Datasets:

cfli
/

ssss

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (1)

train · 73.3k rows

question stringlengths 18 1.2k	facts stringlengths 44 500k	answer stringlengths 1 147
What notable businessman is known as the Sage of Omaha?	Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple : Secrets of a High Plains Investor - The New York Times The New York Times Your Money \|Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple : Secrets of a High Plains Investor Search Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, Makes Value Strategy Seem Simple : Secrets of a High Plains Investor By ALINE SULLIVAN and INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE DEC. 20, 1997 Continue reading the main story IF THE AMERICAN century were to be personified, it might well be by Warren Buffett. The so-called sage of Omaha has none of the glamour of John F. Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe, but for millions of investors he embodies the American Dream. The 66-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corp. is as American as baseball (he is the minority owner of a minor-league team, the Omaha Royals) and apple pie (a favorite at his local steak house). But more importantly, this plain-talking man from Nebraska makes investing seem simple. He identifies companies that are undervalued and buys their stocks to keep forever. "To invest successfully you need not understand beta, efficient markets, modern portfolio theory, option pricing or emerging markets," said Mr. Buffett in the most recent of his direct and often-humorous letters to shareholders. "You may, in fact, be better off knowing nothing of these. Your goal as an investor should simply be to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily understandable business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher five, 10 and 20 years from now." This strategy has enabled Mr. Buffet to turn a $100,000 investment 40 years ago into a company worth $57 billion and amass a personal fortune of almost $20 billion. His strategy has inspired countless imitators, a mutual fund dedicated to Omaha-style analysis and even a computer program designed to imitate his brain. Continue reading the main story Mr. Buffett's success remains unique, however. That is because his brand of value-investing is surprisingly difficult. The starting point — identifying companies that are undervalued by the market — is nearly impossible for most investors because it is so painful psychologically to buy stocks that no one else wants. It is even more difficult to buy them for keeps. Advertisement Continue reading the main story This first step of value-investing may be difficult at the best of times but is now particularly so. "You can pay too much for even the best of businesses," Mr. Buffett said recently. "The over-payment risk surfaces periodically and, in our opinion, may now be quite high for the purchasers of virtually all stocks." Equally difficult is hanging on to the shares. "We continue to make more money snoring than when active," said Mr. Buffet in his most recent annual report. "Inactivity strikes us as intelligent behavior." That holds true even when values plunge. Mr. Buffett might have found the recent declines in the two stocks he refers to as his "inevitables" — Coca-Cola Co. and Gillette Co. — a trial. Shares in both companies slumped after they warned that a strong dollar would hurt earnings. But he is hanging on. "No sensible observer questions that Coke and Gillette will dominate their fields worldwide for an investment lifetime," he said. Another major component of Mr. Buffett's brand of value-investing is sticking to what you know. "You don't have to be an expert on every company or even many," he advised in his letter. "You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital." Mr. Buffet's own circle of competence is large but not all-encompassing. For example, he avoids technology stocks, saying, "If there's a lot of technology, we won't understand it." Among the top holdings of Berkshire Hathaway are stakes in American Express Co., Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., McDonald's Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and The Washington Post Co., which owns half of the International Herald Tribune. "This portfolio is attractive in most economic environments and particularly today, when we are seeing falling bond yields and rising earnings uncertainty," said Tom McManus, senior vice president, investment strategy, of NatWest Securities Corp. in New York. "Warren Buffett tends to buy businesses which have very reliable earnings prospects. He owns companies that have high probability of delivering a reasonable growth rate." Mr. Buffett is not infallible. His $385 million investment in USAir in 1989 was followed almost immediately by the company's collapse. The company later recovered under new management, however, and Berkshire Hathaway lost nothing on the deal. Advertisement Continue reading the main story He is the first to acknowledge his limitations, warning shareholders that Berkshire's large capital base — ranking it among the 10 largest U.S. companies by capital — tends to dampen returns. He also cautioned that the favorable business climate in the United States over the past 15 years will eventually end, saying that "the experience of a bull market dulls the senses." But his strategy should, in theory, work equally well outside America. Some stock market analysts say that price-to-earnings ratios in many non-U.S. companies mask much greater underlying values thanks to aggressive depreciation and hidden cash reserves. For further information: - FOCUS TRUST, an $8 million no-load open- ended fund is run by Robert Hagstrom Jr., based on Mr. Buffett's methodology. Telephone 1 610 293 6490. Mr. Hagstrom also is the author of "The Warren Buffett Way" (John Wiley & Sons, New York, $24.95 hardback, $14.95 paperback). Another book is "Warren Buffet Speaks," by Janet Lowe (Wiley, $16.95). DAVID BRAVERMAN, investment officer at Standard & Poor's Corp. in New York, developed a computer program based on Mr. Buffet's strategy. The results are published twice a year in Standard & Poor's "Outlook." Telephone: 1 212 208 8000, or, toll-free in the United States, 1 800 852 1641. COMPANY ORIGINAL COST VALUE (in millions) (in millions) American Express Company $1,392.7 $2,794.3 49,456,900 shares The Coca-Cola Company 1,298.9 10,525.0 200,000,000 The Walt Disney Company 577.0 1,716.8 24,614,214 shares Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. 333.4 1,772.8 64,246,000 shares The Gillette Company 600.0 3,732.0 48,000,000 shares McDonald's Corp. 1,265.3 1,368.4 30,156,600 shares The Washington Post Company 10.6 579.0 1,727,765 shares Wells Fargo & Company 497.8 1,966.9 7,291,418 shares Others 1,934.5 3,295.4 Total Common Stocks: $7,910.2 $27,750.6 CONTACTS:	Warren Buffett
What seasonal name is most commonly given to the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, which began in Tunisia, December 2010?	Sage of Manchester? Buffett-inspired investor tops UK stock-picking league \| Reuters Wed Dec 23, 2015 \| 9:37 AM EST Sage of Manchester? Buffett-inspired investor tops UK stock-picking league * Sanford DeLand UK Buffettology fund up 25.3 pct this year * Aims to emulate investment style of 'Sage of Omaha' Buffett * Favoured stocks include Dominos, Bioventix, Hargreaves Lansdown By Alasdair Pal LONDON, Dec 23 Forget the financial fortress of London, anyone looking for Britain's best stock-picker this year should have hopped on a train north to Manchester. Based out of a nondescript office block in a city more famous for football and factories than finance, Keith Ashworth-Lord's 28-million-pound ($42 million) fund is tiny compared with many peers in Britain's 6.6-trillion-pound investment industry. As suggested by the name of his fund - Sanford DeLand UK Buffettology - Ashworth-Lord seeks to emulate the investment style of Warren Buffett, the world-famous U.S. investor known as the Sage of Omaha. His returns of 25.3 percent to Dec. 22 far outstrip a 6 percent fall in the blue-chip FTSE 100, according to industry data firm Financial Express. That is about two percentage points ahead of the next best-performing fund, according to the data that covers the 262 funds in the industry's "UK All Companies" sector, comprising those that invest at least 80 percent of their assets in British shares. Ashworth-Lord's returns also top the performance of Buffett's own Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle, which is down 11.7 percent in the same period. The trademarked "Buffettology" method - laid down in a series of books - is not backed by Buffett himself. It was formulated by his former daughter-in-law, Mary, and David Clarke, a member of the Buffettologists - a group of early Berkshire Hathaway shareholders who studied his strategy. Ashworth-Lord's fascination with the famed U.S. investor stretches back to the mid 1990s, when he made several trips to the Berkshire Hathaway annual conference in Omaha, Nebraska - on one occasion being granted a private audience with the man himself after being mistaken for a journalist. "I was fishing around for an investment view, and landed on the teachings of Buffett and (Berkshire Hathaway colleague) Charlie Munger, and their disciples the Buffettologists," said Ashworth-Lord, who is in his 50s. "Me and my business partner at the time went off on the Buffettology train tracks like a pair of zealots." He launched his fund in 2011, after receiving a call from Clarke, who was looking for a fund to license the Buffettology trademark to. "I didn't need persuading - it's a very competitive market and it gives the fund its point of difference," said Ashworth-Lord, an astrophysics graduate who has spent most of the last 30 years working in the corporate investment industry. 'ECONOMIC MOATS' Buffett's decision to run Berkshire Hathaway from the U.S. Midwestern city of Omaha is reflected in Ashworth-Lord's decision to avoid London as a base for his fund. "I have always preferred to work away from the rumour mill. It gives me the freedom to think," said the fund manager, who has lived in Manchester for most his life. While Ashworth-Lord is far from the first person to try and emulate Buffett - fellow UK managers Nick Train of Lindsell Train and Fundsmith's Terry Smith are both fans - he is the only one in Europe to use the Buffettology name to help market a fund. The Buffettology method, based on the teachings and investment advice of the U.S. investor, broadly involves buying into companies with strong market positions, growth potential, management teams and cash generation. Eschewing the large team of analysts favoured by bigger funds, Ashworth-Lord is a one-man team running a portfolio of around 25 stocks. All, he says, have "economic moats" - a term used by Buffett to refer to firms with unassailable advantages, through intellectual property, branding or employees' unique skills. Current holdings include pharmaceutical company Bioventix , takeaway pizza firm Domino's and wargaming miniatures maker Games Workshop. Another favoured stock is investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown - somewhat ironic given Sanford DeLand does not make the firm's influential 'buy' list of preferred fund investments. Given it is several hundred times smaller than the biggest UK equity fund - the 4.2 billion pounds AXA Framlington Select Opps fund - Sanford DeLand's fees are higher than many peers, at 1.38 percent of assets a year, compared with 0.55 percent for rival Train's UK Equity fund. But staying small allows it to invest in companies with smaller market values, according to Ashworth-Lord who believes such stocks have the best potential for long-term growth. Given that, his aspirations next year for Sanford DeLand, which he named after two towns he drove past while on holiday in Florida, are rather modest. "It would be nice to hire one or two people, but I don't think it will ever end up being a mega-fund." ($1 = 0.6726 pounds) (Editing by Simon Jessop and Pravin Char) ADVERTISEMENT	i don't know
In Native American ceremonial custom what is a calumet?	Native American Pipes (Calumet) What's new on our site today! American Indian Pipes (Calumet) Tobacco, indigenous to North America, followed Indian trade routes throughout the continent long before Columbus arrived, and pipe smoking took on a ritual and religious importance in many tribes. Naturally, the crafting of pipes became equally important. Sponsored Links The most famous Native American pipes are the long calumets or "peace pipes" of the Sioux and other Plains Indian tribes, which were made by attaching a wooden stem to a bowl carved from catlinite or "pipestone." (Pipestone is native to Minnesota, but due to intertribal trade was available throughout Native North America.) Other native pipe-making traditions included the smaller one-piece stone and ceramic pipes of the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes, wood and antler pipes of the Southwest Indians, and the post-Columbian tomahawk pipes with a metal pipe bowl and hatchet on opposite ends of the stem. If you are looking to buy pipes that were actually made by Native Americans--either because it's important to you to have the real thing or because you want to support native people with your purchase--then here is our directory of American Indian pipe artists whose carvings are available online. If you have a website of Indian pipes to add to this list, let us know . We gladly advertise any individual native artist or native-owned art store here free of charge, provided that all pipes were made by tribally recognized American Indian, Inuit, or First Nations artists. Thank you for your interest in Native American art! � Native American Pipes On our main site we do our best to avoid slowing down our page loading with graphics, but this page is about art, so we'd really be remiss in not showing a few representative pipe pictures. All photos are the property of their respective artists; please visit their sites to see their pipe carving in more depth.	Ceremonial pipe
What animal name is given to the type of investment fund which buys large distressed debts especially of war/chaos-torn countries, aiming later to demand and sue for extortionate interest payments?	Calumet (Native American) \| Article about Calumet (Native American) by The Free Dictionary Calumet (Native American) \| Article about Calumet (Native American) by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Calumet+(Native+American) Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . peace pipe: see calumet calumet [Fr.,=reed], name given by the French to the peace pipe used by the indigenous people of North America for smoking tobacco; it consisted of a long, feathered stem, with or without a pipe bowl. ..... Click the link for more information. . peace pipe See: Peace peace pipe a long decorated pipe smoked by North American Indians on ceremonial occasions, esp as a token of peace Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Copyright © 2003-2017 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.	i don't know
What small ex-Soviet nation between Turkey and Iran was World Team Chess Champion in 2011 and subsequently made the game compulsory in primary school education?	Guyana Times Daily by Gytimes - issuu issuu Region Five corrects misleading Stabroek P7 News report Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com THE BEACON OF TRUTH Tuesday, July 10, 2013 Issue No. 1825 Govt says slashing air travel tax not feasible â€“ APNU urges action to lower costs See story on page 3 Republic Bank plugs $1.5M into steel pan programme See story on page 7 PRICE $60 vat included WHAT'S INSIDE: TIP P2 victims ID policemen, trafficker PANCAP to host meeting P2 with Guyanese, Surinamese health officials Magistrate dumps 54 P2 traffic cases Problem of inequality P11 not easy to solve â€“ OAS Some of the students going through their paces at the commencement of the steel pan workshop being hosted by the Culture Ministry Small businesses blossoming, says Republic Bank specialist See story on page 13 Moon sighted, Ramadan begins See story on page 19 Nursing P12 body seeks govt subvention to finance operations Mahaica man shot dead P17 during home invasion 2 news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimeSGY.com TIP victims ID policemen, trafficker By Svetlana Marshall R ape charges are likely to be instituted against two policemen and an alleged human trafficker after they were positively identified by the young ladies who were rescued from the sex trade last weekend. On Tuesday, the two victims who were allegedly raped by two ranks in the Sherima Police Station positively identified their assailants. The ranks and the woman were also identified by two other persons who witnessed part of the trafficking incident. Rescued Over the weekend, the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO), led by the 2013 U.S. TIP Hero Simona Broomes, rescued the 14-, 16-, 18-, and 20-year-old victims from 14 Mile Issano, Region Seven. The 26-year-old approached Broomes in Bartica to relate the tale and get her 16-yearold friend out. According to Broomes, the 26-year-old victim on Tuesday positively identified the policemen. The 16-year-old, who was described as “nervous” during the parade, was unable to identify the ranks. However, the truck driver and another individual who were at the Sherima Police Station positively identified the policemen. Both victims positively identified the alleged trafficker. Speaking with Guyana GWMO President Simona Broomes Times, Broomes said she was elated that GWMO is one step closer to putting another trafficker and delinquent ranks who have failed the system behind bars. While, the GWMO president is happy that the perpetrators will face the court soon, she is disappointed that the victims were made to wait for some time before the ID parade was executed. Compounding the situation, the young ladies were reportedly forced to sit in CID headquarters in wet clothes. Broomes explained that the victims and their belongings were drenched during their journey from Bartica to Parika on Monday afternoon. After reporting to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown late Monday night, the victims then travelled to Mahaicony. “By the time, they got to the Help and Shelter Home in Mahaicony... there was no way in which the clothes could have dried because they had to wake up and reach here (CID) for nine o’ clock.” According to Broomes, the entire ordeal was explained to the Human Services Ministry, but to no avail. The young ladies were initially promised a change of clothing, but were subsequently told that they would have to wait until another day (today). “It was said to me that the girls will have to wait,” Broomes told this publication. A request was made to have the young ladies taken to purchase appropriate garments but this request by the GWMO was denied as well. Human Services Ministry has promised to intervene after being contacted by the president of the women’s organisation. Special home Broomes called for the Human Services Ministry to provide a special home in the city for TIP victims, noting that while the organisation is grateful for the assistance given by Help and Shelter, there is need for a special home. “I think they need to have some place in Georgetown when the girls arrive. It’s a long process, everyone knows the police process is very long, so if they have somewhere close by, they can leave at the appropriate time, Mahaicony is too far.” Broomes is also pressing for ranks of the Guyana Police Force, TIP Unit officers, and interested members of the public to be trained in the area of human trafficking, as it relates to the treatment of victims. “We have to undertake a study to know a victim of trafficking: How they respond – their language; things that they need – how important it is to make them feel comfortable; and not for us to talk to them as though they were in the interior,” she said. “You can’t treat a victim of trafficking like a runaway, or a murderer, or a thief,” she lamented. Main perpetrator On April 21, four girls, aged 14, 15, 17 and 18 were rescued from prostitution in the Puruni Back Dam, Region Seven by Broomes and her GWMO members. Shortly after, a policeman was charged with human trafficking. He was accused of trafficking one of the four girls. A popular Bartica businesswoman who was identified by the girls as the main perpetrator was arrested and charged approximately two weeks ago. She is reportedly behind bars awaiting the completion of her case. Meanwhile, the four girls are being reintegrated into society while being accommodated by Help and Shelter. The 14-year-old girl will soon be attending classes, compliments of Broomes. (svetlanam@guyanatimesgy. com) PANCAP to host meeting with Guyanese, Surinamese health officials P an Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) in collaboration with the German International Cooperation (GIZ), the EPOS Health Management and the Health Ministry will host the BiNational Commission for Collaboration on Health for Guyana and Suriname from July 11-13, in Georgetown, Guyana. According to a PANCAP release, the three-day meeting to be held at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, will be attended by Surinamese Health Minister Michel Bolkland; other senior officials; head of Suriname Pan American Heath Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO); Dr Guillermo Troya; PAHO representative Dr Gustavo Bretas; and Guyana’s Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran and his team. This Bi-National Commission meeting originated from a bid by the Health Ministry of Suriname and the recommendations of two consultancies completed under the PANCAP/GIZ/ EPOS Migrant Project. The consultants’ recommendations were influenced by their findings which highlighted the similarities in geographic location, the ex- periences of high crossborder movement and the matching profile of the migrant and mobile population within both countries In addition to discussing issues related to HIV/AIDS, participants will also deliberate on health and wellness matters related to migrant and mobile populations in Guyana and Suriname. These would include neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases. The outcome of the meeting will be a framework for bi-national collaboration on health service policies related to migration and mobility and the priority health issues of both countries. The Migrant Project supports all priority areas of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF 2008-2012) but is centred on prevention of HIV transmission with specific emphasis on migrant and mobile populations. The project has four components: improving legal and policy framework, implementing innovative health financing mechanisms, empowering communities and making HIV services more migrant-friendly. PANCAP is a regional partnership established by Caricom heads of government in 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Magistrate dumps 54 traffic cases M agistrate Sherdel Issaacs-Marcus on Monday dismissed 54 traffic matters before her as the police witnesses were not present in court to give evidence. In the New Amsterdam Magistrate Court on Tuesday, 130 traffic matters were called for the first time after warrants were issued for the drivers to appear and answer to relevant charges. Only two of the officers who instituted the charges called in court on Tuesday made a court appearance to give evidence. This resulted in fines of $7500 and $5000 being imposed on 83 drivers. The charges were for driving above the speed limit ($7500) and for overloading ($5000). None of the drivers was in court. Three officers from the traffic department who had instituted 54 charges were not in court, resulting in Magistrate Marcus throwing out the cases. News wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com bridge openings The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, July 10, from 05:30h to 07:00h. The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, July 10, from 05:05h to 06:35h. – APNU urges action to lower costs Weather Countrywide: Thundery showers are expected during the day, with clear skies in the evening over coastal regions and near inland locations. Temperatures are expected to range between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius. Winds: North-easterly to easterly at 4.02 to 3.57 metres per second. High Tide: 05:33h and 17:57h reaching maximum heights of 2.62 metres and 2.52 metres respectively. Low Tide: 11:32h and 23:25h reaching minimum heights of 0.68 metre and 0.60 metre respectively. saturday, July 6, 2013 14 26 08 01 11 28 19 FREE TICKET Draw De Line 07 17 14 11 04 Govt says slashing air travel tax not feasible 15 DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902 P ublic Works Minister Robeson Benn has stated that it would not be feasible for government to reduce the travel voucher taxes on airline tickets, as part of efforts to relieve Guyanese passengers of paying the high cost of air transport. Minister Benn’s comment follows a letter sent to him from shadow public infrastructure, communication, tourism, industry and commerce minister, Joseph Harmon of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). In the letter, Harmon issued a call for a 10 per cent reduction in government taxes on airline tickets to cushion the impact of the hike in fares on Guyanese. He called on government, through Minister Benn, to consider reducing its travel voucher tax of 15 per cent to 10 per cent. However, Benn said government is examining the matter of increased airfares from all ends, noting that government is in discussion with the Trinidadian government to ascertain whether it is giving a subsidy to the Caribbean Airlines entity to ensure the fares from that end remain at a stable level. Reducing taxes He said reducing taxes would not be viable for the government of Guyana, as that would put a strain on maintaining airport facilities and staffing. He reminded that Fly Jamaica will commence operations this monthend, which would help to ease the current situation, while Surinam Airways will be adding more flights. The govt is also engaged in talks with COPA Airlines to increase airlift out of Guyana. Public Works Minister Robeson Benn Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali APNU MP Joseph Harmon He assured that no stone would be left unturned, but could not give direct response as to if a reduction would be implemented. In the letter to the minister, Harmon said the cut in the tax is proposed in light of the recent steep increase in the cost of airline tickets for travel to and from Guyana, and the claim by airline services that the increases are unavoidable. in the cost of international air travel must be addressed immediately. “APNU notes that high travel taxes in the Caribbean has caused and will continue to cause severe decline in intra-regional and international travel. In Antigua, the ticket tax is 10 per cent of the base fare; Grenada charges 6.7 per cent of base fare; Jamaica (inclusive of passenger service and security fee, airport improvement fee, stamp tax, passenger facility charge, aviation service charge) – 10 per cent of base fare plus a travel tax of three per cent; Trinidad and Tobago passenger service charge, 4.4 per cent and St Lucia travel tax four per cent.” airline ticket, and this will have an immediate, positive effect on the number of persons opting to travel to and from Guyana.” Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali had recently opposed the increases in airfare ticket prices by Caribbean Airlines, accusing the regional carrier of attempting to rake in profits owing to the high demand in the Guyana market. No stone unturned He believes the tax reduction is the only rational and practical move to relieve passengers of the burden of paying the hefty fares. Harmon stated that it was his hope that government would seriously consider his recommendation and act swiftly upon it. Later in a release, APNU said it is appealing on the government to take all proactive measures within its control to lower the cost of air travel to and from Guyana. The party said since a roundtrip economy class ticket from Guyana to the United States of America now costs over US$1100 and the government of Guyana gets 15 per cent of the base fare plus a departure tax of $4000, APNU is of the opinion that such a steep rise Convinced APNU said it was convinced that with lower taxes, more persons will be encouraged to travel and this surge will serve as a cushion for any potential loss of revenue. It said with competing airlines operating out of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport last year, Guyana gained more than $1 billion in travel voucher taxes alone. “APNU, therefore, strongly recommends that the government of Guyana reduce the travel voucher tax. Reducing the travel voucher tax will reduce the base price of an Demand and supply He does not believe the taxes pose the problem, but rather the amount of seats available to level out the demand and supply from Guyana’s end. CAL had promised to maintain a reasonable fare structure during talks with the Guyana government after its competitors EZjet and Delta exited the market earlier this year. According to Minister Ali, CAL’s position in the Guyana market should have been looked at from a corporate responsibility perspective and not as a profit-making opportunity. Government is depending on air transport that is free of hindrances to and from Guyana, given the vibrancy of the tourism sector and a promising industry. 4 guyanatimesgy.com wednesday, july 10, 2013 Views Editor: Nigel Williams Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134 Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown Email: [email protected], [email protected] Editorial The MDGs and post-2015 agenda A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, which was published earlier this month, provides an update on the global situation as it relates to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report, an annual assessment of global and regional progress towards the goals, reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 27 UN and international agencies and is produced by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. As expected, the document contains some interesting facts in relation to each target and some key recommendations which must be taken seriously by national governments and other key development partners. Based on comprehensive official statistics, the MDGs Report 2013 shows that the combined actions of national governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector are making the achievement of these MDGs a reality. It says that, with some of the MDGs already met, more targets are within reach by the 2015 target date, while challenges to achieving others must be urgently addressed. With millions of people’s lives improved by already meeting targets on reducing poverty, increasing access to safe water, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary schools, the report says remarkable progress in other areas means more MDGs targets can be achieved by 2015. According to the report, big gains have been made in health. For example, between 2000 and 2010, mortality rates from malaria fell by more than 25 per cent globally, and an estimated 1.1 million deaths were averted. Death rates from tuberculosis at the global level and in several regions could be halved by 2015, compared to 1990 levels. Between 1995 and 2011, a cumulative total of 51 million tuberculosis patients were successfully treated, saving 20 million lives. Regarding the HIV/AIDS fight, the report notes that while new HIV infections are declining, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV in 2011. At the end of 2011, eight million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV or AIDS in developing regions, and the MDG target of universal access to antiretroviral therapy remains reachable by 2015 if current trends continue. Additionally, the report says that the target of halving the percentage of people suffering from hunger by 2015 is within reach. The proportion of undernourished people worldwide decreased from 23 per cent in 1990-1992 to 15 per cent in 2010-2012. Worldwide, the mortality rate for children under five dropped by 41 per cent – from 87 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 51 in 2011, which means 14,000 fewer child deaths per day. Increasingly, child deaths are concentrated in the poorest regions, and in the first month of life. Globally, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 47 per cent over the last two decades, from 400 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births to 210 between 1990 and 2010. The meeting the MDG target of reducing the ratio by three-quarters will require accelerated interventions and stronger political backing for women and children. With respect to education, between 2000 and 2011, the number of children out of school declined by almost half – from 102 million to 57 million. It should be stated that Guyana has already achieved the target for universal primary education and is working hard to do the same at the secondary level. However, the report recommends that global attention needs to focus on disparities. “Progress towards the eight MDGs has been uneven not only among regions and countries, but also between population groups within countries. People living in poverty or in rural areas remain at an unfair disadvantage,” it says. At present, the UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs, to craft an ambitious, yet realistic, agenda for the period after the MDGs target date at the end of 2015. The authors of the report underline the fact that “a successful conclusion to the MDGs will be an important building block for a successor development agenda, and that volumes of experience and lessons learned from the MDGs will benefit prospects for continued progress.” In China, students of the Jiangshan Middle School light candles to form a heart shape and the initials of the teenagers Yang Mengyuan and Wang Linjia who died in the Asiana plane crash at San Francisco airport on Saturday (BBC News) Ramadan marks the beginning of the holiest time of the year PART 2 Dear Editor, Why Muslims fast For Muslims, fasting has a number of benefits: * It helps one to feel compassion for those who are less fortunate and under-privileged for what they have as a result of feeling hunger and thirst. * It allows one to build a sense of self-control and willpower, which can be beneficial throughout life in dealing with temptations and peer pressure. * It offers a time for Muslims to purify their bodies, as well as their souls, by developing a greater sense of humanity, spirituality and community. Ramadan is a very spiritual time for Muslims, and often they invite each other to one another’s home to break the fast and pray together. As with other duties in Islam, fasting becomes obligatory after puberty. Ramadan Ramadan is important for Muslims because it is believed to be the month in which the first verses of the Holy Quran, (the divine scripture) were revealed by Allah (God) to the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS). From time to time, Muhammad (SAWS) used to go out from Mecca, where he was born and where he worked as caravan trader, to reflect and meditate in solitude. Like Abraham before him, he had never accepted his people’s worship of many gods, and felt a need to withdraw to a quiet place to reflect on the One God. One night, while meditating in a cave near Mecca, he heard a voice calling out, telling him to “read”. Muhammad (SAWS) found himself reciting the first verses of the Holy Quran. The voice was that of Angel Gabriel, and he confirmed that Muhammad (SAWS) was chosen for an important and challenging mission – he was to call the people to monotheism, the belief in one God, and righteousness. Muslims believe that over a period of 23 years, various verses and chapters of the Holy Quran were revealed to Muhammad (SAWS) through Gabriel. The Quran is comprised of 114 chapters of varying length. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day. This means not consuming food and drink, including water, during the daylight hours. In the Arabic language, fast is known as sawm. Muslims rise early in the morning during Ramadan to have a pre-dawn breakfast meal known as suhoor. At the end of the day the fast is completed by taking the after meal, which usually includes dates, fresh fruits, beverages and dinner. Later in the evening, Muslims attend special nightly tarawih prayers at their local mosque, during which approximately onethirtieth of the Holy Quran is recited, so that the entire scripture is recited in the course of the 29 or 30 days of the month. Unfortunately, the non-Muslim world views Ramadan as a month of fasting and merely the abstinence from food and drink. Ramadan is a strict and exact training period, for every God-fearing man and woman. It exposes the Muslim to a way of life that prepares them to face the challenges of their socio-economic and spiritual existence. Ramadan encourages Muslims to renew their pledges and strive continuously to gain the pleasure of Allah. In every corner of the globe, where Muslims exist as a community, their exercises and observances are the same despite ethnic, cultural differences and climatic conditions. The constant Salaah, recitation of the Holy Quran, observing the fast, paying the Zakat, result from strong Imaan. This places the Muslims in an enviable position to understand the conditions faced by the poor and needy. This creates the feeling of God consciousness (taqwa). This is the time through the khutbah, discussions and practices, Muslims are reminded of the lofty ideals of Islam and the solutions for the world’s problems. Ramadan is the month for inculcation of virtues, Islamic values, and morals. Allah promises the rewards of good deeds to be multiplied from 10 to 700 times. This is the period when we come to grips with our physical desires and weaknesses. This is the time we are able to measure our strengths and shortcomings. Ramadan helps us to see who we really are. It is indeed a testing period to examine the extent to which we are prepared to make sacrifices for the pleasure of Allah. Refusal to observe the commands is a sign of kufr (disbeliever). The sacrifices we are expected to make, increases, our Imaan and cause us to develop taqwa, which is precisely the object of fasting. Eid ul-Fitr After Ramadan, Muslims celebrate a very festive and joyous holiday known as Eid ul-Fitr, the festival of the breaking of the fast. On the day of Eid, Muslims attend special congregational prayers in the morning, wearing their best clothes, after the completion of the prayers and special sermon, Muslims rise to greet and hug one another, saying “Eid Mubarak”, which means “Holy Blessings”. Later, Muslims families visit each other’s homes, and have special meals together. Children are often rewarded with gifts, money and sweets. Light and other decorations mark the happy occasion. Ramadan Mubarak. Ramadan Mubarak. Ramadan Mubarak. Respectfully submitted, Shan Razack guyanatimesgy.com wednesday, july 10, 2013 5 You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or [email protected] The perception of corruption Education Ministry’s hotlines must be addressed proving a good initiative Dear Editor, President Donald Ramotar, quite rightly, is very upset with those who help to create the negative images of Guyana that sometimes detract investors. The president, at the time, was addressing issues at the diplomatic level and it was good that he stood up and defended his territory. I recall diplomatic meetings held only with the opposition members to discuss governance and corruption. Now concerning our president’s outburst and being upset with the negative picture being painted, I think first of what many of us are doing. We give outsiders the idea that Guyana is some backward, God-forgotten place, where anything can happen. I recall just before one of the school shootings in the U.S., a Guyanese was saying that she would not return for anything, since she was very concerned about her child’s safety. Well after the shooting, I spoke with her and I asked her about safety in her adopted land. She was kind of put off. My point is that there is no need for us, or members of the diaspora, to go about bad-mouthing Guyana, since crime is universal, and Guyana is far removed from many of the places we like to boast about, or even live in. Guyana does not make top-10 most crime-ridden countries. In fact, the list of most crimes per 100,000 people is quite interesting: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Italy and India. We just have to learn to be honest and think before we talk. When it comes to cost of living, the U.S., Canada and the UK all rank lower than Guyana in terms of being able to cope. In fact, Guyana scores well in comparison with other places. This can be checked out in terms of prices for defined quantities of the same goods and services, converted to U.S. dollars. Most Guyanese regularly save a little and this is not so for many who live in these supposed super countries. So as much as I support the defending of our land from negative diplomatic remarks that cannot be corroborated, I also rebuke those of us who go about being negative and sulky. We are a work in progress and the quicker we allow this to be internalised, the better it will be for all us. We will stay and put in our lot. Yours truly, Rowan Guillard RHTY&SC sport programme also emphasises education Dear Editor, The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC). It is doing a wonderful job. Last year, it started a drive where the various cricket teams of the club ventured into helping the not-so-fortunate children of the area. Actually, it was in response to the request from many of the parents of these less fortunate children that the club last year distributed some $600,000 worth of school bags. This year the target is to reach the one million mark, and so far so good. In fact, only a few days ago, the club received over $100,000 worth in schoolbags from a local insurance company. As a matter of fact, this time around, the club is aiming to distribute not just schoolbags, but exercise books. The target children are those attending the annual summer camps and the less fortunate students in the Lower Corentyne area. I commend this kind of charity work, and I urge for contributions from those who are much more fortunate, both individuals and companies. Remember that these bags are going to the children who really need them. Also, since it is not actual money that is being given, there is nothing to fear where wasting or wrongful use is concerned. Many times, people talk about investing in sporting activities where children are concerned. But if a few can twist it around and make the education very primary, it will be a different and welcoming change. After all, the regional cricket team has only 11 players – so what happens when one cannot have a career in sports? Without being biased, I think that people should accept the fact that an educated person has sports as an option, but not necessarily vice versa. In the U.S., there are talks about what is happening to many of the basketball players, who simply had a soft time in universities. They were granted their scholarships, but never really studied and passed exams. Mind you, they have the legal and official accreditation, but at the functional level, they have many problems, after their playing days. Just like how beauty and brains can go together; sports and education can be paired. Yours faithfully, Ingrid Lowe Dear Editor, There is a good fever spreading around the education sector, and I welcome it. Concerning the hotlines for complaints, in a jiffy, the whole operation is turning into a positive blitz. According to the minister of education, since the hotline service became operational, over 30 calls have been received, and these cover Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. The report highlighted that so far, more than 20 complaints have been investigated. This good start must be built upon. The range of issues at hand is quite disturbing: graduation fees, registration and transfers, training of unemployed adults, school furniture being used for lessons at a church, expired juice being sold at a school, garbage situation, unsatisfactory work on a nursery school, and vagrants loitering school zones. I am very concerned about the last case, as I have seen this umpteen times. During the second-to-last week of school, I went to a primary school in Church Street, Georgetown to pick up my child. Lo and behold, a seemingly insane man was exiting the gate. I was aghast and making matters worse, it was dismissal time. Children by their very nature are prone to heckling people of this type, and I shudder at what can develop if some kind of heckling incident should occur. I recall another parent, complaining in the press, about a vagrant stealing a child’s lunch. He too entered the compound – this being located in Camp Street, Georgetown. We just cannot have our children being placed in unnecessary vulner- able situations. School zones must be patrolled, especially around dismissal times. The other issue is that of the training of unemployed adults. I am concerned about all of these little schools – if that is what this complaint is dealing with – they have all over the country. They may be play schools as such, but we all know how important these early preschool years are – every period in a child’s life is very important. The Education Ministry ought to step in and check out some of these schools. Many of them are for money and nothing else. Since the ministry believes that it is necessary to engage the entire country in the quest to educate the children, it can now move towards having some informative sessions for these schools with unqualified helpers. They mean good and they do a good job overall, but this can be enhanced with some compulsory training sessions. Yours sincerely, Parent Name withheld by request 6 BY DENISE MANN Happy family secret number six: Put family before friends “In happy families, family comes before friends,” he says, “The camp counsellor understands something that parents don’t and that is that caring for children also has to be fun. Give rules, but understand that children need fun, too. When children get bored and listless, they start looking for excitement out of the home and that is when friends become more important. Friendship is important, but subordinate to family.” Happy family secret number seven: Limit children’s after-school activities Today, growing numbers of children are overscheduled and participate in six or seven after-school activities per week. The mother becomes a chauffeur and the children are never home at the same time. This is not a recipe for a happy family, Boteach says. “If your children grow up not knowing how to do ballet, they will be OK. No afterschool activities is an extreme and too many activities is the other extreme, but moderation is where we should aim.” Create your own after-school activities as a family, he suggests. For example, take your children rollerblading, bike riding, or swimming after guyanatimesgy.com school as a family. Happy family secret number eight: Build and honour rituals “Families need rituals,” Boteach says. Rituals can be religious, national, or even family-specific, he says. Barbara Fiese, PhD, professor and chair of psychology at Syracuse University in New York, agrees. “Happy families have meaningful rituals and are not stressed out by them,” she says. “They can be unique to your own family such as going for bagels on Saturday morning, a weekly pizza night, or even a family song. Rituals tend to bring family members close together because they are repeated over time.” To work, rituals need to be flexible, she adds. “They can’t be rigid,” Fiese says. “If the bagel place is closed, you have to go someplace else.” Happy family secret number nine: Keep your voices down Remember that children thrive on stability. “There has to be a calm environment at home,” says Boteach. “Talk to your children, give them strict rules, and punish children when necessary, but don’t lose control and yell. If you yell at children that shows you are out of control and you create a non-peaceful environment.” Reasons our promises are so important to our children Happy family secret number 10: Never fight in front of the children TV viewers never really saw Carol and Mike Brady go at it, did they? While some fighting or bickering may be inevitable, try to keep it away from the children, Boteach says. “If your children see you fight and argue, apologise and say, ‘We are sorry you had to see it. Daddy and I just had a disagreement, but everything is OK now.’” Happy family secret number 11: Don’t work too much All work and no play does worse things to a family than make it dull. “If you are away all the time and don’t prioritise your children, your children will internalise feelings of insecurity,” says Boteach. They’ll begin to believe that they’re not valuable enough. Happy family secret number 12: Encourage sibling harmony Sibling rivalry can be divisive. “I try to speak to my children about how fortunate they are to have siblings,” Boteach says. Happy family secret number 13: Have private jokes Happy families have inside jokes, Syracuse’s Fiese says, “Jokes and nicknames symbolise that this is a group that you belong to and serves as a shorthand for larger experiences,” she says. Happy family secret number 14: Be flexible “This is easier said than done,” says Fiese. “But by their very nature, families change so you have to be open to change in membership and age,” Fiese says. “Somebody gets married, somebody dies, somebody remarries and teenagers are no longer children and young adults are no longer teenagers, but they are all still part of the family.” Happy family secret number 15: Communicate Rose J Perkins, EdD, associate professor of psychology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, says that a happy family communicate with one another. “Frequently families are set up where everyone tells the mom and then the mom sends the message, but in a happy family, there are more flexible, open lines of communication.” In happy families, “all the members of the family unit are able to communicate openly,” she says. (www.webmd.com/ parenting) ome parents are very adamant about their promises – they never make promises they can’t keep. Other parents have good intentions and promise all kinds of things that look doable in the moment, but then when the actual time to deliver arrives, they fall short. Parents need to be aware of the impact promises have on children. If you think it doesn’t matter, think again. Here are 10 reasons why promises are important to children. * It’s a matter of trust – Our children trust us to keep our word. Little children especially look up to parents with a kind of awe whether or not we are aware of it. Consequently when a promise is made, it is assumed by the child that the promise will be kept. * Leading by example – Some parents like to try the “Do as I say and not as I do” model with their children. Unfortunately this does not work. It can be confusing for younger children and downright distasteful for older children, as it puts parents in a hypocritical light. If we want our children to learn to keep their promises, then we must learn to keep ours. * Teaches integrity – When children see parents following through on their promises, they are seeing a form of integrity in action. They know that whatever mom or dad promises is something they can count on. * Affects discipline – Sometimes parents will promise a particular punishment or consequence for misbehaviour. If those promises are never kept, the child learns that he or she can get away with disobedience because there will be no meaningful consequences. As the child grows older, this practice can become more and more of a problem. * Kept promises teach dependability – Whether it’s going to the zoo or getting grounded for acting up, when parents consistently keep their promises, children learn dependability. It will come as no surprise when electronic privileges get cut off for misconduct. It was promised that they would. By the same token the trip to the amusement park is a sure thing because Mom and Dad promised. * It’s a matter of reputation – Imagine an airline company that always promises to get you to a certain destination and they never deliver. Maybe it’s only one city short of where you expected to go or maybe it’s the next state over. The point is, you would never trust that airline to get you where you want to go and they would have a bad reputation. Parents need to have good reputations with their children if they expect the children to follow their example in becoming good adults. * Teaches about honesty – The last thing you want to hear your child say to you is that you are a liar. Yet, when a child is faced with a broken promise, particularly when the promise was very important, if it isn’t said, you can be pretty sure that is the thought that goes through the child’s mind. Part of keeping a promise has to do with honesty, and this is a trait that we want to develop in our children. * Children will learn to value the promise – When a child grows up with parents who only make promises they can keep, that child learns the value of a promise. That child will grow up to be a person who also only makes promises that he or she can keep. * Keeping a promise shows respect – As children get older respect becomes a big issue with them. They want to receive respect and keeping promises made to them shows them that they are respected. * Parents are the first teachers – As first teachers, everything parents do matters in the lives of the children. This is an important thing to remember. Keeping promises teaches many things, and parents need to be the best teachers their children could ever have. (www.nanny.net) News wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com Republic Bank plugs $1.5M 1823 Monument to be into steel pan programme unveiled in August A round 175 youths will benefit from the fourth PanStart Pan Minors Literacy Programme 2013, organised by the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry with financial support from Republic Bank Guyana Limited. The programme will see youths from Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and 10 being trained to play the steel pan instrument, and is scheduled to be held from July 8 to 25. At a simple ceremony on Thursday at the Guyana School of Music on Brickdam, Republic Bank handed over a cheque of $1.5 million to Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony to finance the project. The cheque was handed over by the bank’s finance and planning department manager, Vanessa Thompson. Anthony lauded the contributions of the bank, describing the relationship which exists with the ministry and the bank as a “model relationship”. Positive development Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony receiving $1.5 million cheque from Republic Bank’s Finance and Planning Department Manager Vanessa Thompson for the fourth PanStart Pan Minors Literacy Programme 2013 music is a very important thing. In other countries like our neighbouring country Venezuela, they have been using music to get into the communities and help with positive social development… we hope we can have such a system… that’s what we are leaning for.” Thriving music school “I hope that other companies can see how to really structure relationships with us, because it is helping with positive development in our community,” he noted. He recalled that the collaboration started with the Panorama steel band competition and grew over the years. The minister underscored that over the years the demand for steel pan workshops in various communities has also grown. Dr Anthony said the ministry is and will continue to create opportunities for persons to play music, adding that it is hoping to use music as a technique to produce improvements in communities. “We feel that music and learning Moving his attention to the music school, he stated that when it was established a few years ago, many people felt it would not go few, since they were sceptical that the ministry could run a music school. However, “we have proven the critics wrong and we are advancing”. He posited that the quality of teaching in the school is high, since it always strives for excellence. “Our passes from the school speaks volumes, because we have been getting a majority of passes, which is excellent… we are not writing a local examination, we are writing an international exam that is highly accredited.” The culture minister emphasised that persons who study music at the school can pass there and go anywhere and play music. Additionally, he highlighted that the school is oversubscribed, noting that more and more persons desire to get into the school but it cannot offer any more places. “Maybe that’s a good thing, we will have to look at how we expand it, we are constantly looking at how we can improve the school, and I am very grateful for the leadership which is being provided by Mr Cecil Bovell and Mr Andrew Tyndall in moving the school forward.” Region Five corrects misleading Stabroek News report T he Region Five administration has dismissed a report in the Stabroek News concerning works on the Burma road, saying that bad weather had stalled the project. In responding to the Stabroek News article captioned: “Burma Road broken up two weeks after $7.5M rehab works”, the administration explained that contract #306/13 for general maintenance of the Burma Branch Road at the cost of $7,495,800 was signed on May 29, between the Regional Democratic Council and contractor Shereaz Bacchus. According to the region, owing to inclement weather, only the mobilisation of equipment, clearing of road shoulders, and the cleaning and the squaring of existing potholes have been done. Additionally, the regional administration said information emanating from its engineering department revealed that so far approximately 10 per cent of the work has been completed. This work was done based on a request from farmers and residents to facilitate easier ingress and egress from the rice mill. “This project had a duration of three weeks initially, work will resume as soon as the weather pattern changes. Further delays are envisaged due to the unpredictable weather pattern. The contract entails placing, and compacting four-inch crusher run into position in isolated sections of the roadway and applying RC250 bitumen which will see the said sections of road being completed to a DBST (Double Bituminous Surface Treatment) surface.” “For all intent and purposes, the regional admin- Pleased Republic Bank’s finance and planning department manager said the bank was pleased to be sponsoring the programme. “We are looking forward to the fruit of this programme, especially when we have our 24-team steel pan competition at the sports hall.” The communication and public relations marketing manager’s assistant Jonelle Dummett added that the bank is happy to support Guyana’s youths yet again and to help in the sustenance and resurgence of the steel pan art form in Guyana. istration wishes to inform the general public that only 20 per cent of mobilisation was paid to the contractor which was supported by an advance mobilisation bond, which was supplied by the contractor to cover the said amount paid.” The RDC said due to the inclement weather, road works as a whole has been put on hold throughout the region. C The site for the 1823 Monument ulture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony said the 1823 Monument will be unveiled in August, noting that the sculptor is completing the final touches on the site. Speaking to this publication on Thursday, he stated that what is there now is not the monument, adding that only a bit of the landscaping and pedestal has been completed. “So we now would have to insert some of the things that they would have sculpted onto that, so that process may take another two to three weeks and once that is completed, we will then do the unveiling.” The minister stated that the ministry is looking to unveil the monument sometime on, or around the 190th anniversary of the Demerara Uprising. Minister Anthony added that the ministry has noticed that without even being completed, someone has defaced the structure by throwing paint on it. He also noted that recently the ministry worked with the Walter Rodney Foundation to do some rehabilitation work on his gravesite, but lamented that as soon as the work was completed, the grill work around the grave was vandalised. “People must understand that these are very important sites, they are national figures that we commemorate and we must have respect for these sites.” In light of this, the minister is calling on the public to desist from vandalising monuments and national sites. 8 news wednesday, july 10, 2013\| guyanatimesGY.com Man steals cream liqueur thinking it’s chocolate milk A man was brought before Magistrate Faith McGusty charged with simple larceny on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was alleged that on July 6, at Bounty Supermarket, Water Street, Georgetown, Damion James stole two bottles of cream liqueur valued $1298. The defendant pleaded guilty with explanation. The two bottles of cream liqueur were found hidden in his pants. When the security guard at the supermarket asked him if he could afford to pay for the stolen items, he replied in the negative. He was then taken to Brickdam Police Station. According to the defendant, he was very hungry and when he took the two bottles, he did not know they contained alcohol, as he thought they contained chocolate milk. James was given the option to pay a fine of $10,000 or face two months in prison. The defendant then asked if he could pay $5000 now, and work and pay off the rest. To this, the magistrate said if he looked outside and saw a market stall, he may pay “layaway” or “hire purchase”. The defendant was left standing in the courtroom confused. He was subsequently taken downstairs into the court lockups. Nigerian national charged with illegal entry A Nigerian national appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty charged with illegal entry on Tuesday in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was alleged that on July 1, Anthony Chukuwimeka Aka entered Guyana at Springlands by sea without the consent of an immigration officer. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge read against him. According to Prosecutor Deniro Jones, on July 7, the defendant was arrest- ed at Charity, Essequibo Coast and asked to produce his passport, and he replied that he had none. He was taken into custody where he was further questioned. The defendant said he had entered Guyana without any documents and that he was just passing through. He explained that he was going to Venezuela to work with a friend. The defendant was given the option of paying a $30,000 fine or spending two months in prison, after which he would be deported. Whim man wanted for death of shopkeeper P olice on Tuesday issued a wanted bulletin for Carlton Akeem Bourne for the death of Winston Ragnauth called “Tony”, whose body was found on November 7, 2012, with his throat slit at his home at Whim, Corentyne. Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Bourne is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 225-2227, 333-2151 to 3, 333-2191, 337-2225, 911 or at the nearest police station. According to the po- lice, Bourne’s last known address is Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice. Ragnauth was killed during a burglary of his grocery shop. Eyew tness Floating... ...another “Dick Poll” he dyspeptic Alliance For Change (AFC) duo – not Khemraj Ramjattan and Moses Nagamootoo: they’re busy making money with their lawyering – Asquith Rose and Harish S Singh from New York are at it again. Probably unemployed with the U.S. nine per cent unemployment rate, they have oodles of time on their hands. And you know what they say about idle hands being the devil’s tools! In their latest letter, beating the dead horse, that is the AFC, and clearly composed in a fevered state of either the heat of the New York summer or close proximity to the devil’s habitat – they float another “Dick Poll”. You remember the first Dick Poll issued by the AFC, don’t you? The not-cheap American pollster Dick Morris was brought down (you can guess at whose expense) after the AFC was launched. He predicted a victory for the AFC in 2006!!!! It’s an old tactic from the American hustings: bombard the population with fake positive polls for your party and build a “momentum of support” for them. Well the ploy failed then and it’ll fail again. The Dick poll shrunk ignominiously into a tiny “also ran” then and it’ll become even smaller this go around. But imagine the shamelessness of the AFC apologists to knock Bisram’s polls, when in each case he at least got the winner right. This time they didn’t have any Dicks around to concoct some fake polls. But that didn’t faze the AFC scribblers. They simply announced they had the results of a “secret” People’s Progressive Party (PPP) poll, which showed that the AFC got 27 per cent!!! This was opposed to 33 per cent by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the PPP’s 39 per cent. They probably haven’t recovered from the embarrassment of the expansive Dick Poll: they didn’t claim they’ll win. But what they do say amounts to the same empty dream. They claim that based on these numbers, the PPP will have to work “more closely with APNU and the AFC” by bringing them into the Cabinet!!! So this is what it all boils down to: a “lil Minista wuk”!! ?? We always know this...but here’s it in black and white. So what about their boast that their majority in Parliament is all they need to “serve the people”. However, it looks like the two jokers’ brains were addled by the New York heat. Even based on their cookedup numbers, the PPP will still retain the presidency – and use the powers of the executive to govern on their own. As they’re doing right now, thank you!! T ...trouble The owner of the Muckraker, Mook Lall, still hopes to get a radio station so he can “talk” his opinions as opposed to having his chief factotum Adam Harris writing it out in longhand for him. Reporting on the WPA’s long list of 32 demands written out (in longhand?) by David Hinds to APNU, the Muckraker headlined the report, “WPA picks up the “fight” for the rescinding of radio licences” What Mook Lall should be working on right now is the cleaning up of his “sketchy past” and his character. The chairman of the Broadcasting Commission revealed that she does have a recent application from the Mook for a radio licence. He should know that the character of the applicant is a very big criterion he has to satisfy. We know he has a very long road to travel for rehabilitation – but didn’t they say that the longest journey begins with the first step? As for David Hinds and the WPA, they should be thankful that APNU gave them a “squeeze” the last elections. On their own, they’re dead meat. Be nice to your saviours. ...the new cricket As the Tri-Nation Tournament draws to its final, it’s clear that the WI needs a larger pool of talent to draw from. The Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) should accomplish this as it demands a substantial number local players. Look how the Indians build their reserves. Go Limacol CPL!!! NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013 \| GUYANATIMESGY.COM Unions want UG administration Wakenaam Night funds to aid to control subvention community development projects T he unions representing staff at the University of Guyana (UG) is suggesting that funds approved by Parliament for the payment of salaries and contractual financial benefits to staff must be controlled by the university’s administration and be deposited into a bank account on an annual basis. The proposal was made during a second meeting on Monday between the aggrieved unions, senior administration and Vice Chancellor Dr Jacob Opadeyi to discuss the escalating problems affecting the functioning of the university. University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) Vice President Dr Melissa Ifill said this practice, employed in other regional and international universities would ensure timely payments to staff and eliminate time wastage by senior officials who make monthly treks to the education and finance ministries. More questions Dr Opadeyi facilitated the second meeting with the staff members after an initial meeting on Friday left the unions with more questions than answers. Dr Ifill said the only commitment given to the unions is that staff will be paid promptly for July. However, there was no undertaking to tackle the endemic financial issues beyond that period. According to Dr Ifill, the meeting was conducted in an environment of frank and mutual respect and the unions acknowledged the difficult circumstances under which the new vice chancellor was operating. During the engagement, the unions requested an update on the current financial position of the university and sought the assurance that gross salaries would be paid in a timely manner. “The VC indicated that net salaries would be paid on time for the month of July. However, Professor Opadeyi reported that he could not give assurances that gross salaries would be paid or that salary payments would be made in a timely manner beyond the month of July,” she said. Dr Opadeyi has however pledged to continue making representation on behalf of the unions to the education and finance ministers. Verge of collapse The vice chancellor also provided an update to the unions about the university’s outstanding liabilities and debt, revealing that the country’s premier tertiary institution is on the “verge of a collapse”. Dr Ifill said they were UGSSA Vice President Dr Melissa Ifill told that the university continues to pile up additional debt on a monthly basis and is indebted to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), credit unions, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the medical and pension schemes. She added that temporary staff members continue to feel the brunt of suffering since many of them have not received salaries despite submission of claim forms since earlier 2012. According to her, the unions have again signalled its intention to take legal and industrial action should the administration fail to provide a concise plan with timeframes about the manner in which obligations will be met. The unions also indicated a willingness to support the agenda of the vice chancellor, including the possible implementation of some recommendations contained in the Hamilton Report. Regular meetings “We requested that he solicit support particularly from the academic board and the Committee of Deans. The unions also requested that the VC meet with all faculty and staff on a quarterly or half-yearly basis and honour the undertaking by the UG administration in February 2012 to meet the unions on a monthly basis.” Dr Opadeyi was asked to reconvene the university’s negotiating team as a means of addressing concession related on salaries and benefits. Dr Ifill stated that the unions are also concerned that the life of the council came to an end in June and no effort has been made to have a new council appointed. The unions lamented that this ad-hoc, unplanned approach to the university’s governance by the relevant authorities continues to have a negative impact on the functioning of the campus. Dr Ifill explained that the university’s negotiating team cannot be convened without at least two council members. “Therefore, recommencement of salary negotiations is dependent upon the appointment of a new council or the extension of the life of the current council,” she noted. Dr Ifill added that a scheduled meeting of the Appointment Committee this week has also been cancelled since it requires a complete quorum of council members. This means that new appointments, renewals and extensions of contracts are currently at a standstill although the new academic year is scheduled to commence in just over a month. “The unions repeat its recommendation to the minister of education to appoint persons to the council who are competent and who possess the necessary skill-sets to transform Guyana’s sole national university into an outstanding, creditable tertiary institution,” Dr Ifill said. P roceeds of the upcoming Wakenaam Night will go towards community development projects aimed at showcasing the natural beauty of the island. This is according to the Wakenaam Night Committee Chairman Sheikh Ahmad in a recent interview with Guyana Times. Ahmad noted that the event is slated for August 17 and will seek to attract an increase number of local and international tourists to the island. “The funds we make from the event goes back to the community through projects and the entire event is done in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, it's a community-based venture,” said Ahmad. He continued: “This year, funds will aid the government in the building of the Wakenaam Cottage Hospital Laboratory.” Ahmad noted that the event will consist of an expo, featuring some 25 booths on products of Wakenaam. “There will also be collaboration with other companies from Georgetown which are willing to showcase their products and service to residents of Wakenaam,” said Ahmad, pointing out that the celebrations will also see the return of the Wakenaam Pageant after a two-year absence. “Because of this event, the funds we raised aided in the construction of a community centre... we have made donations to the school and even assist other cultural groups with their endeavours and have aided in development of sport on the island with the funds we raised from the yearly activity,” Ahamad stated. He noted the committee tries to make the event a home-coming activity and along with the Tourism Ministry, has been able to create an affordable package for visitors. “We offer a bed and breakfast service for the tourists who come for Wakenaam Night... we also showcase the industries we have on the island, example our pottery industry .” Wakenaam Night started in 2008 after residents decided to raise funds to build a pavilion for the youths in the community to have a recreational facility. Since then, the dream has been realised through the staging of the event with the pageant as a highlight. The pageant will be used to promote health, fitness and inner beauty among women and children of all ethnic groups, while producing positive role models for the Wakenaam island community. The event is also intended to publicly recognise women empowerment and outstanding businesses. 10 Caricom officials to undergo training to respond to chemical threats I NTERPOL and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) will be hosting a two-day workshop from today, which will enable the member states within the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to develop capabilities to respond to a national or regional emergency related to the accidental or deliberate use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive (CBRNE) materials. The workshop, which will be convened in Kingston, Jamaica, will bring together several senior officials representing law enforcement agencies in the region, as well as policy personnel from foreign affairs and national security ministries from Caricom member states, the Caricom Secretariat said in a release. The objective of this initiative is to acquaint securi- ty planners and law enforcement with best practices and related methodologies integral to the development and implementation of national emergency response systems to strategic threats and to acquaint them with the critical infrastructure needed to develop adequate national and regional response capacities. O’Neil Hamilton, the coordinator of a joint Caricom-United Nations programme aimed at preventing the transshipment, transit or export of CBRNE materials and related technology within the region, has described the workshop as “an important initiative which serves to deepen cooperation between the international community and Caricom states in facing non-traditional security and potential public health challenges. This also broadens our focus and capability beyond responding to natu- ral disasters to also include events that are of an unconventional nature, resulting from an accident or deliberate action”. The workshop also represents an expanded engagement between INTERPOL, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and Caricom member states to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction within the Caribbean and to adequately equip regional first responders with the necessary training and expertise to effectively deal with the aftermath of a national catastrophe, particularly resulting from exposure to chemical biological or radiological agents. In addition to delegations from Caricom member states, the meeting will also be attended by Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch of the United Nations chief Dr Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack. Man held with semi-automatic pistol P olice early Tuesday morning arrested a man with an illegal gun during a patrol exercise in Georgetown. In a release, police said about 01:30h on Tuesday, ranks of a mobile police patrol stopped and searched a man at Front Road, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, in whose possession an unlicensed .32 semiautomatic pistol was found. He is in police custody assisting with investigations. Honeymoon trouble? S atiricus was caught by surprise with WAPPA’s public announcement that they disagreed with the tactics of APANU. They wanted more confrontation against the government. Satiricus always thought that when you formed a coalition, it was sorta like marriage. You’d disagree every now and then but you kept your voices down so the neighbours wouldn’t hear that all wasn’t sunshine and peaches. Especially when the marriage was so new...not even two years. “Why!” thought Satiricus, “the honeymoon isn’t even over yet.” But Satiricus did have some intimations from the beginning that there might be trouble ahead. Satiricus knew from his own (bitter) experience that even when there were only two persons in a marriage, things could get tricky...if not rocky. “Imagine what’ll happen when there are 10 parties in this marriage called APANU!” Satiricus had mused. Satiricus was a monogamous-minded fellow but he told himself philosophically, “different strokes for different folks”. And if it took 10 parties to do the stroking, then so be it. Who was he to tell others what to do? But Satiricus did wonder what the other parties to the polygamous marriage were doing. Shouldn’t they be telling WAPPA “Hush!!”?? But just like the old Tradewinds song about a “Honeymooning Couple”, the argument seemed to be about who should be “on top”. And there wasn’t even a “ting a ling a ling” in the air – just the bullying tones of David Hands. Poor GrainJa. Seems that he was ambushed. “Like most husbands are,” thought Satiricus ruefully. In such situations, his only response was to wail plaintively, “What did I do now?” Not that it ever helped. The cold shoulder or worse was what he got. He thought that the polite and proper GrainJa was getting “worse” from the loud mouthed Hands. Satiricus wanted to know how could Hands give GrainJa an ultimatum when there were eight other presumably equal partners in the marriage. Was GrainJa supposed to ignore the other partners? Satiricus didn’t think that would’ve been fair. But Satiricus had heard that in these polygamous relationships, there was often one “favourite” who thought they had more rights that the others. Was WAPPA the favourite? Were they first among equals? “Hmmmm,” thought Satiricus, “there might be something to this...” Look at how Roop Na Rain had been made second in command in APANU. Satiricus had always thought the old Queens school tie between GrainJa and Roop Na Rain had to mean something. So maybe Hands and the rest of the WPA were not in the inner circle? Maybe they thought Roop Na Rain was making deals on his own? Satiricus’ head was beginning to spin. He figured that he’d stick to one partner and that maybe GrainJa and APANU might be better off doing the same. 11 News wednesday, July 10, 2013 Problem of inequality not easy to solve – OAS O rganisation of American States (OAS) General Secretary José Miguel Insulza on Monday participated in the United Nations “Thematic debate on inequality” held at UN headquarters in New York, urging a level playing field, but acknowledging that the problem of inequality is not easy to solve. The debate was organised by UN General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, and was attended by the Guyana Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena, among other officials and representatives of international organisations and agencies of the UN system. Timeliness In his speech, the leader of the hemispheric organisation recognised the “timeliness” of the event convened by the president of the UN General Assembly, “which comes as many countries around the world have recently witnessed protest movements attributed to a widespread perception of inequality”. Although these protests have been caused by diverse factors, he said, “they have similar characteristics and feature new protagonists: they are mass movements that bring together various actors, especially young people. Their common theme is the demand that, given the state of development of their countries, they are entitled to a more just distribution of income or social benefits from society and the state. What is behind these protests is the public demand for economic, political and social equality.” The conference was opened by Jeremic, the host of the event, who thanked the OAS for its “significant assistance in organising this thematic debate” and emphasised the “invaluable contribution that Secretary General Insulza has made to the high level advisory panel “which is helping to reflect on the future of multilateralism in our increasingly globalised and interdependent world”. Social justice Referring to the subject of the debate, President Jeremic said that “the struggle for social justice, together with the aspiration to mitigate inequality has been a universal quest for millennia, inscribed in the holy books of humanity’s great faiths.” Therefore, he added, “to tackle social inequality is a moral duty, a political necessity and an imperative for the due protection of human rights”. For his part, United Nations General Secretary Ban Kimoon said that “in a time of profound change and considerable uncertainty, the Millennium Development Goals have been remarkably successful in generating global actions across a range of issues”. Nevertheless, he re- OAS General Secretary José Miguel Insulza called that, although 600 million people have risen from extreme poverty, “social and economic inequalities can tear the social fabric, undermine social cohesion and prevent nations from thriving. That’s why equality is emerging as a central plank in the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda”. Secretary General Ban Kimoon opened the discussion by calling for the identification of solutions to the economic and financial crises, bring universal benefits. “We will need to create about 470 million new jobs between 2015 and 2030,” he said, and concluded that “tackling inequality, eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity should be at the heart of the sustainable agen- da of the United Nations”. In his speech, Secretary General Insulza explained that Latin America has reduced poverty substantially in recent years, “but this important achievement has been accompanied by only a very marginal reduction in the gap between the lowest and highest incomes in society”. “Although poverty has dropped to 30 per cent of the population of Latin America, that figure is still high for a region with our level of development,” he said. Moreover, he noted factors such as discrimination, vulnerability and social exclusion that exacerbate the effects of inequality, especially in the case of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and rural populations. Factors of inequality The head of the hemispheric organisation also cited unemployment, access to education, health, housing quality, and social security as factors that set the parameters of inequality in the world and said that it is not just a matter of distribution, because throughout the hemisphere, “more than 250 million people lack health insurance”. The secretary general further analysed the causes of rising inequality, stating that “it is usual to attribute the phenomenon to ‘positive’ factors of economic growth: there is a much greater demand for and higher salaries paid to skilled professionals, the reward for talent, risk and innovation, the road to global competitiveness provided by greater access to markets, etc,” but he recalled that “even if one accepts that inequality is caused by changing market conditions, it is clear that we will not find solutions in the market to address it. The sustained increase in inequality has occurred over the last four decades, when some began to proclaim that “the state is part of the problem, not the solution.” Public policies At the end of his presentation, the OAS secretary general insisted the problem of inequality “is not simple one to solve, because as we have seen, greater equality does not come as a result of economic growth”. He therefore advocated seeking to reduce inequality through public policies focused on providing greater opportunities, “increasing social mobility through better education and health care, equal access to credit as well as housing, transportation and public safety services”. The development of these policies today faces also an “additional obstacle” which is the loss of confidence in institutions that affects many countries, he said. “This makes it difficult to undertake changes that involve an increase in resources to finance public policies and strengthen institutions. Regaining that trust by undertaking a deep reform of our institutions is the great challenge of the political class in our hemisphere,” he concluded. 12 news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimeSGY.com Police record three per cent Nursing body seeks govt subvention to finance operations hike in serious crimes A n overall increase of three per cent in serious crimes has been recorded at the end of June 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012, the Guyana Police Force said on Monday. The total number of reports of serious crimes made between January 1 and June 30 was 1979 compared to 1923 for the same period in 2012. Some of the offences monitored are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping. A total of 60 murders were recorded at the end of June in comparison to 62 murders for the same period in 2012. Of the 60 murders this year, 28 were of the disorderly type, nine were committed during armed robberies, one was execution type, and six were domestic-related, while the other 16 are so far undetermined. At the end of June, robbery under arms overall has decreased by seven per cent, with 472 reports compared to 509 for the same period in 2012. The statistics indicate a decrease of five per cent in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a 10 per cent decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators. Meanwhile, in relation to traffic, there has been an increase of 16 road fatalities at the end of June 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012, with 56 fatalities from 53 accidents in 2013 compared to 40 fatalities from 38 accidents during 2012. The pe- riod January 1 to June 30, saw reductions in relation to the other categories of traffic accidents – serious, minor and damage. So far, pedestrians have been the main road users affected with 17 such persons having lost their lives at the end of June. In addition, 10 motorcyclists, 10 pedal cyclists, seven drivers of motor vehicles, two pillion riders and 10 passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives. Speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was the cause of 41 of the 53 fatal accidents recorded at the end of June. Traffic enforcement by the police during the period January to June resulted in a total of 43,688 cases being made against errant motorists; of this total, 10,863 cases were for speeding. Two held for fire at Charity guest house T wo men have been arrested for a fire that destroyed a guest house at Charity, Essequibo Coast early Tuesday morning. Police apprehended the two suspects in relation to the fire. One of the suspects is at Charity Police Outpost while the other is hospitalised at the Charity Oscar Joseph Hospital under guard. Millions of dollars went up in flames after the interior of the guest house was badly burnt. The facility is owned by a popular businessman, Forbes Burnette of Charity Housing Scheme. According to the mother of the businessman, Burtly Burnette, her family was informed of the fire around 01:30h on Tuesday. The mother said she was told that the men in custody are the ones who set the building alight. The mother said millions of dollars worth in furniture was damaged. She said the exterior of the building was not damaged owing to prompt actions by public-spirited citizens. The Georgetown School of Nursing Annex where the General Nursing Council is housed General Nursing Council’s Registrar Donneth Kellman he General Nursing Council (GNC) is courting the government for a yearly subvention to help finance its operations, a top official at the body said. The council said it is unable to effectively execute its mandate due to lack of adequate funds. Registrar of the council Donneth Kellman told Guyana Times in a recent interview that the GNC depends heavily on fees generated through registration, examination, certificates, badges and verification to offset expenses which include the payment of salaries to its five staff. “From the money received, we have to pay the panel of markers, invigilators and whatever is left, we use for salary and pay out utility bills,” Kellman explained. While the council has been able to conduct examinations for registration of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants, it has been unable to inspect nursing schools and hospitals to ensure they operate in keeping with the stipulated guidelines. Kellman said the council could better execute its mandate with financial assistance from the Health Georgetown School of Nursing Annex in Kingston, an environment which has been described as spacious and comfortable. In July 2009 when the Health Ministry was set ablaze, the council had no other option than to relocate. From 2009 to January 2013, it was housed at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persuad, when contacted, told Guyana Times that the Health Ministry continues to analyse the possibility of offering financial assistance to the council, noting that the budget remains a challenge. He said in addition to accommodation, the ministry assists in the payment of bills to ease the burden. The council was inaugurated on March 26, 1954, with a mandate to conduct examinations for registration of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants. Additionally, the council is responsible for the establishment and enhancing of standards of education and practice, in addition to determining entry requirements for programmes of study leading to admission to register. T Ministry. “We are hoping that in order to function better, we would need financial support from the ministry in terms of subvention so that we can conduct our training; this is the continuing nursing education programme, conduct inspections.” According to the registrar, the council has made several requests to the ministry, but to no avail. “We made a request approximately three years ago but they said it was late and they did not budget for it, and so as recent as this year, we sought financial assistance and we are still waiting on a response.” Questioned about a proposed sum that would enable the council to effectively execute its duties, the registrar said, “we didn’t really come up with a sum, we left it open for them to decide”. Kellman said while the Health Ministry provides accommodation for the GNC, there is a need for further support. “They promised that they will supply us with furniture and greater security since we moved in here, but till now we are still waiting.” In January, the GNC was transferred to the news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com Small businesses blossoming, says Republic Bank specialist R epublic Bank Marketing Specialist Josaun Edmondson said there has been a tremendous growth in the development of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) on the local landscape over the past years. Edmondson, who is responsible for small and medium-scale lending, stated that the bank has noticed an overwhelming growth in SME which has forced the institution to introduce the new portfolio which he holds. “As of 2012, we have seen tremendous growth in small and medium scale business activity and this has led to the creation of my position,” the marketing specialist remarked. Necessary support Edmondson oversees and ensures small businesses receive the necessary support which they require to assist them in development and eventually expansion. “Because like the employed people, self-employed customers also have their individual needs and are unique in their business dealings,” the lending officer related. Edmondson pointed to the fact that in the most advanced economies, SMEs make up close to 70 per cent of the income generated; which emphasises its significance. He explained that Republic Bank is working on implementing various ways of offering more support to this unique group of entrepreneurs. According to Edmondson, Republic Bank will be sponsoring Empretec’s Venture Out 2013 prizes for the best loan proposal. The benefit of the loan prize is that it would be collateralfree with no required security and will offer a very preferential interest rate, which is extremely lower than offered to regular customers. The marketing specialist revealed that the three prizes for the best business loan proposals are $400,000 and two $300,000 prizes. He explained that based on the specifications and needs of the Venture Out group, Republic Bank has decided to lend within that bracket. “This can probably evolve during the coming years, but Republic Bank has seen the need to extend our sponsorship even further. We have been doing this since 2010 and we actually see the need to extend our interest in small businesses,” Edmondson disclosed. Processing He noted that once a proposal is submitted by the entrepreneur, it is forward to the bank after perusal by Empretec and processed within a month. “You will receive response as to the winners, who will then submit income statements, financial statements and whatever is needed.” Commenting on the quality of loan proposals, Edmondson mentioned that Empretec will introduce a more in-depth training on the business proposal writing. “At Republic Bank, it is not a requirement, when you come in you have to do this elaborate business proposal. It’s merely a discussion between you and the loan officer.” However, since it is not expected of the loan officer to remember the details of such discussions, the proposal is necessary to provide a synopsis of relevant information that is required by the banking officials so as to make a decision on a specific case. Edmondson encouraged other female entrepreneurs to join in the coming years and stated that every business will be regarded on a case-by-case basis since there are variations in the loan needs. He acknowledged that businesses will have rainy days, but must keep the bank informed so that representation can be made and consideration can be given to the struggling customers. According to Edmondson, a person who has a previous good reputation with the bank will have an advantage and can consult the bank beyond the required age limit. Addressing the issue of timely processing, Edmondson pointed out that the absence of the Credit Reporting Bureau has also prevented a speedy consideration of the loans and the bank is also working with the relevant authorities to fast track this. Be transparent He urged entrepreneurs to be transparent, keep good records and practice prudent marketing strategies. “While banks have the ability to lend the customers, they also have an obligation to ensure debt repayment is honoured and businesses grow,” Edmondson added. Senior Small and Micro Enterprise Officer Debra Yan reported that one of the areas in which Republic Bank will be placing increasing emphasis is the education and empowerment of customers. “In so doing, we seek new opportunities in this area and our focus continues to be strong in this regard. We have observed the core needs and opportunities for women entrepreneurs are different from those of their male counterparts.” Yan noted that Republic Bank has seen the opportunity for bridging the gap in order to assist women entrepreneurs with the potential for the level of success, which they can achieve. “We are aware that times are changing and businesses in general continue to evolve. The way business is done today is vastly different from 20, 10 or five years ago,” the small businesses officer related. She said that increasing competition has forced businesses to be innovative in order to adopt and survive. “And we want to prepare as many of our customers as possible to embrace these continuous changes,” Yan said. Republic Bank has diverse tools for small and micro enterprise development, including a Caribbean SME toolkit, which is a means of inspiring entrepreneurs to greater heights. 160 graduate from IT courses O ne hundred and sixty persons graduated from several Information Technology (IT) courses held at Albion, Region Six last Saturday. Region Six Chairman David Armogan speaking at the graduation ceremony said that government recognises the importance of IT, because without it, “we will be unable to compete and will not be in line with development”. The six month programme was held in collaboration with GuySuCo, Albion Estate. Armogan noted that the courses will help to empower women so that they can supplement their incomes. “You will be able to find jobs for yourselves and you can also find jobs which will allow you to work at home.” Armogan noted that as part of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C) 2011 manifesto, job creation is one of the major goals of the current administration. One of the areas the party focused on is information technology. “Thousands of jobs will be created through call centres. This type of skill which you now have provides unique opportunities for persons who did not go to high grades in school to access information and to Region Six Chairman David Armogan presents a certificate to one of the graduates do business from home through the computer.” The courses targeted beginners as well as those at the intermediate and advanced levels. Armogan noted that the government has been financing the programme through GuySuCo for the past 19 years. “It brings people of different backgrounds and ages together so that they can interact and share ideas from an age perspective.” The estate conducts two sets of courses each year. Since the programme commenced in 2001, thousands of persons have benefited. 14 guyanatimesgy.com Regional St Lucia's airport closes as Tropical TT PM to Dr Rowley: Hand over the criminal Storm Chantal approaches P rime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar has called on Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to give up the whistleblower who passed him the information on the Section 34 emails, saying that person had misled Rowley to lie in Parliament. “The person responsible for this defamation, this libel must pay for that. Hand over the criminal, Dr Rowley,” Persad-Bissessar said during the United National Congress’ Monday Night Forum in Warrenville, Cunupia. “You must come clean to the country and tell the public who was the fabricator of this evil.” Persad-Bissessar made the comment to supporters after earlier making reference to media report which quoted acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams as saying the emails were a fabrication. Rowley produced the emails in the parliament during a no-confidence motion against PersadBissessar on May 20. The emails allege efforts to undermine the judiciary, the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and the media. Persad-Bissessar and her colleagues have denied any knowledge of the emails, but the prime minister mandat- T Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar ed Williams to probe the complaint, and he in turn appointed Richardson to head a sixmember investigating team. Monday’s report marked the first time that Williams had spoken about the authenticity of the emails. He, however, noted that the police were still probing whether the content of the emails represented actual conversations between individuals in the "Emailgate" probe. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian) he government of St Lucia closed the George F Charles Airport midnight on Monday due the impending passage of Tropical Storm Chantal. As a result the regional carrier, LIAT has been forced to cancel several flights in and out of the island on Tuesday. According to a release from LIAT, an assessment was made by the St Lucian authorities at 11:00h on Tuesday to determine the time for reopening the airport. Other precautionary measures have also been implemented as Tropical Storm Chantal approaches the Lesser Antilles. At a pre-strike meeting of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) in St Lucia on Monday, Police According to the release from LIAT, an assessment was to be made by the St Lucian authorities at 11:00h on Tuesday to determine the time for reopening the airport Commissioner Vernon Francois announced the cancellation of leave for police officers, with the exception of those on vacation leave. During the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony, it was also announced that all schools will be closed on Tuesday and will remain closed until this morning, unless advised otherwise. In Barbados, local emergency services have been placed on full alert and the Department of Emergency Management activated the emergency operations centre at 21:30h and also open Category One shelters from 18:00h to facilitate persons who wish to shelter there. (Excerpt from Caribbean360) U.S. bill boosts Antigua- Two Jamaican farmers Venezuela’s Maduro spurs on Snowden in asylum bid Barbuda’s WTO case found murdered T he increased push by American legislators to legalise online gambling within U.S. borders bodes well for Antigua and Barbuda in the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) cross-border trade dispute. “This is of considerable benefit to us… It vindicates what we have said all along,” lead counsel for Antigua and Barbuda in the matter, Mark Mendel, said to local and regional media during the taping for Sunday evening’s Media Roundtable programme on ABS. Mendel was referencing a new bill introduced by U.S. Congressman Peter King in June. If passed, The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2013 would federally legalise online gambling in the U.S. The legislation would also allow U.S. states, including New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada – all of which have legalised Internet gambling, in some form – to continue to offer these services. Beginning in 1998, the U.S. breached its commitments to members of the WTO under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by enacting laws that prevented foreignbased operators from offering gambling and betting services to its citizens, crippling Antigua and Barbuda’s burgeoning gaming industry. (Excerpt from Caribbean News Now) T he farming community in the eastern parish of St Thomas has been shaken by the deadly attack on two of its members. The bodies of two brothers, both farmers, were found late Monday on the farm they operated in the community of Golden Grove in the parish. The police report that family members became concerned when the brothers failed to return home at the usual time. A search was launched by residents and shortly after 18:00h their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to their heads. Up to early Tuesday morning, investigators were still at the crime scene. Mexico: Confusion over unreliable Baja California vote count M exican election officials have sparked confusion by announcing the result of a key local election, and later saying that their count was unreliable. Both the opposition and the governing party claimed victory in Sunday’s vote in Baja California state. The opposition, initially declared the winner, has threatened to withdraw cooperation with the federal government on a reform package agreed last year. Officials have ordered a recount, to be finalised by the weekend. Mexicans in 14 states out of 31 federal entities voted for regional assemblies and municipal governments, but the only governorship up for grabs was in Baja California. The opposition National Action Party (PAN) took control of Baja California in The opposition candidate was first declared the winner, then told he must wait 1989, and it has remained one of their most important power bases. Electoral officials announced on Monday that 97 per cent of the votes in Baja California had been counted, and that the PAN candidate was three percentage points ahead of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate. However, electoral coun- cil spokeswoman Helga Casanova said errors in the count meant the result “should not be considered reliable”. A recount would begin on today and will last until the weekend, she said. PAN officials have suggested they could pull out of the so-called Pact for Mexico if the election issues are not sorted out. (Excerpt from BBC News) And in the Corporate Area, sections of the busy Red Hills road were blocked following an incident in which two men were fatally shot during a confrontation with the police. The protest was triggered by the death of two brothers – Sayoga and Gary Cooke, who were travelling in a car along Karl Samuda Avenue in the area. The residents say the men were stopped by the police and shortly afterwards explosions were heard, the brothers were rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead. The roadblocks were cleared by the police; however, the residents have vowed to continue their protest. (Excerpt from Caribbean360) V enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that his government had received the asylum application of Edward Snowden and called on the fugitive whistleblower to decide if he wants to fly to Caracas. “We have received the asylum request letter,” Maduro told reporters from the presidential palace. “He will have to decide when he flies, if he finally wants to fly here.” “We told this young man, ‘you are being persecuted by the empire, come here’,” Maduro added, referring to the United States. Snowden was also offered asylum in fellow Latin American left- ist nations Bolivia and Nicaragua over the weekend. On Sunday, the 30-yearold former National Security Agency contractor won the support of Cuba – a key transit point from Russia to the southern continent – in his quest to seek sanctuary from the United States. “We support the sovereign rights of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and all the regional states to grant asylum to those who are being persecuted for their ideals or their fight for democratic rights,” Cuban leader Raul Castro said, although he did no indicate whether his country would itself offer refuge to Snowden. (Excerpt from France24) Colombia extradites drug lord Daniel Barrera to U.S. C olombia has extradited one of the country’s most notorious drug lords to the U.S., officials have said. Daniel Barrera, known as “El Loco” (The Madman), was caught last year in Venezuela, and sent back to Colombia. While on the run he had cosmetic surgery and tried to burn his fingerprints to conceal his identity. He was convicted on drugs charges in Colombia in 1990 but escaped. He is wanted in the U.S. on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. At the height of his powers, he is believed to have controlled smuggling routes from Colombia through Venezuela to Central America and eventually the U.S. He is thought to have Both the U.S. and Colombia had offered a reward for Daniel Barrera’s arrest transported hundreds of tonnes of cocaine and accrued a vast fortune over almost two decades. Barrera, now 51, was arrested in Venezuela in September 2012 while making a call in a phone booth. He only ever used public telephones to communicate with his family and allies, in an attempt to avoid his calls being traced. The U.S. had offered US$5 million (£3 million) for information leading to his arrest and Colombia added an additional US$2.7 million to that reward. Colombian national police chief Jose Roberto Leon said Tuesday’s extradition showed other criminals they were better off turning themselves in. (BBC News) 15 Around the World Egypt’s army warns U.S. considers pulling all troops from Afghanistan over disruption T after Morsi ousting E guyanatimesgy.com gypt’s defence minister has warned against any attempt to disrupt the country’s “difficult” transition. His statement comes almost a week after the army deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and appointed top judge Adly Mansour as interim leader. Supporters of Morsi have been holding demonstrations against his ousting. Meanwhile, Mansour has been trying to shore up his position by appointing Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister. Hazem el-Beblawi served as finance minister during the period of military rule wednesday, July 10, 2013 Pro-Morsi supporters say they are willing to die for their cause in the aftermath of Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow. He told BBC Arabic that he would be choosing his ministers based on experi- ence and efficiency, but said it was “difficult for me to specify when” he would finish forming the government. Mansour has also ap- pointed liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei as deputy president with responsibility for foreign affairs. He has issued a temporary constitution and a timetable for transition leading to new elections early next year. The ultra-conservative Nour party said it was still studying the nomination of ElBaradei, a former head of the United Nations nuclear agency. His candidacy as prime minister foundered earlier in the week when Nour objected. The party withdrew from talks to form a new government, but reports on Tuesday suggested it was back on board. (Excerpt from BBC News) he U.S. is considering pulling out all its troops from Afghanistan next year, U.S. officials said, amid tension between the President Barack Obama’s administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. Obama is committed to wrapping up U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but the United States has been talking with officials in Afghanistan about keeping a small residual force there of perhaps 8000 troops. U.S. officials did not deny a report that Obama has become increasingly frustrated by his dealings with Karzai. Their relationship fell to new depths after last month’s U.S. move to open peace talks with the Taliban, which led Karzai to suspend talks on a security pact between the two allies. A June 27 video conference between Obama and Karzai aimed at lowering tensions ended poorly, the New York Times reported, citing U.S. and Afghan officials with knowledge of the conversation. Senior Afghan figures close to Karzai were skeptical that Washington would consider a complete withdrawal. “Both sides understand how to pressure each other. But both the U.S. and Afghanistan fully understand the need for foreign troops, especially U.S. ones, to stay beyond 2014 and that it is vital for security here and in the wider region,” a top palace official told Reuters on Tuesday on condition of anonymity. (Excerpt from Reuters) Ohio kidnap victims break Sudan signs deal with silence in "thank you" video Chinese firm to build The three women held captive for a decade in Cleveland, Ohio, issued a video on Tuesday, thanking the public for their support T hree women who police say were held captive in a Cleveland home for about a decade have issued a video in which they thanked the public for the encouragement and financial support that are allowing them to restart their lives. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the three-minute, 30-second video posted Monday night on YouTube. They said the support and prayers of family, friends and the public are allowing them to rebuild their lives after what Berry called “this entire ordeal.” Car bomb rips through southern Beirut neighbourhood A car bomb rocked a stronghold of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday morning, injuring dozens of people in a southern suburb of the capital. Fifty-three people were hurt in the blast in the Bir El Abed neighbourhood, Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV. Thirteen of them remained hospitalised Tuesday afternoon in stable condition, he said. The blast erupted in a parking lot near the Islamic Cooperation Centre, a super- market, the National News Agency reported. Video from the scene broadcast on Al-Manar showed vehicles ablaze, black smoke billowing aloft. Fire crews doused the flames as authorities kept the crowds back. The explosion affected the lower floors of surrounding buildings, blowing out windows and damaging balconies, NNA reported. Witnesses said that crowds hurled bottles at the interior minister, Marwan Charbel, as he was touring the site, and he fled. (Excerpt from CNN) The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old. In the video, none of the women had any visible scars of the abuse they said they suffered at the hands of Ariel Castro, who has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped them off the streets and held them captive in his twostory home. They were smiling and appeared upbeat. Castro, a 52-year-old former bus driver, fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry. He was arrested on May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbours for help. (Excerpt from France24) new airport in Khartoum T he Sudanese government and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) signed on Monday a contract for the construction of Khartoum’s new airport at a cost of US$700 million with an implementation period of about 40 months. Sudan Airports Holding Company Director Mohamed Abdul-Aziz and the CHEC director signed the contract in the presence of the Sudanese finance minister and the Chinese ambassador in Khartoum. “Khartoum’s new international airport is a dream that all Sudanese people are looking forward to. This project is an addition to Sudan and Africa, as it serves to link the African countries with the Middle East and also helps in the recovery of economy and trade in Sudan”, said Sudan’s Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud when addressing the signing ceremony on Monday. “The cost of this project, to be implemented by the Chinese CHEC, amounts to 700 million U.S. dollars with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China,” the minister said, stressing the importance of the standing cooperation between Sudan and China in the way that “achieves the common interests of the two peoples”. The Chinese Ambassador in Khartoum, Luo Xiaoguang said: “We are glad to celebrate this occasion and this strategic project, which comes as part of developing the infrastructure of the Republic of Sudan within the context of the long-time relations between the two countries.” Khartoum’s new airport lies about 40 kilometres from the centre of the capital. The airport will have two runways, with a total area of 79 square km and an internal operational area of 20 square km. The new project also includes an international hotel with 300 double rooms, an advanced conference centre, businessmen centre and a mall of 8000 square metres. Late nights sap children’s brain power L ate nights and lax bedtime routines can blunt young children’s minds, research suggests. The findings on sleep patterns and brain power come from a UK study of more than 11,000 sevenyear-olds. Youngsters who had no regular bedtime or who went to bed later than 21:00h had lower scores for reading and math. Lack of sleep may disrupt natural body rhythms and impair how well the brain learns new information say the study authors. They gathered data on the children at the ages of three, five and then seven Late nights may have knock-on effects to find out how well they were doing with their learning and whether this might be related to their sleeping habits. Erratic bedtimes were most common at the age of three, when around one in five of the children went to bed at varying times. By the age of seven, more than half the children had a regular bedtime of between 19:30h and 20:30h. Overall, children who had never had regular bedtimes tended to fare worse than their peers in terms of test scores for reading, math and spatial awareness. The impact was more obvious throughout early childhood in girls than in boys and appeared to be cumulative. The researchers, led by Professor Amanda Sacker from University College London, said it was possible that inconsistent bedtimes were a reflection of chaotic family settings and it was this, rather than disrupted sleep, that had an impact on cognitive performance in children. (Excerpt from BBC News) 16 Africa Caribbean New work permit policy enhances The G8 tax measures open opportunity for Africa he decision by rich paying taxes. where they reported losses Bahamas financial services sector F oreign business professionals travelling to The Bahamas solely for meetings for a less than two-week stay will no longer require a shortterm work permit, Guardian Business can confirm. As The Bahamas looks to maintain its position as a worldclass financial services centre, Financial Services Minister Ryan Pinder said this newest policy is part of the government’s commit- ment to make doing business in The Bahamas easier. “Through consultations with the Financial Services Ministry, we became aware of the need for clarification on certain matters relating to immigration policies and especially for those who come to The Bahamas for short-term business trips, who don’t come for any kind of compensation or remuneration,” he told reporters last week. He noted that the Financial Services Ministry is partnering with the Department of Immigration to ensure that there is efficient entry into The Bahamas for business meetings. Dr Nicola VirgilRolle, director of financial services, pointed out that the movement of foreigners throughout The Bahamas for international business, finance and trade is expected and encouraged. (Caribbean News Now) North America T countries to clamp down on multinationals that avoid paying taxes has been described as a ‘game-changer’ by the African Tax Administration Forum. The commitments made by G8 countries at their summit in June are expected to improve the environment and make it more practical for tax agencies to tax multinationals which use complex structures in multiple countries to avoid “This is one hell of an opportunity,” said Logan Wort, executive secretary of the platform whose mandate is to promote and facilitate mutual co-operation among African tax administrations. According to Wort, the decision to have tax authorities automatically share information would give tax agencies an understanding of how much and where a particular multinational paid in taxes, how much is due and and profits. This, Wort told a group of African journalists at ATAF’s Pretoria headquaters, would be particularly beneficial in industries that are currently booming in Africa such as financial services, telecommunications and construction. The G8 summit also agreed that multinationals should declare the taxes they pay on a country-by-country basis. (allAfrica) Asia Barnes and Noble CEO William Lynch resigns, China’s inflation rate rises to 2.7 per cent retailer struggles with weak sales, big losses hina’s inflation rate ment’s target figure of 3.5 and Zhi Xiaojia expect au- B arnes and Noble Inc said William Lynch has stepped down as CEO, effective immediately, just weeks after the book retailer announced weak sales, big losses and the declining popularity of its Nook e-readers. Lynch’s resignation comes after just three years in the role. No successor was named, but the New York company said that it is reviewing its strategic plan and will provide an update “when appropriate”. Shares fell nearly five per cent in after-hours trading on the news. In the wake of his departure, Chief Financial Officer Michael Huseby will become president of the company and CEO of its Nook Media unit. Controller Allen Lindstrom will succeed Huseby as CFO. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, CEO of Barnes and Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder with a nearly 30 per cent stake. Riggio declined an interview through a company spokeswoman. The news did not surprise some analysts. “The board lost confidence in Lynch. Investors lost confidence,” Belus Capital Markets analyst Brian Sozzi said. (The Washington Post) Europe C rose by more than expected in June, increasing to 2.7 per cent from 2.1 per cent the month before. Food price inflation was 4.9 per cent in June, compared with 3.2 per cent in May, with rising pork prices partly to blame. While the headline inflation number was above analysts’ expectations, it remains below the govern- per cent. Analysts say the latest figure reduces the prospect of interest rate cuts in 2013. Cutting interest rates risks inflating a property bubble, while tightening may put additional pressure on the economy in the middle of the current global economic uncertainty. