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Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new edition of Insider Today. Please sign up here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The CEOs don’t want to be testifying. Even having this collective hearing creates a sense of quasi-guilt just because of who else has gotten called in like this — Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Banks. That’s not a crowd they want to be associated with.” — Paul Gallant, a tech policy analyst, on Wednesday’s Big Tech antitrust House hearing.
The Big Four tech CEOs will testify Wednesday before the House antitrust subcommittee. In the most anticipated antitrust hearings in decades, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google bosses will be interrogated about a variety of market-dominating practices.
AG Bill Barr is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats are challenging him on his intervention in the Stone and Flynn cases, the Lafayette Square assault, and the Portland protests, among other matters. Barr is unapologetic and accused Democrats of trying to discredit him.
The Trump campaign has “masked” $170 million in campaign spending, alleges campaign finance watchdog. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the FEC that that campaign “disguised” spending by funneling it through organizations controlled by people involved in the campaign, such as Brad Parscale. The FEC has no quorum and so can’t enforce campaign finance laws.
The Trump administration dispatched another 100 federal agents to Portland. They join the 114 feds already there. Nightly protests have grown since the feds stepped up their presence two weeks ago.
VIEWS OF THE DAY
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images/Rich Fury/Getty Images/Stephen J. Cohen/WireImage/Mateusz Wlodarczyk/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Big Tech has no friends in Washington
On Wednesday the CEOs of the four biggest tech companies — Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple — will testify before a House subcommittee via Zoom. They will have no friends.
Over the last few years both Republicans and Democrats have begun to look at Silicon Valley with a great deal of skepticism, and there are now pro-antitrust factions on both sides of the aisle. This hearing will be conducted by the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, which is helmed by Democratic Rep. David Cicilline with GOP Rep. Doug Collins serving as Ranking Member. Both of these gentlemen have a history of supporting antitrust legislation that goes back to before the Trump administration started. Expect the politicians on this subcommittee to know their stuff in a way we have not seen in previous hearings.
It’s also become clear that politicians on both sides of the aisle think they can score political points with their base by beating up on these executives. On Monday, GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida — who is more known for partisan stunts than any productive legislation — filed a criminal referral to the Department of Justice for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Gaetz accused Zuckerberg of lying to Congress in 2018 when Zuckerberg denied that there was any bias against conservative speech on Facebook.
Facebook’s own internal reports actually show a bias toward conservative content, and the top 10 most shared posts on the platform every day are consistently from conservative outlets. But it’s clear Gaetz thinks his base will appreciate this spectacle.
A few things to know going in:
Americans are forming fewer small businesses than they ever have in decades.
In this hearing Facebook is going to try to argue that we need it to counter similar platforms coming out of China. I don’t expect anyone on this subcommittee to buy that argument, especially not when it comes to breaking up Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp.
Expect Jeff Bezos to get beat up over the fact that Amazon pays so little tax. In 2019 Amazon paid about $162 million in federal tax while rival Wal-Mart paid $3 billion.
Apple will likely get knocked for “rent seeking,” as gatekeeper to the app market. Spotify has been arguing that Apple Music has an unfair advantage because it doesn’t have to pay Apple to be in the App Store. It’ll also get knocked for undercutting rivals with Apple TV+.
Google will, of course, be called to answer for its dominance over search and the hellscape that is YouTube. —LL
Yes, but “Big Tech” has a point: It’s a global market. If we hobble US companies, we’ll open the door even wider for China, et al.
Many Americans are frustrated with the power and influence of tech-powered American companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon. The answer, many people say, is to break the companies up.
At the same time, many Americans worry that heavily regulated American companies are losing ground to companies based in other countries that aren’t subject to the same rules.
Well, we can’t have it both ways.
We live in a global economy, with global companies. If we want US companies to be competitive with global companies, we need to remember that US regulators don’t set the rules for the whole world. — HB
More local COVID deaths mean less support for Trump
MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump was “bored” by the pandemic, until he realized it was hitting “our people.” Here’s why he better keep paying attention to Covid.
In a remarkable display of data wizardry, the New York Times merges disparate information about COVID and polls to show that higher local death rates are associated with a drop in support for Trump and other Republican candidates.
The drop isn’t huge: A doubled death rate causes Republicans to lose one-third of a point. But it’s real: That decline is not occurring in states such as Wyoming that have so far ducked Covid. The Times likens this Covid shadow to historical polls showing that combat deaths grind down politicians’ popular support.
If this effect continues through Election Day, it could make a genuine difference in presidential swing states and tight Senate races, given that the virus is ravaging Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Georgia.
More than anything, this data might cause President Trump to keep paying attention to the pandemic. Even if he cares little about Americans in swing states dying, he cares a lot about Americans in swing states voting. — DP
Yes, this Georgia Senate ad was anti-Semitic
GOP Sen. David Perdue of Georgia has yanked down a Facebook ad he was running against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. The ad showed a photo of Ossoff in which his nose — and only his nose — was digitally lengthened and widened, along with a message that Democrats were trying “to buy” Georgia. The ad also included an image of Sen. Chuck Schumer, who, like Ossoff, is a Jewish Democrat.
Perdue’s campaign deleted the ad, feebly claiming that an “unintentional error” by a contractor had distorted the photo, and that Perdue had never seen it.
But this is textbook anti-Semitism, Jews trying to use their money to deceive the good people of Georgia. It’s not even a dog whistle. It’s a whistle. — DP
Disney is strange during COVID Times
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The parks are largely empty, public health warnings klaxon every few minutes, the costumed characters keep their distance, you never have to wait in line, Graeme Wood writes in the Atlantic.
“The experience of Disney World under these circumstances is one of unsettling solitude….What is an amusement park in which visible smiles are forbidden, and laughter and screams of delight are muffled to the point of inaudibility?”
Working there is not so hotsy-totsy either. An anonymous Epcot employee describes their job now as an experience of cognitive dissonance — trying to maintain the trademark Disney good cheer while being deadly serious about masks and distancing. — DP
Is it just me, or does $250 billion seem cheap for some peace of mind?
Republicans have released their proposal to Democrats for the next coronavirus aid bill. It includes reducing the federal boost to unemployment checks from $600 a week to $200 a week. Then in October states would start reimbursing 70% of pre-pandemic wages.
Analysts at Raymond James estimate this plan will cost $100 billion. Keeping the $600 a week payments til the end of the year would cost $250 billion more.
Maybe I’ve become desensitized to eye-popping numbers. Maybe I just remember that the Federal Reserve spent $500 billion buying corporate bonds a few months ago and no one batted an eye, so what’s $250 billion to keep people in their homes during a pandemic?
After all, the sooner the government gets the pandemic under control, the sooner people can get to work. Until that happens, Republicans are trying to push people to go back to jobs that don’t exist. The people who should really be pressured into going to work right now are in Washington. — LL
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Ed Yardeni: Stock investors could be “delusional” if prices continue to rise faster than earnings forecasts. He also said the V-shaped recovery of May and June looks like it’s stalling.
The top 5 cities for young professionals in 2020. Based on job opportunities, number of millennial residents, and access to affordable housing, Cambridge, Mass. is tops, but both DC and Arlington, Virginia make the list.
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Jaw-dropping images of Simone Biles, the most dominant athlete on the planet. In a regular time, she’d be crushing it at the Tokyo Olympics this week.
There are 16 EGOT winners, and one double winner. Here they all are.
THE BIG 3*
Hundreds of teenagers wrecked a mini-golf facility in Memphis. The Putt-Putt Fun Center closed because of overcrowding. Furious that they didn’t get refunds, the kids vandalized it.
Twitter limited Donald Trump Jr.’s account and deleted a tweet. He had shared COVID misinformation about hydroxychloroquine from controversial Houston doctor.
How to take a screenshot on Windows 10 computers. There are several different ways.
*The most popular stories on Insider today.
Read the original article on Business Insider |
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By Jackie Kay
We have commissioned a new piece of writing from fifty leading authors on the theme of 'Elsewhere' - read on for Jackie Kay's contribution.
Being dead is not at all like I imagined when I was a kid. I imagined the dead would be pale and quiet, and that if they walked at all, they’d walk like zombies, in shuffling slippers, and if they talked at all, they’d whisper and have gravelly rasping voices like the voice of what’s his face in Oliver, the guy that teaches them all to steal. It’s gone. Not the Artful Dodger and not Bill Sykes, but... never mind. It’s not the end of the world forgetting bits and pieces, but when I was alive I was a mine of information. People used to say that to me: Martha, you’re a mine of information. Much sought after, me, for the pub quiz! And now that I’m dead, I’m still being headhunted which is kind of funny. People come to me to ask loaded questions. Things like: how long will it be before I disintegrate? How long before I start to smell really bad? How long before I get to contact my family? I tell it like it is; I say, you’re already disintegrated, mate, and you are a bit whiffy, darling, and you don’t get to contact your family, but they can get in touch with you, if they make a little effort, sweetheart. (We dead do have a weakness for those terms of endearment.) What we’ve got in this Elsewhere is not mind, body and spirit, but double spirit and a bit of mind. The body’s gone; some people arrived with bits missing anyway, or bits that were supposed to be revamped that never quite worked like the original. You can’t really beat the original leg or kidney, it’s got to be said.
You go to Limbo first and then you come on here, to Elsewhere. It’s quite a classy joint because there’s an air of sophistication to the place. In Limbo, there’s a scrabbling, squabbling thing going on: people complaining, saying it’s not fair, why me, I wasn’t ready, I was robbed, I was snatched away, I was in my prime... and a whole load of other clichés. In Limbo, everything you hear you’ve heard before. I felt myself getting impatient. I said to a newly-arrived one day, ‘Look, you’re dead, get over yourself.’ which might seem a bit harsh, but once we both turned up in Elsewhere, she came up to me and said ‘Thanks.’ Thanks! ‘That was the best piece of advice anyone’s ever given me.’ It was lovely, that. Such a simple thing – thanks. We dead thrive on thanks; it keeps the spirit elevated.
What we’ve all got in common here is that no one really deserves to die and all of us have died in different ways. I’ll tell you how I died when I’ve got to know you better. We’re like prisoners in that respect; we don’t just blurt out intimate details about our death in the first ten minutes. We wait; we take our time to tell our sad tales. (Few of us claim to have had a good death –what an oxymoron that!– though some are heartened at having had the chance to say goodbye.) Everyone has a unique story in some ways because all deaths are unique, at least to the one that died. But in other ways, every death resembles another and many common factors are involved: the heart stops beating, the blood stops pumping, the lungs stop taking in air, the skin stops breathing... These things unite us all. But we’ve a lot else in common too because I’m telling you: death is a great leveller. Don’t matter if you were rich or if you were poor, if you were black or white, if you were clever or stupid, once you end up in Elsewhere you are all DEAD. There’s more equality here than I could ever have dreamed of! It’s quite touching! And another strange thing: there’s a better quality of conversation because nobody, NOBODY, is interested in material things. The reason we aren’t interested in material things is because we aren’t material. I’m not trying to be smart, just telling it like it is. But beyond that, we’ve become a whole lot more philosophical now that we are dead. We weigh things up differently and things that used to matter a lot – a new pair of trainers, a new mobile phone, an iPad, BlackBerry, Xbox, detox, botox, Sky box, highlights in the hair, extensions to the house – are all meaningless here. In fact, we look back at our former selves and wonder how we could ever have cared about these things. It’s fascinating how grotesque the whole of the twentieth century becomes from the pure and clean vantage point of the dead. Our old obsessions are not so much shaming, because we have no shame, as puzzling. Most peculiar: did we really care about THAT?
The other thing that’s been VERY interesting is that those that were celebrities when alive aren’t famous dead. I remember a pop star turning up one day, and expecting us all to be dead impressed and thinking that somehow there would be an RIP room or something; that you’d be able to sign up for a kind of deluxe death; use your former fame to get the real VIP treatment. I went over and spoke to her. I said quietly, we have none of that here. There is no special treatment. We are all the same. We are all just dead people. If she had had eyes, they would have widened. But she didn’t have eyes. Her spirit shuffled and blew and shrugged, and eventually settled. And she too came later, and thanked me, and said that nobody had ever talked to her like that in her life. And I said to her, quick as a dead person – because that’s another fallacy: the dead aren’t slow, they are fast – I said to her ‘That’s another lovely thing about being dead. There’s no bullshit. Nobody tells lies to you like they lied to us living.’ I felt the warm air of her accord.
So much is different here to what I imagined. I thought I would do nothing with my time except look down. I always visualised death: high in the sky, all the better to see my loved ones down below and clock what they were up to, perhaps a bit frustrated that I could no longer communicate directly with them. But in actual fact, I’m too busy with stuff going on here, I’m needed in other ways, so I only get to check in with my live friends every so often, once in a blue moon. (And we do get blue moons here; they’re extraordinarily beautiful.) In any case, the dead need me more than the living. My whole family’s expanded. It’s weird but I’ve seen that family’s got nothing to do with genes and blood and DNA: it’s got to do with feeling and pluck and loyalty. The old nuclear family is such a small and selfish unit really, compared to what we’ve got going on here. Seriously – the dead are so much more well-connected. And we’ve got the time to see how it works: it is not six degrees of separation; when you are dead – two degrees, max. It takes seconds to trace one person to another, to connect them; and of course, here, we discover links to people that were hidden from us in life. Yesterday, a mother and daughter met for the first time. The mother had given the daughter up for adoption when she was seventeen. It was quite touching, but also sobering, because although they greeted each other and were clearly pleased, their spirits bobbing a bit, they didn’t really see it as the be-all and end-all, because all the being and seeing had ended. A new thing had begun; they were just as interested in meeting others that weren’t related. To put it simply: when you’ve no longer got any blood, how interested in blood can you be? You get my drift? It’s amazing! Everything shifts and changes perspective here in Elsewhere.
I know – of course I do – that it’s perhaps a bit odd being an enthusiast for death. It might even seem like a contradiction in terms: an enthusiastic dead person, hello? Or, it might seem disingenuous, or worse, some kind of con-trick. But it is none of those. It’s not like I’m attempting to persuade any of the living to come on over to my place. Not at all! Nor am I trying to do a kind of hard sell for death. That would be pointless since you all must know, even those in denial, that death will surely come for you one day. No, but what I am trying to do, and I will admit to this, is change our image. We must be the most maligned, the most trashed, the most disadvantaged group ever. People say ill-informed and stereotypical things about us every day, ad nausea, ad infinitum. We get to hear! We’re not deaf, us dead. We are not resting. We are not at peace. We have not fallen asleep. We are not silent. We are not ghosts, or ghouls, or full of envy for the living. We are neither vengeful nor maladjusted. We are not bitter or twisted. We did not lose our fight or our battle. Actually, it might surprise you to know that we are, much to our own surprise, having a whale of a time. We’ve met up with so many old friends, and quickly made new ones, and we’ve participated in rigorous and scintillating conversations. We haven’t had to shop, to cook, to wash a dish, to worry about what to eat, what to wear, where to go, what to say, or to clock in or out for ages. We haven’t had to be afraid of love. We’re a disparate bunch; we’ve all got different ways of dealing with being dead, but on the whole I think we are a lot more likeable than the living. You see the dead have no ambition. What a relief that is! The dead have no competitions. The dead don’t really care what you think except what you think about being dead. We care about that because it’s hurtful that so many people get us wrong so much of the time. And it is not only hurtful, it’s irritating.
Let me tell you a single story. Let me take one recent story and let it stand for all of us. And if this story gets through to you, I promise you that you will see all of us differently, all of us who roam the rugged, peaty hills and glens of Elsewhere. A girl arrived in Limbo, dead on arrival, like we all do and did, when the moon was full in the sky and the stars were closely making their constellations – here we call them consolations, because the stars console. She had been killed by a hit and run driver and she was ten years old. When someone arrives in Limbo, we in Elsewhere get sent updates; especially if they think somebody will need extra help here. Two days after Genevieve arrived, her mother followed. She’d been a single mum of a single daughter and she just wanted to be with Genevieve. At first Genevieve was a little stand-offish with her mother. But then the two of them got on famously and made many extra friends, became here in Elsewhere part of our huge family. Genevieve’s mum who is called Jane, ‘just plain Jane,’ she said when she arrived, is one of the most generous spirits I’ve ever met.
It reminded me, because I confess that it often escapes my mind, of myself. There are cycles and cycles when I just don’t think about how I got here. It’s not what is important anymore. My life was important, and now my death-life is important, but the day I died I would always rather forget. Some time after Jane arrived we had a long conversation. Jane said that she had always thought that if anything happened to her daughter she wouldn’t be able to survive. So the taking of her own life wasn’t something she agonised over; it was automatic, it was quick, it was a relief. It wasn’t so automatic for me, I told her. I was ill for a long time. I tried often and didn’t succeed. I kept being brought back to life, and every time I was brought back I resented it. I felt useless. I said to myself, back then, you can’t even succeed in killing yourself. You can’t even get that right. I wasn’t crying for help. I really didn’t want to be saved and then saved again. ‘You must have wanted to be saved,’ Jane said. ‘You must have or you wouldn’t have been. It’s that simple.’ I went to argue with her when I had a flash of realisation. I had wanted to live; and then all of a sudden I had wanted to die. I knew that the people I left behind might think all sorts about me: that I was selfish, a coward, a shirker of responsibility, monstrous, atheist. But I was somebody who, on the night I took my life, could really not stand a second longer. I was as down as I could ever have been.
So imagine my surprise when I came here and literally transformed overnight! I went from somebody who suffered from depression to an optimist. I changed from somebody who didn’t enjoy thinking to a real thinker. It’s true to say that I am so much happier dead than alive. And the other weird thing is that the people who are like me and Jane are amongst the happiest here in Elsewhere and the quickest to adjust, quicker than the ones that have been killed on the spot, and happier even than the ones who have had long and protracted illnesses.
Amongst the maligned dead, those of us who have committed suicide are perhaps the most maligned. The thing I’ve noticed we all have in common is that we wish we had managed to leave without leaving behind so much guilt. The guilt of the living can weigh heavily on us dead, until we find ways to shake it off, like birds shaking off their many feathers. Which is to say that we don’t; we realise we need our feathers in order to fly. Like I said before, the thinking of the dead is quite complicated; we happily turn double negatives into positives.
Today, I took a look in on my daughter; she was nineteen when I took my life. She is now forty-five. I saw her in bed with another woman and she laughed my old laugh and looked the happiest I’d seen her look in years. I made something happen in her room and I saw her look surprised and as if she was looking for me, as I’ve seen her do so often over the years when I’ve managed to leave the odd little gift of a red robin or a heron or a whole icicle inside a window, or a goose feather, or a double rainbow, or some lovely lavish early light on a field of corn rigs – I saw her hesitate and then smile, a wide smile like the one I had with my mouth, and at last, I felt complete. I realised then, too, that I’d been kidding myself on a bit. I’d underestimated the ties that I still had to the living. I’d gone dead independent. But I realised today that the strongest and most lovely feeling to be had amongst the Elsewhere spirits is a sense of being here and there, inside and outside, in the world and in the ether world, simultaneously. To feel like you can take part, but that you don’t have to, to enjoy the lovely whoosh of crossing the border when you check in on old relatives living relatively well, is one of the finest feelings you can get here. And given we are all, like I said, mind and spirit and no body, these feelings are the equivalent of an excellent meal for us, some jellied eels, pie and mash or mince and potatoes, depending on what you loved and what you remember of what you loved back in the days long gone by.
I will tell you what this place looks like so you have no need of terror. We have such a strong sense of colour, we dead: the magnificence of light, the breath-taking glorious pink sunsets, the sweet comfort of the dark, the fragile soft dawn. There’s so much to appreciate and enjoy. And strangely, even the feeling of missing a beloved has something quite kind about it because we dead know the truth: we are loved more than the living! Our faults are forgotten and we are elevated in our death. Even neighbours, when asked about us, if we have been murdered, say lovely things. Even when we’ve been a bit of a pain, they’ll say, ‘He was a really nice guy, kept himself to himself.’ Or ‘We used to see her taking her kids to school; she always had a hello for everybody.’ But, of course, flattery gets the dead nowhere! We are not asking for much really, except that the living should broaden their minds, should think as positively about the state we are in as they do about individual qualities we might once have had. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt here in Elsewhere it is that money matters not one jot and that life and death have more in common than you might think. I could go on. I could go on and on. That’s one difference, I guess. The dead can go on and on and on. At some point the living have to stop.
Copyright © 2010, Jackie Kay. All rights reserved.
Supported through the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund. |
Live from Virginia Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia, WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 PM) Hampton Roads, WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and Weekdays 6-10 am and 24/7 Stream – host Fredericks welcomed former Virginia Speaker of the House, Kirk Cox to the show to formally announce his run for governor of Virginia and how he plans to win it.
Fredericks: Former Speaker of the House. Former basketball coach. And unrepentant Yankees fan Speaker Kirk Cox with us announcing his run for governor today. Speaker Cox, great to have you.
Cox: John it’s great to be with you. So let me throw out a quick baseball analogy. It’s opening day. You’re throwing out the first pitch and so I’m honored to have my first interview with the Godzilla of the Truth. You’re right, it’ll be a long season but in November I plan on winning in 2021 and celebrating my three along with the Yankees 28th world series. (Fredericks chuckles) That’s how it’s going to go down.
Fredericks: Know what? I think the Astros have beaten the Yankees now we guess you beat by Tampa Bay so that’s a whole separate story. We got beat by them also. And it’s kind of ridiculous. I mean they just didn’t have that good of a team but look, I want to get to your race for governor. First of all, thank you for coming on my show today. And thank you for basically announcing here on The John Fredericks Radio Network your run for governor. But let’s get to some real issues right off the bat.
And I’m gonna go to politics and then we’ll go to policy. So let’s start with politics. You looked at the results here in 2020. The Republicans now losing everything. We lost the seventh again. We lost the second again. And Biden won the state by the commonwealth by over 350,000 votes. Almost 400,000. This was a dramatic increase from the vote count in 2016. So more and more Democrats are turning out. My target was two million. I hit that and still got blown out as Trump chairman. So just politics aside if you’re the nominee how on earth does a Republican win state-wide?
Cox: Well there are some interesting things in the numbers you just quoted. You did hit your targets and so you got a tremendous amount of votes over Ralph Northam. So the Republican votes are there. And I think that’s the first thing we need to look at. The second thing is I would say I’m very unique. I come from the bluest district in the state. And my district is over 30 percent you know obviously Hispanic, Black, etc. and everyone thought I would lose last time.
I’ve said repeatedly that my opponents never conceded. I ran against an African-American woman that had 1.5 million dollars which is equivalent to what Biden had if you look on that level. And so you know the proof is in the pudding. I feel very strongly that I can win in this state for a whole host of reasons. And John I mean you look at the president for example. I mean he did incredibly well in states we’ve never done well in. Pennsylvania, Michigan, et cetera. Virginia is probably the exception.
And you know I think what we’ll see is you’ll have back in the summer there’ll be a lot of people that will look at the democratic agenda and once again that collectivist agenda which certainly leans towards socialism. The government can do everything. Remember they’re in charge of everything lock stock and barrel in Virginia.
We’ve seen the effect of that. And if it is President Obama and I’m like you, we need to count the vote. So I’m certainly not considering that. But if it is him that will not be a good administration. So the Democrats will have a lot to own up for in the summer. I’ve said repeatedly we killed all their bad bills for years in committee. And so they would go back and say how reasonable they were in their districts. The argument’s not there anymore.
Cox: And so I can tap into a few things the President did that I think are just beginning that we can really build on. The one that I really saw that I think I’ve been very successful at is that his vote with communities of color which I think is historic. And what he did was fascinating and I was talking to a prominent Democrat the other day that said something really interesting to me.
She says we have lost the ability to be the party of the working class. Sort of the beer-drinking party after the last. And the President to some degree took that from us. that’s just beginning. and we saw that with his vote. But they care more about to me you know what you’re going to do in their communities on public safety. In K12 etc then to me an east coast, west coast elite philosophy which the Democrats have really become.
There are opportunities there. It won’t be easy. I’m the first person to tell you that. You better raise a lot of money. I’ve done that as Speaker. You better have both a fighting attitude and a vision going forward. I think I’ve always had that. I think there’s a real opportunity there. I’m too competitive to run if I didn’t think I could win. I mean I’m not in that mood so I do think it’s there to win.
Fredericks: We’re with former speaker Kirk Cox who officially announced his campaign for governor today likely to take on uh Terry McAuliffe we’ll get to that in a minute. But let’s get back to the 2020 results here. Trump got two million votes in Virginia. That’s 800,000 as you say more votes than Gillespie got in 2017. What we found though is we really couldn’t turn the Trump voters out in 2017, 2018, or 2019.
We turned them on again into 2020 bigger than ever, how are we going to get those out again? What is your message to Trump voters? And I agree with you on all this stuff. So I’m not being combative but both agreed on the biggest transportation tax ever back in whenever it was 2013. And now we’ve got Rhodes since the best decision he has ever been made. In fact, I didn’t think it was big enough that’s why you can’t fix 81. I thought voters should have been bigger.
Both of us agreed on expanding Medicaid in the state, Medicare in the state because that’s for Trump voters and people that were falling in the cracks, and the money was there. So I was a big advocate of that. You did that. But I’m not running for governor. And so Amanda Chase who’s the favorite right now is going to hammer you on that with her base. How do you reconcile that and then how do you translate to getting out those 800,000 Trump voters that Ed couldn’t get in 2017?
Cox: So I’ll match my conservative record with anyone. Once again let’s talk about who’s actually in a leadership position to do something and not just scream and yell. If you look at the second amendment which to me so many people in the conservative movement Republican party probably isn’t the issue. As Speaker of the House Kirk Cox and his intention to run through gun control bills. And we did that very smartly.
That was to me the signature piece from the second amendment. So once we’re out of power we’ll see what happens in January. And that’s a tremendously big issue for those folks and they want to know someone who’s been consistent for 30 years over that and who’s actually done something. Number two, I think the other big big issue for so many of our base is that the President’s done a great job on is the life issue.
Once again I was the majority leader pushing through those bills. Once again not a back venture. And number three which I thought was you know because of my heart for that issue and boldness I stepped off the roster in the Speaker. I’ve never seen that done in 31 years. I not sure it’s been done in the last 50 or 60 years. Gave an impassioned speech pro-life and once again blocked all of those bills. And we got that done.
The Kathy Tran bill would have called for abortion after birth. What people are looking for is someone who can win. I’m absolutely convinced of that. George Allen a few years ago and Bob McDonnell which I think I’m very much in that strain if you look. And they are going to curl up. They’re going to be tired of losing.
And once again, I’ve said this repeatedly I certainly hope it doesn’t happen. But if you do have a president Biden and once again a Democratic majority people are really going to coalesce. I have no doubt about that. And they are going to turn out. And the key is I will tell you I think I can very much get votes that Republicans have not gotten. I’ve proven that in suburban districts. And that’s what you’re going to need.
Listen to the full show here:
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Background Photo “Virginia Capitol” by Anderskev. CC BY 3.0. |
Not long enough ago I sat in the ER while a psychiatric resident checked the IV attached to my sixteen year old daughter’s arm and asked, ‘Why do you want to kill yourself, honey?”
The words are forever tattooed on the wall of my heart.
After endless worrying about her anxiety and self-destructive impulses, of watching her oscillate between the usual trials of adolescence and erratic emotional distress, my daughter was diagnosed last year with Borderline Personality Disorder, a psychological illness marked by unstable and turbulent emotions and impulsivity. On a personal level the diagnosis felt like an indictment of my parenting. Where did I go wrong? What did I do to raise this anxious child? At the same time it was a weight lifted; this thing she had battled for years was real. We finally had a name and a course for healing.
In the year since that night I have learned that developing a treatment plan for a psychological disorder is a complex endeavor, one that becomes thornier when the sufferer is a teenager. The rapidly changing bodies and hormones of any teenager can result in maddening behavior on occasion. Add to that a malfunction of a neuronal connection in the brain and the result is an emotional boomerang that can make the act of establishing a treatment plan feel like trying to hit a moving target while wearing a blindfold.
Like it or not – ready or not – parents quickly realize that the responsibility of getting all the pieces working together depends on us. Someone has to be the manager and organizer, appointment setter, records keeper, advocate, cheerleader, disciplinarian, and comforter. There is no training, no certificate of competency; one day we are the anxious parent of a deeply troubled teen and the next day we are a bold pioneer forging a path towards a family-focused mental health treatment plan.
Most days I feel ready for it, whatever the new it of the day may be. Occasionally I feel like pulling the comforter over my head and refusing to surface until the Jacksonville Jaguars win a Super Bowl.
In my quest to be the best caregiver to my daughter that I can be I have read articles and books that caution parents of psychologically distressed teenagers to “Take care of yourself!” and “Make sure your needs are being met!” But what does that even mean? Where are the how-to’s for that? The literature does not provide a lot in terms of specifics.
So, to parents like me who are living the complex reality of caring for a mentally ill teenager: let me share four things I have learned that have helped me keep my wits about me:
- Get Connected. It Changes Everything.
During the most difficult episodes of my daughter’s depression my instinct was to keep our painful family crisis a secret. Protecting her from cultural stigma was paramount. I felt guilty about pursuing anything that ‘distracted’ me from my primary responsibility: getting her well and keeping her safe. How could I even think about imbibing in a girl’s night out or writing on my goofy chicken blog at a time like this?
The side effect, of course, was that in the throes of crisis I felt very alone.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 26% of Americans have experienced a mental health crisis of some form. That translates to a vast number of families who understand exactly what we are going through even while we subsist in silence. The fact is, sharing with those who have lived a similar experience can change the trajectory of our lives.
When I finally shared my situation with a select few, not only was I overwhelmed by the number of people who have gone through a similar crisis with their own child, or whose family has rallied around a niece or godson, I was unprepared for their intuitive guidance and eagerness to share professional referrals that set my family’s treatment plans on an accelerated path.
Success is all about who you know. Get connected. Get into a support community to help you crack the complex world of psychological treatment services. Seek out those who will applaud your successes and commiserate your setbacks.
As a parent, being reminded regularly that you are not alone is key to your own emotional health.
- Forgive Those Who Talk Stupid.
Recently an acquaintance visiting my home declared she had no clue how my daughter could feel depressed when she had everything a kid could ask for and if we stopped indulging her she might snap out of it.
Just as the outpouring of support from unexpected sources will leave you feeling awestruck, so may you feel defensive and raw from insensitive comments some people feel obligated to make. The truth is, sometimes even very caring people say really stupid things (err…myself included). In a social climate where myths about mental illness run rampant we must recognize that not everyone is prepared to bring well-drafted opinions and proper vocabulary to the table.
It is often the best policy to simply overlook stupidity and be on our way. On the other hand, we are not obligated to succumb to flawed cultural stigma. If someone makes a comment that is clearly infused with vice we can advocate for our teenager by calmly stating the facts and establishing ground rules. Knowing in advance what to say is helpful. I have a set response for these rare occasions. It goes something like this:
“Asking a person with a psychological illness to snap out of the chemical imbalance in her brain is like expecting a Type 1 Diabetic to snap out of her defective pancreas. We have a team of brain experts developing a plan for our family and we are not really in the market for an uninformed prognosis.”
This approach nearly always results in one of two outcomes – a profuse apology or an abrupt change of subject. Both are fine by me. My home is my sacred place and there are ground rules to follow.
Forgiveness is an essential skill for parents caring for teenagers with mental illness. It burns up less energy than harboring a grudge and I have learned to apply it liberally. However, relationships involving humans who are persistently insensitive about my daughter’s mental health are ones I permit to fade. For the wellbeing of our family it is essential to forgive stupidity and, when necessary, know when to move on.
- Intentionally Seek Laughter.
Listen, fellow parent who is caring for a teenager with psychological illness, I totally get it: you probably have never felt less like laughing than you do at this moment. But I promise you this: you have never needed laughter more than you do right now.
Laughter can boost our mood, strengthen our immune system, and shift our perspective. Best of all, laughter is contagious. Right now you probably do not feel like introducing your family to new activities that feel frivolous but, dear parent, here is the thing: if you embrace these activities with gusto, eventually your teenager will follow suit. This is the nature of laughter.
Over the past year laughter has served as a marker of significant progress in our daughter’s treatment. My husband and I knew we had found the right therapist for her the moment we heard them erupt into laughter in the next room. And during a particularly dark period of adjustment we attended Alton Brown’s cooking show with her reluctantly in tow, and when the show opened with sock puppets singing fart jokes I snuck a peek at her out of the corner of my eye expecting the worst. I caught her guffawing with her head thrown back and looking for all the world like a happy, carefree teenager. Her joy took my breath away and I spent the next two hours clandestinely wiping happy tears – and the corresponding snot – on my shirtsleeve. It was a cooking show for peat’s sake; I had not thought to bring Kleenex.
And once in a family therapy session the counselor asked the teenagers in the room what their parents did when they got stressed out. My daughter’s hand shot into the air and I searched frantically for a place to hide. “I always know when my mom is stressed because I find her in the hen yard talking to our chickens.” The room erupted into laughter and the discussion was hopelessly sidetracked. At the end of the session I apologized to our counselor for the disruption but she assured me that laughter was an excellent use of therapy time.
Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress and pain. It unites us and creates a joyful memory map that can be revisited during times of distress. Pursue laughter as relentlessly as you seek talk therapy and psychiatric medications. Let it bring your family together and ease the sting of darker times. Intentionally introduce moments into your family’s day that are infused with buoyancy and levity and see what happens.
Laughter is potent medicine. Even in the form of farting sock puppets.
- Reclaim Your Routine.
After my daughter was released from the hospital there was a period of weeks when my husband and I roamed the house like strangers in a foreign land. We adjusted awkwardly to new therapy strategies and tag-teamed our way through daily medical appointments. Hobbies were pushed into dark corners to gather dust.
But my husband faithfully stuck to a routine he developed when our daughter started high school: he had a strong conviction that it should be him who cooked a homemade breakfast for her every morning. Providing his child with delicious and nourishing food was a privilege and responsibility he refused to relinquish to anyone, and certainly not to the public school system. So when she returned from the hospital he picked back up right where he left off. Morning after morning he cooked her breakfast. Even on days when she was too anxious to move. Even when the plate on the stand by her bed was repeatedly left untouched. He never complained. And he never gave up.
One morning she lifted herself up out of bed on her own accord and wandered into the kitchen. “Mmmm,” she said, “it smells good out here. Like breakfast.”
He just smiled. And kept right on cooking.
Routines are a powerful counter-force against the chaos and unpredictability of this disease. Adjusting as a family following a mental health crisis is a confusing undertaking. It is easy to let routines slide. Household chores, Friday pizza night, and yoga on Tuesdays, all of that is important. Predictable family rhythms give our teenager a sense of security. They allow her to feel in control. She knows what comes next and what is expected of her.
This stands true for parents. Routines provide us with a sense of comfort and of purpose. So reclaim your routines. And don’t skip the ones that bring you joy.
Not long ago my daughter asked me why I do not write on my blog anymore. I told her I had other important things going on. She said, “But it made you happy.”
So, dear friends, this is me practicing the healing power of routine. I have dug the camera out of the closet and revived my Saturday morning ritual of documenting the sassy centerfolds in my hen yard. I have dusted off this blog and started a list of topics on which to opine.
Getting back into the swing of things feels very, very good.
Living with our teenager’s mental illness can be daunting. Equally important as developing a treatment plan for our child is the need to take care of ourselves. This means being surrounded by people who understand our struggle and forgiving those who say insensitive things. It means seeking joyful experiences even in the darkest times and recognizing the power of our routines. Given the choice we would never have picked this path for our child or ourselves, but as parents we are fine-tuned for having walked it. We see the tiny steps forward that might otherwise go unnoticed. Even in the face of this persistent foe we have become parents capable of believing life is good and the future is bright. |
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December 4, 2000
Religion 312, Section 3
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Methodism and Slavery
Methodism is a Protestant denomination of Christianity which, during the nineteenth century, spread rapidly in the United States. Methodism was united until the mid-1800s when debate on slavery began to permeate life in America. The issue of slavery, which divided the entire nation, also divided Methodists. The Methodist Church’s response to the morally and religiously charged debate on slavery was not unique, but rather mimicked the responses in other Protestant churches, as well as the response of the nation. When it became apparent that the opposing views of the two factions of Methodists on the issue of slavery could not be reconciled, and because the issue was of utter import in the church and the nation, the response was division and secession– in both church and state. In fact, the division within the Methodist Episcopal Church, which resulted in the splitting of the Church in 1844, strongly paralleled the division and crisis which occurred within the nation and culminated in the Civil War.
The Methodism of the Englishman John Wesley was imported to America in the mid-1700s. From its beginnings, Methodism integrated order, community, and fraternity to make for a unique Protestant sect of Christianity. Wesley’s intent was not to separate from the Church of England, but rather he wanted Methodism to simply be a movement within the Anglican Church (Richey, 1991, p. 13). Initially, Methodism was not readily embraced in America, mostly because the movement was attached to Loyalist Wesley. In fact, before the Revolutionary War, there were but 4,912 Methodists in the colonies (Marty, 1984, pp. 171-175).
In 1784, at the Christmas Conference, the Methodist Episcopal Church was first organized apart from the Church of England (Richey, 1991, p. xi). The nineteenth century saw the rise of Methodism in the United States. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury were appointed superintendents of Methodism to the United States, and Asbury in particular was responsible for the rapid growth of Methodism in America. He traveled extensively and employed the services of circuit riding ministers to spread the word about Methodism. By 1816, the number of Methodists in the United States had risen to 212,000 (Marty, 1984, pp. 171-175).
Slavery Sentiments of Early Methodism
Wesley saw slavery as evil and thought it the duty of every good Christian to fight the institution of slavery. He delineated his thoughts on the subject in his Thoughts Upon Slavery, where he states with particular fervency, “I absolutely deny all slaveholding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice” (Wesley, 1791, p. 213). Asbury shared Wesley’s convictions on slavery, and whereas Wesley held strong anti-slavery sentiments, but laid out no plan for abolishing it, Asbury made steps to establish the Methodists as anti-slavery and thought the church should follow the example of the Quakers in this matter. A policy that would suspend any minister for not emancipating his slaves in a state where such action was permitted, was soon implemented. Coke also held quite strong anti-slavery convictions and planned to impose his sentiments on the Methodist Episcopal Church and hopefully evoke abolition.
The Methodist Episcopal Church’s Discipline, of 1784, which was something akin to the constitution of the church, took a solid anti-slavery stance and a bit of a risk when it stated that any slaveholding member of the church who did not emancipate his slaves would be denied the sacrament of Holy Communion and expelled from the church. The policy was hotly contested and in 1785 was repealed. Even Coke acknowledged that the church was yet too young to “push things to extremity” (Mathews, 1965, p. 13). Methodists continued to write anti-slavery propaganda, but held off on imposing their views on fellow slaveholding Methodists because of the controversy that had erupted in 1784. It was clear from the time of the establishment of the Methodist Episcopal Church that the slavery question would be a troublesome one for the new denomination.
During the 1780s, the spread of anti-slavery pamphlets and preaching by Methodists continued. Some slaveholding Methodists were affected by the inundation of the anti-slavery message and responded by emancipating their slaves. Since freeing their slaves often meant deterioration in economic and social standing for the slaveholder, to emancipate their slaves, the slaveholders must have felt a strong moral obligation to do so. In Maryland between 1783 and 1799, 1,800 slaves were freed in predominantly Methodist areas. Also, in the Methodist stronghold of Amelia County, Virginia, Methodists waged a popular protest with the state legislature over slavery (Mathews, 1965, pp. 17-18).
This type of evidence shows that Methodism could have survived as a strong anti-slavery sect. To do so, though, Methodism would most likely have been reduced to holding a small, obscure place in American religion. Methodism, however, had begun as a strong and far-reaching denomination with a dominant presence within American religion. Instead of falling into obscurity as the strong anti-slavery Quakers did, the Methodists would choose a route of compromise to keep its denomination united for as long as it possibly could (Richey, 1991, pp. 54-55).
Conflict and Compromise
At the General Conference of 1796, the delegates to the conference again tried to take measures to pressure Methodists to emancipate their slaves. If laws and the particulars of the case would allow it, the conference recommended that lay officials emancipate their slaves quickly. Also, the Church forbade the selling of slaves and would not admit any slaveholder into the Church until he understood the Church’s opposition to slavery, though he was not required to emancipate his slaves. At the 1800 General Conference, the Methodists directed the local annual conferences to become more active in promoting emancipation of slaves in states where slavery was still legal by circulating petitions for such a purpose. Many of the annual conferences of southern states failed to comply with the General Conference’s recommendation and did not draw up any petitions (Agnew et al, 1965, p. 12). In South Carolina, the Methodists did produce such a petition and printed it for free distribution. The residents of Charleston promptly burned the pamphlets and attempted to drown George Doughtery, a Methodist preacher (Mathews, 1965, pp. 20-12). The Church once again failed to force its anti-slavery sentiments on its southern faction.
After this inflammatory response, Asbury conceded that he had been fighting a hopeless struggle and the crusade of the anti-slavery Methodists seemed to slow after this point. At the 1804 General Conference, the division in the Church became utterly apparent when two Disciplines were accepted– one for the northern churches and one for the southern churches. The Discipline of the southern states contained no Section on Slavery. Also at this conference, the Church rescinded its previous call to petition state governments for emancipation and suggested that ministers encourage slaves to obey their masters. This trend continued when at the General Conference of 1808, two Disciplines were printed again and the Church decided to leave the issue of how to deal with members who bought and sold slaves up to the regional annual conferences (Mathews, 1965, pp. 26-27).
The strong antislavery views of Wesley, Asbury, and Coke were, therefore, put on the back burner, so to speak, in an effort to preserve the Church as a whole. The Methodists decided that compromise was the only way the Church would be able to remain united as the largest Christian denomination in the United States, since by 1816 the Church had 172,000 white members and 42,500 black members (Mathews, 1965, p. 25). The Methodists had concluded that the abolition of slavery would not become a reality, and thus they were powerless to change the status quo. From 1820-1836, the Church failed to formally take any action on the slavery issue, though debate over the issue within the Methodist Church continued to grow (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 14-15). Since the Church lacked any conviction to back up its anti-slavery stance, the Section on Slavery in the northern Discipline, which professed the evils of slavery, appeared, at this point in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to contain empty words (Mathews, 1965, pp. 28-29).
Orange Scott and the Wesleyan Methodists
Orange Scott was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a strong abolitionist who was determined not to let the Church disobey its conscience. In 1836, he made his abolitionist Address to the General Conference and established himself as the leader of the abolitionist movement within Methodism. In 1838 he wrote his “Appeal to the Methodist Episcopal Church,” in which he encouraged church leaders to take a more aggressive approach in eradicating slavery. When it became apparent that the Methodist Episcopal Church would continue to ignore the issue of slavery, Scott, being unable to submit to the Church’s inactivity, started a secession movement in 1842 and organized the Wesleyan Methodist Church (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 40). In his Grounds of Secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Scott cited slavery as the primary reason for secession. He writes:
That the M. E. Church is a slaveholding church, none will deny. She allows her members and ministers unrebuked, to hold innocent human beings in a state of hopeless bondage — nay, more, she upholds and defends her communicants in this abominable business! All her disciplinary regulations which present a show of opposition to slavery are known and acknowledged to be a dead letter in the South (Scott, 1848, pp. 4-5).
Even before Scott decided to secede from the Church, other churches in the north had seceded for precisely the reasons Scott outlined in his Grounds of Secession from the Methodist Episcopal Church. These other secessionists were, therefore, united under the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The initial growth of the Wesleyan Methodist Church was quick and indicative of the dissatisfaction of many northerners with the Methodist Episcopal Church’s handling of the slavery issue. Only a year after the secession, 15,000 Americans called themselves members of the Wesleyan Methodist Church (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 44).
The Response of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the Secession
The secession movement of the Wesleyan Methodists served as a rude awakening to many in the Methodist Episcopal Church who had entertained thoughts of avoiding the slavery question in order to preserve the union of the Church. Because of this large secession, however, the Methodist Episcopal Church was forced to examine its positions on slavery. Prior to this, many in the Church had ignored their conscience in the name of keeping the Church united. This was no longer an option after 1842, as the issue could not be avoided. In fact, the Church took swift measures to awaken its sleeping anti-slavery convictions (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 46).
In Boston, the Church authorities strengthened the Church’s antislavery position in order to prevent further disenfranchisement of abolitionists within the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Massachusetts Conference declared slaveholding to be a sin and resolved that the only solution to the polarity within the church on the issue was reformation or division. Similarly, at the New Hampshire convention, separation from the South was advocated (Mathews, 1965, pp. 234-235). Church clergy in Vermont declared that, as Christians, Methodists could have no association with any man who would hold a fellow man in bondage. No longer feeling the need to appease their southern counterparts, other northern conferences followed suit by adopting harsher anti-slavery measures. Thomas E. Bond, of theChristian Advocate and Journal, who before had not allowed any anti-slavery propaganda to be published in the journal, now opened its pages to a discussion of the issue. This, of course, received a negative response from the Georgia and Alabama Conferences (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 45).
All of this activity further polarized the northern and southern factions of Methodism. The northerners were no longer afraid to attack the institution of slavery; the southerners sensed their way of life being attacked. Both factions prepared themselves for a showdown. Compromise, which had marked the Methodist Episcopal Church’s response to slavery up to this point, was no longer an option. Heading into the General Conference of 1844, both sides were poised to prevail on issues concerning slavery. In the year preceding that General Conference, Methodists had theorized about what should take place at the conference and speculated about its outcome (Mathews, 1965, pp. 240-242).
The General Conference of 1844
The issue of slavery was debated within the Methodist Episcopal Church’s General Conference of 1844 not directly, but within the framework of two specific cases of slaveholding clergymen– Reverend Francis A. Harding and Bishop James O. Andrew. The first was the case of Harding, a slaveholding minister whose church was within the jurisdiction of the Baltimore Conference. The Baltimore Conference had insisted that he and four other slaveholding ministers free their slaves or their ordinations would be suspended. Harding was the only one who refused and brought his appeal to the General Conference. William A. Smith, a Virginian minister, who had threatened secession from the Church in 1836, was now vehement in his objections to what he saw as northern attacks on slaveholding Christians such as Harding. Thus Smith argued on Harding’s behalf. He contended, first, that the slaves belonged to Harding’s wife and, furthermore, that if the slaves were emancipated, they were not legally allowed to remain in Maryland, and they would thus face unnecessary hardship if freed. He therefore alleged that the Baltimore Conference was not being consistent with the Discipline, which required the manumission of slaves only where they could enjoy freedom (Agnew et al, 1964, p. 52). He then continued, essentially apologizing for slavery and stating that ministers were not to “meddle in politics” (Mathews, 1965, pp. 251-252).
John Collins of the Baltimore Conference was the one who took it upon himself to respond to Smith’s assertions. First of all, he noted that even if the slaves technically were Harding’s wife’s property, Harding was still their master, and he was, therefore, responsible for their servitude. He also maintained that the role of the Methodist minister was not to do as he pleases, but to submit to the will of the Church as expressed through its various rules. Furthermore, he contended that if the General Conference allowed Harding to continue preaching, the delegates would be encouraging localism, which the bishops deplored. When the delegates of the General Conference voted 117 to 56 in rejection of Harding’s appeal, it marked the first time the southern faction had lost an important vote in the Church (Mathews, 1965, pp. 252-254).
Immediately, southerners knew their power was slipping, and the entire delegation sensed that reconciliation was becoming less and less likely. In fact, in an effort to keep the church together, a committee of three Southerners, two conservatives, and one abolitionist was formed to investigate the plausibility of reconciliation. The committee considered changes to the Discipline’s Section on Slavery and attempted to resolve the issue of the slaveholding Bishop James O. Andrew. After only four days, however, the committee reported back that its attempts at reconciliation had failed (Mathews, 1965, pp. 255-256).
The next topic of deliberation was that of Bishop Andrew’s possession of slaves, which came to symbolize the entire slavery controversy within Methodism. During the General Conference, the northern and southern delegations had meetings of their own to discuss their various courses of actions. At one of these such meetings, Bishop Andrew offered the suggestion to his fellow southerners that he simply resign. They would not hear of such a plan. The southerners had decided that their anti-abolitionist crusade would be argued within the context of Bishop Andrew’s case (Agnew et al, 1964, pp. 55-56).
The dissension among the delegates on the Bishop Andrew case became alarmingly apparent as debate on the issue continued. The southerners reacted vehemently to the resolution pushed by northerners that Bishop Andrew be forced to resign. In an attempt to appease the southerners, James B. Finley wrote a different resolution in which he lessened the severity of the Bishop’s punishment. Instead of calling for the Bishop’s resignation, the resolution stated that he would be required to stop performing the duties of his office as long as he was so personally entangled with slavery. Smith retaliated by claiming that if the resolution were passed, the southern faction of the Church would be aligned with an abolitionist institution. This resolution, therefore, failed to appease the southerners, but it was nonetheless passed by a vote of 110 to 69 (Mathews, 1965, p. 260-264).
After this vote, the splitting of the Methodist Episcopal Church into northern and southern factions was practically inevitable. Henry Bidleman Bascom, in protest to the General Conference’s decision in the Bishop Andrew’s case, described the compromise the Church had made in 1816. In his eyes, there was a two-fold agreement within the Church in which both the northern and southern factions had conceded something. The northerners, he thought, had agreed to allow slaveholders to be members of the Church where emancipation was illegal or impractical. Southerners had conceded that they would allow northern interference in certain matters. His claim was, therefore, that by suspending Bishop Andrew, the northerners had broken the compact. The northerners responded by pointing out the fact that the Discipline had always been anti-slavery and that the southerners had tried unsuccessfully to compromise the sanctity of the Methodist Episcopal Church (Mathews, 1965, pp. 266-267).
In spite of all of this, several valiant efforts were made to preserve the unity of the Church in the last days of the General Conference, but to no avail. It soon became clear that the formal division of the Methodist Episcopal Church was imminent. The task of delineating the terms of separation of the Church fell upon the southerners. By the end of the conference, the southern delegates had come up with a “Plan of Separation” that sealed the splitting of the Methodist Episcopal Church into North and South (Agnew et al, 1964, pp. 59-62).
The Nation’s Response to the Church’s Division
The actions of the delegates of the General Conference of 1844 were of interest to the entire nation. At the conclusion of the conference, the whole country took part in debating and analyzing the events of the Methodist Episcopal Church’s ominous General Conference (Agnew, 1964, pp. 144-145). Some, including politician Henry Clay, realized the implications of the Church’s separation and what it could possibly mean for the nation. A writer for the Charleston Mercury said about the division that, “if the clergy whose business is peace and good will cannot tolerate each other of the same sect, what will become of the politicians whose vocation is strife and dissention?” (Mathews, 1965, p. 282)
Within the increasingly divided nation the separation of the Methodist Episcopal Church further promoted regional hostility. The nation saw that the Church’s countless attempts at compromise had failed and that the Church was not able to remain united. The question everybody asked was whether or not the country would be able to remain united. Several saw correctly that the prognosis for the nation was not good (Mathews, 1965, p. 282).
The Methodist’s Division within the Broader Historical Context
In fact, when the reasons for the Church’s separation and nation’s division are analyzed, strong parallels in the two conflicts arise. An inability to compromise was at the root of the conflict. Abolitionists within the Church could not let themselves be associated with a religious institution that allowed its clergy to own slaves; they could not let slavery be tolerated. Likewise, so deeply ingrained was the institution of slavery in the lives of southerners that they could not allow themselves to be associated with a Church committed to abolition. The division in the Church boils down to the fact that the strength of the convictions on both sides were so intense that reconciliation was impossible. Furthermore, each faction thought that their viewpoint was aligned with God’s as Biblical defenses arose on both sides (Mathews, 1965, p. 282). The country divided for a similar reason, as it was becoming increasingly polarized on the slavery issue. Northerners could not tolerate not only being a part of a Church that tolerated slavery, but also could not allow their own country to permit such an institution. Also, the southerners, who had previously refused to associate with a Church that promoted abolition, also refused to associate with a nation that was looking toward the eradication of slavery.
It is no surprise that the same debate culminated in the division of the Methodist Episcopal Church fifteen years before its culmination of the debate within the nation with the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The moral aspect of the slavery debate made it one which the Church could not ignore (Mathews, 1965, p. 282). The nation soon followed the pattern of division that had occurred within the Methodist Episcopal Church. Indeed, further parallels between the two conflicts can be seen by examining the southerners’ responses to a shift in power.
Just as the southern Methodists had witnessed a shift in the balance of power that was not in their favor and several votes that threatened their positions in the Church, the southern states of the Union, in 1860, saw, in the election of President Abraham Lincoln, an imminent threat to slavery. And, whereas the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church members had devised a Plan of Separation in which they would be an autonomous body apart from the North, the southern states soon devised a plan of secession and the creation of the Confederacy by which they were no longer under the rule of the United States government.
Initially, the Methodist Episcopal Church wanted, above all else, to remain united. In order to do this, the Methodists compromised and tried to avoid any stances on slavery which would alienate its southern faction. The first indication that this method had failed was the secession of the members of what was to become the Wesleyan Methodist Church who had, indeed, been alienated from the Church because of its attempts at compromise. At this point, the Methodist Episcopal Church fervently debated the slavery issue, and it became apparent that the two factions of the Church could no longer remain united. The Church split. Likewise, fifteen years after the split in the Church, the southern states of the union seceded from the United States when it became apparent that their viewpoints could not be reconciled with those of the north. The result was a divided nation.
“When Sherman Marched Down to the Sea” is used by permission of Benjamin Robert Tubb from his website at Public Domain Music. |
by Laurie-Ann Copple
Last time we discovered that our faith can grow very well in the desert, when we learn to let him refine us from the fear that holds us back (like Hannah Hurnard’s “Much Afraid” in Hinds Feet in High Places). The desert can transform the image we have of ourselves and of God. These false images are shattered in the desert, so then we can see and discover what is real. We become transformed as we journey on in four unique desert gifts: spiritual transformation, psychological change, a new role and a new future. Part of the new role and future is having our faith grow “wings of action.” As we grow in spiritual and emotional health, it is time to reach out to others. There are so many needs. Where do we start? Part of it is through prayerful awareness. Let God develop his social conscience in you for the community around us.
Scripture tells us that our salvation is given by grace “through faith – and this not by yourselves – it is a gift of God – not by works so that anyone can boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9) Yet the Bible also tells us that works without faith is dead. The apostle James says, “what good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead (James 2:14-26). So we need to do these works as an expression of our faith, in thankfulness for what we’ve been already given.
What really matters when we reach out is our motivation. It must be out of true compassion rooted in God’s love (1 Cor 13:3). Psalm 89:14 reminds us that righteousness (holiness) and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. So what “kind of works” are on God’s heart these days? How can we be salt and light to the community around us? Nicky Gumbel has challenged watchers of the Alpha Course videos concerning confronting social evils. He asks, “Who will be the William Wilberforces of this present day?” I believe that Nicky’s right! William Wilberforce helped end the slave trade of many Africans, who were sold in England, the Caribbean and North America. Yet now there are many forms of slaves – economic slaves (sweat shops), sex slaves, child soldiers, and that’s probably the just the ‘tip of the iceberg.’ How can we stop slavery?
Who will help set these people free? Who is willing to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the broken people who are being used as commodities? I believe that’s a call to many of us! The same faith that gave us spiritual freedom, is also a call to action. The love you received is meant to be given away. Faith is an action word! One of my U of T Religious Studies professors taught me that the old English word for faith is a verb as in ‘Faithing.’ Faith is not a new concept. Neither is social justice and mercy.
My first taste of Christian social justice was at the Canada Awakening conference held in Toronto July 2010. One session included reports that Canadian laws are being improved. Some bills included the need to stop forced abortions for the girls who want to keep their babies. Other bills targeted mandatory minimum sentencing for sexual predators of children. Others dealt with stopping human trafficking. We also learned that the slave trade is alive here in Canada.
Danielle Strickland also shared of her work with the Australian Salvation Army as Director of Social Justice. She is part of a global movement called “Stop the Traffic” (STP). They help mobilize the Church against human trafficking. Australia legalized prostitution in 1993, under the justification that it would bring protection for their sex workers. However, it led to a huge increase in sex for sale. When brothels became legal in Australia, it provided a venue for human trafficking.
Danielle prayed for a strategy to stop this trend, and the prayer was answered when a 72-year-old lady called her. This lady (we’ll call her Joyce), received phone calls for a local Asian brothel because her number was only two digits off from her own number. She was disturbed about this and decided to change her number. She prayed before doing so, and instead, God impressed on her heart to call Danielle and go visit her ‘neighbours’ instead of changing her number. She called Danielle for advice and they prayed together. Danielle asked her what she would normally do for a new neighbour. Joyce replied, “Oh, I would bake them cupcakes!” Well, that was exactly what she was led to do! Sometimes a simple act that you would do for a neighbour is just what God provides to open a ministry opportunity.
Joyce asked Danielle to come with her to lend her support. Yet before Joyce reached the brothel, the Holy Spirit strengthened her resolve. She believed she was ready to stand at that door alone without Danielle. After all, she was the neighbor. So Danielle prayed from the street as Joyce rang the doorbell. The door was answered by an astonished brothel manager. Joyce was nervous. She shoved the cupcakes forward and said, “I brought cupcakes!” This action was welcomed, and she was invited in on a regular basis. Joyce came to know over one hundred girls on her weekly visits. All of the girls were from different Asian nations.
Joyce learned the girls’ names, their birthdays and she had a cupcake for each of them. Through Joyce’s compassion, the girls learned of God’s love for them. Danielle was led to do the same thing with ten Salvation Army teams and the combined cupcake ministry was a great success. Joyce, Danielle and others gathered the names of the girls and the list grew. These lists were growing proof of the connection between the brothels and human trafficking. In 2010, the Victoria State government called Danielle and asked if she was part of that “cupcake thing.” She replied that she was, and she was asked to testify as part of a state inquiry into the connection between the brothels and human trafficking!
Danielle also shared an amazing story of Fair Trade chocolate. This story coincided with an Ottawa Citizen ad of Cadbury’s Fair Trade Dairy Milk Chocolate only a month or two after this conference. This ad included the byline, “see the Big Fair Trade Picture.” A following article shared that schools were being built for the child slaves on cocoa plantations. The fundraising was gathered out of Fair Trade premiums for West African chocolate. In Africa, the major key for climbing out of poverty is education. Danielle and STP are part of the movement give these West African youth a chance. You are probably aware of fair trade coffee and how those premiums help poor farmers in South America and Africa. They help coffee growers to make a decent wage and provide for their families. Well, fair trade chocolate is a big issue too!
Danielle shared that STP discovered there are over 200,000 child slaves who pick cocoa in West Africa. Forty eight percent of all chocolate comes from West African cocoa beans. Many of these children are kidnapped from other poor countries like Mali and are forced to work in the cocoa fields. Even the farm owners where they work are paid very little for their cocoa. Danielle watched a BBC interview of a 15-year-old slave who was asked for his opinion on chocolate. The teen had no idea what the cocoa was used for (despite picking beans for six years). He was told that the world loves chocolate, and was asked “What would you say to the world about the chocolate they are eating?” He said, “Stop it! You’re eating my blood.”
Shortly after STP was aware of this video, they started the “Chocolate Campaign” to support fair trade chocolate. STP asked chocolate companies to think of selling Fair Trade chocolate since they were already making eleven billion dollars a year in profit on regular chocolate! They were ignored. So they prayed about it, and began to organize their efforts. They targeted Cadbury first since that company had a good Christian social-reforming foundation. Over a two year period, thousands of people called and wrote Cadbury that they could no longer eat the chocolate made by slaves. In 2010, Cadbury complied with these requests by producing their fair trade Dairy Milk bar. STP then began their “march” on Mars, and during their campaign, Mars announced that their whole chocolate line will go fair trade by 2020. Nestle was to be the next targeted company, who also complied with their 2014 Fair Trade cocoa plan!
When I heard this message, I shared it with family, close friends, and am now sharing it with you. I am inspired, since this is a simple way to be the hands and feet of God. Pray about what you might do. It may not be a brothel. It may not be about reforming the chocolate and coffee industries. Pray and listen to his voice. It may be something small, but together, we can stop more evil than you think. Yet some of us are called to more than kindness to those in need and consuming fair trade products. Are you ready for more?
Then in June 2014, I saw Pastor/prophet Shawn Bolz speak at the Daniel School in Ottawa. Shawn currently ministers in a church that is based in Glendale, California (near Los Angeles). The church is called Expression 58. His church is filled with many Christians from the entertainment industry, as well as Christians who have a strong heart for missions and social justice. Shawn has been given eyes to see the needs around him, and he prayer walks in nearby Hollywood and other communities within Los Angeles. There are many needs. He is not afraid to speak encouragement and life into youth on the streets, kids in gangs and the hidden people that may have been trafficked. Oh, the stories he shared! I wish I could remember the details of them all.
I do remember about a lady who leads missions from his church called Cassandra. Her heart was broken for how God wants to touch the needy around us. Cassandra wasn’t specifically called to help at a soup kitchen (although those are essential). She was called to difficult, dark places. I know of ministries that reach out to children and young adults who have been trafficked as sex slaves in Thailand and Cambodia. Thank God for them. And some ministries are called to minister to former child soldiers in Uganda. Yet have we considered the rebel ‘armies’ themselves as a ministry opportunity? Many of these Africans were forced into joining by killing their own relatives. Others were forced to become bush wives. All of them are heavily traumatized. Cassandra was called to minister to not only to the war zone victims, but also to the perpetrators! She has been called again and again to the DR Congo war zone, and hearts and lives have been changed. She also ministers to east Kenyans coming out of prostitution. You can learn more about Cassandra’s ministry at pursuingnormal.com.
Are you hungry for more? Next time we will explore about ‘stopping for the one’ and divine opportunities. Meanwhile, pray and see where God takes you, one step at a time.
Yours in Christ |
NOTE TO TEACHERSThings Fall Apart
is acclaimed as the finest novel written about life in Nigeria at the end of the nineteenth century. Published in 1958, it is unquestionably the world’s most widely read African novel, having sold more than eight million copies in English and been translated into fifty languages. But it offers far more than access to pre-colonial Nigeria and the cataclysmic changes brought about by the British. It also can be a window into the story of the Aborigines in Australia, the Maori of New Zealand, and the First Nations of North, Central, and South America in the “falling apart” of the indigenous cultures of these and other places whose centers could not hold.
Chinua Achebe is the ideal teller of this story, born in Nigeria in 1930 and growing up in the Igbo town of Ogidi. He spoke Igbo at home and studied English in school, imbibing the dual culture. In an autobiographical essay, he describes his childhood as being “at the crossroads of cultures.” In the course of a distinguished academic and literary career, much of it in exile, Achebe has been the recipient of many awards, beginning with the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize in 1959 for Things Fall Apart
and including more than thirty honorary doctorates. Achebe is in great demand throughout the world as a speaker and visiting lecturer, and is presently teaching at Bard College in New York.
Achebe uses that most English of literary forms, the novel, to make his story accessible to Westerners, and interlaces the narrative with Igbo proverbs and folktales. The novel challenges Western notions of historical truth, and prods readers into questioning our perception of pre-colonial and colonial Africa. More than half the novel is devoted to a depiction of Igbo culture, artfully drawn as we follow the rise to eminence of the protagonist. As a champion wrestler and a great warrior, Okonkwo is a natural leader. His flaw, however, is that he never questions the received wisdom of his ancestors. For this reason he is not drawn in a flattering light, but his culture is given a full and fair depiction.
Students might well keep journals in which they identify their own culture’s equivalent to each Igbo folkway, discovering affinities as well as differences. There is no culture shock in discovering that Okonkwo’s father has low status because of his laziness and improvidence. He would rather play his flute than repay his debts. It follows, then, that land, a full barn, expensive titles, and many wives confer status. Our protagonist is ambitious. Indeed, one of his flaws is his fear of failure, of becoming like his father.
Viewing society from the inside, students can make inferences about why a high value is accorded to clan solidarity, kinship, and hospitality, and the reasons for courtship and funeral customs. In a culture without written language, the arts of conversation and oration are prized. Wisdom is transmitted through proverbs, stories, and myths. The agrarian cycle of seasons, with their work and festivals, the judicious use of snuff and palm wine, the importance of music and dance, all could be noted and compared to similar Western mores. Law and justice keep the peace, pronouncing on a land dispute or the killing of a clansman. A priestess and masked tribesmen interpret the Oracle, speaking for ancestors and gods. They enforce taboos against twins and suicide, and offer explanations for high infant mortality.
The second and third parts of the novel trace the inexorable advance of Europeans. For years, stories told about white slavers are given little credence in Okonkwo’s village. The first white man to arrive in a nearby village is killed because of an omen, and in retribution all are slaughtered by British guns. Christian missionaries seem to be madmen, their message of wicked ways and false gods attractive only to outcasts. But along with Christianity come hospitals and schools, converting farmers to court clerks and teachers. Trading stores pay high prices for palm oil. Government is closely linked to religion and literacy. A District Commissioner superimposes Queen Victoria’s laws, and Africans from distant tribes serve as corrupt court messengers and prison guards.
Okonkwo, upholder of the ways of his ancestors, is inevitably cast in the role of tragic hero. His eldest son’s early conversion merely hardens his belief in a rigid code of manly behavior. In exile during the first years of colonization, he has less understanding of the power of the Europeans than his now-passive kinsmen. His doom is swift and sure. By the novel’s end, readers flinch when a British official reduces Okonkwo’s life and death to a passing reference in a book he plans to write to be titled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger
This guide uses the contemporary spelling, Igbo, rather than Ibo.
ABOUT THIS BOOKThings Fall Apart
tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first story traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives. It provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo’s world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries.
These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing the life of nature, history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. Things Fall Apart
is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within.
ABOUT THIS AUTHOROther Works by Chinua Achebe Anthills of the Savannah
Girls at War and Other Stories
A Man of the People
Essays: Home and Exile
Morning Yet on Creation Day
Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays
DISCUSSION AND WRITINGStructure, Technique and Plot
1. The novel is structured in three parts. What do the divisions reflect about the stages of life of the protagonist? How do the divisions move toward and illustrate the collapse of Igbo society?
2. What is the point of view of the narrator? How does the point of view contribute to our understanding of the conflicting cultures? What techniques does the narrator use to evoke a participatory role for the reader?
3. In the novel’s opening, Okonkwo is wrestling. How does this contrast with the ending, when Okonkwo is deliberating about an adequate response to the British humiliation of the Igbo elders in jail?
4. Achebe uses storytelling flashbacks to describe the relationship of Okonkwo and Unoka. What do the flashbacks reveal about their relationship? What is the effect of the use of storytelling to illustrate the flashbacks?
5. In Chapter One, how does Achebe foreshadow the presence (and ultimate fate) of Ikemefuna?
6. Describe the judicial function of the egwugwu and its relationship to the living, particularly to Igbo women. Why is it also related to the spiritual world? How does Achebe illustrate the blending of the spiritual and real worlds?
7. How does the killing of Ikemefuna foreshadow the fall of Okonkwo?
8. Why is Okonkwo exiled? Why is the exile ironic? Compare to Okonkwo’s participation in the killing of Ikemefuna and its lack of consequences.
9. When and how is the white man introduced? Trace the chronology of the Igbo people’s responses to the arrival and settlement of the white man. What attitudes toward the Igbo people do the white men bring and how do their attitudes determine their treatment of the Igbo people?
10. How does Achebe use incidents to paint the general character of the white colonizers? Character and Conflict
1. How does Okonkwo achieve greatness as defined by his culture?
2. Why is Unoka, who suffers from a swelling in the stomach, left to die in the evil forest?
3. How does Okonkwo differ from his father? What are his feelings toward his father? How does his father shape Okonkwo’s character and actions as an adult male? Cite examples in the attitude and actions of Okonkwo that show the Igbo division of what is considered manly and what is considered womanly.
4. Why is Okonkwo unhappy with his son and heir? How do his feelings toward Nwoye compare with his feelings toward Ikemefuna? How do Okonkwo’s feelings affect Nwoye?
5. Why is Ikemefuna killed? Why does Okonkwo participate in the slaughter in spite of an elder’s advice not to become involved in the sacrifice? How does Nwoye react to the sacrifice?
6. Okonkwo changes significantly after the killing of Ikemefuna. Describe those changes and tell how they reflect Okonkwo’s struggle with his feminine side.
7. Consider Okonkwo’s relationship to his daughter Ezinma and how he regards her compared to how he regards Nwoye.
8. During Okonkwo’s exile, Obierika proves to be his friend. How do Obierika’s actions show true friendship?
9. Describe actions that depict Obierika as Okonkwo’s alter ego.
10. Why does Nwoye convert to Christianity? How does his conversion affect his relationship with his father?
11. Describe Mr. Brown. How is his portrayal different from the Igbo characters? Compare and contrast him with other white colonists.
12. Describe Enoch. How do his actions show disdain for Igbo traditions?
13. How does the Reverend Smith’s personality differ from that of Mr. Brown? What is the impact of Reverend Smith’s personality on the village? Setting and Society
1. The novel begins in Umuofia and ends in Umuofia. Describe this village. What surprises you about life in an African tribal community? What preconceptions did you bring to your reading that were either reinforced or changed?
2. Why do the community celebrations make Okonkwo unhappy? How do Okonkwo’s feelings conflict with the culture of his community? Cite examples.
3. Igbo culture is patriarchal. What is the role of women in the community? Does their role make them less valuable than men? How does wife beating reflect the community attitude toward women? Cite examples.
4. Near the beginning of the novel, we learn that Okonkwo has several wives. Describe the polygamous structure of Okonkwo’s family. What does this arrangement reveal about family life in the community?
5. An African proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child.” How does this statement reflect the care of children in the Igbo community?
6. Describe the Igbo extended family system. How does it help Okonkwo to survive his exile in Mbanta?
7. Compare and contrast Umuofia and Mbanta. How do their similarities and differences add to an understanding of the Igbo culture?
8. A significant social marker in Igbo society is the honorific title system. Describe how the use of titles allows Igbo members to compare themselves with each other.
9. What is the symbolic meaning of the Week of Peace for the Igbo people? How does Okonkwo’s anger violate the custom and what are the consequences of his action?
10. Agriculture is important in the Igbo community. How does sharecropping contribute to the prosperity of the community? How does it affect individuals?
11. What is the significance of the yam? What is the purpose of the New Yam Festival? How is it related to the religion of the community?
12. Explain the concept of ogbanje. Show how it is reflected in the relationship of Ekwefi and Ezinma.
13. How do the Igbo marriage negotiations and rituals compare with other nineteenth-century cultures in which the bride’s family pays a dowry? What do these rituals reveal about the level of sophistication of pre-colonial Igbo civilization?
14. Obierika, a close friend, mourns the exile of Okonkwo, yet participates in the destruction of Okonkwo’s property. Explain how Obierika’s response to the exile signals a questioning of community traditions.
15. How does pre-colonial life in Umuofia differ from Western society? Are there similarities? Cite examples of any similarities and differences. Themes and Motifs
1. Describe the Igbo concept of chi and how the concept relates to Okonkwo’s desired success in life.
2. How is the theme of fate or destiny illustrated through the actions of the characters?
3. Fear is pervasive throughout the novel. How does fear affect the actions of Okonkwo? Of Nwoye? How does fear influence Okonkwo’s relationship with others?
4. How is the concept of change and the response to change presented in the novel? What is the significance of the song sung at the end of Chapter Twelve? How does this new song convey the theme of change?
5. Who is Chukwu? How does Chukwu compare with the Christian concept of a supreme being? Use the conversation between Akunna and Mr. Brown to support your comparison.
6. How is Christianity depicted? Why does Achebe focus on the Trinity?
7. How does education advance Christianity among the Igbo people?
8. What are the human consequences of the collision between the two cultures? Describe both the societal and personal clashes.
9. At the end of Chapter Twenty, Obierika tells Okonkwo, “He [the white man] has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” Explain the significance of this statement.
10. How does Okonkwo’s suicide represent a break in the traditional Igbo culture? Imagery and Language
1. Achebe seamlessly merges Igbo vocabulary into the general text. Explain how he helps readers to understand Igbo words and concepts that have no English language equivalents.
2. Achebe’s characters tell traditional folk tales and intersperse their conversation with Igbo words, phrases and sayings. How does this use of language convey a sense of Igbo culture?
3. Explain the importance of folktales in the informal education of the children. Why does Nwoye like the tales of his mother better than those of his father?
4. How does the legend of the old woman with one leg help to explain why the other clans fear Umuofia?
5. How does the language of the women and children differ from that used by the priests, diviners, and titled men? What is the significance of this difference?
6. Wrestling is a recurring image. In addition to the literal match at the beginning of the novel, what are other examples of the theme of wrestling and how do they contribute to the overall theme?
7. What is the significance of the drums in communication among the villages of Umuofia? Why are they esoteric?
8. What is the significance of the pidgin English that is used for communication between the Igbo people and the colonists? For Discussion and Assignment
1. The title of the novel comes from a line in The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. Read this poem and apply it to the breakdown of African society as described in the novel.
2. What is the significance of the three proverbs in Chapter One? What is Achebe’s purpose in using Igbo proverbs in the novel? How do proverbs promote the narrative action in the novel? What do they reveal about Igbo culture? Locate additional proverbs in the novel and explain their meaning and how they foster Igbo tradition.
3. How does the plot in Things Fall Apart
follow the conventions of the Western tragedy, such as when major actions of the protagonist or hero create disastrous outcomes? Is Okonkwo a tragic hero? Compare Okonkwo with Oedipus, who is punished for the inadvertent murder of his father. How do they attempt to escape their fate? What are the tragic flaws that cause their downfalls? How do they evoke both pity and fear?
4. In what ways is Things Fall Apart
a response to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – or other works of literature that contain demeaning stereotypes?
5. Achebe does not paint a clear view of good versus evil in either the Igbo culture or colonialism. How does Achebe show value in both systems?
6. In an interview shortly after the publication of Things Fall Apart, Achebe stated that his goal for writing the novel was: ” …to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the denigration and self-abasement.” Explain how he did or did not meet his goal.
7. In pre-colonial Nigeria, there were many spellings of the name Igbo. By the time Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart, the spelling was being standardized. Why do you think Achebe uses the archaic spelling, Ibo, instead of the contemporary spelling, Igbo?
BEYOND THE BOOKNo Longer at Ease
by Chinua Achebe (1960) is the sequel to Things Fall Apart
. It carries the reader forward in the lives of the descendants of Okonkwo. The novel focuses on Obi Okonkwo, whose downfall is caused by his inability to deal with the conflicting value systems of Igbo culture and his English training. No Longer at Ease
is set in the late 1950’s. Arrow of God
by Chinua Achebe (1964) takes place during the era between No Longer at Ease
and Things Fall Apart
. It is the story of an Igbo priest who copes with change by compromising his values and traditions. He sends his son to a mission school and testifies against his people in a land dispute. The result is that the Igbo people turn from the Igbo priest to the religion of the mission church. Again, Achebe shows how African tradition loses to European culture.
OTHER TITLES OF INTERESTMister Johnson
, Joyce CaryHeart of Darkness
, Joseph ConradChinua Achebe
, Ezenwa-OhaetoOmalinze: A Book of Igbo Folk-tales
edited by E. Nolue Emenanjo (Oxford University Press, 1977)The Growth of the African Novel
, Eustace Palmer
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
This Teacher’s Guide was produced by Daniel Beaupré of Education Quests, LLC and written by Judith Moore Kelly, Director of the District of Columbia Area Writing Project at Howard University. Advisors were Barbara Bloy, retired English Department Head and Advanced Placement teacher at Ransom Everglades School in Miami, Florida and Robin Osborn, retired English Department Head and Advanced Placement teacher at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut.
Copyright © 2001 by ANCHOR BOOKS |
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No one to blame - Page 3
From Griffith REVIEW Edition 5: Addicted to Celebrity
© Copyright Griffith University & the author.
Written by Gideon Haigh
COLUMNISTS, TOO, ONCE A BREED APART, ARE NOW PART OF A CONTINUUM of achieving notice. Stories, increasingly, are judged not by how they serve an event, but by how they serve the writer's career. In a wickedly funny memoir of working at The New York Times, Elizabeth Kolbert reminisced of the rivalry that pervaded every activity there: "My colleagues and I worried endlessly over our positions in the hierarchy and had worked out to several decimal places which assignments were to be coveted, based not only on their intrinsic merits but on their status. We rushed to get the early edition of the paper as soon as it appeared on Manhattan newsstands, which in those days was around 11pm. The pleasure of a really great story was usually mixed with envy, while the pleasure of a really awful one was pure and uncomplicated." There has always been competition in newsrooms but it now has a disturbingly self-seeking edge. The reporter who returns from an assignment with the considered advice that a story may be worth covering in future but is not worth writing yet is performing more of a service to publication and public than the one who creates a bogus conflict out of exaggeration and distortion – but there is no doubt about the one who will rise in the news desk's estimation. The emphasis of this ethos falls not on how well or badly a story serves an event, but how it serves one's career. Some journalists, Chris Masters has commented dryly, become "like jockeys who insist on riding nothing but the favourite. They approach every story calculating whether it might win them an award. They are not saying: ‘How can I get to the bottom of this?' They are saying: ‘How can I use this information to enhance my reputation?' " (If you become senior enough in a newspaper now, you don't even set foot in the newsroom: you become a ‘contributor', filing from home. Of course, offering merely your work, and none of your influence, experience or example, ‘contributor' is exactly what you are not.)
An emergent theory of media management sees the by-line as a sub-brand to the overall brand of the masthead. The relationship between journalist and publication now takes the form of a Faustian bargain: the journalist is allowed to develop his/her own reputation and visibility on the understanding that it enhances the value of his/her employer's media property. Notice how newspapers cover their industry's annual orgy of onanism, the Walkleys, proudly promoting their successful nominees. Good for us. Good for them. A great story these days is not a truly great story unless it is recognised, don't you know? Hurry up and fill out the entry form, will you?
TIT-FOR-TATISM LIKE THIS SEEMS TO HAVE UNDERLAIN JOURNALISM'S most recent scandal: the rise and fall of Jack Kelley, star foreign correspondent of USA Today, revealed in March to have been a compulsive fantasist and plagiarist for the duration of his career. A report published by an independent investigatory commission depicts a spiral of deceit and self-deceit: the more Kelley lied, the better he became known, the more credit he reflected on USA Today, the more he was protected. Internal criticism was viewed as treason, on the grounds that by impugning him the critics damaged "the brand"; the newspaper's executives even used performance reviews to ensure silent obedience. This was not simply a case of a rogue journalist, but a rogue system. "Jack Kelley thrived as a dishonest journalist for a dozen years," says the report. "Every executive that served during the years he betrayed readers shares USA Today's embarrassment." Readers, indeed, are the very reason this pact for mutual parasitism between journalist and employer is so flawed. There are interests at stake other than the journalist's career and the media property's market value. So where does the public rank in the modern newspaper's priorities?
I still remember the very first time I heard the word "reader" dropped in a newspaper office; it was during my interview for a cadetship at The Age. All of 17, I was asked whether I had a view on how the newspaper could be improved. Momentarily at a loss, I suggested scrapping the section then called "Melbourne Living"; there never seemed anything worth reading in it. The panel – wise old heads – laughed indulgently. "You might think that," I was told, "but the readers like it" – so much, it turned out, that it wasn't so long before it had become two sections, "Home" and "Epicure". That was only the beginning. For 20 years, The Age has been dividing and combining so energetically that it sometimes resembles "The Daily Former Yugoslavia" – although it would be unfair to single it out because it is far from alone. Tabloids, too, have picked up the bug, subdividing like amoeba into chunks of health, food, travel, food, entertainment, food, more food and television, television, television. And I will wager that each and every initiative has been justified with a bromide about the "readers" liking it.
The inky density of hard news does, of course, benefit from leavening. As with so many features of the modern newspaper, the self-contained "lifestyle" supplement was pioneered by London's tabloid Daily Mirror. "Mirrorscope", a pull-out "paper-within-a-paper" lifestyle section, was conceived in the early 1960s. What's forgotten, ironically, is that Mirrorscope was a disaster; as Chris Horrie records in his new Mirror history, Tabloid Nation (Deutsch, 2003): "It was patronising and it irritated the readers, as though they were being told: ‘This is the important bit – the rest, all the things you are actually interested in, is rubbish'." The Washington Post did better when it initiated its "Style" section in January 1969. It had until then, its famous editor Ben Bradlee recalls, been a weighty, rather ponderous paper: "There was no feature section really. No place for profiles of interesting people. No place for wit or humour. No place to look at social trends beyond the seasonal change of fashion. We covered television the way we covered congressional hearings, long on process, short on people, judgement and motive." It is the mix of features and fuzz in "Style" on which most such sections since have been unconsciously modelled.
By the 1990s, however, the section-making instinct had caught on to a degree that bordered on compulsion, and decisions were no longer being driven by the editorial departments of the newspaper, but by the boffins of advertising and marketing. A new executive layer established itself: the "publisher" blended corporate and creative responsibilities, which had previously mixed like oil and water. And a duality developed; like Plato's distinction between ideals and forms, there became readers and "readers". Real readers, of course, seldom know exactly what they want. Just as consumers struggle to articulate their future needs – their thinking tending simply to shinier, cheaper versions of what they already have – so readers imagine their media in terms of what already exists. What has emerged instead is the "reader", a product of marketing voodoo, onto whom is projected whatever is the latest vogueish social theory, and in which the faith is as obstinate as the faith in anything essentially phony tends to be.
It is easy enough to see how this happened. Journalists, frankly, have little contact with those who consume their work and are actually a little afraid of them – these mysterious, capricious folk, to be wooed with a mixture of gentle entreaties and outright bribes. They are, accordingly, acutely vulnerable to any clipboard-wielding charlatan who announces: "I know what the readers want!" Nature abhorring a vacuum, the place is soon filled with their received wisdom. The most startling feature of this genuflection to fad and fashion is that they are graven idols. Circulations are flat or falling. In pandering to "readers" who never existed, newspapers antagonised readers who did. But, of course, it was always a fake. When newspaper executives said "readers", they meant not readers but advertisers, whose loyalty was so much easier to win, whose needs were so much simpler to address, whose money was so much more congenial. The multiplication of sections has left the modern newspaper divided against itself – and it is getting worse. A recent wheeze at Fairfax has involved the consolidation of individual sections as stand-alone cost centres, their resources calibrated by the advertising revenue they can generate. The implications of this are obvious. Those sections whose content is most conducive to farming advertisements can expect to reap benefits in the form of bigger budgets, additional pages and staff. Those that fail will steadily atrophy and wither. The probable winners will be those dedicated to the extension of celebrity franchises. The likeliest losers will be the serious news and feature sections that embody, as Griffith REVIEW editor Julianne Schultz has written, the "journalism that enables the press to continue to claim a quasi-institutional status, unapologetically exercise influence and claim special privileges".
IN THE 1990S, THE BALKANISING OF NEWSPAPERS began infiltrating the news pages, too. A whole layer of management in the modern metropolitan daily is now dedicated to the production of "packages": slickly presented pages devoted to exploring a story or theme from every angle imaginable, whether this be a new tollway or a disgraced footballer. Never mind that many of these angles are so oblique as to add nothing to comprehension. In a straight fight, the priorities of the story will always lose out to the imperatives of presentation. The page must be made busy and cosmetically appealing: complex, studded with lists, digests, timelines, quotes in bold, reaction, reaction to the reaction, all of it superficially comprehensive and interconnected, like a Barry Jones diagram with pictures.
A torchbearer for this approach, and perhaps its ablest exponent, was Howell Raines while executive editor of The New York Times. In his watch, Raines perfected what was called the "flood the zone" strategy: smothering important stories with scores of reporters. In his recent 21,000-word mega culpa in The Atlantic, Raines contends that the newsroom's enhanced "competitive metabolism" was an antidote to "smug complacency"; he sought "a richer, deeper read and a more gratifying visual treat day after day". Raines's design had a certain epic grandeur. The New York Times during his regency was an architectural if not a journalistic triumph; the paper won prize after prize with monster specials such as "How Race is Lived in America". But they were secured at the cost of the newspaper's integrity. A kind of spurious activity for activity's sake developed. Journalists, famously, would write stories, then undertake "toe-touches": trips to specified destinations to give the impression that the reporters were filing from the field. For all the monomania of his autobiography, this is something Jayson Blair describes well. Over the period of a few months, Blair filed stories from 20 cities in six states – or claimed to have done so. And "flooding the zone" was honoured more often in the breach:
Howell wanted the paper to read as if the Times had been everywhere imaginable on any given day. National stories without datelines were frowned upon ... I had seen correspondents perform toe-touch and no-touch datelines, and watched some write stories hundreds of miles away from where they were supposed to have been. I had partaken in some element of these deceptions, ones that were wholeheartedly sanctioned by the newsroom in an effort to make the Times seem omnipresent.
No newspaper in Australia, thankfully, has been revealed as going to similar lengths, but the accent on the presentation of news grows broader every year. And it's a wonder we complain so bitterly about "spin" given that we tend to impart so much of our own. The urge to make the newspaper look attractive and impressive can hardly be deplored; the question, rather, is whether it has not become an end in itself, whether it is not corrupting the newspaper's principal purpose of reporting what happened. This is a demanding enough task at the best of times. Yet it seems, increasingly, a task we regard as beneath us, at least on its own. As The Age's veteran Canberra correspondent Michelle Grattan wrote recently: "Design is used to try to attract readers, especially the young, who want their newspapers to look more like magazines. It has become another tyranny on newspapers. The imperatives of design, sometimes in the hands of non-journalists, has complicated their construction and made deadlines more important than flexibility. They are often lacking in detail, and journalists lacking in expertise, just when it can be argued that many of the people who buy newspapers are likely to want more of it." |
...been on another quest for Slovakia´s beauties this weekend and of course brought back many new photos ;-)...
The City of Trencin, Slovakia is in the center of the Povazie region. It is located in western Slovakia of the central Vah river valley near the Czech border, around 120 km from Bratislava. It is the administrative center of the Trencin Regional Government Unit. It has a famous medieval castle, standing on a rock above the city.
Thanks to its advantageous location, Trencin is an important commercial, economic, cultural and sport center. It is also known as the “City of fashion“. Numerous institutions and companies have their headquarters and branches located in Trencin. Expositions and fairs also have a long lasting tradition in Trencin. Current population estimates for Trencin is 60,000.
Together with Nitra and Bratislava, Trencin belongs to the oldest Slovak cities, chronicled as early as in the 11th century. Its strategic location near three Carpathian mountain passes on the crossroads of commercial routes, has always determined the character of the city as a significant landmark. As early as in the ancient times, the famous Jasper Road used by the Etruscan, Greek, and later Roman merchants to transport precious jasper from the Baltic region, was crossing Trencin. The site of Trencin has been inhabited since time immemorial. Trencin Castle, a typical medieval fortified castle is situated high on a rock above the city. Trencin is best known for a Roman inscription on the rock below the Trencin Castle dating from 179 AD. It denotes the site as Laugaricio and is the most northern evidence of the presence of Roman soldiers in central Europe.
Here, you can see the Trencin synagogue, which belongs to the most exquisite and interesting works of its type in Slovakia. It was built close to an earlier synagogue. In 1913, a Trencin construction firm, Fuchs and Niegreisz, based on the blueprints of a Berlin architect Dr. Richard Scheibner, carried out the construction. The historic building with Byzantine and Maur-Oriental elements stands at the northern corner of the Ludovit Stur square. The Synagogue was used for neology purposes until the 2nd World War, during which it was desecrated and its articles taken. Reconstruction of the monument took place from 1974 -1984. After the reconstruction, the central space under the dome has served as an exhibition hall. A small worship room in the rear of the facility was restored in 1990. The monument may be accessed at times of occasional exhibits.
Critiques | Translate
delkoo (68) 2008-06-23 0:17
you certainly have a very good eye for this kind of photo,the composition, the light and framing are just wonderful.
bibiweb (8) 2008-06-23 0:24
A well thought compostion with the water passing above the dome of the synagogue. The contrast between light and shadows is also very well managed and of course the presence of these two kids playing with the water adds life to the scene. Another high quality shot!
Have a nice day.
BennyV (12793) 2008-06-23 0:38
Beautiful building picture and I always appreciate a human touch in this kind of shot, so I love those kids in the foreground, adding some play to the architecture.
holmertz (26982) 2008-06-23 2:33
This is a very good composition. Two boys identically dressed on each side of the bow made by the water, which by itself corresponds very nicely to the cupola of the synagogue. There's also a very fine balance of light and dark spots in the wet foreground. The only minor drawback is the slightly overexposed (at least so it seems on my computer screen) façade.
aadilj (18080) 2008-06-23 3:10
I love the impact of the sunlight on the architecture in the background and the vibrant action happening with the watr. The composition is superb and well done Ivana
Adrique (607) 2008-06-23 5:25
I have been to Trenčín numerous times but I don´t remember this synagogue. Well, maybe because my holiday trips to this town are from my pre-school age. I´ve been to Trenčín couple of times this year, but those were only business trips, so I usually end up in the suburb.
I love this photo - great lighting, timing and composition. No disturbing artifacts. Full of both energy and tranquility. Maybe the image´s a bit oversharpened for such gentle moment and scenery.
IgorDeleze (585) 2008-06-23 6:02
Very nice shot.
I like the contrast between the two part of the picture. Nice light reflexion on the water, wich adds some light touch on the fg.
ticoeurs (295) 2008-06-23 9:09
A really nice shot melting architecture and kids game.
I like the constrast between the still people at the back and the synagogue and the movement of playing kids and the water.
The reflection is also very nice.
We can see also an Ivanian white.
Have a nice day.
gary91 (15345) 2008-06-23 11:16
I love your composition with the water circle passing over the dome of the synagogue and showing the same shape. Very well thought and the 2 children playing underneath are really at the ideal position.
Have a nice evening.
Best regards, Christian
ricochet (9692) 2008-06-23 12:13
Le jet d'eau est vraiment extra et fort bien capturé!!!
La composition est également superbe avec cette très belle synagogue en arrière plan et les enfants donnent un bel équilibre à l'ensemble très reussi à mon gout, bravo à toi!
wag (651) 2008-06-23 13:01
ahoj, velmi pekna kompozicia a vystihnutie momentu, btw.este o to viac potesi, ze je to moje rodne mesto.
luisafonso (862) 2008-06-23 13:23
Very nice Ivana. That's the way to shoot a landmark, with some action in the front to avoid the clichés. Great light too. Love it!
brevbrev14 (140) 2008-06-23 15:53
Hi Ivana, very good moment captured with the twins playing with the water..
a good moment of relax captured
i like a lot the light too
InasiaJones (29347) 2008-06-24 0:38
A tight composition focusing on a playful scene in front of a beautiful synagogue, where every elements are well composed into the frame.
I like to see a common denominator to these different parts of the scene; the orange colour that appears on the door, the roofs and clothing of little boys. For me, this kind of detail contributes to a higher quality image, even though you can't always control these circumstances. But when it happens, you can be cheerful and take advantage of this opportunity.
That's just what you brilliantly did.
azaf1 (15929) 2008-06-24 1:01
Just a beauty to look at. A great combination of the traditional and the transient everyday life well merged in great colors, sharpness and POV
Signal-Womb (13048) 2008-06-24 12:45
Hi Ivana, I like this very much. The stance of the little boy in foreground and the second caught momenterally off the ground, both beneath the arch of the fall. Great work..
Philippe (11836) 2008-06-24 14:44
Hi, Ivana. This is a really excellent composition. The arch made by the fountain is a very good frame for the two boys playing on the square. They bring a lot of life in your composition and seem to be enjoying themselves. The arch also frames the synagogue very well and the water on the ground produces nice reflections. Very good balance between low and high lights and a very well chosne POV.
Have a nice evening,
clio (27955) 2008-06-25 9:23
Very beautiful composition with the water jet which is in relation with the curve of the synagogue and the colors of the clothes of the children which have a dialogue with those of the roofs.
The reflection is very beautiful also and the play of the children brings life and movement.
Very well done!
zeca (19762) 2008-06-25 15:29
Its a beautiful photo, with nice lights creating great reflections! The wet floor is a very good detail! The kids playing gives nice mood to the scene, and excellent motion. A picture with lots of great points. Well done!
fabio_ts (13694) 2008-06-27 3:49
FAntastic picture Ivana, full of joy and smartly composed, I love it, BRAVISSIMA!!
have a nice weekend,
veronika (6052) 2008-07-09 11:55
tato je super, vsetko tam tak pekne sedi a zapada a tie deturence su mile :)
abulafia (4900) 2008-07-14 4:09
What a wonderful shot, The architecture part is probably the only thing I would have gotten out of it, But you got that very good human part as well, turning this beautiful Synagoge into being "just" a background for your picture.
Very nice work.
pastadog (12884) 2008-07-18 2:28
Very pretty shot, Ivana. Not just for the beautiful synagogue (I add to the theme), also the attractive scene of the kids. Very efficient exposure. I see there are some nice towns in your country, I only visited Bratislava. And thanks for sharing, maybe I'll forward this to my sister in-law, her family is from Slovakia, maybe her father remembers this place... Regards, Daniel.
edytungkal (4551) 2009-05-11 13:40
All the details created a perfect picture to enjoy and you just captured this shot on the best timing, i like this picture. One of you best shots...tfs
marcdemoulin (1870) 2010-06-03 12:06
Great scenery and reflection, perfectly composed Ivana.
- Copyright: Ivana Krekanova (Elaine_Blath) (8509)
- Genre: Lieux
- Medium: Couleur
- Date Taken: 2008-06-22
- Categories: Vie quotidienne, Architecture
- Exposition: f/3.5, 1/80 secondes
- More Photo Info: view
- Versions: version originale
- Thème(s): Synagogues, Photo Viewer, My Favs [view contributor(s)]
- Date Submitted: 2008-06-22 23:45 |
As a composer, the New York Composer’s Orchestra, the Boston Jazz Composer’s Alliance, the Lydian String Quartet, the Rova Saxophone Quartet, the Kitchen House Blend Orchestra, The New York String Trio and pianist Ursula Oppens have commissioned works from Ehrlich. To date, he has received three artists’ fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, two composition grants from the NEA, and numerous grants from the Mary Flagler Charitable Trust and from Meet the Composer.
Ehrlich has also been a composition fellow at the Civitella Ranieri Arts Center in Italy and the Blue Mountain Center in New York. In 1995 he was composer-in-residence at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston and in 2000, he was the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist at Harvard University. Ehrlich has taught at New England Conservatory of Music and Hampshire College.
Ehrlich has also been active as a collaborator with other composers. He currently works with pianist Myra Melford in the Melford/Ehrlich Duo and in a trio with Andrew Cyrille an dMark Dresser, called C/D/E. He has also collaborated with Muhal Richard Abrams, Mike Nock, Anthony Cox and John Lindberg.
Also since 1997, Ehrlich – an original member of Hemphill’s Sextet – has conducted and performed the music of the late Julius Hemphill. Erhlich has also been in great demand as a sideman, appearing with a distinguished array or artists including: Muhal Richard Abrams, Ray Anderson, Fontella Bass, Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Jaki Byard, John Carter, Anthony Davis, Jack DeJohnette, James Emery, Peter Erskine, Michael Formanek, Don Grolnick, George Gruntz, Chico Hamilton, Jerome Harris, Julius Hemphill, Andrew Hill, Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake, Myra Melford, Roscoe Mitchell, James Newton, Mike Nock, Mario Pavone, Ken Peplowski, Bobby Previte, George Russell, Randy Sandke, Leo Smith, John Zorn and others. He appears on close to 100 albums with these composers.
In the classical field, Ehrlich has performed with the New York City Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the St. Luke’s Orchestra, the Birmingham (England) Contemporary Music Ensemble and Chamber Music Northwest. He has premiered compositions written for him by David Lang and David Schiff. He has also toured with the Jose Limon and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane companies.
Marty Ehrlich was born in 1955 in St. Paul, Minnesota. He began performing in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was raised. As a high school student, he became involved with the community of musicians and poets influenced by the innovations of St. Louis’ Black Artist Group (BAG). He took part in a recording, “Under the Sun” by the Human Arts Ensemble before leaving in 1973 for the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. AT NEC, Ehrlich studied with George Russell, Jaki Byard, Joe Maneri, Gunther Schuller and the legendary woodwind teacher, Joseph Allard, and received a B.A. in Music. Erlich graduated in 1977 as the first jazz major to be awarded the school’s Chadwick Medal for Outstanding Achievement. In 1992 he was named a Distinguished Alumni of the Conservatory.
The Guest House
Distribution in France: Harmonia Mundi
Release date: February 22, 2012
The Guest House, which officially hit the streets in early February, features compositions by all three musicians of Trio M (Myra Melford, Mark Dresser and Matt Wilson) , including pieces inspired by such diverse muses as the poetry of Rumi and Al-Jawahiri, the prose of Yvonne Vera, the comedy of Don Knotts and the music of Albert Ayler.
“They’ve always been tight,” explains DownBeat reviewer Jim Macnie, “but this disc finds them bringing the interaction to a superb level.” The New York Times’ Nate Chinen adds, “The Guest House, the group’s excellent second album, doesn’t feel tethered to any era or dialect. With compositions by all three members, it’s a crisp, engaging ride, variously roiling or reflective, with high-wire interplay at almost every turn.” All About Jazz journalist Troy Collins writes, “What makes this trio of equals unique is its ability to integrate disparate forms with a singularly organic sensibility. Liberally informed by past traditions and bolstered by spirited interplay, Melford, Dresser and Wilson’s thrillingly unpredictable performances update the venerable piano trio tradition with bold invention.”
The Whole Tree Gone
Label: FireHouse 12 Records
Distribution in France: Orkhestra International
Release date: January 19, 2010
There’s always room in the precincts of improvised music for a new album by the pianist Myra Melford. “The Whole Tree Gone” (Firehouse 12), her first as a leader in more than three years, is a knockout by any standard, including the bar set by her previous work. Ambitious but approachable, suffused with airy warmth and restless calm, it unpacks a suite of lyrical compositions Ms. Melford has been refining since2004. Their character ranges from slyly furtive (“Moon Bird,” inspired by Miró) to gracefully frantic (the title track) to starkly elegiac (“A Generation Comes and Another Goes”), often shape-shifting in mid-song. Be Bread, Ms. Melford’s coolly intuitive cohort, girds every structure with a pliable integrity, making these pieces feel both supple and sturdy. The group has a sympathetic front line (and a pair of commanding soloists) in the trumpeter Cuong Vu and the clarinetist Ben Goldberg; its rhythm section consists of the
guitarist Brandon Ross and the bassist Stomu Takeishi, both playing acoustic instruments, and the drummer Matt Wilson, an endless fount of effervescence. Ms. Melford leads from within the stir, meting out her pianism in surges or shimmers, according to the music’s needs.
(Nate Shinen, New York Times)
Label: Palmetto Records
Release date: January 01, 2007
It would be difficult to conceive of a player who sounds less like anyone else and more like he’s speaking directly through his horn than Marty Ehrlich, states DOWNBEAT. Equally acclaimed for his composing and playing, Ehrlich is fluent on clarinet, saxophone and flutes. The Jazz Journalists Association honored him as Wind Player of the Year in 2001 and as Clarinetist of the Year in 2003. In 2004 Ehrlich was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Composition.
Marty Ehrlich is one of the most celebrated artists of his generation, critically acclaimed as both composer and player. The Village Voice called Marty: “…one of the most formidable multi-instrumentalists since Eric Dolphy.” JazzTimes Magazine hailed his last release for Palmetto, News on the Rail, as one of the best albums of 2005. SPARK! showcases Marty on alto saxophone and clarinet.
Marty Ehrlich and Myra Melford have been performing and touring as a duo since 2000. Marty says: “Myra and I share a passion to use whatever musical forms we can, traditional, new, or in between, that work to bring out our most expressive music making.”
Myra Melfordhas appeared on more than 20 recordings, including nine as a leader, performed in more than 30 countries, and worked with some of the world’s most innovative musicians. Don Heckman describes Myra’s playing in The Los Angeles Times: “…a strikingly facile technique with a passionate, imaginative improvisational ability.”
This is Marty Ehrlich’s 3rd release for Palmetto Records. His previous releases are: News on the Rail and Line on Love. He is also featured on the Palmetto recordings by Andrew Hill (Dusk and A Beautiful Day), and Bobby Previte (Just Add Water, and Counterclockwise).
Release date: January 01, 2007
The pianist Myra Melford, the bassist Mark Dresser and the drummer Matt Wilson joined forces as an experimental collective, Trio M. Though unassumingly named after a shared first initial — they might just as easily have gone with 3M, but apparently that was taken — the ensemble struck a high-minded and often sophisticated tone. “Big Picture” (Cryptogramophone), released last year, was a strong collaborative debut. It also felt ripe with potential.
So it’s fortunate that the three M’s, despite limited resources and busy schedules, were able to manage a brief cross-country tour. (It began last week in Los Angeles, and concludes on Saturday in Baltimore.) By Thursday night, when they made their New York stand in the mezzanine lounge of the Kitano New York hotel, their rapport felt noticeably deeper than on the record, and the music covered a broader dynamic range.
The opening tune of the first set, “For Bradford,” covered a lot of ground by itself, serving as a kind of mission statement. Its development was gradual at first, as Mr. Dresser and Ms. Melford plucked obliquely at the strings of their instruments. (For Ms. Melford, this involved reaching an arm into the chassis of the piano.) Mr. Wilson, using brushes against his cymbals, flirted with a tempo, but it was Ms. Melford who finally let it loose. The melody that sprang forth, singsong and slippery, evoked Ornette Coleman.
The clarity of that evocation — “For Bradford” is Mr. Dresser’s homage to the cornetist Bobby Bradford, who played with Mr. Coleman — set up a framework for the gig. Trio M is a band with a loving commitment to the jazz avant-garde, especially as it was expressed in the 1970s, a sort of frontier era. Later in the set the group played “Naïve Art,” a bluesy scramble that Mr. Wilson dedicated to the drummer Paul Motian; and “Secrets to Tell You,” which Ms. Melford imbued with a marriage of European harmony and Eastern modality. (She was summoning the vibe of the classic Keith Jarrett Quartet, in which Mr. Motian played.)
Yet the personalities of the musicians were hardly subsumed by their adopted lineage. Mr. Dresser, an authority on the subject of extended technique, often eschewed a linear bass part in favor of densely tangled tone clusters. This opened up a lot of usable space for Mr. Wilson, who has a particular gift for free-flowing, semi-abstract swing. Against this shifting foundation, Ms. Melford took a chameleonic approach, dividing her effort between boppish octave lines, meditative chords and an expressive graffiti scrawl.
If the group continues to work together, its interplay could become even more intuitive. That would be an accomplishment not only for these musicians but also for the traditions they pointedly acknowledge.
By NATE CHINEN
Published: February 2, 2008
The Image of your Body
Label: Cryptogramophone - CG131
Distribution in France: Orkhêstra
Release Date : september 2006
In 2004, pianist Myra Melford released her last album “Where the two worlds touch” by her group The Tent. The duality of her previous record is explored in even greater detail on “The Image of Your Body”, featuring her new group, Be Bread. The music was composed after the artist had returned from India where she had spent some time studying. The album title is taken from a poem by mystic Sufi poet Rumi. The core of the group consists of Melford on piano and harmonium, bassist Stomu Takeishi and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee, and features textural trumpeter Cuong Vu (Pat Metheny) and guitarist Brandon Ross (Lounge Lizzards, Cassandra Wilson…). “The Image of Your Body” is proof that one’s spiritual quest is inherently reflected in one’s music. It’s another superb release from Melford, whose evolution from a more aggressive free player to an equally unencumbered melodist is a path well worth following. It is also her first album available in Europe for a long time. (text includes quotes from John Kelman/All About Jazz)
Alive in the House of Saints
Label: hatOLOGY 2-570
Distribution in France: Harmonia Mundi
Listening, eight years after it was created, to this primary chapter in the recorded legacy of (pianist) Myra Melford’s first trio evokes a rush of feelings. There are warm memories of in-person encounters with Melford, Lindsey Horner and Reggie Nicholson; and satisfaction regarding how the ideas Melford articulated here as both pianist and composer have metamorphosed into the triumphs of her subsequent music. What is absent is the uncertainty one often feels when contemplating the recent past, that feeling of needing more time to take the full measure of a musical statement. Melford has made it easy for us, through the clarity of both these now-historic performances and her subsequent efforts, to hear the present works as both glorious ends in themselves and the foundations of her ongoing creations.
- March 19: Padova, Italy - Sala dei Giganti al Liviano
- March 22: Toulouse, France - Espace Job
- March 23: Cadiz, Spain - Teatro Principal
- March 24: Barcelona, Spain - Jamboree
- March 25: Huesca, Spain - Centro Cultural del Matadero
- March 27: Leer, Germany - Jazz in Leer
- March 28: Vienna, Austria - Porgy & Bess
- May 11: Le Mans, France - La Fonderie
- May 31: Amsterdam, Netherlands - Bimhuis
- June 01: Paris, France - Musée du Quai Branly |
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I recently returned to my karate training after a 20 year break. Whilst reading up all things martial arts I noticed several references to the art of war. At about the same time I became involved in a vicious and ongoing legal battle with my employers regarding terms and conditions which will soon be heard in the High Court in London. Whilst researching various matters regarding this, I again stumbled across references to this text and when the CEO of the company I work for started to use some very cryptic responses to some of our questions (ramblings about fortified cities) I thought to my self "I bet I know which book you have swallowed" So I got hold of a copy and everything became clear (well clearer). I wish I had studied it in more depth from the start. Come to think of it I wish I had studied it years ago. We would have certainly taken a different stance from the start and been less keen to enter into this "protracted campaign" which is certainly draining our resources. Having said that, now we have started to employ some basic principles we are starting to work things our way and the lessons I am beginning to learn will stay with me and be put into play for every situation I face in future wether it be a massive industrial action or a one on one Karate bout...Many many thanks Mick Roddy
Anyway, I’ve purchased your book titled “Sun Tzu’s – The Art Of War Plus The Ancient Chinese Revealed”. I find that book very inspiring, and I must say, I’m beginning to learn a great many things from it. George Lim, Singapore.
I would like to begin by thanking you for this wonderful gift. I have had quite a few people in my family who fought in many wars to confirm our freedom and way of life. I myself, even after suffering a terrible accident of losing my left lower leg, am considering a life in the Armed Force of Canada. I have always been as long as I can remember been interested in war and its' history, and studying the "bible of warfare" The Art of war. I am getting a head start so to speak, before a fulltime commitment in the forces, as well how much this book relates in general day to day life. I am now gaining and furthering my options and understanding of what, how, and when other obvious choices you sometime face, this book gives you more larger and effective choices then without this priceless and effective knowledge. Thank again my friend for this gift. Colin M.
07/07/08 I believe it was my brother, about 10 years ago, who told me about the Art of War. I have read the book several times, but I have gained much more understanding in studying your lessons. Very nice...Keep up the good work. Josh Horner
For years I've had an interest in Sun Tzu's writings and I have purchased other translations...I looked at different versions of The Art of War and took the opportunity to purchase your translation. I am glad I did. Excellent concept and realization of the production. Michael Berger Critical Image Ltd.
I have been reading some of your books obsessively for about a year now and I decided to take a break from it all for some time. I just wanted to say that the information I have gathered from your books and blog is awesome! These are truly some of the most important books I have ever read. Michael Aparicio
I picked up "The Art of Sales, The Art of War" and really enjoyed it. I thought the parallelisms were insightful. I then ran across your website while researching for other versions. That book has become my strategic foundation for my sales career. Michael Hendrick
I joined the private sector in 2005 as a salesman and the only book I bought was your Art of Sales/Art of War. I trained myself with your book as my only aid. I wrote 18 million dollars of new business in 2.5 yrs. I am now going to start my own business and your book (The of business) will be my only training aid....thanks, scott perry
In regards to your program - WOW! I only wish that i could read and comprehend faster. Your program (book & web) are great! i will be learning from your books & site for years to come. You have designed a product that definitely wins out over everyone else...I purchased the Sales Warrior because of the design of the book, the fact it contained the Art of War, and the MP3 download. I will continue to purchase your books (just ordered 2 more from your web site a couple of days ago). I work for Aflac and AIG (keeps me busy). I love your site. Michael Ferguson
I am Yin Min Phyo who is a NUS [National University of Singapore] MBA candidate and also a Burmese...Luckily, in our MBA program, your book [Warrior Marketing] is one of our recommended books for Competitive Marketing Strategy. I've just finished some of the chapters of your book. I am so interested in it. The book is simple but can give me deeply thoughts. I do really appreciate you for your translation. Thanks, Yin Min
I have been re-focusing my life after closing an unsuccessful business. When I found your translation of the work with regards to The Sales Warrior at Chapters here in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, it was a perfect fit. I purchased it instantly. I am focusing more on a sales business now and I am positive your book will help. I have read it through already once. I am now starting to focus on the finer details and concepts. Thank you for such a great book. Don Mikkola
I found your book at a Barnes & Noble. I have really enjoyed it and have learned a lot already. Good job! ...The book is Art of War for Sales Warriors. I have set up e-flash cards at a web site so that I can learn Sun Tzu's terms. I have really gotten a lot out of this. David Cochron
The reason I am so sold on the Nine Formulas approach is because it works. I took Gary's book and put it to work on a new business last year. I am doing everything I can to be Sun Tzu and make strategic decisions based on the Nine Formulas, even when I personally don't think it's a good idea. I have not had any problems yet. We started this business from complete scratch, nothing, nada. Now we have grown to the point where we need to bring in more physicians (it's a medical business) and the income has outshined everything else we have done in our careers. Not only this, our overhead is almost zero. We spend less per month in overhead than can be imagined. Our business model is also praised at conferences where others want to do it but are terrified to try because it is so counter intuitive it simply doesn't make sense. Yet, it works. During this process I emailed Gary for ideas and checks on reality to make sure I was not interpreting things wrongly. I have to tell you, any business, including SOSI, that follows the Nine Formulas will be successful. At first, we also had "enemies" that sought to stop us. In keeping with Sun Tzu's approach to win without battle we quickly used strategy to show them how us winning was also them winning. Our hardest battle was helping them understand this was not a trick. Now we have former enemies helping us to succeed. They actually want us to do well. If we had simply focused on the "selling" aspect we may have brought in customers but we might have ignored the bigger picture of building a strategic business and things simply would not have worked out as well. Allan Elder, Professor, UC Irvine
I have been a student of warfare and its art and principles for nearly 20 years. Your translation has offered me many great insights in strategic leadership both in business and ministry... I believe God is no stranger to strategy and in fact He is the author of it. I also believe He gave it to man to benefit all life and mankind! Hal H Sacks
As the top media salesperson in our market, I am always on the lookout for new ideas and information that will help me to continue to grow... Intellectually, it [Sales Warrior] is much more challenging than most books I have read. So far I have found a few nuggets of truth and implemented a few ideas. It’s still too early to tell what type of success they will bring, but I am confident that book has more than paid for itself. I hope to be able to re-read it again soon so that I can take some more time to analyze all of the info you have included. The MP3 book was a pleasant surprise. Thanks for including it! Jonas (Joe) Schmitter, Columbia, MO
OK, so here's another problem... Since implementing your principles into my business and sales processes I'm so busy I don't have time to do my lessons. I'm 60 years old, been a salesman all my life, but learned some incredibly valuable lessons from The Warrior Class. If I were to point to one, it would be the wisdom of fighting skirmishes, not full fledged battles. Also I now keep a journal entry denoting changes in my position, using a simple plus 1, minus one, or zero. I find this helps my mental attitude and gives a sense of accomplishment during a long sales cycle. Ken Welch eCompliance Consultant
I am interested in Sun Tzu many years ago. I read many translations in Thai language then I read English translations... I wanted to know deeper, but it seemed hopeless to me at the time because I don't know Chinese. Your book The Art of War plus The Ancient Chinese Revealed and many internet sites now make my dream alive. I take some of my spare time to compare the text, read commentators and take my own note of many possibilities of interpretation...I am not agree to all of your interpretations but I respect your work. It is very original and opens my eyes in many ways. You are a man who can use Sun Tzu idea in the real world, so I take your work seriously. I hope you all the success and happiness in the world. Name Withheld by Request, Thailand
I...picked up your book on Management and Leadership. Finished it in 24 hr., very insightful and was easily translatable for union application. It was worth twice what I paid for it for what I got out of it. In Solidarity, A. Jay Howard Local Chairman & Legislative Assistant National Conference of Fireman & Oilers System Counsel # 6
I am in to Sun Tzu for a long time because i am really interest in Chinese method of management. Moreover, my dedication while I was in college all about Sun Tzu. When I have found your book translate in Thai at Book Store then I follow to buy the whole series of your book which I have 5 of them already. Piyasintu Ettumrong, Thailand
I recently got my very first job... i was totally overwhelmed by the totally different environment of the corporate world as opposed to the country club atmosphere of my college days. i was failing, making mistakes at every turn...so i searched the web trying to find help in decyphering what sun tzu was saying. and so, that's how i found your site...and the warrior classes are a great help. thanks so much... now, i am able to enjoy work and life more because slowly i am trying to change the way i think to that of a true student of strategy. Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas
I've been interested in Sun Tzu for more than 10 years. Your books are one of my favourite. I am so passionate with strategy study which Sun Tzu is one of master pieces. For you useful books, it helps me out to understand Sun Tzu more and more. God bless you Mr. Gagliardi. Thitapat (Joe) Intharasakul
Last year I saw a copy of one of your books..."The Art of War plus The Art of Sales"... it struck a chord, it filled a need, and that's why I picked it up. About a week ago I found what appeared to be a different version of the same text (...for the Sales Warrior). I liked the additional notes in the margins of the book, so I bought it...Over the past few years I've been helping people at my company master our sales process. One thing I've observed time and time again is that people try to force the sales process onto the situation. In our training classes, I try to develop an awareness that each situation is unique, and that how you apply the process is determined by your knowledge of the current situation. Sun Tzu's teachings plus your sales interpretation have been most helpful. Charlie Cook. Sales Training Manager, ifm efector inc.
I recently bought your DVD's (the Amazing Secrets Seminar and the Keys to Strategy). I wanted to tell you that they have helped me understand some aspects of the book that were a little unclear to me. Dan King, Baltimore, Maryland
When I was at college in China and I was so interested in Sun Tzu and then I moved to the USA after I got Ph.D from Beijing University...One day when I went to the bookstore nearby (Barnes Noble) and I was so surprised to find this book with its English translation. It was such a good job that you have done to spread the idea of a old Chinese to the world. This is a wonderful book which tells people of how to succeed in their career. For me it provides tips of how to become a great professor in science...it is great enough to deliver to many people worldwide. Sam Guo, Harvard
I found your work especially helpful because it conveys, in readily understood terms, the principles in the Art of War - such as positioning, leverage, etc. One book in particular of yours, the Warrior Class: 306 Lessons in Strategy, is most helpful...Would you believe my eldest children (aged 5,6,8) quiz each other from the Warrior Class?...thank you once again for the excellent work you are doing...Dave Harper
I have read Sun Tzu's work and it's helped in my personal life as well as professional life. This prompted me to study it in a more structured way... Incidentally, the program you have devised is very good and it is helping me immensely. Ilyas Saddique Analyst Programmer
Your site and books also portray a true and insightful picture (in fact the most authentic) among many charlatans who reel out tomes on the subject for pelf and penny. Shreeram Balijepalli, BComm, MBA(USA)
As I read through your translation, I felt that I understood his [Sun Tzu's] work better and felt that other versions include too many excerpts from other people and confuse the reader more, making the reader not understand Tzu's original work for what it is. I thank you for a great translation of Tzu's work and I hope that many other people can enjoy your translation as I have. Edwin Fuentes
I got interested in strategy after becoming a member of Australian Institute of Management Sydney. Recently I bought the 9 formulas and a book on speaking by you. I have got several of your books. 360 Lessons is another. Also the website is good...Your blogg is interesting as well. Muthu Palaniappan
I wrote this email because I think your self help approach adds to the self help books and self help systems found today. It is a new and novel approach. I have read a number of self help books, reviewed a few self help systems, even helped (in the areas of psychological analysis and clinical psychology) a few people write some of there own self help books...but I tend to not look at them anymore because after a person has read a few they become redundant. But for some reason your course stuck out as seeming different...I would also like to express my thanks for the good job done on the audio and written form of "The Art of War." Thank you for your time and have a great day. Bill Kopp
After reading and implementing just a few of Sun Tzu’s suggestions I have already noticed an improvement, and so have my teachers, employers, etc. I did not realize that The Art of War would have such a significant impact on my life. Thank you so much! Edward Forgacs
Since I have discovered it [your site], I have made no fewer than 20 referrals. I think the work you do is essential! Please keep up the great work. John Mason, Associate Dean, Morehouse College
I own and manage a small business and I wanted more knowledge on selling...So far the information has been helpful and believe it or not, sales has almost doubled! Ashley Alexis
I heard you on the Coast to Coast Radio show a couple of years ago AND within a few days ordered two of your books and read them cover to cover...Any plans on visiting Coast to Coast again? Thanks for your work! Ron Smith
I have used the strategies and philosophies for many years to help me earn millions and to successfully guide thousands. I have a hardcopy of your book [Art of War Ancient Chinese Revealed] in my library and have been recommending it for years... Dave Gerhardt, Biopro
I purchased and read your book on "The Art of War Plus Warrior Marketing", as well as the older version "The Art of War Plus the Art of Marketing" (I have both). I'm also a regular reader of your blog (which is one of my favorite blogs)! I was fascinated also to read an article about how you used strategies from "The Art of War" to grown FourGen software... What I like very much is that you have proven that you've "walked the walk", and you don't just "talk the talk"! I'm planning to soon buy a copy of your "Golden Key to Strategy" and your "Nine Formulas For Business Success". (I haven't seen them in the bookstores locally, unlike your "Art of War" translations, so I'll have to order them.) I've enjoyed your articles on these topics, and just downloaded your free ebook on the "47 Key Principles on Sun Tzu's The Art of War" and am part-way through it... I definitely plan to get the published books though for more in-depth insights.I'm also fascinated by your other materials and products, and plan to look into them as well in future...Best wishes, Dien Rice
I plan on reading your book [Sales Warrior] intently and absorb it's contents and put them into practice asap. It is very insightful and hard to put down once you start reading. I appreciate your work tremendously! Pedro M. Gomez, AFLAC
I picked up a copy of your book "The Art of Management" and began applying it to my career. The rewards were instantaneous. I keep that book on my desk at all times for reference. I preach it to my fiancé and friends. It has helped in many situations!!! Gerald Verno
I actually own a copy of one of your books... Art of War - Art of Career Building...its a great book and its No. 3 on my list of books (next to The Purpose Driven Life and the Holy Bible) of course. Oral Gomez
Hello Gary, My last job was [...] so the book I am reading is the "Management Warrior". My favorite chapter was 7 "internal politics". It is amazing how much of my time (well paid) was spent on it and that in reality it was all wasted. But sometimes you have to "fight battles", the most interesting part would be to know how to really avoid them. As you move up the corporate ladder, you are forced to play more and more politics, and for an entrepreneur like myself it is the hardest part cause I feel like its all a wasted time. Bohdan Chac
I would personally wish to pass onto you how grateful I am for your work in your book [Sales Warrior]. I have found it has stimulated many thoughts and I am in the process of converting these thoughts into actions based on teachings from the book...I own and operate 3 businesses here in Australia and strategy has been a key component to staying ahead of the pack. Denis Crema, Denor Group
I first became interested in Sun Tzu's work in 1990 while looking to enhance my play of a war game called Axis & Allies. I didn’t really understand The Art of War at that time...I needed to go back to the master and reread his text with older more experienced eyes. I found your free PDF at the Science of Strategy and then bought the Golden Keys to Strategy. Eureka! I now had a tight cohesive framework to base my methods on. I overlaid your translation onto the game and wrote a set of guidelines that Axis & Allies players could understand. We have virtually ended arguments and frustrations like "team such & such will always win" and "that nation is too powerful to attack". The next step is to apply the principles found in The Art of War to my career and personal life Joseph Norris
02/02/08 I am a technical person doing some marketing work, an area in which I do not have a huge background. I got The Art of War plus The Art of Marketing from my local library. I loved the way it blends a very different Eastern way with the challenges of our modern world. I bought the book from Amazon a couple of days ago. I look forward to using more of the online products and services from your site as my journey continues…Dave Indeck
I now have a new management position with a young progressive company, and the CEO of the company lives and breathes this book. He just implemented a plan for us to once a month write a report based upon (5) principles from this book...As for your material, it is the best I have found. Very well written, explained and discussed. Kevin Morris, C&L Companies
I was impress with the translation you have done for Sun Tzu studies. Although I am Chinese, I personally find it able to get to understand more about Sun Tze in your explanation. Really working something to make it as practice in my work environment. Lim Chek Fei
01/28/07 I have bought your book focused on small companies. This book is helping me a lot on Sun Tzu strategy. Thank you for your work. Sergio W Fiore
After reading though the "Art of War" several times...I decided to try your 3 day Free courses to see if it would be something I would be interested in ... All I can say is WOW! I've been told by many people that I have a gift for training leaders and an effective communication style. Just what I learned so far though has shown me a better and more effective way of training. Tim Erickson
I just finished reading The Art Of War Plus The Warriors Apprentice. Fantastic:) Loved it! Rodney King MGCP;TAIS; Adv Stress Man; Certified Life Coach
I have been studying martial arts for 20 years. I hold a 4th degree black belt in TaeKwonDo. I've studied many books on the various translations of Art of War. Your set is the best as it arms us with the vocabulary of strategy and a way to understand what is happening in a chaotic world around us. Its daily reading for me now! Any free time I have I spend on your [StrategySchool] material. I wish I had come across your books [Golden Key] earlier. One of my goals is (as is articulated in your material) to make my reactions to changing environments fast and accurate. Ratinder Paul Singh Ahuja, Ph.D. CTO, Reconnex Corp.
I've been enjoying The Art of the Sales Warrior immensely...I've been interested in Sun Tzu since I was a teenager and read the Art of War, along with The Book of Five Rings and Hagakure, as part of my studies in the martial arts. I've recently started on a new career path as a real estate agent and was looking for a copy of The Art of War for my boss as a Christmas present when I came upon your book. They only had one copy in the shop, so I'm ashamed to say I got your book and the boss got the plain vanilla version! Still, if he shows an interest you can count on another purchase and I'd imagine that I'll probably take a few other titles over time as well. I don't know if you plan to do any seminars in Australia in the future, but if you do, please count me in. Jake Peters
01/06/08 I recently got one of your books "The Art of War for the management warrior" from my friend...I really feel that this book came at the right time. I was kind of trying to find a way to better my position in corporate world. I am not too good a politician and found myself trapped into corporate politics for no good reason. After understanding the difference between planning and strategy, I was able to find out where I was wrong. I also agree with your idea of reading this book at least once in an year. Thanks for writing such a great book. Five star from my side. Amit Gupta
01/04/08 Hi Gary, a couple of years ago I was searching the web for information on strategy and came across your website sciencenceofstrategy.com. I saw the Art of War books and remembered that it was on the Chief of Staff of the Army's recommended reading list. So, I bought three books, the amazing secrets, the 360 lessons and one other. I love the books. As a soldier and a marketing manager I find the methodology very sound and useful. I recently went back and viewed the CD you sent along with the books to gain some additional insight into a career decision that I am going through now. There are lots of strategy models out there, but Sun Tzu's model is the one I have gravitated to over the last year. Keith A. Cerci, MAJ RES ODCSPER
01/03/08 Hello Gary - I bought your book - make money speaking. I am just about done reading it and it is great. I have done a lot of speaking over the years, but not to make money. I am involved in a little MLM business and have always thought the presentations could be better. I am developing one now, using all of you ideas from the book. Pete Sheridan
01/03/08 This morning I downloaded and watched the first set of videos [from the Strategy School] and I am absolutely amazed. Before xmas I read Sun Tzu on recommendation from a friend. I knew there was something deep in this but I just could not see how to apply it. I searched the net a found your site. I read your free version and it made a lot more sense but still could not totally grasp it. Today I watched these videos and it as though Gary has come up to me and said “hey you use binoculars this way round”! WOW! I can now see the whole business environment, and life’s stuff in a totally new perspective! I was once in business on track for my 1st million, purely by hard work and flying by the seat of my pants, I became distracted and disillusioned. Never quite got back on that track although I knew I would someday. Between then and now it has been very frustrating and energy draining knowing that the ability and potential is there but not quite being able to get it together. Now feeling quietly excited about all the opportunity out that is out there. And the fact that I now have a system (almost) that I can apply. I could waffle more but I just wanted to say thank you to both for making this information available and understandable. Mike Whitehouse
Got interested in AOW about two years ago. Saw your book AOW & Marketing at Barne's & Noble's. Read a few pages.-- bought it-- loved it. The [Strategy School] training is great -- the real deal. Not like the general hype. Bill Jordan, Bill Jordan Marketing
Hi Gary, I came across your book [Management Warrior] is from Changi Airport in S'pore. What my interested in Sun Tzu where I found like you are a foreigner why more understand than Chinese. Therefore, its push me to reading what your thought and wrote. Obviously, you're so wonderful and excellent in Sun Tzu study. I love it and will keep any comment to share with you. Thanks! Dandy Yeh
I just picked up the book (Sales Warrior) at Barnes and Noble. I read several books a month, it looked interesting because I had read the Art of War while I was in the Marine Corp. Your adaptation of combat situations to real world sales is fantastic. Thank you for revealing what would of been a well kept secret. Steven Testa
Hi, Gary, Thank you - the [Warrior Class] lessons and the course are fabulous!! I am addicted...Fortunately for me, my job allows me to spend many hours each day online. So what normally takes weeks I can do in days. Most days I spend 4 - 6 hours studying. I have found already that Sun Tzu and you have changed my way of thinking. Many positive things are coming from this for me, and I envision a brighter future. Lawrence Healy
I really appreciate your going above and beyond to make sure I was happy with my order. Your book [Amazing Secrets] is awesome. I've been studying AOW for around two years and your translation, commentary and especially the diagrams really help explain the concepts. I'm sure I will be back to get your other two books of the series.:) Thanks again, Jeff S.
The the [Warrior Class] lessons are fantastic - in content and the method and format of teaching - TOP NOTCH ! Joshua Logan, Dayton NV
The "Making Money Speaking" book is outstanding! I'm on page 110. I want to learn how to get many more speaking gigs and start to make money! Your book is a great help...The money is really great, I just wish I knew how to land more of these gigs! Scott Taylor, TaylorMade Marketing, and FastPath Coaching
I went to Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, took Chinese (Mandarin). That was in 1968. I was stationed throughout the Far East while in the Navy. After getting out, I got an MA in Oriental Studies, with a concentration in modern Chinese history. During that time, I studied Chinese at National Taiwan University, again concentrating in modern Chinese history and language. Following that I was a China analyst in the Intelligence Community and in the Navy Reserves, and served briefly as a deputy Naval liaison officer in Hong Kong. My interest in China is long and personal. Over the past several years, I’ve kind of drifted away from it, but I visited the International Spy Museum the other day and saw your book. I very much like the side by side format, with the literal translation across from the more polished English. In addition, my younger son is a martial arts instructor in the Marine Corps and the head of the Marines’ Martial Arts Center of Excellence, LtCol Joseph Shusko, USMC (ret), refers to The Art of War a lot. Having had my scholastic head in modern China, I never really read the original Chinese version, and only referred to it now and again whenever Mao’s Chinese Revolution came up or I had a need to refer to Mao’s tactics in the countryside prior to 1949. When I saw the book the other day, I just had to pick it up. I’ve been reading it nightly – the Chinese and the English – and it has renewed my interest in studying Chinese again. (My classical Chinese is woefully inadequate, however, and I need to dig out some of my reference books from grad school, especially the ones dealing with “Xu Zi,” those pesky punctuation characters). Dick Buxton
I am going through the Warrior Classes, and as I learn, I find myself getting addicted to Sun Tzu. I've never imagined that it would be that powerful!! Mohamed Tohami
I have recently returned to the National Guard and I am preparing for officer candidacy school. I thought I would do a little reading before I got into that environment. I have learned much from the online classes. It was a very nice presentation and easy read. Most of the time I found if I listened to my gut I would have scored better on the tests... very good lessons. I did poorly but I learned a lot and I started without having had any previous reading. It was fun! SPC Melody MacMurray
About 12 years ago I came across a copy of The Art of War and found it extremely interesting, but somewhat difficult to apply in my daily life. I am a former prosecutor who has been relatively successful in business development efforts in the public sector (focusing on public safety and victim programs), so I feel I have been at war for the past twenty years....but I didn't know who the "enemy" was. As a prosecutor, it was pretty easy - the defendant and his/her attorney. However, I wasn't supposed to be at war with my prospective client, but it very often seemed that I was. Yesterday I was in a Barnes and Noble and saw The Art of War for Sales Warriors and it immediately seemed to jump out at me. The first pages of this book really brought into clarity who my enemy was, and it made all the sense in the world! At age 58 I don't have a lot of time to re-absorb this every year, but I am going to give it my best efforts. Ron Hatfield
In 2005 I served a fellowship in Washington that required a great deal of travel. In a Beijing bookstore I noticed several different "flavors" of the Art of War, and purchased several to read later. It's later, and instead of reading those I find myself engrossed in digesting your take on this classic. I have greatly enjoyed your take on Sun's work, and quite like the diagrammatic method. It reinforces the duality of every aspect of competition in a way that stays sharp when involved competitive situations...Keep up the good work! Dennis Cobb
I have enjoyed your books "The Art of War for the Sales Warrior" and "Warrior Marketing" and have also recommended them to friends...I am a sole proprietor of my firm in Silicon Valley CA, one of the most competitive business areas in the country, and my firm specializes in Strategic Marketing. As such, success depends on sitting at the feet of the master and learning as much as possible. Your books have greatly assisted in that area. Mike DeAngelis
Sun Tzu has and always will be my favorite strategist, along with Lao Tzu. I am familiar with other strategic classics such as Clausewitz, Mao, Machiavelli, etc., but none seem to hold weight to Sun Tzu. I have read many versions and interpretations on the art of war, and...none can hold a candle to how you convey it to the mass populace. Thank you for you hard work and contribution in offering a priceless Chinese text. Larry Stevenson
I'm a retired naval officer. I own a number of different translations of Sun Tzu and I wanted to give a good version to my brother as a selection in a stack of military books I'm giving him for Christmas. I found your version [Chinese Revealed] on a shelf in Barnes and Noble and I think it's great! I'm going to get my own copy, Larry Barnett
It's Kelly Stomber from S Florida, again. I wanted to say I am really enjoying the [Warrior Class] lessons and the format, they really get me thinking! Kelly Stomber
I have been a student of Eastern philosophy for a very long time....I hate labels but I do try to understand Lao Tsu (Taoist) philosophy. I met once with Master Hua-Ching Ni, back in the 70's in LA, and he made an immense impression on me as a truly genuine Taoist master. Since then I have also tried to penetrate the obscurity of Sun Tsu and only when I came across your book on Warrior Marketing, did Sun Tsu make sense. So congratulations on being a very insightful interpreter or messenger of his "way". Selwyn Gishen
Just wanted to say that your book: Making Money by Speaking was just what I needed at this time in my life. It was exactly my Strategy to speak first and then gain more business leveraging from that positioning. Your book is putting everything into place for me including giving me the tools so that I do not have to spend time re-inventing the wheel. I recently bought your 9 formulas for Business Success but have not really got into it yet. I am sure it will follow in your usual tradition of excellent content as in your Art of War series. I have been quoting you regularly and just wanted to say that I really appreciate your sharing your knowledge and helping business owners like myself. Giselle Hudson
Just a note to say how grateful I am for your EASY-to-learn version of The Art of War. I had read several books but was never able to really start to grasp the concepts until reading your book and signing up for your warrior class and strategy school. I would still be lost or, worse yet, be using the ideas of The Art of War in the completely wrong way. Thanks again. James Mirabal
I am in the middle of your Money Speaking book, and have been very impressed with the content. Also, I have been very impressed with the way that your book successfully achieves the goals that it asks the reader to adopt. I suppose that part of this effect can be described by the Buddhist proverb: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” as the week prior to picking up your book I had started to seek out forums and clubs where I could speak. I have found your book to bring validation to the efforts that I have made so far. Even more importantly, it has provided useful information as to how I can “move from boring to soaring.” Many thanks.Julia Young, PLLC, Strategic Legal and Business Counsel, Kirkland WA
I have to tell you that you have helped me come to a major awakening with my company. As I told you before, I buy foreclosures. When I started, I was and still am one of the best at prospecting. I was in front of these homeowners and, ironically, I was getting eaten alive. Without getting into to much detail, I was blind as to my position. By not asking questions, I was not seeing the terrain for what it was, and after weeks and even months of hard work, I was losing deals. Well, I wasn’t losing deals; I was just seeing my position for what it was in the end rather than in the beginning. Now I am spending time initially focusing on the “environment.” I am doing this by asking questions. After getting a clear picture of both my and the homeowners' positions within the environment and also considering and preparing for how these positions will change with time, I can decide if all 5 elements are aligned for probable success. I can’t thank you enough. This is perfect for my company, and, well…I am speechless! K. Zimmerman, InlandHELP
This is just a note to tell you how much I like your books and to share a story about what they have done for me. Very recently, someone I work with stabbed me in the back at a presentation given to some somewhat influential people (no heavy hitters were in the room, but they weren't lightweights either). It was more than a flesh wound but not life threatening. Of course I was angry, but calling him on it in front of the crowd would have made it that much worse, so I just kept my mouth shut.
After work I was walking to the car, plotting my revenge, when I came to my senses. My first thought was profit. So my question was, "Ok, I pick a fight with Mr. X, how does that get me profit? And what is the profit exactly?"
What I learned from your book The Warrior Class helped me analyze the situation. First I sized up Mr. X: he is respected, he is better informed about the department and the agency we work at than I am (he knows lots of people and talks to them constantly), and he is more deeply immersed in some of the technology we use than I am. In short, it is likely that any attack on him will fail.
Then I looked at myself. And I realized that for me, profit has nothing to do with Mr. X at all. He is more immersed in the technology because I made a conscious decision to turn my back on that technology and pursue other opportunities. Making him look bad does nothing to improve my stature. I have two projects I am working on, and the best thing I can do is make them wildly successful. He has nothing to do with either. Attacking him does nothing for me, and even if I succeed in turning him into a steaming pile I am no closer to success.
My move is to ignore the slight and press on with my own agenda.
Normally I would have lain awake all night thinking about what Mr. X did and what my response should be, but once I thought about the terrain, our relative positions, and the position I am trying to move into I was completely calm about the whole incident. I now know something about Mr. X, namely that he is not to be trusted, but what he did can only hurt me if I let it distract me from pursuing success on my terms.
I really appreciate what I have learned from your books. I wish more people would read them. I don't know Chinese but I think your books must be the best translations because they make the most sense. Or another way, none of the other translations has ever made any sense to me.
Thanks for doing the translation. I appreciate it. Dan (last name withheld by request)
I am addicted [to Warrior Class on-line training]. I am past the initial 21 lessons and this is as important as oxygen is to the body. I have been spending 2 hours in the evening and 2 hours before bed studying this. I also bought Art of War and Art of Sales. I will be ordering your Golden Keys off the site. I have forwarded your web site to my associates in the industry. I know of 2 who are signing up so far. Great work on this, Gary. I am just getting started and this is a PERFECT fit for our industry. Kobe Zimmerman, distressed property investor
I have read your new book Making Money by Speaking -- fabulous book with great points on being a spokesperson for our company. I read it two days before going on a business trip and I believe the book helped my partner and me land a nice contract. At least that’s the way it looks so far. Thanks for sharing the information you have learned over the years, I believe you are right and it is much more valuable to share information, as it spreads like fire once the word is out. Fred Leland
I have received your book [The Warrior Class] and am enjoying it immensely. Since I have been practicing strategy for the past 10 years I have found it to be a valuable tool for personal advancement. Your comments are an excellent addendum to the philosophical statements by Sun Tzu. Strategy has offered practical insights into the psychology of human dynamics. When I finish the book I would like to discuss with you some of my thoughts on the subject. Thank you for an outstanding job. Ron Howard, Boca Raton, FL
Gary, Thanks for your work. Wrote you a while ago. Was working on UAVs and doing a master's at Embry Riddle when we were going to integrate AOW into quality. Have a quality position on the Predator program. We are implementing ISO and are going to treat the intervention as a small business and evaluate our market first. Thanks again for your work. Someday I would like to talk management into doing the AOW certification training. Thanks again. Steve
Hi. Just wanted to tell you how much your books have changed my life. I have in my collection many different translations of Sun Tzu's work on different subjects and comparing them to yours is like "balancing a silver coin with a gold coin." No contest. The book that changed all this was your book on career building. The intro on that book alone (the 5 element diagram, 4 skills which none of the other books speak of) helped me realize that there was more to The Art of War. My daughter already understands the 4 basic skills that are needed to survive in this competitive world. And she's only 7! She already has her sights on being president one day. Again, thank you very much. Ossy Hernandez
Gary and Becky, I just finished reading The Art of Sales and just had to write and say thank you! I just purchased The Art of Management for my husband. I wish you continued success and exploration. Karen Parris
The Art of War Plus Warrior Marketing [retitled Warrior Marketing in the latest edition] from Clearbridge Publishing is a must read for every marketing executive. Gary Gagliardi creatively interprets Sun Tzu’s classic text into straightforward winning advice for conducting marketing campaigns. In addition, the side-by-side presentation of both texts allows readers to compare Sun Tzu’s words with Mr. Gagliardi’s marketing interpretations. This book is guaranteed to provide you with the motivation to capture your markets! Dr. D. Steven White, Ph.D., Dept. of Marketing & Business Information Systems, Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth
Two books in one, this retranslating of Sun Tzu’s classic warfare text, The Art of War, runs side by side with Gagliardi’s application of it to the business of selling. Both are excellent guides to their subject...the material it delivers provides the weapons any sales professional needs to achieve his or her mission and win. F. John Reh, Your About.com Guide to Management
The translation still seems to be one of the best that I have seen. It is internally consistent between the translated concepts and so shows a level of knowledge and detail that is not present in some other translations. As a translator, the author obviously sees the big picture…Gary Gagliardi is considered by many to be a leading expert in understanding and using the competitive methods embodied in Sun Tzu’s treatise on the Art of War. Midwest Book Review, Harold McFarland, Editor, Reader’s Preference Reviews
THE ART OF SALES is one of the most unique and well-written sales books I have seen in many years. It is full of wisdom, power, and dignity. It stands in sharp contrast to the many hype-filled books on 'sales motivation' and the wimpy 'new age' books that rail on and on against the use of power and influence in selling. THE ART OF SALES is a breath of fresh air in the stale, stodgy world of sales training books. I urge every sophisticated sales professional and sales manager to pick up a copy. This is one of the few books on salesmanship that will actually expand your vision of the world and of what is possible. Donald J. Moine, Ph.D., Sales Psychologist, Co-author, Unlimited Selling Power (Prentice-Hall, 1990), Co-Author, Modern Persuasion Strategies: The Hidden Advantage in Selling (Prentice-Hall, 1984)
In these hectic and competitive times, you always need to know better ways to sell. The Art of War Plus The Art of Sales is full of techniques that you can read on your way to a sales call and use during your meeting. I've already recommended it to my clients. Jan Wallen, consultant and author of "CRM-Powered Selling" column for SalesDoctors.com
As a professional translator and small business owner myself, I am quite impressed with the job he has done in taking a 2,500-year-old Chinese book on war and converting it into a powerful modern-day sales tool...What makes the book so much fun is that it is really two books in one. Ed Martin, Your About.com Guide to Small Business Information
When you are in the trenches, The Art of War Plus The Art of Sales gives you the strategy and tactics to pick your battles and to win the war. A unique approach. Marjorie Brody, CSP, CMC; Author of Speaking Is an Audience-Centered Sport and Professional Impressions ... Etiquette for Everyone, Everyday; President, Brody Communications Ltd. |
The whole speech is at http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp040609.html. Following are excerpts. The underlining and other emphasis is mine.
18. The flagship programmes which my Government introduced have moved the country towards inclusive development. It would be our endeavour to consolidate these programmes in the next five years. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has proved to be what it promised-an effective social protection measure and the largest programme in the world for rural reconstruction. Its transformational potential is unfolding before our eyes. My Government would enlarge the scope of works permitted under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act presently limited to unskilled manual work. The opportunity for improving land productivity through the NREGA will be maximized through better convergence of NREGA with other programmes. To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level.
19. The National Rural Health Mission has begun to strengthen rural public health infrastructure. The Mission would be consolidated to make perceptible reduction in infant mortality and maternal mortality in the next five years. Vaccine producing institutes in the public sector will be revived to support the immunization programme. My Government will expand the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover all families below the poverty line in the next five years. Malnutrition has emerged as a major health challenge needing urgent response. Hence the nutrition delivery programme will be comprehensively revamped to bring it under the watch of panchayat institutions and move to provision of hot cooked meals in anganwadis.
20. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been able to provide access to children to elementary schools and retention has increased on account of the universal mid-day meal programme. The focus will be on making quality education a right through the enactment of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill now under consideration of Parliament. The Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan will universalize access to secondary education. The massive expansion in higher education through new institutions under implementation in the Eleventh Plan will enable the country to meet the challenge of education in full measure. In the last five years, a wide range of scholarships and educational loans was introduced for the needy and deserving students. This effort will be reviewed and further strengthened. Government’s strategy for higher education will be formulated around a three-fold objective of expansion, inclusion and excellence. The suggestions given by the National Knowledge Commission will guide the formulation and implementation of the strategy.
21. While male literacy went up to over 75 percent in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54 percent in 2001. My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years. Increased female literacy is expected to become a force multiplier for all our social development programmes.
22. My Government launched Bharat Nirman five years ago as a time-bound business plan for rural infrastructure. It has succeeded in reaching basic infrastructure of roads, electricity and telephone to a large number of villages. It has also achieved most of the targets of rural water supply, rural housing and has increased irrigation potential. The remaining tasks will be completed in the second phase of Bharat Nirman. It is also proposed to set enhanced targets for Bharat Nirman in the second phase.
- The Indira Awas Yojana, which exceeded the original target of sixty lakh houses for the period 2004-2009, will now take up double the target of rural housing to one crore twenty lakh houses to be completed in the next five years.
- Rural Water supply programme will be completed by 2011 and handed over to be managed by panchayats in the next Plan.
- The rural telecommunication target will be set at reaching 40% rural teledensity in the next five years and expanding broadband coverage to connect every panchayat to a broadband network in three years. The scheme for Common Service Centres or e-kiosks will be suitably repositioned to be a network of panchayat-level Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres to provide government services to citizens in rural areas.
- New targets would be set for rural electrification, irrigation and road connectivity.
23. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) with approval of projects of nearly Rs. 50,000 crore in the last four years is reshaping our cities and has been widely welcomed. It will continue to focus on infrastructure, basic services and governance reform and increase support to cities to upgrade public transport. Over 15 lakh houses are under construction for the urban poor. There is a need to focus urban housing programmes on the poor living in slums. My Government proposes to introduce a Rajiv Awas Yojana for the slum dwellers and the urban poor on the lines of the Indira Awas Yojana for the rural poor. The schemes for affordable housing through partnership and the scheme for interest subsidy for urban housing would be dovetailed into the Rajiv Awas Yojana which would extend support under JNNURM to States that are willing to assign property rights to people living in slum areas. My Government’s effort would be to create a slum free India in five years through the Rajiv Awas Yojana.
24. My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kilograms of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kilogram. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.
26. Over 50 percent of our population is below 25 years of age and their creative energy is our greatest strategic resource. The challenge is to invest in their education, employability and employment. India has the capacity to contribute to a fourth of the global work force if it invests in skill development of its youth. Education which provides employable skills holds the key for equal opportunities for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Minorities. My Government has in the last five years brought in legal changes and investment in this direction. These would be consolidated. Besides making massive investment in education, government will focus on the national skill development initiative that has commenced operation with the very ambitious goal of creation of 500 million skilled people by 2022 so that we realize the demographic dividend.
27. The implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act would be monitored to ensure that all title deeds are distributed by end of 2009.
29. The Amendment Bill to the Land Acquisition Act and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill prepared to protect farmers and others dependent on farming from unfair displacement and which was placed before Parliament could not be carried through. It will be our endeavour to have these bills reintroduced and enacted in the budget session of Parliament.
30. My Government considerably enhanced provisions for social security through old age pension for all people below the poverty line and above 65 years of age, all handicapped people and all widows above the age of forty. It will examine extending social protection to other persons at special risk. Social security schemes for other occupations like landless labour, weavers, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, leather workers, plantation labour, construction labour, mine workers and beedi workers will be appropriately expanded.
