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Given I've just recently sold off all of my non-essential belongings my Christmas list this year is a little different than it has been in years past. In place of shoes and nail polish this year's list is full of exciting things we still need for the boat. Santa is always very generous with our stockings, so I am curious to see just how many tubes of sunscreen and aloe I get.
First up on my list is The Boat Galley Cookbook. I was skeptical of this book at first. I gave it a shot, downloaded the free sample of the book, but I wasn't convinced this would be an essential item to keep on board. I consider myself pretty creative in the kitchen, I can look in the fridge and pretty easily concoct something from whatever I have lying around. So at first glance I didn't find the recipes that creative or think they would really be very helpful. It wasn't until I read this opinion of why the book is a "Must Have" that it moved from "Eh" to "Maybe I should definitely get me a copy." Apparently when you're sailing you can get pretty bored with all the cans of SPAM and rice you have in your lockers. Sometimes you just need someone else to tell you to add some magical ingredient to your meal to keep the crew satisfied. And, if Santa is bringing it for me its not like I have to buy it myself.
Next up on my list is a Lock&Lock plastic egg carton. I know in the States eggs come in a fancy carton all of their own. But it seems that in foreign countries eggs aren't even refrigerated (don't worry, they are perfectly safe and actually stay fresh much longer), much less come packaged to help avoid crushing. This bad boy will keep us eating fresh eggs as much as possible.
Next up on my list is really exciting. Go ahead, take a minute to prepare yourself. I'll wait.
It's Method laundry detergent AND the refill packs!! I knew it would knock your socks off. This stuff is biodegradable so it won't harm any animals if I happen to dump my used water into the ocean. It's also 4x concentrated so it takes up a quarter of the space normal detergent would. It's pretty much a win win situation. For me, and the fishes.
I find it both exciting and depressing that I have detergent on my Christmas list this year. It's exciting that I've cut out all the crap and a lot of materialistic items in my life, but also depressing that I'm asking Santa for detergent. If you want to play Santa this year or help me to get all those embarrassing items off my list, check out our sailing registry.
I just caved and purchased the Boat Galley cookbook. Like you, wasn't sure if I needed it because I do a pretty good job cooking in my galley. I've read through the book, and I do like some of the ideas and recipes (Thermos slow cooking, never knew that existed!). I think it's worthwhile, and curious to see if you got the book. Will have to look around your blog for any updates.
I did get the book. There are some things I think are great in it, and some that any experienced cook would know to do already. I made us the sweet and sour chicken (p279) today and it was really good! I used thighs instead, and brocoli instead of peppers because that is what we had on board. Keep me posted if you try any really good recipes. Also, thanks for the tip on that beer bread – it was incredible. |
Home - European Commission
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October 2020 developments in child and family policy in EU member states
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The European Platform for Investing in Children (EPIC) presents a round-up of the latest developments in child and family policy in EU member states in October 2020. Each piece of news contains a link to the original source, which may be in a language other than English. In most cases, they are press releases from the relevant ministries.
Denmark: Strategy for working with private foundations supporting vulnerable children
The ministry with responsibility for social affairs (Social og Indenrigsminister) introduced a new funding strategy that sets out how the ministry will work with private foundations who support children through their work. The strategy aims to promote knowledge-sharing and cooperation between civil investors, civil society actors and other public sector organisations with the goal of making social funding more efficient.
Denmark: New bill on inclusion of disadvantaged children in care centres and primary schools
The ministry with responsibility for social affairs (Social og Indenrigsminister) introduced a bill that aims to improve the inclusion of children with disabilities into early childhood education and care (ECEC) and schools. The ministry intends to strengthen existing anti-discrimination rules.
France: Review of implementation of strategy for prevention and children protection
The ministry with responsibilities for children and families (Ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé) released a report that provides an update on progress towards implementing the 2019 National Strategy for Prevention and Child Protection (La Stratégie nationale de prevention et de protection de l'enfance). The report provides information on the steps taken towards implementing the strategy over the past year: including measures aimed at improving partnership policies, harmonising and strengthening rights for all children, and reforming policies around adoption.
Germany: New law proposed to protect children online
On 14 October 2020, the federal government approved a revised law on the protection of minors. Proposed by the federal ministry with responsibility for family (Bundesfamilienministerium), the law aims to better protect children from risks found on the internet (including sexual harassment and cyberbullying) and to provide standardised age ratings for films and games. The bill now passes to the federal parliament (Bundestag) and, if approved, will enter into force in spring 2021.
Greece: New programme of free school meals for selected schools
The ministry with responsibility for education (Υπουργειο Παιδειασ Και Θρησκευματων) has introduced a free school meals programme in primary schools for the academic year 2020-2021. In order to qualify to offer these free school meals to their pupils, schools need to fulfil certain criteria, such as being in a deprived area, or having a large number of pupils at risk of poverty. All pupils in the selected schools will receive free meals.
Slovakia: New project against bullying in schools
The ministry with responsibility for education (Ministerstvo Školstva, Vedy, Výskumu A Športu) has become a partner in a new project that aims to tackle bullying. Called 'We will respond' (Odpíšeme ti), the project was launched on 5 October 2020 by the ministry and two national foundations: Markíza Foundation (Nadácia Markíza) and Child Safety Line (Linka detskej istoty). As part of providing direct support to victims and promoting public discussion about the issue, the project offers personalised help to children via a special helpline (116 111) and via a new website.
Spain: Report on remote educational activities implemented during COVID-19
The ministry with responsibility for education (Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional) published a report setting out the educational response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The report describes various policies and initiatives that were launched by the ministry between March and September 2020 in order to encourage and support remote learning. One example is the web portal 'Learn from Home' (Aprendo en Casa) which was developed to bring together educational resources, online training, and tools and apps for teachers, families and students.
European Union: Release of Gender Equality Index 2020
On 16 October 2020, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) released the fifth edition of the Gender Equality Index. The thematic focus of the 2020 edition investigates the effect of digitalisation in the lives of men and women and considers the impact of intersecting inequalities. The Gender Equality Index also examines gender equality in the domains of work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.
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In the forest for avalanches: spring safari in the suburbs
May 1, 2022 by banggiaxemoi.com
The primrose season is in full swing. And these are not just avalanches: anemone, pneumonia, raspberry – they grow despite the cold, in advance in the hope of a quick warm-up. Where to look for them? There are many beautiful forests around Moscow, where it is wonderful to meet in the spring.
The scientific name of true snow is galanthus. This is an ephemeral plant: the white flowers appear suddenly and disappear quickly until next spring. The search for elusive flowers is a gamble. The Scots call it gallantophilia – with the light hand of gardener Edward Bowles, who addressed his friend with the letters "dear gallantophile".
In fact, in the wild, blueberries are rare: in the middle lane they are garden plants. But in the forests near Moscow there are many other primroses: blueberry, copse, anemone, corydalis, lungwort, coltsfoot. The season of our ephemeral is not so ephemeral: unlike the blueberries, which already come down in March, these flowers can be found until the end of May. If you are not in a hurry, like a stepmother in the fairy tale "Twelve Months", but you go for avalanches in season, their search turns into a safari that confirms life.
Snowmobiles are associated with a myth of expulsion from paradise. When Adam and Eve came to earth, it was winter. Then an angel was sent to comfort them. He promised that spring would come soon, he blew on the snowflakes and made them flowers. So there was hope on earth.
Each primrose has its own superpower
© Linda Brotkorb / EyeEm / Getty Images
Galanthous improves memory, because it contains galantamine. It is added to medicines for Alzheimer's disease.
© Jessica Kopecky Design / Getty Images
Lungwort changes color: at first it is pink and then it turns purple. This is a good honey plant, used in teas and salads.
© undefined undefined / Getty Images
Korydalis in medicine it is used as a sedative: it contains sanguinarine, the active ingredient of some medicines.
© Carmen Hauser / Getty Images
Spring Adonis can live up to 150 years.
Valley of the Seven Springs
Dozens of streams descend to Protva forming waterfalls from small waterfalls. The largest are five meters high. To see them in full height, you have to climb steep wet slopes: bring waterproof shoes! The terraces are overgrown with bright green moss – spring comes in stark contrast to last year's grass. The mixed forest here is quite light, so you can find different primroses: corydalis, lungwort, anemone meadows. You can look for them by stopping between streams and at the same time listening to frog concerts: the spawning is only at the beginning of May, on the coast of Protva there is a lot of frog caviar.
The village of Zolotkovo is accessible from Mozhaisk or Vereya. Park on Rechnoy Lane and walk down to Protva. The road passes through the water protection zone, after the water meadow you will be in the forest – and immediately you will hear the first streams.
110 km from MKAD along the Minsk highway
Pine forest in dunes
A piece of Karelia an hour and a half drive from Moscow: a transparent pine forest is full of light and audible bird trills, fragrant air soaked with pine needles. The landscape is hilly – under a soft moss carpet, the dunes themselves are hidden. The sand is exposed near the river Nerskaya, which is loved by kayaks: the pines cling graphically to the steep banks. You are less likely to find lungs or vertebrae, but at the edge of the forest there are shrapnel. And you can also see how the blueberries and berries bloom.
Natural ReserveIn the shelters are protected certain species of plants and animals and in the shelters nature is protected from any human influence. consists of three sections, separated by the Egoryevskoye highway and the road to their village. Tsiurupi. Comfortable parking is available on the Nerskaya River side.
70 km from the Moscow ring road along the highway Egoryevskoye
Dubrovitsky Forest
The majestic baroque church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the confluence of the Desna and Pakhra rivers attracts hundreds of tourists to Dubrovitsy every day. But few continue to travel to the surrounding area, but in vain – after all, there are beautiful forests around.
Dubrovitsky forest has the status of a reserve: in confirmation of the place name, oaks grow here – scattered with birches, maples, lindens, elms, pines and firs. This means that we are more likely to see oak anemones, oak roses and many other spring preachers. And on the other side of Pahra, on the side of the village of Erino, there is another mixed forest on a high steep bank. There are many surprises in the forest: a bicycle park, caves, rocks, a fountain and a house with goats and a pig.
Dubrovitsky and Erino forests are located on different banks of the river. It is faster to get to Dubrovits along the Kaluga motorway, to Erin – along the Warsaw motorway. Between them you can pass through Armazovo or Podolsk, and in summer with dry weather it is very likely to cross the river.
Erino: 21 km from the Moscow ring road along the Varshavskoye highway
Dubrovitsky Forest: 40 km from MKAD along the Kaluga National Road
Wild primroses can also be found in the forests of Moscow: Bitsevsky and Aleshkinsky, Meshchersky Park and Losiny Ostrov National Park, Pokrovsky-Streshnevo, Kuskovo, Neskuchny Garden. The main thing is to tune in to a little miracle.
Details on the subject
5 places in Moscow where spring is all year round
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What would I give myself in April – Wylsacom
Vaccination saves lives – Les, 72, sees it first hand |
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The conference room is located on the lower level. The room contains a podium, projector and screen. Room reservation fees: - The conference room use fee for individuals who do not reside in and non-profit organizations and business entities which are not located in Evergreen Park is $50 and must be submitted with the application. - Individuals who do not reside in Evergreen Park and not-for-profit organizations and business entities which are not located in Evergreen Park must pay $100 total, which includes use of the conference room and audiovisual equipment. The fee must be submitted with the application.
Study Rooms can only be reserved for a maximum of 2 hours at a time.
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The four most common types of chokes are listed below.
This choke is very tight and keeps the pellets close together. Used for longer distance shots, from 35-45 yards.
This choke is tight, but not as tight as the Full choke. Used for medium-range hunting, from 25-35 yards.
This choke is not very tight at all. Used for close-range hunting, from 20-30 yards.
This is no choke at all. Used for very close-range hunting, from 15-25 yards. Also used for shotgun slugs.
Make sure that the choke on your shotgun is suitable for the game animals, waterfowl, or upland bird species that you are hunting. Also, be sure that your barrel and choke are suitable for using non-toxic shot if you are hunting where non-toxic shot is required. Check with the manufacturer or a qualified gunsmith if you have questions. |
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I think part of the problem is a shift in the way we view work. In the medieval days, we associated our names by the work we do, such as Smith, Baker, and so on. Our identity was based on the work we did.
Then something happened. In the mid 1800s with the industrial revolution, we began to work for "the man". No longer were we bakers and smiths, but we "worked at the factory" or we were "Ford guys". Pensions kept us working at the same place for years. My father worked 50 years at the factory before he retired. That was common back then.
In 1946, starting in large part to William Russell Kelly, our identity changed again. His Kelly Services started a new brand of temporary services where a Kelly employee would provide a job function for different clients.
With the introduction of temporary staffing, workers started to identify themselves with the work they do again. Temporary staffing exploded in the late 1900s and early 2000s to the point where, now, temporary staffing (including traditional temporary, freelancing and "gig economy") is becoming a permanent fixture in the way we hire.
Then, enter the Millennial mindset. I read an article that the average Millennial worker tenure is 2 years. If that is true (and the above graphic seems to somewhat validate my assumption- Google has one of the youngest work forces of the Fortune 500 companies and one of the lowest tenures), then tech industry tenure is likely to continue to decrease as more Millennials and the upcoming Gen Z enter the workforce.
Both of these workforce demographics are far more likely to go from company to company than Boomers are, who are exiting the workforce (except me, of course).
Either way, I believe that you will see more of these demographics identify themselves by the work they do (I'm a UI/UX girl, or SQL developer) than they are by the company they work for.
So, back to my original question. Is it a problem? Probably not for people in the tech staffing industry who have talented candidates who prefer to work in different environments. But it could be a problem with companies who continue to use the traditional hiring model who expect employees to stay 8 to 10 years. |
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Stairs are handy inventions, enabling people to live and work in multi-story buildings. For people with disabilities, they are impediments to movement. In fact, simple stairs can even be frightening in many ways to those with physical disabilities because maneuvering stairs presents opportunities for dangerous falls and severe injuries. They can also become an effective barrier to safety in the event of an emergency. No one likes feeling trapped in their home or place of work, especially when an emergency occurs and requires the building to be evacuated or a person to move downstairs. One of the effective solutions is the battery powered stair evacuation chair which makes it easy to transport a person up or down stairs in the home, office building or medical facility.
Anyone who has tried to assist an elderly person with severe arthritis in their knees, or a person who is disabled in a way that prevents him or her from using stairs, understand the real challenge that stairs present. It is the same challenge that emergency rescue personnel regularly face when called to assist a person with mobility issues who are on an upper-level floor and there is no elevator or the elevator has automatically shut down in response to a fire, electrical problem or disaster of some type.
Per Reuters Health, stairs are a major source of injuries according to a study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, especially for seniors, younger children, and women. However, the statistics are alarming for the population as a whole. Almost 25 million people were treated in emergency rooms between the years 1990 and 2012 for stair-related injuries. Every 30 seconds, a person is injured on stairs, and approximately 60 percent are due to sliding, slipping or misstepping.
Now imagine how a person with a physical impairment feels about stairs. People with disabilities may have impairments affecting mobility, vision, and cognitive functioning. In the event of an emergency, the person may not be able to use the stairs or is too full of anxiety to use them. The U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy developed guidelines for assisting people with disabilities when an emergency occurs, and stairs are involved. The guidelines include providing additional assistance with evacuation devices that include evacuation chairs. However, anyone who needs assistance with stairs will almost always need the assistance of a caregiver. The battery-operated evacuation stair chair makes it easy for the person assisting the person with a disability to manage the equipment without straining the back and other muscles.
The battery operated evacuation stair chair is a heavy duty chair but with lightweight construction. The emergency personnel who transport people regularly on stairs, home caregivers and commercial building employees responsible for assisting people with disabilities in emergency situations are as highly likely to be injured on stairs as the people they are assisting. The quality of the evacuation chair is important, and quality includes the design features that minimize the chance of injuries to the person managing the chair.
The chairs that reduce the need to lift or push a chair with a person in it are the most effective. One of the top five injuries that Emergency Medical Services personnel experience is body motion injuries in which they had to use excessive physical effort or assume awkward positions while trying to transport patients. The electric power of the battery operated evacuation stair chair also enables a single person to efficiently and safely move a patient, relative or co-worker down or upstairs. That can be critical during an emergency when people are fully occupied or when alone with a person at home.
One of the issues that EMS personnel must overcome is moving people who are of varying weights. For example, the MSEC battery operated stair chair can hold people who weigh up to 350 pounds. Another consideration is storage. Battery operated evacuation stair chairs should be easy to fold so they can be placed in a convenient place where the chairs are easy to reach. A third consideration is the length of time the battery will work. A battery operated stair chairs battery can operate continuously for 1.5 hours. That equates to 200+ flights of stairs. Generally speaking, a flight of stairs contains up to 16 steps before a landing is required. Evacuation chairs are a simple solution to a difficult situation.
Planning ahead now for possible emergencies in the future is the only right approach. Please contact customer service and get the information needed to make an informed decision. |
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TPWD Looking to Sell Part of Palo Duro Canyon's Fortress Cliff Ranch
AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department got the go-ahead today from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission to provide public notice of the pending sale of 2,014 acres of the state-owned Fortress Cliff Ranch overlooking Palo Duro Canyon.
A key part of the purchase agreement for the property is the inclusion of a conservation easement to be held in perpetuity by TPWD that prevents any development near the rim and limits subdividing the property in the future into only two tracts. The property to be sold includes a modern ranch house, roughly 1,000 acres of grassland and mixed brush, a side canyon and a quarter mile of the canyon rim.
TPWD, working with the Trust for Public Land, acquired the valuable ranchland overlooking the renowned 29,000-acre park in a dual transaction straddling 2008-2009. The acquisition was made primarily to protect the views from the park of seven miles of cliffs targeted for possible development that would have allowed small, canyon-front home lots.
"With the sale of much of the Fortress Cliff property, the agency is staying true to its original stated intent and plan to protect the cliffs and the park's view shed, and make the best use of our limited funds by selling the ranch house and uplands at some future date," said Carter Smith, TPWD executive director. "A perpetual conservation easement will ensure the land's important wildlife conservation values are permanently protected. We will use the proceeds from this sale to acquire state park property elsewhere in Texas, where we have many high-priority needs."
TPWD staff told the commission that a purchase offer has been presented with terms and conditions believed to be in the best interest of TPWD.
TPWD used computer modeling and site visits to map views from the park, evaluate recreational access and outline public use options to come up with the December 2010 property listing. After the sale, TPWD will retain ownership of roughly 850 acres of the original 2,912-acre Fortress Cliff Ranch lands as part of Palo Duro Canyon State Park that will be integrated into existing resource management and public use plans.
"A plan for public use has not been developed yet, but it is anticipated that the Fortress Cliffs property we retain will allow park visitors to be able some day to access the rim via a hiking trail to enjoy the spectacular views of the canyon below," Smith said.
The Fortress Cliffs property, formerly Tub Springs Ranch, is located about 15 miles southeast of Amarillo in Randall and Armstrong counties. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is located about 12 miles east of Canyon on State Highway 217. For more information, contact the park at (806) 488-2227.
RM 2012-01-25
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The Stop the Next Generation (STiNG) campaign was set up by AWPC to oppose the government's plans to equip Aldermaston to test, design and build the next generation of nuclear warheads at Aldermaston. Since 2002, when AWE published their Site Development Strategy Plan which set out their plans to develop Aldermaston and Burghfield, AWPC has campaigned against the new developments, working in cooperation with a wide range of other anti-nuclear individuals, local groups and national organisations.
Our aim is to stop the next generation of nuclear warheads for the next Trident from being built at Aldermaston, and we need your help.
In 2002, AWE Aldermaston and Burghfield embarked on a massive building programme which will equip the UK government to design, test and build a new generation of nuclear warheads. The developments are on the same scale as Heathrow's Terminal 5. They started long before parliament voted in March 2007 to replace Trident submarines. They have not yet voted to replace the warheads.
The STNG campaign aims to stop new warheads being built at AWE using a range of tactics, in coperation with others to: objecting to the new developments through the local authority planning process; blocking construction traffic; writing to MPs; and most importantly, informing people - locally, nationally and internationally - about what's going on at Aldermaston, so that together we can Stop the Next Generation of Nuclear Weapons.
For the most recent STNG Update, click here.
AWE Aldermaston are investigating ways of avoiding public consultation on planning applications.
The MoD's first report on the replacement of the Trident system is due in September during the parliamentary summer holiday.
In September 2009, the government plan to make a decision about the replacement of the Vanguard sumarines which currently carry the UK's Trident missiles.
Don't let Trident get you down!
Don't miss the third Cocktail Party of the Century.
The West Berkshire Council planning committee on 4 March approved planning permission for the new warhead assembly facility at Burghfield.
AWPC produces regular updates on the progress (or not) of the new developments at Aldermaston, including details of the building programme and background information on the political context. |
When a Christian prays, God is pledged to act. This is especially true when we pray for fellow Christians who have begun to stray.
The reason why we missed many growth opportunities to kingdom greatness is our failure to listen and obey God. James told us to be doers of God's Word.
Twenty five minus ten is on the way, and the AntiChrist shall get carried away. I bet the Lord wins. You can hear better if you tell your head.
A sermon on backsliding and its effect on Demas.
Could You Become Another Demas?
Using an important historical event in our nation as the illustration, this sermon deals with the dangers of allowing ourselves to be tempted with the things of this world.
Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for.
If you ever have found it hard to be a Christian in this world - Paul has some good stuff for you in this text.
Every miracle of Jesus was performed with you and me in mind. The miracles of Jesus takes us to the very heart of Jesus and the compassion that He has for you, His church, His followers, His friends.
Lord, When Are You Coming Back?
We learn from Paul in Romans that the saint will actually live their faith on a daily basis and it will be revealed to those who are around them. When we live our faith we actually encourage others in the Body of Christ.
James cautioned believers against rushing to become teachers. God teaches that He will appoint whom He pleases. He does, however, give us the criteria for His appointment.
The message explores the familiar admonition to handle the Word of Truth rightly. |
Bay Creek is located with prestigious Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton. There is, of course, no place quite like Boca Raton, Florida. Boca has been celebrated throughout the civilized world as one of the rare, unabashedly exclusive preserves for those of taste and means. A place of enduring charm and exquisite elegance. Of broad boulevards perfectly lined with palms and quaint parks. Of winding paths and splashing fountains. Of bougainvillea spilling over courtyard walls beyond ornate wrought iron gates. Of boutiques and brasseries, sophisticated shops and cosmopolitan lifestyle. Of beaches abound in a world all in its own class.
Nestled within Boca Raton is Woodfield Country Club®. The 830-acre gated site with 20 individual neighborhoods was designed so that each community has its own identity, separated from its neighbor by sparkling lakes and the meandering holes of the Joe Lee originally designed championship golf course, which was redesigned by Robert Cupp in 2002. Visit us to see for yourself why so many families come home to Woodfield.
With an average age of 49, Woodfield is proud to be a haven for families and Baby Boomers who value living in a family friendly community. Our 20 communities offer a variety of housing nestled within a welcoming environment. If you are looking for a diversified Club that embraces families and offers a contemporary social scene, then Woodfield is the place for you.
The upfront personality of our 18-hole championship course will test you and keep you coming back for more! Originally designed by Joe Lee and entirely redesigned by Bob Cupp in 2002, the course offers golfers a true championship test – while maintaining complete playability for the entire membership. The dynamic layout features rolling terrain, manicured fairways and smaller greens. With an overall yardage of 7,000 yards from the Championship Tee and a spectacular water feature to negotiate on the approach to the final hole, the course will provide lasting memories for players of all levels.
Woodfield Country Club® has been recognized by the Tennis Industry as the Private Club of the Year for its programming, and by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) as the Private Facility of the Year for its amenities. The Woodfield Tennis Facilities are second-to-none with a 9,200 square foot full service Tennis Pro Shop. Our 7 rock-pipe, 12 Har-Tru and 1 Decoturf makes this 20 court complex one of the most versatile. Woodfield also offers high quality night play with 18 lit courts. The Club is also the chosen site for the yearly East Coast Swing Men's Singles Championship and the Florida Adult NTRP State Championships.
From the moment you enter the spa, stress melts away as you're gently embraced by soothing fragrances. Slip on a soft robe, and sip on warm tea or fruit-infused water while savoring fresh fruit in the spa lounge before your treatment. Choose the relaxation therapies of your choice, and let us indulge you. Our luxurious spa services include: organic facials, microdermabrasion, body scrubs, spray tanning, aromatherapy, mud wraps in our wet room and a variety of massage techniques.
Our professional staff is dedicated to making you look and feel your best. We offer a variety of salon services within a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Let us pamper you with specialized manicures, luxurious 60 minute pedicures with foot massage, "express" pedicures for those on the go, eyelash extensions, teeth whitening and custom makeup applications. Hair services include cuts, coloring and styling for men, women and children. All of our technicians are highly trained, board certified and ready to serve you! |
The CWL confirmed it today.
The Call of Duty World League has confirmed the upcoming 2018-2019 Black Ops 4 competitive season will feature a five-vs-five format for the first time.
This confirmation comes after an extended period of uncertainty about how many players would be included in each team. With Black Ops 4's switch to five-vs-five in public matches, fans and players alike wondered if the competitive scene would see a shift from four-vs-four, which has been used for nearly a decade.
Since it was revealed that Black Ops 4 would have less players in public matches, competitive figures have debated the idea of changing the competitive format. One of the biggest critics included Patrick "ACHES" Price, who won the $1.5 million CWL Championship last month with Evil Geniuses.
ACHES, who had tweeted daily about his disdain for a switch to five players per team, consistently expressed anger or disappointment that Activision and the CWL would not give the pro players any heads-up on their plans.
While some will likely be happy with this decision, it will undoubtedly anger others, many of whom may be longtime fans of the esport. With a switch to five-vs-five, it guarantees organizations will be forced to pay an additional CoD player, a potential factor in why some brands decide not to get or stay involved with Call of Duty esports.
The change also goes against tradition, something many fans have advised against. Starting with competitive Call of Duty's first national championship tournament in 2008, the esport has featured four-person teams, a key difference from many other competitive scenes. |
AO-92 Commissioning Update: Transponder and Camera Tested, Further Camera Tests Planned
January 13, 2018 January 13, 2018 by Paul Stoetzer
The first thirty-six hours of AO-92's life in orbit have seen a flurry of activity as the AMSAT Engineering and Operations teams walk through an extensive checklist of tests required to check the functionality of the satellite's on-board systems.
The first crucial test came on the initial pass over AMSAT command stations hours after launch. Around 15:00 UTC on January 12, 2018, AMSAT command stations successfully issued the first command to the satellite, changing it from the initial Beacon Mode to Safe Mode. The switch to Safe Mode allowed the collection of min and max data for the various telemetry values.
As AMSAT Engineering continued to evaluate the data received, the decision was made to test the U/v FM transponder briefly on the evening passes over North America. At approximately 01:30 UTC on January 13, 2018, the satellite was commanded to Transponder Mode for the first time. Initial tests show the transponder functions very well. One testing station was able to access the satellite using 5 watts from an HT to a whip antenna from inside his house at approximately ten degrees of elevation. AMSAT Engineering reminds all amateur radio operators that, although the satellite may be found in Transponder Mode at times during the commissioning process, it is essential to not transmit to the satellite before it is opened for general use as you may interfere with various tests that need to be performed.
The first image received from the Virginia Tech camera.
With the transponder successfully tested and telemetry values continuing to be nominal, attention turned to the Virginia Tech camera. At about 14:30 UTC, the camera was turned on and quickly returned it's first image of Earth. On the next pass over North America, the camera was again turned on and several images flowed into AMSAT servers. Images captured and uploaded can be found at http://www.amsat.org/tlm/fox1d/images/
AMSAT plans further testing of the Virginia Tech camera during the early hours of January 14, 2018 (UTC). If not shut off by a command station, the camera remains active for a period of 40 minutes following activation, so the active period may vary depending on when the camera is activated.
January 14, 2018 Camera On Times (Approximate)
The first image of Earth received from the Virginia Tech camera.
01:12 UTC – 01:52 UTC
This should provide an opportunity for stations in areas including Russia, China, and Japan to receive pictures from the Virginia Tech camera. Please be sure that FoxTelem's source is set to "Auto" so you will be able to receive either high-speed frames carrying camera payloads or data under voice (DUV) frames when the satellite is in Safe Mode or Transponder Mode. If using an external audio source for FoxTelem, be sure you are set for a minimum bandwidth of 20 kHz to receive the high-speed data.
Thank you to all stations who have uploaded telemetry data to AMSAT servers. As of 18:00 UTC on January 13, 2018, a total of 90 unique stations have contributed telemetry from AO-92. Continued collection of telemetry data is essential to the commissioning process. AMSAT greatly appreciates the participation of the amateur radio community in collecting telemetry for the Fox-1 satellites.
A view of the curvature of the Earth seen from the Virginia Tech camera. At the top of the image in the middle of the frame, you can see the tip of the satellite's receive antenna and a piece of the line that held the antenna down prior to deployment.
Categories AMSAT News, Fox, New Satellites
Fox-1D Launched, Designated AMSAT-OSCAR 92
AO-92 Commissioning Update: HERCI Experiment and L-Band Downshifter Tested |
Recreating supernova reaction yields new insights for fusion energy
by Jim Lynch, University of Michigan
We study exploding stars in our quest to make reliable fusion energy a reality, but chances are we've been thinking about supernovae wrong.
New research led by the University of Michigan shows that heat plays a significant role in the way materials mix during fusion reactions—a factor that has, to this point, been left out of the discussion. It's a finding that should help focus future studies of how supernovae work and what we can learn from them.
Power from fusion, cleaner and more efficient energy than what we currently derive from fission, is the goal. Nuclear fusion reactions are constantly under way in the cores of stars, making them a natural research subject for scientists trying to recreate them for energy production on Earth.
It's impossible to get a peek inside those far away stars, so scientists take a look at the next best things: supernovae and small-scale fusion reactions created in the lab. And a key component of fusion reactions they study is Rayleigh-Taylor mixing, which occurs during both.
When a supernova occurs, it flings matter outward, mixing different plasmas with various elements that include iron, carbon helium and hydrogen. Rayleigh-Taylor instability, the dynamic of mixing liquids gases or plasmas with different densities, leads to the creation of supernova remnants.
U-M scientists believe our methods of modeling the mixing that occurs in supernovae have historically been incomplete. Energy fluxes causing heating have a significant impact on the mixing that occurs. Yet heat is not a consideration in astrophysical modeling of Rayleigh-Taylor.
"Rayleigh-Taylor has been studied for over 100 years," said Carolyn Kuranz, director of U-M's Center for Laser Experimental Astrophysical Research and an associate research scientist of climate and space sciences and engineering. "But the effects of these high energy fluxes, these mechanisms that cause heating, have never been studied."
The researchers found that increased energy fluxes and their resulting heating reduces the amount of mixing that occurs—decreasing the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. In addition to Kuranz, the scientific team includes physicists Hye-Sook Park and Channing Huntington of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
"These heating mechanisms reduce mixing and can have a dramatic effect on the evolution of a supernova," Kuranz said. "In our experiment, we found that mixing was reduced by 30 percent and that reduction could continue to increase over time."
To observe the impact of heat during fusion, researchers turned to the world's largest laser in Livermore, Calif. Opened in 2009, the National Ignition Facility uses heat and lasers to create a fusion reaction—creating conditions similar to those seen in a supernova remnant.
"Rayleigh-Taylor is theorized to occur in all Type II supernovae and there is evidence that these stars are turning themselves 'inside out' when they explode," Kuranz said. "These experiments help us learn what's going on inside."
The ignition facility allowed researchers to factor in the heat effect for the first time.
Observations from these controlled nuclear fusion reactions have wide applications for nuclear technology. In particular, they offer a roadmap toward maximizing the efficiency of energy production.
"Right now, all of our nuclear plants are fission plants," Kuranz said. "But fusion tends to be more efficient and yield less nuclear waste. Instead of using plutonium or uranium, as with fission, fusion can be generated using lighter elements such as hydrogen isotopes. So we have a nearly unlimited source of fuel on Earth."
A study on the research, "How high energy fluxes may affect Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth in young supernova remnants," is published in Nature Communications. The research was funded by the Department of Energy.
Laser-heated nanowires produce micro-scale nuclear fusion with record efficiency
More information: C. C. Kuranz et al. How high energy fluxes may affect Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth in young supernova remnants, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03548-7
Provided by University of Michigan
Citation: Recreating supernova reaction yields new insights for fusion energy (2018, April 26) retrieved 18 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2018-04-recreating-supernova-reaction-yields-insights.html
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'Formulations' of Physical Theories: Overview?
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New testing of model improves confidence in the performance of ITER
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Laser-driven technique for creating fusion is now within reach, say researchers
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Scientists revisit the cold case of cold fusion
Machine learning speeds modeling of experiments aimed at capturing fusion energy on Earth |
Above pic shows panel installed on full size FLAT plate.
These plates attach over the existing panel located above your glove box door. Strips of special double tape are already installed on the back of the panels. Just peel off the backing and position in place. They are made in the same gloss black material as the original panels of your main dashboard.. The logos are actually engraved from the back of the panel and then hand painted. The front surface is totally smooth! The plates can be made with your choice of the pictured logos or custom engraved as well.
THESE GLOVEBOX PLATES ARE FOR GOING OVER THE STOCK FLAT PANELS COMMONLY FOUND IN THE 84-7 GRAND NATIONALS. IF YOU HAVE A STOCK PLATE THAT IS SUNKEN AND HAS A LARGER RAISED BORDER AROUND THE PERIMETER WE WILL NEED TO KNOW THAT UP FRONT SO WE CAN MAKE THE PROPER ONE FOR YOU! THOSE TYPE OF PANELS ARE USUALLY ON PLAIN REGALS OR LIMITEDS. BELOW IS A STOCK EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE MEAN BY A SUNKEN PLATE. THE PLATE FITS INSIDE THE BORDER AND MEASURES APPROXIMATELY 1.75" X 14".
Please don't make the mistake a recent customer did. He checked the wrong size glovebox plate. Double check your size and style of existing plate to be sure you receive the correct size. If any custom engraving is done and you ordered the incorrect one we can not accept a return as we will not be able to re-sell it.
Order the black gloss style plates from this order box! Be sure to pick the correct logo from the drop down menu below.
LET US KNOW WHICH STOCK GLOVEBOX PLATE YOU HAVE! NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU ORDER THE WRONG SIZE.
These simulated aluminum plates will match the other overlays we make for the dashboard, radio area and the console. Totally change the look of your interior! The stock panel is pictured at the top of the picture below. The overlays cover that surface.
These black anodized aluminum and SIMULATED aluminum panels compliment our dashboard kits and look great! These differ from the above Gloss Black panels as the black anodized finish is flatter in appearance and has the engraving done from the front.
The simulated aluminum has the appearance of aluminum but is a plastic material. Engraving is from the front and will be black. Compliments our simulated aluminum console and dash kits to totally change the appearance of your interior.
Available in Simulated Aluminum or Black Anodized aluminum finish.
BE SURE TO ORDER THE PROPER FINISH ALSO! |
Constituency question: South Yarra Station Upgrade
Mr HIBBINS (Prahran): My constituency question is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. I ask: what is the latest information on the South Yarra station upgrade and master plan project? I ask because since the announcement of $12.3 million to upgrade South Yarra station and to plan for a longer term master plan there has been a real lack of information and consultation with the community. Residents would like to know: when will the works start? When will they be complete? What will be the design of the tram stop and extended foyer? When will there be an opportunity for the public to have their say on the upgrade and the long-term master plan to make sure that South Yarra station gets the upgrades it needs? Luckily for the minister I did conduct a survey in 2017. While it did indicate that, yes, South Yarra station needed an expanded front foyer and tram super-stop, commuters also wanted a second entrance and a platform overpass for the Forrest Hill area, a safer pedestrian crossing at Yarra Street and to make sure that the heritage character is maintained.
Answer - I thank the Member for his question.
There has been extensive consultation with the community on the upgrade to South Yarra station. All local residents have received information on the plans with invitations to provide feedback, and pop-up information sessions have been held at South Yarra station.
Works on the improved tram stop and station entrance will commence this year.
Hon Jacinta Allan MP
Minister for Transport Infrastructure |
Book Review: When Krishna Calls by Susan Oleksiw and Forensics by Val McDermid
When Krishna Calls
An Anita Ray Mystery #4
Susan Oleksiw
Five Star, August 2016
Indian American photographer Anita Ray lives at her Auntie Meena's tourist hotel in South India. She is preparing for a one woman show at a prestigious gallery and her aunt is pleased that she is not involved in solving other people's problems, for a change. When a young woman abandons her daughter inside the Hotel Delite and then flees, Anita recognizes the child as the daughter of an employee, Nisha. Soon the police come searching for Nisha, whom they want as the suspect in the stabbing death of her husband, Panju. Panju was angry about the local farmers losing their land to people who want to exploit the land, and he made enemies. Anita discovers that Panju owed debts to the unscrupulous moneylender from the family's village.
When Anita goes to take some more photographs for her show, she sets up her camera for a shot and discovers a piece of paper wrapped around the batteries and someone else's memory card inside. She doesn't recognize the photos on the card, but someone is sending her a plea for help. Anita is drawn into the search for Nisha and wants to exonerate the hotel's employee, while navigating the world of moneylenders and debts of honor.
The author does a wonderful job of capturing the rhythm of the speech and weaves references to food, clothing and customs throughout the story. The juxtaposition of the traditional India and the influence of new technology (cell phones are essential to the plot) make for a delightful journey. Readers who enjoy the mysteries of Tarquin Hall and Michael Stanley may like the Anita Ray series.
Reviewed by Susan Belsky, November 2016.
What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime
Grove Press, April 2016
From the publisher: The dead talk – – to the right listener. They can tell us all about themselves: where they came from, how they lived, how they died, and, of course, who killed them. Forensic scientists can unlock the mysteries of the past and help serve justice using the messages left by a corpse, a crime scene, or the faintest of human traces. Forensics goes behind the scenes with some of these top-level professionals and their groundbreaking research, drawing on Val McDermid's own original interviews and firsthand experience on scene with top forensic scientists.
Along the way, McDermid discovers how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine one's time of death; how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer, and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist were able to uncover the victims of a genocide. It's a journey from war zones to fire scenes and autopsy suits and brings McDermid into contact with both extraordinary bravery and wickedness, as she traces the history of forensics from its earlier beginnings to the cutting-edge science of the modern day.
Ms. McDermid starts the book with facts dating from eighteenth-century scientific discoveries, when the term "forensic, meaning a form of legal evidence – science, was born," to the present time. The first case, in the opening chapter, describes dates back to 2005, going on to the opening of the first crime investigation lab in 1910 in France, the founder of which wrote a landmark 7-volume textbook on which he called "criminalistics," and coined the phrase "every contact leaves a trace." The second chapter, "Fire Scene Investigation," goes back to September of 1666, then to a case in County Durham in 1844, one in Derbyshire in 1981, and on from there, covering each milestone reached. The ensuing chapters discuss at length other aspects of forensics, i.e., entomology, pathology, toxicology, fingerprinting, blood spatter and DNA, anthropology, facial reconstruction, digital forensics, forensic psychology, as well as the all-important courtrooms where all the evidence is presented, to the ends that justice is, irrevocably, done.
Not a dry recitation by any means, the author has made it very real and intense by recounting the names of victims and the circumstances of many of the cases cited. The book makes for fascinating reading, and it is recommended.
Reviewed by Gloria Feit, July 2016.
This entry was posted in Full Reviews and tagged criminology, Five Star, forensic science, Grove Press, history, India, missing person, moneylenders, mystery, nonfiction, photographer. Bookmark the permalink.
← An Interview with Jay Greenfield, author of Max's Diamonds
'Tis the Season to be Frazzled → |
and Base64 Can Get You Pwned!
Can Panic Now. Host Protection is (Mostly) Dead.
Description: A malicious Apache binary has been spotted on the Internet replacing legitimate Apache servers forwarding unsuspecting clients to be pointed to a Blackhole Exploit Kit.
Description: Greg MacManus, of iSIGHT Partners Labs, found a security problem in several recent versions of nginx. A stack-based buffer overflow might occur in a worker process while handling a specially crafted request, potentially resulting in arbitrary code execution.
Description: phpMyAdmin 3.5.x before 3.5.8 and 4.x before 4.0.0-rc3 allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary code via a /ex00 sequence, which is not properly handled before making a preg_replace function call within the "Replace table prefix" feature. |
A dozen drummers began beating an African rhythm. Six girls danced down the aisles of Orchestra Hall. A stream of young people followed, hoisting colorful flags. Their procession brought South Africa's flag onstage, where it joined two others representing the United States and Minnesota.
"We're not in Kansas anymore, are we?" joked the evening's host, Brian Newhouse of Classical MPR, after the drums had quieted and the applause died down.
Soon, the Minnesota Orchestra will tour South Africa — becoming the first professional U.S. orchestra to do so. But first, South Africa came to Minnesota.
Over two days at Orchestra Hall, the orchestra celebrated the 100th birthday of the late Nelson Mandela, South Africa's most famous statesman and freedom fighter, with speeches and song. Those songs ran the gamut from traditional to modern, from symphonies to protest anthems. It kicked off with Friday's flag ceremony, followed by the national anthems of both South Africa and the United States. On Saturday, the orchestra's International Day of Music offered free performances by groups including Insingizi, a powerful vocal trio from Zimbabwe; and 29:11, a gospel group of young Cape Town vocalists and instrumentalists that, in recent months, has hopped from church to church across the Twin Cities.
Saturday evening's concert paired Beethoven's beloved Ninth Symphony, including its famous choral finale, "Ode to Joy," with the world premiere of a piece the orchestra will highlight on its tour: "Harmonia Ubuntu," by South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, which features a soprano singing text from Mandela's speeches and writings.
The fanfare previewed the orchestra's two-week, five-city tour in early August, which will include an Aug. 17 concert in Soweto, "the spiritual home" of the anti-apartheid struggle, as Ndodana-Breen put it. Between playing in city halls and churches, the musicians will work with and rehearse alongside young musicians, an experience they raved about during the orchestra's historic trip to Cuba in 2015.
With this tour, orchestra leaders wanted to let Minnesotans in on a bit of that magic.
"I never thought five years after my father has passed away he would be celebrated thousands of miles away in Minnesota," said Makaziwe Mandela, Mandela's eldest daughter. With a smile that echoed her father's, she described the sacrifices Mandela and his family made in fighting to end apartheid — a fight that landed Mandela in prison for 27 years.
But on this musical occasion, on the eve of an orchestral tour, she also described what music meant to her father as an activist and a man.
More broadly, music offered Mandela a vision of "a world in harmony, a world governed by empathy and compassion and love," she said.
A choir of 150, wearing an array of colorful shirts, packed the Orchestra Hall stage. Most were members of the Minnesota Chorale, which will send about 50 singers to South Africa for the second half of the orchestra's tour. But there were also singers from local church choirs and from 29:11, whose South African members offered coaching on click consonants and the complexities of a handful of African languages, including the Bantu language of Xhosa. In return, Chorale members helped everyone learn German for Saturday's performance of Beethoven's Ninth.
Brian Bogan sings tenor with the Shiloh Temple International Ministries Church Choir. In recent years, that choir has teamed up with the Minnesota Orchestra, singing as part of its "Send Me Hope" concert last year. Many of that choir's members learn music by ear, he said, rather than by reading sheet music. "Personally, I haven't read music since fifth grade," Bogan said, laughing.
So the first rehearsals were intimidating. In addition to reading music, he'd have to sing in German and a few African languages.
But he stuck it out. He worked with choral members more experienced in those other languages. He studied a cheat sheet. In the end, singing together and alongside the orchestra has been a beautiful experience, Bogan continued, full of emotion. |
Last edited by Shale
7 edition of The archaeologist"s laboratory found in the catalog.
The archaeologist"s laboratory
the analysis of archaeological data
by E. B. Banning
Published 2000 by Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers in New York .
Archaeology -- Methodology,
Archaeology -- Laboratory manuals
Statement E.B. Banning.
Genre Laboratory manuals.
LC Classifications CC75 .B33 2000
Pagination xviii, 316 p. :
Archaeologists Discover Roman Fort Under UK's Bus Station. Geo Beats. Follow. 7 months ago Read The Archaeologists Laboratory The Analysis of Archaeological Data Interdisciplinary Ebook Free. Upfehnad. READ BOOK Archaeology Hotspot Egypt: Unearthing the Past for Armchair Archaeologists. Mibilovar. Introduction to Laboratory and Staff. The Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory was formed in by Michael Worthington and Jane Seiter to provide cutting-edge dendrochronological services to archaeologists, architectural historians, art historians, cultural resource managers, and private house owners.
Post-excavation analysis constitutes processes that are used to study archaeological materials after an excavation is completed. Since the advent of "New Archaeology" in the s, the use of scientific techniques in archaeology has grown in importance. This trend is directly reflected in the increasing application of the scientific method to post-excavation analysis. Day-to-day Archaeologists conduct field investigations, analyze artifacts, excavate sites, manage the logistics of projects at sites, write reports and recommendations, teach, conduct research, and publish the results of their research in academic journals. Archaeology is an important career because it assists us in obtaining a chronology of.
