand before the campaign, the republicans ended up playing quite well.
How significant is the presence of a large number of independents?
This is not a new phenomenon. In the 2012 parliamentary elections, 35 per cent of first-time lawmakers were independents. This cohort's political behaviour is difficult to predict. They tend to coalesce into political blocs only after a new parliament convenes, in this case on 27 May. Their choices could determine the balance of power. Rouhani could use the power of the purse to draw some of them into a republican bloc, but it is unclear whether he could use them to build an absolute majority.
In fact, the independents could form their own bloc or split the legislature into blocs of equal weight, thus giving rise to a hung legislature that would slow – rather than facilitate – decision making, at least on issues over which there is limited elite consensus. Or independents could vote on an issue-by-issue basis, most probably throwing their weight behind the republicans on economic policies while siding with the theocrats on socio-political matters.
Can it be said that the run-off elections gave Iran's republicans a working majority in parliament for the first time since President Mohammad Khatami left office a decade ago?
That depends on your definition of a "working majority". The republicans' ability to gain a relative majority depends on how the independents position themselves. Even if the next parliament were to come decisively under the republicans' control, Iran's governmental institutions would not necessarily work in harmony. During President Khatami's first term in office, both the legislative and executive branches were in the hands of his allies, yet their reforms were blocked by the theocratic-controlled Guardian Council, which vets all legislation. His successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's theocratic government, on the other hand, was at daggers drawn with parliament for most of its time in office as a result of factional infighting.
What kind of victory have Rouhani and his allies then won?
With just 26 per cent of incumbents winning re-election, the election has fundamentally changed the complexion of the parliament and shifted the balance of power in favour of the republicans. Given that the most ardent critics of the nuclear agreement negotiated by Rouhani were ousted, the legislature will likely be more cooperative when it comes to implementing the deal. It is less likely to grill the minister of foreign affairs and other officials who were involved in the nuclear talks.
But this does not mean that republicans will have a blank check for advancing Rouhani's agenda. As Iranian economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani has explained, entrenched interests and diverging viewpoints mean that even the cooperation of this friendlier parliament in implementing Rouhani's economic agenda should not be taken for granted. On almost all other major policy decisions, from economic to socio-political issues and relations with the West, the political establishment is deeply divided and these differences will come to the surface.
Anyone who exaggerates Rouhani and his allies' election victory is likely to be disappointed. It's not hard to imagine that a year from now some will say that the republicans failed to usher in change, despite dominating both the executive and legislative branches. In fact, the republicans control, at most, the executive and half of the legislative branch of government. Meanwhile, the theocrats are in control of all other power centres: the judiciary, the Guardian Council, the Assembly of Experts, the armed forces, the state television, and so on. Those who expect rapid or radical change should temper their expectations.
How important is the selection of the new parliament's leadership?
Competition for the speaker's position could split the republican coalition. The main contenders for the post are incumbent Speaker Ali Larijani and Mohammad Reza Aref, a former vice president under President Mohammad Khatami. Aref, who withdrew his 2013 presidential bid in favour of Hassan Rouhani, received the highest number of votes in this year's parliamentary elections, and he therefore believes the speaker's mantle is rightfully his. But in the past few weeks, 145 elected parliamentarians made a point of meeting with Larijani versus 70 who went to see Aref. This relative show of popularity suggests that the former speaker is in a stronger position.
Rouhani's preference could also play a role. Larijani is a pragmatist theocrat, who has served as speaker for the past eight years and has significant clout with other power centres, especially the judiciary, which is headed by his younger brother. Despite being a theocrat, he is – like Rouhani – a pragmatist and thus has a good working relationship with the president and was tremendously supportive of the nuclear agreement. He stands a better chance of helping the government create consensus among different lobbies than Aref, who is a pragmatist republican with no parliamentary experience. Some have suggested that Larijani and Aref might share the leadership position, alternating on an annual basis, but it is unclear whether such a compromise would be either workable or acceptable to them. If the competition escalates, it could split the republican camp into pro-Larijani and pro-Aref factions, reducing republicans' chances of outvoting the theocratic faction on key issues.
Are there any other striking changes in the new parliament?
For the first time, the parliament will have more women than clerics. Seventeen women were elected, up from nine in the outgoing parliament. The number of clerics in Iran's parliament has gradually decreased since the 1979 revolution. While clerics assumed 50 per cent of the seats in the first parliament, they will represent a mere 6 per cent of the next legislature's membership. This is reflective of changing social trends in Iran; a young and vibrant society where women comprise more than 60 per cent of university graduates, and where technocratic skills are deemed more valuable than a religious pedigree. Having said this, the policy implications of these shifts are unclear.
Do the parliamentary elections signal how Rouhani will do in next year's presidential poll?
Parliamentary elections often presage the outcome of the subsequent presidential contest. If presidential elections were held today, Rouhani would likely be re-elected. But Rouhani's rivals know this, too, and will do everything in their power over the next fourteen months to make him Iran's first one-term president. The outcome of the parliamentary elections has probably increased both the theocrats' concerns and their motivation to block Rouhani from gaining further ground in the aftermath of the nuclear deal and lifting of sanctions.
Sharp differences between the president and Supreme Leader Khamenei on economic priorities will also not help Rouhani win a second mandate. The president and his republican allies believe economic interdependence can deter outside pressure; they also believe that economic growth is crucial, and that without absorbing $30-50 billion of foreign investment per year Iran will not be able to reach its target of 8-per-cent economic growth. The leader and his theocrat allies, however, prefer economic self-reliance over the foreign cultural and political influence that they fear would come with Western economic investment. These tensions are bound to worsen in the run-up to the 2017 presidential elections.
Statement / Middle East & North Africa
Iranian Leaders Should Call Off Their Campaign of Repression
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Event Recording / Middle East & North Africa
Iran Nuclear Deal: The Window Closes? (Twitter Space, 12 September 2022) |
Posted by Chivona | Feb 11, 2020 | Advocacy, Artists, Community, Education, Mississippi, Production, Sipp Culture, Story, Team
Rural Performance / Production Lab (RPPL)
By: Carlton Turner
Through generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Sipp Culture is excited to announce the pilot phase of the Rural Performance / Production Lab (RPPL).
This year, Sipp Culture and a team of advisors, will work with up to four rural artists in the pilot phase of RPPL to develop new work. That support will come in the form of financial support, residency time at the Sipp Culture Artist Residency, project planning and mentorship. This program will be offered to artists living in rural communities in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama.
RPPL is a creative production process which seeks to support the development of new performance – movement, story, and sound – rooted in rural living, history, places, and bodies. Pronounced "ripple", the intent is for artist voices to act as catalysts for broad community change.
Sipp Culture's work centers cultural production. For us, cultural production means working to shift our community mode from consumption to production. Production looks like the growing and sharing of food, documenting our culture in digital and analog media, and telling our stories through movement, theater, and sound. It also means producing the culture we want to be reflected in the stories, food, systems, communities and art we create.
Our community is grounded in the aesthetics of Black southern rural culture bearers. Their imprint can be found on every community throughout the nation in the architecture, songs, spiritual practices, the movement of bodies, and in the language of freedom.
We understand the integral connection between the artist voice and community health and wellness of our rural space. We know the stories told, who gets the tell them, and where they are told is central to the shaping of policy and ultimately inform the quality of life in our community. Our health and wellness are negatively impacted when the only stories representative of our experiences are told from the subjectivity of the observer. To that end, Sipp Culture works to develop the imagination and enhance the creativity of our community (near and far) through critical dialogue driven by arts and cultural exchange.
Sipp Culture centers the voices and experiences of people of color, specifically Black people in the rural South. Our work uplifts stories to complicate prevailing rural narratives. We recognize the importance of counter narratives in shaping the critical discourse of a community and we recognize our work, as holders of space for story, requires us to uplift as many of those stories as possible in order to shape and reshape public policy. Through RPPL, rural artists are the primary beneficiaries of direct financial support and mentorship for the development of their artistic vision.
The RPPL Goals are to
To support the development of new and original work by rural artists.
To increase the presence and influence of rural artists in regional and national dialogues.
To use digital media production as a tool to support artists in expanding their network and reach.
To create opportunities to shift rural narratives.
On February 17 Sipp Culture will launch an artist inquiry for those interested in learning more about RPPL. Please be on the lookout for it and please sign up for our newsletter to make sure you receive the inquiry. You can sign up for our newsletter on the bottom of our homepage.
RPPL Artist Survey Launch
We want to hear from artists and culture bearers. We are asking you to share your dreams and your work with us. We are launching a residency program to support rural artists.
On February 17 Sipp Culture will launch the Rural Performance / Production Lab Artist Survey for those interested in learning more about RPPL. Please be on the lookout for it and please sign up for our newsletter to make sure you receive the inquiry.
You can sign up for our newsletter on the bottom of our homepage. Don't miss it!
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William Elliott Stone
William Elliott Stone was born in 1879, the eldest son of Elliott Samuel Stone and his second wife, Kate Adams. Though both his parents came originally from the South Hams, and though he was brought up in Dartmouth and raised his own family there, William was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire.
Elliott Samuel Stone was born in the village of South Pool, on the Kingsbridge estuary, where his father, William, was an agricultural labourer. By the time he was thirteen he too was working, being employed as a carter by a local farmer and blacksmith, Edward Cuming. He continued to find work in farming, and by 1871 was the "indoor farm servant" at Buckyette Farm, Littlehempston, working for George Adams and his widowed mother Jane. Also in the household was Sarah Murch, aged 17, from Batson, Salcombe, working as a domestic servant. The following year, Elliott and Sarah were married. Their daughter Grace was born on 10th December 1872 - it would appear she was named after Sarah's younger sister, who had died at about the same time. According to Census records, Grace was born in South Pool.
When Grace was only two, her mother died. Just over two years later, on 24th January 1877, her father Elliott married again. By that time he was living in Stoke Fleming, near Dartmouth. His second wife was Kate Adams, daughter of William Adams, a shoemaker. Kate was born in Chillington, but her family had moved to Stoke Fleming by the time she was seven.
Elliott and Kate's first child, Matilda Jane, was born on 26th May 1877 and baptised on 5th August 1877 in Stoke Fleming. Elliott was by this time working as a gardener. However, soon afterwards, the family moved to Dartmouth, where, sadly, Matilda died, aged only 15 months, and was buried in St Clements, Townstal, on 6th September 1878. The ceremony was conducted by the Vicar of Townstal and St Saviours, Reverend John Priestley Foster.
John Priestley Foster had come to Dartmouth in 1871 and there followed several years of intense controversy as he became involved in several aspects of the town's activities, whilst also attempting to make widely opposed changes to St Saviours. Towards the end of 1878, he appears to have decided to move on - on 8th November, the Dartmouth Chronicle reported that the news that he was intending to move to Yorkshire "has been received with the greatest satisfaction on all sides, and comes like a gleam of sunshine through the dark cloud so long overshadowing us". Two weeks later, it was confirmed that he had resigned. His next living was that of St Mary's in Mirfield, and indeed, he moved there immediately, for he appears signing the St Mary's baptismal registers in December 1878.
It seems that there may have been some connection between Elliott and Kate Stone and John Priestley Foster, for they too moved to Mirfield round about this time. On 17th April 1879, Kate Stone gave birth to twins, William Elliott and Florence Mabel. They were baptised a month later on 18th May in St Mary's by John Priestley Foster. The family's address was given as Town Gate and Elliott's occupation as "groom and gardener".
However, whatever opportunity had brought the family to Yorkshire seems either not to have materialised or was unsuccessful, for a year later they were back in Devon. Elliott had found gardening work in Ringmore, near Stokeinteignhead, on the south side of the Teign. But here, sadly, they lost Florence Annie, buried aged 18 months in Stokeinteignhead, the day after Christmas Day, 1880. The 1881 Census recorded the family at a cottage in Stokeinteignhead. Elliott's occupation was recorded as "groom and gardener"; Kate was caring for her stepdaughter Grace, aged eight, and William, aged one.
Their connection with Reverend Priestley Foster appears not to have been entirely lost, however, for they named their next child, another boy, partly for him. Alfred John Priestley Stone was born on 16th August 1881 and baptised in Stokeinteignhead on 2nd October 1881. Very soon after, however, Elliott Stone died suddenly in Exeter. He was taken home to South Pool to be buried on 23rd November 1881.
Kate's parents, William and Maria Adams, and their family had in the meantime moved to Dartmouth - by the time of the 1881 Census, they were living in Crowther's Hill. Perhaps for this reason, Kate returned to Dartmouth after Elliott's death. In 1888 she gave birth to another daughter, Emma Olive, baptised on 4th August 1892 at St Saviours. The 1891 Census recorded Kate and her three children - William, Alfred and Emma - living in Crowthers Hill, fairly near her mother, by then widowed. Grace had left home by this time and was working in domestic service in Plymouth. Kate sustained her family by working as a charwoman, as did her mother. In 1894, a fourth daughter was born, Edith May Ford Stone. She was privately baptised on 3rd May 1895 and died shortly afterward. A fifth daughter, Gladys Irene, was born the following year.
In 1901, Kate was still living in Crowthers Hill, fairly close to her mother, and working as a charwoman. Living with her was her son Alfred, now working as a general labourer, and her two surviving daughters, Emma and Gladys, still of school age at twelve and four. She was also looking after a fosterchild, Reginald Kerswell, aged five. William, however, had left home. On 29th April 1900, at St Petrox, Dartmouth, he married Hannah Jane Weatherdon. Hannah was the daughter of Frederick Weatherdon, one of the pilots in Dartmouth Harbour, and had been born and brought up in Dartmouth.
At the time of his marriage William was recorded as a sailor, and later that year was involved in an accident leading to the death of one of his crewmates. The Dartmouth Chronicle of 17th August 1900 reported:
Yachting Fatality at Southampton
Narrow escape of two Dartmouth men
An alarming occurrence, in which three members of the crew of the steam yacht Australia (Mr Gardiner) lying off Southampton, were concerned, and which resulted in one of the three losing his life and the other two having an extremely narrow escape from a like fate, happened near the Town Quay, Southampton. The three men were Charles Thompson, steward; Henry Kemp, engineer; and William Stone, seaman, all of the Australia. The two latter belonged to Dartmouth and the former to Exmouth. They had been on shore for the evening and arrived .... at the Town Quay ... where their boat was moored, ready for the return journey to their ship, about 11.30. The boat capsized ... Police Constable G Richards ... heard their shouts for help ... on arriving near the steps he saw Stone swimming towards him and assisted him on to the quay. Stone said "Look out for my mates" ... the constable saw another man struggling ... Kemp ... Some men in a boat who happened to be near ... assisted by Richards ... took [Kemp] out of the water and got him ashore ... he appeared quite lifeless [but] regained consciousness and was sent to the Infirmary. In the meantime the body of Thompson had been recovered ..."
At the inquest, William stated that:
...Between 11 and 12 he went down to his boat lying at the Town Quay and got into it. The engineer Harry Kemp and the deceased followed almost immediately. They shoved off, and he (witness) got the crutch from the bottom of the boat and shipped it. The next thing he knew was that the boat gave a lurch and they were all in the water. Witness found somebody on top of him. He went down rather deep and when he came up saw the steps and swam for them. When he landed he saw the engineer laid out. They were all three sober.
A doctor gave evidence that Charles Thompson had died due to a heart attack while in the water, and the Coroner recorded that the boat was considered unsafe, "being narrow and crank". The jury recorded a verdict accordingly.
William (as "Elliott Stone") and Hannah were recorded in the 1901 Census living in Above Town, Dartmouth. But, in an odd parallel with his own father's life, he too lost his first wife at a young age. Hannah died on 26th November 1901, aged only 28, at their home at Ivy Bank Cottage. She was buried at Longcross on 1st December. It appears that there were no children of the marriage.
William married again a little over a year later, on 19th January 1903, this time at the parish church in Strete. His second wife was Ethel Eliza Prout, the younger daughter of John James Prout, a labourer, and his wife Harriet Steer. Ethel had also lost her father at a young age - he had died before she was two. At the time of the 1901 Census, Ethel was in domestic service at the Vicarage in Blackawton, and her employer, Reverend Isaac Bonsall, conducted the marriage ceremony.
The couple's first child, Herbert William, was born on 24th July 1904 at the couple's home in Newcomen Road, and baptised at St Saviour's on 6th November 1904. At the time of the birth, William was still working as a yachtsman - however, in the baptism record, he was described as a labourer. Perhaps he was aware, after his brush with drowning in Southampton, that a more secure occupation would be preferable, with a growing family to provide for. The births of four more children, all girls, followed in fairly quick succession: Freda May, in 1906; Edith Grace, in 1908: Ethel Kate, in 1909; and Beatrice Mary, in 1910. At the time of the 1911 Census, the family were living in Floral Cottage, Board School Steps; but William was not at home on Census night. By then, he had obtained work at the Royal Naval College as a "cook's mate", and was recorded amongst the servants and ratings at the College.
William's mother Kate still lived in Crowther's Hill and still worked as a charwoman. His younger brother Alfred also worked as a yachtsman; and Gladys, though only 14, was already working in domestic service. Kate's foster son Reginald was an errand boy for a Dartmouth grocer.
Before William went off to war, he and Ethel had two more children - Wilfred John was born in 1912, and Sydney George after the war had started, in 1914. Their youngest child, William Frederick, was born on 18th May 1916, probably just a little before William was called up - see below.
Like so many, William's service papers have not survived. However, the name "Wm E Stone" is included in a list appearing in the Dartmouth Chronicle of 10th December 1915 of "Dartmouth men who have enlisted under the group system". Also appearing in that list was William's brother Alfred. (William's name also appeared again in a similar list of 24th December 1915). These were men enlisting under the "Derby scheme" - officially, the "Group Scheme". For the background to this last phase of voluntary recruitment, see the story of Thomas Charles, also recruited under the scheme.
Men enlisting under the scheme could choose either to serve immediately, or to attest with an obligation to come if called up later on. Attested men were split into two categories, single and married, and each was subdivided into 23 groups according to age. The last day of registration for the scheme was 15th December 1915 - as William's name appears in the Chronicle of 10th December, he clearly came forward a little before the final deadline. Alfred's service papers have survived and show that he attested on 8th December 1915 - he and William may well have attested together.
Men accepted for service and choosing to defer it were transferred into the Army Reserve and sent back home until they were called up. The youngest men were called up first. Thus, Alfred, born in 1881, was in Group 17. Although the planned mobilisation date for this group was 18th March 1916, his service record shows he was mobilised earlier, on 24th February 1916, to join the Inland Water Transport Corps.
At the time the Derby Scheme was introduced, a commitment was made that the youngest married men would not be called up until all 23 age groups of single men were called up. But as fewer single men came forward under the Derby Scheme than the Government hoped, conscription of single men was introduced under the first Military Service Act on 27th January 1916. From that date, all unmarried or widowed British men, between the ages of 19 and 41, were deemed to have enlisted on 2nd March 1916. The last batch of single men (other than 18 year olds) were called up under the Derby Scheme in March, in parallel with the first men to be summoned under conscription.
But the recruiting returns were still insufficient to maintain the Army at the agreed size or to provide replacements for the casualties expected in the summer offensive. Also, the level of exemptions was running high. March 1916 saw the call-up of younger married men under the Derby Scheme, leading to protests that this failed to honour the Government's previous commitment, and that such men should not be sent to the front when all the single men had not come forward. The Government's response was to introduce general conscription by extending the Military Service Act to married men, and lowering the starting age to 18, on 25th May 1916.
William was a member of the Devonshire Regiment at the time of his death. The Regiment's Medal Rolls show that William joined the 1st Battalion and do not list any other unit. His service number was 26978; some indication of when he may have been mobilised may be derived from looking at men joining the Devonshire Regiment with service numbers close to William's, for whom some service papers have survived. For example, numbers 26957 and 26987, both about the same age as William and both married, were mobilised on 15th and 14th June 1916 respectively. (Unfortunately, neither was posted to the 1st Battalion, so their subsequent experience does not provide a guide).
The 1st Battalion, as a regular army Battalion, had been mobilised at the outbreak of war, going to France on 21st April 1914. They had fought at the Battle of the Aisne in 1914, at Ypres in 1915, and on the Somme in 1916. For their experiences to the Battle of Morval, on 25th September 1916, see the story of George Peters.
According to the Regimental Historian, "from the beginning of October till the spring offensive opened in April 1917, the Devons enjoyed relative quiet". That said, they were still undertaking regular tours in the front line, and sustaining casualties. See the story of Cyril Privett, killed in action on 30th January 1917. During this period, they were in the Cuinchy sector, where they remained until the middle of March.
If William was mobilised around the middle of June 1916, then he most probably arrived in France sometime during the latter part of 1916, and with the Battalion a few weeks later, after spending time at the Base Depot. See the story of Charles Tucker, who enlisted at about the same time and was probably mobilised at about the same time. The Battalion's War Diary records that, between 2nd October and 9th December, a total of 297 reinforcements (other ranks) joined from No 2 Infantry Base Depot in Rouen, mostly in small parties ranging in size from one to 32, though two larger groups, of 110 and 63, arrived on 9th and 13th October. Unfortunately, the War Diary says nothing about whether or not these were trained men, or anything about their previous units, reporting only the numbers and dates of arrival.
However, on 13th December 1916, a large party of 197 reinforcements arrived from the Base Depot. Special arrangements were made for this large group - it was kept as a separate company for training, and known as No 5 Company, moving to billets at Bethune, and remaining there during the periods in which the rest of the Battalion was in the trenches.
Four small parties of reinforcements arrived from the Base Depot between 20th December 1916 - 3rd January 1917, totalling 30, but they were not posted to No 5 Company, suggesting perhaps that they were already trained and could be absorbed into Nos 1-4 Companies quickly.
On 7th January 1917, 100 men from No 5 Company were posted into the other four companies of the Battalion "as trained men"; the rest were sent to the 95th Infantry Brigade Depot at Oblinghem for further instruction. On three days during the next two weeks, a further 102 other ranks joined from the Base Depot, and were sent to No 5 Company at Oblinghem.
On 18th January, 86 men (presumably most of the remainder who had arrived on 13th December) were absorbed as trained men from the Brigade Depot into Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4 Companies; on 6th February, a further 50 reinforcements arrived from Rouen, and were sent to Oblinghem. On 12th February 1917, 46 men completed their training to join the front line companies, followed by 45 men on 24th February; however, 44 men came back into to No 5 Company from the front line companies for further training. A similar exchange between the training company and the front line companies occurred on 3rd March, involving 25 men leaving and 19 men arriving. Finally, all the remaining members of No 5 Company joined the Battalion on 17th March 1917, when they were in billets at Raimbert, presumably being fully absorbed into the Battalion at this point.
The arrangements made for training during this period suggest that the large group arriving in December, plus those arriving between 7th January and 6th February, were new recruits - so perhaps William may have been one of these. However, further small parties of reinforcements continued to arrive from the Base Depot right up to the eve of the action on 23rd April - eleven arrived on 2nd April, five on 5th April, another eleven on 14th April, as the Battalion went into the front line east of the Vimy Ridge, and sixteen on 22nd April. Again, the War Diary is silent about the background of these new arrivals.
The next phase of the Battle of Arras: Subsidiary attack on La Coulotte, 23rd April 1917
The 1st Battalion remained in billets at Raimbert, west of Bethune, until 7th April, when they began a two day march south towards Arras. The 5th Division was in reserve for the start of the Battle of Arras, so the Devons were not brought down to the area until close to the date of the initial attack. For the background to the Battle, and a brief account of the action on 9th April, see the story of Cyril Stafford. The Devons were held in readiness at Villers-au-Bois, but were not required.
From 14th - 19th April, they held the new front line east of the village of Givenchy-en-Gohelle, facing a heavily fortified German defensive line running from the Souchez river through the village of La Coulotte, south of Lens, to the village of Avion. They sustained fairly heavy casualties during this period, being in continuing contact with the enemy. On 19th April they were relieved from the front line, but four days later returned to the same area in the attack on La Coulotte, part of the subsidiary action launched by First Army in support of the larger attack taking place to the east of Arras by Third Army. The attack went in at 4.45am on 23rd April and was a costly failure - it is described in the story of Alfred Charles Partridge, also lost the same day.
La Coulotte, from the history of the 5th Division in the Great War
The 5th Division's History comments that casualty evacuation was very difficult, and that the routes were heavily shelled, causing many further casualties. This may explain the reports about what had happened to William after the Battle. His name first appeared in a list of wounded from the Devon Regiment published in a casualty list in the Western Times on 28th and 29th May 1917, along with that of Alfred Charles Partridge. The casualty list also included names of men from the Regiment who had been killed, and, although of course the list did not say so, these men were almost all from the 1st Battalion and their dates of death (as we now know) were almost all 23rd April 1917. At that stage, only two names from the Regiment were listed as "missing".
On 9th June 1917 a further list was published in the Western Times of Devon Regiment men declared as "missing" - again, the vast majority of these were from the 1st Battalion and subsequent records show them as having been killed in action (or presumed to have been) on 23rd April 1917. One of these was a third Dartmouth man, Charles Tucker.
On 15th June, a third list was published in the Western Times listing several names from the Devon Regiment, including both William Elliott Stone and Alfred Charles Partridge, as "previously reported wounded, now reported wounded and missing".
It seems that William's body was never found (or if it was found, was never identified). The Soldiers' Effects Register records his death as "23rd April 1917 officially accepted previously reported missing". The Medal Rolls also similarly record "death regarded 23rd April 1917".
William is thus commemorated in France on the Arras Memorial, which records the names of almost 35,000 men dying in the Arras sector between spring 1916 and early August 1918, who have no known grave.
As one of the 579,206 casualties in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, William is also commemorated on the new memorial at Notre Dame de Lorette, "The Ring of Memory".
Ring of Memory memorial at Notre Dame de Lorette
In Dartmouth, William is commemorated on the Town War Memorial and the St Saviours War Memorial Board.
Dartmouth Town Memorial
St Saviour's Memorial Board
War Diary of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment January 1916 - November 1917 available from the National Archives, fee payable for download, reference WO 95/1579/3
The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918, compiled by C T Atkinson, publ. 1926, Exeter and London
The Fifth Division in the Great War, by Brig Gen A H Hussey CB CMG and Major D S Inman, publ. 1921, London, accessible online from archive.org
The Arras Offensive 9th April - 16th June 1917
The Battle of Arras: an Overview
Bedfordshire at War
Forenames: William Elliott
Service Number: 26978
Military Unit: 1st Bn Devonshire Regiment
Date of Death: 23 Apr 1917
Cause of Death: Killed in action
Action Resulting in Death: Battle of Arras
Place of Death: Near Arras, France
Place of Burial: Commemorated Arras Memorial France
On Another Memorial? Yes
Name of Other Memorial: "The Ring of Memory" at Notre Dame de Lorette
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What's the story behind the Human Trafficking lesson?
Human Trafficking is considered to be the fastest growing crime in the world. The number of victims is unknown but certainly in the millions, with millions more are at risk simply because they want a better life for their families and can be vulnerable to the false promises they are told.
We produced this disc after we got talking to Corinne Sandenbergh (a native South African) in a UK café in 2008. Corinne is the director of STOP, a non-profit working to counter Human Trafficking. She challenged us to apply our DVD model to a lesson outline she supplied that would alert potential victims to the dangers of being trafficked. This lesson was launched by Cherie Blair at the British High Commissioner's residence in Pretoria in 2009, courtesy of the Right Hon Paul Boateng.
This event was a catalyst for the creation of the National Freedom Network, a nationwide group of agencies in South Africa that was created by a team of volunteers and led by Justine Demmer.
The key message in the DVD is "YOU ARE NOT FOR SALE". It raises awareness of the risk of trafficking, gives key information on what you can do if you suspect traffickers are operating in your area, such as what questions to ask, and also gives information on who you can call for more help and advice.
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Extend DXD Buyback Program for another $1m [Draft Proposal]
dxDAO
Powers September 14, 2021, 1:43am #1
Below is draft text for a $1m extension of the buyback program. Some discussion points in the next reply. This will be a topic on Wednesday's governance discussion.
The DXD Buyback Program was passed by REP holders in May of this year. Since then, 5,230 DXD have been purchased on mainnet and xDai for an average price of 0.144 ETH/DXD. Using the USD price at the time of purchase, $1.9m of DXD has been purchased. This is just over 10% of the DXD circulating supply.
The buyback program was updated in June to increase the slippage tolerance of trades as well as clarify the accounting measures. The buyback program was then extended for another $1m. The total amount of DXD purchased is quickly approaching the limit placed on it by the previous proposal and soft community consensus has demonstrated support for another $1m extension.
Accounting for the 5,230 DXD repurchased, the outstanding DXD represents a market cap of $24.1m - still comfortably below the $46m in ETH in the DXdao treasury and the $8m in the buyback reserve. The buyback program is intended to address this discrepancy and acquire an undervalued asset.
The proposed DXD token model that has been embraced by the community intends to upgrade the DXD bonding curve and shift to a different buyback method for DXD. While the community moves toward a new model, the methods outlined in the DXD Buyback Program and purchases through the GP Relayer on xDai and Mainnet enable DXdao to drive value to DXD holders now.
This proposal extends the DXD Buyback Program for another $1m to $3m total under the same conditions outlined in the original Buyback Program signal proposal, the parameter update and the first extension. This proposal further stipulates that DXD or xDXD in the GP Relayer does not contribute to the count of DXD circulating supply.
These and other DXD purchases through the Buyback Program have contributed to the community's intention to use the buyback reserve to purchase DXD. ETH from DXdao's general treasury can be used in lieu of the buyback reserve until the DXD token contract is upgraded and that ETH is recovered. In total, the buyback reserve has 2,499 ETH and so far, 756 ETH has been used to purchase the 5,230 DXD purchased through the buyback program.
Risks and considerations
The program will take place on xDai, a sidechain with less security properties than Ethereum. The Buyback Program has been running for four months with few problems; the GP Relayer has worked to complete the purchases at the market price. There is a concern that Gnosis Protocol v1 on xDai will have limited support, but DXdao community members are striving to maintain the network of solvers.
DXdao has already spent almost $2m repurchasing DXD. This has increased the price of DXD relative to ETH but it still falls below the book value of ETH in the treasury.
Governance Discussion, September 15
Some items to discuss:
This proposal text extends the program and also explicitly states that the previous purchases should be counted towards the use of the buyback reserve to purchase DXD. This would further signal DXdao's intention to purchase DXD and pave the way for a new DXD token model. Feedback on the language? It could be more/less explicit.
This proposal does not alter the buyback size limit to 25% of Average Daily Trading Volume. We did compile additional on-chain data - specifically 1inch limit orders - which provides a small boost to the daily volume. Changing the 25% is open to discussion but not clear how much increasing the % would make a difference vs. increasing the daily volume
We could extend it for more than $1m? The last extension passed on August 2, so an additional $2m might reduce some governance overhead. On the other hand, the $$$ limit presents an opportunity to adjust or clarify the program.
We should start to think about (not in this proposal):
Further defining the 'book value of the treasury'. SWPR token? What about xDai base and Swapr LP tokens?
Automated the purchases under certain conditions. A bit heavier lift, but is there a way to automate the buyback mechanism. Perhaps this could come when the token contract is upgraded, but it would be good to start thinking of the conditions the spur a DXD buyback (product revenue, as well as the value of the treasury)
Powers September 21, 2021, 4:55pm #3
This has been submitted and boosted on xDai:
alchemy.daostack.io
Alchemy | DAOstack
Alchemy - A decentralized application for budgeting, collaboration, and DAO management, powered by DAOstack.
and Mainnet:
hughesconnor September 25, 2021, 11:44am #4
ETH from DXdao's general treasury can be used in lieu of the buyback reserve until the DXD token contract is upgraded and that ETH is recovered. In total, the buyback reserve has 2,499 ETH and so far, 756 ETH has been used to purchase the 5,230 DXD purchased through the buyback program.
My only concern is that we need more clarity on what this means.
If the ETH is going to be recovered from the buyback reserve to the general treasury, then the DXD purchased under the buyback program would therefore not belong directly to the DAO's general treasury, but to DXD holders specifically, right? As it's been purchased using 'their' buyback reserve.
If the buybacks were done from the DAO's general treasury without the view to recovering the ETH from the DXD holders' buyback reserve, then it's clean enough and the DAO now owns the DXD to do with as it pleases, and the DXD holders still own the 2499 ETH.
If the DAO recovers the ETH from the buyback reserve, then the buyback reserve now owns DXD instead. We'd then need to come up with a way to distribute this DXD to current holders, as it's effectively theirs and not the DAO's.
On the one hand, doing it immediately via snapshot would likely cause a lot of selling pressure due to the airdrop effect, and leave us back where we started. On the other hand, is it fair to impose restrictions on how DXD holders access this value?
I don't really have answers, but just wanted to highlight that if we have a soft consensus that it's the buyback reserve doing the repurchasing in the end once all is said and done, then the purchased DXD does belong to DXD holders and not the DAO's general treasury, which creates an issue of how to allow DXD holders to realise that value.
Note: I'm not advocating that this is a reason to stop or vote against this proposal; I think the buybacks should go ahead, I think everyone is pretty much in agreement there. Just that we need to start thinking about this, and really clarify who is doing the buying, and next steps given that.
Governance discussion, Sep 29 2021
Arhat September 25, 2021, 12:20pm #5
That is an interesting suggestion, however as you pointed out, distributing DXD to holders is effectively bringing it back in circulation, which invalidates the buyback. DXD is a utility token, and it is intended to play a central part in the DAO governance v2 framework that is about to be implemented. The token is not a sercurity and the DAO cannot pay dividents in any form. Whether the ETH came from the treasury or the buyback reserve is the same, as the buyback reserve was never intended to distribute tokens after buyback, just reduce circulating supply. There are probably other interesting takes as well, and it is always nice to consider them all. Community members are welcome and should fee free to share any.
hughesconnor September 25, 2021, 3:26pm #6
My issue comes in that it's been communicated before that the 2,499 ETH reserve is directly owned by DXD holders, and not the DAO's general treasury. Whereas the general treasury is owned by REP holders for the benefit of DXD holders, much like a trust would operate.
So, if the reserve is being used to buy back DXD right now for the pure motive of reducing circulating supply, then we can assume that it will remain out of circulation, untouchable by the DAO (as it is not the DAO's, it belongs to DXD holders directly), i.e. burned, whether sent to the burn address or not, unless for whatever reason DXD holders wanted to reintroduce it.
If there's then a large token mint as proposed in the new Gov 2 plan (which I'm not opposed to in principle, but is useful as an example of how the buyback's effects are diminished for a current DXD holder), then from a DXD holder's POV, they've spent their buyback reserve reducing the supply, only for a significant portion of that to be re-minted and handed to REP holders. i.e. the circulating supply, once all is said and done, won't have really reduced that much. Instead, DXD holders are indirectly transferring (a significant portion of) the only asset they truly have a claim to (2,499 ETH), to REP holders in exchange for Gov 2 voting rights.
I was originally under the impression that the buybacks were happening from the general treasury with no view to touch the funds in the DXD contract for this purpose, and that the DAO was just buying an undervalued asset off its own back. If it's in fact the circulating DXD holders doing the buybacks, then it makes much less sense in my view. As you said, dividends aren't possible, so the buybacks benefit DXD currently minted only as much as unminted DXD; in other words, the actual benefit is diluted for current holders and will mean-revert as new supply is minted.
Also, wouldn't a vote among solely DXD holders be required to commit these funds to some use? Unless I'm mistaken and the buyback reserve is also owned by REP holders for the benefit of DXD holders?
Tammy September 29, 2021, 9:47pm #7
Hi @hughsconnor,
Really interesting points. To my recollection, the buyback was first viewed just as you describe it here:
hughesconnor:
I was originally under the impression that the buybacks were happening from the general treasury with no view to touch the funds in the DXD contract for this purpose, and that the DAO was just buying an undervalued asset off its own back.
Then in subsequent meetings and conversations, the buyback reserve was raised as a possible source for.the funds. The funds are referred to as the "Buyback Reserve," after all. I'd like to see what documentation the DXdao community can locate as to the initial intent of the Buyback Reserve when the bonding curve was initiated. That would add some clarity on the purpose(s) of those funds and how they should be used.
If not for the buyback, based on the reasons you raised, what would be a good purpose? If there are already ideas on this, we should solidify them.
JohnKelleher October 3, 2021, 6:50pm #8
I think the core of the argument in using the 2499 ETH in the bonding curve's buyback reserve revolves around a change in the token model. The bonding curve is programmed to provide a sell price for DXD based on how much ETH is in its buyback reserve. As currently programmed in the bonding curve, this ETH is not claimable by DXD holders, i.e. it can't be distributed out to existing DXD holders. Its only purpose is to provide a place to sell DXD into, i.e. providing a price floor. I think a way to describe this model would be a "passive buyback" model, where if the market price of DXD drops below the sell price of the bonding curve, then it would profitable to sell DXD into the curve. With the initiation of the DXD buyback program, which I would think of as an "active buyback" model, the question was raised as to what should happen to the ETH in the bonding curve's buyback reserve. If switching to an active buyback model I think it follows that the ETH in the buyback reserve should then be used to actively buyback DXD from the open market. Now, to keep consistent with the intent of the bonding curve, the DXD bought should probably be burned, as that is what would have happened to any DXD sold into the bonding curve. |
Government Shutdown Delays Southwest Flights to Hawaii
Flex Air January 27, 2019 Commercial Aviation, Jet Charter, Travel
Southwest Airlines had hoped to begin flights to Hawaii early this year, however, the government shutdown has delayed the process.
Delays in the Program
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires certification for long, over-water flights. Chief Operating Officer, Mike Van de Ven says, "until the government shutdown ends we are at a total standstill.
Southwest is unable to attain the extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS) certification with FAA employees furloughed.
Getting the approval from the FAA for the detailed procedures of the ETOPS certification is the most time-consuming part of the process, however, Southwest has already accomplished this step.
"The FAA has approved our program, it's ready to go," says Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly. "We only have to demonstrate that we can execute that programme. It's just a shame we are where we are because of the shutdown."
Expected Launch Date
Originally, it was expected to have the Hawaii flights start up on February 1. However, Kelly estimates that it will take about six to eight weeks from when the FAA resumes work, to when flights will launch.
Southwest could be flying to Hawaii by March, but to say they will fly in February is probably unobtainable at this point in the shutdown.
A realistic estimate for their launch date is actually going to be in the second quarter, which runs from April through June.
Shutdown Impacts on Southwest
The US government partially shut down on December 22. Southwest is estimating a negative impact of $10 to $15 million on revenue in January as a result of the shutdown.
Calling the shutdown "maddening", Kelly warns that a prolonged shutdown could derail their near-term revenue outlook for the first quarter.
Even in the competitive market, Southwest is the largest carrier at Baltimore/Washington airport, which is only one of three airports servicing the greater Washington DC area.
In Hawaii, Southwest is expected to serve Honolulu on Oahu, Kahului on Maui, Lihue on Kauai, and Kona on the Big Island. There will also be inter-island flights between those cities in Hawaii. This partial government shutdown will continue to have unfavorable consequences for everyone involved in the aviation industry, including Southwest and their attempt to reach Hawaii.
Alternative Options
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Avoid long waits, lines, and frustrations by calling us to set up a charter. Our charters are not only customizable to suit your specific needs, but they are also a lot more affordable than most realize.
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Art, politics, anti-semitism and anti-Corbynism
Published in Visual Arts
Nick Wright discusses, art, anti-semitism, and anti-Corbynism.
Labour is weathering a co-ordinated campaign which combines criticism of Corbyn's policies and persona with an intensified drive to brand any criticism of the murderous policies pursued by Israel's rulers with anti-semitism.
I was once branded an antisemite. It was the during the Thatcher/Major years and I was editing the newspaper of the trade union for executive civil servants. Our cartoonist, the brilliant, award winning Frank Boyle, drew a series of strips which called out the Tories for their dogma-driven privatisation policies. One depicted the Cabinet as bloodthirsty pirates of a distinctly unsavoury disposition — the chief among them a swarthy, hook-nosed, carbuncled cutlass-wielding figure in a striped vest, battered pirate hat.
A flood of letters arrived, a good proportion using strikingly similar phrases, rather obviously co-ordinated and some clearly unfamiliar with the actual cartoon and more generally concerned at the left-wing character of the union's policies. To my surprise I was accused of publishing anti-semitic images. In discussion with one or two of the more reasonable of my correspondents we were able to agree that the conflation of stereotypical Cornish pirates with the anti-semitic depiction of Jews was too far fetched to be taken as evidence of intent. But it was a useful illustration of how an image can possess an ideological power that transcends both literal meaning and the intent of its creator, the context of its creation and thus have an impact on an audience already sensitised by their own ideological position and their life experiences.
This was a useful experience in my next job working at the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight.
It is in the light of this experience and after several decades of anti racist and anti fascist activity that I approach the question of the now-destroyed East End mural that is the pivot on which the latest assault on Jeremy Corbyn turns.
Less I am accused of gratuitously circulated anti-semitic images I can claim that in four years at art school; two years specialist art teacher training and three years of post graduate research as an art historian that I encountered many medieval, Renaissance and modern art and design objects imbued with anti-semitic notions. These artefacts possessed a wide currency in the times in which they were created but nevertheless remain the object of critical scrutiny. We must bring the same approach to the examination of the mural depicted here. Called Freedom for Humanity it was painted by the Los Angeles-based graffiti artist Kalen Ockerman, also known also as Mear One.
We can describe the formal features of the mural thus: Against an apocalyptic background that includes rather ambiguously crafted elements of industrial production and power generation sit six elderly business-suited men playing what appears to be Monopoly. The surface on which they are playing rests on the backs of crouching, naked, possibly androgynous figures and includes a pile of currency notes and tokens that signify industrial production, oil extraction, property ownership and, perhaps, in the case of a miniature Statue of Liberty, political values.
To the left foreground a man is carrying a poster placard that proclaims 'The New World Order is the enemy of humanity' while his left arm is raised to a clenched fist. To the right a melancholy mother holds her baby.
Rising above the central group is a pyramid and all-seeing eye, sometimes taken to signify Freemasonry and more universally recognised as an element in the design of US dollar bills.
It is conventional to catalogue the formal features of a work and the processes used. We can see that the artist works in a contemporary medium using commercially available saturated spray colours. We know from basic research and observation that the artist is proficient in this medium and a high degree of preparatory work and a measure of expert draughtsmanship and technical expertise is evident. This conclusion is supported by a film, available on social media, which shows the process underway.
So, having described the content how do we analyse its meaning?
We can of course, go with our immediate, subjective impressions. This clearly is what many people have done. Judging by the social media discussion some have even ventured an opinion without actually looking closely at the work. But to understand more fully we need to ask what is the painting about.
One way is to take its title. Freedom for humanity has a clear and transparent political meaning In a game of chance and skill six white men dispose of power and wealth while the oppressed and the propertyless support the structures which permit this disparity of means.
But this is not enough. Context is all important. As it is public art we already know something about the audience, we know it was made in 2012 and destroyed by the local authority. We know who made it. We know from the BBC report at the time that the artist said his artwork was not targeting Jews.
We need to locate the mural in relation to other work, including that of the artist himself, the local and global politics of its production and display and we need to understand how the public discourse around the work was originally constructed and how it has been reconstructed in the present moment.
This takes us to the contested meaning of the painting and the significance of the central group. The Times on 24 March this year reported that Jeremy Corbyn has been forced to apologise after initially defending his apparent support for "a mural depicting Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor."
The day before The Guardian had said the that mural pictured several "apparently Jewish bankers" playing a game of Monopoly. The Guardian was on the same wavelength as the Daily Telegraph which reported that Jeremy Corbyn had questioned a London council's decision to destroy an antisemitic mural "which depicted a group of Jewish bankers counting money on the backs of ethnic minorities."
A more careful, or perhaps better informed Jewish Chronicle was better informed about the identities of the six. It said the 'controversial' artwork depicted a group of businessmen and bankers sitting around a Monopoly-style board and counting money.
At the time, in 2012, there was relatively limited coverage of the mural's destruction. Reportedly, on Facebook, the backbench MP Jeremy Corbyn had suggested that the artist was in good company. "Rockefeller destroyed Diego Rivera mural because it includes a picture of Lenin" he said. A Labour spokesman at that point claimed Corbyn was standing up for free speech.
It is unclear whether Corbyn – who is fluent in Spanish and very well-informed about Latin American history, politics and culture — was mobilising his pre-existing cultural knowledge or if he knew something of the mural's content. However, the connection here artistic freedom and Rockefeller, who is one of the (non Jewish) figures depicted in the East End mural.
In 1933 the Mexican communist painter Diego Rivera was commissioned to paint frescos on the lobby of the Rockefeller building in New York. He titled them The Frontier of Ethical Evolution and The Frontier of Material Development, representing capitalism and socialism. When the patron, Nelson Rockefeller, pressed Rivera to remove images of Lenin and a Soviet May Day scene Rivera refused and the mural was painted over. Rivera recreated the artwork in Mexico as Man, Controller of the Universe.
There is little critical comparison between Rivera's work and the contemporary mural. Working in plaster and more translucent media Rivera deployed a rich and subtle colour palette, complex imagery, a vast cast of characters and drew upon a rich heritage of political understanding which articulated popular and revolutionary currents of thought.
The technical differences in production are clear enough. Both are public art, both have an avowedly political content, both are didactic. However in scope and sophistication the works could not be more dissimilar.
Given the highly politicised context of the present controversy this gives us a handle on the kind of criteria we must apply in evaluating Ockerman's work
Two immediate issues arise. Firstly, are the bankers and business men all or predominately Jewish? Secondly, in the light of the answer to this question is the depiction of the characters anti-semitic?
To quote Ockerman: "I came to paint a mural that depicted the elite banker cartel known as the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, the ruling class elite few, the Wizards of Oz. They would be playing a board game of monopoly on the backs of the working class. The symbol of the Free Mason Pyramid rises behind this group and behind that is a polluted world of coal burning and nuclear reactors. I was creating this piece to inspire critical thought and spark conversation."
We have to take him at his word. The problem is that the iconography draws on a very restricted set of references and these references are, in themselves, problematic. Set aside the passivity and subordination with which the oppressed are depicted. Look instead at the central figures who are depicted as distinctive types, painted with a clear reference, if distorted, to real historical protagonists.
Even if only two of these six bourgeois, Warburg and Rothschild, are Jewish we still need to make a judgement about the character and currency of their depiction. The draughtsmanship clearly exaggerates the distinctive features of all six men. The problem is that exaggerated depictions of Jews are created, disseminated and understood in a historically defined context that includes a powerful, even dominant, discourse that draws upon the long traditions of antisemitism embedded in the dominant ideology and expressed, over the centuries, in the dominant visual culture, including both traditional art forms, religion, politics, popular culture and mass media.
That these traditions are currently more diffused than hitherto and that today, for example, Islamaphobic narratives are more virulent and produce more dramatically dangerous consequences than does contemporary anti semitism is no justification for a lack of vigilance.
In truth, the subterranean narratives around notions of the Illuminati, Freemasonry and bourgeois conspiracies cannot, in much popular imagination, be disentangled from deeply suspect discourses in which alien, Semitic and covert elites are the controlling forces in our lives.
Such notions run exactly counter to the kind of materialist analysis that take the real and existing features of contemporary class society and seek to reveal their workings. State monopoly capitalism operates at vastly more profound levels and bourgeois hegemony is maintained by vastly greater systems of ideological domination than are illuminated by Ockerman's mural or accessible through his restricted political imagination.
Inevitably, this mural was going to understood in the context of existing traditions. If Jeremy Corbyn had not risen to his present stature this mural would have been long forgotten.
The truth is that neither its formal construction nor its artistry, neither its political language nor its iconography is articulated with sufficient levels of complexity and sophistication. It simply collapses, without sufficient theoretical or ideological underpinnings, into an inversion of its creator's avowed purpose.
This is bad art and worse politics.
When, five years later the long-forgotten facts around this painting's destruction are weaponised in a new coup against Labour's popular realignment, we can only marvel that the theoretical poverty of these latter-day art critics is matched by their political hypocrisy.
I am reluctant to criticise Jeremy Corbyn who is the most transparently honest and principled leader of the Labour Party in decades. It is true that his 2012 defence of artistic freedom might have been expressed with more circumspection and today a more robust defence might counter some of his more unprincipled opponents. But the unceasing assault on him is so obviously manufactured that I suspect its effect has a limit and that itself has more traction with a metropolitan and political elite than with broader masses of people.
It is possible to discover in the mountains of social media data instances of clear anti semitic intent. More common are maladroit formulations, poorly constructed arguments, ignorant and lazy conflations of terms that are logically distinct along with arguments that reflect various levels of conscious and unconscious bias. The diligent will find examples of trolling that have their origins in the crude public language in some sectors as well as provocations of even more dubious origin.
We can be sure that one agency or another is searching for any clumsy formulation or ill advised comment that can be weaponised against Labour. That no such diligence is directed at the Tory party or the media that serves bourgeois interest is clear enough indication that this is a project with a clear purpose.
The many hundreds of thousands of Labour folk know this. Many millions more sense the artifice entailed in this campaign. It is instructive that in working class Britain, which by and large is not deeply involved in this controversy, popular sentiment senses that Corbyn is the target. How else to account for the reports that crowds at boxing contests and football matches are breaking out in chants of Jeremy Corbyn's name.
Already the spurt in Labour (and Momentum) membership is taken by more intransigent zionist opinion a proof itself of a wide currency of anti semitism. Similarly, Jeremy Corbyn's Seder night feast with a group of irreverent young Jews in his constituency itself is weaponised. Associating with the wrong kind of Jews is also anti semitic it seems.
The association of Blairite MPs with the campaign being waged by the Board of Deputies (and the more obviously Conservative-linked Jewish Leadership Council) will do them no favours with Labour supporters who know from their own experience just how limited is the purchase of anti semitic ideas in the party and the broader labour movement. Interestingly, the non zionist Jewish Voice for Labour is experiencing a new wave of support.
We cannot disentangle the alarm that the Zionist establishment feels at the success of the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement from this current offensive. Corbyn is the target because he maintains his principled solidarity with the Palestinian cause and remains opposed to the imperial war plans that pivot on Israel's strategy towards it's neighbouring states.
The real danger is that in conflating, for narrowly sectarian political purpose, what is a fairly widely diffused currency of anti semitic ideas with the more poisonous political anti-semitism that exists as a conscious ideology this campaign runs a real danger of reinforcing the latter.
It is not enough to point out that the most reactionary trends in Zionism act on the basis that the existence of anti semitism is the principal validation of their political project. Anti-semitism needs to be confronted at every level — not as a privileged category of political action — but as part of a conscious movement to assert the universality of human values.
Calling out the crude conflation of Zionism with Jewish identity is the basic building block of any project to combat antisemitism. That this necessarily entails a principled criticism of its mirror image in the most virulently reactionary trends in present-day Zionism is a powerful demonstration of dialectical truth.
Why Christianity matters to socialism
James Crossley argues for the importance of the radical Christian tradition as an important resource for the revolutionary transformation of the world.
On becoming leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn envisaged living a society "where we don't pass by on the other side of those people rejected by an unfair welfare system. Instead we reach out to end the scourge of homelessness and desperation that so many people face in our society."
Every since that historic victory, Corbyn has repeatedly used the language of "not passing by on the other side." It is an allusion to the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke's Gospel and one popular among politicians. While David Cameron, Hilary Benn and others have used the parable to promote military intervention in North Africa and the Middle East (think the Good Samaritan violently beating the robbers), Corbyn, unusually for a contemporary politician, has used the parable to attack the scandal of increased homelessness, rough sleeping and the housing crisis.
These contradictory interpretations of a parable attributed to a figure like Jesus are not unusual: revolutionary and reactionary tendencies have always been part of Christianity, perhaps even present in the message of Jesus. The earliest traditions about Jesus have him predicting an imminent theocracy, not all of which would necessarily look progressive to us. It was likely to have been understood as a violent intervention in history, with new hierarchies established and subservient nations put in their place.
Christianity itself would later become integral to the Roman Empire. Some of this was due to changing religious affiliations in the Empire and Christianity adapting itself to Roman power. But it was not entirely alien to a theocratic message present from the beginning.
However, Jesus and his earliest followers' hope for a new divine empire was tied in with stark attacks on the inequality and wealth, some of which were brought into sharper focus by the major building projects and land displacements in Galilee as Jesus was growing up. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus gives us some indication as to what this would have looked like in the case of one such building project, the town of Tiberias:
The new settlers were a promiscuous rabble, no small contingent being Galilean, with such as were drafted from territory subject to him [Herod Antipas] and brought forcibly to the new foundation. Some of these were magistrates. Herod accepted as participants even poor men who were brought in to join the others from any and all places of origin. It was in question whether some were even free beyond cavil. These latter he often and in large bodies liberated and benefited imposing the condition that they should not quit the city, by equipping houses at his own expense and adding new gifts of land. For he knew that this settlement was contrary to the law and tradition of the Jews because Tiberias was built on the site of tombs that had been obliterated, of which there were many there. And our law declares that such settlers are unclean for seven days. - Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.36-38
Jesus seems to have formed an alternative community to one where traditional households had been uprooted by aristocratic demand for greater surplus with a message revealing some awareness of the structural nature of poverty and wealth. The Acts of the Apostles suggests that these revolutionary impulses were kept alive in a community of shared goods that would later inspire Tony Benn in his defence of public ownership against the attacks from New Labour.
We should understand Jesus' teachings in terms of Marx's famous understanding of religion as "an expression of and protest against real wretchedness." In a world where wealth was concentrated among a small aristocratic elite, Jesus was remembered as saying the rich would burn or be excluded from the coming kingdom while the poor would be blessed.
Parables like the Rich Man and Lazarus (where the rich man burns for being rich and the poor man Lazarus is rewarded because he was poor) and sayings such as "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" are in line with other expectations that the wealthy will eventually be overthrown and punished, at least if they did not give up their extreme wealth to those in need.
Pieter Cornelisz van Rijck, Kitchen Interior with the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus, 1610
This was to be, as the Acts of the Apostles note in a different context, turning the world upside down. But warning signs of this future were enacted in the present. People overcharging for sacrificial animals were the focus of Jesus' ire as he was remembered for overturning the tables of the moneychangers and dove-sellers which would lead to his execution as a seditious threat.
The tension between reaction and revolution has continued throughout the history of Christianity. Clashes between elite power and the desire for radical democratic transformation or wealth redistribution simmered and occasionally boiled over in the history of English Christianity, leaving us with a long radical history, from the Peasants' Revolt through the seventeenth-century radicals to the growth of the Labour movement and Keir Hardie's desire to "stir up a divine discontent with wrong," a saying referenced by Corbyn at the Labour Party conference in 2015. The language of this tradition was employed in the founding of the NHS and the successful Labour manifesto of 1945.