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Lu Ting thorities to keep monetary policy neutral with “neither easing nor tightening”. China expects economic growth this year to be 7.5 per cent – which would be the slowest rate in 23 years for the country. The government is due to release data on gross domestic product for the second quarter of the year on July 15. (BBC News) Middle East Euro gets 18th member: tiny Latvia JLT free zone on verge of becoming atvia will adopt the pendence from the Soviet in Greece threatened to tor- UAE’s biggest L euro from the beginning of next year, becoming the 18th member of a currency union that just a year ago risked disintegration due to the credit crisis. European Union finance ministers gave the ex-Soviet state on the Baltic Sea the green light Tuesday to swap its currency – the lat – for euros starting on January 1, 2014 following recommendations from EU officials and the European Central Bank. Latvia gained its inde- Union in 1991 and joined the EU and NATO in 2004. It has a population of two million – nearly 30 per cent of Russian origin – and annual gross domestic product of 22 billion euros (US$28 billion), equivalent to just 0.2 per cent of eurozone output. It will be the fourth smallest member of the currency area, ahead of Cyprus, Estonia and Malta. Talk of a eurozone break up reached fever pitch early last year as a political crisis pedo its rescue by EU partners and the International Monetary Fund. The ECB’s pledge in July 2012 to backstop the euro restored market calm. But nerves were jangled again earlier this year when the Mediterranean island of Cyprus went into meltdown, triggering a bailout that imposed losses on savers, a massive downsizing of its banking industry and an aggressive austerity programme. (CNN Money) Market statistics Cambio Rates Gold Prices – Guyana Gold Board Bank of Guyana Fixed as at June 18, 2013 Calculated at 94% purity Buying PM 1255.50 844.89 977.80 PM 1235.25 827.36 959.72 D ubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, which is based in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, is on the verge of becoming the largest free zone in the UAE, with the number of registered companies on track to surpass 7000 this quarter. DMCC executive chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said he has no plans to stop growing, even beyond doubling the figures. Jebel Ali is currently the largest free zone in the UAE. The authority recently announced it would build the world’s tallest commercial tower within its 107,000 square metre business park expansion. “I don’t want the story to end at 10,000 or 12,000 offices. I want it to be even bigger than that, maybe even double,” Bin Sulayem said. “That’s my aspiration, and building the tallest tower gives me that confidence that at least after it’s all Investors' guide said and done we left nothing to chance.” More than 1200 new companies joined the free zone during the first half of 2013, the same figure as the entire year of 2011 and 30 per cent more than the same period last year. A record 260 firms were registered in April alone. About 65,000 people now live and work in the area, which has 65 towers located in the emirate’s south opposite Dubai Marina. (Arabianbusiness) Top four traits of successful entrepreneurs (CONTINUED FROM TUESDAY) An entrepreneur takes calculated risks When a risk goes bad an entrepreneur does not waste a lot of time looking for someone to blame. Instead a true entrepreneur analyses what went wrong, learns from it, and moves on. An entrepreneur is self-motivated This is about more than simply being your own boss. This is about more than simply being able to get up in the morning and get to work. An entrepreneur is always capable of seeing a tomorrow that’s just a little bit better than today. He is not satisfied to just sit on his laurels and enjoy the fruits of his success. He is constantly looking forward – creating plausible plans to create more opportunities and find his next point of success. An entrepreneur is also willing to push himself. Last year’s success was fine, but this year’s success should reflect his growth. He is always coming up with some new project and looking for ways to make that project succeed. There is not much room in the business world for self-doubt. Fear can make you back away from projects that could be the key to your ultimate success. Furthermore, the entrepreneur has to be in the business of convincing other people that his ideas are good. Partners, investors, financing, creative structuring – it all depends on the entrepreneur’s ability to convince other people that they’re making a good bet when they team up with him. If the entrepreneur is not sure about himself, how can anyone else be sure of him? (Business Dictionary) Business concept – Compound 52Wk Hi: 15398.48 52 Wk Lo: 12035.09 A charge, fee, or increment on an amount to which another charge, fee, or increment has already been added, or substance formed by a chemical reaction between two or more elements combined in a fixed proportion. Compounds are held together by covalent or ionic bonds and (unlike mixtures) cannot be separated by physical means into their constituents. news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com EU end to sugar quota detrimental – Dr Ramsammy A griculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that despite a move to extend the European Union sugar quota to 2017, the end will prove detrimental to all African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Minister Ramsammy expressed his disappointment with this final decision made by the European Union (EU), during a recent interview with the media. The new deadline was agreed upon over the last week. While he said this extension is indeed an improvement from 2015, the overall end to the EU sugar agreement would have severe negative impact on ACP countries. Dr Ramsammy noted that a few months ago, Guyana lobbied for an extension to the original deadline of 2020, which was approved by the EU Parliament. However, that decision was not accepted by the EU Commission and Guyana’s deadline was returned to 2015 like all other ACP Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy countries. “We have been lobbying as you know this past week, they have decided that they will go with the middle point which is 2017. It is better than the 2015 date but I believe that it is detrimental to the sugar industry of the ACP countries and my own position is that it is also a breach of fate,” the minister said. He added: “When the sugar protocol in 1976 was signed, it was agreed that this would be a support that would be continuous and when the Economic Partnership Agreement was put into place and removed the sugar protocol, there was this promise that support would be given to the industry over a period of time so that the industry could recover from the loss of those benefits that was in the sugar protocol.” ACP sugar supplying states last week indicated that they are appalled by the decision reached by the EU institutions to abol- ish EU beet and sugar quotas in 2017. The ACP has regularly and consistently warned the EU of the damage that the early abolition would cause to their economies. This was seen to contradict and undermine the objectives of the EPAs, which many of the ACP sugar exporters had entered into, or are in the process of finalising the negotiations with the EU. The commission’s own impact study forecast that prices would decrease by some 45 per cent when compared to 2012 market prices The ACP firmly believes that this time lag will be too short to implement measures to improve the competitiveness of their respective industries and allow them to operate successfully in such a liberalised market. It will also negate the gains made so far from investments made through the EU-funded Accompanying Measures Support Programme and own scarce resources in some cases. Lindeners building monument to honour slain trio T he Region 10 Democratic Council is currently in the process of setting up a monument park in honour of Shemroy Boyea, Allan Lewis, and Ron Somerset who were killed last July 18 while protesting a proposed increase in electricity tariffs in the town. On Tuesday, residents of the community gathered at the Egbert Benjamin Centre at Linden along with Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon and regional councillors, to discuss the design of the park, which is to be situated at West Watooka, Wismar, Linden – a few yards away from the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge where the trio were shot and killed. Architect Robert Bentick, who is responsible for the design of the monument, was also present at the proposal ceremony and made a presentation on the design of the site. The name ‘Linden Martyrs Monumental Park’ was decided by residents, and, according to Solomon, it will create an opportunity to commemorate and reflect on the series of events, which lead up to July 18. “In one week, it will mark one year to observe and commemorate...what transpired in Linden... how do we take this moment and make it an opportunity? An opportunity not just for Linden and Region 10 but an opportunity for Guyana. “An opportunity for us to reflect where as a nation we are going wrong... the monument would signify what we endured last year. Three lives were lost and this whole community suffered... our courage would overcome our fears, because it is only by staring our fears in the eye would we be able to overcome it,” he said. Solomon further noted that the monument will also give persons in the community an opportunity to know where they came from. He explained that on Tuesday the proposed monument site will be unveiled. A committee was also recently established to deal with the erection of the July 18 monument and another in memory of 43 Lindeners who died in the July 6, 1964 Son Chapman boat explosion. At the proposal ceremony, Solomon also urged the gathering to participate in the making of the history of the town. “Not history arrogantly, but history so that you can make your reflections, so that in years to come you can say that you were a part of identifying the structure that symbolises our strength and perseverance where we can lend to this region inspiration as to how do we move forward and identify and correct where we went wrong?” A series of commemorative events have also been planned in relation to the incident, expected to be conducted from July 12 to 18. Enterprise man freed of mother’s murder A n Enterprise, East Coast Demerara man was on Tuesday morning freed of a charge of murdering his mother back in 2009. The state’s case was that the man beat his mother to death after she refused to give him money to buy rum. Ravindra Siew, 37, of Croal Street, Enterprise, was indicted with the murder of his 57-year-old mother, Ramrattie Deonauth, between July 19 and 20, 2009 at their home. On Monday, a 12-member mixed jury was em- panelled before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court and the trial began, after Prosecutor Tishana James-Lake waived her right to make an opening address. The state counsel had six witnesses to call. Siew was represented by Attorney Hemant Ramdhani. James-Lake proceeded to call four of her witnesses, all of whom were police officers. The matter was then adjourned to the following day when the prosecutor was expected to call the remaining witnesses. However, on Tuesday, the prosecutor informed the court that she was unable to get the remaining witnesses, including the accused’s father and brother, to testify against Siew. She then closed her case in the matter after which the judge acquitted the accused on the grounds of lack of evidence. According to reports, on the day in question sometime around 15:30h, Siew went home under the influence of alcohol and asked his mother for money to buy alcohol; however, she refused. The then 33-year-old Siew became annoyed and be- gan cuffing and kicking his mother about her body. At the time, Siew’s father was at home; however, he had sustained a stroke and could not render assistance to his wife. Neighbours intervened and the man left the premises only to return later. Around 20:30h when Siew returned, he dealt several blows to his father before her continued the assault on his mother. The following morning Deonauth’s husband found her on the floor in the room and after his attempts to wake her up failed, police was summoned. Mahaica man shot dead during home invasion By Vahnu Manikchand A Mahaica, East Coast Demerara family is now mourning the loss of a member who was shot dead after gunmen invaded their home. Dead is 27-year-old, Omadatt Persaud called “Vicky” of Lot 70, Fourth Street, Supply, Mahaica. The incident occurred sometime around 19:30h on Monday evening. Persaud was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital sometime around 21:40h and was pronounced dead on arrival. Guyana Times understands that there were six persons home at the time; the deceased, his mother and his sister, along with her husband and two children, who were sitting outside. Reports received suggested that the three masked men entered the yard from the back and confronted their victims. Two of the men were armed with handguns and ordered the overseabased Guyanese to go in the house, where Persaud was. The men then shot the 27-year-old man before relieving his family members of their jewellery and making good their escape. Persaud’s brother-in-law, who asked not to be named, related to this newspaper that he and his family are on vacation and came to Guyana on Friday. The man recalled that he, his wife and two children were sitting outside relaxing when three men confronted them, forcing their way into the house. “They just came, two of them had guns and they take us inside. Vicky was inside and when he saw them, he fell down on the floor and as soon as the men came in, they shot him in his head,” the man said. He continued that the other unarmed man, picked up a cutlass from the kitchen and hit him with it. Inconsolable Then they took him upstairs to look for money but when they got there, he told them that he does not know where the money was. This, he noted, upset the men, causing them to gun butt him on his forehead. The traumatised man went on to say that the perpetrators then relieved him of a gold chain and band before escaping. During the entire incident, Persaud’s mother Chandroutie Persaud was upstairs hiding. When this publication arrived at the house on Tuesday, neighbours and relatives gathered to convey their condolences to the family as the mother kept on weeping inconsolably. The woman said when she heard the first shot she went to hide in a room upstairs. The woman said she locked the door and began screaming for help. The distraught woman said when she came down- Dead: Omadatt Persaud stairs, she saw her son with blood on his face bracing against the door. Meanwhile, Persaud’s uncle, Gopaul Sukhnandan, told this newspaper that he was at home a few houses away when he heard the gunshot, but someone who pass said it was a “squib”, but then he heard two others and suspected something was amiss. Screaming “After I hear the other two shots, I know that was not any squib then I hear somebody start halla for help and I run out on the road with the other neighbours, but we could go in cause we na know what really going on,” he stated. Sukhnandan explained that they waited a few minutes before going in the yard and when they did, they saw Persaud’s lifeless body covered in blood from a gaping wound. The man said they called the Mahaica Police Station, but there was no answer so his nephew had to go to the station to get the police; however, when he got there, they were told no officer was around. “Me nephew left the station after them na get none police there and come back to the house and then we take he (Vicky) to de hospital that was like 15 minutes after,” he noted. Neighbours and relatives vent their anger about the way the Mahaica Police Station is managed. They noted that officers from Georgetown and the Vigilance Police Station had to go to the house on Monday evening to investigate the incident. Persaud, who is separated from his wife, left to mourn his son, mother, three sisters and other relatives and friends. He was described as a quiet and friendly person who was loved by everyone. Relatives disclosed that the man used to live alone and was suppose to migrate, as such, his mother came to Guyana to spend some time here before he left. The man’s body is at the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination, which is expected to be done today. (vahnum@ guyanatimesgy.com) 18 thursDAY, march 11, 2010 \| guyanatimesGY.com archie By Bernice Bede Osol CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19) You might be able to put something you recently learned to good use. It could have to do with maintaining a relationship. dilbert (June 21July 22) Your enthusiasm is likely to be contagious when associates witness your zest for life. Your joie de vivre helps others feel much better about their own lives. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19) (July 23Aug. 22) It might take a second or even a third effort to achieve an important career objective, but it will be well worth it. Once you set your sights on your target, never veer from it. Calvin and Hobbes CANCER PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Your appreciation for everyone’s point of view places you in the role of peacemaker. You’ll have plenty of chances to use your gift. Interesting events could generate additional earnings or income for you. Chances are, you’ll drum up some new ways to acquire extra business. VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22) What makes you such a good salesperson is that you won’t sell anything that you don’t believe in. Your prospects will admire your credibility and will want to do business with you. Peanuts (March 21-April 19) (Sept. 23Oct. 23) Harmony in the work place will pay off for everyone involved. Once a positive example is set and the entire crew sees what comes of it, everyone will happily follow suit. Don’t be afraid to allow your generosity to prevail over your practicality. Remember the old saying: “From those to whom much is given, much will be required.” TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Being the smart person you are, you’ll know that the best way to silence a griper is to smother him or her with affection. It’s one of the most positive motivating tools you can use. SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22) Even though you are likely to feel a strong need for companionship, you will nevertheless be very careful about whom you choose to spend time with. Tuesday's solution GEMINI (May 21June 20) The greater part of your efforts will be directed toward providing more for your family or co-workers. You’ll be a beacon of strength and compassion. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23Dec. 21) If your goals seem easy to achieve, it will be because you haven’t been motivated by selfish urges. Things always seem easier when we like what we’re doing. news 19 wednesday, july 10, 2013 ACCOMMODATION Furnished rooms and apartments; 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments- long & short term rental. Affordable rates Call: 227-2199, 227-2186, 227-2189 car rental Journey Inn Apartments & car rental. Rooms & car to rent from $3000 Premio, Vitz. Phone: 689-6668, 6394452. dentistry Dentures provided in 72 hours from as low as $4500. Contact Dr B Stuart, 209B Charlotte Street, Lacytown. Tel: 225-5034 EDUCATION It’s here again!!” Music summer camp 2013” register now!! keyboard, guitar, drums recorder & voice training starts July 8-19 from 10-12pm. Phone: 225-1151, 611-8416, 6528176, 644-1736 or 617-4200, WHERE CAN YOU GET A BOOK FOR $40? THE MASSIVE BOOKSALE, NOW ON AT BOOKLAND, ABOVE MATTS RECORD BAR (226-2874). BOOKLAND, ON A SALE MISSION “ TO GET BOOKS IN EVERY HOUSHOLD”. flowers Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (opposite St George’s Cathedral). Tel: 227-3553/225-3315 FOR SALE All models of engines (Perkins, cummins, lister, deuez, john dere etc) enclosed and open air any size of KVA. Call Ram on 619-4483 or 226-6325 One two flat home: 3 bedrooms upper flat, with bath and kitchen, lower flat: bath & kitchen. Located in Atlantic Gardens, call 6194483 or 656-7471 for more information. German Shepherd pups for sale. Phone: 619-6086, 699-7077. One 4108 Perkins Engine. Call: 6805346 Husehold furniture. Phone: 687-5653 1 CHICKEN FARM (8 ACRES) 5 PENS, CAPACITY - 30,000 BIRDS WITH OWN WATER SOURCE AND OTHER AMENITIES AT LALUNI, PRICE NEG PHONE: 611-8049 health Learn transcendental meditation and reduce stress, be happy increase intelligence, develop your full brain potential, improve relationships, be successful, be peaceful, develop higher states of consciousness , a technique that works for everyone, enroll now for next class. Contact Askoke (certified teacher) email kashokejp_68 @yahoo. com. Phone: 233-693 Healthworld Holistic Centre: Psychotherapy available for all types of abnormal behaviors – addictions, emotional, suicidal, anger, relationship and sexual problems. Treatment of stress disorders, depression, fear, low self-esteem, insomnia, trauma, psychosomatic sicknesses, and children's disorders. We also conduct IQ evaluations and behavioral assessments. By appointments only. Clinic hours: 11:00 – 17:00h. Tel: 592-621-0552. Email:[email protected] Are you pouring on pounds? Then call Raul /Carol Wilson: 660-6818, 6415923, 216-3016, 216-3601 for your healthy eating package. Get your Visa approved. High Success Rate. Balwant Persaud & Associates. Certified Immigration Consultants 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings & Lights Sts.) Tel: 225-1540, 622-8308, 655-3105. Email: [email protected] KEY CUTTing Professional Key Shop, 125 Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Phone: 225-3923, mobile: 6213249. We cut any type of key, service and repair all types of locks. Get your extra key today. optician Da Silva’s Optical. For Your Eyes Only, Look Better See Better. Phillip A Da Silva OD, Shannon L Da Silva OD, Natalie Da Silva OD. 248 South Road, Bourda. Phone: 227-3529, Linden: 444-6376, Corriverton: 339-3536, Meten-Meer-Zorg: 275-0322, Grand Cayman Islands: (345) 943-1515 for the perfect trendy touch. PENPAL INDIAN GUY NEEDS FEMALE COMPANION PHONE: 644-2306 property for sale 2-stoery concrete house, 32’x55’, 3 bedrooms, Block 8, Mon Repos, ECD. $36M. Phone: 642-2116 services J. Eastman and Associates Chartered Accountants, services, taxation, financial services, VAT preparation, auditing, income tax, vehicle and building compliances. Phone: 223-2105, 662-7467, located 190 Church Street, Georgetown (opp Pet Shop). spirituality Learn transcendental meditation and gain deep relaxation, eliminate stress, increase creativity and intelligence, promote health, attain inner happiness and fulfillment and contribute to peace for the world. Contact certified teacher Ashoka: 233-6921, email [email protected] Suriname astrology palmist and Djuka healer, the most powerful spiritualist in the world, are you suffering from the following problems - (any religions) love, marriage, family, health, business, husband and wife relationships, property, court, children, promotion, visa, pregnancy, education, depression, job, sexual, jealousy, enemy, money, drinking, also you can have all evil forces destroyed such as black magic, witchcraft, voodoo, obeyah, etc, and gives powerful protection. Private and confidential. Phone: 601-5947. Dutch Spiritual work. Unite lovers, get rid of evil, enhance prosperity, good luck baths and charm bowu guards, etc. Phone: 220-0708, 6126417, 687-5653 Divinations and cleansing of spiritual problems of all kinds. Powerful Ifá and Khemetian spiritual guards, pendants, crystals, and rune stones to help you overcome problems with love, relationships, legal, sexual, pregnancy, business, sickness, jobs, enemies, work, money and many more. Call 10:00-16:00h on: +592690-1824. Email: [email protected] immigration Immigration & Visa Services We handle all Canadian, USA and UK, Immigration and Visa matters. Self Sponsorships, Holiday/ Visitor’s Visas, Work Permits, Students Visas, Family, Class, Immigration Forms, Embassy Enquiries, Appeals for Refused Cases, U.S Green Card Lottery, Business Class Waivers, Pardons etc. TOUR SUMMERTIME TRAVEL DAILY FLIGHTS. LETHEM, PORT KAITUMA, MAHDIA, KAIETEUR FALLS, PARAMAKATOI. JUNE 29 - JULY 1. PARIMARIBO-SURINAME, BOA VISTA-BRAZIL, KAIETEUR FALLS DAY, ESSEQUIBO & MAZARUNI RIVER. TEL: 264-2851, CELL: 668-6501 VEHICLES FOR SALE AA 60 CARINA CAR AUTOMATIC $360,000 PHONE: 644-2306 JUST ARRIVED: TOP QUALITY RECONDITIONED VEHICLES; TOYOTA PREMIO; TOYOTA SPACIO; TOYOTA VITZ (NEW SHAPE); TOYOTA NOAH; SUZUKI SWIFT; MERCEDES BENZ C200 COMPRESSOR; BMW 318 I; COROLLA AE100 WAGON; LAND CRUISER (FULLY LOADED); MAZDA PROCEED 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUP; TOYOTA HILUX; 3RZ AND 5L; 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUPS; HIACE PITBULL 19 SEATER; MITSUBISHI CANTER TRUCKS 3; 3.5; TONS OPEN TRAY; 3 TONS WITH TAILGATE HOIST; 2 TONS 4WD; 3 TONS DUMP TRUCK. PREORDER YOUR UNITS EARLY AND GET THE BEST PRICES. FULL AFTER SALES SERVICE AND FINANCING AVAILABLE. DEO MARAJ AUTO SALES, 2 CHIMNEY ROAD, CHATEAU MARGOT, ECD. 624-0762 , 220-5177. A NAME AND A SERVICE YOU CAN TRUST. NEW ATVs INTRODUCTORY PRICE $1,450,000 (DUTY FREE). PHONE: 691-0234. NEW 2013 ISUZU DMAX, SINGLE & DOUBLE CABS. PHONE: 691-0234 Honda CRV, lady-driven. Phone 657-0482 SOLD AS IS. TO let Business property; ideal for doctors’ clinic, pharmacy, western union or boutique. One upper flat 3 bedrooms , 2 bathrooms $150,000 monthly. 1 Barber shop or 1 internet café. Call: 223-9727, 673-0373, 666-7001 Office space 349 East Street , North Cummingsburg. No agents please. Phone: 226-6551, 225-0391 Furnished rooms for rent. All facilities included. Call BG Real Estate Agency, 27 Dasrate Street, Triumph. Call Isha on 220-2130, 622-7097 WANTED One cook interior phone:680-5346. Clerical staff. Must be computer literate, knowledge of CorelDraw will be an asset. Send applications to Jarrods, 51 Main Street, Georgetown. Moon sighted, Ramadan begins T he Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) wishes to inform all Muslims that the crescent for Ramadan has been sighted. Taraweeh prayers commenced Tuesday evening and fasting begins this morning Wednesday. CIOG wishes to extend Ramadan greetings to all Muslims. CIOG president's Ramadan message My dear Brothers and Sisters, Assalamu Alaikum; May the Peace, Mercy and Blessing of Allah be with you all! On this important and auspicious occasion, the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan I would like to wish all Guyanese and especially our Muslim brothers and sisters, “Ramadan Mubarak!” Ramadan Mubarak to all our brothers and sisters, the imams, president and leaders of our country! Ramadan is the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed to our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Almighty Allah (SWT) said in the Holy Quran Chapter 2, Verse 183: “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may learn self-restraint (Taqwah).” Regarding the Holy Month of Ramadan, our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has beautifully and comprehensively described what a blessed month it is by saying: “O people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which there is a night better than a thousand months. A month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer to Allah by performing any good deeds in this month shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time. Whoever discharges an obligatory deed in this month shall receive the reward of performing 70 obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity. It is a month in which a believer’s sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast shall have his sins forgiven, he will be saved from the fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all.” In another narration, our Beloved Prophet (SAW) said, in the first part of Ramadan we earn the mercy of Allah, the second part we earn the forgiveness of Allah, and during the third part, we earn freedom from the fire of Hell. Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said whoever does not give up false statements and evil actions, Allah will not be in need of him giving up his food and drink. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we have the most noble visitor, the Holy Month of Ramadan, let’s make maximum use of the short time that we have to earn the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. are religious, social, economic or otherwise. The Month of Ramadan is a time to reflect on all these challenges that mankind faces today and we seek the solution which can only be found through our dedication, prayer, charity, and fast. Fasting and charity will earn us His grace and His mercy. We need to make maximum use of the Holy Month of Ramadan by praying to Allah, by taking care of the poor and needy in our community, by seeking the forgiveness of Allah for all our sins and turning to Him in repentance. We should utilise the opportunity to pay our zakaat as our blessings are multiplied tremendously during Ramadan. Muslims make full use during Ramadan to share out their zakaat, which is made payable to the destitute especially our near relatives by taking care of their needs. You are, therefore, encouraged to pay your zakaat upon reaching the Nisaab ($166,387), Allah’s willing. Greatest message Let us in the month of Ramadan try our best to make peace with all our family members, neighbours, and fellow citizens. Let us visit the sick and pray for them. Let us extend our mercy to the orphans in our community. Let us sympathise and help the widows and elderly people in society. These actions will earn us God’s forgiveness and mercy; this is what Ramadan stands for. Let us rededicate our lives to prayers and righteous deeds to make our homes, our community, and country a better place for all Guyanese. I pray that God Almighty give us the strength and health to fast throughout the month of Ramadan and also to stand in prayer during the nights of the Ramadan. Once again Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Mubarak! May Allah bless us all and bless our country… W A S S A L A M U A L A L A I K U M WARAHMATULLAHI WABARAKAATUHU! Let us in this Month of Ramadan, the month in which the Quran was revealed, go back to the pages of the Holy Quran and reflect on the message of the Quran because it is the greatest message and the final message sent to mankind by Allah. Let us use our time in Ramadan, to study the life, the mission, and the achievements of the greatest benefactor of humanity, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). We should let our lives reflect our love for him and all those ideals that he spoke about and taught us. There is a cry in the world for this noble way of life; the message of peace, the message of love, the message of unity of all humanity, the message of tolerance, the message which if we follow it sincerely and implement it in our lives, our lives will be changed for the better and the world will be a better place for all. Islam has the solution for all the problems facing humanity whether these problems Make peace Corruption getting worse, says poll O ne person in four has paid a bribe to a public body in the last year, according to a survey carried out in 95 countries by Transparency International. The poor record of some African nations on bribery stands out. Sierra Leone has the highest number of respondents, admitting to having paid a bribe – 84 per cent – and seven out of nine of the countries with the highest reported bribery rate are in subSaharan Africa. The countries with the lowest reported bribery rate are Denmark, Finland, Japan and Australia, they all have a bribery rate of one per cent. T r a n s p a r e n c y International’s Global Corruption Barometer gathered data from 95 countries on bribery. For a small number of them, including Brazil and Russia, data on particular questions has been excluded because of concerns about validity and reliability. For the question on corrupt institutions, 105 countries were covered. The margin of error for each country is three per cent. The typical sample size is 1000 people. Four countries – Cyprus, Luxembourg, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands – have a sample size of 500 people and a margin of error of four per cent. The country percentage stands as follow to the question Have you paid a bribe? Afghanistan 46, Algeria, 41 Argentina 13, Armenia 18, Australia one, Bangladesh 39, Belgium four, Bolivia 36, Bosnia and Herzegovina 28, Bulgaria eight, Cambodia 57, Cameroon 62, Canada three, Chile 10, Colombia 22, Croatia four, Cyprus 19, Czech Republic 15, Denmark one, DR Congo 46, Egypt 36, El Salvador 12, Estonia six, Ethiopia 44, Finland one, Georgia four, Ghana 54, Greece 22, Hungary 12, India 54, Indonesia 36, Iraq 29, Israel 12, Italy five, Jamaica12, Japan one, Jordan 37, Kazakhstan 34, Kenya 70, Kosovo 16, Kyrgyzstan 45, Latvia 19, Liberia 75, Libya 62, Lithuania 26, Macedonia 17, Madagascar 28, Malaysia three, Maldives three, Mexico 33, Moldova 29, Mongolia 45, Morocco 49, Mozambique 62, Nepal 31, New Zealand three, Nigeria 44, Norway three, Pakistan 34, Palestine 12, Papua New Guinea 27, Paraguay 25, Peru 20, Philippines 12, Portugal three, Romania 17, Rwanda 13, Senegal 57, Serbia 26, Sierra Leone 84, Slovakia 21, Slovenia six, Solomon Islands 34, South Africa 47, South Korea three, South Sudan 39, Spain two, Sri Lanka 19, Sudan 17, Switzerland seven, Taiwan 36, Tanzania 56, Thailand 18, Tunisia 18, Turkey 21, Uganda 61, UK five, Ukraine 37, Uruguay three, U.S. seven, Vanuatu 13, Venezuela 27, Vietnam 30, Yemen 74 and Zimbabwe 62. 20 wednesday, july 10, 2013 England, Australia tussle for Ashes title starts today E ngland captain Alastair Cook has told his players to be ready for an almighty tussle when the Ashes series against Australia gets under way today. England are favourites to win their third Ashes in a row, a feat they have not achieved since 1956. Ahead of the Trent Bridge Test, Cook said: “Australia have fantastic players and it will be one heck of a battle. “Every Ashes series I have played in is always intense and that is what we have got to prepare ourselves for.” Cook, 28, who will be captaining his country in an Ashes series for the first time, added: “Cricket isn’t played on paper and it never will be. It’s about who delivers out there come tomorrow (today) and the next 24 days of cricket.” The momentum in one of sport’s oldest rivalries has shifted towards England in recent years following an era of Australian dominance. Having lost eight straight series between 1989 and 2002-03, England have won three of the last four, culminating in a resounding 3-1 triumph in 2010-11, their Alastair Cook (left) and Michael Clarke display the replica Ashes trophy first victory in Australia since 1986-87. Recent form points to another England success, with Australia having suffered a 4-0 whitewash by India in March, three months after England’s 2-1 away victory over the same opposition. The tourists have also endured a chaotic build-up to the series. Batsman David Warner was banned after punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar and coach Mickey Arthur was replaced by Darren Lehmann just two weeks before the series. Captain Michael Clarke, however, said Australia had put the turmoil behind them and, after encouraging performances in their warm-up matches against Somerset and Worcestershire, were capable of surpassing expectations. “We come here as underdogs and we know it’s going to be tough but I know the boys are up for the challenge,” he said. “I think every single one of our boys has prepared as well as they possibly can. Now it’s about going out on that stage and playing with freedom and backing your own ability. “We have so much talent inside that room and I just want to see the guys play their natural games. “We’ve spoken about a lot but I think the talking is done for us as a team now. Now it’s not what you say, it’s what you do.” While Clarke declared himself “100 per cent fit” for the contest following a longstanding back problem, both captains vowed not to disclose their team selections until the toss at 10:30 BST. Lehmann hinted last week that Warner could be a surprise inclusion at number six for Australia as the tourists look to unsettle England with an aggressive brand of cricket. Clarke said he was confident that Warner would be “a success” if selected. England have won seven of their last nine Tests at Trent Bridge, including a famous victory in the 2005 Ashes, when unlikely batting heroes Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles helped put the hosts 2-1 up in the series with one to play. The ground will be full to its 17,000 capacity for all five days of the match after tickets sold out within hours of going on sale in October. Cook, who scored 766 runs at an average of 127.66 in the 2010-11 Ashes, said expectation levels across the country were consistent with his experiences in past contests against Australia. (BBC Sport) Cavendish says crash not his fault M ark Cavendish claimed he was not at fault for a crash at the end of stage 10 of the Tour de France as Marcel Kittel took victory in Saint Malo. Kittel edged Andre Greipel in a sprint finish, with Cavendish third after colliding with Kittel’s leadout man Tom Veelers and sending him tumbling. The Manxman tweeted: “Just seen the sprint. I believe I didn’t move line. “I’m actually coming past Veelers and we touch elbows when he moves. Anyway, hope he’s OK.” Britain’s Chris Froome remains in the overall race lead after avoiding the aftermath of the crash on an otherwise untroubled day. “It was a bit tricky towards the end, but I always had a team-mate with me and I kept out of trouble,” Froome said. “It’s always nervous when you come into the last 2km with a bunch sprint coming off the final bend, but I was to one side of the crash and went around it without any problems.” Cavendish will not be punished for his part in the incident, which came in a bunch sprint at the very end of a largely flat 197km (122-mile) route that started in Saint Gildas DesBois in Mark Cavendish north west France. An army of British fans had crossed the channel in hope of seeing Cavendish claim his second stage win of this year’s race and 25th Tour stage win in total. But he could not get close to his sprint rivals Greipel and Kittel, with the latter timing his attack perfectly to pip his fellow German at the line. Behind them on the home straight, Veelers slowed down and veered to his right, into Cavendish’s path, after leading out his Argos-Shimano team-mate Greipel. Cavendish barged past him and knocked the Dutchman off his bike. Race commissaries ruled the clash was Veelers’ fault and Cavendish denied any intent on his part, adding on Twitter: “There’s no way I’d move on a rider deliberately, especially one not contesting a sprint.” Veelers, who was not badly hurt in the incident, said: “I had the feeling Cavendish was boxed in my wheel. He touched my handlebars and knocked me over.” Kitttel absolved Cavendish of responsibility, saying: “I cannot imagine that Cavendish did that on purpose, it just happens sometimes in a hectic finale. Every sprinter wants to come to the front when he comes to the line and I hope that he is OK. “You can see that Cavendish really bumped into the handlebar of Tom but it doesn’t look like he does it on purpose.” Immediately after the stage, Cavendish was involved in an angry confrontation with reporters after being asked about the collision and the disappointing lead-out attempts from his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team. “We came up, we lost our guys early,” Cavendish said. “I tried to follow [teammate] Gert Steegmans, I followed his lead and launched from there. “It was too early in the sprint so I settled back on to Tom’s wheel and when Greipel kicked I went then. We as a team could have done something different. We will talk about that later.” No other riders were affected by the crash despite its proximity to the finish line and the fact it happened in front of a fast-moving peloton. Team Sky rider Froome retains his lead of one minute and 25 seconds over second-placed Alejandro Valverde, and will look to extend his advantage in today’s 33km (20.5-mile) time trial, which finishes in Mont Saint Michel. “It is definitely a day where I will try and extend my lead,’’ Froome said. “It is definitely a day that could help the general classification. I definitely want to go for it.” (BBC Sport) South Africa to play full series against Pakistan in the UAE Pakistan’s batsmen had a torrid time on their tour to South Africa early in the year S outh Africa will play Pakistan in two Tests in the United Arab Emirates from October 14, ending their eight-month absence from the Test arena. Their last Test series was at home in February against Pakistan, as their tour to Sri Lanka in July has been adjusted to drop the Tests. The tour will also include five one-day internationals and two T20s. South Africa, who arrive in the UAE on October 5, will play a three-day practice match to prepare for the first Test in Abu Dhabi. The teams will move to Dubai for the second Test on October 23 before switching to coloured clothing in November. Sharjah will host the first and fifth ODIs while Abu Dhabi also gets two games with Dubai hosting the remaining one-dayer and both T20s. Pakistan had little success on their tour to South Africa earlier this year as the home side won all three Tests and then beat Pakistan 3-2 in the fivematch ODI series. Pakistan claimed the two-match T20 series 1-0 though, by winning the second game after the first one was washed out without a ball bowled. (Cricinfo) Two Sri Lankan umpires banned after sting S ri Lanka Cricket has banned two umpires, Sagara Gallage and Maurice Zilva, who were named in a sting operation last year dealing with illegal payments for influencing first-class matches. A third umpire, Gamini Dissanayake, has been downgraded from the top umpire’s panel for a year and issued a “severe warning” by the board CEO. The decisions came after an emergency executive committee meeting in Colombo, where the recommendations of the disciplinary committee’s recommendations were endorsed. The sting, broadcast by India TV, claimed to have “exposed” several first-class umpires from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan who were allegedly willing to give decisions favouring players for a fee. In the sting, conducted in July and August 2012, the reporters claimed to belong to a sports management company and promised the umpires officiating assignments in events of all kinds around the world, largely domestic Twenty20 leagues. The hardest hit of the three Sri Lankan umpires was Gallage, who was banned for 10 years from all cricket, while Zilva got a three-year ban. Dissanayake, the third Sri Lankan umpire named in the sting, was the most high-profile of the three, having regularly been the fourth umpire in international matches, though he was yet to be one of the main officials in an international game. The Pakistan and Bangladesh boards have already handed out punishments to their umpires caught in the sting. Bangladesh’s Nadir Shah was banned for 10 years by the BCB on corruption charges, and Pakistan’s Nadeem Ghauri and Anis Siddiqi have already been slapped with bans. Zilva and Gallage were the reserve umpires in two warm-up matches each before the World T20 in Sri Lanka last year. (Cricinfo) wednesday, july 10, 2013 21 Cavendish struggles as Kittel wins stage 10 S aint Malo, FRANCE – Mark Cavendish’s Tour de France campaign suffered another setback on Tuesday when the Briton had to settle for third in a sprint after being involved in a crash in a chaotic stage 10 finale won by Marcel Kittel. Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Cavendish appeared to leave his line and bumped into Dutchman Tom Veelers who lost his balance and hit the ground as he was leading out Kittel for the German’s second Tour stage win this year. The race commissaries, however, ruled Veelers was at fault, saying the Dutchman was drifting back and made a small movement towards his right while Cavendish was sprinting. Another German, Andre Greipel of the Lotto Belisol team, took second place while Britain’s Chris Froome retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey before today’s individual time trial. “When I went out it was Tom lost control and crashed on the ground. “I cannot imagine that it was on purpose because it was a very hectic situation and it was the last moment of the sprint. Sometimes that is something that just happens.” Coastal roads Marcel Kittel (right) sprints over the finish line in stage 10 on Tuesday too late and there were too strong guys ahead of me, (team mate Gert) Steegmans went early and we ran out of guys (to lead him out),” Cavendish, who angrily grabbed a journalist’s dictaphone when asked about the incident, told reporters. “Guys were going fast, we could have done things a little bit different but that’s bike racing. My legs are still not great.” Kittel, who had won the opening stage in Corsica, was the strongest man at the end of a 197-km ride from St Gildas des Bois, would not be drawn into controversy. “I saw the crash on video and it was very unlucky that they bumped into each other,” Kittel told a news conference. “Tom was going hard from doing the lead-out, Cavendish tried to pass him on the right and the handlebars touched each other and Cavendish later wrote on his Twitter feed: “Just seen the sprint. I believe I didn’t move line. I’m actually coming past Veelers & we touch elbows when he moves. Anyway, hope he’s ok. “There’s no way I’d move on a rider deliberately, especially one not contesting a sprint.” Cavendish, who trails Peter Sagan of Slovakia by a massive 103 points in the green jersey standings, already missed a golden stage win opportunity last Thursday when a crash in the final hour left him too exhausted to put up a decent fight in the final sprint. On Tuesday, five riders, including Tour debutant and local rider Julien Simon, led for 191 of the 197 km before being caught by the peloton as the race entered the Brittany town of Saint Malo after winding along windblown coastal roads. It was a relatively quiet day for Froome, who took shelter behind Skyteam mate Ian Stannard in the finale. He still leads Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by one minute 25 seconds and Dutchman Bauke Mollema by 1:44 with Alberto Contador in sixth place overall, 1:51 off the pace. Froome is expected to dominate his rivals in today’s 33-km flat dash from Avranches to the Mont Saint Michel. “I’ve done few races with similar kinds of time trials,” Froome told a news conference. “You can make small advantages with equipment, we’ve got a new time trial bike this year, I’ve spent a bit of time in the wind tunnel, which I had never done before, all these things will add up. (Reuters) Media banned from pit lanes following Enmore Masters safety concerns sweep Superstar T he FIA has banned media and 'non-essential personnel' from Grand Prix pit lanes after a cameraman was injured at last Sunday's German Grand Prix. A loose wheel from the car of Red Bull's Mark Webber struck cameraman Paul Allen, breaking his collarbone. The ban, issued by Formula 1's ruling body, covers "anyone other than event marshals and team personnel". On Monday, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said that cameramen would only be allowed to film from the pit Tyres blew out on a few cars two Sundays ago lane wall. Other media will also be kept out of the pit lane, with the FIA saying in a state- ment: "Access for approved media will be confined to the pit wall." Sunday's incident oc- curred as Red Bull driver Webber was leaving the pits following a tyre change that had taken longer than usual. The Australian was released without the right rear wheel being properly secured and after it came free of the car it bounced into Allen, striking the Briton from behind. The FIA also announced that it will seek an immediate change to regulations so that all team personnel working on cars during pit stops wear head protection, and that the speed limit in the pits is reduced from 100 kmh to 80 kmh. (BBC Sport) XI in twomatch series BCCI objects to South Africa tour itinerary T he BCCI has objected to the itinerary of India’s tour to South Africa starting in November, which was announced by Cricket South Africa on Monday. According to the BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, CSA announced the schedule without obtaining the BCCI’s consent. “We have written to CSA mentioning that while we have been discussing the tour itinerary, nothing had been agreed upon (before they announced the schedule). The discussions are on and a consensual decision will come soon,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been in charge of the BCCI’s day-to-day affairs with N Srinivasan having stepped aside as president, confirmed that the BCCI had raised “concerns” with CSA. While Patel refused to elaborate on those concerns, Dalmiya said the BCCI had issues with the scheduling of the Tests. At the moment, the tour comprises two Twenty20 internationals and seven ODIs, followed by three Tests. “We have some concerns over the gap between the last two Tests of the threematch series,” Dalmiya told reporters in Kolkata. “We have informed this to our South African counterpart (CSA) and the two boards are trying very amicably to sort out the matter. The new schedule will be announced soon.” * The present schedule has an eight-day gap between the second and third Tests. Earlier this year, when South Africa hosted Pakistan, there was a sim- ilar eight-day gap between two Tests. The BCCI prefers to play three-Test series with a three-day interval for home series. The last time India toured South Africa (in 2010-11), the biggest gap was five days – between the first Test at Centurion and the Boxing Day Test. This time, the gap between the first two Tests is just two days, with CSA deciding to reinstate the Boxing Day and New Year Tests to Durban and Newlands respectively. It is learned that the new BCCI administration has concerns with the “number of matches and the itinerary” for the tour. The tour is scheduled to end on January 19, just before the start of the New Zealand tour, though the schedule for that tour hasn’t yet been finalised. The BCCI feels that seven ODIs are “too many”. “If we have five ODIs, perhaps the tour can get over a week early and the boys can have a week-long break before flying to New Zealand,” a BCCI insider said, preferring anonymity. He also revealed that the board has been consulting the players on whether they would prefer to play the Tests before the ODIs. CSA, however, has claimed that it has not received any formal complaint from the BCCI and that they have followed all the correct protocols. “If the BCCI has any concerns they can raise them with us and we will sort them out amicably as we have always done in the past,” Michael Owen Smith, CSA media consultant, said. (Cricinfo) Anil Persaud Jacob Persaud ver-40 Enmore Masters made a clean sweep of their two-match softball series against Superstar XI, emerging with convincing victories in the home and away format. Playing at the Enmore Community Centre ground on June 30, Enmore Masters stitched together a fourwicket victory with seven balls to spare. Batting first, Superstar XI, a Mahaica-based team, racked up 160-8 from the stipulated 20 overs. Enmore Masters then knocked off the target, reaching 161-6 from 18.5 overs. G Dayaram led Enmore Masters to victory with an unbeaten 54, while Jacob Persaud (42) and R. Malone (26) offered support during the chase. On Sunday last in the return game at the Helena ground, Enmore Masters coasted to a six-wicket win, thanks to a good all-round effort. Superstar XI, batting first, posted a meagre 80 all out with none of their batsmen getting among the runs in the face of some miserly bowling. Anil Persaud was the principal wicket taker, bagging 5-12, while Chetram Ramlall snared 3-16. Enmore Masters responded with 81-4 in 12 overs to complete the easy win. S Panday and Jacob Persaud were the leading scorers with 16 and 12 respectively. The Enmore Masters are expected to be in action again on Friday in a floodlight encounter against a team to be named. O wednESday, july 10, 2013 guyanatimesGY.com India qualify to meet Sri Lanka Professional Paint supports young Yadram at expense of West Indies P ort of Spain, TRINIDAD – India, propelled by impressive swing bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, booked a place in the final of the Celkon Mobile Cup ODI series and will oppose Sri Lanka at Queen’s Park Oval on Thursday. Kumar’s timely haul of four wickets for eight runs, from six overs, squeezed India into the play-off and dashed the hopes of West Indies as the world champions defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in their rain-hit match on Tuesday . The match was reduced to a 26-over contest after India, sent in to bat, had their innings curtailed by persistent rain , having reached 119 for 3 off 29 overs. With limited time left in the afternoon, after more than four hours were washed out, Sri Lanka were set 178 to win off 26 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis system.. It meant that India needed to win the game convincingly, and to restrict Sri Lanka to under 167, to secure a bonus point and a place in the final. They achieved it, finished on 10 points, and pushed out West Indies by virtue of a superior net-run-rate. Paceman Kumar , also named man of the match, gave the Indians early control of the important match as he found the edge of Upul Tharanga’s bat in his second over and won a firstball LBW appeal against Kumar Sangakkara, rocking Sri Lanka at 13 for 2 in the third over. Kumar , on a pitch offering good bounce and getting the ball to seam around, claimed his third and fourth wickets as Mahela Jayawardene (11) cut to Vijay and Lahiru Thirimanne lofted a drive to Kohli . This quickly reduced Sri Lanka were 31 for 4 in the ninth over and they never recovered. Paceman Yadav and the Indian spinners, Jadeja and Ashwin, then tightened the grip and the end came quickly as the last six wickets collapsed for 65 runs. Sri Lanka were bowled out for Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke Sri Lanka’s top order with 4 for 8 as India won by 81 runs to secure a spot in the final in Port of Spain 96 in 24.4 overs. Earlier, India were sent in and were forced to contend with good bowling from the Sri Lankans as captain Angelo Matthews, Dilhara and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath kept them in check. Opener Rohit Sharma led a dogged fight-back, after Matthews made the breakthrough by ripping off the edge of Dhawan’s bat in the seventh over, and rescued the innings in mini-part- nerships of 49 with captain Virat Kohli (31 off 52 balls) and 35 with wicketkeeper Karthik (12). Herath accounted for both Kohli and Karthik, producing a remarkable ball that spun past the defensive bat of Karthik and hit his off-stump. Sharma was unbeaten on an important 48 off 83 balls when the rains came and significantly changed the complexion of the match, much to the dismay of West Indies. (CMC/ WICB) SCOREBOARD India innings RG Sharma not out 48 S Dhawan c Jayawardene b Mathews 15 V Kohli lbw b Herath 31 KD Karthik (wkp) b Herath 12 SK Raina not out 4 Extras (b1, lb3, w3, nb2) 9 Total (3 wkts, 29 overs) 119 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-76, 3-111 Bowling: S Eranga 6-0-27-0 (1w), L Dilhara 8 -0-4-0 (2nb, 1w), A Mathews 5-1-5- 1, L Malinga 3-1-7- 0, R Herath 6-032-2, J Mendis 1 -0-4- 0 (1w) Sri Lanka Innings W Tharanga c Raina b Kumar 6 M D Jayawardene c Vijay b Kumar 11 KC Sangakkara (wkp) lbw b Kumar 0 LD Chandimal st wkp Karthik b Jadeja 26 HDRL Thirimanne c Kohli b Kumar 0 AD Mathews* c wkp Karthik b Jadeja 10 J Mendis b Ashwin 13 LHD Dilhara c wkp Karthik b I Sharma 6 RKB Herath c Vijay b I Sharma 4 RMS Eranga not out 2 L Malinga c Jadeja b Yadav 7 Extras (lb 6, w 5) 11 Total (all out 24.4 overs) 96 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-14, 3-27, 4-31, 5-56, 6-63, 7-78, 8-84, 9-87, 10-96 Bowling: B Kumar 6-1- 8-4, UT Yadav 4.4-0-28-1 (3w), I Sharma 4-0-17-2, R Jadeja 5-0-17-2 (1w), R Ashwin 5-0-20-1 (1w), Umpires : Nigel Llong (Eng) and Peter Nero (WI) National under-19 captain and opening batsman, Bhaskar Yadram (right) receives the SS gear bag from Elle LaRose in the presence of the proprietor of Professional Paint, Devanand Singh (Photo: Avenash Ramzan) A s part of its corporate mandate to give back to society, Professional Paint on Monday presented a brand new cricket gear bag to national under-15 captain and opening batsman, Bhaskar Yadram, who will lead the Guyana team to Jamaica today for the start of the West Indies Cricket Board Under-15 championship. The company, which was recently formed, has branches at Montrose Public Road and Logwood, Enmore, both on the East Coast of Demerara, is a dealer in auto body paint. The 13-year-old Yadram, the only player from East Coast Demerara to make the squad, said he was delighted to receive the SS Sunridges bag from proprietor Devanand Singh and Elle LaRose, who represented Professional Paint. The presentation took place at Tiger Sports at Logwood, Enmore, where Yadram promised to return home with the regional under-15 title, which has eluded Guyana since 1999. “I’m confident we can win, because we have a very good team,” the right-handed Yadram, who can also double as wicketkeeper, said. “I want to thank Professional Paint for this donation, and promise them good performances in Jamaica.” Singh said his company is pleased to support the young cricketer, who hails from the Enterprise Busta Sports Club, East Coast Demerara, but plays for the Gandhi Youth Organisation and Guyana National Industrial Corporation in Georgetown. “We at Professional Paint want to wish him the very best. Obviously, we want to see him make runs for the team, and more importantly, help Guyana to win the title,” Singh outlined. Playing for Demerara in the New GPC INC. sponsored two-day under-15 Inter-county competition, Yadram emerged as the leading runscorer by quite a distance, scoring 266 runs in five innings at an impressive average of 66.50. He impressed with 99 not out and 51 against the President’s XI, 71 and 25 against Berbice, and 20 in the lone innings against Essequibo. Yadram, who represented Guyana for the first time at the under-15 level last year, comes from a family with a rich cricket history. His brother Kamesh Yadram, who on Monday captained Demerara to the GTM Under-19 50-over title, represented Guyana at the under-15 level in 2010 and at the under-19 level in 2012 and earlier this year. Bhaskar’s sister, Kavita Yadram, is also a national player, representing the female under-19 team in 2010. His father, Seemangal Yadram, played club cricket, while uncle Latchman Yadram is a Level One coach attached to the National Sports Commission. Meanwhile, when the West Indies Cricket Board regional under-15 competition bowls off on Friday, Guyana will be in action gainst the Leeward Islands. The Guyana under-15 team reads: Bhaskar Yadram (captain), Adrian Sukhwah (wicketkeeper), Raymond Perez, Darshan Persaud, Richie Lucknauth, Ronaldo Mohamed (vice-captain), Timothy McAlmont, Mark Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Ashmead Nedd, Matthew Hardial, Vickram Talmakund, Christopher Latchman and Sylus Tyndall. The six reserves are: Joel Seetaram, Jaddel McAlister, Kelvin Shewprasad, Andrew Clifford, Steve Deonarine and Joshua Harrichand. RHTY&SC/TCL academy attracts large turnout By Avenash Ramzan T he Area H ground was a hive of activity on Monday morning when the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) commenced its 16th annual cricket academy with 50 young aspiring cricketers, including two females, being part of the two-week activity. The RHTY&SC has teamed up with Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), who is on board for the second successive year, to stage the academy, which will focus on the basics of cricket, among other areas. While coaches Winston Smith, Michael HylesFranco and Renwick Batson will centre on instilling the fundamentals of cricket to the youngsters, other resource personnel will lecture the youngsters on a series of important topics, including HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, history of cricket, importance of education and personal hygiene. Sessions are being held from 09:00h to 14:00h each day. The academy, which will conclude next Friday with the presentation of certificates, has attracted youths from Rose Hall Town and surrounding areas. Secretary/CEO of the RHTY&SC, Hilbert Foster, in an invited comment, said the academy has served the club, Berbice, Guyana and by extension West Indies cricket well since its incep- tion several years ago. He said the activity has recorded tremendous success over the past decade and a half, moulding several raw talents into quality players. Among the leading players who passed through the programme are Test batsman Assad Fudadin, West Indies ODI all-rounder Royston Crandon, wicketkeeper/batsman Delbert Hicks, West Indies female cricketers Shemaine Campbell and Erva Giddings, and national youth players Clinton Pestano, Dominic Rikhi and Shawn Perriera. Meanwhile, at the launch of the academy last month, Plant Manager at TCL, Mark Bender, said his company, when approached by Foster, did not hesitate to come on board for the second year in a row. His company has invested $200,000 into the activity and the sum would be used for the purchase of cricket balls, paying coach- es, refreshments and stationery during the event. Bender said TCL Guyana Inc. embraces the idea of using cricket as a medium to tackle social ills, noting that by doing such, the RHY&SC is playing an active role in shaping a better society. The plant manager added that by encouraging youngsters to participate in the academy, the club is subtly driving them away from a life of crime and unwholesome activities. wednESday, july 10, 2013 Guyana U-15 coach confident of winning title C 23 Canje Knights destroy NA Warriors 50-44 – team depart this morning for Jamaica By Rajiv Bisnauth N ewly-appointed head coach of the national Under-15 team, Julian Moore, believes that his team can produce Guyana’s third regional under-15 title when they compete in the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board tournament from July 10-26, in Jamaica. “The team has had a good build-up ahead of this tournament. We had a sixday stint at the Essequibo Cricket Board hostel in Anna Regina, where we went through the fundamentals of the game, we worked on all areas – the fitness area, the mental area, batting, running between the wickets, bowling good line and length and wicket keeping, so we’re 100 per cent ready and I am confident that the team will do well,” Moore said. Asked about the combi- Bhaskar Yadram Julian Moore nation of the squad, Moore, who represented Guyana at the U-15 level in 2000, said the team is well balanced, comprising of a maximum number of match winners; he also cited this team has the best chance of winning the coveted title. Guyana won the first of its two regional under-15 titles in 1998, and has not tasted regional success at any level since 1999. Guyana’s second place finish in 2001 was its best showing since then. The Guyanese ended in the cellar position last year. Bhaskar Yadram was elected captain and Ronaldo Mohammed, his deputy. The squad will be managed by Virendra Chintamani. The 14-man squad, along with the coach and manager, is expected to depart the Cheddi Jagan International Airport this morning at 05:35h for Jamaica. Guyana will be in action on Friday against the Leeward Islands in their first round encounter. The Guyana Under-15 team reads: Bhaskar Yadram (Captain), Adrian Sukhwah (wicketkeeper), Raymond Perez, Darshan Persaud, Richie Lucknauth, Ronaldo Mohamed (vice-captain), Timothy McAlmont, Mark Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Ashmead Nedd, Matthew Hardial, Vickram Talmakund, Christopher Latchman and Sylus Tyndall. The six standby players are: Joel Seetaram, Jaddel McAlister, Kelvin Shewprasad, Andrew Clifford, Steve Deonarine and Joshua Harrichand. anje Knights have secured a place in the final of the Mackeson basketball competition being played in New Amsterdam. The Knights booked their ticket to the final when they overpowered New Amsterdam Warriors 50-44 at the Vryman’s Ervin court on Sunday in a hard fought battle, which was rife with turnovers. The Knights finished their quota of matches with only one loss while the Warriors suffered their second loss. Despite still having a game to play, the New Amsterdam team cannot get past leaders Smythfield Rockers, who played unbeaten in the preliminary round, or the Knights. New Amsterdam Warriors will next meet Rose Hall Town Jammers, who are yet to win a game. At stake in the competition is $80,000 for the winners and 40,000 for the runner up. The competition is being sponsored by ANSA McAL. NATI squeeze into third round of Digicel football c/ships Traffic department win Commander’s 4k road relay T raffic took control of the road in the Commander’s 4k road relay in Berbice last Friday. The event, which was part of a series of activities organised by B Division in observance of the 174th anniversary of the Guyana Police Force, saw a combined traffic team from B Division beating SubDivision One (Central Police Station) and SubDivision number Two (West Berbice) respectively. The other teams that participated were Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Whim/Corentyne and Special Constabulary. The race started outside Caribbean Cuisine, Number Two, Canje, and finished at Main and St All Streets in New Amsterdam. Each team was comprised of a senior officer, a male and female constable and a cadet NATI and GPMTC battle for possession N From left to right: ASP Hugh Jessemy, Constable Mark Edwards, Cadet Officer Ronald Alli, Commander Clifton Hicken and Constable Chrishandra Wills officer, who ran the final leg. Corporal Denzel Marks, female constable Chrishandra Wills, male constable Mark Edwards and cadet officer Ronald Alli competed for the champion team. After the race, Commander of B Division Senior Superintendent Clifton Hicken noted that the camaraderie augurs well for the GPF, noting: “I think that you would have exhibited the kind of discipline required for the Guyana Police Force. You were required to fall in for 05:00h and despite the inclement weather you did so and as a result of that the race kicked off at 06:00h and we would not have impeded on the traffic.” He emphasised that waking early and exercising are part of good policing: “You need to keep fit so that you can execute your duties in a professional manner.” ew Amsterdam Technical Institute’s (NATI) Jarrel Walters scored a brace to defeat arch-rivals GuySuCo Port Mourant Training Centre (GPMTC) 2-1 in the Digicel Schools Football competition at the Skeldon Community Centre ground on Sunday. Walters scored in the 28th and 39th minutes while Darren Seubarran netted in the 88th minute as GPMTC desperately tried the take the game into extra time. Meanwhile, Skeldon High has been disqualified from the competition for fielding a player that does not attend the school. Corentyne Comprehensive replaced the booted school for Monday’s round two match against Tagore Secondary. Also through to the third round is Berbice High School (BHS) after brushing aside Vryman’s Ervin Secondary 6-0 at the All Saints ground in New Amsterdam on Monday. Scoring for BHS were Mark Wrong in the 7th minute, Sherwin Arriendial in 46th and 62nd minutes, Kerron McKenzie in the 13th minute and substitute player Steffon Hinds in the 72nd and 76th minutes. BHS will take on Orealla today at the All Saints ground in the highly anticipated matchup. Orealla, last Friday, upset defending champions Tutorial Academy. (Andrew Carmichael) Khan, Drayton are Trophy Stall chess champs S enior national chess champion Taffin Khan played unbeaten, demolishing his seven opponents to capture the championship trophy in the Trophy Stall chess tournament that ended on Sunday at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Georgetown. In addition, Anthony Drayton won the junior category, but was not unscathed, recording two losses to senior players. Drayton lost to Khan on Sunday with a pawn down in an endgame struggle involving active knights, pawns and kings in the penultimate round. Lone female participant Maria Thomas brought sec- Taffin Khan (seated second right) and Anthony Drayton (seated extreme right) pose with the other top performers, their trophies and medals ond; Canada-based Guyanese Raymond Singh settled for the third spot, while Cleveland Hutson copped fourth among the seniors. Among the juniors, Roberto Neto secured the runner-up spot; former junior champion Haifeng Su brought third and Carlos Petterson, fourth. The best beginner was 13-year-old Rajiv Muneshwer of Queen’s College. Muneshwer, on Sunday, defeated 17-year-old Davion Mars, one of last year’s national junior championship finalists. Omar BrittonGrant was again adjudged the best Under-16 player, a position he also held in recent competitions. Ron Motilall copped the prize for best Under-19 player. The final points’ standing for the seniors read: Taffin Khan (seven), Maria Thomas and Raymond Singh (five each) and Cleveland Hutson (4.5). Among the juniors, Anthony Drayton scored five points, Roberto Neto, four and a half, and former national junior champion Haifeng Su and Carlos Petterson, four apiece. Muneshwer and Motilall scored three points each, while Britton-Grant recorded two and a half points. Nine seniors and 13 junior players participated in the tournament, which consisted of seven rounds. wednESday, july 10, 2013	Armenia
What is the common name for the round skullcap worn by Jewish males?	Guyana Times Daily by Gytimes - issuu issuu Region Five corrects misleading Stabroek P7 News report Nationwide coverage from the best news team in Guyana guyanatimesgy.com THE BEACON OF TRUTH Tuesday, July 10, 2013 Issue No. 1825 Govt says slashing air travel tax not feasible â€“ APNU urges action to lower costs See story on page 3 Republic Bank plugs $1.5M into steel pan programme See story on page 7 PRICE $60 vat included WHAT'S INSIDE: TIP P2 victims ID policemen, trafficker PANCAP to host meeting P2 with Guyanese, Surinamese health officials Magistrate dumps 54 P2 traffic cases Problem of inequality P11 not easy to solve â€“ OAS Some of the students going through their paces at the commencement of the steel pan workshop being hosted by the Culture Ministry Small businesses blossoming, says Republic Bank specialist See story on page 13 Moon sighted, Ramadan begins See story on page 19 Nursing P12 body seeks govt subvention to finance operations Mahaica man shot dead P17 during home invasion 2 news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimeSGY.com TIP victims ID policemen, trafficker By Svetlana Marshall R ape charges are likely to be instituted against two policemen and an alleged human trafficker after they were positively identified by the young ladies who were rescued from the sex trade last weekend. On Tuesday, the two victims who were allegedly raped by two ranks in the Sherima Police Station positively identified their assailants. The ranks and the woman were also identified by two other persons who witnessed part of the trafficking incident. Rescued Over the weekend, the Guyana Women Miners’ Organisation (GWMO), led by the 2013 U.S. TIP Hero Simona Broomes, rescued the 14-, 16-, 18-, and 20-year-old victims from 14 Mile Issano, Region Seven. The 26-year-old approached Broomes in Bartica to relate the tale and get her 16-yearold friend out. According to Broomes, the 26-year-old victim on Tuesday positively identified the policemen. The 16-year-old, who was described as “nervous” during the parade, was unable to identify the ranks. However, the truck driver and another individual who were at the Sherima Police Station positively identified the policemen. Both victims positively identified the alleged trafficker. Speaking with Guyana GWMO President Simona Broomes Times, Broomes said she was elated that GWMO is one step closer to putting another trafficker and delinquent ranks who have failed the system behind bars. While, the GWMO president is happy that the perpetrators will face the court soon, she is disappointed that the victims were made to wait for some time before the ID parade was executed. Compounding the situation, the young ladies were reportedly forced to sit in CID headquarters in wet clothes. Broomes explained that the victims and their belongings were drenched during their journey from Bartica to Parika on Monday afternoon. After reporting to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown late Monday night, the victims then travelled to Mahaicony. “By the time, they got to the Help and Shelter Home in Mahaicony... there was no way in which the clothes could have dried because they had to wake up and reach here (CID) for nine o’ clock.” According to Broomes, the entire ordeal was explained to the Human Services Ministry, but to no avail. The young ladies were initially promised a change of clothing, but were subsequently told that they would have to wait until another day (today). “It was said to me that the girls will have to wait,” Broomes told this publication. A request was made to have the young ladies taken to purchase appropriate garments but this request by the GWMO was denied as well. Human Services Ministry has promised to intervene after being contacted by the president of the women’s organisation. Special home Broomes called for the Human Services Ministry to provide a special home in the city for TIP victims, noting that while the organisation is grateful for the assistance given by Help and Shelter, there is need for a special home. “I think they need to have some place in Georgetown when the girls arrive. It’s a long process, everyone knows the police process is very long, so if they have somewhere close by, they can leave at the appropriate time, Mahaicony is too far.” Broomes is also pressing for ranks of the Guyana Police Force, TIP Unit officers, and interested members of the public to be trained in the area of human trafficking, as it relates to the treatment of victims. “We have to undertake a study to know a victim of trafficking: How they respond – their language; things that they need – how important it is to make them feel comfortable; and not for us to talk to them as though they were in the interior,” she said. “You can’t treat a victim of trafficking like a runaway, or a murderer, or a thief,” she lamented. Main perpetrator On April 21, four girls, aged 14, 15, 17 and 18 were rescued from prostitution in the Puruni Back Dam, Region Seven by Broomes and her GWMO members. Shortly after, a policeman was charged with human trafficking. He was accused of trafficking one of the four girls. A popular Bartica businesswoman who was identified by the girls as the main perpetrator was arrested and charged approximately two weeks ago. She is reportedly behind bars awaiting the completion of her case. Meanwhile, the four girls are being reintegrated into society while being accommodated by Help and Shelter. The 14-year-old girl will soon be attending classes, compliments of Broomes. (svetlanam@guyanatimesgy. com) PANCAP to host meeting with Guyanese, Surinamese health officials P an Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) in collaboration with the German International Cooperation (GIZ), the EPOS Health Management and the Health Ministry will host the BiNational Commission for Collaboration on Health for Guyana and Suriname from July 11-13, in Georgetown, Guyana. According to a PANCAP release, the three-day meeting to be held at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, will be attended by Surinamese Health Minister Michel Bolkland; other senior officials; head of Suriname Pan American Heath Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO); Dr Guillermo Troya; PAHO representative Dr Gustavo Bretas; and Guyana’s Health Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran and his team. This Bi-National Commission meeting originated from a bid by the Health Ministry of Suriname and the recommendations of two consultancies completed under the PANCAP/GIZ/ EPOS Migrant Project. The consultants’ recommendations were influenced by their findings which highlighted the similarities in geographic location, the ex- periences of high crossborder movement and the matching profile of the migrant and mobile population within both countries In addition to discussing issues related to HIV/AIDS, participants will also deliberate on health and wellness matters related to migrant and mobile populations in Guyana and Suriname. These would include neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases. The outcome of the meeting will be a framework for bi-national collaboration on health service policies related to migration and mobility and the priority health issues of both countries. The Migrant Project supports all priority areas of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF 2008-2012) but is centred on prevention of HIV transmission with specific emphasis on migrant and mobile populations. The project has four components: improving legal and policy framework, implementing innovative health financing mechanisms, empowering communities and making HIV services more migrant-friendly. PANCAP is a regional partnership established by Caricom heads of government in 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean. Magistrate dumps 54 traffic cases M agistrate Sherdel Issaacs-Marcus on Monday dismissed 54 traffic matters before her as the police witnesses were not present in court to give evidence. In the New Amsterdam Magistrate Court on Tuesday, 130 traffic matters were called for the first time after warrants were issued for the drivers to appear and answer to relevant charges. Only two of the officers who instituted the charges called in court on Tuesday made a court appearance to give evidence. This resulted in fines of $7500 and $5000 being imposed on 83 drivers. The charges were for driving above the speed limit ($7500) and for overloading ($5000). None of the drivers was in court. Three officers from the traffic department who had instituted 54 charges were not in court, resulting in Magistrate Marcus throwing out the cases. News wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com bridge openings The Demerara Harbour Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, July 10, from 05:30h to 07:00h. The Berbice River Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic on Wednesday, July 10, from 05:05h to 06:35h. – APNU urges action to lower costs Weather Countrywide: Thundery showers are expected during the day, with clear skies in the evening over coastal regions and near inland locations. Temperatures are expected to range between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius. Winds: North-easterly to easterly at 4.02 to 3.57 metres per second. High Tide: 05:33h and 17:57h reaching maximum heights of 2.62 metres and 2.52 metres respectively. Low Tide: 11:32h and 23:25h reaching minimum heights of 0.68 metre and 0.60 metre respectively. saturday, July 6, 2013 14 26 08 01 11 28 19 FREE TICKET Draw De Line 07 17 14 11 04 Govt says slashing air travel tax not feasible 15 DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS IN PUBLICATION. PLEASE CALL THE HOTLINE FOR CONFIRMATION - TEL: 225-8902 P ublic Works Minister Robeson Benn has stated that it would not be feasible for government to reduce the travel voucher taxes on airline tickets, as part of efforts to relieve Guyanese passengers of paying the high cost of air transport. Minister Benn’s comment follows a letter sent to him from shadow public infrastructure, communication, tourism, industry and commerce minister, Joseph Harmon of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). In the letter, Harmon issued a call for a 10 per cent reduction in government taxes on airline tickets to cushion the impact of the hike in fares on Guyanese. He called on government, through Minister Benn, to consider reducing its travel voucher tax of 15 per cent to 10 per cent. However, Benn said government is examining the matter of increased airfares from all ends, noting that government is in discussion with the Trinidadian government to ascertain whether it is giving a subsidy to the Caribbean Airlines entity to ensure the fares from that end remain at a stable level. Reducing taxes He said reducing taxes would not be viable for the government of Guyana, as that would put a strain on maintaining airport facilities and staffing. He reminded that Fly Jamaica will commence operations this monthend, which would help to ease the current situation, while Surinam Airways will be adding more flights. The govt is also engaged in talks with COPA Airlines to increase airlift out of Guyana. Public Works Minister Robeson Benn Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali APNU MP Joseph Harmon He assured that no stone would be left unturned, but could not give direct response as to if a reduction would be implemented. In the letter to the minister, Harmon said the cut in the tax is proposed in light of the recent steep increase in the cost of airline tickets for travel to and from Guyana, and the claim by airline services that the increases are unavoidable. in the cost of international air travel must be addressed immediately. “APNU notes that high travel taxes in the Caribbean has caused and will continue to cause severe decline in intra-regional and international travel. In Antigua, the ticket tax is 10 per cent of the base fare; Grenada charges 6.7 per cent of base fare; Jamaica (inclusive of passenger service and security fee, airport improvement fee, stamp tax, passenger facility charge, aviation service charge) – 10 per cent of base fare plus a travel tax of three per cent; Trinidad and Tobago passenger service charge, 4.4 per cent and St Lucia travel tax four per cent.” airline ticket, and this will have an immediate, positive effect on the number of persons opting to travel to and from Guyana.” Acting Tourism, Industry and Commerce Minister Irfaan Ali had recently opposed the increases in airfare ticket prices by Caribbean Airlines, accusing the regional carrier of attempting to rake in profits owing to the high demand in the Guyana market. No stone unturned He believes the tax reduction is the only rational and practical move to relieve passengers of the burden of paying the hefty fares. Harmon stated that it was his hope that government would seriously consider his recommendation and act swiftly upon it. Later in a release, APNU said it is appealing on the government to take all proactive measures within its control to lower the cost of air travel to and from Guyana. The party said since a roundtrip economy class ticket from Guyana to the United States of America now costs over US$1100 and the government of Guyana gets 15 per cent of the base fare plus a departure tax of $4000, APNU is of the opinion that such a steep rise Convinced APNU said it was convinced that with lower taxes, more persons will be encouraged to travel and this surge will serve as a cushion for any potential loss of revenue. It said with competing airlines operating out of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport last year, Guyana gained more than $1 billion in travel voucher taxes alone. “APNU, therefore, strongly recommends that the government of Guyana reduce the travel voucher tax. Reducing the travel voucher tax will reduce the base price of an Demand and supply He does not believe the taxes pose the problem, but rather the amount of seats available to level out the demand and supply from Guyana’s end. CAL had promised to maintain a reasonable fare structure during talks with the Guyana government after its competitors EZjet and Delta exited the market earlier this year. According to Minister Ali, CAL’s position in the Guyana market should have been looked at from a corporate responsibility perspective and not as a profit-making opportunity. Government is depending on air transport that is free of hindrances to and from Guyana, given the vibrancy of the tourism sector and a promising industry. 4 guyanatimesgy.com wednesday, july 10, 2013 Views Editor: Nigel Williams Tel: 225-5128, 231-0397, 226-9921, 226-2102, 223-7230 or 223-7231. Fax: 225-5134 Mailing address: 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown Email: [email protected], [email protected] Editorial The MDGs and post-2015 agenda A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report, which was published earlier this month, provides an update on the global situation as it relates to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report, an annual assessment of global and regional progress towards the goals, reflects the most comprehensive, up-to-date data compiled by over 27 UN and international agencies and is produced by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs. As expected, the document contains some interesting facts in relation to each target and some key recommendations which must be taken seriously by national governments and other key development partners. Based on comprehensive official statistics, the MDGs Report 2013 shows that the combined actions of national governments, the international community, civil society and the private sector are making the achievement of these MDGs a reality. It says that, with some of the MDGs already met, more targets are within reach by the 2015 target date, while challenges to achieving others must be urgently addressed. With millions of people’s lives improved by already meeting targets on reducing poverty, increasing access to safe water, improving the lives of slum dwellers and achieving gender parity in primary schools, the report says remarkable progress in other areas means more MDGs targets can be achieved by 2015. According to the report, big gains have been made in health. For example, between 2000 and 2010, mortality rates from malaria fell by more than 25 per cent globally, and an estimated 1.1 million deaths were averted. Death rates from tuberculosis at the global level and in several regions could be halved by 2015, compared to 1990 levels. Between 1995 and 2011, a cumulative total of 51 million tuberculosis patients were successfully treated, saving 20 million lives. Regarding the HIV/AIDS fight, the report notes that while new HIV infections are declining, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV in 2011. At the end of 2011, eight million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV or AIDS in developing regions, and the MDG target of universal access to antiretroviral therapy remains reachable by 2015 if current trends continue. Additionally, the report says that the target of halving the percentage of people suffering from hunger by 2015 is within reach. The proportion of undernourished people worldwide decreased from 23 per cent in 1990-1992 to 15 per cent in 2010-2012. Worldwide, the mortality rate for children under five dropped by 41 per cent – from 87 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 51 in 2011, which means 14,000 fewer child deaths per day. Increasingly, child deaths are concentrated in the poorest regions, and in the first month of life. Globally, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 47 per cent over the last two decades, from 400 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births to 210 between 1990 and 2010. The meeting the MDG target of reducing the ratio by three-quarters will require accelerated interventions and stronger political backing for women and children. With respect to education, between 2000 and 2011, the number of children out of school declined by almost half – from 102 million to 57 million. It should be stated that Guyana has already achieved the target for universal primary education and is working hard to do the same at the secondary level. However, the report recommends that global attention needs to focus on disparities. “Progress towards the eight MDGs has been uneven not only among regions and countries, but also between population groups within countries. People living in poverty or in rural areas remain at an unfair disadvantage,” it says. At present, the UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs, to craft an ambitious, yet realistic, agenda for the period after the MDGs target date at the end of 2015. The authors of the report underline the fact that “a successful conclusion to the MDGs will be an important building block for a successor development agenda, and that volumes of experience and lessons learned from the MDGs will benefit prospects for continued progress.” In China, students of the Jiangshan Middle School light candles to form a heart shape and the initials of the teenagers Yang Mengyuan and Wang Linjia who died in the Asiana plane crash at San Francisco airport on Saturday (BBC News) Ramadan marks the beginning of the holiest time of the year PART 2 Dear Editor, Why Muslims fast For Muslims, fasting has a number of benefits: * It helps one to feel compassion for those who are less fortunate and under-privileged for what they have as a result of feeling hunger and thirst. * It allows one to build a sense of self-control and willpower, which can be beneficial throughout life in dealing with temptations and peer pressure. * It offers a time for Muslims to purify their bodies, as well as their souls, by developing a greater sense of humanity, spirituality and community. Ramadan is a very spiritual time for Muslims, and often they invite each other to one another’s home to break the fast and pray together. As with other duties in Islam, fasting becomes obligatory after puberty. Ramadan Ramadan is important for Muslims because it is believed to be the month in which the first verses of the Holy Quran, (the divine scripture) were revealed by Allah (God) to the Prophet Muhammad (SAWS). From time to time, Muhammad (SAWS) used to go out from Mecca, where he was born and where he worked as caravan trader, to reflect and meditate in solitude. Like Abraham before him, he had never accepted his people’s worship of many gods, and felt a need to withdraw to a quiet place to reflect on the One God. One night, while meditating in a cave near Mecca, he heard a voice calling out, telling him to “read”. Muhammad (SAWS) found himself reciting the first verses of the Holy Quran. The voice was that of Angel Gabriel, and he confirmed that Muhammad (SAWS) was chosen for an important and challenging mission – he was to call the people to monotheism, the belief in one God, and righteousness. Muslims believe that over a period of 23 years, various verses and chapters of the Holy Quran were revealed to Muhammad (SAWS) through Gabriel. The Quran is comprised of 114 chapters of varying length. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day. This means not consuming food and drink, including water, during the daylight hours. In the Arabic language, fast is known as sawm. Muslims rise early in the morning during Ramadan to have a pre-dawn breakfast meal known as suhoor. At the end of the day the fast is completed by taking the after meal, which usually includes dates, fresh fruits, beverages and dinner. Later in the evening, Muslims attend special nightly tarawih prayers at their local mosque, during which approximately onethirtieth of the Holy Quran is recited, so that the entire scripture is recited in the course of the 29 or 30 days of the month. Unfortunately, the non-Muslim world views Ramadan as a month of fasting and merely the abstinence from food and drink. Ramadan is a strict and exact training period, for every God-fearing man and woman. It exposes the Muslim to a way of life that prepares them to face the challenges of their socio-economic and spiritual existence. Ramadan encourages Muslims to renew their pledges and strive continuously to gain the pleasure of Allah. In every corner of the globe, where Muslims exist as a community, their exercises and observances are the same despite ethnic, cultural differences and climatic conditions. The constant Salaah, recitation of the Holy Quran, observing the fast, paying the Zakat, result from strong Imaan. This places the Muslims in an enviable position to understand the conditions faced by the poor and needy. This creates the feeling of God consciousness (taqwa). This is the time through the khutbah, discussions and practices, Muslims are reminded of the lofty ideals of Islam and the solutions for the world’s problems. Ramadan is the month for inculcation of virtues, Islamic values, and morals. Allah promises the rewards of good deeds to be multiplied from 10 to 700 times. This is the period when we come to grips with our physical desires and weaknesses. This is the time we are able to measure our strengths and shortcomings. Ramadan helps us to see who we really are. It is indeed a testing period to examine the extent to which we are prepared to make sacrifices for the pleasure of Allah. Refusal to observe the commands is a sign of kufr (disbeliever). The sacrifices we are expected to make, increases, our Imaan and cause us to develop taqwa, which is precisely the object of fasting. Eid ul-Fitr After Ramadan, Muslims celebrate a very festive and joyous holiday known as Eid ul-Fitr, the festival of the breaking of the fast. On the day of Eid, Muslims attend special congregational prayers in the morning, wearing their best clothes, after the completion of the prayers and special sermon, Muslims rise to greet and hug one another, saying “Eid Mubarak”, which means “Holy Blessings”. Later, Muslims families visit each other’s homes, and have special meals together. Children are often rewarded with gifts, money and sweets. Light and other decorations mark the happy occasion. Ramadan Mubarak. Ramadan Mubarak. Ramadan Mubarak. Respectfully submitted, Shan Razack guyanatimesgy.com wednesday, july 10, 2013 5 You can send your letters with pictures to: Guyana Times, 238 Camp & Quamina Streets, Georgetown, Guyana or [email protected] The perception of corruption Education Ministry’s hotlines must be addressed proving a good initiative Dear Editor, President Donald Ramotar, quite rightly, is very upset with those who help to create the negative images of Guyana that sometimes detract investors. The president, at the time, was addressing issues at the diplomatic level and it was good that he stood up and defended his territory. I recall diplomatic meetings held only with the opposition members to discuss governance and corruption. Now concerning our president’s outburst and being upset with the negative picture being painted, I think first of what many of us are doing. We give outsiders the idea that Guyana is some backward, God-forgotten place, where anything can happen. I recall just before one of the school shootings in the U.S., a Guyanese was saying that she would not return for anything, since she was very concerned about her child’s safety. Well after the shooting, I spoke with her and I asked her about safety in her adopted land. She was kind of put off. My point is that there is no need for us, or members of the diaspora, to go about bad-mouthing Guyana, since crime is universal, and Guyana is far removed from many of the places we like to boast about, or even live in. Guyana does not make top-10 most crime-ridden countries. In fact, the list of most crimes per 100,000 people is quite interesting: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Italy and India. We just have to learn to be honest and think before we talk. When it comes to cost of living, the U.S., Canada and the UK all rank lower than Guyana in terms of being able to cope. In fact, Guyana scores well in comparison with other places. This can be checked out in terms of prices for defined quantities of the same goods and services, converted to U.S. dollars. Most Guyanese regularly save a little and this is not so for many who live in these supposed super countries. So as much as I support the defending of our land from negative diplomatic remarks that cannot be corroborated, I also rebuke those of us who go about being negative and sulky. We are a work in progress and the quicker we allow this to be internalised, the better it will be for all us. We will stay and put in our lot. Yours truly, Rowan Guillard RHTY&SC sport programme also emphasises education Dear Editor, The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC). It is doing a wonderful job. Last year, it started a drive where the various cricket teams of the club ventured into helping the not-so-fortunate children of the area. Actually, it was in response to the request from many of the parents of these less fortunate children that the club last year distributed some $600,000 worth of school bags. This year the target is to reach the one million mark, and so far so good. In fact, only a few days ago, the club received over $100,000 worth in schoolbags from a local insurance company. As a matter of fact, this time around, the club is aiming to distribute not just schoolbags, but exercise books. The target children are those attending the annual summer camps and the less fortunate students in the Lower Corentyne area. I commend this kind of charity work, and I urge for contributions from those who are much more fortunate, both individuals and companies. Remember that these bags are going to the children who really need them. Also, since it is not actual money that is being given, there is nothing to fear where wasting or wrongful use is concerned. Many times, people talk about investing in sporting activities where children are concerned. But if a few can twist it around and make the education very primary, it will be a different and welcoming change. After all, the regional cricket team has only 11 players – so what happens when one cannot have a career in sports? Without being biased, I think that people should accept the fact that an educated person has sports as an option, but not necessarily vice versa. In the U.S., there are talks about what is happening to many of the basketball players, who simply had a soft time in universities. They were granted their scholarships, but never really studied and passed exams. Mind you, they have the legal and official accreditation, but at the functional level, they have many problems, after their playing days. Just like how beauty and brains can go together; sports and education can be paired. Yours faithfully, Ingrid Lowe Dear Editor, There is a good fever spreading around the education sector, and I welcome it. Concerning the hotlines for complaints, in a jiffy, the whole operation is turning into a positive blitz. According to the minister of education, since the hotline service became operational, over 30 calls have been received, and these cover Regions Three, Four, Five and Six. The report highlighted that so far, more than 20 complaints have been investigated. This good start must be built upon. The range of issues at hand is quite disturbing: graduation fees, registration and transfers, training of unemployed adults, school furniture being used for lessons at a church, expired juice being sold at a school, garbage situation, unsatisfactory work on a nursery school, and vagrants loitering school zones. I am very concerned about the last case, as I have seen this umpteen times. During the second-to-last week of school, I went to a primary school in Church Street, Georgetown to pick up my child. Lo and behold, a seemingly insane man was exiting the gate. I was aghast and making matters worse, it was dismissal time. Children by their very nature are prone to heckling people of this type, and I shudder at what can develop if some kind of heckling incident should occur. I recall another parent, complaining in the press, about a vagrant stealing a child’s lunch. He too entered the compound – this being located in Camp Street, Georgetown. We just cannot have our children being placed in unnecessary vulner- able situations. School zones must be patrolled, especially around dismissal times. The other issue is that of the training of unemployed adults. I am concerned about all of these little schools – if that is what this complaint is dealing with – they have all over the country. They may be play schools as such, but we all know how important these early preschool years are – every period in a child’s life is very important. The Education Ministry ought to step in and check out some of these schools. Many of them are for money and nothing else. Since the ministry believes that it is necessary to engage the entire country in the quest to educate the children, it can now move towards having some informative sessions for these schools with unqualified helpers. They mean good and they do a good job overall, but this can be enhanced with some compulsory training sessions. Yours sincerely, Parent Name withheld by request 6 BY DENISE MANN Happy family secret number six: Put family before friends “In happy families, family comes before friends,” he says, “The camp counsellor understands something that parents don’t and that is that caring for children also has to be fun. Give rules, but understand that children need fun, too. When children get bored and listless, they start looking for excitement out of the home and that is when friends become more important. Friendship is important, but subordinate to family.” Happy family secret number seven: Limit children’s after-school activities Today, growing numbers of children are overscheduled and participate in six or seven after-school activities per week. The mother becomes a chauffeur and the children are never home at the same time. This is not a recipe for a happy family, Boteach says. “If your children grow up not knowing how to do ballet, they will be OK. No afterschool activities is an extreme and too many activities is the other extreme, but moderation is where we should aim.” Create your own after-school activities as a family, he suggests. For example, take your children rollerblading, bike riding, or swimming after guyanatimesgy.com school as a family. Happy family secret number eight: Build and honour rituals “Families need rituals,” Boteach says. Rituals can be religious, national, or even family-specific, he says. Barbara Fiese, PhD, professor and chair of psychology at Syracuse University in New York, agrees. “Happy families have meaningful rituals and are not stressed out by them,” she says. “They can be unique to your own family such as going for bagels on Saturday morning, a weekly pizza night, or even a family song. Rituals tend to bring family members close together because they are repeated over time.” To work, rituals need to be flexible, she adds. “They can’t be rigid,” Fiese says. “If the bagel place is closed, you have to go someplace else.” Happy family secret number nine: Keep your voices down Remember that children thrive on stability. “There has to be a calm environment at home,” says Boteach. “Talk to your children, give them strict rules, and punish children when necessary, but don’t lose control and yell. If you yell at children that shows you are out of control and you create a non-peaceful environment.” Reasons our promises are so important to our children Happy family secret number 10: Never fight in front of the children TV viewers never really saw Carol and Mike Brady go at it, did they? While some fighting or bickering may be inevitable, try to keep it away from the children, Boteach says. “If your children see you fight and argue, apologise and say, ‘We are sorry you had to see it. Daddy and I just had a disagreement, but everything is OK now.’” Happy family secret number 11: Don’t work too much All work and no play does worse things to a family than make it dull. “If you are away all the time and don’t prioritise your children, your children will internalise feelings of insecurity,” says Boteach. They’ll begin to believe that they’re not valuable enough. Happy family secret number 12: Encourage sibling harmony Sibling rivalry can be divisive. “I try to speak to my children about how fortunate they are to have siblings,” Boteach says. Happy family secret number 13: Have private jokes Happy families have inside jokes, Syracuse’s Fiese says, “Jokes and nicknames symbolise that this is a group that you belong to and serves as a shorthand for larger experiences,” she says. Happy family secret number 14: Be flexible “This is easier said than done,” says Fiese. “But by their very nature, families change so you have to be open to change in membership and age,” Fiese says. “Somebody gets married, somebody dies, somebody remarries and teenagers are no longer children and young adults are no longer teenagers, but they are all still part of the family.” Happy family secret number 15: Communicate Rose J Perkins, EdD, associate professor of psychology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts, says that a happy family communicate with one another. “Frequently families are set up where everyone tells the mom and then the mom sends the message, but in a happy family, there are more flexible, open lines of communication.” In happy families, “all the members of the family unit are able to communicate openly,” she says. (www.webmd.com/ parenting) ome parents are very adamant about their promises – they never make promises they can’t keep. Other parents have good intentions and promise all kinds of things that look doable in the moment, but then when the actual time to deliver arrives, they fall short. Parents need to be aware of the impact promises have on children. If you think it doesn’t matter, think again. Here are 10 reasons why promises are important to children. * It’s a matter of trust – Our children trust us to keep our word. Little children especially look up to parents with a kind of awe whether or not we are aware of it. Consequently when a promise is made, it is assumed by the child that the promise will be kept. * Leading by example – Some parents like to try the “Do as I say and not as I do” model with their children. Unfortunately this does not work. It can be confusing for younger children and downright distasteful for older children, as it puts parents in a hypocritical light. If we want our children to learn to keep their promises, then we must learn to keep ours. * Teaches integrity – When children see parents following through on their promises, they are seeing a form of integrity in action. They know that whatever mom or dad promises is something they can count on. * Affects discipline – Sometimes parents will promise a particular punishment or consequence for misbehaviour. If those promises are never kept, the child learns that he or she can get away with disobedience because there will be no meaningful consequences. As the child grows older, this practice can become more and more of a problem. * Kept promises teach dependability – Whether it’s going to the zoo or getting grounded for acting up, when parents consistently keep their promises, children learn dependability. It will come as no surprise when electronic privileges get cut off for misconduct. It was promised that they would. By the same token the trip to the amusement park is a sure thing because Mom and Dad promised. * It’s a matter of reputation – Imagine an airline company that always promises to get you to a certain destination and they never deliver. Maybe it’s only one city short of where you expected to go or maybe it’s the next state over. The point is, you would never trust that airline to get you where you want to go and they would have a bad reputation. Parents need to have good reputations with their children if they expect the children to follow their example in becoming good adults. * Teaches about honesty – The last thing you want to hear your child say to you is that you are a liar. Yet, when a child is faced with a broken promise, particularly when the promise was very important, if it isn’t said, you can be pretty sure that is the thought that goes through the child’s mind. Part of keeping a promise has to do with honesty, and this is a trait that we want to develop in our children. * Children will learn to value the promise – When a child grows up with parents who only make promises they can keep, that child learns the value of a promise. That child will grow up to be a person who also only makes promises that he or she can keep. * Keeping a promise shows respect – As children get older respect becomes a big issue with them. They want to receive respect and keeping promises made to them shows them that they are respected. * Parents are the first teachers – As first teachers, everything parents do matters in the lives of the children. This is an important thing to remember. Keeping promises teaches many things, and parents need to be the best teachers their children could ever have. (www.nanny.net) News wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com Republic Bank plugs $1.5M 1823 Monument to be into steel pan programme unveiled in August A round 175 youths will benefit from the fourth PanStart Pan Minors Literacy Programme 2013, organised by the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry with financial support from Republic Bank Guyana Limited. The programme will see youths from Regions Three, Four, Five, Six and 10 being trained to play the steel pan instrument, and is scheduled to be held from July 8 to 25. At a simple ceremony on Thursday at the Guyana School of Music on Brickdam, Republic Bank handed over a cheque of $1.5 million to Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony to finance the project. The cheque was handed over by the bank’s finance and planning department manager, Vanessa Thompson. Anthony lauded the contributions of the bank, describing the relationship which exists with the ministry and the bank as a “model relationship”. Positive development Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony receiving $1.5 million cheque from Republic Bank’s Finance and Planning Department Manager Vanessa Thompson for the fourth PanStart Pan Minors Literacy Programme 2013 music is a very important thing. In other countries like our neighbouring country Venezuela, they have been using music to get into the communities and help with positive social development… we hope we can have such a system… that’s what we are leaning for.” Thriving music school “I hope that other companies can see how to really structure relationships with us, because it is helping with positive development in our community,” he noted. He recalled that the collaboration started with the Panorama steel band competition and grew over the years. The minister underscored that over the years the demand for steel pan workshops in various communities has also grown. Dr Anthony said the ministry is and will continue to create opportunities for persons to play music, adding that it is hoping to use music as a technique to produce improvements in communities. “We feel that music and learning Moving his attention to the music school, he stated that when it was established a few years ago, many people felt it would not go few, since they were sceptical that the ministry could run a music school. However, “we have proven the critics wrong and we are advancing”. He posited that the quality of teaching in the school is high, since it always strives for excellence. “Our passes from the school speaks volumes, because we have been getting a majority of passes, which is excellent… we are not writing a local examination, we are writing an international exam that is highly accredited.” The culture minister emphasised that persons who study music at the school can pass there and go anywhere and play music. Additionally, he highlighted that the school is oversubscribed, noting that more and more persons desire to get into the school but it cannot offer any more places. “Maybe that’s a good thing, we will have to look at how we expand it, we are constantly looking at how we can improve the school, and I am very grateful for the leadership which is being provided by Mr Cecil Bovell and Mr Andrew Tyndall in moving the school forward.” Region Five corrects misleading Stabroek News report T he Region Five administration has dismissed a report in the Stabroek News concerning works on the Burma road, saying that bad weather had stalled the project. In responding to the Stabroek News article captioned: “Burma Road broken up two weeks after $7.5M rehab works”, the administration explained that contract #306/13 for general maintenance of the Burma Branch Road at the cost of $7,495,800 was signed on May 29, between the Regional Democratic Council and contractor Shereaz Bacchus. According to the region, owing to inclement weather, only the mobilisation of equipment, clearing of road shoulders, and the cleaning and the squaring of existing potholes have been done. Additionally, the regional administration said information emanating from its engineering department revealed that so far approximately 10 per cent of the work has been completed. This work was done based on a request from farmers and residents to facilitate easier ingress and egress from the rice mill. “This project had a duration of three weeks initially, work will resume as soon as the weather pattern changes. Further delays are envisaged due to the unpredictable weather pattern. The contract entails placing, and compacting four-inch crusher run into position in isolated sections of the roadway and applying RC250 bitumen which will see the said sections of road being completed to a DBST (Double Bituminous Surface Treatment) surface.” “For all intent and purposes, the regional admin- Pleased Republic Bank’s finance and planning department manager said the bank was pleased to be sponsoring the programme. “We are looking forward to the fruit of this programme, especially when we have our 24-team steel pan competition at the sports hall.” The communication and public relations marketing manager’s assistant Jonelle Dummett added that the bank is happy to support Guyana’s youths yet again and to help in the sustenance and resurgence of the steel pan art form in Guyana. istration wishes to inform the general public that only 20 per cent of mobilisation was paid to the contractor which was supported by an advance mobilisation bond, which was supplied by the contractor to cover the said amount paid.” The RDC said due to the inclement weather, road works as a whole has been put on hold throughout the region. C The site for the 1823 Monument ulture, Youth and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony said the 1823 Monument will be unveiled in August, noting that the sculptor is completing the final touches on the site. Speaking to this publication on Thursday, he stated that what is there now is not the monument, adding that only a bit of the landscaping and pedestal has been completed. “So we now would have to insert some of the things that they would have sculpted onto that, so that process may take another two to three weeks and once that is completed, we will then do the unveiling.” The minister stated that the ministry is looking to unveil the monument sometime on, or around the 190th anniversary of the Demerara Uprising. Minister Anthony added that the ministry has noticed that without even being completed, someone has defaced the structure by throwing paint on it. He also noted that recently the ministry worked with the Walter Rodney Foundation to do some rehabilitation work on his gravesite, but lamented that as soon as the work was completed, the grill work around the grave was vandalised. “People must understand that these are very important sites, they are national figures that we commemorate and we must have respect for these sites.” In light of this, the minister is calling on the public to desist from vandalising monuments and national sites. 8 news wednesday, july 10, 2013\| guyanatimesGY.com Man steals cream liqueur thinking it’s chocolate milk A man was brought before Magistrate Faith McGusty charged with simple larceny on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was alleged that on July 6, at Bounty Supermarket, Water Street, Georgetown, Damion James stole two bottles of cream liqueur valued $1298. The defendant pleaded guilty with explanation. The two bottles of cream liqueur were found hidden in his pants. When the security guard at the supermarket asked him if he could afford to pay for the stolen items, he replied in the negative. He was then taken to Brickdam Police Station. According to the defendant, he was very hungry and when he took the two bottles, he did not know they contained alcohol, as he thought they contained chocolate milk. James was given the option to pay a fine of $10,000 or face two months in prison. The defendant then asked if he could pay $5000 now, and work and pay off the rest. To this, the magistrate said if he looked outside and saw a market stall, he may pay “layaway” or “hire purchase”. The defendant was left standing in the courtroom confused. He was subsequently taken downstairs into the court lockups. Nigerian national charged with illegal entry A Nigerian national appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty charged with illegal entry on Tuesday in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was alleged that on July 1, Anthony Chukuwimeka Aka entered Guyana at Springlands by sea without the consent of an immigration officer. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge read against him. According to Prosecutor Deniro Jones, on July 7, the defendant was arrest- ed at Charity, Essequibo Coast and asked to produce his passport, and he replied that he had none. He was taken into custody where he was further questioned. The defendant said he had entered Guyana without any documents and that he was just passing through. He explained that he was going to Venezuela to work with a friend. The defendant was given the option of paying a $30,000 fine or spending two months in prison, after which he would be deported. Whim man wanted for death of shopkeeper P olice on Tuesday issued a wanted bulletin for Carlton Akeem Bourne for the death of Winston Ragnauth called “Tony”, whose body was found on November 7, 2012, with his throat slit at his home at Whim, Corentyne. Anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of Bourne is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 225-2227, 333-2151 to 3, 333-2191, 337-2225, 911 or at the nearest police station. According to the po- lice, Bourne’s last known address is Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice. Ragnauth was killed during a burglary of his grocery shop. Eyew tness Floating... ...another “Dick Poll” he dyspeptic Alliance For Change (AFC) duo – not Khemraj Ramjattan and Moses Nagamootoo: they’re busy making money with their lawyering – Asquith Rose and Harish S Singh from New York are at it again. Probably unemployed with the U.S. nine per cent unemployment rate, they have oodles of time on their hands. And you know what they say about idle hands being the devil’s tools! In their latest letter, beating the dead horse, that is the AFC, and clearly composed in a fevered state of either the heat of the New York summer or close proximity to the devil’s habitat – they float another “Dick Poll”. You remember the first Dick Poll issued by the AFC, don’t you? The not-cheap American pollster Dick Morris was brought down (you can guess at whose expense) after the AFC was launched. He predicted a victory for the AFC in 2006!!!! It’s an old tactic from the American hustings: bombard the population with fake positive polls for your party and build a “momentum of support” for them. Well the ploy failed then and it’ll fail again. The Dick poll shrunk ignominiously into a tiny “also ran” then and it’ll become even smaller this go around. But imagine the shamelessness of the AFC apologists to knock Bisram’s polls, when in each case he at least got the winner right. This time they didn’t have any Dicks around to concoct some fake polls. But that didn’t faze the AFC scribblers. They simply announced they had the results of a “secret” People’s Progressive Party (PPP) poll, which showed that the AFC got 27 per cent!!! This was opposed to 33 per cent by the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the PPP’s 39 per cent. They probably haven’t recovered from the embarrassment of the expansive Dick Poll: they didn’t claim they’ll win. But what they do say amounts to the same empty dream. They claim that based on these numbers, the PPP will have to work “more closely with APNU and the AFC” by bringing them into the Cabinet!!! So this is what it all boils down to: a “lil Minista wuk”!! ?? We always know this...but here’s it in black and white. So what about their boast that their majority in Parliament is all they need to “serve the people”. However, it looks like the two jokers’ brains were addled by the New York heat. Even based on their cookedup numbers, the PPP will still retain the presidency – and use the powers of the executive to govern on their own. As they’re doing right now, thank you!! T ...trouble The owner of the Muckraker, Mook Lall, still hopes to get a radio station so he can “talk” his opinions as opposed to having his chief factotum Adam Harris writing it out in longhand for him. Reporting on the WPA’s long list of 32 demands written out (in longhand?) by David Hinds to APNU, the Muckraker headlined the report, “WPA picks up the “fight” for the rescinding of radio licences” What Mook Lall should be working on right now is the cleaning up of his “sketchy past” and his character. The chairman of the Broadcasting Commission revealed that she does have a recent application from the Mook for a radio licence. He should know that the character of the applicant is a very big criterion he has to satisfy. We know he has a very long road to travel for rehabilitation – but didn’t they say that the longest journey begins with the first step? As for David Hinds and the WPA, they should be thankful that APNU gave them a “squeeze” the last elections. On their own, they’re dead meat. Be nice to your saviours. ...the new cricket As the Tri-Nation Tournament draws to its final, it’s clear that the WI needs a larger pool of talent to draw from. The Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) should accomplish this as it demands a substantial number local players. Look how the Indians build their reserves. Go Limacol CPL!!! NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013 \| GUYANATIMESGY.COM Unions want UG administration Wakenaam Night funds to aid to control subvention community development projects T he unions representing staff at the University of Guyana (UG) is suggesting that funds approved by Parliament for the payment of salaries and contractual financial benefits to staff must be controlled by the university’s administration and be deposited into a bank account on an annual basis. The proposal was made during a second meeting on Monday between the aggrieved unions, senior administration and Vice Chancellor Dr Jacob Opadeyi to discuss the escalating problems affecting the functioning of the university. University of Guyana Senior Staff Association (UGSSA) Vice President Dr Melissa Ifill said this practice, employed in other regional and international universities would ensure timely payments to staff and eliminate time wastage by senior officials who make monthly treks to the education and finance ministries. More questions Dr Opadeyi facilitated the second meeting with the staff members after an initial meeting on Friday left the unions with more questions than answers. Dr Ifill said the only commitment given to the unions is that staff will be paid promptly for July. However, there was no undertaking to tackle the endemic financial issues beyond that period. According to Dr Ifill, the meeting was conducted in an environment of frank and mutual respect and the unions acknowledged the difficult circumstances under which the new vice chancellor was operating. During the engagement, the unions requested an update on the current financial position of the university and sought the assurance that gross salaries would be paid in a timely manner. “The VC indicated that net salaries would be paid on time for the month of July. However, Professor Opadeyi reported that he could not give assurances that gross salaries would be paid or that salary payments would be made in a timely manner beyond the month of July,” she said. Dr Opadeyi has however pledged to continue making representation on behalf of the unions to the education and finance ministers. Verge of collapse The vice chancellor also provided an update to the unions about the university’s outstanding liabilities and debt, revealing that the country’s premier tertiary institution is on the “verge of a collapse”. Dr Ifill said they were UGSSA Vice President Dr Melissa Ifill told that the university continues to pile up additional debt on a monthly basis and is indebted to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), credit unions, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the medical and pension schemes. She added that temporary staff members continue to feel the brunt of suffering since many of them have not received salaries despite submission of claim forms since earlier 2012. According to her, the unions have again signalled its intention to take legal and industrial action should the administration fail to provide a concise plan with timeframes about the manner in which obligations will be met. The unions also indicated a willingness to support the agenda of the vice chancellor, including the possible implementation of some recommendations contained in the Hamilton Report. Regular meetings “We requested that he solicit support particularly from the academic board and the Committee of Deans. The unions also requested that the VC meet with all faculty and staff on a quarterly or half-yearly basis and honour the undertaking by the UG administration in February 2012 to meet the unions on a monthly basis.” Dr Opadeyi was asked to reconvene the university’s negotiating team as a means of addressing concession related on salaries and benefits. Dr Ifill stated that the unions are also concerned that the life of the council came to an end in June and no effort has been made to have a new council appointed. The unions lamented that this ad-hoc, unplanned approach to the university’s governance by the relevant authorities continues to have a negative impact on the functioning of the campus. Dr Ifill explained that the university’s negotiating team cannot be convened without at least two council members. “Therefore, recommencement of salary negotiations is dependent upon the appointment of a new council or the extension of the life of the current council,” she noted. Dr Ifill added that a scheduled meeting of the Appointment Committee this week has also been cancelled since it requires a complete quorum of council members. This means that new appointments, renewals and extensions of contracts are currently at a standstill although the new academic year is scheduled to commence in just over a month. “The unions repeat its recommendation to the minister of education to appoint persons to the council who are competent and who possess the necessary skill-sets to transform Guyana’s sole national university into an outstanding, creditable tertiary institution,” Dr Ifill said. P roceeds of the upcoming Wakenaam Night will go towards community development projects aimed at showcasing the natural beauty of the island. This is according to the Wakenaam Night Committee Chairman Sheikh Ahmad in a recent interview with Guyana Times. Ahmad noted that the event is slated for August 17 and will seek to attract an increase number of local and international tourists to the island. “The funds we make from the event goes back to the community through projects and the entire event is done in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, it's a community-based venture,” said Ahmad. He continued: “This year, funds will aid the government in the building of the Wakenaam Cottage Hospital Laboratory.” Ahmad noted that the event will consist of an expo, featuring some 25 booths on products of Wakenaam. “There will also be collaboration with other companies from Georgetown which are willing to showcase their products and service to residents of Wakenaam,” said Ahmad, pointing out that the celebrations will also see the return of the Wakenaam Pageant after a two-year absence. “Because of this event, the funds we raised aided in the construction of a community centre... we have made donations to the school and even assist other cultural groups with their endeavours and have aided in development of sport on the island with the funds we raised from the yearly activity,” Ahamad stated. He noted the committee tries to make the event a home-coming activity and along with the Tourism Ministry, has been able to create an affordable package for visitors. “We offer a bed and breakfast service for the tourists who come for Wakenaam Night... we also showcase the industries we have on the island, example our pottery industry .” Wakenaam Night started in 2008 after residents decided to raise funds to build a pavilion for the youths in the community to have a recreational facility. Since then, the dream has been realised through the staging of the event with the pageant as a highlight. The pageant will be used to promote health, fitness and inner beauty among women and children of all ethnic groups, while producing positive role models for the Wakenaam island community. The event is also intended to publicly recognise women empowerment and outstanding businesses. 10 Caricom officials to undergo training to respond to chemical threats I NTERPOL and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) will be hosting a two-day workshop from today, which will enable the member states within the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to develop capabilities to respond to a national or regional emergency related to the accidental or deliberate use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive (CBRNE) materials. The workshop, which will be convened in Kingston, Jamaica, will bring together several senior officials representing law enforcement agencies in the region, as well as policy personnel from foreign affairs and national security ministries from Caricom member states, the Caricom Secretariat said in a release. The objective of this initiative is to acquaint securi- ty planners and law enforcement with best practices and related methodologies integral to the development and implementation of national emergency response systems to strategic threats and to acquaint them with the critical infrastructure needed to develop adequate national and regional response capacities. O’Neil Hamilton, the coordinator of a joint Caricom-United Nations programme aimed at preventing the transshipment, transit or export of CBRNE materials and related technology within the region, has described the workshop as “an important initiative which serves to deepen cooperation between the international community and Caricom states in facing non-traditional security and potential public health challenges. This also broadens our focus and capability beyond responding to natu- ral disasters to also include events that are of an unconventional nature, resulting from an accident or deliberate action”. The workshop also represents an expanded engagement between INTERPOL, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs and Caricom member states to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction within the Caribbean and to adequately equip regional first responders with the necessary training and expertise to effectively deal with the aftermath of a national catastrophe, particularly resulting from exposure to chemical biological or radiological agents. In addition to delegations from Caricom member states, the meeting will also be attended by Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch of the United Nations chief Dr Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack. Man held with semi-automatic pistol P olice early Tuesday morning arrested a man with an illegal gun during a patrol exercise in Georgetown. In a release, police said about 01:30h on Tuesday, ranks of a mobile police patrol stopped and searched a man at Front Road, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, in whose possession an unlicensed .32 semiautomatic pistol was found. He is in police custody assisting with investigations. Honeymoon trouble? S atiricus was caught by surprise with WAPPA’s public announcement that they disagreed with the tactics of APANU. They wanted more confrontation against the government. Satiricus always thought that when you formed a coalition, it was sorta like marriage. You’d disagree every now and then but you kept your voices down so the neighbours wouldn’t hear that all wasn’t sunshine and peaches. Especially when the marriage was so new...not even two years. “Why!” thought Satiricus, “the honeymoon isn’t even over yet.” But Satiricus did have some intimations from the beginning that there might be trouble ahead. Satiricus knew from his own (bitter) experience that even when there were only two persons in a marriage, things could get tricky...if not rocky. “Imagine what’ll happen when there are 10 parties in this marriage called APANU!” Satiricus had mused. Satiricus was a monogamous-minded fellow but he told himself philosophically, “different strokes for different folks”. And if it took 10 parties to do the stroking, then so be it. Who was he to tell others what to do? But Satiricus did wonder what the other parties to the polygamous marriage were doing. Shouldn’t they be telling WAPPA “Hush!!”