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Will America Pick Up Its Cross?
Will America Pick Up Its Cross?
On Saturday, August 12, in Charlottesville, I was faced with a choice: “Would I pick up my cross?”
Jesus warns his disciples: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
Just before walking onto the street, organizers of the Charlottesville Clergy Call walked us through the changing dynamics of the situation. There would be four times more white nationalists in Charlottesville than previously projected. One quarter of the clergy they thought would be there actually showed up. If we stepped onto the street we were risking arrest, injury or death—from the police or the white nationalists.
We knew what we were walking into.
We knew that we might not come back.
I was hesitant and torn and almost didn’t do it.
I imagined the devastating loss my mother would feel upon hearing of my death in Charlottesville. I felt guilty for leaving her alone just before her second knee surgery. How would she make it through? I imagined not being present to witness my nieces and nephews and family.
It was as if all that is most treasured in my life flashed before my eyes as the rest of the clergy walked out onto the street.
I sat in silence and begged God for a definitive word.
God spoke: “Be present.”
That was the call: Be present; even if it means being present on your way to the cross.
I hugged some friends who were staying back to support in other ways and asked them to pray for us.
I walked through the door and joined the rest of the clergy on the street. The rest you can see in video footage here and in pictures here.
The night before at the Mass Prayer Meeting, we were asked to reflect on why we are doing this. We were handed paper and pens and asked to write down why we are doing this—and to share it with someone in case something happened to us on the street that day. The answer to that question could be answered definitively. Here is what I wrote:
“I am here to walk in the tradition of my ancestors and bear the truth of God that we, too, are made in the image of God. I am here to bear witness that I was created to take up space in the world—to be, to live, to thrive, to lead, to love and to be connected with all.”
What strikes me now is that to bear witness to my right to live, I had to be willing to die.
This has been the cross that people of African descent and Native American people have borne for more than 500 years on US soil. Ever since the demon called Colonization led Europeans to claim the land, enslave, then remove its original inhabitants, then enslave and exploit people of African descent to work that land and build their country in the name of colonizing them (read Black History of the White House, p. 195, by Clarence Lusane) have had to risk death to bear witness to our right to live.
It has been the cross that Latino and Asian-American people have born for the past 200+ years since colonization stole land from Mexicans and declared it was now “America” and Chinese men were exploited to build the railroads and fill empty slave cabins in the shadow of emancipation. Yes, Chinese men were the next wave exploited to build the U.S. economy after the Civil War. Now Muslim and Sikh and LGBTQ people risk death to proclaim their right to live—to take up space, to flourish.
The demon Colonization claims human flourishing for its own exclusive pleasure. The colonizing spirit declares the self to be fully human—to have the right to steward the world—and all else either an asset, a burden, or an obstacle—to be eliminated on the way to the self’s exclusive “human” flourishing.
Colonization is the soil from which our nation sprung. Colonization’s truth and rightness are the underlying assumptions upon which our entire way of life rests. Colonization created the political construct of race, itself, for one purpose: to secure the exclusive right of dominion for folks deemed white by the state.
Colonization’s logic morphed from British taxes to black poll taxes and plantations converted to prison farms to Nixon’s Wars on Drugs that criminalized heroine (primarily a rich white woman’s addiction) then focus police in black neighborhoods to disrupt the black vote and secure a new generation of free black labor to build military weapons and sew Victoria Secret undies for 45 cents per day.
The logic of colonization led to the genocide, removal and missionization of Native American peoples. It led the U.S. government to break every single treaty it ever made to the native people of our land, snatching land it promised Native people they would hold in perpetuity. Standing Rock was such a land until President Trump authorized a pipeline to run straight through ancestral burial grounds rather than disrupt white neighborhoods. A federal judge declared Trump’s authorization illegal in June, but oil flow continues.
The same colonizing logic that led Republican strategist, Lee Atwater, to scheme the Southern Strategy has led Republicans to let the Voting Rights Act of 1965 rot since the Supreme Court defanged it in 2013 and Trump advisor, Stephen Miller to defend a new GOP bill that would drastically reduce legal immigration.
And the same colonizing spirit permeates the white church. It’s the spirit that led white parishioners of St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church to segregate new black parishioners into the balcony and catalyzed Absalom Jones and Richard Allen to lead a walk out of St. George’s to establish St. Thomas African Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, respectively.
Today the colonizing spirit leads Christian conferences to flash all (or nearly all) white speaker lineups—without a blush, promote white worship music as the gold Christian standard around the world, and build mega churches in the mold of mega malls and amusement parks that serve hundreds of thousands music and scripture disconnected from parishioners’ local contexts and needs.
This is the spirit that led the majority of the entire white church to vote for a man who promised to “take our country back.”
We can’t get around it. The spirit of colonization drives white America, always has, and the church is no different.
This truth nearly drove me to despair today. As I poured through the tags and messages from well-meaning white evangelical leaders. They called Facebook followers to listen to leaders of color like me. Some wrote blog posts distancing themselves from Trump and outlining steps Christians can take to fight racism. Others simply shouted encouragement on Twitter… and it was appreciated.
But tears fell from my eyes three times today when I asked myself one question: Will their followers vote differently next time?
Will my friends’ followers vote in a way that ends mass incarceration and modern-day prison slavery next time? Will they vote in a way that welcomes immigrants to our nation and gives undocumented people a way to stay and thrive? Will they vote in a way that preserves the economic safety net for poor people and moves healthcare further; providing healthcare (access to long healthy life) for all? Will they vote in a way that makes congress protect every American’s right to vote?
I knew the answer. I know the answer. They won’t.
Why? Because when talking about the gospel, my white evangelical friends tend to leave that stuff out. In the evangelical worldview, if it’s gospel, then it’s essential. If it’s not gospel, then it’s extra-curricular. So, exploitation of people and voter disenfranchisement of people and breaking up families through mass deportation is extra-curricular. And facing down the colonizing spirit in the white church is … well, extra-curricular.
An evangelical since 1983, I went through a deep transformation of my understanding of the gospel when I embarked on a pilgrimage that led me to confront my own colonized mind. I had been viewing the gospel through the lens of people that benefitted from colonization. But that simplified, defanged, disconnected gospel made no sense when I considered this question: “Would my ancestors who walked the Trail of Tears (according to family oral history) and slaved in South Carolina and Virginia (according to slave schedules, wills, and census documents)—would they consider a gospel with nothing to say to their actual colonized lives “good news”? When I saw my colonized gospel through their eyes the answer was clear: No.
Then I realized something even more profound: Every word of every book in the scripture was written by a person who was colonized or under threat of colonization by empire. The good news of The Bible must be considered good news to the colonized!
One thing gives me hope. The cross—originally an instrument of persecution for those who dared to denounce colonizing empire.
The cross stands at the center of our faith. The cross calls us to renounce and denounce any spirit that would lead us to marginalize, minimize, ignore, exploit, or erase the image of God among us. It calls us to choose loss before we serve ourselves at others’ expense. The cross calls us to deep interrogation of our hearts, our theology, our daily practices, and all assumptions that lead to the crushing of the image of God on earth. | {
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#bFair2DirectCare
As laws and policies continue to change and develop in our state and our nation, FREE is so proud to support the #bFair2DirectCare campaign. #bFair2DirectCare is an online movement urging Governor Cuomo how important it is to make sure he allocates money in his budget to help non-profits pay their DSP salaries as the minimum wage goes up. Out DSPs are our front lines. Without them, our industry cannot exist.
To support this cause, FREE has been asking individuals, Valued Team Members, and family members of people who receive services to share on camera, what this issue means to them, in hopes that their stories will reach the ears of our legislators. | {
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50 Nifty Small Bedroom Ideas and Designs
There is a trend of building smaller homes. And aside from the master bedroom, secondary bedrooms are also getting the down-scaling treatment. But the downsizing lifestyle has also trimmed away much of the personal stuff that would have cramped the mod
I always hated all the wasted space under stairs.especially like the open shelves & the bed (great for a guest "room" spot under stairs in a finished basement) & the.well guess I really like them all! Wish I had stairs!
DIY Fireplace Built-In Tutorial
DIY Fireplace Built-In Tutorial by IHeart Organizing: So modern and trendy! See how they did it, and used Zinsser Smart Prime! Find out more about this next-generation, zero-VOC, water-based formula that is the one primer you need for every professional o
How you can build your smart home with the help of AI and IoT
How You Can Build Your Smart Home With The Help of AI and IoT http://ift.tt/2GMbpNQ If we talk about the current world and its housing aspects the home automation criteria are on a high scale of changing and converging. As of now most people are aware of the term IoT and how it will magnify the whole dynamics of the current home system. With the increasing hype of smart home labeled products as well as the future home planning scenarios the concept of the smart and a more convenient home…
Smart Home 2013: Foyer Pictures
High-regency style is best expressed in the foyer alcove, a niche that connects foyer to master suite and boasts a wall treatment inspired by chic hotel interiors.
Apple HomePod Review: Super Sound but Not Super Smart By Joanna Stern Feb. 6 2018 8:33 a.m. ET Hey Siri should I get a HomePod or an Amazon Echo? I say get a HomePod. I just love the sound of it. (Click here to listen). Hey Siri answered a question right! Well half right. With the Apple HomePod the cotton that has been in our ears since the arrival of the first smart speaker has been removed. The HomePod sounds far better than the popular smart speakers from Amazon… | {
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On the surface, you wouldn’t necessarily think that a fake shopping mall disaster area courtesy of Michael Ruglio-Misurell, a somewhat spare solo show of text-based drawings by Kay Rosen, and a rotating group video program addressing the subject of individual... | {
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Access to the EU market
The Liechtenstein investment fund centre has a legal basis that is focused on clients and investor protection. Investment fund law comprises three pillars: the Act on Certain Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS Act, 2011), the Law on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM Act, 2013) and the Investment Undertakings Act (IUA), which was revised in 2016.
UCITS V
With the transposition of the EU’s Directive on Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS V) into the Act on Certain Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS Act), traditional funds will be subject to uniform regulation Europe-wide. It places new requirements on custodian banks with regard to liability, control function, custody, independence and sanctions level.
AIFM
Access to the EU market is central to the competitiveness of both the Liechtenstein financial and investment fund centre. Since the adoption of EU law in the EEA Agreement, Liechtenstein investment companies have been legally entitled not only to administer and sell UCITS funds across national borders, but also to use the EU passport for alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs). The AIFM Directive serves to increase the transparency of the activities of the alternative investment fund managers and the alternative investment funds (AIFs) they manage vis-à-vis investors and the supervisory authorities.
IUA
The Investment Undertakings Act (IUA) was completely revised in 2016 and applies to four clearly defined domestic investment fund categories. The new investment fund law regulates most notably the fund business model for single investors that was specially set up in Liechtenstein. | {
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Casual BC @ 60+: 5 bad things
[World of Warcraft] Keeping with my recently established theme, here’s a list of 5 things that your average casual player in BC is probably not all that fond of. Agree, disagree, fire your gun in the air, it’s all a matter of opinion, right? Tomorrow: part 3 – 5 things I hope to see soon in the expansion.
*Faction – As soon as I stumbled into Hellfire, I noticed the Thrallmar vendor. The next day when I stumbled into Shat-something, I found another half dozen of them. Last night, more. Faction grinding does not content make. I feel for all the people who suffered through Timbermaw (I refused to), and all the other factions. I did AD and FW (pre BG craziness) on my priest and hated the long days of grinding it required. This is why for the first few days there were roaming bands of people capturing the Hellfire towers over and over. 250 faction a pop, and you need Revered to Exalted to unlock a dungeon. As of this recent hot patch, it’s now down to 10 faction a pop, which makes the grind even worse. Aldor/Scryer? So now I have to make a choice as to which friends I can play with? I despise faction when it’s an iron wall like this. It divides guilds and friends. When faction is a flavor it’s fine, but when you have to make a choice that means grouping with your friends will hurt you, that’s bad. Velious dragons vs giants vs dorfs. Brilliant in design, proven to be poor in actual use, later quests added to make the choice pointless (dragons had all the good stuff and the dorfs always liked you, if you weren’t here at that time).
*Mudflation – Required to say this every expansion of every game. The massive stat jump on items is hard to disagree with. Compare an original game 60 item and a green BC 60. You’re looking at a doubling of the stats. Fear the +600 stamina on my staff come next expansion.
*Copy and paste quests- Most people have done the parts quest in Thousand Needles. I’ve done it 6 times, now 7 and 8 with BC. I realize that quests will tend to follow a pattern and be similar, but when they are lifted whole cloth from another popular quest…that’s just lazy. There’s quite a few like that.
*Lack of logic in some quests – I realize it may seem like I’m nitpicking here, but there are many quests that have a good story, or at least a funny one. They have a reason to be. There are a great many quests in the beginning town that pay 10k+ exp to walk 10 feet from the quest giver and get something. I get the impression these were put in to just make people go “Hey, BC is full of quests! Look how easy!” I feel stronger about that now having moved on to another zone and the quests are much more annoying.
*PvP over-emphasis – Here’s where the fun line in the sand is. Personally, I can’t stand pvp, normally. I did, however, enjoy AB matches for strategy, and the chaos of a well-played AV battle. Beyond that though, I avoided it. The tower quest in EFP I did, and I had an alliance person right behind me who helpfully waited for me to tag the tower, then re-flagged it when I left. Horde is always outnumbered 2:1, this is a statistical fact. On any given area where PvP is required, you can expect the Horde to lose more than it wins. The fact that there are towns and vendors that are inaccessable if you do not have an area pvp-controlled is stupid when it’s on a PVE server. On a PvP one, I can understand, although respectfully think at this point in time that it’s a bad idea. I’m not saying that it should be easier for horde, but by its current design, there’s a lot of content that 1/3 of the user base is being locked out of, simply because people want to be “good guys”, as the alliance people are viewed.
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Oz
Jaded old gamer, and father of gamers, who's been around long enough. Still, he's always up for giving the Next Big Thing a whirl.
View all posts by Oz
6 thoughts on “Casual BC @ 60+: 5 bad things”
Eww… and to think I almost bought it an reactivated my account, yesterday. All I can say for the game is that the 10k+ xp walking quests are probably there to give people who’ve been 60 a long time a bit of a boost, given that they’ve probably long exhausted the majority of the quest xp for their level.
2. PvP overemphasis? While I am not playing right now that is a reason to get me playing. WoW lacked conflict and I need conflict to stay interested. I don’t agree you should be thrown into it, but I fully believe you should have to be around it. If you don’t want direct involvement then you should be able to bypass it, but not be immune while doing so.
I think world PvP objectives were put into the game to balance the advantage the horde have in battlegrounds. Sure alliance will tend to hold world pvp objectives but they have to wait 10-40 minutes to get into through a battleground queue. Plus the level 70 battleground armor is very nice and better then most world pvp rewards.
If you really want balanced pvp just look forward to the Arena system where alliance and horde teams will find themselves also battling the same faction. Since it has a matching system and points are based off opponent rankings it should be one of the fairest pvp systems to date.
I’m still recovering from the stroke I suffered while grinding Timbermaw to exalted, so to hear that I now have to grind my life away just to enter an instance really pisses me off. Not much I can do about it other than complain. I believe my Uncle said it best “Life is a shit sandwhich, and the good days are when you only have to take one bite”. | {
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Product Summary
From the sci-fi classic 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', Sideshow Collectibles is proud to bring Terminator collectors the T-800 Endoskeleton - Version 2.0, standing atop an impressive display base littered with human skulls and debris and is weathered to be more film accurate. Standing over 6 feet tall, the T-800 Endoskeleton is high quality polystone, fiberglass, metals and other materials, complete with light-up eye features (power cord/plug-in). The T-800 Endoskeleton - Version 2.0 is a stunning and imposing piece, sure to become the centerpiece to any collection or display.
Cant wait for this to arrive,
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2014-12-085
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Life Size T-800
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One to add to my collection soon!
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I sold my left kidney so reality is in my grasp....
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T-800 Endoskeleton Version 2.0 Life-Size Figure
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What a tremendous achievement for Sideshow with this new T-800 collectible. Assembly was a breeze and all of the parts were perfectly crafted. It is an honor to own such an iconic piece of movie memorabilia. Sideshow, you've really knocked it out of the park with this one! | {
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The Best Euphemism for Shithouse?
What is the best euphemism for shithouse and/or urinal?
I always feel that words like lavatory, toilet, privy, or rest room, don’t quite hack it.
Perhaps “the head” or heads may be about the best.
No prizes for the winner.
Comments
@PercyI’m glad that that’s all you’re sceptical about, as I was beginning to get the impression that you were being pretty sceptical of everything I’ve put forward in this discussion. But never mind that. As you have now found it in the hallowed pages of the OED, I assume you have least tacitly accepted that the practice did exist, or apparently not. I wonder why publications like Merriam-Webster don't seem to share your scepticism.
Anyway, let’s try and dispel these remaining doubts.
Firstly, “gardyloo” was a slang word of the streets; the references in the OED are all from literature. Just because there are no earlier references in published works doesn’t necessarily tell us very much about whether certain street cries existed or not.
Secondly, language and social mores didn’t change so quickly in those days. And it seems strange that a mangled form of a French expression would suddenly appear two hundred years after the peak period of French influence. It is well documented that other French words entered Scots at that time, or they all "genteelisms" as well?
Here are a few references from Google Books. First, this is from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland, published in 1862:
“… so soon as St.Giles’ clock struck ten, the windows were simultaneously opened for a general discharge, (which in 1745 must have rather alarmed Prince Charles' followers, when they had possession of the town), and the streets and closes resounded with one universal cry, Gardyloo!”
“French allies brought some words into Scotland that have rooted themselves, like the gardyloo.“
The Auld Alliance came to an end in 1560 with the Treaty of Berwick, and there wouldn't have been any French allies in Scotland after that time, so this writer is putting the use of the word gardyloo before 1560.
And then there’s this from George Robert Glieg’s The Life of Sir Thomas Munro, 1849. Glieg is quoting from a letter from Munro to his sister, where for some strange reason he thinks newborn babies will be thrown away:
“In towns where there is no river at hand, Edinburgh for instance, the cry of Gardyloo will probably be followed by a babe, instead of the accompaniment which Queen Mary introduced from France.”
Queen Mary could refer to Mary Queen of Scots, but is more likely to refer to Mary of Guise, who married James V in 1538, and was Regent of Scotland from 1554 until her death in 1560.
“During her regency (1554–60), Frenchmen were put in charge of the treasury, the Great Seal, and the French ambassador sometimes attended the Privy Council.” (Wikipedia)
And finally something from a modern history book, The Isles: A History, by Norman Davies (1999). He’s talking about James VI, later to become James I of England:
“James’s French connections were strong and intimate. His mother had been Queen of France, and the Scottish court was still under the influence of the Auld Alliance. James spoke French fluently, as many of his courtiers did.”
These of course prove nothing, but at least show that it was not uncommon in the middle of the nineteenth century to think that gardyloo had come into Scottish use with the arrival of Mary and her French followers. And that the strength of the French influence at the time is recognised just as much by modern historians.
What I am sceptical about is the suggestion of an early origin for the Edinburgh gardyloo.
The OED does not seem to know of it before the late 18th century. I think it might be more of a genteelism than a genuine example of French influence on Scots.
[1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 135 It comes against you without crying garde d'eau.]1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 227 The whole cargo is flung out of a back window..and the maid calls gardy loo to the passengers.1808 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang., Jordeloo.1818 Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 44 She had made the gardy-loo out of the wrang window.
2. No, it probably wasn't used much later than the 18th century, for the reasons I gave, but it's an expression that many Edinburgh people, of which I'm one, know today; it's part of our history. And gardyloo was an anglicisation of a French expression, I don't know if the French actually used it. I would have thought alleged was rather a loaded word, especially for something that is well documented, and in several dictionaries:
"Residents often threw refuse out of windows at night onto the streets. A commentator observed that, 'One never knew the moment when the warning cry 'Gardyloo'... might ring out, following which would come in quick succession an avalanche of unmentionable filth on to the footpath – or the passer-by.'" — Jonathan Yeager, Enlightened Evangelicalism: The Life and Thought of John Erskine, 2011 - John Erskine 1721–1803 studied Edinburgh and later lived there from 1758 til his death.
"And we all know what a person might hear in the streets and wynds of Edinburgh not so long ago, warning them to dodge out of the way of something flung out of a window: gardyloo, from garde à l'eau!" - this has quite a bit about the French influence on Scotland and Scots.
""Gardyloo!! That wis the cry ye wid hear aw ower Auld Reekie, ten o'clock at nicht an' six in the mornin. They were the twa times ye were allowed tae chuck yer refuse oot the windae doon intae the close, aw that ye couldnae burn. I" - this is admittedly modern
3. It seems that you're right that "dinna fash yersel" can also be heard in the North East, and as to its provenance. Northumbria and Tyneside seem to share quite a lot of words with Scots; Edinburgh was after all once part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, before Scotland or England became kingdoms themselves. But in Scotland it's certainly thought of as Scots, and I heard it quite a lot in my youth.
"Fash has altered little in meaning over the centuries and is found in northern English dialects as well as Scots.... Fash is recorded in Scottish sources from the sixteenth century onwards and is borrowed from the medieval French verb 'fascher'."
Actually I am a Northumbrian and am familiar with several of the words you mention there. Dinna fash yersel I think is more typically NE English than contemporary Scots. Griffiths Dictionary of NE Dialect suggests OFr fascher as the root.
There is no doubt about the influence of French on both English and Scots, but gardyloo is not so much influence as an alleged example of the use of a French expression. What is the evidence that it was actually used in Edinburgh?
@Percy - I was joking about you being Northumbrian. For much of the time of the troubles between England and Scotland, the Percies were the most powerful family in Norhumbria and the bane of Scots on the other side of the border, especially their chief enemies, the Douglasses.
It wasn't simply a matter of a couple of French royals, but of a heavy influence on the government and 'society' of Scotland. The "Auld alliance" with France against the "auld enemy" England lasted for some four centuries, and the Hanovarians, as far as I'm aware, didn't bring their whole court over with them.
You are no doubt aware that Scotland has a different legal system from England, and this has some similarities to French and Continental law. We have, for example, advocates (avocat) instead of barristers.
This later influence of French in Scots is well known among language historians. Here are a few more French words adopted into Scots, after the two main periods of adoption into English (11th and 14-15th centuries):
and in stereotypical Morningside (Jean Brodie territory) you might hear - Would you like a suspicion of sugar in your tea - a direct translation of soupçon
As I said before, the provenance of gardyloo is well attested. The probable reason gardyloo was limited to Edinburgh and to a particular time, is that the Old Town in Edinburgh was one of the first European cities to have "high rise" tenement blocks, where all classes lived on top of each other, before they started to build the New Town in the second half of the eighteenth century. The word tenement, which is used much more in Scotland than in England, is itself of French origin.
But as I also said before, I no longer put forward gardyloo as the source of "loo", although googling around, I've found others who had jumped to the same conclusion.
In fact, the contribution of French to Scottish English would make an interesting thread in its own right. There is 'petticoat tails' from 'petits gateaux', for example and 'fash' - as in 'dinna fash yesel - from the French 'facher'. Yes, I know there's a circumflex...
@WW Northumbrian indeed. I am not sure a couple of French speaking royals would have led to slops-servants shouting warnings in French to passers-by a century later. There was probably more German influence in Hanoverian England, but it doesn't seem to have had much influence on the lingo.
In any case the warning - as you say - seems to have been confined to Edinburgh, to the 17th century, and not to have had any connection (indeed the opposite) with water closets.
Mind you using Waterloo instead of waterclo' and then 'loo instead of 'clo still has a French reference.
@Percy, with a famous Northumbrian name like yours, I'm surprised at you! We had a French queen consort, Mary de Guise,whose daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, spent much of her childhood in France and as result there was a very strong French influence on the Scottish court in the middle of the Sixteenth century.
"From 1554, Marie de Guise, took over the regency, and continued to advance French interests in Scotland. French cultural influence resulted in a large influx of French vocabulary into Scots." Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scotland
@Skeeter Lewis - I was so disappointed when I discovered that that "POSH" story was a myth; it used to be one of my 'not many people know' stories.
But '"gardyloo" doesn't seem to fall into that category. It's well attested to, and in several dictionaries as -" An old cry in throwing water, slops, etc., from the windows in Edinburgh." or some such like. But I got the French etymology slightly wrong, it was apparently "Gare de l'eau!". The interesting thing is that the use seems to have been confined to Edinburgh.
Your other two examples play on the rhyme of the missing word at the end - tat = hat, and hook = look - whereas with (water)loo from water closet, we need to know the missing word at the beginning, but there's no rhyme involved.
When I was young, loo was pretty upper-class, but then got used on TV quite a lot, and seems to have now become more or less universal.
I'd always assumed it came from l'eau - French for water. My reasoning being that in sixteenth century Edinburgh, there were tall tenement blocks without sanitation, and people used to throw their waste water out of the window. Before doing so they'd shout "Gardyloo", a corruption of "Gardez l'eau", i.e."Look out, water". But Etymology Online seems to support what Brus and Skeeter Lewis have said, so I'll have to give up my theory, I suppose.
And Skeeter Lewis is quite right. When I was young, we weren't allowed to say "toilet", and had to say "lavatory" instead. But they're both just as euphemistic. At school it was the bog (or the bogs for the public ones).
Most terms in 'polite' use are euphemisms - restroom, bathroom, public conveniences, lavatory, toilet - even latrine, which is also to do with washing. Other people's euphemisms always seem more ludicrous than one's own.'Loo', I think, is an attempt at humour based on 'Waterloo'.
living in country victoria, australia, we call it 'toilet' as mostly we have toilets separate from the bathroom. People who are "sophisticated' call it a bathroom! causing some confusion as, when asked, they are directed to the bathroom! In our house hold it is commonly referred to as the dunny, though strickly speaking this is a bit course. It is also known as a loo, also a bit course. powder room, restroom & john are also used but not often. Ladies and Gents are used often for public areas. My favourite is still the dunny! as it is very australian.
I grew up with a wiseacre who called it the defecatorium -- sure to raise eybrows.
My girlfriend in high school called it the, "tinkletower." First and last time I heard that one.
The best euphemism is 'euphemism' itself. As in this...
"Honey, the young woman guest at the nightmare dinner party in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, says she would like to powder her nose. George, the host, turns to his wife and says, "Martha, won't you show her where we keep the euphemism?"
In America we say "restroom," which had some visiting Swedish friends in hysterics, as they pictured us going there to rest. But I thought the question was about a real outhouse, a separate place away from the house. That's the smelly phone booth.
Brus, DerekH is NOT correct in saying that in the US it is considered less "ladylike or refined" to say "loo" instead of crapper or shithouse. That must have been a joke.
Usually what people want to do is suggest that there might be some other reason for going to the restroom besides taking a smelly dump or changing out a tampon, especially in a polite social situation. So we choose a wording that leaves open the possibility that one wants to just wash the hands.
"Ladies room" or "men's room" is commonly used. Likewise, "the facilities". You don't even have to mention the "room" itself. I like to say, "I'll be right back-- I'm going to go freshen up" or even "I need to go powder my nose". Since I'm a guy, it gets people chuckling and thinking about something other than me urinating or wiping my ass.
I think this is why women like to go to the toilet in pairs especially when men are around. They think the men might believe that they're just going to chat or do make-up.
You are easily confused, and obviously somewhat lacking in the humour department.
But I will endeavour to clarify my question.Not all houses have rooms which combine a bath/shower with the sanitary appliances need to dispose of human waste. In lots of cases these are separate, and in bygone days were commonly outside of the main building.In the case of public facilities, these are custom edifices which house multiple sanitary appliances.The terms bathroom, toilet, and even lavatory describe rooms which contain a bath/shower/wash basin, but not necessarily the waste disposal items, and are in effect a bit of a misnomer when used to describe rooms containing such items since the root of all three words imply washing or cleansing.I was looking for the best, perhaps most humourous euphemism for shithouse or urinal.One does not jusr say things like, "Excuse me, I'm off for a crap." Or perhaps you do.such
Hairy Scot, to be honest, I'm a little confused by your original question. From my perspective, a shithouse, non-euphemistically, can only be thought of as an outhouse, a small stand-alone building. A urinal is an actual bathroom fixture into which one only urinates (or, I suppose, technically, a building that houses one, but I've never heard this spoken). Neither of these is routinely referred to as a bathroom, head, lavatory, toilet, rest room, john, library, reading room, loo, little boys' / girls' room, privy, smallest room in the house, necessarium, sandbox, etc.
Are you specifically asking for euphemisms for shithouse and/or urinal, or are you asking for euphemisms for bathrooms in general?
I'm from the U.S. Specifically, the mid west and I've never heard anyone refer to it as "the loo" in a serious manner. I know that it is common for people to call out "the shitter" or " the crapper" when they're engaged in some form of male bonding in an attempt to sound manly. Typically, mist children and teenagers say "bathroom" while most adults call it the "restroom".
@Brus- "loo" is often seen around here (eastern Kansas/KC Metro) as a conscious effort by the speaker to affect Britishness or appear eccentric. In my experience, it's referred to pretty evenly as either "restroom" or "bathroom" in polite or professional company; never "Water Closet" or "WC". We get enough culture from The Isles to know what it means, though.Among friends or otherwise engaged in leisure, it varies widely- "shitter", "toilet", perhaps a terse "hold on, gotta pee" or something making light of it, such as "I am going to wreck your crapper" (a personal favorite) . I've taken to ironically referring to it as a "terlit", aping a Midwestern rural accent. The more alcohol that passes my lips, the more I find the irony wanes.
When your little growing up at home (in america and in my case) parents refer to it as bathroom, why di you say well because it is the room of the hoise that contains the bath! So just being so used yo calling the room with the toilet a bathroom and not thinking twice about itits definetely a funny term like when at school or a restraunt there is no bath (most likely) in the room! So yes if u come from a diffrent country public places do post restroom signs on the "bathroom" doors
At the school in Scotland I attended as a youth, one large, 19th C set of gentlemen's facilities there was known officially as "The House of Lords". But this name was just for that particular place, not for use elsewhere. In Britain these days the term "toilet" is bandied about a great deal, but nearly always without the final "t": toile' with an ugly final glottal stop is the term employed by those Britons who favour this word, so pronounced "Toy-luh' (momentary silence while mouth remains hanging open and eyes continue to glaze over)". 'Lavatory' is preferred by the more refined. "Lavvy" is intended to be a humorous variant. 'Loo' is very ladylike, being a corruption of the French lieu="place". "Bog" is favoured by otherwise well-spoken schoolboys anxious to establish some street-cred. "Heads" is navy, "latrine" American. You would think we would just call the by its proper name, would you not? The | {
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P&W Prompt 6: Memphis Blues
**I’m slightly behind on the P&W prompts – this is the sixth which should have, technically, been posted last week. I have no excuse for such behavior except to say that my closets are completely, beautifully, and happily organized! I’ll try to get caught up by doing the 7th prompt this week as well.
Choose a poem that you’ve written and rewrite it in its reverse, making the last line the first, etc. Revise this version, creating a new poem.
I figure: what better poem to put through yet another revision than Memphis Blues? So, I went in search of the 47 versions I had of the poem to realize that it was one of the many (including my entire, more than 200 page, dissertation) items that were lost in the computer crash of ’09. That crash, by the way and completely as an aside, led to my switching – forever and ever, amen – to a mac. I may, in fact, write a post dedicated to my teenage crushing all over some awesomeness that is my macbook.
But that’s another story.
I did manage to locate a hard copy of one of the many versions of Memphis Blues. So, who knows? Maybe this prompt will actually create a poem I feel worthy of calling “finished” (whatever that means). Here it is:
Memphis Blues
The newscaster says Tennessee’s a little different as we drift
past the Bellevue Baptist colossus, variant son of vengeance,
looming dark over the broken-bricked converted window shop
churches that stand erect, rubbled testaments to grace.
Mottled light keeps time, paces down stained-glass panes,
falling on low pews, the orange-tinted modification of white
dropping heavy on a soft, plump boy who sings of the whale,
of the observation of sin: transparency’s companion.
And this is the practice of shedding antique and cankerous life:
a lady’s pink flamingo chemise shifts up, exposed white belly,
she dumps a few coins: a quarter, two nickels, into a trumpet case,
snaps pictures of the man’s silver horn held to his lips, the music
a sincere pleading with the departing white speck of peace spiraling
just off plumb, spiraling just off center and around the bend.
So, let’s see what happens when we reverse it (minus stanza breaks and end punctuation):
just off plumb, spiraling just off center and around the bend
a sincere pleading with the departing white speck of peace sprialing
snaps pictures of the man’s silver horn held to his lips, the music
she dumps a few coins: a quarter, two nickels, into a trumpet case
a lady’s pink flamingo chemise shifts up, exposed white belly
and this is the practice of shedding antique and cankerous life
of the observation of sin: transparency’s companion
dropping heavy on a soft, plump boy who sings of the whale
falling on low pews, the orange-tinted modification of white
mottled light keeps time, paces down stained-glass panes
churches that stand erect, rubbled testaments to grace
looming dark over the broken-bricked converted window shop
past the Bellevue Baptist colossus, variant son of vengeance
the newscaster says Tennessee’s a little different as we drift.
This, obviously, changed the entire narrative line of the poem. I was forced to deal with “something” being “just off plumb” at the poem’s opening – and so that led me to connect a different scene to the one already existing. As you can see, this is quite a different poem (and apropos for the long and ridiculous history of this poem). Though I was able to keep some of the language and imagery of the original, what we have here is, really, a completely new poem.
Memphis Blues
When we lived on the grungy side of Memphis
in a hundred-year-old house too big for just us,
we liked to park our car in that lot with the neon sign
that read: Parking Is Fun, because it was cheap
and because we agreed. We’d wander downtown,
have smokes and strings of martinis at a hip little joint
owned by one of my student’s mothers. Newly minted,
we felt each other out, dancing around conversations
about if and when we should have children. I remember
you twisting your hands, your nervous smile, the way we left
the bar, just off plumb, spiraling just off center
and rounded the bed to our car. In that now or never
moment, drunk on our recklessness, you took me
in the front seat, on the third level of the parking garage.
The next weekend, we walked Beale Street, followed
the bleating of a trumpet and wondered what we had done.
There was no way of knowing the years of struggle ahead,
the way our love making would be consumed
by calendars and pills, crying jags and bitter words.
We were lost in possibility while we watched a woman snap
pictures of a street-corner musician, his silver horn held
to his lips and laughed at her pink flamingo blouse
shifting up, exposing her white belly, imagining my own
growing quietly beneath the neon-glare of our church, a glare
that dropped heavy on a soft, plump boy who sang on the corner,
like the light that sometimes falls on low pews, keeping time,
pacing down stained-glass panes in the churches that pebble
the downtown of our city: rubbled testaments to hope—
there was no way of knowing in this dark shadow, we drifted.
****
I enjoyed this prompt. It was a good deal more challenging than the ones that ask you to find some random words and make a poem out of them. Well…that might not be completely true. It was, at least, more interesting than the other. What can you do with an old poem in reverse?
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5 thoughts on “P&W Prompt 6: Memphis Blues”
The universe works in mysterious ways. I liked the first posted version of “Memphis Blues”; however, I felt something vital was missing. The new poem that grew of out of the exercise blew me away. Loved it!
By the way, I remember the “Parking is Fun” lot in Memphis. We always parked there even if it meant a hike to Beale Street. Returning to the parking garage in the wee hours of the morning to find our car usually ended with spontaeous dancing with no cares about the security cameras.
Thanks, Cindy. I have fond memories of that parking garage too – it’s the one we always park in, even though, as you say, it’s a fair hike to Beale Street from there. The new poem still needs a bit of work, but I agree that it’s closer. I’m glad you enjoyed it 😉 | {
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Art Supervisor Manager
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Experience does not seem to be a strong driver of pay increase in this role. Survey participants with less than five years' experience pocket $44K on average, but those with five to 10 years of experience enjoy a much bigger median of $55K. The average pay reported by folks with 10 to 20 years of experience is around $63K. Art Supervisor Managers with more than 20 years of experience report incomes that are only modestly higher; the median for these old hands hovers around $65K. | {
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GRiZ – Chasing The Golden Hour (pt. 1) [Album Stream]
Chasing The Golden Hour (pt. 1) is the latest offering from a producer out of Detroit who is known as GRiZ, featuring nine tasty future-funk/electro-soul offerings that will add a good dose of groove to your Monday.
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We claim no credit for any images, music and/or videos posted on this site unless otherwise noted. All audio and visual content is copyright to its respectful owners. We are also in no way responsible for, or have control of the content of any external web site links. This website was created as a promotional tool. Please support the artists by streaming/purchasing their music, and buying tickets to their shows. | {
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Gallery
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The three-year-old "will they stay or will they go" battle over the future of the Phoenix Coyotes could be hours away from a resolution.
The Glendale City Council is set to vote once again on a deal mean to keep the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona and playing at Jobing.com Arena.
The new $308 million, 20-year arena deal will move along the sale of the hockey team to Greg Jamison, former CEO of the San Jose Sharks, and his investment team. The National Hockey League has owned the Coyotes since 2009 when it bought the team out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Jamison and his team are still working to finalize a purchase arrangement with the NHL.
Fearing they could end up right back where they started on the issue, several council members want to get the vote completed and the deal in the pipeline before new council members and Glendale's new mayor, Republican Jerry Weiers, take office in January.
Weiers has been outspoken on the Coyotes issue, saying Glendale should not spend city money to help finance the team.
"We all love the Coyotes and Cactus League but we cannot sacrifice our way of life so they can maintain theirs," he told an Arizona newspaper after winning the election earlier this month.
The deal on the table Tuesday evening has progressed further than any previous proposal.
If approved, Jamison's investment group will take over running Jobing.com Arena, something the city of Glendale has been doing. In addition, they will be required to bring at least 30 non-hockey events to Jobing.com Arena each year.
The City Council vote, which is expected to happen Tuesday evening, comes amidst an ongoing lockout that could cancel the entire 2012-2013 season. Nearly three months have been lost already.
Three mediators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service have been assigned to assist with negotiations between the players and management. Those mediators are slated to meet with both sides -- separately -- on Wednesday.
The NHL has canceled games through Dec. 14, the New Year's Day Winter Classic and the lucrative All-Star weekend, which was supposed to happen Jan. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio. | {
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BOX OFFICE & WILL CALL
For your convenience, Gulfstream Park has two locations for you to purchase and pick up tickets. The Box Office is conveniently located at the North entrance next to the Valet Parking. Tickets can also be purchased at the Guest Services Desk inside of the Silks Simulcast Center.
Tickets are available for day of and advance race dates or events. Both locations serve as a will call. You can purchase tickets by calling the Box Office at 954-457-6201 or by clicking here. | {
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The Australia’s foreign intelligence agency, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), admitted a hacker has stolen over 30 GB of military documents. Stolen data includes details on fighter jets, military aircraft, and naval ships.
The hacker stole the huge trove of confidential data on military capabilities at an unnamed Department of Defence contractor. The ASD spokesperson Mitchell Clarke, who revealed the incident, confirmed that not “top secret” data was compromised, but data breach included sensitive information not publicly accessible.
The intelligence agency dubbed the hacker “Alf,” after a character in the “Home and Away” Australian TV soap opera.
The stolen files include confidential information, diagrams, and plans and details about the country’s arsenal, such as details on the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, the Boeing P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting airplane, Lockheed-Marting C-130 transport aircrafts, JDAM guided bombs, and data on “some naval ships.” | {
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Tag: blogging
IMHO NO, blogging is supposed to be personal – a passion. Unless you have an EXTENSIVE legal, public administration background and that’s your passion, still, I find it weird. Because:
1. Bloggers usually write (like me) on their free time because we have day jobs as well. Even if you’re already a ‘maverick’ like Anton Diaz, he writes about food & tourism – his passion; Now do we see anyone be a maverick at ‘covering’ (waiting for) Malacanang press junkets? Don’t you all have other things to do?