Thanks to countless dedicated socialists from the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp to revolutionaries travelling to Rojava, this was a tradition whose language would remain alive on the English left. The story of Jesus and the moneychangers was a prominent one in challenging "the one percent" at Occupy London Stock Exchange where St Paul's Cathedral itself epitomised the tension: church leaders were uncomfortable with protesters while the grounds were simultaneously a readily available space for a sustained protest.
We now find ourselves in the position unusual for the Left: close to power. There have been encouraging discussions among Momentum and union activists about growing a working-class socialist culture "from below," where social events, sports clubs, foodbanks, etc. become part of building a mass movement, see http://colouringinculture.org/cultural-democracy-home.
Historically, this socialism from below has had strong overlaps with Christian traditions. The impulses of Christianity which tackle poverty continue today, as in work of the Trussell Trust, whose role in foodbanks has made sure that Iain Duncan Smith does not forget Jesus' words about poverty.
Yet, as I have discussed in a forthcoming book (Cults, Martyrs, and Good Samaritans: Religion in Contemporary English Political Discourse [Pluto, 2018]) there is evidence that much of the public does not like politicians explicitly invoking religion, Christianity and the Bible, particularly for grandiose claims about Christianity being the source of parliamentary democracy or free markets, as David Cameron claimed.
However, there does not appear to be widespread hatred of Christianity per se, not even beyond the pockets where church attendance remains relatively high. There is some indication that there is support for the Bible as a general moral code for helping others. This is something that should not be ignored by socialists. And Corbyn's allusion to the Good Samaritan is precisely what is palatable for much of the British public: pithy, vague, but full of basic human decency.
But there is also evidence that Christianity can be associated with national identity. One recent study found that nearly a quarter of people viewed being Christian in ethnic terms, i.e. a signifier of being English or British despite the sharp decrease in church attendance in recent decades and the accompanying rise in those identifying with non-belief.
This can, of course, be dangerous for the left and fertile ground for the right. Theresa May and Nigel Farage have both tried to capitalise on this ethnonationalist understanding of Christianity. For example, when asked in Parliament about the respecting between Christmas of "mainstream Britain" and "minority traditions" of Diwali, Vaisakhi and Eid, May responded, "We want minority communities to be able to recognise and stand up for their traditions, but we also want to be able to stand up for our traditions generally, and that includes Christmas."
May, like Farage, was attempting to appeal partly to a certain kind of working-class voter in the light of the EU Referendum. Uncomfortable though it may be, these issues should not be ignored by the English left where the struggle over national identity has been a difficult one. Here we can turn to the radical English tradition which has informed the contemporary left, including Corbyn and his mentor Tony Benn.
In fact, Labour have recognised this potential in the fight against UKIP and the Tories. Sam Tarry, co-director of Corbyn's re-election campaign, talked about the importance of an English Labour movement promoting "the Peasants' Revolt, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Chartists, and the suffragettes and others" as a "socialist vision" which is also a "patriotic one, because nothing is more patriotic than building a society for the many; not the few."
There is, of course, no doubt that religion can be a divisive issue on the left because of its well-known reactionary traditions. But Christianity (or any other religion) does not always have to be reactionary and socialist Christians won't cease to be socialists because some of their co-travellers are not.
Left-wing Christianity has been central to English and British socialism and its legacy remains important to this day, whether in fighting poverty, keeping radicalism alive, providing ready-made community networks, or influencing the general language we use. None of this means, of course, that we all convert to Christianity or attend church on a Sunday morning. But if we want to transform this world, this radical tradition will prove to be an important resource.
Art for and by the many, not the few
Published in Cultural Commentary
Phil Brett shows how art has often been about power and prestige, argues that art should be not only for but by the many.
The history of Western art has been dominated by artworks created for and by the few. Paintings and sculpture have been associated with power and privilege. In the twenty first century, liberal capitalist democracies may have tinkered around with that fact, but essentially it is still true.
Leon Trotsky wrote, "Every ruling class creates its own culture, and consequently, its own art." This can be seen throughout history, from ancient times to the present leaders have liked to have statues, friezes and buildings to show their own glory. Rulers have always loved having their images captured for eternity. There are many examples, like Titian painting the Hapsburgs, oor Henry VIII appointing Hans Holbein the Younger, as the English King's Painter, whose iconic 1536 portrait depicts a powerful and athletic king. Even today, the paintings of Prime Ministers line the staircase of 10 Downing Street, and if the reigning monarch's portrait is being painted, it always makes the 10 o'clock news. Though, with no disrespect for the artists involved, we're not talking Holbeins or Titians here.
Battles have often been a popular subject for the rulers to use art as propaganda. They meant pain and agony for the poor folk actually involved in the fighting, but victory in them gave the rulers added authority and legitimacy. Two examples will suffice: Maria de'Medici commissioning Pieter Paul Rubens to paint a series of paintings depicting her dead husband's (French king Henry IV) victorious battles. In World War I, the Government wanted painters such as Paul Nash and Percy Wyndham Lewis to promote the cause of Britain. Whether their stunning depictions on the horror of trench warfare do so, is open for debate, because good art often exposes the truth and questions dominant ideologies - something the ruling class find troubling.
Even with religious painting, power and prestige are there. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel may be a stunning tribute to the glory of God, but it was also for the glory of Pope Julius II. Sometimes, the link is far from subtle. The Medici family were an example of a new class of people, powerful financiers, who used art to help the status of Florence (and themselves). In many paintings they had themselves painted in. In Sandro Botticelli's 1475 painting, Adoration of the Magi, the Medici family are actually the Magi. Keen takers of selfies should take note, that's quite a high bar to beat.
Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi.
It hasn't always been monarchs and God. Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Gainsborough painted the landed gentry, keen to show off their fine clothes, homes and grounds, demonstrating their position and class power for all to see.
Governments of the twentieth century were aware of the power of art. The 1917 Russian Revolution, led to many artists, such as Chagall and Malevich flocking to its support. Many in the early Soviet regime embraced the avant-garde (October 1917 - the spark for great art). However, it did not see its role as to pitch one school against another. Both Lenin and Trotsky argued for the relative autonomy of art and artists, although in practice there was significant state sponsorship, support and influence over art and culture. A fundamental change occurred in the late Twenties and Thirties, with the art of 'socialist realism', designed to promote the Soviet model of socialism. In an ironic twist, in the late 1940s, the CIA promoted and funded Abstract Expressionist exhibitions - unknown to the artists themselves - to show just how free and exciting the USA was compared to Soviet Russia.
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm
In the private sector, profit joined prestige and power in the mix, leading to the rise of the collector/dealer. The names of Frick, Guggenheim and Sainsbury are familiar names of galleries. There are others such as Benjamin Altman, with his collection in the New York Metropolitan and Joseph Duveen, who made a fortune from art. Controversies about tax avoidance or the authenticity of paintings he sold did not stop him becoming a Lord and having a gallery named after him in Tate Britain.
This group of people may not have their names on the credits on the paintings we see, but they were very influential in modern art. With eyes and wallets focussed on the market, they helped the growth of isms, serving as brand names to help the sales. One such dealer was Ernest Gambert, the influential art dealer for the Pre-Raphaelites. Rossetti nicknamed him 'Gamble-art' for his interference and keenness for the artists to paint in the Pre-Raphaelite style. He once argued with John Everett Millais that the horse's head was too large in his 1857 painting A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford.
Picasso's paintings from his Blue Period stayed in his studio for years because influential art dealer Ambrose Vollard dismissed them as being unsuitable for the wealthy buyers, with their depictions of beggars and street urchins. The few may have got slightly larger than in Holbein's time, but it was still only a tiny minority who could see, let alone own, such art. Ownership conferred status and privilege - and of course profit to the dealer.
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
The art world started to balloon in size, after the war. In 1955, Fortune magazine advised its readers to look to art as an investment, suggesting De Kooning, Pollack and Rothko as good to start with, being between $500 and $3500 each (they're worth a whole lot more now). Today, the art market (not including the illegal sector, which Interpol have in their top five financial crimes) has been estimated as worth a cool $63.8 billion. In 2015, the UK accounted for 21% of this (behind the USA with 43% and ahead of China with 19%). A growth which has given people like Charles Saatchi enormous influence (and a few bob too).
Alongside the private collections, and following the Enlightenment, public museums began to emerge. The rich would have a monopoly of owning art but the common folk could be allowed limited access to gaze gratefully at masterpieces. As the art critic John Berger said: "Anyone who is not an expert entering the average museum today is made to feel like a cultural pauper receiving charity".
Museums may have grown very popular but there is still a separation of art and the majority. How many times have we heard people say, "I don't know anything about art but I know what I like"? Is that not an obvious defensive comment of a (usually) working class person, isolated from art and made to feel inferior to it?
But one might say, are not art galleries more popular than ever? In the 2017 list of Britain's most popular twenty attractions for the previous year, the National Gallery was at number 2; the Tate Modern at number 3; the National Portrait Gallery at number 11, with the Scottish National Gallery ay number 18. That's a total of 15.59 million visitors, without even considering adding the Royal Academy or Tate Britain or the hundreds of other private and public galleries. That's a lot of people straining to see the pictures.
However, all is not as egalitarian as it seems. There has been much criticism that the artworks on show are from a small (often white and male) clique. For black artists it was for a long time impossible to be shown. Emory Douglas, the Black Panther Party Minister of Culture said, "The ghetto is the gallery for the revolutionary artist". Graffiti artists continue that tradition.
The Guerrilla Girls, a group of feminist artists who confronted the sexism of the art world, estimated in 1989 that 5% of the Metropolitan Museum were by women whilst 85% of the nudes were women.
Curators might argue that there have been some attempts to address this, but the fact is that the people running them are still from a narrow social base. Look at the patrons of the Royal Academy and you'll see lord and ladies, with the common person occasionally represented by the likes of Stephen Fry.
The influence of the private art world ,with such figures as Saatchi in public galleries should not be underestimated. With the costs of art rocketing, most of the public galleries cannot compete, they feel that they have do deals with the private world. The Tate receives 70% of funding from non-Governmental sources. Public galleries have found one way to compensate this by getting sponsorship from big business. The Victoria and Albert exhibition of You Say You Want a Revolution included sponsors such as Levis, and the Royal Academy show Abstract Expressionism boasted the sponsor: 'BNP Paribas: The bank for a changing world'.
If that isn't ironic enough, then consider that one of the major sponsors of the Royal Academy's Revolution: Russian Art 1917 - 1932 was the Blavatnik Foundation. Its founder, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, may not be that well know, but he perhaps should be. In 2015 he was named as Britain's richest man, worth an estimated £17.1 billion. It is perhaps a brief look at his history: 1978, he emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States. He built an international conglomerate, which entered the commercial stratosphere, when it made billions after the collapse of the Soviet Union from the petrochemicals and oil industries. Considering that many people were unhappy at the political impartiality of the exhibition - see Great Art, Shame about the Curating - one can legitimately ask how much influence, direct or otherwise, did the foundation have on the exhibition. See also Corruption of Art and Culture.
Poster advertising V. and A. exhibition - and its sponsors
So why do these multinationals get involved? The answer is from our old friends, power and prestige. Those attendance figures of galleries means that they are now goldmines for tourism. Bilbao used the Guggenheim Gallery, opening in 1997, to regenerate the area. It worked. One survey found 80% of the visitors at the airport had arrived to visit it. Big money then, which cannot but affect the direction of the museum - not only the acquisition policy but its display. In 2011, a BBC Freedom of Information request found that the Tate only shows 20% of its permanent collection. To be fair, that contrasts well with the international average of 5%. The removal of art has been termed, "deaccessioning". It is estimated that MoMA has thirty Picasso paintings 'deaccessioned'. Galleries are as much like banks, storing valuable assets, as museums to entertain, educate and interest people.
Curators wield considerable influence on cultural and art policy. So John Berger's view that, "as a professional group, their character is patronising, snobbish and lazy" should cause us to worry. Certainly, Royal Academy show on the art of Russian Revolution with its lack of historical and indeed artistic understanding, would give some credence to such an accusation. The concern being that, even in the twenty first century, curators, gallery directors and critics all seem to come from a very narrow social base.
In recent months, articles in the Guardian, the Morning Star, and various other professional periodicals as well as in the social media, have discussed the whole issue of the running and funding of arts. The Government body with overall responsibility for the arts is the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), who in turn fund and oversee Arts Council England (ACE). ACE gets its funding partly directly from the Government and partly from the National Lottery. This is public money and there has been a concern that essentially it is still art for a few, by a few – but with the many paying for it.
Laura Barton, feature writer of the Guardian, raised concerns that 85% of ACE funding for music goes to classical and opera. A growing number of people have attacked the National Portfolio (basically the list of organisations which ACE funds) as being London-centric, biased against the working class, being too focussed on middle class taste and not diverse enough, e.g. in terms of gender and ethnic background. The balance between community and premier league art establishments leans towards the latter. ACE is institutionally biased towards the middle classes who see arts management as a good career path. Worries have been expressed just how transparent the decision process is, with the issue of a £2 million grant being given to as yet unformed theatre company, whose director appears to have links to senior figures of ACE.
With the Government policy of austerity, money (for some areas) is tight. So such uses of public money are legitimate ones to raise and socialists should do so. However, the Tories use this as cover to attack the very status of art. In the 2017 Conservative Party manifesto did have a few words about the importance of art but set beside the fact that in the last five years money spent on the arts has been cut by £165million, they don't really amount to much.
Simon Wren-Lewis: Neoliberalism and Austerity
Tom Watson rightly states that, "Lottery money is plugging holes where Government funding has been cut". Tories will argue that hospitals and schools matter more than galleries (whilst cutting these in any case). Of course, money can be found when they want to: £7 billion for the Parliament refurbishment or £370 million for Buckingham Palace, for example. What they really mean is that art is for them, not us – for the few, not the many.
Here's John Berger again: "the fundamental division between the initiated and the uninitiated, the loving and the indifferent, the minority and the majority has remained as rigid as ever." This is especially true in education. In primary schools, especially in working class areas, a major concern are the SATs results, which in turn lead to league tables. Failure to meet the school's targets set could lead to failing OFSTED and thus academisation. Fundamentally, even with some tokenistic nods towards child happiness and creativity, Government policy is all about reading, writing and maths (and mechanical versions of them at that). The squeeze is being put on the arts.
The same is true in secondary schools, with the focus on the EBacc, when students achieve Grade C or above in English, maths, history or geography, a science and a language. If budgets are tight because of education cuts, the curriculum is narrowed, with subjects dropped, and the arts get squeezed out of the curriculum. Ditto in further education and university. And of course, with tuition fees, the chances for working class students to attend university or art college are narrowing. Whatever the Tory manifesto might say, the policy is that we proles just don't understand, or need to understand, the arts.
As a result the social base of the artists is narrowing. To an extent the artist, certainly the successful one, has always come from a particular stratum of society. One of Britain's greatest artists, Turner, faced snobbery from his fellow Royal Academians because of his lowly birth. Damien Hirst is from a working class background but he is now in a very different world. His latest exhibition, in Venice, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable is impressive. I was lucky enough to visit it and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I note that it cost Hirst personally £50 million to create it; not many artists could do that!
All gloomy then? Well, not quite. It is heartening that Jeremy Corbyn has launched a comprehensive arts policy, with a number of excellent initiatives which includes introducing an £160 million arts pupil premium, which would "support cultural activities in schools". Scholarships would be introduced. They would also "consider demands of those working to maintain our public museums to challenge corporate influence". The policy also promises to 'consider' including an art element in EBacc.
Labour Policy for Art: http://www.jeremyforlabour.com/arts
The policy is a good starting point art moving away from the few to the many. I think that any Corbyn Government should be bold. There does not have to be a choice between galleries or schools, museums or hospitals. Whatever indicator you use, Britain is always in the top ten wealthiest countries in the world. Britain can afford galleries and schools, museums and hospitals.
The choice in reality is tax cuts for the rich, or galleries, hospitals, and schools for the many. A Corbyn government can challenge the notion of art as a luxury just a for a few. He has committed to scrapping tuition fees - good. But there should also be a commitment to scrapping SATS, EBacc and league tables, to create a freedom to learn. Pump funding into education so the widest possible curriculum is offered, from the nursery to university and evening classes. Be totally upfront that art is important, it can enrich and change lives.
Labour could involve the public in decision making more. Not just in making ACE more transparent but also why not make regeneration projects, really that, regeneration and not just social cleansing? In areas such as the North East, housing could be built, with input from local residents, deciding on what they need and want. There are plenty of vacant industrial buildings - why not renovate them alongside the new homes and use the stored art collections of the Tate, RA, National and Imperial War Museum (which has over 200,000 paintings, most, yep, hidden away!) to create new wonderful galleries? Let's 'accession' them! After all, they are ours. Ask people what sort of gallery they would like. New schools and hospitals? Get local artists and community groups to decorate them. That is what an art policy for a Government should be: to fund, facilitate and support. It does not need to be prescriptive, we don't need instructions.
That would be a great start, it would be an arts policy which could help transform this country, creating a place for people to live in. I am a revolutionary socialist, and believe that people's creativity will only be allowed to fully blossom in a class-less society. Whilst we live in a capitalist society we shall still have the haves and have nots – those with power and those without. It is difficult to be creative when you are working long hours, paying the bills and looking after the kids. In a socialist society, in the words of Trotsky, "The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above this ridge new peaks will rise."
In other words - art for, and by, the many.
More than 'Rise like lions': Shelley beyond The Mask of Anarchy
Mike Sanders writes about Shelley 'the Chartist poet' as a catalyst for working class creativity, how he envisioned a communist society, and how the privileged classes refused to hear the revolutionary meanings of his poems.
One of the unexpected features of the recent General Election campaign was the 'co-opting' of a long-dead Romantic poet as a speech-writer by Team Corbyn. Many of Jeremy Corbyn's speeches ended with the recitation of the closing lines from Shelley's 'The Mask of Anarchy':
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you –
Ye are many, they are few.
These lines written almost two hundred years ago in response to the 'Peterloo Massacre' have long been part of the Left's cultural memory – anthologised, repeated and recycled for the best part of two centuries. I first encountered them as a teenage punk rocker in 1980 on the back cover of the Jam's Sound Affects album and the discovery prompted me to buy a selection of Shelley's poetry from a local second-hand bookshop. In that dog-eared volume, I discovered a poet who could give better shape and expression to some of my own rather more inchoate ideas about the society I lived in and my hopes for a better future.
Subsequently, I came to understand that previous generations of workers had also found in Shelley's words, 'resources for their own journey of hope' (to adapt Raymond Williams' wonderful phrase). Working-class appreciation and recognition of Shelley began relatively early. Engels in The Condition of the Working Class in England observes;
Shelley, the genius, the prophet, Shelley, and Byron, with his glowing sensuality and his bitter satire upon our existing society, find most of their readers in the proletariat; the bourgeoisie owns only castrated editions, family editions, expurgated in accordance with the hypocritical morality of today.
Shelley's long poem Queen Mab was often described as "the Chartist's Bible". Indeed, there is a sense in which Shelley is a Chartist poet insofar as many of his more overtly political poems, such as 'Song to the Men of England', were first published in 1839.
The poetry column of the Northern Star, the leading Chartist newspaper, attests to Shelley's importance as a catalyst for working-class creativity. In particular, Shelley's 'Song to the Men of England' is reworked a number of times by various Chartist poets. I would like to suggest that this poem, which identifies the inverse relationship between production and consumption as moral obscenity as well as economic injustice, is even more important than 'The Mask of Anarchy'. The poem begins with a series of questions intended to highlight the paradoxical way in which the economy distributes economic rewards:
Men of England, wherefore plough
For the lords who lay ye low?
Wherefore weave with toil and care
The rich robes your tyrants wear?
Wherefore feed and clothe and save
From the cradle to the grave
Those ungrateful drones who would
Drain your sweat—nay, drink your blood?
Replace "lords", "tyrants" and "drones" with "bankers" and "bosses" and you have a concise summary of our current economic woes. But Shelley does not rest there, he continues by observing that the workers also produce the means of their own political oppression:
Wherefore, Bees of England, forge
Many a weapon, chain, and scourge,
That these stingless drones may spoil
The forced produce of your toil?
Next, Shelley asks his readers if they enjoy the key features of a genuinely human life?
Have ye leisure, comfort, calm,
Shelter, food, love's gentle balm?
Or what is it ye buy so dear
With your pain and with your fear?
Thus far, the poem consists of a series of questions designed both to defamiliarise and thereby make visible the structural features of the economic order. These questions also invite the reader to think. However, in the second half of the poem statements predominate, as Shelley offers two very different views of the future. The first of which is the maintaining of the current economic and political order:
The seed ye sow, another reaps;
The wealth ye find, another keeps;
The robes ye weave, another wears;
The arms ye forge, another bears.
The second envisages a future in which there is a direct correlation between production and consumption.
Sow seed—but let no tyrant reap:
Find wealth—let no imposter heap:
Weave robes—let not the idle wear:
Forge arms—in your defence to bear.
In the poem's penultimate verse, Shelley makes clear that social change will require resistance and courage on the part of the oppressed. The "drones" will indeed shed, if not drink, blood to preserve their privileges if necessary:
Shrink to your cellars, holes, and cells—
In hall ye deck another dwells.
Why shake the chains ye wrought? Ye see
The steel ye tempered glance on ye.
In the final stanza, Shelley makes clear that the choice is one between life and death.
With plough and spade and hoe and loom
Trace your grave and build your tomb
And weave your winding-sheet—till fair
England be your Sepulchre.
The clarity with which Shelley both identifies the structures of exploitation and oppression, and identifies two very different visions of England's future in this poem goes some way to explaining the different assessments of his work in the Nineteenth Century (and beyond). The privileged classes simply refused to hear this Shelley, preferring to construct him as a naïve dreamer – "A beautiful and ineffectual angel" to quote Matthew Arnold.
The Chartists and their successors heard a different Shelley. They heard a Shelley who was in no doubt as to either the necessity or the difficulty of securing political and economic change. The "Rise like lions" passage is inspiring, but if we read it in isolation there is a danger of seeing it as a promise of easy victory. For Shelley, the murdered victims at Peterloo were sufficient testament that there would be no easy victory. And the same is surely true for us today.
Grime helps launch a revolution in youth politics
Published in Music
Monique Charles examines the links between grime and progressive politics.
It became clear on June 9 that Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to call a snap election was ill judged. This election has highlighted the disregard for the "many" that government should serve, and after an election in which the youth turnout was around 72% of those aged 18-24, the impact of the youth in Labour's surge of popularity is obvious.
Of particular note is the role of a series of influential grime artists, who are not traditionally known for their politics yet came out in full force, working to galvanise the youth to vote and specifically supporting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. In a 2003 radio interview, then MP Kim Howells laid into the grime scene, calling its artists "macho boasting idiots". In the aftermath of the election, who are the macho boasting idiots now? Those in power should never underestimate the collective power of the masses. This is particularly true of the grimy kind.
The relationship between grime and politics has been an interesting and evolving one. Grime is a genre of music that emerged at the turn of the 21st century in London's inner boroughs. Early on, its sound was most closely likened to US hip hop and rap. But those in the know appreciate grime's deep connections to its UK predecessors, which include music from the British underground scene such as garage and jungle, in addition to Jamaican dancehall, electronic/experimental music, and British punk. The grime "sound" developed as it grew, eventually being acknowledged as its own genre at the MOBOs in 2015 and iTunes in 2016. But grime has always been more than music. It is a culture, and this is key to its significance in this last general election.
Generation grime
Although now considered trendy in many strata of society, grime is a working-class scene. It originated from the very people and places government legislation has hit the hardest in its austerity measures over the last ten years: the bedroom tax; underfunded schools; tuition fee rises; zero-hour contracts; dwindling prospects of owning a home; and increased job insecurity. From this perspective, the relentless spread of gentrification and London's role as a global financial capital can make David Cameron's profession that "we are all in this together" simply farcical.
Grime originated as a predominantly black British musical form, yet appeals to young people irrespective of race or ethnicity. The common ground in its appeal was the focus on class based oppression and British cultural references. While racism remains pervasive and impacts young people in different ways, we live in a time of diverse multiculturalism, particularly in the inner city home of grime. There is a level of commonality in the British working class experience.
This is all the more powerful given the collective nature of the grime scene. Success achieved by individuals in the scene is viewed as success for all. Individual achievement produces collective pride. This collectivity contributes to the solid sense of identity and culture that grime promotes. The collective experience of hardship and navigating it fosters community.
And middle class youth also see their futures in less certain terms. Grime, as with the appeal of other genres of music, is also a method of identity formation, which helps them to separate themselves from "older" generations, most notably parents.
Quite possibly for the first time, this election provided what I term "generation grime" (those predominantly under 30 who have grown up with it as a soundtrack to their lives) with an opportunity to engage with a political figure whose values align more closely with their lived experience, personal values and aspirations. Corbyn's understanding of working-class issues, racial oppression and homelessness struck a chord. While the lyrical content in much grime may not be political, lived realities and hardships are a common theme to this work.
Prominent grime artists openly supported Labour and worked hard to encourage their supporters to vote: in response to their lived experience; the government's disregard of their future; and the disconnection they felt to this government. Stormzy was one of Corbyn's first grime supporters. In a 2016 interview, he said: "I dig what he says. I saw some sick picture of him from back in the day when he was campaigning about anti-apartheid and I thought: yeah, I like your energy."
JME and JC
JME, Akala, and Rag'n'Bone man, all influential artists to generation grime and all of whom admitted to not voting before or having little interest or faith in the political system, also got behind Corbyn. Recent protests about government decisions which affected the future of generation grime led to minimal change and kettling, heightening apathy. This election offered a new approach. For scene members and fans not politically minded or disengaged from political processes, grime artist endorsement was the much needed push to look into Corbyn's track record and manifesto. Young people suddenly felt they could do something to influence British society and their futures.
This election provided the opportunity for generation grime to really see the collective power in working together for the society they would like to create and the things they want to preserve. Although Labour did not win the election, a new energy has been injected into politics and political engagement among young people. It has given them the opportunity to realise their political power, and how to use it.
Significantly, this last election has also reignited the music-politics relationship of British punk in a new, 21st-century way. Grime artists made particular use of social media in order to galvanise generation grime into political action through the use of hashtags such as #Grime4Corbyn. And it doesn't stop here. After the election, artists encouraged each other and scene members to engage with their local MPs. Grime artists tweeted about the success and the importance of staying involved.
This movement could be the start of something huge. The challenge is to maintain the momentum. While grime content is largely apolitical, this shift could open a space for more political lyrical content and imagery for both new and established artists. It may also lead to more systematic civic engagement, as artists can see first-hand the power of their influence on generation grime to push for social change.
For more than a decade, the government undervalued and strategically implemented policies to decimate the life chances of generation grime under the banner "we are all in this together". We are not. Government must govern #ForTheManyNotTheFew, and now generation grime realise the potential of their political power they can push for it strategically.
by Jon Tait
If it wasn't hung from the ceiling in a museum,
we'd paint Jeremy Corbyn's face
on the red Lodge banner
alongside Keir Hardie and Nye Bevan.
We're still going Forward with Socialism
and the colours never fade;
still red as the Manchester United shirt
that Bobby Charlton wore,
red as the light glinting through a schooner
of McEwan's Export in the social club
or the flag that's waved to a bull.
Red as a banner consigned to the silence
of safe corridors silent as libraries,
with walls adorned in paintings
of the brick colliery rows,
the whippets and pigeon duckets,
the leek shows and allotments,
and the men in flat caps
with bait bags on their shoulders,
the ghosts of a time now gone.
We are the bairns and the grandbairns
of the last of the pitmen
and we never forget.
We're still seeing red.
For the Many not the Few
If All the People Voted for the Many Not the Few
If all the people who didn't vote used their vote
They'd force politicians to sit up and take note
The number of young people who didn't vote at all
Outnumbered those voting last election in total
If all the people who said "I don't do politics"
Joined the "all politicians are the same" cynics
They could hold our political future in their hands
And influence on June 8th what happens in these lands
If all those who said they like Jeremy Corbyn
But they don't think he can win so they won't be voting
Used their vote and voted for Labour he would win
If all who won't vote Labour 'cos they don't like him
Voted on policies not his personality
We could make stopping cuts a reality
We could save the NHS, reduce inequality
Lift those struggling to survive out of poverty
End zero hour contracts and earn a living wage
Stop disadvantage based on gender, race and age
Disability and sexual orientation
Make a stand against exploitation
Or neglect of the most vulnerable people
Build a society that's more just and equal
Invest in social and affordable homes
Get paid a living wage, not turn to payday loans
Renationalise energy and Royal Mail
End the privatisation of buses and rail
Reverse welfare reforms like the bedroom tax
And to University tuition fees give the axe
Make education free not a privilege for the rich
Kick draconian Tory policies in the ditch
Halt cuts to jobs, services and communities
That are destroying lives, made with impunity
Stop austerity measures that are ideological
Reject the myths and lies that they're economical
If all the people who even though they know full well
These Tory cuts assign them to a living hell
But still in vox pops and polls, when asked will say
"I'm voting Tory cos I like Theresa May"
Would see that's just like turkeys voting for Christmas
It makes no sense at all, it's just ridiculous
If all those who say they're voting for May "because she's strong"
Would stop to realise you can be strong and wrong
That gentle and peaceful doesn't equal weak
That being real and caring doesn't make you a freak
If all the people voting on how you look not what you do
Looked at voting records rather than each leader's shoes
They'd see that Corbyn's stood up for us from time
That for decades of time he's had your back and mine
In communities not just in Parliament
He's meant what he said, said what he meant
Joining rallies and vigils for justice and peace
Stood on picket lines and protested on the streets
If elected Labour will invest in schools and education
- An old African proverb gives Corbyn inspiration
"It takes a village to raise a child" he says -
EMA and free school meals because it pays
To invest in the lives and futures of our children
This is what it's all about, the next generation
If all the people who say they won't vote, voted Labour
Encouraged their friend, colleague and neighbour
We could change the future life chances of young people
Build a society that's safe and is stable
Protect our rights and defend communities
Focus on building trust and hope and unity
If all the people who say "I don't really know"
Take the time to read the Labour manifesto
The undecided could be the people who decide
And together with those who "don't vote" turn the tide
If all those who don't, decided now that they will
We could move forward rather than standing still
Just imagine how empowered we could be
If we stopped thinking I and thought of we
If the "don't vote" became the people who do
If we voted for the many not the few
If we acted as a majority
We could finally see an end to austerity
We could rise up out of poverty
We could achieve true equality
If all the people voted for the many not the few.....
Listen to If All the People Voted For the Many Not the Few by Zita Holbourne #np on #SoundCloud
Ballade upon 'Warts and All'
Ballade upon 'Warts and all'
by Rip Bulkeley
Only the old world could provide
the means by which to reach the new,
wreck timbers soiled by the tide
of history which a stumbling crew
have cobbled for a rough canoe,
then launched with hope for all our sakes
despite the fact, which they well knew,
that politicians make mistakes.
It need not, surely, be denied
that Jeremy has blundered too.
How could he not, when vilified
by hacks from here to Timbuctoo
who yearn to cage him in their zoo,
then smear across their mental jakes
the headline revelation: 'Ooh!
This politician makes mistakes!'?
Our man pays no one else to hide
his defects from the public view.
He's neither schooled nor prettified;
his faults and merits are all true
and benefits from this accrue.
A voter from the balance makes
an informed choice: this much virtue;
this politician; some mistakes.
Let none of this bewilder you,
divert you from the greater stakes
which some would have you misconstrue:
Which politicians? Which mistakes?
Stop consuming and do it yourself
Via email interview, Robb Johnson introduces his new album and talks about politics, protest music, and plum pudding.
Q. Can you tell us something about your new album, whether it's a change of style, direction, material or theme?
'My Best Regards' consists of 16 tracks, 13 songs recorded with Jenny Carr on piano and organ, John Forrester on bass and double bass, Arvin Johnson on drums and percussion, with some guest contributions from Jim Cannell on cello, Linz Maesterosa on clarinet and saxophone, and Saskia's Tomkins on violin. Kirsty Martin's singing adds some extra vocal magic, and there are two tracks which are different versions of songs on the album, recorded live with Brighton's Hullabaloo Quire, which Kirsty coordinates. Then there is one track that is an alternative version of the song 'When the Tide Comes In' again performed live, with Palestinian singer Reem Kelani.
I think it is more of a development than a change of style, and it's not really a change of material. For a while now, my songs have generally been understood to be a balance of the personal and the political. I am quite happy about that, and that seems to me to be a pretty good description of the songs on this album, though sometimes I think more mainstream reviewers only seem to hear The Political, at which they promptly throw their hands up in horror.
I have released albums that have been determinedly Political – 'Some Recent Protest Songs' and 'Us and Them' – partly because I had accumulated a lot of overtly political songs, but partly because there was a tendency for mainstream media hacks to spew out articles complaining that no-one writes that sort of song any more. This seemed to me a combination of arrogance, ignorance, and an unhealthy dose of hypocrisy.
Mainstream media hacks have been either sneering contemptuously at politics in music which they term dismissively 'protest music' (in a way they never quite do with theatre or film) or ignoring it altogether for so long. Then they felt able to wring their hands, as austerity ravaged communities and cities erupted in riots, and take songwriters to task for not writing about austerity and riots any more. Yet their idea of popular music doesn't seem to be interested in anything that isn't in the media-sanctioned pop mainstream.
But this isn't one of those albums, although I suppose it is structured so as to have a political theme framing it. I like to have albums that give a narrative, that have an emotional or intellectual beginning/middle/end coherence. So this one starts off with the rather bleak 'September 1939'. Immediately after the last general election I felt that the summery sunny days that followed must have been a little what it was like after war was declared in 1939. The album ends, though, with the post-Corbyn election song 'The Future Starts Here'.
Originally the album was to be shorter and much more obviously politicised, but we used some of the more personal songs as warm-up numbers in the studio, and enjoyed playing them so much that we kept them. I think they actually work well to balance some of the album's bleaker moments, and help make the album more of a narrative journey.
Q. The JC4PM tour reminded some of us oldies of the Red Wedge tours in the eighties in support of Labour. How did the tour go?
Well, I think it was pretty successful. Certainly the gigs I did were very enjoyable and there was a very effective mix of speeches, stand-ups and songs. There seems a lot more comedy involved in JC4PM, compared with the earnest guitar and song tendencies of what I remember about Red Wedge, but then I suppose that's post- modernist irony for you, comedy being the new rock'n'roll etc.
The other difference is that Red Wedge were working in support of a Labour Party in retreat, a Labour Party under Kinnock beginning the long and dismal process of making itself electable in the eyes of Rupert Murdoch, by making itself into something that was hardly worth electing at all, and losing all sense of principle, integrity, and contact with the very section of society it had traditionally represented.
JC4PM, on the other hand, is working with a Labour Party – leadership and membership anyway – that is on the advance, reclaiming its principles, integrity and commitment to represent its historical constituency.
Q. What are your thoughts about politics at the moment, generally and of course in particular the situation with Jeremy Corbyn, socialism and the Labour Party?
I have rejoined the Labour Party. It was the pusillanimous attitude towards the poll tax, and the collusion over the Gulf War that did for me. I have always voted Labour. I didn't have illusions about voting Labour, but as a working person and a trade unionist – I worked as a teacher for 35 years and was a fairly active member of the NUT – having a Labour government seemed a better option than having a Tory one.
Indeed, that old inch of difference between Tory and Labour was really significant for early years' education at the start of the century, where there were some really positive developments for children introduced, while Tony Blair was telling us about how Saddam had all these weapons of mass destruction only 15 minutes away.
So what Jeremy Corbyn represents is a significant shift in the accepted narrative that has dominated politics in the U.K., since the Tories set about deliberately trashing the postwar consensus 30+ years ago. Corbyn's selection has taken the gag off those voices that never accepted that greed was good, that there was no such thing as society, that the poor have to pay for the fuck-ups of the greedy rich.
I know Jeremy Corbyn from being on the same anti-war demos, and he is like you and me, only whereas my day job was teaching, playing guitar and secretly wishing I'd been in the Stooges or The Pink Fairies or whatever, Jeremy Corbyn's day job, and I suspect his version of being in the Stooges, is doing politics properly, with principle and integrity. Doing a version of politics to ensure society and social organisations exist to serve the needs of the people, not the other way round.
Obviously, the consequences of Blairism means we have a parliamentary party of careerist small businesspersons for whom that idea is both strange and threatening, because Corbyn's politics are essentially about inclusion and empowerment, and machine politicians like being machine politicians. They play the game, they prefer to serve the machine that rewards them for their compliance, rather than serve the voters who put them there.
Socialism is simply the tradition of trying to organise society to the benefit of all, so to me it seems simple common sense. Certainly, my experience has confirmed that to be the case. Working with under fives, you see people at their best, before the manifold poisons & disappointments of capitalism and its commodifications screw us up. I know that human beings are absolutely brilliant, every single one of us, and that humans are essentially kind and positive, happiest when they cooperate rather than compete. Happiest also in societies that value their individual members, and are organised along principles of inclusion, empowerment, equality, and fair play.
That is of course why 30 years of government interventions in education have only served to produce generations of unhappy, stupefied consumers. It is significant that it was the dismantling of that bastion of the concept of privilege, of the fatuous and inhuman concept of the deserving being separated from the undeserving – I mean the the grammar school system – that first really energised the Right in their challenge to the postwar consensus. And here it is again, being exhumed by Theresa Mayjor! A sure indication of how politically bankrupt the Tory party is.
Q. What's it like working in the music scene at the moment, as a worker? How has it changed, over your career? What do you think of other bands and musicians, and other music these days?
As with all workers, the introduction of new technology does tend to result in fewer jobs. Growing up in the 70s, I got to see lots of great bands at lots of great venues, and also lots of bandslike Sutherland Brothers and Quiver, who worked conscientiously round the pubs and who gave you a good night out.
By the 70s, the average band size was four people. But bands and musicians still exercised a certain creative control, and up to and including punk I think musicians rather than the music business determined the progress of popular music. This of course is not the case now. The business now determines the culture, the media polices its business decisions. From being the most exciting, innovative, democratic and radical cultural form of the last century, popular music has become a dull, processed puppet of the society of the spectacle.
You could say that there is surely a limit with what you can do with three chords, and that may well have been reached even before the Gallagher brothers made a career out of recycling old John Lennon riffs. This never used to bother folk music however, or indeed blues musicians, because these musicians were working within a tradition of form that facilitated personal expression. The experiences of the worker animated each song into something particular and expressive.
Now, there are bloated spectaculars of television, festivals and stadiums, no middle ground where the likes of Sutherland Brothers and Quiver can earn an honest crust, and pubs that will either play safe with covers bands or pay bugger-all for open mike nights. It is difficult in these circumstances for people to find their own voice, and to give their own lives particular expression.
Nonetheless, people keep on writing great songs and singing their hearts out about what it is like to be like them, to think like them, rather than Ed Sheeran. The media doesn't want you hear about them, because they remain outside the process of cultural recuperation. But they are there. They are people like Joe Solo and his mates, inventing We Shall Overcome, a grass roots weekend of nationwide self-organised gigs and community action as an annual alternative to getting kettled at a demo.
We need more of that, taking back our culture, organising a folk club or whatever you want to call it – Grace Petrie's just started a folk club in Leicester – more gigs like Nick puts on at the Yorkshire House in Lancaster. And less nostalgia!
Q. Can I have your thoughts on politics and music, such as what your favourite political songs are? And how you think music makes a difference, politically?
All music carries political meanings. In our agitprop trio The Ministry of Humour, singing down Thatcher, apartheid and capitalism in the 1980s, when people accused us of Being Political we used to say 'everything's political.'
I tried translating The Marseillaise and it is awful, but I think the Internationale is beautiful, and the words don't really need updating. Songs may not of course kickstart strikes and seizures of post offices and telephone exchanges, or storm the Winter Palaces of the Ice Queen etc, but as we all know – and this is why the media don't want us listening to politically conscious songs – that magic combination of the perfectly apposite words with a perfectly apposite melody stays with us long after the speech or the editorial or the television interview. We can hum and sing them, and we realise we are not alone in our ideas and our aspirations, and they inspire us as we kickstart our own little part of the revolutionary process.
My favourite political song? 'Te Recerdo Amanda' by Victor Jara. My favourite song, which is also set within the landscape and language of working class life, but which carries its politics less consciously, is 'Les Amants d'un Jour' by Marguerite Monnot, sung by Edith Piaf.
Q. Culture Matters has recently started a series of articles looking at arts and culture policies, in the light of the austerity driven cutbacks which impact more on working people, and in the light of the research which is showing that working class people are finding it harder to access the arts, as consumers and as performers. And of course the gap between the funding of the arts in London/the South East and the rest of the country is pretty huge. Can we have your thoughts on arts and culture policy please?
Well – first step as above mentioned is to stop consuming and do it yourself. I saw a headline in a London newspaper on a London train which trumpeted – like it was a good thing – that arts funding in London wouldn't be cut! The headline should of course have been 'Arts Funding to be Cut for Most of the UK', just like we should recognise that for most of us, the Tory obsession with selection at 11 means a reintroduction of education at secondary moderns, rather than a reintroduction of grammar schools.
Yes, I would like to see funding directed at supporting art and culture initiatives rather than paying for military action in the Middle East, or Armageddon being parked at Faslane. But this financial support needs to be supported in turn by a social culture of empowerment. State education needs to be reconfigured to serve the needs of the child, not the state, which will mean a curriculum that values and encourages imagination and creativity. The media needs to be regulated to ensure cultural as well as journalistic balance, and press freedom should not be confused with the lowest common denominator.
Similarly, community art – like open mike nights or reality TV – should not be used as a cheapskate alternative to paying skilled workers at appropriate skilled worker rates. However, we would also need to reconfigure cultural workers as workers rather than as the extraordinarily differentiated celebrities that is the paradigm we are presented with at the moment. We need to recognise individual aptitude, but also recognise that this needs to be understood within a spectrum of performance, not within a hierarchy of 'excellence' that is usually related to the valuations of economics rather than valuations based upon intrinsic qualities of artistic expression.
Art & culture need to be returned more to the reality of their social function. Some of us are pretty gifted when it comes to plumbing, some of us are pretty gifted when it comes to singing, but when your plumbing goes wrong, Bono is no use whatsoever.
This spectrum of performance needs to be supported by a plurality of performance spaces and opportunities – culture should not be something that only takes place on television or as spectacular events set apart from the lives of those people whose existence is only defined by the word 'audience' and whose appreciation and experience of art and culture is determined by the economics of production and consumption.
Applying huge amounts of money to something does not necessarily ensure high levels of performance. A couple of seasons ago Brentford drew Chelsea in the Cup, and so there they were, all these fabulously-paid celebrity Chelsea footballers so celebrated in the media, hoofing about Griffin Park, and not actually performing that much better than Brentford's cheery collection of 19 year-olds still living with their mums. It was a draw at the final whistle. Possibly the most creative aspect of the afternoon was the Brentford fans chanting "You're just a bus stop in Fulham."
The same problems of scale exist in the arts. Size of spectacle and budget are no guarantee of artistic achievement. Any investment in arts would be obviously welcome, but it will be largely ineffectual unless it is animated by an understanding of the importance of diminishing the distances between performer and audience, which necessarily involves a more realistic perspective on issues of inclusion and particular aptitudes and skills. We need a culture where everybody can join in, and though some people can join in a bit more than others, this is not a big differentiating deal. Even genius shits like the rest of us.
Another consequence of having spent so long working with children, is that this experience convinces me that each of us is gifted with our own skills of creativity and our own unique artist's perspective. With our current models of culture as commodity, most of us find our access to & participation in art and culture limited and defined by capitalism's profit-driven economics, and the mindset of privilege and hierarchy.
But we all have an aesthetic intelligence, we are all artists. Access to and participation in culture should be on the basis of personal choice and predilection, our engagement should be based on the forms of self expression that appeal to our individual consciousness, and our choices should be encouraged and supported by empowering education and inclusive social organisation, whether we feel happiest expressing ourselves through plumbing, plum crumble or plumbing the profoundest depths of the human condition with poetry, or painting, or postpunk acoustic guitar. Or maybe a combination of all three – plumbing, plum crumble and postpunk acoustic guitar.
Robb Johnson's new album, My Best Regards, is available from http://www.ethicalwares.com and all good record shops.
Films for Corbyn
Published in Films
Andrew Warburton interviews one of the organisers of screenings of some socialist films at the islington Mill, Salford.
One proof of Jeremy Corbyn's ability to inspire grassroots action among Labour members and in the community as a whole is the ever-expanding list of cultural projects and activities bearing the name '… for Corbyn'. First, we had 'Poets for Corbyn' (a collection of poems released by Pendant Publishing in August 2015). Then we had 'Dance for Corbyn', a mixture of speakers and DJ sets in London, and soon there will be 'Rock for Corbyn', a night of live music in Warrington. Next week sees the beginning of a Greater Manchester-based project called 'Films for Corbyn', involving the screening of socialist films in aid of various causes, including the pro-Corbyn activist group Momentum.
The first film, screened on 24th August at the Islington Mill in Salford, is the documentary, 'The Hard Stop', about the shooting of Mark Duggan, a young black man, by the Metropolitan Police. Speakers at the screening will include Claudia Webbe, a member of Labour's National Executive Committee; Carole Duggan, the mother of Mark Duggan; and the poet Mark Mace Smith.
I asked Simon, one of the project's organisers, what inspired him and his Momentum colleagues to start a film series in support of the Labour leader. A testament to the dynamic nature of grassroots organising associated with the Corbyn-led renewal of the Labour Party, Simon's responses also demonstrated the importance of combining socio-cultural activities with the more serious business of political organizing.
What was the inspiration for 'Films for Corbyn'?
I suppose 'Films for Corbyn' came out of us on the committee of Manchester and Trafford Momentum thinking about socials we could do to keep people engaged in politics. I think it's important that as well as doing all of the important organising meetings, we do events which allow people to socialise and have fun, so that we don't lose the energy from all of the people who have become enthused with politics for the first time in a while (or ever!) thanks to Jeremy Corbyn. I worry that it's quite easy for people to become bored or disillusioned with politics, especially in the Labour Party, whose structures are often bureaucratic and unwelcoming to new people.
Will the project raise money for a particular cause?
We were initially going to donate any funds raised to our local Momentum group, which has been building a grassroots pro-Corbyn movement without any funding. The committee has had to finance our activities out of their own pocket, and that has become increasingly difficult as we have had to book bigger spaces to cope with the numbers of people coming to our events, which has risen dramatically in recent months. We will also be donating to causes which are related to the films we are showing. So our first screening will also be redistributing donations to the Duggan family.
Where will the films be shown?
This is initially a Manchester project, so we will be concentrating on showing films around the Greater Manchester area, with our first screening being in Salford. We don't have any plans as of yet to show films in other regions, but if there is interest elsewhere it would be exciting to expand this project to other parts of the country
What kind of films do you intend to show?
We intend to show films from a radical working class or socialist tradition, which explore issues affecting some of the most marginalised groups and people in society, which are issues Jeremy Corbyn has been campaigning on throughout his political life.
What is your larger vision for the series, i.e., is it an educational project or part of a bigger political campaign?
For us, educational projects and political campaigns go hand in hand, and we want 'Films for Corbyn' to be both of these things. Not only is it something which we hope will maintain and attract enthusiasm for supporting a left-wing Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn, the films and discussions we will host will hopefully raise further awareness of issues in Britain which the Labour Party should be fighting. Promoting political education is something we have been doing in Manchester and Trafford Momentum and is something which we feel there needs to be more of.
What do you see as the great socialist filmmakers or classics of socialist film?
Personally, I'm a massive fan of the work of Cinema Action, which was a left-wing film collective whose members produced amazing (but overlooked) documentaries from the late '60s to the '80s. Particularly for me, the work of Marc Karlin and Steve Sprung, such as 'The Year of the Beaver' and 'Between Times' stand out. As someone who is more interested in documentaries, I also admire the series produced by Granada in its glory days, such as 'World in Action'. And I, of course, love a bit of Adam Curtis.
The first film in the 'Films for Corbyn' series will be shown on 24th August at the Islington Mill, James Street, Salford. Tickets are £5 (£3 unwaged) and are available through Eventbrite at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/films-for-corbyn-opening-the-hard-stop-tickets-26874738065. |
Tony Award Winner DANCING AT LUGHNASA Opens At Gloucester Stage
BroadwayWorld.com Jun. 3, 2018
Gloucester Stage Company continues its 39th season of professional theater with Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa from June 8 through July 8 at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA.
Dancing at Lughnasa received the Tony Award for Best Play in 1992. Set in County Donegal in 1936 during the Celtic harvest festival, Dancing at Lughnasa, chronicles the five Mundy sisters and their brother Jack, who has returned home from the missions after 25 years away. Brian Friel's award winning Irish masterpiece reunites veteran director Benny Sato Ambush with Academy Award nominee and Gloucester resident actress Lindsay Crouse. The pair collaborated on Gloucester Stage's critically acclaimed productions of Driving Miss Daisy in 2014 and Lettice and Lovage in 2016. The five Mundy sisters are Lindsay Crouse as Kate; Jennie Israel as Maggie, Bryn Austin as Agnes, Cassie Gilling as Chris, and Samantha Richert as Rose. The reminder of the cast includes Paddy Swanson as Father Jack, Ed Hoopman as Michael, and Chris Kandra as Gerry.
Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa runs from June 8 through July 8 at Gloucester Stage. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 pm; Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 pm. Following the 2 pm performances on Sunday, June 17; Sunday, June 24 and Sunday, July 1, audiences are invited to free post-show discussions with the artists from Dancing at Lughnasa. There is no performance on Wednesday, July 4. Single ticket prices are $35 to $45 with discounts available for Preview Performances, Cape Ann Residents, Senior Citizens and Patrons 18 years old and under. In addition to regular reserved tickets, Pay What You Wish tickets are available for the Saturday, June 9 matinee at 2 pm. Pay What You Wish tickets can only be purchased day of show at the door. All performances are held at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. For more information about Gloucester Stage, or to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com
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Tag Archives: William Ivan Edwards
Service Leaflet for the Third Sunday in Advent at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Fourth Sunday in Advent at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the All Saints' Day at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the First Sunday in Advent at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Sunday next before Advent at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for the Second Sunday in Advent at St. George's Church, West End (1964)
Service Leaflet for Pentecost at St. George's Church, West End (1964) |
LABEL PROFILE Finding Meaning in 0s and 1s: The Rise of Sheffield's CPU Records By Leo Maymind · May 22, 2018
Taking a look at the roster of Sheffield, U.K.'s CPU (Central Processing Unit) Records, it might be hard at first to spot a musical or geographic throughline in its roster of eclectic international electronic artists. Tryphème, whose Online Dating LP features glossy, aerobic patterns and tightly interwoven arrangements, is from France; Mikron, whose zappy, saturated electro is featured on Sleep Paralysis and a few other releases for CPU, hail from Ireland; while Cygnus, whose Radical User Interfaces EP combines raw 808 patterns with crunchy arpeggios and spacious pads, is from Dallas, Texas. These artists all share a certain common sensibility, though—one that places melody and atmosphere in equal standing with groove and rhythm, one that keeps the listener's interest at a continual high. It's this range of idiosyncratic yet cohesive output that has made CPU a name in the growing electro scene.
Sleep Paralysis Central Processing Unit .
Born in the middle of the '70s, raised with an older brother who played Gary Numan, Ultravox, and Human League around the house, label founder Chris Smith's infatuation with the sounds of synthesizers started young. "During that time, I was also playing a lot of video games, so all things electronic were instilled in me at an early age," he says. "It wasn't until 1990, when I was 14, that I got into techno, thanks to a mixtape doing the rounds at school. It had 'Sweet Exorcist' by Testone and other early Warp/Outer Rhythm tracks, and inspired weekly trips to the old Warp Records shop on Division Street and a serious vinyl habit."
It was that famous U.K. label, Warp, also founded in Sheffield, that reeled Smith into the world of what was then being shoehorned into the "IDM" genre tag. "Warp are a huge influence, especially the early '90s stuff," Smith recalls. "Their aesthetic was fantastic. I used to buy the records with purple covers without even listening, as you knew they were going to be great." It was this same influence that led him to begin a radio show, fittingly entitled Sheffield Bleep, that helped develop his own curatorial skills. His show ran the gamut from nascent electro to squirrely IDM to angular techno, but really only whet his palette for getting even closer to the records. Smith knew he wanted to start a label of his own, and yet he hesitated.
Radical User Interfaces Central Processing Unit .
"The idea of starting a recording label goes right back to my formative years, but I didn't have the means back then," Smith says. "I took Sheffield's music scene for granted, too, having lots of great record shops and club nights on your doorstep, all of which were groundbreaking, I spent years just soaking up the scene and enjoying the music." It wasn't until Smith was in his 30s that he felt ready to take the plunge into running his own label, although there was still something holding him back: he didn't think he could draw a good logo.
That all changed when Nick Bax entered the picture. Bax, another Sheffield resident (originally from nearby Rotherham), handles graphic design for Human Studio, a well-known creative agency whose past clients include Richie Hawtin, Supergrass, and Dubfire. But it was Bax's past as a designer at The Designers Republic that particularly piqued Smith's interest. Bax had had a hand in creating many of the iconic album artwork pieces for the very same Warp Records that was so formative an influence for Smith. The visual identity of CPU is stark but memorable—each record follows a similar theme, a white background emblazoned only with a binary number and four black triangles.
Move Central Processing Unit .
Formats: Vinyl LP, T-Shirt/Apparel, Digital
There have been a few exceptions to this visual code. Smith recreated two old Detromental tracks, "Move" and "Rewind," that were pressed to vinyl and set in a purple sleeve—a clear homage to both Warp's "white label" '90s singles, which also appeared sleeved in signature purple, and to the Sheffield electronic scene at large. (Detromental was a Sheffield "bleep techno" duo from the early '90s who were big on the local scene, getting significant airplay on underground radio at the time.) Smith describes the process of reassembling and rerecording the tracks—with the group's blessing, using many of the original synths—as a learning experience that was worth the time and effort, and a necessity if these tracks were to make it to wax again; the original DAT tapes couldn't be located. "It made me really appreciate the talent of the original artists," he says. "It also improved my mixing skills due to the reverse engineering required to produce the sound of the originals." But he's not sure he'd ever do it again—"It was a unique situation where I knew the original artist and a number of factors aligned perfectly."
Smith has not been afraid to play with the medium itself as well, as evidenced by the label's 69th release, an album of sinewy and resplendent electro tracks by Tim Koch pressed onto MiniDisc format and released April 6, though it didn't stay in stock long. "I love the format and was an early adopter in the mid '90s," Smith says of MiniDiscs. "I also loved the Gescom MD [MiniDisc] release on Skam in 1998 and always wanted to do something like that. Unfortunately it is now impossible to get pre-recorded MDs manufactured, so over the course of a couple of years I stockpiled 'new old stock' blank MDs from eBay."