Amelia the Archaeologist. 1, likes talking about this. Archaeology definitions, terminology, educational videos & fun facts IN ASL by Amelia Dall, a DEAF Archaeologist! Instagram: Followers: K. A sign on a laboratory door that read 'Danger: pottery processing' satirised this view. Others take a more mystical view, believing the humblest sherd to be full of the most amazing information – 'Show them a piece of worn pottery and it's the rim of a centurion's favourite cup' (read in a local newspaper) – which only the pottery Author: Clive Orton, Michael Hughes.
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The archaeologist"s laboratory by E. B. Banning Download PDF EPUB FB2
The Archaeologist's Laboratory provides the breadth and detail that allows instructors to pick and choose what they want to use. [ ]Overall, I consider this to be the best archaeological lab. book on the market. The students all agreed that the text was clearly written and easy to by: The Archaeologist's Laboratory provides the breadth and detail that allows instructors to pick and choose what they want to use.
[ ]Overall, I consider this to be the best archaeological The archaeologists laboratory book. book on the market. The students all agreed that the text was clearly written and easy to understand.
The Archaeologist's Laboratory: The Analysis of Archaeological Data (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology) - Kindle edition by Banning, E.B. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Archaeologist's Laboratory: The Analysis of Archaeological Data (Interdisciplinary 5/5(1).
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Presents archaeological laboratory work in a quality-assurance framework Provides international examples of the practice of archaeological analysis Introduces basic concepts of archaeological measurement and analysis along with more quantitative sections that will serve as continuing reference to practicing archaeologists.
The Archaeologist's Laboratory: The Analysis of Archaeological Data (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology) Book Title:The Archaeologist's Laboratory: The Analysis of Archaeological Data (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology) This text reviews the theory, concepts, and basic methods involved in archaeological analysis.
The Alexandria Archaeology Laboratory Reference Book includes a Lexicon to provide consistent terminology when describing artifacts in the collection of the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, and an Illustrated Glossary to help defi ne the terms. These terms are used in the Alexandria Archaeology Collections Management Database.
Get this from a library. The archaeologist's laboratory: the analysis of archaeological data. [E B Banning] -- "This text reviews the theory, concepts, and basic methods involved in archaeological analysis.
Its aim is to familiarize both students and professionals with the principles that underlie many kinds. Archaeologists spend considerable time orienting and drawing ceramic fragments by hand for documentation, to infer their manufacture, the nature of the discovery site and its chronology, and to.
ARH Y - Archaeological Laboratory. Introduction: go to Basic Conservation: Purpose of Course: The idea behind this course is to introduce you to many of the important principles and concepts that archaeologists use to analyse, manage, curate, and publish artifacts and other archaeological materials, and the data associated with them, after they have retrieved these from the field.
This book introduces archaeologists to the basics of DNA research so they can understand the powers and pitfalls of using DNA data in archaeological analysis and interpretation. By concentrating on the principles and applications of DNA specific to archaeology, the authors allow archaeologists to collect DNA samples properly and interpret the.
Download Archaeological Laboratory Methods An Introduction ebook PDF or Read Online and Mobi Format. Click Download or Read Online button to Archaeological Laboratory Methods An Introduction book pdf for free now.
Archaeological Laboratory Methods. Author: Mark Q. Sutton ISBN: it explores the ways archaeologists analyse and. 30 Lesson 5 Archaeological Techniques: Laboratory Interpretation II Archaeologists find many pieces of pottery. Ceramic artifacts are among the most durable objects in the archaeological record.
Pieces of pottery, or potsherds, can survive in the soil under a variety of circumstances. Ceramic technology is considered a recent innovation and is. Anthropologists and archeologists must possess knowledge of scientific methods and data, which are often used in their research.
Critical-thinking skills. Anthropologists and archeologists must be able to draw conclusions from observations, laboratory experiments, and other methods of Entry-level education: Master's degree. The ability to use DNA evidence is revolutionizing our understanding of the past.
This book introduces archaeologists to the basics of DNA research so they can understand the powers and pitfalls of using DNA data in archaeological analysis and interpretation.
By concentrating on the principles and applications of DNA specific to archaeology, the authors allow archaeologists to collect DNA. Archaeologists find and excavate historical sites, taking extensive measures to carefully collect and transport artifacts to a laboratory.
While excavating sites, archaeologists use tools such as shovels, trowels, brushes and sifters. In a lab, an archaeologist uses specialized equipment, such as microscopes and X-ray machines, to examine the. Archaeologists staff and operate their excavations, which often involves coping with the business practices of distant countries, where customs may be quite different.
Respected archaeologists have greater opportunity to select and develop their own projects and follow their own curiosity.
Those in academia are expected to publish regularly. Historical Archaeology Laboratory The Historical Archaeology Research Group (HARG) was established within the Department of Archaeology in to bring together archaeologists and other researchers actively interested in the history of the last six hundred years, and to introduce the sub-discipline of historical archaeology to UCT.The Archaeological Institute of America is proud to name Jane Buikstra as the recipient of the Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology.
Professor Buikstra is a founder of the study of bioarchaeology– a field that combines forensic anthropology, paleodiet, paleopathology and the study of their social dimensions.This gold standard will be the authoritative reference on Iowa archaeology long into the twenty-first century."—David M.
Gradwohl, founder, Iowa State University Archaeological Laboratory Iowa has more than eighteen thousand archaeological sites, and research in the past few decades has transformed our knowledge of the state's human past.
travelingartsfiesta.com - The archaeologists laboratory book © 2020 |
Jimmy R. King – Your Workers' Compensation Attorney in South Carolina.
At the KING LAW FIRM, PC, we understand that getting hurt on the job can be painful and costly, and navigating through the process of workers' compensation claims can prove to be a frustrating and complex process. Jimmy King is dedicated to representing you and he will work tirelessly to maximize the medical care, rehabilitation services, and replacement income you may be entitled to as a result of your on-the-job injury.
If you have suffered an injury, you may be entitled to compensation benefits by South Carolina's Workers' Compensation laws. You should first report your injury to your supervisor and/or employer and seek medical care and attention as soon as possible.
Next, you should talk with an experienced workers' compensation attorney who can understand your unique situation and help you define the next steps for your case. Mr. King's extensive legal experience representing countless victims of workplace injury accidents ensures that you are in the capable hands of an experienced lawyer who will work tirelessly to ensure your compensation benefit needs are met.
For your convenience, we have answered some basic workers' compensation questions below. If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact us for a free consultation and case evaluation. Jimmy King, and his outstanding team at the KING LAW FIRM, PC, will answer your questions and discuss the specifics of your case and how we can help you seek benefits and medical treatment for your unique situation.
The state system of workers' compensation pays for necessary medical treatment, loss of wages during a period of disability, and compensation when an employee sustains a personal work-related injury or death as a result of workplace duties.
First, you must report all of your injuries to your employer immediately and request medical treatment, if needed. If you do not report the injury within 90 days of the accident you may lose your right to workers' compensation benefits.
After you report your injury within the 90-day period, you have up to two (2) years, from the date of injury, to file a workers' compensation claim for benefits. If a worker dies because of work-related injuries, the worker's dependents or personal representative must file a claim within two (2) years of the date of death to qualify for workers' compensation benefits.
The employer's first obligation is to make sure that you receive medical attention. Next, they are required to report the injury to their insurance carrier, which reports your injury to the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission.
What kind of medical treatment would I be entitled to receive with a workplace injury?
Your workers' compensation benefits entitle you to receive all necessary medical treatment that is related to your work injury. However, the insurance company, or your employer, has the right to select your doctors and other medical providers. If you disagree with their assessment, treatment plan or diagnosis, you may request to seek a second opinion from another doctor or medical provider.
If I file a workers' compensation claim, will my employer fire me?
South Carolina law protects an employee from being fired due to the filing of a workers' compensation claim. A worker is subject to the same time out of work restrictions as any other employee and some employers will require that a worker be able to do their job without restrictions once they have recovered from their work injury.
Do I need a lawyer to represent me if I get hurt at work?
Yes. Most employers in South Carolina are represented by insurance companies or third party administrators when a workers' compensation claim is filed. These companies have experienced adjusters and defense attorneys who are knowledgeable about the workers' compensation field. There may be some cases where an attorney is not needed in a workers' compensation claim; however, it is always wise to consult with an experienced attorney to have a thorough evaluation of your specific situation. It is better to review all aspects of your situation with an experienced attorney in the early stages of your injury rather than hesitate and make unwise and costly decisions about your claim.
If I hire a lawyer, how long will it take to get my case concluded?
Some workers' compensation cases may be concluded in a few months while others can take much longer. Several issues will determine the length of time it may take to coordinate your case to a successful conclusion. For example: whether or not it is an admitted injury; the amount of medical treatment necessary to maximize your physical and mental improvement; and the complexity of the factual and legal issues involved in your individual situation.
What if I can't afford to pay a lawyer to represent me?
Most experienced attorneys will agree to accept your case and guide you through the complex legal process if you have a valid claim. They will represent you on a contingency basis, which means that they will pay all fees and cost associated with your case until you receive final compensation. At the KING LAW FIRM, PC, be assured that no fee or cost will be paid by you unless we are successful in securing a monetary settlement or verdict on your behalf.
If I come in for a case evaluation, will the attorney be able to tell me how much my case is worth?
It is impossible to evaluate a case for ultimate value until all of the medical treatment has been provided and we are able to determine what restrictions the individual may have on his/her ability to work in the future. It is important to remember that in a workers' compensation claim in South Carolina, the injured worker is entitled to have all of the reasonable and necessary medical care and treatment provided to that individual; be paid weekly benefits if the doctor takes them out of work for at least seven (7) days; and the injured worker may be entitled to an additional monetary settlement if they have a permanent impairment or restriction on their ability to work. The weekly benefits are generally based on 66.66% of your average weekly wage.
In most cases, you will continue to receive weekly benefits for as long as the doctor keeps you out of work. If the doctor returns you to work, with restrictions, and your employer does not provide a job that can accommodate those restrictions, you may continue to receive weekly benefits.
If you value compassion and accountability, please call Jimmy King at the KING LAW FIRM, PC, for a free case evaluation by calling 864-225-9155 or Toll-Free at 1-888-827-9155. Mr. King is a member of the distinguished Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which are awarded to attorneys who have successfully handled cases with million dollar and multi-million dollar settlement results. We have represented workers' compensation clients with outstanding results throughout the state of South Carolina.
Don't delay — let our proven experience work for you. You need to protect yourself, your health, and your family. |
Children's book about soldiers
The parade route is changed so it can go down the street where the child lives, allowing himher to view the parade. I cant remember when i began to notice pictures of disabled veterans in regency childrens books. The child develops some illness that requires quarantine at home. Discover the best children s american civil war era history books in best sellers.
He went back into the little room, and by the time he returned to the table with his own bowl of food to eat with us, we had already finished. She finds shelter in an old doll house, where she meets a group of tin soldiers, and this is the story of their friendship. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Compelling and humane, this book reveals the lives of the 300,000 child soldiers around the world, challenging stereotypes of them as predators or a lost generation. Discover the best children s military books in best sellers. Thousands of children are serving as soldiers in armed conflicts around the world. Discover book depositorys huge selection of childrens books online. Children of all ages are encouraged to talk about their feelings that are associated with a military deployment. Discover the best childrens american civil war era history books in best sellers.
Band of soldiers by sardindu bandhyopadhyay the first of my theme reads this month my reading theme is here, and this king in question in this one is the maratha warriorking shivaji, who ruled in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Please do not include books written for retail after a toy became popular like barbie. I enjoyed it so much that i read it as i walked to school, between. Books for military children with a deployed parent list 1 of 2. Kidnapped or lured by the promise of food, protection, revenge, or a better life, children serve not only as combatants but as porters, spies, human land mine detectors, and sexual. Other childrens books bear out the truth of the duke of wellingtons sorrowful observation that the only thing as sad as a battle lost is a battle won. Chikwanines book looks at the drcs history and its brutal legacy of colonialism, and includes resources to find out more about child soldiers all of which chikwanine said were necessary to show that such atrocities do not happen in vacuum. Shop for children s books by age, series, author, subject and format. Get cozy and expand your home library with a large online selection of books at.
An index to records of the indiana soldiers and sailors children s home in the indiana state archives book annual report of the indiana soldiers and sailors children s home for the fiscal year ending. The story is about two boy soldiers who meet each other in the battlefield during the american civil war. With the help of a beautiful rocking horse called chester. Best children s books about wwii world war ii was a pivotal time in british history. The golden age of childrens book illustration and american soldiers in the great war vanessa meikle schulman the lion and the unicorn, volume 41. And there are several great books out there for military children to read, or have read to them, involving moving, deployments and their parents. The five chinese brothers won the lewis carroll shelf award in 1959. A 2020 bank street best childrens book of the year a 2020 childrens book council notable social studies book for young people over a quarter million underage british boys fought on the allied front lines of the great war, but not all of them fought on the battlefieldsome fought beneath it, as revealed in this middlegrade historical adventure about a deadly underground mission. Braving the changes when someone you love is wounded in service is an interactive book that helps children and families of wounded service members deal with the feelings, changes and challenges they face because of their loved ones injury.
Jun 30, 2014 what are the best first world war books for children. While the books imprint identifies it as having been designed in england, it also specifies that is was printed in berlin, so its certainly quite possible that the depictions of the toy soldiers recall designs of lead figures in germany, where they were also very popular childrens toys at the time, as well as those in england. Wife of wounded warrior writes childrens book to help daughters understand their dads injuries. This fun childrens book features a girl who has a great time in her grandmothers playroom after discovering some vintage toys. A former child soldier shares his story in new graphic. A childrens book about the value of family flores, sarah m. Best sellers in childrens american civil war era history books. In 2005 the government ratified the opac treaty and by 2008 the military use of children had reduced in the country, but both state armed forces and the spla continued to recruit and use them. Murphys a savage road to thunder account of the causes and first months of wwi offers a poignant and sometimes graphic introduction to the war to end all wars. If youre like me and find solace in books and are looking for resources to share with your children to explain military life, this list of picture books will comfort and. Childrens books with snakes and soldiers my wife swears she had a book as a child that featured soldiers in a jungle maybe vietnam, where snakes would drop down out of trees or lay across the trail like logs to ambush the soldiers.
These boys and girls, some as young as 8 years old, serve in government forces. The childrens book council cbc is the nonprofit trade association of childrens book publishers in north america, dedicated to supporting the industry and promoting childrens books and reading. May 01, 2018 wife of wounded warrior writes children s book to help daughters understand their dad s injuries. These pageturning reads will give your children a real insight into what life was like for both children and adults, on the battle field and on the home front. Best sellers in childrens american civil war era history. This may not be the childrens coloring book youre looking for. Sounds silly considering theyre soldiers and expected to be armed but it felt a little too much. Hero dad by melinda hardin, alice bliss by laura harrington, military friends abc by tony hunter, grandpas 1 to 10 and back. Tom palmer, who is launching his new book over the line, about the footballers battalion, at the festival.
The childrens book guild award luncheon honoring reef, previously scheduled for may 30, 2020, has been postponed until spring 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The old toy room twinkl originals childrens book reading. Im not super conservative when it comes to most things kid related but once i sat down and looked thru this book i found too many images of weapons. Indiana soldiers and sailors childrens home worldcat. Mar 25, 2020 this fun childrens book features a girl who has a great time in her grandmothers playroom after discovering some vintage toys. Discover book depository s huge selection of children s books online. I like this book because it is a wellresearched simple story about one young mans experience of ww1. Timed to coincide with armistice day, this solemn graphic narrative recalls christmas 1914, when british and german soldiers called a fleeting truce.
Memoirs of a boy soldier 2007 is a memoir written by ishmael beah, an author from sierra leone. Beah ran away from his village at the age of 12 after it was attacked by rebels. The childrens issues picture book why is mom so mad. Discover the best childrens military books in best sellers.
The book isnt military specific, but explores a day in the life of a daddy bear and his bear cub. The author of soldier dog and a horse called hero picks her favourite novels and diaries from the two world. Looking for a book about a child looking forward to a town parade. Sam anguss top 10 war books childrens books the guardian. Stone soup is a european folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys, and exists as a moral regarding the value of sharing. Best childrens books involving war books fiction and nonfiction that are about war andor take place during a time of war.
Celebrates the special bond dads have with their children. Pink and say is a children s book written and illustrated by patricia polacco. Discover life in ancient rome with sticker and flap books, and stories and activity books. The global quest to eradicate the use of child soldiers hardcover. Find bestsellers, new releases, award winners and our recommended books for kids at.
What are the best first world war books for children. After a decade fighting wars on two fronts, tens of thousands of service members are coming home having trouble adjusting to civilian life. The golden age of children s book illustration and american soldiers in the great war vanessa meikle schulman the lion and the unicorn, volume 41, number 2, april 2017, pp. Miss suzy s pleasant life in her house at the top of a oak tree is disrupted by six mean red squirrels who chase her away. Claire huchet bishop 1899 march 1993 was a children s novelist and librarian, winner of the newbery honor for pancakesparis and all alone, and the josette frank award for twenty and ten. The 2020 nonfiction award committee of the childrens book guild of washington, dc, is pleased to announce catherine reef as the nonfiction award winner for 2020. Childrens literature sentient toys this is a list for childrens books in which dolls, stuffed animals, or other toys come to life.
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Cook the peas in boiling, salted water. Cool them immediately after cooking to preserve their colour. Peel the raw grapefruit. Separate the segments.
Mix the Ocean Spray® Dried Cranberries, peas and grapefruit segments in a bowl. Add the cream cheese and chopped chives. Season to taste.
Wash the lamb's lettuce and divide between 4 glasses. Finish with the remoulade. Garnish with Ocean Spray® Dried Cranberries. |
2022 was world's 6th-warmest year on record
A world map plotted with color blocks depicting percentiles of global average land and ocean temperatures for the full year 2022. Color blocks depict increasing warmth, from dark blue (record-coldest area) to dark red (record-warmest area) and spanning areas in between that were "much cooler than average" through "much warmer than average." Image: NOAA NCEI.
The planet continued its warming trend in 2022, with last year ranking as the sixth-warmest year on record since 1880, according to an analysis by scientists from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, or NCEI.
Below are highlights from NOAA's 2022 annual global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
Earth's average land and ocean surface temperature in 2022 was 1.55 degrees F (0.86 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 57.0 degrees F (13.9 degrees C) — the sixth highest among all years in the 1880-2022 record.
It also marked the 46th-consecutive year (since 1977) with global temperatures rising above the 20th-century average. The 10-warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010, with the last nine years (2014-2022) among the 10-warmest years.
The 2022 Northern Hemisphere surface temperature was also the sixth highest in the 143-year record at 1.98 degrees F (1.10 degrees C) above average. The Southern Hemisphere surface temperature for 2022 was the seventh highest on record at 1.10 degrees F (0.61 of a degree C) above average.
2022 as ranked by other scientific organizations
NASA scientists conducted a separate but similar analysis, determining that 2022 ranked as Earth's fifth-warmest year on record, tied with 2015. The European Commission's Copernicus ranked 2022 as the globe's fifth-warmest year on record.
An annotated map of the world plotted with the year's most significant climate events.
Other notable climate findings and events
Global ocean heat content (OHC) hit a record high: The upper ocean heat content, which addresses the amount of heat stored in the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean, was record high in 2022, surpassing the previous record set in 2021. The four highest OHCs have all occurred in the last four years (2019-2022).
Polar sea ice ran low: The 2022 annual Antarctic sea ice extent (coverage) was at a near-record low at 4.09 million square miles. Only the year 1987 had a smaller annual extent. During 2022, each month had an extent that ranked among the five smallest for their respective months, while the months of February, June, July and August had their lowest monthly extent on record.
In the Arctic, the average annual sea ice extent was approximately 4.13 million square miles — the 11th-smallest annual average sea ice extent in the 1979-2022 record, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Global tropical cyclones were near average: A total of 88 named storms occurred across the globe in 2022, which was near the 1991-2020 average. Of those, 40 reached tropical cyclone strength (winds of 74 mph or higher) and 17 reached major tropical cyclone strength (winds of 111 mph or higher). The global accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) — an integrated metric of the strength, frequency and duration of tropical storms — was the fourth lowest since 1981.
December 2022 was warm: The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces in December was 1.44 degrees F (0.80 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the eighth-warmest December in the 143-year NOAA record.
Regionally, Africa tied 2016 for its second-warmest December on record. South America's December ranked fourth warmest on record, while Europe saw its 10th warmest. Although North America and Asia both had an above-average December temperature, neither ranked among the 20 warmest on record.
An annotated map of the world plotted with the year's most significant climate events. Please see the story below as well as the report summary from NOAA NCEI at http://bit.ly/Global202212offsite link. Image: NOAA NCEI.
LAKE COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
Lake County Arts Council awarded California Arts Council Arts Integration training grant
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The California Arts Council has announced a grant award of $14,250 to Lake County Arts Council as part of its Arts Integration program in its second round of funding for 2022.
Lake County Arts Council, in partnership with Lake County Office of Education, will provide a series of Arts Integration Trainings highlighting multiple artforms for Lake County teachers, providing materials and insight on how teachers can easily apply each artform into their classroom.
Approximately 20 Arts Integration classes will be held over 2023-24 calendar year. The workshops will be held in various locations around the county.
Arts integration fosters diverse representation in classrooms; by centering the teaching around student thinking and the arts, focus will be on the student experience and connections, as opposed to the teacher's culture and expertise.
"I am very excited to see this program take off. More commonly we see funding for arts projects, not necessarily teaching moments," said Barbara Clark, executive director for the Lake County Arts Council. "This one is special because it gives us the opportunity to teach basic concepts that will allow teachers to take control of that art form and use it how they see is most appropriate for their classroom."
Lake County Arts Council was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council, with grant awards for its Cycle B programming totaling more than $41 million across more than 900 grants supporting nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state.
All told, the projected sum of grants to be awarded for 2022's regular program funding cycle is more than $72 million — the biggest annual investment in the California Arts Council's 46-year history, largely supported by the $40 million one-time boost in support for the agency's creative youth and arts education development programs.
"The resilience and creativity of California's arts and cultural field in these last three years has been remarkable," said California Arts Council Director Jonathan Moscone. "We are proud to be able to support the great work that California's artists, culture bearers and cultural workers are doing within our communities as an indelible part of our state's identity."
Cycle B's programs include five funding opportunities for arts education and creative youth development, and related arts workforce development. Additionally, the cycle offered funding opportunities for administering organizations to regrant funds for folk and traditional arts and individual artists fellowship programs.
Operational support for statewide and regional arts service organizations and networks was also available during this round of grant funding.
Mara Johnson-Groh
Space News: Flashes on the Sun could help scientists predict solar flares
Two images of a solar active region (NOAA AR 2109) taken by SDO/AIA show extreme-ultraviolet light produced by million-degree-hot coronal gas (top images) on the day before the region flared (left) and the day before it stayed quiet and did not flare (right). The changes in brightness (bottom images) at these two times show different patterns, with patches of intense variation (black & white areas) before the flare (bottom left) and mostly gray (indicating low variability) before the quiet period (bottom right). Credits: NASA/SDO/AIA/Dissauer et al. 2022.
In the blazing upper atmosphere of the Sun, a team of scientists have found new clues that could help predict when and where the Sun's next flare might explode.
Using data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, researchers from NorthWest Research Associates, or NWRA, identified small signals in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere, the corona, that can help identify which regions on the Sun are more likely to produce solar flares — energetic bursts of light and particles released from the Sun.
They found that above the regions about to flare, the corona produced small-scale flashes — like small sparklers before the big fireworks.
This information could eventually help improve predictions of flares and space weather storms — the disrupted conditions in space caused by the Sun's activity.
Space weather can affect Earth in many ways: producing auroras, endangering astronauts, disrupting radio communications, and even causing large electrical blackouts.
Scientists have previously studied how activity in lower layers of the Sun's atmosphere — such as the photosphere and chromosphere — can indicate impending flare activity in active regions, which are often marked by groups of sunspots, or strong magnetic regions on the surface of the Sun that are darker and cooler compared to their surroundings. The new findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, add to that picture.
"We can get some very different information in the corona than we get from the photosphere, or 'surface' of the Sun," said KD Leka, lead author on the new study who is also a designated foreign professor at Nagoya University in Japan. "Our results may give us a new marker to distinguish which active regions are likely to flare soon and which will stay quiet over an upcoming period of time."
For their research, the scientists used a newly created image database of the Sun's active regions captured by SDO. The publicly available resource, described in a companion paper also in The Astrophysical Journal, combines over eight years of images taken of active regions in ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet light.
Led by Karin Dissauer and engineered by Eric L. Wagner, the NWRA team's new database makes it easier for scientists to use data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, or AIA, on SDO for large statistical studies.
"It's the first time a database like this is readily available for the scientific community, and it will be very useful for studying many topics, not just flare-ready active regions," Dissauer said.
The NWRA team studied a large sample of active regions from the database, using statistical methods developed by team member Graham Barnes. The analysis revealed small flashes in the corona preceded each flare. These and other new insights will give researchers a better understanding of the physics taking place in these magnetically active regions, with the goal of developing new tools to predict solar flares.
"With this research, we are really starting to dig deeper," Dissauer said. "Down the road, combining all this information from the surface up through the corona should allow forecasters to make better predictions about when and where solar flares will happen."
Mara Johnson-Groh works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Helping Paws: Akitas, terriers and malamutes
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has an interesting and diverse lineup of dogs waiting for new homes.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Akita, Alaskan malamute, American blue heeler, Belgian Malinois, German shepherd, hound, husky, Jack Russell terrier, Labrador retriever, mastiff, pit bull, pointer, shepherd and terrier.
This 6-month-old female pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 3, ID No. LCAC-A-4565. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
This 6-month-old female pit bull terrier has a short red and white coat.
This 3-year-old female pointer mix is in kennel No. 4, ID No. LCAC-A-4520. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Female pointer mix
This 3-year-old female pointer mix has a tricolor coat.
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound is in kennel No. 6a, ID No. LCAC-A-4521. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
American blue heeler-hound
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound has a short brown and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 6a, ID No. LCAC-A-4521.
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound is in kennel No. 6b, ID No. LCAC-A-4522. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler-hound has a short brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 6b, ID No. LCAC-A-4522.
This 5-month-old male American blue heeler-hound is in kennel No. 9a, ID No. LCAC-A-4519. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male American blue heeler-hound
This 5-month-old male American blue heeler-hound has a short brindle coat.
He is in kennel No. 9a, ID No. LCAC-A-4519.
This 5-month-old male American blue heeler-hound is in kennel No. 9b, ID No. LCAC-A-4523. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
This 5-month-old male American blue heeler-hound has a short brown coat.
He is in kennel No. 9b, ID No. LCAC-A-4523.
This 1-year-old male mastiff mix is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-4566. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male mastiff mix
This 1-year-old male mastiff mix has a short black coat.
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd mix is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-4539. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male Akita-shepherd mix
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd mix has a long brown coat.
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4538. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male Akita-shepherd
This 2-year-old male Akita-shepherd has a short fawn-colored coat.
This 1-year-old female husky is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-4562. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Female husky
This 1-year-old female husky has a black and white coat.
"Missy" is a 6-year-old female pit bull terrier in kennel No. 17, ID No. LCAC-A-4548. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
'Missy'
"Missy" is a 6-year-old female pit bull terrier with a short brown coat.
"Louie" is an 8-year-old male Jack Russell terrier in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-4550. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
'Louie'
"Louie" is an 8-year-old male Jack Russell terrier with a long white coat.
This 3-year-old male Doberman pinscher is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-4543. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male Doberman pinscher
This 3-year-old male Doberman pinscher has a short brown and tan coat.
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler/hound mix is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-4524. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
American blue heeler/hound mix
This 5-month-old female American blue heeler/hound mix has a short brindle and white coat.
This 7-year-old male German shepherd is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-4561. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Male German shepherd
This 7-year-old male German shepherd with a black and tan coat.
"Diesel" is a 2-year-old male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-4549. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.
'Diesel'
"Diesel" is a 2-year-old male pit bull terrier with a short white coat with black markings.
He's in kennel No. 31, ID No. LCAC-A-4549.
This 8-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
Rotary Club of Lakeport
Rotary Club of Lakeport plans drive-through Crab Feed and Online Auction
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Rotary Club of Lakeport will hold its third annual drive-through Crab Feed and Online Auction at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
The theme of this year's event will be "Under the Sea."
Tickets, which are available on the club website, cost $70 per person.
That will get you a complete crab dinner featuring two pounds of hot cracked crab and a pound of fresh shrimp, as well as tossed salad and warm bread rolls.
Also available for an additional $20 is a quart of clam chowder. Local wines can be purchased for $20 a bottle and take-home butter warmers are available for $15.
As part of the crab-packed weekend, Lakeport Rotary is holding an online auction beginning on Friday, Feb. 18, at 9 a.m.
There will also be a number of home-baked desserts auctioned as well. The dessert auction closes at 2 p.m. sharp on Saturday, February 18, and the main auction will close on Sunday, February 20, at 9 p.m.
There are sponsorship opportunities. Those who opt for the $2,000 King Trident sponsorship will receive eight full crab meals, four Lake County wines, four chowders, four warmers and desserts, as well as press coverage and a business promotional video with Crabby the Crab.
The $1,000 Mermaid sponsorship includes four meals, two bottles of wine, two chowders, two warmers and desserts, a Crabby promotional and press coverage.
And, finally, there are $500 Starfish sponsorships which include two meals, one bottle of Lake County wine, one chowder, one warmer and dessert. The same Crabby promotional video and press coverage are included.
This year's King Trident sponsors already include Adventist Health Clearlake, Sutter Lakeside Hospital and Lake County Tribal Health.
Mermaid sponsors who have already committed include Strong Financial Network and Lakeport Tire and Auto.
Starfish sponsors so far are Nala's Cleaning Service, Dennis Fordham Law and Bell Haven Flower Farm.
To inquire about sponsorships, please contact event coordinator Faith Hornby at 707-349-3533 or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
State holds first listening session on effort to save Clear Lake hitch
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — California hasn't lost a species in 50 years, but that could soon change if efforts to save the Clear Lake hitch fail.
The population of the hitch, a large minnow native to Clear Lake and its tributaries, is crashing, local tribes are asking state and federal agencies for immediate intervention and on Thursday the state held a virtual meeting with Lake County residents and officials to discuss the emergency.
The hitch's troubles began decades ago. Once reported to number in the millions, over the last decade, the hitch population has plummeted.
In 2014, as the situation was accelerating, the hitch was listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act. However, the federal government hasn't followed suit so far.
The hitch has traditionally been a primary food source for Lake County's Pomo tribes. In December, those tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide emergency protections to the fish. They also held a summit with state and federal agencies to discuss immediate help for the hitch.
Concerns about the hitch led to the proposal for a proclamation of a local emergency by the Board of Supervisors at the Jan. 10 meeting, but that discussion was rescheduled to Jan. 24.
On Thursday, the State Water Resources Control Board held the first of two public listening sessions about the hitch.
Thursday's State Water board session started out with some technical issues with its Zoom link. Officials said they have updated the links to avoid that problem at the Feb. 1 session.
Valerie Zimmer of the State Water Board said there is widespread agreement that the hitch has been in decline for a long time.
She showed a graph of hitch population and juvenile spawning data collected by the United States Geological Survey.
The data showed that there has been a near complete failure of juvenile hitch success after 2017, with Zimmer noting that the decline is validated by local knowledge and narratives.
The slide showed that a small number of juveniles were recorded in 2018, a smaller number in 2019. There were no numbers given for 2020, and then in 2021 no juveniles were recorded. In 2022, only a very small number were found.
"This looks like the population is crashing right now," she said.
With the hitch having up to a six-year life cycle, if they don't come back this year, Zimmer said they may be gone for good.
"Unfortunately we are late to this issue," Zimmer said, adding that the state is catching up and working with local agencies and organizations.
As for why the hitch population is crashing now, Zimmer said there is no single cause and no single person who is responsible, although the drought is having an impact.
Zimmer said the hitch's peril is due to human activity. Examples of harmful activities include:
• Flow barriers: Culverts, stream bed alterations and dams.
• Insufficient water flow volumes: Drought impacts, surface diversions and losing streams.
• Habitat degradation: Mining, land use changes, levee development and flood control.
• Predation and competition with invasive species
• Pollution: Mercury and harmful algal blooms.
Flow barriers may be a critical issue as hitch don't jump over barriers. Zimmer said they can migrate when there is a lot of water, but not when water is low.
A key issue is lack of flow in Lake County's creeks. "If there's no water in the creeks, none of this other stuff matters," Zimmer said.
Zimmer also showed a picture of a 2014 fish kill in Adobe Creek, when juvenile hitch got stuck and died. Just a week before, the creek was running very high, so a biologist couldn't get into the creek to get the fish out.
More recently, Lake County's tribes have carried out successful fish rescues, such as one that occurred in April when Robinson Rancheria and Habematolel Pomo tribal members worked with the Lake County Water Resources staff and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to rescue hundreds of hitch from an isolated pool in Adobe Creek near Soda Bay in Lakeport.
Other possible factors impacting the hitch's numbers include illegal water diversions, cannabis, turning in pumps too early, overallocated water and groundwater use, especially when wells are close to creeks. Zimmer acknowledged data gaps and a lot that isn't known.
Zimmer said the focus is being placed on the creeks that historically have had a lot of hitch in them — Adobe, Cole, Kelsey, Manning and Middle creeks.
She showed maps of surface water diversions — irrigation, frost protection, domestic water and stock watering — as well as a map of uses like frost protection, which tends to occur in the spring when the hitch are migrating.
Primary uses for water in Lake County include urban, 13,000 acres; vineyards, 10,000 acres; fruits and nuts, 7,000 acres; pasture, 3,000 acres; and grain and hay, 1,200 acres.
Zimmer said the state is not looking at the entire county as it tries to address the situation. "We're focusing on the areas that are important to the hitch."
"I do think agriculture can be a really strong partner," said Zimmer, explaining that some farmers are offering to put water into the creeks to get them moving so the fish can survive.
She said farmers also can help by looking for barriers — including roads and structures — on their properties that may impact the creeks.
John Murphy, a senior engineering geologist in the State Water Resources Control Board enforcement division, discussed the effort to get regulations in place, which can't be done within just a few months, and takes time and data.
"At the end of the day, we know that the hitch is in trouble," and the state wants to do everything they can to protect the fish, he said.
Murphy went over voluntary actions to keep water in the creeks this year, such as reductions in diversions and pumping, coordinating diversion and pumping timing, alternating frost protection methods and pump banks — using groundwater for streamflow. He said they are open to suggestions.
He said they have research going back to the 1950s when the hitch started having trouble.
There are concerns that, even with all of this year's rains, the storm that took place on Wednesday could be the last rain for months, following a pattern from last year.
Murphy said they have information and momentum to help the fish. "We can't lose this momentum. We don't want the hitch going extinct on our watch."
He said they are early in effort with lots of questions and possible solutions. Murphy added that they can't let uncertainty about what actions to take lead to the hitch's extinction.
As for what's needed from the community, State Water Board staff said they need commitments for specific voluntary actions, such as reducing diversions and pumping from February to May, using alternative frost protection methods, coordinating diversion and pump timing.
They're also looking for local coordinators, people to share data, leads on connecting with hard-to-reach people and invites to community meetings.
The state wants to hear what people would do to solve the problem in the short and long term, and get input on what specific steps the public thinks it should take.
There will be additional engagement opportunities with the state coming up.
The hitch will be discussed at the Board of Supervisors' next meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and the State Water Board will hold another listening session from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, via Zoom, http://bit.ly/CLH_Feb.1.
For more information, visit the State Water Board's Hitch webpage. To receive email updates, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Jyoti Mishra, University of California, San Diego
Climate change trauma has real impacts on cognition and the brain, wildfire survivors study shows
The 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed 20,000 buildings in and around Paradise, Calif. Marcus Yam /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
Psychological trauma from extreme weather and climate events, such as wildfires, can have long-term impacts on survivors' brains and cognitive functioning, especially how they process distractions, my team's new research shows.
Climate change is increasingly affecting people around the world, including through extreme heat, storm damage and life-threatening events like wildfires. In previous research, colleagues and I showed that in the aftermath of the 2018 fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, California, chronic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression were highly prevalent in the affected communities more than six months after the disaster.
We also found a graded effect: People whose homes or families were directly affected by fire showed greater mental health harm than those where who were indirectly effected, meaning people who witnessed the event in their community but did not have a personal loss.
In the new study, published Jan. 18, 2023, our team at the Neural Engineering and Translation Labs, or NEATLabs, at the University of California San Diego, wanted to understand whether the symptoms of climate change-related trauma translate to changes in cognitive functioning – the mental processes involved in memory, learning, thinking and reasoning.
We evaluated subjects' cognitive functioning across a range of abilities, including attention; response inhibition – the ability to not respond impulsively; working memory – the ability to maintain information in mind for short periods of time; and interference processing – the ability to ignore distractions. We also measured their brain function while they performed cognitive tasks, using brain wave recordings obtained from electroencephalography, or EEG.
A wireless EEG cap records brain activity as a person responds to cognitive tests. The image on the right shows significant differences in electrical brain activity recorded on the scalp between people directly exposed to wildfires and a control group, with greater activity in left frontal cortex (red) for the group directly exposed. Grennan et al., 2022, PLOS Climate, CC BY
The study included three groups of individuals: people who were directly exposed to the fire, people who were indirectly exposed, and a control group with no exposure. The groups were well matched for age and gender.
We found that both groups of people exposed to the fire, either directly or indirectly, dealt with distractions less accurately than the control group.
We also found differences in the brain processes underlying these cognitive differences. People who were exposed to the wildfire had greater frontal lobe activity while dealing with distractions. The frontal lobe is the center for the brain's higher-level functions. Frontal brain activity can be a marker for cognitive effort, suggesting that people exposed to the fires may be having more difficulty processing distractions and compensating by exerting more effort.
With climate change fueling more disasters, it is incredibly important to understand its impacts on human health, including mental health. Resilient mental health is what allows us to recover from traumatic experiences. How humans experience and mentally deal with climate catastrophes sets the stage for our future lives.
There are strategies people can use to help reduce the stress. Psychosocial research suggests that practicing mindfulness and developing healthy lifestyles, with regular exercise and enough sleep, can protect mental well-being in these scenarios, along with developing strong social bonds.
There is much work to be done to understand if the effects we found are replicable in large sample studies. In this work, we focused on a total of 75 study participants. Scientists also need to understand how these effects evolve as climate disasters like wildfires occur more often.
We are also pursuing research with community partners to implement interventions that can help alleviate some the impacts we observed on brain and cognitive functioning. There is no one-size-fits-all solution – each community must find the resiliency solutions that work best in their environmental context. As scientists, we can help them understand the causes and point them to solutions that are most effective in improving human health.
Jyoti Mishra, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego
Rebecca Weber, Oklahoma State University
A librarian recommends 5 fun fiction books for kids and teens featuring disabled characters
There's a small but growing number of books for younger readers that feature main characters with disabilities. Wavebreakmedia/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images
Disability representation is slowly increasing in books geared toward children and teens.
In 2019 the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – a library that allows teachers, librarians and researchers to view books before deciding which ones to buy – found that only 3.4% of books it received from publishers included a character with a disability.
The CCBC website recently added a diversity statistics book search with categories for physical, cognitive and psychiatric disabilities or conditions. In 2022, the center received 165 books that included a character with a disability, up from 126 in 2019.
As an academic librarian who also has a disability, I'm happy to recommend the following five children's books that treat disability as a part of life and living.
1. Maria Gianferrari (author), Patrice Barton (illustrator), "Hello Goodbye Dog" (2017)
Moose loves her girl Zara – and she hates saying goodbye. When Zara goes to school, Moose wants to go too and keeps showing up, even though dogs aren't allowed. What will Zara, her parents, the principal, her teacher and the other kids in Zara's class do?
This fun picture book is perfect for preschoolers and kindergartners. While Zara uses a wheelchair, her disability isn't the focus of the story. Readers will have fun seeing what Moose is up to this time and learn that sometimes dogs can go to school.
2. Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, Eduardo Trejos, "We Move Together" (2021)
All bodies are different – whether disabled or nondisabled – and everyone matters. These are the themes of this easy reader. With its vibrant illustrations, simple text and portrayals of a wide variety of people, "We Move Together" is a great introduction to the concepts of community, disability and accessibility for readers in kindergarten through second grade, while older readers can learn more about accessibility and disability rights in the glossary.
3. Darren Lebeuf, Ashley Barron, "My City Speaks" (2021)
A girl who is blind and her dad explore the city and its sounds. They wait at a crosswalk, play in the park, take a bus, avoid a rainstorm and eat ice cream. Words and pictures help the reader feel the rhythms of the city. Readers in preschool through second grade will enjoy this story because of its colorful illustrations and rhythmic text.
4. Ali Stroker, Stacy Davidowitz, "The Chance to Fly" (2021)
Nat Beacon is the new girl in school with a talent for wheelchair racing, but when the 13-year-old gets the chance to audition for a summer production of the musical "Wicked," she knows the theater is where she belongs. How does she tell her parents?
This novel for readers in fifth, sixth and seventh grades explores themes of independence, friendship and first love.
5. Melissa See, "You, Me, and Our Heartstrings" (2022)
Daisy and Noah are two of the best musicians in their high school orchestra and dream of attending Juilliard, the prestigious performing arts school in New York City. When their performance of an original piece goes viral, they have to deal with the world's interpretation of them and their relationship.
This rom-com of a novel combines disability representation with themes of friendship and romance. Great for readers in grades nine to 12.
For more books featuring characters with disabilities, check out the American Library Association's Schneider Family Book Award. For a wide variety of diverse titles, see We Need Diverse Books.
Rebecca Weber, Associate Professor Library, Oklahoma State University
Northshore supervisor to host meeting on Lucerne Hotel homeless youth housing facility plan
LUCERNE, Calif. — District 3 Supervisor EJ Crandell is hosting an informational meeting on the plan to turn the Lucerne Hotel into a facility for housing homeless youth.
The meeting will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive.
The meeting also will be available via Zoom. The meeting ID is 977 5740 1156, pass code is 589351. One tap mobile: +16694449171,,97757401156#,*589351#.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians received a $5.2 million grant from the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency in November to convert the historic 95-year-old building into 65 housing units for homeless youth from around the region.
The grant language stated that the Lake County Office of Education would be the primary partner, and that dozens more local organizations would be secondary partners. However, neither the Office of Education nor other partners said they knew about the application or the plan.
Lake County News has outlined the plan in a series of stories, beginning in December.
The tribe has since threatened legal action against Lake County News for covering the project.
Also in December, the Lucerne Area Town Hall passed a resolution condemning the plan.
Crandell initially only posted the meeting on his own Facebook page before the county of Lake shared it on its Facebook page and sent out an announcement about the meeting.
The meeting's tentative guests include representatives from the offices of Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and state Sen. Mike McGuire, and the California Business, Consumer Services Housing Agency.
Confirmed attendees include the Lake County Community Development Department, the Lake County Office of Education, the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians and the Earthways Foundation, the organization that the county sold the Lucerne Hotel to in 2019 over community objections.
A question and answer session also is scheduled.
Space News: NASA's Geotail Mission operations come to an end after 30 years
An artist's concept of the Geotail spacecraft. Credits: NASA.
After 30 years in orbit, mission operations for the joint NASA-JAXA Geotail spacecraft have ended, after the failure of the spacecraft's remaining data recorder.
Since its launch on July 24, 1992, Geotail orbited Earth, gathering an immense dataset on the structure and dynamics of the magnetosphere, Earth's protective magnetic bubble.
Geotail was originally slated for a four-year run, but the mission was extended several times due to its high-quality data return, which contributed to over a thousand scientific publications.
While one of Geotail's two data recorders failed in 2012, the second continued to work until experiencing an anomaly on June 28, 2022. After attempts to remotely repair the recorder failed, the mission operations were ended on November 28, 2022.
"Geotail has been a very productive satellite, and it was the first joint NASA-JAXA mission," said Don Fairfield, emeritus space scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and NASA's first project scientist for Geotail until his retirement in 2008. "The mission made important contributions to our understanding of how the solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field to produce magnetic storms and auroras."
With an elongated orbit, Geotail sailed through the invisible boundaries of the magnetosphere, gathering data on the physical process at play there to help understand how the flow of energy and particles from the Sun reach Earth.
Geotail made many scientific breakthroughs, including helping scientists understand how quickly material from the Sun passes into the magnetosphere, the physical processes at play at the magnetosphere's boundary, and identifying oxygen, silicon, sodium, and aluminum in the lunar atmosphere.
The mission also helped identify the location of a process called magnetic reconnection, which is a major conveyor of material and energy from the Sun into the magnetosphere and one of the instigators of the aurora.
This discovery laid the way for the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, or MMS, which launched in 2015.
Over the years, Geotail collaborated with many of NASA's other space missions including MMS, Van Allen Probes, Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission, Cluster, and Wind.
With an orbit that took it as far as 120,000 miles from Earth at times, Geotail helped provide complementary data from remote parts of the magnetosphere to give scientists a complete picture of how events seen in one area affect other regions. Geotail also paired with observations on the ground to confirm the location and mechanisms of how aurora form.
Although Geotail is done gathering new data, the scientific discoveries aren't over. Scientists will continue to study Geotail's data in the coming years.