32. My Government will initiate steps within the next hundred days on the following measures:
- Restructuring the Backward Regions Grant Fund, which overlaps with other development investment, to focus on decentralized planning and capacity building of elected panchayat representatives. The next three years would be devoted to training panchayat raj functionaries in administering flagship programmes;
- A public data policy to place all information covering non-strategic areas in the public domain. It would help citizens to challenge the data and engage directly in governance reform;
- Increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman;
- Strengthening Right to Information by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas;
- Strengthening public accountability of flagship programmes by the creation of an Independent Evaluation Office at an arm’s distance from the government catalysed by the Planning Commission. It would work on a network model by collaborating with leading social science research organizations and concurrently evaluate the impact of flagship programmes and place it in the public domain;
- Establishing mechanisms for performance monitoring and performance evaluation in government on a regular basis;
- Five Annual Reports to be presented by government as Reports to the People on Education, Health, Employment, Environment and Infrastructure to generate a national debate;
- Facilitating a Voluntary Technical Corps of professionals in all urban areas through JNNURM to support city development activities;
- Enabling non government organisations in the area of development action seeking government support through a web-based transaction on a government portal in which the status of the application will be transparently monitorable;
- Provision of scholarships and social security schemes through accounts in post offices and banks and phased transition to smart cards;
- Revamping of banks and post offices to become outreach units for financial inclusion complemented by business correspondents aided by technology;
- Electronic governance through Bharat Nirman common service centres in all panchayats in the next three years;
- A model Public Services Law, that covers functionaries providing important social services like education, health, rural development etc. and commits them to their duties, will be drawn up in consultation with states;
- A National Council for Human Resources in Health as an overarching regulatory body for the health sector to reform the current regulatory framework and enhance supply of skilled personnel;
- A National Council for Higher Education as recommended by the Yashpal Committee and the National Knowledge Commission to bring in reform of regulatory institutions;
– Develop a "brain gain" policy to attract talent from all over the world into the 14 universities proposed in the 11th plan to position them as "Innovation Universities";
- A roadmap for judicial reform to be outlined in six months and implemented in a time-bound manner;
- Targeted identification cards would subsume and replace omnibus Below Poverty Line (BPL) list. NREGA has a job card and the proposed Food Security Act would also create a new card. Identification of beneficiaries for other programmes which currently use the omnibus BPL list would improve identification based on programme objectives with the common underlying principle that all identification of beneficiaries will be done through gram sabhas and urban local bodies and the list placed in the public domain to be open to challenge;
- A Delivery Monitoring Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor flagship programmes and iconic projects and report on their status publicly;
- Suitably institutionalized quarterly reporting on Flagship programmes as "Bharat Nirman Quarterly Reports" where Ministers would publicly report on progress through the media.
33. Infrastructure is a fundamental enabler for a modern economy and infrastructure development will be a key focus area for the next five years. Public investment in infrastructure is of paramount importance. Bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom will be systematically removed. Public-private partnership (PPP) projects are a key element of the strategy. A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously. The regulatory and legal framework for PPPs would be made more investment friendly. My Government will continue its special emphasis on infrastructure development in the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir and enhance connectivity to these regions.
34. Our fellow citizens have every right to own part of the shares of public sector companies while the government retains majority shareholding and control. My Government will develop a roadmap for listing and people-ownership of public sector undertakings while ensuring that government equity does not fall below 51 %.
35. My Government is firmly committed to maintaining high growth with low inflation, particularly in relation to prices of essential agricultural and industrial commodities. It will steadfastly observe fiscal responsibility so that the ability of the Centre to invest in essential social and economic infrastructure is continuously enhanced. This will require that all subsidies reach only the truly needy and poor sections of our society. A national consensus will be created on this issue and necessary policy changes implemented.
36. My Government has been able to significantly increase realization of direct taxes as a result of improved and simplified tax administration and this process will continue. The roadmap for moving towards a Goods and Services Tax will be vigorously pursued. My Government is fully seized of the issue of illegal money of Indian citizens outside the country in secret bank accounts. It will vigorously pursue all necessary steps in coordination with the countries concerned.
37. Coordinated action for energy would be guided by the integrated energy policy. The effort would be to see that at least 13,000 MW of generating capacity is added each year through a mix of sources -coal, hydel, nuclear and renewables. Village and rural household electrification and reduction in aggregate technical and commercial losses will continue to be given the highest priority. Competitiveness and efficiency in the power sector will be enhanced through time-bound measures, including operationalising the provision of open access.
38. The pace of oil and gas exploration will be intensified and India’s oil diplomacy aggressively pursued. Reforms in the coal sector, for which a detailed blueprint has been prepared, will be pursued with urgency. The international civil nuclear agreements will be operationalised with various countries even as domestic sources of uranium are exploited and work continues on the indigenously designed fast breeder and thorium reactors.
39. My Government will ensure that our space programme which has achieved wide recognition continues to bring rich dividends to society in agriculture, tele-medicine, tele-education and by providing information to rural knowledge centres, besides contributing to telecommunication, television broadcasting and weather forecasting. Several innovative initiatives commenced by government in the science and technology sector in the last five years and now under implementation will be further strengthened.
40. My Government is proactively addressing issues of climate change through eight national missions. Of these the National Solar Mission, the National Water Mission, the National Mission on Energy Efficiency, the National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat will be launched by the end of this year. The National Ganga River Basin Authority, set up recently will evolve a new action plan for cleaning and beautifying the river in partnership with the basin states. |
US 7437330 B1
A system and method of allowing individuals to categorize transaction information. A user of the system may establish transaction identifiers that may be employed during or subsequent to a transaction in order to categorize transaction information.
1. A method for categorizing a financial transaction in a biometric authorization system, said method comprising:
receiving a request for access to a user record that includes information on a plurality of financial transactions completed prior to said accessing, wherein at least one of said plurality of financial transactions has associated therewith a transaction category that was determined based on biometric data that was received at a point of sale;
receiving a transaction identifier that is associated with a transaction category;
categorizing a selected one of said plurality of financial transactions in accordance with said transaction identifier;
receiving an additional transaction identifier, wherein said additional transaction identifier further categorizes the selected financial transaction in a subcategory; and
saving said categorized financial transaction in said user record.
2. The method of
3. The method of
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This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/829,448, filed Apr. 22, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,082,415 which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/251,305, filed Sep. 20, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,269,737 which claims domestic priority from provisional application No. 60/324,229, filed Sep. 21, 2001. Each above-identified application is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all purposes.
This application relates generally to a system and method for categorizing transactions. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for categorizing transactions via one or more transaction identifiers.
Generally, the process of categorizing transactions for financial reporting is a tedious process. Transaction tracking is important to individuals who maintain records for accounting purposes, but they may have difficulty remembering the circumstances of each transaction. To overcome this, some make note of a transaction's category, such as business or personal, after the transaction. The individual may mark sales receipts with this information, store these receipts, and later sort through them when logging transactions. The process of reviewing receipts can be time consuming and receipts are typically small slips of paper that may be easily lost. An individual may seek to surmount such problems by employing separate financial accounts for various transaction categories. For example, one might have a credit card for business and another for personal use. However, this method can also be troublesome, because individuals must ensure that they have the appropriate financial token with them at the time of the transaction. If they do not, they may be forced to employ another method. Furthermore, an individual may mistakenly employ an incorrect financial token, such as utilizing a business credit card for a personal purchase. What is needed is a more efficient system and method for categorizing transactions.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned needs by providing individuals with a convenient system and method for categorizing transactions. A user of the system may establish transaction identifiers that may be employed during or subsequent to a transaction in order to categorize transaction information.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other advantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other components and configurations may be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.
The present invention overcomes the problems of transaction tracking by providing a system and method for categorizing transaction information with one or more transaction identifiers. Typically, a person seeking to categorize a transaction must perform various steps to maintain an accurate record of transaction data. For example, a person may keep careful account of receipts and note which transaction category (e.g., business, personal, etc.) pertains to a particular transaction. As sales receipts are typically small, they may be easily lost, and the process of reviewing such receipts and logging various transactions can be a tedious and time-consuming process.
To solve such problems, an individual may employ different financial accounts for various transaction categories. For example, a person may use one checking account for business and another for personal. However, such a method requires a user manage multiple tokens, such as checks, credit cards, debit cards, and the like. Additionally, an individual must be particularly vigilant about which token he employs to ensure accurate transaction tracking. A person, perhaps distracted at the time of a transaction, may employ the wrong token, inadvertently logging a personal transaction as a business transaction or vice versa. If the individual does not have the appropriate token at the time of the transaction, he may be forced to employ another payment method. Moreover, an individual that prefers to pay by cash may not use such a method to track transactions.
Further issues may arise if a financial account is employed by multiple individuals. For example, a business may have a company financial account accessible by multiple employees. The accounting department may have difficulty determining which employee made a particular purchase. This may be particularly important if the accounting department is attempting to ascertain which employee made an unauthorized purchase or withdrawal.
The biometric authorization system (BAS) described herein overcomes the aforementioned problems by allowing a user to categorize transactions with a transaction identifier. In one embodiment, a transaction identifier may be biometric data that designates a transaction category and/or the person conducting the transaction.
A user may register a particular transaction identifier for a certain transaction category. For example, a user may elect to employ his right index finger to categorize transactions as business and his left index finger to categorize transactions as personal. Transaction identifier registration may occur at a variety of times as would be dictated by a particular system implementation. Depending on the embodiment, BAS enrollment and transaction identifier registration may occur prior to, during, or subsequent to a transaction. The use of transaction identifiers alleviates the need for maintaining a “paper trail” of sales receipts and eliminates the laborious process of sorting such receipts for accurate accounting.
Additionally, the present invention allows a user to categorize and record transaction information regardless of the transaction method employed. Although a user may associate a transaction identifier with a particular financial account, this is not a necessity. Because a transaction identifier may be associated with a particular transaction category rather than a financial account, the user may utilize a variety of transaction methods and still maintain an accurate record. Likewise, a user may employ one payment method for a variety of transaction categories. For example, a user may employ a single credit card account for all purchases by entering the appropriate transaction identifier to classify purchases. In regards to a credit card account with a rewards system, a user might find this feature particularly useful as he can earn reward points regardless of the category of transaction.
In an alternate embodiment, a transaction category may pertain to a particular user rather than, or in addition to, a transaction type. Such a system allows multiple users to employ one account but to record their transactions separately. For example, a husband and wife may have a joint checking account. By employing transaction identifiers, the husband and wife may track their expenses separately. In a business scenario, the BAS may allow an accounting department to monitor the expenses of employees with access to a communal business account or assist with expense reimbursement.
Users may utilize the system once they have registered one or more transaction identifiers. In this registration process, the system identifies the user and obtains one or more transaction identifiers from the user. These registered transaction identifiers would subsequently be used to categorize transactions per the transaction identifier, with the categorized transaction information being recorded in a user record. In one scenario, categorization occurs as a transaction transpires. In another scenario, categorization occurs subsequent to the transaction.
Once transaction information has been categorized, users may manipulate the data for numerous purposes. For example, a user may access transaction information via a personal computer connected to the Internet to create expense reports. Users may configure the system to generate these reports automatically or users may create the reports as they see fit. These reports may be printed, saved, and/or transferred electronically, allowing users to create accurate documents useful for accounting purposes.
As aforementioned, a transaction identifier may be user biometric data. User biometric data may be received by the BAS from a variety of sources. For example, during transaction identifier registration, the BAS may receive a user's biometric data from a third-party database networked to the system. During a transaction, the BAS may receive a user's biometric data from a biometric token presented at the point of sale. If a token is used to provide biometric data, it may not have a financial function. For example, as user may employ a biometric token to enter a transaction identifier and provide a separate token, such as a credit card, for payment. Biometric data may be used to authorize the user biometrically for identification purposes.
In general, a biometric authorization refers to an authorization in which either a user, an operator, such as a merchant or employer, or an agent, such as an employee of the BAS, provides biometric data to be matched against a biometric record in a database. As would be appreciated, the location of the database as well as the specific mechanism by which the biometric data is matched to a particular biometric record would be implementation dependent and would not limit the scope of the present invention. Thus, in a biometric authorization, the biometric data taken during the authorization can be matched against registered biometric data at a location where the registered biometric data is stored or where the authorization biometric data is gathered. In addition, biometric data received during an authorization may be tested for liveness to prevent system fraud.
Depending on the embodiment, the BAS may also provide a registered user with a user identifier, such as a system identification number (SID). A user identifier may serve as a pointer that can be used with or without a transaction identifier to aid the system in locating a user record. Additionally, an SID may assist a user in accessing his user record when a BID is not available or necessary. For example, a user wishing to access his user record via a BAS website may provide his SID and a pass code to gain access. Depending on the embodiment of the system, a user identifier may also serve as a user group identifier that identifies a user as an affiliate of a specified group of users. In one embodiment, a user identifier may also serve as a transaction identifier. For example, a user identifier may assist in locating the user record and also provide categorization information for the associated transaction.
Additionally, the principles of the present invention are not limited to using one form of biometric. For example, the biometric data referred to throughout this description can represent a biometric image (or sample) and/or a mathematical representation of the biometric image, often referred to as a biometric “template”. In one example, a biometric template can represent any data format that includes feature, positional, or other representing information of characteristics of biometric data. Alternatively, a template may be a mathematical representation of more than one biometric. For example, a user template may be generated from biometric data acquired from two individual fingers, such as a thumb and index finger, or from a finger and an iris scan. The biometric data may include fingerprint data, iris data, facial data, voice data, retinal data, hand architecture data, DNA data, or any other physical measurement pertaining to a user's person.
In an additional embodiment, BAS 100 may also utilize a combination of central databases and one or more operator databases. In general, embodiments utilizing a combination of databases enable increased control of information flow throughout BAS 100. As described in detail below, various examples of information flow configurations within the system can include “open,” “closed,” and “selectively shared” system models. In still further embodiments, database 104 can further comprise one or more sub-databases that are contained within a particular database. In such embodiments, user data, operator data, and other system data may be distributed across multiple databases within database 104.
A user record holds user information, such as transaction identifier data, biometric data, and other identity verifying information related to an individual seeking to categorize transaction information. The information held in such a record may include, by way of illustration and without limitation, a user's government identification number(s) and corresponding state(s) of issue, home address, email address, a telephone number, and a biometric record. When enrolling in BAS 100, a user may present any number of identity verifying documents or testaments to his identity depending on the implementation of the system. By way of illustration and not of limitation, examples of such documents or testaments include a financial token, a digital image, a video clip, family information, or a DNA sample. Typically, a user enrolls in BAS 100 by providing user information at an authorization station (AS) 106. Depending on the particular implementation, a user record can also hold financial account information and/or a user identifier, such as an SID. Enrollment may occur at a variety of times, such as prior to a transaction, during a transaction, or subsequent to a transaction. User enrollment and transaction identifier registration may occur simultaneously or separately. For example, a user may enroll in BAS 100 prior to a transaction, and register a transaction identifier during or after a transaction.
An operator record holds information useful for authenticating an operator, such as a name or ID number, device ID numbers associated with the operator, an address, and a phone number. In one embodiment, operator records hold an operator identifier, such as an SID and/or operator biometric data. In one scenario, an operator may need to undergo biometric authorization before conducting administrative activities.
In addition to users and operators, agents of BAS 100 may have access to BAS functions and/or records. An agent may be an employee of BAS 100 capable of monitoring and assisting with operation of BAS 100 functions. For example, an agent may access user records in order to verify user and operator registration data or administer BAS 100 maintenance procedures.
Database 104 and third-party database 108 are connected to network 102, which may be, but is not limited to, the Internet. Networks used in additional embodiments include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and telephone networks. Network 102 comprises connections to at least one AS 106 where a user may provide a transaction identifier. AS 106 typically includes at least one biometric input device (BID) and the necessary means for sending and receiving information to and from a user and to and from a database. An AS BID may be a peripheral device or an integrated BID. In one embodiment, AS 106 may simply be a BID connected to BAS 100. Possible embodiments of AS 106 include but are not limited to a vending machine, a kiosk, a personal computer, a user service desk, a point of sale terminal, a telephone, or a wireless device connected via a wireless network.
Additional embodiments of the system also comprise connections to one or more third-party sources, such as third-party database 108, in which user information (e.g., user biometric data) is verified and/or from which user information is retrieved. Depending upon the embodiment, BAS 100 may assist with the financial payment process. The system may be connected to one or more financial sources, such as financial institution 110, in order to facilitate financial transactions. For example, a user record stored at database 104 may indicate an account held at financial institution 110 that is to be debited during a categorization transaction.
Information transferred in the system may be encrypted. For example, information may be encrypted at one point and sent across a non-secure connection between points or not encrypted at a point of communication and sent to the other point of communication across a secure connection. Encryption and decryption of these messages may be monitored by services provided by a security company such as VeriSign. In one scenario, as an added level of security, information internal to a terminal and which is never transmitted may also be encrypted. This prevents retrieval of sensitive information (e.g., biometric data) from a stolen terminal. In an additional embodiment, the system incorporates one or more anti-tampering methods by which to recognize authentic and non-authentic system requests.
BAS 100 may function in a variety of configurations, including, but not limited to, an “open,” “closed,” or “selectively shared system.” An open system allows for categorization via any AS 106 in the system because the system shares user information stored in database 104 with any AS 106 or database associated with the system. Alternatively, the system may be configured as a closed system, in which information entered into the system via a specific operator-associated AS 106 is transmitted to and stored in database 104 specific to that operator, and this information is not shared with another operator's AS 106 or database. In an alternate embodiment, information is stored in a partitioned database 104, in which operator-related information is stored in operator-specific partitions and is closed to all other operators. Only an authorized operator and authorized entities, such as agents, may access that partition of database 104. Furthermore, BAS 100 may be configured as a selectively shared system. This configuration allows a chain of operators owned by the same entity or linked in some other manner to share user information without sharing that data with all other non-designated operators registered in the system.
Although an open system provides for maximum functionality, operators may desire to implement a closed or selectively shared system for various reasons. For example, a chain of operators may use BAS 100 to encourage users to shop at their stores instead of a competitor because the transaction categorization capabilities of BAS 100 ease accounting issues. Alternatively, an operator may employ a closed system to track employee expenses, such as in a fleet billing scenario.
At step 202, the system receives a transaction identifier from the user. In various embodiments, the transaction identifier may be based on biometric or non-biometric data. As such, the transaction identifier may be supplied through various input devices known in the art, such as a keyboard, keypad, BID or the like. In one scenario, BAS 100 may prompt the user for a particular transaction identifier. In another scenario, the user may be able to determine the transaction identifier to register. For example, the user could choose to register biometric data from any particular finger or could choose to register a particular alphanumeric code.
At step 204, the provided transaction identifier is associated with a category. The particular categories employed may be dependent upon system implementation. In one scenario, BAS 100 presents a variety of categories from which the user may choose. In another scenario, the user may specify the category. Categories may pertain to a particular type of transaction, such as business, personal, gift, taxable, nontaxable, or the like. Likewise, a category may designate a user. For example, to track employee spending, the transaction identifier may be a particular employee's voiceprint or other biometric. In one embodiment, a transaction identifier may be associated with a financial account. In a further embodiment, the transaction identifier may designate a category and a financial account, or, alternatively, the user may differentiate transactions by the account employed.
A user may register separate transaction identifiers for numerous categories. For example, a user may associate a separate category with multiple fingers, e.g., the index finger may indicate a personal transaction and the middle finger may indicate a business transaction. In one scenario, a user may register multiple transaction identifiers to categorize transactions in a stepped process. For example, a user may register a transaction identifier for business transactions and then register more transaction identifiers to specify the type of business transaction. Thus, a user may create a transaction identifier hierarchy wherein a category is divided into subcategories. For example, a business category may contain subcategories such as travel, entertainment, office supplies, and the like.
At step 206, after the user has supplied the required information for transaction identifier registration, this information is stored in a user record to be used during future transactions.
If the transaction is a financial payment, such as a purchase transaction, at step 304, payment and transaction identifier information is received from the user. In various embodiments, the payment method employed may be independent of BAS 100 or may work in conjunction with it. This configuration alleviates user concern with the method of payment used as it may not have a bearing on transaction categorization. Consider first the scenario where the payment information and the transaction identifier information are distinct. In this scenario, a user may pay using cash, a bank card, a credit card, or the like and use BAS 100 to categorize transactions. If payment has been processed before categorization, payment information may be transmitted to database 104 in conjunction with transaction information. Regardless of whether BAS 100 runs independently from financial processes or in conjunction with them, payment information may be included as part of the transaction information to be categorized.
Also at step 304, BAS 100 obtains a transaction identifier. In one embodiment, the biometric data itself represents the transaction identifier. In another embodiment, the transaction identifier is distinct from the biometric data that is used in the authorization process. For example, after a user is authorized using the provided biometric data, a display at AS 106 would list numerous categories from which the user may choose. For example, a menu on AS 106 may present the various categories associated with the user record, wherein all categories may be listed on the display at once or are available through a series of screens. In general, the user may provide a transaction identifier to AS 106 upon his own volition or may be prompted for a transaction identifier by the system. In one embodiment, the transaction identifier could be provided through alphanumeric input provided at AS 106
As noted, the payment information and the transaction identifier information can be distinct. In an alternative embodiment, BAS 100 employs user biometric data to categorize the transaction and authorize a financial payment. In other words, BAS 100 may employ user biometric data to both identify the user and to identify a transaction. If the user record contains multiple financial accounts, the user may also provide a financial account identifier, such as a code, a token, or the like, to identify the account to be used for payment.
The user record associated with the user would be located for transaction categorization purposes. In one embodiment, a user's biometric data may be compared to biometric data stored in database 104 to determine the appropriate user record. As mentioned above, a user identifier, such as an SID, may assist with locating the user record. Alternatively, a user may only provide a user identifier in order to designate his user record. In addition to an SID, a user identifier may be a token, such as a loyalty card, or another type of identification.
As noted, the user may provide a transaction identifier to AS 106 upon his own volition or may be prompted for a transaction identifier by the system. In one scenario, the categorization function of BAS 100 is always active. Alternatively, the user may decide whether to employ the categorization function. For example, a user may select an option at AS 106 to activate or deactivate the transaction categorization feature. In the case of system prompting, BAS 100 may prompt the user for a transaction identifier as determined by established system parameters. System parameters may be configured to request a transaction identifier at all transactions or only at particular ones. For example, if the transaction information is travel-related, the system may request a transaction identifier to categorize the transaction as business or personal. In another scenario, a particular operator may always request transaction identifiers. For example, an operator may collect categorization data for market research purposes. A user may establish system parameters to configure the system to prompt for transaction identifiers. This scenario may be useful for a user who desires to be reminded to categorize transactions.
Alternatively, BAS 100 may automatically obtain a transaction identifier from a user record. Such an automatic process may be triggered by a variety of situations. The system may categorize transactions automatically based on the received transaction information, operator information, such as an operator identification code, or other such data. For example, transaction information containing the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code “5541—Gasoline Stations” may be automatically categorized as business. In another scenario, BAS 100 may automatically categorize an independent contractor's purchases from Home Depot as business transactions. Additionally, the system may employ a user's transaction history to ascertain a user's categorization behavior and categorize transactions appropriately. For example, a user's transaction history may demonstrate that the user always categorizes Best Buy purchases as personal, thus BAS 100 may automatically categorize such transactions as personal, alleviating the need for the user to supply a transaction identifier. If BAS 100 automatically categorizes transactions, the user may be able to override the automatic process at AS 106. The user may have to perform a particular action, such as pushing a “Cancel” button, or BAS 100 may inform the user before the automatic categorization. For example, AS 106 may display a message such as “This transaction will be categorized as business. If you wish to change the categorization, please place your finger on the scanner.” Moreover, a user may be able to change the categorization after the transaction by accessing his user record, as will be described below.
Depending upon the implementation of AS 106, the user may be able to enter notes regarding a particular transaction or item in addition to providing a transaction identifier. For example, AS 106 may include a keyboard that allows the user to enter information into a “notes” field, such as “business dinner with CEO of BioPay; discussed expansion possibilities” or “bought paper to replenish office supply cabinet.”
At step 306, the system employs the received transaction identifier to categorize the transaction information. In one embodiment, the user may provide multiple transaction identifiers to categorize a transaction more fully. For example, the system may receive iris data from a user's right eye, indicating that the transaction is to be categorized as personal. If the user's record indicates subcategories for personal transactions, the user may provide another identifier, such as a fingerprint to indicate further classification, such as groceries. In one scenario, after receiving a transaction identifier, a display at AS 106 may list numerous subcategories from which the user may choose. To select a subcategory, a user may present another transaction identifier or select an option on the display.
At step 308, once transaction information has been classified, the categorized data is recorded. In one embodiment, the categorized data is included within a sales record that is associated with a user record. Further, the categorized transaction information may be recorded on a sales receipt at AS 106. In one scenario, the transaction identifier solely designates a category to be printed on sales receipts. Alternatively, the user may receive a categorized sales receipt in electronic format. For example, the sales receipt may be delivered to the user via email or may be accessible via a website. Alternatively, a categorized itemization of a transaction may appear on the user's financial account statement.
In one embodiment, AS 106 displays a running total of categorized transaction information. This information may pertain only to the current transaction or to other transactions associated with the user record. For example, the display may list the particular number of transactions or dollar amount for one category. The running total information might also contain data regarding the time period of the categorized information. For example, the display may state that the user has made twenty business transactions in the last month.
In an alternate embodiment, a transaction identifier may be non-biometric data, such as alphanumeric data, token data, or the like. In one scenario, BAS 100 may allow a user to employ a combination of biometric and non-biometric transaction identifiers. A non-biometric transaction identifier may be used if biometric authorization is unavailable, either due to a system malfunction, lack of a BID, a user having nonviable biometric data, or the like. A user may register both biometric data and non-biometric data for a particular transaction category. In order to accommodate non-biometric identifiers, AS 106 may be equipped with a keyboard, keypad, token reader, or the like.
A non-biometric transaction identifier may be unique to the user or may be a generic code. For example, a system employing generic codes may allow all users to employ “B” for business transactions and “P” for personal transactions. In a system using unique codes, the transaction identifier may be, for example, an employee number and be used to track employee spending. As with biometric transaction identifiers, a non-biometric transaction identifier may be compared to data stored in database 104 in order to identify the appropriate user record. A user identifier, such as an SID, may assist in user identification.
As with the biometric embodiment, a user may provide additional non-biometric transaction identifiers in order to categorize transaction information further into subcategories. For example, a user may enter “P” for personal, and then “013” for grocery purchases. In one scenario, the user may provider a combination of biometric and non-biometric transaction identifiers. For example, the user may present his fingerprint to designate a purchase as business, and then enter “001” on a keypad to categorize the purchase as travel-related.
In an additional embodiment, with regard to a purchase transaction, a user may provide multiple transaction identifiers for one transaction to designate transaction categories for each item purchased. Alternatively, a transaction identifier may be assigned to a percentage of a purchase, rather than for individual items. For example, a user may designate 60% of a purchase as personal and 40% as business. If AS 106 is a point of sale, the user may provide the appropriate transaction identifier as each item is entered. Alternatively, after all items have been entered, the system may provide the user with a list of items from which he may assign the appropriate transaction identifier.
As illustrated by
In one embodiment, the user record employed at step 404 may be a pre-enrollment record created for a non-enrolled user. If an operator employs BAS 100 for all transactions, database 104 may receive transaction information regardless of user enrollment. The pre-enrollment record may be identified by various identifiers pertaining to the user or the transaction. For example, the pre-enrollment record may be associated with the user's credit card number or with a particular transaction number. A non-enrolled user may receive documentation informing him that he may categorize the transaction information if he so desires. For example, the user may receive a sales receipt containing instructions and an identification code to be used to gain access to the pre-enrollment record. When the user attempts to access the stored information, he may be prompted to enroll or may be allowed to conduct a categorization procedure without enrollment.
At step 406, the user requests access to his user record in order to categorize the stored transaction information. The user may make a categorization request from a variety of forms of AS 106. For example, AS 106 may be a kiosk providing access to a user record and the transaction information contained therein. In another illustration, AS 106 may be a user's personal computer connected to network 102.
At step 408, the user record is located. A user may provide biometric data to BAS 100 that is compared to biometric data stored in database 104 and a successful match would indicate the appropriate user record. As mentioned above, a user identifier, such as an SID, may assist with locating the user record. For example, a user may provide a user identifier and biometric data or a user identifier and a pass code to access his user record. In one scenario, a transaction identifier may identify a user and assist in locating a user record. A non-enrolled user may provide various identifiers associated with the pre-enrollment record, such as a credit card number, a transaction number, an access code, or the like.
Once a user record is accessed, a listing of one or more transactions to be categorized can be generated. In various embodiments, this listing can represent a specific transaction identified by a transaction number, the most recent transactions, uncategorized transactions, or the like. At step 410, one or more transactions are selected from the listing for categorization. Once the transaction(s) has been selected, the user can then provide categorization information for those transaction(s). In an embodiment that uses an online user interface, the categorization information can be selected through list menus that contain standard and customized transaction categories. In one scenario, the user may alter the categorization of transaction information that has been previously categorized. The previous categorization may have occurred at a point of sale or subsequent to transaction processing. For example, the user may have categorized a transaction erroneously at a point of sale and wish to change the categorization.
At step 412, BAS 100 employs the received categorization information to categorize the transaction information. In one embodiment, the user may provide multiple pieces of categorization information to categorize a transaction more fully. Categorization information may be a transaction identifier or the user may select a transaction category directly. For example, a display at AS 106 may allow the user to place a check next to all transactions that the user wishes to categorize as business. At step 414, once transaction information has been categorized, the categorized information is recorded.
After transaction information has been categorized and recorded, either during the transaction or at a time subsequent, it may be stored in a user record at database 104 to be reviewed and manipulated by the user, such as printing various financial reports. For example, the user may access a system website and designate categories, sort the transactions accordingly, and print expense reports. Alternatively, the user may save such reports in a variety of formats (e.g., such as an Excel spreadsheet). The user may also configure the system to send financial reports on a periodic basis. For example, the user may configure the system to transmit a monthly business expense report to the user or to another entity, such as the user's employer, an accounting entity, a tax preparation organization, a tax collection organization, an authorized user, or a financial advisor. Alternatively, a financial report may be generated and transmitted automatically if the user provides a particular transaction identifier when categorizing transaction information. If the transaction identifier designates a user (e.g., an employee number), the transaction identifier may specify the relevant user. Moreover, a user's biometric data may be associated with a financial report, thereby providing the user's certification that the transaction information thereon is appropriately categorized. For example, a user may associate his biometric data with a business expense report sent to the Internal Revenue Service, thereby stating that all transactions on the report are legitimate business expenses.
The system might also provide users with a reimbursement feature in which financial reports are sent to a specific operator. In one scenario, the operator may be the user's employer or an accounting entity. After a period of time and/or a certain amount of transactions, the system might automatically present categorized transaction information to an operator for reimbursement processing. This may be an automatic procedure or may be conducted by a user or an operator. A reimbursement request and accompanying transaction information might be submitted via email, mail, fax, or the like. The operator may have the option to approve or deny reimbursement for a transaction (or item). Users may be notified of the approval or denial in various ways, such as, for example, via Internet access. The operator may also view a user's transaction information user via AS 106. For example, the system may be configured to allow an operator to access to user accounts via the Internet.
In one embodiment, BAS 100 may send an electronic transmission, such as an email or text message, to users after a transaction. The electronic transaction may include transaction information and state the transaction identifier used for categorization. Alternatively, the electronic transmission may only state transaction information, such as the amount of the transaction, and request the user to categorize the transaction information. The electronic transmission may provide a categorization menu listing transaction identifiers for the user to select or may request the user categorize the transaction information via AS 106. For example, the user may receive an email requesting him to access a system website to categorize the transaction information. Once the user has categorized the transaction information, it may be stored in a user record, printed as a report, or the like. If the transaction information has already been categorized, either by the user or automatically, the electronic transmission may simply state how the transaction information was categorized. In one scenario, BAS 100 automatically categorizes transaction information after a time period has elapsed. The transmission may occur as determined by system parameters that have been established by the system and/or the user. For example, the system may only send an electronic transmission if the total amount of the transaction-exceeds a particular dollar amount.
As mentioned above, a transaction identifier may be used to identify an individual who conducted a particular transaction. In an additional embodiment, a user may authorize an individual to use a financial account associated with a transaction identifier. This may be a permanent or temporary arrangement established via AS 106. For example, an immobile user might ask a friend to buy groceries because the user cannot leave his home. Instead of sending the friend to the grocer with a blank check or credit card, the user might allow his friend to make a transaction with his financial account by providing a transaction identifier. If the friend is a user in BAS 100, the system may employ his registered biometric data for the authorization. If the friend is not a user, the friend may register in BAS 100 before conducting the transaction, or during the transaction if the user has provided BAS 100 with the information necessary to allow access to the friend. Alternatively, the user may register a non-biometric identifier for the friend to utilize. The transaction identifier might be unique to a particular transaction in order to prevent fraud and may only be active for one transaction, be limited to a particular time period, operator or person, or the like. The friend conducting the transaction would categorize the user's transaction (or particular items within the transaction) by providing the appropriate transaction identifier. The user may review the transaction information by accessing the system via AS 106.
In another scenario, the user may authorize an individual to employ a transaction identifier for a gift authorization. For example, the user may notify a friend that he has been registered for a purchase of up to $100.00 on the user's account. The gift authorization may be limited to a particular operator, or may be available for any BAS 100 operator. This arrangement may function for business transactions as well. For example, an eBay buyer may allow an eBay seller to retrieve funds for the amount of a particular purchase.
Transaction identifiers may be applied to numerous situations in which a categorized record may prove useful. Transaction identifiers may be applied when granting a user physical or virtual access. For example, a real estate agent may present a transaction identifier when accessing a lockbox so that an operator may track accesses to a particular property. A transaction identifier may be job site number, illustrating where an employee worked at a particular time. A transaction identifier may also be used for authorization purposes to demonstrate that a user has the credentials to perform a particular task. For example, a user may be able to purchase hazardous materials only if he provides a transaction identifier that certifies he is allowed to handle such material. This may reduce an operator's liability for selling such merchandise. In another scenario, the transaction identifier may provide an operator with useful data. For example, a user may enter a transaction identifier at a point of sale in order to purchase construction supplies. The transaction identifier may inform the operator whether the purchase was made by a contractor or not, allowing the operator to track the amount of transactions that are conducted for business and personal purposes. Transaction identifiers may categorize a variety of authorizations in which tracking the authorization category or user may be useful.
A system and method of categorizing transaction information via transaction identifiers has been illustrated. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the system and method of the present invention can be used to categorize and manipulate transaction information. It will thus be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other variations of the present invention will be possible without departing from the scope of the invention disclosed.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art by a review of the preceding detailed description. Although a number of salient features of the present invention have been described above, the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways that would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading the disclosed invention. Therefore, the above description should not be considered to be exclusive of these other embodiments. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting. |
By Richard Cuicchi
As originally reported in the May 15 issue of SCD, the September 2012 issue of Baseball Digest debuts a new design and format and begins providing fans with content from veteran Major League Baseball scouts.
As the magazine celebrates its 70th anniversary issue in 2012, Baseball Digest has the distinction of being the longest-running monthly baseball publication. It ranks right up there among the all-time titans in baseball journalism, including the still active Sports Illustrated, Baseball America and Sports Weekly.
Baseball Digest has outlived a number of print publications from the past. Gone from today’s baseball journalism landscape are other such long-running publications as The Sporting News (now online), Street & Smith’s, Baseball Magazine and SPORT. Furthermore, other shorter-run periodicals, such as Oldtyme Baseball News, Inside Sports, The Diamond and The National Sports Daily, have met their demise, as well.
Baseball Digest has truly been a leader over the years and appears to be positioning itself for many more seasons to come.
Baseball Digest secured sole rights to publish ProScouting materials previously available only to industry insiders. Consequently, each issue of the magazine now offers fans direct, unfiltered access to scouting information compiled by multiple impartial Major League Baseball scouts with vast combined experience. The magazine’s features will continue to include current fan favorites, such as profiles of current stars, rankings, rosters and season-ending features on its All-Star rookie team. Baseball Digest will transition from a 48-page black-and-white publication to a four-color 80-100-page magazine. Subscriptions are available for $24.95.
The following are highlights of two other key time periods in Baseball Digest’s history.
The beginnings in 1942
Baseball Digest produced its first issue in August 1942. Its timing was somewhat ironic in that the World War II years were often beset by cutbacks in discretionary spending by corporations and individuals. Moreover, at the time of its introduction, Baseball Magazine and The Sporting News already had large, long-standing audiences of baseball fans/readers. However, Baseball Digest’s founder adeptly identified its market and turned out a successful product. Chicago baseball writer Herbert Simon, who was listed as the business manager for Baseball Digest, was the first editor of the magazine.
The magazine represented itself as containing “Baseball’s Best Stories of the Month.” Similar to the approach of general interest magazine Reader’s Digest, the articles were a combination of original pieces and reprints from other newspaper and magazine publications.
A self-promoting advertisement for the magazine posed the question, “What’s Baseball Digest?” Part of its response included, “. . . the very best there is from the nation’s foremost typewriters, carefully selected and ‘digested’ for you from scores of leading national magazines, hundreds of metropolitan daily newspapers, many prominent radio programs . . .”
In fact, the pieces were written by some of the more well-known baseball journalists and radio commentators of the day, names we still recognize today: Shirley Povich, Red Smith, Frank Graham, Sid Mercer, John Carmichael, Tommy Holmes, Bob Broeg and Dan Daniel.
The insightful articles written by well-versed baseball writers became the hallmark of Baseball Digest, from the first issues in 1942 through today’s issues. The scribes imparted astute accounts of the players, topics and events of the game – past and present.
Some of the initial special features included “Di-Jests,” which injected some baseball humor, and “Digesting the Questions,” where the editorial staff answered baseball questions from readers. The magazine consisted of 64 pages until early 1948, and its covers often featured the slogan “64 pages – and every word baseball.”
While commercial advertising in the magazine did not take hold until much later, the issues during the war years contained slogans like, “The Axis is throwing up the sucker pitch; belt it out of the yard by buying war bonds,” and “Everybody scores with war savings bonds and stamps.”
The initial price for an issue of Baseball Digestin August 1942 was 15 cents.
A watershed year in 1969
In the 25-plus years that followed, the magazine’s content, format and publication did not materially change. However, a change in Baseball Digest’s leadership became a defining moment in the magazine’s history.
Original founder/editor Herbert Simons died in September 1968, and Norman Jacobs became owner/publisher in 1969. Jacobs hired Chicago Daily News baseball writer John Kuenster as the editor in May 1969.
Jacobs and Kuenster put Baseball Digest on a path to increase circulation and, in the process, instituted a number of noteworthy changes to the magazine. In many respects, the significance of the changes introduced in 1969 is akin to the types of change being introduced now with the magazine’s relaunch.
Starting in 1969, Baseball Digest showcased its own “Player of the Year” Award. Tom Seaver of the 1969 Miracle Mets was the first selection. Two years later brought the magazine’s first Rookie All-Star teams. Both of these annual post-season features continue today.
One of the most characterizing features of the magazine began in 1969. “The Fan Speaks Out” provided a monthly forum for Baseball Digest readers to submit questions, comments and feedback. The editors entertained all types of input from fans. Common inquiries from readers included such items as:
- “Whatever happened to a specific player?”
- “Can you print the box score of a noteworthy game attended by my father and me?”
- “Can you settle an argument between my friend and me about a specific rule of the game?”
- Recommendation for their “all-time team” for such categories as favorite franchise, their home state or players’ nicknames.
The staff of Baseball Digest did a remarkable job of researching and answering some challenging questions in this part of the magazine, while often calling upon the Baseball Hall of Fame research staff for supplementary expertise about the game.
Additional features introduced in 1969 as standard entries in the publication’s table of contents included:
- “Turn Back the Clock”
- “Baseball Crossword Puzzle”
- “So You Think You Know Baseball”
- “The Game I’ll Never Forget”
- “Whatever Became of…?”
- “Baseball Rules Corner”
- “Baseball Quick Quiz”
- “Baseball Tips for Budding Ball Players,” authored by Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau.
In 1969, the price of the magazine was 50 cents.
Most of the back issues of Baseball Digest are relatively accessible via eBay and other Internet-based sources. A recent search on eBay yielded more than 3,000 Baseball Digest items. However, the condition of the issues varies widely and affects their desirability as collectibles. The availability of the 1942 and 1943 issues is frequently limited. Obviously, the August 1942 premier issue is the most desirable, and, as expected, the most expensive as well, with the price commonly in the $300-$500 range.
The good news is that the other limited availability issues are well below this range. The more commonly available issues are in the $4-$12 range.
In addition to being collected for its memorabilia value, Baseball Digest provides an immense source of information for baseball researchers. The magazine has blended a sound combination of stories and information about baseball’s history and lore, current events, individual players, teams and records. From its very beginning, Baseball Digest has dependably included top-notch articles from some of the best journalists covering baseball.
Baseball Digest’s most recent development of providing player insights from MLB’s scouts seems poised to provide opportunities for the magazine to remain an industry leader and fan favorite.
Sidebar: Digestible facts
- Baseball Digest was one of a family of similar monthly periodicals (also called “Digests”) covering other sports by its publisher. Other main line sports included football, basketball and hockey, while there were others covering auto racing, bowling and soccer.
- One of the humorous quips in a World War II era issue of Baseball Digest: “Hitler calls Mussolini Italy’s greatest son. He’s probably never heard of Joe DiMaggio.”
- At age 27, Brent Musburger was a contributor to Baseball Digest. Over the years, additional writers/personalities included: Dick Young, Jimmy Cannon, Jerome Holtzman, Larry Merchant, George Vass, Bill Conlin, Bob Verdi, Joe Falls, Peter Gammons, Phil Pepe and Mel Antonen.
- One of the more peculiar articles in Baseball Digest was titled “How to Marry a Ballplayer.” Author Herbert Simons used results from a Baseball Digest survey. A few of the suggestions were “become an airline stewardess, become a model and get a job at a team’s hotel.”
- Baseball Digest once started a campaign to gather information on missing ballplayers. The magazine offered $25, current books of the time and subscriptions for four years to readers who could provide information on the whereabouts of selected players, referred to as the “Missing 100.”
- In 1969, Baseball Digest included a regular piece on current news of the amateur leagues. Chris Chambliss (AL Rookie of the Year and All-Star with the Yankees) was named “Sandlot Player of the Year” in 1969 by the National Baseball Congress.
- The dimensions of Baseball Digest began as 8-by-5½ inches, then were modified to 7¾-by-5½ inches in January 1951. This size remained one of its trademarks in the baseball publication industry until January 2010, when it transitioned to a full-sized (8-by-101/2 inches) magazine.
- The price of a Baseball Digest issue remained less than $2 through 1988. By 2002, the price reached $5.99.
Richard Cuicchi is a freelance contributor to SCD. He can be reached at [email protected]. |
I have trouble breathing.After awhile of breathing i just have to take a deep breath or it feels like i will suffocate.I have had all tests for my heart done by my cardiologist,even a heart cath and it is normal.I lost my daughter in an auto accident three years ago and just lost my youngest brother two months ago.My doctor says it might be stress.I do have feelings alot that i am going to die.My doctor wants to put me on Paxil an antidepressant but i take Ultram for the pain of my arthritis and it says on warning label not to mix these drugs.I got on line and it says not to take most antidepressant medicines with Ultram.I am just so scared sometimes that i want be able to get my breath.Does anyone out there have this problem? If so please help me.Thanks,sunny 2
I would suggest working with your doctor about the cause of this problem and the medications that you are taking. It is possible to have anxiety reactions that can cause the symptoms that you are describing.
Hi Sunny, i have also been experiencing this..I feel like I can't get a deep breath and the only way is to try to make myself yawn or try to take a deep sighing breath ..I have been told it is anxiety ..do you have the same symptoms? when I experience this at night I am afraid I will not wake up.
Hi Guys - I have a word document that I would like to send you both if you wish to post your email addresses for me. I too have your symptoms - it's Chronic Hyperventilation Syndrome, #1 complaint being you feel as if you cannot take a deep breath, with frequent deep sighing and yawning. And yes, you feel as if you will suffocate. The harder you try to take a deep breath, the more difficult it becomes because what you are actually doing is, every time you inhale deeply, it keeps the level of carbon dioxide & oxygen out of balance just enough to keep the symptoms going, usually all day. There are two types of hyperventilation - acute and chronic. Acute is the one most people recognize - fast, rapid, shallow breathing. It's more easily recognized than the chronic one, which even doctors don't recognize because the patient will not appear to be having any breathing difficulties. Chronic is caused by 'over-breathing' without your even being aware of it, meaning you're taking in too much air. Anxiety is linked to it, and each will trigger the other so you end up in a cycle that you can't break. I knw - I've been in that cycle for the last two months and have just now started slowly getting better. If you both would like to post an email address, I would be more than happy to forward this document to you. You guys take care, and hope to hear from you soon......
Thanks for your input shana, i would really like if you could send me the info..my email is ski-n-***@**** symptoms last for days sometimes until I finally stop thinking about it ..only to come back again
I too have been experiencing this. I have been to a cardiologist to have my heart checked and it is fine. My Pulmonary doc diagnosed me with asthma after flunking the Methacholine Challenge test ( breathing test ). I have been taking meds for asthma for the past 3 months and they only help at times. I sometimes think there is more to it than asthma, or maybe not asthma at all. I'm not as bad as I used to be but it does get frustrating always having to take a deep breath and then feeling like you didn't get enough air in. My doc also sayd I am anxious and prescribed Paxil, which I quit taking b/c of the side effects. It made me feel like I was out of it all the time, so I now take Zoloft. I also have some reflux going on and I know that can cause asthma meds not to work. I am now taking Nexium and I do feel alot better. However, I would like some info on chronic hyper ventalation, my email is angel_eyes28217***@****
Hi Shana,yes i would like to have the info.My email is ***@**** that will help me get a handle on it.Also maybe it is anxiety.After reading the posts it seems like we all have the same symtoms (symptoms).Thanks for getting back to me Ashpie3 and angel eyes.And like you said it will not happen for a few days and back it comes.But it sure is scary.I hope we all get relief.Sunny2
Hi All, I was diagnosed w/ COPD 4 yrs. ago. At that time, my doctor wanted to give me alot of pharmaceutical medications. Being somewhat of a health nut, I was quite apposed to this means of treatment. I began seeing a massage therapist who also practised cranial-sacro work (balancing the spinal/brain fluids)and also began practising pranayama (breath) yoga. I'm most happy to report that this combination has not only improved my ability to breath but has also eleviated alot of anxiety I had over loss of breath and I'm drug(pharmaceutical)free.
So glad I could help, have sent you both the document I promised. It probably is very much related to anxiety. I've been on a low-dose anti-anxiety medicine for about a month and have finally started feeling like myself again. They originally thought I had mild asthma but don't have the 'right' symptoms for it and inhalers don't seem to do much. One doctor didn't think it was asthma at all and suggested Zoloft but that's an anti-depressant and I wouldn't take it, partly because I wasn't depressed, but mostly because I didn't want to take something that alters your brain chemistry. The doctor who finally figured out what was going on prescribed low-dose Zanax for about a month and it worked (he knows I don't like taking stuff like that so he prescribed the low dose once a day, two if I felt I needed it, and it was enough to finally stop it). A month is about as long as most people need to take it because it stops the anxiety, which alot of people aren't even aware they have, and once you do that, your body will slowly start to regulate your breathing again.
Please let me know how you are and if any of the information helped you. Take care.
I too have frequent bouts of symptoms you describe, and given the fact that i have panic disorder, to an extent, i assume mine is anxiety related. I had similar problems a few years ago, and i either got better or lessened the anxiety and it eventually got ok. I sometimes feel as if my throat is constricted when this is going on, and also notice it more sometimes when laying down, or at least notice it seems worse when laying down....Im like you guys though, it comes and goes, some days dont really notice it, so i think if it were a physical condition, it would not come and go so easily.
This past week I started to experience same kind of symptoms than you were describing to be symptoms of "chronic hyperventilation syndrome". Everything started on Tuesday (6 days ago): not being able to breath in, yawning all the time..worrying about it and not being able to fall asleep because I thought I would not wake up in the morning. I have never had any problems like this before, so it has scared me a lot. I almoust went into an emergency room the other day, but bailed out and didn't go. What could have triggered this?
I am wondering whether or not I should go and see a doctor? Will they prescribe me medication for this breathing problem? And does this problem ever go away?
I would appreciate all of your help, and comments from people who have experienced the same.
You may send me post in: ***@****
Thanks you so much.
Finn 2002,i do not know what triggers these attacks.My doctor says it is sometimes things that happen in your life related to stress.And as i said above i recently lost two precious family members and i think about them everyday and get so upset.I don't scream or lose control.It is just such a feeling of sadness inside.My doctor said stress can kill and you don't even realize when you may need help.If you are worried i would see a doctor to at least put your mind at ease.Also i think there is definitely something to this hypreventilation theory.I am going to check it out.And to Shelley 67,i do have heart palpitations and a funny feeling in my throat,i really don't know how to describe it but it feels like my heart vibrates and stops for a second if that makes any sense.Good luck to all.
Hi everyone, I am glad that I am not alone..thank you Shana for the info you mailed to me I really appreciate it! I have noticed that sometimes I do also get palpitations but this breathing thing is enough to drive me mad! When this breathign thing happens it's like I can't concentrate on anything else but breathing..I had problems a few years back w/ anxiety so I know that I am a very anxious person but this happens out of the blue when I don't feel anxious..I am thinking about going to my doctor and asking to be put on something for awhile..I am not big on taking things but I have 2 small children and a job that I dread going to for fear that it'll keep happening..any suggestions?
(I will send info to you in a few minutes Steve, and all of you are welcome to share it with anyone else.)
Oh my, it seems like I touched on something big here. How many of us are walking around with asthma diagnoses that are not correct? Or worse, told it's all in our head? I'm not a big fan of any kind of drugs either, but I knew unless I took something, the cycle I was in was just going to keep getting worse. Anxiety/stress/panic disorder/hyperventilation, they're all connected. Has anyone had the tightness in the chest with this? Granted, this sounds like asthma to a doctor but I had no other symptoms that most people with asthma would have (as of this writing, my own doctor is not sure himself now). I've taken Zanax now for about a month and even though I'm still experiencing the symptoms on occasion, the Zanax is what helped stop the anxiety and the panic I was experiencing along with it. I find when I start feeling that tightness in my throat and start having difficulty taking a deep breath, I'll take the Zanax at that time and within an hour I feel pretty good and usually stay that way for the rest of the day. I very rarely take more than one a day, and I'm assuming this will eventually go away completely. I don't have any problems at night, though. In fact, I breathe just fine when I'm sleeping according to my husband, deep and regular. And I would bet that all of you do, too. I also think it has alot to do with just our own breathing patterns, which may explain why it seems to just come out of the blue and why some of us can't really think of what triggered it. I origianlly thought it was my 'mild asthma' that triggered mine because of all the anxiety I was having over not being able to breathe. But now we're not sure if it simply wasn't this all along. I do know that I find it very comforting to find so many people with the same symptoms and realize I'm not alone. Maybe we should all post exactly what our particular symptoms are so we can compare. I know I would be very interested in knowing if anyone has the tightness in the chest that I had so badly at the beginning and still get occasionally. I also have the 'tightness' in my throat; my chest hurts sometimes when I inhale deeply; heart palpitations in bed, but sometimes I get them when I'm sitting quietly and then will get slightly dizzy with it. Do others have these, also?
I am so glad I found this web site. Now I realize I am not alone with this breathing issue.
As I said in my previous e-mail, my symptoms started very recently, only one week ago. Before that I had had no signs of a breathing problem before. I have been trying figure out what might have caused this, but I am still unsure about it. I have had a very stressful year, though, and my boyfriend says he is not surprised if it's linked to the problem.
Anyway, last Tuesday when everything started I was so scared. I could not breath in properly and felt like I was not getting enough air to my lungs. Could not take deep breaths, air would not go all the way in. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. At night time I had trouble falling asleep because I thought I will not wake up in the morning..
Other symptoms include: dizziness (not all the time, though), tight chest, and sometimes even feeling of having to vomit in back of my throat.
I still have these symptoms, they are not going away. Is there any over the counter drugs that I could take or do I have to go and see a doctor for this?
P.S. Another thing, I have realized that if I am completely relaxed, for example laying on the couch and watching a movie..I do not have this breathing problem, but as soon as the movie is over it all starts again.
Shana, could you please mail me info as well. Thanks.
Hi everyone, I made a doctors appointment tomorrow to see if he can give me something for whatever it is I am suffering from..I have really bad allergies and they thought a few years back that maybe I had asthma..the thing is I don't gasp for air and I can talk when this breathing thing happens I just have to keep trying to take a deep breath or yawn.I also have palpitations and I get a tight feeling in my throat and a fuzzy feeling in my head sometimes..When I am sleeping I breath fine it is falling asleep that is hard when it's happening because I am afraid I won't wake up..I also have a constant drip in the back of my throat
Oh my, another one. I will send you the information I have, hope it helps you. I'm very curious as to what symptoms you're having and how long you've been having them. Hope to hear from you soon..........
Hi Shana, thank you so much for the info. I appreciate it. My symtoms (symptoms) are not being able to get my breath and the harder I try the worse it gets. I also get lightheaded, chest tightnes/pain sometime tingling. Sometimes I am unsteady on my feet. I feel like I'm suffocating, my throat feels like its swollen. I did not get to read the whole document yet, but what I did read are a lot of my symtoms (symptoms). I am an anxious person and this has been going on for quite a few years. I've had numerous tests through out the years that ruled out heart/lung problems/MS/lupus. I do have a Thyroid problem (Hashimoto Thyroiditis) but my Dr said the symtoms (symptoms) are not from that. Drs don't know what my problem is. This article is very informative and my next dr appt I'm going to tell him about it. Thanks again.
Would you please send me the info? I have been suffering for 3 weeks with all the same symptoms...I am exhausted from this. I have had this in the past, but this is lasting much longer than usual. In the past I have been given xanax, but I'm holding out hoping that it will just go away as quickly as it came! My email is ***@****
could u mail me the info on chs, i am waiting for results of blood tests for thyroid etc at the moment but i think this is chs, i do have a stressy job and busy(stressy homelife), my job is pre-school leader.l just feel that most of the time my lungs are not big enough to take in the amount of air i need, i sigh i yawn and i do try to use breathing excersises that i have picked up. This is ok when i have the time to think about my breathing.Like at night time when there is no-one about!!!!! I some times get chest pains, but if i calm my breathing down then they go away. I start my new term next week and am fed up with it all, this started about a month before my 40th birthday, and i had an operation booked for around the same time, i assumed it was all the stress - i assumed it would go away after the op, but no, that was not to be. i have been stuck with it ever since!!!!!!!
It was great to find this area where others suffered the same as me , thanks from stressy england
My email is kim.***@****
Hi - I will be happy to send you the document. Sometimes even after the stress is gone, certain people will continue to hyperventilate simply because the respiration center in their brain has been 'reset' to accept the lower carbon dioxide levels as 'normal'. Any sighing or yawning you do is just enough to keep this level low so it keeps the symptoms ongoing. Also, because your brain has been reset to accept the lower levels as normal for you, any increase in breathing is then perceived as air hunger. And basically what you end up in is a vicious cycle, and honestly, the only way to break it is with regular breathing exercises done faithfully every day, twice a day. In essense what you are doing with these exercises is retraining your brain to reset itself back to accepting normal breathing patterns, but you have to do this every day for it to be effective. It took awhile for you to 'teach' yourself to hyperventilate and breathe incorrectly; it will also take awhile to retrain it back again.
I will send you the document but the breathing exercises I do I found in a book, though the ones I'm sending are good too. Take care, ok?
I was diagnosed with anxiety/panic disorders about 3 months ago. My serious issues started about 4 months back. Since that time, I've encountered just about every anxiety related symptom that I've read about. I was always having the shortness of breath issue, but lately, after an event that triggered a bout of severe anxiety, I started having the symptoms that all of you have been talking about. We all seem to be in the same boat. I am strongly against medications for myself, but they do help some people. Short and long term therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy, seem to be extremely important for people in their recover from these issues. I've been in therapy for a little over 3 months now. I believe that this is a battle that we can all win. We just need the right tools, and some time. So keep fighting people.
I am so glad to read about this. I have had these symptoms for 20 some years... The feeling like I can't get a deep breath. It will last for awhile and then go away. It's always worse when I think about it. Shana could you please send me the document about chs? Thanks, email is ***@****
I cant believe that this many people have this problem I am facing. Sometimes I will be fine and than randomly I cant catch my breath. I hate that fealing like it stops me from working out because I cant breath right. I have gotten it checked and I am alright but its just real annoying me. I wish i can make it go away. " One day I went to registyer for my classes at college and i started like breathing slow and I couldnt get my breath, feeling kind of dizzy out of no where while i was listening to the lady on which courses i want to take.. It was strange.. Yea im trying to see if there is anything over the counter I can take. I lost my job and no longer have inscurance to see a family doctor that probably may help. I have never felt this way,but i may think its from the stess of life now. Here is my e-mail Gene.***@****
Hi, I have also been experiencing this for a little over 3 weeks now.
When the problems first started (tight chest, needing to take a deep breath, excessive yawning to catch my breath) I got really worried about it and would hyperventilate - which I had never done before and so ended up going to an emergency room. Because of this hyperventilation i got really lightheaded and my fingers would tingle. This would happen at night as well when I would worry about not waking up.
I have the problem all day long; but after seeing the doctor 2 weeks ago it is not as bad, as I am not worrying about it as much. My doctor checked all my breathing functions and said that my heart and breathing seemed fine. I was told that I may have had a oesophagal infection for which I was given a course of anti-biotics. I was also told that my problems may be worsened from my anxiety, which at the time I did not believe but now that I am less worried about it I can she that was probably true.
I have since finished my course and I think I feel slightly better but my breathing troubles are always present all day long. I was on holiday for the last 2 weeks and while there, as I was really happy and wasn't thinking about it very much, the problems were only bad when I was by myself.
I sometimes get a pain in my chest from trying to get a deep breath all day long. Also when I wake up in the mornings my chest hurts. My cough sounds quite bad but I dont just randomly cough; I usually cough after I take a deep breath of when I think it will help alleviate my chest pain.
My throat has also felt quite restricted since this started though when I was checked out by my doctor I was told it did not look very swollen.
If it helps I used to smoke but have stopped since these problems arose.
Sorry for the long post, I just thought I would put everything down. I hope we all find out what is wrong with us.
By the way if it still feels bad by monday I am going to the doctors again and will push to be referred if I am still told that nothing is wrong. I will keep you all updated.
Wow I can't believe how much all of this sounds like me. My problems started right after my high schoolgraduation. I was on my senior trip when I awoke in the middle of the night feeling like my heart was racing...this immediatley made me panic and I felt as if I couldn't get my breathe. I thought I was dying. Eventually it went away and I was fine for the rest of the trip until I returned home. That first night back was horrible. I was up all night with a feeling in my chest that is best described as an extreme tightness, I couldn't breathe, and my heart felt as if it were racing. I sat up the entire night panicking and scared to wake anyone up and startle them. I have since been to a cardiologist and everything with my heart was checked to be ok and I must say this certainliy made some of the stress go away. I am getting ready to start college and feel this may play a large role in everything but am still somewhat concerned. My face and fingertips feel tingly, I feel unbalanced if I am sitting and then walk, I can never catch my breathe, and I have a chest pain/tightness...so is there a certain medical diagnosis for this? and if so what is there to take to help me?
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A NARRATIVE AND PICTORIAL DISCOGRAPHY OF BEATLEMANIA IN 2 BOOKS
COMPILED BY BRUCE SPIZER
Foreword by Alan Livingston, President
of Capitol Records, 1962-1968
PICTURES OF ALL THEIR HIT RECORDS
INNER VIEWS ON THE MARKETING OF THE BEATLES TO THEIR FANS
MANY COLOR PHOTOS
THEIR WHOLE STORY ON CAPITOL RECORDS ... FROM BEGINNING TO FABULOUS FAME!
First published October 24, 2000
IT'S LIKE SPENDING A VERY SPECIAL EVENING WITH THE ENTIRE BEATLES CATALOG ON CAPITOL RECORDS!
THE BEATLES' STORY ON CAPITOL RECORDS
a narrative and pictorial discography of beatlemania
Thousands of words have been written about the records...
Hundreds on hundreds of color pictures have been printed...
...All in an effort to capture for fans and collectors the world over
the fascinating truth and substance about the Capitol singles and
albums by four wonderful guys
named John, George, Paul and Ringo.
Here, at least, IS the whole story and the real story about
the Beatles on Capitol Records, authoritatively researched,
written and compiled in two books by
Bruce Spizer, author of the critically acclaimed
The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay.
HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL FIND INSIDE:
THE BEATLES RECORDS IN CLOSE-UP, PACKED WITH DETAILS, ANECDOTES, FACTS YOU NEVER KNEW BEFORE ABOUT THEM - THE AUTHENTIC STORIES OF ALL REOCRDS - WHY CAPITOL RECONFIGURED THE ALBUMS - THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BUTCHER COVER - ALBUMS ISSUED BY CAPITOL OF CANADA AND DISCOS CAPITOL DE MEXICO - SGT. PEPPER - PICTURES AND STORIES OF THE BEATLES HIT RECORDS - BEST OF THE TRADE MAGAZINES ADS - CORPORATE DOCUMENTS - DAZZLING COLOR PHOTOS OF ALL RECORD JACKETS, PICTURE SLEEVES, LABEL VARIATIONS AND PROMOTIONAL ITEMS - THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE YET ON THE CAPITOL RECORDS OF JOHN, GEORGE, PAUL AND RINGO - FROM MEET THE BEATLES! TO MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
Compiled and written by Bruce Spizer. Special assistance from Perry Cox, Gary Hein, Gary Johnson, Jim Hansen, Mark Galloway, Mitch McGeary and countless others. Foreword by Alan Livingston, president (1962-1968) of Capitol Records, Hollywood, California. Pre-press by Diana Thornton.
MEET THE BEATLES!
CAPITOL (S)T 2047
1. I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
(John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
2. I SAW HER STANDING THERE
(John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
3. THIS BOY (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
4. IT WON'T BE LONG (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
5. ALL I'VE GOT TO DO (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
6. ALL MY LOVING (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
1. DON'T BOTHER ME (George Harrison)
2. LITTLE CHILD (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
3. TILL THERE WAS YOU (Meredith Willson)
4. HOLD ME TIGHT (John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
5. I WANNA BE YOUR MAN
(John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
6. NOT A SECOND TIME
(John Lennon-Paul McCartney)
After deciding to issue I Want To Hold Your Hand b/w I Saw Her Standing There as its first Beatles single, Capitol was faced with the task of preparing an album to introduce the Beatles to the United States. Parlophone had released the group's second long player, With The Beatles (Parlophone mono PMC 1206; stereo PCS 3045), on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated. The disc had advance sales of over 300,000 units and quickly shot to the top of the British charts. Capitol determined that this record would be the one to join I Want To Hold Your Hand in the Beatles Campaign, but, as discussed below, some alterations would be made.
While Capitol wisely decided to use the same striking front cover photo as the British album, the company thought the title With The Beatles lacked impact. As it had no way of knowing Vee-Jay's plans to resurrect and issue its Introducing The Beatles album, Capitol probably considered naming its album Introducing The Beatles. Imagine the confusion that would have caused. But, as fate would have it, Capitol chose Meet The Beatles!
The album was mastered on December 19, 1963. The labels to the acetate made that day (shown center) misspell the group's name as "THE BEATTLES." This is the same spelling error that appears on the group's first U.S. release, Vee-Jay 498 (see Part One, page 5).
Original plans called for the album to be released in mid-February, 1964, but, as was the case with its single, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Capitol moved the release date forward due to growing demand for Beatles product. Vee-Jay's release of its Introducing The Beatles LP on January 10, 1964, also influenced Capitol to get its album on the market as soon as possible. According to a January 13, 1964, Capitol press release, Meet The Beatles! had advance orders of 240,000 units.
Meet The Beatles! was released on January 20, 1964. It debuted in Billboard's February 1, 1964, Top LP's chart at number 92, making it the first Beatles album to chart in the U.S. The same issue also showed I Want To Hold Your Hand at the top of the singles chart, a position the Capitol 45 held for seven straight weeks. Billboard's February 8th issue tracked Meet The Beatles! at number three. By the February 15th issue, Capitol's debut Beatles LP had replaced The Singing Nun (Philips 203) as the top album, fending off Vee-Jay's Introducing The Beatles and remaining number one for 11 weeks before being replaced by The Beatles' Second Album on May 2, Billboard charted Meet The Beatles! for 71 weeks, including 17 weeks in the top five, 21 in the top ten and 24 in the top twenty. Cash Box and Record World also charted the album at number one.
Testimony to the phenomenal sales of Capitol's two Beatles records, I Want To Hold Your Hand and Meet The Beatles!, appeared in the March 5, 1964, affidavit of Capitol vice president Voyle Gilmore in the New YOrk litigation between Capitol and Vee-Jay Records. Gilmore claimed that Capitol was selling approximately 500,000 Beatles records a week and had already sold over 6,000,000 copies of their two Beatles releases. The March 28, 1964, Billboard reported sales of Meet The Beatles! at 3,650,000 units and I Want To Hold Your Hand at 3,400,000 units.
The fact that the Capitol LP was outselling the single caught everyone off guard. Prior to the Beatles, rock albums were normally not big sellers. Selling a few hundred thousand LPs was considered a tremendous success. A few of Elvis Presley's albums had sold in excess of a million units, but these were either Christmas, greatest hits, sacred or movie soundtrack LPs. Neither of the King's first two rock 'n' roll albums hit sales of a million. And none of Capitol's first three Beach Boys' albums sold a million. The phenomenal sales of Meet The Beatles!, which went on to sell over five million copies, taught the record industry that huge profits could be generated by well-crafted rock albums.
Although With The Beatles was a proven best-seller in England, Capitol decided to alter the British disc. Changes were made for marketing and financial reasons.
In America, the conventional wisdom was that hit singles made hit albums. As With The Beatles did not contain either I Want To Hold Your Hand or I Saw Her Standing There, some songs from the British LP would have to be deleted to make room for these songs.
Economics also entered into the formula. While British pop albums typically had fourteen tracks, American LPs normally had twelve songs. The disparity evolved from the different method of calculating song publishing royalties between the two countries. In the United States, publishers are paid a mechanical license fee for each song that appears on the record. Under this system, each song represents an additional cost. In England, song publishers receive a share of the total royalties paid on each album sold. For example, if an LP contains fourteen songs, the publishing royalty due from the sale of the album. Because the number of songs included on the disc has no direct cost effect, British record companies can afford to provide a more generous number of songs per album. Thus, for financial reasons, Capitol decided to limit its first Beatles album to the American standard of a dozen selections.
Although Capitol is often criticized for the way it tore apart the Beatles British albums and issued its own reconfigured records, such criticism is unfounded when aimed at Meet The Beatles! Capitol's selection of songs formed the perfect disc for Americans to meet the Beatles.
Recognizing that hit singles sell albums, Capitol placed both sides of its single I Want TO Hold Your Hand b/w I Saw Her Standing There as the album's opening tracks. The next song is This Boy, the B side to the British single I Want To Hold Your Hand. Following the opening rockers with This Boy was brilliant programming as the ballad effectively slows down the pace of the album and showcases the beautiful vocal harmonies of John, Paul and George. The last three songs on the first side are the first three songs from side one of With The Beatles, namely It Won't Be Long, All I've Got To Do and All My Loving. All songs on side one are Lennon-McCartney originals.
Side two opens with the next three songs from With The Beatles, namely George Harrison's Don't Bother Me, Lennon-McCartney's Little Child and the Broadway show tune Till There Was You. The final three songs on the Capitol album are the remaining Lennon-McCartney originals from the British LP: Hold Me Tight, I Wanna Be Your Man and Not A Second Time.
With the exception of Till There Was You, all of the album's songs were written by members of the group. This enabled Capitol to exploit the band's songwriting abilities.
The five selections from With The Beatles not included on Capitol's first Beatles album were cover versions of songs originally recorded by American artists. Capitol probably reasoned that American record buyers would not be interested in hearing a British band perform American tunes. After all, who needs the Beatles version of Chuck Berry's Roll Over Beethoven when Chuck Berry's version is available? This view changed when the Canadian single of the Beatles Roll Over Beethoven was imported from Canada and began receiving heavy airplay on U.S. radio stations and selling enough copies to chart. Capitol responded by giving serious consideration to issuing the Beatles version of the Chuck Berry rocker as its follow-up to I Want To Hold Your Hand. Although George Martin convinced the label to release Can't Buy Me Love instead, Roll Over Beethoven was prominently listed as a featured selection on the cover of The Beatles' Second Album, which also contained the other four cover versions from With The Beatles.
The recording history of I Want To Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There is covered in the chapter on that single in Part One. The beautiful ballad This Boy, with its striking three-part harmony, was recorded at the same October 17, 1963, session as I Want To Hold Your Hand. The song was perfected in 15 takes, with two more takes for overdubs. The Free As A Bird maxi-single from 1995 contains Takes 12 and 13, which break down prior to completion due to the boys flubbing the lyrics. The laughter at the end of each take shows how much fun the group had in the studio in the early days.
The Beatles recorded This Boy twice for the BBC. The December 17, 1963, performed aired on the December 21 Saturday Club and the February 28, 1964, recording aired on the March 30 From Us To You. Neither performance is on Apple's Live At The BBC.
On December 2, 1963, the Beatles performed This Boy for The Morecambe And Wise Show. The audio portion of the broadcast is on Anthology 1. Volume 2 of the Anthology video contains a segment of the group lip syncing the song.
This Boy was performed by the Beatles during their first visit to America, including their February 11, 1964, Washington Coliseum concert. CBS TV recorded the show in black and white video for closed-circuit broadcasts to American theaters on March 14 and 15, 1964.
The First U.S. Visit video contains the group's performance of This Boy from the February 16 Ed Sullivan Show, broadcast from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach. Paul, John and George are shown gathered around a single microphone to sing their three-part harmony. Ringo primarily restricted his drumming to his high hat for the ballad.
This Boy became a regular on the Beatles concert set list in late 1963 and reamined part of the show throughout the first half of 1964. By the time the group began their American tour, the song had been dropped from the lineup. Thus, the song was not performed at the Capitol-recorded Hollywood Bowl concert of August 23, 1964.
It Won't Be Long was the first Lennon-McCartney original recorded for With The Beatles. After ten takes during the morning session of July 30, 1963, the group returned to the song that evening. The released master is an edit of Takes 17 and 21. The rocker opens with an energetic chorus full of trademark "yeah"s before moving to a catchy guitar riff and passionate lead vocals by John on the verses and bridge. Paul and George supply backing vocals. George Martin thought the song was worthy of being the potboiler opener for the Beatles all-important second British album. Had the song been released as a single, it would have been a huge hit.
John takes the spotlight again on All I've Got To Do, which was recorded in 15 takes on September 11, 1963. The moderate-paced song opens with a strummed guitar setting the stage for John's lead vocal. Highlights include a catchy melody, great singing and Ringo's distinctive drumming with effective use of his high-hat.
All My Loving was recorded at the end of the same July 30 session as It Won't Be Long. The song opens with Paul's lead vocal and quickly adds its exciting, fast-paced instrumental backing, dominated by John's high-speed churning rhythm guitar. George plays a country & western-influenced guitar solo during the tune's instrumental break and sings along with Paul during the last verse. Another high-quality song that could have been a hit single.
The Beatles performed All My Loving three times for the BBC. The third performance, which was recorded at the Piccadilly Theatre in London on February 28, 1964, and aired on the March 30th From Us To You program, is included on Live At The BBC.
All My Loving holds the distinction of being the first song performed by the Beatles on their first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. This historic performance appears on Volume 3 of the Anthology video and on The First U.S. Visit. The audio portion of the broadcast is included on Anthology 1. The group's performance o fthe song on the second Sullivan Show appears on The First U.S. Visit video. Volume 3 of the Anthology video contains the first part of the June 17, 1964, Melbourne performance.
All My Loving was part of the Beatles stage show from late 1963 through all of 1964. Capitol's The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl includes the group's August 23, 1964, performance, which is also included in black and white film on Volume 4 of the Anthology video.
George's Don't Bother Me was his first solo composition recorded by the Beatles. The group first attempted the song on September 11, 1963, but was not satisfied with the result. Returning to the song the next day, the Beatles started from scratch, with the remake designated Take 10. A finished master was completed in ten takes, including overdubs. George's voice was double-tracked and other overdubs included John on tambourine, Paul on claves and Ringo on a loose-skinned Arabian bongo drum. The band's initial attempt at the remake, Take 10, is an excellent live-in-the-studio performance. Towards the end of the song George can be heard singing "Oh yeah, rock 'n' roll now."
John's Little Child was also started on September 11 and completed the following day. The infectious rocker has many of the ingredients of past hits, including "come on"s, "oh yeah"s and John's wailing harmonica. Paul contributed a piano part to overdub Take 15, which was edited with Take 18 to form the finished master.
The one non-original song included on the album was a deliberately safe selection sure to please even adult listeners. Till There Was You was a love song from the hit musical The Music Man and was the type of show tune Paul enjoyed singing. Its inclusion on the group's second British LP followed the precedent of A Taste Of Honey's appearance on the first British LP. The tunes's jazz guitar arrangement closely follows Peggy Lee's recording of Till There Was You, which appears on her album Latin ala Lee!
After three unsuccessful takes of Till There Was You on July 18, 1963, the Beatles returned to the song on July 30. For the remake, Ringo abandoned his drum kit for bongos. Paul's soaring vocal performance is noteworthy not only for its beauty, but also for his pronunciation of the word "saw" as "sar" in the line "But I never sar them winging, no I never sar them at all." |
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Front Page Titles (by Subject) LETTER VIII. - The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 4 (Diplomatic Missions 1506-1527)
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LETTER VIII. - Niccolo Machiavelli, The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings, vol. 4 (Diplomatic Missions 1506-1527)
The Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, tr. from the Italian, by Christian E. Detmold (Boston, J. R. Osgood and company, 1882). Vol. 4.
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Magnificent Signori, etc.: —
If your Lordships had not been kept daily informed of every occurrence here by the Lord Lieutenant in his letters to the most reverend Legate, you might wonder at not having had letters from me for several days, and might reasonably accuse me of neglect. But I deemed it superfluous to tell you the same things that the Lord Lieutenant has written and told you. Nor have I returned yet, although the enemy has moved forward, because the Lieutenant thought that before I left he would wish to see for certain what the enemy really intended doing. And truly, before they started, and even afterwards, we were not without considerable apprehensions that they would move upon Tuscany; for we had understood that they had been so urged by the Duke of Ferrara, and that in fact it had been their own plan, as they believed that country to be more easily pillaged than any other, its inhabitants being unaccustomed to the sight of an enemy’s face. This opinion prevailed until yesterday, although it was supposed that, if they wished to enter Tuscany, they ought to have taken either the road by way of Pontremoli or by way of Garfagnana, as both these routes lead to the Lucchese territory, where they might have hoped to find provisions for some days; or they might either have had them brought here from a country that was devoted to them, or they might have been supplied from Ferrara; and once past, they might have made the attempt upon Tuscany, and if successful they could have followed up their victory, and failing they might have passed on to the Siennese territory.
But since they have gone from Modena towards Bologna, no reasonable man can suppose that they will come to Tuscany, because there are but four roads leading to it, namely, the Sasso, the Diritti, the Val di Lamona, and to pass the Alps of Crespino, or by Val di Montone, in which case they would have to pass the Alps of San Benedetto. Neither one of these roads is secure, for besides the ordinary difficulties of passing the mountains, all these passes lead into the Mugello, where they would die of hunger in two days, unless they should take either Pistoja or Prato; and as they cannot hope to do that, they cannot attempt to come by these passes. There remains one other route by which they could penetrate into Tuscany, and that is to enter into the Marecchia above Cesena, and come to the Borgo San Sepolcro. This road is easy, but it would be difficult for these troops to get to Cesena, as all the places in Romagna are fortified, and the country bare of provisions. Nevertheless, if the enemy take either of these routes, all measures are taken for our troops to arrive in Tuscany before them, in accordance with the plans which the Lord Lieutenant has communicated to the most reverend Legate; and they will, moreover, have the Duke of Urbino at their heels. We have news to-day that he is entirely well again, and that he has passed the Po with all the Venetian troops. If then it be true that the enemy has to encounter such difficulties in advancing, it follows that necessity will oblige them to attempt some enterprise nearer at hand, and which they could carry out at their ease, and which, if successful, would open the way for them to succeed in all the others.
Yesterday the impression prevailed that they would make an attempt upon Ravenna, and therefore we sent a detachment of six hundred troops there this morning. To-day it is feared their attack will be upon Bologna; the fact that the fortifications of Ravenna are in a bad state of repairs is calculated to decide them in favor of that place; whilst the reason for attempting Bologna would be its population, which is believed not to be all agreed to sustain a siege. We shall soon see which of the two it will be; and if the enemy comes here, the most important place for this game will be around the walls of this place. But I believe we may remain here quite safely, for there will be ten thousand troops here, the place is well fortified and supplied with all necessaries, and the inhabitants are united and well disposed to defend themselves.
I recommend myself to your Lordships, quæ bene valeant.
Bologna, 4 March, 1527.
P. S. — I wrote the above to your Lordships yesterday, but the letter was left behind, owing to the carelessness of the person who makes up the packages. The enemy has made no movement to-day, nor have they come to Castel San Giovanni as was expected; nevertheless we are to-day of a somewhat different opinion from yesterday. For if we were yesterday sure that the enemy would not come into Tuscany, but would attack this city, to-day we are quite in doubt, owing to the information we have that after all their real design is to enter Tuscany; and that they feigned first that they were coming here to Bologna, so that, having induced you to send all your forces here, and having thus, as it were, disarmed you, they might arrive before us and crush you at a single blow. The Lord Lieutenant therefore writes you not to send any troops into Romagna, and has ordered that the troops of the Signor Giovanni, if they are in a convenient place, shall come at once in this direction. Or perhaps the Signor Giovanni may go in person to Loglano, accompanied by a strong division of infantry, so that he may be able to return here in case the enemy should attack this city, or be in advance of them if they should attempt to move upon Florence. I said that perhaps this course might be taken, because the reasons which I alleged in my letter of yesterday for not believing that the enemy would not come into Tuscany unless he had first taken Bologna are so powerful in their nature that, notwithstanding the information received since, we remain still of the same opinion. But that which troubles our spirits is that a certain Betto, one of our own people, has related to us that, having been at the enemy’s camp to-day, the Constable de Bourbon had told him to make known to the people of Bologna that, if they would give him free passage and provisions, and become good Imperialists, he would ask nothing else of them, and would treat them as friends; but if they would not do this, they might expect to see the army before their walls. This proposition seems to us most important, for if the enemy really takes such a course, the population of the city being very great, and seeing that they can escape such great dangers on such easy terms, it is to be feared that they would eagerly accept them. It is necessary, therefore to retain a sufficient force here to keep the population firm in their good will towards us, and to be able to show them the deceit which it is intended to practise upon them, and the ease with which they can defend themselves against it.
But to do this, troops must not be sent to Loglano, unless Bologna is first relieved; and thus what might be of advantage to Florence would injure us here, and what would benefit us here might do harm to Florence. Anyhow it is supposed that all can be provided for; because, by not sending your troops into Romagna, you will find yourselves with 5,000 men, besides the 3,000 of the Signor Giovanni, which will be sent to you under any circumstances. And as for the rest of the army, excepting the troops that are with the Duke of Urbino, they will remain here to watch the enemy, who must come either by the Sasso road or by the Diritta. And we shall be prepared to come by whatever road they do not take, and shall anyhow be at Florence before them; for we shall come without artillery, whilst they must bring theirs along with them. These are the plans that have been discussed to-day; they will adopt that which is deemed the best, of which his Lordship the Lieutenant will write most fully and distinctly to the most reverend Legate.
Bologna, 5 March, 1527. |
November 3rd, 2011 by Car and SUV
With high fuel prices and congested main centres the small hatch B-segment market has become a key war zone for car makers. It’s an area Peugeot has long been strong in and it’s latest weapon in the fight is the new 208 which has just been revealed and will replace the current 207 series.
This latest Pug will go up against the Ford Fiesta, Toyota Yaris and VW Polo. While the overall dimensions have shrunken Peugeot claims that the interior volume has increased.
In terms of styling the 208 adopts Peugeot’s latest design language, the main highlights include a “floating” grille, raked back headlights and “boomerang” style tail lamps. The 208′s profile is also more sculptured, and overall, the new model looks sufficiently more advanced than the 207 it replaces.
The 208 will be built in two body styles when it launches next year, a three- and five-door. The three-door model is distinguished by pronounced side curve that extends all the way back to the rear lights, a slightly more sloped roofline, thicker C-pillar and a smaller glasshouse. The three-door 208 will tip the scales at just 975kg, a full 170kg lighter than its predecessor. Read the rest of this entry »
October 31st, 2011 by Car and SUV
Mini is continuing to expand its model family. The latest addition to the range is the Mini Roadster, this convertible variant is the sixth model in the brand’s current line-up and the first open-top two-seater in its history.
The two-seater features a manually-opening soft-top roof and plenty of unique packaging to appeal to Mini fans. As you’d expect it offers the high-handling abilities expected of a Mini and broad scope for individualisation.
The three-box body structure has a stepped rear end and a sweeping roadster look thanks to heavily raked A-pillars and a waistline rising up slightly along the length of the body towards the flat rear end. The Roadster sits 20 millimetres lower than the standard Mini Convertible.
The Roadster pushing its handling credentials with a bespoke chassis set-up, low centre of gravity, torsionally rigid body and optimised aerodynamic properties. Electronic tech includes Electric Power Steering and DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) as standard, DTC (Dynamic Traction Control) with EDLC (Electronic Differential Lock Control) optional. There’s also roll-over bars in polished stainless steel and an active rear spoiler that extends automatically at 80 km/h. Read the rest of this entry »
October 14th, 2011 by Car and SUV
General Motors has announced plans to completely overhaul it’s smallest engine range. This will involve replacing three engine families with a new modular Ecotec design.
Production of the more economical engines will begin around 2015 and it’s expected that by 2020 GM will be producing around two million of these motors per year.
The engines will be developed for global applications but GM hasn’t revealed what models are most likely to receive them. The displacements will range from 1.0-litres through to 1.5-litres in three- and four-cylinder formats. They will feature direct injection, a turbocharger and alternative fuel compatibility. There’s no word on specifications, but GM says the engines will deliver increased fuel efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. Read the rest of this entry »
October 7th, 2011 by Car and SUV
The new 2012 Jeep Cherokee goes on sale in New Zealand this month with a new diesel engine option and a range of upgrades.
The 2012 Jeep Cherokee is available in NZ in a single specification level – the high grade Limited. It goes on sale with a choice of diesel or petrol engine variants.
As well as the familiar 3.7-litre V6 petrol engine which produces 151 kW @ 5,200 rpm and 314 Nm of torque @ 4,000 rpm, the Cherokee now offers the new 2.8 DOHC 16-valve 4-cylinder Common-Rail Diesel (CRD) engine which produces 147kW at 3600 rpm and 460 Nm of torque at 1600 rpm.
The new diesel engine offers improved performance and economy with 13% more power over the previous model yet uses 12% less fuel. Jeep’s quoted combined fuel consumption figures for the Cherokee diesel are 7.9 L/100km and 206g/km CO2.
Jeep continues to push its 4×4 heritage in the Cherokee by offering the Jeep Trail Rated four-wheel-drive system –Selec-Trac II.
Selec-Trac II is a shift-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive system. Select-Trac II operates in 2WD, 4WD Auto, 4WD Low and Neutral. To back it up the Cherokee features independent front suspension with rack-and pinion steering and a five-link rear suspension set-up. Read the rest of this entry »
October 7th, 2011 by Car and SUV
The upcoming 2013 Ford Escape is set for its official reveal at next month’s Los Angeles Auto Show, but details on engine options have already leaked out. According to unconfirmed reports the next Escape will be fitted with three four-cylinder engine options for global markets and two of those engines will use turbocharging.
The base model Escape will be fitted with the 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine already working in the current model Escape but its the two new EcoBoost motors that will be of more interest. The turbocharged 1.6-litre unit is already making waves in Europe and will motivate the mid-spec Escape. This fuel-efficient mill outputs around 135kW of power. Read the rest of this entry »
October 6th, 2011 by Car and SUV
General Motors has revealed the production version of its 2012 Chevrolet Colorado which will be rebadged as the Holden Colorado when it arrives in NZ next year.
The new Colorado was unveiled in Thailand where it will enter the local market shortly. Holden hasn’t officially announced a schedule for its entry into the Australian and NZ markets.
According to GM, the Colorado is the end result of a vehicle program that began five years ago and cost $2 billion USD. It will be offered globally with a total of 26 variants, two diesel engines, two- and four-wheel-drive layouts, different ride heights, wide and narrow body styles and various cab options.
Engine options will include two Duramax four-cylinder diesel engines. One will be a 2.5 litre motor and the other a larger 2.8 litre unit. The 2.5 litre mill produces 110kW and 350Nm of torque, the 2.8 litre turbodiesel pumps out 132kW and 470Nm of torque when mated to the six-speed auto box. In five-speed manual form the engine is tuned to output 440Nm of torque. For now there is no word on any petrol-powered variants. Read the rest of this entry »
September 16th, 2011 by Car and SUV
Ford has revealed the first photos and details of its upcoming FG Falcon MkII range this week ahead of it reaching NZ showrooms late this year.
The updated Falcon brings new technologies, an enhanced safety package, new exterior design appointments and the first global application of EcoBoost engine technology in a rear-wheel drive vehicle. It also heralds in the debut of Ford’s global 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ecoboost petrol engine which will be offered in the FG Falcon from next year.
The MkII Falcon will showcase some of Ford’s latest tech like a new 8.0-inch colour touch screen and integrated audio, phone and navigation functions and a more comprehensive occupant protection package.
“The improvements made to the award-winning Falcon range with the introduction of FG Falcon MkII have made a great car even better,” Ford New Zealand Marketing Manager, Chris Masterson said. “FG Falcon MkII builds on the success of the FG Falcon program, as well as the recently released new Territory range, by offering New Zealanders more equipment and the latest technology innovations, while continuing to deliver outstanding performance, fuel efficiency, refinement and safety.” Read the rest of this entry »
September 1st, 2011 by Car and SUV
The all new 2012 BMW 1 Series is scheduled to go on sale in New Zealand on October 28. The second-generation 1-Series comes offering more fuel efficient engines, new features and a segment-first eight-speed automatic transmission as standard.
The price of the 116i manual, featuring an entirely new 1.6 litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, will start from $46,600 drive-away. The new base-model boasts the same power output of the previous entry model, the 118i, despite using 24 per cent less fuel (5.7 litres/100km).
The new-generation turbo engine accelerates the 116i from zero to 100 km/h in 8.5 seconds – compared to 9.4 seconds for the previous 118i. Torque output is also up from 180Nm to 220Nm while carbon emissions are down from 174g/km to 132g/km.
Standard kit on the 116i include a 6.5-inch free-standing flatscreen colour display, handsfree Bluetooth functionality including USB, MP3 compatible CD player, cruise control with brake function, auto Start/Stop function, keyless engine start, 6-speaker stereo system, iDrive controller, favourite buttons and freshly designed 16-inch alloy wheels. Read the rest of this entry » |
Hitman: Absolution preview – more choices and better results
The Hitman: Absolution demo at Eurogamer Expo has a smashing start, literally. It begins with Agent 47 — the bald, genetically modified assassin from all Hitman games — smashing headfirst through a window. The act is voluntary, of course; he is trying to find a quiet place to hide from the cops.
That quiet place is an old abandoned building that’s clearly been rotting for a while. Books are scattered everywhere and the floors are giving way. This, and the fact the building has several floors and mezzanines, means Agent 47 has plenty of places to hide. This is a good thing because the cops have now come flowing through the front door, all carrying torchlights and asking where he’s gone.
We eagerly wait to see how Hakan Abrak plans to tackle the situation. The IO Interactive producer, who is playing the demo on PS3, is keen to stress that “freedom of choice” is the absolute foundation of Hitman: Absolution. The studio has built its new Glacier 2 engine from the ground up to make this possible.
The textures look slightly murky, most likely down to the early stage of development, but the water and lighting effects are spot on. The areas are also rich with detail, so we’re confident the finished product will look great. Graphics are not necessarily Glacier 2’s main selling point though. That’s not an excuse, because it really does look great, but the engine has many other, more exciting, strengths.
At the top of the list is its amazing AI. The studio wants to create a “rich breathing world”, according to Abrak, and the way to achieve this is to get the “AI up to another level”, and Glacier 2 makes this possible. We can instantly recognise complex AI patterns from the way the characters move and how they react to situations. They appear thoughtful as they scan the area and shine their torchlights.
IO also adds extra layers to their character by making them riff off each other. One shouts to another “check over there”, to which another replies “I got it”, in a confident tone. We watch as one rookie cop gets frustrated about the way another is treating him. The rookie heads over to air his grievances to another senior cop, creating space for Agent 47 to move into.
In this short space of time, we’re already picking up more interesting details about the enemies in this than we do from playing many games in their entirety. Remember, these are essentially disposable guys — they won’t live — but they’re clearly no less important for the studio than the game’s key characters.
While the conflict was occurring, we watched Agent 47 jump from the first floor towards a pillar. He grabbed its ledge and dangled like Nathan Drake before dropping down to the bottom floor, where the cops are gathered, searching for the assassin. There are too many to count, and it’s hard to see how he will make it out alive.
Abrak decides to take the stealth route. The two talking cops vacate to a room to discuss the tiff, and this leaves another cop exposed. There are other cops around, but none of them have a decent view of this end of the room.
Agent 47 takes full advantage of the opportunity. He drops into cover (press X) and hugs the desks and walls as he works his way slowly forward until he reaches a power box. He opens its door and pulls the chord, cutting the electricity. “Not again” shouts one of the cops. The two talking come out of the office to see what’s happening, but after some wise cracking, they decide that they stand no chance of fixing it.
In the meantime, Agent 47 is using this distraction to sneak up behind another cop, who he will strangle the life out of with his bare hands. Solid Snake would be proud.
There was a minor struggle, but our man is a pro; the cop didn’t stand a chance. He did it in complete silence without alerting anyone. That is, it was silent except for the music. Up until now, we had noticed that the music was moody and tense; the kind you hear in a thriller when a cop has entered a dangerous situation. You can tell that danger is afoot but it’s not quite there yet.
The next thing we notice is that the music doesn’t stay silent. As Agent 47 sneaks up to the next cop, power chord in hand, the music gets louder and more dramatic. It continues get louder as Agent 47 wraps the chord around the officer’s neck; the cop struggles, but he soon goes limp, causing the music to return to the sparse sounds of before.
Agent 47’s next move is reminiscent of Batman’s detective vision, albeit less intense. In this mode, the cops are highlighted and more visible, but the world remains largely the same. We can see that the cops have flooded the main hallway making the situation much harder for Agent 47.
He moves round to the side where another cop is standing and smashes a plaster cast head over his, erm, head. The pace now starts to pick up, as the hitman runs over to the mezzanine. He jumps up to the ledge and shimmies around until he’s underneath another cop. He pulls this one off the balcony, giving him a painful landing.
We’ve only been watching for about five minutes but already we’re losing track of the different ways Agent 47 can kill in Absolution. It gets better; just as we think this, Agent 47 sneaks up behind another cop and uses his own truncheon to strangle him. He then grabs a gun from the body.
So far, we’ve seen Agent 47 take out half the police squad using only stealth. Any Metal Gear Solid fan will be familiar with this concept and the gameplay has been largely similar so far. It starts to take off in more interesting ways from here though.
Now that he has a gun, he can play more aggressively. The next thing he does is grab a cop and use him as a human shield. He’s out of cover and the other cops are alerted, but they won’t shoot while he has a hostage. Agent 47 drags him towards the exit and the other cops follow. They shout threats, but they think they’re in control.
The hitman clearly thinks otherwise. He calmly drags his shield to the door and stops briefly before snapping his neck. The cop drops dead and the cops scream before opening fire. All hell breaks loose, the music gets loud again, and the bullets rain down on Agent 47. Our man runs for cover and fires a few shots back.
He then heads upstairs to the top floor, where he stops and analyses the situation. We expect him to head out to the roof, but he instead turns round and fires a bullet at the chandelier, snapping its chain. We see it drop from the ceiling down on to the cops. That’s some more out of the way.
It gets even crazier from here. He steps on to the roof where a helicopter is circling and sneaks into a room where he can hide from the searchlight. He doesn’t stay out of its ray for long before he gets spotted though. The cops on the chopper then proceed to send heavy machine-gun fire in his direction.
It’s causing damage everywhere and the papers in the room are being lifted by the wind from the propellers. The music then kicks in with heavy rock guitar music. It’s the loudest so far and it’s absolutely blaring out of the Earls Court sound system. It’s intense.
This continues for another ten or twenty seconds until Agent 47 manages to get out of sight again. But, just as we think he’s safe, another cop steps up on to the roof and walks past our man. Agent 47 sneaks up behind him and fires a bullet through the back of his head, killing him instantly. It’s cold and brutal.
He then steals the dead cop’s outfit, which is an act most Hitman fans will recognise. He uses it to walk across the rooftop without alerting the cops in the helicopter. They shine a light on him and ask if he’s seen anything, but Agent 47 continues to walk coolly in the pouring rain. If he’s worried, he doesn’t let on.
It would be an understatement to say that we’ve been impressed by what we’ve seen so far; however, we can’t help but wondering if the new cinematic style is appropriate for a Hitman game. The series is known for its quirky humour, and so far we’ve seen little of this. Thankfully, this next section instantly eases our minds.
There is a room at the top of the building ahead. Glowing orange lights illuminate the place and psychedelic music can be heard as we get closer. Inside we spot a group of hippies panicking because they think the cops are after them. Their home, you see, is essentially a cannabis factory.
As Agent 47 walks through the room, the pot-heads scramble. A cop then walks around the corner and spots the hitman. He says, “Do I know you?” Clearly he’s seen through his disguise, but Agent 47 doesn’t give him enough time to fully grasp the situation. He aggressively takes him out, causing a hippy to scream “police brutality”. The hippy then follows this statement by simply saying “awesome”.
Agent 47 then steps into a lift where he runs into a local resident. He stands comically silent as the local eulogises about the police and how they’re doing a thankless task for the good of the community. It has us smiling from ear to ear.
For most games this would be the ending, but then again, we could have had several endings by now. The guys at IO have more ambition than that. They have Agent 47 step out of the lift and into a lobby packed with heavily armed police officers.
The atmosphere is tense and you could cut it with a knife, and the music is starting to build momentum again, making us think something bad is about to happen.
Agent 47 looks over to the reception desk and sees two machine guns standing up against it. He calmly walks over towards them, and we’re start to prepare ourselves for all hell breaking loose again. Can Agent 47 really take out every cop? That’s just one of the questions we’re thinking. Surely not, we thing, and the music agrees with us. It starts to build up towards a crescendo as Agent 47 gets closer to the guns.
But he doesn’t pick them up. He instead reaches out for the box of donuts on the desk. The music calms and we think everything’s going to be all right. Just at this moment though, a cop shouts over to Agent 47 and says: “I know you. You are Forster. You left the force years ago”. Does this statement point towards Agent 47′s past? But more important, is this the end of the road for him?
Don’t worry — our baldy murderous maniac hasn’t reached the end of the road just yet. He calmly says, “I never left”, before walking past the officer, out into the street. He then walks through the crowd and into the rain as the demo comes to its conclusion. We couldn’t have asked for a better session.
We spoke to Abrek afterwards to tell him as much. We asked about some of the other options available in that demo and if taking out the helicopter was an option. “That might be an option”, said Abrek guardedly. You could also take a “non-violent” and “stealthy approach”. Other options are available.
We also wondered how long the game is likely to be. We find it hard to imagine this game lasting long if every section contained this much detail. Abrek couldn’t give a figure, but he did tell us that this “is the most ambitious project” the studio has ever worked on. He says it with an assured confidence, happy with the knowledge that they’re on to a great thing here.
As for that fascinating music system, Abrek calls it the “organic music system”. That’s not its official title, but it’s certainly appropriate. As much as the variety in the gameplay impressed, the music was the thing that really got us excited. It created the tension that sustained us throughout the demo. It went to another level when the guitar music came blaring out the sound system as Agent 47 ducked from bullet fire from above.
The tone of the game also impressed. “We’re definitely going for a more cinematic feel,” says Abrek, and there’s no doubting that. However, this definitely hasn’t lost any of the things that made Hitman so likeable. The hilarious final sections and the comical seriousness of Agent 47 throughout reassured us that Hitman hasn’t gone all po-faced on us.
The game oozes ambitions and quality and we can’t wait to find out more. |
New parents eagerly look forward to bringing their baby home, so it can be frightening if your newborn needs to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). At first it may seem like a foreign place, but understanding the NICU and what goes on there can help ease your fears and let you better help your baby.
About the NICU
If your baby is sent to the NICU, your first question probably will be: What is this place? With equipment designed for infants and medical staff specially trained in newborn care, the NICU is an intensive care unit created for sick newborns who need specialized treatment.
Sometimes the NICU is also called:
a special care nursery
an intensive care nursery
newborn intensive care
Babies who need to go to the unit are often admitted within the first 24 hours after birth. Babies may be sent to the NICU if:
they show signs of a health issue in the first few days of life
Only very young babies (or babies with a condition linked to being born prematurely) are treated in the NICU — they're usually infants who haven't gone home from the hospital yet after being born. How long they'll stay in the unit depends on the severity of their condition.
Although many people help care for babies in the NICU, those most responsible for day-to-day care are nurses. You might come to know them very well and rely on them for information and reassurances about your baby.
The nurses you might interact with include a:
charge nurse: the nurse in charge of the shift
primary nurse: the one assigned to your baby
neonatal nurse practitioner: someone with additional training in neonatology care
Other people who may help care for your baby include:
a neonatologist: a doctor specializing in newborn intensive care who heads up the medical team
neonatology fellows, medical residents, and medical students: all pursuing their training at different levels
pediatric hospitalist: a pediatrician who works solely in the hospital setting
various specialists: such as a neurologist, a cardiologist, or a surgeon to treat specific issues with the brain, heart, etc.
a respiratory therapist: who helps administer treatments that help with breathing
a speech-language pathologist: who helps babies with feeding or swallowing problems
a nutritionist: who can determine what babies receiving IV nutrition need
a physical therapist and/or occupational therapist: who work with feeding and movement issues with the infants and their parents
a pharmacist: who helps manage a baby's medications
lab technicians: who process the laboratory tests (e.g., urine, blood) taken
a chaplain: who can counsel you and provide comfort; chaplains may be interfaith or of a particular religious affiliation, but they're there to support anyone looking for a spiritual/religious connection
a social worker: who helps you get the services you need and also lends emotional support by connecting you to other families and therapists, if needed
To better help you help your baby during a stay in intensive care, it's wise to get as much information as possible about what to expect. If you have questions, talk to the neonatologist or the nurses.
The nurses see your baby every day, so they can give you frequent updates on your little one. The plan of care for your infant is discussed on "rounds" every day. Nurses can help you to understand the diagnosis and treatment plan, but it's also helpful to discuss these issues with other members of the medical team, including:
the attending neonatologist
neonatal nurse practitioner
the residents who are caring for your baby
All of these health professionals are involved in deciding the best plan of care for your baby.
You might want to ask the neonatologist and other doctors and/or the nurses:
How long will my baby be in the unit?
What, specifically, is the problem?
What will be involved in my baby's treatment and daily care?
What medicines will my baby have to take?
What types of tests will be done?
What can my baby eat and when?
Will I be able to nurse or bottle-feed my baby — if so, when and how?
Will someone help me learn how to nurse my baby?
What can I do to help my baby?
Will I be able to hold or touch my baby?
How often and for how long can I stay in the unit? Can I sleep there?
What sort of care will my baby need when we get home?
Is there someone who can help us through the process?
You also may want to talk to the nurses in more detail about your baby's daily care and what to expect when you spend time with your little one. Also, ask about the visiting schedule and any rules of the NICU so you'll know which family members can see the baby and when.
Are cots or recliners available if we're allowed to stay overnight? What about blankets and pillows?
Is nearby temporary housing available (such as through a Ronald McDonald House)?
If so, how do we get a room?
Is the room free? If not, is the cost low and/or covered by our health insurance?
Are computers with Internet access available for doing work or emailing friends and loved ones about our baby's progress? Is wi-fi access available for smartphones and other devices?
Can we use our cellphones in the NICU? If not, how can we be reached in the NICU?
Are phones available in or around the NICU?
Is there a support group or other parents of children in the NICU we can talk to?
What to Expect in the NICU
Walking into the NICU can feel like stepping onto another planet — the environment is probably unlike anything you've experienced. The unit is often busy, with lots of activity, people moving around, and beeping monitors.
Once settled in the unit, your baby will receive care tailored to your little one's specific needs. Most NICU babies are on special feeding schedules, depending on their level of development or any problems they have. For instance, some infants are too premature or too sick to eat on their own, so they have a feeding tube that runs through the mouth and into the stomach. Others need high-calorie diets to help them grow.
Medications are another crucial part of NICU care — your child may take antibiotics, medicine to stimulate breathing, or something to help his or her blood pressure or heart rate, for example.
To ensure that your baby's care stays on track, the doctors also will order various tests, possibly including periodic blood and urine tests, X-rays, and ultrasounds. For infants whose care is complicated and involved, the doctors or nurses will place a line into an artery or vein so they can draw blood without having to repeatedly stick the baby.
NICU staff try to make the infants' stay in the nursery as comforting as possible for the infant as well as the families. The nurses can explain what all of the monitors, tubes, tests, and machines do, which will go a long way toward demystifying the NICU.
Here's a brief look at what some of the unfamiliar equipment does and how it may help your baby, depending on your little one's condition and diagnosis:
Feeding tubes: Often, NICU babies cannot get as many calories as they need through regular feeding from a bottle, so the nurses will use a small feeding tube to deliver formula or breast milk (that the mother pumps). The tube is placed into the baby's stomach through the mouth or through the nose.
If an infant is able to take some milk from the bottle, the nurse will just give the rest through the feeding tube. Sometimes, the babies get all their nutrition through the feeding tube so that they don't use excess energy trying to feed from the bottle.
The feeding tubes shouldn't be painful — they're taped in place so they won't move around and cause friction. However, if they're in place for a long time they can cause erosions in the stomach or nose where they rub, so are changed routinely to avoid this.
Infant warmers: These are beds with radiant heaters over them. Parents can touch their babies in the warmers, but it's always a good idea to talk to the NICU staff about it at first, just in case.
Isolettes: These are small beds enclosed by clear, hard plastic. The temperature of the isolette is controlled and closely monitored because premature infants frequently have difficulty maintaining their body temperature. Holes in the isolettes allow access to the infants so the nurses and doctors can examine the infants and parents can touch their babies.
IVs and lines: An intravenous catheter (or IV) is a thin flexible tube inserted into the vein with a small needle. Once in the vein, the needle is removed, leaving just the soft plastic tubing.
Almost all babies in the NICU have an IV for fluids and medications — usually in the hands or arms, but sometimes in the feet, legs, or even scalp. At first, the IV may be inserted in the baby's umbilical cord. In the first hours after delivery, the umbilical cord provides a way for the doctors to insert arterial or venous lines without having to use a needle through the skin.
Instead of giving your baby injections every few hours, IVs allow certain medications to be given continuously, several drops at a time. These are known as drips or infusions. Doctors may use these medications to help with heart function, blood pressure, or pain relief.
Some situations require larger IVs to deliver greater volumes of fluids and medications. These special IVs are known as central lines because they're inserted into the larger, more central veins of the chest, neck, or groin, as opposed to the hands and feet. They're inserted by a specially trained pediatric surgeon.
Arterial lines are very similar to IVs, but they're placed in arteries, not veins, and are used to monitor blood pressure and oxygen levels in the blood (although some babies may simply have blood pressure cuffs instead).
Monitors: Infants in the NICU are attached to monitors so the NICU staff are constantly aware of their vital signs. The nurses will often place the infants in positions that seem the most soothing, like on their tummies or on their sides.
The single monitor (which picks up and displays all the necessary information in one place) is secured to your baby's body with chest leads, which are small painless stickers connected to wires. The chest leads can count your child's heart rate and breathing rate. A pulse oximetry (or pulse ox) machine also may display your baby's blood oxygen levels on the monitor. Also painless, the pulse ox is taped to your baby's fingers or toes like a small bandage and emits a soft red light.
A temperature probe, a coated wire adhered to your baby's skin with a patch, can track your little one's temperature and display it on the monitor. And unless blood pressure is being directly monitored through an arterial line, your baby will usually have a blood pressure cuff in place.
Phototherapy: Often, premature infants or those with infections also have jaundice (a common newborn condition in which the skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow). Phototherapy is used to help get rid of the bilirubin that causes jaundice. The infants might lie on a special light therapy blanket and have lights attached to their beds or isolettes. Usually, they only need phototherapy for a few days.
Ventilators: Babies in the NICU sometimes need extra help to breathe. An infant is connected to the ventilator (or breathing machine) via an endotracheal tube (a plastic tube placed into the windpipe through the mouth or nose).
Babies who've been in the NICU for a prolonged stay — months at a time — may have a tracheostomy (a plastic tube inserted directly into the trachea) that's connected to the ventilator on the other end.
There are many different kinds of ventilators — different situations call for different machines — but they all accomplish the same basic purpose: to help a baby breathe.
All the machines may seem overwhelming, but don't let them keep you from interacting with your baby. Bonding with a baby in the NICU is as important as bonding with any newborn, sometimes even more so. You simply have to learn the best way to do it.
Parents can visit and spend time with their NICU babies. The number of people who can visit a baby in the NICU may be limited, but parents are usually allowed to stay most of the day (except when the medical team performs its daily examination and evaluation). Ask the NICU's social worker about what accommodations are available for parents — cots, recliners, or nearby housing such as through the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Other family members can visit only during specified hours and only a few at a time. And siblings may not be allowed in the NICU because children have a greater risk of passing on an infection. Check with the hospital staff about which family members can see your baby.
Depending on how sick your child is, you might be able to hold your little one even if he or she is on a ventilator or has an IV. If the doctors feel that would be too much for your baby, you can still hold his or her hand, stroke his or her head, and talk and sing to him or her. A gentle, consistent touch will be the most reassuring.
But for some very premature infants, touching is extremely stressful (if they were still in the womb, they would have little tactile stimulation). In these cases, doctors may suggest that you minimize physical contact but still spend as much time as possible with your baby. Check with the doctor or nurses to figure out how much and what type of contact is best.
A mother who can hold her baby might be able to breastfeed or pump milk and bottle-feed. Most NICUs have screens to allow mothers to breastfeed their babies at the bedside.
Kangaroo care (or skin-to-skin contact) is another option to help you forge a bond with your new baby. Here's how it works:
Place your baby (who's usually dressed in just a diaper and a hat) on your chest underneath your shirt, so your little one is resting directly on your skin.
Loosely close your shirt over your baby to help keep him or her warm.
Doctors and researchers have suggested that skin-to-skin contact can improve babies' recovery time and help them leave the NICU sooner.
But the best way for parents to help their babies in the NICU is to be there for them and learn to read their behaviors. This will help you to figure out:
when your baby is stressed and needs to rest
when your baby is ready to bond with you
what type of interaction your baby likes (stroking, singing, etc.)
what time of day your baby is the most alert
how long your baby can respond to you before getting tired
Although you want to interact with your infant, you also want to allow periods of undisturbed sleep. Let your baby set the pace for your time together and you'll both get more out of it.
Here are some basics to help make the NICU a little less mysterious:
Everyone who comes into the NICU must wash their hands when they enter. (There will be a sink and antibacterial soap in the room and near the entrance of the NICU.) This is a crucial part of keeping the NICU environment as clean as possible so the babies won't be exposed to infections. Some units require visitors to wear hospital gowns, particularly if a child is in isolation. You may also need to wear gloves and a mask.
Ask the nurses what you're allowed to bring into the unit — the risk of infection limits what you can leave with your baby. Some parents tape pictures to the isolette or decorate the incubator. If you want to give your child a stuffed toy, the staff may wrap it in plastic first.
When you're in the NICU, keep noise and bright lights to a minimum. Try not to bang things on the isolette or infant warmer, talk in a loud voice, or slam doors. If you're concerned about light, ask a nurse if you can drape a blanket partially over the isolette. Most important, let your baby sleep when he or she needs to.
Making the NICU Stay More Manageable
The time when your baby is in the NICU can be stressful — you may be away from your friends and family, including any other children you may have. Your life may seem like it's been turned upside down as you wait for the day when your baby may be able to leave with you.
You may feel like you eat, sleep, and breathe the NICU 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And you might feel especially confused and overwhelmed if your baby was unexpectedly born prematurely and/or if the NICU is located far away from your home and your usual support system.
As hard as it may be sometimes, it's important to pay attention to your own needs and those of the rest of the family, particularly other kids. Make plans for a weekly family activity, and sit down together and talk about how this experience makes you feel. Doing something for yourself can be as simple as taking a relaxing bath, going for a walk, or reading a favorite book for an hour.
You also can turn to other parents in the NICU for comfort. They'll likely know better than anyone what you're feeling. Also be sure to talk to the NICU's social worker about parents' support groups, where you can share your feelings, worries, and triumphs together. The hospital's chaplain also might be able to provide you with support and even a shoulder to cry on.
When you take care of yourself, you'll be more rested and better prepared to take care of your baby. But that care doesn't have to center on your infant's illness. Enjoy your new baby, spend time together, and get to know your little one.
Your baby's NICU stay can be difficult, but also rewarding as you watch your little one grow and progress day after day. |
Obliterating whole lineages — diatoms and dinosaurs, corals and crustaceans, ammonites and amphibians — shockwaves from the Yucatán impact 65 million years ago ripped through the intricate interdependencies of the planetary ecosystem, turning blankets of life into shrouds in one incandescent geological instant. Knocking out keystone species and toppling community structures, these shifts and extinctions opened up new opportunities, inviting avian and mammalian adaptive radiations and other bursts of innovation that transformed the living world — and eventually opening the way for our placenta-suckled, unprecedentedly luxuriant brains.
What with one thing and another, now here we are: The Internet and the World Wide Web that runs on it have struck our species' informational ecology with a similarly explosive impact, their shockwaves rippling through our cultural, social, economic, political, technological, scientific, and even cognitive landscapes.
To understand the nature and magnitude of what is to come, consider the effects of Gutenberg's ingenious marriage of the grape press, oil-based inks, and his method for inexpensively producing movable type. Before Gutenberg, books were scarce and expensive, requiring months or years of skilled individual effort to produce a single copy. Inevitably, they were primarily prestige goods for aristocrats and clerics, their content devoted to the narrow and largely useless status or ritual preoccupations of their owners. Slow-changing vessels bearing the distant echoes of ancient tradition, books were absent from the lives of all but a tiny fraction of humanity. Books then were travelers from the past rather than signals from the present, their cargo ignorance as often as knowledge. European awareness was parochial in the strict, original sense — limited to direct experience of the parish.
Yet a few decades after Gutenberg, there were millions of books flooding Europe, many written and owned by a new book-created middle class, full of new knowledge, art, disputation, and exploration. Mental horizons — once linked to the physical horizon just a few miles away — surged outward.
Formerly, knowledge of all kinds had been fixed by authority and embedded in hierarchy, and was by assumption and intention largely static. Yet the sharp drop in the price of reproducing books shattered this stagnant and immobilizing mentality. Printing rained new Renaissance texts and newly recovered classical works across Europe; printing catalyzed the scientific revolution; printing put technological and commercial innovation onto an upward arc still accelerating today. Printing ignited the previously wasted intellectual potential of huge segments of the population — people who, without printing would have died illiterate, uneducated, without voice or legacy.
Printing summoned into existence increasingly diversified bodies of new knowledge, multiplied productive divisions of labor, midwifed new professions, and greatly expanded the middle class. It threw up voluntary, meritocratic new hierarchies of knowledge and productivity to rival traditional hierarchies of force and superstition. In short, the release of printing technology into human societies brought into being a vast new ecosystem of knowledge — dense, diverse, rapidly changing, rapidly growing, and beyond the ability of any one mind to encompass, or any government to control.
Over the previous millennium, heretics had appeared perennially, only to be crushed. Implicitly and explicitly, beyond all question, orthodoxy defined and embodied virtue. But when, after Gutenberg, heretics such as Luther gained access to printing presses, the rapid and broad dissemination of their writings allowed dissidents to muster enough socially coordinated recruits to militarily stalemate attempts by hierarchies to suppress them. Hence, the assumption of a single orthodoxy husbanded by a single system of sanctified authority was broken, beyond all recovery.
For the same reason that communist governments restricted access to Marx's and Engels' original writings, the Church had made it a death penalty offense (to be preceded by torture) to translate the Bible into the languages people spoke and understood. The radical change in attitude toward authority, and the revaluation of minds even at the bottom of society, can be seen in William Tyndale's defense of his plan to translate the Bible into English: "I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the Scriptures than the Pope himself." (After his translation was printed, he was arrested, tied to the stake, and strangled.) Laymen, even plowboys, who now had access to Bibles (because they could both read and afford them) shockingly decided they could interpret sacred texts for themselves without the Church manipulatively interposing itself as intermediary between book and reader. Humans being what they are, religious wars followed, in struggles to make one or another doctrine (and elite) locally supreme.
Conflicts such as the Thirty Years War (with perhaps ten million dead and entire territories devastated) slowly awakened Europeans about the costs of violent intolerance, and starting among dissident Protestant communities, the recognized prerogatives of conscience and judgment devolved onto ever smaller units, eventually coming to rest in the individual (at least in some societies, and always disputed by rulers).
Freedom of thought and speech — where they exist — were unforeseen offspring of the printing press, and they change how we think. Political assumptions that had endured for millennia became inverted, making it thinkable that political legitimacy should arise from the sanction of the governed, rather than it being a natural entitlement of rulers. And science was the most radical of printing's many offspring.
Formerly, the social validation of correct opinion had been the prerogative of local force-based hierarchies, based on tradition, and intended to serve the powerful. Even disputes in natural philosophy had been settled by appeals to the textual authority of venerated ancients such as Aristotle. What alternative could there be? Yet, when the unified front of religious and secular authority began to fragment, logic and evidence could begin to play a role. What makes science distinct is that it is the human activity in which logic and evidence (suspect, because potentially subversive of authority) are allowed to play at least some role in evaluating claims.
Galileo — arguably the founder of modern science — was threatened with torture and placed under house arrest not for his scientific beliefs but rather for his deeper heresies about what validates knowledge: He argued that alongside scripture — which could be misinterpreted — God had written another book — the book of nature — written in mathematics, but open for all to see. Claims about the book of nature could be investigated using experiments, logic, and mathematics — a radical proposal that left no role for authority in the evaluation of (non-scriptural) truth. (Paralleling Tyndale's focus on the literate lay public, Galileo wrote almost all of his books in Italian rather than in Latin.) The Royal Society, founded two decades after Galileo's death, chose as their motto nullius in verba: on the authority of no one — a principle strikingly at variance with the pre-Gutenberg world.
The assumptions (e.g., I should be free to think about and question anything), methods (experimentation, statistical inference, modeling building), and content (evolutionary biology, quantum mechanics, the computational theory of mind) of modern thought are unimaginably different from those held by our ancestors living before Gutenberg. All this — to simplify slightly — because of a drop in the cost of producing books.
So what is happening to us, now that the Internet has engulfed us? The Internet and its cybernetic creatures have dropped, by many more orders of magnitude, the cost (in money, effort, and time) of acquiring and publishing information. The knowledge (and disinformation) of the species is migrating online, a click away.
To take just first order consequences, we see all around us transformations in the making that will rival or exceed the printing revolution — for example, heating up the chain reactions of scientific, technical, and economic innovation by pulling out the moderating rods of distance and delay). Quantity, Stalin said, has a quality all its own. The Internet also unleashes monsters from the id — our evolved mental programs are far more easily triggered by images than by propositions, a reality jihadi Websites are exploiting in our new round of religious wars.
Our generation is living through this transformation, so although our cognitive unconscious is hidden from awareness, we can at least report on our direct experience on how our thinking has shifted before and after. I vividly remember my first day of browsing — firing link after link after link, suspended in an endless elation as I surveyed possibility after possibility for twenty hours straight — something I still feel.
Now my browsing operates out of two states of mind: the first is broad, rapid, intuitive scanning, where I feel free to click without goals, in order to maintain some kind of general scientific and cultural awareness without drowning in the endless sea. The second is a disciplined, focused exploration, where I am careful to ignore partisan pulls and ad hominem distractions, to dispense with my own sympathies or annoyance, to strip everything away except information about causation, and paths to potential falsification or critical tests.
Like a good Kuhnian, I attempt to pay special attention to anomalies in my favored theories, which are easier to identify now that I can scan more broadly. More generally, it seems like the scope of my research has become both broader and deeper, because both cost less. Finally, my mind seems to be increasingly interwoven into the Internet — what I store locally in my own brain seems more and more to be metadata for the parts of my understanding that are stored on the Internet. |
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Shield Your Childrens' Eyes
More gruesome scenes tonight at Cineplex Safeco.
The Mariners irrational fixation on proven "veteran" players continues to play nightly. In tonight's episode, J. J. Putz shows how stupid the Mariners were to stock up the roster with fading and faded veteran relievers. The Mariners organization simply is not able to accurately assess the relative value and contribution of minor league players versus marginal veterans.
The second feature tonight was the live disembowelment of Gil Meche by the outfield defense. With Cameron in center and Winn in left, Giambi's and Posada's doubles in the 6th inning are both outs, and it's a different game (at least until Villone puts the game out of reach).
Being aware of the intensity of those offerings, the Mariners do bring out the reliable clowns for a bit of slapstick relief on the telecast. In the eighth inning, we learn from Rizz and Hendu that Dave Hansen's .298 batting average is awesome, because, as a pinch hitter, Hansen is often facing a starting pitcher late in the game. And late in the game, starting pitchers are more difficult to hit against because they've been able to establish a rhythym. Silly me - all this time I've been thinking that late in the game, as starting pitchers tire, it's easier to hit off of them.
But I suppose Rick and Dave are privy to some inside information on Mariners strategy. Maybe that's why we see so many of the Mariners swinging aggressively against certain pitchers - it's the Mariners innovative strategy of trying to keep the other team's pitcher from getting into a rhythym.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
A Momentary Respite
The Mariners have loaded the roster with veterans, in part, because they don't panic and they have experience to know how to react to all variety of situations. So, shouldn't we ask why all of these veterans are so consistently flummoxed when facing a pitcher for the first time? Especially when it's a pitcher that hasn't been much of a problem for less experienced teams?
Anyway, escaping the pain of the Mariners, Frinklin has a note that Sith Lords will be in an upcoming LucasArts gaming release. I wouldn't pay much attention, since I'm not a video gamer. But it does provide a good excuse to put up the link to one of my favorite humor sites on the web, the Sith Academy. The premise underlying this site is that, if there is a school for training Jedi, then there must also be a parallel training program for Sith pupils, the Sith Academy. From that premise, the contributors have created many vignettes of life at the Sith Academy.
And one of my favorite efforts there is Sith Software tech support. Maybe it will help relieve your suffering too.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Ramon Ortiz: stuffed, cooked, and ready to carve
Rob McMillin at 6-4-2 -- an Angels/Dodgers double play blog, discusses Ramon Ortiz's 2004 performance to date:
"the real thing killing Ortiz is his team-leading 16.88 H/9, indicating a pitcher in bad luck... but given his performance, maybe not. He's getting his strikeouts but somehow is managing to find a lot of bats. "Rob is working with the DIPS assumption that pitchers have little control over the percentage of balls in play that drop for hits. If you look at that DIPS assumption in detail, however, you will find that it does not state that all pitchers are identical in their ability or inability to control the outcome on balls in play. Rather, it presumes that all major league pitchers are sufficiently skilled at avoiding bats that the differences in their ability to control the outcome on balls in play are significantly less than the ordinary variations of chance on balls in play. The corollary is that a pitcher who doesn't attain some threshold ability to avoid bats never makes it to the big leagues.
Occasionally, however, such a player does make it to the big leagues, or a player in the big leagues regresses below that minimum competence. When that happens, the pitcher has a large increase in balls in play that are hits, because batters are consistently hitting the ball hard. Here in Seattle such pitchers are called Carrara-esque.
So, in the case of a pitchers such as Ortiz, we need to look not only at just the increase in hits, but also how hard the balls are hit. If batters are hitting the pitcher hard, it's more likely that the pitcher just doesn't have it anymore (if he ever did). Conversely if hit rates are up, but the pitcher is not getting hit hard, then it's more likely a change in luck.
Conveniently, The Hardball Times is now publishing pitching statistics that include percentage of balls hit that are classed as line drives (ld%), and those data show that, with an ld% of 0.244, Ortiz has the highest ld% on the team. Couple that situation with more than 4 BB/9 and 1.7 HR/9, and it's an ugly picture if you're an Angels fan.
I don't think Ortiz is a victim of bad luck, I think he's done. But the rest of us can rejoice that the Angels solution to the Ortiz situation is Aaron Sele.
Jay Jaffe on productive outs
Jay Jaffe at Futility Infielder discusses Harold Reynolds and Buster Olney's hackneyed "Productive Outs" thoughts.
If you believe in Productive Outs, and you don't think it worth examining your beliefs using objective information, don't waste your time. On the other hand, if you subscribe to the notion that objective measures are valuable because they can calibrate subjective assessments, you should spend some time with Jaffee's discussion.
Personally, I think this is a classic situation where data can be collected to directly measure the accuracy of one's beliefs. As I've aged from YT to OF I find I've become more opinionated in one key area, viz., the ability of all people, myself included, to wholeheartedly believe comfortable propositions that are demonstrably false.
Part of my fascination with baseball is the interweaving of personal skills within the confines of rules and probable outcomes. Though the actions on the field are subject to predictable outcomes, the poetry of the game remains. In fact, to me it enhances the game - both parts meshing in a way that mirrors larger life. I often see the perpetual engagment between free will and determinism, rendered on a stage we can comprehend with a script we can critique. The players, managers, and commentators are the tragedians, railing the Fates and destined to fail, but currying the favor of the gods just often enough to sustain irrational hope.
I guess my aesthetics differ from others.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Gad, what an Ugly Game
Melvin tries to offer the game to the Twins by bringing in Myers, but Guzman, on behalf of the Twins, refuses to accept. Just Mientkewicz then decides to be sure the message is absolutely clear.
Now we get to see if the Mariners can win a game that has been handed to them first by the umpires then by the Twins.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Welcome to Cynics, Inc.
After two days of voting in the Mariners Wheelhouse poll on whether the Mariners will be Buyers or Sellers at the trade deadline, we have the following results:
- 34% think the Mariners will pull the big lie and say that releasing Jarvis will eliminate the team's ability to take on salary at the trade deadline.
- 30% think the Mariners won't be able to decide whether they should buy or sell, and will make deals simply for the sake of making deals.
- 18% think the Mariners will have delusions of contention, and will trade prospects for veterans.
- Only one person thinks they will be legitimate contenders.
The poll is still going, so please vote if you haven't done so already. Look for the poll in the right sidebar, near the top of the page.
There's also a nice discussion going in the comments link for the May 1, 2004 post. Jeff Shaw from San Shin has added some comments, as has Rob McMillin from 6-4-2 -- an Angels/Dodgers double play blog.
Monday night without the Mariners
I got it from Sheila O'Malley, and she got it from some others that you can trackback at her website. Sounds as is she should be a Red Sox fan, and she is.
Anyway, here are the rules.
- Grab the nearest CD.
- Put it in your CD-Player (or start your mp3-player, I-tunes, etc.).
- Skip to Song 3 (or load the 3rd song in your 3rd playlist)
- Post the first verse in your journal along with these instructions. Don’t name the band, nor the album-title.
I had to fudge a bit, because the first five I grabbed off my stack were instrumentals, until this one came up:
Trail of broken heartsCan anyone identify the song and artist? And feel free to add your own in the comments section.
Looking back at you
Now and from the start
These words will travel true
The godspeed of trust
Will settle the dust
That we've been passing through. |
Hey guys, Sorry for the long MIA!!! Uprooting to a new country is always hectic (to say the least). So I've been away from the Singapore + online scene for a while now and heaps of people have been asking if I've left the media / acting scene. BUT guess what? I'm still here... and these are updates on my lingering presence...Wee Li Lin's new feature is finally out!Despite my mini comical cameo in there, I really did enjoy the little time I worked on this piece. I mean how often do I (a) get to wear a FAT SUIT and (b) eat my way throughout a day of work?Can you even imagine that scene? Aren't you dying to catch the hilarity of it all?in Singapore cinemas 3rd March 2011!SINDIE 100 POSTERS EXHBITIONBrought to you by SINDdie, and co-organized by Substation & Objectifs, is held in conjunction with Singapore Short FIlm Awards 2011. Admission is free and it showcases poster art, made possible by contributions from more that 60 directors!I spotted my face (via online publicity) in posters such as andPoster (on top right of Poster by Boo Jun Feng). ***This poster version of was previously NOT released in Singapore, but displayed during it's premiere in Cannes Film Festival., AKA number 80.Also sighted other films I've been involved in, such as, , , and who knows what else!If you would like to support Singaporean films, or curious about this mini industry we have, alongside part of its short history, do drop by Substation before the 6th March 2011!SHORT FILMS!After screenings in Hongkong and Bangkok's , is finally making its way to Singapore! As part of the , will be screening on the 4th of March 2011 as a nominee of "Best Experiment Film" and "Best Art Direction" award. More details can be found on the Substation website. Last month, was screened in Beloit International Film Festival , Wisconsin, USA 2011 and will make its appearance in August 2011 in Sacramento Film & Music Festival, California, USA 2011. has also won awards in Milan & USA for both its music & film since last yearLast but not least, feature film, , made it into the Taiwan market in January 2011! Go Singapore films!!!WHAT ELSE?I don't know, I haven't been around. Maybe you can update me a little? Perhaps TV reruns of my shows? Random publicity I've missed out?I may be busy, but I'm still here and I miss all of you peeps out there, heaps. *hUgz~love,Jeszlene
Earlier this year, Singapore released a well-received English Legal drama entitled The Pupil. In fact, it's so popular, there's an encore telecast on air right now. But that's not the point of this blog post. The point is, legal dramas are so in, there a Chinese version on Ch8 right now! AND... I'm in it! =) I pretty psyched that I've a role in both the English + Chinese versions, and for the exact number of episodes nonetheless! 如萍阿姨also acted in both series, and it was a joy seeing her again, as she was a huge part of my stint as a child actor! This is also my first 好人 role on Ch8!!!!! Finally I'm done playing the antagonist, and my on screen tears are actually justifiable! (Another similarity between both my legal drama roles. Although I wonder why I'm always crying when I'm not playing a bad guy) Here some of my 可怜兮兮 face during our rehearsals / script reading. (Ch8 dramas usually conduct rehearsals right before a take, instead of on separate days.) That's 燕金 导演 (left) walking us through the reading. As you can tell from the background, rehearsals are conducted during crew setup time. Ain't they technically efficient? Before the camera starts rolling, let's check out how the actors look on screen. Ops! Some loose fringe that needs tidying. That's probably the director's fingers pointing out flaws to her Assistant Producer (AP). Ready or not?! hmm... wonder why I look bewildered here. (Do notice the background's no longer camera crew running around, but extras sitting in as office staff! ~Little details of the TV world~)Now my “big” scene During most project, there's often a scene I look forward to, or get obsessed with. For 走进走出, this goes to my fainting scene. This looks like a pretend fall (for camera blocking), or the end of a take. hmmmmm.... I must have been waiting for the next scene, and being pensive while touching my hair! Finally! I know this doesn't look like much but after falling down on various spots, balancing both emotional aspects of my character and making sure I fall into the camera frame, it did hurt my knees a little *pOut~ I was also really scared of crushing 蕙雯cause she's so petite! Thankfully we already have a rapport going on from our previous collaborations in小娘惹&当我们同在一起so it helped me feel more comfortable leaning on her. After all, once you've kicked & slapped someone on screen, leaning your body weight on them isn't that awful anymore. So why did Ivy faint in 赵宁's office? Why does she look so sad? What's this new character about? Stay tune to 走进走出 to find out more! Love Jeszlene
還魂 (Blood Ties) had it's Singapore premiere in September 2009.This year, we're crossing the border, and bringing this film to our friends in Malaysia!還魂 (Blood Ties) A supernatural thriller... Many people believe that when a person dies, the spirit will return home on the 7th night... After Shun was brutally murdered, his spirit returned to possess his 13 year old sister to exact his revenge. On the 7th night, blood will flow and just deserts will be served. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb6knAxAViMIf you're in Malaysia, 還魂 (Blood Ties)'s coming to you, this Thursday, 30th September 2010, at all major cinemas! Love Jeszlene
Hey peeps! Been going slow on blog entries recently cause I'm busy packing up for Australia! Going for a nice little road trip down under, and exploring the Arts scene for a couple of months Am really excited right now , although it's equally tiring to tie up loose ends & run my errands in Singapore . So please be patient if I'm taking a while longer to reply any messages or write up new blog posts. My acting career...Going down under doesn't mean that I won't be seen on TV or the big screen no more. Keep a look out for my appearances over the next few of months on Singapore TV, in Singapore Cinemas, Malaysian Cinemas, Festivals in Bangkok, Berlin and who knows where else?! More details on AliveNotDead soon!!Interested in my travels?Hit up my travel blogs to catch up on my previous Vietnam trip and my upcoming Australia trip on my Arts & Travel Blog, JustJeszFriends in Australia...I'll be traveling around VIC/ACT/NSW (and who knows where else?) so give me a shoutout or any travel tips you have either on my AliveNotDeadblog, JustJeszblog, Jeszlene's Twitter or FaceBook account.Life is getting really exciting year after year, and I'm going to be celebrating my birthday soon too! Can't wait for all the surprises life has to offer...love,Jeszlene
Hey guys, Do you remember one of my short films I remember a couple of comments about screening updates or online viewing... so here it is...When Night Fa11s is participating in I've Seen Films - International Film Festival!!Entries are currently available online via the festival website. See, I fulfilled my promise Jeszlene is a good girl today... When you drop by the site, p lease remember to drop us a vote too, ok?(Voting ends 26th September 2010)To complete the viewing experience, here's a Music Video from our OST from Derrick Lui on Vimeo.###Hope you guys like it! love,Jeszlene
After my return from Vietnam, and having decided not to return for a third year, there was a sudden urge to contribute to another community. (Volunteering can sometimes be addictive.)
So, many of my personal friends, or readers of my previous blogs would know, there are a couple causes I strongly support. Namely (but not an exhaustive list), education of Children in developing countries, reduction of plastic bag usage and campaigning for the Arts. As an ad hoc supporter of UNICEF over the last couple of years, I finally decided to commit to a subscrīption with UNICEF International and a membership with UNIFEM Singapore this week. (UNICEF does not have a dedicated station set up in Singapore, but UNIFEM Singapore also campaigns for causes related to children.)
Here’s a welcome email I received.
Instead of just emailing 2 people, and sharing my beliefs over dinner, I’m gonna do one up, and share this with all of you (I’ve checked my stats, there’s definitely more than 2 people reading this page. LOLz~)
(1) Why I joined this cause?
I grew up with a generous mother, who made volunteering a way of life really. As for UNICEF in particular, it’s because I think children are the most innocent victims as well as the brightest future we have. They are a group of human beings that did not choose to be in a particular scenario due to greed, irresponsibility or any other vices. They were simply born disadvantaged, and one cannot be fault merely via their birth. Also, I’ve met many people in my life from disadvantaged backgrounds, but have achieved great feats when given the right opportunities (one of them is a recipient of the prestigious President Scholarship). So why not make a difference to those who can make the most out of it?
(2) Mention something from the UNICEF website.
(Paraphrased and heavily edited)
In a first world country, many of us often take schooling for granted. In fact, we often dread making the daily trip to school. BUT, DO YOU KNOW, in the aftermath of war, often nothing can make a child feel more secure than having a school to go to?
After the Rwandan genocide, many children had witnessed horrible violence or were forced to commit atrocities. For these children, going back to school meant a return to normalcy.
DO YOU KNOW THAT…
Your MacDonald’s meal @ US$5 can provide ten children with a pencil and exercise book.
Your weekend clubbing @ US$60 can provide a School-in-a-bag with individual school supplies for 40 students and 1 teacher.
Your new pair of jeans @ US$100 can provide 100 children with a sketch pad and crayons.
I do not advocate that you join UNICEF, unless there’s an emotional commitment attached to it. However, it would be awesome if you can dig into your pocket, and make a ONE TIME donation, even if it’s only a hamburger worth of US$5. Even dollar makes a difference.
To those the peeps in HongKong! What are your plans this weekend? How about taking a trip down to InDPanda International Short Film Festival, because...Mickey's an abstract but intellectual exposition of love, both in the emotional and scientific sense (in my humble opinion), and unlike what the photo suggests, is really nothing sleazy. Definitely an interesting take on love, by an awesome creative team.It's also a fun and delight experience in many ways.Not convinced?Here's some behind-the-scenes footage, which will hopefully convince ya to part with that 55HKD RehearsalsEvery good art work requires loads of preparation and planning. So here's evidence of us busting our a** away. People are always curious about how intimate scenes are shot / prepared. Basically it always starts off with a good discussion of personal comfort zone, like, to what extend would the actors be physically comfortable exposing and/or touching. Often, a contract will also be drafted as a follow through (example clause: underwear will be worn at all times, and if manipulated, genitals will not be shown on screen).Also the actors will have opportunities to build rapport with each other, hence gaining a sense of trust with each other. Partial rehearsals also lessens the "first time awkwardness" that will inevitably pop up during the first take.Once we're done with the script analysis and all that heavy stuff, let's get to a script read!!Here's Joe and I started off pretending to listen to director Wesley's long list on instructions, but it soon faded and it disintegrated into boredom and frustration.On SetYet Wesley never stopped directing us with long speeches, right into filming Actually Wesley's a really sweet and quiet chap. I just can't help myself with the selection of photos available, to pull a cheeky one. (Wes, if you're reading this don't be angry k? Jesz loves ya *gRiNz~)Seriously, being on set of was really really fun. Just check these pics out!!Fun, fUn, FUN!!There's no better way to work, than to be having a good time, right? And if I'm going down for this, so is everyone else!(L-R) Director Wesley giggling to himself; Co-actor Joe trying to scare me while I touch up ; AD Pris messing in front of the camera.Sound man Shaz and I even started playing a game whereby we took pictures of each other taking pictures of each other taking pictures... Obviously, people working behind the camera took better pictures than those who works in-front of the camera hmmm... there's no reasons for these pictures to be up, except I like how I look behind-the-scenes. *Narcissistic moment~!!!Hope these pictures and snippets of information's tempting enough to book those tickets for your film filled weekend! Remember it's 2pm this Saturday, at InDPanda International Short Film Festival as part of the "Torn Between Love and Lust" Series.Till the next time,Peace out!!
Last year, I spent a couple of weeks in Hue, Central Vietnam, as an English teacher for 20 over Vietnamese teens, thanks to the help of The Kind Exchange, a non-profit organization that matches young professions with community groups.
The centre I volunteered at was called Bao Tro House, or, The Haven, by English speakers.
Bao Tro House (The Haven)
The Haven Education Project was originally established by the Alumni Association of the Đồng-Khánh High School for Girls in Huế. It relied on small, ad hoc donations from the community, with the objective of paying the school fees of children from disadvantaged families in the area who showed promise at school and wanted to continue with post-primary school education.
The Haven supports junior and senior high school students – Grades 6 -12 or 12-18 years of age. The students live at The Haven’s residential complex in Phú Thương Ward, Huế, Central Vietnam. They attend school during the day and then receive after-school tutoring focused on building vocational skills such as English language and computer literacy.
In early 2007 The Haven received a substantial donation from a Vietnamese donor from Australia which enabled it to expand and improve the quality of its services.
In December 2007, the Project received final permission from the People’s Committee of Thua-Thien Province to operate as a ‘live-in’ facility for up to 30 students, with full and part-time tutoring and support staff.
And in July 2009, the school had it’s first foreign volunteer… me!!
This is my first time doing community work outside Singapore, with no knowledge of any Vietnamese (language/history/culture) nor the realities of what entails this trip, just an opened mind, and an idealistic soul.
First Shock – Language
I never learnt to speak any bits of Vietnamese before heading over. Not even basic words like Thank You ( Cảm ơn) or Hello ( Xin chào). How could I communicate with a bunch of Vietnamese kids whose only contact with the English language are classes conducted by Vietnamese teachers, who focused on simple writing, and little on speech?
In the Classroom
Their comfort zone - English words with Vietnamese “subtitles”!
Thank goodness for English – Vietnamese dictionaries phew~ I have to admit it was really tiring to breakdown sentences into words that we’ll have to search in the dictionary. Took almost forever to say anything. However, it taught me to simplify sentences using a couple of key words, instead of blabbering superfluously (my usual modus operandi).
Other methods of communication included sketching, gesticulating and observing.
It felt like a lot of work initially, and was extremely exhausting. Thankfully, there was Uncle Khon (his family contributes heavily towards The Haven) who spoke fluent English, and western expats near my hotel, who kept me sane with English conversations.
However, once you get over the initial stage of linguistic adjustment (took me half a week), it got really rewarding.
Often, we communicate so much with words (many of which are unnecessary), we forget the other forms of basic human instincts like facial expressions, body language, and energy levels. We also forget to observe simple visuals which are oh so gorgeous! While I still yak away incessantly (just check my phone bills for proof, or read my blog rants) the experience of communication without words was absolutely therapeutic, sincere and totally amazing.
Second Shock – Standard of Living
Call me ignorant, idealistic, or adventurous (take a pick), but my initial plan was to stay at Bao Tro House, instead of in a comfy hotel that Andrew (sponsorship Director of The Haven) suggested. Man was I in for a ride….
Standard of Living
The basic infrastructure of the centre is actually very well set up. There’s a TV, a shared computer, dormitory rooms, a huge kitchen, a yard, fans in every room, a proper washing area, a washroom in every bedroom in the centre wing, and common washrooms for the left wing… everything but… a HOT SHOWER!!!!!
I can’t live life without my hot showers. It’s ok if I had to sleep on wooden beds cover with straw mats, inside mosquito nets, no air-conditioning and even shower from a bucket, but here’s my limits. I need hot showers. Technically I could have boiled water and mixed it with the pail in the toilet, but I didn’t wanna inconvenient the matron (a sweet Vietnamese old lady who lives in the centre) or my students, or seem like some stupid foreigner who’s demanding superior treatment. So I moved out into a hotel (only US$10/night for cable TV, WIFI, aircon, clean sheets, nice bathtub, mini-fridge etc) after 3 days of endurance.
However, something my students said almost made me cry.
I really like Bao Tro House, because the standard of living here is much better than home.
These kids are so appreciative of everything. They appreciate the fact that there’s regular source of food (3 full meals a day) at the centre, loads of study time (kids often work in the villages as a contribution to the family) and education opportunities. The really simple things in life. Makes me feel really guilty, and a spoilt city girl.
Life in Bao Tro House is simple, and communal, the traditional Vietnamese way. During meals, the girls help to serve the food, and the boys set up the tables + chairs. Everybody enjoys their meals together at 6.30 am (breakfast), 11am (lunch), and 6pm (dinner) everyday.
When we go out for excursions, Bao Tro House has a full time cook, who’ll prepare the same meals, lag a pile of plates + pots with us and the routine never changes, when if meals are taken while squatting by the road side.
Best things in life are free!
I also love that my students are a really happy bunch. Besides hitting their books, life is pure joy. They play 5 stones (with actual pebbles), chess sets, traditional games, cycling, chasing each other, messing around in the yard and watching TV.
They always contented, even though don’t go out beyond school, tuition classes and religious lessons (except when donors of The Haven or foreign volunteers visit).
Last year, the Hooper-Nguyễn family and their friends visited while I was there. By then, we’ve taken the students to a couple of temples, a beach and the Elephant Springs, but this time it’s a full fledged excitement!
Every time that the Hooper-Nguyễn family and/or their friends visit, they always prepare lots of games, prizes and a fun-filled time for the students. Last year, they organized a drawing contest at the temples, a boat trip along the perfume river and a building contest at a heritage site (all in a day)!
After all education’s about fun, creativity and cultural exposure too!
All good things have to come to an end, so did my time in Huế.
Both times that I visited Bao Tro House, the matron (she’s like my Vietnamese mother) threw me a party. It’s really a simple gathering with candies, fruits and loads of singing, but it’s always really nice and touching.
Often it’s the best gifts aren’t the most expensive, but those from the heart. I always feel really bad when the matron offers me nice food or drinks, throws me a farewell party or gives me presents. However, I never appreciate any gifts more, because I know the giver has very little for themselves in the first place.
That’s sincere generosity, a true spirit of giving.
I thought I wouldn’t cry, but my girls did after the party, and when I eventually got back to my place at night, my eyes were moist.
Positive Changes (one year later)
As mentioned in The Haven website, the centre is focused on building vocational skills such as English language and computer literacy. I’m really really proud to say that when I visited the centre a year later, we have definitely managed to achieve both of these goals!!
During the one year, when I was back on Sunny Island Singapore, a few of my students were constantly in touch via emails. This is an amazing feat in 2 ways. (1) During my first trip there, the internet/computer seemed like a huge unknown force to some of these students. So the concept of logging on, on a regular basis felt surreal. (2) For teenagers who struggled to string even the most basic sentences together, writing a proper account of their experiences, that’s way impressive.
Just when you think we’re ready to feel congratulate ourselves, check this out!!
Laptop’s mine actually but it’s lovely seeing them get all excited checking out pictures we took a year ago! Even got one of my students to transfer the files to Bao Tro House’s shared computer, so everyone can look through these memories whenever! =D
Finally chased the big scary monster of the unknown cyber world out of the room and replaced it with a friendly chirpy cyber angel! *gRiNz~
My personal growth
Of course the exchange was 2 ways. In fact, I now believe that volunteers often receive more than they give out.
First, I learnt to appreciate life much better. The simple non-materialistic physical aspects of life. Which once you understand, and get used to, make you a much happier person.
Second, I learnt the power of love and appreciation. Again, contributes to happiness.
Third, I learnt how to slow my pace and be less uptight about life.
Fourth, human kindness, love, and more joy.
Finally, I learnt some Vietnamese!!!!!!!!!! How else can I convince my young punks to speak English unless I make the effort to learn their language?
(Actually this isn’t the best representation of my lessons, but some experiences are better felt than read. Didn’t wanna make it sound like a preachy or romantic speech either >.< )
Community Spirit in Huế
I know my impression of Huế may seem biased to many, due to my personal experiences, but most of Vietnam has a really strong sense of community. Besides orphanages and centres for the disabled, there are also loads of ventures in Huế that are community driven.
Food with a cause
Both of the above restaurants are set up as a means to provide a learning environment that aims to alleviate the situation of children wandering the streets of Huế. The French Bakery even provides training for its students, and pair them up with jobs post graduation. The prices are a tad steep by Vietnamese standards, (which is still reasonable by first world standards) but it’s all for a good cause!! Not to mention, the bread is so awesome it melts in your mouth… even the Europeans would agree, and these people know their pastry…
Besides my students, friends, and a surrogate Vietnamese family in Huế, it’s not difficult to understand why this part of Vietnam holds such a special place in my heart. Of course there are many other beautiful memories I can’t share in a single post… =)
Next up, I’ll share more about the beautiful sights of Huế, and experiences outside Bao Tro House!!
(Hopefully there won’t be such a huge gap in the time lapse too!)
If you’re ever interested in community work, write me comments on my post and I’ll answer all questions to the best of my abilities. Meanwhile, do check out The Kind Exchange (Singapore based), for various ways to contribute to our community, whether you’ve only a couple of hours to share, either on an ad hoc basis or as an ongoing commitment.
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Transforming Genevieve Ch. 13byR_U_Romantic©
Marsha rang up my purchases, which only totaled $350.00. I'd have a hundred and a half left to pick up a couple more things. As she handed me the change I said, "What are you doing tonight after closing Marsha?"
"I have to go home and check on my hubby, but other than that I didn't have any plans." Marsha said.
All evening I had been toying with the idea of inviting her to my place for drinks and maybe more, remembering how exciting it had been when she and I played together for Peter.
"Would you like to stop by my place later for a drink Marsha?" I asked.
"I'd love to Gen, but it might be a little late." She said.
I replied, "That's okay I hun, I'll be chatting with Bill online this evening, and I don't have an early class tomorrow."
"Great Gen, I could be there around eleven or so." Marsha said.
"That'll work perfectly." I said.
Marsha came around from behind the counter and gave me a hug, while we embraced she whispered in my ear, "Should I bring my bag of sex toys baby?"
I grinned and nodded my approval saying, "I'll see you later then Marsha."
"For sure baby." She replied.
One the way out of the mall I stopped to see if I could find a pair of feather trimmed heels like Marsha had suggested for the long white gown. The store I tried didn't carry that type, but instead I opted for a pair of white satin heels with a very sexy ankle strap. I bought a pair in black also just for good measure.