Spinifex Central Processing Unit .
Formats: Other, Digital
Squirreling away obsolete MiniDiscs was actually the easy part of the release, as each copy had to be recorded in real time for the best audio quality—no easy feat considering Koch's album is 77 minutes long and 200 copies were set to be made. Smith's attention to detail is clear as he recalls the MiniDisc specs: "The blank discs I sourced are Sony Neige; they were one of the last MDs produced. They look amazing with clear shells. I didn't want to spoil that look, so we had special transparent labels made with white ink, which look really good."
Provisional Electronics Central Processing Unit .
Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't till this year that CPU announced plans to release a record by a contemporary Sheffield artist; just out is a four-track electro EP by 96 Back (real name Evan Majumdar-Swift). Majumdar-Swift's father was legendary Jive Turkey promoter Matt Swift, responsible for mixing rare '70s soul and funk with the burgeoning electro of the day. Rob Gordon, one of the original Warp founders, was brought in on mastering duties, and the EP's sonic footprint is rowdy and massive as a result.
Despite the challenges independent labels face in today's music business, Smith remains positive and hopeful when thinking about CPU's future. Asked where he sees the label going, Smith says, "I hope we will still be releasing music, still breaking new artists and hopefully still being at the forefront of contemporary electronic music. CPU's binary catalog number system only allows 256 releases. At the current rate, CPU has another 15 to 20 years!"
-Leo Maymind
Electronic electro |
Tag Archives: Anti-migrant violence
Attack on Shops of Syrians in Konya
6. November 2017 harekact
Via Bianet – A group attacked the shops of Syrians in Konya with rocks and sticks. One Syrian was injured.
Some shops in Şems Tebrizi neighbourhood in Karatay, Konya that are managed by people from Syrian, were exposed to an attack. The assailant group escaped after the attack. Continue reading Attack on Shops of Syrians in Konya →
Anti-migrant violenceSyrians
One Syrian died, one injured in fight around Konya
21. August 2017 harekact
Via Hürriyet – In a rural district of Konya -Karapınar – one Syrian died and one was severely injured in an armed fight between Syrians and locals. Around 00:30 at night, three Turkish nationals, attacked two Syrian men sitting on the street, who according to the attackers had previously harrassed the sister of one of them. One of the attackers went home, took his hunting rifle and opened the fire on the two Syrians. With injuries in various parts of their bodies, they were taking to a hospital but for one of them all help came to late. He passed away.
Continue reading One Syrian died, one injured in fight around Konya →
Vatandaşlık ve linç arasında – Between citizenship and lynching
The German-Turkish newspaper taz gazete on the public discourse on Syrian refugees in Turkey:
"The initial welcoming culture has long since been replaced by resentments and hate speech. The option of naturalization fuels the discussion on Syrian refugees.
In last week of July, the Turkish parliament received a draft law on the naturalization of migrants, of which especially Syrian refugees would profit. At the same time, hate towards refugees is growing in the Turkish society. In daily life, they are being racially haressed and instrumentalized by politicians according to their political agenda. In re-occuring situations of conflict with the EU, Erdoğan, who normally stages himself as the saviour of the 'muslim brothers and sisters', threatens to put all refugees in busses towards Europe."
Continue reading the whole article in Turkish or German!
Anti-migrant violenceCitizenshipIntegration
Turkey arrests troops who beat Syrian refugees on video
31. July 2017 harekact
Via Middle Eastern Eye – The Turkish army has arrested a group of soldiers who were filmed beating and verbally abusing a group of young Syrian refugees who attempted to illegally cross the border, it said late on Sunday. In a statement posted on its website, the army said that "the personnel in question were taken into custody and all administrative and judicial procedures have been immediately started against them". Continue reading Turkey arrests troops who beat Syrian refugees on video →
Anti-migrant violenceSyrian-Turkish border
Pregnant Syrian woman raped, killed with baby in Turkey's northwest
7. July 2017 harekact
Via Hurriyet Daily News – A pregnant Syrian woman was raped and killed with her 10-month- old baby in the northwestern province of Sakarya on July 6.
Emani Arrahman, who was nine months pregnant, was kidnapped in Sakarya's Kaynarca district with her baby and was taken to the woods before being brutally murdered.
Anti-migrant violenceRacism
Turks lash out in second summer of hate against Syrian refugees
Turkish military deaths in Syria and images of Syrians returning to their homeland for Eid spark violence and intimidation in Turkey
Via Middle East Eye – A hot summer has brought tempers to boiling point in Turkey, as hatred against its 2.9 million Syrian refugees spikes with Twitter campaigns, violence and even government ministers lashing out at their guests.
Continue reading Turks lash out in second summer of hate against Syrian refugees →
Turkish Ministry of Interior announcement regarding recent news on Syrians
The Turkish Ministry of Interior published an announcement regarding the recent escalation of negative news coverage about Syrians, of which you can find an inofficial translation here: Continue reading Turkish Ministry of Interior announcement regarding recent news on Syrians →
Syrian refugees and rising racism in Turkey
Didem Danis, sociologist from Galatasaray University Istanbul, spoke to medyascope.tv on Syrian refugees and rising racism in Turkey (in Turkish)
One Iraqi stabbed in brawl between locals, refugees in Ankara
Via Hurriyet Daily News – One Iraqi was stabbed in a brawl between locals and a group of Iraqis and Syrians in the Turkish capital Ankara on July 3, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. Tension rose due to unknown reasons between locals and Iraqis before an Iraqi Turkmen was stabbed during the brawl, and later taken to hospital in Ankara's Yenimahalle district.
Following the brawl, several locals and the refugees were involved in another fight, in which seven Syrian and Iraqi Turkmens were injured. Locals living in Yenimahalle's Demetevler neighborhood attacked workplaces and houses, where the refugees have settled after escaping from their war-torn countries, with sticks and stones. Continue reading One Iraqi stabbed in brawl between locals, refugees in Ankara →
Halkların Köprüsü: Report of Torbalı visit after attack on refugees in April
11. June 2017 harekact
Via Halkların Köprüsü – We re-issue a report by the association Halkların Köprüsü (Bridging Peoples) in Izmir, who visited refugees after they got attacked by locals in Torbalı in April this year. Having spoken to many people involved in the incident, they claim that in order to avoid such tensions in the future, the state should provide them with a safe and long-lasting legal status as close to citizenship as possible.
The report was published already in May and can also be read on the homepage of the association.
Continue reading Halkların Köprüsü: Report of Torbalı visit after attack on refugees in April →
Anti-migrant violenceCitizenshipMigrant LabourRacismSolidarity |
Posted in Local Area & Events @ Nov 28th 2016 5:10pm - By Administrator
Catch Dixie Chicks on March 25 at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Australian fans are ready and raring for Dixie Chicks to make their return visit after more than a decade, with the band's first Melbourne show completely selling out in fifteen minutes, making it the fastest-selling Dixie Chicks show in Australia ever and a second Melbourne show immediately announced.
With excitement around their upcoming Australian dates reaching fever pitch, and tickets to all shows moving fast, global megastars the DIXIE CHICKS today announce that they will play a headline Brisbane show this March. Responding to overwhelming demand, Dixie Chicks confirm they will take the stage at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday 25th March.
One of the most prolific and captivating live acts on the planet, and with well over 30 million albums sold worldwide, Dixie Chicks have earned their title as the biggest US female band of all time.
Fans will have first access to pre-sale tickets starting Monday 14th November at 2pm Local Time through Dixie Chicks MMXVII Tour Club.
Catch Dixie Chicks at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Our Toowong Accommodation is just a few minutes away from Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
The two bedroom apartment with study is fully furnished and complete with everything you will need. The cosy and comfortable apartments include two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study, laundry facilities, air conditioning, WiFi internet access, a comfortable lounge area, Foxtel TV, a DVD player, and a large balcony. Suitable for a maximum of four guests, our two bedroom apartment with study is ideal for corporate travellers, friends and families.
The one bedroom apartments can accommodate three guests while the two bedroom apartments are suitable for four guests. Whether you are travelling with a big group or a small group, we have apartments that are ideal for you.
For booking information, please visit http://innonthepark.etourism.net.au
Image Source : Dixie Chicks |
Research suggests that children can be harmed by witnessing domestic violence and abuse, and that abuse can affect children's relationship with their non-abusing parent. Among the women we interviewed, fear for the safety of their children and the potential long-term effects on them of their partner's behaviour acted as a trigger for many women to seek help. This was generally after they had decided to leave their partner or after some professional involvement had helped them to recognise that they, and their children, were experiencing domestic violence and abuse.
Jane saw the effects of her abusive marriage on her children once she was out of it. She regretted that their childhood was 'a battleground' not a place of 'nurturing'.
So just reflecting back now, what do you think have been the biggest impacts of your experiences on you as a person, on your life?
My health and the health of my children, especially the mental health. You don't always realise it when you're in a domestic abuse relationship. You think the kids are going to be OK and that they're going to cope. But in reality they don't cope, you know, especially with the constant arguing between one parent and the other parent and where one person is saying one thing and the other parent is saying something else. They don't know who to trust, who to believe and who is telling the truth. Because quite often in domestic relationships there's a great deal of control, and how the control is gained is through emotional and through financial and also through making the abused feel that they're worthless and that they don't know what they're talking about and, you know, just generally trying to gain that sort of mind control over the person. So they lose who they are, the abused loses who they are for the abuser to take control. And that sort of mental shift, as it were, is where you don't trust yourself, where you don't believe in yourself. It happens over a short s-space of time, but quite quickly, but you don't usually realise it. It happens just a little bit and then a little bit more and a little bit more, and before you know what's happened, suddenly you're this person that you don't recognise. And if that's happening to you, then you can be sure that's happening to your children as well.
So did you see that in your children, that shift?
You don't when you're actually in the relationship. But when you leave the relationship and you actually realise just how close you got to maybe not being here for your children, because it got so serious that, you know, you got a really severe beating that time, and also on your child's behalf as to what they go through emotionally. A childhood should be one of growing up and being nurtured and be loved. It shouldn't be one of where it's a battleground. And if a child gets forced to grow up too early because they get to deal with adult emotions and adult feelings, then what happens is they don't grow as a person, like as a child would. So there's a great deal of mental health issues there that could happen. My oldest child, she was very badly damaged by my partner, my ex-partner, mentally and physically. And when she, when we finally left the relationship, she suffered from nervosa bulimia. And she got down to about six stone, and she was being sick all the time, she had no self-worth in herself and it was actually pitiful to see that that was the direct impact of domestic abuse. And, you know, you don't realise it at the time, but these are really serious issues. You mustn't just think of yourself; you must think of the children and what they could go through later on in adult life just because of domestic abuse. You have to be strong for yourself and for your children, even if it's really hard to do. There's lots of support out there. And the minute you make that break, you think that you're not going to be able to cope, but you will, you will. And you'll find that friends that come out of the woodwork that you lost contact with, family that you didn't really tell will all rally round and they will all help you. And, you know, it's so much easier when you've actually left, but you have to make that break and you have to make that decision that this is the right thing to do. And you have to think, not just of yourself and the impact on yourself, but also of your kids.
Children can also play an important role in women deciding to stay within a relationship if they feel that disrupting the family by leaving would be worse for the children than staying. One of the biggest areas of concern is in relation to the issue of child contact following separation in domestic abuse cases. For some women, their decision to stay may be based on being able to keep an eye on their partner's behaviour towards the children.
For Jane, getting support in place for her children and herself was an essential part of her planning to leave her long-term abusive relationship. She said that, before she left it was 'paramount… having the right support in place for both myself and the children.'
Women sought help for their children from a number of places: their school, their doctor, a counsellor or therapist, the police, social workers, charities, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS). Many women were worried that professionals, particularly from the Department of Social Services, might question their parenting when they learnt about the abuse, and that they might lose their children. This acted as a barrier for some women in getting help.
Women were divided on their experiences of social services. Nessa called the police during a violent attack on her, and the police contacted social services. Nessa initially found them to be un-supportive and at first she lied to them, minimising the abuse. However, she started 'opening up' after her partner left and she realised the importance of 'working together'. She said 'they're here to help you and work with you, not to like take your children away and stuff like that'.
Social services involvement triggered Nessa to end her abusive relationship. She was able to keep her children safe and also get help for herself through a domestic violence Support Worker.
And the trigger for that relationship to end, what was that?
Social services and legal action. I mean now, me and social services are working together great and everything's perfectly fine, we've actually gone down the scale, but whereas before, because I was minimising the risks of him hitting me in front of my children and the stuff that he was doing to me in front of the children and everything, because I was minimising the risks, it went up to legal action and they threatened to either take me to court or I've got to leave my ex-partner. So it wasn't until I actually had a letter come through from the solicitor saying about meeting up for, like just to hear my side of the story and stuff like that, it wasn't until then I actually thought no, my kids are worth a million more of him, and it's got to change so yeah.
And how did social services become involved initially?
It was, it was either, well the first time it happened, it was nothing obvious, but the second time, he had me actually pinned down on the floor in front of my children and he was repeatedly hitting me.
Was that with the belt or …
It was with his hand, it was just like slapping me and stuff, and I couldn't do anything about it or anything like that, and I actually had my phone in my hand because like I've always got my phone in my hand but I had my phone in my hand so I managed to dial 999 and I rang the police and they came here because he actually took my phone off me, but I remember, I was just shouting, like, "I need help."
Right, you … yeah.
And so they came here and obviously like I didn't really want to write a statement yet. They didn't really force me to writing a statement but they said to me, "Listen, we can see what he's done to you and your children. You need to like really write a statement so we can do something about this."
So I did, I wrote a statement and they asked me if it ever happened before, and I lied about it and I said, "No," I said, "This is the first time this has like why I rang the police and everything". I did I totally lied about it, but from there, they got social services involved because obviously he's known by the police for violence and a lot of other things too, so social services were on to him straight away. Yeah.
And what about since you left last, last couple of months? Have you talked to them…
Yeah. Like with, well to start off with, like social services would want to know how it happened, why it happened, but I wouldn't tell them either because I didn't want them to be involved with me, but when he left, like I started opening up and I started talking a lot more, especially to social services and my support worker, and I told them everything, how it happened, what he's actually done to me. It was in front of the children, and they gave, they gave me the most great like help and support I could ever ask for, literally, I mean I go to them for more help and support and to even talk to them than what I do with my family. And not because I don't trust them or anything, but just because I feel more comfortable talking to like professionals about it than what I do my own friends and family.
So you've been allocated a support, a support worker …
… then and how long have you been in contact …
I've been …
… with them, them for?
They got involved in December.
Right. So last six, seven months.
And how often do you get to see them?
I see them, I see my social worker once a week and my support worker once, see her once a week, but separately, not together.
Do they come here or do you go to them?
I go to them [emergency services siren in background] and they come here.
Okay. That's, and that's one to one sessions?
Yeah, it's one to one.
That support, so just thinking, so they became involved after that time that you, you know, you rang …
Yeah, I rang …
… you rang the police and, but there were times after that [pause] so you were reluctant to initially disclose …
Is that about everything?
Yeah, because like, yeah, because I'm, it was also like after my dad passed away as well, because it was all so much, they tried telling me that I've got depression and anxiety and everything else too, but it wasn't, it was the simple fact that I didn't want them getting involved with me, and my dad just recently passed away. My, well my ex-partner was being really violent and …
Yeah, it was …
So what, what have they done for you? Just thinking about the social worker and the support worker, what have they done for you in terms of, you know, the domestic abuse or the …
They got me onto the Freedom programme, because I didn't want to go there, yeah.
I really didn't want to go, but they got me onto it and to start off with, like I said, I was in a relationship, I didn't want to go, but from when I realised he was abusive and I voluntarily wanted to go there for myself.
It changed and, yeah, do you know what I mean and the social workers, well my support worker, she helps me out with everything. Where I haven't got much confidence even to do telephone like phone calls and stuff, my support worker will help me out with all that. My social worker has got me bereavement like counselling and stuff for my dad.
Positive experiences of Social Services
Tanya and Jane both had a good experience of their social workers, who helped them get away from their abusive partners and safeguard their children. Tanya's partner 'battered' their daughter. She was advised by her local refuge to contact social services and to leave her husband. Refuge workers told her that if she stayed the children might be taken into care.
Tanya found her social worker helpful in providing a range of support and referrals.
And how long did, how is your relationship with your daughter now?
It's OK, it's OK. Lots of parenting support. We got, she got, we got, she got referred to CAMHS, Child and Adolescent Mental Health. We, she had, oh, behavioural managers at school. She did eventually start kicking off in school and they wanted to get rid of her, because she'd have them, she'd be running around school when she should be sat in class, just causing disruption all through, literally all through the building. Yeah, but they still loved her because she's very charming. And they kept sending her home from school and they put her on a part-time school table because they just couldn't cope with her. And then I'd have to deal with her at home, and she'd be screaming at me. And we ended up with a social worker, who was very good. She got me onto the Freedom Programme.
Right, so this was a social worker who?
Social worker got me on that. My daughter had a Targeted Youth Support Worker at one point before the social worker got me on the Freedom. She tried, targeted, TYS, she tried to get me on the Freedom Programme, but she couldn't.
TY?
Targeted Youth Support, yeah.
Right OK.
Yeah, I couldn't get on through her, but the social worker got me on. yeah, so that was, that was really helpful that course.
What was helpful about it for you?
It was helpful because you learn that you're not the only one. You learn that it's actually text book stuff. The abusive man, which in the programme they call the dominator, is it's text book, they follow the same cycle, they do similar, similar abusive activities or traits, how they behave, they control, isolate you, call you names to keep you down emotionally. So it was, yeah, it was useful to know that I wasn't the only one.
And what other support have you received from the specialist services?
Right, yeah, so then, oh, I had [Women's housing charity]. Their, one of their centres is based in [Town]. I think they're a northern organisation in [Town].
How did you get in touch with them?
How? Good question. Targeted Youth Support Worker.
Jane and her daughters were referred to social services and the police via the children's school.
Jane's social workers said that with support from all the agencies, her ex should never have to bother her again. She felt safer than she had done for a long time.
The social worker at the time was really, really lovely. She was nice. And she said to me, she said, "Use this," she said, "as your opportunity to finally get away."
She said, you know, "We'll be behind you all the way. And I can guarantee that you'll be absolutely fine. You know, we'll get you to a safe place," which was then when they mentioned [Local specialist domestic abuse service], I could have gone to a hostel.
On that night. But it was not something I really wanted to do, because I'd just got attacked. So they asked if there was a f- like a family member or a friend I could have stayed with.
So I mentioned a friend's name and they rung up and they said, "Look, this is what happened. Is it OK if your friend and the children come to stay with you, you know, just temporarily?" "Yes, that's absolutely fine," you know. She had to sign a piece of paper to say that he would not sort of like come into contact with the children, because that was their main concern was that he would have absolutely no contact with the children whatsoever. And if that was to happen, she was to call the police straight away.
Just thinking about, I mean so a lovely social worker…
…that you were in contact with.
I think that was my main, that was my main, form of support in the first place, was that she was so nice.
There was her and there was her area manager.
And they made me feel so at ease and, you know, she was really, really nice to me and said, "Look," she said, "use this as your opportunity to get away," she said, you know, "from this moment in, if you want to, if you work with us, then he's never had to, going to have to bother you again."
And how did they support you then through that time?
Well literally as I've gone to pick up my eldest child, because they wouldn't let him pick her up, he was obviously waiting at the school, and there was a police officer outside. So he wasn't allowed to enter the school premises or try and attempt to get our oldest child away. From that moment, you know, when I walked into the school, was when I felt safe. Because there was, there was my daughter's class teacher there, there was the head of year there, there was the parent support worker there, they was there on behalf of the school, and there was also two lovely social workers. And at that moment I felt actually safe because there was a policeman outside.
Because there was all these people there that was willing to help me.
Was that the first time you'd felt safe in a long while?
That was the first time I'd felt safe in a long time, yeah.
Negative experiences of Social Services
Lindsay and Liz both felt let down by social services. Lindsay reflected that it was easier for social workers to 'take my kid than to deal with it' and she was offered no support.
Liz said, 'I think the system is broken'. She phoned numerous agencies for help when her daughter was sexually abused by her husband, but was told by Children's Services that she was not a priority as she was doing a good job, herself, in keeping her daughter safe.
Liz gave up trying to get help from professional agencies, until finally she contacted a charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
I think, I think the system is broken, frankly. I had the social worker, so the social worker then got involved with … from the court, you know, the CAFCASS and stuff. and I had, the report came back on Section 7, but in that report it actually said how I'd contacted lots of agencies and professionals and there was a concern, you know, was I doing this in front of my daughter, and why was I needing to talk to all these people about what I'd been through and what she'd been through? I would have loved to have a single point of contact that would have said, you know, right from the beginning, "You need to safeguard your daughter. You need to do the right thing. And we will back you."
You'll not – because they were like, "Oh, you've, OK, you've said you're going to safeguard her and do all the right things, case closed."
Yes. Oh, this was Child Services in [county]. It was like, "Well, but I need support. What am I supposed to do?" Because he's then threatening me, unless I give him access he's going to do this, he's going to not pay anything, he's going to stop paying school. He's doing all of these financial threats unless I – and if I do everything he says he, that I won't believe how generous he will be. And this, I've got emails from him saying that.
I would have loved somebody to see me and to be somebody who could have got help for me from Social Services. The GP referred it to Child Services, but because I was protecting her I wasn't seen as an emergency. And not as an emergency: nobody even bothered contacting me. They decided in their heads that I didn't need support, so nobody contacted me. It was the NSPCC who forced the Child Services to get involved in [city]. The system's broken.
I am somebody who will ring up the NSPCC. I'm relatively articulate, I can fight for help. I shouldn't have to fight. What about all those women out there that don't get help, who don't have a house like I have, who can't go into work and – I was given support through work as well.
Min had to endure a year of Child Protection proceedings following a false allegation made by her husband, despite immediately winning her appeal against the 'section' (played by an actor).
Within two hours I had a mental health lawyer, I had a family lawyer, I'd been visited by Social Services. And then I found out what was going on, only then. My husband had alleged, when I'd been breastfeeding and I'd taken off the baby because I was going to be sick, and I was rough because I was going to throw up, he said I'd thrown the baby across the room [sniffs]. And I said, "He's twice my size. No matter how threatening he may or may not have thought I was, if I actually did throw the baby, why did he leave the baby with me as he bombed off to talk to the police? I would never have done that. I would have risked life and limb to take my baby. But he left the baby with me, the person who had apparently thrown the baby across the room [sniffs]." Social Services asked all kinds of things. At the time I didn't realise that they were leading questions and they were trying to trick me [sniffs]. As it happens I, funnily enough, I picked one of the top mental health lawyers in the country, just by accident. I had the best family lawyer. My boys were put in care because Social Services – it was all child protection – Social Services said that, exactly my point, for the father to leave a baby who had been thrown across the room with, the throwing the baby across the room mother, that made him negligent.
So he couldn't have the babies. So they were in foster care for six weeks. I was in that hospital for two weeks because the appeals process was two weeks. Obviously I won the appeal. Apparently, according to my lawyer, it was the shortest appeal at that hospital that he had ever known. I think it was over in seven minutes, you know. So I won the appeal, but I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital. I had to stay an extra night. The hospital staff wouldn't let me leave, even though I'd won the appeal.
And had you seen your children at all?
No, wasn't allowed, child protection, wasn't allowed. Then I was allowed to see my children. I wasn't allowed, for their own safety, I wasn't allowed to know where they were because I was deemed so [voice falters] dangerous. I found out – do you know how I found out? My client's best friend was neighbours with the foster carer.
Oh goodness.
I was teaching a lot of classes around by there. I knew quite a lot of people.
But I found out by accident. Social Services wouldn't [coughs]. So this started a process that would last, a child protection process that would last nearly over a year.
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
CAFCASS is 'the voice of children in the family courts and helps to ensure that their welfare is put first during proceedings'. None of the women we interviewed spoke positively about CAFCASS. Many women felt that CAFCASS did not really understand domestic violence and abuse and the impact it has on mothers and their children. Min said her CAFCASS worker tried to blame her daughter's stress symptoms, like bed-wetting and chewing her nails on her, the mum. In the family court during child access proceedings Sophie felt 'bullied' to stay living with her husband and put up with her situation, since there was 'not a lot of physical violence'.
Sophie was thankful she had a good solicitor who was able to use the Human Rights Act to protect her from contact with her abusive ex.
But it destroys your sense of trust. It has destroyed my sense of trust. And I think in some ways one of the things that I found most shocking is how acceptable this sort of behaviour is, how acceptable domestic violence is in our culture. And we don't like to say this, but it is actually pretty acceptable.
What's, what's making you think that, feel that the most?
Because you realise it's very common. I don't think what happened to me is particularly unusual. I think it's very common, you know, across the board. I think that there is the attitude that you should learn to put up with it, particularly if it's not, if there's not a lot of physical violence, that you should be containing it in the home and trying to make as best job of it as you possibly can. There's a huge, a huge influence in the family courts about, the family courts, because he went for contact of course. And of course he went for contact, and I was being pressurised into going back, basically going back into a relationship with him again. I have to accept him, I was told at one point by CAFCASS, "You have to accept him as being part of your life." And luckily, because I'm quite bright and quite well educated and I had quite a good solicitor as well, I was able to turn around and say, "Human Rights Act. Fuck off. Can't do that." But a lot of women get bullied into that.
And I was being sold this thing that I've got to have him in my life, I've got to accept him in my life, in my house, in my home. You know, and I was basically, by that stage I sort of basically had got to, you know, "You're fucking kidding aren't you? You really are kidding that I'm going to have this man in my house. And you are the state telling me I've got to like being treated like that. And what century are we in?" You know, and that, and when this sort of started to hit me, how you're coerced and bullied and pressurised into liking, sorry, liking [voice falters] these sorts of men XXXX you've got to be, you know, this is, sorry, I'm so sorry [crying and angry].
Victoria said her CAFCASS worker 'didn't have a clue' and was taken in by her manipulative ex (read by a professional).
[Name] is a liar and he will go to any lengths. He was willing to go to any lengths to put me down.
And I and that kind of – I didn't sleep for, for quite a long time before the case. Because I just thought what he – he's a tracing agent, so not only, not only is he a tracing agent, he can get free legal advice. He knows how the system works.
He is a dirty player. He would come up with anything, like I wouldn't have been surprised whatever he would come up in court.
Yeah, thrown up in, yeah, yeah.
He's a very manipulative man. So I kind of was panicking a bit because I just thought, "What is he going to come up," you know. I found the whole process of court, I found CAFCASS absolutely useless. I had an irritating woman from CAFCASS who I've had to complain. Because I explained that [Son] was really affected by being withheld for six days and six nights and she just poo-pooed it. She was just like, she just dismissed it. She said, "That's a load of rubbish, from the research that psychologists have done." And I thought – I said to her, "Have you ever met my son? Have you ever met me? No, you haven't. So how dare you?" And so I'm still putting in a complaint about her because she had not a clue…
…about our, our individual case. And I felt like she'd just done her studying and she wasn't looking at us as an individual case and it just inflamed the situation. So I found my experience, and I'd heard awful things about CAFCASS beforehand, you know, about, oh, just awful things, because I've got friends that are social workers.
And they'll say it all depends on the CAFCASS advisor that you have, it all depends on the individual. so – but I will continue with the complaint because I found her just useless, absolutely useless.
Such a bad experience then.
And it actually worsened the situation between [Name] and I. And I didn't want to be in a room with him and try to mediate the situation, because this man had hurt my son deeply.
And do you think they had understanding of the abuse that you had endured?
No, no I don't, I don't think she – she didn't have a clue, absolute clue. So, yeah, CAFCASS I will endure with a complaint, because I feel very strongly that this woman did not have a clue.
With regards to support for children, the police were often the first port of call for women reporting violence or abuse. In Liz's case, police did an ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) for the court case about her daughter's sexual abuse. She felt shocked and un-supported when police told her that it was 'rare' for fathers to abuse their daughters and did not take her allegations seriously.
Schools can act as a link to social services if they are concerned about a child's behaviour. Mothers who confided in a teacher about the abuse at home received sympathetic understanding and support for their children. Many women said how important it was to get help to stop the abusive partner picking up the children from the school as a way of accessing them. With the support of the police, social services and the school, Jane's ex- husband was not allowed to pick his daughters up from school.
Tasha had a good experience with the school but felt frustrated that the school could only stop the partner picking the children up when a court order was in place.
Tasha said the school was 'fantastic' and found a clause that said they did not have to give any information, such as their address, to the father.
They can only work to the court order though. So again they're sort of tied But, I mean, the first school was, was absolutely fantastic because he was trying to find where we were living and obviously the children went to school before I got my house and he was very friendly with the head teacher from the old school, so even the head teacher from the old school was trying to find where the boys were for him, but luckily the school was very clued up and there was a clause that they managed to find at the last minute to say that they do not have to give any information to, if they can, if it needs like to protect the children and the parent as well.
And they found that right at the last minute because they were nearly went out of a deadline to let him know they were too. So they were very good, they, you know, it was it wasn't actually a school, it was admissions.
So they, they did that and had a big meeting on it and stuff. But, yeah, the schools have been, been fantastic, but as I said, at the end of the day they're tied as well, if it doesn't say in the court order that he cannot do it, then he sees that as he can do it.
Because it's not stipulated that he can't.
And the school have to go by the same really.
So, yeah, it's just the courts I think need to be more aware on how they word stuff, and not only protect the children but protect, you know, the parent as well.
I think they need to, you know, look at that and specifically word things that they can only do this, or they can only do that …
… and not leave it open.
Jane and her children first starting getting help to leave Jane's abusive husband after her daughter told the school counsellor that she had witnessed a violent attack on her mum by her dad.
The school gave Jane's daughter constant reassurance, and after leaving their Dad she was offered one-to-one sessions to recover from the trauma.
And thinking back to that time, was there anything that was done particularly well for you?
The school were fantastic. You know, they supported my eldest really well. She was all she kept saying all day was, "My dad's going to kill me, my dad's going to kill me for this." And she was really, really scared. She was white. She was wondering what I was going to do
And what I was going to say, whether I was going to diminish it. And they kept reassuring her all the time throughout the day that now she'd said something there was absolutely no way that they are going to let like even Social Services or even the school is going to let her live with her father again.
Yeah, and if I chose to come with them then, you know, all well and good. But if I decided to choose him and go home then they would, they would have to go somewhere together.
You know, so that was incredibly frightening for her, but at the same time they made her feel, you know, that this was the right thing to do and that, "Obviously mum's not going to go and go home, she's going to go with you, she's going to choose the children, she's not going to choose an abusive partner." You know, so they put her mind at rest there. And once I realised the enormity of the situation and then looked back as to what I'd put up with, I couldn't believe it. You know, I was a totally different person when I came towards the end as what I was in the beginning.
Did they stay in their schools?
They stayed in their schools and they continued to go to the school even though, you know, I'd only just left. I was praised by both schools for still managing to keep their education up together during such a difficult time. And, considering the fact that it was 20 miles away from, from the school, so I got, you know, a tremendous amount of support from them, "Don't worry if you're late, we understand, you know you're under difficult circumstances, you know, and if there's anything we can do just, just say." My eldest daughter got a lot of support from the parent support worker at her school.
And this is secondary school?
Secondary school. She gave me a lot of support as well afterwards. I got support from my daughter's school as well through staff there. my youngest daughter, because she was quite badly affected in the beginning, because she had these mixed emotions of still wanting and needing her father and not understanding why he was taken away, but on the other hand also the fact that he had done, attacked me, and it was a very bad situation. So, you know, she needed time to explore her feelings and to try and understand what was going on. And she got a tremendous amount of support from her school over that, you know, lots of one to one sessions.
Exploring how she was feeling, you know, things like writing, writing things down, drawing diagrams, and it was always the same situation, it was always a really angry man, picture of an angry man, and there was myself and her and her sister on the other side with sad faces. And then after a while that changed to being no angry man and there was just me, mum, with the two children smiling, you know, and sort of like a, a happy ever after picture. So it was nice to see that, you know, she was supported well during those crucial moments.
Was that with a teacher or was that with a specialist?
That was with…
Did a specialist come in and do that?
No, no there was no specialist that came in. They had a learning mentor in the school.
After ten years of 'hiding it' [the domestic abuse and violence], Irina said how important it was to let the school know about problems at home. Her son received sympathetic understanding and support at his pre-school.
Irina was initially reluctant to talk to her son's teacher but the teacher questioned her directly after her son frequently appeared to be distressed.
So when was it you went to the pre-school and your son's school to sort of tell them what was happening for them?
In pre-school they, teacher just asked me three or four times, looking at me and just, "Is everything OK in the family? Is everything OK in your family?" And I said, "Oh, yes, yes, yes, everything is fine. No, no, no." And, oh, just a month ago she came to me and said, "You know what? We need to talk".
And she said, "You know, [Child's] telling that mummy was crying because daddy was drunk". Nah, nah nah. Or, "What is going on in your life?"
Of course, I started to cry and I told her, "No, I've been hiding it for ten years, it's not easy for me to start telling everyone about what happened and why it's happened and why I stayed in the relationship". Because I was isolated, I, even he made me think that it was OK …
… it was, that life was normal, everyone lives life like that. That you have to raise your children and work hard and, yeah, and after that I've decided that I have to tell my son's teacher …
… and she spoke to head teacher. I went to see head teacher because my daughter was starting school, the same school, they have to know what is going on in their life. I don't want my husband to come, pick them up from school …
… and out of, no, nowhere, because he's still their father.
And then …
They would say …
They have to inform me about everything and I don't want social services to tell me, "Why didn't you inform anyone what is going on in your…
Kate became increasingly concerned about her children's safety as her husband became more and more aggressive. She decided to talk to the teachers at the children's schools and 'sobbed [her] eyes out'. She said, 'They were fantastic and very understanding and have remained so'. The headmaster 'took it very seriously', escorting them safely to her car.
Lindsay, Liz and Min all said their children had received counselling after they had separated from the abusive partner. This was generally offered at the school or by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Liz's daughter had counselling for sexual abuse through the NSPCC. Liz said:
'The NSPCC have been brilliant because, you know, they are an organisation who puts the child first. And I really don't think that even Social Services put the children first'.
The NSPCC were really supportive and got Liz's daughter on to a Letting the Future In course for victims of child sexual abuse.
So, but I contacted, I've been also supported by the NSPCC, because my sister-in-law suggested the NSPCC. And they were brilliant. Because Social Services were awful.
Were they?
I really wanted help. I really wanted somebody to come in and tell me that they weren't going to allow this man to have unsupervised contact with my daughter, given what he had done. But nobody.
There was nobody there. It was appalling, appalling. But the NSPCC were brilliant. And then I called them up about masturbation and said, you know, "Is this normal? What, what, what's normal?" So the person on the line wasn't able to tell me, but they then put me in touch with a programme called 'Letting the Future In'. And one thing I'm good at doing is, is persuading people. So I used all my persuasive skills to try to get her on this course, because she so needed the help. And I had to really fight over weeks, because they just didn't come back, you know. So I kept phoning them and chasing them up, and then the person was sick. But I kept on the case until they, until, and so she's had four weeks of assessment now and then I find out, they sent away all her paintings and stuff and then they see whether the kind of help they can give can really help her, and if it can then they'll give her a year, more or less, of [deep breath]
This is a course run by NSPCC?
Yeah, it's for child abuse victims. And so, and so she's had four sessions with a counsellor, that she has on her own.
And she's happy to go, your daughter?
Yeah, because it's play therapy. And because my fear is that she doesn't understand the abuse that she's had. She's frightened of him. She understands the physical and she understands the fear, because he would shake her, shout in her face. He used to clap, and he used to do that to me as well, clap millimetres from her nose really hard in order to frighten her, because he thought that was a good way of stopping her crying. Didn't work, funnily enough.
Shaina said her middle son had difficulty in talking about his dad after he left. He 'struggled to let it out… he had rage issues …the stuff that was going on between me and his dad affected him a lot'. He had counselling at his school through the 'Place2Be' service which provides emotional and therapeutic services in primary and secondary schools, Shaina said was 'really good'. Shaina and her children also had family therapy for over two years, referred via the local Domestic Violence Agency. She said her kids wanted to 'protect her feelings … so it was good for them to be able to talk to a third party and express themselves'.
Tasha was worried about the impact of domestic violence on her children but she felt there was not much help available in general for children who have been exposed to domestic violence.
Tasha is now in a new healthy relationship. She hoped her children would learn that her relationship with their Dad was 'not normal'.
How do you feel that, that abusive relationship, you know, impacted on your children?
Well the two eldest, I mean, they were, used to stay in their bedroom a lot so, and they weren't like with me weekends. They would be with their dad, so they missed out a lot of it. But they knew it wasn't right but they thought I was happy because obviously they were young at the time. The two youngest ones, they're more caught up in it now …
… and it, you know, it's not fair on them I don't want them to feel as though they're being sort of torn apart through it all, but I mean their dad's upset them so much anyway with, through what he's written, letters and stuff I've never said they can't see him, you know, I just want them to be safe and …
.. you know …
… it's, it was taken out of my hands, it's the courts that said that they can't see him. You know, they, they're still having sort of counselling at school and stuff now you know, and I want them to know that, you know, the relationship I'm in now is a normal relationship, you know, what I was in with their dad wasn't …
… a normal relationship. And I would hate for them to sort of follow on through that, through their experiences. So I'm just trying to get as much sort of help for them now while they're still young as I can, but unfortunately there's not a lot really in terms of children and domestic violence for, help for them. So yeah, emotionally the youngest he really does cling to anybody that he gets trust with. He's going up to secondary school this year and he's going to find it hard with the new teachers and that because he's got a trust going with a couple of teachers and, you know, and to take him away from that is going to be hard for him.
He's still got a friend from where we lived before who he's close with and they are still very close and even though they're quite young you know he still goes and sees him, because he, because he seems to just attach himself to just certain people he gets a trust in. And I think that sort of has impacted. My other son likes to keep stuff closed in, you know, and he just blows up now and again and I think that as well is, you know, a lot to do with it. So, it's just trying to get them help now, the, this, you know, they have got problems you know.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
Women had mixed experiences of getting help for their children from CAMHS. Jane's two daughters were referred to CAMHS from their school. The eldest had developed bulimia nervosa*, following physical and emotional abuse from her father, but CAMHS turned her younger sister down for help as she did not meet the criteria.
Jane thought the CAMHS staff should have seen through her younger daughter's outward appearance of being 'happy and smiling', and offered her some support.
She then referred on to CAMHS, which was Childhood Adolescent Mental Health Services. they said that she didn't actually meet the threshold, which annoyed the school immensely. Because, you know, you had to be at a Tier Three to receive this report, or this support. And because when she came into the room my youngest daughter was happy and smiling and, you know, she was not concerned in any way they went on that one like experience.
Yeah, and because my eldest daughter was there anyway, and she really didn't want to go, when my daughter went out for a little while because she didn't want to sit in there, because she didn't want to have all the story gone over again, it was then that I said I was a little bit concerned for my eldest daughter because she suffered more physical and emotional abuse than the youngest one did. So it was then that she got the help from, from CAMHS, but my youngest one didn't. Again, that was a bit annoying to sort of like have one chosen over the other.
Just because she's not showing it didn't mean to say that she didn't feel or, you know, think it. And she had such good help from the school in the beginning, but I think, you know, that was crucial, you know, she received that, that good support which was what helped her moved on so quickly.
So, you know, I think that was, that was paramount, was having the right support in place for both myself and the children.
Lindsay's daughter's behaviour became unmanageable after her dad left and she was referred to CAMHS, but it was time-limited due to lack of funding. She also had a Youth Support Worker.
*An emotional disorder characterised by bouts of extreme overeating followed by fasting or self-induced vomiting or purging. |
Homosexuals in sports have to cope with abuse
Posted on 11 October, 2018 by Jan ter Harmsel
Verbally abusing someone because of his race is not done, says Karin Blankenstein. "But homosexuals still have to cope with being abused." As if that's normal. Blankenstein fights for gay acceptance in sports in The Netherlands. I interviewed her during a meeting at The Hague's Referee Association a few years ago. This issue is still very relevant these days. How is the situation for homosexuals in sports?
Acceptance is difficult
Karin Blankenstein is the founder of the John Blankenstein Foundation, called after her brother, a homosexual professional referee in football who died in 2006. The battle for gay acceptance in sports is difficult. She made an action plan to gain equal rights for everyone in cooperation with Dutch football association KNVB and she has sent it to all football clubs. "I got no response", she says and stresses that the abuse is a big problem. "Fifty percent of the homosexual boys think about suicide during puberty. People should give that a moment of thought. They need to become thoughtful about what it means when you verbally abuse someone because of his sexual preferences."
And what can referees do about it? "I hear players using the word 'gay' all the time on the football pitches. As a referee you need to say to players that it's inappropriate." Verbally abusing someone because of his race is not done, she adds. "But homosexuals need to cope with being abused." John Blankenstein was openly gay. Likewise Jeroen Sanders, who was a referee and is AR in Dutch professional football. "But there's a veil of secrecy on homosexuality amongst football players". The German player Thomas Hitzlsperger told he was gay only after he retired. "He got more than 1000 interview requests, because this was so unique."
Fans reactions on homosexuals in sports
Many football fans are not open for homosexuality according to Blankenstein. "They would love to party on Friday night with gay pop stars on stage in a big football stadium. But if a gay attacker would play in the same stadium the next weekend, they'll boo at him." There's so much to gain for homosexuals in sports. Blankenstein hopes it starts with little things like people taking action when people verbally abuse gays and when football and referee clubs put gay acceptance in their code of conduct. "It's important that as little people as possible quit with sports or refereeing because of their sexual preferences".
Posted in Blog, Interviews.
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One thought on "Homosexuals in sports have to cope with abuse"
Arthur Smits
16 October, 2018 at 9:18 pm Reply
For sure the Dutch RA was not involved in this initiative..I am sure we have gay referees, so this is a missed opportunity.
The national board of the COVS did not inform the regional associations as far as I know. |
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Tobacco Road Turnover
The Final Four has finally arrived, but for the second staight year, no team on Tobacco Road will be vying to cut down the nets this Monday. Instead, both Duke and UNC have shifted into offseason mode, which means a ton of chatter about early entry, recruiting, and projecting what next season's squads will look like.
It's safe to say that the top of the ACC next year will look very, very different.
On Monday, Duke officially said goodbye to Austin Rivers, ending an up-and-down season that, for better or for worse, revolved around Rivers. He became the stuff of legend on February 8th in Chapel Hill, but Duke struggled down the stretch and bowed out in Coach K's first Round of 64 exit since 2007. Junior center Mason Plumlee still has yet to make a decision. This past season was Mason's best yet, but he will likely not be a lottery selection in this year's class. His decision will likely influence the decisions of recruits, like Amile Jefferson and Tony Parker. But until Mason chooses to go pro or not, we'll have little to no idea what this Duke team will be like next year.
But Duke isn't the only school with uncertainty lying ahead in 2012-2013. This afternoon, Harrison Barnes, John Henson, and Kendall Marshall announced their intentions to join Tyler Zeller as potential lottery selections in this year's NBA draft. Sophomore Reggie Bullock is the only remaining member of Carolina's starting five who will be returning next year. It has been rumored that freshman James Michael McAdoo is also considering leaving early for the draft as well.
Many Duke fans are glad we'll never have to see these guys again. (photo courtesy of DukeBluePlanet.com)
As you can imagine, these losses will be a great loss for the Tar Heels in the team's efforts to repeat as ACC regular season champions next year. Barnes, Marshall, Henson, and Zeller accounted for just over 68% of North Carolina's scoring last season. Barnes, Henson, and Zeller also combined to form arguably the nation's most formidable frontcourt. The three accounted for 54.9% of the Tar Heels' rebounds in 2011, and were much of the reason why North Carolina was the top rebounding team in the country at 45.2 boards per game. You also can't forget about the role Marshall played as a distributor, setting the ACC assists record while averaging 9.8 per contest. With Kendall gone and Stilman White headed on a religious mission for the next two years, Huckleberry Hound will probably look to senior Dexter Strickland and freshman Marcus Paige to take up point guard duties.
This decimation of Carolina's roster is an interesting twist in what has been an eventful offseason for the ACC thus far.Even with a recruiting class of four players coming in next season, North Carolina is essentially starting from scratch. As Carolina looks to rebuild (or as the national media will say ad nauseum, 'reload') and with Duke's roster in flux, N.C State seems primed for a run to the top of the league. The Wolfpack, fresh off of a Sweet 16 run, will add three McDonald's All-Americans as freshmen (T.J Warren, Rodney Purvis, and Tyler Lewis) next season – with the possibility of adding a fourth in Amile Jefferson. The only current N.C State player considering the draft is C.J Leslie, but regardless of his decision, State will be very, very strong next season. If Plumlee does indeed enter the draft and Duke misses on its three remaining targets, it won't be unexpected to see the balance of power shift away from the blues next year.
This is just the beginning to what looks to be an eventful offseason. We'll know more and more about what the Blue Devils will look like in the coming weeks.
P.S. Remember November 13, 2009, when Harrison Barnes promised to leave a legacy at UNC? That 'legacy' will include zero championships of any kind, zero Final Fours, and a losing record against Duke. That's really something to Skype home about.
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ACC Basketball Austin Rivers Duke Blue Devils Harrison Barnes John Henson Kendall Marshall North Carolina Tyler Zeller
Around the ACC: The Opening Weekend In Review
ACC conference play is finally underway, and every single game is crucial. Every ACC team was in action over the weekend for their first conference tilt, and the games did not disappoint. Let's take a look back at the results from the first two days of the regular season contests:
Duke @ Georgia Tech
Duke 81, Georgia Tech 74
The Blue Devils hit the road for their first game of the ACC regular season, facing a well-coached Georgia Tech squad. Duke jumped out to an early 31-14 lead but the Yellow Jackets stormed back to within five at the half. The game was tight for the entirety of the second half as momentum shifted back and forth and Georgia Tech drew to within two points with less than four minutes to play. Glen Rice Jr. was huge down the stretch for the Yellow Jackets, converting shot after shot en route to his game-high 28 points. It was the Blue Devils, however, who were able to pull away in the end. Thanks to a stellar 14-of-14 from the line from Ryan Kelly, Duke was able to escape with a seven-point victory. (Note: Further analysis of this game can be found here and statistical analysis can be found here)
Boston College @ North Carolina
North Carolina 83, Boston College 60
The Tar Heels had little trouble handling the Eagles, who dropped to a miserable 5-10 on the year with the loss. North Carolina had their way with Boston College inside, dominating the Eagles on the offensive end and controlling the glass. The Tar Heels held a 41-27 rebounding advantage over Boston College. Harrison Barnes led the way for North Carolina with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting in only 27 minutes. Tyler Zeller added 20 points and eight rebounds and Kendall Marshall distributed the ball throughout the game to open teammates for a game-high 11 assists. North Carolina was also impressive on the defensive end, forcing Boston College to turn the ball over 19 times on the evening.
Miami @ Virginia
Virginia 52, Miami 51
The Cavaliers improved to 14-1 on the season with a tight one-point victory over the Hurricanes. As always, Virginia controlled the tempo and slowed the game down, turning it into a defensive struggle. The Cavaliers took a 26-17 lead into halftime, but Miami came storming back and took back the lead with 3:57 to play. Sammy Zeglinski hit a huge 3-pointer to put Virginia up by two and they would never relinquish their lead again. Mike Scott led Virginia with 23 points and eight rebounds while the Hurricanes relied on Kenny Kadji, who put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Miami had a chance to win the game in the waning seconds but Virginia's defense held tight to make the final stop.
Florida State @ Clemson
Clemson 79, Florida State 59
There is no such thing as an easy road game in the ACC, so it's not hard to believe that Clemson was able to protect its home floor against the Seminoles, but I don't think anyone believed they could beat Florida State in emphatic fashion. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead, using a 20-0 run to catapult them to a 32-10 advantage. The Seminoles missed 10 straight shots from the field as Clemson built its early lead, and the rest was history. Clemson took a 14-point cushion into the half and coasted the rest of the way. Clemson's Andre Young led all scorers with 18 points, thanks to 10-of-12 from the line, but the Tigers' catalyst on the floor was Milton Jennings. Jennings shot 7-for-10 from the floor en route to 15 points and eight rebounds on the night. Florida State's early-season struggles continue with yet another puzzling loss against a weaker opponent.
Virginia Tech @ Wake Forest
Wake Forest 58, Virginia Tech 55
Wake Forest provided the biggest surprise of ACC play's opening night, knocking off Virginia Tech on its home floor. With the win, the Demon Deacons matched its ACC win-total from all of last season. This game was a back-and-forth struggle from the beginning. Wake Forest took 32-24 lead into the locker room at halftime, but Virginia Tech came storming back to take its first lead of the game at 53-52 with 1:18 to play. Wake Forest would respond, as C.J. Harris hit two 3-pointers in the game's final minute to give Wake Forest a huge conference victory. Travis McKie paced the Demon Deacons with 12 points and 15 rebounds, while Virginia Tech was led by Erick Green's 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. This loss could prove crucial to Virginia Tech come tournament time, as they are expected to be a bubble team yet again this season.
Maryland @ North Carolina State
North Carolina State 79, Maryland 74
In yet another tight contest, NC State knocked off Maryland by five points in Raleigh. The Wolfpack were led by C.J. Leslie's 20 points and 11 rebounds. Leslie received ample support from guard Lorenzo Brown, who added 11 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists. NC State held a narrow three-point lead over Maryland with 8:09 to play, but an 11-0 run by the Wolfpack gave the Terrapins an uphill battle in the game's final five minutes. Maryland was able to claw back into the contest thanks to the scoring ability of Terrell Stoglin, the leading scorer in the ACC. Stoglin's 25 points led all scorers on the evening as the Terps were able to pull within four points with 26 seconds to play. It would be too little too late for Maryland, as NC State emerged triumphant.
ACC play takes the day off on Monday and resumes tomorrow night when Miami travels to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina and Florida State and Virginia Tech both look to rebound from tough losses in Blacksburg.
ACC Basketball Boston College Clemson Duke Blue Devils Florida State Georgia Tech Maryland Miami NC State North Carolina Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest
1 Comment Posted on January 3, 2012 by Amogh 2011-2012 ACC Previews, Featured, Headline
The Truth About ACC Schedules
Here we sit, just days away from the beginning of the ACC's regular season schedule. At Crazie-Talk we've done quite a bit of pondering about the ACC over the course of the last three weeks, going team by team around the conference and projecting the regular season standings come March. During this process something intriguing has jumped out at me, something I haven't given much thought to until now- just because everyone is playing their ACC conference schedule doesn't mean their schedules are all the same.
Allow me to elaborate. Unfortunately, not all ACC schedules are created equal. There once was a time when this was a case. The ACC expanded to nine teams in 1991. With the addition of Florid astate, the ACC was comprised of Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, and Wake Forest. These teams still played a 16 game regular season, a grueling round-robin that would pit every team against one another on two occasions, once at home and once on the road. These days are long gone. They ended in 2004, when Miami and Virginia Tech joined the conference from the Big East. The following year Boston College made the same jump.
There are currently 12 teams in the ACC, and the ACC conference schedule is still 16 games. Now I'm no math major, but there is no way to have 12 teams play a 16 game schedule where every team plays every other team in the conference the same amount of times. The way it is divided up, out of the 11 possible opponents in the conference (last time I checked a team cannot play itself), an ACC team will play five of them twice in a home and home format and six of them just once during the year (the ability to play a basketball game in two places at once has not been figured out yet, either). This will all change with the addition of Pittsburgh and Syracuse into the ACC in either 2013 or 2014, depending on the negotiation of their buyouts with the Big East. Following their entrance into the conference, the 14 teams in the ACC will all play 18 regular season games, further diluting the scheduling scenarios within the conference.
Some of these mascots will have a much harder time than others when conference schedules begin. (photo courtesy of DukeBluePlanet)
Now if each team plays roughly half of its opponents just once and the other half twice, wouldn't that make some teams' schedules harder than others? The answer is yes, but it's something that often gets overlooked when breaking down the conference. Using our ACC preview as a roadmap, we were able to break down every team in the conference's schedule and figure out who has the toughest test this year, and we thought we'd share the results with you. By taking the rankings we assessed to the 12 ACC schools and giving additional weight to the schools a team plays twice, we were able to figure out the difficulty of each team's schedule. For good measure, because a team cannot play itself, we weighed it against a team's toughest possible schedule (lowly Boston College would theoretically be at a disadvantage because it cannot play itself twice like other schools can). Each team is linked to its respective preview, so feel free to take a look at those if you haven't already (spoiler alert: we've already done 11 previews so by process of elimination and common sense, North Carolina, whose preview will be published tomorrow, is our projected #1 team). The teams are listed in reverse order, from least difficult schedule to most difficult schedule.
12. Georgia Tech
Projected ACC finish: 8th
Who they play once: Duke, Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Who they play twice: Boston College, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina State, Wake Forest
11. Boston College
Projected ACC finish: 12th
Who they play once: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia
Who they play twice: Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
10. Wake Forest
Who they play once: Florida State, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Who they play twice: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State
9. North Carolina State
Who they play once: Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Who they play twice: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Who they play once: Boston College, Duke, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State
Who they play twice: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Who they play once: Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Boston College, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State
6. Virginia Tech
Who they play once: Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Virginia
5. Florida State
Who they play once: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Clemson, Duke, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech
4. Duke
Projected ACC finish: 2nd
Who they play once: Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina State, Virginia
Who they play twice: Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
3. North Carolina
Projected ACC finish: 1st
Who they play once: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Duke, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina State, Virginia
Projected ACC finish: 3rd
Who they play once: Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina State, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia Tech
1. Maryland
Who they play once: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Who they play twice: Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia
Disagree with the order? Don't think it's a big deal? Have a better idea for a way to set up conference schedules? Let us know. Stay Crazie, my friends.
3 Comments Posted on September 2, 2010 by Amogh Featured, Headline
ACC Hoops Schedule Released…Go Get 'Em
Thank you sir, may I have another? (Courtesy of DukeBluePlanet.com)
The Atlantic Coast Conference finally released the 2010-11 men's basketball schedule today on their official website. And for those of you bored by our conference's football offerings before the season has even begun, this is big news.
The ACC brass are stoked that the conference will be on television a record 182 times this upcoming year. Fans of the Big East and other power conferences complain that the ACC gets preferential treatment despite being a "weak" league. Right, a conference that has won five of the last ten natty champers is pitiful.
Here are some of the highlights of what promises to be another exciting year in ACC basketball. As the season draws closer, we will be back with full team previews. But for now, check out five of the best non-conference matchups before the New Year.