2. Blogging is about personal opinions so there are biases. You can share thoughts about current issues on your blog from the comfort of your home. from a coffee shop,etc. Why want to be at Malacanan?
3. Groups blogs still have varying opinions; what’s the point? Again you can share thoughts about current issues on your blog from the comfort of a coffee shop,etc. Why want to be at Malacanan?
4. Newspapers, TV stations and other news organizations already have their ‘online’ arm. So from their acrredited reporter at Malacanan, they throw it on their portals as well. You don’t need to be in Malacanan.
5. If you want an ‘accreditation’ after all that I’ve cited, then you must be in it for the bragging rights. Stay out of Malacanan. | {
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Interfaith stand-up duo unites students through comedy
Comedian Scott Blakeman gave a performance touching on his religion, politics and college life as part of a joint performance with his friend and fellow performer Dean Obeidallah. Thomas Yang | Staff Photographer
A Jew and a Muslim got up on stage in the William Pitt Union Ballroom — that’s not the punchline of a joke, those are the comedians.
Comedians Scott Blakeman and Dean Obeidallah brought their act Stand Up for Peace to Pitt Wednesday night, at an event hosted by Pitt’s Hillel Jewish University Center and Muslim Student Association. Stand Up for Peace is a comedy show encouraging conflict resolution between Jews, Muslims, Arabs and people of all backgrounds and religions by exploring what they have in common through humor.
“The goal of our show is to bring people from two different groups together to notice the similarities in their lives through positive comedy,” Blakeman said. ”After all, the best way to start a conversation is through laughter.”
Blakeman and Obeidallah have been performing Stand Up for Peace together for 13 years. Blakeman has served as a mentor for the likes of Jon Stewart and Caroline Rhea, and is a frequent news contributor to news outlets such as MSNBC and Fox News. Obeidallah is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast and has his own SiriusXM comedy show.
Meital Rosenberg, senior economics and international and area studies major and former vice president and active member of Hillel, said the intent of bringing in the duo was to show people that two groups often seen as very different actually have much in common.
“At the end of the day, we’re all human,” she said. “We’re not isolated categories. We want people to walk away from this understanding everybody wants to have peace and be able to laugh together.”
Blakeman guffawed along with the 30 students in front of him — some Jewish, some Muslim, some neither — as he joked about Judaism and politics.
“I went to a diner that said they serve Kosher-style food. What is that? Ham wrapped in pork, drizzled with cheese and milk only served on Yom Kippur?” he joked.
“Hillary Clinton claimed she was part Jewish during her presidential campaign. I looked it up, turns out it’s true. She had a ninth cousin twice removed who ate a brisket sandwich once.”
His comedy partner, Obeidallah, followed his act with humorous observations of his own about Islam and the trials that come with being Muslim. His witty and sarcastic remarks had the audience’s shoulders shaking with laughter and heads nodding with understanding.
“Arabic Muslims say ‘Inshallah’ all the time. It means ‘God willing.’ I once asked where the bathroom was in an Arabic restaurant, the guy said it after he told me.”
“During an interview on ‘Fox and Friends.’ they asked me, ‘As an Arab and a Muslim, how many terrorists do you think are out there?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know? Eighty-three?’”
Senior Spanish language and literature major Jordan Kurzum, a Christian Palestinian, came primarily to see Obeidallah, who he described as famous in the Arab community.
“Politics are crazy right now, and as an Arab I can relate to a lot of the stuff he talks about,” Kurzum said. “I’m here mostly for a laugh, but I think it’s a spectacular idea that they’re using humor to talk about controversial issues.”
According to Blakeman, the duo’s show has always focused on breaking down barriers between Muslim and Jewish communities. But they believe the political and social relevance of what they do has grown recently, with the rise in hate crimes and threats against the two groups.
“Our message now is more important than ever, given the rise of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiment in America,” Blakeman said.
Elyssa Steinberg, a junior psychology major and member of Pitt Hillel, said she thinks the duo’s mission serves an important purpose in bringing together two communities that are going through tough times.
“We’re both groups facing injustices right now,” Steinberg said. “This act shows a unity that isn’t necessarily brought to light, and which really needs to be seen nowadays.”
Pitt Hillel and MSA partnered for the event, but Yosra Kandil, a sophomore history major and president of MSA, said the relationships between Jewish and Muslim people are often misrepresented.
“There’s this idea that Muslim and Jewish populations can’t get along,” Kandili said. “But I think a comedy event, where everybody comes together to laugh and enjoy themselves, defeats that idea.”
Obeidallah said the duo perform a lot at mosques and synagogues, but college students are their favorite audiences because they tend to be more “intellectually curious” than older crowds, according to Obeidallah. Blakeman said the two jokesters enjoy performing on campuses because they have the biggest impact.
“Younger people got their whole life ahead of them, and they’re at a time when they’re making a lot of their own decisions,” Blakeman said. “We hope that the message our act conveys inspires them, that they take this stuff with them when they leave.” | {
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Celebrate the warm seasons with beautiful spring & summer wedding invitations from Invitations by Dawn. Make sure your guests put aside this special date with spring & summer save the date cards in every style, shape and color imaginable. Looking for more of a tropical theme? See our tropical wedding invitations and destination wedding invitations, and don't forget to check out our wedding accessories for all your wedding needs. | {
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We’re working with Booz Allen Hamilton to help the U.S. federal government apply deep learning techniques to key challenges in healthcare, defense and cybersecurity.
Certified Deep Learning Institute instructors from NVIDIA and Booz Allen will provide hands-on training to federal customers across a variety of government agencies to build deep learning and data-driven solutions that are needed in the field.
“The Deep Learning Institute has developed industry-leading curricula with the world’s leading AI experts, and we deliver that in hands-on classes taught by certified instructors,” said Greg Estes, vice president of Developer Programs at NVIDIA. “By working together with Booz Allen Hamilton, we will train specialists and data scientists to help tackle complex challenges that confront the federal government in healthcare, cybersecurity and other important areas.”
“Deep learning and AI-first approaches are critical to every federal agency. Booz Allen and NVIDIA working together to meet the demand of the federal government for training and applying deep learning techniques will further innovation,” saidDr. Josh Sullivan, a senior vice president who leads Booz Allen’s data science capabilities. “Together with NVIDIA, we’ve already seen through theData Science Bowl how deep learning canspeed cancer andheart disease diagnoses. Machine intelligence, powered by deep learning and other techniques, will help organizations — public and private sector alike — supercharge human ingenuity to uncover new revelations about the complex systems in which we live and work.”
Peter Guerra, vice president and chief data scientist at Booz Allen, said that the U.S. federal government has the largest cybersecurity workforce on the planet, and is also the largest cybertarget. He said that by using AI, Booz Allen reduced the time it takes to determine if a spear-phishing attack was successful “from three to four hours to a few seconds.” Watch a brief video, below, with his comments from GTC DC this week in Washington.
NVIDIA and Booz Allen have worked together since 2015 on a variety of initiatives leveraging NVIDIA’s deep learning platform. NVIDIA has helped support theData Science Bowl, a competition organized by Booz Allen and Kaggle to advance socially responsible research. The Data Science Bowl brings together thousands of data scientists, domain experts and organizations to research some of the world’s toughest challenges, like ocean health and heart disease. The top 10 teams in the most recent competition all used NVIDIA GPUs to improve the speed and effectiveness of detecting lung cancer.
Booz Allen is participating in NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, Nov. 1-2, in Washington, presenting research for leveraging machine intelligence across government and industry.
The NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute teaches the applied use of deep learning through hands-on labs and online courses. It has trained tens of thousands of students worldwide since it was formed in 2016. Classes and workshops cover a variety of subjects, such as self-driving cars, natural language processing, healthcare, robotics, video analytics and financial services. Students learn how to use NVIDIA GPUs in the cloud through Amazon Web Services.
For more information about DLI or to sign up for training (in-person or self-paced online), visit the DLI website. | {
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Hub centric adapter is used for 4 lug 100mm bolt pattern cars to fit
4 lug 100mm bolt pattern wheels. CNC machined billet aluminum. New 12x1.5 thread size wheel studs are included. These adapters can be used on the following cars, among others: | {
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Why couldn't we tell that the balloon boy's parents were faking their distress?
Emote Control
Why couldn't we tell that the balloon boy's parents were faking their distress?
Shortly after authorities announced that 6-old-year Falcon Heene had been found safe and sound, ending speculation that he had been aboard a flying saucer that escaped from his family's backyard, his father Richard appeared before an encampment of cameras to share a few words of relief. "He says he was hiding in the attic," Heene said, his voice swelling on the last two syllables as he half-shrugged and looked at the ground. "And, um, because I yelled at him." He took a sharp breath, voice faltering. "I'm really sorry I yelled at him."
Is there ever anything to be learned from the way a suspect reacts at the scene of the crime? We now know, of course, that Richard and Mayumi Heene were merely credible actors who duped the networks and the sheriff. This was a failure of what we'll call emotional forensics: the process of determining whether someone's reaction to a crisis is genuine. It's not just an academic question. As TheNew Yorker's David Grann recounted in his recent examination of Cameron Todd Willingham, the man executed in Texas for an arson he almost certainly didn't commit, Willingham's reaction at the scene of the fire was alternately presented as evidence for and against him. A police chaplain at the scene originally described Willingham as being so hysterical that he needed to be physically restrained. As other evidence turned against him, however, a neighbor reported that Willingham "did not appear to be excited or concerned"—a claim the chaplain would later amend his story to include.
There is little empirical study of how well people can detect a feigned emotion, but there are many studies of how well they can detect liars. Experts examine the way a person who's fibbing contorts and shifts his face in a way that reveals hidden emotions, like delight at having duped someone. In the end, though, lie detection is about guessing whether a particular statement, or set of statements, is true. By contrast, emotional forensics would involve judging the veracity of the emotion itself based on how the subject behaves. (A fibber may look as if he's experiencing delight at having duped someone—but is he really?)
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The field of lie detection can tell us that, in many cases, a person's inability to cloak his real emotions during a performance will tip his hand. Lying studies titan Paul Ekman describes this process as "leakage." One classic example, cited in Malcolm Gladwell's 2002 New Yorker profile of Ekman, comes from Soviet spy Kim Philby's appearance at a press conference in 1955. When Ekman watched the tape of Philby's performance, he saw a smirk flash across the spy's face each time he told an untruth—the "duper's delight."
Very few people can entirely mask the real emotions that they're feeling, nor can they fake all the facial cues of an emotion they're not feeling in just the right sequence. A liar feigning fear might not replicate the telltale way the inner corners of the eyebrows tuck in—which is very hard to manipulate consciously—or maybe he'd do so out of sync with other facial contortions. When I sent Ekman the video of Heene's makeshift press conference, he wrote back: "He shows one of our most reliable signs of lying, which is [a] FRAGMENT of a shrug, just once, just one shoulder, not definitive but consistent with his lying."
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Detecting fake emotions may be more difficult than identifying a lie. For one thing, facial expressions and body language tend to be remarkably consistent across people and cultures—Ekman discovered, early in his career, that even tribesmen in Papua New Guinea with little exposure to outside culture interpreted expressions the same way the rest of us do. But our manners of displaying emotion are not nearly as universal. We may all bunch our eyebrows when afraid, but we do not all display the same gross behavior when we're terrified.
"Because people so differ from each other, evaluating whether an emotion is valid or not is very complicated for an observer," says Jack Mayer, a University of New Hampshire psychologist who pioneered the field of emotional intelligence. For example, Mayer says, those who seem unnaturally subdued during a crisis "may be reacting by hiding what they're feeling from whoever is observing them." University of San Francisco psychologist Maureen O'Sullivan brought up the case of Lindy Chamberlain, the Australian woman who claimed she saw a dingo run off with her infant daughter during a camping trip in 1980. Chamberlain's stoic response when questioned about the case—captured by Meryl Streep in the docudrama A Cry in the Dark—convinced many that she had murdered her child. Her response did not square with their sense of how a person in that situation should react. Chamberlain was found guilty of the crime and spent several years in prison before the infant's jacket was discovered, corroborating her version of events.
The trouble with situations like the Heene fiasco or the Willingham case is that most people consider themselves very accurate judges of emotion. We all know from personal experience that it's fairly easy to pass off a factual lie, so we don't expect to be able to tell when others are doing the same. But judging someone's emotional performance seems far more instinctual, and we tend to assume that we're good at it. (You might say that it's easier to trust your gut than your brain.) This may be correct—very few people are able to feign emotion with any degree of verisimilitude. The ones who can do it often earn a very handsome living.
I don't know whether Richard Heene is up on his Stanislavsky, but we know from his Wife Swap appearances that he is a devoted thespian who shows no apparent remorse at manipulating his family or the public in the pursuit of fame. This works in his favor: The fewer conflicting emotions you have behind the one you're trying to pull off, the less likely you are to "leak" emotions and expose yourself as a fraud. In any case, his acting success on the national stage suggests that we might do well to avoid using a suspect's emotional response as evidence one way or another. | {
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A Bit Creepy: A Machine-Created Lullaby Wants to Put You to Sleep Faster Than a Human
A healthcare company is trying its hand at playing the human versus artificial intelligence (AI) contest—and wants us to play along.
Health services company AXA PPP Healthcare commissioned two pieces of music—one composed by a human and another by AI—and has challenged the public to decide which makes you more sleepy, reports the Mirror.
The first tune is by renowned composer Eddie McGuire, while the other is the product of a machine that used artificial neural networks and didn’t get any help from a human.
McGuire calls his composition (above) “Lyrical Lullaby.” It was created in conjunction with Bede Williams, head of Instrumental Studies at the University of St. Andrews.
“Lots of people report of a falling sensation as they fall asleep, and many lullabies mimic this by containing melodies made up of descending patterns in the notes. Lyrical Lullaby has this essential feature and many other musical devices which can induce in us a state of restfulness,” Williams told the Mirror.
In order to come up with “Lullaby,” an AI-capable machine was taught to compose using sheet music in computer-readable format.
“An artificial neural network is essentially a representation of the neurons and synapses in the human brain—and, like the brain, if you show one of these networks lots of complex data, it does a great job of finding hidden patterns in that data,” said Ed Newton-Rex, creator of the machine that produced the composition, according to the Mirror.
“We showed our networks a large body of sheet music, and, through training, it reached the point where it could take a short sequence of notes as input and predict which notes were likely to follow.
“Once a network has this ability, it essentially has the ability to compose a new piece, as it can choose notes to follow others it’s already composed.”
The company behind the stunt is AXA PPP healthcare, part of the AXA Group.
The gimmick seems harmless enough compared to recent bold strides in the area of machine-human relations, such as granting citizenship to a robot. The Mirror reported recently that a humanoid robot created by a company in Asia was granted citizenship of Saudi Arabia at a special ceremony in October—giving the machine more rights in the country than women.
Citizen Sophia. (Flickr/AI for GOOD Global Summit, CC BY)
And one need not strain to hear alarm bells ringing. Elon Musk‘s now legendary campaign cautioning against producing excessively intelligent machines has famously compared work on AI to “summoning the demon.”
“I have exposure to the very cutting edge AI, and I think people should be really concerned about it,” Musk told attendees at the National Governors Association summer meeting on Jul. 15, 2017. “I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react, because it seems so ethereal.”
“The real safety question, if you want to call it that, is that if we give these systems biased data, they will be biased,” Giannandrea told MIT Review.
Giannandrea worries that as cloud-based AI becomes more accessible, it will make it easier for bias to creep in. With people in the driver’s seat without the technical knowledge or the ability to assess underlying data and algorithms for quality and bias, machine intelligence could actually increase the incidence of bad choices.
“If someone is trying to sell you a black box system for medical decision support, and you don’t know how it works or what data was used to train it, then I wouldn’t trust it,” Giannandrea said.
And as intelligent technologies become more advanced, they become more mysterious, which is a problem if they are to be relied on to run our everyday lives. In an MIT Technology Review article titled “The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI”, a compelling case is made to consider restricting development—or at least deployment—of AI to a level that does not go beyond the human ability to understand it.
“We haven’t achieved the whole dream, which is where AI has a conversation with you, and it is able to explain,” says Carlos Guestrin, a professor at the University of Washington. “We’re a long way from having truly interpretable AI.”
What “interpretable” means in the context of AI is simply that an explanation of how it works can be provided in a way that is rational and understandable to humans. However, cutting-edge machine learning, or deep learning, is heading in the opposite direction—towards greater complexity.
To some, what makes the promise of machine intelligence so enticing is that it can do what humans can’t. But that’s also where the danger lies because it can only accomplish this objective by becoming too complex for humans to grasp.
Tufts University to meet with Daniel Dennett, a philosopher and cognitive scientist from Tufts University told MIT Review, “I think by all means if we’re going to use these things and rely on them, then let’s get as firm a grip on how and why they’re giving us the answers as possible,” Dennett says.
Otherwise, the machines may become too smart for our own good.
“If it can’t do better than us at explaining what it’s doing,” he says, “then don’t trust it.”
And a final message from your friendly neighborhood news reporter …
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A cold, rainy Tuesday didn’t stop record voter turnout in North Carolina.
50,824, or 52.06 percent, of registered voters in Onslow County and 35,474, or 69.67 percent, in Carteret County cast their ballots in national, state and local races.
Rose Whitehurst, director of the Onslow County Board of Elections, referred to those numbers as “phenomenal.”
Poll workers saw a steady stream of voters. Ty Hart, a worker at First Baptist Church in Onslow County, said he’d seen more than 500 voters by 12:30 p.m.
“We were averaging two a minute for a while,” he said.
The polls in Pine Knoll Shores in Carteret County had more than 400 voters by early afternoon.
“Considering all the early voting the county had, it’s a good turnout,” chief judge Susan Whit said.
While there were no major glitches during voting on Tuesday, Whitehurst said there were a few minor hiccups.
A flap closed on the ballot counting machine at the Pine Valley precinct, causing it to malfunction for about five minutes, Whitehurst said.
“Someone realized what was wrong and fixed it,” she said.
She said that while the machine was being fixed, residents were asked to put their ballots in the emergency bin that is part of the machine.
Carol Reeves, who voted at the Pine Valley precinct, said she didn’t feel good about putting her ballot in the security bin.
“It doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy … not knowing if my vote will really count,” she said.
At the Commons Recreation Center, voter volume led officials to bring an extra computer and worker to the site. Once the extra personnel and machine were on site, it ran smoothly, Whitehurst said.
While some precincts in Onslow County ran low on ballots, which were resupplied by Onslow County Sheriff’s Office deputies, none of the precincts ever ran out of ballots completely, according to Whitehurst.
The Carteret County Board of Elections did not report any voting malfunctions on Election Day.
Newport chief judge Kenny Weiss said the only issue they had was the rain, and he hoped it didn’t stop people from voting.
The rain didn’t stop Michelle Gagnon of Emerald Isle. Gagnon said it is important for young adults to get out and vote, and, in her opinion, every vote counts.
Hers was a vote for Republican Mitt Romney and a change in the presidential race.
“I voted for Obama four years ago but I don’t think he’s done a good job and I’m firing him, that’s how I see my vote,” she said.
Cindy Kirkbride of Newport felt differently and supported Obama. She said it takes time for a president to achieve his goals.
Page 2 of 3 - “I don’t think any president can get everything done in four years,” she said.
Tito Ortiz, of Jacksonville, voted at Jacksonville Commons and said his three major issues this year were national security, education and healthcare.
“It’s important to vote,” he said. “Your voice will be heard. You’re voting for the people who will help your family the most.”
Reeves said that the economy was her major concern in this election.
“We’re struggling with our finances,” she said. “I can’t afford another four years like this. The only way to make a change is to go out and vote.”
Tracy McIntyre, of Jacksonville, said that while education was her biggest platform when voting this year, she would like to see more focus on the economy over the next four years.
“I’d like to see more economic development, more jobs and more services,” she said. “No one should be without a job.”
McIntyre, a teacher, said she explains to her students that voting is important because a person in office should be working for the people, not the other way around.
“If you like the person in office, vote for them,” she said. “It just takes one person, one vote, to make a difference.”
Contact Daily News Reporter Tabitha Clark at 910-219-8454 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @TabithaLClark or friend her on Facebook.
--
Updated at 6:09 p.m.
Rose Whitehurst, director of the Onslow County Board of Elections, said that there have been no major glitches during voting at precincts today.
The Pine Valley precinct had mechanical issues when someone closed a flap on the machine and didn't realize it, she said. The other ballots cast during that time were placed in an emergency bin until the machine was restored.
Jacksonville Commons Recreation Center had issues with voter volume, but that was cleared up wtih another worker and computer. While some precincts ran low on ballots, and were supplied with more, as of 5:30 p.m., no precincts had run out of ballots.
--
Updated at 5:45 p.m.
As of 5 p.m. more than 16,300 people had cast their ballot in Onslow County, according to Kelly Horne of the Onslow County Board of Elections.
--
Updated at 3:14 p.m.
As the rain continued to come down this afternoon, people showed up in droves to the Commons Recreation Center to cast their ballot in the national, state and local races.
Tommie Thomas, candidate for Onslow County Commissioner, and his supporters, handed out last minute fliers to those who were going into the polling station.
Page 3 of 3 - Thomas said he wasn’t sure which way the voting will go for the commissioner’s race, but he knows he has a lot of online support.
“It all comes down to who shows up at the polls,” he said.
Shirley Crowder with the Board of Elections said that there had been a steady stream of people coming in to vote, but lines had gone down since she arrived in the afternoon.
Commons Recreation Center was a One-Stop Voting site, so Crowder was spending her time directing residents to the proper polling stations. Several had come to Commons by mistake.
Tito Ortiz, of Jacksonville, voted at Commons and said his three major issues this year were national security, education and healthcare.
“It’s important to vote,” he said. “Your voice will be heard. You’re voting for the people who will help your family the most.”
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The cold and rainy weather in Onslow County has not seemed to hinder residents from turning out in a steady stream at the polls.
Ty Hart, a poll worker at the First Baptist Church polling station, said that voting has been steady all morning.
“We’re over 500 right now,” he said. “We were averaging two a minute for a while.”
While Hart said he wasn’t sure how the weather would affect voting, he said that he and other poll workers around Onslow County would be there for people to come out and vote.
Jackie Scott, a voter at First Baptist, said she was tired of all the lies and mudslinging during the election and made up her mind who she would vote for a year ago. She could not narrow down one issue during this election that was more important than the others.
Scott said that voting is important, especially for women, who have not always been able to do so. | {
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Volvo XC90 (15 - present)
The new XC90 had both customers and reviewers fawning over its stunning new design at its launch in 2015. Already a huge success for Volvo in the very competitive premium 7 seat SUV market, the new model more than lives up to the reputation of its much celebrated predecessor. Built on an all-new platform and now longer than before – the already impressive interior space has been improved even further and this is especially evident in the back row of seats. The interior is now plusher and more luxurious than before and a new touchscreen infotainment system keeps it up to date in these tech-hungry times. A more powerful, yet cleaner range of fuel efficient engines complete the package and make the XC90 a very attractive package for those lucky enough to have this kind of budget.
Running Costs:
Reliability:
Safety:
Comfort:
Handling:
Look out for
Questionable off-road abilities
What we like
New design is a real head turner
Beautiful interior
Class-leading levels of safety
Volvo's commitment to back health prevails with their specially engineered seats
More space than before
Running costs are low in comparison to rivals
What we don't like
They don't come cheap
Video Reviews
IMPORTANT
The text and video reviews displayed are not of the actual vehicle being offered for sale. They are provided only for general information, they are not intended to address your particular requirements and do not constitute any form of advice or recommendation . Furthermore please be aware that a vehicle's performance may deteriorate over time. We recommend that you always check the details with the seller prior to purchase. We do not give any warranty or representation, express or implied, about the accuracy, completeness, merchantability or appropriateness of any information, materials, videos or graphics on this website. | {
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For the planet. For the animals. For our health.
Thoughts
It is 100 years since women first got the vote, thanks to the long hard struggle the suffragettes went through to achieve it. I think that is wonderful motivation for activists of all kinds; even though we may face an awful lot of opposition, ridicule and hatred from people who are reluctant to change “tradition” (read: “habits”), with enough determination, we can achieve anything! In time, the habits of previous generations will seem ridiculous…
In other [equally important?] news, I love avocado so much that I married it:
Lastly, a couple of local new things: Zizzi has a brand new vegan pizza, which I tried some time last week, and Tesco have introduced their new range of Wicked Kitchen convenience foods, all of which are plant-based and look delish! So far, I have tried the spicy frijole wrap 🙂
Hello everyone! Today’s post will be a long, thoughtful one, which is quite rare for my blog, as I usually like to keep things cheery. I wanted to write this before I head off to stay with my dad for a couple of days. If we visit anywhere nice to eat, I will post some pics when I get back!
So here are my thoughts on a couple of matters which have been going through my mind these last few days:
Firstly, the time which may well have been when I first realised that I was being a massive hypocrite…
In 2013, I was lucky enough to be invited on a work experience trip to Italy. There were eight of us in total, and we were living together in an old house in the ancient city of Lanciano, in Abruzzo. We took part in lots of cultural experiences, one of which was a traditional meal at a local farm.
View from my bedroom window, for random context 🙂
Part of the meal consisted of meat skewers. We all ate quite a few of them and, at some point, someone (it might have been me, I don’t remember) asked what meat they were made from. One of the Italians replied that it was dog meat. As you can imagine, I was horrified, and couldn’t tell if he was being serious. Eventually he admitted that it was a joke, and that it was actually lamb meat. I’m now very ashamed to say that I was relieved and carried on eating.
In the back of my mind, though, I was aware of my hypocrisy. Why should I care for a dog, but not care about a lamb? They are both sentient beings, and I love both of them! The answer was simple: social conditioning and cognitive dissonance. We are brought up to see some animals as pets and others as food, even though they are, in essence, exactly the same. Most people, especially children, think lambs are just as appealing as dogs (not that that should have to be a reason for us to respect them and allow them to live).
The fact that in some other parts of the world, cows and pigs are sacred, and dogs are eaten, proves this. Animals are completely at the mercy of our social traditions.
I think I am right in saying that that was the first moment I knew I was going to end up ditching meat. I had already started cutting out a lot of red meat by that point; I had never been keen on it anyway!
*****
The second thing I wanted to talk about is the fact that it is Holocaust Memorial Day tomorrow (27th January). I want to start off by saying that I think it is very important to acknowledge this and use it as a reminder of the dreadful events of the past, and that we should never allow anything like that to happen again.
But the horrible truth is that it IS still happening. In every slaughterhouse in the world. And it is still legal.
The last time I touched upon this subject was some time last year, after I had seen some distressing footage of pigs being killed in gas chambers for food, and I had a rant about it on Facebook. Even though my post was very logical, albeit emotional, I was immediately attacked by several people, and unfortunately had to go on an “unfriending spree”…
So that you hopefully understand where I’m coming from, I just want to outline a few key points:
The word “holocaust” does not solely relate to the terrible events of 1933 – 1945. The dictionary definition for holocaust is “destruction or slaughter on a mass scale”. Over 56 billion animals are slaughtered every year worldwide. If that is not an example of a holocaust, I don’t know what is.
Hitler was actually inspired by slaughterhouses for the concentration camps, and the comparisons are hard to ignore, from the transportation to the killing methods used, to the use of body parts afterwards. Many Holocaust survivors have also pointed out the similarities!
I am NOT disrespecting what people went through during that time; I am pointing out the horrors of BOTH things: the Holocaust of the war, and the continued holocaust of our fellow animals. The only reason people would be offended by the comparison is if they see humans as more important, or more deserving of life, than other animals. Or they don’t want the apparent inconvenience of seeing the truth.
Today (yes, I definitely have the date correct this time) is my second veganniversary! In some ways, it has gone very quickly, but it already feels like I have always been vegan – maybe because, in the back of my mind, I always knew I’d get here eventually 🙂
According to http://vegancalculator.com/#calculator, that means I have saved approximately 730 animals, 14,873 pounds of CO2, 21,915 square feet of forest, 32,872 pounds of grain and 803,533 gallons of water!! Certainly makes you feel accomplished when you can save that many things AND not miss out of anything 😀
Anyway, I just got back from a lovely meal at Zizzi with my mum. I had a voucher to spend which was valid for veganuary, so we used it well. Was too busy enjoying it to take pictures hehe 😀 But I had my favourite olives, ragu and then shared a chocolate praline torte and coconut ice-cream. We also were served by a fellow vegan, which was nice 🙂
I have a positive way to start the new year; with probably the best short video about veganism I have seen yet 😀
I stumbled upon it yesterday on Peta’s facebook page. It gives an absolutely fantastic summary on why being vegan is such a good thing, quickly going though the health, biological, environmental and ethical facts in an enjoyable, poem-like format. It does go quite fast, so if you are not familiar with the facts and stats, you may have to pause it in places:
P.S. If you visit the original link, avoid looking at the comment section if you don’t want your faith in humanity to be destroyed all over again; it is full of determined meat-eaters making the same repetitive, predictable, tired old arguments. I don’t think most of them even watched the video…
I wasn’t planning to post today, but I happened to see this video from Peta this morning, and thought it was brilliant so wanted to share it with you:
It’s funny but thought-provoking at the same time, which I always think is the best way to get your point across.
Coincidentally, I myself have used the alien analogy quite a lot in the past, to try to communicate how unfairly humans treat animals, simply because lots of people see them as inferior. A lot of it comes down to the moral of treating others how you would like to be treated.
If aliens invaded Earth and started treating humans how we currently treat animals, there would be outrage. A couple of examples:
Because humans speak a different language which the aliens don’t understand, the aliens would assume that humans cannot feel emotion or pain.
Female humans would be forcibly impregnated repeatedly and have their newborn babies taken away, so that the aliens could take their breast milk instead. Most of the baby boys would be killed and eaten by the aliens, and baby girls would be raised on replacement milk and then be put to the same use as their mothers.
Sounds horrific, right? Well, that is exactly what currently happens to animals.
Food for thought to see in 2018!
My biggest wish for next year is that veganism will continue to soar in popularity and become a lot more mainstream, and that we will not have to endure stigma for much longer 🙂
Weirdly, I don’t really have anything to write about this time (food-wise), as I have been under the weather with flu and a very sore throat for nearly two weeks, and haven’t had much of an appetite! 😦 I keep feeling better and then worse, but hoping I’m on the mend for good this time.
Mum did make a lovely Xmas dinner, with a loaf and all the trimmings, which I enjoyed despite the throat pain!
I also got some very nice prezzies, including some cosmetics from Buddha Beauty – a totally vegan, natural and cruelty-free company, and a beautiful pendant from Simon Says Fork Out, who makes jewellery out of recycled cutlery and is one of the most popular stalls at Bath Christmas Market.
Within two days, Jacob and I have had the pleasure of trying out Bath’s two newest 100% vegan eateries: Chapel Arts Cafe and Nourish 😀
Chapel Arts used to be a veggie/vegan cafe, but it has recently changed its menu to be totally plant-based, and is also open during some evenings. We went along at lunchtime and were very impressed; we had a flatbread and a cake each. Mine was a garlic mushroom flatbread, and then a brownie, to which they plated up and added chocolate sauce, which was a nice touch:
The next day, we were in town late, before the midnight showing of The Last Jedi (which you must go and see in 3D if you can!), and so we decided to join a group of local vegans for a taster menu at Nourish, which is a vegan pub on London Road (formerly The Beaufort).
The food was lovely, but ended up taking a very long time to arrive (I think probably because the owners had underestimated how long everything would take, and there were a lot of us!), and we actually had to skip dessert because we had a bus to catch to the cinema. Oh well – we’ll just have to go another time 😛 What we did have was very nice: mushroom and chestnut soup, jackfruit taco, falafel, pakoras, nut roast and pie with roasted veg. Thankfully it was reasonably priced, and they kindly took dessert off for us:
P.S. I have finally got around to watching the comedy Red Dwarf, and heard a good quote the other day:
To give a bit of context, the four main characters are stuck without food, and Kryten manages to rustle up some cooked “chicken”. It transpires that it is not, in fact, chicken, but human meat. Obviously the others react with disgust, and Kryten says, “It seemed to me that if humanoids eat chicken, then obviously they’d eat their own species; otherwise they’d just be picking on the chicken.”
As I predicted in my last post, due to the busy-ness of my new job (which is going very well), things have been a bit quiet on the blog front recently!
So I’m back to do a few little updates while I can 🙂
The first thing I wanted to mention is that I found a really good vegan vitamin D supplement in Holland and Barrett this week. As the weather is starting to get colder and darker, I think it is very important for everybody (particularly British people who don’t get out enough!) to make sure they get vit D. This one is derived from mushrooms, and I got two bottles on a good price deal:
Secondly, there has been good news for people of Bath; a completely new vegan eatery has opened in the city centre, called Chapel Arts Cafe! I haven’t had the chance to eat there yet, as they are in the process of adjusting their opening hours, but I am looking forward to going there some time after 1st October, when they will be open in the evenings 🙂
Lastly, I wanted to mention something that happened on social media last week, which was a strange mixture of positive and negative for me:
A well-known Facebook page, called Vice, posted an article about the jobs that would be lost if the world went vegan overnight. The funny thing was, that the top comments (including mine – see screenshots below) were the pro-vegan ones! There were lots of people pointing out the overall importance and benefits of veganism, and the fact that change is necessary, even if some people do have to transfer their skills to cruelty-free jobs.
Somebody very intelligently pointed out that, if everybody followed that same logic as the article, no positive changes or progress would ever happen because of the jobs that would be lost or altered. For example, crime would be encouraged because otherwise police officers would be out of work, or disease would not be fought because lots of medical staff and researchers would no longer be needed. It was a very flawed and short-sighted article.
Anyway, what was positive was that my comment ended up getting over a hundred more “like” and “love” reactions than the article itself. Considering that it was not on a vegan page, I found this very encouraging and surprising. Obviously, there were plenty of hate comments and arguments that I had to debunk, as well as trolls, but overall I was very pleasantly taken-aback by the support, and I had lots of lovely replies too. My follow-up replies, where I was debunking some stuff people said, got lots of likes as well. Maybe the world is changing after all…!
Here are the screenshots of my comment (I have chopped off my profile info at the top):
I do find social media very overwhelming, and a lot of what I see makes my very angry and upset, so I have made various steps to reduce my social media usage from now on; it is also important to look after my own mental health, as well as being an activist for positive change 🙂
Linda McCartney pulled-pork style burgers are now vegan! This was a big victory, as the only ingredient preventing them from being vegan before was a bit of honey, and lots of people were contacting the company asking for it to be replaced/taken out. Just a few weeks later, it was!
Vegeburgers from Schwarz Bros are vegan too (and very nice), so that’s a useful option to have with chips after a night out 🙂
I’ve had a bit of a tough time this week as, on Sunday night, I happened to tune into a programme called “Oink: Man Loves Pig” which contained a lot of upsetting and frustrating moments, including slaughterhouse footage and people being massive hypocrites… Basically, I had a bit of a vent on facebook, because it was late and I had nobody to talk to in real life, and had immediate backlash from several “friends” who were getting defensive because I had the audacity to remind them that animals are killed. 😦
Anyway, I’m not going to dwell on it here because, as I’ve said in the past, I want to keep this blog a positive place. If you want to see any of my rants, they’re more likely to be on the Thoughts, FAQ & Mythbusting page!
But I saw this meme and it cheered me up immensely:
HAHAHA 😀
Right, on to food.
This was lovely roast my mum made, using Fry’s steak-style pie:
Sainsbury’s has had another addition to its freefrom chilled section – mac and cheese!!!!!! Which is delicious! I was never a huge fan of mac and cheese as I tended to find it a bit samey and heavy, but this was lovely with a bit of salad:
One final thing: I don’t write about cosmetics as often as food BUT I have to mention Superdrug as they are fab at labelling all their own-brand products, most of which are vegan. I will also be getting a new supply of make-up when their B. range is back in my nearest store. (Their e.l.f. range is also vegan!)
Happy Easter folks! (If you celebrate it, or at least have some chocolate!) 😀
I have to say that I do find Easter, like most traditional celebrations, very strange if they involve animal products; for example, a lot of people eat lamb at Easter. In other words, they are celebrating the start of new life by eating a new life 😦 And of course all the dairy chocolate which meant that babies had to be separated from their mothers…
Human hypocrisy at its finest
Anyway, we have been enjoying some treats today! Here are some examples of vegan Easter treats you can easily find in the shops: Asda freefrom caramel crispy squares, Poppets, Choices egg, Celtic egg, vegan sweets and freefrom cookies, all from Sainsbury’s 🙂 Omnomnom…
Also, I wanted to mention a lovely lunch I had with my uni friends recently at Beyond the Kale. Their roasted veg wrap was absolutely delicious, accompanied by an energising juice and spiced wedges, with a strawberry cheesecake for dessert: | {
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Yves Tanguy’s Gentle Art
Thomas B. Hess: “I knew Tanguy toward the end of his life; he was a witty, laughing, friendly man; he loved his drinks and bird call records […] Tanguy’s gentle art began aloof; it ended with requiems in which nostalgia and sentimentality are regulated to the artist’s obsession with the elegant little world he invented and then painfully, stoically, extinguished.” | {
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Bioinformatics & Computational Biology
From sequencing the human genome to modeling living organisms, biology has gone digital, and WPI’s Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (BCB) program is at the forefront of this digital revolution.
Bioinformatics involves the collection, management, and analysis of biological data; Computational Biology is the development of quantitative models of biological systems. While many schools offer BCB as a concentration within a traditional Biology program, WPI’s program comprises three academic departments: Biology, Computer Science, and Mathematics.
Our program’s diverse environment encourages a collaborative mindset and access to a broad range of resources that promote creative solutions to pressing scientific questions. Undergraduate and graduate students work alongside expert faculty researchers to use cutting-edge, quantitative techniques to increase our understanding of biology and translate this knowledge into meaningful solutions.
We designed WPI’s BCB Program to educate students to feel comfortable in the language, concepts, and techniques of three distinct disciplines: biology, mathematics, and computer science. We also developed courses that overlap two or more of these disciplines, each centered on different aspects of the theories, concepts, techniques, and tools of bioinformatics and computational biology. This interdisciplinary training is exciting and rewarding, and allows students many opportunities to tackle challenging biological problems.
Finding Patterns that Can Improve Sleep
BCB Professor Carolina Ruiz designs data mining algorithms to discover patterns in large collections of data. She is developing computational models for the purpose of advancing the treatment of sleep disorders.
WPI Graduate Student Impresses at Dublin Conference
BCB graduate student Alyssa Tsiros won an honorable mention at the Symposium on Biological Data Visualization in Dublin, Ireland, for her biovisualization depicting the evolution of noncoding RNA in the Human accelerated region 1, a recently discovered gene that may be responsible for the accelerated brain development of humans compared to other mammals. Tsoris’s project stood out for effectively using color-coded arc diagrams to depict genetic data.
Career Outlook
With their robust cross-disciplinary knowledge and hands-on project experiences, BCB graduates are well prepared for rewarding careers across a wide variety of industries. Our graduates assume leadership roles in positions in federal and state government, higher education, research and development, and the pharmaceutical industry. The average starting salary in 2015 was $66,500.
In the News
WPI scientists are using visualization tools and mixed reality to explore complex biological networks, a depiction of a system of linkages and connections so complex and dense it’s been dubbed the “hairy ball.” Dmitry Korkin, PhD, associate professor of computer science and director of the university’s bioinformatics and computational biology program, leads the research team.