?? But just like the old Tradewinds song about a “Honeymooning Couple”, the argument seemed to be about who should be “on top”. And there wasn’t even a “ting a ling a ling” in the air – just the bullying tones of David Hands. Poor GrainJa. Seems that he was ambushed. “Like most husbands are,” thought Satiricus ruefully. In such situations, his only response was to wail plaintively, “What did I do now?” Not that it ever helped. The cold shoulder or worse was what he got. He thought that the polite and proper GrainJa was getting “worse” from the loud mouthed Hands. Satiricus wanted to know how could Hands give GrainJa an ultimatum when there were eight other presumably equal partners in the marriage. Was GrainJa supposed to ignore the other partners? Satiricus didn’t think that would’ve been fair. But Satiricus had heard that in these polygamous relationships, there was often one “favourite” who thought they had more rights that the others. Was WAPPA the favourite? Were they first among equals? “Hmmmm,” thought Satiricus, “there might be something to this...” Look at how Roop Na Rain had been made second in command in APANU. Satiricus had always thought the old Queens school tie between GrainJa and Roop Na Rain had to mean something. So maybe Hands and the rest of the WPA were not in the inner circle? Maybe they thought Roop Na Rain was making deals on his own? Satiricus’ head was beginning to spin. He figured that he’d stick to one partner and that maybe GrainJa and APANU might be better off doing the same. 11 News wednesday, July 10, 2013 Problem of inequality not easy to solve – OAS O rganisation of American States (OAS) General Secretary José Miguel Insulza on Monday participated in the United Nations “Thematic debate on inequality” held at UN headquarters in New York, urging a level playing field, but acknowledging that the problem of inequality is not easy to solve. The debate was organised by UN General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic, and was attended by the Guyana Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena, among other officials and representatives of international organisations and agencies of the UN system. Timeliness In his speech, the leader of the hemispheric organisation recognised the “timeliness” of the event convened by the president of the UN General Assembly, “which comes as many countries around the world have recently witnessed protest movements attributed to a widespread perception of inequality”. Although these protests have been caused by diverse factors, he said, “they have similar characteristics and feature new protagonists: they are mass movements that bring together various actors, especially young people. Their common theme is the demand that, given the state of development of their countries, they are entitled to a more just distribution of income or social benefits from society and the state. What is behind these protests is the public demand for economic, political and social equality.” The conference was opened by Jeremic, the host of the event, who thanked the OAS for its “significant assistance in organising this thematic debate” and emphasised the “invaluable contribution that Secretary General Insulza has made to the high level advisory panel “which is helping to reflect on the future of multilateralism in our increasingly globalised and interdependent world”. Social justice Referring to the subject of the debate, President Jeremic said that “the struggle for social justice, together with the aspiration to mitigate inequality has been a universal quest for millennia, inscribed in the holy books of humanity’s great faiths.” Therefore, he added, “to tackle social inequality is a moral duty, a political necessity and an imperative for the due protection of human rights”. For his part, United Nations General Secretary Ban Kimoon said that “in a time of profound change and considerable uncertainty, the Millennium Development Goals have been remarkably successful in generating global actions across a range of issues”. Nevertheless, he re- OAS General Secretary José Miguel Insulza called that, although 600 million people have risen from extreme poverty, “social and economic inequalities can tear the social fabric, undermine social cohesion and prevent nations from thriving. That’s why equality is emerging as a central plank in the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda”. Secretary General Ban Kimoon opened the discussion by calling for the identification of solutions to the economic and financial crises, bring universal benefits. “We will need to create about 470 million new jobs between 2015 and 2030,” he said, and concluded that “tackling inequality, eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity should be at the heart of the sustainable agen- da of the United Nations”. In his speech, Secretary General Insulza explained that Latin America has reduced poverty substantially in recent years, “but this important achievement has been accompanied by only a very marginal reduction in the gap between the lowest and highest incomes in society”. “Although poverty has dropped to 30 per cent of the population of Latin America, that figure is still high for a region with our level of development,” he said. Moreover, he noted factors such as discrimination, vulnerability and social exclusion that exacerbate the effects of inequality, especially in the case of indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and rural populations. Factors of inequality The head of the hemispheric organisation also cited unemployment, access to education, health, housing quality, and social security as factors that set the parameters of inequality in the world and said that it is not just a matter of distribution, because throughout the hemisphere, “more than 250 million people lack health insurance”. The secretary general further analysed the causes of rising inequality, stating that “it is usual to attribute the phenomenon to ‘positive’ factors of economic growth: there is a much greater demand for and higher salaries paid to skilled professionals, the reward for talent, risk and innovation, the road to global competitiveness provided by greater access to markets, etc,” but he recalled that “even if one accepts that inequality is caused by changing market conditions, it is clear that we will not find solutions in the market to address it. The sustained increase in inequality has occurred over the last four decades, when some began to proclaim that “the state is part of the problem, not the solution.” Public policies At the end of his presentation, the OAS secretary general insisted the problem of inequality “is not simple one to solve, because as we have seen, greater equality does not come as a result of economic growth”. He therefore advocated seeking to reduce inequality through public policies focused on providing greater opportunities, “increasing social mobility through better education and health care, equal access to credit as well as housing, transportation and public safety services”. The development of these policies today faces also an “additional obstacle” which is the loss of confidence in institutions that affects many countries, he said. “This makes it difficult to undertake changes that involve an increase in resources to finance public policies and strengthen institutions. Regaining that trust by undertaking a deep reform of our institutions is the great challenge of the political class in our hemisphere,” he concluded. 12 news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimeSGY.com Police record three per cent Nursing body seeks govt subvention to finance operations hike in serious crimes A n overall increase of three per cent in serious crimes has been recorded at the end of June 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012, the Guyana Police Force said on Monday. The total number of reports of serious crimes made between January 1 and June 30 was 1979 compared to 1923 for the same period in 2012. Some of the offences monitored are murder, robbery under arms, robbery with violence, larceny from the person, break and enter and larceny, burglary, rape and kidnapping. A total of 60 murders were recorded at the end of June in comparison to 62 murders for the same period in 2012. Of the 60 murders this year, 28 were of the disorderly type, nine were committed during armed robberies, one was execution type, and six were domestic-related, while the other 16 are so far undetermined. At the end of June, robbery under arms overall has decreased by seven per cent, with 472 reports compared to 509 for the same period in 2012. The statistics indicate a decrease of five per cent in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms and a 10 per cent decrease in armed robberies where instruments other than firearms were used by the perpetrators. Meanwhile, in relation to traffic, there has been an increase of 16 road fatalities at the end of June 2013 in comparison to the same period in 2012, with 56 fatalities from 53 accidents in 2013 compared to 40 fatalities from 38 accidents during 2012. The pe- riod January 1 to June 30, saw reductions in relation to the other categories of traffic accidents – serious, minor and damage. So far, pedestrians have been the main road users affected with 17 such persons having lost their lives at the end of June. In addition, 10 motorcyclists, 10 pedal cyclists, seven drivers of motor vehicles, two pillion riders and 10 passengers of motor vehicles also lost their lives. Speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents and was the cause of 41 of the 53 fatal accidents recorded at the end of June. Traffic enforcement by the police during the period January to June resulted in a total of 43,688 cases being made against errant motorists; of this total, 10,863 cases were for speeding. Two held for fire at Charity guest house T wo men have been arrested for a fire that destroyed a guest house at Charity, Essequibo Coast early Tuesday morning. Police apprehended the two suspects in relation to the fire. One of the suspects is at Charity Police Outpost while the other is hospitalised at the Charity Oscar Joseph Hospital under guard. Millions of dollars went up in flames after the interior of the guest house was badly burnt. The facility is owned by a popular businessman, Forbes Burnette of Charity Housing Scheme. According to the mother of the businessman, Burtly Burnette, her family was informed of the fire around 01:30h on Tuesday. The mother said she was told that the men in custody are the ones who set the building alight. The mother said millions of dollars worth in furniture was damaged. She said the exterior of the building was not damaged owing to prompt actions by public-spirited citizens. The Georgetown School of Nursing Annex where the General Nursing Council is housed General Nursing Council’s Registrar Donneth Kellman he General Nursing Council (GNC) is courting the government for a yearly subvention to help finance its operations, a top official at the body said. The council said it is unable to effectively execute its mandate due to lack of adequate funds. Registrar of the council Donneth Kellman told Guyana Times in a recent interview that the GNC depends heavily on fees generated through registration, examination, certificates, badges and verification to offset expenses which include the payment of salaries to its five staff. “From the money received, we have to pay the panel of markers, invigilators and whatever is left, we use for salary and pay out utility bills,” Kellman explained. While the council has been able to conduct examinations for registration of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants, it has been unable to inspect nursing schools and hospitals to ensure they operate in keeping with the stipulated guidelines. Kellman said the council could better execute its mandate with financial assistance from the Health Georgetown School of Nursing Annex in Kingston, an environment which has been described as spacious and comfortable. In July 2009 when the Health Ministry was set ablaze, the council had no other option than to relocate. From 2009 to January 2013, it was housed at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Chief Medical Officer Dr Shamdeo Persuad, when contacted, told Guyana Times that the Health Ministry continues to analyse the possibility of offering financial assistance to the council, noting that the budget remains a challenge. He said in addition to accommodation, the ministry assists in the payment of bills to ease the burden. The council was inaugurated on March 26, 1954, with a mandate to conduct examinations for registration of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants. Additionally, the council is responsible for the establishment and enhancing of standards of education and practice, in addition to determining entry requirements for programmes of study leading to admission to register. T Ministry. “We are hoping that in order to function better, we would need financial support from the ministry in terms of subvention so that we can conduct our training; this is the continuing nursing education programme, conduct inspections.” According to the registrar, the council has made several requests to the ministry, but to no avail. “We made a request approximately three years ago but they said it was late and they did not budget for it, and so as recent as this year, we sought financial assistance and we are still waiting on a response.” Questioned about a proposed sum that would enable the council to effectively execute its duties, the registrar said, “we didn’t really come up with a sum, we left it open for them to decide”. Kellman said while the Health Ministry provides accommodation for the GNC, there is a need for further support. “They promised that they will supply us with furniture and greater security since we moved in here, but till now we are still waiting.” In January, the GNC was transferred to the news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com Small businesses blossoming, says Republic Bank specialist R epublic Bank Marketing Specialist Josaun Edmondson said there has been a tremendous growth in the development of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) on the local landscape over the past years. Edmondson, who is responsible for small and medium-scale lending, stated that the bank has noticed an overwhelming growth in SME which has forced the institution to introduce the new portfolio which he holds. “As of 2012, we have seen tremendous growth in small and medium scale business activity and this has led to the creation of my position,” the marketing specialist remarked. Necessary support Edmondson oversees and ensures small businesses receive the necessary support which they require to assist them in development and eventually expansion. “Because like the employed people, self-employed customers also have their individual needs and are unique in their business dealings,” the lending officer related. Edmondson pointed to the fact that in the most advanced economies, SMEs make up close to 70 per cent of the income generated; which emphasises its significance. He explained that Republic Bank is working on implementing various ways of offering more support to this unique group of entrepreneurs. According to Edmondson, Republic Bank will be sponsoring Empretec’s Venture Out 2013 prizes for the best loan proposal. The benefit of the loan prize is that it would be collateralfree with no required security and will offer a very preferential interest rate, which is extremely lower than offered to regular customers. The marketing specialist revealed that the three prizes for the best business loan proposals are $400,000 and two $300,000 prizes. He explained that based on the specifications and needs of the Venture Out group, Republic Bank has decided to lend within that bracket. “This can probably evolve during the coming years, but Republic Bank has seen the need to extend our sponsorship even further. We have been doing this since 2010 and we actually see the need to extend our interest in small businesses,” Edmondson disclosed. Processing He noted that once a proposal is submitted by the entrepreneur, it is forward to the bank after perusal by Empretec and processed within a month. “You will receive response as to the winners, who will then submit income statements, financial statements and whatever is needed.” Commenting on the quality of loan proposals, Edmondson mentioned that Empretec will introduce a more in-depth training on the business proposal writing. “At Republic Bank, it is not a requirement, when you come in you have to do this elaborate business proposal. It’s merely a discussion between you and the loan officer.” However, since it is not expected of the loan officer to remember the details of such discussions, the proposal is necessary to provide a synopsis of relevant information that is required by the banking officials so as to make a decision on a specific case. Edmondson encouraged other female entrepreneurs to join in the coming years and stated that every business will be regarded on a case-by-case basis since there are variations in the loan needs. He acknowledged that businesses will have rainy days, but must keep the bank informed so that representation can be made and consideration can be given to the struggling customers. According to Edmondson, a person who has a previous good reputation with the bank will have an advantage and can consult the bank beyond the required age limit. Addressing the issue of timely processing, Edmondson pointed out that the absence of the Credit Reporting Bureau has also prevented a speedy consideration of the loans and the bank is also working with the relevant authorities to fast track this. Be transparent He urged entrepreneurs to be transparent, keep good records and practice prudent marketing strategies. “While banks have the ability to lend the customers, they also have an obligation to ensure debt repayment is honoured and businesses grow,” Edmondson added. Senior Small and Micro Enterprise Officer Debra Yan reported that one of the areas in which Republic Bank will be placing increasing emphasis is the education and empowerment of customers. “In so doing, we seek new opportunities in this area and our focus continues to be strong in this regard. We have observed the core needs and opportunities for women entrepreneurs are different from those of their male counterparts.” Yan noted that Republic Bank has seen the opportunity for bridging the gap in order to assist women entrepreneurs with the potential for the level of success, which they can achieve. “We are aware that times are changing and businesses in general continue to evolve. The way business is done today is vastly different from 20, 10 or five years ago,” the small businesses officer related. She said that increasing competition has forced businesses to be innovative in order to adopt and survive. “And we want to prepare as many of our customers as possible to embrace these continuous changes,” Yan said. Republic Bank has diverse tools for small and micro enterprise development, including a Caribbean SME toolkit, which is a means of inspiring entrepreneurs to greater heights. 160 graduate from IT courses O ne hundred and sixty persons graduated from several Information Technology (IT) courses held at Albion, Region Six last Saturday. Region Six Chairman David Armogan speaking at the graduation ceremony said that government recognises the importance of IT, because without it, “we will be unable to compete and will not be in line with development”. The six month programme was held in collaboration with GuySuCo, Albion Estate. Armogan noted that the courses will help to empower women so that they can supplement their incomes. “You will be able to find jobs for yourselves and you can also find jobs which will allow you to work at home.” Armogan noted that as part of the Peoples Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C) 2011 manifesto, job creation is one of the major goals of the current administration. One of the areas the party focused on is information technology. “Thousands of jobs will be created through call centres. This type of skill which you now have provides unique opportunities for persons who did not go to high grades in school to access information and to Region Six Chairman David Armogan presents a certificate to one of the graduates do business from home through the computer.” The courses targeted beginners as well as those at the intermediate and advanced levels. Armogan noted that the government has been financing the programme through GuySuCo for the past 19 years. “It brings people of different backgrounds and ages together so that they can interact and share ideas from an age perspective.” The estate conducts two sets of courses each year. Since the programme commenced in 2001, thousands of persons have benefited. 14 guyanatimesgy.com Regional St Lucia's airport closes as Tropical TT PM to Dr Rowley: Hand over the criminal Storm Chantal approaches P rime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar has called on Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley to give up the whistleblower who passed him the information on the Section 34 emails, saying that person had misled Rowley to lie in Parliament. “The person responsible for this defamation, this libel must pay for that. Hand over the criminal, Dr Rowley,” Persad-Bissessar said during the United National Congress’ Monday Night Forum in Warrenville, Cunupia. “You must come clean to the country and tell the public who was the fabricator of this evil.” Persad-Bissessar made the comment to supporters after earlier making reference to media report which quoted acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams as saying the emails were a fabrication. Rowley produced the emails in the parliament during a no-confidence motion against PersadBissessar on May 20. The emails allege efforts to undermine the judiciary, the office of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and the media. Persad-Bissessar and her colleagues have denied any knowledge of the emails, but the prime minister mandat- T Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar ed Williams to probe the complaint, and he in turn appointed Richardson to head a sixmember investigating team. Monday’s report marked the first time that Williams had spoken about the authenticity of the emails. He, however, noted that the police were still probing whether the content of the emails represented actual conversations between individuals in the "Emailgate" probe. (Excerpt from Trinidad Guardian) he government of St Lucia closed the George F Charles Airport midnight on Monday due the impending passage of Tropical Storm Chantal. As a result the regional carrier, LIAT has been forced to cancel several flights in and out of the island on Tuesday. According to a release from LIAT, an assessment was made by the St Lucian authorities at 11:00h on Tuesday to determine the time for reopening the airport. Other precautionary measures have also been implemented as Tropical Storm Chantal approaches the Lesser Antilles. At a pre-strike meeting of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) in St Lucia on Monday, Police According to the release from LIAT, an assessment was to be made by the St Lucian authorities at 11:00h on Tuesday to determine the time for reopening the airport Commissioner Vernon Francois announced the cancellation of leave for police officers, with the exception of those on vacation leave. During the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony, it was also announced that all schools will be closed on Tuesday and will remain closed until this morning, unless advised otherwise. In Barbados, local emergency services have been placed on full alert and the Department of Emergency Management activated the emergency operations centre at 21:30h and also open Category One shelters from 18:00h to facilitate persons who wish to shelter there. (Excerpt from Caribbean360) U.S. bill boosts Antigua- Two Jamaican farmers Venezuela’s Maduro spurs on Snowden in asylum bid Barbuda’s WTO case found murdered T he increased push by American legislators to legalise online gambling within U.S. borders bodes well for Antigua and Barbuda in the ongoing World Trade Organisation (WTO) cross-border trade dispute. “This is of considerable benefit to us… It vindicates what we have said all along,” lead counsel for Antigua and Barbuda in the matter, Mark Mendel, said to local and regional media during the taping for Sunday evening’s Media Roundtable programme on ABS. Mendel was referencing a new bill introduced by U.S. Congressman Peter King in June. If passed, The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act of 2013 would federally legalise online gambling in the U.S. The legislation would also allow U.S. states, including New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada – all of which have legalised Internet gambling, in some form – to continue to offer these services. Beginning in 1998, the U.S. breached its commitments to members of the WTO under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) by enacting laws that prevented foreignbased operators from offering gambling and betting services to its citizens, crippling Antigua and Barbuda’s burgeoning gaming industry. (Excerpt from Caribbean News Now) T he farming community in the eastern parish of St Thomas has been shaken by the deadly attack on two of its members. The bodies of two brothers, both farmers, were found late Monday on the farm they operated in the community of Golden Grove in the parish. The police report that family members became concerned when the brothers failed to return home at the usual time. A search was launched by residents and shortly after 18:00h their bodies were found with gunshot wounds to their heads. Up to early Tuesday morning, investigators were still at the crime scene. Mexico: Confusion over unreliable Baja California vote count M exican election officials have sparked confusion by announcing the result of a key local election, and later saying that their count was unreliable. Both the opposition and the governing party claimed victory in Sunday’s vote in Baja California state. The opposition, initially declared the winner, has threatened to withdraw cooperation with the federal government on a reform package agreed last year. Officials have ordered a recount, to be finalised by the weekend. Mexicans in 14 states out of 31 federal entities voted for regional assemblies and municipal governments, but the only governorship up for grabs was in Baja California. The opposition National Action Party (PAN) took control of Baja California in The opposition candidate was first declared the winner, then told he must wait 1989, and it has remained one of their most important power bases. Electoral officials announced on Monday that 97 per cent of the votes in Baja California had been counted, and that the PAN candidate was three percentage points ahead of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate. However, electoral coun- cil spokeswoman Helga Casanova said errors in the count meant the result “should not be considered reliable”. A recount would begin on today and will last until the weekend, she said. PAN officials have suggested they could pull out of the so-called Pact for Mexico if the election issues are not sorted out. (Excerpt from BBC News) And in the Corporate Area, sections of the busy Red Hills road were blocked following an incident in which two men were fatally shot during a confrontation with the police. The protest was triggered by the death of two brothers – Sayoga and Gary Cooke, who were travelling in a car along Karl Samuda Avenue in the area. The residents say the men were stopped by the police and shortly afterwards explosions were heard, the brothers were rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead. The roadblocks were cleared by the police; however, the residents have vowed to continue their protest. (Excerpt from Caribbean360) V enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that his government had received the asylum application of Edward Snowden and called on the fugitive whistleblower to decide if he wants to fly to Caracas. “We have received the asylum request letter,” Maduro told reporters from the presidential palace. “He will have to decide when he flies, if he finally wants to fly here.” “We told this young man, ‘you are being persecuted by the empire, come here’,” Maduro added, referring to the United States. Snowden was also offered asylum in fellow Latin American left- ist nations Bolivia and Nicaragua over the weekend. On Sunday, the 30-yearold former National Security Agency contractor won the support of Cuba – a key transit point from Russia to the southern continent – in his quest to seek sanctuary from the United States. “We support the sovereign rights of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and all the regional states to grant asylum to those who are being persecuted for their ideals or their fight for democratic rights,” Cuban leader Raul Castro said, although he did no indicate whether his country would itself offer refuge to Snowden. (Excerpt from France24) Colombia extradites drug lord Daniel Barrera to U.S. C olombia has extradited one of the country’s most notorious drug lords to the U.S., officials have said. Daniel Barrera, known as “El Loco” (The Madman), was caught last year in Venezuela, and sent back to Colombia. While on the run he had cosmetic surgery and tried to burn his fingerprints to conceal his identity. He was convicted on drugs charges in Colombia in 1990 but escaped. He is wanted in the U.S. on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. At the height of his powers, he is believed to have controlled smuggling routes from Colombia through Venezuela to Central America and eventually the U.S. He is thought to have Both the U.S. and Colombia had offered a reward for Daniel Barrera’s arrest transported hundreds of tonnes of cocaine and accrued a vast fortune over almost two decades. Barrera, now 51, was arrested in Venezuela in September 2012 while making a call in a phone booth. He only ever used public telephones to communicate with his family and allies, in an attempt to avoid his calls being traced. The U.S. had offered US$5 million (£3 million) for information leading to his arrest and Colombia added an additional US$2.7 million to that reward. Colombian national police chief Jose Roberto Leon said Tuesday’s extradition showed other criminals they were better off turning themselves in. (BBC News) 15 Around the World Egypt’s army warns U.S. considers pulling all troops from Afghanistan over disruption T after Morsi ousting E guyanatimesgy.com gypt’s defence minister has warned against any attempt to disrupt the country’s “difficult” transition. His statement comes almost a week after the army deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and appointed top judge Adly Mansour as interim leader. Supporters of Morsi have been holding demonstrations against his ousting. Meanwhile, Mansour has been trying to shore up his position by appointing Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister. Hazem el-Beblawi served as finance minister during the period of military rule wednesday, July 10, 2013 Pro-Morsi supporters say they are willing to die for their cause in the aftermath of Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow. He told BBC Arabic that he would be choosing his ministers based on experi- ence and efficiency, but said it was “difficult for me to specify when” he would finish forming the government. Mansour has also ap- pointed liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei as deputy president with responsibility for foreign affairs. He has issued a temporary constitution and a timetable for transition leading to new elections early next year. The ultra-conservative Nour party said it was still studying the nomination of ElBaradei, a former head of the United Nations nuclear agency. His candidacy as prime minister foundered earlier in the week when Nour objected. The party withdrew from talks to form a new government, but reports on Tuesday suggested it was back on board. (Excerpt from BBC News) he U.S. is considering pulling out all its troops from Afghanistan next year, U.S. officials said, amid tension between the President Barack Obama’s administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government. Obama is committed to wrapping up U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but the United States has been talking with officials in Afghanistan about keeping a small residual force there of perhaps 8000 troops. U.S. officials did not deny a report that Obama has become increasingly frustrated by his dealings with Karzai. Their relationship fell to new depths after last month’s U.S. move to open peace talks with the Taliban, which led Karzai to suspend talks on a security pact between the two allies. A June 27 video conference between Obama and Karzai aimed at lowering tensions ended poorly, the New York Times reported, citing U.S. and Afghan officials with knowledge of the conversation. Senior Afghan figures close to Karzai were skeptical that Washington would consider a complete withdrawal. “Both sides understand how to pressure each other. But both the U.S. and Afghanistan fully understand the need for foreign troops, especially U.S. ones, to stay beyond 2014 and that it is vital for security here and in the wider region,” a top palace official told Reuters on Tuesday on condition of anonymity. (Excerpt from Reuters) Ohio kidnap victims break Sudan signs deal with silence in "thank you" video Chinese firm to build The three women held captive for a decade in Cleveland, Ohio, issued a video on Tuesday, thanking the public for their support T hree women who police say were held captive in a Cleveland home for about a decade have issued a video in which they thanked the public for the encouragement and financial support that are allowing them to restart their lives. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight broke their public silence in the three-minute, 30-second video posted Monday night on YouTube. They said the support and prayers of family, friends and the public are allowing them to rebuild their lives after what Berry called “this entire ordeal.” Car bomb rips through southern Beirut neighbourhood A car bomb rocked a stronghold of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday morning, injuring dozens of people in a southern suburb of the capital. Fifty-three people were hurt in the blast in the Bir El Abed neighbourhood, Lebanese Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV. Thirteen of them remained hospitalised Tuesday afternoon in stable condition, he said. The blast erupted in a parking lot near the Islamic Cooperation Centre, a super- market, the National News Agency reported. Video from the scene broadcast on Al-Manar showed vehicles ablaze, black smoke billowing aloft. Fire crews doused the flames as authorities kept the crowds back. The explosion affected the lower floors of surrounding buildings, blowing out windows and damaging balconies, NNA reported. Witnesses said that crowds hurled bottles at the interior minister, Marwan Charbel, as he was touring the site, and he fled. (Excerpt from CNN) The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old. In the video, none of the women had any visible scars of the abuse they said they suffered at the hands of Ariel Castro, who has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped them off the streets and held them captive in his twostory home. They were smiling and appeared upbeat. Castro, a 52-year-old former bus driver, fathered a six-year-old daughter with Berry and is accused of starving and punching Knight, causing her to miscarry. He was arrested on May 6, shortly after Berry broke through a door at the home and yelled to neighbours for help. (Excerpt from France24) new airport in Khartoum T he Sudanese government and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) signed on Monday a contract for the construction of Khartoum’s new airport at a cost of US$700 million with an implementation period of about 40 months. Sudan Airports Holding Company Director Mohamed Abdul-Aziz and the CHEC director signed the contract in the presence of the Sudanese finance minister and the Chinese ambassador in Khartoum. “Khartoum’s new international airport is a dream that all Sudanese people are looking forward to. This project is an addition to Sudan and Africa, as it serves to link the African countries with the Middle East and also helps in the recovery of economy and trade in Sudan”, said Sudan’s Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud when addressing the signing ceremony on Monday. “The cost of this project, to be implemented by the Chinese CHEC, amounts to 700 million U.S. dollars with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China,” the minister said, stressing the importance of the standing cooperation between Sudan and China in the way that “achieves the common interests of the two peoples”. The Chinese Ambassador in Khartoum, Luo Xiaoguang said: “We are glad to celebrate this occasion and this strategic project, which comes as part of developing the infrastructure of the Republic of Sudan within the context of the long-time relations between the two countries.” Khartoum’s new airport lies about 40 kilometres from the centre of the capital. The airport will have two runways, with a total area of 79 square km and an internal operational area of 20 square km. The new project also includes an international hotel with 300 double rooms, an advanced conference centre, businessmen centre and a mall of 8000 square metres. Late nights sap children’s brain power L ate nights and lax bedtime routines can blunt young children’s minds, research suggests. The findings on sleep patterns and brain power come from a UK study of more than 11,000 sevenyear-olds. Youngsters who had no regular bedtime or who went to bed later than 21:00h had lower scores for reading and math. Lack of sleep may disrupt natural body rhythms and impair how well the brain learns new information say the study authors. They gathered data on the children at the ages of three, five and then seven Late nights may have knock-on effects to find out how well they were doing with their learning and whether this might be related to their sleeping habits. Erratic bedtimes were most common at the age of three, when around one in five of the children went to bed at varying times. By the age of seven, more than half the children had a regular bedtime of between 19:30h and 20:30h. Overall, children who had never had regular bedtimes tended to fare worse than their peers in terms of test scores for reading, math and spatial awareness. The impact was more obvious throughout early childhood in girls than in boys and appeared to be cumulative. The researchers, led by Professor Amanda Sacker from University College London, said it was possible that inconsistent bedtimes were a reflection of chaotic family settings and it was this, rather than disrupted sleep, that had an impact on cognitive performance in children. (Excerpt from BBC News) 16 Africa Caribbean New work permit policy enhances The G8 tax measures open opportunity for Africa he decision by rich paying taxes. where they reported losses Bahamas financial services sector F oreign business professionals travelling to The Bahamas solely for meetings for a less than two-week stay will no longer require a shortterm work permit, Guardian Business can confirm. As The Bahamas looks to maintain its position as a worldclass financial services centre, Financial Services Minister Ryan Pinder said this newest policy is part of the government’s commit- ment to make doing business in The Bahamas easier. “Through consultations with the Financial Services Ministry, we became aware of the need for clarification on certain matters relating to immigration policies and especially for those who come to The Bahamas for short-term business trips, who don’t come for any kind of compensation or remuneration,” he told reporters last week. He noted that the Financial Services Ministry is partnering with the Department of Immigration to ensure that there is efficient entry into The Bahamas for business meetings. Dr Nicola VirgilRolle, director of financial services, pointed out that the movement of foreigners throughout The Bahamas for international business, finance and trade is expected and encouraged. (Caribbean News Now) North America T countries to clamp down on multinationals that avoid paying taxes has been described as a ‘game-changer’ by the African Tax Administration Forum. The commitments made by G8 countries at their summit in June are expected to improve the environment and make it more practical for tax agencies to tax multinationals which use complex structures in multiple countries to avoid “This is one hell of an opportunity,” said Logan Wort, executive secretary of the platform whose mandate is to promote and facilitate mutual co-operation among African tax administrations. According to Wort, the decision to have tax authorities automatically share information would give tax agencies an understanding of how much and where a particular multinational paid in taxes, how much is due and and profits. This, Wort told a group of African journalists at ATAF’s Pretoria headquaters, would be particularly beneficial in industries that are currently booming in Africa such as financial services, telecommunications and construction. The G8 summit also agreed that multinationals should declare the taxes they pay on a country-by-country basis. (allAfrica) Asia Barnes and Noble CEO William Lynch resigns, China’s inflation rate rises to 2.7 per cent retailer struggles with weak sales, big losses hina’s inflation rate ment’s target figure of 3.5 and Zhi Xiaojia expect au- B arnes and Noble Inc said William Lynch has stepped down as CEO, effective immediately, just weeks after the book retailer announced weak sales, big losses and the declining popularity of its Nook e-readers. Lynch’s resignation comes after just three years in the role. No successor was named, but the New York company said that it is reviewing its strategic plan and will provide an update “when appropriate”. Shares fell nearly five per cent in after-hours trading on the news. In the wake of his departure, Chief Financial Officer Michael Huseby will become president of the company and CEO of its Nook Media unit. Controller Allen Lindstrom will succeed Huseby as CFO. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, CEO of Barnes and Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, the company’s chairman and largest shareholder with a nearly 30 per cent stake. Riggio declined an interview through a company spokeswoman. The news did not surprise some analysts. “The board lost confidence in Lynch. Investors lost confidence,” Belus Capital Markets analyst Brian Sozzi said. (The Washington Post) Europe C rose by more than expected in June, increasing to 2.7 per cent from 2.1 per cent the month before. Food price inflation was 4.9 per cent in June, compared with 3.2 per cent in May, with rising pork prices partly to blame. While the headline inflation number was above analysts’ expectations, it remains below the govern- per cent. Analysts say the latest figure reduces the prospect of interest rate cuts in 2013. Cutting interest rates risks inflating a property bubble, while tightening may put additional pressure on the economy in the middle of the current global economic uncertainty. Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Lu Ting thorities to keep monetary policy neutral with “neither easing nor tightening”. China expects economic growth this year to be 7.5 per cent – which would be the slowest rate in 23 years for the country. The government is due to release data on gross domestic product for the second quarter of the year on July 15. (BBC News) Middle East Euro gets 18th member: tiny Latvia JLT free zone on verge of becoming atvia will adopt the pendence from the Soviet in Greece threatened to tor- UAE’s biggest L euro from the beginning of next year, becoming the 18th member of a currency union that just a year ago risked disintegration due to the credit crisis. European Union finance ministers gave the ex-Soviet state on the Baltic Sea the green light Tuesday to swap its currency – the lat – for euros starting on January 1, 2014 following recommendations from EU officials and the European Central Bank. Latvia gained its inde- Union in 1991 and joined the EU and NATO in 2004. It has a population of two million – nearly 30 per cent of Russian origin – and annual gross domestic product of 22 billion euros (US$28 billion), equivalent to just 0.2 per cent of eurozone output. It will be the fourth smallest member of the currency area, ahead of Cyprus, Estonia and Malta. Talk of a eurozone break up reached fever pitch early last year as a political crisis pedo its rescue by EU partners and the International Monetary Fund. The ECB’s pledge in July 2012 to backstop the euro restored market calm. But nerves were jangled again earlier this year when the Mediterranean island of Cyprus went into meltdown, triggering a bailout that imposed losses on savers, a massive downsizing of its banking industry and an aggressive austerity programme. (CNN Money) Market statistics Cambio Rates Gold Prices – Guyana Gold Board Bank of Guyana Fixed as at June 18, 2013 Calculated at 94% purity Buying PM 1255.50 844.89 977.80 PM 1235.25 827.36 959.72 D ubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, which is based in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, is on the verge of becoming the largest free zone in the UAE, with the number of registered companies on track to surpass 7000 this quarter. DMCC executive chairman Ahmed Bin Sulayem said he has no plans to stop growing, even beyond doubling the figures. Jebel Ali is currently the largest free zone in the UAE. The authority recently announced it would build the world’s tallest commercial tower within its 107,000 square metre business park expansion. “I don’t want the story to end at 10,000 or 12,000 offices. I want it to be even bigger than that, maybe even double,” Bin Sulayem said. “That’s my aspiration, and building the tallest tower gives me that confidence that at least after it’s all Investors' guide said and done we left nothing to chance.” More than 1200 new companies joined the free zone during the first half of 2013, the same figure as the entire year of 2011 and 30 per cent more than the same period last year. A record 260 firms were registered in April alone. About 65,000 people now live and work in the area, which has 65 towers located in the emirate’s south opposite Dubai Marina. (Arabianbusiness) Top four traits of successful entrepreneurs (CONTINUED FROM TUESDAY) An entrepreneur takes calculated risks When a risk goes bad an entrepreneur does not waste a lot of time looking for someone to blame. Instead a true entrepreneur analyses what went wrong, learns from it, and moves on. An entrepreneur is self-motivated This is about more than simply being your own boss. This is about more than simply being able to get up in the morning and get to work. An entrepreneur is always capable of seeing a tomorrow that’s just a little bit better than today. He is not satisfied to just sit on his laurels and enjoy the fruits of his success. He is constantly looking forward – creating plausible plans to create more opportunities and find his next point of success. An entrepreneur is also willing to push himself. Last year’s success was fine, but this year’s success should reflect his growth. He is always coming up with some new project and looking for ways to make that project succeed. There is not much room in the business world for self-doubt. Fear can make you back away from projects that could be the key to your ultimate success. Furthermore, the entrepreneur has to be in the business of convincing other people that his ideas are good. Partners, investors, financing, creative structuring – it all depends on the entrepreneur’s ability to convince other people that they’re making a good bet when they team up with him. If the entrepreneur is not sure about himself, how can anyone else be sure of him? (Business Dictionary) Business concept – Compound 52Wk Hi: 15398.48 52 Wk Lo: 12035.09 A charge, fee, or increment on an amount to which another charge, fee, or increment has already been added, or substance formed by a chemical reaction between two or more elements combined in a fixed proportion. Compounds are held together by covalent or ionic bonds and (unlike mixtures) cannot be separated by physical means into their constituents. news wednesday, july 10, 2013 \| guyanatimesGY.com EU end to sugar quota detrimental – Dr Ramsammy A griculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that despite a move to extend the European Union sugar quota to 2017, the end will prove detrimental to all African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Minister Ramsammy expressed his disappointment with this final decision made by the European Union (EU), during a recent interview with the media. The new deadline was agreed upon over the last week. While he said this extension is indeed an improvement from 2015, the overall end to the EU sugar agreement would have severe negative impact on ACP countries. Dr Ramsammy noted that a few months ago, Guyana lobbied for an extension to the original deadline of 2020, which was approved by the EU Parliament. However, that decision was not accepted by the EU Commission and Guyana’s deadline was returned to 2015 like all other ACP Agriculture Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy countries. “We have been lobbying as you know this past week, they have decided that they will go with the middle point which is 2017. It is better than the 2015 date but I believe that it is detrimental to the sugar industry of the ACP countries and my own position is that it is also a breach of fate,” the minister said. He added: “When the sugar protocol in 1976 was signed, it was agreed that this would be a support that would be continuous and when the Economic Partnership Agreement was put into place and removed the sugar protocol, there was this promise that support would be given to the industry over a period of time so that the industry could recover from the loss of those benefits that was in the sugar protocol.” ACP sugar supplying states last week indicated that they are appalled by the decision reached by the EU institutions to abol- ish EU beet and sugar quotas in 2017. The ACP has regularly and consistently warned the EU of the damage that the early abolition would cause to their economies. This was seen to contradict and undermine the objectives of the EPAs, which many of the ACP sugar exporters had entered into, or are in the process of finalising the negotiations with the EU. The commission’s own impact study forecast that prices would decrease by some 45 per cent when compared to 2012 market prices The ACP firmly believes that this time lag will be too short to implement measures to improve the competitiveness of their respective industries and allow them to operate successfully in such a liberalised market. It will also negate the gains made so far from investments made through the EU-funded Accompanying Measures Support Programme and own scarce resources in some cases. Lindeners building monument to honour slain trio T he Region 10 Democratic Council is currently in the process of setting up a monument park in honour of Shemroy Boyea, Allan Lewis, and Ron Somerset who were killed last July 18 while protesting a proposed increase in electricity tariffs in the town. On Tuesday, residents of the community gathered at the Egbert Benjamin Centre at Linden along with Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon and regional councillors, to discuss the design of the park, which is to be situated at West Watooka, Wismar, Linden – a few yards away from the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge where the trio were shot and killed. Architect Robert Bentick, who is responsible for the design of the monument, was also present at the proposal ceremony and made a presentation on the design of the site. The name ‘Linden Martyrs Monumental Park’ was decided by residents, and, according to Solomon, it will create an opportunity to commemorate and reflect on the series of events, which lead up to July 18. “In one week, it will mark one year to observe and commemorate...what transpired in Linden... how do we take this moment and make it an opportunity? An opportunity not just for Linden and Region 10 but an opportunity for Guyana. “An opportunity for us to reflect where as a nation we are going wrong... the monument would signify what we endured last year. Three lives were lost and this whole community suffered... our courage would overcome our fears, because it is only by staring our fears in the eye would we be able to overcome it,” he said. Solomon further noted that the monument will also give persons in the community an opportunity to know where they came from. He explained that on Tuesday the proposed monument site will be unveiled. A committee was also recently established to deal with the erection of the July 18 monument and another in memory of 43 Lindeners who died in the July 6, 1964 Son Chapman boat explosion. At the proposal ceremony, Solomon also urged the gathering to participate in the making of the history of the town. “Not history arrogantly, but history so that you can make your reflections, so that in years to come you can say that you were a part of identifying the structure that symbolises our strength and perseverance where we can lend to this region inspiration as to how do we move forward and identify and correct where we went wrong?” A series of commemorative events have also been planned in relation to the incident, expected to be conducted from July 12 to 18. Enterprise man freed of mother’s murder A n Enterprise, East Coast Demerara man was on Tuesday morning freed of a charge of murdering his mother back in 2009. The state’s case was that the man beat his mother to death after she refused to give him money to buy rum. Ravindra Siew, 37, of Croal Street, Enterprise, was indicted with the murder of his 57-year-old mother, Ramrattie Deonauth, between July 19 and 20, 2009 at their home. On Monday, a 12-member mixed jury was em- panelled before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court and the trial began, after Prosecutor Tishana James-Lake waived her right to make an opening address. The state counsel had six witnesses to call. Siew was represented by Attorney Hemant Ramdhani. James-Lake proceeded to call four of her witnesses, all of whom were police officers. The matter was then adjourned to the following day when the prosecutor was expected to call the remaining witnesses. However, on Tuesday, the prosecutor informed the court that she was unable to get the remaining witnesses, including the accused’s father and brother, to testify against Siew. She then closed her case in the matter after which the judge acquitted the accused on the grounds of lack of evidence. According to reports, on the day in question sometime around 15:30h, Siew went home under the influence of alcohol and asked his mother for money to buy alcohol; however, she refused. The then 33-year-old Siew became annoyed and be- gan cuffing and kicking his mother about her body. At the time, Siew’s father was at home; however, he had sustained a stroke and could not render assistance to his wife. Neighbours intervened and the man left the premises only to return later. Around 20:30h when Siew returned, he dealt several blows to his father before her continued the assault on his mother. The following morning Deonauth’s husband found her on the floor in the room and after his attempts to wake her up failed, police was summoned. Mahaica man shot dead during home invasion By Vahnu Manikchand A Mahaica, East Coast Demerara family is now mourning the loss of a member who was shot dead after gunmen invaded their home. Dead is 27-year-old, Omadatt Persaud called “Vicky” of Lot 70, Fourth Street, Supply, Mahaica. The incident occurred sometime around 19:30h on Monday evening. Persaud was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital sometime around 21:40h and was pronounced dead on arrival. Guyana Times understands that there were six persons home at the time; the deceased, his mother and his sister, along with her husband and two children, who were sitting outside. Reports received suggested that the three masked men entered the yard from the back and confronted their victims. Two of the men were armed with handguns and ordered the overseabased Guyanese to go in the house, where Persaud was. The men then shot the 27-year-old man before relieving his family members of their jewellery and making good their escape. Persaud’s brother-in-law, who asked not to be named, related to this newspaper that he and his family are on vacation and came to Guyana on Friday. The man recalled that he, his wife and two children were sitting outside relaxing when three men confronted them, forcing their way into the house. “They just came, two of them had guns and they take us inside. Vicky was inside and when he saw them, he fell down on the floor and as soon as the men came in, they shot him in his head,” the man said. He continued that the other unarmed man, picked up a cutlass from the kitchen and hit him with it. Inconsolable Then they took him upstairs to look for money but when they got there, he told them that he does not know where the money was. This, he noted, upset the men, causing them to gun butt him on his forehead. The traumatised man went on to say that the perpetrators then relieved him of a gold chain and band before escaping. During the entire incident, Persaud’s mother Chandroutie Persaud was upstairs hiding. When this publication arrived at the house on Tuesday, neighbours and relatives gathered to convey their condolences to the family as the mother kept on weeping inconsolably. The woman said when she heard the first shot she went to hide in a room upstairs. The woman said she locked the door and began screaming for help. The distraught woman said when she came down- Dead: Omadatt Persaud stairs, she saw her son with blood on his face bracing against the door. Meanwhile, Persaud’s uncle, Gopaul Sukhnandan, told this newspaper that he was at home a few houses away when he heard the gunshot, but someone who pass said it was a “squib”, but then he heard two others and suspected something was amiss. Screaming “After I hear the other two shots, I know that was not any squib then I hear somebody start halla for help and I run out on the road with the other neighbours, but we could go in cause we na know what really going on,” he stated. Sukhnandan explained that they waited a few minutes before going in the yard and when they did, they saw Persaud’s lifeless body covered in blood from a gaping wound. The man said they called the Mahaica Police Station, but there was no answer so his nephew had to go to the station to get the police; however, when he got there, they were told no officer was around. “Me nephew left the station after them na get none police there and come back to the house and then we take he (Vicky) to de hospital that was like 15 minutes after,” he noted. Neighbours and relatives vent their anger about the way the Mahaica Police Station is managed. They noted that officers from Georgetown and the Vigilance Police Station had to go to the house on Monday evening to investigate the incident. Persaud, who is separated from his wife, left to mourn his son, mother, three sisters and other relatives and friends. He was described as a quiet and friendly person who was loved by everyone. Relatives disclosed that the man used to live alone and was suppose to migrate, as such, his mother came to Guyana to spend some time here before he left. The man’s body is at the Georgetown Public Hospital mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination, which is expected to be done today. (vahnum@ guyanatimesgy.com) 18 thursDAY, march 11, 2010 \| guyanatimesGY.com archie By Bernice Bede Osol CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19) You might be able to put something you recently learned to good use. It could have to do with maintaining a relationship. dilbert (June 21July 22) Your enthusiasm is likely to be contagious when associates witness your zest for life. Your joie de vivre helps others feel much better about their own lives. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 19) (July 23Aug. 22) It might take a second or even a third effort to achieve an important career objective, but it will be well worth it. Once you set your sights on your target, never veer from it. Calvin and Hobbes CANCER PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Your appreciation for everyone’s point of view places you in the role of peacemaker. You’ll have plenty of chances to use your gift. Interesting events could generate additional earnings or income for you. Chances are, you’ll drum up some new ways to acquire extra business. VIRGO (Aug. 23Sept. 22) What makes you such a good salesperson is that you won’t sell anything that you don’t believe in. Your prospects will admire your credibility and will want to do business with you. Peanuts (March 21-April 19) (Sept. 23Oct. 23) Harmony in the work place will pay off for everyone involved. Once a positive example is set and the entire crew sees what comes of it, everyone will happily follow suit. Don’t be afraid to allow your generosity to prevail over your practicality. Remember the old saying: “From those to whom much is given, much will be required.” TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Being the smart person you are, you’ll know that the best way to silence a griper is to smother him or her with affection. It’s one of the most positive motivating tools you can use. SCORPIO (Oct. 24Nov. 22) Even though you are likely to feel a strong need for companionship, you will nevertheless be very careful about whom you choose to spend time with. Tuesday's solution GEMINI (May 21June 20) The greater part of your efforts will be directed toward providing more for your family or co-workers. You’ll be a beacon of strength and compassion. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23Dec. 21) If your goals seem easy to achieve, it will be because you haven’t been motivated by selfish urges. Things always seem easier when we like what we’re doing. news 19 wednesday, july 10, 2013 ACCOMMODATION Furnished rooms and apartments; 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments- long & short term rental. Affordable rates Call: 227-2199, 227-2186, 227-2189 car rental Journey Inn Apartments & car rental. Rooms & car to rent from $3000 Premio, Vitz. Phone: 689-6668, 6394452. dentistry Dentures provided in 72 hours from as low as $4500. Contact Dr B Stuart, 209B Charlotte Street, Lacytown. Tel: 225-5034 EDUCATION It’s here again!!” Music summer camp 2013” register now!! keyboard, guitar, drums recorder & voice training starts July 8-19 from 10-12pm. Phone: 225-1151, 611-8416, 6528176, 644-1736 or 617-4200, WHERE CAN YOU GET A BOOK FOR $40? THE MASSIVE BOOKSALE, NOW ON AT BOOKLAND, ABOVE MATTS RECORD BAR (226-2874). BOOKLAND, ON A SALE MISSION “ TO GET BOOKS IN EVERY HOUSHOLD”. flowers Available: Fresh long-stemmed roses, fresh dried and silk floral arrangements, gift items, bridal boutiques and wreaths. Nesha’s Flowerland. 78 Church Street (opposite St George’s Cathedral). Tel: 227-3553/225-3315 FOR SALE All models of engines (Perkins, cummins, lister, deuez, john dere etc) enclosed and open air any size of KVA. Call Ram on 619-4483 or 226-6325 One two flat home: 3 bedrooms upper flat, with bath and kitchen, lower flat: bath & kitchen. Located in Atlantic Gardens, call 6194483 or 656-7471 for more information. German Shepherd pups for sale. Phone: 619-6086, 699-7077. One 4108 Perkins Engine. Call: 6805346 Husehold furniture. Phone: 687-5653 1 CHICKEN FARM (8 ACRES) 5 PENS, CAPACITY - 30,000 BIRDS WITH OWN WATER SOURCE AND OTHER AMENITIES AT LALUNI, PRICE NEG PHONE: 611-8049 health Learn transcendental meditation and reduce stress, be happy increase intelligence, develop your full brain potential, improve relationships, be successful, be peaceful, develop higher states of consciousness , a technique that works for everyone, enroll now for next class. Contact Askoke (certified teacher) email kashokejp_68 @yahoo. com. Phone: 233-693 Healthworld Holistic Centre: Psychotherapy available for all types of abnormal behaviors – addictions, emotional, suicidal, anger, relationship and sexual problems. Treatment of stress disorders, depression, fear, low self-esteem, insomnia, trauma, psychosomatic sicknesses, and children's disorders. We also conduct IQ evaluations and behavioral assessments. By appointments only. Clinic hours: 11:00 – 17:00h. Tel: 592-621-0552. Email:[email protected] Are you pouring on pounds? Then call Raul /Carol Wilson: 660-6818, 6415923, 216-3016, 216-3601 for your healthy eating package. Get your Visa approved. High Success Rate. Balwant Persaud & Associates. Certified Immigration Consultants 68 Sixth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown (Between Cummings & Lights Sts.) Tel: 225-1540, 622-8308, 655-3105. Email: [email protected] KEY CUTTing Professional Key Shop, 125 Carmichael Street, Georgetown. Phone: 225-3923, mobile: 6213249. We cut any type of key, service and repair all types of locks. Get your extra key today. optician Da Silva’s Optical. For Your Eyes Only, Look Better See Better. Phillip A Da Silva OD, Shannon L Da Silva OD, Natalie Da Silva OD. 248 South Road, Bourda. Phone: 227-3529, Linden: 444-6376, Corriverton: 339-3536, Meten-Meer-Zorg: 275-0322, Grand Cayman Islands: (345) 943-1515 for the perfect trendy touch. PENPAL INDIAN GUY NEEDS FEMALE COMPANION PHONE: 644-2306 property for sale 2-stoery concrete house, 32’x55’, 3 bedrooms, Block 8, Mon Repos, ECD. $36M. Phone: 642-2116 services J. Eastman and Associates Chartered Accountants, services, taxation, financial services, VAT preparation, auditing, income tax, vehicle and building compliances. Phone: 223-2105, 662-7467, located 190 Church Street, Georgetown (opp Pet Shop). spirituality Learn transcendental meditation and gain deep relaxation, eliminate stress, increase creativity and intelligence, promote health, attain inner happiness and fulfillment and contribute to peace for the world. Contact certified teacher Ashoka: 233-6921, email [email protected] Suriname astrology palmist and Djuka healer, the most powerful spiritualist in the world, are you suffering from the following problems - (any religions) love, marriage, family, health, business, husband and wife relationships, property, court, children, promotion, visa, pregnancy, education, depression, job, sexual, jealousy, enemy, money, drinking, also you can have all evil forces destroyed such as black magic, witchcraft, voodoo, obeyah, etc, and gives powerful protection. Private and confidential. Phone: 601-5947. Dutch Spiritual work. Unite lovers, get rid of evil, enhance prosperity, good luck baths and charm bowu guards, etc. Phone: 220-0708, 6126417, 687-5653 Divinations and cleansing of spiritual problems of all kinds. Powerful Ifá and Khemetian spiritual guards, pendants, crystals, and rune stones to help you overcome problems with love, relationships, legal, sexual, pregnancy, business, sickness, jobs, enemies, work, money and many more. Call 10:00-16:00h on: +592690-1824. Email: [email protected] immigration Immigration & Visa Services We handle all Canadian, USA and UK, Immigration and Visa matters. Self Sponsorships, Holiday/ Visitor’s Visas, Work Permits, Students Visas, Family, Class, Immigration Forms, Embassy Enquiries, Appeals for Refused Cases, U.S Green Card Lottery, Business Class Waivers, Pardons etc. TOUR SUMMERTIME TRAVEL DAILY FLIGHTS. LETHEM, PORT KAITUMA, MAHDIA, KAIETEUR FALLS, PARAMAKATOI. JUNE 29 - JULY 1. PARIMARIBO-SURINAME, BOA VISTA-BRAZIL, KAIETEUR FALLS DAY, ESSEQUIBO & MAZARUNI RIVER. TEL: 264-2851, CELL: 668-6501 VEHICLES FOR SALE AA 60 CARINA CAR AUTOMATIC $360,000 PHONE: 644-2306 JUST ARRIVED: TOP QUALITY RECONDITIONED VEHICLES; TOYOTA PREMIO; TOYOTA SPACIO; TOYOTA VITZ (NEW SHAPE); TOYOTA NOAH; SUZUKI SWIFT; MERCEDES BENZ C200 COMPRESSOR; BMW 318 I; COROLLA AE100 WAGON; LAND CRUISER (FULLY LOADED); MAZDA PROCEED 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUP; TOYOTA HILUX; 3RZ AND 5L; 4WD EXTRACAB PICKUPS; HIACE PITBULL 19 SEATER; MITSUBISHI CANTER TRUCKS 3; 3.5; TONS OPEN TRAY; 3 TONS WITH TAILGATE HOIST; 2 TONS 4WD; 3 TONS DUMP TRUCK. PREORDER YOUR UNITS EARLY AND GET THE BEST PRICES. FULL AFTER SALES SERVICE AND FINANCING AVAILABLE. DEO MARAJ AUTO SALES, 2 CHIMNEY ROAD, CHATEAU MARGOT, ECD. 624-0762 , 220-5177. A NAME AND A SERVICE YOU CAN TRUST. NEW ATVs INTRODUCTORY PRICE $1,450,000 (DUTY FREE). PHONE: 691-0234. NEW 2013 ISUZU DMAX, SINGLE & DOUBLE CABS. PHONE: 691-0234 Honda CRV, lady-driven. Phone 657-0482 SOLD AS IS. TO let Business property; ideal for doctors’ clinic, pharmacy, western union or boutique. One upper flat 3 bedrooms , 2 bathrooms $150,000 monthly. 1 Barber shop or 1 internet café. Call: 223-9727, 673-0373, 666-7001 Office space 349 East Street , North Cummingsburg. No agents please. Phone: 226-6551, 225-0391 Furnished rooms for rent. All facilities included. Call BG Real Estate Agency, 27 Dasrate Street, Triumph. Call Isha on 220-2130, 622-7097 WANTED One cook interior phone:680-5346. Clerical staff. Must be computer literate, knowledge of CorelDraw will be an asset. Send applications to Jarrods, 51 Main Street, Georgetown. Moon sighted, Ramadan begins T he Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) wishes to inform all Muslims that the crescent for Ramadan has been sighted. Taraweeh prayers commenced Tuesday evening and fasting begins this morning Wednesday. CIOG wishes to extend Ramadan greetings to all Muslims. CIOG president's Ramadan message My dear Brothers and Sisters, Assalamu Alaikum; May the Peace, Mercy and Blessing of Allah be with you all! On this important and auspicious occasion, the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan I would like to wish all Guyanese and especially our Muslim brothers and sisters, “Ramadan Mubarak!” Ramadan Mubarak to all our brothers and sisters, the imams, president and leaders of our country! Ramadan is the month in which the Holy Quran was revealed to our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Almighty Allah (SWT) said in the Holy Quran Chapter 2, Verse 183: “O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may learn self-restraint (Taqwah).” Regarding the Holy Month of Ramadan, our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has beautifully and comprehensively described what a blessed month it is by saying: “O people! A great month has come over you; a blessed month; a month in which there is a night better than a thousand months. A month in which Allah has made it compulsory upon you to fast by day, and voluntary to pray by night. Whoever draws nearer to Allah by performing any good deeds in this month shall receive the same reward as performing an obligatory deed at any other time. Whoever discharges an obligatory deed in this month shall receive the reward of performing 70 obligations at any other time. It is the month of patience, and the reward of patience is Heaven. It is the month of charity. It is a month in which a believer’s sustenance is increased. Whoever gives food to a fasting person to break his fast shall have his sins forgiven, he will be saved from the fire of Hell, and he shall have the same reward as the fasting person, without his reward being diminished at all.” In another narration, our Beloved Prophet (SAW) said, in the first part of Ramadan we earn the mercy of Allah, the second part we earn the forgiveness of Allah, and during the third part, we earn freedom from the fire of Hell. Our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said whoever does not give up false statements and evil actions, Allah will not be in need of him giving up his food and drink. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we have the most noble visitor, the Holy Month of Ramadan, let’s make maximum use of the short time that we have to earn the mercy and forgiveness of Allah. are religious, social, economic or otherwise. The Month of Ramadan is a time to reflect on all these challenges that mankind faces today and we seek the solution which can only be found through our dedication, prayer, charity, and fast. Fasting and charity will earn us His grace and His mercy. We need to make maximum use of the Holy Month of Ramadan by praying to Allah, by taking care of the poor and needy in our community, by seeking the forgiveness of Allah for all our sins and turning to Him in repentance. We should utilise the opportunity to pay our zakaat as our blessings are multiplied tremendously during Ramadan. Muslims make full use during Ramadan to share out their zakaat, which is made payable to the destitute especially our near relatives by taking care of their needs. You are, therefore, encouraged to pay your zakaat upon reaching the Nisaab ($166,387), Allah’s willing. Greatest message Let us in the month of Ramadan try our best to make peace with all our family members, neighbours, and fellow citizens. Let us visit the sick and pray for them. Let us extend our mercy to the orphans in our community. Let us sympathise and help the widows and elderly people in society. These actions will earn us God’s forgiveness and mercy; this is what Ramadan stands for. Let us rededicate our lives to prayers and righteous deeds to make our homes, our community, and country a better place for all Guyanese. I pray that God Almighty give us the strength and health to fast throughout the month of Ramadan and also to stand in prayer during the nights of the Ramadan. Once again Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Mubarak! Ramadan Mubarak! May Allah bless us all and bless our country… W A S S A L A M U A L A L A I K U M WARAHMATULLAHI WABARAKAATUHU! Let us in this Month of Ramadan, the month in which the Quran was revealed, go back to the pages of the Holy Quran and reflect on the message of the Quran because it is the greatest message and the final message sent to mankind by Allah. Let us use our time in Ramadan, to study the life, the mission, and the achievements of the greatest benefactor of humanity, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). We should let our lives reflect our love for him and all those ideals that he spoke about and taught us. There is a cry in the world for this noble way of life; the message of peace, the message of love, the message of unity of all humanity, the message of tolerance, the message which if we follow it sincerely and implement it in our lives, our lives will be changed for the better and the world will be a better place for all. Islam has the solution for all the problems facing humanity whether these problems Make peace Corruption getting worse, says poll O ne person in four has paid a bribe to a public body in the last year, according to a survey carried out in 95 countries by Transparency International. The poor record of some African nations on bribery stands out. Sierra Leone has the highest number of respondents, admitting to having paid a bribe – 84 per cent – and seven out of nine of the countries with the highest reported bribery rate are in subSaharan Africa. The countries with the lowest reported bribery rate are Denmark, Finland, Japan and Australia, they all have a bribery rate of one per cent. T r a n s p a r e n c y International’s Global Corruption Barometer gathered data from 95 countries on bribery. For a small number of them, including Brazil and Russia, data on particular questions has been excluded because of concerns about validity and reliability. For the question on corrupt institutions, 105 countries were covered. The margin of error for each country is three per cent. The typical sample size is 1000 people. Four countries – Cyprus, Luxembourg, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands – have a sample size of 500 people and a margin of error of four per cent. The country percentage stands as follow to the question Have you paid a bribe? Afghanistan 46, Algeria, 41 Argentina 13, Armenia 18, Australia one, Bangladesh 39, Belgium four, Bolivia 36, Bosnia and Herzegovina 28, Bulgaria eight, Cambodia 57, Cameroon 62, Canada three, Chile 10, Colombia 22, Croatia four, Cyprus 19, Czech Republic 15, Denmark one, DR Congo 46, Egypt 36, El Salvador 12, Estonia six, Ethiopia 44, Finland one, Georgia four, Ghana 54, Greece 22, Hungary 12, India 54, Indonesia 36, Iraq 29, Israel 12, Italy five, Jamaica12, Japan one, Jordan 37, Kazakhstan 34, Kenya 70, Kosovo 16, Kyrgyzstan 45, Latvia 19, Liberia 75, Libya 62, Lithuania 26, Macedonia 17, Madagascar 28, Malaysia three, Maldives three, Mexico 33, Moldova 29, Mongolia 45, Morocco 49, Mozambique 62, Nepal 31, New Zealand three, Nigeria 44, Norway three, Pakistan 34, Palestine 12, Papua New Guinea 27, Paraguay 25, Peru 20, Philippines 12, Portugal three, Romania 17, Rwanda 13, Senegal 57, Serbia 26, Sierra Leone 84, Slovakia 21, Slovenia six, Solomon Islands 34, South Africa 47, South Korea three, South Sudan 39, Spain two, Sri Lanka 19, Sudan 17, Switzerland seven, Taiwan 36, Tanzania 56, Thailand 18, Tunisia 18, Turkey 21, Uganda 61, UK five, Ukraine 37, Uruguay three, U.S. seven, Vanuatu 13, Venezuela 27, Vietnam 30, Yemen 74 and Zimbabwe 62. 20 wednesday, july 10, 2013 England, Australia tussle for Ashes title starts today E ngland captain Alastair Cook has told his players to be ready for an almighty tussle when the Ashes series against Australia gets under way today. England are favourites to win their third Ashes in a row, a feat they have not achieved since 1956. Ahead of the Trent Bridge Test, Cook said: “Australia have fantastic players and it will be one heck of a battle. “Every Ashes series I have played in is always intense and that is what we have got to prepare ourselves for.” Cook, 28, who will be captaining his country in an Ashes series for the first time, added: “Cricket isn’t played on paper and it never will be. It’s about who delivers out there come tomorrow (today) and the next 24 days of cricket.” The momentum in one of sport’s oldest rivalries has shifted towards England in recent years following an era of Australian dominance. Having lost eight straight series between 1989 and 2002-03, England have won three of the last four, culminating in a resounding 3-1 triumph in 2010-11, their Alastair Cook (left) and Michael Clarke display the replica Ashes trophy first victory in Australia since 1986-87. Recent form points to another England success, with Australia having suffered a 4-0 whitewash by India in March, three months after England’s 2-1 away victory over the same opposition. The tourists have also endured a chaotic build-up to the series. Batsman David Warner was banned after punching England’s Joe Root in a Birmingham bar and coach Mickey Arthur was replaced by Darren Lehmann just two weeks before the series. Captain Michael Clarke, however, said Australia had put the turmoil behind them and, after encouraging performances in their warm-up matches against Somerset and Worcestershire, were capable of surpassing expectations. “We come here as underdogs and we know it’s going to be tough but I know the boys are up for the challenge,” he said. “I think every single one of our boys has prepared as well as they possibly can. Now it’s about going out on that stage and playing with freedom and backing your own ability. “We have so much talent inside that room and I just want to see the guys play their natural games. “We’ve spoken about a lot but I think the talking is done for us as a team now. Now it’s not what you say, it’s what you do.” While Clarke declared himself “100 per cent fit” for the contest following a longstanding back problem, both captains vowed not to disclose their team selections until the toss at 10:30 BST. Lehmann hinted last week that Warner could be a surprise inclusion at number six for Australia as the tourists look to unsettle England with an aggressive brand of cricket. Clarke said he was confident that Warner would be “a success” if selected. England have won seven of their last nine Tests at Trent Bridge, including a famous victory in the 2005 Ashes, when unlikely batting heroes Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles helped put the hosts 2-1 up in the series with one to play. The ground will be full to its 17,000 capacity for all five days of the match after tickets sold out within hours of going on sale in October. Cook, who scored 766 runs at an average of 127.66 in the 2010-11 Ashes, said expectation levels across the country were consistent with his experiences in past contests against Australia. (BBC Sport) Cavendish says crash not his fault M ark Cavendish claimed he was not at fault for a crash at the end of stage 10 of the Tour de France as Marcel Kittel took victory in Saint Malo. Kittel edged Andre Greipel in a sprint finish, with Cavendish third after colliding with Kittel’s leadout man Tom Veelers and sending him tumbling. The Manxman tweeted: “Just seen the sprint. I believe I didn’t move line. “I’m actually coming past Veelers and we touch elbows when he moves. Anyway, hope he’s OK.” Britain’s Chris Froome remains in the overall race lead after avoiding the aftermath of the crash on an otherwise untroubled day. “It was a bit tricky towards the end, but I always had a team-mate with me and I kept out of trouble,” Froome said. “It’s always nervous when you come into the last 2km with a bunch sprint coming off the final bend, but I was to one side of the crash and went around it without any problems.” Cavendish will not be punished for his part in the incident, which came in a bunch sprint at the very end of a largely flat 197km (122-mile) route that started in Saint Gildas DesBois in Mark Cavendish north west France. An army of British fans had crossed the channel in hope of seeing Cavendish claim his second stage win of this year’s race and 25th Tour stage win in total. But he could not get close to his sprint rivals Greipel and Kittel, with the latter timing his attack perfectly to pip his fellow German at the line. Behind them on the home straight, Veelers slowed down and veered to his right, into Cavendish’s path, after leading out his Argos-Shimano team-mate Greipel. Cavendish barged past him and knocked the Dutchman off his bike. Race commissaries ruled the clash was Veelers’ fault and Cavendish denied any intent on his part, adding on Twitter: “There’s no way I’d move on a rider deliberately, especially one not contesting a sprint.” Veelers, who was not badly hurt in the incident, said: “I had the feeling Cavendish was boxed in my wheel. He touched my handlebars and knocked me over.” Kitttel absolved Cavendish of responsibility, saying: “I cannot imagine that Cavendish did that on purpose, it just happens sometimes in a hectic finale. Every sprinter wants to come to the front when he comes to the line and I hope that he is OK. “You can see that Cavendish really bumped into the handlebar of Tom but it doesn’t look like he does it on purpose.” Immediately after the stage, Cavendish was involved in an angry confrontation with reporters after being asked about the collision and the disappointing lead-out attempts from his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team. “We came up, we lost our guys early,” Cavendish said. “I tried to follow [teammate] Gert Steegmans, I followed his lead and launched from there. “It was too early in the sprint so I settled back on to Tom’s wheel and when Greipel kicked I went then. We as a team could have done something different. We will talk about that later.” No other riders were affected by the crash despite its proximity to the finish line and the fact it happened in front of a fast-moving peloton. Team Sky rider Froome retains his lead of one minute and 25 seconds over second-placed Alejandro Valverde, and will look to extend his advantage in today’s 33km (20.5-mile) time trial, which finishes in Mont Saint Michel. “It is definitely a day where I will try and extend my lead,’’ Froome said. “It is definitely a day that could help the general classification. I definitely want to go for it.” (BBC Sport) South Africa to play full series against Pakistan in the UAE Pakistan’s batsmen had a torrid time on their tour to South Africa early in the year S outh Africa will play Pakistan in two Tests in the United Arab Emirates from October 14, ending their eight-month absence from the Test arena. Their last Test series was at home in February against Pakistan, as their tour to Sri Lanka in July has been adjusted to drop the Tests. The tour will also include five one-day internationals and two T20s. South Africa, who arrive in the UAE on October 5, will play a three-day practice match to prepare for the first Test in Abu Dhabi. The teams will move to Dubai for the second Test on October 23 before switching to coloured clothing in November. Sharjah will host the first and fifth ODIs while Abu Dhabi also gets two games with Dubai hosting the remaining one-dayer and both T20s. Pakistan had little success on their tour to South Africa earlier this year as the home side won all three Tests and then beat Pakistan 3-2 in the fivematch ODI series. Pakistan claimed the two-match T20 series 1-0 though, by winning the second game after the first one was washed out without a ball bowled. (Cricinfo) Two Sri Lankan umpires banned after sting S ri Lanka Cricket has banned two umpires, Sagara Gallage and Maurice Zilva, who were named in a sting operation last year dealing with illegal payments for influencing first-class matches. A third umpire, Gamini Dissanayake, has been downgraded from the top umpire’s panel for a year and issued a “severe warning” by the board CEO. The decisions came after an emergency executive committee meeting in Colombo, where the recommendations of the disciplinary committee’s recommendations were endorsed. The sting, broadcast by India TV, claimed to have “exposed” several first-class umpires from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan who were allegedly willing to give decisions favouring players for a fee. In the sting, conducted in July and August 2012, the reporters claimed to belong to a sports management company and promised the umpires officiating assignments in events of all kinds around the world, largely domestic Twenty20 leagues. The hardest hit of the three Sri Lankan umpires was Gallage, who was banned for 10 years from all cricket, while Zilva got a three-year ban. Dissanayake, the third Sri Lankan umpire named in the sting, was the most high-profile of the three, having regularly been the fourth umpire in international matches, though he was yet to be one of the main officials in an international game. The Pakistan and Bangladesh boards have already handed out punishments to their umpires caught in the sting. Bangladesh’s Nadir Shah was banned for 10 years by the BCB on corruption charges, and Pakistan’s Nadeem Ghauri and Anis Siddiqi have already been slapped with bans. Zilva and Gallage were the reserve umpires in two warm-up matches each before the World T20 in Sri Lanka last year. (Cricinfo) wednesday, july 10, 2013 21 Cavendish struggles as Kittel wins stage 10 S aint Malo, FRANCE – Mark Cavendish’s Tour de France campaign suffered another setback on Tuesday when the Briton had to settle for third in a sprint after being involved in a crash in a chaotic stage 10 finale won by Marcel Kittel. Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider Cavendish appeared to leave his line and bumped into Dutchman Tom Veelers who lost his balance and hit the ground as he was leading out Kittel for the German’s second Tour stage win this year. The race commissaries, however, ruled Veelers was at fault, saying the Dutchman was drifting back and made a small movement towards his right while Cavendish was sprinting. Another German, Andre Greipel of the Lotto Belisol team, took second place while Britain’s Chris Froome retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey before today’s individual time trial. “When I went out it was Tom lost control and crashed on the ground. “I cannot imagine that it was on purpose because it was a very hectic situation and it was the last moment of the sprint. Sometimes that is something that just happens.” Coastal roads Marcel Kittel (right) sprints over the finish line in stage 10 on Tuesday too late and there were too strong guys ahead of me, (team mate Gert) Steegmans went early and we ran out of guys (to lead him out),” Cavendish, who angrily grabbed a journalist’s dictaphone when asked about the incident, told reporters. “Guys were going fast, we could have done things a little bit different but that’s bike racing. My legs are still not great.” Kittel, who had won the opening stage in Corsica, was the strongest man at the end of a 197-km ride from St Gildas des Bois, would not be drawn into controversy. “I saw the crash on video and it was very unlucky that they bumped into each other,” Kittel told a news conference. “Tom was going hard from doing the lead-out, Cavendish tried to pass him on the right and the handlebars touched each other and Cavendish later wrote on his Twitter feed: “Just seen the sprint. I believe I didn’t move line. I’m actually coming past Veelers & we touch elbows when he moves. Anyway, hope he’s ok. “There’s no way I’d move on a rider deliberately, especially one not contesting a sprint.” Cavendish, who trails Peter Sagan of Slovakia by a massive 103 points in the green jersey standings, already missed a golden stage win opportunity last Thursday when a crash in the final hour left him too exhausted to put up a decent fight in the final sprint. On Tuesday, five riders, including Tour debutant and local rider Julien Simon, led for 191 of the 197 km before being caught by the peloton as the race entered the Brittany town of Saint Malo after winding along windblown coastal roads. It was a relatively quiet day for Froome, who took shelter behind Skyteam mate Ian Stannard in the finale. He still leads Spain’s Alejandro Valverde by one minute 25 seconds and Dutchman Bauke Mollema by 1:44 with Alberto Contador in sixth place overall, 1:51 off the pace. Froome is expected to dominate his rivals in today’s 33-km flat dash from Avranches to the Mont Saint Michel. “I’ve done few races with similar kinds of time trials,” Froome told a news conference. “You can make small advantages with equipment, we’ve got a new time trial bike this year, I’ve spent a bit of time in the wind tunnel, which I had never done before, all these things will add up. (Reuters) Media banned from pit lanes following Enmore Masters safety concerns sweep Superstar T he FIA has banned media and 'non-essential personnel' from Grand Prix pit lanes after a cameraman was injured at last Sunday's German Grand Prix. A loose wheel from the car of Red Bull's Mark Webber struck cameraman Paul Allen, breaking his collarbone. The ban, issued by Formula 1's ruling body, covers "anyone other than event marshals and team personnel". On Monday, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said that cameramen would only be allowed to film from the pit Tyres blew out on a few cars two Sundays ago lane wall. Other media will also be kept out of the pit lane, with the FIA saying in a state- ment: "Access for approved media will be confined to the pit wall." Sunday's incident oc- curred as Red Bull driver Webber was leaving the pits following a tyre change that had taken longer than usual. The Australian was released without the right rear wheel being properly secured and after it came free of the car it bounced into Allen, striking the Briton from behind. The FIA also announced that it will seek an immediate change to regulations so that all team personnel working on cars during pit stops wear head protection, and that the speed limit in the pits is reduced from 100 kmh to 80 kmh. (BBC Sport) XI in twomatch series BCCI objects to South Africa tour itinerary T he BCCI has objected to the itinerary of India’s tour to South Africa starting in November, which was announced by Cricket South Africa on Monday. According to the BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, CSA announced the schedule without obtaining the BCCI’s consent. “We have written to CSA mentioning that while we have been discussing the tour itinerary, nothing had been agreed upon (before they announced the schedule). The discussions are on and a consensual decision will come soon,” Patel told ESPNcricinfo. Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been in charge of the BCCI’s day-to-day affairs with N Srinivasan having stepped aside as president, confirmed that the BCCI had raised “concerns” with CSA. While Patel refused to elaborate on those concerns, Dalmiya said the BCCI had issues with the scheduling of the Tests. At the moment, the tour comprises two Twenty20 internationals and seven ODIs, followed by three Tests. “We have some concerns over the gap between the last two Tests of the threematch series,” Dalmiya told reporters in Kolkata. “We have informed this to our South African counterpart (CSA) and the two boards are trying very amicably to sort out the matter. The new schedule will be announced soon.” * The present schedule has an eight-day gap between the second and third Tests. Earlier this year, when South Africa hosted Pakistan, there was a sim- ilar eight-day gap between two Tests. The BCCI prefers to play three-Test series with a three-day interval for home series. The last time India toured South Africa (in 2010-11), the biggest gap was five days – between the first Test at Centurion and the Boxing Day Test. This time, the gap between the first two Tests is just two days, with CSA deciding to reinstate the Boxing Day and New Year Tests to Durban and Newlands respectively. It is learned that the new BCCI administration has concerns with the “number of matches and the itinerary” for the tour. The tour is scheduled to end on January 19, just before the start of the New Zealand tour, though the schedule for that tour hasn’t yet been finalised. The BCCI feels that seven ODIs are “too many”. “If we have five ODIs, perhaps the tour can get over a week early and the boys can have a week-long break before flying to New Zealand,” a BCCI insider said, preferring anonymity. He also revealed that the board has been consulting the players on whether they would prefer to play the Tests before the ODIs. CSA, however, has claimed that it has not received any formal complaint from the BCCI and that they have followed all the correct protocols. “If the BCCI has any concerns they can raise them with us and we will sort them out amicably as we have always done in the past,” Michael Owen Smith, CSA media consultant, said. (Cricinfo) Anil Persaud Jacob Persaud ver-40 Enmore Masters made a clean sweep of their two-match softball series against Superstar XI, emerging with convincing victories in the home and away format. Playing at the Enmore Community Centre ground on June 30, Enmore Masters stitched together a fourwicket victory with seven balls to spare. Batting first, Superstar XI, a Mahaica-based team, racked up 160-8 from the stipulated 20 overs. Enmore Masters then knocked off the target, reaching 161-6 from 18.5 overs. G Dayaram led Enmore Masters to victory with an unbeaten 54, while Jacob Persaud (42) and R. Malone (26) offered support during the chase. On Sunday last in the return game at the Helena ground, Enmore Masters coasted to a six-wicket win, thanks to a good all-round effort. Superstar XI, batting first, posted a meagre 80 all out with none of their batsmen getting among the runs in the face of some miserly bowling. Anil Persaud was the principal wicket taker, bagging 5-12, while Chetram Ramlall snared 3-16. Enmore Masters responded with 81-4 in 12 overs to complete the easy win. S Panday and Jacob Persaud were the leading scorers with 16 and 12 respectively. The Enmore Masters are expected to be in action again on Friday in a floodlight encounter against a team to be named. O wednESday, july 10, 2013 guyanatimesGY.com India qualify to meet Sri Lanka Professional Paint supports young Yadram at expense of West Indies P ort of Spain, TRINIDAD – India, propelled by impressive swing bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, booked a place in the final of the Celkon Mobile Cup ODI series and will oppose Sri Lanka at Queen’s Park Oval on Thursday. Kumar’s timely haul of four wickets for eight runs, from six overs, squeezed India into the play-off and dashed the hopes of West Indies as the world champions defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in their rain-hit match on Tuesday . The match was reduced to a 26-over contest after India, sent in to bat, had their innings curtailed by persistent rain , having reached 119 for 3 off 29 overs. With limited time left in the afternoon, after more than four hours were washed out, Sri Lanka were set 178 to win off 26 overs under the Duckworth/Lewis system.. It meant that India needed to win the game convincingly, and to restrict Sri Lanka to under 167, to secure a bonus point and a place in the final. They achieved it, finished on 10 points, and pushed out West Indies by virtue of a superior net-run-rate. Paceman Kumar , also named man of the match, gave the Indians early control of the important match as he found the edge of Upul Tharanga’s bat in his second over and won a firstball LBW appeal against Kumar Sangakkara, rocking Sri Lanka at 13 for 2 in the third over. Kumar , on a pitch offering good bounce and getting the ball to seam around, claimed his third and fourth wickets as Mahela Jayawardene (11) cut to Vijay and Lahiru Thirimanne lofted a drive to Kohli . This quickly reduced Sri Lanka were 31 for 4 in the ninth over and they never recovered. Paceman Yadav and the Indian spinners, Jadeja and Ashwin, then tightened the grip and the end came quickly as the last six wickets collapsed for 65 runs. Sri Lanka were bowled out for Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke Sri Lanka’s top order with 4 for 8 as India won by 81 runs to secure a spot in the final in Port of Spain 96 in 24.4 overs. Earlier, India were sent in and were forced to contend with good bowling from the Sri Lankans as captain Angelo Matthews, Dilhara and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath kept them in check. Opener Rohit Sharma led a dogged fight-back, after Matthews made the breakthrough by ripping off the edge of Dhawan’s bat in the seventh over, and rescued the innings in mini-part- nerships of 49 with captain Virat Kohli (31 off 52 balls) and 35 with wicketkeeper Karthik (12). Herath accounted for both Kohli and Karthik, producing a remarkable ball that spun past the defensive bat of Karthik and hit his off-stump. Sharma was unbeaten on an important 48 off 83 balls when the rains came and significantly changed the complexion of the match, much to the dismay of West Indies. (CMC/ WICB) SCOREBOARD India innings RG Sharma not out 48 S Dhawan c Jayawardene b Mathews 15 V Kohli lbw b Herath 31 KD Karthik (wkp) b Herath 12 SK Raina not out 4 Extras (b1, lb3, w3, nb2) 9 Total (3 wkts, 29 overs) 119 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-76, 3-111 Bowling: S Eranga 6-0-27-0 (1w), L Dilhara 8 -0-4-0 (2nb, 1w), A Mathews 5-1-5- 1, L Malinga 3-1-7- 0, R Herath 6-032-2, J Mendis 1 -0-4- 0 (1w) Sri Lanka Innings W Tharanga c Raina b Kumar 6 M D Jayawardene c Vijay b Kumar 11 KC Sangakkara (wkp) lbw b Kumar 0 LD Chandimal st wkp Karthik b Jadeja 26 HDRL Thirimanne c Kohli b Kumar 0 AD Mathews* c wkp Karthik b Jadeja 10 J Mendis b Ashwin 13 LHD Dilhara c wkp Karthik b I Sharma 6 RKB Herath c Vijay b I Sharma 4 RMS Eranga not out 2 L Malinga c Jadeja b Yadav 7 Extras (lb 6, w 5) 11 Total (all out 24.4 overs) 96 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-14, 3-27, 4-31, 5-56, 6-63, 7-78, 8-84, 9-87, 10-96 Bowling: B Kumar 6-1- 8-4, UT Yadav 4.4-0-28-1 (3w), I Sharma 4-0-17-2, R Jadeja 5-0-17-2 (1w), R Ashwin 5-0-20-1 (1w), Umpires : Nigel Llong (Eng) and Peter Nero (WI) National under-19 captain and opening batsman, Bhaskar Yadram (right) receives the SS gear bag from Elle LaRose in the presence of the proprietor of Professional Paint, Devanand Singh (Photo: Avenash Ramzan) A s part of its corporate mandate to give back to society, Professional Paint on Monday presented a brand new cricket gear bag to national under-15 captain and opening batsman, Bhaskar Yadram, who will lead the Guyana team to Jamaica today for the start of the West Indies Cricket Board Under-15 championship. The company, which was recently formed, has branches at Montrose Public Road and Logwood, Enmore, both on the East Coast of Demerara, is a dealer in auto body paint. The 13-year-old Yadram, the only player from East Coast Demerara to make the squad, said he was delighted to receive the SS Sunridges bag from proprietor Devanand Singh and Elle LaRose, who represented Professional Paint. The presentation took place at Tiger Sports at Logwood, Enmore, where Yadram promised to return home with the regional under-15 title, which has eluded Guyana since 1999. “I’m confident we can win, because we have a very good team,” the right-handed Yadram, who can also double as wicketkeeper, said. “I want to thank Professional Paint for this donation, and promise them good performances in Jamaica.” Singh said his company is pleased to support the young cricketer, who hails from the Enterprise Busta Sports Club, East Coast Demerara, but plays for the Gandhi Youth Organisation and Guyana National Industrial Corporation in Georgetown. “We at Professional Paint want to wish him the very best. Obviously, we want to see him make runs for the team, and more importantly, help Guyana to win the title,” Singh outlined. Playing for Demerara in the New GPC INC. sponsored two-day under-15 Inter-county competition, Yadram emerged as the leading runscorer by quite a distance, scoring 266 runs in five innings at an impressive average of 66.50. He impressed with 99 not out and 51 against the President’s XI, 71 and 25 against Berbice, and 20 in the lone innings against Essequibo. Yadram, who represented Guyana for the first time at the under-15 level last year, comes from a family with a rich cricket history. His brother Kamesh Yadram, who on Monday captained Demerara to the GTM Under-19 50-over title, represented Guyana at the under-15 level in 2010 and at the under-19 level in 2012 and earlier this year. Bhaskar’s sister, Kavita Yadram, is also a national player, representing the female under-19 team in 2010. His father, Seemangal Yadram, played club cricket, while uncle Latchman Yadram is a Level One coach attached to the National Sports Commission. Meanwhile, when the West Indies Cricket Board regional under-15 competition bowls off on Friday, Guyana will be in action gainst the Leeward Islands. The Guyana under-15 team reads: Bhaskar Yadram (captain), Adrian Sukhwah (wicketkeeper), Raymond Perez, Darshan Persaud, Richie Lucknauth, Ronaldo Mohamed (vice-captain), Timothy McAlmont, Mark Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Ashmead Nedd, Matthew Hardial, Vickram Talmakund, Christopher Latchman and Sylus Tyndall. The six reserves are: Joel Seetaram, Jaddel McAlister, Kelvin Shewprasad, Andrew Clifford, Steve Deonarine and Joshua Harrichand. RHTY&SC/TCL academy attracts large turnout By Avenash Ramzan T he Area H ground was a hive of activity on Monday morning when the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) commenced its 16th annual cricket academy with 50 young aspiring cricketers, including two females, being part of the two-week activity. The RHTY&SC has teamed up with Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), who is on board for the second successive year, to stage the academy, which will focus on the basics of cricket, among other areas. While coaches Winston Smith, Michael HylesFranco and Renwick Batson will centre on instilling the fundamentals of cricket to the youngsters, other resource personnel will lecture the youngsters on a series of important topics, including HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, history of cricket, importance of education and personal hygiene. Sessions are being held from 09:00h to 14:00h each day. The academy, which will conclude next Friday with the presentation of certificates, has attracted youths from Rose Hall Town and surrounding areas. Secretary/CEO of the RHTY&SC, Hilbert Foster, in an invited comment, said the academy has served the club, Berbice, Guyana and by extension West Indies cricket well since its incep- tion several years ago. He said the activity has recorded tremendous success over the past decade and a half, moulding several raw talents into quality players. Among the leading players who passed through the programme are Test batsman Assad Fudadin, West Indies ODI all-rounder Royston Crandon, wicketkeeper/batsman Delbert Hicks, West Indies female cricketers Shemaine Campbell and Erva Giddings, and national youth players Clinton Pestano, Dominic Rikhi and Shawn Perriera. Meanwhile, at the launch of the academy last month, Plant Manager at TCL, Mark Bender, said his company, when approached by Foster, did not hesitate to come on board for the second year in a row. His company has invested $200,000 into the activity and the sum would be used for the purchase of cricket balls, paying coach- es, refreshments and stationery during the event. Bender said TCL Guyana Inc. embraces the idea of using cricket as a medium to tackle social ills, noting that by doing such, the RHY&SC is playing an active role in shaping a better society. The plant manager added that by encouraging youngsters to participate in the academy, the club is subtly driving them away from a life of crime and unwholesome activities. wednESday, july 10, 2013 Guyana U-15 coach confident of winning title C 23 Canje Knights destroy NA Warriors 50-44 – team depart this morning for Jamaica By Rajiv Bisnauth N ewly-appointed head coach of the national Under-15 team, Julian Moore, believes that his team can produce Guyana’s third regional under-15 title when they compete in the upcoming West Indies Cricket Board tournament from July 10-26, in Jamaica. “The team has had a good build-up ahead of this tournament. We had a sixday stint at the Essequibo Cricket Board hostel in Anna Regina, where we went through the fundamentals of the game, we worked on all areas – the fitness area, the mental area, batting, running between the wickets, bowling good line and length and wicket keeping, so we’re 100 per cent ready and I am confident that the team will do well,” Moore said. Asked about the combi- Bhaskar Yadram Julian Moore nation of the squad, Moore, who represented Guyana at the U-15 level in 2000, said the team is well balanced, comprising of a maximum number of match winners; he also cited this team has the best chance of winning the coveted title. Guyana won the first of its two regional under-15 titles in 1998, and has not tasted regional success at any level since 1999. Guyana’s second place finish in 2001 was its best showing since then. The Guyanese ended in the cellar position last year. Bhaskar Yadram was elected captain and Ronaldo Mohammed, his deputy. The squad will be managed by Virendra Chintamani. The 14-man squad, along with the coach and manager, is expected to depart the Cheddi Jagan International Airport this morning at 05:35h for Jamaica. Guyana will be in action on Friday against the Leeward Islands in their first round encounter. The Guyana Under-15 team reads: Bhaskar Yadram (Captain), Adrian Sukhwah (wicketkeeper), Raymond Perez, Darshan Persaud, Richie Lucknauth, Ronaldo Mohamed (vice-captain), Timothy McAlmont, Mark Williams, Sagar Hetheramani, Ashmead Nedd, Matthew Hardial, Vickram Talmakund, Christopher Latchman and Sylus Tyndall. The six standby players are: Joel Seetaram, Jaddel McAlister, Kelvin Shewprasad, Andrew Clifford, Steve Deonarine and Joshua Harrichand. anje Knights have secured a place in the final of the Mackeson basketball competition being played in New Amsterdam. The Knights booked their ticket to the final when they overpowered New Amsterdam Warriors 50-44 at the Vryman’s Ervin court on Sunday in a hard fought battle, which was rife with turnovers. The Knights finished their quota of matches with only one loss while the Warriors suffered their second loss. Despite still having a game to play, the New Amsterdam team cannot get past leaders Smythfield Rockers, who played unbeaten in the preliminary round, or the Knights. New Amsterdam Warriors will next meet Rose Hall Town Jammers, who are yet to win a game. At stake in the competition is $80,000 for the winners and 40,000 for the runner up. The competition is being sponsored by ANSA McAL. NATI squeeze into third round of Digicel football c/ships Traffic department win Commander’s 4k road relay T raffic took control of the road in the Commander’s 4k road relay in Berbice last Friday. The event, which was part of a series of activities organised by B Division in observance of the 174th anniversary of the Guyana Police Force, saw a combined traffic team from B Division beating SubDivision One (Central Police Station) and SubDivision number Two (West Berbice) respectively. The other teams that participated were Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Whim/Corentyne and Special Constabulary. The race started outside Caribbean Cuisine, Number Two, Canje, and finished at Main and St All Streets in New Amsterdam. Each team was comprised of a senior officer, a male and female constable and a cadet NATI and GPMTC battle for possession N From left to right: ASP Hugh Jessemy, Constable Mark Edwards, Cadet Officer Ronald Alli, Commander Clifton Hicken and Constable Chrishandra Wills officer, who ran the final leg. Corporal Denzel Marks, female constable Chrishandra Wills, male constable Mark Edwards and cadet officer Ronald Alli competed for the champion team. After the race, Commander of B Division Senior Superintendent Clifton Hicken noted that the camaraderie augurs well for the GPF, noting: “I think that you would have exhibited the kind of discipline required for the Guyana Police Force. You were required to fall in for 05:00h and despite the inclement weather you did so and as a result of that the race kicked off at 06:00h and we would not have impeded on the traffic.” He emphasised that waking early and exercising are part of good policing: “You need to keep fit so that you can execute your duties in a professional manner.” ew Amsterdam Technical Institute’s (NATI) Jarrel Walters scored a brace to defeat arch-rivals GuySuCo Port Mourant Training Centre (GPMTC) 2-1 in the Digicel Schools Football competition at the Skeldon Community Centre ground on Sunday. Walters scored in the 28th and 39th minutes while Darren Seubarran netted in the 88th minute as GPMTC desperately tried the take the game into extra time. Meanwhile, Skeldon High has been disqualified from the competition for fielding a player that does not attend the school. Corentyne Comprehensive replaced the booted school for Monday’s round two match against Tagore Secondary. Also through to the third round is Berbice High School (BHS) after brushing aside Vryman’s Ervin Secondary 6-0 at the All Saints ground in New Amsterdam on Monday. Scoring for BHS were Mark Wrong in the 7th minute, Sherwin Arriendial in 46th and 62nd minutes, Kerron McKenzie in the 13th minute and substitute player Steffon Hinds in the 72nd and 76th minutes. BHS will take on Orealla today at the All Saints ground in the highly anticipated matchup. Orealla, last Friday, upset defending champions Tutorial Academy. (Andrew Carmichael) Khan, Drayton are Trophy Stall chess champs S enior national chess champion Taffin Khan played unbeaten, demolishing his seven opponents to capture the championship trophy in the Trophy Stall chess tournament that ended on Sunday at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Georgetown. In addition, Anthony Drayton won the junior category, but was not unscathed, recording two losses to senior players. Drayton lost to Khan on Sunday with a pawn down in an endgame struggle involving active knights, pawns and kings in the penultimate round. Lone female participant Maria Thomas brought sec- Taffin Khan (seated second right) and Anthony Drayton (seated extreme right) pose with the other top performers, their trophies and medals ond; Canada-based Guyanese Raymond Singh settled for the third spot, while Cleveland Hutson copped fourth among the seniors. Among the juniors, Roberto Neto secured the runner-up spot; former junior champion Haifeng Su brought third and Carlos Petterson, fourth. The best beginner was 13-year-old Rajiv Muneshwer of Queen’s College. Muneshwer, on Sunday, defeated 17-year-old Davion Mars, one of last year’s national junior championship finalists. Omar BrittonGrant was again adjudged the best Under-16 player, a position he also held in recent competitions. Ron Motilall copped the prize for best Under-19 player. The final points’ standing for the seniors read: Taffin Khan (seven), Maria Thomas and Raymond Singh (five each) and Cleveland Hutson (4.5). Among the juniors, Anthony Drayton scored five points, Roberto Neto, four and a half, and former national junior champion Haifeng Su and Carlos Petterson, four apiece. Muneshwer and Motilall scored three points each, while Britton-Grant recorded two and a half points. Nine seniors and 13 junior players participated in the tournament, which consisted of seven rounds. wednESday, july 10, 2013	i don't know