NOVEMBER 15: Miami at Memphis
Young Memphis Tigers coach Josh Pastner breathed a big sigh of relief when the best recruit of his short tenure, Will Barton, was declared eligible on August 20. I'm really impressed with what Pastner has been able to do in Calipari's stead (how much he "learned" from the former Memphis coach remains to be seen). Miami's sparkplug Durand Scott nearly beat Duke by himself in last year's ACC Tournament, and young big man Reggie Johnson will fill in nicely for departing beast Dwayne Collins, who finally graduated. Look for Memphis to come out on top on sheer talent, but I'm impressed that Frank Haith has the cojones to schedule this type of game.
DECEMBER 1: Duke v. Michigan State
This game continues to lose its luster, as the Spartan guards are dropping like flies. First it was the transfer of Chris Allen to Iowa State after being kicked off the team in East Lansing. More recently, the twenty-year-old Korie Lucious, hero of the Maryland game, was caught over the legal limit while driving. Tom Izzo is probably my second favorite NCAA coach, mostly because he doesn't put up with stuff like this. Lucious will likely be suspended for the first half of the season at the least. That leaves more of the burden on Kalin Lucas, who is rehabbing his torn ACL, and 2010 Big Dance star Durrell Summers. Yet this will be billed as the best game of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. Look for Kyrie Irving to get after it against Lucas—a player to whom he has been compared in the past. I had hoped Duke would face MSU at full strength; nonetheless, Izzo is a gamer and this could be the highlight of Duke's early season schedule.
DECEMBER 1: Virginia Tech vs. Purdue
Perhaps this is the year that Virginia Tech lives up to expectations. Many pundits think it's a battle for second place in the conference between the Hokies and the Heels. Much of that advance praise for VT rests on do-it-all guard Malcolm Delaney, who wisely chose to return for his final year. Meanwhile, Purdue returns everyone but hard nosed point guard Chris Kramer. Pat Forde even put them ahead of Duke in his preseason rankings (but he has a hard time with such predictions). This would be a statement game for Seth Greenberg's program—which returns everyone—and until I see Robbie Hummel play as well as he did pre-torn ACL, I think the Hokies have a good shot. Just don't let Jeff Allen loose on JaJuan Johnson…that won't end well.
DECEMBER 4: North Carolina vs. Kentucky
In a battle of the teams I hate the most, UNC and UK face off yet again in this home and home series. Recently, ESPN's sometimes knowledgeable college hoops blogger Eamon Brennan stated that UK has a slight edge in this matchup. It's tough to say. Both teams have the same problem: a lack of proven size. Kentucky's frontline is thin: 6'8" frosh Terrence Jones, Florida transfer Eloy Vargas, and perhaps Turkish semi-pro Enes Kanter, if he is ruled eligible. UNC has the sometimes healthy Tyler Zeller, the "wet noodle" John Henson, and Mr. Barnes, who's supposed to be a guard anyway. I think the game hinges on Kanter's eligibility. If he plays, he will be too much to handle down low, and combined with UK's superior guard play led by Brandon Knight, I think Kentucky squeezes this one out. Look for UNC's season to be a reverse of last year's: a slow start with a more productive second half.
DECEMBER 4: N.C. State at Syracuse
The 'Cuse shocked a lot of people last year by reaching #1, but that's mostly because people weren't familiar with Wes Johnson and/or didn't have respect for the Orange's experience. Now most of that depth is gone, and for once in his life, Sidney Lowe has something to be excited about in Raleigh. All the hype has been loaded on CJ Leslie, but we think incoming point guard Ryan Harrow will determine State's success as much as anyone. The frontcourt favors the 'Cuse (remember the name Fab Melo), but the Wolfpack have an early chance to prove that they belong in the same breath as Duke and UNC for the first time since, I don't know…Julius Hodge?
Look for our ACC Rundowns as the season draws closer. And be sure to follow us on Twitter.
2010-11 ACC Duke Kentucky Miami Michigan State NC State North Carolina Syracuse Virginia Tech |
Cover Me Impressed: 'I Don't Like Mondays'
I just completed a less-than-stellar day. This one seems appropriate.
Bob Geldof's punk outfit the Boomtown Rats had a minor hit (No. 73) here in America with "I Don't Like Mondays" back in 1979. Through the years, I feel like this song has gained quite a bit more momentum than this weak charting suggests. First of all, it was a No.-1 smash in the UK, but Geldof's increased stature in the music community, as well as its appearance on numerous new-wave compilations and one-hit wonder lists, could have had something to do with it. Perhaps the best-known cover of the song, unfortunately, is by Bon Jovi, but I really like what Ron Sexsmith did with it. He's pretty true to the original, but it's done in that understated Sexsmith way. You can find the song on his 2003 import album 'Rarities.' The original can be found on the Boomtown Rats' 1980 album 'The Fine Art of Surfacing.' Both are worth spending a few bucks.
As for the origins of the song itself, Geldof tells quite a tale. He wrote it right after 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer went on a shooting spree at a playground in San Diego that killed two adults and injured eight children and one police officer. When a reporter asked "tell me why," Spencer said, without an ounce of remorse, "I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day." OK, maybe my Monday wasn't so bad after all.
The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays (mp3)
Ron Sexsmith - I Don't Like Mondays (mp3)
More Cover Me Impressed:
"Half a Boy and Half a Man"
"Money Changes Everything"/"The Right Stuff"
"I Put a Spell on You"
"Johnny, Are You Queer?"
"Superman"
"Voices"
"Almost Saturday Night"
"Too Many Teardrops"
"Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me"
"They Don't Know"
"Everybody's Talkin'"
"What Goes On"
"There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"
Halloween Edition
"Porpoise Song"
"Prairie Rose"
"Come On Eileen"
"Walking On Thin Ice"
Jason Falkner Edition
"True Love Will Find You In The End"
"This Will Be Our Year"
"You're My Favorite Waste of Time"
"Nightime/Thirteen"
"The End Of The World"
"(Don't Go Back To)Rockville"
"God Only Knows"
"And Your Bird Can Sing"
"So Sad About Us"
"Everywhere"
"Walking The Cow"
Posted by Brian at 1:28 AM
Cover Me Impressed: 'Christmas Wish'
New Music From 'The Modfather' |
Born in London, England, Beckinsale was the daughter of comic Richard Beckinsale - who died when she was five years old - and actress Judy Loe. She pursued her education at Godolphin & Latymer School, then Oxford University, where she studied French and Russian literature, as well as took up acting. Beckinsale, however, spent a good portion of her teen years struggling with an eating disorder - of which she later spoke frankly of in interviews - before she decided to try her hand at acting. Meanwhile, after making her debut in a bit part in the mystery "Devices and Desires" (BBC, 1991), she landed the pivotal role of the rebellious daughter of a British woman (Judy Davis) involved with the French Resistance during WWII in "One Against the Wind" (CBS, 1991). Once she had become established as an ingénue with "Much Ado About Nothing," Beckinsale carefully crafted a career path that would not find her typecast.Born on July 26, 1973 in London, England, Beckinsale pursued her education at Godolphin & Latymer School, then Oxford University, where she took up acting. In "Royal Deceit/The Prince of Jutland" (1994), which was based on the Danish prince whose life inspired Shakespeare's "Hamlet," she starred opposite Christian Bale. A lighter, more charming side to the actress was displayed in "Marie-Louise, or The Leave" (1995), in which she played a young woman searching for her lover in a crowded train station. Beckinsale delivered a strong turn as the meddlesome orphan taken in by eccentric relatives in the brittle comedy "Cold Comfort Farm" (also 1995). As Flora Poste, she anchored the film and managed to make a busybody character seem charming, and in some ways it was a warm-up for her tackling "Jane Austen's Emma" (BBC/AE, 1996). Although Douglas McGrath's feature version starring Gwyneth Paltrow had opened on American screens first, this version found its partisans who felt it was more faithful to the spirit of Austen.Capitalizing on the sass and intelligence she had projected in both "Cold Comfort Farm" and "Jane Austen's Emma," Beckinsale shone as an aristocratic med student who falls in with two charming con men (Dan Futterman and Stuart Townsend) in the underrated caper flick "Shooting Fish" (1997). Adopting a flawless American accent, the actress next registered as the bitchy junior publishing executive seeking fun and perhaps Mr. Right in Whit Stillman's "The Last Days of Disco" (1998). The following year, Beckinsale retained the Americanisms to portray a mousy tourist in Thailand who falls for a slick Australian, dragging herself and her traveling companion (Claire Danes) into accusations of drug smuggling in "Brokedown Palace." After time out for motherhood, she returned to the big screen as Nick Nolte's daughter in the Merchant Ivory adaptation of Henry James' "The Golden Bowl" (2000). The attractive actress finally had a shot at more mainstream success with two high profile leading roles in 2001. In the big-budget epic "Pearl Harbor," she was cast as a US Navy nurse who falls in love with a dashing pilot (Ben Affleck) but when news of his death arrives turns to his best friend (Josh Hartnett) for comfort. And Beckinsale was cast opposite John Cusack in the mildly engaging romantic comedy "Serendipity," playing a woman who believes more in fate than love at first sight and faces a long but seemingly inevitable road to romance. The actress surfaced again in 2003 in the arty indie "Laurel Canyon" as the icy fiancée of an L.A. native (Christian Bale) who returns to his eclectic mother's home in Laurel Canyon, where Beckinsale's character slowly becomes seduced by the sultry Los Angeles lifestyle.Her highest profile role to date came in "Underworld" (2003), a glossy supernatural thriller with Romeo-and-Juliet overtones, in which Beckinsale played Selene, a vampire embroiled in her kind's long feud with a werewolf clan who falls in love with one of her blood enemies (Scott Speedman). Beckinsale followed up with another action-packed supernatural thriller, teaming with Hugh Jackman for "Van Helsing" (2004), in which she played Anna Valerious, a vampire slayer from a long line committed to ending the reign of Count Dracula who teams with the count's longtime human foe. The actress was better served by her next project, director Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes glamorous and visually arresting biopic "The Aviator" (2004), in which the actress provided a sultry spark as the fiery film icon Ava Gardner, Hughes' (Leonardo DiCaprio) most challenging, yet sympathetic, paramour.Beckinsale next revived the vampire Selene for the sequel, "Underworld: Evolution" (2006), as vampires and werewolves battle each other for ultimate control of the undead. As the violence between the two warring factions increases, Selene and her werewolf beau, Michael (Scott Speedman), try to uncover the secrets of the conflict while delving into their own pasts. Despite poor reviews, "Underworld: Evolution" managed to rake in a descent payday. Meanwhile, she starred opposite Adam Sandler in "Click" (2006), a middlebrow comedy about an overworked architect (Sandler) whose life seemingly changes for the better when a strange Bed, Bath and Beyond clerk gives him a universal remote that can pause, rewind or fast-forward anything - barking dog included. But as the remote gets stuck on fast-forward, causing him to miss all the important events in his life, he realizes that it's probably better to take the bad with the good rather than let his whole life pass before his eyes.Returning to the horror genre - an apparent favorite for the actress - Beckinsale starred in "Vacancy" (2007), another in a long line of suspense thrillers released in the early part of the century. In this all-too-obvious take on "Psycho," Beckinsale played the soon-to-be ex-wife of a man (Luke Wilson) forced to spend the night at a seedy motel run by an odd, but seemingly harmless proprietor (Frank Whaley). But the couple soon discovers that the cache of homemade slasher flicks they have found were shot in the very room in which they are staying - both must put aside their differences and work together in order to avoid becoming the next victims of the sadistic filmmakers. While most horror thriller are brushed off by critics as being redundant and tedious, "Vacancy" received its fair share of positive reviews. Meanwhile, she starred in "Snow Angels" (2008), playing a woman whose turbulent marriage to her husband (Sam Rockwell) recalls dark memories from the past, then followed with "Nothing But the Truth (2008), playing a jailed journalist who wrote an explosive about a government scandal and refused to divulge the name of her source when pressured by a special government prosecutor.Focusing her attention on small films and other genres besides horror, Beckinsale starred in the psychological thriller "Whiteout" (2009), where she played a U.S. Marshal forced to find a vicious killer in Antarctica before the sun sets for six months winter. Critics were in agreement that "Whiteout" was tedious and formulaic, while audiences sought out other entertainment, resulting in the film's poor showing at the box office. Beckinsale went on to star opposite Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell and Robert De Niro in the low-budget drama, "Everybody's Fine" (2009), in which she played a successful Chicago advertising exec whose father (De Niro) drives across country to make amends with his four children following the death of their mother. Critics were mixed, as the film came and went in a limited release. Meanwhile, Beckinsale returned to larger studio projects with a turn as the girlfriend of a former smuggler (Mark Wahlberg) forced back into the life to settle a debt in the above-average action thriller "Contraband" (2012). After reprising Selene for the critically panned, but commercially successful "Underworld: Awakening" (2012), Beckinsale played Colin Farrell's wife in the high-profile remake of "Total Recall" (2012). Breckinsale's next three films--Karen Moncrieff's "The Trials of Cate McCall" (2013), Brad Anderson's psychological thriller "Stonehearst Asylum" (2014) and Michael Winterbottom's crime drama "The Face of an Angel" (2015)--were all released direct to video on demand despite their high-profile casts and creative teams. She next played the female lead opposite Simon Pegg in "Absolutely Anything" (2015) a sci-fi comedy written and directed by Monty Python's Terry Jones.Beckinsale next starred in Whit Stillman's romantic period drama "Love and Friendship" (2016) and psychological horror "The Disappointments Room" (2016) before reprising her role as Seiene in the sequel "Underworld: Blood Wars" (2016). After co-starring in indie dramas "The Only Living Boy In New York" (2017) and "Farming" (2018), Beckinsale returned to TV in the starring role of action thriller series "The Widow" (ITV/Amazon 2018-) while becoming a tabloid staple due to her shortlived romance with comedian Pete Davidson. |
H2O - Healthy Hawaiian Oceans
All About Our Waters www.h20kona.org
"Malama o kekai, kekai o ke malama"
Take care of the sea, and the sea will take care of you
Honaunau, Hawai`i 96726
[email protected]
Testing the waters fails to inform or help solve the problem
Richard H. Bennett Ph.D., President
Applied Life Sciences LLC
The recent article in WHT regarding the testing of beach water for microbes was useful as it raises awareness and helps us understand our influence on the ocean. Unwittingly, the paper walks right into a scientific conundrum that has plagued scientists and regulators for over 50 years. We do not have a valid measure of recreation water-borne disease risk.
A search of MEDLINE produced 6,971 research publications on microbial water safety. Most studies describe possible testing methods and others, their shortcomings. The overall message from the science is disappointing. We simply do not have the means to predict the disease risk precisely from recreating in ocean waters. At best, our current test system is a guesstimate and one entrenched in outdated methods and bureaucracy. Most of the microbe tests were developed long ago for assessing the safety of drinking water from municipal systems. Even here, the indicator bacteria fail to predict risk accurately. Similar indicator methods, however, are very imprecise when used for estimating disease risks from recreation on oceans, lakes, and streams.
There are two important considerations when we discuss the microbial safety of recreation waters.
(1) Using laboratory methods to test for the growth of a microbial surrogate indicator species to accurately predict the presence of pathogens (disease-causing microbes) in ocean water recreation, lacks scientific validation. Sure, some studies show weak associations in high-risk locations such as near urban rivers or waste treatment plants. Such modest statistical relationships are not evidence of cause, effect, and do not predict risk for all beaches. It is for this reason that we only see beach closures or warnings in Hawai'i when there is an obvious sewage spill.
Twenty years ago, The American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) (Ford 1996) took the position that the use of bacterial indicator species, also known as Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB) fails to indicate the risk to people recreating in the water. The acronym FIB is ironically fitting. Recent studies (Gruber 2014) confirm the failings of the generic FIB, even for drinking water and affirms the 1995 position of the AAM.
(2) There is sufficient science to prove that fecal bacteria and virus in human wastes, disposed to the ground, move into the ground water (McRay 2010). It matters not if it is a cesspit or a new septic system. The massive quantity of human waste generated each day along the Kona slopes flows with the wastewater and downslope, sometimes very quickly, but ultimately to the sea.
The Kona side of our island has only a couple streams, but that does not mean water is not flowing. It just flows underground, out of sight and unfortunately out of mind. Researchers document hundreds of millions of gallons of ground water flowing into the sea along the Kona coastline daily (Prouty 2015). This water has many components of urban wastewater. (Hunt 2007, Parsons 2008)
During a day at the beach, we do not intentionally drink sea water. Getting splashed or even blasted by breaking waves is the fun many seek. As kids in the waves, we got ocean water forced into our nose, throat, mouth and eyes. Health studies on surfers (the canaries in the ocean coal mine) confirm that they often ingest a mouthful of seawater with each "wipeout". Research confirms increased illness rates for surfers (Stone 2008). The disease rate was low and for a good reason. The ingestion of pathogenic bacteria is too few, and the water in the surf zone is well mixed. Most bacteria have to be ingested in large numbers and, in some cases, millions. This factor is called the 'Minimal Infective Dose' or MID. Unfortunately, even elevated FIB cannot determine an MID level for a particular bacterial pathogen in the water. For virus, this is especially relevant. As few as one pathogenic virus can be an infective dose (Teunis 2008). Virus can be present when the FIB are not.
The AAM did recommend that health agencies should measure for specific pathogens. So, why in 2016 are we still chasing FIBs? The answer is political and economic. Few, with a financial interest in tourism, would be thrilled with reports and headlines that revealed rates of dysentery or abscess forming bacteria at Hawaiian beaches. This type of testing is very expensive and agencies lack the funding. It takes teams of microbiologists and EPA certified labs to provide accurate and timely results.
The problem with "culture and grow" methods for detecting pathogens is that it takes days to get definitive results. Many ocean pathogens can be viable but not cultivable (McKay 1992). That is to say; the microbe is there, but we cannot grow it and thus can't count it. We have no good data revealing how many false negatives are out there.
People are not happy when they learn that the beach water they played in a week ago had elevated FIB levels. Microbial testing is always an after-the-fact process. We face the same problem with food safety. The food is consumed long before the data was made public. Real-time diagnostic microbiology is needed, but remains an elusive technology.
The state of Hawaii uses Enterococci, as recommended by the EPA as the FIB for marine waters. Contemporary science further confounds our use of FIB. The FIB can survive and, in some cases, even grow in the environment. The often-repeated dogma that FIB comes only from the bowels of mammals is simply not true (Anderson 2005). In Hawaii, researchers revealed that the FIB, including the Enterococci, persist and grow in the environment and that this was unique to the islands. However, in research from all over the world--including much colder beaches--the standard FIB, such as the Enterococci, arise from and persist in the environment (Hardina 1991). The environment is the predominant source of most FIB (Desmarais 2002).
The other problem with using Enterococci is that it is a genus, with over 50 different species. A few are low-level human pathogens. Trying to control Enterococci is like counting all ant species as an indicator of the Fire Ant. Designing a control program base on vague data will yield vague results that have questionable public health value.
Adding confusion, Hawaii, the only state, measures another FIB, Clostridium perfringens. While this microbe is common in sewage, it is more common in stream and ocean sediments (Mueller-Spitz 2010). The Surfrider Foundation scientists report on locations in Kauai that have very high enterococci and C. perfringens counts. However, the waters have not been declared contaminated or posted. The Surfrider Foundation website states, "The Hawai'i DOH only posts warning signs of high bacteria levels at the beach when there is a known human source of the contamination, such as a sewage spill or a culpable cesspool. Otherwise, they do nothing". We have to wonder....why do we measure FIB at all?
The other institutional problem with chasing Enterococci is testing the water near the surface. Bacteria can be found suspended in moving water. When water is calm, they will settle out. That also means that waves and people can stir things up. In general, bacteria attach to something so they can survive, grow and not be swept away.
Our work on Kona beaches, as well as research from Oahu, Seattle and San Diego beaches shows that these microbes are more common in the sand. In one study, beach sand was far more likely to contain several times more FIB than the water (Bonnilla 2007). Our sample protocol collected sand near the high wash of the waves. That sand had higher concentrations of Enterococci than the water many yards offshore (Bennett 2015). Since the mostly fresh ground water flows through the sand, these observations are congruent.
Moreover, other pathogens reside in the moist sand, only to be stirred up. If you paddle a canoe, surf or otherwise spend a lot of time in the sea, you have experienced or heard of Staphylococci aka "Staph" infections. More didactic dogma tells us staph is only spread person-to-person and is not common in salt waters. Staph is shed from showers and in feces. About one-third of us shed staph (Acton 2009). The proportion is higher in children.
Staph is found in wastewater treatment plants, and even storm water runoff. It is commonly isolated from the ocean. It uses salt to give it a competitive advantage. One UH researcher believed that all staph in the ocean simply washed off people. Researchers in Seattle were skeptical and tested the cold waters of the Puget Sound. They found Staph aureus in many locations and in particular after rains. Staph does wash off ocean users, and much greater numbers--over a 100-fold greater--come from the sand (Goodwin 2012).
It is said, and rightly so, that going into the ocean with an open wound is risky. This statement punctuates personal experience. A hand injury became infected from canoe paddling after a short healing hiatus. Fortunately, this strain of "Blistering Staph" was treatable. That season, at least ten fellow canoe club members acquired staph skin infections. One paddler required two bouts of hospitalization and IV therapy. Regrettably, these severe infections are not "Reportable Diseases", so we do not have data on the prevalence.
The article in WHT suggested the numbers of the FIB are increasing over time. It may well be, and yet the data noise in the FIB test procedure is loud. This means that, when numbers are reported, they are not absolute. The MPN or Most Probable Number method represents a range of bacteria numbers, not an absolute number, as often inferred. Therefore, the report without a much larger sample size and some detailed statistics is the best guess, but one worthy of our close attention.
A trend we see in Hawaii is that of increasing turbidity of our waters. As divers and scientists, we have seen and measured this trend. Recently we studied turbidity in Keauhou Bay. We took over 200 samples in the span of 8 months. The inner bay is more turbid, compared to the open ocean near the entrance. Only about 40% of the variation in turbidity is attributed to turbulence from ocean swells. Along the Kona Coast, turbidly can be associated with green algae cells that freely live in the waters. At most times the numbers of algae are too few to cause a greening of the water. The algal greening of water near the shore is a very significant event. Natural tropical waters have very low nutrients and will not support visible greening.
This is where turbidity and microbes intersect. Our intense sunlight and its ultra-violet energy (UV) is an excellent disinfectant. The UV breaks the DNA in the microbes, and they perish. One reason why the pathogens are not exacting a greater toll is the control the UV provides. However, as the water becomes more turbid and the chlorophyll in the algae absorbs the UV energy, we can expect higher numbers of pathogens in the water near the shore. Perhaps the increased FIB data is suggesting this. However, without specific research, it's only a matter of speculation. The algae, nourished by nutrients, thrive just as plants respond to fertilizer. The algae respond to nitrate and phosphate regardless of if they come from human waste or a golf course.
The second point for consideration: the Department of Health is finally coming around to recognize that the massive volumes of groundwater flowing into the sea each day contain wastes from human activity. UH hydrologists made this clear more than a decade ago. The commonly perpetrated myth that a septic system will solve the problem created by cesspits is devoid of any substantiating data. The myth even ignores some excellent science conducted in Hawai'i (Tasato 1980). We are repeatedly told that "soil treatment" removes pathogens and nutrients. Soil, what soil? Dig down 12 inches in most places and what we find is lava rock, in its many forms. This broken rock has almost infinite permeability. "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore". Even in Kansas, with 5 to 10 feet of soil, septic systems contaminate ground water. Many municipalities and states are moving toward eliminating septic systems. It begs the question. Why are we advocating them, when there is very little scientific justification for doing so?
Florida is grappling with the myriad of septic systems along its shores. They, too, have no soil, but mostly coral sand over a shallow water table. One study found that tracer virus, once "flushed", could be found in the nearby sea in a matter of hours. In the Florida Keys, 95% of the ocean samples were positive for a pathogenic virus. Problematically, the FIB numbers were not elevated. Again, we see that FIB will not indicate for virus.
The viruses should concern us. They are minuscule and poorly filtered, even in mainland locations that have deep, high-quality soils. Unlike the bacteria, the MID can be as low as one virus. A person ill, or during recovery from viral enteritis, can excrete 100ʻs of trillions of virus particles each day. This virus is very persistent in ground water. However, once exposed to the sun and in clear water, most will be inactivated, but it takes time to get a 99.9999% kill. If only ten million are in beach water, at this kill rate, 10 remain alive. This is a numbers game not stacked in our favor and that is why this virus infects its way through cruise ship patrons like a hot knife through butter.
To continue our research, we will be using advanced bacterial RNA sequencing, as has been done in California, to demonstrate what common sense suggests. Human microbes flow with water downslope and to the sea. We plan a citizen-funded research project and seek supporters large and small. With real data, our arguments to prevent microbial pollution become very strong and convincing.
Many technologies can be applied to the issue. Advanced Treatment Units or ATUʻs show great promise for on-site waste treatment. ATU is a generic term, and not all ATUʻs are equal. The best ATUʻs remove over 50% of the nitrogen and disinfect as well. The reclaimed water can be safely used for landscape irrigation. Some advocates of the status quo greatly exaggerate the cost of Advanced Treatment Units to argue for the continued use of cesspits. Commercialization, economies of scale and gray water diversion, offer practical solutions to make these new systems cost effective.
While we wait for a leadership breakthrough, here are some simple things people can do to protect themselves, their families and our ocean.
Avoid recreating in water with storm water runoff. It is almost as bad as sewage.
Avoid floating scum. It can arise from cesspits located near the shore
Open wounds do not heal in seawater. It harms the tissue and invites staph infection. Let them heal first.
Vigorously clean and medicate wounds created in the sea. Watch for signs of infection, i.e., Red, Swollen, Hot, Painful, Draining
Don't ignore a little pus-filled pimple that arises on the body or limbs. If it gets larger, seek medical attention.
Wash off seawater and sand. Wash sand out of swim suits. Launder and dry!
Gastrointestinal disease lasting more than a day or two, and those with fever, are reasons to seek medical attention
Any serious sign, like significant bruising, fever, swelling with or without pain right after a swim requires medical attention ASAP
Consider diverting washing machine water for landscape irrigation. Lowering the volume of water in the on-site system reduces the risk of microbial transport to ground water.
Make your voice heard. We all can demand government to invest in productive human waste management systems. A good place to start would be to convert all public beach restroom cesspits and septic systems to the proven, advanced treatment units. Fix leaky sewer lines. Conventional sewer lines leak, including those near our beaches. Honolulu is fixing its broken system. Kona should also consider this important action. Preventing contamination is the solution.
While we scientists, bureaucrats, and politicians remain snarled in the debate, we inadvertently kick the can down the road, instead of choosing a course of action that best serves our children and grandchildren. The health and vitality of the people are closely tied to the health and vitality of our oceans. Hawaiian 'ōlelo says it best. Mālama ʻoe i ke kai a mālama ke kai iā ʻoe, Care for the ocean and the ocean will care for you.
(Note: The complete article with full citations will be published later and can be found at http://www.h2okona.org
Acton, D. S., et al. "Intestinal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus: how does its frequency compare with that of nasal carriage and what is its clinical impact?." European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 28.2 (2009): 115-127.
Anderson, Kimberly L., John E. Whitlock, and Valerie J. Harwood. "Persistence and differential survival of fecal indicator bacteria in subtropical waters and sediments." Applied and environmental microbiology 71.6 (2005): 3041-3048.
Bonilla, Tonya D., et al. "Prevalence and distribution of fecal indicator organisms in South Florida beach sand and preliminary assessment of health effects associated with beach sand exposure." Marine pollution bulletin 54.9 (2007): 1472-1482.
Bennett, R. H., et al. Enterococci in beach water and sand of the Kona Coast Hawaii. Unpublished data. (2015)
Desmarais, Timothy R., Helena M. Solo-Gabriele, and Carol J. Palmer. "Influence of soil on fecal indicator organisms in a tidally influenced subtropical environment." Applied and environmental microbiology 68.3 (2002): 1165-1172.
Ford, Timothy E., and Rita R. Colwell. "Global decline in microbiological safety of water." (1996) Am Academy Microbiology.
Gerba, Charles P., et al. "Failure of indicator bacteria to reflect the occurrence of enteroviruses in marine waters." American journal of public health 69.11 (1979): 1116-1119.
Goodwin, Kelly D., et al. "A multi-beach study of Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, and enterococci in seawater and beach sand." Water research 46.13 (2012): 4195-4207.
Gruber, Joshua S., Ayse Ercumen, and John M. Colford Jr. "Coliform bacteria as indicators of diarrheal risk in household drinking water: systematic review and meta-analysis." PloS one 9.9 (2014): e107429.
Hardina, C. M., and R. S. Fujioka. "Soil: the environmental source of Escherichia coli and enterococci in Hawaii's streams." Environmental toxicology and water quality 6.2 (1991): 185-195.
Hunt, Charles. USGS, Tracer Studies Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant (2007)
McKay, A. M. "Viable but non‐culturable forms of potentially pathogenic bacteria in water." Letters in Applied Microbiology 14.4 (1992): 129-135.
McCray, J. E., et al. "Quantitative Tools to Determine the Expected Performance of Wastewater Soil Treatment Units." Water Environment Research Foundation, DEC1R06 (2010).
Mueller-Spitz, Sabrina R., et al. "Freshwater suspended sediments and sewage are reservoirs for enterotoxin-positive Clostridium perfringens."Applied and environmental microbiology 76.16 (2010): 5556-5562.
Parsons, Michael L., et al. "A multivariate assessment of the coral ecosystem health of two embayments on the lee of the island of Hawai 'i." Marine pollution bulletin 56.6 (2008): 1138-1149.
Prouty, Nancy G., et al. "Groundwater-derived nutrient and trace element transport to a nearshore Kona coral ecosystem: Experimental mixing model results." Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (2016).
Stone, David L., et al. "Exposure assessment and risk of gastrointestinal illness among surfers." Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A 71.24 (2008): 1603-1615.
Tasato, Gary T., and Gordon L. Dugan. Leachate quality from lysimeters treating domestic sewage. Water Resources Research Center, University of Hawaii, 1980.
Teunis, Peter FM, et al. "Norwalk virus: how infectious is it?." Journal of medical virology 80.8 (2008): 1468-1476.
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"Write our own stories; own our music; be graceful." Errol Dyers in his own words
July 23, 2017 July 24, 2017 ~ sisgwen
This is a little different from the usual formal obituary: Errol Dyers' life and music are far more poorly documented than his importance and musical skill merit, and that fragmentary story has already appeared in the press. I'm trying to compile a complete discography, but that will take time. For something much better and more personal than what's in the papers, try to catch up with Gary van Dyk's radio tribute, broadcast on July 22 on FMR. But in late 1999, one of the interview team for the ABC Ulwazi radio series Ubuyile interviewed Errol Dyers in Cape Town for the programme. The guitarist had a quiet, gentle voice, the tape was made in his living room with the window open to street sounds, and the ensuing tape wasn't very radio-friendly, so we couldn't use it on-air. His contribution, however, was precious for the context it provided. So, to add to the memories and the historical record, here, drawn out of the transcript of that tape, is an edited (it was a long, discursive conversation) excerpt about the story of his life, in his own words:
"…It's very important that we write [the history], not let the industry write it for us. We have to write those stories; we have to do that. I'm looking at where I come from, where my grandfathers – both of them – played traditional Cape Town music, from the coons [Cape carnival troupes]. It's my culture. It's who I am: that's making me who people think I am…Without the people, there's no me. And of course without God there's no me, because I have to look at the higher powers than me.
"…I can't remember so far [back] how I got into music. Ever since I was alive, I was into music. My family, we were always into music: both sides. My mother's father played guitar, he sang, and he played violin. Charles Randall. I never met him – in fact, [the] two of them I never met. My other grandfather, Jim Dyers…er, Christian Dyers. He played a banjo…As far as I can remember, before I went to school, we used to make our own trophies for musicians. Out of silver foil… Before the end-of-year festivities in Cape Town. We were too young to be in the real coons or anything like that yet, so we used to make-believe. We used to save our money also: first prize; second prize; and you've got to give the money.
"We used to take a Cobra [shoe polish] tin and knock nails through it… almost the same way that you used to make that tin-can guitar – and you just put a little thing there, and knock it there, and make a sound. And I think ever since that day I thought that I'm a musician.
"I liked the sound. I liked performance. I just liked it, you know, because I belonged. And it's very important to belong. So I've never gone far way from that sound, from who I am, and from who the people are…It's very important for me to be on the ground with the people, playing the instruments that they did; playing the Khoisan bow and singing.
"…There was a guy who was thrown out of our district and he was, you know, part of the Khoisan language…he used to sit there on the street, and then my mother said to him, come and live in our [backyard]. Pooe was his name. So Pooe came here…and then, three-o-clock at night, he used to have this big tin can, singing to his ancestors. I mean, this is an old guy – and never mind how old he is, his culture is older, brother: we're talking about 50 000 years with him, or more. The first people: know what I'm talking about? The first people are from here. And we let them die, just like that. I'm part of the first people: part in blood, but mostly in spirit…
"…I've been listening to Xhosa music my whole life, because I love the people; love the culture. I mean, I'm just sad that I don't speak [the language] as I would like to speak it. That's why I don't speak it to a Xhosa, to offend him. But we get on…I couldn't live in Gugulethu, because I wasn't 'black' enough, but I did go and play there. I played with all those musicians, and went to jail with them…When I was 20 or so I got out and dropped somebody there – Winston, or Blackie, or Ezra or whoever was playing with you at that night. Then the cops get you, and "Kom!" You, just on purpose, they put you into a cell. The next morning they let you [out]. I mean, that is not cool, you know?
Dyers spent much time in the interview considering the exploitative nature of the mainstream music industry, and how, much as he respected the work his label was doing ("I like what it does for the music"), he felt a loss of artistic control and agency when someone else produced his work.
"…If I could change things, I would not have recorded [Sonesta or Koukouwa]. You have to own your own culture, otherwise you lose it. But [the industry] just hears something and the thing [cash register] goes ching-ching-ching. But it's not about money: it's people's culture. We have to build it up ourselves. And if you're always going to put money into the equation, we're also going to lose.
"Because we have to take our time and think. I mean, I look at the old beautiful songs that were recorded and that made no money for the artist: Mackay Davashe, Dudu Pukwana,Spokes Mashiane, the Elite Swingsters, Manhattan Brothers – yoh! I mean, that must show us. That's before me and I am using that as a yardstick for the younger generation…Don't just play anything man. Although you can play, it doesn't make you a musician – where's your sound, where's your thing?
"You know, we have something here that we can call our own – and let's keep it jealously. Even compete with the US, compete with the Europeans. You have to do that: show your passion. Show it in a graceful way. You don't have to always fight… What I want to work on, without remorse or fighting, is just simply being graceful and do what I do – and if people like it: fine…All we have is music."
"All we have is music": musicians came together to support Dyers last month when his health fell into crisis
< Previous Errol Charles Dyers 1952-2017
Next > Looking back; looking forward. Salim Washington's new album, and Paul Hanmer's old one, both mine history to re-vision the future.
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Fruit Vendor says:
Very insightful. I wrote an article on him a few years ago and he said some of the same things. Maybe my article will aid you in your research to further document his life and art:
https://thefruitvendor.com/2014/09/17/cape-jazz-hero-errol-dyers/
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The revenge of the elites
11:54, 17 octombrie 2019 | Actual | 270 vizualizări | Nu există niciun comentariu Autor: FLUX ON-LINE
Italy's new coalition government has sacrificed the populist revolt at the altar of the EU
By Thomas Fazi
Italy's proverbially surreal politics reached new heights last month when the country, over the course of a few weeks, went from having 'the most populist government in Europe' – an unlikely alliance between two very different 'anti-establishment' parties, the 'neither-left-nor-right' Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle, M5S) and the right-wing, Eurosceptic League (Lega) – to having a vehemently pro-establishment one, as the M5S reached an agreement to form a new government with the pro-EU, liberal-centrist Democratic Party (Partito Democratico, PD), after League leader Matteo Salvini suddenly pulled the plug on the previous administration. And all without even replacing the incumbent prime minister, the independent law professor, Giuseppe Conte.
Though Salvini's move caught everyone by surprise – especially given the timing, right in the middle of the summer holidays – it wasn't entirely unexpected. For the first six months, the M5S-League alliance had indeed seemed to work, despite, or possibly because of, the differences between the two parties. Their economic policies, for example, were quite dissimilar: the League's broadly market-oriented, supply-side-based (hence its flagship proposal of an ambitious Trump-style tax cut, inappropriately called 'flat tax'); the M5S's more interventionist, demand-side-based. Nevertheless, one could argue that if it hadn't been for the League's laxer approach to budgetary policy (and vocal opposition to Brussels' budget rules), as opposed to its partner's more rules-abiding and conflict-averse attitude towards the EU, which was scarcely compatible with M5S's policy aims, it would have had a hard time selling its costly income-support scheme, the so-called reddito di cittadinanza.
The end of the honeymoon
Beginning in early 2019, however, the differences between the two parties increasingly went from being complementary to being mutually exclusive. On one hand, Salvini, spurred by his relentless rise in the polls, became increasingly vocal about the need to raise the fiscal deficit in order to implement his proposed 'flat tax'; on the other hand, an increasingly overshadowed and unfocused M5S – in a questionable attempt to counter Salvini's growing monopoly over the government's agenda-setting, particularly on the issue of migration – started placing a greater emphasis on the need for Italy to comply with the EU's strict budgetary framework, effectively vetoing the League's tax cut. The situation was further exacerbated by the opening of an excessive deficit procedure against Italy by the European Commission (EC), which, rather ludicrously, accused Italy of being 'in serious non-compliance' with the Stability and Growth Pact's fiscal rules.
These tensions came to a head in the run-up to the European election, during which the M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, in an equally questionable move, lashed out at Salvini and the League for a corruption scandal that had emerged within the League's party ranks, in an attempt to peel some votes away from the latter. As we know, the strategy didn't work, with the election resulting in a landslide for the League, which won 34 per cent of the votes, and a crushing defeat for the M5S, which lost six million votes compared to the previous year's national election. From that moment on, things started going downhill for the increasingly tenuous government alliance.
Salvini – further galvanised by his electoral triumph – increased his pressure on the recalcitrant economic minister Giovanni Tria to make room for the League's tax cut in the new budget law for 2020 and to ignore Brussels' calls to rein in the deficit. The M5S, buttressed by prime minister Giuseppe Conte, took to Tria's defence and reaffirmed the need to heed Brussels' demands. Then, in early July, Tria, without consulting either party (as far as we know), sent a letter to the EU pledging to reduce Italy's deficit and committing the country to further austerity. The next day the European Commission closed its excessive deficit procedure. This was an almost exact replay of the events that had occurred in late 2018, when the government submitted its 2019 draft budget to the Commission for review. Even then, the Commission had rejected the government's planned deficit of 2.4 per cent and threatened to activate an excessive deficit procedure. After much posturing by the Italian authorities, the government partially caved in to the Commission, agreeing to a deficit target of 2.04 per cent for the coming year.
This time round, though, Salvini hadn't been humiliated just by the European Commission, but also by his coalition partner and economic minister, who started openly to criticise the League's tax plan as well. The rift between the two parties became apparent in mid-July, when the M5S voted in favour of the German candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen – former German defence minister, member of Angela Merkel's party and unrepentant austerity hawk (in 2011, she controversially suggested that Greece put up its gold reserves as collateral to its bailout loans) – while the League, in what in hindsight appears as a calculated move, voted against. According to M5S MEPs, the League broke an agreement reached by both parties to vote for von der Leyen.
The vote drew the two parties further apart from each other, with Salvini accusing the M5S of bowing down to Germany and France, and betraying its Eurosceptic roots. Shortly thereafter, in early August, Salvini officially opened the government crisis by calling for a snap election that would have surely granted him a sweeping majority. Except that things didn't go as he had planned: in an equally surprising turn of events, a few weeks into the crisis the M5S announced that it would be forming a new government with its arch enemy, the Democratic Party.
The League: more than meets the eye
Based on the aforementioned account, in which I took the two parties' public statements at face value, the reader would be justified in placing the lion's share of the blame for the split on the M5S's 'sell-out' to Brussels. This is certainly the narrative Salvini has been peddling ever since. Now, there is little doubt that, since it has entered government, the M5S has swiftly shed its 'populist' edge in favour of a more 'responsible' and 'institutional' attitude – particularly with regard to the EU (just a few years ago it was campaigning for a Euro-exit) – probably in a naive attempt to get in the establishment's good graces. But the League's 'anti-Euro' and 'anti-austerity' credentials deserve to be called into question, too.
Indeed, there is good reason to doubt that Salvini's anti-Brussels posturing is anything more than just that. It has certainly played a crucial role, along with Salvini's tough stance on immigration, in transforming the League from a strictly regionalist party focused almost exclusively on the attainment of greater autonomy (if not outright secession) for the regions of northern Italy (referred to as 'Padania') – hence its original name Northern League – into the No1 party in the country, by catalysing the widespread disaffection for the EU, particularly in the more crisis-hit regions of southern Italy. But the 'Padanian' faction of the League has no interest in breaking with the EU. Its support comes from the small and large export-oriented industries of northern Italy, which are fully integrated in the European (ie, German) value chain, and actually benefit from the EU-driven policies of wage compression – and their local representatives, the powerful presidents of regions such as Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, still hold considerable sway within the party.
To give an idea of just how split the party is over the issue, one of the League's heavyweights, Roberto Maroni – former party leader and former president of Lombardy – recently called for the creation of a federal Europe. Indeed, even the League's law proposal to grant greater autonomy to the northern regions – which was blocked by the Five Star Movement shortly before the break-up – is very much in line with the EU's long-standing regionalisation strategy, which aims to create an ever-more-direct relationship between the continent's various regions (and so-called 'macro-regions'), and the EU's institutions, thus bypassing (and further disempowering) the national governments. A fact that doesn't square very well with the party's allegedly 'sovereignist' credentials.
This may explain the League's somewhat schizophrenic attitude during its year-long coalition government with the Five Star Movement. For example, the League's controversial idea of issuing so-called 'minibot' state bonds to pay the debts held by the public sector with its private suppliers – which was initially put forward by the its economic spokesman Claudio Borghi – was dashed by none other than another prominent member of the League, Giancarlo Giorgetti, former secretary of the Council of Ministers in the M5S-League government, and a representative of the pro-European wing of the party. It also may explain why Salvini, who took issue with the M5S over pretty much everything, from migrants to the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway, never publicly raised the issue of his coalition partner's excessive deference to Brussels. Finally, one may legitimately doubt how serious the League was about its much-vaunted 'flat tax', since no concrete proposal was ever put forward (with estimates of the bill's overall cost ranging anywhere from 10 to 60 billion Euros).
The Euro's anti-democratic 'convention'
Regardless of the League's true strategy vis-à-vis Europe (assuming it actually has one), it seems quite clear that Salvini was reluctant to rubber-stamp a budget bill that was shaping up to be rather austere and which would surely have been incompatible with any substantial tax cut. This point merits a wider reflection. The fact that an elected government can unravel because, among other reasons, it is effectively barred by the European authorities from running the deficit that would be necessary to implement its platform – the 'flat tax' was one of the points of the 'government contract' agreed upon by the League and M5S – is a clear demonstration of the serious limits placed on democratic politics by the Maastricht architecture, and the way in which the latter breeds political instability.
Simply put, the fact that Italy, like other Eurozone countries, lacks all the 'normal' instruments of economic policy – namely monetary, fiscal and exchange-rate policy – means that any government ('populist' or not) inevitably finds itself lacking the basic tools necessary to kickstart the economy and maintain societal consensus. This is particularly difficult in a context of deep socioeconomic crisis, such as the one Italy has been mired in for at least a decade, which calls for strongly expansionary policies that are incompatible with Euro membership. As Fritz W Scharpf, former director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, writes, in countries such as Italy monetary union hasn't simply entailed huge socioeconomic costs – it has also had 'the effect of destroying the democratic legitimacy of government'.
In this regard, it may be useful to recall how Giovanni Tria – an economist with an utterly mainstream pedigree – ended up being the economic minister of a so-called 'populist' government. Readers might remember that the name initially put forward by the two parties during the formation of the government was that of economist Paolo Savona. However, despite a more than respectable curriculum vitae – his previous positions included director-general of Confindustria, Italy's business federation, and minister of industry in Ciampi's pro-European government in the 1990s – Savona was vetoed by the Italian president Sergio Mattarella due to his excessively Euro-critical stance. It should be noted that the articles and speeches that got Savona into trouble were far from incendiary: Savona simply claimed that unless the Eurozone evolves into a fully fledged fiscal union, it will likely disintegrate, in which case all countries, including Italy, should have a contingency plan in place, including for a unilateral Euro-exit – a position shared by countless economists and policymakers, including various Nobel Prize winners.
Mattarella, however, harboured a different view. According to law experts Marco Dani and Agustín José Menendez, it is a view that reveals 'the democratic limits of the European constitutional architecture and institutional culture' and 'the constraints imposed by EU membership on the operation of national constitutional democracies' – constraints that are often much subtler than more obvious ones such as the lack of monetary sovereignty and harsh spending rules. Mattarella explicitly claimed that Savona's doubts concerning the sustainability of the Eurozone in its current fashion disqualified him, given that the very act of his appointment could increase the cost of borrowing for the Italian Treasury (the infamous 'spread'). He claimed this would 'constitute real risks for the savings of our fellow citizens and for Italian families'. As argued by Dani and Menendez, Mattarella's decision would seem to point to the existence of:
'a form of "convention" (functionally equivalent to a constitutional convention) according to which political parties or coalitions that are critical of the existing economic and monetary arrangements within the Eurozone cannot get into government. Or, more accurately, they are entitled to govern in a tamed form… Such a convention could be said to be a renovated form of 'pactum ad excludendum', only this time it would not be the Communists, but those daring to be critical of European economic government arrangements, who would have to be prevented from holding power.'
Dani and Menendez note that the existence of such a convention – which 'not only lacks any form of democratic legitimacy, but amounts to a decisive limit to the existing procedures of democratic will-formation' – 'amount[s] to a radical undermining of national and European constitutional law'. Mattarella effectively prioritised Italy's continued adherence to the Eurozone, despite the enormous social and economic costs this entails, over the fundamental values and principles enshrined in Italy's national constitution, which the president is theoretically there to uphold, given that the golden fetters of the Euro de facto render impossible the task of removing the obstacles to the realisation of substantive equality as prescribed by the constitution. It is a telling demonstration of the extent to which Euro membership has deeply transformed not only Italy's form of government, but even its very constitutional state form, as it would appear that the primary role of the Italian president has now become that of safeguarding the integrity of the EU, whatever the cost.
This became apparent during the term of the previous president, Giorgio Napolitano, who conspired with foreign governments and EU institutions to have then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi removed from office and replaced with the technocrat Mario Monti. Legal and ethical considerations aside, this 'convention' is also politically toxic, as Salvini's ascent testifies. '[M]aking national governments safe for the irreversibility of the Euro might buy some time for the present economic and monetary union', write Dani and Menendez, 'but only at the price of further accelerating the accrual of conditions that favour the emergence of extremely radical policy proposals that would throw out not only the dirty water of a deeply malfunctioning economic and monetary union, but also the baby of the democratic and social Rechtsstaat'.
In any case, whatever one thinks of Mattarella's decisions, the point is that by appointing a man loyal to the EU to the most important government post of all, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the president effectively put the M5S-League government into 'controlled administration' before it was even born. One could say that the government's fate was sealed from that moment on. Especially if we consider that the economic minister – along with the director of the Treasury Department, who is himself appointed by the economic minister – is in charge of carrying out all the major economic negotiations with the EU through the ECOFIN (Economic and Financial Affairs Council) and the Eurogroup, over which the national parliament has little or no oversight. This goes to show how easily, by virtue of the aforementioned 'convention', a nominally 'populist' government can be pre-emptively neutralised in the Eurozone.
Democracy versus markets
This is not to mention the manner in which the bond markets were used to put pressure on the M5S-League government. Indeed, the election results had barely been announced when interest rates on Italian securities started to rise dramatically, as Mattarella had anticipated. This was presented in the media – and largely accepted by government officials – as a 'natural' consequence of the financial markets' hostility to the new government. In fact, there was nothing natural about it. To the extent that Eurozone countries continue to be subject to the 'market discipline' of so-called bond vigilantes, this is uniquely a consequence of the flawed architecture of the Eurozone.
Simply put, in a country that issues its own currency, the central bank, as a buyer of last resort, can always set the interest on its government bonds regardless of the country's deficit or debt levels, as Japan is demonstrating. There is little bond markets can do to put pressure on an elected government. In the Eurozone, however, the ECB also intervenes on the sovereign bond markets of member states through its quantitative-easing programme, but it does so on the basis of fixed quotas; it cannot boost its acquisitions of bonds for a specific country to quell market speculation. Or better, it can only do so through its Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme, which entails 'strict and effective conditionality' such as that imposed on Greece and other countries – ie, austerity and neoliberal 'structural reforms' – explaining why no country has yet applied for an OMT programme. This would be politically unsustainable, for obvious reasons.
Furthermore, as the Italian case shows, not only is the ECB unable to protect countries from rising interest rates, but more often than not the European institutions actively (and, one must presume, deliberately) contribute to exacerbating market tensions, as the harsh pronouncements by Jean-Claude Juncker, Pierre Moscovici and others (including members of the ECB's executive board) did in the aftermath of the formation of the M5S-League government. Thus, despite the various 'unconventional' measures undertaken by the ECB in recent years, Eurozone countries, unlike other advanced nations, continue to remain subject to 'market discipline'. Indeed, EU budget commissioner Günther Oettinger even went as far as saying that he hoped 'the negative development of the markets' would provide 'a signal to voters not to vote for populists on the right or left' – a telling illustration of what Germans mean by 'market-conforming democracy'.
The bottom line is that the M5S-League government crisis can only be understood against the backdrop of the restraints placed on democratic politics by Italy's Euro membership. As I anticipated last year, the European institutions were to be expected to resort to a wide array of tools – first and foremost financial pressure – to constrain and, if necessary, disable the democratic responsiveness of the new government, which is exactly what happened.
The Five Star Movement: chronicle of a fiasco
Hitherto, I have mostly focused on the League. But recent events cannot be understood without analysing the profound Zelig-like transformation of the Five Star Movement. How could the anti-establishment party par excellence end up striking an alliance with the party that more than any other embodies that very establishment: the Democratic Party? And how did it manage to halve its ratings over the course of a single year in government? One explanation is more structural, the other more contingent.
From a structural point of view, the M5S could be said to be a victim of the very strategy that led to its astounding rise. Its allegedly 'post-ideological' approach – exemplified by the slogan 'neither left nor right' – proved extremely successful in rapidly building a mass support base covering the entire ideological spectrum, by re-articulating a broad range of issues, demands and grievances (environment, de-growth, social protection, the Euro) in a wider 'chain of equivalence', as Ernesto Laclau has it – namely that of the opposition between 'honest citizens' on the one hand and the corrupt political elites, or 'casta', on the other.
As Arthur Borriello, a researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, writes, thanks to this, to its lack of any well-defined ideological identity and its focus on the 'moral question', the 'M5S was able to create an ambiguous "big tent," confounding any political conformity and extending its electoral appeal across wide swaths of alienated voters. At the same time, its original and innovative organisational strategy allowed it to mobilise and create a feeling of collective identification'. However, this also meant that the party never developed a coherent vision of an alternative society capable of challenging neoliberalism, let alone an accurate analysis of the genuine problems afflicting contemporary Western societies in general, and post-Maastricht Italy in particular, which, of course, extend well beyond the corruption of political elites. Indeed, M5S's underlying leitmotif – the need to free the market from the 'distortion' of politicians and interest groups – could be said to suffer itself from a neoliberal bias.
Once in government, this proved disastrous: not only was its flagship slogan suddenly rendered unusable, but its leaders had now become the 'casta' they had long abhorred. But M5S's lack of a clear identity (compounded by a relatively uncharismatic leadership), also meant that it was rapidly overshadowed by Salvini. Whereas the latter's 'social-neoliberal' message was consistent – on immigration, taxes, pensions, public works, etc – M5S came across as contradictory and unfocused. It spoke of confiscating the national motorway company, Autostrade, from the Benetton family (following the deadly collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, in August 2018, due to neglect), but on other occasions it defended the government's non-intervention in market operations (such as the failed Fiat-Peugeot merger); it spoke of creating jobs, but its main proposition – the reddito di cittadinanza – consisted in little more than a form of means-tested unemployment benefit; it spoke of public investment, but was held back by its traditional distrust of big-spending infrastructure projects; it spoke of revamping the economy, but it had no concrete proposal for getting around Brussels' fierce budget rules.
Furthermore, from a more contingent perspective, at some point the party made the decision to counter Salvini's growing protagonism by presenting itself as the 'responsible' coalition partner. This only further alienated its electoral base.
Revenge of the elites
Over the course of the past year, the Five Star Movement thus underwent a deep process of 'normalisation'. This, coupled with the prospect of a dramatic defeat in the case of new elections, set the stage for the unthinkable: an alliance with M5S's historic enemy, the Democratic Party. As for the latter – severely battered in all recent elections (since 2006, it has shed over six million votes) and with a support base essentially limited to the affluent urbanite classes – an alliance with the M5S, which it had always vigorously disparaged, represented a unique opportunity to take back (at least temporarily) a power it thought it had lost forever. And to restore the status quo in the process. It is worth nothing that the PD embodies everything that citizens voted against in 2018: that perverse political alignment, common to other 'extreme centre' parties (such as Macron's En Marche!), between political correctness (feminism, anti-racism, multiculturalism, LGBTQ rights, etc) on the one side, and ultra-liberal economics (anti-statism, fiscal austerity, deregulation, financialisation, etc), on the other, which US political scientist Nancy Fraser has aptly termed 'progressive neoliberalism', coupled with a feverish commitment to the EU and to the logic of the 'external constraint'. Furthermore, the PD is rightly perceived as the main culprit for Italy's dramatic socioeconomic crisis, having led the government since 2013 and overseen EU-dictated austerity and 'structural reforms' for over half a decade.
It is no surprise that the new M5S-PD government received the enthusiastic endorsement of the European elites – from Macron to Merkel, from Moscovici to the incoming ECB president Christine Lagarde – as well as the approval of the financial markets, with interest rates on Italy's debt dropping to their lowest levels in three years. As if this wasn't worrying enough, during the negotiations for the formation of the new government, it would appear that the M5S didn't make the slightest effort to balance the power of the PD, despite holding double the seats in parliament. A quick look at the composition of the new government shows that the M5S has relinquished to the PD all the most important positions, especially with regard to the negotiations with the EU (though we can assume that even in this case President Mattarella played a leading role): most notably the Ministry of Economy, which has gone to Roberto Gualtieri, former chair of the influential European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON); and Italy's representative in the new Von der Leyen Commission, former prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, who has been designated European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, under the 'supervision' of the Commission's vice-president, the fiscal hawk Valdis Dombrovskis. Gualtieri and Gentiloni are both staunchly pro-EU – a guarantee of the new government's commitment to European integration and the EU's iron fiscal rules, and an indication of the kind of economic policies we can expect.