Estate Planning: Not all living trusts are created equal
All living trusts, at a minimum, have one common denominator: avoiding probate. Beyond that, living trusts are not created equal.
Let us discuss some of the estate planning features that a well drafted living trust often contains.
A well drafted living trust administers a person's assets during incapacity (prior to death) and at death, without any court supervision (e.g., conservatorships and probate), for the benefit of the settlor who created the trust and his or her loved ones. Flexibility to deal with unforeseen events can be beneficial.
First, a trust should provide for the care of the settlor and the settlor's loved ones if the settlor is incapacitated.
Does the trust provide authority and instructions for the settlor's personal care in the event of the settlor's incapacity?
A trust, as relevant, may say whether the successor trustee pays for in home care services to allow the settlor to remain at home as long as possible; whether the trustee allows an adult child to move in (rent free) to care for the settlor; and whether the trustee pays to relocate the settlor to live with family or at an assisted living facility.
Does the trust contain authority and instructions for the care of the settlor's dependents if the settlor is incapacitated?
A trust, as relevant, may say whether the trustee pays for all or some of the living expenses of the settlor's spouse; whether the trustee continues to support an adult child; and whether the trustee continues to care for the settlor's pets.
Second, a trust should provide a well thought out disposition of the settlor's trust estate at the settlor's death.
Does the trust adequately address the varied needs and life circumstances of its beneficiaries?
A well drafted trust often provides discretion to the trustee to administer the trust based on future conditions as they exist at the time of administration.
Does the trust provide the trustee with express instructions or with discretion to use their own judgment to administer the inheritance of a beneficiary who is a minor; to administer the inheritance of a beneficiary who receives needs based government benefits; to administer the inheritance of a beneficiary who has serious creditor problems; or to administer the inheritance of a beneficiary who cannot manage their assets.
A trust, as relevant, may say whether the inheritances of such beneficiaries are subject to further (ongoing) trust management over part or all of their lifetime.
A trust may also allow the trustee to administer a beneficiary's inheritance to purchase services and/or assets for the health, education, maintenance and support of a beneficiary and without distribution cash to the beneficiary.
Does the trust provide for the proper contingency planning in the event that a named beneficiary does not survive?
A trust should name or describe alternative beneficiaries in the event that a beneficiary is not alive to inherit and provide whether the alternative beneficiary receives their inheritance outright or in further trust.
Does the trust allow the appointment of an alternative successor trustee in the event that all persons nominated in the trust fail to serve as trustee?
A trust can provide a mechanism to appoint an alternative successor trustee without a court petition. That is, the trust may allow the beneficiaries to appoint a trustee or allow a person named as a power holder to appoint a trustee.
Does the trust include, as relevant, properly worded disinheritance and no-contest clauses? A disinheritance clause is particularly relevant when the settlor is not gifting anything to an heir.
Consider a parent who is excluding one or more of their children as beneficiaries. Consider a parent who is making an unequal distribution on their assets amongst their children. Is there a no-contest clause to discourage the less favored children from contesting the unequal distribution of the estate.
The foregoing illustrates how a well drafted living trust may avoid some unforeseen and unintended pitfalls. This is not legal advice. Consult an attorney.
Clearlake Animal Control reports on latest adoptions, available dogs
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control maintained a high release rate in 2022 and now has many dogs for adoption.
At Thursday night's Clearlake City Council meeting, Clearlake Police Lt. Martin Snyder, who oversees the shelter, reported on the shelter's statistics for the 2022 calendar year.
He said 389 dogs were taken into the shelter last year.
Of those, 303 have left the shelter. Snyder said those include 169 that went to rescues, 102 that were returned to their owners and 30 were adopted.
Snyder said there were a total of three euthanizations — two for medical reasons and one at the request of an owner.
That leaves the shelter with a 99% release rate, Snyder said.
On Thursday, shelter staff brought "Noah" for a visit to the council. He's a 3 to 4 year old male American pit bull terrier who is a staff and shelter favorite.
They said he would do well with other dogs and probably cats and he's neutered and up-to-date on all vaccinations.
Dogs recently adopted include "Snowball," a male American Staffordshire terrier mix, and "Maya," a female German shepherd.
There currently are 37 adoptable dogs at the shelter, with staff hoping to find them loving homes.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It's open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city's website.
This week's adoptable dogs are featured below. |
Turkish forces and Mosques quickly spread gossip and rumors of Christian treason and collusion with opposing forces which led to the led to the deportation and mass killings of Chaldeans, Assyrians, Greeks, and Armenians during the First World War. To this day being 'Armenian' is considered derogatory in Turkey, and is often used to define somebody as unreliable among Turks.
In 1923, the Turkish Republic was formed as a nation state and a Turkish patriot was based on two things: being a Turk and being a Muslim. Being foreign or Christian, or in short, being gavur, become synonymous to being against the Turkish state, equal to being untrustworthy and treacherous.
According to one source at Istanbul's Armenian Patriarchate, it is estimated that at least 300,000 Armenian and Chaldean Christians converted to either Sunni or Alawite Islam after 1915 to avoid forced deportation. "This means there could be as many as a half million ethnic-background Christians in Turkey today who carry ID cards stating they are Muslims," the cleric observed.
Those that survived the death camps, forced conversations, or were unable to flee the region gravitated over time into small neighboring villages inside Turkey for protection. Eventually these villages were labeled Gavur villages or districts.
Today in the city's Gavur district, neighboring St. Peter's Chaldean Catholic church is a newly restored St. Giragos cathedral celebrating their rebirth.
The district mayor highlights the diversity of faiths in the district. Along with the Chaldean and Armenian Church restoration projects are a mosque, the Diyarbakir Protestant Church, a synagogue, and construction plans for places of worship along the same street for Alawite and Yezidi adherents.
Complete with seven altars and multiple arched columns in the sanctuary, St. Giragos was virtually abandoned after the massacre and deportation of its congregants in 1915.
According to Taraf newspaper columnist Markar Esayan, the church building was still intact until 1980, after which "because of hate … in modern times" it was attacked, looted and fell into disrepair, with just the walls and arched columns remaining.
Costing US$3.5 million, the church's two-year restoration project was funded largely by Armenian donations from Istanbul and abroad, although a third of the costs were donated by the Diyarbakir municipality.
By raising private funding, the Armenian church has regained this ancient building for its own use as a consecrated sanctuary, rather than a Turkish government-controlled museum like the 10th century Akdamar Church in Van, where only one religious ceremony is permitted annually.
Although no Armenian community still exists in Diyarbakir, a priest has been named by the Armenian Patriarchate to conduct occasional worship services for visiting clergy and Christian groups within Turkey and from abroad.
The mass was the first worship service in decades in the ancient St. Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church, built 350 years ago and still the largest Armenian church building in the Middle East, it once served as the metropolitan cathedral of Diyarbakir.
Although political dignitaries representing a number of foreign embassies attended the Mass, along with Armenian spiritual leaders from around the world, most of the congregation consisted of Armenian and Chaldean pilgrims from Armenia, the Netherlands, Germany, Syria, Lebanon and the United States.
Vartkes Ergun Ayik, a businessman of Armenian origin who spearheaded the project funding, said the restored church property will also be used for classical music concerts and exhibitions in the city. |
Why Does Some Firewood Produce Excessive Smoke?
••• campfire full of burning wood for preparation of the shish kebab image by Irina Igumnova from Fotolia.com
The Best Types of Wood for Fireplaces
Is Cedar Good Firewood?
By Tom Wagner
The amount of smoke generated by firewood depends largely on what type of wood you use. If you depend on wood fires to heat your home, you want a wood that will burn a long time and produce plenty of heat. Factors other than what type of wood you're burning can contribute to how smoky your fire is.
Due to the high density of plant cells in hardwoods, they tend to burn hotter and therefore produce less smoke than softer woods that have lower cellular densities. Hardwoods also burn for longer periods. Examples of low-smoke hardwoods include almond, apple, ash, oak, beech, birch, cherry, dogwood, hickory, maple, oak, pecan, walnut. Slightly smokier hardwoods include aspen, elm, basswood, cottonwood, gum (eucalyptus), sycamore and yellow poplar.
Softwoods
Most conifers fit into the category of softwoods. The plant cells are larger and not as tightly packed as the cells in hardwoods, and softwoods burn more rapidly, produce less heat and often create more smoke than the harder woods. Included among the softwoods are cypress, eastern red cedar, fir, spruce and southern yellow pine.
Sap Content
Many softwood trees, and a few hardwoods, produce pitch, or tree sap, which the trees use to heal wounds. When something penetrates the bark, or if a branch breaks, pitch seeps from the wound. Once in contact with the air, the pitch hardens, and forms a natural bandage. This sap is highly volatile and any pitch-producing tree will therefore emit a considerable amount of smoke when used as firewood. Some examples include the cedar, fir, most varieties of pine and the sugar maple.
Wet Wood
Wet wood cannot burn hot, and a hot fire is the key to reducing the amount of smoke produced. Any species of wood, when wet, will not catch completely until it dries out. Much of the excessive smoke emitted by wet wood is actually steam mixed with small particulate matter. Season firewood properly and keep it out of the rain.
Smoldering vs. Burning
The hotter a fire burns, the less smoke it produces. Hardwoods emit less smoke than do softwoods because the hardwoods burn hotter. Even softwoods need not create excessive amounts of smoke. Common fire building mistakes include using too little firewood or to clumping pieces of wood too closely together. Both of these practices can cause the wood smolder rather than burn. Leave several inches of space between your pieces of burning firewood and stack the firewood so that the pieces have minimal contact with one another. One effective strategy when starting a fire is to stack the wood in a log cabin configuration.
Wood Heat: All About Wood Smoke
Fire Pit and Grilling Guru: What is the Best Firewood?
Tom Wagner began writing for newspapers and magazines in the L.A. area in 2001. With articles appearing in "California Examiner," "World Reporter," the "Philippine Nurses Monitor" and "Famegate Global News," he currently writes for all three Philippine Media publications in Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. His articles focus on food, social issues, travel, sight-seeing, humor, general information, politics and medical matters.
campfire full of burning wood for preparation of the shish kebab image by Irina Igumnova from Fotolia.com
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Types of Marlboro Cigarettes |
The commercial and residential wings of the Epicentre project have been structured to be complementary to one another. There are currently six units (out of twenty) left on the residential building.
The commercial wing of The Epicentre project is be sold open-plan so as to enable an investor maximize the space for a variety of uses. Although we have recommended that the building be used for lifestyle purposes, the project is being sold off-plan, so the floor plans can be tweaked to the investor's requirements. Based on the open floor plans for the building, each floor has between 308.75sqm and 353.45sqm of lettable space.
These amount can be paid in tranches, with 70% of the total amount paid over the first six months of construction, and the balance of 30% spread over the following 18 months.
We estimate that you would have received a net cash-flow of about 24% of the initial investment over the next five years. The value of the property is also expected to have appreciated by 45% by the fifth year.
The prices of each of the floors are calculated based on the size of the lettable space on each of those floors. As the floors go upward, the cost per square meter decreases.
On the first floor, the purchase price per meter square meter is ? show me .00. The quantity of lettable space on this floor is 353.45sqm. This brings the cost of the first floor to ? show me .00. Factoring in 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) would bring the total cost of this floor to ? show me .00 (One hundred and forty-four million, three hundred and sixty-six thousand, six hundred and fifty-two naira only).
On the second floor, the purchase price per square meter is ? show me . The quantity of lettable space on this floor is 308.75sqm. This brings the cost of the first floor to ? show me .00. Factoring in 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) would bring the total cost of this floor to ? show me .00 (One hundred and one million, four hundred and seventy thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven naira, fifty kobo only).
On the third and fourth floors (office floors), the purchase price per square meter is ? show me . The quantity of lettable space on these floors are 330.5sqm. This brings the cost of the first floor to ? show me .00. Factoring in 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) would bring the total cost of this floor to ? show me .00 (Seventy-nine million, four hundred and sixty-eight thousand, seven hundred and twenty-five naira only).
These prices and all our forecasted values where arrived at based on analysis of commercial property in comparable districts like Jabi, Wuye, Katampe and Gudu. The forecasted values are based on perceived rates acquired from new developments in various these districts with similar level of infrastructural development. |
SCCMO Executive Press Releases
[ARCHIVED] Ehlmann Appoints Ramsdell as Director of Facilities Maintenance for St. Charles County
Contact: Mary Enger, Communications Director, 636-949-1856, or 636-443-1008, [email protected]
St. Charles County, Missouri – St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann has appointed Christine Ramsdell as Director of Facilities Maintenance. Ramsdell was confirmed by the St. Charles County Council at its Sept. 11 meeting, and started in her new position Sept. 25.
"Christine has an extensive career as a strategic facility planner and a proven track record in facilities construction management and maintenance," says Ehlmann. "She has an excellent reputation in her field and brings skills, enthusiasm and experience that will be of tremendous value to St. Charles County."
Ramsdell began her career 18 years ago in operations at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, before moving to the corporate offices where she supervised all construction and strategic design projects for the corporate headquarters. In her operations role, she was responsible for the ongoing facilities and maintenance of all retail branches and administrative offices for Enterprise in Colorado. She then took on a new role at the company as Project Manager for interior renovation, and then, as Director of Space Planning and Design. Prior to joining the County, she served as Global Project Management Director at Cushman & Wakefield at MasterCard in O'Fallon. There, she managed a global team that oversaw new construction and major renovations of owned and leased corporate facilities worldwide. Her experience there included capital planning, budgeting, scheduling and project oversight.
Ramsdell has been active in the community throughout her career, having served as a board member, facilities chair and committee member of the YWCA of Metro St. Louis. She assisted the YWCA in space utilization, property assessment for relocations and current building assessments for future planning. She is also a member of Corporate Real Estate for Women.
Ramsdell received her Master's Certificate in Project Management from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Colorado State University in Fort Collins. |
"Regardless of its make or model, your vehicle could have a problem with mold. Since you can't always see it, though, you might not know you have a problem until you start to feel the effects."
"The problem goes way beyond a nuisance and in many cases causes such respiratory problems as sneezing, coughing, tightening of the chest and drowsiness...a single cell organism that grows in the dark and wet environment in your car's air-conditioning system."
"It can collect in the bottom of the housing or on the evaporator fins and become a perfect place to grow mould and mildew. This is the cause of a persistent musty smell."
"The air quality inside of cars is typically much worse. The Hidden Threat to Automobile Drivers"
Environmental Health Perspectives - Research article titled, "Don't Breathe and Drive." Article features all aspects of in-car air quality. Page 5 points out the recognized problem of mold by vehicle manufacturers Honda and Lexus.
"When airborne mold spores are present in large quantities, they can cause allergic reactions, asthma episodes, infections, and other respiratory problems. Continued exposure to mold may result in nasal or sinus congestion, eye, nose, or throat irritations, and adverse effects to the nervous system."
"All molds have the potential to cause health effects. Molds can produce allergens that can trigger allergic reactions or even asthma attacks in people allergic to mold. Others are known to produce potent toxins and/or irritants,� according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
"These toxins have irrefutably been shown to exhibit considerable cytotoxicity. When these substances come into contact with other cells – whether of microorganisms or human, cell death will occur. Humans may end up as innocent bystanders in the mold's efforts to thrive."
"People exposed to toxic air pollutants at sufficient concentrations and durations may have an increased chance of getting cancer or experiencing other serious health effects."
"Particle pollution - especially fine particles - contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems." |
How Does Chronic Pain Change Eating Behaviors?
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By Stephanie Brown
Fact checked by Nick Blackmer
Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact-checker, and researcher with more than 20 years' experience in consumer-oriented health and wellness content.
Aleksei Morozov / Getty Images
Scientists are still working to understand how chronic pain and obesity are connected.
A new study suggested that changes to the brain's reward system may be related to disrupted eating behaviors in chronic pain patients.
The changes to the brain only developed after the pain became chronic, according to the researchers.
Studies have shown that people often experience chronic pain and obesity together, though the exact reasons are still unclear. Evidence has suggested that obesity is common in chronic pain patients, while people affected by obesity tend to report higher levels of pain.
A team of neuroscientists examined this connection further in a recent study. They suggested that changes to the brain's limbic system—an area associated with emotions and decision making—may contribute to obesity prevalence in chronic pain patients.
The nucleus accumbens, a structure in the brain that mediates between motivation and decision-making, could have major impact on the eating behaviors in chronic pain patients, according to Paul Geha, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study.
In 2014, Geha studied the role of nucleus accumbens in how patients with chronic lower back pain digest food. He found that the patients' calorie intake were not guided by food pleasure or hunger. Some patients continued to eat high-fat foods and sugary drinks even if they weren't enjoyable.
Obesity and Lower Back Pain
Geha and his team took those findings a step further for the new study. They examined the relationship between pleasure pathways and eating behaviors in patients before they developed chronic pain.
The researchers recruited 43 patients with chronic lower back pain, 51 patients with subacute back pain, and 36 patients who had no back pain.
"We're interested in trying to determine whether we can find a biological marker for chronic pain before it sets in," Ivan de Araujo, PhD, a professor of neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and co-author of the study, told Verywell.
Participants were told to arrive neither hungry nor full on the first day. They were given a variety of pudding and Jell-O samples to taste and asked to rate how much they liked each sample. On the second day, participants came in hungry and were fed macaroni and cheese. Then they were given the pudding that had the highest rating and told to eat as much as they wanted.
Finally, the participants had an MRI scan so the researchers could further study the parts of the brain that are associated with pain and pleasure signals.
Main Types of Chronic Pain
"We expected the patients who would be at risk, or become persistent at the end, to have the same picture as the patients who were chronic," Geha said. He had a theory that since pathways in the brain that are important for pleasure perception and pain intersect, pain patients might develop disrupted eating behaviors early on.
"The picture was actually not like that," he said. "What happened was a bit of both. In the subacute phase, only the patients who recovered later on showed disrupted eating behavior. They were exactly like the chronic pain patients."
The data suggested that a change in nucleus accumbens only happened when the pain became chronic.
"The system that tells the brain you had enough food or enough calories changes because of pain. And we are trying to argue that these changes are related to the effect of pain on the reward circuitry," de Araujo said. "The way things relate to each other is very complicated and it shows the problem is very complex."
What Is Causing My Lower Back Pain and Swelling in Legs and Feet?
Limitations and Future Studies
Despite the findings, it might be too soon to draw any conclusion between chronic pain and obesity. This study had a relatively small sample and only focused on one type of chronic pain. The participants were asked to self-report their levels of hunger and fullness, which could have been misreported.
"There are a lot of cognitive factors that influence the way people communicate with the experimenter," de Araujo said. "But all in all, we can still grab some significant differences between the groups assuming these biases are pervasive across subjects."
Researchers are planning to focus future studies on patients with fibromyalgia, migraines, and knee arthritis.
"I would think that different chronic pain conditions might have different ways of experiencing foods and maybe different types of disruptions," Geha said.
This study is part of emerging research that may help practitioners better predict how chronic pain will set in. Researchers only focused on lower back pain and more research is needed to show if similar results will be seen for patients with different types of chronic pain.
Okifuji A, Hare BD. The association between chronic pain and obesity. J Pain Res. 2015;8:399-408. doi:10.2147/JPR.S55598
Lin Y, De Araujo I, Stanley G, Small D, Geha P. Chronic pain precedes disrupted eating behavior in low-back pain patients. PLoS One. 2022;17(2):e0263527.
Geha P, deAraujo I, Green B, Small DM. Decreased food pleasure and disrupted satiety signals in chronic low back pain. Pain. 2014;155(4):712-722. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2013.12.027
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New Jersey Hoops Haven
Since its launch in 2006, Hoops Haven has become a staple of the New Jersey basketball community. This is the place to find breaking news, analysis and links about college and high school basketball in the Garden State.
For openers, veterans lead Seton Hall past Mercer
Jerry Carino • November 16, 2014
Brandon Mobley
Freshmen came in with all the billing, but veterans did the heavy lifting in the opener for Seton Hall men's basketball.
As McDonald's All-American Isaiah Whitehead struggled mightily, senior Brandon Mobley and junior Sterling Gibbs combined for 36 points to lead the Hall past Mercer 63-47. Game story link below, followed by five thoughts and five quotes . . .
CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR THE FULL GAME STORY:
Brandon Mobley's savvy on and off the court led Seton Hall to win No. 1 (with a Sterling Gibbs assist). Game story: http://t.co/IgMFhsXkFS
— Jerry Carino (@NJHoopsHaven) November 16, 2014
FIVE THOUGHTS
If Brandon Mobley plays like this every game, Seton Hall is going to have a fun season. So mercurial in the past, the senior forward is the X-factor. This is what he's capable of: 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, no turnovers, 7-of-9 shooting in 31 minutes. When the game got tight in the second half, he took over. Leadership has never really been his bag, but by all accounts he pushed the right buttons with his teammates during the game.
It's only fair to give Isaiah Whitehead a pass and chalk up his 1-of-10, 4-turnover, no-assist clunker to nerves. To his credit, he handled reporters' questions with great calm and patience in the postgame. It's too early to tell whether he's not totally comfortable playing off the ball, but that will bear watching as we go forward. The thing is, the rest of the Hall's offense functioned well with the ball in the hands of Sina and Gibbs. No reason to change that after a comfortable win.
Interesting debut for freshman forward Angel Delgado (8 points, 12 rebounds, 3-9 shooting, 2 blocks). He had a terrific first half, and man is he aggressive on the glass. But his performance dipped in the second half, possibly due to the fatigue of 31 minutes. Meting out his minutes with an eye toward the long haul will be a challenge for Willard. Overall a promising showing for Delgado, although Mercer's front line is weak.
Thumbs up: Sterling Gibbs (17 points, 5 assists, no turnovers) and Jaren Sina (9 points) were their reliable, efficient selves . . . Haralds Karlis may have been the 10th Pirate in the game but he brought it defensively and earned his long second-half run . . . strong student turnout, even if the regular crowd was only about 3,500. The season-ticket base of 7,000 has risen quite a bit.
After several inquiries, we finally figured out the captain situation. Willard is going with game captains this year. Today it was the three seniors: Mobley, Karlis and Stephane Manga. Interesting tactic. Indicative of a team whose best leaders are underclassmen (Gibbs, Sina) and a coach who wants to recognize that without slighting his seniors.
FIVE QUOTES
Kevin Willard, on Brandon Mobley: "This is always what I envisioned Brandon could do, play at this level. He's really turned the corner the last two weeks with his leadership. He's starting to understand how to talk to these guys . . . we had a really good talk two weeks ago about the tone of his message. He was sounding too much like me. As a teammate, you don't want that . . . I think he understands that this is his time to be the man."
Willard on Isaiah Whitehead: "I thought Isaiah played terrible. You know what, I knew he would. I'll tell you why . . . I went and looked at every freshmen (in the Big East), the big-time guys, how they played, and not one guy in his first game played well. He's a big-time player who has big-time talent, but it's also a huge learning curve for him.
"As he kind of goes through the next 3-4 games, because he's such a smart player, he's going to understand his opportunities and the fact that he's got a little bit of a target on his back. But so show you what type of a kid he is, he was the happiest person in that locker room. It shows you how successful he's going to be because he didn't sit there dwelling on how he didn't have a good (game)."
Brandon Mobley: "Being a senior is great. When thing start going south on the court, they look to me for guidance . . . I wanted to talk to them and communicate. I knew guys were going to be nervous."
Mobley on Whitehead: "He was nervous, that's all it was. First college game, and he kind of forced the issue a little bit. But I went to him and said, 'You're one of the best players in the country for a reason. Don't hang your head. It's a long season, and naturally your offense is going to come.'"
Isaiah Whitehead: "I took a couple of shots I shouldn't have taken, trying to get into rhythm a little bit, but my teammates lifted me up and carried us to the win . . . they played a heck of a game. You've got to tip your hat to them. They told me everyone goes through struggles. I told them, 'I'm good. Just keep playing the way you're playing and I'll come along.'"
Posted in Uncategorized on November 16, 2014 by Jerry Carino.
« Scouting the Seton Hall, Rutgers openers For openers, Jack-less Rutgers romped by GW »
Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.
Email Jerry.
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26th February, 2020 Film Festival, Live Action 2
Matias Mariani Creates a Fresh Vision of the São Paulo Immigrant Experience in Debut Feature 'Shine Your Eyes'
Shine Your Eyes Cidade Pássaro is the debut fiction film from documentarian Matias Mariani. Telling the story of a Nigerian man who travels to São Paulo to find his brother, it is a gorgeously shot exploration of immigrant identity that tackles everything from finding a formula to solve horse racing betting to finding oneself adrift in a new city. Premiering in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, it is one of the best Brazilian films at the festival. We sat down with the director to learn how the film came about.
What inspired you to tell this story?
When I was younger, I lived outside of Brazil for five years. That was a very impactful experience. I reflected a lot on feeling very lonely but very empowered at the same time; that kind of weird situation you have when you don't know many people. I always wanted to do a film about that experience. And when I was away, I missed São Paulo a lot. It was a city I had a very strong emotional connection to so I thought about putting these two things together and doing a film about a foreigner in São Paulo.
My script collaborator Maíra Bühler and I researched what possibilities we had in terms of communities that were just coming to São Paulo at that point. We came across the African community that was growing in São Paulo. We had this really good idea. We put posters up for free Portuguese lessons. There's this cultural centre right by where they usually are. We rented a room and on the first day it was already packed with people. We did the class every day and would sit afterwards and have conversations. From these contacts, we flew to Nigeria to meet the people they knew: parents, wives, stuff like that.
So that's where it all started. In Lagos I had a conversation with a guy who told me about a time when he was in London. He met a guy who would go to all the betting places in London with his little notebook. He was trying to find a way to solve horse racing betting. He was very obsessed with this and sometimes he won and sometimes he didn't. That was the beginning.
It's a very different portrayal of São Paulo than most Brazilian films…
This is downtown São Paulo. São Paulo is a really big city. It has a lot of very different neighbourhoods. It can be a very rich city, a very poor city, it depends. Downtown is where the city was born and grew a lot during the coffee era of the Brazilian economy. A lot of the big farms were around this area, so they built huge buildings around the beginning of the 20th century. But from the 60s, other centres of the city opened and the downtown changed. It started to have a very peculiar population. The buildings were empty and a lot of people would occupy the buildings. Foreigners would come with no place to stay and look for a place. It became a centre for whatever the society didn't want to look at. As a result, it became extremely interesting both politically and aesthetically.
São Paulo is a weird place. We like to think of ourselves as a city of immigrants like New York. We like to mythologise those people — the Portuguese, Italians, Spanish and Japanese, and the immigration that happened in the 50s — but we want to believe as a city that it's over: "Now we're all Paulistas, now we're all the same". It's not like New York which constantly sees itself as changing and evolving. I think a lot it comes from xenophobia because the newest arrivals are Bolivians, Africans or Haitians; people who Paulistas don't feel comfortable talking about or dealing with. It has a small infrastructure to receive recent immigration. One of the organisations are in the film, but very few receive you if you come to the city with no money. That's an area I thought was interesting to explore.
You're telling a story about Nigerian immigrants, but you're a white man. What did you do to make sure that the story was authentic?
I have a peculiar way of working. I did it in this film and I want to continue doing it. I like to write with a lot of people together; almost like a writing room scenario. We get together, talk, go home and write a little bit. I feel very energised by that kind of atmosphere. One thing we did which I thought was important was to get a Nigerian writer — Chika Anadu. She was extremely important in order to get the characters right and to understand the political and cultural context of where those people come from. She also wrote the dialogue in Igbo. We had had this other writer called Chioma Thompson who is also Igbo and studies Odinani, the Igbo religion. She contributed a lot to the religious aspects of the movie.
I like to write with a lot of people together; almost like a writing room scenario.
I'm not Nigerian. I'm also not a Black Brazilian. Francine Barbosa, this amazing writer from São Paulo, rewrote Emilia's character from scratch after I tried something that didn't really work out. She picked it up for me and made her whole. I think if you're in São Paulo and you're white like I am, you have an extremely different experience of the city than if you're a black Brazilian and even more so if you are Nigerian. They are all completely different things, so I think it's very important to have that.
We also had a very diverse crew when we were shooting. We made sure to have either Nigerians or Black Brazilians in all the heads of crew. There's a political connotation to it, but the more important part is that it makes the film better. It makes the story more diverse and interesting. There was an artistic reason to make that happen.
There are really beautiful locations in the film that fit really well with the characters. How much location scouting was involved to create these amazing landscapes?
It's kind of the other way around for me. It's kind of been this way for a while. This is my first fiction film but I also did some documentaries. I go around São Paulo and see a certain place and I think: "Wow, I need to shoot here". I don't have the scene, I don't have anything, I just feel like this is the place where I want to shoot. When I work on the script I think about how to do it. I used to date this girl whose grandmother would love to bet on horses. We would go there together and bet every Sunday. I needed to find an excuse to use this location.
It wasn't so much about location scouting in that sense. I had most of the locations already. But there was one thing that was particularly difficult and that was to create the correct geography. Location scouting came in to place then as I wanted it to be realistic for someone in São Paulo watching it. For example, we'd go to apartments and not quite get the right perspective. I was a bit obsessive to make sure a guy from Sao Paolo would feel that it was right.
I sensed some science fiction influences too, for example Blade Runner, Akira or Ghost in the Shell. Did these films influence Shine Your Eyes' look?
Yes, it's a big influence. When I was like fourteen, fifteen, my father had this collection of all the sci-fi classics. This was my first literary passion. Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, all these guys. I've read them so much and I think that it really impressed upon me what I wanted to do in terms of film. So I think print sci-fi is particularly present too.
But I always really liked how these anime films deal with cities, how they are able to construct urban scenery in a way I don't see in other mediums. Ghost In The Shell for example; the animation is amazing in how much it can express through cities.
How did you find the cast?
A lot of people came to the conclusion that since this is an immigrant story that they're all non-professional actors. Lots of journalists are saying that. But it's the opposite. I really like working with actors that are classically trained. As this is my first feature as a fiction filmmaker, I wanted it to be in good hands.
Trying to find a common language was difficult, but it was a fun challenge.
We did a casting call in London, USA and Nigeria. We didn't have money to fly to these places but we received a lot of videotapes and self-tests. And that's how we found OC Ukeje and Chukwudi Iwuji. OC is quite a famous actor in Nigeria. He's a really well-known celebrity. People say he can't walk outside. It was amazing to work with him because he's such a dedicated actor.
Chukwudi is almost the opposite because he made his career in London, and he's a classically trained thespian. He was part of the Royal Shakespeare Academy and played all the major Shakespearian roles. He was the total opposite. And then Indira Nascimento is an amazing actress from Brazil and also a theatre actress.
Nollywood, Shakespearian theatre and Brazilian theatre all have different modes of expression. Was it hard to find a tone that works throughout the film?
My main job was to achieve that common tone. Although OC is originally a Nollywood actor, he understood very quickly that this is a realistic film and adapted very well. The major issue is that Indira doesn't speak any English. So Indira and OC didn't have a language in common. We did a lot of rehearsals just us three just to get that flow going and for them to feel at ease. Trying to find a common language was difficult, but it was a fun challenge.
You can read all of our Berlinale coverage here. The Berlin Film Festival runs from 20th February to March 1st. Learn more about the event at berlinale.de.
Berlin Film Festival 2020, Berlinale, Brazil, Drama, Feature, Matias Mariani, Shine Your Eyes
About the Author / Redmond Bacon
Redmond Bacon is a Berlin-based critic with opinions on all things film. He is a regular at festivals such as Berlinale and Locarno, going deep on the topics that matter. You can find him on Twitter @RedmondBacon |
OTTAWA, ON – February 10, 2016 – A new Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and The Delphi Group report titled Green Building in Canada: Assessing the Market Impacts & Opportunities, is detailing the wide economic impact that the green building industry has had in Canada over the past decade, including generating $23.45 billion in GDP and representing 297,890 full-time jobs in 2014. This represents more jobs than Canada's oil and gas extraction, mining and forestry industries combined, which collectively employed approximately 270,450 workers in 2014.
The report was generated through extensive secondary research and literature review, 35 industry stakeholder interviews, and economic impact assessments quantifying GDP, job and industry strengths and capabilities. The full 94-page Green Building in Canada report is available to members through the CaGBC. The Executive Summary is free to the public. For details on CaGBC membership, visit the website here.
Full copies of the Report are available to media upon request. Please contact CaGBC Media Relations, listed below, for interview and information requests.
The CaGBC (www.cagbc.org) is the leading national industry organization advancing green building and sustainable community development practices. We work closely with our member organizations who are involved in the design, construction and operation of buildings and homes in an effort to make every building greener. The CaGBC reduces environmental impacts from the built environment through education/training, project certification, advocacy and research. The CaGBC is the license holder for the LEED green building rating system in Canada. In addition to LEED, the CaGBC also supports the WELL Building Standard and GRESB (Green Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) in Canada, and oversees the Canada Coalition for Green Schools. The CaGBC is member of the World Green Building Council supporting international efforts to reduce environmental impacts from the built environment.
LEED® (www.cagbc.org/leedcanada) is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. It provides building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their building's performance. LEED rating systems encourage and accelerate the global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria.
As a pioneer in sustainability, environmental strategies, and business solutions, The Delphi Group (www.delphi.ca) has more than 25 years of experience helping some of Canada's best-known organizations improve their sustainability – as well as the local and global communities in which they operate. The Delphi Group brings a unique combination of policy expertise, strategic thinking, and technical know-how to every project, which has allowed it to work with a wide range of organizations, including 32 of the top 100 companies. The Delphi Group's clients also include some of Canada's largest and leading real estate and construction companies.
Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) works with its partners to ensure The Living City is built on a natural foundation of healthy rivers and shorelines, green space and biodiversity, sustainable communities, and green infrastructure projects.
Employment estimates for oil and gas, mining, and forestry industries come from Statistics Canada's Employment and Earnings Survey for 2014 (CANSIM table 281-0024). The estimate does not include jobs in processing or related value-add product sectors. |
It feels odd to write about cake with everything that has been happening this week. But with all the terrifying stories in the news, I guess we could all use some cheering up right about now. So cake it is. More specifically miso walnut cakes with espresso buttercream.
Coffee and Walnut is a classic cake pairing. So while I did not want to mess with the original idea too much, it was about time Miso and Walnut met in a sweet context. For quite some time now, one of my go-to easy dinners has been Heidi Swanson's recipe for Miso Walnut Noodles. You make a pesto of sorts with walnuts, olive oil, garlic, white miso, some vinegar, honey and salt and that you stir through some pasta. The bitterness and delicate crunch of the walnuts is the perfect contrast to the creamy and sweet and slightly funky-tasting miso – the paste is so good I tend to make a big batch to keep in the fridge for sandwiches, cooked pasta and greens.
While Heidi's Miso Walnut Noodles are decidedly savoury, her recipe made me realize how well walnuts and miso go together. And we already know how much I like using miso in sweets. While it lends a beautiful savoury note to custards and caramel or butterscotch (and in a less direct and less aggressive way than sea salt does), baking with miso I noticed how it can make things taste 'malty'. A brilliant discovery when malted milk powder can be hard to track down and given my fridge already sports several jars of miso.
These little miso walnut cakes don't contain a whole lot of miso. Like salt, miso is powerful and a mere teaspoon is enough to give these cakes a bit of a malty flavour and really underline the flavour of the toasted walnuts. The cakes are topped with a lick of espresso buttercream – enough for these little cakes to feel a bit more indulgent but without being cloying.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 6 hole muffin tin (or 6 similarly sized individual cake tins such as friand moulds).
Toast the walnuts in a dry pan on medium heat until fragrant, being careful not to burn them. Pulse in a food processor until the walnuts turn into a fine meal (but before they start turning into walnut butter!). Add the rice flour and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat the soft butter with the sugar until pale in colour and doubled in volume (this should take ca. 4-5 minutes). Add the egg yolks and the miso paste and beat well to incorporate. Incorporate the flour and walnut mixture 3 portions, mixing well in between each addition.
Beat the egg whites until stiff before carefully folding them into the batter.
Carefully distribute the batter between the muffin tin holes/cake tins.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until well risen and the cakes are just starting to colour.
Leave the cakes to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing them from their tins and placing on a cookie rack to cool down completely.
To make the buttercream beat the butter with the icing sugar and espresso powder on medium speed until combined (the mixture will look impossibly dry at first but should come together after 3-4 minutes). Add the milk and continue beating util the mixture is light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes). Using a spoon or a small spatula, carefully spread about 1 scant tablespoon of buttercream on top of each small cake. Decorate with the walnut halves if using.
Sophia, i really taste this by mere reading your recipe. Love your miso experiments!
That makes me so happy to hear! Miso is such a fantastic addition to all kinds of recipes – recently tried Heidi Swanson's Miso Porridge, another instant Miso favourite! |
Justice is traditionally represented by the symbol of a scale, where the strengths of a case's opposition and support are weighed out, ostensibly with impartial objectivity.
This symbolism is noble but doesn't take into account the often-unconscious biases that we carry into so many situations, the collective sum total of which amount to institutionalized racism, sexism, classism, and more.
Even so, the scale is an important symbol that helps us to visualize countervailing energies.
I believe that somewhere there is a metaphorical scale that is collecting the courageous responses that have been flowing so strongly these past weeks: from the thousands of people of color and white folks showing up in the streets of New York, Oakland, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities – often in the face of police armed with military-grade guns and equipment, teargas canisters, and even tanks – to individuals who are writing brave words, folks like Paul Gorski talking about the challenging conversations we need to be having, and like Jessie S, naming how anti-black racism lives in each of us and what to do about it.
On the other side of the scale are the acts that have provoked these responses and the silence that so often accompanies them. This past week it was the decisions from Missouri and New York grand juries to not indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner, respectively. But these are simply the latest in a long long long line of injustices, and the conspiracy of silence and complicity which keep those injustices in place.
As terrible as these grand jury decisions have been, they are serving the purpose of waking up a lot of people who have been oblivious to or in denial of racial injustice. It's pretty impossible to deny that something is horribly wrong when you watch the video of Eric Garner – a peaceful and unarmed man who did nothing more than selling a few cigarettes on the street – pleading for his life.
And then you realize that the officers involved are not being held accountable in any way.
And then you learn that young black males are 21 times more likely to be shot dead by the police compared to their white counterparts.
The scale is there, waiting for you to weigh in. Which will it be? Speaking out the truth of this suffering and finding ways to respond to it… or remaining silent, eyes closed, living in the ignorance of your personal comfort zone.
I am speaking right now particularly to those of you who identify as Buddhist, and who happen to be white. If you choose to remain silent now, to turn away, you are weighing in on the side of perpetuating the injustices that run rampant in our society.
I realize the title of this article will irritate dharma practitioners who have studied and practiced the way of non-duality. I am one of you (a longtime dharma practitioner), and I get that. I get your concern.
And – this is an invitation to realize that non-duality includes points at which we need to take a stand on the side of love. You can hold a place of compassion for an individual officer who may have been trying his best in the moment, and yet call out the ways that he (or she) acted from a place of unexamined bias, and call out a 'justice' system that is blind to the reality of racism.
Use your dharma practice to help you settle into a place of receptivity and curiosity…. And get in touch with your deep intention to help all beings be free from suffering, yourself included.
Listen. Listen to the experience of people of color without jumping to defensiveness or explanations. Be willing to be in a space of 'not knowing.' We have much to learn.
Educate yourself about the dynamics of institutionalized oppression and privilege. Here's a great place to start.
Understand that racism hurts all of us. Don't act out of guilt. Realize it is in everyone's best interest, including yours, to dismantle an unjust system.
Organize a conversation about institutionalized oppression, racism, and privilege in your sangha. Get inspired by the models of the East Bay Meditation Center and Brooklyn Zen Center who have put the values of diversity and inclusivity at the heart of their practice.
Show up in support of actions that are happening in your city.
Join up with Sangha in the Streets, a Facebook group where you can find out about ways to offer a contemplative presence at these actions, or initiate one yourself.
Start a conversation about what the Beloved Community would look and feel like, talk about your vision and listen to others. Check out this video from Dr. Lee Lipp, a senior practitioner at San Francisco Zen Center.
Above all, don't be silent. Don't turn away. You may not know what to do, but you can at least talk about that… talk about what you are seeing that deeply disturbs you, reach out to others, start a conversation about what needs to happen. And listen, always listen.
Posted in Harmony and Difference, Ruminations... and tagged Activism, Buddhism, Eric Garner, Ferguson, Racism. Bookmark the permalink.
As this month's full moon shines down and illuminates the valley that is my home here in Santa Fe, I'm thinking about deep change and transformation.
Over the past month, I've been supporting the 24 people who are going through "Fall in Love with Your Work." One of the things I love about teaching this course is watching the transformations that unfold for participants on their way to create right livelihood.
When I first created the course, I didn't anticipate the deep levels of change that people would go through – not all of those changes directly related to their work. Some of them ended relationships that no longer served them or their partners. Some started exciting new projects, like a meditation group for their local community. Some dove headlong into creative endeavors that they had been postponing for way too long.
I thought I was simply offering a course that might help people get closer to work they would love. But in the process, I started to get how much our work in the world is an expression of our soul. So of course it makes sense that by deeply connecting with our mission and purpose related to livelihood, we would experience a shift at a soul level as well.
Transformation is not about making superficial changes – it's about radically altering something at a deep level. What makes transformation possible?
Dec 21: Seattle Liberation Lounge!
If you're in the Seattle area, I'd love to meet you in person! Join me on Sunday, December 21, for a "Liberation Lounge" afternoon soiree with like-minded and spirited folks. We'll explore the nature of liberation, celebrate the Solstice, and enjoy some yummy treats. You can RSVP via Facebook or contact me at [email protected] for more details.
Interested in bringing mindfulness into your workplace? Re-Connection and Renewal (R+R) workshops and retreats are designed to do just that. This past month, along with my friend and colleague Katya Lesher, I offered a one-day R+R retreat for staff of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Get in touch with me to learn more about how you can bring a custom-designed R+R to your group or organization.
Katya Lesher and I will be co-leading "Re-Connection and Renewal: A Women's Weekend of Mindful Nourishment" at Upaya Zen Center, June 26-28, 2015.
Please save the dates — I'd love to have you join us here in beautiful Santa Fe.
If you'd like to sign up for my mailing list to receive these monthly e-letters, c'mon over here.
Posted in Ruminations.... Bookmark the permalink.
Rev. Danny Fisher has made some big changes in his life — leaving his position as director of the University of the West Buddhist Chaplaincy Program, moving to Toronto with his wonderful wife Stephanie, and starting a new web venture: "Off the Cushion." In its short existence, Off the Cushion has featured stories on Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi and the People's Climate March, Cambodia's social justice monks, and "Buddhism After Ferguson," a podcast of an interview with Buddhist Peace Fellowship's Dawn Haney (Director of Training & Development) and Katie Loncke (Director of Media and Action). Danny's doing some innovative stuff on his new website… check it out!
Speaking of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, my old stomping grounds, have you been following their series on the Four Noble Truths? It's been unfolding all this past year with a number of excellent writers and dharma teachers taking a look at the Four Noble Truths through the lens of social and environmental justice. One of my favorite authors of the series has been Funie Hsu, a former LA public school teacher and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Davis in the School of Education. Funie is focusing her four articles on how systemic violence plays out in students' lives.
BPF is also sponsoring a call on November 3, 6 pm (PDT), on "How Does you Dharma Practice Support Your Social Justice Work in the World?" I'll be speaking on the call, as well as The Revolution Starts At Home author Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and East Bay Meditation Center sangha leader Max Airborne. The call is for BPF members — you can become one and support this great organization on this page.
And finally, you may want to join up with Sangha in the Streets, a Facebook group I started back in 2011 during the Occupy Movement as a way for contemplative practitioners to find each other and organize "public displays of practice" as part of larger protests. Since that time, it's been a way to stay connected and has recently become more active around the People's Climate March and Ferguson, MO.
In the end, it's all about staying connected and staying present….
Posted in SEB News. Bookmark the permalink.
Time and space are how we move through this world. In this digital age, we've gotten so attuned to our devices, whether they are smartphones or laptops or something else. The more digital we get, the less human we are…. that's my feeling, anyway.
Over the past few months, I've been remembering how good it feels to pay attention to the moon. When I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I was part of a small sangha (Buddhist community) that took full moon walks along a eucalyptus tree-lined trail in the Oakland hills. We would walk about 20 minutes in silence until we reached a certain overlook. Along the way, someone would ring a bell of mindfulness every so often. Then on the way back we took time to catch up on each other's lives, renewing friendships and connections that might have been put aside in the busy-ness of the previous month.
In July, I co-led a full moon ceremony at the International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice center in northern Thailand. My co-conspirator for that ceremony was Nicole Sangsuree Barrett, an extraordinary young woman who was there for the Buddhist Education for Social Transformation course that I was helping to teach. Sangsuree was a gifted ceremonialist and she designed a beautiful ritual to support all of us to reconnect to the earth and with each other. Just five days later, Sang was killed instantly when she was hit by a car in Chiang Mai.
As you might imagine, her loss was devastating for so many people who loved her. At the same time, there were many gifts that flowed from her death (I wrote more about Sangsuree's life and death here). For me, it was that reminder of how important ritual is, how deeply we human beings need that chance to find our way back to the 'home' that is always there in nature and deep inside each of us.