After hanging my new lingerie in my closet and putting the other things in my drawer I changed into a comfortable nighty brushed out my hair and sat down at my computer. Bill had told me that the messenger service he used worked really well and that it had the capability of file sharing and linking two chatters together so they could surf the web at the same time. I typed in the sights address and in a few minutes I'd downloaded the program installed it and set myself up with the user name Storygirl39. I clicked on find a new friend. I typed in Novelist47 and hit enter. The program said it sent a request to Novelist47 to accept me as a new contact but that the request would not be delivered until Novelist47 logged on the next time. Keeping the program running I surfed a few of my favorite internet sites waiting for Bill to log on. About 20 minutes later Bill logged on, an instant message box opened with a message from Novelist47. "Do I know you?" his first message asked.
I replied, "Yes Bill its Gen."
"All right glad to see you Storygirl." He typed. A moment later I got a message that my offer to add Novelist47 as a contact had been accepted. I click on the YES button when Bills request to add me popped up. Now his name showed in my list of contacts with a small Icon next to it indicating Novelist47 was online.
The messenger service worked really well, and the first thing I did was thank Bill for the beautiful letter he'd written me Monday evening He could hardly believe it was the first love letter I'd ever received.
He said, "Hope you enjoy going shopping baby."
I typed, "Bill I already went shopping earlier this evening."
"You did, so tell me what you bought Gen." his message said
"In detail!" he added with a cute little devil smiley face at the end of the message.
I described the teal colored lace teddy that I'd bought to replace the chemise he'd torn off me Sunday morning, and the lace bras and silk stockings. But I didn't mention the white bridal gown or the French maid costume wanting both to be surprises for him.
"So you must still have a lot of the cash I sent left Gen." He said.
I told a little white lie and said, "I have a lot of it left for when we go shopping together baby."
We talked about all kinds of things that first night we chatted online. Time flew by and before I knew it we'd been logged on together for almost two hours. I quickly discovered that we had a lot more in common than enjoying fabulous sex together. I began getting a very nice connected feeling about Bill and me.
Before we logged off Bill said that Tess had a meeting scheduled for Friday afternoon, and that if it ran long she might stay over and drive home Saturday morning.
I asked, "Does that mean there's a possibility we could spend Friday night together."
"I'm hoping that's exactly what it means Gen." He replied.
"But I won't know until late Friday afternoon." Bill added.
I said, "Well I'm not going to make any plans then."
"Thanks baby I appreciate you keeping your Friday night free on the chance we could see each other." Bill said.
As we logged off Bill told me how much he enjoyed chatting with me, and that he was very much looking forward to being with me Friday if possible.
We exchanged cute little smiley faces and our goodnights.
Bill's last message to me was, "Sweet dreams love."
It was the first time he'd used the "L" word in that way, and reading it warmed my heart.
We logged off at 10:35 PM, after spending a most enjoyable 2 hours and forty minutes online together. The excitement of being able to seduce my lover in my new white bridal gown the day after tomorrow started to build instantly. I could hardly wait until his eyes first gazed on me in that incredibly sexy gown.
My excitement over being with my lover again was soon replaced with the anticipation of Marsha's arrival with her bag of sexy toys.
Before I shut down my computer I check my email and found nothing of interest deleting most of the contents of my inbox as spam or just plain junk mail.
I went to the living room and turned off all the lights except a low wattage light on a small table just inside my front door. I lit several candles and put on some soft jazz.
I still had most of the bottle of Merlot that Bill had brought over the weekend before, and poured myself a crystal wine goblet of the sweet liquid. I sat down on the big over stuffed chair that Bill had knelt in front of Sunday morning when he pleasured my loins so completely with his mouth and relaxed waiting to see if Marsha would appear.
Just about 10:55 PM there was a light knock at my door. I quickly made my way to the door and checked through the tiny peephole to make sure it wasn't someone besides Marsha. Marsha was standing alone outside my door with a very warming smile on her lips.
I undid the dead bolt and opened the door.
"Hi Marsha, come on in." I said.
She smiled and said, "Thanks baby." As she slid by me carrying a small black bag. Marsha wore an almost floor length fur coat that completely covered what she wore underneath, with the exception of the dark navy slacks and matching heels she had on earlier at the store.
"Can I take your coat Marsha?" I asked.
Marsha walked across the living room and slipped her fur off. She lay it down with the satin lining exposed on one end of the sofa.
"Here's fine baby." She said.
She turned toward me and smiled as she held up her little black bag, which I assumed contained an assortment of sexy toys.
Marsha wore a pure white silk blouse unbuttoned almost half way down. Her succulent cleavage nearly completely exposed, and her taut nipples pressing into the silk fabric. She didn't bother to wear a bra.
"Would you like a goblet of wine Marsha?" I asked.
"I'd love it Gen." She replied.
Marsha dropped her toy bag on the sofa, and walked toward me. Her full breasts jiggled seductively as she stepped toward me. A sexy grin appeared on her lips as she realized I was watching her tits move beneath the silk blouse.
When Marsha was close enough she lifted her hand to my shoulder and slowly ran a fingertip down my arm. "I love a girl's night in baby." She said.
Her touch caused the tiny hairs on my arm to stand up, and I felt goose bumps along the length of both arms.
Marsha followed me to the kitchen where I poured her a goblet of Merlot. As I prepared her drink she said, "So Gen were you able to find the feather trimmed heels to go with your bridal gown?"
"I only stopped at one store Marsha. They didn't have them, but I fell in love with a pair of white satin heels that look very sexy, and I got a matching pair in black." I replied.
"Sounds to me like your bridal outfit is complete baby, so when will your lover get his first glimpse of you in that little number." Marsha asked.
"It could be Friday evening if our plans work out." I said.
"Sweet!" Marsha said
With our Merlot goblets full Marsha and I returned to the living room. As I walked behind her I couldn't help watching how her ass moved as she walked. Marsha was a master at walking seductively in high heels. Her hips moved from side to side and her feet almost glided across the floor.
As we reached the sofa Marsha asked, "So baby, do you wanna see my toys?"
"Love to!" I replied.
Marsha sat down on one end of the sofa, and I on the other with her fur coat spread between us acting as a display for the contents of her little black bag. I believe her toy bag had started life as a gift back for a bottle of liquor its opening held closed with two pull strings, and its oblong shape appeared to be long enough to hold a fifth of booze. I was quite certain that its contents were just as intoxicating now as when hit held a bottle. Marsha reached into the bag and pulled out a cord, as she lifted it further and further out a series of balls came with the cord, each one slightly larger then the one before.
"One of my favorites Gen." Marsha said as the last anal bead slipped from her bag of toys.
I giggled at the thought of having them inserted in my tight little ass.
The next toy looked like a rubber ring with an inch long stub attached to it. The stub was covered with bumps and at the base near where the ring was a tiny electric cord extended to a control. Marsha flipped the switch and the stub began humming.
Marsha held it up for me to look at and said, "Clit vibrator baby. You're gonna love this one."
I smiled and replied, "I bet we'll both love it Marsha."
Her next toy was a pink two-pronged affair, one slightly longer then the other.
I giggled as she held it up for my inspection. "Ooooooh, that one looks like it could kill two birds with on stone Marsha." I said, knowing where each prong was intended to be inserted.
Marsha was spreading her collection of toy out on the satin lining of her fur coat for me to see. Her hand slipped inside the bag and I could tell she was trying to find something near the bottom.
"Damn," she said, "I forgot my little bottle of oil."
"No problem babe, I have some in my nightstand." I replied.
"Oh goodie, we're gonna need it for my last toy Gen." Marsha said.
She pulled the last of her toys out, obviously saving it for last, and clearly using up the length of the bag. It was a thick rubbery looking shiny black cock. This was no dildo, it looked almost as huge as the cock Bro had brought to my gangbang at Jim's apartment a few weeks before. The base had two built in balls that Marsha grabbed to hold this massive substitute cock up by. The shaft had molded in arteries and the flaring head looked bigger than any I'd ever seen before.
I smiled at Marsha and said, "Now that's what I call an adult toy!"
Marsha laughed before she said, "It sure is, and it never goes soft on ya either."
"Let me run and grab my massage oil baby." I said.
I stood up and started toward my bedroom to retrieve my dome shaped bottle of massage oil. As I passed Marsha her hand slid up my leg. "I can't wait for this Gen. I've wanted to be alone with you again ever since our night with Peter." She remarked.
While in my bedroom I slipped on my new black satin heels and buckled the ankle straps tightly around my legs. I wanted to show them to her, but more because it brought us to almost the exact same height.
As I returned Marsha instantly noticed the heels. "Oh yeah, very sexy Gen. Those ankle straps would be perfect with a matching black satin choker."
I made a mental note to buy one before I wore the shoes for Bill. As I neared the sofa again I held up my massage oil for Marsha to see.
"Looks like that serves two purposes also Gen." Marsha said noticing the shape of the bottle.
I tossed it on her coat, and sat down. Marsha's fingers slid to her blouse and undid another button as she turned to face me more directly. The white silk spread even further open exposing the entire length of her deep cleavage along with the inner most part of the ring of areola surrounding her taut nipples. She took a healthy drink from her goblet and set it on the end table. I did the same nearly emptying my wine glass.
"Shall we?" Marsha asked as she lifted the coat by the furry collar spilling her toys on the floor, and tossing the coat fur side up on the carpeted floor in front of us.
Marsha stood and stretched two beautifully manicured red tipped hands toward me. I lifted my soft delicate fingers and placed them into her hands as I stood. Our hands trembled in unison as the anticipation of what we knew was about to happen grew. Looking into her beautiful blue eyes, which now were sparkling with passion, I let me gaze travel down to her luscious red lips shimmering with a combination of lip-gloss and the remains of her last sip of Merlot.
As I lowered my gaze to her beautiful breasts, the contrast between the pure white of her silk blouse and the tanned flesh it no longer covered she moved her shoulders slowly from side to side allowing a hint of erect nipple appear, and then be instantly covered again by the silk fabric. Her fingertips slowly began to slide up my arms, barely touching my tingling flesh until they reached my soft shoulders.
"You are so lovely Gen." Marsha whispered. Her fingers lifted the thin spaghetti straps holding my nighty on my shoulders. She moved them outward off my shoulders and the garment floated down off my body forming a puddle of fabric around my black heels. Except for those sexy heels I stood before Marsha completely naked.
"What an incredibly lovely body you have Gen." Marsha said as she moved closer to me.
The open edges of her silk blouse barely made contact with my taut nipples sending a shiver of excitement through my breasts, and down into my loins. My hands trembled as I moved them to caress her nipples through the white silk fabric barely covering her breasts.
Marsha moaned softly as I slowly caressed her nipples. Our eyes searching one another's, our trembling lips wanting to make first contact, quivering tongues begging to begin a dance of gentle passion between parted lips.
Marsha whispered, "Undress me Gen, very slowly undress me."
I moved my fingers painstakingly slow toward the final exposed button of her silk blouse, the fabric easily parted, my fingertips touching her naked flesh beneath. Downward my fingers traveled toward the button that held her slacks tightly around her waist. A quick flick of my thumb and forefinger and the button was undone.
Marsha watched intently as my soft hands slowly slid her slacks from her wider hips. Her own fingertips were touching, no hovering, above the tingling skin of my shoulders and upper arms. As the waistband of her slacks slid over her flaring hips the material slipped down her silk covered legs into a heap around her feet. I gasped at first sight of the silk tri-angle of thong covering her shaven pussy. The dark color of her stockings contrasted incredibly with the pure white of her thong. My fingers found and undid the final button that held her silk blouse closed just above her hips. As I moved my trembling hands up toward her breasts Marsha brought her hands to my tits softly caressing the soft skin.
"You have such beautiful breasts Marsha." I whispered.
My fingers grasped the silk fabric just below her shoulders and I slowly slid her blouse off her body. It joined our other clothing in a heap at our feet. She moved her shoulders seductively causing her breasts to sway seductively from side-to-side, inviting my touch, my kisses, and my gentle caresses.
"Kiss me Gen." Marsha said.
As our lips moved closer and closer we both were trembling with shear anticipation. Passionate stares turn to lustful glares as our mouths came within inches of one another.
My lips parted, offering Marsha the tip of my tongue, which she gladly accepted sucking softly on it. Our lust for each other finally took complete control pulling our mouths together in a deep passionate kiss.
We moaned in unison as this kiss between two bi-sexual lovers intensified. Marsha's hands slid up to cup my tits, slowly massaging the heaving flesh and sliding over taut nipples. I lowered my mouth to kiss the soft flesh above her nipples moving from one full tit to the other and back again.
I gave in to my craving to feel her tits against mine and moved closer to her pulling her heaving chest against my tits, Marsha's full tits pressing against my smaller but equally luscious breasts. Our nipples slid against each other. A tingle of pleasure spread from my sensitive nipples consuming my entire tit as it spread.
As we caressed each other with our tits and searched each other's mouths with lips and tongues, Marsha slowly began to bend at the knees. I followed her until we were kneeling on her fur coat. She placed a hand softly on my chest and said, "Lay down Gen, feel the luxury of fur on your naked skin."
As I lowered myself to her soft fur coat I indulged my fingers in the feel of fur, allowing my body, my legs and finally my shoulders and head to settle into the folds of fabulous fur. I spread my long hair about my head and let my fingers slide down over my tits, before slipping from my hips and into the fullness of the fur.
"What an incredible feeling Marsha." I said, as her coat engulfed my body.
Marsha kneeling over me slowly bent at the waist, her erect nipples making contact with the skin of my abdomen as her lush full lips moved to suckle one erect nipple. My finger instantly moved to her hair, running through the blonde waves and directing her lips and tongue from one taut nipple to the other.
"You nipples feel so good in my lips." Marsha exclaimed.
Her own erect nipples hanging down at the tip of her breasts dragged across my flesh sending shivers though my body. Marsha slowly kissed her way up my chest, lips teasing the heaving flesh of my chest. Marsha showered my shoulders and neck with gentle soft kisses. My fingers constantly moving through her beautiful blonde locks directing her to one sensitive spot after another.
As she kissed toward my lips, her legs moved up. She pressed one shapely silk covered thigh into my groin grinding her strong thigh into my loins. My pussy tingled with absolute ecstasy as her leg worked its magic on my moist lips, and hard clit.
"Oh baby, you're turning me on so much." I whispered as Marsha moved upward more to kiss my forehead. She moved even further up allowing her full tits to dangle in my face. My lips captured and suckled one erect nipple while my fingers pleasured the other.
"That's it Gen suck my hard nipples baby." Marsha whispered adding, "I love how you suck them baby."
My lips drew one nipple tighter into my mouth and I flicked my tongue at the hard tip causing Marsha to groan deeply.
"Oh my god, there is no feeling better than a woman's mouth on my tits." She exclaimed.
I circled one nipple with my tongue leaving trails of wet saliva where ever it touched. Marsha's thigh and now her knee ground into my ever-wetter pussy, soaking her silk stocking from the hem down to her knee.
"Oooooooh baby, I need your mouth on my pussy." I pleaded.
Marsha smiled as she looked down at me between her swaying orbs of tit flesh and slowly began moving down over my body. Quicker then her ascent but still sensuously slow. I spread my thighs wider as she moved closer and closer to my now dripping wet pussy. |
With Tom on vacation, Chad recorded a special episode of the podcast with Heather Cleary and Jason Grunebaum, both of whom have a book on the National Translation Award longlist. They talk about Sergio Chejfec’s “The Dark,” Uday Prakash’s “The Girl with the Golden Parasol,” air shows, the future of the American Literary Translators Association, and other non-sports related topics. (Seriously, this is a sports-free podcast.)
As an added bonus, there’s a short conversation Chad had with Uday Prakash about his collection “The Walls of Delhi.”Read More...
Thanks to a blown out tire, which forced me to spend most of last Friday riding in a tow truck and sitting in a tire shop, I didn’t have a chance to write my weekly Weekend Reading post.1 So this week, I’m going to triple up on the normal post and write about the three books I hope to spend the next four days reading.
First up is Wiesław Myśliwski’s A Treatise on Shelling Beans, which is translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston and published by Archipelago Books. In case you don’t remember, Bill’s translation of Myśliwski’s Stone Upon Stone won the Best Translated Book Award in 2012, so I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple years.
And to be honest, I’ve been reading it for the last week. In many ways, it’s similar to Stone Upon Stone—a long, looping monologue detailing the crazy adventures of one person’s life, very plain language, intricate narrative structure—but also a bit different in the way that narrator isn’t quite as self-mythologizing as the guy from Stone Upon Stone, and the general setting (in a part of Poland completely destroyed in WWII). Regardless, it’s an excellent book, and one that I’m definitely going to finish tonight or tomorrow, and will be reviewing in full next week.
Next up is a book I should’ve read years ago: The Girl with the Golden Parasol by Uday Prakash, translated from the Hindi by Jason Grunebaum, and available from Yale University Press. Jason is a good friend, and one of the funniest people I know, which is one reason it’s inexcusable that I’ve had this on my “to read” shelf for so many months.
The main reason I’m picking it up now though is thanks to Jason’s essay “Choosing an English for Hindi” from the invaluable collection, In Translation, which was put together by Esther Allen and Susan Bernofsky.
In this essay, Jason invents two possible readers for this novel—Krishna, who lives in South Delhi, is a polyglot who is comfortable reading and speaking in Hindi, English, and Panjabi; and Kris, an English-reader born in Detroit and living in Chicago who has lots of South Asian friends and has attended bhangra dance parties. The crux of Jason’s piece is on whether he should translate The Girl with the Golden Parasol for Krishna (and the potentially huge audience of Indians who would be comfortable reading this book in English), or for Kris (and the much smaller number of American counterparts who might buy this), and what falls out from that particular decision.
Leaving certain words from the Hindi in the English translation won’t be the only difference in strategy if I translate for Krishna. I might also decide to write in a more South Asianized English. I might use an idiomatic phrase like, “I am just coming,” confident that Krishna would take this to mean what in American English would translate as, “I’ll be right back.” Sometimes Uday’s characters use English words in their Hindi or even speak in complete English sentences, like when the protagonist, Rahul, bursts into tears, and his friend implores him (and this is the Hindi), “Don’t be senti, Rahul!” “Senti” comes from the word “sentimental,” and here means an excessive public display of emotion: when someone loses it, can’t keep a grip on himself, fails to keep a grip on himself or hold it together. Krishna would know what “senti” means, and I could leave this, and many other instances of English-in-the-Hindi, as is.
There are several more interesting examples, but you’ll just have to buy, borrow, or steal In Translation to find out what they are.
And the last book I’d like to get to this weekend: The Only Happy Ending for a Love Story Is an Accident by J. P. Cuenca, translated by Elizabeth Lowe, and available from Tagus Press.
First off, this is a Brazilian book, and if you’ve been following this blog at all the past few months, you’ve probably heard about my Brazil obsession. (Which will culminate in our publication of Rafael Cardoso’s The Chronicle of the Murdered House in Margaret Jull Costa’s translation a few years from now.) As a result, I’ve been reading bunches of Brazilian books, but mostly by author’s I’d already heard of. By contrast, I hadn’t heard of J. P. Cuenca until reading “Before the Fall” in Granta’s special young Brazilian authors issue.
It’s also really intriguing that the setting for this book is Tokyo, in the near future, and featuring a mad poet whose hobby is spying on his son. I’ve read the first few chapters in this book, and can confirm that the jack copy is pretty much on target:
In poetic and imaginative language, Cuenca subtly interweaves reality and fiction, creating a dreamlike world whose palpable characters, including a silicone doll,2 leave a lasting impression. Written like a crime novel, full of odd events and reminiscent of Haruki Murakami’s work,3 this disturbing, kaleidoscopic story of voyeurism and perversion draws the reader in from the very first page.
What I really like about this book though is the title. Such a great title. And the fact that it’s from Tagus Press, a relatively new venture specializing in lusophone writing.
Anyway, that’s it for this week—see you after the break!
1 OK, yes, I know this is only “weekly” in my mind, but I do have every intention of making this a more regular feature. Also, to follow up on the last one of these posts—the one about Viviane by Julia Deck—I have to tell you that Viviane turned out to be amazing. So amazing that I’m going to be teaching it in my class next semester, and highly recommend it to everyone.
2 If I had written this copy, I would’ve referred to Yoshiko as a “silicone sex doll.” I’m not sure how accurate that is, but from the first page: “I could not be anything else because I have this body, and I only have this body, I am this body. And the purpose of this body is just one thing: to serve Mr. Okuda.”
3 But better.
At some point, we’ll run a review of this book, but for now, I just wanted to point out UWAP’s conscientious approach to highlighting the fact that this book is a translation—an approach that truly sets a new standard for all publishers to follow.
First off, here’s the front cover. Note that Jason’s name is equally as large as both the title and the author. That in and of itself is pretty impressive.
BUT, what’s really impressive is the spine:
And there you are. Based on this single data point, I think that from now on every publisher who fails to acknowledge the translator on the spine deserves to be publicly shamed.
Simply put, Jason Grunebaum is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Super energetic, witty as all get out, he should have his own reality show. (Or something.) At least a podcast. Or a regular guest spot on someone else’s podcast. (Jason: you going to be at MLA? If so, let’s talk.) He’s also one of the only Hindi translators I know . . . and I’m hoping that one day Open Letter will publish a translation of his.
There’s a slew of soon-to-be-profiled translators (like Becka, J.P., and Edward) that I first met at ALTA Richardson, which, though it wasn’t in the most hip, or interesting of surroundings (I mean, damn, the most entertaining thing we found was a 24-hour Casket Store—how’s that for nightlife?), was one of the first ALTA conferences I attended where I hooked up with a lot of young, fun translators.
Anyway, I feel like Jason and I have a special bond thanks to our time together at the Salzburg Seminar last February. After five days in a palace drinking beer on the honor system in the bierstube, we developed a certain rapport . . .
Jason is another person I’d point to as one of the key figures in the future of ALTA as an organization. He’s literally boiling over with ideas. His massive social network for translators, the Hindi translation competition, etc., etc. I can only imagine how much fun his classes at the U of Chicago must be, and I’m excited to read the novel that he’s been working on . . . Anyway, onto the questions and comments:
Favorite Word from Any Language:
“garbar”—a mess, fiasco, Benny Hill style descent into chaos
This is the perfect word for Jason to choose. I have no other comments.
Best Translation You’ve Done to Date: The Girl with the Golden Parasol by Uday Prakash
This came out last year (?) from Penguin India, but has yet to be released in the U.S. (Which maybe isn’t terribly shocking, but is a bit disappointing. There are so few Hindi books published in America—there’s only one listed in the translation database—and to have Jason helping promote . . . ) You can read a sample of this by clicking here. And here are links to a few reviews: Dawn.com, Tehelka, and The Telegraph (India).
Book that Needs to Be Published in English Translation: Basharat Manzil by Manzur Ahtesham
Another surprise: not much information online about this book. But here’s a (fairly generic) description I found:
Set in pre-independence Delhi, centred around a quiet building, Basharat Manzil, home to Billo and Bibbo. A story of love, patience and understanding. A story of ghazals, tawaifs, Batashonwali Gali, unfulfilled dreams and unrequited love.
The lives of the residents of Basharat Manzil, in particular that of Amina Begham, reflect the lives of millions of Indians. In this is the triumph of the novellist, that the reader easily identifies with the protagonists of his novel and as we read the novel, the story of Basharat Manzil quickly becomes the story of our own lives.
Hopefully as time goes on, people will start to read more Indian literature not originally written in English, and Jason will be there to translate and promote it.
Foreign Policy may not be the first magazine you think of when you think of literature in translation, but Britt Peterson put together a really cool set of translation-centric features for the May/June issue.
First off is a piece by Edith Grossman that’s related to her book Why Translation Matters:
The dearth of translated literature in the English-speaking world represents a new kind of iron curtain we have constructed around ourselves. We are choosing to block off access to the writing of a large and significant portion of the world, including movements and societies whose potentially dreadful political impact on us is made even more menacing by our general lack of familiarity with them. Our stubborn and willful ignorance could have—and arguably, already has had—dangerous consequences. The problem starts in the Anglophone publishing industry, where translated books are not only avoided but actively discouraged. [. . .]
Publishers have their excuses, of course. A persistent but not very convincing explanation is that English-language readers are, for some reason, put off by translations. This is nothing but a publishing shibboleth that leads to a chicken-and-egg conundrum: Is a limited readership for translations the reason so few are published in the Anglophone world? Or is that readership limited because English-language publishers provide their readers with so few translations?
To supplement this piece though (which is pretty much lifted from Edie’s aforementioned book), Britt put together a very cool feature called Overcoming the Language Barrier featuring nine translated pieces from around the world:
“I write in a language that has little to do with tulips, windmills, or silly snowmen with carrot noses, a language honed to denote Africa in all its harshness, cruelty, and beauty,” Thomas Dreyer writes in his essay “Not Our Leguaan.” It’s also a language, Afrikaans, that is rarely translated into English—like most languages, in fact, as literary translator Edith Grossman elaborated in her article for our May/June issue, “A New Great Wall.” But Dreyer’s piece, grappling with the complexities of creating art out of the language that once created apartheid, offers a crucial perspective for understanding the affairs of his country, and so do the eight other pieces in our first-ever Foreign Policy translation project.
Here’s the complete list of translated pieces with links to each one:
Very cool, and hopefully this isn’t just a one-off . . . It would be great if FP could run some translated works of nonfiction every so often . . .
Pedro Zarraluki’s The History of Silence (trans. Nick Caistor and Lorenza García) begins with the narrator and his wife, Irene, setting out to write a book about silence, itself called The History of Silence: “This is the story of how. . .
There are plenty of reasons you can fail to find the rhythm of a book. Sometimes it’s a matter of discarding initial assumptions or impressions, sometimes of resetting oneself. Zigmunds Skujiņš’s Flesh-Coloured Dominoes was a defining experience in the necessity. . .
In a culture that privileges prose, reviewing poetry is fairly pointless. And I’ve long since stopped caring about what the world reads and dropped the crusade to get Americans to read more poems. Part of the fault, as I’ve suggested. . .
I would like to pose the argument that it is rare for one to ever come across a truly passive protagonist in a novel. The protagonist (perhaps) of Three Light-Years, Claudio Viberti, is just that—a shy internist who lives in. . .
The last five days of the eleventh-century Icelandic politician, writer of sagas, and famous murder victim Snorri Sturleleson (the Norwegian spelling, Snorre, is preserved in the book) make up Thorvald Steen’s most recently translated historical fiction, The Little Horse. Murdered. . .
We all know Paris, or at least we think we know it. The Eiffel Tower. The Latin Quarter. The Champs-Élysées. The touristy stuff. In Dominique Fabre’s novel, Guys Like Me, we’re shown a different side of Paris: a gray, decaying. . .
One hundred pages into Birth of a Bridge, the prize-winning novel from French writer Maylis de Kerangal, the narrator describes how starting in November, birds come to nest in the wetlands of the fictional city of Coca, California, for three. . . |
Week VII, Workout C
Friday morning I was in the gym early. Not entirely sure what I would be doing. Normally, I’d have continued with my linear progression in squats, did my wrist/forearm rehab work, and lately, add in some light bilateral upper body work, as I test the limits of my healing left arm.
But today, I was under instructions from Steven Hill, whose Low Bar Squat Camp I’ll be attending this weekend, to take a light day so I’ll be rested well enough get my ass handed to me on Sunday afternoon.
So here’s what I did.
Warm-Up: 2000 meter row, Res. 7, S/M 20-21, Time: 8:14.3 (split: ~ 2:03.6); Jump Rope single unders, 300 or so.
Shoulder Mobility (various; done between sets of the following)
Bilateral Wrist/Forearm Rehab (done between sets of following): 3 x 8 x 8 lb FatGripz DBs: pronated & supinated, & neutral grip wrist curls; shrugs & hammer curls; triceps extensions & curls; reverse curls & side delt raises; pronation & supination; 400 meter farmer’s carry.
Squats: 5 x 45, 10 x 135, 15 x 135 (!). This 15 rep set is a PR set for me but that fact doesn’t appear to be worth paying much attention to. I could easily do a set of 15 with more weight. I will say that I felt exceptionally smooth, strong and able through the whole set, and I enjoyed that.
Split Jerks: 3 x 5 x 10 kg
Press: 3 x 5 x 10 kg
Push-Ups (PVC pipe in 3 point contact with seat, lumbar, and head): 5 x 1. It is going to be awesome to start adding back in volume with push-ups. I can’t wait to add pull-ups!
Week VII, Workout B.
Feeling much more rested on Wednesday I got up super early (4:30 am) and made it to the gym by about 5:20; got most of my workout in before Mike and Lauren arrived.
Warm Up: Row 500m, Res: 7, s/m: 16-18, Time: 2:10; Jump-Rope about 200 single unders; Hip/Leg Mobility.
Squats (alternating with shoulder mobility sets, written just below): 5 x 45, 3 x 95, 3 x 135, 1 x 185, 5 x 190, 5 x 190, 8 x 190 (f on 9). I found that I had to push harder on this than I expected. I think maybe the interval of Friday to Wednesday for heavy squats is TOO long, by at least one day. I missed the optimum window for taking advantage of supercompensation. But I still got my sets and 8 x 190 is technically a PR. This is with body weight of 192, as of Wednesday morning.
Shoulder Mobility: dislocates, “spiders”, rotations.
Bilateral Wrist/Forearm Rehab: 3 x 12 x 5 lb FGDBs: pronated and supinated wrist curls; shrugs; hammer curls & triceps extensions; reverse curls & side delt raises; 400 meter waiter’s walk.
In keeping with my discovery last day that I can perform lightweight barbell movements with both hands, I took our heavy kid’s bar (10kg) and did the following:
Hang Power Cleans: 3 x 5 x 10kg
Hang Power Snatches: 3 x 5 x 10kg
Finally, Push-Ups. Time to start adding volume in these. They are feeling ok!
Push Ups: 3 x 1.
Update on My Right Shoulder Pain
So… I figured out what happened to my right shoulder.
Things improved markedly starting on Monday. I did multiple sets of shoulder mobility exercises Monday through Wednesday morning and kept feeling more and more life in my joint. The shoulder is still sore as all get out. But I came to realize that it wasn’t some piddly little set of low-weight high volume bench presses or deltoid raises that had screwed my shoulder up. After everything shifted back into place, the pain localized, and this triggered my memory. And my common sense.
The localized pain sits more or less on the protuberances of the bones on top of the shoulder: the distal clavicle, the Acromion process, and maybe the Coracoid process. The tissues between, among, and under all these protuberances is also quite sore and complains alot during various movements.
It was while I was contemplating why these bones and tissues on top of my shoulder might hurt, I finally remembered something I had done on Saturday that might have aggravated them.
Oops! On Saturday, while helping T-Bone reorganize the gym, I twice moved around the giant strongman competition implement called “the yoke.” I found out this week that this thing weighs about 150 lbs. And I did not balance this thing properly on my back, as in a walking back squat. I just put it all on one shoulder, the right side, hoisted it carelessly, and moved it around.
This yoke did feel uncomfortable while carrying it; there was intense pressure placed through the tendons of my trapezius muscles onto the distal end of the Clavicle, which in turn was pressed down, affecting the so-called “Acromioclavicular joint” and the “Acromial bursa” beneath it. The pressure would have affected the Coracoacromial, Superior Transverse Scapular, and Coracoclavicular ligaments.
To put a less fine point on it: this point-specific weighted compression probably displaced and bruised some shit, and basically messed stuff up. Definitely stretched and maybe lightly tore some shit. The good news is, I think, this is an eminently recoverable injury… it will be history after two weeks. And I’ve learned a lesson… and some anatomy… for my trouble.
You gotta be careful, Baldwin!
Face it, Mark Rippetoe knows what he is talking about, and also has a way with words. Great article on T-Nation from back in July (July 7th, 2011). Thanks to T-Bone for the tip.
“Exercise and training are two different things. Exercise is physical activity for its own sake, a workout done for the effect it produces today, during the workout or right after you’re through.
“Training is physical activity done with a longer-term goal in mind, the constituent workouts of which are specifically designed to produce that goal. If a program of physical activity isn’t designed to get you stronger or faster or better conditioned by producing a specific stress to which a specific desirable adaptation can occur, you don’t get to call it training. It’s just exercise.”
So, I wrecked myself over the weekend, with “cheating” and “drinkin” and “stayin up late” and that continued into Sunday night, as we sat up with some lovely “long weekend” house guests late into the evening. I maintain that lively conversation with friends, at table, with wine… that is the definition of the good life. So there is no use being a stick in the mud and missing such moments because you “need sleep.”
So, I was up until 1:00 am Monday morning. And I paid for it. The alarm got me up at 5:30, and I was at the gym just before 6:00 am, with only about 4 total hours of sleep (the kids were also up at various times during the night, so sleep was broken).
Week VII, Workout A
I felt like crap and didn’t think I could manage my squats. And I knew I probably wouldn’t have time to do a full workout. So I resolved to do something.
Row 1000m stroke/min: 15-17 resistance: 4 total time: 4:15 (2:07:30 split).
Shoulder Mobility Work (various)
Bilateral Wrist/Forearm Rehab: 3 x 12 x 5 lb FatGripz DBs of: pronated, supinated, and hammer style wrist curls; triceps overhead extensions; hammer curls; reverse curls; curls; pronation/supination.
400 meter farmer’s carry w/ 5 lbs FGDBs.
Forearm/Wrist Stretches and Mobility
Pushups: 1 x 1. My first pushup in the gym since breaking the arm 9 weeks ago!
Plank Holds: 3 x 1 x 30 sec, 45 sec, 60 sec. These were challenging. Later they became VERY painful. Which is awesome. Going to start doing them on a weekly basis. I did them with a PVC pipe in 3 point contact with the back of my skull, the thoracic spine, and the sacrum. These seem like they are great for posture development and for getting HARD in the trunk.
I was putting away a 45 lb bar when I realized, to my sudden surprise, that I could carry it with both hands without pain! To celebrate I did:
Hang Power Clean: 1 x 1 x 45 lbs.
Press: 1 x 1 x 45 lbs.
Then for good measure, and just so I could say I did something I did:
TWO HANDED Squat: 3 x 15 x 45 lbs.
Week VI, Workout D
Saturdays are fun at ASC, cause the kids run around, and we all goof around, and make plans for world domination, and usually, we eventually pull sleds and shit.
Brian and Jamie and I got our weight bearing movement (aka “loaded carries”) on. I pulled a sled +90 lbs with a harness.
8 x 45 meter sprint w/ sled +90 lbs
What an incredible workout.
The Return of Right Shoulder Pain
I don’t know what happened. I was on a drive, a long drive, rocking out to the pixies, in the afternoon, and I noticed that my right shoulder was painful. Like I’d tweaked it. Going back in my mind I remembered slight discomfort in it on Monday during my forearm/grip mobility/rehab work. I did not notice any acute pain or feeling of “injury” on Friday during my DB press and bench press.
Well, I’m pissed off. But… I guess I should have seen this coming. First off, in the sense that repetitive stress injury is inevitable when you overuse a part, and I’ve been (over) using this arm pretty exclusively for 8 weeks, since I injured my left arm and had to start compensating for that. Second, because I did feel a tweak on Monday and I should have backed the fuck off the shoulder and not done the presses I did on Friday! And thirdly, because I’ve been here before and frankly, it hasn’t been that long.
My last major shoulder pain issues were associated with the left shoulder; which I was complaining about the whole first half of this year (2011). But my left shoulder was really getting better, and I was pressing with little difficulty and improving right up until the second to last workout of the summer (July 24th) where I was in fact saying it felt fine but was complaining that my RIGHT shoulder was “ironically” at 90%; and the last workout of the summer (July 27th), a day on which I, among other things, pressed sets of 90-95 lbs, before breaking my arm in the afternoon.
But before 2011 I had occasions of pretty unbearable right shoulder pain. See for example my ‘log entry for Dec. 9th, 2010, where, much like this occasion, I felt fine during training but then had pain flare up later on. Something is going on in the damn shoulder, but it tends to get better if I baby it and do my mobility work, and work on posture and neck position, and do neck work. So, watch and wait, eh?
Friday I showed up early and got in a decent workout. I’m having a bit of a hard time pacing myself effectively through my available training window; I am often supervising (or at least consulting about) the training of two other trainees during my period. Be that as it may, I’ve been making progress with the squat, am enjoying being able to row again, and in general doing the best I can given the limitations that have been imposed on me by recovery from a broken left forearm! It’s been 8 weeks. I anticipate another 10 weeks before I return to a “normal” training routine, and then, I suppose I will have to work my way back up to actually using heavy weights on anything involving pulling or pushing with my left arm.
Week VI, Workout C
Warm-Up: Row 500m Res 7 S/M 21-23 Time: 2:10. 210 single unders w/ jumprope, in one continuous set. Shoulder mobility.
Bilateral Forearm/Wrist Rehab Work: 3 x 10 x 5 lb FatGripz dumbbells: supinated & pronated wrist curls; hammer curls and bent over rows; curls and high pulls and shrugs; shoulder press and deltoid reverse flyes; bench press and side delt raises; forearm pronation and supination.
Back Squat w/ One Arm (Right): 10 x 45, 3 x 135; 2 x 5 x 185; 1 x 10 x 185 (PR). This was awesome. Very hard. It left me feeling quite spent afterwards! One of those on-line “theoretical one rep max calculators” told me later that this corresponds to a theoretical one rep max of 247. But I have no intention of testing my 1 RM until mid December. I’ll be going back to using both hands and I will CRUSH this number.
One Arm (Right) DB Press: 3 x 5 x 35.
One Arm (Right) DB Bench Press: 3 x 5 x 55.
“Conditioning”: Row 1000m, Res 7, S/M 23, Time: 3:50. Corresponding to a 500m split of 1:55, and a several second improvement over last time. I am loving rowing again.
than nothing. How especially true if you’re rehabbing an injury. Today I ignored a sore throat and sinus problems and a general malaise and dragged my ass into the gym anyway. But I took it pretty easy. So there.
Week VI, Workout B.
Today marked 8 weeks from my broken left forearm. The time has passed weirdly, slowing down and speeding up, depending.
Warm-Up: Row 1000m, 21-22 s/m pace, resistance 7, time: 4:17; jump-rope: about 200 single unders with jump rope, not consecutive.
Mobility: shoulder work.
Bilateral Forearm/Wrist Rehab Work: 3 x 8 x 5 lb FatGripz dumbbells: supinated & pronated wrist curls; hammer curls and bent over rows; curls and high pulls; shoulder press and deltoid reverse flyes; bench press and side delt raises; forearm pronation and supination.
One Arm Deadlift (Right Arm): 10 x 45 / 2 x 95 / 5 x 135.
More mobility: wrist rotations, more forearm pronation and supination (not weighted), and slow “dynamic” stretching of wrists on the top of a 24″ box.
“Conditioning”: Row 1000m, 21-23 s/m pace, resistance 7, time: 3:59. This corresponds to an average “split” of 1:59.50 Not bad for a guy pulling with one broken arm!
This was day four of my VLC cutting experiment. The scale read 194.5 (losing a pound a day, roughly, clearly, most of this is water). I feel ok, but I have a bad cold. Is this the “low carb flu” I have read about? Or just a case of “I shouldn’t have let my 2 year old son share sips of my seltzer water?”
Week VI, Workout A
Somehow I’ve been kicking it, day after day. Today, I did a warm up on the rower, 1000 meters, 4:48, a 12 second improvement, or so, over last effort. No pain. Then a bunch of single unders with the jump rope. Maybe 400. A good warm up. Shoulder mobility. Then 3 x 15 x 3 lbs FatGripz Dumbbells, Bilateral Forearm/Wrist Rehab: supinated & pronated wrist curls; hammer curls and bent over rows; curls and high pulls; shoulder press and deltoid reverse flyes; bench press and side delt raises; forearm pronation and supination. Then back squat: 3 x 45, 95, 155; 2 x 5 x 180; 1 x 10 x 180 (PR). I impressed myself, until I thought about how much stronger some people are. This impresses me because it would put my theoretical 1 RM at about 240, or +5 from my last 1 RM test. But I am not spent, and I fully expect to keep getting these sets of 10 for the time being. No conditioning today.
A Couple of Notes on Diet
I am trying a cut. Weight was 199 on Saturday evening. And still 199 on Monday morning. But I am trying a very low carb protocol, without alcohol, for about 12 days, to see if I can shed a couple of pounds of fat. I’ll report back more on this later.
Week V, Workout D
Rowing on C2, with BOTH hands: 1000 meters, about 5 min; Jumprope, various styles of single unders, about 600 x (roughly 6 minutes).
Mobility and Rehab
Hip, Hams, Quads.
3 x 12 x 3 lb FatGripz DBs, each of the following: pronated and supinated wrist curls, hammer curls, bicep curls, high pulls, side delt raises, shoulder press, rear delt flye, bench press, front delt raise, pronation/supination.
A long time goofing around with Brian, John, and Mike, and the kids.
One Arm DB Shoulder Press (Right): 1 x 5 x 50 lbs; 3 x 5 x 35 lbs.
One Arm DB Snatch (Right): 3 x 1 x 65 lbs.
One Arm Oly Bar Snatch (Right): 1 x 65, 1 x 70, 1 x 75, 1 x 80, 1 x 85 (PR).
Sled Drags: 6 x +90 lbs x 40 meters @ 90 sec intervals. Brutal.
Week V, Workout C
Friday morning was another workout after too little sleep. Once again, I’ll say it: I gotta sort out my sleep behavior. Again. Is this struggle with myself going to go on forever?
Anyway, I made it to the gym and had a good time.
Jumprope, 300 single unders
3 x 12 x 3 lb DBs w/ FatGripz of each of the following: pronated and supinated wrist curls, hammer curls, bicep curls, high pulls, side delt raises, shoulder press, rear delt flye, bench press, front delt raise, pronation/supination.
Back Squat: 3 x 95, 3 x 135, 2 x 5 x 175, 1 x 10 x 175 (PR). These are getting frigging hard. HARD.
3 rounds: 160 meter farmer’s carry w/ 3 lb DBs FatGripz, 10 tuck jumps w/ DBs. |
This piece originally appeared in the March 2011 edition of The American Prospect.
In discussing rising inequality in the United States, Federal Reserve Board Chair Ben Bernanke recently said, “It’s a very bad development. … It’s creating two societies. And it’s based very much, I think, on educational differences.”
A better-educated workforce is widely touted as the panacea for every economic problem. Education is said to be the cure both for unemployment and income inequality. To hear leaders of the financial sector talk, the underlying problem with the economy has not been a runaway financial sector but an unqualified workforce. In a recent Reuters special report on the U.S. economy, Diane Swonk, an oft-quoted financial-sector economist, said, “The recession merely revealed a reality that has been with us for a long time. We faced a growing gap in education and skills that we tried to fill with debt and credit, which gave us the illusion of growth.”
Or consider the statement of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president, Narayana Kocherlakota, which removes monetary policy as any part of the solution to current high unemployment:
“Firms have jobs, but can’t find appropriate workers. The workers want to work, but can’t find appropriate jobs…. Whatever the source, though, it is hard to see how the Fed can do much to cure this problem. Monetary stimulus has provided conditions so that manufacturing plants want to hire new workers. But the Fed does not have a means to transform construction workers into manufacturing workers. … Most of the existing unemployment represents mismatch that is not readily amenable to monetary policy.”
This is very comfortable reasoning for the very comfortable class. It identifies “failing” schools and dumb workers for the economic calamity actually caused by a deregulated financial sector following a massive redistribution of income and wealth. This shift was driven by corporate political power that allowed the top 1 percent to capture some 56 percent of all the income growth over the two decades preceding the Great Recession.
Blaming inequality and joblessness on worker skill deficits is an old alibi. In 1987, the Reagan administration’s Workforce 2000 report foretold future “skill mismatches.” In 1990, George H.W. Bush’s secretary of labor, Elizabeth Dole, said, “America faces a workforce crisis where there is a diminishing number of people eligible and qualified for the ever-increasing complexity of jobs in our economy.” Many panels, such as the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, warned around that same time of the need to radically up-skill our workforce or face long-term income and productivity stagnation.
The Clinton administration echoed this theme, saying more education was needed for workers to adjust during a “transition” to a new economy. It must have been a surprise, therefore, that in the mid-1990s there was a sharp uptick in the economy’s productivity that has lasted for 15 years and was accomplished with the very work force that allegedly put our nation in danger. In the late 1990s, when labor markets were tight, the supposedly unqualified lower-skilled workforce enjoyed solid, real wage gains.
Are the Unemployed the “Unqualified”?
It is remarkable that anyone can claim that today’s high unemployment is primarily due to a mismatch between the skills of the unemployed and the available jobs. After all, most of those who are unemployed today were productively employed just a year or two ago. The notion that production processes have radically changed is hard to square with the absence of a surge in productivity or investment. There have been roughly five unemployed people for every job opening, roughly twice the ratio at the worst moments of the last recession, which, recall, was considered a jobless recovery.
The shortfall in job openings relative to the last recovery is apparent in nearly every industry, indicating that the problem is across the economy rather than rooted in particular sectors. Nor do the unemployed appear “unqualified.” Unemployment over the recession has doubled for every educational grouping, including college graduates whose unemployment is far higher than any time since 1979 (the earliest year for monthly unemployment data).
Moreover, the percentage of unemployed who have been out of work for at least six months is the same across all education groups. In other words, unemployed college graduates bear the same risk of long-term unemployment as those with high school degrees. In sum, we do not have unemployment because of weak skills or poor schools: Rather, we have a serious shortfall in demand due to a loss of housing and stock wealth and recession-caused income losses compounded by the de-leveraging of our household and business sectors.
Is There a Looming Shortage of College Graduates?
There has been a drive to greatly increase college graduation rates, led by the Obama administration, the Gates Foundation, and others. A recent paper by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist David Autor for the Hamilton Project and the Center for American Progress contends that “rising demand for highly educated workers, combined with lagging supply, is contributing to higher levels of earnings inequality.… Workers that do not obtain postsecondary education face a contracting set of job opportunities.” Autor’s sole policy recommendations for rising inequality boil down to “an increased supply of college graduates should eventually help to drive down the college wage premium and limit the rise in inequality,” and “the United States should foster improvements in K-12 education so that more people will be prepared to go on to higher education.”
There is certainly a strong equity case for giving every student the opportunity to complete college and especially for assisting racial and ethnic minorities to achieve upward mobility. This would also assist long-term growth and provide a healthier, more informed citizenry. However, greatly boosting college graduation above its expected growth rate will not materially address either past or future inequalities. It will exacerbate the already deteriorating pay and benefits facing young college graduates and lead to falling wages among all college graduates, especially men.
Despite frequent claims, it is simply untrue that we have seen a three decades-long radical increase in employers’ demand for four-year college graduates. The widespread (even before the recession) utilization of college students and graduates working as unpaid (many unlawfully so) “interns” is evidence enough — if employers desperately needed these workers, they would pay them.
In fact, the trends of the last 10 years contradict this story. The wages and benefits received by young college graduates fell over the 2000–2007 business cycle and in this recession. Moreover, the wages of all college graduates have been flat over the last 10 years, with those for men having markedly declined. This should not be surprising as the relative demand for college graduates, according to Harvard’s Claudia Goldin and Larry Katz, grew more slowly in the 2000s than in any postwar decade, following relatively slow growth in the 1990s. A major increase in the supply of college graduates would further erode the wages and benefits new college graduates obtain and drive down the wages of all college graduates, especially among men.
The college premium has barely budged in 10 years. Yet income inequality among households has soared since 2001, and the wage gap between high- and middle-wage workers has grown strongly as well.
Something that’s not growing — the college premium — cannot explain growing inequality. Having more college graduates will leave untouched the income inequality driven by the outsized income growth (from salaries and capital gains) claimed by the upper 1 percent and the upper 0.1 percent. Wage gaps are primarily driven by increased inequalities among workers with similar educations (among college graduates, for example) rather than by differences across education groups.
What is the Role of Education in Prosperity?
It’s certainly true that America needs better-educated citizens beginning with pre-K and public education, stronger community colleges, more affordable paths to higher education, and comprehensive training policies that increase skills and lead to better-paid jobs. But none of these education policies are the primary cure either for the widening income inequality of the past three decades or the current crisis of joblessness. The income distribution was much more equal during the postwar boom when most young workers had only a high school diploma—because we had strong institutions of worker representation and wage-setting as well as tax and regulatory policies that constrained the greed at the top.
More education and training are necessary to obtain the long-term growth we desire and to provide equal access to job opportunities for the entire population and workforce. Individuals deciding whether to pursue more education and training would be wise to enhance their human capital, as it will place them in a better position as wage earners and citizens.
That being said, the challenge we face with persistent unemployment exceeding 9 percent is not better education and training for those currently unemployed. Rather, we need more jobs.
The huge increase in wage and income inequality over the last 30 years was not caused by a skills deficit. Rather, workers face a “wage deficit.” The key challenge is to provide good jobs and re-establish the basis for wages and compensation to grow in tandem with productivity, as they did before 1979.
We do need more investment in education at all levels, so that the children of the working class have a better opportunity to compete for good jobs. We also need what Europeans call an active labor-market policy, so that the money we invest in training is directly connected to re-employment at good wages, rather than operating in a vacuum.
The nation’s productivity increased by 80 percent from 1979 to 2009, and good productivity growth can be expected in the future. It is not education gaps that have caused nearly all of those gains to be captured by the top but rather economic policies that redistributed economic and political power. |
A geological application of data warehousing and data mining with SQL Server 2000
For our master's degree program in Management of Information Systems, we had to do an analysis project for which we needed to learn the nuances of data mining using "real" data. Our previous work was on data that had been cleaned and was intended for students to use to get the same results across the board. Our school had chosen SQL Server 2000 because it offers the functionality of a corporate database coupled with a low price and easy maintenance. We were given great freedom in choosing our analysis topic. Many other students chose marketing or sales analyses, but because we have a natural science background, we chose geological and biological data. By creating a data warehouse and mining this data, we found that SQL Server 2000 provides a fast way to statistically survey geological data.
Scientists around the world are continuously gathering large amounts of geological data; it was from these sources that we obtained our sample data. Because SQL Server is easier to use than traditional statistical methodology, we decided to pool existing data sources into a SQL Server data warehouse. We also had to use SQL Server to verify the original analyses of the geological data, which were performed through traditional statistical methods. We built two data warehouses from two different geological data sources. These sources were comparatively small because we were doing an academic project, but we believe that the findings would hold true no matter the size of the data set. One data set consisting of more than 20 files was a study of the Eastern Continental Shelf that had been collected and analyzed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) between 1955 and 1970. The second database contained the results from a study of the decomposition effects of burial on six different wood species in the Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico. The amount of wood standing or decaying in water throughout the world is phenomenal. The decomposition of wood produces greenhouse gases, but this process stops when the wood is buried. This study is significant because it provides scientists additional valuable information about the sources of hydrocarbon emissions into our atmosphere.
Cleaning the Original USGS Data
The USGS results in a data set consisting of 20 text files, including both analytical and descriptive data types, was previously published by the National Geophysics Data Center (NGDC). (See Hathaway, John C., 1971 Data File, Continental Margin Program, Atlantic Coast of the United States: WHOI Reference No. 71-15.) We created a composite primary key based on existing columns that held the station number, sample ID, and sub-sample letters. And we set the granularity at the sub-sample (the sub-sample code identifies the samples that were divided from a larger sample). Figure 1 shows sample data from one of the files.
To clean the original USGS data, we imported it first into Microsoft Excel, then into Microsoft Access, and finally into SQL Server 2000. We took this circuitous route because of the large variation in data format and definition within the text files. The import functions in SQL Server and Access weren't as robust as that of Excel. Using the Excel Text Import Wizard, we manually set the field widths and formats for each column, creating new columns for amalgamated data and splitting data fields. This process eliminated much of the data variation. We then loaded the data into Access, using Access's import external data option. During the import, Access found more data-formatting errors; it stored the row numbers of incompatible data in an import error file for reference. Figure 2 shows one problem we encountered: Data formats within two columns changed from numeric to alphabetic, then back to numeric. To correct the errors, we used a combination of editing techniques in Excel and wrote SQL code to reformat the data within the Access table. We then manually edited some of the data and used UPDATE queries to change other data to its numerical equivalent.
We couldn't import some files into Access because of data-type incompatibility errors in the Sample ID field. This field is alphanumeric, but Access was trying to format it as an integer. We tried to use the Excel Text Import Wizard to modify the data format; however, when we imported the data into Access, Access didn't recognize the Excel character format. We then tried to design the table in Access and import external data, but Access still overrode the character format. As a workaround, we loaded the data into SQL Server, declaring the field as a character type, then re-imported it into Access for field identification and data cleanup. We found table manipulations easier to manage in Access 2000 than in SQL Server 2000.
Cleaning Up the Wood Study Data
Figure 3 shows the data from the wood study, which had been published in the dissertation of Elizabeth Heise (A comparison of the fossilization potential and recycling of wood by wood-boring bivalves and isopods on the shelf and slope of the Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico, Texas A&M University, 2001) and was therefore quite clean. The most difficult task was dealing with hidden nulls in a column with a text data type that we were using for a primary key field. The null fields were invisible, so we didn't know they were a problem until Data Transformation Services (DTS) refused to transform the Excel spreadsheet into a SQL Server table. The null fields were invisible in the Excel worksheet, and they didn't appear when the tables were printed. We removed the primary key designation from that column so that the DTS Import Wizard would allow nulls in it. Then we used DTS to create the table in SQL Server format. When we looked at the table with all rows open in SQL Server 2000, three rows of nulls showed up at the bottom of the SQL Server table. As an afterthought, we used the DTS preview option to view the files that contained the bad records. The nulls were then visible. Based on this experience, we recommend using the DTS preview option on all files before attempting to load them into SQL Server.
We edited the Excel spreadsheet, pasting into a new Excel spreadsheet only the rows that contained data. We deleted all the data from the SQL Server table and ran the DTS Import Wizard again to produce eight relational tables in SQL Server format. Figure 4 shows the five tables that represent one of the two locations in the wood study.
Building the Data Warehouses
For the geological data warehouse, we used a star schema design with a fact table containing all analytical results and dimension tables containing time, location, sample description, sampling method, and cruise information. Figure 5 shows the design we used. Initially, we tried to populate the fact table from Access by using the DTS Lookup option. We wanted to use DTS Lookup because we were populating the fact table with analysis data based on the multifield primary keys from many different table sources. After checking various sources on the Web and in SQL Server Books Online (BOL) and asking questions on MSDN user groups, we concluded that it was probably impossible to look up a value in the table you're writing data to. We've also learned that it slows the DTS package execution significantly because it forces row-by-row data loading.
Using SQL Server 2000 DTS, we created a local package that held each of the data transformations. We typed in the commands that Listing 1 shows to update each of the tables inside an execute SQL task in the local package. We found executing each transformation task separately to be more practical than simultaneously because we could find the coding errors more quickly.
Listing 2 shows one command that we used to import data into the dimension tables. After the data was properly transferred, we used a T-SQL query similar to the query that Listing 1 shows to load data into the dimension tables. However, this second query contained a WHERE clause that showed the equality of the fact table's appropriate foreign key to the dimension table's primary key that it was being linked to.
The wood study data resided in eight tables that used the site name as the primary key. The site name was assigned when the original science study began and was unique for each sample. For the wood study data warehouse, we again chose a star schema design, using the site information table as the fact table. The granularity for the wood study was the wood species at each site name.
Mining the Data
The SQL Server 2000 data-mining package can build two types of models—decision tree and clustering—that you can run against OLAP databases or relational databases. The clustering model lets you find general groupings of data. For example, when we used this model to mine the wood study relational tables, Analysis Manager grouped buried and partially buried wood separately. The geological data set was more complex, so we were able to see relationships using both models. However, we could find potentially significant results in the geological data only with the clustering model. When we searched two distinct grain-size categories, we found the pattern that Figure 6 shows. Along the US Eastern seaboard, the sand fraction clustered in the north between New York City and Washington, D.C. The clay fraction didn't have a regional cluster, but it had two predictive areas: one to the north between New York and Washington and the other off Charleston further south. The USGS clustering model showed a high probability that there would be significantly more organic and inorganic constituents in both the clays and the sands than in the other location profiles and grain sizes.
Elizabeth Heise had run the wood study data through statistical analyses several years earlier, but we compared our interpretations of our statistical results to the original statistical results only after we had mined the data in SQL Server 2000. Originally, running this data through traditional statistical analyses (ANalysis Of VAriance between groups—ANOVA, t-test, and linear regression) required 16 months and 234 analyses to obtain statistically significant patterns. In 3 days, most of which we spent getting the data into SQL Server tables, we produced the same statistically significant patterns, thereby verifying the validity of SQL Server 2000's modeling and analysis tools.
For the scientific researcher in need of analysis tools, the difference in time required for the old and new analyses shows that you can get tremendous analyzing power by placing data into a relational model. Researchers can use the power and speed of SQL Server 2000 to statistically model their data. Initially, scientists might use both SQL Server 2000 and traditional statistical methods, but as their confidence in the results grows, they'll realize the usefulness of SQL Server functionality alone. Despite the limitations—the complex data cleanup we had to do with DTS, Access, and Excel and the inability to quickly use DTS Lookup—we've found that SQL Server 2000's clustering model is a fast, easy way to examine data in relational databases. |
SSP America Partners With JFKIAT To Introduce A Star-Studded Line-Up Of Celebrity Chefs And Award-Winning Restaurants To JFK Terminal 4 MARCUS SAMUELSSON AND DANNY MEYER TO BRING THEIR POPULAR STREET LOCATIONS AIRSIDE
LANSDOWNE, Va., March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SSP America, in partnership with JFKIAT, is pleased to announce a new food and beverage program of nationally celebrated, award-winning chefs and innovative, original restaurant concepts to create an unparalleled dining experience for travelers through John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 4. The star-studded line-up includes chefs and restaurateurs with deep roots in New York's melting pot of world cuisine: Marcus Samuelsson and Danny Meyer. These multiple award-winning figures are proud to bring their popular culinary expertise to the passengers of JFK, including New York's first-ever airport Shake Shack and Blue Smoke.
SSP America, the North American division of SSP, the leading operator of food and beverage brands in travel locations worldwide, is the sole food and beverage purveyor at Terminal 4. The $28 million food makeover, which follows SSP's $16 million renovation completed in 2009, is in response to the wider $1.4 billion expansion project for Delta Air Lines currently underway at the terminal.
Terminal 4 is home to 30 international and domestic airlines with an annual passenger volume of nearly 11 million travelers. By 2014, passenger volume is expected to increase to 15 million. Renovations are already underway and are designed to satisfy the terminal's hugely diverse, worldly-wise clientele and keep pace with the rapidly increasing sophistication of American travelers' palettes.
As part of its mission to elevate travelers' dining experiences in airports across the world, SSP will feature a restaurant mix reflective of the international foods found on the streets of New York. Passengers can choose from Marcus Samuelsson's latest creations, Uptown Brasserie and Street Food, or, Danny Meyer's Shake Shack featuring its ever-popular ShackBurgers and fresh frozen custard ice cream and Blue Smoke, a pioneer in urban barbecue. La Brea Bakery and Cake Tin will be sure to satisfy every carb craving and sweet tooth, while Le Grand Comptoir and Asobu sushi offer sophisticated, small plate options. Finally, Dunkin' Donuts will keep busy travelers running with a variety of beverages and snacks including hot and iced coffee, baked goods, oven-toasted sandwiches, and more.
The restaurants will be completed in phases with the first locations in Phase 1 opening to travelers in May 2013, coinciding with the opening of Delta's Concourse B extension. Shortly thereafter, a 1930's inspired, full-fledged New York diner, Central Diner, will open to the public in Terminal 4's Arrivals Hall. This will serve as the perfect rendezvous point for meeters-greeters, travelers with longer dwell time and airport employees.
"We're enormously proud to be continuing our partnership with JFKIAT, and to remain the sole food and beverage concessionaire in JFK Terminal 4," commented Andrew Lynch, CEO of SSP. "SSP shares JFKIAT's vision to redefine airport dining in the US, and this investment is evidence of our commitment to that ambition. Our new bars and restaurants include concepts created by some of the brightest and best-known chefs from New York and across the country. They will serve as a showcase of outstanding American dining at one of the most important airports in the world."
"These new restaurant offerings, which complement the exciting renovations made by SSP just a few years ago, demonstrate that Terminal 4 is again raising the bar," said Alain Maca, JFKIAT President. "With a major expansion underway, Terminal 4 is living up to its reputation as the city's most modern and efficient air terminal offering world-class services and amenities to our airlines and their passengers. SSP's remarkable composition of new restaurants includes a diverse range of national, international, local and proprietary brands bringing the total number of offerings to 16 new and expanded locations."
- Uptown Brasserie – Created by Top Chef Masters' champion and James Beard Foundation award-winning chef, Marcus Samuelsson. The New York style brasserie will feature an open kitchen, serving classic American favorites with international influences in a stylish and art-deco-inspired setting.
- Street Food by Marcus Samuelsson – Helmed by Chef Marcus Samuelsson, this marche-style restaurant offers a diverse menu inspired by street food from around the world in a stylish and welcoming fast-casual eatery.
- Shake Shack – Restaurateur Danny Meyer, along with Union Square Hospitality Group, have created this modern day "roadside" burger stand known for its all-natural burgers, flat-top dogs, frozen custard, shakes and more. This New York cult-favorite is making its entrance into the airport market at Terminal 4.
- Blue Smoke On The Road – James Beard Foundation's 'Restaurateur of the Year', Danny Meyer's flagship barbecue restaurant, Blue Smoke, located in Manhattan, inspired Blue Smoke On The Road. Executive Chef Kenny Callaghan's mouthwatering menu featuring ribs to seasonal sides, and specialty cocktails will be offered.
- La Brea Bakery – Known for her efforts to revitalize sourdough and artisanal breads throughout the United States, Pastry Chef Nancy Silverton's creation and national favorite, La Brea Bakery, will offer a variety of hand-crafted sandwiches, salads, fresh breads and pastries.
- Dunkin' Donuts – Terminal 4 passengers will soon be able to 'Run on Dunkin', America's all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods.
- Central Diner – Open to the public, the 1930's inspired restaurant captures the simple elegance of a traditional New York diner. A customary service counter anchors the diner while surrounded by banquette, booth and patio seating.
- Cake Tin – Whimsical bakery where delicious cupcakes and sweets enjoy a natural affinity with Lavazza's extensive line of rich, flavorsome coffees.
- McDonald's – The world's leading hamburger chain with more than 33,500 locations around the globe will move to a larger location within the terminal with a newer, modernized design and expanded seating areas to better meet its high consumer demand.
- Le Grand Comptoir – Award-winning, French-inspired brasserie emanating hip European style and sleek modern charm, serving over 50 selections of superior wines by the glass and 100 by the bottle, all complemented by a creative wide-ranging bistro menu.
- Asobu – A modern, pan-Asian sushi bar transforms pure ingredients into dishes exploding with the flavors and spices of Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
- Camden food co. – The award-winning market has a simple belief that "you don't have to be good, to eat good food". When travelers visit they can expect to find local flavors from regional farms and food artisans, with a bit of organic, fair-trade and something healthy for every taste.
- The Palm Bar & Grille – In 2009, The Palm Bar & Grille opened, marking the first airport concept of the National steakhouse. While the menu is aimed for travelers on the go, the restaurant is still deeply rooted in New York history and tradition that is The Palm, including its famous aged Prime steaks and Nova Scotia lobster tails.
- Buffalo Wild Wings – Buffalo Wild Wings is a destination for wing fanatics and sports fans alike. A new location in JFK's Terminal 4 will offer travelers a variety of menu options, including mouth-watering wings with 20 signature sauces and seasonings, a great beer selection and the ultimate sports viewing experience.
All establishments are scheduled to be opened by fall 2013.
JFKIAT LLC leases and operates Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in a public/private partnership with the Port Authority of NY & NJ. JFKIAT is the only private, non-airline company to operate a terminal at JFK.
Terminal 4 is one of the largest air terminals in the New York area, serving 30 international and domestic airlines with an annual passenger volume of 10.7 million travelers in 2012. With a major expansion currently underway to make Terminal 4 the new home of Delta Air Lines at JFK Airport, the 1.5-million-square-foot Terminal 4 will grow to nearly two million square feet and accommodate 15 million passengers. Phase I of the expansion project, slated for completion in May 2013, will result in improvements and enhancements that will benefit Terminal 4 airline partners and their passengers including an in-line baggage system, a centralized passenger security checkpoint and a host of new retail and restaurant offerings.
JFKIAT, through its sole member, is a partly-owned subsidiary of Schiphol USA Inc. (SUSA). SUSA is an indirect U.S. subsidiary of Schiphol Group. For more information visit www.jfkiat.com.
SSP is the leading dedicated provider of food and beverage brands in travel locations, operating restaurants, bars, cafes, food courts, lounges and convenience stores in airports, train stations, motorway service stations and other leisure locations. With a heritage stretching back over 60 years, today SSP has 30,000 employees, serving over a million customers every day. It has business at over 140 airports and over 250 rail stations, and operates more than 2,100 units in 30 countries around the world.
SSP operates an extensive portfolio of over 200 international, national, local and speciality brands. These include Upper Crust, Starbucks, Caffe Ritazza, Burger King, M&S Simply Food, Millie's Cookies, O'Learys, Caviar House & Prunier, and leading Asian brands Ajisen Ramen and Saboten, as well as stunning bespoke concepts such as the Montreux Jazz Cafe in Geneva and the award winning Center Bar at Zurich.
Its brand portfolio is tailored for each specific location, depending on variables such as passenger profile, consumer need states, location type, size and design.
SOURCE SSP America |
Order of Nine Angles
The Order of Nine Angles (ONA; O9A) is a Satanic and Left-Hand Path occult group based in the United Kingdom, but with affiliated groups in various other parts of the world. Claiming to have been established in the 1960s, it arose to public recognition in the early 1980s, attracting attention for its espousal of Neo-Nazi ideologies and activism. Describing its approach as "Traditional Satanism", it has been academically identified as also exhibiting Hermetic and Neo-Pagan elements in its beliefs.
According to the Order's own account, it was established in the Welsh Marches of Western England during the late 1960s by a woman who had previously been involved in a secretive pre-Christian tradition surviving in the region. This account also states that in 1973 a man named "Anton Long" was initiated into the group, subsequently becoming its Grand Master. Several academic commentators to have studied the ONA express the view that the name "Anton Long" is probably the pseudonym of the British Neo-Nazi activist David Myatt, although Myatt has denied that this is the case. From the late 1970s onward, Long authored a number of books and articles propagating the Order's ideas, and in 1988 it began production of its own journal, Fenrir. Through these ventures it established links with other Neo-Nazi Satanist groups around the world, furthering its cause through embracing the internet in the 2000s.
The ONA promotes the idea that human history can be divided into a series of Aeons, each of which contain a corresponding human civilization. It expresses the view that the current Aeonic civilization is that of the Western, but claims that the evolution of this society is threatened by the "Magian/Nazarene" influence of Judeo-Christian religion, which the Order seeks to combat in order to establish a militaristic new social order, termed the "Imperium". According to Order teachings, this is necessary in order for a Galactic civilization to form, in which "Aryan" society will colonise the Milky Way. It advocates a spiritual path in which the practitioner is required to break societal taboos by isolating themselves from society, committing crimes, embracing political extremism and violence, and carrying out an act of human sacrifice. ONA members practice magick, believing that they are able to do so through channeling energies into our own "causal" realm from an "acausal" realm where the laws of physics do not apply, with such magical actions designed to aid in the ultimate establishment of the Imperium.
The ONA lacks any central authority or structure, instead operating as a broad network of associates – termed the "kollective" – who are inspired by the texts originally authored by Long and other members of the "Inner ONA". The group comprises largely of clandestine cells, termed "nexions", as well as gangs known as Dreccs, artists known as Balobians, and folk mystics known as Rounwytha. With the first nexion based in Shropshire, Western England, the majority of groups have been established in the British Isles and Germany, although others have been formed elsewhere in Europe, Russia, South Africa, Australia, and North America. Academic estimates suggest that the number of individuals broadly associated with the Order falls in the low thousands.
- 1 History
- 2 Beliefs and structure
- 3 Organization
- 4 Legacy and influence
- 5 References
- 6 Further reading
- 7 External links
Academics have found it difficult to ascertain "exact and verifiable information" about the ONA's origins given the secrecy with which the group shields itself. As with many other occult organisations, the Order shrouds its history in "mystery and legend", creating a "mythical narrative" for its origins and development. The ONA claims to be the descendant of pre-Christian pagan traditions which survived the Christianisation of Britain and which were passed down from the Middle Ages onward in small groups or "temples" based in the Welsh Marches – a border area between England and Wales – which were each led by a Grand Master or Grand Mistress. According to the Order, in the late 1960s a Grand Mistress of one such group united three of these temples – Camlad, the Temple of the Sun, and The Noctulians – to form the ONA, before welcoming outsiders into the tradition.
According to the Order's account, one of those whom the Grand Mistress initiated into the group was "Anton Long", an individual who described himself as a British citizen who had spent much of his youth visiting Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Long claimed that prior to his involvement in the ONA he had been interested in occultism for several years, having contacted a coven based in Fenland in 1968, before moving to London and joining groups that practiced ceremonial magic in the style of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley. He also claimed a brief involvement in a Satanic group based in Manchester, the Orthodox Temple of the Prince run by Ray Bogart, during which time he encountered the ONA Grand Mistress. According to the Order's account, Long joined the ONA in 1973 – the first to have done so in five years – and became the Grand Mistress' heir. He later recalled that at that time the group held rituals at henges and stone circles around the solstices and equinoxes.
This account further states that when the Order's Grand Mistress migrated to Australia, Long took over as the group's new Grand Master. The group claimed that Long "implemented the next stage of Sinister Strategy – to make the teachings known on a large scale". From the late 1970s onward, Long encouraged the establishment of new ONA groups, which were known as "temples", and from 1976 onward he authored an array of texts for the tradition, codifying and extending its teachings, mythos, and structure. These texts are typically written in English, although they include passages of Classical Greek as well as terms from Sanskrit and Arabic, reflecting Long's fluency in such languages. After examining these texts, the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke stated that in them, Long "evokes a world of witches, outlaw peasant sorcerers, orgies and blood sacrifices at lonely cottages in the woods and valleys of this area [Shropshire and Herefordshire] where he has lived since the early 1980s".
The real identity of "Anton Long" remains a mystery to both members of the Order and to academics who have studied it. However, in a 1998 issue of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight it was claimed that "Anton Long" was a pseudonym of David Myatt, a prominent figure in the British Neo-Nazi movement. Born in the early 1950s, Myatt had been involved in various Neo-Nazi groups, initially serving as a bodyguard for Colin Jordan of the British Movement before joining the Combat 18 militia and becoming a founding member and leader of the National Socialist Movement. His text on A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution, in which he advocated violent militancy in aid of the Neo-Nazi cause, was cited as an influence on the nail bomber David Copeland. In 1998 Myatt converted to Islam and remained a practicing Muslim for eight years, in which time he encouraged violent jihad against Zionism and Israel's Western allies.
Goodrick-Clarke supported the idea that Myatt was Long, with the religious studies scholar Jacob C. Senholt adding that "the role of David Myatt [is] paramount to the whole creation and existence of the ONA". Senholt presented additional evidence that he believed confirmed Myatt's identity as Long, writing that Myatt's embrace of Neo-Nazism and radical Islamism represented "insight roles" which Myatt had adopted as part of the ONA's "sinister strategy" to undermine Western society, a view endorsed by scholar of Satanism Per Faxneld. In 2015, an ONA member known as R. Parker argued in favour of the idea that Myatt was Long.
Myatt, however, has repeatedly denied allegations that he has any involvement with the ONA, and that he has used the pseudonym "Anton Long", furthermore challenging the arguments used to connect him with Long by claiming that they are based on insufficient evidence. Religious studies scholar George Sieg expressed concern with this association, stating that he found it to be "implausible and untenable based on the extent of variance in writing style, personality, and tone" between Myatt and Long. Jeffrey Kaplan, an academic specialist in the far right, has also suggested that Myatt and Long are separate people, while the religious studies scholar Connell R. Monette posited the possibility that "Anton Long" was not a singular individual but rather a pseudonym used by several different people.
The ONA arose to public attention in the early 1980s. During the 1980s and 1990s it spread its message through articles in various magazines, such as Stephen Sennitt's Nox, as well as through the publication of such volumes as The Black Book of Satan, and Naos. In 1988 it began publication of its own in-house journal, titled Fenrir. Among written material that it has publicly issued have been philosophical tracts, ritual instruction, letters, poetry, and gothic fiction. Its core ritual text is titled the Black Book of Satan. It has also issued its own music, painted tarot set known as the Sinister Tarot, and a three-dimensional board game known as the Star Game. The ONA established links with other Neo-Nazi Satanist groups: its international distributor was New Zealander Kerry Bolton, the founder of the Black Order, who is described as an ONA adept in the group's published letter-correspondence, and it has access to a private library of occult and far right material owned by the Order of the Jarls of Bælder. According to Monette, the group now have associates, and groups, in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Egypt, Australia, and Russia. One of these associate groups is the U.S.-based Tempel ov Blood, which has published a number of texts through Ixaxaar Press, while another is the U.S.-based White Star Acception, which has been designated as the ONA's "Flagship Nexion" in the country despite diverting from mainstream ONA teachings on a number of issues.
During the early 1990s, the Order stated that it was entering the second stage of its development, in which it would leave behind its prior focus on recruitment and public outreach within the occult community and that it would instead focus on refining its teachings; its resulting quietness led some occultists to erroneously speculate that the ONA had become defunct. In 2000, the ONA established a presence on the internet, using it as a medium to communicate with others and to distribute its writings. In 2008, the ONA announced that it was entering the third phase in its history, in which it would once again focus heavily on promotion, utilising such social media as online blogs, forums, Facebook, and YouTube to spread its message. In 2011, the "Old Guard", a group of longstanding members of the Order, stated that they would withdraw from active, public work with the group. In March 2012, Long announced that he would be withdrawing from public activity, although appears to have remained active in the Order.
Beliefs and structure
The ONA describes its beliefs as belonging to "a sinisterly-numinous mystic tradition", adding that "it is not now and never was either strictly satanist or strictly Left Hand Path, but uses "satanism" and the LHP as "causal forms"; that is, as techniques/experiences/ordeals/challenges" to aid the practitioner's spiritual advancement. Monette described the ONA as "a fascinating blend of both Hermeticism and Traditional Satanism, with some pagan elements". Faxneld described the ONA as "a dangerous and extreme form of Satanism". Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg characterised it as a "National Socialist-oriented Satanist group", while Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke similarly deemed it to be a "Satanic Nazi cult" which "combine[d] paganism with praise for Hitler". He added that the ONA "celebrated the dark, destructive side of life through anti-Christian, elitist and Social Darwinist doctrines." Considering the manner in which the ONA had syncretized both Satanism and Heathenry, the historian of religion Mattias Gardell described its spiritual perspective as "a heathen satanic path". The scholar George Sieg however argued that the ONA should be categorised as "post-Satanic" because it has "surpassed (without fully abandoning) identification with its original satanic paradigm".
Traditional Satanism and Paganism
The ONA describe their occultism both as "Traditional Satanism",[a] and as a "mystical sinisterly-numinous tradition". According to Jesper Aagaard Petersen, an academic specialist of Satanism, the Order present "a recognizable new interpretation of Satanism and the Left Hand Path", and for those involved in the group, Satanism is not simply a religion but a way of life. The Order postulates Satanism as an arduous individual achievement of self-mastery and Nietzschean self-overcoming, with an emphasis on individual growth through practical acts of risk, prowess and endurance. Therefore, "[t]he goal of the Satanism of the ONA is to create a new individual through direct experience, practice and self-development [with] the grades of the ONA system being highly individual, based on the initiates' own practical and real-life acts, instead of merely performing certain ceremonial rituals". Thus Satanism, the ONA assert, requires venturing into the realm of the forbidden and illegal in order to shake the practitioner loose of cultural and political conditioning. Intentionally transgressive, the Order has been characterised as providing "an aggressive and elitist spirituality". Religious studies scholar Graham Harvey claimed that the ONA fit the stereotype of the Satanist "better than other groups", something which he thought was deliberately achieved by embracing "deeply shocking" and illegal acts.
The ONA are strongly critical of larger Satanic groups like the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set, whom they deem to be "sham-Satanic" because they embrace the "glamour associated with Satanism" but are "afraid to experience its realness within and external to them". In turn, the Church of Satan has criticised what they alleged was the Order's "paranoic insistence that they are the only upholders of Satanic tradition", with Kaplan stating that these comments reflect "the intramural tensions" that are common within "the world of Satanism", and about which criticism Anton Long wrote that the ONA does not "claim to be a peer organization with a claim to some kind of authority ... When in the past we and others like us have said things that others interpret as being against the [Temple of Set] or La Vey, we were simply assuming the role of Adversary – challenging what seemed to be becoming accepted dogma."
Although conceiving of itself as having pre-Christian origins and describing Satanism as "militant paganism", the ONA does not advocate the re-establishment of pre-Christian belief systems, with one ONA tract stating that "all past gods of the various Western Traditions are rendered obsolete by the forces which Satanism alone is unleashing". However, Goodrick-Clarke noted that the group's "ideas and rituals" draw upon "a native tradition", with references to the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon concept of wyrd, an emphasis on ceremonies performed at equinoxes, and the construction of incense using indigenous trees, thus suggesting the idea of "rootedness in English nature". Practitioners undergo "black pilgrimages" to prehistoric ceremonial sites in the area around Shropshire and Herefordshire in the English Midlands. Furthermore, Monette writes that "a critical examination of the ONA's key texts suggests that the satanic overtones could be cosmetic, and that its core mythos and cosmology are genuinely hermetic, with pagan influences."
Aeonic Cosmology and Nazism
The ONA states that cosmic evolution is guided by a "sinister dialectics" of alternating Aeonic energies. It divides history into a series of Aeons, believing that each was dominated by a human civilization that emerged, evolved, and then died. It states that each Aeon lasts for approximately 2000 years, with its respective dominating human civilization developing within the latter 1500 years of that period. It holds that after 800 years of growth, each civilization faces problems, resulting in a "Time of Troubles" that lasts from between 398 and 400 years. In each civilization's final stage is a period that lasts for approximately 390 years, in which it is controlled by a strong military and imperial regime, after which the civilization falls. The ONA claims that humanity has lived through five such Aeons, each with an associated civilization: the Primal, Hyperborean, Sumerian, Hellenic, and Western. Both Goodrick-Clarke and Senholt have stated that this system of Aeons is inspired by the work of Arnold J. Toynbee, with Senholt suggesting that it might also have been influenced by Crowley's ideas regarding Thelemic Aeons. However, the ONA has stated that their concept "has nothing to do with Crowley", but is based on the work of both Toynbee and Spengler.
The ONA claim that current Western civilization has a Faustian ethos and that it has recently undergone its Time of Troubles, with its final stage, an "Imperium" of militaristic governance, due to commence at some point in 1990–2011 and last until 2390. This will be followed by a period of chaos from which will be established a sixth Aeon, the Aeon of Fire, which will be represented by the Galactic civilization in which Aryan society shall colonize the Milky Way galaxy. However, the Order holds that unlike previous Aeonic civilizations, the Western has been infected with the "Magian/Nazarene" distorion, which they associate with Judeo-Christian religion. The group's writings state that while Western civilization had once been "a pioneering entity, imbued with elitist values and exalting the way of the warrior", under the impact of the Magian/Nazarene ethos it has become "essentially neurotic, inward-looking and obsessed", embracing humanism, capitalism, communism, as well as "the sham of democracy" and "the dogma of racial equality". They believe that these Magian/Nazarene forces represent a counter-evolutionary trend which threaten to prevent the emergence of the Western Imperium and thus the evolution of humanity, opining that this cosmic enemy must be overcome through the force of will. Both Goodrick-Clarke and Sieg note that these ideas regarding the "Magian soul" and "cultural distortion" brought about by Jews were derived from the work of Oswald Spengler and Francis Parker Yockey.
The ONA praise Nazi Germany as "a practical expression of Satanic spirit ... a burst of Luciferian light – of zest and power – in an otherwise Nazarene, pacified, and boring world." Embracing Holocaust denial, they claim that the Holocaust was a myth constructed by the Magian/Nazarene establishment in order to denigrate the Nazi administration following the Second World War and erase its achievements from "the psyche of the West". The group believe that a Neo-Nazi revolution is necessary to overthrow the Magian-Nazarene domination of Western society and to establish the Imperium, ultimately allowing humanity to enter the Galactic civilization of the future. Accordingly, positive references to Nazism and Neo-Nazism can be found within the group's written material, and it evokes the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as a positive force in its text for the performance of a Black Mass, also known as The Mass of Heresy. However, some ONA texts stress that members should embrace Neo-Nazism and racism not out of a genuine belief in Nazi ideology, but rather as part of a "sinister strategy" to advance Aeonic evolution. A version of the Black Mass-produced by an Australian ONA group, The Temple of THEM, replacing praise for Hitler with praise for Islamist militant Osama bin Laden, while the writings of Chloe Ortega and Kayla DiGiovanni, key publicists for the U.S.-based White Star Acception, express what Sieg termed a "left-anarchist" platform which lacked the condemnation of Zionism and endorsement of Aryan racialism found in Long's writings. The Order is thus far more overtly political extreme in its aims than other Satanic and Left Hand Path organisations, seeking to infiltrate and destabilise modern society through both magical and practical means.
Initiation and the Seven Fold Way
The ONA's core system is known as the "Seven Fold Way" or "Hebdomadry", and is outlined in one of the Order's primary texts, Naos. The sevenfold system is reflected in the group's symbolic cosmology, the "Tree of Wyrd", on which seven celestial bodies – the Moon, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn – are located. The term wyrd was adopted from Old English, where it referred to fate or destiny. Monette identified this as a "hermetic system", highlighting that the use of seven planetary bodies had been influenced by the Medieval Arabic texts Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm and Shams I-Maarif. The Seven Fold Way is also reflected in the group's initiatory system, which has seven grades through which the member can gradually progress. Theses are: (1) Neophyte, (2) Initiate, (3) External Adept, (4) Internal Adept, (5) Master/Mistress, (6) Grand Master/Mousa and (7) Immortal. The group has revealed that very few of its members raise to the fifth and sixth degrees, and in a 1989 article the ONA stated that at that point there were only four individuals who had reached the stage of Master.
The ONA does not initiate members into the group itself, but rather expects an individual to initiate themselves. It requires that initiates be in a good physical condition, and recommends a training regimen for prospective members to follow. Newcomers are expected to take on a magical partner of the opposite sex, or of the same sex if they are lesbian or gay. Thenceforth, the practitioner must undertake personal and increasingly difficult challenges in order to move through the different grades. Most of the ordeals that allow the initiate to proceed to the next stage are publicly revealed by the Order in its introductory material, as it is believed that the true initiatory element lies in the experience itself and can only be attained through performing them. For instance, part of the ritual to become an External Adept involves an ordeal in which the prospective member is to find a lonely spot and to lay there, still, for an entire night without moving or sleeping. The initiatory process for the role of Internal Adept entails the practitioner withdrawing from human society for three months, from an equinox to a solstice, or (more usually) for six months, during which time they must live in the wild without modern conveniences or contact with civilisation. The next stage – the Ritual of the Abyss – involves the candidate living alone in a dark isolated cavern for a lunar month. According to Jeffrey Kaplan, an academic specialist of the far right, these physically and mentally challenging initiatory tasks reflect "the ONA's conception of itself as a vanguard organization composed of a tiny coterie of Nietzschean elites."
Within the initiatory system of the ONA, there is an emphasis on practitioners adopting "insight roles" in which they work undercover among a politically extreme group for a period of six to eighteen months, thus gaining experience in something different from their normal life. Among the ideological trends that the ONA suggests its members adopt "insight roles" within are anarchism, Neo-Nazism, and Islamism, stating that aside from the personal benefits of such an involvement, membership of these groups has the benefit of undermining the Magian-Nazarene socio-political system of the West and thus helping to bring about the instability from which a new order, the Imperium, can emerge. However, Monette noted a potential shift in the insight roles recommended by the group over the decades; he highlighted that while the ONA recommended criminal or military activities during the 1980s and early 1990s, by the late 1990s and 2000s they were instead recommending Buddhist monasticism as an insight role for practitioners to adopt. Therefore, "through the practice of "insight roles", the order advocates continuous transgression of established norms, roles, and comfort zones in the development of the initiate ... This extreme application of ideas further amplifies the ambiguity of satanic and Left Hand Path practices of antinomianism, making it almost impossible to penetrate the layers of subversion, play and counter-dichotomy inherent in the sinister dialectics." Senholt suggested that Myatt's involvement with both Neo-Nazism and Islamism represent such "insight roles" in his own life.
The Acausal Realm, Magick and the Dark Gods
The ONA believe that humans live within the causal realm, which obeys the laws of cause and effect. However, they also believe in an acausal realm, in which the laws of physics do not apply, further promoting the idea that numinous energies from the acausal realm can be drawn into the causal, allowing for the performance of magic. Believing in the existence of magic – which the group spell "magick" following the example of Elias Ashmole's 1652 work Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum – the ONA distinguish between external, internal, and aeonic magick. External magic itself is divided into two categories: ceremonial magick, which is performed by more than two people to achieve a specific goal, and hermetic magick, which is performed either solitarily or in a pair and which is often sexual in nature. Internal magick is designed to produce an altered state of consciousness in the participant, in order to result in a process of "individuation" which bestows adepthood. The most advanced form of magick in the ONA system is aeonic magick, the practice of which is restricted to those who are already perceived to have mastered external and internal magick and attained the grade of master. The purpose of aeonic magick is to influence large numbers of people over a lengthy period of time, thus affecting the development of future aeons. In particular it is employed with the intent of disrupting the current socio-political system of the Western world, which the ONA believe has been corrupted by Judeo-Christian religion.
The ONA utilises two methods in its performance of aeonic magick. The first entails rites and chants with the intent of opening a gateway – known as a "nexion" – to the "acausal realm" in order to manifest energies in the "causal realm" that will influence the existing aeon in the practitioner's desired direction. The second method involves playing an advanced form of a board game known as the Star Game; the game was devised by the group, with the game pieces representing different aeons. The group believes that when an initiate plays the game they can become a "living nexion" and thus a channel for acausal energies to enter the causal realm and effect aeonic change. An advanced form of the game is used as part of the training for the grade of Internal Adept. According to Myatt, he invented the game in 1975.
The Order promotes the idea that "Dark Gods" exist within the acausal realm, although it is accepted that some members will interpret them not as real entities but as facets of the human subconscious. These entities are perceived as dangerous, with the ONA advising caution when interacting with them. Among those Dark Gods whose identities have been discussed in the Order's publicly available material are a goddess named Baphomet who is depicted as a mature woman carrying a severed head, with the ONA stating that the name is of ancient Greek origin. In addition, there are entities whose names, according to Monette, are borrowed from or influenced by figures from Classical sources and astronomy, such as Kthunae, Nemicu, and Atazoth.
Another of these acausal figures is termed Vindex, after the Latin word for "avenger". The ONA believe that Vindex will eventually incarnate as a human – although the gender and ethnicity of this individual is unknown – through the successful "presencing" of acausal energies within the causal realm, and that they will act as a messianic figure by overthrowing the Magian forces and leading the ONA to prominence in the establishment of a new society. Sieg drew comparisons between this belief in Vindex and the ideas of Savitri Devi, the prominent Esoteric Hitlerist, regarding the arrival of Kalki, an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, to Earth. The ONA also propagate the idea that it is possible for the practitioner to secure an afterlife within the acausal realm through their spiritual activities. It is for this reason that the final stage of the Seven Fold Way is known as the "Immortal", constituting those initiates who have been able to advance to the stage of dwelling in the acausal realm.
The ONA's writings condone and encourage human sacrifice, referring to their victims as opfers. The ONA outline their views on human sacrifice in a number of documents: "A Gift for the Prince – A Guide to Human Sacrifice", "Culling – A Guide to Sacrifice II", "Victims – A Sinister Exposé", and "Guidelines for the Testing of Opfers". According to the ONA's beliefs, the killer must allow their victim to "self-select" themselves; this is achieved through testing the victim to see if they expose perceived character faults. If this proves to be the case, the victim is believed to have shown that they are worthy of death, and the sacrifice can commence. Those deemed ideal for sacrifice by the group include individuals perceived as being of low character, members of what they deem "sham-Satanic groups" like the Church of Satan and Temple of Set, as well as "zealous, interfering Nazarenes", and journalists, business figures and political activists who disrupt the group's operations. The ONA explains that because of the need for such "self-selection", children must never be victims of sacrifice. Similarly, the ONA "despise animal sacrifice, maintaining that it is much better to sacrifice suitable mundanes given the abundance of human dross".
The sacrifice is then carried out through either physical or magical means, at which point the killer is believed to absorb power from the body and spirit of the victim, thus entering a new level of "sinister" consciousness. As well as strengthening the character of the killer by heightening their connection with the acausal forces of death and destruction, such sacrifices are also viewed as having wider benefits by the ONA, because they remove from society individuals whom the group deems to be worthless human beings. Monette noted that no ONA nexion cells publicly admitted to carrying out a sacrifice in a ritual manner, but that members had joined the police and military groups in order to engage in legal violence and killing.
The ONA believe that there are historical precedents to their practice of human sacrifice, expressing belief in a prehistoric tradition in which humans were sacrificed to a goddess named Baphomet at the spring equinox and to the Arcturus star in the autumn. However, the ONA's advocacy of human sacrifice has drawn strong criticism from other Satanist groups like the Temple of Set, who deem it to be detrimental to their own attempts to make Satanism more socially acceptable within Western nations.
The term "nine angles"
In its essays and other writings, the ONA offers various differing explanations as to the meaning of the term "Nine Angles". One explanation is that it pertains to the seven planets of the group's cosmology (the seven angles), added to the system as a whole (the eighth angle), and the mystic themselves (the ninth angle). A second explanation is that it refers to seven "normal" alchemical stages, with an additional two processes. A third is that it pertains to the nine emanations of the divine, a concept originally found in Medieval texts produced within the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism. Monette further suggested that it was a reference to a classical Indian tradition which divided the solar system into nine planets.
According to the O9A, they use the term "nine angles" in reference to not only the nine emanations, and transformations, of the three basic alchemical substances (mercury, sulfur, salt) as occurs in their occult use of the Star Game, but also in reference to their hermetic journey with its seven spheres and its two acausal aspects.
The ONA is a secretive organization. It lacks any central administration, instead operating as a network of allied Satanic practitioners, which it terms the "kollective". Thus, Monette stated that the Order "is not a structured lodge or temple, but rather a movement, a subculture or perhaps metaculture that its adherents choose to embody or identify with". Monette also suggested that this absence of a centralised structure would aid the Order's survival, because its fate would not be invested solely in one particular leader. The ONA dislikes the term "member", instead favouring the word "associate". In 2012, Long stated that those affiliated with the Order fell into six different categories: associates of traditional nexions, Niners, Balobians, gang and tribe members, followers of the Rounwytha tradition, and those involved with ONA-inspired groups.
The group largely consists of autonomous cells known as "nexions". The original cell, based in Shropshire, is known as "Nexion Zero", with the majority of subsequent groups having been established in Britain, Ireland, and Germany, however nexions and other associated groups have also been established in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Russia and South Africa. Some of these groups, such as the U.S.-based Tempel ov Blood, describe themselves as being distinct from the ONA while both having been greatly influenced by it and having connections to it.
In the ONA's terminology, the terms Drecc and Niner refer to folk-based or gang-based culture or individuals who support the Order's aims by practical (including criminal) means rather than esoteric ones. One such group is the White Star Acception, who claim to have perpetrated rapes, assaults, and robberies in order to advance the group's power; Sieg noted that the reality of these actions has not been verified. A Balobian is an artist or musician who contributes to the group through their production of fine art. The Rounwytha is a tradition of folk-mystics deemed to exhibit gifted psychic powers reflecting their embodiment of the "sinister feminine archetype". Although a minority are men, most Rounwytha are female, and they often live reclusively as part of small and often lesbian groups.
Several academic commentators have highlighted the existence of a position within the ONA called an "Outer Representative", who serves as an official spokesperson for the group to the outer world. The first to publicly claim to be the group's "Outer Representative" was Richard Moult, an artist and composer from Shropshire who used the pseudonym of "Christos Beest". Moult was followed as "Outer Representative" by "Vilnius Thornian", who held the position from 1996 to 2002, and who has been identified by ONA insiders as the Left Hand Path ideologue Michael Ford. Subsequently, on the blog of the White Star Acception, the claim was made that the group's member Chloe Ortega was the ONA's Outer Representative, also this blog later became defunct by 2013. In 2013, a female American Rounwytha using the name of "Jall" appeared claiming to be the Order's "Outer Representative".
However, according to Long the "outer representative" was "an interesting and instructive example of [the O9A's] Labyrinthos Mythologicus, ... a ploy," and which was designed to "intrigue, select, test, confuse, annoy, mislead". Long wrote that "the ploy was for a candidate or an initiate to openly disseminate ONA material, and possibly give interviews about the O9A to the Media, under the guise of having been given some sort of 'authority' to do so even though such an authority – and the necessary hierarchy to gift such authority – was in fact a contradiction of our raison d'être; a fact we of course expected those incipiently of our kind to know or sense." According to Senholt the ONA "does not award titles", with Monette writing that "there is no central authority within the ONA."
Within the ONA was a group of longstanding initiates known as the "Old Guard" or "Inner ONA", whose experience with the tradition led to them becoming influential over newer members who often sought their advice. Members of this Old Guard included Christos Beest, Sinister Moon, Dark Logos, and Pointy Hat, although in 2011 they stated that they would withdraw from the public sphere.
While the ONA has stated that it is not an occult organization in the conventional sense but an esoteric philosophy, several academics have written about ONA membership. In a 1995 overview of British Satanist groups, Harvey suggested that the ONA consisted of less than ten members, "and perhaps fewer than five." In 1998, Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg stated that the ONA's membership was "infinitesmally small", with the group acting primarily as a "mail-order ministry". Regarding the question of membership, Anton Long, in a letter to Aquino dated October 1990, wrote that "once the techniques and the essence [of the ONA] are more widely available then membership as such is irrelevant, since everything is available and accessible ... with the individual taking responsibility for their own development, their own experiences."
In 2013 Senholt noted that because the group has no official membership, it is "difficult, if not impossible, to estimate the number of ONA members". Senholt suggested that a "rough estimate" of the "total number" of individuals involved with the ONA in some capacity from 1980 to 2009 was "a few thousand"; he had come to this conclusion from an examination of the number of magazines and journals about the subject circulated and the number of members of online discussion groups devoted to the ONA. At the same time he thought that the number of "longtime adherents is much smaller." Also in 2013, Monette estimated that there were over two thousand ONA associates, broadly defined. He believed that the gender balance was roughly equal, although with regional variation and differences among particular nexions.
According to a recent survey, the ONA has more female supporters than either the Church of Satan or the Temple of Set; more women with children; more older supporters; more supporters who are better established in socio-economic terms; and more who politically are further to the Right.
Legacy and influence
The ONA's main influence lies not with the group itself, but with its prolific release of written material. According to Senholt "the ONA has produced more material on both the practical and theoretical aspects of magic, as well as more ideological texts on Satanism and the Left Hand Path in general, than larger groups such as the Church of Satan and the Temple of Set has produced in combination [which] makes the ONA an important player in the theoretical discussion of what the Left Hand Path and Satanism is and should be according to the practitioners."
These writings were initially distributed to other Satanist and Neo-Nazi groups, although with the development of the internet this was also used as a medium to propagate its writings, with Monette expressing the view that they had attained "a sizable presence in occult cyberspace", and thus become "one of the most prominent Left Hand Path groups by virtue of its public presence". Many of these writings were then reproduced by other groups. Kaplan considered the ONA to be "an important source of Satanic ideology/theology" for "the occultist fringe of National Socialism", namely Neo-Nazi groups like the Black Order. The group gained increased attention following the growth in public interest in Myatt's impact on terrorist groups during the War on Terror in the 2000s. The historian of esotericism Dave Evans stated that the ONA were "worthy of an entire PhD thesis", while Senholt expressed the view that it would be "potentially dangerous to ignore these fanatics, however limited their numbers might be."
In the Jack Nightingale series of novels by Stephen Leather, a Satanic "Order of Nine Angles" are the leading antagonists. Similarly, a fictionalised Satanic group named the "Order of Nine Angels" appear in Conrad Jones' 2013 novel Child for the Devil by Conrad Jones. In another of his novels, Black Angel, Jones included a page titled 'Additional Information' giving a warning about the Order of Nine Angles.
- The ONA used the term Traditional Satanism in their Black Book of Satan, published in 1984. Since the establishment of the ONA, the term "Traditional Satanism" has also been adopted by Theistic Satanist groups like the Brotherhood of Satan. Faxneld suggested that the Order's adoption of the word "traditional" possibly reflected a "conscious strategy to built legitimacy" by harking back to "arcane ancient wisdom" in a manner deliberately distinct from the way in which Anton LaVey sought to gain legitimacy for his Church of Satan by appealing to rationality, science, and his own personal charisma. Elsewhere Faxneld suggested that the ONA's use of "Traditional Satanism" to differentiate themselves from the dominant forms of Satanism had comparisons with how those who describe themselves as practitioners of "Traditional Witchcraft" do so to distinguish their magico-religious practices from the dominant form of modern witchcraft, Wicca. According to Anton Long, writing in the text Selling Water By The River "Traditional Satanism is a term used to describe the sinister path which for centuries was taught on an individual basis ... To this path belongs the Septenary System, Esoteric Chant [and] the comprehensive training of novices (including the development of the physical side) and most importantly the Internal system of magick (the Grade Rituals etcetera)."
- "ONA: Frequently Asked Questions". The Order of Nine Angles – Labyrinthos Mythologicus. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015.
- Monette 2013, p. 88.
- Senholt 2013, p. 255.
- Kaplan 2000, p. 236; Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 218.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 218; Senholt 2013, p. 256.
- Kaplan 2000, p. 236; Gardell 2003, p. 391.
- Monette 2013, p. 86.
- Monette 2013, p. 86; Senholt 2013, p. 256.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 217; Senholt 2013, p. 256.
- Senholt 2013, p. 256.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, pp. 221–222.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 218; Senholt 2013, p. 256; Monette 2013, p. 87.
- Monette 2013, p. 87.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 220.
- Monette 2013, p. 85.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, pp. 217, 222; Ryan 2003, p. 53; Senholt 2013, pp. 263–264.
- Weitzmann 2010, p. 16; Senholt 2013, pp. 263–264.
- Weitzmann 2010, pp. 16–17; Senholt 2013, pp. 265–267.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 216.
- Senholt 2009, p. 16.
- Senholt 2013, p. 268.
- Senholt 2013, p. 267.
- Faxneld 2013a, p. 207.
- "A Modern Mage". O9A. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
- Ryan 2003, p. 53; Senholt 2013, p. 267.
- Monette 2013, p. 111.
- "A Matter of Honour". David Myatt. November 2012. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015. Retrieved 2012-10-10.
- Sieg 2013, p. 257.
- Kaplan 1998, p. 115.
- Monette 2013, p. 92.
- Gardell 2003, p. 293.
- The Infernal Texts: Nox & Liber Koth. Falcon Publications, 1997. (Third edition, The Original Falcon Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-935150-73-2)
- The Black Book of Satan. 1984, Thormynd Press, ISBN 0-946646-04-X. British Library General Reference Collection Cup.815/51, BNB GB8508400
- Naos: A Practical Guide to Modern Magick. Coxland Press, 1990, ISBN 1-872543-00-6. British Library General Reference Collection YK.1993.a.13307, BNB GB9328754
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 218; Baddeley 2010, p. 155; Senholt 2013, p. 256.
- Kaplan 2000, p. 236; Gardell 2003, p. 293.
- Senholt 2013, p. 260.
- Kaplan 2000, p. 236.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 229.
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- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 225.
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- Monette 2013, p. 107.
- Monette 2013, p. 93.
- "O9A 101". O9A: Quintessence of the Order of Nine Angles. Archived from the original on 21 September 2015.
- Kaplan & Weinberg 1998, p. 143.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 215.
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- Sieg 2013, p. 255.
- Faxneld 2013a, p. 207; Faxneld 2013b, p. 88; Senholt 2013, p. 250; Sieg 2013, p. 252.
- Faxneld 2013b, p. 88.
- Faxneld 2013a, pp. 207–208.
- Long 1992c, pp. 13–17.
- Petersen 2014, p. 416.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 218.
- Senholt 2009, pp. 29–30.
- Harvey 1995, p. 292.
- Gardell 2003, p. 293; Baddeley 2010, p. 155.
- Long 1992a, p. 7.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 219.
- Gardell 2003, p. 294.
- Gardell 2003, p. 294; Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 220.
- Senholt 2013, p. 261.
- Gardell 2003, p. 391.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 220; Senholt 2013, p. 261.
- Long 1992a, p. 22.
- ONA 2015, pp. 678–684.
- Kaplan 2000, p. 237.
- Gardell 2003, pp. 294,391; Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 221.
- Gardell 2003, p. 294; Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 220; Senholt 2013, p. 261.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 220; Sieg 2013, p. 259.
- Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 221.
- ONA 2011, pp. 39–45, 53–56.
- Gardell 2003, p. 294; Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 221.
- Baddeley 2010, p. 155.
- ONA 2011, pp. 757–760.
- Gardell 2003, p. 294; Sieg 2013, p. 259.
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At an overflow audience at The Catholic University of America in April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI was greeted with sustained and vigorous applause as he spoke to the presidents of Catholic universities and colleges from across the nation. During his talk, the pope emphasized that “education is integral to the mission of the church to proclaim the good news. First and foremost, every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth.”
This year, as Catholic universities and the bishops observe the 10th anniversary of the application of “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” for the United States, it seems appropriate to reflect on the role of institutions of education and their participation both in the communion of the church that “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” highlighted so strongly and, consequently, in her great teaching mission. The invitation for a renewed collaboration in the proclamation of the faith comes at a new moment—the new evangelization.
It is well recognized that many have fallen away from the practice of the faith and lack a foundation in the essentials of the faith. Pope Benedict addressed several concerns about matters of faith when he spoke to the U.S. bishops at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception during the same week as his address to educators in April 2008.
For many, the Gospel has lost its taste, its freshness and its luster. We live in a time guided by a secularism that treats religion as a purely private matter. It is a time guided by an ingrained consumerism and materialism, by an isolating individualism and a pervading relativism that erode confidence in the truths of faith and in human reason itself. For too many people, their religious instruction failed them at several levels. Something went wrong.
But we are not without hope. At the same time, this is an age when many, especially the young, are experiencing a surge of interest in enduring values and a yearning for meaning, purpose and a spiritual life. In my ministry as the archbishop of Washington, D.C., I see evidence of this work of the Holy Spirit every day. Young people ask for the wisdom of the church and seek an introduction to Christ. One particularly powerful sign of this openness to the Gospel occurs annually at the Rally for Life in Washington, when youth from all over the nation—in an increasing number every year—celebrate the dignity of human life, the Gospel of Life. This past year we hosted nearly 40,000 young people, who represent a vibrant future for the church in our country.
There are convincing signs that for many the church stands at a cultural crossroads. As we look to the future, we can follow a pathway indicated by voices of this age that draw much of their inspiration from sources alien to the Gospel, or we can respond with a deeper appreciation of our faith and spiritual heritage and with the confidence that imbues generous and apostolic hearts. This is the new evangelization that Pope Benedict described as “re-proposing” the Gospel to those who are convinced that they already know the faith and that it holds no interest for them. It is the courage to invite our contemporaries to hear the message of Christ all over again, as if for the first time.
Recently, as I celebrated Mass at one of our Newman centers, I was pleased to find the church packed. The students explained that the chaplain had encouraged them to invite their friends. The students thought of themselves as apostles on a campus where witnesses to Christ are few. The new evangelization is all about knowing our faith, having confidence in it and sharing it with others.Collaborators in the New Evangelization
The new evangelization must be rooted authentically in the good news. This saving message of the Gospel finds its home in the church. Its pastors provide the authentication of the message and verify its life-giving application to the circumstances of our day. Our confidence in the teaching office of the church is grounded in the fact that Christ’s message has been handed down, generation by generation, preserving its integrity and its vitality only through the church that he himself founded, beginning with the apostles and carried on in each age by their successors, the bishops. It is through the teaching office of the church that we can be sure of the authenticity of the message that we proclaim.
The effort of the bishops to work more collaboratively with teachers, catechists and theologians at all levels of education can be seen in the cooperation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops with the publishers of catechetical materials to ensure that those materials are comprehensive and faithful to the magisterium. Much of the catechetical revival that we are experiencing across our country can be traced to this successful initiative in which the bishops studied catechetical texts over a number of years and identified 10 doctrinal deficiencies that have hindered the formation of so many in recent decades. Adjusting those texts has already borne significant fruit in the formation of young Catholics.
Bishops, however, do not carry out their ministry in isolation. Among bishops’ valuable collaborators are theologians, whose privilege it is to explore systematically the truths of our faith according to the ancient adage fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding. As every student of church history knows, theologians have proven invaluable through the centuries in the refinement and deepening of our understanding of the Gospel. Their contributions are most evident when the explorations of theology build upon the insights of previous generations and are fruitful only when they begin from the known truths of received revelation. Identifying those boundaries of authentic faith, the building blocks of genuine theological progress, constitutes a significant task of the church’s magisterium.
There is a powerful and symbiotic relationship, then, between the bishop and the theologian when both appreciate their respective roles in understanding and transmitting the faith. As Blessed Pope John Paul II explained in “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (No. 29):
Bishops should encourage the creative work of theologians. They serve the church through research done in a way that respects theological method.... At the same time, since theology seeks an understanding of revealed truth whose authentic interpretation is entrusted to the bishops of the church, it is intrinsic to the principles and methods of their research and teaching in their academic discipline that theologians respect the authority of the bishops, and assent to Catholic doctrine according to the degree of authority with which it is taught.
The vibrancy of Catholic theological development is not hindered by the exercise of the magisterium. Rather, it is the very teaching office that authenticates the fruit of theology.
Given that college- and university-level theological instruction takes place in the real circumstances of today’s diminished faith formation, it is necessary to recognize that the student entering the “groves of academe” too often comes in need of evangelization and faith formation more than theological speculation. The sharp blade of precise theoretical investigation and speculation should be affixed to the handle of basic, firm faith formation.
To be sure, as in every academic field, theologians enjoy a legitimate autonomy, but it is an autonomy defined by the standards of their discipline and the boundaries of what is known with certainty. In the case of theology, it is precisely the truths of faith, taught by the magisterium, that constitute the subject matter of their work. It is an academic freedom, like any freedom, that is ordered to the truth and to human flourishing. As the pope affirmed in his talk at Catholic University, appeals “to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the church would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission, a mission at the heart of the church’s munus docendi [teaching responsibility] and not somehow autonomous or independent of it.”
When bishops individually or collectively disagree with a specific theological position or methodology, it is not because they do not understand the task of theology. It is because they do and also recognize their own unique and necessary role.Catholic Universities at the Meeting Point
During his 2008 talk at The Catholic University of America, the pope observed that a “university or school’s Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a question of conviction—do we really believe that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear?”
As we respond to the call for the new evangelization, there are growing signs of new, constructive cooperation between bishops and theologians at Catholic universities. The bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, in collaboration with Catholic University, for instance, has planned a conference in September for bishops and theologians on the intellectual tasks of the new evangelization. As I write, I hope one of the outcomes of this multi-day meeting will be to refocus on the great mission of the church to bring Christ to the world. Another instance of fruitful cooperation, sponsored by both the Committee on Doctrine and the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in February 2012, will deal with celibacy and the priesthood. Here again bishops and theologians, including scholars from both seminary and university faculties, will explore an element of Catholic faith and practice in a way that probably would not be experienced in any secular university setting.
One can envision similar efforts bringing the best of the church’s theological expertise to significant issues today from the faith-filled and life-giving Catholic tradition on matters as timely as protecting innocent human life, legitimate types of stem-cell research, marriage, the environment, freedom of conscience and institutional religious freedom. Catholic campuses all over the nation can be centers for the new evangelization providing, in communion with the local bishop, the reasoned exposition of the truth of the church’s teaching.
As we seek to make our way through the current cultural crossroads, there are many signs of hope and renewal. Among those signs, bishops and theologians are taking a new look at their relationship and the possibilities offered by their constructive collaboration, as these two examples of academic gatherings demonstrate. When their respective contributions are ordered to the proclamation of the Gospel, grounded in the truths of our faith and the teaching of the church that Jesus founded, bishops and theologians offer a profound contribution to the new evangelization and an irreplaceable gift to our contemporaries: a rejuvenated, fruitful and faithful exposition of the good news of Jesus Christ.
Bishops and theologians discuss the role of theology and catechesis. |
Causes of Unbelief [Part III]
Evil, Pain, and Suffering
Surely it can be said without fear of contradiction that one of the most frequent, and thus one of the most important, causes of unbelief is the existence of evil, pain, and suffering in the world. But before we explore this concept, let us take a momentary diversion to separate the genuine problem from the counterfeit. When an individual claims not to believe in God because of the problem of evil, pain, and suffering, the person making such a claim may mean something entirely different than what the person hearing the claim thinks he means. Allow me to explain.
Admittedly, some people have difficulty believing in God because of what they consider to be real intellectual obstacles to such a belief. Ex nihilo creation, a virgin birth, or the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead cause some to consider belief in God on par with belief in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. Such concepts represent insurmountable barriers to the ultimate acceptance of God’s existence.
Other people, however, face no such intellectual obstacles. Rather, they simply do not want to have to deal with the issue of the ultimate existence of a transcendent God. Their refusal to believe is not based necessarily on “this” barrier, or “that” barrier. Rather, belief in God simply is inconvenient at best, or bothersome at worst. In a chapter titled “What Keeps People from Becoming Christians?” in his book, Intellectuals Don’t Need God, Alister McGrath exerted considerable effort in an attempt to separate the claims of these two types of individuals when he wrote:
“I could never be a Christian because of the problem of suffering” can mean two quite different things: (a) Having thought the matter through carefully, it seems to me that there is a real problem posed to the intellectual coherence of the Christian faith because of the existence of human suffering; (b) I don’t want to get involved in a discussion about Christianity, which could get very personal and threatening. But I don’t want to admit this, as it might seem to imply that I lack intellectual courage, stamina, or honesty. I can save face by letting it be understood that there are good grounds for my rejection of Christianity. So let me select a problem...suffering will do very nicely. Anyway, it will stall the efforts of this guy who’s trying to convert me.
For some, then, throwing intellectual problems at the Christian evangelist is like a warplane ejecting flares to divert heat-seeking missiles. It is a decoy meant to divert a deadly attack. But intellectual difficulties nevertheless constitute a real problem for some people, and answers must be given to their difficulties (1993, pp. 64-65, ellipsis in orig.).
It is not my intention in this section to deal with those in the second category who use the problem of evil, pain, and suffering merely as a ruse to hide their own cowardice in the face of overwhelming evidence regarding the existence of God. Likely, no evidence ever could convince them. They fall into the same category as Goethe, who said: “A voice from heaven would not convince me...that a woman gives birth without knowing man, and that a dead man rises from the grave” (as quoted in Smith, 1974, p. 175). Rather, I would like to discuss the unbelief of those who fall into the first category—i.e., people who view the co-existence of God and moral evil as an intellectual inconsistency that is incapable of being solved. Their number is legion, and their tribe is increasing.
For example, consider the following assessments offered by a variety of writers that runs the gamut from a Nobel laureate to a former well-known televangelist. The Nobel laureate is Steven Weinberg, author of Dreams of a Final Theory, which includes a chapter titled “What About God?” Within that chapter these comments can be found.
I have to admit that sometimes nature seems more beautiful than strictly necessary. Outside the window of my home office there is a hackberry tree, visited frequently by a convocation of politic birds: blue jays, yellow-throated vireos, and, loveliest of all, an occasional red cardinal. Although I understand pretty well how brightly colored feathers evolved out of a competition for mates, it is almost irresistible to imagine that all this beauty was somehow laid on for our benefit. But the God of birds and trees would have to be also the God of birth defects and cancer....
Remembrance of the Holocaust leaves me unsympathetic to attempts to justify the ways of God to man. If there is a God that has special plans for humans, then He has taken very great pains to hide His concern for us (1993, pp. 250-251, emp. added).
The former well-known televangelist is Charles B. Templeton, a high school dropout who, according to one writer, has “the natural flare and fluidity of a salesman” (Lockerbie, 1998, p. 228). He served for years as the pulpit minister for the Avenue Road Church (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) where his ubiquitous “Youth for Christ” rallies in the late 1940s were extremely popular. Eventually he became a world-renowned evangelist with the Billy Graham Crusade. Then, one day, he quit. He abandoned it all—not just the Billy Graham Crusade, but belief in God, belief in Christ, belief in the Bible, belief in heaven—everything! He explained why in his book, Farewell to God.
I was ridding myself of archaic, outdated notions. I was dealing with life as it is. There would be an end to asking the deity for his special interventions on my behalf because I was one of the family.... If there is a loving God, why does he permit—much less create—earthquakes, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and other natural disasters which kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children every year? How can a loving, omnipotent God permit—much less create—encephalitis, cerebral palsy, brain cancer, leprosy, Alzheimer’s and other incurable illnesses to afflict millions of men, women, and children, most of whom are decent people? (1996, pp. 221, 230).
It is not my intention here to provide an in-depth response to these (or similar) accusations. We have dealt with such matters elsewhere (see: Thompson, 1988; Thompson, 1990; Thompson and Jackson, 1992; Jackson, 1988; Major, 1998). Instead, for the purpose of this article I merely would like to document the role that evil, pain, and suffering have played, and still continue to play, in man’s unbelief.
Many have been those who, through the ages, have abandoned their belief in God because of the presence of evil, pain, and suffering in their lives or in the lives of those close to them. Earlier, I documented how, in 1851, Charles Darwin abandoned once and for all any vestige of belief in God after the death of his oldest daughter, Annie (see Desmond and Moore, 1991, pp. 384,386-387). But Darwin was not the only one so affected. Nine years later, on September 15, 1860, Thomas Huxley was to watch his oldest son, four-year-old Noel, die in his arms from scarlet fever. In their massive, scholarly biography, Darwin, Desmond and Moore wrote that Noel’s death brought Huxley “...to the edge of a breakdown. Huxley tried to rationalize the ‘holy leave-taking’ as he stood over the body, with its staring blue eyes and tangled golden hair, but the tragedy left a deep scar” (1991, p. 503, emp. added).
At Noel’s funeral, the minister briefly referred to 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 in his eulogy. When he quoted the passage from that section of Scripture which mentions, “if the dead be not raised,” Huxley was outraged. Eight days after Noel’s death, on September 23, he wrote to his close friend, Charles Kingsley, about the minister’s words: “I cannot tell you how inexpressibly they shocked me. [The preacher—BT] had neither wife nor child, or he must have known that his alternative involved a blasphemy against all that was best and noblest in human nature. I could have laughed with scorn” (see Leonard Huxley, 1900, 1:151-152). In the equally scholarly (and equally massive) companion biography that he authored, Huxley, Adrian Desmond wrote of the man known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” on the day of his son’s death:
He sat in the study facing the tiny body. His emotions were unleashed as he looked back to that New Year’s Eve 1856, when he had sat at the same desk and pledged on his son’s birth to give “a new and healthier direction to all Biological Science.” He had found redemption on his son’s death. There was no blame, only submission to Nature, and that brought its own catharsis (1997, p. 287, emp. added).
“Submission to Nature” became Huxley’s watchword. Belief in God—however feeble it may have been prior to Noel’s death—now had evaporated completely. All that remained was to give “a new and healthier direction to all Biological Science.” And so it was to “Nature” that Huxley devoted the remainder of his life.
But not all such events have occurred in centuries long since gone. Modern-day parallels abound. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) became implacably embittered against God after the death, in 1896, of his favorite daughter, Suzy. Famed English novelist, W. Somerset Maugham, recounted in his autobiography, The Summing Up, how that as a youngster he had prayed one night to God that he might be delivered from the terrible speech impediment that afflicted him. The next day he arose, only to find that the impediment still was present. So profound was his disappointment at the failure of God to cure him overnight that from that point forward he pledged never to believe in God again.
In the mid-1960s, a devoutly religious young man from Chattanooga, Tennessee was a role model for all of his classmates. He led a prayer group, and planned to become a foreign missionary—until his sister died of leukemia and his father committed suicide. The boy’s belief in God collapsed, and he became one of America’s most outspoken unbelievers, humanists, and pro-abortion advocates. That boy’s name?—Ted Turner, founder of world-famous CNN, the Turner Broadcasting System, and other well-known media enterprises.
Hypocrisy or Misconduct of Believers
As much as those of us who believe in God hate to admit it, the truth of the matter is that on occasion our own actions have the potential to drive others toward unbelief. Try as we might, we still make mistakes. And sometimes our errors are egregious. There always have been sad stories of graphic hypocrisy and sordid misconduct on the part of believers (witness the drama of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5). But those cases have not always been publicized in such a “global” fashion as they now are. Today, when Jimmy Swaggart is photographed in a midnight tryst with a prostitute, or when Jim Bakker is tried in a court of law and found guilty of fraud involving church funds, it is a dream come true for evening network television programs. And what self-respecting news anchor or late-night comedian can resist the temptation to point out that these indiscretions and crimes have been committed by “believers”? Juicy, salacious tidbits, these—made all the more prurient by the fact that they fly in the face of everything pure and holy that such people are supposed to emulate in their lives.
Such hypocrisy and misconduct are hard pills to swallow even for fellow believers. But put yourself in the place of the person who already is struggling with doubts not only about the system of belief, but about the God behind the system. From their vantage point, when the system “fails” (i.e., when its adherents are unable to conform to it successfully in their own lives), what, then, shall be said about the God behind the system? As Bales observed: “The corruptions, or shortcomings, or the hypocrisy in the lives of some believers have been used to justify the rejection of Christianity. They are viewed as adequate samples of the faith, and since the samples are not good, the faith is viewed as bad” (1976, p. 49). The Proverbs writer emphasized: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint” (25:19).
The unfaithfulness, hypocrisy, or misconduct of a single believer can have severe repercussions not just for other believers, but for unbelievers as well. Such circumstances provide “grist for the mill” of those who continually are searching for what they consider to be legitimate reasons not to believe in God. Perhaps Paul had this in mind when he wrote his first epistle to the young evangelist Timothy, urging that his instructions be carried out so that there would be “no occasion to the adversary for reviling” (1 Timothy 5:14). When believers become hypocrites, it supplies ammunition for those who have set themselves against God. And oftentimes the seed of potential disbelief blossoms into the flower of full-fledged unbelief. History is filled with sad-but-true accounts of those who plunged headlong into the embracing arms of infidelity as the result of unpleasant experiences with believers. Two of the most prominent examples that come to mind are H.G. Wells (see Clark, 1945) and Thomas H. Huxley (see Clark, 1948).
While we readily acknowledge the devastating effect that can result from the hypocrisy and/or misconduct of believers, and while we make no attempt whatsoever to justify or excuse such conduct, at the same time we must recognize the fact that it is sheer folly to blame God for the blunders of humanity. Rejecting God because of hypocrisy in the lives of some of His followers can become a two-edged sword. It has been said that “hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.” Put another way, it is contradictory for an unbeliever to attempt to justify his unbelief by pointing out hypocrisy in someone else. The very fact that the unbeliever is willing to label the believer a “hypocrite” proves that he is aware of the fact that the believer is not measuring up to the high standards of the system he professes to follow. By suggesting that a believer is a hypocrite, the unbeliever implies that there is a system of belief that, when properly adhered to, would legitimize the conduct of the believer. Bales put it this way:
When an individual accuses another of being a hypocrite, he is appealing to a standard of integrity. He is saying that it is wrong to be a hypocrite.... Those who hold to a world view which justifies the acceptance of moral law can consistently oppose hypocrisy. Those whose world view rules out moral law cannot be consistent and accept a standard which says that hypocrisy is wrong (1976, p. 50, emp. added).
No one condemned hypocrisy more than the Son of God Himself when, in Matthew 23, He pronounced the well-known “seven woes” on the religious leaders of His day and condemned them for their own hypocrisy. Additionally, the point needs to be made that, on occasion, the label of “hypocrite” is misapplied.
A person is not a hypocrite because he is weak, and fails at times in his struggle against evil. He is not a hypocrite because he never perfectly achieves the perfect standard of life. In fact, he would be a hypocrite if he claimed that he had arrived at perfection. One is not a hypocrite because he is inconsistent. One may not be aware of the contradiction in his life. He may not be conscious of a particular clash between his profession and his conduct. Because the tares and the wheat may look alike for awhile does not mean that the wheat is made up of tares.... Because weeds spring up in a garden, does this mean they were planted by the gardener? (Bales, 1976, p. 50, emp. added).
The psalmist wrote: “It is better to take refuge in Jehovah than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8). Oh, that the unbeliever could learn that lesson.
Unjust Acts Committed by Believers in the Name of God
It has been said that perhaps the only thing that is consistent in this world is inconsistency. Anyone who has tried to live according to a standard can attest to the fact that such a statement contains an element of truth. The refrain, “Ah, consistency, thou art a rare jewel,” reverberates within the human soul on a daily basis. Likely, most people want to live a consistent (and, hopefully, a consistently good) life. But such a feat falls under the category of “easier said than done.” Especially is this true when the standard by which a person is attempting to live is itself a consistently high one.
Unfortunately, throughout human history there have been those who have professed the high standard of Christianity, yet who have committed unjust acts in the name of God—acts that have been a blight to believers and a boon to unbelievers. For example, in the time period between A.D. 1095 and 1270, eight different crusades occurred, during which armies representing “Christendom” battled Muslims in and around Jerusalem to gain control of the “holy city” and force Mohammed’s followers into submission to Christ.
In 1613, Galileo published his first musings about the possible truthfulness of the Copernican system of planetary movements (i.e., that the Earth moves around the Sun, not the reverse as the old, revered Ptolemaic system suggested). In 1616, a decree was issued by the Catholic Church that prevented Galileo from publishing any additional supportive evidence for his hypothesis. But in 1632, he published Dialogue Concerning the Two Great World Systems—Ptolemaic and Copernican. One year later, in 1633, he found himself in front of an Inquisition in Rome—which found him guilty of violating church doctrine (in spite of the fact that he had been right in his defense of Copernicus’ views).
In modern times, we have witnessed things no less savory. In 1988, Salman Rushdie authored The Satanic Verses, a book that drew the ire of radical Iranian Muslim spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. On February 4, 1989 Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious decree) in the name of Allah (God), calling for the immediate assassination of Rushdie and offering a six-million-dollar reward to anyone carrying out the task successfully. Rushdie was forced to go into hiding in Britain, where he was given ’round-the-clock protection by Scotland Yard.
In Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants have battled each other for decades under the flags of their respective religions. Bullets rip through shopping centers and schoolyards. Snipers fire on passers-by. Innocent adults, teenagers, and children die by the hundreds—all in the name of God. In Yugoslavia, “Christian” Serbs depart on “search and destroy” missions in an effort to rout the opposing Muslim forces. “Ethnic cleansing” is carried out—again, in God’s name.
Or, to bring the matter closer to home, militants bomb abortion clinics, maiming and killing patients and staff alike. These same individuals declare “open season” on medical doctors who perform abortions, and these practitioners subsequently are shot dead as they stand at their kitchen window or get in their car to drive to work. All in the name of the God of heaven.
And the unbeliever’s case is made for him as he witnesses what he views as unjust, heinous acts carried out by people who are supposed to live daily by the Golden Rule and by the Word of the God Who established that Rule. The reaction is as swift as it is adamant. How could a good God sanction such barbaric inhumanity? And why would anyone want to serve such a God? While the unbeliever continues to ponder such questions and witness such atrocities, the roots of his unbelief grow ever deeper.
How should the believer respond to these things? First, let us admit forthrightly that such things as the brutality of the Crusades, the murder of abortionists, or the ethnic cleansing of non-Christians are unjust deeds that never should have occurred in the first place. The acts committed are abhorrent and the attitudes of those responsible are deplorable.
Neither God nor Christ ever has forced men to submit to the Divine Will. Christ specifically said: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight” (John 18:36, emp. added). Nothing can justify the torture inflicted on so many Muslims during the Crusades in an attempt to “cram Christianity down their collective throats.” And the very idea of eliminating through “ethnic cleansing” those who are considered by some to be “enemies” of God is as repugnant as it is contrary to God’s nature. The same God Who said, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye to them likewise” (Luke 6:31), also commanded, “Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you” (Luke 6:27-28).
Nor does God condone the lawlessness involved in bombing abortion clinics or killing doctors who perform abortions. The same God Who condemns the slaughter of unborn children via abortion (Proverbs 6:16-17) likewise condemns the illegal slaughter of those who wrongly murder such children (Matthew 10:19).
Second, it is unfair to blame God for unjust acts committed in His name by those who claim to believe in Him, yet who disobey His will. While a person may be sincere, he or she may be sincerely wrong. The fact that someone commits an act “in God’s name” does not mean necessarily that the act itself is sanctioned by the One in Whose name it was committed. For example, when law-enforcement officers act “in the name of the law,” but illegally and unjustly pistol-whip a suspect to obtain a coerced confession, or commit perjury under oath in order to “frame” a defendant, does the “law” bear the blame for their offenses? Certainly not! The law specifically forbade their actions. The fact that those actions were carried out “in the name of the law” does not reflect poorly on the law itself. An unjust act that stands in opposition to an objective moral standard does not impugn the standard. So should it be with God. Reprehensible acts carried out “in God’s name” should not reflect upon the high moral standard of God Himself.
Third, in this context it is important to separate the real believer from the counterfeit believer. Just because someone claims to be a believer does not necessarily mean that he or she actually is a believer. But how is that distinction to be made? God warned:
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.... Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:18,20).
A counterfeit remains a counterfeit regardless of the fact that it claims (or even appears) to be genuine. Its genuineness is determined by whether or not it successfully matches the list of characteristics for that which actually is real—the “genuine article” as we so often call it. The same is true of those who believe in God. The genuineness of both their claim and their actions is determined by whether or not what they say and do matches the list of characteristics for true believers.
Consider two modern-day analogies. Everything done in the name of “science” is not scientific. When a scientist says that in his professional opinion a nuclear bomb should be dropped on a certain country, he is not speaking as a scientist. He may have degrees in science and may even wear a white laboratory coat while peering into a microscope. But the fact remains that there is nothing inherent in the scientific method to determine whether or not nuclear energy should be employed to destroy cancer cells—or entire cities. This is not a decision that science is equipped to make because it falls far beyond the pale of the scientific method.
And, not everything done in the name of “morality” is moral. Surely, one of the saddest events in American history occurred between 1932 and 1972 when the U.S. Public Health Service sanctioned the “Tuskegee Experiments,” in which 399 poor African American men from Macon County, Alabama—known to be infected with Treponema pallidum (the microorganism responsible for the dreaded venereal disease, syphilis)—were studied to determine the effects of this debilitating disease. The government doctors involved in the study never told the participants that they had syphilis. Nor did they obtain “informed consent” from the men for their experiments. Even though the physicians knew that the disease was fatal if left untreated, and even though antibiotics were available that could have saved the lives of the test subjects, those subjects were denied access to such antibiotics. Instead, they were patronized, prodded, and poked in what can only be called one of the most shameful experiments ever perpetrated on Americans. What was the rationale offered in later years for the experiments, once the scheme finally was uncovered? Those responsible claimed that they wanted to provide knowledge of the disease in the hope that it might prevent the physical degradation and death so often associated with syphilis victims. And, of course, they wanted to secure information that could be used to slow, or halt, the “moral degradation” associated with contracting a venereal disease in the first place.
Counterfeit actions carried out “in the name of God” are just that—counterfeit. Just because someone “claims” that certain actions are sanctioned by God does not mean necessarily that they are. What is needed here is a “fruit inspector” who can compare the counterfeit to the original and thereby separate fact from fiction. J.M. Mathews stated it well: “We ask that the consequences which can be proved to flow from Christianity as the legitimate fruit of the system should be distinguished from those which have no true alliance with her teachings or her influences” (1857, pp. 73-78).
When you see the above section heading of “Unbelief ” listed as a cause of unbelief, you might think that surely I have erred. How, pray tell, could unbelief be a cause of unbelief ? Allow me to explain.
It is my contention that unbelief engenders more unbelief. In his book, Therefore Stand, Wilbur M. Smith compared unchecked unbelief to
...a contagious disease. Unless it is restrained it grows in intensity, and will infect an increasingly large number of people. It is difficult to determine whether this is an age of unbelief because so many men do not believe, or many men do not believe because it is an age of unbelief. I suppose that some would say you cannot have an age of unbelief unless it is caused by the unbelief of men. Well, I am not so sure. There are certain intellectual and moral characteristics that mark each age of human history, and it would seem that the outstanding mark of our particular age is Unbelief (1974, p. 173).
Dr. Smith made these comments in the original printing of his book in 1945. If he was correct in his assessment that his was an “age of unbelief ” (and the documentation he provided incontrovertibly proved his point), then what may be said about our age? Smith wrote at a time when America had just emerged from the shadows and ravages of World War II. It was a time in our nation’s history when people had sacrificed—first, their finances at home and, second, their sons and daughters on foreign battle fields—to bring an end to tyranny. It also was a time when people actually realized that they needed God.
Compare that set of circumstances to those of today. The economy is booming. America has not been involved in a war in over thirty years. Unemployment is at an all-time low. Simply put, people do not feel the “need” for God that they did in post-war America. And there are other factors to be considered. As Smith explained:
Great thinkers, leaders of thought, men of achievement, men with great gifts of expression, inevitably must influence vast multitudes of people who look up to them as their leaders, as their guide, and when the outstanding men of the great segments of thought in our generation are atheistic, and antagonistic to the Christian Faith, what can one expect the younger generation to be, willingly following in their steps? (1974, p. 174).
We are living in an age where some of the most visible, most respected, and most prolific intellectuals on the world stage are outspoken proponents of unbelief. We view the late Carl Sagan’s lavish television extravaganza, Cosmos, and are informed that organic evolution is a “fact” from which no reasonable person dissents. Our children go to their school libraries to select a book for a required reading assignment and are able to choose from over 500 volumes authored by the late evolutionist and humanist, Isaac Asimov, whose vitriolic diatribes against God were his stock-in-trade.
Those same children then go off to college and receive class handouts that are reprints from Natural History magazine of the monthly column, “This View of Life,” authored by Harvard’s famous Marxist and evolutionist, Stephen Jay Gould. The editors of National Geographic send their full-color, professionally produced, eye-catching magazine into our homes each month so that we, our children, and our grandchildren can read articles by such renowned evolutionists as Donald C. Johanson (discoverer of our alleged hominid ancestor, “Lucy”) or the late Louis and Mary Leakey (both of whom spent their entire professional careers in Africa searching for the ever-elusive “missing link” between humans and ape-like ancestors).
Our children sit at the feet of evolutionary professors who strive to convince them that they evolved from primordial slime. They view television shows (produced by unbelievers who have become Hollywood’s darlings) intended to help rid them of their archaic “Bible-belt mentality.” They are required to read and digest articles by atheistic wordsmiths whose purpose it is to convince them that God is no more real than the Man in the Moon or the Easter Bunny. They digest books by prolific, infidelic authors who revel in every facet of human immorality—and who beckon them to do likewise.
Then one day our precious 19- or 20-year-old son or daughter unexpectedly announces, “Mom, Dad, I don’t think I believe in God any more.” And we stand in shocked amazement—wondering how in the world this could have happened. This is the point I am trying to make when I say that unbelief causes unbelief.
In the New Testament book of Mark, there is an intriguing comment about the Lord. The text states simply: “And he could there do no mighty work,... and he marvelled because of their unbelief ” (6:5-6). What is the meaning of this statement?
Certainly, it cannot mean that Jesus was incapable of performing miracles on this particular occasion. As a member of the Godhead, He was all-powerful (cf. Genesis 17:1, 1 Timothy 6:16), and could not be restrained (cf. Job 42:2). Thus, He could do anything not contradictory to His nature (Habakkuk 1:13; Hebrews 6:18; James 1:13) Performing a miracle certainly was not contradictory to that nature. In fact, on numerous other occasions He had cured those who were blind (Matthew 9:27ff.), deaf and dumb (Mark 7:31ff.), leprous (Luke 17:11ff.), or had crippled limbs (Matthew 9:2; 12:10). He even raised the dead (Luke 7:11ff.). Why, then, does the text record that “he could do there no mighty work”?
When Matthew discussed this event in his Gospel, he wrote: “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief ” (13:58, emp. added). Why, then, did Mark say that the Lord could not do mighty works? The Greek employed in Mark’s expression is ouk edunato. Wayne Jackson has pointed out:
These words are idiomatically used in the New Testament occasionally to denote what one deliberately purposed not to do. Perhaps some examples will be helpful. In one of the Lord’s parables, he has a man, who is rejecting the invitation to a great supper, say, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot [ou dunami] come” (Luke 14:20). It was not that the man was literally unable to attend; rather, for other reasons he chose not to do so. Again, John writes: “Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his [God’s] seed abideth in him: and he cannot [ou dunatai] sin, because he is begotten of God” (I Jn. 3:9). This passage teaches that the child of God, because of the seed [the Word of God—Luke 8:11] that abides in him, chooses to refrain from practicing a life of habitual sin. So, similarly, the Lord determined not to perform many mighty works in his own country because of the quality of unbelief that was characteristic of them.
This latter observation needs a little amplification. In both Matthew 13:58 and Mark 6:6, the term “unbelief ” is preceded by the definite article (ten), literally, therefore, “the unbelief of them.” Now the Greek article is sort of like an index finger, it points to, draws attention to, an object. Here, it calls attention to the fact that the unbelief of these people was so strong, so downright rebellious, that Jesus would not perform many miracles in their presence in an attempt to coerce them into accepting him (1981, 2:13, emp. and brackets in orig.).
These people had heard the testimony of the many “mighty works” Christ had done throughout the region, and even had witnessed some of His miracles themselves. [The text in Mark indicates that while He did not perform “many” miracles among them, He did heal some of their illnesses (Mark 6:5).] They had the miracle-working Son of God in their midst, and yet their attitude was one of such staunch stubbornness that—in spite of the evidence before them—they steadfastly refused to believe. Today, unbelief often is seen as a “badge of courage” to be displayed openly and worn proudly. Modern spiritual descendants of those first-century unbelievers exhibit what the Hebrew writer termed “an evil heart of unbelief ” that has driven them “away from the living God” (Hebrews 10:12).
The Lord was happy to help those of His day whose unbelief resulted from a genuine ignorance of God’s teachings. In Mark 9:20-24, the story is told of a father who brought his son to Christ, requesting that He remove the demon that had possessed the youngster from the time he was a small child. The pleading-but-not-quite-able-to-believe father implored the Lord with these words: “If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us” (9:22). Christ’s response to the man’s doubt was, “If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth” (9:23). Then, “straightway the father of the child cried out, and said, ‘I believe; help thou mine unbelief’” (9:24). And the Lord did just that!
The Lord also is happy to help those today who live in honest unbelief, and has provided ample evidence that they might believe. Speaking through the apostle John, God addressed those who, having seen and accepted that evidence, spent a lifetime building their faith upon it. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:6-7).
But what of those who resolutely reject God’s message? Their fate, too, was discussed by John: “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). Paul, writing to the first-century Christians in Rome, said:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:18-22).
Surely, the words of poet John Greenleaf Whittier are appropriate here: “For all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’ ”
Bales, James D. (1976), How Can Ye Believe? (Shreveport, LA: Lambert).
Clark, Robert E.D. (1945), Scientific Rationalism and Christian Faith (London: Inter-Varsity Fellowship).
Clark, Robert E.D. (1948), Darwin: Before and After (London: Paternoster Press).
Desmond, Adrian (1997), Huxley (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley).
Desmond, Adrian and James Moore (1991), Darwin (New York: Warner).
Huxley, Leonard (1900), Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley (New York: Macmillan).
Jackson, Wayne (1981), “ ‘And He Could Do There No Mighty Work,’ ” Reason and Revelation, 2:13, April.
Jackson, Wayne (1988), “The Earth: A Planet Plagued with Evil,” Reason and Revelation, 8:49-52, December.
Lockerbie, Bruce (1998), Dismissing God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Major, Trevor J. (1998), “The Problem of Suffering,” Reason and Revelation, 18:49-55, July.
Mathews, J.M. (1857), The Bible and Men of Learning (New York: Daniel Fanshaw).
McGrath, Alister E. (1993), Intellectuals Don’t Need God and Other Modern Myths (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Smith, Wilbur M. (1974 reprint), Therefore Stand (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
Sproul, R.C. (1978), If There’s a God, Why Are There Atheists? (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale).
Templeton, Charles B. (1996), Farewell to God (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: McClelland and Stewart).
Thompson, Bert (1988), “Do Natural Disasters Negate Divine Benevolence?,” Reason and Revelation, 13:65-69, September.
Thompson, Bert (1990), “Does Human Suffering Disprove the Existence of a Benevolent God?,” Giving a Reason for Our Hope, ed. Winford Claiborne (Henderson, TN: Freed-Hardeman College), pp. 280-285.
Thompson, Bert and Wayne Jackson (1992), A Study Course in Christian Evidences (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).
Weinberg, Steven (1993), Dreams of a Final Theory (New York: Vintage Books). |
In an atheist’s worldview, what is our relationship with nature?
Let me rephrase that. In this atheist’s worldview, what is our relationship with nature?
In many religions — traditional Judeo- Christian- Islam in particular — the answer to that question is clear. Our relationship with nature is that nature was made for us. Animals, plants, even the sun and the moon and the planet itself… all were made for people to use. To subdue, to have dominion over, as Genesis 1:28 so charmingly puts it. Every single living thing on the planet — they’re all just one big all- you- can- eat buffet, laid out specially for the human race. (Except for the poisonous living things, and the living things that are trying to eat us, and the living things that are just plain useless. But that’s not important right now.)
But if you don’t believe in a creation made with humans in mind, then how do we fit into nature? What’s our connection with it?
A few years ago, I read a book by Michael Pollan (of The Omnivore’s Dilemma fame), called The Botany of Desire. It’s a history of four different cultivated plants — apples, tulips, potatoes, and marijuana — written to examine and explore people’s relationships with plants. Fascinating book. Highly recommended. But it’s not what I want to talk about today.
In The Botany of Desire, Pollan talks about the co-evolution of flowers and bees. Specifically, he talks about how certain flowers evolved, and continue to evolve, in response to bees’ very specific preferences. Flowers with characteristics that bees like — certain bright colors and patterns, for instance — will get chosen by the bees for pollination, and will get to win the Darwinian Reproduction Lottery. Flowers that don’t, won’t. (Unless they find some other way to get pollinated.)
And it suddenly struck me:
How is that so different from human cultivation?
Flowers with characteristics that humans like — certain bright colors and patterns, for instance — will get chosen by the humans for pollination (or grafting, or cloning, or whatever agricultural methods we’re using to breed more of the flowers we like), and will get to win the Reproduction Lottery. Flowers that don’t, won’t. (Unless they find some other way to get pollinated.)
Is that really so different? Is there really that much difference between human intervention in tulips’ evolution, and beevine intervention in tulips’ evolution?
(Before you jump all over me: Yes, I think there is some difference. I’ll get to that in a minute. For now, stay with me.)
This is the point I want to make. It’s a point that most of us know and understand consciously… and yet it’s a point that we have a striking tendency to forget.
We are animals.
I’ll say that again:
We. Are. Animals.
Yes, we’re animals with an unusual ability to shape our environment. But it’s an unusual ability — not a unique one. Other living things have made dramatic physical impacts on the planet as well. Coral, for instance. Earthworms. And, of course, plants. Plants breathing in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen made a huge, radical change to the atmosphere of the planet. (A change that, so I’ve read, was a serious ecological threat to plant life, until animals came along and re-balanced the ecosystem.)
And yes, humans are the dominant life form on the planet right now. But even that doesn’t make us special. Other life forms have been dominant in the past: trilobites, for instance, and dinosaurs. They were around for tens of millions of years. We’ve been the dominant species for what — ten thousand years? Less? In geological terms, we’re not even a blip.
It’s so easy to think of human beings as somehow apart from nature. It’s deeply woven into our language and our way of thinking. Nature versus nurture. Nature versus culture. Natural versus man-made. Is such- and- such plant a native, or was it brought to this region by people? Is X (global warming, homosexuality, the tendency of twenty- something human males to get into stupid accidents) caused by human beings and human culture, or is it natural? It’s a way of thinking that’s very pervasive. Even among people who aren’t talking about religion. Even among atheists.
When people talk about evolution, for instance, they — we — often do it as if human beings were evolution’s pinnacle, the goal it’s been inexorably moving towards… as opposed to just one tiny, short-lived twig on an enormously huge, four- billion- year- old tree. Ditto when we talk about the food chain. There’s a decided tendency to talk about the food chain as if it all headed straight into our mouths.
And it’s a way of thinking that shows up a lot when science collides with politics or morality. When the question comes up of whether human gender roles are born or learned or both, we tend to forget that we are animals — and that most animals have some sort of innate gender- differentiated behavior when it comes to sex and reproduction. When the question comes up of whether human homosexuality is born or learned or both, we tend to forget that we are animals — and that homosexual behavior has been observed in hundreds upon hundreds of other animal species. We don’t think of zoology as applying to us. We think of ourselves as different.
Now. I’m not saying there’s no difference at all. When it comes to the tulips’ evolution, for instance, I think there is a difference between human intervention and bee intervention. The difference is consciousness. Humans intervene with the tulips consciously: making observations about what sort of interventions create what sorts of changes in the tulips, making plans for the direction we want those changes to go in, making calculations about how to make those changes happen. Bees, as far as we know, don’t.
And that does confer a moral responsibility on humans that we probably wouldn’t apply to other living things. Nobody would say that algae were immoral or short-sighted for overbreeding and choking a pond to death. We would say that human beings are immoral and short-sighted — not to say stupid verging on criminally insane — for continuing to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when we know it’s potentially choking our planet to death. I’d say that, anyway.
But I’m reluctant to draw a bright line between humans and other animals on that basis alone. Not yet, anyway. We just don’t know that much about consciousness yet: what exactly it is, how it works, how the brain produces it. And until we do, I’m reluctant to say that consciousness is unique to human animals. We have a long, stupid, wrongheaded history of assuming that other animals don’t have certain kinds of experiences — they don’t feel pain, they don’t feel attachment, they have no innate morality, etc. — simply because they don’t have language, and can’t tell us about it.
Besides, even if consciousness does turn out to be unique to the human species… isn’t that part of our nature as well? Spiders have the unique ability to spin webs; bats have the unique ability to navigate with sonar. Having an ability that’s unique among all other living things… that doesn’t make us unique. If that makes sense.
And even if our consciousness does turn out to be unique… it is still, as far as all the evidence currently points, a product of our brains. Which are products, yet again, of evolution. Of nature.
So what is humanity’s relationship with nature?
Humanity’s relationship with nature is that we are part of it.
We are an animal species: in the primate order, in the mammalian class, in the vertebrate sub-phylum. We are a product of evolution; a product of nature. Even the things we do that seem most unnatural — building museums, building strip malls, belching greenhouse gas into the air, sending rockets to the moon, buying bras on the Internet — are no more unnatural than coral building a reef, or earthworms turning rocks into soil, or algae blooming in a pond, or plants belching that toxic oxygen crap into the atmosphere.
I’m not saying that everything we do is part of nature, and therefore everything we do is okay. I’m not saying that everything we do is part of nature, and therefore it’s fine for us to be self-serving hedonists. Far from it. Plenty of things are part of nature that we’d consider immoral: rape, torturous cruelty, biting the heads off one’s mates. And if for no other reason, self- preservation alone should inspire us to not act like immoral, short-sighted dolts.
If anything, I’m saying the opposite. We have the capacity for consciousness — and we therefore have the capacity for foresightedness and choice, and the moral responsibility that comes along with it. And that, too, is part of our nature, a fundamental part of how our minds and our social functions evolved. A part that has generally served us well, I might add. It’s a part of our nature that we should embrace. Given the power we have to radically fuck up the world… our capacity for consciousness and foresightedness and moral responsibity is a part of our nature that we really, really should embrace. Hard.
And I propose that seeing ourselves as a part of nature — not separate from it, not above it or isolated from it, but deeply woven into it, as deeply woven as coral and bats and tulips and algae — is a crucial part of that embrace. |
- Charismatic politician Bo Xilai promoted Chinese communist culture
- His populist policies were seen to challenge a faction of the Party
- Bo jailed for life for bribe-taking, embezzlement and abuse of power
- Bo's wife and family aide also serving time for murdering Neil Heywood
In a country where the image of Mao Zedong is still revered and taxi drivers hang Mao medallions from their rear-view mirrors almost like lucky talismans, Bo Xilai's "red culture" revival was always going to have traction.
In the sprawling riverside megalopolis of Chongqing, the charismatic and urbane politician Bo launched a "smash black, sing red" campaign that promoted Chinese communist culture as zealously as it cracked down on organized crime.