What sort of well is named after a former French province, where Carthusian monks first drilled them in the 12th century?	Rollende Bierton: Bier in de Bohemen dinsdag 19 januari 2016 Bier in de Bohemen Bohemen (Tsjechisch: Čechy, Duits: Böhmen) is een historische regio in Tsjechië. Het beslaat zo'n twee derde van het Tsjechische grondgebied. De rest van Tsjechië valt onder Moravië en een klein deel van Silezië ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). Dit jaar (2015) zijn we op vakantie geweest naar Zuid-Bohemen, aan het Lipnomeer, ook wel bekend als de ZuidBoheemse zee. Dit meer werd in de jaren vijftig aangelegd als stuwmeer. Geen idee wat er staat, maar: Pivo Bohemia to pit budem dokud na svete zit budem: Bohemia bier te drinken, totdat we in de wereld waarin we leven Geen idee, wat dat betekent... De benaming voor de Boheemse inwoners, bohemer of bohemien, werd in Frankrijk ook gebruikt om de zigeuners mee aan te duiden, die in Frankrijk beweerden uit Bohemen afkomstig te zijn. Sinds de negentiende eeuw wordt de naam ook gebruikt om vrijgevochten personen met een niet-traditionele levensstijl aan te duiden ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). You've got a great car Yeah what´s wrong with it today I used to have one too Maybe you'll come and have a look I really love, your hairdo, yeah I'm glad you like mine too See we´re looking pretty cool will get ya So what do you do Oh yeah I wait tables too No I haven't heard your band Cause you guys are pretty new But if you dig, on vegan food Well come over to my work I have them cook you something that you really love Cause I like you, yeah I like you And I'm feeling so bohemian like you yeah I like you, yeah I like you and I feel wo ho, wooooo !!! ( www.songteksten.nl/songteksten/39200/the-dandy-warhols/bohemian-like-you.htm ) "Bohemian Like You" is a song by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. The song was written by Courtney Taylor-Taylor after seeing a woman pull up in her car to the traffic lights outside his apartment. It was released as a single from the band's third studio album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, in August 2000. The music video for the song is controversial and is rarely broadcast on television during the day, since it contains full-frontal male and topless female nudity. However, when played on some music channels, these areas are pixelated. The video shows the band playing in a karaoke bar while many different people mime to the lyrics of the song. This is intercut with a video accompanying the lyrics on the TV screen at the bar. In this video the scenes correspond with the lyrics. In the first verse, a guy approaches a young woman who is fixing a car with her friends. They both flirtatiously sing the lyrics to each other as a sign of attraction. The guy is so attracted to the woman that he stares at her lower body and then visualises her naked. Then the video switches to a waiter while he is serving a group of customers at a table. One of the girls in the group is attracted to the waiter and the two begin to flirt and mime the lyrics to the second verse. She visualises him naked. It then turns out that the waiter and the mechanic who was fixing the car...it is likely that the waiter is the mechanic's ex-boyfriend... ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Like_You ) De eerste melding van Bohemen wordt gemaakt door de Romeinen: het was het woongebied van de Keltische stam Boii. De eerste Slavische voorouders van de huidige Tsjechen kwamen er in de zesde eeuw te wonen. In de negende eeuw behoorde het gebied tot het Moravische Rijk, dat christelijk was, en op Byzantium georiënteerd. Na de val van dit rijk kwam de dynastie der Přemysliden aan de macht, die zich op Rome richtte. Het hertogdom Bohemen werd in de elfde eeuw onderdeel van het Heilige Roomse Rijk. Keizer Hendrik IV verleende hertog Vratislav II in 1085 de titel van koning van Bohemen. Onder Ottokar I werd de Boheemse kroon erfelijk (1198). Onder zijn kleinzoon Ottokar II bevatte het rijk ook tijdelijk delen van Oostenrijk. Bohemen verwierf in 1335 bovendien Silezië. Bohemen kwam door de dood van Lodewijk II Jagiello in 1526 aan de Habsburgers, maar bleef aanvankelijk een onafhankelijk koninkrijk. In 1618 begon in Praag de Dertigjarige Oorlog. In 1627 kwam Bohemen integraal aan Oostenrijk (vanaf 1867 Oostenrijk-Hongarije). Pas vanaf 1743, toen het Habsburgse rijk begon te centraliseren, kwam er een einde aan de autonomie van Bohemen. Na de Eerste Wereldoorlog werd het onderdeel van de nieuw gevormde staat Tsjecho-Slowakije. Na de opsplitsing in Tsjechië en Slowakije werd Bohemen onderdeel van Tsjechië ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). After World War I, Bohemia (as the largest and most populous land) became the core of the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia, which combined Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia, Upper Hungary (present-day Slovakia) and Carpathian Ruthenia into one state. Under its first president, Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia became a liberal democratic republic but serious issues emerged regarding the Czech majority's relationship with the native German and Hungarian minorities. ...Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia historically inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans (the Sudetenland) were annexed to Nazi Germany; this was the only time in Bohemian history that its territory was politically divided. The remnants of Bohemia and Moravia were then annexed by Germany in 1939, while the Slovak lands became the separate Slovak Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany. From 1939 to 1945 Bohemia, (without the Sudetenland), together with Moravia formed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren). Any open opposition to German occupation was brutally suppressed by the Nazi authorities and many Czech patriots were executed as a result. After World War II ended in 1945, the vast majority of remaining Germans were expelled by force by the order of the re-established Czechoslovak central government, based on the Potsdam Agreement, and their property was confiscated by the Czech authorities. This severely depopulated the area and from this moment on locales were only referred to in their Czech equivalents regardless of their previous demographic makeup. In 1946, per the Potsdam Agreement, and under the stipulation that it be placed "under Polish administration" the post war Communist Party backed by the Soviet Union re-established Czechoslovakia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia ). Het gebied beslaat zo'n 52.750 km² en telt 6,25 miljoen inwoners. Het gebied is erg populair onder westerse toeristen. Dat geldt vooral voor de stad Praag en de natuurgebieden het Boheems Paradijs (Český ráj) en het Reuzengebergte (Krkonoše). Tot Bohemen behoren de grote steden Praag, Plzeň, České Budějovice, Liberec, Teplice en Hradec Králové. In Bohemen liggen behalve de hoofdstad Praag de volgende bestuurlijke regio's (krajs): Karlovy Vary Pilsen Midden-Bohemen De regio's Pardubice, Vysočina en Zuid-Bohemen liggen gedeeltelijk in Bohemen en gedeeltelijk in Moravië (zie ook: Regio's van Tsjechië) ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). Het gebied is vooral bekend vanwege Plzen, maar vergeet ook Zatec niet... Genieten van Praag, Plzen en Çeske Krumlov. De bakermat van kwaliteitsbieren, overgoten met eeuwenoude cultuur in een leuke ambiance. Het Tsjechische bier is wereldberoemd; zoals u ongetwijfeld weet zijn Pilsener Urquell (het bier waar de naam Pils vandaan komt) en Budweiser Budvar de bekendste biermerken. Naast de internationaal bekende bieren, bestaan er diverse bieren van plaatselijke brouwerijen, zoals Krakonos uit Trutnov. ... De eerste bierbrouwerij zou vanaf 1082 in Praag hebben gestaan, maar tegen het einde van de 13e eeuw is Plzen (Pilsen), in Bohemen, de onbetwiste hoofdstad van het bier geworden. De Pilsener brouwerijen maakten tot in de 19e eeuw een enorme groei door en begonnen vervolgens naar diverse plaatsen in Europa te exporteren, met name naar Parijs en Wenen. Bohemen en Moravië telden in de tweede helft van de 19e eeuw niet minder dan 1057 brouwerijen. Er zijn in Praag tegenwoordig honderden taveernen, die voor veel bewoners van deze stad een tweede huis zijn. Tsjechië heeft als bierland een grote invloed gehad op de verdere ontwikkeling van het bier. Tevens wordt het Tsjechische bier door bierliefhebbers uit de gehele wereld als iets bijzonders beschouwd. Denk aan het oorspronkelijke pilsener, het Pilsner Urquell. De geschiedenis van het bierbrouwen in Bohemen, Moravië en Slowakije is rijk en lang. Alle drie de origines van het Tsjechische bier hebben een uitzonderlijke reputatie en vooral de hop wordt internationaal geroemd. Volgens oude geschriften werd hop al in 859 in Bohemen verbouwd en het eerste bewijs van uitvoer dateert uit 903. Vanaf 1101 werd het over de Elbe naar de beroemde Hamburgse hopmarkt verscheept. Het eerste brouwen op Tsjechische bodem geschiedde in de 11e eeuw. Sinds de 13e eeuw bestonden er enkele bierproducerende steden waaronder Plzeñ, Budejovice en Praag. In deze periode ontstonden ook brouwerijen in Moravië. De oudste verwijzing naar brouwen in Slowakije dateert uit 1300. Een brouwerij in Levoca produceerde toen al 2.000 hectaliter per jaar. Een verbazingwekkende hoeveelheid voor een middeleeuws bedrijfje. Helaas hield deze brouwerij na een eeuwenlange historie in 1967 op te bestaan ( http://e-e-t.nl/tsjechie/tsjechische-bieren ). Water uit de kraan schijnt gedronken te kunnen worden, maar smaakt wat raar. Wij dronken dus vooral water uit flessen... Bier (Tsjechisch: pivo) is in Tsjechië heel populair en met een bierconsumptie van 145 liter per inwoner (cijfers 2011) zijn de Tsjechen al jarenlang de grootste bierdrinkers ter wereld. Bier heeft een lange geschiedenis in Tsjechië. In 993 was er al sprake van een brouwerij in het Klooster van Břevnov. De stad Brno heeft het recht om bier te brouwen sinds de 12de eeuw en in Plzeň en České Budějovice zijn er sinds de 13de eeuw brouwactiviteiten. ... Volgens de Tsjechische wetgeving worden de bieren in vier categorieën ondergebracht, onafhankelijk van kleur of stijl: 1. lehké - een "light-bier" met een densiteit minder dan 8° Plato en minder dan 130kJ per 100ml. 2. výčepní – bier van de "tap", hoewel deze ook kunnen gebotteld worden, densiteit tussen 8° en 10°. 3. ležák - "lagerbier", densiteit tussen 11° en 12.99°. 4. premium - "special" bier, densiteit 13° en meer ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bier_in_Tsjechi%C3%AB ). In Tsjechië wordt al sinds lange tijd hop gekweekt. De hopteelt in Bohemen werd al in 859 beschreven en tijdens de middeleeuwen werd er al heel veel (dure) Boheemse hop geëxporteerd. De bekendste hopvariëteit Saaz wordt in de gehele wereld gebruikt voor het brouwen van bier ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bier_in_Tsjechi%C3%AB ). De beste hop zou echter afkomstig zijn uit Vlaanderen, Zuid-Engeland, Zuid-Duitsland, Bohemen en Hongarije ( www.techniekinnederland.nl/nl/index.php?title=De_traditionele_brouwmethode , zie ook http://dossierhop.nl/verlorenbieren43b/ ). Al sinds 1871 betrekt Brand hop uit Beieren en de Bohemen met keuze uit befaamde hopsoorten als Perlem Magnum en Saaz ( www.brand.nl/brouwproces/ingredi%C3%ABnten/ , http://biervat.blogspot.nl/2012/11/hop-hop-hop.html The Czechs have been drinking beer since time immemorial. The secret of Czech beer is that agricultural conditions are ideal for growing hops, and chronicles establish their cultivation in Bohemia as early as 859 A.D., while the first evidence of their export dates back to 903. Bohemian hops were so prized that King Wenceslas ordered the death penalty for anyone caught exporting the cuttings, from which new plants could be grown. The first mention of brewing in the Czech territories is in the foundation charter for the Vysehrad church, dating from 1088. In this document, the first Czech king, Vratislav II, decreed that his estates should pay a hop tithe to the church. The U Fleku microbrewery in Prague has been in operation since 1499 and is still going strong ( http://zuzajda.blogspot.cz/2006/04/czech-beer.html ). Vanaf het eind van de vijftiende eeuw kwam vooral in Zuid-Duitsland de ondergistings- of laaggistende methode in zwang. Deze manier van werken was waarschijnlijk bij toeval ontdekt toen in het aangrenzende Bohemen bij koud weer werd gebrouwen. Bij deze lage temperaturen, die tussen de 5 en 10 oC lagen, kregen de melkzuurbacteriën minder kans om zich te ontwikkelen en daarmee was er een geringere kans op bedorven bier. De gist die zich bij de veranderde omstandigheden op natuurlijke wijze uitselecteerde, was van een andere aard dan bij de bovengistende methode en zakte na afloop van het vergistingsproces naar de bodem van de kuip. Dit in tegenstelling tot de gist bij de bovengisting, die zich in het schuim boven in de gistkuip verzamelde. De ondergisting duurt een à twee weken ( www.techniekinnederland.nl/nl/index.php?title=De_traditionele_brouwmethode ). In Bohemen werd in die tijd een nieuw soort bier uitgevonden; een bier dat we nu kennen onder de naam pils. Om pils te kunnen brouwen moet het bij lage temperaturen vergisten en lageren. Dat kon in ons land pas effectief toen rond 1880 de koelmachine werd uitgevonden. Tot die tijd moest de brouwer in de winter staven ijs uit sloten, rivieren en meren hakken om het bier ook in de zomer koel te houden. Pils werd razend snel het meest gedronken biertype in Nederland. Zo zeer zelfs, dat in de jaren zeventig van de vorige eeuw bijna alleen nog maar pils gebrouwen werd in Nederland. Bier en pils waren synoniem geworden ( http://cafesante.nl/?menu-type=bier ). Bohemian Pilsener vind ik een moeilijke stijl om te beschrijven. Wat is het verschil tussen een Bohemian Pilsener en een “gewone” pilsener? Ik kan het u niet vertellen. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt het een geografische verwijzing naar Bohemen, een deel van Tsjechië. Zoals de meeste mensen wel zullen weten is Tsjechië de bakermat van de pils, meer specifiek het dorpje Plzen. Uit dit dorpje komt ook Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicový (4.4%), de ultieme nummer 1 op Ratebeer met een score van 3.94. Er zit echter een verhaal aan dit bier. Het wordt niet gebotteld en is uitsluitend verkrijgbaar van de tap bij de brouwerij zelf, vandaar dat het bier ook pas 166 beoordelingen heeft. Ik heb het geproefd dankzij een goede vriend die tijdens een vakantie bij hoge uitzondering het bier in een fles mee kreeg bij de brouwerij. Versheid is echter essentieel, niet alleen bij dit bier maar bij deze stijl in zijn geheel. Sommige bieren zijn perfect te bewaren of worden zelfs alleen maar beter zo verdedigt menig bierliefhebber, maar pilseners en aanverwante stijlen zijn hiervoor niet gemaakt. Zit er een verschil tussen Bohemian Pilseners, Classic German Pilseners en overige (bijvoorbeeld Nederlandse) Pilseners? Het blijft moeilijk en ik kan hooguit spreken over mijn eigen ervaringen. Mijn hoogst beoordeelde Bohemian Pilsener op Ratebeer is De Molen / Gadds Fresh Hopped Bohemian, maar dit bier is erg sterk ge(dry)hopt en dus qua smaak eigenlijk niet te vergelijken met een traditionele Bohemian Pilsener. Wat mij als enige is opgevallen is dat de klassieke Tsjechische Pilseners altijd een echt goudkleurig helder voorkomen hebben, terwijl andere pilseners wellicht wat meer goudgeel zijn. Het ligt voor de hand dat Tsjechische pilseners in het algemeen zullen zijn gebrouwen met Saaz-hop, die voornamelijk in Tsjechië wordt verbouwd. Wellicht schuilt daarin het geheim ( www.spoelenmaar.nl/stijlen-onder-de-loep-black-ipa-en-bohemian-pilsener/ ). Wie in deze regio rondrijdt ziet bierreclame van Budweiser, Gambrinus en Kozel, maar ook van Bernard en Regent. Zuid-Bohemen is een zeldzaam mooi en waterrijk gebied gelegen tussen Praag en de Oostenrijkse grens. Niet voor niets is dit een van de populairste vakantieoorden van de Tsjechen zelf....U vindt er onder meer het Boheemse Woud (Sumava) met een schitterende, gevarieerde natuur. Ruig landschap met bossen wordt afgewisseld met velden, rivieren, heuvels en bergen. Donkere meertjes, koele beekjes, geurige naaldbomen en knisperende takjes en blaadjes die onder je voeten breken als je er overheen loopt. De hoogste bergen zijn wel 1.400 meter en uitermate geschikt voor de geoefende wandelaars. Lipnomeer In het Boheemse Woud vindt u de mooiste plekjes die de natuur te bieden heeft: het Lipnostuwmeer. Ook de rivier Moldau ontspringt hier en verbreedt zich tot het prachtig gelegen Lipnomeer waar tal van watersporten mogelijk zijn en waar u heerlijk kunt zonnen is op één van de vele zandstrandjes ( www.tsjechie.nl/id/1/73/zuid-bohemen_tsjechie.html/ ). Het Lipnomeer ligt in het zuidelijke deel van het fraaie Boheemse Woud (Sumava), heeft een lengte van circa 50 km en is op sommige plaatsen 16 km breed. Het is een waar paradijs voor de watersportliefhebbers. Het is hier heerlijk zwemmen, surfen, zeilen, vare en vissen. Rond het meer zijn vele gemarkeerde routes om te fietsen. De omgeving is fantastisch: heuvels, bergen en uitgestrekte bossen waar u schitterende wandelingen kunt maken in een ongerepte natuur. Langs het meer liggen de valkantieplaatsjes Horní Plana, Frymburk en Lipno nad Vltavou met zandstrandjes en vele restaurants en winkeltjes. Door het gunstige klimaat en het schone water is het hooggelegen Lipnomeer één van de meest populaire vakantiebestemmingen in Tsjechië. Vanaf het Lipnomeer kunt u vele uitstapjes naar mooie historische stadjes, zoals het indrukwekkende Cesky Krumlov (het Venetië van Tsjechië), Ceske Budejovice, Trebon, Jindrichuv Hradec en Prachatice ( http://bohemia.nl/Vakantieinformatie/Tsjechi%C3%AB/Lipnomeer.html ). Ten Zuiden van Budejovice ligt Krumlov en daaronder ligt weer Vyšší Brod. Er zijn diverse brouwerijen. ... In totaal zijn in Tsjechië opereert 60 brouwerijen en houd ze groeien ( www.webdrinks.cz/zpravodajstvi/vyssi-brod-bude-mit-po-letech-opet-pivovarnavic-nejmensi-v-kraji/ ). Er is heel wat aandacht voor de kleine brouwerijen: Ik heb geen idee wat die bierwedstrijden waren...net zo min als gegrilde varkensknie... Horni Planá Beerfest 2015 (zie www.horniplana.cz/dokumenty/1036-hp-listy-zari-2015.pdf ) České Budějovice ([ˈtʃɛskɛː ˈbudjɛjɔvitsɛ]?; Duits: Budweis) is de grootste stad en hoofdstad van de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. Bij de stad komen de rivieren Moldau en Malše samen. Het predicaat České (Boheems) is nodig om de stad te onderscheiden van Moravské Budějovice (Duits Budwitz). De stichting van (České) Budějovice, in 1265, wordt toegeschreven aan de edelman Hirzo in opdracht van koning Ottokar II van Bohemen. De nieuwe stad kreeg de status van koninklijke stad en werd bevolkt met burgers uit Oberösterreich ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8 Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). De stad is vooral bekend door het Budweiser bier, dat in grote delen van de wereld wordt verkocht. In veel landen buiten Europa is de naam van dit bier Budvar of Czechvar, wegens geschillen met het Amerikaanse Anheuser-Busch, die ook bier onder de naam Budweiser produceert. Dat bier was in eerste instantie een imitatie van het Boheemse bier maar heeft inmiddels ook een eigen identiteit. Overigens prefereert de lokale bevolking het lokale merk Samson boven het bekendere Budvar. Samson is het handelsmerk van de brouwerij Budweiser Burgerbräu, vermoed wordt dat dit bier oorspronkelijk model stond voor het Anheuser-Busch bier ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). České Budějovice is een stad gelegen in de regio Zuid-Bohemen in Tsjechië. České Budějovice is de bakermat van het ook bij ons zo geliefde pils. Het merk Budweiser komt hier vandaan en is simpelweg een verwijzing naar de stad České Budějovice, dat in het Duits Budweis genoemd wordt. České Budějovice is de grootste stad van de regio Zuid-Bohemen en tevens de hoofdstad van deze regio. České Budějovice kent een aantal bezienswaardigheden die de moeite waard zijn. Verder is de stad geliefd onder toeristen uit de omgeving die hier een (mid)dagje kunnen komen shoppen ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskebudejovice.htm ). Brouwerij Budweiser Budvar Al sinds 1265 wordt er in České Budějovice ‘Budweiser Budvar’ bier gebrouwen. Het mag absoluut niet worden verward met het Amerikaanse Budweiser biermerk. Al jaren lopen er rechtszaken over deze naam en wordt er een bieroorlog gevoerd. In Amerika wordt de Tsjechische Budweiser verkocht met de naam ‘Czechvar’. De brouwerij is dagelijks te bezoeken en er zijn verschillende rondleidingen te volgen, al dan niet met een proeverij. In de wintermaanden is dit niet mogelijk. Je vindt de brouwerij in het noorden van de stad ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/ tsjechie/ceskebudejovice.htm ). Ze proberen een beetje zich te onderscheiden van Pilsner Urquell (zie o.a. www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/brewers-budvar-score-hit-with-bob-and-dave-tv-ad-campaign ) Er zijn verschillende berichten te vinden over de rondleiding: Rondleidingen zijn dus van 9.00 tot 17.00 of 11.00 en 14.00? Ik ben de brouwerij gaan bekijken: Het gebouw is verstopt op een industrieterrein aan een drukke straat. Vanaf de snelweg is het een afslag en dan een zijstraat van zo'n andere drukke straat. Het gebouw zelf is wel opvallend genoeg: Ik parkeerde bij de Baumarkt op de hoek van de straat (plek zat) en vandaar was de brouwerij al te zien: Na een kleine 500 meter was ik bij de brouwerij. Ik was bijna naar de receptie gelopen, maar schuin naast deze hoofdingang is een oprit en daar liepen hele drommen mensen, dus daar ging ik naar binnen. ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/obrazky/pro-navstevniky/navstevnicke-centrum2.jpg ) Duidelijk. Ik kocht er een kaartje voor de rondleiding van 14:00: die wordt dagelijks gegeven. Bij de ingang, het visitors center , stond een TV met filmpjes over andere onderwerpen, zoals thee en sigaren. Elk filmpje eindigt met een tagline die ook geldt voor Budweiser, zoals kwaliteit ontstaat door de beste ingrediënten en tradities ontstaan door mensenhanden. Erg inspirerend, maar doordat het in het Tsjechisch is, wel een beetje saai. Naast de TV hangen twee borden: Dit wist ik niet, Budweiser wordt enkel gebrouwen in Budweiser...wat ik wel wist was dat Amerika ook een Budweiser heeft: Hiermee geven ze duidelijk aan dat het Tsjechische bier model stond voor de Amerikaanse Budweiser en ze dus eerder waren. De Amerikaanse Budweiser is een kopie van het Tsjechische bier. Nu zal de afgelopen 100 jaar wel wat afwijkingen zijn ontstaan, maar toch het is dan vreemd dat in Amerika Budweiser geen Budweiser mag heten, maar als naam Czechvar heet: Ze gaan er tijdens de rondleiding niet op in. Ze noemen het, maar geven geen mening. Ook gaan ze totaal niet in op de geschiedenis. Bij de ingang stonden wat bordjes over o.a. de eerste brouwer van Budweiser: Antonin Holecek: Ook ging de rondleing niet in op het bijzondere feit: Budweiser Budvar, N. C. is commemorating the 120th anniversary of its founding. The first batch of beer of a mere 200 hectolitres was brewed on 7th October 1895 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2015/den-budvar-2015.html ). En de verschillende flesjes Gelukkig is er internet : The history of brewing in České Budějovice started in 1265, when the town was founded by Ottokar II. (Přemysl Otakar II.), the King of Bohemia, who granted the town with important privileges, the brewing right being one of them. 1495: The České Budějovice Town hall managed to build its own Large brewery. Under the arrangement with the town citizens, the town brewery brewed so-called white (wheat) beer, while individual citizens brewed dark barley beer. From the beginning of the 18th century, the town citizens endeavoured to control the municipal brewery, reasoning it with the brewing right they had owned since 1495. The municipal council recognised their right in 1722, however they had to give up brewing in their houses. Therefore they bought the brewing house of Matěj Konvička, the maltster, thus giving rise to the so-called Small Brewery. Nonetheless, the municipal council pronounced this building its own building. From then, the town owned two breweries - the Large Brewery near the Rožnov Gate and the Small Brewery on the corner of Charles IV. St. and Kanovnická St The town citizens declined to accept that and the dispute finished in 1795, when the town passed the administration of both breweries to the town citizens, giving thus rise to the so called Civic Brewery. Both areas were reconstructed and rebuilt several times, but soon it was clear that no further development of the breweries in the inner town will be possible. In 1847 came the decision to build a new refrigerator cellar at the Linz suburb. Later on in 1851-1852, a new brewery was built there ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ).. Dus ter verduidelijk politiek en bier gaan samen: In the 19th century České Budějovice was a town of mixed nationalities. However, the economy was controlled by enterprises owned by the German part of the population. As a former election order distinguished electors according to property and the level of paid taxes, the Czech people did not have any representation in the Town Hall in Česke Budějovice despite their majority. To be able to participate in policy, the Czech people had to strengthen their economic positions. ... Therefore, in the last third of the 19th century, “Czech” enterprises were established. One of them was the Czech Share Brewery – the direct predecessor of Budweiser Budvar. The initiative for its foundation came mainly from Czech brewers (August Zátka and many others). The Czech Share Brewery produced the first batch of beer on 1th October 1895. Up to the end of 1896, sales of beer repersented 51,100 hectolitres of beer. ,,, In the competition with German Měšťanský brewery and two Schwarzenberg breweries in Třeboň and Protivín, the Czech Share Brewery always won due to its high quality and the excellent flavour of its beer as first awarded in 1896 in the Industrial Exhibition in Prague. In the beginning of the 20th century ,lager from the Czech Share Brewery was also very well known abroad ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/historie-pivovaru.html ). Dus de brouwerijis opgezet door de Tsjechische inwoners om politieke invloed te krijgen in hun stadsbestuur. Ze werden bekend in de stad en omstreken en ver daarbuiten: Millions of people travelled from the old continent to America hoping to find a better life there. The emigrants also "brought" their thirst and love for European beer with them, which resulted in the start of importing beer to America, some brands of Czech beer being amongst it. In 1872, the import of Budweiser Bier from České Budějovice began, as well. Thanks to the ever-growing popularity of European beer on the American market, another emigrant C. Conrad came upon an idea to imitate the beer in America. The problem occurred with choosing a brand for their product. Clearly, it had to be a well-known brand from Europe, its name being pronounceable in English. Consequently in 1876, another Budweiser Bier came into the world six centuries after the brewing of the beer began in České Budějovice. It was Anheuser-Busch brewery that Carl Conrad had chosen for his business plan. In 1878, C.Conrad had the Budweiser Lager Bier trademark registered with the American Patent Office, signing it over to the brewing concern Anheuser-Busch in 1891, which thus got the right to sell this beer. The appropriation was not only unauthorised, but the owners of the American trademark passed the trademark off as an invented one. On the contrary, Budweiser beer from České Budějovice indicated specific information about the place of origin, which was derived from the official name of the town. The picture of the Anheuser-Busch's label of 1876 contains information that this beer is brewed using a recipe from Budějovice and Czech ingredients. Adolphus Busch himself, as the founder of the US-based beer giant Anheuser-Busch, testified before the South New York District Court with respect to the dispute over the mark Budweiser in 1894 as follows: "The idea was simple - to produce a beer of the same quality, colour and taste as the beer produced in Budweis, or Bohemia.” ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ) The Czech Joint-Stock Brewery (present Budweiser Budvar, N.C.) began to brew its famous beer on 7th October 1895. The circumstances preceding its founding were very dramatic in the nationally divided Budějovice. One part which Czech brewers were was not satisfied with was the situation in the local very German Civic Brewery and so supported by the leading representatives of the Czech bourgeoisie they decided to set up a new company. On 20th May 1896, the "Joint-Stock Brewery Restaurant" was officially opened. The opening ceremony was set for Sunday, but the restaurant had been completely packed the day before and all the rooms which were furnished in an elegant style with electrical lighting were literally bursting thanks to the overflow of thirsty wanderers. From that moment, the brewery became the centre of the Czech national life in the town ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). 1911: When the Anheuser-Busch concern registered the Budweiser trademark in the United Stated in 1907, both Budějovice breweries protested against it (the Joint-Stock Brewery began to import its beer to the USA in 1906). Following long disputes a contract was entered into in 1911, where the Czech Joint-Stock Brewery recognised the validity of the American registration in exchange for compensation; however, it did not give up its right to label its products with the word "Budweiser" and the specific "original" around the world. 1930: In 1930, the brewery registered its Budvar trademark, which was used for the 12° export pale lager. The extraordinary international success of this trademark eventually drove the board of directors to include the word in the name of the brewery, which subsequently from 1936 was: Budvar - Joint-Stock Brewery, České Budějovice. 1939: At the beginning of 1939 on the eve of the World War II., both České Budějovice breweries were forced to enter into new unfavourable contracts with Anheuser-Busch under the threat of confiscation of all their goods in the USA. For an inadequate compensation, they undertook not to use the denominations of Budweiser, Budweis and other derivatives for the area of North American territory north from Panama. During the occupation a Nazi administrator was appointed to the Budvar - Joint-Stock Brewery and the brewery became a part of the Protectorate breweries network. During the war, the export literally perished, although the Joint-Stock Brewery had exported to a larger extent until 1942. The post-war period brought many changes to the brewery. It was nationalised in 1946 and changed its name several times while the confiscated Civic Brewery was incorporated in it. Finally, it was made into South Bohemian Breweries National Corporation. When other regional breweries were incorporated in South Bohemian Breweries, the original Joint-Stock Brewery began to use the name Budvar to distinguish itself. In 1967, Budweiser Budvar, N.C originated as the successor of the original Joint-Stock brewery and the Civic Brewery, taking over its trademarks to a large extent. It was put on the same level as South Bohemian Breweries and as far as the management was concerned, both companies had a joint management. A new stage of the brewery's history came after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when Budweiser Budvar became physically independent on 1.1.1991. Owing to another overall modernisation of all the operations, establishing direct business relations with both local and international business partners and building its own distribution warehouses the brewery increased its production two and half fold. 1996: Thanks to an extensive modernisation, Budweiser Budvar, N.C. surpassed the 1,000,000 hectolitre milestone. [10 jaar later in 2006 werd de grens van 1.25 hectoliter gehaald] 2003: The first original beer restaurant Budvarka was opened in the Small Brewery Hotel in České Budějovice. The conception of the original beer restaurant chain is intended for everyone who likes the environment of a traditional but at the same time modern beer restaurant with a pleasant ambience, where excellent well-treated beer along with a delicious Czech and international cuisine can be savoured ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). Tot zover de trip through memorylane en terug naar het heden: Achterin de zaal staat een ridder, die ook in hun reclame voorkomt: De ridder is metalig en uitgedost met brouwerijbenodigdheden, zoals hopbellen en granen... Achter de ridder was een lege filmzaal en een liftachtig iets. Ik heb hier even ingekeken, maar niets gezien. Het schijnt dat hier ook een soort museumpje zou zijn. Naast de ridder was nog een filmpresentatie van de brouwerij. De rondleiding begon even voor twee uur met een Duitstalige inleiding, nadat die groep was vertrokken kwam onze gids in het Tsjechisch een hele uitleg geven, gevolgd door wat korte uitleg in het Engels. De rondleiding ging over de brouwerij: Het tempo zat er goed in. De brouwerij is staatseigendom, dat wist ik niet. Ik had als slimme vraag bedacht om te vragen of ze hadden nagedacht over overnames. Aangezien Staropramen van Heineken in zee gegaan is en Pilsner Urquell van SABMiller vroeg ik me af of ze met AB/InBev willen praten om de ruzie bij te leggen vanwege zakelijke belangen. Aangezien Budweiser een staatsbedrijf is, zal het wel niet gaan gebeuren... Op hun website vond ik vervolgens ook nog: To be able to say no, to refuse, to disagree. Not to allow whatever others consider normal, not to think in regular concepts, not to want what others desire, not to follow a predetermined path, not to nod dumbly, not to decide without using common sense, not to succumb, not to bend, not to be bent and to say NO ( www.budvar.cz/en ). Zou dit samenhangen met de Amerikaanse Budweiserslogan: Nog wat info van hun website: The modern history of the brewery dates back to the year 1967, when the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic founded the Budweiser Budvar National Corporation as the direct successor of the Czech Stock Brewery, which had brewed beer in České Budějovice since 1895. The Czech Stock Brewery was established by Czech licensed brewers, who followed the footsteps of the 700 year old tradition of brewing beer in České Budějovice (formerly Budweis). Budweiser Budvar is the owner of valuable intellectual property in the form of more than 380 trademarks registered in 101 countries worldwide. The most known trademarks include Budweiser, Budvar, Budweiser Budvar, Bud, Budějovický Budvar and Czechvar. This immense intellectual property is closely linked to the place of its origin, the town of České Budějovice, which was formerly called Budiwoyz or Budweis. Budweiser Budvar has reached the position of the major beer market player by way of a gradual and conscientious expansion into foreign markets and strengthening its position at home. The volume of export sales makes Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager one of the most exported Czech beer brands. Presently, more than 600 employees work in Budweiser Budvar N.C. ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/profil.html ) Met die jaartallen is het wat vreemd. Het brouwen is er al circa 600 jaar, maar het huidige bedrijf bestaat bijna 50 jaar. Toch gaat de brouwerij terug tot 1895 en dat maakt het bedrijf nu 120 jaar: During World War II the brewery was under Nazi administration and was nationalized after the War.. In 1967 an independent legal subject was separated from the former South Bohemian Brewery, Budweiser Budvar, national enterprise. This enterprise oriented its activity mainly to export based on tradition, valuable registered trademarks and quality of beer. Further significant development of the enterprise on the domestic market and abroad came after 1989 when in just several years the present management managed to increase sales of beer by almost double. The national enterprise of Budweiser Budvar is today a modern and active company built on a strong foundation. The brewery has managed the strong struggle with competition that is supported by supra-national concerns. At present it is the last of the large breweries which has exclusively Czech capital. Due to the excellent economic results the enterprise can invest large funds into its development. Part of the profit is directed each year into the support of culture, education and the health system, in particular in the South Bohemia region. The evidence of the dynamic and personal relation to lovers of Budweiser Budvar are the new products regularly introduced by Budvar onto the market ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/historie-pivovaru.html ). Dus bier is goed voor de lokale economie! Omdat er zo een tempo in de rondleiding zat en er geen aandacht was voor de historie, was hier een bordje van een houten muziekpaviljoen, waar ik wel een foto heb van het bordje (met spiegelbeeldselfie), maar niet van het gebouw... Ik heb er geen foto van helaas.... De eerste stop van onze tour was bij het bronwater . Dat zit in grote tanks, die wat imponerend overkomen, zo op een bedrijventerrein.... De gids ging niet in op die grote tanks, maar over het zuivere bronwater en de twee bronnen op ca. 270 en 300 meter onder maaiveld. ( www.visitbudvar.cz/img/fotogalerie/prohlidka-pivovaru/arteske-studny/02.jpg ) Leuk weetje van internet: This water is ecologically immaculate and so clean that it needs no chemical treatment, such as adding chlorine or softening agents. The water is substantially instrumental in the characteristic flavour of our beer, thus making it a real rarity. The technology and principle of the artesian wells were already known in Ancient Syria and Egypt. However, only their common use in the former French province of Artois, where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks in the 12th century, gave them their name, which has been the synonym of a source of tasteful and quality water till today ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). Tegenover de bronwatertanks zagen we de kratten opgestapeld: We liepen echt over het brouwerijterrein. En konden we dus echt een kijkje in de keuken nemen: Zou hier de graan of de hop worden gelost? Of misschien helemaal niets meer? Uit de uitleg van de gids begrijp ik dat de mout en andere grondstoffen per trein komen. We krijgen een indrukwekkende uitleg over het brouwproces, waarbij het schroten wat achterwege wordt gelaten. Het maïschen gaat tot 75 °C, de Saazhop gaat er bij het koken bij. na toevoegen van gist en lucht gaat de eerste vergisting aan de gang, daarna de koude lagering en tenslotte de afvulafdeling: Vervolgens gaan we de brouwerij in: Zoals gezegd was er geen aandacht voor de rijke (?) historie. Er was dus geen uitleg over deze foto die in het trappenhuis hing. Na de trappen, kwamen we bij een haast adembenemend uitzicht; de brouwketels van Budweiser: We stonden in een grote zaal en ik kon onmogelijk alle 8 ketels op de foto krijgen. We stonden ook recht boven twee ketels. Ik heb m'n best gedaan om foto's te maken en om tegelijk de sfeer te proeven. Wat mij opviel waren deze open bakken, en de groene planten in deze zaal. Ook viel mij o pdat alhoewel in de deuropening van het trappenhuis een duidelijke wortgeur was waar te nemen, hier in de brouwzaal rook het redelijk neutraal. Er zijn dus 8 ketels. De bovenkant is koper, maar de onderkant is RVS. Ik kreeg deze 8 ketels niet allemaal in beeld. Er staan dus 8 ketels 4 voor en 4 achter. Een lijn bestaat uit 4 ketels en er zijn dus twee batches die per keer tegelijk worden gebrouwen. Zo'n batch is 600 hl bier. Jaarlijks produceren ze zo'n 1,6 miljoen hectoliter ofzoiets. De helft is voor de export en de andere helft is voor nationaal gebruik. Dat gaat allemaal op, dus kun je nagaan wat een drinkers die Tsjechen zijn. bijzonder om zoiets te horen van een staatsbedrijf. Exactere cijfers van hun website: In 2014, Budweiser Budvar’s sales reached 1 457 000 hectolitres of beer.....Almost a half of its production is exported into more than 70 countries on all continents ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/profil.html ). Voor 1 liter bier wordt 100 kg hop gebruikt als ik het goed begreep. Later meer over die hop. Eerst door naar de vergistingstanks: De uitleg over die grote tanks wordt gegeven naast het parkeerterrein van de vrachtwagens, die de kratten bier vervoeren. Deze grote vaten zijn conisch aan de onderzijde, waarlangs het ondergist kan worden afgevoerd. Vervolgens gingen we de lagerkelder, met een lange gang, in: In de gang zaten kamers met vaten, met aan de muur een krijtbord waarop staat wat waarin gist: En dan bedoel ik ook echt gist: Sommige vaten staan en andere liggen: We liepen echt langs de werkplek van de brouwers: Vervolgens kwamen in een kamer met wat gistingstanks en brouwparafernalia: We mochten wachten bij het toog met de glazen potten: Het zijn veel, maar kleine tanks.... Hier kregen we een bekertje ongepasteuriseerde ongefilterde ORIGINAL te proeven met mooi romig schuim. Mijn bier had met wat fantasie een smiley. Het smaakt heerlijk zacht en heeft een duidelijk hopbitterheid. Zelf zeggen ze over dit bier: Budweiser Budvar CVIKL Non-Filtered Yeast Beer (4 % vol.) Sipping non-filtered beer directly from the barrel has ranked amongst brewing traditions since time immemorial. All you had to do was pull out a beech wedge (called “cvikl” in Czech) from the barrel and the fresh drink poured out. That is where our non-filtered beer got its name Cvikl from as well as an extra ration of yeast, gaining a fresher beer flavour and nutritious delight. Every beer tastes its best while still in the brewery’s cellars, as it is not affected by heat, light, movement or oxygen which impair its flavour. Such a fresh flavour can be accomplished only by not filtering the beer, which keeps the yeast in the beer. Budweiser Budvar Cvikl keeps its full and invigorating flavour with mildly higher bitterness also due to fresh activated yeast added before racking, which causes the characteristic matt haze of the non-filtered beer and not the additives of foreign substances, such as pectin. Pale draught beer ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/cvikl.html ). Budweiser wordt gebrouwen met mout, hop en water. Het water is hun eigen bronwater. De mout komt in 4 soorten. De hop is echter uniek: Saaz. Budweiser is dus een single hop bier! Voor het brouwen van de pils worden geen pellets of hopextracten gebruikt, maar gedroogde hopbellen. Sinds 2012 brouwen ze in augustus een speciale versie met verse hop: Wet hopping: 28.8.2015 České Budějovice On Wednesday, two batches of seasonal beer were brewed in the Budweiser Budvar Brewery’s brewing house using fresh cones of Saaz “Žatecký poloraný červeňák” hops harvested only several hours before on the “Splav” hop field in the cadastre of the hop-growing municipality of Blšany. The seasonal beer from fresh hops has been regularly brewed in the Budweiser Budvar during the hop harvest period since 2012. Having an extraordinary long maturing period, 16°beer BUD B:STRONG from fresh hops can be savoured in selected restaurants in the Czech Republic as well as in several other countries in the second half of March 2016 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2015/bud-cerstvy-chmel.html ). De hop komt uit de buurt van Zatec. De mout komt uit Moravië: Good-quality malt is essential for anyone who wants to brew good beer. Since all beers of the Budweiser Budvar brand are excellent ones, the malt used during their brewing must be of top quality. Therefore we only use pale malt made from the grains of the best Czech strains of spring barley, which is grown on the sunny stretches of the Moravian region of Haná. It is our best barley and the malt arisen from it thus counts amongst the best-quality barley in the world ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). Beetje apart dat je als overheid over je land zegt dat je zelf als staatsbedrijf de beste ingrediënten gebruikt. Dat is toch een beetje afgeven op andere Tsjechische bedrijven. Weetje van internet: The uniqueness and originality of České Budějovice beer is also recognized by the European Union, which entitled the beer to use the "Protected Geographical Indication" logo in 2004. Such an indication can only be granted to products strongly connected with their place of origin and produced using exactly specified, distinctive and traditional procedures. The "Protected Geographical Indication" guarantees the customers will not buy a non-genuine product ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). The European Commission granted Budweiser Budvar N.C. with the right to use a Protected Geographical Indication "Budějovické pivo" and "Českobudějovické pivo". This decision became effective on 1.5.2004 ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). Na de lagertanks lopen we door naar de afvulafdeling, via een voetgangersbrug over het spoor. Ja, het is echt een Budweisertrein! Daar zal het vast bij helpen dat de staat eigenaar is van de brouwerij. Daarmee komen andere overheidszaken zoals spoorlijnen en allerlei wetgeving vast in goed overleg ten bate van de brouwerij. De afvullijn is indrukwekkend: Deze te hergebruiken flessen worden gewassen, waarbij het etiket eraf gaat. Als etiketverzamelaar is dat natuurlijk wat zuur om te zien. Maar wel interessant om te zien hoe zo'n etiket van een oude fles eindigt: Naast de brouwerij staat ook een soort van restaurant. Maar dat heb ik niet onderzocht. Wel stond ik in het trappenhuis me te vergapen aan brouwparafernalia: Naast de brouwerij staat een grote fles van hun bier. Ze brouwen verschillende bieren: Sinds 2014 hebben ze een nieuw etiket: The label constitutes the essential packaging element, as its layout is subsequently reflected in all the other types of packaging. The shape of the dividing line located about one third into the label’s height significantly underlines the brand’s dynamics, at the same time defining the type of beer with the particular colour. The traditional elements of the “Knights” and the town emblem used in the past as well gently refer to the beer’s place of origin and the brand’s tradition. A new name for each type of beer - the subname, such as B:ORIGINAL, is a new feature on the label. Furthermore, every type of beer has now its own dominant colour for even better consumer familiarisation with the products within the portfolio. According to marketing research, the new label has been showing a significantly better perception of the brand’s values among consumers than the existing one. ... The letter “B” is then followed by the name of the particular type of beer (subname), which aptly reflects its character. The names of the products have been chosen in such a way they are comprehensible to Czech customers as well as to foreign tourists and consumers in more than 60 countries to which the brewery exports its beer. This new terminology has a considerable potential for better recognition of Budweiser Budvar beers from the competing ones. Nonetheless, the original names of the products remain a part of the labels as additional elements. B:ORIGINAL – designates Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager, golden being the dominant colour B:DARK – refers to the colour of Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager, black being the dominant colour B:CLASSIC – is the name for the favourite Budweiser Budvar Pale Draught Beer, silver being the dominant colour B:FREE – designates Budweiser Budvar Non-Alcoholic Lager, green being the dominant colour B:STRONG – reflects the full strong flavour of special beer BUD, bronze completed with dark red being the dominant colours B:SPECIAL – is used for “Krausened Lager”, which contains live yeasts ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2014/novy-design.html ) De DARK, FREE, STRONG en SPECIAL zijn duidelijk, maar wat os het verschil tussen ORIGINAL en CLASSIC? B:DARK Ziet er donker uit, ruikt niet opvallend. Smaakt wat als geroosterd brood, beetje waterig. Weinig hopbitterheid. Budweiser Budvar B:DARK Premium Dark Lager (4.7% vol.) Premium Dark Lager has complemented the traditional offer of beer from the brewery Budweiser Budvar, N. C. since 2004. It is produced in the same manner as original Premium Lager with the use of the finely selected Žatec hop, Moravian malt, water from 300 m deep Artesian wells and three types of special colour barley malt: Munich, caramel and roasted. It is characterized by its significant dark colour, dry, fine bitter caramel flavour without dominant sweetness. The flavour is made delicious by the roasted malt ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-original.html#restrictedContent ). Budweiser Budvar B:ORIGINAL Czech Premium Lager (5.0% vol.) Our Czech Premium Lager is beer for pale beer lovers. The most gentle heads of the high quality Žatec hop, virgin clear natural water and granules of selected species of Moravian barley make it the beverage of real experts. The 700-year long tradition in production of České Budějovice beer and the unique, 90-day period of maturity increase its unique character. You can taste Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager with all your senses. First of all you will delight your eyes with its beautiful colour and rich dense foam, then you will feel the fine aroma of the hops, in your palm you will stroke the dewy glass and, in the end, you will taste the fine to medium strong bitterness. You will remember well, our perfect lager ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-original.html#restrictedContent ). B:ORIGINAL (Svetly ležák) 5% Pilsgeel bier met wit schuim. Smaakt lekker, wat wateriger wellicht dan de CLASSIC? Ook minder koolzuurprikkeling. Het is een lekker en zacht pilsje. Zeker de moeite waard! Hier kun je wat van drinken op een gezellig feestje. Volgens mij -mag ik dat zeggen? Ja dat mag ik zeggen- is het beter dan de Amerikaanse naamgenoot. Budweiser Budvar B:CLASSIC Pale Beer (4.0% vol.) If our Premium Lager is the beer of real experts and specialists, then our Pale Beer is the right beer for everybody. The long tradition of the production of České Budějovice beer and carefully selected high quality natural ingredients are a guarantee for the highest quality without doubt. The Pale Beer is ideal for those occasions when it is evident in advance that you will not finish with just one beer ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-classic.html ). B:CLASSIC (Svetly vycepni pivo) 4% Pilsgeel bier, met wit schuim. De CLASSIC heeft meer hopgeur dan de ORIGINAL. Ook wat meer hop in de afdronk en nasmaak. Het mondgevoel heeft ook wat meer koolzuurprikkeling dan de ORIGINAL. Budweiser Budvar B:FREE Non-alcoholic beer (max 0.5 % vol.) To drink beer and drive? Then why not, if this beer is our Budweiser Budvar non-alcoholic beer. Our tradition in the production of Budweiser beer and the use of high quality natural ingredients in combination with a minimum content of alcohol make this beer suitable for all who do not deny its delicate, full flavour and, at the same time, their profession or condition do not allow the drinking of alcoholic beverages ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-free.html ). Bud B:STRONG Special Beer (7.5 % vol.) Bud B:STRONG Special Beer is strong beer with an alcohol content of 7.5 %. Compared to the regular lager, there is a difference of approximately 2.5 %. Therefore consumers are required to be more experienced, responsible and mature. For that reason we have decided to recommend that the young consumers wait with this beer until they are 21, as at this age a man is physically and mentally more mature and can cope with drinking this specialty as well as appreciating and savouring it. We do believe that Bud B:STRONG deserves such respect. Owing to its record-breaking 200-days long maturing period the beer is referred to as the peak of the beer alchemy. It is characterised by a rich thick fine head, darker golden colour and distinct malt flavour ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-strong.html ). B:STRONG (Czech Imperial Lager) 7.5% Imperial Lager geeft bij mij het idee dat er veel hop in zit. Zoals My Antonia . Maar dat blijkt niet het geval, het bier legt de nadruk op de verwarmende kwaliteiten van de alcohol. Bijzonder, aangezien het bier maar 7,5% is en niet echt zwaar te noemen is. Toch komt het qua smaak en mondgevoel zo over. Hopbitterheid is niet echt op de voorgrond, het is de moutsmaak die het bier draagt. Het bier is net zoals de CLASSIC en ORIGINAL pilsgeel met wit schuim. Als je een beetje veel drinkt of niet goed oplet, merk je geen verschil en proef je niet wat wat is... Zowel de ORIGINAL, CLASSIC en STRONG hebben dezelfde moutsmaak!? Tijdens de rondleiding heb ik dit overigens gevraagd: wat is het verschil tussen de ORIGINAL en de CLASSIC? Het antwoord? Het alcoholpercentage: ORIGINAL is 5% en CLASSIC is 4%. De CLASSIC is speciaal voor de lokale markt ontwikkeld, maar dat dat op zich vreemd was, aangezien de ORIGINAL erg populair is bij de lokale bevolking... In de stad vind je bij diverse plaatsen een verwijzing naar Budweisermemorabilia: Zoals bij Hotel Maly Pivovar : The hotel "Maly pivovar" is gimped by a secret of a produce of world famous beer Budwar, which adds a rich history of the town ( www.hotel-maly-pivovar-ceske-budejovice.az-ubytovani.info/accommodation.htm ). The Original Budvarka Beerhouse in the Malý pivovar Hotel (Karla IV. 8-10, 370 01, České Budějovice) was to become the first Original Budvarka Beerhouse in the year 2003 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/restaurace/original-pivnice-budvarka.html ). Mogelijk is dit hotel van de brouwerij en schenken ze net zoals Masné Krémy (aan Krajinská 13) een ongepasteuriseerde versie van het Budweiser bier uit het vat. Het is een 'Krausend Lager' genaamd Krozy ofzoiets. Ik heb het zelf niet gedronken, maar hoorde van iemand anders dat het de moeite waard was. Budweiser Budvar B:SPECIAL Krausened Lager (5.0% vol.) The starting procedure for the production of Krausened Lager is the same as for the Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager. The difference is in the fact that before filling a certain volume of “rings” are added into the finished beer for consumption quality. A new culture of brewing yeast in the best condition and new ratio of extract is added into the beer. In the transport package (KEG barrels) there is a further level of fermentation of beer which brings better sensory quality and higher biological value ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-special.html ). Het hotel heeft bij de entree en in de etalage veel Budweiserparafernalia: In de stad is meer dan enkel de Budvarbrouwerij, er zijn bijvoorbeeld veel mooie oude gebouwen en een plein dat met een kleine hectare een van de grootste van Tsjechië is: Op het marktplein bevindt zich een steen waarvan gezegd wordt dat wie hem aanraakt, diezelfde avond niet meer thuis zal komen. De verklaring hiervoor is dat op deze plaats vroeger de galg stond. Degene die deze steen dus aanraakte was de gehangene, en die kwam niet meer thuis ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). Door het monumentale oude stadscentrum zijn wandelingen te maken: Langs andere brouwerijen, zoals de Minipivovar Krajinska 27 : In het raam is het koper te zien! De lange gang leidt echter niet naar een brouwerij, maar een of ander chique restaurant met een glazen dak. Ik wordt door een serieuze serveerster naar een tafeltje. Als ik wijs op het foldertje dat er een brouwerij is en of er bier te proeven is. Ik wordt een plaats gewezen in het fancy eetgedeelte aan een tafeltje naast een stelletje en ik krijg de menukaart. Er is de mogelijkheid om 5 bieren te proberen: De Single Hop, de 11, de 12, een IPA en een Jantar? De Singel Hop smaakt heerlijk naar hop, de 11 en 12 zijn ook fijn, de IPA is war wrang hoppig, maar die onbekende Jantar? Die is superzoet. Single hop ontbreekt op hun website... Krajinská 11 Licht pils. Wort extract concentratie 11,00-11,99%. Dit bier wordt gebrouwen uit drie soorten gerstemouten, sommige gekarameliseerd mout geeft het bier een gouden kleur en delicate smaak die niet door het einde van de aangename bitterheid is verdronken. Alcoholgehalte min. 4,5% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská 12 Lichte pilsener pilsbier. Wort extract concentratie 12,00-12,99%. Weer bier geproduceerd op de traditionele manier. Triple hoppen Žatec hop zorgt voor een aangename, hoger bittere smaak. De kleur is rijk, het bier heeft een volle smaak. Wanneer u een prettige aanhoudende bitterheid te drinken na de eerste slok. Heerlijke smaak dringt er bij te drinken. Alcoholgehalte min. 5,0% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská IPA 14 Speciaal bier geproduceerd door fermentatie bovenste. Wort extract concentratie 14,99%. Een combinatie van verschillende mouten en vier soorten speciale hop. Dit soort bier is gebaseerd op Engels recepten uit de tijd dat het nodig was om duurzame bierproductie de troepen in de koloniën, bijvoorbeeld om in staat te zijn lange reizen. Natuurlijk "leven" van dit bier wordt bereikt bittere stoffen uit Australië of Nieuw-Zeeland hop en een hoger alcoholpercentage. Bier wordt gekenmerkt door een rijke kleuren, boeiende aroma en goede smaak. We raden aan om te proeven. Alcoholgehalte min. 6,0% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská JANTAR Semi-dark pils. Wort extract concentratie 11,00-11,99%. Naast de klassieke en caramel mout wordt hier als andere speciale mout. Dit geeft het bier een diepe amberkleur. Het heeft een meer uitgesproken smaak, geweldige kleur, full-bodied, heerlijk. Alcoholgehalte min. 4,5% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Ik wilde een flesje voor thuis van de Single Hop en de IPA, maar de Single Hop was enkel op het vat en van de IPA kreeg ik een versgevulde 1,5 liter PETfles mee; wtf die was duurder dan de tasting!? Een paar straatjes verder is Singer Bar; een hostel/café/brouwerij: Deze was helaas gesloten. Het gebouw schijnt de eerste brouwrechten in de stad te hebben ontvangen. Dit bier heb ik niet geproefd, noch gekocht. Wel heb ik in een supermarkt een leuke doos gekocht met 7 bieren uit de regio...daarover later meer... Het is een mooie stad, die het bezoeken meer dan waard was... Třeboň (Duits: Wittingau) is een Tsjechische stad in de regio Zuid-Bohemen, en maakt deel uit van het district Jindřichův Hradec. Rondom Třeboň zijn diverse meren. Třeboň ... is met name bekend voor de kweek van karper ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). Tot het midden van de 15de eeuw was de streek rond Trebon nog een weinig aantrekkelijk moerasgebied. De rijke familie Rožmberk bracht daarin verandering door er reusachtige vijvers aan te leggen, waarin karpers werden gekweekt. Elk jaar in de herfst worden de vijvers met grote netten leeggehaald, een heel spektakel waar omheen altijd leuke festiviteiten worden georganiseerd en daarom ook veel belangstellende bezoekers trekt ( www.natuurlijk-tsjechie.nl/steden-dorpen-trebon.htm ). In het moeras-gebied langs de rivier de Lužnice is in de 13e eeuw een marktdorp ontstaan. Op de plaats ervan is later een onderdanige stad gesticht die tot de categorie onderdanige steden behoort. Haar grootste bloei beleefde zij onder het bewind van de laatste Rosenbergs (Rožmberks). Toen is het omliggende landschap door menselijke ingrepen veranderd en is in de omgeving van de stad een aantal vijvers ontstaan. De stadsversterking die tot vandaag bewaard is in de vorm van vijf poorten en een paar bastions, is verder beschermd geweest door de zgn. Gouden gracht (Zlatá stoka) en door de vijver Svět in het zuiden. ...Tegenwoordig is Třeboň voornamelijk bekend door haar kuurhuizen, haar vijverbouw en door het merk Regent bier dat daar wordt gebrouwen ( www.camp.cz/nl/info-tsjechie/Bezienswaardigheden/Historische-steden/Trebon/1003?orderby=date&reviewonpage=5&language=0 ). Drie kilometer ten noorden van Trebon ligt de grootste visvijver van Tsjechië: 'Rozmberk' (490 ha) met een dam van 2,5 km lang. Zes kilometer verderop liggen de visvijvers 'Velký Tisý' (320 ha) en daarnaast 'Malý Tisý' (26 ha) die tezamen een beschermd watervogelreservaat vormen. Naast de visteelt is de bierbrouwerij het meest bekend. De brouwerij, uit 1379, produceert bier van het alom geliefde merk 'Regent' ( www.natuurlijk-tsjechie.nl/steden-dorpen-trebon.htm ). ( www.tsjechiepagina.nl/streekinformatie/streekinformatie/902/trebon/ ) Brouwerij Trebon brouwerij verkoopt bier onder de merknaam Bohemia Regent. De brouwerij is gelegen in het historische centrum van Trebon. De brouwerij werd opgericht in 1379. Sinds 1698 kwam het in handen van de Prins Schwarzenberg. De wederopbouw van de brouwerij in zijn huidige vorm werd gehouden in de tweede helft van de 19e eeuw. Op de reconstructie is het werk van de Italiaanse bouwmeester broers Maggi, Carlo Martinelli Wenen en Praag architect Paolo Ignatius Bayer ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). ( www.beers.cz/index.php?detail=10507&sekce=2 ). Beide wereldoorlogen resulteerde in een daling van de productie tijdens de productie Tweede Wereldoorlog werd volledig gestopt en niet hervat tot 1945. Op het moment, de brouwerij wordt ook eigendom van de Schwarzenberg onder de Zuid-Boheemse brouwerijen gevestigd in het Tsjechische Budejovice, waar hij blijft tot het einde van 1988 en in de periode 1953-1955, toen het een deel van de NC Třeboňské brouwerijen samen met races Tabor en Jindrichuv Hradec. Vervolgens ontvangt brouwerij staatsbedrijf Breweries Tsjechische Budejovice en na de privatisering in 1992, de brouwerij werd een deel van Jihočeské brouwerijen. In augustus 2000, de brouwerij koopt vennootschap Bohemia Regent. ... Bier wordt gebrouwen met de traditionele technologieën met behulp van de fermentatie vaten in de brouwerij op een moderne manier, die aanzienlijk verkort de productiecyclus. Voor de productie gebruikt alleen natuurlijke ingrediënten. ... Regent brouwerij bedrijf naam is afgeleid van de historische figuur van de ridder Jakub Krčín van Jelčany (1533-1604), die aanvankelijk Rosenberg klerk en later was regent uitgebreide eigendom van de heer Wilhelm von Rosenberg ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). ( www.beers.cz/index.php?detail=10507&sekce=2 ). 2x per dag kan men deelnemen aan een rondleiding (na afloop ontvangt men als geschenk 3 flesjes bier). Deze rondleiding is in de Tsjechische taal, maar misschien kan audio wel. Eigenlijk krijgt u tijdens deze rondleidig vooral het nieuwe gedeelte te zien. Familie Rožmberk gaf in 1560 de opdracht tot de bouw van huidige brouwerij, 1660 in opdracht van familie Schwarzeberg de meest uitgebreide wederopbouw, 1861-99 huidig neo-gotisch uiterlijk. De naam “Regent” werd geïnspireerd door geschiedenis an ridder en 'onsterfelijke Regent' Jakub Krčín z Jelčan a Sedlčan, die begon als accountant van Rosenberg en vervolgens regent werd van domein van Vilém z Rožmberk (folieske, www.zoover.nl/tsjechie/zuid-bohemen-jihocesky/tebo/bierbrouwerij-regent ). Pivovar Třeboň je pivovar prodávající pivo pod obchodní značkou Bohemia Regent. Nachází se v historickém jádru města Třeboň. Spadá do části Třeboň I.Pivovar Třeboň byl založen v roce 1379 ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). Bohemia Regent, a.s. Trocnovske namesti 124, 379 01 Trebon Czech Republic ( www.pivovar-regent.cz/en/en-home ) Rodinny Pivovar Trebon (familiebrouwerij Trebon) anno 1379 heeft een Bohemia Regen Czech Beer Premium Lager Dark (4,4%), in het Tsjechisch: Tmavý Ležák Premium. Dit bier ziet er donkerroodachtig uit en heeft een wat waterig mondgevoel met een strookje koolzuur en een moutige smaak die wat aan brood doet denken. Bohemia Regent Tmavý Ležák 12° COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION Bottle and keg; Filtered. An export lager, garnet in colour, with a clean roasted malt flavour that provides a full round bodied taste. A beer shaped by history and age-old traditional Czech methods ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). juffage (127) - Leeds, West Yorkshire, ENGLAND - SEP 15, 2015 Dark brown/black, deep ruby colour. Quite sweet. Molasses, brown sugar, grass, raisins, granola, coffee, slightly roasty, but the lagering(?) makes it really moreish and surprisingly quenching. Something about the mouthfeel I really enjoy - thin, but creamy, with good carbonation. Definitely NOT a porter ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). brewtalita (44) - Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC - AUG 31, 2015 Dark brown, almost deep ruby color. Lighter than most of dark lagers. Forms low stable head. Carbonation is just perfect for this style and I would call it medium high. Aroma is subtle with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Taste is quite clean and balanced with light roastiness and raisins and almost earthy character in the background. Hops are well balanced. Wery light and watery for me although well balanced and easily drinkable. A pleasant surprise ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). Jakub Krčín (Keulen 1535-1604 Sedlčany) was één van de meest bekende Tsjechische viskwekers. Een groot deel van zijn leven in dienst van de Rosenbergs en deze functies hebben bijgedragen aan de economische welvaart van het Rosenberg landgoederen....Trebon is Krcfn herinnerde plaquette op het huis nr. P. 114 in Krčín Street (vandaag het huis Aquarium Krčínův huis) en zijn standbeeld kijkt uit van een stenen sokkel op de dijk van de vijver World ( www.trebonsko.cz/jakub-krcin-z-jelcan-a-sedlcan?idp=5423 ). Jakub Krčín z Jelčan a Sedlčan (18.7.1535 – 19.1.1604) kwam uit een familie Gentry van Keulen. Na zijn afstuderen aan Benedictijner College gaat in dienst Vilma Trčka van Lipa Velis. Kort actief in Borovany klooster in Zuid-Bohemen, waar het gaat om de Tsjechische Krumlov, waarbij r. 1569 benoemd tot de hoogste regent van Rosenberg landgoederen. Geleidelijk vergroten gehele feodale economie van de Rosenbergs in Cesky Krumlov en Netolicko stichtte de eerste vijvers. Zijn grootste vijvers gebouwd in 1570, 1590 in Třeboňsko (World oorspronkelijk ondankbaarheid, Spolsky, Hoop daad Potěšil etc.) En ook hoger hier dam enkele grote Štěpánkovských vijvers -. Opatovický, Záblatský, Horusický In 1950 eindigde hij als grootste en Krčín's waarschijnlijk de meest bekende werk van vijverwater Rosenberg en aanverwante New River. Dan gaat ze op Sedlčansko, waar hij brengt de laatste jaren van zijn leven en stierf daar r. 1604 ( www.trebonsko.cz/rybarske-slavnosti-v-treboni-pozvanka ) Hij kwam uit een arm gezin van schildknapen. Hij was achter een onvoltooide studie van het waterbeheer op Charles University. Na zijn studie werkte hij op het landgoed van Willem Trčka van Lipa, ..... Sinds 1561 hij in dienst trad van de Rosenbergs, deed het dit dankzij de voorspraak van Eva Rosenberg, [die] had hij het bos gered na een val van een paard. Hij werd benoemd podpurkrabím jaar later burggraaf van Cesky Krumlov. Het jaar 1569 werd regentes van Rosenberg landgoederen. In deze functies hij bijgedragen aan de economische welvaart van het Rosenberg landgoederen....[De tijd op het eind] van het leven besteed aan het fort in Obděnice, waar hij stierf. Het is nog niet de precieze datum van zijn dood bekend, en zelfs waar het wordt begraven. Maar aan de kerk in Obděnice Sedlčany er staat geschreven dat "er wordt begraven Jakub Krčín van Jelčany grote bouwer van vijvers." ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakub_Kr%C4%8D%C3%ADn ) Conclusie de stad Trebon kreeg aanzien door de visvijvers die Krcin aanlegde. Krcin werd er regent door en naar hem/deze functie is het biermerk regent vernoemd. Zo hebben karpers, politiek en bier met elkaar te maken. En is er dus ook een link naar Český Krumlov. Český Krumlov: historische stad in Zuid-Bohemen Český Krumlov is een prachtige stad gelegen aan de kronkelende rivier Vltava in Zuid-Bohemen in Tsjechië ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Český Krumlov (Duits: Krumau an der Moldau of (Böhmisch) Krumau) is een stadje in de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. De stad ligt in een lus van de rivier Moldau. Český Krumlov is door de oude binnenstad en het kasteel een bestemming voor grote aantallen toeristen. Om de stadskern te beschermen is deze geplaatst op de Werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov ). Een lokale lekkernij die je op meerdere plekken kunt eten is trdelnik. Dit zijn deegrollen die om een metalen stang gedraaid worden en langzaam afgebakken worden. Aan de buitenkant kun je onder andere een combinatie van kaneel en suiker krijgen. Een andere variant is met Nutella aan de binnenkant (wordt vaak aangeduid als chocolade-variant) ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Dé hotspot van Český Krumlov is ongetwijfeld het eerder genoemde Krumlovkasteel. Het kasteel kent een combinatie van verschillende stijlen, wat het resultaat is van een periode van vele eeuwen waarin het kasteel stap voor stap groter groeide. Het heeft onder drie invloedrijke families ook een aantal gedeeltelijke transformaties ondergaan. De meest kenmerkende elementen van het kasteel zijn de burchttoren, de Mantelbrug die voorzien is van arcaden over verschillende niveau’s en het prachtige uit de 18e eeuw stammende kasteeltheater. Dit barokke theater kun je alleen maar bezoeken onder begeleiding van een gids (mei tot en met oktober, dagelijks van 10 tot 16 uur). Garantie dat je inderdaad in die periode binnen kunt is er niet, want bijvoorbeeld eind augustus 2012 was het theater een paar dagen gesloten voor het publiek. De rest van het Krumlovkasteel kon wel bezocht worden. Als het kasteel zelf overigens niet direct je interesse wekt is het toch de moeite waard om door de binnenplaatsen van het kasteel richting de Mantelbrug te lopen. Vanaf het kasteel heb je immers een prachtig uitzicht over de binnenstad van Český Krumlov ( www.allesovertsjechie.nl/steden/ceskykrumlov.htm ). De eerste familie die de burcht bewoonden was de familie Rosenberg (Rožmberk). Na een korte periode waarin de Habsburgse keizer Rudolf II eigenaar was van het kasteel werd het in 1622 overgedragen aan het vorstenhuis Eggenberg. Na ongeveer een eeuw werd het stokje overgedragen aan de familie Schwarzenberg ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). The State Castle of Český Krumlov, with its architectural standard, cultural tradition, and expanse, ranks among the most important historic sights in the central European region. Building development from the 14th to 19th centuries is well-preserved in the original groundplan layout, material structure, interior installation and architectural detail. ... The name of the castle Krumlov originated from Latin expression castrum Crumnau or ancient German Crumbenowe. It reflects the configuration of the landscape - krumben ouwe means the place on the rugged meadow. The Český Krumlov Castle was mentioned for the first time by an Austrian knight minnesinger Ulrich of Lichtenstein in his poem " Der Frauendienst " which dates back between the years 1240 and 1242. The first written form of the name of Crumbenowe is included in a document of Austrian and Styrian Duke Otakar from 1253. At that time, Krumlov was the seat of Vítek of Krumlov who belonged to the powerful noble family of Witigonen. The expression "Český" has been used in connection with Krumlov since the middle of the 15th century ( www.castle.ckrumlov.cz/docs/en/zamek_oinf_sthrza.xml ). Het middeleeuwse plaatsje werd gesticht in de 13e eeuw. De grootste groei heeft Český Krumlov gekend in de periode 1302 tot 1611 toen de plaats tot de Rožmberk-dynastie behoorde....Tegenwoordig is het een goed geconserveerde stad waar gotische, renaissance en Barokelementen een fraai geheel vormen. Český Krumlov wordt in Tsjechië gezien als de op één na belangrijkste toeristische bestemming na Praag. De gehele binnenstad staat sinds 1992 op de werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Český Krumlov is zonder enige twijfel de mooiste stad van de regio Zuid-Bohemen. Na Praag is het de grootste toeristische attractie van heel Tsjechië. De van oorsprong uit de dertiende eeuw stammende stad kent haar oorsprong in het Krumlovkasteel, dat vernoemd is naar de eerste bezitter. In drie eeuwen die volgden heeft Český Krumlov onder de Rosenbergdynastie haar grote bloeitijd meegemaakt. Na W.O. II is de stad tijdens het communistische tijdperk flink in verval geraakt. Vrijwel direct na de val van de Berlijnse Muur is men begonnen met het herstel van de historische binnenstad met als resultaat een prachtig centrum dat sinds 1992 trots op de werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO staat ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskykrumlov.htm ). Eggenberg Brouwerij De geschiedenis van de bierbrouwerij gaat zo ver terug als dat de stad bestaat. De brouwerij werd door verschillende invloedrijke families overgenomen, waaronder kasteeleigenaar Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg. Er zijn verschillende rondleidingen te boeken waaronder zelfs enkele inclusief een proeverij www.eggenberg.cz ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskykrumlov.htm ). Pivovar Eggenberg is a brewery in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic. Brewing in Český Krumlov dates back to 1336 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). ( www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7482/?view=ratings&ba=Chincino ) De traditie van het brouwen van bier in het Tsjechisch Krumlov gaat terug naar het allereerste begin van de stad. Brouwen bloeide onder het bewind van de laatste Rosenbergs. In 1560 wordt gebouwd in de voorkant van het kasteel een nieuwe brouwerij en later ingenieur Jakub Krčín introduceerde een schone, hoge kwaliteit van het water, waarvan de bron wordt gebruikt voor brewing brouwerij sinds die tijd. In 1662 het gehele Cesky Krumlov landgoederen en daarmee de brouwerij Eggenbergs verworven....in de jaren 1625-1630 herbouwd Cesky Krumlov stadsgenoot Václav Vlach in de nieuwe gebouwen van de brouwerij van vandaag ( www.krumlovtours.cz/cs/prohlidky/prohlidka-pivovaru-eggenberg-9.html ). The House of Rosenberg acquired a brewery in the town in 1522 and relocated it to its current location from 1625–30. After the death of the male inheritors of the House of Rosenberg (1611), in 1622 the dominion was given to the House of Eggenberg and in 1628 Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg was named Duke of Krumau by Ferdinand II. Thus the House of Eggenberg acquired the lucrative dominion including possession of Český Krumlov Castle and the brewery. The Eggenberg's held the dominion in their possession until 1717 when the last male heir to the House of Eggenberg died at only 13, after which the dominion and the Eggenberg Bohemian possessions passed to the House of Schwarzenberg which began modernizing the brewery in 1719 and decorated it in the Baroque style. The brewery's equipment and machinery were kept up to date during the Schwarzenbergs' ownership. Production volumes increased dramatically during this period, reaching almost 35.000hl at the end of the 19th century. Hops from their Postoloprty estate were used from the late 18th century onwards. In 1940, the brewery was seized by Nazi Germany, as were all Adolph Schwarzenberg's other properties within the reach of the Third Reich. Following World War II, the Nazi expropriation was perpetuated by the government of Czechoslovakia under Edvard Beneš. It first declared national administration of Schwarzenberg's Czech properties and then tried to confiscate them under the so-called Beneš decrees. This, however, proved impossible due to the owner's impeccable anti-fascist credentials and Czechoslovak citizenship. In order to prevent the return of the properties, law 143/1947, also known as "Lex Schwarzenberg", was promulgated in 1947. This law is a unique case of ad hominem legislation. It is directed exclusively at Adolph Schwarzenberg (the two persons additionally named in this law were dead at the time and he was their legal successor), and deprives him of his property rights without justification, explanation or compensation. The application of law 143/1947 remains disputable, because it contravenes the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, which was in force at the time of promulgation. Furthermore, an appeal against the previous confiscation under presidential decrees was pending, rendering any additional act null and void ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). De brouwtraditie in de historische stad Krumlov gaat terug tot 1336. De familie Eggenberg kwam in 1622 aan de macht en de brouwerij verhuisde in 1625 naar zijn huidige locatie. In die tijd, zo wordt geschat, was elk achtste huis een herberg. Hoge kwaliteit bier werd geproduceerd voor de adel; bedienden en boeren moesten het doen met een dun, waterig product. Het landgoed ging in 1719 naar het Huis Schwarzenberg, dat de brouwerij sterk uitbreidde. Staatscontrole na de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd gevolgd door privatisering. Dionex Inc. nam in 1991 de leiding over en heeft die nog steeds ( www.vilters-vanhemel.be/bierlanden_tsjechie_eggenberg.html ). Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog de brouwerij Pivovar Eggenberg werd genationaliseerd en werd een deel van het staatsbedrijf Budějovických Pivovaru. In 1996 werd de brouwerij geprivatiseerd in de afgelopen jaren en is eigendom van een van de rijkste zakenlieden in de Tsjechische Republiek. Maar vanwege het feit dat de brouwerij een niet-core business voor de eigenaar, het lot van de brouwerij begonnen te drijven. Vanwege het gebrek aan investeringen en passieve marketing beleid van de tijd is een aanzienlijke daling van de productie geweest. Als bijvoorbeeld in 2001 een jaar Pivovar Eggenberg gebrouwen ongeveer 200.000 hectoliter bier, nu slechts 50-60.000. Na de dood van de belangrijkste eigenaar in 2004, de brouwerij werd het eigendom van zijn zoon, die nu besloten om het te koop aangeboden ( http://beerplace.com.ua/lib/istoriya-pivovar-eggenberg-cesky-krumlov ). In September 1991, the brewery was sold in an auction to infamous entrepreneurs Jiří Shrbený and František Mrázek for CSK 75 million. Mr Mrazek was shot dead in 2006 under unclear circumstances. The property was incorporated in their companies Dionex and Eggenberg, which are linked to a number of controversial figures. On 16 May 2008 judge Josef Šimek declared bankruptcy of Pivovar Eggenberg, five days later judge Bohuslav Petr appointed bankruptcy administrator Štěpán Bláha ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). Met Pivovar Eggenberg, had als in april insolventie procedures en mei werd hij failliet verklaard (KSCB 27 INS 1466/2008). Voorstel zelf voorgelegd schuldenaar dat zijn achterstallige schulden bedroegen 11 april 154 miljoen, met inbegrip van activa vorderingen en voorraden van ongeveer 73 miljoen, en het bedrijf is daarom een overmatige schuldenlast. ... Volgens een schatting voorzitter George bukte om een dergelijke regeling zou brouwerij met 30 medewerkers kan "live" over 14 dagen, de oplossing versnelt dus. En hoe de schuldeisers overeengekomen oplossing zou kunnen zijn om een onderwerp dat zou graag een brouwerij te werken in de lease vinden - en natuurlijk dat hij aansprakelijk is voor de accijns was ( http://ceskobudejovicky.denik.cz/zlociny-a-soudy/konkurz_eggenberg_cb20080704.html ). "Als gevolg van de reconstructie van de brouwerij tour tot het einde van 2015 afgeschaft. Brouwerij Restaurant in werking !!!" Zo staat op hun website: www.eggenberg.cz/ Ze brouwen o.a.: Licht bier EGGENBERG 4 vol.% Alc. Light Lager PETR VOK 4,5 vol.% Alc. Light Lager EGGENBERG 5 vol.% Alc. Donkere pils EGGENBERG 4,2 vol.% Alc. Gistachtig pils EGGENBERG 5% obj.alk. Gistachtig pils EGGENBERG 5% obj.alk. Nakouřený Dude 5,2% obj.alk. ( www.eggenberg.cz/ ) De brouwerij moet trouwens niet verwart worden met Schloss Eggenberg Brewery uit Graz, Oostenrijk, bekend van de Samichlaus ( www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/schloss-eggenberg-samichlaus/ ). Samichlaus is one of the strongest lager beers in the world, at 14% alcohol by volume. The name means Santa Claus in Swiss German. It was originally brewed by the Hürlimann Brewery in Zürich, Switzerland ..Brewed only once a year on December 6. Samichlaus is aged for 10 months before bottling. This beer is perhaps the rarest in the world.... ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggenberg_Castle,_Vorchdorf , Naast een brouwerij is er ook een restaurant, waar je het bier kan proeven (waar wordt het dan gebrouwen?) en je kan er wat eten. Het restaurant zit vol met brouwerijparafernalia: Ik dronk een Eggenberg nefiltrov of in het Engels 'a beer yeast'. Deze smaakt zacht en lekker, je merkt dat er een sluimerende kracht in deze pils verborgen zit, maar een grote hopsmaak is er niet. De moutsmaak overheerst. Ik at er gebakken varkensnek, met zuurkool en aardappeldumplings bij: Het smaakt erg goed! De brouwerij, ik bedoel restaurant, vanuit een ander perspectief... Naast het restaurant is een cafeetje, dat ook dienst doet als shop. Ik kocht er nog een Eggenberg dark en blond.... De Eggenberg Dark Beer tmavý ležák pasterováno českokrumlovské pivo (5%) smaakt erg zoet. De geur is niet echt aanwezig. Qua uiterlijk doet het aan cola of koffie denken. Het schuim is gebroken wit/beige. Dat zal door de karamel komen, als ik me niet vergis. Al staat er geen karamel bij de ingrediëntendeclaratie. Type: Donker Lager Diepbruine kleur, met een moutig, zoet toffeeomhulsel, onttrokken aan zijn slimme moutmengsel ( www.vilters-vanhemel.be/bierlanden_tsjechie_eggenberg.html ). Als ik het achteretiket goed begrijp is dit bier niet gebrouwen in Krumlov, maar wordt het gedistribueerd door Eggenberg. Het is dus van een brouwerij buiten Krumlov, maar wordt wel als zodanig gedistribueerd. Een etiketbier dus...Eggenberg is van een brouwerij in een brouwfirma veranderd, of misschien nog erger een distributeur met etiketbieren? Ijzerzouten worden door sommige commerciële brouwers toegevoegd aan het bier als schuimbevorderend middel. Deze stoffen kleuren het schuim bruin, zeker als het bier een tijdje staat. Langzaam zie je het bier dan aan de bovenkant ‘roesten’. Je kunt ijzerzouten vaststellen als je een beetje schuim op de rug van je hand uitsmeert en er meteen aan ruikt. Als je een metaalachtige geur waarneemt kun je er vrij zeker van zijn dat er ijzerzouten in het bier aanwezig zijn ( www.hobbybrouwen.nl/artikel/schuimpr.html ). Ik probeer dit truukje, maar proef of ruik geen metaal. Dan mijn andere bier: ( www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm ) Pivo je skutečně výrazně tmavé. Po přičichnutí jsem cítil kouř opravdu jen slabě. A kdo ví, jestli bych jej vůbec cítil, kdybych o něm nevěděl. Vůně odpovídala spíš sladšímu tmavému ležáku. Ale ta chuť! Kouř se valí na jazyk skoro stejně intenzivně jako z bamberského etalonu jménem Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Pivo je při pití mazlivě „malvazovité“ (omlouvám se za pohříchu neodborný termín) a výrazně hořce doznívá. Mně osobně připadá být lahodné, pitelné a nekritizovala je dokonce ani má pivně velmi náročná choť. Obával jsem se kouřem maskované „krumloviny“ (druhá omluva), ale pan Zagora mě tentokrát svým výtvorem dokonale usadil ( www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm ). Als ik het bier open blijkt het echter donkerzwart te zijn!? Ik dacht dat het om een gepasteuriseerd blond bier. Het bier Eggenberg Nakouřený Švihák Pivo Tmavý ležák pasterováno is dus geen blond bier, maar het smaakt wel. Het heeft een moutige (licht geroosterde) smaak. Nakouřené donker blond bier is gemaakt van een speciale nakouřeného malt bier dat een intens aroma en de smaak van het roken levert. Vol van smaak en een hoog niveau van de gisting bieden een uitzonderlijke culinaire ervaring voor alle kenners. Volume alcoholpercentage 5,2% ( www.eggenberg.cz/index.php?page=pro7&lang=cz ). Nakouřený Dude, Tsjechische donkere pils, die behoren tot de beste in de Tsjechische Republiek. Geniet populariteit zowel lokale als toeristen, dames en heren. Het heeft een optimale elan, een sterke koffie smaak met een aangename moutige component en licht zure nasmaak. Dude garandeert u een onvergetelijke culinaire ervaring. De kwaliteit blijkt uit de titel van het zilver bier in 2010 ( www.ckrumlov.info/docs/cz/Mistni_gastrospeciality_20111216103851.xml ). Eggenberg - Nakouřený Dude - volle smaak van dit bier zorgt voor een ware gastronomische ervaring. Het is een donkere pils, produceerde een klassieke recept uit speciale nakouřeného gerstemout, die het bier een ongebruikelijke rokerige smaak geeft. Volgens haar kenmerken, werd de naam Nakouřený Dude ( www.metrpiva.cz/produkty/ochucena-piva/detail/eggenberg-nakoureny-svihak-12-05l-7.html ). Het zou dus een rookbier zijn? (zie vertaalde versie van (www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm) : Maar de smaak! Rook golvende in de taal bijna net zo intens als de standaard namens Bamberg Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. ) Ik proef geen rokerigheid, maar het is wel een fijn bier om te drinken.Hier nog wat foto's van mezelf: Vyšší Brod (Duits: Hohenfurth (an der Moldau)) is een kleine stad in de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. De stad ligt dichtbij het Lipnomeer aan de rivier de Moldau. Door toeristen wordt vaak het cisterciënzerklooster bezocht waarin ook het posterijmuseum gevestigd is ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy%C5%A1%C5%A1%C3%AD_Brod ). Er is, sinds 2008, ook een huisbrouwerij aan Kaplicka 28 te Vyssli Brod: Na lange decennia zal een hogere Brod weer zijn eigen brouwerij. Traditie "van het brouwen" in de plaatselijke cisterciënzer klooster plannen om achtentwintig jaar van George Fojtl herleven. In zijn microbrouwerij, die zijn oorsprong vindt in de voormalige brandweerkazerne en uiteindelijk de souvenirwinkel in het klooster, de jonge brouwer James Cook. Naam doet denken aan de vroege monastieke brouwerijen. Jaarlijks Fojtl wil 500 hectoliter bier populairste produceren. Dit zal de kleinste commerciële brouwerij in Zuid-Bohemen zijn. Zijn bier heeft al zelfs een eigen rode en witte logo ( www.webdrinks.cz/zpravodajstvi/vyssi-brod-bude-mit-po-letech-opet-pivovarnavic-nejmensi-v- kraji/ ) ( www.vysebrodskypivovar.cz/ ). Waar de naam Jakub naar verwijst weet ik niet zeker, maar ik vermoed dat het om dezelfde naamgever zou kunnen gaan als bij Regent: Jakub Krčín. Deze brouwerij heb ik gevonden, maar bij binnenkomst bleek er op een muurtekening na weinig van te zien. Ik dronk er de 12º, een prima bier al vond ik in de nasmaak een wat mindere hopsmaak terug. Jindřichův Hradec (Duits: Neuhaus) is een Tsjechische stad in de regio Zuid-Bohemen en maakt deel uit van het district Jindřichův Hradec ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jind%C5% http://pivni.info/pivovary/pripravovane-a-letajici-pivovary/1534-pivovar-prachatice.html ) De Oost-Boheemse keuken diende als inspiratiebron voor lekkere kookkunst ook voor de stammoeder van vele kokkinnen – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová. Terwijl zíj niet zuinig hoefde om te gaan met ingrediënten, en zoals de literatuur bewijst, haar gerechten voor de lol met gevulde veldhoenders versierde, werd er in armere gebieden van de regio wel veel zuiniger gekookt. Het karakter en de rijkdom van de Oost-Boheemse keuken wordt bepaald door de geografische ligging van het gebied, het karakter van het landschap en de boniteit van de aarde… Het vaakst waren de handen van de huisvrouwen bezig met de voorbereiding van aardappelen, kool, appels, honing, wortels en ook gierst...Voor een absoluut fenomeen binnen het gastronomische erfgoed van de bewoners van Oost-Bohemen hebben wij aan de regio Pardubicko te danken. Wie hier geen krokante peperkoek heeft gekocht en zijn zoete smaak niet heeft geproefd, is het alsof hij hier nooit is geweest. De peperkoek uit Pardubice is namelijk even beroemd als bijvoorbeeld Italiaanse mozzarella of parmaham. Het originele recept bevat honing, meel en peper - vandaar de naam peperkoek. Zijn lange houdbaarheid is toe te schrijven aan een hoog kruidengehalte, zijn hardheid en het feit dat peperkoek weinig vocht bevat. ... Ander karakteristiek product van de Oost-Boheemse keuken zijn de opgerolde wafeltjes van Hořice oftewel Hořické trubičky. Het recept stamt van een Franse kok van Napoleons leger die de bereidingswijze van deze favoriete lekkernij van de generaal aan een plaatselijke burgeres verried ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). "Waar bier wordt gebrouwen gedijt alles," luidt een Tsjechisch gezegde. Enkele bierbrouwerijen in Oost-Bohemen bewijzen dat het er in dit gebied vrolijk aan toe gaat. Onder de bekendste bieren die u hier maar ook buiten deze regio aantreft, horen Primátor uit Náchod, Pernštejn uit Pardubice, Rychtář uit Hlinecko en ongetwijfeld ook het bier uit de bierbrouwerij in Polička. Wie daarentegen aan tafel in Hradec Králové plaatsneemt, moet vragen naar één van de bieren uit de plaatselijke bierbrouwerij Rambousek of naar Královský lev. In de regio Královehradecko wordt bier ongeveer sinds de Hussietische oorlogen gebrouwen. De maataanduiding "oude maat van Hradec " werd een bekende term in het hele gebied waar het witbier uit Hradec te verkrijgen was. In Běleč nad Orlicí brouwt de brouwer Josef Balounek een 12º-biertje genoemd Car. Dit biersoort is weliswaar niet buiten de regio heel bekend maar het is een "goudkleurig bier" en wordt als de meeste Tsjechische bieren van het type Pilsner bier bereid volgens het Reinheidsgebod uit begin van de 16e eeuw. Deze wet schrijft voor dat bij het brouwen van bier uitsluitend mout, hop en water mogen worden gebruikt. Tegenwoordig wordt het proces nog met gist aangevuld die toen nog niet bekend was. Volgens deze norm wordt waarschijnlijk nog slechts in Tsjechië, Duitsland en misschien Japan gebrouwen [????]. Daar heeft men het echter van Tsjechische brouwers geleerd. Als u in de buurt van de stad Rychnov nad Kněžnou een pintje Rampušák uit Dobruška vraagt, zult u voor een kenner worden gehouden. Wij moeten ook de minibrouwerij in Medlešice niet vergeten met 10 hl per brouwsel, hetgeen resulteert in een jaarcapaciteit van ongeveer 300 hl bier. Er worden twee biersoorten gebrouwen – licht en donker lagerbier Medlešický ležák 12°. Het bier wordt niet gefilterd en zijn lage helderheid bewijst de aanwezigheid van zuivere gist. Het best kunt u het proeven direct in het brouwerijcafé Nieuw venster dat op de brouwruimte aansluit. Of u van bier drinken houdt of niet, mocht u zich voor techniek, geschiedenis, cultuur of gastronomie interesseren, dan is het bezoek aan één van de bierbrouwerijen in het district Pardubice in ieder geval een voltreffer. Behalve het proeven van bier kunt u er veel over zijn geschiedenis en productie te weten komen, lekker eten en leuke concerten bijwonen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ).. Historische bierbrouwerij Pernštejn De bierbrouwerij Pernštejn in Pardubice Nieuw venster biedt de bezoekers een onconventionele rondleiding door de brouwerij inclusief het proeven van de bieren Pernštejn en Porter in het Oud-Boheemse brouwerijrestaurant. Het programma bevat de bierproductie inclusief het brouwproces, opslag, filteren en tappen, verder de bezichtiging van de mouterij in traditionele stijl, proeven van bier in verschillende stadia van zijn productie, enz. Ieder jaar vinden in de bierbrouwerij in Pardubice verschillende evenementen plaats zoals het verbranden van heksen en de bierdagen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Pardubice brouwerij als is de laatste van een aantal Pardubice brouwerijen. Het werd opgericht in 1871. De eerste partij van het bier werd gebrouwen 8 April 1871. Sinds 1890 ze Brew hun eigen bier 19 ° Porter ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardubick%C3%BD_pivovar ). De bierbrouwerij Rychtář in Hlinsko Nieuw venster organiseert sinds enkele jaren een reeks culturele programma’s in Hlinsko genoemd Zomer met Rychtář. Om het jaar (dwz. in 2007) vindt hier een open dag plaats. U kunt deelnemen aan een excursie door de bierbrouwerij met optioneel proeven en daarna in de brouwerijwinkel bier en souvenirs van het bedrijf kopen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). ( www.mediar.cz/s/2013/08/pivovar-rychtar.jpg ) Rychtář je pivo vyráběné v pivovaru Rychtář v Hlinsku. Jeho výroba zde probíhá již od roku 1913 ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rycht%C3%A1%C5%99_(pivo) ). De Minibierbrouwerij Žamberk Nieuw venster produceert vatbier, speciaal licht bier en donker bier Žamberecký kanec, verder sterkedrank uit hop en likeuren Pivka, Pivodečka (38%), Lupulka (18%) en Rozárčin sen (13,5%). De kleine capaciteit van het brouwerijcafé vereist dat groepen enkele dagen vooraf een afspraak maken. Bovendien kan men ook een excursie reserveren die de exploitant van de bierbrouwerij persoonlijk uitvoert ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Microbrouwerij Žamberk is Žamberský Brouwerij Intero Ltd. verhuurd brouwer Ing. Zdeněk Kalous. De microbrouwerij heeft een jaarlijkse productie tot 560 hectoliter. Žamberk microbrouwerij werd opgericht in 1995 door de heer Milos Chmelan. Zijn bedrijf werd het invullen van brouwerijen in heel Europa en in de Tsjechische Republiek en Žamberský in orde vijftiende. Merk bier Žamberecký zwijnen neemt de vorm van het embleem van de stad en geproduceerd sinds 1997. Sinds 2000 de huurder van de brouwerij Ing. Zdeněk Kalous ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minipivovar_%C5%BDamberk ). Buiten het district Pardubice is er nog een mogelijkheid van bezichtiging van de productieruimten van de Bierbrouwerij Primátor in Náchod Nieuw venster. In het kader van de rondleiding van één uur bezoekt u de productieruimten van de bierbrouwerij en verneemt u het belangrijkste over de geschiedenis en productie van bier in Náchod. Als afsluiting kunt u bier proeven in een stijlvolle setting van een treinwagon uit de Eerste Republiek of even uitrusten in een modern bezoekerscentrum met een capaciteit van 120 plaatsen of buiten op het terras met 40 plaatsen. Behalve het proeven van vat- en flesbier kunnen (na voorafgaande afspraak) ook warme of koude maaltijden worden geserveerd ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Heerlijk die foute vertalingen toch? Ik weet nog dat ik eens in Barcelona een vertaalde gids las van Parc Guell over het ritme van de bomen in de muren (?). Maar we gaan verder met de Boheemse hop: During the summer of 1924 a visit was paid to the hop-growing districts of Bohemia, with the special object of observing certain botanical aspects of the hop industry... The main experimental hop-gardens at Saaz have been lost during the war, but ... a small hop-garden ...managed to retain. This garden contained collection of various Bohemian and German varieties of hops, and also certain English varieties. All these varieties have been growing there since 1897. extensive hop-gardens of the estates at Michelob and of the Schwarzenbcrg estate—both in the neighbourhood of Saaz. The other centres of hop-growing in Bohemia are at Auscha and at Dnuba. ... In hop-garden between Auscha and Leitmeritz the variety GrUnhopfen," which is. grown in the Dauba district, was observed. ... All the hops when dried are sent to the official Hopfensignierhalle at Saaz, Auscha or Dauba. The same variety of hop is grown by all growers in any one of the three districts, the growers voluntarily pledging themselves to plant only the one variety considered to be most suitable for that district. The dried hops on being received into the Signierhalle are certificated as being grown in certain district, and are graded according to quality. This organisation, carried out entirely by the hopgrowers' associations, ensures the " standardi sation of Bohemian hops on the market; the brewer in any part of the world when offered Bohemian hops, e.g., Saaz hops, can depend absolutely on their place of origin, on their being one specified variety of hop, and on their being^ accurately graded. The "standardisa tion adopted is undoubtedly one reason why Bohemian hops hold the highest reputation among the hops of the world (SALMON NOTES ON A VISIT TO THE HOP-OROWING DISTRICTS OF BOHEMIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, South Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent., http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1925.tb04954.x/pdf ). Zatec, ook wel bekend als Saaz, is een bekend hopgebied in Tsjechië... De hop groeit hier ook in sommige groenstroken en is erg rijk aan hopbellen zag ik: Bohemia Hop a.s. - Czech hops worldwide The Bohemia Hop joint-stock company was established in March 1991 as an important business part of the system where the spine is formed by most of the Czech hop growers associated in Chmelarstvi, cooperative Zatec. The main aim of the company is to purchase hops from growers and to sell the processed hops to domestic as well as foreign customers. Besides this the company´s efforts are also focused on consulting services in the area of production and processing of hops. ... Major shareholder of Bohemia Hop is Chmelarstvi, cooperative Zatec which is an organisation with the longest tradition in the hop-growing industry in the Czech Republic. Chmelarství is comprising majority of Czech hop-growers in the Czech Republic. Chmelařství, cooperative Zatec is processing hops for us. Since 1999 is this company a holder of the quality certificate ISO 9001:2000, the certificate of Environmental Management System ISO 14 001:2004 and the certificate HACCP ( www.bohemiahop.cz/about-us ). Hops: - Bohemie - Kazbek Saaz is a "noble" variety of hops. It was named after the Czech city of Žatec (German: Saaz). This hop is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer styles such as the Czech pilsener. Saaz hops accounted for more than 2/3 of total 2009 hop production in the Czech Republic ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saaz_hops ). De plaats Saaz staat al jaren bekend om de hopteelt (zie http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1925.tb04954.x/pdf ). Als ik Zatec invoer in de autonavigatie blijkt dat er twee Zatecs zijn..dat wordt een uitdaging voor een volgend bericht...voor nu nog even afsluiten met wat korte info over hop: De hop wordt in verschillende vormen aangeboden: - Pressed hops Hops after homogenisation and cleaning are packed into cylindrical or quadratic bales depending on the customer's request. - Pellets 90 During production of type 90 pellets hops after homogenisation are milled, granulated and packed in an ecological material filled with inert gas. The advantage of this processing is a longer storage life, less requirements on space during transport and storage, better dosage in breweries, and easier handling. - Pellets 45 During production of concentrated pellets 45 a higher concetration of bitter agents is achieved in a mechanical way. The advantages are minimal requirements on the storage and transport capacity, higher contents of bitter agents and their standardization, lower contents of heavy metals ( www.bohemiahop.cz/products-services ). In corporation with Hop Research Institut, Ltd. we offer for our customers trial brewing with our hops according their request ( www.bohemiahop.cz/products-services ). Bohemia Hop is a holder of the quality certificate ISO 9001:2000 and the certificate of the Enviromental Management System ISO 14 001:2004. ... The HACCP System ensures that all the activities of the company which can affect both safety/harmlessness and quality of the product are specified, documented in a specified way. The Czech standards CSN EN ISO 9001:2001 has been used for creation of the HACCP System. ... Hop marking has a long-time tradition in the Czech Republic. In 1884 first marking hall was established in SAAZ. Hop marking is obligatory and is pursued by the state authority. Only high quality hops from producing districts (SAAZ, AUSCHA, TRSITZ) are certified. Hop verifycation includes year of crop, weight, producing district and variety and is made on packing by means of a certification mark, registration number and seal of the Public marking hall. As a verifying document a certificate is issued ( www.bohemiahop.cz/certificates ). 50° 12′ 39.60″ N 13° 53′ 25.63″ E 50.21100 13.89045 Central Bohemian Region Středočeský kraj Okres: Rakovník	Artesian
In Cable Street East London, 1936, thousands of ordinary people famously stopped a march by what uniformly nicknamed organization?	Rollende Bierton: Bier in de Bohemen dinsdag 19 januari 2016 Bier in de Bohemen Bohemen (Tsjechisch: Čechy, Duits: Böhmen) is een historische regio in Tsjechië. Het beslaat zo'n twee derde van het Tsjechische grondgebied. De rest van Tsjechië valt onder Moravië en een klein deel van Silezië ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). Dit jaar (2015) zijn we op vakantie geweest naar Zuid-Bohemen, aan het Lipnomeer, ook wel bekend als de ZuidBoheemse zee. Dit meer werd in de jaren vijftig aangelegd als stuwmeer. Geen idee wat er staat, maar: Pivo Bohemia to pit budem dokud na svete zit budem: Bohemia bier te drinken, totdat we in de wereld waarin we leven Geen idee, wat dat betekent... De benaming voor de Boheemse inwoners, bohemer of bohemien, werd in Frankrijk ook gebruikt om de zigeuners mee aan te duiden, die in Frankrijk beweerden uit Bohemen afkomstig te zijn. Sinds de negentiende eeuw wordt de naam ook gebruikt om vrijgevochten personen met een niet-traditionele levensstijl aan te duiden ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). You've got a great car Yeah what´s wrong with it today I used to have one too Maybe you'll come and have a look I really love, your hairdo, yeah I'm glad you like mine too See we´re looking pretty cool will get ya So what do you do Oh yeah I wait tables too No I haven't heard your band Cause you guys are pretty new But if you dig, on vegan food Well come over to my work I have them cook you something that you really love Cause I like you, yeah I like you And I'm feeling so bohemian like you yeah I like you, yeah I like you and I feel wo ho, wooooo !!! ( www.songteksten.nl/songteksten/39200/the-dandy-warhols/bohemian-like-you.htm ) "Bohemian Like You" is a song by American alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols. The song was written by Courtney Taylor-Taylor after seeing a woman pull up in her car to the traffic lights outside his apartment. It was released as a single from the band's third studio album, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia, in August 2000. The music video for the song is controversial and is rarely broadcast on television during the day, since it contains full-frontal male and topless female nudity. However, when played on some music channels, these areas are pixelated. The video shows the band playing in a karaoke bar while many different people mime to the lyrics of the song. This is intercut with a video accompanying the lyrics on the TV screen at the bar. In this video the scenes correspond with the lyrics. In the first verse, a guy approaches a young woman who is fixing a car with her friends. They both flirtatiously sing the lyrics to each other as a sign of attraction. The guy is so attracted to the woman that he stares at her lower body and then visualises her naked. Then the video switches to a waiter while he is serving a group of customers at a table. One of the girls in the group is attracted to the waiter and the two begin to flirt and mime the lyrics to the second verse. She visualises him naked. It then turns out that the waiter and the mechanic who was fixing the car...it is likely that the waiter is the mechanic's ex-boyfriend... ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Like_You ) De eerste melding van Bohemen wordt gemaakt door de Romeinen: het was het woongebied van de Keltische stam Boii. De eerste Slavische voorouders van de huidige Tsjechen kwamen er in de zesde eeuw te wonen. In de negende eeuw behoorde het gebied tot het Moravische Rijk, dat christelijk was, en op Byzantium georiënteerd. Na de val van dit rijk kwam de dynastie der Přemysliden aan de macht, die zich op Rome richtte. Het hertogdom Bohemen werd in de elfde eeuw onderdeel van het Heilige Roomse Rijk. Keizer Hendrik IV verleende hertog Vratislav II in 1085 de titel van koning van Bohemen. Onder Ottokar I werd de Boheemse kroon erfelijk (1198). Onder zijn kleinzoon Ottokar II bevatte het rijk ook tijdelijk delen van Oostenrijk. Bohemen verwierf in 1335 bovendien Silezië. Bohemen kwam door de dood van Lodewijk II Jagiello in 1526 aan de Habsburgers, maar bleef aanvankelijk een onafhankelijk koninkrijk. In 1618 begon in Praag de Dertigjarige Oorlog. In 1627 kwam Bohemen integraal aan Oostenrijk (vanaf 1867 Oostenrijk-Hongarije). Pas vanaf 1743, toen het Habsburgse rijk begon te centraliseren, kwam er een einde aan de autonomie van Bohemen. Na de Eerste Wereldoorlog werd het onderdeel van de nieuw gevormde staat Tsjecho-Slowakije. Na de opsplitsing in Tsjechië en Slowakije werd Bohemen onderdeel van Tsjechië ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). After World War I, Bohemia (as the largest and most populous land) became the core of the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia, which combined Bohemia, Moravia, Czech Silesia, Upper Hungary (present-day Slovakia) and Carpathian Ruthenia into one state. Under its first president, Tomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia became a liberal democratic republic but serious issues emerged regarding the Czech majority's relationship with the native German and Hungarian minorities. ...Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, the border regions of Bohemia historically inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans (the Sudetenland) were annexed to Nazi Germany; this was the only time in Bohemian history that its territory was politically divided. The remnants of Bohemia and Moravia were then annexed by Germany in 1939, while the Slovak lands became the separate Slovak Republic, a puppet state of Nazi Germany. From 1939 to 1945 Bohemia, (without the Sudetenland), together with Moravia formed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Reichsprotektorat Böhmen und Mähren). Any open opposition to German occupation was brutally suppressed by the Nazi authorities and many Czech patriots were executed as a result. After World War II ended in 1945, the vast majority of remaining Germans were expelled by force by the order of the re-established Czechoslovak central government, based on the Potsdam Agreement, and their property was confiscated by the Czech authorities. This severely depopulated the area and from this moment on locales were only referred to in their Czech equivalents regardless of their previous demographic makeup. In 1946, per the Potsdam Agreement, and under the stipulation that it be placed "under Polish administration" the post war Communist Party backed by the Soviet Union re-established Czechoslovakia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemia ). Het gebied beslaat zo'n 52.750 km² en telt 6,25 miljoen inwoners. Het gebied is erg populair onder westerse toeristen. Dat geldt vooral voor de stad Praag en de natuurgebieden het Boheems Paradijs (Český ráj) en het Reuzengebergte (Krkonoše). Tot Bohemen behoren de grote steden Praag, Plzeň, České Budějovice, Liberec, Teplice en Hradec Králové. In Bohemen liggen behalve de hoofdstad Praag de volgende bestuurlijke regio's (krajs): Karlovy Vary Pilsen Midden-Bohemen De regio's Pardubice, Vysočina en Zuid-Bohemen liggen gedeeltelijk in Bohemen en gedeeltelijk in Moravië (zie ook: Regio's van Tsjechië) ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemen ). Het gebied is vooral bekend vanwege Plzen, maar vergeet ook Zatec niet... Genieten van Praag, Plzen en Çeske Krumlov. De bakermat van kwaliteitsbieren, overgoten met eeuwenoude cultuur in een leuke ambiance. Het Tsjechische bier is wereldberoemd; zoals u ongetwijfeld weet zijn Pilsener Urquell (het bier waar de naam Pils vandaan komt) en Budweiser Budvar de bekendste biermerken. Naast de internationaal bekende bieren, bestaan er diverse bieren van plaatselijke brouwerijen, zoals Krakonos uit Trutnov. ... De eerste bierbrouwerij zou vanaf 1082 in Praag hebben gestaan, maar tegen het einde van de 13e eeuw is Plzen (Pilsen), in Bohemen, de onbetwiste hoofdstad van het bier geworden. De Pilsener brouwerijen maakten tot in de 19e eeuw een enorme groei door en begonnen vervolgens naar diverse plaatsen in Europa te exporteren, met name naar Parijs en Wenen. Bohemen en Moravië telden in de tweede helft van de 19e eeuw niet minder dan 1057 brouwerijen. Er zijn in Praag tegenwoordig honderden taveernen, die voor veel bewoners van deze stad een tweede huis zijn. Tsjechië heeft als bierland een grote invloed gehad op de verdere ontwikkeling van het bier. Tevens wordt het Tsjechische bier door bierliefhebbers uit de gehele wereld als iets bijzonders beschouwd. Denk aan het oorspronkelijke pilsener, het Pilsner Urquell. De geschiedenis van het bierbrouwen in Bohemen, Moravië en Slowakije is rijk en lang. Alle drie de origines van het Tsjechische bier hebben een uitzonderlijke reputatie en vooral de hop wordt internationaal geroemd. Volgens oude geschriften werd hop al in 859 in Bohemen verbouwd en het eerste bewijs van uitvoer dateert uit 903. Vanaf 1101 werd het over de Elbe naar de beroemde Hamburgse hopmarkt verscheept. Het eerste brouwen op Tsjechische bodem geschiedde in de 11e eeuw. Sinds de 13e eeuw bestonden er enkele bierproducerende steden waaronder Plzeñ, Budejovice en Praag. In deze periode ontstonden ook brouwerijen in Moravië. De oudste verwijzing naar brouwen in Slowakije dateert uit 1300. Een brouwerij in Levoca produceerde toen al 2.000 hectaliter per jaar. Een verbazingwekkende hoeveelheid voor een middeleeuws bedrijfje. Helaas hield deze brouwerij na een eeuwenlange historie in 1967 op te bestaan ( http://e-e-t.nl/tsjechie/tsjechische-bieren ). Water uit de kraan schijnt gedronken te kunnen worden, maar smaakt wat raar. Wij dronken dus vooral water uit flessen... Bier (Tsjechisch: pivo) is in Tsjechië heel populair en met een bierconsumptie van 145 liter per inwoner (cijfers 2011) zijn de Tsjechen al jarenlang de grootste bierdrinkers ter wereld. Bier heeft een lange geschiedenis in Tsjechië. In 993 was er al sprake van een brouwerij in het Klooster van Břevnov. De stad Brno heeft het recht om bier te brouwen sinds de 12de eeuw en in Plzeň en České Budějovice zijn er sinds de 13de eeuw brouwactiviteiten. ... Volgens de Tsjechische wetgeving worden de bieren in vier categorieën ondergebracht, onafhankelijk van kleur of stijl: 1. lehké - een "light-bier" met een densiteit minder dan 8° Plato en minder dan 130kJ per 100ml. 2. výčepní – bier van de "tap", hoewel deze ook kunnen gebotteld worden, densiteit tussen 8° en 10°. 3. ležák - "lagerbier", densiteit tussen 11° en 12.99°. 4. premium - "special" bier, densiteit 13° en meer ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bier_in_Tsjechi%C3%AB ). In Tsjechië wordt al sinds lange tijd hop gekweekt. De hopteelt in Bohemen werd al in 859 beschreven en tijdens de middeleeuwen werd er al heel veel (dure) Boheemse hop geëxporteerd. De bekendste hopvariëteit Saaz wordt in de gehele wereld gebruikt voor het brouwen van bier ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bier_in_Tsjechi%C3%AB ). De beste hop zou echter afkomstig zijn uit Vlaanderen, Zuid-Engeland, Zuid-Duitsland, Bohemen en Hongarije ( www.techniekinnederland.nl/nl/index.php?title=De_traditionele_brouwmethode , zie ook http://dossierhop.nl/verlorenbieren43b/ ). Al sinds 1871 betrekt Brand hop uit Beieren en de Bohemen met keuze uit befaamde hopsoorten als Perlem Magnum en Saaz ( www.brand.nl/brouwproces/ingredi%C3%ABnten/ , http://biervat.blogspot.nl/2012/11/hop-hop-hop.html The Czechs have been drinking beer since time immemorial. The secret of Czech beer is that agricultural conditions are ideal for growing hops, and chronicles establish their cultivation in Bohemia as early as 859 A.D., while the first evidence of their export dates back to 903. Bohemian hops were so prized that King Wenceslas ordered the death penalty for anyone caught exporting the cuttings, from which new plants could be grown. The first mention of brewing in the Czech territories is in the foundation charter for the Vysehrad church, dating from 1088. In this document, the first Czech king, Vratislav II, decreed that his estates should pay a hop tithe to the church. The U Fleku microbrewery in Prague has been in operation since 1499 and is still going strong ( http://zuzajda.blogspot.cz/2006/04/czech-beer.html ). Vanaf het eind van de vijftiende eeuw kwam vooral in Zuid-Duitsland de ondergistings- of laaggistende methode in zwang. Deze manier van werken was waarschijnlijk bij toeval ontdekt toen in het aangrenzende Bohemen bij koud weer werd gebrouwen. Bij deze lage temperaturen, die tussen de 5 en 10 oC lagen, kregen de melkzuurbacteriën minder kans om zich te ontwikkelen en daarmee was er een geringere kans op bedorven bier. De gist die zich bij de veranderde omstandigheden op natuurlijke wijze uitselecteerde, was van een andere aard dan bij de bovengistende methode en zakte na afloop van het vergistingsproces naar de bodem van de kuip. Dit in tegenstelling tot de gist bij de bovengisting, die zich in het schuim boven in de gistkuip verzamelde. De ondergisting duurt een à twee weken ( www.techniekinnederland.nl/nl/index.php?title=De_traditionele_brouwmethode ). In Bohemen werd in die tijd een nieuw soort bier uitgevonden; een bier dat we nu kennen onder de naam pils. Om pils te kunnen brouwen moet het bij lage temperaturen vergisten en lageren. Dat kon in ons land pas effectief toen rond 1880 de koelmachine werd uitgevonden. Tot die tijd moest de brouwer in de winter staven ijs uit sloten, rivieren en meren hakken om het bier ook in de zomer koel te houden. Pils werd razend snel het meest gedronken biertype in Nederland. Zo zeer zelfs, dat in de jaren zeventig van de vorige eeuw bijna alleen nog maar pils gebrouwen werd in Nederland. Bier en pils waren synoniem geworden ( http://cafesante.nl/?menu-type=bier ). Bohemian Pilsener vind ik een moeilijke stijl om te beschrijven. Wat is het verschil tussen een Bohemian Pilsener en een “gewone” pilsener? Ik kan het u niet vertellen. Op het eerste gezicht lijkt het een geografische verwijzing naar Bohemen, een deel van Tsjechië. Zoals de meeste mensen wel zullen weten is Tsjechië de bakermat van de pils, meer specifiek het dorpje Plzen. Uit dit dorpje komt ook Pilsner Urquell Kvasnicový (4.4%), de ultieme nummer 1 op Ratebeer met een score van 3.94. Er zit echter een verhaal aan dit bier. Het wordt niet gebotteld en is uitsluitend verkrijgbaar van de tap bij de brouwerij zelf, vandaar dat het bier ook pas 166 beoordelingen heeft. Ik heb het geproefd dankzij een goede vriend die tijdens een vakantie bij hoge uitzondering het bier in een fles mee kreeg bij de brouwerij. Versheid is echter essentieel, niet alleen bij dit bier maar bij deze stijl in zijn geheel. Sommige bieren zijn perfect te bewaren of worden zelfs alleen maar beter zo verdedigt menig bierliefhebber, maar pilseners en aanverwante stijlen zijn hiervoor niet gemaakt. Zit er een verschil tussen Bohemian Pilseners, Classic German Pilseners en overige (bijvoorbeeld Nederlandse) Pilseners? Het blijft moeilijk en ik kan hooguit spreken over mijn eigen ervaringen. Mijn hoogst beoordeelde Bohemian Pilsener op Ratebeer is De Molen / Gadds Fresh Hopped Bohemian, maar dit bier is erg sterk ge(dry)hopt en dus qua smaak eigenlijk niet te vergelijken met een traditionele Bohemian Pilsener. Wat mij als enige is opgevallen is dat de klassieke Tsjechische Pilseners altijd een echt goudkleurig helder voorkomen hebben, terwijl andere pilseners wellicht wat meer goudgeel zijn. Het ligt voor de hand dat Tsjechische pilseners in het algemeen zullen zijn gebrouwen met Saaz-hop, die voornamelijk in Tsjechië wordt verbouwd. Wellicht schuilt daarin het geheim ( www.spoelenmaar.nl/stijlen-onder-de-loep-black-ipa-en-bohemian-pilsener/ ). Wie in deze regio rondrijdt ziet bierreclame van Budweiser, Gambrinus en Kozel, maar ook van Bernard en Regent. Zuid-Bohemen is een zeldzaam mooi en waterrijk gebied gelegen tussen Praag en de Oostenrijkse grens. Niet voor niets is dit een van de populairste vakantieoorden van de Tsjechen zelf....U vindt er onder meer het Boheemse Woud (Sumava) met een schitterende, gevarieerde natuur. Ruig landschap met bossen wordt afgewisseld met velden, rivieren, heuvels en bergen. Donkere meertjes, koele beekjes, geurige naaldbomen en knisperende takjes en blaadjes die onder je voeten breken als je er overheen loopt. De hoogste bergen zijn wel 1.400 meter en uitermate geschikt voor de geoefende wandelaars. Lipnomeer In het Boheemse Woud vindt u de mooiste plekjes die de natuur te bieden heeft: het Lipnostuwmeer. Ook de rivier Moldau ontspringt hier en verbreedt zich tot het prachtig gelegen Lipnomeer waar tal van watersporten mogelijk zijn en waar u heerlijk kunt zonnen is op één van de vele zandstrandjes ( www.tsjechie.nl/id/1/73/zuid-bohemen_tsjechie.html/ ). Het Lipnomeer ligt in het zuidelijke deel van het fraaie Boheemse Woud (Sumava), heeft een lengte van circa 50 km en is op sommige plaatsen 16 km breed. Het is een waar paradijs voor de watersportliefhebbers. Het is hier heerlijk zwemmen, surfen, zeilen, vare en vissen. Rond het meer zijn vele gemarkeerde routes om te fietsen. De omgeving is fantastisch: heuvels, bergen en uitgestrekte bossen waar u schitterende wandelingen kunt maken in een ongerepte natuur. Langs het meer liggen de valkantieplaatsjes Horní Plana, Frymburk en Lipno nad Vltavou met zandstrandjes en vele restaurants en winkeltjes. Door het gunstige klimaat en het schone water is het hooggelegen Lipnomeer één van de meest populaire vakantiebestemmingen in Tsjechië. Vanaf het Lipnomeer kunt u vele uitstapjes naar mooie historische stadjes, zoals het indrukwekkende Cesky Krumlov (het Venetië van Tsjechië), Ceske Budejovice, Trebon, Jindrichuv Hradec en Prachatice ( http://bohemia.nl/Vakantieinformatie/Tsjechi%C3%AB/Lipnomeer.html ). Ten Zuiden van Budejovice ligt Krumlov en daaronder ligt weer Vyšší Brod. Er zijn diverse brouwerijen. ... In totaal zijn in Tsjechië opereert 60 brouwerijen en houd ze groeien ( www.webdrinks.cz/zpravodajstvi/vyssi-brod-bude-mit-po-letech-opet-pivovarnavic-nejmensi-v-kraji/ ). Er is heel wat aandacht voor de kleine brouwerijen: Ik heb geen idee wat die bierwedstrijden waren...net zo min als gegrilde varkensknie... Horni Planá Beerfest 2015 (zie www.horniplana.cz/dokumenty/1036-hp-listy-zari-2015.pdf ) České Budějovice ([ˈtʃɛskɛː ˈbudjɛjɔvitsɛ]?; Duits: Budweis) is de grootste stad en hoofdstad van de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. Bij de stad komen de rivieren Moldau en Malše samen. Het predicaat České (Boheems) is nodig om de stad te onderscheiden van Moravské Budějovice (Duits Budwitz). De stichting van (České) Budějovice, in 1265, wordt toegeschreven aan de edelman Hirzo in opdracht van koning Ottokar II van Bohemen. De nieuwe stad kreeg de status van koninklijke stad en werd bevolkt met burgers uit Oberösterreich ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8 Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). De stad is vooral bekend door het Budweiser bier, dat in grote delen van de wereld wordt verkocht. In veel landen buiten Europa is de naam van dit bier Budvar of Czechvar, wegens geschillen met het Amerikaanse Anheuser-Busch, die ook bier onder de naam Budweiser produceert. Dat bier was in eerste instantie een imitatie van het Boheemse bier maar heeft inmiddels ook een eigen identiteit. Overigens prefereert de lokale bevolking het lokale merk Samson boven het bekendere Budvar. Samson is het handelsmerk van de brouwerij Budweiser Burgerbräu, vermoed wordt dat dit bier oorspronkelijk model stond voor het Anheuser-Busch bier ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). České Budějovice is een stad gelegen in de regio Zuid-Bohemen in Tsjechië. České Budějovice is de bakermat van het ook bij ons zo geliefde pils. Het merk Budweiser komt hier vandaan en is simpelweg een verwijzing naar de stad České Budějovice, dat in het Duits Budweis genoemd wordt. České Budějovice is de grootste stad van de regio Zuid-Bohemen en tevens de hoofdstad van deze regio. České Budějovice kent een aantal bezienswaardigheden die de moeite waard zijn. Verder is de stad geliefd onder toeristen uit de omgeving die hier een (mid)dagje kunnen komen shoppen ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskebudejovice.htm ). Brouwerij Budweiser Budvar Al sinds 1265 wordt er in České Budějovice ‘Budweiser Budvar’ bier gebrouwen. Het mag absoluut niet worden verward met het Amerikaanse Budweiser biermerk. Al jaren lopen er rechtszaken over deze naam en wordt er een bieroorlog gevoerd. In Amerika wordt de Tsjechische Budweiser verkocht met de naam ‘Czechvar’. De brouwerij is dagelijks te bezoeken en er zijn verschillende rondleidingen te volgen, al dan niet met een proeverij. In de wintermaanden is dit niet mogelijk. Je vindt de brouwerij in het noorden van de stad ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/ tsjechie/ceskebudejovice.htm ). Ze proberen een beetje zich te onderscheiden van Pilsner Urquell (zie o.a. www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/brewers-budvar-score-hit-with-bob-and-dave-tv-ad-campaign ) Er zijn verschillende berichten te vinden over de rondleiding: Rondleidingen zijn dus van 9.00 tot 17.00 of 11.00 en 14.00? Ik ben de brouwerij gaan bekijken: Het gebouw is verstopt op een industrieterrein aan een drukke straat. Vanaf de snelweg is het een afslag en dan een zijstraat van zo'n andere drukke straat. Het gebouw zelf is wel opvallend genoeg: Ik parkeerde bij de Baumarkt op de hoek van de straat (plek zat) en vandaar was de brouwerij al te zien: Na een kleine 500 meter was ik bij de brouwerij. Ik was bijna naar de receptie gelopen, maar schuin naast deze hoofdingang is een oprit en daar liepen hele drommen mensen, dus daar ging ik naar binnen. ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/obrazky/pro-navstevniky/navstevnicke-centrum2.jpg ) Duidelijk. Ik kocht er een kaartje voor de rondleiding van 14:00: die wordt dagelijks gegeven. Bij de ingang, het visitors center , stond een TV met filmpjes over andere onderwerpen, zoals thee en sigaren. Elk filmpje eindigt met een tagline die ook geldt voor Budweiser, zoals kwaliteit ontstaat door de beste ingrediënten en tradities ontstaan door mensenhanden. Erg inspirerend, maar doordat het in het Tsjechisch is, wel een beetje saai. Naast de TV hangen twee borden: Dit wist ik niet, Budweiser wordt enkel gebrouwen in Budweiser...wat ik wel wist was dat Amerika ook een Budweiser heeft: Hiermee geven ze duidelijk aan dat het Tsjechische bier model stond voor de Amerikaanse Budweiser en ze dus eerder waren. De Amerikaanse Budweiser is een kopie van het Tsjechische bier. Nu zal de afgelopen 100 jaar wel wat afwijkingen zijn ontstaan, maar toch het is dan vreemd dat in Amerika Budweiser geen Budweiser mag heten, maar als naam Czechvar heet: Ze gaan er tijdens de rondleiding niet op in. Ze noemen het, maar geven geen mening. Ook gaan ze totaal niet in op de geschiedenis. Bij de ingang stonden wat bordjes over o.a. de eerste brouwer van Budweiser: Antonin Holecek: Ook ging de rondleing niet in op het bijzondere feit: Budweiser Budvar, N. C. is commemorating the 120th anniversary of its founding. The first batch of beer of a mere 200 hectolitres was brewed on 7th October 1895 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2015/den-budvar-2015.html ). En de verschillende flesjes Gelukkig is er internet : The history of brewing in České Budějovice started in 1265, when the town was founded by Ottokar II. (Přemysl Otakar II.), the King of Bohemia, who granted the town with important privileges, the brewing right being one of them. 1495: The České Budějovice Town hall managed to build its own Large brewery. Under the arrangement with the town citizens, the town brewery brewed so-called white (wheat) beer, while individual citizens brewed dark barley beer. From the beginning of the 18th century, the town citizens endeavoured to control the municipal brewery, reasoning it with the brewing right they had owned since 1495. The municipal council recognised their right in 1722, however they had to give up brewing in their houses. Therefore they bought the brewing house of Matěj Konvička, the maltster, thus giving rise to the so-called Small Brewery. Nonetheless, the municipal council pronounced this building its own building. From then, the town owned two breweries - the Large Brewery near the Rožnov Gate and the Small Brewery on the corner of Charles IV. St. and Kanovnická St The town citizens declined to accept that and the dispute finished in 1795, when the town passed the administration of both breweries to the town citizens, giving thus rise to the so called Civic Brewery. Both areas were reconstructed and rebuilt several times, but soon it was clear that no further development of the breweries in the inner town will be possible. In 1847 came the decision to build a new refrigerator cellar at the Linz suburb. Later on in 1851-1852, a new brewery was built there ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ).. Dus ter verduidelijk politiek en bier gaan samen: In the 19th century České Budějovice was a town of mixed nationalities. However, the economy was controlled by enterprises owned by the German part of the population. As a former election order distinguished electors according to property and the level of paid taxes, the Czech people did not have any representation in the Town Hall in Česke Budějovice despite their majority. To be able to participate in policy, the Czech people had to strengthen their economic positions. ... Therefore, in the last third of the 19th century, “Czech” enterprises were established. One of them was the Czech Share Brewery – the direct predecessor of Budweiser Budvar. The initiative for its foundation came mainly from Czech brewers (August Zátka and many others). The Czech Share Brewery produced the first batch of beer on 1th October 1895. Up to the end of 1896, sales of beer repersented 51,100 hectolitres of beer. ,,, In the competition with German Měšťanský brewery and two Schwarzenberg breweries in Třeboň and Protivín, the Czech Share Brewery always won due to its high quality and the excellent flavour of its beer as first awarded in 1896 in the Industrial Exhibition in Prague. In the beginning of the 20th century ,lager from the Czech Share Brewery was also very well known abroad ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/historie-pivovaru.html ). Dus de brouwerijis opgezet door de Tsjechische inwoners om politieke invloed te krijgen in hun stadsbestuur. Ze werden bekend in de stad en omstreken en ver daarbuiten: Millions of people travelled from the old continent to America hoping to find a better life there. The emigrants also "brought" their thirst and love for European beer with them, which resulted in the start of importing beer to America, some brands of Czech beer being amongst it. In 1872, the import of Budweiser Bier from České Budějovice began, as well. Thanks to the ever-growing popularity of European beer on the American market, another emigrant C. Conrad came upon an idea to imitate the beer in America. The problem occurred with choosing a brand for their product. Clearly, it had to be a well-known brand from Europe, its name being pronounceable in English. Consequently in 1876, another Budweiser Bier came into the world six centuries after the brewing of the beer began in České Budějovice. It was Anheuser-Busch brewery that Carl Conrad had chosen for his business plan. In 1878, C.Conrad had the Budweiser Lager Bier trademark registered with the American Patent Office, signing it over to the brewing concern Anheuser-Busch in 1891, which thus got the right to sell this beer. The appropriation was not only unauthorised, but the owners of the American trademark passed the trademark off as an invented one. On the contrary, Budweiser beer from České Budějovice indicated specific information about the place of origin, which was derived from the official name of the town. The picture of the Anheuser-Busch's label of 1876 contains information that this beer is brewed using a recipe from Budějovice and Czech ingredients. Adolphus Busch himself, as the founder of the US-based beer giant Anheuser-Busch, testified before the South New York District Court with respect to the dispute over the mark Budweiser in 1894 as follows: "The idea was simple - to produce a beer of the same quality, colour and taste as the beer produced in Budweis, or Bohemia.” ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ) The Czech Joint-Stock Brewery (present Budweiser Budvar, N.C.) began to brew its famous beer on 7th October 1895. The circumstances preceding its founding were very dramatic in the nationally divided Budějovice. One part which Czech brewers were was not satisfied with was the situation in the local very German Civic Brewery and so supported by the leading representatives of the Czech bourgeoisie they decided to set up a new company. On 20th May 1896, the "Joint-Stock Brewery Restaurant" was officially opened. The opening ceremony was set for Sunday, but the restaurant had been completely packed the day before and all the rooms which were furnished in an elegant style with electrical lighting were literally bursting thanks to the overflow of thirsty wanderers. From that moment, the brewery became the centre of the Czech national life in the town ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). 1911: When the Anheuser-Busch concern registered the Budweiser trademark in the United Stated in 1907, both Budějovice breweries protested against it (the Joint-Stock Brewery began to import its beer to the USA in 1906). Following long disputes a contract was entered into in 1911, where the Czech Joint-Stock Brewery recognised the validity of the American registration in exchange for compensation; however, it did not give up its right to label its products with the word "Budweiser" and the specific "original" around the world. 1930: In 1930, the brewery registered its Budvar trademark, which was used for the 12° export pale lager. The extraordinary international success of this trademark eventually drove the board of directors to include the word in the name of the brewery, which subsequently from 1936 was: Budvar - Joint-Stock Brewery, České Budějovice. 1939: At the beginning of 1939 on the eve of the World War II., both České Budějovice breweries were forced to enter into new unfavourable contracts with Anheuser-Busch under the threat of confiscation of all their goods in the USA. For an inadequate compensation, they undertook not to use the denominations of Budweiser, Budweis and other derivatives for the area of North American territory north from Panama. During the occupation a Nazi administrator was appointed to the Budvar - Joint-Stock Brewery and the brewery became a part of the Protectorate breweries network. During the war, the export literally perished, although the Joint-Stock Brewery had exported to a larger extent until 1942. The post-war period brought many changes to the brewery. It was nationalised in 1946 and changed its name several times while the confiscated Civic Brewery was incorporated in it. Finally, it was made into South Bohemian Breweries National Corporation. When other regional breweries were incorporated in South Bohemian Breweries, the original Joint-Stock Brewery began to use the name Budvar to distinguish itself. In 1967, Budweiser Budvar, N.C originated as the successor of the original Joint-Stock brewery and the Civic Brewery, taking over its trademarks to a large extent. It was put on the same level as South Bohemian Breweries and as far as the management was concerned, both companies had a joint management. A new stage of the brewery's history came after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when Budweiser Budvar became physically independent on 1.1.1991. Owing to another overall modernisation of all the operations, establishing direct business relations with both local and international business partners and building its own distribution warehouses the brewery increased its production two and half fold. 1996: Thanks to an extensive modernisation, Budweiser Budvar, N.C. surpassed the 1,000,000 hectolitre milestone. [10 jaar later in 2006 werd de grens van 1.25 hectoliter gehaald] 2003: The first original beer restaurant Budvarka was opened in the Small Brewery Hotel in České Budějovice. The conception of the original beer restaurant chain is intended for everyone who likes the environment of a traditional but at the same time modern beer restaurant with a pleasant ambience, where excellent well-treated beer along with a delicious Czech and international cuisine can be savoured ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). Tot zover de trip through memorylane en terug naar het heden: Achterin de zaal staat een ridder, die ook in hun reclame voorkomt: De ridder is metalig en uitgedost met brouwerijbenodigdheden, zoals hopbellen en granen... Achter de ridder was een lege filmzaal en een liftachtig iets. Ik heb hier even ingekeken, maar niets gezien. Het schijnt dat hier ook een soort museumpje zou zijn. Naast de ridder was nog een filmpresentatie van de brouwerij. De rondleiding begon even voor twee uur met een Duitstalige inleiding, nadat die groep was vertrokken kwam onze gids in het Tsjechisch een hele uitleg geven, gevolgd door wat korte uitleg in het Engels. De rondleiding ging over de brouwerij: Het tempo zat er goed in. De brouwerij is staatseigendom, dat wist ik niet. Ik had als slimme vraag bedacht om te vragen of ze hadden nagedacht over overnames. Aangezien Staropramen van Heineken in zee gegaan is en Pilsner Urquell van SABMiller vroeg ik me af of ze met AB/InBev willen praten om de ruzie bij te leggen vanwege zakelijke belangen. Aangezien Budweiser een staatsbedrijf is, zal het wel niet gaan gebeuren... Op hun website vond ik vervolgens ook nog: To be able to say no, to refuse, to disagree. Not to allow whatever others consider normal, not to think in regular concepts, not to want what others desire, not to follow a predetermined path, not to nod dumbly, not to decide without using common sense, not to succumb, not to bend, not to be bent and to say NO ( www.budvar.cz/en ). Zou dit samenhangen met de Amerikaanse Budweiserslogan: Nog wat info van hun website: The modern history of the brewery dates back to the year 1967, when the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic founded the Budweiser Budvar National Corporation as the direct successor of the Czech Stock Brewery, which had brewed beer in České Budějovice since 1895. The Czech Stock Brewery was established by Czech licensed brewers, who followed the footsteps of the 700 year old tradition of brewing beer in České Budějovice (formerly Budweis). Budweiser Budvar is the owner of valuable intellectual property in the form of more than 380 trademarks registered in 101 countries worldwide. The most known trademarks include Budweiser, Budvar, Budweiser Budvar, Bud, Budějovický Budvar and Czechvar. This immense intellectual property is closely linked to the place of its origin, the town of České Budějovice, which was formerly called Budiwoyz or Budweis. Budweiser Budvar has reached the position of the major beer market player by way of a gradual and conscientious expansion into foreign markets and strengthening its position at home. The volume of export sales makes Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager one of the most exported Czech beer brands. Presently, more than 600 employees work in Budweiser Budvar N.C. ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/profil.html ) Met die jaartallen is het wat vreemd. Het brouwen is er al circa 600 jaar, maar het huidige bedrijf bestaat bijna 50 jaar. Toch gaat de brouwerij terug tot 1895 en dat maakt het bedrijf nu 120 jaar: During World War II the brewery was under Nazi administration and was nationalized after the War.. In 1967 an independent legal subject was separated from the former South Bohemian Brewery, Budweiser Budvar, national enterprise. This enterprise oriented its activity mainly to export based on tradition, valuable registered trademarks and quality of beer. Further significant development of the enterprise on the domestic market and abroad came after 1989 when in just several years the present management managed to increase sales of beer by almost double. The national enterprise of Budweiser Budvar is today a modern and active company built on a strong foundation. The brewery has managed the strong struggle with competition that is supported by supra-national concerns. At present it is the last of the large breweries which has exclusively Czech capital. Due to the excellent economic results the enterprise can invest large funds into its development. Part of the profit is directed each year into the support of culture, education and the health system, in particular in the South Bohemia region. The evidence of the dynamic and personal relation to lovers of Budweiser Budvar are the new products regularly introduced by Budvar onto the market ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/historie-pivovaru.html ). Dus bier is goed voor de lokale economie! Omdat er zo een tempo in de rondleiding zat en er geen aandacht was voor de historie, was hier een bordje van een houten muziekpaviljoen, waar ik wel een foto heb van het bordje (met spiegelbeeldselfie), maar niet van het gebouw... Ik heb er geen foto van helaas.... De eerste stop van onze tour was bij het bronwater . Dat zit in grote tanks, die wat imponerend overkomen, zo op een bedrijventerrein.... De gids ging niet in op die grote tanks, maar over het zuivere bronwater en de twee bronnen op ca. 270 en 300 meter onder maaiveld. ( www.visitbudvar.cz/img/fotogalerie/prohlidka-pivovaru/arteske-studny/02.jpg ) Leuk weetje van internet: This water is ecologically immaculate and so clean that it needs no chemical treatment, such as adding chlorine or softening agents. The water is substantially instrumental in the characteristic flavour of our beer, thus making it a real rarity. The technology and principle of the artesian wells were already known in Ancient Syria and Egypt. However, only their common use in the former French province of Artois, where many artesian wells were drilled by Carthusian monks in the 12th century, gave them their name, which has been the synonym of a source of tasteful and quality water till today ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). Tegenover de bronwatertanks zagen we de kratten opgestapeld: We liepen echt over het brouwerijterrein. En konden we dus echt een kijkje in de keuken nemen: Zou hier de graan of de hop worden gelost? Of misschien helemaal niets meer? Uit de uitleg van de gids begrijp ik dat de mout en andere grondstoffen per trein komen. We krijgen een indrukwekkende uitleg over het brouwproces, waarbij het schroten wat achterwege wordt gelaten. Het maïschen gaat tot 75 °C, de Saazhop gaat er bij het koken bij. na toevoegen van gist en lucht gaat de eerste vergisting aan de gang, daarna de koude lagering en tenslotte de afvulafdeling: Vervolgens gaan we de brouwerij in: Zoals gezegd was er geen aandacht voor de rijke (?) historie. Er was dus geen uitleg over deze foto die in het trappenhuis hing. Na de trappen, kwamen we bij een haast adembenemend uitzicht; de brouwketels van Budweiser: We stonden in een grote zaal en ik kon onmogelijk alle 8 ketels op de foto krijgen. We stonden ook recht boven twee ketels. Ik heb m'n best gedaan om foto's te maken en om tegelijk de sfeer te proeven. Wat mij opviel waren deze open bakken, en de groene planten in deze zaal. Ook viel mij o pdat alhoewel in de deuropening van het trappenhuis een duidelijke wortgeur was waar te nemen, hier in de brouwzaal rook het redelijk neutraal. Er zijn dus 8 ketels. De bovenkant is koper, maar de onderkant is RVS. Ik kreeg deze 8 ketels niet allemaal in beeld. Er staan dus 8 ketels 4 voor en 4 achter. Een lijn bestaat uit 4 ketels en er zijn dus twee batches die per keer tegelijk worden gebrouwen. Zo'n batch is 600 hl bier. Jaarlijks produceren ze zo'n 1,6 miljoen hectoliter ofzoiets. De helft is voor de export en de andere helft is voor nationaal gebruik. Dat gaat allemaal op, dus kun je nagaan wat een drinkers die Tsjechen zijn. bijzonder om zoiets te horen van een staatsbedrijf. Exactere cijfers van hun website: In 2014, Budweiser Budvar’s sales reached 1 457 000 hectolitres of beer.....Almost a half of its production is exported into more than 70 countries on all continents ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/o-spolecnosti/profil.html ). Voor 1 liter bier wordt 100 kg hop gebruikt als ik het goed begreep. Later meer over die hop. Eerst door naar de vergistingstanks: De uitleg over die grote tanks wordt gegeven naast het parkeerterrein van de vrachtwagens, die de kratten bier vervoeren. Deze grote vaten zijn conisch aan de onderzijde, waarlangs het ondergist kan worden afgevoerd. Vervolgens gingen we de lagerkelder, met een lange gang, in: In de gang zaten kamers met vaten, met aan de muur een krijtbord waarop staat wat waarin gist: En dan bedoel ik ook echt gist: Sommige vaten staan en andere liggen: We liepen echt langs de werkplek van de brouwers: Vervolgens kwamen in een kamer met wat gistingstanks en brouwparafernalia: We mochten wachten bij het toog met de glazen potten: Het zijn veel, maar kleine tanks.... Hier kregen we een bekertje ongepasteuriseerde ongefilterde ORIGINAL te proeven met mooi romig schuim. Mijn bier had met wat fantasie een smiley. Het smaakt heerlijk zacht en heeft een duidelijk hopbitterheid. Zelf zeggen ze over dit bier: Budweiser Budvar CVIKL Non-Filtered Yeast Beer (4 % vol.) Sipping non-filtered beer directly from the barrel has ranked amongst brewing traditions since time immemorial. All you had to do was pull out a beech wedge (called “cvikl” in Czech) from the barrel and the fresh drink poured out. That is where our non-filtered beer got its name Cvikl from as well as an extra ration of yeast, gaining a fresher beer flavour and nutritious delight. Every beer tastes its best while still in the brewery’s cellars, as it is not affected by heat, light, movement or oxygen which impair its flavour. Such a fresh flavour can be accomplished only by not filtering the beer, which keeps the yeast in the beer. Budweiser Budvar Cvikl keeps its full and invigorating flavour with mildly higher bitterness also due to fresh activated yeast added before racking, which causes the characteristic matt haze of the non-filtered beer and not the additives of foreign substances, such as pectin. Pale draught beer ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/cvikl.html ). Budweiser wordt gebrouwen met mout, hop en water. Het water is hun eigen bronwater. De mout komt in 4 soorten. De hop is echter uniek: Saaz. Budweiser is dus een single hop bier! Voor het brouwen van de pils worden geen pellets of hopextracten gebruikt, maar gedroogde hopbellen. Sinds 2012 brouwen ze in augustus een speciale versie met verse hop: Wet hopping: 28.8.2015 České Budějovice On Wednesday, two batches of seasonal beer were brewed in the Budweiser Budvar Brewery’s brewing house using fresh cones of Saaz “Žatecký poloraný červeňák” hops harvested only several hours before on the “Splav” hop field in the cadastre of the hop-growing municipality of Blšany. The seasonal beer from fresh hops has been regularly brewed in the Budweiser Budvar during the hop harvest period since 2012. Having an extraordinary long maturing period, 16°beer BUD B:STRONG from fresh hops can be savoured in selected restaurants in the Czech Republic as well as in several other countries in the second half of March 2016 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2015/bud-cerstvy-chmel.html ). De hop komt uit de buurt van Zatec. De mout komt uit Moravië: Good-quality malt is essential for anyone who wants to brew good beer. Since all beers of the Budweiser Budvar brand are excellent ones, the malt used during their brewing must be of top quality. Therefore we only use pale malt made from the grains of the best Czech strains of spring barley, which is grown on the sunny stretches of the Moravian region of Haná. It is our best barley and the malt arisen from it thus counts amongst the best-quality barley in the world ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). Beetje apart dat je als overheid over je land zegt dat je zelf als staatsbedrijf de beste ingrediënten gebruikt. Dat is toch een beetje afgeven op andere Tsjechische bedrijven. Weetje van internet: The uniqueness and originality of České Budějovice beer is also recognized by the European Union, which entitled the beer to use the "Protected Geographical Indication" logo in 2004. Such an indication can only be granted to products strongly connected with their place of origin and produced using exactly specified, distinctive and traditional procedures. The "Protected Geographical Indication" guarantees the customers will not buy a non-genuine product ( www.budvar.cz/en/ingredients ). The European Commission granted Budweiser Budvar N.C. with the right to use a Protected Geographical Indication "Budějovické pivo" and "Českobudějovické pivo". This decision became effective on 1.5.2004 ( www.budvar.cz/en/history ). Na de lagertanks lopen we door naar de afvulafdeling, via een voetgangersbrug over het spoor. Ja, het is echt een Budweisertrein! Daar zal het vast bij helpen dat de staat eigenaar is van de brouwerij. Daarmee komen andere overheidszaken zoals spoorlijnen en allerlei wetgeving vast in goed overleg ten bate van de brouwerij. De afvullijn is indrukwekkend: Deze te hergebruiken flessen worden gewassen, waarbij het etiket eraf gaat. Als etiketverzamelaar is dat natuurlijk wat zuur om te zien. Maar wel interessant om te zien hoe zo'n etiket van een oude fles eindigt: Naast de brouwerij staat ook een soort van restaurant. Maar dat heb ik niet onderzocht. Wel stond ik in het trappenhuis me te vergapen aan brouwparafernalia: Naast de brouwerij staat een grote fles van hun bier. Ze brouwen verschillende bieren: Sinds 2014 hebben ze een nieuw etiket: The label constitutes the essential packaging element, as its layout is subsequently reflected in all the other types of packaging. The shape of the dividing line located about one third into the label’s height significantly underlines the brand’s dynamics, at the same time defining the type of beer with the particular colour. The traditional elements of the “Knights” and the town emblem used in the past as well gently refer to the beer’s place of origin and the brand’s tradition. A new name for each type of beer - the subname, such as B:ORIGINAL, is a new feature on the label. Furthermore, every type of beer has now its own dominant colour for even better consumer familiarisation with the products within the portfolio. According to marketing research, the new label has been showing a significantly better perception of the brand’s values among consumers than the existing one. ... The letter “B” is then followed by the name of the particular type of beer (subname), which aptly reflects its character. The names of the products have been chosen in such a way they are comprehensible to Czech customers as well as to foreign tourists and consumers in more than 60 countries to which the brewery exports its beer. This new terminology has a considerable potential for better recognition of Budweiser Budvar beers from the competing ones. Nonetheless, the original names of the products remain a part of the labels as additional elements. B:ORIGINAL – designates Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager, golden being the dominant colour B:DARK – refers to the colour of Budweiser Budvar Dark Lager, black being the dominant colour B:CLASSIC – is the name for the favourite Budweiser Budvar Pale Draught Beer, silver being the dominant colour B:FREE – designates Budweiser Budvar Non-Alcoholic Lager, green being the dominant colour B:STRONG – reflects the full strong flavour of special beer BUD, bronze completed with dark red being the dominant colours B:SPECIAL – is used for “Krausened Lager”, which contains live yeasts ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/media/archiv-tiskovych-zprav/2014/novy-design.html ) De DARK, FREE, STRONG en SPECIAL zijn duidelijk, maar wat os het verschil tussen ORIGINAL en CLASSIC? B:DARK Ziet er donker uit, ruikt niet opvallend. Smaakt wat als geroosterd brood, beetje waterig. Weinig hopbitterheid. Budweiser Budvar B:DARK Premium Dark Lager (4.7% vol.) Premium Dark Lager has complemented the traditional offer of beer from the brewery Budweiser Budvar, N. C. since 2004. It is produced in the same manner as original Premium Lager with the use of the finely selected Žatec hop, Moravian malt, water from 300 m deep Artesian wells and three types of special colour barley malt: Munich, caramel and roasted. It is characterized by its significant dark colour, dry, fine bitter caramel flavour without dominant sweetness. The flavour is made delicious by the roasted malt ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-original.html#restrictedContent ). Budweiser Budvar B:ORIGINAL Czech Premium Lager (5.0% vol.) Our Czech Premium Lager is beer for pale beer lovers. The most gentle heads of the high quality Žatec hop, virgin clear natural water and granules of selected species of Moravian barley make it the beverage of real experts. The 700-year long tradition in production of České Budějovice beer and the unique, 90-day period of maturity increase its unique character. You can taste Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager with all your senses. First of all you will delight your eyes with its beautiful colour and rich dense foam, then you will feel the fine aroma of the hops, in your palm you will stroke the dewy glass and, in the end, you will taste the fine to medium strong bitterness. You will remember well, our perfect lager ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-original.html#restrictedContent ). B:ORIGINAL (Svetly ležák) 5% Pilsgeel bier met wit schuim. Smaakt lekker, wat wateriger wellicht dan de CLASSIC? Ook minder koolzuurprikkeling. Het is een lekker en zacht pilsje. Zeker de moeite waard! Hier kun je wat van drinken op een gezellig feestje. Volgens mij -mag ik dat zeggen? Ja dat mag ik zeggen- is het beter dan de Amerikaanse naamgenoot. Budweiser Budvar B:CLASSIC Pale Beer (4.0% vol.) If our Premium Lager is the beer of real experts and specialists, then our Pale Beer is the right beer for everybody. The long tradition of the production of České Budějovice beer and carefully selected high quality natural ingredients are a guarantee for the highest quality without doubt. The Pale Beer is ideal for those occasions when it is evident in advance that you will not finish with just one beer ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-classic.html ). B:CLASSIC (Svetly vycepni pivo) 4% Pilsgeel bier, met wit schuim. De CLASSIC heeft meer hopgeur dan de ORIGINAL. Ook wat meer hop in de afdronk en nasmaak. Het mondgevoel heeft ook wat meer koolzuurprikkeling dan de ORIGINAL. Budweiser Budvar B:FREE Non-alcoholic beer (max 0.5 % vol.) To drink beer and drive? Then why not, if this beer is our Budweiser Budvar non-alcoholic beer. Our tradition in the production of Budweiser beer and the use of high quality natural ingredients in combination with a minimum content of alcohol make this beer suitable for all who do not deny its delicate, full flavour and, at the same time, their profession or condition do not allow the drinking of alcoholic beverages ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-free.html ). Bud B:STRONG Special Beer (7.5 % vol.) Bud B:STRONG Special Beer is strong beer with an alcohol content of 7.5 %. Compared to the regular lager, there is a difference of approximately 2.5 %. Therefore consumers are required to be more experienced, responsible and mature. For that reason we have decided to recommend that the young consumers wait with this beer until they are 21, as at this age a man is physically and mentally more mature and can cope with drinking this specialty as well as appreciating and savouring it. We do believe that Bud B:STRONG deserves such respect. Owing to its record-breaking 200-days long maturing period the beer is referred to as the peak of the beer alchemy. It is characterised by a rich thick fine head, darker golden colour and distinct malt flavour ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-strong.html ). B:STRONG (Czech Imperial Lager) 7.5% Imperial Lager geeft bij mij het idee dat er veel hop in zit. Zoals My Antonia . Maar dat blijkt niet het geval, het bier legt de nadruk op de verwarmende kwaliteiten van de alcohol. Bijzonder, aangezien het bier maar 7,5% is en niet echt zwaar te noemen is. Toch komt het qua smaak en mondgevoel zo over. Hopbitterheid is niet echt op de voorgrond, het is de moutsmaak die het bier draagt. Het bier is net zoals de CLASSIC en ORIGINAL pilsgeel met wit schuim. Als je een beetje veel drinkt of niet goed oplet, merk je geen verschil en proef je niet wat wat is... Zowel de ORIGINAL, CLASSIC en STRONG hebben dezelfde moutsmaak!? Tijdens de rondleiding heb ik dit overigens gevraagd: wat is het verschil tussen de ORIGINAL en de CLASSIC? Het antwoord? Het alcoholpercentage: ORIGINAL is 5% en CLASSIC is 4%. De CLASSIC is speciaal voor de lokale markt ontwikkeld, maar dat dat op zich vreemd was, aangezien de ORIGINAL erg populair is bij de lokale bevolking... In de stad vind je bij diverse plaatsen een verwijzing naar Budweisermemorabilia: Zoals bij Hotel Maly Pivovar : The hotel "Maly pivovar" is gimped by a secret of a produce of world famous beer Budwar, which adds a rich history of the town ( www.hotel-maly-pivovar-ceske-budejovice.az-ubytovani.info/accommodation.htm ). The Original Budvarka Beerhouse in the Malý pivovar Hotel (Karla IV. 8-10, 370 01, České Budějovice) was to become the first Original Budvarka Beerhouse in the year 2003 ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/restaurace/original-pivnice-budvarka.html ). Mogelijk is dit hotel van de brouwerij en schenken ze net zoals Masné Krémy (aan Krajinská 13) een ongepasteuriseerde versie van het Budweiser bier uit het vat. Het is een 'Krausend Lager' genaamd Krozy ofzoiets. Ik heb het zelf niet gedronken, maar hoorde van iemand anders dat het de moeite waard was. Budweiser Budvar B:SPECIAL Krausened Lager (5.0% vol.) The starting procedure for the production of Krausened Lager is the same as for the Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager. The difference is in the fact that before filling a certain volume of “rings” are added into the finished beer for consumption quality. A new culture of brewing yeast in the best condition and new ratio of extract is added into the beer. In the transport package (KEG barrels) there is a further level of fermentation of beer which brings better sensory quality and higher biological value ( www.budejovickybudvar.cz/en/produkty/sortiment/b-special.html ). Het hotel heeft bij de entree en in de etalage veel Budweiserparafernalia: In de stad is meer dan enkel de Budvarbrouwerij, er zijn bijvoorbeeld veel mooie oude gebouwen en een plein dat met een kleine hectare een van de grootste van Tsjechië is: Op het marktplein bevindt zich een steen waarvan gezegd wordt dat wie hem aanraakt, diezelfde avond niet meer thuis zal komen. De verklaring hiervoor is dat op deze plaats vroeger de galg stond. Degene die deze steen dus aanraakte was de gehangene, en die kwam niet meer thuis ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%A9_Bud%C4%9Bjovice ). Door het monumentale oude stadscentrum zijn wandelingen te maken: Langs andere brouwerijen, zoals de Minipivovar Krajinska 27 : In het raam is het koper te zien! De lange gang leidt echter niet naar een brouwerij, maar een of ander chique restaurant met een glazen dak. Ik wordt door een serieuze serveerster naar een tafeltje. Als ik wijs op het foldertje dat er een brouwerij is en of er bier te proeven is. Ik wordt een plaats gewezen in het fancy eetgedeelte aan een tafeltje naast een stelletje en ik krijg de menukaart. Er is de mogelijkheid om 5 bieren te proberen: De Single Hop, de 11, de 12, een IPA en een Jantar? De Singel Hop smaakt heerlijk naar hop, de 11 en 12 zijn ook fijn, de IPA is war wrang hoppig, maar die onbekende Jantar? Die is superzoet. Single hop ontbreekt op hun website... Krajinská 11 Licht pils. Wort extract concentratie 11,00-11,99%. Dit bier wordt gebrouwen uit drie soorten gerstemouten, sommige gekarameliseerd mout geeft het bier een gouden kleur en delicate smaak die niet door het einde van de aangename bitterheid is verdronken. Alcoholgehalte min. 4,5% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská 12 Lichte pilsener pilsbier. Wort extract concentratie 12,00-12,99%. Weer bier geproduceerd op de traditionele manier. Triple hoppen Žatec hop zorgt voor een aangename, hoger bittere smaak. De kleur is rijk, het bier heeft een volle smaak. Wanneer u een prettige aanhoudende bitterheid te drinken na de eerste slok. Heerlijke smaak dringt er bij te drinken. Alcoholgehalte min. 5,0% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská IPA 14 Speciaal bier geproduceerd door fermentatie bovenste. Wort extract concentratie 14,99%. Een combinatie van verschillende mouten en vier soorten speciale hop. Dit soort bier is gebaseerd op Engels recepten uit de tijd dat het nodig was om duurzame bierproductie de troepen in de koloniën, bijvoorbeeld om in staat te zijn lange reizen. Natuurlijk "leven" van dit bier wordt bereikt bittere stoffen uit Australië of Nieuw-Zeeland hop en een hoger alcoholpercentage. Bier wordt gekenmerkt door een rijke kleuren, boeiende aroma en goede smaak. We raden aan om te proeven. Alcoholgehalte min. 6,0% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Krajinská JANTAR Semi-dark pils. Wort extract concentratie 11,00-11,99%. Naast de klassieke en caramel mout wordt hier als andere speciale mout. Dit geeft het bier een diepe amberkleur. Het heeft een meer uitgesproken smaak, geweldige kleur, full-bodied, heerlijk. Alcoholgehalte min. 4,5% vol. ( www.krajinska27.cz/pivo/index.html ) Ik wilde een flesje voor thuis van de Single Hop en de IPA, maar de Single Hop was enkel op het vat en van de IPA kreeg ik een versgevulde 1,5 liter PETfles mee; wtf die was duurder dan de tasting!? Een paar straatjes verder is Singer Bar; een hostel/café/brouwerij: Deze was helaas gesloten. Het gebouw schijnt de eerste brouwrechten in de stad te hebben ontvangen. Dit bier heb ik niet geproefd, noch gekocht. Wel heb ik in een supermarkt een leuke doos gekocht met 7 bieren uit de regio...daarover later meer... Het is een mooie stad, die het bezoeken meer dan waard was... Třeboň (Duits: Wittingau) is een Tsjechische stad in de regio Zuid-Bohemen, en maakt deel uit van het district Jindřichův Hradec. Rondom Třeboň zijn diverse meren. Třeboň ... is met name bekend voor de kweek van karper ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). Tot het midden van de 15de eeuw was de streek rond Trebon nog een weinig aantrekkelijk moerasgebied. De rijke familie Rožmberk bracht daarin verandering door er reusachtige vijvers aan te leggen, waarin karpers werden gekweekt. Elk jaar in de herfst worden de vijvers met grote netten leeggehaald, een heel spektakel waar omheen altijd leuke festiviteiten worden georganiseerd en daarom ook veel belangstellende bezoekers trekt ( www.natuurlijk-tsjechie.nl/steden-dorpen-trebon.htm ). In het moeras-gebied langs de rivier de Lužnice is in de 13e eeuw een marktdorp ontstaan. Op de plaats ervan is later een onderdanige stad gesticht die tot de categorie onderdanige steden behoort. Haar grootste bloei beleefde zij onder het bewind van de laatste Rosenbergs (Rožmberks). Toen is het omliggende landschap door menselijke ingrepen veranderd en is in de omgeving van de stad een aantal vijvers ontstaan. De stadsversterking die tot vandaag bewaard is in de vorm van vijf poorten en een paar bastions, is verder beschermd geweest door de zgn. Gouden gracht (Zlatá stoka) en door de vijver Svět in het zuiden. ...Tegenwoordig is Třeboň voornamelijk bekend door haar kuurhuizen, haar vijverbouw en door het merk Regent bier dat daar wordt gebrouwen ( www.camp.cz/nl/info-tsjechie/Bezienswaardigheden/Historische-steden/Trebon/1003?orderby=date&reviewonpage=5&language=0 ). Drie kilometer ten noorden van Trebon ligt de grootste visvijver van Tsjechië: 'Rozmberk' (490 ha) met een dam van 2,5 km lang. Zes kilometer verderop liggen de visvijvers 'Velký Tisý' (320 ha) en daarnaast 'Malý Tisý' (26 ha) die tezamen een beschermd watervogelreservaat vormen. Naast de visteelt is de bierbrouwerij het meest bekend. De brouwerij, uit 1379, produceert bier van het alom geliefde merk 'Regent' ( www.natuurlijk-tsjechie.nl/steden-dorpen-trebon.htm ). ( www.tsjechiepagina.nl/streekinformatie/streekinformatie/902/trebon/ ) Brouwerij Trebon brouwerij verkoopt bier onder de merknaam Bohemia Regent. De brouwerij is gelegen in het historische centrum van Trebon. De brouwerij werd opgericht in 1379. Sinds 1698 kwam het in handen van de Prins Schwarzenberg. De wederopbouw van de brouwerij in zijn huidige vorm werd gehouden in de tweede helft van de 19e eeuw. Op de reconstructie is het werk van de Italiaanse bouwmeester broers Maggi, Carlo Martinelli Wenen en Praag architect Paolo Ignatius Bayer ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). ( www.beers.cz/index.php?detail=10507&sekce=2 ). Beide wereldoorlogen resulteerde in een daling van de productie tijdens de productie Tweede Wereldoorlog werd volledig gestopt en niet hervat tot 1945. Op het moment, de brouwerij wordt ook eigendom van de Schwarzenberg onder de Zuid-Boheemse brouwerijen gevestigd in het Tsjechische Budejovice, waar hij blijft tot het einde van 1988 en in de periode 1953-1955, toen het een deel van de NC Třeboňské brouwerijen samen met races Tabor en Jindrichuv Hradec. Vervolgens ontvangt brouwerij staatsbedrijf Breweries Tsjechische Budejovice en na de privatisering in 1992, de brouwerij werd een deel van Jihočeské brouwerijen. In augustus 2000, de brouwerij koopt vennootschap Bohemia Regent. ... Bier wordt gebrouwen met de traditionele technologieën met behulp van de fermentatie vaten in de brouwerij op een moderne manier, die aanzienlijk verkort de productiecyclus. Voor de productie gebruikt alleen natuurlijke ingrediënten. ... Regent brouwerij bedrijf naam is afgeleid van de historische figuur van de ridder Jakub Krčín van Jelčany (1533-1604), die aanvankelijk Rosenberg klerk en later was regent uitgebreide eigendom van de heer Wilhelm von Rosenberg ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). ( www.beers.cz/index.php?detail=10507&sekce=2 ). 2x per dag kan men deelnemen aan een rondleiding (na afloop ontvangt men als geschenk 3 flesjes bier). Deze rondleiding is in de Tsjechische taal, maar misschien kan audio wel. Eigenlijk krijgt u tijdens deze rondleidig vooral het nieuwe gedeelte te zien. Familie Rožmberk gaf in 1560 de opdracht tot de bouw van huidige brouwerij, 1660 in opdracht van familie Schwarzeberg de meest uitgebreide wederopbouw, 1861-99 huidig neo-gotisch uiterlijk. De naam “Regent” werd geïnspireerd door geschiedenis an ridder en 'onsterfelijke Regent' Jakub Krčín z Jelčan a Sedlčan, die begon als accountant van Rosenberg en vervolgens regent werd van domein van Vilém z Rožmberk (folieske, www.zoover.nl/tsjechie/zuid-bohemen-jihocesky/tebo/bierbrouwerij-regent ). Pivovar Třeboň je pivovar prodávající pivo pod obchodní značkou Bohemia Regent. Nachází se v historickém jádru města Třeboň. Spadá do části Třeboň I.Pivovar Třeboň byl založen v roce 1379 ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_T%C5%99ebo%C5%88 ). Bohemia Regent, a.s. Trocnovske namesti 124, 379 01 Trebon Czech Republic ( www.pivovar-regent.cz/en/en-home ) Rodinny Pivovar Trebon (familiebrouwerij Trebon) anno 1379 heeft een Bohemia Regen Czech Beer Premium Lager Dark (4,4%), in het Tsjechisch: Tmavý Ležák Premium. Dit bier ziet er donkerroodachtig uit en heeft een wat waterig mondgevoel met een strookje koolzuur en een moutige smaak die wat aan brood doet denken. Bohemia Regent Tmavý Ležák 12° COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION Bottle and keg; Filtered. An export lager, garnet in colour, with a clean roasted malt flavour that provides a full round bodied taste. A beer shaped by history and age-old traditional Czech methods ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). juffage (127) - Leeds, West Yorkshire, ENGLAND - SEP 15, 2015 Dark brown/black, deep ruby colour. Quite sweet. Molasses, brown sugar, grass, raisins, granola, coffee, slightly roasty, but the lagering(?) makes it really moreish and surprisingly quenching. Something about the mouthfeel I really enjoy - thin, but creamy, with good carbonation. Definitely NOT a porter ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). brewtalita (44) - Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC - AUG 31, 2015 Dark brown, almost deep ruby color. Lighter than most of dark lagers. Forms low stable head. Carbonation is just perfect for this style and I would call it medium high. Aroma is subtle with hints of caramel and toasted bread. Taste is quite clean and balanced with light roastiness and raisins and almost earthy character in the background. Hops are well balanced. Wery light and watery for me although well balanced and easily drinkable. A pleasant surprise ( www.ratebeer.com/beer/bohemia-regent-tmavy-lezak-12o/9561/ ). Jakub Krčín (Keulen 1535-1604 Sedlčany) was één van de meest bekende Tsjechische viskwekers. Een groot deel van zijn leven in dienst van de Rosenbergs en deze functies hebben bijgedragen aan de economische welvaart van het Rosenberg landgoederen....Trebon is Krcfn herinnerde plaquette op het huis nr. P. 114 in Krčín Street (vandaag het huis Aquarium Krčínův huis) en zijn standbeeld kijkt uit van een stenen sokkel op de dijk van de vijver World ( www.trebonsko.cz/jakub-krcin-z-jelcan-a-sedlcan?idp=5423 ). Jakub Krčín z Jelčan a Sedlčan (18.7.1535 – 19.1.1604) kwam uit een familie Gentry van Keulen. Na zijn afstuderen aan Benedictijner College gaat in dienst Vilma Trčka van Lipa Velis. Kort actief in Borovany klooster in Zuid-Bohemen, waar het gaat om de Tsjechische Krumlov, waarbij r. 1569 benoemd tot de hoogste regent van Rosenberg landgoederen. Geleidelijk vergroten gehele feodale economie van de Rosenbergs in Cesky Krumlov en Netolicko stichtte de eerste vijvers. Zijn grootste vijvers gebouwd in 1570, 1590 in Třeboňsko (World oorspronkelijk ondankbaarheid, Spolsky, Hoop daad Potěšil etc.) En ook hoger hier dam enkele grote Štěpánkovských vijvers -. Opatovický, Záblatský, Horusický In 1950 eindigde hij als grootste en Krčín's waarschijnlijk de meest bekende werk van vijverwater Rosenberg en aanverwante New River. Dan gaat ze op Sedlčansko, waar hij brengt de laatste jaren van zijn leven en stierf daar r. 1604 ( www.trebonsko.cz/rybarske-slavnosti-v-treboni-pozvanka ) Hij kwam uit een arm gezin van schildknapen. Hij was achter een onvoltooide studie van het waterbeheer op Charles University. Na zijn studie werkte hij op het landgoed van Willem Trčka van Lipa, ..... Sinds 1561 hij in dienst trad van de Rosenbergs, deed het dit dankzij de voorspraak van Eva Rosenberg, [die] had hij het bos gered na een val van een paard. Hij werd benoemd podpurkrabím jaar later burggraaf van Cesky Krumlov. Het jaar 1569 werd regentes van Rosenberg landgoederen. In deze functies hij bijgedragen aan de economische welvaart van het Rosenberg landgoederen....[De tijd op het eind] van het leven besteed aan het fort in Obděnice, waar hij stierf. Het is nog niet de precieze datum van zijn dood bekend, en zelfs waar het wordt begraven. Maar aan de kerk in Obděnice Sedlčany er staat geschreven dat "er wordt begraven Jakub Krčín van Jelčany grote bouwer van vijvers." ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakub_Kr%C4%8D%C3%ADn ) Conclusie de stad Trebon kreeg aanzien door de visvijvers die Krcin aanlegde. Krcin werd er regent door en naar hem/deze functie is het biermerk regent vernoemd. Zo hebben karpers, politiek en bier met elkaar te maken. En is er dus ook een link naar Český Krumlov. Český Krumlov: historische stad in Zuid-Bohemen Český Krumlov is een prachtige stad gelegen aan de kronkelende rivier Vltava in Zuid-Bohemen in Tsjechië ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Český Krumlov (Duits: Krumau an der Moldau of (Böhmisch) Krumau) is een stadje in de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. De stad ligt in een lus van de rivier Moldau. Český Krumlov is door de oude binnenstad en het kasteel een bestemming voor grote aantallen toeristen. Om de stadskern te beschermen is deze geplaatst op de Werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov ). Een lokale lekkernij die je op meerdere plekken kunt eten is trdelnik. Dit zijn deegrollen die om een metalen stang gedraaid worden en langzaam afgebakken worden. Aan de buitenkant kun je onder andere een combinatie van kaneel en suiker krijgen. Een andere variant is met Nutella aan de binnenkant (wordt vaak aangeduid als chocolade-variant) ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Dé hotspot van Český Krumlov is ongetwijfeld het eerder genoemde Krumlovkasteel. Het kasteel kent een combinatie van verschillende stijlen, wat het resultaat is van een periode van vele eeuwen waarin het kasteel stap voor stap groter groeide. Het heeft onder drie invloedrijke families ook een aantal gedeeltelijke transformaties ondergaan. De meest kenmerkende elementen van het kasteel zijn de burchttoren, de Mantelbrug die voorzien is van arcaden over verschillende niveau’s en het prachtige uit de 18e eeuw stammende kasteeltheater. Dit barokke theater kun je alleen maar bezoeken onder begeleiding van een gids (mei tot en met oktober, dagelijks van 10 tot 16 uur). Garantie dat je inderdaad in die periode binnen kunt is er niet, want bijvoorbeeld eind augustus 2012 was het theater een paar dagen gesloten voor het publiek. De rest van het Krumlovkasteel kon wel bezocht worden. Als het kasteel zelf overigens niet direct je interesse wekt is het toch de moeite waard om door de binnenplaatsen van het kasteel richting de Mantelbrug te lopen. Vanaf het kasteel heb je immers een prachtig uitzicht over de binnenstad van Český Krumlov ( www.allesovertsjechie.nl/steden/ceskykrumlov.htm ). De eerste familie die de burcht bewoonden was de familie Rosenberg (Rožmberk). Na een korte periode waarin de Habsburgse keizer Rudolf II eigenaar was van het kasteel werd het in 1622 overgedragen aan het vorstenhuis Eggenberg. Na ongeveer een eeuw werd het stokje overgedragen aan de familie Schwarzenberg ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). The State Castle of Český Krumlov, with its architectural standard, cultural tradition, and expanse, ranks among the most important historic sights in the central European region. Building development from the 14th to 19th centuries is well-preserved in the original groundplan layout, material structure, interior installation and architectural detail. ... The name of the castle Krumlov originated from Latin expression castrum Crumnau or ancient German Crumbenowe. It reflects the configuration of the landscape - krumben ouwe means the place on the rugged meadow. The Český Krumlov Castle was mentioned for the first time by an Austrian knight minnesinger Ulrich of Lichtenstein in his poem " Der Frauendienst " which dates back between the years 1240 and 1242. The first written form of the name of Crumbenowe is included in a document of Austrian and Styrian Duke Otakar from 1253. At that time, Krumlov was the seat of Vítek of Krumlov who belonged to the powerful noble family of Witigonen. The expression "Český" has been used in connection with Krumlov since the middle of the 15th century ( www.castle.ckrumlov.cz/docs/en/zamek_oinf_sthrza.xml ). Het middeleeuwse plaatsje werd gesticht in de 13e eeuw. De grootste groei heeft Český Krumlov gekend in de periode 1302 tot 1611 toen de plaats tot de Rožmberk-dynastie behoorde....Tegenwoordig is het een goed geconserveerde stad waar gotische, renaissance en Barokelementen een fraai geheel vormen. Český Krumlov wordt in Tsjechië gezien als de op één na belangrijkste toeristische bestemming na Praag. De gehele binnenstad staat sinds 1992 op de werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO ( www.steden.net/tsjechie/cesky-krumlov/ ). Český Krumlov is zonder enige twijfel de mooiste stad van de regio Zuid-Bohemen. Na Praag is het de grootste toeristische attractie van heel Tsjechië. De van oorsprong uit de dertiende eeuw stammende stad kent haar oorsprong in het Krumlovkasteel, dat vernoemd is naar de eerste bezitter. In drie eeuwen die volgden heeft Český Krumlov onder de Rosenbergdynastie haar grote bloeitijd meegemaakt. Na W.O. II is de stad tijdens het communistische tijdperk flink in verval geraakt. Vrijwel direct na de val van de Berlijnse Muur is men begonnen met het herstel van de historische binnenstad met als resultaat een prachtig centrum dat sinds 1992 trots op de werelderfgoedlijst van UNESCO staat ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskykrumlov.htm ). Eggenberg Brouwerij De geschiedenis van de bierbrouwerij gaat zo ver terug als dat de stad bestaat. De brouwerij werd door verschillende invloedrijke families overgenomen, waaronder kasteeleigenaar Johann Ulrich von Eggenberg. Er zijn verschillende rondleidingen te boeken waaronder zelfs enkele inclusief een proeverij www.eggenberg.cz ( www.top10bezienswaardigheden.nl/tsjechie/ceskykrumlov.htm ). Pivovar Eggenberg is a brewery in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic. Brewing in Český Krumlov dates back to 1336 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). ( www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7482/?view=ratings&ba=Chincino ) De traditie van het brouwen van bier in het Tsjechisch Krumlov gaat terug naar het allereerste begin van de stad. Brouwen bloeide onder het bewind van de laatste Rosenbergs. In 1560 wordt gebouwd in de voorkant van het kasteel een nieuwe brouwerij en later ingenieur Jakub Krčín introduceerde een schone, hoge kwaliteit van het water, waarvan de bron wordt gebruikt voor brewing brouwerij sinds die tijd. In 1662 het gehele Cesky Krumlov landgoederen en daarmee de brouwerij Eggenbergs verworven....in de jaren 1625-1630 herbouwd Cesky Krumlov stadsgenoot Václav Vlach in de nieuwe gebouwen van de brouwerij van vandaag ( www.krumlovtours.cz/cs/prohlidky/prohlidka-pivovaru-eggenberg-9.html ). The House of Rosenberg acquired a brewery in the town in 1522 and relocated it to its current location from 1625–30. After the death of the male inheritors of the House of Rosenberg (1611), in 1622 the dominion was given to the House of Eggenberg and in 1628 Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg was named Duke of Krumau by Ferdinand II. Thus the House of Eggenberg acquired the lucrative dominion including possession of Český Krumlov Castle and the brewery. The Eggenberg's held the dominion in their possession until 1717 when the last male heir to the House of Eggenberg died at only 13, after which the dominion and the Eggenberg Bohemian possessions passed to the House of Schwarzenberg which began modernizing the brewery in 1719 and decorated it in the Baroque style. The brewery's equipment and machinery were kept up to date during the Schwarzenbergs' ownership. Production volumes increased dramatically during this period, reaching almost 35.000hl at the end of the 19th century. Hops from their Postoloprty estate were used from the late 18th century onwards. In 1940, the brewery was seized by Nazi Germany, as were all Adolph Schwarzenberg's other properties within the reach of the Third Reich. Following World War II, the Nazi expropriation was perpetuated by the government of Czechoslovakia under Edvard Beneš. It first declared national administration of Schwarzenberg's Czech properties and then tried to confiscate them under the so-called Beneš decrees. This, however, proved impossible due to the owner's impeccable anti-fascist credentials and Czechoslovak citizenship. In order to prevent the return of the properties, law 143/1947, also known as "Lex Schwarzenberg", was promulgated in 1947. This law is a unique case of ad hominem legislation. It is directed exclusively at Adolph Schwarzenberg (the two persons additionally named in this law were dead at the time and he was their legal successor), and deprives him of his property rights without justification, explanation or compensation. The application of law 143/1947 remains disputable, because it contravenes the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, which was in force at the time of promulgation. Furthermore, an appeal against the previous confiscation under presidential decrees was pending, rendering any additional act null and void ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). De brouwtraditie in de historische stad Krumlov gaat terug tot 1336. De familie Eggenberg kwam in 1622 aan de macht en de brouwerij verhuisde in 1625 naar zijn huidige locatie. In die tijd, zo wordt geschat, was elk achtste huis een herberg. Hoge kwaliteit bier werd geproduceerd voor de adel; bedienden en boeren moesten het doen met een dun, waterig product. Het landgoed ging in 1719 naar het Huis Schwarzenberg, dat de brouwerij sterk uitbreidde. Staatscontrole na de Tweede Wereldoorlog werd gevolgd door privatisering. Dionex Inc. nam in 1991 de leiding over en heeft die nog steeds ( www.vilters-vanhemel.be/bierlanden_tsjechie_eggenberg.html ). Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog de brouwerij Pivovar Eggenberg werd genationaliseerd en werd een deel van het staatsbedrijf Budějovických Pivovaru. In 1996 werd de brouwerij geprivatiseerd in de afgelopen jaren en is eigendom van een van de rijkste zakenlieden in de Tsjechische Republiek. Maar vanwege het feit dat de brouwerij een niet-core business voor de eigenaar, het lot van de brouwerij begonnen te drijven. Vanwege het gebrek aan investeringen en passieve marketing beleid van de tijd is een aanzienlijke daling van de productie geweest. Als bijvoorbeeld in 2001 een jaar Pivovar Eggenberg gebrouwen ongeveer 200.000 hectoliter bier, nu slechts 50-60.000. Na de dood van de belangrijkste eigenaar in 2004, de brouwerij werd het eigendom van zijn zoon, die nu besloten om het te koop aangeboden ( http://beerplace.com.ua/lib/istoriya-pivovar-eggenberg-cesky-krumlov ). In September 1991, the brewery was sold in an auction to infamous entrepreneurs Jiří Shrbený and František Mrázek for CSK 75 million. Mr Mrazek was shot dead in 2006 under unclear circumstances. The property was incorporated in their companies Dionex and Eggenberg, which are linked to a number of controversial figures. On 16 May 2008 judge Josef Šimek declared bankruptcy of Pivovar Eggenberg, five days later judge Bohuslav Petr appointed bankruptcy administrator Štěpán Bláha ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivovar_Eggenberg ). Met Pivovar Eggenberg, had als in april insolventie procedures en mei werd hij failliet verklaard (KSCB 27 INS 1466/2008). Voorstel zelf voorgelegd schuldenaar dat zijn achterstallige schulden bedroegen 11 april 154 miljoen, met inbegrip van activa vorderingen en voorraden van ongeveer 73 miljoen, en het bedrijf is daarom een overmatige schuldenlast. ... Volgens een schatting voorzitter George bukte om een dergelijke regeling zou brouwerij met 30 medewerkers kan "live" over 14 dagen, de oplossing versnelt dus. En hoe de schuldeisers overeengekomen oplossing zou kunnen zijn om een onderwerp dat zou graag een brouwerij te werken in de lease vinden - en natuurlijk dat hij aansprakelijk is voor de accijns was ( http://ceskobudejovicky.denik.cz/zlociny-a-soudy/konkurz_eggenberg_cb20080704.html ). "Als gevolg van de reconstructie van de brouwerij tour tot het einde van 2015 afgeschaft. Brouwerij Restaurant in werking !!!" Zo staat op hun website: www.eggenberg.cz/ Ze brouwen o.a.: Licht bier EGGENBERG 4 vol.% Alc. Light Lager PETR VOK 4,5 vol.% Alc. Light Lager EGGENBERG 5 vol.% Alc. Donkere pils EGGENBERG 4,2 vol.% Alc. Gistachtig pils EGGENBERG 5% obj.alk. Gistachtig pils EGGENBERG 5% obj.alk. Nakouřený Dude 5,2% obj.alk. ( www.eggenberg.cz/ ) De brouwerij moet trouwens niet verwart worden met Schloss Eggenberg Brewery uit Graz, Oostenrijk, bekend van de Samichlaus ( www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/schloss-eggenberg-samichlaus/ ). Samichlaus is one of the strongest lager beers in the world, at 14% alcohol by volume. The name means Santa Claus in Swiss German. It was originally brewed by the Hürlimann Brewery in Zürich, Switzerland ..Brewed only once a year on December 6. Samichlaus is aged for 10 months before bottling. This beer is perhaps the rarest in the world.... ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggenberg_Castle,_Vorchdorf , Naast een brouwerij is er ook een restaurant, waar je het bier kan proeven (waar wordt het dan gebrouwen?) en je kan er wat eten. Het restaurant zit vol met brouwerijparafernalia: Ik dronk een Eggenberg nefiltrov of in het Engels 'a beer yeast'. Deze smaakt zacht en lekker, je merkt dat er een sluimerende kracht in deze pils verborgen zit, maar een grote hopsmaak is er niet. De moutsmaak overheerst. Ik at er gebakken varkensnek, met zuurkool en aardappeldumplings bij: Het smaakt erg goed! De brouwerij, ik bedoel restaurant, vanuit een ander perspectief... Naast het restaurant is een cafeetje, dat ook dienst doet als shop. Ik kocht er nog een Eggenberg dark en blond.... De Eggenberg Dark Beer tmavý ležák pasterováno českokrumlovské pivo (5%) smaakt erg zoet. De geur is niet echt aanwezig. Qua uiterlijk doet het aan cola of koffie denken. Het schuim is gebroken wit/beige. Dat zal door de karamel komen, als ik me niet vergis. Al staat er geen karamel bij de ingrediëntendeclaratie. Type: Donker Lager Diepbruine kleur, met een moutig, zoet toffeeomhulsel, onttrokken aan zijn slimme moutmengsel ( www.vilters-vanhemel.be/bierlanden_tsjechie_eggenberg.html ). Als ik het achteretiket goed begrijp is dit bier niet gebrouwen in Krumlov, maar wordt het gedistribueerd door Eggenberg. Het is dus van een brouwerij buiten Krumlov, maar wordt wel als zodanig gedistribueerd. Een etiketbier dus...Eggenberg is van een brouwerij in een brouwfirma veranderd, of misschien nog erger een distributeur met etiketbieren? Ijzerzouten worden door sommige commerciële brouwers toegevoegd aan het bier als schuimbevorderend middel. Deze stoffen kleuren het schuim bruin, zeker als het bier een tijdje staat. Langzaam zie je het bier dan aan de bovenkant ‘roesten’. Je kunt ijzerzouten vaststellen als je een beetje schuim op de rug van je hand uitsmeert en er meteen aan ruikt. Als je een metaalachtige geur waarneemt kun je er vrij zeker van zijn dat er ijzerzouten in het bier aanwezig zijn ( www.hobbybrouwen.nl/artikel/schuimpr.html ). Ik probeer dit truukje, maar proef of ruik geen metaal. Dan mijn andere bier: ( www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm ) Pivo je skutečně výrazně tmavé. Po přičichnutí jsem cítil kouř opravdu jen slabě. A kdo ví, jestli bych jej vůbec cítil, kdybych o něm nevěděl. Vůně odpovídala spíš sladšímu tmavému ležáku. Ale ta chuť! Kouř se valí na jazyk skoro stejně intenzivně jako z bamberského etalonu jménem Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Pivo je při pití mazlivě „malvazovité“ (omlouvám se za pohříchu neodborný termín) a výrazně hořce doznívá. Mně osobně připadá být lahodné, pitelné a nekritizovala je dokonce ani má pivně velmi náročná choť. Obával jsem se kouřem maskované „krumloviny“ (druhá omluva), ale pan Zagora mě tentokrát svým výtvorem dokonale usadil ( www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm ). Als ik het bier open blijkt het echter donkerzwart te zijn!? Ik dacht dat het om een gepasteuriseerd blond bier. Het bier Eggenberg Nakouřený Švihák Pivo Tmavý ležák pasterováno is dus geen blond bier, maar het smaakt wel. Het heeft een moutige (licht geroosterde) smaak. Nakouřené donker blond bier is gemaakt van een speciale nakouřeného malt bier dat een intens aroma en de smaak van het roken levert. Vol van smaak en een hoog niveau van de gisting bieden een uitzonderlijke culinaire ervaring voor alle kenners. Volume alcoholpercentage 5,2% ( www.eggenberg.cz/index.php?page=pro7&lang=cz ). Nakouřený Dude, Tsjechische donkere pils, die behoren tot de beste in de Tsjechische Republiek. Geniet populariteit zowel lokale als toeristen, dames en heren. Het heeft een optimale elan, een sterke koffie smaak met een aangename moutige component en licht zure nasmaak. Dude garandeert u een onvergetelijke culinaire ervaring. De kwaliteit blijkt uit de titel van het zilver bier in 2010 ( www.ckrumlov.info/docs/cz/Mistni_gastrospeciality_20111216103851.xml ). Eggenberg - Nakouřený Dude - volle smaak van dit bier zorgt voor een ware gastronomische ervaring. Het is een donkere pils, produceerde een klassieke recept uit speciale nakouřeného gerstemout, die het bier een ongebruikelijke rokerige smaak geeft. Volgens haar kenmerken, werd de naam Nakouřený Dude ( www.metrpiva.cz/produkty/ochucena-piva/detail/eggenberg-nakoureny-svihak-12-05l-7.html ). Het zou dus een rookbier zijn? (zie vertaalde versie van (www.pivniblog.cz/clanek/4211-Rauchbier-je-tu/index.htm) : Maar de smaak! Rook golvende in de taal bijna net zo intens als de standaard namens Bamberg Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. ) Ik proef geen rokerigheid, maar het is wel een fijn bier om te drinken.Hier nog wat foto's van mezelf: Vyšší Brod (Duits: Hohenfurth (an der Moldau)) is een kleine stad in de Tsjechische regio Zuid-Bohemen. De stad ligt dichtbij het Lipnomeer aan de rivier de Moldau. Door toeristen wordt vaak het cisterciënzerklooster bezocht waarin ook het posterijmuseum gevestigd is ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vy%C5%A1%C5%A1%C3%AD_Brod ). Er is, sinds 2008, ook een huisbrouwerij aan Kaplicka 28 te Vyssli Brod: Na lange decennia zal een hogere Brod weer zijn eigen brouwerij. Traditie "van het brouwen" in de plaatselijke cisterciënzer klooster plannen om achtentwintig jaar van George Fojtl herleven. In zijn microbrouwerij, die zijn oorsprong vindt in de voormalige brandweerkazerne en uiteindelijk de souvenirwinkel in het klooster, de jonge brouwer James Cook. Naam doet denken aan de vroege monastieke brouwerijen. Jaarlijks Fojtl wil 500 hectoliter bier populairste produceren. Dit zal de kleinste commerciële brouwerij in Zuid-Bohemen zijn. Zijn bier heeft al zelfs een eigen rode en witte logo ( www.webdrinks.cz/zpravodajstvi/vyssi-brod-bude-mit-po-letech-opet-pivovarnavic-nejmensi-v- kraji/ ) ( www.vysebrodskypivovar.cz/ ). Waar de naam Jakub naar verwijst weet ik niet zeker, maar ik vermoed dat het om dezelfde naamgever zou kunnen gaan als bij Regent: Jakub Krčín. Deze brouwerij heb ik gevonden, maar bij binnenkomst bleek er op een muurtekening na weinig van te zien. Ik dronk er de 12º, een prima bier al vond ik in de nasmaak een wat mindere hopsmaak terug. Jindřichův Hradec (Duits: Neuhaus) is een Tsjechische stad in de regio Zuid-Bohemen en maakt deel uit van het district Jindřichův Hradec ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jind%C5% http://pivni.info/pivovary/pripravovane-a-letajici-pivovary/1534-pivovar-prachatice.html ) De Oost-Boheemse keuken diende als inspiratiebron voor lekkere kookkunst ook voor de stammoeder van vele kokkinnen – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová. Terwijl zíj niet zuinig hoefde om te gaan met ingrediënten, en zoals de literatuur bewijst, haar gerechten voor de lol met gevulde veldhoenders versierde, werd er in armere gebieden van de regio wel veel zuiniger gekookt. Het karakter en de rijkdom van de Oost-Boheemse keuken wordt bepaald door de geografische ligging van het gebied, het karakter van het landschap en de boniteit van de aarde… Het vaakst waren de handen van de huisvrouwen bezig met de voorbereiding van aardappelen, kool, appels, honing, wortels en ook gierst...Voor een absoluut fenomeen binnen het gastronomische erfgoed van de bewoners van Oost-Bohemen hebben wij aan de regio Pardubicko te danken. Wie hier geen krokante peperkoek heeft gekocht en zijn zoete smaak niet heeft geproefd, is het alsof hij hier nooit is geweest. De peperkoek uit Pardubice is namelijk even beroemd als bijvoorbeeld Italiaanse mozzarella of parmaham. Het originele recept bevat honing, meel en peper - vandaar de naam peperkoek. Zijn lange houdbaarheid is toe te schrijven aan een hoog kruidengehalte, zijn hardheid en het feit dat peperkoek weinig vocht bevat. ... Ander karakteristiek product van de Oost-Boheemse keuken zijn de opgerolde wafeltjes van Hořice oftewel Hořické trubičky. Het recept stamt van een Franse kok van Napoleons leger die de bereidingswijze van deze favoriete lekkernij van de generaal aan een plaatselijke burgeres verried ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). "Waar bier wordt gebrouwen gedijt alles," luidt een Tsjechisch gezegde. Enkele bierbrouwerijen in Oost-Bohemen bewijzen dat het er in dit gebied vrolijk aan toe gaat. Onder de bekendste bieren die u hier maar ook buiten deze regio aantreft, horen Primátor uit Náchod, Pernštejn uit Pardubice, Rychtář uit Hlinecko en ongetwijfeld ook het bier uit de bierbrouwerij in Polička. Wie daarentegen aan tafel in Hradec Králové plaatsneemt, moet vragen naar één van de bieren uit de plaatselijke bierbrouwerij Rambousek of naar Královský lev. In de regio Královehradecko wordt bier ongeveer sinds de Hussietische oorlogen gebrouwen. De maataanduiding "oude maat van Hradec " werd een bekende term in het hele gebied waar het witbier uit Hradec te verkrijgen was. In Běleč nad Orlicí brouwt de brouwer Josef Balounek een 12º-biertje genoemd Car. Dit biersoort is weliswaar niet buiten de regio heel bekend maar het is een "goudkleurig bier" en wordt als de meeste Tsjechische bieren van het type Pilsner bier bereid volgens het Reinheidsgebod uit begin van de 16e eeuw. Deze wet schrijft voor dat bij het brouwen van bier uitsluitend mout, hop en water mogen worden gebruikt. Tegenwoordig wordt het proces nog met gist aangevuld die toen nog niet bekend was. Volgens deze norm wordt waarschijnlijk nog slechts in Tsjechië, Duitsland en misschien Japan gebrouwen [????]. Daar heeft men het echter van Tsjechische brouwers geleerd. Als u in de buurt van de stad Rychnov nad Kněžnou een pintje Rampušák uit Dobruška vraagt, zult u voor een kenner worden gehouden. Wij moeten ook de minibrouwerij in Medlešice niet vergeten met 10 hl per brouwsel, hetgeen resulteert in een jaarcapaciteit van ongeveer 300 hl bier. Er worden twee biersoorten gebrouwen – licht en donker lagerbier Medlešický ležák 12°. Het bier wordt niet gefilterd en zijn lage helderheid bewijst de aanwezigheid van zuivere gist. Het best kunt u het proeven direct in het brouwerijcafé Nieuw venster dat op de brouwruimte aansluit. Of u van bier drinken houdt of niet, mocht u zich voor techniek, geschiedenis, cultuur of gastronomie interesseren, dan is het bezoek aan één van de bierbrouwerijen in het district Pardubice in ieder geval een voltreffer. Behalve het proeven van bier kunt u er veel over zijn geschiedenis en productie te weten komen, lekker eten en leuke concerten bijwonen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ).. Historische bierbrouwerij Pernštejn De bierbrouwerij Pernštejn in Pardubice Nieuw venster biedt de bezoekers een onconventionele rondleiding door de brouwerij inclusief het proeven van de bieren Pernštejn en Porter in het Oud-Boheemse brouwerijrestaurant. Het programma bevat de bierproductie inclusief het brouwproces, opslag, filteren en tappen, verder de bezichtiging van de mouterij in traditionele stijl, proeven van bier in verschillende stadia van zijn productie, enz. Ieder jaar vinden in de bierbrouwerij in Pardubice verschillende evenementen plaats zoals het verbranden van heksen en de bierdagen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Pardubice brouwerij als is de laatste van een aantal Pardubice brouwerijen. Het werd opgericht in 1871. De eerste partij van het bier werd gebrouwen 8 April 1871. Sinds 1890 ze Brew hun eigen bier 19 ° Porter ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardubick%C3%BD_pivovar ). De bierbrouwerij Rychtář in Hlinsko Nieuw venster organiseert sinds enkele jaren een reeks culturele programma’s in Hlinsko genoemd Zomer met Rychtář. Om het jaar (dwz. in 2007) vindt hier een open dag plaats. U kunt deelnemen aan een excursie door de bierbrouwerij met optioneel proeven en daarna in de brouwerijwinkel bier en souvenirs van het bedrijf kopen ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). ( www.mediar.cz/s/2013/08/pivovar-rychtar.jpg ) Rychtář je pivo vyráběné v pivovaru Rychtář v Hlinsku. Jeho výroba zde probíhá již od roku 1913 ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rycht%C3%A1%C5%99_(pivo) ). De Minibierbrouwerij Žamberk Nieuw venster produceert vatbier, speciaal licht bier en donker bier Žamberecký kanec, verder sterkedrank uit hop en likeuren Pivka, Pivodečka (38%), Lupulka (18%) en Rozárčin sen (13,5%). De kleine capaciteit van het brouwerijcafé vereist dat groepen enkele dagen vooraf een afspraak maken. Bovendien kan men ook een excursie reserveren die de exploitant van de bierbrouwerij persoonlijk uitvoert ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Microbrouwerij Žamberk is Žamberský Brouwerij Intero Ltd. verhuurd brouwer Ing. Zdeněk Kalous. De microbrouwerij heeft een jaarlijkse productie tot 560 hectoliter. Žamberk microbrouwerij werd opgericht in 1995 door de heer Milos Chmelan. Zijn bedrijf werd het invullen van brouwerijen in heel Europa en in de Tsjechische Republiek en Žamberský in orde vijftiende. Merk bier Žamberecký zwijnen neemt de vorm van het embleem van de stad en geproduceerd sinds 1997. Sinds 2000 de huurder van de brouwerij Ing. Zdeněk Kalous ( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minipivovar_%C5%BDamberk ). Buiten het district Pardubice is er nog een mogelijkheid van bezichtiging van de productieruimten van de Bierbrouwerij Primátor in Náchod Nieuw venster. In het kader van de rondleiding van één uur bezoekt u de productieruimten van de bierbrouwerij en verneemt u het belangrijkste over de geschiedenis en productie van bier in Náchod. Als afsluiting kunt u bier proeven in een stijlvolle setting van een treinwagon uit de Eerste Republiek of even uitrusten in een modern bezoekerscentrum met een capaciteit van 120 plaatsen of buiten op het terras met 40 plaatsen. Behalve het proeven van vat- en flesbier kunnen (na voorafgaande afspraak) ook warme of koude maaltijden worden geserveerd ( www.oost-bohemen.info/gastronomie/ ). Heerlijk die foute vertalingen toch? Ik weet nog dat ik eens in Barcelona een vertaalde gids las van Parc Guell over het ritme van de bomen in de muren (?). Maar we gaan verder met de Boheemse hop: During the summer of 1924 a visit was paid to the hop-growing districts of Bohemia, with the special object of observing certain botanical aspects of the hop industry... The main experimental hop-gardens at Saaz have been lost during the war, but ... a small hop-garden ...managed to retain. This garden contained collection of various Bohemian and German varieties of hops, and also certain English varieties. All these varieties have been growing there since 1897. extensive hop-gardens of the estates at Michelob and of the Schwarzenbcrg estate—both in the neighbourhood of Saaz. The other centres of hop-growing in Bohemia are at Auscha and at Dnuba. ... In hop-garden between Auscha and Leitmeritz the variety GrUnhopfen," which is. grown in the Dauba district, was observed. ... All the hops when dried are sent to the official Hopfensignierhalle at Saaz, Auscha or Dauba. The same variety of hop is grown by all growers in any one of the three districts, the growers voluntarily pledging themselves to plant only the one variety considered to be most suitable for that district. The dried hops on being received into the Signierhalle are certificated as being grown in certain district, and are graded according to quality. This organisation, carried out entirely by the hopgrowers' associations, ensures the " standardi sation of Bohemian hops on the market; the brewer in any part of the world when offered Bohemian hops, e.g., Saaz hops, can depend absolutely on their place of origin, on their being one specified variety of hop, and on their being^ accurately graded. The "standardisa tion adopted is undoubtedly one reason why Bohemian hops hold the highest reputation among the hops of the world (SALMON NOTES ON A VISIT TO THE HOP-OROWING DISTRICTS OF BOHEMIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, South Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent., http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1925.tb04954.x/pdf ). Zatec, ook wel bekend als Saaz, is een bekend hopgebied in Tsjechië... De hop groeit hier ook in sommige groenstroken en is erg rijk aan hopbellen zag ik: Bohemia Hop a.s. - Czech hops worldwide The Bohemia Hop joint-stock company was established in March 1991 as an important business part of the system where the spine is formed by most of the Czech hop growers associated in Chmelarstvi, cooperative Zatec. The main aim of the company is to purchase hops from growers and to sell the processed hops to domestic as well as foreign customers. Besides this the company´s efforts are also focused on consulting services in the area of production and processing of hops. ... Major shareholder of Bohemia Hop is Chmelarstvi, cooperative Zatec which is an organisation with the longest tradition in the hop-growing industry in the Czech Republic. Chmelarství is comprising majority of Czech hop-growers in the Czech Republic. Chmelařství, cooperative Zatec is processing hops for us. Since 1999 is this company a holder of the quality certificate ISO 9001:2000, the certificate of Environmental Management System ISO 14 001:2004 and the certificate HACCP ( www.bohemiahop.cz/about-us ). Hops: - Bohemie - Kazbek Saaz is a "noble" variety of hops. It was named after the Czech city of Žatec (German: Saaz). This hop is used extensively in Bohemia to flavor beer styles such as the Czech pilsener. Saaz hops accounted for more than 2/3 of total 2009 hop production in the Czech Republic ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saaz_hops ). De plaats Saaz staat al jaren bekend om de hopteelt (zie http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.1925.tb04954.x/pdf ). Als ik Zatec invoer in de autonavigatie blijkt dat er twee Zatecs zijn..dat wordt een uitdaging voor een volgend bericht...voor nu nog even afsluiten met wat korte info over hop: De hop wordt in verschillende vormen aangeboden: - Pressed hops Hops after homogenisation and cleaning are packed into cylindrical or quadratic bales depending on the customer's request. - Pellets 90 During production of type 90 pellets hops after homogenisation are milled, granulated and packed in an ecological material filled with inert gas. The advantage of this processing is a longer storage life, less requirements on space during transport and storage, better dosage in breweries, and easier handling. - Pellets 45 During production of concentrated pellets 45 a higher concetration of bitter agents is achieved in a mechanical way. The advantages are minimal requirements on the storage and transport capacity, higher contents of bitter agents and their standardization, lower contents of heavy metals ( www.bohemiahop.cz/products-services ). In corporation with Hop Research Institut, Ltd. we offer for our customers trial brewing with our hops according their request ( www.bohemiahop.cz/products-services ). Bohemia Hop is a holder of the quality certificate ISO 9001:2000 and the certificate of the Enviromental Management System ISO 14 001:2004. ... The HACCP System ensures that all the activities of the company which can affect both safety/harmlessness and quality of the product are specified, documented in a specified way. The Czech standards CSN EN ISO 9001:2001 has been used for creation of the HACCP System. ... Hop marking has a long-time tradition in the Czech Republic. In 1884 first marking hall was established in SAAZ. Hop marking is obligatory and is pursued by the state authority. Only high quality hops from producing districts (SAAZ, AUSCHA, TRSITZ) are certified. Hop verifycation includes year of crop, weight, producing district and variety and is made on packing by means of a certification mark, registration number and seal of the Public marking hall. As a verifying document a certificate is issued ( www.bohemiahop.cz/certificates ). 50° 12′ 39.60″ N 13° 53′ 25.63″ E 50.21100 13.89045 Central Bohemian Region Středočeský kraj Okres: Rakovník	i don't know
Name the focus of the UK Leveson inquiry?	No more Cameron, no more Coulson - and so, perhaps, no more Leveson? \| Media \| The Guardian No more Cameron, no more Coulson - and so, perhaps, no more Leveson? Theresa May’s reshuffle has ushered in an entirely new administration - and the baggage of the old one seems to be retreating into the past Lord Justice Leveson: rarely now mentioned in focus groups. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Sunday 17 July 2016 02.00 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 13 September 2016 09.50 EDT Share on Messenger Close So what, pray, happens when the new culture secretary, Karen Bradley, meets the press? Remember this is, by common consent, a very different Tory government, with its own PM, people and predilections. Memories of Andy Coulson , hacking and Lord Justice Leveson’s mammoth report may – like George Osborne’s monetary targets – soon seem to belong to some distant era. Certainly you can’t see May putting two lumps into Rupert’s Earl Grey and passing the Downing Street biscuits just yet. But she and her new secretary of state can also cite reasons for moving on (evidence derived from an unlikely source, as it happens). Impress, the would-be press regulator and rival to a dominant Ipso, has commissioned research to decide what newspaper standards should be laid down via its new, supposedly independent code. More than 2,000 interviews, plus focus-group workshops, later, pollsters BritainThinks report that “spontaneous engagement with the issue of press standards is low”; that the “proportion of [the] public having no opinion on the issues is very high”; that “51% can’t name a single positive contribution that news publications make”; that “42% aren’t able to name anything news publications might do that are wrong or unfair”; and that “41% aren’t able to name a single standard or principle that should apply to news publications”. By the way, “none of the focus group participants referenced Leveson and many declared it was an issue they had never really thought about … although phone-hacking was mentioned by a few participants”. And if you wish to cite further research then, according to the Ipsos Mori Issues Tracker for May 2016, press standards and conduct is not in the top 36 issues facing the country – “which means it is a less salient issue than constitutional reform, Aids, or foot and mouth”. Somehow you can’t see Bradley plunging eagerly into these deep waters of indifference and ignorance. Somehow the moment for sharp-elbowed reform has passed. Somehow it feels like time to turn a page. ■ And so the Right Hon Michael Gove MP becomes secretary of state for well-remunerated columns, able to move swiftly to fill the great hole in our national life (and his bank balance) left by Boris Johnson’s transition from Daily Telegraph op-ed page to international glory. Also available for occasional thunderers in the Times, Stephen Glover holiday replacements in the Mail and a new weekly feature – This Blessed Plot – in the Bun. It’s an ill wind that never blows talented once and future journalists any good.	press standards
What is the colourful nickname of the International Business Machines (IBM) corporation?	No more Cameron, no more Coulson - and so, perhaps, no more Leveson? \| Media \| The Guardian No more Cameron, no more Coulson - and so, perhaps, no more Leveson? Theresa May’s reshuffle has ushered in an entirely new administration - and the baggage of the old one seems to be retreating into the past Lord Justice Leveson: rarely now mentioned in focus groups. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Sunday 17 July 2016 02.00 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 13 September 2016 09.50 EDT Share on Messenger Close So what, pray, happens when the new culture secretary, Karen Bradley, meets the press? Remember this is, by common consent, a very different Tory government, with its own PM, people and predilections. Memories of Andy Coulson , hacking and Lord Justice Leveson’s mammoth report may – like George Osborne’s monetary targets – soon seem to belong to some distant era. Certainly you can’t see May putting two lumps into Rupert’s Earl Grey and passing the Downing Street biscuits just yet. But she and her new secretary of state can also cite reasons for moving on (evidence derived from an unlikely source, as it happens). Impress, the would-be press regulator and rival to a dominant Ipso, has commissioned research to decide what newspaper standards should be laid down via its new, supposedly independent code. More than 2,000 interviews, plus focus-group workshops, later, pollsters BritainThinks report that “spontaneous engagement with the issue of press standards is low”; that the “proportion of [the] public having no opinion on the issues is very high”; that “51% can’t name a single positive contribution that news publications make”; that “42% aren’t able to name anything news publications might do that are wrong or unfair”; and that “41% aren’t able to name a single standard or principle that should apply to news publications”. By the way, “none of the focus group participants referenced Leveson and many declared it was an issue they had never really thought about … although phone-hacking was mentioned by a few participants”. And if you wish to cite further research then, according to the Ipsos Mori Issues Tracker for May 2016, press standards and conduct is not in the top 36 issues facing the country – “which means it is a less salient issue than constitutional reform, Aids, or foot and mouth”. Somehow you can’t see Bradley plunging eagerly into these deep waters of indifference and ignorance. Somehow the moment for sharp-elbowed reform has passed. Somehow it feels like time to turn a page. ■ And so the Right Hon Michael Gove MP becomes secretary of state for well-remunerated columns, able to move swiftly to fill the great hole in our national life (and his bank balance) left by Boris Johnson’s transition from Daily Telegraph op-ed page to international glory. Also available for occasional thunderers in the Times, Stephen Glover holiday replacements in the Mail and a new weekly feature – This Blessed Plot – in the Bun. It’s an ill wind that never blows talented once and future journalists any good.	i don't know
What is conventionally regarded to be the opposite of Utopia?	Utopia, Dystopia, and Myopia Works Cited The Iceberg-Image: A Hyperthesis Both the allegorical image of America's self-confidence and greatness as well as an anxious response towards her uncertain destiny are contained in the iceberg-image. Frederik E. Church's "The Icebergs" pictured the Alpha and Omega of time and tide. It reflected the mid-19th century American world-view that was characterized by the belief in a `Manifest Destiny' according to which the U.S. and its people was the New Israel that had been prepared for by the divinity. 1861 saw the U.S. reigning from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. Nature was regarded as holy and science as sanctified. The belief in the American Garden Eden whose very fortunes were guided by the Creator emanated out of the scientifically correct "The Icebergs". It was the display of the rare and intoxicating American amalgam of science, religion, and nationalism. The relationship of the actual and the real that was concealed in the painting revealed the idea/fact that scientific thinking in America was shaped by a deep religious faith. Providence guided the scholarly painter's hand. However, this America was not only an exultant New Paradise, a grand Utopia destined for greatness; it was also a country coming of age. The "almighty dollar" was on its way to become an internationally understood phrase. As majestic "The Icebergs'" symbolism of a God-given eternal strength of nature and mankind, worries about where America was heading for began gradually to supercede the former attitude, and became associated with the image instead. An era of confidence was succeeded by a period of turbulent transition. 1870 is said to have much of symbolic value. It marked the beginning of a new time in Western civilization, an era of flourishing and dynamic industrialism, of imperialism, of new moral and religious freedom: in short, the transvaluation of traditional values took place. The increasing power of social development appeared to disquiet the nation, and it was perceived as the inevitable release of future apocalyptic processes. Thus, the iceberg-image, as metaphorically utilized by Edward Bellamy in 1888, had lost its former symbolism, and it became the tertium comparationis of wordly demise and disappearance. A floating iceberg's destiny that is to vanish gradually into the spatial infinity of nature, which itself is being altered by intrinsic dynamics, pictorially expressed the increasing concern (of) for the whole-sale rearrangement of the U.S. American capitalist society . This society faced a looming state of crisis. The reversal of a conception of a chosen America to one that was doomed became reflected in a spreading pessimism . The idea of America as a future utopia that had found its expression in the early iceberg image had turned vulnerable; its underlying notion of a scientifically grounded as well as providential order of life was exposed to the social disruptions and found a reinterpretation among modern doubters and dissenters. A deeply seated myopian . perspective which originated in such a negative perception of social life eventually lead to a reaction in literature that is called dystopian . Writers of dystopias projected a hellish life in a hellish society. It is an anti-utopian vision full of catastrophic cataclysm that's been created although it is distinguished by an apocalyptic nature. Glossary of Keywords Cataclysmic Consciousness Manifest Destiny John C. O'Sullivan actually coined the phrase `Manifest Destiny' to prophesy "the fullfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence ." The supposed inevitability of a continued territorial expansion of the U.S. boundaries westward to the Pacific, and even beyond, was thus the primary idea upon which the doctrine was based. It was used by American expansionists to justify the U.S. American annexation of Texas, Oregon , New Mexico, and California, and later its involvement in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Links: Hyperthesis Myopia To describe it merely in terms of a metaphorical shortsightedness that is psychologially manifested might prove to be insufficient. A myopian perspective stems from serious and consequential life experiences. These experiences are characterized by an overwhelming impression of an all-encompassing deterioration of social life. The individual doesn't necessarily acquiesce in his/her situation but rather develops a more or less extreme rejection of what s/he perceives to be the causes for such negative effects/impact or dilemma. As a consequence, "being myopian" designates a subsequent stubbornness to look ahead as well as a resulting narrow-mindedness and pessimistic attitude towards the society as the frame for life's conduct. Myopia, I would argue, is applicable to dystopian in the sense that the latter is the representation of an externalized and multifaceted myopia. In the context of the second half of the 19th century, the feeling of being cheated and swept aside by progress that was experienced to a painful degree by the more sensitive minds, caused those people to become defensive, aggressive and dismissive against the modern time. Links: Donnelly, Artifact #2 Utopia Utopia as a possible response given to anxieties and pessimistic perspectives as well as to unsatisfied hopes and dreams of people, predominantly epitomizes an ideal and desired place which more or less sharply contrasts to the 'hic et nunc' of the place of reality. But the word 'Utopia" is a neologism which, according to analyses, can mean both: eu-topos - denoting a region of happiness and perfection, as well as ou-topos - naming a region that nowhere exists. Obviously, there is a pun: no matter how the word is pronounced, one ends up referring to or (involuntarily) meaning a good place. The place 'nowhere', utopia, has come to be taken as the good place and as the signifier generally used to designate an imaginary plan of a government where all is ruled for the common happiness. However, utopia is of a multifaceted complexity which presents itself in the counterbalance of its two aspects: an optimistic as well as pessimistic outlook. Looking Backward 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy, for instance, is one of the optimistic novels of late-19th century American utopian literature . Nonetheless, it seems to revoke on its last page what it has established throughout its narrative: offering clarity, hope, and solutions for the readers' world of reality and future.The iceberg-trope namely, alludes to a diametrically opposed conception which poses the possibility of decline and, if interpreted more extremely, catastrophy. That means, this last picture is a grim image of disorder, madness, and irreplacable disintegration within the 'great utopia', and it is the stark prefiguration of a completely opposite situation that Bellamy's book primarily evokes. The "barbaric industrial and social system", inherited from "savage antiquity" which exists undeniably out there is more real than what can be found in here [the book], the iceberg-analogy seems to suggest. With other words, this example demonstrates in how far optimistic and pessimistic visions go together, and why both of them could be regarded as projections on to each other. That means that one serves as the necessary contrast for the other. Reality, from which an utopian vision is always extrapolated, offers in many cases a fairly bleak picture. To counteract such a depressive reality, the utopian imagery offers an ideal life in an ideal society. Utopia, however, turns out to be synonymous with impossible, too. It is wanted because it is supposed to be perfect but it appears to be out of reach. Thus, utopias symbolize the distant horizons of peoples' searches for happiness. Those narratives with a predominantly optimistic development and a positive ending could be, according to the term's prevalent conception, called utopian. Those others that reflect a pessimistic world-view can be termed dystopian . Making a distinction among those literary representations of gloomy utopias, a difference between anti-utopia and dystopia ought to be pointed out. Both dystopian as well as anti-utopian visions are in a sense utopian visions. Dystopians are like utopians reformers of the mind, or perhaps more accurately, would-be reformers who are openly anxious, indeed pessimistic about the future. Like utopians they discern looming, threatening changes in their society, and stress their immediacy or presence respectively. Unlike utopians, they despair of any truly hopeful solution to them. The ability of the utopian mind to accept or prefigure the future as the radically new (new in the sense of progressive) doesn't exist for the dystopian. However, dystopian partially understands its predicted, inevitable catastrophic 'end' as a modest 'new'. In how far this 'new' will be able to thrive amidst an encompassing disaster is unclear. Anti-utopian , on the other hand, in fact describes the absolute opposite of utopia. That means, there will be no `new' whatsoever. Nevertheless, it could be regarded as linked to utopia in the sense that, although different in ideology, it also tries to predict the future: its message, however, is a paranoid helplessness that will make a great debacle happen. As a consequence, this disaster will not allow to make anything new out of the doomed course of the world. Eventually, it would be interesting to contemplate whether we had better think of U-chronia (or Eu-chronia) or Dys-chronia respectively since many relevant utopias and dystopias deal less with where their worlds are located than with when. Links: Cataclysmic Writing Pessimism and Optimism In the context of utopia and dystopia, to conjure up such imaginary worlds in writing is probably based upon either an optimistic or pessimistic perception of what is going on in everyday life. I would claim that for both utopian as well as dystopian writings, a more pessimistic attitude is at the core of the author's perception of his/her immediate reality. Why else should s/he be driven to make up a happier world than there actually is if the real one was more or less satisfactory? In case of dystopia, it is hard to imagine that, except for dark humour or a contingent warning, the frame of reference upon which the dystopian projection is drawn was already acceptable. Links: Cataclysmic Writing Cataclysmic Writing Something that is mainly dystopian expresses its "fascination with the drama of disastrous events" (Jaher 6). It views the world with a "cosmic pessimism" that stems from the perception of the world as haunted by a cosmic anxiety. This eventuates in a cataclysmic disaster generated by the causes of this pessimism and anxiety.The prediction is extermination and annihilation. It is an "all-or-nothing position of mastery or catastrophy" which can be described as cataclysmic (Jaher 18). This attitude suggests: Utopia or death. Cataclysmic writers of the late 19th century such as Ignatius Donnelly shared the feeling of being cheated and swept aside by progress, and they were therefore on the defensive against modern times. Their perception of gradually falling victim to modernity resulted in the conviction that they were victimized. The dystopian stance they adapted was therefore especially dark. At the same time, a notion of an "impending apocalypse," as Guiseppa S. Battisti calls it, materializes in their dystopian perspective in precisely this cataclysm of massive power (Battisti 45). It will allow the faint possibility of re-creation. A few survive to see the outbreak of a new eon. But it is arguable whether the forces of good will permanently triumph over the forces of evil in the new life as predicted by the dystopians. According to what the cataclysmic eruption results in, namely disruption, annihilation, destruction, and chaos, violence determines and preoccupies the cataclysmic's mind. When a society is in real danger of annihilation, pessimistic judgements may be grounded in a clear analysis of the objective conditions. Cataclysmic writing provides the evidence of hostile aggression, but the restriction of that aggression to the imaginative narratives is a form of withdrawal before reality. Nevertheless, the catastrophe is brought about by the social elements who have suffered and endured hardship and exploitation. Their aim is to destroy what they feel is destroying them. Violence becomes a means to achieve that end. In how far it is legitimate depends on the end. Perhaps violence can never be legitimized-cataclysmics apparently can. The Cataclysmics of the late 19th century eventually created a vengeful vision of global disaster as soon as they realized that the changing society wasn't going to respect their traditional beliefs, virtues, and convictions. As Jaher says, their "Cataclysm was to be the reward of outraged virtue" (8). Links: Donnelly, Artifact #2 The United States in the late 19th century Age of Energy and age of Reform as well as age of Anxiety, 'Future Shock', and 'Cataclysmic Consciousness' Utopian literature thrives during turbulent transition periods; the late 19th century apparently was such a turbulent time. Energy and Reform 1870 is said to have much of symbolic value. It marks the beginning of a new era in Western civilization, an era of flourishing and dynamic industrialism, of imperialism, of new moral and religious freedom: in short, the transvaluation of almost all values. This was reflected in the optimism over the subsidence of the depression of the 1870s, the violent labour conflicts as well as agrarian uprisings. The belief in capitalism was supported by the economic growth and industrial progress; prosperity returned to the agrarian population after a depression in the 1870s when farmers had even founded Independent Parties as mouth-pieces to voice their plight, and immigrants were still welcome. The Railroad Strike of 1877 had raised first doubts about the growing number of immigrants but this didn't become serious concern until the 1880s. Labour conflict on the other hand, as Jaher claims, which had given the Panic of 1873 a "...dimension of grim class conflict...," caused more concern since it was a "definite break in the postwar [Civil War] of security and gave rise to anxiety" (Jaher 35). However, as a result of the returning prosperity in general, socialist and anarchist organizations were also checked by the economic upsurge. The first half of the 1880s appears to have been relatively calm although still influenced by the ups and downs of the 1870s. But stormier times were to come. Links: Anxiety and Crisis As tensions heightened between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', the former period of stability crystallized more and more into a period of cultural crisis. There was a new wave of strikes in 1885 which left the following years filled with confusion, fear, and - for some - despair. An increase in the workers' readiness for militancy and in the drift of the immigrants to the cities, a new agricultural crisis, and the growing influence of revolutionaries in the Socialist Party tormented the nation until the end of the 19th century. Three events which particularly demonstrate how the "calm optimism in prosperity and peace" of the early 1880s was blasted away, and how anxieties were heightened into a mood of catastrophic outlook are the Railroad Strike of 1885, the Haymarket Affair, and the eight-hour movement. Future Shock and Growing Pessimism Kenneth Roemer states that, "...many late 19th century Americans suffered from 'future shock'...," in the sense that they were thoroughly confused, even frightened, by the swift and profound changes of their time (Roemer 5). Many traditional American values were replaced by new ones that corresponded more appropriately to the new age. Towards the close of the century, in the 1890s, the strikes were bigger, more frequent, and more violent. The Homestead Strike as the prelude of a whole series of strikes [in 1894 there were 394 strikes (Jaher 42)] occurred in the context of more than one million unemployed. The Panic of 1893 was more ruinous. The cities grew bigger and faster, and so did the problems related to urbanization; a scapegoat had to be found: the image of the immigrants got another striking blow. Now, the people arriving in the states were considered only the 'wrong kinds' of immigrants. As a consequence, xenophobia became more wide-spread. Links: Donnelly, Artifact #2 To sum it up, this period seems to be characterized by a more negative development in every respect. The America of Jackson which had meant democratic and egalitarian values, embodied by the great and strong president who had acted in the name of 'equal protection and equal beliefs', changed into a post-Jacksonian America of watered-down religion, smokestacks and hard-scrabble life of factory labour, industrial ugliness, labour strife, and social disorder. There was a new materialistic ethos that produced an extent of poverty beneath the civilization as never experienced before. Cataclysmic Consciousness The most interesting aspect for me regarding Ignatius Donnelly and his novel Caesar's Column (1890) is the unequal distribution of wealth that was triggered off by these processes. A figure illustrates to what extent the America that had been deemed easy-going, self-confident, and rather unstratified had become stratified. According to Kenneth Roemer, by 1896 seven eights was owned by one eights of the population, and one percent of that one eights owned more than the other ninety-nine percent (Roemer 4). Ignatius Donnelly, a representative of the agrarians, must have been shocked by the changes that occurred to "his" America which lived through the prefactory, rural society. A land dominated by farm-sized plots and farm family households was, using Daphne Patai's metaphorical expression, threatened to be "disappearing under the machine" (Patai 23). Donnelly's 'Golden Age' that was definitly more settled, more homogenous, and more agrarian began to vanish. His agrarian world view was threatened, and he was perplexed with the phenomenon of 'progress and poverty'. His fantasy became a double one. On the one hand, Donnelly turned cataclysmic because he wanted to destroy the society that denied success to his expectations of an America the way he dreamt it and to himself; on the other hand, he also had an utopian phantasy which despite his nightmarish prediction in his writing gave life to a community in which his dream could become materialized (123). A pastoral paradise, like the remote, still virgin world that remains at the end of Caesar's Column, serves as a glorification of the past, of his 'Golden Age'. His cataclysmic response, that is violent protest or even revolution undermining those rapid changes in his society, shed a light on his myopic and 'cosmic pessimism' which regard those changes as relentlessly overpowering and irrevocable.	Dystopia
Name the humanitarian and ex-special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, held hostage in Lebanon from 1987-1991?	Eutopia \| Article about Eutopia by The Free Dictionary Eutopia \| Article about Eutopia by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Eutopia Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Utopia (yo͞otō`pēə) [Gr.,=no place], title of a book by Sir Thomas More More, Sir Thomas (Saint Thomas More), 1478–1535, English statesman and author of Utopia, celebrated as a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church. He received a Latin education in the household of Cardinal Morton and at Oxford. ..... Click the link for more information. , published in Latin in 1516. The work pictures an ideal state where all is ordered for the best for humanity as a whole and where the evils of society, such as poverty and misery, have been eliminated. The popularity of the book has given the generic name Utopia to all concepts of ideal states. The description of a utopia enables an author not only to set down criticisms of evils in the contemporary social scene but also to outline vast and revolutionary reforms without the necessity of describing how they will be effected. Thus, the influence of utopian writings has generally been inspirational rather than practical. The Utopian Ideal over Time The name utopia is applied retroactively to various ideal states described before More's work, most notably to that of the Republic of Plato. St. Augustine's City of God in the 5th cent. enunciated the theocratic ideal that dominated visionary thinking in the Middle Ages. With the Renaissance the ideal of a utopia became more worldly, but the religious element in utopian thinking is often present thereafter, such as in the politico-religious ideals of 17th-century English social philosophers and political experimenters. Among the famous pre-19th-century utopian writings are François Rabelais's description of the Abbey of Thélème in Gargantua (1532), The City of the Sun (1623) by Tommaso Campanella Campanella, Tommaso , 1568–1639, Italian Renaissance philosopher and writer. He entered the Dominican order at the age of 15, and although he was frequently in trouble with the authorities, he never left the church. ..... Click the link for more information. , The New Atlantis (1627) of Francis Bacon Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Queen Elizabeth I. ..... Click the link for more information. , and the Oceana (1656) of James Harrington Harrington, James, 1611–77, English political writer. His Commonwealth of Oceana (1656) pictured a utopian society in which political authority rested entirely with the landed gentry. ..... Click the link for more information. . In the 18th-century Enlightenment, Jean Jacques Rousseau and others gave impetus to the belief that an ideal society—a Golden Age—had existed in the primitive days of European society before the development of civilization corrupted it. This faith in natural order and the innate goodness of humanity had a strong influence on the growth of visionary or utopian socialism. The end in view of these thinkers was usually an idealistic communism based on economic self-sufficiency or on the interaction of ideal communities. Saint-Simon Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de , 1760–1825, French social philosopher; grand nephew of Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon. While still a young man, he served in the American Revolution as a volunteer on the side of the colonists. ..... Click the link for more information. , Étienne Cabet Cabet, Etienne , 1788–1856, French utopian socialist. He was elected to the chamber of deputies in 1831, but his bitter attacks on the government resulted in his conviction for treason. ..... Click the link for more information. , Charles Fourier Fourier, Charles , 1772–1837, French social philosopher. From a bourgeois family, he condemned existing institutions and evolved a kind of utopian socialism. In Théorie des quatre mouvements ..... Click the link for more information. , and Pierre Joseph Proudhon Proudhon, Pierre Joseph , 1809–65, French social theorist. Of a poor family, Proudhon won an education through scholarships. Much of his later life was spent in poverty. He achieved prominence through his pamphlet What Is Property? (1840, tr. ..... Click the link for more information. in France and Robert Owen Owen, Robert, 1771–1858, British social reformer and socialist, pioneer in the cooperative movement. The son of a saddler, he had little formal education but was a zealous reader. ..... Click the link for more information. in England are typical examples of this sort of thinker. Actual experiments in utopian social living were tried in Europe and the United States, but for the most part the efforts were neither long-lived nor more than partially successful. The humanitarian socialists were largely displaced after the middle of the 19th cent. by political and economic theorists, such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who preached the achievement of the ideal state through political and revolutionary action. The utopian romance, however, became an extremely popular literary form. These novels depicted the glowing, and sometimes frightening, prospects of the new industrialism and social change. One of the most important of these works was Looking Backward (1888), by Edward Bellamy Bellamy, Edward , 1850–98, American author, b. Chicopee Falls (now part of Chicopee), Mass. After being admitted to the bar he tried his hand at journalism and contributed short stories of genuine charm to various magazines. ..... Click the link for more information. , who had a profound influence on economic idealism in America. In England, Erewhon (1872), by Samuel Butler Butler, Samuel, 1835–1902, English author. He was the son and grandson of eminent clergymen. In 1859, refusing to be ordained, he went to New Zealand, where he established a sheep farm and in a few years made a modest fortune. ..... Click the link for more information. , News from Nowhere (1891), by William Morris Morris, William, 1834–96, English poet, artist, craftsman, designer, social reformer, and printer. He has long been considered one of the great Victorians and has been called the greatest English designer of the 19th cent. ..... Click the link for more information. , and A Modern Utopia (1905), by H. G. Wells Wells, H. G. (Herbert George Wells), 1866–1946, English author. Although he is probably best remembered for his works of science fiction, he was also an imaginative social thinker, working assiduously to remove all vestiges of Victorian social, moral, and religious ..... Click the link for more information. , were notable examples of the genre; in Austria an example was Theodor Hertzka's Freiland (1890). The 20th cent. saw a veritable flood of these literary utopias, most of them "scientific utopias" in which humans enjoy a blissful leisure while all or most of the work is done for them by docile machines. Connected with the literary fable of a utopia has been the belief in an actual ideal state in some remote and undiscovered corner of the world. The mythical Atlantis Atlantis , in Greek legend, large island in the western sea (the Atlantic Ocean). Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flourished there before the island was destroyed by an earthquake. ..... Click the link for more information. , described by Plato, was long sought by Greek and later mariners. Similar to this search were the vain expeditions in search of the Isles of the Blest, or Fortunate Isles Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blest, in classical and Celtic legend, islands in the Western Ocean. There the souls of favored mortals were received by the gods and lived happily in a paradise. ..... Click the link for more information. , and El Dorado El Dorado [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the Chibcha people of Colombia who each year anointed a chieftain and rolled him in gold, which he then ceremonially ..... Click the link for more information. . Satirical and Other Utopias The adjective utopian has come into some disrepute and is frequently used contemptuously to mean impractical or impossibly visionary. The device of describing a utopia in satire or for the exercise of wit is almost as old as the serious utopia. The satiric device goes back to such comic utopias as that of Aristophanes in The Birds. Bernard Mandeville Mandeville, Bernard , 1670–1733, English author, b. Dordrecht, Holland. A physician, he went to London in 1692 ostensibly to learn the language, but eventually settled there permanently, practicing medicine and writing on ethical subjects. ..... Click the link for more information. in The Fable of the Bees (1714) and Jonathan Swift Swift, Jonathan, 1667–1745, English author, b. Dublin. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest satirists in the English language. Early Life and Works ..... Click the link for more information. in parts of Gulliver's Travels (1726) are in the same tradition. Pseudo-utopian satire has been extensive in modern times in such novels as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932). The rise of the modern totalitarian state has brought forth several works, notably Nineteen Eighty-four (1949), by George Orwell, which describe the unhappy fate of the individual under the control of a supposedly benevolent despotism. Bibliography See V. L. Parrington, American Dreams (2d ed. 1964); L. Mumford, The Story of the Utopias (rev. ed. 1966); M. Holloway, Heavens on Earth (2d ed. 1966); G. Negley and J. M. Patrick, The Quest for Utopia (1952, repr. 1971); E. Rothstein, H. Muschamp, and M. E. Marty, Visions of Utopia (2003). utopia (from the Greek, meaning ‘nowhere’) any imaginary society or place, intended to stand as an ethical or theoretical ideal or to provide an illuminating contrast with existing patterns of social organization. Utopia may be based on historically existing societies or located in the future. Well-known examples of utopias are PLATO's Republic and Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516). Assessments of the value of utopian thinking vary. By its advocates the use of utopian imagery is justified if it aids critical imagination and extends awareness of alternatives to existing forms of social organization. By its detractors it is seen as liable to mislead and to promote unreal expectations about social change. See also UTOPIANISM . Compare IDEAL TYPE . Utopia (religion, spiritualism, and occult) Utopia, asteroid 1,282 (the 1,282nd asteroid to be discovered, on August 17, 1933), is approximately 35 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 5.5 years. Utopia (literally, “no place”) was named after the imaginary republic of Sir Thomas More. J. Lee Lehman associates this asteroid with ideals and, more particularly, with people who act from a blueprint for a better society. Sources: Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Ellis Horwood Limited, 1988. Lehman, J. Lee. The Ultimate Asteroid Book. West Chester, PA: Whitford Press, 1988. Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995. Utopia a portrayal of an ideal social system lacking scientific foundation. The term was taken from T. More’s Utopia, a book published in 1516. The concept of Utopia acquired a generic meaning that served a double purpose: it was applied to any description of an imaginary country represented as the model of a social system, and it was also used in the broader sense, to designate any composition or tract containing some unrealizable plan of social transformation. As a distinct form of social consciousness in the history of mankind, the idea of Utopia has included various concepts of the ideal society, criticism of existing systems, and the desire to escape from drab reality, as well as attempts to anticipate society’s future. Originally, the idea of utopia was woven into such legends as that of a “golden age” or of the Isles of the Blest. In antiquity as well as during the Renaissance, utopias were generally represented as perfect states that supposedly existed somewhere on earth or had existed in the past; in the 17th and 18th centuries, various Utopian tracts and projects of political and social reform gained wide renown. Beginning with the mid-19th century, the term “utopia” was increasingly applied to a specific genre of polemic literature that was concerned with the question of social ideals and moral values. Utopias vary in both social content and literary form: they include the various currents of Utopian socialism as well as the slaveholding Utopias of Plato and Xenophon; additional examples are the feudal theocratic Utopia of Joachim of Fiore, J. V. Andreae’s Christianopolis (1619), the bourgeois and petit bourgeois Utopias—J. Harrington’s The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656), E. Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888), and T. Hertzka’s Freeland (1890)—and many other types, including technocratic and anarchistic Utopias. Many Utopian writings proposed solutions to specific problems—for example, the tracts on “everlasting peace” by Erasmus of Rotterdam, E. Crucé, C. Saint-Pierre, I. Kant, and J. Bentham, the pedagogical Utopias of J. Comenius and J.-J. Rousseau, and such scientific-technological Utopias as F. Bacon’s. Utopias are vividly pictured, too, in the history of social thought of ancient and medieval China (as in the Utopian writings of Mo Tzu, Lao Tzu, and Shang Yang) and of the peoples of the Near and Middle East (al-Farabi, ibn Bajja, ibn Tufail, and Nizami), as well as in the literature of 18th- to 20th-century Russia—for example, in M. M. Shcherbatov’s Journey to the Land of Ophir (1786), in the writings of the Decembrists and revolutionary democrats, and in the novels of A. A. Bogdanov. With the gradual development of the social sciences, and especially after the rise of Marxism, the cognitive and prognostic significance of Utopias was considerably diminished. The 20th century’s revival of Utopias owes much to H. G. Wells, who not only was the author of many Utopian works but also considered the creation and criticism of social Utopias to be one of sociology’s fundamental tasks. G. Sorel identified Utopia as a rationalized false consciousness, to which he opposed his concept of the social myth as the spontaneous manifestation of social needs. The study of Utopia plays an important part in K. Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge. Mannheim sought to establish the difference between, on the one hand, Utopias that serve the functions of social criticism and, on the other, Utopia as ideology—which, in his opinion, serves as apologia. According to L. Mumford, the basic function of Utopia is to channel social development into a “routinized future,” forcing the masses to be reconciled to the latter as to something inevitable, dictated by the “technological imperative.” Bourgeois sociologists have long regarded Utopias as chimerical schemes for transforming society, and—without any supporting evidence—they included Marxism among such chimeras; their scornful attitude, however, changed radically after the victory of the Socialist Revolution in Russia. This reevaluation of the whole significance of Utopia in social development was concisely formulated by N. Berdiaev: “Utopias seem to be much more realizable than was formerly believed. And the agonizing question that we are now faced with is a very different one: How can we escape their final realization?” (A. Huxley uses this quotation as his epigraph to Brave New World, London, 1958, p. 5.) This point of view, which embodies the voluntarists’ idea of the “arbitrariness of history,” became the leitmotiv in the evaluation of Utopias by modern non-Marxist sociologists. Among the latter, the prevailing attitude toward Utopias is distinctly negative; Utopia, as they define it, violates reality and human nature, idealizing and laying the foundation for a totalitarian system. The ideas of the “antiutopians” gained considerable currency. The purpose of antiutopias is to present the opponent’s social ideals, as though realized in actuality, in a deliberately frightening manner or in the guise of a caricature. This method, which comes close to social satire, had previously been used by such writers as Swift, Voltaire, and S. Butler, but it was in the 20th century that it became predominant within the Utopian genre. The best-known works of this type are E. Zamiatin’s We, A. Huxley’s Brave New World, and G. Orwell’s 1984. In addition to their hostility toward socialism, these works manifest disarray in the face of the impending social consequences of scientific and technological advances; they represent the attempt to defend bourgeois individualism against a rationalized technocratic civilization. At the same time, some of the antiutopias voice a legitimate anxiety over the fate of the individual in “mass society” and a protest against the manipulation of consciousness and of personal behavior under state-monopoly capitalism. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, when the bourgeois consciousness was undergoing a profound ideological crisis, the concept of Utopia drew the increasing attention of public figures, ideologists, and sociologists in the capitalist West. What was called for, on the one hand, was a liberal-democratic version of Utopia that would attract the great mass of people as an alternative to Marxism and scientific communism; such an alternative aims directly at the idealization of state-monopoly capitalism or at laying the moral groundwork for its revival by means of “reform from above,” as against the alternative of socialist revolution. (F. von Hayek, F. L. Polak, and W. Moore may be cited as representing this point of view.) On the other hand, many petit bourgeois radicals and “new left” ideologists, seeing no practical way of achieving social justice, have deliberately followed the line of militant utopianism (as exemplified by C. W. Mills, H. Marcuse, P. Goodman, A. Touraine, and H. M. Enzensberger). The contemporary bourgeois concept of Utopia is a combination of Utopian and antiutopian tendencies: as a rule, in fact, the modern Utopias’ proclaimed social ideals prove to be unacceptable to the great mass of people, inasmuch as such ideals involve the rejection of traditional humanist and democratic values (as in B. F. Skinner’s Walden Two). Marxist sociology classifies Utopia as one of various inadequate reflections of social reality; nevertheless, the concept of Utopia once had important ideological, educational, and cognitive functions in the life of society, some of which it fulfills even today. Accordingly, the significance of Utopia depends on its class content and social purpose. Utopias express the interests of specific classes and social strata—as a rule, not those that are in power (see V. I. Lenin, “Two Utopias,” in Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 22, pp. 117–21). An additional property of Utopias is that, in ideological terms, they have much in common with social myths; in literary terms, with social satire; and in terms of their cognitive function, with science fiction. At the same time, Utopias have many distinctive features of their own, chief among these being the conviction that all the contradictions in society can be resolved at one stroke by adopting one or another type of universal scheme—such schemes being presented as panaceas for whatsoever ails society. As a consequence, Utopias are characteristically marked by antihistoricism, a deliberate break with reality, a generally nihilistic attitude toward the real world, an attempt to design things and relationships according to the principle that “everything should be the opposite of what it is,” a tendency toward formalism, a disregard of the transition from the real to the ideal, an idealistic interpretation of history—as shown by the exaggerated role assigned to education and legislation—and a hopeful reliance on the support of leading personalities, such as prominent public figures, philanthropists, or individuals who are in positions of power. Antiutopia, while sharing the inherent shortcomings of the Utopian conception, also represents its exact opposite, in the sense that it renounces any progressive social ideal and calls for reconciliation with the existing system in order to escape a worse future. In the history of society and social thought, Utopias often served to express the revolutionary ideology of the oppressed masses, as in the case of the uprising led by Aristonicus in Pergamum in the second century B.C ., at the time of the Yellow Turbans in China in the late second and early third centuries A.D ., during the peasant wars of the feudal era, and in the period of the bourgeois-democratic revolutions. Many Utopian works were written by prominent public and political figures; among the leaders of the American and French bourgeois revolutions, many were seriously influenced by Utopian ideas—Harrington’s in the case of the Americans, and Rousseau’s, as chief example, in the case of the French. Attempts were even made to implement various Utopian projects in practice. One such attempt was the establishment of the Icarian colonies in North America by followers of E. Cabet; these and other colonies of this kind were of short duration. Many of the basic principles of the workers’ liberation movement, as well as many moral and legislative norms and educational systems, were first conceived in the form of Utopias. It was Lenin who cited the great Utopian thinkers “whose genius anticipated innumerable things, the correctness of which is now being scientifically proved by us” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 6, p. 26). Although the emergence of scientific socialism undermined the social significance of Utopia and deprived the latter of many of its previous functions, Utopia in general—unlike Utopian socialism—has not relinquished the role it plays as a specific literary genre. The positive meaning of Utopia in our own time is twofold: Utopia serves as a means to anticipate that which is likely to occur in the distant future but whose specific details cannot be scientifically predicted at a given level of knowledge; furthermore, Utopia can serve as a warning against certain negative social consequences of human activity and against other undesirable tendencies in society. These aspects of Utopia have given impetus, in sociology, to the development of the method of normative forecasting and scenarios, which are used to analyze and evaluate the desirability and probability of a presumed course of events. Kirchenheim, A. Vechnaia utopiia. St. Petersburg, 1902. (Translated from German.) Sorel, G. Razmyshleniia o nasilii. Moscow, 1907. (Translated from French.) Swietochowski, A. Istoriia utopii. Moscow, 1910. (Translated from Polish.) Morton, A. L. Angliiskaia utopiia. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from English.) Frantsov, G. P. Istoricheskie puti sotsial’noi mysli. Moscow, 1965. Agosti, H. Vozrozhdennyi Tantal. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from Spanish.) Batalov, E. la. Filosofiia bunta. Moscow, 1973. Wells, H. G. A Modem Utopia. London, 1909. Wells, H. G. Experiment in Autobiography, vols. 1–2. London, 1934. Mannheim, K. Ideology and Utopia. London, 1936. Mueller, W. D. Geschichte der Utopia-Romane der Weltliteratur. Bo-chum, 1938. Dupont, V. L’Utopie et le roman utopique dans la littérature anglaise. Toulouse-Paris, 1941. Parrington, V. L. American Dreams: A Study of American Utopias. [Providence] 1947. Buber, M. Paths in Utopia. London, 1949. Berneri, M. L. Journey Through Utopia. London, 1950. Ruyer, R. L’Utopie et les utopies. Paris, 1950. Berdiaev, N. A. Royaume de I’esprit et royaume de César. Neuchátel-Paris, 1951. Gerber, R. Utopian Fantasy. London, 1955. Duveau, G. Sociologie de I’Utopie et autres essais. Paris, 1961. Polak, F. The Image of the Future. Leiden-New York, 1961. Mumford, L. The Story of Utopias. New York, 1962. Walsh, C. From Utopia to Nightmare. New York, 1962. Boguslaw, R. The New Utopians. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965. Utopias and Utopian Thought. Boston, 1966. Hillegas, M. R. The Future as Nightmare. New York, 1967. Servier, J. Histoire de I’utopie. Paris, 1967. Utopia. Edited by G. Kateb. New York, 1971. Lapouge, G. Utopie et civilisations. 1973. E. A. A	i don't know
In medicine, the word styptic refers to something that stops what?	10 Surprising Ways To Stop Shaving Cut Bleeding 10 Surprising Ways To Stop Shaving Cut Bleeding By Marisa Ramiccio. May 7th 2016 Have you ever been in a rush and cut yourself while shaving? Or have you forgotten that your razor was new and raked it across your skin, leaving a thin trail of blood behind? If you have, you’re not alone. Just about everyone has nicked their skin with a razor blade at some point, probably on more than one occasion. If you’ve nicked your skin recently and want to know how to stop it from bleeding, try these 10 tips. 1. Apply Cold Water Or Ice To The Cut... Wet a washcloth with cold water or simply grab an ice cube and apply it to the cut. The blood vessels will constrict from the cold, which will cause the flow of blood to slow and eventually form a clot. 2. ...Or Apply Hot Water Instead The hot water will essentially cauterize the area and stop the bleeding. Just wet a washcloth with hot water and apply it to the area. You may need to repeat this process a few times until the bleeding stops. Remember to hold the cloth firmly against your skin; don’t rub it over the area. 3. Just Apply Pressure The cut should stop bleeding completely from the pressure alone. Simply press a clean cloth against the cloth and hold it there firmly for a minutes. 4. Put Some Witch Hazel On The Cut Dip a Q-tip or a cotton ball into some witch hazel and gently apply it to the cut. Witch hazel is an astringent and, like the cold water or ice, will cause the blood vessels to constrict. But, unlike the cold water or ice, the witch hazel will sting. 5. Use Lip Balm Yes, lip balm can help your cut stop bleeding. The waxy texture can help seal the skin and allow a blood clot to form. If you don’t want to dirty your lip balm, use Vaseline instead. It works in the same way as lip balm, so dab a bit onto the nick to seal it instantly. 6. Use Deodorant Who knew so many personal care products could stop a shaving nick from bleeding? Deodorant works in this situation because it contains aluminum chloride or a derivative of it. According to Dr. Jeffrey Benabio, author of The Dermatology Blog, the aluminum chloride acts as a hemostatic agent, allowing the blood clot to form. Just swipe a bit of deodorant onto your fingertip or a cotton swab and apply it to the nick. 7. Use A Styptic Pencil A styptic pencil, or styptic stick, works in the same way that the deodorant does. Styptic pencils usually contain titanium dioxide or a form of sulfate, which will help the blood clot quickly. Styptic pencils can be found at a variety of pharmacies and beauty supply stores. 8. Pour Some Sugar On It A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but it can also get a small cut to stop bleeding. The sugar will also act as a disinfectant, killing any bacteria that may be lingering in the wound. Just sprinkle a few granules into the cut and hold closed for a few minutes. You can also use cayenne pepper or black pepper, which have the same effect, but they will sting upon entering the wound. 9. Make A Paste From Aspirin Aspirin has many interesting uses and one of them is healing cuts caused by shaving. Simply dissolve a tablet in a glass of water. Stick a cotton ball or Q-tip into the solution and swab it onto your cut. This will also soothe the skin that’s been irritated by the razor blade. 10. Use Products Designed To Stop Cuts From Bleeding There are many products that are made to stop shaving nicks and small cuts from bleeding. For instance, QR powder stops the bleeding instantly as does Alum Block, a 100 percent natural mineral bar that’s designed to heal cuts and nicks from shaving. Small cuts and nicks won’t bleed for very long, so if you’re not in a hurry, just clean the cut with soap and water and stick a small bandage over it. Keeping a Band-Aid over the cut initially is a good idea any way as it can protect the area from clothing, blankets, etc. After a day, let the cut air out so it can heal quickly. If you constantly are dealing with nicks and cuts from shaving, there are some things you can do to prevent them. For starters, make sure you moisturize the area before and after shaving. Shave in the direction in which the hair grows and make sure the razor blade is brand new or at least clean. If you feel the cause of your cuts is the razor itself, try using a different type of razor. Sources:	Bleeding
"In his seminally optimistic 1734 poem, An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope wrote the famous line, ""Hope springs eternal in the (what)""?"	Wild Geranium Wild Geranium Flower Description: Two to ten lavender flowers divided into five wide (1-2”) petals. Each petal is heavily veined. Fruit: Beak-like pod which splits lengthwise revealing many seeds. Leaf Description: Four to five inch long dark green leaves (2-3) on long stalks connected to the stem. Leaves are coarsely toothed. Common Names: Alumroot, Chocolate Flower, Cranesbill, Crow Foot, Old Maid’s Night Cap, Rockweed, Sailor’s Knot, Shameface, Storksbill Established Plant Colonies in Norway Valley Family: Geranium (Geraniaceae) Height: To 2’ (60 cm) Flowering: April – June Habitat: Deciduous Woods, Meadows, Dry, Shady Areas Cycle: Perennial Etymology Geranium is derived from the Greek word geranos, meaning crane. Though this name seems curious, it actually refers to the shape of the seed pod, not the flower. The papery seed capsules, which split lengthwise into five long peels, resemble a crane or stork. Cranesbill and Storksbill are two common names for Wild Geranium describing this likeness. Maculatum, the species name, means mottled and refers to the dark greenish- brown leaves which are somewhat mottled. Though we call this flower Wild Geranium, “wild” is actually a misnomer. Wild Geranium is actually a true geranium. The term wild is used to distinguish this flower from other false species. Common Names Alumroot: Alum was a common styptic chemical which describes the medicinal properties of the wildflower. Chocolate Flower: Describes the color of the dried root powder. Old Maid’s Nightcap, Sailor’s Knot: These names refer to the anatomy of the plant (flower and seed pod). Rockweed: Wild Geranium can be found near stone walls and rocky areas. Shameface: Refers to the shape and color of the flower, which resembles an embarrassed face. Pollination One of the most surprising and beautiful aspects of Wild Geranium is the color of its pollen. Unlike most wildflowers with traditionally yellow, orange, or white pollen, when viewed under a microscope Wild Geranium’s pollen is bright blue. This attracts a variety of insects, including the digger wasp, which come to pollinate the flower. Upon pollination, the plant has adapted interesting and unique techniques for spreading its seeds. After the seed capsule has formed it dries and begins to split. As it breaks open, the seeds are propelled into the air and can land as far as thirty-feet away from the seed pod. The seed’s journey however does not stop there. Each seed has an awn or “tail” which is malleable: curling when dried and straightening when wet. The awn allows the seed to slowly creep a short distance before becoming stuck in a hole or crack. The seed may use this movement to search for a suitable place to germinate or to escape, albeit rather slowly, from predators. Medical Uses Wild Geranium is valued as a useful astringent and hemostatic. The roots contain large amounts of tannin, which is a bitter-tasting polyphenol produced by the plant. Polyphenols bind and precipitate proteins explaining its properties as both an astringent and styptic. When applied topically, an astringent binds to the mucous membrane causing it to constrict or shrink. This process serves the dual purpose of both protecting the area to which it was applied and promoting healing. A hemostatic is any agent that stops bleeding through mild coagulation of skin proteins. Early Native Americans recognized the value of Wild Geranium and used it as an ingredient in many medicinal treatments. Chippewa Indians used dried, powdered rhizomes mixed with grape juice as a mouthwash for children with thrush. A poultice from the base or pounded roots of the plant was used to treat burns and hemorrhoids. The leaves and roots were used to treat sore throats, hemorrhages, gonorrhea, and cholera. Like many other tannin-containing substances, Native Americans also used Wild Geranium as an anti-diarrhea treatment. A plant- infused tea was made to achieve this purpose, though some sources say the tea could have had the opposite effect, causing constipation. Today, this wildflower is used for many of the same purposes. Wild Geranium extract is marketed as an anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhaging substance. It can be found in products sold in herbal stores and online. Plant Lore The Iroquois Indians believed that Wild Geranium could counteract a love charm. A root-infused tea was placed near the person believed to be afflicted by a love potion against their will.	i don't know
A rising or resurgence of the hydrosphere is more commonly known as what?	Earth - Basic planetary data \| planet \| Britannica.com Basic planetary data Learn more about this topic 1 Find out more about Earth’s orbit The mean distance of Earth from the Sun is about 149,600,000 km (92,960,000 miles). The planet orbits the Sun in a path that is presently more nearly a circle (less eccentric) than are the orbits of all but two of the other planets, Venus and Neptune . Earth makes one revolution, or one complete orbit of the Sun, in about 365.25 days. The direction of revolution—counterclockwise as viewed down from the north—is in the same sense, or direction, as the rotation of the Sun; Earth’s spin, or rotation about its axis, is also in the same sense, which is called direct or prograde. The rotation period, or length of a sidereal day (see day ; sidereal time )—23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds—is similar to that of Mars . Jupiter and most asteroid s have days less than half as long, while Mercury and Venus have days more nearly comparable to their orbital periods. The 23.44° tilt, or inclination , of Earth’s axis to its orbital plane, also typical, results in greater heating and more hours of daylight in one hemisphere or the other over the course of a year and so is responsible for the cyclic change of season s. Earth’s rotation on its axis and its revolution around the Sun. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The planet Earth, as photographed from the Galileo spacecraft during its December 1990 flyby en … NASA/JPL geoid: Determination of Earth’s figure With an equatorial radius of 6,378 km (3,963 miles), Earth is the largest of the four inner, terrestrial (rocky) planets, but it is considerably smaller than the gas giants of the outer solar system . Earth has a single natural satellite, the Moon , which orbits the planet at a mean distance of about 384,400 km (238,900 miles). The Moon is one of the bigger natural satellites in the solar system; only the giant planets have moons comparable or larger in size. Some planetary astronomers consider the Earth-Moon system a double planet, with some similarity in that regard to the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon, Charon . Related Topics Africa Earth’s gravitational field (see gravitation ) is manifested as the attractive force acting on a free body at rest, causing it to accelerate in the general direction of the centre of the planet. Departures from the spherical shape and the effect of Earth’s rotation cause gravity to vary with latitude over the terrestrial surface. The average gravitational acceleration at sea level is about 980 cm/sec2 (32.2 feet/sec2). Ten reasons why Earth is round. © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Earth’s gravity keeps the Moon in its orbit around the planet and also generates tides in the solid body of the Moon. Such deformations are manifested in the form of slight bulges at the lunar surface, detectable only by sensitive instruments. In turn, the Moon’s mass—relatively large for a natural satellite —exerts a gravitational force that causes tides on Earth. The Sun, much more distant but vastly more massive, also raises tides on Earth. (See celestial mechanics: Tidal evolution .) The tides are most apparent as the twice-daily and daily rises and falls of the ocean water, although tidal deformations occur in the solid Earth and in the atmosphere as well (see tide ). The movement of the water throughout the ocean basins as a result of the tides (as well as, to a lesser extent, the tidal distortion of the solid Earth) dissipates orbital kinetic energy as heat , producing a gradual slowing of Earth’s rotation and a spiraling outward of the Moon’s orbit. Currently this slowing lengthens the day by a few thousandths of a second per century, but the rate of slowing varies with time as plate tectonics and sea-level changes alter the areas covered by inland bays and shallow seas. Planetary data for Earth inclination of orbit to ecliptic 0.000° Earth year (sidereal period of revolution) 365.256 days rotation period (Earth sidereal day) 23.9345 hr (23 hr 56 min 4 sec) of mean solar time 24.0657 hr (24 hr 3 min 57 sec) of mean sidereal time inclination of Equator to orbit 23.44° magnetic field strength at Equator 0.3 gauss (but weakening) tilt angle of magnetic axis 11.5° atmospheric composition (by volume) molecular nitrogen, 78%; molecular oxygen, 21%; argon, 0.93%; carbon dioxide, 0.0395% (presently rising); water, about 1% (variable) mean surface pressure 288 K (59 °F, 15 °C) number of known moons Everything Earth The blankets of volatile gases and liquids near and above the surface of Earth are, along with solar energy , of prime importance to the sustenance of life on Earth. They are distributed and recycled throughout the atmosphere and hydrosphere of the planet. The atmosphere Ceres Earth is surrounded by a relatively thin atmosphere (commonly called air ) consisting of a mixture of gases, primarily molecular nitrogen (78 percent) and molecular oxygen (21 percent). Also present are much smaller amounts of gases such as argon (nearly 1 percent), water vapour (averaging 1 percent but highly variable in time and location), carbon dioxide (0.0395 percent [395 parts per million] and presently rising), methane (0.00018 percent [1.8 parts per million] and presently rising), and others, along with minute solid and liquid particles in suspension. Image of Earth taken by the Elektro-L Russian weather satellite, 2012. © Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring (NTs OMZ)/Russian Federal Space Agency Because Earth has a weak gravitational field (by virtue of its size) and warm atmospheric temperatures (due to its proximity to the Sun) compared with the giant planets , it lacks the most common gases in the universe that they possess: hydrogen and helium . Whereas both the Sun and Jupiter are composed predominantly of these two elements, they could not be retained long on early Earth and rapidly evaporated into interplanetary space. The high oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere is out of the ordinary. Oxygen is a highly reactive gas that, under most planetary conditions, would be combined with other chemicals in the atmosphere, surface, and crust. It is in fact supplied continuously by biological processes; without life, there would be virtually no free oxygen. The 1.8 parts per million of methane in the atmosphere is also far out of chemical equilibrium with the atmosphere and crust: it, too, is of biological origin, with the contribution by human activities far outweighing others. The gases of the atmosphere extend from the surface of Earth to heights of thousands of kilometres, eventually merging with the solar wind —a stream of charged particles that flows outward from the outermost regions of the Sun. The composition of the atmosphere is more or less constant with height to an altitude of about 100 km (60 miles), with particular exceptions being water vapour and ozone . Britannica Stories Cheetahs Face Extinction Risk The atmosphere is commonly described in terms of distinct layers, or regions. Most of the atmosphere is concentrated in the troposphere , which extends from the surface to an altitude of about 10–15 km (6–9 miles), depending on latitude and season. The behaviour of the gases in this layer is controlled by convection . This process involves the turbulent, overturning motions resulting from buoyancy of near-surface air that is warmed by the Sun . Convection maintains a decreasing vertical temperature gradient—i.e., a temperature decline with altitude—of roughly 6 °C (10.8 °F) per km through the troposphere. At the top of the troposphere, which is called the tropopause , temperatures have fallen to about −80 °C (−112 °F). The troposphere is the region where nearly all water vapour exists and essentially all weather occurs. The dry, tenuous stratosphere lies above the troposphere and extends to an altitude of about 50 km (30 miles). Convective motions are weak or absent in the stratosphere; motions instead tend to be horizontally oriented. The temperature in this layer increases with altitude. In the upper stratospheric regions, absorption of ultraviolet light from the Sun breaks down molecular oxygen (O2); recombination of single oxygen atoms with O2 molecules into ozone (O3) creates the shielding ozone layer . Above the relatively warm stratopause is the even more tenuous mesosphere , in which temperatures again decline with altitude to 80–90 km (50–56 miles) above the surface, where the mesopause is defined. The minimum temperature attained there is extremely variable with season . Temperatures then rise with increasing height through the overlying layer known as the thermosphere . Also above about 80–90 km there is an increasing fraction of charged, or ionized, particles, which from this altitude upward defines the ionosphere . Spectacular visible aurora s are generated in this region, particularly along approximately circular zones around the poles, by the interaction of nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere with episodic bursts of energetic particles originating from the Sun. Earth’s general atmospheric circulation is driven by the energy of sunlight , which is more abundant in equatorial latitudes. Movement of this heat toward the poles is strongly affected by Earth’s rapid rotation and the associated Coriolis force at latitudes away from the Equator (which adds an east-west component to the direction of the winds ), resulting in multiple cells of circulating air in each hemisphere. Instabilities ( perturbations in the atmospheric flow that grow with time) produce the characteristic high-pressure areas and low-pressure storms of the midlatitudes as well as the fast, eastward-moving jet stream s of the upper troposphere that guide the paths of storms. The oceans are massive reservoirs of heat that act largely to smooth out variations in Earth’s global temperatures, but their slowly changing currents and temperatures also influence weather and climate , as in the El Niño /Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon (see climate: Circulation, currents, and ocean-atmosphere interaction ; climate: El Niño/Southern Oscillation and climatic change ). Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Earth’s atmosphere is not a static feature of the environment . Rather, its composition has evolved over geologic time in concert with life and is changing more rapidly today in response to human activities. Roughly halfway through the history of Earth, the atmosphere’s unusually high abundance of free oxygen began to develop, through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria (see blue-green algae ) and saturation of natural surface sinks of oxygen (e.g., relatively oxygen-poor minerals and hydrogen -rich gases exuded from volcanoes ). Accumulation of oxygen made it possible for complex cells, which consume oxygen during metabolism and of which all plants and animals are composed, to develop (see eukaryote ). Earth’s climate at any location varies with the seasons, but there are also longer-term variations in global climate. Volcanic explosions, such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, can inject great quantities of dust particles into the stratosphere , which remain suspended for years, decreasing atmospheric transparency and resulting in measurable cooling worldwide. Much rarer, giant impacts of asteroids and comets can produce even more profound effects, including severe reductions in sunlight for months or years, such as many scientists believe led to the mass extinction of living species at the end of the Cretaceous Period , 66 million years ago. (For additional information on the risks posed by cosmic impacts and the chances of their occurrence, see Earth impact hazard .) The dominant climate variations observed in the recent geologic record are the ice age s, which are linked to variations in Earth’s tilt and its orbital geometry with respect to the Sun . Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The physics of hydrogen fusion leads astronomers to conclude that the Sun was 30 percent less luminous during the earliest history of Earth than it is today. Hence, all else being equal, the oceans should have been frozen. Observations of Earth’s planetary neighbours, Mars and Venus , and estimates of the carbon locked in Earth’s crust at present suggest that there was much more carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere during earlier periods. This would have enhanced warming of the surface via the greenhouse effect and so allowed the oceans to remain liquid. Today there is 100,000 times more carbon dioxide buried in carbonate rocks in Earth’s crust than in the atmosphere, in sharp contrast to Venus , whose atmospheric evolution followed a different course. On Earth, the formation of carbonate shells by marine life is the principal mechanism for transforming carbon dioxide to carbonates; abiotic processes involving liquid water also produce carbonates , albeit more slowly. On Venus, however, life never had the chance to arise and to generate carbonates. Because of the planet’s location in the solar system , early Venus received 10–20 percent more sunlight than falls on Earth even today, despite the fainter young Sun at the time. Most planetary scientists believe that the elevated surface temperature that resulted kept water from condensing to a liquid. Instead, it remained in the atmosphere as water vapour, which, like carbon dioxide, is an efficient greenhouse gas . Together the two gases caused surface temperatures to rise even higher so that massive amounts of water escaped to the stratosphere, where it was dissociated by solar ultraviolet radiation . With conditions now too hot and dry to permit abiotic carbonate formation, most or all of the planet’s inventory of carbon remained in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Models predict that Earth may suffer the same fate in a billion years, when the Sun exceeds its present brightness by 10–20 percent. Between the late 1950s and the end of the 20th century, the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere increased by more than 15 percent because of the burning of fossil fuels (e.g., coal , oil , and natural gas ) and the destruction of tropical rainforests , such as that of the Amazon River basin. Computer models predict that a net doubling of carbon dioxide by the middle of the 21st century could lead to a global warming of 1.5–4.5 °C (2.7–8.1 °F) averaged over the planet , which would have profound effects on sea level and agriculture . Although this conclusion has been criticized by some on the basis that the warming observed so far has not kept pace with the projection, analyses of ocean temperature data have suggested that much of the warming during the 20th century actually occurred in the oceans themselves—and will eventually appear in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere plotted over the past 1,000 … From W.M. Post, F. Chavez, P.J. Mulholland, J. Pastor, T.H. Peng, K. Prentice, and T. Webb III, “Climatic Feedbacks in the Global Carbon Cycle,” in David A. Dunnette and Robert J. O’Brien (eds.), The Science of Global Change: The Impact of Human Activities on the Environment, American Chemical Society Symposium Series 483, 1992 Another present concern regarding the atmosphere is the impact of human activities on the stratospheric ozone layer . Complex chemical reactions involving traces of man-made chlorofluorocarbon s (CFCs) were found in the mid-1980s to be creating temporary holes in the ozone layer , particularly over Antarctica , during polar spring. Yet more disturbing was the discovery of a growing depletion of ozone over the highly populated temperate latitudes, since the short- wavelength ultraviolet radiation that the ozone layer effectively absorbs has been found to cause skin cancer. International agreements in place to halt the production of the most egregious ozone-destroying CFCs will eventually halt and reverse the depletion, but only by the middle of the 21st century, because of the long residence time of these chemicals in the stratosphere. The hydrosphere Earth’s hydrosphere is a discontinuous layer of water at or near the planet’s surface; it includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock , and atmospheric water vapour. Unique within the solar system, the hydrosphere is essential to all life as it is presently understood. Earth has a surface area of roughly 510,066,000 square km (196,938,000 square miles); almost 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by saltwater ocean s, with a volume of about 1.4 billion cubic km (336 million cubic miles) and an average temperature of about 4 °C (39.2 °F), not far above the freezing point of water. The oceans contain about 97 percent of the planet’s water volume. The remainder occurs as fresh water, three-quarters of which is locked up in the form of ice at polar latitudes. Most of the remaining fresh water is groundwater held in soils and rocks; less than 1 percent of it occurs in lakes and rivers . In terms of percentage, atmospheric water vapour is negligible, but the transport of water evaporated from the oceans onto land surfaces is an integral part of the hydrologic cycle that renews and sustains life. The present-day surface hydrologic cycle, in which water is transferred from the oceans through the … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The hydrologic cycle involves the transfer of water from the oceans through the atmosphere to the continents and back to the oceans over and beneath the land surface. The cycle includes processes such as precipitation , evaporation , transpiration , infiltration, percolation, and runoff . These processes operate throughout the entire hydrosphere , which extends from about 15 km (9 miles) into the atmosphere to roughly 5 km (3 miles) into the crust. About one-third of the solar energy that reaches Earth’s surface is expended on evaporating ocean water. The resulting atmospheric moisture and humidity condense into clouds , rain , snow , and dew . Moisture is a crucial factor in determining weather . It is the driving force behind storms and is responsible for separating electrical charge, which is the cause of lightning and thus of natural wildland fires , which have an important role in some ecosystem s. Moisture wets the land , replenishes subterranean aquifers , chemically weathers the rocks, erodes the landscape, nourishes life, and fills the rivers, which carry dissolved chemicals and sediments back into the oceans. Water also plays a vital role in the carbon dioxide cycle (a part of the more inclusive carbon cycle ). Under the action of water and dissolved carbon dioxide, calcium is weathered from continental rocks and carried to the oceans, where it combines to form calcium carbonates (including shells of marine life). Eventually the carbonates are deposited on the seafloor and are lithified to form limestone s. Some of these carbonate rocks are later dragged deep into Earth’s interior by the global process of plate tectonics (see below The outer shell ) and melted, resulting in a rerelease of carbon dioxide (from volcanoes , for example) into the atmosphere. Cyclic processing of water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen through geologic and biological systems on Earth has been fundamental to maintaining the habitability of the planet with time and to shaping the erosion and weathering of the continents, and it contrasts sharply with the lack of such processes on Venus . (Evidence of past episodes of liquid water erosion—and possibly limited amounts of such erosion today—has been found on Mars .)	Spring