As you move into this next month, how can you create time and space in your life to re-connect and renew yourself? It might be as simple as turning off all your digital devices for one day of the week and being more present to yourself and those you love. This is so important in this world of ours these days… it's really an act of healing to be present. I'd love to hear how you do this in your life – drop me a line and let me know.
Kicked off the October/November round of "Fall in Love with Your Work," the e-course that I created three years ago. This time around we have 24 people taking the course from all over the world. I'm looking forward to watching big transformations unfold!
I'm helping the Academy for the Love of Learning, a wonderful Santa Fe-based nonprofit, to lay the groundwork for a very exciting project called "The City That Learns." I'll be sharing more about that in the near future.
On another note, I just returned from a journey through the Southwest. One of the highlights was spending time at Canyon de Chelly, in Chinle, AZ. Joseph Campbell once called this "the most sacred place on earth." Yes. I want to return and have more time there.
Interested in bringing mindfulness into your workplace? Re-Connection and Renewal (R+R) workshops and retreats are designed to do just that. This month, I'm traveling to Ohio to co-lead a one-day retreat for the staff of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Get in touch with me to learn more about how you can bring a custom-designed R+R to your group or organization.
Katya Lesher and I will be co-leading "Re-Connection and Renewal: A Women's Weekend of Mindful Nourishment" at Upaya Zen Center, June 26-28, 2015. I'd love to have you join us here in beautiful Santa Fe.
It's been a quiet month for writing… more coming soon!
Occasionally I like to cross-pollinate here from my other, more stealth Buddhist blog, The Liberated Life Project.
I thought that you — my Jizo peeps — might enjoy knowing that I'm offering an e-course in October called "Fall in Love with Your Work." This is an 8-week adventure into the heart of 'right livelihood' and how you can make it happen in your life. It's very much based in a perspective of mindfulness.
If you're considering making a shift in your professional life, starting to work for yourself or starting a business, or if you need to re-align your relationship with your current job so that it feels more meaningful, "Fall in Love with Your Work" may be right up your alley. You can find out more on this page.
Registration closes next Monday, September 29, and the course starts on October 1. I hope that some of you will join me for this!
p.s. Sharon Salzberg was kind enough to send me a box of her "Real Happiness at Work" to help promote this course. I've still got a few left — if you register this weekend you've got a good chance at receiving a free copy of this great book!
can accelerate your own path of liberation.
Your life is bigger than the boundaries around your skin.
When I was growing up, I loved the start of the school year – new books to read, inspiring teachers to learn from, and reconnecting with friends returning from summertime adventures. I've always had a passion for learning and connection.
September has always felt to me like the real beginning of the year – I wonder if that feels true for you too?
As this September starts, I'm ready to create something new… hence this newsletter!
A little background may be helpful. You're receiving this email because you've signed up for one of my lists: the Liberated Life Project, Five Directions, and/or the Jizo Chronicles. Over the years, I've discovered that readers on any one of those sites often have no idea that the others exist. It seems I've created different spaces for different parts of myself… but now I can see how connected they all are.
Recently I've started to see how all these venues — and my whole body of work — have one thing in common: creating space for learning and transformation.
In the next few months, my big project is to bring together these online personas into one integrated space, a place dedicated to transformative learning and mindful awareness and to supporting those who share those values. This monthly newsletter is a first step in that direction and makes it easier for me to tell you what else is going on in my 'world work,' as a friend calls it.
I know lots of folks are downsizing in the email department. If you need to unsubscribe from this one, I understand. But if you feel that you'd enjoy hearing what I'm up to, staying in the loop about ways to learn along with me, and keeping connected to the other great folks please do stick around! I would love to stay connected – if that feels right to you.
p.s. the beautiful photo of the spider web, above, was taken by my friend and colleague, Katya Lesher.
June — taught mindfulness practices at the Empowering Blind Students in Science and Engineering workshop, Seattle, WA.
August — facilitated a planning retreat in New Hampshire for a group of people founding a nonprofit organization.
Fall in Love with Your Work!
This October, join me for a journey into right livelihood! This is the only time this year I'm offering "Fall in Love with Your Work," the e-course that's been life-changing for many people. I'm expanding the course to two months, and there'll be an extra-special gift for the first 10 people who sign up (registration opens Sept 15). Learn more and get on the "Advance Notice Discount" list on this page.
I'm delighted to announce that Katya Lesher and I will be co-leading a retreat at Upaya Zen Center, June 26-28, 2015. Please save the dates — I'd love to have you join us here in beautiful Santa Fe. More details coming soon!
Lately I've been thinking a lot about despair and hope… how do we move from one to the other, how do we not lose hope when so many terrible things are going on — from our own neighborhood to all around the global community. In this age of nearly unlimited internet connectivity, we hear about these tragedies in nearly real time.
In the middle of my comfortable life it can be easy to ignore all this and more. The practice: Not turning away.
Not turning away is not easy, but it is what I understand to be the foundation of our bodhisattva vows. Being present to the truth of suffering, connecting with compassion inside of me, and then taking loving action from that place.
After I put up that post, I thought a lot about how I could respond in each of those cases. Initially I felt a sense of hopelessness, of how daunting it is to even consider addressing any one of those. But thanks to that very internet connectivity that made me aware of these situations, I was able to find what some other folks are doing to respond. And so was born… The Yes List. Who knows… maybe this will become a regular feature on The Jizo Chronicles.
YES! The Open Letter crafted by Jewish Voice for Peace… eloquent and powerful. A call for compassion for all sides, at the same time recognizing the root causes of the violence and calling for Israel to end the illegal occupation of Palestine. I encourage you to sign the letter. And let us know what other creative and generative responses you know of to this crisis.
YES! The good work of United We Dream, an organization pushing to re-frame the situation with the children in Texas as a refugee crisis, not an "illegal immigrant problem." UWD has organized a three-day vigil in McAllen, TX, to raise awareness of this issue and they've got a petition you can sign to urge President Obama to take action to protect all immigrant families.
YES! This piece of news just came to my attention in the last day, and I am more attuned to it because I'm here in Thailand right now and there are seven Burmese women in the group I am currently helping to facilitate. With this being a very recent development, I couldn't find an immediate response. But I am betting that Amnesty International will be an excellent resource, as it always is in cases like this. Keep an eye on them — they've already got an article on the situation posted here.
And for good measure, here's one more to add to the Yes List, a creative response that I just love. A group of folks in Dallas, TX, took to the streets on Friday to demonstrate for their right to open carry…. guitars. Yep, guitars instead of guns. Amen.
Posted in Bodhisattva Action Alert. Bookmark the permalink. |
Civil-rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune to replace Confederate general as Florida's statue at U.S. Capitol
The Florida House voted 111-1 this week to support placing the statue of Bethune in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, replacing Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith.
Gov. Rick Scott plans to sign a bill that would lead to a statue of civil-rights leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune replacing the likeness of a Confederate general as a representative of Florida in the U.S. Capitol.
The Florida House voted 111-1 on Tuesday to support placing the statue of Bethune in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, replacing Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith. Rep. Jay Fant, R-Jacksonville, cast the only dissenting vote. Fant is running for Attorney General.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: If Florida boots Confederate general's statue, here are some candidates to replace him.
A short time after the vote, Scott's office announced he intends the sign the measure into law.
Rep. Patrick Henry, a Daytona Beach Democrat who sponsored the bill, said he was "proud to be member of the House" as it was "poised to make history."
Bethune, who would become the first African-American woman honored by a state in the national hall, founded what became Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach and later worked as an adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt.
Henry, who attended Bethune-Cookman, said Bethune is considered the "mother of the civil rights movement" at the university.
"Dr. Bethune was a revolutionary woman, she transcended race and social economic status," Henry said. "Her life is an example of what happens when you refuse to accept failure as an option."
The vote came with students from the university in the House gallery. The university has offered to pay for the statue.
The Senate backed the proposal (SB 472) in a 37-0 vote on Jan. 31.
Smith was born in St. Augustine but had few ties to the state as an adult. As commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, Smith was considered the last general with a major field force to surrender. He has represented Florida in the National Statuary Hall since 1922.
Florida's other representative in the hall is John Gorrie, widely considered the father of air conditioning. Each state is allowed two representatives. The bill requires the Smith statue to be acquired and displayed by the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.
After voting against the proposal when it appeared before the House Government Accountability Committee in October, Fant said the Legislature shouldn't be involved in the statue-removal process.
"Messing with statues is a fool's errand for the Legislature," said Fant. "I don't think we should even remove any of the statues that we have, including the ones that they're moving to replace here. … It's one of those issues that I think truly creates division within communities, this whole statue-removal business, and I don't want to be part of all that."
The proposal has also drawn opposition from a group called Save Southern Heritage, which was formed in 2015 in response to "knee-jerk Anti-Southern institutionalized bullying."
The Legislature voted in 2016 to replace the Smith statue during a nationwide backlash against Confederate symbols in the wake of the 2015 shooting deaths of nine African-American worshippers at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C.
But lawmakers couldn't agree last year on who should replace Smith. Lawmakers considered three possibilities — Bethune, Everglades activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Publix grocery store founder George Washington Jenkins, Jr. — submitted by a panel known as the Great Floridians Committee.
Democrats' demands for a replacement grew last summer after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., turned deadly. A plan to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee helped spur the Charlottesville rally.
Up next:NRA: The left is exploiting the Parkland school shooting for political gain |
Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers
S. Rasoul Etesami, Walid Saad, Narayan B. Mandayam, H. Vincent Poor
Center for Statistics & Machine Learning
In this paper, the problem of the smart grid energy management under stochastic dynamics is investigated. In the considered model, at the demand side, it is assumed that customers can act as prosumers who own renewable energy sources and can both produce and consume energy. Due to the coupling between the prosumers' decisions and the stochastic nature of renewable energy, the interaction among prosumers is formulated as a stochastic game, in which each prosumer seeks to maximize its payoff, in terms of revenues, by controlling its energy consumption and demand. In particular, the subjective behavior of prosumers is explicitly reflected into their payoff functions using the prospect theory, a powerful framework that allows modeling real-life human choices, rather than objective, user-agnostic decisions, as normative models do. For this prospect-based stochastic game, it is shown that there always exists a stationary Nash equilibrium where the prosumers' trading policies in the equilibrium are independent of the time and their histories of the play. Moreover, to obtain one of such equilibrium policies, a novel distributed algorithm with no information sharing among prosumers is proposed and shown to converge to an \epsilon-Nash equilibrium in which each prosumer is able to achieve its optimal payoff in an equilibrium up to a small additive error \epsilon. On the other hand, at the supply side, the interaction between the utility company and the prosumers is formulated as an online optimization problem in which the utility company's goal is to learn its optimal energy allocation rules. For this case, it is shown that such an optimization problem admits a no-regret algorithm meaning that regardless of the actual outcome of the game among the prosumers, the utility company can follow a strategy that mitigates its allocation costs as if it knew the entire demand market a priori. Simulation results justify the convergence of the proposed algorithms and present new insights toward more efficient energy management in the smart grids.
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217
stationary Nash equilibrium
stochastic game
10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217
Dive into the research topics of 'Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Energy management Engineering & Materials Science 100%
Smart power grids Engineering & Materials Science 94%
Renewable energy resources Engineering & Materials Science 52%
Parallel algorithms Engineering & Materials Science 30%
Etesami, S. R., Saad, W., Mandayam, N. B., & Poor, H. V. (2018). Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 63(8), 2327-2342. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217
Etesami, S. Rasoul ; Saad, Walid ; Mandayam, Narayan B. ; Poor, H. Vincent. / Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers. In: IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. 2018 ; Vol. 63, No. 8. pp. 2327-2342.
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title = "Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers",
abstract = "In this paper, the problem of the smart grid energy management under stochastic dynamics is investigated. In the considered model, at the demand side, it is assumed that customers can act as prosumers who own renewable energy sources and can both produce and consume energy. Due to the coupling between the prosumers' decisions and the stochastic nature of renewable energy, the interaction among prosumers is formulated as a stochastic game, in which each prosumer seeks to maximize its payoff, in terms of revenues, by controlling its energy consumption and demand. In particular, the subjective behavior of prosumers is explicitly reflected into their payoff functions using the prospect theory, a powerful framework that allows modeling real-life human choices, rather than objective, user-agnostic decisions, as normative models do. For this prospect-based stochastic game, it is shown that there always exists a stationary Nash equilibrium where the prosumers' trading policies in the equilibrium are independent of the time and their histories of the play. Moreover, to obtain one of such equilibrium policies, a novel distributed algorithm with no information sharing among prosumers is proposed and shown to converge to an \epsilon-Nash equilibrium in which each prosumer is able to achieve its optimal payoff in an equilibrium up to a small additive error \epsilon. On the other hand, at the supply side, the interaction between the utility company and the prosumers is formulated as an online optimization problem in which the utility company's goal is to learn its optimal energy allocation rules. For this case, it is shown that such an optimization problem admits a no-regret algorithm meaning that regardless of the actual outcome of the game among the prosumers, the utility company can follow a strategy that mitigates its allocation costs as if it knew the entire demand market a priori. Simulation results justify the convergence of the proposed algorithms and present new insights toward more efficient energy management in the smart grids.",
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author = "Etesami, {S. Rasoul} and Walid Saad and Mandayam, {Narayan B.} and Poor, {H. Vincent}",
doi = "10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217",
journal = "IRE Transactions on Automatic Control",
Etesami, SR, Saad, W, Mandayam, NB & Poor, HV 2018, 'Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers', IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 2327-2342. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217
Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers. / Etesami, S. Rasoul; Saad, Walid; Mandayam, Narayan B.; Poor, H. Vincent.
In: IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 63, No. 8, 08.2018, p. 2327-2342.
T1 - Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers
AU - Etesami, S. Rasoul
AU - Saad, Walid
AU - Mandayam, Narayan B.
AU - Poor, H. Vincent
N2 - In this paper, the problem of the smart grid energy management under stochastic dynamics is investigated. In the considered model, at the demand side, it is assumed that customers can act as prosumers who own renewable energy sources and can both produce and consume energy. Due to the coupling between the prosumers' decisions and the stochastic nature of renewable energy, the interaction among prosumers is formulated as a stochastic game, in which each prosumer seeks to maximize its payoff, in terms of revenues, by controlling its energy consumption and demand. In particular, the subjective behavior of prosumers is explicitly reflected into their payoff functions using the prospect theory, a powerful framework that allows modeling real-life human choices, rather than objective, user-agnostic decisions, as normative models do. For this prospect-based stochastic game, it is shown that there always exists a stationary Nash equilibrium where the prosumers' trading policies in the equilibrium are independent of the time and their histories of the play. Moreover, to obtain one of such equilibrium policies, a novel distributed algorithm with no information sharing among prosumers is proposed and shown to converge to an \epsilon-Nash equilibrium in which each prosumer is able to achieve its optimal payoff in an equilibrium up to a small additive error \epsilon. On the other hand, at the supply side, the interaction between the utility company and the prosumers is formulated as an online optimization problem in which the utility company's goal is to learn its optimal energy allocation rules. For this case, it is shown that such an optimization problem admits a no-regret algorithm meaning that regardless of the actual outcome of the game among the prosumers, the utility company can follow a strategy that mitigates its allocation costs as if it knew the entire demand market a priori. Simulation results justify the convergence of the proposed algorithms and present new insights toward more efficient energy management in the smart grids.
AB - In this paper, the problem of the smart grid energy management under stochastic dynamics is investigated. In the considered model, at the demand side, it is assumed that customers can act as prosumers who own renewable energy sources and can both produce and consume energy. Due to the coupling between the prosumers' decisions and the stochastic nature of renewable energy, the interaction among prosumers is formulated as a stochastic game, in which each prosumer seeks to maximize its payoff, in terms of revenues, by controlling its energy consumption and demand. In particular, the subjective behavior of prosumers is explicitly reflected into their payoff functions using the prospect theory, a powerful framework that allows modeling real-life human choices, rather than objective, user-agnostic decisions, as normative models do. For this prospect-based stochastic game, it is shown that there always exists a stationary Nash equilibrium where the prosumers' trading policies in the equilibrium are independent of the time and their histories of the play. Moreover, to obtain one of such equilibrium policies, a novel distributed algorithm with no information sharing among prosumers is proposed and shown to converge to an \epsilon-Nash equilibrium in which each prosumer is able to achieve its optimal payoff in an equilibrium up to a small additive error \epsilon. On the other hand, at the supply side, the interaction between the utility company and the prosumers is formulated as an online optimization problem in which the utility company's goal is to learn its optimal energy allocation rules. For this case, it is shown that such an optimization problem admits a no-regret algorithm meaning that regardless of the actual outcome of the game among the prosumers, the utility company can follow a strategy that mitigates its allocation costs as if it knew the entire demand market a priori. Simulation results justify the convergence of the proposed algorithms and present new insights toward more efficient energy management in the smart grids.
KW - Distributed learning
KW - energy management
KW - prospect theory
KW - smart grid
KW - stationary Nash equilibrium
KW - stochastic game
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DO - 10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217
JO - IRE Transactions on Automatic Control
JF - IRE Transactions on Automatic Control
Etesami SR, Saad W, Mandayam NB, Poor HV. Stochastic games for the smart grid energy management with prospect prosumers. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. 2018 Aug;63(8):2327-2342. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAC.2018.2797217 |
Celebrating Queerness Operatically
by Rachael Fuller
October 28, 2017 October 28, 2017 by Rachael Fuller
Halloween in Davis Square inevitably brings together Tufts University students, families, and the vibrant and wonderful Somerville queer community, packing the bars, the provincial Davis Square Theatre, and on Friday night, The Rockwell. In this exuberant context, Whole Tone Opera Company hosted an adaptation of Louis Bertin's Le Loup-garou with new music from Molly Preston, called The Werewolf: A Fiercely Queer Opera (including musical librettist Teri Kowiak and spoken librettist J. Deschene), in the small underground comedy space, which celebrated queerness in opera in the 19th-century style. Comprising students and young professionals in the area, the company is associated with Whole Tone Music Academy, a staple for community music education on Highland Ave in Davis Square.
The night began with an opening act from Parlour Opera Players, whose A Game of Werewolf by Timothy Ayres-Kerr set the stage for Preston's undertaking. The small box theater with a thrust proved appropriate for a reduced-scale opera of an experimental bent. Disappointingly, both companies faced frontwards for the entire show, leaving two-thirds of the audience to guess facial expressions. After Parlour's showing came The Werewolf, complete with a marching band-style pit orchestra that supplied a weak, out-of-tune background to the partially-used stage. While the company gave a very spirited presentation of the Halloween work, the music in both acts revealed little more than an amateur attempt at clichéd Rossini.
While the costuming fashioned a very typical 19th century Victorian flair, a few choices frankly seemed bizarre, likely attempting to follow the quirky LGBTIA+ trends. One character wore a full coat of fur on top of what appeared to be jogging shorts, complete with casual loafers. Another wore a purple sports jacket, foreshadowing his genderqueer transformation. Another completely deviated from the 19th century style, wearing tight, leather pants with a lavender vest.
The shallow, vague plotlines supported neither nuance nor finesse. The apparent attempt at an edgy, risky operatic equivalent of the Rocky Horror Picture Show misjudged badly. The only antidote to the over-acted sentiments and perplexingly terrible puns, came in a pleasant lyric aria from soprano Jeila Irdmusa. The problematic celebration of queerness was most troubling; although well-intentioned, it led, for me, to a non-inclusive, forced vision instead of a welcoming celebration of LGBTQIA+.
Vincent, in a purple blazer, had the potential to rise above antiquated, cartoonish stereotypes. Towards the end of the night, Count Albéric proposed to Vincent after a fraught, heterosexual love triangle exploded, asking Vincent to be his wife, slipping a wedding dress onto his shoulders, and telling him that his "true form was waiting to be revealed." Rather than letting Vincent conclude that he identified as a woman, instead this gender role was put upon him by Count Albéric in a selfish move to make the other two in the triangle jealous. Vincent's gender was fetishized throughout the rest of the act, seeming to convey that gender and sexuality are one in the same.
For all who need their queer fix for Halloween week, The Werewolf: A Fiercely Queer Opera continues at The Rockwell through October 31st.
Rachael Fuller is an MIT administrator who has studied piano and music theory. By night, the concertgoer is also a practicing musicologist.
4 Comments [leave a civil comment (others will be removed) and please disclose relevant affiliations]
Hey, it was a fun evening, I went on Hallowe'en as Calais and Pilgrim (a MUST SEE btw) beckoned for earlier nights–3 operas in 6 days, a mini-Glimmerglass (4 operas in 44 hours). The Main Event, The Werewolf, was Worth It. Yes, one could dispense with the curtain-raiser "A Game of Werewolf" or something like that with musical writing threatening the idea this was One-Note Opera performing (repeated notes) apparently based on a video game and demonstrating another reason to not watch TV. When that was over there was a short entr act of a costume contest before the Main Event, The Werewolf.
One got a feeling what entertainment and art were like before the coming of radio and movies and television and their hand-held offspring; the days when the local opera house above a block of stores–think Clark Block in Natick–held sway; good clean (?) family entertainment. Yes, maybe 2nd and 3rd rate opera but some of it musically clever (real counterpoint in ensemble numbers which Broadway can no longer do). Much of the singing was quite good and so was some of the (over)acting and the opening dance ballet sequence (the French model; must have ballet); one would not mind seeing it again in a few years in a revival. Yes, homosexual stuff is now quite the rage so Whole Note Opera went with the flow–but they did not let agitating get in the way of the story and it ended as a screwball comedy should with everything in disarray and one in doubt as to who was what but willing to let it remain that way for any further resolution would only be an anticlimax. The Finale could have used a little expansion for a minute or more of music for a more convincing ending; if The Werewolf is a Work In Progress some expansion here and there is in order. After having read the review and sitting in front of the stage I was pleasantly surprised and went home feeling I had NOT wasted an evening. Chronontolog-er-etc. next!..then Burke & Hare if I can get in.
Comment by Nathan Redshield — November 1, 2017 at 11:19 pm
No one has posted about Chrononothologus, or something like that, by Guerrilla Opera; I saw the last performance Guy Fawkes Day at a larger venue than the Black Box Theater for "Beowulf" last year, a safe deposit box of a space. Competent singing of challenging music and very good acting and choreography, worth seeing if they ever do it again. Now it is a challenge to turn a play that is a parody, satire, travesty, etc. of obsolete literary stiles and spectacles into an opera. Do you turn the play into a musical vehicle, or do you go for a parody of opera itself? Chrononon-etc. chose to not parody opera but rather turn the play into a musical vehicle. Must say it is the absurdist story which is a parody/travesty of literary conventions circa 1734 that carries the day rather than the music tho' the music did not get in the way of the story. In fact the ending is not convincing and needs changed; having the story gradually over seconds be left behind for a segueing into a treating of Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach from ca. 1867. Afterwards I argued with Susan Larsen over this; Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" ("There curfew shall not ring to-night" or something like that) would have been more fitting for the period for Chronon-etc.. Why subject poor Matthew Arnold to the Henry Carey treatment? What did he do to deserve that? "Call a coach, and let a coach be called"; that pompous literary style deserved being parodied as much as "The Da Vinci Code" cried out for parody (the old Boston Phoenix DID do a number on that one). It did not help that I confuse "Dover Beach" the poem with "Dover Harbor" the Pullman car (I'll hear from John Ehrlich for that one). Composing King Chronon-etc.s crown out of silverware and other staging conceits abounded in this production; the actors pulled materials from several trunks at the rearof the stage when needed. There was a shadow play for part of the story with actors visibly holding lights for the purpose, parodying spectacular stage effects. One wonders how this work would fare under a less imaginative director, which leads to the idea that a revival should rewrite the ending to "do in" Gray's Elegy and have one pratfall to end the piece on a comic note which Chrononon-etc. sorely needed afther this "tragic relief" in a comedy.
Comment by Nathan Redshield — November 6, 2017 at 6:33 am
Not a word about the singers in an opera review?!!
Comment by William Fregosi — November 9, 2017 at 8:21 am
The reviewer cited one singer. Maybe the others were lucky not to be named.
Comment by denovo2 — November 9, 2017 at 9:27 am
Sorry, this comment forum is now closed. |
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I'm a little bit speechless, says French Open champ Barty
PARIS – Ashleigh Barty ended Australia's 46-year wait for a French Open singles title on Saturday by thrashing nervous Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in a one-sided women's final.
Eighth seed Barty got off to a strong start and never looked back, winning 6-1 6-3 after only 70 minutes to claim her maiden Grand Slam title.
The 23-year-old will rise to second in the world behind only Naomi Osaka when the latest rankings are released next week, after becoming the first Australian winner at Roland Garros since Margaret Court won the last of her five trophies in 1973.
She will be best-ranked Australian woman since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976.
"It's unbelievable, I'm a little bit speechless. I played the perfect match today. I'm so proud of myself and my team, it's been an incredible two weeks," said Barty.
"It's a special place for Australians here. Sam (Stosur) has done well here before and come so close. It's been a magical two weeks."
Barty, who famously took a break from tennis to play professional cricket in 2015, struck 27 winners past an opponent riddled with nerves.
The 19-year-old Vondrousova saw her bid to become the first teenage Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova won the 2006 US Open come to a tame end, as the world number 38 made 22 unforced errors, against a mere 10 winners.
Almost 90 minutes after the match was due to start, the players made their way onto Court Philippe Chatrier, after Dominic Thiem's thrilling five-set win over Novak Djokovic in the men's semi-finals forced Barty and Vondrousova to endure a nervous wait.
The scheduling had already been criticised on Friday as a sexism row erupted when the women's semis were moved away from the showpiece Chatrier court.
In fact, this was the first match on the premier Roland Garros arena in Vondrousova's career, although she did have a brief practice session on Saturday morning.
Australia's Greatest @ashbar96 is the 2019 Roland-Garros champion, defeating Vondrousova 6-1 6-3.
https://t.co/FJdsaBBRCP#RG19 pic.twitter.com/TMsAdEhHg3
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2019
The tension got the better of the Czech early on, as she double faulted to gift Barty two break points, before firing long to put her opponent 2-0 ahead.
Barty, who also reached the Australian Open quarter-finals earlier this year, consolidated the break with a confident love hold, leaving Vondrousova firmly on the back foot after only seven minutes of play.
Another break followed as Vondrousova threatened to fall apart, but she settled down and got herself on the scoreboard.
Barty quickly got back on track, and wrapped up the first set after only 29 minutes with a crunching forehand winner.
Lob Goals
https://t.co/bnbu89P77y#RG19 pic.twitter.com/ZtpKVQgdHT
Vondrousova had it all to do in the second set having managed just two winners in the opener, but she contrived to drop serve again at the first time of asking.
She finally held serve for the first time in the match, though, saving two break points in the third game.
Vondrousova had reached the final without dropping a set, and had the best record on tour since the Australian Open, but she left it too late to get her game in order on this occasion.
And Barty broke once more, hammering away a simple smash on her first match point to seal her moment in the spotlight, with Vondrousova left sitting on the bench in tears.
"I really enjoyed my time here"
We loved having you, Marketa!#RG19 pic.twitter.com/Kv31jRF5N5
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Man seriously injured after being thrown from train in Gauteng
Answer these questions before entering a reality show |
SISILA GINI GANI FULL MOVIE
August 5, 2019 Short
Selvi is a beautiful but quiet Tamil refugee powerfully played by Anjali Patil who catches the eye of a middle-aged Buddhist pawnbroker when she comes to cash in her last jewellery. Fire on Ice is a Sri Lankan, Sinhala language film. And, like many of the heroines in classical bourgeois literature, her rebellion ends in disaster and disillusionment. Dedunu-Kelum love story in miniscreen. One is its probe into masculinity and the second is questioning how consumerist values deprive people of human connection. One day he meets a beautiful girl, Annette at a party. She sees him heading for the abyss but as hard as she tries, she is unable to stop him.
Retrieved 4 February Ser Silveria online film. Meanwhile, Harris is contesting the municipal elections, at the urging of his wife and in-laws. She is of Sri Lankan Burgher ethnicity; her family background and experiences with married men convince her to shun marriage, which she sees as imprisonment. He tells her she can change her clothes in one of his bungalows on the way and this leads to a sexual encounter between them. Annette has sex with Harris telling him that she does not believe in marriage, mainly because of her experiences with other married men. In this battle, the capitalist class secured support from other oppressed layers by promising them freedom, equality and fraternity. Ser Ratatouille Film Online Gratis.
Design by Mighty Gorgon.
It was the first film directed by Prasanna Vithanage. Tightly scripted, with a wonderfully nuanced plot and haunting cinematography, this is Sri Lankan independent cinema at its best. Reproduction of articles permitted when used without any alterations to contents and a link to the source page. Harris tells Annette that his marriage is one of convenience, which yani cannot dissolve it because of their mentally retarded young son.
SAAS BINA SASURA 28TH MAY 2012 FULL EPISODE
Fulo, Harris stands for municipal elections.
LANKALIBRARY FORUM • View topic – Sisila Gini Gani (Ice on Fire)
The book also includes reviews written by leading filmmakers, Dr. However, the only obstacle in Annette's path in possessing Harris, completely and permanently, is Harris's little boy. Annette has siisila with Harris telling him that she does not believe in marriage, mainly because of her experiences with other married men. Meanwhile, Harris is contesting the municipal elections, at the urging of his wife and in-laws. In the rush the mentally retarded little boy is forgotten. In its preface Sanath describes how he got the story which was a murder that took place in Sri Lanka.
Vithanage, who adheres to the best traditions of social realist cinema, began his career in theatre. He meets her again when she hitches a ride with him during a heavy rain storm, which leads to a sexual encounter between them.
Articles needing additional references from November All articles needing additional references. Annette in order to win Harris' heart gets close to his son and one day she meets with a tragedy.
We live in a society which still has unhealed wounds from a war that lasted over 30 years, killing over tens of thousands of people. His schedule leaves him no time for Annette but she continues to relish his company. The roots of this tradition lay in the struggle of the emerging bourgeoisie against the feudal aristocracy and other repressive institutions and social values that maintained the status quo. The Best of British at the Echelon Pub.
Sisila GiniGani
Opdage tusindvis af film, at se dine yndlingsfilm online her Browse all Festival news and highlights. Precise in content and compact in structure Sisila Gini Gani is a surprisingly mature work for a first time director. His creative hallmark is a simple narrative style, borne out of a deep social sensitivity, and skilful mastery of cinematic craft. Harris Makalanda, a wealthy aristocrat and well-known lawyer. Silveria Download gratis.
CUENTOS DE BRUNO TRAVEN CANASTITAS EN SERIE
Set in post-civil war Sri Lanka, this film tells the tale of lovers from opposite sides who are forced to confront a terrible past. However Malani had given it up to direct 'Sasara Chethana' and Sanath who was working in Mahaweli with Prasanna Vithanage had decided to take up the project as the producer and the director. Thomian nite in aid of Bishop chapman scholarships. No registered users and 0 guests.
He tells her she can change her clothes in one of his bungalows on movoe way and this leads to a sexual encounter between them. She also begins to change her opinion about matrimony and tries to persuade Harris to divorce his wife.
Story by Sanath himself, the film introduced Ganni Vithanage to the cinema while Sabeetha Perera came out with an acclaimed performance in her role as a mistress of a politician. By which time Annette, the prime suspect, is in police custody.
Once when the child goes on a picnic with mlvie school friends, Annette separates him from the others as a sudden mist rolls in. Even if a screening is sold out, tickets are often available 30 minutes before the start of the film at the box office at each venue.
Sisila Gini Gani Ice on Fire.
MAMATHEYA MADILU KANNADA MOVIE
DRAMA KASH MAIN TERI BETI NA HOTI EPISODE 170
NAAN ADIMAI ILLAI MOVIE ONLINE
KALIKALAM MOVIE HOT
ISS PYAAR KO KYA NAAM DOON EPISODE 239 STAR PLAYER
SPIDERMAN 3 FULL MOVIE PART 14 DESITARA
CHITTOD KI RANI PADMINI CAST
MUGA MANASULU OCTOBER 30 EPISODE
SULAN KIRILLI SINHALA MOVIE
GUNUNG KESANDUNG CINTA FULL MOVIE |
Crashing Marriage and Awful Lyrics
It's not a good sign when the marriage proposal culminates with an airplane crash and a response to the proposal given during the ambulance ride. But that's what happened.
What's the worst song lyrics you ever heard? This paper has a list of 32 bad ones, including:
"THE SONG: America, "A Horse With No Name"
THE LYRIC: "There were plants and birds and rocks and things"
THE VERDICT: What, did he get tired? Rocks and things?"
And I have to agreee with the following as well - it's my personal choice for worst in a long long time:
"THE SONG: Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps"
THE LYRIC: "My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump,
My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely lady lumps."
Yeah, that's bad. Ah, for the days when cryptic lyrics prompted an FBI investigation.
And finally, the lowest-viewed week of broadcast television ever. Welcome to 2006.
Oh, and my personal fave quote from this week can be found at Atomic Tumor:
"Local racetrack is a dumb idea unless you're interested in boosting the mullet ratio in Oak Ridge."
A Musical Interlude
I'll take the cue here tonite from the pages of Newscoma, who posted this fine entry via YouTube tonite.
This is a video from a concert by Frank Zappa, a master musician and guitar god. This song is from one of my favorite albums, "One Size Fits All." The tune here is called "Florentine Pogen" and presents a perfect example of all the things about Frank I love and that I miss so much.
The music and arrangement is intricate and off the wall, like holding out for that duck call solo. The lyrics are a rock and roll example of "Jabberwocky" - tight rhymes and goofy wordplay which singer Napoleon Murphy Brock belts out as if he were telling you an incredible tale of heartbreak. And Frank simply wails on the guitar. And look at that band - George Duke on keyboards and the incredible Ruth Underwood on vibraphone and percussion (and duck call) - they are having a fantastic time.
I know only a select few of us can find the groove for Zappa. But that's ok. Try it. You may like it.
Crank it up for the next 10 minutes, wait for that guitar solo. And Chester's go-rilla (he go 'moo').
A partial examination of the lyrics can be found here, not that it really matters.
Will Ferrell Rocks Knox
Today's edition of the Knoxville News Sentinel chronicles the arrival, the performance, the crowd and the charitable fundraising efforts of comedian Will Ferrell as he promoted "Talledaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" to aid a children's charity group..
Some fans recalled the wild days of Frank the Tank in "Old School", and as the KNS article reports, Will gladly played along:
"After the screening we're going to run naked through Borders," he proclaimed to an enthusiastic response. "It's gonna get crazy."
Variety - The Children's Charity of Eastern Tennessee sold 1,000 tickets to the event, the fifth such benefit the group has hosted with Regal. The lure of Ferrell and "Talladega Nights" raised $260,000, besting last year's "Dukes of Hazzard" premiere with Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson and Seann William Scott by about $31,000."
I admit to much hysterical laughter watching Ferrell's work on Saturday Night Live and in many movies. I'll happily stop to watch again and again as he evokes explosive good cheer in "Elf" or as the Anchorman's Anchorman as Ron Burgundy. His humor is not just infectious - it's overwhelming, like a Saint Bernard jumping on top of you and licking your face
Kudos to all who helped raised the money for the charity.
Camera Obscura - Clerks, Comics and the Comic-Con
The 2006 Comic-Con in San Diego brings out some big names in comics and in movies, and it may well be the Year of the Comic Book since the Post Office will issue a superhero stamp set on Friday. Projects of all types, from graphic novels to new movies and games much more are offered to fans this weekend in a kind of approval-hunt from the real board of directors - the fans who buy and read and often imitate the products offered.
A full list of the weekend's events are offered a IGN.com which includes a public debate/discussion between Depak Chopra and Grant Morrison on the Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes. This weird collision of corporate and private minds is seldom dull and has expanded to include just about any product imaginable. This is a bona-fide cultural stew of ideas and arguments about whether Batman could off Superman or if Halo could off them both.
The super-powered vigilante has been a constant in American culture for more than 60 years, survivng a blistering Congressional investigation in the 1950s, the campy inventions of television in the 1960s and 70s and arrives in the 21st Century with the appropriate computerized effects to tackle issues like the Patriot Act. Comics often stand today as the philosophical musings of the American mind. Often the main characters are there to save us from ourselves or face the wrath of a public who sees them as a menace.
I'd bet cash money many of those who attend will also leave the convention to take in director kevin Smith's newest movie, "Clerks 2." Smith is a major fanboy and a major player in all the creative realms visible at the convention. Smith has created his own universe of characters and events which run all through his productions (well, maybe not "Jersey Girl"). His View Askew production company has had a large presence on the Web via Movie Poop Shoot and his My Boring Ass Life blog.
A fascinating glimpse of how fanatical the fans and the corporate world following Smith's career have become were documented in "An Evening With Kevin Smith." This 224-minute documentary offers Smith in a very relaxed tour of college campuses talking about the minor details of his movies, the high-profile productions that came his way after his cult fame developed and shows his storytelling skills in a very watchable movie. Once I started watching and listening, it simply became impossible to stop. His recounting of the bland and the bizarre events fame provided is a must-see.
Pop culture myth-making is a goal for another filmmaker, M. Night Shyamalan, and it's a goal he seldom reaches. One of the most overrated and undertalented writer/directors I've had the awful chore of experiencing may be getting a stiff rebuke this weekend as his movie "Lady In The Water" is released.
Honestly, one OK movie (Sixth Sense) and some truly awful ones (Unbreakable, The Village) has led Night (who names their kid Night?) to this new faux mystery film with a story about "narfs" and "scrunts" and features himself as a Great Misunderstood Writer. I'll pass.
Some years ago I reluctantly attended a screening of the movie "Road House" with Patrick Swayze as the Ultimate Bouncer. Five young women in the audience screamed like swooning banshees throughout the movie, and I admit that the movie was so awful I kinda liked it. Now thanks to the Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 fame, you can watch the movie and listen to Nelson's commentary via a new web site called RiffTrax. "We don't make movies, we make fun of them" boasts the advertising. It would be great to see more unauthorized movie commentaries shredding your favorite or least favorite film.
Writer/director Danny Boyle expands his catalog into science-fiction in a movie called "Sunshine," about a last-ditch effort to repair the failing Sun, is currently in production. Boyle has been running throgh the genres of film in movies like "Trainspotting" to "A Life Less Ordinary" to "28 Days Later". A behind the scenes and making of collection of clips available here.
"Night of the Living Dead in 3-D"??? Yes, it's shambling to life.
"Adventures of Brisco County Jr" arrives on DVD as does star Bruce Campbell's other short-lived TV series, "Jack of All Trades."
Quick, Hide The Inflatable Sheep!!
Sorry to detract from your apocalyptic day-mares about the End of The World or the Start of World War 12, but let's be honest. Just what exactly do you think you can do to stop civil war in the Middle East as you peck away at a keyboard or surf across the internet tubes??
I myself am more than annoyed by the fact that certain religious/military groups constantly want to drag the 21st Century into their Thousands of Years of Warfare and Hatred. Other than new weapons technologies supplied by outside countries, (or new innocents to kill) nothing much new is here. The Lust for natural resources has most national attentions pinned like a butterfly in a glass box as refugees run hither and yon. So if you feel like justifying the actions on one group versus another group, then have at it my friend.
As for me, my attention tends to wander about like a drunken sailor on the docks, heading for the buildings where singing can be heard, or maybe for that little place where the incredible aromas of freshly-made food drifts away on invisible breezes.
And here on the internet tubes in the ever-expanding world of blogging writers and readers, the newest study says the average writer/reader is a 14 year old girl posting OMG!!! and other horrible shorthands and misspellings as they unravel the mysteries of the latest American Idol machinatons or the problematic nature of cell phones and downloading ringtones. Or maybe you're just a political hack preaching the victories of Your Candidate/Pundit and the evils of The Other Candidate/Pundit.
And then there are those bloggers whose activities defy categories.
Which brings you and me to the point of this post:
Some thieves have hauled off a 14-foot inflatable sheep and the authorities say they can't find it:
"I can't figure out what someone would do with a 14-foot sheep," Sather said. "It can't go in your basement and if it's in your back yard, your neighbor will notice. If it's target practice, it only lasts once.'
All the thief or thieves left was a handwritten note at the scene of the crime that read: "For the sheep, bring peace to the earth."
I'm done. Are you still reading? Well, stop. And leave your comments
Posted by Joe Powell at 6:45 PM 10 comments: Links to this post
A Peaceful Arrival
Today marks the 37th anniversary of humanity's first step onto another world.
"During a pause in experiments, Neil suggested we proceed with the flag. It took both of us to set it up and it was nearly a disaster. Public Relations obviously needs practice just as everything else does. A small telescoping arm was attached to the flagpole to keep the flag extended and perpendicular. As hard as we tried, the telescope wouldn't fully extend. Thus the flags which should have been flat, had its own unique permanent wave. Then to our dismay the staff of the pole wouldn't go far enough into the lunar surface to support itself in an upright position. After much struggling we finally coaxed it to remain upright, but in a most precarious position. I dreaded the possibility of the American flag collapsing into the lunar dust in front of the television camera."
Details of the event and the thoughts of those involved are all available here.
A few years later, a Mars landing occured. Video here.
And thanks to DH for the reminder.
Explain This One
Someone will have to explain this one to me.
Throwing away frozen embryos created within the process of operating a fertility clinic is Good and Moral. Using those to-be-discarded, laboratory-grown embryos for stem cell research is Murder and Immoral. So, yes, someone needs to explain that one to me. It is an argument with no basis in the real world.
As I mentioned earlier today, it is unfortunate that tax-funded research sets the marching tone for medical research in general. Given the blindingly high costs of every single level of medical care in the nation, to see that the funds available for research need taxpayer supports also perturbs me.
Hysterical claims are made by some that stem cell research is bogus, that adult cells can provide identical opportunities -- the plain unvarnished truth is the science itself is so new that no one can say with authority one way or the other. (Yes, Science is held in contempt by the current administration, and by the so-called religous political movement, as if it were the central spear on Satan's flaming trident. I suppose we should all be glad that there haven't been public burnings and drownings of scientists.)
The veto of the president today makes no logical sense, and truly appears to me to be sheer political football at everyone else's expense.
And that seems to be a behavioral trend for the Bush presidency.
"The Garden" Has Room For You
There's just too much good stuff on DVD and even television to talk about, so here we are on a Wednesday talking movies -- and yes, this is another journey into Hollywood's Dark Heart, the Horror Movie.
Apologies first for this delayed review of "The Garden," which I've had ready for a week. And much thanks to the folks at Anchor Bay and M-80 for the chance to screen this little apocalyptic gem.
I love the atmosphere and the skillful camera and editing that make "The Garden" work. The psychological background here is dense and layered, as a dream-filled childhood mind intersects with the evil machinations of .... could that be Satan? Or is it just the gravel-voiced performance of actor Lance Henriksen? The churning mind of a troubled child may threaten all the world.
The story follows an alcoholic dad and his son, who are injured in a car crash and find themselves on an eerie farm and their host is an even more eerie farmer named Ben (Henriksen). The fevered and fearful dreams of young Sam seem to be capable of manifesting in reality, which is bad enough. But what if the farm where he seeks refuge is actually The Garden of Eden? Apocalypse is approaching, or is it all just more dreaming?
The cinematography and Henriksen's abilities carry the day. While the story may seem predictable to hard-core fans, the less initiated will like this un-rated foray into dimensional shifts and Twilight Zone-ish twists.
Check out the trailer here at the official website. This DVD offers extras from behind the scenes as well as director's commentary. And as always, the excellent catalog from Anchor Bay presents this movie and a host of others to pick from. Well worth your time to explore, many excellent genre entries are here.
Back tonight for week two on TNT is Stephen King's "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" (Hey, a common theme! Deadly Dreams!!). Last week's debut of this four-week miniseries was just plain fantastic. Two more entries arrive tonight, each a one-hour adaptation of King's creepy tales, and this week again boasting some top-name talents.
First, William H. Macy stars in a dual role as writer and the writer's creation, a hard-boiled detective in an episode titled "Umney's Last Case." The writer seeks the help of his tough-as-nails fictional detective, an act that blends the real and the imagined into one. This episode is co-directed by X-Files alum Rob Bowman.
The second hour features actors Henry Thomas and Ron Livingston as they recount what may be the end of one life or perhaps the end of all life in "The End of the Whole Mess."
The official web-site, loaded with interviews and details is here. And if week two is as good as the first one was, we have a minor classic in the making.
One of the constant questions from email and comments concerns the little horror movie with the legendary status which was filmed just a few miles from where I sit here in Morristown. That movie is "The Evil Dead" and director Sam Raimi's 1980s classic and the undefeatable hero named Ash is now headed to the world of musical theatre.
Yes, I said musical.
Reports say:
"The show is to debut in New York in October, having already been worked on in Toronto and Montreal.
The men responsible for this unlikely transfer from screen to stage are George Reinblatt, Frank Cipolla and Christopher Bond. The show won't be directed by Sam Raimi, perhaps obviously; instead, Hinton Battle - known to fans of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer television show as the all-singing devil Sweet - will co-direct.
The musical will follow the fortunes of a group of friends (rather than focusing on Ash only) after they unleash the You Know What in a secluded woodland cabin. The first few rows will be called the 'Splatter Zone'. I'm sure we needn't elaborate on that, at all. All performances will begin at the adults-only hour of 11pm, Friday and Saturday nights."