From June 2009, Bo led a law and order drive that resulted in the arrest of thousands of suspected gangsters, but critics claim it also targeted his political adversaries.
The crackdown may have thrilled many in Chongqing's massive municipality of 32.8 million people -- almost four million of whom are rural migrant workers seeking work in the urban center -- but Bo's law-and-order campaign touched on one of China's growing social and political fault lines.
While many are becoming fabulously wealthy in the new China, millions more feel they are missing out on the country's economic transformation.
Bo's red-tinged economic policies -- which have included millions spent on social housing -- may have garnered him a rock star status in Chongqing, but almost 1,000 miles from the Yangtze River city in Beijing, some party chiefs were taking a different view.
His populist policies and high-profile personal style were seen as a challenge to the economically liberal and reform-oriented faction within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The division emerged in the famous "cake theory" spat between Bo and Guangdong party chief Wang Yang in 2011.
Wang at the time stated that China needed to pursue economic growth before it could worry about how to divide the wealth, saying that "one must bake a bigger cake first before dividing it."
Bo was said to have responded: "Some people think [...] that one must bake a large cake before dividing it; but this is wrong in practice. If the distribution of the cake is unfair, those who make the cake won't feel motivated to bake it." Political analysts say the spat, which was widely aired on Chinese media last year, drives to the heart of the factional problems besetting the CCP.
The political divisions came to a boil in March 2012, when China's national legislature convened its annual meeting in Beijing.
Speaking to reporters on March 9 on the sidelines of a panel discussion of Chongqing delegates, Bo defended his policies. "Ask any citizen on the street if they support fighting corruption and they'll say 'yes'," he boomed. Addressing the rich-poor divide, he said: ''If only a few people are rich then we are capitalists, we've failed."
That may have been Bo's last stand.
A few weeks earlier, Wang Lijun, his handpicked former police chief
, had tried to defect to the U.S. consulate in the neighboring Sichuan city of Chengdu, triggering a political crisis that rocked the leadership in Beijing.
On March 14, the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao obliquely reprimanded Chongqing's leadership over the Wang incident during the premier's annual press conference. Wen also refered to the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution - a reference that alluded to Bo's red revival in Chongqing - and said that the city's stellar double-digit economic performance had been the fruits of several administrations and not just Bo's work alone.
On March 15, the state-run Xinhua news service announced that Bo had been dismissed as Chongqing party chief and, almost a month later, he was suspended from the CCP's Central Committee and its Politburo-- the second-highest decision-making body in China -- ahead of investigations for "serious disciplinary violations."
As a "princeling" - a son of a revolutionary veteran -- Bo was considered a strong contender for promotion into the Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, whose nine members decide how to run China.
But then, things were always likely to be different for the maverick cadre.
His father Bo Yibo, who had a similar relaxed and open style, was imprisoned and tortured during the Cultural Revolution as a "capitalist roader."
His credentials as an economic reformer were cemented during the 1980s when he famously visited the Boeing factory in the United States. Seeing just two planes on the tarmac, Bo senior asked if they were the only planes the factory planned to produce. When he was told that Boeing only made the planes that were on its order books, he immediately saw the problems of China's planned economy which produced goods regardless of whether there was a market or not.
Bo Xilai himself spent five years in jail during the Cultural Revolution and was said to have denounced his father during the tumultuous political upheaval -- an action that some argue may have cost him political allies in a culture that strongly values family ties.
After his release, Bo entered Peking University's history department in 1977 and two years later, after gaining a degree, Bo got into the master's degree program in journalism, the first ever, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"His top ambition then was to be a Chinese journalist posted overseas," recalls a classmate and close friend of Bo.
After graduation, however, Bo did not pursue his ambition to become a foreign correspondent. Instead, he worked his way up as a local party and government official.
He spent 17 years in Dalian, a charming but gritty coastal city in northeastern China. He became Dalian mayor in 1993 and transformed it into a popular investment and tourism destination.
As early as 1999, Bo was expected to move to Beijing for a ministerial post but his promotion was aborted when he failed to get elected into the Central Committee, the Communist Party's ruling elite.
Bo served as the governor and later party chief of Liaoning, a rust-belt region in northeast China which then boasted of large but mostly money-losing state-owned enterprises. In Liaoning, Bo dealt with high unemployment and endemic corruption.
In 2004, when Bo finally got elected into the elite Central Committee, he moved to Beijing as minister of trade and commerce.
"He was a tough and effective negotiator in terms of defending China's global trade policies and interests," said Wenran Jiang, a professor at the University of Alberta and Bo's former classmate at Peking University.
For decades, Jiang recalled that Bo stood out as one of China's most dynamic and maverick politicians. Instead of reading prepared speeches, for example, he often spoke extemporaneously.
"He would have had a chance to become China's top leader, if China had direct elections. But he shows too much personality and charisma in the post-Mao political culture that emphasizes collective leadership," said Wenfang Tang, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.
During Bo's anti-corruption crackdown, Bo relied mainly on Wang Lijun, a tough and decorated policeman who served as Chongqing's police chief from 2009 to 2011.
The campaign led to thousands of arrests and several executions. Wang was promoted to vice mayor as a reward.
Ironically, it was also Wang who torpedoed Bo's career.
On February 8, 2012, Wang was unexpectedly reported to be "on leave" for health reasons. Days later, Wang mysteriously fled into the U.S. consulate in Chengdu, six hours' drive away from Chongqing.
The next day, Wang left the consulate "of his own volition," U.S. officials said, and was taken into custody by security officials. His revelations led to a murder investigation involving Bo's family.
In April of the same year, Bo's wife Gu Kailai
and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, were detained on suspicion of having murdered British businessman Neil Heywood
During her one-day trial that August, Gu issued a statement saying she didn't deny the accusations levied against her, but "accepted all the facts written in the indictment" -- including poisoning Heywood at a time when she thought her son's life was in danger, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Gu received a suspended death sentence, which is expected to be commuted to life in prison after two years. Zhang was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Finally in August this year, the 64-year old stood trial at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in eastern Shandong Provine on charges of bribe-taking, embezzlement and abuse of power.
During the hearings of the politically sensitive trial that took place over several days and featured testimony from both his wife and Wang, Bo denied the charges and strongly challenged the prosecution's case against him, according to court accounts.
Days before the court announced the date for delivering the verdict, Bo reiterated his innocence but said he anticipated a lengthy imprisonment in a letter written to his family.
But then on Sunday, September 23 Bo learned his fate: guilty of all charges and a life term in prison. The fall from grace of this one-time rising star was complete, leaving China watchers to ponder whether this was a statement of intent from President Xi Jinping as he continues with his anti-corruption drive. |
10 Most Watched Sports and Their Greatest Moments
Having published so many sporting lists in the past, it is a real surprise to find that we don’t have one that covers the best moments in the most popular sports. With this list, the gap is filled. Be sure to add your own favorites to the comments.
2007 Formula One Championship – Brazilian Grand Prix
The 2007 formula one season marked the first season without veteran driver Michael Schumacher. The season was marked by intense competition between three premier drivers – Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen. The Brazilain Grand Prix was the last race of the season, and it was the first time since 1986 that three drivers were in contention for the championship with only a single race remaining. The event was marked by treacherous weather, and was started under safety car conditions. Lewis Hamilton was the favorite with 107 points, followed by Fernando Alonso on 103 points and Kimi Räikkönen on only 100 points. Without some dramatic event, it seemed clear that either Hamilton or Alonso would win, with Räikkönen not being in contention. However, Hamilton slipped to the back, from 2nd, after a gearbox problem and, though he recovered to the 7th position, Kimi Räikkönen won the race and thereby the championship. Had Hamilton finished even 5th or below, he would have won the championship. The final standings were Räikkönen on 110 points followed by Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso each on 109 points.
Borg-McEnroe’s 4th set Tie-Breaker
In any assessment of great sporting moments of the 20th Century, the fourth set tie break of the 1980 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles final, between the defending champion Bjorn Borg of Sweden and John McEnroe of the USA, has earned an unchallenged place. The 1980 final began badly for Borg, as McEnroe swept through the first set 6-1, and was frequently in a strong position in the second. However, Borg took the second and third set to lead two sets to one, with the final now almost two hours old. Soon, the fourth set tie break was a reality. Match points and set points followed, in a tantalizing sequence with Borg first reaching match points at 6-5 and 7-6. McEnroe, next, held and lost two set points before Borg, even more agonizingly, missed three match points as McEnroe dealt with them firmly, with a sequence of a great serve, a net cord and a volley. McEnroe now stayed out in front, holding and losing four set points before capturing the set on his fifth chance. Against Borg’s serve, McEnroe’s viciously top spun return produced a volley error from the Swede – and the match was all square after just over three hours on court. Borg went for broke in the deciding set, hitting eighty per cent of his first serves, and losing only three points on serve in the entire set. McEnroe contributed fully to this astonishing final and twice served to save the match. But Borg, cold-eyed within sight of a title which would make him the first to win five in a row since the abolition of the Challenge Round, finally reached his eighth match point when McEnroe missed a low volley. A backhand passing shot ended it and Borg was Champion by 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6.
1997 Masters Tournament
At the 1996 Masters, Jack Nicklaus predicted that amateur Tiger Woods would win more green jackets than Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer combined. Golf scribes rolled their eyes. A year later, Jack looked prophetic. Playing in his first major as a pro, Woods made Augusta National beg for mercy. “He’s taking the course apart,” Nicklaus said. Tom Watson called him “the type of player who comes around once in a millennium.” Woods possessed more than brute strength – he had a killer instinct and a killer short game, and never three-putted on the course’s treacherous greens. He began Sunday with a nine-shot lead, and ended the day with a four-footer for par, a fist pump and a slew of tournament records: youngest champion (21), lowest four-day score (270) and largest margin of victory (12). Woods also became the first minority golfer to win The Masters. “I wasn’t the pioneer,” Woods said. “Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Ted Rhodes – those are the guys who paved the way.” Pioneer or not, Woods was the new face of golf.
Termed as Tyson-Holyfield II, the fight began with Holyfield dominating Tyson. Tyson had repeatedly complained about head-butting in the first bout between the two. As the third round was about to begin, Tyson came out of his corner without his mouthpiece. The referee ordered Tyson back to his corner to insert it. Tyson inserted his mouthpiece, got back into position and the match resumed. Tyson began the third round with a furious attack. With forty seconds remaining in the round Holyfield got Tyson in a clinch, and Tyson rolled his head above Holyfield’s shoulder and bit Holyfield on his right ear, avulsing a one-inch piece of cartilage from the top of the ear, and spitting out the piece of ear on the ring floor.The fight was delayed for several minutes as Lane debated what to do. Lane’s original inclination was to immediately disqualify Tyson, but after the ringside doctor determined that Holyfield was able to continue despite the bite, Lane announced he would be deducting two points from Tyson and the fight continued. During another clinch, Tyson bit Holyfield’s left ear. Holyfield threw his hands around to get out of the clinch and jumped back, but the two men continued fighting until time expired. The men walked back to their respective corners when the fight was then stopped. As a result of biting Holyfield on both ears and other behavior, Tyson’s boxing license was revoked by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and he was fined $3 million, plus legal costs, and was almost sentenced to prison.
Michael Jordan’s immortalized shot
It was, quite simply, the greatest clutch sequence in basketball history. Trailing Utah 86-83 with 41.9 seconds left, Chicago was in danger of facing a Game 7 on the road, with Scottie Pippen severely limited by back pain. Then Michael Jordan delivered. First, MJ hit a driving layup to cut the lead to one. Then he stripped Karl Malone from behind in the post, and calmly dribbled upcourt. After a stutter-step and a crossover dribble, Jordan launched a championship-winning 20-foot jumper over a fallen Bryon Russell. After a time-out, Stockton’s three-point attempt hit the rim and bounced away, giving the Bulls their sixth NBA title in 8 years. Jordan, who scored 45 points, and whose game-winning shot has been immortalized around the world, was named the Finals MVP.
Shot Heard ‘Round the World
BASEBALL has moments. Football has drives, basketball has runs, hockey has … I dunno what hockey has. But I know this: Baseball has moments. Moments of suspense. Followed by moments when everything changes. Some 50 years ago, Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca threw a smoky fastball up and in to New York Giant, Bobby Thomson, who turned on it like a farmer wielding a machete. The Dodgers had led 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Two Giants were on base when “The Shot Heard `Round the World” disappeared into the left-field stands at the Polo Grounds. As a result of the “shot”, the Giants won the game 5–4, defeating the Dodgers in their pennant playoff series, two games to one. “The Giants won the pennant. The Giants won the pennant”, and October 3, 1951, became a frozen moment in baseball history.
2003 Rugby World Cup Final
The 2003 Rugby World Cup Final was between England and Australia. The final was closely contested with both teams showing exceptional perseverance. Elton Flatley of Australia had tied the game at 14 each with a penalty goal on the 80th minute taking the game in to extra time. Jonny Wilkinson then kicked a penalty in the 82nd minute, the score then 14-17. Flatley kicked a penalty in the 97th minute, and the score drew level once again at 17-all. With only a minute remaining in the game, the ball was returned to England from a Mat Rogers kick, and with only 26 seconds on the clock, Wilkinson kicked a final drop goal, making the final score 17-20 and clinching the trophy for England. A national day of celebration was held on Monday, December 8, for the English rugby team, and hundreds of thousands of fans lined the streets of London to pay tribute to the English team. The English squad were also invited personally by the Queen to Buckingham Palace, and this was followed by a reception at Downing Street with, then, Prime Minister Tony Blair .
Lara’s record-breaking 375 run innings
In a sport in which hitting a century (100 runs) in one innings is an extraordinary achievement, Brian Lara’s 375 runs against England last week was, well, Ruthian. From April 16 to April 18 the crease belonged to Lara and Lara alone. A 5’6″ lefty, Lara faced 537 balls from five English bowlers and hit 45 fours. His at bat was “chanceless,” meaning that, until he was put out, he never allowed a ball to get anywhere near the wicket, nor did he hit anything close to a catchable fly, the two most common ways to get out in cricket. Lara batted without interruption, not counting various stoppages for such necessities as lunch and tea—cricket, after all, did originate in England—for 12 hours and 46 minutes before being dismissed. In the wake of Lara’s 375-run tally, Trinidad and Tobago was—if such a thing can be said of a country comprising two neighboring islands—beside itself. On Thursday the prime minister, Patrick Manning, was at Port-of-Spain’s Piarco International Airport to laud Lara and his mates. It was announced that the next day would be recognized as a Day of Achievement in Lara’s honor, NATUC, the country’s national trade union, canceled a nationwide strike it had planned some time ago for that day. Besides receiving the Trinity Cross, Trinidad’s highest honor, Lara was also given real estate.
“The Greatest Game Ever Played”
Often known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played”, the 1958 National Football League Championship game between Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, was nothing less than spectacular. There’s no denying that the excitement of the back-and-forth battle reached epic proportions as quarterback Johnny Unitas led the Colts’ offense onto the field late in the game. With the clock ticking, the Colts began from their own 14-yard line. After two incomplete passes, Unitas connected with halfback Lenny Moore on an 11-yard play to start moving the offense up the field. Johnny U. missed on a long pass to L.G. “Long Gone” Dupre, before turning to his favorite target. On second-and-ten, he found Raymond Berry for a 25-yard gain to midfield. Then, Unitas looked down the left sideline and connected with Berry for another 15 yards. One more Unitas-to-Berry hook-up, which was good for 22 yards, put the Colts at the Giants’ 13-yard line. With seven seconds to play in regulation, kicker Steve Myhra trotted onto the field and booted the 20-yard field goal to send the game into overtime. It marked the first time in league history that a championship game would be decided in sudden death. The Giants won the coin toss, but were forced to punt after they went three-and-out. Seizing the opportunity, Baltimore’s offense methodically controlled the ball and moved 80 yards on 13 plays. History was made when fullback Alan Ameche punched through the line on a one-yard, game-winning touchdown after 8 minutes and 15 seconds of overtime to give the Colts a 23-17 win and the NFL title. The game marked the beginning of the NFL’s popularity surge, and eventual rise to the top of the United States sports market. Eventually 17 players would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
1998-1999 Champions League Final
Arguably the greatest football moment has to be Manchester United’s triumphant comeback over Bayern Munich in the 1998-1999 champions league final. Manchester United were trailing 1-0 at the end of 90 minutes. United won a corner just as the fourth official indicated three minutes of injury time, and in a last-ditch attempt at an equalizer, Peter Schmeichel ventured up to Bayern’s penalty area. At this point, ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley asked: “Can Manchester United score? They always score!”. Beckham flighted the corner in just over Schmeichel’s head, Dwight Yorke put the ball back towards the crowded area, and after Thorsten Fink failed to clear sufficiently, the ball arrived at the feet of Ryan Giggs on the edge of the area. His right-footed snap-shot was weak and poorly struck, but it went straight to Sheringham, who swiped at the shot with his right foot, and nestled the ball in the bottom corner of the net. The goal was timed at 90:36. It looked as if, having been behind for most of the match, United had forced extra time, with Tyldesley declaring “Name on the trophy!”.
Less than 30 seconds after the subsequent kick-off, United forced another corner, but Schmeichel stayed in his penalty area this time. Beckham again swung the corner in, which was headed downwards by Sheringham. Solskjær shot out a foot and poked the ball into the roof of the Bayern goal for United to take an astonishing lead. The goal was timed at 92:17. Solskjær celebrated by sliding on his knees, mimicking Basler’s earlier celebration, before quickly being mobbed by the United players, substitutes and coaching staff. Schmeichel, in his own penalty area, famously cartwheeled with glee. Tyldesley’s commentary on Solskjær’s goal is famous among Manchester United fans for its direct nature: “Is this their moment? Beckham… into Sheringham… and Solskjær has won it!” Tyldesley again followed this with the exclamation, “Manchester United have reached the Promised Land.” It had looked so certain that Bayern Munich would have won the cup that Bayern ribbons had already been secured to the trophy in preparation of the presentation ceremony. When the trophy was presented to Manchester United, the captain on the night, Peter Schmeichel, who had just finished his final match for the club, and manager Alex Ferguson raised the trophy together. |
|Publication number||US5842690 A|
|Application number||US 08/764,586|
|Publication date||Dec 1, 1998|
|Filing date||Dec 13, 1996|
|Priority date||Dec 14, 1995|
|Publication number||08764586, 764586, US 5842690 A, US 5842690A, US-A-5842690, US5842690 A, US5842690A|
|Inventors||Che-young Lee, Young-kyou Park, Seok-jun Lee|
|Original Assignee||Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (12), Referenced by (29), Classifications (12), Legal Events (4)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer anchoring device for anchoring a wafer, which is loaded by a wafer loading system. More particularly, the invention relates to a semiconductor wafer anchoring device in which the configuration of a clamp is adapted to enhance the product yield from at least one edge of a semiconductor wafer.
A semiconductor wafer anchoring device is used to securely fix a wafer loaded in a sheet unit by a wafer loading system. Such a general semiconductor wafer anchoring device will be described in detail while referring to the attached drawings.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic sectional views of a semiconductor wafer anchoring device, which shows a semiconductor wafer being clamped down. The semiconductor wafer anchoring device is comprised of a platen 20 having a raised flat surface for mounting a semiconductor wafer 10, a suction chuck 30 inserted into a through hole 21 formed in the middle of the platen 20, capable of being moved up and down to provide a means for grasping the semiconductor wafer 10 by suction, an elastic O-ring 40 positioned between the platen 20 and semiconductor wafer 10, and a clamp 50 opposing the O-ring 40, capable of being moved up and down to fix the semiconductor wafer 10.
A suction duct 22 leading to the upper surface of the platen 20 is formed in the platen and may be attached to a means for evacuating the air from the closed space formed by the platen 20, semiconductor wafer 10 and O-ring 40 to provide a vacuum. A gas injecting duct 23 and a gas exhausting duct 24, each communicating with the vacuum space in platen 20, are respectively formed in the platen 20 to provide a means to cool the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer 10.
When the semiconductor wafer 10 is loaded onto the platen 20 by a wafer loading system (not shown), the suction chuck 30 inserted into the through hole 21 is adapted to be moved up and to grasp the wafer 10 by suction (see FIG. 1A). Then, the suction chuck 30 is adapted to be moved down, and thus bring the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer 10 into contact with the O-ring 40 before releasing its suction grip and continuing downward further from the wafer, to provide a means for closing the through hole 21. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1B, the clamp 50 is adapted to be moved down, to press against the edges of the semiconductor wafer 10 and to establish a tight contact at a predetermined pressure between the semiconductor wafer 10 and the O-ring 40.
After the above process is completed, a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device starts. Since heat is generated during the manufacturing process, it is necessary to cool the semiconductor wafer 10. Therefore, with the gas ducts 23 and 24 closed, the closed space formed by the semiconductor wafer 10, platen 20 and O-ring 40 is completely evacuated by sucking the air out through the suction duct 22. With the space thus in a vacuum state, the rear (bottom) surface of the semiconductor wafer 10 is cooled by closing the suction duct 22 and injecting cooling gas through the gas injecting duct 23. In such a case, N2 gas is generally used as the cooling gas.
Any chip pattern which is even partially covered by the clamp 50 at the edge of the semiconductor wafer 10 does not undergo a normal device manufacturing process, thus reducing the yield of chip patterns from the wafer.
Conventionally, a ring-type clamp (FIG. 2) and a point-type clamp (FIG. 3) have been used as a means for anchoring the semiconductor wafer device during a manufacturing process step.
Referring to FIG. 2, a ring-type clamp 50a has an inner diameter smaller than the wafer and an outer diameter larger than the wafer. In such a case, the clamp 50a contacts a chip pattern 11 at four edge areas of the semiconductor wafer 10, to result in the production of a defective chip along these edges. Due to that portion of the wafer being covered, a manufacturing process such as ion-implantation normally cannot be performed for those chip patterns having a portion covered.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 3, a point-type clamp 50b has an inner diameter larger than the semiconductor wafer 10 and four protrusions 51 of a predetermined length disposed at 90° intervals around the wafer's perimeter, with one protrusion disposed in each quadrant. The protrusions 51 are adapted to press upon the semiconductor wafer 10 and to fix it against the O-ring 40, but only at the four localized areas. While the clamp 50b does not contact any of the chip patterns 11, this clamping arrangement still has a drawback in that the force applied to the semiconductor wafer 10 is not uniform and the wafer may be loosely fixed such that the closed space formed by the semiconductor wafer 10, platen 20 and O-ring 40 is not sealed very well. Hence, the cooling gas is likely to leak and a complete vacuum state is difficult to maintain. Further, the localized application of force may generate cracks on the edges of the semiconductor wafer.
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor wafer anchoring device utilizing a clamp having a plurality of irregular protrusions for anchoring at least one edge portion of a semiconductor wafer which is free of chip patterns, and thereby to increase the product yield of a semiconductor wafer while providing a means for tightly fixing the semiconductor wafer during a manufacturing step.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a semiconductor wafer anchoring device comprising: a platen having a flat upper surface, for mounting a semiconductor wafer thereon; an elastic O-ring between the platen and the semiconductor wafer; and a clamp opposing the O-ring, for pressing and anchoring the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer, wherein the clamp is a ring-type plate having an inner diameter larger than the diameter of the semiconductor wafer, and having a plurality of protrusions projecting from each quadrant of the inner circumferential surface toward the center thereof, an end of each protrusion being adapted to be positioned between a chip pattern and the edge of the semiconductor wafer.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lengths of the protrusions may be adapted to vary according to the configuration of the chip patterns on the wafer and may be tapered in shape.
The present invention is advantageous in that wafers may be fixed according to chip patterns, i.e., only at edge portions having no chip patterns. Such is adapted to prevent damage to chips and thus to increase their yield while providing a means for tightly fixing the wafers during processing steps.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic sectional views of a semiconductor wafer fixing device, showing a semiconductor wafer being clamped down;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a conventional ring-type clamp fixing a wafer;
FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional point-type clamp fixing a wafer; and
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a semiconductor wafer fixing device of the present invention, shown fixing a wafer.
The above object and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing preferred embodiments thereof while referring to the attached drawings.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a semiconductor wafer fixing device of the present invention, shown fixing a semiconductor wafer 10 on which a plurality of rectangular chip patterns 11 are successively formed. In such a case, it should be noted that a semiconductor wafer usually has edge areas which contain no chip patterns, and that the four corner areas generally form relatively large edge areas which do not have any chip patterns.
Referring to FIG. 4, the semiconductor wafer fixing device according to the present invention uses a clamp 50' made of an annular plate having an inner diameter larger than the diameter of the semiconductor wafer 10 and having a plurality of protrusions 51' projecting inwardly from the inner circumferential surface of the clamp 50', a distal end of each protrusion 51' being adapted to be positioned between a chip pattern and the edge of the semiconductor wafer. The protrusions 51' are radially tapered in shape toward the center of the wafer and may have different radial lengths, L, according to the chip pattern.
To fabricate the clamp 50' of the present invention, a chip pattern of a semiconductor wafer to be used for manufacturing a semiconductor device first may be identified, and then the positions of the clamp protrusions may be varied accordingly with respect to the chip pattern.
As described above, the clamp used in the semiconductor wafer fixing device of the present invention securely fixes a semiconductor wafer in many locations, but is adapted to contact a wafer's edge at portions which have no chip patterns. Accordingly, the semiconductor wafer fixing device of the present invention is adapted to increase process accuracy by tightly fixing the wafer, and to thereby reduce the number of defective products.
While this invention has been described with respect to that which is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. It is clearly understood that many variations are possible within the scope and spirit of the present invention by any one skilled in the art. In fact, it is intended that the present invention should cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
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|US20050094126 *||Oct 26, 2004||May 5, 2005||Canon Kabushiki Kaisha||Substrate holder and exposure apparatus having the same|
|US20050176252 *||Feb 10, 2004||Aug 11, 2005||Goodman Matthew G.||Two-stage load for processing both sides of a wafer|
|US20070252971 *||Jun 27, 2007||Nov 1, 2007||Canon Kabushiki Kaisha||Substrate holder and exposure apparatus having the same|
|US20080002923 *||Jun 30, 2006||Jan 3, 2008||Seagate Technology Llc||Fluid bearing workholder for precision centering|
|US20080210516 *||Mar 6, 2008||Sep 4, 2008||Trumpf Werkzeugmaschinen Gmbh + Co. Kg||Device for supporting plate-like materials for at least one separating process|
|US20090311079 *||Jun 11, 2008||Dec 17, 2009||Lam Research Corporation||Electrode transporter and fixture sets incorporating the same|
|US20100327508 *||Jul 18, 2008||Dec 30, 2010||Tainics Co., Ltd.||Wafer chucking apparatus for plasma process|
|US20140312576 *||Sep 12, 2013||Oct 23, 2014||International Business Machines Corporation||Substrate holder assembly for controlled layer transfer|
|US20150041524 *||Aug 6, 2013||Feb 12, 2015||International Business Machines Corporation||Vacuum carriers for substrate bonding|
|CN102319680A *||Aug 23, 2011||Jan 18, 2012||广东志成华科光电设备有限公司||Chip positioning device for surface mount device light emitting diode (SMD LED) patch spectrophotometry machine|
|EP1028176A1 *||Feb 12, 1999||Aug 16, 2000||Balzers Hochvakuum AG||Substrate holder and method for its use|
|EP1650792A1 *||Jul 19, 2005||Apr 26, 2006||Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.||Apparatus and method for cooling of platelike substrates|
|U.S. Classification||269/21, 269/289.00R, 269/296, 269/25|
|International Classification||B25B5/16, H01L21/683, H01L21/687, H01L21/68|
|Cooperative Classification||B25B5/163, H01L21/68721|
|European Classification||H01L21/687S2, B25B5/16B|
|Dec 13, 1996||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., KOREA, REPUBLIC OF
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TrekCore recently announced news of a new book which delves into Star Trek‘s Animated Series. Creating the Filmation Generation is penned by none other than Filmation Founder Lou Scheimer with the help of popular Star Trek fiction author Andy Mangels. The book takes readers on a history tour of Filmation and its huge catalogue of animated shows including a significant portion dedicated to Star Trek: The Animated Series.
I caught up with Andy Mangels last month to chat to him about the new book and the forgotten history of Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Andy Mangels: Creating the Filmation Generation Interview
TrekCore: The original concept for the show, the animated Star Trek, dealt with a group of kids on a ship that wasn’t the Enterprise. This is officially how they were going to relaunch the Star Trek franchise. In your expert opinion, would you say it was a good idea and do you think William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy would have been onboard with this concept (especially Nimoy who originally wasn’t going to be a part of the aborted Star Trek Phase II series)?
Andy Mangels: The original concept for the animated series was going to be while the regular series was on the air, so, you could watch the show at nighttime and then again on Saturday mornings – had the original series not been cancelled, they would have both been happening concurrently. The original cast would have been involved, no doubt, but, the original concept was to have a young teenage crew that needed older crewmembers to mentor them and that’s what the Enterprise crew was going to do. It was really kind of a revolutionary and clever idea about how to continue the show but make it accessible to younger audiences, but, still make it Star Trek. If you look at the art of what Star Trek later did, it’s Wesley Crusher… it’s exactly what Roddenberry later did with Wesley Crusher.
One of the things the book talks about is how long they were working on the Star Trek Animated Series and a lot fans don’t really realize how long they were working on it. They actually first talked about doing an animated Star Trek series while the original series was still on the air and they actually entered into a deal before season 3, so, they were actively working with Roddenberry, the cast, and the writers. When the show got cancelled… it didn’t go anywhere for awhile. Then Star Trek went into reruns and became a syndication success, there began to be Star Trek conventions and fandom really kind of rose to its heights and that’s when they were able to come back and say “Let’s do another Star Trek and let’s do it in animation where we won’t have a budget concern, we can literally show anything we want, we can show any kind of space happening, and kind of planetary happening, we can really go where no man has gone before because we don’t have a special effects budget to worry about. The only budget they had was the animation budget and the voice actor budget.”
TrekCore: You look at some of the shows that were part of the “Disney Afternoon” in the late 1980s and early 1990s which had one season runs usually with a new episode airing every day. Was there every any consideration by Filmation to take this route with Star Trek?
Andy Mangels: They actually had talked about that with Gene Roddenberry and… he loved the Animated Series… and he made in his later years some comments about it that were few and far between that were pretty derogatory about it because for the most part, the Animated Series was the live action series translated to animation. D.C. Fontana was the story editor, (Samuel) Peeples, who wrote the pilot for the original series (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”) I believe, wrote the pilot for the animated series, David Gerrold who wrote the tribbles episode (“The Trouble With Tribbles“) wrote a sequel for the Animated Series (“More Tribbles, More Troubles”). Almost everybody who worked on the Animated Series had been people who worked on the Original Series, so… the concern was that they knew that kids were going to watch the Animated Series anyway; the challenge was to make it appealing to the adults who watched the Original Series. That’s why the show is adult as it is… it is the first animated show to show the death of a pet… Spock’s sehlat dies in an episode… and that’s major; for that to happen on a Saturday morning show is seismic! It changed everything for Saturday morning television.
No one treated the Animated Series as if it were a children’s show… they treated it as an animated show. They didn’t dumb it down; they didn’t have any goofy animal sidekicks, they didn’t have any chase scenes, they didn’t have any silly puns in their names; for all intents and purposes, what they did on the Animated Series could have been done on the Original Series, had they had the budget. I will say there were a few episodes that were goofy… a giant inflatable Enterprise (“The Practical Joker“) being a prime example, but, there were a number of original episodes that had their share of goofiness, as well… *cough* “Spock’s Brain” *cough*…
When Gene Roddenberry was developing The Next Generation, he and Lou Scheimer (who had remained friends since the Animated Series finished) had actually talked about developing a new animated series that would be set during the TNG time period. When Gene passed away, it didn’t really go anywhere and the reason it didn’t really go anywhere is because Gene was actively involved in the development of the Animated Series… Filmation had a deal with him to do the show and the deal was that the network and Paramount had no power in the series. All they could do was say “Yes, you can air this” or “No, we won’t air this.”
Andy Mangels, co-author of “Creating the Filmation Generation” recalls how Star Trek’s Animated Series was closely linked with the Original Series and featured writers such as David Gerrold who continued his famous tribbles story in “More Tribbles, More Troubles“.
TrekCore: It’s interesting to hear all this about Roddenberry’s involvement in the show because he famously decreed during the second season of The Next Generation that the Animated Star Trek was “not canon.” Now, based on everything you’ve said, how can Roddenberry be so appreciative of what the series accomplished and yet write it off so easily later?
Andy Mangels: It’s very easy for writers to misconstrue things or for people to get up on a pulpit at a convention and say things they might not actively feel and there are also some pressures that come into play in Hollywood. At one point, Gene Roddenberry was against the idea of having gay characters on Star Trek and then towards the end, close to when he passed away, he changed his mind and was going to have gay characters on Star Trek and then after he passed, that went by the wayside. Gene’s opinion during the majority of his time when the Animated Series was going was always very positive. And it’s interesting to note that although at one point he said that the Animated Series was not going to be canon, they are definitely canon now because elements of the series have cropped up all throughout Enterprise, they showed up in Deep Space Nine, they showed up in other stuff… you can’t read a Star Trek book these days (although people argue THOSE aren’t canon) without some kind of reference to the Animated Series, there’s references to it all over the place. You know, James Tiberius Kirk… “Tiberius” didn’t exist until the Animated Series said that was his middle name and Gene Roddenberry certainly allowed James Tiberius Kirk to stand. So, yeah, it was one of those things that when he made that comment, who knows, maybe he was having a bad stomach day or maybe at that one point in time, he didn’t like the series. Does that mean he always didn’t like the series… what does that mean in the grand scheme of things… I don’t know.
There were people who worked in Gene’s office who were very picky about what they considered to be canon and not canon and what they would allow to appear in the books and the comics and sometimes they were controlling the answers… not controlling what came out of Gene’s mouth, but, if somebody turned something in to Gene’s office, sometimes the answer wasn’t coming from Gene.
Andy Mangels recalled how Gene Roddenberry had actively talked with Lou Scheimer about developing a new Animated Series during the Next Generation years, however his untimely passing meant the idea never had chance to reach fruition.
TrekCore: You had mentioned Filmation’s desire back in the early seasons of The Next Generation to do another animated series… one could make the argument that the Animated Series we know of today “resurrected” the Star Trek franchise. Do you feel that with Enterprise now being off the air for seven years that history might repeat itself and a new animated Star Trek could bring the franchise back to television?
Andy Mangels: I think it’s viable. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, while I don’t watch it, is pretty popular… it does well in the ratings and on DVD and it’s a way for people to watch Star Wars every week. I think that if a new animated Star Trek, if it were done with care with people who actively cared about the Star Trek experience, about what it meant, what it became in its later years, that it wasn’t a show for kids, but, for adults… if they approached it from that angle, I think it’d be successful. It’s unfortunate that it probably won’t happen because Hollywood is so fixated on the bottom line that they won’t take chance and they’ll look at it and say “You know what, we know the last movie worked, so, we’ll only make movies.” They won’t say “Let’s do a movie of the week” or “Let’s do a new series or a mini-series to see how it goes.” Look at Battlestar: Galactica… Sci-Fi Channel took a chance when they relaunched that and then they did Caprica and now they’re doing this mini-series that they’re releasing on the Internet – that’s risk taking… let’s try something new and see how the fans react and see if it actively brings us attention and money and ratings… I don’t think the networks are ready to do that, and that’s unfortunate because Paramount and CBS are tied together now – they could easily, you could have a CBS Star Trek on there now but I don’t think they will because they can’t look beyond the bottom line, they’re just thinking “We don’t know if it’ll work or not, so, we’ll just stick with the movies.”
Creating the Filmation Generation is available to buy now from TwoMorrows Publishing. Be sure to re-visit TrekCore soon for our review and some exclusive previews of the book!
|Buy Creating the Filmation Generation| |
"Check," Ron said, looking over at a disappointed Hermione.
"Just once," Hermione groaned. "If I could just win once before next week, I'd be happy."
Ron laughed, "That's been your goal ever since first year, hasn't it? Beating me at chess before we leave seventh year? Well, it's never going to happen." He looked her over appraisingly as she contemplated the board. She was biting her lip ever so slightly, the way she always did when she was concentrating. Ron had been envious of those teeth for as long as he could remember. He definitely wouldn't mind a nibble.
He forced himself to look back at the chessboard and put that thought to the back of his mind. It did no good to think like that. No good at all. Nothing would come from it. Ever.
"Go on, then. Make your move," Ron said, kicking her gently under the board.
Harry leaned over from his spot on the sofa and glanced down at the game. He chuckled softly before falling back down and staring once again at the roaring flames in the fireplace. His recent subdued manner was becoming highly frustrating for Ron. He almost would have preferred Harry going off on rants as he had their fifth and sixth years than to pensive state in which he now seemed to be stuck.
"Hey, Harry. Play winner, will you?" Ron suggested.
Harry shrugged indifferently. "Maybe."
Ron sighed slightly, wishing he knew how to help his friend. But before he could think of any tactics for that task, Hermione kicked him rather violently, saying, "Your move."
Ron looked back at the board. He had no idea what Hermione had just done, but no matter. He saw his next move as clear as day. "Checkma-"
But Ron got no further.
The chess pieces rattled and fell to the ground as the tower began to shake. As a deafening boom swept through the common room, Ron‘s eyes rushed to meet Hermione‘s, then they, together, met Harry‘s.
Breathless, Ron watched as Harry sprung from his seat to look out the nearest window.
Ron sat, planted in his seat. It couldn't be what they feared, could it? Not at Hogwarts.
Harry turned slowly back towards the common room with a grave look carved onto his face. "They're coming."
An hour later, Ron was trying to get Hermione to breathe calmly. She was shaking like mad and extremely close to hyperventilating. He couldn't blame her though, not after what had just happened with Malfoy out in the corridor.
Hermione had been trembling continuously for the past five minutes, ever since… ever since the red light of her stunning spell hit Malfoy and he fell back onto the suit of armour, a spear running straight through his black heart.
Ron had grabbed Hermione and got her away from there as fast as he could, leaving a paling Draco Malfoy and a hysterical Pansy Parkinson behind them.
Ron pulled her quietly into an empty corridor so she could regain her composure. She needed to be alert now, but they didn't have much time; Ron heard the fighting in the distance, closer now than it had been even five minutes before.
"Hermione…" Ron began.
"I'm fine, Ron." Hermione said stoutly. She looked anything but fine, but her eyes had come more into focus. "I'm fine," she repeated, looking Ron straight in the eye, resolutely.
Ron didn't have time to decipher whether she really was fine or not as three tall figures in dark hooded cloaks came around the corner at that moment. Death Eaters.
She raced down the corridor, away from the blast, praying her friends weren‘t hurt. Hermione had been separated from Ron after that first scuffle with Death Eaters at least a half hour ago, and she hadn‘t seen Harry in well over twice that.
She didn't know if they were alive or dead. There was no way to know if any of her friends were still breathing, as she hadn't seen anyone for the past fifteen minutes, friend or enemy. Hermione vaguely wondered if anyone was still living.
She ran through the halls of Hogwarts looking for someone—anyone to prove there was still life somewhere. She ran past familiar classrooms filled with memories of years past. She wondered, briefly, if they would all be tainted with this one horrific night.
She wondered how many more deaths she would have to see before this was over as she ran down a flight of stone steps. Would she even make it through the night?
Hermione reached the bottom and started towards the first floor, East Wing, when she found herself suddenly hurled to the ground, her wand flying from her hand. Her attacker straddled her and began clawing and punching Hermione's face all the while screeching "Filthy Mudblood bitch. You killed him! You killed him!"
Hermione stuck her hands out to block the attack and kicked with all her might. It took a minute, but she managed to free herself, and she quickly sprang to her feet and looked to identify her attacker.
"Parkinson," Hermione whispered as the Slytherin got to her knees. An apparently wandless, Pansy Parkinson was panting furiously. Her hair, usually perfectly placed, was wild, and she had a look of insane raw hatred mounted on her face.
The two girls stared at each other for a minute, neither one moving, when suddenly Parkinson lunged forward again. She caught Hermione around her waist causing her to fall back; yet where they should have come in contact with the floor, there was nothing, and the two girls fell slightly farther before hitting the sharp corners of the stairs leading down to the ground floor. Hermione tried to scream out in pain but found she could not. Her left shoulder bore the brunt of the fall and began to burn in agony. The pair continued falling down the flight and Hermione registering dully where her body hit each stair before one final blow to the head as she reached the landing. She groaned and forced herself to remain conscious. She had to get up. If she didn't now she never would.
She rolled onto her right, less painful side, and came face to face with Parkinson's wide-open, lifeless eyes. Letting out a yelp, she pushed herself into a sitting position, shuffling away from the dead Slytherin girl. She felt her hand brush up against something, but barely registered it. All she saw was the unnatural twist in Parkinson's neck and her dead eyes staring coldly up at her.
Hermione forced herself to look down. Her wand was resting next to her hand. She wasn't defenceless anymore.
She struggled to her feet. Even with her head a throbbing mess, she knew full well she couldn't stay here. She took one last look at Parkinson and fled, with a prominent limp, away from the stairwell and into the Muggle Studies wing. She passed by her third year classroom and turned right, down another hallway when she noticed the familiar red hair she was looking for.
She tried to run faster but couldn't. "Ron," she said, at almost a whisper. "Ron!" The second call came a bit louder, though not by much, but it was enough, and the redhead whipped around.
"Hermione," he said in a rasped voice, rushing toward her. "Oh, God." He looked as though he would be sick.
"Ron, you're ok," Hermione said, grabbing him in her arms as soon as he was in reach. "The blast… I didn't know…" but she couldn't go on. She wasn't making sense anymore. Stepping back from the hug, but still holding onto Ron‘s arms, she looked into his eyes, frantic for news. "Harry. Where's Harry?"
"He's fine. I saw him not long ago." Ron said shortly. There was a concern in Ron's eyes Hermione had barely ever seen before. It frightened her. "Oh, Hermione," Ron lifted his hand to her head, and brushed her hair from her face. It was only then that she realized it was soaked with blood. She winced as the pain registered in her head. "What happened?" Ron asked.
"Pansy Parkinson pushed me down the stairs," Hermione said, wincing at the freshness of the memory. She saw an anger enter into Ron's eyes entwined with his concern.
"I'll kill her. Where is she," Ron looked over Hermione's shoulder as though expecting to see her there.
Hermione tried to laugh ironically, but it came out sounding more like a cough. "No need. She's already dead. She fell with me and the fall broke her neck."
An unidentifiable look ran over Ron's face and Hermione had to force herself to remember to breathe. Ron slowly lifted his wand to Hermione's head and muttered a simple disinfecting spell to which Hermione winced as it stung slightly. "It won't stop the bleeding, but it might help…" he said, concern evidently ripping through his voice. It made Hermione weak in the knees.
Then Ron did something he had never done before. He hugged her.
She was stunned. Ron had never voluntarily hugged her before; it had always been she who initiated an embrace.
Suddenly, as though he realized what he had just done, Ron pulled back. Or did he? He was still so close. So very close. She felt his breath hitting her cheek and she looked up into his eyes. They seemed to be on fire, despite their watery blue shade, and his lips were so close… and getting closer.
Yes. This is what she wanted.
Centimetres apart, however, an explosion followed closely by a scream burst out from down the hall. The two Gryffindors broke fiercely apart, turning towards the noise. They glanced quickly at each other, knowing what they had to do, and took off to rejoin the battle.
* * *
Harry didn't know where his friends were. He didn't know if he would ever see them again, alive or dead. But he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. Now wasn't the time. Now there was only one thing.
He was here, at Hogwarts. Somewhere in the castle. And Harry would find him and finish this once and for all. He would finish this even if that meant he had to die in the process.
That was his purpose after all, wasn't it? That was what the prophecy said; that damned prophecy that had hurt so many fucking people. The prophecy that killed his parents, that broke down the friendship of the Marauders. The prophecy that got Neville's parents attacked, driving them to insanity. That fucking prophecy that Harry couldn't even bloody well make out fully. No matter how many times he went over it, there wasn't anything definite there.
Either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives….
Those were the words that stuck with Harry the most. Would they both be dead by the end of the night?
It didn't matter. His own life didn't matter now. Harry would kill Voldemort and if that meant he would have to die too, so be it. He was sick of the bullshit.
It was ending tonight.
* * *
Ron rushed into the Great Hall with Hermione at his side. What he saw amazed him and all Ron could do was stare. An entire wall was missing, as well as a good portion of the adjacent wall. Half of the ceiling was gone, while the remaining half was still and devoid of its magic. There were no discernable shapes, no clouds, no moon, no stars. There was nothing. Ron heard Hermione take a sharp intake of breath and he reached out and grabbed her hand.
He wasn't sure what had happened, but there seemed to be a new unspoken understanding between he and Hermione. Ever since they almost kissed in the hallway.
A rather large raindrop fell onto Ron's shoulder, and he could hear more drops falling around him as it began to pour. He felt Hermione's hand slip away as she turned to battle a faceless Death Eater. Ron was about to turn and help her when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and had just enough time to yell out a shielding charm as a curse sped towards him.
He recognized the Death Eater as Mulciber. Throwing a hex at him, followed in quick succession by a stunning spell, Mulciber easily blocked the first, but he wasn‘t prepared for the stunning charm that hit him square in the chest. He fell to the floor and Ron quickly bound Mulciber as an extra precaution.
Ron turned around to help Hermione. He didn't want to leave her side. He wanted to protect her, but the place where Hermione had been a few minutes ago was empty. Looking wildly around, trying to get a glimpse of her bushy hair, he was disheartened to see she was nowhere in sight. An overwhelming sinking feeling immersed Ron as horrifying images flashed through his mind. Ron could feel the bile rising, but he swallowed it down and pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind. He couldn't allow himself to think like that. Hermione was fine; she had to be.
A raindrop landed on his nose and Ron realized that it wasn't a raindrop. Looking up to the inanimate ceiling, a chill ran through him. The ceiling looked like it was melting, dropping tears of colour over the battle scene. Ron was struck with the thought that it would be beautiful if it weren't for the fact that the scene was so horrific.
Ron saw his friends, in various states of health, fighting their common enemies. He saw flashes of green and red and blue as spells were thrown in every corner of the hall. Ron started as a bolt of green flew inches from his face. Ron turned ready to defend himself and his friends knowing full well that he would gladly lay down his life to protect the ones he loved.
* * *
Hermione ran over towards his broken body holding out her wand screaming, "Enervate" desperately praying it wasn't what it looked like. She fell to her knees next to Ron's unconscious form frantically muttering the seemingly ineffective spell.
"No!" No, this couldn't be happening. Hermione's wand fell through her fingertips and made a dull thud as it hit the floor. One moment of stillness, waiting for movement. A breath. Anything. Please.
When nothing happened she collapsed onto Ron's terrifyingly still chest.
"Ron! No… no. Enervate…please," she muttered. "Please, Ron, Enervate." She broke down into uncontrollable sobs, muttering incoherent words. It just couldn't be. It couldn't end like this. Ron wasn't… he couldn't be…
But there was a nagging in the back of her mind. He's gone. He's not breathing; and he won't ever take a breath again. Give up, Hermione. It's hopeless.
"No!" Hermione wailed against Ron's chest.
"Hermione?" a voice questioned. She felt the speaker put a hand on her shoulder, which Hermione tried to shake off. She didn't want comfort, she was alive, while Ron wasn't. She didn't deserve comfort.
"Go away. Leave me alone," Hermione whimpered as she started rocking back and forth. "Just go away." She clutched Ron's shirt, now damp with her tears as well as blood shed from both of them.
"Hermione?" the voice repeated. It had a touch of concern, but she didn't want to hear it. It didn't matter; nothing mattered now.
At that moment, the still rock of Ron's body Hermione had been leaning on with her full weight stirred ever so slightly. She froze.
"Hermione?" the voice came again. Only then did she realize where the voice was coming from. Beside her. Beneath her. She knew that voice.
She raised her head tentatively, turning it ever so slightly to her right. Her hair had somehow managed to completely cover her face, but it did not dim the pair of concerned blue eyes staring into hers. A wave of intense relief washed over Hermione, but relief was not strong enough a word. What she was feeling was more powerful than anything she had ever felt before. The tears that had stopped moments ago began flowing freely down her cheeks. Ron awkwardly pulled himself into a sitting position.
"Ron!" she managed before falling back down onto the redhead, this time on his shoulder. "You're alive. You're ok," she breathed hoarsely. And before she realized what she was doing, she raised her head from his shoulder and placed her lips on his. It was fierce and intense. Four years of desire flooded forward as though a dam had been broken and there was nothing left to contain her pent up reserve of emotion. All control was lost. Ron kissed her back with the same amount of wanting, pushing her hair from her face and cupping her chin with his hands.
Electricity flowed through her body as Ron moved his hands to her back, slowly, almost painfully slow. Hermione ran her right hand over his shoulder and up his neck, placing it on the back of his head and pulled, desperate to get as much of Ron as possible. But Ron winced and drew in a painful breath at this sudden movement. Hermione instantly loosened her grasp and it was then she realized that her hand and Ron's head were both caked with blood.
Hermione looked cautiously into Ron's eyes, pushing her stray hair out of her face with her left hand. There was such an intensity of emotion emanating from them, Hermione was sure she would have fallen back to the ground if Ron's arms weren't wrapped firmly around her. The look terrified and exhilarated her at the same time and Hermione wouldn't have traded it for the world.
"I thought you were dead," she said weakly.
"So did I," Ron replied, sounding amazed.
"You're hurt," Hermione found herself saying and she silently cursed her for sounding so stupid. Of course he was hurt; they were all hurt.
Ron looked away, as though ashamed of his injury. "Yeah, well," he tried, his gaze coming to a rest on Hermione's left side. "So are you."
Hermione laughed despite herself, which quickly dissolved into a sob. Ron once again looked Hermione in the eye, with the same intense look he had just given her before. "Hermione," he rasped, desire ringing through his voice.
She leaned forward, drawn by an inexplicable force and once again found her lips resting on Ron's. This kiss, though not as fierce as the first, lacked none of its intensity. It was a more timid, questioning kiss. Hermione found herself being amazed this was finally happening, and no less in a battlefield after a gory fight. She knew Ron was thinking something along the same lines.
They pulled away slowly and Ron gave a noise that sounded very much like a laugh. Hermione opened her eyes and looked questioningly into Ron's eyes, the blue practically absent; his pupils were so large.
"I've been wanting to do that for years," he rasped.
Hermione let out a laugh of her own. "Me too." She pulled him closer for another quick kiss.
They parted, Ron looking at her with a lopsided smile that suddenly flickered. His voice changing to a more serious tone he asked, "Where's Harry? What's happening? Where's Voldemort?"
Hermione let her relief show to Ron as she broke the news, "He's ok, Harry's alive. He…" She swallowed hard, still unable to believe the truth. "He killed Voldemort. Its over. Its over."
Hermione saw relief wash over Ron as well. She pulled him in, dropping her head on his shoulder knowing full well she had no intention of ever letting go.
* * *
Harry looked down at the mass that contained the remains of Voldemort. Cloth and ash. That was all that was left. No flesh. Voldemort wasn't human; there wouldn't be flesh. Harry leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position; his elbows leaning on his knees, his head cradled in his hands.
He had done it. And had survived. It was over.
Harry proved he could kill. Several times over, in fact. He felt a sickening rise in his stomach, and hoped he would never have to prove that again.
A tingling sensation started scratching at the backs of his eyes and Harry dug his hands beneath his glasses and pressed deeply into his eyes. He wouldn't do that. He lifted his head, willing his tears to subside and he looked around the Great Hall.
The wreckage, the carnage. Bodies. They were everywhere. Slumped over rocks and tables. Covered in blood and burns. Some wounded, others lifeless. Students and professors among them both. Friends as well as the enemies.
And for what?
There was a fire blazing in a far corner of the Hall. Harry made out Luna standing next to it. She was alive, but next to her was Neville, dead. Harry looked around noting his friends who had not survived, and those who had. But he had yet to see the two people who he called his best friends, and fear began to invade his chest.
And then his eyes caught them and Harry felt a fierce tugging sensation in his chest, replacing the fear, as he was abruptly reminded why they had been fighting. What the war had been about. Harry suddenly felt drained.
Life. They were going to be able to live. In peace, for now. Hopefully.
And love. That most importantly.
He felt a renegade tear fall down his dirt-streaked cheek, but did nothing to banish it; he didn‘t have the energy. Instead he dropped his left arm from his knee and grasped for the small hand of the person sitting next to him. The person, who minutes earlier, risked her life for his. Defending him against Death Eaters as he went after Voldemort. She defended him, as he knew he would have, and would always, defend her.
"Thank you, Ginny," Harry whispered.
She tightened her grasp on Harry's hand and Harry felt her head leaning on his shoulder moments later. He leaned his head on Ginny's and smiled faintly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A/N: I owe thanks to several people who have helped bring this fic to where it is now. Many, many thanks to Jalyn, Black Angel, Alex, and GinnylovesHarry (big hugs!). And of course, a big thank you to anyone reading this now! Bisous!! |
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Pleasant L. Lindsey
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7 2 Mount Pleasant Lindsey Boldt, Stephanie Fedler, Emily Petrzelka, Robyn Werner 4:07.88 8 2 Marshalltown Alison Burns, Taryn Rowley, Amanda Stephan, ...
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Pleasant Lindsey | Alabama, United States | Birth Record | 419072385
Pleasant Lindsey is a person located in Alabama, United States. August 11, 1908
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Pearland High School, Pearland, TX, 1995-2001
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findagrave: Lindsey, Pleasant James "Pleas"
05/22/1888 - 08/4/1961, Mesa (Maricopa County, Arizona)
findagrave: Lindsey, Pleasant L
03/10/1894 - 07/3/1984, Selma (Dallas County, Alabama)
findagrave: Lindsey, Pleasant L
04/27/1928 - 09/29/1988, Lemay (St. Louis County, Missouri)
findagrave: Lindsey, Pleasant W.
10/10/1869 - 07/15/1938, Jefferson County, Tennessee
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Sadie Lindsey - Historical records and family trees ...
Sadie had 10 siblings: Pleasant Lindsey, Blanche Lindsey and 8 other siblings. Sadie Lindsey, born Circa 1897Sadie Lindsey1897. Sadie Lindsey was born ...
Pleasant Lindsey Howell 1858-1929 - Ancestry.ca
Research genealogy for Pleasant Lindsey Howell of Alabama, USA, as well as other members of the Howell family, on Ancestry.ca.
William Pleasant Lindsey
William Pleasant Lindsey (son of Jessie Lindsey and Nancy Meredith) was born August 12, 1860 in Edmonson Co. Kentucky, and died February 16, 1932 in ...
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Based on a Lie - Google Books Result
Each room has a ceiling fan and the temperature is pleasant. Lindsey wants Brent to sit in the bright orange plush recliner so he can lay back. She sits on the ...
Implications of Health Literacy for Public Health:: ...
Sciences.1 The planning group included Olivia CarterPokras, Jennifer Dillaha, Patrick McGarry, Andrew Pleasant, Lindsey Robinson, Rima Rudd, and Steven ...
On Borrowed Time - Google Books Result
Seeing that this was going nowhere pleasant, Lindsey decided to end the conversation posthaste. “As much as I'd love to continuethis charming chat,” shesaid, ...
Shem Creek: A Lowcountry Tale - Google Books Result
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Formal Language - SlideShare
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Dear NSA, let me take care of your slides.
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Records Management: Social Media Platforms
This bulletin provides guidance on managing records produced when Federal agencies use web 2.0/social media platforms for Federal business. For a condense vers…
MTD535 746 by Pleasant Lindsey | Photobucket
MTD535 746 by Pleasant Lindsey. Spalt maple top on swamp ash body, Rosewood fret board on maple neck, custom designed Bartolini preamp and pickups, ...
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DIY Tie Dye Canvas Shoes | Lindsey Pleasant - YouTube
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Soldier's body found near Tacoma school | The Seattle Times
... 24, who was reported absent without leave from Fort Lewis last month, said Master Sgt. Pleasant Lindsey of the post's public-affairs office.
In Iraq, a green idea for saving lives of troops - latimes
When a little-known agency of the U.S. Army asked Joe Amadee III to come up with an idea for saving lives in Iraq, it was probing for some kind of a...
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1500 - 1599 Lindsey Creek DR, Mount Pleasant - ZIP Codes
Home · South Carolina · Mount Pleasant · Lindsey Creek DR. Menu. Home > South Carolina > Mount Pleasant > Lindsey Creek DR > 1500 - 1599 ...
Book of Memories - Desert Sunset Funeral Home
Life Story for Pleasant Lindsey Jr. Printable. Recently Lit Candles. Desert Sunset Funeral Home. We are pleased to prov ...(read more) · Light a Memorial Candle.
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Kentucky 1850 Census - Hopkins County - Kentucky Kinfolk
Pleasant Lindsey 01/20/11843 Hop. Co., KY. William W. 7, 1843, KY, Wm. W. m. #1 Laurian Jane Pritchett 05/21/1863 Hop. Co. #2 Laura A. Fugate 01/23/1872 ...
Letter to General Dempsey | OPFOR
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Lindsey - Talladega City Guide, Business Directory and ...
Pleasant Lindsey Talladega, AL 35160. EMAIL ADDRESS · PHONE NUMBER · BACKGROUND CHECK · PUBLIC RECORDS. Gladys L Lindsey - Age 96
PubDate:2012/08/01 Publication:Jasper County News ...
St. Louis, MO 63108-3024 William T. Sutherlin, III 106 Faybern Ct. Verona, PA 15147 Pleasant Lindsey, III 4954 Highland Ave. St. Louis, MO 63113 Sabrina W.
Washburn XB-500 | ActiveBass
Pleasant Lindsey III Master Sergeant, US Army Bassist, Fort Drum Gospel Service Fort Drum NY, home of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry).
Theft suspects jailed Sheriff asks for communities help - Nixle
Those arrested are Thirty Year old Michael Anthony Lindsey from Mt. Pleasant. Lindsey was arrested on November 18 by the United States ...
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Fall 2007 : Leaps of Faith
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By Sgt. lst Class Pleasant Lindsey III. Staff Sgt. Fady A. Timani was named the Intelligence and Security Command’s (INSCOM) Linguist
MSG Pleasant Lindsey Memorial Day Greeting | Article | The United...
A Memorial Day greeting from MSG Pleasant Lindsey, A Virginia National Guard Soldier currently deployed in Iraq.
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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The aroma of Beef Bourguignon danced through the air from the kitchen to the living room, tickling my nose. Hhhmmmm...what a delicious scent. It made my mouth water.
I was almost certain that I truly got a whiff of the famous dish that Julia Child made as it was recreated on the movie Julie and Julia. I felt like I was really with Julia in the streets of France as she ducked in and out of markets mingling with the delightful French people and inspecting just the right cheese that would be at its tastiest when she was ready to serve it.
After watching the movie I decided to delve into the book Julie and Julia. I just had to know more about this woman who had become an American icon. What did I find out? You really can be whatever you want to be in life.
The journey of these two women, Julie and Julia, was amazing. Julia Child moved to France with her husband, Paul, because of his job. Julia wasn't sure what she'd do with herself and she tried everything from hat making and learning French before deciding she'd go to Le Cordon Bleu, an infamous institution. It was there that she found her true passion, cooking. She practiced recipes fifteen to twenty times and dove into hours of researching the best products to use and proper cooking and baking procedures. When co-author, Simon Beck, proposed a recipe that what up to snuff for Julia, she brought a chemist from Nestle into her home to give her lessons on chocolate and the proper way to melt it for a recipe.
As many of you probably know, Julia not only wrote numerous cookbooks such as Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volumes I and II, The French Chef, Julia's Kitchen Wisdom, and more, she became famous on television. Her show, The French Show, aired in 1963, ran for 10 years and won Peabody and Emmy Awards. Her personal kitchen is now on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Another notable woman, Julie Powell, was working for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation in 2002 when she felt the need to create a challenging project for herself which resulted in the birth of The Julie/Julia project. Julie challenged herself to create 524 of Julia Child's recipes in 365 days in her tiny New York apartment. All the while, she kept a blog about her successes and failures. Eventually she wrote the book Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. Her latest book, Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, was released in November 2009.
We can draw some inspiration from both these woman, both who were unclear about what they wanted to do with their lives and both turned into two very successful people who made their mark in history. If you are persistent, you can be anything you want to be. It may be challenging at times, but don't get discouraged. There are times in our journey where we are going to fail, but we must get back up and try again. To quote Julie Powell's husband in the movie, Julie and Julia, when Julie failed at one of the recipes he said "Julia Child wasn't always Julia Child," meaning she wasn't always well known for her cooking. But thanks to her never ending hard work and determination she created mouthwatering recipes that will be passed down from generation to generation.
The next time you get discouraged about which direction your life is taking, just thinking of these two successful gals and cook up some Beef Bourguignon in their honor. "Bon Appetit!"
Check out videos of Julia Child teaching how to cook at: Julia Child: Lessons with Master Chefs. Need a giggle? Watch Dan Aykroyd's imitation of Julia on Saturday Live on The French Chef, a personal favorite of Julia's!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Don't Despise Your Small Beginnings - Part II
In summer 2006 we sold our condo for DOUBLE what we paid for it. We came back to our home city with the profit and purchased a home. Because our mortgage payment was so low I was able to continue being home with our children. By this time our third child was born.
I kept pressing in with the business learning and growth but yet, nothing was manifesting the way I thought it should. I began doubting the Spirit was truly leading me. I shook off the doubt and always kept in mind that sometimes God has us do things for a variety of reasons. “His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not ours” as the scripture reads.
I began taking a Christian Ministry class and continued learning about marketing, social networking, audio editing, podcasting etc. But I have to tell you that aside from a ‘feeling’ that this was what I was supposed to be doing I didn’t have a CLUE as to WHY I was doing all this.
Then, in early 2009 I made some interesting online connections that ultimately changed my entire life. I met a Winnipeg pastor who also happened to co-host a radio show called ‘GodTalk’ on a local talk radio station. We built rapport via Facebook, Twitter and email for a number of months.
One day he sent me a message asking me to do a guest spot on the radio show. He was to take over hosting duties. I was petrified at the thought. Remember, this is the girl with major social anxiety issues in her past. Despite my fear, I agreed to do the spot.
Then I was invited to do another appearance on the live call-in show.
Before you knew it, I was invited to be the new permanent co-host of The GodTalk Radio Show.
Here is where things get really interesting. I had asked the host why on earth he thought I could do radio with NO formal training or education in media or communications.
Do you know what he told me?
He had found all of my past work online - the coaching, the business sites, the blogging, and the podcasting. All of that past work that I thought had ultimately been a waste of time ended up acting like a virtual portfolio of my skills and abilities!
God had been training me, stretching me, guiding me, and leading me the entire time!
He was preparing me my entire life – using things the enemy meant for harm and redeeming those hurts for a greater good. All of the online business work I had done had a purpose that I could not begin to fathom.
Do not despise your small beginnings. I am proof that God works in wondrous and mysterious ways. Because of HIS mindfulness of me I now co-host a radio show that reaches the unreached. He has positioned our radio program on the TOP talk radio station in Canada.
I pray this message has encouraged you. God IS mindful. He IS working in your life – even when you don’t see it or understand all that is happening. Continue to be obedient and faithful to His purposes for you and watch Him accomplish amazing things.
Thanks for sharing your past with us, Marlo, and giving us all hope for great things for our future.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Don’t Despise Your Small Beginnings - Part I by Marlo Wallace Boux
Growing up as a kid, in my teens, and into my early 20s I dealt with some pretty heavy things. I had done a lot of living and had gone through a lot of heartache. Some of my pain was self-inflicted while other experiences were not of my choosing. The result was years of struggling with depression, anxiety, anger, and self-loathing.
I had always been curious about God but frankly thought He must have forgotten about me.
When I was 24 I learned I was expecting my first child and I found myself alone. I ran into an old friend and she began taking me to church with her. This is how I came into a relationship with Jesus months before the birth of my firstborn. I finished my bachelor’s degree, got a job and took on life as a single mother.
Even though I was now a Christian, my personality was still a mess. I didn’t have much in the way of discipleship, guidance or accountability in my life so I bore the label but had no good fruit to show for it.
I ran into an acquaintance from years before. We began dating and attending church together. We eventually moved to a different city and got married. It was the year prior to our marriage that I started to get serious about my walk with God. I desired to live a better life and I was motivated to learn how.
Shortly after our wedding I began working with a mature Christian woman. She was the mentor I had so desperately needed. She modeled walking out the faith and helped me untangle the mess that was my personality.
In 2005, my husband and I had a baby girl. We felt I should stay home with the kids. I had always been entrepreneurial so I started blogging and working on some home business ideas. I poured my heart into learning about coaching women in business using biblical principals. I dove into marketing books, learned how to podcast, use professional audio editing software and more over the years.
The money never poured from my business efforts in the way I thought it should have. I really and truly felt God was giving me the passion to do this so I didn’t understand why after a few years it wasn’t replacing the income I had given up from a full time salaried job. We struggled financially sometimes but we kept pressing ahead.
Our obedience began to see fruit.....
Stop back tomorrow to read more about my small beginnings when I post Don't Despise Your Small Beginnings - Part II.
Co-Host of The GodTalk Radio Show on CJOB
Monday, September 14, 2009
Image by disneymike found on flickr.com
Romping around Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, we saw it all during the two days we were there. We enjoyed the Indiana Jones ride, bought Mickey Mouse souvenirs, and even took a picture with Minnie Mouse in her pale blue dress accented with small checkers that even adored her matching bow. Never mind that I was one of the only "big kid" in line fighting for attention. So what if I was 34 years old? I wanted my picture with her!
Tired as a hamster after its 100th lap on it's exercise wheel, Nick and I decided to take a break on a park bench while eating a Mickey Mouse shaped pretzel and discussing what else we would do this week. Did we want to go to San Francisco or San Diego? If went to San Diego we could check out Tijuana, Mexico, since it was only 20 minutes further.
As a watched a bouncing toddler go by wearing Mickey Mouse ears, I realized how much fun I was having and marvelled at how well this trip was turning out considering it was hardly the trip we planned. Only one week prior we had quite a different agenda.
"I don't think you should go on this trip," said my father-in-law as he sat at our kitchen table the Friday night before wringing his hands.
"I think he might be right," I told my husband Nick. "The weather report is getting worse and worse."
We planned our trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico, for months and we were ready to go. It was Friday night at 9pm and we were set to fly out the next morning at 6am. My two Burgundy suitcases were stuffed to the brim with floral bikinis, flowing sundresses, and colorful flip flops. I was all set for a relaxing week of lounging on the beach that is until we heard the weather report.
Hurricane Dean's temper was raging and he was about to take his revenge out on Riviera Maya and the Cancun area. With a little bit of investigation, we discovered that the resort we had booked with was closing up shop. Sure we could come if we wanted to but they didn't recommend it because we'd spend our days in a shelter.
Since I am not into community sleeping arrangements, I told Nick it would be best if we went somewhere else. And since there was a weather advisory, the airlines agreed that we wouldn't lose our money as long as we traveled somewhere else within the next seven days.
Seven days? How would we pull that together? We are planoholics. At that point I had a choice. I could stew for days and have a pity party about the trip that could of been. I could have gotten all worked up that I was being pushed to stretch beyond my comfort level to pull something together in only seven days.
Instead, I decided to look at it as a new opportunity. I would get to see a new and different destination despite the fact that it wasn't where I originally planned and I embraced the idea of living in the moment and taking a spur-of-the-moment trip.
California seemed like a natural replacement trip. We always wanted to go there and we knew there would be tons of exciting things to see and do. Plus it wasn't exactly a deserted island so going without hotel reservations and finding places to stay along the way didn't seem like much of an issue.
I am glad we decided to go even though our plans were altered. We enjoyed Disney, San Diego, Tijuana and Los Angeles. And since we loved it so much in California, we booked a second trip two years later to see San Francisco and the surrounding area.
How much would we have missed had we just given up when our plans had changed? I am thankful that we recognized the shift in plans as a new opportunity to go on a different, but wonderful trip.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Scrubbing the range of my oven with an S.O.S. Brillo pad, I sulked to myself feeling like Cinderella just dying to go to the Ball if I could just get this cleaning done. I dreamed of wearing a fancy gown long enough to cascade behind me, with sparkling jewels, and a knock-out hairdo. Instead, I was barefoot wearing baggy shorts and a mismatched t-shirt with holes in it. And my hair? Surving a trip through a wind tunnel would have made me look good compared to the doo I was sporting that day.
And then the inevitable happened. I went from cleaning the stove to shining the sink. I pulled out all my storage containers and sorted through them, organizing those I didn't throw away. I sweeped and mopped the pantry and the kitchen floor and wiped the cabinets. I went from one thing to the other. If it was in my line of sight, I cleaned it.
"I hate cleaning" was all I could think. The way I was carrying on you would have swore that I just got up from cleaning the floor with my hair.
Next on the list: running errands with my husband Nick. Getting out of the house, away from the cleaning was a treat even if it meant only going to WalMart. While we were driving my mind was a whirlwind of activity.
"I still have to clean the rabbit's cage, vacuum, do the laundry, scrub the bathroom, and on and on." I really worked myself up into a state of doom and gloom thinking about all of it.
The site of a brick apartment building next to the traffic light we were at brought me back to me senses. It was several stories high, complete with rickety old ladders that I assume were used as a fire escape. Electrical wires leading to each apartment unit cluttered the air. There were just a few very narrow parking spaces circling the complex. The long concrete sidewalk seemed to go no where. And worse of all, there wasn't a blade of grass, a single tree or one of God's furry creatures running around the property.
As one of the tenants came out I wondered how it felt for them to look out their window and see nothing but dingy red bricks. I felt confined as a I realized there were no back doors for them to go out to linger in nature.
Don't get me wrong. Some apartments can be really nice. In fact, some may even be more grand then my comfy little house - think Donald Trump. But this complex was far from it. It really looked like the epitome of doom and gloom.
Here I was complaining about all the wonderful things I have to clean. I have a beautiful house with high ceilings, spacious rooms, a bright kitchen, and full basement to store all the things I have! Our one and three-quarter acre property is carpeted with green grass and we have our own forest of trees that makes the best playground for the wildlife. Squirrels are forever springing across the grass, bunny rabbits lounge under a shaded trees and the ground hog is forever making his trek from his home under an Evergreen tree to the area where I put out treats. He is quite the little snacker!
So what if I have to clean and maintain all this stuff? These things are such blessings. I am so much more fortunate than those in that dingy building they call home. In fact, I am so grateful that I even have a roof over my head. Not everyone is so lucky. I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I pull out my mop as I dance around the kitchen like Cinderella dancing with her Prince Charming.
Friday, August 28, 2009
(Photo from Glamour magazine, September issue)
"I started doing some modeling recently," said my friend's hairdresser.
"Oh, really? That's great! What are you modeling for?" was my friend's response.
"I am working for a plus-size modeling agency."
"Plus-size? How could that be? You are so thin!
"Yeah, well they were looking for women who wear size 8."
Size 8? Size 8? Since when did the ultimate size that every woman strives for, size 8, become plus size?
It reminds me of an article I just read about a 180 pound women featured in Glamour magazine who was referred to as a "plus-size" model. While the woman is not in tip top shape and has a belly role and some stretch marks, she hardly looks "plus-size" to me. She looks like the rest of us normal ladies who are far from perfect. The question begs to be raised, who is defining what plus size is and who had the nerve to coin that term in the first place! It's an absolute ego buster for anyone!
When I sit and think about, I am just as bad. I am 157 pounds and I constantly obsessing about how "heavy" I am. My friends and I are always discussing it. In fact, just this morning my friend Marla and I were talking about weight and what it will be like to put on so much more weight when we're pregnant someday. Is this what I should be worrying about? I suspect not.
My mother-in-law told me a story that should help put this weight thing in perspective and it's something I try to keep in mind every time I am tempted to ridicule myself for eating that ice cream sandwich.
Her friend has rheumatoid arthritis and for a long period of time was unable to do hardly anything for herself. This highly active busy woman had to drop out of most of her activities and was even confined to a wheel chair. Her doctor treated her for a long time before finding the right medicine that really helped her gain her life back. Now she is back up and running from event after event, helping her community, working and tending to her family.
Although the medicine is working wonderfully, it has one draw back: it made her gain weight. She's not worrying about though. She is really grateful to have her life back and can't imagine why she, or any of us, should waste our valuable time her on Earth fusing over our weight. As long as we are healthy and able to move about and do what we want and need to do during our day, shedding a few pounds should be the last thing on our minds.
Let's focus on the important things in life and stop worrying about looking perfect. Ignore the media and their constant nagging to be thin and don't bother with the magazines that are always telling us how to loose weight. Focus on family, friends, good health, and the unlimited number of other blessings we've been given! God loves us just the way we are and we should love ourselves too.
Go enjoy that cupcake, ice cream cone, or decadent piece of dark chocolate candy! Life is short!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
In examining my own future, I've decided to create a "Bucket List," a list of things I would love to do before I kick the bucket. I found the little exercise inspiring because I got the opportunity to see all the wonderful opportunities for enjoyment and personal and professional growth. And it serves as a visual check-list of things I want to do with my life.
If you aren't familiar with a Bucket List, rent the movie "The Bucket List" starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.
Curious what's on my Bucket List? Here it is goes. Hang on, it's a long list!
1. Write a book(s)
2. Write my own column
3. Write for newspapers or magazines regularly.
4. Run a successful blog (hopefully this one!) that earns money some of which will be donated to charity.
5. Provide a scholarship for a college student.
6. Go on a hot air balloon ride.
7. Go on a helicopter ride.
8. Become a mother.
9. Teach in some capacity.
10. Learn to cook better and make elaborate meals for others.
11. Be helpful at church.
12. Grow a vegetable garden.
13. Take a Gondola ride in Venice. (I was there and wouldn't you believe we couldn't do it! It was raining and hailing so they weren't in operation! So close!)
14. Be an inspiration to others.
15. Read the Bible from cover-to-cover.
16. Visit all 50 states (I've been to 21 as of 7/09)
17. Visit southern Italy.
18. Be content with myself and my life.
19. Go skydiving.
20. Go hand gliding.
21. Go to the Greek Isles.
22. See the French Riviera.
23. See the Mexican Riviera.
24. See the American Riviera.
25. Visit Yosemite National Park.
26. Visit Lake George.
27. Visit Quebec and Toronto.
28. Visit Cape Cod.
29. Visit Sweden.
30. Visit Denmark.
31. Learn more than one crochet stitch.
32. Own a dog.
33. Be a successful freelance writer.
I've got a lot to do and I plan on doing most of it if not all, God willing!
So what's on your "Bucket List?" Feel free to share it with me.
Wishing you "Blessings from Above," |
Aquarium Invertebrates: Phestilla Nudibranchs: Cryptic Enemies of Porites, Goniopora, Tubastrea and Dendrophyllia Corals and an Identification of 'Montipora-eating Nudibranchs'
Nudibranchs of the genus Phestilla are somewhat akin to the late American comedian Rodney Dangerfield - They can't get no respect. Nor should they get any if you enjoy keeping corals in captivity. While Montipora-eating nudibranchs are well-recognized, and Acropora-eating flatworms send waves of fear and loathing among dedicated SPS keepers, the coral-eating nudibranch genus Phestilla gets little attention, although its presence in a reef aquarium can prove detrimental or deadly to a number of coral species. They are voracious feeders and a single adult can strip away as much as 10 square inches (25 square centimeters) of coral tissue in one day. Even worse, they are generally nocturnal, spending their days hidden from view only to emerge at night to begin their destruction. Searching the aquarium at night with a flashlight can be a lesson in frustration since these nudibranchs are well-camouflaged and blend in well with the tissues of its prey (See Figure Two below for an excellent example). Scant evidence of their existence is apparent at first, with perhaps poor coral polyp expansion, slight discoloration, and a bare spot here and there being the initial clues. Unless immediate action is taken, the affected corals have only a few days at most to live.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Mollusca
- Class: Gastropoda
- Subclass: Opisthobranchia
- Order: Nudibranchia
- Suborder: Aeolidina
- Family: Tergipedidae
- Genus: Phestilla
Phestilla nudibranchs have a wide geographical distribution, and have been reported from waters of Australia, Indonesia, Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines, Pacific Panama, Iran, Egypt, Thailand, Palau, Kenya, Tanzania, and India. Since one of Phestilla's coral hosts ('Sun Corals' - Tubastrea spp.) are now considered an invasive species in the Atlantic, one has to wonder if Phestilla is there as well.
Taxonomy and Phestilla
Those researchers - taxonomists - concerning themselves with the classification of living organisms hold one of the most secure jobs - they are constantly sorting and re-sorting, leaving their practice, where order is the goal, in a constant state of disarray. To make this point, the exact identification of at least some coral hosts' (especially finger and lobe stony corals -Porites) species status and their parasites (Phestilla) mentioned in this article are in debate among researchers.
Nudibranch taxonomy is not a research field heavily populated so descriptions of new species are sporadic, yet there is little doubt that many new species await discovery. These are some of the described species, or those with enough morphological differences to make researchers suspect they are species:
Phestilla lugubris (Also described a P. sibogae)
- Adult size: 40mm (~1.5 inches)
- Color: Assumes the color of its host hence coloration depends upon the host color and pigment content of zooxanthellae, but usually whitish, beige, dark brown, sometimes greenish.
- Known Hosts: Porites compressa, P. lutea and/or P. lobata (the latter two are personal observations and no attempt was made to identify these corals to the species level)
- Foods: Porites coral tissue, zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium)*
- Notes: Faucci et al., 2007 believe P. lugubris and P. sibogae are different species based on observation of adult and egg mass sizes, and nudibranch morphology
- Maximum Adult size: 40mm (~1.5 inches)
- Color: Red, yellow, orange, dark brown or black
- Known Hosts: 'Sun Corals' such as Dendrophyllia elegans, Tubastrea aurea, Tubastraea coccinea, Tubastraea diaphana*
- Food: Adults eat Dendrophyllia tissues, veliger eat green and brown algae (Duneliella and/or Phaeodactylum triconutum, respectively)
- Life Span: ~140-160 days
- Notes: Males sexually mature at 10mm length, females at 20mm (at an age of ~60 days). See Figure Two for a photo of P. melanobranchia.
- Adult size: 7mm (~1/4 inch)
- Color: Translucent white to cream
- Known Hosts: Hawaiian Finger Coral (Porites compressa), Small Mound Coral (Porites annae), and the Mound Coral (Porites lutea)*
- Life Span: ~140 days
- Notes: Sexually mature in about 38 days
Phestilla minor #2
- Host: Mound Coral (Porites lutea)
- Maximum Adult size: 24mm (~1 inch)
- Host: The Lobe Coral (Porites lobata)
- Coloration: Body is translucent orange with grey-brown cerata with yellow tips.
- Location: Pacific coast of Panama
- Note: Resembles P. sibogae in morphology (Faucci et al., 2007). P. panamica is the only known Phestilla species from the Americas.
Phestilla sibogae - See P. lugubris
Phestilla species #1
- Hosts: Plate Coral (Porites rus), Mound Coral (Porites lutea)
- Location: Palau
Phestilla species #2
- Hosts: Flower Pot Corals (Goniopora species).
Some Goniopora species are difficult to keep in captivity. It has long been my view that inadequate feeding is the cause (I published this viewpoint in the mid-1990's in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium magazine). Now we know parasitic nudibranchs could be a cause of these corals' losses as well.
Faucci et al. (2007) report a possible case of host-switching, where Phestilla species jumped from their primary food source (Porites corals) to other corals (Goniopora and Tubastrea spp.). If this is indeed the case, the implication is frightening, and conjures the possibility of Phestilla nudibranchs finding alternative food sources when normal hosts are not available.
Haramaty (1991) found at least some zooxanthellae ingested by Phestilla sibogae remained intact, were not digested (or at least not immediately), and were able to photosynthesize at relatively low light levels (45 µmol·m²·sec, or about 2,250 lux). This leads to the interesting possibility that this species benefits by gaining translocated nutrition from the zooxanthellae. Pacific Porites corals generally contain zooxanthellae (specifically zooxanthellae Clade C15) possessing the remarkable ability to survive in conditions of low light. Thus even cryptic nudibranchs could gain nutritionally even when hidden from strong light during the day.
Many Phestilla species are prolific spawners after becoming sexually mature in only a few weeks after hatching. These animals are gonochoric (separate sexes) and females can lay several thousands of eggs every day until they are near the end of their short lifespans. Hence we can calculate a single female may lay as many as 320,000 eggs in about 2 months. It is thought that heavy predation of these nudibranchs by certain fishes, crabs and mantis shrimp has resulted in the reproductive strategy of 'Reproduce quickly and abundantly - life is short!' See Figure Three.
Quarantine and Chemical Control
When I attended the 2011 MACNA conference in Des Moines, I was given a small sample of a product called 'CoralRx One Shot'. The small tube held ~6 milliliters of a product said to act a 'coral dip', where the coral is placed for a few minutes in a container containing a mixture of aquarium water and CoralRx. This product reportedly kills parasites outright, or causes them to abandon their host. It is said to work on parasitic copepods and nudibranchs. Would it work on Phestilla nudibranchs?
My observations are not meant to be an in-depth analysis; however, I did wonder what effects this treatment would have on water quality. My first test broke a cardinal rule learned during HazMat First Responder training - I opened the container and smelled the contents. My best guess is that CoralRx is a natural terpene as it had a smell similar to pine oil, not unlike other coral dips on the market.
A quick visit to the company website (www.coralrx.com) provided mixing directions, as well as a link to a Product Review published in Advanced Aquarist: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/4/aafeature2
This review recommends a dosage of 8 milliliters per gallon. I mixed 6 milliliters with one gallon of aquarium water. I checked the mixture's pH with a calibrated meter, and found it did not differ from that of the aquarium's water.
I had previously collected a Phestilla specimen (as luck would have it I could find only one) and placed it in a clean glass fingerbowl containing about 200 milliliters of water. During the night, the nudibranch laid two egg masses on the glass. This indicated two things - it was obviously a female and she was not near the end of its expected lifespan (Phestilla nudis are known to live for a few weeks after they stop laying eggs).
The fingerbowl was placed in the contents of the bucket holding the CoralRx solution and a little gentle mixing replaced the aquarium water with the coral dip mixture (I did not want to allow the nudibranch to be exposed to the air or be crushed by its own weight while out of water).
ThePhestilla showed rapid movement and squirming (subjectively interpreted as 'displeasure') after only a few seconds of exposure to CoralRx. After about 15 minutes, the CoralRx solution was again carefully replaced, this time with fresh aquarium water. The next morning the Phestilla was dead, and had disintegrated with only its cerata covering the bottom of the bowl. The egg masses appeared unharmed and remained intact until the contents were discarded 5 days later (no attempt was made to hatch the eggs). I made an assumption that the egg masses would have rapidly deteriorated (as the adult had) if they were killed by the treatment.
I also placed a small piece of live rock in the solution. The next morning, I removed a dead crab, but a small sea urchin did not seem to the affected. There was some unidentifiable debris (remains of sponges?) covering the bucket's bottom.
This very limited observation suggests CoralRx may be effective against Phestilla nudibranchs, although the eggs are apparently not harmed. CoralRx seems to have effects on select invertebrates or life stages. Further experimentation is needed to confirm these results.
As a footnote, the manufacturer recommends CoralRx as a precautionary dip, and does not recommend it for whole tank treatment.
Natural Controls: Predators of Predators and Water Motion
If quarantine and prophylactic measures fail and the evil genie is out of the bottle, natural methods to control Phestilla populations are possible.
These include the Hawaiian 'Old Lady' Wrasse called Hinalea Luahine (Thalassoma ballieui), Saddle Wrasse (Thalassoma duperrey), Threadfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga), Aerolated Xanthid Crab (Pilodius aerolatus), Xanthid crab (Phymodius monticulosus), Swimming Crabs (Thalamita spp.), and the nasty little Mantis Shrimp (Gonodactylus falcatus) as predators of this species.
Some may be surprised when seeing Chaetodon auriga included as it known to be a 'coral-picker.' The rationale for including it is as follows. First, corals targeted by Phestilla are doomed without predatory pressures to keep the nudibranch population under control (or better, eliminated). Second, some studies show at least some Chaetodon auriga specimens obtain only a small fraction of their nutritional needs from corals, in fact, they are one of the easier butterflyfishes to maintain in captivity and can be trained to eat a variety of prepared and frozen foods. If the fish proves troublesome, its removal is probably easier than removing the corals or tearing the tank down.
Predators of Phestilla show food size preferences. Thalassoma duperrey prefers larger nudibranchs, as does the crab Phymodius monticulosus. The Threadfin Butterflyfish eats large and small nudibranchs. There is little danger of fishes being harmed by Phestilla since these mollusks cannot concentrate nematocysts gathered from their coral hosts into their cerata, thus the nudibranchs do not sting.
One point should be clear: Predators of Phestilla nudibranchs cannot eat them if they are not within reach. A recurring tidbit of advice seems common within internet threads addressing issues with nudibranchs: 'Blow' the nudibranchs off corals by any means necessary including fanning them with your hand or using a baster. What does this tell us? An outbreak of predatory nudibranchs could be prevented or controlled by vigorous water motion. Water motion is always poor in aquaria when compared to that seen on real reefs.
This concludes our quick look at Phestilla nudibranchs. A listing of resources for those wishing to learn more is presented at the close of this article.
Embletonia: 'Montipora-eating Nudibranchs'
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Mollusca
- Class: Gastropoda
- Subclass: Opisthobranchia
- Order: Nudibranchia
- Suborder: Aeolidina
- Family: Embletoniidae
- Genus: Embletonia
If you do not know the names of things, the knowledge of them is lost too.
-- Carl Linnaeus, 1751
At last we have the real name for these nudibranchs which is fortunate - It gives me an excuse to refrain from calling them some of the rather nasty names I've heard them called. Perhaps we should give them a break as they are only doing what they do, fulfilling their role in the natural scheme of things. They are a 'problem, because we have created an artificial environment where Embletonia can exist and thrive. The same points for control of Phestilla nudibranchs made above can apply to Embletonia: First and foremost, quarantine all new additions to an aquarium. If this proves unsuccessful, research and define natural predators and increase water motion.
Although discovery of the scientific name for Montipora-eating nudibranchs may seem trivial, it is not as it allows access to information found in peer-reviewed journals on the internet.
A quick internet search found this information. There are only two described Embletonia species:
- E. gracilis: Found off the southwestern side of Africa (just barely into the Atlantic) and across the Pacific in waters off Mexico, the Indo-Pacific (including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Philippines) and Japan. Said to eat hydroids.
- E. pulchra. A cold-water species of the North Atlantic.
- Undescribed species. At present, the 'Montipora-eating nudibranch' falls into this category.
If there is a bright side in finding Embletonia, it would be furthering our understanding of their life and reproductive cycles and describing their predators.
Questions? Comments? Leave a message below in the Comment section. For a quicker reply, contact me at [email protected].
References and Suggested Reading
- Faucci, A., R. Toonen, and M. Hadfield, 2007. Host shift and speciation in a coral-feeding nudibranch. Proc. R. Soc. B, 274, 1606:111-119.
- Gochfeld, D. and G. Aeby, 1997. Control of populations of the coral-feeding nudibranch,
- Phestilla sibogae, by coral reef fishes and crustaceans. Mar. Biol., 130:63-70.
- Haramaty, L., 1991. Reproduction effort in the nudibranch Phestilla sibogae: Calorimetric analysis of food and eggs. Pac. Sci., 45, 3: 257-262.
- Harris, L., 1975. Studies on the life history of two coral-eating nudibranchs of the genus Phestilla. Biol. Bull., 149: 539-550.
- Control of populations of the coral-feeding nudibranch Phestilla sibogae by fish and crustacean predators. Mar. Biol., 130, 1: 63-69.
- Rudman, W., 1982. A new species of Phestilla; the first record of a corallivorous aeolid nudibranch from tropical America. Journal of Zoology, London 198: 465-471
- Rudman W., 1981. Further studies on the anatomy and ecology of opisthobranch molluscs feeding on the scleractinian coral Porites. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 71: 373-412. |
This article is a travel topic
There are many things that you can do to ensure that you stay safe while traveling. Wikitravel articles have a "Stay safe" section with location specific advice. This article covers general advice that applies to many destinations.
Disaster can strike even on a walk in the park
No place on the planet is completely free from safety risks, including your own home. However, gaining understanding about the nature of risk in general, specific threats at your destination, and what you can do to minimize both general and specific risks can go a long way towards a safe trip.
- When traveling, don't take risks you wouldn't be comfortable taking at home. Be wary of possible threats wherever you are; relaxing on a warm beach can provide a false sense of security.
- You can't completely eliminate all risks to your safety, so focus your energy on taking preventative steps proportional to the actual risks. For example, while there is realistically nothing much you can do to predict and avoid random terrorist attacks, car accidents claim the lives of more travelers than random acts of terrorism around the world do, so focusing on traffic safety is more practical than avoiding random terrorist attacks.
- Gain knowledge about your destination. Learn about local customs, including those around appropriate dress, as well as some key phrases in the local language so that you can communicate. Learning about your destination will make you more aware of risks, help you to be better prepared to deal with emergencies that may occur, and will make your trip a lot easier in general.
- Although you may want to make local friends, always be extremely cautious with anyone who tries to assertively befriend you.
- Trust your instincts. If a situation just doesn't seem right to you, it probably isn't.
- To avoid crime, it can help to think like a criminal; understand whom a criminal might target. Criminals tend to target people from whom they believe they will most easily be able to get what they want, whether because the person appears submissive, physically vulnerable, distracted, or because they stick out for other reasons.
Before you get in to your destination, you should consider the following:
- It's always a good idea to check your foreign ministry's travel advisory for your destination, before setting off. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK, the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade in Australia and the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the U.S., are excellent sources of current information, even if you are not a citizen of those countries. In addition, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security runs a Web site for the Overseas Security Advisory Council. Most OSAC content is members-only, but OSAC's Web site does have publicly available Crime and Safety Reports for nearly all countries (and in some instances, multiple cities within a country). These reports are updated each year and include vivid details of current crime trends in each country.
- Consider whether you're going to arrive during a good season weather-wise. For example, tropical storms can be a danger in various areas (hurricanes in the Caribbean area and southern United States, typhoons in Asia, especially along the coast from Vietnam to Japan) especially in hot weather, and tornadoes, sometimes called "twisters" can pose a danger to travelers in some parts of the world (especially in the United States), most often in spring and summer.
- War zones or former war zones, often called hostile environments, are not the most obvious places for non-essential travel, but with the right preparation and experience they can provide the intrepid traveller with a unique experience. However, no one should visit a country in this category without seriously considering the risks and how to mitigate them. Tourists can be just as much a target of hostility as any military force. Indeed, tourists could be regarded as a soft target since they do not have the backup of a large organisation. In recent times, tourists have been targeted in Afghanistan, Egypt and Kenya.
- Before travelling to a wild, remote area, consider that, in a world of 7 billion people, there's probably a reason why this area is uninhabited. Consider the risks, including wild animals and temperature swings, ensure you pack so as to be able to meet any likely difficulty (it may be difficult to summon help) and ensure that someone knows exactly where you plan to go and when you plan to be back.
- When traveling, never let your bags out of your sight, especially when you are crossing international borders. Do not offer to carry anything for another person unless you trust them absolutely. You could find yourself being used as a drug carrier without your knowledge, which will land you in a great deal of trouble. Unattended bags can also attract attention from authorities wary of bomb threats.
- When arriving at an unfamiliar destination, try to arrive during the day, if possible, rather than trying to find your way around at night.
- Consider local laws on homosexuality or age of consent that may have legal repercussions for you.
When on a bus or train:
- Stay near the driver/conductor/guard.
When riding in a taxi:
- Use licensed cabs, rather than private cars (gypsy cabs), even though they might be slightly more expensive.
- Always make sure the driver has turned on the meter if there is one, or negotiate the fare before the trip starts if there isn't.
- When riding alone, sit behind the driver where it is more difficult for him to threaten or harm you.
When using a car:
- Don't drink and drive.
- Be aware of local traffic laws and regulations and follow them.
- Keep the car locked, including the trunk/boot—thieves can snatch bags at the traffic lights.
- Keep mobile phones, valuables out of sight—travel insurance may not cover items left in cars.
- Park in well lit places with no cover around the car—if there are bushes etc. thieves can work on the locks out of sight.
- Before getting into your car, check the back seat to ensure no-one's hiding there.
- Consider extending your insurance to cover all costs of window/windscreen replacement; it's not uncommon for thieves to just smash the glass to get in.
- Orient yourself with a map before setting out, and take local advice on undesirable areas to walk in.
Mode of transport
The safest mode of transport depends on the country, and the trip particulars, and it can be very difficult to do a fair comparison. Statistics comparing forms of travel are usually given by distance travelled and not by time, and are crowded by urban mythology.
In western countries motorcoach, train and airplane accidents are a very unlikely way to be injured or killed while travelling.
Seeing the sights of the area will require you to get out of your hotel room and onto the streets, which in some areas carries a risk of violent crime.
- Keep your eyes open. If the area feels unsafe, is quiet, or if the area is heavily vandalized and there are groups of young people hanging around, avoid unnecessary risks and move on.
- Avoid street gangs, often recognizable as large groups of males, often wearing similar clothes or tattoos.
- Travel in a group, and look out for each other.
- If you are a victim of a fraud or scam, consider your circumstances carefully before aggressively confronting the scammer. A small monetary loss could escalate to something worse.
- Don't attempt to fight off a thief.
- Back alleys and quiet areas are interesting to explore, but there will be fewer people around to help you, and fewer people watching to deter violent crime.
- Natural hazards are not always indicated by signs and fences in some regions. Assess the risks of cliffs and rivers before venturing too close.
To buy anything, you'll need money, which may make you a target for theft. To reduce your risks:
- As much as possible, try to avoid looking like someone that a thief would target (remember, think like a criminal). To that end, don't flash wads of cash, or wear or carry expensive jewelery or valuables (keep those in the hotel safe).
- Follow local advice as to safe areas.
- Have copies of the information/photo page of your passport. Leave your passport in the hotel safe if that is available and permitted.
- Have an additional credit card and some cash separate from your wallet. Split everything up in such a way that if one wallet gets stolen you can still enjoy the trip.
- Be aware of common scams. These are designed to get your money or business from you under false pretenses. They fall into three categories: overcharging you, deceiving you or coercing you into paying for a service you don't want, and outright theft.
- Take steps to protect yourself against pickpockets, which are a hazard in many tourist destinations.
- Find out about the water quality, and if there is doubt either use bottled water (ensuring the seal hasn't been broken) or boil water vigorously for 2 minutes before using. Also make sure to avoid ice cubes in drinks. Check in advance, and don't rely on local advice.
- Use your best judgement about restaurants. If the place looks dodgy, eat somewhere else.
- Make sure food is fully cooked.
- Avoid dairy products, unless you know they have been pasteurized.
- Wash your hands with soap and water before eating. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand gel (with at least 60% alcohol).
- Don't eat plants or fungi that you find in the wild. Some poisonous species in some parts of the world closely resemble edible species in other parts of the world. There is also a risk they have been sprayed with pesticide or herbicide that can make you sick.
Taking part in a city's nightlife can be the highlight of a trip; however, nighttime is when the shady people of the city come out, so extra vigilance is necessary. If the nightlife isn't your thing back home, don't feel obligated to go out when travelling; the safest place to be at night is in your hotel room. If you do decide to go out, here are some tips:
- Try to avoid walking the streets alone after dark, or minimally stay in well-lit areas.
- Dress down, and don't flaunt your wealth.
- Try not to get too drunk. The risk of being a victim of violent crime and sexual assault increases if you are intoxicated.
- Avoid accepting drinks, meals or gifts purchased for you. It can create an expectation in the giver, and can also expose you to drink spiking etc.
- Avoid going back to a stranger's house, hotel, or any other location. If you wish to socialize in this way, ensure you have a familiar, public, and safe location that you can nominate.
- Avoid purchasing illegal drugs. The transaction is often a pretext for robbery, scams or worse.
- Hotels can be dangerous places in case of fire. Check that there are two ways of escape from your room.
- Main article: Travel health
- See your doctor before you travel. Ensure that you are healthy enough to do what you have planned, and check regarding disease exposure in the areas you will be visiting, and take appropriate precautions, such as getting vaccinated.
- If you decide to have new sexual relationships, always follow safe sex practices, and use a condom. The prevalence of AIDS varies between countries, but it exists everywhere, and unsafe sex will always be a lottery. The availability of birth control (condoms, BC pills, etc) varies from country to country. Bring adequate supplies from home.
- Let someone back home know where you are, and when you will next be in touch.
- Leave copies of your passport and travel insurance details with someone at home, it's also a good idea to carry a copy of your passport and any visas on you, ideally separate from your passport. This will ease your troubles with authorities if you lose it, and handing over a photocopy to potentially corrupt officials is a good way to deal with a potential blackmail situation.
- Also consider taking a digital scan of your passport and important travel documents and storing it electronically - this can be a simple as emailing it to yourself, but the scan should be stored in an encrypted file.
- Consider carrying a mobile communication method that will work in your destination. Check if your mobile phone will roam, and if there is coverage at your destination. Even a non-roaming phone can be used for emergency calls on a compatible network. Consider renting a satellite phone in remote areas.
- Register with your embassy or relevant government department - some countries provide an online facility for doing this.
Every country has its own different set of laws, and in some cases such as Australia and the United States, the laws can vary between different parts of the country. As a result, something that might be perfectly acceptable at one destination can land you in jail at another. Always be aware of the local laws before you travel, as most countries will not entertain requests from another country's government to exempt their citizens (e.g. An American teenager was caned for vandalism in Singapore despite official protests by the American government). Ignorance is rarely an acceptable excuse.
This applies particularly to drugs, and what may pass the afternoon in the comfort of a coffee shop in Amsterdam may land you in jail in Florida or on the death row in Singapore. Many Asian countries impose the death penalty for trafficking even minute amounts of illicit drugs.
|This is a usable article. It touches on all the major areas of the topic. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow! |
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Thank you! Sienna is wonderful. Really made a lonely traveler feel welcome in this beautiful city, and I missed her terribly when she left. I appreciate all of your efforts, so thanks again. I mean, bedankt! Tot ziens!
Hey Taya & Chris, Sienna was just sweet and lovely, had an absolutely fantastic date. Thank you and have a festive holiday season!
Hi Taya and Chris, Just to say thank you for the unforgettable time I had with Sienna - she is really beautiful and erotic, and I had a mind-blowing experience. All best
Het was echt heel erg leuk met Sienna! Boven verwachting! Dank voor deze ervaring en service!
Hi,It was a real pleasure to meet Sienna. She is an amazing girl every which way. Her pictures don't do justice to her.Thanks for your excellent handling of everything including last minute changes.With regards,San
Sienna is a great young woman. She has incredible looks, a gorgeous face and an amazing slim and sexy body with long legs. She is friendly, sweet and a good laugh. Sienna is a good kisser and provides a great GFE-service. I give her 10 out of 10.
I had a wonderful time with Seinna this evening. She is a very beautiful girl and our time together was great. I originally scheduled her for 2 hours but before the time was up I ask for a 3rd hour which was absolutely spectacular. I will for sure ask for Seinna my next trip to Amsterdam. I would highly recommend Sienna to anyone. We had great sex but also very good conversations between our sessions. She is a very sweet girl.
A dinner date booking of minimum 4 hours, from which 2-3 hours to be spent outside, for €1050
We provide discounted rates for a booking starting from 2 hours, only if you make a booking in advance or prolong within the first 15 minutes of the booking.
If you prolong later than that, then the standard rate of € 350 per additional hour will be charged.
Please see our rates here:
|Hours||For a man||For a couple||Duo package*|
|1 hour||€ 350||€ 450||€ 650|
|2 hours||€ 650||€ 850||€ 1.250|
|3 hours||€ 900||€ 1.200||€ 1.750|
|4 hours||€ 1.150||€ 1.500||€ 2.225|
|5 hours||€ 1.400||€ 1.800||€ 2.725|
|6 hours||€ 1.600||€ 2.000||€ 3.100|
|7 hours||€ 1.800||€ 2.200||€ 3.500|
|8 hours||€ 2.000||€ 2.400||€ 3.850|
|9 hours||€ 2.200||€ 2.600||€ 4.250|
|10 hours||€ 2.350||€ 2.750||€ 4.500|
|12 hours||€ 2.600||€ 3.000||€ 5.000|
|16 hours||€ 3.000||€ 3.600||€ 5.800|
|1 day||€ 3.600||€ 4.300||€ 7.000|
|2 days||€ 5.000||€ 6.000||€ 9.000|
|Extra day||€ 1.300||€ 1.500||€ 2.500|
|Week||€ 11.000||€ 13.000||€ 20.000|
* Duo package means that 2 of our high class escort companions come to visit one client. Please do not confuse a duo package (2 ladies for 1 man) with a double booking (2 ladies for 2 men). If you want to book 2 ladies for 2 clients, then it is the standard price from “for a man” column.
Our ladies do not expect tips, so you do not have to pay them. However, the lady will be pleasantly surprised if you give her some tips, especially if you are satisfied with her service.
In order to preserve discretion, a very discreet and neutral company name, or the surnames of company directors, will be shown on your credit card invoice or your bank overview. You will never see Dreams and Desires Escort, escort agency or escort service on it.
For a booking in Amsterdam you DO NOT NEED to pay any travel expenses.
For a booking outside Amsterdam additional travel expenses will be charged. We provide the escort services of premium quality only, that is why we work together with carefully screened discrete and efficient taxi drivers, who transfer our ladies safe and comfortable to any place in The Netherlands and even all over Europe.
Please note that the taxi travel expenses are approximately € 2,20 per km from Amsterdam to the booking location, and the waiting time of a driver is € 30 per hour. If the traveling time of the escort companion takes more than 1 hour, then it will be also charged extra (€ 50 for 1 hour of traveling time).
In case of international traveling the traveling time of the escort companion, the flight tickets, taxi expenses to and from the airport, accomodation expenses will be also charged additionally.
Time of payment
Our high class escort companions provide only outcalls, it means that they will visit you at your hotel or apartment.
We can make an official V.A.T. invoice for you, on your name or your company name.
Our bank details
|Name of bank:||ING Bank|
|Name of our company:||Sigabos V.O.F.|
|Location:||Amsterdam, The Netherlands|
The extra services are optional per escort companion. Please check in the profile of the escort model, or ask us whether she fulfills the services you expect from her. Please note that all sexual activities are to be finally approved by the escort companion during your personal encounter.
If the escort companion doesn’t want to practice some of the activities, she won’t charge you for these services, and you should accept and respect her rejection.
So, if you choose for some additional services, and you made sure that the lady of your choice does practice them, here is the price list to be paid additionally (above the escort rate):
|Couples||€ 100 extra per hour|
|SM soft active||€ 50|
|Pornstar Experience||€ 100|
|Strapon active||€ 50|
|Costume party||€ 50|
|Lingerie party||€ 50|
|Golden shower active||€ 100|
Methods of payment
We accept payments with cash, all major credit cards (however we do not accept American Express cards) and pin with your bank card through our mobile payment terminal. Credit card payments will be charged additional handling fee of 10%. Paying with a bank card through our portable payment terminal is not charged any extra.
Please inform us in advance which method of payment you would like to use. If you will use the credit card payment method, or PIN, then we will give a portable payment terminal to our escort companion.
You can also pay us in advance by transferring the money to our bank account. Please inform us if you want to do that, so that we can confirm to you whether it is an optimal payment option in your case.
By transferring the money to our bank account, please consider the following:
1. We have to receive the money prior to the booking, within enough period of time. If it is a booking in the Netherlands, then the payment has to be on our account 1 day before the booking takes place. If it concerns a booking abroad, then the money has to be received at least 3-5 days in advance, so that we have enough time to make all necessary arrangements.
2. Please make sure that you have transferred the full amount, including the bank transfer expenses. The amount has to be equal to the one agreed with us. |
The second day of the Antalya Grand Prix 2017 ended with the award of four titles to four different countries as Uzbekistan, Russia, Austria and Slovenia climbed on top of the medal podium in the four categories of the day. One will remember the performance of Kathrin UNTERWURZACHER, who confirmed her position as the top seed of the category, the one of Anka POGACNIK, who defeated Elvismar RODRIGUEZ, supported by the IJF, in the final, the great result of Mirzokhid FARMONOV who ruins the golden hopes of a whole people despite the exceptional performance of Hasan VANLIOGLU in front of his public and finally the title of Stanislav SEMENOV for Russia, which continues to produce champions at every competition of the World Judo Tour.
RED CARPET IN TURKEY
The second day of the Antalya Grand Prix saw the opening ceremony which followed the rhythm of the troop 'Fire of Anatolia’ (Anadolu Atesi). The Fire of Anatolia is a Turkish dance group consisting of 120 dancers. The group has performed in more than 85 countries around the world, including the United States, China or Japan, and in front of more than 20 million spectators. The troop holds two Guinness World Records, one for fastest dance performance and another for largest audience, with 400,000 people in Eregli, in the Black Sea Region of Turkey.
During the opening speeches, Mr. Sezer Huysuz, President of the Turkish Judo Federation said: “Distinguished Mr. Marius Vizer, Distinguished Deputy Governor, Mr. Salih Gürhan, distinguished guest of the Antalya Grand Prix 2017. It is an honour to see you all here in this marvelous city. I would like to welcome all the participating countries and I wish them to represent their country in the best possible way. I would like to thank again the President of the IJF and I wish to see you here again soon. Thank you very much.“
Mr. Salih Gürhan, Deputy Governor of Antalya: “Distinguished IJF President and TJF President, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you here in Antalya. Distinguished athletes coming from allover the world, I am happy to see all of you in our city. It is a great happiness to host you. Antalya is a city of peace and sport as you could experience over the last two day. It is also the tourist capital of Turkey. That’s why all visitors coming here can find peace. As you all know April 6 was the international day for sport Peace and Development. We hope that all conflicts in the world will soon be replaced by sport, peace and development. I would like to wish all the very best to all of you who are participating in this event.“
Mr. Marius Vizer, IJF President declared: “Dear Deputy Governor, dear President of the TJK, organisers, guests, judoka and spectators. It is a big honour for the judo family to come to Antalya with the World Judo Tour. A great city, in a great country, with great people and wonderful spectators. I want to congratulate the TJK for the spectacular organisation of the event. And I want to congratulate also the former governance of the association for all their successes. I wish the President of the TJK, my friend and colleague, Mr. Sezer Huysuz all the best for the future. I wish all of you a great event in Antalya. I declare the competition in Antalya open. Thank you.“
FROM ONE END OF THE TATAMI TO THE OTHER
Mr. Sezer Huysuz is the new President of the Turkish Judo Federation, elected in October 2016. After two days of competition and already two medals for the host country of this first Grand Prix in Antalya (after four editions in Samsun) he is a happy and excited president: "I have been a member of this beautiful judo family for more than thirty years and today I am filled with emotions.
"I reassure you, I am full of positive emotions. Not so long ago, I was on the other side of the tatami, on the side of the competitors. I am now the President of our national federation. Being on the tatami with my friends, I miss it for sure, but I am so happy to be able to contribute to the development of judo in another way.“
The Turkish Judo Federation now counts more than 21,000 active judoka and extending to all those who have practiced judo and who are still close to the sport, it represents a community of more than 100,000 people in Turkey: “It is very important for us to have this Grand Prix here in Antalya. We are very pleased that the IJF President himself is present as well as many members of the Executive Board of the International Federation," said Sezer Huysuz, before adding:" I am a judoka who comes from the base. I went through all levels. This allows me to really know all the problems that athletes have to face. I know what they want and what they need. There is no doubt that we must do everything for our athletes. They are at the centre of everything."
Returning to the Grand Prix and its organisation, the President said: "Organising a Grand Prix requires a lot of effort. We want everyone to be happy and to leave with wonderful memories. We are ready to host even greater events. I think we have that desire and the capacity. This can only have a positive impact on Turkish judo and judo throughout the region. Of course this will also have an impact on our results. We will be able to attract more media and more sponsors, as well as more spectators."
"The support we receive from IJF President Marius Vizer is crucial. Otherwise we could not carry out all our projects. The fact that he is present and that he permanently accompanies us is an undeniable force. Judo now enjoys great prestige in Turkey. The President of the European Union, Mr. Sergey Soloveychik, will also be here tomorrow. Thank you all."
Mr. Sezer Huysuz finally commented on the project run by the IJF and the TJF in the Syrian refugee camps in the south of the country: "A new dojo was built in Kilis to accommodate more young people. The project is working extremely well. These families lost everything in the war, but we can offer them a smiling future. But judo becomes so popular that we will have to redouble our efforts to welcome even more young people. With the support of the IJF, we will work on this and organise judo events there. It is our social mission. We will, for example, send new coaches to supervise the populations."
KOSOVO’s NATIONAL SPORT
After a great day for Kosovo yesterday, which won two titles (-52kg: Distria KRASNIQI and -57kg: Nora GJAKOVA), the president of the Kosovo Judo Federation, Mr. Agron Kuka, explained how judo became the number one sport in his country: "First of all, I would like to thank President Marius Vizer from the bottom of my heart. Already in 2008 he had the vision that in our country there were talented judoka and that we were working very well. Without him, without his unwavering will, we would not be here today. His decision to support us and accompany us was the trigger for everything.
"Yesterday was an extraordinary day for us. Without our flag bearer, Majlinda Kelmendi, we were still able to win two titles. This is the first time this has happened. It is important that we can show that beyond the exceptional personality of Majlinda, we have other very good athletes, both for women and for men. Our team and our federation are making progress every day.
"Of course Majlinda remains an exceptional judoka. She was the first Junior World Champion for Kosovo. Then World Champion twice and finally, last summer she became the first Olympic champion for our country. She is an example for all, a true icon.
"In the future, we want to further strengthen our sport. With the support of the government, we are working to integrate judo into the school curriculum so that judo is massively taught in Kosovo. Judo is becoming the national sport."
-63kg: UNTERWURZACHER UNDEFEATED IN ANTALYA
Top seeded athlete, the Austrian Kathrin UNTERWURZACHER, winner of the Tokyo Grand Slam in 2016, and more recently bronze medallist in Tbilisi Grand Prix, qualified for the final after having defeated Valentina KOSTENKO from Russia and Amy LIVESEY from Great Britain, both on a waza-ari score. In the final she was opposed to Marian URDABAYEVA of Kazakhstan who successively defeated during the preliminary rounds Maja BLAGOJEVIC (CRO), Olga KRIUKOVA (RUS) and Katharina HAECKER (AUS).
UNTERWURZACHER and URDABAYEVA delivered a very intense bout. The Kazakh scored the first with a reversed sode-tsuri-komi-goshi for a waza-ari that surprised the favourite UNTERWURZACHER. The Austrian did not make the same mistake twice and when URDABAYEVA again attacked with the same technique, she countered her for a waza-ari as well. The same scenario was repeated for the last attack of URDABAYEVA, and once again UNTERWURZACHER could counter, score and continue with an immobilisation for ippon.
The first bronze medal contest opposed Valentina KOSTENKO (RUS) and Katharina HAECKER (AUS). At the end of the regular time, both athletes had only one shido each and entered the golden score for almost four minutes. Successively attacking but without scoring, neither KOSTENKO nor HAECKER could take the lead and win. It was after 3 minutes and 50 seconds that KOSTENKO was penalised with a shido and that HAECKER could celebrate her bronze medal.
The second bronze medal contest was a 100 British bout as Lubjana PIOVESANA (GBR) faced Amy LIVESEY (GBR). After a little more than one minute, LIVESEY was already penalised with two shido. Despite a few efforts, she was not able to really impose a different rhythm and she was penalised with a third shido (Hansoku-make), PIOVESANA taking the bronze medal.
UNTERWURZACHER, Kathrin (AUT) vs. URDABAYEVA, Marian (KAZ)
Bronze medal contests
KOSTENKO, Valentina (RUS) vs. HAECKER, Katharina (AUS)
PIOVESANA, Lubjana (GBR) vs. LIVESEY, Amy (GBR)
1. UNTERWURZACHER, Kathrin (AUT)
2. URDABAYEVA, Marian (KAZ)
3. HAECKER, Katharina (AUS)
3. PIOVESANA, Lubjana (GBR)
5. KOSTENKO, Valentina (RUS)
5. LIVESEY, Amy (GBR)
7. BALDORJ, Mungunchimeg (MGL)
7. KRIUKOVA, Olga (RUS)
-70kg: THIRD GOLD FOR POGACNIK
The second women’s final of the day opposed Elvismar RODRIGUEZ (IJF) and Anka POGACNIK (SLO), silver medallist last year in Tashkent on the occasion of the Grand Prix in Uzbekistan. Coming from Venezuela, Elvismar RODRIGUEZ is supported by the International Judo Federation and is currently training out of Hungary at the IJF Training Centre*.
The first penalty was awarded to Elvismar RODRIGUEZ for passivity and actually during the regular time that was the only element that appeared on the scoreboard. Thus both athletes entered the golden score and it did not take long for POGACNIK to launch a ko-soto-gari with an action-reaction to score a waza-ari and win her third gold medal on a Grand Prix.
The first bronze medal contest opposed Dilbar UMIRALIYEVA (KAZ) and the 2014 Junior World Champion, Barbara MATIC (CRO). After one minute, the Croatian did not really pay attention and was close to being caught with an armlock from which she miraculously escaped. UMIRALIYEVA was penalised with a first shido when entering the second half of the bout. As both athletes were approaching the edge of the competition area, MATIC initiated an chi-mata, but as UMIRALIYEVA immediately reacted and prepared her counterattack, MATIC simply hooked her opponent’s inner leg to score ippon with a beautiful o-uchi-gari.
The second bronze medal contest saw Gemma HOWELL (GBR) and Szabina GERCSAK (HUN) facing for a place on the podium. GERCSAK was penalised the first for a false attack with a shido. Things started to be a little complicated for the Hungarian as she was penalised a second time and during a groundwork session, HOWELL could demonstrate all her skills to catch GERCSAK with a shime-waza (choking technique) for ippon and her fifth medal at a Grand Prix.
* Other athletes supported by the International Judo Federation in Antalya:
Emilie SOOK (DEN)
Larisa CERIC (BIH)
Aleksandra SAMARDZIC (BIH)
Harun SADIKOVIC (BIH)
Petar ZADRO (BIH)
RODRIGUEZ, Elvismar (IJF) vs. POGACNIK, Anka (SLO)
Bronze medal contests
UMIRALIYEVA, Dilbar (KAZ) vs. MATIC, Barbara (CRO)
HOWELL, Gemma (GBR) vs. GERCSAK, Szabina (HUN)
1. POGACNIK, Anka (SLO)
2. RODRIGUEZ, Elvismar (IJF)
3. HOWELL, Gemma (GBR)
3. MATIC, Barbara (CRO)
5. GERCSAK, Szabina (HUN)
5. UMIRALIYEVA, Dilbar (KAZ)
7. ERDOGAN, Semanur (TUR)
7. MATNIYAZOVA, Gulnoza (UZB)
-73kg: FARMONOV’s GOLDEN DESTINY, VANLIOGLU IN SILVER AT HOME
After a successful day for Turkey on day one of the Antalya Grand Prix, for the second day in a row, the host country qualified one athlete in the final as Hasan VANLIOGLU, delivered his best judo to overcome all challengers during the preliminary rounds. Born in Erzurum, a major city in eastern Turkey, the star of the day for the local public recently got married, and he has also become a father. Highly-motivated in front of his home crowd he had to produce his best judo to defeat Hidayat HEYDAROV in the semi-final. After an epic match between the two men, VANLIOGLU delivered one last desperate attack during extra time to score a waza-ari. After such a contest, both champions hugged each other with emotion.
In the final VANLIOGLU was opposed to the winner of the 2016 Grand Prix in Tashkent, Mirzokhid FARMONOV (UZB). Suddenly, when both athletes entered the competition area, the stadium awoke from the lethargy he was plunged in. After one minute and a half, FARMONOV had two penalties and VANLIOGLU only one, as the public was chanting ‘TURKIYE, TURKIYE‘ in support. Five seconds before the final gong, VANLIOGLU was close to applying an arm-lock to his opponent, but FARMONOV could escape. Time for another golden score, which perfectly fit to the situation and it took only 21 seconds for FARMONOV to break all Turkish hopes for a gold medal, when the Uzbek launched a low sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi for waza-ari. VANLIOGLU was so close to bringing the first gold to the host country but today it was FARMONOV’s destiny to step on top of the medal podium.
The first bronze medal contest opposed Rok DRAKSIC (SLO) and Tohar BUTBUL (ISR). Halfway to the end, BUTBUL was penalised with a shido but the scoreboard was still free of any positive score. With a little more than one minute to go, the Israeli launched a quick drop-seoi-nage. DRAKSIC turned into the air but landed on his stomach for no score. After four minutes, and one more penalty each, it was time for the golden score, where everything is possible. DRAKSIC who had one less shido than BUTBUL, was penalised a second time as a warning, Next penalty would decide the winner, and once again DRAKSIC got penalised giving the victory and the medal to BUTBUL.
In the second bronze medal contest Hidayat HEYDAROV (AZE) was opposed to Akil GJAKOVA (KOS). GJAKOVA entered the second half of the bout with one shido and received a second penalty for passivity a little later. Twenty seconds to the end, HEYDAROV engaged a superb kata-guruma but like a cat, GJAKOVA could turn and escape from the throw, but to do so he used a bridge position which is forbidden in judo because it can be dangerous. Logically GJAKOVA was disqualified and HEYDAROV could enjoy his first medal on a Grand Prix.
FARMONOV, Mirzokhid (UZB) vs. VANLIOGLU, Hasan (TUR)
Bronze medal contests
DRAKSIC, Rok (SLO) vs. BUTBUL, Tohar (ISR)
HEYDAROV, Hidayat (AZE) vs. GJAKOVA, Akil (KOS)
1. FARMONOV, Mirzokhid (UZB)
2. VANLIOGLU, Hasan (TUR)
3. BUTBUL, Tohar (ISR)
3. HEYDAROV, Hidayat (AZE)
5. DRAKSIC, Rok (SLO)
5. GJAKOVA, Akil (KOS)
7. BOBOEV, Giyosjon (UZB)
7. NARANKHUU, Khadbaatar (MGL)
-81kg: SEMENOV ADDS MORE GOLD FOR RUSSIA
The last final of the day saw SONG Minki (KOR) and Stanislav SEMENOV (RUS) facing off for gold. SONG Minki’s best results so far was only a bronze medal at the Asian Open in Taipei in 2016, when SEMENOV had already three bronze Grand Slam medals.
After both athletes were penalised with a shido for blocking their opponent, SEMENOV scored the first waza-ari with a kaeshi-waza technique. One waza-ari was enough to grab one more gold for Russia.
The first bronze medal contest opposed top seed NYAMSUREN Dagvasuren (MGL) - who was defeated in the semifinal by SONG - and Tamazi KIRAKOZASHVILI (GEO). But rapidly the match seemed to go only in one direction, the one of penalties, and before the end NYAMSUREN received two shido while KIRAKOZASHVILI was penalised three times and disqualified. Bronze for NYAMSUREN.
The second and last bronze medal contest of the day opposed the veteran Emmanuel LUCENTI (ARG), 32 years old, and Murat KHABACHIROV (RUS). LUCENTI got the first shido for holding the judogi on the same side without building an attack. Halfway to the end, KHABACHIROV scored a first waza-ari with a o-soto-gari technique and LUCENTI received his second shido for a pistol grip. The third penalty was not long to be given as again LUCENTI gripped his opponent’s judogi on the same side without building any attack. Hansoku-make for the Argentinian, bronze medal for KHABACHIROV.
SONG, Minki (KOR) vs. SEMENOV, Stanislav (RUS)
Bronze medal contests
NYAMSUREN, Dagvasuren (MGL) vs. KIRAKOZASHVILI, Tamazi (GEO)
LUCENTI, Emmanuel (ARG) vs. KHABACHIROV, Murat (RUS)
1. SEMENOV, Stanislav (RUS)
2. SONG, Minki (KOR)
3. KHABACHIROV, Murat (RUS)
3. NYAMSUREN, Dagvasuren (MGL)
5. KIRAKOZASHVILI, Tamazi (GEO)
5. LUCENTI, Emmanuel (ARG)
7. CSOKNYAI, Laszlo (HUN)
7. GOTONOAGA, Dorin (MDA) |
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"Y/N!" Taehyung burst into my room and I quickly shut the notebook.
"Yes?" I turned around to see Taehyung holding a dark green jacket with him smiling.
"Y/n, it's kinda chilly out today. I decided to let you have this, it's a little big for you but it should be fine. The one Hoseok got you is too warm for today." He put the jacket on me and made me turn around in it. "See, it looks great and it's not too big!" I smiled and flopped the sleeves around. Jin called for us to leave for Seoul and we left my room and the dorm.
Since Jin doesn't have a car of his own, the company had to drive us to downtown Seoul in one of the vans. Namjoon and Jin gave me a small tour of the main tourist area that was the most crowded. They then told me about the statues and other historical things about Seoul and South Korea. During that time we lost the maknae line to the crowd. Jin got hysterical and we searched for half an hour for them. Eventually, we found them buying sweet bread at a food stall for everyone. They were forgiven by Jin and we all ate the bread happily.
"Y/n, where would you like to go next?" Jungkook had already finished and was standing in front of me.
"Well, I'd like to get more clothes to wear. The facility clothes are too bland and are all the same color except the clothes we got yesterday." Yoongi nodded and proposed that we go to the shopping center to buy me a few new outfits. We agreed and finished our food and left for the shopping center that was a few blocks away.
We spent about 2 hours in many different stores, buying a shirt or pants in each. In the end, I had 12 colorful shirts, 4 new pants, formal shoes, and athletic shoes. Of my 50,000 won the facility gave me, I spent 30,000 won (25 USD). Luckily the boys paid for some of it, I'm not mooching off of them but buying clothes with what I have is difficult. We left the shopping center and went to a few tourist places that they thought would interest me.
"Y/N, it's crowded here, I don't want you to get separated from me. Hold my hand." Without me saying anything, he grabbed my hand and started walking to our destination. He pulled me towards a candy store with different sweets lining the window. All but Namjoon and Jin lined up at the window looking at all the candy. "Come on!" Taehyung pulled me into the store and the others followed us in. Sweet smells filled my nose from all over. I spotted a green and blue striped candy on one of the many shelves.
"Tae, look at that!" He walked over to where I was standing. "Do you know what it is? I've never seen something like it!" I picked up one of the little cups it was in. Tae also picked one of them up and looked at the little thing.
"Strange, candy in a little cup. It doesn't even come with a spoon! What is this madness?!" I giggled at his childishness. One of the workers must've heard out conversation because a woman in the shop uniform came up to us. She explained that it's a jelly like desert that you drink from the cup. Both me and Tae were amazed by the unique desert and decided to get one each. The rest of the guys bought their candy and we left the store. We sat on a bench and tried our candies and shared little bites to each other. Mine was sweet like chocolate but is similar to a jelly.
"Y/N!" Tae started pulling me excitedly to a...museum? Why would he want to bring me here of all places? "This museum is really cool! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love it!" I read the sign of the museum, "O' Sulloc Tea Museum." Tea museum? Obviously not a normal museum, but I haven't said anything about me liking tea. "I actually don't know if you actually like tea, but you look like someone who does." I still was confused but continued to follow him inside.
"So, how did you know about this place, Tae?" He shrugged and turned around to face me.
"I found this on the internet last night when thinking of places to take you. I know it's not super interesting, but it can be if you're into culture, maybe." I nodded as I looked around the museum. "Another reason I thought you liked tea I because of your skin. It's very healthy, tea drinkers usually have skin like yours." We reached a counter with machines behind it and a little menu set up above it. "One of the best things about this tea museum is that you get to drink green tea while we go through." Each of us got our tea and continued through the museum. Surprisingly, it was somewhat interesting to learn about. At the end of our tour and learning experience, we left the building and continued down the street.
"Jin-hyung!" Tae was holding my hand as we walked down the streets following Jin. "I think we should wait until sunset. It's much more beautiful then!"
"Taetae, it's like 5 blocks away! Where else would you like to take her?" Jin seemed a little frustrated with Taehyung's whining.
"We should go to the outdoor market! I don't think there are many in America, so I bet she'll like it. Plus, if she's gonna cook she has to know what Korea has!" Tae started smiling and asking the other members about the idea. Jin agreed and we headed to the outside market area a bit more outside of main Seoul. We took 2 cabs to the market and started to look around. "Do you like seafood? There's plenty here." Tae gestured towards a fish stand on the far side of the market area. We shopped for foods so that Jin could teach me how to cook with Korean ingredients.
It was about 6 and Jimin mentioned that we should leave if we wanted to reach the next destination before sunset. Luckily, the next place was within walking distance and we only had 2 bags of foods. Again, Tae held my hand while walking. While walking, I noticed a large tower not far from us and we started walking towards it.
"Here we are y/n! North Seoul Tower! One of the most popular places for tourists and lovers alike!" Hoseok pointed to the large tower in front of me. Around the back I saw a few cable cars going up to it. We started walking faster and eventually started to almost run. I entered the main building and boarded the cable car with the others. Tae led me to the side so I could see out. The sun was starting to set on us and on the other side I could see a few city lights on the far side.
I was in awe and the others noticed and giggled silently, but I didn't pay much attention. At the end of the ride they took me to the viewing area up top and let me in front, since I'm short and their "guest." We stood there for about 15 minutes and watched the sunset together. After the sun had completely set, Tae brought some locks and waterproof pens to write with. Each of us wrote on our locks and we put them in a formation to create a circle.
We left the tower and went to a restaurant down the street that has mostly soups and meat. The entire time we played 007 and the loser had to eat some jjambbong that Hoseok accidentally ordered. It was fun but we left around 8 o'clock for the dorms so we could get to bed early. Namjoon was going to call for a cab but Tae and Jungkook thought it would be funner to walk and to look at the city at night. The older ones agreed eventually so we walked most of the 10 miles. Half of it we ended up taking cabs because they realized how far the dorm actually was.
Back at the dorm, we showered and sat in the living room playing a game while we waited to take our showers. At 11:30, we went back to our rooms to sleep. I forgot that Tae moved his bed into my room while I showered, but it was here in my room. Tae walked in and sat on his bed and looked at me.
"Y/N, have you written about our adventures in your book yet?" I shook my head, I didn't really have time to write after we got back. "I hope that you write our best adventures in there so we can relive them by reading them!" He smiled at me then got up to turn the light off in the room. "I hope you don't get too conscientious about a guy sleeping in the same room as you." I gave a small giggle and crawled under the covers of my bed as Tae turned the light off.
"Good night Tae."
"Good night, y/n."
Here's Tae's part! So, I'll tell you this cause I don't feel like making an entire other card about this. I saw a picture of Seventeen's Woozi and was legit confused and first thought it was Suga. But then I looked at the eyes. Oh well. So, I hope you are liking the story so far! Drop suggestions and feedback, even questions in the comments! Bye!~
Want to be tagged? Just tell me in the comments below! |
Sunday, July 10, 2011
(I read the e-book)
This is a young YA book (as opposed to some of the more sophisticated YA books). It's about Tansy. Angry at her father, at her mother, at the world, she begins to experiment with rebellion. Enter Chrissy, her amateur fairy godmother. Tansy gets three wishes and ends up transported to the time of Robin Hood. Fairy tale adventures ensue as she is forced to re-write the ending of the fairy tale she's in the middle of. The moral of the story? She has to figure that out too.
This was a really fun book. I was engaged the whole time. Tansy is a senior in high school, so we've got some teenage angst, but it's not overdone and Tansy is mature enough to learn from her adventures, so there's a nice ending, with a good message. Seems like good messages in books directed to teenagers are few and far between, but this is a very positive message--genuine without being heavy handed. The book is also squeaky clean.
I catch myself thinking that teenagers can't fall in lasting love, but I know that's not true--I fell in love with my husband my junior year in high school and 28 years later I love him more than ever! I enjoyed reading about Tansy's romance as well. She is a likeable character from start to finish. I found her rebellious tendencies easy to understand. I like the way her estrangement from her father was portrayed. There were some deep feelings in the book that were illustrated in realistic, positive ways.
It was a good book, full of adventure from start to finish. Nothing is resolved the way you think it will be, the fairies aren't particularly reliable, and the truth is a far cry from the written account of it! Fun!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
I really like Margaret Truman's mysteries and it's been awhile since I've read one. So I'm going to try and avoid generalities about her mystery series (since I don't clearly remember the others I've read) and just tell you about this one.
The book takes place in Washington DC (as do they all, I believe). This is part police procedural (one of my favorite kinds of mysteries) and part Perry Mason-esque lawyer procedural. Our main character (who appears in her other books too) is Mackenzie Smith, former criminal lawyer and now law professor. He is well known in Washington DC, with a good reputation as a criminal lawyer, with many friends in high places, with classes full of students who are there because of his skill and popularity as a teacher.
A senator's intern is found murdered in the alley right outside of Ford's Theatre in Washington DC. Ford's Theater is famous as the place where the Shakespearian actor Booth murdered President Lincoln. Throughout the book the reader learns all sorts of interesting details about this historical event. Detectives Moses Johnson and Rick Klayman are assigned to investigate. There are many suspects and plenty of little twists and turns.
I really enjoyed the book. I like Mackenzie Smith and his wife Annabel, I liked both detectives and I love reading about Washington DC as seen through the eyes of Margaret Truman. It was an engaging read all the way through. I appreciate Margaret Truman even more because her mysteries are always "clean". There may be murder and sexual shenanigans, but Ms. Truman does not include graphic scenes in her novels AND she eschews all foul language. I SO appreciate that!
This book reports the science behind the way a body and mind reacts to food, with plenty of witty phrasing and cartoon-like illustrations. The authors include a food and exercise program as well as some solid advice on how best to re-train the reader's approach to eating well and exercising.... and just generally taking care of his/her body.
I came away with a few solid ideas that I felt I could use in my own efforts at being more healthy: walk 30 minutes a day WITHOUT FAIL; the waist measurement (32 1/2" or less for a woman) is the definitive measurement for health--NOT weight... The book was very informative. The diet and exercise plan was pretty standard.
I got very tired of the clever little metaphors stuck in all over the place--it felt like they were there to lighten up a whole bunch of heavy scientific explanations. Sometimes I found them almost patronizing. I also found the illustrations almost completely unhelpful. Also, I will admit that my eyes glazed over in some parts. Too much information. But I think this is stuff that people should know--it has always seemed unfortunate to me that we humans know so little about our bodies and they way they work.
Generally I found the book solid but uninspiring. There are a bunch of other diet books out there that offer the same advice: change your eating habits, stay away from sugar, get plenty of exercise (walking and weight training). There are others that give the body info in more interesting and even more palatable formats too. I guess I'm glad I have this one on my shelf as a reference--it can answer a lot of my questions about how the body uses food, but when I'm looking for inspiration or motivation, I won't be consulting "You On A Diet".
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
This is the second in this series. The first is "Poison Study" (my favorite) and the last is "Fire Study" (my least favorite). In this book Yelena returns to Sitia to meet her family and to be trained in the art of magic.
This book is most interesting to me because of Yelena's family and because of the continuing development of her relationship with Valek, who I can't help but adore. I also like the glimpses of the other characters that I've learned to love--Ari and Janco and even the Commander (and his "cousin"). We also meet new likeable characters--Bain, his apprentice (whose name I can't call to mind right now and I'm too lazy to walk into the next room to get the book), the horses... and some not-so-likeable characters like the wannabe king and his unsavory henchmen. And Roze, one of the master magicians.
I was sorry that the conflict in this story involved yet another sadistic man, raping and killing a series of girls. Get a new storyline, will you? Why all the torture and rape? I also was not particularly interested in Yelena's magic. I liked the first book a lot more because Yelena's character was developed so fully apart from magic. She had experienced awful things and yet managed to overcome them and become a whole, strong person. I really liked that. This book was just Yelena being a maverick, running off and solving all the problems in Sitia almost single-handed.
I still liked this, though, because it tied up the loose ends from book one, "Poison Study". It was worth reading just because of that. Oh, and because reading about Yelena and Valek's unique bond and the way it works to assist both of them is pretty cool. I like Valek so much! Sigh.
Book 3, "Fire Study", however, is just more of the same maverick behavior from Yelena. There's more of the characters we like, but this story did not capture me the way the first book did. I'll go back and re-read it eventually and review it here, but later.... Meanwhile, read "Poison Study". It's so good!
This is the story of Yelena--a prisoner on death row in the commander's dungeon. She has murdered her benefactor's son, but has been given a second chance at life--as the commander's poison taster. She begins her study of poisons, but her life is complicated as her former benefactor seeks her death and as she learns self-defense and discovers that she is the possessor of a magical talent--a possession that is illegal and if discovered will lead to her execution.
This is one of my very favorite YA novels. It has adventure, magic, complex emotions, love, fighting... I really like it. I really engaged with the main characters and I find the contrast between Ixia and Sitia (the North and South countries on this continent) very interesting. It compares two governments: a military dictatorship and a committee/council-led government. The evils and benefits of both are dispassionately noted. I actually end up preferring the military dictatorship in this book even though in real life I find the idea horrifying. Actually, I'm jumping ahead a little bit. This book "Poison Study" is the first book in this 3 book series and it takes place completely in Ixia, the country of the military dictatorship. The second book "Magic Study" takes place completely in Sitia and that allows the comparison. My next review will be for "Magic Study".
Be cautioned: Yelena was tortured and raped before she was sent to prison. Throughout this book she remembers these experiences as she tries to recover from them emotionally and mentally. I found this marginally disturbing, but her recovery and her revenge made it interesting enough for me to not be too bothered by her memories. Another caution: There is premarital sex here. In a dungeon, in rotten hay, after Yelena has vomited repeatedly and after she and her lover have been in the dungeon for at least 24 hours. Oooh. Sexy. Another instance of fictional sex that I daresay would NOT be in the least plausible in real life by normal people. That's kind of weird, and I wish it weren't there, but... it is. And it's not graphic in the least.
A very memorable book. The best in the series, as a matter of fact. I really like this one.
We checked this one out of the library to listen to on our long road trip. It is not a book written by one person, but is a collection of works by different authors. Each ruling house is written about by a different historian.
I found this book very interesting. It told the history of England through the lives of its kings and queens. Of course, not a lot is known about some of these monarchs, but what is known is interesting. There were no sensational accounts here, but all accounts seemed to be balanced and based on true history. My 15-year-old nephew thought it was the most boring thing ever, but I found it engaging from the start to the end. It DID get a little drier towards the end as the government of England became more complex--all those prime ministers and Tory and Whig governments and parliament and all that jazz.
It was particularly interesting to me to hear a British point of view on the much vilified King George (the 3rd, I think)--the guy who "lost" the American colonies. According to the British historian, he was a good guy who had bad advisers at the time. Hm.
I enjoyed getting a timeline-like picture of the history of England from the famous 1066 Battle of Hastings (that's the right name, I hope--there were so many battles!) right up to Queen Elizabeth and her disastrous daughters-in-law. And since it was a long book, it took up many driving hours and kept me awake and alert. A good one if you like history.
This one took place in China (you could tell that from the title, eh?) and dealt with the antique trade there. I liked this one better than the Moai one. It was a little more complex, had a GREAT side story (the secondary tale that's hundreds of years old) and was more engaging generally.
Our protagonist, Lara McClintock, travels to China to bid on an antique silver box for a friend. She thinks she's taken on a relatively simple assignment, but she becomes embroiled in danger and intrigue. This one was fairly believable and was interesting without being too scary (I don't like too scary). And even though some bad things were happening in China to Lara and some others, the reader comes away from the story with a positive feeling about the country. That's an accomplishment for the author, I think.
I will probably read more from this series.
Ugh. We got this book on tape to listen to during a long drive. It was BORING! I've read others in "The Cat Who..." series and have moderately enjoyed them. But not only did I get tired of the insufferably attractive, intelligent, wealthy and gifted Jim Quilleran (enough already!), but there was barely a mystery to be found here! We were on the last disc before anything mystery-like took place and the book ended with a lame resolution. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
I enjoyed some of the earlier "Cat Who..." series, but the newer ones just get more self-congratulatory and plot-less. Disappointing.
This book is billed as "an archaeological mystery" and it takes place on Easter Island--the one with the big carved heads, which are called Moai.
This book was fine. It was fairly interesting, fairly educational and pretty good. Faint praise, I know. It took me awhile to get into the story; it moves pretty slowly. It also took me a little while to warm up to the main character. For one thing, she and her best friend are both a feminists. I found that a little distracting at first. I am afraid that feminism, to a great extent, has made many women unhappy and I don't like to see it glamorized in books. But! Our character ends up being pretty likeable. Mostly.
The mystery in this story is solid. It's logical and interesting. I LOVED how there's a double storyline, albeit one is much less developed than the other. But it was interesting to read a the little snatches of a story that took place hundreds of years before our mystery did. And I also enjoyed learning a bit more about Easter Island and its history and inhabitants.
Not a bad book at all. I have a few of these by Lyn Hamilton in my library book pile and I'll probably read at least one more of them. If you're looking for an interesting, slightly educational, low-key read, you'll like these mysteries. |
Half a Home
There are few things sadder than an arrival, after such a long journey, with no one to receive you. Rishi stood alone amidst the crowd outside Indira Gandhi Airport. Taxis came forth and people slowly, in practical fashion, filed into them. Other people met family, kissed children, smiles everywhere.
But for Rishi there was no family nor the pomp or celebration of years past, when he would arrive with his mother and father, to everyone’s embraces; the airport terminal turned carnival; flower garlands and laughter; hugs and tears of joy.
Return was a cherished event coupled with the visceral impact of the Indian heat. And the colors: As if a switch had been turned on to the kaleidoscope, merry go around and roller coaster – all at once. Though now, disheveled and with nobody around he knew, Rishi felt the ache only nostalgia gives. His stubbled face held an empty expression, looking for solace in some strangers face, though everyone unaccompanied waited for their taxi with distracted unease, looking at their cellphones. Airports can make you feel so, alone.
At the luggage carousel, he felt his spirit turn; he hadn’t expected such intense sadness. He had a feeling nobody would show. His mother said she had informed the family though something about the way she said it made him think twice.
Now outside, he still looked around. Perhaps someone had come? Maybe it was a mistake? Of course, a natural mistake, with the time difference and all.
Back home, in his parent’s Queens apartment, the time difference used to be ingrained through the two clocks upon the mantle; one Indian the other New York time. He could never look at one without looking at the other, even outside the house; he would always know exactly what time it was in India.
The clocks were a constant reference point for Rishi's father, who would work overtime in the 70s to make one 5 minute phone call a week, to hear distant voices that haunted his memories and dreams.
Rishi's father was a man’s man; rarely shed a tear, generally unexpressive. But those phone calls were what he lived for. The rest of the time was just in anticipation of that moment or in planning a return visit. Gifts constantly collected, life was suspended till that very moment of return - in the airport terminal- when life truly bloomed, transforming Rishi’s father; from a man who read the New York Times in brusque silence; watched Peter Jennings in a trance, into someone who had purpose again; India, family.
Whenever things got tough, his father planned a trip; it slowly became the solution to all problems. And it worked. Upon returning, for months, his father would have renewed energy to pay bills and go to work, only to slow down again, get into a rut and plan another trip. India, India. Repeat ad infinitum. Not a bad life.
New York was purgatory, a grand waiting game, for that moment of return. His father enjoyed New York; it mesmerized with its energy, opportunity and edge. But something about being in- between, in the greatest city on Earth (he sincerely believed this) made him feel more alive to everything. In, but not of it - nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Debilitating for some, exhilarating for others.
His father had come over on scholarship, to study at NYU for his masters in Math, and stayed on to work and gain citizenship, the typical immigrant story of its time. But he was never at ease in this new dreamland, even though nobody waxed more poetic about it; about the subway; the 5th avenue library; the jazz clubs in the village; the New York Times, even.
And then Rishi was born, unexpectedly, or so his father said, after they started frequenting Atlantic City, leaving his sister with family friends. His father gambled while his mother walked the boardwalk, and “that’s where you were conceived, Lucky 7”, referencing Rishi’s year of birth; 1977.
Given his father’s eccentricities, he wasn’t sure if this was some joke or not. His parents did obsess over Atlantic City; it was almost always where they wanted to go whenever a long weekend came. But he never really saw his parents touch, so it heartened him to think of time when they did. Whether or not it was true, the very idea of them together made him happy. His mother in a sari by the Jersey shore, holding his father’s hand, as they looked over at the sunset. Care free, gambling, eating together. Probably not true, but hey, who knew?
He asked his mother about it once and she just laughed. But then she laughed whenever his father did anything crazy because if he wasn’t doing anything crazy he got depressed. He closed the lights in the living room, put a blanket over his head and never spoke to anyone for days. And then he’d watch old Benny Hill episodes on VHS and this one dance video of Sridevi, over and over. We all have our unique ways of coping with our frustrations and losses. But these episodes were intermittent and if they got really bad, there was always India if something didn’t pique his interest first.
Like how one day, after school, his father gave him a cutting of a restaurant review from the New York Times. It was written in that floral style only the Times gets away with. “Read this article, look at how divine they make it sounds.” Divine, his father had taken to improving his vocabulary during Rishi’s SAT preparation but had retained his loose pronunciation and grammar.
“We must go there, we must eat there, right now right now!” He got into the car, revved the engine and blasting the horn to make Rishi hurry. Rishi would feel a mad rush of energy and joy in those spontaneous moments. His father thrived on unpredictability. “Surprises, good surprises, are a precious thing. Our lives generally have bad surprises but good surprises make up for the bad ones.”
His father was different than the other Indians, less “practical” and too showy, with tastes a bit too refined for a new immigrant. Though he earned no more than his colleagues, he spent more, and feared less. Looking at old pictures of his father you immediately noticed the well-dressed handsome man amidst a sea of tackiness and anxiety. The corduroy blazer, the disco shirts and gold chains, it’s as if his father belonged on the Amalfi coast with movie stars instead of ugly modernist Queens with a bunch of square engineers as neighbors, colleagues and friends. All Indian, all so uncool.
Rishi always wondered what it was that made his father different than the rest, and with age, and some life experience, realized it was because his father was already quite well to do before coming to America. He was the main breadwinner for his joint family and as a result the go-to man for all problems. Money, prestige, respect, and already married to Rishi’s mother; he had it all. Only to leave it behind for a dream - or was it ambition?
“I wanted to study and come see what all the fuss was about,” he said to him looking at him through the rearview mirror. Rishi in the backseat, his mother up front organizing the tapes in the glove compartment, “Why doesn’t anyone put the tapes back in the right covers?” This was a pet peeve of hers, though nobody ever listened.
His father usually opened up driving, on those trips to Atlantic City, with the New Jersey Turnpike spiced by Bollywood soundtracks. It was as if the road ahead and the movement made him relax and look Rishi directly in the eye, albeit through the rear view mirror.
It was on these trips that he learned that his father rented not a room, but a dirty mattress on Roosevelt Ave, for 8 hours a day. He worked nights at a candy store, and took over the mattress from someone else, on his return, from a person about to do exactly what he just did; a low paying shift if not in a candy store, in a gas station or restaurant.
His father could have gone back to India, and everything would have been fine. He wasn’t from a small village, or supporting a family, or any of that sacrificial stuff that paralyzes or motivates many an immigrant. It was curiosity and adventure that drove him. The same spirit of adventure that was bringing Rishi back, to India.
Being of Indian origin allowed him to feel connected to something more authentic than his drab American life. He saw in his Indian family a love and spontaneity few had in America. The absence of absurd consumer comforts made them stronger, healthier and more alert to the visceral aspects of life. Or, so he thought, in his romantic escapism.
We all want to be somewhere else, and that far off place helps us make sense of what home means to us. For Rishi, his dismay with America was always a result of having India to compare it to. It became a deeper fissure, an unwashed wound, that as he got older, held him back from ever being comfortable with who he was; where he was.
Rishi’s father understood all this. He knew that excesses and absurdities of the West could only be curbed and tempered by the East. That is why he wanted Rishi to fall in love, with India - but as an American. “India needs a De Tocqueville” he would absurdly say. Rishi didn’t expect such highbrow political philosophy from his father. That’s what the New York Times did to him. It made him memorize trite phrases that surprisingly worked within the context of what he was talking about. “America is the greatest son, trust me. The opportunities, dignity and possibilities. The endless possibilities of being. You don’t know how lucky you are, you have choices, and options, that I never fathomed or thought about. The problems in America are a result of bad choices. Eating too much, drugs, sex, over-spending, but at least people have the choices and the second chances to make it right. In India there are no second chances. People are condemned to their fate, and lament and whither away wondering what could have been, if only, if only...”
These diatribes were a common fixture in Rishi’s upbringing, often colored by his father’s constant unease for those he left behind. Not guilt, just plain and simple longing. If family defines a man’s life, little else can substitute it. If his father every knew love, or was ever pressed to describe it; it would be this one desire; to return to touch again his land and people.
Rishi knew this meant more to him, than being with himself and his mother. In this regard they were similar to families of artists, rocks stars or politicians, all of whom work for something bigger than themselves, only in Rishi’s father’s case, what filled that god-shaped hole was a huge, poor country, on the other side of the world, filled with smiling, adoring, pandering family. Family.