Gum Olibanum, from the tree Boswellia sacra?	Earth - Basic planetary data \| planet \| Britannica.com Basic planetary data Learn more about this topic 1 Find out more about Earth’s orbit The mean distance of Earth from the Sun is about 149,600,000 km (92,960,000 miles). The planet orbits the Sun in a path that is presently more nearly a circle (less eccentric) than are the orbits of all but two of the other planets, Venus and Neptune . Earth makes one revolution, or one complete orbit of the Sun, in about 365.25 days. The direction of revolution—counterclockwise as viewed down from the north—is in the same sense, or direction, as the rotation of the Sun; Earth’s spin, or rotation about its axis, is also in the same sense, which is called direct or prograde. The rotation period, or length of a sidereal day (see day ; sidereal time )—23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds—is similar to that of Mars . Jupiter and most asteroid s have days less than half as long, while Mercury and Venus have days more nearly comparable to their orbital periods. The 23.44° tilt, or inclination , of Earth’s axis to its orbital plane, also typical, results in greater heating and more hours of daylight in one hemisphere or the other over the course of a year and so is responsible for the cyclic change of season s. Earth’s rotation on its axis and its revolution around the Sun. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The planet Earth, as photographed from the Galileo spacecraft during its December 1990 flyby en … NASA/JPL geoid: Determination of Earth’s figure With an equatorial radius of 6,378 km (3,963 miles), Earth is the largest of the four inner, terrestrial (rocky) planets, but it is considerably smaller than the gas giants of the outer solar system . Earth has a single natural satellite, the Moon , which orbits the planet at a mean distance of about 384,400 km (238,900 miles). The Moon is one of the bigger natural satellites in the solar system; only the giant planets have moons comparable or larger in size. Some planetary astronomers consider the Earth-Moon system a double planet, with some similarity in that regard to the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon, Charon . Related Topics Africa Earth’s gravitational field (see gravitation ) is manifested as the attractive force acting on a free body at rest, causing it to accelerate in the general direction of the centre of the planet. Departures from the spherical shape and the effect of Earth’s rotation cause gravity to vary with latitude over the terrestrial surface. The average gravitational acceleration at sea level is about 980 cm/sec2 (32.2 feet/sec2). Ten reasons why Earth is round. © MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner) Earth’s gravity keeps the Moon in its orbit around the planet and also generates tides in the solid body of the Moon. Such deformations are manifested in the form of slight bulges at the lunar surface, detectable only by sensitive instruments. In turn, the Moon’s mass—relatively large for a natural satellite —exerts a gravitational force that causes tides on Earth. The Sun, much more distant but vastly more massive, also raises tides on Earth. (See celestial mechanics: Tidal evolution .) The tides are most apparent as the twice-daily and daily rises and falls of the ocean water, although tidal deformations occur in the solid Earth and in the atmosphere as well (see tide ). The movement of the water throughout the ocean basins as a result of the tides (as well as, to a lesser extent, the tidal distortion of the solid Earth) dissipates orbital kinetic energy as heat , producing a gradual slowing of Earth’s rotation and a spiraling outward of the Moon’s orbit. Currently this slowing lengthens the day by a few thousandths of a second per century, but the rate of slowing varies with time as plate tectonics and sea-level changes alter the areas covered by inland bays and shallow seas. Planetary data for Earth inclination of orbit to ecliptic 0.000° Earth year (sidereal period of revolution) 365.256 days rotation period (Earth sidereal day) 23.9345 hr (23 hr 56 min 4 sec) of mean solar time 24.0657 hr (24 hr 3 min 57 sec) of mean sidereal time inclination of Equator to orbit 23.44° magnetic field strength at Equator 0.3 gauss (but weakening) tilt angle of magnetic axis 11.5° atmospheric composition (by volume) molecular nitrogen, 78%; molecular oxygen, 21%; argon, 0.93%; carbon dioxide, 0.0395% (presently rising); water, about 1% (variable) mean surface pressure 288 K (59 °F, 15 °C) number of known moons Everything Earth The blankets of volatile gases and liquids near and above the surface of Earth are, along with solar energy , of prime importance to the sustenance of life on Earth. They are distributed and recycled throughout the atmosphere and hydrosphere of the planet. The atmosphere Ceres Earth is surrounded by a relatively thin atmosphere (commonly called air ) consisting of a mixture of gases, primarily molecular nitrogen (78 percent) and molecular oxygen (21 percent). Also present are much smaller amounts of gases such as argon (nearly 1 percent), water vapour (averaging 1 percent but highly variable in time and location), carbon dioxide (0.0395 percent [395 parts per million] and presently rising), methane (0.00018 percent [1.8 parts per million] and presently rising), and others, along with minute solid and liquid particles in suspension. Image of Earth taken by the Elektro-L Russian weather satellite, 2012. © Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring (NTs OMZ)/Russian Federal Space Agency Because Earth has a weak gravitational field (by virtue of its size) and warm atmospheric temperatures (due to its proximity to the Sun) compared with the giant planets , it lacks the most common gases in the universe that they possess: hydrogen and helium . Whereas both the Sun and Jupiter are composed predominantly of these two elements, they could not be retained long on early Earth and rapidly evaporated into interplanetary space. The high oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere is out of the ordinary. Oxygen is a highly reactive gas that, under most planetary conditions, would be combined with other chemicals in the atmosphere, surface, and crust. It is in fact supplied continuously by biological processes; without life, there would be virtually no free oxygen. The 1.8 parts per million of methane in the atmosphere is also far out of chemical equilibrium with the atmosphere and crust: it, too, is of biological origin, with the contribution by human activities far outweighing others. The gases of the atmosphere extend from the surface of Earth to heights of thousands of kilometres, eventually merging with the solar wind —a stream of charged particles that flows outward from the outermost regions of the Sun. The composition of the atmosphere is more or less constant with height to an altitude of about 100 km (60 miles), with particular exceptions being water vapour and ozone . Britannica Stories Cheetahs Face Extinction Risk The atmosphere is commonly described in terms of distinct layers, or regions. Most of the atmosphere is concentrated in the troposphere , which extends from the surface to an altitude of about 10–15 km (6–9 miles), depending on latitude and season. The behaviour of the gases in this layer is controlled by convection . This process involves the turbulent, overturning motions resulting from buoyancy of near-surface air that is warmed by the Sun . Convection maintains a decreasing vertical temperature gradient—i.e., a temperature decline with altitude—of roughly 6 °C (10.8 °F) per km through the troposphere. At the top of the troposphere, which is called the tropopause , temperatures have fallen to about −80 °C (−112 °F). The troposphere is the region where nearly all water vapour exists and essentially all weather occurs. The dry, tenuous stratosphere lies above the troposphere and extends to an altitude of about 50 km (30 miles). Convective motions are weak or absent in the stratosphere; motions instead tend to be horizontally oriented. The temperature in this layer increases with altitude. In the upper stratospheric regions, absorption of ultraviolet light from the Sun breaks down molecular oxygen (O2); recombination of single oxygen atoms with O2 molecules into ozone (O3) creates the shielding ozone layer . Above the relatively warm stratopause is the even more tenuous mesosphere , in which temperatures again decline with altitude to 80–90 km (50–56 miles) above the surface, where the mesopause is defined. The minimum temperature attained there is extremely variable with season . Temperatures then rise with increasing height through the overlying layer known as the thermosphere . Also above about 80–90 km there is an increasing fraction of charged, or ionized, particles, which from this altitude upward defines the ionosphere . Spectacular visible aurora s are generated in this region, particularly along approximately circular zones around the poles, by the interaction of nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the atmosphere with episodic bursts of energetic particles originating from the Sun. Earth’s general atmospheric circulation is driven by the energy of sunlight , which is more abundant in equatorial latitudes. Movement of this heat toward the poles is strongly affected by Earth’s rapid rotation and the associated Coriolis force at latitudes away from the Equator (which adds an east-west component to the direction of the winds ), resulting in multiple cells of circulating air in each hemisphere. Instabilities ( perturbations in the atmospheric flow that grow with time) produce the characteristic high-pressure areas and low-pressure storms of the midlatitudes as well as the fast, eastward-moving jet stream s of the upper troposphere that guide the paths of storms. The oceans are massive reservoirs of heat that act largely to smooth out variations in Earth’s global temperatures, but their slowly changing currents and temperatures also influence weather and climate , as in the El Niño /Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon (see climate: Circulation, currents, and ocean-atmosphere interaction ; climate: El Niño/Southern Oscillation and climatic change ). Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest Earth’s atmosphere is not a static feature of the environment . Rather, its composition has evolved over geologic time in concert with life and is changing more rapidly today in response to human activities. Roughly halfway through the history of Earth, the atmosphere’s unusually high abundance of free oxygen began to develop, through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria (see blue-green algae ) and saturation of natural surface sinks of oxygen (e.g., relatively oxygen-poor minerals and hydrogen -rich gases exuded from volcanoes ). Accumulation of oxygen made it possible for complex cells, which consume oxygen during metabolism and of which all plants and animals are composed, to develop (see eukaryote ). Earth’s climate at any location varies with the seasons, but there are also longer-term variations in global climate. Volcanic explosions, such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, can inject great quantities of dust particles into the stratosphere , which remain suspended for years, decreasing atmospheric transparency and resulting in measurable cooling worldwide. Much rarer, giant impacts of asteroids and comets can produce even more profound effects, including severe reductions in sunlight for months or years, such as many scientists believe led to the mass extinction of living species at the end of the Cretaceous Period , 66 million years ago. (For additional information on the risks posed by cosmic impacts and the chances of their occurrence, see Earth impact hazard .) The dominant climate variations observed in the recent geologic record are the ice age s, which are linked to variations in Earth’s tilt and its orbital geometry with respect to the Sun . Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The physics of hydrogen fusion leads astronomers to conclude that the Sun was 30 percent less luminous during the earliest history of Earth than it is today. Hence, all else being equal, the oceans should have been frozen. Observations of Earth’s planetary neighbours, Mars and Venus , and estimates of the carbon locked in Earth’s crust at present suggest that there was much more carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere during earlier periods. This would have enhanced warming of the surface via the greenhouse effect and so allowed the oceans to remain liquid. Today there is 100,000 times more carbon dioxide buried in carbonate rocks in Earth’s crust than in the atmosphere, in sharp contrast to Venus , whose atmospheric evolution followed a different course. On Earth, the formation of carbonate shells by marine life is the principal mechanism for transforming carbon dioxide to carbonates; abiotic processes involving liquid water also produce carbonates , albeit more slowly. On Venus, however, life never had the chance to arise and to generate carbonates. Because of the planet’s location in the solar system , early Venus received 10–20 percent more sunlight than falls on Earth even today, despite the fainter young Sun at the time. Most planetary scientists believe that the elevated surface temperature that resulted kept water from condensing to a liquid. Instead, it remained in the atmosphere as water vapour, which, like carbon dioxide, is an efficient greenhouse gas . Together the two gases caused surface temperatures to rise even higher so that massive amounts of water escaped to the stratosphere, where it was dissociated by solar ultraviolet radiation . With conditions now too hot and dry to permit abiotic carbonate formation, most or all of the planet’s inventory of carbon remained in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Models predict that Earth may suffer the same fate in a billion years, when the Sun exceeds its present brightness by 10–20 percent. Between the late 1950s and the end of the 20th century, the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere increased by more than 15 percent because of the burning of fossil fuels (e.g., coal , oil , and natural gas ) and the destruction of tropical rainforests , such as that of the Amazon River basin. Computer models predict that a net doubling of carbon dioxide by the middle of the 21st century could lead to a global warming of 1.5–4.5 °C (2.7–8.1 °F) averaged over the planet , which would have profound effects on sea level and agriculture . Although this conclusion has been criticized by some on the basis that the warming observed so far has not kept pace with the projection, analyses of ocean temperature data have suggested that much of the warming during the 20th century actually occurred in the oceans themselves—and will eventually appear in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere plotted over the past 1,000 … From W.M. Post, F. Chavez, P.J. Mulholland, J. Pastor, T.H. Peng, K. Prentice, and T. Webb III, “Climatic Feedbacks in the Global Carbon Cycle,” in David A. Dunnette and Robert J. O’Brien (eds.), The Science of Global Change: The Impact of Human Activities on the Environment, American Chemical Society Symposium Series 483, 1992 Another present concern regarding the atmosphere is the impact of human activities on the stratospheric ozone layer . Complex chemical reactions involving traces of man-made chlorofluorocarbon s (CFCs) were found in the mid-1980s to be creating temporary holes in the ozone layer , particularly over Antarctica , during polar spring. Yet more disturbing was the discovery of a growing depletion of ozone over the highly populated temperate latitudes, since the short- wavelength ultraviolet radiation that the ozone layer effectively absorbs has been found to cause skin cancer. International agreements in place to halt the production of the most egregious ozone-destroying CFCs will eventually halt and reverse the depletion, but only by the middle of the 21st century, because of the long residence time of these chemicals in the stratosphere. The hydrosphere Earth’s hydrosphere is a discontinuous layer of water at or near the planet’s surface; it includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock , and atmospheric water vapour. Unique within the solar system, the hydrosphere is essential to all life as it is presently understood. Earth has a surface area of roughly 510,066,000 square km (196,938,000 square miles); almost 71 percent of Earth’s surface is covered by saltwater ocean s, with a volume of about 1.4 billion cubic km (336 million cubic miles) and an average temperature of about 4 °C (39.2 °F), not far above the freezing point of water. The oceans contain about 97 percent of the planet’s water volume. The remainder occurs as fresh water, three-quarters of which is locked up in the form of ice at polar latitudes. Most of the remaining fresh water is groundwater held in soils and rocks; less than 1 percent of it occurs in lakes and rivers . In terms of percentage, atmospheric water vapour is negligible, but the transport of water evaporated from the oceans onto land surfaces is an integral part of the hydrologic cycle that renews and sustains life. The present-day surface hydrologic cycle, in which water is transferred from the oceans through the … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The hydrologic cycle involves the transfer of water from the oceans through the atmosphere to the continents and back to the oceans over and beneath the land surface. The cycle includes processes such as precipitation , evaporation , transpiration , infiltration, percolation, and runoff . These processes operate throughout the entire hydrosphere , which extends from about 15 km (9 miles) into the atmosphere to roughly 5 km (3 miles) into the crust. About one-third of the solar energy that reaches Earth’s surface is expended on evaporating ocean water. The resulting atmospheric moisture and humidity condense into clouds , rain , snow , and dew . Moisture is a crucial factor in determining weather . It is the driving force behind storms and is responsible for separating electrical charge, which is the cause of lightning and thus of natural wildland fires , which have an important role in some ecosystem s. Moisture wets the land , replenishes subterranean aquifers , chemically weathers the rocks, erodes the landscape, nourishes life, and fills the rivers, which carry dissolved chemicals and sediments back into the oceans. Water also plays a vital role in the carbon dioxide cycle (a part of the more inclusive carbon cycle ). Under the action of water and dissolved carbon dioxide, calcium is weathered from continental rocks and carried to the oceans, where it combines to form calcium carbonates (including shells of marine life). Eventually the carbonates are deposited on the seafloor and are lithified to form limestone s. Some of these carbonate rocks are later dragged deep into Earth’s interior by the global process of plate tectonics (see below The outer shell ) and melted, resulting in a rerelease of carbon dioxide (from volcanoes , for example) into the atmosphere. Cyclic processing of water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen through geologic and biological systems on Earth has been fundamental to maintaining the habitability of the planet with time and to shaping the erosion and weathering of the continents, and it contrasts sharply with the lack of such processes on Venus . (Evidence of past episodes of liquid water erosion—and possibly limited amounts of such erosion today—has been found on Mars .)	i don't know
White marking on horse's lower leg?	White Leg Markings on Horses By Katherine Blocksdorf Updated May 26, 2016. Leg markings are areas of white hair that extend up from the hoof on an otherwise the dark-colored horse . There is so much variety in leg markings and so many unique combinations that leg marking are an important way to identify individual horses. Horses may have four similar white markings on their legs, or the leg markings can be completely different on each leg. For example, a horse may have no white on one leg, a high stocking on another, a coronet on another and a sock on another. Leg and facial markings are sometimes passed on from one generation of horses to the next. For example, Arabian horses of Crabbet bloodline s often have wide white facial markings along with four white stockings. Horses with particularly flashy and eye-catching white on their legs are said to have 'chrome'. For breed registration and other official paperwork, you must accurately draw the markings on the documents you will submit. You may also have to write a description, and that means you have to use the right terminology. If your horse were to go missing, it's helpful to have clear photos that show its white markings, a written description, and you may need to be able describe its markings accurately when giving information. Most often, if a horse has white leg markings, the hoof wall will be white too. Anywhere there is a patch of body hair, or an ermine mark, there may be a dark stripe down the hoof. As grey horses age, the leg and facial markings may not be as obvious. However, they are still there, because the skin underneath white leg markings is pink, and the skin under the coat color will be grey. The shape of leg markings does not change though, regardless of the age of any colored horse. If a horse was born with four white stockings, the shape of the stockings will remain the same throughout the horse's life. Occasionally, you'll see white markings on the legs that the horse wasn't born with. My horse has a white patch on her knee. This small white patch is from a scar left from an old injury. Because it is permanent, it too can be used as an identifying mark. Image: 2012 K. Blocksdorf • Coronet The coronet is a band of white hairs around the top of the hoof (the coronet band of the hoof) that does not extend up onto the pastern. If the coronet extends around the whole hoof, the hoof itself will likely be white. If there is a break in the white hairs where there is coat color, the hoof may have a dark stripe below it. If the white hairs only cover a small area just above the coronet band of the hoof, usually at the back the marking is called a heel or partial coronet. The photo shows a 'heel'. Image: 2012 K. Blocksdorf • Socks Socks extend above the fetlock but not to the knee . Socks stop about half-way up to the canon bone on either the front or back legs. If the sock is solid white around the hoof, the hoof will most likely be white. If there is a patch of coat color, or an ermine just above the hoof, there may be a stripe of dark hoof below. Image: 2012 K. Blocksdorf • Stockings Stockings extend to the knee or hock and above. They may end in a symmetrical or pattern, or they may extend further up the leg in a jagged 'irregular' pattern. If they extend well past the knee or hock they are called 'high white'. Image: 2012 K. Blocksdorf • Boot or Fetlock A boot or fetlock is white that extends up to, but only slightly past the fetlock joint. A partial fetlock means that only a portion of the fetlock joint is covered with white hair. Image: 2012 K. Blocksdorf	Stocking
... may be willing, but flesh weak?	Drafts with Dots: White face and leg markings Life at Iron Ridge Sport Horses. A Note about Sugarbush Draft Horses I see it over and over again, and no matter how many times it's said, it's still wrong. "Sugarbush Drafts are just an Appaloosa Draft Cross". Uh.... no. The Sugarbush Draft Horse was a breed created many years ago in Ohio. While the initial cross was made using Percherons to Appaloosas, in the many generations following, the breed has been solidified into a consistent type. Saying these horses are "just" a draft cross makes as much sense as saying that AQHA horses are "just" a Thoroughbred cross, American Cream Drafts are "just" a dilute Belgian, or that Morgans are "just" a grade. Thursday, July 22, 2010 White face and leg markings One of the most common types of patterns seen on horses are face and leg markings. There's also a bit of a debate surrounding these markings. Some say that Sabino is present with any face/leg marking, while others say that many are "birthmarks" and that they just happen. I'm not sure a study has ever been done to determine who is correct. We do know that face and leg markings are inherited, and that sabino (which is actually a group of genes) causes certain characteristics to be seen on face and leg markings. We also know that other genes affect face and leg markings as well, such as splash and Overo (OLWS). I think that much of the sabino debate is due to people wanting their horse to have some "cool" pattern, and the recent acceptance of excessive white in many breeds from Arabians and Thoroughbreds to the white rules in AQHA. Certain types and locations of these markings are considered normal. Socks, blazes, stars, and stockings are all easily accepted markings on a "solid" horse. Then you have something like this filly shows. Her blaze is irregular, and even has a hole in one area of it, and a displaced section of white on the opposite side. This is Soliloquy, a Stonewall Sport Horse filly whose name I usually shorten to Soli. Her dam has both sabino and splash (black mare shown below), while her sire carries sabino. Soli's markings show mostly traits of sabino, but there are a few signs that show she is also carrying splash. Ever wonder how to tell the difference? Sabino markings tend to be pointy. Sharp areas on blazes and socks that point towards the belly. Also, white on the lower lip is a big indicator of sabino. The chestnut shown below has classic sharp sections around his nostrils, and the black has obvious white on his lower lip. Both horses are suspected to have minimum sabino. For many people these markings look perfectly normal, and they are. But splash tends to cause face markings that are heavier on the bottom, and often rounded or apron shaped. Here are a few examples of splash blazes. Granted, both mares above are giveaways because of those blue eyes - which is most often a trait of splash. You can also see though, that while the blazes are very different, both are heavier on the bottom, and are mostly smooth shaped. Below is a mare with a large face marking showing traits of both sabino and splash. This is Jinx, one of my foundation Sugarbush mares. On her left side (the first image) she shows classic sabino signs, including the blaze that goes under the lip, and a few subtle hints of splash, such as the width of the blaze and rounded nature of it. On her right (second image) she has a "dipped in paint" appearance that is often seen with splash, and is always present when splash goes under the chin. Also notice the sharp pointy effect around her eye, and in her cheek area? Those are signs of sabino. Jinx is a good example of how common markings can give us clues as to minimal white patterns carried by a horse. Then there are leg markings. Sabino leg markings are pointy (see a pattern here?) and usually are higher towards the belly. The only horse I have that shows this carries both sabino and splash, but I think you can get the idea. Yes, she's also very pregnant in this picture. On the other hand, splash markings tend to be even on all 4 legs, or close to it. The seal bay mare shown below has even socks, but they all point backwards. This is occassionally seen on both splash and sabino horses. With the prevalence of sabino in appaloosas, it's reasonable to assume from the sharp tops of her socks that the seal bay mare also carries sabino in addition to her splash. On the other hand, not all splash horses have 4 white legs. Arden, shown below, only has 3 white socks, which are close, but not perfectly even. She shows no obvious signs of sabino, but again, due to the breed, we can't rule it out. But what about horses who don't have that much white? Here's a mare with no leg markings, and only a small amount of white on her forehead: Her appaloosa colored colt has almost the exact same white marking as well, and neither has any leg markings. Could these be from embryonic development? In other words a birth mark? Science has yet to prove it, although neither she, nor the foal show signs of additional effects of other white patterns. As for those "other effects" well, genes like sabino, splash and frame (commonly called frame white, or overo) have an effect on other white patterns. These are called "enhancer genes". It is a well documented fact that horses with excessive white face and leg markings tend to show more white in their patterns as well, both pinto and appaloosa patterns. Base coat color also plays a role. Dominant extension (E) is a suppressor of white patterns, while recessive extension (e) is an enhancer. What does that mean? Well, a horse that is Ee will have a smaller blanket then a horse that is ee, and a horse that is EE will have an even smaller blanket then the heterozygote. Agouti is an enhancer gene, and it's effects have been documented even when the gene is hidden. A horse with the genome ee AA will have a larger pattern then a horse with the genome ee aa. To make it somewhat easy to remember, we often say that black supresses the most, then bay (a little suppression and a little enhancing), then chestnut. These suppressors and enhancers will become important when I talk about appaloosa color genetics. There are MANY genes that have a suppression or enhancing role in color, and not all of them are known. In some cases we know that certain family lines, or breeds have "suppressors" but we don't know exactly what causes it. This is why genetics tends to get so confusing. There's so much going on at the same time, and genes can have multiple roles. In many cases people ignore the supression and enhancing traits, and simply work on the basic genetics of the coat color, but if you want to breed for a very specific pattern (such as minimal paints, or leopard appaloosas) then these additional effects must be taken into consideration. Many of the same genes that cause face and leg white markings can also cause pinto patterns with a "louder" expression. Splash is most commonly seen as face and leg white, but is most commonly associated with high chrome horses. Frame is ususally expressed as a pinto pattern, but can "hide" in face and leg markings only. These pinto patterns being expressed as only "normal" white markings are often refered to as "minimal" (insert type of pattern). Such as a minimal splash, or minimal frame. Now, for your test......	i don't know
Powdered wool or cloth in certain wallpapers?	wallpaper \| Britannica.com Wallpaper art Wallpaper, ornamental and utilitarian covering for walls made from long sheets of paper that have been stenciled, painted, or printed with abstract or narrative designs. Wallpaper developed soon after the introduction of papermaking to Europe during the latter part of the 15th century. Although it is often assumed that the Chinese invented wallpaper, there is no evidence that it was in general use in Asia any earlier than the time of its appearance in Europe. The earliest wallpapers in England and France were hand painted or stenciled. During the 17th century, decorative techniques also included block printing and flocking, a process whereby powdered wool or metallic powders were scattered over paper on which the design had been drawn with a slow-drying adhesive or varnish. The oldest existing example of flocked wallpaper comes from Worcester and was created in approximately 1680. Contemporary with flock work were painted Chinese papers, which first began to arrive in Europe toward the end of the 17th century. Generally referred to as India papers, they were produced especially for the European market. The absence of repeat, or repetitive design created when single sheets are juxtaposed on the wall , and the studied dissimilarity of detail between one length and another gave them a unique quality that was highly prized. European copies produced by etched plates or woodblocks, with colour applied by hand or stencil, were usually inferior to the originals. Because of their beauty and costliness, a large number of original Chinese papers have been preserved, and fine examples can be seen at Nostell Priory, North Yorkshire , and Woburn Abbey , Bedfordshire. During the 18th century, wallpaper manufacture developed far beyond the expectations of the early makers. From the very beginning, wallpaper had been regarded as a substitute for tapestry , painted cloth, leather, and wood paneling , and the first wallpapers were esteemed because they so cleverly and inexpensively simulated the appearance of more costly hangings. Later designs, however, expressed the decorative possibilities inherent in the medium itself. In France and England new and varied styles became available—chintz patterns, satin grounds, and stripes, to mention but a few—and technical advances were making wallpaper more widely accessible. In 1785 Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf invented the first machine for printing wallpaper, and, shortly thereafter, Louis Robert designed a process for manufacturing endless rolls. Similar Topics	Flock
Widely used title of high authority, in English was orginally 'hlafweard', meaning bread-keeper?	Flock - definition of flock by The Free Dictionary Flock - definition of flock by The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/flock n. 1. A group of animals that live, travel, or feed together. 2. A group of people under the leadership of one person, especially the members of a church. 3. A large crowd or number: a flock of visitors; a flock of questions. See Synonyms at crowd 1. intr.v. flocked, flock·ing, flocks To gather or travel in a flock or crowd. [Middle English flok, from Old English floc.] flock 2 1. A tuft, as of fiber or hair. 2. Waste wool or cotton used for stuffing furniture and mattresses. 3. Pulverized wool or felt that is applied to paper, cloth, or metal to produce a texture or pattern. tr.v. flocked, flock·ing, flocks 1. To stuff with waste wool or cotton. 2. To texture or pattern with pulverized wool or felt. [Middle English flok, from Old French floc, from Latin floccus, tuft of wool.] flock n (sometimes functioning as plural) 1. a group of animals of one kind, esp sheep or birds 2. a large number of people; crowd 3. (Ecclesiastical Terms) a body of Christians regarded as the pastoral charge of a priest, a bishop, the pope, etc 4. rare a band of people; group vb (intr) 5. to gather together or move in a flock 6. to go in large numbers: people flocked to the church. [Old English flocc; related to Old Norse flokkr crowd, Middle Low German vlocke] flock 1. a tuft, as of wool, hair, cotton, etc 2. (Furniture) a. waste from fabrics such as cotton, wool, or other cloth used for stuffing mattresses, upholstered chairs, etc b. (as modifier): flock mattress. 3. (Textiles) very small tufts of wool applied to fabrics, wallpaper, etc, to give a raised pattern 4. (Chemistry) another word for floccule vb (tr) to fill, cover, or ornament with flock [C13: from Old French floc, from Latin floccus; probably related to Old High German floccho down, Norwegian flugsa snowflake] ˈflocky adj (flɒk) n. 1. an assemblage of animals, esp. sheep, goats, or birds, that live, travel, or feed together. 2. a large group of people or things: flocks of sightseers. 3. a single congregation in relation to its pastor. v.i. 4. to gather or go in a flock: They flocked around the football hero. [before 1000; Middle English; Old English floc; c. Old Norse flokkr] flock′less, adj. n. 1. a tuft of wool, hair, cotton, etc. 2. (sometimes used with a pl. v.) wool refuse, shearings of cloth, or old cloth torn to pieces. 3. Also called flocking. (sometimes used with a pl. v.) finely powdered wool or cloth used for producing a velvetlike pattern on wallpaper. v.t. 4. to stuff with flock. 5. to decorate or coat with flock. [1250–1300; Middle English flok < Old French floc < Latin floccus tuft of wool] flock′y, adj. flock•i•er, flock•i•est. Flock a company of people, birds, or animals; a group of Christians who worship together. See also bevy , drove . Examples: flock of acquaintances; of affections, 1601; of auks [at sea]; of bats; of birds; of bitterns; of bustards; of camels, 1839; of Christians; of coots; of cotton, 1756; of cranes; of ducks [flying in a line]; of elephants, 1614; of fish, 1480; of friends; of geese [on the ground], 1596; of goats; of hens, 1690; of interpreters, 1581; of lice; of pamphlets, 1642; of parrots; of prophets; of seals; of sheep, 1340; of ships [book title by B. Callison]; of swifts; of wool, 1440. flock I will have been flocking you will have been flocking he/she/it will have been flocking we will have been flocking you will have been flocking they will have been flocking Past Perfect Continuous 1. flock - a church congregation guided by a pastor congregation , faithful , fold - a group of people who adhere to a common faith and habitually attend a given church 2. flock - a group of birds bird - warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings bevy - a flock of birds (especially when gathered close together on the ground); "we were visited at breakfast by a bevy of excited ducks" covert - a flock of coots covey - a small flock of grouse or partridge exaltation - a flock of larks (especially a flock of larks in flight overhead) gaggle - a flock of geese wisp - a flock of snipe animal group - a group of animals flight - a flock of flying birds 3. flock - (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" large indefinite amount , large indefinite quantity - an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude deluge , flood , inundation , torrent - an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a torrent of abuse" haymow - a mass of hay piled up in a barn for preservation 4. crowd - a large number of things or people considered together; "a crowd of insects assembled around the flowers" 5. animal group - a group of animals Verb 1. flock - move as a crowd or in a group; "Tourists flocked to the shrine where the statue was said to have shed tears" go , locomote , move , travel - change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically; "How fast does your new car go?"; "We travelled from Rome to Naples by bus"; "The policemen went from door to door looking for the suspect"; "The soldiers moved towards the city in an attempt to take it before night fell"; "news travelled fast" 2. flock - come together as in a cluster or flock; "The poets constellate in this town every summer" cluster , constellate , clump huddle , huddle together - crowd or draw together; "let's huddle together--it's cold!" bunch , bunch together , bunch up - form into a bunch; "The frightened children bunched together in the corner of the classroom" foregather , forgather , gather , assemble , meet - collect in one place; "We assembled in the church basement"; "Let's gather in the dining room" flock سِرْب يَتَوافَد، يَذْهَبون معا في جماعات ято sürü akın akın gitmekakın etmek đàn flock 1 [flɒk] A. N [of sheep, goats] → rebaño m; [of birds] → bandada f; [of people] → tropel m, multitud f (Rel) → grey f, rebaño m they came in flocks → acudieron en tropel B. VI (= move in numbers) → ir en tropel they flocked to the station → fueron en tropel hacia la estación to flock together → congregarse , reunirse flock 2 [flɒk] N (= wool) → borra f flock a flock of → une foule de flocks of journalists → une foule de journalistes vi to flock to sth → venir en masse à qch to flock to see sth → affluer pour voir qch flock (of sheep, geese, also Eccl) → Herde f; (of birds) → Schwarm m, → Schar f (of people) → Schar f, → Haufen m (inf) vi → in Scharen kommen ; to flock in → hineinströmen or -drängen; to flock out → hinausströmen or -drängen; to flock around somebody → sich um jdn scharen or drängen flock to flock around sb → affollarsi intorno a qn flock (flok) noun a number of certain animals or birds together. a flock of sheep. trop; kudde سِرْب стадо bando stádo die Herde, der Schwarm flok; sværm κοπάδι rebaño , bandada kari, parv گله lauma troupeau עדר , להקה जानवरों का समूह, आदमियों का समूह, चर्च के मेम्बर krdo, stado nyáj kawanan hjörð, flokkur gregge ; stormo 群れ (특히 양, 염소, 새 등의) 떼, 무리 banda, pulkas (sīklopu) ganāmpulks; (putnu) bars kawanan kudde , zwerm flokk , sverm stado ډله، ګله، رمه، پاده، سيل bando turmă; stol стадо ; стая črieda, kŕdeľ, stádo čreda krdo flock ฝูงสัตว์ sürü (飛禽和牲畜等的)群 отара; зграя جھنڈ، گروہ đàn; bầy ; lũ （飞禽和牲畜等的）群 verb (with to, ~into etc) to gather or go somewhere together in a group or crowd. People flocked to the cinema. Mense het na die teater gestroom. يَتَوافَد، يَذْهَبون معا في جماعات трупам се ir em bando shromáždit se strömen gå i flok; myldre συγκεντρώνομαι , συρρέω με το πλήθος congregarse , reunirse parvlema تجمع کردن؛ گله وار رفتن kerääntyä affluer לְהִתקַהֵל भीड़ लगाना nagrnuti, navrijeti összesereglik berduyun-duyun flykkjast, hópast adunarsi 群がる 떼를 지어 모이다 būriais eiti/rinktis pulcēties; drūzmēties kumpulan samenstromen strømme , stimle sammen tłoczyć się , podążać tłumnie, gromadzić się ډله كېدل، ګله كېدل ir em bando a se îngrămădi валить толпой zhromaždiť sa zgrinjati se okupiti se flockas, skocka sig รวมกลุ่ม akın etmek, akın akın gitmek 成群地去 збиратися докупи; юрмитися بڑی تعداد میں حاضر ہونا tụ tập; tập trung 成群地去 flock	i don't know
Alternative name for the plant Sweet Cicely, from its Latin name?	Sweet Cicely, Myrrhis odorata Seeds Description Details Sweet Cicely is an attractive plant that is a striking component of herb gardens and hedgerows. This early flowering perennial is renowned for its aniseed taste and fragrance. It is in growth and in flower before most other umbellifers are even thinking of it, a really useful precursor to the Ammi genus such as Ammi majus. The plants grow to a height of 90cm (36in), and umbels of tiny white flowers appear from spring to early summer. The fern-like leaves are deeply divided and smell of aniseed when crushed. Sweet Cicely was formerly a widely cultivated culinary herb, but now only occasionally grown in the herb garden. As a culinary herb it is a valuable sweetener, especially for diabetics and for the many people who are trying to reduce their sugar intake. Used in many savory as well as sweet dishes, it gives a delightful flavour and helps to save almost half the sugar needed. Sweet Cicely can be used in borders and beds, it flowers early and its ferny foliage, deeply lobed and toothed, set off by the white flowers compliments other flowers beautifully, it also smells divine. Hardy to about minus 20°C (-4°F), it is one of the first garden herbs to emerge after winter and the last to die down and is available for much of the year. It is noted for attracting wildlife and is one of the first nectar plants to appear in spring, so it is extremely valuable to the bees and the beekeeper. Sowing: Sow seeds as soon as possible. Sweet Cicely seeds like many others germinate easily when they are fresh from the plant. As they dry out the germination inhibitors develop and need a period of cold to help break them down. They are easiest grown when sown directly outdoors in a seedbed in autumn. The seeds require several months of cold winter temperatures to germinate. Keep a check on the compost to make sure it does not dry out. Thin the seedlings in the outdoor bed as necessary (eat the thinnings) and transplant the young plants into their final positions in the following spring. At other times of year in order to germinate successfully, the seeds may need to be stratified. This replicates the sort of conditions found in nature and is easily achieved by mixing the seed with damp sand or vermiculite and leaving in a polythene bag in the fridge for four weeks. After which time seed can be sown as normal into prepared seed or plug trays. As the seed is so large, sow one seed per cell. Prick out seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in spring after the frosts are over. Cultivation: Transplant out into garden into a sunny or part shaded position with well drained, humus rich, moisture retentive soil. Feed and water the seedlings frequently. Use an organic fertiliser especially if the plant is to be eaten. Hardy to about minus 20°C. (-4°F), so there should be no need for protection. It will self seed freely in ideal conditions, so remove the faded flowers before they set seed if you want to restrict their spread. As this herb has a very long tap root it does not happily grow in a container but it can be done if you choose a container that will give the root room to grow and use a bark, peat mix of compost. Place it in a semi-shade place and keep well watered throughout the season. Division: Divide in spring or autumn. Remove the tapering tap root and cut the remaining root into sections with at least one eye per section and replant into prepared plug trays or direct into a prepared site in the garden at a depth of 5cm (2in). Harvest: The leaves can be picked in late winter and again in late summer and even in the depths of January in places. Unripe seeds can be collected when green, ripe ones when brown. Dig up roots for drying in the autumn when the plant has died down. The seeds are long, first green turning black on ripening. The foliage and seed do not dry or freeze well but the seeds store well in a dry container. Culinary Uses: Sweet Cicely used to be grown in kitchen gardens near the door. All parts of the plant can be used: leaves, roots, flowers and seed. The flavour is sweet and aniseed like. The leaves can be cooked like spinach, added to soups, omelettes and custards or used fresh in salads. The crisp stalks make a good substitute for celery after light cooking. The roots can be eaten raw in salads or boiled and eaten like parsnips. They also make a good wine. The seeds are used as flavouring. Toss unripe seeds into fruit salads or chop and add to ice-cream, cream or custard they have a sweet flavour and a nutty texture. Flower buds are edible and can be used as decoration. Use seeds instead of cloves in apple pies, or grind them and add them to spice mixtures. When the plant is setting seed the young tender seed pods can be eaten like sweets. In times past children used to eat the ripe seed pods as a snack on the long walk to school. Sweet Cicely leaves can be chopped finely and added to salads, dressings and omelettes. Add to soups, stews and to boiling water when cooking cabbage. They can be added to cream for a sweeter less fatty taste and are excellent when cooked with tart fruits to cut down the acidity. This works well with rhubarb, red currants and gooseberries. If you use it in cooking, reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. It is a valuable sweetener, especially for diabetics and for the many people who are trying to reduce their sugar intake. It gives a delightful flavour and helps to save almost half the sugar needed. Medicinal Uses: Sweet Cicely has been used in medicine for centuries, all parts of this herb were used. As Culpeper wrote “It is so harmless you cannot use it amiss.” It is good for the digestive system and a wonderful tonic herb, it will lift the spirits and banish gloomy thoughts. The volatile oils and flavonoids in the plant are antiseptic and will purify the blood, act as a carminative and improve appetite. Culpeper and Gerard both agree that the roots, when boiled and then dressed with oil and vinegar are “…very good for old people that are dull and without courage; it rejoiceth and comforteth the heart and increaseth their lust and strength.” The ripe seeds can be chewed as an aid to digestion and a tea made from the chopped leaves is said to soothe the stomach. A tisane can be made with 1 tsp of dried (1tbsp fresh) leaves to 1 cup of boiling water. Steep the leaves in the water for 10 to 15 minutes then strain and drink a small cup three times a day. Other Uses: Sweet Cicely is famously used by Carthusian monks to make the liqueur, Chartreuse. Like its relatives anise, fennel, and caraway, it can also be used to flavour Akvavi. In Scandinavian countries it traditionally associated with Christmas and other celebrations. While claims for the medicinal properties of the drink may be rather inflated, aquavit is popularly believed to ease the digestion of rich foods. The leaves and the seed make good polishes for wood. Simply rub the leaves over the wood and then rub the wood with a clean cloth to remove any greenness. It is particularly good on oak panels, giving a lovely glossy finish and an aromatic smell. The seeds when pounded into a paste were used to make a sweet-smelling furniture polish. Constituents: Both the leaves and the seed pods, which are edible, liberate the sweet smell of aniseed when crushed between the fingers. The taste of aniseed is due to the chemical anethole which is synthesised in the plant. Anethole is the olfactory component of Oil of Aniseed, which is present in other members of the Carrot family. It is obtained from Anise, Pimpinella Anisum; it also contributes to the flavour of Tarragon and of Fennel. Nomenclature: Myrrhis odorata is the sole species in the genus Myrrhis. It belongs to the family Apiaceae. The Latin name for the plant comes from the Greek ‘myrrhis’ meaning ‘smelling of myrrh’, with the specific name ‘odorata’ deriving from the Latin word ‘odorus’ meaning ‘fragrant’. Several of the common names of the plant reflect this: Greater Chervil, Roman Plant, Cow Chervil, Smooth Cicely, Sweet Fern, British Myrrh, Shepherd’s Needle, Sweets, Fern-Leaved Chervil, Wild Myrrh, Sweet Cus, Sweet Hemlock, Beaked Parsley. The Greeks called Sweet Cicely ‘seselis or ‘seseli’. It is logical to suppose that ‘Cicely’ was derived from them, ‘sweet’ coming from its flavour. Origin: Native to Central Europe, it is found in and around woodlands, often in clearings as well as grassy banks and verges as well as cultivated areas. Beware of similar looking umbellifers which have darker green fern-like leaves, do not smell of aniseed, and which may be extremely poisonous. Note: Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata) is native to the British Isles, and should not be confused with the herbs of the Osmorhiza family which are native to Asia and the American continent. It actually looks a little like cow parsley or Queen Anne’s Lace about which there is also confusion in names between Britain and the US Identifiable Characteristics: The leaves have a slight resemblance in shape and form to some other members of the Carrot Family, possibly poisonous ones. But those of Sweet Cicely are a lighter green, and smell of aniseed. Both stems and seed pods are covered in thin hairs reminiscent of those on Stinging Nettles, but they don't sting. Smells of aniseed when crushed, as does Fennel, but Sweet Cicely has fern-like leaves whereas those of Fennel are thin and thread-like. Sweet Cicely can be found growing wild but because of its similarity to a number of other plants, some of which, like hemlock can be extremely poisonous, in the wild it is best left alone. 'Fortune favours the brave' is a lovely saying, but it's not something to be applied to foraging. Additional Information	Myrrh
Dwarf heather vaccinium yielding acid fruit?	Myrrhis odorata – SWEET CICELY \| Hill Farm Nursery Cariboo-Grown & Cariboo-Hardy Perennials. Since 1991. Myrrhis odorata – SWEET CICELY November 12, 2014 by leavesandpages Myrrhis odorata – Sweet Cicely – Hill Farm – June 2013. Image: HFN Perennial. Zone 3. Apiaceae syn. Umbelliferae. Central Europe, the Pyrenees and the Caucasus. Widely naturalized in Europe and Great Britain. Myrrhis is from the Greek, in reference to the similarity of this plant’s aroma to that of the sap of the tropical myrrh tree (Commiphora species), much valued for perfumery. (The true myrrh was traditionally one of the costly gifts presented to the Baby Jesus by the Three Wise Men.) Odorata is from the Latin, “scented”. I have never seen this lovely herb for sale in commercial nurseries in our area, which is why I was so thrilled to find it in a small roadside nursery near Bella Coola way back in 1998. I tucked it into a corner of the flower border, where it has maintained itself ever since, forming quite a vigorous colony of ferny, liquorice-scented foliage accented by lacy umbels of pure white blooms in spring. The delicate flowers of Sweet Cicely are highly attractive to pollinating insects of all sorts. Hill Farm, May 2013. Image: HFN I’ve transplanted seedlings – very carefully, for Myrrhis odorata has a long, brittle tap root – into various shady spots, where it happily settles in and adds its delicate leafiness to the general green tapestry effect. The blooms are followed by upright clusters of huge, light green seeds, which slowly darken to glossy black. Sweet Cicely seed cluster – Hill Farm, May 2014. Image: HFN Where happy the plant reaches a substantial size, easily 2 feet or taller, and eventually several feet wide as the foliage expands through spring into early summer. Once blooming is finished, the plant may be shorn back to the ground, where it will re-sprout with renewed vigour and provide a pleasant backdrop for later-blooming flowers. The texture of the foliage is delicately downy – it feels as soft as it looks. I have occasionally added it to cut flower bouquets for its ferny effect, but it isn’t really happy once cut, so I now mostly enjoy it in the garden. Sweet Cicely has a long history of use as an herb, being strongly anise (licorice-like) scented in all of its parts, and having a very sweet flavour. It is one of the benign “innocent herbs” – edible in all of its parts, and free of potentially harmful components. Myrrhis odorata will thrive in the sunny mixed perennial border, as it enjoys fertile soil and summer moisture. It can also be placed in quite deep shade, and, if encouraged to self-sow, will spread to fill in the area under high-pruned shrubs and trees. I have not found Sweet Cicely to be particularly weedy – seedlings are easy to identify and easily plucked out – but it is a persistent plant once established (that taproot goes a long way down), so consider its siting carefully. Mature plants do not move well, so container grown starts and young seedlings are your best bet for bringing it into your own garden or for spreading it around. Myrrhis odorata – Sweet Cicely – Hill Farm – June 2014. Image: HFN Maud Grieve’s massive reference book, A Modern Herbal, first published in 1931, has these notes on Myrrhis odorata: It is a native of Great Britain, a perennial with a thick root and very aromatic foliage, on account of which it was used in former days as a salad herb, or boiled, when the root, leaves, and seed were all used. The leaves are very large, somewhat downy beneath, and have a flavour rather like Anise, with a scent like Lovage. The first shoots consist of an almost triangular, lacey leaf, with a simple wing curving up from each side of its root. The stem grows from 2 to 3 feet high, bearing many leaves, and white flowers in early summer appear in compound umbels. In appearance it is rather like Hemlock, but is of a fresher green colour. The fruit is remarkably large, an inch long, dark brown, and fully flavoured. The leaves taste as if sugar had been sprinkled over them. It is probable that it is not truly a wild plant, as it is usually found near houses, where it may very probably be cultivated in the garden. Sweet Cicely is very attractive to bees; in the north of England it is said that the seeds are used to polish and scent oak floors and furniture. In Germany they are still very generally used in cookery. The old herbalists describe the plant as ‘so harmless you cannot use it amiss.’ The roots were supposed to be not only excellent in a salad, but when boiled and eaten with oil and vinegar, to be ‘very good for old people that are dull and without courage; it rejoiceth and comforteth the heart and increaseth their lust and strength.’ An illustration of Myrrhis odorata in an antique German herbal.	i don't know
A side in a contract or dispute?	Contract Disputes :: Alexandria, Virginia Business Contracts Attorney BerlikLaw Government contracts Unlike many firms, the philosophy at BerlikLaw is to approach each case as though it will be tried, not settled. While most cases should, in fact, be settled, early trial preparation tends to lead to better results whether at the settlement table or in court, and sends a message to the other side that the outcome of the case will be guided by sound business considerations, not by the fear of trial that other litigation firms have. Despite this approach, most cases do settle out of court, and most of our clients find that such settlements provide a less expensive and more discreet resolution than taking the case to trial. Another option we offer our business clients, when available, is to submit their contract dispute to mediation, arbitration, or other alternative dispute resolution procedure. Oftentimes a confidential, inexpensive, and agreeable resolution can be reached through ADR, allowing the parties to continue transacting business with each other on favorable terms. If you are looking to enforce a contract or defend yourself against a breach of contract claim, you need aggressive representation by an experienced lawyer. Lee Berlik regularly represents businesses of all sizes on breach-of-contract and related claims, offering valuable assistance to both plaintiffs and defendants.	Party
Originally, in English, a student residence, preserved in Gray's and Lincoln's?	Landlord Tenant Disputes FAQs - FindLaw Landlord Tenant Disputes FAQs Which court should I go to if I cannot settle my landlord tenant dispute outside of court? What steps can be taken to avoid landlord tenant disputes? As it often happens, there may come a time during a tenancy when a landlord tenant dispute arises. These disputes can pop up over many different issues including lease agreements, tenant rights, responsibility for repairs to the property, rent, eviction and more. However, in most situations, lawyers and court time should be the last choice for resolving these concerns. There are several helpful hints that can be both landlords and tenants can follow that will help avoid litigation: Study the lease contract carefully and be well advised of your legal rights and responsibilities according to federal, state and local laws. If there is a problem on either side, make sure to notify the other party immediately and be open and honest in all your dealings Be sure to make hard copies and notes of all correspondence regarding any problems with the property or the tenancy. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) maintains a list that has information regarding the landlord tenant laws of each state. These laws are always important to know whether you are a landlord or a tenant. For example, depending on the state, a landlord may be required to receive written notice of a defect in the property before he or she is obligated to repair it. Should I seek help in settling a landlord tenant dispute out of court? It is unfortunate that not all landlord tenant disputes can be settled by a simple conversation between both parties to the lease. However, when communication breaks down, there are still steps that can be taken before lawyers are hired and court proceedings start. For example, an independent, third-party mediator can be hired to help form an agreement between the parties. Although the mediator is often mistaken for a judge, the mediator does not have any authority to bind either party to an agreement and is simply there to facilitate communication between the landlord and the tenant. Mediation services are often available for little to no cost from through various programs. Mediation services are often rendered through both private companies as well as state and local bar associations. You can find more information regarding the mediation services in your area by contacting the bar association closest to you or the city manager's office and asking about services for mediating landlord tenant disputes. Which court should I go to if I cannot settle my landlord tenant dispute outside of court? When both open communication and mediation fail, the last resort for many landlord tenant disputes is in small claims court. Small claims court can generally only hear limited types of cases, and the cases must involve some amount of money, like past due rent or an un-returned security deposit. Because of the nature of small claims courts, the court fees are generally low and can even be waived in certain instances and for certain parties. As well, both parties will save on attorney's fees because you are not required to bring an attorney to your case in small claims court. Indeed, some states, like California, do not even allow parties to bring lawyers to small claims court. These courts do act as a last resort for most landlord tenant disputes and are structured to provide a quick and efficient resolution to these issues. However, you will need to check with your local courts to see the filing requirements for your small claims court. In most instances, these courts are only authorized to hear cases where the amount in controversy does not exceed a certain amount, generally in the range between $3,000 and $10,000. If your case does exceed this amount, you will need to file your lawsuit in the appropriate court. Next Steps	i don't know
Conducted mission of preaching and healing, with reported miracles, in Palestine, c.28-30AD?	14K GOLD JESUS PIECE 14K GOLD JESUS PIECE 14k Gold Jesus Piece jesus Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE),Sanders (1993).p.11, p 249. also known as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. The central figure of the Christian religion. Jesus conducted a mission of preaching and healing (with reported miracles) in Palestine in about ad 28–30, which is described in the Gospels. His followers considered him to be the Christ or Messiah and the Son of God, and belief in his resurrection from the dead is the central tenet of Christianity Jesus is 1973 Malayalam language Movie directed by P. A. Thomas. Starring Murali Das, Gemini Ganesan, Jayabharathi, Jayalalitha, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair. M.N. Nambiar, Ummar, Jose Prakash, Bahadur, V.N. Ramaswamy, Sasirekha. a teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for Christianity (circa 4 BC - AD 29) piece A portion of an object or of material, produced by cutting, tearing, or breaking the whole a separate part of a whole; "an important piece of the evidence" One of the items that were put together to make something and into which it naturally divides An item of a particular type, esp. one forming one of a set an item that is an instance of some type; "he designed a new piece of equipment"; "she bought a lovely piece of china"; patch: to join or unite the pieces of; "patch the skirt" gold A yellow precious metal, the chemical element of atomic number 79, valued esp. for use in jewelry and decoration, and to guarantee the value of currencies A deep lustrous yellow or yellow-brown color An alloy of this coins made of gold amber: a deep yellow color; "an amber light illuminated the room"; "he admired the gold of her hair" made from or covered with gold; "gold coins"; "the gold dome of the Capitol"; "the golden calf"; "gilded icons" 14k 14K can mean: * 14K (Triad), a Chinese criminal organization * Gnome-Rhone 14K, an aircraft engine of the 1920s and 1930s * 14 carats, a measure of the purity of a precious metal Jesus is my Homeboy Jesus Christ of the Holy Sponge. Sacred Shower, somewhere in Milan. Jesus mary	Jesus
...thought, an old term for a wishbone?	Jesus - definition of Jesus in English \| Oxford Dictionaries Definition of Jesus in English: Jesus (also Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth) proper noun 1The central figure of the Christian religion. Synonyms christ, jesus, jesus christ, the redeemer, the messiah, our lord, the lamb of god, the son of god, the son of man, the prince of peace, the king of kings, emmanuel 1.1[as exclamation] An oath used to express irritation, dismay, or surprise. Origin From Christian Latin Iesus, from Greek Iēsous, from a late Hebrew or Aramaic analogous formation based on Yĕhōšûă‘ Joshua. Pronunciation Which is the correct spelling? population Which is the correct spelling? seclution Which is the correct spelling? solution Which is the correct spelling? commosion Which is the correct spelling? invacion Which is the correct spelling? description Which is the correct spelling? revulsion Which is the correct spelling? exersion Which is the correct spelling? convulsion Which is the correct spelling? elecion You scored /10 practise again? Retry	i don't know
Marketing/technology term for the busiest day each year for online shopping?	Black Friday : snopes.com Black Friday - - Claim: The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S. Status: False. Origins: The day after Thanksgiving is the day millions of Americans, enjoying a rare Friday off (and a dearth of football games on television), head for the malls to kick off the Christmas shopping season. "Black Friday" (supposedly so named because it's the day when retailers turn the corner and see their income statements move out of the red and into the black, but originally the phrase was a derisive term applied by police and retail workers to the day's plethora of traffic jams and badly-behaved customers) is regularly cited as "the busiest shopping day of the year." But although Black Friday may be the day the greatest number of holiday shoppers traipse through malls, it isn't necessarily the biggest day of the year in terms of dollars spent: Popular belief has it that the Friday after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. These days many shoppers buy with the holidays in mind all year long. Decorations go up around Halloween, and some Santa Clauses arrive at malls before Thanksgiving. Some shoppers get an early start Thursday at a limited number of stores like Kmart and Wal-Mart Super Centers, which are open on the holiday. To be sure, there are still intense crowds on the day after Thanksgiving — led by the "doorbusters" who show up at dawn for early-bird sales. "It's one of the busiest days in terms of traffic but not in sales," said Pam Rucker, spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation. "But the mystique is still there."1 "People just want to get out and do something on that day," said Jay McIntosh, director of U.S. Retail and Consumer Products for accounting giant Ernst & Young. "They do because of all of the incentives to shop, but many aren't buying."2 The consistent holiday shopping trend is that sales figures spike on the day after Thanksgiving, drop sharply immediately afterwards, then steadily increase throughout December, peaking on the four days comprising the two weekends before Christmas. The result is that Black Friday nearly always ends up ranking below the last Saturday before Christmas (or December 23, if Christmas Day falls on a weekend), and in recent years it has ranked between fourth and eighth on charts of the year's busiest shopping days. According to statistics published by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), the top shopping days for the years 1993 through 2002 were: 2002: Saturday, Dec. 21 1994: #8 1993: #8 Holiday shopping patterns may change in years to come due to the increasing prevalence of shoppers' using on-line sales outlets for their holiday purchases. (Indeed, online retailers have already coined the term "Cyber Monday" to describe the first weekday after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a day on which their sales supposedly spike as shoppers pile onto the Internet to buy online whatever they couldn't or didn't get at the mall the previous weekend.) For now, however, Wal-Mart still remains the top holiday-gift destination for U.S. shoppers. Additional information: Christmas Shopping Facts and Figures Last updated: 20 November 2006	Cyber Monday
... Anise, used for aniseed flavouring typically in Asian cooking?	The History of Black Friday Business and Finance > Economics The History of Black Friday The hours keep extending, the crowds keep growing and the deals keep expanding, but is it all worth it? Target Shoppers on Black Friday Related Links Holidays in America Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving , is regarded by many as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. While not a federal holiday, several states observe the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday, which means many state and school employees have the day off. Therefore, the number of potential shoppers greatly increases. In fact, since 2005, Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day of the year. With retailers extending their hours and deals every year, the crowds and chaos show no signs of decreasing. Here's a look at the history and evolution of Black Friday. Big Friday? The term Black Friday was first used in the United States to describe a financial crisis in 1869. On September 24, 1869, a Friday, James Fish and Jay Gould tried to take over the gold market in the New York Gold Exchange. The first time Black Friday referred to shopping the day after Thanksgiving was in this 1961 Philadelphia public relations newsletter: For downtown merchants throughout the nation, the biggest shopping days normally are the two following Thanksgiving Day. Resulting traffic jams are an irksome problem to the police and, in Philadelphia, it became customary for officers to refer to the post-Thanksgiving days as Black Friday and Black Saturday. Hardly a stimulus for good business, the problem was discussed by the merchants with their Deputy City Representative, Abe S. Rosen, one of the country's most experienced municipal PR executives. He recommended adoption of a positive approach which would convert Black Friday and Black Saturday to Big Friday and Big Saturday. Although many merchants opposed the negative name for the biggest shopping day of the year, the term stuck. By 1975, it appeared in The New York Times: Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it Black Friday – that day each year between Thanksgiving Day and the Army–Navy Game. Billion Dollar Friday For years, retailers would open their doors at 6:00 a.m. on Black Friday. However, in the late 2000s, many began opening at 5:00 or 4:00 a.m., to increase shopping hours and, therefore, profits. In 2011, Best Buy, Kohl's, Macy's, Target and other leading retailers opened at midnight for the first time. The following year, Walmart, along with several other retailers, announced that they would open at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. In 2013, Walmart announced it would open even earlier, at 6:00 p.m. Several other retailers followed suit. Kmart took it one step further, announcing that it would open at 6:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and would remain open for 41 hours straight. After their announcement, some people took to Kmart's Facebook page, commenting that the store's decision was "greedy," "shameful" and "disgusting." Some states, such as Massachusetts , have blue laws prohibiting stores to open on Thanksgiving. In those states, retailers open at midnight. The reason for extending the hours is obvious. Major retailers like Walmart make an estimated five billion dollars on Black Friday. However, there are drawbacks to the increased shopping hours. About one million Walmart employees will work on Thanksgiving in 2013. Attracts Aggressive Crowds Another downside of Black Friday is that the huge sales also draw large, aggressive crowds all wanting the same deals. Each year there have been reports of shoppers getting trampled on while attempting to get an item before supplies run out. There have also been assaults and shootings reported. For example, on Black Friday in 2012, two people were shot while arguing over a parking space at a Walmart in Tallahassee, Florida . In 2011, a woman used pepper spray on other shoppers, injuring at least 10 people during Black Friday shopping at a Walmart in Porter Ranch, California . That same year, a man in San Leandro, California, was shot leaving a Walmart at 1:45 a.m. after doing some Black Friday shopping. Cyber Monday In 2005, Cyber Monday became a term used to refer to the Monday after Black Friday. The term was based on a trend seen the two previous years. Retailers noticed that many shoppers, too busy to shop over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, used that Monday to shop online. With the additions and options of Cyber Monday and Black Thursday, perhaps the crowds on Black Friday will feel less competitive for that one deal and the violence will become a thing of the past. One thing is for certain, Black Friday continues to be a highly successful day for retailers. Source: The Consumerist, Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, Shopper Trak Economics Did you know?	i don't know
From Latin, 'a spark', showy?	Tinsel \| Define Tinsel at Dictionary.com tinsel noun 1. a glittering metallic substance, as copper or brass, in thin sheets, used in pieces, strips, threads, etc., to produce a sparkling effect cheaply. 2. a metallic yarn, usually wrapped around a core yarn of silk, rayon, or cotton, for weaving brocade or lamé. 3. anything showy or attractive with little or no real worth; showy pretense: The actress was tired of the fantasy and tinsel of her life. 4. Obsolete. a fabric, formerly in use, of silk or wool interwoven with threads of gold, silver, or, later, copper. adjective consisting of or containing tinsel. 6. verb (used with object), tinseled, tinseling or (especially British) tinselled, tinselling. 7. to adorn with anything glittering. 9. to make showy or gaudy. Origin of tinsel Middle French 1495-1505 1495-1505; by aphesis < Middle French estincelle (Old French estincele) a spark, flash < Vulgar Latin *stincilla, metathetic variant of Latin scintilla scintilla ; first used attributively in phrases tinsel satin, tinsel cloth Related forms overtinsel, verb (used with object), overtinseled, overtinseling or (especially British) overtinselled, overtinselling. untinseled, adjective Examples from the Web for tinsel Expand Contemporary Examples Hollywood sure hopes so, because the idea that disgruntled insiders could do this is terrifying to tinsel Town. Historical Examples His exuberant style is Venetian; it is velvet and brocade, which he bestrews with tinsel and spangles. In Convent Walls Emily Sarah Holt Stripped of its parade and tinsel, however, this theory is nothing but the old pantheism revived. Gospel Philosophy J. H. Ward The pageants of Alexander, Csar, and Wellington were tinsel to this. British Dictionary definitions for tinsel Expand noun 1. a decoration consisting of a piece of string with thin strips of metal foil attached along its length 2. a yarn or fabric interwoven with strands of glittering thread 3. anything cheap, showy, and gaudy verb (transitive) -sels, -selling, -selled (US) -sels, -seling, -seled 4. to decorate with or as if with tinsel: snow tinsels the trees 5. to give a gaudy appearance to adjective made of or decorated with tinsel 7. showily but cheaply attractive; gaudy Derived Forms C16: from Old French estincele a spark, from Latin scintilla; compare stencil Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for tinsel Expand n. mid-15c., "a kind of cloth made with interwoven gold or silver thread," from Middle French estincelle "spark, spangle" (see stencil ). Meaning "very thin sheets or strips of shiny metal" is recorded from 1590s. Figurative sense of "anything showy with little real worth" is from 1650s, suggested from at least 1590s. First recorded use of Tinseltown for "Hollywood" is from 1972. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper	Tinsel
Originally Old English 'haligdaeg', meaning 'holy day'?	Tinsel dictionary definition \| tinsel defined Noun (uncountable) A shining material used for ornamental purposes; especially, a very thin, gauzelike cloth with much gold or silver woven into it; also, very thin metal overlaid with a thin coating of gold or silver, brass foil, or the like. Very thin strips of a glittering , metallic material used as a decoration , and traditionally, draped at Christmas time over streamers , paper chains and the branches of Christmas trees. Anything shining and gaudy ; something superficially shining and showy, or having a false luster, and more gay than valuable. Adjective Glittering , later especially superficially so; gaudy , showy . Verb (third-person singular simple present tinsels, present participle tinselling (UK) or tinseling (US), simple past and past participle tinselled (UK) or tinseled (US)) To adorn with tinsel; to deck out with cheap but showy ornaments; to make gaudy. (figuratively) To give a false sparkle to (something). Origin	i don't know
Beast of burden, Equus asinus?	Ass \| Define Ass at Dictionary.com Origin Expand before 1000; var of arse , with loss of r before s, as in passel , cuss , etc.; Middle English ars, er(e)s, Old English ærs, ears; cognate with Old Frisian ers, Dutch aars, Old Norse, Middle Low German, Old Saxon, Old High German ars (German Arsch), Greek órrhos, Armenian or̄kh, Hittite arras; akin to Greek ourā́, Old Irish err tail ass. -ass 1. a combining form of ass in the sense of ‘stupid person’ or ‘the buttocks’, used in slang words as an intensifier or with disparaging intent: big-ass; stupid-ass. Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for ass Expand James Cameron Dives into the Ocean's Abyss Andrew Romano July 20, 2014 Historical Examples If it comes to that, what sort of an ass do they think I'd be to come away out here to pass away? John Brown Captain R. W. Campbell British Dictionary definitions for ass Expand noun 1. either of two perissodactyl mammals of the horse family (Equidae), Equus asinus (African wild ass) or E. hemionus (Asiatic wild ass). They are hardy and sure-footed, having longer ears than the horse related adjective asinine 2. (not in technical use) the domesticated variety of the African wild ass; donkey 3. a foolish or ridiculously pompous person 4. (Irish, informal) not within an ass's roar of, not close to obtaining, winning, etc: she wasn't within an ass's roar of it Word Origin Old English assa, probably from Old Irish asan, from Latin asinus; related to Greek onos ass ass2 (mainly US & Canadian, slang) the buttocks 2. (mainly US & Canadian, slang) the anus 3. (mainly US & Canadian, offensive, slang) sexual intercourse or a woman considered sexually (esp in the phrase piece of ass) 4. (slang, mainly US & Canadian) cover one's ass, to take such action as one considers necessary to avoid censure, ridicule, etc at a later time Word Origin Old English ærs; see arse Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for ass Expand n. beast of burden, Old English assa (Old Northumbrian assal, assald) "he-ass," probably from Old Celtic *as(s)in "donkey," which (with German esel, Gothic asilus, Lithuanian asilas, Old Church Slavonic osl) ultimately is from Latin asinus, which is probably of Middle Eastern origin (cf. Sumerian ansu). For al schal deie and al schal passe, Als wel a Leoun as an asse. [John Gower, "Confessio Amantis," 1393] Since ancient Greek times, in fables and parables, the animal typified clumsiness and stupidity (hence asshead, late 15c., etc.). To make an ass of oneself is from 1580s. Asses' Bridge (c.1780), from Latin Pons Asinorum, is fifth proposition of first book of Euclid's "Elements." In Middle English, someone uncomprehending or unappreciative would be lik an asse that listeth on a harpe. In 15c., an ass man was a donkey driver. slang for "backside," first attested 1860 in nautical slang, in popular use from 1930; chiefly U.S.; from dialectal variant pronunciation of arse (q.v.). The loss of -r- before -s- attested in several other words (e.g. burst/bust, curse/cuss, horse/hoss, barse/bass). Indirect evidence of the change from arse to ass can be traced to 1785 (in euphemistic avoidance of ass "donkey" by polite speakers) and perhaps to Shakespeare, if Nick Bottom transformed into a donkey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1594) is the word-play some think it is. Meaning "woman regarded as a sexual object" is from 1942. Colloquial (one's) ass "one's self, one's person" attested by 1958. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Slang definitions & phrases for ass Expand The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. ass in the Bible Expand frequently mentioned throughout Scripture. Of the domesticated species we read of, (1.) The she ass (Heb. 'athon), so named from its slowness (Gen. 12:16; 45:23; Num. 22:23; 1 Sam. 9:3). (2.) The male ass (Heb. hamor), the common working ass of Western Asia, so called from its red colour. Issachar is compared to a strong ass (Gen. 49:14). It was forbidden to yoke together an ass and an ox in the plough (Deut. 22:10). (3.) The ass's colt (Heb. 'air), mentioned Judg. 10:4; 12:14. It is rendered "foal" in Gen. 32:15; 49:11. (Comp. Job 11:12; Isa. 30:6.) The ass is an unclean animal, because it does not chew the cud (Lev. 11:26. Comp. 2 Kings 6:25). Asses constituted a considerable portion of wealth in ancient times (Gen. 12:16; 30:43; 1 Chr. 27:30; Job 1:3; 42:12). They were noted for their spirit and their attachment to their master (Isa. 1:3). They are frequently spoken of as having been ridden upon, as by Abraham (Gen. 22:3), Balaam (Num. 22:21), the disobedient prophet (1 Kings 13:23), the family of Abdon the judge, seventy in number (Judg. 12:14), Zipporah (Ex. 4:20), the Shunammite (1 Sam. 25:30), etc. Zechariah (9:9) predicted our Lord's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, "riding upon an ass, and upon a colt," etc. (Matt. 21:5, R.V.). Of wild asses two species are noticed, (1) that called in Hebrew _'arod_, mentioned Job 39:5 and Dan. 5:21, noted for its swiftness; and (2) that called _pe're_, the wild ass of Asia (Job 39:6-8; 6:5; 11:12; Isa. 32:14; Jer. 2:24; 14:6, etc.). The wild ass was distinguished for its fleetness and its extreme shyness. In allusion to his mode of life, Ishmael is likened to a wild ass (Gen. 16:12. Here the word is simply rendered "wild" in the Authorized Version, but in the Revised Version, "wild-ass among men"). Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary Idioms and Phrases with ass Expand	Donkey
Pre-digital video or TV screen 'noise' due to no/poor signal?	donkey - definition of donkey in English \| Oxford Dictionaries Definition of donkey in English: donkey noun 1A domesticated hoofed mammal of the horse family with long ears and a braying call, used as a beast of burden; an ass. Example sentences ‘It also gave shelter to abandoned horses, dogs, donkeys and birds.’ ‘"She was involved in the donkey sanctuary and loved horses and all animals.’ ‘Since donkeys were first domesticated about six thousand years ago, they have been very important in human economies.’ ‘A man was riding a donkey, carrying a couple of baskets towards the jetty.’ ‘He said that horses and mules and donkeys were attracted to a nearby spring.’ ‘Horses and donkeys produce mules, for example.’ ‘Miniature donkeys are very popular as companion animals and for show.’ ‘They head out in the boat and Sancho starts crying after he hears his donkey braying plaintively.’ ‘As well as farm livestock, there will be showing classes for horses, goats and donkeys.’ ‘With the thin flush of grass on the high slopes fast shriveling up, it is time for local people to cull old, unwanted horses and donkeys.’ ‘Mules, typically the result of breeding a male donkey with a female horse, are usually sterile.’ ‘Horses, ponies and donkeys are overcrowding animal sanctuaries after being abandoned by their owners.’ ‘The sanctuary looks after more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys, plus sheep, pigs, and goats.’ ‘Only 37,000 wild horses and donkeys remain on public lands, primarily in Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming.’ ‘Hybrids such as the mule, a cross between a donkey and a horse, are sterile.’ ‘Always make sure horses, ponies and donkeys are stabled while fireworks are being let off.’ ‘The strange script included drawings of camels, horses, donkeys and ibex.’ ‘Because of them, hundreds of other horses, donkeys, and mules will be saved and will know love.’ ‘A few moments later, he emerged, riding a fat old donkey.’ ‘Highly intelligent - their fans would argue that they're smarter than horses - donkeys and mules are quick learners.’ Synonyms	i don't know
Verb tense neither future nor past?	Common Errors in the Use of Verbs – Part II Dear students and teachers: Please make sure you subscribe to the free grammar updates here Common Errors in the Use of Verbs – Part II Incorrect: He has stole my pen. Correct: He has stolen my pen. Incorrect: John has often beat me at tennis. Correct: John has often beaten me at tennis. Reason After the auxiliaries has, have and had, we use the past participle form of the verb. Incorrect: They didn’t invited us. Correct: They didn’t invite us. Incorrect: He did came. After did, we use the present tense form (bare infinitive) of the verb. Incorrect: Neither he came nor he wrote. Correct: Neither did he come nor did he write. Incorrect: Seldom I go to the hills. Correct: Seldom do I go to the hills. The adverbs neither and seldom have negative meanings. When sentences begin with a negative word we use the inverted word order with do/did. Incorrect: Never I have seen such a mess. Correct: Never have I seen such a mess. Reason When sentences begin with a negative word, we use the inverted word order. When there is an auxiliary verb in the sentence, we put that auxiliary verb before the noun (subject). When there is no auxiliary verb, we put do/did before the subject. Incorrect: He said that he saw him last year. Correct: He said that he had seen him last year. Reason Here the error lies in the failure to use the past perfect tense when the time of one past tense verb is more past than that of another. Incorrect: If I shall do this, I shall be wrong. Correct: If I do this, I shall be wrong. Incorrect: If I did this, I shall be wrong. Correct: If I do this, I shall be wrong. Reason When the main clause is in the future tense, the subordinate clause should be in the present tense. Incorrect: He had to leave his rights. Correct: He had to abandon (or relinquish) his rights. Reason We ‘leave a place’ or ‘leave something at some place’ or ‘leave someone to do something’. We do not ‘leave our rights’ or something like that. Incorrect: I take my food. Correct: I have my food. Reason ‘Take my food’ is not wrong, but English people do not normally use this expression. Incorrect: I take your leave. Correct: I must leave now. OR I must say goodbye. Reason I take your leave is not wrong, but is extremely formal. Incorrect: They cut Charles I’s head. Correct: They cut off Charles I’s head. Reason When the cutting divides what is cut into pieces, use cut off, cut up or cut into.	Present
Milk/cream, sugar, beaten eggs, and liquor drink?	Forming the Negative Forming the Negative Uses of the Subjunctive Forming the Negative In simple tenses (present, imperfect, future, conditional) and in the compound past tense (le passé composé), ne precedes the conjugated verb (the conjugated form of avoir or être in the passé composé), and any pronouns, including reflexive pronouns. The second part of the negative follows the conjugated verb (or follows the subject pronoun in an inverted question). Table 1 illustrates how this is done. Consider the following rules regarding the formation of negatives: Ne + the negative goes around the conjugated verb when it is followed by an infinitive. Elle ne veut plus jouer. (She doesn't want to play anymore.) Il ne peut pas sortir. (He can't go out.) Personne follows the past participle and the infinitive: Il n'a vu personne. (He didn't see anyone.) Je ne veux voir personne. (I don't want to see anyone.) Que precedes the word or words stressed. Il ne mange que deux fois par jour. (He eats only two times a day.) Elle n'a acheté qu'une robe. (She bought only one dress.) Je ne vais le faire qu'une fois. (I'm going to do it only once.) Each part of the ne … ni … ni construction precedes the word or words stressed. Nous ne mangeons ni viande ni poisson. (We eat neither meat nor fish.) Le cours n'était ni bon ni mauvais. (The course was neither good nor bad.) Il n'a ni étudié ni fait ses devoirs. (He neither studied nor did his homework.) Rien and personne may be used as subjects of a verb, but ne remains before the conjugated verb. Rien n'est arrivé. (Nothing happened.) Personne n'est arrivé. (Nobody arrived.) Ne is always used with a verb. The second part of the negative, however, may be used alone (without ne), but pas and plus must be modified. Qu'est‐ce que tu manges? (What are you eating?) Rien. (Nothing.) Qui chante? (Who's singing?) Personne. (No one.) Tu aimes le film? (Do you like the film?) Pas beaucoup. Not much. Plus de gâteau pour toi. (No more cake for you.) Ne … jamais used with a verb and jamais used alone without a verb mean never. Jamais with only a verb means ever. Je n'ai jamais vu ce film. (I never saw that film.) Non, jamais! (No, never!) Es‐tu jamais allé au Canada? (Have you ever been to Canada?)	i don't know
Name given to Christ when prophesied by Isaiah?	PROPHECY: ISAIAH 9:6: GOD'S MANIFESTATION - JESUS CHRIST PROPHECY: ISAIAH 9:6: GOD'S MANIFESTATION - JESUS CHRIST Updated on September 28, 2014 PROPHECY: ISAIAH 9:6 ISAIAH 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah was living in the 8th century B.C. in Judah. He prophesied during a period of great moral and political upheaval. Isaiah's name means "Salvation is of the Lord." His ministry lasted 40 years and the key word to the book of Isaiah is "Salvation is of the Lord." People need to return to the Lord to be saved. He prophesied the coming of the Messiah who will also be The Mighty God, The everlasting Father and finally as The Prince of Peace. This was fulfilled in the New Testament when Jesus, God's manifestation, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. Book of Isaiah ONLY ONE GOD IN THE WHOLE WORLD There is only One God and no one else in this whole wide world. Jesus cannot be considered as another deity or personality as defined by the Trinitarians. See God's Manifestations: The Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ http://hubpages.com/hub/godsmanifestationsholyspiritjesuschrist "There is none other God but one" (1 Corinthians 8:4). "Unto thee it was shewed, that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him" (Deu 4:35; 6:4). "Neither is there any God beside thee" (2 Sam 7:22) "Thou art God alone" (Ps 86:10). "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord" (Mark 12:29).one" (1 Cor 8:4). THE MIGHTY GOD AND JESUS The mighty God is omnipresent, omnipotent and all powerful. As proved by various people throughout the ages, there is only one God in the universe and that God dwells in heaven, is not seen by human beings as evidenced by Moses, Samuel, David, Mark and Paul. Who then is Jesus Christ but God's manifestation as His son on earth. All power is given to Jesus Christ on earth to act on behalf of God in heaven. God is invisible, but Jesus is fully man, fully God in nature and Jesus was given full authority to act on His behalf. The following verses in the Old Testament pertaining to God correspond perfectly and completely with those of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. 1. God is the Creator (Gen 1:1; Neh 9:6; Job 12:9). Jesus is the Creator (Jn 1:1-3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:10). 2. God is the Savior (Isa 43:11; Hos 13:4). Jesus is the Savior (Lk 2:11; Acts 4:12; Jude 24). 3. God is King (Ps 10:16; 96:10). Jesus is King (Rev 11:15). 4. God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords (Deu 10:17; Dan 2:47). Jesus is the Lord of lords (Rev 17:14; 19:16). 5. God is the Lord of life (Deu 32:39; Jer 38:16). Jesus is the Lord of life (Jn 1:4; 11:25; 14:6). 6. God is the first and the last (Isa 44:6; 48:12). Jesus is the first and the last (Rev 1:17; 22:13). PROPHECY OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS The Old Testament includes about sixty different prophecies with more than 300 references of the coming of the Messiah. It was through the fulfillment of these prophecies that Israel would be able to recognize the true Messiah. The four gospels record several times when Jesus said that He was fulfilling a prophecy of the Old Testament. The gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, another manifestation of the power of God. These gospels present Jesus' conception as a miracle with no sexual intercourse. The Gospel of Matthew presents the virgin birth of Jesus as fulfilling a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah 9:6. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Matthew 1:22-23 "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Luke 24:27 "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." And verse 44 notes, "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and the psalms, concerning me." John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. and the government shall be upon his shoulder:" He will reign over all. Death and hell could not contain Him because they had no power over Him. John 1:1, 14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of glory and truth. There is no ambiguity whatsoever about the relationship between God and Jesus. THE EVERLASTING FATHER Jesus is called the Everlasting Father though He is God the Son. Christians are deemed to be children of God, and God is our Father. Christians are not grand children nor are they called great grand children of God, but children of God. His love and grace is like that of a Father with His children. However, God and Jesus are without beginning of days nor end of life. That proves that God and Jesus are everlasting, without end of days. Hebrews 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. John 14:10,11 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me; that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER The name of Jesus shall have power and authority over men and angels. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) . COUNSELLOR Jesus will guide and advise all those who believe in Him. He intercedes God on their behalf. Psalms 48:14 writes: "For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." THE PRINCE OF PEACE "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ:" 2. Romans 5:1 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" 3. Ephesians 2:14 "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and had broken down the middle wall of partition between us." 4. Colossians 1:20 "And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Isaiah the prophet had indeed spoken the truth in Isaiah 9:6 when he prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. It can be seen that Jesus is, indeed, the manifestation of God. Isaiah	Immanuel
Roger 'Race' Bannon, Hadji, and a dog called Bandit are leading characters in what 1960s TV cartoon, now media franchise?	Did Isaiah Prophesy the Virgin Birth of Christ? : Christian Courier Did Isaiah Prophesy the Virgin Birth of Christ? by Wayne Jackson “Does Isaiah 7:14 contain a prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ? Some suggest that Isaiah’s statement refers to a ‘young woman’ (not necessarily a ‘virgin’) of his day, who would conceive and give birth to a child, and that this event would be a sign to Hezekiah. It is then further said that Matthew took that text and applied it to Jesus’ birth, though, allegedly, this was not the meaning of the passage originally. How do we respond to this assertion?” This theory contains so many flaws that it is difficult to know where to begin in refuting it. It can be traced ultimately back to the second century A.D., when it was employed by those who repudiated the concept of predictive prophecy that pointed to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. It has been filtered down, revised and refined over the years, so that some Christians now parrot the theory — though they haven’t a clue that the young woman notion was birthed from the womb of skepticism. As briefly as we can, we note the following points. The Background of the Prophecy When the kingdom of Judah was threatened by a confederation of enemies from the north, King Ahaz was terrified. God sent the prophet Isaiah to calm the king. The prophet declared that the evil forces would not prevail. Ahaz was encouraged to “ask for a sign” documenting this word of consolation, but the stubborn king refused. Isaiah then directed his attention to the “house of David.” He promised a much greater sign, namely “the virgin” would conceive and bear a son, whose name, Immanuel, would signify “God is with us.” The time-frame that it would take for the Immanuel-child to reach the age of accountability was used as a chronological measurement. Before that time-span would expire, Judah’s current threat would dissipate (which reality came to pass). More importantly, however, was the fact that a much greater deliverance was needed in Israel, and such would be provided by the actual arrival of Immanuel — who is Jesus Christ. A “Sign” is Prophesied This prophesied event is designated as a sign. The term “sign” is a point of controversy. While the word itself does not demand a miracle on a strictly etymological basis, a word’s meaning is determined by more than etymology alone. General usage and context (both immediate and remote) must be factored in. The immediate context does suggest a miracle. The king had been challenged to ask for a “sign,” either “in the depth, or in the height above” (Is. 7:11). This indicates something phenomenal. Ahaz refused the proffered sign claiming that such would tempt Jehovah—again hinting of the supernatural. Additionally, Matthew’s inspired interpretation of the passage clearly establishes the miraculous nature of the prediction (Mt. 1:22-23). There is no evidence at all that there was a miraculous birth to a virgin in the days of Isaiah. The Sign of a Virgin The Hebrew word rendered “virgin” is almah. It is the only biblical word that truly signifies a virgin. Prof. William Beck, who researched this matter with great precision, declared: I have searched exhaustively for instances in which almah might mean a non-virgin or a married woman. There is no passage where almah is not a virgin. Nowhere in the Bible or elsewhere does almah mean anything but a virgin (1967, 6) Robert Dick Wilson, the incomparable Hebrew scholar who was proficient in forty-five biblically-related languages, declared that almah “never meant ‘young married woman,’” and that the presumption of common law is that every almah is virtuous, unless she can be proved not to be (1926, 316). Even the Jewish scholar, Cyrus H. Gordon, who made some of the archaeological discoveries at Ras Shamra, conceded that recent archaeological evidence confirms that almah means “virgin” (1953, 106). The notion that almah merely signifies a “young woman” was first argued by the anti-Christian Jew, Trypho, in the mid-second century A.D (Justin Martyr, 67). The Virgin Shall Conceive Isaiah’s text plainly says “the virgin” (note the definite article, denoting a specific virgin) “shall conceive.” The passage does not speak of a virgin who would marry (thus surrendering her virginity) and then conceive. She conceives as a virgin. If this alluded to some contemporary of Isaiah, who was his mysterious lady? Were there two virgin births — one in Isaiah’s day and another involving Jesus? There is no credibility to this view. Additionally, the virgin’s child was to be called “Immanuel,” which signifies “God is with us.” If this name applied to a child in Isaiah’s day, who was this illusive youngster? He seems to have vanished as soon as he was born! Matthew mistaken? The suggestion made by some—that Matthew took Isaiah’s text and gave it an application alien to the original meaning—is unworthy of a correct view of Bible inspiration. Preachers today who take a text, extract it from its context, and make it a mere pretext for points they wish to establish are strongly chastised and their credibility is compromised. Yet men, under the sway of modernism, do not hesitate to so charge God’s inspired apostle in the case of the virgin birth. This is a shameful circumstance. Historical evidence The church fathers were of one mind that Jesus was born of a virgin, and Isaiah 7:14 was appealed to as an Old Testament prophetic proof-text. For example, Irenaeus (A.D. 120-202) wrote: Wherefore also the Lord Himself gave us a sign, in the depth below, and in the height above, which man did not ask for, because he never expected that a virgin could conceive, or that it was possible that one remaining a virgin could bring forth a son, and that what was thus born should be “God with us”? (19.3) Early scholarship, “rational” influence The earlier scholars of Christendom (e.g., Calvin, Lowth, Gill, Henry, Clarke, Alexander, Hengstenberg, etc.,) argued that Isaiah 7:14 was exclusively messianic in its import. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, as the influence of German rationalism made its presence felt both in Europe and in America, even writers who were generally considered conservative began to yield to the pressure. They thus suggested that perhaps Matthew only applied Isaiah’s text to the circumstances, when, in reality, there was a primary application to a “young woman” of the prophet’s own day. Edward J. Young’s masterful, three-volume set on the book of Isaiah (Eerdmans, 1965) was driven by a desire to refute this compromising drift — to which even some in the Lord’s family have fallen victim. There is no reason for the Lord’s people to resort to such textual manipulations in dealing with the biblical evidence for the birth of the Savior. For further study, see the author’s chapters in The Living Messages of the Books of the Old Testament (Isaiah), and The Living Messages of the Books of the New Testament (Matthew), in the Spiritual Sword Lectureship books (1977 and 1976 respectively). See also the small volume by Prof. Edward E. Hinson, Isaiah’s Immanuel (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1978). It is a valuable resource. References Beck, William. 1967. “What Does Almah Mean.” The Lutheran News. April 3, 1967. Cyrus, Gordon H. 1953. The Journal of Bible and Religion. XXI. April. Wilson, Robert Dick. 1926. _Princeton Theological Review. XXIV. Justin Martyr. Dialogue. 67.	i don't know
The rivers Brahmaputra, Ganges, Meghna and Krishna flow into the Bay of (What)?	River Map of India, India Rivers River map of India Disclaimer Close Disclaimer: All efforts have been made to make this image accurate. However Compare Infobase Limited and its directors do not own any responsibility for the correctness or authenticity of the same. The Indian River system is classified as Himalayan, peninsular, coastal, and inland-drainage basin rivers. The largest river basin of India is the Ganga basin, which receives water from Himalayas in the north and the Vindhyas in the South. The Ganga, the Yamuna, the Ghagra, Gandak and Kosi are the main constituents of this basin. The Brahmaputra has the greatest volume of water of all the rivers in India. It is the source of the Indus and the Satluj and flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam The Mahanadi is an important river in the state of Orissa . This river flows slowly for 900 kms and deposits more silt than any other river in the Indian subcontinent. The Godavari River System has second longest course within India. The banks of this river have many pilgrimage sites like Nasik, Triyambak and Bhadrachalam. The Krishna is the third longest river in India with a length of about 1300 kms. It rises in the Western Ghats and flows east into the Bay of Bengal. The source of the Kaveri is located in the Western Ghats. It has many tributaries including Shimsha, Hemavati River, Arkavathy, Kapila, Honnuhole, Lakshmana Tirtha, Kabini, Lokapavani, Bhavani, Noyyal and famousAmaravati. Kaveri is a major source of irrigation in Tamil Nadu . The Narmada and the Tapti are the only major rivers that flow into the Arabian Sea. The total length of Narmada through the states of Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra , and Gujarat amounts to 1312 kms. The Tapti follows a parallel course to the south of the Narmada, flowing through the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat on its way into the Gulf of Khambhat. The rivers of India provide irrigation, cheap transportation, electricity, and livelihoods for a large number of people. The river system of India also holds significance from a religious point of view. River System of India Rivers of India An overview Almost all the important Indian cities are situated on the banks of the rivers of India. Rivers of India also have a crucial role in Hindu mythology and are regarded sacred by all the followers of Hindu religion in India. There are nine important rivers of India and they are: The Ganges, Yamuna (a tributary of Ganges), Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Narmada, Godavari, Tapi, Krishna, and Kaveri. Parts of the Indus River also flow over Indian soil. Eight important rivers together with their various tributaries comprise the river system of India. Majority of the rivers discharge their waters into the Bay of Bengal; nevertheless, a number of the rivers whose itineraries take them across the western end of India and in the direction of the east of the state of Himachal Pradesh pour into the Arabian Sea. Northern portions of the Aravalli range, portions of Ladakh, and the barren areas of the Thar Desert have inland drainage. All the important rivers of India have their sources at any of the three principal watersheds: Chotanagpur plateau and Vindhya and Satpura ranges in central India The Himalaya and the Karakoram mountain ranges Western Ghats or Sahyadri in western India Rivers running into the interiors of India include the following: Musi River at Hyderabad, India Ghaggar-Hakra River in Haryana, Rajasthan Samir River, India/Gujarat Categories of Rivers of India The rivers of India can be broadly categorized into the following: Peninsular rivers Inland-drainage basin rivers Coastal rivers Rivers like the Ganges (with its tributaries Kameika, Yamuna, Chambal, Gomti), Brahmaputra, Godavari, Mahanadi, Kaveri, Krishna and their principal tributaries flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Indus, Tapti, and Narmada Rivers together with their key tributaries flow into the Arabian Sea. The Himalayan rivers are snow-fed and perennial rivers. The other rivers are either coastal rivers or they flow into the interiors of India. Go to any place in India and you will be moved to see how much the rivers control the economy and indigenous cultures. Definitely, Indians have revered rivers as a shape of Mother Goddess from the prehistoric era. Holiness of the Rivers of India Rivers of India are regarded sacred. Indian rivers have plenty of spiritual importance. Respected, worshipped, and cared for, these rivers form an integral part of every Indian life. Nothing progresses in their absence. They are as special as the Indian temples for a devotee. You can visit some of these rivers to understand what they imply to a common Indian man. Ganga or the Ganges The Ganga and its tributaries such as Son, Yamuna, Budhi Khandak, Gandak, and Sabazpati have been omitted from the list, which originally creates the largest cultivable plains of northern and eastern India, named as the Gangetic plains. The principal river, the sacred Ganga is formed by the union of Andha and Alaknanda. Ganga originates from Gangotri glaciers (Gaumukh - 13,858 ft) in the Himalayan mountain range and gushes from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and then comes into West Bengal and Bangladesh. It finally finishes in the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, where the name of the river is Padma. The Brahmaputra River System The Brahmaputra starts off from the Mansarovar lake, which is also the place from where the Sutlej and the Indus have originated. It is somewhat longer than the Indus, however the greater portion of its itinerary is situated outside India. It runs to the east in China, adjacent to the Himalayas, known as Tsang-Po. When it arrives at Namcha Barwa (2900 m), it takes an about turn close to it and moves into India in Arunachal Pradesh and is named as Dihang. The Indus River System The source of Indus River is located in the northern sides of the Kailash mountain range close to Lake Mansarovar in Tibet. In spite of the fact that the maximum portion of the river's itinerary flows across bordering Pakistan, a part of the river flows across Indian soil, similar to portions of the itineraries of its five important tributaries mentioned below. The tributaries of Indus River played a key role behind the origination of the name " Punjab". The word "Punjab" has originated from the Persian words Punj ("five") and aab ("water"), therefore the blend of the words (Punjab) signifies "land of five waters" or "five waters". The tributaries of Indus River are as follows: Sutlej (Satluj) The Narmada River System The Narmada' or Nerbudda is a river situated in central India. It creates the conventional frontier between South India and North India. The overall length of the river is 1,289 km (801 miles). The Narmada, the Mahi, and the Tapti are the important rivers of peninsular India that flow from east to west. The source of Narmada is Amarkantak. The Taapi River System The Taapi is a river situated in central India. It is one of the important rivers of the Indian peninsula and is approximately 724 km long. It climbs in the eastern Satpura range of Southern Madhya Pradesh, prior to pouring into the Gulf of Cambay of the Arabian Sea in Gujarat. The Godavari River System Godavari is a river, which has the second biggest itinerary in India and is frequently named as the Dakshin (South) Ganga or the Vriddh (Old) Ganga. The length of the river is approximately 1,450 km (900 mi). It climbs at Trimbakeshwar, close to Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) and Nasik in Maharashtra about 380 km away from the Arabian Sea, and pours into the Bay of Bengal. At Rajahmundry, 80 km from the seashore, the river is divided into two watercourses (Vasista which runs to Narsapur and Gautami which runs to other side pasarlapudi), therefore creating an extremely productive delta. The Krishna River System The Krishna is one of the biggest Rivers in India (approximately 1,300 km long). It starts off from Mahabaleswar, Maharashtra and joins the sea in the Bay of Bengal at Hamasaladeevi, Andhra Pradesh. The river runs across the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh. The Kaveri River System The Kaveri (also known as Kavery or Cauvery) is one of the major rivers in India and is regarded as holy by the Hindus. It is a sacred river for the South Indians. The origin of the Kaveri River is known as Dakshin Kashi. There are two temples: Caveri temple at Talakaveri and God Shiva Temple known as Bhagandeshwar at Bhagamandala. The sources of the river are located in the Western Ghats mountain range of Karnataka, and from Karnataka across Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri pours into the Bay of Bengal. The Mahanadi River System: The delta of Mahanadi River in India is a significant drainage area, which drains big areas of the Indian subcontinent into the Bay of Bengal. The alluvial basin is extensive and comparatively plane with a winding river waterway that alters its itinerary. The Mahanadi River runs steadily for 560 miles (900 km) and features a projected catchment basin of 51,000 sq miles (132,100 square km). The river sediments higher amount of silt as compared to any other Indian river. Rivers flowing into Bay of Bengal Given below is a list of rivers flowing into the Bay of Bengal: (1) Subarnarekha (2) Karnaphuli River from Mizoram and Bangladesh (3) Damodar (4) Meghna River from India and Bangladesh (a) Titas River in Tripura (i)Haora River in Agartala. Brahmaputra River Basin (1)Brahmaputra River	Bengal
What soft gray alkaline earth metal is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust?	The Brahmaputra River Basin The Brahmaputra River Basin Geography The Brahmaputra River Basin consists of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, which originates in Tibet and the Barak River starting in India. These rivers all converge in Bangladesh as the Meghna River and flow out to the Bay of Bengal. The river basin is a wide land area made up of parts of India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. The Brahmaputra River flows for 1,800 miles through Tibet, India, and Bangladesh. Starting in the Himalayas in Tibet as the Tsangpo River, the river flows eastward for 704 miles. At the Shuomatan Point, the river bends and enters India crossing the Assam Valley. It then flows south through Bangladesh exiting at the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta into the Bay of Bengal. Hydropolitics of the Basin 625 million people live in the basin, 80% of which are farmers and need the water for their crops and animals. Bangladesh gets 94% of its water from rivers flowing into the country equating 2.9 billion metric tons from the basin. The high use of the water source is clearly reflected in the largely agricultural based economies of all the countries the river flows through. This is a point that the politicians of this region have not overlooked. The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in 1985 with the purpose of “promoting welfare, accelerating economic growth, promoting and strengthening collective self reliance, and strengthening cooperation among themselves,” as stated in their charter. Signed by representatives of Bhutan, India, Pakistan, the Maldives, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka the group largely acts as a “check” on India, superior is size and economy, and clearly the most powerful in the region. The SAARC to date have yet to have made any substantial difference in terms of water scarcity. Recently, the Chinese government has revealed their intention to dam the Brahmaputra river at the Shuomatan Point, or the “Great Bend” and divert those waters to the Yellow River, located at the north east end of the plateau. With this project the Chinese government is providing water to its desert region by taking it away from billions of people living on the Plateau and downstream. Previous dams similar in effect to one proposed by the Chinese government such as the Farakka Barrage in India have had persisting effects in Bangladesh. With the building of the dam less water flowed to Bangladesh, causing displacement of peoples, increased salinity, and deterioration of water quality. If the Chinese government chooses to go ahead with the dam without consideration of the countries downstream, instability and permanent ecological damage will surely follow. With this new proposal a great opportunity has come for the SAARC to exercise their power to shed light on the detrimental effects this dam. Although China is not a member, the signatories (especially India) have legitimate concerns that the international community should listen to.	i don't know
What feature in clothing such as trousers and skirts has variations called box, fluted, accordion, knife and honeycombe?	All About Skirts, its shapes, and body types it suits the most You are here: Home / Fashion / Clothing / All About Skirts, its shapes, and body types it suits the most All About Skirts, its shapes, and body types it suits the most by nidhi My fascination for skirts is renewed every season as skirts remain an all time favorite item of clothing worldwide, closely trailing behind dresses in popularity. Interestingly, skirts have been around since the evolution of mankind. The rectangular piece of animal skin, leaves interwoven together and the earliest form of fabric – loosely woven tartans; all used to be wrapped around the waist and were the initial basic form of skirts. If you thought skirts were only meant for the women, think again! Kilts, the traditional wear of the Scottish is for Men, Indians have a version of the skirt – the good old desi Lungis, wrap around skirts are worn by the Indonesian men. However, skirts are predominantly a Women’s clothing item. Indians have a long tradition with skirts too. The South Indian traditional dress worn by the women “Mundu Neriyathum” or a long skirt “ Mundu” worn with a blouse and a long stole ‘Neriyathum’, North and western Indian traditional dress of a ‘Ghaghara’ or ‘lehenga’ and teamed with ‘choli’ or a tight fitting blouse are all different forms of long skirts. The skirts have evolved over time period and how! You could say that the popularity of skirts can be attributed to its versatility – you could wear a skirt to a strictly formal occasion such as a business sit down dinner, a semi formal occasion such as a party to celebrate your contribution to the company or even to a casual movie and pub night out with your girlfriends. The best part about skirts is that you could look different every single day, wearing the same skirt, if you just alter the top and accessories you wear it with. So what defines which skirt should be worn on what kind of occasion? Is it the styling/ fabric/ length /body type / colours or a combination of all of these? We try and answer all these questions and more in this article. Fabrics for skirts The fabric of the skirt largely depends on the season. If you are wearing a skirt in summers, it will be in Light to Medium weight 100% cotton fabrics such as poplin, sheeting, linen or denims in 5 oz. to 8.oz. A few kinds of skirts are also made in the lighter weight cotton like cambric and voile or in polyester fabrics like georgettes, chiffons or net. However, skirts made in light weight and transparent fabrics are normally lined to provide additional strength and prevent too much transparency. Also due to the fabric strength limitation, these are normally not converted into very tight fitting designs. For the colder months, skirts may be made in heavier weight cotton fabrics such as canvas, twills and denims in weight 8 oz. to 12 oz. heavier weights and tighter constructions of poplins and sheetings are also common. Warmer fabrics which are less permeable and trap air like silk, satin, taffeta or heavier fabrics like worsted wool , different wales corduroy, uncut corduroy, velvet are also good choices for skirts for colder months. To give added warmth to the wearer, skirts can also be teamed up with leggings and stockings. Skirts in knit fabrics such as cotton, viscose or a blend of viscose/lycra, cotton lycra are also very popular. Knit gives the benefit of taking the shape of the wearer. Colors, prints and accessories There is no ground rule for colors or prints that could do well for skirt. The occasion that you want to wear a skirt to, normally dictates the prints and colors. For office wear, conservative colors such as pastels, navy, beige, brown, black, ecru and white are preferred. Pinstripes are also considered formal wear. Team office wear skirts with fitted shirts for a serious, ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ look or, for a more relaxed look, team it with loose fitting, self textured blouses or blouses with small prints. Flat, or small heeled closed shoes work the best for office wear; stick to neutral colors for footwear such as beige, brown, black or white. High heels can best left to be worn for after office dance parties. Avoid wearing heavy jewelery; a string of pearls and ear studs or small ear rings convey a look of professionalism. The lengths most suitable for a formal skirt is knee and below. For summers you could wear a knee length skirt (make sure your legs are toned and waxed!), for winters you could wear a long skirt. A strictly office wear skirt can be converted to a party skirt in a jiffy, by just altering the things that you wear it with. Wear a nice floral fitted top, add some color to your lips and cheeks and throw the string of pearls and the small heels in the locker, to be replaced by some fun trinkets and neck-wear and stilettos. We talked about the versatility of a skirt…now you understand why! For a more casual outing, bolder colors and prints which are ‘in fashion’ are preferred. Colors such as fuchsia pink, raspberry red, lemon yellow are all perfectly acceptable, however, ensure that you accessorize right and team it with the right top. You could have an array of prints in vogue for a season, such as large floral prints, ditsy prints; border prints, paisleys, geometric prints etc. and all of these would work perfectly well for a skirt. Team a solid color top with a skirt having large prints. Teaming tops and skirts, both with large prints could prove to be a fashion disaster and avoid this at all costs. All skirt lengths from thigh to ankle are worn and work well for casual wear. The shirts could be more stylish however, from sleeveless to full sleeves, from bright colors to neutrals to prints, everything works. You could experiment a lot with jewelery – large chunky necklaces, multi-layered chains, delicate trinkets all work well with a casual skirt. The key is to create a balanced look; if the top is the highlight of the ensemble, keep the skirt and jewelery basic; likewise, if the jewelery is loud and creates a statement, keep the top and the skirt basic. Before I go on to talk about the shapes, it is also important to know the closures that a skirt uses. A skirt could be a pull on elasticated skirt, or one with a hook and eye/button and a zipper. The elasticated skirt is a strict no-no for formal wear as the elastic makes the waist look fuller. An elasticated skirt can perhaps only be worn if you absolutely do not wish to wear anything fitting at the waist, yet wish to wear a skirt. It is best suited for small girls and the elderly. The most common closures are the hook and eye or button and hole along with zipper closures. These make the fitting of a skirt much better and the skirt shape can be truly realized. Zippers could be chosen from invisible or a regular zip, depending upon the styling or shape of the skirt. Shapes and types of Skirts A-Line Skirt As the name suggests, the shape of the skirt roughly resembles the letter A – fitting at the waist, taking the shape of your hips and thighs and then flaring at the hem. Some of the variations are: Godet skirt, Gypsy skirt and Paneled skirt. Godet skirt A-line skirts which have triangular pieces of fabrics inserted from the main body of the skirt to the hem are godet skirts. The godets are inserted to have more volume at the hem, so that the hem sways when the wearer walks. Godet skirts have a slimming look to them as they take to tend away the attention from the waist and hips to the hem. Gypsy skirt A-line, ankle length skirts which have tiers with or without ruffles are Gypsy skirts. The horizontal panels of a gypsy skirt could be attached by simply sewing them or by having lace insets. Gypsy skirts may be elasticated and normally also have ties. Some gypsy skirts are also crinkled. Pear shaped women should avoid crinkle skirts and skirts with too much horizontal detailing on the hip area as the same tends to accentuate the hips. Paneled skirts A-line skirts which have vertical panels of fabric (self or some other fabric) stitched from the waist to the hem are called paneled skirts. These have a slimming effect on the wearer and can hence be worn by the curvier lot. An A line skirt could be knee length or below. Since it accentuates the hips, women with curves love this shape. Simple A line skirts or skirts with vertical detailing panels work the best for the pear shaped women. An A line knee or ankle length skirt, which is not too heavily detailed could be worn on a casual Friday to the office as well. Straight skirts Straight skirts are skirts that are the same width from the waist area to the hem. Good for both formal and casual occasions, these come in varying lengths – ankle/mid calf and knee. These normally have slits either at the back, sides or front for ease of movement of the wearer. The fabric decides if the skirt should be worn on a formal occasion or casual. For formal occasions normally satins or fabrics which take the shape of your body are preferred. For more casual outings you could choose heavier weight cottons, denims or even leather. This shape flatters almost all body types. Well toned legs are guaranteed to be noticed if you wear a knee length straight skirt. Straight skirts which have a high defining waist suit people with thin frames who want to show off their thin waists. This skirt is also forgiving to people who have a generous middle, especially if the skirt is long, as the length takes away the attention from the width. Pencil & tube skirts Pencil & Tube skirts are fitted from the waist to the knee. Pencil skirts are knee length whereas; tube skirts are normally calf or ankle length. Normally with a slit at the back, these are meant to be worn by slim people with an hourglass, no-flaws figure, as the skirt shape is not at all forgiving. Quiet a staple in boardrooms, these are considered to be very stylish and non fussy and hence a popular choice for formal occasions. These are normally teamed with jackets or formal shirts/tops and formal footwear. Belts highlighting the waist are a wonderful accessory for these skirts. Mini skirt Extremely stylish and a wardrobe basic, these skirts have held the fascination of men and fashion divas alike. These are small or ‘mini’ in length, hence the name, reaching just about mid thigh. I am sure all of us would have in some point had a denim miniskirt with patch pockets at the back and small side slits. Miniskirts could come in a variety of fabrics, however normally are made in thick fabric to give extra strength. These could be straight or flared at the hem and are most suited for a casual outing to a pub or nightclub with your girl friends or that special someone. Flared A-line miniskirts, because of a little more room at the hem, could be made in lighter fabrics too, normally with an inner lining. To add an element of playfulness, A line miniskirts could have multiple layers of frills. These are known as ra-ra skirts. Another popular feature found in the A line miniskirts is a cut-work lace/printed fabric in the form of a frill / net attached at the hem. Minis can suit short or tall thin women. Due to their short length, they give an impression of length to the wearer. Needless to say, since they show off so much of legs, they are the best bet for any woman looking to show off her well toned long legs! They are also perhaps the only skirts with which you could team flats, boots or heels and manage to carry off the look in all three. You could also team these with colorful leggings during the colder months. Bubble skirts These are skirts which have hems going in (almost like a series of big semi circles) all around the skirt circumference at regular intervals, to create a voluminous, puffy, balloon like silhouette. These are off and on popular, but rarely can be classified as a staple skirt must-have. Due to its’ shape, the fabric plays a very important role. Certain fabrics such as satin or flowy crepes/georgettes etc. can handle this kind of shape well, but the stitching quality needs to be extremely good. Cottons, due to their tendency of developing creases, should normally not be chosen for this shape. Since the most noticeable part of the bubble skirt is its hem, it is advisable to not have too many design features such as embroidery/belts/pockets on a bubble skirt, or else the skirt will look too busy and done up. Bubble skirts are puffy in shape and hence should normally be worn by the thin. Curvaceous women could give it a try too, if they absolutely must, as it is voluminous and therefore could hide lots of body flaws. The length however, needs to be at least till knee for the well endowed with the hem line going up for the slimmer of the lot. Wrap skirts These skirts are rectangular pieces of fabrics with self fabric ties, which you could ‘wrap around’ your waist. These could be knee length or ankle length. The amount of overlap can also be adjusted to either show off a leg partly or totally covered. After wrapping the skirt, the shape could be straight or A-line. Wrap skirts are suitable for all body types as the shape is very forgiving. Thin people may prefer to wear shorter wrap arounds. You could team the wraparounds with heels or flats. Asymmetrical hem skirts Skirts with unbalanced or uneven hems are known as asymmetrical hem skirt. Basically any skirt shape could be with an asymmetrical hem. Unlike a lot of other skirt shapes, asymmetrical hem skirts work well with lighter fabrics as well such as chiffons, georgettes and knits. Due to the mix of an unconventional shape and fabric, these if worn right, can be the ultimate feminine skirt. Normally these are quiet roomy at the hem and the imbalance in the hem adds a sort of the bounce and the skirt sways as the wearer walks, making it look super-cool. The best part about asymmetrical hem skirts is that these could work for almost all body types. Long skirts with a handkerchief hem work well for tall, pear shaped women who want to distract the attention from the not so flattering parts of their body to the hem. A skirt fitted at the waist and hip area, and then flaring out at the uneven hem is great for people with thin frames. You could wear heels or flats or even boots with these kinds of skirts. Circle skirts The hem circumference of these skirts is a perfect circle. You could have panels attached at the waist to have a perfect skirt at the hem since any fabric will not be wide enough to make a complete circle. These could be short (reaching mid thigh) or mid calf or ankle long, in either case these are voluminous. The short length skirts suit the thin tall women, the longer varieties due to the volume and as the skirt normally does not hug the hips or the waist, suit the curvier women as well. Circle skirts are a great symbol of feminity and can easily be made in light weight fabrics, as these fabrics have a lovely fall and drape and that is what the circle skirts require. Short Circle skirts can be worn at a casual party, the longer ones could be worn to a more formal occasions even the red carpet! Skort and divided skirts A skort is a combination of a pair of shorts and a skirt, hence the typical name. It is primarily a pair of shorts; however, the front part of the shorts has a self fabric panel attached to it, making it look like a skirt from the front. Length of the skort is usually mid thigh and it almost never goes below the knee. Due to the short element, these skirts are very comfortable when you wish to go for playing tennis or hiking or even street shopping. These are rarely worn to a formal event. Suits the well toned athletic body types; it normally should be avoided by the pear shaped bodies as it highlights the back thighs and the derriere. Skorts normally come in thick, heavier weight cottons and you could team these with sport shoes and flats. Divided skirts are often confused with culottes. You could identify this style in most of the black and white English movies. When it was first worn in the latter part of the 19th century, it was proclaimed by the male chauvinists as a woman’s attempt to be the proverbial ‘wear pants and be the man of the house’. The times have changed and women have nobody and nothing stopping them from wearing what they please, leave alone the trousers. Not surprisingly, therefore, divided skirts are hardly found in any fashion conscious woman’s wardrobe and are now relegated to be a school uniform design for the young girls. Fit and Flared skirts These are a combination of skirts fitting at the top and flaring out as they reach the hem. Mermaid skirt Along fit and flared skirt, this is fitted till almost your knees and then suddenly flares to give the appearance of almost a mermaid to the wearer. Skirts with yokes These skirts are divided into two parts; the upper part at the waist has a fitted yoke, below which the skirt flares. The yokes could be asymmetrical or the regular horizontal or round. The fit and flared skirts are available in long and short lengths and in a variety of fabrics, though the lighter weights normally are a popular choice due to their ability to flare out beautifully at the hem. These normally are meant for casual outings or to be worn at nightclubs, but never to the workplace as the effect of the fit and flare in one skirt is a little dramatic. Very tight fitting skirt at the waist and hip area should be avoided by pear shaped women. Draped skirt A skirt with self fabric folds placed asymmetrically at one side of the hem or waist or at both the side seams. The effect on this is quiet dressy and this skirt is usually made in flowy fabrics as the fabric can easily be created into folds. This look can be carried off by almost all body types as the fabric in which this skirt is usually made has a slimming effect. Tulip skirts Picture a tulip and then invert it, tulip skirt is normally made with two pieces of fabrics overlapping each other, almost like the petals of a tulip, to leave a small part of the leg showing off between the two layers. The length could be knee or below, rarely below mid calf though. This has a slimming effect on the wearer and so can be worn by almost all body types. Layered skirts Layered skirts are skirts with a fabric layer above the main body of the skirt. The top most layers are normally of a sheer fabric, so that the bottom layer could be seen through. At times it could be of a different color to add an element of mystery to it. The layer adds volume to the skirt and so this shape is recommended for thin frame women. Pleated skirts Skirts could come in with a variety of pleats to give more room to the wearer or as a design feature. Pleats could be stitched or permanently heat pressed on to the skirts. Pleated skirts are not commonly worn on a day to day basis. Accordion pleated skirt An accordion pleated skirt is one which has a series of pleats of equal width. These resemble the pleats on a foldable hand fan. The accordion pleats are heat pressed in opposite directions. These are normally found in fabrics which could hold these pleats permanently. This kind of a skirt should be worn by thin people as pleats add volumes to the body. Knife Pleated skirts When accordion pleats are pressed flat in the same direction, they are called knife pleats. Knife pleats are wider than the accordion pleats. Box Pleated skirts You could identify a box pleated skirt from the others as they have flat fabric in between two pleats. The flat fabric shows through from between the pleats. When the top of the pleats are brought so close to each other that they almost kiss and their position is secured by a stitch, the box pleat is called kick box pleat. Box and kick box pleats are used for a lot of sports skirts as these offer the maximum room. Sometimes, small, uniform pinches of fabrics are secured with a stitch; these resemble a pin-tuck and are not really common in skirts. Like women, skirts come in all shapes and sizes, making it sometimes difficult to understand the right kind to wear to an occasion; the guidelines given above should be able to help you though, in looking your best in a skirt, at every occasion! .	Pleat