Singing and dancing zombies who aren't politicians. Now that's entertainment!
Fear of a Gay Planet
Twisting the state and the national constitution into a banning mechanism regarding sexual preference is deeply dangerous, for reasons obvious to most adults.
Barring further court actions, the state will present to Tennessee voters a proposal to change our constitution and ban certain consting adults from marrying. I'll vote no on that. I hope you do too. Efforts to alter the national constitution in the same way are also underway.
This is idiocy on so many levels, wasteful too. If you don't see that - nothing I say could open your sealed-shut eyes.
More on this topic via KnoxViews and Congressman Lincoln Davis' comments are here. And with all due respect to Congressman Davis - satire and lampoonery in speeches on the House floor are sometimes difficult to discern. But yeah, I get it. This is ridiculous legislation.
Mike Silence offers some more on the issue here. More comments and discussion are at NiT.
Being afraid of rights between consenting adults based on their sexual behavior says far more about you than you know.
These proposed ammendments stick the government's nose so far under the bedroom sheets we should see this as a perverted invasion of privacy.
I have just a two words to Americans who want to empower a Nanny Government to dictate every molecule of human behavior - Stop it.
UPDATE: Another viewpoint which express it better than I do here.
Medical Research Rebuke
Justifying warfare is easy for the President. Justifying research is not.
"White House press secretary Tony Snow explained yesterday, "The president believes strongly that for the purpose of research it's inappropriate for the federal government to finance something that many people consider murder; he's one of them." That the embryos would be discarded anyway "is a tragedy," Mr. Snow added, "but the president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something that is living and making it dead for the purpose of research."
On the one hand, I am amazed to see this president actually threatening to veto something which is releated to federal spending. On the other hand, the research holds so much promise to save many lives that to block funding seems specious.
If the justification for warfare across the globe is to protect life, then stem-cell research should also be seen in the same light.
Posted by Joe Powell at 10:30 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Shuffle Like You Mean It
Is it hotter than seven hells where you are?
Worried that we might be in World War III (or is it IV or even V or VI)?
Is your favorite political candidate chased by chickens?
Did someone leave the microphone on and everyone heard you say a baaaad word?
Can't afford gasoline?
Is your phone/internet under surveillance?
Were you not invited to Avril Lavigne's wedding?
Maybe you're mourning the death of Mickey Spillane --- so
Just soak your eyes in the following video (thanks to Squirrels on Snark for the link to the Tennessee edition of the Global Shuffle), wade out into the closest kiddie pool, or just stroll over to your favorite tourist location and dance, fool, dance!!
D Is For Donut-Hole
The Part D of Medicare has a huge coverage gap which gets this cute little nickname of "donut-hole" which maligns the goodness of donuts and implies the gap isn't that bad. It is bad for the elderly and the sickest and the poorest.
The problematic legislation, which Congress created with much help from pharmaceutical companies, prevents the government from negotiating for lower prices and requires that premiums be paid for coverage even while the individual has no coverage.
Congress needs to review this, but they won't. Elderly, disable, sick or dying Americans seldom get the chance to take a congressman or senator to dinner.
Good coverage on this problem is here, and here is an excerpt:
"This colossal gap in coverage (which, you may notice, is larger than the initial coverage itself) is popularly known as "the doughnut hole." Even worse, those who have fallen into the doughnut hole must still pay their monthly premiums, even though they are paying every last cent of their drug costs during this period out of their own pockets. Talk about adding insult to injury.
It's hard to say for sure how many people will fall out into the doughnut hole. The best guess available comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation, whose conservative estimate is that almost 7 million people will reach the gap in 2006. Out of these, many will never be able to spend the $2,850 required to get out of it. And the doughnut hole is getting bigger every year: The law is written in such a way that the actual amount of money that people will have to spend to get out of the hole is going to increase annually."
And even after Part D was crafted, big pharma still increased their prices to make sure you hit that hole quicker.
Nostalgia For The Music of the '90s
The post I am pointing you too is just too good to pass up. Fresh perspectives from L.A. on a musical reunion tour featuring En Vogue and Bobby Brown and much more, plus the humble narrator takes us through her own DJ past.
I hate to admit that I did tune in to the Bobby Brown/Whitney Houston "reality" show, which was like a slow-motion celebrity meltdown.
But Valley Grrrl's review of The Bobby is just too funny:
"At one point he had a roadie tie his shoes (he went to stage left, put his right foot up on the speaker and a roadie came out and tied it while Bobby continued to let us sing - then he strutted over to stage right and repeated the process with his left foot). He brought a LARGE sistah up on stage and dry humped her while "singing" his classic "Tenderoni" But perhaps the most disturbing moment was when he laid a crisp white towel on the stage. He knelt down in back of the towel and spread it out all neat. I thought maybe he had converted to Muslim and was about to perform his evening prayers. Instead, he proceeded to mount the towel and simulate his love for his wife right there on stage for all to see. I would like to think that the 12 year old girl sitting a few rows in front of me really believed her dad when he told her that Bobby was just doing some push ups. ICK."
Read the whole post.
Forcing A False Debate
Warmakers are having a field day with the newest battles in the Middle East and see it as an "opportunity". I went on rant yesterday in comments on Newscoma's blog (sorry about that) about the disgraced ex-House Majority leader, Newt Gingrich, who wants to push the U.S, our allies and the rest of the world into a Brand New World War, in order to generate enough fear in the U.S. that voters won't review the Republican record of failure in Congress and the Senate. His fear really isn't a world war the U.S. won't win - it's a change in the majority in Congress.
This is beyond foolish, and very nearly suicidal. Fanning the flames of war into a worldwide inferno seems to be the goal. Gingrich and others want to make this an argument about a "we must win" scenario, ignoring the number of lives such a battle would claim. and sees it as a Public Relations battle where using certain key words and phrases will induce enough Fear in the American public to embolden the U.S. into attacking more nations.
Is it a coincidence this Lust for Worldwide War arrives just as the major corporate contracts for military support in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down?
Opportunity for more contracts, for more military action to seize natural resources, for spreading political instability, which will then be used to justify more military responses in an ever increasing cycle of war.
The mistake in this logic is that it removes the focus from resolving the current warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan and undermines efforts to make resolution possible. It confuses our allies as to our goals and our committments, as they witness a lack of urgency to resolve these conflicts and a desire to spread out into a larger war. I have to wonder if this wasn't a long-developing desire.
Yes, Islamic terrorists want to fight, not talk. Yet, for us to see enemies everywhere means more soldiers are needed and more and more money. And bringing the US into a worldwide conflict is precisely the goal of those who attacked on September 11, 2001.
I'm waiting for the medical analogy to be used - sometimes you have to get sicker in order to get better.
This defeatist and self-serving line of thought will only insure spreading sickness, spreading disaster.
Sadly, the facts are so distorted and lost and the Fear is so great, I doubt the voters will respond with clarity. More and more our policies are all Reaction and not Action and any voices calling for anything else are held in contempt.
Gingrich may just get what he wants: forcing the language of war into everyone's minds.
Who benefits most from this? Perhaps the campaign to put Gingrich in the White House. |
Research, nature, arts & crafts, children development programs, self development, creative activities for children, many years of research studies,healing energy studies. I study the soul development and have superb techniques to help children.
Parents moved to another town.
Preparing breakfast, lunch, sometimes dinner, took kids to school & fetch & took to after school activities, help with homework.
Got the girls ready for school.Took them to school and extra murals, made sure they had lunches and played game. Assisted with homework and projects.
Yes, she was very active with the children, they done allot of activities together.
No none at all, she is very responsible and reliable she always helped out. |
Make Friends!
by Christopher Fisher • June 18, 2017
World's Top Religious Leaders Issue Rare Joint Appeal
Writes Carol Kuruvilla for the Huffington Post,
Religion is often viewed as a force that sows divisions between people. But the world's most prominent religious leaders have come together to present a different vision of how faith can work in the world.
In a rare move, major religious leaders ― from Pope Francis to the Dalai Lama ― issued a joint appeal Wednesday asking people to follow a simple bit of advice: Make friends with people of other faiths.
"Our advice is to make friends to followers of all religions," Ayatollah Sayyid Fadhel Al-Milani, one of the U.K.'s most senior Shia Muslim clerics, said in a video recording.
"Personal contact, personal friendship, then we can exchange a deeper level of experience," the Dalai Lama said.
Continue reading at the source. Be patient – the video begins with 15 seconds of silence. For more information on the group behind the Make Friends video, visit the Elijah Interfaith Institute. – RR
Turning Texas Blue – Could Community Organizers in the Lone Star State Show the Democrats the Way?
by Christopher Fisher • February 20, 2017
According to Texas Organizing Project cofounder Ginny Goldman, "There's this misunderstanding that people don't care, that people are apathetic," reports Andrew Cockburn in the March 2017 edition of Harper's magazine. "It's so not true. People are mad and they want to do something about it. People want fighters that will deliver real change for them.…
Activism, Community, Petaluma
Where Do We Go From Here? Aqus Community Cafe Rally hosted by founder John Crowley
Many thanks to John Crowley for his community-building efforts, including hosting this January 31 event. Thanks also to Kaye Chandler for her ongoing videographic work, keeping the residents of Petaluma informed.
Aqus Community Cafe Rally hosted by founder John Crowley from Kaye Chandler on Vimeo.
Community, Public Event, Sonoma County
Confronting Militarism & Sonoma County's Corporate Power Structure with Community Organizing |
The Coastal Carolina Curling Club proudly announces that the Spring League will be starting this Saturday. Every Saturday afternoon session will start at 5:30 pm and run until 7:15 pm. Review our Location & Schedule page for details & updates.
Alternates, or anyone paying to play on a night-by-night basis, pay $20.00 per session and may pay in person prior to the start (please arrive early to do so) or via paypal.
For your convenience, if you are paying any fee by paypal within 24 hours of a curling session, please print or retain your email receipt to assure the club treasurer can confirm payment at the rink.
The Coastal Carolina Curling Club membership year starts on April 1st. Download and complete our 2015-16 Membership Application to join today!
Do not hesitate to Contact us with any questions.
January 11, 2017 Coastal Curler Comments Off on Continental Cup starts tomorrow! |
Tickets for 2022 events now on sale!
Alison Braithwaite2022-01-08T17:07:00+00:00January 8th, 2022|Art Competition, Art Workshop/Demonstration, Exhibition, Lectures, Music, Mystery Masterpiece Auction, Short Story Competition, Sponsorship, The festival|
We are pleased to announce that tickets for 2022 events are now on sale through the website! All tickets are purchased through the website. If you would like to be placed on a waiting list for an event that has sold out, please email [email protected] including your name, mobile number, event name, date and [...]
Introducing our new Artist in Residence (2021- 2023) – Nick Logan
Alison Braithwaite2021-08-13T11:51:28+01:00August 13th, 2021|Art Competition, Art Workshop/Demonstration, Exhibition, The festival|
We are delighted to annouce that our new Artist in Residence is Nick Logan. The term is for 2 years, so you will see Nick at our events between now and the next festival where he will run workshops, participate in our educational outreach programmes in schools, help to judge The Great Broadway Paint-Off and [...]
Theatrebarn in Bretforton announced as one of the new event venues for Broadway Arts Festival
Alison Braithwaite2021-01-16T14:11:02+00:00January 16th, 2021|Art Competition, Exhibition, Lectures, The festival, Theatre|
Due to the success of the festival, as we grow in size & scope, we are adding new additional venues in the north Cotswolds to provide variety, increased capacity and an opportunity to showcase other arts organisations. We are delighted to announce an exciting new venue for in 2021. Theatrebarn is a hidden [...]
Haidee-Jo Summers ROI Announced as judge for The Great Broadway Paint-Off 2021
Alison Braithwaite2021-01-05T10:48:33+00:00January 5th, 2021|Art Competition, The festival|
Haidee-Jo Summers ROI RSMA has agreed to be one of our judges for the 2021 Great Broadway Paint-Off on Sunday June 13th! Haidee-Jo will be in the village giving feedback and encouragement to our artists during the day and judging the entries at the end of the afternoon. Tickets for the Paint-Off go on sale [...]
The Great Broadway Paint-Off 2020!
Alison Braithwaite2020-10-05T07:59:30+01:00October 5th, 2020|Art Competition, Art Workshop/Demonstration, Exhibition, Sponsorship, The festival|
What a great day - despite everything the weather threw at us! We were thoroughly impressed with the 49 artists who braved the elements (storm Alex) & seemingly enjoyed the opportunity to get the heck out of the house and be creative with other like-minded (very hardy) types. We loved seeing your resulting masterpieces and [...] |
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There are more shades of green than any other color in the spectrum, and it reflects our ability to be individuals and work as a dynamic group. The global mission of Strategic Staffing Solutions is to build trusting relationships and deliver solutions that positively impact our customers, our consultants, and our communities. When you are Green, you are part of the S3 Family.
At S3, giving back is core to our business. We believe in supporting the communities in which we do business through investments of our time, talents, and resources. Being strong corporate citizens is critical to us. We take pride in supporting organizations that help individuals change their station in life. We support charitable organizations that align around S3's four core pillars. They include community and economic development; animal welfare; youth and education; the arts, and public safety.
True to our word of supporting animal welfare organizations we adopted our four "paw-fice" assistants from the Michigan Humane Society. They're fully part of the S3 family and eagerly greet guests to our corporate headquarters in Detroit. |
So the questions are many as Apple prepares its address to investors tomorrow to reveal second quarter results. How successful is the iPod Shuffle? Are sales of the Shuffle canibalizing the sales of Apple's other iPod players? Has Apple's overall market share grown or shrunk under the barrage of hundreds of competing MP3 players hitting store shelves?
And what about the Mac Mini? Is it a modest sales success or has Apple finally found the product that will wean Windows users away from Redmond?
That last question is important if indeed the Mac Mini is destined to be the media box Robert X. Cringley thinks it will be.
But at this stage why speculate? At 2:00pm pacific time, 5:00pm eastern Steve Jobs will reveal all. And then it will be time for us analysts to take the numbers, strip away the Apple spin and make some conclusions if not prognostications.
A little patience is all that is needed. For those of you who want to get the news as soon as possible Apple will stream the results live. You can access the stream here. |
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Lemon Abstraction No. 3
by Esteban Schimpf
Esteban takes classical artistic subject matter—nudes, still lives, landscapes—and gives them a 21st century spin. This collage deconstructs and reconstructs a still life, as he layers fruits (a typical still life subject matter), cut paper and primary colors to create the final image.
More Art by Esteban Schimpf
Esteban Schimpf
Born: Bogotá, Colombia|Lives:
The Colombian-born, Los Angeles-based artist Esteban Schimpf uses his practice to explore the seemingly simple yet incredibly ambitious question, "What is art?" Through his multidisciplinary approach, Esteban incorporates performance art, photography, painting, and collage to answer this age-old question in a contemporary manner. For him, art is stripping his subject matter and practice down to the essentials. He ruminates on classical subjects such as the human figure, still lifes, and landscapes, and reduces his palette to the building blocks for all hues: primary colors. By manipulating each constituent element of classical painting into novel compositional forms, he is able to reconstruct the historical narrative surrounding "what is art." Esteban received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing, Photography, and Art History and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. He has exhibited widely across the United States in addition to Mexico and Colombia. |
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Van Loon, Elizabeth
by Lloyd R. Bailey, Sr., 1996
5 Feb. 1843?–6 Feb. 1893?
Elizabeth Van Loon, author, apparently was born in Yancey County. That she grew up there is attested by an explicit statement in one of her works, Hampton Mead (p. 140), and from the fact that members of the Bailey family in Yancey remember that she was described by their ancestors as a relative. Whether her family name was Bailey, or Hampton, or some other, cannot be established. Of her education, nothing is known.
She wrote four novels, each published by T. B. Peterson and Brothers of Philadelphia: The Shadow of Hampton Mead (1878), A Heart Twice Won; or, Second Love (1878), Under the Willows; or, The Three Countesses (1879), and The Mystery of Allanwold (1880). The first of these is set in the mountains of North Carolina, apparently in Yancey County, whose geographic features and minor place-names are recognizable to those familiar with the county. The Shadow of Hampton Mead was also published in paperback (from the same type) by Royal Publishing Company of Philadelphia, undated, as The White Slave.
By 1870 she had married Benjamin Franklin Van Loon, and they were residents of Memphis, Tenn. By 1885 they were living in Knoxville, Tenn., where they remained until her death. Van Loon disappears from the records, but Elizabeth was buried in the Van Loon cemetery at the site of Campbellite Church on Middlebrook Pike (Ball Camp), Knoxville. The cemetery is located on land that Van Loon deeded to the church. Their only child, a daughter named Frankie, married Henry Goosie and has numerous descendants in the Knoxville area.
Knoxville city directories, 1871–74.
Tennessee census records.
Elizabeth Van Loon, The Shadow of Hampton Mead (1878).
McGrath, Eileen. "Elizabeth Van Loon. The Shadow of Hampton Mead. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson & Brothers, 1878." Read North Carolina Novels (blog). North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. December 18, 2008. http://www.lib.unc.edu/blogs/ncnovels/index.php/2008/12/18/elizabeth-van-loon-the-shadow-of-hampton-mead-philadelphia-t-b-peterson-brothers-1878/ (accessed May 20, 2013).
"Mystery of Allanwold." National Literary Monthly 1, no. 6 (August 1880). 401. http://books.google.com/books?id=uGY3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA401#v=onepage&q&f=false
"We mentioned some time ago..." Daily Evening News [Jeffersonville, Indiana] 7, no. 284 (October 21, 1879). 1.
[cover]. https://archive.org/stream/shadowofhamptonm00vanl#page/n0/mode/2up (accessed May 20, 2013).
Writers, journalists, and editors
Bailey, Lloyd R., Sr.
Yancey County
1 January 1996 | Bailey, Lloyd R., Sr.
Elizabeth Van Loon is my
Permalink Submitted by Linda Goosie (not verified) on Sun, 07/01/2018 - 20:15
Elizabeth Van Loon is my husband great great great grandmother I would like to know if there is anyway to get her books we have The Shadow Of Hampton Mead and I love it&"
Permalink Submitted by harmony (not verified) on Mon, 04/23/2018 - 10:51 |
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Our main activity is dispatching of goods. A client applies to ATV Transport AS with his/her intention to transport goods from point A to point B. The client has to give a description of the goods (weight, amount, material, additional information, etc.) and the arrangement of transport (when, specifying instructions, numbers of the order, etc.).
After having received an order, the dispatcher finds a carrier for the assignment and delivers the information required for the carriage. The dispatcher is an intermediating link in the process, which brings together clients and carriers, who want to transport goods.
Dispatching service involves communication with the client and the carrier, planning of the route, cost accounting and the process administration. Dispatching is an activity, which brings together the carrier and the client and provides a transport service. For the client the benefit is stated in the provision of non-core service to a service company as the result of which the enterprise can focus on its main activity.
The dispatcher is like an administrator and person responsible. A dispatching company in not involved only in the arrangement of organisation but also provides assistance with filling out documentation and offers other ancillary services. ATV Transport AS product portfolio includes besides transportation services also storage and customs services.
Ordinary cargo is usually transported by semi-trailers or mega-trailers. Their difference is in the interior height of the trailer. The measures of a tent-semi-trailer are generally 13.6 x 2.45 x 2.7m. A mega-trailer accommodates products with the height up to 3 metres.
Sometimes it is not necessary to send a full load and products have to be taken to the client somehow. That is why we also provide half-load carriage services. We use semi-trailers and rear hatch trucks.
If thermal carriage is required, we provide modern trailers equipped with Thermo King and Carrier equipment. We enable transportation of not only frozen and chilled products but also products, which have to be kept warm.
Some goods may be classified as hazardous cargo. The term ADR cargo is usually used to denote the type of carriage service. Drivers need a special licence for that and the vehicles should have additional equipment. Drivers employed by ATV Transport have passed special training and the trucks are equipped with the corresponding additional equipment.
In addition to cargo with usually measurements, we also carry oversized and heavy cargo. |
"How long can the UN endure the shame of chemical attacks on Syrian citizens?" - France in the United States / Embassy of France in Washington, D.C.
"How long can the UN endure the shame of chemical attacks on Syrian citizens?"
Joint article by Mr. Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, and Mr. Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary, published in "The Guardian."
Horror and death: this is the fate of Syria's children under Bashar al-Assad. On April 4, two aircraft took off from Shayrat, a regime-run, Russian-supported airbase. It seems highly likely that they bombed civilians in Khan Sheikhun with murderous gas. What followed is too grim to describe. Painful, indiscriminate and long-lasting agony for babies, women and the elderly. Deaths by the score. Hundreds of wounded who will bear the scars for ever. It brings shame on the Syrian regime and its supporters. It brings shame on the world. How long can we endure this?
We deeply regret that on April 12 the UN Security Council was unable to demonstrate unity. Together with the United States, we had proposed a resolution that condemned this chemical attack and reaffirmed its unbiased support to the investigation team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). It was simple and balanced. Russia vetoed it—its eighth veto on Syria since 2011. This veto was accompanied with a catalogue of false claims meant to sow doubts about the regime's responsibility.
We have been through this already—this shameless production of lies. We can't anymore. When children are gassed, we can take no more abject lies. Let us put the facts straight. British scientists have analyzed samples from the victims of the attack. These have tested positive for sarin or a sarin-like substance. Our analysis indicates that two Syrian fast jets were in the vicinity of Khan Sheikhun, and within range of likely impact sites. We believe that it is only the regime that has the capability to make such an attack. So it is highly likely that attack was carried out by the Assad regime. Russian claims that opposition stockpiles were struck do not fit the facts.
The place to start is the ceasefire. It should be strengthened, internationally monitored and enforced. This will ensure no such attacks occur again. In parallel, we need to put renewed energy into the political process, with the involvement of key stakeholders, to finally implement the transition foreseen in Resolution 2254—a transition away from murder, and toward a regional stability that is required if we want to defeat terrorism in the long run.
¹ Source of English text: "The Guardian" website. The French version of this article was published in "Le Monde" on April 15, 2017. |
Much is written about the rise and rise of reputation. I took a look at Google Trends to see how popular reputation was in relation to brand. It turns out brand is much, much more searched for.
The below chart shows the findings. I set the parameters to searches in the UK focused around business and industrial issues.
This isn't an insight or a significant finding, but it is interesting and worth being aware of.
A huge thank you must go out to @JrAthletics for helping set up the plugin for the above chart. Please do follow @JrAthletics on Twitter and check out the website juniorathletics.co.uk. |
Karttikeya, Commander of the Divine Army, Seated on a Peacock, Ganga Period, about 12th century
The Two Disciples at the Tomb, c. 1906
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Incense Burner in the Form of a Duck, Song dynasty (960–1279), 12th century
Hyères, France, 1932, printed 1930/39
Two Women's Torsos, 1952
Statue of the Madonna in the Mountains, 1804
The Artist's Mother, 1926 or 1936
King Vulture, 1734
Johann Joachim Kändler
The Creation of Adam, c. 1642
Bust of Paris, 1809
Antonio Canova
Head of an Apostle, About 1210
The Freedman, 1862–63
John Quincy Adams Ward
Untitled (Butterfly Habitat), c. 1940
Near the Lagoon, 2002
Silver Sun, 1929
Maharana Bhim Singh in Procession, c. 1820
Ghasi
The Bronco Buster, Modeled 1895, cast 1899
Still Life with Geranium, 1906
Mural Fragment Representing a Ritual of World Renewal, A.D. 500/600
Movements, 1913
Mrs. Daniel Hubbard (Mary Greene), c. 1764
Cauldron, Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC ), early 9th century BC
The Annunciation, c. 1583
Alessandro Vittoria
TAKEN FROM HERE TO WHERE IT CAME FROM AND TAKEN TO A PLACE AND USED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT IT CAN ONLY REMAIN AS A REPRESENTATION OF WHAT IT WAS WHERE IT CAME FROM, 1980
Ceres, 1928
John Bradley Storrs
Night Sky #2, 1991
View of Delphi with a Procession, 1673
Two Ladies at the Automat (New York City), 1966, printed 1977
The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1979/2001
Triptych with Scenes from the Life of Christ, 1350/75
Chalk-Mirror Displacement, 1969
Monk (Mönch), 1997/99
Tanktotem I, 1952
The Young Emperor Akbar Arrests the Insolent Shah Abu'l-Maali, page from a manuscript of the Akbarnama, , c. 1590/95
Basawan
Mère Grégoire, 1855 and 1857/59
Spanish Dancer, 1920s
Art Institute of Chicago II, Chicago, 1990
Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket, 1876
Eastman Johnson
Gian Lodovico Madruzzo, 1551/52
Giovanni Battista Moroni
Equestrienne, Tang dynasty (A.D. 618–907), c. 725/750
Vessel of the Dancing Lords, A.D. 750/800
Ah Maxam
The Plough and the Song, 1946–47
Spindle Cube Chair, 1902/6
Object, 1936
Arrangement in Flesh Color and Brown: Portrait of Arthur Jerome Eddy, 1894
Skyscraper Cabinet, c. 1927
Paul Theodore Frankl |
Germany midfielder Sami Khedira says he hopes to help new club Juventus challenge for further honours, having completed his move from Real Madrid.
The 28-year-old World Cup winner had been a target for a number of clubs in both Germany and England, but opted to join Juve, who clinched a league and cup double in Italy last season, as well as reaching the Champions League final.
I'm really looking forward to the challenge of a new club, a new league and a new country.
And Khedira is relishing the new challenge on the horizon, with Juve having also recently snapped up Palermo forward Paulo Dybala to boost their squad.
He told the official Bundesliga website: "Juve is a fantastic club, a club with great tradition, a brilliant present and a bright future.
"It's no coincidence that the team has found itself at the top table of European clubs again this year.
"I'm sure that Juve will continue having a say in the fight for big titles in Europe and I want to play my part in that.
"I'm really looking forward to the challenge of a new club, a new league and a new country."
Juventus can be backed at 1/1 to triumph in the Champions League, with Roma available at 1/1 and Lazio priced on 1/1.
Khedira spent five seasons at the Bernabeu, having started his career with his hometown club, VfB Stuttgart, and he has won more than 50 caps for Germany to date.
However, he missed the World Cup final victory over Argentina last summer due to injury, with his replacement, Christoph Kramer, lasting around half an hour before having to be replaced by Andre Schurrle after taking a blow to the head. |
General Properties. Alloy 317LMN is an austenitic, higher-molybdenum bearing stainless steel further alloyed with nitrogen that is particularly effective in enhancing resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion and also has excellent resistance to chemical attack.
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Grade 317LMN (UNS S31726) Sheet. Grade 317LMN (UNS S31726) is also available in these other forms - ... Outokumpu is an international stainless steel company. Our vision is to be the undisputed number one in stainless, with success based on operational excellence.
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Alibaba offers 48 stainless steel 317lmn products. About 20% of these are stainless steel sheets, 6% are stainless steel pipes, and 6% are stainless steel bars. A wide variety of stainless steel 317lmn options are available to you, such as astm, aisi, and jis.
317LMN Stainless Steel Sheet . Type 317LMN. Requires molybdenum content of 4.00% min. and nitrogen of .15% min. High- quality stainless-steel, polished with abrasive belts, has better brightness with discontinuous coarse.
Heat- and corrosion-resistant, lightweight yet strong, durable and fully recyclable, stainless steel coil, strip and sheet is exceptionally versatile. Cold rolled coil, strip and sheet are produced in all stainless steel types: austenitic, ferritic, ... Also known as 317LMN. |
Tag Archives: The Careless Boyfriend by Erika Kelly
Blog Tour, Review & Excerpt: THE CARELESS BOYFRIEND by Erika Kelly
THE CARELESS BOYFRIEND (The Bad Boyfriend Series, Book 3) by Erika Kelly
Gray Bowie broke the bro code: he fell in love with his best friend's girlfriend.
For years, he hid his feelings…until one terrible night, it all came to a head.
Since her life blew up in high school, Knox Holliday has spent her time honing her skills as a couture wedding dress designer. But, just weeks before her debut, a freak accident wipes out her collection. The culprit: her ex's former best friend, Gray Bowie.
Gray does everything he can to get her career back on track. As they work together, they find forgiveness and start to stitch together something that looks a lot like love. But, at the very moment they realize they have a chance for something real, her ex comes back to town, bringing opportunities Gray can't provide.
This time, Gray's not going to step aside, so he can only hope Knox will hold onto his heart.
She's his dream, but will he be hers?
"So, what's up?" Knox let Gray in, and then went back into the kitchen. "What brings you by?"
"I haven't checked in for a while."
"You check in with Amelia and Zach all the time."
"I want to check in with you." He watched her carefully.
I miss you. We shouldn't let that kiss keep us from each other. She should just put it on the table, whisk away the weirdness. "It was a good kiss."
Color spilled into his cheeks, spreading like a sunburn to his earlobes.
That was really cute. It gave her the courage to go on. "It might've been the best kiss I've ever had."
He swallowed hard, making his Adam's apple jump. "But…?"
"But we can't cross that line."
"Right. Because…?"
"Because I like you. I like you better than anybody." Although Delilah had leapt to the top of her list tonight. "And we work together."
Need crackled in his eyes. He wanted her.
Would she ever get used to the idea?
His fingertips tapped on the granite. "And I'm leaving soon." The four simple words sounded like he'd pried them out of his throat with a tire iron. And, yet, he kept that nonchalant stance of his, like nothing mattered.
But she mattered to him. She knew it not just because of what he'd told her that night in the hotel room, but because for the very first time she could read the truth in his eyes and the tension in his body. And it was just so profound that she could see the world through something other than the bully lens. That she could see desire in his eyes and not aggravation or pity or whatever she might have interpreted in the past.
"Gray." She didn't even know how to deal with such a volatile cocktail of emotion. Affection for him, because it sank deep that she wasn't—had never been—a pity project. Attraction, brand new, but potent and alive, like magnetic waves of energy flowing, colliding, sparking between them.
And fear. God, it scared her death to have romantic feelings for a man like Gray.
She could fall so hard for him.
"We're on totally different paths," he said.
Love was complicated for her. Her mom hadn't been reliable. She was the type of person who checked in with her daughter—You good? Texted pictures of her adventures, woke her up in the middle of the night to watch a meteor shower, and routinely stood at the sink to shovel dinner into her mouth before "heading out." She sought her own pleasures in life, and while she cared about Knox, it was in a detached way.
Other than Robert—and that hadn't been healthy—Knox hadn't really loved anyone else.
What she felt for Gray was so much richer, deeper, more profound, because it involved her head and her heart, her body and her soul. It had the power to consume her.
"Right." He tapped his knuckles on the counter. "So, that's it. Glad everything's going well." He turned abruptly and headed for the door.
Panic fluttered in her chest. She set her mug down. Logically, she was making the right choice. But her heart, God, she was in a panic. She didn't want him to go, didn't want this distance between them. She'd meant to bring up the kiss to dispel the weirdness between them but managed to drive him away with a conversation about the impossibility of a relationship between them.
You're expert level at driving this man away.
Right when his hand closed around the door knob, she gave him what he'd come for. "It was awful. Tonight. Like tumbling back through time and being that girl again."
He tensed, his whole body hard and alert. He tipped his forehead to the door. "I hate that they did that to you."
"But you should've seen Delilah. She was fierce."
"Yeah?" Slowly, he turned toward her. "That's what I heard. I'm glad she was there. Otherwise I'd be in jail right now." He opened the door and strode out onto the porch.
Don't leave me. Stay, and we can lay in my bed on our backs, our feet against the wall, sharing a pint of Cookies 'N Cream ice cream.
He sailed off the steps, landed on the grass, and turned to her, walking backwards. "Can you get away tomorrow?"
Happiness danced all over her skin. "Of course. What for?"
"A little field trip. Be ready at eight."
I loved this one! Gray just became my favorite Bowie brother! THE CARELESS BOYFRIEND is the third book in Erika Kelly's Bad Boyfriend Series. Each book in the series features a Bowie brother and can be read as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading them in order to fully enjoy the series. I devoured Gray and Knox's story. It was a great second chance romance and I just completely fell head over heels for Gray. Erika Kelly always delivers a great feel-good romance that never disappoints. I highly recommend Erika Kelly's books for romance lovers looking for romances with happy ever afters that leave you smiling and wanting more.
*Review copy provided by the Inkslinger in exchange for an honest review.
✿The Bad Boyfriend Series by Erika Kelly✿
✦1. THE WORLD'S WORST BOYFRIEND ➢ Review 5 Stars | Kindle
✦2. THE HEARTLESS BOYFRIEND ➢ Review 4 Stars | Kindle
✦3. THE CARELESS BOYFRIEND ➢ Kindle
✿✿✿ ADDITIONAL SERIES ✿✿✿
✿Wild Love Series by Erika Kelly✿
✦1. Mine For Now ➢ Review 4.5 Stars | Kindle
✦2. Mine for the Week ➢ Review 4.5 Stars | Kindle
✿Rock Star Romance Series by Erika Kelly✿
✦1. You Really Got Me ➢ Review 5 Stars | Kindle
✦2. I Want You To Want Me ➢ Review 5 Stars | Kindle
✦3. Take Me Home Tonight ➢ Review 5 Stars | Kindle
✦4. More Than a Feeling ➢ Review 5 Stars | Kindle
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Posted in 4.5 Stars, Author Blog Tours, Cori's Reviews, romance reviews, Teasers
Tagged Erika Kelly, The Bad Boyfriend Series by Erika Kelly, The Careless Boyfriend by Erika Kelly |
Club 18-30 clamours for abolition of ASA
By Marketing Week 17 Feb 1995 12:00 am
Club 18-30 has called for the abolition of the Advertising Standards Authority in a heated reaction to the controversy surrounding its poster campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi.
Club 18-30 managing director Jeremy Muller labels the ASA "toothless" and claims: "It has overstepped its powers by commenting prior to the official hearing."
The ASA is unperturbed. A spokesman says: "Our only comment to the media has been that we're investigating complaints that the ads are crude, promote promiscuity and are unsuitable for young children to see."
Muller criticises the slowness of the ASA process. He says: "If the ASA has not got the power to react quickly perhaps it should be abolished, and replaced with a body which can pre-approve, censor and adjudicate quickly."
However, the ASA spokesman says: "If we did act as a censor there would be an outcry. Our rulings are necessarily subjective, because what is considered acceptable varies over time."
The spokesman admits: "The system is not perfect but it is effective. We may be considered `toothless' but if we make a judgement, posters will come down and advertisers will be reminded of where the limits of decency lie."
Electrical stores run out of juice
The closure of Rumbelows' high-street shops signals an industry-wide slump. As the other retailers battle it out for the share of the decreased market, what is the outlook for electrical stores?
LAST CHANCE SALOON
The British pub trade is undergoing a revolution. With the beer market in decline, operators are being forced to look at ways to improve their proposition. Themed pubs and restaurant-style facilities could prove to be the way forward.
Roadshow of Strength
Business presentations are hitting the road. Whether an alternative to an exhibition or complement to it, roadshows offer an effective means of locating and interacting with the target audience. |
← Charles C. Johnson Says He's Not A Holocaust Denier
Forward: The Biggest Threat To The Jews? The Partisan Divide →
E. Michael Jones on Harvey Weinstein
Posted on February 2, 2018 by Luke Ford
Rhondda writes:
I am not a Catholic, or even a Christian, even though I was brought up in a liberal Protestant church, but sometimes I do appreciate E. Michael Jones for his insights about people. His latest discussion on YouTube about Harvey Weinstein is particularly interesting, as he declares Harvey to be the official scapegoat for Jewish Hollywood. The idea of the scapegoat is an old Jewish custom. The people would gather and place all their sins upon the goat, and then the goat would be killed or sent out into the desert to die. The people then could go about their business free of guilt.
Basically Jones is arguing that Harvey was being a good Jew. He was seducing and befouling shiksas, which is a derogatory term for non-Jewish women, and undermining the goyim's morals and way of life in his movies. This is their revenge for all the humiliations and insults they have endured forever at the hands of white people. So why is he the Hollywood scapegoat when he has been such a good Jew? Well, he was the best one at it, I suppose. It is not a sacrifice if you don't hand over the best.
The most interesting part of Jones' argument is about the white starlets whom he "victimized." Their shame is demonstrated by this display of victimization where each of them denounces him now, but not when it allegedly happened. Each one of these fame-obsessed women went on to star in a movie, and particularly by taking of her clothes, and some even got starring roles in holocaust porn. He calls out in particular Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her role in the holocaust movie The Reader where an older woman seduces a 15-year-old boy. Now, where is the shame?
Her meeting with Harvey.
Taking off her clothes in a movie.
Seducing a child in a movie.
Playing a "bad" white in a holocaust movie.
Getting an Oscar for submitting to Harvey and getting an Oscar for playing a pedophile in a holocaust movie.
If movies are to have effects upon the audience, what effect does it have on the actors? Oh, someone got these career-obsessed women to totally debase themselves as white women, hence their shame and guilt and the projection upon poor old Harvey who was just being a good Jew. After all, as Jones stated, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has not taken back his Humanitarian award which he won just two years ago in 2015. He is a good Jew, and an outstanding member of the tribe. However, the tribe needs a scapegoat, and so he loses all those other awards and status. I am sure a good Jewish therapist will help him cope.
This reminds me of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery," which was first published in The New Yorker in 1948. People were so outraged that they cancelled subscriptions and wrote nasty letters. It is a wonderful story and everyone should read it. It is only eight pages.
The other interesting tidbit that Jones discusses is that the relaxation of censorship laws in movies was first allowed for holocaust porn movies. From there, it is anything goes. He also talks about the book Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth, where the Jewish obsessional fantasy with sex with white women is thoroughly discussed. I have heard it called the adolescent's bible.
Jones segues into a discussion of gay pride parades by means of the allegations of males who had been abused by older men when they were young, which would be pedophilia, and actually not just homosexual pedophiles, but he does not say that. He thinks gay pride parades are also a demonstration of shame for their behavior by exaggerating it and performing in public and demanding public acceptance.
If Jones's theory is correct, we can apply it to feminists, who insist that women who have been raped and beaten by immigrants or refugees keep quiet about it and don't rock the boat of equality and multiculturalism. It seems to me that this is the height of hypocrisy, for the women's movement was supposed to be about improving the lives of women and they scream about rape culture. So what is going on? Where is the shame? If you have invested your whole life in an ideal that has been hijacked by another group and you are getting rewards and a good career, how do you declare that it has proven to be a failure and actually wrong without condemning yourself and all the time and investment you have put into it? They don't. They go along with the new game plan and find rationalizations to deceive themselves. This is the feminist double-down syndrome. However, they have effectively betrayed the actual victims of crime who were supposed to be the women whose lives they were to improve. Their hysterics about the poor refugees is how they disguise their shame and totally befuddles any thinking person. It is very hard to admit shame in a shameless society when shamelessness is rewarded by others who do not want to admit it to themselves either. The bikini or the burka becomes the amusing dichotomy for feminist as movies about sexual abuse of fifteen-year-olds are presented as attractive, and stories about women taking refugees as lovers proliferate in social media. Sexual shame exists, and denying it just makes it worse for everyone. In a moral society, discernment and discretion also exist. I believe there is a tribe who do not care or think about this and advocate transgression in every aspect of life, especially the lives of normal white people who feel confused and degraded.
According to the ADL:
E. Michael Jones is a Catholic writer who seeks to defend traditional Catholic teachings and values from
those he perceives as seeking to undermine them. At various times such diverse groups as Protestants,
urban planners, and moviemakers have been the subjects of his ire, but a longstanding obsession of Jones is
the damage that he believes Jews are inflicting on the Catholic Church and western civilization.
E. Michael Jones is an anti-Semitic Catholic writer who promotes the view that Jews are dedicated to
propagating and perpetrating attacks on the Catholic Church and moral standards, social stability, and
political order throughout the world. He portrays the Jewish religion as inherently treacherous and
belligerent towards Christianity. He describes Jews as "outlaws and subversives [who use] religion as a
cover for social revolution," and claims that Judaism possesses "a particularly malignant spirit." Jones also
imagines the contemporary world, with its social ills, as having been cast in the imprint of Judaism,
characterizing 21st-century civilization as "a Jewish world run on commercial principles." He also identifies
this "Jewish modernity" as representing "blood, the law, calculation, and hate."
In the tradition of conspiracy theorists, Jones credits Jews with orchestrating occurrences as varied and
disconnected from the Jewish experience as the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution. He also
blames Jews for Bolshevism, Freemasonry, and an alleged contemporary "Jewish takeover of American
culture." Jones reaches for tenuous connections to paint "the Jews" as inherently wicked and prone to
colluding openly or secretly to threaten other populations around them.
Jones argues that mass killings of Jews throughout history have been understandable reactions to Jewish
beliefs and behavior. He goes so far as to justify Eastern European pogroms and even the Nazi Holocaust on
these grounds. As he wrote in a 2003 Culture Wars article, "[T]he Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews was
a reaction to Jewish Messianism (in the form of Bolshevism) every bit as much as the Chmielnicki pogroms
flowed from the excesses of the Jewish tax farmers in the Ukraine."
Jones' views are not limited to religious Jews. He applies his theory of Jewish subversiveness to Jews of all
ideological and religious stripes, from traditional rabbis and political conservatives to militant atheists and
Marxists. For Jones, any Jew who does not embrace Christianity rejects God and the natural order of the
universe. Jones therefore concludes unambiguously that "every Christian, insofar as he is a Christian, must
be anti-Jewish."
Jones' anti-Semitic writings are premised on the idea that Catholic doctrine obligates the faithful to oppose
Judaism, regardless of the behavior of individual Jews. The Vatican and most Catholics have thoroughly
repudiated anti-Semitism, but Jones still declares himself to be a defender of normative Catholic teachings.
Jones' contention that his beliefs have theological foundations may give him a degree of legitimacy among
some Catholics who would otherwise be dismissive of his extremist conclusions.
Writing on the controversy surrounding Holocaust-denying Bishop Richard Williamson of the ultratraditionalist
Society of St. Pius X, Jones criticizes the Vatican's condemnation of Williamson's words: "the
Church can have unity or she can have good relations with the Jews, but she can't have both." Jones herein
expresses his ideological opposition to anything Jewish; although he does not deny the Holocaust himself,
he believes that the Church must at all times oppose Jewry and must not acknowledge Jewish grievances
even when valid.
BACKGROUND: JONES' JOURNEY TO EXTREMISM
After growing up in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa., Jones came to promote anti-Semitic
conspiracy theories following a tumultuous personal journey beginning in his early adult years. According
to autobiographical sources, Jones initially abandoned the Catholic faith of his upbringing at age 20,
embraced the counterculture of the 1960s, and spent his honeymoon stuck in traffic on the way to the
Woodstock music festival. In the 1970s, Jones spent time in a rural area of Germany teaching English. Jones
reconnected with Catholicism while living in Germany, and also became concerned with the loss of ethnic
and religious traditions in the West. Upon his return to the United States, he earned a Ph.D. in American
history and literature from Temple University and then assumed a position as assistant professor of
American Literature at St. Mary's College, a Catholic women's school in South Bend, Indiana, from which he
was quickly fired. Jones claims that he was dismissed from this job because of his outspoken opposition to
abortion.
In 1981, Jones founded Fidelity magazine as a platform for Catholics who believed that "modernity" and the
liberal Church were having a destructive impact upon popular culture and traditional religious
communities. In his early books such as The Slaughter of Cities, Jones railed against what he viewed to be
the disintegration of immigrant Catholic neighborhoods. He blamed a Protestant-WASP elite, and to a lesser
extent Jews, for seeking to dominate Catholic populations and to facilitate the decay of the spiritual and
geographic foundations of their faith. In following years, Jones increasingly focused his claims on Jews as
the main foreign population attempting to harm the wellbeing of Catholic communities. He published
numerous articles in his magazine, renamed Culture Wars in 1996, about an alleged Jewish conspiracy to
undermine not only the Catholic faith but also American society through social, political, cultural, and
economic subversion. Many of these pieces would later be republished in a recent book entitled The Jewish
Revolutionary Spirit, linked together to create the portrait of a people seeking worldwide social and
political instability in the hopes of harming society's moral core.
In addition to his published writings, Jones has also expressed intolerant views in a CD that he released in
2003 entitled "Watching MTV: Neoethnic Songs and Dances." The album includes an anti-Jewish song
entitled "Fear the Jews," as well as other songs with homophobic and anti-Semitic lyrics authored by Jones.
JONES AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The position that Jones articulates about Judaism is one that does not enjoy the support of the Catholic
Church, and his views are considered to be extreme even in staunchly traditionalist circles. Many Catholics
have denounced Jones' bigoted rhetoric and exploitation of Catholic teachings for his own purposes.
Responding to his participation on a panel in Prague in September 2006, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Archbishop
of Prague, released a statement criticizing Jones for his outreach to "political extremists, Lefebvrites,
nationalists, anti-Semites, Islamists and neo-Nazis." In 2004, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil
Rights "unequivocally condemned" Jones for his anti-Semitism and denounced "his efforts to justify it in the
name of Catholic theology." It also strongly criticized Jones for "outrageously blam[ing] the Jews themselves
for the Holocaust and pogroms."