The sky slowly turned a deep electric blue. It was 4am and a loud hush had fallen over the airport crowd. In the past, at the same hour, Rishi remembered more hubbub or perhaps it was the perspective of being older that made things feel different.
In the commotion of an earlier return someone touched his feet, a gesture of respect for elders on the sub-continent. He was fifteen and his younger cousin nephew of seven the culprit. The smudge marks left on his brand new Reebok shoes perturbed him.
Now it was different: Nobody paid attention to his presence, not even the coolies. He was alone, older and trying to solve his problems like his father used to, with a trip to India. It had been five years since he’d been back. The last trip had been short, two weeks, and a teary eyed blur, to submerge his father’s ashes in the holy river.
He hadn’t had the inclination to return after; it didn’t feel the same without his father. Time passed and he got caught up in his university studies, while his mother worked ever harder to run the household alone. Yes, those were tough times. Life without his father had become mundane, mechanical, about survival. He forgot about India. It only occurred to him when he started faltering and was unable to cope with the profound malaise over-taking him.
It was during medical school and by all measures everything was going well. A beautiful girlfriend and on path to becoming a doctor; the dedication to success he harbored was paying fruit. Rishi focused ever harder after his father’s death, if only because the challenge and the difficulty of his situation motivated him. He was always like this, even as a child. He looked for difficultly; disdained comfort. He never questioned what the task meant or what it led to, he just wanted to succeed and in turn, make his father proud.
He worked to see his father’s face light up in doing complex algebra problems at 7. Or when he was considered too short for the basketball team, he became a 3-point specialist; shooting baskets from afar, deep into the night he would practice. “Make your weakness your strength”, his father would say often.
Success was no longer enough. With his father gone, nothing made sense. For the first time he had to examine what he was doing; what things meant, where he was in the world. It tormented him, to have the responsibility of his decisions and life weigh on him, when in the past all he had to do was be successful and not question or think, just make his father happy.
Rishi did not understand how he got to where he was. Nothing appealed to him. People looked at his life in envy; awed by his accomplishments, though they seemed meaningless to him now. Something wasn’t right, and he couldn’t figure it out.
I know what you may be thinking, dear reader, that our protagonist is “depressed”, in need of counseling and coddling. Or perhaps this is the normal process of mourning and one can easily explain away his existential crisis through psychology and biology. Rishi was aware of all this and actively rebelled against such explanations.
He was aware his crisis was related to his father’s death, but he felt its solution – his rising up and overcoming – was paramount in honoring his father’s memory. He didn’t know how he would over-come; he just knew he had to. Besides, with his father gone, he felt that somehow he was carrying the burden of what his father always felt – that state of unease, the longing, the searching for ecstasy through the senses, travel, something new, always trying to fill that endless void. It’s what made him love his father, and now he knew he had to as gracefully and recklessly follow suit.
A feeling of restlessness eventually started to take a hold of him. At first he couldn’t sleep, then he would disappear for days, riding the subway endlessly to every last stop on every subway line in the city, to feel the limits.
“Last stop, last stop, this is the last stop. Everybody off.”
Rishi would get off, walk around and talk to random people and ride back, looking off into the horizon, constantly in a daze.
The New York City subway comforted him, with its swaying rhythms and familiar sounds. Like the ringing bell before the doors closed. And then watching all those people: Couples kissing, old people reading, children transfixed by the moving skyline in the distance. As a child, he always insisted on taking rides on the trains even on weekends, and his fascination never ceased. It’s where he did his best thinking.
One day he saw a little boy with his bicycle and father. The bike had training wheels, was cumbersome to look at and the boy was quiet as the father sat next to him with a gentle smile. “Today, today is the day, we are going to take these off and don’t worry I’ll hold you, but you got to believe in yourself.” The little boy had a faraway look in his eyes, his attention focused inward.
Rishi discreetly followed father and son, as they got off somewhere in Brooklyn. It was a clear and sunny autumn morning. He was supposed to be in class, but took to riding the subway more often. In the nearby park the father removed the training wheels as his son got on. “I am going to hold you, don’t worry.” And he did, up to a point, he ran along holding his son as he pedaled.
The rays of the sun slanted as they beamed in through the leaves falling from the trees. Effervescence took hold of the scene and, as if in slow motion, slowly, the father let go and for a brief moment, his son moved alone. Balancing, only to fall shortly after. His father still smiled, walked slowly over and gave him a hug, and picked him up in his arms. The boy tried hard not to cry. “One more time.” His father said “one more time.” Rishi welled up watching this.
Rishi never cried easily, and this bothered him. The only thing that made him cry without fail were Italian films from the neo –realist period. He discovered this by chance in a film class in university. Bicycle Thief. It moved him so much that he had to run out of the cinema, uncontrollable sobs.
Neo-realism was a break from fantasy, poignantly raw; it tugged on the soul harder than the melodrama produced by Hollywood up to that point in time. And now Rishi was feeling things in real life. He was now in the film, rather than outside, as a spectator.
This was part of a revelation that came to him after a bong hit, watching Easy Rider, with his best friend after the summer he graduated from NYU. They came up with their own philosophy of film, of how reality is siphoned into three categories and our lives are basically spent shifting between these realms. The first one is as spectator, the other as actor, and the third and final is as director/producer. None is better than the other, but we all find ourselves in one of these realms, all the time. And the trick is to move in and out fluidly, and not get stuck in any one realm.
And now he had shifted. He was in, and was feeling the part he was playing, stronger than ever. And the scene with the father with his son and the bicycle is what did it. He thought to himself while watching father and son:
“What more can one want out of existence but those precious moments, the rites of passage and moments of kindness in the face of failure? “
But now Rishi was alone, and had no one to pick him up. He didn’t have his father, and an ache deep inside him awoke for the first time watching this scene, on a sunny morning in Brooklyn. Something about this newfound pain didn’t scare him, he felt intuitively that it was better to feel and be aware of it than run from it, or pretend it didn’t exist.
The idea of going to India came to him later. It was during a during a histology lecture, looking through slides, identifying mitochondria. The exam preparation required that he review numerous slides, which to the laymen look like various abstract shapes. Somehow, he could have sworn, he saw the images speak to him. It was late at night, perhaps he was sleep deprived. He saw an image of India, and the goddess Durga. Rishi never believed in these “signs” and never thought about god or mysticism. But then nobody really does until they are in trouble.
The message was clear: He had to go back to India, get in touch with his roots. Leave this terrible place behind.
He dropped out. He was going to go to India like his father used to. If he had his father, and his father had India, and if he no longer had his father, then he had to go to the source of that goodness – India. Circuitous logic, yes, but desperate times call for such measures. He went in search for that renewable force that always gave his father life, fulfillment, and energy.
Now, he was back and he could have been anywhere, but he wasn’t just anywhere. He was in the land of his ancestors and Gods, he thought melodramatically. He looked around at all the empty tired faces. Some of them had people to receive them, but they were small muted receptions. Proper, middle class, as if someone was watching and everyone had to behave them selves.
“I am from here, I am from here,” he repeated to himself, in his mind. But he didn’t believe it; feeling no connection to the people around him. He absent- mindedly took his prepaid taxi receipt and made his way to the curb. A car came; the driver without saying hello took his bags and loaded them in the trunk. Rishi, about to get in the back, hesitated. He went around to the front to sit next to the driver.
He lit up a cigarette. Dawn’s light and the smoke gave him a glamorous glow. His brow furrowed in deep thought, he sighed and looked over at the driver, at his blood shot eyes, probably awoken while in a deep dream and now he drove along mechanically, as if sleep walking; driving. The cool pre-dawn air and that smell, that earthy smell, hit him with exhilaration. Some things never change.
Rishi told the driver in Hindi how beautiful the morning was. The driver smiled, and instantly, as if by magic, his entire tired face grew awake and lucid, more attractive and less hostile than it had been before. “Yes sahib, it is,” he said, looking back at Rishi kindly. Rishi felt better, a steady smile took over him, and he looked ahead with greater clarity.
Slowly, he started remembering where he was. As they made their way into South Delhi, familiarity and old memories came rushing in though his heart began to sink, as they got closer to his family house. His mother had informed his uncle of his arrival, but he also knew that his uncle was never the same after his father’s death, expecting Rishi’s father to finally bequeath his half of the family house.
It was a constant source of anguish and tension in the family. His uncle could not understand why his father would want to keep half his house in India. “You live in America, you are rich and well to do why do you need two houses?” But Rishi’s father never budged, a good-hearted person though he was, and nobody more generous in the family, he wasn’t naive. He understood how India worked; with no property he had no status, a nobody, only a guest to be coddled and fed on vacations, but forgotten about once gone. Keeping his part of the house allowed him to come and go as he pleased and maintain control and importance within his family. It had nothing to do with money.
Now this half a house, half a one-time home, was a point of contention. What made matters worse was that this house was not just anywhere; it was in a posh South Delhi colony. Estimates of what the house was worth varied, but even conservative estimates made it rival Manhattan property values.
The house was no mansion: A one floor, four-room house that had sheltered at one time the entire joint family; four families in total, one per room. Doors always open, children everywhere, cooking constant, as kitchens were communal, amongst all his aunties or “mummys”. There was always action, and noise, it was only during power cuts that everyone quieted down, gathered in one room, and over candlelight told stories.
The candle would flicker and the through the shadows and his elder’s words, Rishi would feel the history of his collective past come alive. The partition, Pakistan, his grandfather and grandmother who he never met but could feel, through those stories, into the night. It was in such moments that Rishi felt connected to something bigger than himself, some grand past, a feeling of belonging.
This was India in the 1980s. When there was one brand of car, 2 state owned TV channels, no commercials, and the stagnation that comes from being a closed economy. Joint families, living together, was cultural as much as it was an economic necessity. The economic reforms of 1991 changed all this. And with each trip as a child, Rishi saw greater wealth and materialism take shape. First came cable TV, and then McDonalds, followed by the usual slew of multi-national brands. And then he noticed the confidence and independence that a booming economy provided his middle class family mixed with an indifference towards himself, his parents, and America.
Slowly, and surely, the nuclear family became the norm, and people saw each other less and less frequently. Crassly, he interpreted it as the inevitable triumph of the material over the spirit. The domination of Western over Eastern culture. Simplistic assessment, yes. But then it is hard to be objective when your analysis is colored by nostalgia, identity, post-colonialism and - most importantly – the heartbreak that comes from the acknowledgement that nothing lasts forever. Not youth, nor love.
As a child, his old toys and clothes were constantly sent to his cousins in India. One of the first things done when they arrived was to open up the suitcases around a crowd of family, as they awed and oohed over used Sony Walkmans and Levi jeans. Now he just got word that one of his cousins took a holiday to Paris. Paris! He had never even been to Paris.
And now, as the taxi pulled up to his old house, all he felt was isolation. His side of the house empty and locked up, the other side decrepit and unkempt. He rang the doorbell. No answer. He rang it again, while the driver waited. Finally, his Cousin’s wife came to the door, and forced a smile at him. She had been informed she said, and was waiting. Her face was not only older it was if the scowl she now wore was permanently etched on her face. Especially made worse by her trying to hide it by forcing a smile. But her face betrayed her. She opened his side of the house for him, and said, in the most formal of manners, that if he needed anything, to eat, anything, to come over their side, and that they would talk in the morning when everyone was awake.
Rishi paid the driver, who brought in his things. The living room was dusty, and the house was in need of a good cleaning. It was awkward to be all alone on his side of the house. He wanted to wake and hug and laugh with his cousins and uncle, like times past. But something held him back, an invisible, unspoken, mutually acknowledged barrier.
He went to sleep almost immediately from the exhaustion of the journey, but also to escape this new sense of heartbreak. Before drifting off to sleep, he remembered his mother, back in New York, working at the office. She was probably at this very moment returning home, alone as well. She had told him to forget about India. That it had changed. She was here a year back, and fought bitterly to preserve the house, though all feeling of love was gone. She was treated poorly, and harassed by Rishi’s uncle. Rishi couldn’t believe it could be true though his mother insisted things had changed. It slowly was becoming apparent what was happening. Nobody at the airport, a scowl instead of a genuine smile, their side of the house locked up; abandoned.
Rishi fell into a deep sleep. A sleep so deep, a dreamless sleep, the kind that makes you forget where you are. He awoke to the sound of birds singing, and a hot afternoon sun caressing his handsomely worn face. He had heard somewhere that the face you have at 30 is the face you carry with you the rest of your days. How honest and true the face of a person is. He recalled his sister in law, it was clear that bitterness and anxiety had ruined her face. She was not happy to see him. To be unwelcome in ones own home, motherland, by ones own blood. What did it mean? How he yearned for warmth again. An India without family love, what was the point and why had he come?
He arose, and walked onto the veranda. The trees were just as green he remembered them. In front lay the colony park, clean and pristine, much cleaner than before. A sign said “No cricket playing”.
His sister was married in this park, about 20 years ago. His father’s funeral ceremony also took place there. Throughout his youth all he remembered were weddings and funerals, and when it was empty, it was over-run with children. Now, servants lay about languidly, everybody was somewhere else, there was a silence that perturbed him. Pristine mansions left empty, servants watching soap operas all day and enjoying leisure. This was new.
Weddings and funerals were now also prohibited in public spaces. The chaos with the noise disturbed people and brought down property values. People wanted to be relax and live in peace in the little time they had free.
“Change is a part of life” he thought. But could India still be a savior for him as it had been for his father? And if it wasn’t, how was he to deal with his own frustrations and failures? |
By Mark Ellis —
Life Magazine called him one of the top five test pilots in the U.S. His illustrious career extended into his eighties, well beyond the time most retire from the grueling physical demands of high-performance jets.
“I knew what I wanted to be at the age of five,” says Russell O’Quinn. As a child during the Great Depression, his father decided to re-roof their house, which was under the final approach to a local airport.
Since Russell’s mother was away, his father decided on a creative way to look after the lad while he worked. “He took a hammer and nailed the seat of my pants to the roof,” Russell recalls. “A 10-penny nail is a very effective babysitter.” He spent an afternoon watching airplanes fly overhead, which began his love affair with flying.
As a teen, he begged his parents to allow him to take flying lessons, but they were afraid of aviation and refused. When Russell got a job at the airport as a “grease monkey,” he worked out a clever trade. He received free flying lessons on Saturday mornings in exchange for work. He promised his parents he wouldn’t spend any money on flying lessons and he felt that kept him honest.
At age 16 he got his pilot’s license. “The mistake I made was the day I got my license I decided to celebrate by buzzing the house,” he recalls. “Somehow my parents knew who that was.” Grounded for six months, he continued to press the issue with his parents until they relented and allowed him to continue flying.
A Hollywood movie, “Test Pilot,” starring Spencer Tracey, Myrna Loy, and Clark Gable made a big impression and planted a seed for his future course. “I went to see that movie 100 times,” he estimates, but he wasn’t sure how to achieve his goal.
Then he heard about the National Aerobatic Contest held each year, where the best aerobatic pilots displayed their skills. “I figured if I could get good enough to compete, that would be a major stepping stone into aviation.” Russell began to train and practice advanced aerobatic maneuvers. But, one day his father happened to drive his car underneath one of his aerobatic displays and he was grounded again.
After Russell graduated from high school, he stayed with relatives in Oklahoma during the summer. “I had one weird aunt who did strange things like read her Bible in front of everyone and pray out loud before she ate meals,” he says. She also attended church several times a week, which seemed odd to the young man.
“My parents were fine moral people, but there wasn’t time for church in my family,” Russell notes. “We went to church maybe once a year. This made this woman terrifying to me.”
“I was afraid someday she was going to corner me and pour religion down my throat,” he adds. “Years later I discovered she was much wiser than she was weird.”
Russell stayed as far away from her as possible, but one day she cornered him with some advice. “If you want to amount to anything in your profession, you should go to college and get an aeronautical engineering degree,” she suggested.
Then she dangled a carrot. “If you go to college, I’ll pay the first year’s room, board, and tuition.”
Arrival at college
It was an offer he couldn’t refuse, but he didn’t realize she had already selected a small Christian college in the Ozarks as part of the deal. After he got into his dorm room, he went out to explore the campus. “As I was walking along I ran into a bunch of nuts carrying Bibles,” he recalls. “Then I knew my aunt betrayed me and I had fallen into a hotbed of religion.”
But by 2:00 a.m. he found at least a dozen other young men who had been “conned” into attending Christian school. “Instead of leaving, we decided to form a club and see what kind of devilment we could create.”
His aunt made one critical mistake in her plan. She gave Russell the entire year’s college money in advance. He discovered he could buy a war surplus army training aircraft for about half of what his aunt gave him in cash. He bought the airplane, paid the first half of his college expenses, and decided to “let the second half worry about itself.”
The college had a small, unused airstrip at the foot of the campus, which Russell decided to put to good use. However, buying the fuel for his plane with his remaining funds didn’t fit into his plan. As he began to run short of cash, he modified the engine of his plane to run on automotive fuel. With help from his friends in the club, they siphoned gas from roadwork vehicles that sat unattended on weekends.
Russell held off as long as possible from taking a required class at the school – Bible. With a push from the professor, he enrolled and sat in the back. After a few weeks, he received an invitation to the professor’s home for dinner.
“I was nervous but I could tell he cared about me,” Russell says. “He took time from his busy schedule to talk to me, so I decided to listen.”
After dinner, they began to talk in the professor’s study. “Sooner or later you will take a course that deals with the origins of the universe,” the instructor began. “After studying these subjects years ago, I came to the conclusion there are only two basic premises behind them. One holds there was a cataclysmic explosion eons ago and through a theory called ‘evolution’ everything that is about us came to be. The other holds there is an almighty, powerful God who created the heavens and earth and everything in them.
“As I studied the sciences and saw the design, creativity, cohesiveness and power, I came to the conclusion somebody had to be behind all this,” he added. “I became aware of a word that describes evolution, and that word is ‘accident.’
“I could not reconcile what I learned in the sciences with the word accident, so I began to believe there is a God,” he said.
Then the professor began to talk about Jesus, someone Russell had only known in a profane way. “He explained how Jesus Christ performed a work so matchless it allowed a way for man to find his way back to God,” he concluded.
As the professor walked Russell to the front door he said, “I want you to know my wife and I care about you and we’ve been praying for you.” The remark struck a note, because Russell didn’t know anyone had every prayed for him before.
He pondered the professor’s words in his heart, but continued his dual educational pursuits – flying, along with his regular studies, trying to stay a step ahead of the campus authorities.
One of Russell’s friends got interested in flying, and Russell began to train him. When he became proficient in the aircraft, the day arrived for his friend’s first solo flight. “We inspected the aircraft,” Russell recalls. “I helped him on with his parachute. I watched him strap in and go through the start procedure.”
Russell tapped his friend on the shoulder, then got off the wing and watched him taxi away. Once in the air, his friend attempted an aerobatic maneuver he watched Russell perform in the past. “At about 500 feet he lost control of the airplane, pitched over, and drove straight into the ground at about 150 miles per hour.”
It was an awful spectacle to witness. “I had never seen death before,” he says. “It hit me like a runaway freight train that I was responsible. I’ll never forget that day.”
Nothing in Russell’s past had prepared him to deal with a tragedy of this magnitude. “For death I had no answer whatsoever.”
He went back to his room, locked the door, and got down on his knees. “I didn’t know how to pray, so all I could do is cry out, ‘God, what’s happened to me today is too great for me to bear.”
Then he remembered a formal prayer he heard in his professor’s class, which he repeated. “Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner and save me for Jesus Christ’s sake.”
In that moment of surrender, Russell was born again. “The next day I had a sudden desire to begin studying the Bible, which was a miracle,” he notes.
Russell was able to overcome the tragedy and graduated from college. He served in the U.S. Air Force and later joined Douglas Aircraft and became their representative on a classified Reconnaissance Jet Bomber program based in Japan.
After leaving Douglas, Russell established the first civilian flight test company in the U.S. He acquired a fleet of jet fighters and used them to provide flight test programs for the aerospace industry and the Department of Defense. The news media referred to him as the “owner of the world’s 14th largest jet air force.”
At the request of the U.S. State Department, Russell headed a U.S.food airlift to Biafra during the Civil War in Nigeria and another relief effort in Bangladesh.
More recently, he designed and developed a new concept tactical jet fighter. As an octogenarian, he became one of the world’s oldest test pilot still flying high-performance jet aircraft. He has been a guest on the “Today Show” and many other network programs. Russell and his wife, Mary Alice, live in Southern California near Edwards Air Force Base.
“God performed a miracle in me,” Russell declares with gratitude. “God changed my life. He allowed me to achieve every dream I had as a boy, and then some.”
“In the Bible, Romans 10:9 says this, ‘Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ Have you ever called on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and received Him as your Savior?”
“Before ever lifting an experimental jet fighter into the air, I carefully go through a detailed check list. I challenge you to go through a checklist of your life and ask if you have ever received Jesus Christ as your Savior.
“I warn you that sooner than you think or want, you are going to line up on a runway and the throttles will be pushed up into max afterburner. With unbelievable thrust, you are going to be launched into eternity. Are you ready?”
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here |
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“I’m really grateful to Dr. Norman Weinzweig for having my thumb back. I’m back to work. I can do so much like before I had the accident. It feels like it was a miracle. The doctor was always up to date with my injury and that’s exactly why I’m really grateful. I’m happy with the treatment and the service provided by the doctor, his office staff and therapists. The surgeries and therapy sessions were what helped me the most. Yes, I know the therapy exercises were hard to do, but it was what helped me get my finger back and for that I am very grateful.”
“The treatment and care were perfect. I’m grateful for the attention Dr. Weinzweig provided me with. I have no issues since I was discharged from his care. I’m perfectly fine and really satisfied with the staff and doctor care given to me.”
“Dr. Weinzweig re-attached my right hand that was completely cut while using a mustard mixing machine at work. Everything went very well. I’m very happy with the care and treatment the doctor provided. Therapy was great. It got me to use my hand and I love everything about it. I’m very pleased with the staff in dealing with insurance. The surgeries were very helpful and I’m very happy. People who know about what happened and see my hand can’t believe how good it looks.”
“I really like the treatment given to me. I’m very satisfied with the visits and treatment provided by the doctor. Therapy was extremely helpful. The therapy sessions helped me the most. The office staff was great. I’m back to work and I’m happy.”
“I’m very satisfied with the way the doctor treated me. Therapy helped me a lot. My hand is back to normal. I’m able to move my thumb without a problem. I’m able to do many things without a problem. My thumb feels and is normal. I’m satisfied with the care provided to me by the doctor, staff and therapists.”
“It took me a while after discharge for the sensitivity to go away. But the treatment and care given to me were great. My hand and fingers are back to normal. I have no issues. I’m able to use my hand as before. I’ve never been in an accident like this. The care given to me was very professional.”
“Not a day goes by when we don’t thank God for having Dr. Weinzweig as our surgeon. My husband is able to use his hand for everything after having 4 fingers almost completely cut off.”
“I was drilling out a piece of steel with a drill bit. The bit got caught and grabbed my fingers. The tip of my left index finger was cut off and a piece of steel got twisted and caught in my hand. 3 of my other fingers were cut pretty bad. I used my free hand to shut down the machine and get my hand out, but the piece of steel was still stuck in my hand. My son was home so he drove me to the local hospital ER. The people there didn’t seem to know what to do – they were even talking about amputating my 4 fingers. They ended up calling Dr. Norman Weinzweig, who agreed to take my case.
I could tell after my first conversations with Dr. Weinzweig that he knew what to do. He was very easy to talk to and explained everything. His bedside manner was excellent. I told him where to cut the steel to get it out of my hand and that’s exactly what he did and the steel came out. Then he re-attached my fingertip and fixed the other fingers.
Everything healed up nicely. One of the digital arteries couldn’t be repaired but all of my injured fingers work fine. I’m a little sensitive to cold, but that’s about it. I would absolutely recommend Dr. Norman Weinzweig to anyone who needed an excellent Hand Surgeon.”
“A safe door came off the hinges and crushed my hand. Dr. Weinzweig was very caring. He listened and explained the depth of my injury and the different stages of treatment and surgery that would follow.
From my understanding, my hand could have been in a permanent straight position but for the knowledge and expertise of Dr. Weinzweig and his staff. I have mobility and I am very grateful for the results.
I was very, very satisfied with the care provided by Dr. Weinzweig and his staff and so was my granddaughter. We both feel he is a great doctor and human being! It’s been a godsend to be treated by such a wonderful and caring doctor as Dr. Norman Weinzweig. And his staff gets 5 stars from me!”
“I was cutting a board on a table saw and my left hand got drawn into the blade. I went to the ER at Illinois Masonic Medical Center. My hat goes off to Dr. Norman Weinzweig because he took my case at about 11pm on 5/9/11, right when he was in the middle of entertaining an out-of-town guest at his home. I don’t know if he knew I was uninsured at that point. However, I will forever be grateful to him for operating on my hand on the very night my injury occurred even though it meant interrupting his social obligations with his house guest. That’s real dedication to his work and his patients! Dr. Weinzweig saw me after my surgery and it was very emotional for me. I liked that he came to see me. It showed he cared.
I started working again on June 1st and my injury was on May 9th. I can work at about 95% of my capacity now.” |
The first priority, on arriving in New York in September 2006, was to get some kind of job. I was 22. I knew that I should try to get my foot in the door with a position, no matter how lowly, in my field of interest: publishing. But my attempts to find entry-level work fell flat, and it was time for some quick thinking.
During college summers, I had done restaurant and catering gigs, so I created two résumés, one for “professional” work and one for food service. I sent the latter to a New York City caterer that specialized in local and organic food. As luck would have it, that fall was a very busy time for parties, so the company was hiring. The starting rate for a waitress was $20 an hour, plus a portion of the tip. I was thrilled. It turned out to be one of the best introductions to New York anyone could ask for. For a year or so, I made good money, met new people, and gazed into lavish windows onto an aspect of city life that I would have never seen as an office temp.
I grew up in the South and had wanted desperately to live in New York since I was 5 years old. I came to the city convinced that it was a place where so many fascinating and glamorous things happened, and I just wanted to be a part of it. I was sure New York was brimming with people I’d want to be like “when I grew up.” At first, I thought that the parties I worked at would provide me with some kind of aspirational road map of what “making it” would look like: One day, I would be a guest, rather than a worker, at events like these. While I worked the occasional soiree with a well-known author or two that I admired—is it appropriate to tell Eric Schlosser that you love his work while serving him a canapé?—for the most part, I learned that the people working at the parties were actually much more interesting than the people attending them.
I liked how social catering was. I quickly saw the same fellow workers over and over at gigs and made pals. They were all almost exclusively artists of some kind, mostly actors, some painters or conceptual artists, which I quickly realized was the kind of boho New York I wanted to be a part of. People would ask what I did, and I answered that I was a writer. This was an aspirational declaration at the time.
It was always hard work, exhausting and physically demanding, doing things like setting up big tables or carrying crates of glasses or plates. Sometimes, I was assigned to come around noon and spend hours folding napkins, moving centerpieces, and unstacking chairs, or sometimes I’d be part of the reinforcement crew that would come at 4 p.m., gearing up for when the party would begin. Once the party started everything happened so fast, with so much focus and adrenalin, that I didn’t get bored. It was 2006, the pre-crash era, and there were a lot of opulent Christmas parties. Despite fatiguing work, it felt fun and voyeuristic to get to see dazzling events with centerpieces made with crystal-ball topiaries, flickering candles, and copious flowers.
My favorite jobs were passing hors d’oeuvres and doing coat check. Walking with hors d’oeuvres was fun because you got to scope out the guests and interact with them as you told them what you were serving. We weren’t allowed to present too empty a tray to any guests, and sometimes you could pop the last tuna tartare or sweet potato samosa in your mouth when you got back to the kitchen.
Coat check was great, because it wasn’t very demanding and you often got tips. Usually there was a lot of downtime, where you could chat with the other servers or even sit down. The people who would make a big show of thanking you for getting their coat were the ones that wouldn’t actually tip. There were also all sorts of strange and unexpected perks. Sometimes we’d get to take leftover lamb chops, rolls, cookies, or flower bouquets home, which added excitement to my fridge and a flair to my shared Crown Heights apartment. I once got an expensive blanket that was one of “Oprah’s Favorite Things” from a benefit. I use it to this day.
Whether it was witnessing a Jersey bride spit out bright neon gum right before she walked down the aisle or attempting to serve a birthday dinner party when the guest of honor was in the back doing lines of coke with his friends for extended stretches, I reveled in the bizarre scenarios and considered them my evening entertainment. One distinctly memorable Christmas party I worked at was for a hedge fund. When the guests arrived, they seemed a bit different than usual. The men all looked as if they could have been athletes with their big chests and broad shoulders, but their faces had started to get doughy and filled out in the years since college. The guys immediately huddled around the bar and instead of getting a beer and mingling, they parked themselves there, demanding shot after shot before the main event got started. Their dates mostly looked alike, with straight blond hair; short, form-fitting dresses; and very high heels.
Towards the end of the night, I noticed one guy who had especially flirty and loud earlier in the evening hunched over in his chair, with his face buried in his hands. I walked over to him and asked him if I could get him anything. He didn’t respond. I thought he might be drooling. I walked away self-consciously. Fifteen minutes later, another caterer walked passed me and said, “Did you hear? Some guy puked all over the hallway and passed out on the bathroom.” Ten minutes after that, the ambulance arrived, and carted the once boisterous hedgefunder off on a gurney, passed out and open mouthed, tie gone, with vomit on his shirt. “Alcohol poisoning” was the word at the party. His date walked beside the paramedics, clutch in hand, looking at the ground.
While I enjoyed observing the decadence, I found some parties over the top. At an ad agency’s Christmas party, the focal point of the event was a large ice sculpture/luge down which we poured shots of Jaegermeister and Red Bull. Attendees would have to crouch at the bottom, standing on their knees in their suits and tight cocktail skirts, mouths opened onto the plastic dispenser. I think we had a cloth to wipe it down between shots.
In addition to Christmas parties, among the more memorable events I worked were nonprofit galas. I quickly learned that personally agreeing with the causes for some of the fundraisers I staffed didn’t make for a better work night. One of the parties with the rudest, most demanding guests was a benefit for the Nation Institute. The people attending this high-priced affair asked accusatory rather than inquisitive questions about the food and managed to treat us more like “the help” than people at other events did.
I chatted with interns who were helping out with the party by checking people in and giving gift bags. After dinner was served and we caterers were eating our leftover staff meal, I asked whether there was any extra food we could take out to the interns as they sat outside the gala ballroom. The serving captain said there wasn’t enough. I later saw that they’d ordered pizza, and Alice Waters, who was one of the hosts, came out and saw the empty pizza boxes. She began lecturing them that they we eating junk food, and that they shouldn’t be eating such terrible things when it was so easy to eat delicious, healthy organic food. I wondered whether she’d considered providing them with any.
Ultimately, one important lesson I got from catering was from the people I worked with. I greatly admired that for the most part, they were committed to their art. Catering was about economics for them, and the job was attractive because of its flexibility—a sign that you were doing well in your chosen field was that you hadn’t needed to take any gigs for a while. It was perhaps the only social scene I was ever apart of in which what you did for money in no way defined you. I had such a tunnel-vision focus on becoming a successful writer as soon as possible that it made me realize that a lot of people are committed to what they love and toil away at it in obscurity for years. Just because I wasn’t writing for the New York Times by the time was 23 didn’t mean I was headed for failure. It was comforting, but also motivating. I also knew that I wouldn’t want to be still catering 10 years later.
In post-crash New York, I’ve often wondered how some of my former co-workers fared as those parties got scaled back in future years or canceled altogether. Though the money was good for what it was, I knew that it would be a hard long-term hustle to create and sustain a middle-class life. I ended up working for a couple of different catering companies to get enough party work and also pieced together other kinds of freelance jobs. Everyone I know had a crap job in their 20s. It’s a frustrating, “welcome to reality” experience for perky college grads, but I think catering was a better experience than most. Because there was little commitment and I had no illusions that this job was going to advance my career, it was easy to say goodbye as soon as better offers came along.
While I doubt I’ll ever host a party that involves throwing $1,000 worth of green-market garlic shoots on the ground for decoration, I’ve nonetheless taken some of my catering tricks with me. Whenever I have people over to my apartment, I twirl the cocktail napkins, with my perfected technique, to make a pretty circle just like the one you would have been offered if I were in a black uniform, serving you crabcakes on a silver platter. |
January 30, 2008
I went to work yesterday after J came home at 1:30pm. I got home at 6pm and Lil'D had a temperature of 102. By 9pm he had 103. We called the nurse helpline and she said that after 3 days take him to the doctor. She also suggested giving him corn syrup for his cough. Who would have thought. It did help his cough. After his bath, we put him to bed. We woke him up at 9pm for a dose of Tylenol. He was really hot. I stayed up till 1am to give him another dose. He was sweating and seemed to be cooler. I slept better.
Lil'D didn't wake up till 8:30am. He was really thirsty. After breakfast we played with almost every toy he owned. I even created some new playthings. By the time J got home, it was nap time. I ate lunch and headed into work. At least I got 4 hours in today. Apparantly, J and Lil'D played pretty hard, because Lil'D was exhausted when I got home. We fed him, bathed him, gave him corn syrup again and put him to bed. After about and hour and a half we gave him another dose of Tylenol. I just want his fever to break for good. It's almost 10pm and he is in his room talking away on and off.
Oh, and last night I tried to make the midnight deadline for the photobook and I didn't make it. So, I entered a bunch of the giveaways. I am only on # 127 or like 800 and something. This is craziness!
January 29, 2008
Lil'D woke up this morning with a 100 degree temperature. Poor sweet one. He had been coughing all night and his little cheeks were bright red. So I made the phone calls to daycare and to work and we've been home today. We had waffles and rice krispies together. We played with firetrucks, trains, blocks and every toy that makes noise. But Lil'D fell asleep on the floor with his toy mop in his hand at about 12:15pm. Shadow, our 3 year old cat, is sneaking around wondering why Lil'D is on the floor. It is really cute to watch. I have a choice to make right now...either to continue to enter giveaways like a fein OR start to design a photo book. Winkflash is having an awesome sale on their new 10x8 books. $19.99 for a 100 page photo book. I just found out about it yesterday. I wish I had known sooner, I would have made one on the weekend. I don't know if I have the time to finish a photo book by midnight tonight. You'll find out tomorrow what I decided!
January 28, 2008
Oooo...pretty! Go check out An Island Review for your chance to win one!
Also, check out the details about it at BestBuy.com.
All this giveaway stuff is making me dizzy with excitement! Come on and join the fun! It's crazy!
Update: ***COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED***
Welcome to my little home on the web!
I've spiffed the place up just for you and I even have a little something to give away. Rocks In My Dryer is hosting another bloggy giveaway. I am finally ready to be a part of this bloggy goodness! This is my first time to be in on the giveaway end. I'm so excited about it! My giveaway is something that is very reflective of me. So, it would only be natural for me to giveaway a purse. In fact I am giving away this Tommy Hilfiger Wristlet to one lucky commenter.
To enter my giveaway just leave a comment with your email address (unless I can find your email address through your profile). You do not need to have a blog to enter - just enter your email address with your name. It's that easy! Sorry I can only send to US destinations only. One entry per person!
***make sure that I can reach you. Some of the comments are already taking me to profiles that are not available...please make sure that your profile or your email address is available. If I do not have a way of reaching you, I cannot get in touch with you and send you your prize.
I will hold the drawing on Saturday, February 2 at 10am PST. Comments will be closed at 10pm PST Friday, February 1st . I will post and email the lucky winner. If you would like to participate in more giveaways please visit Rocks In My Dryer. There are already over
144 260 383 662 758809 participants!!!
Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you enjoy reading about my days and will visit again soon!
January 25, 2008
I feel like playing pretend today, so I was looking through a list of weekly memes and found these questions on Friday Fun:
1. If you were to get an unexpected windfall, what is your first thought on what to do with the money? Were you practical or not?
- My first thought right now is to buy one of those brand new MacBook Air. You know the really thin ones? Of course, this is completely not practical or likely at all! It's completely ridiculous to pay that much money for a laptop!! Just dreamin' that's all. Cool looking huh?
2. You have $1000 to spend on yourself. What do you buy? With $5000?
- If I had $1000 to spend on myself I would go Hello Kitty and Mary Engelbreit crazy! I love them both, but I don't indulge that often in either. I would also go to the spa and spend the whole day there!!! Ahhhh...
- If I had $5000 I would pay some bills. I couldn't be impractical with this amount of money.
3. You have $1000 to spend on something for your home. What do you buy?
- With $1000 I would buy a new dining room table. My sister-in-law...Auntie E, has the greatest table. It is 6'x6' square. It is 42", bar height. And it's black. I love her table. I would buy that table if I had the money!!
- With $5000 I would buy a new dining room table, new bedroom furniture and a beautiful desk!
4. You have your windfall and you realize your car is older than you. So what do you buy?
- This is a difficult question for me to answer because I love my truck! It is a Chevy Avalanche. It is my dream car!
Now here is what I would buy if I could have 3 more cars:
Red Corvette, Pink Mustang, Burgundy FJ Cruiser
5. You decide to buy some books with your windfall at Amazon. What 5 books would you get?
I will have to answer this later. I ran out of time.
January 24, 2008
January 23, 2008
It is so exciting for Lil'D to bring home art projects from daycare. I am a creative freak, and to see my son be creative is so much fun.
This is one of the first pieces he brought home.
He did these hand prints for Mother's Day for me...
This was for Father's Day...
These are his halloween pieces...
and finally his Christmas pieces!
My Lil'D is on his way to being an artist already! I look so forward to creating fun projects with him! He's a natural like his mama!
January 22, 2008
January 21, 2008
Friday night, Lil'D and I hung out together. J had a soccer game. I had a pretty quiet night. Saturday morning we took Lil'D over to Auntie E's at 9:45am. J and I went to the movies at 10:30 to see Cloverfield. It was a good movie. Different, but good. After the movie we picked up Lil'D and took him home for his nap. He had gone to a soccer game and was worn out. While he was napping, J and I cleaned the kitchen, the dining room and the kitchen floor. J scrubbed the kitchen floor on his knees. It looked beautiful after he was done.
We went to North County Fair and had dinner. JC Penney was having a great sale. We got $98.00 worth of clothes for Lil'D for only $28.00. I love a sale! We also made an appointment for our family portraits next Saturday at 10:20am. I've been meaning to do that for a month. I'm only a month behind...progress!
Sunday morning we overslept. Lil'D let us sleep till 8:30. We obviously missed church. We decided to run errands before we had company. We went to the grocery store and got some snacks for the big game. The big game started at 12pm. The San Diego Chargers vs. the new england patriots. We were one game short of going to the super bowl. We lost, the patriots go to the super bowl undefeated. Boo. AND the giants are going to the super bowl also. Let's see the partiots or the giants. Boo and boo. Elliemae's household will not be watching the super bowl! Yeah!!!
We relaxed the rest of the evening.
Mondays are just stinky days. The work day just snailed by. Finally, 5pm came. Tomorrow will be much better. I am going to the Barn Residence with "Senior" designer. I will be taking pictures. I can't wait.
January 18, 2008
So today I want to talk about Lil'D's 2nd Christmas. We woke up at about 6:30am. Lil'D had breakfast and we sat in front of the Christmas tree and gave Lil'D a present to open. We videotaped it and I forgot to take pictures of the first present. Here he is checkin' it out.
It's a Giggle N' Go Elmo Fire Department. He did everything really slow and we really just enjoyed the moment.
We gave him his tricycle after that first present because we had to be at Grandma & Grandpa Ham's at 9am. He already looks like he was overwhelmed...not quite sure what was going on. We just left the other gifts for later when we got back home.
Auntie E and her family came over at 8:30 to give Lil'D their gifts because they knew he was going to be overwhelmed with gifts at grandma & grandpa's.
Lil'D knew exactly what to do with the guitar. I guess he has watched J and I play Guitar Hero many times.
We took the new trike to grandma & grandpa's house, Lil'D really enjoyed all the gift opening. It was such a beautiful day too!
Our little boy is growing up already. He is so independent.
Here is a photo of Lil'D and I last year.
He couldn't even crawl yet. My how time flys.
January 17, 2008
I'm just now really catching up on all the stuff that happened during December. I kind of just took the whole month off from blogging really. Let's start with:
My company Christmas party
We had a themed party..."Dance Fever." It was a 70s party. We actually had to dress up. Since I'm still struggling with my post pregnancy body I knew that costumes and thrift stores just wouldn't be fun AT ALL. I decided to make my dress. Luckily, I decided this while my Mom was visiting after Thanksgiving. We went to Wal-Mart and quickly looked at all the patterns and found this one:
We went to several fabric stores to find the right fabric. The last store was the best. Here is a swatch:
It was perfect!!! It took me one night to pin the pattern. One night to cut the pattern out. Then I started sewing. I think I made the bodice first, then the trim around the bodice (that was the hardest part, thank goodness my Mom was there to figure it out). I changed the sleeves and made them a bell / angel kind of sleeve instead of the two options on the pattern. It worked out perfect. Then I sewed the skirt. The zipper was hard. It was no where near perfect, but I made it work (like Tim Gunn says in Project Runway). Mom kept saying that..."make it work! Mom just guided me and I sewed the entire thing myself. After it was done and Mom was gone it fit kind of like a sack so I called up my friend from Russia who is an excellent seamstress. I went to her house one night and she basted some darts and took the dress up so easily. It took her about 20 minutes. She had me put the dress on inside out and she sewed all the basting while it was on me. It was amazing to watch. I really learned alot about just making it work. I just had to take it home and sew it with the machine. It took me about 30 minutes and it was finished. I also had to make a little fake rectangle piece in the back to hold the zipper down. It stuck out funny on my back. The fabric was slippery and stretchy and really hard to work with so that piece worked perfectly.
Drum roll please......................and here is the dress I made with my Mom's help!!!
We were playing a game and the guy in the picture was the DJ. I have no idea what he was doing.
This is my best friend Chica and I. Isn't she beautiful? She has a twin sister who did our makeup. Blue eyeshadow just doesn't look good on me. Blahh. It was a fun time though! It was at my boss's house. His wife decorated the place like a Studio 54 lounge. We had a wonderful italian catered dinner also.
This is my boss, Senior Designer.
This is my boss's wife and Chica in the above photo.
I used to be this guy's assistant before I got promoted to be the boss's assistant. His wife is my dancin' partner. We tear up the dance floor together at every Christmas party!
So, that was my Christmas party. I stayed until 2am. I was one of the last people to leave. I was in at home and in bed by 2:30am. My first late night out in a long, long time.
January 16, 2008
I decided that what I really wanted for Christmas was 2 things:
A wristlet purse
A new diaper bag.
I had originally decided that I wanted this Dooney & Bourke wristlet in their new style called Crossword, except in pink.
You can click here to see it on the Dooney Bourke site and click on the bubblegum color to see it in pink. I really didn't want to spend $50 on it, so I kept looking and decided I wanted to just take my time and not worry about getting it ON Christmas. So, I found this!
It is Vera Bradley. It's called the Pink Elephants Ella Wristlet. It is their breast cancer awareness pattern. You can go here to see all the beautiful Vera Bradley items available. I just love it! I can't wait to get it. I bought it on ebay for $27. I think it is much more ME than the Dooney&Bourke one.
As for the diaper bag. I originally wanted this:You can click here to see all about it. It is a Fleurville Goldflower Sling Tote. The only problem was it is $133. I have expensive taste sometimes. After I thought and thought and looked and looked I found this one:
It's really adorable isn't it? It is a Ju Ju Be Bubblegum Pack a Be. You can go here to see more about it. Problem again, it costs $118. Insane!!!
WHY DO CUTE THINGS HAVE TO BE SO EXPENSIVE? *sigh*
I was shopping in Marshall's a couple of weeks ago and I found this:
It retails for $15 at Babies R Us. I got it for $10. You just can beat that!! It is a Baby Sac Black Pocket Tote. It has pink trim and pink lining inside. It is perfect size and exactly what I needed!
So there is my Christmas story! I got the 2 thing that I really wanted, I waited patiently, and looked & looked and never settled. And instead of spending $183. I only spent $37! Ahhh...Frugal me! There is nothing like getting a GREAT deal!!! |
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W.'s War on the Environment
The 2000 Campaign
The Clinton Scandals
Nazi Echo (Pinochet)
The Dark Side of Rev. Moon
The October Surprise "X-Files"
George W. Bush is fast building a political system of secrecy and snooping that Richard Milhous Nixon would have died for. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush has asserted broad powers to wiretap, spy on and imprison indefinitely people he deems a threat to national security – authority far beyond what was available to the famously paranoid Nixon.
Bush’s executive powers are already so sweeping they may be unprecedented in U.S. history. While some of Bush’s supporters cite prior suspensions of constitutional rights during the Civil War and World War II, those eras lacked today’s technology to pry into the most personal details of the lives of Americans.
Even in the late 1960s and early 1970s, President Nixon and his allies were forced to adopt relatively crude means for invading the privacy of Americans. Bugs were placed on phones; agents were infiltrated into political organizations; and burglars were sent into homes and offices searching for embarrassing or incriminating information.
By contrast, today’s modern technology can let Bush’s team collect and analyze trillions of bytes of data on transactions and communications, the electronic footprints left in the course of everyday life: books borrowed from a library, fertilizer bought at a farm-supply outlet, X-rated movies rented at a video store, prescriptions filled at a pharmacy, sites visited on the Internet, tickets reserved for a plane, borders crossed while traveling, rooms rented at a motel, and hundreds of other examples.
Bush’s aides argue that their unrestricted access to this electronic data may help detect terrorists, but the data could prove even more useful in building dossiers on anti-war activists or blackmailing political opponents. Despite assurances that such abuses won’t happen again, the capability will be a huge temptation for Bush, who has made clear his view that anyone not supporting his war on terror is siding with the terrorists.
The technological blueprint for an Orwellian-style “thought police” is already on the drawing board at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon’s top research and development arm. DARPA has commissioned a comprehensive plan for electronic spying that would track everyone in the world who is part of the modern economy.
“Transactional data” will be gleaned from electronic data on every kind of activity – “financial, education, travel, medical, veterinary, country entry, place/event entry, transportation, housing, critical resources, government, communications,” according to the Web site for DARPA’s Information Awareness Office. The program will then cross-reference this data with the “biometric signatures of humans,” data collected on individuals’ faces, fingerprints, gaits and irises. The project seeks what it calls “total information awareness.”
The Information Awareness Office even boasts a logo that looks like some kind of clip art from George Orwell’s 1984. The logo shows the Masonic symbol of an all-seeing eye atop a pyramid peering over the globe, with the slogan, “scientia est potentia,” Latin for “knowledge is power.”
Though apparently unintentional, DARPA's choice of a giant white pyramid eerily recalls Orwell's Ministry of Truth, "an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 metres into the air." The all-seeing Masonic eye could be read as "Big Brother Is Watching."
Former Vice President Al Gore and others have noted these strange similarities both in style and substance with Orwell's totalitarian world. "We have always held out the shibboleth of Big Brother as a nightmare vision of the future that we're going to avoid at all costs," Gore said. "They have now taken the most fateful step in the direction of that Big Brother nightmare that any president has ever allowed to occur." [Times/UK, Nov. 22, 2002]
Besides the parallels to 1984,
the assurances about respecting constitutional boundaries have been
undercut by the administration's provocative choice of director for the
Information Awareness Office.
"Under authority it already has or is asserting in court cases, the administration, with approval of the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, could order a clandestine search of a U.S. citizen's home and, based on the information gathered, secretly declare the citizen an enemy combatant, to be held indefinitely at a U.S. military base," Washington Post legal affairs reporter Charles Lane wrote. "Courts would have very limited authority to second-guess the detention, to the extent that they were aware of it." [Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2002]
Even in the face of the political constraints that existed three decades ago, Nixon mounted a systematic campaign to spy on and neutralize people he considered threats to his Vietnam War policies. Some of the domestic espionage against anti-war and black militant groups started in previous administrations, though Nixon intensified many of the operations out of a personal fury over challenges to his authority.
When the FBI and the CIA drew lines on how far they were willing to go, Nixon turned to a private organization of ex-spooks dubbed the “Plumbers,” whose name came from their job of clamping down on leaks of information. They included G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt.
One of their assignments was to destroy the reputation of former Defense Department official Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the secret Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War, which chronicled the lies and deceptions that led the American people into the conflict. Nixon’s Plumbers broke into Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office searching for derogatory information about him. [For a just-published account of the Pentagon Papers affair, see Daniel Ellsberg's Secrets.]
Nixon operatives also tailed Sen. Ted Kennedy and undertook other political espionage. The Plumbers’ most notorious – and ill-fated – caper was breaking into the Watergate complex in Washington to put bugs on phones at the Democratic National Committee. On June 17, 1972, the operatives returned to fix bugs that weren’t working and were caught.
Nixon denied a connection to the burglars, but aggressive investigative reporting at the Washington Post and other news organizations exposed the secret White House links and the cover-up. On Aug. 9, 1974, his lies exposed by tape recorders he had placed in his own offices, Nixon resigned.
In retrospect, it is clear that Nixon was driven to order widespread domestic espionage by his rage over the Vietnam War protests as well as his personal paranoia. Nixon came to see public opposition to his policies as tantamount to aiding and abetting the enemy. [For detailed accounts of Nixon’s spying, see J. Anthony Lukas’s Nightmare, Angus Mackenzie's Secrets, or Seymour Hersh's Price of Power.]
In many ways, Richard M. Nixon and George W. Bush are different historical figures. Nixon came from a humble background and rose on the strength of his intelligence, hard work and ruthlessness. Bush has lived a life of privilege, a playboy in his youth, a heavy drinker, a failed businessman who was repeatedly bailed out by his father’s friends, a politician who in author Frank Bruni's phrase was "ambling into history."
Like Nixon, however, Bush has demonstrated a taste for the imperial powers of the presidency, including the authority to surround his actions with secrecy. Immediately after taking office in January 2001, Bush stopped the legally required release of documents from the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Then, the new Bush White House engaged in secret meetings with Enron Corp. and other energy companies in developing a national energy policy, the records of which are still being kept secret.
After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush claimed unchecked power to jail American citizens and others deemed “enemy combatants” indefinitely without charges. They are denied their constitutional rights to a lawyer, to court review and to an opportunity for confronting an accuser. American citizen Jose Padilla was arrested in Chicago and locked away in a Navy brig after Attorney General John Ashcroft accused him of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb. No physical evidence has been presented to support the charge, which is apparently based on a secret interview with a captured al-Qaeda operative.
During this fall’s campaign, Bush also demonstrated a readiness to question the patriotism of Democrats, even though they supported the vast majority of his military actions in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
In one ploy, Bush turned a Democratic plan for a homeland security department against them. After first resisting creation of the department, Bush embraced the plan in June. He then transformed a difference over civil service rules into an accusation that the Democratic-controlled Senate was “not interested in the security of the American people.”
Republicans successfully portrayed Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., as lacking patriotism although Cleland lost both legs and an arm fighting in the Vietnam War. Bush urged voters to send him congressional allies who would stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the war on terror -- and Republicans swept to victory in key race after key race.
Amid his political successes, Bush has begun viewing himself as the infallible leader whose judgments is beyond questioning. Like Nixon, Bush has tasted the nectar of presidential power.
When asked by author Bob Woodward if he ever explained his positions, Bush answered, “Of course not. I’m the commander – see, I don’t need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.” [Washington Post, Nov. 19, 2002]
Yet, like Nixon, Bush has faced protesters whom his supporters have begun to call "fifth columnists."
Since Bush's inauguration, after stopping the counting of votes in Florida, protesters have gone into the streets to challenge his legitimacy and his international policies. Tens of thousands turned out in the freezing rain on Jan. 20, 2001, representing the largest inaugural protests since Nixon’s 1973 inauguration.
Anti-Bush demonstrators shouted at Bush's inaugural procession, "Selected, not elected!," "Shame!," "Hail to the thief!," and "Go back to Texas!" Other favorite chants included, "Oh, no! Gore's ahead! Better call my brother Jeb!," and, simply, "Gore got more!" When the newly anointed president's motorcade drove past the area around 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., where most protesters had congregated, the booing and hollering were deafening.
After Bush took office, Americans still outraged over Election 2000 launched grassroots anti-Bush Web sites, which grew in popularity. Beyond showing the simmering anger over Bush's bare-knuckled tactics during the Florida recount, the Web sites marked a growing disillusionment with the professionalism of the national news media, which was going out of its way to build Bush up as a legitimate leader.
Web sites -- such as democraticunderground.com, smirkingchimp.com, mediawhoresonline.com, buzzflash.com and truthout.org -- provided a daily alternative source of information as well as communities of like-minded people to chat on message boards.
The anti-Bush sentiment also was strong across the world, and notably among U.S. allies in Europe. Across the continent, most Europeans had rooted for Al Gore, out of sympathy with the policies of the Clinton-Gore years and an aversion to the right-wing ideology represented by Bush. Europeans found his enthusiasm for capital punishment, for instance, to be appalling and barbaric.
Many Europeans I spoke to while I lived in Denmark from February 2001 until July 2002 expressed bewilderment over the fact that Al Gore could have won the American popular vote but still lost the presidency.
Bush also offended Europeans by disengaging from Clinton-Gore efforts to resolve international conflicts and address environmental concerns. Bush turned his back on peace talks in the Middle East, spurned the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Many Europeans feared that the U.S. president was a serious threat to the future of the planet.
Sympathy for America
Those European attitudes changed on Sept. 11, 2001. Disgust with Bush’s foreign policies gave way to sympathy for and solidarity with the American people. I joined a pilgrimage to the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen where Danes spontaneously covered the sidewalk with flowers and a New York Yankees cap. The French paper Le Monde ran a cover story after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the banner headline, “We Are All Americans.”
There was also hope across Europe that Bush would abandon his go-it-alone strategies and finally see the value in working multilaterally with allies. But Bush showed no sign of changing the direction of U.S. foreign policy. He squandered much of the international goodwill with heavy-handed tactics in Afghanistan. U.S. aircraft bombed the headquarters of the International Red Cross twice. Bush authorized the dropping of devastating Daisy Cutters and cluster bombs in a sometimes-indiscriminate air war that killed large numbers of civilians as well as Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.
In Copenhagen, the pro-American gestures were replaced by demonstrations against the bombing in Afghanistan.
Further alienating allies, Bush showed a renewed contempt for multilateral cooperation. He disregarded international law in the treatment of prisoners of war and went after respected international leaders, such as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson. With stunning speed, the sympathy over Sept. 11 lost out to even more profound disillusionment with U.S. policies. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com's "Bush's Grim Vision."]
Bush's shift from targeting al-Qaeda to going after Iraq added new impetus to protests in Europe. On Sept. 28, in what was called one of the largest demonstrations England has ever seen, about 400,000 marched through London protesting Bush’s plans to attack Iraq and the British government’s cooperation in those plans. On Oct. 5, in Italy, 1.5 million protested across the country in opposition to Bush’s war plans and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s alliance with Bush. On Nov. 9, 450,000 marched through the Renaissance city of Florence.
A parallel situation was unfolding in the United States. Under the radar of the national media, anti-Bush demonstrations have been spreading across the country.
Even as Bush has sustained high popularity ratings since Sept. 11, 2001, millions of Americans remain angered over his theft of Election 2000 and his squandering of the trillions of dollars of budget surplus in only a few months. But his plans for war in Iraq, which are widely seen as plans to expand U.S. power and secure new sources for oil, have been the main impetus to spark widespread protests.
On Aug. 22, thousands of people took to the streets in Portland, Oregon, in response to Bush's visit to that city. The protesters were greeted by hundreds of police, many in full riot gear. Although the protest was peaceful, the police declared a state of emergency and used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.
In late September in Washington, 600 peaceful protesters were arrested "preemptively" to prevent them from causing possible trouble later. D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said the arrests "took the wind out of their sails" for the next two days of protests. Despite the arrests, over 10,000 turned out two days later to protest Bush's plans for war in Iraq.
On Oct. 26, in the largest anti-war street protest on American soil since the Vietnam War era, tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Washington to oppose Bush's plans to attack Iraq. Estimates of the size ranged from 100,000 to more than 200,000, setting a record for the largest U.S. protest ever for a war that hadn’t started.
The Oct. 26 march in Washington was accompanied by a joint protest in San Francisco that drew an estimated 50,000 people. The New York Times reported that the demonstrations may have marked the rebirth of the American peace movement and could foreshadow larger protests if war breaks out. [NYT, Oct. 30, 2002]
In less than two years in office, Bush has become one of the most protested presidents in American history. This is true not only in the United States, but all over the world. Wherever Bush goes, from South Korea to Germany to Mexico, angry street protesters greet him.
Another large-scale national anti-war protest is planned in Washington on Jan. 18, coinciding with Martin Luther King's birthday. The protest is being organized by International ANSWER, which is launching a "People's Peace Congress" the day after the national march.
A troubling question about Bush and his hard-right supporters will be how they react to street protests and other dissent if opposition to a war in Iraq grows.
Bush and many of his advisers were young men during the Vietnam War and favored the U.S. intervention while avoiding military service there. Some of today's key hawks seem to have been nursing personal grudges against the anti-war movement ever since.
Now that they have total control of the government, they may react to a renewed era of protests in the same way Nixon did. Indeed, with the technological advances and rollbacks of civil liberties in recent years, it's hard to imagine that they won't.
Attorney General Ashcroft testified to Congress last December that those who object to "phantoms of lost liberty" only serve to "aid terrorists – for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve." According to Ashcroft, those who question the administration's policies "give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends."
Some peace activists already find themselves blacklisted by federal agencies from flying on commercial airlines. Others say they are singled out for special searches and delays. [For details, see Salon.com "Grounded."]
Bush aides say they also are considering establishing a new domestic spy agency that would take over intelligence-gathering responsibilities from the FBI. This new agency would be more directly under the control of the Bush White House. [Washington Post, Nov. 16, 2002]
Along similar lines, Bush is integrating the U.S. military more into domestic law enforcement, again waiving time-honored safeguards established to prevent the transformation of the U.S. into a police state. One effort seeks to repeal the posse comitatus act, which keeps the military out of police functions.
A military spy plane was put into the skies over Washington during the hunt this fall for a serial sniper. Though seemingly a reasonable precaution at the time, the precedent will make it easier for the military to be called on for other police duties in the future.
After the Republican sweep on Nov. 5, Bush is clearly in possession of the means, motive and opportunity to clamp down on traditional American civil liberties. In the months ahead, especially if he faces widespread opposition to a war with Iraq, Bush will be tempted to take a page from Nixon's play book and use the Presidency's extraordinary powers to neutralize a new generation of protesters who might in some sense "give ammunition to America's enemies."
The machinery is quickly being moved into place for a crackdown on those Americans whom Bush may judge to be not with him and thus with the terrorists. |
In 2003 this is where the Gruppo Pumpkincycle facade fell apart (though I was too dumb to see it at the time) when I got the Jo Jo/Whiny Mike early morning phone call with the bullshit flu, food poisoning, "we're gonna start after 8" story. Same year followed Big Jerry around this fast course, next year followed Big Mike around the course, and a few years later dug in while Livermore Brian and Michigan Tom hammered the course. So lots of memories, though not all of them good.
Though we'll ride as a group this course isn't as nice as the early springtime Wine Country Century in Santa Rosa. Grapes on both courses, but no Ocean on this one. Also very few rollers--this course is too damn fast, mostly flat between the the Mt. Veeder and Ink Grade Climbs except for the nice uphill section around Lake Hennessey. But the worst thing is the crowds, hard to find parking close to registration, a mob at lunch where all the routes converge, a mob waiting on the top of Ink Grade, and a mob back on the Silverado Trail, with many slow cyclists riding 3 across in the shoulder b.s.'ing away while blocking a line of folks in back of them. Good food at the end which is also crowded.
Strange having a Sunday Century--on the Saturday club ride I made sure to stay in the small chain ring. I "Stephan'd" (changed the route) the club ride, to make it ez before a Century and because HI Mike showed up with a a fixed gear. So instead of Oakland hills I planned to stay on the flats to Sunol and back--55 miles. Great that everyone of note joined my detour, and half way to Sunol HI Mike stopped at Livermore Cyclery to pick up his road bike that had been retrofitted with Sram gearing--first time anyone had changed bikes mid ride. Not only did I stay in the small ring for the whole ride but neve got out of the saddle either while our group averaged 17 1/2. Sore butt but felt like good training.
Tour of Napa Valley , Sun August 16, 2008, 100' miles, 5000' climbing. 17.1 avg, or is that 17.1 hours in the rest stops. Ward, Joe, Stephan, Big Mike, Big Jim, Andy, Beth, Jeannie, June, and Recumbent Tom. (180 course rating) (7:15-@3:00 with almost 2 HOURS of rest stops--definitely not a double)
I forgot how much fun this ride is--even if they cram everyone on 3 crowded courses into the same rest stops at the same time. The rest stop food is excellent--starting with the tables of baked goods at registration, a big selection of fresh fruit at the rest stops, and ending with with the gourmet veggie dishes at the post ride meal. They hit a home run this year by moving the lunch stop away from the golf course at Aetna Springs Road which had more room for the riders and room in the shade for more porta potties (used to be a clusterfuck cuing up and waiting to get into one of the stinky sun drenched ones,) and having a great cajun band, CZ & the Bon Vivants, play at the end. I even almost wanted to dance--almost...
Only step backwards was some poor signage--nothing but a last minute tiny ground arrow at the sharp right turn off the fast downhill off White Cottage Road. Later the turn into the finally rest stop wasn't marked.
Our big group started off at 7:15, in warm (for 7:15) weather, and we promptly shut down @7:25 when Big Mike had a bad tire blowout right outside the Yountville Veterans Home. After figuring out if we could even boot it, a sag wagon showed up and took him back to his car so he could replace the gashed tire. We promised to ride easy and wait for him at the first rest stop--30 miles away. Well, we kept the second promise. There are enough riders to get our dander up on this ride, and on the first climb up
1) Me right before the start and 2) Ward and Beth right out of the Veterans Home. 3) Jim and Jeannie.
Mt. Veeder, which is long, but not steep, a guy with tri bars came along and muscled his way between Joe and I who were riding next to each other at the front of the pack. Now Joe could have ridden away from him backwards but I had some fun, I accelerated ahead of tri climber a few times, and he'd follow closely and eventually wedge himself in again. Then we went to another tactic, Joe zoomed up Veeder and I slowed so soon there was a 200' gap with Joe up the road, forcing tri guy to chase Joe. Tri climber eventually came around and pulled me for awhile, then I finally got in ahill sprint, shot past and got back to Joe. We got rid of the tri guy. but this effectively killed me on Veeder, luckily we were about 3/4 of the way up.
The descent off Veeder is twisty, steep and narrow so I told Joe that when I crest I'll keep going and the rest of our club can regroup with me when they catch up to me on the downhill. No one from the Club caught me but lots of riders who I had passed on the uphill did as I was now even taking it easier than usual waiting for a rolling regroup. Additionally my heart was still racing from the initial climb--and now only 80 more miles to go and I had already pushed too damn hard. Finally pulled into a sunny spot by a stop sign on Dry Creek Road where the Terrible Two comes through, where we all regrouped except for Big Mike.
Now Ward and Big Jim made sure we weren't taking it easy on the rollers until the first official rest stop in Napa at mile 30. Here we find a nice, well stocked, sunny rest stop next to a school where we hung out and waited for Big Mike to arrive. 1) Stretching while waiting for Big Mike, and 2) Big Mike arrives at Rest Stop #1 after getting new tires at Wheelworks--now we all want him to pull us.
A little rolling through suburban Napa (ho-hum) where Ward promptly fell asleep and led us down a dead end street. And he has a GPS. He now moves far out front as the 2008 DIABLO CYCLIST GETTING LOST LEADER--a crown that Big Mike, June and I usually vie for--and Big Mike and I never look at maps, never mind a GPS. The funny thing is that about a dozen cyclists didn't make the turn either and followed Ward on the 4 block detour.
Now moving towards the Silverado Trail. A clown in a Yellow Discovery Jersey pissed me off a couple of times, at intersections/ stop signs he would squeeze through our stopped/ slowed group to get to the front. Yep-way top pass people--at stop signs. I got on his wheel and he soon missed one turn, and some riders following our group crashed. Then we promptly saw an ambulance tending to another rider who had crashed up the road. Discovery clown came back on when we slowed past the ambulance and again cut ahead when we waited for cars to clear before making the left on the Silvarado Trail. I figured hell, if he wants to push through us waiting at an intersection he can pull us to Roubaix, or at least to the Lake Hennessey turn 10 miles of rollers away. At this point Ward rolls up to me and holds up an "air" microphone (had to check his hands to see if camera was out) and starts doing a mock interview "Mr. Museeuw, are you going to ride on the Discovery wheel...." Very funny.
Discovery's riding style was "not the best" and when we had a change to hook up with a strong rider from the Stockton Cycling club we did and dropped the Discovery rider. We were also joined by a good guy in a UC San Diego jersey. Our paceline stayed together all the way down the Silverado Trail, with the Stockton guy doing most of the pulling even after I took a turn and then told him we had lots of folks to share the work. I then rode as the ticket collector--so if any of our weaker riders dropped off the back I'd bring them back up, but though a few close calls no one did even with a moderate crosswind.
After turning onto the Lake Hennessey road we had 1 1/2 easy uphill miles to the rest stop, and I had said yesterday I'd lead out here. Usually the road is jammed with cyclists, but we were so late due to our earlier stops the usual herd of cyclists blocking the road had thinned. I went to the front and a up'd the pace, which I took up 5 notches when an ass in a white pickup came by and shaved our group.
Lake Hennessey rest stop (mile 47) is real nice in a shady grove. Someone playing violin music. We stayed here @15 minutes, when some of us finally got our bikes ready Stephen said "we're leaving already??"
Joe and Jeannie
We continue riding along Lake Hennessey and turn onto a great stretch, Pope Valley Road, where there is a long but gentle climb and then rollers that have gotten serious. We were together for about 1/2 of the initial climb but then our group went to hell. June had left the last rest stop early and Joe now shot on ahead. Ward, Stephan, Jim, Beth and I formed a good working group, which meant calling out the cracks and ruts all over the road marked with white paint chevrons. We ran into Johnana who I had ridden a large part of the Death Ride with, and she joined our group until she pulled off to wait for some friends. Many folks across the road smiling at us--either like sight of our paceline in the same kit, or happy that we are so far behind. In past years this had become a racecourse with many fast groups but due to our morning delays all the fast groups were already at lunch, and we were just passing lots of folks on the road. We were too quickly past Hubcap Ranch and at Aetna Springs Road (mile 66) where the lunch was nicely moved away from the golf course and into its own semi secluded area.
1) Joe, Beth and I at the lunch spot, 2) Stephan, June and I starting up Ink Grade--Joe probably just finished it.
It was now starting to get hot--just in time for Ink Grade--the signature climb on this ride. Maybe this had our group stay at lunch for a long time. We'd have less than 3 miles of a slight uphill to loosen up before the 4 mile climb. I remembered that there are some steep parts but apart from remembering that the last 1/4 is shallow, I didn't remember much of the climb--and Stephan reminded me tha the middle sections are the steep ones.
Joe again spun away ez, and I spun away from the group but was losing ground to Joe, who is riding on another planet (t2nd on Eastern Sierra Double.) Unlike 2004 when I was mad at Ink Grade and seemingly everything else, I wasn't standing on the pedals and killing myself, but just going up at a real nice spinning pace, slowly but steadily passing lots of riders. Saw the guy from Stockton who now looked dead to the world--he told me he had blown up. The middle sections were steep but not that bad--I kept waiting for them to get worse but they never did until 4 guys in Hammergel kits shot through. I repassed them which got their dander up and two of them soon sped by me and I couldn't recatch. I did pass a guy who had stormed past our group leaving lunch--figuring I would catch him on the climb so was happy I did. Then into the shallow section where the other two Hammergel guys flew past and I couldn't get close to them. Damn. I then saw a couple on a tandem wearing Mt Tam Double jerseys so I slowed to talk to them--turns out they weren't totally crazy and did Mt. Tam on single bikes. Getting close to the end--and here comes Stephan and we rode in together. Told him I was po'd that I couldn't keep up with the Hammergel guys and he said "they weren't on our ride--they didn't have wristbands on" which Joe and Ward also noticed when passed by these guys. We were on mile 72 of our ride and they may have been on mile 10?, 20?... In any event, made it to the top in 25:12, darn, in 2004 I did it a few times in 22:--- , but in 2006 on this ride I did Ink Grade in the same time.
As a long loopy downhill soon followed I kept going while Stephan stopped to fill up his bottles--we had all made up to regroup at then end of the downhill by a sudden sharp right turn. Stephan caught me on the downhill--Joe was already waiting at the turn--a turn where riders are coming down at 25-30 mph and the right turn is marked by a small white arrow.. Here we'd call out to riders shooting past the turn and saved about two dozen from going off course in the 10-15 minutes we waited to regroup.
Once we regrouped a nice rural route for a few miles until we turn onto the Silverado Trail. Due to earlier delays and long rest stops we were now behind the middle of the ride, which may have been a blessing as here is where 30-60-and 100 milers all come together jamming up a shoulder running alongside a busy roadway of wine sipper drivers. Now the shoulder was a little less crowded than expected with Stephan, Ward, Joe and I pulling the group to the next rest stop.
When not pulling I was recycling recumbent jokes to Tom, formerly used on Professor Dave, as punishment for recumbents being totally useless in a paceline.
Another great action shot taken by Ward while riding-- Beth, Big Mike, me and Andy
After 6 miles we miss the UNMARKED turnoff to the final rest stop at mile 89, where some of us enjoyed the misters set up--I enjoyed the homemade cookies even more. Then it was another 9 miles on the Silverado Trail. Joe was pulling hard when some folks in our group were in dange of falling off--so Jeannie put her stamp of authority on the pelaton and went to the front and purposely slowed us down so we could keep together. But then June wound up in teh front, upped the pace, and our group finally broke up until the final turn among the grapes. Here Photocrazy was set up--not only with their usual automatic cameras but a tape recording right out of Munich Disneyland--a loud taped message playing over a loudspeaker "go to the center of the road, go to the center of the road, AND smile..." Actually the photos came out real nice--capturing our group in bunches in twos and threes taking the corner. Nice.
Joe, Jay, Ward, Stephan, June--we thought we were pulling the rest of our group-where did they go?? (Photocrazy)
Then right into Yountville which indicates the end of the ride with multiple stop signs and cops on bike ready to give out tickets for running a sign. Someone opined it would be embarrassing for a cop on a mountain bike to catch up to one of us. Our average speed was hovering slightly above 17 mph--so after leaving town a few of us cranked up the final hill to the Veterans Home complex.
As mentioned earlier a good lively band at the end, and someone had the foresight to get us a table right in front of the band, where we were blasted by their music and wildly applauding their efforts. Beth may have been miffed that some little girl was anointed "best dancer," we all declined helping Beth meet the challenge saying things like "if you can dance now you didn't ride hard enough." Good food--sausage--chicken--gourmet veggie dishes, but the line for the food was so long that getting seconds was "discouraged."
Fun ride but it really dragged out. Though our group rode hard all day we could never make up the time spent "not riding." We didn't start particularly early (Benecia Cyclists were leaving when we pulled into the parking lot) and unfortunately Big Mike had a mechanical at the beginning. But contrasted to even non-timed doubles rides we dawdled about rest stops, which permanently put us in the back of the ride. Riding 17+ mph with 2 hours of non riding time is the equivalent of riding 14.5 mph with 1 hour of rest stop time. |
May 19, 1999
Merlin studied Harry closely.
It was time.
Having seen what he came to see, Merlin strode down the steps of the Astronomy Tower, feeling the intricacies of his Lines, the “Ley Lines”, as they directed him towards the familiar hallways on the Seventh floor.
The Room of Requirement was likely the most secure possible location within Hogwarts, but it was still insufficient. It, as with all things, ultimately bent to his Will. The walls separated, opening obligingly for him, and the Cup of Dawn stood flickering on the desk that lay within. It reminded him of his last visit to Hogwarts, roughly six hundred years ago, when he had claimed the girl who called herself Nell, and formed The Three.
Within moments, he was heading down the stairs, following the din of battle, looking for a Wizard, any Wizard, and the first he saw was a young man with dirty blonde hair and Gryffindor robes. Merlin commanded him silently, holding out the Goblet of Fire. Without words, he conveyed the intent of the contract between them:
I, Merlin of the Line, solemnly swear to bind your Will for the remainder of your days. The penalty if I should fail to do so or if I set you free will be the irrevocable destruction of the artifact of power responsible for enforcing this contract.
“Do you agree?”
The wizard nodded, meekly.
“Then you are free to go.”
With that, Merlin dissipated into a white mist and took his leave of Hogwarts. As he faded to nothingness, The Cup of Dawn, the Holy Grail, the Goblet of Fire, the last remaining anchor of Yanotuk of the Cups, purged itself in a glorious conflagration, and its presence in the world of Magic was no more.
“Heh… heh… You have come. You who are marked by lightning and who shall tear apart the stars,” the broken form of Gellert Grindelwald rasped. “I know what you seek. It will not work as you think it should; its true Master has passed from this world centuries ago.”
Merlin paid him no mind, and scanned the walls of the prison cell. “Hidden in plain sight, I see.” He took the unassuming wooden cross from the wall, and unfolded it. “But you are wrong, Mr. Grindelwald. Its true Master has simply yet to claim it.”
Grindelwald observed unflinchingly as the Cross expanded into unseen dimensions, a shape of limitless possibility and infinite connection, a shape with the potential to reach across Time and Space to ensure that life could be preserved. He was awed, but also bitter: he knew the ways of Dark Lords. Because he had been allowed to see this much, it either meant that either he or the beauty he was witnessing would soon be destroyed. He did not allow himself the luxury of Hope.
As if in response to the unanswered question, Merlin answered, “You will not die at my hand, Gellert Grindelwald.”
He forced out a chuckle. “I see. You play tricks with words, stranger. How then, shall I die this day?”
When Merlin was satisfied with the preparations, he turned to the former tyrant. “No tricks. You will live through the Transmigration, and perhaps if you are lucky, you will live long enough to have the opportunity to save the ones you love.”
Grindelwald’s eyes narrowed. “And what do you know of the ones I love?”
“Do you know of Gabriel’s Horn?”
Non-sequiturs. Of course, the stranger would not provide a straight answer. Why would he? Grindelwald had no choice but to play along. “With which the Archangel announces Judgement Day, no?”
“Yes, that too. But it is also, a shape, an impossible shape: a horn that holds a finite volume but has an infinite surface area. In truth, any impossible shape would have sufficed, but I felt the metaphor was quite apt.” A moment of silence passed as Merlin observed the Cross unfolding itself from all dimensions, withdrawing its influence. It was desperately trying to follow its master’s command, to form a shape that could not exist. It stretched, ever onward, ever upward, thinner and thinner, until after an indeterminate amount of time, the Cross simply ceased to exist; it had stretched far enough into the infinite as to be fundamentally, irrevocably inaccessible from this world or any world.
And with that, the last anchor of Neirkalatia of the Cross, once known as Natalie Kyros, and once known before that by an even more ancient name, had purged itself in a tangle of geometric impossibility, and its presence in the world of Magic was no more.
Boston. New York. Mexico City. Sao Paolo. Lagos. Shanghai. Delhi. Moscow. Tokyo. London.
City after city, Merlin arrived, summoning the remaining armies of the Unseelie, leading them as their Lord and master. The leji retracted their claws from the amygdala of their prey, the bundiwig halted their ceaseless devouring, the viscs unfolded their wings and swooped lazily down at his beck and call, and the gaunts let loose a low wail of anguish at a Sharpening cut short.
Their Master called and they must obey.
They followed him through the space in between space, until he had collected them all. It was time to go home.
On the shores of the lake of teeth, where the black hills end, Tír inna n-Óc
Unfettered by mere physical boundaries, the Unseelie celebrated the Gorging, blissfully unaware of their impending end. The many-toothed maw of the Lake opened itself, and Merlin stepped inside, traversing a staircase of compacted sinew, feces, and bone. Deeper he travelled, into the heart of Tír inna n-Óc, until he found the Sleeper himself, Nog-Nandh of the Flame, trapped in eternal nightmare, endlessly punishing himself.
With a simple exertion of Merlin’s will, a thought was burned indelibly into the mind of the sleeping titan, one which removed the leaden chains of guilt: “It was my fault.”
As Adnan Nejem slowly roused from his slumber, the world that he had created by sheer force of Will began to crumble around them; it was a world whose sole purpose was to inflict a punishment that was no longer necessary.
On the surface of Tír inna n-Óc, the hate-spires began to melt, and the oppressive yellow fog that had blanketed the landscape at this time of morning-night unrolled, allowing for clear sight across the horizon for the first time in millennia. The Unseelie which had gathered could now see, in full horror, the destruction of their home. The House of Fingers closed itself, taking with it vast chunks of landscape as it retracted into the arms of Nog-Nandh, who was stretching, rubbing his eyes.
The Archway on the Island of Woe crumbled to dust, and with it, the Lake of Teeth drained into the Unclean Maw, which opened for the last time as the Sleeper yawned. There was no escape for the Unseelie, who had taken refuge in the Amygdalan Temple. But as the last echoes of fear ebbed from the mind of Adnan Nejem, this too was no more.
The Sleeper awoke from his slumber. The horror-realm he had created, the last remaining anchor of Nog-Nandh of the Flame, purged itself in a fire of redemption, and its presence in the world of Magic was no more.
Tír inna n-Óc ceased to endure.
December 25, 1999
It was almost time. Merlin was alone now, watching expectantly as the spider-like cracks spread across the surface of the Mirror. He felt the lines dissolve as wands began to break, as all of their arts ceased, and the blood of Atlantis failed. When the cracks reached the edge of the Mirror, it shattered with a noise that silenced the world, and the Transmigration began.
A Dying World
Now, Then, Later
The world was empty, except for Merlin, and a tiny spherical silver ship half a galaxy away.
The stars were beautiful. Redemption was at hand.
The world would die, this was true, but the world’s peoples would live on. After all, there can only be one king upon the chessboard. There can only be one piece whose value is beyond price.
For indeed, the fires of the soul are great and burn as bright as the stars: 100 billion stars in the galaxy. 100 billion lives created and lost.
As he sensed the craft draw closer and closer to the event horizon, he went about his work, one life at a time. There were too many to return all at once; the rebuilt world was not yet ready to support that. But a handful, a select few, he chose to rise again, moments before the Transmigration. The rest would be kept safe, shepherded through Time and history by the Line of Merlin Unbroken.
At the end of it all, there was one final star that was to be extinguished: Sagitarrius A*, the terminus of the Path of the Scorpion and Archer. Merlin observed Dumbledore arriving through the tunnel, as he observed all moments: the Fall of Atlantis, the Transmigration, and the Death of his World. Later. Then. Now.
He held out the Line for but an instant, a fractional moment in time as the star collapsed into a singularity and all the points became one.
Merlin emerged on the back end of eternity, his Will nearly broken, his Life nearly lost. He desperately reached out backward across the span of Time, but he knew what the result would be. Nothing. What he created should have been Paradise. Instead, it was Hell. They were gone, all of them, and he had no one to blame but himself. No one was left to blame but himself.
He looked forward into the depths of Time, and what he saw horrified him further. So many were already dead at his hand, but there were to be more. Countless more. Billions more. With every day that passed, the Curse that now bound this world and all worlds would grow. New lives would be created, lives so unbelievably, horrifyingly, tragically short. There was nothing he could do to save them.
Not yet, at least.
He had looked through Time once more, and in that instant of calculation, he embraced all possible futures and saw only one. The world must be unbound. The world must be sacrificed for the sake of all other worlds. There was no other way. How could there be? This was his burden, and every moment wasted, a new tragedy was born. |
(2015-09-30 - Q)
Decided to give the site a face-lift and remove many of the sections that were no longer valid.
The good news is that all the Tunes are still online for your listening pleasure!
Do you like the new "clean modernized" design? If you forgot what the old site looked like, you can compare the 2 designs...
Songs released in Hi-Quality MP3
(2014-05-29 - Q)
The Listen page needed some upgrades...
All the tunes on the Listen page have been upgraded to Hi-Quality MP3 format, increasing their fidelity greatly. Enjoy!
Upgrades done under-the-hood should improve playback compatibility with most browsers.
The long-broken Play Counters are working again... who knows how many listens we missed out on tracking?!?!
New Tune: 'Crazy Me'
(2008-03-23 - Q)
A ridiculous song about schizophrenia loosely based on articles found on the 'net.
New Tune: 'Edge of a Sword'
(2008-03-03 - MPH)
Edge of a Sword was written as a tribute to the loss of a close friend I haven't seen in 20 years. We grew much of our taste for music together and often while writing I would think of him and wonder if he would like the music. We spend much of our time buried in life and the moment, always trusting that we'll have time to see and talk to our old friends again. That isn't always the case. Try to connect sooner, not later, or you may regret it.
In memory of Brent Swackhammer and all of those who left us too soon.
New Tune: 'Blackbird'
(2008-02-26 - MPH)
This was formerly known as "On the other side" if anyone happened to hear a preview version.
Blackbird is an experiment in Pink Floyd's earlier writing techniques. It's based on continuing a single bass/rhythm line and building instruments on top to make chorus/verse type arrangement. Although nothing like "Welcome to the Machine", it is somewhat of an homage to the song in that it uses this style of writing and uses the "machine" as a metaphor in the lyrics.
It's a dark song. It's about every day work, the grind, and how it wears you down while making money for others. This song is a musical expression of that. Its art, so it's much exaggerated. Keep that in mind.
It's not personal account of anyone in the band. We hope you enjoy.
New Tunes Coming
(2008-02-17 - MPH)
New tunes are currently in production the first of which should be posted any day now.
First Song Posted to YouTube as a test
(2007-08-15 - MPH)
We've put our first song up on YouTube to test it out, see if we can get some new peeps, and see what happens.
Here it is if you wanna check it out.
Oh BTW, this is a song that's never been released to even our own website. It's high energy and recorded off the floor.
Two new covers: 'Comfy' & 'Rasputin'
(2006-05-26 - Q)
One of Pink Floyd's most popular tunes is also a big hit at live PastMidnight shows where we kick "Comfy" into high gear. Recorded off the floor during a jam, this mix is very similar to what you would hear at a live PastMidnight Gig.
A surprise favorite and major crowd-pleaser at PastMidnight Gigs, this version of Boney M's "Rasputin" was recorded off the floor at PastMidnight's 2006 New Year Bash!
New mixes: 'Infatuation' & 'Throw My Heart'
(2006-05-25 - Q)
A new mix of "Infatuation" has been posted onsite. Includes Megs on acoustic guitar, Steph on keys and Zach on bass.
A sweet new mix of "Throw My Heart" has also been added.
Still looking for a bass
(2006-04-25 - MPH)
We jammed this weekend with a great bass player. Unfortunately, he's in another band and I'm not sure we can steal him away.
SM also joined us for her first live jam on the keys. She did really well for never playing in a live environment before!
Looking for Bass Player
(2006-02-02 - MPH)
I hate to even go down this path. We love our bass player so much!
She has however landed her dream job and it's going to keep her travelling North America! She just won't have time for us insignificants anymore. *sniffle*
If your are roughly 20 to 35 years in age, play bass and interested in playing in an original band that does classic rock and contemporary rock styles, call Pete.
We do about a dozen local gigs a year mostly for fun. We have much of our own studio equipment for recording. We don't plan on touring unless one of our recordings made a lucky hit with a producer and we were going to be paid well to do so. We definitely like to record and submit our recordings to contests and producer.
We'll make auditions easy. The first one will be short and sweet. We just want to see you play a few licks and ask some basic questions to make sure your not on crack, or if you are on crack that you are willing to share. We have a bass and amp on site, so there is no excuse!
(2005-12-26 - Q)
PastMidnight wishes you, our friends, family, fans, and visitors a Very Merry Christmas, and the greatest prosperity, health, and happiness in the coming New Year !!!
2005 brought a few new songs from PastMidnight, and some great live shows. We look forward to creating great new tunes in 2006 to rock you and yours!
New Tune: 'Where To Go'
(2005-10-19 - MPH)
I see Q has mixed up "Where To Go" and dropped it into the juke box. It's a newer tune that has seemed to do well in the live venues.
More to come...
Stuff is Happening
(2005-10-13 - MPH)
A number of secret stuffs are happening.
Thanks to everyone at the Grinder
(2005-09-06 - MPH)
Face First were really a great bunch of guys to do this with. I hope I get to party with them more in the future.
I don't have the words for how much we appreciate everyone coming out. You're awesome.
I'm not sure what the plan is from here. We have a lot of recording to get done, gigs seem to come out of the woodwork, and Megs is in school right away. There's lots to figure. Hopefully Megs can work us into her classes and the next time you see us it will be a theatrical version of PastMidnight. What ever happens, it's gonna be a ride so stay tuned.
PastMidnight Live @ The Grinder !!!
(2005-08-29 - Q)
PastMidnight Live @ The Grinder Friday & Saturday, September 2 & 3, 2005 with Face First!!!
PastMidnight plays a 45 minute set, followed by a 30 minute set by Face First, followed by another 45 minute set by PastMidnight ... all at The Grinder starting at 9:30 pm.
Long Weekend Gigs
(2005-08-25 - MPH)
Ms. Management (ha ha get it)... errr...
Ms. Management, a talent promoter that caught our Urban Lounge Gig in Edmonton has booked us Friday Sept 2nd and Saturday Sept 3rd at the Grinder.
Location is 10957 124 Street NW
We'll be sharing the stage with the band Face First whom regularly rocked the Kings Night Pub and has recently turned original. These guys rock and draw a big crowd.
I think the format is PastMidnight opens for a 40-50 minute set. Face First will do their showcase for 60+ minutes, and then PastMidnight will take the stage again to close. This is tentative however, so stay tuned for more details.
Thanks to Everyone
(2005-08-23 - MPH)
Thanks to everyone who came out on Thursday to the Urban Lounge. You helped make it the best PastMidnight gig to date. Thanks SM for cleaning the stage. It's funny on the video. Watch on site, we're going to put some of the video from the gig up in a short while.
PastMidnight Live @ Urban Lounge !!!
(2005-08-16 - Q)
PastMidnight Live @ Urban Lounge Thursday, August 18, 2005 !!!
PastMidnight plays at the Urban Lounge starting at 11:30 pm. following Edmonton Block Heater.
PastMidnight Live @ The Fox !!!
(2005-06-15 - Q)
PastMidnight Live @ The Fox Sunday, June 19, 2005 !!!
PastMidnight plays at The Fox starting at 9:15 pm, followed by Dead End Drive
5th player wanted for the band
(2005-07-26 - MPH)
We're looking for a 5th player to help fill in some of the gaps in the band as well as help diversify the music we write. We're willing to consider quite a number of possibilities for the new player. It's difficult to describe what were looking for. Basically, someone who can change it up between guitar and keyboards but we're willing to look at other options that can improve our live sound as well.
Don't be shy, we just like to have good time.
PastMidnight Live @ Urban Lounge !!!
(2005-06-07 - Q)
PastMidnight Live @ Urban Lounge Wednesday, June 8, 2005 !!!
PastMidnight plays at the Urban Lounge (2 sets) starting at 10:00 pm.
(2005-05-24 - Q)
We had a very fun and VERY productive May long weekend!!
We spent some time drinking... and writing lyrics for 4 new songs (thanks to Travis & Kari)!! And drinking... then we spent some time in the studio recording our new tunes as well as re-recording a couple of our old faves!
So be sure to check out our new crunchy tune "Outta My Head"!
More new tunes will be coming soon and we should be out there playing live in the very near future! Stay posted for our Gig dates! |
What is involved in Wearable computer
Find out what the related areas are that Wearable computer connects with, associates with, correlates with or affects, and which require thought, deliberation, analysis, review and discussion. This unique checklist stands out in a sense that it is not per-se designed to give answers, but to engage the reader and lay out a Wearable computer thinking-frame.
How far is your company on its Wearable computer journey?
Take this short survey to gauge your organization’s progress toward Wearable computer leadership. Learn your strongest and weakest areas, and what you can do now to create a strategy that delivers results.
To address the criteria in this checklist for your organization, extensive selected resources are provided for sources of further research and information.
Start the Checklist
Below you will find a quick checklist designed to help you think about which Wearable computer related domains to cover and 116 essential critical questions to check off in that domain.
The following domains are covered:
Wearable computer, Reinforcement learning, Smart ring, CDI Corporation, Minority Report, Algorithm design, Social software, Virtual reality, Enterprise information system, Software architecture, Software design, 2-in-1 PC, Feature phone, Portable media player, Mixed reality, Computer security compromised by hardware failure, Programming tool, Glove One, Desktop computer, Future Force Warrior, Scientific calculator, Intel Quark, GPS watch, Solid modeling, Software construction, Real-time computing, Green computing, Rehabilitation engineering, Machine learning, Programmable calculator, Handheld game console, Numerical analysis, Network scheduler, Las Vegas Valley, Control theory, Computer accessibility, Head-up display, Virtual retinal display, Terminator 2, Chorded keyboard, Information appliance, Floppy Drive, ACM Computing Classification System, Artificial neural membrane, Iron Man, Computer security, Programming paradigm, Thin client, Table computer:
Wearable computer Critical Criteria:
Generalize Wearable computer engagements and balance specific methods for improving Wearable computer results.
– What are your results for key measures or indicators of the accomplishment of your Wearable computer strategy and action plans, including building and strengthening core competencies?
– What are the disruptive Wearable computer technologies that enable our organization to radically change our business processes?
– Is Supporting Wearable computer documentation required?
Reinforcement learning Critical Criteria:
Participate in Reinforcement learning strategies and perfect Reinforcement learning conflict management.
– Why should we adopt a Wearable computer framework?
– How can we improve Wearable computer?
Smart ring Critical Criteria:
Categorize Smart ring strategies and reduce Smart ring costs.
– What will be the consequences to the business (financial, reputation etc) if Wearable computer does not go ahead or fails to deliver the objectives?
– What is the total cost related to deploying Wearable computer, including any consulting or professional services?
– Will Wearable computer deliverables need to be tested and, if so, by whom?
CDI Corporation Critical Criteria:
Focus on CDI Corporation planning and diversify disclosure of information – dealing with confidential CDI Corporation information.
– What other organizational variables, such as reward systems or communication systems, affect the performance of this Wearable computer process?
– What tools do you use once you have decided on a Wearable computer strategy and more importantly how do you choose?
– Think about the functions involved in your Wearable computer project. what processes flow from these functions?
Minority Report Critical Criteria:
X-ray Minority Report leadership and triple focus on important concepts of Minority Report relationship management.
– Consider your own Wearable computer project. what types of organizational problems do you think might be causing or affecting your problem, based on the work done so far?
– What are the short and long-term Wearable computer goals?
Algorithm design Critical Criteria:
Discourse Algorithm design strategies and find the essential reading for Algorithm design researchers.
– What management system can we use to leverage the Wearable computer experience, ideas, and concerns of the people closest to the work to be done?
– Who will be responsible for documenting the Wearable computer requirements in detail?
– What are current Wearable computer Paradigms?
Social software Critical Criteria:
Paraphrase Social software projects and correct Social software management by competencies.
– How do we Identify specific Wearable computer investment and emerging trends?
– How can skill-level changes improve Wearable computer?
Virtual reality Critical Criteria:
Weigh in on Virtual reality failures and diversify disclosure of information – dealing with confidential Virtual reality information.
– How can we incorporate support to ensure safe and effective use of Wearable computer into the services that we provide?
– In a project to restructure Wearable computer outcomes, which stakeholders would you involve?
– Are there recognized Wearable computer problems?
Enterprise information system Critical Criteria:
Guide Enterprise information system failures and remodel and develop an effective Enterprise information system strategy.
– Do we cover the five essential competencies-Communication, Collaboration,Innovation, Adaptability, and Leadership that improve an organizations ability to leverage the new Wearable computer in a volatile global economy?
– Do we aggressively reward and promote the people who have the biggest impact on creating excellent Wearable computer services/products?
Software architecture Critical Criteria:
Exchange ideas about Software architecture leadership and remodel and develop an effective Software architecture strategy.
– Have all basic functions of Wearable computer been defined?
– Are there Wearable computer problems defined?
Software design Critical Criteria:
Debate over Software design visions and report on setting up Software design without losing ground.
– Do those selected for the Wearable computer team have a good general understanding of what Wearable computer is all about?
– Do several people in different organizational units assist with the Wearable computer process?
– What role does communication play in the success or failure of a Wearable computer project?
2-in-1 PC Critical Criteria:
Conceptualize 2-in-1 PC tasks and find out what it really means.
– Among the Wearable computer product and service cost to be estimated, which is considered hardest to estimate?
– Who will be responsible for deciding whether Wearable computer goes ahead or not after the initial investigations?
– What are our Wearable computer Processes?
Feature phone Critical Criteria:
Troubleshoot Feature phone strategies and grade techniques for implementing Feature phone controls.
– Can we add value to the current Wearable computer decision-making process (largely qualitative) by incorporating uncertainty modeling (more quantitative)?
– How will you measure your Wearable computer effectiveness?
Portable media player Critical Criteria:
Infer Portable media player failures and probe Portable media player strategic alliances.
– Does our organization need more Wearable computer education?
Mixed reality Critical Criteria:
Align Mixed reality quality and track iterative Mixed reality results.
– Who is responsible for ensuring appropriate resources (time, people and money) are allocated to Wearable computer?
– Do we monitor the Wearable computer decisions made and fine tune them as they evolve?
Computer security compromised by hardware failure Critical Criteria:
Jump start Computer security compromised by hardware failure outcomes and create a map for yourself.
– Who is the main stakeholder, with ultimate responsibility for driving Wearable computer forward?
Programming tool Critical Criteria:
Exchange ideas about Programming tool visions and describe which business rules are needed as Programming tool interface.
– Will Wearable computer have an impact on current business continuity, disaster recovery processes and/or infrastructure?
Glove One Critical Criteria:
Own Glove One quality and integrate design thinking in Glove One innovation.
– Record-keeping requirements flow from the records needed as inputs, outputs, controls and for transformation of a Wearable computer process. ask yourself: are the records needed as inputs to the Wearable computer process available?
– For your Wearable computer project, identify and describe the business environment. is there more than one layer to the business environment?
– What are all of our Wearable computer domains and what do they do?
Desktop computer Critical Criteria:
Examine Desktop computer engagements and diversify disclosure of information – dealing with confidential Desktop computer information.
– What are the key elements of your Wearable computer performance improvement system, including your evaluation, organizational learning, and innovation processes?
– How do we ensure that implementations of Wearable computer products are done in a way that ensures safety?
– What is our Wearable computer Strategy?
Future Force Warrior Critical Criteria:
Do a round table on Future Force Warrior governance and drive action.
– What knowledge, skills and characteristics mark a good Wearable computer project manager?
– Is there any existing Wearable computer governance structure?
– How would one define Wearable computer leadership?
Scientific calculator Critical Criteria:
Bootstrap Scientific calculator results and use obstacles to break out of ruts.
– What is the source of the strategies for Wearable computer strengthening and reform?
– What are the record-keeping requirements of Wearable computer activities?
Intel Quark Critical Criteria:
Chat re Intel Quark strategies and reduce Intel Quark costs.
– Marketing budgets are tighter, consumers are more skeptical, and social media has changed forever the way we talk about Wearable computer. How do we gain traction?
– In what ways are Wearable computer vendors and us interacting to ensure safe and effective use?
– What vendors make products that address the Wearable computer needs?
GPS watch Critical Criteria:
Scrutinze GPS watch engagements and finalize specific methods for GPS watch acceptance.
– Have the types of risks that may impact Wearable computer been identified and analyzed?
Solid modeling Critical Criteria:
Debate over Solid modeling management and pay attention to the small things.
– How do we know that any Wearable computer analysis is complete and comprehensive?
Software construction Critical Criteria:
Think about Software construction decisions and check on ways to get started with Software construction.
– Who are the people involved in developing and implementing Wearable computer?
Real-time computing Critical Criteria:
Bootstrap Real-time computing issues and diversify by understanding risks and leveraging Real-time computing.
– What are the success criteria that will indicate that Wearable computer objectives have been met and the benefits delivered?
– How can the value of Wearable computer be defined?
– Is a Wearable computer Team Work effort in place?
Green computing Critical Criteria:
Exchange ideas about Green computing adoptions and report on developing an effective Green computing strategy.
– What are the Key enablers to make this Wearable computer move?
– Which Wearable computer goals are the most important?
Rehabilitation engineering Critical Criteria:
Demonstrate Rehabilitation engineering results and clarify ways to gain access to competitive Rehabilitation engineering services.
– At what point will vulnerability assessments be performed once Wearable computer is put into production (e.g., ongoing Risk Management after implementation)?
– How will we insure seamless interoperability of Wearable computer moving forward?
– How do we go about Securing Wearable computer?
Machine learning Critical Criteria:
Consider Machine learning outcomes and research ways can we become the Machine learning company that would put us out of business.
– What are the long-term implications of other disruptive technologies (e.g., machine learning, robotics, data analytics) converging with blockchain development?
– Is there a Wearable computer Communication plan covering who needs to get what information when?
Programmable calculator Critical Criteria:
Model after Programmable calculator projects and remodel and develop an effective Programmable calculator strategy.
– How important is Wearable computer to the user organizations mission?
– Can Management personnel recognize the monetary benefit of Wearable computer?
Handheld game console Critical Criteria:
Accumulate Handheld game console engagements and intervene in Handheld game console processes and leadership.
Numerical analysis Critical Criteria:
Meet over Numerical analysis risks and handle a jump-start course to Numerical analysis.
– In the case of a Wearable computer project, the criteria for the audit derive from implementation objectives. an audit of a Wearable computer project involves assessing whether the recommendations outlined for implementation have been met. in other words, can we track that any Wearable computer project is implemented as planned, and is it working?
– How do your measurements capture actionable Wearable computer information for use in exceeding your customers expectations and securing your customers engagement?
– Where do ideas that reach policy makers and planners as proposals for Wearable computer strengthening and reform actually originate?
Network scheduler Critical Criteria:
Study Network scheduler management and define what do we need to start doing with Network scheduler.
– What are the top 3 things at the forefront of our Wearable computer agendas for the next 3 years?
– What are the barriers to increased Wearable computer production?
Las Vegas Valley Critical Criteria:
Extrapolate Las Vegas Valley leadership and handle a jump-start course to Las Vegas Valley.
– How likely is the current Wearable computer plan to come in on schedule or on budget?
Control theory Critical Criteria:
Unify Control theory tasks and find answers.
– Are assumptions made in Wearable computer stated explicitly?
– Who will provide the final approval of Wearable computer deliverables?
– What about Wearable computer Analysis of results?
Computer accessibility Critical Criteria:
Drive Computer accessibility outcomes and track iterative Computer accessibility results.
Head-up display Critical Criteria:
Boost Head-up display management and optimize Head-up display leadership as a key to advancement.
Virtual retinal display Critical Criteria:
Explore Virtual retinal display outcomes and give examples utilizing a core of simple Virtual retinal display skills.
Terminator 2 Critical Criteria:
Demonstrate Terminator 2 planning and cater for concise Terminator 2 education.
– Does Wearable computer systematically track and analyze outcomes for accountability and quality improvement?
– How do we manage Wearable computer Knowledge Management (KM)?
– Does the Wearable computer task fit the clients priorities?
Chorded keyboard Critical Criteria:
Trace Chorded keyboard decisions and give examples utilizing a core of simple Chorded keyboard skills.
– When a Wearable computer manager recognizes a problem, what options are available?
– Why is Wearable computer important for you now?
– What are the long-term Wearable computer goals?
Information appliance Critical Criteria:
Have a session on Information appliance projects and find the essential reading for Information appliance researchers.
– Is maximizing Wearable computer protection the same as minimizing Wearable computer loss?
– Do you monitor the effectiveness of your Wearable computer activities?
– How do we Lead with Wearable computer in Mind?
Floppy Drive Critical Criteria:
Audit Floppy Drive risks and point out Floppy Drive tensions in leadership.
– Do the Wearable computer decisions we make today help people and the planet tomorrow?
– What is our formula for success in Wearable computer ?
– Is Wearable computer Required?
ACM Computing Classification System Critical Criteria:
Define ACM Computing Classification System adoptions and diversify by understanding risks and leveraging ACM Computing Classification System.
– To what extent does management recognize Wearable computer as a tool to increase the results?
Artificial neural membrane Critical Criteria:
Familiarize yourself with Artificial neural membrane visions and acquire concise Artificial neural membrane education.
– Are accountability and ownership for Wearable computer clearly defined?
– What are the Essentials of Internal Wearable computer Management?
Iron Man Critical Criteria:
Model after Iron Man decisions and separate what are the business goals Iron Man is aiming to achieve.
– Does Wearable computer analysis isolate the fundamental causes of problems?
Computer security Critical Criteria:
Scan Computer security quality and look at it backwards.
– Does your company provide end-user training to all employees on Cybersecurity, either as part of general staff training or specifically on the topic of computer security and company policy?
– Will the selection of a particular product limit the future choices of other computer security or operational modifications and improvements?
Programming paradigm Critical Criteria:
Drive Programming paradigm goals and drive action.
– What new services of functionality will be implemented next with Wearable computer ?
– Is the Wearable computer organization completing tasks effectively and efficiently?
Thin client Critical Criteria:
Give examples of Thin client risks and report on the economics of relationships managing Thin client and constraints.
– Is the scope of Wearable computer defined?
Table computer Critical Criteria:
Grade Table computer leadership and visualize why should people listen to you regarding Table computer.
– What business benefits will Wearable computer goals deliver if achieved?
– How much does Wearable computer help?
This quick readiness checklist is a selected resource to help you move forward. Learn more about how to achieve comprehensive insights with the Wearable computer Self Assessment:
Author: Gerard Blokdijk
CEO at The Art of Service | http://theartofservice.com
Gerard is the CEO at The Art of Service. He has been providing information technology insights, talks, tools and products to organizations in a wide range of industries for over 25 years. Gerard is a widely recognized and respected information expert. Gerard founded The Art of Service consulting business in 2000. Gerard has authored numerous published books to date.
To address the criteria in this checklist, these selected resources are provided for sources of further research and information:
Wearable computer External links:
Apple Watch: Apple Unveils Watch Wearable Computer | Time.com
Wearable Computer – Gartner IT Glossary
New Wearable Computer Also Sucks Your Dick – YouTube
Reinforcement learning External links:
Reinforcement Learning | Udacity
Reinforcement Learning // Speaker Deck
Fundamental Reinforcement Learning Research
Smart ring External links:
Shop Smartpool Smart Ring Drain Cover at Lowes.com
Orii smart ring turns your fingertip into a Bluetooth earpiece
Nimb: Smart Ring With A Panic Button
CDI Corporation External links:
Structural Engineer Jobs in Toledo, OH – CDI Corporation
CDI Corporation Jobs
Minority Report External links:
Minority Report – XFINITY Stream
Minority Report (2002) – IMDb
Minority Report – YouTube
Algorithm design External links:
Algorithm Design by Jon Kleinberg
9780132131087: Algorithm Design – AbeBooks: 0132131080
Algorithm design (Book, 2006) [WorldCat.org]
Social software External links:
Enterprise Social Software – Votigo
Social Software Awards and Bloomfire Recognition | Bloomfire
Product – Pulse – Enterprise Social Software
Virtual reality External links:
3D Camera | 3D scanning | Virtual Reality – Matterport
Home – Global Virtual Reality Association
Inception | VR App & Platform for Virtual Reality Content
Enterprise information system External links:
Banner Enterprise Information System – SIUE
– MEP’s Enterprise Information System (MEIS)
ENTERPRISE INFORMATION SYSTEM | PRODEV …
Software architecture External links:
Rofoz B.V. | Software Architecture Consultancy & …
Chapter 1: What is Software Architecture?
Software Architecture & Design | Udacity
Software design External links:
Custom Software Design & Development | FrogSlayer
Web and Mobile Software Design, Development, and Support
Software Design and Development Company | Distillery
2-in-1 PC External links:
Dell 2-in-1 PCs
http://Ad · www.Dell.com/2in1
Feature phone External links:
[PDF]ESI Feature Phone User’s Guide – DTS – dtsphones.com
What Is Best Feature Phone with Texting | Verizon Community
[PDF]ESI Feature Phone User’s Guide – ComSouth
Portable media player External links:
Portable Media Player Market – Research Corridor
Portable Media Player | eBay
8 GB Portable Media Player by Ematic – wards.com
Mixed reality External links:
All Categories — Windows Mixed Reality Developer Forum
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NuMicro ISP Programming Tool for T-PRIV – SMOK® …
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fenix 3 Sapphire | Garmin | Fitness GPS Watch
hereO, the first GPS watch designed for kids.
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Solid Modeling and Design – S15 | Calliope
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Virtual retinal display External links:
[PDF]Virtual Retinal Display – URI
Patent US5467104 – Virtual retinal display – Google Patents
Patent US5659327 – Virtual retinal display – Google Patents
Terminator 2 External links:
Untitled Terminator 2 (2017) – Movietube
Terminator 2 (1991) – Release Info – IMDb
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Chorded keyboard External links:
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Thin client External links:
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www.cdw.com › Computers › Thin Clients |
“The chief object of the Season,” Lady Bradshaw says, “is to find a husband.”
A huge lump of sugar slips from my tongs and falls into my cup. Hot tea splashes out and brown stains appear on the tablecloth. Bianca shoots me a look of disgust. We’re having afternoon tea with just the three of us after three days of incessant parties, and I’m super thankful for a break.
“Perhaps the notion is not fully bred into your mind yet,” Lady Bradshaw continues icily. “But it is imperative that you procure a suitable partner, preferably before the Season is over. It is widely considered a failure for a young lady, if she does not receive a marriage proposal within three seasons.”
Three seasons. As most girls presented are seventeen or eighteen in Athelia, one can be called a failure when she is unmarried at twenty-one. By this definition, most Hollywood actresses would be considered fossils.
“And,” Lady Bradshaw lowers her voice, signifying the end of the world is to come, “if you are still unattached when you reach thirty, you are doomed to spinsterhood.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Mom is nearly forty, but she never lacks for dates. She was actually going steady with this lawyer from Chicago who drove up to Oakleigh every weekend, but she later dropped him when she discovered he wasn’t really divorced.
Okay Kat, remember this is a different world.
“And getting engaged is becoming more difficult these days,” Bianca says, inspecting a fingernail. “Claire says many men are purposefully delaying marriage, especially the younger sons, who prefer to establish their own career before settling down.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about you, dear. You already have enough beaux. With the number of invitations you’re getting, it’s becoming more of a nuisance than flattering.” Lady Bradshaw puts down her teacup and looks at me with a long, piercing look. “But you, young lady, had better make an effort. Ever since that…that disaster at court, your chances of attracting a husband—which are already low—are further diminishing.”
Whatever. I’ll be returning to the modern world as soon as I can, and the last thing I want is to fall for some dreamy Mr. Darcy-ish guy here in Story World.
Still, even though I feel zero pressure to spouse-hunt, the Season is tough enough, not to mention damned exhausting.
Back in school, there’s this girl who’s desperate to join the in-crowd and always complaining about her super-strict parents enforcing a super-strict curfew, (six o’clock…okay, I admit that is pretty harsh) but now I can tell her it really isn’t that exciting. I’m living the life of the beautiful and popular—I’m doing nothing but partying all day. And I hate it.
First we start the morning with a ride in the park, which is swarming with fashionable people who want to be seen and introduced, either on horseback or in an open-air carriage. I prefer the carriage—I’ve never ridden a horse before—but Lady B puts her hands on her hips and insists equestrian skills are also important, especially during hunting parties in autumn. I think it’s because there’s a chance a man can assist me mounting the horse, but no way do I want a man putting his hands on my bum or waist or legs. Bianca, on the other hand, climbs on her horse with the elegance of an elf while I quake and tremble and hold the reins in a death grip. Sometimes I luck out and see Poppy, who’s generous and sympathetic enough to help me. Since she grew up in the country, she’s an excellent horsewoman.
Then around half past nine, we go home and remove our riding clothes (a short, fitted jacket, a long skirt, and mud-splattered boots) and don light cotton dresses for breakfast (ew, baked beans). Lady Bradshaw whisks Bianca off for shopping or morning calls, while I suffer through more lady lessons, mostly on dancing.
“According to our unofficial estimates on the market, about half of the marriages are made on the dance floor.”
Yeah. I have to plan one for Elle and the prince anyway.
“So I expect you to master the waltz and quadrille and all the other dances the master teaches you. I will not have a repeat of that disastrous presentation.”
Urgh. Because of the strenuous dance training, by lunch time my feet are sore, my back aches, and my appetite is huge. I stare longingly at the water jug, wanting to snatch it up and drain the contents instead of sipping daintily from a tiny cup.
In the afternoon we change into appropriate clothes depending on the event, and there are so many. Concerts, garden parties, picnics, lectures, bazaars, cricket matches, bowling games, tennis, all kinds of activities that make my head spin. Usually I try to find some place to make myself inconspicuous, or hang out with Poppy if she’s also present, and pray that dinner will be held at home.
Because if we’re invited out to dinner—a formal, elaborate affair—then full evening dress is required. Lady Bradshaw tells me not to concentrate on the food and conjure up something witty and amusing to say to whatever unfortunate young man is seated beside me. Which is totally difficult, considering I’m doing my best to remember which fork goes with the salad and which spoon is to be used for soup. Above that, I have to watch myself about using modern references and slang. It’s not like anyone here has seen my favorite TV show.
But. It’s. Not. Over. Yet.
Then comes the theater, the opera, or the soiree. I haven’t been to a ball yet, but Elle says it will come, sooner or later. Of course, the best I can do at the theater and opera is avoid falling asleep. Oh, and did I mention that we have to change again for the evening event? Even Miss Perfect Bianca gets kind of impatient with all the changing, though I suspect it’s because she hasn’t got enough dresses to wear a different one every time, every day.
Once, I was so tired from attending a tennis match, a horse race, a soiree, and a dinner party that I fell asleep during a play. My timing couldn’t have been better. I slept through the whole thing and woke up just when the play was over and everyone was getting ready to leave.
“You snored,” Bianca said, looking down her nose at me. “Hereafter, I shall avoid going to the same events with you. It’s too embarrassing.”
Great! If she really means it, she’ll have to miss like nine out of ten of the social activities we go to. Most people are considerate enough to invite us both, except for very close acquaintances of Bianca’s, like Claire. But that happens very rarely.
The only thing I enjoy about the Season is annoying Bianca. Since I’m still waiting for Elle’s mother, Mrs. Thatcher, to make a full recovery (I dare not disturb her when she’s still pretty ill), I figure what I can do now is cut down on Elle’s competition, starting with Bianca. Like, whenever this lord or mister asks for Bianca when she’s out shopping, I always welcome him inside and tell him to wait in the parlor. Sometimes I also inform them of Bianca’s schedule, like she’s planning to go to Lady Willoughby’s soiree, or Lord Westin’s dinner party. Hopefully, one of them will persuade Bianca that he is THE ONE, not the guy at the palace.
Bianca’s exasperated, though Lady Bradshaw reasons with her that there’s no guarantee she can be the future queen, so it’s always a good idea to have someone to “fall back on.” I wonder what those young men might feel about being second-choice, but then they probably don’t mind. As long as they can get the goddess in the end.
One morning when we’re finished with a carriage ride, Lady Bradshaw orders me to go home and practice the piano while she takes Bianca shopping.
“Once you have shown some improvement in your piano playing, I will take you to Madame Olga’s for a new dress.”
Ha. As if that will ever happen, given my sausage-like fingers. Plus, like I said, I already have enough dresses for three girls.
When I get home, there’s a gentleman anxiously waiting on the doorstep. I recognize him right away. A marquess (or is it a viscount?) whose full name I can’t remember, but his thick sideburns have earned him the nickname of Sideburn Sidney among the girls.
I clear my throat. “Excuse me, but I need to get in my own house.”
“Miss Katriona!” Sidney turns. “How lovely to see you this morning.” He looks around, as though Bianca is hiding behind me. Which is impossible, since she is three inches taller. “Your sister is not with you?”
I yawn. “She went shopping on High Street. Can I take a message?”
“As a matter of fact,” Sidney drops his voice. “Dare I ask your sister’s opinion of me? My heart and soul have been suffering ever since we dined at Lord Westin’s.”
An image of Bianca, haughty and dismissive, pops in my mind. “Sideburn Sidney? Such a bore he is,” she said when Lady Bradshaw asked for her opinion. “His speech is more sleep-inducing than any lullaby.”
I form a bright smile. “Don’t worry. She actually thinks very highly of you.”
“Really?” Sidney looks doubtful. “But she did not appear enthusiastic when I tried to engage her in conversation yesterday morning.”
“She’s just being shy,” I say. My mission right now is to have Bianca swamped by numerous suitors so she won’t have time or energy to go after the prince. “You know, a girl doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve. In fact, she is secretly looking forward to your attentions.”
Sidney heaves a sigh of relief. “I am much obliged to hear that, Miss Katriona. What would you advise me to do? Is there some way that I can court her without seeming too eager? I would not want to scare her off.”
“You could send her a gift. Chocolate, for instance.”
He rubs his hands. “I will order a box tomorrow. With flowers.”
“Excellent. I’m sure she will love it.” I grin as I bid him goodbye. Of course, since Bianca is so wary of getting fat, those chocolates will eventually end up in my stomach. “Make sure they are from a gourmet store on High Street.”
“So have you received a marriage proposal yet?” Krev asks me one evening, when I stumble in the room bleary-eyed and flop onto the bed like a dead fish.
I roll my eyes. Apart from this guy called Lord Lloyd who has a red-hair fetish, almost everyone is drawn to Bianca. Which is totally normal. Come on, an Audrey Hepburn lookalike and Josephine March? I’d take Hepburn anytime.
“Is the ugly stepsister supposed to get married in the story?” I ask, choosing to ignore his question.
Krev grins. He disappears from the mantelpiece where he was sitting and perches on the foot of my bed.
“We’re having a bet, the king, the queen, and I,” he says.
“On what?” I have a bad feeling about this.
“On how many proposals you’ll receive by the end of the Season. The king bets on two; the queen five.”
“And you?” I can’t help asking.
“One. But I won’t say who the man is, or you’re certain to avoid him.”
“You’d better bet on zero,” I say dryly. “There’s no way I can marry anyone here, and I’m not even out of high school. It’s ridiculous. Besides, you guys would have more fun betting on Bianca. She’s refused seven suitors already!”
Krev shrugs. “The king doesn’t care about other females—you’re the one who ripped his book. Besides, you’re an underdog here, and Morag has more sympathy for underdogs.”
“Sympathy? Then help me get out of this stupid book!” I throw my pillow at him; he snaps his fingers and the pillow comes flying back like it has rebounded off a wall. “Look, you can do magic and disappear and such, but you won’t even lift a finger to help me.”
Krev raises a crooked eyebrow. “How?”
“Well, with finding the fairy godmother, for one thing! I can’t get Elle to the ball on my own, I can’t turn a pumpkin into a coach, and mice into footmen, and God knows where I can get glass slippers. I want to get back, I want to go home!”
I let out a tiny sob. Krev, who usually takes pleasure in my misfortunes, looks a bit uncomfortable.
“Impossible, girlie. The king created the book a hundred years ago, along with several others. He doesn’t even remember what the fairy godmother looks like, not to mention where she might be.”
“Seriously? A hundred years ago?”
“Goblin-made objects last longer.”
“Like the sword Harry Potter used to kill the basilisk?”
“Oh, that is pure nonsense.” Krev sounds amused. “We don’t make weapons, trolls do. And the book was already fragile when you touched it. It may last longer than human-made stuff, but that doesn’t mean it lasts forever.”
“Whatever.” The point is I’m alone in my quest for the fairy godmother. God, with all the luck I’m having, I might be stuck in this story forever. |
SEMPRA ENERGY 8-K 2017
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.
Acquisition of Energy Future Holdings Corp.
On August 21, 2017, Sempra Energy, along with an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Energy Future Holdings Corp. (“EFH”) and Energy Future Intermediate Holding Company LLC (“EFIH”). EFH owns 100 percent of the membership interests of EFIH, which in turn owns 100 percent of the membership interests of Oncor Electric Delivery Holdings Company LLC (“Oncor Holdings”), which owns 80.03 percent of the outstanding membership interests of Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (“Oncor”).
EFH and EFIH were party to an Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of July 7, 2017, with, among others, Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company (as amended, the “Berkshire Merger Agreement”). On August 21, 2017, EFH and EFIH exercised their rights pursuant to the Berkshire Merger Agreement to terminate the Berkshire Merger Agreement to enter into the Merger Agreement. The transactions contemplated in the Merger Agreement constitute a “Superior Proposal” (as defined in the Berkshire Merger Agreement) to the Berkshire Merger Agreement.
Oncor is a regulated electric distribution and transmission business that operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas. In addition to Oncor Holdings’ ownership of 80.03 percent of Oncor’s outstanding membership interests, Texas Transmission Investment LLC (“TTI”) owns 19.75 percent of Oncor’s outstanding membership interests, and certain members of Oncor’s management team and board of directors indirectly beneficially own the remaining 0.22 percent of Oncor’s outstanding membership interests. As reported in Oncor’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, as of June 30, 2017 Oncor had short-term borrowings and debt in the aggregate amount of approximately $7.0 billion.
Oncor’s board of directors currently consists of twelve members, seven of which are independent, two of which are designated by EFIH and appointed by Oncor Holdings, two of which are appointed by TTI, and one of which is a member of Oncor management designated by EFIH and appointed by Oncor Holdings. Following the consummation of the transactions contemplated under the Merger Agreement, Oncor’s board of directors will consist of thirteen members, seven of which will be independent, two of which will be designated by EFIH and appointed by Oncor Holdings, two of which will be appointed by TTI, and two of which will be members of Oncor management designated by EFIH and appointed by Oncor Holdings.
In April 2014, EFH and the substantial majority of its direct and indirect subsidiaries, including EFIH, but excluding Oncor Holdings and Oncor, (the “EFH Debtors”), filed voluntary petitions for relief (the “Filing”) under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”). Since that time, the EFH Debtors have operated their businesses as debtors-in-possession under the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Bankruptcy Code.
On August 23, 2017, EFH, EFIH and the other EFH Debtors filed a First Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization with the Bankruptcy Court (the “Amended Plan”) reflecting, among other things, the terms of the Merger Agreement. Pursuant to the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan, after the reorganization of the EFH Debtors, EFH will be merged with and into Merger Sub, with EFH continuing as the surviving company (the “Merger”).
After the reorganization and the consummation of the Merger, Sempra Energy expects it will directly or indirectly own approximately 60 percent of the membership interests of EFH, with the remaining approximately 40 percent being held by certain trusts for the benefit of third-party investors providing financing for the transaction and a small portion, if any, expected to be held by certain creditors of the EFH Debtors. EFH will continue to own 100 percent of the membership interests of EFIH, which will continue to be the indirect owner of 80.03 percent of the membership interests of Oncor.
Under the Merger Agreement, Sempra Energy will pay total consideration of approximately $9.45 billion, subject to adjustment described below. Consideration is expected to consist of:
Some or all of the Equity Contribution may be funded with debt or equity raised by Sempra Energy or its subsidiaries. In addition, the amount of the Equity Contribution shall be reduced by up to approximately $2.5 billion that (a) certain third-party investors invest in trust certificates in a Delaware trust holding equity of an indirect parent company of Merger Sub (the “Non-Rollover Equity”) pursuant to the Amended Plan and (b) certain creditors of the EFH Debtors elect or may be required to receive in the form of trust certificates in a Delaware trust holding equity of an indirect parent company of Merger Sub (the “Rollover Equity”). Under the Amended Plan, notwithstanding an election by creditors to receive Rollover Equity, Sempra Energy is entitled to approve, in its sole discretion, which creditors making such election actually receive Rollover Equity, if any.
If the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement occurs prior to the payment of the dividend payable by Oncor to Oncor Holdings in respect of amounts earned by Oncor during the period starting as of October 1, 2017 and ending on December 31, 2017, which dividend will then be paid by Oncor Holdings to EFIH, then the purchase price will be increased by an amount equal to 75 percent of the actual dividend paid in respect of such period. If the closing of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement occurs following the payment of such dividend, then the purchase price will be reduced by an amount equal to 25 percent of the dividend paid in respect of such period. The amount of this purchase price adjustment is not expected to material.
Agreement and Plan of Merger
EFH, EFIH, Sempra Energy and Merger Sub have each made customary representations, warranties and covenants in the Merger Agreement. The parties have also agreed to cooperate with each other and to use their respective reasonable best efforts to take all actions and do all things reasonably necessary, proper or advisable to consummate the transactions under the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan, including to make all filings and to obtain all consents, registrations, approvals, permits and authorizations necessary or advisable to be obtained from any third party or governmental entity in connection with the execution, delivery and performance of the Merger Agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated thereby and the Amended Plan.
The Merger Agreement contains various mutual conditions precedent to the consummation of the transactions contemplated therein, including, among others: (i) the entry by the Bankruptcy Court of the order approving the Merger Agreement and related agreements (the “Approval Order”) and an order by the Bankruptcy Court confirming the Amended Plan (the “EFH Confirmation Order”); (ii) the issuance by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) of specified private letter rulings with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, which private letter rulings are not revoked or withdrawn; (iii) that the representations and warranties of each party to the Merger Agreement are true and correct, subject, in certain cases, to material adverse effect qualifiers; (iv) the performance of obligations of each party to the Merger Agreement; (v) the receipt of certain
approvals and rulings that are necessary to consummate the merger, including approvals from, among others, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (“PUCT”) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), which approvals or rulings shall not impose a Burdensome Condition (as defined below); (vi) the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended; and (vii) the absence of any law or order prohibiting the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement. Sempra Energy’s conditions precedent to the consummation of the transactions contemplated under the Merger Agreement also include, among others: (i) the receipt by each of Sempra Energy and EFH of tax opinions from each of their respective tax advisors that the Merger constitutes a tax-free reorganization under the Internal Revenue Code; (ii) EFH and its subsidiaries not having any employees (subject to certain exceptions) or any liabilities or obligations owed to current or former employees of EFH or its subsidiaries; (iii) the accuracy of and the absence of any change of ownership of EFH, other than as provided in the Amended Plan; and (iv) the truth and accuracy of the facts presented and representations made in submissions to the IRS.
The Merger Agreement may be terminated, among other reasons: (i) by Sempra Energy or EFH and EFIH (acting together), (x) if the closing has not been consummated within 240 days of the date of the Merger Agreement (subject to a 90-day extension in certain circumstances for the continued pursuit of the PUCT, FERC or certain IRS approvals or rulings, as applicable, as described above), (y) if a law or order prohibiting the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement becomes final and non-appealable; or (z) if the PUCT issues an order either denying the approval of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement or imposing a Burdensome Condition (as defined below) and, within 30 days following the issuance of such order, such order has not been vacated or materially modified such that upon such vacation or modification, the approval of the PUCT has been obtained; (ii) by Sempra Energy, if (x) Sempra Energy, Merger Sub, Oncor and Oncor Holdings fail to enter into a letter agreement providing for cooperation by Sempra Energy, Merger Sub, Oncor and Oncor Holdings with respect to the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement within five days following the date of the Merger Agreement (which termination right may be exercised for up to ten days after the end of such five day period), (y) EFH or EFIH files or expressly supports in the Bankruptcy Court a plan of reorganization that is inconsistent in any substantive legal or economic respect with the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan, and such inconsistency cannot be cured within 30 business days of receipt of Sempra Energy’s notice thereof; or (z) the Bankruptcy Court enters, or EFH or EFIH seeks from the Bankruptcy Court, an order approving any sale or other disposition of the assets of EFH or its subsidiaries, or the membership interests in EFIH or any of its subsidiaries (including the Oncor Entities, as defined below), to any person other than Sempra Energy, Merger Sub or any of their respective affiliates; or (iii) by EFH and/or EFIH if the board of directors of EFH or the board of managers of EFIH, as applicable, determines in its sole discretion that the failure to terminate the Merger Agreement is inconsistent with EFH’s or EFIH’s fiduciary duties. The Merger Agreement may also be terminated at any time prior to closing by mutual written consent of the parties thereto.
A Burdensome Condition is defined in the Merger Agreement as any term or condition, order, sanction, requirement, law, rule or regulation that, individually or in the aggregate, would, or would be reasonably expected to have a material and adverse effect on, or change in, the condition (financial or otherwise), business, assets, liabilities or results of operations of (i) Oncor and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (ii) Sempra Energy and its subsidiaries, taken as whole; provided that, for the purposes of clause (ii) Sempra Energy and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, shall be deemed to be a consolidated group of entities that is the size and scale of Oncor Holdings and its subsidiaries; subject to certain exceptions that will not be deemed to contribute to the determination of whether an event is a Burdensome Condition (see Section 6.3(e) of the Merger Agreement). For greater certainty, none of the regulatory commitments of Sempra Energy contained in Exhibit D to the Merger Agreement shall constitute a Burdensome Condition.
The Merger Agreement also prohibits EFH and EFIH from soliciting, or participating in discussions or negotiations or providing information with respect to, alternative proposals for their restructuring, subject to the following specified exceptions: (i) EFH may solicit proposals from third parties prior to the Bankruptcy Court’s entry of the Approval Order, and (ii) EFH may, until the entry of the EFH Confirmation Order, continue discussions or negotiations with respect to alternative proposals for its restructuring (x) with any person that has submitted, prior to the Bankruptcy Court’s entry of the Approval Order, a written indicative bid that EFH or EFIH is actively negotiating at the time of entry of the Approval Order, or (y) with any person that submits an unsolicited bona fide written acquisition proposal that is otherwise not in breach of the Merger Agreement which the board of directors of EFH or the board of managers of EFIH determines in good faith is or reasonably likely to lead to a Superior Proposal.
If, after the entry by the Bankruptcy Court of the Approval Order (a) the Merger Agreement is terminated (i) by EFH and/or EFIH if the board of directors of EFH or the board of managers of EFIH, as applicable, determines in its sole discretion that the failure to terminate the Merger Agreement is inconsistent with EFH’s or EFIH’s fiduciary duties, or (ii) by Sempra Energy if (x) there has been a breach of the representations and warranties of EFH and/or EFIH, and such breach would result in a closing condition failure and cannot be cured within 30 days of notice thereof, (y) EFH or EFIH files or expressly supports in the Bankruptcy Court a plan of reorganization that is inconsistent in any substantive legal or economic respect with the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan, and such inconsistency cannot be cured within 30 business days of notice thereof, or (z) the Bankruptcy Court enters, or EFH or EFIH seeks from the Bankruptcy Court, an order approving any sale or other disposition of the assets of EFH or its subsidiaries, or the membership interests in EFIH or any of its subsidiaries, to any person other than Sempra Energy, Merger Sub or any of their respective affiliates, and (b) an alternative transaction is consummated pursuant to which none of Sempra Energy, Merger Sub nor any of Sempra Energy’s affiliates will obtain direct or indirect ownership of 100 percent of Oncor Holdings and Oncor Holdings’ approximately 80 percent membership interest in Oncor, then EFH and EFIH will be required to pay to Sempra Energy a termination fee of $190 million (the “Termination Fee”). In the event EFH and EFIH pay to Sempra Energy the Termination Fee in accordance with the Merger Agreement, such payment shall be the sole and exclusive remedy of Sempra Energy and Merger Sub against EFH, EFIH and their respective affiliates, representatives, creditors or shareholders with respect to any breach of the Merger Agreement prior to such termination.
The foregoing description of the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Merger Agreement and the Amended Plan, which are attached hereto as Exhibit 2.1 and Exhibit 2.2, respectively, and are incorporated herein by reference.
The Merger Agreement has been filed to provide information to investors and security holders regarding its terms. It is not intended to provide any other factual information about EFH, EFIH, Oncor Holdings, Oncor, Sempra Energy or Merger Sub, their respective businesses, or the actual conduct of their respective businesses during the period prior to the consummation of the Merger or to modify or supplement any factual disclosures about EFH, EFIH, Oncor Holdings, Oncor or Sempra Energy in their public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Merger Agreement and this summary should not be relied upon as disclosure about EFH, EFIH, Oncor Holdings, Oncor, Sempra Energy or Merger Sub. No one should rely on the representations, warranties and covenants in the Merger Agreement or any descriptions thereof as characterizations of the actual state of facts or conditions of EFH, EFIH, Oncor Holdings, Oncor, Sempra Energy or Merger Sub or any of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates. The representations and warranties contained in the Merger Agreement are the product of negotiations among the parties thereto and that the parties made to, and solely for the benefit of, each other as of specified dates. The assertions embodied in those representations and warranties are subject to qualifications and limitations agreed to by the respective parties and are also qualified in important part by confidential disclosure schedules delivered in connection with the Merger Agreement. The representations and warranties may have been made for the purpose of allocating contractual risk between the parties to the
agreements instead of establishing these matters as facts, and may be subject to standards of materiality used by the contracting parties that differ from those applicable to investors and security holders. Moreover, information concerning the subject matter of the representations and warranties may change after the date of the Merger Agreement, which subsequent information may or may not be fully reflected in Sempra Energy’s public reports. The Merger Agreement should not be read alone, but should instead be read in conjunction with the other information regarding Sempra Energy that is or will be contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the documents that Sempra Energy files or has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Plan Support Agreement
On August 21, 2017, Sempra Energy entered into a plan support agreement (the “Plan Support Agreement”) with the EFH Debtors and Supporting Creditors (each, as defined in the Plan Support Agreement), which sets forth the agreement among Sempra Energy, the EFH Debtors and the Supporting Creditors (and each of their respective affiliates, as applicable) to seek and take certain actions to support the transactions contemplated by the Amended Plan and the Merger Agreement. Certain Supporting Creditors, including certain affiliates of Elliott Management Corporation, have agreed under the Plan Support Agreement not to elect to receive Rollover Equity under the Amended Plan.
The Plan Support Agreement may be terminated only upon the occurrence of certain events described therein.
The above description of the Plan Support Agreement is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Plan Support Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.
The Plan Support Agreement and the transactions contemplated by it remain subject to Bankruptcy Court approval, as well as approval by, among others, the PUCT and FERC.
# # #
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This current report contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," “can,” "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions or discussions of guidance, strategies, plans, goals, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.
Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the anticipated benefits of the proposed Merger involving Sempra Energy and EFH, including future financial or operating results of Sempra Energy or Oncor, Sempra Energy’s, EFH's or Oncor's plans, objectives, expectations or intentions, the expected timing of completion of the transaction, the anticipated improvement in credit ratings of Oncor, and other statements that are not historical facts. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by any such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: the risk that Sempra Energy and Oncor may be unable to agree to definitive agreements for the transaction, obtain bankruptcy court and governmental and regulatory approvals required for the Merger, or that required bankruptcy court and governmental and regulatory approvals may delay the Merger or result in the imposition of conditions that could cause the parties to abandon the transaction or be onerous to Sempra Energy; the risk that a condition to closing of the Merger may not be satisfied, including receipt of a satisfactory supplemental private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service; the expected timing to consummate the proposed Merger; the risk that the businesses will not be integrated successfully; the risk that the cost savings and any other synergies from the transaction may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; disruption from the transaction making it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, employees or suppliers; and the diversion of management time and attention to merger-related issues
Additional factors, among others, that could cause actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements include: actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, new regulations, and issuances of permits and other authorizations by the California Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the United States and other countries in which we operate; the timing and success of business development efforts and construction projects, including risks in obtaining or maintaining permits and other authorizations on a timely basis, risks in completing construction projects on schedule and on budget, and risks in obtaining the consent and participation of partners; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation and regulatory investigations; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers; modifications of settlements; delays in, or disallowance or denial of, regulatory agency authorizations to recover costs in rates from customers (including with respect to regulatory assets associated with the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station facility and 2007 wildfires) or regulatory agency approval for projects required to enhance safety and reliability; the availability of electric power, natural gas and liquefied natural gas, and natural gas pipeline and storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid, moratoriums or limitations on the withdrawal or injection of natural gas from or into storage facilities, and equipment failures; changes in energy markets; volatility in commodity prices; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; the impact on the value of our investment in natural gas storage and related assets from low natural gas prices, low volatility of natural gas prices and the inability to procure favorable long-term contracts for storage services; risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of our investments, and risks that our partners or counterparties will be unable or unwilling to fulfill their contractual commitments; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of greenhouse gases, radioactive materials and harmful emissions, cause wildfires and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits) or may be disputed by insurers; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; capital markets and economic conditions, including the availability of credit and the liquidity of our investments; fluctuations in inflation, interest and currency exchange rates and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of such fluctuations; changes in the tax code as a result of potential federal tax reform, such as the elimination of the deduction for interest and non-deductibility of all, or a portion of, the cost of imported materials, equipment and commodities; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs, revisions to favorable international trade agreements, and changes that make our exports less competitive or otherwise restrict our ability to export; the ability to win competitively bid infrastructure projects against a number of strong and aggressive competitors; expropriation of assets by foreign governments and title and other property disputes; the impact on reliability of San Diego Gas & Electric Company's (SDG&E) electric transmission and distribution system due to increased amount and variability of power supply from renewable energy sources; the impact on competitive customer rates due to the growth in distributed and local power generation and the corresponding decrease in demand for power delivered through SDG&E's electric transmission and distribution system and from possible departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access and Community Choice Aggregation or other forms of distributed and local power generation, and the potential risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets and contractual obligations; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.
These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website at www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. |
Local skate shops are such a pillar of skateboarding. They provide a safe place, community, family, your local skate shop is where you learn of everything that’s going on, meet up to skate, meet new family members. Without a local skate shop, you lose the skate scene, you lose the connection, we don’t have family, we only have ourselves.
I remember driving into downtown Bethesda, my mother searching for street parking, we drove by East of Maui skate shop twice before we found a spot. I remember walking in, a ten year old, anti-social, semi-feral forest kid, my mother had to be my translator. We came into a narrow hall of clothing and a counter, immediately I panicked, there were no boards! This was all in vain!
I nudged my mother to whisper, “There aren’t any skateboards…” The man behind the counter nods a friendly smile, “How’s it going?” My mother exchanges some pleasantries before asking, “You guys sell boards, right?” The man smiles, “Just head straight on back.”
Passing the glass counter my eyes drooled at the stacks upon stacks of stickers. The narrow area was full of clothing, protruding from the walls and circular displays, I was still too short to see over it all to the back wall. My mother scans and glances around the shirts and atmosphere of the shop while I start to see the doorway to the back. I can’t figure it out until we have a clear shot and walk into large open and unfinished area. It had the smell of a garage and raw construction wood.
There were racks with videos and magazines on the left. Straight ahead, a counter full of wheels, bearings and trucks. The back wall was lined with boards. To the right was an area with flat and angled bars, one of those boards that sits truckless on a roller.
Another man was standing behind the counter with a big grin and happy demeanor, “Hey! What can I do for you guys?” I stare deadpanned as my mother looks down to me and then back to the man, “My son’s really getting into skateboarding, he’s been using a board we bought at Sports Authority and his skills are starting to outgrow it.” The man slapped the counter, “The works! Okay…” he looks to me, “What do you know about skateboarding?” Distracted by the magazines and videos I shrugged, “I can ollie and stuff, but I didn’t know you guys were here or anything.”
At the time, skateboarding belonged to the weirdos, fringe members, freaks, geeks, outcasts and those who felt like outcasts. The man behind the counter could see my discomfort, he was a skater too. He chuckled with a kind laugh and told me, “Hey, we all have to be taught, I remember when I didn’t have a clue, but you learn fast.” I think that even made me smile, which, I doubt I ever did outside of my comfort zone before. I felt safe enough to step out from behind my mother’s side and get closer to the counter.
I couldn’t speak though, just stared at the wall, the trucks, bearings and wheels, behind the counter, into the man’s eyes, over to the videos and magazines. Finally my mother grins, “Where do we start?” The man, whoever he was, knew life, he pointed over his shoulder, “I’m guessing picking out a deck is going to be our hardest decision with all those graphics, so let’s start with trucks.”
I remembered Mike’s board. The deck was black(an alien workshop, but it took me a year or so to realize) looked like it had some sort of old school arcade pac-man graphic, black and dark blues. His trucks(what turned out to be, Venture Featherlites) I remembered well, green bushings, the shape and design of the hangers. I was too nervous to speak though, I even saw them in the display. My mother asks, “What are the best?” He gave the answer we all know, whether willing to admit, “If you want the best, you’re gonna want to go with Independent. But Thunder and Venture are really decent too.” My mother looked to me as I stood flabbergasted and turns back to the man, “What’s the price for Independent?” He looked away, “Run you about thirty bucks after tax.” She nodded, “Yeah, if they’re the best.” He slid the back panel of the display counter open and leaned down, “Alright then.” and grabbed the shimmering pair of trucks with orange bushings.
“What’s next?” my mother wondered. “Bearings.” I pointed to a box, due to the graphic of the Swiss Flag. My mother nods, “What about those?” He reaches in, “Bones?” I nod as he brings them to the counter, “That’s the best, good eye.” My mother can see the same graphic issue on the wheels, “What else other than wheels and decks?” The man thinks, “Uuuuh, griptape, Black Magic is what you want, it’s free with a complete.” My mother nods while she darts her eyes around the counter contents, “What else?” He points in the top shelf of the display counter, “Bolts, Silverados are good, seven black bolts and one silver, so you can know the nose or tail.”
“Nose or tail?” I asked only knowing my Nash, Switch Stance deck. “Yeah, the nose is bigger than the tail, but not always by a lot, so you can cut a line in your griptape, go by your eye, or use bolts that have one different than the rest, just starting out, you’ll want to make sure you ride the board right, plus cutting lines and shapes into your griptape or having one different bolt are kind of fun to think about, right?” I chuckled and shrugged, “Yeah.”
Then we came to the hard part, “Deck or wheels next?” Having been staring at the decks since I walked in, “Deck.” My mother asks, “What’s a good one?” Honestly, I only remember two, he told us, “Personally, I only skate Think.” They had two models. One was what I remember to be a Drehobl, two very cartoonishly(Freedumb style) drawn bunnies having sex, and, a calligraphy-styled Logo graphic, black lettering with a blue shadow and cream colored background, red-dyed top ply with a white and black logo above the back bolts. My mother giggled, “Well, you know which one I’m voting for.” It was an 8.5 by 32, I was barely a hundred pounds.
“All that’s left are wheels.” he reminds us. I say nothing, staring at the display case. My mother asks again, “What do you suggest?” The man winces, “Well, despite the name, if you want to represent the east coast and skate a really good wheel, you’re going to want Nicotine, I know the name is harsh, but the wheels are really the best, and have nothing to do with tobacco, per say.” My mother begrudgingly nodded along, “Yeah, I get it, it’s an interesting name, but it’s not me I’m worried about.” The man awkwardly smiled as he swept his hand to the display case, “We also have, Spitfire.” I saw the big fat teeth of the smiling flame logo as my mother protested, “No, no, we live in the east, as long as it’s quality.” He assured her, “I only ride, Nicotine.” My mother folded her arms, “Okay.” He bent down for a set, “Fifty-eight millimeter is a good size, more room to wear down.” Plus, big wheels were the trend, and practical when it came to mid-nineties east coast skating.
“Do you want me to set it up for you?” I nodded. I watched him use the bearing press to pop them into the wheels, barely blinked while he gripped the board, rubbing down the sides with a screwdriver, the sound it made, so piercing, abrasive and jaunting. Then taking the razor blade to slice off the excess. He used the same bearing press to pop the holes in the grip for the bolts. I watched while he grabbed a skate tool and screwed in the bolts, the wheels and then told me, “These are new bushings, so keep your trucks loose.” as he unscrewed the kingpin a bit.
I remember when it was complete, I remember him grabbing the middle of the deck and handing it over to me, “Here you go, enjoy, man! Hope to see you again!” I don’t even remember my mother paying. I don’t even remember the drive home, no more than images and moments of staring at this glistening new board, my first real board, the knowledge I learned, the things I saw, all represented and held within this skateboard. |
Notes: Again, no accuracy with regards to MileHiCon, that happened in October, not February. But here it is, a new part, in which our hero toys with the idea of a nervous breakdown and our other hero can’t make microwave popcorn to save his life. Enjoy!
Title: Love Letters
Part Ten: It’s a Ben Complex, Not an Oedipal One
Halfway through February, Ben’s muse was still eluding him. He looked through book after book for inspiration, and found himself gravitating toward personal letters between friends, between husbands and wives and from parents to their children. Ben couldn’t do letters again, though. His last book had cited almost fifty of them, and as Linda kept emphasizing, he had to choose a topic different enough to appeal to readers already familiar with his style, while being similar enough to bring in new readers who had heard about him and wanted to get in on a good thing. This made very little sense to Ben, but then he had no real ability with marketing. All he was good at was research and writing, and even that was questionable these days.
It was eight in the evening on a Friday night when Ben set down the book he was reading and sighed. Not because Abigail Adams wasn’t a fascinating woman—in fact, her correspondence with her husband John was some of the most personally revealing and explicitly affectionate available from the time period—but because he was suddenly reminded of the fact that a woman who had lived and died over two centuries ago had had more of a life that he did now.
Ben stared tiredly at the wall in front of him, where a print of the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware had been hung by his grandfather over fifty years ago, and remembered for the first time in months how little he actually liked the painting. Not for its subject matter, but because it was one more artifact in a house full of artifacts that seemed designed to remind him of everything his future would be. Ben’s future, all of his professional aspirations, rested on the past. There was nothing contemporary about him; even his jackets were tweed with little patches at the elbows, and goddammit, he was only thirty-two!
A strange mood crept over Ben as he glanced from the painting back down to the book, where Abigail Adams’ stiff gaze looked out at nothing. The desire to pick up the heavy book and smash it into the painting, shattering the glass and ruining the print, came on hard, a violent and almost overpowering feeling. Ben rolled his chair away from his desk and clenched his hands together, averting his eyes from the first president standing so nobly at the prow of a boat.
It was no good, though. There were paintings everywhere, almost all of them revolutionary in tone with a few daring pieces here and there deigning to reach into the nineteenth century. His grandfather had everything from a portrait of Paul Revere to not one, not two, but three different depictions of the Declaration of Independence.
The prize of the art collection was an extremely valuable original portrait of Benjamin Franklin, painted by Gilbert Stuart, that rested in the environment-controlled, bulletproof display case in the library that also held some of their cache of Franklin’s letters. It had been priced at half a million dollars, not that anyone in the family had ever been inclined to sell it. When his great-grandparents had been penniless, their farming hopes wiped out during the dustbowl in Oklahoma, they had still kept that damn painting and carted it around with them to their new home in Denver. They had been faithful custodians of the past, which had survived all these years to now end up in Ben’s ungrateful hands. Ungrateful, because right now just thinking about that painting made Ben think that selling it would be the least of the evils that sprung to his mind.
Destroying everything, the rational part of Ben’s brain piped up, wasn’t a good option. There had to be another way to purge his sudden, vicious animosity towards everything historical. After a moment’s consideration, Ben got up, reached over his desk and almost threw his back out hauling the giant Washington print, in its unfathomably heavy oak frame, down from the wall. He carried it back to the library and leaned it glass-down against the wall behind his grandfather’s leather easy chair. Better.
Twelve more paintings and framed manuscripts joined it in the next fifteen minutes. When Ben was done the walls were completely bare, but at least he wasn’t looking at them like he wanted to take a claw hammer to them anymore. It was a little depressing though, to realize that without his grandfather’s collection up, there was literally nothing else to look at. Ben hadn’t put anything of his own on the walls; he didn’t even have anything to hang on the empty, forlorn hooks anymore. He had lived in this house for almost two years, and he’d never bothered to put any personal touches in beyond the contents of his closet and his computers. Even the dishes had belonged to his grandfather or mother, one more part of his heavy inheritance.
A text alert on his phone jolted Ben out of his depressing reverie. He picked it up and took a look. What r u doing tonight? J
Ben stared at the message for a long moment before bursting into slightly hysterical laughter. Ryan had to have some sort of sixth sense when it came to timing, because he was somehow always there lately when Ben was starting to feel like Jack Torrance from The Shining. He typed out, Contemplating whether or not to burn my house down and start over and sent it before he could talk himself out of it.
Ryan’s reply came back almost immediately. Sounds kind of drastic. Is it haunted?
Well, after a manner of speaking. Just feeling a little claustrophobic tonight, maybe. That was better than telling Ryan that he’d taken all the art off the walls and hidden them in a room he rarely went into.
U should go out. Get drinks with suit porn guy!
“Oh, not going to happen,” Ben scoffed under his breath. You just want him to send you pictures of me drunk.
Id settle for pics of u relaxed and happy.
Yeah, those would be nice. It had been a while since Ben had felt really, honestly happy though. Happy with life in general, not just when he was on the phone with Ryan. God, he couldn’t even remember the last time…maybe…possibly not since before his book was published. Publishing had been a lot less about happiness and a lot more about stress than he’d expected.
Then you should come and take some, he settled on at last.
I will soon. 2 weeks!!!