Gualtieri, in particular, aside from chairing the ECON Committee, also chaired the EP's Financial Assistance Working Group, established to monitor the implementation of the third Greek financial assistance programme, and the Banking Union Working Group. In that position, he was part of the European Parliament's team for the establishment of the infamous Fiscal Compact, which essentially enforces permanent austerity on Eurozone member states, and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Given such past achievements, it is hardly surprising that financial markets celebrated Gualtieri's appointment. This is not a compromise between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party: it is a complete and utter capitulation on behalf of the M5S to the national and international establishment that has brought Italy to its knees, and which the party had vowed to fight. It is hard to see how the millions of people who voted for the party precisely to give the finger to the status quo – for a long time M5S's slogan was literally 'fuck off' – could see this as anything other than a betrayal.
It is said that the new government will be able to pursue a more expansionary fiscal policy than the previous one because the EU tends to cut more slack to 'friendly' governments than it does to hostile ones. Now, it is certainly true that the Eurozone's supposedly binding rules are applied in a very arbitrary manner. Suffice to say that while the European Commission was berating Italy's for its deficit, it was closing an eye to member states with much larger deficits, such as France and Spain. As Andy Storey of University College Dublin writes, the EU's unyielding rules-based rhetoric 'conceals a consistent willingness on the part of powerful forces in Europe to bend the rules and defy the treaties when it is in the interests of certain actors (including themselves) for them to do so'. In light of the above, even if Italy were indeed granted a bit more 'fiscal flexibility', there would be little to rejoice about: a system where democratically unaccountable institutions, such as the European Commission and ECB, arbitrarily decide if an elected government can run a fiscal deficit or not is an affront to democracy.
That said, it is highly unlikely that the new government will get much fiscal slack. The appeals by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and President Mattarella for a reform of the Growth and Stability Pact were, in fact, immediately dashed by the president of the Eurogroup, Mário Centeno. He stated that 'there is no political will [in other countries] to make the rules more indulgent', as well as by the new president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who stressed that Italy will have to work within 'the flexibility allowed by the existing framework'. Von der Leyen is referring to the surreal parameter employed by the Commission to assess how much leeway a country has to spend, the so-called output gap, which is used to estimate how far the current level of economic output is above or below its maximum 'non-inflationary potential'. A negative output gap means that a country can resort to expansionary fiscal policies to boost growth and employment without generating inflation. A positive or null output gap, on the other hand, means that the economy is overheating (or at risk of doing so).
At first glance, this might appear like a sensible rule. In the hands of Brussels' technocrats, however, it yields the exact opposite result. In fact, the Commission calculates that the output gap for Italy – a country that has been stagnating for years, which has lost six per cent of GDP since the beginning of the crisis, and where millions of people are unemployed – is almost zero (-0.1 per cent). That is to say, if Italy's GDP growth rate increased – and unemployment fell – the country would face runaway inflation, hence there is no margin to increase the deficit. It's easy to see why even someone like Robin Brooks, chief economist of the orthodox Institute of International Finance, the organisation representing the world's largest banks, has argued that the Commission's flexibility rule is based on 'nonsense' economics. In any case, this is probably why the newly appointed economic minister, Gualtieri, upon returning from the recent ECOFIN summit, announced that Italy's deficit will remain largely unchanged in 2020 – approximately two per cent of GDP.
Ultimately, even if the government is allowed to raise the deficit a bit, one thing is certain: this government will remain firmly wedded to the EU-driven policies of fiscal austerity and 'structural reforms' that Italians have already had to endure for over a decade. The consequences will be disastrous, not only in economic terms – as it means that Italy will remain mired in a dystopia of 'low growth, persistently high unemployment, sluggish wages growth, increased poverty rates, and increasing social instability' – but also in political terms. With the incorporation of the M5S into the establishment's camp, the League is now the only party occupying the anti-establishment terrain. Thus, as popular angst mounts against the business-as-usual policies we can expect from the new government – not only in terms of economic policy but also on other issues such as migration – Salvini's popularity is likely to cement even further.
Now more than ever, Italy is in dire need of a socialist and sovereignist party capable of offering citizens a valid alternative to the M5S-PD establishment politics, as well as to Salvini's bogus anti-establishment posturing and neoliberalism-in-disguise. A party capable of coming up with a positive vision for Italy outside of Maastricht's nightmarish straightjacket. It remains to be seen whether such a project will rise out of the anger and disillusionment wrought by the Five Star Movement's betrayal.
Source: http://www.defenddemocracy.press
Navighează dupa cuvinte-cheie: coalition government, Italy's, The revenge of the elites |
A Big First for Walther: The PPQ 45 Pistol
Wiley Clapp
News, Handguns, Semi-Auto Handguns
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Back before World War II, the Shooter's Bible promised the Walther P.38, chambered in 9 mm Luger, would soon be available in .45 ACP. That gun was never made, and the PPQ is Walther's first factory .45.
It's right there in black and white: "[I]t has been experimentally made and found to be 100% satisfactory for use with the Super .38 and .45 automatic cartridges and pistols in these calibers will be available about the middle of the year." Thus read descriptive copy on p. 146 of the nation's largest gun catalog. The comment related the virtues of the new P.38 pistol from Walther and appeared in the venerable Shooter's Bible in 1939. That pre-World War II catalog was the 31st in a series that continues today, although its status as a true catalog has changed a bit. A publication of the A.F. Stoeger Co. of New York, this thick volume was initially both catalog and reference book. It filled a huge space in Depression-era America that had only the magazine you now hold as a source of definitive firearm and ammunition data. Stoeger was an important importer of European arms, including the products of Germany's Walther. In its day, the P.38 was a milestone pistol, so a .45 ACP or .38 Super version might have sold well in America.
But it never happened. There is no surviving sample of any version of the P.38 in either chambering. The main history of the company mentions some pre-war interest in such a gun and the possibility of prototypes, but if they ever existed, they didn't survive the war. Also, that same history shows a pistol named the Big Bore. Designed in the mid-1990s concurrently with the Walther P99, the Big Bore was similar in appearance to the M1911 in .45 ACP. But Walther didn't offer its version of the Government Model commercially. Ergo, no Walther .45s. But Americans love their .45s, despite the rising popularity of 9 mm Luger pistols. For a company that seeks a decent chunk of the American pistol market to not have a .45 ACP option is risky. Thus—for the very first time—American Rifleman offers a review of a new Walther pistol marked with the company's banner logo and, yes, it is a .45.
The new pistol is a version of the PPQ model, suitably altered to accept the larger cartridge. To understand the PPQ 45, we have to take a brief look at the recent history of service pistols in general and Walthers in particular. Most of the interest in modern semi-automatics for police, military and civilian use began in the 1950s and '60s, and a particular style of gun began to appear. It was nearly always a 9 mm Luger with high-capacity magazine and double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger system. By the end of the '70s, most police agencies were armed with just this sort of handgun. In the '80s, a different style of gun emerged, typically with the same type of 9 mm magazine, but using various kinds of internal mechanisms, often with simplified trigger systems. In the '90s, we began to see new chamberings to match up with service pistol magazines and double-action-only (DAO) triggers. Walther came in a little late, but in time for the U.S. pistol trials with its P88 series. That evolved into the P99, which featured an unconventional and highly complicated DA/SA trigger system. Our subject pistol—the PPQ 45—is a direct descendant of the P99, with a strong resemblance in ergonomics, finish and general appearance, but with a much simpler DAO trigger system. The striker-fired PPQ was first introduced as a 9 mm Luger and then as a .40 S&W.
The PPQ has distinctive grasping grooves at its front (l.), easing press checks, and rear (r.), along with generous bilateral slide lock levers and a reversible magazine release (ctr.).
In either chambering, the PPQ was a very appealing package, with full-size pistols weighing around 30 ozs. and dimensions in line with most of the contemporary models. In 9 mm Luger, the PPQ had a 15-round capacity, which dropped to 11 when the gun was chambered for the larger .40 S&W cartridge. Now that the even larger .45 ACP round fits a PPQ, we have an even bigger pistol.
Walther's PPQ in .45 ACP is a large automatic pistol. It would fit into a box measuring 7.4" by 5.8". Thickness across the twin slide locks measures 1.3". It is a recoil-operated gun, operating on the basis of the time-proven tilting barrel principle pioneered by John Browning. Weighing 28 ozs. with an empty magazine, the PPQ 45 takes a double-column magazine of 12 rounds. Among modern pistols chambered for this venerable cartridge, this is one of the higher capacities. Like most of its contemporaries, the big PPQ has a polymer receiver, topped with a steel upper and barrel unit.
The sights on the top of the slide are the familiar three-dot type. In an unusual touch, the rear sight is adjustable for windage by means of a screw on the right side. Elevation adjustments require substitution of different front side blades—a higher one will lower the point of impact, etc. There is a slightly elevated serrated rib running between the sights. The flats on the sides of the slide are a bit different than many competing models. Instead of being parallel and dead flat, they are slightly rounded and angled inward. It gives the gun a sort of pagoda look. Also note that there are large cocking serrations on both sides and ends of the slide. There's a lot for the shooter to grab when he runs the slide on this one. Machined from high-quality steel, the slide also has an interesting external extractor—a massive one—at the lower rear corner of the ejection port. The spring-loaded striker is contained within the slide, as is the barrel and recoil spring, captive on the guide rod. Finally, Walther designers beveled and relieved the ejection port.
The receiver, molded from a high-strength polymer material with steel inserts, has some great ergonomic features. Pistols can tend to skid around in the shooter's grasp, particularly when hard-recoiling ammunition is in use. To counter this, the PPQ's molded polymer frame has surface texturing comprised of raised dots and crescent-shaped lines. They are quite small and are placed in patterns that are cross-directional. The resulting surface is not particularly aggressive, but nonetheless seems to anchor the gun in the hand very well, even under heavy recoil. There are very slight finger grooves on the frontstrap, which carry over to the sides of the grip. To the rear, the backstrap has a slight "S" curve with a deep pocket that takes the web of the shooter's hand. In an attempt to tailor the grip to all different-size hands, Walther designers worked a replaceable backstrap feature into the PPQ. There are three different sizes available. And while the trigger guard's hooked shape is inexplicably dated, the high-hold relief under it is excellent. Another useful feature is the three-slot accessory rail under the front edge of the frame that can mount a light, laser or combination thereof.
Inside the molded frame is a metal, rack-like assembly, held in place by a pair of sturdy pins, that constitutes the serialized receiver. Along with the necessary levers and related parts that make up the gun's lockwork, it fits into recesses in the polymer frame, with the serial number visible through a window in the frame's tang.
The recoil-operated, striker-fired PPQ employs a Browning-style tilting barrel. There is an articulated safety blade in the trigger's front, but no separate manual safety. The author found the gun's polymer frame has excellent ergonomics.
Running the PPQ 45 is pure fun for a .45 guy. With an empty gun (slide locked back), the shooter inserts a fully loaded magazine, then grasps the slide with an overhand grasp, pulls all the way back and releases. The slide will close, chambering the top round. There are matching bilateral slide locks on the pistol, and they are there to lock the slide back. If you run the gun to empty, they will automatically do just that. Note that the new Walther does not have any kind of manual thumb safety for the shooter to manipulate prior to firing.
While the process of firing the gun is straightforward—simply draw, aim and press the trigger—it requires a bit of discussion relative to one of its salient features, which is its short trigger reset position. After the first shot, the shooter must first release the trigger at least to the reset before pressing it again to fire a subsequent shot. And while almost all shooters let their trigger go all the way forward, that simply isn't necessary on this pistol. The Walther DAO trigger action, which completes the twin functions of cocking the striker and releasing it, allows the shooter to pull the trigger all the way back (firing a round) and then let it go back only a fraction of an inch before it resets. If he chooses to let the trigger go all the way forward, the internal safeties will kick in and he will have to sweep the trigger completely through its long arc in order to fire again. The advantage of the former method is simply faster shooting. With practice, someone "shooting to reset" can get two aimed shots out of the Walther in less than a second.
When I was growing up as a pistol competitor and carrying a pistol in combat, I never heard any discussion of such a procedure. That's mainly because our games did not require blinding speed. In modern times, we are much more concerned with combat shooting in the Modern Technique. Many pistol manufacturers are now emphasizing short trigger resets in their marketing efforts. With its PPQ line, regardless of chambering, Walther is one such maker. I have fired many of these models, as well as many of their competitors. The reset is so short—and so light—that it may be the quickest of them all.
Obviously, this is an important feature. There are a number of other features that commend the newest PPQ. Ergonomics, the physical relationship between the gun and the gunner are excellent. The butt section fits the hand well, placing the shooter's mitt in position to perform the up-and-back trigger sweep that delivers the first shot. Another important factor in semi-automatic pistol performance is recoil recovery. This brings us back to that all-important aspect of ergonomics again. The Walther, properly handled, stays put in your hand when fired and doesn't lift a straightened arm off target. That's particularly true when fired in a proper two-handed grip.
At the range, I did a fair amount of informal shooting to get a feel for the pistol. This included shooting at those orange polymer gizmos, dirt clods, etc. I also tried to induce malfunctions by limp wristing the gun and shooting upside down and even sideways. It never balked. For accuracy, it was a solid bench and sandbags. Accuracy was excellent, probably just a little more than 2" on the average for five consecutive, five-shot groups at 25 yds. Shooting an old favorite load from Jeff Hoffman's Black Hills Ammunition, I got one group of about 1¼". The gun will shoot.
The future of this nice new gun is dependent on two things. One is field performance. How well will the gun hold up to thousands of rounds down range under rough field conditions? You never know about that until a bunch of cops really beat the heck out of their guns. Second is the number of these things put in the hands of shooters of every stripe, which tends to develop a reputation. The guns are well named (PPQ stands for Police Pistol, Quick), and I think they'll do well. And Walther has finally delivered the .45 it promised us more than three-quarters of a century ago.
Walther, Walther PPQ 45, .45 ACP, PPQ 45, semi-automatic, striker fired, pistol, Wiley Clapp
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New For 2023: KelTec KSG410
New For 2023: Henry Repeating Arms Homesteader
SHOT Show 2023: Staccato CS 9 mm | An NRA Shooting Sports Journal
Review: Stacatto 2011 P Pistols | An Official Journal Of The NRA
New For 2023: Liberty Ammunition OverWatch | An Official Journal Of The NRA
New For 2023: 1911 Pistols From Savage Arms | An Official Journal Of The NRA
The Armed Citizen® Jan. 27, 2023
Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.
Armed Citizen, News
NRA Gun Of The Week: Browning Citori Hunter Grade II
Follow American Rifleman staff on this "Gun Of The Week" with the Browning Firearms Citori Hunter Grade II, a field-ready, 16-gauge shotgun that sure doesn't disappoint. In fact, this boxlock shotgun has everything you need and nothing that you don't.
News, NRA Gun of the Week
Rifleman Q&A: U.S. Model Of 1928 Thompson Variants
I was reading an auction catalog, and a reference was made to an American military Thompson submachine gun. It stated it was a "1928 Colt Navy overstamp, not a Savage." The catalog made that verbiage seem important. What's the significance of the "overstamp," and were there other military 1928 Thompsons besides the Navy guns?
News, Historical
New For 2023: Benelli Montefeltro
Benelli's Montefeltro, a go-to favorite for many discerning shotgunners, has been redesigned for 2023, making the sporting classic an even more rigid backbone of the company's upland and clay-target shotgun lineup.
Buy A Trijicon Thermal Optic, Get A Free Tenmile Riflescope
Purchase a new Trijicon REAP-IR 3 or IR-HUNTER 2 scope through one of the company's Electro Optics retailers before February 1, and you qualify to receive a select model of a Trijicon Tenmile riflescope.
News, Optics
5 Hot New Airguns For 2023
This year at SHOT Show 2023, there is an exciting corner of the marketplace that, given the economic downturn, should be one of the most appealing. Here are some of this year's hottest airguns. |
Product Description: The incomparable James Cagney stars with Dennis Morgan, Brenda Marshall and Alan Hale in his first Technicolor feature, once again reunited with Warner Bros.' legendary Michael Curtiz at the helm. Cagney portrays pilot Brian MacLean, a hot-shot Canadian pilot who is just as adept at stealing flying jobs from his competition as he is at stealing their girlfriend's hearts. But when he hears a speech by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill about the looming Nazi threat, MacLean enlists in the Royal Canadian Air Force . . . only to find his superior is a man from whom he stole both a job and a girl--and to encounter action and adventure in aerial combat over the North Atlantic. This was the first Hollywood production to be filmed almost entirely on location in Canada, and was released right after the U.S. entered WWII.
Starring: James Cagney, Dennis Morgan
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Studio: Warner Archive Collection
Blu-ray: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM FROM THE ORIGINAL NITRATE TECHNICOLOR NEGATIVES
1942 Newsreel
Vintage 1942 Color WB Short: "Rocky Mountain Big Game
Classic Bugs Bunny cartoons
DVD & Blu-ray: DEXTER - NEW BLOOD (2021) - Miniseries
New on Blu-ray: DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) - Remastered Special Edition
DVD & Blu-ray: DR. DEATH Miniseries Starring Joshua Jackson, Christian Slater & Alec Baldwin
DVD & Blu-ray: NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2021) Starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett & Rooney Mara
New on Blu-ray: RISE OF THE MACHINE GIRLS (2019)
New on Blu-ray: LA LLORONA / THE CRYING WOMAN (1933) - Indicator Series Limited Edition
DVD & Blu-ray: KINBAKU - FLOWER & MOON (2016)
New on Blu-ray: GAME 6 (2005) Starring Michael Keaton
New on Blu-ray & 4K: THE GODFATHER TRILOGY - 50th Anniversary Edition
DVD & Blu-ray: F1 2021 OFFICIAL REVIEW
DVD & Blu-ray: ALAIN RESNAIS - FIVE SHORT FILMS (1949-1957)
New on Blu-ray: THE CORE (2003) Starring Aaron Eckhart & Hilary Swank - Remastered
New on Blu-ray: BACK STREET (1941) Starring Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullavan
New on Blu-ray: THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965) - Criterion Collection
DVD & Blu-ray: DREAMING HOLLYWOOD (2021) Starring Turk Matthews
New on Blu-ray: BRYAN LOVES YOU (2008) - Collector's Edition
Labels : Blu-Ray,Captains of the Clouds,Classic Movies,Dennis Morgan,DVD/Blu-Ray,James Cagney,Michael Curtiz |
Written by onefrombills March 27, 2020
IBC YOUTH NEWS: IBC Youth sets June 1 date for 2020 Junior Gold decision; qualifying extended
CONTACT: Terry Bigham
IBC Communications
[email protected]
IBC YOUTH SETS JUNE 1 DATE FOR 2020 JUNIOR GOLD DECISION; QUALIFYING EXTENDED
ARLINGTON, Texas – International Bowling Campus Youth Development will announce decisions on the 2020 Junior Gold Championships presented by Hammer, and the companion youth events scheduled to take place in July in Las Vegas, on June 1.
Because of COVID-19 public health concerns, IBC Youth will follow public health directives when making decisions on the events.
With the postponement of leagues and events in the past month, IBC Youth Development also announced it has extended the deadline for qualifying events for the 2020 Junior Gold Championships to June 15, 2020.
Currently, the 2020 Junior Gold Championships are set to take place July 10-18, the USA Bowling National Championships are scheduled for July 8-9 and 12, and the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships are set for July 8.
The Junior Gold Championships is the premier event for the nation's top youth bowlers. Champions are crowned in four divisions – 12-and-under, 15-and-under, 17-and-under and 20-and-under – and competitors can earn spots on Junior Team USA.
About International Bowling Campus
The International Bowling Campus (IBC) is the headquarters for the bowling industry and directly serves the more than 69 million bowlers in the United States. The IBC houses the resources of the United States Bowling Congress, the governing body and membership organization for the sport; the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America, representing the business interests of bowling centers; IBC Youth Development; Strike Ten Entertainment, the marketing arm for the industry; the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame; the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association; the International Bowling Media Association; the Bowling News Network; the Billiard and Bowling Institute of America; and the International Training and Research Center.
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BALLOON – movie review
Posted on February 16 by harveycritic
Distrib Films US
Director: Michael Herbig
Screenwriter: Kit Hopkins, Thilo Röscheisen, Michael Herbig
Cast: Freidrich Mücke, Karoline Schuch, David Kross, Alicia von Rittberg, Thomas Kretschmann
Screened at: Critics' link, NYC, 2/6/20
Opens: February 21, 2020
The Jews in Germany had a real problem during the 1930's, the situation escalating rapidly right up to the extreme dangers they faced in the forties. By contrast, the people of East Germany, mainly Christian, could hardly consider themselves similarly persecuted by the Communist regime. I fear that Director Michael Herbig, best known in the German comedy scene by performing and directing works like the parody "Bullyparade: The Film," does not get across with his feel-good thriller "Balloon," why families are so eager to escape from the Communist sector into the Western area that they would risk their lives. Still, since this is based on a true story, two heroic families go through a lifetime of anxiety in just a few weeks to get out of the land where everyone is under surveillance by the Stasi (police). We see that people seek a new life in the West where they would lose their furniture, their money, and visits with grandparents, in order to go to another part of their own country.
The families on exhibited here are not outliers. A large number of East German citizens tried to escape to the West, some from East Berlin where the distance to a new life is almost as close as that between North Korea and South in the DMZ. But under the leadership of Peter Strelzyk (Friedrich Mücke), a not-so-merry band of travelers need to go from their village across to Bavaria. They plan to do this in an almost unique way, however, by building a balloon just as you and I would build a kite and float above the clouds, descending slowly into the forest across its informal border. Since "Balloon" is a thriller, and since the Strelzyks and another family actually make the trip, we visualize that the heroic people would meet with so many failures that you can see them spending their lives in a Stasi jail—though they would be free when the country became unified.
Peter and his wife Doris (Karoline Schuch) live in town of Possneck where Peter makes a living as an electrician—not the best training for building a balloon. Yet they have a car, a TV, and through their friendship with the people next door whose household head (Ronald Kukulies) happens to be Stasi, they are able to take a vacation at an East Berlin hotel. At the same time their oldest child is being "hit on" by the Stasi official's daughter, the whole setup reminding Amazon Prime customers of the friendship between an FBI agent and a Soviet spy in the wonderful series "The Americans."
Together with their friends Petra (Alicia von Rittberg) and Günter (David Kross), who at first were unwilling to take the risk, they build the balloon, somehow unnoticed by the local Stasi head Lieutenant Colonel Seidel (Thomas Kretschmann). As if the perils of the balloon trip were not enough, Doris accidentally drops her bottle of thyroid medication in the woods, recovered by the police who begin a search of the three pharmacies that may have filled it.
If you saw "The Aeronauts," about pilots launching a historic balloon flight in 1862 for scientific purposes, you would be privy to all the things that might go wrong. But that picture lacks the excitement of "Balloon," which could be appreciated not only by people who are political wonks but by those who don't know Berlin from Ouagadougou. The thriller aspect reaches its climax when it appears that the entire East German military are in the chase, using helicopters and cars and communicating with frantic phone calls. You'd think that these were important nuclear scientists carrying their secrets into unchartered territory. You might wonder: if these people got away with their scheme—as they did—would the entire Communist system collapse (as it actually did after the collapse of the Berlin wall, built in 1961 allegedly to prevent Western "fascists" from entering the East to destroy the socialist system)?
Whether that frantic pursuit of these humble people took place as we see on the screen or not, this is not a documentary but a well-made narrative dramatizing a heartwarming tribute to the men and women who shed their property and risked their very lives simply to go from one part of the country to another.
Story – B+
Technical – A-
Overall – B+
BALLOON COMMUNISM EAST GERMANY ESCAPE
THE NIGHT CLERK – movie review
THE CALL OF THE WILD – movie review |
Home Gossip Super Eagles Defender, Semi Ajayi Hits Brace In Rotherham United's In Their...
Super Eagles Defender, Semi Ajayi Hits Brace In Rotherham United's In Their 2-1 Win Against QPR
Bimpe Pereira
Super Eagles Defender, Semi Ajayi hits a brace in Rotherham United in their 2-1 win against Queens Park Rangers in a Sky Bet Championship encounter played on Wednesday, March 13.
Ajayi did not score in Rotterdam's 2-0 loss to Sheffield United in their last encounter but scored two in their 3-2 home win against Blackburn Rovers.
The Nigerian international was given a starting berth by Paul Warne for the game against QPR at Loftus Road.
The first half ended goallessly but it was Semi who scored the game's opener in the 71st minute.
Bright Osayi-Samuel a player of Nigerian descent gave QPR a lifeline when he converted a ball through to him by Nahki Wells in the 85th minute to level the scores.
Semi would have the final say when he converted a corner by Anthony Forde in the 90th minute, with just a few minutes left to play Semi and his Rotherham teammates held on to claim all three points.
Before the game against QPR, Rotherham had not recorded an away win in the Championship this season.
Semi who is a defender has been flourishing in a midfield role which has seen him score four goals in four games.
The win helps Rotherham in their push to move up in the Championship as they aim to avoid relegation.
Semi is expected to return to action when Rotherham host Norwich City in their next encounter scheduled for Saturday, March 16.
Semi Ajayi
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http://footballlive.ng
Daniel Amokachi Celebrates His Family In A New Photo
Bimpe Pereira - May 1, 2019
Daniel Owefin Amokachi is a Nigerian former professional footballer and former assistant manager of the Nigeria national football team. Read also: https://footballlive.ng/kenneth-omeruo-releases-an-adorable-photo-of-his-daughter-and-calls-her-mama/ Amokachi celebrates his family in...
"Transformation Happens When You Make Effort" – Odion Ighalo
Bimpe Pereira - April 1, 2019
Odion Jude Ighalo is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Chinese club Shanghai Greenland Shenhua and the Nigerian national team. After... |
UHV offers graduate English course on 'Fight Club' author's works
A new graduate course is taking shape at the University of Houston-Victoria School of Arts & Sciences, and the subject material has a cult following.
"Chuck Palahniuk in Context," English 6300, will be an online seminar course offered in the spring semester that examines the work of Palahniuk, a contemporary American author best known for his first book, "Fight Club." Students taking the course will read a selection of his works, including "Fight Club," "Diary," "Rant," "Stranger than Fiction," and the first issue of the "Fight Club 2" graphic novel that will be released in April by Dark Horse Comics.
The course will be taught by Jeffrey Sartain, an assistant professor in the UHV School of Arts & Sciences, who has written and published a variety of interviews, articles, bibliographies and commentaries on Palahniuk's work. In 2009, Sartain also wrote the book "Sacred and Immoral: On the Writings of Chuck Palahniuk."
"I started reading his work in 1999, right about the time 'Fight Club' the movie came out," Sartain said. "If you ask me what my favorite of his works are, I could give you 10 different answers on 10 different days. But I always come back to 'Fight Club' because that's such an important novel as far as capturing a tone in the American culture in the late '90s. None of his other works capture a cultural tone in the same way."
Jeffrey Sartain
Sartain's inspiration to create the course went beyond his appreciation for the author's work. He also knows this is a big year for Palahniuk. Palahniuk's novel "Beautiful You" was released in October. Also released in the fall, the short story anthology "Burnt Tongues" is a collection of stories Palahniuk selected and edited from a writing workshop and competition hosted on his website. Then, a collection of his own short stories, titled "Make Something Up," will be released in the spring. In April, Dark Horse Comics will release the first of 10 issues in the "Fight Club 2" graphic novel.
"The timing of needing and wanting to offer a graduate course on issues surrounding contemporary American literature and the fact that he is doing so much right now presented a great opportunity to offer the course on his work," Sartain said. "We are able to study a living author in depth, which is rare in a graduate school context. That's often one of the most exciting ways to study authors – to delve deeply into the things they've written and study what themes hold through and how they fit into a larger picture of American literature."
As part of the course, students will read several of Palahniuk's novels, criticism of his work and related American literature. Students also will branch out to read some of the author's works that will not be read by the rest of the class. Then they will make a presentation about what they found.
Palahniuk has a wide fan base, so there will be a number of students interested in this course, Sartain said. Graduate students in fiction and publishing, contemporary American literature students, UHV/American Book Review fans and others will benefit from the course. Community members may take the course by applying as temporary graduate students through the UHV Office of Admissions website www.uhv.edu/admissions/.
A.J. Ortega
"Palahniuk is one of those contemporary writers who transcends his readership," said A.J. Ortega, an English lecturer in the UHV School of Arts & Sciences and fan of Palahniuk. "He's a good writer to study because of his critical and commercial success. His stories are full of gritty, visceral, jarring stuff that will really knock you over. He challenges a lot of conventions and norms, and really takes risks as a writer."
Students typically study Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare or other writers who have been dead for centuries when universities offer courses about specific writers, Ortega said. The UHV course is unique because the writer is alive and still releasing new works. That can serve as a source of inspiration for students who already may be familiar with Palahniuk's work. The fact that a longtime fan of the author will be teaching the course is another draw.
"Dr. Sartain has been a Palahniuk scholar for a long time," Ortega said. "He has read just about everything that Chuck has written, and he's quite an expert on this author, so there's not a better instructor for this course."
UHV students interested in taking the course should contact their advisors to sign up. The course will contribute to graduate degree plans, including UHV's Master of Science in publishing, Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, but any interested graduate student may sign up.
For more information on the course, contact Sartain at 361-570-4254 or [email protected]. |
Beautiful Warrior
Emily Arnold McCully, Author, Emily Arnold, Author, Emily Arnold McCully, Illustrator Arthur A. Levine Books $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-590-37487-3
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Amzat & His Brothers
The Grandma Mix-Up: Story and Pictures
Little Kit: Or, the Industrious Flea Circus Girl
Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World's Smartest Horse
She Did It!: 21 Women Who Changed the Way We Think
Caroline's Comets: A True Story
Starring Mirette and Bellini
The Bobbin Girl
SQUIRREL AND JOHN MUIR
Grandmas Trick-Or-Treat
Min Makes a Machine
My Real Family
Clara: The (Mostly) True Story of the Rhinoceros Who Dazzled Kings, Inspired Artists, and Won the Hearts of Everyone . . . Wh
A Promising Life: Coming of Age with America, a Novel
The Ballot Box Battle
Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor
Mouse Practice
You Lucky Duck Storytime
Popcorn at the Palace
The Pirate Queen
I and Sproggy
Amazing Felix
Crossing New Bridge
Strongheart: The World's First Movie Star Dog
Zaza's Big Break
Mirette on the High Wire
Monk Camps Out
Queen of the Diamond: The Lizzie Murphy Story
A Promising Life: Coming of Age with America
Show Must Go on Storytime
THE ORPHAN SINGER
Sam and the Big Kids: I Like to Read
In this compelling picture book, Caldecott Medalist McCully explores the legend of a female kung fu master in 17th-century China. Young Wu Mei is a spirited girl, born into the Forbidden City, whose father refuses to have her feet bound or ""pursue idle pastimes"" like other girls. Instead she studies with tutors and learns kung fu with the boys. When an invasion separates her from her family, she decides to pursue her talents at a monastery, and becomes a Buddhist nun. Wu Mei later uses her wisdom and kung fu skills to instruct a young girl who wishes to escape an arranged marriage and to pursue a life of kung fu study. The two are credited with developing the kung fu styles still in practice today. McCully mines a historical period little known to young readers to create a vivid and vibrant tale, and carefully lays the groundwork for the moment that the lives of Wu Mei and her pupil Mingyi eventually dovetail. Along the way, readers are introduced to some of the old Chinese social customs and the spiritual tenets of Buddhism, and they will likely marvel at the bold and unusual female role models. McCully renders watercolors in panel vignettes and double-page spreads to skillfully stage plenty of martial arts action and to depict the striking details of a pristine Chinese monastery, a tattered village and a lush countryside. Her predominant browns and greens are occasionally emboldened by the flash of red or blue as the kung fu masters leap into a scene. An author's note may send kids scrambling for Bruce Lee movies and martial arts lessons as an extension of this fascinating introduction to an unlikely martial artist. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) |
A Year in Reading: Devi S. Laskar
Devi S. Laskar December 9, 2019 | 15 books mentioned 3 min read
This year has been a blur of landscape from the window of a bullet train. My debut novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues, came out in February to critical acclaim and it's been a whirlwind. Even before the novel's official entrance, from August 2018 I was one of five debut authors managing the Debutante Ball blog until this fall. I've met people all over the country and heard from readers all over the world—it's been a waking dream. I feel part of a vibrant writing community. Reading is not just a guilty pleasure, but an essential part of being a writer; I'm delighted to have had a chance to read so many books that have thrilled me and inspired me this year.
One of my favorites has been Mira Jacob's memoir, Good Talk. This funny yet poignant comic-book is brilliant in its scope of tackling racism and identity in America. I've reread this one a few times. I loved Soniah Kamal's debut novel, Unmarriageable, which is Pride and Prejudice retold and set in Pakistan, Jean Kwok's literary thriller Searching for Sylvie Lee, Grace Talusan's memoir of being an immigrant in America, The Body Papers, Chelene Knight's hybrid memoir about all of the places she lived in Vancouver as a child, Dear Current Occupant, Yangsze Choo's historical novel The Night Tiger, Maurice Carlos Ruffin's speculative and satirical We Cast A Shadow, and Julia Phillips's debut sparked by the disappearance of two girls, Disappearing Earth.
I've loved having the opportunity to support other authors' works, through debut authors blog and by serving as a contest judge and writing endorsements for books that will be out in the next year, including: Carole Stivers's sci-fi thriller The Mother Code in the not-too-distant-future America and Jayant Kaikini's invaluable stories of Mumbai in No Presents Please and of course, Zeyn Joukhadar's big second novel that combines history, art, mystery and the life of a trans Syrian-American, The Thirty Names of Night.
It was a pleasure to read Anita Felicelli's surreal legal thriller Chimerica and be in conversation with her this year. I marveled at my colleague Debutante Ball bloggers' novels—K.A. Doore's The Perfect Assassin, Layne Fargo's Temper, Martine Fournier Watson's The Dream Peddler, and Stephanie Jimenez's They Could Have Named Her Anything—and had a fun evening recently interviewing Stephanie in California. I was honored be a co-editor for a mixed-genre anthology Graffiti that was wholly produced by writers of color.
It was wonderful to read Cinelle Barnes's second book, a collection of essays, Malaya, and Amanda Goldblatt's beautiful debut Hard Mouth and Ma Jian's China Dream. Though each book was vastly different, what drew me in, in each case, was the beautiful use of language.
I thoroughly enjoyed Tope Folarin's debut novel of immigration and being other in America, A Particular Kind of Black Man, and Mitchell S. Jackson's memoir Survival Math. I could not put down Jeanine Capo Crucet's book of essays, My Time Among the Whites, Lucy Jane Bledsoe's novels The Evolution of Love and Running Wild, Casey Cep's nonfiction book of Harper Lee and the story the Pulitzer Prize winner ultimately didn't tell, Furious Hours.
I'm slowly reading (so it won't be over!) Colson Whitehead's heart-thumping story of reform school in Nickel Boys and Ocean Vuong's debut novel, a stunning immigration story told in a hybrid epistolary form, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.
2019 has been a fantastic year for poetry: loved, loved, loved Jericho Brown's The Tradition, Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic, Tina Chang's Hybrida, Natalie Scenters-Zapico's Lima :: Limón and Hanif Abdurraqib's A Fortune for Your Disaster. And I loved Carolyn Forché's memoir, What You Have Heard Is True, which casts new light into her seminal long-ago book of poetry, The Country Between Us.
By the time you read this I will have finished reading Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's retelling of the Ramayana from Sita's POV, The Forest of Enchantments, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton's page-turner The Revisioners, Rene Denfeld's The Butterfly Girl, and Meg Waite Clayton's novel about the World War II Kindertransport, The Last Train to London.
I am still waiting by the mailbox for copies of Rheea Rodrigues Mukherjee's The Body Myth, Madhuri Vijay's The Far Field and Yoko Ogawa's Memory Police to arrive!
Devi S. Laskar 's debut novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues (Counterpoint Press 2019) has garnered praise in The Washington Post, Chicago Review of Books, Booklist and elsewhere; and has appeared on the most anticipated lists in such publications as TIME, Cosmopolitan (UK), Marie Claire, Vogue & The Millions. The novel also has been published in India and the U.K/Commonwealth. Recently, the novel was named among 2019 "Books All Georgians Should Read" by the Georgia Center for the Book; and is a finalist for the 7th annual Crook's Corner Book Prize in the U.S., and was named to the long-list for the 9th annual DSC Prize in India. Laskar holds an MFA from Columbia University and an MA from The University of Illinois. She is an alumna of both TheOpEdProject and VONA, among others. In 2017, Finishing Line Press published two poetry chapbooks. A native of Chapel Hill, N.C., she now lives in California with her family.
A Year in Reading: John Darnielle
John Darnielle December 3, 2014 | 15 books mentioned 2 2 min read
A Year in Reading: Anne Serre
Anne Serre December 20, 2019 | 15 books mentioned 4 min read
It's probably the only novel I've ever read that, though written by a man, feels from beginning to end as if it were written by a woman.
Anne Serre | 15 books mentioned 4 min read
A Year in Reading: The Bibliosphere
Brandon Von December 9, 2006 | 15 books mentioned 2
A Year in Reading: Jason Diamond (Flavorwire)
Jason Diamond December 5, 2013 | 15 books mentioned 2 min read
I've spent more time outside of New York this year than any other year since I moved here a decade ago, so I've been thinking less about what I'm reading, and more about where I'm reading things. I wonder if the constant change in location adds to why, when I look through the things I've read this year, I notice that the books I read for pleasure — not for work or research — are more varied than usual.
Susan Steinberg's collection Spectacle arrived as a galley before 2013 started, though I only opened it after the new year. It was an excellent way to start off a year that promised more than a few wonderful short story collections, including Spectacle, Adrian Van Young's The Man Who Noticed Everything, and especially Laura van den Berg's superb The Isle of Youth.
I picked up Max Beerbohm's Selected Prose in a Provincetown used bookshop, and started reading it that night. After reading two great books this year on Dandyism — one put out by Yale Press and another co-authored by a dear friend of mine, I Am Dandy — my interest in Beerbohm's work was piqued, and although I've been told that reading his novel, Zuleika Dobson, should be very high up on my list, I couldn't help but be delighted by his stories and essays that called to mind S.J. Perelman, P.G. Wodehouse, and even Fran Lebowitz at some points.
Both James Wood and Wayne Koestenbaum continue to be in leagues of their own, something that was hammered home while reading Koestenbaum's My 1980s & Other Essays, as well as Wood's The Fun Stuff. I was chomping at the bit to read James Wolcott's Critical Mass, and probably won't stop talking about Michelle Orange's This is Running for Your Life. I'd just like to put it out there that somebody should give Orange a whole bunch of money to just sit around and write essays. I'd appreciate that very much.
I read Sean Doyle's zine The Day Walt Disney Died on an airplane, totally ignoring the weird looks the passenger to my right kept shooting at me for whatever reason. Sooner or later somebody is going to tell Doyle to write an entire book, and that person will be doing a big mitzvah for all of us. I also wasn't shocked to find that the Gigantic crew put out another great issue this year. The fifth issue, read on a train bound for Connecticut, upon my return, had me combing through my personal archives for stellar old issues. The editors (who are friends of mine) have consistently had their fingers planted squarely on the pulse of what's good in literature and design.
Don't miss: A Year in Reading 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
Jason Diamond | 15 books mentioned 2 min read
A Year in Reading: Il'ja Rákoš
Il'ja Rákoš December 10, 2017 | 15 books mentioned 8 8 min read
Turns out there's not much you can do for second-degree paraffin burns beyond trying to cool them down, keep them clean, and try not to pop the blisters.
Il'ja Rákoš | 15 books mentioned 8 8 min read
A Year in Reading: Kate Zambreno
Kate Zambreno December 12, 2019 | 15 books mentioned 3 min read
I am at this point in my life where I find these lists voluptuous brags about time, which I have surely been party to in the past.
Kate Zambreno | 15 books mentioned 3 min read
A Year in Reading: Jacqueline Krass
Jacqueline Krass December 16, 2018 | 15 books mentioned 3 min read
Absence, presence, women—those are the words that set things off in my brain. Right away I ordered the book at my local bookstore.
Jacqueline Krass | 15 books mentioned 3 min read
I've missed subway stops many a time due to a good book, but it's a great book that renders you completely oblivious to the hoards of travelers leaving your gate and mass migrating to the other end of the airport. |
Our 2021 Impact Report
March 23, 2022 By Kate Pepler
Wow. What a wild year 2021 was. Not only did we open a second location, but we survived another year in a global pandemic. It had it's challenges: supply chain and labour shortages, global glass shortages, fridge and freezer shortages, and of course, COVID. But through all of it, you stuck with us, and continued to support us.
We are beyond grateful for that support, and can't wait to share our continuing growth and evolution with you. We had so much fun growing our product offerings, hosting vendors for pop-ups, and meeting new customers.
Putting our first impact report together was inspiring and motivating - it really goes to show the effect that one business can have, and that we can all make a difference. |
Expanding vulnerability assessment for public lands: The social complement to ecological approaches Academic research paper on "Social and economic geography"
Climate Risk Management
{"Climate change" / "Public lands" / "Land-based livelihoods" / "Social vulnerability" / "Vulnerability assessment" / Adaptation}
Abstract of research paper on Social and economic geography, author of scientific article — Shannon M. McNeeley, Trevor L. Even, John B.M. Gioia, Corrine N. Knapp, Tyler A. Beeton
Abstract In recent years, federal land management agencies in the United States have been tasked to consider climate change vulnerability and adaptation in their planning. Ecological vulnerability approaches have been the dominant framework, but these approaches have significant limitations for fully understanding vulnerability in complex social-ecological systems in and around multiple-use public lands. In this paper, we describe the context of United States federal public lands management with an emphasis on the Bureau of Land Management to highlight this unique decision-making context. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of an ecological vulnerability approach for informing decision-making. Next, we review social vulnerability methods in the context of public lands to demonstrate what these approaches can contribute to our understanding of vulnerability, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we suggest some key design principles for integrated social-ecological vulnerability assessments considering the context of public lands management, the limits of ecological vulnerability assessment, and existing approaches to social vulnerability assessment. We argue for the necessity of including social vulnerability in a more integrated social-ecological approach in order to better inform climate change adaptation.
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Academic research paper on topic "Expanding vulnerability assessment for public lands: The social complement to ecological approaches"
Climate Risk Management xxx (2017) xxx-xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/crm
Expanding vulnerability assessment for public lands: The social complement to ecological approaches
Shannon M. McNeeley a'*, Trevor L. Even a, John B.M. Gioiab, Corrine N. Knappc, Tyler A. Beetona
a Colorado State University, North Central Climate Science Center, United States b Western State Colorado University, United States
c Center for Environment & Sustainability, Western State Colorado University, United States
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
In recent years, federal land management agencies in the United States have been tasked to consider climate change vulnerability and adaptation in their planning. Ecological vulnerability approaches have been the dominant framework, but these approaches have significant limitations for fully understanding vulnerability in complex social-ecological systems in and around multiple-use public lands. In this paper, we describe the context of United States federal public lands management with an emphasis on the Bureau of Land Management to highlight this unique decision-making context. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of an ecological vulnerability approach for informing decision-making. Next, we review social vulnerability methods in the context of public lands to demonstrate what these approaches can contribute to our understanding of vulnerability, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we suggest some key design principles for integrated social-ecological vulnerability assessments considering the context of public lands management, the limits of ecological vulnerability assessment, and existing approaches to social vulnerability assessment. We argue for the necessity of including social vulnerability in a more integrated social-ecological approach in order to better inform climate change adaptation.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Article history: Received 14 October 2015 Revised 17 January 2017 Accepted 24 January 2017 Available online xxxx
Keywords: Climate change Public lands Land-based livelihoods Social vulnerability Vulnerability assessment Adaptation
1. Introduction............................................................................................. 00
2. Public lands management context........................................................................... 00
3. Review of vulnerability assessment methods for climate change on public lands..................................... 00
3.1. Ecological vulnerability assessment.....................................................................00
3.2. Applying a social Lens to climate change vulnerability assessment on public lands..............................00
4. Key design principles for social-ecological vulnerability assessment on public lands................................... 00
4.1. Participatory stakeholder engagement in research co-production.............................................00
4.2. Focus on institution-actor relationships.................................................................00
4.3. Integration of top-down with bottom-up data and local knowledge...........................................00
5. Conclusion.............................................................................................. 00
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (S.M. McNeeley).
http://dx.doi.Org/10.1016/j.crm.2017.01.005 2212-0963/® 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
S.M. McNeeley et al./Climate Risk Management xxx (2017) xxx-xxx
Acknowledgements References.......
Recent and continuing changes in climate have resulted in alterations to both human and natural systems across the globe, necessitating adaptive measures by decision makers acting at all levels of socio-ecological systems (i.e., systems in which humans are interconnected to and dependent on natural systems) (Bierbaum et al., 2013; IPCC, 2014). In the United States, significant impacts from climate change have already been felt, and warming is projected to continue for the foreseeable future (Walsh et al., 2014). As a result, changes to natural resources and the social systems that rely upon them will continue through decreased snowpack and more rapid snowmelt, more pronounced drought impacts and variability in precipitation regimes, increased incidence of wildfire, longer but more variable growing seasons, and a variety of other factors (Melillo et al., 2014; Walsh et al., 2014). In the United States, the federal government has introduced several Executive and Secretarial Orders directing federal agencies to prepare for and adapt to climate change (e.g., EO 13514, 2009; EO 13653, 2013; EO 13693, 2015; DOI Order 3226, 2001; DOI Order 3289, 2009), and several states have taken similar actions (e.g., Colorado's House Bill 13-1293; Washington's Senate Bill 5560) (Colorado General Assembly, 2013; Washington, 2009). However, work within individual agencies to meet these mandates has been uneven at best, with significant work remaining to be done in assessing vulnerability and developing actionable adaptation plans at scales relevant to the wide variety of administrative domains at play in the complicated U.S. governance system (Bierbaum et al., 2014, 2013). Here we define "vulnerability" as the susceptibility of an individual, household, or community to suffer from the impacts of climate change, which is a function of their exposure to climate stress, their sensitivity to being affected by it, and their adaptive capacity to respond to or prepare for climate change (IPCC, 2014).
For the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), whose management mandate includes huge tracts of publicly-owned land in the Western U.S. and Alaska - and even more widespread mineral resources - efforts to plan for and adapt to climate change present a variety of complex challenges. The BLM mediates multiple land uses, including extraction and conservation, which requires managers to take into account both the needs and environmental impacts of a broad array of human activities. In particular, communities heavily invested in livestock ranching and outdoor recreational tourism depend on public lands for economic, social, and cultural well-being. At the same time, their uses impact the biophysical environment and ecosystem services (e.g., production of food and water, maintenance of nutrient cycles and pollination to crops, and recreational or spiritual benefits) that public lands agencies manage. Similarly, agency management decisions, in turn, impact human livelihood viability, both in the immediate and long-term (Kachergis et al., 2014).
Given these feedbacks between land-based livelihoods, ecosystems, and management, and the resulting impacts to the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of each (Kachergis et al., 2014), it has been noted at a variety of levels that there is a need to better understand the climate vulnerabilities of those individuals and communities that depend upon resources managed on public lands (Archie et al., 2012; DOI, 2014; Joyce et al., 2009). However, ecological vulnerability assessment has been the primary approach for assessing vulnerability and planning adaptation actions on public lands, despite a broad and growing body of research examining the complex economic and cultural ties between public lands and the human communities that rely upon them (e.g., Bates, 1993; Bergstrom, 2012; Dombeck et al., 2004; Eichman et al., 2010; McNeeley and Shulski, 2011; McNeeley, 2012; Loomis, 2013; Sheridan, 2007; Yung et al., 2010; Knapp et al., 2015). There has also been relatively little consideration of the unique context of the U.S. public lands management system in climate vulnerability research. While there have been a small set of reviews of social vulnerability methods in the context of public lands (Preston et al., 2011; Hinkel, 2011; Fischer et al., 2013; Murphy et al., 2015), a comprehensive argument for the importance of an integrated social-ecological approach in contrast with purely ecological vulnerability approaches has not been made, nor have key principles for such an integrated approach been identified. We argue for the necessity of including social vulnerability in a more integrated social-ecological approach in order to better inform climate change adaptation for public lands and natural resource management.
In this paper, we describe the context of public lands management with an emphasis on the Bureau of Land Management to highlight this unique decision-making context. We then assess the strengths and weaknesses of an exclusively ecological vulnerability assessment approach for informing decision-making. Next, we review social vulnerability methods in the context of public lands to demonstrate what these approaches can contribute to our understanding of vulnerability. Finally, we identify three key principles for this more integrated social-ecological approach that includes: 1) participatory stakeholder engagement, 2) consideration of institution-actor relationships, and 3) the integration of scientific with local knowledge.
2. Public lands management context
Nationwide, the federal government manages over 640 million acres of publicly owned lands, just under a third of the nation's total land surface. Of this, 440 million acres are managed by two distinct but often spatially adjacent agencies: the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) (Vincent et al., 2014). In this paper,
we focus primarily on the BLM, which relative to the USFS has received less attention in the climate change vulnerability literature.
The BLM manages for multiple use within different ecosystems, the majority of which are arid to semi-arid rangelands, grasslands, shrublands, and deserts (as compared to the primarily forested areas within the US Forest Service). These lands remained in the public domain due to repeated refusals or failures by either private individuals or states to take possession of these lands during the various waves of western expansion during the 19th and early 20th century, mainly due to their aridity and lower plant productivity (Wilson, 2014; Huntsinger et al., 2010; Steenburgh et al., 2013). Because of the relative marginality of these lands, the social and ecological systems that have developed alongside BLM managed lands are both diverse in character and highly variable within specific landscapes with mining, logging, livestock ranching, hunting, and recreational users all taking on roles of differing importance depending on local geology, geography, and vegetation (See Sayre et al., 2009). For example, in Colorado, livestock ranching, hunting, and oil and gas extraction dominate, while in Idaho and Oregon, logging of those areas' relatively more forested BLM lands plays a much more important role. As Sayre et al. (2012) note, however, even users within a given class can vary widely from place to place, with some public land livestock grazers entering into cooperative grazing agreements on public land tracts, others working within conservation programs to diversify income streams, and others utilizing complex, high-frequency livestock rotation schemes. As a result of historical climate variability, many of these systems are already highly-adapted to periodic droughts, wildfire, and a variety of climatic extremes. Yet, they face significant increased exposure to negative impacts from climate change - particularly, extended and severe droughts (and possible "mega-droughts"), changes in landscape composition, and the loss of winter snowpack - and are already undergoing ecological transformations from climate change in many areas, such as tree die offs in the watersheds that many public land ecosystems rely upon for streamflow in the western U.S. (Seager et al., 2007, 2012; Garfin et al., 2014; Mote et al., 2014).
Thousands of small, rural communities intermingle with the broader public lands system, which represents 80% of land ownership in western US states (Gorte et al., 2012). These communities, many of which include prominent livestock agriculture, hunting, fishing, and recreation sectors, rely on ecosystem services provided by public lands for both economic and cultural viability (Bates, 1993; Gentner and Tanaka, 2002; Brogden and Greenberg, 2003; Rasker, 2006). Because these various land-based livelihoods are exposed directly to climate stressors, climate change has the potential to reduce overall livelihood sustainability and degrade cultures that define western identity and place. However, social behavior - of government actors, private markets, or cultural advocacy groups - relating to climate change can also have major effects on the viability of land-based livelihoods, as their dependency upon public resources draws them into a nexus of numerous actors moving within systems at national and global scales. In both livestock ranching and outdoor recreation, direct feedbacks to and from ecosystems, in the form of availability and quality of ecosystem services, determine the viability of livelihoods. For example, if managed carefully, rangelands can maintain soils that consistently provide water filtration, carbon storage and sequestration, flood mitigation, and forage for wildlife and domestic livestock (Havstad et al., 2007). However, they are also highly vulnerable to poor management practices that could lead to degradation, loss of minerals, and poor water infiltration, vulnerability that is further exacerbated by climate exposures to drought or intense erosion episodes (Hatfield et al., 2014). Similarly, adequate snowpack, runoff, and healthy forests and wildflowers are ecosystem services that dictate the length of winter and summer tourism seasons, the success of nature-based festivals (i.e. wildflower festivals), and wildlife behavior during hunting seasons, all of which are critical to the success of outdoor recreation and tourism activities. These variables not only directly affect these ecosystem services, but also visitation patterns and broader-scale economics of the recreation industry (Jedd et al., 2015; Nelson et al., 2013). And, as with livestock grazing, poorly managed recreational activity can quickly diminish the quality of the landscapes on which they take place. As such, these livelihoods present both a serious challenge to climate adaptation planning as well as a significant opportunity for maintaining overall ecological resilience.
Multiple levels of federal governance across the broader BLM, ranging from field offices to legislative and executive policy makers in state and federal offices, create additional layers of complexity in planning for and implementing adaptation strategies. The utilization of specific grazing allotments, recreational permits, or other public land permits is directly contingent upon decisions made in places removed from the landscapes where public land users make their living. At the broadest level, federal and executive decisions can completely reshape usage constraints on large tracts of land (e.g. National Monument designation and funding of local departments). State level policies and resource economies can put public lands under increased pressure from private property markets, as in various efforts to cede control of public lands to state control (e.g. Keiter and Ruple, 2014). Local field office management priorities can limit flexibility for some users while providing proactive support to others based on their interpretation of top-down mandates or local stakeholder behavior (Loomis, 2013). At the same time, conflicts can arise between user groups themselves, as in cases where the externalities of one use type negatively impact the resource availability of others, or two or more uses of a given landscape are seen as mutually exclusive (Archie, 2014; Loomis, 2013). Examples of this include hunters who are impacted by the noise of off-road vehicle recreation-ists, or conflicts between wild horse management and livestock grazers over grazing management, and conservationists and logging communities who have different values around forest management (e.g., Spotted Owl conservation in the northwestern U.S.).
The range of adaptation measures various public land permittees can undertake is limited in ways that go beyond the restrictions found in private land leases. Planning processes can take years for landscape modifications like stream bank repair, water storage projects, or new fencing arrangements, due to the complex requirements and incongruous time horizons involved with permit related resource management plans. On a broader level, the BLM national headquarters, the
Department of Interior secretarial, or presidential policy mandates can have substantial effects on access to resources that have the ability to confound the long-term planning horizons required in land-based livelihoods.