“The app collects data on individual species of bee and flowers and allows us to figure out what the individual needs of the species are ... so people can make changes to their yard, learn what flowers to plant, and tell us how do we conserve lands to increase bee diversity,” Robert Gegear, professor of biology and biotechnology, told the T&G. | {
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As an officer of the Continental Navy of the American Revolution, John Paul Jones helped establish the traditions of courage and professionalism that the Sailors of the United States Navy today proudly maintain. John Paul was born in a humble gardener's cottage in Kirkbean, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, went to sea as a youth, and was a merchant shipmaster by the age of twenty-one. Having taken up residence in Virginia, he volunteered early in the War of Independence to serve in his adopted country's infant navy and raised with his own hands the Continental ensign on board the flagship of the Navy's first fleet. He took the war to the enemy's homeland with daring raids along the British coast and the famous victory of the Bonhomme Richard over HMS Serapis. After the Bonhomme Richard began taking on water and fires broke out on board, the British commander asked Jones if he had struck his flag. Jones replied, "I have not yet begun to fight!" In the end, it was the British commander who surrendered. Jones is remembered for his indomitable will, his unwillingness to consider surrender when the slightest hope of victory still burned. Throughout his naval career Jones promoted professional standards and training. Sailors of the United States Navy can do no better than to emulate the spirit behind John Paul Jones's stirring declaration: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harm's way."
Bibliography
Abbott, John S.C. John Paul Jones. New York: University Society, 1905.
____. Life and Adventures of Rear Admiral John Paul Jones, Commonly Called Paul Jones. New York: Dodd & Mead, 1874.
De Koven, Anna Farwell. The Life and Letters of John Paul Jones. New York: Scribner's Sons, 1913.
Ellsberg, Edward. Captain Paul. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1941.
Fanning, Nathaniel. Narrative of the Adventures of an American Navy Officer, Who Served During Part of the American Revolution Under the Command of Com. John Paul Jones, esq. New York: Printed for N. Fanning, 1806.
"New Light Upon the Career of John Paul Jones." United States Naval Institute Proceedings 122 (June 1907): 683-709. [presents a collection of letters from Jones' neice Janette Taylor].
Otis, James. The Life of John Paul Jones: Written from Original Letters and Manuscripts in Possession of His Relatives and From the Collection Prepared by John Henry Sherburne; Together with Chevalier Jones' Own Account of the Campaign of the Liman. New York: A.L. Burt, 1900. | {
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Time on the Rocks
Free Panel Discussionin conjunction with "Course 86b in the Catalogue"
Presented by Salt Lake Acting Company and inspired byCourse 86b in the Catalogue, a comedic riff on evolution and time.
Join Museum paleontologist Carolyn Gale Levitt and others for this free panel discussion exploring the play's themes. The conversation includes the playwright and will cover everything from the past to the present, evolution, and relationships between men & women.
Panelists include:
Kathleen Cahill, playwright.
Carolyn Gale Levitt, paleontology graduate student at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah.
Kristen Hawkes, distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.
Anya Plutynski, professor of philosophy at the University of Utah.
Moderated by: Terry Gildea, news director at KUER.
This panel discussion is free and open to the public. Discounted tickets are available for the evening performance following the discussion. Refer to the "Friends of NHMU Discount" to receive $3.00 off per ticket by calling the Salt Lake Acting Company box office at 801.363.7522 | {
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Even in this age of the intrusion of market discipline into higher education, one area has remained remarkably resistant to close scrutiny. University admissions. Surprised I say this? After all, we will shortly be entering that bit of the year where it's the only news story in town. But bear with me. It is about time for the Office of Fair Trading to start sniffing around.
The Ucas system allows students to apply for up to five courses. From the point of the view of the universities, this is a sensible number. It keeps total numbers of applications down, while giving admissions tutors a bit of choice, at least for popular courses. But are the interests of applicants equally well served? How is it different from the Chamber of Commerce telling shoppers that they mustn't pop into more than five shops on their next visit to the high street? Why shouldn't an applicant apply for 10 courses, or, for that matter, to every university in the country?
Even more anomalous is the cosy little arrangement whereby a high-flying applicant has to choose between Oxford and Cambridge. The system simply will not allow an application to both, unless, apparently, you are a would-be organ scholar. Again, it is easy to see why Oxford and Cambridge like it, but really, there are lots of things in life one would like but can't have. Shouldn't our membership of the EU rule out this sort of cartel?
Despite Ucas's valiant but limited attempts, the admissions system is still stacked in favour of the university sector's convenience. And, to paraphrase Rousseau, the use we make of this convenience shows you how undeserving we are to have it.
As last week's white paper on higher education acknowledges, the admissions system is ripe for reform, although, as the white paper also demonstrates, reform can be for the worse as well as for the better. Here, the way to go is to change the power relationship so that the candidates make the final and most important decision. We could set up "post-qualification admissions" so that each candidate is given a national rank ordering on the basis of their exam results, test scores and other relevant factors. Universities can set out their minimum pre-requisites for each course in terms of subjects previously studied and necessary level of achievement. Then the applicant coming first on the national list has first pick of university and course, subject to meeting the special conditions, and then we go down the list until we run out of places.
Yes, I know this could be problematic for art school and so on, but we could work round that. And it would take a lot of effort to get the scoring right, if it were even possible. But a lot of arbitrary factors – such as whether your application arrived on the admissions tutor's desk on a sunny day, or whether you had brushed your teeth before interview – would disappear. And we might even find that we are compliant with competition law.
Years ago, if this had been suggested to me, I would have been appalled. The only way we could tell whether someone was suitable for my subject, I would have said with great confidence and authority, is by interviewing them. But increasingly I came to think that essentially an interview tests preparedness for interview. That tells you something, but not everything, and certainly not the main thing. I started meeting people I personally had rejected as undergraduates who had excelled elsewhere and gone on to do postgraduate work, and even to academic posts.
How can we tell whether the current system really selects the best candidates? Only by tracing the equally well qualified applicants we reject and see what happened to them. But of course, no university has access to that information. And even if we did, it would be hard to know how to interpret the figures.
For a while I have had the view that the undergraduate admissions system is a lottery masquerading as forensic science. But if it is a lottery, why not make it a fairer one, and, to declare my own interest, one that will be a lot less work for academics and university administrators?
• Jonathan Wolff is professor of philosophy at University College London. His column appears monthly | {
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How we design a new report at GitPrime
February 03, 2016
Sometimes we’re asked how we build new reports or get the data to create them, so I thought I’d share my perspective on the process.
Creating a new report at GitPrime usually starts with customer request that gets fleshed out into a typical user story. Or, alternatively, our CEO Travis says, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could see from the data…”
My background is in data analytics, not in software engineering. This can be an advantage because I have no preconceived ideas about the data we’re looking, and no way to bias the results we find.
Getting started
Once we have a report concept, I use several sample repos, then work in RStudio to break, sort, and reconfigure the raw data into files and csv worksheets that allow me to look at work patterns of each engineer. The data stays anonymized, insulated this work from any specifics about the developers themselves. With these files I’ll take averages, percentages, and multiply to piece together what happened in the project over the last six months.
Working with the data (but without the story), I’ll try to recreate what happened and discover key metrics that help me learn about a particular team. Management questions guide the analysis: Are people are rewriting a large percentage of their own code? Is this person writing enough code to keep up with the pace of the project and team?
I use a variety of tools including Excel, RStudio, and good old fashioned whiteboard or pen & paper to try to tease out discoveries, ideas, and problems.
At this stage, I may talk with an engineer on one of the teams in our research betas to learn a bit more about the codebase to see how the data we’ve found matches to their perception of the project’s timeline. This is where we put any discoveries into context, making sure that our hypotheses about the data map to the boots-on-the ground view of actual engineering work.
Questioning our assumptions
At each step, I’ll take a step back and speculate why a particular engineer is either rising above or missing expectations. Have they been given an unclear assignment? Are they nearing the end of a project? Am I oversimplifying the question? These then get refined into algorithms that drive our data visualizations, and highlight if a developer is following a trend or if they are falling into some discernible work pattern.
Often a metric that we’ve focused on measures one aspect of development — commit throughput, net productivity, or work focus — and only tells a partial story. There are nuances to be learned and considered. For example someone that specializes in fixing bugs writes fewer lines per commit, but through the process of looking at how many commits were being written we can see how strong and important that developer really is.
The most challenging aspect of working with data about the development process are the large values that skew the entire data set. What makes this even more challenging is taking into account the context for what constitutes an outlier: this notion is inherently developer, project, and team specific. Is this huge commit a library import, or did that person actually check in something massive that they wrote? This process of looking for the story within the data helps sort the signal from the noise as these anomalous values starts to make sense. This then informs the next question that we want to derive from the data.
Seeing what sticks
After many notes, worksheets, and files I present my findings to the Product leads to see if the story that I was able to tell helps to solve some of the operational challenges we hear about from our customers.
If theres a match, we sketch out presentation ideas on a whiteboard or with a sharpie, aiming for a rough version of an interface that will highlight the most critical data. We’ll typically build a low-fidelity version of this in Balsamiq to evaluate flows, transitions and see how it feels.
If the idea is worth pursuing further, we then create a high-fidelity version of final comps in Sketch, often followed by a realistic clickable prototype in InVision. When that’s ready, we socialize this with some of our key customers for feedback. If it passes the user test, we’ve got a winner! The result will be fully specced, including all report functionality, complex math, visual design, and careful consideration to any edge cases that need to be handled.
Maybe 20% of the ideas we explore ever see the light of day. Some are false paths and get discarded. Others seem like partial concepts waiting to be incorporated into a larger breakthrough. A few are moderate enhancements and added to the backlog. The exceptional ones rise to the top of the queue for an upcoming release. It can be painful to throw away weeks of work, but we know the effort isn’t truly wasted: it’s all part of the process to build the most useful, powerful reporting ever for software teams.
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THE CASE FOR ELIMINATING STATE INCOME TAX: An analysis conducted for the American Legislative Exchange Council found that in the past ten years, 62 percent of all new jobs created in America were created in the nine states that have no state income tax - even though those states account for only 20 percent of the nation's population. Most states with no income tax compensate for lost revenue by raising and broadening their sales tax while ensuring low-income folks are protected by exempting food, medicine and utilities from sales tax and by providing tax rebates for low-income families so their total tax costs don't increase. It isn't a coincidence that the strong-economy, no-income tax states tend to be Republican dominated while the economy-suffering, job-killing states with high income tax rates are dominated by Democrats and their labor union supporters.
DEEPWATER WIND FEES: Deepwater Wind, the company that plans to build a wind farm off Block Island, is asking the Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) to waive its application fee of $700,000. Our General Assembly has already passed legislation that will greatly reduce Deepwater's operating costs by forcing National Grid to purchase electricity from Deepwater at a rate far above fair market value, a half billion dollar cost National Grid will pass on to all of us. Waiving the application fee would be another instance of our state government "picking winners and losers" instead of allowing businesses to succeed or fail on their merits in accordance with the proven success of the Darwinian free enterprise model. Beleaguered ratepayers to CRMC: Don’t waive the fee!
GENESIS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROBLEM: The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial last week, reminded us of what caused illegal immigration to become such a problem in the first place. Few remember the Bracero Program that was so successful in the 1950's. It allowed the legal flow of labor back and forth across the border to accommodate seasonal employment needs in the U.S. In those days, Mexicans who crossed the border for temporary work actually went back to Mexico when the work ended. It was a legal process that was monitored and effective. Unfortunately, big labor unions lobbied Congress to kill the program in the 1960s. After that, Mexicans had to cross the border illegally for seasonal work – and they stayed when the work was over. We now have 11 million of them.
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The Toronto International Film Festival: A report at the halfway point
Wednesday
Sep 13, 2017 at 11:28 AMSep 13, 2017 at 11:30 AM
Ed Symkus More Content Now
The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is still going strong, but this annual festivalgoer ran out of stamina on Day 6, winging it back home to start transcribing all of the interviews I nabbed and trying to make out the often-undecipherable notes I took in big dark rooms, watching movie after movie.
The final count for this year was 12 films (it should’ve been 14, but the critics screening for “Darkest Hour” had so much buzz, all seats were grabbed and more than 100 of us were turned away, and it was impossible to find a ticket for the even hotter, mystery-shrouded Louis C.K. film “I Love You, Daddy.”
But that’s OK; I was kept pretty darn busy. Along with those movies, I had both one-on-one and press conference interviews with ... OK, truth be told, I lost track of who and how many. But they ranged from George Clooney, who directed “Suburbicon,” to Eric Clapton, there to chat about the new documentary on his life and career. That said, here are some highlights and lowlights of what I went through at this year’s TIFF, my 14th in a row.
Location! Location! Location! My small, cheap hotel — full name: The Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar — is a five-minute walk from the multi-screen Scotiabank Theatre, where most critics screenings are held each day, starting at 8:30 a.m. It takes only an additional two minutes to make it to TIFF Central, where there are press conferences, a media lounge (computers, free lunches, and endless urns of coffee), and more screenings.
I’m going to be vague about most of the films I saw, saving that for an upcoming end-of-festival wrap-up of brief reviews. But I will admit that my first one, on the evening before the festival officially began, was “Downsizing,” an enjoyable if somewhat freaky science-fiction comedy starring Matt Damon. Other early viewings were of a drama focusing on a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing, and a period piece, set around 1900, involving Queen Victoria’s unconventional friendship with a much-younger gentleman from India.
My first couple of days were all movies, all the time, as no interviews had been scheduled till Day 3. I caught a Japanese film about a middle-aged woman who takes on a second identity — all in Japanese, with subtitles, until out of the blue, Josh Hartnett shows up, playing an English teacher in Japan. Then there was the newest film from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, who gave us “The Lobster” a couple of years back. And if you thought “The Lobster” was weird, wait till you see this one. Then it was “Suburbicon,” another one with Matt Damon in the lead. But while “Downsizing” was light and bubbly (with some serious emotional issues mixed in), this one, directed by Mr. Clooney and, unknown to me at the time, written by Joel and Ethan Coen, featured the darkest and nastiest style of “humor” imaginable.
With something like 230 or so features being offered, at moviehouses all over town, I attended both critics and public screenings. Because it’s such a popular event, there are always long lines to get in. And there’s always fascinating conversation between movie-loving total strangers while waiting in those lines. There’s the standby, “What have you seen so far?” I heard someone, two lines over from me, say, incredulously, “That’s the most ridiculous concept I’ve ever heard!” But I never caught the title. During my wait to see the Clapton documentary, I had a chat with a fellow from Australia that ranged from what was the best year for the Fender Stratocaster guitar to the history of Spaghetti Westerns.
Sitting at lunch during a break, I spoke with a gent from Liverpool at the next table, who told me his teenage son was just accepted to film school, and that he was he was so happy, he was “like a puppy with three tails.” I told him I’d never heard that expression, so he explained: “One to wag, one to chase, one to look at.” TIFF expands your knowledge in many ways.
I caught screenwriter Mike White’s new film, “Brad’s Status,” only the second one he’s also directed, I then interviewed Mr. White (cool guy), and went to a screening of what turned out to be my fest fave, “I, Tonya,” an oddball, joyfully irreverent spin on the story of ice skater Tonya Harding.
Just before the lights went down for a dramatic biopic on the man who created Wonder Woman, there was more talk, this time right in the cinema, where one extremely loud, incredibly obnoxious know-it-all American was expounding from his seat about the endings of every film he’d seen so far. But we were in Canada, where everyone is polite, so no one stopped him.
That night, at the Rex, where my room was situated right above the club, I nodded off to the very cool sounds of the Tony Monaco Organ Trio, who you should go see if they come to your town.
Up in the morning, time only for toast and coffee, off to interview both a legendary British director (he made “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “Florence Foster Jenkins”) and then a British stand-up comic and actor who’s as well known for his fast-talking, historical-political-pop culture routines as he is for his predilection for crossdressing.
More movies! A 4 p.m. cocktail party! Journeys back and forth to different cinemas (for screenings) and hotels (for interviews), on foot, in cabs, by subway. More movies. A chat during a 90-minute wait in a line (something went wrong at the previous screening) with a Toronto-based CPA about the difference in penalties for late tax payments in Canada and America (I really did learn a lot at TIFF).
I walked into a restaurant where I had dined exactly one year earlier. A waiter came up to me and said,”Welcome back! I really want to thank you for recommending ‘Nocturnal Animals’ and ‘The Belko Experiment’ from last year’s fest.” I guess I have one of those faces.
One more interview, with the man who made the creepy “Nightcrawler” and has now made a social justice-themed film with Denzel Washington. And one more screening, of the new John Woo film: A real throwback to his ultra-violent gun-centric movies. Alas, I was so wiped out, I nodded off again, this time right in my seat. When I awoke, the guy next to me said I was out for only about 10 minutes, but I missed four or five shootouts.
Yeah, it was time to go home. Stay tuned for those reviews in a few days.— Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Jaffna’s GCE exam qualifying rate said among lowest in Sri Lanka
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2003, 12:18 GMT]“The percentage of students who pass the General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams in the northeast is lower than in the other parts of the country. Among the 30 Educational Districts in Sri Lanka, the percentage was lowest in Jaffna until recently. However, the district has now managed to move up to the 28th-27th place ”, said Mr. S. Mahalingam, Provincial Director of Education addressing the annual prize giving function of the Vincent Girl’s High School in Batticaloa Tuesday. Students in Sri Lanka have to qualify the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Level exams to enter universities.
Mr. Mahalingam addressing the function
Addressing the function, Mr. E. Kouslalyan, the head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa Ampara district, said: “Education is greatly valued in Tamil culture. Our traditions inculcate dedication and respect for learning. There is an insidious effort today to destroy this heritage. Some private TV stations are telecasting crass programs and soap operas aimed at ruining our children’s commitment to educational and our cultural values. We, the Liberation Tigers, give the foremost place to education in all our activities and programs”.
“Intellectuals and educationist should take a keen interest to prevent the destruction of our heritage of learning with a view to building a better society in the future. Our students and their should also show greater commitment to education and learning”, Mr. Kousalyan said.
Mr. Kousalyan giving a prize
Tamil educationists lament that growing addition to base TV programs and soaps among middle classes, particularly in the Sri Lanka army controlled parts of the northeast and in Colombo, is seriously impeding children’s interest in reading and learning at home. The Tamil TV station, ‘Shakthi TV’, has come in for particular criticism for telecasting a wide range of Tamil feature films, soap operas and entertainment programs imported from South India during after school hours.
The principal of the school, Ms. Subha Chakaravarthy, presided at the prize giving.
“Great strides have been made in the fields of education and economy in many parts of the world. We have to bring our systems of learning on par with such advances. This cannot be done by institutional means alone. Parents too have to make important contributions to help school and the system of education to make such progress”, said Mr. Mahalingam.
The Vincent Girl’s High School in Batticaloa town was founded in 1820. | {
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Bambach Specialised & Industrial Cables
Bambach Cables, founded in 1936, is the oldest manufacturer of copper cables in Australia. Its products are of extremely high quality and meet or exceed all relevant Australian Standards. Bambach offers a full range of signalling cables, power cables, high temperature flexes and braids. It is constantly working with customers to improve cable designs and reduce cost. Bambach is at the forefront of railway signalling cable innovation in Australia. Cable types supplied: Signal & Power Multicore Control, Axle Counter, ATMS & ETMS, Microlok, Traction & Bonding, Level Crossing, Switch Board, Station & Bungalow, Earthing, Lighting & Warning, Rolling Stock. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Newegg.com - A great place to buy computers, computer parts, electronics, software, accessories, and DVDs online. With great prices, fast shipping, and top-rated customer service - once you know, you Newegg.
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Overnight protection is the name of the game for this humidifier from Kaz. This flat, square design fits beautifully in a small nursery. It will provide clean, moist air, especially needed for small newborns.
The 1 gallon water bowl is easily filled with a pitcher. No more carting the entire unit and splashing around in the sink, trying to get it full. Less wet mess! The filter removes common allergens, cleaning and freshening the air. Get rid of noxious odors and fumes, filtering out the smoke, especially!
Affordable, hard-working and yet quiet, this is a great little humidifier for small areas, such as a nursery or office. Avoid all those dry dangers that dry sinuses and throats can lead to! Get this delightful Humidifier from Kaz and breathe easily!
Safe and Quiet The Kaz HealthMist 4100 features revolutionary cyclone technology to produce a cool mist for safe and quiet operation.
Air-Cleaning Filter Included The exclusive DynaFilter Air Cleaning filter removes dust, pollen, odors and tobacco smoke from room air before it is moisturized.
Performance
Electrical Ratings
Power Consumption
60 Watts
Additional Information
Color
Gray/White
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Dimension
23.75 x 0 x 23.63 inches
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts
2 years limited
Labor
2 years limited
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Thursday, October 14, 2010
Story of the Chilean Miners
On August 5th,2010, 33 miners were trapped in a mine due to a wall collapse in San Jose,Chile. All of them were feared dead since, incidents like this have a knack of ending on the wrong side. Rescue workers started searching for signs of life almost immediately but a fresh collapse on August 7th forced them to temporarily suspend work. Then, on August 9th, the Chilean president appealed to Peru,USA and Canada to provide them the technology(if any) and expertise required to help rescue the trapped miners. NASA took the baton and willingly gave them the technical expertise they needed.
The first break-through came a full 17 days after the collapse through relentless work from the Chilean rescue team as well as NASA. It was 'hope' that kept them going. On August, 22nd, they finished drilling a hole to the closest miner's chamber more than 2000 feet below the earth's crust. All of the 33 miners were alive and the world rejoiced. It was almost a miracle because these 33 miners managed to survive 17 days!! on food meant for 48 hours and a pint of water.
Though the world rejoiced, the rescue team was still at full steam. They knew that they still had to rescue them. Through the 2000ft long hole that they'd drilled, they started sending emergency supplies to them. It took the rescue team 7 days, to plan the rescue mission. Finally, on the 30th of August, the rescue team started preliminary work to free the miners. A 31 ton drill bore a 'pilot hole' through 50 feet of solid rock. Later, the drill was fitted with larger bits in an attempt to expand the hole.
Initial reports suggested that the rescue mission would take atleast 6 months. This one bit of news was conveniently hidden from the miners and I second that decision. Spending 6 months underground with tons and tons of rock over your head that can fall anytime isn't exactly a nice thought to have.
The whole of September was spent on creating, devising and executing plans to rescue the miners.
The first 11 days of October too passed in similar fashion until.....
October 12th.
The rescuers started the final phase of the operation. The very last stage. An escape capsule named "Fenix" was sent to the miner's chamber through the hole that was drilled. The capsule was sent down to the miner's chamber and one-by-one the miners started coming up from the clutches of the 'underworld'. All of the 33 miners came up in the next 22 hours and once the last miner was out, very much alive and kicking, the whole world erupted in joy and tears happy that one of their kind had been saved. That's pure humanity and even I felt a tingle of joy in my heart when I saw that moment.
To me, this rescue attempt looked similar to the one in India, when some boy called 'prince' fell into an empty borewell and then there was this big rescue attempt by the army to bring him back to the surface.However, the rescue attempt in Chile was far more 'sophisticated' than the Indian and one and far more lives were at stake.
Some Americans contrasted it with the Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, stating that the American government must learn something from this rescue attempt, how the Chileans have shown the world what leadership and crisis management is all about.
However, personally I was simply amazed by this story. I admire the resilience,courage,determination and presence of mind these miners have shown.I can hardly think of being trapped for a day without access to anything leave alone 2 months.I find myself agreeing with one miner who had said " I have been with God and Devil". | {
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By Tim Draut|September 12, 2012|Comments Off on Animal Collective performing two nights at The Fox Theater
In support of their highly anticipated new album Centipede Hz, Animal Collective is touring the U.S. and Europe, including two consecutive nights scheduled at The Fox Theater in Oakland. All four members will be performing together on September 21st and 22nd, with support from Micachu and the Shapes.
Centipede Hz received mixed reviews as the noisier, more challenging follow-up to 2009's Merriweather Post Pavilion. The album also marks the return of founding member Deakin (Josh Dibb), who sat out during the production of MPP. Centipede Hz, released September 4th on Domino Records, features the single "Today's Supernatural", which was given the video treatment from frequent collaborator Danny Perez. Watch the Burning Man-appropriate video below, courtesy of the band's label.
The quartet also recently recorded a new, non-album track called "Crimson" live on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio program. Listen to the track below, via KCRW's SoundCloud.
Animal Collective will more than likely debut additional new songs on their current tour, as the band often does. Early versions of several Centipede Hztracks were performed the last time the band was in the Bay Area, on April 13, 2011 at Great American Music Hall.
Micachu and the Shapes — the experimental pop outfit out of the UK — will be opening for Animal Collective both nights at The Fox. Mica Levi's second album Never was released earlier this summer and can be streamed in its entirety here.
Catch both bands on September 21st and 22nd, 2012 at The Fox. As of now, tickets are still available.
Founded in 2006, The Bay Bridged is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization utilizing new media and presenting live events to support the San Francisco Bay Area’s indie rock, folk, and pop music communities. Our mission is to maintain a dedicated public education campaign to encourage public appreciation of San Francisco Bay Area independent music and to provide unique opportunities for local musicians to perform, receive exposure, collaborate,
and create original works.
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Didn't get what you wanted this Valentine's Day? Here's a new EP from @RayanaJay to you. https://t.co/Hd3FqRkZT7 | {
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idk.....if u remeber me^^ but i hope u didnt forget me *sobs a little** been so long since i last logged in hehe.....but im back...just wanted to check ur life spand on here lawl..jk........just wats up with u and stuff X) kk.........ttyl or sometime^^
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Founded in 2001 as the first anime & manga recommendation database.
Create lists for what you've seen & read, watch over 40,000 legal streaming episodes online via
Crunchyroll, Hulu & Viki, and meet other anime fans just like you. | {
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“I was a rambler, but I don’t remember why” – so goes the chorus of the first song on Hank Topless’ “It’s So December,” an album that looks at life with a bit of weariness, plenty of humor and a sharp eye for honest details.
Topless plays classic country, with some blues around the edges, with skilled guitar playing and a rich voice that rings with a bit of Willie Nelson.
Topless doesn’t so much stray from the conventions of country music as he does find new ways to make those same old traditions sing again. This is country music fresh for 2012, with sly, occasionally twisted songwriting. Recorded at Loveland Studio with Nathan Sabatino and Thomas Beach, “It’s So December” is nine songs in 32 minutes, featuring blues harp from Kevin Bowman, mandolin from Donny Russell and fiddle from Phil Stevens.
Opener “Remember Why” sets the tone perfectly; twangy guitar leading the way on a tale of strange people, old flames and the years of traveling that all just blend together into one question – “Can I untangle places in my lonely mind?”
Next up is the heartbreaking “Waitress,” a remarkable character sketch of a woman who “spends every Friday night in sensible shoes,” living a life stripped of glamour, planted in repetition, stuck with dreams that are always more than just a few more bar shifts away. “Midnight don’t bring no revelations,” Topless sings, relating the fantasies of escape that are just about all she has left.
The duo of “Mockingbird Blues” and “Just For The Record” anchor the album’s back half, and taken together, the songs are a beautiful reminder from Topless that life has darkness and light, desire and mistakes, sadness and sweetness. And sometimes, the way through is the way of the mockingbird: “Don’t matter if you sing the truth or if you sing a lie.”
About Eric
Eric Swedlund is a writer, photographer and editor living in Tucson, Arizona. His music writing has appeared regularly in the Tucson Weekly, Phoenix New Times, East Bay Express, The Rumpus and Souciant Magazine. | {
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Our page for Philips museum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, is not yet administrated by a Radiomuseum.org member. Please write to us about your experience with this museum, for corrections of our data or sending photos by using the Contact Form to the Museum Finder.
Location / Directions
N51.439180° E5.475590°
N51°26.35080' E5°28.53540'
N51°26'21.0480" E5°28'32.1240"
The Philips Museum is situated in the heart of Eindhoven, at the historic site where Gerard Philips first started out in 1891. Here you can see how a small manufacturer of incandescent lamps developed into a leading global company. You will find the Philips Museum in an easily accessible location in the center of Eindhoven.
The Philips Museum is served by excellent public transport links:
The Philips Museum is just a 10-minute walk from the central railway station in Eindhoven. There is also a good bus service to the museum; alight at the ‘Piazza’ or ‘Vrijstraat’ stop.
Visit the old factory where Gerard Philips developed the first Philips incandescent lamp more than a century ago or play Mission Eureka, an educational interactive iPad tour of Philips’ major inventions from when the company was first founded in 1891 right up to the innovations of the future.
The Philips museum tells the story about meaningful innovation and ambitious enterprise of the company focused on improving people’s lives. Philips has realized the museum because we take pride in the history of our company and it provides inspiration for the future of our company. The museum enables Philips to show the origins and evolution of our global company and to take a look to the future.
The past, present and future of a global company
The permanent exhibition gives you a fascinating insight into how Philips has developed from a small incandescent lamp manufacturer into a major, leading global company – from 1891 when the company was first founded right up to and including the innovations of the future. With the help of surprising stories and historic products, the exhibition gives you a real insight into the impact Philips has on people’s lives.
Radiomuseum.org presents here one of the many museum pages. We try to bring data for your direct information about all that is relevant. In the list (link above right) you find the complete listing of museums related to "Radio & Co." we have information of. Please help us to be complete and up to date by using the contact form above. | {
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2 freed Canadians unable to leave Egypt
TORONTO (AP) — Two Canadians released from an Egyptian prison after being held without charges since mid-August were barred from flying out of the country on Sunday, Cairo airport officials said.
John Greyson, a Toronto filmmaker and York University professor, and Tarek Loubani, a physician from London, Ontario, had checked in for a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, but were prevented from boarding the plane after their names appeared on a “stop-list” issued by prosecutors, the airport officials said.
The two Canadians retrieved their luggage and were free to leave the airport, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
The Canadian Foreign Affairs department said Greyson and Loubani were released from an Egyptian prison on Sunday morning.
Greyson’s sister, Cecilia, told The Associated Press that Canadian consular officials were dealing with what she called “red tape” so they could begin their trip back to Canada.
“Until they are safely back in Canada we are just going to be a little bit on edge,” she said. “We’ve had contact with them throughout the day today. We’re relieved they are out of prison. We’re immensely encouraged by that.”
She said the two are in a safe and secure location waiting patiently to get out. They have been in regular contact via phone and email, she said.
She said the the pair were surprised when a guard swung open their cell door and led them to freedom because they had no clue that they were being released.
“They just got a knock on the cell door and they were just sort of shuffled out of the cell,” she said. “He actually thought they were changing cells or going to a different prison.”
Adria Minsky, a spokeswoman for Lynne Yelich, a junior minister responsible for consular affairs, said in an emailed statement that they were “aware of these reports” that the Canadians were not allowed on their flight and said “Canadian embassy officials continue to provide consular assistance to facilitate their departure from Egypt.”
“We look forward to seeing these two Canadians return home shortly,” Minsky said.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper welcomed the news of their release, issuing a statement from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur where he’s continuing a visit aimed at strengthening ties with that Southeast Asian nation.
“The government of Canada has obviously been pushing for that and welcomes this decision by the government of Egypt and we look forward to seeing these two Canadian citizens return home in the not too distant future.”
Loubani and Greyson got caught up in the unrest surrounding the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in a coup. They had been planning to travel to Palestinian-ruled Gaza, where Loubani was to teach emergency room medicine and Greyson was considering producing a documentary.
The pair had been held without charges since Aug. 16 when they were arrested while observing a pro-Morsi demonstration in Cairo in which the Canadians said they saw at least 50 protesters killed.
The two Canadians said Loubani heeded a call for a doctor and began treating wounded demonstrators while Greyson recorded the unrest on video. They said they were arrested and beaten after leaving the scene of the protests.
The pair released a statement from prison last month saying they were beaten and subjected to degrading treatment in the Egyptian prison. They said they spent most of the time crammed with other inmates in a filthy, cockroach-infested prison cell.
The pair staged a 16-day hunger strike to try to pressure Egyptian officials to release them, but started eating food again last week.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird had warned Egypt that their detention was a significant threat to relations between the two countries.
“Minister Baird and I were in contact with senior Egyptian officials on numerous occasions concerning this case, and the Embassy of Canada to Egypt worked tirelessly to secure their release,” Yelich said in her statement.
Cecilia Greyson said she thinks the stepped up pressure and the threat that it would harm relations helped win their release. | {
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The Central Pavilion is the aim of this 56° International Exhibition in
Venice curated by Okwui Enwezor. By three filters (Garden of Disorder, Liveness:
On Epic Duration and Reading Capital)
overlapped on an historic perspective the curator has tried to find an answer
to the complex point of how art – in a wide sense – can give a sense to the
global turmoil of our time. | {
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it has been noted that too many Members are posting messages in the General Chat area instead of the correct Forums.
Any messages posted in the General Chat area that are not General Chat will be deleted without warning and offenders may recieve warning points if repeated instances are seen from that Member.
There are plenty of different Club areas that encompass 99% of Ford related posts, please select and use the correct one.
If anyone is not sure of which area to post something then feel free to P/M myself or other Senior Staff for guidance.
The Moderating Staff are having to spend far too much time chasing this problem instead of maintaining the other areas of the forum.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FIESTA-08-11-MK7-BUMPER-GRILLE-GRILL-CENTER-SPORT-NEW-/190864756379?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c706d0e9b I can't believe there has been over 400 sold for this price, usually when I've came across them they are usually over £60/£70 at the least. Has anyone actually purchased one? If so how easy is it to fit?
I searched and came across one or two threads regarding this knocking noise on Fiestas but it was from 2012 or beforehand. Anyhow recently I've noticed this knocking noise from the steering column whilst turning the steering wheel at low speeds and/or standing still. Apparently back in 2010 it was common and there was even a TSB because of it and the conclusion was that there was missing lubricant at the sliding surfaces between the male and female tubes of the lower steering shaft. This may well be the problem I'm having, or it may not be but it seems quite likely that it is. After I did a bit of research I went to Ford and notified them of the problem and they said they hadn't came across that problem before even after I explained it to them. Worst of all my Fiesta is only over 1 year old so it's still under warranty but surely it should be covered as it isn't exactly wear and tear?! Any advice would be appreciated.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FIESTA-08-11-MK7-BUMPER-GRILLE-GRILL-CENTER-SPORT-NEW-/190864756379?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c706d0e9b Anyone else came across this on Ebay? Only £28, there has to be a catch to it. Surely.
Does anyone own a K&M Air Filter here? If so, what effect did it have on your car? Whether it's performance, acceleration, noise? I purchased one and I've noticed a slight difference but despite that the fuel consumption is considerably less than what it was.
Although this may not be the exact arm rest you're looking for it gives you a rough idea on how difficult it is to fit and also what you all need to carry out the task. In my opinion it looks rather easy to fit, despite that the arm rest displayed in the video looks rather ugly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzaI9Ch-us | {
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Nose and Sinus
Nose and Sinus
Common nose/sinus conditions we treat
Congenital and acquired conditions
We work with children who were born with a nose or sinus problem (sometimes called a congenital condition) or who have a nasal condition that has developed over time (an acquired condition).
We can correct masses in the nose and sinuses.
Nose bleeds
The nose is an area of the body that contains many tiny blood vessels (or arterioles) that can break easily. Nosebleeds can occur at any age but are most common in young children and older adults.
Nosebleeds are divided into two types, depending on whether the bleeding is coming from the front or back of the nose. Most nosebleeds are easily treated medically. However, some nosebleeds may represent a bleeding disorder or be particularly difficult to treat without surgery.
Nasal obstruction
Nasal congestion, stuffiness, or obstruction to nasal breathing is one of the oldest and most common human complaints. For some, it may only be a nuisance; for others, nasal congestion can be a source of considerable discomfort. Medical writers have established four main causes of nasal obstruction: infection, structural abnormalities, allergic, and nonallergic (vasomotor) rhinitis. Children often have a combination of these factors, which vary from person to person.
Sinusitis
Acute bacterial sinusitis is an infection of the sinus cavities caused by bacteria. It usually is preceded by a cold, allergy attack, or irritation by environmental pollutants.
Normally, mucus collecting in the sinuses drains into the nasal passages. When you have a cold or allergy attack, your sinuses become inflamed and are unable to drain. This can lead to congestion and infection.
Your doctor will diagnose acute sinusitis if you have up to four weeks of purulent (infected) nasal drainage accompanied by nasal obstruction, facial pain/pressure/fullness or both. The sinus infection is likely bacterial if it persists for 10 days or longer or if the symptoms worsen after an initial improvement.
Skull base lesions
Children's Mercy is fortunate to have specialists with expertise in treating skull base lesions. These ENT providers work closely with our neurosurgeons to find the best course of treatment for children with skull base tumors. | {
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
} |
I've written about Brazil pre-Lula and post-Lula and spent the last five years covering all aspects of the country for Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal and Barron's. Meanwhile, for an undetermined amount of time, and with a little help from my friends, I will be parachuting primarily into Brazil, Russia, India and China. But will also be on the look out for interesting business stories and investing ideas throughout the emerging markets.
Is Brazil A Fail?
Brazil has seen its better days. But for Brazilians, the good news is, they've seen much much worse.
Is Brazil’s economy a fail?
Well, for starters, higher incomes and 5.4% historically low unemployment suggests nothing of the sort. Brazil’s economy is growing nearly as much as the U.S., and without much stimulus.
But there are problems, at least with perception regarding what was once Latin America’s favorite, sexiest economy.
Admittedly, Brazil had a much better than average recovery after the 2008-2009 financial crisis, with both growth and investments coming in above average against its emerging market peers, notes Tony Volpon, head of emerging markets Americas for Nomura Securities in New York.
“This was due to two factors,” he says. “First, Brazil’s sensitivity to the huge improvement seen in China that greatly boosted the price of its commodity exports and the effects of the strong counter-cyclical policy response executed in 2009, with one eye fixed on the 2010 presidential elections.”
China spent trillions on stimulus when the U.S. economy crashed, driving up demand for Brazil’s key commodities, namely iron ore and soybeans. Then, in the last year of Workers’ Party president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Central Bank, marginally independent, kept interest rates artificially low. When he left office in 2011, his successor from the same party, Dilma Rousseff, was left with increasing inflationary pressures that new Central Bank leadership tried to tackle by using macroprudential measures that ultimately failed to deliver. Inflation rose. Interest rates were always behind the eight ball. With inflation like a runaway train, companies stopped investing.
“The reasons for this are many, but we would highlight the following sequence,” says Volpon, naming the effects of the policy tightening in 2011; the binding of supply-side growth constraints, especially full employment; the negative impact on business confidence and the highly interventionist policies pursued in 2012 like the intervention in the electricity sector that destroyed billions in shareholder value.
For instance, since Jan. 1, 2011, CemigCemig, one of Brazil’s most actively traded electric power ADRs in New York, is down a whopping 42%.
This year has seen a certain improvement in performance in corporate investments, but it remains to be seen whether this will have much momentum given that the only substantial change in economic policy has been to give the Central Bank greater freedom to hike interest rates. How this pans out in the 2014 election year is anybody’s guess, though it may be wiser to err on the side of rates not going as high as they could to fight inflation out of fear Dilma gets the boot. So far, Dilma has no serious challenger.
Brazil’s relative inflation performance has been consistently worse than its peers. The emerging market average is about 5%. Brazil is closer to 6%.
Higher inflation means higher costs for business and the general population, from food costs to education. For companies, inflation makes it harder for them to judge future prices or to price their goods and services. Inflation can get costly for companies who employ hedging strategies to lock in prices they might not have locked in if inflation was more predictable.
Granted, inflation goes up when the economy is hot. But Brazil’s inflation has been high even when GDP growth was low. This suggests that the growth/inflation trade off worsened in Brazil relative to its peers. One reason was supply-side constraints. The other reason was a worsening credibility gap at the Central Bank, something Volpon says occurred for his team at Nomura since the “surprise” August 2011 rate cut.
“Right now inflation performance is running relatively better than its peers, which is an encouraging signal even though actual inflation performance is being helped by repressed regulated prices,” Volpon said about electricity and gasoline prices, primarily. The government refuses to raise gasoline prices. PetrobrasPetrobras investors have been hoping for a price increase for around two years.
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Hi Ken, as usual I take an optimistic view. There a lot of factors at work that don’t appear in the official figures, primarily the black and grey economy here… from personal experience there is a lot of money flowing around the economy that isn’t counted in official numbers, a lot… There is a huge amount of cash payments and under-the-table business, especially amongst the Class C group. Also a lot of small businesses do work-for-work with other businesses.