Ben smiled down at the phone. Ryan was the only person he corresponded with who could get away with excessive punctuation. Even Brody hadn’t been immune to Ben’s admonishments when he sent texts along like MY TEAM LOST N LAST FUCKING MINUTE OF THE FORTH QRTER JEZUS CHRIST!!!! The caps lock Ben had overlooked—that was just Brody, loud and in your face. The exclamation points had been a deliberate mockery, though.
Its going to be at the Hyatt, right? That was where MileHiCon had been last year.
No, the Sheraton. They only moved it a month ago, organizers have been busy as hell.
Oh, no. Oh hell no. Texting wasn’t fast enough for the kind of confirmation Ben suddenly needed. He called Ryan and waited breathlessly for him to pick up.
“I knew you had to hear the dulcet sounds of my voice,” Ryan teased as soon as he answered, and the tension that was building into a headache just behind Ben’s eyes eased without him even realizing it had been there before. All joking aside, it was really, really good to hear Ryan speak.
“Yes, it’s like listening to a choir of angels,” Ben replied. “Listen, do you mean the Sheraton downtown or the one close to the airport?”
“Um, downtown, I think.” There was a rusting of paper for a moment, then Ryan said, “Yeah, it’s the one downtown. Why?”
Ryan was going to love this. So was Michael. Shit. “Because suit porn guy is the events coordinator there.”
“Really?” Ryan sounded excited. “Cool, I’d love to meet one of your friends!”
“I think you two will get along really well.”
“Aww, don’t worry, we won’t leave you out, Ben,” Ryan cooed. Ben rolled his eyes. “Have you started thinking about your costume yet?”
“Whatever costume you want to wear for the con. You can’t just go to a science fiction and fantasy con and not dress up, Ben! This is, like, the only type of event other than Halloween where adults can cosplay without people looking at you like you’re a freak.” Ryan hummed thoughtfully. “You could pull of a classic Sherlock, I bet. Or maybe Dr. Who. Or you could go all out and do something against the grain, like, I don’t know, Hawkeye. You kind of look like that actor and I personally would love to see you in skintight black and purple holding a bow. I could be a gender-bended Black Widow! We’d look amazing together.”
Seriously, just picture her with less chest and less hips, I could make her Ryan:)
“Hawkeye and Black Widow…are they from the Avengers?”
There was silence for a moment. “You haven’t seen The Avengers? Really?”
“I don’t get out a lot,” Ben admitted.
“That’s because you’re working too hard,” Ryan said. “That’s what makes you think wicked thoughts about burning down houses. You need to relax.”
“I’m on a deadline.”
“I’m always on a deadline too, but that doesn’t mean I don’t go out when I can.” Ryan sounded kind of serious now. “You’ve got to take the time to relax and let go of your work. I get some of my best ideas once I haven’t been staring at a drawing board for eight hours. Do you have an Amazon account?”
“Start downloading The Avengers. Seriously, right now, it’s an awesome movie. Once you’ve got it I’ll start it up over here and we can watch it at the same time. Do you have any liquor?”
Ben knew when he heard that sentence that this was going to be something he would regret. He also found that he didn’t care at all. “I’ve got some gin.”
“Cool, I’ve got a bottle of tequila around here somewhere. We’ll watch the movie together, and every time it makes you laugh, like for real, we do a shot. This is going to be so good for you, Ben.”
Ben opened up his computer and logged in to his account. “I’ll call you back once it’s downloaded.”
“Ooooor,” Ryan drawled, a little of the south coming back into his voice, “you can keep talking to me while I make popcorn.”
“I’ll just distract you and it’ll get burnt like last time.”
“Last time was a total fluke,” Ryan said. “I can handle it this time, I can.”
And really, Ben didn’t need to be talked out of spending more time with Ryan. “Okay.”
In the time it took the movie to download, Ryan burned not one but two bags of popcorn, at which point he gave up and switched to pretzels instead. He found his tequila, Ben grabbed his gin and when they were ready, Ryan counted down and the started the movie simultaneously.
“You see?” Ryan said a few minutes in. “You see what I mean? He totally looks like you.”
“My arms aren’t that nice.”
“Shut up, everything about you is nice.” They kept watching, and when Ben laughed during Natasha Romanov’s botched interrogation, Ryan said, “Shot!” They both did a shot.
By the time the movie was over, Ben couldn’t really remember the first half of it but he totally agreed with Ryan as to its awesomeness. And that guy had an awesome costume. It was just… “Awesome,” Ben told Ryan.
“I told you so,” Ryan replied, then giggled. “God, I’m so drunk.”
“So’m I.” Ben checked the time. “Wow, it’s midnight here. So it’s…” How many hours ahead was Boston again? Meh, didn’t matter. “Even later where you are. You should go to sleep.”
“I don’t want to stop talking to you,” Ryan said matter-of-factly.
“But you’re sleepy.” Ben knew he was, he’d heard the man yawning. “Sooo sleeeepy,” he sing-songed. “Put down the booze and go to sleeeeep. But drink a glass of water first.”
“Yes, Mom,” Ryan snarked. He immediately followed up with, “Oh, but no, I totally don’t think of you that way, that’s so gross, I so don’t want to sleep with my mother, just with you. I’m not Oedip…Oedib…edible? It’s not that but it sort of sounds like that, but anyway I’m not, so just don’t even listen to me.”
“Okay,” Ben said agreeably. He was tired…but he felt better than he had in days. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? Sleep well.”
“You too,” Ryan said, sounding reluctant but exhausted. He hung up the phone, and Ben stared at his empty screen and thought hard for a moment. Something Ryan had just said…it was kind of important, made him feel good, it was on the tip of his brain…ugh, he couldn’t process thoughts right now. He needed sleep.
Because Ben might not have been drunk for a while but he did have a long memory when it came to hangovers, he made himself drink a glass of water, left another beside his bed along with some Tylenol, and pulled the wastebasket within easy reaching distance. Sleep came easily, for the first time in weeks, and was entirely dreamless.
When Ben woke up the next morning his mouth was foul and his brain ached a little, but not nearly as bad as it could have. He took the Tylenol anyway, forced himself to get up and shower, brush his teeth and make coffee and do his best to be a normally functioning human being. Halfway into his first cup, he got a text from Ryan.
It was Jasmines bottle of tequila. Shes so pissed. I owe her a new one soon as I can stand to go out in the sunshine.
“Oh no,” Ben said in quiet commiseration. Poor suffering creature of the night, he sent back to Ryan.
The next text read, Did I say anything embarrassing? :/
Only when you assured me I wasn’t your Jocasta.
***Oedipus: the focus of a famous Greek tragedy where the title character returned to the kingdom he'd been abandoned by as a baby, killed his father the king and married his mother Jocasta, the queen, all unawares. Later he gouged his own eyes out as a result. An Oedipal complex is where a boy subconsciously (or not so subconciously) wants to kill his father and marry his mother. Thanks for that, Freud! |
I had the opportunity to see Rita Goodroe (@ritagoodroe), business and relationship coach, speak on “Relationships Drive Success” at the Community Business Partnership (CBP) First Friday event. I attended the event because CBP puts on good events and I hadn’t done much networking in a couple of weeks. I was not familiar with Mrs. Goodroe and was a tad concerned about the direction this topic could take. Mrs. Goodroe had great energy, and gave very practical and down to earth advice. A major theme revolved around action so I thought I would share Mrs. Goodroe’s 7 principles on relationships and share their application to my life.
Before I dive into the 7 principles, let’s review relationships. We all have a pretty instinctive understanding of when they go really wrong, but we don’t generally think of what makes really good ones. Great relationships are ones where you can relax. You don’t work too hard, you don’t overthink it. You enjoy it and thrive in it. That said, do you associate relationships with things other than people? Mrs. Goodroe points out our relationships we have with money, time, yourself, business as well as those you have with others. I would say some of those relationships are even stronger than the ones you have with others.
Now that I left you with that food for thought, we can dive into the 7 principles of relationships.
1. Mindset is everything – Thoughts lead to feelings which lead to actions which lead to results. Make sure you have thoughts that lead to actions. At the end of the day, it’s the curse of the self-fulfilling prophecy. If you didn’t get a good night’s sleep and wake up grumpy, you may see the grumpiness in everything. This might be as simple as seeing the overcast, low 80-degree weather as another reason to bring sadness to your day. It could be that the last 10 days were over 100 degrees and this overcast cool day was a perfect break.
I have quite 3 professional jobs since I graduate from college. One in 2001, one in 2011 and one in 2015. Some might argue that it was wise to quit the first two at the time I did given we were in the middle of the dotcom bust and a recession. For me, it was never a concern. I always knew that I would land on my feet and find a new opportunity. The alternative of staying in positions or with companies that wasn’t the right fit and suffering through my own unhappiness seemed so much more daunting and unreasonable.
2. Know your value, know your worth – It’s pretty common to underestimate your own value and worth. Unfortunately, if you act in a way that does not demonstrate your value or worth, you will probably end in a situation where you are unhappy. This might be you negotiating on rates and ending up with the wrong client. If you are not confident, the people you interact with will know and will treat you respectively.
In the late 1990s I was approached by a family friend to work at a dotcom startup. He offered me $8/hour. I was already waitressing and had another internship on Capitol Hill making $10/hour. This additional job just didn’t make any sense for me unless I was making at least $10/hour. I knew the value that was able to bring and knew what made logical sense for me at the time. The family friend was a bit put off by my initial push-back but has since hired me multiple times and become a long-time mentor. Had I accepted the lower hourly rate, I would have been frustrated and probably would have ultimately quit the lowest paying job I had at the time.
3. Establish boundaries and don’t compromise – I think we all have heard this one quite a bit, but I think as woman it can be very difficult to adhere to. As humans, we all want to be wanted so when we get approached with any offer, it’s hard to take a step back to think about it, before immediately just accepting it. If you compromise your principles and let your boundaries be trampled, you will always be at the whim of someone else. You need to stay true to your goals.
My family has a busy life. My husband and I run a consulting business, so I’m managing day to day operations and out networking while he is the primary billable resource. Time is money for him. This means he has to choose his extracurricular activities very carefully. I then must also pick up the slack for cooking dinner, shopping, and transporting our kids to their myriad of activities including karate, ice hockey and soccer. I am also active in a Women in Technology professional organization and sit on the board of the WIT Education Foundation. But I know my boundaries. I do not volunteer as team mom on any of our kids’ teams as I believe we fulfill our contribution with my husband as coach. Additionally, when I’m approached about other volunteer opportunities, I gracefully decline.
4. Put yourself out their more – Networking and “free education based marketing” are two really useful means for building your business. Speak, blog, participate in communities and meet new people. It’s important to approach these opportunities with your eyes open and thinking about how you add value for others. The more you provide to others, the more it will come back to you (eventually).
This one is hard for me. I’m definitely an introvert and need to rejuvenate alone with a book after each in person networking event. It’s something I work on everyday. While I have been on LinkedIn and have grown my connections there, I was never a big contributor. I only joined Twitter and Facebook in 2012. I did it for a purpose. Actually there were 2: figure out what it was all about and put myself out their for 2 projects I was working on – a women in tech job fair and a food blog. While I’m not as active on my food blog, I did start contributing on this one. I don’t know too many followers, but am working on building a community.
5. Make it about them, not you – You already know all there is to know about you, so spend your time learning about them. It doesn’t have to be business related. Ask about the last book they read or vacation they took. You learn a lot more about the person you are talking to, and do more to build a real connection than you would if you only asked about their business and only looked for useful tips for yourself.
Again, this is one that I’m still working on. It’s not asking the initial question, but continuing the conversation on or transitioning off that don’t come as smooth for me. I will say that some of my most unlikely friends came from having interactions that had nothing to do with business. It might be the older neighbor down the street, or the parents of the child at the daycare who just happens to be your daughter’s exact age and now 16 years later is still considered her oldest friend. If it was all about me, then these relationships probably wouldn’t have happened.
6. Don’t be attached to the outcome – This is very much about perspective. If you are constantly worried that someone won’t like you or aren’t looking for the common ground, then your outcome is probably pretty precarious. If you change your thinking a bit and ask the question “why did this person cross my path?”, you might just be surprised by the answer.
Since I quit my prior job in March to pursue my business full-time, I have been taking a broader view of networking. I’ve tried several new events and approached them with an open mind. While not all the formats were right for me, I did end up meeting interesting people at all of them. I’ve convinced myself that I just need to pull on my big girl pants and go talk to some new people.
7. Every “no” brings you closer to “yes” – As you approach new or difficult situations, look for the lesson or contribution. It’s important here to look at both what you did well, but also what you can improve on. What can I do differently to get a different outcome?
Ultimately, this is the culmination of the 6 principles. If you approach life with a positive mindset, know your value & worth so you can set boundaries while putting yourself out there more, focusing on the people you meet (and how you can help them), but no becoming attached to the outcome, you will be one step closer to your goal.
Every time I’ve met someone for lunch or coffee, or attended a new networking event, I’ve stayed true to the fact that regardless of the outcome of any discussions, I’ve taken our business one step closer to where it needs to be. In the course of conversation, people have asked about me and I’ve been able to share what we are doing. They may not need those services, or there may not be a long-term connection with the people I met, but it is one more person who knows what we are doing. We are just starting out, so exposure is as important as any thing else we are doing.
As Mrs. Goodroe reminded us all on Friday, I will remind you today: It is not enough to have just read this post. You must take action. Stop saying “you can’t” (i.e. I can’t…because I don’t have any time). Recognize how your actions impact your goals. If you don’t like what you see, then change it. |
July 29, 2019
EPA has unveiled a “no surprises” policy that constrains its future inspections and enforcement actions. The move contributes to the recent rapid retreat in EPA direct actions against polluters, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
In a July 11, 2019 memo
, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Susan Bodine outlined a “no surprises” principle that will serve as the “foundation” of the agency’s civil enforcement approach, including:
- Providing states “with advance notice of inspections” and taking steps for deciding “when facilities are to be provided notice of inspections”;
- Notifying the state in advance before taking any enforcement action; and
- Working with states to “reduce unnecessary burdens on the regulatory community.”
“Taking the element of surprise away from inspections decreases their effectiveness, for obvious reasons,” stated PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA enforcement attorney. “I fear that EPA’s ‘no surprises’ posture masks a ‘see no evil’ approach to corporate polluters.”
The Bodine memo declares that “EPA will generally defer to a state as the primary implementer of inspections and enforcement.” It also deemphasizes EPA oversight of federally funded state efforts, declaring that EPA will only “conduct a limited number of inspections to verify the efficacy of authorized [state] enforcement programs.”
PEER points to EPA recently declining to address pollution problems with state mining permits in Minnesota
and continuing problems in Flint, Michigan, as examples of harmful EPA deferral.
“Basing enforcement on interagency consensus places politics above pollution control,” added Whitehouse, noting the policy’s disturbing absence of any mention of pollution reduction as a goal. “Nobody opposes cooperation or supports duplication, but this policy risks environmental protection by giving the upper hand to corporate polluters and states that don’t want to enforce environmental laws.”
Ironically, Bodine’s memo posits continued EPA primacy over criminal enforcement efforts. Yet, figures compiled by PEER
show that EPA’s criminal enforcement efforts are shriveling.
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States Fight to Keep Groundwater Protections
Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is leading a coalition of 14 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, in which the Supreme Court will decide whether the federal Clean Water Act regulates discharges of pollutants that travel through groundwater before reaching navigable waters. In the brief, the attorneys general argue that the Clean Water Act contains no exception for such discharges. Instead, the attorneys general argue, the Act regulates these discharges as long as they are fairly traceable from a polluting “point source” to navigable waters.
“Creating an exception for pollution that travels through groundwater before reaching navigable waters would give polluters a road map to get around the Clean Water Act,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Such an exception would jeopardize the health of rivers, streams, and lakes in Maryland and around the country.”
The Clean Water Act bars “any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source” unless authorized by a permit and in compliance with the Act’s requirements. As the attorneys general argue in the brief, the Act contains no exception for discharges of pollutants that pass-through groundwater before they reach navigable waters. Indeed, until recently, EPA itself rejected the existence of such an exception.
The brief argues that other federal and state laws would not adequately fill the gap resulting from an exception for discharges via a groundwater conduit. It also refutes arguments that Clean Water Act coverage of such discharges is unduly burdensome for permitting agencies and regulated parties.
The case is scheduled for oral argument in November 2019, and a decision is expected by the end of June 2020. Joining Maryland in the brief were the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
NIST Presents First Real-World Test of New Smokestack Emissions Sensor Designs
Each year, to meet requirements set by the EPA
, coal-fired power plants must have their smokestack emissions audited, or checked by an independent third party. NIST researchers wanted to make this test quicker to save the plants money during their audits, while also improving accuracy of the sensors. So, a NIST team has designed new probes for sensing emission flow rates and a new measurement method that could potentially speed up on-site audits by a factor of 10, researchers say.
The fieldwork results were “promising,” said NIST engineer Aaron Johnson, and were in reasonable agreement with the laboratory findings. “We were surprised; it did quite well compared to what the EPA has on its books as its ‘best practices’ method.”
To monitor emissions from coal-fired power plants, technicians need to measure the rate at which flue gas is emitted from the smokestack. The flow inside the smokestack contains eddies and swirls but generally travels upwards. In the NIST tests, four probes -- called pitot tubes -- are inserted horizontally into the smokestack. The four probes each take a flow measurement at four different spots, for a total of 16 measurements. With this information, NIST scientists could test the precision and accuracy of a new pitot tube design and measurement method.
NIST conducted this work as part of a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), an independent nonprofit organization whose members include electric utility companies, businesses and government agencies.
“Coal-fired electric generating units may benefit from the current NIST work by having improved standards and techniques to measure mass emissions more accurately, with increased confidence that all entities are reporting on a uniform basis,” said EPRI program manager Tom Martz. He added that the potential time savings “is not something we can accurately quantify at this time, but this will be a key objective of future work.”
The ultimate goal is to provide research that the EPA might someday develop into a new standard for smokestack emissions calibration. “The advantages for industry are that it will reduce test time and cost and has the potential to be more accurate” than current industry-standard probes, Johnson said.
Even if the EPA does not create a new standard, however, the work could have benefits for industry by providing power plant companies with more choices for managing their emissions tests. “Our goal is to get it written as an EPA standard,” Johnson said. “But it’s still up to industry members to decide whether they would want to use it.”
Smokestacks at coal-fired power plants are equipped with monitors that continuously measure the concentration of flue gas emissions, which include carbon dioxide, mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, as well as the flow rate of the flue gas. By federal law, the built-in flow-rate sensors need to be calibrated — that is, checked for accuracy — during the annual audit.
To conduct the yearly calibration, auditors use small portable devices called pitot tubes. The audit technicians climb the stack – usually several dozen meters (hundreds of feet) tall – and insert their pitot probes horizontally into the gases churning their way up the smokestack. They take several readings of the flow at various points within a cross section of the stack, which is typically 7 or 8 meters (25 feet) in diameter.
NIST designed two new pitot probes (left and center), one whose sensing surface is cone-shaped and the other whose surface is hemispherical. The probes have five holes, or ports. Comparing pressure readings obtained in each of the five ports allows technicians to calculate the flow rate. An older type of pitot tube, called an S-probe (right), has two ports that face in opposite directions.
By far the most common kind of sensor used for this work is an “S-probe.” It has two holes, or ports. One port faces directly into the flow of gas and detects the pressure that builds up in the tube. The other port faces the opposite direction. The faster the flow, the higher the pressure difference between the two ports; measuring this difference in pressure allows auditors to calculate the flow’s speed.
S-probes don’t require calibration, but each measurement can take several minutes, since the technician has to manually rotate the sensor until one side is facing directly into the flow. This is complicated because the flow is not necessarily traveling directly upward at the point being tested. At the base of the stack, flue gas usually travels around a sharp bend, which creates complicated eddies and swirls that don’t go away even in tall smokestacks.
Using S-probes is so labor-intensive that an on-site annual calibration can take a day or more to complete. “And the power plant is losing money all the time the auditors are there, so they want the technicians in and out as fast as possible,” Johnson said.
To speed up this process, the NIST scientists have made three innovations. First, they have created two new models of pitot tubes, with five holes instead of two, which perform better than S-probes and may offer advantages over other five-hole models of pitot tubes currently in use. The probes, designed by NIST physicist Iosif Shinder, come in two shapes: hemispherical and conical.
Second, the scientists have developed a calibration scheme for their new sensors that does not require a technician to rotate the probe inside a smokestack to find the true direction of the flow for each measurement. So, although the sensors would have to be calibrated before use, they would take much less time to use during an actual audit.
Third, NIST’s Jim Filla developed software that is compatible with a commercially available automated system to measure flow in real time.
Until now, the new probes’ performance had been measured only at NIST’s test facility, which includes a scale-model smokestack simulator
and a wind tunnel
. But NIST’s laboratories cannot replicate all aspects of a real power plant, such as the presence of soot in the smokestack’s flow. “It’s one thing to test it in our wind tunnel,” Johnson said. “It’s another to prepare to test it in a stack that’s 120 degrees F.”
The first field run, in July 2018, took place at a natural gas plant, where flow is relatively straightforward to measure. The second, in September 2018, was conducted at a coal-fired power plant with a particularly complicated flow.
The coal-fired plant had an enclosed platform where the pitot tubes were inserted into the smokestack. But the natural gas plant’s platform was open to the elements. And at roughly 45 meters (145 feet) in the air, “things shake,” said NIST technician Joey Boyd. “While you’re working, the stack is swaying, and the floor beneath you is moving.”
“The probes performed equally well in the smokestack as they did at NIST’s test facility,” Johnson said. Future field tests will help the researchers solve the biggest problem they had: sensor clogging, in which the pitot tubes’ ports get gummed up with water and particulate matter and have to be flushed before a test can continue.
Also, the work taught them they needed to write special software signaling to their equipment every time there was a “purge” – a high-pressure blast of air through the pitot probe that could damage a key part of the apparatus if certain valves were not closed in time.
Virginia Beach Pump Company Guilty of Clean Water Act Violations
According to court documents, Forrest Sewer Pump Service, Inc., a family owned and operated business headquartered in Virginia Beach, violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 2015 and 2016 by illegally discharging pollutants into unauthorized manholes and pump stations. The court records indicate Forrest Sewer has been a Virginia licensed wastewater hauler and provider of sewer pumping services and grease hauling for more than 20 years. Forrest Sewer maintained an industrial user wastewater discharge permit to discharge into the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) sewage treatment system. However, the records indicate that Forrest Sewer discharged at the unauthorized locations to, among other things, avoid paying dumping fees to HRSD.
The knowing introduction of trucked pollutants into undesignated locations is specifically prohibited by the CWA pretreatment prohibitions and the local HRSD Industrial Wastewater Discharge Regulations. Forrest Sewer was caught on video dumping the pollutants at an undesignated location in the Virginia Beach area.
Forrest Sewer faces a maximum sentence of five years of probation, as well as fine of up to $50,000 per day of violation for the Clean Water Act violations when sentenced on October 24. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jennifer Lynn, Special Agent in Charge of the EPA Criminal Investigation Division, Philadelphia Area Office, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph L. Kosky is prosecuting the case, with the assistance of EPA attorneys and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Goldstein and David Lastra.
Ohio Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Asbestos-Related Offense
John Riazzi of Dayton, Ohio, pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony charge stemming from the illegal removal of asbestos-containing roofing material from a building located in downtown Dayton (known as the Steam Plant).
According to court documents and statements made in court, in September 2015, Riazzi, the sole owner and operator of St. Peters Partners LLC, purchased the Steam Plant from the City of Dayton for $10. Later, after being told by his contractor that the roof of the Steam Plant contained asbestos and would cost approximately $20,000 to remove, Riazzi hired two men to remove the roofing over a weekend for $5000 – without warning them about the asbestos. Riazzi admitted that he knew, or should have known, that the roof contained asbestos. He also admitted that he did not have the roof inspected for asbestos prior to its removal, as the law required.
“Mr. Riazzi purposefully cut corners and endangered the health of those performing the roof removal. To make matters worse, he then lied to and misled investigators when asked about his wrongdoing” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The Department of Justice is committing to prosecuting all who deliberately harm the environment and risk public health in order to save money.”
“Renovating old buildings is great. Doing so without regard to air safety is not. And knowingly declining to inspect a roof before removing it, after having been warned that the original materials contained asbestos, is a federal crime,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman for the Southern District of Ohio. “This case is a good example of federal and state authorities working together to hold accountable someone who jeopardized his workers’ safety, as well as the quality of the air in Dayton, just to save a few bucks in construction costs.”
As part of his plea, Riazzi also acknowledged that he had personally used a leaf blower to blow roofing debris from the outside of the Steam Plant into the median of Third Street and had dumped a load of roofing material in some bushes opposite the Steam Plant. He likewise admitted to making several false statements to the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA), which was investigating the roof removal.
This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division, and the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations, with the assistance of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Criminal Chief Laura Clemmens of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, and Adam Cullman, Trial Attorney for the Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section.
New Mexico Preliminary Injunction Against Air Force to Compel It to Address PFAS Contamination
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and Attorney General Hector Balderas filed a request in federal court for emergency relief from environmental contamination caused by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
“I am extremely frustrated that the Air Force has not been responsive to protecting the health and safety of New Mexican families by addressing years of environmental pollution,” said Attorney General Hector Balderas. “Because of their delay and failure to act, Secretary Kenney and I are asking the Court to ensure timely protection of New Mexico’s people, wildlife, and environment from this ongoing and devastating pollution.”
“We will not allow this contamination to further threaten New Mexican’s health and the environment,” said NMED Secretary James Kenney. “In the absence of responsible and timely action on the part of the Air Force, the state will continue to seek whatever legal avenues available to compel clean up.”
The state is requesting the court order the Air Force to immediately begin delineating the groundwater plumes caused by decades of use of a PFAS-based firefighting foam at Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases by conducting regular groundwater and surface water sampling. The state is also requiring the Air Force provide alternative water sources and water treatment options to New Mexicans affected by the contamination, voluntary blood tests for residents who may have been exposed to PFAS and additional documentation on the extent of contamination around the bases.
NMED and the Attorney General sued the Air Force in April. The preliminary injunction would ensure the health of New Mexicans and the environment are protected as the case proceeds.
The agencies also filed an amended version of the original complaint to reflect violations of the federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act pursuant to authorities granted to the New Mexico by the EPA. These claims are in addition to violations of the State’s Hazardous Waste Act.
PFAS are a large group of toxic, manmade chemicals with numerous adverse health impacts, including increasing the risk of some cancers; affecting the growth, learning and behavior of children; and interfering with the immune system. For more information on PFAS, see https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas/
Railroad Companies Assessed $20,000 Penalty for Environmental Violations at Train Facility
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has assessed a $20,000 penalty to Pan Am Railways, Inc. and Boston and Maine Corporation for environmental violations at the railroad facility at 150 Millbrook Street, Worcester.
In a consent order finalized with MassDEP, the companies admitted that they failed to limit residential use of the property as required in a previous agreement – known as a Notice of Activity and Use Limitation – that addressed the historic release of oil and hazardous material there. MassDEP inspectors had observed transient residential activity at the site. In addition, the companies failed to correct certain errors in the recorded Notice and other documents that were later filed in the case. The companies have also agreed to conduct any remedial actions, as necessary, to reach a permanent cleanup solution for the site that does not solely rely on the limitation of site activities.
“Owners of property subject to a recorded Notice of Activity and Use Limitation must ensure that restricted site uses or activities do not occur at the site in order to ensure that no significant risk to public health, safety, welfare or the environment occurs at the site,” said Mary Jude Pigsley, director of the MassDEP Central Regional Office in Worcester. “A Notice of Activity and Use Limitation is a tool to demonstrate successful cleanup of a site. MassDEP routinely inspects such locations to determine whether owners are complying with the specified restrictions.”
Researchers Use Recycled Carbon Fiber to Improve Permeable Pavement
A Washington State University research team is solving a high-tech waste problem while addressing the environmental challenge of stormwater run-off.
The researchers have shown they can greatly strengthen permeable pavements by adding waste carbon fiber composite material. Their recycling method, described in the March issue of the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering,
doesn’t require using much energy or chemicals — a critical factor for recycling waste materials.
Unlike the impermeable pavement that is used for most roads and parking lots, pervious concrete allows rainwater to freely drain and seep into the ground underneath. Because of increasing concerns about flooding in urban areas and requirements for controlling stormwater run-off, several cities have tried using the pervious concrete in parking lots and low-traffic streets. But because it is highly porous, it is not as durable as the traditional concrete that is used on major roads.
Carbon fiber composites, meanwhile, have become increasingly popular in numerous industries. Super light and strong, the material is used in everything from airplane wings to wind turbines and cars. While the market is growing about 10 percent per year, however, industries have not figured out a way to easily recycle their waste, which is as much as 30% of the material used in production.
Led by Karl Englund
, associate research professor, and Somayeh Nassiri
, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the researchers added carbon fiber composite scrap that they received from Boeing manufacturing facilities to their pervious concrete mix. They used mechanical milling to refine the composite pieces to the ideal sizes and shapes. The added material greatly increased both the durability and strength of pervious concrete. “In terms of bending strength, we got really good results — as high as traditional concrete, and it still drains really quickly,” said Nassiri.
The researchers used inexpensive milling techniques instead of heat or chemicals to create a reinforcing element from the waste carbon fiber composites. They maintained and made use of the original strength of the composites by keeping them in their cured composite form. Their mix also required using a lot of the composite material, which would be ideal for waste producers.
“You’re already taking waste — you can’t add a bunch of money to garbage and get a product,” said Englund. “The key is to minimize the energy and to keep costs down.”
The composite materials were dispersed throughout the pavement mix to provide uniform strength.
While they have shown the material works at the laboratory scale, the researchers are beginning to conduct real-world tests on pavement applications. They are also working with industry to begin developing a supply chain.
“In the lab this works to increase permeable pavement’s durability and strength,” said Nassiri. “The next step is to find out how to make it mainstream and widespread. The research for this project was made possible through a partnership with the Boeing Company.
Stepan Company Fined $600,000 for Selling Misbranded Pesticide
EPA announced an agreement
with the Stepan Co. of Northfield, Illinois, resolving allegations that the company – through a distribution agreement with the Spartan Chemical Co. – violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) on 89 occasions by selling or distributing a misbranded pesticide. Stepan agreed to pay a $612,718 administrative penalty and to coordinate with Spartan to correct the labeling and formulation violations.
“The sale and use of misbranded pesticides pose serious threats to the public health,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp. “This settlement underscores that companies must ensure that pesticides are registered with the EPA and display approved label instructions so that they can be used safely and effectively.”
Stepan manufactures chemicals that are used as active ingredients in a variety of pesticides and has a history of noncompliance with FIFRA requirements. The Ohio Department of Agriculture referred Stepan’s alleged violations to EPA, which enforces FIFRA’s registration and labeling requirements.
EPA alleged Stepan through its agent, Spartan Chemical, distributed TB-Cide Quat, an over-formulated and misbranded disinfectant, 87 times. The label for TB-Cide Quat did not include required storage and disposal language. Secondly, Stepan Co. distributed two disinfectants, hdqC2 and HDQL10, twice. The labels for hdqC2 and HDQL10 did not include the required storage and disposal language.
FIFRA helps safeguard the public by ensuring antimicrobial pesticides are determined to be effective and are used, stored and disposed of safely, consistent with approved label directions. Pesticide registration and labeling requirements protect public health and the environment by minimizing risks associated with the production, handling and application of pesticides.
Money Available in Pennsylvania for Pollution Prevention
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced the availability of $1 million in grant funding to Pennsylvania small businesses and farmers for energy efficiency, pollution prevention, and natural resource protection projects through the Small Business Advantage grant program. New to the program this year is the opportunity for small business owners to install solar hot water systems for their business operations.
“Pennsylvania is committed to assisting those small business owners who want to become energy efficient, increase their profitability, and help the environment,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “This funding will support projects designed to reduce operating costs and boost competitiveness, while simultaneously protecting the environment.”
Eligible projects include adopting or acquiring equipment or processes that reduce energy use or pollution. Examples of eligible projects are HVAC and boiler upgrades, high-efficiency LED lighting, solvent recovery and waste recycling systems, and auxiliary power units deployed as anti-idling technology for trucks.
, around 200 small businesses were awarded more than $947,000 in grants for their projects. Natural resource protection projects may include planting riparian buffers, installation of streambank fencing to keep livestock out of streams, and investing in agricultural stormwater management projects, with the goal of reducing sediment and nutrient loads in our waterways.
“We are excited to expand the program to help lower energy bills through the use of solar energy,” McDonnell said. “Encouraging businesses to embrace alternative energy projects helps clean our air, reduce greenhouse gases, and give small business owners a sense of satisfaction on making smart choices.”
Pennsylvania-based small business owners with 100 or fewer full-time equivalent employees are eligible. Projects must save the business a minimum of $500 and 25 percent annually in energy consumption, or pollution-related expenses.
Businesses can apply for 50% matching funds of up to $7,000 to adopt or acquire energy-efficient or pollution prevention equipment or processes. Only costs incurred between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, are eligible.
Applications will be considered on a first come, first served basis, and will be accepted until fiscal year 2019-20 funds are exhausted or April 12, 2020, whichever occurs first. All applications must be submitted through the commonwealth’s Single Application for Assistance website
. Printed, faxed, and mailed applications are not accepted.
The complete grant application package, which includes step-by-step instructions and instructional videos for completing the online application, is available by visiting the DEP Small Business Ombudsman’s Office website
The Small Business Ombudsman’s Office will conduct an instructional webinar on Tuesday, July 30, at 11:00 AM. The webinar will review the guidelines for the 2019-20 grant year. Applicants and contractors are encouraged to participate. To join the webinar, click here
. If you have Skype, click on “Join with Skype for Business (desktop)”. If you do not have Skype, click on “Install and join with Skype Meetings App (web)” to run a temporary web application.
To participate via audio only, call 267-332-8737, and use conference ID number 4410 1371#.
Environmental News Links
Trivia Question of the Week |
FEATURED TRACTORS & EXHIBITORS
Any and all brands of farm and garden tractors – restored, in-process and natural/original – are welcome.
Stationary engine display in separate section.
A wonderful spring family outing with events and activities for both kids and adults! From bounce houses, mini train rides and games, to tractor games, restored antique tractor displays and free hayrides for the entire family. Many arts and crafts, food, wine and beer vendors. A fun day for all!
Hosted by: South Western District Restoration Group
Antique tractor pull, pedal pull for kids, antique truck and car show, remote control airplane show, craft and food vendors. $10.00 admission kids under 10 FREE. Trackside parking $15.00. Fun for the whole family. NO alcohol. Pull starts @ 11:00 am, pedal pull starts @ 1:00pm
Antique Tractor Show and Pull, Antique Gas Engine Display, Silent Auction, Swap Meet/Craft Show
First Show in South. Swap Meet Venders welcome, No setup fee, asking for donation to club.
Open from 10am to 5pm Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd, 10am to 3pm Sunday 24th.
With over 1000 exhibits expected including vintage working Machinery and engines, live steam, vintage Cars, bikes and tractors, a tractor pull and much much more. Held at Sturt Reserve, Murray Bridge, right on the river allowing access to the paddle steamers and vintage wooden boats, making a beautiful backdrop to a great rally.
Tractor Ride on Friday afternoon, Mar. 29, $10 entry fee includes a cookout Friday night. Show for tractors, equipment, gas engines, and other ag-related items from 9 am CST to 4 pm on Saturday, April 30. No entry fee for show. Free breakfast for exhibitors and goody bags for first 25 registrants. Silent auction ends at 3 pm. Awards for best displays. Feature brand: Allis-Chalmers.
Registration and further info at 254-486-2366 or [email protected]
Join us for the California Antique Farm Equipment Show®! We’ll celebrate John Deere and “Those Poppin’ Johnny 2 cylinder tractors” with lots of fun for the whole family!
Friday will feature a Hamburger & Hotdog Dinner starting at 5:00 p.m. in the Farm Credit Dairy Center. [Tickets available for purchase on-site – $15 per person]
Saturday will feature a Steak Dinner and concert by Lon Hannah & San Joaquin Junction. Social Hour starts at 5:00 p.m. in the Farm Credit Dairy Center. [Tickets available on-site – $30 per person, includes concert]
Sunday will feature a Pancake Breakfast starting at 7:00 a.m. in the Farm Credit Dairy Center. [Tickets available on-site – $8 per person]
New this year: We have collaborated with Rusty Roots Show, LLC to bring you antiques, vintage, junk, re-purposed, clever up-cycled, artisan, crafts, new and old, food and much more! Be sure to check out the newly named Corteva Agriscience Center and see the amazing treasures you can find! https://www.rustyrootsshow.com/
• 150+ Antique Tractors
• Tractor Parade – Saturday & Sunday, 10:00 a.m.
• Antique Tractor Pulls – Friday, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Bull & Horse Bucking – Saturday starting at 9:00 a.m.
• Swap Meet & Boutique Shopping courtesy of Rusty Roots
• Gun Raffle
• Food Trucks
• Hay Bucking
• Kids Contests: Milk Chugging & Pie Eating
• Pedal Pulls
See you there!
Purchase tickets at the door
Event Hashtag: #Antique2019
Sponsored by West GA Two-Cylinder Club
Starting at 9 AM we will be plowing the challenging fields of Hereford with any color or brand tractor and garden tractors as well. There will be good food available all day and a hay ride as well out to the fields.
****All times subject to change as weather permits and a Rain date will be Saturday April 27th****
Swap meets are a great place to find all sorts of interesting items from around the farm and who knows where. We will be open rain or shine, so bring a coat, umbrella, or sunscreen. You never know what this Michigan weather will do. Kitchen will be serving food all day. Lots of vendors on display.
Hours: 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Features “Battle of the Brands.” The brand with the most tractors, lawn & garden tractors, etc. wins. We have demonstrations-events for the children-large craft & antique flea market-Parade of Power & much more!
tractor show, demonstrations, silent auction and working demos throughout the day. Tractor rodeo starts at 1.00pm
Features all types of antique farm equipment (tractors, engines, and more) all day plowing demonstrations, all day blacksmithing, model train display, kid’s activities, great food in the kitchen. Tractor parades at 1pm weather permitting.
Spotlighting vintage tractors, farm equipment, small engines, and cars. There will be a lawn mower pull, and blessings of the bikes. It will be a fun filled day with lots of food, including whole hog BBQ, crafts, and plenty of time to meet new people.
Tractor Pull and Show. Free admission, concessions available.
Antique and Garden Tractor Displays and Pulling; Mason Dixon American Historical Society Truck Show; Vendors; Hay Rides; Tractor Games; Breakfast, Pit Beef and Hamburgers; Music; Free Ice Cream; All Brands of Tractors Welcome
Our first show of 2019. Featuring antique steam engines, tractors and equipment. Also a flea market on grounds.
Craft barn, wood shop, print shop, antique gas station, exhibit building, hit & miss engines, operational dragline,
and ice cream store and food vendors.
Old Time Plow Days is an event for the whole family. This year we will feature FORD tractors. See our threshing machine in action, a working silo filler, antique engines, petting zoo for the kids and tractors plowing. We will have crafters and other vendors. Food and refreshments available at the pavilion where we will have The Quarry Road band preforming.
While we have great appreciation for antique tractors, it is the people using them that truly make this industry special. Our customers are the key to our success and we would not be successful today without the feedback, ideas and loyalty of customers like you. Whether your tractor is your hobby, your passion or even your livelihood, you’ve put a lot of trust and faith in our business, our staff, and our parts, and we take that personally.
On behalf of all of our staff, we would like to invite you to join us for a day of fun at Steiner Tractor Parts as we celebrate the customers that have kept us going for 42 years.
Customer Appreciation Day
9:00am – 4:00pm
We will have a variety of antique tractors on display and several local tractor clubs will be in attendance to talk tractor. Swing into our showroom for exclusive in-store specials. Enter our drawing for a chance to win one of five $200 Steiner gift cards, a Yeti cooler filled with Steiner gear and Summer treats (Michigan exclusive items) and other awesome giveaways throughout the day.
9:00am – 11:00am
Genesee Township Fire Department will be firing up the griddles for a free pancake breakfast from 9:00am – 11:00am. Donations will be accepted.
Live Broadcast with Terry Henne
10:00am – 1:00pm
Special guest NAFB Farm Broadcaster Terry Henne of WSGW-AM will be broadcasting live from our backyard. Stop by, say hi, and talk tractors as he does a remote broadcast of “Farm Service 790”, one of the longest continuous running radio shows with one host in Michigan.
12:00pm – 3:00pm
Can’t make it until later? Don’t worry! Several local food trucks will join the party from 12:00pm – 3:00pm with all the foods you crave available for purchase.
We are Spring cleaning. We’ve marked down years of clearance, overstock, and closeout inventory. Get ’em before they’re gone!
Download our flyer here for all the details!
Attractions: Antique Cars • Craft Building • Exhibit Building • Flea Market • Food • Old Tractors • Train Rides • Vintage Village
Demonstrations: Baker Fan Testing • Equipment Parades • Gas Engines • Oil Field Engines
Saw Milling • Steam Building • Steam Engines • Cross Cut Saw • Working Field • 1940’s Dragline Display
Tractor “For Sale” Corral
The 10th Year! Memorial Tractor Pull in honor of Jim Bristol, Sr.
All are welcome. We gladly accept donations – $5 suggested at the gate. Tractor Pulling starts around 9am, food vendors, lots of Tractors, Trucks and other cool stuff to check out.
Featuring Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment. All brands welcome. Tractor and engine parts sales, live equipment demonstrations, sawmill, food vendors, flea market, crafts. Family fun. Something for everyone.
Big Hot Air Balloon Classic Show along with Antique Cars and Tractor & Engine Show. Free admission. The Southland Flywheelers is ask to bring tractors & engines. You are welcome to bring your tractor & or your engines.
Antique Farm Equipment, Steam Traction
Engines Tractors Hit-n-miss Engines Great Food
Saturday (May 25, 2019) Fun Day – This is an unsanctioned event. Tractor games start at 1:30 pm.
Sunday (May 26, 2019) Weigh in 8 – 10 am. Pull starts at 11 am. After the pull on 5/26 there will be a General Membership Meeting with a potluck after the meeting. Meat will be provided. Please bring a dish/dessert to share.
Monday (May 27, 2019) Weigh in 8 – 9 am. Pull starts at 10 am.
Tractor Relay Across Nebraska is traveling Crofton, Newcastle, S. Sioux City, Decatur, Blair, Gretna, Syracuse, Brownville, and Falls City Nebraska. You can drive all 8 days or just one day. We collect money for the American Legion program Operation Comfort Warriers.
This club presents an annual show of antique tractors and other farm equipment, trucks and rural antiques on
the site of the Muskegon County Fair Grounds, Fruitport, Michigan. Activities include tractor pulls, Ford Model A swap meet, children’s activities, flea market, food vendors, toy displays, sawmill, early days’ equipment demonstrations, “valve cover” car derby, tractor/truck parade, bonfire & marshmallow roasting.
Summer Farm Toy Show
Farm toys and family fun will be on hand in Dyersville, Iowa on the first Friday and Saturday in June. Kicking off the show is the annual 50 Mile tractor ride is heading to Manchester! The Summer Farm Toy Show also includes a Farm Toy Display contest that the public can vote for their favorite display on Friday. Don’t miss the fun and colorful Tractor Parade on Friday night. For more information about these events contact the National Farm Toy Museum at [email protected] or 563-875-2727.
Saturday – Weigh In: 8 – 10 am, Pull starts 11 am
Breakfast at the firehouse on Sunday
Sunday – Weigh In: 8 – 9 am, Pull starts 10 am
Please remember PARK RULES do not allow dogs
Meet at the fairgrounds
1960 and older tractors, stock and super farm. Also, lawn mowers 16 to 500 h.p.+ and car show. Camping available.
Display antique engines, tractors, garden tractors, covered dish lunch at noon
Annual Slippery Gulch tractor and equipment show held during Tekoa’s Slippery Gulch Celebration in Tekoa Washington. It is a gathering of local tractor collectors. We have many kinds and sizes of old tractors, trucks, and equipment. All tractors are welcome restored or still in their working clothes.
Antique tractors of all colors invited to attend. Trophies for Most Unique, Best Restoration, Best Original, and Competition trophies Each year we have a couple games such as the teeter totter, the egg & rake ride, the chain drag, the chicken in the pan etc. Registration starts at 8:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m tractor games, 4:00 p.m parade. Enjoy 75 -100 tractors of all shapes and sizes.
Come out and see tractors and equipment from across the last 100 years! See tractors that worked the fields to provide food for your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and more to tractors from all different parts of the US. From farm functional to fully restored pieces experience the history that has become as important as the iron itself!
The show will be held in conjunction with the Locke Firemen’s Field Days at the Locke Fairgrounds. 6pm-Dark Wednesday – Thursday and all day on Saturday.
The AuSable Valley Engine & Tractor Club annual show is on June 28 and 29, 2019 (Friday & Saturday) at the lovely wooded Oscoda County Fairgrounds on Caldwell Road off of M33 between Mio and Fairview. Hours – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Featuring antique tractor & machine exhibits, gas engines & related machinery, tractor & kid’s games with prizes, flea market, swap meet, craft vendors, tractor pulling, and a tractor parade. One FREE ticket for the drawing to win a peddle tractor given away each day to every child 2 to 7 years old. All farm equipment exhibitors, flea market, craft and swap meet vendors are welcome and it is N/C to set up or exhibit even for non-members. Rustic camping is available. Some sites with electric. Food is available on site. Gate fee is $3.00 per person. Children under 12 years are FREE!! For more information call 989 370-5471or 989 387-4332 or like us on Facebook.
The Sandwich Early Day Engine Club will be hosting a tractor parade through town on Friday night prior to the 48th annual show on Saturday.
Leaving from the Sandwich Fairgrounds around 6:30.
We would love to have you join us on your tractor or just come out and watch.
For more information:
Featuring: John Deere engines and tractors
Antique Trucks, Tractors, Engines
Kid’s Pedal Tractor Pull
Farm Toy Show (Vendors wanted, Indoors)
Flea Market (Vendors wanted)
Corn Shelling with Sandwich 6 hole sheller
For more information:
The Sandwich Early Day Engine Club will be hosting a 25 mile tractor ride on Sunday after our 48th Annual Show (Saturday).
All are welcome to bring a tractor and participate.
Time: Leaving the Fairgrounds at 8:30 AM
Contact Roger for more details at 815-498-2515
The greatest steam, gas and antique farm machinery show in the southeast! Numerous farm machinery demonstrations with horses steam and gas powered. Restored buildings including a grist mill, general store, church, tramping barn, gas station, shoe shop, radio museum, Coca-Cola museum, doll museum, and more! Antiques, crafts, tractor pulls, horse pull, lawnmower pull, border collie demonstrations; full size steam train rides, music, food and fun for all ages!
Four day event with Steam engines, tractors, gas engine and lawn and garden tractors. Fun for the whole family
Antique Tractors featuring Allis Chalmers, Oliver & David Bradley. All brands welcome. Sat. kiddie tractor pull & Car Show, Sunday Garden Tractors and Antique Tractor Pull. Daily feature is steam engine and saw mill, Flea Mkt. Crafts and kiddie games all three days. We are not a super big show but we have a great show. Check us out. Open 9-5
All Colors. Anytrhing Agricultural related
July 11-14, 2019 Greenville Farm Power of the Past Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Show; Darke County Fairgrounds Greenville, OH; Featuring Allis-Chalmers, New Idea Farm Equipment, & Fractional HP Gas Engines; Hosting The Buckeye Allis Club & The New Idea Historic Preservation Committee; Garden Tractor, Tractor & Horse Pulls; Demonstrations, Displays, Flea Markets, Concessions; Women’s & Kids’ Activities, Saturday night music, Sunday morning church service, Sunday car show; Camping; Contact Chet Linebaugh at 937-459-6424, www.greenvillefarmpower.org, or find us on Facebook
Join us and enjoy reminiscing about old tractors and farm equipment from life back in the day. Attendees will see many tractors of all sizes, shapes and colors – all tractors are welcome. Some are pretty, some ugly as they arrive in their “work clothes”!
Rock Falls antique tractor and engine show is a 1 day event with all kinds of old tractors, garden tractors, and engines. The feature tractor this year is a farmall 1206. The event is free and great for all ages. There is also vendors at the event. Steiner is one of our sponsors every year with lots of give aways. There is a Facebook page that has all the information for the show and is updated on a regular basis.
Located in the beautiful Pastime Park in Plain City, Miami Valley Steam Threshers 70th Annual Show and Reunion will feature Oliver. You will be able to enjoy not just our large display of tractors, steam and gas engines, but also watch them being used in our demonstrations throughout the day. Nightly entertainment includes tractor games, lawn mower pulls, a grand parade through downtown, steam engine spark show and tractor/truck pulls, all included for $5 admission.
This is a wonderful family event. You will learn about antique steam engines. You will get to see tractor pulls, how farm equipment is really used in past and present times.
You can shop for new and antique items. Activities for the children.
Those who attend the Will County Threshermen’s Association Show can expect to be transported back to yesteryear. Steam engines, antique gasoline tractors, gas engines, antique automobiles, and other machines provide a working testimonial to the genius of previous generations.
A typical day on the show grounds begins with the clank of scoops. Like their historic counterparts, today’s engineers are building coal fires in the fireboxes of their steam engines. Soon, smoke is trailing skyward from a dozen smokestacks. One by one, engineers turn on their blowers, and the hiss of steam assists the draft. Before long, iron flywheels revolve, and the first engine chuffs forward from its berth in the overnight line-up. Its great driver wheels carry the steamer softly across the turf.
Perhaps the engine is going toward the water wagon or the coal pile, but it may be ready to belt to the fan that tests the engine’s power or to the sawmill. In the vicinity of the parade route are antique automobiles glistening in the early sunshine. Their owners have ensured that not so much as a fingerprint mars the waxed surfaces of their vehicles. Further on stand the concessions with the aroma of coffee drifting on the morning breeze. In the shade of venerable oaks rest gasoline engines of every size, color, and description. Within the hour, several of them will contribute their snappy exhausts to the symphony of sound.
The vendors in the flea market are carefully lifting the plastic sheets that have covered and protected their wares overnight. They greet passersby with friendly conversation. Along the sloping hills stand row on row of antique tractors. Most are gasoline fired, but a few burn kerosene. The tractors comprise an open-air museum of working machines. In a few hours, many of them will take part in the tractor pull. Many also will demonstrate plowing in a field close by.
Nearby, an Avery Yellow Fellow thresher and at least one other separator stand by, ready for their crews to arrive. When a proud steam engine is belted to the Yellow Fellow, thus powering it, the pitchers toss bundles of wheat into the thresher’s mouth, the straw rains down from the windstacker, and the clean grain pours into a wagon. Spectators are treated to a memorable scene.
The nearby corn sheller portrays another important facet of America’s agricultural past. By the time the steam engines blow their whistles to announce that it is the noon hour, the showgrounds are alive with motion. Horses pull wagons loaded with families. In the shade of the oaks, people gather to eat lunch (available on the grounds) while all around them are the sights and sounds of another era–an epoch that nostalgic writers term “the good ol’ days.”
After the parading, the threshing, the corn shelling, the saw milling, the tractor pulling, and the plowing, the day settles gently into evening. Possibly a steam engine will conclude the festivities by burning sawdust while working on the fan, thereby providing a spark display at dusk.
The Will County Threshermen’s Association is pleased to present four full days of such entertainment with lasting educational value for all. The show is small enough to offer a friendly, stress-free atmosphere while large enough to provide a comprehensive view of America’s rural legacy.
This July in n. Colorado, the public is invited to celebrate agricultural history in action!
Visitors can enjoy viewing a priceless collection of amazing antique tractors, implements, and engines on display at the Greeley Old Time Farm Show on July 19, 20 and 21st, 2019, from 9 am to 5 pm each day.
Got something old, rare, restored or rusty? Bring it by to display, no charge.
The Longs Peak Tractor Club will be bringing many of their old rare collections for the public to admire.
Schedule of activities include:
Set up by Friday, July 19th, 9 am-5 pm – Open to the public
Saturday, July 20th, 9 am -5 pm – Open to the Public
The main day, not to miss. Activities include a sanctioned garden tractor pull, antique equipment demonstrations, mule farming, a wheat harvest, straw baling, antique sawmill operation, blacksmithing, a parade of power, and rides. Fun for all ages.
An auction and food fundraiser include steaks, burgers and more.
Saturday will be the best day to see all thrashing, pulling and mules. The mule club will be working the fields with their teams, there on Saturday only. Check this art out before it’s lost. They’ll be plowing the field and harvesting wheat the old fashioned way before tractors were invented.
The stationary engine club will be there, doing small engine displays.
The Colorado Tractor Pull Association is sponsoring a sanctioned Garden Tractor Pull on Saturday, July 20th, 2019 from 10 am to 3 pm.
9-10am: Threshing machine demonstration
10:30-11:30am: Corn sheller demonstration
12 pm: Parade of power, review and live demonstrations!
Sunday, July 21st, 9 am – 5 pm – Open to the public, demonstrations continue. Last chance to admire the collection of old restored and rusty antique tractors, hit and miss engines, trucks, cars and garden tractors on display. More food available to keep you satisfied . Wrapping up and tearing down.
Hosted by the Greeley RV Park and Campground.
810 East 28 Street, Greeley, Colorado, 80631
FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/803226623387949/
Like and follow their Facebook page, and visit
www.greeleyoldtimefarmshow.com for more information.
For questions, please contact Marlin Ness at 970-302-0929, or email [email protected]
Sign up here to receive news and reminders about the Greeley Old Time Farm show https://mailchi.mp/4d4c103e8bf9/greeleyoldtimefarmshow
Saturday – Weigh In 8 – 10 am, Pull starts 11 am
Sunday – Weigh In 8 – 9 am, Pull starts 10 am
Fire Department will cook breakfast both days starting at 7 am
Features antique farm equipment, homemade ice cream using antique churns, tractor rodeo, tractor parades, model train displays, kid’s activities, blacksmithing, and more!
Antique Tractor Show and 35 Mile Tractor Drive. Show Saturday, Drive on Sunday; Saturday evening Baron of Beef Dinner for all exhibitors: Rocking R Ranch, 32317 NE 11th St, Carnation WA; Northwest Vintage Iron Club, EDGE&TA Branch 36, Contact Phil Scott [email protected], 206-388-9895.
Displays, demonstrations, vendors welcome. Tractor Parade both days. Bake sale, 50-50 raffles, bucket raffles. Antique Tractor Pull Saturday at 1pm. 1963 or earlier original farm tractors. $10 entry fee, 9 classes with 1st place trophies. Polka music Saturday, DJ on Sunday. Car Show Sunday from 9am-2pm. $10 entry fee, 8 classes with 1st & 2nd place trophies and choice awards. Two large buildings of antique machinery. Visit the blacksmith, shingle mill, firewood processor, rope making, baler demos, etc. Food, beverages, bake sale, 50-50 raffles, bucket raffles. For kids: Phillips Children’s Museum, petting zoo, antique games, “Orange Blossom Special” ride, bean bag toss, bike giveaways, cookie eating contest. Guess the mystery item.
Antique Tractors and Small Engines featuring all walk behind tractors and gas and electric power plants. Steam Engines, Tractor Parade, Tractor Safari, Flea Market, Antique Autos and Filling Station, Food, Two Music Venues, Arts and Crafts Sales and Demonstrations, Blacksmiths, One-room Schoolhouse, Museum, Barbershop, Saw Mill, Veneer Mill and Basket Factory, Grist Mill, Tractor Drive-in Movie, Farm Museum, Farm Apparatus Displays, Scale Train Exhibit, Lathe and Rope Making Demonstration, and much more. Pioneer Cabin restoration in progress.
For the club’s 27th annual show we are featuring antique lawn and garden tractors and Economy engines. We also have demonstrations, tractor pulls, kids’ tractor pulls, a bluegrass festival, a vendor market and plenty of good food!
Antique tractors, garden tractors, engines, and equipment on display and operating all weekend. Tractor pull on Friday night. Wheat threshing, corn shelling, saw mill, burr mill, and more throughout the weekend. Kids’ pedal pull on Saturday, Euchre tournament Saturday night, parades daily, and tractor drive on Sunday morning.
4th Annual Old Iron Antique Tractor Show. Over 100 antique tractors and equipment on display. Also antique garden tractors. Featured will be International/Farmall tractors, and Jacobson garden tractors. Field and Crop Demonstrations, Hit & Miss Engines, Kid’s Pedal Pull, Tractor Games, Concessions, Children’s Games, Petting Zoo, and Farmers Market, Garden Tractor Pulls. For more information, check out our website: www.oldirontractor,com and our facebook page: Old Iron Antique Tractor Club, email: [email protected]
Steam and Gas engine displays, threshing, sawmilling, antique trucks, shingle mill, tractors, Oil Pulls, flea markets, Friday nite tractor pull, Saturday evening horse pull, equipment parades Sat & Sun noon.
Saturday – Weigh In: 12 – 2 pm, Pull starts 3 pm
Tractor and Engine show. Working sawmill, threshing and baling, corn shelling grainery, hit and miss engines. Swap meet and vendor items. Over 150 tractors every year. Hours 9- 5 daily. Admission $6.00 senior day Thursday, kids day Saturday.
Antelope County Fair Antique Tractor Show. August 1-3 2019 is on display at the park in Neligh, Ne. All brands of tractor and implements. We drive the tractors in a parade on August 3, 2019 thru town. We go by the Nursing Home, Assisted Living and Independent Living as they really enjoy seeing the old tractors.
Join us for the 31st Annual Silver King Tractor Festival, hosted by the Silver Kings of Yesteryear Club in celebrating the history of Silver King & Plymouth Tractors. In 2019 is the 85th anniversary of the Plymouth tractor. Parade 7pm Saturday evening. Club Breakfast & Swap meet 8am Saturday. Local hotels are within 10 minutes. This event is also held during the Plymouth Volunteer Fire Dept Annual Chicken BBQ. Setup is Thursday all day, tractors are welcome any day and stay for the day as well. Trailer parking is available as well.
FRIDAY – BLUE MAX, SATURDAY – KING OF THE MOUNTAIN PULLS. All days flea market, print shop, wood shop, antique gas station and cars, drag line exhibit, steam and hit & miss engines, live entertainment, food vendors and ice cream shop.
FEATURE TRACTOR: Rumley and Allis Chalmers
Featuring Massey Harris, Massey Ferguson & Ford. Also vintage plows. There will be an antique tractor pull Friday evening at 6PM
This is a car show, with tractors, cars, motorcycles, trucks, ATV’s and a Youth category for any or all of the above.
Day full of old antique engines, tractors, garden trators, trucks/cars
Kids 12 and under with an adult admission
Tractors and old equipment will be on display! We had 83 tractors on display last year, our display start on Aug 6TH -10TH. Wednesday evening will be tractor parade at 5 o’clock before the big badger state tractor pull come on down!
Daily demonstrations of Sawmill, Shingle Mill, Threshing & Baling, antique tractors, steam engines and antique farm & logging equipment. Enjoy Music in the barn on Fri & Sat evening. Food concessions in the clubhouse.
ALL EXHIBITORS ARE WELCOME & FREE.
Saturday – Weigh In: 8 – 10 am, Pull starts 11 am
Breakfast (either at pull site or in park)
Parade at 10 am for all who wants to participate
Pork roast (starting at 4 pm) and dance
Featuring M-M tractors and engine lines M-N-O. Also featuring steam engine, threshing, field harvest demonstrations, plowing, draft horses, saw mill, blacksmith, craft show, flea market, children’s playground and barnyard, parade and much more.
An all week-end Community Fest including our Tractor Show and a 30+ ride on Saturday with a parade on Sunday.
45th annual show featuring International Harvestor. Flea market, tractor pulls, food, steam engines, sawmill, veener mill, blacksmith shop, cider mill, saw mill, shingle mill, gang saw, tin shop, handle mill, crafts, broom shop, antique machine shop, old engines, petting zoo, parades, hundreds of tractors, camping, and fun for all
The 45th annual CCAEA show will feature Garden Tractors and Implements and Chautauqua County (NY) Engines. Free Parking, and Demonstrations throughout the show including saw mill, crafts, print shop, machine shop. An auction will be held Saturday Morning. Antique farm tractor and Garden Tractor parades, games and pulls occur daily.
A steam powered “Threshing Bee” on a family farm, featuring steam powered grain threshing, steam powered saw mill, snow fence making machine, stone ground flour mill, antique tractor pull, kiddie pedal pull, flea market, tractor display, gas engine display, blacksmith shop, shingle mill, Sunday prayer service, live music, raffle, saw dust coin pile for kids, train rides for kids, slow tractor race. Pancake breakfast, parade, country store, food vendors. |
If you spend any time in India you’ll have a love-hate relationship with Delhi – or New Delhi as is also known. It is huge, polluted and congested. But it is also complicated, cosmopolitan and very interesting. If you are wondering what to see in Delhi – the list is long. It is also within easy reach of the Taj Mahal.
Someone told me once the Delhi is like Rome – everywhere you turn there are ancient ruins. The history goes right back to the Mongols.
Ever since I found out that Xanadu is a real place, the Mongols have fascinated me. Xanadu was the capital city of the Mongolian empire under Kublai Khan and I passed close to the ruins of the old city on a train ride through to Mongolia from Beijing. I learnt about the vast reach of the empire that was built in two generations between Genghis Khan to his grandson Kublai Khan.
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree …” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
The empire started on the east coast of China and continued across Asia to Hungary and Finland.
Roughly two hundred years later this heritage was combined with some illustrious Persian ancestry, and a bit of Rajput to become the Mughal Dynasty that ruled India between the mid 1500s to the mid 1800s. The language at court was Persian. Among other things they built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort.
Feroz Shah’s tomb actually pre-dates the Mughals, and was built during the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413). It is easily accessible from the Metro, as is Qutub Minar, which is even older. The Mughals built the Red Fort in Old Delhi along with a surrounding wall, the Humayun Tomb and the Jama Masjid – one of the largest mosques in India.
So there’s that.
Then there’s today’s Old Delhi – a densely populated section of Delhi that was enclosed by a wall until the British knocked the wall down. Reality Tours offer an Old Delhi Tour and having done the Dharavi Tour in Mumbai I was keen to join them again in Delhi. It was nuts! A quick ride on the metro to land in Chandni Chowk station. From there we had a ride in an electric Tuk Tuk (!) to the spice markets. These guys sell everything wholesale – dried fruit, cinnamon bark, turmeric roots.
Before it got dark we went to the roof top of the chilli markets to look down on the hustle and bustle. We were warned about the chilli markets by Sagar our guide. He called it the sneezing market, but it would be more accurate to call it the ‘convulsive coughing until you throw up’ markets. The chilli vapour got stuck in the back of my throat and I exited, scarf over mouth to try to stop the fumes.
Next stop on the tour was the Sikh Temple Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib. Quiz question – what are the four religions that have their origins in India. Give up? Hindu, Bhuddism, Sikh and Jain. I’m not 100 percent clear on the theology. For the Sikhs there are gurus, one of whom was beheaded by the Mughal Emperor of the time because he refused to convert to Islam. But the impressive thing and one of the reasons for the visit is that the temple feeds anyone who asks for food, and not only that but the food is all prepared by volunteers. Anyone can eat and anyone can volunteer.
Finally we went to the wedding market. Gold and shiny things. The number of guests at Indian weddings can be mind boggling. We looked at ‘party favour’ bags with embroidery and jewels, that can only be supplied by the 100s. There were ribbons, lace, buttons, and colour, and I wanted to buy, buy, buy. And perhaps make some Christmas decorations or table runners that I’d only use once in a while, but treasure.
At the end of the tour we exited the labyrinth of the Old Delhi near the Red Fort, slightly dazed.
The next morning there was a fairly unsuccessful attempt to tour ‘New Delhi’, to see the large and impressive buildings of India’s Government.
Quite often in India, if something ends in ‘bhavan’ it’s a big house. Likely the house of the Chief Minister or the President. In Kolkata the Raj Bhavan is the home of the Governor of West Bengal. In Delhi the Rashtrapati Bhavan is the home of the President. There are exceptions – the Saravana Bhavan is the vegetarian Indian restaurant on the corner.
You have to book to visit the Rashtrapati Bhavan, a fact that that I had overlooked when I went to Delhi. Fail. The gardens of the Rashtrapati Bhavan are only open for the month of February, so epic fail there. The house was the home of the Viceroy, and one of the reasons that I’d wanted to visit was the movie called ‘The Viceroy’s House’, about Lord Mountbatten and the partitioning of the Pakistan.
So in the end a tuk tuk drove us to the gates and back down past Parliament House, on the Rajpat Marg – where the view in the opposite direction is India Gate. All the major buildings were heavily guarded and no pedestrians other than those with uniforms or passes can walk past.
That afternoon a train took us to Agra where we were to stay overnight and get up at dawn’s crack to see the sun rise over the Taj Mahal. My first train trip in India. Having seen the pictures of people sitting on top of trains and looked from a distance at the crowds on the stations I was a bit nervous. But on the other hand my mates all travel by train in India as commuters so I knew there was no need to worry. But back to the original hand –
. There was no information about the carriage or seat number on our ticket.
. The train number on the ticket matched the train on two platforms so we had to guess which was the correct one.
. There is no information written on the carriage about which is the correct one.
. The Station is crowded.
. The ‘assistance’ counter (seems to be) for security enquiries. The ‘enquiries’ man who is apparently outside the station can answer questions about which carriage to get on.
. There were no announcements about which station the train was stopping at.
Of course we muddled through.
All the blogs and information that I read said to go to the Taj at 6am, ready for the Gates to open at 6.30am. Everyone else has clearly read the same blogs. When we arrived at 6.15 the queue was several hundred people deep. At about 8.30am on the way out, there were virtually no people waiting to get in but there were an awful lot of people inside.
The Taj Mahal, was built by Shah Jahan for his wife who had died giving birth to their 14th child (!). He was so distraught by her death that he went into seclusion for a year and when he returned to public life his hair had turned white and he was an old man. If it was built today it would cost more than US$800 million.
Even amongst the crowd the site is magical. The building is beautiful, perfectly balanced with a mix of inlaid mosaics and carvings all over the surface of the white marble. It is flanked by red sandstone buildings on either side, the eastern one of which is a mosque.
From the Taj Mahal we took a tuk tuk over to the Old Fort. Part of the fort was the home of Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan’s wife. The building is not so famous, but quite beautiful and a must see. Nowhere near the amount of people visiting.
Because of the randomness of the decision to visit Delhi we’d booked nothing in advance and the train was fully booked for the return journey so we hired a car. It didn’t come. We had to pay triple the price to hire a taxi from the hotel – but it happens. We made it in time for the flight and randomly decided that it would be a good idea to re-visit Connaught Place on a Saturday evening and then catch the Metro to the airport from there.
Elevated stress levels when I fell victim to the ‘shoe poo’ scam where a shoe cleaner works in tandem with his mate who drops poo on your shoe and then the shoe cleaner walks by and exclaims ‘oh you’ve got poo on your shoe, let me clean it for you’.
DO: Add the Taj Mahal to your bucket list if it is not there already. If you do want to avoid the early queues in October then you’d need to be there by 5.30am. But failing that, it is ok to get there a bit later as well.
DO: Try to catch the train in at least one direction. 1st or 2nd class are both fine. 2nd class perhaps preferable because you can open the window.
DO: Take the Reality Tours Old Delhi tour.
DO: Visit the Old Fort in Agra as well as the Taj Mahal.
Other related Agatha Bertram blogs :
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Essay:How to argue with a libertarian
|This essay contains the opinions of one or more authors and does not necessarily represent the views of Mises Wiki or the Mises Institute. Mises Wiki essays may sometimes contain opinions that are not widely accepted by Austrian school thinkers, but nonetheless reside on the site to help stimulate critical thinking, constructive dialog, and an open-minded process of creative problem-solving furthering the growth of the body of Austrian school thought.|
- 1 Attack libertarians for their motives. Advertise your own in the process.
- 2 Arguments are like taxicabs. Take them as far as you actually plan to go and pay no mind to wherever else they might lead.
- 3 Conflate the positive concept of capability with the normative definition of rights. This way, you can deny most libertarian claims about rights.
- 4 Criticize capitalism by its worst cases. But do not (ever!) compare these to the worst cases of statism.
- 5 Always interpret any criticism of government programs as a demand for perfection and attack such a demand as unrealistic.
- 6 Be a pragmatist. Avoid "theory" in favor of what "works."
- 7 Diversity of beliefs about a subject imply that no beliefs about that subject are objectively true.
- 8 Criticize libertarians for whatever interaction or noninteraction they have had with the state.
- 9 No policy should ever be tried until it has already been tried.
- 10 Claim to favor whatever policies generate the best outcomes. Never explain the method by which you make the comparison.
- 11 The complexity of the world is always and everywhere an argument in favor of government intervention.
- 12 When all else fails, claim that a government intervention is justified because it promotes some unquestionable goal.
- 13 Make whatever mixed behavioral assumptions best support your claims.
- 14 Disregard the possibility that libertarians make tradeoffs in their own lives.
- 15 Use logic, but do so with discretion.
- 16 Call policies by names that presuppose their effectiveness.
- 17 Claim that libertarians just want to have legal access to drugs.
Attack libertarians for their motives. Advertise your own in the process.
Example: "You just recite propaganda against high taxes and social programs because of greed! I support such things out of a concern for those in need." This particular example is most effective if "need," "greed" and "propaganda" are left undefined.
Arguments are like taxicabs. Take them as far as you actually plan to go and pay no mind to wherever else they might lead.
Example: "When you drive on government roads, you enter into a social contract with the government and that contract obligates you to pay any tax that the government demands." Don't worry about the implications of this argument when an IRS agent drives on a privately paved road or pulls up in a privately paved driveway.
Conflate the positive concept of capability with the normative definition of rights. This way, you can deny most libertarian claims about rights.
Example: "If there were a natural right to absolute ownership of property, there would be evidence of it. But what makes it possible for you to own anything is the reality of government force that can be used to defend your property." Continue as though this undermines any and all normative arguments based on people's rights.
Criticize capitalism by its worst cases. But do not (ever!) compare these to the worst cases of statism.
Example: "The Enron scandal was the product of unfettered profit seeking under capitalism." If a libertarian replies that Stalin's brutality was the product of a statist program, change the subject or claim that your brand of statism precludes such abuses. Better still, try to argue that Stalinism was actually a kind of capitalism.
Always interpret any criticism of government programs as a demand for perfection and attack such a demand as unrealistic.
Example: A libertarian might argue that the benefits of the FDA keeping some drugs off the market are outweighed by the costs of keeping other drugs off the market. Engaging this argument directly can be a real quagmire. Instead, accuse the libertarian of using perfection as the standard for evaluating government activities.
Be a pragmatist. Avoid "theory" in favor of what "works."
Example: "Theoretical arguments for libertarianism are no basis for policy selection. We have to go with the policies that work in practice, the ones that are most productive." Do not get caught up in discussing the ends toward which any policy ought to work or the outcomes that productive policies are to be producing.
Diversity of beliefs about a subject imply that no beliefs about that subject are objectively true.
Example: "Libertarians argue that taxation is immoral. But countless groups claim to know what true morality is but their beliefs vary widely." Continue as though this shows that claims about ethics are a poor basis for policy selection.
Criticize libertarians for whatever interaction or noninteraction they have had with the state.
Example: "Yet another libertarian that went to a state school. What a hypocrite!" Alternately: "Yet another libertarian that went to a private university. Of course the super rich can afford to be libertarian." Since the government is involved in just about every aspect of our lives, it should be easy enough to find a similar charge to make against any libertarian. Whatever the personal activities of a libertarian may be, be sure to find fault.
No policy should ever be tried until it has already been tried.
Example: "Let libertarians point to a successful example of their policies being implemented before we consider implementing them." Be sure to use this argument like a taxicab, however, as it implies that no government program should ever have been implemented in the first place.
Claim to favor whatever policies generate the best outcomes. Never explain the method by which you make the comparison.
Example: "A purely free market in health care might result in the development of better technologies, but they would only be available to those who could pay for them. A system where everyone had guaranteed access would be better even if it meant less development of new technologies." With regard to either availability or technological advancement, more is better than less so avoid these simple comparisons. When there is a tradeoff, insist that the option involving government invention is better. But never explain your method of comparison.
The complexity of the world is always and everywhere an argument in favor of government intervention.
Example: A libertarian might argue that price ceilings will lead to shortages. Do not waste time discusing the interplay of supply and demand. Istead, try an argument like "Society is too complex for simplistic supply and demand arguments to be taken seriously. So the government should implement price ceilings." Characterizing libertarian arguments as simplistic is helpful too, as it makes statists seem to be the more sophisticated group.
When all else fails, claim that a government intervention is justified because it promotes some unquestionable goal.
Example: "This tax increase may seem unpleasant, but we have to remember that taxes are necessary as a way to promote the greater good. Sometimes individuals need to sacrifice for the benefit of society." Sometimes it helps to define "greater good" and "benefit of society." Other times it's better not to do so. Decide based on the particulars of the situation.
Make whatever mixed behavioral assumptions best support your claims.
Example: "Private theft is bad not because of any libertarian argument based on rights. It's bad because if people are free to just take the belongings of others, the consequences would be terrible." Alternately: "The government must be able to collect taxes because the consequences are so good." Do not be afraid to have it both ways.
Disregard the possibility that libertarians make tradeoffs in their own lives.
Example: "You claim to oppose taxation but you live in a place with taxes." The libertarian in question will argue that he opposes taxation but remains in his present place of residence to avoid other things that are worse than taxes, such as even higher taxes or the costs of leaving the country. Disregard any such protest. Call the libertarian a hypocrite.
Use logic, but do so with discretion.
Example: If a libertarian points out that there is an inconsistency in some statist argument, argue that, "Libertarians are too axiomatic. That's fine for mathematics but not for real world issues that don't fit precisely into neat logical categories." Needless to say, the same kind of thinking need not apply if a libertarian even appears to be guilty of some inconsistency.
Call policies by names that presuppose their effectiveness.
Example: "I can't believe that libertarians oppose Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). How could they be against programs that aid these people?" The same approach is suitable for "anti-discrimination" laws, "foreign aid," "affirmative" action, price "controls," "guaranteed access" to health care, "fair lending" laws and so on.
Claim that libertarians just want to have legal access to drugs.
Libertarian: Look, I care about children as much as you do, but I don't see how it benefits children to have police running some fool's errand locking up drug users. It doesn't help children to ban substances and create an underground market dominated by organized criminals. And it certainly doesn't benefit children to impose a massive tax burnden on their parents to pay for all that nonsense.
Response: So you are willing to sacrifice our children's future just so that you can legally get high? You libertarians should just call yourselves the Pothead Caucus of the Republican Party! |
These deviled eggs are naturally colored and a healthy, sweet n' spicy twist on traditional deviled eggs. With a super-smooth, creamy filling of chopped bread-n-butter pickles and Greek yogurt, these deviled eggs are perfect for your next party, potluck or Easter celebration!
Dr. G's Perspective
It's interesting, and also perplexing to me, that many recipes include paprika in a very small amount simply for color and/ or garnish. Just that little sprinkle can leave those of us with underlying dormant inflammation in pain for days. I recently asked a local chef (an expat) I greatly admire why she adds a pinch of paprika or cayenne to my favorite dishes like her amazing quiche and eggs Benedict. Her reply didn't surprise me. She said simply because it was in her recipe she's used for years. She admitted it didn't add flavor in those small quantities but did add color.
For those, like me, a recovered Fibromyalgia victim with underlying inflammation factors, it will spiral us into pain when it can be completely eliminated from recipes without compromising taste or appearance. Once you're free of nightshades and realize how reactive you are, just a pinch sets off the fire of inflammation again, even though you're pain free otherwise. Just a sprinkle is enough to induce inflammation, if you don't believe me, try it once you've been completely off nightshades for at least 90 days.
When I'm craving one of my chef friend's special dishes, I email ahead and tell her what I want and she makes it without inflammation-causing ingredients. I mention this because often we're sabotaged without knowing it when a chef or cook believes that in small amounts it shouldn't bother those sensitive to nightshades.
When I relocated, one of the first things on my "to do" list was to partake of several local eateries to introduce myself and gently educate them about why I, and my patients, must avoid nightshades. Every one of them was polite, interested and asked if I'd leave my nightshade card so they could post in their kitchen. This small gesture of educating them briefly has served us all well. I can eat in at least eight local restaurants with no risk of inducing inflammation. My local patients are thrilled to learn that I've already laid the groundwork for them to be able to enjoy a meal while supporting the efforts of our local chefs—a little polite health education goes along way.
- 12 large eggs hard boiled and peeled*
- 2 Tbsp. plain Greek yogurt *
- 1/2 cup finely chopped bread and butter pickles
- 1 small shallot peeled and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh dill weed
- 1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. lemon juice
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- 4 Tbsp. Dijon mustard (more or less to taste)
- 1 tsp. Braggs Aminos
- 2 tsp. Achiote Powder* (reserve some for topping)
- Optional toppings: micro greens or edible flowers
Dr. G's Notes
- For "Standing Up" Deviled Eggs: Use a sharp paring knife to slice a small sliver off the bottom of the large end of egg, so it will stand upright, and then slice off the top one third.
- For Filling: Remove the yolks from all the hard-boiled eggs and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add shallot and pickles. Process until finely chopped. Add-in the fresh dill weed and achiote powder and process again until everything is minced. Add in the yogurt, vinegar, mustard and lemon juice. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Transfer the deviled egg mixture to a piping bag fitted with the star attachment (or a Ziploc with the corner snipped off for a make-shift piping bag). Pipe the mixture into the egg whites, filling each cavity generously.
- To Serve: Garnish with greens/flowers and sprinkle with a bit of annato/achiote* for the natural red color. Serve and enjoy!
- Eggs that are older, at least seven days, are MUCH easier to peel.
- If your filling looks thin and slightly watery, simply add a hard-boiled egg (white, yolk, or both) to the processor with the filling, and process until smooth. Keep adding egg until the filling is thickened. If you made standing deviled eggs, use the egg white scraps to thicken the filling.
- Make sure you season the filling GENEROUSLY. Eggs like salt. I used a 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and some Pink Himalayan Salt and 4 grinds of fresh pepper (black, white, pink and red).
You Might Also Like:
Crab Cake Stuffed Deviled Eggs
Bacon, Chive & Cheese Deviled Eggs
Do Ahead: Eggs can be made one day ahead. Cover and chill.
*What is Achiote (or Annatto)?
Achiote is a reddish orange spice used in many genres of food throughout the world. While it's often employed to give a dish a red or deep mustard color, it also has a mild peppery flavor. Whether it is as whole seeds or a ground spice, achiote paste or achiote oil, you'll come across this ingredient quite often when exploring Mexican, South American or Caribbean cuisine.
Achiote and annatto are used interchangeably. They are the most common names for a product extracted from the seeds of the evergreen Bixa orellana shrub—NOT a nightshade and can be used to replace paprika or cayenne as a condiment. After macerating in water, the pulp surrounding the seeds is made into cakes for further processing into dyes. The seeds are dried and used whole or ground as a culinary spice.
This spice goes by many names in different parts of the world:
- Achiote is used in Mexico and in the Aztec language of Nahuatl, as well as Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean.
- Annato is common on some Caribbean islands and in areas of South America.
- Roucou is used frequently in Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique, and Guadalupe.
- Achuete is primarily used in the Philippines.
- Urucul is the name of the spice among the Tupi-Gurani Indians of the Amazon.
Achiote is native to the tropical areas of the Americas, including the Caribbean and Mexico. The Spanish brought the small tree from the Americas to Southeast Asia in the 1600s, where it is now a common food ingredient. It's also produced in India and West Africa.
Traditional Uses for Achiote
Annatto was and still is, used as a culinary spice, food colorant, and commercial dye.
It does have medicinal properties as well. Caribbean natives were adding achiote to their dishes for flavor and color long before Europeans arrived. They also used it in cosmetics, as a fabric dye, body paint, sunscreen, insect repellent, and medicine.
Some historians theorize that the term ¡§red-skins¡¨ comes from the use of achiote as body paint because it is a natural dye that turns the skin a reddish color.
It is also believed that the Aztecs added the seeds to a chocolate drink to enhance its color.
Commercially, achiote is used to add yellow color to chorizo, butter and margarine, cheese, and smoked fish. On the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, it's used to make yellow rice and sometimes added to sofrito. In the French Caribbean, it's used to make a fish or pork stew with berries and lime known as blaff.
Achiote powder mixed with other spices and herbs can be turned into an achiote paste to marinate and give a smoky flavor to meats, fish, and poultry.
Achiote seeds are steeped in cooking oil to make achiote oil for achiotina, infusing them with color and flavor. Sauteing in or cooking with the oil adds color to rice, paella, meat, soup, stew, fish, and some yuca dishes. In some cultures, the red color in their traditional dishes comes from saffron. Achiote is used much the same and a lot more cost-effective than saffron.
Taste and Aroma
When used in small amounts, primarily as a food colorant, annatto has no discernable flavor. However, when used in larger amounts to add flavor, it imparts an earthy, peppery flavor with a hint of bitterness. Achiote seeds give off a slightly floral or peppermint scent.
Gloria Gilbere, DAHom, PhD
Dr. Gloria Gilbère (CDP, DA Hom, ND, PhD, DSC, EcoErgonomist, Wholistic Rejuvenist, Certified HTMA Practitioner) is Founder/CEO of the Institute for Wholistic Rejuvenation – after 22 years of owning/operating two health clinics in Idaho she relocated her Health Sciences/Research/Cooking Institute division to Cotacachi, Ecuador, S.A.
Her worldwide consulting via phone and Skype continues as does the Institute for Wholistic Rejuvenation in Idaho. Visit her website at www.gloriagilbere.com or call (888.352.8175) to schedule a consultation or register for her post-graduate courses.
NEWS FLASH: Ready to learn more about simple recipes that can give you what I call the Anti-Inflammation Advantage? Download your free 40+ page cookbook The Anti-Inflammation Recipe Sampler at drgloriaskitchen.com/totalhealth/ |
Now I know you probably came here looking for the follow up to the DIYBIKING.COM Salute to the Cargo Bike in which I am honoring superior cargo bike makers by building my own.
However, I am forced to admit I am having trouble with the rollout. There are a lot of glitches. Nobody is more upset about this than me. But you coming to this site looking for Part II of the Cargo Bike Salute tells me that there is a lot of interest in cargo bikes. Traffic to this site is above what I expected, and people from all walks of life who have never had a cargo bike before are coming to this site to look for one. And even if they aren't interested, they can always keep the bike they have. Once I have have all the bugs out - and I assure you I will - there will be a cargo bike by the deadline. Thank you for your patience.
So completely unrelated: I biked in Washington, D.C. and parts of Virginia this past weekend.
This was a weekend getaway that almost didn't happen. My wife wanted to go to Shenandoah National Park to sketch with a friend but the government shutdown earlier this month made us wonder if we were going to be an Area Man and Area Woman on the news talking about being affected by third-grader-at-recess inspired standoff. But the foreseen conclusion of this brinkmanship came to be, and we drove off to a town called Sperryville, Virginia.
To get there, we drove through Shenandoah National Park. It was $15 to drive a car into the park - or, rather, along Skyline Drive, which is a 105 mile road through some rather breathtaking scenery.
Entering the park on a bike will cost a mere $8; a much better value than a car. However, be warned: if you are out of shape you will know as the word 'hilly' doesn't even apply to this level of elevation changes. Just watching the cyclists on the ascents made me tired but they did look like they were having a lot of fun on the downhills.
After driving only about a third of Skyline Drive, we stopped in Sperryville after a long descent. We joined my wife's friend at the Thornton River Grill for a good lunch before they headed off to sketch and I jumped on the Dahon Matrix, which had traveled in comfort and style from Stamford on the interior bike rack I built.
It doesn't take long to feel some level of connection with Sperryville. And it is a town that does leave you with questions, such as: I'm sure it is a lovely table, but how is it an antique if the guy finished building it this afternoon?
Another question I had was: how much can I climb in an hour of biking? If you have that question lingering in your head as well, this area is the place to go to get a definitive answer…if you attempt to climb Rt. 211 to get back into the park.
I was initially sorry I had brought the heavy Matrix. The front derailleur only has use of the big and middle chainring (never using the tiny gear on my commute to and from work, which is where the Matrix is usually put through its paces, I was in no rush to fix it).
The scenery was lovely and the cars mostly gave me a wide berth, but I was also keeping an eye on the altimeter feature on my Garmin. Even when stopping to rest and take pictures, I wanted to see if I could climb at least 1,000 feet in an hour. For the longest time there was nothing to do but push the platform pedals as hard as I could and try to keep the bike rolling fast enough to sustain balance.
Beautiful, but imagine your thighs being waterboarded and wrapped in razor wire as you view this.
About 800 feet into the climb, something startling happened: the bike chain dropped from the middle ring to the little ring - just on its own. A push of the level brought it back up to the middle ring and if I really put my thumb muscles into it (and wanted to come to an exhausting and uncomfortable stop) I could still put it in the big ring. But the Dahon dropped into the little ring on its own accord. It made me think of the frogs we learned about in 'Jurassic Park' that spontaneous change sex from male to female in a single-sex environment.
Remaining in the little gear, I pressed on. An hour in the ride, I had pushed past 1,300 feet of climbing in just under six and a half miles - and I still hadn't entered the park. Time trial speed it wasn't, but it was still a feat for me.
Needing to catch up with my wife and her friend I turned the bike around…and was quickly reminded of why hills are our friends: you can go down them again.
I went a good two miles before I even had to pedal at all - and even then it was optional. Having shed a layer already (some nice weather that day) I could actually feel the temperature get a little warmer as I descended, slowing down at each of the switchbacks. Yeah, the hill was worth it - but ask your doctor before you attempt to climb.
And then, when I was making my final, triumphant run into town, I suddenly smelled coffee roasting, so I slammed on the brakes and went in to buy a pound of freshly roasted beans at Central Coffee Roasters. If I was in a car with the windows rolled up going at speed, I would not have stopped.
When I returned to town - beans safely in the bike box - the second leg of our trip began: Alexandria, Virginia, which is just outside of Washington D.C. This meant staying in a town that is quite pretty and offers access to some fantastic trail networks.
We stayed at the Lorien Hotel in Old Town Alexandria. What makes this hotel interesting is they actually offer bikes to the guests - beach cruisers, by the look of them - on a first come, first serve basis. It's a nice thing to do and I hope more hotels not only get involved, but have the good sense to put the name of their hotel in big letters on the downtube.
Now if you're staying in Alexandria and you want to ride your bike somewhere - say, to Washington D.C. - your first order of business is to find the Mt. Vernon Trail. Do this by heading toward the river and pedal as close to it as you can with the water on your right side. You'll eventually find the trailhead.
I do enjoy calling Stamford home, but my wife and I decided that if we were ever to live in the D.C. area, we'd like to live in Alexandria. The town in nice and, like Annapolis, provides access to the Old Bay seasoned Utz 'Crab Chip' potato chips. Not only that, but the Mt. Vernon Trail connects to the airport and does offer some nice views of the city as you approach.
The bridge that leads straight to the Lincoln Memorial that I've used in the past to get to the city was, this day, closed to cars. I did not know why that was so, but I did know I was going to enjoy it.
When I got to the other side, I found that there was a 10K taking place, which made me think of my friend in California who was doing her first 10K the same weekend (she's the same friend who I mailed the cookies to last year when I met Stacey, and she offered me the Exhale Spa gift certificate she received doing her run. I declined - telling her she should come visit Stamford and use the certificate herself).
When turning toward the National Mall, I immediately remembered that Washington D.C. - for all of the dysfunction and silliness that comes with that brand - has a bike share program called Capital Bikeshare. On this day a lot of people were enjoying it. Are you paying attention, U.S. cities that don't have this?
Being mindful of the traffic - both automotive and pedestrian - I rode past the memorials and museums to the U.S. Capitol. I thought it would be great to somehow get all 535 representatives on bikes right in front of the building. It would be like herding cats while wearing a dog costume, but it would be the photo op to end all photo ops.
Because of all of the road closures, I can't tell you for the life of me how I got back to Alexandria. All I know is I crossed the Potomac a different way than how I got there (on another bridge that was closed to automobile traffic that day) and reunited with the Mt. Vernon Trail after running the Dahon down a grassy hill near the bridge. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've returned the Alexandria quite the same way each time I've done this, so if you ever try it you will probably do fine too.
After checking out of the Lorian, my wife and I headed to Del Ray - a neighborhood in Alexandria that we did not spend enough time in. We were only there to eat lunch before having some amazing custard at The Dairy Godmother. If you haven't strolled down the street in Del Ray on a sunny day holding a cake cone in your hand, you should do so immediately. Lick the ice cream slowly. Not so slowly it looks perverted, but slowly enough so you enjoy the moment.
I also came across Velocity Bicycle Co-Op, which we unfortunately didn't have time to check out properly. From the looks of it, it appears somewhat similar to the Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op in Cleveland, so I will have to take a more thorough look on my next trip. If you haven't already, I hope you get to take your first trip to that part of the country soon, and in the meantime: if you're in Stamford this coming weekend, be sure to take part in Bike Stamford II, which is November 3rd at 3:00pm at Mill River Park. Between now and then I'll be working on cargo bike glitches. Thanks for reading and thanks for riding. |
1. Research breed(s) : Read books, articles, etc., go visit dog shows, AKC club meetings and owners. Good places to look are AKC.org, GDAC.org and conformation shows to meet
owners / breeders. Consider what temperament you are looking for in a dog, grooming and care requirements (also ensure that you will be able to properly maintain the required grooming, care, etc.), breed related health risks, exercise needs, size, etc. and
how all this will fit into your lifestyle. Consider the commitment and if you are ready to invest the time and money to a new family member for the next 10 + years.
what specific interests and requirements you desire : Are you looking for a pet companion or do you want show in conformation or do performance sports?
3. Do your research
on breeders, find one whose morals, ethics and values align with yours : When you research a breeder, ensure that you do so via reading about them, contact puppy previous puppy owners (if you can), see reviews if available, testimonials, contact them,
speak to them over the phone and in person (if possible). ***see note about proper etiquette at the bottom of the page before inquiring*** There are three main types of breeders you should know about and will encounter in your research :
- Puppy Mills – this is a commercial dog breeding facility, specifically meant to pump out as many dogs as possible with no regard to health of the parents
or puppies. They breed dogs for profit alone. We associate this practice with filthy inhuman conditions which is what a lot of puppy mills are, but you also may not realize that many “clean” and “well-kept” kennel facilities that are
actually puppy mills. When there are many dogs (most of the time multiple different breeds) and many litters at once. There is little to no commitment and limited knowledge from the “breeder” regarding the dogs they have produced. Depending on
the prices charged, these dogs can be VERY cheap or very expensive (most of the time this depends on gender, “rare” colors and if you want breeding rights or not). The risks associated with these practices if the future heartbreak for you and your
family (behavioral & health conditions along with early death or structure breakdown) and breaking your bank (vet bills, diagnostics, multiple surgeries, etc.). I do not support this practice and try to help people steer clear of these types of operations.
Most of the time puppy mills will sell to pet stores and brokers.
- Backyard Breeders or BYB – this is not a literal term that they breed or raise dogs in the
backyard, but rather that they breed their dogs with little to no knowledge about the dogs they are breeding, including pedigree, issues in the lines, etc. and have no direction for their breeding program aside from just breeding dogs. Most of the time the
dogs being bred are “pets” bred together producing more “pets” for “fun” and money alone, they are practicing “backyard breeding”. Granted many of the backyard breeders are well intentioned, the risk for the
future heart break and money spent are very likely because they are breeding blindly, without knowledge of the pedigrees, health, longevity, genetics, etc.
- Reputable Breeders
– these types of breeders are unbelievably dedicated and committed to the betterment of the breed, for each puppy they produce and to each puppy family. They use the breed’s written standard as a “blueprint” for what they want
to produce. They are knowledgeable and willing to share all the information they have with you. They are involved in conformation (and possibly other working activities) because this is where they learn more and have their dog’s structure and temperament
“judged” for possible future breeding. Their dogs are fully health tested with all the testing recommended by their breed parent club and are of appropriate age and condition to be bred. They carefully and meticulously interview prospective puppy
families and a minimum of a two-year health / genetic guarantee is provided along with a contract of the expectations the breeder has of the puppy family (i.e.: spay / neuter requirements, limited registration for pet homes, etc.). These dogs may cost more
(usually reputable breeders pricing is similar to a backyard breeders or even less because a reputable breeder doesn’t charge differently for the “rare” colors) because the breeder has invested so much into producing a quality dog with quality
and longevity in the bloodlines, is very dedicated to their wellbeing in the first critical 8 + weeks and they follow up with their puppies for the life of the dog.
Some questions to consider and ask breeders:
- What is the overall goal of the breeder's program? Do they have a goal for their program?
- Are they knowledgeable and thorough about their bloodlines? Have they done all the research necessary? Do they know the issues in the bloodlines?
- What is their experience in raising/breeding dogs and in the breed?
- Are they active in show/working venues?
- Do they fully health test their dogs prior to breeding? Do they provide you with all documentation and links to show that they have completed these tests?
- Are the
dogs being bred at appropriate age and condition to be bred? Are the dogs being bred before two years of age? Do they have an excuse as to why the dogs was bred before two years of age?
- What environment are the dogs and puppies raised in? What temperament testing and socialization is done? What types of socialization do they use for their puppy raising? Do they do early neurological stimulation on their puppies? **The first 8 weeks
of a puppy’s life are critical for proper socialization and positive experiences acclimating to the BIG world. This include walking on new surfaces, playing with not only their litter mates but also their mother and other dogs in the household, outside
time, attention & interactions from their breeder and trusted friends / family, new toys, etc. Getting this type of stimulation early on will produce well-adjusted puppies that are outgoing and happy, rather than a puppy who hasn’t received any of
these experiences will likely be very scared, nervous, hesitant and will likely never grown out of it***
- Do they breed carefully thought out selective litters or do they have puppies
all the time? How many times do they breed their females? Are they breeding their dogs every heat cycle? At what age do they retire their breeding stock?
- Read over and ask any questions
you have about the contract.
- Do they provide you with instruction and commitment to answer your questions and help you along once you get your puppy? Do they care to receive future
- Overall do you get a good, trustworthy impression? Are they professional?
- If you are unsure,
is the breeder happy to provide references for you to contact? Did they have an issue providing references?
- Does the breeder thoroughly interview you or are they more focused on a
- When you talk about price, are they upfront with you? Do they get offended if you ask about pricing first? (I prefer
potential puppy owners to ask about price as I would hate to have an entire puppy interview only to find out that my puppies are outside of their price range.)
- Do they arrange
for the ears to be cropped by an ethical and skilled veterinarian? Will they stay involved with aftercare and expertise for posting the ears? Vaccines/deworming? *** Ear cropping should be offered and arranged with the breeder to be done by a veterinarian
thet they trust. If the breeder doesn’t offer this service, they are essentially saying they don’t care how it is done or what the end result looks like. For a crop to be successful, ears should be done between 7 and 9 weeks of age, any later then
12 weeks of age is risky as the ears will be less likely to stand and / or need to have a shorter crop done.***
Many breeders who are reputable and successful are in no hurry to place their puppies in the first home available. This means that they will be VERY selective and particular where they place their puppies. This also means
that you cannot be demanding and are in no position to negotiate with them. Placement of a puppy comes down to timing of each litter, aligning with the best matched owner for each puppy.
- Price - If price is the first concern and/or first question, I usually don't mind as I would prefer for someone to know what price range, they are looking for rather than waste a ton of my time with the entire application process
to find out my puppies are put of their price range. And don't ever ask a breeder if they will come down or negotiate with you on price. This is the adoption of my precious baby to your family - not a sales transaction and I want to ensure that I am finding
my puppies their forever homes. There are plenty of reputable rescues with great dane’s needing homes that will adopt a dog to you for a lesser price then a puppy (usually).
- Please don't have your receptionist call me about a puppy. Yes, that has happened. Try to arrange a time when your available and not around distractions. Choose a time when you will be fully available to have a quality discussion. Crude language is not appreciated
either. Treat it like a job interview almost, have some information and questions prepared.
- Track Record – I will ask you about your current and previous pets.
What your household consists of, your lifestyle, etc. If you have been irresponsible in the past with your pets (lack of prompt veterinary care, lack of proper training, breeding mixed breeds or “accidental” litters, etc.) then it is unlikely that
I would be able to trust you with one of my babies. BUT people learn from their mistakes so the best thing to do is be 100% honest and upfront from the beginning. If you just aren’t a good fit with the breeder’s expectations, understand that they
can deny you a puppy, this doesn’t mean that you are a bad pet owner this just simply means that the breeder has high expectations. Many of the questions I will ask on the phone are similar to the ones I require answered on my puppy application.
I do require that a puppy application be submitted before we talk.
Besides the obvious from the above questions here are some RED FLAGS on breeders:
Giant / Supersized / “Euro”
vs “American” : There is a breed standard for a reason, it is a risk and unethical to breed for overdone or underdone dane’s. If you insist on an extremely small or large version, consider looking in rescues but be prepared
for health and physical conditions or consider another breed that better suites your desired look.
Rare Colors / New Colors : Note
there are 7 acceptable colors for Great Danes : black (black with white and solid black), blue, fawn, brindle, merle (merle and merle mantle variety), harlequin and mantle. No breeder's lines are "perfect" especially in dilute varieties, but some have better
reputation. And dilute variety is NOT RARE and should never cost more.
“Health Certified” : If you see a statement like
"health certified" and nothing else, it is a red flag. Verify that the specific tests were done, and not just an overall veterinary checkup. (See the EDUCATION tab for more information)
Breeding for pets only : A reputable breeder breeds for the betterment of the breed. They breed according to the standard and for health, longevity and temperament. They will also be proving their dogs
deserve to have their genetics passed on. Showing and competing is costly and requires a lot of time from the breeder. In every litter there will be puppies that are not to standard enough for showing in conformation and they will be placed in a pet home with
limited registration. Breeding only for pets shows they have no interest in improving the breed. If a breeder is only breeding for pets, this does not excuse them of needing to do health tests and titling.
Always has puppies available : Quantity over quality.
Multiple Breeds and / or too many dogs
to handle / maintain : Breeding requires so much knowledge and commitment from a reputable breeder, it would be almost impossible for a breeder to be able to do all the proper research necessary to breed multiple different breeds responsibly.
Some breeders prefer to specialize in a single breed, but it is very reasonable for a breeder to do very well in a couple of different breeds. Breeding several breeds is generally a huge red flag and could mean the breeder is acting as a puppy broker (reselling
dogs for profit) or a puppy mill.
Guarantees : No dog can be guaranteed against everything, but reputable breeders will stand by their
dogs and be there for any issues you may encounter while raising your dog. Many breeders will include a guarantee when they place their puppy in a home – this does not mean that the dog will never contract any of the issues the guarantee covers, if it
is in the guarantee this means that it is always a possibility. What the guarantee means is peace of mind and commitment from the breeder that IF the dog does develop any of the listed issues, the breeder will compensate or assist as the contract states.
Absence of detail or interest in their dogs / breeding program / questions asked.
Lack of pre-screening of potential puppy owners. This shows that they truly don’t care about their puppies / dogs.
No pedigree knowledge : This is a simple test that can show you a lot about the breeder and where their heart truly is. Ask them about their bloodlines, are there any issues, ask about the pedigree,
etc. They should be able to tell you many things about the dogs in the pedigree.
Website : This one is more of an opinion and can be
taken with a grain of salt, but practically everything is done online now a days. A breeder should WANT to show off their dogs and share all the information they have acquired over the years. They should be aiming to educate and advocate for the breed. Remember
some breeders are tech savvy therefore don’t have a website. But this could also reflect their program goals / desires or lack of. You will have to decide for yourself whether this is important to you or not.
4. In the end, select a breeder you feel good about and maintain contact : After careful consideration to the questions above and more, go with what you feel comfortable with. Fill
out the necessary paperwork and pay your deposit when the puppy/litter that suits you is available. While you are waiting for your puppy, follow the steps in our PUPPY PROCESS to ensure you are prepared for your new family member.
5. Enjoy your puppy and follow up with your breeder : Don't forget to thank and update the breeder! Raising puppies is hard work involving many sleepless nights and lots of puppy poo-poo. The real reward is hearing and seeing
how successful and loved the offspring are in their placements. Also keep in mind that puppy phase can be challenging for the new owner, but just enjoy and love your pup and with proper training they will mature into a reliable adult in proper time. |
The Last Temptation of Travis Bickle
Today, Martin Scorsese is considered by the majority of film critics as the greatest living American director. In a survey done in the early nineties, Raging Bull was elected as the best American film of the eighties. But it wasn’t always so. In the seventies, his films had a tendency to upset as much as to be acclaimed. He was mainly criticized for his use of extreme violence, his portrayal of disturbingly unsympathetic and unredeemable characters and his morbid fascination with failure as a dramatic drive. Taxi Driver became the emblem of this negative criticism.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, the film celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year and remains as powerful and disturbing as ever, particularly in regard to the ambiguous ending in which psychopath taxi driver Travis Bickle survives his killing rampage. The years have elevated it to the status of an American classic. Countless hommages and tributes have been made to Taxi Driver in such recent films as Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs , Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting . There is even a film whose title Are You Talkin’ to Me? is a line taken from Bickle’s famous monologue.
After twenty years, one would think that everything has been said about Taxi Driver . But what if there existed a new approach to the film, especially a new way to interpret the enigmatic ending that still puzzles many viewers? What if this new reading could radically change our perception of other Scorsese films? What if a continuous linkage could be thus created from Taxi Driver through The King of Comedy, After Hours, Goodfellas , all the way to the more recent Casino ? And what if the main clue bringing together all these films could be found in The Last Temptation of Christ ? This is the subject and goal of this analysis of the second ending of Taxi Driver.
A fascinating triangle
I didn’t know that the characters we created in our films were existential heroes; I never studied philosophy. But I always believed in their emotions.
- Martin Scorsese 1
The most recent opus of italianamerican director Martin Scorsese, Casino opens as Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ end : with a kaleidoscopic display of colors equally reminiscent of heaven and hell. The pre-credit scene shows Las Vegas’ Tangiers director Sam Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) getting into his car, turning the key and being blown through the roof by a powerful explosion. As J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion bursts on the soundtrack, Ace’s burnt corpse whirls on the screen in slow motion amid an abstract mosaic of flames, colors and lights. The opening credits start over this show of light designed by the late Saul Bass, who created some of the most amazing title sequences, including Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Psycho as well as Scorsese’s Goodfellas , Cape Fear and The Age of Innocence.
At the end of The Last Temptation of Christ , at the exact moment when a shouting Jesus (Willem Dafoe) dies on the cross shouting It is accomplished!, we see on the screen the equivalent of a film run-out, as if the film had been exposed to light. 2 The closing credits burn into the resulting prism of incandescent colors while the passionate rhythm of Peter Gabriel’s music drums on the soundtrack. Taxi Driver concludes with Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in his cab driving off into the New York night. As he adjusts the rearview mirror a strident sound is heard. The camera frames only the windshield and the mirror showing Travis’ eyes. As he adjusts the mirror, Travis disappears and we see only the street lights. The closing credits appear on these blurred images of night colors while the oppressing notes of Bernard Herrmann’s score rumbles on.
This strange parallel between these three films creates a fascinating triangle of narrative possibilities. Although Jesus dies on the cross (waiting for the resurrection three days later, it is true…), Travis seems to survive after the terrifying and unforgettable shoot-out at the climax of Taxi Driver . Ace also survives, it seems, the opening car explosion scene, since Scorsese reorganizes the scene at the end of Casino and shows us Rothstein getting out miraculously unhurt by the flames. The viewer is thus forced to alter their initial perception of Ace’s demise at the end of the film. Rather than death, Ace is condemned to a boring and uneventful life.
The attentive viewer will no doubt be assailed by the following question: do Ace and Travis really survive their ordeals? Since the parallel includes The Last Temptation of Christ , wouldn’t Ace and Travis, like Jesus, experience a last temptation before dying? Wouldn’t all three have fantasized about dreamt destinies? If that’s the case, how could these three films apparently so different in subject matter, style and form be so intricately linked? Does this link, or rather this new hypothesis affect the reading of Scorsese’s other films?
Travis gets a job
I think the ending is thematically immaculate and poetically satisfying.
- Paul Schrader 3 , screenwriter of Taxi Driver
Before going more deeply into the analysis that will enlighten our view on Martin Scorsese’s oeuvre, let us recall first the events leading to Taxi Driver ‘s finale. The film opens with Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle getting a job as a cab driver in New York. Unable to sleep, he works nights in the worst places of the city. During the day, he watches television, goes to porno flicks and admires from afar Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a beautiful blond woman whom he calls his angel. Betsy works for the presidential campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. One day, Travis finally approaches her and she accepts his offer to go out, only to be repulsed and disgusted after taking her to a porno film. Betsy rejects Travis.
Travis’ nocturnal work exposes him to all of New York’s urban plagues: prostitution, juvenile delinquency, poverty, vagrancy, racism, crime, violence. Although he’s appalled by what he sees, he continues to roam the vile streets. One night a passenger, played by Martin Scorsese himself, graphically describes to Travis his plan to kill his wife and her lover with a .44 Magnum pistol. This disturbing moment pushes Travis to arm himself to the teeth as if he were planning his own urban war. Travis wants to clean up the city but doesn’t really know where to begin. He starts off by killing a young black man during an attempted hold-up. He finds his calling when twelve year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) crosses his path. He wants to save this little fallen angel and get her out of her private hell, but she refuses his help. Iris rejects Travis.
Troubled by this double rejection, repulsed by the decay that surrounds him and alienated because of his self-imposed isolation, Travis finally finds a release for his frustrations. He attempts the assassination of Senator Palantine, whom he sees as a paternal figure for Betsy. After the failed assassination attempt, he redirects his anger and goes on to kill Sport the pimp (Harvey Keitel) and his entourage in what he envisions as a chance to free Iris from her degenerate milieu. After the rampage is over Travis, with bullet wounds in the neck and right shoulder, ends up in Iris’ room. He tries to kill himself but is spared by his empty gun barrel. He slumbers on a couch, sitting quietly. As the policemen arrive on the scene, he points his blood-drenched left index finger to his temple and mimes three shots: Pgghew… Pgghew… Pgghew… Travis rejects Travis.
This is where the ending takes a different and decisive turn. Looking straight down from the ceiling, the camera contemplates Travis from above and starts moving back into the hall. A series of dissolves shows the aftermath of the shooting (blood on the walls, guns dropped on the floor, Sport’s dead body backed up against a door). The camera recedes back from the entrance of the building, showing the growing number of photographers, journalists, police cars, ambulance men and the neighboring crowd. The scene cuts to Travis’ apartment. Newspaper clippings are posted on the wall revealing that Travis has survived from his wounds and is now considered a hero for having killed a New York mafioso and rescuing a teenager. We hear the voice-over of Iris’s father reading a letter in which he congratulates Travis for having saved his little girl. One of the clippings shows Iris’ parents sitting in their living room. Shortly, we find ourselves back outside the Belmore Cafeteria where we find Travis talking with his fellow cabdrivers. A scar is visible on the side of his neck. A fare gets into his cab and he drives off. It is Betsy. They talk about his ordeal at the hospital and Senator Palantine’s chances at the upcoming presidential elections. With the fare waved, Betsy exits the cab onto the sidewalk. The camera pans from the taxi’s rear window to the front windshield, with Travis quickly adjusting the angle of the mirror…a strident sound heard on the soundtrack. At this point his face disappears from the mirror, leaving a view through the windshield of the mirror in center frame; the credits start.
Travis becomes a hero
The irony of him becoming the hero is in the script.
- Paul Schrader 4
According to conventional wisdom, the ending of Taxi Driver presents a curious irony that makes it almost immoral. In spite of his strange behavior towards Betsy, his killing a black man, attempted murder of Palantine, and the insane blood bath at the pimp’s hangout, the psychopathic Travis Bickle is still a hero, acclaimed by the press, revered by Iris’ parents and cleared of all charges by the authorities. As Scorsese proclaims:” strange things, as we know, have happened in this city.” 5 On the other hand, Scorsese still hints at Travis’ instability by the intriguing looks he directs at Betsy and, most of all, by the strident sound heard while he adjusts his rearview mirror- the sting of a xylophone played in reverse. “I decided I’d put something on that shows that the timer in Travis starts to tick again, the bomb that’s about to explode again,” explains Scorsese. 6
This ironic twist was not necessarily perceived by all the critics who reviewed the film at the time or since. Critics had the general inclination to reject the film because they were unable (or unwilling) to understand the implications of this ending. Most reviewers of the period condemned Scorsese for the “immoral” outcome of what they referred to as the second ending of Taxi Driver.
In Newsweek (76-03-01), Jack Kroll expresses this feeling by writing : “(…) in their eagerness to establish rich and moral ambiguities, the Catholic Scorsese and the Calvinist Schrader have flubbed their ending. It’s meant to slay you with irony, but it’s simply incredible.” Charles Michener agrees in Film Comment (March-April 1976): “(…) once the exhilaration of the nightmare is over – once Travis wakes up – Taxi Driver takes a drastically wrong turn. Travis emerges a hero with his face in the front page of the Daily News, his rage exorcised, his violence purged.” “Most crippling is the ending,” adds Richard Combs of the Monthly Film Bulletin (September 1976), “in which the macho movie clichŽ of the heroine who returns to the hero once his capacity for purgative violence has been revealed is crossed with the film’s vaguest gesture of empathy with Travis.” Even on the other side of the Atlantic they question this improbable happy ending. L’Express (76-05-24) expresses this general opinion by saying:” Only the ending of this otherwise wonderfully directed film destroys the implacable logic of the story. The story of a solitude.”
In taking literally the events described in the last sequence, these reviewers assume that the film adopts a traditional happy ending. But such a narrow-minded perception does not take into account Scorsese’s elaborate staging of Travis’ character flaws and questionable behavior. Therefore, the positive reviews of the film were more subtle in their appreciations and saw in the ending a political or social metaphor. Pauline Kael is one of the first serious critics to take Scorsese’s side in the debate. She wrote in the New Yorker (76-02-09) :
“This film doesn’t operate on the level of moral judgment of what Travis does. Rather, by drawing us into his vortex it makes us understand the psychic discharge of the quiet boys who go berserk. And it’s a real slap in the face for us when we see Travis at the end looking pacified. He’s got the rage out of his system Ñ for the moment at least Ñ and he’s back at work, picking up passengers in front of St-Regis. It’s not that he’s cured but that the city is crazier than he is.”
This sociological reading is supported by Michael Henry in France’s Positif (July-August 1976) :
“Never has society showed so much attention to Travis. Having shaved his head like a Mohawk Indian as if to rekindle the purity of America’s aboriginal origins, he finds himself recognized, renowned and in the end assimilated to his contemporaries of the silent majority.”
We see that although these two critics acknowledge the irony of Taxi Driver they still read the ending literally, since they accept Travis’ fate.
One can understand him, but not tolerate him.
- Paul Schrader 3
Something is definitely wrong with this literal acceptance of the ending. It doesn’t fit into the visual motif established at the opening of the film and it is not coherent with the rest of the narrative. This far-fetched ending could possibly be tolerated coming from a hired hand forced to submit to Hollywood’s commercial imperatives, but it surely doesn’t apply to a director renowned for his exemplary cohesion. This means that we must reread the ending according to the cinematic style consistent throughout the film.
With the opening shots of Taxi Driver , Martin Scorsese already prepares the audience for a transcendental experience. As the first bars of Bernard Herrmann’s haunting score begin, a yellow taxi cab materializes through the fumes rising from a manhole… like a beast from hell. Then we see Travis’ eyes moving in slow motion through fluctuating light. Cut to Travis’ view through the windshield: in slow motion we see rain, hazy shapes, undefined lines traced by light in the glass and the image doubled. We have already adopted Travis’ point of view even though we cannot know it is him since we only see a close-up of his eyes. We immediately share in a fragmented perception of the existing reality. These are the first signs of the character’s schizophrenia. The music becomes more and more threatening as we see Travis from behind coming out of a thick fog and entering an office. He turns around and faces the personnel manager with a confused look on his face. Welcome to Travis’ lunatic world.
Scorsese maintains this visual cohesion throughout, taking us deeper and deeper into Travis’ tortured psyche. His schizophrenia is precisely defined in the first taxi night. The sequence starts off with exterior close-up shots of the cab: part of the left front wheel with the bumper jutting out, antenna hole on the hood, side mirror on the passenger front door. Then interior shots: back view through the rear window, right side view from the door’s window as Travis’ voice-over is first heard. Cut to Travis’ back, profile, and face. The next shot looks like Travis’ point of view, but the camera is too close to the ground. In fact, it is the taxi’s point of view.
This description emphasizes how in Taxi Driver the two nouns of the title are actually synonymous : the cabbie and the cab fuse together. The taxi car becomes the embodiment of Travis’ schizophrenia. It protects and isolates him from the outside world which he loathes and rejects. Travis compares New York to an open sewer. He wishes that a flood would wash away the filth. He compares Betsy to an angel. He sees himself as God’s lonely man. All the flowers he sends to Betsy for forgiveness are returned untouched and embalm his apartment like a funeral home. All these religious allusions reinforce his torment. In his deceptive nocturnal outings, he seeks without ever reaching a form of obsessive redemption, maybe to exorcise his war experiences in Vietnam.
In his first voice-over, he states: “I don’t believe that someone should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe someone should become a person like other people.” He may not believe it but that’s exactly what he does. Travis devotes himself to his own isolation. He admits to hating New York at night, but that’s when he works and in the worst parts of the city. Travis inflicts constant mental torture on himself. He crosses swords with sin and temptation, not unlike the tormented Jesus of Kazantzakis’ book, The Last Temptation . Scorsese directs the scene of Travis going to the porno theater in the same way he will later direct the scene in The Last Temptation of Christ where Jesus watches men fornicating with Mary Magdalene. She is of course the prostitute, the sinful woman, the fallen angel, very much like Iris in Taxi Driver. Should we be surprised to discover a parallel between these two female characters? When Travis enters the building where Iris “works”, bells are ringing and a siren is heard, hailing the transgression of a taboo. When Travis follows Iris into her room, the parallel with a similar scene where Jesus comes to Magdalene is even more obvious: same beaded curtains, same candlelight, same hesitation before entering. It is a true sanctuary, as if a sacrifice were about to take place at the altar.
One of the most disturbing moments of Taxi Driver occurs when Travis takes Betsy to see the porno film. He tries to drag her into his schizophrenic vision of the world. He wishes she would approve of his behavior. But contrary to John the Baptist who accepts the transcendental nature of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ , Betsy refuses to have anything to do with Travis. The incredible naïveté of Travis’ actions upset the audience and makes him appear pathetic. Scorsese forces our identification with Travis through the use of point of view, but he entertains at the same time a sudden distancing process created by the juxtaposition of diverging views on the character (Betsy’s, Iris’, Wizard’s) or by other means: slow motion, jump cuts, elliptical editing, dissolves within the same shot, counterpoint music. Our discomfort arises as much from Travis’ pathology as from the stylized form of Scorsese’s direction. Rarely do we see in films the form fusing so perfectly with the character’s state of mind.
For example, Scorsese betrays the rule of point of view three times. Travis moves his hand in three overhead shots: when he takes the employment forms in the opening sequence, when he pays the candy girl at the porno theater and when he sweeps across Betsy’s desk in a circular movement. Each time Scorsese frames these shots with an angle slightly off, out of Travis’ point of view. It’s as if the camera was hovering beside Travis, or as if Travis was beside himself or his perceptive vision was outside of his body. We could say that the camera becomes in these three shots the schizophrenic vision of Travis, a phenomenon we could call displaced subjectivity.
The shot that best embodies this vision is the one showing a glass of water into which Travis drops an Alka-Seltzer while lunching with his buddies at a diner. He gazes hypnotically into the bubbling water. From his point of view, we see the bubbles as the camera zooms in. The sound of the effervescent water becomes more intense while all other sounds disappear. Travis has effectively cut himself from the outside. He is completely immersed in his own bubble.
This vision is also fed by the strange relationships Travis entertains with many characters in the film, starting with Senator Palantine. When the candidate happens to take Travis’ cab, the two men strike a conversation. Palantine tells him that “some radical changes” are needed and that he thinks he understands what Travis means by his remarks on New York. In the days that follows, Travis still listens to the Senator. He seems to think that Palantine addresses him directly. The campaign slogan is, “We are the people”, with the emphasis on the We, as stressed from the beginning by Albert Brooks’ character. Travis covers his walls with the slogan. Later on television, Palantine proclaims: “the people are rising to the demands that I have laid out. The people are beginning to rule.” Later still, Travis hears Palantine preaching to the crowd:
“Walt Whitman the great american poet spoke for all of us when he said: I am the man, I suffered, I was there”. Today I say to you : We are the people, we suffered, we were there. We the people suffered in Vietnam. We the people suffered and we still suffer from unemployment, inflation, crime and corruption. (…) I say to you : no more will we suffer. No more will we fight a war of the few to the arm of the many».
Travis sets forth upon a crusade to beat this admonition. He takes on the Senator’s plea by becoming a one-man arsenal, by first trying to become a CIA agent and finally by thinking that he actually became one . In the birthday card he sends to his parents (do those parents really exist?), he writes: “the sensitive nature of my work for the government demands utmost secrecy.” He even writes that he has a girlfriend named Betsy but that he cannot say more. He will later tell Iris that he works for the government and that he will have to go away for a while. Travis rearranges the facts in his head, a typical trait of a schizoid mind. In planning to kill Senator Palantine, he wants to sacrifice him to the cause and make him a martyr. Scorsese confirms this idea by framing Palantine with his hands raised like the statue behind him at Columbus Circle, reminding us of Christ on the cross, the Saint of Martyr’s. It is an image Scorsese will often reprise in his films.
Furthermore, Travis follows the advice of one of his passengers (the one played by Scorsese). This man asks Travis if he knows what a .44 Magnum can do. The first weapon Travis will purchase is a .44. There is also the bizarre speech delivered by Wizard (Peter Boyle), the only cabbie Travis respects. One night Travis approaches Wizard with his troubled thoughts and irrational urges. It is a dramatic cry of despair that Wizard cannot possibly grasp, so he mumbles this sermon: “A man takes a job, you know. That job, that becomes what he is. You do a thing and that’s what you are. (…) You get a job, you become that job.” Though Travis may not have understand at the time, by the end he embraces this twisted philosophy.
But above all, Travis listens to himself. He talks to himself. He talks to us. He talks to his mirror. In the most famous scene of Taxi Driver , Travis looks at himself in the mirror asking: “Are you talking to me?” But is that what’s happening? If we analyze the scene more closely, we find that it is not so. Travis wears the sliding pistol on his right arm, but when he delivers the speech, the pistol is on his left arm . Therefore, it’s Travis’ reflection that we are watching, it’s his reflection which is asking him, and asking us :
“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell are you talkin’ to? You’re talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talkin’ to? Oh yeah? Huh. OK.”
It is the mirror which speaks to us and Travis. Travis’ schizophrenic vision is displaced onto the mirror, detached from himself. The effect being the accomplishment of his mental dissociation. When he writes moments later in his diary, “Here is…,” his schizoid other (the reflection in the mirror) can proudly announce: “You’re dead!” 8
From then on, the events move along quickly. Travis has breakfast with Iris, hoping to get her out of Sport’s grasp. When she refuses, he decides to kill Palantine. But before leaving his apartment, which is covered wall to wall with Palantine’s posters and campain slogans, a gag sticker Travis is fond of (“One of these days, I’m gonna get ORGANIZ-IZED”), Manhattan road maps, and unidentified newspaper clippings, Travis wraps money into a piece of paper on which he writes :
Dear IRIS, THIS MONEY SHould Be ENOUGH FOR YOUR TRIP. BY THE TIME you read THIS I will be Dead. TRAVIS
The fact that capital letters appear randomly in a message written mainly in small print is another indication of the schizoid nature of Travis. He’s actually planning his own death. He sees himself already dead.
The revelations of The Last Temptation of Christ
I don’t think there is any difference between fantasy and reality in the way these should be approached in film.”
- Martin Scorsese 9
Here we come again to the end of Taxi Driver . Those last sequences can be best understood if compared to the discourse defined by Scorsese in 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ , a film the director took sixteen years to make. His interest arose while shooting Boxcar Bertha in 1972 when its star, Barbara Hershey, gave him a copy of the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation , and said: “if you ever make the film, I want to play Mary Magdalene.” She couldn’t anticipate that Scorsese would keep his word after all these years.
The revelation of this book was to become a milestone in Scorsese’s career. Raised as a Roman Catholic in New York’s Little Italy, the director has been fascinated by the Passion, especially by the crucifixion of Christ. As a teenager, he already saw himself as a future filmmaker and storyboarded his own version of the Life of Christ. His first features already establish the theme of Catholic guilt associated with sins and the redemption of those sins by the character’s own sacrifice, often taking the visual motif of the crucifixion. Even as early as 1967, with his N.Y.U. short The Big Shave or : Viet ’67 we could see the kernel of his future style and concerns. We see a young man looking at himself in the mirror of an immaculately clean bathroom while repetitiously shaving until his face is covered with blood. Every aspect of Scorsese’s univers is here : elliptical and nervous editing, contrapuntal use of pre-existing music, sacrifice of the main character, redemption by bloody violence and, lastly, surreal and fantastic atmosphere of the whole (the young man seems to survive his ordeal…).
In Who’s That Knocking at My Door? (1969) and Mean Streets (1973), Harvey Keitel plays similar characters showing the same guilt-ridden behavior. Both films contain a scene in which Keitel is laying naked on a bed, arms stretched, hands gripping the bedposts, mimicking the position of Christ on the cross. Both films feature religious images at their outset. In Knocking, a church candle and a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus are seen on a chest of drawers; a woman (Catherine Scorsese) hands out pieces of bread to the children around the table. After the opening credits of Mean Streets , we witness the Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan’s Little Italy. But most telling are two scenes where Keitel’s characters go to church to confess and pray. Scorsese insists in both cases on the iconography of the Passion and the Crucifixion, on the suffering and the bleeding wounds inflicted on Jesus. In Knocking , Keitel gazes at the statues, kisses the blessed feet, cuts himself on the lip and starts to bleed. In Mean Streets , made after Scorsese read The Last Temptation , Keitel looks once again upon those icons but this time he puts a finger over the flame of a candle, burning himself while discussing in voice-over the difference between physical and spiritual pain. “The worst of the two is the spiritual,” he concludes.
It is not surprising to find that the first graphic depiction of the crucifixion in a Scorsese picture coincides with his first reading of Kazantzakis’ novel. In Boxcar Bertha , David Carradine’s character is nailed by the hands on a train car and bleeds to death. The train starts rolling and Bertha runs after him crying at his feet, anticipating an identical scene Barbara Hershey will play in The Last Temptation of Christ . Although the motif of the Passion has always played an important role in the early work of Scorsese, the novel would give him a more cohesive vision to organize his stylistic and thematic concerns.
In the novel as well as in Scorsese’s film, Jesus is tormented by the temptation of the flesh, much like Keitel’s characters in Knocking and Mean Streets . The battle between the physical and the spiritual rages on in Jesus, on a moral level : the outcome of this battle will dictate if he deserves to become the Resurrected Christ. On the psychological level, this duality between the divine and the human could be assimilated to a schizophrenic split, in which the visions of Jesus alter his perception of reality. Ravaged by self doubts and confusion, the Jesus conceived by Kazantzakis comes to defy God by making crosses for the Romans. He seeks to push aside his divine self linked to the schizoid visions. In the film, an example of a vision can be demonstrated by the scene where Jesus (Willem Dafoe) goes into the river to meet John the Baptist (Andre Gregory). As he proceeds, all the surrounding sounds (primitive music, lamentations, chants, John’s preaching voice) disappear, except for the sound of running water, the symbol of life and baptism. Alerted by his presence, John turns around and baptizes him. Precisely when the water hits Jesus, the sounds come back. Thus, the reality of the physical world has been modified by his divine presence.
When on the cross after the crucifixion, Jesus almost wins the battle but Satan comes to tempt him one last time. Disguised as a little girl, he looks like an angel to the tortured victim. This angel offers him the normal life of an ordinary man, married with wife and children and no worries until he dies. But Jesus doubts until the very end when he finally rejects this common destiny to accept completely his fate as a Messiah, actually becoming a hero by dying on the cross. The Christ is victorious : the spiritual wins over the physical. The schizophrenic dissociation is accomplished.
Scorsese surely recognized the sublime originality of The Last Temptation since he didn’t alter the initial concept. Thus, The Last Temptation of Christ is the only film adapting the life of Christ wherein Jesus is not resurrected . He dies on the cross at the end of the film. 10 The personal beliefs of the viewer dictate whether Christ resuscitates or not after the fact. If one is Christian and a believer, then according to his faith Jesus lives on. Atheists or followers of other religious belief systems might take this ending at face value, with Jesus dying. The Last Temptation of Christ is therefore a true profession of faith. With this conclusion Scorsese forces the viewer to pass both a moral and a spiritual judgment on the film’s final meaning, whether it is acceptance or rejection. No biblical film has ever been so generous towards its audience, so respectful of their beliefs and of their social and cultural background.
The same generosity and respect are found in the ending of Taxi Driver. To demonstrate this, let’s put together all the pieces of the final sequence and let’s analyze them in the light of the teachings given to us by The Last Temptation of Christ.
Travis and the purgatory
The whole film takes place inside that man’s [Travis’] head; that’s why it’s not a realistic movie.
- Paul Schrader 11
Travis lay slumped on the couch in Iris’ room, one bullet in the neck and one in the right shoulder, though he may have been shot elsewhere by Sport or the gangster who came out of Iris’ room. In any case, Travis looks like the young man at the end of The Big Shave . He also looks like Jesus Christ on the cross. Travis does not want to live anymore. He puts his left index finger on his temple and mimes three shots : Pgghew… Pgghew… Pgghew…
From then on, we step back into Travis’ mental dissociation. We have crossed over to the other side of the looking glass. We see Travis in an extreme overhead shot laying immobile with his head resting on the couch. Travis has left his physical body and is looking at himself dying . We have adopted the point of view of his schizophrenic vision, his spiritual self or astral body engaged in a kind of transcendental voyage. As if in a purgatory, he witnesses the consequences of his actions: blood dripping everywhere, three dead bodies, Iris his fallen angel crying and desperate. Still moving outward, he leaves the scene of the crime.
What follows is Travis’ schizoid fantasy. He moves through his old room, left unchanged . The television set that Travis destroyed is seen anew (is it the same or a better model?). The paper clippings on the wall could very well be those we couldn’t make out earlier. A reviewer from the Canadian Forum (May 1976) made an interesting point: “The clippings, however, are cold type phonies without the typographical stamp of N.Y. dailies. Besides, such a story just would not be played in such a way.” It’s precisely the case here: those dailies wouldn’t, but Travis’ deranged alter ego certainly would. He sees himself becoming the traditional hero, the movie cliché decried by the press. Further proof can be found on the first article stuck to the wall; we notice two graphic sketches of the scene of the crime which reproduce exactly the same perspective as seen in the overhead shot!
Travis even fabricates the letter supposedly written by Mr. and Mrs. Steensma, Iris’ parents. 12 For the first time in the narrative, the first person voice-over motif has been broken by introducing a new voice: Mr. Steensma reading his letter posted on the wall. But this is a strange voice indeed. It reflects a lot of the mannerism, inflictions and speech pattern of Travis’ own voice when he reads the birthday card addressed to his own parents earlier in the film. Furthermore, the writing styles closely resemble one another. For example, Travis wrote: “I hope this card finds you all well as it does me,” a strange wording echoing this sentence in Mr. Steensma’s letter: <(…) we have taken steps to see she has never cause to run away again.> Even the typography of the birthday card, the note left for Iris and this letter is the same. 13 This letter even refers to Travis being in a coma, a coma he probably is in while Mr. Steensma reads on…
In as much as he considers himself the traditional hero, it is fitting that Travis should be acclaimed and congratulated by the police, the press, Iris’ parents, his collegues, even by Betsy. 14 But for film critic Jack Kroll of Newsweek (76-03-01), “it is simply incredible when Travis is hailed a hero after the slaughter, despite the fact he’d been armed like a weapons platoon and had previously been spotted, Mohawk haircut and all, by the Secret Services.” It doesn’t make sense if the ending is to be taken literally, but it does fit perfectly within Travis’ schizoid delirium in which he must be the hero.
For the fantasy to be completely satisfying, Travis must again meet his Muse, his angel Betsy. She appears hence as a vision amongst the lights in the cab’s rearview mirror. En route, she seems to express regrets and sympathy towards Travis, as if she could have forgiven his weird behavior. When she gets off the cab, it seems as if she wants to ask him out. This attitude upsets everything we know of the character. Could she really forget and forgive that easily? For one, Travis forgives her. Flipping the taxi meter, he absolves her completely. Of what? Did she commit any sins? The “macho movie cliché of the heroine who returns to the hero” despised by Richard Combs in the Monthly Film Bulletin (September 1976) is fully integrated by Travis into his Hollywood fantasm. 15
For the entire duration of this sequence, starting with the overhead shot, one could assume that Travis is bleeding to death while in a state of delirium. So as the taxi cab leaves Betsy behind on the sidewalk and the camera pans inside the car to frame the rearview mirror, perhaps Travis is about to die. If this prologue is to be taken as a dreamt destiny, the delirium of a dying man, then Travis won’t make it. This thus explains the reverberation of the xylophone heard when Travis adjusts the mirror. This sound could be linked to the tone of an electrocardiograph’s warning signalling the stopping of the heart. This would explain why Travis has disappeared from the frame. We are left with his schizoid vision. Travis has finally achieved the penultimate goal dictated by Wizard’s twisted philosophy: he has become a taxi driver for eternity. In Freudian terms, his Id overpowered his Ego and destroyed his Alter Ego. In death, Travis has joined Jesus at the conclusion of The Last Temptation of Christ in a similar tunnel of light as described in near-death experiences. The spiritual has ultimately transcended the physical.
The last temptation of Travis
Never once did I feel that [the ending] was in any way questionable.
- Martin Scorsese 16
This new interpretation of Taxi Driver ‘s ending is deeply rooted in moral standards and ethics. It arises, of course, from the belief system of the viewer, but it also asserts the crucial importance of Roman Catholicism in Martin Scorsese’s work, as I have tried to demonstrate herein. Many religious concepts left their mark on him during his formative years, such as confession, redemption, sin, forgiveness, sacrifice, the Passion and the Crucifixion. Early in his career, many preconceived ideas on the life of Christ were put into perspective by the novel The Last Temptation in which he found a well defined structure to organize his thinking, while by the same token it tested his faith. Therefore, Taxi Driver ‘s ending cannot be fully understood unless it is enlightened by the knowledge put forward by Scorsese’s screen adaptation of Kazantzakis’ creation. The Last Temptation of Christ is Scorsese’s personal profession of faith around which all his films revolve. In truth, Scorsese is a very moral filmmaker, in spite of surface discrepancies. His genuine concern for violence, gangsters, moral and social decline and psychological pain never becomes gratuitous, because he seeks to jolt the audience and to test its capacity for forgiveness at the worst of times. And after all, those deficencies are part of society’s fabric. The visual and emotional impact of his films is designed to put to the test as much the altruism and the faith of the public as his own doubts.
Like most of Scorsese’s pictures, Taxi Driver deals with the main issue of Christianity: loving forgiveness. The film confronts the viewer with his/her own capacity for forgiveness, even towards the worst sinner. Both the fate of Travis (whether he dies or not) and the moral choice of the viewer (Travis deserves to die or not) offer a double combination, each one involving two different ends, in a kind of mathematical permutation. By his intricate use of film language, Scorsese illustrates Travis’ psychosis and puts forth several visual clues attesting to the ambiguous cure or survival of Travis. Scorsese thus has made his moral and ethical choice regarding Travis’ fate. The viewer must now make up his own.
- Four possible alternatives may determine Travis’ fate in the mind of both the public and the critic:
- 1.The viewer adheres to the literal ending (Travis lives) and forgives him, thus accepting his fate.
- 2.The viewer adheres to the literal ending but doesn’t forgive Travis, thus refusing his fate. There is a moral conflict in the viewer’s mind.
- 3.The viewer adheres to the schizoid ending (Travis dies) but he cannot forgive him, thus accepting his fate because Travis must be punished for he is not forgiven.
- 4.The viewer adheres to the schizoid ending and forgives Travis as well, thus rejecting his fate or being saddened by it.
Most of the film critics must have opted for the second alternative, which could explain their negative reaction to Taxi Driver . Their moral sense told them that Travis should have died to assume the consequence of his violent actions. They therefore found the ending unbelievable and unsatisfying. From a moral standpoint, the third and fourth alternatives are then the most satisfying, the fourth one proving the most deeply Christian: the punishment absolves the sinner, but since he was forgiven his death saddens. But it is in truth the first one which raises the most disturbing dilemma: can one forgive Travis’ behavior though he remained unpunished? Which of these four alternatives represents Martin Scorsese’s point of view? Did Scorsese forgive Travis? Being so driven by Catholic principles deeply rooted in his psychological makeup, could it be possible that unconsciously Scorsese let Travis die, as the previous demonstration tends to prove?
This hypothesis is fascinating, for it taps directly into the unconscious creative instincts of the auteur. More fascinating even is the fact that many of the film’s key moments, which happen to be necessary in supporting the death of Travis, do not appear in Paul Schrader’s original screenplay: the opening credits with the taxi cab coming out of the fumes up to Travis emerging from the fog as he enters the office; the crucial “Are you talking to me?” soliloquy and when Travis’ reflection in the mirror says “You’re dead!”; the sketches of the overhead shot on the paper clipping; the moment from when Travis adjusts the mirror and disappears up to the last image on the credits. All these are therefore the result of Scorsese’s input on the set and at the editing stage. Both Scorsese and Robert De Niro worked enormously in shaping the script into final form. But it is amazing that both Schrader and Scorsese always publicly promoted the literal ending in which Travis, if he is not really cured, lives on. If then, even for them, Travis survives, why are there all those clues pointing to the contrary?
The most miraculous aspect of the collective effort put in the film concerns the way the “Are you talking to me?” soliloquy was conceived. In Schrader’s screenplay, one reads only: “Travis stands in the middle of his apartment, staring at his Palantine wall. His eyes are glazed with introspection; he sees nothing but himself 17 But De Niro felt that he should say something, and Schrader told him: “Well, at this point in the film, you know the character better than me. If you feel like it, do it.” 16 And so he did. Scorsese decided to shoot it in front of the mirror and to frame only the mirror. The scene was then edited by Tom Wolfe, one of three editors supervised by Marcia Lucas. The turning point in the proof of Travis’ schizophrenic dissociation was therefore the resulting collaboration of many creative people. Should we deduce that Scorsese lost control over this crucial scene, that he was unaware of the fantastic impact of the ending, that the artistic outcome of his film was totally lost on him? One must not forget the obvious, that in the best circumstances, the person who decides what finally goes into a film or not is the director.
The disciples of Travis
All that anger, all the rage that was in the character that you hoped to work out for yourself in making the film stays with you ! Making the film helps, but it’s not enough.
- Martin Scorsese 19
There is certainly a part of the unconscious at work in making a film, as in all forms of artistic creation. However, following Taxi Driver , Scorsese continued to explore this ambiguous narrative trait in his work, offering both his characters and the public a last temptation. Being able to detect this recurring theme in subsequent films, from New York, New York to Casino , tends to prove that the thesis of Travis’ death is not an isolated occurence but rather an ongoing thematic motif underlying most of Scorsese’s oeuvre.
As early as New York, New York (1978) in its original release length of 164 minutes, we find hints of a second ending . This hommage to the Golden Age of the Hollywood Studio Era of the Forties concluded with a large musical number called “Happy Endings,” although the couple played by Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli ended up being driven apart from each other. In this case, the reality upstaged the fantasy.
This motif of the second ending becomes clearly defined in The King of Comedy (1983). 20 Far from the comedy announced by its misleading title, this audacious and ferocious psychological drama tells the story of Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), a failed stand-up comic without an ounce of talent who kidnaps the famous talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). Rupert forces the producers to let him appear on the show to deliver the opening monologue. After the taping of the show, Rupert is taken away by police officers who permit him to watch the show in a bar with his would-be girlfriend. Following the broadcast of the entire delivery, there is a cut and we find ourselves watching a news report on tv telling us by means of a voice-over what happened to Rupert. We learn that 87 millions viewers saw him on the show. He became famous and made the covers of Time, Newsweek, People, Rolling Stone and Life . He got one million dollars for his autobiography entitled “King for a Night” which made the bestsellers’ list. A cardboard cut-out of a full-size Rupert is features in a library display of his book. Lastly, Rupert has his own talkshow and a voice-over (still the same voice) introduces him. As he appears, the camera starting from the back of the audience moves up to frame him in medium close-up while he salutes the audience. THE END. ROLL CREDITS.
As with Taxi Driver , this is a subversive view of the typical Hollywood happy ending. It is also an extremely critical and perverse view of the American Dream. But once again something is afoot. Like the paper clippings on Travis’ wall, how can Rupert appear on all the magazines of New York at the same time? How could he achieve such a level of fame when he is not even funny, much less talented? The answer of course is found in Rupert’s fantasies. In his basement, Rupert has made cardboard cut-outs of his favorite performers (Liza Minnelli amongst them, supreme irony), and plays out guest appearances with them. He fantasizes all the time about talking, lunching, having fun with Jerry Langford. He hears the crowd applauding and laughing at his dull jokes, although he is only staring at a wall paper audience. Rupert envisions himself becoming famous, as much as Travis sees himself becoming an avenger. And so at the end Rupert is famous. But the cardboard cut outs at the library are the same as his. He took over the Jerry Langford show, however unlikely. Whether he is in prison or in an asylum, Rupert has made his dream a reality. His temptation for success and the American Dream overpowered him. In The King of Comedy , the dream upstaged the reality.
The dreamed realities of both Rupert Pupkin and Travis Bickle belong together because they both modified them from the inside out. But in the case of Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne), the sacrificed hero of After Hours (1985), his reality will be shattered from the outside in. He will be engulfed by his own private urban nightmare in Manhattan’s SoHo District. Scorsese masterfully demonstrates how to personalize a project on which you are a hired hand. He accepted the task when Paramount stepped out of his first attempt to produce The Last Temptation of Christ in 1983. All the tension, anger and anguish suffered by Scorsese on this failed deal got channeled into After Hours.
Charmed by Marcie (Rosanna Arquette), an attractive woman he met in a café, Paul decides to pay her a visit at her SoHo studio apartment. As soon as he leaves, things go wrong. The taxi cab seems possessed by Bickle’s spectre as it travels at such a surreal speed that Paul loses his sole 20-dollar bill. 21 Thus begins his perilious journey into SoHo hell. It culminates with half the neighborhood chasing him around after he’s wrongly accused of robbery. Paul ends up in a basement where a lonely artist (Verna Bloom who played Mary mother of Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ ) covers him completely with plastered paper. Paul becomes a plastered human crucifix, with his hands stuck to his forehead and an expression of terror on his face. He is stolen by the real thieves and put into the back of a van. As the van rides away at the same lunatic speed as the previous taxi cab, the doors open and the statue breaks into pieces on the pavement. Paul is unhurt. He gets up and finds himself in front of the office building where he works as a computer analyst. He gets up, enters the building and slumps down into his chair, eyes gazing blankly as the camera rushes around him completing several elliptical circles. THE END. CREDITS.
Did Paul truly survive his own Way of the Cross? Is the nightmare accomplished? After all, did he really go to SoHo last night? Reality once again oscillates between dream and death. One thing is certain, Paul’s yuppie universe has been shattered with the statue’s pieces on the tarmac. 22 His temptation for Marcie and her world of marginal artists has tested his faith for the good.
In The Age of Innocence (1993), Newland Archer (Daniel Day Lewis) also becomes victim to his own temptation. His passion for madam Olanska (Michelle Pfeiffer) makes him the romantic hero, but his marriage to Mary Welland (Winona Ryder) solidifies his standing in 19th Century New York’s upper class. He will live a pleasant and comfortable life without any worries, passion or drama, for he is unable to hold on to the one true love of his life. This unwelcomed and forceful settling down could be seen as an ironic twist on The Last Temptation of Christ , since it is exactly the kind of life with which Jesus is tempted on the cross. But Jesus finally accepts his heroic destiny, whereas Newland refuses his, or rather worst, it is taken away from him by the mischief of his peers. His passion will only exist in memories that he will cherish more than anything else, more than life and reality themselves. Therefore at the end of his life, Newland will prefer to refuse seeing Madam Olenska one last time so as not to disturb his memory of her.
This denial towards ordinary life becomes in a way the temptation of the common man who uses the means of cinema to escape from reality and fulfill his heroic fantasies. Money, fame, power and glory, the trappings of the American Dream, can therefore become theirs through escapism. In the nineties, Scorsese has been more and more concerned with this form of temptation typical to Hollywood’s pursuit of on-screen happiness. He has further deepened his comprehensive criticism of the American hero in personal films like Goodfellas and Casino as well as in more commercial outings like The Color of Money and Cape Fear.
In The Color of Money (1986), Scorsese’s follow up to Robert Rossen’s 1961 The Hustler , the sudden Ascension of Fast Eddy Felson (Paul Newman), who returns to professional pool playing (with his improved “vision” after a 25 year absence, is shown both as a miracle and as a profession of Eddy’s faith, since the game is akin to a religious experience. Eddy’s heroism arises from self-indulgence and the sense that his life is going nowhere fast. On the other hand, we step into a huge grey area in Cape Fear (1991). None of the main characters are without reproach. Psychopath recidivist Max Cody’s (Robert De Niro, who else?) relentless quoting of the Bible as well as the mystical tattoos covering his entire body disturb the viewer by their sacrilegious use of the Holy Scriptures. Cody makes himself the exterminating angel willing to judge as well as to condemn Sam Bowden, the lawyer who committed an ethical fault to insure the incarceration of Cody 14 years ago. Good and evil muddle up into the torment of the ending that turns into a formidable Deluge. Good guy Sam Bowden, representative of America’s conservative Right, seemingly living an ordinary life with his ordinary family, is not so clean and ordinary after all. The traditional hero icon is indeed at stake in Cape Fear.
The temptation of the gangster
Gaining Paradise and losing it, through pride and through greed – it’s the old fashioned Old Testament story. (…) Ultimately it’s a tragedy. It’s the frailty of being human. I want to push audiences’ emotional empathy with certain types of characters who are normally considered villains.
- Martin Scorsese 23
Common life boredom is rather what is at stake in 1990’s Goodfellas and 1995’s Casino . Scorsese explores in both films the decline of the American Way of life through the extraordinary undertakings of immoral characters devoted to the mob. Gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) is finally arrested at the end of Goodfellas and is condemned by the FBI’s witness relocation program to live, in his own words, “the life of a schnook..” He does not repent; in fact, he’s bitter because he will now lead an ordinary life. For him, being a gangster was a fast road to the American Dream. He was somebody when he was outside the law. Becoming a common citizen is the worst punishment, even worse than going to prison. This is another variation on The Last Temptation of Christ . Jesus’ wish for a standard human life is Henry’s purgatory.
Casino is the moral flip side of Goodfellas . Sam Rothstein welcomes the uneventful life granted to him at the end of the film. Scorsese consciously uses religious metaphors and biblical imagery. Las Vegas is Rothstein’s Paradise on Earth. “For guys like us, Las Vegas washes away our sins,” he tells us frankly. But the city is also surrounded by the Nevada desert in the middle of nowhere. It compares easily to Sodom and Gomorrah cleansed by the holy fire, symbols of corruption and lust. It’s the temptation of the Golden Calf that ensnares the Hebrews before Moses comes down from Sinai with the Tables of the Law.
It is fitting therefore that Casino should open with an explosion, with the gangster hero engulfed in flames mixed with multicolored lights coming from the neon signs of the casinos and the hotels, modern symbols of the seven sins. This opening sequence is pitted against the religious overtones of “St Matthew Passion” by J.S. Bach, a prelude of things to come. Right away Rothstein must expiate for his future crimes. After the fashion of William Holden’s character found drowned in the pool in the opening scene of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard , Rothstein will guide us through the maze of his world in spite of the fact that we witness his death at the outset of the film.
Clearly, this explosion killed off Rothstein. It’s only at the end that Rothstein himself explains to us how he got out alive, or rather how he would have liked to survive his ordeal. Scorsese reprises the scene three times to convince us that we were misled by the opening sequence. Rothstein’s explanation is wishful thinking, both dream and fantasy. His following well-ordered existence offers a modern version of the temptation of Christ: Ace lives peacefully by going back to his first love, gambling. As Travis was born to ride a cab, as Rupert Pupkin believed he was born to become a comedian, so Sam Rothstein was born to gamble and he will die this way, damn it!
In the final analysis, the motif has been inverted in Casino ; the ending moved back to the beginning, the temptation became synonymous with the hero’s fall. Scorsese still pushes the public to test its beliefs, its ethics, its judgment. Eventually, Scorsese does forgive the characters of his films, so we now have to find the strength and the moral inclination to do the same. So next time, knowingly let yourself experience the temptations of Martin Scorsese.The phantom of Travis Bickle
And when Travis adjusts the mirror at the end, that’s when he dies.