EXTREMIST AFFILIATIONS
In his writings, Jones takes pains to clarify that his views on Jews are not based on racial theories, and
that he is "anti-Jewish" but not "anti-Semitic". Nevertheless, he courts individuals on the extremist
fringe of American society whose racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia is unmistakable. Jones' book
The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit cites such bigoted sources as Holocaust denier Michael A. Hoffman II
and anti-Semitic ideologue Professor Kevin MacDonald. To market The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit,
Jones has also sought the support of extremist, conspiracy-theorist radio and television hosts such as
Hesham Tillawi, Henry Makow, and Peter Schaenk. Alex Linder featured the book on his virulently
racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic internet radio program Radio Istina. The radio program is
broadcast on Linder's Vanguard News Network, a white supremacist website whose slogan is "No Jews.
Just Right." Jones has also formed working relationship with the far-left anti-Semitic writer Israel
Shamir, a Russian-born Jewish convert to Christianity. Jones' extremist associations, and the support he
enjoys among the radical fringe, underscore his hateful message.
E. Michael Jones wrote in 2003:
I never liked the title of Rabbi Dresner's book. It was called Can Families Survive in Pagan America? and was published in 1995 by Huntington House out of Lafayettte, Louisiana. I got a copy just as I was starting Culture Wars, a magazine that ran concurrently with Fidelity and eventually superseded it. I liked Dresner's book because it fit in perfectly with the idea of Culture Wars at the time. Both the magazine and the book were meditations on the moral basis for America, which as anyone who is familiar with American history knows, is the only basis for America. Rabbi Dresner's take on the American experiment in ordered liberty was essentially the same as that of John Adams, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John Courtney Murray. We, John Adams wrote concerning the citizens of the nation he had been instrumental in bringing into being, have no constitution that functions in the absence of a moral people. According to Dresner's reading of the American experiment in ordered liberty:
The founding fathers of America, taking the biblical record as their model, knew that political democracy could only flourish if established on the dual foundations of faith and family. Our contemporary malaise is the consequence of abandoning that ideal in favor of a society that is largely secular, hedonistic and atomistic. Judaism, by advocating a God-centered family-based society , established by the covenant and governed by the Torah can play a key role in recalling America to its origins (Families, p. 77).
As a result of the decadence which has dominated American cultural life since the 60s, sexually degenerate America needed, in Dresner's view, a new coalition, a union of Jews and Gentiles with a common commitment to civilization and a common abhorrence of social and moral chaos.
Families was an American book, but it was different than the plethora of jeremiads about the moral decline of America in the Bill Bennett mode. Dresner's book was about something else. It had a subtext that escaped its title. Families was really about American Jews, or, better, the effect that America had had on the Jews who came here largely in the aftermath of the Russian pogroms of the 1880s. Families was about how many modern Jews, in their search for passion and pleasure and power, have lost themselves in the kingdom of Caesar. It was about the ironies which abounded when one compared the strictures of the Torah and the mores of contemporary American Jews. Is it not ironic, Dresner asked rhetorically, that the descendants of the those who wrote the Psalms and offered prayer to the world became, according to all accountings, the least worshipful?
Like Culture Wars, Can Families Survive in Pagan America? was a deliberate attempt to step outside the normal ethnic and religious boundaries; but like Fidelity magazine, which preceded and eventually morphed into Culture Wars, it could not do this without addressing the intra-ethnic situation, which is to say, in this instance the state of American Jews. In addition to being about morals, Families was about ethnicity and its antinomy, assimilation, and Rabbi Dresner was, by and large, not happy with the American Jewish experience. The Jews had prospered in American, but they paid a price for their prosperity. The chosen people seemed to flatten into normality, according to Dresner's pessimistic view, becoming what the prophets had warned against: like the nations. They had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in assimilating and achieving success. They even succeeded in remaking American culture in the course of the 20th century in their image, but in doing that they also discovered that they were in some very real sense of the word, a sense which Dresner explored in detail, no longer Jews. Jews, according to Dresner, have tried all things. In the process they have exhausted modernity; and discovered to their chagrin; the puzzling truth that
No license has replaced the Law; no symphony, the Psalms, no chandelier, the Sabbath candles; no opera, Yom Kippur; not country club , the synagogue; no mansion, the home; no Jaguar, a child; no mistress, a wife; no banquet, the Passover seder; not towering metropolis, Jerusalem; no impulse, the joy of doing a mitzvah; no man, God. (p. 329).
Dresner carried the hope that American Jews would seek the recovery of the sacred to his grave when he died three years ago.
This entry was posted in Catholics, Christianity, Jews. Bookmark the permalink. |
The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Daily Maverick hosted a seminar with a difference. Beyond the headlines and the final tallies, what was the South African electorate's real message on 7 May 2014? Which parties and politicians were the real winners – and losers – once all the ballots were counted?
This seminar was chaired by Judith February, a senior researcher in the Governance, Justice and Crime Division at the ISS, and J Brooks Spector, Associate Editor at Daily Maverick.
Dr Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, an academic and post-doctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town, noted that the 2014 elections saw the continuation of a persistent decline in electoral participation. The African National Congress's (ANC's) sustained national dominance at the polls conceals important losses for the party at a provincial and local level. Schulz-Herzenberg suggested that the shifts in support for opposition parties – the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – signifies important changes as voters are becoming more critical of the parties they choose to represent them. Competitive electoral campaigns are also becoming an important factor in the party preference of voters, especially in metropolitan areas. Moreover, voter turnout – when measured as a proportion of the voting age population – has dropped from 86% in 1994 to 57% this year. Schulz-Herzenberg stressed that this is worrying, as it may weaken the quality of democracy in South Africa.
Jonathan Faull, the ISS elections consultant, said that the final 2014 election results 'disguise significant challenges and disquiet within the ANC and its support base.' Notably, the ANC's share of the vote declined in all provinces – bar very slight increases in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. His presentation further showed that in real terms, the ruling party lost 10,41% of its electoral support, when the number of new voters added to the voters' roll between 2009 and 2014 are taken into account. Faull also indicated that South African elections are becoming more competitive, as is demonstrated by the considerable growth experienced by the DA. His data revealed that the DA's share of the total vote increased from a mere 2% in 1994 to 22% in the 2014 election. Faull's findings also reflected a decline in voter turnout, especially in rural areas.
Discussant Nic Borain, a political analyst, said that the outcome of the 2014 polls was a 'perfect' result given that anything below 60% for the ruling party would have served a significant blow to international investor confidence. This is because too much of a drop in support for the ANC may have weakened the ability to implement the National Development Plan, and possibly forced the governing party to adopt more populist economic policies. He suggested that the modest decline in the ANC's total share of the vote in metro areas such as Ekurhuleni, the City of Johannesburg and Tshwane was an optimistic development, as it may encourage the ruling party to improve its governance in the run-up to the 2016 local elections. He added that a decline in the ANC's electoral support in the 2014 elections and its growth in KZN was an inevitable trend, taking into account the number of recent political scandals that have occurred. |
Tag Archives: King George VI
Port of Elizabeth: Royal Visit of 1947
Unlike more recent Royal visits, the visit by the Royal Family to South Africa in 1947 was a full marathon and not a 100-metre dash. It was a two-month swirl of introductions, photographs, handshakes, toasts and speeches. Even the vivacious Princess Elizabeth, the heir apparent, was afforded the opportunity to make a speech, her first. The two-month long sojourn to a land on the cusp of fundamental change, would include two days, the 26th & the 27th February 1947, to make the acquaintance of the peoples of arguably the most English city in South Africa, Port Elizabeth.
Main picture:
Brigadier Arthur Coy with the Mayor of PE, Mr Neave, inspecting the Ex Servicemen with the King and Queen at Crusaders ground, St. George's Park in February 1947. The princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were in attendance. There was a garden party in Victoria Park afterwards.
The Narvik Landings Fiasco: In its wake why was its progenitor Churchill appointed as Prime Minister
By Dean McCleland in History, Military History May 1, 2014 0 Comment
A Personal View – April 2014
The Parliamentary Session in the British House of Commons on the 9th May 1940 was acrimonious. The emergency debate revolved around the catastrophe in Norway.
This campaign had been Churchill's brainchild as the First Lord of the Admiralty. As Churchill rose to speak, he instinctively knew that this speech would probably be the most important speech in his entire political career. At 64 years of age, his life-long ambition of holding high political office could possibly remain a pipe-dream.
Main picture: Untrained British forces landing at Narvik, Norway
The King's Speech – A compelling human interest story of human failings & courage
By Dean McCleland in Movies & DVDs April 20, 2014 0 Comment
In spite of apparently having everything in life, the second son of King George V of England had one troubling impediment: a debilitating stammer.
Prince Albert, or Bertie as he was affectionately known, was a high-ranking member of the Royal family. As such he was obliged to make speeches periodically. Every one became a nightmare for him. To overcome this affliction he had tried every form of speech therapy but none worked. Fortunately for him, he had a wonderful loving wife who persevered. |
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Report: More than 4 in 10 Ulster County households are broke
by William Dendis/ October 3, 2018 /Comments closed
A United Way report shows that more than 4 out of 10 Ulster County households are unable to afford basic necessities, including food, housing and child care.
That figure includes both households below the poverty line and those not in poverty who still struggle to make ends meet. The latter group is the report's focus, and a description of their situation provides its name: ALICE, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
"It will be one thing that happens, and then that has a domino effect on how they're able to meet their financial needs, things like electricity and heat, fuel oil and medicine," said Ulster County United Way President and CEO Stacey Rein.
In Ulster County, 41 percent of households are struggling: 11 percent in poverty, and 30 percent ALICE. For the latter group, the report details a situation in which the cost of living is outpacing wages. Rein said a separate study found 70 percent of the people United Way was helping were gainfully employed. The results surprised her. "This circumstance is kind of new – that there would be working people being evicted or having their electricity turned off," she said.
The report focuses on a group of people whose situation isn't apparent in the main economic indicators. The unemployment rate continues to decline, but these folks are working. The stock market keeps rising, but that's a reflection of corporate earnings, which don't necessarily result in the creation of a large number of middle-class jobs. "For ALICE, finding well-paying jobs with security and financial stability is becoming harder as low-wage and gig-economy jobs continue to dominate the landscape," said the report. "Fluctuating income — through unpredictable schedules and on-demand work — is one of the biggest problems ALICE workers face."
ALICE jobs include many in retail, human services, hospitality, restaurant service and clerical positions.
The highest rates of poverty/ALICE households are found in the city of Kingston (58 percent), Denning (55 percent), Shandaken and Wawarsing (both 53 percent); the lowest in Shawangunk (30 percent), Esopus (32 percent) and Hurley (34 percent).
Rates also vary by ethnicity and marital status. The poverty/ALICE rate for black and hispanic households are both over 60 percent, while for white households, the rate is less than 40 percent. For households with children, the poverty/ALICE rate for households headed by a married couple is 25 percent (with just 3 percent in poverty). For single-parent households, the rate is 83 percent for single-mothers and 70 percent for single-fathers.
The federal income threshold for poverty in 2016 was $11,880 for an individual and $24,300 for a family of four. Households below the poverty line qualify for many benefits that ALICE households may not, including SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid and home energy assistance.
Unlike the poverty line, the ALICE framework takes into account the cost of living for an area, and assumes that wages need to meet the full cost of expenses. The report uses federal data to estimate the cost of necessities and makes adjustments for local cost of living. In Ulster County, the minimum income level needed to exceed the ALICE threshold is an hourly wage of $12.05 or $24,108 per year for an individual. For a family of four (two adults, one infant, one preschooler), those numbers jump to an hourly wage of $39.96 (combined) or $79,920 per year.
Here are the numbers, broken down by category and by household type.
The report also gives numbers for what it considers a "stability budget"- which "reflects the cost for household necessities at a modest but sustainable level and accounts for savings." Here are the numbers for Ulster:
The report is based on 2016 economic data. In Ulster, the number of poverty/ALICE households fell by four points over the previous report two years ago (45 to 41 percent), while the statewide number increased by one point (44 to 45 percent).
The main goal of the report is bring attention to the plight of the working poor who don't qualify for safety net programs. "This is 30 percent of our population that really could use just a little bit more assistance," said Rein.
Only a fraction of the content from our newspapers is published online. To read it all, subscribe to an Ulster Publishing paper today.
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Joe Brockman October 3, 2018 at 11:51 am
Looks like Conservatives were correct! Don't want to be poor? Easy, just get married and get a job, like everyone used to do. Everybody looks for big conspiratorial reasons for why people are "struggling" today vs. the past, but everyone simply did what people used to do in the past (get married when you reach adulthood), the problem dissolves.
Seth A Brown October 3, 2018 at 4:34 pm
I am think Joe Brockman doesn't quite understand what the article is saying. These people ARE working or recently were. Conservatives are incorrect here as usual. In Ulster County you need a car to work and there really aren't many good paying jobs. Telling people "well you shouldn't have had kids" or you should just get a better job" shows limited mental capacity or just lazy thinking. The people are in a position where they need the help NOW.
Joe Brockman October 3, 2018 at 4:59 pm
I am think Seth A Brown doesn't quite understand what my comment is saying. I'm not denying that people are working and not suggesting they need a better job. I only said if adults were married and working they are much less likely to be in poverty or "ALICE." If they don't have any children yet and are both working it's actually impossible!
FunkieGunkie October 6, 2018 at 8:24 am
Married is your answer to financial security?? Please explain.
Fran Squires October 3, 2018 at 7:19 pm
Soaring out of control healthcare premium costs coupled with outrageous property and school taxes are making this a good area to move away from. How can southern states manage with one tenth the taxes we have ? A lot less waste. Also teachers unions are bankrupting the taxpayers with their unjustified ridiculous salaries and pensions.
Bill Myers October 10, 2018 at 10:34 am
The hourly wage number does not take into account income taxes. They are taking the total expenses and dividing by 2080 work hours in a year. The real hourly wage needed to cover those expenses would be about 20% more.
Editor October 10, 2018 at 11:01 am
Income taxes are included. Figures are listed in the tables "Alice Household Survival Budget" and "Alice Household Stability Budget."
Southern Sawyer October 10, 2018 at 11:32 am
I couldn't afford to keep living in Saugerties. When I retired I moved south. On a fixed income the cost of living was getting too close to my monthly income. Every year the taxes increased, the heating fuel cost rose (Paraco/Kosco ransom) and electric was rising for an unreliable system.
Here the total tax bill is only 15% of my Saugerties/Ulster County/School bill. My electric is only 11 cents per kilowatt hour which is for heat as well.
More comfortable and even temperatures, a huge growing economy. Very restrictive welfare, nearly everyone needs to work and the jobs are here for them. No teacher, town, county, state unions!!!! that is a huge burden on the taxpayers.
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Chris Christie just broke a new record as the least popular governor in two decades. And not only in New Jersey.
A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday found that only 15% of New Jersey voters approve of their governor. That gives the Republican, who was once an early favorite for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, the worst approval rating "for any governor in any state surveyed" by Quinnipiac in 20 years, the pollster said.
Christie's disapproval rating went from 77% in December to 81% in the latest survey. Even a majority of Republican, 58%, disapprove of Christie.
The New Jersey governor recently saw two of his former aides convicted as part of the Bridgegate scandal, and has remained focused on the opioid addiction epidemic in the state during his final year in office.
The survey of of 1,103 New Jersey voters, conducted June 7-12, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. |
KENNER - Louisiana's new state treasurer has taken the oath of office.
John Schroder, a Republican former lawmaker from St. Tammany Parish, was sworn in Tuesday evening at a ceremony in Kenner, to become Louisiana's chief money manager and investment officer.
Schroder, who resigned his state House seat to focus on the treasurer's race, won the Nov. 18 special election with 56 percent of the vote, defeating Democratic lawyer Derrick Edwards.
A real estate developer, Schroder campaigned on his public service in the Legislature and as an Army veteran and an ex-sheriff's deputy. He touted his small business ownership and management. And he pledged to be a watchdog of Louisiana's finances.
Schroder fills the seat vacated by Republican John Kennedy, who left the job after winning election to the U.S. Senate. |
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We've briefly touched upon the reasons why we make resolutions. These promises to ourselves can be powerful motivators in helping us to move forward in our lives. They give us a sense of a purpose. They also tend to fail to become a reality more often than not. Chances are good that you've made resolutions, probably with the start of a new year, which have failed to stick. You're certainly not alone. Perhaps if we can understand why resolutions fail, we can find a way to make our next one become more successful. I'd like to take some time to share my thoughts on why resolutions fail to help you with the first step to winning the battle.
This can happen in a number of ways. One common error when making resolutions is to choose a bunch of things you want to change about yourself RIGHT NOW. Your brain can only handle so many things at once. It's not possible for you to focus on making too many changes. Instead, choose one or two resolutions upon which to place priority. Also, know that these changes won't occur overnight. Many experts believe it takes at least a month of concerted effort to make someone become a habit. So bear in mind that progress will occur in small increments, rather than in one magnificent transformation. Understand that taking baby steps to instill new habits will be a far more effective approach than simply expecting to change a long-ingrained behavior immediately.
"I'm going to lose weight this year," is probably the most common resolution ever made. How many times have you uttered these words? How many times have you been successful in losing a significant amount of weight or even changing your health for the better? I'm not condemning you. I've been there, too. The problem isn't that you lack willpower or with any flaw in your character whatsoever. It's that the intention is simply too vague. A resolution transformed into the form of a well-defined goal is needed. This should specify aspects such as the number of pounds you'd like to lose and a time frame for which you hope to see the change occur. In addition, planning should include benchmarks for measuring your progress. We'll discuss these things in more detail later in our challenge.
Without proper focus on your resolution, it's bound to fail. "Out of sight, out of mind," may be a cliché, but most sayings such as these are based in some bit of truth. Getting busy with day to day responsibilities, poor time management, daily stressors, and other distractions can rob your attention from your important goals. Deciding to prioritize your resolution and making a plan to keep it at the forefront of your mind will go far toward making it a reality.
There are tons of other potential reasons why revolutions have failed for you in the past. I don't want to dwell on the negative. Simply understanding these common mistakes will help you to move past them in setting new goals that you will accomplish. |
Dubai Aquaventure Waterpark for enjoying a thrilling holiday!
If you have decided to explore the Atlantis water park, then we certainly want to tell that you have made an amazing decision. The Aquaventure Waterpark is the best place to explore the water world in the Middle East. Overall, we can say that it is the perfect place for adventure lovers. Since its opening, it has become a major choice among the families and young children.
What to expect at the Aquaventure Waterpark?
It is a beautiful and tropical park that is something to offer for everyone, ranging from a private beach to waterfalls. One can relax here and go through the dynamic tunnels located within the Neptune Tower. There are many Atlantis Water Park deals available from time to time for the convenience of the visitors.
Firstly, it has an attraction named The Monstrous Aquaconda that is the largest waterslide in the world. It should be visited at any cost due to its amazing experience. On the other hand, the people who love thrill should go for the Leap of Faith that plunges almost 30 meters down from the vertical waterslide. Also, the Atlantis Water Park has an Anaconda Water Tunnel where one can ride on the bigger waves across the torrent. These attractions have helped the waterpark win plenty of awards like Middle East's Leading Waterpark and Hotel Winner of Best Waterpark 2016.
How to book Atlantis Water Park tickets?
For booking the Atlantis Water Park tickets, one has to visit their official website. There are many different types of packages available for this park that include Day Pass, Day Pass with Meal Deal, Day Pass with Photo Package, and Lost Chambers among others. In addition to that, there is an annual membership offered by the park for frequent visitors.
How to reach Aquaventure Waterpark?
Are you worrying about how you will reach this amazing location? There is no need to stress as the nearest station located at a 2-minute walking distance from the Aquaventure Waterpark. One can find frequent trains from the Palm Atlantis Monorail Station. Also, you can go for the private taxi service if you are high on budget and want to complete the journey in the shortest amount of time.
There is no doubt that the visit to Dubai can't get completed without visiting this beautiful place. It has become a key tourist spot that no one wishes to miss at any cost. It is the first entertainment destination in the city and situated at the center. Along with being home to many open-air marine habitats, this place has many impressive restaurants. Your stay in this city will become memorable for sure after visiting the Aquaventure Waterpark. If there is a question in your mind regarding this article, then tell us in the comment section. We are here to serve you. |
What Lured Aon, Noble and Others to Move Headquarters to London
October 17, 2013 by Aaron Kirchfeld
The Swiss town of Baar boasts clean air, easy access to ski slopes and some of Europe's lowest personal taxes. London? Traffic and perpetual drizzle.
Yet executives at Noble Corp., a provider of deepwater oil drilling rigs, are in the process of moving headquarters from Baar to the British capital, citing the talented workforce and easy airline connections from Heathrow, Europe's busiest international airport. On top of that, the U.K. tax rate is now competitive with Switzerland's historically corporate-friendly tax regime.
Noble is part of a wave of overseas companies moving head offices to London, lured in part by the country's declining corporate taxes. The relocations underscore Prime Minister David Cameron's efforts to make the country more attractive to foreign companies — and may help London become less dependent on the financial services industry, which has been retrenching since the 2008 crisis.
"There is definitely a swing back to the U.K. under way and I think there will be more," said Angus Winther, a senior adviser at investment bank Evercore Partners Inc. in London. "There are huge advantages: you have a vast talent pool, infrastructure, language, and lowered tax rates."
Last year 45 foreign companies moved their global or regional headquarters to London, up from just 25 in 2009, data from research group FDI Markets show. Among the moves this year: General Electric Co.'s oil and gas unit, which is departing Florence, Italy, and Chinese developer ABP (China) Holdings Group Ltd., which is setting up its worldwide head office in London.
While London's many cultural opportunities, theater and good restaurants are a draw, a series of cuts in corporate income tax rates by the Conservative Party-led government has been a key motivating factor. The U.K.'s base corporate rate is now 23 percent, down from 28 percent in 2010. By 2015, the rate will drop to about 20 percent, compared with about 29 percent in Germany and about 33 percent in France. The U.S. rate is 40 percent, though deductions mean few companies pay that amount.
"Five or ten years ago, a lot of companies were thinking about moving to places like Ireland or the Channel Islands," said Dan Schuster-Woldan, a partner at law firm Linklaters. "Things have changed. There are now fewer companies going that route because the tax differential is lower."
Tax Neutral
Noble is one example. Chief Executive Officer David Williams said in July the move would be tax-neutral for the company — showing how U.K. tax changes have made the country comparable with Switzerland. The average Swiss corporate tax take is about 18 percent, and as high as 24.4 percent in some regions, according to accountancy firm KPMG.
Other firms with U.S. roots have done the same. Aon Plc, the world's second-largest insurance broker, last year moved its headquarters from Chicago to London, saying it would give the company better access to emerging economies and the Lloyd's of London insurance market.
Taxes also played a role, with the company crediting a U.K. territorial tax system that would drive "significant value to shareholders" in a 2012 regulatory filing.
In addition to slicing the corporate tax rate, the British government last year reduced the amount of tax owed on profits earned outside the country. That prompted some U.K. firms that had moved offshore to return.
WPP Plc, the world's largest advertising agency, last year announced it would return its headquarters to London after moving to Dublin in 2008 in protest of the so-called double taxation. Investors in UBM Plc, the owner of PRNewswire, voted to do the same.
Some of the moves are being executed through merger deals, raising speculation that, like their counterparts in Ireland, U.K. companies could become attractive targets because of their address, rather than just their assets.
Liberty Global Plc used a takeover of broadband provider Virgin Media to move its headquarters to London and give up a U.S. tax domicile. Italian truck maker Fiat Industrial, after merging with its farm equipment unit to form CNH Industrial, is also moving its base to the U.K. while registering in the Netherlands.
The U.K. still faces stiff competition in its bid to attract investment.
American companies including Perrigo Co. and Actavis Plc are planning to re-incorporate in Ireland after completing mergers with Irish companies. Ireland's corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent is among the world's lowest.
Netherlands Neutrality
The Netherlands will be the home of the new company created by the proposed merger of advertising giants Omnicom Group Inc., based in New York, and French rival Publicis Groupe SA. The Dutch corporate tax rate is about 25 percent. Publicis Chief Executive Officer Maurice Levy has said the move to the Netherlands was motivated by the country's neutrality, not its taxes.
The renewed interest in London from companies in a broad range of industries comes as the financial sector retrenches. The number of people employed in London's financial services firms is likely to decline to 236,000 next year, the lowest level since 1993, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The financial sector, which is overwhelmingly concentrated in the capital, accounted for 11.6 percent of total tax receipts last year, down from 13.9 percent in 2007, according to the City of London.
Some hedge funds and asset managers have quit London for Switzerland, blaming tighter financial regulations. And banking giants HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, which have the bulk of their operations abroad, haven't ruled out an eventual move to Asia.
Still, London growth is outpacing the rest of the country. The city's economy will grow by 1.9 percent annually to 2018, 0.5 percent faster than the U.K. as a whole, the CEBR said this year.
Part of the growth is coming from technology companies as London emerges as the undisputed European capital for Internet businesses. Both Amazon Inc. and Google Inc. are building large new facilities in the city, with the search giant pledging to employ 5,000 staff in a new office next to the renovated King's Cross railway hub.
While headquarters moves motivated in part by tax arbitrage don't necessarily bring many jobs to London, they at least create work for local professional-services providers like lawyers and management consultants, said Mark Gregory, the chief U.K. and Ireland economist at Ernst & Young LLP.
Business Destination
To be sure, London's appeal as a business destination isn't assured. The opposition Labour Party has said it will reverse corporate tax cuts if it returns to government.
The potential of a British exit from the European Union, which Cameron has said will be put to an eventual referendum, also complicates London's sales pitch. Almost 80 percent of firms surveyed by the Confederation of British Industry, a lobby group for big U.K. companies, support continued membership in the EU, which administers tariff-free trade between its member states.
Meanwhile, business groups have criticized new immigration rules, introduced by Cameron, that make it harder for companies to hire even highly skilled workers from outside the European Union and to keep them in the country long-term.
Whether London will keep wooing foreign business to re- balance its economy away from banking will be determined by a combination of those policies, tax rates and intangible characteristics — like its cosmopolitan atmosphere and educational institutions, said Ajay Bhalla, a professor of innovation management at Cass Business School.
"Those will be the deciding factors of whether re- balancing is possible," Bhalla said.
–With assistance from Ruth David in London, Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan and David Wethe in Houston. Editor: Larry Reibstein
Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
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Danville boys fall 51-48 in All-A final; Danville girls advance to state due to COVID; Boyle girls, boys each open with wins
Published 9:40 am Saturday, January 16, 2021
By MIKE MARSEE
They didn't get what they wanted most from the 12th Region All "A" Classic, but the Danville boys can still get something out of the experience.
The Admirals were denied a trip to the statewide small-school tournament when they fell to Somerset 51-48 in the regional final Friday night.
However, coach Ed McKinney was pleased with the way Danville competed against one of the top teams in the 12th Region.
"I thought we did a lot of good things, scrapped hard, played hard with a lot of guys that haven't been in that situation," he said.
McKinney said games such as this one would help the Admirals improve, even if it didn't help them get to the All "A."
"We've got a chance to get a lot better," he said. "It's growing pains. You're going to lose some of (these games), but you've got to use them to get better."
Host Danville (3-2) held its own in a back-and-forth game until Somerset (5-0) took the lead for good at 43-42 with 6:27 remaining. There were nine ties and 12 lead changes, and neither team led by more than four points.
The Briar Jumpers' largest lead was three, and they led by that number when Danville got the ball with 10.1 seconds to play. Somerset had three fouls to give and used two of them to eat up some of the clock, and the Admirals failed to get off a shot after inbounding the ball for the final time with 4.1 seconds left.
This was the closest of Danville's five games to date, and McKinney said it underscored a point he has been trying to make to his players.
"We talk about it all the time: It's going to come down to one or two possessions," he said. "Every possession matters, in the first minute or the last minute. When you see a game like this, 'Oh, gosh, Coach is right.'
"And you never know when that possession is. You just learn that every possession's important.
You've got to get the best shot you can every time down, and you've got to get stops."
Danville shot 39 percent from the field and was within five rebounds (33-28) of Somerset despite being outsized.
Dante Hayden led the Admirals with 17 points, and sophomore Jarius Bryant had a career-high 13.
Kade Grundy had 21 points for Somerset, which won the All "A" regional for the second straight year.
Danville is less experienced than it was a year ago, when it lost in double-overtime to Somerset in the All "A" regional final and lost by 23 points in a February rematch but defeated the Briar Jumpers by two points in the 12th Region Tournament semifinals. Four of the players who were on the floor in the closing minutes Friday weren't in the starting lineup a year ago, while Somerset has several veterans.
In other seasons, a team in Danville's position would have had a chance to close the experience gap before the All "A" regional, which normally falls near midseason but fell in the second week of this unique season altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I don't want that to sound like an excuse … (but) if you've got an experienced team back in this COVID year, you've got some advantages," McKinney said. "We'd have 15 games in by now with two Christmas tournaments, and we would really have a lot of stuff in."
Uncontested champions
The Danville girls will return to the statewide All "A" Classic for the eighth consecutive year after they were declared champions of a regional tournament that never tipped off.
The Lady Admirals were awarded the title Friday upon the cancellation of the championship game between Danville and Somerset due to COVID-19 concerns. Somerset was en route to Danville for the game when the Lady Jumpers learned they would not be able to play.
All previous games in the tournament had been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
Danville (2-1) will represent the 12th Region in the All "A" for a record 13th time. The statewide tournament will be played Feb. 16-21 at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond; the Lady Admirals will play the 4th Region champion – Adair County or Metcalfe County – in the first round.
Danville reached the semifinals last year, beating Louisville Collegiate and Glasgow before losing to eventual champion Bethlehem.
Opening night rally
The Boyle County girls were the last local team to open the season, and they finished their first game with a flourish Friday as they came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat McCreary Central 49-40.
The host Lady Rebels trailed 34-27 after three quarters, then opened the fourth with eight straight points to take a 35-34 lead. They went on to outscore McCreary 22-6 in the final period, when Emily Glasscock and Peyton Bugg combined for 14 points.
Emily Glasscock, Boyle's only senior, scored nine of her game-high 20 points, and Bugg scored five of her 10 in the fourth quarter. Andy Glasscock and Ella Coffey contributed 3-point baskets to the Lady Rebels' rally.
Bombs away
Boyle County's boys got off to a hot shooting start in 45th District play, shooting 54 percent from the field in the first half of an 81-59 victory over Garrard County on Friday.
The host Rebels went 9 for 11 from 3-point range and 15 for 28 overall from the field in the first half as they opened a 47-24 halftime lead. They made 12 of 19 3-point attempts overall and led by as many as 35 points in the fourth quarter.
Luke Imfeld (4 for 6 from 3-point range) led Boyle with 24 points. Hagan Webb (3 for 4) and Luke Sheperson (1 for 1) added 13 points each and Jagger Gillis (2 for 2) had 10.
City of Danville and Centre to have virtual events… |
New York, November 27, 2018 – Major League Baseball (MLB) and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) today announced the formation of an all-inclusive partnership agreement that combines the MLB brand with MGM Resorts and playMGM brands across league and team sponsorships, data usage in gaming, promotion across MLB-owned media platforms, and domestic and international activations at MLB events.
As an official sponsor of Major League Baseball, MGM Resorts will domestically promote its brand and gaming options across MLB's digital and broadcast platforms, including MLB Network, MLB.com, the MLB At Bat app and additional fan engagement offerings to be jointly developed.
MGM Resorts will be identified as an MLB-Authorized Gaming Operator and utilize MLB's official statistics feed, on a non-exclusive basis, throughout its digital and live domestic sports gaming options. MLB will also make enhanced statistics available to MGM on an exclusive basis. In addition, MGM Resorts and MLB will work together on comprehensive responsible gaming measures and work to protect the integrity of the game both on and off the field.
MLB intellectual property will appear in MGM advertising and promotional campaigns. MGM also will broaden its commitment to baseball by securing multiple MLB Club partnerships. MGM will have a presence at MLB Jewel Events, including the All-Star Game and World Series.
In Japan, MGM Resorts will be an official partner at grassroots baseball events like the MLB Road Show. An interactive fan experience that celebrates Major League Baseball, MLB Road Show tours throughout Japan giving fans an opportunity to participate in baseball activities including batting and pitching cages, baserunning stations, virtual reality, and a baseball museum.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and retail offerings. MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences through its suite of Las Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses 28 unique hotel offerings including some of the most recognizable resort brands in the industry. Expanding throughout the U.S. and around the world, the company in 2018 opened MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, MGM COTAI in Macau, and the first Bellagio-branded hotel in Shanghai. The 81,000 global employees of MGM Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies®. For more information visit us at www.mgmresorts.com. |
Restaurant Uzbekistan
Neglinnaya street, 29, Moscow-
Restaurant Uzbekistan - Moscow
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According to Moscow historic archives, the first reference to this building dates back to the end of 19th century. Initially a popular tavern was opened here. Then the building was purchased, and a French café appeared at that place. After the revolution, that place was known as an officers' mess. Since 1951, the Ministry of Commerce of the Uzbek Soviet Republic adopted a decision to open a restaurant, which was named 'Uzbekistan'. This is the beginning of its history. The restaurant of Eastern cuisine was always popular among Moscovites.
In 1997 Arkadiy Novikov, the new owner of the restaurant, totally updated the building. All you can see here is made by renovators, specially invited from Tashkent.
Uzbekistan is situated in a historic building in the heart of Moscow. The Menu is presented by the Uzbek, Arab, Azerbaijan and Pan-Asian cuisine. As well as 62 years ago, today all dishes are prepared according to centuries-old national traditions: shashlyk (barbeque) is not gruilled, but charbroiled even in winter and served in a special 'taganchyk' with hot coals. The flatbread is baked in crockery tandyr all day long. Making the pilaw is a true art: special sorts of rice are used in strict proportions. The main craftsmanship is making the meal light. The pilaw is served by the Chef, who can tell about the unique history of this national meal.
Some national dishes are prepared in front of guests - the mountain lamb pickled in cognac and spices is spit-roasted. Several hours the foil-wrapped lamb is being turnspat, then the chefs treat the guests solemnly with a piece of tender flavorful meat.
Address: Neglinnaya street, 29 , Moscow Region
Shakti Terrace
In autumn of 2014, a new star appeared in the sky of Moscow restaurants - Shakti Terrace. The name "Shakti" (power and strength in Sanskrit) was given to the restaurant o
One more beer and wine
They say tastes differ, and that's true. Favourite food for each of us is dishes we love. One More Beer & Wine Bar's menu is a combination of offers to cater each...
The Tatler Club is a place where food and drinks and also time-spending are extremely enjoyable. An obvious achievement of the restaurant is its professional technical eq
Madame Wong is a restaurant of modern Chinese cuisine which originates from Hong Kong. It refers to vast territories from southern regions of China to Malaysia, Singapore
'Quite simply the best place to be!' It is no surprise that exactly these seven words are used as Night Flight's slogan.............
A newcomer on Moscow's restaurant scene, Gastro Pub Chelsea brings a fresh breath to the city's pub culture. Named after London's elite Chelsea neighborhood, this exquisi
Novikov
Moscow, Moscow
Inspired by a great success of the first Novikov Restaurant & Bar in London, the famous restaurateur Arkady Novikov decided to open the second one in Moscow. T
Russian Geographic Society restaurant
Do you like travelling, visiting new places, learning about the traditions and customs of various peoples? Then the Russian Geographic Society restaurant (the Russian abb
Khachapuri
There was a time not so long ago when it seemed that all of Moscow's Georgian restaurants were designed by one and the same person. An old-fashioned person at that. Din
The name speaks for itself – Le Restaurant – and nothing extra. The classical concept of restaurant, which includes rich collection of delicacies, wide range of wine
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50 houses to be demolished in Entebbe's Namiiro Wetland over encroachment - Western Uganda's Biggest radio.
Ministry of Water and Environment staff have started marking houses of alleged encroachers on Namiiro Wetland in Entebbe Municipality, Wakiso District which face demolition. The move has left hundreds stranded with nowhere to go.
Nicholas Magara, the coordinator of wetlands in central region, says no one will stand in their way as they restore the depleted wetland.
So far, at least 50 houses have been marked for demolition and Magara said the exercise will continue this week.
Namiiro is one of the few remaining wetlands in Entebbe while other wetlands have been heavily degraded which include Mabamba, Nambigirwa, Lutembe and Nagadya wetlands.
According to a notice issued by Ministry of Environment last month, residents were given a 21-day ultimatum to vacate the wetland, which elapsed on January 17. |
Mayor of Ennis, Mary Coote Ryan will open the conference.
RENOWNED Irish singer Mary Coughlan will visit Ennis this month where she will officially launch the Ennis Women's Shed, the first such organisation in Europe.
The launch will take place as part of Ennis Men's Shed's first national conference to be held in the county capital. The conference, titled 'No Man is an Island' will take place on April 25 and 26 in the West County Hotel.
This conference will be opened by Councillor Mary Coote Ryan, Mayor of Ennis and will be chaired by Ciana Campbell. Speakers will include: John Evoy, chairperson of the Irish Men's Shed Association; Dr Billy O'Connell , GP; Tom Mc Evoy, director at Pieta House; Paul Gillan, Men's Health Promotion Officer with HSE West; John Quinlivan, former Regional Development and Tourism Services Manager with Shannon Development. |
Much in the vein of classic sports car ethos, the SRKP4 is sleek, yet simple. Muscular, yet agile. Turbo charged by the Mini Kaoss Pad 2, this is the perfect vehicle for any level of aptitude, any style of playing, or any musical genre.
The SRKP4 includes a built-in/detachable Mini Kaoss Pad 2 to create an instrument that offers bassists endless opportunities to incorporate the exhilarating effects of EDM into their performance. A Kaoss Pad 2 back panel, positioned just below the bass volume control, is integrated into the body of this SR style bass for quick, secure docking and easy access to the touch pad interface for real-time manipulation. The Mini Kaoss Pad 2 features 100 effect programs, a synthesizer, built-in mp3 player.
The SRKP4 bass features a slim Maple neck, for clear definition, and a Mahogany body for a warm, rich tone. Electronics include a specifically designed IBZ-KP pickup (a high-output, twin-blade Humbucker for low noise operation) and a built-in distortion circuit with its own on/off switch and Tone/Gain controls.
The SRKP4 comes with on-board high-gain distortion, accessible at the flip of a switch. Fire it up with or without the Mini Kaoss Pad 2 in line to get you to that certain sound you're looking for.
The SRKP4 comes equipped with Korg's latest Kaoss introduction-the Mini Kaoss Pad 2, loaded with 100 dynamic KAOSS effects.
Play when and where you want, using the 1/8" stereo headphone jack located next to the main output. |
Dan Piraro
Tweaking simple everyday things with his twisted imagination and award-winning artistic abilities, Dan Piraro deftly proves why he has won The National Cartoonists' Society's "Best Newspaper Cartoon Panel" three years in a row (2000, 2001 and 2002). Today, "Bizarro" is distributed internationally by King Features Syndicate to more than 350 daily and Sunday newspapers, and have been reprinted in 15 book collections between 1986 and the present. Piraro reaches out to loyal readers and creates new ones by bringing his own live comedy show, "The Bizarro Bologna Show," to cities where his "Bizarro" comic panel appears.
Subliminal mind control, you say? Nah, "Bizarro" fans love Dan Piraro and his covert images of bunny rabbits, eyeballs, fishtails, slices of pie, firecrackers, crowns, upside-down birds, tiny spaceships; not to mention the abbreviation "K2" that seems to appear in nearly every cartoon he draws. In the bizzare comic "Bizzaro," cartoonist Dan Piraro unleashes both his secret symbols and uniquely eccentric view of the world on unsuspecting newspaper readers every day. Because the artwork is detail-driven and the humor, off-the-wall , this politically liberal and progressive cartoonist's comic panel has massive appeal among audiences who enjoy an alternative sense of humor. |
Bomb maker to raise Iraq from rubble
The retired general tapped by the Bush administration to oversee rebuilding of post-war Iraq was, until just a few weeks ago, an executive at a leading defense contractor working on missile systems that would be used to bomb Baghdad.
Although a Pentagon official said Jay Garner's new role as head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance does not constitute a conflict of interest, ethics experts say the appointment raises troubling questions.
Why, they ask, would the White House pick a man from a company directly concerned with attacking Iraq to spearhead the country's aid and restoration?
"It's very curious," said Ben Hermalin, a professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business who studies professional ethics. "You have to wonder what the Iraqis will think of this guy and how much trust they'll place in him."
He added: "If it's not a conflict of interest, it's certainly being tone deaf."
A 16-year old Irish girl who was burned in a car explosion as a child will receive the world's first face transplant!
Early this morning I opened up a book to find this poem. Personally and politically, it seems quite important right now:
Did I believe I had a clear mind?
It was like the water of a river
flowing shallow over the ice. And now
that the rising water has broken
the ice, I see what I thought
was the light is part of the dark.
--Wendell Berry, "Breaking"
30 Antiwar Thinkers on How to Deal With Saddam
From The Guardian:
...I decline to buy the sudden idea of a "humanitarian war" when it will be conducted on current American guidelines: keep US casualties below the level of an average supermarket-mall massacre, bomb from high altitude, road-test the latest hardware, and oops, sorry about that wedding party which just went up in smoke. If, on the other hand, we are now announcing a new and truly ethical foreign policy, in which filthy oppressors worldwide are to be removed in order of filth, I would say that this should be done only with a very high majority vote in the UN, and that former - and current - imperial powers should be extremely cautious in their use of hectoring cant. Those who are anti-war have not somehow been cornered by the question, So, peaceniks, what would you do now? It's quite legitimate to answer, well, we wouldn't be here now, because we wouldn't have started from there then. Instead, a question in return. Saddam disarms voluntarily: do we then invade on humanitarian grounds?
...Saddam Hussein is not the only monster supported by the present incumbents in Washington until he did something contrary to their interests. There's a long list that they supported right to the end of their bloody rule - Marcos, Duvalier, and many others, some of them as vicious and brutal as Saddam, and running tyrannies that compare well with his: Ceausescu, for example. They were overthrown internally, despite US support for them. That's been prevented within Iraq by the murderous sanctions regime, which has devastated the population while strengthening Saddam, and forcing the population to become hopelessly reliant on him for survival.
Solution? Give Iraqis a chance to survive, and there's every reason to believe that they'll get rid of him the way that others have. Meanwhile, strengthen measures to ensure that Saddam, or some replacement, doesn't develop significant military capacity. Not a very serious problem right now, since as is well known, Iraq is militarily and economically the weakest country in the region, but it could be down the road, and in his hands, it would be likely, even without the US and UK to supply him.
Kamil Mahdi
...The way out of the present impasse is:
1 Maintain weapons inspections to allay western concerns.
2 Introduce human-rights monitors.
3 Lift the economic blockade and demand professionalism and transparency in economic affairs under UN monitoring.
4 Implement Resolution 688, including an end to repression.
5 Genuinely support Iraqis, not by imposing an agenda and stooges on the opposition.
6 Start a process of truth and reconciliation.
7 Relieve debt and remove reparation to enhance moves toward democracy.
8 Move towards UN-supervised elections after a time.
9 Curb Ariel Sharon and move immediately towards a just Middle East peace under resolution 242, with recognition of Palestinian rights.
Peaceniks jam DC phone lines
Today's Virtual March on Washington was a huge success according to its organizers, the Win Without War coalition and MoveOn.org. More than 400,000 people registered prior to the march, and more than 1,000,000 people faxed, e-mailed or called their senators to express their belief that Bush and Co haven't made a convincing case for war with Iraq. I contacted Minnesota' Democratic Senator Mark Dayton's office and had a nice, but brief talk with a harried phone worker. When I called Republican Senator Norm Coleman's office at 1 pm CST, not only had he forwarded his calls to voicemail, but the mailbox was full.
Bush: Rhetoric vs. Reality
Bush smiles for the cameras, kisses the old ladies, hoists babies, and immediately turns around to cut funding to all of them. A compelling, if incomplete list, produced by the House Appropriations Committee.
Our Polluted Bodies
WHEN MICHAEL LERNER volunteered to give blood and urine samples to medical researchers, he figured they'd only find a few chemicals in his body. After all, Lerner, the president and founder of Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute in Marin County, has lived in Bolinas for 20 years, eaten a healthy diet and avoided exposure to industrial chemicals.
He was wrong. Researchers found his body polluted with 101 industrial toxins and penetrated by elevated levels of arsenic and mercury.
Scientists call such contamination a person's "body burden."
Lerner was one of nine people -- five of whom live and work in the Bay Areas -- who were tested for 210 chemicals commonly found in consumer products and industrial pollution. Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, the Environmental Working Group of Oakland and Washington, and Commonweal collaborated on this innovative study of the body burden.
At press conferences held in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., last week, researchers revealed these shocking results: On average, each person had 50 or more chemicals linked to cancer in humans and lab animals, considered toxic to the brain and nervous system or known to interfere with the hormone and reproductive systems. (The Environmental Working Group's Web site features biographies and toxic profiles for each person as well as the kind of products that contain such chemicals.)
(Thanks, Pete.)
13 Myths about the Case for War in Iraq
MYTH: "'Anti-war' protesters ... are giving, at the very least, comfort to Saddam Hussein." Therefore they can be accused of committing treason according to the Constitution. -- NY Sun Editorial, February 7, 2003
RESPONSE: It is true that original Constitution did not include Freedom of Speech or Freedom of the Press or other rights that we cherish today. These freedoms were added as the Bill of Rights to the Constitution in 1791.