It would be interesting to see an estimate of the black/grey economy integrated into the official figures to see what the economy is really doing…
Regarding easy of doing business. A policy announcement by Dilma that slipped through the news was a new online portal for opening and closing business in 5 days, based on the Singapore and New Zealand model. It’s planned for 2014 – before the election I imagine -.
I have a feeling the PT are going to refocus on the progressive urban middle class vote in the lead up to the 2014 elections. So I’d expect a few bones thrown in that direction over the next year…
the fundamentals for a developed country are NOT THERE. and everyone feels it. access to (ie cost) things (ie things) is one of the most difficult in the world. as a result, the competitiveness of the country and its people are falling behind.
but its this robustly obstinate attitude and the lazy ability to ignore the truth that is most prevalent in the country, and which keeps brazil from really flying.
the injustices, and the dinosauric thinking are too much for me to ignore.
so the big (and very simple) warning to anyone dealing with brazil is this: you have to check twice before believing the charm.
I spend a lot of time in Brazil, and the “on the ground” inflation numbers are significantly higher than what the government reports. Speak to any Brazilian or expat, inflation ain’t no 6%. Most Brazilians live in and around the big cities, and at R7000 per square meter, not affordable, even if it’s only a 50 sq mt box. Smart money left Brazil in 2009, going to USA in form of real estate cash purchases. We are talking multi million dollar cash purchases. On a buying power basis, dollar would need to be 4:1 for parity. Brazil had the opportunity to compete with China for global manufacturing, instead they chose to protect local business, therefore no incentive to improve quality and cost. Fat and happy. Brazilians used to say if USA catches a cold, we get the flu. Now they say, if China catches a cold, we get the flu. Sad.
Scott, I would say that Brazil has little choice but to maintain its protectionist policies. Protectionism is highly addictive to any economy, – hello European Common Agricultural policy or US farmer Subsidies, or even China – Brazil is still a developing economy and a sudden shock by reducing tariffs would result in mass unemployment within the manufacturing sector. The service sector simply isn’t mature enough to take up the slack and would collapse as its customer base melted away.
I realise free market economists and Freedman advocates detest the kind of policies that Brazil maintains, I’m no fan either, however Brazil’s number one problem is poverty, not cheap iPhones. Until there is a stable enough real middle class there is zero chance Brazil with “do a Russia” and use shock therapy. Brazil is a democracy, however dirty, and this would be unviable electorally and if implement result in massive social upheaval and possible something much worse than Brazil has now.
I don’t particularly enjoying paying a lot for average quality goods, or doing an annual shop in the US and lugging it back through the airport in Brasília, but until the wider economy is mature enough to handle a reduction in manufacturing jobs I’ll just have to wait because the alternative is much worse.
Luis, thank you for the thoughtful reply. Clearly you know more about your country than I, my opinions are that of an outsider. That being said, protectionism has been policy in Brazil for many years and unless the people demand it, will remain for many years to come. Those in power are not incentivized to change it. They can afford those trips to Miami, buy imported autos, grocery shop at Pao de Azucar. Like a heroin addict, the only way to stop is to go cold turkey. Here in the USA, we have addictions as well, and I believe that we need to take our medicine sooner than later. With the boom in Brazil, it would have been prime time to begin removing trade barriers so middle class people could begin to afford goods. That goes for proper infrastructure build out as well. Sure, building new roads and trains helps, but it has to become part of the way. As much as it hurts to have to have a set of plans approved by a zoning department, pay impact fees, etc., it makes for a better city and community. As you know, there has been a boom in building, a good thing, but at least in the city I frequent (Fortaleza), little attention to planning or infrastructure. Growth + poor planning, poor infrastructure, high taxation and high import tariffs = high cost of goods and services (i.e. inflation). You have to start somewhere. When Brazilians get really tired of buying a poorly built Celta for R30k, with a 12 month warranty, things will begin to change.
When I first came to Brazil, I invested my money in domestic financial products and received a monthly payment of 4-5% which I remember thinking was amazing. In reality the increase was more due to inflation than performance. I would argue that inflation has slowed since and the economy appears more stable today but, I completely agree, spending power here is abysmal. Take the hotel industry, for example. How can a country with comparatively such low wages generate a cost of 3 or 4 times the price of a better hotel room in the US? Is it taxes? Is it greed? Is it lack of demand? I’d love to know. | {
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China has warned the head of Norway's Nobel Institute not to award this year's Nobel peace prize to a jailed Chinese pro-democracy activist, saying that the move would risk damaging relations between Beijing and Oslo.
Liu Xiaobo was charged with 'inciting subversion of state power' and given 11 years in prisonPhoto: REUTERS
A campaign is growing inside and outside China for the award to be given to Liu Xiaobo, a dissident academic who was sentenced to 11 years in prison last Christmas for circulating a petition calling for greater democratic and legal rights in China.
Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel Institute, said the warning had been issued by Madame Fu Ying, China's deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to London, at a meeting at the Chinese embassy in Oslo.
"(Such a decision) would pull the wrong strings in relations between Norway and China, it would be seen as an unfriendly act," Mr Lundestad told the Norwegian news agency NTB, recalling Fu's comments at the meeting.
On Tuesday a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman reiterated the minister's warning, saying that awarding Mr Liu said that would send the wrong message.
"This person was sentenced to jail because he violated Chinese law," she told a news briefing in Beijing.
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"His actions are diametrically opposed to the aims of the Nobel prize. Mr Nobel's behest was that the Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to somebody who promoted peace between peoples, promoted international friendship and disarmament."
China's warning comes at a time when Oslo and Beijing are in the midst of trade negotiations that could see Norway exporting its expertise in offshore oil and gas drilling to China.
However, Mr Lundestad said that the secretive five-man peace prize committee would not be swayed by Chinese pressure. "China has come with warnings before, but they have no influence on the committee's work," he said.
The award is due to be announced on October 8.
China has been angered by the decisions of the Nobel committee in the past, as in 1989 when Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, won in the year of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Mr Liu, a 54-year-old former literature professor, circulated the Charter 08 petition calling for greater human rights and freedoms in China, echoing the Charter 77 issued by Czechoslovakian dissidents during the era of Soviet occupation.
Last week Vaclav Havel and several other key architects of Charter 77 wrote an open letter to the Nobel Committee urging it to honour Mr Liu and make him the first Chinese recipient of the award.
"In doing so, the Nobel Committee would signal both to Liu and to the Chinese government that many inside China and around the world stand in solidarity with him, and his unwavering vision of freedom and human rights for the 1. 3 billion people of China," they wrote.
Within China several petitions and open letters have been circulating informally on the internet calling for support for Mr Liu's stand to be recognised.
One open letter circulating from a retired professor of politics, said that the award would serve as a timely warning to China's leaders that they cannot afford to ignore human rights.
"International society urgently needs to remind the Chinese authority that it cannot destroy the constitution, ignore the rule of law and do whatever it likes to do," said the author. "To award Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Prize would be an authoritative and effective reminder as well as an indirect protest against what the authority has done." Another leading academic, He Weifang, a law professor who signed Charter 08 and was 'exiled' to a provincial university in the far western province of Xinjiang as a result, told *The Telegraph* he would be delighted if Mr Liu won the prize.
"Personally I think it is an excellent proposal. Xiaobo deserves it as a respected scholar. To make him the winner would also reflect well on committee. Last year the prize was been given to President Obama, which caused great controversy. I think if it goes to Xiaobo, there won't be much argument." | {
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March 7, 2017
T P
Every year Liquor.com comes out with their “Drink Here Now” list, a listing of the greatest, most distinctive bars. This year the list went global for the first time. We’re extremely honored to be included on their list of the top 263 bars in the world, chosen by some of the most knowledgeable, well-traveled people in the industry. | {
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News, stories and ideas from The Family Jewels
A gemstone is a precious stone. It is formed from a piece of mineral crystal cut and polished to make jewellery and other adornments. Gemstones need not be minerals only. There are certain rocks such as lapis lazuli and opal which are considered gemstones. They are used in making jewellery as well. Generally, gemstones are hard but some soft minerals are used in jewellery because of their aesthetic value. Indeed, gemstones are treasures of the earth.
Today, the most precious stones are diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Precious stones are rare, have high quality, very hard and are translucent with fine colors in their purest form.
Gemstones are not only used in jewellery and antiques, they have far more significant value.
Gemstones and Their Magical Healing Properties
Gemstones have metaphysical symbolism, healing properties and spiritual meaning. A gemstone can exhibit more than one healing property. These properties include:
1. Physical Health
Some gemstones can help with specific physical ailments by boosting your physical vitality, energy and healthy physical habits. E.g. amber, jade, jasper, onyx etc. The pink-hued rose quartz has heartache healing properties. It is associated with love and a soothing feeling for those who wear it. Furthermore, their quiet energy can promote healing for sufferers of anxiety and mood disorders and addictions. Some gemstones such as pearls have been used to treat digestive problems, fertility issues and heart problems. Moreover, it is believed to treat skin disorders such as rosacea.
Amber is used to treat headaches and stress.
Generally, gemstones can be used to treat a variety of ailments from heart problems to sleep disorders. Their calming properties makes them even more effective in treating anxiety disorders.
2. Emotional Healing
Emotional wounds from neglect, abuse or trauma can be treated by gemstones. They help you release feelings of guilt and shame and help you remember your self-worth. E.g. aragonite, chrysoprase, garnet etc. When worn around the neck, gemstones allow your heart to close up emotional wounds. They can be used as a message for someone going through divorce or a break up. More than closing wounds, gemstones boost self-confidence and protection from bad karma.
However, this doesn’t mean that they are a replacement for psychotherapy.
3. Purification
Gemstones help clear your aura when it is cluttered with thought. These thoughts may be no longer useful or yours in the first place. E.g. amber, amethyst, opal, obsidian, quartz etc. amber is known to promote cleanliness and purification to help bring illnesses out of the body. As a result, it alleviates pain enabling the wearer to heal.
Gemstones have shown promise in treating both physical and mental ailments. However, they should not be used as a complete substitute for medical forms of treatment and therapy.
When you have your healing gemstone:
wear it as a necklace or carry it in your pocket
place it in your environment
meditate while holding it
Gemstones do much more than give you a refined look. They heal your emotional and physical life to some extent. When the opportunity presents itself, get yourself a gemstone of some kind. It will uplift your moods and bring more joy and love into your life. | {
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Build your own computer beginning with this Intel Core i5 processor. Its 9MB of cache memory offers fast data retrieval for maximum efficiency, and the base frequency of 3.6GHz powers through demanding applications and programs. Switch between multiple tasks smoothly with this eighth-generation Intel Core i5 processor when you pair it with up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM.
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Construct a lightning-fast motherboard with this six-core Intel Core i7 processor. Its 12MB of cache provides fast data retrieval to speed up operations, and its low 65W power consumption keeps components cool. Crank this eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor up to its turbo frequency of 4.6GHz to run large programs.
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Construct a lightning-fast motherboard with this six-core Intel Core i7 processor. Its 12MB of cache provides fast data retrieval to speed up operations, and its low 65W power consumption keeps components cool. Crank this eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processor up to its turbo frequency of 4.6GHz to run large programs.
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Replace your existing CPU with this 65W AMD Ryzen 7 processor. It has 16 threads and eight cores that enable you to switch between tasks quickly, and its built-in cooler ensures hardware doesn't overheat while overclocking. This 3.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 processor has a 20MB cache for fast data access from the main memory bank.
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Edit video or game all day with the reliability of this AMD FX 6300 processor. Ideal for new builds or computer upgrades, this six-core processor supports everything from video editing to 3-D gaming. AMD Overdrive on this AMD FX 6300 processor lets you overclock without overheating, and this processor delivers the core processing you need without draining power.
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Transform your gaming rig with this AMD Ryzen 5 processor. It has four cores and eight threads for high-performance processing capability, and it's optimized for premium gaming applications, especially in 4K or virtual reality. This AMD Ryzen 5 processor has a base clock speed of 3.5GHz for quick responses to user inputs.
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Transform your gaming rig with this AMD Ryzen 5 processor. It has four cores and eight threads for high-performance processing capability, and it's optimized for premium gaming applications, especially in 4K or virtual reality. This AMD Ryzen 5 processor has a base clock speed of 3.5GHz for quick responses to user inputs.
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Increase productivity with this eighth-generation Intel Core i3 processor. Its low power consumption at 65W keeps motherboard components cool, and its 3.60GHz clock speed lets you multitask efficiently on each of the four cores. This Intel Core i3 processor supports up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM to meet future expansion needs.
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Increase productivity with this eighth-generation Intel Core i3 processor. Its low power consumption at 65W keeps motherboard components cool, and its 3.60GHz clock speed lets you multitask efficiently on each of the four cores. This Intel Core i3 processor supports up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM to meet future expansion needs. | {
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A blog consisting of interviews, research and opinions on baseball's past, present, and future.
Top 100 Baseball Blog
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Philadelphia Athletics' Connie Mack Prosecuted a Heckling Fan
Heckling has been a part of the baseball experience since
the earliest days. Some fans believe that paying for a ticket gives them a
right to razz players, both opposing and their own, if they feel it is
deserved. This is certainly not one of the more pleasant aspects of the game,
and one time Hall-of-Fame manager Connie Mack once decided he had enough and
had one particularly aggressive fan arrested for the negative impact he was
having on his Philadelphia Athletics.
The city of Philadelphia is well known in the sports world
for having some of the most hard-nosed fans. This reputation is supported by an
infamous
incident in 1968 when even Santa Claus was booed at a Philadelphia Eagles
football game. However, the origins for such behavior go back even further and
are highlighted by the case of Harry Donnelly and the Athletics.
Bill “Good
Time Bill” Lamar was a left-handed sweet- hitting outfielder. A .330 career
batting average in the minor leagues made him a valuable major league
commodity. Although he reached the big leagues in 1917 with the New York
Yankees at the age of 20, it wouldn’t be until 1924, when Mack traded for him
(also sending a reported
$30,000 in the deal—a princely sum for the time), that he became a regular,
hitting .330 in 87 games that year, and .356 in 138 games in 1925.
Unfortunately, Lamar did not turn into a star. He dropped
off to a .284 batting average in 1926 and was more of a platoon player in 1927.
It was that year that the outfielder seemingly fell out of favor with Mack. In
early June it was reported
that the team was trying to trade him to the Chicago White Sox for first
baseman Earl
Sheely, himself a former hitting star who had fallen on tough times.
Although Lamar was hitting .299 in 84 games, he was placed
on waivers on August 7, 1927. Reports
indicated the move was predicated by the player’s inability to follow team
training rules. This was borne out in his numbers, as he hit .337 during the
first two months of the season, spanning 42 games, but fell to just .252 the
rest of the way—over another 42 games, obviously losing playing time because of
his lack of production. Another theory as to what led to his downfall was the
incessant heckling, particularly by one Harry Donnelly.
Donnelly was a 26-year-old Philadelphia native who enjoyed
going to Athletics games and sitting in the left field stands, right behind
where Lamar played most often. He liked needling players in a loud voice that
was described as having the “resonance of a three-mile loud speaker,” but his
actions were generally considered
more offensive than funny. He was even kicked out of one 1926 game when umpire
George Hildebrand had ordered him escorted from Shibe Park.
History repeated itself again on August 10, 1927, when
umpire Brick Owens grew tired of Donnelly’s incessant baiting and stopped the
game to have police remove him from the park. After the game, the arbiter
explained he took such extreme action because he found the heckling so
objectionable. “The American League has always striven to make baseball a clean
game of rowdyism and one that ladies might attend without fear of hearing or
seeing anything objectionable… and when a fan goes beyond the pale of common decency
and shouts remarks that reek with filth and vileness, then it is time to
interfere. Baseball can be enjoyed without that sort of rooting and it can get
along without the type of man whose mouthings are full of oaths an indecencies.
I’ll have them run out of the park as fast as I can spot them.”
Despite the multiple run-ins over his actions, Donnelly
continued coming to games and apparently didn’t learn any lessons. On September
15th, he was up to his same schtick as the Athletics hosted the
Chicago White Sox, but this time Mack noticed and had police remove him from
the stadium and arrest him for disturbing the peace.
Mack, who had seen his players harassed by a number of fans
over the season decided enough was enough and went to court to pursue the charge
against Donnelly. Facing the judge, the manage testified
that “Yesterday, Mr. Donnelly rode third baseman Sammy Hale
until he had him so nervous he would have missed the ball had one been hit to
him. In this game an error might have meant defeat (Philadelphia did prevail
5-4 but it is interesting to note that Hale was removed after two at-bats
in favor of Chick
Galloway).
Continuing, Mack laid the blame for Lamar’s demise squarely
at the feet of Donnelly. “Lamar was one of the best outfielders I ever had. But
a group of fans, of which this man was the ringleader, kept riding him until he
wasn’t any good to me and I had to trade him away.
The hammer was truly dropped in Mack’s closing remarks, as
he told the judge, “It seems this young man pays his $1.10 to come and ride the
players. Why doesn’t he save it and meet them outside aft the game? We want him
to stay away from the park.”
Donnelly refuted
Mack’s charges, claiming that he didn’t heckle players but rather attended
games to cheer the team on to win. The judge, allegedly an Athletics fan
himself, sided with the manager and held Donnelly on $500 bail with the
additional threat that he would impose further sanctions if the young man was
cited again for “handing out raspberries.”
One can only surmise that the judgment was enough to have
Donnelly adjust his behavior, as no further record exists of him causing
trouble at Athletics games. Nevertheless, there are some important things to
note about the case:
The heckling may have gotten to Lamar but probably not in
the way that history remembers. With his decline being attributed to the
constant riding, the assumption is that he lost his confidence. However, he was
known for his temper (once suspended
for his role in a fist fight while with the Louisville Colonels) and may have
instead had a hard time concentrating because of how he was triggered.
Lamar was initially picked up on waivers by the Washington
Senators but was quickly cut loose again after trying to hold out for a $1,000
bonus to join the team. He played 85 games for Newark in the International
League the following season, batting a modest .271 in 85 games and getting
himself suspended twice.
He never played professional ball again after that, done at the age of 31.
The numbers also don’t suggest that Lamar was long-suffering
at the hands of overly aggressive Philadelphia fans. He hit .321 during four
seasons with the team, and his home/road batting average splits were .317/.339
(1924), .376/.330 (1925), .287/.281 (1926), and .272/.312 (1927).
The Athletics were good in 1927. Although they finished 19
games behind the New York Yankees, they won 91 games and were a stellar 50-27
at home, on their way to a second place finish.
Despite his stated aversion to heckling, it has been alleged
by some, including Hall-of-Fame outfielder Larry Doby,
that the Athletics paid fan(s) to heckle opposing players during Mack’s tenure running
the team.
Regardless of the impact heckling had on the demise of
Lamar’s career, this is one of the more interesting tidbits of baseball
history. Not only does it stand out for its unusual nature, the incident is also
in contrast to the image many may have of Mack. Certainly, it is an episode
that will never been seen again. | {
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The Whisk(e)y Room
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
An offer to tour a whiskey distillery will always commandeer my attention, especially if it’s a distillery that isn’t normally open to the public. When a friend who works at a local liquor store asked me to accompany him to WhistlePig (which is only about 1.5 hours from where I live) for a private barrel selection back in September, it didn’t take me long to say yes.
Regular readers may have noticed that I don’t spend much time writing about “craft” distillers (I use quotations because it’s a pretty loosely defined term). I’ll be blunt here; there are very few small distillers who make all of their own whiskey and make it well. Woodinville, about which I wrote recently, is one of those exceptions. Most craft distillers either make a sub-standard product or they re-sell whiskey from one of the major producers and do their best to pass the distillate off as their own.
While WhistlePig fell into the latter camp in their early years, they have since moved in a direction of greater transparency, and I’ve softened my stance on the company. I was actually pretty excited to go to the farm and check out their operation. And just for the record, I have no problem with producers who bottle sourced whiskey, as long as they are open and up-front about what they are doing rather than going down the path of deception.
In 2007 WhistlePig’s founder, Raj Bhakta, at the urging a college friend, bought a defunct dairy farm in the rolling hills of Vermont’s Champlain Valley, in the western-central part of the state. The question of “what’s next?” (and of what to do with the farm) was answered the next year after a chance meeting with Dave Pickerell, the former Maker’s Mark Master Distiller. Pickerell knew of an untapped supply of rye whiskey at a distillery in Alberta, Canada, which Canadian producers would only use in small percentages in their blends. Most potential business partners in the US thought that the whiskey’s country of origin would be problematic from a marketing perspective.
Pickerell and Bhakta struck a deal and began importing this whiskey in 2008, transferring it into used bourbon barrels, and further aging it in an old barn on the farm. Two years later, in 2010, WhistlePig Straight Rye was launched.
What’s interesting about this whiskey is that it was made from 100% rye grain and aged in new charred oak. Unlike bourbon, rye whiskey (by the US definition) does not have to be produced in the United States. This whiskey checked all of the boxes required for the Straight Rye designation; whoever imported it to the US and bottled it could choose to label it as either Straight Rye Whiskey or Canadian Whisky.
Bhakta and Pickerell went with the Straight Rye option, knowing that it would be easier to market and sell the product as such. Unfortunately, they chose to be very secretive about the origin of the whiskey in the early days, and the labels on the bottles did not indicate that the whiskey was imported from Canada, as was required. After a good bit of scrutiny and criticism, the company came around and started to be more transparent regarding the source of the whiskey, as well as coming into compliance with the labeling regulations.
The original setup at the farm consisted of some aging on site (the bourbon barrel finishing part) and a bottling operation. Their goal was to set up a functional distillery there and make whiskey from rye grown on the farm. What neither of these men likely realized is that Vermont ranks pretty damn low on the scale of business friendly states. Between some unfriendly neighboring land owners that tried to impede the business any way they could and onerous state environmental regulations, it took them until 2015 to actually get the distillery part up and running. In spite of these challenges, annual growth has been in the 70% to 80% range, and the company now employs 50 people.
A lot of distillers who start with sourced whiskey claim that they will eventually transition over to making everything themselves. But the reality is that it’s nearly impossible to grow a brand rapidly and buy ever-increasing amounts of sourced whiskey while maintaining the level of production that would be necessary to phase out the sourced stuff once their own distillate comes of age.
In articles written in mid-2016, Bhakta claimed that he was still clinging to his original goal of producing WhistlePig entirely on his farm, using rye grain grown there. Around the same time the operations manager of the distillery gave an interview where he stated their flagship product will always be sourced for fear of changing the established flavor profile, while what they distill in-house will be used for expansions to their product line in the future.
After arriving at the distillery, we were joined by representatives of a few other liquor outlets who were picking barrels for their stores and had a combination of a tasting and an informal tour. There are four buildings (in addition to the house on the property) used for operations. We first passed through a long, narrow building (I think this is where they used to milk the cows) which houses all of their offices as well as operations such as barrel dumping and mingling, filtering, bottling, and shipping and receiving. Adjacent to that is a former barn that is used for barrel warehousing. This is where eight barrels were set out for us to taste through. After sampling the selections that ranged from roughly 110 to 120 proof, we moved on and made our way past a recently completed building called Church Mill (well, work on it wasn’t quite done when I was there, so we couldn’t go inside), which is used for grain intake and milling. The last building we entered is another old barn that has been transformed for its current use. Roughly 1/2 of the footprint is split into two floors which are used for entertaining guests. The first floor features displays with information about the various bottlings and details of the company history. The second floor is more of a “great room”, with a large fireplace at one end and minimal furnishings, and will eventually be used to host tastings. Both floors are “works in progress” which will evolve with time. The back 1/2 of the building is an open two-story space which houses the distilling operations. The centerpiece is a 750 gallon copper combo still (a pot on the bottom with a rectifying column on top). The setup seemed quite modern in design, with a cluster a square stainless steel fermenting tanks along one wall, something I haven’t seen before in the many distilleries I’ve toured.
Fast forward four months, and my friend was ready to pick another barrel. Always up for a free tasting on a Monday afternoon, I joined him for the short road trip along with another whiskey comrade. Shortly after arriving we were greeted by Larry, the Steward of the Brand for WhistlePig’s home territory. He almost immediately blurted out that Raj was no longer with the company. We were all a bit surprised by this and collectively asked a few questions: When did this happen? – Back in November. What is he doing? – Probably searching for his next big project. Does he still have an ownership stake in the company? – Yes.At that point it didn’t seem appropriate to pry much more, so we went on with the business of tasting and barrel picking (the group of four barrels we were choosing from had a 120+ proofer that was quite tasty, and ultimately selected). I’m usually pretty well-informed of what is going on in the whiskey industry and found it hard to believe I hadn’t heard a whisper of this news, especially considering that Raj had been out of the picture for about two months.
When I got back home I fired up the Google machine for more info, and there was nothing on the topic. But I did find some interesting articles that helped to paint a picture of what is going on. Let’s step back a bit in time to put everything into context.
Even when sourcing product from an outside distiller, rapidly growing a whiskey brand is quite a capital intensive venture. Setting up a distillery and then operating it while the new whiskey comes of age also takes deep pockets. Raj Bhakta was trying to do both at the same time with WhistlePig and bringing in outside investors was the only way to make it happen.
In 2011 Bhakta hired Wilco Faessen, a Dutch investment banker, to help raise capital. Faessen also became an investor himself, taking a 15% stake in the company. Faessen also brought in the Santo Domingo family of Columbia, who took a 12% stake in WhistlePig. Faessen and Christopher Evison, another investment banker who manages some of the assets of the Santo Domingo family, become two members of the six member Board of Managers.
Things got weird in the spring of 2016 when the board called a special meeting and presented Bhakta with allegations of misconduct in an attempt to remove him from the board and as CEO of the company he had founded. He was exempted from the vote because of the allegations against him, which left a small enough board that Faessen and Evison could vote him out on their own
Including his own seat, Bhakta controlled half of the votes on the board, so removing him would allow the unbalanced board to vote to sell the company. According to his telling of the story, Bhakta was given the option of accepting this decision and taking the money from the sale (likely $50 million for his 50% stake in the company) along with a symbolic role in the company, or trying to fight them in court, where he would be financially ruined and have his reputation destroyed.
He chose the latter and filed suit in a Delaware business court a month later (WhistlePig is registered as a corporation in Delaware). The court issued a “status quo” order, allowing Bhakta to continue in his role as CEO until the matter was settled.
In November of 2016 WhistlePig announced that a settlement had been reached and a new governance structure put in place. Bhakta stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Roland van Bommel, an early investor in the company. Peter Rhea, another early investor was appointed to the Board of Managers. The board, now consisting of four members, would also include Bhakta, Faessen and Evison. Bhakta’s new role also included the title of Founder and the position of Chief Steward of the Brand. Additionally, the settlement dealt with the issue of the sale of the farm to the company; the property had been owned by Bhakta and leased to WhistlePig, so investor money used to make improvements to the grounds and buildings had previously been a point of contention.
So, how did we go from a settlement of this battle to the company’s controversial founder being ousted a year later? My online searches came up with a few more articles from the summer of 2017 that didn’t garner much attention at the time. On June 22, a Bloomberg news story, quoting “unnamed sources”, claimed that the company was exploring a sale and taking formal bids after being approached by multiple potential buyers. A day later that story was confirmed by Dave Pickerell, WhistlePig’s consultant and Master Distiller, in a phone interview with WhiskyCast.
Raj Bhakta is a pretty polarizing figure; his ability to spin an enchanting tale about his company and its origins is only matched by his ability to rub people the wrong way. In my opinion, if he’s out then a sale of WhistlePig is imminent. I suspect that the details of the deal are being finalized and that we’ll hear an official announcement soon.
I can’t help but wonder if this was the plan Evison and Faessen had from the time of last year’s settlement and they simply outsmarted Bhakta, or if he just finally gave up the fight and decided to take the money and run. Also of interesting note, van Bommel, the current CEO of WhistlePig, previously served as the CEO of William Grant & Sons and held a seat on the Executive Board of Remy Cointreau. Both companies are among the group of big industry players with the potential to buy WhistlePig. I’m curious to see how the rest of this tale plays out.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
I wrote a post back in September detailing a private barrel selection tasting I had taken part in with the restaurant group that I work for. We tasted samples from three barrels of Eagle Rare and picked our favorite. This took place toward the end of May, but there was some lag time before our barrel was scheduled for bottling, then transit time from the distiller to the distributor, to the state liquor commission’s warehouse, to the local retail outlet, and finally to our restaurants (Hen of the Wood Waterbury, Hen of the Wood Burlington and Doc Ponds). We had our whiskey in hand the first week of December; now I’d like to go over the details of the barrel we purchased.
As soon as we started to consider buying a barrel from Buffalo Trace, I made a push for it to be Eagle Rare. This was partly because it’s a bourbon that we already sell quite a bit of between the three restaurants, but also because I had a feeling that there might be a shortage of Eagle Rare in 2018. Most distillers cut production in response to the 2008 financial crisis, and it took them a year or two to figure out that the world wasn’t ending and get back to normal production levels. Buffalo Trace and Maker’s Mark seemed to have cut more heavily than others and that was evidenced by shortages of their six year old products in 2014. With a 10 year age statement, Eagle Rare was likely approaching the same situation, making this a great time to buy in bulk.
The barrel we selected carried an ID number; 05-L-12-L-2-60-332.
05-L-12 represents the date the barrel was filled, 12/12/2005 (the L is a month code – 12th letter of the alphabet for December).
The second “L” indicates that the barrel was aged in Warehouse L.
Warehouse L is co-joined to Warehouse M, with a firewall separating the two halves. These were built in 1936, during the distillery’s post-Prohibition era expansion. Both of the warehouses are constructed with brick walls and concrete floors, and each one holds 50,000 barrels. The warehouse has five floors, with the barrels stacked six high on each floor.
The last three numbers indicate the barrel’s specific location in the warehouse:Floor 2Rick 60Barrel 332
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any information regarding the details of that location (near a wall or closer to the heart of the warehouse, near the floor or the ceiling, etc.)
This means that the Eagle Rare, HOTW Single Barrel Select was aged for 11 years, 9 months, 10 days. That seems odd for a whiskey that carries a 10 year age statement. Did we get an extra special barrel? Well, yes and no. All three of the barrels we had to choose from were the same age (within a few days). Looking around online I saw that all of the recently reviewed Eagle Rare Single Barrel Select bottlings I could find were aged at least 11 ½ years. And you might recall from my previous post, all of these barrels were approved to become regular Eagle Rare before they were chosen as Single Barrel Select prospects. This tells me it is very likely that all Eagle Rare currently being bottled is pushing up on 12 years old.
There’s a reasonable explanation for this. It was well-known to the folks at Buffalo Trace that there was a looming shortage of 10 year old product coming for 2018. Rather than drop Eagle Rare’s age statement and put progressively younger whiskey into the bottle over 2018, 2019 and maybe 2020 to get across the gap of low production, they chose to be proactive and address the situation in advance. They’ve been bottling less Eagle Rare than they had available (at the appropriate age), probably over the last two to four years, allowing their stocks of aged whiskey to build up while the age of what they were bottling has gradually crept up over that time. Once they get into 2018 and beyond they should be able to maintain the amount of Eagle Rare they can bottle, while the age gradually recedes back to 10 years over the next two to four years.
Further confirmation of this situation came when I learned that Buffalo Trace will be suspending Private Barrel Select bottlings of Eagle Rare for 2018.
The response to our private barrel bottling has been quite positive, and I find this to be a great sipping whiskey. The nose is somewhat restrained, but there are plenty of interesting aromas to be teased out if one spends a little time with it; soft spice, clay and old books come through for me. On the palate it shows sweet caramel up front followed by spearmint and vanilla. It turns drier on the finish with more oak and warming spice notes. What really makes this whiskey stand out for me is how elegant and well-composed it is overall. The flavors evolve nicely from start to finish while it maintains incredible balance.
Friday, December 8, 2017
About two and a half years ago (mid 2015) I wrote about Bruichladdich, The Laddie Ten. That bottling, which had previously been the distillery’s flagship offering, had essentially been discontinued early in 2014. In that post I examined the changes which had taken place at Bruichladdich since its sale to Remy Cointreau in 2012, and I also pondered the future of the brand versus what might have been if the previous owners had continued on.
More recently I wrote about Bruichladdich’s new Travel Retail exclusive, The Laddie Eight. In that post I mostly discussed the history and the merits of younger age-stated single malt whiskies.
Today I’m going to take a look at Bruichladdich’s current flagship bottling, the non-age-stated The Classic Laddie - Scottish Barley. This expression was actually introduced late in 2013 and slid into the position of the distillery’s flagship bottling when The Laddie Ten was discontinued in the spring of 2014. It was originally labeled as “Scottish Barley”, with “The Classic Laddie” in much smaller print. More recently those two titles have switched their relative prominence. I do still have both age-stated expressions on hand as well, so I’ll also be tasting them to see where they stand relative to The Classic Laddie.
Bruichladdich, The Classic Laddie - Scottish BarleyNose – Quintessential Bruichladdich maritime aromas of briny sea spray and dried beach grass with malty undertones. Delicate floral, spice and white fruit notes add subtle complexity.Palate – Dry maltiness and coastal minerality are the driving forces here, but a fruity assortment of secondary notes keeps things interesting. The flavors do bounce around a little, but not to the extent that I’d consider this to be a flaw of any significance.Finish – It definitely becomes more oaky and spice-driven while transitioning into the finish. Notes of fresh cut grass and green malt do become a bit more prominent than I’d prefer at times, but this is still a pretty respectable dram overall.
Bruichladdich, The Laddie TenThe nose of the Ten is oakier than the other two.On the palate the Ten is pretty sublime, with well integrated flavors and graceful transitions.
Bruichladdich, The Laddie EightThe nose of the Eight is more grassy / youthful than the other twoOn the palate the Eight is a little more grassy/perfumed/floral than the others, but still makes a good showing.
Aromatically, the Scottish Barley lies midway between the 8 and the 10, but with more complexity than either. The differences between these three are somewhat subtle though.On the palate the Scottish Barley is more fruit forward than the other two and shows impressive complexity. I might go so far as to say that it’s the most interesting of the three, but the 10 year would still be my top pick of the group.
Where the story of Bruichladdich, The Classic Laddie - Scottish Barley gets interesting is with a move the company made in April of 2016. That was when a new feature was added to the Bruichladdich website which allowed consumers to enter the batch code from any bottle of The Classic Laddie and see a listing of all of the casks (and relevant information about them) that were used in the vatting. This may not seem like such a radical thing to do, but it actually flirts with illegality according to current regulations.
While the issue of transparency has caused debate in the Scotch whisky industry for nearly a century, the regulations in place today date to 2008. They essentially say that any reference to age or maturation period must be only for the youngest component whisky in the vatting. This applies to labels and descriptions, including advertising and promotional materials.
Compass Box, an independent blender established in 2000, learned just how strict the rules were when they ran afoul of them in the fall of 2015. Compass Box had published on their website very specific cask information about two of their whiskies, including the various ages and proportions of the vatting components. They were soon contacted by lawyers from the Scotch Whisky Association (after one of the group’s members lodged a complaint) and informed that they were not in compliance with the law.
The SWA is a trade organization which lobbies the government to influence regulatory policy on behalf of its members. The group also employs a team of lawyers to make sure everyone is following the rules and that no other businesses infringe on the Scotch whisky industry. As is typical of such trade organizations, member companies pay dues based on their size (usually determined by sales volumes) and have influence in proportion to how big they are. Many of the smaller companies in the Scotch whisky industry are tiny compared to the biggest players, and for that reason a lot of them don’t bother with SWA membership; they know that their voices would be lost relative to the large multinationals with which they are often at odds. Back in 2008, when the newest rules were being proposed, SWA members represented 95% of Scotland’s distilling capacity, but only 33% of the companies involved in the industry. The five largest member companies provided 80% of the SWA’s dues, and presumably had an equivalent amount of influence over the group.
On its face the regulations may seem well-intentioned; they are supposedly meant to keep producers from over emphasizing the role of tiny amounts of rare and old whiskies contained in a vatting or blend. But let’s face it, the bigger companies often simply don’t want to tell consumers what is in their most expensive offerings; they’d rather throw their resources at marketing efforts and have you assume that there must be something special in the bottle. The industry regulations give them a legal excuse to hide behind for not disclosing information that they’d rather keep secret.
Compass Box (who is not an SWA member) conceded and removed the offending information from their website. But a few months later, in February of 2016, the company launched a campaign for transparency. In this they proposed an amendment to the current regulations which would allow for the full disclosure of the ages and proportions of all component whiskies in a finished product. They are asking for consumers and industry participants to register their support for this proposal through their website. It will be an uphill battle against the SWA and its most powerful members, but the cause is certainly worthwhile.
Bruichladdich (also not an SWA member) publicly came out in support of the Compass Box campaign the day after it launched and announced plans for their new website feature allowing the disclosure of batch information. Apparently this had already been in the works, but the powers that be decided to push up the schedule and launch the feature just a few months later. Bruichladdich contended that they were in compliance with the law because they were not publishing this information on packaging or marketing materials, and that they would not promote the fact that the information was being made available. Further, the information can only be accessed on the website by inputting a valid batch code, which the consumer can only find on a bottle of whisky.
The ages of the component whiskies are inexact as well. For each group of casks, only a vintage year is given rather than an explicit fill date. The website also only shows the year in which the batch was bottled, rather than giving a specific bottling date. That leaves a margin of plus or minus one year for the age of each component whisky in the mix. The bottling date can be found on the label of the bottle though, so that brings the margin down to plus or minus six months for those who really want to analyze things.
Of course the SWA did publicly question the legality of Bruichladdich’s scheme, but it’s still up and running more than a year and a half later, so Her Majesty’s Royal Customs must have deemed everything to be in compliance.
With all of that being explained, I’m going to examine the information for the batch number on the bottle that I sampled above, which was 15/207 and had a bottling date of 14th August, 2015.
There were eight component whiskies to this batch, with 71 casks in total, spread across four vintages. All of the barley came from the Scottish mainland, but for three of the groups of casks, the barley was organic. Most of the whisky was aged in Bourbon barrels, all of which were 1st fill. There were eight from 2005, eight from 2006, 13 from 2007 (a group of five and a group of eight) and 24 from 2008.
The other three component whiskies were all made up of former French wine Hogsheads. There was a group of four 1st fill red Burgundy casks from 2006, a group of seven 2nd fill sweet red & white Rivesaltes casks from 2008 and a group of seven 2nd fill Sauternes (sweet white from Bordeaux) casks from 2008.
I was curious what other non-bourbon barrel whiskies were going into batches of the flagship offering, so I looked up the codes for a few other bottles that I had access to; 15/224 and 16/320. The first one consists of 86 casks and the second one of 76 casks. In all three examples the casks span four vintages, making the component whiskies roughly seven to 10 years old. Three batches is not a big sample size, but I don’t see any Sherry casks among the non-Bourbon casks; everything else is either wine (mostly red) or fortified wine casks. The Bourbon barrels represent 75% to 80% of the casks in the individual batches, but all of the other casks are Hogsheads, which are twice as big as barrels. That means that roughly 60% to 67% of the liquid in each batch came from former Bourbon barrels.
16/320 is a simpler vatting, with the wine cask components represented by red wine Hogsheads from Ribera del Duero (Spain) and France (no more specific location or style was given).
This information is quite insightful. Recalling from my previous posts, Bruichladdich’s production had grown steadily from 2001 through 2012 (but never too dramatically in any given year). Early in 2013, about six month after taking over the distillery, Remy Cointreau announced that they would double production at Bruichladdich. With a large, established distribution network, Remy Cointreau had the ability to sell a lot more of Bruichladdich’s whisky in a short period of time.
To keep the flagship offering in supply while they waited for the production increases to catch up (after maturation) necessitated that bottling changing to a non-age-stated one with some younger whisky in the vatting. It also meant that many of the wine casks that had been laid down by the previous owners would have to be vatted off into The Classic Laddie - Scottish Barley rather than being utilized for special releases and one-off bottlings.