- David Wellington, director of I Love A Man In Uniform
It so happens that Taxi Driver was not one of my favorite films. I had seen it in 1978, but at fifteen years old, I was much too disturbed by it and deeply distressed by the ending to find the need to see it again. David Wellington felt otherwise about it and he invited me at a screening of the film at the Cinémathèque Québécoise, back in 1983 when we were both students in Film Production at Concordia University in Montreal. After the credits stopped and the echo of Bernard Herrmann’s hauting music finally disappeared, I went out of the theater as shaken by the experience as the first time, when suddenly David broke the silence and said: “You know, I have this crazy idea for the ending.” We started discussing it, elaborating as we went along a really far-fetched interpretation of the ending that seemed to make sense only to both of us.
In fact, something crucial was missing from our analysis. Scorsese’s previous works didn’t support our theory enough. But as the years passed and the films accumulated, I was starting to see a recurring pattern in the endings, especially in The King of Comedy and After Hours , although the true revelation really came with The Last Temptation of Christ . This film, more than any other, formed a direct link with Taxi Driver and revealed much more about its ending than even Scorsese or Schrader had ever admitted or recognized. What surprised me the most is that nothing was ever written about this unique reading anywhere. Some critics came close but never suggested the possibility of Travis’ death. For example, in the March 1979 issue of Le Cinématographe (no. 45), François Cuel is the only one who almost touched it:
The burnt flowers, Travis’ message to Iris] rather indicate a suicidal ritual that precedes the meticulous preparation for a killing; and in the middle of the blood stains in the hotel actually dies the old Travis, whose wounded leg already gives a cadaverous rigidity. (…) [The overhead shot] negates the ceiling and opens the sky for Travis’ flight.>
But Cuel only sees it as a symbolic death and comes back to the traditional literal approach to the ending. He would have needed David’s help to further his analysis. Lucky for me nobody knew David at the time!
- In Cahiers du Cinéma, #500, March 1996, p. 39. Translation of this and other French quotes is mine. ↩
- It is amusing to think that for Scorsese death is the same as running out of film! ↩
- In Film Comment , March-April 1976, p. 14. ↩
- Taken from Schrader’s commentaries on the second analog audio track of the Criterion CAV laserdisc edition of Taxi Driver , The Voyager Company , 1990. ↩
- This comment as well as the next one in the same paragraph are taken from the videodisc. ↩
- Film composer Bernard Herrmann understood the concept of the return of the repressed very well. At the end of the credits, on the last image of the film, Herrmann takes up again the four notes that he used at the end of Psycho , the ones on the dissolve between Norman Bates smiling and Marion Crane’s car being pulled out of the swamps. With this musical quotation, Herrmann acknowledges Scorsese’s vision, warning the learned viewer (who stayed patiently until the end of the credits) of Travis’ resurging psychosis. Furthermore, those notes had been used before: when Travis listens to a speech by senator Palantine and when he arrives at the deli where he will kill a black man. ↩
- In Film Comment , March-April 1976, p. 14. ↩
- At that exact moment, we hear a piercing shout on the soundtrack: it is the same shout Iris will utter during the shoot out when Travis kills the old man in her room! It’s a remarkable use of a prophetic sound. ↩
- In Scorsese on Scorsese , Faber and Faber, London, 1989, p. 60. ↩
- The run-out effect when Jesus dies, which I described earlier, could be taken as a kind of passage into another dimension or plane, but it doesn’t represent in any way a depiction of the resurrection. It is therefore left unseen, “extra-diegetic” to the film itself. ↩
- In Film Comment , March-April 1976, p. 14. ↩
- A picture in one of the clippings shows the Steensma couple in the living room. Of course they are Charles and Catherine Scorsese, the director’s parents, taken from a shot in Italianamerican , a documentary he made on them in 1974. They appear often in his films, especially his mother who figures in seven of them. ↩
- Actually, these three texts were written by Martin Scorsese himself! ↩
- Only Iris is not directly involved in Travis’ fantasy, probably because she is at his side while he is dying on the couch. ↩
- Even the guns bought by Travis are movie hero guns: James Bond’s Walter PPK, Mike Hammer’s Smith & Wesson .38 and Dirty Harry’s .44 Magnum. ↩
- Comment taken from the videodisc. ↩
- In Taxi Driver , screenplay by Paul Schrader, Faber and Faber, London, 1990, p. 48. ↩
- Comment taken from the videodisc. ↩
- In The Scorsese Picture : The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese , by David Ehrenstein, Birch Lane Press Book, New York, 1992, p. 117. ↩
- I intentionally passed over Raging Bull (1980), because the film doesn’t exactly fit into the scope of this study. A separate case should be made for this rich and overwhelming masterpiece. ↩
- Could this refer to the 20-dollar bill that Sport gave to Travis in the first half of Taxi Driver? It troubled him so much that by the third act, he gave it back to the old man in Iris’ building. ↩
- Legend has it that Scorsese didn’t know how to end the movie and asked for several directors’ opinion. Terry Gilliam apparently told him that the statue should smash up on the ground with nothing inside. Paul would have disappeared. This is typical Gilliam’s stuff, but would it have fitted into Scorsese’s rhetoric? ↩
- In Sight & Sound , January 1996, p. 8-9. ↩ |
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Novel compound heterozygous mutations in the OTOF Gene identified by whole-exome sequencing in auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder
BMC Medical Geneticsvolume 18, Article number: 35 (2017)
Many hearing-loss diseases are demonstrated to have Mendelian inheritance caused by mutations in single gene. However, many deaf individuals have diseases that remain genetically unexplained. Auditory neuropathy is a sensorineural deafness in which sounds are able to be transferred into the inner ear normally but the transmission of the signals from inner ear to auditory nerve and brain is injured, also known as auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). The pathogenic mutations of the genes responsible for the Chinese ANSD population remain poorly understood.
A total of 127 patients with non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) were enrolled in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. A hereditary deafness gene mutation screening was performed to identify the mutation sites in four deafness-related genes (GJB2, GJB3, 12S rRNA, and SLC26A4). In addition, whole-exome sequencing (WES) was applied to explore unappreciated mutation sites in the cases with the singularity of its phenotype.
Well-characterized mutations were found in only 8.7% (11/127) of the patients. Interestingly, two mutations in the OTOF gene were identified in two affected siblings with ANSD from a Chinese family, including one nonsense mutation c.1273C > T (p.R425X) and one missense mutation c.4994 T > C (p.L1665P). Furthermore, we employed Sanger sequencing to confirm the mutations in each subject. Two compound heterozygous mutations in the OTOF gene were observed in the two affected siblings, whereas the two parents and unaffected sister were heterozygous carriers of c.1273C > T (father and sister) and c.4994 T > C (mother). The nonsense mutation p.R425X, contributes to a premature stop codon, may result in a truncated polypeptide, which strongly suggests its pathogenicity for ANSD. The missense mutation p.L1665P results in a single amino acid substitution in a highly conserved region.
Two mutations in the OTOF gene in the Chinese deaf population were recognized for the first time. These findings not only extend the OTOF gene mutation spectrum for ANSD but also indicate that whole-exome sequencing is an effective approach to clarify the genetic characteristics in non-syndromic ANSD patients.
Deafness is one of the most common clinical otological diseases, and most cases are caused by genetic factors [1, 2]. Hereditary hearing loss has high genetic heterogeneity, non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) has only the symptom of deafness and accounts for 70% of all hereditary deafness, while syndromic deafness accounts for 30% of all cases [1, 2]. The majority of NSHL has been confirmed to have Mendelian inheritance from single gene mutations, and these cases mainly include autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant transmission and X-linked or mitochondrial inheritance . More than 90 genes related to NSHL have been identified. Earlier studies have shown mutations in several genes that are closely related to NSHL in China, such as mtDNA 12S-rRNA, SLC26A4, GJB2, GJB3, and GJB6 , while the causes of disease in other deaf individuals remain unknown.
Whole-exome sequencing (WES) is a novel technique that has offered a breakthrough for studying rare Mendelian diseases that allows for sequencing of all expressed genes in the genome, which is substantial considering the protein-coding regions covers approximately 85% of human disease-causing mutations . WES is a novel technique of genome analysis that has the advantages of being simple, economical and accurate, and it has become the most efficient way to identify genetic variants in all genes for an individual .
Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) is considered as a type of autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss in which the transmission of sound signals from the inner ear to the auditory nerve and brain is impaired. In the present study, we applied whole-exome sequencing of two affected siblings with ANSD and their healthy sisters from a Chinese family in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. For the first time, two compound heterozygous mutations, c.1273C > T (R425X) and c.4994 T > C (L1665P), in the OTOF gene were identified as disease-causing mutations in the Chinese deaf population.
A total of 127 patients who were diagnosed as NSHL were enrolled at The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Autonomous Region. Peripheral blood samples were collected for genomic DNA. Audiologic tests were performed as necessary. The audiologic tests include auditory brainstem response (ABR), auditory steady-state response (ASSR), distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) and cochlear microphonic (CM) tests.
Hereditary deafness gene mutation screening and whole-exome sequencing
All the 127 cases enrolled in our study were subjected to a preliminary screening using a microarray method with a Hereditary Deafness Gene Mutation Detection Kit (CapitalBio Technology Co., Ltd. Beijing, China). The kit was designed to detect fifteen well-documented mutations in four deafness-associated genes, including GJB2: 35delG, 176_191del16, 235delC, 299_300delAT; GJB3: 538C > T; 12S rRNA: 1555A > G, 1494 T > C; and SLC26A4: IVS7-2A > G, 2168A > G, 1174A > T, 1226G > A, 1229C > T, 1975G > C, 2027 T > A, and IVS15 + 5G > A. Furthermore, The subsequent whole-exome sequencing was applied to the cases with singularity of its phenotype as following standard protocol by CapitalBio Technology Co., Ltd. Genomic DNA was extracted using a RelaxGene Blood DNA System (TIAGEN Biotech Co., Ltd. Beijing, China). Libraries were prepared using the Ion AmpliSeq™ Exome RDY Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Shanghai, China). We used the Ion OneTouch™ 2 System (Thermo Fisher) to prepare enriched, template-positive Ion PI™ Ion Sphere™ particles (ISPs) containing clonally amplified DNA. The template was sequenced on the Ion Proton™ System (Thermo Fisher) with the Ion PI™ Chip Kit v3 (Thermo Fisher). The average sequencing depth of 86.1× provided sufficient depth to identify variants for 90.9% of the targeted exome.
The coverage analysis plugin and variant caller plugin from Life Technologies (Thermo Fisher) were used to analyze the Ion Proton sequencing run. Variant discovery, genotype calling of multi-allelic substitutions and indels were performed on each individual sample using the Torrent Variant Caller (TVC, version 188.8.131.52) (Thermo Fisher). Statistics and graphs describing the level of sequence coverage produced for targeted genomic regions were provided by the Torrent Coverage Analysis (version 184.108.40.206). The variants were annotated by the Annotate variants 5.0 of Ion Reporter (Thermo Fisher).
Direct Sanger sequencing
The potential causative variants in the family were confirmed by Sanger sequencing of amplified PCR products. Primer sequences for the pathogenic variant in the OTOF gene (NM_194248.2) were designed using Primer Premier 5.0 as follow: c.1273-F 5′- GGGAATCAATGAATCCTGTCT-3′ and c.1273-R 5′- TCCACGAGGTCCTTGTTTT-3′, c.4994-F 5′- GGTAGACAGGTGATGGCATAG-3′ and c.4994-R 5′- TGTCAAGGACCCAGTTCATC-3′.
Clinical data and audiological assessments
Through the preliminary hereditary deafness gene mutation screening, previously well-characterized mutations were found in only 8.7% (11/127) of the patients with non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL) enrolled in our study, which was described in our earlier work .
In a family with NSHL collected in this study, the parents had normal hearing, while their two sons had abnormal hearing, and their daughter had normal hearing (Fig. 1a). Both hearing impaired subjects II:1 and II:3 presented with abnormal pronunciation and poor responses to sound. The general physical examinations of the two siblings were normal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that the structures of the inner ear in subjects II:1 and II:3 were normal (Additional file 1: Figure S1). The audiological assessments revealed that both two siblings had bilateral sensorineural deafness. The results of audiological assessments of the two affected subjects are summarized in Table 1 and the results for II:3 are shown in Fig. 2a, b, c, and d.
The affected subject II:1 underwent a right-side cochlear implant at the age of 18, and his pronunciation and response to the sound had improved since then. In addition, the affected subject II:3 had worn hearing aids in both ears since the hearing screening at the time of birth, but his ability to communicate was not improved. At 20 months of age, he underwent right-side cochlear implantation at The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The surgery was successful, and no postoperative complications were observed. Then, he underwent speech rehabilitation training for more than 1 year. His speech was excellent, and he had a good response to sounds and therefore he has been enrolled in regular kindergarten. According to the audiological assessments and the history of the treatments and the outcomes, the two siblings were clinical diagnosed as ANSD.
Whole-exome sequencing and variant analysis
Of all the patients evaluated in our study with non-syndromic hearing loss (NSHL), well-known mutations in four deafness-associated genes (GJB2, GJB3, 12S rRNA, and SLC26A4) were only detected in 8.7% (11/127) of the patients , suggesting that unappreciated genetic abnormalities may contribute to hearing loss diseases. We then introduced whole-exome sequencing to identify the novel mutations in the subjects of interest. A summary of the whole-exome sequencing data for the three samples of the family are shown in Table 2. There were 95,317,441 total reads, and there was an average read length of 179 bp. The total number of bases was 17.1 G, and 98% of the sequenced bases mapped to the human reference genome .
The variant calling pipeline of Life Technologies was used to analyze the Ion Proton sequencing run. Ion Proton identified (37,918; 37,729; and 38,169) SNPs among three samples of the family (Table 2). The SNPs were annotated by the Annotate variants 5.0 of Ion Reporter (Life Technologies). Known variants with minor allele frequency (MAF) >1% were removed. The variants were filtered according to the inheritance model (autosomal recessive with both homozygous and compound heterozygous) and variant function categories, including missense, nonsense and frameshift mutations. The pathogenicity predictor softwares SIFT and Polyphen were used to predict the novel missense variant.
We then focused our attention to the variants that were associated with reported deafness genes. Two compound heterozygous mutations of the OTOF gene (R425X and L1665P) were identified in the deaf patients in the family (Fig. 1b). The novel missense variant reported in our study has not been found in dbSNP database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/SNP/), 1000-Genomes Project (http://phase3browser.1000genomes.org/index.html) and NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project (http://evs.gs.washington.edu/EVS).
Identification of pathogenic mutations
The c.1273C > T (p.R425X) mutation in the OTOF gene contributes to a premature stop codon may result in a truncated polypeptide that strongly suggests its contribution to the pathogenicity for ANSD (Fig. 3a). The amino acid L1665 is conserved across mammalian species, including humans, rats, dogs, mice and chimpanzees (Fig. 3b); c.4994 T > C (p.L1665P) was predicted to be harmful.
Two mutations of the OTOF gene (p.R425X and p.L1665P) were verified in the ANSD family by Sanger Sequencing. The results validated that both compound heterozygous mutations of the OTOF gene can be detected in the two affected siblings; however, their parents and sister were heterozygous carriers of c.1273C > T (father and sister) and c.4994 T > C (mother), showing a complete match of the genotype with the phenotype (Fig. 1a).
Although the majority of NSHL cases have confirmed Mendelian inheritance caused by single gene mutations, many deaf individuals do not have identified genetic contributions. WES provides a highly efficient strategy to identify the genetic variation that is responsible for Mendelian diseases. This study identified two disease-causing mutations in the OTOF gene in a Chinese family with ANSD by WES. The mutations in this gene were observed in the Chinese deaf population for the first time.
Auditory neuropathy is viewed as a variety of hearing loss in which the outer hair cells within the cochlea are usually functional, but the sound signals are unable to be accurately transmitted to the auditory nerve and brain also known as auditory neuropathy/auditory dys-synchrony (AN/AD) or auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD). Audiology characteristics of ANSD contain severely abnormal or absent ABRs that begin with the VIII nerve component of wave I and preserve normal or near-normal otoacoustic emissions. ANSD can occur independently or be accompanied by other neurological symptoms, such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease . The causes of ANSD are complex, which mainly include specific damage to the inner hair cells, synaptopathies and VIII nerve disorders. Genetic factors nearly account for 40% of all ANSD cases . Four loci have been identified to account for non-syndromic ANSD; the mutations in the OTOF and PJVK genes cause autosomal recessive ANSD, the mutations in the AUNA1 causes autosomal dominant ANSD, and the mutations in the AUNX1 causes X-linked ANSD [10–15].
OTOF was first identified using a candidate gene approach and a positional cloning strategy in 1999. This 48-exon gene, encoding otoferlin, is located on Chromosome 2p23.1 . OTOF encodes four transcript isoforms as different translation start sites combined with alternative splicing of some exons. Long isoforms with six C2 domains can be detected in humans and mice, whereas the short isoforms with three C2 domains are only detected in humans [16, 17]. Otoferlin is highly expressed in the inner ear hair cells (IHCs) and vestibule. Otoferlin functions for hearing has been well-characterized. To trigger exocytosis of neurotransmitter in a calcium-dependent manner, Otoferlin interacts with two members of presynaptic SNARE complex (Syntaxin1 and SNAP25) at ribbon synapses of cochlear IHCs, which are incorporated into the membranes of transport vesicles during budding and associated with nerve terminal membranes [18, 19]. These findings revealed that Otoferlin is essential for the synaptic vesicle exocytosis and may acts as a sensor that triggers membrane fusion at the IHC ribbon synapse.
Mutations in the OTOF gene have been reported as the main cause of non-syndromic recessive ANSD. To date, more than 100 pathogenic mutations related to subjects with NSHL, including ANSD, have been found in different populations . The c.2485 C > T (p.Q829X) mutation was frequently found in Spanish populations and has also been observed in French, Mexicans, Argentinians and English populations [21–24]. Varga et. al. observed 4 OTOF mutations in three non-syndromic recessive auditory neuropathy (NSRAN) families; two nonsense mutations, c.6141G > A and c.6285C > G; and two splice site mutations, IVS39 + 1G > C and 1778delG . There were eleven probable pathogenic variants were found among 160 unrelated ANSD patients in Japan . In China, more than 40 mutations of the OTOF gene have been identified. Zhang’s team found 15 novel mutations in 14 congenital ANSD patients .
In this study, for the first time, two mutations in the OTOF gene were observed in a Chinese family with ANSD by whole-exome sequencing. The otoferlin isoform a is encoded by OTOF and consists of 1997 amino acids (aa), including six C2 domains, C2A (2–97 aa), C2B (255–353 aa), C2C (418–529 aa), C2D (961–1068 aa), C2E (1493–1592 aa), and C2F (1733–1863 aa) (Fig. 3a). The c.1273C > T mutation, results in a premature stop codon from arginine to a terminator (p.R425X). It may lead to abnormal or nonfunctional protein products, suggesting it is responsible for the pathogenicity of deafness. Previously, this mutation was reported in a deaf population in Pakistan , and this is the first time the mutation was identified in the Chinese population. The novel missense mutation c.4994 T > C, located between the C2E and C2F domains, results in a single amino acid substitution, leucine to proline (p.L1665P). Three pathogenic mutations (E1661K, R1676C, and E1700Q) between C2E and C2F domains have been reported. The missense mutation c.4994 T > C (p.L1665P) was assumed to be pathogenic because 1) mutations in OTOF have been reported to be the main cause of autosomal recessive non-syndromic deafness DFNB9 that associated with ANSD [11, 17]; 2) the region is highly conserved across mammalian species (Fig. 3b); 3) it was found in compound heterozygosity with p.R452X; 4) some pathogenic mutations have been found near the mutation site; and 5) no other recessive variants related to deafness could be identified by WES.
In this study, we found two mutations of the OTOF gene in a Chinese family with ANSD located in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The findings indicate that there may be rare mutations or genes associated with NSHL in the Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is one of the ethnic minority regions in China. The mutation frequency and hot spots of the deafness gene may differ among disparate ethnic regions and peoples. The findings provide new evidence for investigations of the mutation characteristics of the OTOF gene in NSHL in the Zhuang population in China.
We identified two disease-causing mutations in the OTOF gene in a Chinese family with ANSD by WES. Two compound heterozygous mutations of the OTOF gene were detected in two affected siblings. Out data indicated that WES is an effective approach for identifying the genetic characteristics of non-syndromic ANSD. The identification of these two mutations extends the mutation spectrum of the OTOF gene in the Chinese deaf population. The findings will hopefully facilitate genetic diagnosis and enable otolaryngologists to select appropriate clinical interventions for patients with ANSD.
Auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder
Auditory steady-state response
Distortion product otoacoustic emission
Magnetic resonance imaging
Non-syndromic hearing loss
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We are grateful to the cooperation of all members of the enrolled family. We are also truly thankful for Dr. Jiazhang Wei (Dept. Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Oncology, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China) for his insights on our study and the valuable suggestions for the manuscript revision.
This research was supported by the Research and Development of Medical and Health Appropriate Technology in Guangxi (No. S201421_05), and the Scientific Research Project of Health Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (No. Z2014215, Z2015351, Z2016593, and Z2016608). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.
Availability of data and material
The dataset supporting the conclusions of this article is included within the article and its Additional file 1: Figure S1.
FT, JL and DM designed the study. FT, LX, ML, MS and QL collected the clinical data. YW, YQ and QW performed WES and analyzed the results. LX, ML, MS and FL performed the gene mutation screening and analyzed the results. FT, JL and DM drafted the manuscript and all other authors revised it critically. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Consent for publication
The consents for publication of the individual person’s data have been obtained from the person themselves or their parents, in the case of children.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study was approved by the ethics committee of The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Autonomous Region. All subjects recruited in this study provided written informed consent.
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the inner ear in subject II:3. A single layer scanning of inner ear (left panel) and multilayer 3D reconstruction image (right panel) are shown. (TIF 285 kb) |
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Tokyo is a metropolis, there is no doubt about it. As the most densely populated city in Japan, this capital is famous for being crowded and compact, though not to the point of Hong Kong.
Given that it is such a big place, how do you make sure you see everything during your trip? The answer is you probably can’t. However, my twin happens to be a great planner and we focused on seeing the most famous historical sights, shopping, and food on our week-long trip to Tokyo in the summer. Beyond that, we even hiked Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, before we dive into the itinerary, here’s some useful info:
- 1 Getting around Tokyo
- 2 WiFi or Sim card for Tokyo
- 3 When to visit Tokyo
- 4 Tokyo itinerary 7 days
- 5 Day 5 – Mount Fuji Ascend
- 6 Day 6 – Mount Fuji Descend + Shinjuku
- 7 Where to stay in Tokyo
Getting around Tokyo
Tokyo metro is one of the most efficient systems in the world, and there is no other way to get around other than using it. You have several options as to how you can get around the Tokyo transport system and below are some advice:
Tokyo 3 day metro pass
For 1,500 yen, you can get a 3 day Tokyo subway pass (which doesn’t include the JR line). It’s a pretty good deal for us as we planned on travelling more for 3 days. It is activated by day of first use, so you can buy them in advance.
It’s easiest to get them when you arrive at the airport at T2. There are also 1 and 2-day pass, more information here.
The transport card for Tokyo, IC Card can be purchased at any station and you can top up as you please. Since I haven’t used it, I don’t know much about it, but here’s the official website.
Individual tickets for a single trip can be purchased at any station, but bear in mind that tickets purchase at a station can only be used FROM that station, so don’t buy more.
Tickets are available in denominations of 170 yen, 200 yen, 240 yen, 280 yen and 310 yen – based on distance from the station of travel. IF you end up going further or closer, you can get the fare difference at the manned ticket barrier or Fare Difference machine.
WiFi or Sim card for Tokyo
It’s important to stay connected in a big city, I wouldn’t be able to navigate effectively! I have booked a WiFi egg through Klook and picked it up at the Hong Kong airport, but there are sim card and Tokyo airport pick up options, too.
When to visit Tokyo
I visited Tokyo in the summer since Mount Fuji only opens to hiker between late June to early September. However, Tokyo – and Japan in general – can be visited year around. In spring, there is cherry blossom, in summer there’s good weather, autumn brings red leaves, and winter brings snow. Here’s 5 amazing things to do in Winter in Japan.
Tokyo itinerary 7 days
Day 1 – Asakusa
- We arrived late on our first day and checked into the Gate Hotel Kaminarimon in Asakusa, so we’ll start with our day 2 itinerary.
- We had booked a month in advance at Asakusa 7 Henge for Yukata (a summer Kimono) rental at 10:30, so after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the other side of Sensoji Temple to get dressed in Yukata.
The incense burner
- We then explored Sensoji, which is the oldest temple complex in Tokyo, and used this opportunity to take photos in our Yukata.
- There are many restaurants in Asakusa, we decided to go with the least crowded option and went for sushi.
A great view of the Sky Tree with lavender
- We hit some more outlying temples and shrines in the Asakusa area such as the Bentendo Hall as well as the Sumida Riverside Park before returning our Kimono.
Day 2 – Odaiba, Tsukiji Market, and Ueno
- Odaiba has a special place in my heart because of my love for Digimon, as the Fuji TV Station is where one of the most iconic scenes is located. We took the scenic Yurikamome (seagull) ride from Shimbashi Station (ticket costs 320 yen one way) – try to get in at the front because they have a glass window that gives you an unparalleled view.
*You can buy tickets at the ticketing machine for two single journeys to go back. We were using Tokyo metro 3 day pass which doesn’t include this stretch.
- Odaiba is a more expensive, upscale area not dissimilar to Canary Wharf (London) in style. Aside from the Fuji TV Station, there is the small Statue of Liberty and several malls around. And did I mention a beach? Everything is connected by the skywalk right out of the metro station.
welcome to old Tokyo!
- We visited the Decks Mall as well since they have a 50s Tokyo style street.
Tsukiji fish market – pretty crowded
- We headed to Tsukiji Market, the most famous fish market in Tokyo for some lunch next. Tokyo has some of the best tuna and that was what we had.
The seared tuna cheek store
Beef-like seared tuna cheek~
- First, we went to try the Seared Tuna Fish Cheeks (which I didn’t like but the others loved), it was a bit too fishy but tastes like beef.
Then we had a tuna sushi platter at Sushizanmai for 1,280yen.
Set of 5 tuna sushi~
Tip: get off from Tsujiki Market metro stop, turn right and you’ll reach it
- After lunch, we popped over to Ginza to check out the summer sales in the department stores as well as the crowd. There is a 5 storey tall Uniqlo!
My excitement for pancake is surreal
- An afternoon tea devouring the pancakes at Egg N Things was in order. This wonderful strawberry pancake costs 1,200 yen or so and address is below:
1 Chome-8-19 Ginza, +81 3-6264-4949
Opening times: daily 9:00 – 23:00
Note: Egg N Things is a chain store and you can find its other addresses here.
The beautiful lotus pond~
- Then we headed to Ueno, where the lotus was thriving in the Shinobazu Pond and we made it just in time before Kyu Iwasaki-tei House and Garden closes.
Kyu Iwasaki-tei house with a western and Japanese house
- The Kyu Iwasaki-tei House was the home to the Mitsubishi founders (a conglomerate company), with a connected Western and Japanese house as well as a billiard house. It is great if you want to glimpse the late 19th century Japan.
Address: 1-3-45 Ike-no-hata, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0008
Opening times: daily 9:00 – 17:00, last admission 16:30
Admission fee: 400 yen adult, 200 yen for 65+, primary and secondary school students free
The vibrant Ameyoko street
- After checking out Ameyoko Shopping Street, we headed to Fuuunji for some vending machine ticketed dip-ramen!
Dip the ramen to your own taste
- Tip: you’ll have to queue to go in. once you do, purchase your meal of choice on the vending machine and wait to hand them over once a seat is free.
Address: Japan, 〒151-0053 Tokyo, 渋谷区Yoyogi, 2 Chome−１４−３ 北斗第一ビル
Opening times: closed Sunday, 11:00 – 15:00, 17:00 – 21:00
Note: this is now an international chain store
Day 3 – Tsukiji Market (again), the Imperial Palace, and Sawara Festival
- Of course, a single visit to the Tsukiji Market isn’t enough, so this time we returned to get some pork chop sandwich and sashimi. Fatty tuna is now my new favourite sashimi.
A feast fit for the, well, sashimi lover
- This time, we purchase our food from vendors and headed to the rooftop the market to eat.
nijubashi bridge and a small glimpse of the imperial palace
- Afterward, we went to Imperial Palace and admire it from afar. Most of the palace is off limit, but if you are organised you can get a free tour by booking through their website (you can show up but you might not get on one). You can find more information here since I didn’t go.
Tokyo station east entrance
- We went to Tokyo station, where we explored this giant transport hub and its underground streets before our bus to Sawara departs.
An eagle float at the Grand Sawara Festival
- Sawara is a small, Edo-styled town about 1.5 hours east of Tokyo, they hold large festivals numerous time throughout the year, and we were just in time for the Grand Sawara Festival. We spent the rest of the day here before catching the 8:41 train back to Tokyo.
More information on Sawara here.
Day 4 – Meiji Shrine, Harajuku shopping, and Shibuya
SHINPACHI japanese style breakfast ~ delish!
- We decided it’s high time for a traditional Japanese breakfast, so we got up early and headed to SHINPACHI early and got a rice, fish, and miso soup set. I shared my salmon one with my sister so I can try hers, and both are delicious and a good way to start the day.
Address: Japan, 〒160-0023 Tokyo, 新宿区Nishishinjuku, 1 Chome−１５−９
Opening times: daily 7:00 – 02:00 next day
- After breakfast, we headed to Meiji Shrine.
Classic Shinto Shrine style
- Emperor Meiji passed away in early 20th century, his wife and he are deified and this is their Shinto Shrine! This shrine is located in a green area in Shibuya that existed before the shrine and is a popular tourist attraction.
Menu for Bitter Sweet buffet
- Lumine East has become my favourite shopping mall in Shinjuku since our venture to the lunch buffet at Bitter Sweet. A recommendation found by la twin on her internet search, we had to wait in line for a little while before we were seated.
Address: 3-38-1 Shinjuku | Lumine East Shinjuku, Shinjuku 160-0022, Tokyo
Cost: 2,000 yen, additional 500 yen for peaches.
- We then took the metro one station over to Harajuku for some vintage shopping. There are three big ones around there, and prices are pretty on par with the western world. We end up buying a cute Yoda vintage tee (since I needed one to go up Mount Fuji) and our friend got a dungaree. Here are the deeds:
Kinji – this is a huge chain across Japan and you can find all of their addresses here. This is also the most affordable one out of the lot. https://www.kinji.jp/shops/view/harajuku
Opening times: 11:00 – 20:00
Chicago INC – if you are looking for a more boutique style vintage store, this would be it. the price is also higher, but it’s a more selected range.
Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, 渋谷区Jingumae, 4−26−26
Opening times: 11:00 – 20:00
- Wego Vintage
A bit of a mix between the two above, Wego vintage sells some other merchandise as well. It’s near to Takeshita Street, so we actually stumbled across it a few days after but you can easily go to all 3 in one day.
Address: 6-5-3 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Opening times: Sun – Fri 10:00 – 21:00; Sat: 9:00 – 21:00
The famous Shibuya crossing
- Then we headed to Shibuya and find a spot to watch the famous crossing. While it might not be the *best* place, Starbucks from across the station is certainly an easy to reach and free place to capture and admire the moment. It will take you some time and effort to get a prime location (i.e. in front of the glass).
- Afterwards, we shopped around at 109, which has the summer sale on full force and had an okay dinner at JL burger.
Day 5 – Mount Fuji Ascend
P.S. If you are not visiting Tokyo during Mount Fuji hiking season or don’t want to hike, there are plenty of day tours and trips you can do. If you are visiting during colder weather, going to an onsen that’s nearby with the view of Mt Fuji would be equally amazing!
Other great places to see Mount Fuji includes the Chureito Pagoda, see here for more Mount Fuji day trip ideas.
Day 6 – Mount Fuji Descend + Shinjuku
- We got back to Tokyo in the afternoon. After settling in, we went in search for a place for dinner and ended up at Tonchinkan.
The soup is amazing!
- There was a short queue and it was clear that the place was popular among tourists. The portion of the pork katsu was huge, and though I appreciate that it’s good, I personally don’t like so much fried crust. The soup, however, was the highlight of the meal filled with radish and flavored with meat.
Address: Japan, 〒160-0023 Tokyo, 新宿区Nishishinjuku, 1 Chome−13−8, ＬｅＣＩＥＬ西新宿館
Opening times: closed Sunday, 11:00 – 15:00, 17:00 – 22:00
Day 7 – last minute shopping around Harajuku, Shinjuku and Shibuya
Honestly the BEST meal!
- After the strenuous Mount Fuji hike, we rewarded ourselves with “brunch” at Rokkasen. It was hands down the best all you can eat bbq I had ever been to. Not only was the meat amazing quality, they staff are very attentive and swapped our hot plate at regular interval. We were also given tea to help digest the fat afterward and all in all, the best meal in Tokyo.Tip: bookings are necessary, so try to do it a day in advance. You can book online here
Address: Sunflower Building 6 F / 7 F, 1-3-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo,160-0023, Japan
Opening times: daily 11:00 – 5:00 (next day)
Cost: they had several options as well as a la carte. We went with a no drinks (there will be tea anyway) set called Yuki for 7,700 per person.
Such a pretty little street!
- After that, we headed to Harajuku again to shop around the Takeshita Street. It is right opposite the Harajuku JR station and definitely my favourite place to shop. They have all the cute clothing boutiques as well as the Japanese dollar store Daiso. Did I also mention that it’ a beautiful street?
- Because we had brunch and not lunch, we hopped over to Gram off one of the small side streets for some famous soufflé pancake.
Souffle pancake <3
- You’ll need to get there early because the portion is limited. Supposedly, they serve fresh soufflé pancake at 11:00, 15:00, and 18:00, however, we were told to come back at 16:00 when we attempt to book it at 14:30. So budget time if you want this deliciousness. Because it’s SO worth it.
Note: Gram is also a chain store across Japan, so there are other stores around.
Address: Japan, 〒150-0001 Tokyo, Shibuya, Jingumae, 1 Chome−9−30
Opening times: daily 11:00 – 21:00
Donki – the souvenir shop for all
- We then finished a round of shopping at Daiso, then hopped over to Donki. Donki is like a pharmacy/department store/dollar store in one go, selling everything and anything with tax back service over 5000 yen. Which makes it the perfect place to buy souvenirs. My twin and I ended up spending 10,000 yen and admittedly most of those snacks went into my stomach. Ops.
- We then barely had any time left, so we had a quick dinner at Lumine East, located conveniently above Shinjuku Station before heading to the airport.
Where to stay in Tokyo
With 7 days, you can change your accommodation base on where’s close by or choose to commute. Either way, here are some of my suggestions. Bear in mind that Tokyo isn’t cheap!
Splurge/ Mid-range: The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon is not only lovely but has a great view and awesome breakfast.
Budget: If you want a more budget and traditional option, Asakusa Ryokan Toukaiso is great.
Splurge: Hotel Rose Garden Shinjuku is near the station and has a 8.6 rating on bookings.com!
Mid-range/Budget: Imano Tokyo Hostel is at a great location with good amenities and reviews.
Splurge: Shibuya Granbell Hotel is about as close to the station as you can get! With a great review too!
Mid-range/Budget: unfortunately the only budget-ish choice is female only! But girls on a budget, Nadeshiko Hotel Shibuya is really great value!
*This post contains some affiliate links.
And it’s a wrap! |
tv Options Action CNBC January 15, 2017 6:00am-6:31am EST
hey there, live at the nasdaq market friday afternoon. the guys are getting ready behind me. while they are doing that, here is what's coming up on the show. >> the money is coming your way, you don't ask any questions. >> the money is definitely coming into netflix. but if you missed the move, we'll tell you how you with profit next week. plus -- >> we're out of gas. >> that's what traders are saying on the run on the banks. there's one name in particular that could come into the cross-hairs next week. we'll explain. and the one dow stock some traders say is poised for a bad fall. here is a hint --
the action begins right now. ♪ >> let's get right to it. with the markets record highs, the inauguration a week away, could it be time to fade the trump trade. let's get in the money now. dan. >> could be right. the last 60 days we've had this really parabolic move in a lot of sectors thought to be beneficiaries of a more pro growth environment, higher in the u.s., reflation trade globally. the last month or so, last 30 days, we've seen a bit of a stall out. the focus after the inauguration, what does the first 100 days of the administration look like. are they going to lay out policies moved on, investors expecting this sort of thing. as wets into spring and doesn't go as smoothly, you're going to see specifically the transports, this was a sector and i know carter wants to talk about it,
topped out in 2014. it finally made a new all-time high and never kept pace with the broad market. i think some of the components within the transports could be vulnerable. >> for a couple of years we've had ceos of industrial companies saying we have an industrial recession going on in this country. obviously as the oil patch slowed down, hurt the rails, serviced them significantly. this is a situation where we've seen declining revenues in a lot of these companies. we've spoken about caterpillar, but there's tons of them. obviously come back to live in enormous ways, priced in all kinds of good news. i don't know if they are going to roll over necessarily. but eastbound if everything goes according to plan, they basically priced that in already. >> two things. general subject of industrials, which haven't outperformed since trump. if you look at the performance of s&p 500 industrial sector from november 14th, the first monday after the election week to now, they have performed the
market. specifically transports have been quite burdened if you look at where they have come from in the last two weeks. i think we have a chart here. that's a two-pablo chart shows transports back to an all-time high and yet they have consistently still not made a relative high to the s&p. it's a price index with a few big names, fedex, ups carrying the weight. dow theory says you have to confirm the highs in the industrials. two years and two months later we're still below where we are in november of 2014. >> so trouble for the transports and therefore, dan -- >> i want to look at a rail, csx, tuesday after the clothes implying move, it's up 8% from 52 week lows last february, 70% the year, 20% since the election, double the performance of the iyt, dow jones transport index. that's the five-year chart stalled back at the chart from
'14, '15. this is a spot to look out 100 days, reprays the risen reward at those levels. to me ncsx not a trade for earnings although that implied move is hefty may exploration 3850 today, may 3833 put spread paying $1.50 for that. that's your max risk. you're selling one of the may 33 puts at 80. that's your 150. make up to 350 below 36 1/2 down to 3. risk one, make up to three. i chose 33 strike on the downside. if we have a one-year chart real quickly here, that was the level it broke out from from november 8th. here is a scenario giving yourself room from the downside. not a target but retracement if things not to go as planned. >> this is an interesting situation. there is a little bit of debt on this balance sheet. that's one of the reasons you don't want to be short, options outright. however, there has been an ewe
particular in the cost of options, which is why using a spread like this makes a lot of sense. we are trading at peak valuation despite 10% decline in revenue from their peak within the last five years. this thing is basically trading on all kinds of good news. even if they get back, hard to see how they go higher. i think it makes sense. >> pointing to a prior peak. prior peaks are inherently dichl that's the point of this. also, while transports have pulled back over last two, three, four weeks, this has not. that makes it more vulnerable to a presumptive pullback in life with others. >> is it possible things have gotten better for csx on fundamental basis, oil and gas not factoring in -- >> okay, fine. >> can i tell you something. this is really -- that's a great point. this morning credit suisse eblgt research had a report out on the rails. they basically said for the first tomb in seven quarters north american rail volume actually increased up 2.2% year over year.
here is the thing they raised numbers for 2017 and 2018, here is a stock trading 21 times trailing, 19 times forward well above market multiple. it's a rich stock. to me i just think we have to's a trend confirmed. i want to see this data three months from now and say, okay, pay 20 times for csx because we are on a rail reflation train in north america. i don't buy it. >> shares presumptively ahead. that's the whole point. price moves before. the very thing you cited, good news recently, 22 to 38. that's the whole point. now probably you fade in response. not buy more. >> very least valuation baking in, all kinds of good things happening here including what's going on in oil patch. >> now to another group of trump stocks, banks. big earnings from jpmorgan, wells fargo too much. didn't move too much. with morgan stanley and wells fargo reporting next week is it safe to say gains are priced in.
chart master? >> exact same thing as transports. you get a big move in anticipation, anticipating further rate hikes, good results. here come good results today and no movement in price. price discounting things coming out like earnings today. i want to look at the circumstance of back and forth, nasdaq, 300 stocks. bkx index, big stocks. jpmorgan, citi, wells. what's the difference? new all-time highs. see, so much more to go. that's because they all diluted their shares. if you were to plot not the collective share price of the banks but market cap, bkx is already here. it's already exactly in line with small cap that didn't dilute because they didn't have wall street crisis on their balance sheets. so first and foremost, this is not a relative -- you don't talk
about catching up new highs we're at new highs as a reference point. let's talk about the here and now. here is last three, four years, draw lines any way you want. i think you draw them this way. take it away, put it back. tension. then huge breakout. rate resumption, election. this is a 60% move. now whey want to focus on is this. this tight, tight action. all right. so i'm going to draw the lines. now, let's really zero in on that. there it is. we now have a 25 session range of 4 1/2%. going back to recession of bkx index that's only happened 19 times in 20 plus years. how does it typically get resolved? if the preceding period was very strong, and then you have a stall like that or consolidation the bull would argue it's about to do this, but the facts are
otherwise. if the preceding move is big, usually this is met with that and you come back towards the trend line. so i'm going to make that bet that banks and today's action is telling, could move higher with good news. we're going to make the bet that is exactly what happens. here are the stats that speak to that, the probability of this happening. range very low. we're going to, again, make the bet that banks have priced in everything possibly they are going to get. >> mike, how are you trading the banks here. >> i still think on evaluation basis it might be one of the more attractive sectors but definitely feels like it's running out of gas. i was taking a look at citibank. citibank is an interesting case. they get much more revenues f m from -- wells fargo has plenty of problems all its own. the other thing i was noticing. they are going to be reporting -- this is a situation
where they are implying a larger move than they normally v they barely move at all on earnings, 2.4 on average. you want to be short some premium, you don't want to be naked short. i was looking to march. can you sell 60, 62.5 call spread for $1. 235 for 60s, this is a situation you're going to get paid even if it drifts higher the most risk is $1.50. the way to take advantage of higher options premium and basically bet it stalls here or goes a little bit lower. >> yeah. i think there's a good chance the banks do stall here. same conversation we had about transports in a lot of ways. they are discounting a lot of good news in the next 100 days. we're going to see what it looks like for banking deregulation. does it mean higher leverage ratios, lower return on capital, worse profitability. maybe some of these money centers trading book again, maybe they got to where they should be and that's it. we really have to see what happens over the balance of the
year. to me the fact the baex could take a pause makes a lot of sense. >> or continue the pause they are taking or give back. there's two ways you work off, you either work it off by time or by price, give back. transports have done it by price. if anythings doing it by time. either way it's not enough time or not enough price for transport. presumption sideways or down. >> by selling call spreads as far as time goes we're letting time work for us, collecting options premium each day. >> i do like the trade because i like his technical levels, trade strategy. risk reward selling that $2.50 call spread and taking that sort of premium it's pretty fair especially if you agree with his technical setup. >> got a question, tweet "options action" for everything "options action" check out our website. while there check out super cool newsletter, a mix between "catcher in the rye" and a beautiful mind. i don't know what you're waiting
for. in the meantime, here is what's coming up next. >> just keep buying. >> that's what traders are saying about netflix shares. there's something in the charts that suggests more gains to come. plus here is what tech stocks have been doing. if you miss the moves, we've still got a way to profit and we'll show you how when "options action" returns. hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. optionsy, option option ox o-opposition opposition option option action option "options action" "options action." so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing, even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything!
[kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here. it's pretty hairy out on the interstate.traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ anything with a screen is a tv. stream 130 live channels,
plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. download the xfinity tv app today. what?pony neighing] hey gary. oh. what's with the dog-sized horse? i'm crazy stressed trying to figure out this complex trade so i brought in my comfort pony, warren, to help me deal. isn't that right warren? well, you could get support from thinkorswim's in-app chat. it lets you chat and share your screen directly with a live person right from the app, so you don't need a comfort pony. oh, so what about my motivational meerkat? in-app chat on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade.
action." i'm julia boorstin in los angeles. all eyes on netflix shares after the company's report wednesday afternoon the the streaming video giant adding another 3 1/2% on another analyst upgrade. deutsche banks you raising to $110. in part on confidence results exceed management guide absence on subscriber growth. netflix projecting 5.2 total streaming subscribers. 3.75 million of those from overseas. analysts projecting the company will report $2.5 billion in revenue and $0.13 in earnings per share. netflix on the rise a total of 8% so far this year after netflix won two golden globes sunday night for its new series the crown. jpmorgan added to u.s. one, liberty media's john maloney praised haitianings for breaking the mold.
in addition to the all important subscriber number, investors are watching for insight into potential impact of the trump administration on regulatory issues and whether netflix will integrate into more cable boxes as it has with comcast and how that will boost its bottom line. of course we can expect haitianings to field some questions about competition especially now that apple is expected to jump into the original content game. melissa, back over to you. >> thank you very much, julia boorstin. chart master, do you think netflix can hit a new high on earnings? >> that's the bet we're going to make. we'll figure it out. before and after. here is before. here is after. a well-defined series of lower highs, higher lows and massive breakout. here us your setup. under the circumstances into this apex and bang. now, here is the next reference point, the prior high. do you break out? don't you break out? make your bets. let's zero in on it. here is the chart. these are very well defined
these tops, as you can see. the presumption is, you see that gap there? that was a quarterly bead. here we are coming up to our next quarterly result. we're thinking you're going to gap out of this. here is the setup. here is your gap. nice. we gap again. we're going to bet long. we like netflix here for a new all-time high. >> mike, what do you think? >> deutsche bank upped their price target $133, a hold with price target $20 below where the stock is trading. part valuation basis look at what they are trading times sales, which is six times sales. but they are growing the top line at 25 to 30% and much like we had with amazon for the longest time, people aren't looking at, you know, the bottom line here, folks. what they are looking at is top line growth. frankly most people tuned into their screens at night, this is very likely the screen they are tuned into. someone is going to want to have
that. what's also interesting, going into earnings. this is a stock that moves very sharply on earnings, more than 13% on average. yet this time, strangely, only about 8.5%. so this definitely one of those situations where it could be expensive normally to buy options but less expensive this time making bullish bet best way to play it, 135, 155 calls. that's a $20 call spread. that will cost you $5.75. so you're spending about 5% of the stock price from here to march to make a bullish bet on a stock that normally moves more than 13%, you can risk 5 to make bullish bet, capture up to $20 on that spread. i think that's the way to play it. options are setting up nicely going into this catalyst for you to make a bet this way. >> if you're feeling brave that is the way to do it with defined risk especially given the facts options aren't the movement over the lifetime. that's moved -- since it's gone public 10 years or so, 10%.
that's astounding for a company this size. let me say this. i could have changed my tune last summer when stranger things dropped and became a phenomenon. you think about doing this again and again. golden globes, hbo getting blanked. who cares apple coming in, these guys have delivery mechanism. take it a step further, telephone, time-warner. $85 billion to vertically integrate. i said before this whole cycle is said and done these guys -- >> own content, buying it from everybody else, big issue was content cost was going to compress their margins. now that they are doing it, it's compressing their margins and nobody cares. that's the thing. we've learned our lesson here. parental that's not what investors are looking for. >> not for feint of heart. binary earns, as documented is very low on wall street. either it's going to break out or it's going to do exactly the opposite, back away from
breakout. >> 100 shares $13,300. this call spread cost you $575 but could be worth as much as $2,000. >> this is an options show but that call spread has a much lower probability of success. you're risking less. here is the thing. if you bought the stock here and it goes down $7 versus your call spread you lose two more. the chance is, much higher chance on march expiration back in the money. the main point is, it is a binary bet. you're willing to lose. >> hotte estest trade of last y about to cool off. what has them so nervous when "options action" returns. hey gary, what'd you got here? this bad boy is a mobile trading desk so that i can take my trading platform wherever i go. you know that thinkorswim seamlessly syncs across all your devices, right?
oh, so my custom studies will go with me? anywhere you want to go! the market's hot! sync your platform on any device with thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade c'mohappy birthday! i survived a heart attack. i'm doing all i can to keep from having another one. and i'm taking brilinta. for people who've been hospitalized for a heart attack. i take brilinta with a baby aspirin. no more than one hundred milligrams as it affects how well it works. brilinta helps keep my platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. brilinta reduced the chance of another heart attack. or dying from one. it worked better than plavix. don't stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. n't take brilinta if u have bleeding, like stomach ulcers,
a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. tell your doctor about bleeding, new or unexpected shortness of breath, any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. talk to your doctor about brilinta. i'm doing all i can. that includes brilinta. if you can't afford your medication, astra zeneca may be able to help.
hey nicole. hey! i just wanted to thank your support team for walking me through my first options trade. well, i feel pretty smart. well, we're all about educating people on options strategies. well, don't worry, i won't let this accomplishment go to my head. i'm still the same old gary. wait, you forgot your french dictionary. oh, mucho gracias. get help on options trading with thinkorswim, only at td ameritrade. welcome back to options. time to look back at open trades. last week dan bet that tech would drive nasdaq to new highs. take a listen. >> if you want to make a bet that the nasdaq is going to continue to breakout, just buy a call, at the money call fed 122 call when etf trading 122, offered 220, less than 2% of the
underlying stock price brakes even 124.20. >> nasdaq closed at a record today. so what's next, dan? >> this goes back to other other conversation betting on earnings without making the bet apple, amazon, facebook, microsoft, google, you know the drill here, are going to do something extraordinary. the qqq they make about 40%. this is a cheap way, the way options prices were underlying stock price i think you stick with it. >> stick wit. now to one of the hottest trades of last year. caterpillar, a few weeks ago thought the rally was about to fade. >> specifically the one that i was looking at here is in caterpillar. i'm looking at january 89, '85, put christmas tree. buy 93 strike puts and sell one of the 89s and one of the 85s against it. that entire package is going to have a net debit of about $0.90. >> the stock is pretty much flat sin then. so carter what do you see in the charts? >> it is sort of flat,
interestingly worse on the market. we haven't been paid. i think you stay here, the presumption that cat has gone too far off its january low. >> the spread we have on it is going to expire in a week. we can roll it out for what it's worth now, down $0.40, $0.50 where it's trading today roll it out to march similar structure, 92 pounlt 5, put trade, keep celebrating christmas here, folks. basically same downside break even. this is actually one of those trades where the decay of those two puts allowed us to keep this bearish bet and will allow us to do it another two months. >> up next, made a big deal of fast money 10th anniversary, "options action" celebrating one of its own. more on that after the break. [pony neighing] what? hey gary. oh. what's with the dog-sized horse? i'm crazy stressed trying to figure out this complex trade so i brought in my comfort pony, warren, to help me deal.
isn't that right warren? well, you could get support from thinkorswim's in-app chat. it lets you chat and share your screen directly with a live person right from the app, so you don't need a comfort pony. oh, so what about my motivational meerkat? in-app chat on thinkorswim. only at td ameritrade. still trying to find how ara good site.going? they all...want...to... charge me. have you tried credit karma? credit karma doesn't do taxes. does credit karma do taxes? yeah, and they're totally free, so they'll never take any of your refund. oooh, credit karma...huh? we... probably still want those. yeah, good call. file your taxes for free with credit karma tax.
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welcome to the premier of "options action," your front row seat to the smart money. i'm melissa lee, here's where the action is tonight. >> yes. eight years ago and a lot more hair. "options action" made its television debut. night owls recall back then we aired at 11:30 p.m. on a much more modest set. we've got a much better timeslot, grander stage, heart of the show remains the same, risking less to make more. from all of us here want to thank you for eachnd every friday making the show the success it is. >> if options is about timing, think about '09, that's a good time to start something. that's the absolute low. >> we saw the absolute low a couple months after we got started. back in those days general electric owned the network. that's one in big trouble, the big financial thing, talking about whether they could
rebound. obviously they have. so did options volume, materials on the web. great stuff. >> our time expired. i'm melissa lee. see you back next friday. don't go anywhere. "mad money" starts now. have a great weekend. the followg is a paid advertisement for time life. who are you? what are all these people doing in my living room? (laughter) (announcer) he was america's clown prince. i'll never drink any more. i'll never drink any less but i'll never drink any more. (laughter) (announcer) his heart was pure gold. if i knew you better, i'd just give you a real big kiss. -i'm george. -i'm alice. (laughter) (upbeat swinging music) ♪ |
If you ask a person to name the most effective hookup applications in the on-line dating scene, they would certainly likely state the name AdultFriendFinder. It is just one of the oldest hookup applications currently in operation, and also it’s been attracting a rather big user base since it first began (greater than 25 million gos to per month!!!) – Adultfriendfinder is easily the most prominent on the internet connection website on the internet. This dating system assists its users find appropriate sex companions with its numerous getting in touch with attributes and performance Whether you live in a big city or a town, the sheer appeal of this hookup website makes it a fantastic selection to try out. Adult Dating Sites That Work
Should you enroll in AdultFriendFinder To Have Sex?
There are a great deal of fantastic hookup apps around, but AdultFriendFinder is like the granddaddy of them all. There’s so much to do on below– and it’s incredibly safe and secure as well.
I think that AdultFriendFinder is possibly the most convenient way to find a friends-with-benefits circumstance without disparaging anybody. Everyone is practically there for the same reason, so you don’t need to worry about sensations getting entailed or a pair not getting on the very same page
You must definitely think about taking a peek inside this remarkable connection website, you can begin with the test as well as grad into a more satisfying paid solution when you prepare.
No Strings Attached (2nd option)
It’s an adult dating website that satisfies people interested in hookup and also one-night stand. You can discover lots of hotties below seeking no strings or low-commitment enjoyable. Because this site caters to people trying to find sex as well as connections, it’s most likely not the ideal option for those of you looking for long term partnership or marital relationship. Yet if you’re interested in meeting some attractive locals for an NSA connection, the No Strings Attached website has what you require. But is it the right choice for you? We want to assist you find the very best adult dating website for your one-of-a-kind, personal requirements. That’s why we’ll share all the important information you need to make up your mind about this website. In this short article, we’ll tell you everything about the website’s individuals, sign up procedure, safety and security, costs, and also far more. Maintain analysis, our full No Strings Attached evaluations are showing up next.
Worth for Money
Okay, the following point every person wants to know: Is No Strings Attached totally free? It’s extremely typical for dating sites such as this one to market as totally free to sign up with or to provide a complimentary trial duration. And also of course, It’s practically totally free to sign up with. Yet the majority of customers with a complimentary membership have a hard time obtaining one of the most out of the site. If you’re making use of No Strings Attached totally free, you could find that you have restricted access or restricted options when it comes to a few of the site’s essential features, like messaging.
Also the websites that are truly free to make use of can be loud and full of sidetracking advertisements. For some individuals, this can be a huge pain. If you have a hard time with hectic ads, it could even deserve it to use the paid variation of the site. This is where worth handles a personal relevance for each and every of us. That’s right, we’re about to get all philosophical on you. When it involves on-line dating, the suggestion of value is a relocating target. This suggests that your suggestion of value might be actually different from another person’s. Are you checking out value as the price per day or the variety of days you in fact go on? Or perhaps you want marital relationship as well as worth concerns meeting that right individual.
Before signing up with a website like No Strings Attached, you may wish to invest a little time defining the value you wish to get out of the website. Visualizing that you wish to fulfill on a dating website and also what sort of link you wish to develop with them is a vital initial step. When you have a clear feeling of this, you’re far more likely to locate experiences that associate your private interpretation of dating success.
If you came here hoping to read our No Strings Attached evaluates, we wish this write-up served. We understand you want hookup and also casual sex websites, which implies this website would certainly be a great fit on that degree. If you’re looking for attractive NSA experiences and also casual connections, this site should for sure be on your radar. And also if you’re questioning whether it’s the best website for you, with any luck you really feel a little closer to a choice after checking out the evaluation. DatePerfect wants to make sure you get one of the most out of your online dating experiences. Obviously, we can help by supplying you with a lot of info concerning the website concerned. Yet we can additionally aid with No Strings Attached discount codes and special deals. We’ll hook you up whenever feasible. Prepared to experiment with this website and also see if it has what you’ve been trying to find? See the No Strings Attached complete site to see for yourself.
For lots of fans of casual sexes arranged online, Passion.com needs no intro. This internet site has been in the casual sex market for over two decades as well as has a good online following.
Nevertheless, in addition to positive endorsements from participants who on a regular basis as well as effectively prepare connections, we have actually likewise seen many passion.com assesses claiming that this web site is absolutely nothing more than a rip-off. Are those insurance claims made by people who merely failed to discover a partner or is there reality to those point of views? In our interest com evaluation, we attempted to answer this concern at last.
How It Functions
Passion.com has little to no details offered to non listed site visitors, yet you can obtain a respectable concept concerning what the website does from the name and the history image on the website.
As soon as you finish completing the fields and also verify your profile, you can start surfing the internet site. Nonetheless, we should caution you, that without a paid subscription, www.passion.com is virtually ineffective. All you can do is use the search function and also browse the galleries, however also private accounts are women are not open to non-paying members.
Surprisingly for us, Passion.com does not have devoted mobile apps for either of the platforms, and the mobile variation of the internet site is instead restricted in its performance. We likewise discovered that the website is less NSFW than a few of the other services we have actually examined so far, possibly thanks to a better moderation system. Adult Dating Sites That Work
In an attempt to make your customer experience a lot more fascinating and reliable, passion.com uses a variety of added features. One of the most notable ones are:
Newsfeed, where you can see updates from various other participants, consisting of brand-new images, in real time.
Ballots, which permit you to allot points to the most eye-catching participants of the internet site. These participants are after that presented in the What’s Hot area and bring in more attention from various other customers.
Digital presents, which give you an opportunity to reveal your rate of interest in an additional member.
Chat rooms, where you can speak to groups of people or arrange a specific chat with the user you have an interest in.
Twist search, which permits you to look for participants utilizing particular sex choices and also views.
Who Can You Locate There?
Passion.com is an internet site created for people searching for a laid-back sexual experience, which is why you are unlikely to discover females trying to find a serious partnership here. The majority of the participants recognize precisely what they want before subscribing, which makes the search for an informal considerably less complicated.
You have numerous alternatives if you intend to locate a partner for a hot day. There is a suit system, which attaches you with individuals from the very same location as well as with the same choices. If you don’t see anyone you would love to welcome over, you can attempt the search attribute.
The search feature allows you to filter participants by a number of specifications, including their sexuality and also choices. Additionally, you can try surfing among the galleries, that include the highest rated participants, online participants, web cam users, and also others.
Numerous Enthusiasm assesses we have stumbled upon point out that the male to women proportion on the web site is about equivalent, as well as, after taking a close look at the participants for our passion.com testimonial, we often tend to agree. It implies that there likely won’t be way too much competition if you choose to become a member.
Exist any terrific attributes?
While we have actually been ragging on passion.com for their oversupply of attributes, it might be a perk for a lot of you to understand that you’ll be able to get any function you can consider and after that most likely extra. Let’s have a look at several of the more popular as well as a lot more handy functions we found throughout our evaluation. Adult Dating Sites That Work
The site has an extensive search feature that you’re enabled to make use of completely with your cost-free trial and also when you’re a paid member. Something that is nice is that you can alter what you’re trying to find from what you subscribed as. On some on the internet dating websites you’re required to search for what you registered for. If you’re a man that signs up as well as claims you are just looking for another lady, they will not let you look for anything else. With Passion.com, however, you have the ability to change whatever in your search.
You can likewise browse and sort by last visit time which is terrific to make sure that you’re communicating with energetic accounts. You’ll also notice that you can search by highlighted, confirmed, validated, gold, or VIP members to discover specifically what you’re seeking.
Wish to search by more criteria? You’re in good luck! If you are a paying member of Passion.com, you’ll get a ridiculous variety of various other search alternatives.
You can also make use of some various search attributes that are offered on top of the web page under the search food selection. These include who is energetic and on the internet, your latest suits that have actually just signed up with, participants that are close to you, VIP participants, as well as advanced and twist searches. You can also utilize the Hot or Not feature which is a swipe design function to aid you locate some new matches.
If you’ve ever questioned if there were any real partnerships at the end of a sex connection, you’re not the only one. While hookup sites are ending up being progressively popular with songs aiming to please their sexuality and also contact others, they have also come under fire by individuals who are tired of seeing individuals make use of other individuals and also capitalize on their lack of interaction. Below are some points you should learn about hookup internet sites:
When you join a hookup site, you’re essentially becoming part of a sex-related connection, even if it is just one that you have on the internet with one more individual. You must be mindful regarding whether you really want a serious connection with someone you satisfy on a dating site, or you can leave a hookup website when the time is.
There is a difference between connections and also relationships. While an individual can participate in sex hookup tasks, a person that wants a relationship is going to require to talk to the individual first. That’s because in a hookup, you are just having fun keeping that person in an initiative to satisfy even more individuals, but if you do not give them sufficient info to know whether they are a great fit for a connection or otherwise, you are likely leaving on your own available to abuse. You can still satisfy and also talk to individuals on the internet, however you require to make sure you have a strong suggestion regarding how your relationship will function before you enter into anything.
Sex connection websites have actually been around for several years, and they have actually aided individuals get in touch with others in a casual way that does not require a severe dedication. If you are trying to find an excellent way to meet people and meet several of your demands, you might locate that these sites are the perfect remedy for your requirements.
There are some sex sites out there that can take advantage of individuals. Some websites are full of spammers and scam artist, and also there are various other sites available that are simply frauds. It depends on you to locate the appropriate website, and then research the firm behind the site to make sure it isn’t a rip-off. You must do this even if the website sounds like it is a reputable website, since you never ever understand when someone is lying to you. Adult Dating Sites That Work
As soon as you’ve located the best connection website, you need to ensure you do all you can to prevent being benefited from. The rules that you use on the connection website resemble dating websites, so you ought to make certain you are utilizing your sound judgment when meeting a person online. Do not send personal call details such as e-mail addresses, telephone number, or address details through a web link that asks you to do so.
A good website will have policies and also guidelines to aid you make sure that no person gets disturbed when you do not follow through with a date with someone else. You don’t want to seem like they are trying to capitalize on you, and you do not want to really feel guilty or embarrassed when you don’t respond to a message. If you intend to get a true feel for the various other individual, you can merely send them an exclusive message on a public conversation site and see if they respond.
You can discover people on these websites with numerous sources, but it can be tough to locate the appropriate one for you. If you understand someone and you are looking for a brand-new partnership, make sure you approach them as a pal. If you are just looking for a hookup, you’ll have the ability to discover individuals conveniently as well as have a less complicated time locating people you desire. Simply keep in mind that with a little study, you can find the best sex hookup site for you and also get the kind of partnership you need without putting on your own at way too much risk.
If you ask someone to call the best connection apps in the online dating scene, they would probably say the name AdultFriendFinder. It is among the earliest connection apps presently in operation, as well as it’s been bring in a quite big individual base ever since it first started (more than 25 million brows through each month!!!) – Adultfriendfinder is conveniently one of the most prominent on-line connection site online. This dating system assists its individuals locate ideal sex companions via its several getting in touch with functions as well as functionality Whether you live in a huge city or a town, the large popularity of this hookup website makes it a fantastic choice to check out. Adult Dating Sites That Work
Should you enroll in AdultFriendFinder To Have Sex?
There are a lot of excellent hookup applications around, yet AdultFriendFinder is like the grandfather of them all. There’s so much to do on right here– and it’s exceptionally safe as well.
I think that AdultFriendFinder is perhaps the easiest way to discover a friends-with-benefits situation without insulting anybody. Everyone is virtually there for the exact same factor, so you don’t have to worry about feelings getting entailed or a couple not being on the exact same web page
You need to certainly take into consideration taking a peek inside this outstanding connection site, you can start with the trial as well as grad into a more fulfilling paid solution when you prepare.
No Strings Attached (2nd option)
It’s a grown-up dating site that caters to individuals interested in hookup and also one-night stand. You can find lots of hotties here looking for no strings or low-commitment enjoyable. Given that this website satisfies individuals seeking sex as well as hookups, it’s possibly not the best selection for those of you looking for long term collaboration or marital relationship. Yet if you’re interested in meeting some sexy citizens for an NSA partnership, the No Strings Attached website has what you need. But is it the ideal selection for you? We want to help you find the most effective adult dating site for your one-of-a-kind, personal requirements. That’s why we’ll share all the vital details you need to compose your mind about this website. In this write-up, we’ll tell you everything about the website’s customers, register procedure, security, prices, and much more. Maintain analysis, our complete No Strings Attached testimonials are showing up following.
Value for Money
Okay, the following thing every person wishes to know: Is No Strings Attached free? It’s extremely usual for dating websites like this one to promote as totally free to join or to provide a totally free test period. And indeed, It’s technically totally free to sign up with. However most users with a free subscription have a difficult time obtaining one of the most out of the site. If you’re making use of No Strings Attached totally free, you may find that you have restricted accessibility or restricted choices when it comes to some of the site’s essential attributes, like messaging.
Also the websites that are genuinely totally free to make use of can be noisy and also loaded with distracting ads. For some people, this can be a huge discomfort. If you have a hard time with hectic advertisements, it could also deserve it to make use of the paid version of the site. This is where value tackles a personal relevance for each of us. That’s right, we’re about to get all thoughtful on you. When it comes to on-line dating, the idea of value is a moving target. This means that your idea of value could be actually various from an additional individual’s. Are you taking a look at value as the cost per day or the variety of dates you really go on? Or perhaps you’re interested in marriage and also value pertains to conference that right individual.
Before signing up with a site like No Strings Attached, you might want to invest a little time defining the value you wish to leave the site. Visualizing who you intend to meet on a dating website as well as what kind of connection you would love to create with them is a crucial first step. When you have a clear sense of this, you’re much more most likely to locate experiences that line up with your private definition of dating success.
If you came right here wanting to review our No Strings Attached examines, we wish this post was useful. We know you’re interested in hookup and one-night stand sites, which indicates this website would be a good fit on that particular level. If you’re trying to find hot NSA experiences as well as casual connections, this website must without a doubt get on your radar. As well as if you’re wondering whether it’s the best site for you, hopefully you really feel a little closer to a decision after reading the review. DatePerfect intends to make sure you get the most out of your online dating experiences. Of course, we can help by supplying you with a lot of info about the website in question. We can also help with No Strings Attached promo codes and special offers. We’ll hook you up whenever feasible. All set to try out this website and see if it has what you’ve been seeking? Visit the No Strings Attached complete site to see on your own.
For lots of fans of one-night stands arranged online, Passion.com requires no intro. This website has remained in the casual sex market for over twenty years and has a suitable online complying with.
Nevertheless, together with positive endorsements from participants who consistently and effectively organize hookups, we have also seen several passion.com evaluates declaring that this web site is absolutely nothing more than a rip-off. Are those claims made by people who just failed to discover a companion or exists reality to those opinions? In our interest com review, we attempted to address this question once and for all.
Just how It Works
Passion.com has little to no details offered to non listed site visitors, however you can obtain a pretty good idea concerning what the internet site does from the name and also the history picture on the website.
When you complete filling in the fields and confirm your account, you can begin browsing the internet site. Nonetheless, we have to warn you, that without a paid membership, www.passion.com is pretty much worthless. All you can do is use the search feature as well as browse the galleries, but even individual profiles are ladies are not open to non-paying participants.
Surprisingly for us, Passion.com does not have committed mobile apps for either of the platforms, and also the mobile variation of the web site is rather restricted in its capability. We also discovered that the website is less NSFW than several of the other services we have actually reviewed thus far, perhaps thanks to a much better moderation system. Adult Dating Sites That Work
In an effort to make your customer experience much more intriguing as well as efficient, passion.com offers a variety of additional features. The most noteworthy ones are:
Newsfeed, where you can see updates from various other members, consisting of new images, in real time.
Votes, which permit you to allot points to one of the most attractive participants of the web site. These members are after that displayed in the What’s Hot area and also attract more interest from various other individuals.
Digital presents, which provide you a possibility to share your passion in another member.
Chatroom, where you can speak to groups of individuals or arrange an individual conversation with the customer you have an interest in.
Kink search, which allows you to look for participants using particular sex preferences and also sights.
That Can You Discover There?
Passion.com is a website created for people trying to find a casual sex-related experience, which is why you are unlikely to discover females seeking a serious relationship right here. A lot of the members recognize precisely what they desire prior to registering, that makes the search for a laid-back substantially simpler.
You have several options if you wish to discover a companion for a hot date. There is a suit system, which connects you with people from the very same location and with the exact same preferences. If you do not see anyone you would like to invite over, you can try the search feature.
The search feature enables you to filter members by several criteria, including their sexuality and also preferences. Additionally, you can try searching one of the galleries, that include the greatest rated members, on-line participants, cam individuals, and others.
Several Interest assesses we have actually discovered explain that the man to female proportion on the internet site is roughly equivalent, as well as, after taking a close check out the members for our passion.com review, we often tend to concur. It implies that there likely won’t be too much competition if you make a decision to become a participant.
Exist any kind of excellent attributes?
While we have actually been ragging on passion.com for their excess of attributes, it may be a perk for a great deal of you to know that you’ll be able to get any kind of attribute you can consider and after that most likely more. Allow’s have a look at a few of the extra popular and also more helpful attributes we discovered throughout our review. Adult Dating Sites That Work
The website has an extensive search function that you’re enabled to use in full with your complimentary trial and when you’re a paid participant. Something that behaves is that you can transform what you’re seeking from what you signed up as. On some on the internet dating sites you’re compelled to try to find what you signed up for. As an example, if you’re a guy that subscribes and also says you are only trying to find another female, they will not let you try to find anything else. With Passion.com, however, you are able to change whatever in your search.
You can also browse and also arrange by last visit time which is terrific to make certain that you’re interacting with energetic accounts. You’ll additionally discover that you can look by highlighted, verified, confirmed, gold, or VIP participants to locate exactly what you’re seeking.
Intend to search by even more standards? You’re in good luck! If you are a paying member of Passion.com, you’ll obtain an outrageous number of other search choices.
You can additionally use some various search attributes that are offered on top of the web page under the search menu. These include that is energetic as well as on the internet, your most recent suits that have actually simply joined, members who are close to you, VIP participants, and also progressed and also kink searches. You can likewise use the Hot or otherwise feature which is a swipe design function to assist you discover some new matches.
If you have actually ever before questioned if there were any type of actual relationships at the end of a sex connection, you’re not the only one. While connection websites are becoming significantly prominent with singles wanting to satisfy their sexual urges as well as contact others, they have also come under fire by individuals that are tired of seeing people take advantage of other people and also make the most of their absence of communication. Right here are some points you must know about hookup web sites:
When you join a hookup site, you’re essentially entering into a sexual connection, even if it is simply one that you have on the internet with an additional person. You ought to be careful regarding whether you really desire a major relationship with somebody you meet on a dating site, or you can leave a hookup site when the time is right.
There is a distinction in between connections and partnerships. While an individual can take part in sex hookup activities, a person who is interested in a relationship is mosting likely to need to speak with the individual first. That’s because in a hookup, you are simply enjoying with that said individual in an initiative to meet more people, but if you do not give them enough information to know whether they are an excellent fit for a relationship or not, you are likely leaving on your own open to misuse. You can still satisfy as well as speak to people on-line, yet you require to make certain you have a strong idea as to just how your relationship will certainly function prior to you become part of anything.
Sex hookup websites have actually been around for many years, and also they have helped individuals connect with others in a laid-back way that does not call for a major dedication. If you are looking for a great way to meet individuals as well as meet a few of your demands, you may locate that these sites are the perfect remedy for your needs.
There are some sex sites out there that can take advantage of people. Some websites teem with spammers and also scam artist, and also there are other sites around that are just frauds. It depends on you to find the appropriate website, and after that research the company behind the site to make certain it isn’t a fraud. You must do this even if the website seems like it is a reputable site, due to the fact that you never understand when a person is lying to you. Adult Dating Sites That Work
As soon as you’ve located the ideal connection website, you require to make sure you do all you can to stay clear of being taken advantage of. The policies that you make use of on the connection website are similar to dating websites, so you should see to it you are utilizing your good sense when meeting someone online. Don’t send personal call info such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers, or address information via a link that asks you to do so.
A great website will have regulations and also standards to aid you ensure that nobody obtains distressed when you do not follow through with a day with somebody else. You don’t intend to feel like they are attempting to make the most of you, and you don’t wish to really feel guilty or embarrassed when you do not respond to a message. If you want to obtain a real feel for the various other person, you can simply send them a personal message on a public conversation site and also see if they react.
You can discover people on these sites via several sources, yet it can be hard to discover the appropriate one for you. If you recognize someone as well as you are trying to find a brand-new relationship, make certain you approach them as a friend first. If you are just searching for a connection, you’ll be able to discover people conveniently as well as have an easier time locating people you want. Just keep in mind that with a little research study, you can locate the best sex connection site for you and also obtain the sort of partnership you need without placing yourself at way too much threat. |
In the days leading up to New Year’s, churches and fire companies across Lancaster County are busy preparing pork and sauerkraut. For them, the dinners help to raise needed funding for projects and equipment. As for those who celebrate the New Year with the hearty Pennsylvania Dutch meal, they hope it will bring them wealth, health and good luck.
How did we come to eat pork and sauerkraut for New Year’s? It’s a cultural thing that dates back to Germany and made the transition to America. Food historian, author and Pennsylvania Dutch cooking authority William Woys Weaver explains that the tradition grew out of the mid-winter feasts that coincided with the ritual of butchering hogs. Also, cabbage that had been fermenting since the fall harvest was ready to eat. Add some potatoes and the Pennsylvania Germans had a tasty meal to enjoy for New Year’s and beyond. Even after home butchering became passé in the late 1800s, the pork and sauerkraut dinners continued – notably to ring in the New Year.
The tasty dinner – which provides a nice transition from decadent holiday fare – also has some superstitions connected to it. Pork has a positive connotation – pigs root forward. The bright-green cabbage represents the color of money. I remember my grandmother telling us sauerkraut was for good luck, that green foods would bring money in the New Year.
The tale connected to cabbage/sauerkraut also promises that the number of shreds you eat will be proportionate to the state of your wealth, health or luck in the coming year. Finding an extra-long shred equates to living a long life.
Jack’s Blue Ribbon Sauerkraut
As Christmas approached last year, my close friend Erin Young suggested that I follow “Gramps” around when he makes sauerkraut. Gramps is Jack Hillard, whose sauerkraut is highly regarded among connoisseurs. On the occasions I’ve had to sample it, I always noticed it didn’t last long. This past fall, his sauerkraut won a blue ribbon at the New Holland Farmers Fair.
Appreciating craftsmanship, quality and history, Jack has a shared affinity for antique cookware – not for the sake of collecting, but for utilitarian purposes. When I stopped by one evening to visit, Jack was pouring water into a couple of old stoneware crocks he had recently bought. Noting my curiosity, he explained he was checking for leaks before the big sauerkraut-making day got underway.
In New Holland, the Hillard family has roots immediately neighboring my own Overly and also Kurtz families. I grew up with Jack’s grandson, John, and only years later did I learn that my Uncle Neal and Grandpa Overly used to ride dirt bikes with Jack and his son, Todd. Pictures that go back 100 years or more verify the connections between
I looked at my time with Jack as an opportunity to ask about local and family history. A New Year’s resolution worth keeping: spend time this year learning or teaching an old recipe with a family member. Passing on traditions and stories that live outside a handwritten recipe can pay dividends across generations.
If you can’t find any crocks in your grandmother’s attic and don’t want to pay an exorbitant amount at local antiques shops, Reading China & Glass has a great selection of Pacific Merchant’s traditional fermentation crocks, ranging from $100 for a 5-liter to $206 for a 20-liter with a lid included, as well as Ohio Stoneware crocks, priced at $50 for a 5-gallon size.
While beautiful, finding a home to store a crock can be challenging. Another key consideration of stoneware crocks is weight. Empty, they’re hefty, but after filling a 5-gallon crock with 25 pounds of shredded cabbage and water, it suddenly takes on a new level of immobility.
If you’re looking to save some green, commercial food-grade plastic buckets are less glamorous but are lightweight and functional. (Avoid using a 5-gallon bucket from a hardware store, or at least consider a food-safe bucket liner.) Some restaurants may be willing to part with leftover food-grade buckets.
I opted for a clear, 22-quart, commercial food-grade bucket from The Restaurant Store. Including the lid, my $25 purchase will provide utility – particularly when canning – and weighs very little.
Tips for Making Sauerkraut
Waiting until after the first frost to buy your cabbage offers a critical advantage: vegetables hit with frost produce sugars that prevent the water content in their leaves from freezing as quickly. This typically makes for sweeter vegetables and, in the case of fermenting, serves as food for bacteria that converts sugars to acid to make sauerkraut. When visiting your local farmstead, ask when the first frost is expected. Find out how quickly after harvest you can get your cabbage fermenting; the shorter the duration, the better.
According to Andy Hirneisen, senior food safety educator at Penn State Extension in Leesport, ideal varieties of cabbage include resistant Golden Acre, Danish Ballhead and Late Flathead.
A 5-gallon crock is ideal for a single batch, ensuring consistent fermentation that might not be possible in smaller containers. Twenty-five pounds of green cabbage paired with 3/4 cups of canning salt will fill a 5-gallon crock perfectly, leaving room for extra brine, if necessary, without risking an overflow. The salt helps to prevent the growth of undesirable bacteria, such as salmonella, listeria and E. coli, while extracting water for safe bacteria to grow. Cabbage will vary in size, but that cabbage-to-salt ratio is scientifically tested and food safe for fermenting sauerkraut.
- Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-Op Red Sauerkraut: funky, tender, with an identical flavor to traditional sauerkraut.
- Gap View Homestead Raw Saurkraut (Kinzers, PA): crunchy, delicate, simple.
- Oak Lane Kitchen Kraut (Lancaster) – crunchiest, my personal favorite for classic expectations.
- Hawthorne Valley (New York) Turmeric: warm and spicy, fitting for the winter months.
- Hawthorne Valley (New York) Caraway Sauerkraut: robust and aromatic.
Removing the outer leaves, wash each cabbage, quarter and remove the stalk. Ideally, each slice of the cabbage will produce even cuts roughly the width of a 25-cent coin. A mandoline slicer can save time while producing even cuts. Personally, I find them terrifying and will stick to an 8-inch cook’s knife.
The liquid in fermenting sauerkraut is released by adding canning salt. A potato masher works well for this purpose.
During fermentation, oxygen can lead to the formation of mold. A dinner plate held down with a water-filled resealable bag will keep the cabbage submerged in the acidic brine. When covered with a kitchen towel, carbon dioxide from the fermenting process can escape without pressure buildup.
Sauerkraut will take three to four weeks of fermenting at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. At 60 to 65 degrees, fermentation may take five or six weeks, and below that temperature, it may not ferment at all. Temperatures above 75 degrees may cause the cabbage to lose the desired crunch and become soft.
Sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator for several months in air-tight containers. For canning purposes, use a boiling water bath in pint containers for 20 minutes or quart containers for 25 minutes, with 1/4 inch of headspace. Canning is more likely to provide an optimal texture, but it will kill bacteria, good and bad. When preserving in freezer-designated bags, press out the air, seal, date and lay flat so the sauerkraut freezes faster to preserve texture.
New Year’s Day Pork & Sauerkraut Dinners
Note: Most dinners are served family-style and a majority offer takeout. Prices typically range from $10-$15 for adults. Prices for children vary.
Robert Fulton Fire Company
2271 Robert Fulton Highway, Peach Bottom. 717-548-8995. Rffc89.com
11 a.m.-4 p.m., Takeout, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
10 Delp Rd. Stpeterslutheran.org. 717-569-9211
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Lancaster Church of the Brethren
1601 Sunset Ave. 717-569-5277. Lancob.org
11 a.m-3 p.m.
Kinzer Fire Company
3521 Lincoln Highway East. 717-442-3329. Kinzerfire.com
10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Zion Lutheran Church
18 Quarry Road, Leola. 717-656-9200. Zionleola.org
11 a.m.-3 p.m.
722 S. Chiques Rd., Manheim. 717-898-8451 (after 4 p.m.). Lancasterliederkranz.com
11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Fivepointville Fire Company
1087 Dry Tavern Rd., Denver. 717-445-4933. Fivepointvillefire.net/
10:30 a.m-1:30 p.m.
St. Joseph Catholic Church
440 St. Joseph St., Lancaster. Stjosephslanc.com. 717- 397-6921 |
Molecular mechanisms governing the development of mammalian cochlea, the hearing organ, remain largely unknown. Through genome sequencing in three subjects from two families with non-syndromic cochlear aplasia, we identified homozygous 221 KB and 338 KB deletions in a non-coding region on chromosome 8 with an ~200 KB overlapping section. Genomic location of the overlapping deleted region was starting from ~350 KB downstream of GDF6. Otic lineage cells differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from an affected individual show reduced expression of GDF6 compared to control cells. A mouse knock-out of Gdf6 reveals cochlear aplasia closely resembling the human phenotype. We conclude that GDF6 plays a necessary role in early cochlear development controlled by cis-regulatory elements located within ~500 KB region of the genome in humans and that its disruption leads to deafness due to cochlear aplasia.
Guney Bademci, Clemer Abad, Filiz Basak Cengiz, Serhat Seyhan, Armagan Incesulu, Shengru Guo, Suat Fitoz, Emine Ikbal Atli, Nicholas C. Gosstola, Selma Demir, Brett M. Colbert, Gozde Cosar Seyhan, Claire J. Sineni, Duygu Duman, Hakan Gurkan, Cynthia Casson Morton, Derek M. Dykxhoorn, Katherina Walz, Mustafa Tekin
Hearing loss is a significant public health concern, affecting over 250 million people worldwide. Both genetic and environmental etiologies are linked to hearing loss, but in many cases the underlying cellular pathophysiology is not well understood, highlighting the importance of further discovery. We found that inactivation of the gene, Tmtc4 (transmembrane and tetratricopeptide repeat 4), which was broadly expressed in the mouse cochlea, caused acquired hearing loss in mice. Our data showed Tmtc4 enriched in the endoplasmic reticulum, and that it functioned by regulating Ca2+ dynamics and the unfolded protein response (UPR). Given this genetic linkage of the UPR to hearing loss, we demonstrated a direct link between the more common noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the UPR. These experiments suggested a novel approach to treatment. We demonstrated that the small-molecule UPR and stress response modulator ISRIB (Integrated Stress Response Inhibitor), which activates eIF2B, prevented NIHL in a mouse model. Moreover, in an inverse genetic complementation approach, we demonstrated that mice with homozygous inactivation of both Tmtc4 and Chop had less hearing loss than knockout of Tmtc4 alone. This study implicated a novel mechanism for hearing impairment, highlighting a potential treatment approach for a broad range of human hearing-loss disorders.
Jiang Li, Omar Akil, Stephanie L. Rouse, Conor W. McLaughlin, Ian R. Matthews, Lawrence R. Lustig, Dylan K. Chan, Elliott H. Sherr
A modifier variant can abrogate risk of a monogenic disorder. DFNM1 is a locus on chromosome 1 encoding a dominant suppressor of human DFNB26 recessive, profound deafness. Here, we report that DFNB26 is associated with a substitution (p.Gly116Glu) in the pleckstrin-homology-domain of GAB1, an essential scaffold in the MET/HGF pathway. A dominant substitution (p.Arg544Gln) of METTL13, encoding a predicted methyltransferase, is the DFNM1 suppressor of GAB1-associated deafness. In zebrafish, human METTL13 mRNA harboring the modifier allele rescues the GAB1 associated morphant phenotype. In mouse, GAB1 and METTL13 co-localize in auditory sensory neurons, and METTL13 co-immunoprecipitates with GAB1 and SPRY2, indicating at least a tripartite complex. Expression of MET-signaling genes in human lymphoblastoid cells of individuals homozygous for p.Gly116Glu GAB1 revealed dysregulation of HGF, MET, SHP2, and SPRY2, all of which have reported variants associated with deafness. However, SPRY2 was not dysregulated in normal-hearing humans homozygous for both the GAB1 DFNB26 deafness variant and the dominant METTL13 deafness suppressor, indicating a plausible mechanism of suppression. Identification of METTL13-based modification of MET-signaling provides potential therapeutic strategy for a wide range of associated hearing disorders. Furthermore, MET-signaling is essential for diverse functions in many tissues including the inner ear. Therefore, identification of the modifier of MET-signaling is likely to have broad clinical implications.
Rizwan Yousaf, Zubair M. Ahmed, Arnaud P.J. Giese, Robert J. Morell, Ayala Lagziel, Alain Dabdoub, Edward R. Wilcox, Sheikh Riazuddin, Thomas B. Friedman, Saima Riazuddin
Exposure to aminoglycoside antibiotics can lead to the generation of toxic levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within mechanosensory hair cells of the inner ear that have been implicated in hearing and balance disorders. Better understanding of the origin of aminoglycoside-induced ROS could focus the development of therapies aimed at preventing this event. In this work, we used the zebrafish lateral line system to monitor the dynamic behavior of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic oxidation occurring within the same dying hair cell following exposure to aminoglycosides. The increased oxidation observed in both mitochondria and cytoplasm of dying hair cells was highly correlated with mitochondrial calcium uptake. Application of the mitochondrial uniporter inhibitor Ru360 reduced mitochondrial and cytoplasmic oxidation, suggesting that mitochondrial calcium drives ROS generation during aminoglycoside-induced hair cell death. Furthermore, targeting mitochondria with free radical scavengers conferred superior protection against aminoglycoside exposure compared with identical, untargeted scavengers. Our findings suggest that targeted therapies aimed at preventing mitochondrial oxidation have therapeutic potential to ameliorate the toxic effects of aminoglycoside exposure.
Robert Esterberg, Tor Linbo, Sarah B. Pickett, Patricia Wu, Henry C. Ou, Edwin W. Rubel, David W. Raible
Bacterial infections represent a rapidly growing challenge to human health. Aminoglycosides are widely used broad-spectrum antibiotics, but they inflict permanent hearing loss in up to ~50% of patients by causing selective sensory hair cell loss. Here, we hypothesized that reducing aminoglycoside entry into hair cells via mechanotransducer channels would reduce ototoxicity, and therefore we synthesized 9 aminoglycosides with modifications based on biophysical properties of the hair cell mechanotransducer channel and interactions between aminoglycosides and the bacterial ribosome. Compared with the parent aminoglycoside sisomicin, all 9 derivatives displayed no or reduced ototoxicity, with the lead compound N1MS 17 times less ototoxic and with reduced penetration of hair cell mechanotransducer channels in rat cochlear cultures. Both N1MS and sisomicin suppressed growth of
Markus E. Huth, Kyu-Hee Han, Kayvon Sotoudeh, Yi-Ju Hsieh, Thomas Effertz, Andrew A. Vu, Sarah Verhoeven, Michael H. Hsieh, Robert Greenhouse, Alan G. Cheng, Anthony J. Ricci
Auditory prostheses can partially restore speech comprehension when hearing fails. Sound coding with current prostheses is based on electrical stimulation of auditory neurons and has limited frequency resolution due to broad current spread within the cochlea. In contrast, optical stimulation can be spatially confined, which may improve frequency resolution. Here, we used animal models to characterize optogenetic stimulation, which is the optical stimulation of neurons genetically engineered to express the light-gated ion channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). Optogenetic stimulation of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) activated the auditory pathway, as demonstrated by recordings of single neuron and neuronal population responses. Furthermore, optogenetic stimulation of SGNs restored auditory activity in deaf mice. Approximation of the spatial spread of cochlear excitation by recording local field potentials (LFPs) in the inferior colliculus in response to suprathreshold optical, acoustic, and electrical stimuli indicated that optogenetic stimulation achieves better frequency resolution than monopolar electrical stimulation. Virus-mediated expression of a ChR2 variant with greater light sensitivity in SGNs reduced the amount of light required for responses and allowed neuronal spiking following stimulation up to 60 Hz. Our study demonstrates a strategy for optogenetic stimulation of the auditory pathway in rodents and lays the groundwork for future applications of cochlear optogenetics in auditory research and prosthetics.
Victor H. Hernandez, Anna Gehrt, Kirsten Reuter, Zhizi Jing, Marcus Jeschke, Alejandro Mendoza Schulz, Gerhard Hoch, Matthias Bartels, Gerhard Vogt, Carolyn W. Garnham, Hiromu Yawo, Yugo Fukazawa, George J. Augustine, Ernst Bamberg, Sebastian Kügler, Tim Salditt, Livia de Hoz, Nicola Strenzke, Tobias Moser
Therapeutic drugs with ototoxic side effects cause significant hearing loss for thousands of patients annually. Two major classes of ototoxic drugs are cisplatin and the aminoglycoside antibiotics, both of which are toxic to mechanosensory hair cells, the receptor cells of the inner ear. A critical need exists for therapies that protect the inner ear without inhibiting the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs. The induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs) inhibits both aminoglycoside- and cisplatin-induced hair cell death and hearing loss. We hypothesized that exposure to sound that is titrated to stress the inner ear without causing permanent damage would induce HSPs in the cochlea and inhibit ototoxic drug–induced hearing loss. We developed a sound exposure protocol that induces HSPs without causing permanent hearing loss. We used this protocol in conjunction with a newly developed mouse model of cisplatin ototoxicity and found that preconditioning mouse inner ears with sound has a robust protective effect against cisplatin-induced hearing loss and hair cell death. Sound therapy also provided protection against aminoglycoside-induced hearing loss. These data indicate that sound preconditioning protects against both classes of ototoxic drugs, and they suggest that sound therapy holds promise for preventing hearing loss in patients receiving these drugs.
Soumen Roy, Matthew M. Ryals, Astrid Botty Van den Bruele, Tracy S. Fitzgerald, Lisa L. Cunningham
Mutations in human SLC26A4 are a common cause of hearing loss associated with enlarged vestibular aqueducts (EVA). SLC26A4 encodes pendrin, an anion-base exchanger expressed in inner ear epithelial cells that secretes HCO3– into endolymph. Studies of Slc26a4-null mice indicate that pendrin is essential for inner ear development, but have not revealed whether pendrin is specifically necessary for homeostasis. Slc26a4-null mice are profoundly deaf, with severe inner ear malformations and degenerative changes that do not model the less severe human phenotype. Here, we describe studies in which we generated a binary transgenic mouse line in which Slc26a4 expression could be induced with doxycycline. The transgenes were crossed onto the Slc26a4-null background so that all functional pendrin was derived from the transgenes. Varying the temporal expression of Slc26a4 revealed that E16.5 to P2 was the critical interval in which pendrin was required for acquisition of normal hearing. Lack of pendrin during this period led to endolymphatic acidification, loss of the endocochlear potential, and failure to acquire normal hearing. Doxycycline initiation at E18.5 or discontinuation at E17.5 resulted in partial hearing loss approximating the human EVA auditory phenotype. These data collectively provide mechanistic insight into hearing loss caused by SLC26A4 mutations and establish a model for further studies of EVA-associated hearing loss.
Byung Yoon Choi, Hyoung-Mi Kim, Taku Ito, Kyu-Yup Lee, Xiangming Li, Kelly Monahan, Yaqing Wen, Elizabeth Wilson, Kiyoto Kurima, Thomas L. Saunders, Ronald S. Petralia, Philine Wangemann, Thomas B. Friedman, Andrew J. Griffith |
The Organizational Zoo is a well researched and developed set of metaphors that will enable you and your organisation to enhance performance and reduce stress.
Each animal or plant represents an intuitively recognisable behavioural style commonly encountered in organisations and social settings. By developing an understanding of the animals and how they interact, you will learn to interact in a way that secures the optimal outcomes for all parties.
Zoo Philosophy highlights that modern organisations are like zoos: they are unnatural environments where animals not naturally associated with each other are clustered into small cages and forced to interact, sometimes against their will. This unnatural environment causes stress that can lead to difficult situations and generate a negative and political culture.
The Organizational Zoo metaphor can relieve these stresses by providing a different perspective and a fun way to build relationships and generate positive change. Years of research and practice on these natural (animal and plant) metaphors, has shown that they can be used to enhance the performance of individuals, teams and organisations. The methods are simple and intuitive for workshop participants when delivered by a trained Organizational Zoo Ambassador.
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Union opened up about their nine-year age gap in a interview with Essence , revealing that it didn’t take her long to see that their difference in years didn’t matter at all. I thought you were 12′,” she said. He’s an old soul. The pair eventually married in , and welcomed a baby girl, Kaavia James, via surrogate in They have two sons together, Milan, 6 and Sasha, 4, and incidentally both share the same birthday, February 2 10 years apart, obviously. I even had lost my faith for a while. I was becoming as agnostic,” she said. And suddenly I meet Gerard and the sun comes out. Arguably one of the most famous older-woman-younger-man relationships in Hollywood in recent years, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas caused a stir when they stepped out together at the Met Gala, although their relationship wasn’t made official until mid
The Best Dating Apps to Make 2020 a Year for Love
Sharon Stone is having some problems with Bumble. The actress – star of Basic Instinct and Casino – was blocked from the app when some users didn’t believe her profile was authentic. After all, how often do you come across a genuine screen icon on a dating app. But it turns out that Sharon isn’t the only VIP looking for love online.
Skeptical? We put these dating apps to the test to determine which among them is more credible. You never know, you might just meet your.
The top 10 online dating sites and apps in Toronto. Online dating sites and apps in Toronto give those of us looking for love a chance to see what’s out there beyond the other places you meet people in the city. These websites aren’t always Toronto-specific, but they’re popular amongst local singles. There are well over 4, people between 18 and 35 registered on the site in the Toronto area, including those looking for same sex partnerships.
OKCupid, in many Toronto circles, is known as the site to tap if you’re looking for someone to accompany you to Trinity Bellwoods Park, followed by brunch at the Drake and lots of conversation. Over 1,, daters visit this free dating website every day, but don’t worry, you can narrow your search down to any city or town in the GTA. Once you find a match, this site even suggests things to do in the city that correspond with your common interests. Shaadi is an Indian dating site or matrimonial service provider.
Just in case there was any further doubt as to its intention, your search consists of looking for a life partner, not simply an online match, and there’s wedding information right on the site. The Jewish dating site gives singles the opportunity to find matches based on a variety of characteristics. It also works for same sex matches.
40 Celebrity Couples With Big Age Differences
Exclusive Bonus:. The stigma toward dating apps is fading, and these apps are quickly becoming better normal way to meet and connect with other single people. Are is for of the most famous dating apps out there, and the obvious first choice on our list of the best dating apps. As successful as it is at forming long-distance relationships and successful marriages , Tinder has long been accused of changing dating into some form of apps game.
The Tinder app that longer requires you to have a Dating account, but you do have to be older than. Once enabled, you can set up a concise profile that consists of a character for and up to six images we suggest always including a photo.
GEORDIE LASS CHLOE FERRY, SINGING & RUGBY PRO LEVI DAVIS, TOWIE HEART-THROB PETE WICKS & LOVE ISLAND FAVOURITE.
Dream now, travel later! With the help of technology, we can meet people from the other side of the world and become friends with them. Thanks to our smartphones, we can discover compatible people through friendship and dating apps and improve our communication channels, as well as extending our social networks. Apps to find friends are not only useful for socialising: Chat apps are among the most-searched applications in Google Play and the App Store and these are often utilized for professional connections as well.
What are the most effective apps directing our personal and professional lives? When it comes to dating in Germany, and particularly dating in Istanbul, the Tinder app, which is used extensively around the world, is also widely used across Germany to meet new people or even just engage in German chat. As an award-winning app, the ease of use and safe structure of Tinder have drawn attention.
Much more than a mobile app for many people, Tinder also represents a life style. Very successful in producing marriages and long-term relationships, Tinder has transformed a method of meeting new friends into an entertaining — and addictive – game.
14 Female Celebrities Who Dated Younger Men
Whether you love or loathe Tinder , there is no denying it has changed online dating forever. As a result there is now no end of apps with the same aim of helping you fall in love and live happily ever after, or at the least find someone to hang out with next weekend. Whether it’s matching you on your favourite interests or finding someone who you share mutual friends with.
Here, we take the biggest alternatives to Tinder and give them a spin to find out what if anything they do differently and what sets them apart. The audience is mostly made up of young straight couples, but the app encourages everyone to join in and gender options are relatively vast for a dating app.
Discover the best Dating in Best Sellers. Find the top most popular items in Amazon Books Best Sellers.
But even though we can’t go out to meet potential new love interests, that doesn’t mean things have to be put on hold. Of course, you can still use apps like Tinder , Bumble and Hinge to swipe through potential love interests, which has become even more popular as people now have more time on their hands to commit to it.
In an attempt to keep things interesting under lockdown, dating apps are stepping up. Many apps are encouraging virtual dating as there’s no chance of physical contact in the near future. These are the apps that have released new features specifically aimed at helping you find love in the time of corona. You can trust our independent round-ups. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice.
This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent. Once your profile is set up and you start swiping, when you match with someone the woman has 24 hours to message otherwise the match is deleted. The app is for same sex couples too, and in that case anyone can start the conversation. New updates: Bumble has a built-in video calling and voice calling feature that its CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd, is encouraging people to use and embrace a virtual date instead.
These are the best dating apps out there, now that our lives are *starting* to get back to normal
You meet people, talk to them, and maybe start dating if enough sparks fly. There are some dating apps out there that can help this process along. However, based on our research, dating apps in general still need major improvements. Most of these experiences were frustrating, but a few stood out as being usable.
That being said, it hasn’t stopped many famous women from dating—and sometimes marrying—men many years their junior.
Find out the latest on famous celebrity couples and married celebrities news. Ben Affleck and his girlfriend, Ana de Armas, shared a super sweet selfie together, on 17 August, leaving fans gushing over their appearance. In the…. Eamonn Holmes has posted the sweetest video to his social media, all about one of the biggest loves of his life: his rescue dog, Maggie!
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have dug deep to make a very generous donation to an incredible cause. Ruth Langsford shared a sweet photo from her lunch with her husband Eamonn Holmes on Sunday. Taking to Instagram, the This Morning co-host posted a….
Best dating apps of 2020
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13 of the Best Online Dating Apps to Find Relationships
Subscriber Account active since. But you won’t find him on Tinder, Hinge, or any other common dating apps ; like many other single celebrities, Tatum is reportedly on dating app Raya, several media publications reported over the weekend. Now, you might be wondering: What is Raya? Launched in February , Raya is a private, elite, members-only app for “dating, networking, and making new friends,” according to its website.
But it’s unofficially known as the celebrity dating app for the rich and famous.
This is a partial, non-exhaustive list of notable online dating websites and mobile apps. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia list article. This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries. Retrieved Startup Journal. Archived from the original on March 23, Retrieved 28 February Alexa Internet. Daily News New York. |
Castor Oil has many medicinal and curative uses, and the same properties that make it so effective in healing the body also make it an excellent choice for maintaining beautiful and healthy skin and hair.
[TIP: For easy navigation, click on the Back button on your browser to return to this list.]
- Castor Oil cures acne
- Castor Oil keeps the skin looking youthful and unlined
- Castor oil and facial hair growth – fact versus fiction
- Castor Oil breaks up external/internal scar tissue and prevents new scars
- Castor Oil soothes shingles
- Castor Oil thickens eyelashes and eyebrows
- Castor Oil prevents hair loss and regenerates hair
- Castor Oil keeps hair looking soft and shiny
- Castor Oil softens thick calluses and removes corns
- Castor Oil cures skin infections like athlete’s foot and ringworm
- Castor Oil prevents stretch marks
- Castor Oil will remove moles and warts
- Castor Oil will remove age spots (liver spots)
- Tip: Use baking soda to remove castor oil residue after use
- Where to buy castor oil?
1. Castor Oil cures acne
The ricinoleic acid in castor oil works to inhibit many viruses and bacteria, and as castor oil is able to penetrate skin tissue deeply, this makes it an effective treatment for acne.
To treat acne, dab a hot damp washcloth all over your face in the evening before you go to bed. The heat will gently open the pores on your face. After this, massage a little castor oil gently into the skin. Leave on overnight. Repeat this daily for 1 to 2 weeks to see results. You can also repeat this twice in the day, once at night and once in the morning.
2. Castor Oil keeps the skin looking smooth, youthful and unlined
Castor oil’s ability to penetrate more deeply than any other essential plant oil make it an excellent way to keep skin looking youthful and fresh. Castor oil works better than any store-bought anti-ageing creams.
One of the best and easiest ways to use castor oil is to rub in a small amount around your eyes before bed, washing it off the next morning.
You can also rub in castor oil all over your face, but as it’s extremely thick and sticky, use sparingly. A little goes a long way! You can rinse this off after 2-3 hours, but you can always keep it on for longer if you feel comfortable. This type of all-over application might feel more uncomfortable in hotter and more humid climates. Thus, cooler days/nights or fall/winter may be better for castor oil mask applications.
Done daily, this will keep wrinkles at bay and the skin looking fresh, youthful and supple. With consistent use over a few months, this can also help to fade old dark marks left over from pimples/spots.
Note: If you intend to use castor oil intensively (24 hours/day over many consecutive days without significant breaks), you may encounter some temporary “looseness” in the area of application. This looseness/wrinkling effect is temporary, and the skin will tighten back up again in 1-2 weeks if you take a break from castor oil. However, you can avoid this risk by taking regular breaks. This “looseness” should not happen when castor oil is used normally. To clarify, 24 hours/day over many consecutive days = NOT normal use.
|Be sure to use only cold-pressed (or cold-drawn) castor oil that is hexane-free. Any other kind could clog your pores.Another good reason to use cold-pressed castor oil instead of refined castor oil is that cold-pressed oils retain much more of their valuable nutrients. A study by a Turkish university showed that more than 95% of the free fatty acids and carotenoids, and up to 61% of the tocopherols were removed when an edible oil goes through the conventional refining process. Read this comment for more information.|
Castor oil is found in several anti-ageing creams, wrinkle creams and undereye creams.
|Reviva Labs Eye Complex Firming Cream||Burt’s Bees Radiance Day Creme (UPDATE: they’ve since removed castor oil)||Borba Advanced Aging Recovery Crème|
|Commercial anti-ageing creams that contain castor oil|
Castor oil and facial hair growth – fact versus fiction
A few commenters have questioned the wisdom of using castor oil on the face given its ability to promote hair growth when used consistently over months. i.e. won’t this cause hair to sprout all over the face?
This is a fair question and deserves a straight answer.
ANSWER: No, castor oil will NOT turn you into a bearded lady or a wolfman!
Yes, it’s true that long-term and consistent castor oil applications will promote hair growth. However, it cannot make hair appear on areas where hair does not naturally occur for you. I have used castor oil around my eyes every day for years now and I assure you, gentle reader, that I have NOT turned into a bearded lady.
Castor oil use is ancient, and if it was able to create bearded ladies or wolfmen, the world would have heard about it by now through folk tales and old stories. Not to mention, the modern medical, pharmaceutical and scientific community would also have been all over this “miraculous” effect by now if it were true.
(But as it is in politics and in life, fear mongers will do what fear mongers do. As I always say — when in doubt, use your head!)
What hair growth REALLY means
For most people, when castor oil is used on the face, this means thicker and longer eyebrows/eyelashes and more rapid growth of them.
If you are a man with facial hair (a beard or a mustache), castor oil use over those areas will promote faster growth and thicker hair. This is also the same for some hirsute women.
However, castor oil use does not affect ‘vellus hair’. Vellus hair is the fine, downy and near-invisible hair that we all have on our faces (mostly over the cheeks).
What if you have had laser hair removal?
Applied consistently over months, castor oil can cause hair to regrow after temporary and “permanent” hair removal — including laser hair removal, waxing or tweezing.
For instance, after years of over-tweezing in my teen years, some parts of my naturally thick brows have become sparse. Regular castor oil use has filled in and thickened these sparse areas for me over time. However, if you were born with naturally sparse facial hair, castor oil use is unlikely to do much.
Similarly, if you have “permanently” lost hair from a wound or an injury (like I did from a deep burn on my leg), castor oil will also eventually return hair growth to normal.
If you do not want hair re-growth after laser hair removal, then avoid use over those areas.
3. Castor Oil breaks up external and internal scar tissue, and prevents new scars from forming
Castor oil’s unrivaled deep tissue penetration help to soften and remove both external and internal scars, like those that form following surgery. I have personally removed a deep burn scar using castor oil (I also shared my before-and-after photos in that article).
Castor oil will penetrate deep into the tissues to slowly break up scar tissue. Amazingly, castor oil is able to distinguish between healthy cells and abnormal ones. In healthy cells, castor oil will detoxify and stimulate them, while increasing circulation. In abnormal cells like scar tissue and growths, castor oil will instead work to aggressively dissolve cells thanks to its solvent property.
To break down internal scarring, soak a piece of clean cloth with castor oil and place it over the scar area for an hour or two each day. You can also simply rub castor oil over the scar each day. More serious internal scarring will take longer to break down.
On another note, castor oil can also prevent scars from forming in the first place. Applying castor oil over cuts or scrapes will promote excellent skin healing.
Remarkably, applying castor oil after surgery, cuts or wounds will also minimize scar formation. This could be because of castor oil’s ability to increase our body’s lymphocytes (because of this, castor oil packs are especially useful for people with HIV or AIDS). Lymphocytes, or white blood cells, appear to regulate wound healing. And studies have shown that T lymphocytes may play an important role in wound healing and scar formation. Babies and young children have naturally higher levels of lymphocytes than teenagers and adults, which could be one of the reasons why our skin healed with much less scarring when we were younger.
Several commercial scar reduction creams also contain castor oil (eg Scar Zone, Scar Repairex). However, they also contain more chemicals than they do castor oil!
|Both Scar Zone and Scar Repairex list castor oil as an ingredient|
4. Castor Oil soothes shingles
Denise talked about how castor oil seem to be the only thing helping soothe the pain from her shingles.
She wrote, “I have been applying castor oil on my shingles. So far it has soothed them and softened the whole horrible thing. I am going to keep using it as Ive tried everything and its the only thing that seems to be working better than all. What do you feel about shingles and castor oil. I feel its my only hope as I know in the past its relieves pain and redness..”
Shingles are a type of viral infection and as castor oil has been proven to boost the body’s lymphocytes, it could be why castor oil applications appear to be helpful for anyone with weakened immune systems. For more on this, read how topical castor oil applications boost the immune system.
5. Castor Oil thickens eyelashes and eyebrows
Rub a little castor oil over the base of your eyelashes before bed. This prevents thinning and promotes rapid growth, leading to thicker and fuller lashes. In fact, many commercial products for eyelashes contain castor oil.
To thicken sparse eyebrows, rub a little castor oil over the brow line before bed.
6. Castor Oil prevents hair loss and regenerates hair
The anti-bacterial and anti-fungicidal properties of ricinoleic acid in castor oil protects the scalp and hair from infections that can cause hair loss. The omega-9 fatty acids in castor oil also nourish the hair and prevent the scalp from drying.
Rubbing castor oil on your scalp and the roots of your hair will regenerate new hair growth within months. This will also thicken thinning hair.
To treat baldness, it is also a good idea to look at improving your overall diet and seek to maintain healthier mental/emotional states at the same time. Otherwise, baldness may simply recur after castor oil treatments. Many things can lead to baldness, but one of the most common causes is magnesium deficiency, which is rampant in modern society.
Even if we have a healthy diet, sustained fear/stress/anxiety will deplete our bodies’ magnesium stores. Drinking coffee, alcohol, smoking or excessive exercise will also do this. Thus, eating foods that are high in magnesium (such as dark green vegetables or certain nuts/seeds), supplementation with magnesium chloride/magnesium citrate, or transdermal magnesium therapy can help greatly. Magnesium also has a wonderful calming and relaxing effect, which will be especially useful if stress is your issue (read my original comment about this).
For a deep healing treatment, rub castor oil into your scalp and leave it on overnight. You can wrap your hair up in a towel or a shower cap to keep the oil on your scalp and away from your bed linen (castor oil stains are almost impossible to remove).
For a lighter treatment during the day, rub a very small amount of castor oil into your scalp or hair (whichever you feel needs help). Castor oil is very thick and viscous, so a little goes a long way. You can either wash this off at the end of every day, or leave it in if you feel comfortable (to maintain your regular schedule of hair washing, whatever that may be).
However, if you have fine or weak/brittle hair, it’s a good idea to mix castor oil with a lighter oil so that it’ll be easier to wash out later (baking soda will also help remove castor oil, but it can be temporarily drying).
Some have reported good results from mixing castor oil with coconut oil or olive oil. Coconut oil is especially good for restoring damaged and weak hair because of it’s high nutrient content.
nautress wrote, “I mix virgin coconut oil and castor oil together and they do wonders to my hair. I mix 1 ounce castor oil and 2 ounces of virgin coconut oil. I oil little all over my scalp and massage it in, which later comes down the shaft of the hair, and oh my goodness, softness.”
Anonymous wrote, “I find that castor works!!!! I am going through menopause and my hair was falling out something awful. I recall reading in a beauty book long time ago when i was a teenager about castor oil making your hair grow. Well it is true.i can’t stress enough how it rescued me, i once had a woman to ask me did i have on a lace wig and i received many compliments about my hair and lots of women ask me “if it is my hair”, even my own sister did a double take. My hair grew longer and thicker. Be careful not to apply too much, the oil is thick, but i swear by it. They also say olive oil does the same never used it but thinking about trying a lil mixture of both castor oil and olive oil. But i tell many of my african sisters about this especially when i see the damage extensive weaves have done,and around the edges where too-tight braids have thinned the hair. I swear by this product and will use nothing else.!!!!!!!!!”
bb wrote, “I can verify that castor oil works for lengthening and thickening hair… it does not need to be rinsed out. If you wash hair regularly (for me that is 3x/week) and apply small amounts of castor oil to the ends, leaving it in, it does wonders for keeping the hair protected and moist so that it can grow and not break… ”
Retta wrote, “…I have started using the castor oil in my hair, (via internet reviews :youtube etc.). I don’t use the Jamaican black castor oil. But I use a grocery store brand, I paid $3.00 for a relatively small bottle. Any way, it was very thick and seemed somewhat sticky; I mixed mine with some tea tree oil, rosemary oil. I have been using it now for two weeks, 3 times per week. Some complain of build up, I don’t have that problem at all, my problem is my hair soaks it up!!! I mean, it has helped my hair a great deal. In two weeks I have noticed a remarkable difference in my hair, and its texture, it is so soft, it also feels thicker. My only regret is I wish I would have known about castor oil when I was a teenager, I would have better hair this very day…”
rbooh wrote, “Thank goodness I found castor oil!
I moved to a new city and my hair was not adjusting so I tried a few different things ( I do NOT recommend the “no-poo” method if your hair is color treated BTW ) and wound up breaking TONS of my waist length hair off. I was desperate to find something and I stumbled onto castor oil. After researching it I tried it as an overnight leave in and my hair just LOVED it; my hair was 75% better after just one use. I mixed a generous dollop into my hair conditioner and use that as well as a light leave-in application of straight castor oil on my damp hair.
I also did my own experiment using castor oil on my face. I used castor oil on one half and my regular lotion ($50.00 for a few oz) on the other half and in just one week I noticed a visible difference. The castor oil side was plump, smooth and blemish free, not to mention my luscious lashes.
Most amazing of all!! Castor oil totally, as in completely!! removed a WART from my chest. I can’t believe its gone since I’ve had the darn thing for 6 months and even 1% Retin A didn’t do a thing for it. I rubbed pure castor oil into the wart for 2 nights before bed and voila, GONE.
Perhaps not everyone needs the heavy oil and I read quite a few negative opinions about using it straight in your hair, but if you have really dry hair and skin, it truly is amazing. The odor is kind of odd and can take some getting used to. But I love that I can touch my face after touching my hair and not worry that my hair products will make my face break out.
I highly recommend castor oil to anyone, I even use it on my 9 year old sons eczema!”
7. Castor Oil keeps hair looking soft and shiny
Castor oil is a humectant as it draws moisture into the hair and skin. Applying castor oil on hair will keep it looking soft, shiny and strong.
8. Castor Oil softens thick calluses and removes corns
Castor oil application will soften any rough or thickened skin, including calluses and corns. To treat corns, apply castor oil over your feet and put cotton socks on before going to bed. (Incidentally, sleeping with castor oil socks on will also soothe painful heels and foot pain.)
9. Castor Oil cures skin infections like athlete’s foot and ringworm
Apply a castor oil soaked cloth on the affected area. If it is small enough, a bandaid with a few drops of castor oil can be used instead.
10. Castor Oil prevents stretch marks
Rub a small amount of castor oil over your stomach and thighs daily to prevent stretchmarks during pregnancy or periods of weight gain.
11. Castor Oil will remove moles and warts (apply heat for faster results)
Rub castor oil into moles or warts every night. The moles (or warts) will start to shrink over a few weeks, and continued use will eventually remove the mole without any scarring. Complete removal may take 2-3 months, but this slow healing will also ensure there is no “hole” in your skin. (The surgical removal of moles will often leave a hole where the mole was. This indentation can often be permanent.)
Diana kindly shared a useful tip she discovered. She wrote, “I used castor oil on moles, but I think the secret is to use heat with it. For instance, keep a hot, wet towel on the mole for a minute, and then apply castor oil, and then reapply the hot towel, for another minute. Do that for about 10 minutes, 2 or 3 times every day. I did this and I started to see results in 4 days.”
12. Castor Oil will remove age spots (liver spots)
Rub castor oil into your age spots every night. The age spot will lighten over time, and continued use will eventually remove the age spot completely.
Tip: Remove castor oil residue with baking soda
Castor oil is thick and viscous, but it can be washed out with regular soap and a good lather. However, if you find it more difficult than usual to wash castor oil out of your hair or skin, try mixing in some baking soda and water. Baking soda can cause some temporary dryness, but is very effective in removing all traces of castor oil.
Where to buy castor oil
Castor oil can be found in most good health food stores. Check the label to make sure it’s cold-pressed (or cold-drawn) and hexane-free. This is especially important if you plan to put castor oil on your face, around or in your eyes, or if you plan to ingest it for internal cleansing.
Some supermarkets or pharmacies may also sell castor oil in small bottles in the laxatives section/shelf. Again, check the labels.
You can also find castor oil in shops that cater to Indian communities. If you have a ‘Little India’ in your town or city, you can probably find it there as castor oil is a popular hair tonic among Indians. However, the downside is that these mom-and-pop stores are unlikely to sell castor oil that’s labeled cold-pressed or hexane-free.
If you prefer to buy castor oil online, several websites sell bottles in a variety of sizes. I buy mine from iherb.com (I found the shipping to be reasonable even for the largest, heaviest bottles. There’s a discount code at the top-right of this page if you’re interested). Other websites that sell castor oil include Vitacost and Amazon. |
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Test deca dbol cycle consists of four powerful steroids and is out and out a bulking cycle, but unlike all the others it is not steroidal. Deca is more of a natural muscle-building steroid than a steroidal. Deca is a synthetic derivative of testosterone that is used to build lean body mass by increasing muscle fiber size, when to take anadrol before workout. This natural muscle building steroid has a longer half-life (40-50%). Deca, also known as dihydrotestosterone has been on the market from 1998 to 2005, anadrol at end of cycle. It is a synthetic derivative of testosterone that is used to build lean body mass by increasing muscle fiber size, especially when combined with other supplements, anadrol 50 cycle chart. It has a longer half-life (39-44%) and can be injected into muscle or oil-free supplements. Deca, also called androxygesterone-17β, is also known as deca-dihydrotestosterone. This substance is another alternative to testosterone, and is sometimes called “DHEA”, or “deca- androstenedione”, anadrol 50 cycle chart. This synthetic version is much more potent than the natural testosterone that is manufactured in the human body, deca cycle anadrol test. There are two variations of DHEA: 1) Estradiol and 2) Hormone, commonly known under different brand names. When injection into human body the synthetic DHEA is administered on a daily basis, anadrol after 2 weeks, lgd 4033 increase libido. Deca can also be used orally. The purpose of DHEA-A is to increase sex drive and libido in males. Deca is known to increase testosterone production in humans, 8 week anadrol cycle. It is also known as DHE-E, DHEA-E, DHEA-E, and sometimes DHEA-E with a “E” in front due to a common trademark by Dr. David Green (who is not on this page, but is known by his initials Dr. Green). Deca and DecaE are a combination of testosterone and an anabolic steroid which is then used to augment sexual drive in men. Deca and DecaE produce a greater quantity of testosterone and are both approved for use in men, ostarine vs mk677. As with testosterone, the main function of DHEA in humans is to facilitate sex drive. This steroid is also known as “Estradiol”, test deca anadrol cycle. This synthetic testosterone is used to stimulate sex drive in men, anadrol cycle length. It is usually prescribed to help with excessive erections and loss of sexual desire. DHEA is the “official” male anabolic steroid, which is also known as “deca-delta-5-enamide”.
If adults had problems with low levels of the growth hormone, HGH treatment was able to boost their muscle masswith greater efficiency, as well as reduce the number of bone and fat tissue cells, a study published this week in the Journal of Medical Genetics found.
As a result, they were found to have increased muscle mass despite consuming a similar amount of calories. Even more surprisingly, this effect extended to the fat tissue of the liver and muscle tissues of the heart, which is a key part of muscle control and strength.
The study involved 16 healthy adults over 30 years. None had serious medical problems with HGH. They were given low doses to induce HGH production, while still in their normal lives, and studied on their physical and mental development.
They were then asked whether they had noticed any obvious change. They were asked to rate their impression of the treatment from zero as a negative to one as positive. When the participants rated how happy or sad they felt, the subjects tended to rate the treatment negatively. So, the effect may be more psychological than physical.
“We found a higher level of HGH secretion in individuals who reported greater muscle mass,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. David Wohlfahrt, director of the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine, in a statement. “The mechanism behind the enhancement or suppression of HGH synthesis is now known.”
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with HGH, people should beware of using this substance without a medical doctor’s prescription.
In the U.S., it is illegal to purchase more than 7.8 milligrams (mg) per day for both humans and animals. But the study suggests it does not matter if someone consumes this level or uses a pill over the counter. They were able to stimulate HGH production at these low doses after all. While there is some debate about some studies’ findings being unreliable, in the end, this study is a good start in understanding HGH.
“We are talking about growth hormone,” said Dr. David J. Bierstadt of the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the study. “But if you’re an adult and you’re looking for an extra dose of growth hormone in order to gain strength or muscle mass, you can do it just as effectively by taking HGH with a normal dose of vitamins.”
Bierstadt also said the study should be used as evidence for giving people with hypogonadism a higher dose of growth hormone.
“This shows that even if they didn’t use the pills, [the individuals
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Altered tests usually persist for 2 to 3 weeks after stopping anabolic. Look like a different person in under 6 weeks when running a cycle. — for this reason it’s ideal to take a short cycle (3-6 weeks) and avoid any alcohol consumption whatsoever when taking this compound. Trenbolone enanthate 250mg/ml, anadrol winstrol strength, pharma 3 tren 200. Week 2, minor withdrawal symptoms may persist after the second week of quitting. Train at least 3x per week, carrying out a mix of full body compound lifts like. 50 mg orally twice daily for up to 32 weeks resulted in a 5. 8 kg with 3 times daily oxymetholone dosing (p < 0. 2020 · medical |
Which is the most incredible in Nikon z6 versus Sony a7iii in 2021?
Today, many types of cameras are accessible on the lookout. Yet, two sorts are best in each component. Regularly, these are available in full-outline improvement with two mirrorless cameras. These are to be specific Nikon z6 and Sony a7iii. Thus, we reveal to you how to these best cameras are not the same as one another.
Presently you can achieve 24.5-megapixel photographs and recordings in Nikon Z6. The camera of the z6 Nikon is less expensive and more adaptable for current use. Indeed, research is done on the focal points and pictures of the two cameras. Since both are genuinely doing their best administrations. In the later few a long time, there is incredible emblematic “ill will” somewhere in the range of A7 and Z6.
Then, at that point, an amazing item turns out as Nikon Z6. It is additionally viewed as awesome heavenly from the primary audit. It is astounding information for the people who can’t bear z7. Since the result of both Nikon z6 versus Sony, a7iii is awesome, then, at that point, these think about kin. Be that as it may, Sony A7 has Mark III, and think about a lesser accomplice for best photography. Nikon z6 offers worth giving provisions with pixel pictures.
It is utilizing the F mount in the full-casing of DSLR. Its necessity will come from the at 55mm across and 11 mm more noteworthy than that F-mount. Sony A7 III is a significant camera with astonishing photographs and recordings. However, complete exploration is important at delaying. Regardless of whether you have any other camera with its total arrangement of photography. Then, at that point, the Sony A7 is awesome of its age as the least expensive camera.
Today it is achieving a burst rating with 4K video in full width for hard shooting. Along these lines, in adjusting all things together, SONA7 mark II is turning into the most famous camera ever. Presently, we think about both Nikon Z6 and Sony A7 through a considerable lot of its components.
Notwithstanding, if you as of now have Sony and Nikon in your assortment. Then, at that point, we reveal to you which is ideal for photography. Besides, you will get total data about purchasing amazing cameras. Thus, the entirety of your means continues on progress, and you fly in the sky. The essential contrasts between these two cameras are incorporated:
Weight and Size
Both of these cameras are accessible. Nikon Z6 and Sony a7 III are mirrorless full-outline models. It is looking that You generally get both moderately weighty cameras. Be that as it may, neither one of the bodies is similarly as huge or even as weighty as adjusted way DSLRs. The weight is about h c675 g (1.5 kg and), the Nikon Z6 is for all intents and purposes bigger.
Yet, the Sony a7 III turns out to be speedy on its mends (650 g/1.4 kg). Besides, the variety is slight with the end goal that while in the district. Surely, you will not take note. The distinctions in its weight come from more noteworthy size. In this way, consistently the camera’s size and weight contrasts come from higher furthermore, brings downsizes. Presently, Nikon z6 has 134 x 100.5 x 67.5mm size in its clocks.
Simultaneously, Sony A7 has 126.9 x 95.6 x 73.7 mm of its size. It prompts an altogether bigger forward hold on the Nikon Z6 inactivity. The Z6 can feel somewhat looser for photography used to DSLR design bodies. Besides, you are as yet beginning to appreciate one of the key advantages of a mirrorless body (size).
So, Sony A7II is the victor in weight and size.
Driver’s side EVF and LCD
Sony A7 is a camera that abandons at steady for EVFs. In this way, Sony A7II is its best illustration. Since Sony A7 III backings a 0.78x bending of 2360K pixel OLED EVF, this is totally adequate for an APS-C sensor. Besides, it is a full-outline near-zero casing. Yet, it’s just not that decent for an administrative affiliation.
By contrasting it with the Nikon Z6 that is in line with both the Canon EOS R just as the Fujifilm X-T3. In addition, it offers a 3690K pixel OLED EVF with 0.8x zoom. Wide-point camera necessities, for example, guarantee a reasonable and smooth picture. It is vital so huge Sony a7 III shootings may be for movie producers progressing to DSLR cameras.
Notwithstanding, no camera offers a photograph that is just about as exact as a picture sensor. However, the Nikon Z6 is getting ever nearby. However, on account of the back LCD screen, they present in such structure. Both of these are pivoting the pictures. Additionally, these are contact shows.
However, when further, the side is on the Nikon Z6. You accomplish a generously bigger presentation (3.2″/8 cm for the most part on Z6, went against to 3″/7.6 cm for the most part on a7 III). They have such presence (2.10 M specks generally on Z6 LCD, gone against to 0.9 M pixels on the a7 III) in the twofold goal.
So, the Nikon Z6 is a champ in Driver’s side EVF and LCD.
Nature of Images
At the point when you’re scanning cameras for great pictures, it gives off an impression of being a fabulous purchase for both these cameras. For the most part on Sony a7 III, you accomplish a serious 24.2 MP BSI (backlit)camera, compared with the Nikon Z6 with a 24.5 BSI sensor.
Practically speaking, this infers that the two pictures have essentially comparative particulars. These are fantastic in low-light details. In addition, both are the best thoughts for any type of inside photography or night-style shows. Recall that the ISO assignment on the two cameras yields is something similar.
So,100-51200 ISO range, with the alternative to support ISO to 204800 on the very good quality and 50 on the low end. You get a bit of commotion sneaking in on the two cameras as you approach ISO 12800, with photographs turning out to be discernibly loud by ISO 25600.
To put it plainly, we reason that the two show top-notch pictures. Thus, they are a tie.
Ergonomics and Optional attributes
The yield of the two cameras is best in Ergonomics and Optional attributes. There’s bounty to need on the Nikon Z6. Since n Its front holding is marginally more extensive and suits the DSLR layout. You generally partake in the better association of both the interface. Since Sony a7 III incorporates the most recent menu update, comparative with a well indeed, it is a simple and protected to-utilize system of the Z6.
As it just wouldn’t work impeccably. Both these two cameras additionally give a touch-skilled turning show. Simultaneously, Nikon gives somewhat more contact decisions (for vacationers who want to acknowledge contact includes all the more totally). However, when we look at the two cameras with one another. Then, at that point, unmistakably Sony a7 III is awesome from Nikon.
Since Z6 just has one card opening, in any event, for an unexplained explanation. Besides, it acknowledges XQD cards for various openings. Nonetheless, these are faster than ordinary SD cards and a bit more reduced. Also, these are the greater expenses. In any case, Sony doesn’t need XQD cards, and its outcomes are likewise best.
So, in Ergonomics and Optional attributes, Sony A7II is the champ.
Sony a7 III is one of the most incredible mirrorless cameras with more prominent battery power. You can buy battery power. You could last at least 600-700 shootings through one battery—in addition, substantially more in case you are cautious with regards to the power.
However, the Nikon Z6 is fairly more conventional. It is additionally verging on lacking. You get 310 shootings for every battery utilizing the EVF. Additionally, it will be with the LCD, and it is expanded to 380 shooting every battery. Albeit this particular probably won’t look all fundamental, I can unquestionably depict it in the wake of utilizing numerous mirrorless models with low battery power. It is hard to charge batteries and change channels in the area much of the time.
Especially at whatever point the climate gets shady. In any case, there are minutes that except if you’re not mindful. Also, you’ll disregard your extra batteries, adding to more strain while shooting. While you desperately endeavor to hold the battery limit. What’s more, it is likewise expensive to procure three or four extra batteries.
To put it plainly, Sony A 7 III is a victor with a high battery limit.
From all the above conversation, we infer that. Both Sony A7II and Nikon Z6 are top-quality cameras. Today, both these are the top of the line on the lookout. On the off chance that we look at them on highlights, frequently these are equivalent. We reach on a tie. Yet, Sony A7II is an awesome and more well-known camera in 2020.
Since it has numerous extra provisions than that of Nikon. Sony A7 II has predominant elements like battery force, Autofocus, and Continuous Shooting and Ergonomics, and Extra Features. In addition, it is best in size and weight, alongside numerous special elements. You can get them from a close-by market without any problem. Online offices are likewise accessible for your solace.
In this way, you get them within 24 hours after the request. So, we infer that Sony A7II is a superior camera for outings and shootings in contrast with Nikon Z6. |
Are you looking for the top payment and credit card processing company in Alliance, Ohio? Electronic Merchant Systems offers uncomplicated, integrated payment processing.
Let me guess - are you dealing with high processing rates and fees that are significantly cutting into your company’s revenue?
Or maybe you’re looking to grow and start accepting credit cards at your business.
Well, you’re at the right place.
Whether your Alliance business needs a traditional payment terminal, a mobile payment solution, or an eCommerce payment gateway, Electronic Merchant Systems has powerful solutions to enhance and simplify your process of getting paid.
For over 30 years, Electronic Merchant Systems has helped local businesses just like yours realize their full potential.
- Streamlining the acceptance of all major credit and debit cards
- Saving money on your credit card rates and fees
- Receiving stellar 24/7/365 Customer Service
- Adding email invoicing, contactless payment, or eCommerce
If those points above feel like powerful opportunities for growth, you’re our kind of business. We’d love to help you get to where you want to be.
The first step is to take action by clicking the button below to request a consultation today.
Do you want more information about payment processing solutions for your specific business? Or are you curious about who we are?
EMS has been named one of Retail CIO’s 10 Most Promising Payment and Card companies of 2019, a Top 20 Most Promising POS Solution Provider in 2020, and is recognized as a Top 10 provider in CIOReview’s Mobile Payment 2021.
We also have over 975+ Google Customer Reviews to back those claims up, not to mention our dedicated, 24/7 support team.
Scroll down a little further to our table of contents where we dive into unique benefits for each business type.
Table of Contents
- Small Business Solutions
- Retail Businesses
- Restaurant Businesses
- Service-Based Businesses
- Online Solutions
- Why Choose EMS?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Top Credit Card Payment Processing for Small Businesses in Alliance
Our job at Electronic Merchant Systems is to provide a payment processing solution that makes life easier and more profitable for you - the business owner.
Customers spending money on goods and services want quick, secure, and seamless transactions. Essentially, that means paying with a quick dip, tap, or swipe of the card.
However, just because you need new technology doesn’t mean the process can’t be simple - because that is exactly what you’re offering your customers: simplicity and security.
With EMS as your merchant services provider, you can rest easy knowing that your customers' information is protected.
For over ten years EMS has been a certified level 1 PCI provider.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies that process, store, or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment.
So, you can rest assured knowing you are completely secure with EMS.
It is our responsibility to take all of the stress out of payment processing so you can provide exceptional service and reap the rewards without any headaches.
We want to eliminate the complexities of the transaction process so that your customers can focus on what is really important: your products and services.
If you already have credit card processing services and are at the point where your Alliance business needs quicker transaction solutions or want to process transactions in a more modern fashion, then it may be time to consider a new processing system.
So, what does that look like?
Accept Online & In-Person Payments in Alliance, Ohio
No matter what your business needs, Electronic Merchant Systems will deliver results.
EMS proudly offers businesses in Alliance a suite of secure payment processing solutions for both online and in-person transactions.
Whether your business is brick-and-mortar or click-and-mortar online, EMS gives businesses the tools to accept all major credit cards with ease.
By partnering with us, you receive a setup that is tailored to your needs, along with exclusive tools that allow you to save money, streamline operations, and drive more sales.
The four main business types we provide payment processing for include:
- Retail stores
- Service-based businesses
- Online and eCommerce businesses
EMS also offers a Surcharge Program where you can require customers who choose to pay with a debit or credit card to also cover the transaction fees that would otherwise be your responsibility. This allows them to still enjoy the convenience of paying with a credit card, at little or no credit card processing fees for you.
Let’s take a look at more detailed payment processing solutions for your type of business.
Alliance Retail Store Solutions
Being a retail store owner can be a little hectic. Thankfully, EMS can help streamline operations.
Electronic Merchant Systems is an industry-leading retail Point of Sale systems provider.
With EMS’ MaxxPay, not only can you accept all major credit cards like Visa, American Express, Discover, and MasterCard, but you can add customized gift cards, review employee hours, set up low quantity alerts, and much more.
Every service provided by EMS is intended to help Alliance businesses grow and thrive - while making day-to-day activities easier.
The payment processing tools listed below are built to meet the unique needs of any retail business.
-Credit Card Terminal: Credit card transactions are critical to business success. Our terminals support EMV chip cards, contactless payments, and mobile wallets with secure, compact terminals so you can accept both online and in-person payments.
-MaxxPay: MaxxPay POS is a tablet-based Point of Sale solution that seamlessly connects an entire store with its customers. Process payments, manage inventory and more, with an all-in-one Point of Sale solution.
-Gift & Loyalty Cards: Customer retention and acquisition is important for any Alliance small business. With gift and loyalty cards, business owners have an efficient, yet simple opportunity to increase sales and generate new customers.
Chances are, your list of duties as a restaurant owner is as long and diverse and your drinks menu.
From inventory management and product shipments to staff coordination and customer satisfaction, we know you have a lot on your plate.
Payment processing can easily slip through the cracks.
That is why Electronic Merchant Systems offers Alliance restaurants intuitive tools to meet your extensive needs.
For restaurants specifically, we are excited to offer Total Touch POS. Total Touch is a comprehensive restaurant point of sale system that provides benefits such as:
-Open Table Management: From the front office to the back office, restaurant owners can manage tables to help reduce long wait times by improving the speed of checkout.
-Payment Options: Do customers want to split checks by seat or by the entire table? This is done simply with Total Touch, which saves your staff headaches and increases customer experience.
-Easy-to-use interface: An interface that is easily navigated saves you time which, we all know, saves you money. This streamlines your processes and allows you to turn tables around faster.
-Online and Mobile Ordering: More and more folks in Alliance are ordering food online. With Total Touch’s online and mobile ordering feature, your restaurant’s sales and efficiency will increase.
When you partner with EMS, you're giving your customers the best dining experience possible.
Service-Based Business Solutions in Alliance, OH
As a service-based business in Alliance, you have many moving parts between employee travel, quotes, estimates, and ultimately your service.
To make life simpler, Electronic Merchant Systems offers a unique mobile solution - EMSmobile. EMSmobile is a comprehensive payment tool that combines a mobile payment app and a Virtual Terminal.
Once your mobile device transforms into a complete credit card point of sale, you’ll discover that accepting payments has never been easier.
You already know the power of the smartphone in your daily life. Now, imagine using it as the optimal tool for your business.
Think about it - never chase clients down for cash or checks again. Never wait in lines at the bank again.
The EMSmobile app transforms your everyday smart phone into a complete credit and debit card acceptance device that allows you to take payments at your customer’s home or business.
Get paid before you start the job and make add-on work simpler to get paid for. We’re talking about absolute customer management made simple. Essentially, it’s a small business lifesaver.
Additional benefits of Electronic Merchant Systems’ Virtual Terminal include:
-Email Invoicing: If your customer had to step away at the end of the day, send them an invoice via email instead. This allows them to securely pay online with a simple click. Plus, you can see which invoices have been viewed and paid via the Merchant Console.
-Mobile Payments: Use your mobile smart device or tablet to accept payments.
-Secure Vault: Secure storage of customer credit card data for convenient re-use.
-Recurring Billing: Schedule automatic billing for service agreements. Any updates will be synced to all your EMSmobile devices in real-time.
-Business Management Tools: Manage the most important aspects of your businesses with EMS’ cloud-based program, the Merchant Console. You can review email invoice statuses, view all transactions, manage inventory, analyze sales trends, and more!
Online Business Solutions
If you are an online-based business—or plan to transition online in the near future—you need an engaging eCommerce website where you can sell products or services and process payments.
Having a clean, professionally designed website helps businesses increase brand viability and reach, establish credibility, and increase revenue.
To simplify the startup process for online Alliance small business owners like you, our team at EMS offers everything from web design, online store design, to ongoing hosting, in addition to providing a secure payment gateway to handle credit and debit card transactions and digital payments across the internet.
By partnering with us, you can optimize your online presence and generate more sales.
The online payment processing solutions below are built for eCommerce providers, just like you.
-Web Store: Expand customer reach and increase your revenue with an eCommerce shopping cart.
-Web Design: Make life simple by partnering with a dedicated designer to build your website.
-API Integration: Experience seamless integration with an Application Program Interface (API) component.
Powerful Payment Processing You Can Trust
Why Choose EMS as Your Alliance Payment Processing Company?
Electronic Merchant Systems embodies everything a business could want in a payment processor in Alliance.
Exceptional Service & Tools
Our innovative suite of business solutions, high level of quality service, and dedicated employees increase the financial well-being of our clients.
Every service and product offered by EMS is intended to help your business thrive and grow.
Did you know EMS has over 975 Google Customer Reviews with an average 4.7-star rating? For a Merchant Services business that has been around for 30 years, that is exceptional.
24/7 Customer Support
Chances are you’ll never have to worry about calling our industry-recognized customer service, but if you find yourself calling EMS customer service, you’ll be greeted by a real person.
We have a knowledgeable, US-based team of customer service representatives that is accessible to our Merchants 24/7/365 by phone, email, and live chat.
As a payment processor, we are like a security consultant to your data. EMS takes business and customer security incredibly seriously. For over a decade EMS has been a certified level 1 PCI provider.
When you accept cards, PCI compliance goes a long way in terms of peace of mind.
EMS strongly believes in No Good Merchant Left Behind. If you are confident in your product or service, EMS wants to provide the payment processing tools that help you succeed.
1. How Do I know Which Payment Processing Company to Pick?
You want to be sure that the credit card processing company you select for your business has extensive knowledge and experience in the industry, competitive pricing, excellent customer support, enhanced functionality, and is secure. Don't just look at the largest payment processing companies, the cheapest credit card processing, or the most popular credit card reader.
Sifting between many credit card processing companies and choosing the correct one is crucial and could land you a better credit card processing rate.
2. What exactly is a Merchant Account?
A merchant account allows your business to accept credit and debit cards and transfer funds from your customer's credit card purchases.
When a purchase is made using a credit or debit card at your business, your merchant account works in the background to withdraw funds from your customer’s bank and deposit them into your business bank account.
3. Can my business qualify for a merchant account?
The merchant account application process may vary depending on your specific business type and the associated risk that has been assigned and implemented by the credit card networks.
That being said, most merchant businesses are qualified for a merchant account.
4. How do merchants typically get burned by their payment processing provider?
Unfortunately, some providers take advantage of business owners by imposing:
• Hidden fees and lack of transparent pricing
• Poor customer service
• Lack of security
• Solutions/Payment methods that don't fit your business model
5. How can EMS help my business compete with the big companies?
Competing against other small businesses is one thing, but your merchant services provider should offer additional tools to build you up against big box companies, as well.
No matter your business size, you need a credit card processor that helps elevate your brand by offering a wide range of business merchant services. Ask about EMS' gift cards, loyalty programs, and additional options, such as web hosting and design.
6. What if I need help with funding?
We can help with that. One of the additional features that EMS offers is a funding program called BizFunds.
For Alliance businesses, we will purchase a pre-determined amount of your future sales volume to help raise capital.
The best part is, instead of a fixed monthly payment, you pay an agreed-upon percentage of your daily sales until the merchant cash advance has been paid in full.
7. What is the Cost of Payment Processing?
The cost of accepting credit cards varies widely. It’s critical that you pay attention to what fees will be assessed when you sign the contract with your payment processor.
Make sure you understand the fees you’ll be assessed by your payment processor before you sign the contract with them. And ask questions about the entire process.
8. What types of payment can I accept?
Payment processing allows small businesses to accept traditional stripe cards along with EMV chip cards.
Mobile credit card processing is a great option for service-based businesses without a brick-and-mortar location for seamless payments and email invoicing.
9. What type of POS Equipment do I need?
This truly depends on your Business Operations and Model. The type of credit card terminal you select depends mainly upon the payments options you want to accept, as well as how you need to accept those payments.
A POS system should be used if you truly want to manage your entire business to ring up multiple items, track inventory, manage employees, and more.
If you are only accepting payments from a physical location, a countertop terminal may be your best bet.
If you accept payments at events such as trade shows, festivals, or farmers’ markets, a mobile POS system is a great solution.
For phone payments and invoices, you may want to discuss a virtual terminal.
Choose the Best Merchant Services and Credit Card Processing Solutions in Alliance
We pride ourselves at Electronic Merchant Systems on our reliability, trustworthiness, and security. This type of support is just one of the many reasons why EMS has such a strong connection with our Alliance merchants.
No good merchant left behind is more than just a slogan. Our financial institution understands your business's needs and wants to assist in your success.
We are much more than merchant credit card services. At EMS, we are dedicated to handling all of your credit card processing needs, including:
- Providing the top payment processing tools and opportunities
- Improving your cash flow
- eCommerce, email invoicing, contactless payment options
- Streamlining your business operations
- Providing the best credit card rates
- Minimizing your exposure to fraud losses
Don’t spend another day with out-of-date terminals or slow transaction times that could alienate your customers.
Instead, choose EMS - where we offer Alliance businesses the most updated payment processing solutions that are simple and effective.
Like we’ve mentioned, just check out our 975+ Google Customer Reviews and you’ll see that we excel at offering business owners just like you remarkable products and services.
We stand by our product’s integrity, but should you have a concern, you can remain 100% confident knowing that our customer service team is ready, 24/7, to assist you.
If you want the best Alliance, Ohio payment processing solutions, click below to request a consultation today.
Request a Consultation |
What’s up everyone, Nick, DeAngelo here with Saint investment group.
Today let’s talk about a subject that’s very near and dear to my heart, and I hope is near and dear to yours. Let’s talk mental health! Especially when you have a demanding career and responsibilities swirling around.
First things first: SLEEP is the ultimate foundation. It is the 100% ultimate foundation. Nothing comes before sleep. You know why? Because this is your ability to recharge what your body needs to operate at the highest level. It’s getting to bed, being able to get to sleep, staying asleep, the quality of sleep and the duration. Those are the highest level notes of sleeping. Also, you MUST try to avoid blue light before you go to bed. So that means your phone and other things that are not beneficial to you because your eyes will pick up the blue light, which means daytime, which means staying awake when you want to be asleep. So get rid of Blue light!
Next is carving out the time to get enough sleep. That means enough hours of sleep! Most people have an idea of how many hours that is for them. Some people, it might be six or seven. Other people, it might be eight or nine. I am 100% without question on the eight or nine (I mean maybe more!). And I give zero apologies for that. Zero apologies because it’s that important. If you’re trying to perform at a high level, sleep is even more important. The old adage or the old like hustle wisdom of “if you are not willing to skip your sleep in order to achieve your goals, then they’re not important”…. No, no, no, no pure nonsense. There’s no one that understands this more than high powered CEOs that are going through super demanding schedules and have to work through very difficult, complex situations.
Why? Because their days are very rarely them going around with the fire hose and putting out one fire after another. The highest level at big, big, big companies, the highest level in those companies, they’re not spending the majority of the day putting out fires, they’re spending the day making giant decisions. So you’ll hear very large CEOs talk about that. They only make maybe a handful of decisions a day. Bezos is one example that’s talked about this. Elon has alluded to this and discussed this at different times. So if they’re only making several decisions in a day, those need to be fantastic decisions. Fantastic like near perfect decisions. The margin for error is very slim because they have thousands of employees and millions or billions of dollars behind them, and stockholders, shareholders, et cetera.
So sleep is important. You need it to be at your absolute best during your day. In addition, there are a couple things, little hacks that have worked for me personally, that I can recommend to you that may help you. The first is meditation. Meditation is fantastic. Overall it helps many things, but it’s really a win-win. You know, I hear a lot of people talk about things like “when I try to meditate, sometimes I get tired and want to fall asleep”. Okay. Then do it in bed. Then if you fall asleep, it’s a win-win! The flip side of that is if you have things like intrusive thoughts or you have stressful thoughts, what responsibilities you didn’t get to, the ongoing checklist, kind of the carousel of the weight that comes along with high pressured positions, right?
Meditation is an absolute must for this. It removes those thoughts, calming your mind, letting the dust settle so that you can see through the water. You can make the mental waters of your mind crystal clear, allowing that piece to settle into a much deeper and much quicker sleep.
I found the last piece of feedback I’ll give you on sleep is an amino acid called glycine. I don’t take melatonin. Do the research on that. Melatonin actually has a lot of considerations that aren’t great for many people. I did not find it successful long term. And really, I don’t think you’re supposed to take it long term. If you do the research on glycine, it has been fantastic. It’s an amino acid that’s abundant in things like bone broth. It lowers the body temperature. It calms you down and helps you get to sleep faster.It has been great for me. I’ve really, really, really, really used it many times to great effect.
The next major point to talk about as far as mental health goes in a high pressure career is taking time away from your phone, making sure that you have distance and boundaries for a no phone zone. This isn’t just a room of your home, although it can be. And I think that’s great. And we do that oftentimes with our bedroom. But it can also be a timeframe of your day or a portion of your routine. So whether that’s in the morning, if you need that time to center yourself or that’s before bed, you want to make sure your phone is very far away from you so that you don’t don’t have the blue light and you don’t have the other things that go on with your phone.
Think about your social media. Social media alone can be a negative thought loop before bed. You think about things like comparisons, things like what a family member might be doing that you’re thinking about. Things like just mainstream news! The last thing you need is a bunch of stressful news right before you’re going to bed. So keeping your phone away and keeping social media specifically away is very beneficial for those reasons loan. If you look at your phone usage, how many hours a day that you use your phone, usually it’s shocking, right? It’s like, cuz you still have to eat. You still gotta drive. You still gotta, you know, talk to people, do your job. You have to do all those other things. So how many hours a day, if you’re using your phone for 10 hours, that means all the other things are packed into a small window.
It’s actually pretty remarkable to think about how much people use their phone. So the more you can put distance and space between that, and allow yourself to have some calm and some room with your own mind, you’ll work through some of the bigger things rather than giving yourself that loop of consumption from your phone.
The next item is DIET. It might not sound like diet is important for mental health, but I can tell you that that is one of the most important and absolutely makes this list all day long. Why? Because there are so many things that if you put them into your body, it will affect your mind and your performance throughout the day. Here are a few: processed foods, coloring & dyes, heavy meals in the middle of a day. These are things that are gonna slow your brain down from operating at the most optimal levels.