In addition, the management of endangered, threatened, or candidate species on public lands, as well as general land management policies, have the potential to compound vulnerabilities to climate exposures by limiting livelihood viability (Eakin and Conley, 2002; Knapp et al., 2015). While Eakin and Conley (2002) found that the vulnerability of livestock ranching communities dependent on BLM-managed lands in Arizona is the result of intersecting factors (including climate variability, political factors, pressure from environmental advocacy groups, and agricultural economics), Knapp et al. (2015) further explored ranchers' perceptions of a species listing decision and found that the listing decision compounds other non-ecological stressors (e.g., increased recreational use, increased regulation of grazing) that increase concern about ranching livelihood viability. Thus, whatever climate-driven stressors public land users are exposed to - which, in some livelihoods and regions, can be substantial and highly variable year to year - their capacity to acknowledge and adapt to those stressors will always be constrained by the particulars of their relationship with the land management system and the various management plans they and the BLM have developed. Public land users' vulnerability is not merely the product of climate stressors, but emerges from the confluence of climate, management, and social, cultural, and economic stressors, necessitating a holistic investigation of each of these in determining social vulnerability (Fischer et al., 2013; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014).
3. Review of vulnerability assessment methods for climate change on public lands
Vulnerability assessments play an important role in guiding adaptation planning and implementation (Bierbaum et al., 2014; DOI, 2014; Hinkel, 2011; Smit and Wandel, 2006). The Department of the Interior's Climate Change Adaptation Plan states that conducting vulnerability assessments is a priority for the BLM and highlights the adverse impacts of climate change-related events on livelihoods, economic interests, and biophysical resources (DOI, 2014). The DOI's recognition of climate related impacts to both social and ecological resources suggests that vulnerability assessments should necessarily consider system-wide feedbacks between social and ecological components in order to respond to the challenges that climate change poses to coupled social-ecological systems (DOI, 2014; Eakin and Luers, 2006; O'Brien et al., 2007; Turner et al., 2003; Weaver et al., 2014). However, these social and ecological approaches have often been conducted separately and have different definitions of the primary components of vulnerability in each (Table 1).
In the next section we describe both the ecological and social approaches to vulnerability and review the strengths and weaknesses of each in the context of public land management.
3.1. Ecological vulnerability assessment
Public land management agencies in the United States have focused vulnerability assessment efforts and guidance primarily on biophysical resources (e.g., Bureau of Land Management's Rapid Ecoregional Assessments; National Park Service's Climate Change Response Program, the National Wildlife Federation's Scanning the Conservation Horizon: A Guide to Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment) and much less so on the human communities whose livelihoods depend upon sustained provisioning of ecosystem services (Fischer et al., 2013). While ecologically-focused vulnerability assessments are helpful to: (1) set conservation target-based management and planning priorities; (2) assist in informing and crafting adaptation strategies; and (3) enable more efficient allocation of scarce resources, the determinants of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) are tailored to ecological resources and omit characteristics unique to human systems (see Table 1).
Ecosystems-based approaches to vulnerability assessment are useful where conservation targets are of primary concern (e.g., Glick et al., 2011). However, with a relatively narrow focus on the vulnerability of species, habitats, and ecosystems they preclude humans as actors in interconnected social-ecological systems, and do not provide the analytical framework
Definitions of components of ecological and social vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity) applied to public land contexts adapted from Glick et al. (2011), Fischer et al. (2013), Knapp, (2011) and Sonwa et al. (2012).
Natural Resource Management Vulnerability Definitions in the Context of Social Vulnerability and Public Land
Assessment Definitions Management
Exposure The character, magnitude, and rate of changes to
which a particular species or system is exposed Sensitivity The degree to which a species, habitat, or ecosystem
is or is likely to be affected by or responsive to climate changes
Adaptive Capacity The ability of a species, habitat, or ecosystem to
accommodate or cope with climate change impacts with minimal disruption
The character, magnitude, and rate of changes to which a human community is exposed
The degree to which a human community is susceptible to harm or likely to be affected by climate changes and/or decision-making on public lands; the degree to which a human community depends on the provisioning of ecosystem services, and thus sustainable resource management, to support land-based livelihoods The ability of human communities to generate and apply new knowledge, make decisions, and act collectively in order to reduce climate exposures and modify sensitivities, thus reducing overall vulnerability; the prevalence of supportive and equitable decision-making processes in public lands management
to integrate social variables, interactions, and feedbacks operating in those systems. In fact, an ecosystems-based vulnerability assessment can at times conflict with local livelihoods, such as the case with 'threatened' and 'endangered' species, for example, when protection of those species or habitats constrain access or use for other land users (Knapp et al., 2015; Eichman et al., 2010). In the Glick model, humans are only involved as managers who identify issues and implement actions based on the assessment of ecological (i.e., that of non-human species, habitat, ecosystems) vulnerability assessment. Yet, humans are dynamic actors who live, work, and recreate in systems and who play a role in both managing and receiving ecosystem services. In reality, these actors represent more than a mere opportunity for engagement. Rather, they comprise both an important source of observational data on climate impacts and ecosystem functioning as well as a reciprocal force within those ecosystems where they also provide ''services to ecosystems" in the form of maintenance and enhancement of those systems such as maintaining landscape connectivity, defense against invasive species, and the protection of culturally-significant species (Comberti et al., 2015). Those engaged in land-based livelihoods are connected to and rely upon the landscapes and therefore have an intrinsic interest in maintaining functional and healthy landscapes.
One relevant example of an ecological vulnerability approach is the Climate Change Assessment for Colorado Bureau of Land Management, in which the authors looked at mid-century climate projections to assess the vulnerabilities of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem types along with plant and animal species of interest across three regions in Colorado (eastern plains, mountain, and western valleys) (CNHP, 2015). While the intention is that the assessment will help guide climate adaptation strategies for the Colorado BLM, the temporal and spatial scales of the assessment do not a) align with field office manager's decision-making scales, or b) account for important management issues such as cattle grazing and wildlife management for hunting and forage production (elk, deer, and wild horses, for example, were not among the species in the assessment - all important species for BLM management). As such, further refinement will be necessary to align the assessment with the relevant decisions and temporal and spatial scales for BLM management and planning. In the following sections we provide insights from social science approaches to help this type of an effort.
3.2. Applying a social Lens to climate change vulnerability assessment on public lands
In this section, we review several approaches to understanding social vulnerability - social indicators, mixed methods that complement indicators with qualitative data, scenarios, and case studies. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches and then offer some key guiding principles for assessing social-ecological vulnerability, i.e., the degree to which human communities and land-based livelihoods are susceptible to climate exposures. In this paper we provide some guiding principles on how to better incorporate social indicators into vulnerability assessments. While beyond the scope of this paper, we acknowledge the importance of designing a fully integrated methodology for social-ecological vulnerability assessment from the start.
Social indicators approaches have been used in climate vulnerability research, particularly for their ability to quantify vulnerability, aggregate data, and make comparisons across geographic regions. For instance, the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) was developed specifically to identify indicators that could be used to measure social vulnerability to natural hazards at the county scale (Cutter et al., 2003). The SoVI provided the means by which to compare aggregate demographic variables known to be associated with heightened impacts during natural disaster processes, such as socioeconomic status, age, gender, race, and local development levels. While some of these indicators might be useful for understanding human vulnerability in a public lands context, the focus on hazards or extreme events does not provide a tight fit to the types of exposures (e.g., seasonality changes such as amount of snowpack and timing of runoff) that impact ranchers, for example, with grazing permits on public lands. In addition, the applicability of the SoVI and other similar indices are limited to the spatial scale of the data aggregation (i.e., the county or census tract level). This can mask sensitivities of certain groups within otherwise wealthy areas, such as poor households or communities in an otherwise very wealthy rural tract, for example.
Another social indicator approach, the Spatially Explicit Resilience Vulnerability (SERV), was designed to address this problem and capture sub-county variation in resilience and vulnerability (Frazier et al., 2014). The SERV model showed that vulnerability does vary at the sub-county level, and is considered useful for decision makers who are responsible for allocating scarce resources for hazard mitigation and disaster planning and preparation (Frazier et al., 2014). However, the SoVI, SERV, and other relatively coarse-scale approaches - that is, those that rely on publicly available, county- and census-tract level social data - are unable to assess many of the place-specific determinants of vulnerability that are often difficult to quantify, such as community connectivity or the diverse ways in which specific groups interact with and view one another during periods of resource or political conflict (Birkmann, 2007; Cutter and Finch, 2008; McNeeley, 2014).
Real-world vulnerability (as opposed to theoretical or computer-modeled) is a continuously changing and evolving process, not a static measurement (Ford and Smit, 2004; Luers, 2005). Therefore, indicator-based approaches used in isolation cannot capture those sources of adaptive capacity that are more dynamic, such as social and cultural capital, land tenure and use, livelihood flexibility, and political agency (Eakin and Luers, 2006; O'Brien et al., 2004, 2007). Additionally, it has been suggested that approaches that focus on county-, state-wide, or coarser scales may actually lead to maladaptive strategies that further marginalize vulnerable populations, particularly in rural areas where census blocks cover relatively large geographic areas (Eakin and Luers, 2006; Frazier et al., 2014; McNeeley, 2014).
Nevertheless, indicators approaches can be considered key components of social vulnerability assessments, particularly when they are complemented by information gathered through qualitative, participatory research methods (CWCB, 2013; Fischer et al., 2013; Keskitalo et al., 2011). Social science methods, such as in-depth interviews and focus groups, are
considered effective ways by which to characterize the social and political factors that moderate or exacerbate climate exposures and sensitivity in local contexts (O'Brien et al., 2004; McNeeley, 2014). For example, Colorado's Drought Mitigation and Response Plan, led by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, initially used an indicators approach to evaluate drought vulnerability across sectors (e.g. municipal and industrial water supply; agriculture; recreation and tourism) and state assets (e.g., agricultural and livestock businesses; fisheries; wildlife) (CWCB, 2010). Quantitative vulnerability scores were developed based upon impact metrics (e.g., average annual user days on rivers; reduction in herd size on ranches). In an updated and revised version of the CWCB assessment, these metrics were augmented with qualitative interviews, and subsequently amended, to more accurately reflect place-specific factors that influenced vulnerability, and which were not captured in quantitative analyses (CWCB, 2013; Thomas and Wilhelmi, 2012). These factors included things such as: 1) access to already stressed or limited water resources within the larger water system; 2) communication and collaboration between water users to share resources and minimize impacts; and 3) interactions between hazards such as drought and fire, which both restrict use and drive away tourists. Espiner and Becken (2014) used a similar top-down approach with climatological data to determine vulnerabilities to recreation and tourism industries and then combined that with a bottom-up approach by conducting key stakeholder interviews that demonstrated the top-down indicators of vulnerability were not perceived as major threats by key stakeholders. This mixed-methods approach can be more robust than a purely quantitative analysis, especially when it helps to ''ground truth" quantitative analyses (Keskitalo et al., 2011; McNeeley, 2014; Reed et al., 2006).
Social indicators approaches can be combined with qualitative research to adjust or weight indicators for their importance locally (CWCB, 2013; Keskitalo et al., 2011; Li et al., 2015) and thus develop a more refined understanding of how vulnerability manifests at smaller scales. However, given the limited utility of an indicators-only approach to assess the role of humans as actors in social-ecological systems (Lindoso et al., 2014), it is important to note that the specific metrics used for indicators approaches may have as much of an impact on the results as the scale at which the analysis is undertaken, suggesting the need for expert and stakeholder engagement to determine the most important inputs rather than making a priori determinations (Schmidtlein et al., 2008; Smit and Wandel, 2006).
Scenario approaches to climate vulnerability assessment use a range of climate projections (based upon emissions scenarios and climate models) in order to understand potential impacts to ecological and social systems. Climate change scenarios were used in northeastern U.S. to assess projected vulnerability between the snowmobiling and skiing industries due to reduced snowpack (Scott et al., 2008). However, the study did not attempt to interview visitors to understand whether reduced snowpack would actually result in decreased visitation. This is important because an analogue study demonstrated that modeled climate impacts (e.g., reduced snowpack) do not necessarily correlate with reduced visitation since the ski season length and adaptive measures such as snowmaking played a stronger role than climate in isolation (Dawson et al., 2009). Indeed, 'vulnerability as experienced' by the vulnerable people themselves requires a thorough understanding of perceptions that may be rooted in other sources of stress besides climate (Adger, 2006). Sheppard et al. (2011) conducted scenario-based research in British Columbia and found scenarios that integrated local knowledge and data resulted in an easily accessible tool for stakeholders and decision-makers to consider during interviews. They also provided a springboard that allowed local actors to engage with specific vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity (Sheppard et al., 2011).
Scenario approaches can be used to contemplate baseline and projected vulnerabilities, thus considering both the current and evolving nature of vulnerability (Cobb and Thompson, 2012; Jackson et al., 2009; Knapp, 2011). It is important that scenarios are connected to issues that managers are dealing with or planning for in the present (Bär et al., 2015; Dunford et al., 2015; Knapp, 2011), so that they are meaningful and salient to the end-user. Engaging policy-makers, managers, and other stakeholders in the difficult task of contemplating uncertain futures can lead towards locally relevant and feasible adaptation actions (Beach and Clark, 2015).
For example, in the Gunnison Basin of southwest Colorado, where public lands account for more than 80% of total land ownership, interviews with public land managers and resource users (ranchers and recreation outfitters) co-determined baseline vulnerabilities and considered future vulnerabilities by reflecting on two scenarios (Knapp, 2011). By examining resource-user perceptions and values about current and projected climate, the study revealed a number of insights about sector-specific and crosscutting vulnerabilities such as increasing drought intensity, the unpredictability of spring runoff, and increased recreational pressure on lands. Further, by analyzing existing climate adaptations among rural livelihood groups, the study was able to demonstrate how to connect existing, culturally-accepted climate adaptation strategies to future adaptation efforts through their connection with existing needs (e.g., for greater flexibility in accessing water and land resources) and value systems of groups that might otherwise resist attempts by outside authorities to assess and control their land use practices (Knapp, 2011).
Subsequent research in the Gunnison Basin found the participatory scenario approach showed that, for example, contrasts existed between how recent migrants to the area, long-term residents (mainly ranchers), and biologists viewed landscapes - as ''untouched nature," ''working lands," and sites for conservation and experimentation, respectively (Clifford, 2014). These contrasts, in turn, led ranchers, in particular, to feel their ''on the ground" knowledge was unfairly devalued by the other two groups. At the same time, the ranchers' valuation of their own local experience and knowledge made them more skeptical of scenarios and modeling approaches, even if they were interested sin the findings. The scientists spent a great deal oftime qualifying their scientific knowledge as different from the ranchers' valid personal experiences and knowledge. The incorporation of the diverse value and knowledge systems enabled the participatory scenario approach to effectively evaluate baseline vulnerabilities at a scale relevant to the actors most engaged in future adaptation efforts. That said, efforts to scale up the findings of such an approach are limited barring their replication across the broad array of places and
local socio-ecological systems of interest to governing entities like the BLM. Yet, the same approach can be used across case sites, which we will discuss in more detail below.
Case studies that utilize participatory qualitative research methods such as participant observation, interviews, and focus groups present researchers with perhaps the greatest opportunity to apply local knowledge to questions of land use and ecological change (Baird et al., 2014; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014). In the context of social vulnerability assessment of land-based livelihoods, case studies have engaged resource users in generating an understanding of place-based particulars of vulnerability (McNeeley and Shulski, 2011; Knapp, 2011; McNeeley, 2014; Wilhelmi et al., 2008). In northwest Interior Alaska, social vulnerability was determined through a place-based, participatory case study, building upon the framework of Smit and Wandel (2006), in which determinants of vulnerability are understood as a result of stakeholder input rather than being predetermined by the scientists (McNeeley, 2009; McNeeley and Shulski, 2011). This study revealed how the rigid local regulatory framework for subsistence and wildlife management constrained indigenous adaptive capacity and contributed to vulnerability through increased food insecurity (McNeeley, 2012). Another case study found that fragmented governance regimes (public/private lands) can constrain the abilities of public land management agencies to implement adaptation measures, thus heightening vulnerability to climate change (Smith and Travis, 2010). These examples demonstrate the types of context-specific factors contributing to vulnerability of land-based livelihoods that can be identified in case studies, but may be overlooked with other methods.
Because social vulnerability and its components (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity) vary temporally and spatially, comparative case studies are useful for uncovering local-level socio-ecological linkage dynamics and dependencies (e.g., market access pressures during drought when feed shipping is in high demand), and can also yield more generalized conclusions applicable across scales and regions (Eakin, 2005; Ford et al., 2010). Case studies by Eakin (2005) conducted in three distinct communities in Mexico revealed regional heterogeneity in sensitivity to agricultural crop losses and adaptive capacities, as well as broader policy-relevant conclusions reflecting institutional impacts to vulnerability. In particular, this study noted how factors like labor availability for irrigation construction, access to markets for nationally subsidized crops, and livelihood diversification capacity all varied widely across specific regions, with local political dynamics between business owners and rural small holders often playing a powerful role (Eakin, 2005). Another project in arctic communities identified the inapplicability of existing cultural knowledge systems in the face of new and unfamiliar climate and sea ice conditions as a systematic determinant of vulnerability across sites (Ford et al., 2010). The comparative case study method can reveal location-specific characteristics that vary between and within sites, yet still lead to more generalized conclusions about determinants of vulnerability.
Case studies that ask the ''how" and ''why" questions related to the processes that structure or create vulnerability can be time and resource intensive and often require significant stakeholder and researcher commitment, leading to concerns about ''stakeholder fatigue" (Engle et al., 2014; Fischer et al., 2013). Moreover, the participatory process can provide valuable insights into both short and long-term vulnerability factors such as different developmental goals at different levels of an institution, incompatible styles of learning across sub-divisions of an organization, or differing cultures of accountability and information dissemination within bureaucracies (Engle et al., 2014). Synthesizing case studies can also require significant commitment from both researchers and project sponsors, making their achievement difficult in shifting political and institutional climates.
Social climate change vulnerability assessments will most successfully prepare public land management agencies for adaptation if the assessments consider both social and ecological baseline vulnerabilities to climate change and the qualitative factors that influence human actions in social-ecological systems (Cutter et al., 2003; Ford et al., 2010; Moser and Boykoff, 2013). Furthermore, the scale at which social vulnerability assessments are conducted should be aligned with the scale at which decisions will be made on public lands. Each of the approaches discussed exhibits strengths and weaknesses in the context of public land management. For example, while an indicators approach can allow quantification of vulnerability at larger scales, these approaches tend to be static measures and their utility depends on the scale at which indicator data was aggregated. In comparison, scenario approaches help consider projected vulnerability, but can overlook baseline vulnerability, synergistic factors contributing to vulnerability, and can be difficult to scale up. Finally, comparative case study approaches are place-based and capable of encompassing local nuance, but they are often time intensive.
4. Key design principles for social-ecological vulnerability assessment on public lands
Based upon our review of existing approaches to social and ecological vulnerability assessment, the strengths and weaknesses associated with each, as well as the unique context of public lands, we suggest three primary design principles that are most appropriate for conducting social-ecological vulnerability assessments for public land management agencies: (1) participatory stakeholder engagement; (2) consideration of institution-actor relationships, including barriers and opportunities for adaptation; and (3) the integration of ''top-down" modeling or indicators-approaches with ''bottom-up" local knowledge networks to discern management-scale heterogeneities. We argue that this integrated, participatory approach to assessing baseline vulnerability and the roles of humans as actors in dynamic social-ecological systems can provide a deeper, more grounded understanding of feedbacks between land-based livelihoods and ecosystems than focusing solely on ecosystem vulnerability. Consequently, the foundation will be laid for effective, equitable, and actionable climate change adaptation strategies.
4.1. Participatory stakeholder engagement in research co-production
Stakeholder engagement, trust, and support (i.e., engaging those who are both using and managing the land and natural resources being assessed) are fundamental to vulnerability assessments if subsequent climate change adaptation plans are to be successfully adopted and implemented (Tompkins et al., 2008; Tribbia and Moser, 2008; Fischer et al., 2013). The successful application of new knowledge derived from vulnerability assessments for climate adaptation is connected to whether or not end-users perceive it as credible, salient, and legitimate (Cash et al., 2003; Turner et al., 2003; Shaw et al., 2009; Dilling et al., 2015). Assessments conducted for particular stakeholders can help to formalize communication channels, tailor assessment outcomes to local decision-making needs, and establish trust relationships necessary to addressing the numerous uncertainties inherent in dealing with climate projections (Eakin and Luers, 2006). Vulnerability assessments that consider the complex policy framework within which they are working provide more understanding of the decision context in which they will be used, thereby increasing the chances of informing decision making or adaptation actions (Dilling and Romsdahl, 2013; Klein and Juhola, 2014; Wellstead et al., 2013; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014; McNeeley, 2012). As the United States Global Change Research Program articulates in its strategic plan (USGCRP, 2012), the effectiveness of global-change research rests on the successful co-production of knowledge between scientists and practitioners (Weaver et al., 2014; Mauser et al., 2013; Hegger et al., 2012). Co-production is an equitable, shared, end-to-end, iterative process of research between scientists and decision makers to establish research goals, conduct research, and work toward implementing that research with relevant partners (Lemos and Morehouse, 2005). Participatory approaches, however, can also be time-consuming and require skills and experience that scientists may lack, requiring interdisciplinary partnerships. Despite these challenges, we believe this approach is critical for generating useful and usable research, especially in the context of multiple use on public lands.
Two federally funded research networks (detailed below) exemplify the importance of participatory stakeholder engagement and the co-production of research through collaborative partnerships, goal setting, and iterative and on-going decision-maker involvement in vulnerability assessments and adaptation research (Bales et al., 2004). These ''boundary organizations" - those that operate at the intersection between science and decision making - are designed to sustain interaction between researchers and managers throughout a project's timeline, and increase information usability (Kirchhoff et al., 2015a).
The US Department of the Interior's (DOI) Climate Science Centers (CSC) are a federal-academic network of regional university-based research centers whose mission is to ''provide scientific information, tools, and techniques that land managers and other interested parties can use to anticipate, monitor, and adapt to climate change impacts" (www.doi.gov/csc/). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Regional Integrated Science Assessments (RISA) comprise another network of regional research centers whose success has been grounded in the ability to ''create lasting relationships with decision makers from the public and private sectors including local, regional, and state governments, federal agencies, [and] tribal governments" (www.cpo.noaa.gov). The CSCs and RISAs collectively contribute to the literature describing decision-support tools and the importance of co-producing them with the end users themselves (Archie et al., 2012; Dilling and Lemos, 2011; Dilling and Romsdahl, 2013; Lemos and Morehouse, 2005; Kirchhoff et al., 2015a,b; Meadow et al., 2015).
Given the suite of barriers to climate change adaptation in public lands, including nested governance regimes, legislative constraints, multiple use mandates and others (see Archie et al., 2012; McNeeley, 2012), and the relative success in co-producing research goals and outcomes of the RISAs and CSCs, public lands social vulnerability assessments that co-produce goals and develop desired outcomes in concert with land users can help to successfully navigate institutional frameworks and constraints. Engaging managers to participate in the research design offers the opportunity to develop research goals jointly and understand the specific needs (e.g., directing research not just toward projected climate changes, but toward impacts to resource-dependencies) and decision-making context of that particular management unit, thus making the vulnerability assessment most useful to the end users (Kirchhoff et al., 2015b; Weaver et al., 2014).
4.2. Focus on institution-actor relationships
Understanding the role of institutional rules, values, and frameworks for action related to ecological decision making and social support systems is of critical importance to successful adaptation, as is the need for further research on how institutions and individuals interact to affect vulnerability and (or) impede adaptation (e.g. Adger and Kelly, 1999; Adger et al., 2005; Folke, 2006; McNeeley, 2012; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014; Hinkel and Bisaro, 2015; Smithers and Smit, 1997). Adger et al. (2005) focus on issues of scale, indicating that the nested nature of institutional authority has substantial implications for climate change vulnerability due to the ways in which local, state, and national level priorities and conceptualizations of problems can conflict and hinder the application of feasible solutions on the ground. The authors suggest that multi-level social networks and systems of governance are necessary to respond to social-ecological challenges that transcend management jurisdictions and political boundaries. In the context of BLM management scenarios, these suggestions apply to problems related to watershed management, invasive species control, endangered species protection, and the management of rights of way, all of which often involve multiple property ownership types and large organizational linkages between field offices, counties, and other federal agencies.
Researchers have argued that social capital (i.e., the ability to forge, maintain, and utilize inter-personal and inter-organizational relationships) is an important determinant of local adaptive capacity and the ability of institutions to react collectively and effectively to complex, multi-stakeholder problems, especially in slow to change institutions (Pelling and High, 2005; Adger, 2003). For example, in northwest Colorado the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District led a collaborative effort that leveraged social capital and informal networks of information exchange to facilitate voluntary reservoir releases and reductions in water use during a period of exceptional drought in 2002 that limited the impacts of the drought on water users and avoided the need for legal actions (McNeeley, 2014). Alternatively, rigid decision-making processes in the dual state-federal regulatory system that govern traditional land use patterns in northwest interior Alaska create vulnerabilities and barriers to adaptations by the indigenous people that rely on public land management for access to wild foods for subsistence (McNeeley and Shulski, 2011; McNeeley, 2012). Hinkel and Bisaro (2015) also highlight the importance of institutional analysis, particularly that which focuses on describing and evaluating the multiple roles of governance structures (e.g., in law, policy, policy regimes, and informal norms and customs) at play in adaptation contexts and how these collectively contribute to climate change vulnerability. This occurs by way of the structural determinants of poverty, power, and the pathways through which individual actors possess and realize their ability to act. Institutions such as municipal, state, and federal regulatory systems or tribal cultures and communities, for example, can also play a key role in what individual actors and sub-groups understand and perceive about their world, thereby shaping both their responsiveness to climatic stressors and their planning capacity over the long term (McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014). In examining adaptation work in California, Ekstrom and Moser (2013) noted how municipal institutions' efforts to address climate change adaptation goals were stymied by poor integration across relevant agencies with many unable to effectively transmit knowledge and resources between organizations, and thereby, unable to implement solutions to various climate-driven problems, such as effective water distribution. However, they also note that the elicitation of the barriers throughout the course of their work helped to develop specific cross-boundary organizations that worked to overcome the various organizational and legal barriers to mitigation or resilience building work in the region (Ekstrom and Moser, 2013). In Washington state, researchers found that intra-institutional barriers - namely, geographically static species protection laws and a lack of field-level mandates for project implementation - were seen by managers as limiting the ability to undertake climate change adaptation strategies in US National Parks and Forests (Jantarasami et al., 2010). These examples point to the benefit of paying attention to actor-institution relationships in vulnerability assessments, as failure to do so may lead to unrealistic or incomplete understanding of vulnerability and/or options for adaptation.
4.3. Integration of top-down with bottom-up data and local knowledge
Integration of local or stakeholder-derived knowledge has become more common in vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning in order to promote equity, benefit from diverse knowledge, and result in more useful outcomes (Knapp et al., 2014; McNeeley, 2014; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014; Smit and Wandel, 2006; Turner et al., 2003). Assessments that solicit and integrate local knowledge present the opportunity to cultivate equitable decision-making processes and highlight local capacities for resource protection in ways that assessments driven solely by expert, ''top-down" knowledge cannot (Tompkins et al., 2008; Fatoric and Morén-Alegret, 2013; Ross et al., 2015; Beck and Krueger, 2016). While competing societal values and goals are commonly encountered in natural resource management issues, incorporating local knowledge and observations presents the opportunity for a deeper understanding of what climate change means to the diverse actors and groups within the study (Adger et al., 2009; Eakin and Luers, 2006; Espiner and Becken, 2014; Klein and Juhola, 2014; McNeeley and Lazrus, 2014; Moser and Ekstrom, 2010; O'Brien and Wolf, 2010; Ross et al., 2015). Furthermore, when stakeholders define relevant exposures and sensitivities, instead of being predetermined by researchers, the assessments can more effectively assess a region's adaptive capacity (McNeeley, 2014; Smit and Wandel, 2006). In the BLM and public land context, local knowledge is critical to understanding the linkages between local communities and the ecosystem services that they rely upon for their livelihoods, and how both are and will be affected by annual climate variability and long-term change, governmental decision-making, and broader economic pressures. It can also shed light on ways in which existing valuations of various ecosystem processes can be utilized as leverage for the implementation of adaptation strategies be it in the framing of climate or ecological science, the development of locally-legitimate parameters for models, or the development of actionable adaptation options for specific land use systems (e.g., controlling invasive vegetation, executing controlled burns, and protecting vulnerable ecosystems or species in ways that mutually support the resilience of both local land users and ecosystems).
Bottom-up approaches that incorporate the knowledge of local land users can also help to capture how the diverse knowledge systems that interact with public land resources conflict or reinforce one another, and serve as a mutually agreed-upon record of on-going change and provide a broad, culturally-accepted base for implementing various adaptation strategies (Knapp et al., 2014). The aforementioned case study in northwest Colorado found that top-down approaches to measuring climate exposures (e.g., drought measured quantitatively through precipitation and temperature data) would be insufficient in terms of understanding vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation and decision-support without the integration of bottom-up approaches that thoroughly investigated how drought impacts manifest locally (e.g., how does local social capital affect the ability of water users to respond to drought conditions?) (McNeeley, 2014). McNeeley and Shulski (2011) found that ''indigenous observations and understanding of climate (IC)" enhanced and, in some ways, conflicted with top-down methods of data collection based on western-scientific definitions of seasons versus more nuanced
Summary of key principles for public lands vulnerability assessments.
Participatory Stakeholder Engagement
Consideration of Institution-Actor Relationships
Integration of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Data and Local Knowledge
Enables:
Co-production of knowledge
Determination of local needs
Explanation of uncertainties and acceptable levels of confidence
Identification of locally feasible (and desirable) pathways for adaptation
Significant commitment of time and resources
Consideration of equity and other systemic factors
Existence of - and ability to - cultivate base levels of trust
Ability to work within and around numerous systems of governance and organizational structures
Engagement with multiple scales of decision making and powerful actors that have local impacts on vulnerability
Explication of social networks, social capital, and other informal systems
Identification of barriers and opportunities within and between organizations
Knowledge of multiple distinct organizations at play in the study area
Engagement across a broad array of stakeholder groups
Capacity to adequately address and account for barriers within systems Diplomacy to navigate/negotiate political & cultural differences/conflicts
Improved accuracy of findings by incorporating relevant information from various scales
Increased legitimacy of assessment findings
Better understanding of local level exposures and sensitivities, e.g., seasonality and timing needs and flexibility Requires:
Ability to navigate multiple knowledge systems effectively
Engagement with stakeholders and bureaucracies at multiple levels and with varying levels of power
Attention to issues of data equity and scalability
indigenous seasonality based on harvest periods and climate change. This showed how climate change shifted seasonal patterns during warmer falls, which caused a mismatch between moose behavior and the official hunting season that then negatively impacted subsistence harvest success. Through an investigation that incorporated both western science and indigenous observations a clearer picture of climate change vulnerability emerged.
Ultimately, the integration of readily available, ''top-down" indicators of social vulnerability with place-specific, locally derived expertise helps to discern local and regional differences and dynamics that shape both vulnerability and the on-the-ground adaptation landscapes that managers and land users work within. Whether the result of varying land use dynamics, regional climate or topography, locally-specific socioeconomic factors, or cultural dynamics between managers and land users, vulnerabilities will always be shaped by a variety of factors both unique to particular places and set within broader, more generalized contexts. As such, vulnerability assessments - especially those for multi-use agencies like the BLM will require a corresponding multi-level approach to knowledge acquisition and development. Since vulnerability is an evolving process, the processes that affect vulnerability should also be examined from bottom-up and top-down perspectives (Fischer et al., 2013; Ford and Smit, 2004; Luers, 2005) (Table 2).
Public land management agencies such as the BLM operate in the context of multiple land-use missions, top-down mandates to incorporate climate change, and local economic dependencies on natural resources and their ecosystem services from public lands. Given this context, these agencies need to consider how their decision-making will affect the vulnerability of the user groups that rely upon those resources to support land-based livelihoods, such as livestock ranchers and recreation outfitters. If humans are left out of vulnerability assessments, local economies and cultures can be at risk and impacts of management on ecosystem and livelihood resilience will be overlooked. In recent years research has shifted from climate change projections to assessing and evaluating the current impacts of climate change in order to mitigate and adapt (Bierbaum et al., 2013). Despite the breadth of research on social vulnerability (e.g. Adger and Kelly, 1999; Eakin and Luers, 2006; Frazier et al., 2014; Heltberg et al., 2009; Smit and Wandel, 2006; Turner et al., 2003), there has been little attention to vulnerability assessments for public land management agencies, especially for BLM lands (for one USFS example, see Murphy et al., 2015).
The components of climate change vulnerability have been measured in a variety of ecological, social, and coupled social-ecological settings. However, measuring these components through conventional methodological approaches provides only a "snapshot" of vulnerability, while assessments that consider vulnerability as both a static profile and a changing process to be evaluated and dealt with over time provide a more realistic assessment of vulnerability, and therefore, may lead to more appropriate adaptation strategies (Fischer et al., 2013; Ford and Smit, 2004; Luers, 2005). Some work has been done to advance this understanding of vulnerability at statewide (WA State DOT, 2011; Gordon and Ojima, 2015; CWCB, 2013), regional (e.g., Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) (Bales et al., 2004), and national scales (e.g., the National Climate Assessment (Melillo et al., 2014)). However, these efforts were not produced specifically to address social vulnerabilities on public lands, which is of particular importance in the western US where federally managed lands account for a significant proportion of total land ownership.
In this paper, we reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches to social and ecological vulnerability assessment in the context of public lands. We illustrated how humans are actors in - and an interconnected part of - the overall vulnerability in any biophysical or social-ecological system. This necessitates their inclusion analytically in understanding vulnerability on public lands, as opposed to simply viewing them as the recipients of information on ecological vulnerability that they will use to make decisions and adapt accordingly. Therefore, this paper argues for inclusion of social vulnerability in an integrated social-ecological vulnerability assessment to climate change for public land management agencies, particularly those managing natural resources for multiple uses.
We provided three design principles that are most appropriate for conducting social-ecological vulnerability assessment on public lands, which include 1) iterative and participatory stakeholder engagement, 2) consideration of institution-actor networks and the role of boundary organizations, including the barriers and opportunities for adaptation, and 3) the integration of "top-down" indicator approaches with "bottom-up" case studies that integrate local knowledge and observation. This multi-faceted approach can provide a more complete understanding of social-ecological system feedbacks and place-based vulnerability determinants, while at the same time offer opportunity for meta-synthesis and more generalized conclusions applicable at larger scales. This is an appropriate approach for public land management agencies that manage large areas at nested (e.g., field office and state-level) scales. A participatory approach that incorporates multiple case studies can provide a deeper understanding of these feedbacks by assessing baseline vulnerability and the roles of humans as actors in social-ecological system dynamics. While the design principles provided herein can guide the development of a social-ecological vulnerability assessment, determinants and processes will vary spatially and temporally and thus render this review merely a starting point to developing an appropriately scaled and designed social-ecological vulnerability assessment. While beyond the scope of this article, we suggest an important next step is to expand on our principles herein to refine and operationalize appropriate frameworks, processes, and methods for conducting integrated social-ecological vulnerability assessments from the start.
The authors thank the Bureau of Land Management (L15AC00072) and the North Central Climate Science Center for supporting this research. The findings and perspectives remain those of the authors alone. The project described in this publication was supported, in part, by funding from the U.S. Geological Survey through the North Central Climate Science Center. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the North Central Climate Science Center, the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, or the USGS. This manuscript is submitted for publication with the understanding that the U.S. government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes.
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Fiat Chrysler boss takes 50% temporary pay cut on virus
The head of the Italian-American automaker made the announcement in a letter to employees obtained Tuesday by AFP. The letter says that Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann and members of the company's board of directors were giving up their salaries until the end of 2020.
March 31, 2020, 17:32 IST
Fiat Chrysler said on March 16 it was suspending production at most of its European plants until March 27 because of the pandemic.
Rome: Fiat Chrysler chief executive Mike Manley will take a 50 percent pay cut for three months as part of efforts to protect the company's financial health during the coronavirus pandemic.
The head of the Italian-American automaker made the announcement in a letter to employees obtained Tuesday by AFP.
The letter says that Fiat Chrysler Chairman John Elkann and members of the company's board of directors were giving up their salaries until the end of 2020.
Some other executives were reducing their wages by 30 percent for three months.
The letter also says that most company employees will be asked to accept a temporary 20 percent pay cut.
It listed six plants in Italy and one each in Serbia and Poland set for closure.
Massive global disruptions caused by the pandemic have cast doubt over Fiat Chrysler's pending merger with Peugeot and Citroen's PSA Group. |
A perk for our friends at Walt Disney Company
If you've bought tickets to go see a game, concert or show lately, you know the frustration.
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Walt Disney Company Quick Facts
Industry: Entertainment & Media
Stock Symbol: DIS
CEO: Robert A. Iger
Employees: 180,000
Headquarters: Burbank, CA
Since its founding 1923, the Walt Disney Company has grown to become one of the most widely recognized and prosperous companies in the world. A giant of the media and entertainment industry, the Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Pixar Animation Studios, ABC and ESPN television networks, along with its own TV network. In addition, Disney has acquired the rights to Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm.
Founder Walt Disney had a vision to make the world smile with his creative cartoon works beginning with one character, a mouse named Mickey. In the decades since, the Walt Disney Company has grown exponentially, producing countless animated and live-action television shows and films, building multiple theme parks and resort complexes in five countries, and even launching its own line of cruise ships.
Disney is dedicated to developing the entertainment that will be timeless to people of all ages, all while remaining true to the namesake's original vision.
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Saville Signs Director Tom Schlagkamp
Award-winning director Tom Schlagkamp signs with Saville Productions for North American representation
Award-winning director Tom Schlagkamp has signed with Saville Productions for exclusive commercial directorial representation in North America. Tom's breakthrough short film Rock 'n' Roll Manifesto was awarded first place at the Cannes Young Director Awards 2013. Written and directed for the German music magazine VISIONS, Rock n' Roll is a vignette storytelling piece narrated by Pantera's Phil Anselmo. The film was widely lauded as a riveting and gritty visual ode to the bona fide "blood, sweat and tears" behind the rock lifestyle.
Based in Berlin, Tom began his career as a sound and light technician. He transitioned from music into film through RTL Germany. From editing and motion graphics design, he began shooting commercials, shorts and music videos, including campaigns and movie trailers for films such as The Bourne Conspiracy, Borat, X-Men. Tom went on to study directing at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. He was quickly singled as a rising director in showcases around Germany for his authentic kinetic style.
Saville Executive Producer, Rupert Maconick adds, "Tom adds a raw, real visual style and shows a deep understanding of storytelling. He is able to find creative solutions for smaller budgets as shown in his Rock spot, which won at Cannes. This makes him an even stronger contender for clients and agencies."
As a young, creative visionary, Tom's work is driven by the interconnecting parts of the film process, from developing the script to bringing in the elements of music and sound design, and facilitating different ways to shoot to bring a story to life. He brings a style that is both strikingly visual and highly conceptual.
At Saville, Tom joins a top stable of talent including some of Hollywood's leading feature film directors: Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), Bryan Singer (X-Men), Gavin O'Connor (Warrior), James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), Paul Haggis (Crash), and high-end commercials directors including: Alex & Steffen, Ben Richardson, David Harner, Morgan Neville and Richard de Aragues.
Saville Productions Los Angeles, Tue, 15 Apr 2014 09:21:43 GMT
Saville Productions Los Angeles
News from Saville Productions Los Angeles
Saville Signs Comedy Director Wayne Craig
Dylan Goss Joins Saville Productions
Saville Signs Cinematographer Ben Richardson
Saville Signs Olivier Megaton
Work from Saville Productions Los Angeles |
CONFERENCE | ISTANBUL
Paper title: Cosmopolitan Music by Cosmopolitan Musicians: The Case of Spyros Peristeris, Leading Figure of the Rebetiko
Given that the current discourse regarding the rebetiko, especially from fans and practitioners, often comprehends the realm of the style as something 'closed' and 'entrenched', the examination of the work of Spyros Peristeris could grant a new perspective regarding the dialogue between dipoles and the convergence in diversity. With a father of Corfu descent and a Greek mother of Italian citizenship of Corsican descent, Peristeris was born in Smyrna, studied at an Italian school in Constantinople and finally moved to live in Athens. Despite this, recordings of his were found in New York, subsequent to two voyages with the transatlantic ship 'Byron', as a paid musician – Babel or Esperado? Musical hybrids or syncretism? The diversity detected in the corpus of Peristeris gives the impression of more than one composer, since the deviations are many and substantial. Parallel recordings: pieces that refer to the world of the café aman, waltzes, manedes, orchestral pieces based on the bouzouki, types of arias and more. Sometimes using lyrical singers, referring to symphonic musical practices, and sometimes modal style singers diverse in embellishments and gravitations. Sometimes composing inspired by the atmosphere of the world of the mangas [thug, toughie] of Piraeus and sometimes motivated by the discography products of other countries which had an international impact (tango and foxtrot). This paper initially cites a brief biography of Peristeris, setting the framework for the examination and analysis of certain musical samples from his discographical repertoire. The above cartograph the versatility and the polystylism of one of the protagonists of the genre which has prevailed as rebetiko.
CREATING MUSIC ACROSS CULTURES IN THE 21st CENTURY.
In the context of one of the world's most organic melting pots, Istanbul, The Centre for Advanced Studies in Music, Istanbul Technical University, will host an international conference, in partnership with the European Research Council funded project "Beyond East and West," May 25-27, 2017.
No music is an island. Since time immemorial, cultures have traded and mixed musics across their domains, yet only in the 21st century have people around the world gained instant and virtually free access to musics beyond those of their neighbors. The history of these mixings has been marked by a plethora of descriptors, some benign and others acerbic. Depending on one's perspective, the "other" musics span the gamut of primitive ("first"), Oriental, classical, art, learned, popular, etc. Their mixtures have been termed synthetic, syncretic, trans-traditional, trans-cultural, intercultural, cross-cultural, borrowed, or globalized. The oral and the literate have been contrasted, while the exotic has been vilified. Quests for musical beauty and knowledge have been shaped by political, economic and social, hegemonic forces. We are now at a point where, for the first time in history, the playing field has reached a new level of equity, with widespread access to a majority of the world's traditions, on a scale radically different from a mere generation ago. |
Home UK English media
Main meanings of media in English
: media1media2Media3
Pronunciation /ˈmiːdɪə/
Translate media into Spanish
1the mediatreated as singular or plural The main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the internet) regarded collectively.
'their demands were publicized by the media'
'Politicians should know by now that newspapers or the media do not campaign for any one at all.'
'It is often only the big, single-issue campaigns that capture the media's attention and excite the public.'
'Of course, the most extreme views tend to make the best headlines, so they get all the media and public attention.'
'Interest in the games has been fuelled by the huge exposure in the media, particularly on television.'
'The health minister has been particularly prominent in the media in this regard.'
'However, in my opinion, the main responsibility of the media is to tell the truth.'
'It all depends on confidence and what publicity the media gives to the market.'
'Even a minor fall in house prices is nowadays regarded as a signal for mass panic by the media.'
'The news got passing attention in the media and made even less impact on share prices in the sector.'
'Perhaps the media attention will ensure that things turn out for the best.'
'Because of the media attention we would have expected an objective witness to come forward by this stage.'
'Much of the news and information in the media originates from public relations sources.'
'It is in this regard that the media in Bulgaria has a vital role to play.'
'Despite that decent return, he has never won over the media or his coach.'
'The media barrage brought public attention, and led more people to become fans.'
'Governments and the media should refrain from using doctors and patients to further their own agendas.'
'The role of medical journals and the media should not be ignored in that debate.'
'It sparked a massive media appeal to find bone marrow donors for the four youngsters.'
'The international media has taken its eye off Zimbabwe, yet the suffering of its people has in no way abated.'
'Within days a wave of criticism was unleashed in the international media.'
plural form of medium
The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. The traditional view is that it should therefore be treated as a plural noun in all its senses in English and be used with a plural rather than a singular verb: the media have not followed the reports (rather than 'has'). In practice, in the sense 'television, radio, and the press collectively', it behaves as a collective noun (like staff or clergy, for example), which means that it is now acceptable in standard English for it to take either a singular or a plural verb. The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense 'the material or form used by an artist': there were great efforts made by the medias of the involved countries about 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for review.
nounmediae
An intermediate layer in the wall of a blood vessel or lymphatic vessel.
'This sheet was placed around a tubular support to produce the media of the vessel.'
'Alternatively, thickness of the carotid intima and media may be measured by using ultrasound.'
'Some veins do not possess smooth muscle fibers and, as a result, do not have a tunica media.'
'The aortic wall is held together by a small section of intact media and adventitia.'
Late 19th century shortening of modern Latin tunica (or membrana) media 'middle sheath (or layer)'.
proper noun
An ancient region of Asia to the south-west of the Caspian Sea, corresponding approximately to present-day Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, and north-eastern Iraq. Originally inhabited by the Medes, the region was conquered in 550 BC by Cyrus the Great of Persia.
/ˈmiːdɪə/
'-sion', '-tion' or '-cion'?
Which is the correct spelling?
collecion
suspision
explotion
producion
compascion
relaxasion
seclution |
Martin Luther, part V – Called Before The Council
January 10, 2018 November 30, 2017 by Jack Kendall
Realizing that he could expect little help from the Elector of Saxony, Aleander now turned his attention to the emperor. As he knew, the truth or falsehood of Luther's opinions carried little weight with Charles; his course was one of policy. The case with him revolved around the point of ambition. Quite simply, which would mot further his political projects, to protect Luther or to burn him? At this time, Germany was not the center of Charles' interest or policy. He understood neither the spirit nor the language of the German people. While not indifferent to the religious movement that was rapidly gaining ground as the result of Luther's teaching, it had no meaning except so far as it threatened the pope.
Charles Indebted to Frederick
Though Charles appeared to be the most powerful man in Christendom, there were two men whom he could not afford to offend, the Elector of Saxony and the pontiff. To the first he owed the imperial crown. It was Frederick's influence with the electoral conclave that had placed the crown upon his head; and while the memory of absolute rulers tends to be short with regard to such obligations, Charles could not dispense with the aid and advice of Frederick in governing the empire over which he had so recently been placed. On the other hand, Charles was on the brink of war with Francis I, the King of France. The war was inevitable, and the principle scene of that war was to be Italy. Under these circumstances, he could not afford to break with the pope as his influence would be indispensable in the coming conflict. Charles would have preferred to have detached Frederick from Luther, or to have been able to satisfy the pope without offending Frederick, but as neither of these options were open to him, it occurred to Charles that the monk of Wittenberg might yet be a most valuable card to be played in the game that was about to begin. If the pope should come to his aid against the king of France, then he was quite willing to fling the Reformer to the flames. If, on the other hand, the pope should refuse his aid and side with Francis, the emperor would protect Luther, making him an opposing power against Leo. Meanwhile, negotiations were being carried on with a view to ascertaining whether Leo would stand with the emperor or Francis. Leo, for his part, dreaded and feared both.
"In this fashion did these great ones deal with the cause of the world's regeneration. . . . The monk was in their hands; so they thought. How would it have astonished them to be told that they were in his hands, to be used by him as his cause might require; that their crowns, armies, and policies were shaped and moved, prospered, or defeated, with sole reference to those great spiritual forces which Luther wielded! Wittenberg was small among the many proud capitals of the world; yet here, and not at Madrid or at Paris, was, at this hour, the center of human affairs." Wylie, The History of Protestantism, vol. 1, 322.
Charles had summoned the Diet for January 6, 1521. The many interests that were involved in this meeting combined to bring together a more numerous and brilliant assemblage than any gathering since the days of Charlemagne. From far and near, in unprecedented numbers, the travelers, making their way to Worms, filled the roads of Germany. As the imperial court moved toward Worms, two papal representatives, Caraccioli and Aleander, followed in the emperor's train.
Charles Racked by Indecision
When the diet opened on January 28, it appeared that Charles did not have a policy established by which to deal with the situation. Amid the splendor that surrounded him, numberless perplexities were continuously distracting him; but all centered around the monk of Wittenberg and the new religious movement. The papal nuncios were importuning Charles day and night to execute the papal bull against Luther. Should he fail to comply, he would certainly offend the pope and send him over to the side of he French king. On the other hand, should be concede to their wishes, he would alienate the Elector of Saxony and kindle a conflagration in Germany that, even with his resources and power, he might not be able to successfully extinguish.
While the emperor vacillated, the Protestant movement advanced from one day to another; and the cause of Rome was continually losing ground. Aleander wrote to Rome with the assurance that unless he had more money to spread around among the members of the diet, all hope of influencing the national body against Luther must be abandoned. Rome responded quickly. Not only did she send more ducats but more anathemas. Her first bull against Luther had been conditional, leaving him sixty days to retract, only threatening to excommunicate him if he failed to comply. The new communication not only confirmed the excommunication, but it went further in that it also included all of Luther's adherents, placing them under the same curse with him, thus completing the separation between Protestantism and Rome.
But if the new bull simplified matters for Luther and Aleander, it only more certainly clouded the path of the politicians, making even more obscure than before the path of political expediency.
At this moment of crisis, a new plan was struck upon. There was at the court of the emperor a Spanish Franciscan, John Galapio, who held the office of confessor to Charles. An able man, he undertook to accomplish that which had proved an unmanageable conundrum to others. He sought an interview with Pontanus, the councilor of Frederick. Pontanus, on his part, was a man of sterling integrity, competently versed in questions of theology and sagacious enough to see through the most cunning diplomat in all the court. Galapio approached Pontanus with a sigh, and calling Jesus Christ as his witness, expressed his great desire to see a reformation take place in the Church. He asserted that he, as ardently as Luther, desired to see the Church reformed. He indicated that he had often expressed his zeal to the emperor and that Charles was largely in sympathy with him, a fact that would yet be more fully known.
From the generally high opinion that he held regarding Luther's writings, he made one exception; and that was his work, Babylonish Captivity, in which Luther had so unsparingly attacked the papacy. That particular work, Galapio maintained, was unworthy of Luther's learning, nor did it express his style. Regarding the rest of Luther's work, that, he stated, could be submitted to a body of intelligent and impartial men who would allow Luther to explain some things and apologize for others. The pope, exercising his beneficent power, would then reinstate Luther; and the whole matter could thus be amicably settled. Pontanus listened with mind contempt to the plan to trap Luther. When the plot was told to Luther, he met it with feelings of derision. Clearly, Luther's enemies had misjudged the character of the man with whom they were dealing.
Charles and the Pope Unite
The negotiations between the pope and Charles were now brought to a happy conclusion with the pope agreeing to fully ally himself with the emperor against the French king. The emperor, on his part, agreed to please the pope in the matter relating to Luther. "The two are to unite, but the link between them is a stake. The Empire and popedom are to meet and shake hands over the ashes of Luther. During the two centuries which included and followed the pontificate of Gregory VII, the imperial diadem and the tiara had waged a terrible war with each other for the supremacy of Christendom. In that stage, the two shared the world between them—other competitor there was none. But now a new power had risen up, and the hatred and terror which both felt to that new power made these old enemies friends. The die was cast. The spiritual and the temporal arms have united to crush Protestantism." Ibid., 325, 326.
As the emperor prepared to fulfill his part, it was difficult to see what might hinder him. With the overwhelming force of arms at his command and with the spiritual sword now joining him, if such a combination of power should fail to succeed, it would be an unaccountable phenomenon, one for which history might search in vain to find a parallel.
The storm did not yet break. Charles had dared to imagine that he would be able to publish his edict without opposition from the states, but such was not the case. Before he could proceed against the Reformer, the constitution of the empire required that he should inquire as to whether the States knew of any better course and if they did, assure them of his readiness to hear them, which he did. While the majority of the German princes cared little for Luther, they had a great deal of respect for their sovereign rights and were weary of the tyranny and grinding extortions of Rome. They believed that to deliver Luther up to Rome would be the most effectual means of riveting even more securely the yoke of Roman servitude about their necks, so they begged time for deliberation. This change in the course of events infuriated Aleander, as he saw the prey slipping from his hands. Charles, however, submitted to the request of the princes; and nothing that Aleander said could move him. When pressed to move from the position that he had taken, Charles laid upon the nuncio the burden of changing the mind of the assembly. In pursuit of this goal, it was arranged that Aleander should be heard before the diet on February 13.
Never before had Rome been called to make its defense before so august an assembly. "This was an important duty, but Aleander was not unworthy of it. He was not only ambassador from the sovereign pontiff, and surrounded with all the splendor of his high office, but also one of the most eloquent men of his age. . . . The elector, pretending indisposition, was not present; but he gave some his councilors orders to attend, and take notes of the nuncio's speech." D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation, book 7, chapter 3.
The nuncio spoke for three hours.
"There was no Luther present, with the clear and convincing truths of God's Word, to vanquish the papal champion. No attempt was made to defend the Reformer. There was manifest a general disposition not only to condemn him and the doctrines which he taught, but if possible to uproot the heresy. Rome had enjoyed the most favorable opportunity to defend her cause. All that she could say in her own vindication had been said. But the apparent victory was the signal of defeat. Henceforth the contrast between truth and error would be more clearly seen, as they should take the field in open warfare. Never from that day would Rome stand as secure as she had stood." The Great Controversy, 149.
Had vote been taken at the conclusion f the nuncio's delivery, all, save one, would have undoubtedly given consent to Luther's condemnation. However, the diet broke up as Aleander sat down; and thus the victory that seemed so certain eluded Rome's grasp.
When the princes next assembled, the emotions that had been stirred to such a high pitch by the rhetoric of Aleander had largely subsided, and the hard facts of Rome's extortion alone remained deeply imprinted in the memories of the German princes. These abuses no eloquence of oratory could efface. The first person to address the assembly was Duke George. That fact that he was a known enemy of the Reformer and of the Reformed movement added weight to his words. "With noble firmness, Duke George of Saxony stood up in that princely assembly and specified with terrible exactness the deceptions and abominations of popery, and their dire results. In closing he said:
"These are some of the abuses that cry out against Rome. All shame has been put aside, and their only object is . . . money, money, money, . . . so that the preachers who should teach the truth, utter nothing but falsehoods, and are not only tolerated, but rewarded, because the greater their lies, the greater their gain. It is from this foul spring that such tainted waters flow. Debauchery stretches out the hand to avarice. . . . Alas, it is the scandal caused by the clergy that hurls so many poor souls into eternal condemnation. A general reform must be effected.'" D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation, book 7, chapter 4.
The Diet Calls For Luther
A committee was appointed by the diet to draw up a list of the oppressions under which the nation groaned. When it was completed, the document listed a hundred and one grievances. This list was presented to the emperor with the request that in fulfillment of the terms that he had signed at the time he was crowned, he move to effect the reformation of the enumerated abuses. Moreover, the princes demanded that Luther should be summoned to appear before them. It was unjust, they reasoned, to condemn him without knowing whether he was, in fact, the author of the books in question and without hearing what he had to say in defense of his opinions. Before the unified diet, the emperor gave way, though he covered his retreat by asserting that he had serious doubts that Luther actually authored the books.