The US Supreme Court explicitly recognized the right to freely criticize the government in 1964. The Court ruled that the New York Times could publish an ad critical of the actions of Montgomery, Alabama police against civil rights protesters. The Court, wrote Jamie Kalvern, "made explicit the principle that seditious libel -- criticism of government -- cannot be made a crime in America and spoke in this connection of `the central meaning of the First Amendment.'"
After John McCain -- the Senator from Arizona -- was released from captivity as a POW in Vietnam, he was asked, 'How did it feel when you heard Americans were protesting the war?' He said, I thought that's what we were fighting for -- the right to protest."
Statements that war protestors, may be, in the words of Article III of the Constitution "adhering to the enemies [of the U.S.] or giving them aid or comfort" ignore the Bill of Rights.
Moreover, the Sun's editors fail to acknowledge that it was Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist group that attacked New York City, not Saddam Hussein. Al Qaeda still supports the overthrow of Hussein because he is not an Islamic fundamentalist. By supporting Hussein's ouster, the Sun is actually giving a large measure of comfort to Bin Laden and his terrorist movement.
Civilian casualties from a second Iraq war would likely have the same effect that they had during the first Iraq war. They will enable Bin Laden to recruit thousands of soldiers in his war against the "occupying armies" of the United States -- soldiers willing to die in a much larger wave of suicide attacks.
Read the other 12 myths.
(Thanks, Alicia)
Lies, Damn Lies. And Milk.
A Florida judge decided recently that it's technically legal for the media to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast.
The decison reversed a $425,000 jury verdict in favor of TV journalists Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, who sued WTVT-TV, a Fox affiliate in Tampa, for firing them because they refused to air false reports about the presence of synthetic bovine growth hormone (or BGH) in the area milk supply. The husband-and-wife reporting team asserts that Monsanto, maker of BGH, pressured WTVT to edit the story to be less damning to the company (some of the changes would've undermined the credibility of scientists and studies that link BGH in milk to cancer). Akre and Wilson refused, despite repeated attempts by the station to have the story altered and an offer to terminate them with full pay if they never spoke of their BGH findings. Finally, says Akre, when they threatened to report the station to the FCC for falsifying news, they were canned. The lawsuit was settled in August 2000 with the finding that Fox "acted intentionally and deliberately to falsify or distort the plaintiffs' news reporting on BGH" and that Akre's threat to blow the whistle on Fox's misconduct to the FCC was the sole reason for the termination. The station appealed and prevailed, the judge citing that there is no FCC rule or regulation that specifically makes it illegal to mislead, distort, or falsify the news. The FCC's "news distortion policy," says Judge Casaneuva, isn't enough.
To download court documents see New World Communications of Tampa v. Akre or visit Akre's website.
Is Bush whacked?
Is the president nuts? Or is he a "dry drunk"? William Thomas--in a somewhat poorly written screed--ponders what's really going on in George W. Bush's mind.
Duct and Cower
The Department of Homeland Security's new terrorism preparedness website, Ready.gov, with all its dire warnings, duct-tape wisdom, and over-the-top infographics, is begging to be hacked. And the reinterpretations are rolling out, from the crude to the sophisticated. One more, and another. Boing Boing offers a few more. (Thanks, Ben.)
Day-Old Heroes
On November 8, 2001, President Bush addressed a group of firefighters, police officers, and postal workers in Atlanta about the tragedy and aftermath of September 11:
We have gained new heroes, those who ran into burning buildings to save others: our police and our firefighters….Those who voluntarily place themselves in harm's way to defend our freedom: the men and women of the armed forces.
By last November, the shine was already wearing off their hero medals: the new department of Homeland Security was founded, giving the White House the ability to strip most union protections, including collective bargaining. Today, things got worse for public servants. Military personnel will lose federal school aid for their children--and just in time for war. And seriously underfunded firefighters are lobbying for more money so they can purchase protective breathing gear needed to survive chemical or biological attacks. And more:
Their radios still can't connect with those of police and other rescuers. They don't have a day's worth of training in how to handle a terrorist assault of any kind, let alone the "dirty bombs"--homemade radioactve devices - the men at the top say could be sent our way.
The 2004 White House budget calls for additional $3.6 billion in homeland security funding for localities who would have to foot the bill for these improvements. Local governments and many Democrats say at least $7 billion is needed. (A war with Iraq, by contrast, could cost $50 billion in direct military costs and $200 billion with postwar costs added in--or about $1,550 per taxpayer.) Is this any way to treat our nation's "heroes"?
• "E-bombs" can fire "millions of watts of energy in microwaves that are able to knock out electronic equipment and the weapons that rely on them"--without killing anyone. So why is the US expanding its arsenal of nuclear "bunker busters", "mini-nukes," and neutron bombs?
• Respected Greek mathematics professor Eugene Angelopoulos, invited to speak at a conference at New York University, was met by the FBI at John F. Kennedy airport and was detained, shackled, and asked if he is anti-American and whether he opposes the war against Iraq. (Real Audio stream)
• A student at a Dearborn, Michigan, high school was sent home because he wore a t-shirt bearing a picture of George W. Bush and the words "International Terrorist."
• The General Accounting Office dropped its lawsuit against Dick Cheney (who refused to reveal information on who advised his corporate-friendly energy policy) after being "unambiguously" threatened with budget cuts by Republican Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens. An unrelated fact: Enron made $6 million in political contributions from 1989 to 2001, more than two-thirds to Republicans.
• The US slapped sanctions on an Indian firm that supplied chemical and biological agents to Iran and Iraq. Presumably, these firms weren't likewise punished. Nor was Donald Rumsfeld, who in 1983, according to the Washington Post, "traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an 'almost daily' basis in defiance of international conventions."
• Quote of the day, from David O'Reilly, chairman and chief executive of Chevron Texaco: "I am talking about the protests that say 'no blood for oil.' The slogan rests on two assumptions, first that the conflict with Iraq is about nothing but oil and second that energy security is not a legitimate reason--even as one among many--to go to war."
• "An overlooked, one-sentence provision found in the gargantuan spending bill passed in Congress this Thursday would relax the USDA's standards on organic-labeling. According to Andrew Mollison of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the clause, snuck in by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) would allow organic labels to appear on meat even for livestock raised on non-organic feed."
• In preparation for US attacks on Iraq, Israel's Supreme Court rejected a petition demanding that gas masks be distributed to all Palestinians.
• The Virginia State Senate passed legislation today denying illegal aliens in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.
We, the Dumb
America's marvelous diversity extends beyond the racial, ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic melting pot. Along with our Noam Chomskys, Grace Paleys, and Cornel Wests, we've got our share of dumb people too. Like the 83% of people who in a recent poll incorrectly answered the question "To the best of your knowledge, how many of the September 11 hijackers were Iraqi citizens?" (The real answer: none were Iraqi.) Like the 19% of Americans who think they're among the "richest 1% of Americans" who'll benefit from Bush's tax plan. (They'd need to make over $330,000 per year to qualify). And the 52% of Americans who, despite our crushed economy, isolation from the developed world, and the looming spectre of an unbudgeted war in the Middle East, still think Bush is doing a great job.
I'm counting Jeff Maas of Plymouth, Minnesota, in the aforementioned category. His letter to the editor in today's Star Tribune--with its know-it-all bluster, adolescent implication of the left's ingratitude, poor spelling, and screwy logic--earns him an elevated position:
Just a couple of reminders to all of the Minnesotans as well as all Americans who were out protesting the potential war threat:
One, Saddam Hussein was sitting back laughing at each one of you for being fooled into defending him against your own country. Two, had you lodged the same protest under his regime, you and your family would have eventually been killed.
Your right to protest is sacred in our great country, but remember: The First Amendment only applies in this country because our fore fathers fought for it.
By Jeff's logic, the truest patriots are the protesters--the ones who are actively participating in American citizenship by fully utilizing the civil rights our ancestors fought and died for. Those who shrink from free expression--out of fear of Saddam's laughter or fear of reprisal from tyrants, governments, and Jeffs alike--might be considered, well, dumb. But in a democracy, the beauty is we all get to have our say.
Our Rogue Nation
US plan for new nuclear arsenal:
Secret talks may lead to breaking treaties
The Bush administration is planning a secret meeting in August to discuss the construction of a new generation of nuclear weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and neutron bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological agents, according to a leaked Pentagon document.
The meeting of senior military officials and US nuclear scientists at the Omaha headquarters of the US Strategic Command would also decide whether to restart nuclear testing and how to convince the American public that the new weapons are necessary.
The leaked preparations for the meeting are the clearest sign yet that the administration is determined to overhaul its nuclear arsenal so that it could be used as part of the new "Bush doctrine" of pre-emption, to strike the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons of rogue states.
Greg Mello, the head of the Los Alamos Study Group, a nuclear watchdog organisation that obtained the Pentagon documents, said the meeting would also prepare the ground for a US breakaway from global arms control treaties, and the moratorium on conducting nuclear tests.
"It is impossible to overstate the challenge these plans pose to the comprehensive test ban treaty, the existing nuclear test moratorium, and US compliance with article six of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty," Mr Mello said.
The documents leaked to Mr Mello are the minutes of a meeting in the Pentagon on January 10 this year called by Dale Klein, the assistant to the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, to prepare the secret conference, planned for "the week of August 4 2003"...
..."To me it indicates there are plans proceeding and well under way ... to resume the development, testing and production of new nuclear weapons. It's very serious," said Stephen Schwartz, the publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, who added that it opened the US to charges of hypocrisy when it is demanding the disarmament of Iraq and North Korea.
"How can we possibly go to the international community or to these countries and say 'How dare you develop these weapons', when it's exactly what we're doing?" Mr Schwartz said...
Obstructing Justice
Ari Fleischer blames the "liberal wing" of the Democratic Party for monkeywrenching the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the US Court of Appeals. "Some Democrats view the lesson of the last election as to go out and to run as far to the left as possible," he said. "The reemergence of the liberal wing of the Democratic party is in full swing, which is making many of the moderates of the Democratic party increasingly uncomfortable." He called the Democratic filibuster an "obstructionist tactic." In fact, what the Dems want is some basic information on Estrada's philosophy as a judge. A reasonable request considering an Appeals Court judgeship is seen by many as a stopover on the way to the Supreme Court.
During Judiciary Committee hearings last year, Estrada was utterly evasive, offering only this repeated phrase on his judicial philosophy: "My view of the judicial function, Senator, does not allow me to answer that question." And: "I'm very firmly of the view that although we all have views on a number of subjects from A to Z, the job of a judge is to subconsciously put that aside and look at each case . . . with an open mind." Sen. Chuck Schumer says that, "By remaining silent Mr. Estrada only buttressed the fear that he's a far-right stealth nominee, a... candidate who will drive the nation's second most important court out of the mainstream." If you recall, George W. Bush ran for president as a moderate, a "unifier not a divider," but has since showed his true colors by squandering the world's goodwill after September 11, isolating key allies France and Germany, insulting the UN and destabilizing NATO. What he did was unite the world--against him, as 30 million world citizens spoke out against his war on Iraq on Saturday. A wolf in sheep's clothing Estrada, too, might be. But to characterize the Democrats' filibuster as an tantrum by the liberal wing of the party continues the Republicans' so-far-successful campaign of pushing the national dialogue further to the right. They convinced the world the media has a "liberal bias." And now they're saying that seeking full-disclosure in judicial nominations is "liberal"? Of course, in the age of Operation TIPS, Code Orange, and the USA Patriot Act, it most certainly is.
Click here to urge your senator to keep the pressure on Estrada and Bush for full disclosure. Or visit MoveOn.org to learn more.
The Political Price of War
British PM Tony Blair's approval rating tanked after weekend protests by 1.5 million in London. His popularity--down 20 points--is the lowest its been in 2.5 years, mainly because of his "lapdog" relationship with Bush on Iraq. His
Australian counterpart, Prime Minister John Howard (like Blair, an ardent supporter of the Bush war machine), watched his approval slip to an eight-month low of 48% following an amazing turnout of peace activists in rallies across the country. Is Bush next?
And now, the numbers
Antiwar.com is keeping a running tally of protest counts from the weekend. I don't mean to fixate on numbers, but I'm wondering when we'll hit critical mass, when there will be enough minds focused on peace to radically change history (or at least the momentum toward war). I hope 30 million peopleis getting close.
Bush wants to do to Germany's economy what he's done to ours
Because Germany refuses to support Bush's preemptive war, their economy should suffer, say administration insiders. The Observer of London, quoting a White House representative, reports that the US will withdraw its 42,000 troops from Germany "for one reason only: to harm the German economy." "Our troops contribute many millions of dollars. Why should we continue to support a country which has treated Nato and the protection we provided for decades with such incredible contempt?" said one unnamed source. Another, in the Pentagon, said "The aim is to hit German trade and commerce. It is not just about taking out the troops and equipment; it is also about cancelling commercial contracts and defence-related arrangements." Yet another insider, echoing Rumsfeld's assertion of Germany's "treachery and ineptitude" said "This is simply not the way to conduct diplomacy at a moment of international crisis." Indeed it's not. Too bad he wasn't talking about Americandiplomacy.
Wage Peace
by Mary Oliver
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
What the GOP is doing for unemployment (in India)
A first for an American political party: the Republicans have outsourced their telemarketing to a firm in a suburb of New Dehli. Seventy-five "eager and young" workers in Noida and Gurgaon will be fundraising for the Grand Old Party. Yay for America!
War is Over (If You Want It)
And apparently we want it. Some early numbers from peace rallies worldwide:
1,500,000 in London
1,000,000 in New York
500,000 in Berlin, Germany
300,000 in more than 60 French towns
200,000 in Damascus, Syria
100,000 in Los Angeles
50,000 in Athens, Greece
7,500 in Minneapolis
16,000 in Canberra, Australia
10,000 in Perth, Australia
5,000 in Wellington, Australia
150,000 in Melbourne, Australia,
15,000 in Newscastle, Australia
10,000 in Hobart, Australia
2,000 in Seoul, South Korea
2,000 in Bangkok, Thailand...
Someone's Got to Say It
US Senator Robert Byrd's Senate floor speech from Wednesday, in its entirety:
To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.
Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.
We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.
And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.
This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list. High level Administration figures recently refused to take nuclear weapons off of the table when discussing a possible attack against Iraq. What could be more destabilizing and unwise than this type of uncertainty, particularly in a world where globalism has tied the vital economic and security interests of many nations so closely together? There are huge cracks emerging in our time-honored alliances, and U.S. intentions are suddenly subject to damaging worldwide speculation. Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11.
Here at home, people are warned of imminent terrorist attacks with little guidance as to when or where such attacks might occur. Family members are being called to active military duty, with no idea of the duration of their stay or what horrors they may face. Communities are being left with less than adequate police and fire protection. Other essential services are also short-staffed. The mood of the nation is grim. The economy is stumbling. Fuel prices are rising and may soon spike higher.
This Administration, now in power for a little over two years, must be judged on its record. I believe that that record is dismal.
In that scant two years, this Administration has squandered a large projected surplus of some $5.6 trillion over the next decade and taken us to projected deficits as far as the eye can see. This Administration's domestic policy has put many of our states in dire financial condition, under funding scores of essential programs for our people. This Administration has fostered policies which have slowed economic growth. This Administration has ignored urgent matters such as the crisis in health care for our elderly. This Administration has been slow to provide adequate funding for homeland security. This Administration has been reluctant to better protect our long and porous borders.
In foreign policy, this Administration has failed to find Osama bin Laden. In fact, just yesterday we heard from him again marshaling his forces and urging them to kill. This Administration has split traditional alliances, possibly crippling, for all time, International order-keeping entities like the United Nations and NATO. This Administration has called into question the traditional worldwide perception of the United States as well-intentioned, peacekeeper. This Administration has turned the patient art of diplomacy into threats, labeling, and name calling of the sort that reflects quite poorly on the intelligence and sensitivity of our leaders, and which will have consequences for years to come.
Calling heads of state pygmies, labeling whole countries as evil, denigrating powerful European allies as irrelevant -- these types of crude insensitivities can do our great nation no good. We may have massive military might, but we cannot fight a global war on terrorism alone. We need the cooperation and friendship of our time-honored allies as well as the newer found friends whom we can attract with our wealth. Our awesome military machine will do us little good if we suffer another devastating attack on our homeland which severely damages our economy. Our military manpower is already stretched thin and we will need the augmenting support of those nations who can supply troop strength, not just sign letters cheering us on.
The war in Afghanistan has cost us $37 billion so far, yet there is evidence that terrorism may already be starting to regain its hold in that region. We have not found bin Laden, and unless we secure the peace in Afghanistan, the dark dens of terrorism may yet again flourish in that remote and devastated land.
Pakistan as well is at risk of destabilizing forces. This Administration has not finished the first war against terrorism and yet it is eager to embark on another conflict with perils much greater than those in Afghanistan. Is our attention span that short? Have we not learned that after winning the war one must always secure the peace?
And yet we hear little about the aftermath of war in Iraq. In the absence of plans, speculation abroad is rife. Will we seize Iraq's oil fields, becoming an occupying power which controls the price and supply of that nation's oil for the foreseeable future? To whom do we propose to hand the reigns of power after Saddam Hussein?
Will our war inflame the Muslim world resulting in devastating attacks on Israel? Will Israel retaliate with its own nuclear arsenal? Will the Jordanian and Saudi Arabian governments be toppled by radicals, bolstered by Iran which has much closer ties to terrorism than Iraq?
Could a disruption of the world's oil supply lead to a world-wide recession? Has our senselessly bellicose language and our callous disregard of the interests and opinions of other nations increased the global race to join the nuclear club and made proliferation an even more lucrative practice for nations which need the income?
In only the space of two short years this reckless and arrogant Administration has initiated policies which may reap disastrous consequences for years.
One can understand the anger and shock of any President after the savage attacks of September 11. One can appreciate the frustration of having only a shadow to chase and an amorphous, fleeting enemy on which it is nearly impossible to exact retribution.
But to turn one's frustration and anger into the kind of extremely destabilizing and dangerous foreign policy debacle that the world is currently witnessing is inexcusable from any Administration charged with the awesome power and responsibility of guiding the destiny of the greatest superpower on the planet. Frankly many of the pronouncements made by this Administration are outrageous. There is no other word.
Yet this chamber is hauntingly silent. On what is possibly the eve of horrific infliction of death and destruction on the population of the nation of Iraq -- a population, I might add, of which over 50% is under age 15 -- this chamber is silent. On what is possibly only days before we send thousands of our own citizens to face unimagined horrors of chemical and biological warfare -- this chamber is silent. On the eve of what could possibly be a vicious terrorist attack in retaliation for our attack on Iraq, it is business as usual in the United States Senate.
We are truly "sleepwalking through history." In my heart of hearts I pray that this great nation and its good and trusting citizens are not in for a rudest of awakenings.
To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country". This war is not necessary at this time. Pressure appears to be having a good result in Iraq. Our mistake was to put ourselves in a corner so quickly. Our challenge is to now find a graceful way out of a box of our own making. Perhaps there is still a way if we allow more time.
What did French wine ever do to Dennis Hastert?
Because France isn't on the Bush-Blair lovetrain to destroy Iraq, Dennis Hastert suggests we impose strict trade sanctions on French wine. Yet another reason to protest tomorrow.
Who's Next?
The Stop the War Coalition's Andrew Murray in The Guardian:
The "collateral damage" of Bush's war drive is mounting daily - the cohesion of Nato, the chimera of a common EU foreign policy (and Blair's fantasy of being at the heart of Europe) and the post-1945 structure of international law included. All of this seems merely to be whipping the US political class into a still greater frenzy of bellicosity. How long before France is officially designated a "rogue state" and Gerhard Schröder becomes a card-carrying member of the "axis of evil"?
International Peace Rally Tomorrow
Tomorrow, the people of the world will tell George W. Bush what they think of his war on Iraq. From Antarctica to Zagreb, hundreds of thousands will gather in 354 cities across the globe. Find one near you and go make your voice heard! (Twin Citizens: gather at the corner of Hennepin and Lagoon in Minneapolis at 1 pm Saturday for a march that will end with a rally in Loring Park.)
Cairo - Cape Town - Durban - Johannesburg - Kigali - Niamey - Rabat - Reunion Island
ASIA/MIDDLE EAST:
Baghdad - Bahawalpur - Bangkok - Beirut - Dili - Faisalabad - Gojranwala - Hong Kong - Hyderabad - Islamabad - Istanbul - Jakarta - Kansai - Karachi - Kharian - Kuala Lumpur - Kumamoto - Lahore - Larkana - Layya Muharraq - Manama - Mandi Bahaudin - Manila - Matsumoto - Multan - Naha - Okara Osaka - Otsu - Peshawar - Qasur - Ramallah - Sahiwal - Sargodha - Seoul - Sheikhupura - Tel Aviv - Tokyo
A Coruna - Aix-en-Provence - Albacete - Alicante - Amsterdam (Hi Mom!) - Andorra - Antwerp - Athens - Barcelona - Belfast - Bergen - Berlin - Berne - Bilbao - Bodoe - Brussels - Budapest - Cadiz - Castellon - Ciudad Real - Cluj-Napoca - Coimbra - Copenhagen - Cordoba - Cuenca - Dublin - Evora - Faro - Girona - Glasgow - Gothenburg - Granada - Guadalajara - Helsinki - Hereford - Huelva - Huesca - Isafjordur - Jaen - Joensuu - Jyvaskyla - Kiev - Kristiansand - Kuopio - Lancaster - Lillehammer - Lisbon - Ljubljana - Lleida - London - Longyearbyen - Luxembourg - Madrid - Malaga - Malmo - Marseille - Moscow - Murcia - Nokia - Oslo - Oulu - Oviedo - Palma de Mallorca - Pamplona - Paris - Patras - Pontevedra - Porto - Poznan - Prague - Puertollano - Reykjavik - Rodos - Rome - Rovaniemi - Salamanca - San Sebastian - Santander - Savolinna - Seinajoki - Sevilla - Shetland - Skopje - Sofia - Stavanger - Stockholm - Talavera de la Reina - Tallinn - Tarragona - Teruel - Thessaloniki - Toledo - Tromsoe - Trondheim - Turku - Valencia - Valetta - Vienna - Vigo - Vilnius - Volos - Warsaw - Wroclaw - Zagreb - Zaragoza
LATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEAN:
Bahia - Buenos Aires - Havana - Kingston, Jamaica - Lima - Martinique - Mexicali - Mexico City - Montevideo - Quito - Rio de Janiero - Rio Grande do - Sol - San Jose, CR - San Juan - Santiago - Santo Domingo - Sao Paulo
USA and CANADA:
Akron - Asheville - Atlanta - Austin - Bakersfield - Baltimore - Bellingham - Bisbee - Blacksburg - Bloomington - Boise - Brampton - Butler - Calexico - Calgary - Canmore - Cape C od - Cape Girardeau - Carbondale - Charleston - Charlotte - Charlottesville - Chicago - Chico - Coburg - Colorado Springs - Columbia, MO - Columbia, SC - Corpus Christi - Cortez - Cranbrook, BC - Dallas - Detroit - Durango - Edmonton - Encino - Eugene - Fayetteville - Fi llmore - Flagstaff - Fort Wayne - Fresno - Galveston - Grand Junction - Grand Rapids - Halifax - Hamilton - Hilo - Honolulu - Houston -Huntington - Indianapolis - Jefferson City - Juneau - Kamloops - Kelowna - Kingston - Knoxville - Lancaster - Lansing - Las Cruces - Las Vegas - Lawrence, KS - Lethbridge - Lincoln - London - Long Beach - Los Angeles - Louisville - Macomb - Madison - Melbourne - Memphis - Minneapolis - Miami - Milwaukee - Montpelier - Montreal - Mount Vernon, OH - Nanaimo - Naples - New Orleans - New York City - Newark, DE - Norfolk, VA - North Newton - Olympia - Orange - Orangeville - Orlando - Ottawa - Palm Desert - Parry Sound - Pensacola - Philadelphia - Phoenix - Pittsboro - Portland, ME - Portland, OR - Port Perry - Portsmouth - Prince Albert - Raleigh - Regina - Richland Center - Rolla - St. Augustine - St. Louis - Salem - Salt Lake City - Sacramento - San Diego - San Francisco - San Jose - San Luis Obispo - Santa Barbara - Santa Cruz - Santa Fe - Santa Monica - Sarasota - Saskatoon - Savannah - Seattle - Sitka - Sonora - South Bend - South Haven - Spokane - Starkville - St. John's - Sudbury - Tacoma - Tallahassee - Tehachapi - Temple - Thornbury - Toronto - Tulsa - Vallejo - Vancouver, B.C. - Victoria - Wausau - Waterloo - Wilkes-Barre - Williamsburg - Williamsport - Wilmington - Windsor - Winnipeg - Youngstown
Adelaide - Aotearoa - Auckland - Brisbane - Bundaberg - Byron Bay - Canberra - Christchurch - Dunedin - Geelong - Gisborne - Greymouth - Hamilton, NZ - Hastings - Hobart - Kelowna - Launceton - Lismore - Melbourne - Nelson - Newcastle - Opotiki - Palmerston North - Perth - Rockhampton - Rotorua - Sydney - Takaka - Tauranga - Timaru - Wanganui - Wellington - Whakatane - Wollongong
ANTARCTICA:
McMurdo Station
Give her a daisy instead
The current issue of Mother Jones offers a reason to reconsider roses on Valentine's Day: laborers who earn $140/month in Ecuador's rose industry are coming down with some scary side-effects:
Insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and soil fumigants used in the greenhouses are causing serious health problems for Ecuador's 60,000 rose workers -- especially the women and children who sort and package the flowers prior to shipping. In recent years, studies by the International Labor Organization and Ecuador's Catholic University have found that as many as 60 percent of postharvest workers complain of pesticide-poisoning symptoms, including headaches, blurred vision, and muscular twitching. Women in the industry, who represent 70 percent of all rose workers, experience significantly elevated rates of miscarriages. Children under 18, who make up more than a fifth of the workforce, display signs of neurological damage at 22 percent above average.
Today's New York Times follows up with another story on the thorns in Ecuador's rose business.
Impeach Bush!
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark has drafted articles of impeachment setting forth high crimes and misdemeanors by President Bush and other civil officers of his administration.
Terror, Fear, and Product Placement
When the government raised the terror alert level to "orange" without any credible evidence the other day, I figured it was yet another case of blatant fear-mongering. Announcing the change in "terrorism vulnerability," John Ashcroft said vaguely that apartment buildings, hotels, and other "lightly secured targets" could be at risk. Also in danger are "economic targets, including the transportation and energy sectors, as well as symbolic targets and symbols of American power." As one of the most lightly secured targets in America, an apartment dweller, and a frequent user of America's energy reserves and transportation systems, I am deeply frightened.
Maybe I should run out and buy a terrorism survival kit, a silly (and likely useless) conglomeration of duct tape, plastic wrap, water, tuna fish, and other items. More fear mongering. But my real question is: how much did Campbell's Chunky Soup, Chicken of the Sea tuna, Rayovac batteries, and Johnson & Johnson have to pay for this primo product placement?
Electronic Intifada, the excellent website dedicated to presenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a much-needed Palestinian perspective, has joined forces with veteran peace group Voices in the Wilderness to launch Electronic Iraq.
An Open Letter to Europe
AlterNet and MoveOn.org have teamed up to send a letter to our friends in Europe, urging them to continue their resistance to war in Iraq. The Guardian of London reports tonight that Bush has the backing of the American people to attack Iraq, with 57% of poll respondents agreeing that a war without the UN's support is OK as long as allies like the UK and Australia are on board. Tell Europe these polls are bunk. Click here to sign and send this letter:
We, the undersigned citizens of the United States of America, are writing to ask for your help.
We are already grateful for your principled opposition to our government's misguided and dangerous policy toward Iraq. Despite the deceptive claims of the Bush Administration and the poor coverage of the crisis by our media, huge numbers of Americans have evaluated the facts for themselves and join with you to oppose our government's drive toward war.
Like many of you, we believe that war will not lead to future peace in the Middle East but to more violence and death -- not just in Iraq but eventually throughout the region, as well as in the United States and across the globe. With you, we believe that war will not bring about the liberation of the Iraqi people but visit upon them even greater catastrophe than in the past.
We are doing everything within our power here in America to change our government's policy. However, we fear this war cannot be stopped without strong opposition from the nations of Europe.
We, and the rest of the world, therefore look to you for support in this daunting task we share.
We ask that you attend the antiwar rallies this Saturday, Feb. 15 in London, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Warsaw and other cities across Europe. An overwhelming turnout in the streets will show your governments and the world that Europe says no to preemptive war. Before and after the demonstrations, write, speak out and protest in every way possible.
We ask also that you demand that your governments support the French-German initiative for additional inspections. If your government currently backs the Bush Administration, make it clear that they should withdraw this support. If your government is standing against the Bush Administration, make it clear that you support their actions and call upon them to stand firm.
Finally, we ask that, when the threat of war recedes, you join together with us in non-violent efforts to help the long-suffering Iraqi people in their struggle for democracy and freedom.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we were deeply moved by Europe's messages of sympathy and support. Those of us who visited the sites of the attacks in the weeks that followed will always remember the comfort we took in the letters posted nearby sent from your families to ours.
Today, we need your unity more than ever -- or we fear that Sept. 11 will be only the beginning of a terrible spiral of violence that will engulf the Middle East, the United States and the world.
However, we believe this frightening vision of the future need not come to pass. As former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, who was Commander General of the Allied Forces in World War II once said, "I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."
Let this be the moment when the people of the world, for the first time, truly come together to force our governments to give us peace. Please stand with us on February 15 and in the future, as we stand with you.
Dissent = Treason?
As the courts uphold a ban on antiwar protests in Manhattan this weekend, the conservative New York Sun equates protest with treason:
So long as the protesters are invoking the Constitution, they might have a look at Article III. That says, "Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court."
There can be no question at this point that Saddam Hussein is an enemy of America. Iraq was the only Arab-Muslim country that did not condemn the September 11 attacks against the United States. A commentary of the official Iraqi station on September 11 stated that America was "…reaping the fruits of [its] crimes against humanity." A government employee in Iraq reacted to the loss this month of the space shuttle Columbia by telling Reuters, "God is avenging us."
And there is no reason to doubt that the "anti-war" protesters — we prefer to call them protesters against freeing Iraq — are giving, at the very least, comfort to Saddam Hussein. In a television interview aired this week, Saddam said, "First of all we admire the development of the peace movement around the world in the last few years. We pray to God to empower all those working against war and for the cause of peace and security based on just peace for all." After the last big anti-war protest, the one in Washington last month, Saddam hailed the anti-war protests as proof that Americans back Iraq rather than President Bush. "They are supporting you because they know that evildoers target Iraq to silence and dissenting voice to their evil and destructive policies," Saddam told senior officers, including his son Qusay, commander of the Republican Guard.
So the New York City police could do worse, in the end, than to allow the protest and send two witnesses along for each participant, with an eye toward preserving at least Thus fully respecting not just some, but all of the constitutional principles at stake.
To those concerned about civil liberties, we'd cite the pragmatic argument made last night by, of all people, the New York Times's three-time Pulitzer-Prize winning foreignaffairs columnist, Thos. Friedman. "I believe we are one more 9/11 away from the end of the open society," Mr. Friedman told an American Jewish Committee dinner honoring the chief executive of the New York Times Company, Russell Lewis. His point was that if terrorists strike again at America and kill large numbers of Americans, the pressure to curb civil liberties and civil rights will be "enormous and unstoppable." What we took from that was that the more successful the protesters are in making their case in New York, the less chance they'll have the precious constitutional freedom to protest here the next time around.
Interesting logic: don't use your civil liberties because by doing so you'll support an enemy that will encourage our government to strip even more of our civil liberties. Hmm. Other commentaries on this editorial here and here.
What's Left?
With Republicans in control of the White House and both Houses of Congress, America appears to be in a belligerent, rightwing mood. And while most of the world might complain about the Bush administration or, at most, seek to contain its excesses, only Americans can get rid of it.
Which raises the question: whatever happened to the left in America? What became of the political culture that stopped the Vietnam war, brought about civil rights and very nearly made Jesse Jackson the Democratic presidential candidate? Where are the popular, progressive forces that could challenge the Bush administration from within? Ask leftwingers this - people who have devoted their life to progressive causes - and most of them will laugh. "The left is not a word you mention in polite company here," says Karen Rothmeyer, an editor on the leftwing weekly, the Nation. "We talk about the right, but we never talk about the left."
Wendell Berry: A Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States of America
Orion Magazine published this essay by Wendell Berry as a full-page ad in the Sunday New York Times. Read it online, or request a free issue containing the full essay (it's abridged in the ad). An excerpt:
THE NEW NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY published by the White House in September 2002, if carried out, would amount to a radical revision of the political character of our nation. Its central and most significant statement is this:
While the United States will constantly strive to enlist the support of the international community, we will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary, to exercise our right of self defense by acting preemptively against such terrorists...(p. 6)
A democratic citizen must deal here first of all with the question, Who is this "we"? It is not the "we" of the Declaration of Independence, which referred to a small group of signatories bound by the conviction that "governments [derive] their just powers from the consent of the governed." And it is not the "we" of the Constitution, which refers to "the people [my emphasis] of the United States."
This "we" of the new strategy can refer only to the president. It is a royal "we". A head of state, preparing to act alone in starting a preemptive war, will need to justify his intention by secret information, and will need to plan in secret and execute his plan without forewarning. The idea of a government acting alone in preemptive war is inherently undemocratic, for it does not require or even permit the president to obtain the consent of the governed. As a policy, this new strategy depends on the acquiescence of a public kept fearful and ignorant, subject to manipulation by the executive power, and on the compliance of an intimidated and office dependent legislature. To the extent that a government is secret, it cannot be democratic or its people free. By this new doctrine, the president alone may start a war against any nation at any time, and with no more forewarning than preceded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Would be participating citizens of a democratic nation, unwilling to have their consent coerced or taken for granted, therefore have no choice but to remove themselves from the illegitimate constraints of this "we" in as immediate and public a way as possible.
THE ALLEGED JUSTIFICATION for this new strategy is the recent emergence in the United States of international terrorism. But why the events of September 11, 2001, horrifying as they were, should have called for a radical new investiture of power in the executive branch is not clear.
The National Security Strategy defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents" (p. 5). This is truly a distinct kind of violence, but to imply by the word "terrorism" that this sort of terror is the work exclusively of "terrorists" is misleading. The "legitimate" warfare of technologically advanced nations likewise is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against innocents. The distinction between the intention to perpetrate violence against innocents, as in "terrorism," and the willingness to do so, as in "war," is not a source of comfort.
Supposedly, if a nation perpetrates violence officially -- whether to bomb an enemy airfield or a hospital it is not guilty of "terrorism." But there is no need to hesitate over the difference between "terrorism" and any violence or threat of violence that is terrifying. The National Security Strategy wishes to cause "terrorism" to be seen "in the same light as slavery, piracy, or genocide" (p. 6) but not in the same light as war. It accepts and affirms the legitimacy of war.
THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM is not, strictly speaking, a war against nations, even though it has already involved international war in Afghanistan and presidential threats against other nations. This is a war against "the embittered few" "thousands of trained terrorists" -- who are "at large" (p. 5) among many millions of others who are, in the language of this document, "innocents," and thus are deserving of our protection.
Unless we are willing to kill innocents in order to kill the guilty, the need to be lethal will be impeded constantly by the need to be careful. Because we must suppose a new supply of villains to be always in the making, we can expect the war on terrorism to be more or less endless, endlessly costly and endlessly supportive of a thriving bureaucracy.
Unless, that is, we should become willing to ask why, and to do something about the causes. Why do people become terrorists? Such questions arise from the recognition that problems have causes. There is, however, no acknowledgement in The National Security Strategy that terrorism might have a cause that could possibly be discovered and possibly remedied. "The embittered few," it seems, are merely "evil."
Briefly noted:
• German antiwar demonstrator urges "Re-elect Gore!"
• Of 535 members of the U.S. House and Senate, only one has a child or grandchild in military service, Sen. Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota.
• Last week, Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced legislation repealing the president's "blank check" for war.
• The royal family of Qatar--home to US Central Command in the event of war with Iraq--allegedly helped a chief al-Qaeda leader escape the FBI.
• Sen. Edward Kennedy asks the president: "We will certainly win the war, but how do we win the peace if there are massive civilian casualties, if factional fighting fractures Iraq, if food, water, and medicine are in short supply and millions of Iraqis are displaced from their homes, or if a new wave of terrorism erupts against America as an occupying power, or because of the war itself?"
• Comedian Al Franken: "I love statistics. For example, 1.7 million jobs were lost in the six total years of the two Bushes. If you extrapolate that, if the Bushes had run this country from its inception to the present day, no one would have ever worked. We'd be the poorest country in the world. Numbers don't lie."
• Bill O'Reilly of Fox's The O'Reilly Factor calls Mexicans "wetbacks."
• In a live interview, O'Reilly called Jeremy M. Glick, a signer of the Not In Our Name "Statement of Conscience" whose father was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11, "anti-American," cut the power to Glick's microphone, and later told Glick to "Get out, get out of my studio before I tear you to f**king pieces!"
(All links via BuzzFlash).
The US military admitted for the first time last week that they'll use chemical weapons on Iraq, in probable violation of the same laws they purport to defend.
Celebrate your independents
Shopping at local independent businesses has an enormous impact on the local economy, according to two new reports cited by the New Rules Project of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance. And shopping at corporate chain stores, as you'd guess, is a suckerpunch to hometown sustainability. Consider the math:
• When you spend $100 at the chain Borders Books & Music, your purchase creates only $13 worth of local economic activity. Spend $100 at a locally owned book or record store and you'll be putting $45 into local circulation--more than three times as much local economic activity. (From the study, "Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study" conducted by Civic Economics)
•Big box retailers actually drain public coffers, while independent businesses generate more tax revenue than it costs to service them.
The Wal-Marts of the world generate a net annual deficit of $468 per 1,000 square feet. Shopping centers produce an annual drain of $314 per 1,000 square feet. And, worse still, fast-food restaurants have a net annual cost of $5,168 per 1,000 square feet. To be clear, these chains cost taxpayers more than they produce in revenue.
In contrast, specialty retail, a category that includes small-scale Main Street businesses, has a positive impact on pubic revenue. Specialty retail produces a net annual return of $326 per 1,000 square feet. (From a study by Tischler & Associates)
Mourning in America
Am I inhuman to not mourn the loss of seven human beings who merely went to work one day and ended up dead? I've been having difficulty expressing my thoughts about the space shuttle disaster a week ago, and my own detachment from what is obviously deep suffering for some. I begin with a disclaimer: it's a tragedy; how horrible for the families of the seven astronauts to see their loved ones as an exhaust trail in the sky and know they're gone. While I mourn for those seven intellectually, I don't feel a loss, for I never knew them and I never knew their cause well, except through unscientific cliches (exploration of the unknown void, the final frontier). Watching the endless newscasts on the subject I was reminded of my friend Dave who—callously I thought, at the time--told me of his reaction to September 11: "It's sad, but it doesn't affect me that much. No one I knew died. When they say 'everything changed on September 11,' it didn't for me. Everything changed when my brother died a few years ago." Considering the massive outpouring of emotion for Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy Jr., and the rest, I begin to wonder about America's mourning, what role it serves and what it prevents us from feeling.
It's as if we institutionalize our grief, we collectivize it and present it publicly through mass media, sanctifying it through the ritual of broadcast and, yearning to feel deeply, we make it fake. We shed tears for people we never knew, people we can idealize for the values we perceive they had (although you can be certain they were regular folks with the same struggles and shortcomings as you and me), while at the same time we ignore the death of a neighbor or the truly tragic struggles of, say, the local family one paycheck away from homelessness. We burn out our compassion like booster rockets in the stratosphere of high ideals and imagined nobility, when right here, where it's gritty and real, there's real pain to take heed of.
And we seem to be taking our cues from the media. Sometimes it seems they're not merely reporting news, but suggesting appropriate responses. When the banner headline reads "A Nation Mourns" it's perhaps more an instruction than a documentation of fact. And the instructions are pretty powerful.
Is our grief synched with a news cycle? I consider this even as I write, one week after the disaster, when the press is growing bored with the shuttle story: is there any merit in writing this column now? Will anyone care--i.e. is this newsworthy?--now that we've gone through our "grief" and started to forget?
The timeliness of the story was collapsed: the tears mixed with the wrenching biographies of fallen heroes and big questions of policy and politics. In a recent Los Angeles Times article, John Balzar wonders if the Columbia disaster merited all the questions the media felt duty-bound to ask: "Will President Bush have to rethink Iraq? Will he find it easier to bend Congress to his will for the sake of tax cuts? Are critics of the president once again unpatriotic? Has Bush displayed anew his remarkable leadership? Should humankind abandon the quest to explore our universe?" He offers a reality check:
Is it really shocking to learn that something as risky as entering the Earth's atmosphere from space at more than 12,000 mph results in a fatal accident? From long experience, we know that humans and fast-moving machines are a dangerous mix. Extrapolating from annual statistics, we can estimate that about 115 people die each day in the U.S. from traffic accidents--events that are shocking to survivors and families of the victims but not beyond. What is really shocking are the grandiose generalizations, the repetitive hyperbole and the sheer echo-chamber volume and mass that accompany the periodic blow-up of big news accounts these days.
He's right. The question within hours of the Columbia explosion turned to policy: whether the shuttle program would be scrapped or at least put on hold, how it would affect the president's budget, etc., and within hours the president was on TV in all his Type-A glory urging us to grieve and then get on with it: the space program must continue, these people didn't die for nothing. Whatever real grief existed was being spun, and these deaths were being repurposed--instrumentalized--toward political ends.
But my lack of feeling here isn't mine along. The Wall Street Journal's science writer, Sharon Begley, wrote yesterday about habituation, how repeated exposure to disaster wears down not only our unquantifiable reserves of compassion but our actual neurological ability to be shocked by tragedy. She quotes Northwestern psychology professor Susan Mineka: "In the last five or ten years, we as a society have been getting increasingly accustomed to violence, and unless it reaches the proportions of 9/11, most of us do respond with less intensity than we did in the 1980s. And of course, this is all happening in the context of a probable war with Iraq." Scientifically, what happens is this:
… after an electrical impulse zipping down a neuron triggers the release of neurotransmitters often enough, subsequent electrical impulses are less likely to have that effect. Without the release of neurotransmitters, the message the neuron was carrying ("this event has just happened") comes to a screeching halt just before the synapse. It's as if the string in an old-fashioned game of telephone has been snipped. The information encoded in the electrical signal never reaches the next neuron in the circuit. As a result, downstream neurons, including those that attach emotional significance to the event, remain quiet.
Begley ends up her article with this musing: "Science can explain pretty well why America and the world have reacted as they did to the tragedy of last Saturday morning. But it can't explain whether this muted response reflects a hard-won emotional maturity -- or, instead, a hardening of the heart that speaks ill of us as human beings." What am I saying here? I'm not sure. Maybe simply that we should take the time to grieve. To make sure we feel something first.
Kiss Your Rights Goodbye (Again)
The Center for Public Integrity has published a leaked draft of what is termed by Washington insiders as "Patriot Act II." The White House has denied that such legislation was in the works, and it's effects will be wide-sweeping. NOW with Bill Moyers addresses the issue on tonight's show (log onto the site for pdfs of key documents and transcripts of the show). This is huge. And horrifying. An excerpt from CPI:
Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act
Center Publishes Secret Draft of 'Patriot II' Legislation
By Charles Lewis and Adam Mayle
(WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a draft, dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and is making it available in full text. The bill, drafted by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft and entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, has not been officially released by the Department of Justice, although rumors of its development have circulated around the Capitol for the last few months under the name of "the Patriot Act II" in legislative parlance...
...Dr. David Cole, Georgetown University Law professor and author of Terrorism and the Constitution, reviewed the draft legislation at the request of the Center, and said that the legislation "raises a lot of serious concerns. It's troubling that they have gotten this far along and they've been telling people there is nothing in the works." This proposed law, he added, "would radically expand law enforcement and intelligence gathering authorities, reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create a DNA database based on unchecked executive 'suspicion,' create new death penalties, and even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups."
The Sport of War
My two favorite antiwar posters: the president as a runningback with a missile cradled against his chest and his right hand extended in a Heismanesque stiffarm, and as a cowboy riding a bucking missile a la "Dr. Strangelove." Given Bush's macho (yet sporty!) posturing with the UN yesterday--"The game is over" for Iraq, he said--the imagery seems apt. A new website takes the sports-as-war metaphor a step further, elegantly subverting the team logos of three NFL teams in a clever critique of Bush's war motivations.
Jim Lasser, the logos' (re)designer, e-mailed his rationale:
I believe Americans' choices about war are made with little regard to the true pain that is involved. Our 20th Century war experiences have left us quite insulated to the true face of war: what it means to see your home burned, your factories bombed, or your children slaughtered. Though I am not flatly opposed to the use of force, I wish there was a truer national context on which our opinions are made. Sometimes I feel, while watching the excitement with which the media "reports" on the coming war, that we are witnessing the countdown to the big game, rather than the coming tragedies of millions of human lives. Thus, war = sport; another means to entertain ourselves in front of the safety of the television. (And we thought 9-11 changed everything.)