Some of Bruichladdich’s fans will bemoan the fact that this is the fate of so many potentially interesting wine casks. I actually applaud the company for having the courage to move forward with their transparency initiative, in spite of the fact that it reveals information that is likely to displease some of their core customers. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised that Remy Cointreau, being a large, corporate entity, didn’t force Bruichladdich to come in line, join the SWA and play nice. The rebellious spirit of the distillery’s former owners lives on there.
And for those who are still feeling discouraged by the direction of things at Bruichladdich; take a look at their website. The number of expressions available has increased quite a bit since I wrote about The Laddie Ten in 2015. Back then the only offerings shown besides the The Classic Laddie – Scottish Barley were a vintage-dated Islay Barley bottling, vintage-dated Bere Barley bottlings (two of them, I believe), Organic Scottish Barley and Black Art 4 (1990). Those bottlings all remain, but now there are three vintages of Islay Barley and three vintages of Bere Barley available. Additionally, there is a second Organic bottling (which is vintage dated), The Laddie Eight, The Laddie Ten (second limited edition release), Black Art 5 (1992), and four older, vintage-dated releases; 1984 / 32 year Bourbon barrel, 1985 / 32 year Bourbon barrel, 1986 / 30 year Sherry cask and 1990 / 25 year Pedro Ximinez cask.
The whisky made at Bruichladdich after its production was doubled is not quite five years old at this point. Overall, I’d say that the company is moving in a positive direction and I’ll be watching curiously to see what the next five years brings.
Monday, November 27, 2017
I’m often asked for my opinion of various whiskeys or for recommendations within a particular category. One recurring request is for a good quality, reasonable priced rye whiskey. And I’m always quick to answer; Sazerac Rye or Rittenhouse Rye (the prices listed above were what I saw in my local store, but these whiskeys are both typically in the $25 to $30 range). I’ve tasted and enjoyed them individually many times over the years, but I’m not sure if I had ever tasted them side-by-side before.
If you were to go back six years, my answer would also have included Wild Turkey Rye. But the highly regarded 101-proof bottling was temporarily discontinued early in 2012. While it did return nearly two years later, it is still yet to become widely available. The 81-proof variant that was introduced to fill the gap just doesn’t compare.
Sazerac Rye is produced by the Sazerac Company (headquartered Metairie, LA), at their Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY. Most rye whiskies distilled in Kentucky contain a percentage of rye in their mash bills that is at or just barely above the 51% minimum. Although Buffalo Trace does not disclose the specifics of their various mash bills, their rye whiskey recipe is generally considered to be roughly 51% rye, 39% corn and 10% malted barley.
Sazerac Rye is bottled at 45% alcohol and carries no age statement, but it is widely regarded to be 6 years old. In fact, it is so often reported to be of that age, that I was surprised to learn this bottling has actually never had an age statement. As a Straight Rye, it must be aged at least 2 years, but the age statement only becomes optional at or above 4 years, so it must be at least that old.
Buffalo Trace produces two other rye whiskies from the same grain recipe, both of which are part of the hard-to-come-by Antique Collection; Sazerac 18 year old (also at 45%) and Thomas H. Handy (barrel proof and aged 6 to 8 years).
Rittenhouse Rye is produced by Heaven Hill (headquartered in Bardstown, KY) at their Bernheim Distillery in Louisville, KY. Heaven Hill chooses not to keep the details of their mash bills secret, and the rye they produce is frequently reported to use a recipe of 51% rye, 37% corn and 12% malted barley.
What I have at hand is the most frequently seen bottling of Rittenhouse Rye, which is Bottled in Bond. That designation requires the finished product to be at 50% alcohol, with a minimum age of 4 years (other BIB requirements are that the whiskey be the product of one distillery and from one distilling season, and that the distillery’s DSP number must appear on the label, as well as the DSP number of the bottling facility if it is different). This bottling carries no age statement, and the whiskey is unlikely to be significantly older than its 4 year minimum. Heaven Hill also produces two other rye whiskeys from the same distillate; a 40% alcohol version of Rittenhouse (which is far less common; I didn’t even realize it existed until I started researching this post), and Pikesville Rye (which only hit the market within the last year or two). The 80-proof Rittenhouse is a Straight Rye without and age statement, which means that it must be at least 4 years old. Pikesville is also a Straight Rye, but is bottled at 55% alcohol and carries a 6 year age statement.
On to the tasting:
The Sazerac Rye has a very aromatic nose, with lavender, clay and spice notes creating an uplifting introduction.On the palate there is a touch of caramel sweetness up front, with floral rye notes taking over on the mid-palate. Spice notes build and evolve becoming more dominant and drier as it moves onward.The finish is lengthy, warming and well-balanced.Overall this is a lighter, brighter style of rye, but it still has plenty of character and transitions elegantly from start to finish.
The Rittenhouse Rye has a less expressive nose. The aromas that do come through are darker, leaning more in the direction of oak, charred wood and earthiness. Some spice and floral aromas are also present, but as much less obvious, secondary notes.The darker character of the nose carries through on the palate as well. There’s a toffee-like sweetness up front, but drier notes of leather and wood (that are bordering on astringent) come on quickly and carry though the mid-palate, along with savory rye spice notes.The spice turns a little more fiery on the finish, while clay and oakiness hang on in the background. Overall, this is a darker, more brooding style of rye whiskey. While it is a little lacking in balance and refinement, it’s still a worthwhile option for the given price category.
Between these two, my preference definitely leans toward the Sazerac Rye, at least for sipping neat. But I could certainly see the Rittenhouse Rye coming into its own as part of a well-crafted Manhattan.
Johnny Walker Blue is a status symbol whisky. I state that as an observation and not necessarily as a derogatory remark. It’s a product that is almost universally recognized as being expensive and most people presume that the liquid in the bottle will be exceptional in consideration of the price. Sure, you can spend at least ten times as much on a bottle of Brora or Port Ellen, but only whisky aficionados will recognize those for what they are. But that square bottle with a delicate blue tint to the glass and gold accents on the labels will invoke the aforementioned reputation, even among people who know almost nothing about whisky. If you want to impress someone with a gift, your expense account, or a bottle displayed on your desk, Walker Blue is the go-to choice.
That being said, I’ve been meaning to write an honest review of the stuff for some time now. Rather that a straight forward review though, I thought it would be more interesting if I could find another whisky to use for a side by side comparison. I came across the perfect candidate when perusing the liquor section of a Costco Wholesale store; Kirkland Signature Blended Scotch Whisky, Aged 24 Years. If the two whiskies are on par in terms of quality, this could be a much less expensive option for drinkers who aren’t trying to impress their friends and colleagues.
One of the things that sort of bothers me about blended Scotches is the lack of technical or background information associated with them. Usually composed of many different whiskies, you might occasionally be able to find out which distilleries are the major contributors to a blend, but getting a full listing is almost unheard of. That’s partly the nature of the beast; the job of the master blender is to create a consistent flavor profile from year to year, regardless of changes in the supply of whiskies he has to work with. Any history associated with a blend is usually just the history of the brand and that leaves plenty of opportunity for embellishment, especially with the origin stories of older brands.
So, what makes one blend more expensive than another? First is the ratio of malt whisky to grain whisky in the blend. This is something that most producers are pretty secretive about, although there are a few exceptions where this information is included in marketing materials. Malt whisky is notably more costly to produce than grain whisky, so it should typically represent a higher proportion of the liquid in the blend for a more expensive bottling. I’ve read that it is common for cheap blends to have about 10% malt whisky and premium blends to have 30% to 40% malt whisky in them. I have also seen references to blends containing as much as 90% malt whisky.
The next three factors apply to blends as well as single malt whiskies. With ex-sherry casks (and other, more exotic cask types) costing upwards of ten times as much as ex-bourbon barrels, the types of casks used to age the whisky will certainly contribute to the final cost of the blend.
Age is another big cost factor. While lengthy utilization of warehouse space adds to overhead, evaporation from the casks is the biggest driver of the expense associated with extended aging. These losses are typically 2% to 3% of the casks’ contents each year. Since I’m going to compare a non-age stated whisky to a 24 year old, I should mention that the stated age has to be that of the youngest whisky in the blend, and that a wide range of ages can be used to build complexity. If an expensive blend has components that are 40 to 50 years old and there’s also a little 10 year old in the mix, it wouldn’t really make any sense to put and age statement on the label.
Finally, you have the inclusion of rare whiskies as a cost driver for expensive blends. These are typically the remains of long-closed distilleries and the liquid becomes more valuable as time marches on. Unfortunately, most producers usually talk about such exotic component whiskies in rather vague terms, referencing the “rarest stocks” from their inventory. This stands to reason though; such whiskies are a limited commodity and if they are identified by name the producer will eventually have to admit that they are no longer part of the recipe.
At the more extreme end of the high price range, the cost of lavish packaging could also come into play, but that’s not really a factor for these examples.
My blog post research usually involves a few reference books from my personal library and a whole lot of Google searching. But I decided to change things up this time and see what sort of information I could get through official channels. I started off with an email to Diageo’s North American Press Office asking for some detailed information about Walker Blue; percentage of malt whisky in the blend, range of ages of the component whiskies, confirmation of Port Ellen single malt in the blend (I’d heard rumors of this in the past) and any specifics on the “rare and exceptional” whiskies mentioned in the official description. My email got a quick auto-reply and then I heard nothing for two months until I followed-up with another email. This time I was told that I was being connected directly with the Johnnie Walker team. A week later I got an email from someone at a PR firm in New York. And then I had to forward her the questions that I had originally sent to the press office.
Finally, after another month, I got a response which hedged my expectations by mentioning up front that “Blue Label is a bit of a sensitive topic for the blending team”. As for the percentage of malt whisky and range of ages in the blend, they were “unable to comment”. Regarding the component whiskies, they did tell me that Walker Blue includes malt whisky from Benrinnes, Cardhu, Clynelish and Caol Ila, and grain whisky from Cameron Bridge and Port Dundas. As far as blend components go, that’s all pretty standard stuff. Benrinnes did stop using its rather unusual partial triple distillation process (in favor of the more common double distillation) in 2007, so older whisky from that distillery could qualify as being somewhat rare, or at least unique. Port Dundas was permanently closed in 2010, but the distillery did make 39 million liters of spirit each year up to that point, so I wouldn’t call it rare just yet.
To honest, I was surprised that I was able to get any information at all out of Diageo. I had high hopes that Costco would be different in this regard; it seemed like a pretty cool company after all. So I sent a series of questions via Costco’s online Media Inquiry form regarding their 24 year old Blended Scotch; what is the percentage of malt whisky in the blend, is there any whisky significantly older than 24 years in the mix, what are the total number of component whiskies and would they identify any of the individual distilleries, who did they work with in Scotland to create the product and was anyone from Costco involved in developing the blend of influencing its flavor profile?
The response came quickly, I think just a few days later. And the answer was a blunt “we will not be able to accommodate your request”. I was thanked for my interest in the product and my support of Costco. Then the person that emailed me requested that I not attribute her name to the information in the email. I think I read that four-sentence email at least three times looking for the information that I wasn’t supposed associate with its sender. And then I laughed. I don’t think I could ever work for a large corporation.
Taking a closer look at the label, I do see that the Kirkland offering is matured exclusively in bourbon barrels and bottled by Alexander Murray & Co. Ltd.
Before I move on to the tasting notes, I should mention that the price of $180 that I have listed up top for Walker Blue is the price that you will typically see it for in Costco. In more traditional retail settings it usually sells for about $220 to $225.
Both whiskies are medium golden amber in color, but the Kirkland blend is ever so slightly darker.
Walker Blue:The nose definitely has some good character to it. I’d say the aromas are medium in intensity (probably a little more than I expected from an 80-proofer) and show some really nice complexity. Some fruit comes through, but it is fairly restrained. Damp cellar aromatics (in a good way) are more prominent with dunnage floor, well-aged oak, subtle butterscotch and cedar-driven spice notes coming through. Maybe even a hint of a floral note. A delicate suggestion of peat smoke is there, but barely noticeable.On the palate, Walker Blue doesn’t quite sing to me the way it does on the nose. Maybe my preference for higher proof (92 and up) whiskies without chill filtration is hard for me to get past. The liquid is somewhat full bodied and the flavors (malt, oak, dry spice notes) seem to be well-integrated, but perhaps its subtleties are lost on me; I just don’t find it to be that interesting.The flavors do evolve on the finish, with a grassy note briefly emerging as the drying spice notes become more dominant and give the finish additional warmth and length.
Kirkland 24 Year:The aromas here have a lot less depth than those on the Walker Blue. The notes are primarily oaky, but in a very dry, dusty, woody kind of way. Some caramel and clay-like aromas also eventually emerge. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say it’s aromatically flawed; it just seems kind of flat by comparison.This one also seems a little thinner (in terms of body) on the palate. The flavor profile is quite oak-heavy (in an old, tired oak kind of way), to the point of seeming a bit out of balance up front. A fresh-cut grass note emerges on the mid-palate, making thing go a little astringent before it transitions into the finish.There is a bit of redemption on the back end though; the astringency quickly fades and warming spice notes pull things back into balance for a relatively pleasant ending.
I’ve probably tasted Walker Blue at least half a dozen times over the past 12 years. Each time I felt the same way; not quite understanding what all the fuss (and the high price) was about. I did my best to come into this tasting without bias and I was surprised to find Walker Blue offered so much aromatically.
While Walker Blue clearly has the upper hand, if you were to factor price into the equation, I’d say these two are on pretty equal footing. But they’re both pretty damn expensive for what they have to offer.
The only blend that I actually drink semi-regularly is Chivas Regal 12 year (typically priced around $25 at Costco, $38 elsewhere). I poured myself a little sample of that too, just to see how these two stood up to it. I feel that it bests the Kirkland 24 year blend on all fronts. Walker Blue is a good bit more interesting on the nose. I might even give it a slight edge on the palate, but not by much, and that really says something considering the stark price difference.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Just about two years ago I wrote a post where I detailed the ownership of every Scottish malt distillery that was currently in operating at the time and had been producing spirit for at least three years. New distillery projects are pretty hard to keep track of and many of them never come to fruition, so if I ever decide to add newer distilleries to this list it will likely be in a separate post a few more years down the road. But I would like to keep the list up to date as far as ownership changes among the distilleries that are already on the list. When changes are made to that original post, I make a note of the edit in the comment section and write a corresponding post with the details of the transaction.
Over the last 25 years, as the industry recovered from the downturn of the 1980’s, there have been many malt distilleries in Scotland that have been rescued and / or resurrected by new owners; Benromach by Gordon and MacPhail in 1993, Ardbeg by the family that owned Glenmorangie in 1997, Edradour by Andrew Symington in 2002 and Glengyle by J&A Mitchell & Co in 2004, just to name a few.
Bruichladdich is one of the great success stories of rescued distilleries in the modern era. Mark Reynier (along with his group of investors) was its savior in December of 2000. Less than 12 years later the Board of Directors accepted an offer for the distillery from Remy Cointreau. Shortly after that, Mr. Reynier was relieved of his duties as managing director. At that point there was much speculation about what his next move would be. Flush with cash from the sale, many believed it was inevitable that he would find another neglected Scottish malt distillery to buy and bring back from the brink.
That was not to be the case though. Apparently Mr. Reynier felt that the asking prices were too high for all of Scotland’s under-utilized distilleries, and that bargains like his previous deal were a thing of the past. Instead, he chose to take his financial resources and a new group of investors to Ireland in 2014, where he transformed a former Guinness brewing facility into a malt distillery. Production commenced in January of 2016; time will tell if Irish single malt whiskey becomes the next big thing.
I last updated the list of distillery owners about 10 months ago, to reflect Brown-Forman’s mid-2016 purchase of the BenRiach Distillery Company (which included three distilleries; BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh) from Billy Walker and his business partners. I detailed that sale in this post, with plenty of information about all of the involved parties.
The quick version of the story is that Walker acquired BenRiach in 2004, GlenDronach in 2008 and Glenglassaugh in 2013. The BenRiach and GlenDronach brands were deftly built up using existing whisky stocks. Glenglassaugh would be a bit more of a challenge to revive though, having recently come off of a 22 year closure. With a few special bottlings from the limited existing stocks, well-marketed younger bottlings and a dramatic increase in production, that distillery had at least been set on a course for success by the time of the 2016 sale to Brown-Forman.
With a hefty profit from the sale of the company that he had cultivated, Billy Walker has now done what many people thought Mark Reynier would have done in the years following the sale of Bruichladdich. Immediately after selling to Brown-Forman, Walker stayed on in the role of master blender. It was announced in February of 2017 that he would be stepping down from that role and parting ways with his former company after a few months of assisting with the transition to his replacement.
That transition was complete by June 12th, and just a month later came the announcement that Walker had purchased the Glenallachie distillery from Chivas Brothers / Pernod Ricard. Glenallachie is one of the post-World War II boom period distilleries, having been established in 1967. The name might not ring a bell for most people; it didn’t for me. That’s because the distillery’s output has been focused almost exclusively on supplying various blended Scotch whiskies throughout its history. Some Glenallachie has been bottled as single malt; a 12 year old was available in the past and more recently it was part of Chivas Brothers’ Cask Strength series. While the whisky from this central Speyside distillery has a good reputation, it has simply never been seriously promoted as a single malt.
When Invergordon acquired Glenallachie in 1985, production was limited and then ceased in 1987. Pernod Ricard purchased the distillery in 1989 through their subsidiary, Campbell Distillers (which became part of Chivas Brothers when they were acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2001). The distillery was brought back to life and production was doubled with the addition of a second set of stills in 1989.
The sale of Glenallachie to Walker includes exiting stocks of whiskey, which should be plentiful considering the production history, and two blended whisky brands, MacNair’s and White Heather. These brands have seen very little use in recent years and are practically unknown. It will be interesting to see what kind of magic Mr. Walker can work this time around.
There’s an interesting footnote with which to finish this post. Glenallachie is not the first distillery that Billy Walker has purchased from Pernod Ricard; BenRiach and GlenDronach were both part of the French conglomerate’s portfolio before Mr. Walker acquired them. This might lead one to assume that Pernod Ricard is shrinking its footprint in the Scotch whisky industry, but a look at the numbers shows that not to be the case. BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenallachie have production capacities of 2.0 million, 1.4 million and 3.9 million liters per annum, respectively. However, in 2009, Pernod Ricard’s Glenlivet distillery expanded from 6.0 to 10.5 mlpa and in 2014 they opened a new distillery, Dalmunich, which has a capacity of 10.0 mlpa (this distillery was too new to make it onto the list I compiled in 2015). They’ve likely expanded capacity at other distilleries as well, but just taking these five facilities into consideration leaves the company with a net gain of 7.2 million liters of spirit per annum.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m sort of fanatical about whiskey. This will occasionally open up some nice whiskey sampling opportunities for me. Recently, couple of very kind and generous relatives were visiting family members who had relocated to Washington State. On a mid-August morning I received a message on Facebook letting me know that they were in Seattle and planning to visit a distillery in Woodinville (a small city of 12,000 which is part of the Seattle metropolitan area).
My aunt and uncle were wondering if I knew of this distillery and if I had tried any of its whiskey. I was about to explain that with the number of new craft distilleries opening all over the US in recent years, it was hard enough to keep track of the ones in the tiny state where I live, let alone the many that are on the other side of the country. But I kept thinking to myself “Woodinville? Woodinville? Why does that sound familiar?” And then I remembered; I had just read about this distillery on The Chuck Cowdery Blog a few weeks prior.
Woodinville was in the news because it had just been bought out by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), the French multinational luxury goods conglomerate which has owned Ardbeg and Glenmorangie since 2005. Woodinville was established in 2010 and its owners had a vision of making good craft whiskey which had been aged in traditional 53 gallon barrels for a respectable amount of time, and selling it at a fair price.
I’m going to take a moment to point out a few important differences between craft whiskey and craft beer. Before craft beer started to catch on in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the small number of remaining American macro-breweries were all making essentially the same product, and they weren’t making particularly good versions of it. Craft brewers brought variety and quality, and consumers were willing to pay a premium for that.
While the American whiskey industry had dwindled to just a handful of large distilleries, they had never really compromised on quality. Perhaps Bourbon’s reputation had suffered in general during its years of unpopularity, but American distillers continued to make fundamentally good product. Also, In spite of the small number of distilleries, there were still a large number of brands supported by these producers. This at least gave the appearance of good variety to the casual observer.
When the craft whiskey distillers started to pop up over the last 10 to 15 years, they were at a big competitive disadvantage. Bourbon was a very traditional product and while some innovation would be embraced, anything too esoteric would have a hard time catching on. Most of these outfits lacked the capital and / or financial backing to set up operations and keep producing for multiple years while their whiskey aged properly. Even if they could do that, economies of scale meant that their final products would be much more expensive than those of the old guard.
Some companies took the route of producing vodka or gin to support their whiskey productions. But that market has become oversaturated and it seems like most of the companies that were successful with that model have stayed focused on making money with their clear spirits. Other craft distillers went the route of using very small barrels (5 gal, 10 gal, 15 gal, etc) and short aging times. Despite claims to the contrary, this doesn’t make for particularly good whiskey. Then there’s the business model of setting up a Potemkin distillery and secretly buying aged whiskey from one of the large, established distillers and selling it as your own. Going down that path runs the risk of miring one’s brand in controversy and possibly disgrace, as was the case with Templeton Rye.
Woodinville was one of the exceptions; they made all of their own whiskey and even though they started off with some youthful releases, they were only using 53 gallon barrels and consistently selling a five year old bourbon and a five year old rye by their seventh year of production (although there is no official age statement on the label of the bottle I have). To do this, they had to limit sales to their home state. Granted, their whiskey does sell very well there.
As I noted above, the whiskey business is an extremely capital intensive one to break into. Once established, it takes even money (again with a slow return on investment) to grow operations and expand into new markets. It’s really not surprising that Woodinville sold out to LVMH; it was probably the only way they would be able to grow beyond Washington State.
Many people are bewildered by the astronomical sums that are being paid by the big players in the industry for these relatively small outfits (in the case of Woodinville the sum was undisclosed, but I’m sure it wasn’t cheap). But these valuations aren’t based so much on assets or current sales as they are on the future growth potential of the brand. With a crowded marketplace and many older, established brands already reaching their saturation points, one of the surest paths to future profit is via the acquisition of a brand that is relatively new, but off to a good start with a solid reputation.
My aunt and uncle had offered to procure a bottle of whiskey from the Woodinville distillery shop and bring it back east, riding silently on their drive across the country. I graciously accepted, and noted that I’d love to try this new bourbon from the Pacific Northwest. Little more than a few weeks later the newest addition to the collection was in my hands. I really love the bottle and label design; let’s see how it tastes.
The nose is bold and expressive, but not sharp or punchy. The vanilla aromas are the most obvious, but caramel, spice and delicate toasted notes join in, making it very well rounded. This really does smell like a very well made traditional bourbon.On the palate it seems like it’s going to be a little hot right up front, but the flavors open up quickly, keeping everything harmonious. A bit of underlying sweetness shows itself early on and lends to a full mouthfeel, but that caramel-driven character stays as a minor influence and is eventually overtaken by drier notes that emerge as things moves on. The mid palate shows leather and a hint of dark red fruits as complex spice notes develop.The finish becomes increasingly dry. Toasted oak, nuttiness and dry spice become dominant, but balance is maintained.
This really is a lovely bourbon and I’d say it’s every bit as good as Woodford Reserve, which it purportedly competes with in terms of sales volume in Washington State.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
I recently had the opportunity to participate in a small group tasting for the selection of a private barrel of bourbon. I’ll step back a bit and explain how this all came about before I get into the details of the tasting, since it’s an interesting story.
I was working at my regular job, waiting tables, one night toward the end of last January when a solo diner requested a pour of Buffalo Trace bourbon. I informed him that while we didn’t have Buffalo Trace, we did have Eagle Rare bourbon. I mentioned that they were both produced by the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY, and that they were both made from the same distillate of Trace’s low rye mash bill recipe, and both bottled at 90 proof. I then went on to explain that the difference between the two came down to age (with Buffalo Trace being around 6 years old and Eagle Rare carrying a 10 year age statement) and warehouse location (they come mostly from the same warehouses, but Buffalo Trace barrels are stored on the middle floors and Eagle Rare barrels are stored on the lower floors).
He seemed slightly taken aback that some random waiter possessed such bourbon knowledge and complimented the accuracy of my information. When I’m at work, I try not to spout off about my whiskey blog at the drop of a hat; it just strikes me as being unprofessional. Instead I’ll usually let the whiskey discussions progress pretty far before I mention the blog. On this occasion I responded by noting that I had visited Buffalo Trace less than a year prior and had taken their distillery tour. Much to my surprise, the gentleman informed me that he worked for them; it turned out that he was the northern New England Field Sales Manager for Sazerac.
Vermont is a liquor control state and a very small market, but a bar in my town had recently purchased a private barrel of Buffalo Trace bourbon, so I was aware of the possibility. I had also seen a private barrel bottling of Eagle Rare at a liquor store in Massachusetts, so I assumed that was probably an option as well.
We had a series of brief conversations revolving around various whiskey topics throughout the course of his dinner. I’m not sure which one of us brought up the private barrel program, but we discussed it at length and the fact that it might be a viable option where I work, since my employers own three restaurants across which the cost of roughly 240 bottle of bourbon could be spread. Of course, I eventually mentioned the blog and we exchanged business cards before he departed.
Not long after that night, I sent an email pitching the idea of a private barrel purchase to the two owners and the bar manager of our largest restaurant. At the same time I made a strong push for us to go with Eagle Rare, if they decided to move forward. I thought it was important for us to go with private barrel of a different bourbon brand than the one that was already at another establishment in town, and we already sell a high volume of Eagle Rare with our current cocktail program.
The reaction to that email was very positive, but from that point I handed off responsibility for the matter to Chris, the bar manager, since it was more in line with his job duties. Just a few weeks later it was confirmed that a barrel of Eagle Rare had been designated for us, and one week after that we committed to moving forward with the purchase.
Many distilleries have private barrel programs and most of them work on the same basic principle; anyone can buy a barrel, but it must be bottled before it is delivered and the buyer must purchase the entire bottled contents of the barrel at the same time. There’s no volume discount either; the bottles go through the regular distribution and retail channels and are priced at the standard markup. These barrels are occasionally bought by private individuals, but this is typically the realm of large liquor stores or bars and restaurants that sell high volumes of spirits.
It’s likely that each distillery operates their private barrel program a little differently, but here’s how it goes at Buffalo Trace. The potential buyer will request a barrel of a particular brand of whiskey; Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, Blanton’s, etc. The distillery will then approve the purchase (I’m assuming they have a limit on the number of private barrels that they sell each year, so there would probably be a waiting list if demand got high enough) and a barrel is designated for the buyer. This doesn’t mean that a particular barrel has been selected at this point, just that a one-barrel quantity has been allocated from inventory for the purchase that will happen eventually.
When barrels are entered into the warehouses at Buffalo Trace (and likely most other modern distilleries), their eventual fate has already been determined. In other words, when a certain distillate is put into a certain specification barrel and placed in a particular warehouse location, the company intends to bottle that whisky as a specific brand when it’s ready. So a distinct number of barrels are laid down each year with the intention of their contents becoming Eagle Rare ten years later. Of course, these barrels are all tasted at some point before bottling to make sure that they fit what the Eagle Rare flavor profile is supposed to be. As for those that don’t make the cut, they’ll still be used; maybe some special ones are held back to age further and become Eagle Rare 17 year, maybe some not-so-special ones get blended off into something cheap, like Benchmark bourbon.
When a private barrel request comes through, the people that do the barrel tasting at the distillery will pick three different barrels for the purchaser to choose from. Then, a 200 ml sample bottle is drawn from each of the three barrels and these are sent out with a sales rep who will conduct a tasting with the person (or group of people) who will decide which of the three barrels to make their own.
Fast forward to May of this year and we were informed that our samples had arrived. A few weeks later we assembled a small group of people who would collectively select our barrel, and we all got together for a tasting of the samples. This was hosted by a sales rep from the distributor that essentially acts as a middleman between the distiller and our state liquor commission (through which all spirits purchased in-state must go).
This was a pretty informal affair; essentially a round-table discussion where general impressions were bantered back and forth along with the occasional specific aroma or flavor note. Most people at work consider me to be somewhat of an authority when it comes to whiskey, so I was in a position to have the most influence on the group decision, but I wanted to be sure that everyone’s input was valued and that we all had a fairly equal say.
Our samples consisted of three barrel numbers; 033, 332 and 409. I was surprised to see more variation across the three than I had expected. I actually wondered if they had picked some barrels that were outside of the typical Eagle Rare flavor profile, but I was assured through follow-up emails that that was not the case. In retrospect though, it would make sense for them to send the biggest range possible from barrels that do qualify to become Eagle Rare; it wouldn’t be very interesting for buyers to pick from three barrels that are almost identical.
Barrel 033 was sort of the anomaly of the group, its character was much further from the other two than those two were from each other. 033 had very subtle aromas and was quite delicate in the mouth, but there was a distinct mint note that stood out both in a floral way on the nose and in a more herbal way the palate. While some of us found this interesting, we eliminated 033 early on as we all found it to be a little too mild mannered.
Barrel 332 was also a bit restrained on the nose, but I did find some very interesting aromas (including old books) after spending some time with it. What really struck me was how incredibly well balanced it was on the palate.
Barrel 409 had the most assertive nose of the group. It was also big and bold on the palate with a lot of caramel and nutty character.
As a group, we went back and forth between these two for quite some time. To me, 409 was the whiskey that was able to grab one’s attention right of the bat, but 332 was more elegant and well composed overall. While I think either of these would have served us well, the majority eventually gravitated toward 332, and that was what we finally went with. All in all, my first barrel picking session was a fun and insightful experience.
Our barrel is scheduled for bottling right around now. Hopefully the transit time from the distiller to the distributor to the state warehouse to the retail store and finally to the restaurants won’t take too long. Once we have the bottles in hand, I’ll follow up with proper tasting notes as well as some information about the barrel codes that were on our sample bottles and a few other relevant points.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
stats: single malt Scotch, Islay, 8 years old, 50%, $60Regular readers have likely noticed that my posting frequency started to drop off considerably midway through the reports on my most recent trip to Scotland. Summer is a busy season for me with plenty of distractions, but there’s more to it than that. I tend to get bored if I stay on the same subject for too long and drift into procrastination mode. It’s time for me to shake things up a bit and start writing about whatever whisk(e)y topics I’m excited about at the moment. The rest of the 2017 Scotland trip coverage will be interspersed among other posts and will come in due time.
That being said, on to a bottle of whisky that I’ve been itching to open for several months now; Bruichladdich, The Laddie Eight. When single malt Scotch was developing into a product category that could separate itself from blended Scotch in the 1970’s, bottlings with 8 year age statements were fairly common. When the industry hit a rough patch in the 1980’s, years of overproduction would linger in the warehouses before there was a need to bottle that whisky. Naturally, age statements crept up; if you’re competing for a limited pool of consumers and the product’s age is increasing by default, it makes sense to have an elevated age statement as a selling point.
Of course that situation stabilized though the 1990’s and most flagship bottlings had moved to age statements in the 10 to 14 year range by then. When the sales trends had fully reversed and producers were faced with shortages, age statements started to disappear rather than regressing (and of course prices went up as well). Eventually the art of profiteering off of sub-par non-age stated single malts started to hurt the reputation of the NAS category. Finally, younger whiskies with age statements started to make sense again.
Independent bottlers are generally quicker to react to consumer trends, and they led the way with modern bottlings of 8 year age stated single malts. But when Gordon & MacPhail released a series of 8 year olds around early 2012, they were the first company to do so with large enough releases that the bottlings were widely available. A key feature of this series was its modest retail price point. I’ve tasted and written about three of those bottlings; Glenrothes, Bunnahabhain and Highland Park. I also have a yet-to-be-opened bottle of Tamdhu.
While I have seen some online references to a modern Glenfarclas 8 year old, that product seems to be one that is primarily made for Australia and New Zealand. Finally, in the spring of 2016, two new 8 year old official distillery bottlings were announced; Lagavulin’s limited edition 200th Anniversary offering and Bruichladdich’s The Laddie Eight, which would launch as a Travel Retail exclusive.
Fortunately, I live within an hour of a Duty Free store on the US/Canada border. I stopped in on my way home from Montreal at some point that summer to ask if they planned to carry the new release. I was told that it had been ordered already and should arrive by the fall. Like most things in life, it took a little longer than expected, but I finally had it in hand by late February.
Bruichladdich took some criticism when they dropped the 10 year age statement from their flagship bottling. They have done a few limited releases of their 10 year old offering since then, and I viewed this 8 year old as another positive sign from Bruichladdich. I was a bit disappointed with its pricing though. I paid $79 Canadian, which came though as $60.43 on a credit card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee. Bruichladdich’s flagship Scottish Barley bottling (which is typically a vatting that averages around 9 years old) sells for $67 Canadian in Montreal and $58.29 here in Vermont. As I noted in my Lagavulin 200th Anniversary post, that too was expensive for an 8 year old, but it was still less than their flagship 16 year old (and bottled at a higher proof), and not too expensive for a limited release.
I did manage to by a bottle of Bruichladdich 10 not long before it became unavailable, and I still have some of that on hand, so I’ll do a side-by-side tasting of the 8 year and the 10 year.
8 year, 50% abvnose – the briney coastal aromas are most obvious and backed up by grassy notes (a mix of beach grasses and fresh cut grass). There’s a malty underpinning to it all, along with fresh fruit (apple, pear and perhaps a hint of orange).The palate is rich, with an almost honey-like quality up front. It shows a good range of flavors, from malt and tree fruits to grassy notes, though the mid palate.As it moves into the finish, a maritime minerality comes through and it becomes more oaky with drying spice notes.It may lack the integration of its older peers, but not to the point of detriment.
10 year, 46% abvnose – it’s similar to the 8 but with less grassiness and more oak (in the form of soft vanilla) coming through.As one might expect, there’s not a huge difference in the flavor profiles of these two. The 10 year old shows less of the grassiness that often betrays a more youthful malt whisky. The individual flavors jump out less obviously and it transitions more smoothly from start to finish (everything is a bit more harmonious). Although, that may be partially due to the difference in bottling proof.
Bruichladdich’s new 8 year old is a respectable whisky. It comes across as youthful but not immature. I’d just like to see it priced 10% to 20% lower than their Scottish Barley bottling. Travel Retail is often a place to test the waters with new products. Perhaps we’ll see this as a more reasonably priced general release at some point in the future.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Day 8 was mostly a travel day, but I did manage to incorporate one distillery tour which also helped to breakup the driving. My departure from the Orkney Islands was on a different ferry service than the one by which I had arrived, primarily so I could see a greater variety of scenery. While I had considered visiting another of the historic sites before leaving the islands, I wisely opted for a leisurely breakfast, stress-free organizing and repacking session, and an unrushed drive with an early arrival to check-in for the 11:50 ferry.
The St Margaret’s Hope to Gills Bay crossing actually departs from the island of South Ronaldsay rather than the Orkney Mainland. After the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow at the onset of WWII, which I discussed in my previous post, Winston Churchill ordered the construction of a series of defensive barriers to protect the strategic body of water. Known as the Churchill Barriers, these four structures connect the Orkney Mainland to the smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm, and then to Burray and finally South Ronaldsay. Today these barriers serve as causeways, connecting the five islands via the A961 road.
While the views on this ferry crossing were quite nice, they certainly weren’t as spectacular as those on the Stromness to Scrabster crossing. This was, however, a shorter and less expensive ferry trip at 60 minutes and about $70 (one way, for a car and single passenger). By comparison, my outbound voyage lasted 90 minutes and cost about $95. The two routes are operated by different companies, Northlink and Pentland. The shorter crossing is on a smaller, more utilitarian ferry, while the longer one is on a larger vessel with more upscale accommodations. The island terminals are about equidistant from Kirkwall, but the two companies’ crossing schedules differ significantly.
From the port at Gills Bay it was a three hour drive to Inverness, where I would spend the night. Fortunately, the Clynelish distillery was on my path and about midway between the end points. After departing the ferry terminal I was treated to some new views of northern Scotland’s eastern coast from the A99 until I reached Wick. From there I went back down the road I had followed north the week before. Just ahead of the settlement of Brora I turned off of the A9 and started to head inland, going just a short distance before reaching Clynelish.
As planned, I arrived shortly before the 3:00 tour. I started toward the Clynelish visitor center, which was actually the only accessible part of the distillery building; the rest of it was surrounded by a temporary chain-link fence, segregating it as a construction area. When doing my pre-trip research I had seen on the Clynelish website that mechanical and electrical upgrades at the distillery, which were to last 10 months, had begun in April of 2016. Since this work meant that there could be no visitor access to the production areas of the distillery, tours were instead being offered of the old Brora distillery, which is onsite but had previously been closed to the public.
I was visiting a week into May of 2017, so I had assumed everything would be back to normal by the time I got there. Once inside, I was a little surprised to learn that the work was still ongoing and that I would be getting a tour of Brora rather than Clynelish. The
Brora distillery was actually the original Clynelish distillery, and
the two facilities had overlapping periods of production.
My tour guide started off with a little local history. The late 1700’s and early 1800’s saw a transition of the rural Scottish economy as raising sheep became a more profitable agricultural activity than farming. This resulted in aristocratic landowners evicting large numbers of tenant farmers during that period, in what became known as the Highland Clearances. While some people ended up relocating to the poorest quality farmland, many emigrated out of the Highlands, going to the Scottish Lowlands or even as far away North America and Australia.
The Clynelish distillery was founded by one of the more notorious figures involved in the Clearances. George Leveson-Gower, who was known as The Marquess of Stafford until he became the 1st Duke of Sutherland shortly before his death in 1833, is estimated to have been the wealthiest man of the 19th century. His land holdings increased dramatically when he married the Countess of Sutherland, Elizabeth Gordon in 1785. In 1807 they had their agents begin evicting subsistence farmers from their more valuable land and relocating them to the coast, where it was assumed that they would take up fishing as an alternative to farming. Patrick Sellar was hired as their factor (essentially a land manager) in 1809 and oversaw the “improvements” to their lands. Sellar’s methods were particularly brutal, even for the standards of the time, and he carried out extensive clearances between 1811 and 1820.
George Leveson-Gower established the Clynelish distillery in 1819. No doubt it would be a profitable business, but the fact that the distillery would purchase barley from local farms guaranteed that rent was paid by the few tenant farmers who remained on Leveson-Gower’s poor quality land. The distillery was leased by a variety of parties through the 1800’s before being purchased outright in 1896. By 1930 Clynelish was solely owned by Distillers Company Limited, which eventually morphed into today’s Diageo.
As a major contributor to the Johnny Walker blended whiskies, there was enough demand for Clynelish during the boom period of the 1960’s that its owners decided to build a new, much larger distillery next to the original. Construction began in 1967 and the new facility was producing whisky the next year. Once it was up and running, the original Clynelish distillery was mothballed.
But circumstances changed quickly. What I was told on the tour was the simplified version of the story; that the old Clynelish distillery was brought back online in 1969 and heavily peated whisky was produced there to cover for the Caol Ila distillery, which is owned by the same parent company, while is was completely rebuilt. The original Clynelish distillery was renamed as Brora after the town in which it is located, and distillation continued there until 1983. I’ll detail the more historically accurate version of these events in a follow-up post.
Of course, the soft demand that followed through the 1980’s and 1990’s meant that a decent number of Brora casks were spared from the blending hall. There have been many independent bottlings of Brora which date back to at least 1995, but the first official bottling from Diageo came out as a 30 year old in 2002. Since then it has become a mainstay of Diageo’s annual special release group, with cask strength offerings in the 25 to 38 year range and typically about 3000 bottles per release. As the cult status of this whisky has risen, so has its price, with the latest release pushing well past the $2000 mark.
From the visitor center we walked away from the Clynelish still house and toward the Brora distillery buildings, with the old kiln’s pagoda roof standing out above everything else. We passed by a row a seven connected warehouses in the traditional dunnage style, and it appears that no modern warehouses were added to the site when the new distillery was built.