Wildfowl such as ducks, geese, swans, etc., have a nail on which part of the body?	ABQ Techzonics Tool Collectibles,Machine Collectibles,Equipment Collectibles policies.htm USA site - No cookies - No spyware - No adware - No trojans - No viruses - No worms - No spam - No pop-ups We Respect Your Privacy - We do NOT Monitor Your Shopping nor Track You Online, nor Share Your Data ABQ Techzonics Earthshaking Online Tech Superstore We Seriously Consider all Reasonable Best Offers, Price Negotiations, Trade Offers! We are Your Perfect One-Stop-Shopping Superstore to Fill Your High-Tech Parts Lists! TOOL COLLECTIBLES, MACHINE COLLECTIBLES, EQUIPMENT COLLECTIBLES YOUR OFFICIAL ONLINE TOOL/MACHINE COLLECTIBLES STORE: 100s of Eye-Popping Collectible Tools, Collectible Machines, Collectible Equipment, and related Vintage, Antiques, Steampunk, Retro, Anachronistic, Historical, Antiquarian, Antiquities, Paleo, Primitives, Primitive Collections, Rare, One-of-a-Kind, Other Valuable Collectible Items, Collections Listed below are only our Collectible Tools & Collectible Equipment - We also Sell 100s of Other Tools and Equipment (see SITEMAP for Webpage Links) For our Collectible Electronic Parts and Electronic Test Equipment, see Collectibles-Electronics Webpage For all other Collectibles, see our Collectibles-Arts-Crafts-Miscellaneous Webpage YOUR ONLINE ONE-STOP SHOPPING TECH SUPERSTORE! SEE OUR SUPERSTORE webpages FOR: ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS / ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS: Integrated Circuits (ICs), Transistors, Diodes, Rectifiers, LEDs, Capacitors, Resistors, Potentiometers (Pots), Varistors, Inductors, Coils, Transformers, Speakers, Relays, Switches, Actuators, Fuses, Circuit Breakers, Crystals, Oscillators, Connectors, Headers, Sockets, Pins, Wires, Cables, Displays, Photo, Video, Laser, Power, other Electronic Parts / Electronic Components. EQUIPMENT: Electronic Test Equipment, Electrical Equipment, Computers, Peripherals, Electric Tools, Hand Tools, Tool Chests, Vehicles (Cars, Trucks, Bikes). MORE TECH STUFF: Scientific/Industrial Valves, Fittings, Personal Security, Survival (Survivalists / Preppers), Radionics, Crafts, Hobbies, Strange & Unusual, Religious & Spiritual, Collectibles - Hardware, Devices, Parts, Special Materials, Books, Manuals, Software Links to all Offer Webpages => SITEMAP <= => ABQ TECHZONICS <= Homepage Consumertronics.net , P. O. Box 23097, Albuquerque, NM 87192 Voice: 505-321-1034 (9-5 MST, M-F) Please EMAIL US for all Orders, Inquiries and Questions Copyright © 2008-2017, Consumertronics. All rights reserved NOTE: We buy and collect many antique, vintage, steampunk, retro, anachronistic, historical, unusual, weird, laboratory and precision tools and equipment in new and very good used conditions, of all types but particularly those useful for electronics and small work. Should you have any such tools and equipment you want to sell, please let us know by email - describe make and model, description, condition, and if possible your price. TABLE OF CONTENTS - Vintage, Antiques, Steampunk, Retro, Anachronistic, Historical, Antiquarian, Antiquities Collectibles: (most browsers; not case-sensitive; partial text OK) SEARCHING FOR ITEMS: Items are enterred in this webpage mostly based on order we obtain them. Please use top-right search box or your Browser Search / Find feature to locate the specific Items of interest or just browse webpage. We listed many Items by more than one name and name variation (e.g. "antique tools", "vintage tools"). If you can't find Item on webpage, try by other name variations, and then by function and functional variations commonly known by (e.g. "railroad tools"), then search our other likely webpages, see SITEMAP for links. ITEM CONDITIONS: Unless otherwise indicated, all items described on this webpage are new old stock (NOS) and never used. We often buy and trade for new parts, equipment, and other items of the types described herein, preferably in larger quantities, some which we set aside for our own uses and collections and other inventories and some we resell herein. Should you have items to sell or trade of these types, please let us know via email. All small parts and materials we acquire for resale herein must be new, but we often buy and trade for used collectibles and collections in very good conditions, which we describe as "used" for those we resell. Please email us (please don't call as we are often in our labs), use email Subject: "Buy/Sell/Trade Inquiry." DESCRIPTIONS & IMAGES: Unlike many Online stores, our goal is to always provide you clear and correct item images, and accurate and reasonably complete item descriptions. While we have tried to be 100% accurate in our descriptions and images, please freely let us know of any errors or omissions made herein, for example, by emailing us URLs to relevant datasheets. While images usually help, most of the items we sell are already well known. If any of our descriptions or images are missing, incomplete or inaccurate and this affects your purchase decision, please email us (please don't phone; put "Need Better Info for Item" in email Subject Line) so we can make reasonable corrections. Many of our images of electrical and electronic hardware do not show all of the leads or cabling which the actual items have so that we can provide bigger and clearer images of the body of the items to better show part numbers, labeling, features and cosmetic conditions. OTHER TYPES OF EQUIPMENT / PARTS / MATERIALS: We offer dozens of major types of parts, equipment, hardware, materials, collectibles - you name it. Please go to the appropriate Store webpage of ours to fill your needs. Combined S/H (see below) can save you much money. We are now one big Online department store. POLICIES: Unless explicitly stated otherwise on this webpage, all applicable policies are found at: www.consumertronics.net/policies.htm PAYMENTS: We accept checks, money orders, PayPal (PP), Money Transfer Service (MTS) payment, trade and cash. Simply email us ( wizguru ) a list of what you want (Title, name or part # of each choice), include the prices with S/H, and your name, shipping address and preferred payment method, or use one of our Consumertronics Online Order Forms. We ship within 2 work days after full payment clearance period from day of deposit. All payments must be made in $US - no Canadian dollars or Australian dollars. Details below: (1) FASTEST SHIPPING: U.S. Postal Money Order (PMO), Canadian PMO (made out in $US), PP, MTS and cash are considered to be same-as-cash by us - clearance period is zero days. Note: We are not responsible for cash sent in the mails, so conceal well. (2) MOs & CHECKS DETAILS: Pay to: "Consumertronics". ALL NON-PMO MOz & CHECKS : Clearance period: 10+ days if $20-$100, 20+ days if $101-$250, 30+ days if over $250. (3) MONEY TRANFER SERVICES (MTS) DETAILS: Pay to: "John J. Williams" (due to fact that using MTS to pay to a business name is usually a major hassle). All MTS payments over $500 require prior written approval by us. While almost all MTS arrive here within an hour, a few may take take days. (4) PAYPAL DETAILS: Go to PayPal . Do a PP "Send Money" to: "[email protected]". PP over $50 require prior, explicit, written approval by us via email, and PP payers must be Verified PP users, which transaction PP must provide Seller Protection. For both verifiable and repeat Buyers, ABQ Techzonics may greatly increase the PP limit, in which case, it emails to Buyer his/her new PP level. (5) ITEMS FOR TRADE DETAILS: Who doesn't want to save cash these days! We do accept Items of Trade. By doing Items For Trade, you save money and get rid of good Item(s) you need less than Items we offer. Prior explicit permission from us is required before you ship to us any Item for trade. If interested, email us ( wizguru , put in email Subject Line: "Item for Trade Inquiry.") with full details of what you have to offer and what you want for it (you must have sole and exclusive ownership of all Items you offer to us for trade). Include complete description of all Item(s), including Item make and model/part numbers, conditions, quantities, defects. Please do NOT phone us about Items of trade. If interested we will email you back with conditional acceptance or a counteroffer. If mutual acceptance results, we will then email you our permission to ship the Items, which you do at your S/H expense. Once your trade Items arrive here, we will examine them, which usually takes 3-20 days. If acceptable to us, we will ship (at our S/H expense within 2 work days) what we had agree to trade to you. Note: We do not want old TVs,VCRs, home systems, computers, monitors or peripherals or big, heavy items, and all items must be clean and safe to ship and handle. Again, don't ship us anything until you receive our written explicit approval to do so. (6) PAY EXACT FULL AMOUNT: Please pay the exact full amount of your purchase + S/H (email us if you are not sure). If you overpay us by more than 5% or $100 (whichever is less), allow 90-120 days for us to refund you the difference. (7) UNACCEPTABLE ORDER TYPES: No credit cards, CODs, partial payments, postdated payments, "on approvals" or any other types of payments or shipment not explicitly OKed herein or by us in writing prior to payment. Furthermore, we reserve the right to refuse any order, form of payment, or buyer-imposed sale or shipping conditions without liability to us. For our good buyers: We are more flexible in types of payments and shipping conditions. FOREIGN BUYERS: Some items may be restricted by government regulations for export, and Buyers assume all liability for the legality of our shipments to them and their purchases, possessions and uses of the items we ship to them. PRICING: We are flexible in our prices and S/H - especially for our good customers and for quantity and multi-item orders - we want to be fair to both you and us. Prices are stated below Item Description. We determined Item price based on prices of similar items found Online and in stores. In cases of no clear Online or store price consensus, other sources were used. If our price is too high for any item we sell, we will seriously consider reducing our price - especially if you document that others are selling this same or equivalent item at lower prices in the quantity you need - our goal is to beat our competitors! For many items, we are not limited to the quantities shown - should you need more and we have what you need available, we will seriously consider your offer. By buying an item in quantity and/or more than one item, you much reduce your S/H costs per unit. In most cases we can also do less quantity if your total order is $10+ (+S/H) and average price of your items is $5+ each. Just email us with your needs, your counter-offers, and/or items you want to trade. SPECIAL DISCOUNTS: Until ___________, 20___, you may take _______% off of the price of any and all Items described on this webpage in which the word "Firm" does not appear next to the price. SPECIAL QUANTITY DEALS SAVES YOU MONEY: Larger quantity (and multiple Item and local pickup and delivery) sales almost always result in per-unit $Item-plus-S/H savings for YOU! We have some Items in much larger quantities than offered above as usually stated in Item description. Yes, if we have the quantity to meet your higher quantity needs, we will seriously consider any reasonable and mutually fair offer you propose which will not only get you the quantity you need but at a substantial savings to you in per unit price and per unit S/H costs (quantity evenly divisible by 10 or 25). We will seriously consider underselling all other major sellers of the same items. SHIPPING & HANDLING: Where S/H is stated, it is stated for CONTINENTAL USA ORDERS. Shipping part of S/H is based on actual Shipping charges. Where S/H is not stated, the following S/H charges apply: CONTINENTAL USA ORDERS: $5.90. NON-CONTINENTAL USA ORDERS: $8.90. FOREIGN ORDERS: Please inquire. Minimum foreign Air Mail S/H is $14.90 Canada, and $22.90 all other foreign addresses, so please order as much as you can to save substantial foreign S/H. MULTIPLE ITEMS SAVE YOU MUCH S/H CHARGES!: We are your perfect one-stop-shopping Super Store for high-tech parts to fill your parts lists! S/H is now expensive and shippers are constantly increasing their rates; to save YOU much in S/H, please order all that you need from us today from this webpage and all of our other webpages, pay for them all in full in one payment to be shipped all together to same address. ALL USA & CANADA ORDERS: You pay full S/H for your most S/H-costly Item plus half S/H for each and every other Item you buy. ALL OTHER FOREIGN ORDERS: Please inquire. SHIPPING METHOD: For USA, we usually use Priority Mail or Media Mail (if book or manual) if Shipping charge is less than 75% of the S/H stated above. All foreign Shipping is by Air Mail. Other forms of USA shipping, including UPS, FedEx, Overnight, Second Day Air, Insured, etc. are usually OK but the S/H will be higher. We will not charge shipping to Buyer's shipper account. ANTISTATIC PACKAGING: : All Items which are electrostatically sensitive (e.g. CMOS, FET, MOSFET or otherwise known to be static electricity sensitive) are shipped in antistatic tubes, antistatic foam, antistatic reel tape, antistatic tray, and/or antistatic bag. LOCAL PICKUP / DELIVERY OPTIONS: To possibly save YOU much S/H money, see: Local Pick-Up-and-Delivery Options . Thanks for visiting our ABQ Techzonics website. Best of successes. John J. Williams, M.S.E.E., Consumertronics.net Collectible Mechanics Tools / Collectible Machine Tools: BABCOCK DRILL REVERSIBLE 5-TO-1 SPEED REDUCER VINTAGE BABCO DRILL SPEED REDUCER, No. 825 + USER MANUAL + WOOD BOX Used and in very good condition. Babco No. 825 Vintage Babcock Drill Speed Reducer, Reversible 5-to-1 Drill Speed Reducer, with User Manual and Wood Box. Can be locked into reversing position. By reducing drill speed by a factor of 5, you increase drill torque by a factor of 5. Can be used with drill press or hand power drills from 1/4" and up. Industrial grade heavy duty. This Babcock special tool is really great where you need slower rotating drilling, especially tapping. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD143. - Price: $34.95, S/H: $9.90. - RARE ATELIER VELO VAR MOTORCYCLE / BIKE / ATV CHAIN LINK / RIVET REMOVER / BREAKER / SPLITTER / PRESSER TOOL (Sorry, but we recently sold this Atelier Velo Motorcycle Tool; we are trying to get more in.) Used and in very good condition. Rare Atelier Velo Var Motorcycle Chain Link Breaker/Remover/Splitter/Presser. Also useful for bike, ATV, Moped, etc. chains. This sale is for one (1) Atelier Velo Var bike chain remover, and posing vise (3rd image) is not included. Also, a great tool collectible and motorcycle collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $199.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE PERCENT-OF-TREAD-USE AUTO TIRE GAGE TOOL SCHRADER USA #5752, STEEL TIRE GAUGE TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rare Percent-of-Tread-Use Steel Tire Gauge #5752 Auto Tool, made by Schrader USA. The "tongue" at the bottom is moved up and down by sliding the piece on the back, based on the depth of the tire tread. You then read in the front the small range of percentages of tire tread wear. There are 6 gauge windows in the front, which appear to be related to the tread depth of the tire type when it was new. Have you ever argued with somebody about how much tire tread you have used or is left? Go to 10 auto mechanics, and you will likely get at least 4 opinions, often depending on whether or not the automechanic wants to sell you tires. Especially useful if you own several cars, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles. And for keeping track of your tires over their lifetimes, and for when the tires need to be rotated, and for unusual or alarming tire wear patterns. Sure beats using a Lincoln penny to guess the percent of tire tread used. We do not have its user manual and we are not wheel mechanics, so we can't advise you on how to use it. Can also be used to set, verify or calibrate many other types of depths, thicknesses, lengths, separations and alignments as a depth gauge or length gauge. This sale is for one (1) Schrader tire tool. Also makes a great tool collectible or auto mechanics collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $199.95. - L.S. STARRETT TEST INDICATOR NO. 64A WOOD BOX (Sorry, we recently are sold out of this Item; we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. L.S. Starrett No. 64A Test Indicator Wood Box. This is for the original wood box only for the Starrett No. 64 Test Indicator, and does not include the instrument itself. Really great tool collectible / Starrett collectible / test indicator collectible / meter/gauge collectible. And you can store various small tools and parts in it. We used it to store pin vises. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $14.95. - RARE MORRIS E-Z TAP & DIE SET - MACHINIST / GUNSMITH / JEWELER / WATCH REPAIR TOOLS + ORIGINAL BOX (Sorry, we recently sold this E-Z Tap Set; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition. Rare Vintage Morris E-Z Tap & Die Set, with Original Box, as shown, but also includes 3 small tap bits stored in the body of tool not shown. The best I can read, the dies are labeled, 0-80, 0-90, 1-72M, and 2-56M. We cannot read anything on the 4 aluminum pieces, nor on the tool itself. This is one fine and special set of Morris Machinist Tools. Great tool collectible, yet very useful. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $99.95. - RARE VINTAGE MORRIS E-Z SOCKET WRENCHES MACHINE TOOLS, Sizes 00, 0, 1 and 2 (Sorry, we recently sold this E-Z Socket Wrench set; we are looking for more.). Used and in very good condition. Vintage Morris E-Z Socket Wrenches Machine Tools, Sizes 00, 0, 1, 2. This is one fine and special set of Morris Machinist Tools. Great tool collectible, yet very useful. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $89.95. - INCREDIBLE NOTCHED TOOLMAKER'S VISE/VICE, 3" RARE VERTICAL NOTCH + HORIZONTAL NOTCH TOOL Used and in very good condition; a few spots with light surface discoloration. Rare Notched 3" long Toolmaker's Vise/Vice with Vertical Notch (Vertical Groove) and Horizontal Notch (Horizontal Groove). We've collected tools for decades, and this is the first tool maker's vise of this type with any notch - much less both notches! Even without notches, tool maker vises are very useful tools in the machine shop, car repair shop, electronics shop, general shop, and for crafts, jewelry, watches, clocks, model making, gunsmithing, etc. With precision notches, the toolmaker's vise becomes 10+ times more useful. Now, you can firmly hold and work on small screws, pipes, tubes, rods, axles, stems, wires, cables, stock, etc., as well as small spherical and odd-shaped objects. And as a tool collectible or vise collectible, your collection is not complete without this vise. This sale is for one vise. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell - once we sell it, it is gone forever. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $495.95. - ANTIQUE KODAK ROTARY STAGING VISE + KODAK RISER BLOCK TOOLS - BOTH RARE WORK HOLDING/TOOL HOLDING Both Very Useful & Great Tool Collectible / Kodak Collectible Used and in very good condition. Rare Antique Kodak Rotary Staging Vise PLUS Kodak Riser Block Tools. Made in USA by Eastman Kodak Co. At the top of the Kodak Rotary Staging Vise is a rotable fixture that holds tools and work objects. The holding slot is 2" long, 15/16" wide, and 3/8" deep, with a set screw, which you can see rotates just fine (rotable fixture is loosened and tightened by the screw in its center). Great for holding tool maker type vises, many of which are 7/8" wide and fit fine and secure well into this slot (tool maker vise not included). This Kodak assembly is not only a very useful tool system, but it is also an incredible Kodak collectible, tool collectible, vise collectible, movie industry collectible, etc. If you do not have these wonderful Americana devices in your collection, your collection is not complete, and the chances of you finding another pair like this Kodak Vise and Kodak Riser pair is slim to none. To assemble the two pieces together, you loosen the Kodak Vise's side knob, which loosens an angled piece at its bottom. You then slide the Kodak Staging Vise over the Kodak Riser Block with the angled piece inserted into the angled side of the groove, then once positioned, you manually tighten down the side knob to firmly attach the Kodak Vise to the Kodak Riser. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. Once out, it will be gone forever. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $495.95, S/H: $9.90, 12 lb. - (2) RARE ANTIQUE FORD WRENCHES OPEN-END WRENCH TOOLS MODEL A FORD REPAIR TOOLS / MODEL T FORD REPAIR TOOLS Used and in very good condition. Rare Antique Ford Wrench Tools, Open-End Wrenches. The types of Ford wrenches used to repair Model A Fords and Model T Fords. Really great automotive collectibles. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $29.95. - RARE ODD STEEL SADDLE-SHAPED TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rare, Old, Odd, Unusual Saddle-Shaped Tool. Steel, 5" long. Unknown uses. We have no idea what this weird tool was originally designed to do or whether or not our price for it is fair. Do you? If so, please freely tell us. Appears to be antique. Appears to be used for tying or lacing functions. Unknown make and model. The movable arm goes straight up and down; its action appears to be cockeyed only because of the angles of the photos. Can be modified to do some kind stamping, pressing or punching function. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $49.95, S/H: $7.90. HEAVY-DUTY STAMPING/PRESSING PLIERS/PLIER Used and in very good condition; some surface corrosion but function and strength are unaffected. Heavy-Duty Stamping Pliers/Plier, rare, old, odd, unusual. The stamping or pressing insert plates which likely originally came with pliers are missing, but you can improvise one or more plates for your needs. Appears to be antique tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $39.95, S/H: $7.90. - RARE, UNUSUAL VISE/VICE OR CLAMP (Sorry, we recently sold this rare unusual vise; we are trying to get more). Used and in very good condition; works fine with surface rust as shown. Rare and Unusual Vise/Vice or Clamp, possibly one of a kind. 6" long when closed. Channel is 1-3/4" wide, 3/4" clearance through the vise/clamp. Great as a third-hand or support for holding one end of stock while you work on another part. Also great as a guide for passing through or tying a rope(s), strap(s), cable(s) and chain(s), and for attaching ring(s), carbiner(s), clevis(s), shackle(s) and hook(s) anywhere you can clamp onto with this very unusual, unique and special vise/clamp. Can be mounted vertically or horizontally. Make and part # are unknown. While very useful, this vise/vice or clamp also makes a great tool collectible or collectible vise / collectible clamp. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $59.95, S/H: 8.90. - RARE STANLEY "YANKEE" NO. 135A SPIRAL RATCHET SCREW DRIVER w/ BITS + ORIGINAL BOX, STANLEY 68-135 PUSH-PULL SCREWDRIVER TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rare Stanley "Yankee" No. 135A Spiral Ratchet Screw Driver (Stanley 68-135 Push-Pull Screwdriver Tool), with Original 3 Bits and Box. Both are clearly used but in very good shape. Very useful, plus a tremendous gift and collectible. This sale is for one (1) Yankee Screwdriver set. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email Us Your Order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $29.95, S/H: $8.90. RARE VINTAGE HAFELE QWIK-SET DRILL JIG (Sorry, we ran out of this popular Hafele Qwik-Set Drill Jig; we are trying to get more, we will post if and when we do.) Used and in Very Good Condition. Rare, Vintage Hafele Qwik-Set Drill Jig. Owned for years now, but forgot how we used to use this Hafele Qwik-Set Drill Jig. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $49.95. 7 ASSORTED VINTAGE & ANTIQUE WRENCHES Used and in Very Good Condition. 7 Assorted Rare, Vintage and Antique Wrenches. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $19.95, S/H: $8.90. - RARE, PRECISION TESCO DRAFTING KIT, TECHNICAL SUPPLY CO. TESCO ACADEMIC & ALVIN DIETZEN DRAFT SET, GERMANY Used and in very good condition. Appears to be complete, all parts functional, a little staining on the back (looks like correction fluid). Rare, vintage, precision TESCO Drafting Kit, Tesco Academic & Alvin Dietzen Draft Set, Technical Supply Co., Made in Germany. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD138. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90 - THICKNESS TOLERANCE GAUGE TOOL #2 "GO - NO GO" GAUGE MECHANICAL GAUGE (Sorry, we have recently sold this Adjustable Precision Thickness Gage, #2, we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. Adjustable Precision Thickness Gauge and Thickness Tolerance Gauge Tool. This type of gauge is often referred to as a "Go - No Go Gauge". Great for measuring the thicknesses of sheet metal, plate metal, sheet plastic, sheet wood, glass sheet and other objects which can be fitted underneath its hard steel anvils. On the boiler plate (above, left of "2" on left image), I can only read "Whitney" on top line and "West" on line below it (likely Pratt & Whitney). We bought it in a lot of aircraft tools, so also likely this thickness gauge / thickness tolerance gauge is an aircraft gauge. Maximum measured thickness and maximum tolerance thickness are both 1/2", minimums are both 0". Height of each anvil is individually and independently set. This precision thickness tolerance gauge is 3" wide, 3-1/2" tall, 1/2" thick, made of steel. Most of the Pratt Whitney precision Go - No Go gauges of this type we have seen are very limited to measuring small thickness tolerances (e.g. 0.01"), and some are not even adjustable. And since this is a purely mechanical gauge, it never requires batteries, and you can keep it in your tool box with your thickness and tolerances solidly locked into place until you decide to change them. A great hand tool gauge for precision work, and also a great hand tool collectible gauge. How this thickness gauge / thickness tolerance gauge works is easily and quick: In right image, note side screws just above the anvils (or plungers or pistons) and on top screws directly over the gap. The side screws, when tightened, lock anvil positions so you don't lose a setting. The top screws are used to make the anvils descend to the levels you want to. To measure thickness, you simply back off the top screws to the top of the tool as in right image. You then push up the anvils (side screws loose), same as left image. You then place the sheet, plate or stock underneath the anvils. You then screw down at least one top screw until its anvil gently rests on the top of the sheet, plate or stock. You then tighten its side screw. You then slide out the sheet, plate or stock, and use a caliper to measure the gap between anvil and anvil block beneath it, and that is your thickness. Gauge can also be transferred to someone else to use it with your setting, or stored if repeatedly needed to produce or verify the same results. The real beauty of this gauge tool is its precision thickness tolerance gauge feature for sheets, plates and stock you buy or make - why it is called a Go - No Go Gauge. For example, you bought a steel plate, and you need to verify that its thickness and thickness tolerance. What you do is first determine what thickness and thickness tolerance are acceptable. For example, your steel plate must be 10mm �0.1mm (your plate must be between 9.9mm and 10.1mm thick). You lift both anvils all the way to the top as before. You then screw in the back top screw until its anvil lowers precisely to the 9.9mm height, as measured by a caliper, and then tighten its side screw to lock it in. You then repeat this process for the front anvil but setting it for 10.1mm. You then run the gauge along the edge of your steel plate along its length. If the plate won't pass under the front anvil, the plate is too thick. If the plate passes under both anvils, then the plate is too thin. If the steel plate passes under the front anvil but not under the back anvil, your steel plate is within both specified thickness and tolerance. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these adjustable thickness gauges. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD138. - Price: $119.95. RARE 10" STEEL BEMIS & CALL CO. GAUGE CALIPER TOOL / MEASURING TOOL, Opens to 13" (Sorry, we recently sold this Item; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition; some surface discoloration. Rare 10" Large Steel Bemis & Call Co. Caliper Tool / Gauge / Measuring Tool, opens 0" - 13". Caliper is 1/4" thick. Made in USA. Great antique tool collectible / caliper collectible. Great mechanical tool and for field work. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $19.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE LONG NOSE"JESSE JAMES" VISE-GRIP PLIERS 8", CHROME VANADIUM, WEST COAST CHOPPERS TOOL (Sorry, we sold this tool; looking for more). Used and in very good condition. Rare, Long Nosed West Coast Choppers "Jesse James" Vise-Grip Pliers. Durable, heavy-duty tool: Chrome-Vanadium (Cr-V). Also, a great tool collectible, pliers collectible, locking pliers collectible, Jesse James collectible, and West Coast Choppers collectible. This sale is for one (1) pliers. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $49.95, S/H: $7.90. RARE STRAIGHT JAW "JESSE JAMES" VISE-GRIP PLIERS 9 ", CHROME VANADIUM, WEST COAST CHOPPERS TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rare, Straight Jaw West Coast Choppers "Jesse James" Vise-Grip Pliers. Durable, heavy-duty tool: Chrome-Vanadium (Cr-V). Also, a great tool collectible, pliers collectible, locking pliers collectible, Jesse James collectible, and West Coast Choppers collectible. This sale is for one (1) pliers. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $49.95, S/H: $7.90. RARE CURVED JAW "JESSE JAMES" VISE-GRIP PLIERS 9 ", CHROME VANADIUM, WEST COAST CHOPPERS TOOL (Sorry, we sold this tool; looking for more). Used and in very good condition. Rare, Curved Jaw West Coast Choppers "Jesse James" Vise-Grip Pliers. Durable, heavy-duty tool: Chrome-Vanadium (Cr-V). Also, a great tool collectible, pliers collectible, locking pliers collectible, Jesse James collectible, and West Coast Choppers collectible. This sale is for one (1) pliers. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $69.95, S/H: $7.90. - LIMITED EDITION PAIR JESSE JAMES PLIERS CHOPPERS LOCKING PLIERS, MAC TOOLS CURVED-JAW + LONG-NOSED VISE GRIPPING PLIERS Vice-Gripping Pliers are stamped "Cr-V" (Chrome Vanadium Steel) (Sorry, we sold these; looking for more). Used and in very good condition. Rare pair of high-quality Limited Edition Mac Tools Jesse James Locking Pliers / Vise Gripping Pliers / Clamps. Both Choppers pliers are marked as Cr-V pliers, which means made of chrome-vanadium steel. Closed, the curved-jaw Choppers plier is 9" long, the long-nosed Choppers plier is 8-1/2". "Jesse James" is embossed in cursive just below Choppers logo on both pliers. These Choppers pliers appear to be more strongly built and rugged than even the industry standards of U.S. Made Irwin, Petersen, Dewitt Vise-Grip type pliers. Both Limited Edition Jesse James commemorative pliers are original. Each is in pristine and very lighty used condition, with excellent jaws, as you can easily see. Finish is satin black oxide. Each pliers has "Jesse James" embossed into it. Even if used once or twice, we honestly must list them as "Used" as we have - while others sell clearly used Jesse James pliers as "New." Except for stampings and color, these pliers appear to be identical to Made in USA Vise Grip (Irwin Petersen Dewitt Vise Grips) pliers of the same sizes. These Jesse James pliers are great Jesse James collectibles, Choppers collectibles, tool collectibles, pliers collectibles, locking/gripping pliers collectibles, etc. If these rare special Jesse James pliers meet your collections theme, and you don't have them yet, your collection will never be complete without them. Don't settle for copycat pliers sold elsewhere as "New" by make believers. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $495.00. S/H: $9.90. - RARE, ANTIQUE PERFECTION NUT CRACKER, MODEL 1928, MODIFIED TO MAKE A VERSATILE VISE (Sorry, we just sold this antique Perfection nut cracker.) Used and in very good condition. Rare, antique Perfection Nut Cracker, Model 1928, Patented 1914, Waco, Texas, modified to make a versatile, fast and easy-to-use vise. The T-handle is especially nice - comfortable and well-designed for hard clamping. Unlike almost all other nut crackers, this model has a threaded shaft and T-handle commonly found in vises and clamps to securely press against and hold objects. This Perfection nut cracker is modified with two large, thick knurled washers firmly epoxied to the clamp faces as shown. These added washers increase the clamping surfaces for firmer clamps. Also, the 1/2" dia. washer holes better clamp round and odd-shaped objects. This added feature not only improves the Perfection nut cracker's ability to position and crack nuts without slippage to enhance its inherent nut cracking utility, but is also great for many other uses, especially unusual clamping needs. Further, the head that is on the threaded bolt end floats to some extent (built-in feature) to better hold odd-shaped objects (such as nuts) of just about any kind, similar to how toolmaker vises (tool maker vises) work. Ideal vise or clamp for crafts shops, model shops, fabrication shops, gun shops, jewelry repair shops, and watch repair shops. And a great collectible (you can break off the added washers to restore Perfection Nut Cracker to original condition if you wish). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD136. - Price: $49.95. S/H: $9.90. UNIQUE PREHISTORIC PETRIFIED WOOD PESTLE TOOL Used artifact - probably an antiquity. Unique Prehistoric Petrified Wood Pestle Tool. 4-3/4" long, squarish/oblong shape, 1-3/8" to 1-3/4" cross section. Fits the hand perfectly, and is smooth. This petrified wood pestle tool has remnants of unknown whitish stuff at one end that looks like it got there through grinding or pounding (pinkish appearance due to photo underexposure). Discovered about 100 years ago in an area where ancient Native Americans hunted, traveled and camped. Virtually all petrified wood pieces we have seen of about this size and shape have jagged ends and are rough around the periphery - not usable as hand tools. While no one can say for certain that Indians used this petrified wood to grind or crush anything 100s or 1,000s of years ago, we believe it is reasonable to assume that this is a unique or very rare petrified wood hand tool or weapon used by ancient Indians to grind or crush food grains, such as corn (maize), crack open nuts, break down fibrous or tough materials, crack open bones for their marrow, soften leather, club animals or other people, building things, and/or for some other similar uses. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD141. - Price: $299.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE L. S. STARRETT DIAL TEST INDICATOR 1/1000ths BACK PLUNGER TYPE, MACHINIST TOOL + Hardware Used and in very good condition. Rare, Antique L.S. Starrett Dial Test Indicator / Starrett Dial Indicator, 1/1000ths. Back Plunger Type, Machinist Gauge Tool, with gauge-mounting hardware. Dial Reading, 0-100, 10 revolutions. Graduation: 0.001". Reading in inches, LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $29.95. ANTIQUE MANUAL HAND TOOLS: Compass (Thel S. Starrett) - Wrench (unreadable mfg.) - Pliers (Danielson) - Spokeshave (Cut Keen) Used and in very good condition. Antique Manual Handtools: Compass (Thel S. Starrett), Wrench (unreadable mfg.), Pliers (Danielson), Spokeshave (Cut Keen). All great collectibles. The unusual wrench is also very handy for carrying hot and/or heavy objects, and for wrenching slightly warped or misaligned boards into correct positions. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of each of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD139. - Price: $49.95 each. - RARE VINTAGE STANLEY BLOCK PLANE, No. 9-1/2 Used and in very good condition. Rare Vintage Stanley Plane, No. 9-1/2 (Stanley Wood Block Plane / Stanley Block Plane / Stanley Wood Plane). Appears to be 100% complete. Made in USA. Great collectible! And very useful. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $24.95, $6.90 S/H. RARE HEAVY BRASS MORTAR & PESTLE. Used and in very good condition. Rare Heavy Brass Mortar & Pestle. Age, make and origin are unknown. Magnet does not attract. Mortar is 3 lbs, and 4-3/4" wide at the lip and 3-1/8" tall. Pestle is 1 lb, and 8" long and max diameter of head is 1-1/2". This brass mortar and pestle is a great collectible, and/or is fully functional for its uses. Great for grinding just about anything and everything, including a good quantity of corn, nuts, bone, pills, potions, etc. Unlike lightweight cheezy mortar and pestle versions, it is not likely to tip over, break or wear out. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD141. - Price: $49.95, S/H: $6, 7 lbs. RARE, VINTAGE HAND DRILL (likely Miller Falls or Pexto) Used and in very good condition. Rare, Vintage Hand Drill. Compact. Can't read manufacturer, probally Miller Falls or Pexto. Sure comes in handy when you are in the field, road, construction site, campsite, while hiking, shed or barn where electricity is not available, and may be worth its weight in gold if the electricity fails. And its a great hand tool collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD139. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90. - RARE, UNUSUAL ANTIQUE POMEROY NO. 1, 1906 PRESS / PUNCH / RIVETING TOOL + VISE / CLAMP + ANVIL Used and all of its functions work great. Some surface corrosion, but nothing significantly diminishes tool strength or function. We lubricated all moving parts. Very rare antique multi-tool Pomeroy No. 1 Press / Punch / Riveting Tool, Vise / Clamp and Anvil Tool, Patented March 27, 1906 - the original Model 1 for this great multi-tool! The silvery object tied to the handle is a removeable modern socket which we simply place over the bottom extension of the press / riveter for hard presses (the socket can also be fitted with various dies and surfaces to suit one's applications without permanently modifying the extensions). You can cut off the plastic tie wrap when you want to use the socket for hard presses or if you wish to get rid of this added feature. The press / punch / riveter and vise / clamp parts of this tool are obvious from the images. The anvil part is less obvious and it consists of two sections: One is the top flat part of the tool between the handle and top of the Vise / Clamp tool part, and the other is the horn-like extension in the front of the Press / Punch / Riveter tool part. This is a truly ingenious design for a benchtop multi-tool - down to the last detail of including a pipe hole optional way of mounting (Pomeroy multi-tool can also be bolted to top of bench) and alignment with other tools, and the notches in the vise/clamp faces for securely holding round and square stock, such as rods, pipes and tubing, and odd-shaped objects. This tool was made back in a time when most manufacturers and repair shops were small, family operations or factories where each worker had to do several different handtooling functions - opposite of modern assembly lines. With the way the economy is today, once again we are turning to the small operators and home garage shops. This Pomeroy multi-tool is very useful today, as it was then, because a single worker can efficiently use this versatile and compact multitool to perform many of his/her various work functions from just one location on the bench. This makes this Pomeroy multitool an invaluable tool for handy men and women, crafters, modelers, repairers and small shops everywhere. We have been collecting antique, vintage and unusual hand tools for 50 years. We have many others to sell - if interested, please email us. This is the first Pomeroy No. 1 multi-tool we have run into (Pomeroy Riveting tools are also scarce but they are much more common than this Pomeroy multi-tool). This very rare Pomeroy multi-tool is not only a wonderful tool collectible, but is still very useful for many small shop operations, handymen and crafts people even today. We believe that some of the best tools ever made were proudly Made-in-America 20 - 100+ years ago. In our own Consumertronics.net (and in our Lone Star Consulting, Inc.) electronics labs, many of the tools we use are vintage and antique American-made electronic tools, watchmaker tools, dental tools, jewelers tools, mechanics tools, car tools, medical tools and optometric tools - few of which are still being made today (at least not to their quality). Most people don't realize that these sturdy "old" American-made tools were the best quality and most versatile tools ever made - we salute their inspired inventors and the skilled workers who made them! When you see a great antique or vintage tool - like this Pomeroy - you just can't let it get away from you! UNIQUE or VERY RARE ITEM: We have only one of these POMEROY NO. 1 MULTITOOLS, and it is apparently so rare that we cannot decide what price to put on it. However, we want to sell this POMEROY NO. 1 MULTITOOL at a fair price to both of us. Interested? Then freely document what price range this POMEROY NO. 1 MULTITOOL is worth and make us an offer (if possible). We will seriously consider and respond to all offers we consider reasonable. If you know of anyone who might be interested, then please freely refer him/her to this listing, and if we agree to sell it to that person, he/she buys it, pays for it in full, his/her payment totally clears (allow 90 days for checks and money orders (except Postal M.O.) to clear), sold at $100+, and he/she does not ask for a refund within 60 days of receipt of Item, we will pay you a 10% finder's fee based on the paid price. Payment by PayPal, credit card or COD not acceptable. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: See above; FREE S/H (8 lbs wgt.) - CLOCK REPAIR/WATCH REPAIR/JEWELRY GUNSMITH/CRAFTS/LAB TOOL/SHOP TOOL (Sorry, we recently sold this Item; we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. Fisher Staking Tool, also usable as a Press, Vise, Clamp. Precision Tool. Designed for Clock Repair, Watch Repair and Jewelry work. Also useful as a Laboratory Tool, Shop Tool, Crafts Tool, Gunsmith Tool and Model Making Tool. Very fine threaded for great precision and pressing pressure. It has a removable spring-operated stem as shown. The tip at the bottom of the screw rotates freely in both directions and is not connected to either the screw or the stem. Very useful, and also a great collectible. We made a tight-fitting but removable insert for it from 3/8" plumbing parts to expand its uses as a vise or press. Base is flanged with two holes for screwing into a work bench or work table. 8" long, 2" throat depth. Hole is 3/4" diameter, 1" high. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $99.95, S/H: $8.90. VINTAGE/ANTIQUE FLEXIBLE MATERIAL CLAMP / VULCANIZED HOT PATCH CLAMP Used and in great condition. We don't know what this large, unusual-looking clamp was originally designed for. The clamping end looks very much like the typical hot patch clamp for tubes. The fancy curve in its body and the much greater thickness of the materials it can handle looks like it is used for patching large, bulky tubes that its smaller cousins can't handle. A regular bench vise can be used to clamp anywhere along its ridge for optimum positioning. It has some surface discoloration as it was stored in a barn, but is fully functional. We don't know its make or model or how old it is. Makes a great tool collectible, and is very useful for clamping all kinds of flexible materials such as rubber, plastic, metal sheeting, and wood for the shop, business, hobbies, crafts, model-making, fabric and sewing uses, etc. If the material is relatively thin and flexible, you likely can roll-up or bunch-up a large quantity of material inside the clamp and clamp much deeper into the material than any other clamp. This clamp of course can be still be used to clamp rigid or thick items and materials to a depth of about 5". LIMITED QUANTITY. Unique Item. We have only this one pair. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD096. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $10.90 (2) UNUSUAL WRENCHES / SPECIALTY WRENCHES / INDUSTRIAL WRENCHES Used and in great condition. Two unusual heavy wrenches, maker and uses are unknown. Obviously for some kind of specialty uses, but can be used or modified for other uses. Do you know what these are or who made them or their part #s? We probably priced them too high, not knowing what they are really worth. If priced too high, and you can document a lower current price elsewhere, we will lower our prices. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only these two. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $29.95, each wrench, S/H; $8.90 for either, or $12.90 for both. MEDIUM ANTIQUE PIPE WRENCH, 10-1/4" COES WRENCH COMPANY MONKEY WRENCH (Sold out of these popular pipe wrenches, expect more in.) Used and in good condition (fully and smoothly functional, minor spotty surface rust). Medium Antique Pipe Wrench / Monkey Wrench, 10-1/4" long. Made in USA by Coes Wrench Company. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $9.95, S/H: $3.00, 3 lbs MEDIUM ANTIQUE PIPE WRENCH / MONKEY WRENCH, 12-1/4" Used and in good condition (fully and smoothly functional, some surface rust). Medium Antique Pipe Wrench / Monkey Wrench, 12-1/4" long, "hook-nose" type. Made in USA. Make unknown (probably Bemis & Call Wrench & Nut). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $9.95, S/H: $4.00, 3.5 lbs BIG ANTIQUE PIPE WRENCH / MONKEY WRENCH, 12-3/4" Used and in good condition (fully and smoothly functional, some surface rust). Big Antique Pipe Wrench / Monkey Wrench, 12-3/4" long, "hook nose" type. Made in USA. Make unknown (probably Bemis & Call Wrench & Nut). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $19.95, S/H: $5.00, 4 lbs. RARE CRAFTSMAN ROLLING DISTANCE GAUGE Used and in Very Good Condition. Rare Craftsman Rolling Distance Gauge. Accurate and easy to use. You just position the wheel on the surface to be measured and either move the tool along or keep the tool stationary and move the surface. Easily resettable back to zero. This rare Craftsman Rolling Distance Gauge can also be used to measure rotational movements - you simply press pointed end into middle of wheel axel so that the tool turns along with the wheel with no slippage. Each gauge marking corresponds to one revolution of the wheel. For any linear measurement, you simply multiply the gauge reading with the circumference of the wheel you are using. Shown with a wheel positioned on it and 3 additional grooved rubber wheel holders for you to obtain or make additional different diameter wheels to your liking. Wheels are easily removed and installed. Also makes a great tool collectible / gauge collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $29.95. BIG ANTIQUE PIPE WRENCH, 15-1/4" SOLID BAR MONKEY WRENCH (Sold out of these popular pipe wrenches, expect more in.) Used and in good condition (fully and smoothly functional, some surface rust). Big Antique Pipe Wrench / Monkey Wrench, 15-1/4" long. Made in USA by Solid Bar, 1896. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $9.95, S/H: $6.00, 6 lbs (5) RARE VINTAGE FORD MODEL-T / MODEL-A WRENCHES, SOCKETS, PULLY COLLECTION Used and in great condition, some surface rust. Rare Ford Model-T / Model-A wrenches, sockets and pully collection. We got these at an estate sale, deceased former owner had hobby of restoring Model-T Fords and Model-A Fords. Longest tool is 11-1/2". We will seriously consider any good offer for one or more pieces from this tool lot. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these lots. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $5 Handling, 7 lbs. RARE INDESTRO FORD MAIN BEARING A - B - V8 SOCKET WRENCH, #182 Used and in great condition. Rare, vintage Indestro Ford Main Bearing A - B - V8 Socket Wrench #182, 16" long, 3/4" - 12-point socket at one end, and 9/16" - 8-point socket at other. Both sockets are star sockets. Some surface rust. Great tool collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $19.95. S/H: $11.90. RARE BOG MFG. CO. SOCKET WRENCH Used and in great condition. Rare, vintage Bog Socket Wrench, 10-1/2"x 6-1/4", 5/8" socket and 11/16" socket, both ends 6-point star. Some surface rust. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $11.90 RARE VINTAGE FRANK MOSSBERG RATCHET WRENCH, #624 Used, with some surface rust. Rare Frank Mossberg Wrench #624, ratchet type. The handle consists of a loop of the right end part (not shown). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD131. - Price: $9.95 ANTIQUE U.S. 1C, U.S. 2C CLAMP GREAT MILITERIA COLLECTIBLE Used and in great condition, some surface rust. Rare, antique U.S. 1C, U.S. 2C Clamp, as marked. We don't know much about the clamp's history, but it is probably a World War II clamp used by the U.S. Military as we bought it in a lot with other U.S. GI World War II Militaria. Still totally functional. If we are priced too high, document it, and we will seriously consider lowering price. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $39.95 RARE U.S.A.ORIGINAL M1917, M1919,M6 WRENCH COMBINATION, THOMSON SLING, U.S. GI WORLD WAR II FIELD GEAR, 1939-1945 Used and in great condition, minor surface discoloration. Rare, original, U.S.A. M1917, M1919, M6 Combination Wrench, U.S. GI World War II (1939-1945), Field Gear, Thomson Sling. This World War II Militaria is truly a great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $29.95 (3) ANTIQUE, RARE, HIGHLY COLLECTIBLE BLACKSMITH SWAGES / WHEELWRIGHT SWAGES Terrific find at an estate sale! While these technically blacksmith swages or wheelright swages, they could have and still could be used to some extent as blacksmith hammers / wheelright hammers. Heir of owner of these unbelievable swages/hammers told us that his great grandfather, a blacksmith and wheelwright, used these swages / hammers to prepare and repair the wagons of Mormon Pilgrims on their way to Utah shortly after the Civil War. Since we do not know this person or his family, we have no way of knowing and cannot guarantee that his story is true - but if true, these swages/hammers have an incredible history to them! Longest swage/hammer is almost 23" long (other two are about 15.5" and 15"). We can find no markings on the heads. But two swages/hammers have markings on their handles (the heir did not know if the handles or heads had ever been replaced). One handle has embossed on it, "PROP. OF BETH STEEL" ("BETH STEEL" is best we know (We are not an antique tool expert) an abbreviation for Bethlehem Steel, which built the Golden Gate Bridge), top handle section in 3rd image. Another handle (the long one) has embossed on it, "Prop. of Beth Steel Corp." on one side and "Buckeye", "HARTWELL GENUINE HICKORY", and "HARTWELL BROTHERS MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE" in green lettering on the other side, bottom two handle sections in 3rd image (apparent differences in handle widths and colorations in image are due to lighting and zoom effects, actual color of all handles is a dark brown). Both the swage/hammer heads and handles have seen much vigorous use, but are still very usable if you still wish to use these swages/hammers (much better in a collector's case). Take a look at the incredible heads on these swages/hammers! On all of your years on this planet, have you seen heads exactly like these! we was told by the heir that the heads are concave like this to accommodate the shape of wagon wheel hubs, and to help shape wagon wheel axles. Clearly, this is a very special collection of swages/hammers. Do NOT let them get away from you! NOTE: This Item is being offered at a much reduced price than when originally listed. We seldom lower a price more than once. Usually, if Item does not sell at much reduced price after reasonable time, without further notice, we donate or throw Item away, so please bid on Item right away. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R50. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $9, 9lbs RARE ANTIQUE SIMONDS SLOTTED TOOL, "NO. 6 PATENTED" Used and works great. This rare Simonds slotted tool seems like it may have a practical use for rolling ribbon or similar material up. Someone told us it was a common tool used in conjunction with weaving looms back in the 1920s. Three other persons told us that it is a handle for a Simonds crosscut saw - a two-man crosscut saw used for felling large trees in the lumber industry - a Simond saw handle is most probably its actual original use. However, it can also be used for holding a scraping, cutting or chopping head (e.g. axe head). Or for holding or positioning a wedge. Or for aligning big nails or stakes. Or for opening or closing containers that have a rectangular head that fits into the slot. Also makes a great tool collectible. We bought it at an estate sale where the family told us it was `about 100 years old.' We are collecting rare, weird and old tools for decades now. We have never run into another tool like this one. Slot is 3-1/2" long and 3/16" wide with an adjustable washer. It has seen a lot of use, and its surface finish is rough. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD094. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, ANTIQUE GAYLORD BROS. BOOK PRESS / GAYLORD BROS. PAPER PRESS, INDUSTRIAL BINDERY EQUIPMENT, FAST SETUP OF WORK / FAST RELEASE OF WORK (Sorry, we are currently out of this great Gaylord Press, and looking for more). This Gaylord paper press / Gaylord book press is used and in great condition. Works great. Heavy duty book press / paper press / object press. Great book binding equipment as either a printer collectible / bindery collectible or for the job. If job efficiency and speed are important to you, this press / compressor is well-designed and practically unbeatable as set up and release of objects of even highly varying thicknesses being pressed / compressed is easy and fast. Press will handle books, piles of papers, cardboard or anything else you want to press together (up to 8" thick), for examples, to do glue jobs / cement jobs, to press leaves / press flowers, to squeeze out water from cloth, to do prints, to press in indentations / stampings / embossings, for molds, to press electronic components / mechanical components into assemblies, to keep object in a fixed position so it doesn't move around or shift while you are tooling it or painting it, etc. Uses are virtually endless! Boards are 12" x 7" x 1/2" plywood and are somewhat aged and worn, but you can easily replace them with other boards, metal plates, plastic plates, molds, frames, etc., as they are attached with screws. And of course you can always sandwich between the boards other boards, tempered glass, plastic plates, metal plates, moldings, etc. of various sizes and shapes. The center of the clamp stands 4" from the front edge of the steel shaft that holds the clamp assembly. This means that for boards or plates upto 8" wide, the clamp can be exactly centered. You can substitute or sandwich in boards, etc. up to about 12" wide (if you don't require exact clamp centering) and up to about 16" long for larger works, and of course you can always use smaller boards, etc. as you wish. The right part of second image shows the bottom of the press and how it sits on surfaces. The top board or plate is easily removed once you release the pressure on it so that you get good visibility in placing and positioning your work on top of the bottom board or plate. Initial positioning is made by quickly sliding up the clamp assembly with its top board/plate along the steel shaft, similarly to how many long carpenter clamps work, and then positioning the top board / plate and snugly tightening down with the clamp's worm screw mechanism to compress the object. This press is moderate in weight compared to typical worm-screw only presses (which we also sell, see my webpages), and with its convenient "carrying handle" (i.e. the steel shaft), it is highly portable and easy to transport, place, set up and manueuver on the fly on work benches, work tables, pick-up beds, van shops, and other work surfaces. If you replace the boards with metal plates, you can even use the press on a heated surfaces to do hot presses. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD097, LS092-R10. - Price: $249.95. S/H: $19.90 RARE, VINTAGE DENTURE PRESS + CRAFTS PRESS / HOBBY PRESS / MODEL SHOP PRESS / AUTO SHOP PRESS INDUSTRIAL SHOP PRESS / PRODUCTION PRESS / GENERAL SHOP PRESS (Sorry, we are sold out of these, we are trying to get more of them). We bought this press at an estate sale; son of deceased told us that his father was a dentist and used these presses decades ago to make dentures. Great as a car shop press, machine shop press, crafts shop press, hobby press, modeling press, general mechanical press, production press for factory, other business and home as a press, clamp or vise. Weighs about 13 lbs. Height is 10.5" when cranked all the way down. Handle is 11.5" long, which can of course be extended for greater pressing power using a pipe extension. Plate area is 7" X 4" (upper round press plate is 4" in dia.). Clearance can be varied from 1" to 5-1/8" for thick objects. Horizontal clearance is 4-1/2" wide, so it easily takes 2x4 amd 4x4 lumber and 4" pipe. Worm screw is 3/4" thick steel. While We have had it cranked down to several 100s of pounds of pressure, best we could tell, it was not even close to its limit (which is not stated on is unknown). The screw-press does have surface rust on it but as far as we can tell, the does not appreciably affect either its operation or maximum applied force. However, since neither the base nor the bottom of the round upper press plate is real smooth, the user might want to slide in 1/4" - 1" thick hardwood, pressed board, metal, plastic or rubber surfaces, according to what suits his/her needs best when smooth contact is required. Can be easily mounted on a work bench, work table, pick up truck bed, RV, van, camper, etc. Just consider some of the practically unlimited clamp, vise and press functions that a press like this can do for you with the appropriate dies and forms (no dies or forms come with it): (1) Flattening metal, bending metal, forming metal, shaping metal, and swaging metal. (2) Pressing on patches, silkscreens, logos, signatures, boiler plates, etc. (3) Using "cookie cutter" type dies to cut out or punch either cold or hot shapes in wood, plastics and light metals. (4) Printing press. (5) Crushing or pulverizing rocks, bones and other crushable objects and materials for mechanical geological, archaeological, paleontological, forensic, chemical, biological, biomedical, etc. applications. (6) Press fitting gears, pins and rivets. (7) As a punch press. (8) Embossing images and lettering into just about anything that can fit into it that is wood, plastic and thin/soft metals. (9) Pressing and laminating flowers and leaves and other collectibles. (10) For many other glue or cement jobs. (11) Compacting items. (12) Holding items secure for just about any reason, such as for sawing, drilling, threading (e.g. rods, plumbing pipe). UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R10. - Price: $59.95. S/H: $15, 15 lbs. - RARE TORSION SUSPENSION HEIGHT GAUGE, 20227G MODEL 68 GAGE CLAMP/VISE TOOL, BEAR MFG. CORP. of APPLIED POWER INDUSTRIES, INC., For Chrysler Cars Used and in very good condition. Rare Bear Torsion Suspension Height Gauge Tool (Clamp/Vise), Model 68 Gage (stamped "20227G), with a small glass level gauge (under boiler plate). Made by Bear Mfg. Corp, of Applied Power Industries, Inc. Originally for Chrysler Cars. Steel tine grips are 3" long each, and open at equal rates on each side (i.e. stays centered) from 1-3/8" wide to 5" wide apart. Push down by compressing long spring up to 1-7/8". Tine mechanism can be rotated thru a full 360 degrees. Tool body is 14" long. Most of body (red aluminum part) is 9/16" wide and 1/2" thick. At left end of red part is a 7/8" long 5/16" wide slot, followed by a 1/2" long, 5/16" wide flat area, likely used to lock that end in. At the right end is a 5/16" dia. thru hole with a 1/4" set screw, likely used to hold tool onto a rod, shaft or bolt. This vise/clamp tool is a great collectible. It is also so versatile that it can be used for numerous other uses not limited to Chrysler cars, for examples, to grip, pull, install, raise and carry gears, pulleys and other objects and parts of many different types, materials, widths and thicknesses. Its lever action is especially useful for difficult pulls and heavier loads. If you want to, you can remove the vise/clamp part from the lever part (cutting may be required) to convert it into a very handy long grabbing tool / gripping tool / holding tool / positioning tool. You can make other modifications as well to suit your needs. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $249.95, S/H: $14.90. VALVE STEM SEAT CUTTER VISE/VICE/CLAMP TOOL 3V-1A, with Valve Stem, Versatile - Convert into Mini Lathe Used and in very good condition. Versatile Valve Stem Seat Cutter Vise/Vice/Clamp Tool, inscribed "3V-1A". Tool make is unknown (if you know who makes this tool, please freely email us). With the valve stem in place, you can play around with this fascinating yet very useful and versatile tool to learn how it works, and its various adjustments. Makes a great self-learning tool and teaching tool. You can use locking pliers or a low-speed drill (neither is included) to turn the held object. The clamp is set so that the object is held into position snugly but turns with little resistance (we use oil or grease on the clamp). Note that the position and angle of the chamfer groove, bevel or taper can be adjusted by changing the position of the cutter tool holder. You are not limited to valve stems - any piece of metal, wood or plastic round stock or object that will fit into this tool can be uniformly and accurately beveled, tapered or chamfered at its end to the angle and depth you want to and can set the cutter tool holder. You can even invent your own type of cutter tool holder to even more greatly increase its versatility. This 3V-1A Valve Stem Seat Cutter comes with two 1/4" countersunk mounting holes for sturdy mounting onto a bench top or desktop. Essentially, this tool can be made into a miniature lathe. (Posing vise used to hold tool in bottom photo is not included). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $34.95. RARE, ANTIQUE, VINTAGE AUTOMOTIVE VALVE RECIPROCATING GRINDING TOOL We are currently out of this Item, expect more in soon, if you want to be notified when another comes in, please bookmark and revisit regularly. Rare, antique, vintage car valve reciprocating grinder tool. Used and it works great. 10-3/4" long. By moving the handle up and down, the grinding tool at the bottom first spins one direction and then spins in other direction. This allows for a more even grinding of the surface. Can also be used as a paint mixer. But best as a terrific automotive or antique tool collectible. We bought it at an estate sale, and was told that it was used to service Model-T and Model-A Fords. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD107. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, VINTAGE O.M. FRANKLIN IDENTITY MARKING TOOL / IDENTITY STAMPING TOOL Used and works great. This rare and unique stamping tool was originally made for stamping livestock in the mouth as a form of branding them. However, it has many other practical uses where one needs to uniquely identify something in a way that is both permanent (cannot be erased or covered up and won't wear out) and very difficult to counterfeit. You dial in the 4-digit serial number by rotating the wheels at the top of the tool head. Each digit consists of a number of 1/4"-long pointed steel spikes arrayed in the form of a digit (0 - 9) which penetrates or at least indents the material being marked. See upper right of image to see what the stamping looks like. Works especially well with soft-to-medium materials such as leather, plastic, some metals and wood, and flesh between 1/32" to 1/4" thick. Also makes a great collectible. Has some surface discoloration and rust. UNIQUE ITEM. - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD094. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, VINTAGE RATCHET SET, MADE-IN-USA Used, as shown. Doesn't say who made it. 9.5" long. Has seen years of use. Ratchet doesn't seem to work well. Makes a great collectible. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $24.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, VINTAGE BUTTERFIED PIPE THREADER, Model No.32B Used and works great. While not new, the dies are still in good condition. 23-1/2" long. Sizes are: 5/8" - 10 TPI. 1/2" - 12 TPI. 7/16" - 14 TPI. 3/8" - 16 TPI. Aside from being a great collectible, a really nice thing about this threader is that you can do pipe diameters smaller and larger than the rated diameter for any of its thread TPI. We have mainly used it over the years to thread PVC pipe pieces that we use to house probe electronic circuits so that we could put end caps on them. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R10. - Price: $59.95. S/H: $6, 6 lbs - RARE ANTIQUE TRIANGULAR PUNCH Rare, antique triangle punch. Probably used as a leather punch. Triangle is about 3/4" on each side. Triangle punch die can be removed by removing screw, shown in leftmost image, and replaced with whatever other die you can make to fit there. Beneath the triangle die is a block of wood, which also can be replaced. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD106. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90 HEATON PENINSULAR BUTTON FACTORY CO. SHOE BUTTON PLIERS / STAPLER - RARE, ANTIQUE Rare, antique shoe button pliers made by Heaton Peninsular Button Factory Co. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD106. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, ANTIQUE SIGNODE MODEL DLT BAND CUTTER / BAND PULLER PLIERS Rare, antique Signode Model DLT band cutter / strap cutter and band puller / strap puller pliers. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD106. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, ANTIQUE "TOM THUMB" DIMPLER PUNCH THE SHEEHAN MFG. CO., HEAVY-DUTY INDUSTRIAL-GRADE Rare, antique "Tom Thumb" punch, dimpler, made by The Sheehan Mfg Co., heavy-duty, industrial-grade starter punch. Used and in good condition. Designed to make an indentation in material so that the drill bit stays on target as you drill. This punch is especially good for punching thick, hard metals and other materials. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD106. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $13.90. ZYLYSS-ZYLISS PRECISION CLAMP / VISE ZYLYSS-ZYLISS HOBBY CLAMP / VISE Used and in very good condition. Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise (Zylyss-Zyliss Precision Clamp / Vise). These Zylyss-Zyliss Clamps / Vises are really great for the shop, hobbyist, model-making and crafts, for doing precision clamping, and clamping of bulky and large objects. The entire The Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise shop system is not required - this clamp / vise can be operated on top of a common work table or work desk. Made of aluminum and steel. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $39.95, S/H: $9.90. ZYLYSS-ZYLISS CLAMP / VISE ZYLYSS-ZYLISS HOBBY CLAMP / VISE ASSEMBLY PARTS Used and in very good condition. Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp Assembly parts for this Zylyss-Zyliss hobby clamp / vise. We don't know what these do, only that they attach to the Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise Assembly. Made of aluminum with some parts made of steel. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $19.95. - ZYLYSS-ZYLISS CLAMP / VISE ZYLYSS-ZYLISS HOBBY CLAMP / VISE ASSEMBLY PART Used and in very good condition. Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise Assembly part for this hobby clamp /vise for clamping onto and securely holding some Dremel hand tools or similar-type drilling, cutting, grinding, polishing, buffing tool, or lamp. Easily mounts onto Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise Assembly rails. This clamp or vise has an internal split-ring or split-sleeve, which can be removed to increase diameter of clamp/vise. With thumbscrew tightened all the way down as shown and with ring installed, hole inner diameter is 1-1/2", and with ring removed, diameter is 1-5/8". With the thumbscrew all the way out, you get about 1/16" more in diameter. 6-1/4"(excluding screw) x 3-1/4" x 2-1/4" (base). The Zylyss-Zyliss Clamp / Vise Assembly is great for the shop, crafts, hobbies and modeling. Made of aluminum; screw and split-ring/sleeve are steel. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $39.95. Other Collectible Hand Tools (non-electrical tools): - RARE UNUSUAL STEEL CONE PLIERS / PUNCH / SWAGE VERSATILE CONED-NOSED PUNCH PLIER TOOL, SEARS 30771 (Sorry, we recently are sold out of this Cone-Nosed Pliers; we are trying to get more.) Used and in excellent condition with a few minor nicks and scuffs, otherwise like new. Rare, unusual, weird steel Cone-Nose Pliers Punch / Cone Jaw Pliers / Cone Pliers Punch, says Sears 30771. The cone is solid steel and professionally welded on. Great tool collectible / pliers collectible - if you are a pliers collector or punch collector and you don't have one of these, then clearly your pliers collection or punch collection is incomplete. Also, these cone-nosed pliers punch is very useful. Even if widely opened, the edge of top edge of the cone is accessible to a hammer. Functions include: (1) Pressing or tapping countersink holes into wood, plastic and soft metals. (2) Punching starter holes and widening existing holes into wood, plastics and soft metals. (3) Punching holes into cans and other containers. (4) Manipulating springs. (5) Sizing and expanding rings. (6) Opening chains and locks. (7) Swaging or shaping holes. (8) Untying knots in ropes, cabling, wires, straps, webbing, ribbons and even chains, especially tight knots. These Sears cone-nosed pliers countersinking function is especially advantageous because instead of cutting out the material like bit-type countersinking tools do, thus weakening the hole, these Sears 30771 cone pliers compress the material, thereby increasing countersink hole strength. Caution: The pointed end is very sharp, so be careful. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these of this very rare item; once sold, we can't replace it. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $395.95. - RARE, ANTIQUE STAPLE SETTER TOOL, LEATHER CRAFTS COBBLER STAPLER PUNCH Used and in very good condition. Rare, Antique Punch Setter Tool, steel, circa 1930s. Make and model number are unknown. We were told it was used to install or reset staples used in leather shoe soles back in the day, but we are not sure. If you know of other original uses for it, please freely tell us. Very useful, and great tool collectible, cobbler collectible, leather collectible. Adaptable to other, more modern uses, for example, to close unclosed staple points. This tool works by inserting the raised end of the staple into the tool's slot (2nd image, middle). You then press or punch the staple in by pushing the knob down (2nd images, left and right), which punch part then descends to install the staple. Once done, an inner spring returns the knob up, thereby retracting the punch part. This sale is for one (1) setter tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $199.95. - RARE HOPPE'S BENCH REST, GUNSMITHING GUN REST STAND + SHOOTING STAND, STEEL Used and in very good condition. Rare Vintage Hoppe's Bench Gun Rest. Great for rifle shooting and pistol shooting at the range. Great gun resting stand for cleaning, lubricating, modifying and repairing your guns. Great for displaying your guns. Great gun collectible or Hoppe's collectible. Comes with the wood base and all that cushioning you see to protect your valuable guns. Very adjustable. The lift / leveling tool part can be easily detached (3 screws), and used separately for many different kinds of shop and field uses. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $99.95. - RARE MILE-O-GRAPH TOOL, MAP READING + MANY SHOP USES VALLEY RESEARCH SYSTEMS, W/ LEATHER CASE, INSTRUCTIONS Used and in very good condition. Rare Mile-O-Graph Map Reading / Map Plotting Tool, Made in USA by Valley Research Systems, with Original Leather Case and instructions. Works great and is a great American collectible. 100% manual - no batteries to worry about. Light and about size of an ink pen. This sale is for one (1) Mile-O-Graph map reading tool. EASY TO CARRY & USE: (1) Rotate red knob to the the Map Ratio Scale (bold print on roller end of tool) that corresponds to the mile-per-inch rating on your map. (2) Rotate the metal disk roller on front end of tool until it sets the little white pointer on the zero position of the Mileage Scale (just right of Map Ratio Scale). (3) Place map on flat surface, and smooth out any wrinkles. (4) Place the roller at your leftmost End Point, then roll along any path you want to take in the right direction (may be straight, curved or complex) until you reach rightmost End Point. Then read mileage above white pointer on tool's Mileage Scale. INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF MAP RATIO SCALES: 0.1, 0.2, 1, 1-1/2, 2, 2-1/2, 3, 3-1/2, 4, 4-1/2, 5, 5-1/2, 6, 6-1/2, 7, 7-1/2, 8, 8-1/2, 9, 9-1/2, 10, 11, and 12 Miles-Per-Inch. VERSATILE AND VERY USEFUL TOOL: Not limited to commercial maps - can be used with all types of maps - even maps you draw yourself, and those you print out from your computer. Even on non-map drawings and photos. Not limited to map tracing. Can also be adapted to shop, carpentry and plumbing jobs, especially in places hard to strike a ruler, as you can assume the mileage scale reads inches or feet instead. For direct readings, we do this by setting it on the Ratio Scale of "1" for inches-to-inches, or on "12" for inches-to-feet. For reproductions that are not full scale, we set the Ratio Scale to the ratio of the reproduction to the original, for example, on "4" for reproductions that are 4 times larger than their drawings. Also great to estimate sizes of curved parts and structures where rulers do not work. So many different uses, including map-reading, carpentry, sculpturing, crafts, model-making, archaeology, paleontology, manufacturing, etc. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $99.95. - RARE STANLEY TOOLS, #49 BIT GAUGE/GAGE STEEL DRILL BIT STOP, CARPENTRY USES Used and in very good condition. Stanley Tools, #49 Bit Gage/Gauge, Steel Drill Bit Stop Tool for carpentry. Made in USA, World War II vintage. About 2-1/2" x 1-1/2". Also includes the bolts, wingnuts and washers in last image. Useful, and great tool collectible / carpentry collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these sets left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $49.95. - RARE METRIC ROSEWOOD SPLIT-SHAFT MORTISE GAUGE/GAGE WOOD SCRIBE TOOL, CARPENTRY TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rosewood Split-Shaft Carpenter's Metric Mortise Gage/Gauge Scribe Tool, body apparently made of rose wood. Because this carpentry gage is METRIC, it is very rare. Very useful, and great tool collectible / carpentry collectible. This sale is for one (1) wood split-shaft carpentry gauge. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $99.95. - VINTAGE SWANSON SPEED SQUARE, CARPENTRY Used and in very good condition, some paint still on it. Vintage Swanson Speed Square. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $29.95, S/H: $7.90. - RARE T&B LUG TERMINAL TOOL PRESS, CRIMPER, PLIERS #21041, WEDGE-ON LINEMAN TOOL Used and in very good condition. Rare Antique T&B (Thomas & Betts) Lug Terminal Tool Press, Crimper, Pliers, #21041, Lineman Tool. Made in USA. This sale is for one (1) Terminal Tool Press. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell.. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $39.95, S/H: $13.90. - RARE BURNDY CRIMPER TOOL, CRIMPING PLIERS CRIMPS ELECTRICAL/ELECTRIC FERRULES, LUGS Used and in very good condition. Rare Burndy Crimper Tool, steel. Very useful pliers for crimping ferrules, lugs, terminals, and connectors. Works great, and is also a great tool collectible / electrical collectible. This sale is for one (1) Burndy crimper. Made in USA. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $99.95. - RARE ANTIQUE BERNARD W. SCHOLLHORN LEATHER PUNCH GROMMET / EYELET SETTING TOOL PRESS TRADE MARK TRIUMPH, B. LAWRENCE STATIONERY, 1901 Used and in very good condition. Rare Bernard W. Schollhorn Leather Punch / Eyelet Press Tool, 1901. Also stamped "TRADE-MARK TRIUMPH" and "B. LAWRENCE STATIONERY CO., NY". Made in USA. For leather, canvas, fabric, soft plastics. Works great, and wonderful collectible. Sale is for one (1) leather punch / eyelet press tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $99.95. - SOLID STEEL SHAPING BALL TOOL, DOME ANVIL, 2.3" DIA. Work Metals, Soft Plastics: Jewelers,Crafters,Model Makers,Blacksmiths,Silversmiths,Medieval Armor Used and in very good condition. Solid Steel Shaping Ball Tool, Dome Anvil, 2.3" Dia. Actually, a re-purposed antique trailer hitch ball. Great for shaping and pounding metals and soft plastics. And for mashing things and breaking them apart. And for pounding out car dents. Great for jewelers, crafters, model-makers, blacksmiths, silversmiths, medieval armor forges, restorers. You can't use more modern hitch "balls" because they are made flat at the top. Some surface rust, and threads need some cleaning, lube. Ball has a slight groove, which can be sanded off if perfect roundness is required. Excellent working tool, and collectible. Lone Star Consulting, Inc., regularly uses one of these in its shop work for years. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $79.95. LOT OF VARIOUS DENTAL TOOLS / DENTAL PARTS / DENTAL SUPPLIES (Sorry, we recently sold this lot of dental tools; we are looking for more.) Used and in good condition. Lot of Various Dental Tools / Dental Parts / Dental Supplies. Other possible uses beyond dentistry. We have not tested any of these tools, so we do not know or can guarantee that they work or are complete. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $9.95. LOCATION: (4) SAFCO ROYAL CONTRA ANGLE DENTAL DRILL HEADS VINTAGE HIGH SPEED DENTAL TOOLS (15,000 RPM) (Sorry, we recently sold this lot of 4 Safco Royal Contra Angle Dental Drill Heads; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition. Safco Royal Contra Angle Dental Drill Head Tools, High-Speed Dental Tools (15,000 RPM). Two appear to be new, and two appear to be little used. One comes in its original box with cover, and another comes in just the bottom of the box (ie: box top missing). In our electronic shops, we use these with Dremel drills and dental bits for many fine drilling and grinding uses, especially great for tight spots, like inside of chassis. Also, great dental collectibles / dental tool collectibles. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these sets left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $49.95. RARE ANTIQUE BRASS MAINSPRING GAUGE/GAGE WATCH REPAIR TOOL, WATCHMAKERS PEER, Made in Germany By G. Boley Used and in very good condition. Rare, Antique Peer Brass Mainspring Gage/Gage Watchmaker's Tool for Watch Repairs. Made in Germany by G. Boley, circa 1920s. Works great. And great watchmaker collectible tool, gauge collectible, and (German) tool collectible. This sale is for one (1) watchmaker's tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. We have only a few of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD188. - Price: $39.95. - RARE SCHRADE OLD-TIMER HONESTEEL, HS-1, D-2277331 w/ LEATHER CASE, RAZOR / KNIFE SHARPENING HONE TOOL (Sorry, we recently sold this valuable Schrade Old-Timer Honeysteel Tool.) Used and in very good condition. Rare Schrade Old-Timer Honesteel, with Leather Case, Razor / Knife-Sharpening Tool, Hone. Tool is in very good condition. Holster shows some wear and rust. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90. - PRECISION ANTIQUE LUTZ ABNEY LEVEL TOPOGRAPHIC PERCENT INCLINOMETER CLINOMETER SURVEY TOOL / SURVEYOR TOOL ANGLE SURVEYING TOOL, w/ CRYSTAL PRISM (Sorry, we recently sold our antique Lutz Abney Level; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition. Antique Precision Abney Level Lutz Topographical Percent Clinometer / Inclinometer Surveying Tool / Survey Tool, with Crystal Prism. Crystal Prism part is taped to the body of the Lutz Protractor with clear tape (seen in 2nd and 4th images), and Prism is chipped on one corner. We are unfamiliar with this device and do not know how this Lutz works, how the Crystal Prism is installed and used, and whether or not this Lutz Inclinometer is complete. The hosts of the estate sale said that today, most of these they have seen no longer have the prism. This sale is for one (1) Abney Level Inclinometer. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $199.95. - (3) ANTIQUE "C" CLAMPS: (1) 2-1/2", (2) 3", TOOLS Used and in very good condition. Sale consists of one 2-1/2" C-clamp, and two 3" C-clamps Tools. All are Made in America. All three clamps work well, but show lots of use, and some paint staining and surface rust, and one ear of one clamp screw broke off. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $24.95, SH: $9.90. - STEEL GLOBEMASTER No. 62020 REEL TOOL RARE 6" DIA. REEL, w/ SPRING STEEL TAPE FISH TAPE / CABLE PULLER / WIRE PULLER / LEADER PULLER / FEEDER PULLER / LINE PULLING / PLUMBERS SNAKE ELECTRICIANS ELECTRICAL / ELECTRONIC / PLUMBING Used and in very good condition. Rare Steel Globemaster Reel Tool, No. 62020, with unmarked spring steel tape (end has a spring with a brass ball at the end), 6" dia, 1/4" thick disk body. We are not sure what this device was primarily designed for. We believe that it is an Electrician's Cable Puller Tool also commonly known as a Leader Puller / Feeder Puller and Fish Tape, and what we used it for. But we were told by one person that it was used to measure the depths of lakes, rivers and wells, and of holes in the earth. And another told us that it was used as a Plumber's Snake to unplug stopped-up toilets, which seems like a reasonable use because sewer line tapes that don't have a ball at the end can severely scratch up toilet bowl porcelain. However, the spring has no rust or even discoloration on it, nor does it smell of anything that we can detect, indicating that if exposed to water, it was done seldom, or the water was clean water and the spring dried afterwards. This device could be adapted for other uses. If you know the actual intended use of this device, please freely let us know. In the 3rd image, reel is shown resting in a vise; the vise is not included but used for posing. This is both a great tool and a great tool collectible. Made in Japan. This Globemaster tool was made back in the day when Japan produced most of our imports, and Chinese imports were virtually unknown. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $199.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE REDFIELD OLYMPIC TARGET RECEIVER SIGHT #71100? REDFIELD PEEP SIGHT (All Blued, Fully Adjustable) (Sorry, we recently sold this Redfield Target Peep Sight; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition as shown. Rare Redfield Olympic Receiver Target Sight, Redfield Peep Sight. #71100? All Blued, Fully Adjustable, 7/8 " Aperture Disk. We don't know for sure which rifle or shotgun this device is used on (if you know, please freely email us), but believe likely it is for a Winchester 52, Winchester 70 and/or Remington 40x series. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $129.95. - ETCO BOSTON EYELET PLIERS TOOL Eyelet Tool Co. USA - Fabrics, Leather, Foot Wear, Tents (Sorry, we have recently sold out of this Item; we are trying to obtain more.) Used and in very good condition. ETCO Boston Eyelet Pliers Tool. ETCO = Eyelet Tool Co. For installing eyelets. Great collectible. Great for crafters and fabric, leather, foot wear and tent workers. 7-1/2" long. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $29.95. - RARE STEEL MELON BALL MAKER / ANTIQUE, VINTAGE GRAPEFRUIT CORER 1-1/4" DIA. BALLS + GREAT FOR CLAY, COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM, FRUIT, FUDGE, BUTTER, PEANUT BUTTER Used and in very good condition. Rare, Vintage Melon Ball Maker (Melon Baller) / Grapefruit Corer, made of steel. Also great for Clay, Cookie Dough, Fudge, Fruit, Ice Cream, Butter, Peanut Butter, and other materials about watermelon-soft in hardness. Fast, efficient and consistent when you need to make many balls. This rare melon baller / grapefruit corer is much better than those scoop types, and is clearly the best way to make balls. Can also be used to cut soft cylindrical objects (e.g. cigars). Produced ball size is about 1-1/4" diameter. We bought several of these. Make (likely Boyle Co.), model are unknown. 4-1/2" long when folded up,and 8-1/8"long when spread out. It looks like it was silver-plated. Cutting edges are still sharp, so handle with care. Great for the crafts person to make ceramic balls from clay. Great for the pastry chef to make dough balls, fudge, butter, peanut butter similar balls. Great for the fruit lover and ice cream lover. Great collectible antique (believed to have been made in 1920s). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $39.95. - RARE 3RD REICH NAZI TORTURE TOOL / NAZI INTERROGATION TOOL Used and in very good condition. We recently bought this rare old tool, which has has a prominent swastika on it in raised metal. We are long-time collectors of unusual, strange and weird hand tools. This particular type of tool is familiar to John Williams, our CEO. About 40 years ago, he worked for the Air Force as an electronics engineer at Holloman, AFB, near Alamogordo, NM. Several of the engineers and technicians he worked with were former Nazis who, after World War II, were sent to New Mexico for various post-World War II rocket programs, and were nearing retirement. In a conversation with one of these former-Nazi technicians, he learned that the ex-Nazi also collected hand tools. The ex-Nazi told him that during World War II, he had hid his tool collection in a cellar in Germany, and returned in the late 1950s and retrieved his collection. One tool he showed Williams was very similar, if not identical, to this swastika tool Williams. This tool is made of cast iron or steel, about 6" tall, shown above. It roughly resembles a gear puller-type tool with two claw-like jaws, and a screw mechanism which moves the jaws in and out. This ex-Nazi told him that this tool was used as an interrogation device (euphemism for Nazi torture device). How the ex-Nazi Claimed This Tool Type was Used for Interrogations: Operation was easy and simple. The person being interrogated was stood up against a heavy board with a vertical slot in it at neck level (or stood up against a post or tree). A garrote loop (noose) was placed around the person's neck and fed thru the board slot (or around the post or tree), and then attached to the claw-like jaws of the tool positioned behind the board / post / tree. The tool's screw was then slowly turned to steadily tighten the garrote noose until the person divulged the sought after info / confessed to the offense, and/or was strangled to death. This tool is not the same tool as this ex-Nazi German technician owned but one which looks very similar, if not identical, to that tool. Williams recently bought this tool so that it could not be purchased by someone else who might also recognize it as a Nazi torture device, but who would then use it in a way to promote Nazism, gloat about its abuses against Jews, Gypsies, Russians, freedom fighters, clergy, homosexuals and other Third-Reich victims, or even use it as an interrogation device / torture device today. In the several decades Williams has collected unusual hand tools, this one is only the second one he has ever seen, so it is very rare today, and possibly is the only remaining one left. The arms of its swastika point right, not left as usually found in sun symbols, so the ex-Nazi German technician was very likely telling Williams the truth about the tool's Third Reich origins and abuses. Note #1: While it is not impossible that this tool could have been made as an actual gear puller (or pully puller or wheel puller), there are significant differences in its design to usual gear pullers which makes us doubt that it is suitable for much gear pulling but ideal as a Nazi torture device / Nazi interrogation device. There is no way we can prove that this particular tool was ever intended or abused as a Nazi Torture Tool / Nazi Interrogation Tool. It may have been originally designed for purely innocent uses unknown to us, and then later adapted to Nazi abuses. It may have never been abused by the Nazis even though others of the same make and model may or may not have been abused by the Nazis. However, this tool has certain inexplicable design features which would make the tool ideal as a strangulation tool but highly limited at best to normal gear pulling, and also that it is a special tool of significant importance to Nazis: (1) Normal gear pullers have a fitting at the screw end which pushes down on the gear hub to provide the usually great force required for the claws to pull off gears. This tool functions differently; the screw would not press against a hub, for the jaws to pull anything, the tool feet must first press against a firm surface, which does not exist for most gear-pulling situations but easily exist for torture abuses (e.g. board, post or tree). (2) The hole thru the hex screw head results in only about an 1/8th inch of metal thickness left, so it appears that the hole would break if much force was exerted against it by a breaker bar inserted thru the hole. Coupled with the fact that the connection of the jaws to the screw fitting also looks weak for gear puller uses. Many gears (and pullies and wheels) are stuck on very tight because they are press-fitted and/or rusted into place, often requiring 100s of pounds of pull force to dislodge them - even small gears 1" or so in diameter. We doubt that this Nazi tool could apply much more than 100 lb of pull force before breaking either at the screw head or jaws. A person can be strangled with as little as 10 lbs of force against the neck, so the tool is certainly more than strong enough for torture but too weak for heavy gear pulling. (3) This tool was cast with a prominent swastika symbol in raised steel. Clearly, most German-made tools during the Third Reich did not have prominent swastikas cast into them. This means that this tool likely held a special meaning, application and importance to Nazis way beyond their ordinary tool uses. Also, the compact size and shape of this tool makes it very portable in the field in a coat pocket, back pack or valise for uses in the field, such as with a military unit. Note #2: This tool is NOT being sold as Nazi memorabilia NOR as 3rd Reich memorabilia. We intend to sell this likely Nazi torture tool only to an institution, business or person whom we believe will handle and display this tool in a positive and responsibe manner, such as a Holocaust Museum, respected university, civil rights organization, etc. If you know of any history about this tool, please freely provide it to us. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $499,995.95. We are willing to negotiate price if you can convince us that this Item is not as valuable as we believe it is because of its special meaning and rarity. - ANTIQUE MECHANICS TOOL / MACHINE TOOL, 1908 VISE PART / CLAMP PART / PRESS PART Used and in good condition, some surface rust. Antique Vise Part / Clamp Part / Press Part Mechanics Tool / Machine Tool. Patented 1908. Original use is unknown. When worm screw threaded shaft is screwed all the way in, length is 7" (also length of the shaft). Diameter of worm screw shaft is 3/4". ID of threaded end is 11/16". ID of flanged end is 3/4". If you insert the threaded shaft into the other end of the collar, it tightens down to the opening of the flanged end, in which case, a small tip at the end of worm screw may have been used to center mark or indent a rod inserted into the flanged end. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $29.95, S/H: $11.90. - RARE SKARSTEN MFG CO. LTD, No. 62 DUAL RENEWABLE HOOK / SCRAPER TOOL (Sorry, we recently sold this Skarsten Scraper Tool; we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. Rare Skarsten Mfg. Co. LTD Renewable Hook / Scraper, No. 62. Made in London, England. Rare tool collectible. 4-1/2" x 2-1/4" x 3/4". Embroidery uses? LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $29.95. - RARE SOUTH BEND OPEN-O-MATIC BALANCED REEL 1130 MODEL D FISHING REEL w/ STRING Used and in very good condition. Rare Southbend Open-O-Matic Balanced Reel #1130 Model D Fishing Reel, filled with Fishing String. 3" dia. Made in USA. Much use still in it, and great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $39.95, S/H: $7.90. RARE, ANTIQUE EC ATKINS TOOL WOODWORKING TOOL STEEL LARGE CROSSCUT SAW TEETH SETTER TOOL (Jan. 1, 1884) Used and in very good condition, surface rust. Rare, Antique (Jan. 1, 1884) EC Atkins Steel Woodworking Tool. 7-5/8" long x 7/8" wide x 3/4" high. EC Atkins (Indianapolis, IN) is known for its fine wood working tools, such as saws, planes and shave. This tool is used to set the teeth on large cross cut saws (crosscut saw tooth setter), the points on the back side are used to hold the saw in place (like on a stump). This fine EC Atkins tool is still as usable as it was in 1884, and as well as a great collectible tool / collectible hand tool / collectible saw tool. And there are other possible different uses for this fine tool. This sale is for one (1) EC Atkins saw teeth setter tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $39.95. (2) RARE CHICAGO SPECIALTY CO. #2 & #4 PLUMBER RESEATERS, STEEL RESEATING TOOL, PLUMBING JOBS Used and in very good condition. Rare Steel Plumbing Reseater Tool for Plumbers, sizes 2 and 4. Made by Chicago Specialty Co. 8-3/8" long, round shaft is 3/8" diameter, square end for a "T" handle tool (not included). Great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these lots left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $29.95. CLASSY SET of 3 LUTHIER BRASS MICRO PRECISION PLANES CRAFTS / MODELS / CARVING - FINISHING - COLLECTIBLES/GIFTS/AWARDS MUSIC INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURE/REPAIR/RESTORING (Violins / Dulcimers ...) New old stock (NOS) in original package. Classy Set of 3 Brass Luthier Micro Precision Planes, each mini wood plane is about 3" long. Great for trims, laminates, refinishes, and for small detail and precision work. And for the Luthier trade, or as tool collectibles / plane collectibles / music collectibles - in your display case. Or for gifts or awards either as a set or individually - birthdays, Christmas, special events, prize awards (e.g. sports, contests, door prizes, bingo prizes, charity prizes). Ideal for violin, fiddle, cello, dulcimer, guitar, banjo, ukulele (ukelele) and other wood musical instruments manufacture, repair and/or refurbishing / restoring. And for removing small splinters and burrs from wood furntiture and wood objects. And for precision carvings, statues, models and other objects, and to make delicate furniture and miniature objects. And for making wood fishing lures, wood handles, wood duck decoys, wood animal calls and wood whistles. Works on many types of woods, softer plastics, soap bars, and similar types of softer construction, arts, crafts and modeling materials. This sale is for one set of 3 micro wood planes in original package as shown in left side of image. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only a few of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $19.95. - - RARE, ANTIQUE, UNKNOWN PLUNGER/DETONATOR DEVICE (Sorry, we recently sold this rare detonator/plunger device; we are looking for more.) Used and in very good condition. Rare, antique, unknown steel Plunger (Detonator?) type device. Great mining collectible or militaria collectible. About 13" long, 3/4" dia. We do not know its exact use. Make and model are unknown ("Patent Applied For" stamped on it); very rare or perhaps even unique. What it used or tested is not likely around any more. If you know what its function is, please freely let us know. Our best guesses are for mining operations or long-ago method for testing ammo or charges. HOW IT WORKS: On right end is a small ball on an extension, which ball lever probably fit some kind of triggering device. When the ball lever is rotated, the plunger descends down the tube, about 5/16". Left end also has a screwed-On piece. When it is screwed on, the 1/8" dia. steel plunger fits into the 1/8" hole shown on the long threaded end of this end piece and can be seen emerging from back of 3/8" hole on other end. The exact depth of the descended plunger into the 3/8" dia. hole of the end piece is set and locked into place by using the knurled adjustment nut. Some type of cap or other object used with this device is fitted into this 3/8" dia. hole and secured into place by the screw shown above it. When the plunger is activated by movement of the little ball lever, plunger descends into the back of the secured object at other end, which then strikes the back of the cap or other object to activate it. The 3/8" dia. hole is about 1-3/4" deep, and if desired, its diameter can be increased by using a reamer. Fine threading is used for both end pieces. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $299.95, S/H: $9.90. - RARE ANTIQUE BESTE LEDERKAPSEL TAPE MEASURE. ENGLISH/METRIC Used and in very good condition. Rare Antique Beste Lederkapsel Tape Measure. Made of steel and brass. 5 meters long. One side of tape measure is marked in metric, the other side is marked in inches and feet. 3" dia, 1" thick. Marked with "Hale" on it. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD163. - Price: $299.95. - RARE DIRECT REPRODUCTION CORP. or KEUFFEL & ESSER (K&E) LUCITE DRAFTING TOOL DRAWING TOOL / TRACING TOOL SCRIBER TOOL / ETCHER TOOL / ENGRAVER TOOL MAPPING TOOL / CARTOGRAPHY TOOL ARCHITECTURAL TOOL Used and in very good condition. Keuffel Esser (K&E) or Direct Reproduction Corp. (makers of precision drafting instruments) (ULster 7-6116 Made in England) Lucite Drafting Tool, Scribing Tool, Etching Tool, Architectural Tool, Map Tool, Cartography Tool, Drawing Tool, Tracing Tool, Engraving Tool, etc. Backside is 2-1/2" wide, and front-to-back is 2-1/2". We bought these at an estate sale without being certain as to their original or intended uses. Note: This sale is for ONE of the lucite tools and NOT for the wood box full of them as shown (the box full of these types of tools are shown to show the container that this tool came in, other tools that it is associated with, and the variations in these lucite tools - you may not get the exact one shown). Some of these tools are marked with Keuffel & Esser (K&E), and others marked with Direct Reproduction Corp. While there are variations between these lucite tools, their functions appear to be identical. Each has two adjustable back feet, with a ball bearing at the end of each foot for easy scuff-free manuevering on sensitive surfaces, such as paper, plastic sheeting, plexiglas, glass, vinyl, naugahyde and wood veneer. At the front end is an adjustable pointed cutter or stylus. These lucite tools were made of lucite so that the underlying map or document could be viewed through the tool for faster and more efficient positioning. We were emailed that these lucite tools were used in cartography (map making). They placed over a base map a clear mylar sheet which was coated with orange or red translucent paint (map was visible thru the coated plastic mylar). The lucite tool with its sharp cutter was placed on the coated mylar sheet, and then moved along where one wanted a line or border, cutting the mylar to make a handmade negative of the relevant underlying map area. After all relevant lines were cut, the resulting map negative was contact printed as part of a mapping project. Other coated mylar could have windows cut out of them using this lucite tool - the part that one wanted to view the map or document thru or print, while obscuring the rest of the map or document, was peeled off to make a window. In this case, the cutter was used to go around and cut the outside edge of the window. Clearly, this precision professional tool could also be used for many projects involving the cutting of paper, cardstock or plastic sheet, ranging from cutting out or tracing images of favorite celebrities in magazines, paper dolls, signs, editing photographs, etc. Can also be used as an engraving tool or outlining tool, scoring tool, and for making cut lines, break lines and tear lines (e.g. cutting out gaskets). This lucite tool can probably be modified to replace the cutter with a pen or pencil. A great professional precision tool for cartographers, architects, draftsmen, hobbyists, crafters, model makers, and artists. Also a great professional tool collectible / cartography collectible - likely an invaluable rare military collectible (militaria) since these types of tools were mostly used on large flat maps that the military used for tactical and strategic planning during our great wars. We also sell the triangular metal tool with the magnifier glass (shown in the box image), which appears to be used in conjunction with it, if interested, also buy the metal tool for reduced combined S/H - a great militaria combo. The cutter tool is very sharply pointed, so handle with care. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only a few of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $129.95 - RARE DIRECT REPRODUCTION CORP. or KEUFFEL & ESSER (K&E) METAL DRAFTING TOOL DRAWING TOOL / TRACING TOOL SCRIBER TOOL / ETCHER TOOL / ENGRAVER TOOL MAPPING TOOL / CARTOGRAPHY TOOL ARCHITECTURAL TOOL (Sorry, we sold out of this K&E Metal Drafting Tool; we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. Keuffel Esser (K&E) or Direct Reproduction Corp. Metal Drafting Tool, Scribing Tool, Etching Tool, Architectural Tool, Map Tool, Cartography Tool, Drawing Tool, Tracing Tool, Engraving Tool, etc. There is no make or model # on either metal tool, but they came in a box with K&E and Direct Reproduction Corp. (makers of precision drafting instruments) lucite tools which are marked. The metal body appears to be black-painted brass. Backside is 2-1/2" wide, and front-to-back is 2" (excluding magnifier and paw). We bought these at an estate sale without being certain as to their original or intended uses. Note: This sale is for ONE of the metal tools and NOT for the wood box full of them as shown (the box full of these types of tools are shown to show the container that this tool came in, other tools that it is associated with, and the variations in these metal tools - you may not get the exact one shown). Variations between the metal tools are minor, and their functions appear to be identical. Each has two adjustable back feet, with a ball bearing at the end of each foot for easy and scuff-free manuevering on sensitive surfaces, such as paper, plastic, plexiglas, glass, vinyl, leather, naugahyde and wood veneer. At the front end is an adjustable "paw" with what looks like a small claw at the end. On the same shaft as the paw and above it is a magnifying glass, which focal point seems to be exactly on the surface, but the magnifier can be upwardly adjustable to view non-flat objects as well. The magnifier and paw can be swung around various positions, but likely point to frontally. We were emailed that the associated lucite tools were used in cartography (map making), see details of our offer for the lucite tool associated with this tool for how the lucite tool was used, so this metal tool was also a cartography tool. The magnifier of this metal tool has the clear purpose of viewing magified images of the map, document, drawing, engraving or object that the magnifier was poised over. This is a great professional tool for analyzing maps, documents, drawings, works of art, engravings, stamps, coins, paper money, gems, biological specimens, medical specimens, fossils, circuit boards, small hardware, etc. And a great precision tool for doing miniature repairs, replacements and analyses, such as watchmaking, jewelery repairs, electronics and miniature model making. Works like a hands-free loop (loupe) with no frontal blocking of light or obstruction of viewed objects. A great professional precision tool for cartographers, architects, draftsmen, hobbyists, crafters, model makers, artists, stamp/money/gem collectors, document analyzers, forensic scientists, biologists, geologists, paleontologists, medical doctors, engineers, lab technicians, clock/watch repairers, jewelers, etc. Also, a great professional tool collectible / cartography collectible - likely an invaluable rare military collectible (militaria) since these types of tools were mostly used on large flat maps that the military used for tactical and strategic planning during our great wars. We also sell the triangular lucite tool (shown in the box image), which appears to be used in conjunction with it, if interested, also buy the lucite tool for reduced combined S/H - great militaria combo. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only a few of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $299.95. VINTAGE DOUGLASS TOOL CO. SPECIALTY LEEMING TOOL MOULDING TOOL, w/ LEATHER CASE Used and in very good condition. Rare, Vintage Douglass Tool Co. (St. Louis) Specialty Douglass Leeming Tool for inserting beading in window rubber moulding (probably used on aircraft), with Leather Case. Made in USA. This Douglass Tool seems like it could also be used as a small specialty wrench, and great for crafters. Especially great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD159. - Price: $99.95. - RARE, VINTAGE STEEL SEARS ALADDIN'S TOOL for Cutting Out Moldings (Mouldings)? Used and in very good condition. Vintage, rare Aladdin's Tool, steel. We bought this at an estate sale and am not sure exactly what it does, but likely used as a wood router function used in conjunction with a standing drill. The Aladdin's Tool is 5" long, and comes with 5 double-sided steel bits as shown. One person claims that it was made by Sears for cutting fancy moldings (mouldings) using a table saw. Very unusual wooden box shows handling and use but is in very good condition, 5-3/4" x 3" x 2-3/4". This Aladdin's Tool is a great tool collectible, yet practical to use. ("Aladdin" is sometimes misspelled as, Alladdin, Alladin and Aladin). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $59.95, S/H: $9.90. - RARE VINTAGE XACTO LOCK GRIPLIER PLIERS / GRIPLIER LOCKING PLIER (Sorry, we recently sold this Griplier Pliers; we are trying to get more). Used and in excellent condition. Rare Vintage XACTO Lock Griplier Pliers, 5-1/2" long, Made in America. Steel, looks like chrome-plated. In the decades we have collected rare, antique, vintage and precision tools, this is the only XACTO Lock Griplier Pliers we have ever run into. These Griplier locking pliers are stamped with: "The 'Third Hand' for Small Assemblies". The "gun site" like structure at the top is the lever that you push forward with your thumb to lock these XACTO pliers, causing it to hold tightly onto the object of interest. You push it back to unlock. These extremely rare Griplier pliers make an absolutely wonderful collectible for collectors of tools in general, pliers in general, locking pliers, clamping tools or locking tools, XACTO tools, electronic tools, craft tools, modeling tools, etc. - your collection is not complete without THIS very rare XACTO Lock Griplier Pliers. These Griplier Lock Pliers are also extremely useful in gripping and manipulating small objects from nuts to wires to electronic parts, modeler parts and craft parts. Handle can be placed in a soft-jaw vise to hold and position this tool while you work on the clamped object. It is a mystery to us why this very useful tool never became a standard tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $995.95. FLY TYING VISE / CLAMP FLY FISHING Used and in good condition, as shown above. Fly tying vise / fly tying clamp for fly fishing, electronics, model making, other uses. Looks high-quality but make is unknown. We have a ton of these, so we have to start selling some of them. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD150. - Price: $19.95, S/H: $6.90. - PINCH VISE / PINCH CLAMP / FLY-TYING VISE RARE HANDHELD VERSATILE VISE / CLAMP CRAFTS, MODELING, ELECTRONICS, CLOCKS JEWELRY, PHOTOS, CSI / FORENSIC, MEDICAL Used and in excellent condition. Rare versatile handheld Pinch Clamp / Gripper Clamp. This hand held pinch vise or pinch clamp tool was made from a rare antique tool (no parts of the antique tool are missing or modified). Pinch clamp opens between 0" to about 5/16" to hold any object within that thickness range (if bigger gap is needed, simply use a longer thumb screw). Its two washers have rubber pads on them to not mar your held objects. You can easily remove these two washers and substitute with washers with or without rubber pads (e.g. to solder or heat the held object or to dip it into chemicals) - bigger washers, smaller washers, oval washers, rectangular washers, and other odd-shaped and odd-type washers or extensions you can make or buy to customize this tool for your particular needs. Washers and extensions can be made of metal, wood, plastic, hard rubber or composite materials. You can also stack on more than two washers or extensions to hold multi-layer / laminated objects, and mulitple objects of same or different types or thicknesses. You can also use the pinch clamp to hold a cutter wheel(s) or blade(s), sanding wheel(s) or grinding wheel(s) to cut, scrape, grind, smooth or shape your work. And it is also great as a tool extension for small tools. The pinch clamp itself can be held in the hand or by a vise (soft-jaw vise preferred) or larger clamp. We prefer to hold the pinch clamp using a laboratory clamp / holder (talon clamp or extension clamp), of the 3-prong clamp or round jaw clamp type to easily and securely hold and position it at any angle and maneuver it with ease hands-free. This pinch clamp can also be used as a fish fly-tying vise tool (fly-tying clamp / fly-tying holder / fly-tying gripper) to grip your hooks and other small parts. And it can also be used to hold or grip just about any small object (including small tools to work on the tools or as tool extensions). One image shows it gripping a few pages of paper, the other image shows it gripping a 36" long wood ruler between its two washers, securely clamped down using the thumb screw so that you can securely work on the object without touching it with your fingers. And it is great for clamping down on smaller glue jobs and solder jobs. The pinch clamp is great for the crafts person, modeler, electronics fabricator, jewelery worker, clock repairer / watch repairer, photographer, seamstress, paster-up, electroplater, CSI / forensic personnel, medical workers, and other small precision types of jobs - especially small jobs where you don't want to handle or touch objects. If you have room for just one handheld vise, the pinch clamp is it! We have several of these to sell, when this pinch vise sells, we will list another, so you can buy one for each hand, or to gift. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only a few of these popular pinch clamps left. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $39.95. - GOLD MOLD / GOLD INGOT MOLD TO MAKE GOLD INGOTS Used and in good condition. Recycles scrap metals into metal ingots, including gold, silver, copper, brass, aluminum, German silver, etc. (melt temperature must be less than iron). Includes C-clamp to clamp the mold for pour. Used by jewelers, metalsmiths, model makers, precious metal collectors, metal recyclers. Material: High Carbon Steel. Width overall: 4.75". Height overall: 2.5". Thickness overall (excludes clamp dimensions): 1-3/8". Width of mold assembly: 2.75". Height of mold assembly: 2.25". Thickness of mold assembly: 1". LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD150. - Price: $29.95, S/H: $9.90. - RARE, ANTIQUE BRASS GLASS CUTTER GLAZIER TOOL, 4" Used and in very good condition. Rare, Antique Brass Glass Cutter, 4" long. Rolling cut blade can be replaced by removing its screw. Nice notches for breaking the glass, once cut. Maker is unknown. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $39.95. VINTAGE GOODELL-PRATT GLASS CUTTER RARE NO. 1, TURRET-HEAD GLASS CUTTER Used and in very good condition. Rare, vintage Goodell-Pratt, No. 1 Glass Cutter, Turret Head Glass Cutter. Made in USA, circa 1930s. The Goodell-Pratt No. 1 is indeed a very rare and special tool collectible. Usable as a glass cutter as well. Don't let this get away from you! LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $99.95. - RARE, VTG SEXAUER PLUMBING TOOL KIT w/ STEEL BOX 3-in-1 BEADING TOOL - 3/8", 7/16", 1/2" COPPER TUBING Used and in very good condition. Rare, vintage Sexauer "3-in-1" Beading Tool and Holder, with Original Steel Box. Used to create a bead on 3/8", 7/16", 1/2" copper tubing. One tool looks like some kind of faucet tool or tube tool for 3 sizes. The other tool looks somewhat like a bullet mold, but is some type of tube holder, tube shape restorer or tube crimper. With decades of collecting rare, vintage, antique and precision tools, this is the first one of these we've run into. Great collectible, or tools can be used as is, or tools can be modified to fit your other uses. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $69.95, S/H: $9.90. NEVA-CLOG PRODUCTS STAPLING PLIERS / RARE NEVA-CLOG STAPLER PLIERS Used and in very good condition. This Rare Neva-Clog Stapling Pliers do not have a model number stamped on them, which likely means that they are much older than the Model B-100 or Model S-100. This also means that we have no idea how to price it, so we tried to price it low for our Buyers. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $39.95. RARE VINTAGE 10" STANLEY ADJUSTABLE PLIERS STEEL TONGUE & GROOVE JOINT PLIERS, NO. 1503. Used and in very good condition. Rare, vintage steel 10" Stanley Tongue & Groove Joint Pliers Adjustable Pliers, No. 1503. The Stanley No. 1503 is a rare collectible. Very high-quality Stanley groove pliers. 9-3/4" long. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $95.95. RARE, ANTIQUE MECHANICAL WEIGHT SCALE Used and in very good condition. Rare Antique Mechanical Scale for Weighing with two scales in grams. One scale is 0-250g, the other scale is 0-1000g. The round weight at the bottom is shown in the 0-1000g position. Rotate it up 180 degrees, and it is set for the 0-250g scale. It is missing the pan at the top for holding the object to be weighed, but many pans can be made to fit the top of the vertical brass post (requires drilling/punching a hole in the bottom of the metal pan (or wood or plastic pan - an antique brass, copper or wood pan would do nicely), and simply screw in a #8 screw (about 1" long). The screw shaft securely fits into the post hole to hold the pan on. Once you have the pan attached, you simply zero in the scale, then put in your objects to be weighed. Bought at an estate sale. While its primary use was reported to weigh gold in the field, other of its many popular uses include weighing other minerals, gemstones, mechanical parts, and grains. A great collectible - looks great in your collection or display. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $199.95, S/H: $11.90. RARE K. VOM STEIN WUPPERTAL PIPE WRENCH, 5120-12-140-5443 HEAVY-DUTY, INDUSTRIAL GRADE PIPE WRENCH Used and in very good condition. Rare K. vom Stein Wuppertal Pipe Wrench, #5120-12-140-5443. Very high quality, heavy-duty, industrial grade pipe wrench. Also great because this K. vom Stein Wuppertal pipe wrench is a combo smooth jaw and serrated jaw pipe wrench - no more having to reach for another wrench when under the sink! To set for smooth jaw, slide the center piece all the way up. To set for serrated or rough-gripping jaw, slide the center piece all the way down. This pipe wrench also has built-in cutter. This rare K. vom Stein Wuppertal pipe wrench is not only a great tool but also a great collectible. Both very useful and a great collectible wrench. 12-3/4" long (max jaw opening of 2"). Jaws are 11/16" wide. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $495.95, S/H: $9.90. ADJUSTABLE-HEAD CLAW HEAD HAMMER ADJUSTABLE CLAW HEAD HAMMER / ADJUSTABLE HAMMER HEAD - RARE, STEEL Used and in very good condition; all functions are excellent, there is no visible rust and plastic on handle is in great condition and snug-tight. Rare high-quality steel Adjustable-Head Claw Head Hammer. We recently bought this adjustable-head claw head hammer at an estate sale (a year earlier, we bought another one exactly like this adjustable hammer also at an estate sale where the wife of the deceased stated that hammer's owner was a tool inventor, which we sold Nov. 6 on eBay for $995), so this adjustable-head claw hammer may even be an invention prototype, manufacturer's approval sample, or a (very) limited issue tool (we do not know how many were made or are still available). With decades of experience of buying unusual tools, we have found only three adjustable head hammers, including this one, all of this same type, all found near Albuquerque, NM, and we own this one and the one we have in our tool collection. UTILITY: The claw hammer's head is easily and quickly adjusted. You simply push in the long black lever, and then position the head to the desired angle (of 3 angles), then release the lever, leaving the head rigidly and securely at selected angle. This adjustable-head claw hammer has outstanding advantages over standard non-adjustable hammers. In its traditional "T" head position, the hammer has all the uses of normal claw head hammers of this general size, shape and weight. However, with the head pointed up of this adjustable hammer, you can reach 2+ inches higher, and it also great for working on vertical surfaces (e.g. walls and fences), slanted-up surfaces (e.g. roofs), for nailing near the edge of a surface you don't want to accidentally hit or score (e.g. high up on a wall near a ceiling), for difficult ceilings and overhead work, and for nailing nails angled towards you. With the head pointed down, hammering on slanted-down surfaces (e.g. roofs), difficult underside surfaces, and for nails angled away from you. Of equal importance, when you pull nails or separate stuck boards using a claw hammer's claw, the angle of the hammer handle, along with your body's position, are critical to the amount of leverage you can apply (i.e. nail-pulling force / board-separating force). With this adjustable-head claw hammer, you can adjust head angle to much more easily, quickly and efficiently pull nails and separate stuck boards. For maximum leverage for pulling nails, the angled-up hammer head position is especially powerful where you are also pushing against the surface with the nails. This great increase in hammer efficiency means you can hammer or pull faster, more easily, and with less resulting strain, busted knuckles and 'aches-and-pains' at the end of your work day using this adjustable head hammer. COLLECTIBLE: This is an incredible collectible hammer find! We can find no other adjustable head hammer anywhere. If you collect rare tools in general or hammers or claw hammers in particular, your collection will never be complete and always have a glaring deficiency without this incredible adjustable-head claw hammer as part of your collection! A real treasure and conversation piece! LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD142. - Price: $995.