(Thanks Ben.)
UK war dossier a sham, say experts
British 'intelligence' lifted from academic articles
Michael White and Brian Whitaker
Downing Street was last night plunged into acute international embarrassment after it emerged that large parts of the British government's latest dossier on Iraq - allegedly based on "intelligence material" - were taken from published academic articles, some of them several years old.
Amid charges of "scandalous" plagiarism on the night when Tony Blair attempted to rally support for the US-led campaign against Saddam Hussein, Whitehall's dismay was compounded by the knowledge that the disputed document was singled out for praise by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, in his speech to the UN security council on Wednesday.
Citing the British dossier, entitled Iraq - its infrastructure of concealment, deception and intimidation in front of a worldwide television audience Mr Powell said: "I would call my colleagues' attention to the fine paper that the United Kingdom distributed... which describes in exquisite detail Iraqi deception activities."
But on Channel 4 News last night it was revealed that four of the report's 19 pages had been copied - with only minor editing and a few insertions - from the internet version of an article by Ibrahim al-Marashi which appeared in the Middle East Review of International Affairs last September.
King on Vietnam/King Today?
Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.
—Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City
Masked Men
Check out this photo of plastic masks of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein rolling off an assembly line in Brazil. Eerily poetic, eh?
(Via BoingBoing.)
Stand for sustainability. Sit for dinner.
Minneapolis friends:
Elsie's Farm invites you to stand for sustainable agriculture at a special fundraising evening. Join guest MC Jay Walljasper, editor of Utne, for a gourmet meal prepared by French Meadow chef John Grumbles, then join in a conversation with area chefs, farmers, and friends of Elsie's about community-supported agriculture.
February 17, 7–10 pm
French Meadow Bakery and Café, 2610 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis
$15 Donation
For reservations or information, call 612.822.6395.
ALSO: Elsie's is welcoming new members for its CSA (community supported agriculture). As a CSA member, you get a full season's worth--approximagely 18 weeks--of fresh, organic vegetables, flowers, and herbs for $400. Click here for information. (They also offer a $100 "community membership," good for discounts on your farm purchases at the Market, a subscription to the Elsie's newsletter, invitations to Elsie's events, and more.)
Environment in a world of hurt
With so much attention focused on George Bush's war on logic, I mean Iraq, and his record-setting, defecit-spending, tax-cuts-for-the-rich, $2.2 trillion federal budget, it's easy to overlook the quiet and comprehensive dismantling of environmental protections by his administration. From revived plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve to oil drilling to Bush's proposal to exempt the US military from key environmental regulations like the Clean Water and Endangered Species acts, the earth is in a world of hurt. And a little cash for hydrogen-cell research won't be enough to undo the damage.
Mark Hertsgaard, author of Earth Odyssey: Around the World in Search of Our Environmental Future and a recent guest on NOW with Bill Moyers (transcript here), writes in the Santa Fe New Mexican that the Bush administration has no environmental policy. It's not even an afterthought. But the real damage the president has done to the environment has come through his "bold" changes to economic, military, and energy policy, and through the interests of his friends:
It's easy enough to say that Bush's approach reflects his and his top aides' pasts in the oil, mining, timber, chemical and electric utility industries. It's likewise easy to understand Bush's actions as thanks for the $44 million in contributions those industries showered on him and the Republican National Committee in 2000.
The question for environmentalists is how to defeat Bush in 2004:
So, will Bush end up paying a price in 2004 for his betrayal of environmental values? His supporters within corporate America and the far right are apparently so blinded by their ideological biases that they perceive little political risk. Paul Weyrich, the president of the Free Congress Foundation, told the Washington Post in March 2001 that things would be fine as long as the body count didn't get too high: "There's a risk with some of the swing voters, but unless something happens where lots of people turn up dead before the election, these issues are not going to resonate with lots of voters." An unnamed senior Republican agreed, asserting that "unless there's a catastrophe, these decisions aren't going to affect a mom in Fairfax."
Read Hertsgaard's article.
by Robert Jensen
Last week at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, I talked with dozens of people from around the world. I learned a lot about the struggles for justice in their countries, but the most important lesson I brought home was about my own country.
The question I thought people at the Forum would ask me is, "Why does the U.S. government follow such brutal policies of economic and military domination around the world?" I thought they would want me to explain the United States to them. But they didn't -- because, I came to realize, they already knew the answer to the question.
In one session I listened to a man who works with the MST, the landless movement in Brazil that is widely considered to be the biggest and most important social movement in the world today. He told us that the people he works with often are lucky if they get a fourth-grade education; many are illiterate. "But I don't have to tell them about imperialism," he said. That they understand. They live with it.
The question that people in Porto Alegre did ask me was simple: What are people of conscience in the United States -- what am I -- doing to stop the U.S. government, especially in its mad drive to war in Iraq?
Those of us organizing in the United States are in a strange situation. Our task is to work to educate the people of our own privileged and affluent culture about what the rest of the world already knows: The United States is an empire, and -- as has been the case throughout history -- empires are a threat to peace and life and justice in the world. There is no such thing as a benevolent empire.
It is crucial that we in the United States who have so much unearned privilege that comes with living in the empire face their question: What are we willing to do to stop our government? What are those of us in the heart of the beast doing to tame that beast?
The United States is preparing for a war in Iraq that virtually the entire world opposes. No matter how brutal the regime of Saddam Hussein, the world understands that even more threatening is the empire unleashed and unrestrained.
The cynical among us say that it is clear that Bush and his boys want this war, and that the war will come. That may be true; there's no way to see the future. But I know that no matter what will come, our task is clear:
We are the first citizens of the empire. In the past, empires had subjects. But we are truly citizens, with freedom of expression and rights of political participation that aren't perfect but are real. With those freedoms comes a responsibility, to use them to stop our government from pursuing a war that will kill and destroy innocents while further entrenching U.S. power in the Middle East and U.S. control over the strategically crucial oil resources there.
We have a choice. We can hide from our responsibility. Or we can stand up, speak up, organize, and join the people of the world in movements to challenge the powerful, to resist the empire.
It may seem safer to avoid that choice, to hide from that responsibility. But I learned one other thing in Porto Alegre: The people of the world do not accept the American empire. All over the world there are movements for social justice that are strengthening, gathering support and challenging power. They are the future. History is not on the side of the empire.
To take the side of the empire is to give into our fear, to cast our lot with the past. To resist the empire is to grab onto hope, to cast our lot with the future. It is literally a choice of empire and death, or resistance and life. This is not about liberals v. conservatives or Republicans and Democrats; both parties are on the wrong side of this struggle right now. This is about a far more fundamental choice.
There is much work to be done on many fronts. One thing we can all do is come out on Saturday, Feb. 15, when people in New York City, Austin and around the world will rally to oppose the U.S. drive to war. Information is available at United for Peace.
If you doubt the importance of this, think back to September 11, 2001. On that day, we got a glimpse of what it will look like if the empire is dismantled from the outside, if the empire continues to ignore the world. But we have a choice. We, the first citizens of the empire, can commit to dismantling the empire from within, peacefully and non-violently, in solidarity with those around the world struggling for justice.
Let me leave you with one image from Porto Alegre, from the floor of the arena in which the closing ceremonies took place. As the conveners of the World Social Forum delivered a final declaration and stood on stage, the sounds of John Lennon's "Imagine" came over the loudspeakers, and the 15,000 people in the arena stood, held hands, moved with the music and sang of a world with no countries, a world living life in peace, a world without possessions and greed.
When the song was over, I turned to an older man sitting next to me. I had told him I was from the United States and we had exchanged nods and smiles throughout the event, but he spoke little English and I spoke even less Portuguese. At that moment, language mattered little. I extended my hand to him. But he rejected it.
Instead, he reached out, grabbed me and enveloped me in a hug as big as that song, as big as Brazil, as big as the world.
"Peace," he said. "Paz," I replied.
We are Americans, but if we choose to resist we are not the American empire. And if we do resist, there is a world we can join, a world that is waiting for us.
Perhaps I am investing too much symbolism in one simple hug. But that moment with that man, that hug in Porto Alegre, was for me the promise of life outside the empire. It was the feel of a future that we can all imagine. It is easy, if we try.
Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, a member of the Nowar Collective www.nowarcollective.com and author of "Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream." He can be reached at [email protected].
From ZNet.
The Saudi embassy helped smuggle a terror suspect's wife out of the country after she was subpoenaed, providing her with transit and a passport. Let me get this straight: Saudi Arabia is helping suspects avoid prosecution; the 9-11 attacks were heavily financed by Saudis, and Osama bin Laden as well as 15 of the 19 September 11th hijackers were Saudi. And we're gunning for Iraq?
From an e-mail making the rounds:
Early this morning a devastating fire burned down the personal library of President George W. Bush. Tragically, both books were lost in the conflagration. More poignantly, the President, due to his hectic schedule, had not found time to colour in the second one.
From BuzzFlash:
For your consideration, here are 10 non-leftist, non-peacenik complaints against the war in Iraq.
A Metaphor Too Powerful?
A tapestry featuring imagery from Picasso's 1937 painting "Guernica" has hung outside the UN Security Council at UN headquarters since 1985. Commemorating the death of 1,600 Basque villagers at Franco's hands during the Spanish Civil War, it's become a powerful antiwar symbol. When Colin Powell enters the Council chambers on Wednesday to present "evidence" for war with Iraq, the tapestry won't be seen: it's been covered up by a baby-blue banner bearing the UN logo, and no one will say why.
NASA Engineer Predicted Shuttle Disaster
Last August, Don Nelson, a NASA engineer for 36 years, wrote President Bush a letter that began like this:
I am a recently retired NASA aerospace engineer and it is my duty to inform you that our space shuttle astronauts are in eminent danger. Your intervention is required to prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident. NASA management and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel have failed to respond to the growing warning signs of another shuttle accident.
After enumerating serious problems with the space shuttle, he requested the president place a moratorium on space shuttle operations until safety measures could be implemented. In December, the White House sent this reply:
I do not think that it is appropriate for the President to issue a moratorium on Space Shuttle launches at this time.
View Nelson's website, nasaproblems.com.
Not Your Father's Gulf War
Forget Shock and Awe, the military tactic the Pentagon planned to use on Iraq in which up to 800 warheads would be dropped two days (the same amount the US dropped over 40 days in the first Gulf War). Now the Pentagon is upping that figure to 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles within the first 48 hours alone. That's TEN TIMES the number used in the first two days of the 1991 attacks. This would pave the way for ground strikes called "vertical envelopment" in which troops would parachute into 12 or more sites simultaneously.
Consider the numbers: 6,700 satellite-guided bombs and 3,000 laser-guided bombs are already stockpiled by the Air Force, as many as 50,000 US marines are expected to fight and 25,000 British troops are en route to the Gulf. And there are currently 100,000 US troops on standby in the Middle East, a figure that should swell to 175,000 by the end of the month. As one Pentagon official said, "This is not going to be your father's Persian Gulf war."
Well, Jesus, we're not talking about Oldsmobiles here. Let's consider a few more numbers: According to the CIA, 41.1% of the Iraqi population is under the age of 14. According to Physicians for Human Rights, more than 50% of Iraqis are under age 17. Right now there are 18 million people living Iraq. Not your father's war, eh? Well, it's not the fathers I'm worried about.
Putting the Arms in Armageddon
The US weapons industry gets $10 billion in government subsidies, and in 1999 it supplied arms that were used in more than 92 percent of the world's active conflicts. According to a report by the Federation of American Scientists:
In Fiscal Year 1999, the United States delivered roughly $6.8 billion in armaments to nations which violate the basic standards of human rights... In the period from 1998-2001, over 68% of world arms deliveries were sold or given to developing nations, where lingering conflicts or societal violence [rages...].The United States military has had to face troops previously trained by its own military or supplied with US weaponry in Panama, Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, and now in Afghanistan. Due to the advanced capabilities these militaries have acquired from past US training and sales, the US had to invest much more money and manpower in these conflicts than would have otherwise been needed."
Our Orphan Vets
Col. David Hackworth writes:
Despite George Washington's wise warning, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation," American vets from our Civil War to Desert Storm have been consistently treated like orphans.
Most recently, more than 161,000 Desert Storm vets have been disabled, and almost 10,000 have died from Gulf War Illness. During the near-decade they spent pleading for help, in pain and dying, their ingrate government kept insisting that their wounds – now proven to be caused by U.S.-destroyed Iraqi chemical munitions and an assortment of other killer cocktails such as oil-fire fumes, untested inoculations and local bugs that they weren't protected against – were "all in their heads."
(Thanks, Mike) |
Gimly M (de) wrote: This was the first film of 2016 that had me hit that "I can't do it" point, and had to turn off. I have a pretty good tolerance for bad movies, being a horror-pundit will do that to a man, but Tape 407 was unbearable.
Jiana W (nl) wrote: Steve Zahn and Jennifer Aniston are an interesting screen couple. Zahn is Mike, an impulsive but very sweet night manager at his family's Podunk motel. He is instantly smitten when Susan, an art dealer, checks in one night. He awkwardly pursues her and Susan gives in the morning that she departs, sleeping with him in the motel's laundry room. That is all Mike needs, because he falls for her, hard, and decides to visit/follow her where ever she goes. When he discovers that she is living with someone else-- a successful, ex-punk rocker turned dog trainer named Jango-- he travels to her town to win her back. Mike is a sympathetic character that you root for but you also understand where Susan is coming from as well when she rejects his advances. It's sweet and funny. It almost kind of reminded me of "Arthur" a little, except Mike isn't super-wealthy. But he's got the playful, kid-like qualities and a starry-eyed way of looking at relationships that his love interest finds charming but can't fully get behind. It isn't the greatest romantic comedy, or the funniest, but it has some cute, sweet moments.
Ben C (gb) wrote: This was good when I was eight. Inspiring even.
Private U (fr) wrote: I really love Judy Garland and Van Johnson together, they had a really good dynamic.
Julian S (kr) wrote: Never underestimate Batman!!!!!! |
What Happens When Parents Talk to Kids Frankly About Sex?
Parents who worry about discussing sex with their kids can relax: New research shows it leads teens to adopt safer practices and doesn't make them more likely to become sexually active.
That's the upshot of an analysis of 31 studies on the effectiveness of parent-based sexual health interventions. The research included nearly 12,500 9- to 18-year-olds.
These interventions work with parents, and often their children, in areas such as communicating about sex, providing sexual health information, and encouraging safe sex.
One finding was that teens whose parents participated in an intervention were more likely to use condoms.
Certain types of interventions had a greater effect in this regard than others: those aimed at children 14 and younger; those designed for black or Hispanic youth; those that targeted parents and children equally; and those that lasted 10 hours or more.
"These are variables that make sense intuitively: reaching kids when they're younger and, often, more willing to listen; involving both parents and adolescents; spending more time on the subject matter -- none of those are particularly surprising," said study first author Laura Widman. She's an assistant professor of psychology at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in Raleigh.
Her team also found that the interventions didn't affect the age at which children became sexually active.
"In other words, the kids who were taught about sexual health did not become sexually active any earlier than kids who were not part of the interventions -- but kids who were part of the interventions were more likely to use condoms when they did become sexually active," Widman said in a university news release.
The study was published July 29 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
"This highlights the value of parent-based interventions, and makes clear that certain features are especially valuable when developing interventions," study co-author Reina Evans said in the news release. She's a doctoral student at NCSU.
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on talking to your children about sex.
SOURCE: North Carolina State University, news release, July 29, 2019
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If you drive on the dual carriageway on the Southside of the city, the chances are you'll have spotted this house while stuck in traffic, just between Donnybrook church and RTÉ.
You can now rent the unique one-bedroom for a staggering €2,250 a month, which must be some sort of record for a house that small, especially when you consider that stepping out the front door will put you on one of the busiest roads in the country.
The property crisis in Dublin shows no signs of slowing down and, although you could say that this place is in the much sought after D4, you'd have to wonder who'd pay that much to live on a main road.
If you want to see more of this place, you can see the full listing here. |
'Destiny 2' PC beta: Everything Bungie changed since the console beta
A few years ago, when Bungie rolled out the first public beta for Destiny, nobody really knew that the game was going to look like. Bungie packed the beta with a massive amount of content, including access to one of four open world areas that would be available in the retail release. For the Destiny 2 beta, the developer didn't have to prove anything — the goal was just to make sure the game would run.
But just because the Destiny 2 console beta was a technical test doesn't mean that Bungie isn't changing content and balancing combat as well. In fact, on Thursday, Bungie community manager DeeJ took to the Bungie blog to highlight some of the changes that are being made for the upcoming PC beta.
Some of the most significant changes are coming to the player vs. player mode — the Crucible — where Bungie has decided to tune Quickplay and Competitive matchmaking separately going forward:
Quickplay: Matchmaking times will be shorter, with less emphasis on Skill. This is the fastest route to a game, but you may face opponents outside of your comfort zone. The winning score in Control has been extended from 75 to 100 to allow for more time to play and use your abilities. Because too many matches were shorter than we expected (some Guardians weren't even able charge their Super) we've extended the trigger for the Mercy rule so it will come into play less often.
Competitive: Matchmaking takes more time to introduce you to players that are closer to you in skill with a good connection. These matchmaking settings may take longer, but we feel that the quality of the gameplay experience will be worth the wait. We have also made improvements to the way we calculate your skill in Countdown to better reflect how you'll perform against your opponents.
Beyond the new approach to the Crucible, Bungie also fixed and tweaked a wide variety of issues that players encountered during the console beta. PC beta players will have the chance to check out the following fixes and adjustments when they jump into the game at the end of the month:
FIXED: Infinite Super Glitch
Infinite Supers are all well and good until someone loses an eye.
FIXED: Warlock Glide Glitch
This bug was awesome… So awesome it hurt us a little bit to kill it. Thanks to those in the console Beta who helped us track this down.
FIXED: Infinite Grenades Glitch
Another issue found with the help of our friends in the console Beta. (Thank you!)
FIXED: Warlocks now have the same Melee Range as all other classes
With the exception of where perks directly increase their range, Warlocks will punch like the rest of us. Our PC friends will get a chance to experience a world with consistent base melee ranges. So will the rest of you, when the game launches.
TWEAKED: Globally reduced the time it takes to charge your Super
This was a big change that came directly from your feedback during the console beta. We agree it was taking a bit too long to cook up a Super.
TWEAKED: Increased Grenade Damage in PvE
Increased damage helps Grenades feel as powerful as they should facing hordes of alien combatants and, more specifically, makes the longer cooldowns more palatable. We want abilities to be slightly more rare, but worth it. In the console Beta, the "worth it" part wasn't quite there yet.
TWEAKED: Increased Power Ammo drops in PvE
This is something we had felt internally and have been slowly tuning up over the last several weeks. The PC beta has been updated with our new values and will provide much more Power ammo in PvE than what was found before. Power ammo can also be directly farmed from all Yellow Bar Combatants. Go big, Guardians!
If you want to participate in the Destiny 2 PC beta, you can preorder the game from Bungie or participating retailers to join during the early access period on August 28th. The beta will then open up to anyone who wants to give it a try on the 29th and will conclude on the 31st. Destiny 2 launches on PS4 and Xbox One on September 6th, with a PC release planned for October 24th.
Image Source: Bungie
Tags: Bungie, Destiny 2
How to play Overwatch's new game modes right now
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Best of 2017: Top 50 Albums
Oh the album is dead, we hear you say. In which case you can kindly fuck off because this clearly ain't the article for you. For everyone else, the next in our Best of 2017 series is the not-so-humble album. In an age of streaming and disposable singles with about six features, there's still so damn much to be said for a complete body of work that resonates across double-figure tracks without losing pace, heart, or meaning.
So with that in mind we give you our Top 50 Albums of 2017 (with our detailed reviews linked to each name). Some records you can dip into, some you won't want to dip out of, and all very much worth your time. You know, if you have about 50+ hours to spare.
Call us cynical, but well played Jay-Z and Bey. Of course marital strife seems to be a very real thing even for multi-millionaires, but to let it play out so publicly and openly is the shrewdest decision this power couple have made. 4:44 was by far the best thing Hov has done for some time… but he's not on Spotify (and ain't nobody got time for Tidal) so we've replaced him with Ronika instead, who suffered from oversight by releasing her album Lose My Cool back in January. A shame, really, because it really is rather good. Anyway, rounding up this first set are, surprisingly, mainstream pop-rock trio PVRIS who made us recall a more innocent time in the genre despite its teen-aimed spike, Zak Abel who grooved his way to our hearts with the endlessly charismatic Only When We're Naked, and finally some profound alt-folk from both sides of the Pond in the form of Lucy Rose and Julie Byrne. Underrated, the lot of them.
British indie desperately needs new heroes, and thank fuck that Wolf Alice are leading that charge. Visions Of A Life truly separated them from the pack, a mix of spiky rock and more esoteric musings in between. London Grammar offered us more of their M.O. with admittedly diminishing returns on Truth Is A Beautiful Thing, and then it's over to St Vincent who ended a bizarre campaign with a sticky and wonderful account of the state of herself and the world on MASSEDUCTION. 'More of the same' also seemed to work well for Lana Del Rey, who somehow managed to craft one of her best albums through all the usual gloom on Lust For Life, and Washed Out, who made all our hipster electronic chillwave label-making dreams come true on the sunny Mister Mellow.
Get acquainted with the name Brent Faiyaz, because judging by his Sonder Son album there's an exciting future in the world of kinetic R&B from this lad. Goldfrapp bounced back big-time as they sought refuge in electronica for Silver Eye, and while The xx may have marched further away from their shadowed beginnings on I See You, they still sounded as essential as ever. James Vincent McMorrow also built on his huge fanbase with the breathtaking future-soul of True Care, and of course hipsters all over the world circle-jerked over the return of LCD Soundsystem… which was fine by us, given American Dream was certainly worth the wait. For the album, we mean. Not people circle-jerking.
If Bey and Jay were fighting on one side, then Pitchfork's own royal couple were at it too. One edged out the other though, as Amber Coffman's gentler missives on City Of No Reply were just a fraction more relatable than Dirty Projectors' viscous (but still excellent) self-titled electronica. And of course, everyone's favourite crockery-botherer Bjork returned and felt more liberated than ever on Utopia, bringing in a shit-tonne of flutes for a verdant soundscape. Throwback vibes found two new champions this year: Joe Goddard served us an NY timeline across genre on Electric Lines, while Mr Jukes (aka Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club) delivered the warmest and most refined jazz-soul you could ask for with God First.
There are people out there who are sick of Tove Lo's endless talk about getting high and fucking, but we are not among those… which, of course, is why Blue Lips' tour of pop bangers makes it on to this list. And while we're on the subject of female empowerment, Marika Hackman's gritty I'm Not Your Man might well have been the most deliciously emasculating record of the year. Niia brought us a softer side on the simply-titled I, showing us a New York soul cityscape that teemed with talent; meanwhile Daniel Caesar was the name on several lips as he brought back a bit of class to R&B with his expert Freudian. Rounding off this lot is Kanye protegee Kacy Hill and her debut Like A Woman, which mixed cinematic scale and soaring vocal for something truly memorable.
Some surprise entries here, some not at all. In the latter category: Yumi Zouma, continuing their effortless ascent into the higher rungs of dream-pop with Willowbank, and of course everyone's favourite Perfume Genius and the stellar baroque-pop of No Shape. But both Elli Ingram and Tei Shi surprised us all with their albums Love You Really and Crawl Space respectively, but both were tremendously confident statements of personality and sound in fields of soul and electronic-pop that are becoming saturated. And of course, least surprising in this batch was Mura Masa's debut album, with a self-titled and star-studded collection that cemented him as the hottest producer in the game.
Ooh we're in the top 20 now. Shit is getting real, but shit is also getting convenient for us as we get to pair a couple of people up: Lydia Ainsworth and Hundred Waters flew the flag for leftfield pop, the former taking in an almost Tori Amos vibe on Darling Of The Afterglow and the latter's Communicating had eccentric electronica pulsing through our veins like adrenaline. Also occupying a similar space are George Maple and Verite, using exceptional production for the basis of their pop and R&B respectively. Maple's Lover evoked something dark, sensual, and classic, while V's Somewhere In Between was the best independent pop record of the year. Leading us into the top 15 are Fleet Foxes, who may have delivered an initially-impenetrable record with Crack-Up, but it was one we kept on finding ourselves returning to for greater rewards.
A stunning quartet of debuts here: Muna, Sampha, Bedouine, and Anna of The North. Muna deserved every bit of praise heaped on them for About U, which provided a generation with both queer anthems and a safe space in music. Sampha made good on his promise by taking home the Mercury Prize thanks to his delicately rendered Process. Meanwhile Bedouine's fantastic collection of Americana recalled a new-age Dylan, while synth-pop's finest champions were Anna of The North and the pristine missives on Lovers. Finally, just outside the top 10… well, Kendrick Lamar's like that kid at the top of the class whose success you just stop being surprised at, right? Having said that, DAMN. was one hell of an album that nowhere near slowed his roll. In any other year it may have been higher, but as always we prefer to give the spotlight to less obvious moments, but that doesn't make this record any less essential.
Top 10 time, and of course the hardest lot to decide between. But we've opted for Wilsen to begin with: both live and on debut record I Go Missing In My Sleep, they're breathtakingly good, giving us a muted take on the world in a way we didn't know we needed. Australia's Gordi chucked in a fuck-tonne of heart for her robotic-pop opus Reservoir, and of course our deepest faves Grizzly Bear reminded us why exactly they're one of the biggest bands in the world thanks to Painted Ruins. A proper strong female R&B double-header sitting outside the top five: Syd, who proved that she's just as big a draw outside The Internet with Fin, and of course the woman of the moment SZA. It may have been long in the making, but Ctrl dazzled everyone to give her the spotlight she so deserves.
5. Lorde – Melodrama
What we said: "Lorde epitomises this new movement of millennials who could not give less of a fuck about what you might think, doing what they need to and getting their point across in ways that would only seem diluted with the interference of tradition. It could have gone either way thanks to her early success, but rather than caving under the pressure of major label too-much-too-soon stardom, she sticks to her guns as an auteur and cements herself as the pop voice of a generation.
"Lorde conveys the very essence of what it means to be young at the moment, living an entire life in the space of a weekend with no apologies, waiting to find Perfect Places or the next crescendo and exciting flourish that'll change the course of the whole conversation. That's the definition of Melodrama though, isn't it? Larger-than-life emotions that we can all relate to, with the occasional moment of cringe and plenty of cinematic wallowing. And whatever unfolds, one thing is always certain: you won't be able to take your eyes off it."
4. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
What we said: "Essentially, being so removed from the world allows Sumney to present the truest version of himself and leave it to us whether we accept it or not. Don't Bother Calling is an initial push-away, but the way his falsetto rings, the way strings delicately fill the spaces between his yearning, reveal a heart that still beckons. Run the gauntlet, says Sumney, and look all you want. Being tactile is down to his discretion, but there's no doubt his music will touch you.
"Flute goes hand-in-hand with clicks like some sort of beguiling witchcraft, like a touch of his lips means the world has shifted slightly. That might sound a little bit exaggerated on our count, but Aromanticism is an album that deserves to be showered with special attention; wait for nightfall, close your eyes, and enjoy the most romantic love letter to the self you could possibly hear."
3. The Weather Station – The Weather Station
What we said: "There are stirrings of Joni Mitchell apparent throughout the album, both with the vocals and musicality which are executed successfully with Lindeman's own unique take. It's all over Thirty as well as You and I (On The Other Side Of The World), the use of strings in the latter adding a warmth and depth to her storytelling. They're the strongest shades in an album that makes few mistakes, with Lindeman introspective yet never exclusive. Not a bad way to be when you're creating a self-titled masterpiece.
From the very first track all the way through to gentle trot of Black Flies or the piano-and-strings marvel I Don't Know What To Say, this is an album that speaks to personal experiences of all kind, that finds comfort in the mundane and relatable, and in no way waivers or loses direction from the simplicity of both life or sound. Out of all the albums to name after the artist herself, The Weather Station certainly made the right decision to put her name to this immaculate statement."
2. Kelela – Take Me Apart
What we said: "It is, without doubt, the R&B record of the year. Collaborators may be big in name (Arca, The xx's Romy Madley Croft, Boots, Ariel Rechtshaid, among others) but they only add small shades to what is very obviously Kelela's show all the way. Waitin further explores the melodic structure she set up on the Hallucinogen EP, but it gives way to stunning, viscous flurry of beats on the title track that ensures we're aware this ain't no retread.
"It's a hard act to manage – especially with the weight of expectation – but Kelela simply astounds at every turn, and with how easy she makes everything look. There's not a moment of boredom here, not a single song that doesn't fit or hold your gaze even as we hit the final leg of Onanon and the gentle acceptance of Altadena. Kelela has deconstructed her sense of self to make a larger whole, and she's given us a glorious window into this confessional. To be honest, it's one of those rare music occasions that feels like an absolute privilege."
1. Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy
What we said: "There's a delicateness of touch here this time that only rings out sincerity in his words. It's a rounding of character, almost a flowery fuck-you to everyone who has a certain image of him, of black men, of hip-hop. In that respect, it's probably a more important album than even Tyler himself realises – the dreamscape of See You Again (with Kali Uchis on luminous form) is the love song we never realised we needed, delivered with a heart that seems, well, mired in self-pitying solitude.
"But the thing with Tyler is that he seems like the sort to complain about his situation while being someone who'd refuse an opportunity to change it, content in wallowing through the status quo. In his words it's often frustrating, at times questionable or too obvious. But in today's genre landscape, Flower Boy is certainly nothing less than admirable in so many, many ways – for that he deserves one hell of a salute."
Adeel Amini
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Facts about China
Surface area: 9 596 969 km2
Capital: Beijing, formerly Peking (Pei-ching)
Population: 1.3 billion
Ethnic structure: Han Chinese 91.6%, 55 ethnic minorities, all together 8.1%, of which the largest are Zhuangs, Uigurs, Huis, Yis, Tibetans, Miaos, Mantchus, Mongols, Buyis and Koreans.
Languages: Mandarin Chinese (putonghua) and its dialects 94%, several minority languages, all together 6%, Tai languages, Tibetan languages, Miao-Yao languages, and Altaic languages
Religions: Atheistic state, traditionally Taoists, Buddhists, Muslims 2–3%, Christians 1%
In a giant country like China with its cultural continuity of several Millennia, there have understandably been and still are countless different forms of the performing arts. Many of the basic elements of Chinese theatre, i.e. poetry, music, dance, and martial arts, are known to have flourished already during the first Millennium BC. By approximately 1000 AD these early genres intermingled with each other and evolved towards a sung theatre form with fixed role categories. It was characterised by a tendency to combine dance-like movements and also sometimes movements from the martial arts with sung text. So in the West it is usually called Chinese "opera".
In the early centuries AD play scripts were written. In the beginning they were based on an oral story-telling tradition and didactic Buddhist stories (bianwen). These archaic "dramas" heralded the rich tradition of Chinese drama literature with its heydays in the Yuan (Yüan) dynasty (1279–1368) and the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).
In different parts of China local opera forms evolved with their own characteristic dialects and types of melody. A division into two major cultural regions, the northern and the southern, occurred around 1000 AD, which led to a kind of competition between the northern and the southern operatic styles. It was the southern kunqu or Kun Opera (K'un-ch'ü) which regained the status of a "national" style among the educated elite during the 16th and 17th centuries. The status was inherited in the middle of the Qing dynasty (Ch'ing) (1644–1911) by a new, more popular form of opera, the Peking Opera.
The western impact started to be felt in theatrical life in the Republic of China (1912–1949). During the early periods of the People's Republic (1949–) traditional opera was still performed, although the emphasis was on its didactic use and propaganda value. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) all traditional arts were banned and a new form of theatre was created and propagated by the Communist Party. It was the Revolutionary Model Opera.
After the Cultural Revolution traditional theatre forms were revived and now China has an abundance of theatrical forms, starting from Kun and Peking Operas to hundreds of local opera forms, to spoken theatre and to western-style opera and ballet groups, as well as, more recently, to experimental theatre and dance.
The Early History of Chinese Theatre |
Ashwin, Iyer star as India clinch 2-0 Test series victory against Bangladesh
India avoided a shock defeat in the second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur as Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer guided the Men in Blue to victory with a priceless unbeaten 71-run stand for the eighth wicket. The pair came together with India reeling at 74 for seven in their chase of 145 but handled the […]
India wrap up 2-0 Test series victory to finish unbeaten home season
After winning the first Test in Mohali in three days, team India were even more ruthless in the pink-ball Test in Bengaluru as Rohit Sharma's side wrapped up the 238-run victory over Sri Lanka in less than eight sessions to complete a straightforward 2-0 series win. The hosts picked up the remaining nine wickets with […]
Indian bowlers strike after Jadeja scores career-best 175
India extended their advantage on day two of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Mohali as the hosts put up a mammoth first innings score of 574 for 8 declared. Ravindra Jadeja led the charge for India with the bat, sharing century partnerships with Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami on his way to scoring […]
Top 5 Indian stars to watch out for at the 2022 IPL Auction
The highly-anticipated mega IPL Auction returns to our TV screens in 2022 for the first time in four years on the 12th and 13th of February in Bengaluru. 590 players will go under the hammer across the two days of bidding, and here are the five Indian stars who could earn the biggest payday at the 2022 […]
3 Things We Learned from the India New Zealand Test Series
After the nail-biting finish in the fading light in Kanpur, India landed the knockout punch and wrapped up the series victory in style in Mumbai, handing New Zealand their heaviest Test defeat by 372 runs. This win takes the hosts back above the Blackcaps in the ICC rankings as the world's number one Test team, […]
India dominate after historic Ajaz Patel 10-wicket haul
While India dominated the proceedings on Day two of the second Test in Mumbai, the headlines were stolen by New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel, who became only the third bowler in the history of the game after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble to take 10 wickets in an innings. In the city of his birth […]
Delhi sneak past CSK to take top spot
The Delhi Capitals have virtually guaranteed themselves a top-two finish for the second consecutive season after trouncing MS Dhoni's CSK in the clash between the two table toppers in Dubai. Despite suffering a mid-innings collapse, the Capitals eventually crossed over the line in 19.4 overs thanks to an excellent 18-ball 28 from Shimron Hetmyer at […]
Ravichandran Ashwin recalled as India announce squad for ICC T20 World Cup
India have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman, with the biggest surprise being the inclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin four years after he played his last T20I for India. The 15-man squad led by Virat Kohli will also be accompanied by MS Dhoni – who will act as […]
Ravichandran Ashwin joins the 400 Club
Amidst all the madness that ensued on Day 2 in Ahmedabad, one of India's finest cricketers went past a special milestone. Ravichandran Ashwin has been India's premier matchwinner in Test Match cricket in recent times and in the third test in Ahmedabad, he became the 4th Indian player to pick up 400 wickets in Test […] |
Urban Dialogues. Media Interventions as Assembling Devices.
Every three months Design Column stages an exhibition and features new perspectives by artists and designers on a topical issue.
Design Column #5 'Body Building' is on view in Boijmans until October 13. Meanwhile, new projects and ideas about the modification of the body can be found at www.designcolumn.nl. News will be posted to Facebook and Twitter as well. |
Have you always wanted to go to Baltimore? Whether you want to make it your next weekend getaway or the city you retire to, the city is full of charm and history. Just walk down its cobble-stoned streets to one of its boutiques, shops, or restaurants and see for yourself. If you are a seafood lover, then you are in luck. The crab houses go on for miles.
More than being the perfect home for history buffs and foodies, Baltimore's harbors host some of the most breathtaking views. It also happens to be conveniently located close to other large cities. Baltimore is within 100 miles of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Therefore, taking a trip to one these cities is not out of the question.
If you are thinking about moving to Baltimore but are still on the fence about it, we understand. Moving should be an exciting time in your life, but it can also be very stressful. There is much that goes into moving to a new city. Not only must you pack up all your belongings, but you must also think about how to get your car to your new home.
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The city has a lot to offer. Baltimore gives its residents that small-town feel with many of the perks of a bigger city. You get that sense of community through its annual festivals and events. In addition, its great school system makes for a great place to raise a family.
Food. Baltimore residents are very particular about how their famous crabs are eaten. They should be steamed, covered in Old Bay, and piled high. If you are not willing to eat crabs by hand, they suggest you stick to crab cakes.
Entertainment. Several hit television shows and movies were filmed in Baltimore, even though the shows were not set there.
Sports. Baltimore residents love their baseball, lacrosse, and football. Babe Ruth was even from Baltimore. Residents celebrate this by watching sports and drinking beer.
Science. Baltimore is big on STEM. About a quarter of all of the jobs in Baltimore are science, technology, engineering, or math-related.
Music. Baltimore has a lively music scene. They have a lot of orchestras, rock bands, hip-hop artists, and jazz musicians.
In Baltimore, residents experience all four seasons. Summer can range from mild to hot with some humidity. However, the average tends to stay in the mid-70s and very rarely reaches above 90 degrees. Winters come with bouts of cold rain and snow, but typically stay within the mid-30s to low 40s. Spring and fall bring sunny days and cool nights but can change at the drop of a hat. Baltimore is known for being a comfortable state to live in, with more sunny days than the national average.
The cost of living, in Baltimore, is lower than several surrounding metropolitan areas and just slightly under the national average, making it a great area for people who want to live in the city but cannot or do not want to pay for places like Washington D.C. or New York.
Other things to keep in mind about the cost of living include groceries, transportation, utilities, and health. Groceries tend to be more expensive than the national average, while utilities and transportation are just slightly higher.
Before moving to a new home, it is important to consider the size of the area to see if it is a good fit for you. Some people prefer smaller cities, while others prefer larger ones. Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland. There are over 620,000 people living in the city. The median age of people residing in the city is in the 30s. People come to Baltimore for a wide range of reasons, including work and school. There are fourteen colleges in the area, so a fair portion of the population is made up of students who attend one of these colleges.
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When it comes to moving, there is so much to do, even after you have picked a reliable car shipping company. There are other services that you must concern yourself with, as well. First off, who will get your belongings to your new home? Second, who will you take your car to when it needs to be cleaned? Check out our list of recommended businesses in the Baltimore area. |
How functional is the crossbody bag? - 1)Magnetic Flapover Closure. 2)Three Card Slots. 3)Back Private Zipper Pocket. 4)Adjustable Maximum 53.15" Shoulder Strap. Your ID/credit cards, cashes, cellphone, house keys, sunglasses, makeups, hairband, even a 6" Kindle can be well organized in this bag.
What is the material? - 1)Ultra soft synthetic washed leather, waterproof and anti-scratch. 2)Every zipper puller is using high quality tungsten steel color hardware(VERSION 2). 3)Full line black fabric lining. 4)DETAILED STREAMLINED DOUBLE STITCHING ON EVERY SEAM.
How many pockets of the backpack? - 1)Interior: 2 zipper pockets and 3 open pockets. 2)Exterior: 1 front key/coins zipper pocket, 1 magnetic pocket, 2 side open pockets and 1 back private zipper pocket, which can hold your iPad/Smartphone/Water Bottle/clothes/towel/books/pens/wallet/umbrella and other essential items.
How to carry the bag? - 1)Handheld by top loop handle. 2)Single shoulder carried by 1 REINFORCED shoulder strap(VERSION 2). 3)Backpack carried by 2 back straps.
What are the dimensions? - 1)Backpack: 11.81" L x 6.69"W x 12.99"H. Adjustable back straps length: 39.76". Top Loop Handle drops: 3.14". 2)Crossbody Bag: 5.70" L x 1.37"W x 7.48"H. Adjustable shoulder strap drops: 24.01". 3)Weight: 2.45 pounds.
Material: 51.7% Acryli+ 46.7% Viscose +1.6% Spandex; Ultra-soft,comfortable,smoothing seamless knit construction with extreme stretch.
Organize pocket with pen slots and zipper pocket.
Double Compartment Large Flapover Crossbody Bag (Camel) 10" (W) x 10.5" (H) x 2"
Tassel Accent Flapover Clutch Purse with Chain Strap (Cranberry) 11.5" (W) x 7" |
"juridikum" is Austria's Critical Law Review. Since 1989, juridikum is dedicated to examine legal problems from a critical perspective, taking in mind their political and societal impact in addition to their legal dimension. The journal provides a forum for lawyers and academics to reflect their legal activity, challenge the prevailing perception and contextualisation of law, and formulate social and political demands.
"juridikum" is a peer-reviewed, quarter-yearly publication. Each edition consists of three parts. The first part contains discussions of current problems at the intersections of law, policy, legal practice, theory of law and society. The second part centres on a specific topic, examining it from different angles, disciplines and view-points. The third part is comprised of glosses, short essays and reviews.
As one of few law reviews in Austria - if not the only one - "juridikum" also brings articles in English. If you would like to publish an article with us, please contact us organisation( at )juridikum.at and take a look at our guidelines for authors. |
Home Travel Travel the World
10 Stunning Shots of Abandoned Places Around the World
By Cornelia Kumfert, Reader's Digest International & Rosie Long Decter, readersdigest.caUpdated: Oct. 28, 2019
From Bulgaria to Alaska to Namibia, these rare photos capture the eerie souls of places forgotten by time.
A Sinking Desert Town
Once the richest town in Africa, today Kolmanskop is sinking into the Namibian desert. The discovery of diamonds here around 100 years ago caused this remote place to undergo a boom, and in no time at all, an entire town emerged out of the sand. To visitors it must have had an almost decadent air. Not only was there a hospital, a power plant and a theatre, but also an ice factory and a swimming pool—all in the middle of the desert!
Let these stunning travel photos inspire your wanderlust.
A Japanese-Russian Lighthouse
Built by the Japanese on a small island between Japan and Russia, the Aniva lighthouse and its island went to the Russians after the Second World War. The seven-storey building has lain abandoned for years. Where once noisy diesel generators kept the machinery running, today there's only the sound of waves pounding the rocks.
Check out these essential tips for everyone planning a trip to Japan.
A Mangrove Ship
Weighing in at more than 1000 tons, the SS Ayrfield was due to be scrapped in Homebush Bay in Sydney in 1972, but that never happened. Shortly after the ship arrived, the breakers yard in the bay closed down. The Ayrfield has lain there at anchor ever since and is gradually being reclaimed by nature. The rusty remains of the hull are now home to a small mangrove forest.
These are the world's spookiest travel destinations.
A Bulgarian Communist Monument
The futuristic Buzludzha monument is sinking into the ice and snow. Once the opulent assembly hall of the Bulgarian Communist Party, it wasn't in use for long. Just eight years after its inauguration came the fall of the Eastern bloc and with it the Communist regime.
Find out what the world's most famous landmarks looked like under construction.
Photo: Joe Nafis/Shutterstock
A Chinese Fishing Village
Houtouwan on Shengshan Island was once home to around 2000 fishermen and their families. Today most of the people you meet in this Chinese village are tourists. The majority of the inhabitants left for the mainland in the early 90s. Reasons for the near total abandonment include problems with food delivery.
Discover the country everyone wants to travel to.
An Anchor Cemetery
Cemitério das Âncoras—the Anchor Graveyard on the beach at Barril in Portugal is a memorial to the tradition of bluefin tuna fishing off the Algarve. The anchors were used to fix giant nets down on the seabed. Nowadays the fish are very scarce and the 248 anchors are just a reminder of days gone by.
Your jaw will drop at these amazing photos of the world's most beautiful trees.
Photo: Max Lindenthaler/Shutterstock
A British Columbia Ghost Town
Canada has its fair share of deserted spots—take Sandon, B.C., for example. This Kootenay town was a business hub in the early 20th century before a flood caused residents to abandon it in 1955. Today, Sandon is notable as a home to decades-old, decommissioned Vancouver city buses, which sit in a vacant lot, awaiting potential refurbishment or total decay.
We've rounded up the most quirky roadside attractions across Canada.
Photo: Karsten Jung/Shutterstock
An Empty Amusement Park
Lying in the centre of Berlin but virtually forgotten: welcome to the Spreepark! In the former East Germany thousands of visitors enjoyed wandering around the fairground rides and stalls here. In those days it was known as Culture Park, and was the only amusement park in East Germany. Nearly 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the big wheel and carousels have long stood still.
These abandoned amusement parks will give you the creeps.
Photo: melissamn/Shutterstock
An Alaskan Resort
This resort has never seen a paying guest! The Igloo Hotel in Alaska in the USA was primarily meant to attract visitors from the nearby Denali National Park. However, the builder didn't abide by official building regulations and also chose a location that was too remote. So the hotel was never completed. The half-finished building however, continues to defy wind and weather a half a century later.
Forget fancy hotels—these are the gorgeous castles you can rent on Airbnb.
Photo: CrackerClips/Shutterstock
An Aircraft Graveyard
The world's largest aircraft graveyard, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, can be found in the US Arizona Desert, where the low levels of rainfall and humidity help preserve the planes for scavenging parts, sale to other countries or even recommissioning in times of crisis. Not only aviation enthusiasts are able to come by for a look at the old B-52 bombers and other aircraft stored here, even the Russians are said to have the occasional look via satellite to keep count of the number of aircraft on display.
Next, check out more beautiful travel photos from around the world.
Originally Published in Readers Digest International Edition |