Once inside the Brora still house, we were confined to a small viewing area from which most of the distilling space could be seen through Plexiglas panels. The near-hermetic sealing made me wonder if the space had asbestos issues.
In spite of this restriction, it was still very cool to see the stills that produced such an iconic whisky. The Lyne arms are cut off just before where they would have passed through the exterior wall and much of the plumbing was disconnected from the stills, but they still look glorious. The spirit safe is in position as well as the two receivers it fed, one of wood and the other of cast iron.
I have since learned that Brora used to operate with six wooden washbacks at 29,500 liters each and a similarly sized mash tun. I think it’s safe to assume that those vessels had been located in a room not far from the stills, and wish I had thought to ask if they were still on-site.
Next we stepped back outside and I tried to have a look behind the still house. The area was fenced off and other structures blocked most of the view, but I did catch a glimpse of the large concrete blocks that likely once supported the worm tubs.
A short walk took us to an adjacent building where we entered the former cask filling room. The wooden holding tank is still there along with its pair of hoses and filling nozzles, which rest in a pair of casks dating to 1983 according to the stenciling on their heads.
Speaking of which, the old sheet metal stencils were on display in a small office room off of the filling room. There was also a ledger on a desk here, where all of the information about each cask was entered as they were filled; date, cask number, weight of the empty cask, weight of the full cask, weight of the contents, volume of contents in gallons, strength, gallons at proof, etc.
From there we went back across to the row of warehouses and entered one of them. The seven contiguous warehouses are rather narrow and they vary in length as their rear walls terminate at a road that runs 45 degrees to their orientation. But the longest of them is exceptionally long. Together they currently hold about 6300 casks. Among the many Clynelish casks, two Brora casks were clearly visible; a 1977 and I believe the other was dated 1982. Of course Diageo has a policy of storing a variety of casks from their many distilleries at any given site, so there’s no way to get a sense of how much aging Brora they still possess (and I suspect that most of their employees have no idea either).
We did discuss a few other Brora facts along the way, revealing that Brora had modernized in the 1960’s, at least a little. The stills were converted from direct fired to internal steam heating in 1961. Mechanical power had come from a steam engine and a water wheel until electric motors replaced them in 1965. That was also the last year in which the traditional floor maltings were used. In 1966 the coal-fired boiler was upgraded so it could burn fuel oil instead. While Brora had a maximum capacity of just over 1 million liters per annum, it only produced about 40,000 liters in its last year of production.
We also talked a little bit about Clynelish. When operational they use a long-ish fermentation time of 80 hours and typically run 18 to 19 mashes per week. The distillery is a major contributor to the Johnny Walker range of blends, with 95% of its production going there and only 5% being bottled as single malt. The current capacity is 4.8 million LPA and even though the upgrades being performed are extensive, they are not expanding the production levels.
The project includes replacing three of the six stills and four of the 10 washbacks. Two of the 10 washbacks are stainless steel, but they will be replacing the wooden ones with new wooden ones. Other new pieces of equipment include the mash tun, the draff hopper and the water cooling tower. The project also includes the building of a new yeast room, as well as a new roof for the control room.
My guide also mentioned that Teaninich (another Diageo owned distillery), which lies about 40 miles to the south, is considered to be the sister distillery to Clynelish. When it was rebuilt in 1970 the designers essentially copied the blueprint of the new Clynelish plant. Teaninich is actually located just a few thousand feet away from Dalmore, on the other side of the A9, but is apparently much less visible from the main road.
At the time of my visit, I was told that the construction project would likely be complete by the end of June. Looking online now though, I see more recent estimates of the restart happening in August. My guide didn’t know what the fate of the Brora tours would be once the Clynelish tours were being offered again, but we both agreed that it would be a shame for them to go away altogether. Hopefully they will continue separately, or as an optional add-on to the standard Clynelish tour. I even mused about the possibility of Brora restarting as a small-scale, old-style production distillery; sort of a working museum. But I really don’t think anyone at Diageo has the vision or the fortitude for such a project.
Back at the visitor center, I was presented with two samples; Clynelish 14 year old, which is the only regularly produced official bottling, and a distillery-only offering. The 14 year old is aged 60% in sherry casks and 40% in bourbon barrels, and bottled at 46% abv. This was my first taste from a distillery that had barely been on my radar prior to this trip, and I was pleasantly surprised. This is an old-school style malt; a good representation of what coastal highland whiskies used to be.
I only had the tiniest of sips of my sample from the other bottling (for a direct comparison) and took the rest of it to go in what was essentially a stoppered test-tube. This was from a limited run of just 6000 bottles that were released in 2008. It was bottled at a cask strength of 57.3% with no age statement after maturing exclusively in bourbon barrels. Full strength whiskies have a great appeal to me and this one was certainly bold and interesting, but I still preferred the flagship 14 year old. Its sherry cask component brought a level of complexity that the distillery-only bottling just couldn’t match.
On this sort of trip there have to be a few very special drams along the way. You can’t really plan such things in advance though; they just come along when the time is right. Brora has long been a whisky that was on my list of things I really ought to taste. Having just toured the old distillery and with several vintages available for tasting at the visitor center, this was one of those times. I went with the 2014 release, which was a 35 year old bottled at 48.6%. A single drink at £35 (about $45) is a rare indulgence for me, so I try to be picky when I go there. This one was definitely worth it.
The nose was rich and weighty with macerated tree fruits, showing firm but delicate peat smoke.On the palate, the dry, earthy peat character seemed to have been mellowed by the years rather than diminished by them. There was a rich, waxy quality and nice complexity along with great balance.The flavors evolved beautifully as it moved into an incredibly long finish.
After wandering around and taking a few more pictures outside of the distillery, I made my way down to Inverness. The city is bisected by the river Ness, which flows from Loch Ness to the sea. The B&B I was staying at was in the heart of the city and right on the east bank of the river. I had some travel issues to sort out after I settled in and that took up most of my evening. I was actually lucky to find a nearby place for dinner that was open past 10:00; otherwise I might have gone without. Needless to say, the only whisky I got into that night was the sample I had taken from Clynelish. | {
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RECIPES
Artichoke Hummus
Did you know that canned foods can be a hallmark of a healthy diet? And with just a few canned ingredients like artichoke hearts, garbanzo bean, and vegetable broth, this nutritious and delicious snack is ready to serve in no time! | {
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a7 processor
One of the more ‘out-there’ announcements at Apple’s recent iPhone event was the introduction of 64-bit support in their new A7 processor and the optimisation of iOS to support it. No one really saw it coming, and no one really knows what it truly means. | {
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Be Beautiful is a salon operating within a ladies-only gym in the centre of Bristol. They offer a range of popular beauty treatments including gel and acrylic nail extensions and overlays, luxury manicures, pedicures, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, express facials and more. Their high standard of service has helped make this salon one of the most popular salons in Bristol. The salon ambience is warm and friendly and only premium brands like Manicure Company, Gellux, IBD, Edge & Kaseo are used. Josette, the salon's lead beauty therapist, has countless years of experience and in-depth knowledge of every service she provides. Her attention to detail and finishing touch ensure that her clients leave the salon feeling confident and looking flawless. Located near countless bus stops and with street parking immediately outside, this salon is convenient for anyone in the Bristol area. If you are looking for a passionate beauty expert, book your next appointment with Josette at Be Beautiful.
Love is in The Hair is a hair, nail and beauty salon situated in Downend, Bristol, offering excellent customer service in a friendly professional atmosphere. We offer hair, nail, threading and beauty treatments at very competitive prices. All members of our team are fully qualified and have a wealth of experience. Free consultations are offered and we pride ourselves on our excellent customer service.
Welcome to Cheveux Hair and Beauty. We are an independent unisex hair and beauty salon based in Winterbourne, Bristol, offering a range of luxury hairdressing and beauty services. At Cheveux, owners Bev and Natasha Kembrey have over 30 years or experience in hairdressing between them. Our clients needs and comfort are our number one priority, offering a welcoming service to ensure you feel relaxed and looked after during your stay. Please lookon yell Jackie Sharp has been working in beauty for 20 years and is fully qualified in Semi-Permanent Make-Up, Meso Vytal Cell Boost Therapy, Medical Tattooing and MCA Dry Needling. All our staff have great passion for their work and their aim is to provide a professional and friendly service! We are new to treatwell so don't have reviews on here yet so please look on yell.com to see our fabulous reviews!
Amebella is situated in No.8 Hair & Beauty Salon in Henleaze. We offer a range of beauty treatments for both women and men. We are in a quiet residential area with roadside parking readily available. We pride ourselves on giving you great treatments in a relaxed and professional setting with our very experienced beauty therapists. | {
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Fight off asthma and ER trips with nutrition
Some experts believe that you may reduce your asthma symptoms by eating certain foods. Many fruits and vegetables contain potassium and magnesium. Avocados, bananas, and potatoes are especially rich in these nutrients. Legumes, nuts, dairy products, and whole grains also have potassium and magnesium. Not eating enough foods with these nutrients has been linked with poor lung function.
Fruits and vegetables also contain vitamin C and a nutrient called quercetin. Some experts believe that vitamin C may help treat allergy-related conditions like asthma. Quercetin, which slows the release of the chemical histamine, may also be helpful. Histamine in the body causes allergy symptoms.
Consider eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, too. These foods include fresh fish (salmon, mackerel, and halibut) and plant oils (flaxseed oil and walnuts). Omega-3 fatty acids may help reduce swelling and improve lung function in adults with asthma.
It's not known for sure yet whether these dietary changes can improve your asthma, but it won't hurt to try them. Just be sure to continue taking your asthma medicine as directed. | {
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December 29, 2007
Saturday menu will be an occasional feature. Tonight we made our Aunt's secret baked bean recipe in the new dutch oven. It's a traditional Maine dish.
This post is dedicated to the late Steve Gilliard, a pioneer of political blogging who posted wonderful food features. His was one of the first blogs I read regularly. I continued to do so until his very untimely death this past June. The New York Times Magazineremembers him this weekend, albeit with a peculiar slant.
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About
Maine Owl is a news, comment & nature photography blog. The Owl is proprietor. He is a long-time peace & justice activist now residing in the Bangor, Maine area. Ms. Owl occasionally blogs here as Tammy. Our team also is enhanced by Gerald, formerly of Turn Maine Blue and now of the smashing blog Dirigo Blue. | {
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Digital Yacht's iKommunicate gateway and Signal K the marine open data standard are opening up the traditional world of NMEA boat data to a new generation of Web Apps, Cloud Services and mobile devices. Converting NMEA data into Signal K's HTML5 "web ready" JSON format will allow, for the first time, any web or app developer to quickly read, process and display the boat's data.
Digital Yacht's iKommunicate gateway and Signal K the marine open data standard are opening up the traditional world of NMEA boat data to a new generation of Web Apps, Cloud Services and mobile devices. Converting NMEA data into Signal K's HTML5 "web ready" JSON format will allow, for the first time, any web or app developer to quickly read, process and display the boat's data. | {
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Social network for mass transit almost redeems social networks
Photo: Sveter SveterMan, what did we do before we had smartphones to answer all of life’s questions? Wracking your brains to remember who played Chunk in “The Goonies”? You can haul out IMDB at the bar. Wondering where to go for dinner? There are apps to tell you the best place within walking distance of wherever you happen to be standing. And now — in Norway, at least — your phone can also answer that eternal mystery, “Where the hell is the bus?”
Norwegian transport company Kolumbus has embedded 1,200 bus stops with QR codes, which are basically bar codes for everything in the world. QR codes are black and white squares whose patterns encode text or URLs, the way a bar code’s combination of lines encodes an item’s identity and price. Using a free QR reader app, you can scan and decode them using your cell phone. In the case of the Norway bus shelters, scanning the QR code sends you to a website that lists upcoming bus departure times.
Of course, the code is printed on a paper version of the schedule. But that piece of paper is just the Platonic ideal of bus arrivals. The encoded information will tell you in real time whether the buses were running according to plan, or whether they were delayed. (In theory. That part’s not actually functional yet.) That’s useful in Norway, where the 1,200 encoded bus stops cover a whopping 2,800 routes, but just imagine how much more useful it would be in a place like the U.S. that lacks Scandinavian efficiency!
Here’s where it gets really wild: Kolumbus is partnering with a project called “Tales of Things” to allow people to leave messages for each other (or just for the world) at the bus stops. Scanning the QR code with the Tales of Things app would allow you to see not just the bus timetable, but also the notes other travelers have left on that stop — what’s nearby, who’s waiting for whom, what number can you call for a good time. It’s a cross between bus stop Facebook and digital graffiti.
Is this useful tech or silly wankery? Probably a little of both, but here’s what’s cool: It plays up the social, interconnected aspect of public transportation. One of the great things about public transit is that, unlike a car, it isn’t isolating — okay, sure, that means you might end up standing balls-to-butt with Captain Stench, but it also means you’re part of a connected group of people with common experiences. Letting folks update their statuses in this weird, public social network seems potentially pointless, but it also underlines the fact that the network exists. We don’t see anyone proposing to implement a system where people can leave digital notes on your car. (Good thing, too. When people leave notes on a car, they usually say “nice parking, dickwad.”) Plus, this definitely beats the existing methods for letting everyone on the bus know what you ate for lunch. | {
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Amendment 1
This amendment raises the homestead property tax exemption by $25,000 for homes worth more than $100,000. That would exempt the value between $100,000 and $125,000 of a home that serves as the owner's primary residence.
Currently, there are two other homestead exemptions: for the first $25,000 of the assessed property value and for the value between $50,000 and $75,000.
Why: "Amendments 1 and 2 are a couple of tax proposals sponsored by the Legislature, because who doesn’t like tax cuts? The latter is preferable to the former, but neither rise to constitutional amendment worthiness."
Why: "This would benefit only 22 percent of all Brevard County properties and 48 percent of properties that have a homestead exemption. The county alone — not counting municipalities — would lose $12 million in revenue that may result in service cuts. This is unfair to non-homestead properties that will likely have to pay more to offset such cuts."
Why: Florida already offers generous homestead exemptions totaling $50,000 for property owners who make their full-time residence here. Adding another $25,000 exemption would put pressure on local governments to cut services or raise property tax rates to make up for lost revenue.
Why: "It could cut an average home owner's property taxes about $300 a year. But the negatives out weigh the potential benefits. About 40 percent of the homes in Florida are not eligible for the extra exemption because their assessed value is less than $100,000. The exemption also will mean much less revenue for local governments."
Amendment 2
This proposal permanently places a 10-percent cap on the annual increase of non-homestead property tax assessments. This amendment wouldn't change current law, but it puts protections in place so exorbitant increases don't impact renters, business owners and consumers.
What owners of non-homestead properties face, should the amendment fail, is paying taxes on the full value of properties, beginning in January 2019. This could translate into higher costs for renters, financial burdens for those on fixed incomes, increased costs for consumers who shop at businesses and more costs for those who own undeveloped land. Projections show a potential tax increase of about $700 million each year.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: "Amendments 1 and 2 are a couple of tax proposals sponsored by the Legislature, because who doesn’t like tax cuts? The latter is preferable to the former, but neither rise to constitutional amendment worthiness."
Why: "Non-homestead properties, in particular commercial ones, already pay more taxes than homestead ones. If Amendment 1 passes — and it probably will because voters want to give themselves a tax cut — local governments might need to make up for lost revenue by taxing non-homestead properties even more."
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: YES
Why: "While our board has misgivings about the permanent nature of this extension, we recognize the burden it would impose on renters and small-business owners if the 10-percent cap is allowed to expire."
Naples Daily News: YES
Why: "Homesteaded properties benefit from a maximum 3 percent year-to-year assessment increase, which can be even lower if the change in the Consumer Price Index is less. In a region where high housing costs are a concern for the workforce and seniors, we don’t need soaring property tax bills from spiraling assessments to cause landlords to increase rents. Businesses would pass their higher costs to consumers."
Fort Myers News-Press: YES
Why: "This amendment doesn't change current law, but it places a 10-percent cap on the annual increase of non-homestead property tax assessments. That helps renters, business owners and consumers because a no vote means owners of these properties could see taxes on the full value of properties. That translates into higher costs for renters, business owners and their consumers, and hurts those on fixed incomes."
Amendment 3
This amendment gives voters the exclusive right to decide whether a new casino can open in the state. It takes that right away from the Florida Legislature, which has failed in recent years to reach an agreement on the issue.
The amendment would categorize card games, casino games and slot machines as casino gambling, and require anyone who wanted to build a casino to get hundreds of thousands of signatures to get it on the ballot and then hope for voter approval. This would make it more difficult for any dog track or horse track wishing to expand its gaming to do so.
Currently, the Seminole tribal compact, agreed to in 2015 with the state, gives casinos exclusive rights to operate craps, roulette, black jack at its five properties.
The amendment was placed on the ballot after the anti-gambling expansion group Voters in Charge collected more than 766,000 validated voters' signatures.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: "Amendment 3 purports to put citizens in charge of any expansion of gambling, but it’s mainly a sop to Disney, which opposes all casino gambling, and the Seminole Tribe, which doesn’t want any competition for its gambling operations."
Why: "On the surface, Amendment 3 empowers voters. But because the referendum would be statewide, voters in one part of the state would decide whether a gaming facility can open somewhere else. This would benefit larger companies that have the resources to gather hundreds of thousands signature needed for a referendum."
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: "On the surface, Amendment 3 empowers voters. But because the amendment would be statewide, voters in one part of the state would decide whether a gaming facility could open somewhere else. This would benefit larger companies that have the resources to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures needed for a referendum."
Why: "Two important principles we embrace seemingly come into conflict in this amendment: home rule and the right of residents to decide their destiny by voting. A deeper look at the amendment, however, shows the tenets of home rule and voters’ rights are in alignment, so we urge a “no” vote on this amendment heavily lobbied by Disney and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Disney certainly has reasons to want to rein in where visitors’ entertainment dollars will go, and the tribe that operates a half-dozen Florida casinos, including one in Immokalee, has reasons to want to limit competition. To us, home rule means it’s a local decision. Where this amendment fails is that it doesn’t give local control over whether there are casinos to local voters."
Fort Meyers News-Press: NO
Why: On the surface that seems like a great idea, allowing voters to decide who gets new gambling establishments in their communities. But it's complicated. In order to get a new casino, complete with card games, casino games and slot machines, a business would need to get hundreds of thousands of signatures to get it on the ballot and then hope for voter approval. This would make it more difficult for any parimutuel facility, like the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing and Poker facility, or horse track wishing to expand its gaming, to do so. This amendment would not keep the Bonita track from getting slot machines based on a referendum approved by voters in 2012. That issue remains tied up in the courts.
Amendment 4
The amendment restores voting rights to former felons who served their sentence, including parole and probation, with the exception of those convicted of murder and sexual offenses. Currently, former felons must wait at least 5 years after completing their sentences to ask the Florida Clemency Board, made up by the governor and the Cabinet, to restore their rights.
A U.S. district judge found Florida's current system arbitrary and unconstitutional in March, and the case is under appeal. If passed, Amendment 4 would impact 1.5 million Floridians. Florida is one of four states that disenfranchises former felons permanently.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: YES
Why: We see no public benefit in forever forbidding felons to vote, and Florida is one of only four states that doesn't automatically restore voting rights to those who fulfilled their sentences.
If we want ex-offenders to turn their lives around, we should do our best to let them fully return to society. If they reoffend and go back inside, they won’t be voting — but as long as they’re rebuilding their lives, why not let them have full citizenship?
Why: If the point of sentencing is to impose adequate punishment for a crime, why does Florida continue to punish former felons long after they paid their dues to society? Our state is one of four that don't automatically restore voting rights to those who fulfilled their sentences. Our current clemency system, which gives the decision power to the governor and Cabinet, is broken and arbitrary.
Why: Florida is an outlier in this realm. It's one of four states that doesn't automatically restore voting rights to those who have completed their sentences. Our state as a whole benefits when citizens who have completed their sentences can become productive members of society — and that includes voting. Moreover, Florida's current clemency system, which gives full power to the governor and Cabinet, is broken and arbitrary.
Naples Daily News: YES
Why: By approving Amendment 4, voters can tell state leaders that nonviolent felons deserve another chance once they’ve finished their sentences, including time on probation or parole.
The offenders who would be eligible committed nonviolent felonies. That’s an important distinction because it excludes felons convicted of sex-related crimes or murder. By approving Amendment 4 — let Florida leaders know the state’s clemency process isn’t acceptable.
Why: This isn't a vote against ex-felons who have served their sentence for certain crimes, including parole and probation, and want their voting rights restored. We believe the Legislature should be addressing this issue and giving those rights back to felons who have earned their way back and deserve to vote.
Currently, former felons must wait at least 5 years after completing their sentences to ask the Florida Clemency Board, made up by the governor and the Cabinet, to restore their rights.
If passed, Amendment 4 impacts 1.5 million Floridians.
CLOSE
With many amendments on the November 2018 ballot in Florida, we break down the ones that involve taxes.
Fort Myers News-Press
Amendment 5
This amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the Florida House and Senate — instead of a simple majority — to raise taxes. It was placed on the ballot by the Legislature with the intent to make it more difficult for lawmakers to raise taxes.
This amendment does not apply to local taxes that might be raised in specific counties, cities or other taxing districts, such as school or fire districts. The amendment also stops a typical legislative technique of adding tax and fee increases onto other legislative bills.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: So how did we decide what to recommend? We stuck ruthlessly with a basic test: The proposal has to be more than just a good idea. It has to be worthy of a place in Florida’s Constitution — our central governing document — which means it must deal with fundamental rights. We say leave it.
FLORIDA TODAY: NO
Why: It allows the minority to kill a proposal, awarding a few lawmakers power over the entire 160-member Legislature. If we face another economic downturn and need to reverse some of the tax cuts enacted during the recovery, this measure would make it almost impossible.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: It would allow the minority to kill a proposal, awarding a relatively small number of lawmakers power over the entire 160-member Legislature.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: Amendment 5 would require a two-thirds vote in both the Florida House and Senate to raise taxes or fees, not just a majority. This historically hasn’t been an issue so arguably it’s an amendment put on a crowded ballot by state lawmakers in an election year.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: This amendment does not have enough teeth. The reason: your counties and cities, as well as school districts and other special districts, control most of your tax dollars. The amendment also stops a typical legislative technique of adding tax and fee increases onto other legislative bills, but the House and Senate are usually creative enough to find ways to add those fees.
How does the Constitution Revision Commission bundle several issues into each amendment? Here is how.
TCPALM
Amendment 6
This bundled amendment includes three separate proposals:
• Expands the scope of victims' rights under the Florida Constitution, including victims' rights to due process, under what's known as Marsy's Law;
• Raises the mandatory retirement age of Florida judges from 70 to 75;
• Prohibits state courts from deferring to an administrative agency's interpretation of a state statute or rule.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: Improving victims’ rights as part of Amendment 6 deserved individual consideration. But the Constitution Revision Commission linked a mandatory retirement age for judges and a legal procedural process with victims’ rights into the three-subject Amendment 6. We say leave it.
FLORIDA TODAY: NO
Why: These proposals are vastly different and have far-reaching consequences that should be addressed separately. The Constitution Revision Commission apparently used Marsy's Law, which has its merits, to lure voters to support Amendment 6's more obscure proposals.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: Our editorial board is philosophically opposed to the Constitution Revision Commission's practice of "bundling" unrelated amendments on the ballot. These proposals are vastly different and have far-reaching consequences that voters should be allowed to consider separately.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: The state’s constitution shouldn’t be loaded down with bundled amendments that strain logic to figure out why the proposals are related. Voters have the right to reject any bundled amendment.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: In order to approve the best part of this amendment – how it expands victims rights – you must also agree to raising the mandatory retirement age for Florida judges from 70 to 75 and agree to prohibit state courts from accepting a certain agency's interpretation of a state statue or rule. Without the age change and courts ability to act on certain interpretations, the bill could make sense. With them, it does not.
Amendment 7
Includes three separate proposals:
• Requires mandatory payment of death benefits and waives some educational expenses to qualifying survivors of first responders and military members who die performing official duties, which is already in state law (and adds paramedics and emergency medical technicians to the list);
• Requires supermajority votes by university trustees and state university system boards of governors to raise or impose fees;
• Establishes the existing Florida College System as a constitutional entity.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: The rest of the amendments [including 7] are the detritus of the Constitution Revision Commission, with little or no impact on the lives of average Floridians, the kind of multi-tasking snowballing the CRC littered its amendments with — unrelated topics cobbled together in take-it-or-leave-it propositions.
FLORIDA TODAY: NO
Why: The CRC bundled three unrelated proposals. While making it harder for university to raise tuition may sound like a good idea, it also preempts universities' ability to pay and offer more services when they are strapped for cash. A bill in the Legislature would achieve the same purpose.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: The Constitution Revision Commission bundled three different proposals. We are philosophically opposed to asking voters to cast a single vote for multiple changes to the state constitution.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: Three-part Amendment 7 addresses death benefits for first responders and military personnel, while also covering the voting requirements for regulators of state universities.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: This amendment runs the gamut of the absurd. A part of it expands the protection of benefits and educational expenses for survivors of certain first responders and military members who die performing official duties. Than the amendment goes off the rails. It also includes requiring super majority votes by university trustees and state university system board of governors to raise or impose legislatively authorized fees if law requires approval by those bodies. It also calls for a minor change in the Constitution, recognizing colleges in the state college system, which are no referred to as community colleges in the Constitution.
Amendment 9
This is a Florida Constitution Revision Commission proposal that bundles two measures under the auspices of clean water and clean air.
• The waters most immediately adjacent to Florida’s coastline are in state control, then become federal jurisdiction farther offshore. This amendment pertains just to state-controlled water, prohibiting oil and gas drilling for exploration or extraction in offshore areas. It doesn’t block transport of oil or gas from federal territorial waters through state waters to Florida’s ports.
• The second part of the amendment prohibits the indoor use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices. The amendment doesn’t restrict use of these devices inside private residences (unless they’re used for child or health care) nor in standalone bars or hotel rooms where smoking is allowed.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: The panel connected the prohibition of vaping in the workplace to offshore drilling in Amendment 9, a strained effort to connect clean air and clean water. Does a vaping ban belong in Florida’s Constitution? We say no.
FLORIDA TODAY: YES
Why: While we disagree with bundling different proposals together, Florida's economy relies on keeping our coastal waters healthy. Smoking indoors is already banned, so it makes sense ban to e-cigarettes as well.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: Again, the Constitution Revision Commission bundled three different proposals. We are philosophically opposed to asking voters to cast a single vote for multiple changes to the state constitution.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: Another worthwhile idea that fits within the preamble is forbidding oil and gas drilling in state territorial waters, a part of Amendment 9. If only the constitution revision commission had stopped there. Instead, the panel connected the prohibition of vaping in the workplace to offshore drilling in Amendment 9, a strained effort to connect clean air and clean water. There are far more effective ways to protect water and air quality that could have been combined with offshore drilling than vaping. How long into the future will vaping go up in smoke? Yet a fad is supposed to be addressed in the state’s constitution that should stand the test of time?
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: This CRC amendment has a tremendous environmental component, banning oil and gas drilling in state-controlled, offshore waters. It doesn’t block transport of oil or gas from federal territorial waters through state waters to Florida’s ports. Then the amendment turns to absurd, prohibiting the indoor use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices. Vaping should not be part of this amendment and should be regulated by the Legislature. Because of vaping, this amendment should not pass.
Amendment 10
This is a Constitution Revision Commission proposal that rolls four separate government regulatory proposals into one amendment that would:
• Require the Legislature to start its annual session in January instead of March during even-numbered years. That’s because these are election years; an earlier start means lawmakers can finish before May.
• Create a counter-terrorism and security office within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
• Require the state to have a Department of Veterans Affairs, which already exists.
• Require that all 67 counties must elect their sheriff, tax collector, elections supervisor and clerk of courts. Several Florida counties now have at least one of these positions appointed based on home-rule charters, such as Miami-Dade County, whose top law enforcer is appointed, not elected.
This amendment was legally challenged but the Florida Supreme Court left it on the ballot in an early September ruling.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
Why: Some amendments — including Amendment 10 — are the detritus of the Constitution Revision Commission, with little or no impact on the lives of average Floridians, the kind of multi-tasking snowballing the CRC littered its amendments with: unrelated topics cobbled together in take-it-or-leave-it propositions.
FLORIDA TODAY: NO
Why: The bundling of these proposals is ridiculous. Amendment 10 infringes on the home rule of counties that choose to appoint their officials.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: The bundling of these unrelated proposals is ridiculous. Additionally, Amendment 10 infringes on the home rule of counties that choose to appoint their officials.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: The 2018 Florida Constitution Revision Commission lost its way in crafting six multiple topic amendments, referred to as bundling. Those defending the panel’s bundling decision say it has the right to present mishmash amendments to voters. Granted. By the same token, however, voters have the right to reject any bundled amendment. That’s exactly what they should do Nov. 6 with “no” votes on the five remaining bundled amendments, including Amendment 10.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: Don't be deceived by this crowded amendment. One proposal — calling for all 67 counties to elect their sheriff, tax collector, elections supervisor and clerk of courts — is strictly a battle for those counties that don't elect those officers, not most of the state. Two other bundled items also are weak attempts to muddy the system. The legislative session proposal is only an attempt to allow lawmakers to get out and campaign sooner. That's not good government. Another proposal also aims to create a counter-terrorism and security office within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Most law enforcement agencies already have versions of this. The item requires the state to have a Department of Veterans Affairs, which already exists.
CLOSE
Florida voters approved Amendment 11 which cleans up a lot of language in the state constitution.
Rob Landers, FLORIDA TODAY
Amendment 11
This amendment has three parts:
• Florida’s Constitution currently has language that allows the Legislature to prevent non-citizens from buying, selling, owning or inheriting property. Amendment 11 would delete this language.
• Florida’s Constitution added the “Savings Clause” in 1885 and is one of only three states that enforces one. This clause forbids making changes to criminal sentencing laws retroactive. For example, if the Legislature changes a mandatory minimum sentence for an offense from 20 years to five years, anyone still being prosecuted for or already convicted of that offense would still have to serve 20 years. Amendment 11 repeals the Savings Clause.
• Deletes language approving a high-speed rail. Floridians voted down the high-speed rail project in 2004, but the language was never removed.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: YES
Why: Amendment 11 is a good clean-up proposal, repealing some unnecessary or unenforceable facets of existing law. It is one of those mash-ups the Constitution Revision Commission threw against the wall, but all three pieces are worthy of approval.
FLORIDA TODAY: YES
Why: The first two proposals bring the Constitution up to date as the citizenship provision isn't enforced (critics say it was enacted in the early 20th century to target Asian immigrants) and Floridians voted against high-speed rail in 2004. Repealing the Savings Clause ensures that people who committed a crime at different times serve equal sentences if the laws change. Amendment 10 supporters say it will help usher much-needed criminal justice reform, in particular when the Legislature reduces sentences for drug offenses.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: While these three proposals are reasonable on their own — each represents a sensible "cleaning up" of constitutional language — we are opposed to the Constitution Revision Commission's practice of bundling them into one amendment.
Naples Daily News: NO
Why: The 2018 Florida Constitution Revision Commission lost its way in crafting six multiple topic amendments, referred to as bundling. Those defending the panel’s bundling decision say it has the right to present mishmash amendments to voters. Granted. By the same token, however, voters have the right to reject any bundled amendment. That’s exactly what they should do Nov. 6 with “no” votes on the five remaining bundled amendments, including Amendment 11.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: This is another amendment that will confuse voters because of its many moving parts on deletions and repeals of constitutional items. Most of what is in this bundled amendment should not be constitutional issues in the first place.
Amendment 12
It expands ethics rules for public officials — both elected officials and government employees, including judges.
The new rules are complex, but essentially they ban officials/employees from lobbying the state and federal government during their terms of office/employment and for 6 years after (currently the rule is 2 years).
Amendment 12 also prohibits these officials from using their position for private gain.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
FLORIDA TODAY: NO
Why: We support a lobbying ban but six years is too far reaching, especially for government employees. It might prevent good candidates from running for office.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: While we support enhanced ethics rules for public officials, we have concerns about enshrining such specific limits in the state's governing document. That would make them more difficult to adjust in the future. These rules should be addressed transparently by the state Legislature.
Naples Daily News: YES
Why: Strong ethics rules and enforcement are principles of good governance, so we recommend support of Florida constitutional Amendment 12. Placed on the ballot by the Constitution Revision Commission, a “yes” vote on Amendment 12 would prohibit a public official — whether elected or an employee — from getting paid for lobbying while serving in office and for six years afterward. Currently, there is a two-year prohibition after leaving the government payroll. This amendment alone won’t clean up all that can be addressed to improve government ethics in the state. Campaign finance reform to control the influence of money on political campaigns and the meting out of harsher, quicker and more frequent penalties by the Florida Ethics Commission also would help.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: It expands ethics rules for public officials, banning those who are officials/employees from lobbying the state and federal government during their terms of office and for six years after they leave office. The current rule is two years. Officials are not allowed to use their office for private gain and the Legislature should be cracking down on those who do through laws it already has.
Amendment 13
The proposal ends commercial greyhound and other dog racing by 2020, but people in Florida would continue to wager on races occurring in other states.
Forty states ban the activity and Florida, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa and Texas are the only ones where dog racing is legal and operational.
Racing has been dying, but Florida law requires tracks to race dogs in order to keep their license to offer more profitable card games and slot machines, which they still would be able to offer if Amendment 13 is approved.
Pensacola News Journal: No stance
Tallahassee Democrat: NO
FLORIDA TODAY: YES
Why: This issue would be best addressed by the Legislature but lobbying by track owners has prevented lawmakers from enacting laws to address the high number of positive drug tests, including for cocaine, greyhound deaths and injuries. More than 400 dogs have died at state tracks since Florida began counting in 2013.
TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers: NO
Why: This issue should be addressed by the Legislature, not in the state's primary governing document.
Naples Daily News: YES
Why: We recommend approval of the amendment based on two principles: the state shouldn’t force a business to operate in ways that have proven unprofitable, and animals should be treated humanely. Animal welfare organizations have produced convincing data that too many dogs bred for racing are drugged, injured or dying. Why? So track operators can be forced to lose money running races that have lost popularity with a dog-loving public? Animal welfare organizations have assured us there is a network to transition these docile greyhounds into loving homes across the nation. The phase-out date gives the state time to make sure alternative job training is provided to workers who will lose jobs when racing ends. Track operators won’t be forced to lose money. Dogs get loving homes. Florida has tens of thousands of unfilled jobs today for those who no longer can do this line of work. A yes vote on Amendment 13 makes overwhelming sense.
Fort Myers News-Press: NO
Why: The proposal ends commercial dog racing by 2020, but those who bet could still wager on races occurring in other states. Forty states already ban the activity and we support animal rights groups who want to protect the dogs where accidents, death and drugging are a part of the sport. Dog racing is dying in the state and soon, because of pressure from groups, other laws will be changed to discontinue it and allow tracks, like the one in Bonita Springs, to be profitable through card games, slots and other gaming.
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Brevard decides! For the 2018 general election, early voting is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends of Oct. 27-Nov. 3. Election Day is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 6. Here are the candidates in Brevard County and the statewide races. narvikk, Getty Images/iStockphoto | {
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Darin Sukha
Overview
Darin is a Research Fellow leading the CRC Flavour and Quality Section. Darin and his research team investigate aspects of cocoa fermentation and drying as well as, physical, chemical and organoleptic cocoa quality assessments.
• Reviewer: Journal of European Food Research and Technology, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture and Agricultural Science Research Journal.
• Consultant on several Fine Flavour projects, projects on cocoa rehabilitation, production and processing.
• Member of International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) ad hoc panel of experts on Fine or Flavour cocoa and various cocoa stakeholder committees.
Projects
• Technical co-ordinator of the “Project to assess the quality attributes of the Imperial College Selections”.
• Technical co-ordinator for the World Bank funded Development Marketplace project on: “Identification and promotion of ancient cacao diversity through modern genomics methods to benefit small-scale farmers”.
Sukha, D.A.; Butler, D.R., Umaharan, P. and Boult, E. (2008). The use of an optimised assessment protocol to describe and quantify different flavour attributes of cocoa liquors made from Ghana and Trinitario beans. Journal of European Food Research and Technology 226 (3): 405-413. DOI. 10.1007/s00217-006-0551-2, Published online by Springer-Verlag 8 December 2006. | {
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The newly-late legend Kahinikar, screenwriter and filmmaker Amjad Hussain Mordeh came to the country. On Friday evening, a plane of Bangladesh plane arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Mordehti.
The plane carrying the Amzader Mordeh left from Bangkok landed in Dhaka at about 7 minutes at 7pm. Confirmed by directors Guilder General Secretary SA Hawk Hanlon. Amjad Hussain Mordeh will be placed in the Central martyr’s monument to homage the public tribute at Itain on Saturday (22 December). From there, Mordeh will be taken to ATN Bengali. After this, the second Zanaza will be the Hosner of the Bangladesh Film Development Corporatione (Biefdici) Amjad. From there, Mordeh channel Aite will be taken. Then the Mordeh will be Jamalpur for Dafner.
On behalf of the family after Amjad Hussain’s death, he was expressing his desire to dafner the intellectuals ‘ cemeteries. Later he was decided to sit next to the graves of the parents of Amjad Hussain Jamalpure.
Amjad Hussain left the last breath in Chikitsadhin at Bamrungrad Hospital in Bangkok on December 14. He was 76 years old.
Binodhan Desk: Friday, 21 December, H B News
The newly-late legend Kahinikar, screenwriter and filmmaker Amjad Hussain Mordeh came to the country. On Friday evening, a plane of Bangladesh plane arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Mordehti.
The plane carrying the Amzader Mordeh left from Bangkok landed in Dhaka at about 7 minutes at 7pm. Confirmed by directors Guilder General Secretary SA Hawk Hanlon. Amjad Hussain Mordeh will be placed in the Central martyr’s monument to homage the public tribute at Itain on Saturday (22 December). From there, Mordeh will be taken to ATN Bengali. After this, the second Zanaza will be the Hosner of the Bangladesh Film Development Corporatione (Biefdici) Amjad. From there, Mordeh channel Aite will be taken. Then the Mordeh will be Jamalpur for Dafner.
On behalf of the family after Amjad Hussain’s death, he was expressing his desire to dafner the intellectuals ‘ cemeteries. Later he was decided to sit next to the graves of the parents of Amjad Hussain Jamalpure.
Amjad Hussain left the last breath in Chikitsadhin at Bamrungrad Hospital in Bangkok on December 14. He was 76 years old.
Binodhan Desk: Friday, 21 December, H B News | {
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} |
Writer, Editor, Critic, Researcher
Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? We Are
Australians love a battler. Oft touted as the national type, the battler’s spirit has been invoked in the guise of Howard’s “ordinary Australians” or Gillard’s “working families”. From both sides of the political fence, the battler personifies the Protestant work ethic, knowing the importance of keeping one’s nose to the grindstone in the pursuit of personal salvation. The battler is, in short, the hard-working everyman, persevering in the face of adversity, eternally on the cusp of the Australian Dream – a double brick veneer in the suburbs, small business ownership and a nuclear family who spend their weekends frolicking by the man-made lakes of Caroline Springs.
From our rural origins to our suburban present, the battler has prevailed, too, as a central figure in Australian cinema. Presumably the corollary of our colonial history, Australia’s cinema, like many of our cultural outputs, is still preoccupied with the idea of capturing and defining what constitutes our national identity. Spanning across Australian period films—the shearers of Sunday Too Far Away, the stockman of The Man from Snowy River and the ANZACs of Gallipoli—to the ockers of Ozploitation sex romps like Stalk and The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, to suburban comedies such as Muriel’s Wedding and The Castle, the battler has remained, in various permutations, the hero of our cultural imaginings.