Aleander was horrified at the emperor's lack of resolution in dealing with the matter, but he strove in vain to stem the tide that was now moving in a direction that could only end in disaster for the papacy. He had but one hope left, and that was that Luther could be denied a safe-conduct; but ultimately even this proposal was denied him as well. On March 6, 1521, Luther was summoned to appear before the Diet in twenty-one days. Enclosed with the summons was a safe-conduct signed by the emperor and commanding all princes, lords, and magistrates, under pain of displeasure of the emperor and the Empire, to respect Luther's safety.
A mightier hand than that of Charles was directing in the affairs of the empire. Instead of bearing his witness at the stake, Luther is to bear testimony on the loftiest stage that the world could provide. The kings, the lords of all Christendom must come to Worms and there patiently wait to listen while the miner's son speaks to them.
Events had so transpired as to prepare Luther in a special way for this, the great crisis of his career. His study of Paul's writings and the Apocalypse, when compared with history, convinced him that the Church of Rome, as it then existed, was the predicted "Apostasy" and that the dominion of the papacy was the reign of Antichrist. It was this that broke the spell of Rome, freeing him from the fear of her curse. The summons to the diet at Worms found him confident and secure in this knowledge.
On March 24, 1521, the imperial herald arrived at Wittenberg, placing in Luther's hands the summons of the emperor to appear before the diet in Worms.
Categories History Tags church, diet of worms, Luther, martin, reformation
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Jerusalem Post Middle East
Britain reopens its embassy in Iran four years after violent ransacking
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond declared the embassy open and raised the Union Jack flag.
Published: AUGUST 23, 2015 11:50
Updated: AUGUST 23, 2015 16:46
Britain reopens embassy in Tehran
Britain reopened its embassy in Tehran on Sunday, a striking signal of how Western ties with Iran have thawed since protesters stormed the compound nearly four years ago.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond watched the British flag being raised in the garden of the opulent 19th century building while the national anthem played. In 2011, the attackers burned the Union Jack and ransacked the ambassador's residence.
"Today's ceremony marks the end of one phase in the relationship between our two countries and the start of a new one - one that I believe offers the promise of better," he said.
The storming was a low point in diplomacy between the two countries, he said, but the relationship had improved "step by step" since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rohani in 2013.
Hammond said the nuclear deal that the Islamic Republic struck with six major world powers last month was also an important milestone.
The agreement prompted a flurry of European visits - including from German and French ministers - aimed at positioning for the end of Iran's long economic isolation.
Britain had been held back by security concerns after the storming of its two main diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Nov. 29, 2011. The protesters slashed portraits of British monarchs, torched a car and stole electronic equipment.
Graffiti reading "Death to England" still adorns the doors to a grand reception room in a reminder of the storming.
Prime Minister David Cameron called the attack a 'disgrace', closed Britain's embassy and expelled Iran's diplomats from London. Within hours of Sunday's Tehran ceremony, which was guarded by dozens of Iranian police, Iran re-opened its embassy in London; both will be run by chargé d'affaires at first but ambassadors will be agreed within months, Hammond said.
He is only the second British foreign minister to visit Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah. The last visit was by Jack Straw in 2003.
Accompanying Hammond was a small group of business leaders, including representatives from Royal Dutch Shell, Energy and mining services company Amec Foster Wheeler and Scottish industrial engineering firm Weir Group.
After more than a decade of casting the Islamic Republic as a rogue power seeking to sow turmoil through the Middle East, Britain has sought to improve ties with Iran, whose proven natural gas reserves are as vast as Russia's.
"In the first instance, we will want to ensure that the nuclear agreement is a success, including by encouraging trade and investment once sanctions are lifted," Hammond said.
Under the nuclear deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in exchange for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear program the West suspected was intended to make a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always denied seeking nuclear arms.
Hammond told Iran's central bank governor, Valiollah Seif, that British banks, mindful of penalties imposed in the past by US authorities, wanted to ensure that they were fully compliant when they return to Iran.
"There is a huge appetite both on the part of our commercial and industrial businesses to engage with the opportunity of Iran opening up and there is huge appetite on the part of our financial institutions to support that activity but of course it has to be done in the proper way," he said.
Seif said the countries had had positive ties in the past and could build on them.
While the nuclear deal is seen as a major opportunity by some, including US President Barack Obama, hardliners in Washington and Tehran have opposed it, as has Israel.
Deep mistrust remains on both sides.
Britain has been cast for decades by opponents inside Iran as a perfidious "Old Fox" or "Little Satan" who does the bidding of "Big Satan," the United States.
An electronic newsletter of the Fars news agency cast the reported re-opening of the embassy as the "Return of the Fox".
Following the 2011 storming, which was a protest against nuclear-related sanctions imposed by London, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it an "evil embassy".
Protesters in 2011 smashed the large stone lion and unicorn on the gates at the ambassadorial residence, where in 1943 a dinner was held for Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt during the first meeting between the leaders of Britain, Russia and the United States to discuss their strategy for winning World War Two.
Protesters also looted the embassy and smashed some treasures. A portrait of Queen Victoria was torn in two, the head was cut out of a portrait of Edward VII and a picture of Queen Elizabeth was stolen.
There has been no US embassy in Tehran since it was sacked in the early days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by students who feared a repeat of a 1953 coup when the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
The US hostage crisis lasted 444 days and Washington and Tehran have never resumed diplomatic relations, leaving Britain first in line for the anti-Western feelings of the hardliners who run the Islamic Republic and their supporters.
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Selection: Michalis Katsigeras
LONDON AGREEMENT: An unscheduled meeting was held last night in London by the delegates of Greece, Britain, Turkey, the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities. Afterward the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers announced that the meeting had not been a failure and that there was a more than 50 percent chance that an agreement would be reached. The meeting is to continue today and, if agreement is reached, the treaty will be signed tomorrow. The disagreement between the Greek government and Cypriot Archbishop Makarios is due to the fact that Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis claims that the Zurich agreements are a unified whole and that no details can be altered, as that would lead to a breakdown in the talks. Archbishop Makarios is trying to gain time, fearing the responsibility of making historical decisions for the future of Cyprus. MAKARIOS: London, 18 – Before tonight's meeting, it was clear that Archbishop Makarios had been isolated. Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Averoff told the press that the talks were threatened because of Makarios's insistence on getting his way. Makarios believes it impossible to sign an agreement that did not fully guarantee Cyprus's sovereignty.
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Must-know tips From Successful Entrepreneurs
January 15, 2021 March 2, 2015 by Sam
Everybody makes mistakes in business. It's impossible not to – life is an ongoing process of learning, so you're never going to know everything you need to when you start out. One way to reduce mistakes, however, is to learn from those who have gone before. The best lessons come not from those who have had it easy, but from people who have struggled and experienced setbacks before learning from their mistakes and going on to achieve success. That's true of each of these people, and their examples illustrate that one of the most important things you need as a business owner is the courage to question your own assumptions.
Kate McKeon
The woman behind Prepwise and Prepwise Games, McKeon started out in consultancy before getting involved with education as an instructor at Manhattan GMAT. The time she spent working for other people taught her many valuable lessons, the import of which only became clearer as she worked hard to get her now successful businesses off the ground. This centered on an understanding of the people around her and recognition that they simply did not share her entrepreneurial spirit. Although they might still be good employees, their drive was limited, and that meant that she had to be careful when choosing and leading her core business team. She learned not to assume that because she was willing to work hard toward future rewards, they would be too, and this changed the way she approached assessing her business' capacity and making plans.
Key lesson: don't project your feelings onto others. Recognize that they have their own strengths and weaknesses.
A graduate of Yale and Harvard, Rosenkranz got off to a good start in life, but he still had a lot to learn as he rose to become CEO of the Delphi Financial Group. If you've read about Robert Rosenkranz on Forbes, you'll be aware that he is a man of diverse interests, and this presented challenges as he developed his approach to business, because it represented a constant temptation to take on too much or to focus too broadly. What he did to overcome this was to make those interests a virtue, by using them to inform his philanthropic activities. A firm believer that philanthropy is not only good for society but is good for business, he encouraged others in the companies with which he was involved to engage with the idea of corporate donations and sponsorship, as a means of building up a good reputation with the public (including many potential shareholders) and establishing strong community connections.
Key lesson: look out for ways of bringing your existing expertise into your business and using your passions to help you connect with others.
Matt Galligan
Now well known as the CEO of Circa, Galligan founded several other companies before he really found the approach that was right for him. A laid-back Midwesterner at heart, he's also a coffee lover, and it is perhaps the capacity to adjust his pace that has benefitted him more than anything else. The most important lesson he has learned in business, he says, is the importance of balancing careful deliberation with quick action. While many business people are too impulsive or are too reluctant to act in case they make the wrong decision, he says he simply thinks things through until he thinks he understands what's best, then acts. The real trick is not to waste time on regret if it turns out the decision was wrong. Changes can always be made later, but inaction guarantees achieving nothing.
Key lesson: use your head, but once you've done so, trust your gut.
By absorbing these lessons into your own approach to business, you can get ahead more quickly. Just remember that if things go wrong, that's a learning opportunity too.
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Yandura Chipeta
A Divided Society: Covid-19 Response and Inequality in Primary Education in Malawi
Published in the author's personal capacity.
Malawi's learners and students woke up on Saturday, 21 March 2020, to news that schools and colleges had been indefinitely closed as a result of a new government ordinance aimed at stemming the spread of Covid-19. The government offered nothing more beyond this. In fact, there was an information blackout on whether learning would continue, and in what form it would occur if it were to. To many, the announcement meant an early call to Easter holidays. The decision would prove difficult for both public and private schools. However, with the support of parents, private schools were able to quickly initiate online learning and set homeschooling in motion. Immediately, differential inequalities started to emerge as Government only started fumbling after the fact on how to establish remote learning facilities.
It's no mystery that education can be powerful in breaking the cycle of poverty and socio-economic inequality in Malawi and pretty much anywhere. But Malawi's history shows how our current system of education in Malawi perpetuates the very inequality it aims to address.
In the wake of multiparty democracy, the Malawi Government introduced the Free Primary Education Policy which eliminated school fees, in turn placing the responsibility to deliver education fully into the hands of the Government of Malawi. While the massive influx of learners into primary schools was deemed a positive result of such policy, the concurrent effects of ad hoc policy proclamations that come with no corresponding planning were just as quick to manifest.
Classrooms are filled beyond capacity and there are insufficient, if qualified, teachers to guarantee quality education. Government's genius mitigation measure was to liberalize the education system so that private schools would ease the pressure on public education by making necessary changes in the Education Act [2013]. As time passed, high- and middle-class children disappeared from public schools, appropriately attracted by quality teaching and learning, low pupil to classroom ratio (enabling teachers to provide one-on-one support) and quality infrastructure, among others. By 2012, these children would make 89.3% of all kids enrolled in private schools, according to Oxfam.
I dedicate most of my attention in this article to primary education in Malawi, which, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), has 5.1 million children enrolled who are currently disrupted by the Covid-19 school closures. The children have no idea when they are going back to school or what the future holds. Their low-income profile binds their prospects to explore alternative learning paths to public schooling into a grind. For some of these children, high levels of parent/guardian illiteracy imply that homeschooling remains a distant aspiration were it to be initiated.
Currently, the government in collaboration with multiple stakeholders has developed a remote learning platform across radio, television and internet platforms barely a month since the closure of schools. The remote learning platforms are, however, not fully functional as content on a number of subjects has not been finalized. A visit to the online platform would show and the unfinished content is only covering Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) level at Secondary education, leaving out the senior classes of Form 3 and Form 4. Currently, all primary school curricula are not accessible on the online platform.
Most circulated image on education & Covid-19
The slow adaptability of the public schooling mechanism to Covid-19 widens an already large quality gap between public and private school children. Yet, government must seek innovative ways in which remote learning is delivered in spite of many learners' limited access to the radio, whereas even fewer are accustomed to television sets and a handful will have the gadgets required to access a class online. Government should be commended however for partnering with the private sector to provide free internet facilities for learners the modalities of which will still need to be very clear. This means solutions must go beyond developing content and making it available. Failure to achieve this Covid-19 crisis response in the education sector is tantamount to Malawi already losing the battle to widening inequality in education as well as the outcomes on income security and class societies. Such headaches are compounded by managing children with disabilities whose intersection with poverty worsens their prospects at success.
But idle time at home for girls will bear different implications compared with boys. With a child marriage rate of 42%, the idleness school closures cause feeds the incidence of increased gender disparities in education through increased drop-out rates, child marriages and early pregnancy among adolescent girls. Government, then, must ensure that remote learning platforms are up and running as a matter of urgency so that learners' minds are invested in advancement of education rather than in community on goings that could be detrimental. While at it, Life Skills need to be inculcated as a core component of learning, even more during this period so children can learn critical life skills for their well-being.
A makeshift classroom block at Namapanga Primary School in Neno
Despite Malawi's sizeable share of education in the public purse averaging 21% for the past five years, distance learning will accentuate the costs of education for government in an uncertain world of Covid-19. Government does not have these funds and can only accomplish its mandate to the 5 million learners if well-wishers like the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) among others can support the Covid-19 education sector response. The impact of the pandemic on public revenues as a result of reduced economic activity (the IMF and World Bank project a loss of $10 trillion on the global economy) will almost certainly mean suppressed public spending on public services, including education in many ways, including a further deterioration of education quality and retrogression on the progress made towards achieving SDG4.
The Government, through the Ministry of Health and Population, plans to convert school shelters into temporary isolation centers. The MoEST has already received this notification. Carrying this through means adding more uncertainty to the disruption of the school calendar that public school learners have been subjected. For re-opening to take place, the facilities will have to be disinfected and the infrastructure rehabilitated once the pandemic has been overcome. These costs have not been factored in the National Covid-19 Preparedness and Response Plan. Similarly, there may be need for a lot of sensitization of communities as learners may refuse to go back to school due to any misconceptions about the pandemic that can be rife during such times. It will not be easy to bring learners back to the classroom.
Inasmuch as Covid-19 has widespread and multi-sectoral effects, the pandemic brings opportunities on the future of education worldwide. The crisis has brought forth innovation in order to ensure learning can take place beyond the classroom. As such, the world will have to bridge the divide between classroom and distance learning. At the same time, we could see an emergence of a public-private partnership on education that fosters the use of digital platforms in public schools. For this to happen, however, government authorities must exploit this opportunity and make the necessary investments so that the gap in learning between the rich and poor can effectively close.
Finally, government must start planning beyond the pandemic. Re-aligning the school calendar will be tricky as authorities try to make up for the lost time. The long-term impact of this will be how the disruption will affect the official examination calendar. All the while, children in private schools who sit international examinations that are hardly interrupted will surge on.
The sooner we recover, the better chances of closing the gap and ensuring access to quality education for all children in Malawi.
Malawi's Intergenerational Debt Burden: Youth Voices Needed! |
SoftBank Invests $400M In Vuori Activewear
(Filed Under wholesale Activewear News). SoftBank made a $400 million investment in Vuori, a California-based activewear firm that launched in 2015, raising the valuation of the brand to $4 billion.
According to Vuori, the move marks "one of the largest investments in a private apparel company. The investment underscores excitement in the surging brand, known for its performance clothing that is built to move in yet styled for everyday life, as it sets sights on the international market."
Vuori claimed it "has established itself as a front runner in the crowded activewear market for offering a differentiated, versatile perspective on performance apparel. After garnering widespread attention and loyalty from consumers in the United States, the brand will begin its international expansion next year, launching an omnichannel business in key markets throughout Western Europe and Asia Pacific and an innovation center in Taiwan. While growing its global distribution, Vuori will double down on retail expansion in the U.S. with more than 100 store openings slated for the next five years."
Founder and CEO Joe Kudla explained, "SoftBank has a long track record of identifying market-leading companies and supporting entrepreneurs with bold visions." The announcement noted that "SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is the second institutional investor to back Vuori, following Norwest Venture Partners who invested in the company in 2019."
Vuori has physical stores in Encinitas, Boulder, Del Mar, Bridgehampton, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Venice Beach, and the brand is sold on its website and in most Nordstrom and REI stores, according to the firm. It claims to have been profitable since 2017.smrtovnice
osmrtnic livno
more wholesale Activewear News >>
Published 11-23-2021 by -
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UCare generously supports MinnPost's Health coverage; learn why.
Report: Assisted living population older, sicker than in the past; facilities often fail to meet needs
Assisted living communities too often fail to meet the needs of older adults and should focus more on residents' medical and mental health concerns, according to a recent report by a diverse panel of experts.
By Judith Graham
Assisted living residents are older, sicker, and more compromised by impairments than in the past.
REUTERS/Yuki Iwamura
This story comes from KHN (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.
It's a clarion call for change inspired by the altered profile of the population that assisted living now serves.
Residents are older, sicker, and more compromised by impairments than in the past: 55% are 85 and older, 77% require help with bathing, 69% with walking, and 49% with toileting, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Also, more than half of residents have high blood pressure, and a third or more have heart disease or arthritis. Nearly one-third have been diagnosed with depression and at least 11% have a serious mental illness. As many as 42% have dementia or moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment.
"The nature of the clientele in assisted living has changed dramatically," yet there are no widely accepted standards for addressing their physical and mental health needs, said Sheryl Zimmerman, who led the panel. She's co-director of the Program on Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
The report addresses this gap with 43 recommendations from experts including patient advocates, assisted living providers, and specialists in medical, psychiatric, and dementia care that Zimmerman said she hopes will become "a new standard of care."
One set of recommendations addresses staffing. The panel proposes that ratios of health aides to residents be established and that either a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse be available on-site. (Before establishing specific requirements for various types of communities, the panel suggested further research on staffing requirements was necessary.)
Like nursing homes and home health agencies, assisted living operators have found it hard to retain or hire staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a September 2021 survey, 82% reported "moderate" or "high" level of staffing shortages.
Dr. Kenneth Covinsky, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, witnessed staffing-related problems when his mother moved to assisted living at age 79. At one point, she fell and had to wait about 25 minutes for someone to help her get up. On another occasion, she waited for 30 minutes on the toilet as overworked staffers responded to pagers buzzing nonstop.
"The nighttime scene was crazy: There would be one person for 30 to 40 residents," said Covinsky, the author of an editorial accompanying the consensus recommendations. Eventually, he ended up moving his mother to another facility.
The panel also recommended staffers get training on managing dementia and mental illness, on medication side effects, on end-of-life care, on tailoring care to individual residents' needs, and on infection control — a weakness highlighted during the height of the pandemic, when an estimated 17% more people died in assisted living in 2020 compared with previous years.
"If I were placing my parent in assisted living, I certainly would be looking not just at staffing ratios but the actual training of staff," said Robyn Stone, senior vice president of research at LeadingAge and co-director of its long-term services and supports center at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. LeadingAge is an industry organization representing nonprofit long-term care providers. Stone said the organization generally supports the panel's work.
The better trained staff are, the more likely they are to provide high-quality care to residents and the less likely they are to feel frustrated and burned out, said Dr. Helen Kales, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Health.
This is especially important for memory care delivered in stand-alone assisted living facilities or a wing of a larger community. "We have seen places where a memory care unit charges upwards of $10,000 a month for 'dementia care' yet is little more than a locked door to prevent residents from leaving the unit and not the sensitive and personalized care advertised," wrote Covinsky and his University of California-San Francisco colleague Dr. Kenneth Lam in their editorial.
Because dementia is such a pervasive concern in assisted living, the panel recommended that residents get formal cognitive assessments and that policies be established to address aggression or other worrisome behaviors.
One such policy might be trying non-pharmaceutical strategies (examples include aromatherapy or music therapy) to calm people with dementia before resorting to prescribed medications, Kales said. Another might be calling for a medical or psychiatric evaluation if a resident's behavior changes dramatically and suddenly.
Further recommendations from the panel emphasize the importance of regularly assessing residents' needs, developing care plans, and including residents in this process. "The resident should really be directing what their goals are and how they want care provided, but this doesn't always happen," said Lori Smetanka, a panel member and executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy organization.
"We agree with many of these recommendations" and many assisted living communities are already following these practices, said LaShuan Bethea, executive director of the National Center for Assisted Living, an industry organization.
Nonetheless, she said her organization has concerns, especially about the practicality and cost of the recommendations. "We need to understand what the feasibility would be," she said, and suggested that a broad study look at those issues. In the meantime, states should examine how they regulate assisted living, taking into account the increased needs of the residents, Bethea said.
Because the nation's roughly 28,900 assisted living communities are regulated by states and there are no federal standards, practices vary widely and generally there are fewer protections for residents than are found in nursing homes. Some assisted living facilities are small homes housing as few as four to six seniors; some are large housing complexes with nearly 600 older adults. Nearly 919,000 individuals live in these communities.
"There are many different flavors of assisted living, and I think we need to be more purposeful about naming what they are and who they're best suited to care for," said Kali Thomas, a panel member and an associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at Brown University.
Originally, assisted living was meant to be a "social" model: a home-like setting where older adults could interact with other residents while receiving help from staff with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. But given the realities of today's assisted living population, "the social model of care is outmoded," said Tony Chicotel, a panel member and staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.
Still, he and other panelists don't want assisted living to become a "medical" model, like nursing homes.
"What's interesting is you see nursing homes pushing to get to a more homelike environment and assisted living needing to more adequately manage the medical needs of residents," Chicotel told me, referring to the current pandemic-inspired reexamination of long-term care. "That said, I don't want assisted living facilities to look more like nursing homes. How this all will play out isn't at all clear yet."
ER docs: Medical 'paradigm shift' makes opioid use disorder meds more accessible, saves lives
By Andy Steiner | Contributing Writer
More Health articles
<h1>Report: Assisted living population older, sicker than in the past; facilities often fail to meet needs</h1> <p class="a-entry-byline">By Judith Graham</p> <p class="a-entry-date">Dec. 6, 2022</p> <p><em>This story comes from <a href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation. </em></p> <p>Assisted living communities too often fail to meet the needs of older adults and should focus more on residents' medical and mental health concerns, according to a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2796840">recent report</a> by a diverse panel of experts.</p> <p>It's a clarion call for change inspired by the altered profile of the population that assisted living now serves.</p> <p>Residents are older, sicker, and more compromised by impairments than in the past: 55% are 85 and older, 77% require help with bathing, 69% with walking, and 49% with toileting, according to <a href="https://www.ahcancal.org/Assisted-Living/Facts-and-Figures/Pages/default.aspx">data from the National Center for Health Statistics</a>.</p> <p>Also, more than half of residents have high blood pressure, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826534/">a third or more</a> have heart disease or arthritis. Nearly one-third have been diagnosed with depression and at least 11% have a serious mental illness. As many as 42% have dementia or moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment.</p> <p>"The nature of the clientele in assisted living has changed dramatically," yet there are no widely accepted standards for addressing their physical and mental health needs, said <a href="https://ssw.unc.edu/employees/sheryl-zimmerman/">Sheryl Zimmerman</a>, who led the panel. She's co-director of the Program on Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.</p> <p>The report addresses this gap with 43 recommendations from experts including patient advocates, assisted living providers, and specialists in medical, psychiatric, and dementia care that Zimmerman said she hopes will become "a new standard of care."</p> <p>One set of recommendations addresses staffing. The panel proposes that ratios of health aides to residents be established and that either a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse be available on-site. (Before establishing specific requirements for various types of communities, the panel suggested further research on staffing requirements was necessary.)</p> <p>Like nursing homes and home health agencies, assisted living operators have found it hard to retain or hire staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a <a href="https://www.ahcancal.org/News-and-Communications/Fact-Sheets/FactSheets/Workforce-Survey-September2021.pdf">September 2021 survey</a>, 82% reported "moderate" or "high" level of staffing shortages.</p> <p><a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/kenneth.covinsky">Dr. Kenneth Covinsky</a>, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, witnessed staffing-related problems when his mother moved to assisted living at age 79. At one point, she fell and had to wait about 25 minutes for someone to help her get up. On another occasion, she waited for 30 minutes on the toilet as overworked staffers responded to pagers buzzing nonstop.</p> <p>"The nighttime scene was crazy: There would be one person for 30 to 40 residents," said Covinsky, the author of <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2796836">an editorial</a> accompanying the consensus recommendations. Eventually, he ended up moving his mother to another facility.</p> <p>The panel also recommended staffers get training on managing dementia and mental illness, on medication side effects, on end-of-life care, on tailoring care to individual residents' needs, and on infection control — a weakness highlighted during the height of the pandemic, when an estimated <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8826534/">17% more people died</a> in assisted living in 2020 compared with previous years.</p> <p>"If I were placing my parent in assisted living, I certainly would be looking not just at staffing ratios but the actual training of staff," said <a href="https://leadingage.org/staff/robyn-i-stone/">Robyn Stone</a>, senior vice president of research at LeadingAge and co-director of its long-term services and supports center at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. LeadingAge is an industry organization representing nonprofit long-term care providers. Stone said the organization generally supports the panel's work.</p> <p>The better trained staff are, the more likely they are to provide high-quality care to residents and the less likely they are to feel frustrated and burned out, said <a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/psychiatry/team/42375/helen-kales-psychiatry-/">Dr. Helen Kales</a>, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis Health.</p> <p>This is especially important for memory care delivered in stand-alone assisted living facilities or a wing of a larger community. "We have seen places where a memory care unit charges upwards of $10,000 a month for 'dementia care' yet is little more than a locked door to prevent residents from leaving the unit and not the sensitive and personalized care advertised," wrote Covinsky and his University of California-San Francisco colleague Dr. Kenneth Lam in their editorial.</p> <p>Because dementia is such a pervasive concern in assisted living, the panel recommended that residents get formal cognitive assessments and that policies be established to address aggression or other worrisome behaviors.</p> <p>One such policy might be trying non-pharmaceutical strategies (examples include aromatherapy or music therapy) to calm people with dementia before resorting to prescribed medications, Kales said. Another might be calling for a medical or psychiatric evaluation if a resident's behavior changes dramatically and suddenly.</p> <p>Further recommendations from the panel emphasize the importance of regularly assessing residents' needs, developing care plans, and including residents in this process. "The resident should really be directing what their goals are and how they want care provided, but this doesn't always happen," said <a href="https://theconsumervoice.org/about/our-staff/lori-smetanka">Lori Smetanka</a>, a panel member and executive director of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy organization.</p> <p>"We agree with many of these recommendations" and many assisted living communities are already following these practices, said <a href="https://www.ahcancal.org/Assisted-Living/About-NCAL/Pages/NCALStaff.aspx">LaShuan Bethea</a>, executive director of the National Center for Assisted Living, an industry organization.</p> <p>Nonetheless, she said her organization has concerns, especially about the practicality and cost of the recommendations. "We need to understand what the feasibility would be," she said, and suggested that a broad study look at those issues. In the meantime, states should examine how they regulate assisted living, taking into account the increased needs of the residents, Bethea said.</p> <p>Because the nation's roughly 28,900 assisted living communities are regulated by states and there are no federal standards, practices vary widely and generally there are fewer protections for residents than are found in nursing homes. Some assisted living facilities are small homes housing as few as four to six seniors; some are large housing complexes with nearly 600 older adults. Nearly 919,000 individuals live in these communities.</p> <p>"There are many different flavors of assisted living, and I think we need to be more purposeful about naming what they are and who they're best suited to care for," said <a href="https://vivo.brown.edu/display/kst">Kali Thomas</a>, a panel member and an associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at Brown University.</p> <p>Originally, assisted living was meant to be a "social" model: a home-like setting where older adults could interact with other residents while receiving help from staff with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. But given the realities of today's assisted living population, "the social model of care is outmoded," said Tony Chicotel, a panel member and staff attorney with California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform.</p> <p>Still, he and other panelists don't want assisted living to become a "medical" model, like nursing homes.</p> <p>"What's interesting is you see nursing homes pushing to get to a more homelike environment and assisted living needing to more adequately manage the medical needs of residents," Chicotel told me, referring to the current pandemic-inspired reexamination of long-term care. "That said, I don't want assisted living facilities to look more like nursing homes. How this all will play out isn't at all clear yet."</p>
This <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com/health/2022/12/report-assisted-living-population-older-sicker-than-in-the-past-facilities-often-fail-to-meet-needs/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.minnpost.com/?republication-pixel=true&post=2107180&ga=UA-3385191-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"> |
Devin McCourty "Speed Bumps"
Posted on Monday, December 29th, 2014 at 8:30 am.
Written by Chrissy Carew
Leveraged "Speed Bumps" to Pave the Way to
Tremendous Success and Enduring Inspiration
Being a member of the New England Patriots may well be the realization of a lifelong dream for Devin McCourty, but being part of a team is nothing new for the New York native. The cornerback was born to one: the lifelong team comprising himself and his twin brother Jason, who plays the same position for the Tennessee Titans.
After a stellar career at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, New Jersey, the two went off to Rutgers University together, but while his brother started playing right away, Devin was red-shirted, meaning he practiced with the team but with the expectation that he wouldn't see any game time until sophomore year.
Devin refused to let the disappointment of watching his teammates take the field get the best of him, however. Instead, he worked harder than ever to ensure that he would have a spot on the football team his sophomore year. "I worked out and lifted weights and did everything I could do, because I said to myself, 'There is no way that I'm not going to play next year.'"
That attitude paid off not only when he started playing regularly for Rutgers his sophomore year but on into the present day, Devin believes. "I've seen some athletes who are so used to doing everything their way, that when the coach tells them to do something a different way, they won't do it. Whereas my early college experience was that I had to do everything that the coaches said just to try to get on the field. I think that attitude will stay with me no matter what kind of success I reach."
The twins were raised by a single mother who was widowed when they were just three. Their brother Larry, older by 17 years, acted as both brother and father figure to them. Their mother made spirituality a high priority, taking her young boys to church every Sunday where community members made them feel protected. As they grew older, their football scheduled interfered with church attendance, but "we still were always aware of our spiritual background," Devin says.
Devin refers to the obstacles he has overcome throughout his life as "speed bumps." The very first one was losing his father at such a young age. "At first, I didn't really understand it. It wasn't until college that I started to realize all I had lost. That speed bump motivated me because I always felt like he was looking down on me. He left the world early, but Jason and I are what he left on this earth and I always felt we represented his presence here, and that made me want to try to do good."
Devin's mother inspired the growing boy with her astonishing sense of determination. Though an on-the-job injury made her unable to work for most of their childhood, she committed herself wholeheartedly to being physically and emotionally present for her boys. "To make it professionally as an athlete, you need someone showing constantly how much they support you. I was lucky enough that my mom was able to be there for almost every high school game I played in four years."
He and his brothers never forgot their father's presence, either. "I always felt like my love for sports was kind of connected to my father. His birthday is in September, right around the time we usually play our first game of the season. Jason and I both always feel like in some ways we are playing in his memory."
When Devin had to sit out his freshman year at Rutgers, his mother offered encouraging insights that he remembers still to this day. "My mom always used to tell me that if you're talented and you work hard, someone will notice it someday." And his mother proved herself to be right when both twins ended up on professional teams: first Jason on the Titans and then Devin on the Patriots as a first-round draft pick.
But Devin knows he has more goals yet to reach. "It's important never to forget that whatever you accomplish, there is always something else. Don't relax whenever you get somewhere no matter how hard you thought that goal would be to reach. Keep pushing yourself. And never forget to try to inspire other people to reach their own goals."
With his persistent refusal to let adversity defeat him coupled with his determination to learn all he can from life experiences and those around him, Devin McCourty walks the walk and talks the talk of a remarkable Insightful Player® team member.
Instant replay of Devin's guiding principles:
Take inspiration from the stories of others. Believe that if they can overcome their obstacles, you can overcome yours.
Never stop striving to learn and to grow spiritually. Read a lot and think a lot.
Find mentors wherever you can: at church, among your coaches, within your family.
Recognize the good that results when you make sacrifices.
Appreciate and acknowledge the ways other people are sacrificing for you.
Be a fighter, remembering that every day of existence is in some way a fight for survival. Do all you can to stay on top.
Rather than submitting to defeat, overcome it.
Follow a spiritual path.
Sometimes, not getting what you want just means you aren't ready for it yet. Have faith that your time will come.
Don't let comparisons to others distract you from recognizing your own accomplishments. Whether you are a first-round or a sixth-round draft pick, you still get to play for the pros.
The Insightful Player® series is brought to you by Coach Chrissy Carew, Hall of Fame Master Certified Personal and Business Coach and Author of INSIGHTFUL PLAYER: Football Pros Lead A Bold Movement of Hope. Chrissy has been deeply inspired by her father, the late Coach Walter Carew, Sr. Her father is in several Halls of Fame as a high school football coach and baseball coach (as well as high school and college athlete). He used sports to help kids build strong character and teach them valuable life skills. The Insightful Player® initiative was created to help make our world a much better place by inspiring youth. To contact Chrissy Carew visit http://www.insightfulplayer.com or call 603-897-0610.
Andre Tippett a Giant of a Man
Do Not Despair, Pray
Jarvis Green: Determination to Learn From Adversity
Ben Utecht: Grit and Grace Creates Harmony
Benjamin Watson Receives a Gift of True Grace & Bart Starr Award
Tags: Chrissy Carew, Devin McCourty, Faith, family, Insightful Player, New England Patriots, NFL |
Sydney Harbour Bridge Protest: Will it work?
As Sydney ground to a halt in peak hour on Friday 13 May, everyone wondered why someone would go to such dangerous lengths as to stage a protest on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It quickly became clear that the protestor, 'Michael', was a father raising his concerns over the systems we have in place to resolve family law issues and children's services. Obviously in this situation, the father involved is feeling helpless and frustrated by his perceived lack of access to his children and the ways in which he feels the 'system' is letting him down. But can a protest on top of the Harbour Bridge make a difference?
Tagged: children safety, Coleman Greig Lawyers, dispute, Divorce, family dispute, family law, Parenting arrangement, separation
Who's looking after the children?
Posted by on 9 May 2011
Unfortunately many family law matters today involve allegations of violence or abuse. Whilst some of these allegations may be unfounded, it has been reported that one in three Australian women will be assaulted or abused in their lifetime. Whilst this figure seems unbelievable to most of us, the sad truth is that we are hearing about more and more cases in which families, and in some cases whole communities, have been destroyed by acts of domestic violence. Earlier this month, a man was arrested in Perth over the murder of his former partner and mother of his child, after a history of violence in the relationship had led her to take out a Violence Restraining Order against him.
Tagged: AVO, Child Abuse, Domestic violence, family break down, family dispute, personal safety, Restraining Order |
Business 477453123
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar: Facebook's Zuckerberg must answer for data breach
Minn. Democrat wants CEO to testify before Senate.
By Maya Rao Star Tribune
March 21, 2018 — 5:14am
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has emerged as a high-profile critic of Facebook, as she pushed Tuesday for the company's top leader to appear before Congress to account for a massive breach of personal data related to the last election.
The Minnesota Democrat wants Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of the social media giant, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about how the company will protect privacy after revelations that the personal information of 50 million users was exploited by a Russia-linked data analytics firm working to get Donald Trump elected in 2016.
"They keep saying, 'Trust us, we can take care of our own people and our own website,' " Klobuchar said in an interview Tuesday. "Well, that's not true ... That's the attitude that got them in trouble."
Klobuchar and a Republican colleague, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, are calling on Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to hold a hearing with Zuckerberg and executives of other major tech companies amid ongoing investigations of Russian agents meddling in American campaigns, including through social media posts aimed at influencing electoral outcomes. Concerns are likely to grow as the November 2018 midterm elections approach, with intelligence officials warning that Russia is likely to attempt more meddling.
Facebook is conducting a comprehensive internal and external review as it works to determine the accuracy of claims that the compromised data in question still exists, said Paul Grewal, Facebook vice president and deputy general counsel, in a statement.
Alexander Nix, CEO of the Trump-affiliated data mining firm Cambridge Analytica, was suspended on Tuesday. The chairman of the British Parliament's media committee, Damian Collins, said the committee has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data, and the company has been misleading.
Star Tribune file
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come under increasing scrutiny over misuse of user data.
"It's incredibly important that they come and testify under oath to tell the American people what happened on their platforms, and what steps they are taking to ensure that this never happens again," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a D.C.-based nonprofit that pushes for government transparency.
He added: "If they're not prepared to voluntarily come, they should be subpoenaed."
Plenty of other chief executives have testified before Congress, from the heads of tobacco companies in the 1990s to the CEOs of auto manufacturers during last decade's financial crisis. The CEOs of Delta and Northwest airlines testified before the Judiciary Committee in 2008 about a proposed merger that drew antitrust concerns.
Some executives have also declined to appear, such as the chief executive of the pharmaceutical company Mylan in 2016 amid a controversy about overbilling Medicaid for the lifesaving device EpiPen.
"The tech companies seem to think they're in some special status that they don't have to do that, and I think there's going to be a drumbeat of 50 million people that want to see them," Klobuchar said Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
At last fall's Judiciary Committee hearing, Facebook, Google and Twitter were represented by attorneys — including at a Senate hearing about whether Russian agents used social media sites to try to influence the 2016 presidential election.
At that hearing, Klobuchar asked Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch if he supported her proposal to subject online political ads to the same disclosure requirements as those on radio, print and TV. It would also require online platforms to make reasonable efforts to ensure that foreign agents aren't purchasing ads to influence American campaigns.
Stretch replied that Facebook had drawn on the legislation to inform its announcement on political ads' transparency and disclosure requirements, and he said the company was ready to work with Klobuchar on the bill.
Klobuchar said she was frustrated that tech companies stopped short of endorsing the proposal. Months later, it hasn't moved in Congress, and among Republican legislators, only Sen. John McCain of Arizona has signed on as cosponsor.
"I think you do enormous good, but your power sometimes scares me," Kennedy said to Stretch last fall, in reference to Facebook.
A Grassley spokesman said that he has not made a decision about the request from Klobuchar and Kennedy. Grassley has a staff briefing with Facebook scheduled for Wednesday.
"The chairman is currently gathering information and taking steps to inform any action by the committee," Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said in an e-mail.
Klobuchar said she wants the Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing this spring, before campaigning for the midterm elections begins in earnest. She predicts a record number of "slimy ads" on Facebook and other websites, including in Minnesota, which will have some of the most competitive congressional races in the country. The governor's race and two Senate elections will also heighten the political stakes.
She said her first questions to Zuckerberg at a hearing would be: "How are you going to protect the privacy of the hundreds of millions of subscribers that you have? ... How are you going to not just respond in a PR fashion to these crises but change your business model?"
Maya Rao covers the federal government for the Star Tribune.
[email protected] 651-925-5043 mrao_strib
The Latest: Florida paper prints retro Apollo 11 front page
The Latest on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing (all times local):
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins returned Tuesday to the exact spot where he flew to the moon 50 years ago with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Will Trump let Chevron stay in Venezuela?
Chevron was nearly booted from Venezuela in 2007 during a nationalization drive led by the late socialist President Hugo Chavez. Twelve years later, it faces a similar threat from an unlikely corner: the White House.
Barneys New York evaluating restructuring options
Barneys New York may soon join the ever lengthening list of retail stores seeking protection in bankruptcy.
Powell says financial crisis accelerated economic changes
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the 2008 financial crisis accelerated major changes in the U.S. and global economies, leading to slower growth, lower inflation and lower interest rates.
Hospital trade group wants Minn. to investigate Blue Cross Blue Shield • Business
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Plant-based food sales rose 11% last year, moving beyond niche status • Business |
Known as the Cradle of Liberty, Boston is home to top-rated attractions, world-famous museums and pristine natural beauty. From historic and entertaining trolley tours to lush green landscapes at Boston Public Garden, you'll find no shortage of exciting things to do and see in Boston. Plan ahead and purchase your tickets online to make the most of your time in the city.
Boston Tours by Land
Don't miss out on any of Boston's famous sites. Take a guided tour of the city to learn all about its fascinating history. From entertaining trolley tours to historic pub crawls, you'll see the best of the city without worrying about parking.
Boston Old Town Trolley Tour
Climb aboard Old Town Trolley Tours of Boston for a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing adventure. The trolley makes 20 stops at the most popular points of interest throughout the city, including Fenway Park, the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Faneuil Hall and more. You'll also have the option to spread your tour out over 2 days if you need more time to see the sights.
Boston Ghosts and Gravestones Tour
Ready to see the spooky side of Boston's past and present? Step aboard the Trolley of the Doomed on a Ghosts and Gravestones Haunted Tour of Boston. Your 17th century gravedigger guide will tell stories of Boston's most infamous ghosts and supernatural sightings as you visit a number of historic places throughout the city. Gain access to two of the oldest burying grounds in Boston, including Copp's Hill Burying Ground and the Granary Burying Ground. You'll see the final resting places of American heroes such as John Hancock, Paul Revere and Samuel Adams on this frightening, fun and informative tour.
Boston Tours by Water
Whale Watching Cruise
See New England's famous whales up close on the New England Aquarium Whale Watching Cruise narrated by professional researchers. On this 3-hour excursion available from March 29th through November 23rd, you'll ride in comfort aboard a high-speed catamaran to witness the power and beauty of New England's whales. The vessel is equipped with outside decks for optimum viewing and a climate-controlled cabin featuring a fully stocked galley.
Boston Historic Sightseeing Cruise
Boston Harbor sightseeing cruises are a quick, relaxing and fun way to see and learn about the city. Climb aboard a 90-minute, fully narrated Boston Historic Harbor Cruise for an entertaining way to explore the history, hear the stories and see the sights that make Boston unique. You will see historic and present-day landmarks as your guide provides insight into the city's past, present and future as well as tales of famous Revolutionary War battles. Learn about the harbor islands' ecosystems, the city's working wharves and piers and the Boston Light, the oldest constantly manned lighthouse in the country.
"Must Visit" Boston Attractions
Trusted Tours offers discount tickets for must-see Boston attractions and specialty tours. While you're in the city, shop and dine at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, witness an underwater world at the New England Aquarium, climb aboard authentically restored tall ships and more. Learn about the most popular things to do in Boston.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace is home to 49 shops, 18 restaurants and pubs, 44 pushcarts and more. Founded in 1742, the hall is now a hub of Boston shopping and dining. Explore unique shops and eateries while relaxing just steps away from the waterfront. You'll also find street performers and artists filling the cobblestone promenades outside Faneuil Hall.
The New England Aquarium houses 3 species of penguins, lionfish, leafy sea dragons, a giant Pacific octopus, Northern fur seals, California sea lions, Atlantic harbor seals and many more fascinating creatures. Stop by the aquarium's touch tank to interact with cownose rays, epaulette sharks and Atlantic rays up close. Visitors also enjoy spotting Myrtle, the 500-pound green sea turtle, in the aquarium's Giant Ocean Tank, where she has lived since 1970.
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
Have a revolutionary experience at the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, where you can throw tea overboard on authentically restored tea ships, watch the multi-sensory documentary "Let It Begin Here" and sample pastries at Abigail's Tea Room. Join the Patriots on a 1-hour guided tour of the museum's many interactive exhibits and historic artifacts. Perfect for all ages, a visit to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum is one of the top things to do in the city for history buffs.
Boston Public Garden
Part of Boston's Emerald Necklace of beautiful public parks, the Boston Public Garden is nestled in the heart of the city adjacent to Boston Common. It has been featured in several famous works of literature, including E.B. White's novel The Trumpet of the Swan and Robert McCloskey's famous children's book Make Way for Ducklings. Take a ride on the garden's swan boats, explore the pristine greenery and relax on sunny days.
Plimoth Patuxet Museums
At Plimoth Patuxet, you will experience life as it was like in 1627 New England as well as what we think it means now from a 21st-century perspective. Visit exhibits including the 1627 English Village, Mayflower II and more.
Plimoth Patuxet is Plymouth as it was in the 17th-century. It is a centuries-old Wampanoag homesite. It is townspeople speaking the poetic language of Shakespeare's England. It is the salty breeze blowing across a wooden ship's deck.
Several historic features and exhibits at three locations
7 gift shops brimming with unique gifts including items crafted by the Museum's own artisans.
Experience what life was like in the 17th century
Enjoy visits to the Mayflower and Plimoth Grist Mill
In the 17th-Century English Village, talk with costumed role players who portray the Plymouth colonists (popularly known as the "Pilgrims") going about their daily lives in this small, re-created coastal village.
Discover a different perspective at the Wampanoag Homesite, where modern-day Native staff practice and preserve traditional skills and speak about the history and culture of the Wampanoag People.
In the Crafts Center, watch the skilled modern-day artisans as they fashion the period furnishings and clothing used in the 17th-Century English Village. At the Nye Barn, learn about the museum's rare and heritage breed livestock and their importance to global conservation efforts.
On the Plymouth waterfront, climb aboard Mayflower II, fully restored 17th-century sailing vessel that made the famous voyage in 1620. Talk with the first-person living history educators portraying those who sailed on that historic voyage or with modern-maritime staff.
At Plimoth Patuxet, the Shelby Davis Gallery and Visitor Center retail stores remain open until 5:30pm. Davis Gallery exhibits are open until 5:30 pm: We Gather Together - 400th anniversary of Thanksgiving and History in a New Light, Illuminating Archeology: Historic Patuxet and Plymouth
NEW artisan exhibit in the Craft Center: 17th-Century English Apothecary.
Nestled along Town Brook, and just a short walk from the Waterfront, the Plimoth Grist Mill tells the story of the grist (corn grinding) mill built by the Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony. The Mill is a reproduction of the 1636 mill in the original location and was completed in 1970. Many of the parts (the stones, spindle, and stone furiture) are from the early 1800s and were salvaged from a mill near Philadelphia.
In all of these locations, the engaging staff, through attention to detail, and carefully reproduced environments ensure a fun and fascinating visit. Take a step back in history at the Plimoth Patuxet!
Open Seasonally: April 16th- November 27th
Open 7 days a week from 9am-5pm.
Hours of Plimoth Patuxet Museum:
Henry Hornblower II Visitor Center: 9:00am- 5:00pm
Crafts Center: Open 9:00am- 5:00pm
7th-Century English Village: 9:15am- 5:00pm
Wampanoag Homesite: 9:15am- 5:00pm
Nye Barn: 9:00am- 5:00pm
Hours of Plimoth Grist Mill:
Plimoth Grist Mill: 9-5pm
Hours of Mayflower II:
Mayflower II and dockside exhibits: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Hours of Museum Shops:
Visitor Center and Crafts Center: 9:00am- 5:30pm
Waterfront: 9:00am-5:00pm
Plimoth Grist Mill: 9:00am-5:00pm
Special holiday shopping hours in December at the Visitor Center shops.
Reservations are NOT needed or accepted. Tickets can be used on any operating day within 6 months of the purchase date.
self guided
137 Warren Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360
Warren Ave. and Clifford Rd.
Plimoth Plantation offers free parking for all visitors in the main parking lot. Visitors with disabilities should park in the lower lot, following signs for "Bus Parking." There is metered parking available near Mayflower II.
Child Ticket: 6-12 years
COVID Safety Procedures: The Plimoth Patuxet Museum follows the Commonwealth of MA Covid Guidelines.
This combination Heritage Pass includes entrance into Plimoth Patuxet, the Grist Mill and the Mayflower. The distance between Plimoth Patuxet Museum and Mayflower II or the Grist Mill is 3 miles. You will want to make the 10-minute drive by car or use public transportation. Guests should allow at least 3 hours for their visit to Plimoth Patuxet Museum and about 30-45 minutes for Mayflower II and the Grist Mill experience. |
Weather in Simrishamns kommun, Skåne County, Sweden
Fish in a changing climate - can cod cope? Externwebben
The station in Abisko is the northernmost station in Sweden. Reindeer in the Arctic and Climate Change: The Struggle For Food Jan 20, 2020. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will hold the third Lead Author Meeting for the Special Report on Global Warming of Global warming is large-scale thermal energy storage. pp. Heating and Cooling with UTES in Sweden - Current Situation and Potential Market Development.
Aros hälsocenter provtagning
Sverigedemokraterna skatt pension
Stockholmsbörsen index avanza
Stureskolan hedemora kontakt
3. Measuring a 'fair share' of climate change finance. 16. 4. Sweden's climate finance: What does Sweden provide? 22. Global warming poses considerable risks for societies around the world.
H.M. Konungens tal på "Sweden-Michigan Clean Energy
Convention on Climate Change and the But as Garry Peterson points out, there are a few areas where Swedes are behind the global average. Carbon-neutral jet travel for one, but also Rising temperatures are a threat to Sweden's moose (or European elk) population, writes the newspaper Kvällsposten.
Droughts and wildfires in Sweden : past variation and - MSB
A recent survey by the World Wide Fund for Nature found that nine out of ten Swedes believe in the manmade causes of global warming. Seven of ten would fly less, and eight of ten would drastically 2020-07-08 · Last month, such fires released 59 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide, scientists said on Tuesday. That's more carbon than oil-producing Norway emits in a year. 2021-03-24 · Sweden has passed a law requiring the country to reach net zero emissions by 2045, earlier than the EU average, and the Riksbank said the effect of climate change on monetary policy will become increasingly relevant, as extreme weather can lead to "greater fluctuation in food, housing and energy prices." Scientists are exploring whether coniferous trees might help to counter the effects of global warming. Deep in Sweden's spruce forests researchers from Lund University are studying the cooling qualities of organic compounds called terpenes, which are abundant in conifer resin and also give spruce, fir and pine trees their distinctive scent. 2 dagar sedan · Sweden - Sweden - Climate: About 15 percent of the country lies within the Arctic Circle.
Sweden's Riksbank, the world's oldest central bank, warned on Wednesday that rising temperatures mean monetary policy can't ignore the fallout of carbon emissions. "If climate change increases the risk of 2019-04-01 · The average temperature in Sweden is rising more than twice as fast as the global average temperature, according to a new report by the country's national weather agency SMHI. Between 1991 and 2018, Sweden's annual average temperature rose by 1.7C compared to average temperatures in pre-industrial times, which SMHI calculated using data from the years 1861-1890.
Global warming poses considerable risks for societies around the world. Failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could have profound consequences. Apr 2, 2021 The Swedish Space Corporation said it had canceled the flight — part rays back to space and thus reduce global warming relatively quickly. Aug 25, 2018 It's now or never for the climate change movement in Sweden and globally. · So climate turmoil has hit the Swedish elections due to the worst Feb 7, 2019 Scientists are exploring whether coniferous trees might help to counter the effects of global warming. Deep in Sweden's spruce forests The global apparel and textiles industry produces a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) thereby contributing to global warming.
Glaciers and ice caps in Sweden are some of global warming's first casualties By Caroline Christie Share Twitter Facebook So in less than 34 years it has increased by about 1.2 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in Sweden. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of the global warming has been provided separately. More detailed information on global warming with a view by continent can also be found on our topic page on climate change. Sweden Global Warming News Topics; Specialized News Sections on Sweden Global Warming. Global Warming News Today. Questions?
Global warming poses considerable risks for societies around the world. Failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could have profound Film: Climate Change Adaptation in Sweden. Last updated Mar 31, 2021. Published Jun 23, 2020. The film "Adapt to a changing climate – examples from You state that limiting global warming to 1.5˚C is almost certainly not of two of the most 'progressive' industrialized countries, Sweden and the Friday, September 20, a global school strike for the climate with children and young people will next year if we are to have a chance to stay under 1.5 degrees of global warming. But both global emissions and Sweden's emissions are rising.
Editor-in-chief Edward Jul 16, 2015 How will climate change effect Sweden's coastal cities, like Umeå (pictured above), in northern Sweden. (iStock) As 190 countries meet in Bonn, Germany, to discuss how to limit global warming following the Paris Agreement, we hear how climate change av G Petersson · 2009 — Long-term temperature goals: For Sweden and the EU global cooling is much worse than global warming.
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Leif Kullman - Umeå universitet
After the successful completion of Climate Change 2019 we are glad to announce our next upcoming conference global warming -2020which is going to be held in Stockholm, Sweden "9 th International Summit on Global Warming and Environmental Science " which is going to be held during August 10-11, 2020 Stockholm, Sweden" with the theme "Global Warming and Planning the Sustainable future. Global warming is threatening reindeer herding in Sweden's arctic region as unusual weather patterns jeopardize the migrating animals' grazing grounds, as rainfall during the winter has led to How will global warming affect Sweden? Radio Sweden Posted: Thursday, November 26, 2015 at 14:10 — Last Updated: Tuesday, January 5, 2016 at 16:38 0 Comments. Se hela listan på co2nsensus.com You will be connected to www.thelocal.se in just a moment. Learn about Project Shield 2021-03-24 · Sweden Says Global Warming Could Alter Future of Monetary Policy Niclas Rolander , Bloomberg News The Brunkebergstorg stands deserted in view of the Sveriges Riksbank in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday, April 23, 2020. Global Warming Solutions, Inc. Announces Novel Patent Filing for Sodium-Ion Battery Technology. Temecula, CA, March 30, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Warming Solutions, Inc., (OTC MARKETS: "GWSO"), a worldwide developer of technologies that help mitigate Global Warming and its effects on the Planet announces the filing of its novel "Patent… 2021-04-12 · Sweden - Sweden - Climate: About 15 percent of the country lies within the Arctic Circle. |
Official international inauguration of the Route verte
>> par Vélo Québec Association Quebec City, August 10, 2007 – The official international inauguration of the Route verte, a bicycle route extending for more than 4,000 kilometres developed over a period of more than 12 years by almost a thousand different organizations, was held today in Quebec City, coinciding with the arrival of the 2,000 participants in the Grand Tour, Quebec's leading bicycle tourism event.
Commenting on the "Route verte tornado" that swept throughout Quebec over the past 26 days, Jean-François Pronovost, Executive Director of Vélo Québec Association and overseer of the development of the Route verte, delightedly exclaimed, "Mission accomplished!" while reviewing the series of activities held to mark the official international inauguration of the Route verte.
First, the Destination Route verte • 07 tour, which began on July 16, 2007, in the municipality of Ville-Marie in Témiscamingue, was an opportunity to call for action to complete the Route verte and to encourage all Quebecers to explore their Route verte. On each day of this fabulous trip, the six young Destination Route verte • 07 participants explored a different segment of the Route verte and met with dozens of regional bikeway development partners.
Also, during a six-day exploratory trip on the Route verte, the participants in the International Mobile Forum, representatives of major cycling organizations and developers of major bikeways (Canada, United States, Europe) engaged in fruitful discussions with builders of the Route verte in various regions of Quebec.
Lastly, this morning saw the conclusion of a series of regional inaugural events held in 24 cities and towns across Quebec: Montreal, Laval, Gatineau, Thurso, Shawinigan, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay, Alma, Longueuil, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Granby, Sherbrooke, Drummondville, Victoriaville, Lévis, Saint-Georges, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Gaspé, Bonaventure, Ville-Marie, Lorrainville, Saint-Jérôme and Charlemagne. Coordinated by the municipalities, these events highlighted the efforts of all those who have contributed—and who continue to contribute—to the development and improvement of the Route verte in the various regions.