At least in my life, I notice a HUGE difference if I’m eating healthy versus eating crap during my day. Some of this is DAYS in advance. If I eat like crap all weekend and then I come in on Monday and even if I’m eating healthy on Monday, I’m probably not operating at my best. Overall healthier food choices enhance the clarity of your mind and give you pure, clean, focused energy, which, if you’re operating at a high level, is absolutely essential. Nothing beats that.
The last item I would add on diet is for me personally, it’s not drinking. The majority of the time, I probably cut back 99% on drinking. And when I do drink rarely, it’s significantly limited for me. I notice negative effects days and days later. it’s not like “I have a hangover” And then that hangover is just like gone the next day. No, no, no.
For me, I notice days of sluggish, less sharp behavior. I exercise daily. So I notice it for multiple days in the gym that I just have less energy, less oomph, and less focus. So for me, alcohol is just really not a good fit. I have kids, I run multiple companies, and I know exactly what I want out of life. I don’t really want to look back and be like “Nic” was a good drinker, right?” I want to be known for the things I achieved, the legacy I leave behind, and the people I can impact in a positive way. So drinking really didn’t make my list. For diet it’s one of the first things I cut out and have noticed one of the most massive returns on investment.
The next item: It’s taking time off when you need it. And that doesn’t mean shirking on your work or not getting the things done that people are requiring of you. But when you can and when you need it, you know it. Especially if you have decades or many years of operating a high at a high level, you know when you just need to unplug for a little while and refresh yourself. When you take that time off to recharge your batteries and clear your mind, what I think you’ll find is that you come back invigorated. You can’t wait to get back in the office and get back to what you’re working on. The things that were monotonous or annoying or difficult or emotionally charged with, you’ll step into those with a fresh set of legs and be able to run the marathon all along with that extra fresh mindset when you’ve taken the time off to recuperate in a healthy way.
Also under the category of taking time off, and I’ve already mentioned this, but meditation. If you add that into a regular practice, taking time off, even that’s five minute meditations during the day frequently, that can just reset your brain to being less reactive to the things that come up. This advice was given to me by a friend of mine who runs a large cell phone case company. He’s an individual that has probably the most remarkable upswing of his company’s exponential growth. So when he talks and he gives advice, I am one hundred percent laser focused. I hit this guy with questions all the time. And one of the things he told me was very simple. He said, “look, take even five minutes a couple times a day. If you’re in a tough situation and your mind is spinning, the importance of those decisions is so high if you have a lot of responsibility. So taking five minutes just to do breathwork or feel the tips of your fingers, or just feel your body in that moment without responding and absorbing everything around you.” Absolute game changer. It’s like a mini vacation during the day in the office. So if you can’t get away and go to some beautiful destination, you can do that in your own mind, in your own body, in your own skin. If meditation for five minutes is not enough, let me give you a secret hack that I do very regularly: get outside. It’s getting the sun on your skin, getting fresh air to breathe in your lungs and to get a little bit of nature if you can. The more nature, the better.
But if you can just take a 10 minute walk during your work day and take a little break and just do that, you can come back and be fully refreshed. As a matter of fact, I did that before this post. Why? Because I was in the trenches and I wanted to clear my mind. I should have laser focus to be able to do this for you guys. At the end of the day, mental health equals mental wealth. If you want to run the marathon of success, if you want to be achieving at high levels, if you want to be operating with a ton of responsibility and a huge upswing and doing big things, your mind is infinitely important, infinitely important, and you need to take your mental health very, very, very seriously. So there’s things that you can do. These are things you give yourself to get back from your mind, the best that it can be. |
Kaine stretched again on the bed and tried to force her mind to shut down so her eyes and the rest of her body could get the nap she’d come up for. But it was so pumped with life—well, thoughts—that it refused to relax and slither into rest-mode.
It didn’t surprise her, the mild restlessness. It had been that way since that woman… well, to simply refer to her as ‘that woman’ seemed quite improper—not as a term but as a form of description, since she’d been anything but ‘that’.
When she’d turned and seen her, her first thought was that a supermodel had come visiting the Kojo-Edwards. She had been so beautiful with a milky brown complexion that gave her the look of one with mixed parentage—much like Dominic. Her hair had been rich, reddish-brown that had been arranged in a knot-style on top of her head and her eyes had been a lovely mix of brown and light green colour.
But she hadn’t been… wasn’t a supermodel despite her beauty and her lovely curves. She was the head of Corporate Communications at La Quinta—the hotel where Dominic worked. The hotel where Dominic had said he was going that morning.
Was that where he’d told her about her?
Kaine frowned because the thought so unsettled her and she wasn’t even quite certain why. Mia had dismissed her when she’d commented on her beauty after the woman had left and only murmured that true beauty came from inside. But Kaine hadn’t thought so… well, yes, human goodness and splendour came from what is in the heart, the mind and the soul, but that didn’t quite dispute the fact that physical loveliness most often caught the eye quicker than what was inside.
But she wasn’t looking to catch Dominic’s eye, was she?
Because the thought disconcerted more than the worry of who really Senhorita Camilla was, Kaine adjusted more into her side and firmly shut her eyes as she reached out to circle her arm around a napping Baby Tobi.
Dominic came into the living room and found his mother on her favourite reclining low-arm sofa. It was once his father’s favourite relaxation seat but now it was hers. Dominic supposed it was love for his father—for the man she’d spent twenty-four years with that took her back again and again to that seat. It made him wonder what it will be like to love one woman for that many years and be true to her.
His brows knitted at the thought and he found himself mildly unsettled.
“Mama.” He called out quietly, wanting to get rid of the sudden uneasy feeling.
Mia let out a murmur as her eyes flustered open. She steadied them on him and a smile curved her unpainted mouth. “O meu Nico, you’re back. We were expecting you much later.”
Dominic leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’d planned on coming back late with so much work at the hotel but I guess I changed my mind. How was your day?”
“Wonderful as I had your beautiful wife for company.”
Dominic knew she purposely used that possessive term and only smiled. “I’m glad you two had fun. And where is she? She and Tobi?”
“Upstairs; napping.” Mia reached for the recliner remote and pushed the seat back up. “Camilla was here.”
“She was?” Dominic was surprised. “Why was she here?”
“You tell me.” His mother said with arched brows.
Dominic frowned. “I am guessing she came to have a look at Kaine but I didn’t ask her to do that, Mama, you should know that.”
“I know you didn’t and I am not blaming you for her discourteous appearance here today.” Mia said. “But I will hold you responsible if she returns, Nick. You are now married, Dominic, and you owe your wife respect, affection and fidelity.”
“I only married Kaine so we can bring little Tobi home, Mama, you above all know that.” Dominic didn’t care for the reproach in her eyes.
“Nonetheless, she is your wife now and must be accorded the respect and dignity of that station.” Mia let out a sigh after a momentary pause. “I have no wish to interfere in your relationship or in your marriage, Nick. You are a man and you can handle your affairs. But this is my home and now, your wife’s home too; I would not tolerate any disrespectful presence here.”
“Was Camilla rude to her?”
Mia made a hissing sound. “She was here for the sole purpose to see and make trouble with the woman you’ve made your wife and you ask if she was rude? You men!” She flicked an impatient hand. “You just be thankful Catia was sharp enough to quickly get me. But whether she was or not, that don’t matter. I never liked her and you know it and now, I am asking that you keep her away from here… and if I dare add, away from your life.”
“I cannot keep her away from my life, Mama. Camilla works at the hotel. You might not like her personally, but you have to admit that she is good at her job. In the one year plus she’s worked with us, La Quinta has made so much progress and welcomed more guests than ever before.”
“Then keep her at La Quinta and away from La villa Kojo-Edwards.” Mia retorted in a huffy tone that got a smile out of Dominic.
“You won’t have to deal with her here again, Mama.” He made the promise because he too didn’t want Camilla at the house anymore. She shouldn’t have him come here at all today and he would deal with her later for that. “You know, I find it odd that you so easily like and approve of Kaine when you’ve never approved any of the women we—Tobi and I—brought home in the past.”
“Because I’m a woman who knows a good woman when she sees one… and this is the first I’m seeing.” The laughter in her eyes sobered up as she said next. “But don’t tell me you can’t see for yourself the clear difference between Camilla and Kaine.”
Dominic lifted a careless shoulder. “They are both beautiful women, Mama, what difference can you mean?”
“Don’t be so offhand!” Mia reproved. “You are telling me you actually believe if we have offered money to your Camilla as we did Kaine that you think she would have rejected it and insisted on keeping her baby?”
Because he had discovered that truth himself, Dominic frowned. “Have you considered also the fact that maybe Kaine refused the compensation we offered because she knew she’d be getting more as my wife than as a paid-off baby-mama?”
“I have thought about that and I have realised that that isn’t the case. And you will only be thinking with your suspicious head if you tell me you still can’t see what good lies in that young girl.” Mia added with a cluck of her tongue.
“It is not a matter of thinking with a suspicious head or not, Mama. I don’t know Kaine very well… and you don’t either. We both only just met her. And if truth be told, I don’t think Tobi even knew her very well.”
“You think to know a person is a matter of length of time? Bah!” Mia made the dismissive sound with a flick of her hand. “I know what is important to know about Kaine and that is because I think, not just with my head, but with my heart and spirit. And you would too if you think like I do.”
“I trust my head more than I do my heart, Mama.” Dominic lowered again to give her another kiss. “But one thing is right, she is now my wife and I will treat her as such. I apologise that you both had to put up with Camilla’s unannounced visit today, you can be sure it won’t happen again. Now, I must go inside. Despite closing early, I’m a little fagged out.”
“Then go rest and you all only come down when it is time for dinner.” Mia held his hand. “Nick, I know this marriage didn’t happen like most traditional marriages should, but I also know that you can make this marriage into what you want it to be. Kaine might have been your brother’s girlfriend and had a baby for him, but she is your wife now and so, belongs to you. Try to get to know her. Give her a chance in your heart.”
“I’ll do what I can, Mama.” Dominic promised.
But when he came into their bedroom and found her lying straight on her back with the baby on top of her, both of them fast asleep, Dominic wondered what was it he really wanted to do. He’d told Camilla that he planned on being faithful to his wife but how can he be when that wife didn’t want him touching her.
And did he even want her in his heart?
The week had sped by so fast that Dominic wasn’t even sure how it came to be Saturday already; all he knew was that their first week back at Praia was already gone and he hadn’t seen much of his family. After that first day, he hadn’t been able to spare the time to leave work early again. He’d spent most of the week at the winery and usually returned late, sometimes after dinnertime even.
He looked at her now as she chatted on the phone with Juliet. They were both talking on WhatsApp and it was clear she was having fun as her curved into a smile every now and again when a new beep announced Juliet’s response to whatever they are chatting about. He loved the way her unpainted lips moved as she read to herself the words of the messages and the way they tugged inside at the corner when she smiled, or let out a soft, deep-throated chuckle.
He wanted her.
That wasn’t a new thing but the yearning for her was becoming deeper that he’d taken to sleeping on the couch just so to avoid succumbing to the temptation that burned wild inside of him. She’d said they both needed time to get to know each other and his busy schedule wasn’t providing them that time. She hadn’t made any complaints though and Dominic was almost convinced that his constant absence relieved her.
And thinking that, caused him a regular irritation because that simply meant she wasn’t looking forward at all to things changing between them. Well, that was going to change and starting right now, he decided, dumping the magazine he had in hand on the stool beside the armchair and pushing up to his feet.
She turned quickly as he approached the bed. The instant look of nervousness amused and annoyed him, will she never be at ease with him? “Sorry to intrude on your enchanting conversation with your dearest friend, wife of mine, but I have some suggestions on how we might spend this beautiful day together.”
“You want us to spend the day together?”
The puzzled frown on her forehead made him chuckle. “It is usually expected of couples—particularly newly-wed couples—to spend much time in each other’s company. Unfortunately, I haven’t been around to make that possible, and for that I apologise.”
“Oh, you don’t have to apologise.” Kaine offered a small smile as she set down her phone. “I am not complaining. You have been very busy at work and I quite understand.”
And that was what he was afraid of—that she wasn’t complaining where other wives would have whined and grumbled. “Well, I am. I am disturbed by my constant absence and today, I want to make it all up to you. So…”
“You don’t have to.” She interrupted, sending him a reassuring smile. “I haven’t really minded being on my own and…”
“But I mind that you have been on your own, querida, I mind that very much.” He lowered onto the bed and ignored the fact that she quickly shifted her feet. “You and I are supposed to be getting to know one another, not so?”
“Yes. But it’s nothing to rush over. I mean, getting to know a person is something that requires time and…”
“And time is what I have today.” He cut off her babbling, enjoying the fact that she was nervous now. And to magnify that nervousness, he leaned towards her and reached out to caress her cheek. It felt so soft and she smelt so sweetly feminine. “I am looking forward to getting to know my wife… because I have this great need for her. You understand my meaning, querida?”
Her eyes fluttered nervously as they stared into his. “I…”
“I think I should kiss you.” He cut her off again. “I’ve been thinking of your lovely, sweet lips all week. Have you been missing my kisses, querida?”
“Ah… I… Nick…”
“That will be a yes.” He let out a low chuckle. “We shouldn’t so deny each other when rightly we belong to one another, don’t you think?” He traced a finger across the full, naturally-pink lower lip and smiled when it trembled involuntarily underneath his finger. “I love your mouth. It was meant to be kissed and oddly looks like it has never had that pleasure. But I know better, don’t I, querida?”
“I have kissed you before and I shall kiss you again.” He looked into her eyes. They were wide with apprehension and—with unconcealed desire. “You want my kiss, don’t you, minha querida?”
“I love it when you call me in that breathless tone. And now I shall kiss you… and satisfy both our needs.” And he bent forward and his mouth over hers.
She inhaled sharply at the soft, tentative stroke but didn’t draw back. He did it again, adding a tender nibble to the single caress. “Say you want me to kiss you, querida. Tell me you want me to kiss you.”
There was a moment’s hesitation and then she murmured. “I want you to kiss me, Nick.”
“Sim!” And riding on that invitation, he covered her mouth instantly with his, sucking in the soft, full mound of her lower lip even as she willingly leaned into him.
She returned his kiss, like she’d done their first night here when she’d asked him if he wanted to kiss her. But unlike that time, her response wasn’t slow and drowsy; this time her mouth curved perfectly against his and eagerly met the pressure of his own. She did not stay unmoving as she’d done the first two times he kissed her; she moved her own lips over his and when their tongues met, she willingly tangled hers with his.
Dominic felt raw need vibrate through him and settle in his groin as her body pressed hard against his with the soft mounds of her breasts rubbing his chest. He wanted to push her back into the bed and just let himself drown inside her. That was his first and natural inclination but he knew, despite his bulging need, that he had to take it easy. If he was to win her over, he must learn to hold back his own passion and yield to that request for time… and so he allowed himself to push back as he ended the kiss.
Her eyes fluttered open and the deep, glazed desire in their dark depth was some comfort to the powerful bulge between his legs. “I think you should change. Though what you have on is beautiful, I think you’ll be more comfortable in something different for this outing.”
“Oh… yes. Of course.” Her eyes quickly dropped from his as she moved backward and slipped off the bed. “Of course, I can’t wear shorts and a top out…”
“I don’t mind if you do.” Dominic broke in, grinning at the return of her nervousness. “In fact, I would love it if you do. But I have a feeling you are not the type to be comfortable so casually dressed.”
“I… no… I mean, yes, you are right. I won’t be comfortable wearing this. So, I’ll change. Just give me a few minutes. And err, are we taking Tobi?” She was already heading towards the closet room.
“No. He’s with Mama and will stay with her until our return. I’m sure they’ll have fun together.” He watched her disappear behind the archway. “Would you need my help to maybe draw up a zipper?”
“No, I don’t. I’m fine.”
The quick rejection caused his grin to widen. “But someday soon, I shall be drawing open and not close any zipper that may be standing in our way, minha querida.” He murmured to himself, lying back as he waited for her to finish with her dressing.
They started their outing with a tour of the Island and some of its best spots, stopping at a popular and favourite restaurant of his to have lunch before he decided to show her La Quinta.
“Oh my God! It’s such a beautiful hotel. It looks so grand, so magnificent.” Kaine chatted in a dazzled tone beside him as they walked through the hotel lobby. “I mean look at this lobby? It is grandiose and spectacular… even more beautiful than the Sheraton where we stayed in Lagos.”
Dominic grinned. “Now, I think you’re biased because this is our own hotel. Sheraton is world-renown, you know.”
“And La Quinta is still more beautiful than it.” She declared, laughing.
“Prejudiced in our favour… I like it.” He took her hand and joined their palms. “Come, I’ll show you our bar. It is one of the most popular bars on the Island—and I am not just being biased.”
She chuckled. “It’s okay to be biased. One must value one’s own property.”
“Maybe.” He looked at her happy face and wanted to stop at that moment and kiss her. He would have done it too if he didn’t know she’d be mortally embarrassed. “But that’s not my bias speaking, the bar is truly one of the best on the Island. In short, it is the very best there is.”
“And now, you’re bragging.”
He chuckled at her teasing. “Maybe I am. But you tell me after you see it.”
“Oh my, you have got to be right!” She exclaimed the instant they swept into the classically decorated and already teeming bar. “I’ve never been in a bar before, but this is must be the most spectacular in the entire world.”
Dominic frowned as they made their way across the rich end-grain wood floor, gliding between rows of leather banquette seats and tables. “You’ve never been in a bar before? I thought you met Tobi at a bar in Johannesburg?”
Her hand tightened his hand a moment before she relaxed them again. “Oh, I quite forgot that because bars are not something I frequent. That was my first ever visit to a bar and it wasn’t anything like this at all. This is so beautiful. Gosh, look at the flooring. I’ve never seen anything like that.” She laughed as she chatted on. “I confess it, you do have a right to brag. This bar has got to be the best on the Island.”
Though he responded with a smile, Dominic was still mulling over what she’d said and he would have further questioned it if he didn’t notice Camilla behind the oak bar beside the hotel’s bar manager, Kanayo Nduka, at that moment. She was watching them as they approached and he saw at once the open dislike she failed to conceal blaring through her heavily-shadowed hazel eyes.
“Oh, your head of corporate communications is here.” Kaine murmured beside him, her voice losing its carefree, happy note.
“She’s not mine but the hotel’s head of corporate communications, Kaine.” Dominic frowned mildly as he said this and added, not knowing why he did. “And I didn’t know she’ll be here. But she’s quite friendly with the bar manager, so she might be here for him.”
She said nothing as they reached the bar. He pulled out a leather-embossed high-stool for her and helped her into it before sliding into one himself.
“Evening, Boss.” Kanayo dipped his head as he greeted. “Evening, ma’am. What can I get you both?” He gestured to the barman not to worry.
“A simple glass of wine, Kanny.” Dominic responded with an affable smile. “Hello, Camilla.”
“Nick.” Camilla moved her head in a quick, regal nod. “Hello, Kaine. You’re looking quite nice in that dress. Is it Berardi?”
“I’m not exactly sure, Senhorita Camilla. But thank you for the compliment.” Kaine replied with a cool smile. “And you look nice too.”
“Thank you, Kaine, but since this is Oscar de la Renta, I think the appropriate word would be spectacular.” There was an edgy spark behind the smile she flashed.
And Dominic knew it was annoyance at Kaine using such a simplistic term as ‘nice’ to define her and her dressing. Camilla preferred grand words when she was being complimented. Only he knew too that Kaine wasn’t exactly seeking to compliment her but to return the condescending praise Camilla had paid her. He sensed the animosity between the two ladies and knew instantly that though Kaine had only nonchalantly mentioned Camilla’s visit, she was apparently not as nonchalant as she had pretended. And he wasn’t quite sure yet how that made him feel.
But since he wouldn’t stand for his wife being disrespected by anyone, he shifted attention from Camilla as he said. “Querida, I’d like you to meet Kanayo Nduka, a fellow countryman of yours. Kanny, this exquisitely beautiful woman, is my dearest wife, Kaine.”
He heard the sharp snuffle of air as Camilla silently bristled but he and everyone else ignored her.
“A pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Kanayo dropped his head in a respectful dip as he served Kaine’s drink. “You’re welcome to Praia, and to Cape-Verde. Believe me when I say, you’ll enjoy these Islands.”
“Thank you very much, Kanayo.” Kaine smiled. “And are you from the East or from Delta state?”
“A true son of Anambra state, ma’am.” Kanayo replied with a grin.
“Oh, okay. I am from Delta state though.”
Kanayo smiled. “That’s not far apart at all. Just a stroll across the bridge.”
“Well, seeing as these two seem to be getting along just fine, why don’t we leave them alone to better get acquainted, Nick?” Camilla said in an easy tone. “I do have something I’d like to go over with you in the office.”
Dominic only spared her a glance. “That will have to wait until Monday, Camilla. I am only here to have fun with my wife.” He finished his drink and rose. “Come, querida, I’ll show you the rest of the hotel.”
“Okay.” Kaine emptied her glass too and slid down the high-stool. “Nice to have met you, Kanayo. Goodbye, Camilla.”
“Enjoy your day with your husband, Kaine.” Was Camilla’s malicious-eyed response.
“I surely will.” Kaine responded in a pleasant, yet hard tone. “Let’s go, Nick, I want to see more beautiful places.” She slipped her hand into his and curled her fingers around his.
Dominic knew it was a possessive gesture and found that it pleased him. “And I am here to show them to you, querida.” He murmured, leading her out of the bar.
They spent another two hours plus on the Island before they started heading home. They went up to freshen up and change their clothes so they could join his mother for dinner downstairs.
“I had a wonderful time, Nick. Thank you for this beautiful day.” Kaine said with a shy smile.
“I’m glad you enjoyed your day, Kaine. I did too. You make everything so fresh and beautiful the way your experience them.” He came forward and stopped just right in front of her. She’d changed into a simple print dress, yet despite the simplicity of the dress, she looked gorgeous. “Do I get a reward for giving you a good day?” He murmured, his eyes holding hers.
“What reward do you want?” She asked in a voice that quavered.
The singular, unprotested acquiescence surprised him and pleased by the readiness, he took her hand and drew her close. “I want you to give me my reward, Kaine. You kiss me.”
“Oh. But I…” she broke off and bit her lips. Then smiled shakily and tipped herself upward to her toes, and with their bodies barely touching, kissed him softly on his lips.
She would have pulled back but Dominic grabbed onto her and pulled her into his arms, sweeping back his lips over hers and drinking in all of her softness and sweetness as their lips bonded into one.
But like in the morning, he reminded himself to take it easy and ended the kiss before he succumbed to the need to take it further. “Thank you for my kiss, querida. Now, let’s go dine with Mama, before I am tempted to give you more than a kiss.”
The quick shy look in her eyes enthralled him and once more, Dominic found himself wondering how she managed to not only look innocent but act that way too. |
NFT games are increasingly being sought after by people, especially by investors who are already in the cryptocurrency investment world and want to own promising assets.
This blockchain-based game with a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) system gives you the opportunity to own in-game assets that can be traded with cryptocurrencies.
The price of NFT varies greatly and it is not impossible that the price will crawl up along with the development of this digital asset. When the price spikes, you can sell it for a profit!
Well, for those of you who want to try to have high value in game assets, here is a recommended list of NFT games to make money that you must try! Don’t miss out on the best thing to play and invest in 2022!
1. Axie Infinity (one of the most popular NFT games)
Axie Infinity is one of the pioneers of NFT games that are now increasingly available on the internet. This game invites you to raise a virtual pet called Axie.
Based on the Ethereum network, Axie is an NFT asset that you can buy, sell, exchange, or auction on a marketplace with a special token called AXS. The price of 1 AXS is equivalent to 97.41 USD.
Axie Infinity raises the strategy genre so that your task is not only to take care of Axie, but also to bring them into the arena with a special strategy to be able to defeat the Axie group on the enemy team. Curious? Take a look of its gameplay here!
The next NFT crypto game is JobTribes which is also no less popular than the previous game. This game uses the concept of a card game that can be traded. In addition, this game can be played on PC and mobile phones as it is browser-based.
Each card is a digital art registered as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. The card is traded with DEAPcoin (DEP) tokens at an exchange rate of 1 DEP for 0.03 USD..
In the JobTribes game, you can also find various game modes such as Practice, Player vs Player (PvP), Story, and Quest. This NFT game also comes with an interesting gameplay in which each card has its own specialty.
3. CryptoKitties (play-to-earn NFT game)
Carrying the play-to-earn concept, CryptoKitties will invite you to raise a virtual cat that is equipped with special attributes and can be sold as NFT at varying prices.
In this free NFT game, you can find thousands of CryptoKitty in the marketplace that are sold for Ethereum (ETH) coins. Meanwhile, the price of 1 ETH is equivalent to 3191,65 USD.
In addition, you can also get CryptoKitty by mating Dame aka a female cat and Siri aka a male cat to create a new kitten. Find out more here!
4. Plant vs Undead
You must know the game Plants vs Zombies, right? Well, Plant vs Undead (PVU) is a spin-off of the Plant vs Zombie game, only in this PVU you can have lucrative crypto assets.
In this free-to-play game, you have to defend your land from undead attacks by relying on plants which are NFT assets. Each plant also has a value that varies.
Plant vs Undead has a token called PVU which has an exchange rate of 1 PVU which is equivalent to 0.1257 USD. PVU is used for in-game transactions, such as buying plants, seeds, land, and others.
5. The Sandbox
The Sandbox is one of the newest NFT games that is currently viral because the token, namely SAND, has a price that continues to skyrocket significantly.
Launched by Pixowl and operating on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, currently The Sandbox SAND token is equivalent to 4.94 USD.. This figure is also predicted to continue to increase!
This decentralized game is a virtual world metaverse that allows you to create, build, buy and sell cryptocurrencies in the form of game assets registered as NFTs.
Splinterlands is a card game formerly known as Steem Monsters. This game gives you the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency coins on the Hive (HIVE) blockchain.
Unlike the typical Android card game, Splinterlands is known as a trading card game (TCG) with over 280 different cards registered as NFT assets.
In this NFT game, you can buy or sell rare cards using Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) tokens which have an exchange rate of 1 DEC which is equivalent to $0.004183 USD.
Sorare is a fantasy football game that allows you to trade player cards registered as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
In this free NFT crypto game with no capital, you have the opportunity to build a soccer team of eleven professional players using each player’s NFT card.
NFT transactions in the Sorare game are carried out using SOR tokens at a price of 1 SOR worth 97 US dollars. Curious and want to play the game Sorare? Just click here!
Unlike the games above, Bombcrypto is a small capital NFT game based on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network with a special token called BCOIN.
With the Play To Earn concept, you will play various characters who are NFT assets. Each character is also equipped with various attributes such as Power, Speed, Stamina, and others.
The selling price also varies, depending on the rarity of each character. Meanwhile, the current price of Bomb Crypto aka BCOIN is 41744,00 USD.
9. Alien Worlds (quest-based NFT games)
Alien Worlds is described as a metaverse divided into seven different planets. This game uses a cryptocurrency called Trilium (TLM) for 0.47 US dollars.
In this game, you can collect NFT assets to save or resell. You can also get TLM tokens by mining or doing various quests.
The missions in this online game require you to execute the right strategy with the help of various tools, weapons, and avatars, all of which can be traded as NFT assets.
10. Art of War
Finally, there is Art of War APK which may not be as popular as other games in this article. Even so, this game can also be used as an investment asset that is quite promising, you know!
Based on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain with $AOW tokens, Art of War is a royal war game that will assign you various missions with NFT rewards or tokens.
In this play-to-earn game, you can have NFTs in the form of heroes with different abilities and can be developed. After your hero gets stronger, you can sell it at a high price. This is one of the NFT games you don’t want to miss, give it a try!
11. Thetan Arena (one of the first MOBA NFT games)
Thetan Arena is the first blockchain-based game with a MOBA gameplay format, setting it apart from the card-based games typically found in today’s NFT world.
The game also offers a variety of promising opportunities to encourage player participation, from free skins, loot boxes, salable champions, and so on.
In addition, you can transact in Thetan Arena game using Thetan Coin (TCH) at a price of 1 THC to IDR is 0.091359 USD based on the CoinMarketCap site.
12. Illuvium (one of the most anticipated NFT games)
If you are looking for an NFT game without capital, then you can play the Illuvium game which is planned to be released in the first quarter of 2022.
Illuvium is an open-world RPG game that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. This game has a collection of monsters called Illuvial as one of the types of NFT offered.
NFT transactions in this game use Illuvium (ILV) tokens. The current price of 1 Illuvium to IDR is 809.98 USD based on data from the CoinMarketCap website. Quite tempting, isn’t it?
FAQS About NFT Games
If you are still confused about the NFT game and want to know more, there are several questions about this Play to Earn game that we will try to answer. Read more below!
- What is NFT gaming?
NFT Game is a blockchain-based game with a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) system that gives you the opportunity to own in-game assets to trade with cryptocurrencies.
2. What are the online crypto games?
Most crypto games, including the NFT games in this article, can only be played online with an internet network and accessed directly on the official website.
3. How to play NFT games?
Each NFT game has a different game mechanism according to the genre presented. However, to be able to play NFT games, you must first have a crypto wallet like MetaMask.
The Best NFT Games in 2022
- Axie Infinity
- Plant vs Undead
- The Sandbox
- Alien Worlds
- Art of War
- Thetan Arena
Well, that’s the list of the best money-making NFT games 2022. With the games above, you can try a more exciting way of investing with pretty promising results! |
Tutorial 22: Source estimation
Authors: Francois Tadel, Elizabeth Bock, Rey R Ramirez, John C Mosher, Richard M Leahy, Sylvain Baillet
You have in your database a forward model that explains how the cortical sources determine the values on the sensors. This is useful for simulations, but what we need next is to solve the inverse problem: how to estimate the sources when we have the recordings. This tutorial introduces the tools available in Brainstorm for solving this inverse problem.
WARNING: The new interface presented here does not include all the options yet. The mixed head models are not supported: to use them, use the old interface (menu "Compute sources" instead of "Compute sources 2016", described in the old tutorials).
- Ill-posed problem
- Source estimation options
- Computing sources for an average
- Display: Cortex surface
- Why does it look so noisy?
- Display: MRI Viewer
- Display: MRI 3D
- Sign of constrained maps
- Unconstrained orientations
- Source map normalization
- Delete your experiments
- Computing sources for single trials
- Averaging in source space
- Note for beginners
- Averaging normalized values
- Display: Contact sheets and movies
- Model evaluation
- Advanced options: Minimum norm [TODO]
- Advanced options: LCMV beamformer
- Advanced options: Dipole modeling
- On the hard drive
- Additional documentation [TODO]
Our goal is to estimate the activity of the thousands of dipoles described by our forward model. However we only have a few hundred spatial measurements as input (the number of sensors). This inverse problem is ill-posed, meaning there are an infinite number of source activity patterns that could generate exactly the same sensor topography. Inverting the forward model directly is impossible, unless we add some strong priors to our model.
Wikipedia says: "Inverse problems are some of the most important and well-studied mathematical problems in science and mathematics because they tell us about parameters that we cannot directly observe. They have wide application in optics, radar, acoustics, communication theory, signal processing, medical imaging, computer vision, geophysics, oceanography, astronomy, remote sensing, natural language processing, machine learning, nondestructive testing, and many other fields."
Many solutions to the inverse problem have been proposed in the literature, based on different assumptions on the way the brain works and depending on the amount of information we already have on the effects we are studying. Among the many methods available, in Brainstorm, we present three general approaches to the inverse problem that represent the most widely used methods in MEG/EEG source imaging: minimum-norm solutions, beamformers, and dipole modeling.
These approaches have the advantage of being implemented in an efficient linear form: the activity of the sources is a linear recombination of the MEG/EEG recordings, such that it is possible to solve the inverse problem by applying a linear kernel (in the form of a matrix that multiples the spatial data at each point in time) which is easily stored. Subsequent data manipulation and source visualization is then much simpler, as are comparisons among these techniques.
Below we first describe the minimum norm imaging approach and its options, followed by the beamformer and dipole modeling, both of which are actually quite similar and only use a subset of the options available in the minimum norm approach.
Source estimation options
Before we start estimating the sources for the recordings available in our database, let's start with an overview of the options available. This section focuses on the options for the minimum norm estimates. The other methods are described in advanced sections at the end of this page.
Minimum norm imaging
Estimates the sources as the solution to a linear imaging problem, than can be interpreted in various ways (Tikhonov regularization, MAP estimation). The method finds a cortical current source density image that approximately fits the data when mapped through the forward model. The "illposedness" is dealt with by introducing a regularizer or prior in the form of a source covariance that favors solutions that are of minimum energy (or L2 norm).
Min norm requires specification of a noise and a source covariance matrix. Users can estimate a noise covariance matrix directly from recordings (for example, using pre-stim recordings in event related studies) or simply assume a white-noise identify matrix covariance as described below.The source covariance prior is generated from the options discussed in detail below.
- In contrast to the LCMV beamformer, in which the data covariance is estimated directly from the data, for minimum norm the data covariance is determine by the choice of source and data covariances and the forward model.
- Linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) beamformers compute an estimate of source activity at each location through spatial filtering. The spatial data are linearly combined with weights (the spatial filter) chosen separately for each location to ensure that the strength of a dipolar source at that location is correctly estimated (assuming a perfect head model).
- The remaining degrees of freedom in selecting the weights are used to minimize the total output power. This has the effect of suppressing contributions of sources from other locations to the estimated signal at the location of interest.
It should be noted however, that correlation between sources can at times lead to partial or full signal cancellation and the method can be sensitive to accuracy of the head model as described in (LINK: rl4).
LCMV beamformers require specification of the data covariance matrix, which is assumed to include contributions from background noise and the brain signals of interest. In practice, the data covariance is estimated directly from the recordings. A linear kernel (matrix) is formed from this data covariance matrix and the forward model. This kernel defines the spatial filters applied at each location. Multiplying by the data produces an output beamformer scanning image. These images can either be used directly, as is common practice with LCMV methods, or the largest peak(s) can be fit with a dipolar model at every time instance, as (LINK: rl5). More details.
- In some sense the simplest model: we fit a single current dipole at each point in time to the data. We do this by computing a linear kernel (similar to the min norm and LCMV methods) which when multiplied by the data produces a dipole scanning image whose strongest peak represents the most likely location of a dipolar source.
As with LMCV, the dipole scanning images can be viewed directly, or the single best dipole fit (location and orientation) computed, as described in (LINK: rl6). More details.
- Still under much debate, even among our Brainstorm team. In cases where sources are expected to be focal (e.g. interictal spikes in epileptic patients, or early components of sensory evoked responses) the single dipole can be precise in terms of localization. For cases where sources are expected to be distributed, the min norm method makes the least restrictive source assumptions. LCMV beamformers fall somewhere between these two cases.
- One advantage of Brainstorm is that all three approaches can be easily run and compared. If the results are concordant among all three techniques, then our underlying assumptions of source modeling, head modeling, and data statistics are confirmed. If the results are disparate, then a more in depth study is needed to understand the consequences of our assumptions and therefore which technique may be preferred. The next several sections discuss in detail the options associated with the "mininum norm imaging" method.
The minimum norm estimate computed by Brainstorm represents a measure of the current found in each point of the source grid (either volume or surface). As discussed on the user forum, the units are strictly kept in A-m, i.e. we do not normalize by area (yielding A/m, i.e. a surface density) or volume (yielding A/m^2, i.e. a volume density). Nonetheless, it is common to refer these units as a "source density" or "current density" maps when displayed directly.
More commonly, however, current density maps are normalized. The value of the estimated current density is normalized at each source location by a function of either the noise or data covariance. Practically, this normalization has the effect of compensating for the effect of depth dependent sensitivity and resolution of both EEG and MEG. Current density maps tend to preferentially place source activity in superficial regions of cortex, and resolution drops markedly with sources in deeper sulci. Normalization tends to reduce these effects as nicely shown by (LINK ?). We have implemented the two most common normalization methods: dSPM and sLORETA.
Current density map: Produces a "depth-weighted" linear L2-minimum norm estimate current density using the method also implemented in Matti Hamalainen's MNE software. For a full description of this method, please refer to the MNE manual, section 6, "The current estimates". Units: picoamper-meter (pA-m).
dSPM: Implements dynamical Statistical Parametric Mapping (Dale, 2000). The MNE is computed as above. The noise covariance and linear inverse kernel are then used to also compute estimates of noise variance at each location in the current density map. The MNE current density map is normalized by the square root (standard deviation) of these variance estimates. As a result dSPM gives a z-score statistical map. Units: unitless "z".
sLORETA: Standardized LOw Resolution brain Electromagnetic TomogrAphy (Pasqual-Marqui, 2002). As with dSPM, the MNE current density map is normalized at each point. While dSPM computes the normalization based on the noise covariance, sLORETA replaces the noise covariance with the data covariance. (LINK ?) show an alternative form using a "resolution" kernel that may be calculated instead. We use the "resolution" form here. Units: unitless.
Recommended option: Discussed in the section Source map normalization below.
Source model: Dipole orientations
At each point in the source grid, the current dipole may point arbitrarily in three directions. In this section of the options, we describe alternatives for constraining orientation:
Constrained: Normal to cortex: Only for "surface" grids. At each grid point, we model only one dipole, oriented normally to the cortical surface. This is based on the anatomical observation that in the cortex, the pyramidal neurons are mainly organized in macro-columns that are perpendicular to the cortex surface.
Size of the inverse operator: [Nvertices x Nchannels].
Loose: Only for "surface" grids. As introduced by (LINK ?), at each point in the surface grid the dipole direction is constrained to be normal to the local cortical surface. Two additional elemental dipoles are also allowed, in the two directions tangential to the cortical surface. As contrasted with "unconstrained," these two tangential elemental dipoles are constrained to have an amplitude that is a fraction of the normal dipole, recommended to be between 0.1 and 0.6. Thus the dipole is only "loosely" constrained to be normal to the local cortical surface.
Size of the inverse operator: [3*Nvertices x Nchannel].
Unconstrained: Either "surface" or "volume" grids. At each grid point, we leave undefined the assumed orientation of the source, such that three "elemental" dipoles are needed to model the source. In Brainstorm, our elemental dipoles are in the x, y, and z ("Cartesian") directions, as compared to other software that may employ polar coordinates. Thus for "N" vertices, we are calculating the estimate for "3*N" elemental dipoles.
Size of the inverse operator: [3*Nvertices x Nchannels].
Recommended option: The constrained options use one dipole per grid point instead of three, therefore the source files are smaller, faster to compute and display, and more intuitive to process because we don't have to think about recombining the three values into one. On the other hand, in the cases where its physiological assumptions are not verified, typically when using an MNI template instead of the anatomy of the subject, the normal orientation constraint may fail to represent certain activity patterns. Unconstrained models can help in those cases. See further discussion on constrained vs unconstrained solutions below in section Why does it looks so noisy.
We automatically detect and display the sensors found in your head model. In the example above, only one type of sensors is found ("MEG"). You can select one or all of the sensors found in your model, such as MEG and EEG.
However, cross-modality calculations are quite dependent on the accuracy by which you have provided adequate covariance calculations and consistency of the head models across sensor types. As of Fall of 2016, we have also elected to NOT account for cross-covariances between different sensor types, since regularization and stability of cross-modalities is quite involved. For multiple sensor types, the recommendation is that you try each individually and then combined, to test for discordance.
Computing sources for an average
Using the above selections, we now discuss explicit directions on how to compute and visualize.
In Run#01, right-click on the average response for the deviant stim > Compute sources .
Select the options: Minimum norm imaging, Current density map, Constrained: Normal to cortex.
- The other menu "Compute sources" launches the interface that was used previously in Brainstorm. We are going to keep maintaining the two implementations in parallel for a while for compatibility and cross-validation purposes.
The result of the computation is displayed as a dependent file of the deviant average because it is related only to this file. In the file comment, "MN" stands for minimum norm and "Constr" stands for "Constrained: normal orientation".
Display: Cortex surface
Right-click on the sources for the deviant average > Cortical activations > Display on cortex.
Double-click on the recordings for the deviant average to have a time reference.
In the filter tab, add a low-pass filter at 40Hz.
- Change the current time (click on the time series figure or use the keyboard arrows) and note it updates the source maps in the 3D figure. You can also use all the menus and shortcuts introduced in the anatomy tutorial (like setting the view with the keys from 0 to 6).
- You can edit the display properties in the Surface tab:
Amplitude: Only the sources that have a value superior to a given percentage of the colorbar maximum are displayed.
Min size: Hide all the small activated regions, ie. the connected color patches that contain a number of vertices smaller than this "min size" value.
Transparency: Change the transparency of the source activity on the cortex surface.
Take a few minutes to understand what the amplitude threshold represents.
The colorbar maximum depends on the way you configured your Sources colormap. If the option "Maximum: Global" is selected, the maximum should be around 130 pA.m. This value is a rough estimate of the maximum amplitude, and this default value is not always adapted to your figure. To edit the maximum value, use the colormap option "Maximum: Custom".
On the screen capture below, the threshold value is set to 20%. It means that only the sources that have a value over 0.20*130 = 26 pA.m are visible.
The threshold level is indicated in the colorbar with a horizontal white line.
At the first response peak (91ms), the sources with high amplitudes are located around the primary auditory cortex, bilaterally, which is what we are expecting for an auditory stimulation.
Why does it look so noisy?
The source maps look very noisy and discontinuous, they show a lot of disconnected patches. This is due to the orientation constraint we imposed on the dipoles orientations. Each value on the cortex should be interpreted as a vector, oriented perpendicular to the surface. Because of the brain’s circumvolutions, neighboring sources can have significantly different orientations, which also causes the forward model response to change quickly with position. As a result, the orientation-constrained minimum norm solution can produce solutions that vary rapidly with position on the cortex resulting in the noisy and disjointed appearance.
It is therefore important not to always interpret disconnected colored patches as independent sources. You cannot expect high spatial resolution with this technique (~5-10mm at best). Most of the time, a cluster of disconnected source patches in the same neighborhood that show the same evolution in time can be interpreted as "there is some significant activity around here, but with some uncertainty as to its precise location".
To get more continuous maps for visualization or publication purposes, you can either smooth the values explicitly on the surface (process "Sources > Spatial smoothing") or use unconstrained source models.
For data exploration, orientation-constrained solutions may be a good enough representation of brain activity, mostly because it is fast and efficient. You can often get a better feeling of the underlying brain activity patterns by making short interactive movies: click on the figure, then hold the left or right arrows of your keyboard.
Activity patterns will also look sharper when we compute dSPM or sLORETA normalized measures (later in this tutorial). In most of the screen captures in the following sections, the contrast of the figures has been enhanced for illustration purposes. Don't worry if it looks a lot less colorful on your screen. Of course, ultimately statistical analysis of these maps is required to make scientific inferences from your data.
Display: MRI Viewer
Right-click on the source file > Cortical activations > Display on MRI (MRI Viewer).
This figure shows the sources computed on the cortical surface and re-interpolated in the MRI volume. If you set the amplitude threshold to 0%, you would see the thin layer of cortex in which the dipoles where estimated.
- You can configure this figure with the following options:
MIP Anatomy: Checkbox in the MRI Viewer figure. For each slice, display the maximum value over all the slices instead of the original value in the structural MRI ("glass brain" view).
MIP Functional: Same as for MIP Anatomy, but with the layer of functional values.
Smooth level: The sources values can be smoothed after being re-interpolated in the volume. Right-click on the figure to define the size of the smoothing kernel (in number of slices).
Amplitude threshold: In the Surface tab of the Brainstorm window.
Current time: At the top-right of the Brainstorm window (or use the time series figure).
Display: MRI 3D
Right-click on the source file > Cortical activations > Display on MRI (3D).
This view was also introduced in the tutorials about MRI and surface visualization.
Right-click and move your mouse to move the slices (or use the Resect panel of the Surface tab).
Sign of constrained maps
You should pay attention to the sign of the current amplitudes that are given by the minimum norm method: they can be positive or negative and they oscillate around zero. Display the sources on the surface, set the amplitude threshold to 0%, then configure the colormap to show relative values (uncheck the "Absolute values" option), you will see those typical stripes of positive and negative values around the sulci. Double-click on the colorbar after testing this to reset the colormap.
This pattern is due to the orientation constraint imposed on the dipoles. On both sides of a sulcus, we have defined dipoles that are very close to each other, but with opposite orientations. If we have a pattern of activity on one side of a suclus that can be modeled as a current dipole (green arrow), the limited spatial resolution of the minimum norm model will blur this source using the dipoles that are available in the head model (red and blue arrows). Because of the dipoles’ orientations, the minimum norm images produces positive values (red arrows) on one side of the sulcus and negative on the other side (blue arrows).
When displaying the cortical maps at one time point, we are usually not interested in the sign of the minimum norm values but rather by their amplitude. This is why we always display them by default with the colormap option "absolute values" selected.
However, we cannot simply discard the sign of these values because we need these for other types of analysis, typically time-frequency decompositions and connectivity analysis. For estimating frequency measures on the source maps it is essential that we retain the sign of the time course at each location so that the correct oscillatory frequencies are identified.
In cases where the orientation constraint imposed on the dipole orientations produces implausible results, it is possible to relax it partially (option "loose constraints") or completely (option "unconstrained"). This produces a vector (3 component) current source at each location which can complicate interpretation, but avoids some of the noisy and discontinous features in the current map that are often seen in the constrained maps. Unconstrained solutions are particularly appropriate when using the MNI template instead of the subject's anatomy, or when studying deeper or non-cortical brain regions for which the normal to the cortical surface obtained with FreeSurfer or BrainSuite is unlikely to match any physiological reality.
In terms of data representation, the option "unconstrained" and "loose constraints" are very similar. Instead of using one dipole at each cortical location, a base of three orthogonal dipoles is used. Here we will only illustrate the fully unconstrained case.
In Run#01, right-click on the average response for the deviant stim > Compute sources .
Select the options: Minimum norm imaging, Current density map, Unconstrained.
Double-click on the new source file for the deviant average, open the time series simultaneously. The two brain maps below represent the same file at 91ms, with different colormap options (absolute values on the left, relative values on the right). Explanations below.
We have to be careful with the visual comparisons of constrained and unconstrained source maps displayed on the cortex surface, because they are very different types of data. In unconstrained source maps, we have three dipoles with orthogonal orientations at each cortex location, therefore we cannot represent all the information at once. To display them as an activity map, Brainstorm computes the norm of the vectorial sum of the three orientations at each vertex.
S = sqrt(Sx2 + Sy2 + Sz2)
This explains that we only observe positive values (no blue values when the colormap is set to display positive and negative values): the norm displayed at each vertex is always positive. The underlying values along each orientation (x,y,z) can be positive or negative and oscillate around zero in time, but we cannot get access to this information with these static cortical maps.
The maps we observe here look a lot smoother than the constrained sources we computed earlier. This can be explained by the fact that there is no sharp discontinuity in the forward model between two adjacent points of the grid for a vector dipole represented in Cartesian coordinates while the normal to the surface for two nearby points can be very different, resulting in rapidly changing forward models for the constrained case.
Delete the unconstrained file, we will not explore this option in the introduction tutorials. You can refer to the tutorial EEG and epilepsy for an example of analysis using unconstrained sources.
Source map normalization
The current density values returned by the minimum norm method have a few problems:
- They depend a lot on the SNR of the signal, which may vary significantly between subjects. Their amplitude is therefore difficult to interpret directly.
- The values tend to be higher at the surface of the brain (close to the sensors).
- The maps are sometimes patchy and difficult to read.
Normalizing the current density maps with respect to a reference level (estimated from noise recordings, pre-stimulus baseline or resting state recordings) can help with all these issues at the same time. In the case of dSPM and sLORETA, the normalizations are computed as part of the inverse routine and based on noise and data covariances, respectively. While dSPM does produce a Z-score map, we also provide an explicit Z-score normalization that offers the user more flexibility in defining a baseline period over which Brainstorm computes the standard deviation for normalization.
The normalization options do not change the temporal dynamics of your results when considering a single location but they do alter the relative scaling of each point in the min norm map. If you look at the time series associated with one given source, it will be exactly the same for all normalizations, except for a scaling factor. Only the relative weights change between the sources, and these weights do not change over time.
In Run#01, right-click on the average recordings for the deviant stim > Compute sources .
Select successively the two normalization options: dSPM, sLORETA, (constrained).
Double-click on all of them to compare them (screen capture at 143ms):
Current density maps: Tends to highlight the top of the gyri and the superficial sources.
dSPM: Tends to correct this behavior and may give higher values in deeper areas. The values obtained are unitless and similar to Z-scores, therefore they are easier to interpret.
sLORETA: Produces smoother maps where all the potentially activated area of the brain (given to the low spatial resolution of the source localization with MEG/EEG) is shown as connected, regardless of the depth of the sources. The maps are unitless, but unlike dSPM cannot be intepreted as Z-scores so are more difficult to interpret.
The Z-transformation converts the current density values to a score that represents the number of standard deviations with respect to a baseline period. We define a baseline period in our file (in this case, the pre-stimulus baseline) and compute the average and standard deviation for this segment. Then for every time point we subtract the baseline average and divide by the baseline standard deviation. Z = (Data - μ) / σ
- This measure tells how much a value deviates from the baseline average, in number of times the standard deviation. This is done independently for each source location, so the sources with a low variability during baseline will be more salient in the cortical maps post-stimulus.
In Process1: Select the constrained current density maps (file MN: MEG(Constr)).
Run process "Standardize > Baseline normalization", [-100,-1.7]ms, Z-score transformation
Do not select "Use absolute values": We want the sign of the current values.
Double-click on the new normalized file to display it on the cortex (file with the "| zscore" tag).
You can see that the cortical maps obtained in this way are very similar to the other normalization approaches, especially with the dSPM maps.
A value of 3 in this figure means: at this vertex, the value is 3 times higher than the standard deviation from zero during the baseline. If the values during the baseline follow a normal distribution N(μ,σ2), then the values we computed follow a N(0,1)=Z distribution. We can get a level of significance from this well known distribution, for instance a value Z=1.96 corresponds to a p-value of 0.05. These questions will be discussed in more details in the statistics tutorial.
The Z-normalized source maps are not impacted by the visualization filters. If you open simultaneously the time series and all the files you have now (MN, dSPM, sLORETA, Z-score) and modify the options in the Filter tab, all the figures are updated except for the Z-score one. We can filter easily all the linear models (MN, dSPM, sLORETA), but we would lose the interesting properties of the Z-values if we were filtering them (the values would not follow a Z-distribution anymore).
If the baseline and the active state are not in the same file, you can use the Process2 tab: place the baseline in the left list (Files A) and the file to normalize in the right list (Files B).
Use non-normalized current density maps for:
- Computing shared kernels applied to single trials.
- Averaging files across MEG runs.
- Computing time-frequency decompositions or connectivity measures on the single trials.
Use normalized maps (dSPM, sLORETA, Z-score) for:
- Estimating the sources for an average response.
- Exploring visually the average response (ERP/ERF) at the source level.
- Normalizing the subject averages before a group analysis.
- Recommended normalization approach:
- It is difficult to declare that one normalization technique is better than another. They have different advantages and may be used in different cases. Ideally, they should all converge to similar observations and inferences. If you obtain results with one method that you cannot reproduce with the others, you should question your findings.
- dSPM and sLORETA are linear measures and can expressed as imaging kernels, therefore they are easier to manipulate in Brainstorm. sLORETA maps can be smoother but they are difficult to interpret. dSPMs, as z-score maps, are much easier to understand and interpret.
- Z-normalized current density maps are also easy to interpret. They represent explicitly a "deviation from experimental baseline" as defined by the user. In contrast, dSPM indicates the deviation from the data that was used to define the noise covariance used in computing the min norm map.
Delete your experiments
Select all the source files you computed until now and delete them.
Computing sources for single trials
Because the minimum norm model is linear, we can compute an inverse model independently from the recordings and apply it on the recordings when needed. We will now illustrate how to compute a shared inverse model for all the imported epochs.
Right-click on the head model or the folder for Run#01 > Compute sources .
Select: Minimum norm imaging, Current density map, Constrained: Normal to cortex
Because we did not request to compute and inverse model for a specific block of recordings, it computed a shared inverse model. If you right-click on this new file, you get a warning message: "Inversion kernel". It does not contain any source map, but only the inverse operator that will allow us to convert the recordings into source maps.
The database explorer now shows one source link to this inverse model for each block of recordings available in this folder, single trials and averages. These links are not real files saved on the hard drive, but you can use them exactly like the previous source files we calculated for the deviant average. If you load a link, Brainstorm loads the corresponding MEG recordings, loads the inverse kernel and multiplies the two on the fly before displaying it. This optimized approach saves a lot of computation time and lot of space on the hard drive.
Averaging in source space
Computing the average
First compute the same source model for the the second acquisition run.
In Run#02, right-click on the head model or the folder > Compute sources .
Select: Minimum norm imaging, Current density map, Constrained: Normal to cortex
Now we have the source maps available for all the recordings, we can average them in source space across runs. This allows us to average MEG recordings that were recorded with different head positions (in this case Run#01 and Run#02 have different channel files so they could potentially have different head positions preventing the direct averaging at the sensor level).
Thanks to the linearity of the minimum norm model: MN(Average(trials)) = Average(MN(trials))
The two following approaches are equivalent:
- Averaging the sources of all the individual trials across runs,
- Averaging the sources for the sensor averages that we already computed for each run.
- We will use the second option: using the sources for the sensor-level averages. It is a lot faster because it needs to read 4 files (one average file per run and per condition) instead of 456 files (total number of good trials in the two runs).
Drag and drop to the Process1 tab the average recordings for Run01 and Run02, then press the [Process sources] button on the left to select the source files instead of the MEG recordings.
Run process "Average > Average files":
Select "By trial group (subject average)" to average together files with similar names.
Select "Weighted average" to account for the different numbers of trials in both runs.
The two averages that are produced (one for each condition) are saved in the folder Intra-subject. This is where all the files computed using information from multiple folders within the same subject are saved. If you prefer to have them somewhere else, you can create new folders and move them there, just like you would do with a regular file explorer.
The file comments say "2 files" because they were computed from two averages each (one from each run), but the number of corresponding trials is correctly updated in the file structure.
Right-click on each of them > File > View file contents, and check the nAvg field:
78 trials for the deviant condition, 378 trials for the standard condition.
Double-click on the source averages to display them (deviant=top, standard=bottom).
Open the sensor-level averages as a time reference.
Use the predefined view "Left, Right" for looking at the two sides at the same time (shortcut: "7").
Note that opening the source maps can be very long because of the filters for visualization. Check in the Filter tab, you may have a filter applied with the option "Filter full source files" selected. In the case of averaged source maps, the 15,000 source signals are filtered on the fly when you load a source file. This filtering of the full source files can take a significant amount of time, consider unchecking this option if the display is too slow on your computer.
- It was not a problem until now because the source files were saved in the compact form (Kernel*recordings) and the visualization filters were applied on the recordings, then projected to the source space. This fast option is not available anymore with these averages across runs.
- The visualization filters will not be available anymore after we apply a Z-score normalization. If we want to display Z-score source maps that are smoothed in time, we will have to apply explicitly the filters on the file, with the Process1 tab.
- Clear the Process1 list, then drag and drop the new averages in it.
- In Process1, select the two filtered averages.
Run process "Standardize > Baseline normalization", baseline=[-100,-1.7]ms, Z-score.
Four new files are accessible in the database: two filtered and two filtered+normalized.
Double-click on the source averages to display them (deviant=top, standard=bottom).
- The Z-score source values at 90ms are higher for the standard condition (~25) than for the deviant condition (~15). We observe this because the two conditions have very different signal-to-noise ratios. The standard condition has about 5x more trials, therefore the standard deviation over the baseline is a lot lower, leading to higher Z-score.
Delete the non-normalized filtered files, we will not use them in the following tutorials.
Note for beginners
Everything below is advanced documentation, you can skip it for now.
Averaging normalized values
Averaging normalized source maps within a single subject requires more attention than averaging current density maps. The amplitude of the normalized measures increase with the SNR of the signal, the higher the SNR the higher the normalized score. For instance, the average of the dSPM for the single trials is lower than the dSPM of the averaged trials (by a factor of sqrt(N), where N is the number of trials).
- From the expression of the dSPM, we know exactly what factor should be applied to compensate for this effect so that new value reflects the enhanced SNR that results from averaging over trials. When computing the average of dSPM or other normalized values, we have to also multiply the average with the square root of the number of files averaged together.
MinNorm(Average(trials)) = Average(MinNorm(trials))
dSPM(Average(trials)) = sqrt(Ntrials) * Average(dSPM(trials))
This can be done automatically during the averaging for dSPM values, it corresponds to the option: "Adjust normalized source maps for SNR increase":
- The same SNR issues arise while averaging Z-scores: the average of the Z-scores is lower than the Z-score of the average. But this time we do not have an easy analytical expression to compensate for the modifications in SNR, the average would not be reflecting the increase in SNR.
When computing averages at the subject level: Always avoid averaging Z-score maps.
Average the current density maps, then normalize.
- This normalization is not based on the SNR of signal, but rather on the smoothness of the maps. There is no problem related with the average of sLORETA-normalized source maps.
- sLORETA(Average(trials)) = Average(sLORETA(trials))
Display: Contact sheets and movies
A good way to represent what is happening in time is to generate contact sheets or videos. Right-click on any figure and go to the menu Snapshot to check out all the possible options. For a nicer result, take some time to adjust the size of the figure, the amplitude threshold and the colormap options (hiding the colorbar can be a good option for contact sheets).
A time stamp is added to the captured figure. The size of the text font is fixed, so if you want it to be readable in the contact sheet, you should make you figure very small before starting the capture. The screen captures below where produced with the colormap "hot".
Contact sheet: Right-click on any figure > Snapshot > Time contact sheet: Figure
One way to evaluate the accuracy of the source reconstruction if to simulate recordings using the estimated source maps. This is done simply by multiplying the source time series with the forward model:
MEG_simulated [Nmeg x Ntime] = Forward_model [Nmeg x Nsources] * MN_sources [Nsources x Ntime]
Then you can compare visually the original MEG recordings with the simulated ones. More formally, you can compute an error measure from the residuals (recordings - simulated).
To simulate MEG recordings from a minimum norm source model, right-click on the source file, then select the menu "Model evaluation > Simulate recordings".
Open side-by-side the original and simulated MEG recordings for the same condition:
Advanced options: Minimum norm [TODO]
Right-click on the deviant average for Run#01 > Compute sources .
Click on the button [Show details] to bring up all the advanced minimum norm options.
Briefly, the use of various depth weightings was far more debated in the 1990s, before the introduction of MNE normalization via dSPM, sLORETA, and other "z-scoring" methods, which mostly cancel the effects of depth weighting (put another way, after normalization min norm results tend to look quite similar whether depth weighting is used or not).
By modifing the source covariance model at each point in the source grid, deeper sources are "boosted" to increase their signal strength relative to the shallower dipoles; otherwise, the resulting MNE current density maps are too dominated by the shallower sources. If using dSPM or sLORETA, little difference in using depth weighting should be noted. To understand how to set these parameters, please refer to the MNE manual. (options --depth, --weightexp and --weightlimit).
Noise covariance regularization [TODO]
MNE and dipole modeling are best done with an accurate model of the noise covariance, which is generally computed from experimental data. As such, these estimates are themselves prone to errors that arise from relatively too few data points, weak sensors, and strange data dependencies that can cause the eigenspectrum of the covariance matrix to be illconditioned (i.e. a large eigenvalue spread or matrix condition number). In Brainstorm, we provide several means to "stabilize" or "regularize" the noise covariance matrix, so that source estimation calculations are more robust to small errors.
Regularize noise covariance: The L2 matrix norm is defined as the largest eigenvalue of its eigenspectrum. This option adds to the covariance matrix a diagonal matrix whos entries are a fraction of the matrix norm. The default is 0.1, such that covariance matrix is stabilized by adding to it an identity matrix that is scaled to 10% of the largest eigenvalue.
Median eigenvalue: The eigenspectrum of MEG data can often span many decades, due to highly colored spatial noise, but this broad spectrum is generally confined to the first several modes only. Thus the L2 norm is many times greater than the majority of the eigenvalues, and it is difficult to prescribe a conventional regularization parameter. Instability in the inverse is dominated by defects found in the smallest eigenvalues. This approach stabilizes the eigenspectrum by replicating the median (middle) eigenvalue for the remainder of the small eigenvalues.
Diagonal noise covariance: Deficiencies in the eigenspectrum often arise from numerical inter-dependencies found among the channels, particularly in covariance matrices computed from relatively short sequences of data. One common method of stabilization is to simply take the diagonal of the covariance matrix and zero-out the cross-covariances. Each channel is therefore modeled as independent of the other channels. The eigenspectrum is now simply the (sorted) diagonal values.
No covariance regularization: We simply use the noise covariance matrix as computed or provided by the user.
Automatic shrinkage: Stabilization method of Ledoit and Wolf (2004), still under testing in the Brainstorm environment. Basically tries to estimate a good tradeoff between no regularization and diagonal regularization, using a "shrinkage" factor. See Brainstorm code "bst_inverse_linear_2016.m" for notes and details.
Recommended option: This author (Mosher) votes for the median eigenvalue as being generally effective. The other options are useful for comparing with other software packages that generally employ similar regularization methods. [TODO]
Regularization parameter [TODO]
In minimum norm estimates, as mentioned above in the comparisons among methods, the data covariance matrix is essentially synthesized by adding the noise covariance matrix to a modeled signal covariance matrix. The signal covariance matrix is generated by passing the source prior through the forward model. The source prior is in turn prescribed by the source model orientation and the depth weighting.
A final regularization parameter, however, determines how much weight the signal model should be given relative to the noise model, i.e. the "signal to noise ratio" (SNR). In Brainstorm, we follow the definition of SNR as first defined in the original MNE software of Hamalainen. The signal covariance matrix is "whitened" by the noise covariance matrix, such that the whitened eigenspectrum has elements in terms of SNR (power). We find the mean of this spectrum, then take the square root to yield the average SNR (amplitude). The default in MNE and in Brainstorm is "3", i.e. the average SNR (power) is 9.
Signal-to-noise ratio: Use SNR of 3 as the classic recommendation, as discussed above.
RMS source amplitude: An alternative definition of SNR, but still under test and may be dropped. [TODO]
As mentioned above, these methods create a convenient linear imaging kernel that is "tall" in the number of elemental dipoles (one or three per grid point) and "wide" only in the number of sensors. At subsequent visualization time, we efficiently multiply the kernel with the data matrix to compute the min norm images.
For some custom purposes, however, a user may find it convenient to pre-multiply the data matrix and generate the full source estimation matrix. This would only be recommended in small data sets, since the full results can become quite large.
Kernel only: Saves only the linear inverse operator, a model that converts sensor values into source values. The size of this matrix is: number of sources (15000) x number of MEG sensors (274). The multiplication with the recordings is done on the fly by Brainstorm in a transparent way. For long recordings or numerous epochs, this form of compact storage helps saving a lot of disk space and computation time, and it speeds up significantly the display. Always select this option when possible.
Full results: Saves in one big matrix the values of all the sources (15,000) for all the time samples (361). The size in memory of such a matrix is about 45Mb for 600ms of recordings. This is still reasonable, so you may use this option in this case. But if you need to process longer recordings, you may face "Out of memory" errors in Matlab, or fill your hard drive quickly.
- Full results [15000x361] = Inverse kernel [15000x274] * Recordings [274x361]
Advanced options: LCMV beamformer
As mentioned in the introduction above, two other methods can be selected for source estimation, a beamformer and dipole modeling. In this section, we review the options for the beamformer. You need to estimate a data covariance matrix in order to enable the option "LCMV beaformer" in the interface.
The only option "Pseudo Neural Activity Index" (PNAI), is named after the definition of the Neural Activity Index (NAI). We have modified Van Veen’s definition to rely strictly on the data covariance, without need for a separate noise covariance matrix, but the basic premise is the same as in dSPM, sLORETA, and other normalizations. Viewing the resulting "map," in an identical manner to that with MNE, dSPM, and sLORETA described above, reveals possibly multiple sources as peaks in the map. The PNAI scores analogously to z-scoring.
We recommend you choose "unconstrained" and let the later Dipole scanning process, which finds the best fitting dipole at each time point, optimize the orientation with respect to the data.
Data covariance regularization
Same definitions as in MNE, only applied to the data covariance matrix, rather than the noise covariance marix. Our recommendation is to use median eigenvalue.
Advanced options: Dipole modeling
Dipole modeling fits a single dipole at each potential source location to produce a dipole scanning map. This map can be viewed as a indication of how well, and where, the dipole fits at each time point. Wowever, we recommend using the subsequent best-dipole fitting routine (dipole scanning) to determine the final location and orientation of the dipole (one per time point). Please note that this function does not fit multiple simultaneous dipoles.
Although not widely recognized, dipole modeling and beamforming are more alike than they are different – when comparing the inverse operators required to compute the dipole scanning map (dipole modeling) and the beamformer output map (LCMV), we see that they differ only in that the former uses an inverse noise covariance matrix while the latter replaces this with the inverse of the data covariance.
Measure: This field is now missing, but the resulting imaging kernel file is directly analogous to the PNAI result from LCMV beamforming. The user can display this scanning measure just as with the LCMV case, where again the normalization and units are a form of z-scoring.
Dipole orientations: Use unconstrained source modeling and let the process "dipole scanning" optimize the orientation of the dipole for every time instance.
Noise covariance regularization: Similarly, use median eigenvalue.
The tutorial "MEG current phantom (Elekta)" demonstrates dipole modeling of 32 individual dipoles under realistic experimental noise conditions.
On the hard drive
Constrained shared kernel
Right-click on a shared inverse file in the database explorer > File > View file contents.
Structure of the source files: results_*.mat
ImagingKernel: [Nsources x Nchannels] Linear inverse operator that must be multiplied by the recordings in order to get the full source time series. If defined, ImageGridAmp must be empty.
ImageGridAmp: [Nsources x Ntime] Full source time series, in Amper.meter. If this field is defined, ImagingKernel must be empty.
Time: [1 x Ntime] Time values for each sample recorded in F, in seconds.
nComponents: Number of dipoles per grid point: 1=Constrained, 3=Unconstrained, 0=Mixed. In the case of mixed head models, the atlas GridAtlas documents region by region how the list of grid points matches the list of dipoles.
Function: Type of values currently saved in the file: 'mn', 'mnp', 'dspm', 'sloreta', 'lcmv', 'lcmvp', 'lcmvnai', 'lcmvpow', 'gls', 'glsp', 'glsfit', 'glschi', 'zscore', 'ersd'...
HeadModelType: Type of source space used for this head model ('surface', 'volume', 'mixed').
HeadModelFile: Relative path to the head model used to compute the sources.
SurfaceFile: Relative path to the cortex surface file related with this head model.
Atlas: Used only by the process "Sources > Downsample to atlas".
GridLoc: [Nvertices x 3], (x,y,z) positions of the grid of source points. In the case of a surface head model, it is empty and you read directly the positions from the surface file.
GridOrient: [Nvertices x 3], direction of the normal to the surface for each vertex point (copy of the 'VertNormals' matrix of the cortex surface). Empty in the case of a volume head model or unconstrained sources.
GridAtlas: Atlas "Source model" used with mixed source models.
GoodChannel: [1 x Nchannels] Array of channel indices used to estimate the sources.
DataFile: Relative path to the recordings file for which the sources where computed. If this field is set, the source file appears as a dependent of the DataFile.
Comment: String displayed in the database explorer to represent this file.
History: Operations performed on the file since it was create (menu "View file history").
Options: Structure that contains all the options of the inverse calculation. This is saved in the file only for bookkeeping.
Whitener: Noise covariance whitener computed in bst_inverse_linear_2016.m
DataWhitener: Data covariance whitener computed in bst_inverse_linear_2016.m
SourceDecompVa: [3 x Nsources] Concatenated right singular vectors from the SVD decomposition of the whitened leadfield for each source (only for unconstrained sources).
SourceDecompSa: [3 x Nvertices] Vector diagonal of the singular values from the SVD decomposition of the whitened leadfield for each source (only for unconstrained sources).
Std: For averaged files, number of trials that were used to compute this file.
DisplayUnits: String, force the display of this file using a specific type of units.
ChannelFlag: [Nchannels x 1] Copy of the ChannelFlag field from the original data file.
nAvg: For averaged files, number of trials that were used to compute this file. For source files that are attached to a data file, we use the nAvg field from the data file.
Full source maps
In Intra-subject, right-click on one of the normalized averages > File > View file contents.
This file has the same structure as a shared inverse kernel, with the following differences:
It contains the full time series (ImageGridAmp) instead of an inverse operator (ImagingKernel).
The Z-score process updated the field Function ('mn' => 'zscore')
- The links are not real files on the hard drive, if you select the menu "View file contents" for any of them it would display the structure of the corresponding shared kernel.
They are saved in the database as strings with a specific structure: "link|kernel_file|data_file". This string associates a shared inverse operator with some recordings. The two files have to be available to load the this file. All the functions in Brainstorm are equipped to reconstruct the full source matrix dynamically.
_KERNEL_: Indicates that the file contains only an inverse kernel, it needs to be associated with recordings to be opened.
in_bst_results(ResultsFile, LoadFull, FieldsList): Load a source file and optionally reconstruct the full source time series on the fly (ImagingKernel * recordings).
in_bst(FileName, TimeBounds, LoadFull): Load any Brainstorm data file with the possibility to load only a specific part of the file.
bst_process('LoadInputFile', FileName, Target, TimeWindow, OPTIONS): The most high-level function for reading data files, can compute scout values on the fly.
Additional documentation [TODO]
Dale AM, Liu AK, Fischl BR, Buckner RL, Belliveau JW, Lewine JD, Halgren E
Dynamic statistical parametric mapping: combining fMRI and MEG for high-resolution imaging of cortical activity. Neuron 2000 Apr, 26(1):55-67
Pascual-Marqui RD, Standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA): technical details, Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol 2002, 24 Suppl D:5-12
- Baillet, Mosher, Leahy, Electromagnetic Brain Imaging, IEEE SP MAG, 2001.
Tutorial: Volume source estimation
Tutorial: Deep cerebral structures
Tutorial: Computing and displaying dipoles
Tutorial: Dipole fitting with FieldTrip
Tutorial: Maximum Entropy on the Mean (MEM)
Forum: Minimum norm units (pA.m): http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1246
Forum: Imaging resolution kernels: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1298
Forum: Spatial smoothing: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1409
Forum: Units for dSPM/sLORETA: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1535
Forum: EEG reference: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1525#post6718
Forum: Sign of the MNE values: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1649
Forum: Combine mag+gradiometers: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1900
Forum: Residual ocular artifacts: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?1272
Forum: Dipole fitting: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?2400
Forum: Simulate recordings from sources: http://neuroimage.usc.edu/forums/showthread.php?2563 |
Motivation Be Inspired By Linda Formichelli Why aren’t you writing? I’ll bet you have a host of reasons lined up. You’re ill, you’re busy, your writing stinks, your house is a mess, your kids are a pain, and you don’t have any time, money, or motivation. Writing is important to you—but it’s also scary. I get that! You risk embarrassment, failure and the scorn of your friends and family. These reasons for not even trying are handy because they keep you safe from these horrible feelings and experiences. So now you’re safe in your little box, never risking failure and humiliation… because you never tried going after your dreams. Is that what you really want? I don’t think so. So let’s bust the five most common excuses for not writing: Excuse #1: My writing stinks! Let me start by saying that if you think your writing stinks, it probably doesn’t. I know a lot of writing teachers, and we all agree on one thing: Great writers tend to have low self-esteem when it comes to their work, while writers who think they’re wonderful are the ones who need major editing. Most of my career has been in magazine journalism, and some of my first pitches were embarrassing — like the time I sent a query letter to Family Circle for an article called “Quik Dri Cheez: Why Advertisers Can’t Spell.” (*cringe*) But I kept pitching, learning from every rejection and every editor comment, and within a couple of years, I was writing for top magazines. Still think your lack of skill will keep you from success as a writer? Then learn to write better! Try these tactics to improve: Get a grip on grammar. If you have issues with grammar and style, they are easy enough to correct. The Elements of Style is available free online and will help you learn to write in a simple, effective style that works for most magazines. I also like Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips. Read up. If you aren’t one already, become a voracious reader of everything, from literary fiction to industry trade magazines. You’ll start to recognize what makes good writing, and will absorb the basics of grammar, style, tone and cadence. Get help. If you feel you need more help than you can get from a book—or if you write and write but still feel that your writing needs work—you can hire a coach to help you with your writing, or an editor to go over your work. Write anyway. They say experience is the best teacher, and they (whoever they are) are right. When I first started getting assignments — mostly for trade magazines — I would print out the article and go over the draft multiple times with a red pen. Now I can write and edit an article on the screen, and my editors are happy with my work. You’ll experience the same growth in your abilities and confidence if you just keep pitching and writing. Don’t let the (probably untrue) thought that you’re not good enough keep you from writing. If you truly do need to improve, you can. Excuse #2: You need to have a trust fund to be a writer. I occasionally see nasty forum posts telling aspiring writers that if they don’t have a rich spouse to support them, they can forget about their writing dreams. It’s a common misconception that writing is a career or hobby fit only for moneyed ladies and men of leisure. That’s a big, gross lie. Having been in the business for two decades, I know many, many writers who make a good living from their writing, with some of them being the only breadwinners in their families. Then, there’s the fear that going after your writing passion requires a separate office, fancy equipment, an expensive website, professionally designed business cards, and a contingent of coaches, accountants and lawyers. The happy reality is that you can get started as a writer for close to nothing. For example: A few weeks ago I built a website for my new book from scratch in under four hours—for free. You can score free business cards if you don’t mind a small ad on the back. Some professionals are happy to barter their services for your writing. I’ve bartered for web design, ad placement, and more. No need to spring for fancy software when you can find free word processors online, use Google Spreadsheets for tracking assignments, try no-cost online scheduling systems to set up your calls, offer teleseminars using FreeConferencePro.com, and more. Lots of services offer free trials up to a certain threshold. For example, if you want to start a mailing list for your blog, MailChimp is free for up to 2,000 subscribers. You get the idea. No cash? No worries. All you need to start writing is creativity and great ideas. Excuse #3: I’m a busy person! Who has time for writing? You do. It may feel like you have zero spare minutes in your day; you’re working 80 hours per week, and you don’t even have enough time to sleep. However, time-use studies show that we work less, do less housework and childcare, and sleep more than we think. We don’t exaggerate on purpose, but in a culture where it’s a badge of honor to be overworked and underslept, it’s natural for us to over-report work hours and under-report sleep hours. So let’s say you work 50 hours per week at your day job, sleep 8 hours per night, and do 20 hours of housework and childcare per week (which is a stretch for many of us). Even that busy schedule leaves 42 hours free for other things. That’s enough for a second full-time job! (Maybe a writing job?) The problem is, those free hours are scattered in bits and pieces throughout the week, so it feels like we never have a good, solid chunk of time to do our writing. The secret is to take a hard look at your schedule and figure out where you can move things around to create more continuous blocks of time. For example: Batch them up. Can you batch errands, phone calls, email checking and so on to get them all done at once? Be picky. When scheduling an appointment, don’t take the first slot offered if it’s not good for your schedule. You may have to wait longer if you’re picky about the time slot, but it’s worth it if it helps you arrange your time in a more efficient way. Save your day. If you work at home, stop scheduling things for the middle of the day just because you can. For instance, I used to have a private yoga session every week at 10 am. I realized these sessions were breaking up my day in a bad way, so I rescheduled them for right after I knock off work for the day. Schedule your writing. Instead of telling yourself you’ll write when you have the time—which somehow never happens—schedule writing time into your calendar just like any other important appointment. That way, you’ll schedule tasks that crop up around your writing time, instead of letting them suck up your whole day. If you examine your schedule, change what’s not working for you, and set boundaries around your time… you’ll find you have plenty of time to write. Excuse #4: I want to write, but when I’m ready to get to work, I’m so not motivated! You’re passionate about writing. You’re driven to write. But when it comes time to sit down and actually, you know, write… suddenly, your motivation is at an all-time low. In fact, your body and mind are actually screaming at you to not write. In his book The War of Art, Stephen Pressfield calls this problem “Resistance,” and says it tends to rear its head when you’re about to do something creative, launch a business, or attempt to advance spiritually or morally. Writing can fit into all of these categories. It’s a trifecta of Resistance! I’ve found that many writers, at this point, plop down on the sofa and attempt to psychoanalyze themselves. “Why can’t I write? What am I afraid of? What’s the problem here?” But the fact is, you can’t think your way into motivation. What you need to do push past the fear and lack of inspiration just long enough to take action. Once you’re in action mode, your motivation builds, you get on a roll, and you want to keep going. Here are a few tricks that can help you break through the initial fear and resistance, and start writing: Take five. Set a timer for five minutes and tell yourself that you need to write only until the timer goes off, and then you can stop. Negotiate with yourself. Make a deal with yourself that you need to write only the title of your new work and your byline. (I do this when I have a magazine article assignment I really, really don’t want to start.) Start in the middle. For example, instead of starting a blog post with the lead sentence, start with the tips and then write your beginning later. Write a middle chapter of your novel instead of the first chapter. If you’re working on an article, start with the kicker (ending) instead of the lede (beginning). Chances are, once you start getting words on paper, you’ll be on fire to keep going. Excuse #5: I’ll write when the kids are grown/I take just one more writing class/my health improves etc. We tend to put off what’s most important to us until the Universe aligns all the events in our lives exactly in our favor. But it never happens. We always need more money, we cure one illness only to come down with another one, the kids move out but then you need to wait until you’re over the “empty nest” syndrome. The list of requirements never ends! “I’ll write when X happens” is a handy excuse that keeps us from ever having to take action, so we’re never at risk of embarrassment or failure. It keeps you nice and safe from these scourges—but it also prevents you from living your dreams. Don’t wait. Instead of requiring that every aspect of your life in perfect form and order, take action now — in your messy, imperfect, beautiful life. Write! The fact is: there are innumerable reasons (excuses?) not to write. And one overwhelming reason to write—because you want to. How do you find the time and motivation to write? Tell us in the comments! If you liked this post, please share it on social media. |
Last week I had to travel to China. So far, I haven’t had any experience with Asian countries nor culture, except of the local Chinese restaurant in Switzerland. What I learned, that there are different ways to visualize common scenarios and how important it is to make the visualization readable and understandable, also for foreigners. This sample shows a some sort of limited dashboard technology, which not everybody understands…
Well, this leads us to a similar problem we have in SCOM. We are able to display data in different ways like views, SSRS reports, Visio dashboards, SCOM 2012 dashboards etc.
What I am missing, is the ability to properly visualize the data in a more flexible and adjustable way. Although Microsoft started building dashboards in SCOM 2012 and created widgets which are getting close to what we are going to need, I found another approach to visualize the data, which might overcomes certain scenarios, where the other technologies don’t quite fit. The technology is based on Excel 2013 (yes, Excel) and SharePoint 2013. Sounds cool? Yes, indeed it is.
Ok what is this all about? As you might know since Excel 2010, Excel has PowerPivot built in. PowerPivot let’s you visualize data in many ways e.g. charts, diagrams etc. This is a cool solution, but the downside is, that PowerPivot only let’s you visualize the data within an Excel sheet.
Starting in Excel 2013 Microsoft integrated another visualization option called PowerView. PowerView uses the same data model (data source) called PowerPivot, but gives you different options in visualizing the data. It offers you an additional visualization layer, which can not only live in the Excel environment. You can save the PowerView chart / dashboard in e.g. in SharePoint 2013 and provide this to a broad audience.
Power View is an interactive data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience that encourages intuitive ad-hoc reporting. Power View is a feature of Microsoft Excel 2013, and of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and 2013 as part of the SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition. (Source: TechNet)
To give an impression what PowerView can do, I created an Operations Manager Health Dashboard. Believe me, this is just a basic example…
Ok, great but how do we get started? Let’s start with the requirements.
- For creating PowerView charts, you need Excel 2013 or you also could do it directly in SharePoint. This example here uses PowerView in Excel 2013.
- If you would like to upload the charts into SharePoint you need SharePoint 2010 SP1 or SharePoint 2013 with Excel Services enabled if you upload Excel workbooks. If you are going to create PowerView reports in SharePoint itself you need Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services add-in installed for the SharePoint server.
- To run the dashboard in a browser you need on the client side Silverlight
- Here the browser requirements which are supported by PowerView
In this first part we are going to create a dashboard only in Excel 2013 with some data about our SCOM server. In an upcoming part I will show how to display this dashboard in SharePoint.
Let’s assume you fulfilled the requirements for your scenario, then let’s start creating your first dashboard. For my scenario I decided to ONE dashboard, displaying FOUR different charts. These charts contain the following data:
- Count of client connections (SDK connections) over time getting the data from the SCOM DWH .
- Visualizing the OperationsManager database file size, free space and space used in a meaningful way.
- Getting a summary of closed alerts per user from the SCOM DWH.
- Count of Alerts added per day from the OperationsManager database.
Ok that is our goal. Next we need to get the SQL queries. Yes, because we are going to get the data from different sources (OperationsManager and OperationsManagerDW databases) we need to get the proper source data. A very helpful source in terms of SQL queries is Kevin Holman’s older post “Useful Operations Manager 2007 SQL Queries” which are mostly still valid.
If you got your query together, then we are able to get our hands dirty. Here I picked some SQL examples queries and slightly modified them. In the bracket you see which database is the source.
Client Connection Count (OperationsManagerDW)
FROM Perf.vPerfRaw pvpr
INNER JOIN vManagedEntity vme on pvpr.ManagedEntityRowId = vme.ManagedEntityRowId
INNER JOIN vPerformanceRuleInstance vpri on pvpr.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId = vpri.PerformanceRuleInstanceRowId
INNER JOIN vPerformanceRule vpr on vpr.RuleRowId = vpri.RuleRowId
WHERE Path = ‘scom2012R2.lab.itnetx.ch’ AND CounterName = ‘Client Connections’
Operations Manager DB File Sizes (OperationsManager)
SELECT SysFile.FileId [FILE ID],
[FILE SIZE MB]=CONVERT(DECIMAL(12,2),ROUND(SysFile.Size/128.000,2)),
[SPACE USED MB]=CONVERT(DECIMAL(12,2),ROUND(FILEPROPERTY(SysFile.Name,’SpaceUsed’)/128.000,2)),
[FREE SPACE MB]=CONVERT(DECIMAL(12,2),ROUND((SysFile.Size-FILEPROPERTY(SysFile.Name,’SpaceUsed’))/128.000,2)) ,
[GROWTH MB]=CONVERT(DECIMAL(12,2),ROUND(SysFile.Growth/128.000,2)), Name=LEFT(SysFile.Name,15),
FROM dbo.SysFiles SysFile
Closed Alert Count Per User (OperationsManagerDW)
SELECT StateSetByUserId [STATE SET BY USER], COUNT(*) [ALERT COUNT]
FROM Alert.vAlertResolutionState ars
WHERE ResolutionState = ‘255’
GROUP BY StateSetByUserId
Alerts Added Per Day (OperationsManager)
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), TimeAdded, 102) [DAY ALERT ADDED], COUNT(*) [NUMBER OF ALERTS]
FROM Alert WITH (NOLOCK)
WHERE TimeRaised is not NULL
GROUP BY CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), TimeAdded, 102)
These queries build the source for your dashboard.
Creating Excel Dashboard
Now let’s start creating the dashboard. Open Excel 2013 and click PowerPivot…
Now, we need to create two connections. One to the OperationsManagerDW database and one to the OperationsManager database. Here I will just show how to do it for the OperationsManagerDW database because the steps are the same for any additions SQL database.
Choose to create a new connection From SQL Server…
A table import dialog opens and first we give it a Friendly connection name and provide the Server name where the SCOM database are installed. In my lab I have everything installed on one server called SCOM2012R2. Next provide an account which has read permission on the SQL databases, just for ease I will use my current logged in account (Windows Authentication) which has enough permission. Finally, you just need to select the database you want to run the query on…
Choose to Write a query that will specify the data to import…
Give this query a friendly name and paste your SQL query, which we prepared in advance. Validate the query and click Finish…
If the query runs successfully you will see something like this…
Finally, we see the imported data from the database. This is our source data, which we will use to build one chart…
Next, we would like to import the data from the second OperationsManagerDW query Closed Alert Count Per User. Because we have already an existing connection to the OperationsManagerDW database, we select Get External Data and choose Existing Connections…
Choose the OperationsManagerDW connection and click Open…
Seelct Write a query that will specify the data to import…
Give this query a friendly name and paste the second query which targets the OperationsManagerDW database…
Again we imported the data successfully…
Next you need to create a connections to the OperationsManager database, the same way we did it for the OperationsManagerDW database. Use the same steps to import the data from the OperationsManager db for the OperationsManager DB File Sizes and Alerts Added Per Day queries as we did previously.
If you managed to import all the data you will see four data sets…
Close the dialog and select the INSERT menu and click Power View. If you start PowerView for the first time you will be asked if you want to enable PowerView….
If PowerView has been successfully activated your Excel will look like this…
Choose from the Power View Fields the values / fields you would like to display (Step 1). Immediately a table will appear with the column / rows you selected. Next, choose what kind of chart you need / want e.g. Line (Step 2) and the drag’n drop the values / fields into the right areas / axis (Step 3)…
Go to LAYOUT and select if you want to display Data Labels e.g. Auto. This will show the Line values…
Repeat the steps again by selecting other Power View Fields e.g. I want to visually display the Operations Manager DB File Sizes. I select the fields (Step 1), choose Pie Chart (Step 2) and drag’n drop the fields into the proper place (Step 3)…
Repeat the steps again for the other data sources, according to your needs. I just want to give you an idea how to start and what the basic steps are.
You can select from many different chart types to visualize your data like Bar Chart, Column Chart etc.
If you have you dashboard designed, you can start playing around with your data. In the Filters pane you are able to select per chart the values you would like to have displayed and the chart will dynamically adjust. Pretty cool!
Because this dashboard based on Excel, you can adjust the size of the dashboard text, add titles, change the background and and and. There are almost no limits to your designs and many more things you could do, we just touched the surface.
Excel 2013 let’s us also build relationships to the table / data you import, calculate values, create and display KPI’s and and and. I strongly urge you to have a look at this superb technology, which will let us give some more flexibility in visualizing and analyzing out SCOM data. A good starting point is TechNet. |
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Ziggy Lesa has a problem and questions, lots of questions, but few answers.
He and his wife have bought a property in Andersons Bay, Dunedin, to house their eldest son and his wife. Both returned from overseas in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic without funds to buy a home of their own in the city’s over-heated, super-tight housing market.
Now their second son and his expectant wife have also come home, from Australia. They too are struggling to afford to live here, paying $350 a week to rent a one-bedroom flat.
"So, we thought maybe we could subdivide this property and put a two-bedroom unit on the back," Lesa, who is warden of the tertiary student hall of residence Cumberland House, says.
The Lesa family were encouraged to consider subdividing by publicity about proposed variations to the Dunedin City Council’s Second Generation District Plan (2GP), intended to address Dunedin’s housing shortage. After all, their Andersons Bay property is 867 square metres — too small to subdivide under the old 1000sqm rule but fine under the proposed variation 2, which in some circumstances allows sections as small as 300sqm to have dwellings with one potential bedroom for every 45sqm of the site.
Lesa went to the council website to figure out what he could do. That is when his questions grew rather than diminished.
"Just when I thought I’d got something sussed, I would read something else that seemed to contradict it," he says.
"How much land do I need to consider building? What are the rules, such as how far from the boundary are you supposed to build? Who do I go talk to about what we want to do to find out if we’re allowed to do it?"
On Thursday, public submissions closed on the council’s 2GP variation 2 proposal. Variation 2 is a late attempt to tackle Dunedin’s awful housing crisis.
Dunedin’s population has been growing — itself a generational shift — much faster than anticipated. That growth is expected to continue. In a decade there will likely be 10,000 more Dunedin residents than today.
That lack of supply has pushed up the price of houses. During the past year, the median house price in Dunedin has jumped from $548,000 to $618,000, a 13% increase.
The median house now costs more than seven times the median annual income — well beyond the reach of many.
Those forced to rent while trying to save for a deposit are often on a hiding to nothing. Median rent in Dunedin is about $421 a week — 25% higher than what is considered the upper limit of housing affordability for those on an average income.
Variation 2 aims to tackle this untenable situation by creating denser urban housing in Dunedin, council development manager Dr Anna Johnson says. Planning rules would be loosened in the hope it would encourage Dunedin property owners to subdivide their sections or build extra dwellings on their land. The proposal would allow properties zoned General Residential 1 (GR1) that had at least 800sqm of land to be subdivided. A house could be built on GR1 land of at least 400sqm. On GR1 land of at least 500sqm, it would be possible to build two houses if they were a single building or a duplex. Single storey family flats of up to 60sqm are already possible on GR1 land under the new 2GP. Variation 2 would further loosen that by removing the requirement to provide carparking, allowing separate service connections and allowing the flat to be rented to non-family members.
Variation 2 allows even more latitude on what would be newly zoned General Residential 2 (GR2) land. Many GR2 properties as small as 600sqm could be subdivided. Constraints on what could be built on GR2 land would simply be one habitable room (potential bedroom) per 45sqm of site area, or per 100sqm where there is a wastewater constraint.
"Variation 2 provides some new land for housing but also for infill housing across many properties, smaller section sizes and the development of smaller, more affordable homes," Dr Johnson says.
"Over 17,000 residential properties could theoretically subdivide or accommodate additional dwellings."
How then to help out the city, alleviate the housing shortage and reduce your mortgage all at once?
With difficulty and patience, those already on that road say.
"It’s taken a lot of work ... All because we were 24sqm short for the 1000sqm rule," Young says.
"It’s great the council are changing the rule, but for us it’s not any help."
It has taken two years. In a fortnight, they will request building consent for what would be their new home on the back half of the original property. They will rent the house they are now in.
Young’s words of wisdom to those considering subdividing: everything costs a lot more than you expect and you need a lot of patience.
"We’ve had to extend our mortgage to cover the costs.
"You can’t get an ABA number without getting building consent. So, you’re in this trap of having to get a quote for services and then pay that money, plus GST, plus 25% to the council, which holds that money while you are building and have paid for your services, again. Then they’ll release your money.
"So, we’ve got about $15,000 tied up at the council that we can’t touch until everything is finished."
She has some advice for the council too, if it is serious about trying to increase the number of houses in the city.
"If it was explained clearly what we needed to do at each step, it would have been really good ... It’s just not particularly clear."
Despite the cost and frustration, it will be worth it, Young believes.
"There’s extremely limited land in Dunedin. Even with the extra costs of a planning consultant, it is cheaper for us to subdivide than to buy a section.
"We really wanted to get a new home ... But obviously it helps out financially, in the long run, having an investment property."
Ray McDowell, of Wingatui, is well versed in small scale subdivisions.
"Get a bloody good surveyor," he recommends.
"And make sure you’ve crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s."
He is somewhat blunt in his evaluation of the council and his advice to it.
"They’ve been the hardest people you could ever deal with ... To the point that some of it is just bureaucratic c***.
"When you go in there to ask something, it would be good if they would actually give you some advice [but] ... they say, ‘you come back with an idea and we’ll tell you if it’s wrong’.
"You do get the odd one who is really good."
In the final analysis, McDowell echoes Young’s words.
"Given the price of sections, people will still come out of it on the right side."
In response to feedback that online information is not user-friendly, processes are bureaucratic and some staff unhelpful, Dr Johnson says the council "strives to provide detailed, clear information in what can be a complex process".
What difference will variation 2 make to Dunedin? Positive, negative, enough and nowhere near enough, depending on who you talk to.
The prospect of 17,000 new dwellings wedged behind, in front of and next to existing houses raises questions about quality of life in what would be those higher density suburbs.
Most people do not want to live cheek-by-jowl with neighbours and would only subdivide or build a rental unit on their property out of economic necessity, a Dunedin builder says.
"Ninety per cent would be doing it to pay off debt, otherwise they wouldn’t want to chop their section in half," the builder, who asked not to be named, says.
"A lot of us have the opinion that if you upset the apple cart [with council] things get harder," he explains.
Removing the requirement to provide carparking for a rental unit built on the family property could have a detrimental effect, Alex King, co-president of the Bus Users Support Group Otepoti, says.
Those less mobile could have trouble maintaining relationships with friends and family if streets clogged with parked cars made it too difficult to find nearby parking when trying to visit, King suggests.
On the other hand, he says, less off-street parking could encourage more people to use public transport instead.
But that would only be successful if bus stops were handy to all of the new housing, he adds.
"We do have some concerns that while the council has looked at this issue, in some cases it looks like they have only ensured bus stops are close enough to the access point to a housing area. It might be a five minute walk from one edge of a suburb but a 20 minute walk if you live on the far side."
Dr Johnson says more new and smaller housing will help provide for the city’s ageing population and growing number of one and two-person households.
"Effects on neighbourhood amenity will continue to be managed through 2GP rules, and we aim to encourage increased development in parts of the city best placed to accommodate it."
But, adds Dr Johnson, there need be no fear of 17,000 new dwellings within the existing residential footprint. The council’s modelling suggests variation 2 will only add 2500 to 3000 new homes. That is in addition to 3400 the 2GP is already expected to provide during the next 10 years. Given the demand is expected to be 500 dwellings per year, that is enough to meet demand.
That is nowhere near enough to make Dunedin houses affordable, someone in the property industry, who asked not to be named, says.
Christchurch, where the median house price is $520,000, proves new land, not greater density, is the best solution, he says.
"We need a lot more greenfield development land made available."
What is preventing that happening is a reluctance on the council’s part to pay for the infrastructure required for new developments, he says.
But new housing would mean new ratepayers, which would take care of the cost, he believes.
"What we need is more vision."
"Lots of people realise we’ve really dropped the ball," the Dunedin builder says.
"The biggest problem is a lack of infrastructure for new subdivisions."
Dr Johnson says the council has followed central government requirements to provide enough housing development opportunities.
Housing affordability and house prices are affected by a wide range of factors, of which availability of land is only one, she says.
She does, however, think new greenfield housing will be needed to meet long-term population growth.
Planning for this will be done as part of an update of the Spatial Plan, which is due for review, she says.
"Initial work has already started but the project will be formally initiated later this year."
As to the variation 2 denser housing proposal, there will be a further submission period in the middle of the year and then a hearings process. Decisions will be released late this year or early-2022.
That is not quite quick enough for Lesa and his wife, nor their younger son, his wife and their unborn child.
"The baby is due in November. We’d like to have a two-bedroom unit on the back of the property before then." |
In the News
Sen. Alex Kasser (opinion): What courage looks like
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and there is an undeniable parallel between the culture of bullying and domination playing out in American politics and the culture of bullying and domination some women experience at home. It’s important to recognize these forces of power and control in all aspects of our lives so we can free ourselves and others. It takes courage to fight for freedom, but fight we must.
Jennifer Dulos was my constituent and like many other women, of every race and from every ZIP Code, her life was destroyed by an abusive husband. All she wanted was freedom. But by daring to leave him, she risked her own life and paid the ultimate price.
If our society evolved, we could prevent such tragedies because abuse is recognizable long before it becomes violent. More...
Domestic Violence Awareness Day Marked by Renewed Push for “Jennifer’s Law”
Her friend Carrie Luft urged the Connecticut state legislature to pass the bill.
“Jennifer Farber Dulos would never have wanted to be in the public eye or for her tragedy to be in any way elevated above that of others,” Luft said. “But she would have wanted to do everything in her power to help others in abusive situations to live free from fear.”
State Senator Alex Kasser from the 36th district representing Greenwich and parts of Stamford and New Canaan, proposed “Jennifer’s Law” last winter, but a hearing on the proposed legislation was delayed because of the pandemic. Kasser committed to bringing it forward again during the press conference. “Coercive control can be psychological – isolation, intimidation and
gaslighting,” Kasser said. More...
Opinion: Storm can be catalyst for true change to CT infrastructure
A global pandemic. A crashing of the electrical grid. People unable to leave their homes with trees blocking driveways, live wires dangling perilously across roads. Towns without power for more than a week. Others with power but no internet or phone service. Some homes without running water and supplies running low. High heat and no air-conditioning. Elderly isolated at home. This is not a science fiction movie. It’s our new reality.
The aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias, just like the COVID pandemic, exposed the longstanding fragility and failures of our infrastructure systems. Infrastructure is not just our roads and rails, about which I’ve written extensively. It is also the systems that supply our power, water and connectivity. More...
Officials: CVS’ expanded coronavirus testing leaves out Bridgeport, Stamford, other hot spots
While CVS opened COVID-19 testing sites around the state, the pharmacy giant has, so far, passed over Stamford and Bridgeport, despite their high infection rates.
Stamford’s mayor’s office Monday claimed CVS will open two COVID-19 testing locations at stores in that municipality, where diagnoses topped 3,000 late last week. But the company declined to confirm that.
CVS similarly would not say whether it would eventually set up in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city, where there were 2,831 coronavirus cases as of Monday and where the company has three stores.
“I don’t know what’s going on with CVS,” Mayor Joe Ganim admitted. More...
Pointing to Dulos case, state Sen. Alex Bergstein announces new legislation to expand legal definition of domestic violence
Following Tuesday’s arrest of Fotis Dulos for the murder of his wife Jennifer Farber Dulos, state Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, announced Friday plans for legislation intended to redefine how cases of domestic violence and abuse are handled in Connecticut family court.
The bill seeks to expand the statutory definition of domestic violence or abuse to account for a person’s history of “coercive, controlling behavior," Bergstein said. Among physical violence or sexual assault, coercive behaviors include financial, emotional, and psychological abuse. More...
Alex Kasser (opinion): Dems’ proposals ‘modest and short-sighted’
Senate Democrats recently unveiled their caucus priorities at a series of press events in Hartford. These priorities were determined primarily by the caucus leader, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney. While I agree with many of the proposals, I did not attend these press events because I think the agenda fails to address the biggest issues facing our state and country.
In my opinion, the Senate Democrats’ agenda does not adequately address urgent issues for Connecticut such as: attracting businesses and creating jobs, fixing our crumbling infrastructure and reversing the exodus of taxpayers. Nor does it adequately address the top priorities for our country which include mitigating unsustainable health care costs (more)...
Sen Kasser (opinion): Separating fact from fiction on issues
I ran for office in 2018 to address the biggest challenges facing our state. As a first-term state senator, I introduced dozens of bills on issues ranging from taxes and transportation to environment and education. I stood up to both parties with data-driven solutions that grow our economy and advance our rights. Now, in 2020, I’m running for all the same reasons and more.
Building back from a pandemic is now our biggest challenge — but our state is on course to recover stronger than before. My opponent and the Connecticut Republican party are using disinformation to discredit Democrats in general and me in particular. But their negative narrative only reflects how effective we’ve been in leading the state and how effective I’ve been in the legislature.
Sen. Alex Kasser (opinion): Why is voter suppression tolerated in CT?
In a healthy democracy, voting is a fundamental right and is safe, easy and accessible to all citizens. No one fought harder for voting rights than John Lewis.
But when Republican politicians express admiration for Congressman Lewis, their words ring hollow because their party OPPOSES what he dedicated his life to — voting rights.
Our Democracy is in crisis and voting rights are under attack here in Connecticut.
Did you know our state has some of the most restrictive voting laws in the country? We are in the same league as Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina which also prohibit both Early Voting and No-Excuse vote by mail. More...
Read More Here
State Senator Kasser Supports Proposed 'Take Back Our Grid' Legislation
A release from Senate Democrats outlined proposed “Take Back Our Grid” legislation, which reflects a new approach to utilities.
Senate Democrats said that for decades, every major storm or weather event in Connecticut has produced widespread and prolonged power outages, and that after each storm passes, utility companies claim to have learned their lesson, but their performance continues to disappoint. “It’s time to demand better,” they said.
On Tuesday State Senator Alex Kasser (D-Greenwich) announced her support for the “Take Back Our Grid Act,” More...
Safer Supermarket Shopping Practices Are Expanding in CT
On Thursday Greenwich Police shared a list of safer shopping practices in food stores in Connecticut where safety measures have been beefed up in recent days.
“GPD has been monitoring all the food stores in the Town. So far, nothing of any concern has been noted or reported,” Police said in an email Thursday morning.
The list of practices was compiled by State Senator Alex Kasser and includes the installation of plexiglass guards (aka sneeze guards) between customers and cashiers. Other practices include enhanced online ordering and delivery, closed deli counters to limit congregating, closed seating areas and in-store cafes, and stickers on the floor to indicate a six ft distance. More...
Kasser: Adding tolls would cut traffic on I-95
GREENWICH — Improving transportation infrastructure, developing targeted career education initiatives and bettering conditions for existing businesses are the keys to growing Connecticut’s economy, according to Greenwich resident and PepsiCo Chair Indra Nooyi.
A packed crowd gathered for a community conversation focused on the state’s economic growth with Nooyi and state Sen. Alexandra Bergstein (D-36) at the Greenwich Library Cole Auditorium on Thursday night.
A freshman senator, Bergstein started the discussion by asking Nooyi what businesses look for when considering a move to a new state. More...
Read More Here
Sen. Alex Bergstein has changed her name: She is now Sen. Alex Mochary Kasser
State Sen. Alex Bergstein has changed her name. The Democrat from Greenwich will now be known as Alex Mochary Kasser.
The new name honors her parents by knitting together their last names. It also reflects a desire to shed the name of her husband, whom she is divorcing.
Kasser said she views changing her name as an action she could take toward her independence. More...
Advocates call for stronger domestic violence measures in Greenwich
Coercive control includes actions by taken by an abuser to make a victim feel fearful, dependent, submissive or powerless, Kasser said.
It can involve psychological abuse, isolation, intimidation or economic abuse, by withholding access money or health care, she said. There is also legal abuse, when an abuser repeatedly files unnecessary court documents, forcing a victim to return over and over again to court, Kasser said.
When a victim of domestic abuse gathers the strength to leave, the level of danger increases, according to advocates.
Jennifer’s Law “and other legislation like it is a critical step toward a larger shift,” Luft said.
Senator Kasser Endorsed for Re-Election by CT Realtors Trade Association
Breaking with tradition, CT Realtors (CTR), the largest professional trade association in Connecticut, has endorsed State Senator Alex Kasser for re-election for State Senator in District 36.
CTR has historically endorsed the Republican candidate in this Senate district.
“I am honored to receive their vote of confidence and to continue to work closely with CTR to create the conditions for a strong real estate market,” Senator Kasser in a release. “For most people, their home is their main investment and to ensure that home values increase over time, we need people to move to Connecticut, not just temporarily during the pandemic, but permanently.”
Read More Here
Kasser : Connecticut should adopt shelter-in-place for 14 days.
GREENWICH — State Sen. Alex Kasser, D-36, said she has recommended to Gov. Ned Lamont that he institute the shelter-in-place policies that have been implemented in San Francisco to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.
Kasser said the order would call for Connecticut residents to essentially remain at home for 14 days. There would be exemptions, including for those working for essential businesses and essential government functions.
“I think the sooner we do it, the more likely we are to mitigate the public health crisis and also mitigate the economic crisis that may result,” Kasser said More...
Read More Here
State Sen. Alex Kasser: Rebuilding Connecticut’s infrastructure
Connecticut can only realize its full economic potential when we upgrade our infrastructure to 21st century standards using 21st century financing. Fast, reliable trains and highways are essential to a thriving economy and Connecticut is crippled by having neither. As Gov. Ned Lamont and his economic chiefs court Amazon and other companies, the rest of us should be asking: what are we doing to help? While both parties claim to be “pro-business” the truth is more complex. Slow trains and congested highways are costing us billions. More...
Opinion : New Canaan: Full-price (taxes) vs. half-price (tolls)
For the last 20 years, Connecticut has relied exclusively on taxation to fund infrastructure and the results have been disastrous — slower trains, more traffic on the highways, antiquated technology and businesses and residents moving out rather than into our state. Slower commute times compounded with these other effects are slowly killing not only our real estate market but many other industries in Connecticut. Failing infrastructure, and the failure to fix it, is the biggest obstacle to growing our state’s economy.
This week, I proposed a new “passing siding” for the New Canaan train to the Transportation Committee chairs in Hartford. More...
Alex Kasser Earns Nomination at 2020 Democratic 36th District State Senate Convention
On Tuesday evening, at the 2020 Democratic 36th District State Senate Nominating Convention, Senator Alex Kasser earned the Democratic endorsement to seek re-election to represent Greenwich, Stamford, and New Canaan in the State Senate.
“If we learn one lesson from the COVID crisis, I hope it’s this: we are all connected and can determine our collective future,” said Kasser in a release. “If we want a government that’s prepared and principled, we have to be that government. If we want a democracy that’s fair and factual, we have to be that democracy. And if we want a future that’s safe and secure, we have to be that future. This is our responsibility and our work.” More... |
In a series of snapshots after the attack on the World Trade Centerfrom a day, to a week, up to a year and beyondEliot Weinberger offers thoughtful and provocative reflections on his city, the country, and the state of the world.
An excerpt from
New York: Four Weeks After (Shrapnel)
October 9, 2001: After ordering the bombing of Afghanistan on October 7, George Bush went out on the lawn to play with his dog and practice his golf swings. Since September 11, he has maintained his normal schedule of working until 6 p.m., four days a week, and leaving at noon on Fridays for long weekends at his ranch or the Camp David retreat. Never has an American president in a crisis looked so rested.
Along with the Tomahawk cruise missiles and the bombs falling from F-14s and F-16s, B-52s, B-1s and B-2s, the US also dropped 37,500 "Humanitarian Daily Ration" packets, a single mealcomplete with "moist towlettes"in a country where four million are starving. These packets contained peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Peanut butter sandwiches are iconic in the Bush family. Bush Jr. has stated that it is his favorite food. Bush Sr., shortly after he was elected president, outlined his vision of the future in these terms: "We need to keep America what a child once called 'the nearest thing to heaven.' And lots of sunshine, places to swim, and peanut butter sandwiches."
The original name of the mission, "Infinite Justice" was changed when Muslim clerics complained that only Allah may dispense infinite justice. The new name, "Enduring Freedom," was meant to proclaim that American freedom endures, but it now means that the Afghans must endure American freedom.
We are bombing Afghanistan in reprisal because it is believed that the terrorists who attacked the Trade Center and the Pentagon were housed and trained for their mission in Afghanistan. There is, as yet, no evidence for this assertion. What has been proven, however, is that the terrorists were housed and trained for their mission in Florida.
We are bombing Afghanistan to overthrow the repressive Taliban regime, which was of little interest to the US government on September 10. To this end, we are supporting the "freedom fighters" of the Northern Alliance, whose rule, from 1992 to 1996, was marked by internecine warfare, shifting alliances, betrayals, and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. Or we are supportingand it would be laughable if it weren't so sadthe restoration of the King of Afghanistan, now 86 years old and never known for any leadership abilities. The Taliban brought an immediate order, however monstrous, to the country: it held public executions for social crimes, but it did not slaughter the masses. In brief: the Taliban is bad and the alternatives are worse.
In order to justify a military buildup and intervention, we have had to turn a small group of criminal outlaws into a full-scale enemy. The actual affinities of the hijackers are unknown, but it may be assumed that they were at least ideologically sympathetic to Osama bin Laden, the leader of one of many terrorist groups. Bin Laden, undoubtedly to his delight, has now been turned into the mastermind of all terrorist groups, tightly connected and organized as the al Qaeda network, which in turn has been portrayed as part and parcel of a national government, the Taliban, which has, although few, traditional military targets. With the invention of an enemy, the military must naturally exaggerate the capabilities of that enemy, a scenario familiar from the Cold War. The military cannot understand that against our billions of dollars of hightech weaponry, the "enemy" attacked, and won the battle, with a handful of boxcutters. Thus the continual scare stories of chemical and biological weapons, for which there is no evidence that any terrorists either have them or would be able to deploy them.
Military reprisals for terrorist attacks (Libya, 1986; the Sudan and Afghanistan, 1998) killed civilians, strengthened anti-American sentiments, evidently did nothing to stop terrorism, and probably added new sympathizers to their ranks. Terrorism is a criminal and a not a military activity; it cannot be erased, but it can be lessened with preventive security measures and with more attentive investigation, including the sharing of information among nations. For example, the 1993 bombing of the Trade Center might have been prevented if the FBI had translated the boxes of letters, documents, and tapes of conversations they already had in their possession. But these were in a foreign language, and the G-men couldn't be bothered.
An end to terrorism also depends on an impossibility, best articulated in a Utopian message written on a banner held by Pakistani demonstrators a few weeks ago: "America: Think About Why the World Hates You."
Rather than the attempt to apprehend the responsible criminals for trial in the World Court, we are now faced with a possible cascade of dominoes:
In Pakistan, General Musharraf has traded his support of US military intervention for the lifting of sanctions and the prospect of millions in foreign and military aid. Yet many members of the Pakistani army are veterans of the Afghan-Russian war, or their disciples, and are sympathetic to bin Laden. To avoid a coup d'etat or its own civil war, Musharraf will have to unite the country against a common enemy, which could only be India, with the battleground, as it has been for years, Kashmir. For its part, India, ruled by Hindu fundamentalists, has openly expressed its desire to follow the American example and attack Kashmiri terrorist groups which are housed and trained in Pakistan. Both countries, of course, have atomic bombs. (During the presidential campaign last year, Bush, when asked, could not name the leaders of Pakistan and India. Now, presumably, he knows.)
In Uzbekistan, which is admitting American troops, the Islamic Movement guerrillas trying to overthrow the dictatorial Islam Karimov, will surely gain followers, which could provoke Russian intervention, leading to another Chechnya. The American attacks will also rally forces in the continuing Chechnya war, as well as among the Muslims leading a separatist movement in China's Xinjiang province.
Palestinian police yesterday killed Palestinian youths demonstrating in support of bin Laden. The crumbling of Arafat's authority, already in progress, will lead to the strengthening of militarist groups, which in turn will provoke further interventions by the terrifying Ariel Sharon, who has already charged the US with "appeasement" of the Arabs.
Throughout the Muslim world, the specter of American military might slaughtering helpless Afghan peasants will only fuel the rage of the youths of Radical Islam, threatening regimes from the autocratic Saudi Arabia, which bin Laden wants to overthrow for allowing the American military on sacred land, to Egypt and Turkey, which are already under threat from fundamentalist movements.
Meanwhile, the FBI, with their usual sensitivity to the public, has stated that there is now a "100% certainty" of terrorist reprisals in the US.
The War on Terrorism will be orchestrated by Vice President Cheney in the same manner in which he ran the Gulf War: in secrecy and with total control of the media. (At his press conference yesterday, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld three times told reporters not to quote him, even though the press conference was being broadcast live on CNN.) American successes will be exaggeratedthe Gulf War was reminiscent of Orwell's 1984 in its daily pronouncements of victorious triumphbut there is hope that the Western media, at least outside of the US, will not allow itself to be fooled again, and what has changed since the Gulf War is the rise of the internet as a source of instant oppositional information. It remains to be seen whether the Taliban has the media savvy to appeal to the world's sympathies by magnifying their own casualties, or whether they will stubbornly maintain the machismo of pretending that they have not been harmed at all.
Bin Laden, however, has unexpectedly turned out to be a media genius. He has managed to indeed "terrorize" the West, and greatly magnify the perception of his actual powerwhich, before now, was smallby planning (or capitalizing on) the transformation of a Hollywood disaster-movie image into an unbearable reality. On the other side, his release of a tape of himself two days ago, immediately following the initiation of the bombing, was a brilliant evocation of a revered figure in Muslim tradition: the wise and ascetic saint in his cave. His message, in image and word, had the directness of television advertising, and would be impossible to refute with an equal directness: We are simple men of the faith and they are the monsters who bombed Hiroshima and have killed a million children in Iraq and will kill us now in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden, in the tape, recalled the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. He was followed by his chief tactician, Ayman al Zawahiri of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who invoked the "tragedy of al Andalus," the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. One side believes this war began four weeks ago; the other that it is five hundred years old.
There is something more: I knew two people who died on September 11; many others were the friends of friends. Until now, they and the six thousand others were the innocent victims of an unimaginably enormous crime. But, as I watched the scenes of demonstrations around the world, I realized that they, in death, had been transformed into something else. Now they are war casualties, numbers in an increasing body count, as anonymous as the Afghans who will die from the American bombardment. No longer murder victims, they will now be portrayed, by both sides, as having died for a cause. By avenging their deaths with more deaths, Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice and Powell are murdering the identities and, above all, the innocence of our own dead as they murder abroad.
Copyright notice: Excerpted from pages 43-49 of 9/12: New York After by Eliot Weinberger, published by Prickly Paradigm Press and distributed by the University of Chicago Press. ©2003 by Eliot Weinberger. All rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the publisher. |
I was present and speaking a few hours ago at a meeting titled ‘Azadi: The Only Way’ on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners at the Little Theatre Group in Delhi yesterday (21st October). I was not present from the beginning of the meeting as I was traveling from another city, but can vouch for what occurred from around 4:30 pm till the time that the meeting wound up, well after 8:00 pm in the evening.
The meeting took place in the packed to capacity auditorium of the Little Theatre Group on Copernicus Marg at the heart of New Delhi. Several speakers, including the poet Varavara Rao, Prof. Mihir Bhattacharya, Sujato Bhadra, Gursharan Singh, Mr. Shivnandan (?) an activist from Jammu, Professor G.N.Saibaba, Professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain – Professor of Law, Srinagar University, the journalist Najeeb Mubaraki, Dr. N. Venuh of the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, the writer Arundhati Roy and myself spoke at the meeting. (I may be missing out some names, for which I apologize, but I was not present for a part of the meeting, at the very beginning) The climax of the meeting was a very substantive and significant speech by Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the Hurriyat Conference (G), which spelt out the vision of liberation (Azaadi) and Justice that Syed Ali Shah Geelani held out before the assembled public, of which I will write in detail later in this text.
The artist known as ‘Inder Salim’ originally from Kashmir, currently living in Delhi, made an intervention by inviting the assembled people to take (with him) the stance of a masked stone pelter for a brief, silent moment. Students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University sang a song, ‘Tu Zinda Hai to Zindagi Ki Jeet Mein Yakeen Kar’ invoking the delights of life and liberation. In conclusion, the meeting adopted a resolution, which was read, on behalf of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners, by Mihir Bhattacharya.
The atmosphere, for the several hours that I was present, was absolutely electric. The vast majority of the audience was warm and appreciative of all the speakers. They were patient and respectful – and despite grave provocation from a section that identified themselves as ‘Indian patriots’ and partisans of the ‘Kashmir as indivisible part of India’ position – that repeatedly tried to interrupt the meeting and heckle speakers, and on one occasion even tried to throw an object at the dias – did not stoop to be provoked by these pathetic attempts at disruption of a peaceful gathering.
No provocative, secterian or hateful slogans were raised by the majority of the people present. The only provocative posturing that I witnessed was undertaken by the self-declared Indian patriots, who were not stopped from having their say, but were requested simply not to disrupt the proceedings.
When their behaviour crossed the limits of public decency, they were escorted out of the premises by representatives of the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police, to their credit, did not act against the majority of the audience, simply because the majority of the audience conducted themselves in a completely civil and democratic manner.
There was no attempt made at intimidation of any kind. Professor SAR Geelani, who was conducting the proceedings on behalf of the organizers – Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) , repeatedly asked the people obstructing the speakers to conduct themselves in a cultured and dignified manner. His pleas were disregarded by the section of the crowd that let its ‘Indian patriotism’ get the better of its civilisation. When things got a little too hot on occasion, the majority of the audience present simply drowned the rude remarks and indignant posturing of the small minority of self styled Indian patriots and champions of the ‘Kashmir as indivisible part of India’ position – in wave after wave of cheerful but firm hand clapping.
While there as enthusiastic cheering and sloganeering from the majority of the young men and women assembled at the gathering, there was no attempt while I was present to give the slogans a religious or secterian colour. When Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that the people of India and Kashmir are tied together by the bonds of insaaniyat (humanity), when he quoted Gandhi, or spoke of the necessity of conducting a non-violent struggle that was devoid of hatred, or even when he said that he wished to see India rise as a great power in the world, but as a power that felt no need to oppress others, he was wholeheartedly and sincerely applauded, by the majority of people present in the auditorium, regardless of whether or not they were Kashmiri.
Yesterday’s meeting needs to be seen in the context of a momentum of different events, which have included public meetings at Jantar Mantar, meetings in the Jawaharlal Nehru Universtiy and Delhi University, film screenings and talks, independently organized exhibitions on the history of Jammu and Kashmir in educational institutions, photographic exhibitions on the situation in Kashmir today that have taken place recently at the India Habitat Centre, while Kashmir has reeled under the brutality of the occupation that has resulted in a hundred and eleven deaths of unarmed or stone pelting people, including children and teenagers. The momentum of this process, which recognizes the urgency of the situation in Kashmir, needs to be taken to its logical conclusion, until the world and the international community sits up and takes notice of the true nature of the hold of the Indian state on Kashmir and its people.We need many more such meetings and gatherings in Delhi, and indeed in every large city in India.
It must be maintained so that even a Barack Hussein Obama, scheduled to visit New Delhi in November, is compelled to recognize the fact that the conduct of the Indian state in Kashmir, based as it is on brutal violence and intimidation, based as it is on a disregard of every norm of the conduct of civilized governance is unacceptable to the world. You simply cannot claim to be the world’s largest democracy and preside over the deaths of 70,000 people in twenty years. You cannot claim to be judged as a democracy and have laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. You cannot claim to be a democracy and have your police and paramilitaries beat children to death openly on the streets, or rape and kill young women with impunity. A state that does so is an oppressive, immoral, occupying power, and needs to be resisted by every right thinking person in the world. The Indian state’s record in Kashmir over the past several decades is not only an oppression visited on the people of Kashmir, it is an insult to the United Nations, to the world community, and to every principle of justice, fairness and democracy. It is an insult to all the peace loving and freedom loving citizens of India that do not wish to see oppression carried out in their name.
This is the message that needs to go out, and is going out, not only from the streets of Sringar, Baramulla and Kupwara, but also from gatherings, such as yesterday’s, from the heart of Delhi, the capital of India. We, who are the friends of liberty and justice in India, need to stand besides our Kashmiri brothers and sisters and say to the world that we do not accept the lies put out by the Indian state and its apologists on Kashmir. That is the true significance and import of the process in which yesterday’s meeting plays an important part. This process will not stop until the world takes notice. The United Nations, and the broad democratic currents as well as the political leaderships of Europe, the Americas, and of every significant power in the world needs to know that hundreds of people, young and old, intellectuals, writers, activists, lawyers, teachers and others, Indians and Kashmiris, can stand united, in Delhi, at the heart of the Indian Republic’s capital, in refusing to accept the continued occupation of Jammu and Kashmir, by India and by Pakistan. That they believe that it is only the people of Jammu and Kashmir who must decide for themselves their own future destiny, peacefully, in a climate free of coercion and intimidation.
As Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Sheikh Showkat Hussain said, all that they are asking for is the right to self determination, promised by India, before the United Nations, to be freely enacted through a plebiscite, in conditions of peace and liberty, without the presence of armed force, for the inhabitants of every part of the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir – regardless of whether the results of that plebiscite are in favour of India, Pakistan or an independent, united, Jammu and Kashmir that can live in peace with all its neighbours in South Asia.
There was a great diversity of statements and styles present in abundant splendour at yesterday’s meeting. There was no way by which the meeting could be reduced or simplified a single monotonous statement. Yes, all the panelists, spoke unambiguously about the necessity for ending the military occupation by the Indian state in Kashmir. This does not mean that their statements and sentiments were a manufactured and processed uniformity. The people on the panel may have significant political and philosophical differences amongst themselves, they may even think differently about what ‘Azaadi’ might mean, but this was a sign, not of the weakness, but of the strength and vitality of yesterday’s gathering.
‘Azaadi’ if and when it comes, will not be the parting gift of an exhausted colonial power, it will be the harvest of the fruits of the imaginations and intelligences of millions of people, of their debates and their conversations. The significance of yesterday’s meeting, needs to be understood in this light.
What was extremely heart warming was the fact that each speaker spoke of the fact that the voices of the people of Kashmir are no longer alone and isolated, that there is a chorus of voices in different parts of South Asia that echo and endorese their desire for liberation from a brutal militarized occupation. From my notes of the time that I was there, I recall that the writer Arundhati Roy, while endorsing the demand of Azaadi for Kashmir, reminded the audience of the need for the people of Kashmir not to be selective about justice and injustice, that they must find methods to forge webs of solidarity with all the suffering and oppressed peoples of India. She was heckled and rudely interrupted by a small group of Indian nationalists in the audience, who repeatedly raised the situation of Kashmiri Pandits, Arundhati Roy, when she was able to resume speaking, spoke unambiguously about the fact that she considered the situation of Kashmiri Pandits to be a tragedy. She was echoed in this sentiment later by Syed Ali Shah Geelani who said that he personally stands guarantee for the safety and security of all minorities, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhists, Christians and others in a future free Kashmir. He implored the Pandits to return to Kashmir, and said, that they are an integral part of Kashmiri society. He spoke of the need for ensuring that a free Kashmir was a just Kashmir, and that justice meant that the freedom, safety and security of all minorities, of their property, their places of worship, and their freedom of conscience be given the utmost importance. He reminded the assembled people that throughout these turbulent months, the people of Kashmir have continued to be hospitable to Hindu pilgrims, have set up ‘Langars’ (Kitchens) for them, and have cared for them when they have fallen sick, despite being at the receiving end of the violence of the Indian state.
I spoke briefly, about the fact that I was proud that so many of us had gathered in my city, Delhi, putting aside the abstraction of our politically determined, state given construct of citizenship, and standing, here, now, on the grounds of a concrete human solidarity with the people of Kashmir. I spoke of the fact that there are significant voices, even in the mainstream media who have been compelled to recognize the urgency of the situation in Kashmir, by the sheer determination of the youth of Kashmir to get the news of what is happening in Kashmir out to the world. I spoke of the role played by facebook sites like ‘Aalaw’ and blogs, and the fact that the people of India and the world can no longer be kept in the dark by a pliant media, as happened in 1989-90. I spoke of the ways in which the viral circulation of leaked videos of the humiliation of Kashmiri youth on facebook pages and online fora have successfully shown us what the reality of Kashmir is today. I urged media professionals in the mainstream media to introspect and reflect on the role that they may be compelled, against their own professional ehtics, to play in the pyschological and propaganda war that the Indian state is currently conducting. I spoke of my sense of shame and remorse at the evasive and dissimulating role played by sections of the mainstream media in India while reporting (or not reporting) atrocities that make even the images from Abu Gharaib pale in comparison.
I am ashamed to say, that despite my respectful plea to the media to play a responsible role in their reportage of Kashmir related matters, major channels like Times Now and NDTV once again let the truth down in their reports on the days events. NDTV saw it fit to simply report this historic meeting in the terms of an incident of ‘shoe throwing at SAS Geelani’. A shoe (or some other indeterminate object) was indeed thrown, but not at Geelani. It landed on a bottle of water in front of another speaker, while he was speaking. So let’s at least set that record straight. Arnab Goswami of Times Now, while conducting what he likes to call a ‘debate; on the programme called ‘News Hour’ (neither News, nor just an Hour) repeatedly uttered hysterical untruths, such as the presumption that ‘No State permits the advocacy of secession and self determination’ and that a meeting such as the one I participated in yesterday, were it to take place, say, in the United States, would immediately lead to all speakers present (including, presumably, myself) in being imprisoned on charges of sedition. I have to inform my readers here, that on both counts, Arnab Goswami is wrong. Seriously wrong. Either he is a misinformed idiot. Or he knows that he is wrong, and is lying to his public through his teeth. We can choose to be generous about how he would interpret his motives, and assume he is simply a fool.
Goswami, consequently demanded to know why we were not immediately imprisoned under section 124 of the Indian penal code. Arnab Goswami needs to be reminded, that in United States law, the provisions of the Sedition Act are applicable only in times when the country is in a declared state of war. And therefore his analogy does not apply, as I am not aware that the Indian republic is currently in a declared state of war, as per international law, (unless Arnab Goswami has lost his marbles to the extent that he confuses the shadow boxing that he does on television with a war declared by a state under international law). That, furthermore, the provisions of the US Sedition Law have been declared substantially void by the US Supreme Court ruling in the Brandenberg vs. Ohio (1969) judgement, and of course, by the US Supreme court guaranteeing the primacy of free speech, including ‘seditious’ speech, including the burning of the United States flag, under the provisions of the first amendment to the US constitution.
There have been repeated attempts made to pass a law that would make ‘flag burning’ an offence under US Law. Fortunately, (for liberty and free speech) as of now, these attempts have not come to pass, and currently, under US Law it is perfectly legal to advocate self-determination and secession, if done peacefully, even to the extent of burning or destroying or descerating symbols of state authority like the national flag. Furthermore several constiutions, such as the constitutions of Canada, Ethipopia, Austria and France, implicitly or explicitly, provide for a legal expression of right to self determination, provided it is exercised in a peaceful and democratic manner, as part of the freedom of expression principle.
But the point that needs to be made is larger than whether or not Arnab Goswami is a fool and a charlatan. Yesterday’s meeting was a historic opportunity for his channel, and indeed for all of the Indian mainstream media, to report and take cognizance of the fact that there is a significant section of Indian public opinion that is actually in favour of ‘Azaadi’ in Kashmir. I am not suggesting that this section constitutes an overwhelming majority at present (that might change) but, that it does exist, and that it presents, cogent, precise arguments, that cannot be dismissed, (as is being done by Times Now and its ilk) by invoking the spectre of ‘terrorism’. There is hardly any ‘terrorism’ in Kashmir today (if we don’t count the Indian state and its terror) . The 111 people who have died in the past months, have not died at the hands of non-state insurgents, they have died, unarmed, facing the bullets of the Indian state. The movement for Azaadi in Kashmir has left the culture of the gun and the grenade behind. It fights today without weapons, armed only with courage. If there is a terrorist in Kashmir today, he wears the uniform of the forces of the Indian state, and carries the weapons supplied by the arsenal of the Indian state. To discount the voices that rise in dissent against this reality as ‘terrorist sympathizers’ as Arnab Goswami has done on his channel is to insult reality.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani spoke of the bonds of insaaniyat that tie the peoples of Kashmir and India yesterday. I heard him say this. I was barely five feet away from him. I heard him speak of his regard and respect for the minorities in Jammu and Kashmir. I do not agree with much of what Geelani Saheb represents politically, or ideologically, but I have no hesitation in saying that what he said yesterday, was surprising for its gentleness, for its consideration, for its moderation, even for its liberality and open heartedness. This should have been big news. That Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that he wants to see a strong and resurgent India. I heard him say this. And was this reported by anyone? NO. Was it reported that he was cheered when he said this ? NO. Was it reported that no one had any thing angry to say against the struggling peoples of India? NO. Was it reported that SAS Geelani expilicity said that he is NOT against dialogue, provided that the five point formula put forward by him (none of whose provisions – 1. acceptance of the disputed nature of the territory of Jammu and Kashmir, 2. repeal of AFSPA and other black laws, 3. release of political detenues and prisoners, 4. withdrawal of the disproportionate presence of the armed forces and 5. punishment to those gulty of taking life in the past few months – require the government of India to think ‘outside’ the framework of the Indian Constitution) are accepted as the basis of the dialogue? NO.
Don’t you think that it makes BIG news that the tallest separatist leader in Jammu and Kashmir actually, in a moderate voice, spells out, in Delhi, the fundamental basis of a considered dialogue with the Indian state, while offering it a chance to do so on bases that are absolutely reasonable and sound, and honourable to all concerned? Do you not think that a responsible media organization would consider this a scoop, a major news story? But that is not what happened.
Instead, Times Now, (and I am waiting for the morning newspapers to see how far this muck has spread) chose to focus on the deliberately staged disruption of a handful of agent provocateurs, our familiar posse of self styled patriotic champions of the continued occupation of Kashmir, who posed for the camera, hyperventilated, and occupied, perhaps no more than five percent of the attention of several patient hours. If you saw the news reports on Times Now’s ‘NEWSHOUR’ programme, you would have thought that all of what happened was their presence as a ‘protest’ against the meeting. As someone who was present through much of this, I am totally, utterly aghast that a lie of such magnificient proportions could be dished out with such ease. I am aghast that Aditya Raj Kaul who was one of the panel invited by Arnab Goswami to the Times Now Newshour show could lie with a straight face by saying that there was no attempt made to ‘disrupt’ the meeting by those who were there to represent his point of view.
Someday, I hope that all of these people, the Arnab Goswamis of the world, find reason to repent for continuing to keep the people of India and Kashmir in the dark. They had better think hard, because the day when they will have cause to repent, is not far. Azaadi will come to Kashmir, and with it, a glimmer of Azaadi will be the share of those people in India who stood by their Kashmiri friends, in their darkest hour.Going by what I witnessed yesterday, there will be many such people, so Arnab Goswami and his ilk had better start practicing how to say sorry, several hundred times a day. |
More than a decade into what's been called the urban century, Toronto has emerged as a global centre that has caught the attention of planners around the world. Despite gridlock and a scandal-plagued mayor, the city's 24/7 downtown has attracted a sustained run of investment from commercial and residential builders, homeowners, employers, cultural institutions and research organizations.
It would be easy to assume, as many do, that Toronto's boom is due to a mix of market forces and demographics. But the seeds of this renaissance were sown by a team of young planners in the early 1970s, chief among them Tony Coombes, an Australian-born architect whose fingerprints are all over the strategy that transformed Toronto's stagnating core into one of North America's most successful examples of mixed-use urbanism.
Mr. Coombes, whose career as a city builder took him to New York, Beirut and London, died June 10, 2013 at the age of 75.
After leaving Toronto's planning department in the mid-1970s, he served as a senior adviser for Olympia & York, the Reichmann-owned development powerhouse that built New York's World Financial Center and London's Canary Wharf. He returned to Toronto in the early 1990s, and played a pivotal role in the creation of the tri-level agency now redeveloping the city's waterfront.
Friends, family members and colleagues describe him as a quiet and deeply cerebral figure who never sought the limelight. He kept a quote from the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein over his desk: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
"He was infuriatingly determined to get to the heart of any matter," says planner Joe Berridge, who worked with Mr. Coombes at the city in the early 1970s and later in a consulting partnership.
Burton Kassell, an old friend in New York, recalls that he once asked Mr. Coombes for his advice on building a house. "Coombes said, the way to approach it was to first ask, 'What is a house?'"
Yet Mr. Coombes also had a keen sense of aesthetics and place-making that informed both his personal style and his philosophy of city-building. "My Dad," says his daughter Zoe, an architect, "understood beauty, understood and trusted beautiful objects, and atmospheres that exceed understanding."
Patricia Goodwin, Mr. Coombes' partner, says that whenever they visited a city, he'd pore over local maps before setting out on foot to explore. "Whenever you walked into a city with Tony, the first thing he'd notice was how the streets related to the buildings. He'd say, 'this street works,' and start talking about it."
Anthony Christopher Coombes was born in Sydney in July 17, 1937, the younger of two children. His father, Ben, worked as a salesman for an Australian broadcaster and his mother, Enid, was a secretary. As a child, recalls Martha Shuttleworth – who was married to Mr. Coombes in the 1970s and later collaborated with him at the Neptis Foundation, a regional-planning think tank – he showed artistic ability, once painting a Madonna that was sold in a local gallery.
His parents sent him to a Jesuit high school. Mr. Kassell recalls that he disliked the institution, and would later recount with pleasure how he once managed to "corner" one of the priests in a debate.
Although his father wanted Tony to learn a trade, he obtained a degree in architecture at the University of Sydney. There, he gravitated towards a left-leaning intellectual salon whose members met in pubs and called themselves "the Sydney Push." The group included art critic Robert Hughes and feminist Germaine Greer.
After he graduated, Mr. Coombes moved to Britain. But Ms. Shuttleworth says he so detested the rigidity of the British class system that he soon relocated to Stockholm, where he worked briefly in an architectural practice before enrolling in the graduate planning program at Columbia University.
New York, at the time, was ground zero in the epic battle between modernist planners and a populist movement, led by Jane Jacobs, to protect working-class neighbourhoods threatened with demolition.
In the midst of that tumult, Ms. Jacobs moved to Toronto, where a similar version of the same conflict was playing out with fights over the Spadina Expressway. In 1972, reformists led by David Crombie took control of city hall, and moved to ice plans to raze older neighbourhoods in favour of slab high rises.
Mr. Crombie knew he needed to completely rewire the city's zoning rules and hustled to assemble a team of ambitious planners to create land-use policies that would encourage people to both live and work downtown – a radical notion.
A senior Toronto planner contacted a colleague at Columbia and asked him to recommend his brightest graduates. Mr. Coombes, who had started working for the City of Toronto in 1969, was on the list. He soon found himself appointed as central area planner. "Crombie attracted this incredible cadre of young talent," recalls Mr. Berridge. "He needed people to set the city on the new direction that the election had mandated. Tony was absolutely central to that effort."
Mr. Crombie recalls Mr. Coombes as a reserved figure with a rare ability to question even the policies that he himself was advocating. "Tony," he says, "was regarded by many as the guy who understood the theory the best."
The result of this hot-house reform was the "Central Area Plan" that paved the way for the downtown office boom as well as zoning rules meant to entice residential developers and homeowners to return to a core that was abandoned at night and scarred by parking lots.
In the years after that reform drive, many of Mr. Crombie's top planners, including Mr. Coombes, left to set up consulting practices or work for the Reichmanns, who referred to that group as their "Toronto tool box."
He took a position with O&Y's World Financial Center project in lower Manhattan. At one point, O&Y's architect, Cesar Pelli, suggested cladding the elevators in a rich fabric as way of discouraging hyped-up bond traders from defacing the interiors.
He commissioned a woven silk cloth in salmon, pale blue and gold, with a geometric pattern. The decoration plan didn't take, but Mr. Coombes kept the sample as a treasured object. "In the last little while," says Ms. Goodwin, "Tony and I had started working out how to hang this. It's now fallen to me to complete that project."
After Battery Park, Mr. Coombes relocated to London to advise O&Y on Canary Wharf, a controversial scheme to create a high-rise office cluster in the city's derelict east end.
On the day of the sod-turning, Mr. Coombes rode in a boat with Paul Reichmann and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher down the Thames to the ceremony. Ms. Shuttleworth says he wasn't star-struck, but came to admire Ms. Thatcher for her determination.
During the planning, he insisted on urban design moves meant to ensure that Canary Wharf would function as a piece of London and not just an office park. Mr. Berridge says the project, now widely accepted by Londoners, paved the way for last year's Olympics.
Mr. Coombes returned to Toronto in the early 1990s and set up an international consulting practice. With Mr. Crombie pushing an Olympic bid focused on the waterfront, Mr. Coombes was tapped to write a crucial report laying out the foundations for a development corporation that could cut through the knot of bureaucracy that had stalled development along the lake's edge. As part of that effort, he energetically argued for removing the Gardiner Expressway, describing it as an impediment to both investment and pedestrian access to the waterfront.
While Toronto didn't win the Games, the three orders of government agreed to invest $1.5-billion in the project and take up Mr. Coombes' advice on setting up a development corporation like the ones he'd seen in New York, London and his hometown, Sydney. Waterfront Toronto this spring celebrated the halfway mark of its mandate, with numerous projects on the go. The City of Toronto, meanwhile, appears to be rekindling the debate about removing a portion of the Gardiner.
Late last fall, Mr. Coombes fell ill with a suspected bronchial infection that turned out to be lung cancer. Ms. Shuttleworth says he refused to submit to self-pity, and continued to work, insisting he had more to accomplish.
By earlier this month, Mr. Coombes had been in and out of palliative care. He managed to spend his final days in his sun-drenched downtown apartment, accompanied by his daughter Zoe, Ms. Goodwin and Ms. Shuttleworth. Ms. Goodwin says he remarked that the disease progressed curiously, because he didn't lose his appetite or experience any pain; he mainly saw his energy ebb away.
One evening near the end, Ms. Shuttleworth recalls, the four of them settled into a meal of haddock, quinoa, asparagus and assorted fruit with whipped cream. "Tony insisted on bringing out delicious wine and we all clinked glasses."
As for Mr. Coombes' legacy, Mr. Berridge says this of his old friend and colleague: "Look around you. The fact that we have such a vibrant, mixed-use core is all because of the things he put in place."
A public tribute for Mr. Coombes will be held at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on June 25, 5 to 7 p.m. |
Hannah Abair found the beauty of dance when she turned 19 because of the dedication from the Artistic Director of Middle TN State University, Kim Neal Nofsinger. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Dance, she continued studying modern and ballet technique with local dance companies which led her to perform with guest artists such as, Wendy Allen, Stephanie Bland, Ursula Payne, and more. She then had the opportunity to participate in the start of the Nikolais/Louis Dance Intensive held in New York City. Through that intensive and praise from Aberto del Saz, Phyllis Lamhut, and Murray Louis himself, she realized her calling to become a choreographer. As any true artist, her works come to her through odd inspirations, interesting sounds, or life events, most of which get written down and await production. Just recently, she worked on the production crew for the American Dance Festival held in Durham, North Carolina, helping in all areas of the stage to produce over 200 performances, featuring companies such as, Stephen Petronio, Monica Bill Barnes, Larry Keigwin, Brian Brooks, Pilobolus, etc.. She hopes one day to run her own modern dance company, but, for now, is grateful for Circle in allowing her to become a core member and learn the ins and outs of a company. She would like to dedicate all her future works to her loving husband, Tyler Abair.
Mary F. Alford has studied dance for 30+ years during which time she has performed with the Knoxville Opera Company, City Dancers, Momentum Dance Lab, Optasia Productions, Studio Arts for Dancers,the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and Circle Modern Dance. She continues to work at her day job as Dr. Mary, serve on the artistic committee and as a core member for Circle, and live with her large white puppy and 2 precious angel miniature schnauzers on 5 acres of rampant vegetation in Blount County.
Nate Barrett has been involved with Circle Modern Dance since 1996. Starting as an accompanist to classes and performances, Nathan has evolved over the last decade to now be a dancer, choreographer, and performance director. He has directed and co-directed Modern Dance Primitive Light in 2008 and 2009 as well as conceptualized, directed, and performed in Authintensity, a salon style show featuring improvisational movement and spoken word.
Nathan is also well known around Knoxville as an accomplished drummer and percussionist, having performed and recorded with many local acts such as Greg Horne, Jodie Manross, Artvandalay, Same As It Ever Was, The Bearded, and many others. He currently can be seen performing with Hudson K. He is a founding member of Capoeira Fundo da Mata, Knoxville’s first organized group for the Brazilian art of capoeira. Nathan also serves on the faculty for Knoxville’s Community School of the Arts as a percussion teacher.
Mary Biggs is 18 years old and has lived in Knoxville her whole life. She began dancing at an early age (mostly to her dad’s Chuck Berry tapes in the living room!), and her formal dance education began with children’s classes at the Knoxville Dancer’s Studio. She attended modern and ballet lessons on and off throughout elementary and middle school, and began Irish step dance when she was 10 years old. She is now a competitive Irish dancer with the Drake School, but she did not become serious about modern dance until she found Circle. From the first technique class she took when in 8th grade, she knew that this was a company where she could learn from amazing people, participate in beautiful performances, and have the freedom and the support to find her own dancing style. Circle has even supported her as she takes her first steps in choreography, something she hopes to pursue as she begins the next stage of her life at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. She does not know exactly what her future holds after college, but dance will definitely be involved!
Laura Burgamy received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from the University of Georgia. She has studied with and performed works by Bala Sarasvati of CORE Concert Dance Company, Matt and Emily Kent of Pilobolus, and Elsie and Serenity Smith of Cirque du Soleil, among others. She has had the privilege of traveling the country as well as the world with dance education and performance. Laura began her journey into the world of dance at the age of 3 in Birmingham, Alabama. Upon moving to Knoxville, she trained at Studio Arts for Dancers, and later with Go! Contemporary Dance Works, under the direction of Lisa Hall McKee. Currently, Laura is focusing on continuing her training in aerial dance as well as tapping in to the treasures found in the practice of Capoeira. She dreams of growing her own pair of wings in the future.
Morgan Fleming received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance from Ohio University. She has performed works by choreographers including: Sean Curran, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Donald MacKayle, Kraig “bopi” Patterson, and Mark Morris. Her own choreography has been performed in New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. She credits her early training with Karen Gibbons-Brown, Mountain Movers Modern Dance, and many summers at the American Dance Festival for fostering her love of dance. When not working as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Data Coordinator, she is a core/artistic committee member of Circle Modern dance and serves as the Vice President of the board of directors for the Tennessee Association of Dance.
Valerie Kelly received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in Dance Performance from the University of Tennessee in 2007. Since then, she has continued dancing and performing as a core member of Circle Modern Dance. Recently she opened Riversong Dance Studio in South Knoxville, a studio which she owns and directs. She teaches dance of all styles to children and adults as well as Zumba classes for adults for the past two years. When she’s not dancing, she enjoys reading and spending time with her husband and their beagle.
Elizabeth Kirkwood has been dancing since she was 5-years-old. She studied ballet, modern, jazz, and hip-hop with the Kingsport Ballet before becoming a member of the University of Tennessee dance company in 2005. While with the UT Dance Company Elizabeth performed Martha Graham repertory and original modern works both locally and around the country at American College Dance Festivals. She joined Circle Modern Dance Company in 2010. She has choreographed for and performed in Modern Dance Primitive Light, Authintensity I & II, Spectre, Rossini Festival, and First Friday performances. She also co-directed Circle Modern’s summer showcase at 4th and Gill Community Center in 2011. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from UT. She currently works as a family nurse practitioner.
Elizabeth will be teaching open level modern technique on Sundays during September and October.
Meredith McCarroll began dancing at age 4 in a traditional studio in western North Carolina, and continued her study of ballet, tap and jazz until she left home at 18. She happened upon a modern dance class at Appalachian State University, where she took her shoes off, flexed her feet, turned her legs in and never looked back. After minoring in dance and performing regularly in the Appalachian Dance Ensemble and North Carolina Dance Festival, she moved to Atlanta where she dove into the world of contact improv. After a hiatus from dancing and performing, Meredith discovered Circle Modern Dance as she was pregnant with her first son and was cast in a piece that she performed at 7 months pregnant. Since that time, she has continued to explore, with movement, all the things that keep her awake and make her write (she teaches English, Film, and Gender Studies in her other life at Clemson). She, her partner, their two sons and dog recently moved to Greenville, SC and continue have living room dance parties which inspire her choreography and keep her laughing. She looks forward to continuing dancing with Circle as time and travel allow.
Maria McGuire choreographed her first dance right after attending her first Circle Modern Dance class, an audition. Today, after many opportunities to face her fearlessness, she loves to facilitate raw movement and storytelling improvisations with her cohorts. A teacher of such things and massage therapist, Maria also uses dance for assessment and healing, mulling over stuff, character sketches, general wellness, and keeping herself grounded and entertained. Fusing her backgrounds in ballet, yoga, energywork, tribal fusion bellydance, and monkey bars, Maria expanded into into partner acrobatics and aerial dance in 2009, co-created “The Wing Project” in 2011, and flies with several of her dearest companions from Circle. Out of her supportive network, she has also directed a variety of performances from modern dance to circus arts.
Amanda Merriss began dancing at the age of five in her hometown of Eureka, California. She was a Principal Company Dancer of Brava! Dance Eureka directed by Virginia Niekrasz-Laurent, dancing roles in The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Firebird among others, and she was accepted to summer programs for the Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City, and Redwood Concert Ballet in Eureka, CA.
Modern dance came alive for Amanda when she entered college at Sonoma State University, performing in the university Dance Ensemble while earning a B.A. in Studio Art and a minor in German. She also studied for a year at the State Academy of Fine and Applied Arts in Stuttgart, Germany, where she pursued her passions for the visual arts and cultural exchange. Since her return, she has been seeing fewer divisions between visual art, dance, music and language. Amanda rejoiced when she found Circle Modern Dance, a community that celebrates the dancing spirit within and allows her to explore all the ways the body can move through space.
Callie Minnich received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance and Choreography from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is originally from Knoxville, Dancing from elementary through high school in the Knox county Magnet programs. She performed with the Austin-East Dance Company in high school and performed in and produced shows for the Reparatory Dance Company at USM. Soon, she will be teaching with Sizemology Dance. She is so excited to be a new core member of Circle Modern Dance and so excited to keep exploring dance with them.
Balázs Sipos a native of Budapest, Hungary, began dancing soon after he learned to walk. Through the years he has studied a broad variety of dances, while mastering his main focus: physics. He has expertise in ballroom dances, acrobatic rock’n’roll, salsa and tango. Shortly after leaving Europe and arriving to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Balázs decided to challenge himself in the art of modern dance and joined Circle Modern Dance. Nearly one year later he and Maria McGuire directed the 19th annual Modern Dance Primitive Light 2010 show. His current focus involves partner acrobatics, acrobalance, and the incorporation of those in modern dance.
Sarah Whitaker has been studying and performing dance for twenty years. She has a BA in Dance and a BBA in Business Management from Radford University. Before leaving for college, Sarah danced with Pointe West Dance Company. She has studied and performed with Pro Danza Italia in Castigleonccello, Tuscany, Italy. She has also recently taught at Ashley’s Dance Academy. When she’s not dancing she enjoys reading, painting, and cooking. |
Subsets and Splits