But somewhere along the line, Australian cinema lost sight of true battlers like the Kerrigans—the simple folk with modest aspirations. During the 1990s, questions of national identity dominated the transition from the Keating to the Howard years, with issues like multiculturalism and indigenous rights at the forefront of political discussion. While Howard held up the battler as the national archetype, whom he defined as “somebody who’s not earning a huge income but… who is trying to better themselves”, in Australian cinema the battler turned against itself. A new kind of anti-hero emerged, the terrifying product of socio-economic disenfranchisement and the exclusion from Howard’s Australian Dream. In films like Romper Stomper, Idiot Box and The Boys, a genre that I’d like to term the ‘working-class crime film’ was born, simultaneously praised for their “authentic” representations of working-class life and lambasted for their lavish shows of violence. Here, the battler became a psychopath, the suburbs rendered as a real-life dystopia from whence these nightmarish characters sprang forth.
Just when we thought the genre might have exhausted itself after 2000’s Chopper, a new spate of working-class crime films emerged with last year’s Animal Kingdom and the recent Snowtown—a film so claustrophobic, bleak and brutal that it takes the genre to its zenith. These two films have received more attention than most other Australian cinema in recent years. Animal Kingdom cleaned up at the Australian Film Industry Awards (with a record-breaking 18 nominations and 10 wins) and received the Jury Prize for Best World Cinema at the prestigious Sundance; Jacki Weaver was even nominated for an Oscar in her role as murderous matriarch Janine. And while Snowtown is yet to hit the prize circuit, it has already received international exposure at Toronto Film Festival and Cannes Critics Week, as well as securing distribution deals in the UK, USA and France.
What is it about the working-class crime film that has so captured the imagination of local and international audiences? Aesthetically, these have been some of the more innovative examples of Australian cinema in recent years. The genre can be defined as much by its style as by its narrative themes. Shot in the eternal dusk of blue filters, sunlight is a rare (if not entirely absent) occurrence in these worlds. Their sparse and ominous soundtracks hover at the edges of perception, only reaching consciousness at moments when violence takes centre screen. And more often than not, the film’s action does not leave the suburban home, shots taken through doorways or behind furniture adding to these films’ overwhelming sense of claustrophobia.
These are milieus of absentee fathers and overbearing yet ineffectual mothers, their tragedy inherently linked to the breakdown of the nuclear family. While poverty is shown to be a breeding ground for brutality, its ultimate source is always the figure of the charismatic, avuncular psychopath who is able to hypnotise and mobilise those around them—Hando (Russell Crowe) in Romper Stomper, Kev (Ben Mendelsohn) in Idiot Box, Brett (David Wenham) in The Boys, Pope (Mendelsohn again) in Animal Kingdom and John Bunting (Daniel Henshaw) in Snowtown. Nobody is impervious to the psychopath’s spell, for he (and it is always a he) fills the void left by the deserter Daddy and a need for the authority that Daddy represents. But we must ask what this says about Australian attitudes towards working-class existence? In these films’ worldview, the battler is always but one psychopath away from savagery.
Snowtown takes the genre to its extreme, and has divided viewers as a result. Several of its Cannes audience infamously walked out, which has proved a fitting metaphor for its ensuing critical reception. Richard Wilkins of Today called it “the most disgusting, horrific, depraved and degrading film” he had ever seen, “as close to a snuff movie” as he could bear. Helen Garner, writing in the Monthly, chastised director Justin Kurzel for the film’s amorality, asking, “What licenses a filmmaker to shove us off the edge of the abyss, to walk away and leave us endlessly falling, without hope of redemption?” Generally, however, the film’s reception has been overwhelmingly positive, garnering reviews peppered with terms like “authentic”, “gritty”, “risky” and “compelling”, praising its unflinching depiction of the blighted people who dwell on society’s fringes. Mark Naglazas of the West Australian went so far as to ask if “crime dramas, not quirky comedies, are the truest, most natural expression of our natural character”?
Snowtown is based on the ‘bodies in barrels’ murders of the 1990s, the work of Australia’s most notorious serial killer John Bunting, in which eight bodies were discovered in vats of acid stored in a bank vault in Snowtown, South Australia. Sketching a portrait of a forgotten community, Kurzel attempts to show the kind of destitution that allowed a psychopath like Bunting to take control. Much of the film’s uncanny horror lies in the fact that it was shot in the North Adelaide suburbs where the real-life murders actually took place, the majority of the cast (except Henshaw) non-professional actors sourced from casting calls in the area.
Yet there is something about Snowtown that wallows in this community’s poverty. Kurzel is quick to survey the surrounding squalor—barren yards punctuated by miscellaneous trash, careless graffiti on the walls of austere council houses, burnt out shells of cars. The camera zooms in on family feasts of fried eggs and tomato sauce on white toast, overflowing ashtrays and kids’ meals sitting side-by-side on the laminex table. Bored teenagers play videogames, smoke ciggies outside concrete shopping malls and ride their bikes in circles on sad, grey streets. As adults, the games may change but the patterns remain the same—they chain-smoke, drink stubbies and play the pokies, everyone doing the best they can to stave off the ennui of the suburbs.
When a man offers to babysit Elizabeth’s (Louise Harris) children in the film’s opening scenes, it comes as no surprise when he turns out to be a paedophile, taking naked photos of Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) and his younger brothers, who all seem unperturbed. This is a world where abuse is casual. Jamie’s older brother nonchalantly rapes him while they watch the cricket, the sound of Richie Benaud’s commentary echoing from the television set in the background and the flyscreen door open to the street.
So when John Bunting materializes in their kitchen seemingly out of nowhere, driving away the paedophile by defacing his house with severed kangaroo appendages, he seems like a fairy godfather. He takes Jamie under his wing, cooks meals with vegetables and escorts Elizabeth out dancing, one of the only scenes in which we see this burnt out shell of a woman smile. But in the logic of Snowtown, and the logic of the working-class crime films more broadly, we know that any happiness will be short lived.
Bunting views himself as something of a vigilante, a kind of suburban Travis Bickle who has been sent to cleanse the suburban scourge. “The cops won’t do anything,” he tells his neighbours. “You gotta take it into your own hands”. Bunting is able to create a much-needed sense of community, encouraging parents to convene around the dinner table and relay their dissatisfaction with the system that has abandoned them. Bunting lets them express their pain, empowers them to verbalize how they would enact justice, if only they could—lurid revenge fantasies in which they show the abusers just who’s boss. The only difference with Bunting? These are not mere fantasies. He plans to act on them, ridding the world of “paedos” and “fags” (which, in Bunting’s eyes, means the same thing).
Like in Animal Kingdom (which is told from the perspective of 17-year-old Josh [James Frechville]), the spectator is aligned with the subjectivity of Jamie, a blank slate of a 16-year-old boy who falls under Bunting’s spell. Often framed through Jamie’s eyes, we too are taken forcibly into this world in which Kurzel plays with what is necessary to show on screen. Extreme close-ups of toenails being torn off with pliers, a man’s face beaten so brutally it is becomes a relief map of bruises, gashes and swelling, Jamie’s brother being garrotted in the family bathtub from which their mother later bathes. We too become complicit in these horrors, and like Jamie are taken from innocence to corruption.
As the film progresses, Bunting’s targets become increasingly more indiscriminate. He kills Jamie’s best friend, a “fucking junkie” who Bunting insists is “a waste,” and later, an intellectually disabled teen. Why? Simply because he can. But it is the final murder that completes Jamie’s descent into moral turpitude—the killing of his half-brother, who has started a mechanic’s apprenticeship and is on the cusp of escape. As the two drive towards Snowtown, we don’t know whether Jamie is planning to confess—to reveal his misdeeds in the hope of redemption—or to deliver his brother into Bunting’s arms. Of course, it is the latter. The camera pans out through the doorway, leaving the brother alone with the most prolific serial killer Australia has ever known. The transition from innocence to corruption is complete, and it is here Kurzel deserts us, in the darkness, as the credits begin to roll.
What is it about this utterly grim portrait of working-class life that has caused so many to praise Snowtown for its authenticity? In suburban comedies like The Castle, we love the Kerrigans because they are at once us and not us. They are quintessentially Australian, the archetypal battler through whom we define our national specificity. And yet they are so grotesque, their ordinariness so aggrandized, that we do not only laugh with them but also at them. We can praise our own good tastes, for surely no one is that Australian, and file the Kerrigans under the category of cultural cringe.
The people of Snowtown, however, are decidedly not us. Nor are any of the characters of the working-class crime films. And we definitely do not love them. On the contrary, they terrify us. The Castle played at suburban multiplexes, but Snowtown’s distribution has been limited to arthouse cinemas. We praise Kurzel for his ‘authentic’ representation of the Australian experience, yet we are safe in the knowledge that this ‘authentic’ experience is far removed from our own—that ‘authenticity’ lies in forgotten communities in forgotten suburbs, far removed from the inner-city cinemas where we look on in dismay.
It is difficult to chart where the fictional and the cinematic diverge. Most of these are true crime films, based on real life events – the Anita Cobby case in The Boys, the Pettingill family in Animal Kingdom, and of course Bunting in Snowtown. And there is no doubt that the impoverished worlds in which these events occurred are similarly bleak, plagued by violence, addiction, abuse and a range of other repercussions of poverty.
In their cinematic representations though, hopelessness becomes all encompassing. As a friend commented to me after seeing Snowtown, “Surely they weren’t all that stupid? Surely somebody disagreed?” Kurzel does not allow Jamie and his family a moment of joy, nor is there any character who is left untouched by Bunting’s madness. And there is certainly no possibility of transcendence. Death is the only escape. There is an overwhelming pessimism surrounding working-class existence that imbues this genre—a sense of fait accompli, the repetitive nature of this world ensuring tragedy is the only outcome. The innocent will inevitably be infected by evil, and the whole vicious cycle will start again.
Australians say they love a battler. But when we place the underclass on screen, it seems our empathy goes AWOL, much like that of these psychopathic protagonists. If this is really how we see ourselves, then what are we so scared of?
Published in The Lifted Brow, No. 13 (December 2011). You can buy a copy of The Lifted Brow No. 13 here.
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One Comment
What is working class about the subjects of Snowtown? How are they ‘battlers’? It is not hard to say where the divergence is between truth and fiction, if you’ve actually been to Elizabeth. If you’d been there, you would know the prejudice and the hatred evident in that community – against almost everything and everyone. If you’d been there you would know that it is just as dark as the film portrays. Perhaps, rather than framing the film as classist, a more constructive approach might have been to stop pretending that the people there are just fine. They’re not. I don’t know how to fix it. But I know that it shouldn’t be ignored or swept under the carpet. | {
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NORTH BAY — The Business Journal today released the names of the winners of its eighth annual Forty Under 40 awards.
The winners, selected from more than 120 nominations, were chosen on the basis of their leadership in companies and organizations as well as their participation within the communities across the North Bay.
“The first thing one will notice about this year’s list of winners is that there are 53 recipients — a first for this award over its eight years,” said Business Journal Publisher Brad Bollinger. “And there is a reason for this: We had a record outpouring of very deserving nominees,” he said.
“The number and quality of nominees likely reflects an ongoing and accelerating generational shift in the workplace, in which younger workers are taking on higher levels of responsibility,” Mr. Bollinger said. “So we asked ourselves, ‘Why let an arbitrary number exclude very qualified people?’ Our answer was we shouldn’t, and we didn’t. Congratulations to everyone.”
Recipients of the 2014 awards, selected by the Journal editorial staff, will be honored at a gala reception on April 30, 4–6:30 p.m., at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek in Santa Rosa. Tickets are available for $65 per person or $675 for a table of 10, including company name on the table. Registration at NorthBayBusinessJournal.com closes April 25.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009
First, read this post to catch up. Since that day at the Pink Shop, Mr. Bear has had many wonderful adventures. He comes to the grocery store, preschool, church, and the library. One night as we were going through the bed time routine we discovered Mr. Bear was missing. After retracing our steps we were confident he had been left at the library. So, as soon as the library opened the next day, we zoomed over to get him. Josh and Halle had a blast making up stories about Mr. Bear's sleep over at the library.
Sometime in Sept, the same thing happened. Bed time came, and no Mr. Bear could be found. We racked our brains, and hunted the house top to bottom. But no luck, he was lost. There were many sad nights, and days spent turning the toyroom upside down.
About 1 week ago Halle comes charging through the door and shouts, "I have the most WONDERFUL news!" (She had been on her first kindergarten field trip that day and I was sure she was bursting at the seams to talk about it). I said, "Tell me about your day!" She said, "No Mom, even BETTER NEWS. I FOUND MR. BEAR." What??? Had Mr. Bear magically made his way to the Children's Museum in Denver? No, but he had ended up in the school's lost and found. On her way to the bus, Halle had seen him sitting on the top shelf. As soon as Josh woke up from his nap we raced to the school to rescue him. And there was much rejoicing.
5 comments:
YAY!! I love this story. I love how exciting things like this are with kids! Glad Mr. Bear is safe and sound. We recently had a similar story over a letter "o". I have iron letters that spell "love". Kenzie loved to play with these and lost the letter O months ago. We looked everywhere-couldn't find it. I told her she couldn't play with anything else of mine until she found it. (I know i am a mean mom)...anyway..she found it about a week ago in one of her little purses that had been in the trunk for the last few months...she was so excited! No, not quite as exciting as Mr. Bear, but a happy day nonetheless. :)
I felt so sad for you/little Blake after reading about his surgery. There's just something so unsettling about putting your tiny one under anesthesia! Halle's getting her tonsils out right after Christmas and I'm very nervous already. Glad to hear that Blake did so well.
How fun that you got to take Halle to the Nutcracker!! I love that show and go every year. I can't wait till my girls are old enough to come along.
I guess this obsession with stuffed animals runs in the family. I remember being a roommate with a certain 18 year old girl who packed her stuffed monkey thousands of miles from home to college. Yes, a stuffed animal at college. It was a beautiful monkey, though. | {
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Club News
I am writing this to inform everyone that I have resigned as President of BYHC as of May 9, 2017. The decision was a hard one to make, but since my son will be leaving BYHC next season to attend boarding school in Connecticut, I felt it was the best time to vote in a new President and Vice President. The club will be in good hands with Jen Thompson as President and Arban Adams as V.P. I will complete my tenure as a board member by serving as President Emeritus during the upcoming season.
I want to say Thank You to all of the Board Members and Volunteers that help to keep our organization going and most of all; to all of the parents, coaches and players for choosing BYHC.
Joining several other CBHL clubs, BYHC has added a Tryout and Deposit Fee system to its tuition fee structure. Paid in advance of tryouts, the Deposit will be applied to your player's tuition. Please be aware that players will now have 48 hours to DECLINE a roster position as opposed to accept a position by registering. The Deposit will be refunded ONLY if a player is not offered a roster position on a TRAVEL TEAM in their age division. More details about how it will work and a thorough explanation of why so many clubs have adopted this fee structure can be viewed here.
Other Important Links
Our Mission
For more than 50 years, the mission of the non-profit Baltimore Youth Hockey Club has been to teach the youth of our community the sport of ice hockey and to develop team play and individual ice hockey skills through clinics and programs of ice hockey competition emphasizing sportsmanship, cooperation, self-discipline, self-confidence, individual responsibility and respect for others, while providing a great ice hockey experience. It’s the stated goal of our club to offer this hockey experience on several levels: Solid AA, A and B-level travel hockey, an always-solid rec-hockey program, plus girls only teams when possible and the Patterson Park Stars community service program. | {
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WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: India has jumped 23 places to the 77th position in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking released on Wednesday, a development that could help the country attract more foreign investments.
India was ranked 100th in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report last year.
The ranking comes as a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi Government which faces strong dissenting voices from opposition parties ahead of the general elections next year.
In its annual report ‘Doing Business’ 2019 report, World Bank said India improved on six of the 10 parameters relating to starting and doing business in a country. | {
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Troubleshooting
The topics in this section contain important information about known issues and restrictions offering possible workarounds and/or solutions.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | {
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The very best destinations, trips, and dining experiences for foodies
Top 100 culinary voyages in the West
We've combed the West for the very best flavor experiences, all worthy of a culinary pilgrimage
Every spring in L.A.'s Persian neighborhoods, markets and stores take on a festive buzz. Westwood, Glendale, and the San Fernando Valley together have the highest concentration of Iranians in the U.S., and during the two-week celebration of Nowruz, the Pe
Photo by Dave Lauridsen
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Celebrate New Year’s the Persian way
Every spring in L.A.'s Persian neighborhoods, markets and stores take on a festive buzz. Westwood, Glendale, and the San Fernando Valley together have the highest concentration of Iranians in the U.S., and during the two-week celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, you'll see ceremonial symbols of rebirth and abundance all over the place: goldfish in shop windows and shelves full of potted wheatgrass and hyacinths. Local restaurants serve a New Year’s menu of noodle soups, fish, and rice with greens and herbs, plus meat or vegetable stews with pomegranates. Stop by some of our favorite places along Westwood Boulevard, the epicenter of Nowruz festivities, to soak up the celebration: | {
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Young Professionals: Graphic designer's livelihood is her flair
Jun. 22, 2013
Nicole Bragg of Flair Designs in her office in Highland.
Written by
Karen Maserjian Shan
For the Poughkeepsie Journal
When Nicole Bragg was a youngster, her mother enrolled her in art classes. By the time Bragg entered Arlington High School, she was taking honors-level art classes.
"I loved art," said Bragg, 36. "That's where I excelled."
She still does. As owner of Flair Designs in the Town of Lloyd, Bragg focuses on graphic design, creating websites, business cards, logos and more for clients such as Wallkill Savings Bank and Organic Matters. ... | {
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Japanese insurers to discontinue sale of savings-type policies
Japanese insurers to discontinue sale of savings-type policies
Due to negative interest rates, Japanese non-life insurance companies will stop selling savings-type policies, according to reports.
In such policies, the insured pays the entire premium upon signing of the contract, and they are eligible for payouts for accidents and injuries until the end of the term, when the premium is returned almost in full.
However, the Bank of Japan’s decision to impose negative interest rates has forced insurers into a corner and severely limited their investment options.
Major Japanese non-life insurer Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire will stop offering savings-type products in October. Mitsui Sumitomo will also follow suit by April of next year, although policies for condominium boards may be exempted. Sompo Japan Nipponkoa has also ceased selling a similar plan.
The three mentioned insurers have a total of US$467m in premiums from savings-type products sold between March 2015 and March 2016. | {
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Travel and explore South Africa!
South African National Parks offers a variety of accommodation types and standards. Prices are
dependent on location, size of unit and quality of experience. All of our South African National
Parks offer park/camp-run accommodation. Each park/camp has its own unique selection of
accommodation types.
Conserving nature since 1926
National parks offer visitors an unparalleled diversity of adventure tourism opportunities including
game
viewing, bush walks, canoeing and exposure to cultural and historical experiences. Conferences can
also be
organised in many of the parks. Read more...
Hi - Will be visiting Augrabies end April 2011 and am interesting in driving the 94km wilderness road. However, find information on this route scarce. E.g. where to book, grade of route, what to see on this road, etcetera. Please help.
Hi MattheeYou don't have to book the route,depending on your stay you will pay the tariff for day visitors or overnight visitors only,so there's no cost attached to the road.You can do the road with a normal sedan vehicle or 4x4,the last option will enable you to reach 2 of the waterpoints as this was a initiatif to enhance game viewing.The total lenghts of the road is 92km starting from the rest-camp/a map will be available at the reception,there is a longer route approximately 6hrs,shorter one is approximately 3hrs.There is also a picnic site on the extended route.All game species is reintroductions and the following can be seen,giraffes,red-hartebees,springbok,gemsbok,ostrich,hart-mann zebras,eland,kudu's, and althougt there are a lot of species it all depends on how lucky you are.It is better to go out early for planning your route,the game areas gate opens at 6:30 and close at 7:00.Other initiatiffs was to attached names to the routes,these will enable tourist to know which route to take and if something happens for instance vehicle problems,at least less time will be spent on searching.Extended route-named as quiver loop,community of quiver trees can be found here.Short route-hartmanns loop,possibility to see zebras in this area.Hopes this help,if theres other questions regarding this,please asked.
Hi LimaThe roads in Augrabies Falls national park is open but only on the central section of the park,the western section is still closed.You will also be able to only visit the view points and would need a 4+4 vehicle to reach the area where the bridge is closed to Holombacht where the waterhole is.Dont know when that section will be open or when repairings on the road will start as we have quit a lot of rain recently and is no use to repaired if the roads going to be washed away.
I have n't a good map off the augrabies park. Only the one at the website of the park itself. So I can't really know where the bridge is and the holombacht waterhole. We have rented a 4x4 probably a toyota dubbelcap. Can we see a lot of the park even with the road damage? We will be there in august this year. It will be a one time visit i think, so we want to see as much as possible.
Hi Dotty.we want to use the camping spots at Augrabies,we will be arriving by motorcycles enroute to Kleinsee,would we be allowed to enter the park on motorcycles.Have the camping spots got ablution facilities? | {
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Certified Used Car means NO Open Recalls per the FTC
When thinking about buying a used car, some people hit a speed bump when they get to the “used” part. It’s one thing to spot a dinged fender or smudged floor mat, but it’s tougher to evaluate a used car’s essential systems. In separate complaints, the FTC charged that CarMax and two large dealership groups touted how rigorously they inspect their used cars and yet failed to clearly disclose to prospective buyers that some were subject to unrepaired safety recalls.
CarMax’s ads highlighted that its cars undergo a 125+ point “Certified Quality Inspection” that “must check out before it meets our high standards.” What did CarMax say it inspected in the “over 12 hours, on average” it spent on each car? Everything from the engine and steering system to the brakes and axles.
Georgia-based Asbury Auto Group – which also does business under the names Coggin and Crown – made similar claims for its used fleet of certified cars. For example, on its website, the company promised “Crown Automotive sends every Crown Certified used vehicle through a rigorous 150 point inspection to ensure that every vehicle is in top shape before you take it home. It is important to Crown that every feature of your vehicle work as it should so that you have peace of mind before you leave the dealership.”
Similarly, West-Herr Automotive Group – the largest auto group in New York – told car buyers that “Each vehicle goes through a rigorous multi-point inspection with our factory trained technicians. The service department grades each vehicle, and only the highest quality vehicles make it to our lots.”
But according to the FTC, despite the companies’ broad claims about rigorous used car inspections, there was something they failed to tell consumers: that some of the cars were subject to safety recalls that hadn’t been fixed.
Let’s be clear. We’re not talking about wonky cup holders. According to the complaints, some of the unrepaired recalls covered defects that could cause serious injury – for example, in the case of CarMax, a defect that could result in the airbag rupturing and striking occupants with metal fragments. The complaint against Asbury alleges that some cars advertised as passing its “150 point bumper-to-bumper inspection” were subject to an open recall for a defect that could increase the risk of a crash by causing the car to move in an unexpected or unintended direction.
Under the proposed settlements, CarMax, Asbury and West-Herr can’t claim their used vehicles have been subject to an inspection for safety-related issues unless they’re free of open safety recalls, or the companies clearly and conspicuously disclose that the vehicles may be subject to unrepaired safety recalls. If they make that clear and conspicuous disclosure, they also have to tell consumers how to determine if a car they’re considering is subject to an unrepaired safety recall. (The inspection claim and disclosure can’t be misleading in any other way, of course.) Among other things, the companies also have to send letters to customers that vehicles they bought as far back as July 1, 2013, may be subject to open recalls.
While we’re on the subject of “clear and conspicuous,” the FTC’s complaint against CarMax alleges that one TV ad touted its inspection procedures and then flashed in fine print for just three seconds at the bottom of the screen “Some CarMax vehicles are subject to open safety recalls.” It’s FTC 101 that fleeting fine-print superscripts flunk the “clear and conspicuous” standard. That’s the case for the disclosure of any information necessary to prevent deception. Dealerships eager to steer clear of law enforcement need to know that conveying key information in tiny type, burying it in dense blocks of text, or hiding it in a place consumers aren’t likely to look is a non-starter under the law. | {
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Young fingers in moist slit
Get the incredible private home movie with very young chick playing with her naked body before the recording camera! She gets naked and stretches widely rubbing her hardening clitoris and sticking fingers deeply inside the moist vagina! Wanna see that? Click here and enjoy the view! | {
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Things
I have often wondered why we, the human race, evolved to have these biases in our way of processing information. I’m sure there are explanations as to why we have most of them – clearly, some of those are there to reduce processing load and ensure an individual processes enough information to survive within their […] | {
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Categoría: English
It seems Israel’s leadership considers that its strategic, military, diplomatic and political ‘window of opportunity’ to make war against Iran is fast closing. Israeli and US leaders seem united in their strategic goal of destroying Iran – as they were in destroying Iraq, Libya and...
As a foreign observer writing from Argentina, we too are awaiting with keen expectation the results of the Russian Elections. As happens with all elections when observed from far away, save for the incumbent and maybe one or two other names, the rest are often...
Here in Argentina, when we watch the terrible things that are happening today in Greece, we can only exclaim, “Hey!! That’s exactly what happened in Argentina in 2001 and 2002…!” A decade ago, Argentina too went through a systemic Sovereign Public Debt collapse resulting in...
Throughout history, military attacks on sovereign nations have always meant death, destruction and chaos which don’t end once invasion is complete. Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Vietnam, Northern Ireland – even World War II and the Cold War. So why should Libya be any different? ...
The Private Global Power Elite embedded in major governments is dead set on imposing World Government on us sooner rather than later. Let’s look at 12 mega-processes – veritable “Triggers” – that we infer they are using to achieve their goals. All roads lead to...
Exactly ten years ago Argentina suffered a full-scale financial and governmental collapse. That was the end-result of over a decade of doing exactly what the IMF, international bankers, rating agencies and global “experts” told us to do. Then President Fernando de la Rúa kept applying...
The Western mainstream media falsifies the news resorting to euphemisms, half-truths and lies in the best (worst) style of George Orwell’s novel 1984. We all live in the unreal world of “Newspeak” used by the Global Power Elite to control our minds. Man gets confused...
A veritable re-engineering of the entire planet has been taking place in front of our eyes for many decades now. However, since it is gradual, most people do not notice or understand what is happening. Just like the proverbial frog that if thrown into boiling...
Dear Friends and Colleagues, Please read below this short article I wrote for the (RT) Russia Today website. It contains key information to help understand what is happening in Europe and what lies ahead. Here’s the link: http://rt.com/news/europe-debt-crisis-takeover-215/ Best regards, Adrian Salbuchi The sovereign debt...
We are hearing drums of war against Iran once again coming from the US, the UK and Israel. This could be the start of something much more serious that goes beyond Iran. Friday 4th November I was interviewed on RT to analyze this, which you... | {
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Jon Favreau on Lion King’s 3D Visuals; Plans to Direct Jungle Book 2
Favreau also faces some tough material with Lion King. It’s perhaps one of Disney’s most beloved movies—even across several generations—and the story has been successfully translated for a number of different formats since its 1994 debut. The onstage musical is one of Broadway’s longest running shows to date, and its highest grossing production in history. Favreau said his experience on Jungle Book has helped to teach him how to work with cherished material, but knows tackling such a treasured enterprise won’t be easy. Here’s what he had to say about Lion King:
The thing is that the animated version of The Lion King is — I don’t know how you outdo that. It works tremendously well. I think it was sort of the end of the era before the 3D animation started coming in, and I don’t think anybody wants to see an animated version because if you want to see an animated version, look at the original. It holds up, it’s still wonderful to watch. So the trick is can you make it look like you actually found real animals in a real environment? And how do you translate the story through that? And in that sense, what we learned on Jungle Book as we got into the photorealism of the environments and the characters, the behavior of the animals, how do you use the lessons you learned there, but adjust it to the tone of what Lion King is? Because I think that when you hear the opening song, when you see those images, the photography of it, even in 2D it is arresting, and I try to imagine what it could be like using the tools that we have today and could we make audiences feel the same way and retell the same myth using these new tools? So the challenge becomes how do you have it look photoreal? And what has to be adjusted so that it doesn’t feel inconsistent? In Jungle Book, if we just took everything that was in the ’67 film, that humor would have been too broad for a live-action, and also you have to take into account that these look like real animals, so the intensity of it gets really notched up. So understanding the lessons that we learned from Jungle Book is really helpful as we develop this, but it’s all a discovery process. And fortunately, working with a lot of the same people and it feels like a continuation of that journey.
Piecing together the two projects will undoubtedly be tricky, but Favreau certainly has an advantage with his experience on Jungle Book. He’s already proven his prowess for making animal-based casts photo-realistic and engaging. The biggest hurdle will be adjusting The Lion King for the modern era without cutting its original magnetism, and capturing its emotional pull will be key. It may be several years before we get a glimpse at the final products, but having the right director at the helm will only make them worth it in the long run.
We’ll let you know when The Lion King and The Jungle Book 2 get official release dates. | {
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Vacation Homes
Dunbar: An idyllic community where average wage-earners once raised their families
Dunbar is a quiet, tidy neighbourhood. It is classic Vancouver and is often the image most people have of “the west side.”
Now one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Canada’s most expensive city, enough of the original homes remain to remind us that not long ago this was a community where average wage-earners raised their families.
But it’s surprisingly diverse as my guide, Sandy James, points out as we walk for nearly four hours down commercial and residential streets, through a wood, along the mighty Fraser River and into the stables of Southlands.
Sandy is a professional pedestrian. Okay, I made that title up. Her real title is greenways planner for Vancouver and she’s helping organize Walk21. It’s the 11th annual meeting of international planners whose business it is to make walking in cities as pleasant and interesting as possible, which is being held here in October.
We meet on the 4300-block of Dunbar Street. We manage to only look into the charming Butter Baked Goods with its cabbage-rose wallpaper where the cookies are so good that even Oprah asked for a sample to be sent. We pass an independent book store with quirky hours, Sushi Q (a favourite of Sandy’s), a drycleaner and a green grocery with fruits and vegetables piled up under the hand-cranked awning.
Dunbar Village isn’t exactly charming, although merchants have made an effort with banners and hanging baskets. But it is indicative of how the city has evolved, with everything from 1970s-style strip malls to old family businesses like McDermott’s Body Shop, which is opposite the public library. Sandy (who’s also a master gardener) points out the body shop’s pretty side garden, but she takes me to see the tree outside the library.
It’s an Eddie’s White Wonder dogwood, a variety first propagated in 1955 and made commercially available by Henry M. Eddie, whose nursery was in Southlands.
After the noise of Dunbar Street, we turn east on to one of many residential streets. They ought to be pleasant for walking, but many of the houses are hidden, leaving pedestrians to feel as outsiders.
The sidewalks don’t help. They date back to the 1930s and are so narrow that it’s hard to walk side-by-side, especially with what Sandy calls the “horticultural creep” on to city property.
After walking south on Collingwood, we take a nearly hidden stairway down to Marine Drive and cross into the world of hobby farms. In the woods, we snack on a few ripe salmon berries before heading south along the drainage ditch that separates city land from the Musqueam Reserve to the Fraser River.
We cross a small stream over a wooden bridge built in 1991 by Southlands Riding Club and the 6th Field Engineering Squadron in memory of Master Corp. Brian Douglas Simpson. He was only 26.
A fish boat glides by. A woman on horseback passes us. We admire the view upriver to the Gulf Islands and across to the airport.
Past Carrington — the entry to Deering Island — the overgrown path gives way to a new, wide, gravelled one flanked by yachts tied up at private docks, then McCleery Golf Course until the path’s end at an old shipyard.
It picks up again in front of a new development, but ends abruptly at Marine Drive Golf Course, where the private club’s chain link fence runs all the way to the rocks.
Until the Second World War, boggy Southlands was home to many nurseries owned by Japanese-Canadians. But after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, they were rounded up, forced into internment camps and their properties sold.
Nurseries gave way to stables and, over the years, small houses have given way to massive estates. One has its own lake; others have pools, tennis courts as well as stables.
Under the city’s zoning bylaw, having a stable allows the owners to build even larger houses. What zoning can’t do is mandate what’s in the stables and, by all accounts, the number of horses is steadily declining.
Still, there are close to 500 horses and no sidewalks. So, mind the horse droppings.
We finish up our walk the way every good one should end — with food.
We return to 41st and Collingwood to Thomas Afchine’s Crêpe and Café.
Outside along the café’s east side, there are small tables and chairs.
Inside, there are wooden tables and chairs, a fireplace with leather couches. The glass case is full of luscious looking pastries. Off to the side, buckwheat batter is poured on to a hot plate and the crepe cooked to order.
There is no television set, but there is a well-stocked magazine rack.
In a mélange of French and English, Afchine, who moved from Paris less than six years ago, says he’s tried to create an atmosphere that encourages conversation and lingering over coffee, pastries or lunch.
And he’s succeeded. The food is amazing and his customers — like Sandy — come mostly by foot and as often as they can.
“You do inside what I try to do outside,” Sandy tells him.
She explains that what she is trying to do is turn every Vancouver neighbourhood into a pedestrian-friendly one where they can get almost everything they want and need — even a little piece of Paris — without having to get into their cars.
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Househunting Newsletter
Receive the latest in real estate news, decorating and renovating tips every two weeks in the househunting.ca newsletter. | {
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The Department for Transport has published its national policy statement for national networks against which planning decisions on nationally significant transport infrastructure projects will be made.
The Government’s flagship planning policy, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), needs to do more to protect against unsustainable development in England and ensure communities aren’t subject to unwanted housing development, according to a report from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee.
Councils should set out how they will investigate alleged cases of unauthorised development and make officers’ reports easier to find on their websites, according to a report from the Local Government Ombudsman.
The Law Commission has published its final report and draft Bill on rights to light. This followed their consultation on the subject, which ran from 18 February 2013 to 16 May 2013. The Commission sought to investigate whether the law by which rights to light are acquired and enforced provides an appropriate balance between the important interests of landowners and the need to facilitate the appropriate development of land. It considered how the law might be clarified and examined whether the remedies available to the courts are reasonable, sufficient and proportionate.
More than half the world’s population now live in a city. By the middle of the century, it’ll be 70%. This site has been established to explore all the topics affecting that growing slice of humanity. Focus is on matters such as infrastructure, governance and the built environment. The content is broken down into five sections: Business: finance, economics, and the corporate world; Politics: how cities are planned, managed and governed; Transport: planes, trains and automobiles; Skylines: architecture, demographics, and the fabric of the cities around us; Horizons: a place for ideas: past, present, and especially future. The site also keeps tabs on the topics covered most frequently, and lists them in the ‘trending’ section of the menu bar.
This report from the London Society revisits the initial aspirations of those who devised the city’s green belt in the first half of the twentieth century and provide a spotlight beneath which it can be considered in the context of London today.
As part of the ‘Reuniting Health with Planning’ project, the Town and Country Planning Association has launched a resource identifying the potential for planners and public health officers to work together to support people to live lifestyles that will help them to maintain a healthy weight. This report which draws on current evidence and experience, is designed to assist practitioners in identifying common ground, and areas with the potential for collaboration. The resource presents an illustration of how a healthy-weight environment could be planned.
David Rudlin was announced as the winner of the 2014 Wolfson Economics Prize on 3 September 2014. David’s submission argues for the near-doubling of up to 40 existing large towns to provide new homes for 150,000 people per town, built over 30-35 years. The entry imagines a fictional town called Uxcester to develop the concept. It argues that expansion of existing towns is the best way to accommodate growth, regenerate town centres, and protect much-loved countryside and the setting of surrounding villages. David argues that there may be as many as 40 cities in England that could be doubled in size in this way, such as Northampton, Norwich, Oxford, Rugby, Reading and Stafford. | {
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Find a train from Gloucester to Cardiff
Find the best train offers from Gloucester to Cardiff
virail helps you to find timetables and prices for all trains from Gloucester to Cardiff.
The route from Gloucester to Cardiff is served daily by 173 trains leaving from from the station of Gloucester [ GCR ] and arriving at in the stations of Cardiff Queen Street [ CDQ ], Cardiff Bay [ CDB ], Cardiff Central [ CDF ], Cardiff Air Bus [ XCF ].
The average journey duration is 1 h 32 min. The first train leaves at 05:50.
The last one is at 23:13. | {
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Childhood Lead Exposure Causes Permanent Brain Damage
11:39 December 5, 2009
The results were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“What we have found is that no region of the brain is spared from lead exposure,” said the study’s lead author, Kim Cecil, PhD, imaging scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and professor of radiology and pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “Distinct areas of the brain are affected differently.”
The study is part of a large research project called the Cincinnati Lead Study, a long-term lead exposure study conducted through the Cincinnati Children’s Environmental Health Center, a collaborative research group funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Cincinnati Lead Study followed prenatal and early childhood lead exposure of 376 infants from high-risk areas of Cincinnati between 1979 and 1987. Over the course of the project, the children underwent behavioral testing and 23 blood analyses that yielded a mean blood lead level.
Lead, a common and potent poison found in water, soil and lead-based paint, is especially toxic to children’s rapidly developing nervous systems. Homes built before 1950 are most likely to contain lead-based paint, which can chip and be ingested by children.
Cecil’s study involved 33 adults who were enrolled as infants in the Cincinnati Lead Study. The mean age of the study participants, which included 14 women and 19 men, was 21 years. The participants’ mean blood lead levels ranged from 5 to 37 micrograms per deciliter with a mean of 14. Participant histories showed IQ deficiencies, juvenile delinquency and a number of criminal arrests.
Each participant underwent fMRI while performing two tasks to measure the brain’s executive functioning, which governs attention, decision making and impulse control. The imaging revealed that in order to complete a task that required inhibition, those with increased blood lead levels required activation from additional regions within the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain.
“This tells us that the area of the brain responsible for inhibition is damaged by lead exposure and that other regions of the brain must compensate in order for an individual to perform,” Cecil said. “However, the compensation is not sufficient.”
Imaging performed during a second task designed to test attention revealed an association between higher lead levels and decreased activation in the parietal region and other areas of the brain.
According to Cecil, the brain’s white matter, which organizes and matures at an early age, adapts to lead exposure, while the frontal lobe, which is the last part of the brain to develop, incurs multiple insults from lead exposure as it matures.
“Many people think that once lead blood levels decrease, the effects should be reversible, but, in fact, lead exposure has harmful and lasting effects,” she said.
Cecil believes that these findings lend support to previous reports from the Cincinnati Lead Study showing that the lasting neurological effect of lead exposure, rather than a poor social environment, is a key contributor to the subsequent cognitive and behavior problems in this group.
Paramedical
Medical News
HealthCanal.com is a premier online Health News write / Medical Research News write service provider with our primary focus is to cover the latest happenings from the dynamic world of Health and Medicine to help you keep. | {
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Time Thief
Sunday, February 17, 2008
nature room
I've received some questions about the nature room lately, so I thought I'd finally get around to posting about it. The nature room is technically referred to as a 'sunroom' on real estate documents. I re-named it because it actually wasn't very sunny. It was originally a screened-in porch and was (poorly) enclosed sometime in the 60's. The years had taken their toll and it was all kinds of rotten by the time I got here.
Pictures of the "before" and start of re-building follow. There are lots of pictures of rotten wood. I can't help myself. I'm compulsive about documenting and sharing pictures of rot.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Today's lessons
I've been at this whole remodeling thing for like 5 bajillion years. You'd think I already know everything. Ha!
Working on the kitchen today. Yeah, so I've been a little remiss in keeping things current. Didn't I tell you? I'm working on the kitchen.
Anyway, back to the things I learned today.
1- You can unweld PVC joints if you really want to. Yes, I said unweld. Not 'unjoin' or 'disjoin' or any of the other things I tried before I realized Google liked 'unweld' the best.
I cut the thing all wrong and could've saved myself a lot of work if I'd done things right the first time, but I didn't fulfill the required 'staring at shit' prep time. So, I had a pipe attached to an elbow fitting and wanted to remove the pipe while keeping the fitting in place. Here's what worked:
Use a PVC wire saw to cut the pipe right at the edge of the fitting. (You can make a wire saw at home if you want (or even use twine), but it was worth the 5 bucks in time saved.) After cutting the piece away, you're staring into the hub of the fitting that still has a ring of the old pipe left in it. Grab your favorite rotary tool. Make several vertical cuts through the perimeter of the pipe; just deep enough to almost cut all the way through the piece of trash pipe (NOT the hub of the fitting). Wish I bothered to get the camera earlier so this would make more sense. You'll end up with something that looks like a comb? or a piecrust? a ribbed something-or-other? You know....material -- gap -- material -- gap -- and so on.