Today, Vélo Québec Association Executive Director Jean-François Pronovost noted, "The Route verte is now 87% complete." According to Vélo Québec projections, based on the progress of current projects, the rate of completion will reach 90% by the end of 2007. With the segments in 13 regions over 85% complete, the bicycle route currently serves 300 municipalities and 3,000 kilometres have already been marked with the official Route verte crest. Pronovost also took this opportunity to point out that "the official international inauguration of the Route verte has given us a chance to collectively establish new objectives for the next five years":
• complete the Route verte as well as the links with routes in United States and Ontario;
• complete and improve the signage all along the Route verte;
• provide for the sustainability of the existing infrastructures;
• enhance awareness of the Route verte beyond our borders.
In closing, he added: "The development of the Route verte would not be possible without the constant support of Transports Québec, which from the outset has fulfilled the commitment of Government of Québec and allocated funds for the construction and maintenance of the Route verte in conjunction with regional partners. This initiative would also be impossible without the commitment and efforts of volunteers in the field, trail managers, regional tourism associations, tourism establishments and bicycle industry partners. Also, during this inauguration year, we have been able to count on the support of the companies PROXIM, a major network of independent pharmacists, and GAZ MÉTRO, which agreed to serve as official sponsors. This has allowed us to hold various events throughout the summer."
The Route verte concept originated with Vélo Québec Association and is being developed in collaboration with the Government of Québec, particularly Transports Québec, as well as regional partners.
Vélo Québec: promoting bicycle use in Quebec since 1967
For 40 years, Vélo Québec, a non-profit organization, has been a prominent fixture in Quebec's bicycling landscape. The organization continuously encourages the use of the bicycle for recreation, tourism and as a means of transportation, to improve the health and well-being of people and the environment. Vélo Québec Association is a division of Vélo Québec.
Source: Vélo Québec Association |
MoviesDC Universe
We Got a Glimpse of Shazam, and Fell in Love With Billy's DC Fanboy Friend
Filed to:Interview
The relationship between Billy (Asher Angel) and Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) is the heart of Shazam.
Photo: Warner Bros.
Even though the upcoming DC film Shazam is called "Shazam," that character won't be the person you see on screen most. That honor falls to Freddy Freeman, played by It's Jack Dylan Grazer.
"He's in the movie more than anybody," producer Peter Safran told a group of journalists in Los Angeles last week. "He had more shoot days than anybody."
Billy Batson, the character who becomes Shazam, is obviously the star but that role is split due to the basic premise of the film, that a young boy is given the ability to become a full-grown superhero. When Billy is himself, he's played by Asher Angel, but when he turns into the superhero Shazam, he's played by Zachary Levi. And to cast both versions of the character, the producers used Grazer.
"I think he was the first person cast," Safran said of the young actor. "Then, once we cast him, we actually brought him in for all the Shazam and all the Billy auditions. If they could keep up with him, we knew they had a shot."
Warner Bros. screened about 15 minutes of footage from Shazam for press last week and it was heavy on the Freddy, for good reason. He's not just Billy's (almost) sidekick, he introduces Billy into the superhero world and helps the film expand its themes.
To explain, first, check out this brand new featurette.
The new footage we viewed began with a scene in the school cafeteria where Freddy asked Billy which power he'd prefer, flight or invisibility. Freddy says most people pick flight because it's more heroic and invisibility is, well, creepy. However, he believes if they could answer anonymously, most people would actually pick invisibility because they don't see themselves as heroic. So right off the bat, Freddy is kind of setting up the themes of the whole movie: Do we have a hero inside of us or not?
In the next scene, Freddy gets hit by a truck driven by a bunch of bullies. Why these kids literally hit him with a car, we don't know. But it's Billy who defends Freddy, smashing the bully in the face with a crutch. He races away from them onto a train hoping to get to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. He never makes it.
Instead, everyone on the train magically disappears and it stops at the Rock of Eternity, a dark, mysterious place where a wizard named Shazam gives Billy, a person he believes to be pure of heart, all his powers. Where does Billy immediately go once he's Shazam? To see Freddy, of course.
Freddy is very excited the first time he meets Shazam.
Freddy is the one person Billy knows with the most superhero knowledge, and it's Freddy who will have some clue what to do. Freddy decides the most important thing is to find out which powers Billy has exactly. First, they test if he can fly. That doesn't work. Neither does invisibility, though Freddy messes with Billy and pretends that it did. Billy then mistakenly shoots lightning out of his hands. Soon after, they see a man mugging a woman down the street. Billy goes to intervene and realizes on the way that he has super speed as well. But no name yet. The girl asks who he is and Freddy starts calls him "Thundercrack!" Billy says that sounds like a butt thing. Then Freddy tries "Mr. Philadelphia" but they agree that sounds like a cream cheese thing. Finally, they just go with "Power Boy."
Jazzed up with Billy's new abilities, Billy and Freddy go to a convenience store to buy beer. Wouldn't you know it though? It gets robbed while they're inside. Billy attempts to stop the robbery only to have the robbers shoot him, but the bullet just bounces off. Freddy freaks out and asks the robbers to keep shooting him, which they do. Then Billy tosses them out of the building. They crack a beer to celebrate before realizing they hate how it tastes.
All of the footage had a real levity to it. The jokes flew fast and furious and while not all of them worked, it's important to note the scenes screened were edited together fairly loosely. There was connective tissue missing, some music, and more. So while it didn't all play like gangbusters, both the intention and material were there. No matter how well these scenes work in the final film, though, it's very obvious Shazam is exploring new aspects of the DC universe. Not just tonally, but contextually.
"They live in a world where superheroes are real," said director David F. Sandberg. "Which is also fun to explore because we don't really see that aspect of it [in the other DC movies]. How would pop culture [react]? Would they still have the toys and action figures we have? And they do, it's just based on a real thing."
Director David F. Sandberg with his two stars.
Again, much of that will be seen through the eyes of, who else? Freddy. He somehow has a bullet that was stopped by Superman, as well as all kinds of newspaper clippings and records of events from the previous movies like Batman v Superman and Justice League. And yet, while Freddy helps ground Shazam in the DC universe, Sandberg doesn't want people to think the movie is just that.
"It's not a puzzle piece," he said. "It was always Shazam's story."
"The mandate for the film was always 'Just make the best movie possible,'" Safran added. "It was never any attempt whatsoever to shoehorn it into any kind of existing storylines or universes."
However, Sandberg and Safran do acknowledge that they would love to see Shazam's universe expand. When Billy walks into the Rock of Eternity, there are artifacts that tease at different parts of DC Comics history. They may even be a tease of Black Adam, who is not in this movie but is a character they'd love to see face Shazam in the future.
"He's a perfect adversary," Safran said of the character likely to be played by Dwayne Johnson. "One would hope that eventually, you see those two on screen together at some point. But not in this one."
No, this one will just see Billy Batson try to reach his full potential as the new DC hero, Shazam. And, with the help of his good friend Freddy, he'll almost get there too.
"When the wizard endows on him this ability to say 'Shazam' and be a superhero, there's no manual that comes with it," Safran said. "So there really is a process for him to learn what his real potential is... [By the end of this film] he certainly has a degree of control and awareness, but there's still a lot for him to learn in terms of the ultimate potential of what Shazam is."
We too, await Shazam's ultimate potential—and that goes for the character and the movie. It opens on April 5.
How Zachary Levi's Run-ins With Marvel Helped Him Become Shazam
How Shazam Will Use Childlike Wonder to Set It Apart From the Superhero Pack
The Latest Shazam TV Spot Is Chock Full of New Footage
New Shazam Toys Hint at Some Mighty Mortals Making Their Debut
Entertainment Reporter for io9/Gizmodo |
Talk: 'Woman's Outlook: a surprisingly modern magazine?'
I will be doing a talk on the former Co-operative Women's Guild periodical Woman's Outlook at the Rochdale Pioneers Museum next year (Thursday March 21), as part of a series of lectures on aspects of co-operative history, and would love to hear from anyone who has memories of reading the magazine between 1919 and 1967.
Working in close proximity to the National Co-operative Archive, I have developed a fascination with Outlook. For nearly five decades it was the voice of the Co-operative Women's Guild, the campaigning organisation which worked to raise the status of women both in the co-operative movement and in society, and onetime editor Mary Stott later rose to prominence as a longstanding editor of the Guardian women's page. From its origins in Manchester in 1919, Outlook provided an enticing mixture of articles encompassing both the personal and the political, combining fashion, fiction, features and recipes with advice for working women – not dissimilar to the content of women's magazines today!
'Woman's Outlook: a surprisingly modern magazine?' will explore some of the key issues addressed in Outlook, from suffrage and peace to maternity benefits, pensions and nursery education, and look at how the magazine encouraged women to get involved in campaigning for a better world – at the same time as helping prepare them to take on more prominent roles in co-operative societies.
Topics covered by Outlook such as female representation in parliament, equal pay and healthy eating remain highly relevant today, and the talk will end by evaluating whether the type of content provided by 21st century women's lifestyle magazines has really changed much since the days of Outlook.
I would love to hear from any women who were members of the Women's Guild in this period, especially those who remember reading Outlook or any other co-operative periodicals, as well as anyone who has any interest in the magazine. If you can help, or can put me in touch with anyone who might be able to help, please email [email protected].
Labels: Cooperative, Femininity, Feminism, History, Magazines, Manchester, Manchester Guardian, Mary Stott, National Co-operative Archive, Rochdale, social history, The Guardian, Woman's Outlook, Women
House gig: Trust Fund, Two White Cranes and Ratfangs, Saturday July 7
Clock Flavour and the Shrieking Violet present:
TRUST FUND (Bristol)
Melancholic yet anthemic electronica – like a bedroom disco for one.
http://trustfund.bandcamp.com
TWO WHITE CRANES (Bristol)
Dreamy folk-pop: wistful melodies and a battered guitar.
http://twowhitecranes.bandcamp.com
RATFANGS (Manchester)
'Manchester's answer to Ariel Pink'...genre roulette for people with hefty attention spans. http://ratfangs.blogspot.co.uk
Saturday July 7
7.45pm Chapeltown Street
Entry by donation
For more information visit: http://clockflavour.tumblr.com
http://tinyurl.com/clockflavour
Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/425386704149803
For directions email [email protected]
Poster by Elizabeth Murray Jones
The Shrieking Violet made a guest appearance on Liam Astley (one half of Clock Flavour)'s great monthly podcast Deadbeat Escapement, which plays one song from each of the past ten decades each episode. I picked my favourite tracks from the 1940s, 1950s, and1980s, and one from this decade, and we talked about the gig among other things. Download it here.
Labels: Bristol, DIY, electronica, Folk, Gigs, guitar, house gigs, Indie, Manchester, Music, Pop
Talk: 'Woman's Outlook: a surprisingly modern maga...
House gig: Trust Fund, Two White Cranes and Ratfan... |
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Zoe Kravitz Costume Homage To Michelle Pfeiffer And Her Advice!
Source: Heroic Hollywood
Zoe Kravitz Pays Homage To Michelle Pfeiffer Wearing The Catsuit
Advice By Pfeiffer To Kravitz For The Costume
Source: Ocean Pop
Filming has resumed on Matt Reeves' The Batman, the Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz-led flick. Kravitz has taken on Catwoman, Selina Kyle's iconic role, adding her to the shortlist of actresses who have had to wear the notorious catsuit in the history of Hollywood.
One of Catwoman's most famous portrayals was Michelle Pfeiffer's. In Batman Returns in 1992, her sinister, sultry, whip-wielding Catwoman made her debut, and her catsuit was just one of the many unforgettable moments from the film.
New images captured on Oct. 12 during The Batman shooting in Liverpool, England give fans a peek into the fashion of Selina Kyle in the upcoming film, and any Pfeiffer stans can stand out with one detail of her elegant, all-black look.
Source: News Break
The leather-clad version of Catwoman by Pfeiffer in Batman. Returns have been one of the character's most well-known portrayals. The actor also gave Kravitz advice on playing the character, saying,
"Make sure whilst designing the costume, they consider how you're going to go to the bathroom."
In the pictures, Kravitz, with John Turturro, who plays Carmine Falcone, is seen walking arm-in-arm. She's wearing a long, shiny black coat with a matching fascinator, and if you look closely at her boots, they're very much like the boots Pfeiffer wore back in 1992. If the shoes aren't the same, they're close enough to feel like a tribute. And faith, this is a look.
"Honor the past. Welcome the future," along with the pictures, read the tweet.
The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard as District Attorney Gil Colson, under the direction of Matt Reeves and written by Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. The movie will arrive in theatres on March 4, 2022.
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TagsBatman Catwoman Michelle Pfeiffer Zoe Kravitz
Tim Norman Next Target Ms. Robbie For Million Dollar Life Insurance Policy |
← With SERIOUS apologies to Corned Beef Hashtag, Howard Ashman, et al….
DeathWatch II No. 66 – I Serve →
DeathWatch II No. 65 – If Nixus were here, what do you think she'd do?
Posted on January 28, 2017 by Catastrophe Jones
"Famulo," Coryphaeus said, smiling to Secta. "I thank you for taking special pains with my servant; feel free to rejoin your master in the festivities." He went to Jules's side and put the food and drink on a table beside her, eyeing the bucket with no small amount of hesitance and disgust.
"She has neither seen, nor purged, Legatus," Secta said, rising. "And–though it may be bold to say it–"
Jules's head snapped up; she stared at Secta, imploring. Don't. Don't do it. Say nothing. Say. Nothing.
Secta caught Jules' expression; his eyebrows lifted, and he paused in the middle of speaking.
"Yes?" Coryphaeus wondered, looking back at Secta, expectant. "What is bold, then?"
"I… am happy for your rising, Lord. This is your house, now, is it not? Though death is not necessarily always a joyous thing, this occasion marks a dawn for your family." Secta's honeyed voice made a smooth recovery; he smiled, bowing low. "I wish all blessings of the Guardian upon you."
"Ah… thank you, yes." Coryphaeus smiled, nodding to Secta, and gave a light wave to dismiss him, so he could turn his attentions to Jules, who kept her head down, waiting for them to be alone.
Once Secta had finally left the room, Jules snagged the aetheris and swigged it down, then moved to take the plate of food, trying to make herself eat slowly. "Thank you. I feel like I haven't truly eaten in weeks."
"You haven't truly eaten in weeks," Cory said, moving to stand up and meander around the room, looking over the bits and baubles that decorated it, the banner of the house crest that belonged to his father. A great phoenix was semi-wound in a hooded serpent's tail, the bird's talons piercing the serpent, the serpent's fangs piercing the flank of the bird. Coryphaeus had found it a spectacular reminder of never becoming too focused on a singular outcome — both the phoenix and the serpent thought themselves winning — but both were soon to die.
He remembered his father droning on about the true meaning involving something about the black field upon which the figures rested — the shadow overcoming both beasts — that all things fell to death at some point, and their struggles were neither epic nor worth remembering. Only those who sought to serve past petty needs of the moment would ever accomplish true goals.
Coryphaeus lifted his own glass to the banner, snorting in salute and then drinking.
Jules wry voice was easily heard over the clamor of his own thoughts. "N'my country, y'know, w'call that 'daddy issues'."
Coryphaeus coughed into his drink, rolling his eyes, and looked over at Jules, saying, "Couldn't maintain the facade for the entire duration, could you?"
"D'ye really want me t'pretend, when we're alone, Legatus?" Jules wondered, setting her clean plate aside. She stood, without wavering, and uttered a long, low sigh of satisfaction. "M'I really t'play the facade for you even when no one's watching?"
"If Nixus were here, what do you think she'd do?"
"She'd call one of us a stupri cunni, roll her eyes, and leave the room again," Jules said aptly.
"No, I meant the banner. Do you think she'd salute him? Drink to him?" Coryphaeus wondered, frowning.
"I–" Jules looked up at the banner, her eyes moving over the tapestry threads. It was an expertly woven thing, beautiful even in the horrible way it portrayed the dying beasts. The surrounding details, past the field of black, were breathtaking in their precision. "I dunno," she admitted. "Why d'you ask?"
"She killed him," Coryphaeus said, voicing aloud the thing he'd been fairly certain of, since seeing the site of his father's death, and then absolutely certain of, once he read the note written to himself.
"She what?" Jules's eyes went huge. She moved to stand in front of him, saying, "But–"
"She and I spoke, one night, while you were in and out of aetheris, trying to master the visions, and then she left. She stays with her Legios, with Sollerti, most times, but I'd heard from various servants who still give me information, that she came here. Stayed the night," Coryphaeus said softly.
"A few days later, while she was with us, my father was announced dead. I've seen Nixus truly surprised. She wasn't. And… the letter from my father was–" He drank more aetheris and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There is no way in this world my father wrote those words with his own hands."
"If you know–" Jules said, looking worried.
"It's possible the whole house knows. We'll never bring it up, outside this moment. The aetheris will keep our secrets between us," he said, nodding and gesturing to her with his glass. He drank the last of it and set it aside.
"Your sister killed your father."
"And named me sole heir in his note," Coryphaeus said. "My mother gave our house a new name, and the Guardian blessed it. I am the eldest son of a very wealthy family," he says, looking to Jules.
"What.. what would Nixus get out of it?" Jules wondered.
"She'd get left alone. She doesn't want the money. She doesn't want to be married off. She wants to be in the military. She wants to run her own life. I was the one who joined it only to get away from him. I'd wanted to know how to run the household for years. At best I'd have been married off… somewhere. Anywhere far from him. But now–" He laughed, tears on his face, giddiness overwhelming him. "I am a legitimate son, Jules. I'm free. Free from him. Free from being tied to the military. Free."
"Congratulations?" Jules's voice worried faintly — she wasn't sure what that meant for her, and what he would expect of her… as a slave.
Coryphaeus turned from the banner, where he'd been marveling at his mother's intricate tapestry work, his eyes flitting from flowers and leaves to birds and script and all manner of details he'd never noticed, and looked to Jules. "It's been… it is known. There have been Lords before me, who have–"
Jules's eyes darkened; she cocked her head to the side. Don't you dare. Don't you keep me a whore in this pretty cage. Don't offer that to me. She advanced on him, fury in her eyes.
"They have set aside their concubina," he began, trying not to stutter. "Retired them, in a way. Gave them a house and household," he said, smiling tentatively. "Relieved them of all obligation to his desires."
"What?" Jules frowned slightly, looking bewildered. That certainly didn't go in the direction she'd expected.
"It's been done before, I am saying to you, Commander. When I publicly take the place as head of this house, I could set you free. I could give you money, land, or just.. my seal, and a way out," he offered, looking hopeful. "Or we could go with my original plan — I simply smuggle you out, with resources, but considering the place will be a war zone–"
"Y'tryin awful hard t'get rid of me, Legatus." Jules tried to keep her voice level, when she spoke.
"Only because I finally accepted that's what you want," Coryphaeus quipped.
Jules made sure she didn't let her expression twist to hurt — instead, she smirked in something between smugness and irritation. "N'what if the thing that makes me wanna get away from anyone is when they try to make my decisions for me? What if you don't know what I want?" Jules asked as she closed the gap between them, and kissed his mouth. What if I don't know, either? But that was a thought best examined alone, while he was off busy with his family.
Coryphaeus looked shocked as her lips pressed to his; he stared at her glassily when she pulled back.
"Now go," she said, her own heart thundering. "I'll stay out of sight, but this is your celebration too, hmm? Y'have t'stop runnin off into darkened rooms. Who knows what all those guests are already gossiping about?" |
Foundry Corporate News - VDMA Foreign Members - Con - Commercial - Topic Consultans
Gemco Engineers BV and Knight Wendling GmbH
In recent times completed Projects
GEMCO ENGINEERS BV, together with sister company KNIGHT WENDLING GmbH, offers well over 30 years of foundry consulting, engineering, project management and contracting services. From offices in the Netherlands, Germany, the Russian Federation (as well as with agents worldwide), they provide a complete range of services entirely dedicated to the cast metal industry. Services encompass (cost-) analysis, feasibility and pre-engineering studies, simulation of foundry logistics and concept engineering. GEMCO's teams of foundry specialists can assist you with innovative concepts, design and planning of complete new foundries; project management and general contracting for new turn-key foundry projects as well as foundry modernizations, optimization projects and relocations of foundries.
Strategic and Operational Consulting, Engineering, Turn-around– and Interim Management, KNIGHT WENDLING's consultants service the metal industry with special focus on the worldwide foundry industry. Strategic consulting comprises Mergers & Acquisitions, Due Diligence and Joint-Venture Projects. Operational consulting offers creative, practical yet sustainable solutions to technical as well as operational issues in the complete range of foundry processes. Over the last 10 years, In the field of "Merger & Acquisition / Due Diligence – Strategic Partnership" KW has been involved in about 80 of such projects for financial and industrial interested parties working either on buyer or seller side - this represents 25% of all closed deals in casting industry.
DEDICATED STEEL FOUNDRY FOR RAILWAY COMPONENTS
MFA – Materiel Ferroviaire d'Arbérats - is an independent branch of the Spanish company JEZ Sistemas Ferroviarios S.L. The Basque company JEZ is a renowned manufacturer of railway crossings and sidings. The history of the company dates back to 1926 when JEZ, Talleres y Fundiciones was established in Bilbao as a company involved in construction in metal. In 1994, a joint venture with the VAE Group resulted in the new firm JEZ Sistemas Ferroviarios. The strong combination of a (national) market-leader and maybe the most important multinational manufacturer in this field makes JEZ a significant player in the crossings and sidings market. The company has clients in over 35 different countries for important projects such as the French railways and metro systems (SNCF, RATP), London and Santiago subways, just to name a few.
In order to respond to a growing worldwide demand for railway materials JEZ chose to expand its production facilities with the erection of a new to build plant on the French side of the Atlantic Pyrenees, in Arbérats, France. The location in France will also allow the company to even better serve the highly potential French market. GEMCO Engineers was asked to perform a concept study, followed by a foundry design and turn-key implementation of all the equipment.
The new state of the art facility covers 7.000 m2 and specializes in the production of railway crossings with a length up to over 6 meters. For these specific products of special lengths/sizes a dedicated modern and highly automated moulding line was developed.
Patterns which are stored in a high-bay storage rack are transferred by means of an automated pattern manipulator to the moulding line where they are prepared for the moulding process and joined together with the flask halves. From here the moulds are automatically transported though the different stations of the line: mixer/sand filling, curing positions, stripping, inspection, after curing, flood coating, coating drying, core setting and inspection, mould closing and pouring cup setting.
Stripping and closing are fully automated processes, where the other processes run manual or semi-automatic.
Prepared moulds are positioned on the semi automatic pouring and cooling line. Here the full moulds (each weighing up to 15 tons) are indexed to the pouring positions, where they can be tilted to an angle during the pouring cycle. After pouring the moulds are transferred into the cooling tunnel. From where they are transported to the shake out.
After shake out, the product transfer is automated by the use of strong manipulators. These powerful units handle the raw castings through the de-gating, heat treatment, shot blasting and rough grinding processes. Automated transfer cars transport the castings into the finishing and machining area.
Project started with concept engineering in 2007. Permitting obligations were fulfilled early 2008 where in summer the groundbreaking took place. January 2009 the equipment installation started. In June the first pour was executed, followed by the start of production.
BEHRINGER NEW FOUNDRY COMPLETED
"Behringer Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei GmbH", one of the world's leading saw manufacturers, successfully completed first melt and first pour in the new Greenfield Foundry for Iron Castings up to 2 tons.
In 2008, Behringer decided to build a new state of the art foundry to replace their existing facility. Prior to the realization of the project GEMCO, together with Behringer, established the production requirements based on which Gemco designed the foundry.
The construction of the new project started late 2008. In May the project team moved into the temporary site office building to organize the installation of equipment that arrived. Towards the end of 2009, the 5.800 m2 building was completed.
In close cooperation with Behringer and other contractors the foundry has become a state of the art production facility that is able to produce grey and ductile castings in furan with a production capacity of 6.000 tons. The new facility enables Behringer to produce world-class castings in a very efficient manner.
Foundry Industry in Russia: BENCHMARKING and DEVELOPMENT of a REFERENCE GUIDE
IFC ASSIGNMENT NEAR COMPLETION
A project consortium of GEMCO Engineers BV and KNIGHT WENDLING GmbH performed a consulting project for the International Finance Corporation (IFC; member of The World Bank Group) titled 'Foundry Industry in Russia: Benchmarking and Development of a Reference Guide'.
This prestigious assignment forms part of the Russia Cleaner Production Program which IFC currently undertakes in the Russian industry. The Program aims to stimulate investment in and uptake of cleaner production technologies and management processes in the Russian industry and to raise awareness among policy makers and financial institutions.
Focus is being put on those sectors deemed to be most interesting for IFC cleaner production investments; including the Russian foundry sector. The project is actively supported by the Russian government and other main stakeholders in the Russian foundry industry.
GEMCO/KNIGHT WENDLING have been awarded this contract thanks to its profound knowledge of the Russian foundry industry, built-up through a large number of recently carried out foundry consultancy and engineering projects for various Russian ferrous and non-ferrous foundries, its permanent presence with a local office in Moscow and of course its experience with similar assignments in various other countries.
The assignment has three main objectives:
develop a Resource Efficiency Reference Guide for the Russian ferrous foundry sector
conduct benchmarking of the Russian ferrous foundry sector
conduct stakeholders consultations to ensure data collection and viability of results
Within the development of the Resource Efficiency Reference Guide; the GEMCO/Knight Wendling project team has been preparing a Diagnostics Guide, a Best Practice Guide and a Compendium on references of Key Performance Indicators (KPI's). In consultation with IFC, a total of 7 groups of KPI's have been defined. For the benchmarking campaign, approximately 200 Russian ferrous foundries have been approached. The first results became available in May 2010. The complete project runs until July/August 2010 and will be concluded with the presentation of the Resource Efficiency Reference Guide during a seminar for the Russian foundry industry.
Caterpillar awards contract to GEMCO for upgrade metal-treatment and pouring system
CATERPILLAR has awarded GEMCO with a contract to upgrade the existing pouring facility at one moulding line in Peoria. During the past months, Caterpillar and Gemco have been developing a new system that enables CAT to utilize their existing moulding line with an innovative new pouring system. The system is able to track with a continuous running moulding line and is adjustable in 3 directions. The project further includes an automatic magnesium dosing system, automatic ladle-deslagging and emptying stations.
Click here for more information and contact details Gemco Engineers B.V. - Knight Wendling GmbH in our Suppliers Profile
SCANIA builds NEW FOUNDRY in Sodertalje, Sweden
GEMCO at GIFA
IMF Group: most important innovations of the production of IMF – BANFI – FOUNDRY AUTOMATION |
Archive for the 'Caitlan Coleman' Category
numerology for Caitlan Coleman
Posted in 35 (Nine of Wands), Caitlan Coleman on December 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »
31 December 2012 06:13 ET
The family of a pregnant American woman missing with her husband in Afghanistan have made a fresh appeal for her safe return.
Caitlan Coleman, 27, is due to give birth in January and needs urgent medical attention, her father told the Associated Press news agency.
James Coleman said she had been travelling with her Canadian husband across Central Asia.
There are fears they were abducted, but no ransom has been demanded.
No militant group has said it is holding the couple and AP says when it contacted the Taliban two months ago, a spokesman said no Taliban members were involved.
The couple last contacted their family on 8 October from what Mr Coleman described as an "unsafe" part of Afghanistan.
It is not clear how they entered Afghanistan and what exactly they were doing there – they had also travelled through Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Mr Coleman adds that his daughter needs medical care for a liver ailment.
"Our goal is to get them back safely and healthy," the father told AP. "I don't know what kind of care they're getting or not getting…we're just an average family and we don't have connections with anybody and we don't have a lot of money."
One Afghan official contacted by AP says the trail has gone cold, after initially suggesting that they may have been abducted in Wardak province in an area about 25 miles (40km) west of the capital Kabul.
But there has been no independent confirmation of this – at the time the couple went missing officials in Wardak told BBC Afghan that they had no information about them.
The US State Department and Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry say they are looking into the disappearance, AP says.
Correspondents say that the kidnapping of foreigners has become relatively common in parts of Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
Earlier this month an American doctor who had been abducted by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan was rescued.
Dilip Joseph, of the Morning Star Development aid group, was freed by US and Afghan forces in a joint operation that killed seven of his captors.
from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20873679
Caitlan Coleman
how she appears to the world and how she lost her heart's desire = 35 = Imminent danger. Without warning. Caught off guard. |
About the Trial
About AMX0035
The PHOENIX Trial:
A Clinical Trial for People
Living With Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS)
Learn about eligibility and more
About the PHOENIX trial
The PHase 3 PHOENIX trial (NCT05021536) will evaluate if the investigational drug, SOdium PhENylbutyrate and TaurursodIol (also known as ursodoXicoltaurine) is safe and effective as a treatment for adults living with ALS. Sodium phenylbutyrate and taurursodiol (ursodoxicoltaurine) is also known as AMX0035.
AMX0035 is not currently approved by the EMA. The trial will use a placebo as a way to compare the safety and effectiveness of AMX0035. A placebo is a substance that looks and tastes the same and is given the same way as the investigational drug being tested, but the placebo does not contain the investigational drug.
PHOENIX is a phase 3 trial, in which many persons living with ALS will be participating in both the United States and Europe. Because PHOENIX is a randomized, double-blind trial, individuals will be chosen at random to receive AMX0035 or placebo, and neither the doctors nor the participants will know who received the investigational drug.
In Europe?
In the US?
Learn more at ClinicalTrials.gov
What will the trial measure to evaluate if the investigational drug is safe and effective?
The PHOENIX trial will compare AMX0035 and placebo groups across several measures that are important in ALS.
See all measures
Safety and tolerability
Function and survival
The Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) will be used to assess and monitor key measures of functional status, such as: speech, handwriting, walking, and more
Breathing: Slow Vital Capacity (SVC)
Participant quality of life and health status
Time it takes to transition through ALS disease stages
Survival without requiring permanent breathing support
Caregivers will be asked to complete a questionnaire at the baseline visit and every 12 weeks during the trial. A caregiver is a person who regularly looks after and provides the necessary care for a person living with ALS. A caregiver can also be a professional, such as a hired personal assistant or hired nursing staff.
Download more details about the PHOENIX trial
What should participants in the PHOENIX trial expect?
Each participant will be in the PHOENIX trial for approximately 1 year (48 weeks).
Participants in the PHOENIX trial will have a 60% chance of receiving AMX0035 and 40% chance of receiving placebo.
The PHOENIX trial is designed to be telemedicine-friendly; in-clinic visits will occur at the start of the study and every 3 months (12 weeks) after for a total of up to 6 in-person visits. All other monthly visits will be performed virtually.
Some of the participating sites may arrange for shipment of the study drug to participants' homes. For in-clinic visits, travel reimbursement will be provided.
Other meds
If participants are taking riluzole and/or edaravone for ALS before the start of the trial, they may continue to take them during this trial.
If participants are not already taking either medication, then they are not allowed to start riluzole or edaravone therapy during the trial.
Open Label
Participants completing the 48-week trial will have the option to enroll in an Open Label Extension (OLE) Phase for up to 2 years, if not commercially available. During this phase, all participants will receive AMX0035 and continued safety and efficacy measures will be assessed.
What is AMX0035?1,2
AMX0035 is an oral, fixed-dose combination of sodium phenylbutyrate (PB) and taurursodiol (also called ursodoxicoltaurine; TURSO). AMX0035 is an investigational drug, also known as PB and TURSO.
How is AMX0035 administered to trial participants?
AMX0035 is a powder that comes in packets, which can be mixed with water and taken by mouth or through a feeding tube. Placebo will be administered in the same way.
Am I potentially eligible?
Clinical trials have specific eligibility criteria to ensure that the goals of the study are met. Eligibility criteria differ from study to study.
The below are only select criteria for the PHOENIX trial. For a list of the full eligibility criteria for the PHOENIX trial please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05021536). Select criteria includes:
Have been diagnosed with clinically definite or clinically probable ALS (Based on revised El Escorial criteria by a physician who is experienced in management of ALS)
Have started experiencing ALS symptoms within the past 24 months
Have a slow vital capacity (SVC) of at least 55% at the time of screening
If you are taking riluzole and/or edaravone as medication for ALS before the start of the trial you should be taking a stable dose at the time of screening and you may continue to take this medication during this trial (Participants are not allowed to start riluzole or edaravone therapy during the trial)
Does not need a tracheostomy or permanent assisted ventilation (PAV: > 22 hours of assisted ventilation daily for > 7 days)
Speak with your ALS doctor or care team to review the full list of eligibility criteria to determine if this is the right trial for you.
PHOENIX Trial Locations
PHOENIX is a clinical trial with sites in Europe and the United States. Please note: Recruitment has closed in the US and is ongoing in Europe.
Select your region below to see what site is closest to you or click here to view a list of the clinical site locations.
Sites are activating on a rolling basis; please note that listed sites may not yet be active, but will be updated once they are. The latest information is available on www.clinicaltrials.gov.
If you are a person with ALS, discuss with your doctor or care team
next steps if considering trial participation.
Paganoni S, et al. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:919-930.
Paganoni S, et al. Muscle Nerve. 2021;63:31-39.doi:10.1002/mus.27091.
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Amylyx is a Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company dedicated to the
development of therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
© Copyright 2022 Amylyx. All Rights Reserved. |
How Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich Re ...
How Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich Reimagines True Crime
True crime media has exploded in recent years—whether it be podcasts, television series, documentaries, or movies, this genre has a unique ability to grip listeners and viewers. We are all familiar with the latest binge-watches and media executives are hard pressed to create the next one. Series like Making a Murderer, The Jinx, Evil Genius, Don't F*** with Cats, Leaving Neverland, Tiger King, and Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes follow the stories of criminals, fleetingly making them the subjects of everyone's fascination. More recently, re-enactments such as Waco, The People v OJ Simpson, and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile have transformed infamous crimes into full scale cinematic productions with big names like Zac Efron and John Travolta. Recently, Netflix released the latest of its string of true crime shows. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich details the crimes of financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
After decades of sexually abusing countless girls and young women with little consequence, Epstein finally faced sex trafficking charges in 2019. In the four-part series, Director Lisa Bryant highlights how Epstein curiously evaded punishment for so long. She exposes Epstein's manipulation of the law as well as the suspicious complacency of the individuals who were charged with bringing him to justice. Filthy Rich plainly shows how the system failed his victims, many of whom were from low-income neighborhoods and disadvantaged backgrounds.
The true crime genre is problematic and complicit in supporting the systems that failed Epstein's victims. There is something inherently voyeuristic and insensitive about turning a crime that likely damaged many lives forever into a means of entertainment and profit. True crime shows and movies often feel cold and exploitative in their focus on the perpetrator; empathy is too often abandoned in favor of mindless entertainment. Whodunnit shows like Dateline and Investigation Discovery broadcast an apathetic approach to murders, disappearances, and sexual violence and exploitation – often reducing the victim's pain and suffering to little more than a few hours of leisure for viewers. These shortcomings culminate in an entertainment genre – and hence a media culture – that values grisly details of exploitation and violence over details about the victim impact or survivorship.
Filthy Rich's emphasis on practices ingrained in our justice system that benefit white, wealthy individuals is especially poignant right now, as we mourn the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and unacceptable racial injustice and violence against our Black community members. The institutionalized racism prevalent in our criminal justice system is highlighted by how long it took to hold Epstein accountable. Consider how a wealthy white man can freely abuse and traffic dozens of girls for years despite multiple police and FBI reports of his conduct, yet George Floyd was murdered by a police officer just for suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill.
While Filthy Rich may fall under the genre of true crime, it sets itself apart from other well known shows in its category. Unlike hit series Don't F*** with Cats and The Ted Bundy Tapes, Bryant takes a victim-centered approach to Filthy Rich. She includes little information about Epstein himself save for what is necessary for viewers to understand his wealth, connections, and sociopathic tendencies. Conversely, every survivor interviewed shares details about their childhood, profession, hobbies, relationships, and life after their horrific abuse. The survivors interviewed are given a platform to tell their lived experiences beyond just an "entertaining" description of Epstein's abuse and exploitation of them. Instead of passively watching the show, viewers are challenged to focus on the survivors' humanity and empathize with their pain and struggle to process and heal from the atrocious abuse Epstein subjected them to.
Human trafficking is a crime that is difficult to grasp for many. It is often misunderstood in a way that leads to victim blame. For example, if victims are not physically prevented from leaving their trafficker, they are often written off as consensual sex workers. This common mistake makes the show's survivor testimony all the more critical to educating our community, addressing myths and misconceptions and raising awareness. Bryant expertly documents Epstein's and accomplice Ghislane Maxwell's calculated economic and psychological manipulation of his victims, including his threats and stalking of those who tried to seek help. In doing so, Bryant makes clear that these women—some just children at the time—were trapped. The dire importance of intervention by those who see the signs of trafficking is revealed through a man interviewed in the series who worked for Epstein and saw signs of the abuse firsthand. At the time, it made him uncomfortable and suspicious—looking back, he wished he had acted on those suspicions. This highlights just how important it is to educate the public on what human trafficking looks like and what it doesn't and what to do if you do suspect it is happening hidden in plain sight.
Survivors of human trafficking (and televised crime victims in general) are often sensationalized like murder victims in the average Dateline episode. True crime series are often performative; even the docuseries Don't F*** with Cats that attempts to offer social commentary by critiquing our obsession with true crime seems ingenuine in light of its showing the killers' own recordings of his crimes with barely a mention of his victim. Sadly, white, wealthy women who are low-risk victims tend to be the subject of popular shows as their victimization is more shocking and thus entertaining in our country. Filthy Rich amplifies the voices of those who are more often the victims of crime—young, low-income women, many of which suffered sexual abuse as a child.
Survivors of sex crimes—whether the subject of a show or a newspaper article—are usually nameless and faceless to us. Sometimes that is for good reasons such as safety and confidentiality. Sometimes it is because our media culture does not value their pain or abuse enough to accurately portray it. When Epstein's crimes finally came to light in 2019, his life and persona dominated the national narrative rather than a larger conversation about sexual abuse or commercial sexual exploitation of children. Filthy Rich addresses that head on by focusing on the dehumanization of Epstein's crimes, allowing victims to share their lived experiences with the world despite not being able to share it while facing their trafficker in a court of law. With Epstein's alleged accomplice Ghislane Maxwell now in custody, perhaps survivors will finally see one of their abusers brought to justice. Furthermore, Maxwell may be capable of exposing other traffickers and pedophiles unknown to law enforcement who engaged in sex crimes with Epstein. As current events and the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrates, exposing the ingrained racism and shameful double standard of our criminal justice system is critical to ensuring that future Epsteins (and Maxwells) do not escape justice. Until wealthy White criminals can no longer strike absurdly lenient deals with law enforcement behind closed doors, true "justice" will remain elusive – an empty promise.
July 15, 2020 Fairgirls Admin FG Staff Blog No comments
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Fairgirls AdminHow Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich Reimagines True Crime 07.15.2020 |
Federal Pro Se Clinic in Colorado Helps the Public Navigate Our Federal Courts
Kristen L. Mix Kristen L. Mix
Magistrate Judge, United States District Court for the District of Colorado
Consider this hypothetical. Charles Trestle started working for Reliable Trucking in Colorado Springs as a part-time dispatcher when he was 20 years old. He worked his way up to vice president in charge of western trucking operations, a job he has held for more than 10 years. He loves his job and has raised a family of four children with his wife, LeAnn, who works as a certified nursing assistant at a hospital. Charles just turned 62. His boss, the company's new president and son of its founder, has begun asking him a lot of questions about retirement. Charles has no current plans to retire. He and LeAnn have saved a little money but neither wants to stop working. Their health is good (although Charles had a heart bypass two years ago, he has recovered), and they enjoy their children and grandchildren and the balance they've struck between their home and working lives. Charles takes great pride in Reliable and in his career with the company.
A few weeks ago, company president Tyler Mann stopped into Charles's office and asked him to talk to some employees on the loading dock who were in a heated argument about scheduling—"if you think you can handle that." Charles said that he could and took care of the issue. Later that day, Mr. Mann made a comment in a company meeting about the dispute and said, "I had to ask Charles to go down there because all the young guys were busy. I was crossing my fingers that he wouldn't keel over." On the following day, Suzette Mann, the company HR manager and wife of the president, called Charles about signing some retirement papers. When Charles asked what she was talking about, she said that her husband had told her that Charles was retiring and his last day would be Friday. Charles immediately went to see Mr. Mann, who said that "it's time" and "you knew this day was coming" and that "we just need someone with more energy in the job." When Charles said that no one had mentioned any problems with his work, Mr. Mann responded, "It's not about that. It's just time for you to start enjoying life and your grandkids more. Nobody wants you to have another heart attack." Tyler added that Charles could accept severance pay or he would be fired. Charles declined the severance pay because he would have had to sign a release agreeing not to sue the company. He talked it over with LeAnn and they decided that they weren't going to let the company get away with treating him this way after 42 years of service. Charles's last day at the company was two weeks ago. There was no retirement party.
Charles spent the next week talking to lawyers, but he hasn't been able to find representation. A few of them said they were worried about legal costs because the company is relatively small and Charles's damages are low, although they believe he has a case. One of them mentioned that his case should be filed in federal court. Charles has limited financial resources, no legal training, and is worried about the strain of trying to represent himself in federal court. Will Charles have to give up on pursuing his legal rights?
Not anymore. Since June of 2018, the Colorado Bar Association Federal Pro Se Clinic (the Clinic) has been helping people like Charles navigate the overwhelming process of filing and pursuing a lawsuit in federal court without a lawyer. The Clinic's physical home is on the first floor of the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse in Denver, but many clients are assisted by telephone. The Clinic is operated with funds provided by biannual attorney assessments collected through the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Leslie Kelly, the current FPSC Managing Attorney, explained that the Clinic is run with the help of Case Management Coordinator Robbin Lego, CBA Access to Justice lawyer Mia Kontnik, a varying number of law student interns, and a robust corps of attorney volunteers. Charles Trestle is a typical client, as approximately 40 percent of the people who seek help have employment-related claims. Another 30 percent pursue civil rights claims, and five percent want help with social security claims. More than 95 percent of FPSC clients are plaintiffs who are attempting to file lawsuits to vindicate their rights. Importantly, Clinic clients get help at no charge.
As Ms. Kelly explained, although Clinic clients come from all walks of life, most are financially challenged. When clients contact the Clinic about a problem, staff and volunteers get to work. Some clients are steered towards administrative or non-legal processes that are more likely to meet their needs. Others are provided with answers to questions about court rules, procedures, and orders, and some may be advised not to file a lawsuit. All get a chance to discuss their problems with knowledgeable advisors. "I really like getting to know the individuals we serve," Ms. Kelly said. "We do get to know their issues and can hopefully develop trust with them. We want to be a resource for them—win, lose, or settle."
The Clinic has kept its doors open, albeit virtually, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff and volunteer attorneys have been handling around 15 appointments per week, and the average client has between two and three meetings with Clinic personnel. Use of the Clinic has increased substantially in the time it has been in operation, and all signs point to increasing demand for pro se assistance. Recently, the United States Bankruptcy Court for District of Colorado has opened its own pro se clinic, again with the help of the Colorado Bar Association. Attorney Matt Skeen is in charge and looks forward to providing the same level of service as the FPSC.
The United States District Court for the District of Colorado has one of the busiest civil dockets in the country, approximately 25 percent of which consists of pro se litigation. Judicial officers routinely refer pro se parties to the Clinic for help. "The value of the FPSC cannot be overstated. Clinic staff and volunteers truly empower pro se litigants and aid them in having a fair opportunity to present their case," said United States Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews. "We see the difference in the work product of these litigants, and in their demeanor before the court." The FPSC has made a difference to the Clerk's Office as well, as employees can refer pro se filers who need help to the Clinic, instead of trying to provide assistance without giving legal advice.
The Clinic's ability to handle client demand is enhanced considerably by attorney volunteers who meet with clients, explain forms, and answer questions. Former high school teacher and current patent litigator Paul Cha began volunteering at the Clinic in 2019. He noted that he "really feels useful" after finishing each of his volunteer shifts. Mr. Cha has assisted clients with First Amendment (free speech) cases, employment discrimination cases, and a property dispute. "The people who come in just want someone to help them tell their story better," he commented. The opportunity to consult with lawyers on how to do that is priceless.
For litigants like Charles Trestle, the Federal Pro Se Clinic is a resource unlike any other. There he can speak to lawyers about his case, get assistance with forms and answers to questions, and do so without financial obligation. The Clinic also allows lawyers to use their skills to help people in need, and enhances the ability of the court to process cases efficiently and effectively. It's a big win for justice all the way around. |
2013 Audi RS6 Avant
A sleeper wagon with supercar performance.
In Europe, excessive displays of power and wealth are considered to be in poor taste. It's why the luxury-car segment has been in decline there for years, and why high-performance sports cars remain a rare sight as well. But that doesn't mean that Europe's wealthy are practicing ascetics. They just prefer their finery to lack flash. And nothing facilitates this philosophy more than a high-powered station wagon.
Witness this RS6 Avant, powered by a 553-hp, twin-turbo V-8. Car agnostics and busybody neighbors won't know what you're packing in your A6 Avant, a wagon usually fitted with a more pedestrian four- or six-banger. The initiated, however, will recognize the RS treatment, which includes wider rear fenders, broad front air intakes, darker head- and taillight reflectors, and—this is important—two large oval exhaust pipes.
Audi is actually using the RS6 Avant to experiment with its overall design language. Thanks to a new rear bumper, the "overbite" of the A6 taillights is gone. And up front, when either of the optional carbon-fiber or aluminum packages is ordered, the bottom portion of the RS6's large grille is emblazoned with large-type "Quattro" lettering in a framed insert.
Flash to Pass
The translation for "Quattro," in this case, is "move over." As with the previous-generation RS6 Avant, which packed an oh-no-you-didn't 580-hp, twin-turbo 5.0-liter V-10 adopted from the Lamborghini Gallardo, the current RS6's 553-hp, twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 produces vicious acceleration at virtually any engine speed, as well as a lusty and aggressive exhaust roar. Even when cruising at or well above triple-digit speeds on the autobahn, a stab of the throttle catapults the 4500-pound wagon forward. Keep your foot in it, and the rush of acceleration doesn't let up until you've maxed out at 155, 174, or a lofty 190 mph, your limit dependent on which governor setting you selected from the extensive RS6 option list. We're told the wagon has a theoretical unchecked top speed of more than 200 mph.
The 553-hp 4.0-liter V-8 under the hood is not a unique piece; it is a variation of the same unit found in the S6, the S8, and the Bentley Continental V-8. Its massive 516 lb-ft of torque renders Audi's own seven-speed dual-clutch automatic unusable. To feed the torque to all four wheels, Audi relies on a remarkably quick-shifting, ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic. Thanks to the smaller displacement, cylinder deactivation, and an engine stop-start system, the RS6 Avant is rated at 24 mpg in the notoriously optimistic European cycle. When pushing hard, however, the reality is less than half of that mileage.
The chassis is engineered to match the powertrain's performance. Though less powerful than its Lambo-powered predecessor, the new RS6 Avant is less nose-heavy and 220 pounds lighter overall. The latest car can be fitted with 20- or 21-inch wheels, carbon-ceramic brakes, and a sports differential that distributes the torque between the rear wheels to help mitigate understeer. The standard torque split favors the rear, 60 percent to 40, although the ratio is variable according to available traction. As a result, this superwagon is more willing to dive for apexes than ever before, and it is easy to rotate the car with the throttle if so desired.
But station wagons are about practicality, as well. Comfortably equipped and endowed with a large and highly configurable cargo area, the RS6 can do double duty as a family car. Seemingly modest Europeans will be thrilled, as they get to keep the RS6 for themselves—it won't be coming here. But U.S. buyers will soon get to sample—and flaunt—its hardware in the handsome RS7.
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
ESTIMATED BASE PRICE (GERMANY, INCL. VAT): $141,463
ENGINE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 244 cu in, 3993 cc
Power: 553 hp @ 5700 rpm
Torque: 516 lb-ft @ 1750 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
Wheelbase: 114.8 in
Length: 196.0 in
Width: 76.2 in Height: 57.5 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4500 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 3.8 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.0 sec
Top speed: 155-190 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
European combined cycle: 24 mpg
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Context is King
December 3, 2019 December 3, 2019 Turner L. Watson Leave a comment
Disclaimer: I am wholeheartedly aboard the #MeToo train. Hell, I'm a feminist snowflake, if that's the language you want to use. Our sisters, daughters, mothers, and friends deserve better, quite frankly. However, I also acknowledge when "cancel culture" goes too far. Political Correctness usually has the noblest of intentions, but now and then it gets in the way, and creates division where there has previously been none. Case in point: the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
Here are the first two times this song was ever recorded for distribution, from the 1949 film "Neptune's Daughter." We start with Ester Williams and Ricardo Freakin' Montalban (!) doing the version we all know…the wolfish male predator and his hesitant quarry. Okay, yeah. It looks really bad. When he grabs her arm…repeatedly…to prevent her escape…oof. Not a good look. At least in the radio versions, like Dean Martin's 1959 rendition, or the (far superior) Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer version from 1949, we don't actually see the couple. We can imagine that she really does want to stay, but feels guilty, because people back in the late-40's and 50's were completely repressed, and slut-shaming was rampant…like, he's almost doing her a favor in making the decision for her. Still, when you see Ricardo essentially chase her around the room, it's a little unsettling to modern eyes.
And then we get to observe the other couple, and, uh…well, now!
I mean, come on! Showing her KNEE! Like some shameless HUSSY!
From the same film, we see Red Skelton doing a cartoonishly bad accent, and the tables have turned…his lusty adversary is Betty Garrett, and she demands, like any liberated woman, to have her needs met, by God. Years later, in her powerful "Don't Leave Me This Way," Thelma Houston expressed her similar desire thusly:
"Oh baby, my heart is full of love and desire for you
Now, come on down and do what you've got to do…"
Do what you've got to do. Yes. TELL HIM, SISTER!! That was the disco-clad Sexual Revolution in the Swinging' 70's, but even then, fairly bold. A woman? Demanding sexual gratification from her mate?! CLUTCH THOSE PEARLS!!
"Okay, great…but what's your point? That we should forgive Montalban's character for his aggressive courtship?" Well, no. Not entirely. But we have to realize that A) it was a wayyyyy different time and B) the scene exists primarily as a way to set up the much more comedic scene which follows. The Red Skelton stuff would have been somewhat humorous in and of itself…but after seeing the "male" version, it's even more impactful when Betty Garrett throws her conquest on the couch…sits on him…and turns out the light. She's in complete control, and there's not a damn thing Red can do about it. And as a viewer, we all sort of agree that he really doesn't want to anyway. And, ultimately, as things tended to do in the screwball comedies of yesteryear, everything worked out, and both couples found love. Here's the official "Neptune's Daughter" synopsis from IMDB:
Scatterbrained Betty Barrett mistakes masseur Jack Spratt for Jose O'Rourke, the captain of the South American polo team. Spratt goes along with the charade, but the situation becomes more complicated when they fall in love. Meanwhile, Betty's sensible older sister Eve fears Betty's heart will be broken when Jose returns to South America. She arranges to meet with the real O'Rourke and love soon blossoms between them as well.
This brief description leaves out that Eve is an aquatic dancer (hence the movie's title) and that she's actually partnered with a man (the omnipresent Keenan Wynn) in a swimwear company. Partnered. Equal. She is, by 1940's standards, a powerful, professional woman. Athletic, smart, cunning, and protective of her younger sister. Does it make Ricardo's Jose O'Rourke (his character's actual name, and Beto O'Rourke is totally biting his rhyme, yo) any less creepy? Not really. But it implies that Eve was more than capable of fending for herself. And that makes a huge difference; she's not some meek little virgin, not some naive waif who simply doesn't stand a chance against the machismo of a young Khan Noonien Singh. (And who among us can truly say that? Not I. I'm a 49-year-old heterosexual male, but if he wanted to chase me 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom, well, heck…no mere mortal can resist such masculinity, especially if it smells of rich Corinthian leather.) I digress. Okay, in conclusion, I'll simply say that yeah, "no" means "no." Still. But it's never wise to take isolated incidents out of context. Do the homework. Read the entire article. Watch the interview. Consider everything before leaping to condemn. And above all, relax, people. Have fun. Kiss him or her. If they slap your face, stop. Pretty simple.
Enjoy the holidays, everyone. |
Home Prices Reach Record as Listings Fall to All-Time Low, Redfin Says
by Ellen Chang in Real Estate
December 11, 2021, 8:00 AM EST 2 MIN
U.S. home prices rose to a record high as active listings of homes for sale declined to an all-time low, according to a Redfin report.
The median sale price for a home rose to $360,250 for the four-week period ending Dec. 5, a gain of 14% from a year earlier, the report said. The record low in active listings is down 25% from the same period a year ago.
While the number of homes being sold during the pandemic surged as low mortgage rates boosted demand, there are indications that demand is slowing to reflect a more typical winter real estate season, the report said. Pending home sales, meaning signed contracts, declined to their lowest level since February, according to the report, said Redfin.
The Federal Reserve is tapering its purchases of Treasuries and mortgage bonds, causing mortgage rates to drift higher and dampening home price growth. During the period covered by the report, asking prices for newly listed homes increased 11% from the same time a year ago, a smaller advance than the increase in sale prices, according to the report.
"Homebuying demand seems to be returning to a slowdown trend that we'd typically expect to see in the last few weeks of the year," said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist for Redfin.
"The latest research on the Omicron variant seems to be easing consumers' worst fears, but a lot of uncertainty remains in the economy – from inflation, jobs and wages to how the Fed reacts to those factors," Fairweather said. "Amid all that economic uncertainty, the notion that home prices will continue to grow in the near-term feels relatively certain."
New listings of homes for sale were down 7% from a year earlier, the report said.
About 43% of homes sold above list price, an increase from 35% from a year earlier and 21% in 2019, Redfin said.
The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.07% in November and October, up from 2.74% at the beginning of the year, according to Freddie Mac data.
Measured as an annual average, the rate next year likely will be 3.3%, up from 3% this year, an all-time low, Fannie Mae said in a forecast last month.
Home Sales Reached a 15-Year High in 2021, Even With December's Retreat
Real Estate 2 MIN
Home Sellers' Confidence Is At All-Time High, Report Finds
Pending Home Sales Slump as Listing Shortages, Holidays Crimp Demand
Pending sales and property viewings in December fell to the lowest level since the start of 2021, a Redfin report showed.
January 6, 2022 3 MIN
Home-Price Growth Will Slow in 2022, CoreLogic Says
Some of the nation's highest-flying markets in 2021 may see the smallest gains this year, the CoreLogic forecast said.
by Kathleen Howley in Real Estate
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