After you have several gouges around the perimeter, grab your favorite flat-head screwdriver or chisel. I liked the flat-ness of the screwdriver better, but I was in a tight spot and the small chisel was easier to maneuver. You just have to be careful that you are aiming at the trash piece and not digging into the hub of the fitting.
Now, hammer away. The trash bit should break off in small pieces. Try to aim it away from the pipe so they fly out rather than down the pipe. And be ready to move your face away when it does fly out. This is a drain line, after all.
Don't listen to the people who say to heat up the fitting. That just makes things bendy.
Number 2 thing I learned today: Never, never, EVER use liquid nails unless you are absolutely, positively sure it won't be YOU who'll have to take it apart some day. Oy! Punishment for a job well done, I guess. | {
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Michelle Chen
Columnist, Global JusticeNew York, NY
Michelle Chen is Colorlines' Global Justice columnist. She is a regular contributor on labor issues at In These Times, as well as a member of the magazine's Board of Editors. Michelle's reporting has appeared in Ms. Magazine, AirAmerica, Alternet, Newsday, the Progressive Media Project, and her old zine, cain. Prior to joining Colorlines, she wrote for the independent news collective The NewStandard. A native New Yorker, she has also conducted ethnographic research as a Fulbright fellow in Shanghai and checked coats at a West Village jazz club. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the City University of New York and co-producing the community radio program Asia Pacific Forum on Pacifica's WBAI.
In the increasingly ugly debate over “universal coverage,” various proposals are being bounced around among competing agendas. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a proposal recently floated in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee—currently…
Civil liberties advocates told the United Nations today that racial profiling continues to tear away at the social fabric of American communities. In a report to the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the ACLU and Rights…
The Supreme Court’s decision in Ricci v. DeStefano has unsettled both sides of the affirmative action debate. The disgruntlement of a group of firefighters in New Haven, CT set off a national debate on how far governments can go…
Under the State Department’s new passport rules, even people born on the “right” side of the border have to worry about their papers. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which went into effect June 1, requires Americans passing across the…
After sidestepping the issue of equality in voting rights earlier this week, the Supreme Court today issued a ruling that could loosen the legal framework for ensuring equality in education. The case, Horne v. Flores, was brought by parents…
As the recession rolls on, the federal stimulus package seems more and more like just a drop in the bucket, but even those limited resources are trickling down to an unlevel playing field. The National Black Chamber of Commerce…
What would Richard Nixon say if he saw the state of American politics today? Newly released audio recordings from the Nixon Presidential Library give some interesting clues into the inner workings of the 37th President’s brain. Would Nixon have…
Is inequality killing us? Atul Gawande, the New Yorker’s resident physician-reporter, raised a vexing question about health disparities in an interview with Ezra Klein. Gawande noted that in McAllen, Texas—the community that he recently featured as an example of…
Congress is moving on major climate change legislation, but some environmental advocates worry that the government will pursue emissions reductions at the expense of marginalized communities. From a social equity standpoint, the market-based cap-and-trade framework presented in the Waxman-Markey…
In a much-anticipated decision this week, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that thanks to the passage of the Voting Rights Act more than 40 years ago, “we are now a very different Nation.” The politically fraught case, Northwest Austin…
Are you better off than you were four years ago? How about thirty? For all the political wrangling around the 21st century economy, the promise of the digital age, a new era of global competitiveness… Americans are basically going…
After about three decades behind bars, a Puerto Rican revolutionary might soon be free at last. A generation ago, Carlos Alberto Torres was part of a major movement for human rights and self-determination for Puerto Rico. Driven by the…
Green jobs are seen as a vehicle for the climate justice agenda, bringing together economic and environmental advancement. But will the green industries deliver on the lofty promises activists have envisioned? According to a study by Pew Charitable Trusts,…
Using the word “apartheid” to describe the Israel-Palestine issue is a sure way to ignite more acrimony over human rights under the occupation. But, with language being inseparable from the politics of the region, is it accurate? According to…
In the past few days, the wars over the world’s natural resources have been rekindled from the Amazon to the Niger Delta. This week, a landmark legal settlement brought a decisive, though partial, end to a bloody chapter in…
Conservatives woke up to a harrowing sound on Capitol Hill on Wednesday: a serious discussion about single payer health care. The House hearing won’t necessarily lead to a viable policy proposal—and there’s plenty to debate even within the progressive…
Details are trickling in about the suspect behind the shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum today. James Von Brunn, an elder of the white supremacist movement, renowned for prolific spew about Jews, Barack Obama, America as a “third-world racial…
California’s most infamous prison may be shuttering its doors at last, and some may feel surprisingly troubled about its closure. The cash-strapped state is moving toward closing San Quentin—which houses more than 5,000 inmates, many of them on death…
Pollution is all around us, but the toll it takes on our bodies is often invisible. To understand the physical legacy of environmental toxins, dirty air and chemical products, environmental justice activists as well as federal agencies have begun…
Official attitudes toward immigrants across America are remarkably diverse, ranging from public embrace to stiff exclusion. If you happened to pass through Tennessee last week, you might have heard Republican lawmaker Joe Carr vigorously slamming the door on undocumented… | {
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Author
Topic: a religious experience (Read 1984 times)
Hi all,I released my bees yesterday evening!!!I read about doing it, asked questions & had conversations about doing it& now that it's done, I thought I'd share with all my experience.Have to admit, I was a little nervous, probably more anxiuos than anything, that I would do everything " correct. "
I wore the full suit w/ gloves had my smoker going...one guy said spray them w/ water after the queen cage is removed so they won't fly as much.
another said have the smoker ready & use it to calm them a bit, the method I chose.
well, when I removed the syrup can from the package box, it was sweet music to my ears...it was no big deal really, the bees just wanted to get outta that box, most of them anyway.had quite a bit of one box that just didn't want to be shook out,so, I called a new bee friend & he sugested I place a branch per box, in the hole where the syrup can was, leading up to the hive bodies.this worked very well!!they played follow the leader for a while after that, & pretty much emptied the package boxesgotta say, being around all those bees calmed me, & I know this will sound weird, but made me feel like a new father with 20,000 babies!!!and yes, it is definitely addictive!!!gonna check on their fist flight nowlater, JP
you will constantly be amazed by bees now. they are the only farm animal that will feed themselves, work for you 24/7...and return faithfully to the "barn" each evening(all 20,0000 of them.) read and learn, but use what works for you. im glad you got your bees. in Him, burny. :D
I call all my bees "my girls" or "my babies". :) And they do slow you down - make you appriciate the world around you more. I've tried convincing my friends to have bees. I keep telling them just what burny said - it's the easiest livestock around......- no daily feeding- no poop to clean up- quiet- and a bounty of rewards / from honey to being a stress reliever
I haven't got a clue why they wouldn't want bees. Here in the country, where most neighbors are not right on top of you, bees are a wonderful addition to any farm. I have friends that have horses, cows, chickens, breed purebred dogs, and gardens. Bees top them all in ease and benefits.
the hives seem evenly matched in number, so I'm assuming all is well.will check the queen cages tomorrow evening.so far so goodjust wanna jump all up in 'em though, lol.
don't see them leaving the yard much, but I'm guessing, that what's going on right now, is very normal.in my very novice opinion, they are organizing their colonies, and it does look like they have a purpose.just call me elatedJP
Heck yeah its fun! I am so hooked on bees I can't see straight. Glad everything went off without a hitch for ya. Great point Micheal, bees are great for keeping people away. They make great gaurd "dogs"! | {
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If there is a good thing about a military strike, it is its ability to cut through the confusion about policy direction that emanates from mere statements of officials and leaders. US President Donald Trump’s decision last week to hit a Syrian airfield with 59 cruise missiles doesn’t exactly mean that his path ahead in Middle East is settled without doubt. However, this much can certainly be said: Trump’s Syria policy is now much closer to what Republican foreign policy hawks would prefer than to his own campaign rhetoric which oscillated between non-interventionism to neo-isolationism.
Just days before the airstrikes, both Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, and Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, had more than indicated that they were not averse to Bashar al-Assad remaining in power in Syria. Throughout his presidential campaign Trump had made defeating Islamic State (IS) a top priority. His praise for Russian president Vladimir Putin was another indication that Trump would pursue the elimination of IS in concert with Russia even if that meant Assad ending up stronger in his burrow. But the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad against civilians has changed all of that overnight. It is true that the Trump administration took care to inform the Russians in advance about the airstrikes. It is also true that the damage done to the Syrian airbase is far less than what the initial reports suggested. But the remarks of top US officials, including that of Tillerson, Haley and even Trump, give ample evidence of a shift in foreign policy stance. Whether it is a complete about-turn or much less than that, time will tell. However, these changes hold immense importance for India and it is crucial to identify the people driving them.
The shift has come amid several reports of discord in the White House between two big players: Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and former Breitbart executive, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a key adviser. As per the reports, Bannon was against the decision to hit the Syrian airbase while Kushner was for it. The decline in Bannon’s influence can probably be attributed to the judicial veto over Trump’s executive orders on immigration ban from a handful of pre-dominantly Muslim countries—it was widely understood that Bannon and his ethno-nationalist worldview were behind the drafting of those orders.
Kushner’s trip to Iraq, on the other hand, has earned him the title of “shadow secretary of state” among people who follow the palace intrigue closely. His advice of going ahead with the airstrikes in Syria has worked for Trump as the latter has earned plaudits within the country and outside. The fall in Trump’s approval ratings are also expected to be stanched. Moreover, the arrival of serving lieutenant general H.R. McMaster as the national security adviser in place of retired lieutenant general Mike Flynn has further bolstered the Kushner faction within the White House. McMaster has been gradually phasing out people appointed by Flynn and has even managed to persuade Trump to remove Bannon from the cabinet-level principals committee of the National Security Council.
India should closely keep track of the change in Trump’s foreign policy and the revised influence levels of factions within the White House. When India’s relationship with the US reached its peak with Narendra Modi and Barack Obama at the helm in the two countries, a lot of that had to do with strategic congruence in the Indian Ocean and East Asia. The two leaders had also released a joint strategic vision for the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean region wherein, much to the chagrin of Beijing, they had talked about respecting the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea. While this was indeed welcomed, a lot of observers in India don’t feel such a joint statement carries the kind of oomph as it would carry if it were focused on the Af-Pak region. While things started to change and the US began to appreciate a greater Indian role in Afghanistan, perhaps it came too late in Obama’s tenure.
With the arrival of people like Flynn (if not Bannon, who has previously expressed his unease over the number of South Asian [read Indian] tech executives in Silicon Valley), who had written on Pakistan’s duplicity on terror, there was a hope that India would be given a position of privilege in shaping the affairs to its west as well. Even if Trump’s non-interventionist rhetoric put countries such as Japan and South Korea in a dilemma, it did not matter to many in India who aren’t riled up by violation of freedom of navigation in South China Sea as much as by terror emanating from Pakistan and for justifiable reasons. Moreover, Shalabh Kumar, whose Twitter profile describes him as, among other things, a “bridge between Trump and Modi” has also at different points claimed his intimacy to Bannon, Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway—the graphs of each has seen a fall in recent times.
While India’s top officials such as foreign secretary S. Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval have already met McMaster, who is supposed to be in the Kushner faction, India should learn from Chinaand explore the opportunities of opening a line with Kushner himself. Apparently, it was Kushner’s meetings with top-level contacts in China which got Trump to reaffirm America’s “one-China policy” and got Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US scheduled early enough in Trump’s tenure.
If the US can draw redlines in the Middle East and enforce them under Trump and Kushner, there is speculation about what message this would send to countries such as Iran and North Korea. India should be thinking of the implications in Afghanistan where Moscow, under Rawalpindi’s influence, has been hobnobbing with the Taliban. With McMaster getting Russia hawks back into the establishment and the latest air strikes in Syria, New Delhi’s hope of the Trump-Tillerson duo driving a wedge between Russia and China may have to take a backseat. But why not explore the opportunities that the Trump-McMaster-Kushner trio may provide in Afghanistan? South China Sea can indeed wait. And on Indian Ocean, New Delhi can begin to build a forum of middle level powers involving Japan and Australia, as C. Raja Mohan and Rory Medcalf have already suggested.
The whole idea of negotiating with the Trump regime is to be nimble on one’s feet and keep up with the scoreline of the White House derby. Can South Block do it? | {
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This item is NOT for kids under 13 years. Product may appear smaller or larger on pictures, please check the actual measurements
Product Description: Clustered Agate Clip Earrings
Features:Different is good, different is fun, different is you! Step out in style with these fun clip earrings. Agate barbells are clustered to come up with a chunky design that is so stylish. Each bead is different so expect an unexpected combination of tones in mossy greens, taupe's and beige | {
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Citigroup move could cut 650 Hagerstown jobs
HAGERSTOWN — Citigroup Inc. says it plans to close a Hagerstown unit that employs about 650 people servicing home loans that have gone into default.
The unit’s workers comprise about 28 percent of the approximately 2,300 Citigroup employees in Hagerstown.
Nearly 50 jobs will be cut by the end of March as the company sells the rights to service, mostly on behalf of Fannie Mae, about 64,000 defaulted mortgages, spokesman Mark Rodgers said.
He said Citigroup will end all mortgage default servicing operations in Hagerstown by the end of the year as part of a consolidation of that business. Citigroup wouldn’t say where any of those jobs might be moved.
The Hagerstown job cuts were first reported by The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail.
Citigroup also plans to close a default mortgage service unit near Fort Mill, S.C., in a move that could affect up to half of the 850 workers there, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald reported.
Rodgers said the Hagerstown positions to be cut by March are among 950 jobs the company is eliminating across the country, including in Las Vegas, Phoenix and St. Louis.
Rodgers said regulatory requirements have made it difficult for New York-based Citigroup to service the default loans.
Citigroup has offset previous layoffs by shifting other divisions and functions to the Hagerstown office, Washington County Assistant Administrator Sarah Sprecher said.
“As they continue to be a major employer and player in the business community, we hope they may be able to add jobs from other units in the near future,” she said.
The Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development said it will work with the state’s labor office to assist the displaced workers.
“We are working both with the displaced workers, as well as with any companies that are hiring, to see if we can connect them and see if they have a need for an employee with a similar skill set,” spokeswoman Karen Glenn Hood said in an email.
Citigroup reported Thursday that it earned $2.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Its revenue dipped 2 percent to $17.9 billion. | {
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A Whirlwind in the Mind
On the road again, I can see my future happening! Onward back to California. Sioux Falls, SD has made me feel like I was trapped in a wasteland. But I’m free! My lovely mother figure from Cali, flew to South Dakota to help me drive back to the west coast. And her being her motherly self, has not let me drive. 14 hours in my Ford, Ranger truck, did put a damper on my back. Close to the end, ( our sleeping break at a hotel) pains kept shooting in my back! It sure wasn’t liking being stuck in a vehicle that long. Thanks for letting me know back. Now is the time to work on my pain tolerance! I am mighty! ROAR!
Profile
I´m a kooky girl that likes to travel. I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. I had 5 years living in Northern California. But now, I live in Sweden!
Traveling is something I cherish. New adventures is what keeps me moving, that and a stubborness.
In 2014, I was in a bad car crash. So to this day, I am still recovering. I write about the hard times with healing and many other things.
I have a weird sense of humor if you haven´t figured that out from my posts. My writing can be perplexing, but I like to tell stories, and the best way is from your own experiences.
So sit back and relax, as you follow my paths to other worlds that I have found or that I have created. | {
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Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Having appeared on the CPC, Spectrum and C64 since 1986, it was about time classic shmup Uridiummade it to the MSX courtesy of dev team Trilobyte. And it's a mighty amazing conversion too; one you can download for free or preorder on cartrdige. The (numbered) cart will come in its very own plastic box, complete with cover, documentation and extra in-game content. | {
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Buy Brew Glitter in Bulk
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Buy Brew Glitter® in bulk & get wholesale pricing: 25g, 50g, 1lb & 1kg sizes - save up to 69% when you order in bulk! | {
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Request an Appointment With Palatine Complete Dental
Smiles Dental CareAppointments: (630) 582-7600
William Wolski D.D.S.
Smiles Dental Care
William Wolski, D.D.S. performs cosmetic dentistry for wealthy adults. Unlike plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry isn't a major operation. However, the results can be just as dramatic. Come visit Dr. Wolski at Smiles Dental Care in the Roselle, IL area, and see how he can perfect your smile.
Would you like your smile to be a bit brighter than it is right now? We can make it happen at Smiles Dental Care, with professional tooth whitening for brighter natural looking teeth. Dr. William Wolski's Roselle, IL area office can effectively lighten your stained or discolored tooth enamel. Whiter teeth not only look great, they improve your self-confidence.
William Wolski, D.D.S. is proud to be a popular Roselle area Lumineers® dentist. If you have sensitive teeth and want pain-free dental veneers, we can help.
Our highly trained team has extensive experience with this quick and easy procedure. We'll help you transform from feeling self-conscious to feeling confident about your bright new smile.
Our dedicated team uses state-of-the-art materials and techniques for stability and longevity. You'll enjoy the comfort and confidence of natural-looking teeth.
A beautiful smile can brighten your life! If you are continuously hiding your chipped, stained, or cracked teeth from others, it's time for a change! William Wolski, D.D.S., a trusted Roselle area dentist, can fix chips, cracks, and stains to reveal a great new smile - and a new you. You'll look so good you'll wonder why you waited so long!
Dental Emergencies and First Aid Procedures
The following first aid procedures are important steps for handling dental emergencies or facial injuries. They provide temporary relief and help in their proper repair or healing. As with any injury, always follow up with personal care from your dentist or physician.
Bitten Tongue/Cut Lip
Clean gently with a cloth. Apply cold compresses to reduce swelling. If bleeding is severe, go to an emergency services provider. After bleeding has subsided, rinse with warm salt water.
Broken Jaw (Possible)
Don't move the jaw. Secure it in place by tying a scarf, necktie, or towel around the jaw and over the top of the head. Apply cold compresses to reduce any swelling. See your dentist or emergency services provider immediately.
Broken Tooth
Rinse the mouth with warm water. Try to remove any dirt, blood, or debris from the injured area using sterile gauze or a clean cloth and warm water. Apply cold compresses on the face next to the injured tooth to reduce swelling. See the dentist immediately. Place the broken piece in a small container of whole milk.
Knocked-Out Tooth
Annually, more than two million teeth are knocked out accidentally; more than 90% of them can be saved with proper treatment.
Holding the tooth from the crown (top part), rinse off the root. Don't scrub or remove any attached tissue fragments. Gently hold the tooth in its socket. (Young children may accidentally swallow; use your judgment.) If this isn't possible, place the tooth in a cup of cold whole milk. Avoid using low fat milk, powdered milk, or milk products like yogurt. Never put the tooth in mouthwash or alcohol. Avoid scrubbing the tooth or touching the root end. Get to the dentist immediately (within 30 minutes) and take the tooth!
Objects Trapped Between Teeth
Try gliding dental floss between teeth (dental tape is often useful in removing shredded dental floss.) Sometimes tying a small knot in the floss may help, too. Avoid using any sharp or pointed objects. See a dentist if object can't be removed.
Toothache
Toothaches can result from different causes. Rinse mouth with warm water. Remove any food trapped between teeth with dental floss. Avoid applying aspirin on the tooth or gum tissues. If a cavity is suspected, insert a small cotton ball or cotton tip soaked in oil of cloves (eugenol). Do not cover a cavity with cotton if there is facial swelling or pus. See a dentist as soon as possible.
Always consult with a dentist if you have questions regarding any dental problem.
By Brian J. Gray, DDS, MAGD, FICO
+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page.
Dental Waterlines
Have you heard about biofilm? Our dental office monitors it daily. Possibly you'll catch something on TV about biofilm as some sort of newly discovered health threat. It's neither, really. Here are the facts:
Most of our dental equipment is connected to long, flexible tubes that deliver water to your mouth. We call these tubes dental waterlines. Every day, fresh water rushes through them. But overnight or over the weekend, water trapped in these long tubes has the potential of being colonized by a thin layer of microorganisms.
Those microorganisms are biofilm. It's just as important we keep our waterlines free of biofilm as it is you keep your teeth free of plaque through regular brushing.
We've known about biofilm for years. Every morning, all our waterlines are cleared before the first patient arrives. Our dental chairs are equipped with check valves that make sure waterline delivery goes only one way-into the mouth and down the drain.
All this to combat a health hazard that is so far only theoretical-we have no evidence of illness related to water from a dental waterline. Even if it existed, the marginally higher bacteria counts wouldn't necessarily pose a hazard to healthy patients. Bacteria is everywhere-in drinking water, the air we breathe. Getting rid of it is the job of our immune systems.
News organizations love to discover what they believe to be health threats, because it keeps viewers tuned in. But biofilm (if it exists at all) is something we've known about and protected patients against for years.
+Jim Du Molin is a leading Internet search expert helping individuals and families connect with the right dentist in their area. Visit his author page. | {
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PG Music Band in a Box Everything Pak 2017 MAC - Boxed
PG Music Band in a Box Everything Pak 2017 MAC
Band-in-a-Box automatically generates a complete professional quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums, guitar and strings in a wide variety of popular styles.
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Band in a Box Everything Pak 2017 for Mac
What is Band in a Box?
Band-in-a-Box is an intelligent automatic accompaniment
program for your multimedia computer.
You can hear and play along to many song ideas and go
from “nothing” to “something” in a very short period of time with
Band-in-a-Box as your “on demand” backup band.
Ships preinstalled and ready to use on a high-speed USB 2.0 hard drive
Band-in-a-Box is so easy to use!
The
GUI has been redesigned with a great new look and many time-saving enhancements! The Toolbars and Song Title Area have been redone, and the chord sheet now has a “Real” looking handwritten font for chords. We’ve added UserTracks. Now you can make your own RealTracks to add to your song. Plus there’s a handy Instant Preview
of styles, RealTracks, and RealDrums so that you can quickly audition
them to choose the best ones for your song. Loops now support
Acidized Loops. A Legato Strings feature that automatically optimizes MIDI string parts to prevent retriggering the same notes, a new Master Volume allows you to boost volumes of all songs with one setting, 8 new Hi-Q MIDI sounds, and many more…
Just type in the chords for any song using standard chord
symbols (like C, Fm7, or C13b9), choose the style you’d like, and
Band-in-a-Box does the rest, automatically generating a complete
professional-quality arrangement of piano, bass, drums, guitar, and
strings or horns in a wide variety of popular styles plus optional live
audio tracks with RealDrums and RealTracks.
RealTracks are audio instruments that
replace the MIDI track with actual recordings of top studio
Jazz/Rock/Country musicians! These are not “samples” of single
instrument hits; they are full recordings, lasting from 1 to 8 bars at a
time, playing along in perfect sync with the other Band-in-a-Box
tracks. We have a huge library of RealTracks available, including lots
of Jazz, Rock, Blues, Country, Folk and Bluegrass styles.
Best of all, you use these instruments like regular styles. Many
of them offer a “simpler” option that plays a less busy or embellished
arrangement, and we include
“Direct Input” (clean
signal) guitar RealTracks so you can generate files with a clean guitar,
and then, using your DAW (e.g. GarageBand), you can add custom amp and
F/X settings using the
AmpliTube CS guitar amp and effects simulator that is included.
The RealTracks
sound more natural over a wide range
of tempos with the élastique Pro V2 time stretching engine by
zplane.development. This is built-in, so there’s nothing you need to
do. Your songs will just “sound better” over a much wider range of keys
and tempos.
By simply choosing a
RealStyle, you will hear your new or existing songs played by real instruments, with a dramatic improvement in sound
and musicality. You can even have your old MIDI styles automatically
replaced with the equivalent RealStyle (if installed). And of course
the number of RealTracks and RealStyles keeps growing.
Many of the RealTracks have
RealCharts; this allows
you to see notation and correct guitar tab/fretboard display, a great
help for learning from the top pros performing on the RealTracks.
RealDrums replace the MIDI Drum track with actual
recordings of top studio Jazz/Rock/Country drummers! Again, these are
not “samples” of single drum hits; they are full recordings, lasting
from 1 to 8 bars at a time, playing along in perfect sync with the other
Band-in-a-Box tracks. Hundreds of RealDrums styles are available, and
EZ selection of “DrumGrooves” lets you choose different grooves within
drum styles.
For added versatility, you can add your own or 3rd party
loops to any Band-in-a-Box track, or add your favorite MIDITrack from any MIDI style to any track of your current song. The Mixer
window allows you to quickly set volumes, panning, reverb, tone and
patches. The Mixer floats on top of the current window, so you can
place it wherever it’s convenient to make quick and easy adjustments to
your Band-in-a-Box track settings. It features a unique “Combo” slider
for making changes to all tracks at once.
The amazing
“Chords from MP4” feature (Audio Chord Wizard) automatically figures out the chords from any AIFF, MP4, M4A, or other audio file, and displays them in Band-in-a-Box. Just load in any audio file and you’ll instantly see the chords in Band-in-a-Box. The Audio Wizard also figures out tempo, bar lines, key and fine-tuning from the audio file.
Plus, you can Save, Print, and Render your songs! Print out your complete song arrangement as sheet music. With the
Direct Render to Disk feature,
you can save your files directly as audio files (AIFF, M4A, WAV), for
use in other programs (GarageBand, Cubase, etc.), or in Internet
formats.
MIDI Styles Sets 0-77: All MIDI Styles Sets, over 1,500 styles.
The EverythingPAK version includes over 1500 MIDI styles in a wide variety of genres! | {
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Men's Chino Pants
Chino Pants
Share Chino Pants with Friends
Chino Pants
Chino pants are made with a twill fabric that is traditionally lighter than standard khaki pants. First developed for soldiers, chino pants have now become a fashion staple with distinguishing characteristics like a streamlined design with fewer pockets and flat fronts compared to their pleated khaki counterpart. Today, chino pants have become widely popular due to their versatility to be worn at just about any occasion ranging from formal events to casual evening wear.
Zumiez proudly carries chino pants in numerous colors from tons of different brands each with their own unique fit, features, and construction. The Volcom Faceted Khaki Slim Fit Chino Pants and Free World Drifter Khaki Stay Press Slim Fit Chino Pants are both great examples of classic chino styles with modern updates like a pre-laundered treatment for a softer feel and a Stay Press design to get rid of wrinkles.
Chino Pants have come a long way since their introduction and continue to pick up steam in the fashion community. Head over to Zumiez today to cop yourself the classic and timeless look of chino pants. | {
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Bridal Fairs - My Advice to Grooms
Last Saturday I attended a local Bridal Fair, it was kinda neat to see the amount of Grooms that attended with their Brides to be. I'd like to offer some advice to all Grooms embarking upon the journey of Bridal Fairs - Grooms beware of vertigo.
You may walk in and literally feel like an alien. I’ve worked at these shows and the look of Grooms’ faces is the equivalent of them being asked to suddenly give birth. This is her world; she is like an Avatar on the Planet Pandora. You need to forget everything you know regarding logic and reason and literally act like your dog for up to 4 hours. Just smile, nod at everything, and don’t speak. Treat every brochure like it’s the magic ticket to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory as they may be needed later and you don’t want to lose them or misjudge their value.
Don’t ask questions. You are an information gatherer, a census taker…that’s it. Just remember that the value of this show is in the process. It’s a test of stamina. You might get frustrated here but you have a long way to go.
Good luck and enjoy, because believe it or not, this is time well spent.
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About Me
Owner of "Special Events" by Sandy® As a Professional Bridal Consultant I also offer event planning, event design, unique floral arrangements and a host of creative services. Additionally I am a Wedding Minister and Independent Travel Agent. My Husband and I own a boutique to showcase our rentals and wedding accessories in which I work full-time.
The goal of my blog is to help couples and their families create beautiful, unique events that reflect their personality and style regardless of budget or income level.
My blog features tips on everything surrounding weddings and all of life's most celebrated occasions. With my blog I hope to express to everyone out there planning a celebration that the most important thing to remember when planning your event is to be true to yourself.
You can read more about my credentials and see some of my work at my company website www.iplan4u-sandy.com.
I hope you enjoy my blog. Make sure to give me feedback! I would love to hear your thoughts. | {
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3 December 2014
This was originally posted on my friend Ben’s blog Almost Four Stars, which is no longer online. For posterity, I’m posting it here, in its original form.
Looking back now, 2009 was a better year for me in music than I first remembered. Rather than ranking albums, I picked ten songs released in 2009 that for me, represent the shape and sound of the year’s musical landscape. I can pinpoint each of these tracks to a specific month (and often place). In fact, I’ll do just that:
“Seattle (Feat. Emmy the Great)” by the BPA
January & February, Ann Arbor YMCA, on the treadmill, at 6:30am. Still dark outside, with snow on the ground. Watching the news on ABC or ESPN and still feeling excited about Obama being in office. A sort of cautious, slow-blossoming optimism that I think really defined a lot of the 2009 sound is very present here.
Emmy the Great, from the "Seattle" video
“Fetal Horses” by John Vanderslice
Beginning of April, my apartment in Ann Arbor. Listening to WOXY on headphones on my tiny laptop, sitting under the skylight. Feeling despondent about my relationship, and loving the imagery in the chorus here: “Fetal horses gallop in the womb/seeding courses in an empty room.” I’m betting he got the idea from Oliver Sacks’s Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, which contains the sentence “fetal horses, for example, may gallop in the womb” (pg. 222).
Morrissey
“Something is Squeezing My Skull” by Morrissey
January through April, walking to and from work in Ann Arbor. This was one of the first albums I got in 2009, and I played the living shit out of it, especially leading up to and right after seeing Morrissey live twice (3/31 and 4/1). Years of Refusal feels like one of his strongest solo albums, and I love what he does with his voice on the chorus of this song. Fifty years old and he’s still improving his craft!
“Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper Remix)” by Das Racist
August. Driving through OTR in Marla’s car, after dropping her off at work. A friend of Hilly’s put this on a mix that she passed along to me, and it was my end of summer JAM. And I still get excited as shit when I hear Hilly play it in a bar. This song is beautifully absurd, and eminently sing-along-able. And it will get stuck in your head EVERY TIME you drive by a Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, or combination thereof.
the color "maya blue"
“Maya Blue” by Coltrane Motion
August through October (basically Indian summer). We had a mild summer, but the heat lasted extra long this year. The drone in this song was like a sympathetic resonance to the heat and humidity that hit in late September. I couldn’t stop listening to it. I think I topped out at thirteen times in one day.
“Boy Boy” by Lissy Trullie
September, staying up all night in my room applying for jobs and writing blog entries. There’s something magical about the “oooooh-oooh” chorus on this song that just blows me away and gets me excited. Also, she’s a lessssssssbian. Represent!
“This Tornado Loves You” by Neko Case
Late summer/early fall. Repeat after me: I don’t like Neko Case, I don’t like Neko Case. But I can’t help my love for this song. I had a LTR end at the cusp of spring/summer this year, and this song is the only thing that can so perfectly evoke the sadness and wistfulness I felt at the decay of that relationship. It’s easier for me to feel anger and relief about it ending, but when I hear this, I can somehow go back in time and remember the sweet parts too, and it makes me tear up every time.
1/2 of La Roux
“Bulletproof” by La Roux
August through November. My friend Josh told me to get their Quicksand EP at the beginning of the year, and I listened to the shit out of it on my workout mix. I couldn’t remember when I started to love “Bulletproof,” so I looked it up on my last.fm account, and discovered that I first listened to it on August 10th, but then got obsessed with it around November 10th. It took a whole month to sink in! I’ve listened to a lot of remixes of this song, but I think the album mix is actually the strongest. It’s so punchy and clicky and warm, and Jackson’s vocals are wall-to-wall attitude, with the chorus betraying a hint of vulnerability. It’s like your New Years Resolution as a song! Get on it!
“This Night Started Out Like Any Other Night” by The Minor Leagues
October & November. I have to plead bias, because I love a lot of the people in The Minor Leagues, but they’re also one of my favorite, favorite bands. I actively listened to their debut album, Be Kind to Beginners, on a CD in a boombox back in 2002, when it was released. You know, old school style. And still know most of the words to it (“Plate tectonics will bring you hooooome…”). This album I love especially much, and it was hard to choose a track, but I picked this one because I just love when Ben sings, “So I almost didn’t go, another shit local music show.” It’s a wonderfully meta-self-deprecating moment, with a subtle sublayer of affection and warmth and humor that, for me anyway, really just sums up The Minor Leagues.
almost 1/2 of The Minor Leagues
“Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
November and December. I’ll admit it, I came late to Lady Gaga. Everyone else in the known universe was dancing to “Let’s Dance,” and playing poker to “Poker Face,” and masturbating to “Paparazzi,” and I was sitting in my room, probably watching The Wizard of Oz and flossing. But then my friend Marla made me watch the video for “Paprazzi,” and I was sold. I’ve written some about why I love her on my blog, but suffice to say that a) I love it when anyone thinks that their own name is a suitable lyric, b) the line “I want your love and all your lovers’ revenge” is fucking brilliant, and c) the bridge where she breaks it down and sings, “I don’t want to be friends” like she’s dying is one of the fucking hottest moments in all of pop music.
29 April 2012
25 January 2011
Holy fuck you guys, there’s a video for “Punk Rock Girl” by the Dead Milkmen!
Back when I was in high school, we didn’t have yoooooooutube for listening to the punk rock music, no siree. We didn’t really have records anymore either, though. We did have dial-up internet, and we’d somehow find ftp servers and upload a few songs to get a good ratio and then download some random music, like this very song, and have our minds blown. After a scant four hours of effort.
The moral of the story is, goddamn, Joe Genaro was a cutie. Not that high school me would have cared. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, I guess. Wait, wrong song. The opening riffs of this do still give me a rush, though. That’s how you know it’s fucking punk rock.
15 December 2010
Something that I love in real life, and also in literature and music and art in general, is the idea of the benediction, the idea that a blessing doesn’t have to come from on high, but can come from someone else, someone we don’t even know, or not even from a person. Sometimes a thing, an event, a small coincidence, just a slice of a moment can be a benediction. A blessing, a well-wishing, a tiny flick of a flashlight beam of benevolence briefly playing over us.
Maybe that’s what this song is about. The Midnight Special is a train. The headlight is her “everlovin’ light.” There are stories about the Midnight Special being a train whose headlight would shine into Sugarland prison in Houston, but I don’t know about that. I just love this simple request, this sparely-stated desire for a small blessing, this allowance: “Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me.”
27 September 2010
Do you know what time it is? That’s right: time for another theme week here at the ol’ Mitchco A Go Go. This week’s theme: Bad Covers.
Cover number one is a terrible cover of a fantastic song. Here’s Engelbert Humperdink covering a personal favorite, Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire:”
He turns a quietly aching meditation on sexual tension into a honky-tonk trainwreck. And what the fuck is that hat. This cover makes me want to wash my ears out with a bucket of Bruce Springsteen’s urine. | {
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There's going to be a FF Trivial Pursuit game going on. You can find out more information at this [link=http://boards.theforce.net/FanForce_Community/b10022/22006670/?0]link[/link]. Anyone interested in a BSS team?
1. What is Han?s call sign on Hoth during his patrol?
2. How many languages is 3PO fluent in?
3. Who brought the Executor out of hyperspace too close to Hoth?
4. During Empire how many people does Darth Vader kill? Who are those people?
5. What was the estimated final budget of Empire?
6. In the original version of ESB?Who voiced the Emperor and what Star Trek connection does he have?
7. In the game Super Empire Strikes Back what?s the level 4 boss?
8. Finish this quote? ?Right now I feel like I could____________?
9. Who spoke this line?
10. What actor from ESB also appears in the Bond franchise as a villain?
Bonus: This is worth 2 points. Send me a picture of your team holding up a sign that says ?We love FanForce Trivial Pursuit!?. You can email it to [email protected]. | {
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The Rescue of Nicholas the Christmas Cat
The rescue of Nicholas the Christmas Cat is an amazing tale that brought together rescuers from all of Los Angeles and allowed a cat to go from living in tough, dire conditions to a wonderful, loving home. He was stuck in a wash in Rosemead for likely over a year. It is unknown how he got down there. He was inaccessible to humans because it was at least a 20 foot drop down a concrete wall to get to him. On the sides were chain link fences with locks. People in the neighborhood would throw food down to him when he cried for it. He knew that if he communicated with them, people would feed him. The people around the neighborhood knew Nicholas so well they knew he didn’t like dry food.
Nicholas’ situation was especially urgent because he had a ribbon tied around his belly and hind legs. It was clearly hurting him. He needed medical attention as soon as possible.
Several cat rescues around Los Angeles learned about Nicholas and wanted to help. Frantic emails were sent to try to find someone to assist them. Many people put in time and effort to help save Nicholas. Debbie and Evelyn were part of that team that was up to the task. They lowered a trap down the concrete wall with food in it. They first trapped a Siamese cat as well as some other animals including a possum, but Nicholas remained.
Through a series of emails and lists, Rebecca, a cat rescuer who often worked with Kitten Rescue, learned about the situation. Rebecca and her husband, Alan, drove out to Rosemead to see if they could help rescue Nicholas. There was an additional urgency as time went on with winter coming and the fear that rain could flood the wash. They couldn’t do much due to the wall and chain linked fence.
Nicholas’ original name was Smarty because he kept evading the traps. Two weeks after the initial emails Nicholas was finally rescued. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That day, Evelyn brought him to FixNation, a free clinic for feral cats, to be neutered. At the same time, the surgeons at FixNation removed the ribbon that was cutting into Nicholas from his abdomen to his back and then they stitched him up. All free of charge.
Evelyn then requested help in fostering him as she had a full house of other rescue cats. Rebecca and Alan decided they were up to the task of fostering him and finding him a home. They drove out to the Evelyn’s home in Rosemead to find Nicholas hiding in a carrier in her windowless garage. Evelyn said he was sweet and had been running around the garage. When Rebecca put her hands in the carrier, however, Nicholas growled and hissed. Evelyn couldn’t keep him, so Rebecca and Alan knew they had to take him.
It took a couple of days before Rebecca and Alan could examine Nicholas. When they reached into the carrier in their home, Nicholas purred but wouldn’t come out. He finally did. They discovered that the ribbon that had been removed was an even greater problem then they realized. It had prevented him from walking properly. He recovered from the surgery but had to re-learn how to walk. The ribbon had caused him to shuffle when he walked. Rebecca and Alan patiently worked with him to adapt to live in a house and with other kitties.
Rebecca started bringing Nicholas to adoption events in December 2013. Despite his outgoing personality that had developed, he wasn’t having much luck. In January 2014, Rebecca put him in Kitten Rescue’s enclosures at Petsmart in West LA. Finally in February his Forever Home parents, Dani and Richard, found him.
Nicholas has quickly adjusted to being the only cat at home and the center of attention. He’s very affectionate although he is still learning the finer points of life with humans. For example: feet may be very interesting but they are not toys for chewing even in the morning when you are purring and very excited for breakfast. He is a very bright, extremely sensitive cat. He wants very much to understand what is expected of him and how to make his humans happy.
Many people continue to inquire and care about Nicholas. After his rescue, people made donations to Kitten Rescue and FixNation in his name. People in the neighborhood called and texted Evelyn and Debbie asking for updates once they saw he was no longer in the wash.
Kitten Rescue was founded in the spring of 1997 and has grown to become one of the largest and most respected animal welfare groups in Los Angeles. We are a non-profit, totally volunteer run organization devoted to finding loving new homes for unwanted cats and kittens. Kitten Rescue volunteers place approximately 1,000 cats and kittens into new homes every year. Since its inception, Kitten Rescue has rescued and placed over 14,000 cats into loving homes. More information about Kitten Rescue can be found at www.kittenrescue.org. | {
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