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE, VINTAGE IBM PLIERS, IBM SMOOTH JAW PLIERS Used and in great condition. Rare, vintage IBM Pliers, IBM Smooth Jaw Pliers. Similar to B5113 pliers but these are authentic and rare IBM pliers. We have no idea what these were originally used for, but probably lineman's pliers. The round sides are great for pulling wires, strings or threads together (or apart). Usually, pliers with smooth jaws are used in jewelry fabrication and jewelry repair, but the "IBM" indicates a computer, electronic or electrical use. Great collectible and conversational piece. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD134. - Price: $39.95 - RARE UNUSUAL DOUBLE-HEADED PLIERS 2-HEADED ALLIGATOR PLIERS Used and in very good condition. Surface discoloration is minimal. Rare, Unusual Double-Headed Pliers, 2-headed Alligator Pliers. We have no idea what these were made for (do you?). Has no make or model embossed on it. Great for gripping and pulling fabrics, carpeting, upholstery, other soft materials. Great collectible and conversational piece. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD134. - Price: $199.95 - VINTAGE MA BELL HANDHELD VISE / VERSATILE HANDHELD CLAMP Used and in very good condition. Vintage Ma Bell Versatile Handheld Vise, Handheld Clamp. This sturdy handheld vise is superior to virtually all other handheld vises. Not only is this handheld vise great for holding and bending flat objects and materials typical of most handheld vises, but it also has a side which works great with tubes, rods, shafts, cables, wires, ropes, odd-shaped objects, etc. Ideal for securely cutting, soldering, drilling, grinding, polishing, shaping, holding, suspending and carrying tubed-shaped objects for the shop, hobbyists, crafts, jewelry, sports, electricians, plumbers, etc. This Ma Bell hand vise was made about 50 years ago by the Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company (the same Bell System / Western Electric monopoly which later broke up into the "Baby Bells") as a telephone lineman's installation and repair tool, this Ma Bell vise is a great collectible as well as being a very useful and versatile tool. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only a few of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD133. - Price: $19.95 VINTAGE LUFKIN WOOD EXTENSION RULER / FOLDING RULER, 6', MADE IN USA Used and in very good condition. Vintage Made-In-USA Wood Lufkin Folding Ruler / Extension Ruler, 6'. Numbered on both sides. Most of the numbers are very bright and sharp, few are bit faded. Probably 1940s if it matches all the other tools that were in its tool box. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD132. - Price: $19.95. VINTAGE AUTOMARK TRAVEL CALCULATOR Used and in very good condition. Vintage Automark Travel Calculator / Computer. Calculates and keeps track of just about every function one needs in travel, including Miles Traveled, Miles Per Gallon, Gallons Used, Miles Per Hour, and Travel Time. In addition, it converts U.S. Gallons, Imperial Gallons and Liters. And this Automark Travel Calculator converts Miles and Kilometers. Requires no power or Internet service. And it makes a great bookmark for your travel reading. Printed by the U.S. Patent Office, circa 1970. 8-1/2" x 3" x 1/10". LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD141. - Price: $39.95. RARE DIXON STEEL FLUTED RING SIZER / STEEL FLUTED MANDREL, MACHINED Used and in very good condition. Rare Dixon Fluted (Grooved) Ring Sizer / Fluted (Grooved) Mandrel. This Dixon ring mandrel is for every ring size from ring sizes 1 to 13. Dixon mandrel is 12-1/2" long, machined steel. Believed to be antique. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD131. - Price: $49.95. S/H: $9.90. RARE ANTIQUE BRASS BRUNING PROTRACTOR Used and in very good condition. Rare antique Brass Bruning Protractor for some unknown specialized use. Bruning protractor is 3-5/8" wide. While appearing as grey in image, it is brass. The long object taped in middle of backside (bottom image) is a steel stylus or probe that was taped to it for some unknown purpose when bought at an estate sale. Do you know what its specific function was for this Bruning protractor? LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD131. - Price: $59.95 RARE ANTIQUE MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID NAIL KIT w/ LEATHER CASE Used, complete set. Rare Antique Inlaid Mother-of-Pearl Nail Kit with Leather Case. We bought this at an estate sale and was told that deceased owner's mother had bought it in the 1920s. The kit appears to be complete with its original tools, several of which have mother of pearl inlaids as shown. The case appears to be leather and is in very good condition, no tears or zipper problems. Case does show a little wear around the edges. A great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have this one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $79.95 RARE, VINTAGE HEAVY-DUTY SOLID BRASS ICE TONGS (Sorry, we just sold these really nice brass tongs, looking for more). We bought these big solid brass ice tongs at an estate sale. We was told that it was made in the 1930s - not quite antique yet, but certainly vintage. These brass tongs do not have any stampings on it as to manufacturer or part number. We do not know the family and we are not an expert on this kind of Item, so we do not make any claims as to this account. Great as a display for the fine home, office, restaurant, tavern, tourist attraction! The image shows the tongs on a tiled background, tiles are 12" x 12" size. Completely closed tongs are 16" high, and completely opened up tongs are 22" wide. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD098. - Price: $95.95. S/H: $5, 5 lbs RARE, ANTIQUE ACE CLIPPER STAPLING PLIER, ACE STAPLER, No. 702 w/ ORIGINAL BOX Used and in great condition. The box has seen better days but is still intact. This is NOT the clearly more common No. 702 Ace Stapler that uses the No. 70001 staples (of which we have and use about a half-dozen of), but the No. 702 that uses the No. 700 staples (apparently, the same staples but with an older number; there are minor physical differences between the two staplers but they don't apparently affect the staples used). These staples are truly distinctive and very classy - as far as we know - ACE was the only one who made staplers that used these "undulated staples" (wavy staples). Whatever you staple stands apart from everything else anyone else has submitted alongside what you submitted. We have had people call us on the phone and ask us what in the world we use as a stapler and how can they get a stapler just like mine. This No. 702 Ace Clipper, however, is apparently so rare - in all my years of looking - this is the only one We have ever found - so We are not selling it cheap. We would not even suggest to use it but perhaps display it. Both the 702s that use 70001 staples and the ones that use 700 staples are very high quality chrome plated staplers - we swear if these were fetched from a sunken ship after years, they still would be bright and shiny - none of that awful mousy grey or black paint used on "standard" office staplers. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $59.95. S/H: $11.90 (2) RARE TYPESET HOLDERS / TYPESET VISES TYPESET CLAMPS / TYPESET ALIGNMENT PRESSES Plus BOX of HARD METAL TYPE SPACERS Kingsley Machine Co. Used and in very good condition. Typeset Holders / Typeset Vises / Typeset Clamps / Typeset Alignment Presses, plus original box of Hard Metal Type Spacers. Made by Kingsley Machine Co. These Typeset Holders are 5-1/4" long, 3/4" wide. While few people use typeset anymore, they make great collectibles. And these Typeset Presses can also be used or even modifed to clamp, hold and/or press other types of objects as well, and are great for things like delicate glue jobs, model-making, jewelry, crafts, paleontology (small fossils), and geology (gems and stones). LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one set of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD130. - Price: $29.95 RARE WOOD LEAD TYPE TYPESETTING BOX w/ LEADED TYPE, WIRE MARKING TYPE BOX Kingsley Machine Co., Hollywood, CA Used, with substantial wear and labeling of outside of box. Rare wood lead type typesetting box / wire marking type box. 36 compartments, each divided into 4 (144 total). This wood box is 7.5 x 7.5 x 1.25. This box is a great collectible itself, and also very useful for storing collectibles (e.g. gems, jewels), and hardware (e.g. screws, nuts, bolts, transistors), and small tools and tool bits. Hinges in great conditon. Top of latch is missing. Inside label is in great condition. Plastic insert has some melt spots. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $19.95 RARE WOOD LEAD TYPE TYPESETTING BOX w/ LEADED TYPE, WIRE MARKING TYPE BOX Kingsley Machine Co., Hollywood, CA Used, with substantial wear and labeling of outside of box, but this box is in best condition of all the boxes. Rare wood lead type typesetting box / wire marking type box with about 1.5 lbs of lead type. 36 compartments, each divided into 4 (144 total). This wood box is 7.5 x 7.5 x 1.25. This box is a great collectible itself, and also very useful for storing collectibles (e.g. gems, jewels), and hardware (e.g. screws, nuts, bolts, transistors), and small tools and tool bits. Hinges in great condition. Latch is missing. Plastic insert in near-perfect conditin - no melt spots. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $45.95. S/H: $10.90 RARE WOOD LEAD TYPE TYPESETTING BOX w/ LEADED TYPE, WIRE MARKING TYPE BOX Kingsley Machine Co., Hollywood, CA Used, with substantial wear and labeling of outside of box. Rare wood lead type typesetting box / wire marking type box with about 1 lb of lead type. 36 compartments, each divided into 4 (144 total). This wood box is 7.5 x 7.5 x 1.25. This box is a great collectible itself, and also very useful for storing collectibles (e.g. gems, jewels), and hardware (e.g. screws, nuts, bolts, transistors), and small tools and tool bits. Hinges in great condition. Latches in great condition. Inside label is in great condition. Plastic insert with one melt spot. 2.25" of wood, top right of cover (not shown) is missing. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE WOOD LEAD TYPE TYPESETTING BOX w/ LEADED TYPE, WIRE MARKING TYPE BOX Kingsley Machine Co., Hollywood, CA Used, with substantial wear and labeling of outside of box. Rare wood lead type typesetting box / wire marking type box. 80 compartments. This wood box is 7.5 x 7.5 x 1.25. This box is a great collectible itself, and also very useful for storing collectibles (e.g. gems, jewels), and hardware (e.g. screws, nuts, bolts, transistors), and small tools and tool bits. Inside label is in great condition. Hinges in great condition. Latch in great condition. Plastic insert with some melt spots. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $19.95 RARE WOOD LEAD TYPE TYPESETTING BOX w/ LEADED TYPE, WIRE MARKING TYPE BOX Kingsley Machine Co., Hollywood, CA Used, with substantial wear and labeling of outside of box. Rare wood lead type typesetting box / wire marking type box with about 1.5 lb of lead type. 80 compartments. This wood box is 7.5 x 7.5 x 1.25. This box is a great collectible itself, and also very useful for storing collectibles (e.g. gems, jewels), and hardware (e.g. screws, nuts, bolts, transistors), and small tools and tool bits. Inside label is in great condition. Hinges in great condition. Top of latch is missing, and about a 1/4" wide section of the front wood is missing. Plastic insert with some melt spots. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $10.90 RARE BAG OF LEADED TYPE, 1.2 LBS: OLD TYPESETTERS, WIRE MARKERS, LABELERS, STAMPS, MARKERS, EMBOSSERS Leaded type appears to be new. Rare 1.2 lb mixed bag of lead type for old typesetters, wire markers, labelers, stamps, markers, embossers, etc. As well as being a great collectible, this lead type can be used to make your own markers, labelers, stamps, markers and embossers. Or melt down the lead for your own lead uses. You can make a small tray out of angle wood, angle plastic, angle iron or angle aluminum to hold and align the type, and then when you have the right type combination for your message, use cement or spring-loaded mechanism to secure the type into place. To re-use type cemented into place, use water-soluable cement (e.g. sugar-based cement), and then use water to dissolve away cement. Your labeler, stamp, marker or embosser will be unique, and much help prevent counterfeiting. Inked stamp pads are not included but are commonly available in office supply stores. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $19.95. S/H: $8.90 RARE BAG OF LEADED TYPE, 2.4 LBS: OLD TYPESETTERS, WIRE MARKERS, LABELERS, STAMPS, MARKERS, EMBOSSERS Leaded type appears to be new. Rare 2.4 lb mixed bag of lead type for old typesetters, wire markers, labelers, stamps, markers, embossers, etc. As well as being a great collectible, this lead type can be used to make your own markers, labelers, stamps, markers and embossers. Or melt down the lead for your own lead uses. You can make a small tray out of angle wood, angle plastic, angle iron or angle aluminum to hold and align the type, and then when you have the right type combination for your message, use cement or spring-loaded mechanism to secure the type into place. To re-use type cemented into place, use water-soluable cement (e.g. sugar-based cement), and then use water to dissolve away cement. Your labeler, stamp, marker or embosser will be unique, and much help prevent counterfeiting. Inked stamp pads are not included but are commonly available in office supply stores. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $34.95. S/H: $10.90 RARE BAG OF LEADED TYPE, 2 LBS: OLD TYPESETTERS, WIRE MARKERS, LABELERS, STAMPS, MARKERS, EMBOSSERS Leaded type appears to be new. Rare 2 lb mixed bag of lead type for old typesetters, wire markers, labelers, stamps, markers, embossers, etc. As well as being a great collectible, this lead type can be used to make your own markers, labelers, stamps, markers and embossers. Or melt down the lead for your own lead uses. You can make a small tray out of angle wood, angle plastic, angle iron or angle aluminum to hold and align the type, and then when you have the right type combination for your message, use cement or spring-loaded mechanism to secure the type into place. To re-use type cemented into place, use water-soluable cement (e.g. sugar-based cement), and then use water to dissolve away cement. Your labeler, stamp, marker or embosser will be unique, and much help prevent counterfeiting. Inked stamp pads are not included but are commonly available in office supply stores. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, ANTIQUE FLY-TYING SPOOL HOLDER HANDHELD FLY FISHING SPOOL TOOL (Sold, no longer available, we are looking for more, if interested in this fly fishing tool collectible, please email us to get on our list.) Used and in very good condition as shown. Rare, Antique, Fly-Tying Spool Holder, Handheld Fly Fishing Spool Tool. We don't know what all the features are used for on this unusual tool. We do know that this tool works great for holding and wrapping one or two spools for fish fly tying. Because it has two spool posts, you can mix thread colors, and twist threads together. Other possible uses. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD138. - Price: $49.95 (3) CLOCK MECHANISMS w/ NUMEROUS CLOCK PARTS New clock mechanism parts. This is a primo collection consisting of 3 identical larger clock mechanisms (use one long-lasting C battery, battery not included), plus numerous clock hands and other clock parts. Great for the clock builder or repair person, the craftsman, tinkerer, and hobbyist. Note that the image of the parts don't do them justice - they are bright, shiny new brass parts (it is hard to take good photos of shiny parts). Great for repairing and restoring antique clocks and rare clocks. LIMITED QUANTITY. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049. - Price: $23.95 (2) YELLOW PLASTIC BULBS, PLASTIC SQUEEZE BULBS YELLOW PLASTIC BELLOWS SQUEEZE BULBS New old stock (NOS). This Item applies to the yellow plastic squeeze bellows bulb shown on right side of image (we also sell the black and blue soft rubber bellow bulbs, see below). These very high quality squeeze plastic bulbs are 3-1/2" long and 2-1/4" in dia. The bulb opening is 1/2". THESE PLASTIC BULBS HAVE COUNTLESS USES (not limited to crafts): (1) Can be used to blow air or water or suck air or water. (2) Great replacement bulb for horned instruments that use bulbs, manually pumped up pressure devices, bulb health, beauty and other spray bottles, bulb devices used to test car battery acid and other big pipette bulbs. (3) Comfortable handle grips for tools. (4) Cushioned end pieces for walkers and antennas (cheezy split tennis balls now typically used these ways), and for the ends of martial arts fighting sticks, flails and nunchucks, and twirling baton ends. (5) Safer, non-glass, non-fragile, non-breakable display devices, such as Christmas tree ornaments. (6) General shock absorbers. (7) As small bellows devices for blowing away dust, starting campfires, cooling small overheated items (e.g. electronic circuits). (8) Apply gentle negative air pressure (i.e. suction) to the skin or some other relatively smooth surface. (9) As fishing bobbers or small floatation devices used in conjunction with water or some other inert liquid (e.g. with a liquid level measuring, detection or alarm system). (10) As an exciting game or toy piece, especially as a throw toy similar to a ball (as opposed to a ball, these should not roll away to an unsafe area if not caught), or for the ends of homemade lawn darts. (11) As a clown's nose. (12) For magic tricks of various kinds (e.g. to hide a small item or handkerchief). (13) As a crafts or modeling structure or form (e.g. dolls heads). (14) To hold small arrangements of flowers and other small items. (15) To store wrapped candies, condiments, herbs, tea, coffee, powders, scents, potions or chemicals which are inert to the bulb. (16) As easily spottable markers, especially for swimming pools and other bodies of water. (17) To more safely hold small sharp or pointed tools or objects. Two bulbs can be joined together either using cement or a small piece of suitable dowl rod with or without cement to provide a small specialized floatation device or special handle of some type. LIMITED QUANTITY. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD097. - Price: $12.95 (2) SOFT RUBBER BULBS / SOFT RUBBER SQUEEZE BULBS New old stock (NOS). See image above. This Item applies to the blue and black soft squeeze bulbs shown on left side of image (we also sell the yellow plastic bellows bulbs, see above). These very high quality soft rubber bulbs are 3" long and 2-1/4" in dia. There is a chromed ring around the neck of each bulb to give it strength there from handling and air pressure. The black bulb opening is 1/2", and the blue bulb opening is 5/8". As long as we have both colors, we will gladly provide you two black, two blue, or one of each color, whichever you specify. THESE RUBBER BULBS HAVE COUNTLESS USES (not limited to crafts): (1) Can be used to blow air or water or suck air or water. (2) Great replacement bulb for horned instruments that use bulbs, manually pumped up pressure devices, bulb health, beauty and other spray bottles, bulb devices used to test car battery acid and other big pipette bulbs. (3) Comfortable handle grips for tools. (4) Cushioned end pieces for walkers and antennas (cheezy split tennis balls now typically used these ways), and for the ends of martial arts fighting sticks, flails and nunchucks, and twirling baton ends. (5) Safer, non-glass, non-breakable display devices, such as Christmas tree ornaments. (6) General shock absorbers. (7) As small squeeze air devices for blowing away dust, getting a campfire started, cooling small overheated items (e.g. electronic circuits). (8) Apply gentle negative air pressure (i.e. suction) to the skin or some other relatively smooth surface. (9) As fishing bobbers or small floatation devices used in conjunction with water or some other inert liquid (e.g. with a liquid level measuring, detection or alarm system). (10) As an exciting game or toy piece, especially as a throw toy similar to a ball (as opposed to a ball, these should not roll away to an unsafe area if not caught), or for the ends of homemade lawn darts. (11) As a clown's nose. (12) For magic tricks of various kinds (e.g. to hide a small item or handkerchief). (13) As a crafts or modeling structure or form (e.g. dolls heads). (14) To hold small arrangements of flowers and other small items. (15) To store wrapped candies, condiments, herbs, tea, coffee, powders, scents, potions or chemicals which are inert to the bulb. (16) As easily spottable markers, especially for swimming pools and other bodies of water. (17) To more safely hold small sharp or pointed tools or objects. Two bulbs can be joined together either using cement or a small piece of suitable dowl rod with or without cement to provide a small specialized floatation device or special handle of some type. LIMITED QUANTITY. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD097, LR097-S01, LR099-S01, LR100-S01. - Price: $12.95 VINTAGE, HEAVY DUTY, UNIQUE 8 MM FILM SPLICER - ALL METAL, USA MADE Mint condition, precision machined and very high quality. Frankly, we are not really sure how or on what this rare 8mm film splicer was used. We was told by its prior owner that it was used to splice 8 mm film. It is made of metal, 12.25" x 7" x 1.75". Metal looks like bronze but we are not sure as we have not to my knowledge ever run into a metal like it. Prior owner said that he thought it was made of titanium. The center piece of the middle part rocks on two small leaf springs and has a 1/2" diameter shiny chrome or silver axle going through it with a threaded hole (where you see the center piece slot), which appears to accomodate some kind of handle for making it rock (handle not found). Middle part also rides on ball bearings with about a 2" x 1/16" flat slot on both sides of the middle part, which apparently applies light pressure on whatever flat thing is fed into one side, passed under the middle part and extracted from the other side. Originated from scientific surplus, so it might be used for some other reason than contention of prior owner. Shown is the front and back views. The black looking strips on the back are rubber strips used to protect a desk or other working surface the device was used on. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049. - Price: $24 S/H: $4, 4 lbs - VINTAGE ROLATAPE, MODEL 200, 100 FEET, w/ LEATHER CASE, USER MANUAL Used and in great condition. Vintage Rolatape Model 200, 100-foot with leather case and user manual (not shown). Very useful and a great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD116. - Price: $119.95. S/H: $15, 5 lbs - RARE, VINTAGE POLICE ROLATAPE MODEL 200 CSI TAPE MEASURING TOOL w/ LEATHER CASE + DOCUMENTs In excellent condition! This stunning and exciting police Rolatape Model 200 find is a rare vintage crime scene investigation (CSI) rolling tape measure equipment primarily used to investigate serious traffic accidents and perpetrator trails. Very high quality construction and materials. Body is made of metal and is about 7.5"diameter. Rolatape label states that it is a Rolatape Model 200 (Santa Monica, Calif.). Has an accordion-type folding arm that extends to about 3 feet (image shows it next to an 18" ruler). The handle folds up neatly and stores into the provided leather case, permitting the crime scene investigator to easily carry it in his vehicle. Even includes the rare documentation on it! This cost $34.75 when bought new, circa 1950s. We bought it from a retired police officer. If you are a serious collector of police memorabilia or you are a professional or amateur crime scene investigator, you MUST get this device! UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $119.95. S/H: $15, 5 lbs RARE, ANTIQUE POT BELLY STOVE TOOL: HOT LID LIFTER, HOT LID HOLDER, HOT LID REMOVER In the decades we have religiously collected antique, weird and rare tools, this is the first one of these we 've run into. A fantastic collectible! A gotta have tool for sure! Functions perfectly well not only to lift, remove and hold hot lids that have the double-screw lift feature, but also as a bolt spacer for placing the type of bolts and rivets commonly used, for example, for shelving and heavy picture-hanging. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $49.95 RARE VINTAGE BELL & HOWELL FILM EDITOR / FILM SPLICER, MODEL 136 Used, works great, including film viewer. The Bell & Howell Model 136 film splicer is a great collectible, or you can use it as a winder for your old film, as well as for other items, including thread, string, light rope, yarn, ribbon, wire, light cable or light chain, or as a viewer to view small, flat transparent items similar to film. We found it particularly useful as a wire winder (coil winder) for winding RF coils, other inductors, electromagnets, and small magnetic field detection coils. Has long cord with cord toggle switch. 13.5" long. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $24.95. S/H: $15.90. RARE, VINTAGE RITTER DENTAL LIGHT KIT / DENTAL TOOLS w/ HARD SNAP CASE Used and in great condition. Rare, vintage dental light and mirror kit, with hard snap case, Made in America by Ritter, chrome-plated. This dental tools kit consists of various light holders with lights and mirror, which fit together, to form extended light and lighted mirror assembly. Can be used to examine the insides of equipment and other things. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD122. - Price: $39.95 RARE,VINTAGE LIGHT STIMULATING KIT w/ WEDGE LENS Used, and works great. This rare possibly antique light stimulating kit holds a device and its attachments which appear to be a light therapy kit or light scanning kit for examining limited areas close up. We bought it from a guy involved in radionics research decades ago, who told us that it was used to enhance the effects of certain chemicals, but he wasn't specific. Comes in a nice soft case, which was probably not its original case. We do not know who makes it, how old it it, or what its original intended application was. Do you? After collecting these weird types of devices for decades, we 've only run into 3 of these and they were all different. Makes a great medical collectible. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD093. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $9.90 VINTAGE WELCH ALLYN OTOSCOPE / OPHTHALMOSCOPE, CHIROPRACTIC COLLECTIBLE / MEDICAL COLLECTIBLE Rare Controller Model 749. Used, and it turns ON as shown. Beyond that, we don't know how to test this Welch Allyn otoscope / opthalmoscope so we can't guarantee function. Includes the two wands with heads as shown. Controller has a brightness intensity dial. Not sold for any medical use but only as a medical collectible / chiropractic collectible. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD093. - Price: $139. S/H: $6, 6 lbs RARE ANTIQUE BRAIDING TOOL Used in very good condition. Rare antique braiding tool (manual tool for braiding rope). Unknown manufacturer. Holds up to 8 spools. 6.5" long, 3.25" dia, mostly wood. While we spent decades actively collecting odd tools and other collectibles, this is the first of these we 've seen. Bought at estate sale, we have never tried to use it. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have this one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $59.95 (2) ANTIQUE SPOOLS / ANTIQUE BOBBINS, 9" x 4.25" DIA Used, in good condition. Rare antique spools / antique bobbins, 9" x 4.25" dia, mostly wood with steel banding. From cotton mill factory, textile mill or fabric mill factory. Make great collectibles, as well as great lamp bases, candle holders, as well as winders for rope, string, thread, yarn, ribbon, wire, cable, chain, hose, tubing, tape, scrolls, cloth, etc. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have this one set. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $49.95. S/H: $9.90 CRYOGENICS CYLINDER (Machined Aluminum) Mint condition with no evidence of use we can find. We bought this at an estate sale where the family described it as a, "cryogenics cylinder." They did not know specific function or manufacture. We know little about cryogenics. Base diameter is 5.75". It is 7.25" tall with the base, and 7" tall without the base (i.e. just the cylinder). Cylinder outer diameter is 4", and its chamber opening is 3.75" diameter, 4.25" deep. On top are two 1" high ports, 1" outer diameter, 3/4" inner diameter (opening), non-threaded, spaced 2.625" apart (center-to-center). One port is bevelled at the top, the other is flat at the top. The bevelled-opening port extends into the chamber 1.375" deep as an aluminum tube, and opens into the chamber with a hole on side of this tube. The flat-opening port opens into some kind of "attic" above the chamber, which opens into the chamber with a port about 1" in diameter covered with a very fine mesh. Cylinder press fits into the base (no threads). Makes a great collectible in weird, science, science fiction, and medical categories. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R10. - Price: $89.95. S/H: $11.90 SURCO PRODUCTS CABLE WINDER / WIRE WINDER / ROPE WINDER / STRING WINDER / CHAIN WINDER / HOSE WINDER / TUBING WINDER / TAPE WINDER / RIBBON WINDER Used and it works great. Rare vintage Surco Products compact and portable cable winder / wire winder / rope winder / string winder / ribbon winder / tubing winder / hose winder / tape winder / chain winder. Spool plates are 10.25" dia, 5-3/4" apart. Makes great collectible, but also a great winder for rope, string, thread, yarn, ribbon, wire, cable, chain, hose, tubing, tape, scrolls, cloth, etc. If you wish, you can remove the spool shown and replace it with one or more other spools and reels of various sizes and shapes, as many as you need that will fit onto the sturdy rod. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $49.95. S/H: $13.90. BEAVER STEEL FINGER RING CUTTER / BEAVER FINGER RING REMOVER TOOL EMT, EMS, Paramedics, Emergency Rooms (Sorry, we sold out of our last Beaver Finger Ring Cutter; we are trying to get more.) Used and in very good condition. Beaver Finger Ring Cutter / Beaver Finger Ring Remover Tool / Beaver Ring Cutter / Beaver Ring Remover. Made in USA. Chrome-plated steel handle, stainless steel - not one of those cheezy plastic ring cutters. Ring cutters are commonly used by EMT, EMS, Paramedics, and Emergency Room crews. If you wear rings and have ever had one stuck on your finger where your finger is swollen, turning purple and choked off of blood and you are in great pain, then you will really appreciate this Beaver Finger Ring Cutter. Can also be used to cut other light metal, plastic and wood rings, rods, tubes, cables, etc., and as perforators for paper, cardstock, wood, plastic. Also great tool for jewelers, model makers, crafts people, office workers, electronic techs (we use these types of cutting tools in our electronics labs mainly to cut open heavily-insulated cable). 6-1/4" long. (Right images show it positioned on a posing block for photo purposes; posing block is not included). Note: If you intend to use this as a backup way to possibly cut off an overly tight finger ring, first practice as much as you need to on ring-like materials so you know how to correctly use this tool when the real situation comes up. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $44.95. SMALL ANTIQUE WATCH VISE / VICE TOOL, 2-SIDED Used and in good condition, shows some wear. Small antique aluminum Watch Vise / Vice Tool. Will hold round and oval objects from about 3/8" across to about 1-5/8" across. Aluminum body. Seller said that this watch vise / vice was made in the 1920s. Great collectible, while still useful. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $7.95. Collectible Power Tools / Collectible Electric Tools (non-Electronic): - RARE HAMILTON BEACH HOME MOTOR, 1917 UNIVERSAL AC/DC MOTOR Used and in very good condition, both appear hardly used. Rare Hamilton Beach Home Motor, 1917, Universal AC/DC Motor. Made in U.S.A. These great Hamilton Beach Home Motors were originally designed to convert manual treadle-type sewing machines into electrically motorized sewing machines, but also was probably used to drive household appliances. Rated at 115VAC and 115VDC - we tested without any problems both of these Hamilton Beach Home Motors at both 120VAC and 120VDC under loads. By reducing voltage, you can change motor speed and power, and by reversing the DC voltage polarity (if you use DC voltage), the Home Motor runs in the opposite direction - reversible rotation feature. Steel motor body is 3" in dia., 5-3/4" long. Shaft is standard 1/4" dia. steel, 1" long. Screw-mounted on the 1/4" shaft is a 1-1/4" long jig which has both two round rubber friction wheel sections (1" dia.), plus two round rubber belt pully sections (5/8" dia. near motor, 3/4" dia. near end), much increasing motor versatility. With this jig, motor can be used as a 1/4" dia. belt-driven motor, and as a friction-driving motor. Remove this jig, and many 1/4" standard motor attachments can be attached to its shaft. The motors set on rubber feet, so they are easily portable from work surface to work surface, and should be stable and not marr surfaces (work surfaces should be level). The motor is spring-loaded to naturally sit at about a 45-degree angle, but can be pressed rotated down to as much as about a -30-degree position. The 45-degree motor angle and range of motor angles make these Home Motors perfectly ergonomic for desk-top motors for polishers, grinders, cutters, drillers, winders, etc. - ideal for the shop, crafter, repairer, modeler, etc. Can also be used as a press-down motor for grinding, polishing and cutting. Also, these Hamilton Beach Home Motors were made at a time not long after motors were invented, so they are truly amazing and precious motor collectibles. Note that the motor's male connector is not a standard 120VAC outlet plug. Its power pins do work great with standard electronic jacks, which we can provide you for free. Or if you wish, we can provide you free a new 120VAC power plug for you to install on the motor power cable (we did not make this power cord conversion because tool collectors usually prefer original condition). If you want either connectors included, ask for them at time of purchase. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only two of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD153. - Price: $129.95 for one motor, S/H: 6 lbs, $5.90. $249.95 for both motors (shipped together), S/H: 11 lbs, $8.90. If we have both motors left, you get to pick one or both of them. If we have one motor left, you get that motor. - RARE, VINTAGE VIN-MAX PUFF IRON IN ORIGINAL BOX Great Collectible + Many Craft / Modeling / Shop / Clothing/Fabric Uses (Sorry, we have recently sold this Vin-Max Puff Iron; we are looking for more.) New old stock (NOS). Rare, Vintage Vin-Max Puff Iron (Model 2) in Original Box. Made in USA. Great collectible. Great for many craft, modeling, shop and clothing uses. Back in the day, puff irons were used to produce ruffles, puffed sleeves and puffed shoulders in fancy blouses. These days, add to their traditional functions: (1) Heat installation of thermal-adhesive patches, insignias and name tags onto caps (e.g. baseball caps), clothes, fabrics and other objects. (2) To smooth out wrinkles and to dry out damp areas, especially in curved areas. (3) Great for crafters, model-makers, artists and sculptors, and for plastic modeling, modifications, and replacement jobs, this Vin-Max Puff Iron softens plastic to mold plastic sheets and other plastic objects into the shapes you require - sort of a thermal version of an English wheel for thermally shaping plastic. (4) Great for repairing cracks, splits and dings, and for smoothing in some plastics. In some cases, this iron can be used to melt the plastic to the point that edges of cracks can be welded together and rough or dinged surfaces smoothed over. (5) Can be used to temporarily heat up a confined space. CAUTION: This special iron is not originally designed by its maker to perform any function other than those recommended limited to cotton fabric puffed sleeves and puffed shoulders, indoor uses only. While we have applied a second Vin-Max Puff Iron that we use in our shop to all of the above (1) - (5) other functions over the years with great success and no problems, if you do so, do so very carefully and totally at your own risks. 115VAC, 40 Watts. CAUTION: This is an iron and it gets hot, and can burn you if handled recklessly. So treat it with the same great respect as hot clothes irons and protect all that may come into contact with it when hot, do not store while hot, and do not get it wet or expose it to flammable fluids and materials. The black & green posing blocks shown in one photo are not included. This sale is for one (1) puff iron. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD170. - Price: $249.95, S/H: $11.90. - RARE BIG ANTIQUE KNIFE SWITCH, SPDT ELECTRICAL SWITCH / ELECTRIC POWER SWITCH Used and in very good condition. Rare big antique Knife Switch, SPDT. Electrical Power Switch / Electric Switch of unknown make. We do not know what the voltage or current ratings are. Base of this electrical switch / electric switch is 6-13/16" x 2" x 1/2". Overall size is 8-1/2" x 2" x 1-1/2", with switch down as in first image. We are not sure what the base or switch handle is made of; likely some kind of hard wood but not sure. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $39.95, S/H: $7.90. - RARE BIG ANTIQUE KNIFE SWITCH, SPDT ELECTRICAL POWER SWITCH / ELECTRIC SWITCH PORCELAIN POSTS, SQUARE-D, Class 9320, Type 962 Used and in very good condition. Rare big antique Knife Switch, SPDT, Porcelain Posts, made by Square D, Class 9320, Type 962. We do not know what the voltage or current ratings are for this Electric Power Switch / Electrical Switch. Base of this electrical switch / electric switch is 9-7/8" x 4" x 9/16 " wood (appears to be oak). Black base on top of wood is 8" x 2" x 1/4" fiber. Overall size is about 11" x 4" x 5-1/4", with switch down as in first image. Each porcelain riser is 3-5/8" tall; each square porcelain base itself is 2-1/2" x 1" x 1". We are not sure what the switch handle is made of; likely some kind of hard wood but not sure. The white splotches on the bottom of base appear to be paint splotches and should be removable. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $199.95, S/H: $11.90. - RARE, VINTAGE FRANKLIN MFG. CORP. ELECTRIC GOLD LEAF EMBOSSING MACHINE / GOLD LEAF EMBOSSER / GOLD LEAF PRESS, Plus GOLD LEAF / GOLD FOIL, Plus 3 SETS of CAST METAL TYPESET (Sold, no longer available; email us if you want us to look for another). Used, and in very good condition. A little surface corrosion but functionally works very good. Rare, vintage Franklin Mfg. Corp. Gold Foil Embosser / Gold Foil Embossing Machine / Gold Foil Press with Gold Leaf / Gold Foil material (about 3/4 filled spool as shown), and three sets of Cast Metal Typeset in original boxes. Electric (to heat up the foil for maximum adhesion). Professional, heavy duty and industrial grade. Great for jewelers, crafters, and everyone who wants their cards and other objects to look really ritzy, expensive and sophisticated. The boiler plate on this Gold Embosser states, "23K DURA GOLD LEAF". However, we do not know what the purity or weight of the gold is in the gold leaf, or even for certain if it is real gold leaf (we don't know what else would require an expensive gold press like this). Great collectible. UNIQUE or VERY RARE ITEM: We have only one of these FRANKLIN MFG. CORP. GOLD FOIL EMBOSSERS, and it is apparently so rare that we cannot decide what price to put on it. However, we want to sell this FRANKLIN MFG. CORP. GOLD FOIL EMBOSSER at a fair price to both of us. Interested? Then freely document what price range this FRANKLIN MFG. CORP. GOLD FOIL EMBOSSER is worth and make us an offer (if possible). We will seriously consider and respond to all offers we consider reasonable. If you know of anyone who might be interested, then please freely refer him/her to this listing, and if we agree to sell it to that person, he/she buys it, pays for it in full, his/her payment totally clears (allow 90 days for checks and money orders (except Postal M.O.) to clear), sold at $100+, and he/she does not ask for a refund within 60 days of receipt of Item, we will pay you a 10% finder's fee based on the paid price. Payment by PayPal, credit card or COD not acceptable. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD130. - Price: See above; FREE S/H (12 lbs wgt.) - M-G ENLARG-O-METER, Research Engineering Co. PRINTOMETER ELECTRICAL TIMER (Compact Photo Enlargement Timing Meter) w/ 32-Page Manual, M-G Gray Scaler & Original Box Used and in very good condition. Rare, vintage M-G Enlarg-O-Meter, Printometer Electrical Timer, Compact Timer for Photographic Enlargements, Research Engineering Co. w/ 32-Page Manual, M-G Gray Scaler & Original Box. Has many other possible timer applications. Made in USA. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $49.95. RARE SEALECTOR TACKING IRON, HAND IRON 115 Volts, 165 Watts, Adjustable Heat, Seal Inc. Used and in very good condition. Rare Sealector Hand Iron Tacking Iron, 115 VAC, 165 Watts, by Seal Inc., with adjustable temperature control. Great for numerous applications ranging from pressing on clothes patches to car tube patches. Great for supplying high-temperature localized heat, we use one for stress-testing electronic circuits we develop. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $29.95, S/H: $9.90. RARE, VINTAGE UNGAR ELECTRIC MIRACLE PENCIL KIT w/ WRITING PAPERS: Gold, Silver, Purple, Red, Blue, Green Used and in great condition. Rare Ungar Electric Miracle Pencil Kit with gold, silver, purple/violet, red, blue and green writing papers. Circa 1950s, 115 VAC. The "soldering iron" has a tip ideally pointed for engraving and writing on wood, cardstock, paper and plastic. The purpose of the colored papers, as shown, is to engrave the colors into the object you are engraving. Perfect for the person who is really styling and anxious to impress! LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $99.95 VINTAGE SHOP CRAFT ELECTRIC SCREW DRIVER 115V, 3A, 60 HZ / 50 HZ, MODEL 919511 Used and works great. Uses hex bits. We got this great Shop Craft electric screw driver tool at an estate sale. We now have so many electric power screwdrivers that we need to sell some. Especially handy for tight spots where others won't fit. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD094. - Price: $89.95. S/H: $11.90. ANTIQUE LEATHER-HANDLE SCREWDRIVER Used and in good condition. Antique hand made Leather-Handle Screwdriver, a style that was even uncommon in the 1800s at its peak. When was the last time you ran into a screwdriver with a leather-wrapped handle? Leather handle screwdrivers are about as rare as leather postcards! Great tool collectible / screwdriver collectible. Made in USA. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $49.95. VINTAGE SEARS CRAFTSMAN SABRE SAW, IN STEEL CASE, MODEL # 31527941 458 Used in good condition. Case has a strong handle, and will fit other saws and tools. Case also has slots for storage of sabre saw blades. This rare, vintage Sears Craftsman sabre saw is great tool collectible, or you can use it in your work. Having a sturdy case for your saw is really great, especially if you work on construction sites, in the field, out of the back of your truck or van, etc. $39.95. S/H: $10, 10 lbs VINTAGE MOTORIZED HANDHELD DREMEL, MODEL A, HOBBY SCROLL SAW, JIG SAW, RECIPROCATING SAW This is a used vintage handheld motorized Dremel scroll saw / jigsaw / reciprocating saw, Model A, and works great. Operates off of 115 VAC, 60 Hz, 50 watt. This Dremel jigsaw uses common 3" scroll saw blades. Throat is 10" deep for easily doing even deep work. Can use modified blades to also do sanding, grinding, polishing and slicing. Being able to handhold a powered scroll saw means that you can much more easily do difficult jobs in tight situations, fast, accurately and with minimal stress, strain and risk to you and the work. For example, this is a great tool to use if you've got to cut a pipe underneath your sink or car. This scroll saw can be used as a great collectible, or very versatile and useful shop saw, craft saw, model-making saw, automotive saw, and construction site saw. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD107. - Price: $49.95. S/H: $9.90 Vintage DREMEL MODEL NO. 2 MOTO-TOOL DREMEL TOOL This is the rare, very high quality Dremel Model 2 Moto-Tool - perfect Christmas or birthday gift for that tool guy in your family! A stunning collectible! And it works great. And it comes in a padded sturdy metal box (not shown), with 10 bits (not shown). Just look at the quality of the Dremel 2! Quality you don't see any more in many tools. Much of the body is made of bakelite. And just look at the spring-protected power cord strain relief, and the protective shroud in the front. We are auctioning this off as a real bargain for you when you consider how much common new Dremel and similar tools are priced. If you collect Dremels or fine vintage tools, you absolutely must get this Dremel! Once it sells, if you aren't the high bidder, you might be kicking yourself in the rear end for missing out on it. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $119.95. S/H: $11.90 VINTAGE IDEAL RUBBER GROOVER / WOOD GROOVER / IDEAL TIRE GROOVER, 200 WATTS, MODEL 125 Stunning, This Ideal Tire Groover / Ideal Rubber Groover is a rare Item is not only a great tool collectible but it is very useful today. The "V"-shaped blades are sold Online; however, if you are good at improvising your own tools and parts, you can easily and inexpensively make your own blades to fit your own particular applications! Basically what we do to make a standard "V" groover blade is to heat a hack saw blade red hot in the middle and then bend it into a "V" or other useful shape, then snap off the ends to the desired lengths, then install it on the groover (easy one-screw installation). Can be fitted with single blades, multiple blades, etc. of numerous different types, shapes and sizes. Depending on the blade you install, this Ideal rubber tire groover can groove, cut, shape, engrave, imprint or bore into, wood, plastic, rubber and cloth. You can fit it with hole saw blades to easily cut round holes through materials that are too thin, delicate or soft to withstand drilling the holes with the hole saw. At 200 watts, there is not much in the way of wood, plastic, rubber or cloth it can't burn through. A blade can even be adapted to it for heavy-duty soldering. Put a die on it, and you can use it for hot-stamping items with logos, images, names, numbers, etc. Great for shop, hobbyist, crafts person and model maker. Be careful because like all big soldering irons, the groover gets extremely hot and can cause burns and fires if improperly used. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS093-R01, LS095-R01. - Price: $79.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE ANTIQUE EMPIRE ELECTRIC CO. TROUSER DRESS PRESSER / PANTS PLEAT MAKER / SKIRT PLEAT MAKER / SHIRT PLEAT MAKER - OTHER USES Used and in very good condition. This is a Rare Antique Empire Electric Trouser Dress Presser, designed to make and renew pleats in trousers, pants, slacks, shorts, dresses, skirts, shirts, hats, etc. - great for tailors, and for anyone in general who likes to look really sharp in their clothes. And great to take on business trips so you look your very best at that special meeting or convention. You plug it in, and allow it to get hot, then run the pleat through the Pleat Maker slot. Be very careful because it does get very hot (we strongly recommend wearing leather gloves, don't lay it down when hot except of something that won't burn or melt, and like any clothes iron, it can burn fabrics if kept on the same spot too long). This Empire Electric Trouser Dress Presser also has many other uses, and is a great collectible as well. Other possible uses are to seal seams and edges. To give thin wood panels and tiles that special kiln look. To heat up the clean edges of knives and edged tools to more easily cut through plastics and wood. To singe off hair or wood splinters along edges. To heat up the clean edges of paint scrapers so they work more effectively. To seal plastic bags. To seal envelopes. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD131. - Price: $99.95, s/h: $10.90. RARE, VINTAGE LARCH PAINT REMOVER, LARCH ELECTRIC PAINT REMOVER TOOL Used and works great, and in very good cosmetic condition. Vintage Larch Paint Remover / Larch Electric Paint Remover Tool. A great tool collectible, yet works fine if you want to use it as a tool. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD099. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $11.90 SINGER BUTTON HOLE MAKER + SINGER SEWING MACHINE PARTS AND STEEL CASE I bought all of this stuff at an estate sale. We have no idea as to whether the button hole maker works or which models of Singer sewing machines the small parts fit on. Looks like 6 steel sewing machine feet, and 6 other steel sewing machine parts we can't identify. All parts look like they are in like-new condition with no observed wear, defects or corrosion. The button hole maker looks used. Very sturdy steel case (6.5" x 3" x 1.75"). UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R05. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $11.90 Collectible Equipment & Equipment Parts (non-tool) / Collectible Devices: G. BALDWIN ANTIQUE MICROSCOPE & STAND RARE ANTIQUE BRASS MICROSCOPE USED BY CHARLES DARWIN? Used and in good condition. Very rare Brass G. Baldwin Antique Microscope and Stand. Likely this antique brass microscope was made in the time and place where Charles Darwin lived and worked, so possibly could have been used by Charles Darwin himself and/or by one of his famous colleagues* or contemporaries* (Charles Darwin is the famed English Evolution Naturalist who wrote, "On The Origin of Species"). This antique microscope has "G. Baldwin" engraved into the bottom of the stand. "G. Baldwin" is a renowned herbalist company in London, England, since 1844, but we can't verify that they ever made this microscope in the 1800s. We bought this rare beauty at an estate sale. The widow told us that this antique G. Baldwin microscope, 'was made during the time of Charles Darwin.' At that time, from what we were told, microscopes were usually specially handmade to the customer's specifications, and most microscope makers hand made them in small quantities and not mass-produced. Those who have commented on this microscope have stated that this G. Baldwin antique brass microscope was probably made during the 19th Century, and that they themselves have never seen one like this, and that this antique microscope could be unique. It is adjustable, and you can see a magnified image through it but image quality is poor. Most of the screws look more modern to us, perhaps early 1900s, but we are not sure. After decades in the collectibles business, this is the only antique microscope like this we have ever seen. We are not experts on antique microscopes (nor antique screws) and we do not know this lady so we cannot guarantee the age or authenticity of this brass antique microscope. While not suitable for lab work, this brass antique microscope is a truly invaluable collectible and would be an eye-popping addition to your invaluable antique display. *Charles Darwin's famous colleagues and contempories included: Charles Bate (1818-80), William Bateson (1861-1926), Henry Bence-Jones (1813-1873), Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911), Asa Gray (1810-1888), Reverend John Henslow (1796-1861), Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911), Julian Huxley (1887-1975), Thomas Huxley (1825-1895), Sir John Lubbock (1834-1913), George Romanes (1848-1894), Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), Sir Charles Thomson (1830-1882), John Tyndall (1820-1893), Alfred Wallace (1823-1913), and Benjamin Walsh (1808-1869). UNIQUE or VERY RARE ITEM: We have only one of these ANTIQUE MICROSCOPES, and it is apparently so rare that we cannot decide what price to put on it. However, we want to sell this ANTIQUE MICROSCOPE at a fair price to both of us. Interested? Then freely document what price range this ANTIQUE MICROSCOPE is worth and make us an offer (if possible). We will seriously consider and respond to all offers we consider reasonable. If you know of anyone who might be interested, then please freely refer him/her to this listing, and if we agree to sell it to that person, he/she buys it, pays for it in full, his/her payment totally clears (allow 90 days for checks and money orders (except Postal M.O.) to clear), solf at $100+, and he/she does not ask for a refund within 60 days of receipt of Item, we will pay you a 10% finder's fee based on the paid price. Payment by PayPal, credit card or COD not acceptable. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD135. - Price: See above; FREE S/H (5 lbs wgt.). - ANTIQUE BRASS BALANCE SCALE w/ CASE Used and in very good condition. Antique Brass Balance Scale in original cushioned case. Case is about 8-1/4", 5", 1-1/4". From an estate sale. Covering feels like real fur, but I can't tell for sure and estate seller did not know. The white patches you see on the inside lid are not holes but pieces of stuck white paper. Balance scale may be missing one or a few weights, we don't know. Box can also be used to store jewelry, watches, collectibles. This appears to be the kind of very fine case you find in wealthy homes. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these left to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $49.95. - ANTIQUE VIRGIN WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. HARD BRASS BOILER PLATE, SPANISH, C.B.CO. 64636 "TURBINA A VAPOR", FABRICADA NOS E.U.A. - ULTRA RARE NOTE 1: We Will Not Ship this Item to a Foreign Address - USA Addresses Only NOTE 2: You Must be PayPal Confirmed New old stock (NOS). Ultra Rare Antique Virgin Westinghouse Electric Corp. Hard Brass Boiler Plate, C.B.CO. 64636. Spanish, made by, Fabricada NOS E.U.A. (EUA means that it was made in the USA), for a, "Turbina A Vapor" (Steam Turbine), relevant for steam engine technology - most likely steam-driven railroad trains. Made 1800s or early 1900s. 1/8" thick. This boilerplate plaque is not drilled nor punched, nor even engraved with the turbine's specifications. Virgin brass boilerplates of this era are almost impossible to find these days - especially ones in Spanish. Great antique collectible / technology collectible / machine collectible / boiler collectible / Hispanic collectible. Note that this Westinghouse boilerplate lacks the circled "W" logo; likely predates when this symbol was used, so likely very old. The circled "1" on back is with a permanent marking pen, which can be removed. Just as a rare uncirculated coin and uncancelled postage stamp is much more valuable to their collectors than used ones are, this virgin new brass boilerplate is worth far more than a bent used boilerplate pried off of disposed equipment. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $399.95. - ANTIQUE VIRGIN WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. HARD BRASS BOILER PLATE, C.B.CO. 123P239 "FLASH EVAPORATOR", MADE IN U.S.A. - ULTRA RARE New old stock (NOS). Ultra Rare Antique Virgin Westinghouse Electric Corp. Hard Brass Boiler Plate, C.B.CO. 123P239. Says "Made in U.S.A.". Made for a, "Flash Evaporator", relevant for steam engine technology - most likely, steam-driven railroad trains. Made in early 1900s. 3/32" thick. This boilerplate plaque is not drilled nor punched, nor even engraved with the turbine's specifications. Virgin brass boilerplates of this era are almost impossible to find these days. Great collectible. The circled "2" on back is with a permanent marking pen, which can be removed. Just as a rare uncirculated coin and uncancelled postage stamp is much more valuable to their collectors than used ones are, this virgin brass boilerplate is worth far more than a used boilerplate pried off of disposed equipment. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $999.95. - ANTIQUE VIRGIN WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. HARD BRASS BOILER PLATE, SPANISH, C.B.CO. 123R152-1 "CONDENSATOR DE SUPERFICIE", MADE IN U.S.A. - ULTRA RARE New old stock (NOS), water had dripped on two spots in the front as shown causing surface corrosion, but likely restorable. Ultra Rare Antique Virgin Westinghouse Electric Corp. Hard Brass Boiler Plate, C.B.CO. 123R152-1. Says "Made in U.S.A." on front, bottom of boilerplate. Spanish, made for a, "Condensator De Superficie" (Surface Condensor), relevant for steam engine technology - most likely, steam-driven railroad trains. Made in early 1900s. 1/8" thick. This boilerplate plaque is not drilled nor punched, nor even engraved with the condensor's specifications. Note that this Westinghouse boilerplate lacks the circled "W" logo; likely predates when this symbol was used. Virgin brass boilerplates of this era are almost impossible to find these days - especially Spanish ones. Great collectible. Just as a rare uncirculated coin and uncancelled postage stamp is much more valuable to their collectors than used ones are, this virgin brass boilerplate is worth far more than a used boilerplate pried off of disposed equipment. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these to sell. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD179. - Price: $949.95. VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHIC LIGHTING, 4 LAMP ASSEMBLY, AREL, INC. Used and works great. Vintage circa 1950s lamp assembly also serves as an integral part of the enclosure. This is the full-size Arel lamp assembly - not the apparently much more common "short box." Sturdy metal case with carrying handle is in great shape, except for a few scratches on the case and the internal foam cushioning has deteriorated due to aging. Still very useful for providing excellent continuous lighting for photography, indoor high intensity lighting or "sunbathing," indoor gardening, etc., or to save it as a collectible. 1500 watts, max. 17.5" x 6" x 11.5". UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R20. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $12, 9 lbs RARE, VINTAGE HENRY PRESSURE GAUGE / METER, 0-500 PSI, TM-103 w/ ORIGINAL BOX Used and works good. This Henry Pressure meter is a rare collectible. Comes in original box, not shown. We would not use it with oxygen, however, it should work fine with other gases. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $7.90 RARE VINTAGE HANDY-HANNAH ELECTRIC VITALIZER, HAND VIBRATOR, CAT. # 995-V Used and in great condition. Rare, vintage Handy-Hannah hand-held vibrator, Electric Vitalizer, Catalog # 995-V. 110VAC - 120 VAC, 30 watt, 50 Hz - 60 Hz. Very high quality, heavy duty. Not only great for vibrating the hand, but also the back, legs, neck, arms, etc. for soothing relief and great massages. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD111. - Price: $74.95. S/H: $10.90 VINTAGE BODY MASSAGER / BODY VIBRATOR / FOOT REST Used, in very good working condition. This vintage body massager has a few nicks in the cover. No manufacturer label. Especially useful to massage feet, legs, neck, and lower back. Also works as a great foot rest with or without being powered ON if you put it on top of your normal foot rest or low bench / chair, and as a great knee-bending rest in bed. 11-1/2" x 8" x 4". UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $24.95. S/H: $5, 5lbs VINTAGE DR. SCHOLL'S FOOT MASSAGER, ELECTRIC w/ STEEL BODY Used, in very good working condition, and very high quality material and workmanship. Vintage Dr. Scholl's foot massager has what looks like a few marks from a permanent marker that have no effect on operation. Comes with two vibrating dome heads. What is really nice about this device is that the domes easily screw off so that they can be separately washed if you wish or even replaced by new domes. Better yet, one can adapt many different types of heads to these screws, improvised if you wish, to convert this device into many different other types of vibrators, including back vibrators, laboratory vibrators, office paper shakers, electronic device testers, mixers, etc. (conversion parts not included). We mainly use these to optimally shake my "empty" copier and printer toner cartridges to get a lot more mileage out of them, thereby saving a ton of printer and copier toner money, and am selling this extra one. 11" x 6" x 4". UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $19.90 RARE, VINTAGE CTS METRO MOBILE CARPHONE, MODEL TLN2674A / TLN 2674A Used CTS Model TLN2774A car telephone. We can't connect it up, so we can't test this CTS car phone. We bought it at an estate sale, and were told it was rare. We don't know much about these vintage phones, and don't know what it is really worth. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R05. - Price: $79.95. S/H: $13.90 - RARE, VINTAGE CENTEL CAR TELEPHONE / PORTABLE TELEPHONE / SUITCASE TELEPHONE, TYPE SCN2330A, SERAL # ERQ + BEAUTIFUL PADDED BLACK LEATHER CASE Made by Motorola. This Centel car phone, type SCN2330A, appears to be in excellent condition (We have not powered it up because We have no way to test it so We have no way of knowing how well it works). Includes the legendary Motorola Centel telephone (has an RJ-45 Ethernet connection and comes with their snap-in plastic holder shown attached), very high quality black padded leather bag, a SUN1640BA (Model S2498A, with antenna) transmitter unit, Motorola S1936C and S1550B cellular connections (both look alike and have one male RJ-45 Ethernet connector, one female Ethernet connector and one female RJ-11 phone connector), a cable bundle that has various connectors and a fuse holder (about 18 feet long, looks like coax), and a connection unit that connects to some relatively large and heavy electronic module sewed into the bag (a modem? some kind of secret module?) and comes with a DB25F connector and a cigarette lighter connector. No manual or other user information. Note that the strange Serial # ("ERQ") would seem to indicate that this is some highly specialized unit / customized unit and/or of very limited manufacture, probably for security purposes. One apparently fanatical collector is practically stalking us over this apparently high security Item - indicating to us that it is probably much more valuable than our price - we can find no other reasonable explanation for his fanatical interest in this Item (and we do not know who this guy is). We do not say this in jest or as some kind of gimmick or scam - you can easily check out our 1,000s of Items we carry on our webpages, and you will find that we very rarely allege this kind of thing. Do not let this Item get away from you! UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $124.95. S/H: $12, 8 lbs - RARE JASON BINOCULARS + FINE LEATHER CASE 7X35, FIELD 6 DEGREES, "FINEST PRECISION", No. 582912 "LIGHT WEIGHT", VINTAGE WWII Used and really nice! Both binoculars and its leather case are in very good condition. A great collectible! And also very useful. We bought them at an estate sale, and was told that its recently deceased owner used it in Europe as a WWII and post-WWII correspondent. However, since we don't know the deceased, his family or much about vintage binculars, we can't guarantee this claim. Great optical collectible. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD099. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE, ANTIQUE PRE-WORLD WAR II CHINESE BRASS CHRISTIAN CHURCH COLLECTIONS BOX Used and in very good condition. Rare, Antique Pre-World War II Chinese Christian Church Collections Box, brass. We bought this at an estate sale. A family member told us that their deceased father, the former owner of this Item, was an American merchant in China prior to World War II, and that this Item was a church donation collection box owned by a Christian church in China. We do not know the deceased, his family, or much about Christian churches in China or Chinese antiques so we do not make any claims or provide any guarantees as to the authenticity of this Item. If you know anything about this type of antique brass box-with-a-handle, please freely share your info with us. Appears to be made of brass with some truly stunning art work on it. The lid of this church donations box opens up to make the church collections (see image insert), the church box is about 1-1/8" deep. This antique Chinese Christian Church collections box makes a precious collectible. Or use this church donation box for your own mini-storage box and/or display case for jewelry, gems and precious stones, crafts items, hobbyist parts, sewing items, office supplies, small collectibles, parlor game parts, small precision hand tools, knick-knacks, etc. - practically unlimited uses. UNIQUE or VERY RARE ITEM: We have only one of these CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH COLLECTIONS BOXES, and it is apparently so rare that we cannot decide what price to put on it. However, we want to sell this CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH COLLECTIONS BOX at a fair price to both of us. Interested? Then freely document what price range this CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH COLLECTIONS BOX is worth and make us an offer (if possible). We will seriously consider and respond to all offers we consider reasonable. If you know of anyone who might be interested, then please freely refer him/her to this listing, and if we agree to sell it to that person, he/she buys it, pays for it in full, his/her payment totally clears (allow 90 days for checks and money orders (except Postal M.O.) to clear), sold at $100+, and he/she does not ask for a refund within 60 days of receipt of Item, we will pay you a 10% finder's fee based on the paid price. Payment by PayPal, credit card or COD not acceptable. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD098. - Price: See above; FREE S/H. - RARE, VINTAGE DECORATIVE WOOD FOOD DUSTER / DUST PAN w/ DECORATIVE BRUSH Used and in great condition. Rare, decorative vintage food duster / dust pan with decorative curved brush. In very fancy restaurants, especially during the old days, waiters and waitresses used food duster pans of this general type to quickly clear tables and seats from dry leftovers of previous diners. There were many variations, most like this one apparently handmade in small quantities. This is an absolutely great collectible - possibly even unique! We were told that this Item was made in 1928 but we can't find a reference to one like this. Could also be used as a wall hanging for a kitchen or fancy or quaint restaurant, or to add real class to your home kitchen or office kitchen. Bright areas are due to photoflash effects. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD116. - Price: $199.95 RARE, VINTAGE PHONO RECORD CLEANER, MODEL 100 VACOREC / VAC O REC, VOR Industries (CURRENTLY OUT, WE ARE TRYING TO GET MORE). Used and works great. Rare, vintage Phono Record Cleaner, Model 100, VACOREC / VAC O REC, VOR Industries. Brushes are in great shape - hardly used. Bought in an estate sale. Cleans 45 RPM and 78 RPM vinyl records. Includes the 45 shown (Dion, Laurie label, "Lost for Sure" and "Little Diane"). This is not only a great audiophile and music collectible, as well as a very good vinyl record cleaner, but has many other possible uses. That's because the Vac O Rec spins the record from it edge while it vacuums up the dust - not the record's middle. This means that disks of various diameters can be used with the VOR Phono Record Cleaner, giving it tremendous versatility for disk cleaning, inspection, light machining, etc. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD116. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $12.95 RARE, VINTAGE MSA EXPLOSIMETER, MINE SAFETY APPLIANCE CO. Used. The Mine Safety Appliance Co. Explosimeter explosives meter is designed to measure and alert upon detection of explosive gases in mines and other confined spaces to minimize loss of life due to mine explosion hazards. We have no way of testing its functions and its case shows a lot of use, and it therefore sold as is. Believed to date back to the early 1940s. A really great collectible for the serious collector of mine memorabilia and mind safety memorabilia, especially relevant today with today's very serious mine safety issues. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R15. - Price: $134.95. S/H: $13.90 STUNNING RARE VINTAGE LITTLE CHIEF TOY "SLOT MACHINE" SAVINGS BANK COLLECTOR TOY When was the last time you've seen one of these rare piggy bank toys?! And it works great! Rare Little Chief Slot Machine toys are treasures for the collector, and a great way to save those spare coins you have. THIS ITEM IS A PIGGY BANK TOY and is sold as a collectible toy only - it is not intended or sold for any gambling or gaming purpose. Door to coin cache is not lockable and easily opened - access to your coins is simple, quick and easy. It makes a fun piggy bank for your loose change - a little fun at the end of a hard work day - as well as an attractive collectible. Black part of the slot machine enclosure is made of steel. Silvery portion (front of body) appears to be mostly metallized plastic. All other external parts, except screws, appear to be plastic. 5.5" x 7" x 4.5". UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R10. - Price: $69.95. S/H: $13.90 MIDLAND 77-909 40-CHANNEL HANDHELD CB TRANSCEIVER w/ BASE ANTENNA Used and in very good condition. Midland 77-909 40-Channel Handheld CB Transceiver with Base Antenna. When image was edited, antenna top was accidentally cropped out; all of antenna is in excellent condition. Power adapter is missing. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have this one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $59.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE VINTAGE CLASSIC BELL ATLANTIC SPECIAL EDITION III CAR PHONE / CELLULAR PHONE Used, condition unknown. Rare, vintage classic Bell Atlantic Special Edition III car phone / cellular phone. In the "good old days," this is what cellphones looked like. Makes a great collectible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We only have this one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD108. - Price: $59.95. S/H: $9.90 RARE WWII SIGNAL CORPS INSTRUMENT CASE RADIO CRYSTAL CASE, CS-137, MILITARIA Used and in very good condition. We bought it at an estate sale. Believed to be of a vintage WWII military crystal case (for radio crystals) according to the family. Not only is this very strong and durable steel box a great military collectible, but it can also serve as a really strong and secure case for keeping valuable instrumentation, precision tools, other collectibles, and expensive other items such as jewelry, gems and precious stones, coins, fossils, important rocks, etc. It individually unlatches from both its top and bottom to provide padded spaces for securely storing and protecting valuable items. First image shows the top and front of the box, which measures 11" x 4.25" x 3". The top, left of the second image shows the box with both its top and bottom opened up. Bottom, left of second image shows the boiler plate on the box (this is all of the information we have on these boxes; do you know more about them?). The right side of the second image shows the top and bottom sliding latches, with one in the latched position and one unlatched. Truly remarkable militaria collectible / World War II collectible, as well as also being very useful! LIMITED QUANTITY. We now only have two of these left (this sale is for one). BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD094. - Price: $79.95. S/H: $13.90. - REAR VIEW STRIP FILM PROJECTOR, CAMERA, MADE BY OPTICS MFG. CORP, NEW YORK, MODEL #90 In all the years we have collected rare camera, film and other equipment, this rare Optics Manufacturing Corp. Model 90 strip film projector is the first one of these we 've run into. We bought it at an Estate sale. Sturdy hard case with carrying handle. We have no way of testing this film strip viewer so we don't know how well it works or whether or not it has all of its parts (it appears to have all of its parts). My only testing was to plug it in just long enough to verify that the lamp turns ON, which it does. Has some wear and tear, including some discoloration and scuffing of the case and several small scratches on the frosted glass. 13.5" x 10" x 6". UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R25. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $14, 9 lbs - Rare, Vintage ASSEMBLED MOTORIZED FERRIS WHEEL ERECTOR SET Motorized 8-seat ferris wheel Erector Set. We don't know what year this one is or who made it. It is the only one We have seen like it Online. In excellent, clean, like-new condition. 6-1/2 x 13 x 7-3/4 inches. Complete except for pully belt, which should be easily obtained or fabricated from piece of string or even using a rubber band (sewing machine stores usually care a selection of small rubber belts). Because it is already assembled, you can immediately proudly display it in you collections display case, mantle, shelf, etc. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $13.90 Rare, Vintage ASSEMBLED w/ SPARE PARTS MECCANO ERECTOR SET, MOTORIZED RACING CAR, #4036 Includes original box and instructions. The Model 4036 appears to be especially rare. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $9.90 BIG BRIGHT COLOR ERECTOR SET CASE Big Erector Set case, empty (except for some Erector Set documentation). We have two of these, this sale is for one. This case is a brightly red sturdy, rugged plastic case in like-new condition with all kinds of partitions on its bottom, 16.5" x 14" x 4", with strong carrying handle, removeable tray (bright yellow) also with all kinds of partitions, and internal drop down document holder (bright blue). Can be used to store Erector parts, Legos parts, other parts, mechanical parts for the shop, sewing parts, small toys and games, jewels, jewelry and gems, small tools, seed collection, insect collection, electronic parts, electrical parts, plumbing parts, art supplies, craft parts, model parts, small guns and ammunition, fishing lures, fly fishing parts - you name it. Ideal collectible for storing your valuable collectibles! Especially useful if you are building just about any kind of a small kit because it gives you places for both your parts and your plans / schematics. Or as a display case, valise, carry-on suitcase, or trip or camping container. No Erector Set parts included. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $24.95. S/H: $11.90 RARE PROGRAMMABLE CORKI WEEKS KALEIDOSCOPE w/ DOUBLE PROGRAMMING KALEIDOSCOPE WHEELS Used, and works great. It has no label. This exceptional rare, vintage brass kaleidoscope collectible apparently made by the famed Corki Weeks of Pine, CO, as it is very similar to other rare and valuable collector kaleidoscopes we have seen claimed to be made by her, but we have no proof (we have publicly advertised this rare programmable collectibe kaleidoscope as likely a Corki Weeks kaleidoscope for 6 years now at a very high price, including on eBay, without objection from Corki Weeks or any identifiable authority on Corki Weeks kaleidoscopes - if you believe that this is not a Corki Weeks kaleidoscope, and you fully identify yourself and are a credible authority on Corki Weeks kaleidoscopes, we will withdraw stating that this programmable kaleidoscope is likely a Corki Weeks kaleidoscope). An absolute must for the serious kaleidoscope collector! This rare, if not unique, kaleidoscope collectible has dual kaleidoscope wheels with assorted pie-piece-shaped glass pieces assembled apparently using the same techniques and technology used to create stain glass windows. The base is wood and is shown with temporary rubber bands in second image so it doesn't slip from mount for that photo. Exceptionally well made creative work, and very unusual and stunningly beautiful! 7" long. The kaleidoscope wheels can be taken off (acorn nut unscrews by hand) and replaced with other kaleidoscope wheels with other types of glass inserts you make or buy to create new and interesting patterns limited only by your imagination. If you make thinner wheels, you could probably fit three of them on the wheel axle at a time. Since the kaleidoscope wheels are individually rotated by hand and the wheels can be replaced by any other suitable wheels you make or buy, this makes this kaleidoscope an ingenious PROGRAMMABLE KALEIDOSCOPE - in contrast to virtually all other kaleidoscopes where all you get is pretty but mindless random patterns that leave no room for your own creativity. And because you can change out the wheels to your liking, this programmable kaleidoscope is an invaluable learning tool that teaches you how kaleidoscopes work and are made and about optics and mathematical patterns - great for classroom, science projects, and for those who make their own kaleidoscopes for art, crafts or as a hobby. Other possible uses include commercial purposes (e.g. creating fascinating patterns and logos for promotions), for special visual effects to view, photograph and/or film, scientific and forensic work (e.g. where one wheel contains colored filters to filter out certain light frequencies), holography, and as an absolutely wonderful vintage kaleidoscope collectible. Please do not pass up this stunning vintage kaleidoscope - when it sells it will be gone forever! UNIQUE or VERY RARE ITEM: We have only one of these PROGRAMMABLE VINTAGE KALEIDOSCOPES, and it is apparently so rare that we cannot decide what price to put on it. However, we want to sell this PROGRAMMABLE VINTAGE KALEIDOSCOPE at a fair price to both of us. Interested? Then freely document what price range this PROGRAMMABLE VINTAGE KALEIDOSCOPE is worth and make us an offer (if possible). We will seriously consider and respond to all offers we consider reasonable. If you know of anyone who might be interested, then please freely refer him/her to this listing, and if we agree to sell it to that person, he/she buys it, pays for it in full, his/her payment totally clears (allow 90 days for checks and money orders (except Postal M.O.) to clear), sold at $100+, and he/she does not ask for a refund within 60 days of receipt of Item, we will pay you a 10% finder's fee based on the paid price. Payment by PayPal, credit card or COD not acceptable. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R10. - Price: See above; FREE S/H (3 lbs wgt.) RARE VITA AIR IONIC GENERATOR AIR PURIFIER DEVICE This rare air purifier ionic device generates and outputs into the open air a boat load of ionized air! Around its periphery are four exposed pointed, needle-like electrodes where the high voltage appears, which makes this device especially useful for the high-voltage experimenter and researcher. However, for general household and office use, operate it inside of a plastic, glass or ceramic enclosure that permits the free-flow of air while keeping fingers, pets and foreign items and liquids away from the high-voltage electrodes - do not use it around children, pets, irresponsible people, or close to metal bodies, or in the home or office environment where casual and curiosity contact can be made with it. We used it for many laboratory experiments, and under a bell jar. 120 VAC operated. This is part of a number of pieces of equipment and books and manuals we are selling Online related to my several years of research into Mind Control, Subliminal Mind Control, Electronic Attack, Electronic Harassment, Brain wave Entrainment (or Brain Entrainment), Brainwashing, Body Control, Behavioral Modification, Electronic Implants, Radionics/Psychotronics/Psionics, Biofeedback, and Fortean Phenomena and other Unexplained Phenomena for Consumertronics.net of Albuquerque, NM (books, manuals, research, consulting), and Lone Star Consulting, Inc. of El Paso, TX (hardware, consulting). My related Consumertronics.net books and manuals (including ebooks) have the titles of, "Mind Control," "Subliminal Mind Control," "Electromagnetic Brainblaster," and "Under Attack!". Again, browse and search my webpages. We have such a huge amount of equipment related to this type of research, much of it duplicate or similar to each other, that we are now selling some of my surplus. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R25. - Price: $139.95. S/H: $15.90 RARE, VINTAGE PANASONIC DIGITAL PHOTO PRINTER, TRUPHOTO MODEL AL-TA10U This is a very high quality, well-built and heavy-duty digital Tru photo printer made by Panasonic. It is used, but works great (last used in 2005), and it comes with dozens of NOS Photo Printer Paper sheets for it, as well as its User Manual. This digital printer works with both PC and MAC through their respective parallel printer ports. PC software also included. While We have continuously refrigerated the photo paper packs, we are not sure how old or good they still are. It is 12" x 10" x 3". NOTE: This Item is being offered at a much reduced price than when originally listed. We seldom lower a price more than once. Usually, if Item does not sell at much reduced price after reasonable time, without further notice, we donate or throw Item away, so please bid on Item right away. UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD049, LS092-R50. - Price: $44.95. S/H: $15.90 - KOPIL FOLDING BELLOWSCOPE / BELLOW SCOPE FOR EXAKTA CAMERAS (35mm SLR) Used and in very good condition (expands/contracts fine, no rips or tears in the bellows), and comes with original box. Kopil Folding Bellowscope / Bellow Scope for 35mm SLR Exakta Cameras. Useable and also great collectible. Can be modified for other uses if you wish. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD1150. - Price: $49.95. HPI CAN YOU IMAGINE - SUSPENDED ANIMATION CLOCK Used and works great. This is truly a stunning, incredible and modern clock (which displays time, day, day of week, month and year date data)! Rather than having a normal LED display, it has a wand with a bank of high-speed bright blue LEDs packed in near the wand tip. When the clock is ON, the wand very rapidly swings back and forth throuth the "V" notch area of the clock like an extremely fast pendulum. The LEDs then light with such precise timing as to give the appearance of "writing" the time, day, day of week, month and year date data in the "V" notch area, with the wand practically completely disappearing due to its very fast movement. The effect is that this data displays in mid air, giving it an eerie, science fiction, futuristic effect. Certain to be a great conversational piece. For indoor use only. 8-3/4" x 7-1/2" x 2-1/4". Programming buttons are shown with the triangular door slid down to show the buttons. During normal operation, this door is slid up and closed so that the buttons are not visible any longer, giving the clock a slick, smooth, modern appearance. Clock does not come with a user manual, but we found it easy to figure the programming out. UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $69.95. S/H: $11.90. - ANTIQUE WOOD BOX CAMERA Used and in good condition. Antique Wood Box Camera. Looks like an legendary Kodak Brownie Camera, but no label can be found. One camera collector told me that it likely predates the old Kodak Brownie cameras. 5-3/4" x 3" x 4-1/2". LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $29.95. - AMBIENT MODEL, 2X MAGNIFIER, FOCUS ADJUST For Photo Slides, Stamps, Currency, Documentation, Leaves, Fingerprints, etc. Used and in great condition. Very high quality. Vintage Taylor-Merchant Ambient Model Micro-Viewer Magnifier (2X), 22 VHR Lens. While this Taylor-Merchant Micro Viewer was originally intended to view photo slides, it also works great with stamps, currency, documentation, leaves, fingerprint liftings, and virtually everything else which is flat, thin and transparent or translucent. If you are looking for a critical photo details, watermark, subtle, small or buried feature, printer's defect, bogus signature - the Taylor-Merchant Micro-Viewer may be ideal for you. Not recommended for lottery tickets. This works by sliding the thin item to be viewed between the two sandwiched pieces to underneath the lens (left image), then holding the backside window (right image) up to a strong light (or use a light table), and then viewing the object through the lens, positioning it as required. Area of object to be viewed can be upto 4.25" away from the edge of the object. Adjustable focus allows you to focus in on embedded features, and 2X magnification is for greater detail. The Taylor-Merchant Micro-Viewer comes in a like-new handsome leatherette case which can also be used to store other things if you wish. CAUTION: Do not point this Taylor Merchant Ambient Model Micro-Viewer directly at the sun either with or without a slide as eye damage is possible. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD121. - Price: $49.95. - RARE BLITZER COMPACT FLASH UNIT Made in Germany, w/ Original Box, Manual, Battery Used and in very good condition. Rare Blitzer Compact Flash Unit (Made in Germany) with original box, manual and depleted battery. The end screws into any standard camera tripod. The cord connects to the camera to synchronize the flash with camera activation. The dial (in left image, washed out from too much light reflection) adjust for film speed and object distance (meters and feet). Plastic egg-shaped body. A really cool collectible device: You pop off the blue cover and then you turn the little stud on the top reflector segment, which blossoms out the flash reflector into its beautiful full floral-like pattern. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD145. - Price: $59.95. DURST F60 DARKROOM ENLARGER / DURST F60 PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGER, FESIXCON 50 Used but in great condition. We bought two complete units of these at an estate sale, and after testing this one, we removed the slide and base on this to mount my digital camera for another use, so We are just selling the head. Appears to be complete with beautiful and expensive lenses, lamp assembly, negatives tray, red filter, AC cord. 9.75" x 8" x 4.25". UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $13.90 BESELER 23C DARKROOM ENLARGER HEAD BELLOWS / ACCORDION ASSEMBLY Used but in great condition. No tears or hole, and clean. We was told that good parts from Beseler photographic enlargers are worthwhile, so when we found a broken enlarger being sold, we cannibalized parts from it we needed. The accordion parts are particularly important because accordion tears due to use, aging and dirt are common with accordion-type cameas - one of the few parts that wear out, must be replaced and become increasing scarce and expensive as the result. And of course acordion mechanisms can be adapted for other applications. 6.75" x 6.5" x 1.5" (collapsed); hole is 4.5". UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $19.95 BESELER 23C PHOTOGRAPHIC ENLARGER HEAD BELLOWS / ACCORDION ASSEMBLY Used but in great condition. No tears or hole, and clean. We was told that good parts from Beseler photographic enlargers are worthwhile, so when we found a broken enlarger being sold, we cannibalized all of its good parts. The accordion parts are particularly important because accordion tears due to use, aging and dirt are common with accordion-type cameas. And of course they can be adapted for other applications. Includes the red filter. 9.25" x 6.25" x 3.5" (collapsed); hole is 5.375". UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $29.95. S/H: $9.90 BEAUTIFUL, VINTAGE DESK SET, MARBLE BASE, BRASS PIECES Very high quality, heavy and heavy duty marble desk set. Base appears to be made of marble or agate. Pen is missing, but high quality pens that will fit are pretty common. Perfect Christmas gift, birthday gift, anniversary gift, graduation gift, wedding gift or other special occasion gift for that guy or gal in your family who likes high-quality writing, desktop and office accessories! UNIQUE ITEM. This is the only one. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD100. - Price: $39.95. S/H: $13.90 RARE, VINTAGE TOILET PHONE / TOILET RADIO, BATHROOM PHONE / BATHROOM RADIO Used and works great. Made by Hopesonic. Radio is AM and FM. Battery-operated, so no need to find an AC outlet for it or risk that it might get wet and shock you. What a terrific idea! Incredibly versatile and useful. You hang this next to your toilet like you would any other toilet paper holder. The matching telephone rests on the platform on the top of it. NOTE: The phone is not connected to the main body but directly to a phone line, so you can if you want substitute the provided corded phone with a no-cradle cordless phone or cellular phone and/or Ipod or Blackberry, and/or tiny TV or notebook computer, and/or keys, and/or tools, and/or your self-defense hardware, and/or whatever you wish whenever you wish as long as it all fits on top and total accessory weight is under about 10 lbs. Or use its surface to hold a book or a glass of your Metamucil. You can even securely attach your cellular phone battery charger/cradle on it using velcro and just set the cellphone there for a quick charge or for an overnight charge if you wish. No more must you miss your phone calls from your Aunt Mildred in Waco because you are in the bathroom! No more do you have to waste your valuable time twiddling your thumbs until nature kicks in. This phone / toilet paper holder combo is especially great if you have infirm family members - if trapped on the toilet or in the bathroom, or just simply done with bathroom functions, they can call for help. And it is also great for those who use a bathroom area as a safe room from home invasions, business invasions, and burglaries. And it comes with a nice built-in AM / FM radio to boot! You cannot ask for more! UNIQUE ITEM - We have only one of this Item. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD061, LS092-R10. - Price: $99.95. S/H: $13.90 - VINTAGE OCEAN CITY BAIT-CASTING SALTWATER FISHING REEL w/ ORIGINAL STRING PLUS w/ ORIGINAL BOX, DOCs Vintage Ocean City saltwater reel, bait-casting fishing reel with original string PLUS with original box and documentation. We bought this years ago with hopes of using it but never did - paid $110 for it! Nice collectible and gift. UNIQUE ITEM. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD106. - Price: $29.95 ANTIQUE CORPORATE SEAL Used. Antique corporate seal. Can also be modified into a general press, stamp or punch. Nice collectible. Maker is unknown. Heavy steel. It is frozen. We lubricated it but it didn't seem to help. Bought it in a lot with many other antique items, and don't need it ourselves. If you can't get it to work, it still makes a paperweight or press with a nice handle. LIMITED QUANTITY. We have only one of these. BUYER: Order by Title (below image) - Email us your order. - List History: LD126. - Price: $9.95, $11.90. S/H. HIGH-TECH EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALISM: Many "high-tech business" owners and their employees today are clearly woefully ignorant of the high technologies they sell (including some giant electronic parts houses!). ABQ Techzonics of Albuquerque, NM, USA, is owned by John J. Williams, M.S.E.E. Mr. Williams is a former Senior Electronics Design Engineer (Lockheed EMSCO); Professor of Computer Science (New Mexico State University (NMSU)); Electronics Weapons Design Engineer (U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force); Health Physicist (National Institutes of Health (NIH)), etc. Williams is also currently President of Lone Star Consulting, Inc. and CEO of Consumertronics.net . While we don't know everything about everything tech (no one does), we have a high level of expertise. We sell a lot of electronic components / electrical components. Most of these electronic components / electrical components are small electronic parts / electrical parts, such as integrated circuits, optical devices, transistors, rectifiers, diodes, transformers, inductors, capacitors, resistors, displays, switches, relays, crystals, oscillators, transducers, sensors, prototyping, connectors, fuses, wire/cable, power components, etc., as well as some larger electronic parts / electrical parts and electronic test equipment, scientific equipment and industrial equipment / parts, electrical equipment / electronic equipment in general, tools, mounting hardware parts, and special materials. And we also buy and trade these types of items ( Trade & Buy Offers ). And unlike most electrical / electronic components sellers, many of the electrical / electronic component, etc. lots we buy we set aside some of the electrical / electronic parts, etc. for our own electronic projects and research. We sell those electrical / electronic parts, etc. we don't use. Our suppliers know that if their electrical / electronic parts, electronic test equipment, etc. aren't excellent, good chance we will discover it and they'll hear about it! ABQ TECHZONICS (Albuquerque, NM) SELLS, BUYS & TRADES: ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, ELECTRONIC PARTS, ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS: Integrated Circuits (ICs), Transistors, Diodes, Rectifiers, LEDs, Capacitors, Resistors, Potentiometers (Pots), Varistors, Inductors, Coils, Transformers, Speakers, Relays, Switches, Actuators, Fuses, Circuit Breakers, Thermistors, Crystals, Oscillators, Sensors, Transducers, Optoelectronics, Prototyping, Connectors, Headers, Sockets, Pins, Wires, Cables, Displays, Photo, Video, Laser, RF, Microwave, Electronic Modules, Power Adapters, Power Supplies, other Electronic Parts / Electronic Components / Electronic Subassemblies / Electronic Assemblies. EQUIPMENT, DEVICES: Electronic Test Equipment, Electrical Equipment, Computers, Peripherals, Electric Tools, Hand Tools, Mechanics Tools, Precision Tools, Tool Chests. MORE TECH STUFF: Commercial/Industrial/Scientific/Laboratory Valves, Fittings, Hardware Parts, Mechanical Parts, Supplies, Special Materials, Personal Security, Survival (Survivalists / Preppers), Radionics, Crafts, Hobbies, Strange & Unusual, Religious & Spiritual, Books, Manuals, Software, Collectibles. SOURCES OF ITEMS ABQ TECHZONICS SELLS: Surplus, online auctions, hamfests, private sales, business moving sales, overstocks, job lots, wholesale lots, estate sales, garage sales, thrift shops, charity auctions, flea markets, hardware trades, abandoned storage, lost & found property sales, discontinued items, obsolete items, warehouse inventory updates, excess inventories, liquidations, business closures and out-of-business sales, foreclosure sales, bankruptcies, government auctions / government sales, new salvage sales, and other sources for integrated circuits (ICs), electronic parts / electronic components, hardware, special materials, etc., Albuquerque, NM area preferred but will buy from anywhere. ABQ Techzonics is both a wholesale sellers/wholesale traders/wholesale buyers and retail sellers/retail traders/retail buyers, largely depending on quantity. IMAGE SPONSORED BY: REPRINT POW-MIA IMAGE=> ON YOUR WEBSITE NOTE: By policy, we never recommend for or against, approve or disapprove, sponsor, endorse, support, guarantee, or take any responsibility for any of the content of any non-Consumertronics webpage, website, advertisement, publication or other statement EVEN IF WE HAVE PROVIDED A HOTLINK TO IT. And by policy, we never recommend for or against, approve or disapprove, sponsor, endorse, support, guarantee, or assume any liability or any other responsibility for any non-Consumertronics company, product or service EVEN IF WE HAVE PROVIDED A HOTLINK TO IT and EVEN IF WE HAVE DISCUSSED IT OR INFORMED YOU ABOUT IT on a webpage, or by phone, email, mail or fax, or by any other means of communications. Everything we sell is sold strictly for legal utility, educational and/or entertainment purposes only, and is based on our policies on our policies.htm webpage. Test Source Links only (no visitor use): Source-1, Source-2, Source-3, Source-4, Source-5, Source-6, Source-7, Source-10, Source-11 NOTE: Money Transfer Services (MTS) and all business names referred to on this website (other than ABQ Techzonics and Consumertronics) are referred to only as totally independent sources of services or products our Clients may avail themselves to if they so choose, and to identify the manufacturers of products sold herein (e.g. "Radio Shack scanner"). These businesses have identities protected by their own unique trademarks and service marks. We are not in any way agents nor representative of them, nor in business with them (e.g. we are not a MTS, nor outlets nor franchises of them). Nor do we state or imply in any way that these businesses are a part of ABQ Techzonics nor Consumertronics, nor do they endorse nor support any ABQ Techzonics or Consumertronics product, service, policy, activity or operation. Nor do we state or imply in any way that ABQ Techzonics or Consumertronics are a part of these businesses, nor do we endorse nor support any of these businesses products, services, policies, activities or operations.	i don't know
The 'God particle' is more technically called what, after two (English and Indian) physicists?	Particle Physics - Higgs Boson - What’s in a Name? Parsing the ‘God Particle,’ the Ultimate Metaphor - The New York Times The New York Times Science \|What’s in a Name? Parsing the ‘God Particle,’ the Ultimate Metaphor Search Continue reading the main story We need to talk about the “God particle.” Recently in this newspaper, I reported on the attempts by various small armies of physicists to discover an elementary particle central to the modern conception of nature. Technically it’s called the Higgs boson, after Peter Higgs, an English physicist who conceived of it in 1964. It is said to be responsible for endowing the other elementary particles in the universe with mass. In a stroke of either public relations genius or disaster, Leon M. Lederman, the former director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, referred to the Higgs as “the God particle” in the book of the same name he published with the science writer Dick Teresi in 1993. To Dr. Lederman, it made metaphorical sense, he explained in the book, because the Higgs mechanism made it possible to simplify the universe, resolving many different seeming forces into one, like tearing down the Tower of Babel. Besides, his publisher complained, nobody had ever heard of the Higgs particle. In some superficial ways, the Higgs has lived up to its name. Several Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work on the so-called Standard Model, of which the Higgs is the central cog. Billions of dollars are being spent on particle accelerators and experiments to find it, inspect it and figure out how it really works. But physicists groan when they hear it referred to as the “God particle” in newspapers and elsewhere (and the temptation to repeat it, given science reporters’ desperate need for colorful phrases in an abstract and daunting field, is irresistible). Even when these physicists approve of what you have written about their craft, they grumble that the media are engaging in sensationalism, or worse. Last week a reader accused me of trying to attract religiously inclined readers by throwing out “God meat” for them. Advertisement Continue reading the main story It was not the first time that I had been accused of using religion to sell science. Or was it using science to sell religion? Last year, I described the onset five billion years ago of dark energy, the mysterious force that seems to be accelerating the expansion of the cosmos, with the words “as if God had turned on an antigravity machine.” More people than I had expected wrote in wanting to know why I had ruined a perfectly good article by dragging mythical deities into it. My guide in all of this, of course, the biggest name-dropper in science, is Albert Einstein, who mentioned God often enough that one could imagine he and the “Old One” had a standing date for coffee or tennis. To wit: “The Lord is subtle, but malicious he is not.” Or this quote regarding the pesky randomness of quantum mechanics: “The theory yields much, but it hardly brings us closer to the Old One’s secrets. I, in any case, am convinced that He does not play dice.” Photo Credit Michael Criley With Einstein, we always knew where he stood in relation to “God” — it was shorthand for the mystery and rationality of nature, the touchstones of the scientific experience. Cosmic mystery, Einstein said, is the most beautiful experience we can have, “the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” “He who does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement,” he continued, “is as good as a snuffed-out candle.” If we didn’t already have a name for the object of Einstein’s “cosmic religion,” we would have to invent one. It’s just too bad that the name has been tainted and trivialized by association with the image of a white-bearded Caucasian-looking creature who sits in the clouds attended by harp-strumming angels. Advertisement Continue reading the main story If Einstein were around today, he would likely be scolded every other time he opened his metaphor-laden mouth for giving aid and comfort to the creationists. Indeed, the architects of intelligent design have not been shy about interpreting his aversion to divine dice playing and a remark wondering if God had any choice in creating the world, as support for an intelligent designer. Einstein didn’t mean it that way, of course. He was only using a metaphor to wonder if it was possible to build more than one logically consistent universe. That’s a question that still provokes hot debate. As it happened, Dr. Lederman’s book came out about the time that creationism was on the rise in this country, and “my colleagues gave me hell,” as he put it in a recent e-mail message. Neither time nor criticism seems to have dimmed Dr. Lederman’s taste for metaphor or sense of humor. Only two weeks ago, he titled an article about particle physics “The God Particle, Et Al.” Well, O.K., he had a book to sell. It’s not easy to stand up for a moniker as over the top as the one that Dr. Lederman used — one we are likely to hear again and again in the next couple of years as the generation-long hunt for the Higgs particle reaches a climax. But I have to applaud Dr. Lederman’s spirit. Historians have suggested that it was a mistake for the antiwar movement of the 1960s to yield the flag — a powerful symbol of patriotism — to the war’s supporters, and likewise I think it would be a mistake for scientists to yield such a powerful metaphor to creationists and religious fundamentalists. The Higgs particle is not God, but as theorized it is a piece of the sublime beauty of nature that had Einstein figuratively on his knees. I can’t prove it, but I can’t help wondering if Einstein, a man with what the geneticist Barbara McClintock called “a feeling for the organism” — in this case the universe — was aided in his intuition by being able to personify nature in such a familiar and irreverent way. Is there a God who worries about the flight of every sparrow? Einstein said that was a naïve and even abhorrent idea. Do I believe the universe is a mystery? Absolutely. Is that mystery ultimately explicable? Intellectual empires from Plato to Einstein have been founded on that presumption, bold and optimistic as it is, and I wouldn’t advise betting against it. In the meantime, I wouldn’t dream of depriving any future Einstein of his or her rhetorical or metaphorical tools. Not to mention myself. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page F3 of the New York edition with the headline: What’s in a Name? Parsing the ‘God Particle,’ the Ultimate Metaphor. Order Reprints \| Today's Paper \| Subscribe	Higgs boson
In medicine and biological science, what is the opposite and usual alternative to 'in vitro'?	The God Particle - Cosmic Variance : Cosmic Variance The God Particle By Sean Carroll \| August 6, 2007 9:08 pm Dennis Overbye does us all a huge favor by coming clean about “ the God Particle .” The phrase refers to the hypothetical Higgs boson, long-time target of particle physics experiments. It was coined by Leon Lederman as a shameless ploy to sell books, and ever since has managed to appear in every single mention of the Higgs in the popular media — for example, in the headline of Dennis’s article from a couple of weeks ago . Physicists, regardless of their stance toward timeless theological questions, hate this phrase. For one thing, it puts this particular boson on a much higher pedestal than it deserves, without conveying anything helpful about what makes it important. But more importantly, it loads an interesting but thoroughly materialist idea with absolutely useless religious overtones. Even harmful overtones — as Lederman himself notes, his coinage came about just around the time when creationism began to (once again) become a big problem, and this confusion was the last thing that anyone needed. Furthermore, everyone knows that “the God particle” is misleading — even all of the journalists and headline writers who keep trotting it out. It’s just too damn irresistible. Particle physics is fascinating, but it takes some effort to convey the real excitement felt by experts to people who are watching from the sidelines, and a hook is a hook, shameless or not. If my job were writing about particle physics for a general audience, I doubt I’d be able to resist the temptation. But, as Dennis notes, this God-talk is part of a venerable tradition on the part of physicists. We use “God” all the time to refer the workings of Nature, without meaning anything religious by it. Or at least, we used to; the nefarious encroachment of Intelligent Design and the religious right on our national discourse has given some of us pause. In the past I could have given a talk and said “Either you need a dynamical origin for the primordial cosmological perturbations, or you just have to accept that this is how God made the universe,” without any worry whatsoever that the physicists in the audience would have been confused. They would have known perfectly well that I was just using a colorful metaphor for “that’s just how the universe is,” in a purely cold-hearted and materialistic fashion. Nowadays I find myself avoiding such language, or substituting “Stephen Hawking” for “God” in a desperate attempt to preserve some of the humor. All of which is to say: religion is impoverishing our language. I want God back, dammit. ADVERTISEMENT Moshe My issue with the term, beyond the religious overtones, is that it somehow gives the impression that the Higgs particle is in privileged position in the standard model, the origin of mass etc. etc., whereas the truth is that the VEV of the Higgs field does all those miracles. Those are simply two different (albeit related) objects with similar names. http://thisquantumworld.com Ulrich Mohrhoff How is the Higgs a “thoroughly materialist idea”? You may have a materialistic way of thinking about the Higgs, but that has something to do with you, not with the Higgs. The Higgs fits into any world view that can accommodate the Standard Model, including but not only materialism. Ellipsis And as we also know, even the only-very-slightly-more-responsible statement that the “Higgs explains particle mass” is also utterly misleading. 1) The Higgs does not explain the values of rest masses of individual fundamental particles. 2) The Higgs also does not explain the old problem of why inertial mass is the same as gravitational mass. The Higgs just couples proportionally to mass and is needed to make the standard model make any sense at all (and not give infinite predictions just above the TeV scale). Maybe (just maybe…) the real Higgs might turn out to help us answer those two questions. But the predicted standard model one, as we know, does not. George Musser OK, then, what should we journalists say about the Higgs? Can we at least say it’s why all particles don’t have the same (zero) mass? George Eric George, The Higgs mechanism does generate field-theoretic masses for the elementary particles. The actual values depend on the Yukawa couplings, and these are free parameters in the Standard Model. Thus, the Standard Model offers no explanation of the mass hierarchies and mixings between the different generations. However, the Yukawa couplings can be explained naturally within string theory. Ellipsis Hi George — you definitely shouldn’t say that, as for example the proton would have mass even if the component valence and sea quarks were (somehow) massless — most of the proton’s (and neutron’s, and all light mesons’ and light quark baryons) rest mass is from the internal momenta of the quarks and gluons, not their rest masses. If you were to add a “fundamental” in front of “particles” it would be closer. But still not to my overly-critical liking, as it really doesn’t _explain_ “why” — the Higgs field just _relates to_ masses, it doesn’t really _explain_ them. Hmm, what’s a truly accurate and precise one-liner about the Higgs…? Good question. http://theeternaluniverse.blogspot.com Joseph Smidt Oh, so this particle is not what we are supposed to be worshiping? That New York Times always gets me. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean Moshe’s issue, although a real one, is sufficiently higher-order that I wouldn’t be upset to see it glossed over in popular presentations. It would be nice to appreciate the distinction between a field’s expectation value and its associated particle, but on most days I’m not that ambitious. The “explaining mass” issue is trickier. Within the standard model, if the Higgs didn’t exist, elementary particles would all have zero mass. That’s the sense in which the Higgs “explains mass” — the masses for particles in the Standard Model are all proportional to the Higgs expectation value. It doesn’t explain what the constants of proportionality are, true enough, but that’s another higher-level issue (in my personal hierarchy). The thing that bugs me about the “explains mass” business is that the particles responsible for most of the mass in you and me — protons and neutrons — are not elementary, and don’t get their mass from the Higgs at all. They get mass from the strong-interaction binding energies (QCD) holding the quarks and gluons together. A safe statement is “the Higgs is responsible for giving masses to the elementary particles of the Standard Model.” But that will never win any focus-group tests when placed against “the Higgs explains the origin of mass.” Moshe I don’t see it as higher order effect, but it is a matter of taste. The point is that explaining the masses of elementary particles in terms of properties of the medium the propagate in, meaning in this case the Higgs VEV, is much less mysterious than relating them to some godly particle. It is intuitive and almost precisely correct to imagine the particles becoming massive because it is “more difficult” to move in the medium for which the Higgs field has acquired a VEV. (more generally, the elementary objects in our description of almost everything are quantum fields, not particles. Many times they don’t even have “associated particles”, would be nice if this was better appreciated, but that’s a different story…) Aaron Bergman The problem with the phrase “the god particle” is that it reeks of condescension and disrespect. It pretty much epitomizes everything horrible one can perpetrate in “outreach”. Jimbo I agree w/Sean re: Lederman’s shameless hype to sell his (I think) rather lowbrow rundown of particle physix and Higgsy…Or George Smoot’s post-COBE press conf., gushing, “Its like seeing god…”. Arthur C. Clarke(Isacc Asimov?) once quipped that any sufficiently advanced technology or species would appear `god-like’ to lower denizens of the galactic populace. If Holger Nielsen’s recent speculation that advanced effects from the future might manipulate discoveries at the LHC, then perhaps `WE’ in the future are playing god, with ourselves in the present, not unlike the `gods’ of Olympus, merrily throwing hints of Higgsy, sparticles,and black holes our way to confuse us, all to their perverse delight. Only a god could ignore causality in the interest of illusion and games…. God My major issue is that calling the Higgs the “God Particle” is like calling New York “America.” I made them all. http://saber-taylor.livejournal.com/ s. taylor “Materialist” is a term coined by supernaturalists. IIRC.. I’m sure your googlefu is as good as my own. There’s native framing to science. An example I’ve seen is “atheistic science”. http://quasar9.blogspot.com/ Quasar9 I guess the COD or COLD particle hasn’t quite got the same ring How about the HID or Hidden particle but then it may as well be called the Higgs. Of course the gold particle to convey the excitement of a gold rush might have worked, or how about the bold particle – daring to go where particle (physicists) has never gone before http://quasar9.blogspot.com/ Quasar9 Translate particle for field as and when required. Ellipsis Best way I can think of how to properly explain the Higgs to a public audience? Read the stanzas III, VIII, and XII of Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”. kapakapa Just as C.E. will slowly replace A.D., the scientists should first recoin a secular punch word until the rest of the world eventually catches on and drop g.p. as passe. Something as pithy as ‘black hole’. Besides what happens if LHC detects more exotic and heavier particles? If the god particle turns out to be not the ultimate IT, those lay people who bought the coinage for wrong reasons may turn against science irreparably. Sooner the better to reinvent a word, preferably before Higgs is found, if it ever will be found, and all the epoch making news can refer to the new name without a single mention of g.p. Hopefully that should rectify a misnomer. Good luck, scientists! Haelfix My personal take: If it helps sway some confused politician to continue funding particle accelerators so that I can keep my job, im all for it. Theres plenty of famous religious phrases in Physics (many coined by Einstein), and honestly as atheist as we all are, who cares. I like to think of them as metaphorical. The public will continue to be just as confused about the actual science of it all, regardless if we call it the ‘God Particle’ or the ‘Anderson-Higgs particle’ or the ‘Globulator field’ Dan Geiger Einstein is also quoted as saying. “religion without science is dead, science without religion is blind.” While I’m under no illusion that Einstein was a “Christian” any more than Benjamin Franklin, there was no doubt that he (and Franklin) believed there was a supernatural,divine, intelligent being who created the universe “ex nihlo” from nothing. His belief in this “mystical/mythical” (today’s “scientific” viewpoint) did not impede his contributions to science any more than it did Issac newton, or Kepler who also openly enbraced a Creator-God. Eric I propose that we start referring to supersymmetry as the God symmetry. http://tsm2.blogspot.com wolfgang http://www.sunclipse.org Blake Stacey Sean says, All of which is to say: religion is impoverishing our language. I want God back, dammit. We never had ‘im in the first place. Think about it: if the Spinozan use of the word were the original meaning, would anybody remember Spinoza today? The definition of God as a synonym for “cosmos” which rhymes with rod and sod is a modern invention, a brainchild of the physicists, and people won’t understand it until they’re all educated in physics. We do ourselves a great disservice by labeling the mysterious order of quarks and quasars with the name of a storm-bringer once worshiped on a patch of land beside the Mediterranean Sea. I suggest introducing more divine names into the physics meme-pool; we have, after all, thousands to choose from, of which a couple dozen have wide currency. Thus: “The good lady Isis is subtle but not malicious.” Or, “I cannot believe that Loki plays dice with the Universe.” From what I’ve read about string gas cosmology , in that model the reason the Universe has three spatial dimensions is essentially the same reason why knots can exist in 3D but not 2D or 4D. One of the successes of SGC is the possibility to explain the emergence of three large and isotropic spatial dimensions, while six remain stabilized near the string scale. In this way, SGC is the only cosmological model thus far that has attempted to explain the dimensionality of space-time dynamically5. The qualitative argument, due to Brandenberger and Vafa (Brandenberger and Vafa, 1989), was that winding string modes can maintain equilibrium in at most three spatial dimensions. This is based on the simple fact that p dimensional objects can generically intersect in at most 2p + 1 dimensions and the intuition that string interactions are due to intersections. They argued that once the winding modes annihilate with anti-winding modes, three spatial dimensions would be free to expand while the remaining six should remain confined by winding modes near the string scale. Winding modes were shown to possess such confining behavior quantitatively in (Tseytlin and Vafa, 1992). In neo-Einsteinian terms, perhaps the reason why we live in 3D space is because Aphrodite likes to get tied up in knots. George Musser Oops, yes, I meant to say elementary particle. Sean, although the vast bulk of hadron mass is binding energy, isn’t it also the case that if quarks had zero mass, protons would outweigh neutrons and we wouldn’t be here to discuss all this? Why does attention typically focus on the question of fermion mass to the neglect of EW symmetry-breaking? Can I, in my journalistic capacity, describe the Higgs in terms of making photons and E&M what they are, flavor physics, etc.? George http://www.sunclipse.org Blake Stacey Come to think of it, if you want to talk about symmetry breaking, “Babel particle” isn’t a bad turn of phrase. And as a book title, The Babel Particle sounds like a neat science-fiction novel, instead of yet another attempt to use modern science to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for ancient mythology. See, you put the Babel particle in your ear, and it instantly translates for you what the quarks and leptons are saying. . . . dennis I like babel particle a lot. http://mollishka.blogspot.com mollishka “Babel particle” makes me think of Snow Crash. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean George, yes, lots of things would certainly be different if quarks were massless. But it nucleons would still have roughly 1GeV of mass. And every particle physicist in the world would put you on a pedestal if you chose to explain the Higgs (particle/field/mechanism) in terms of symmetry-breaking rather than mass-giving. The former is the real point, the latter is a spinoff that gets attention because it’s a bit easier to immediately grasp. It’s just hard to explain the symmetry-breaking business to your friend on the elevator. Especially when you’re breaking SU(2)xU(1) down to U(1), and people might be puzzled by what that means. (You would like to say “before EW symmetry breaking, W’s and Z’s were just like photons,” which is kind of true, but not exactly, because of the abelian vs. non-abelian thing.) Moshe I seem to be playing the role of the pedant on this post, sorry…but one of the issues that came up for me in previous discussions (e.g on Clifford’s blog ) is trying to come up with a good explanation of the Higgs mechanism. I think there is actually a physics issue there… The problem is that gauge symmetry is no symmetry at all, just a redundancy in the description, so all the nice mental pictures one has from studying global symmetry and its breaking (for example in the theory of phase transition) are not quite right…technically speaking they are not gauge invariant. We also know that in some cases (following Fradkin- Shenker and others) there is no gauge invariant distinction between the Higgs mechanism and other mass-giving phenomena such as confinement. So, I for one would be grateful for an intuitive explanation of the Higgs mechanism. It may well be that the mass-giving, and not the symmetry-breaking, is the important aspect after all, but I am not sure. http://countiblis.blogspot.com Count Iblis Perhaps, if Leon Lederman had invented that term a few years earlier, Congress would not have killed the SSC? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean Moshe, true enough, and that would be even more awesome to get across. Except that I would still argue that mass-generating is not the important point, since other things also happen. Perhaps “phase-transitioning” is the real point. Anne I much prefer the Oh my God particle . Moshe Sean- that’s the thing, no other things are happening when the Higgs gets a VEV, no change in order parameter, no changes in global symmetry structure etc. etc., that’s why I am struggling to find a good intuitive explanation. Indeed, maybe the phase-transitioning is the only point, if that really is a word. George Musser Moshe, Sean: can you put some flesh on the bones of the phase-transition description? That is, without one utterance of the term “gauge symmetry”, can you explain what exactly the phases in question are and why the transition cleaves the EW interaction? George Moshe I certainly cannot. The phase transition is simply the statement that the theory exists in two different phases, where the weak interactions are either long range or short range. The two phases are not distinguished by any other physical characteristics (order parameter) so it is difficult to come up with something that passes as an explanation. I’d really be happy to learn about such an intuitive explanation, but the things one usually hears conflate global and local symmetry breaking, which are mathematically similar but physically very different. tyler So, I for one would be grateful for an intuitive explanation of the Higgs mechanism. Imagine how those of us who are trying to follow progress in this area from a lay perspective feel! I greatly appreciate all the effort put into making these difficult but important concepts more accessible. It’s very interesting to me that Moshe brings up the gauge symmetry (or non-symmetry) in this regard, as that has always been another plainly critical area in which I have had difficulty formulating an intuitive understanding. Indeed, it often seems to form the limit at which my understanding of a given subject fails, or becomes entirely metaphorical. I for one applaud the dogged “pedantry.” FWIW, this sort of issue is why I no longer rely on science journalists at all. No offense to George and the others who are working hard to get it right, but one information-lossy translation (from rigorous mathematical science to a non-expert-comprehensible english formulation) is bad enough. For that translation then to be re-filtered through a third party is simply too much. Thus the value I place on forums such as this one. It’s like running MP3 compression on a CD audio file – which is bad enough, it amazes me that people claim they can’t hear the difference – and then re-encoding the resulting MP3 file using another lossy codec. The end result is full of noise artifacts and lacks articulation in the details across the spectrum, especially at the limits. In many cases important aspects of the original idea (or song ;o) are completely lost. http://www.cgoakley.demon.co.uk/qft/ Chris Oakley Deus ex machina particle could work. And it has “God” in it, albeit in Latin. http://magicdragon.com Jonathan Vos Post I thought that the Egyptians worshipped the Delta, Lemurians worsipped the Mu, sleepwalkers worshipped the Z, Hugh Hefner worshipped the Top, Simple Simon worshipped the Pi, Gell-Mann and Joyce worshippede the Quark, magicians worshipped the Charm, catfish worshipped the Bottom, H. P. Lovecraft and Charles Fort worshipped the Strange, Republicans worshipped the W, and Yiddish speakers worshipped the Nu. http://whenindoubtdo.blogspot.com/ Eugene I use the phrase “God gave us this/that” all the time. It seems funner and more engaging/forceful than the pedestrian “imagine we are given this by fiat….”. Personally, I don’t think I would change anyone’s minds about whether God exists or not. I am not so worried too about what the listener perceives what I believe in, as long as I get the point across. http://whenindoubtdo.blogspot.com/ Eugene Take that LL! http://www.lepp.cornell.edu/spr/2000-11/msg0029236.html Neil B. Well, they called it “The God Particle” because it (its field) supposedly gives other particles mass, which must be done to avoid some sort of chaos or undefined reality, I suppose. Would everything otherwise be like photons? But with the equivalence of mass-energy, would energy would still have an equivalent mass, or would even that be meaningless without the Higgs mechanism? In any case, it would be helpful to get a good middle-brow explanation of why there really, assuredly, needs to be something to provide a fundamental characteristic like mass, not just how it works. I mean, why can’t mass have been fundamental, or why not other ideas like acceleration coupling to the zero-point field, etc? As for extra implications, how does Higgs figure in now, to dark energy etc? Thanks. Myhatma Gander I think that the point Moshe is raising is important, though I can’t help him find an intuitive explanation. His point that gauge “symmetry” isn’t a symmetry in any meaningful sense is the real blockbuster, because we have famous physicists going around saying things like “symmetry is all” blah blah blah. Long ago I attended a class on the differential geometry of gauge theory, and by the end it dawned on me that differential geometers don’t really care about gauge transformations, and the idea that connections exist “because” you “need to make gauge invariance local” just makes them giggle. Meanwhile, Sean said “in my personal hierarchy”….wasn’t he afraid that physicists would be confused by such religious language? By the way, are physicists confused by religious locutions like, “Holy shit!!” ? http://countiblis.blogspot.com Count Iblis The Higgs mechanism is often compared to superconductivity in introductory textbooks. And this is more than just an analogy, see e.g. here Moshe Yeah, there is that, nicely summarized by Weinberg’s “Superconductivity For Particular Theorists”(Prog.Theor.Phys.Suppl.86:43,1986). This only pushes the issue one step back… (Also, probably should be obvious but I should say this issue definitely is nitpicking. I just wish I had better analogy to use, so I am asking…) http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan This is slightly OT, but … given that a hadron’s mass is dominated by binding effects, I wonder what the prospects are of experimentally measuring an anisotropy in, say, a proton’s acceleration in response to a force. My understanding is that the force required to accelerate a composite object will depend on the whole stress-energy tensor, not just the object’s total energy. Since the stress-energy tensor of a proton would not be isotropic, it ought to be a little bit harder to push around in some directions than others. Its spin axis would distinguish these directions, but the effect I’m talking about has nothing directly to do with spin; it’s a matter of how pressure and tension transform into changes of energy density under boosts. I don’t know anywhere near enough QCD even to guess the order of magnitude of this effect for a proton. Any experts care to comment? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/sean/ Sean Greg, there are lots of equivalence-principle experiments that try to measure the different accelerations of objects made from different materials, and the people who do such experiments and make predictions for them definitely know that the baryon mass comes mostly from QCD, and are on the lookout for any deviations from the standard wisdom. http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan Sean, thanks for the reply. I’m still curious, though, as to whether anyone’s quantified the effect I mentioned, and if so whether or not it’s so ridiculously small as to be beyond all hope of measuring. Just to be clear, I’m certainly not suggesting any “deviations from the standard wisdom” here; unless I’ve misunderstood something basic in relativistic continuum mechanics (which is always possible), standard SR implies that anisotropic composite objects can have anisotropic responses to force. For example, an object under tension accelerates differently depending on whether the applied force is parallel to, or orthogonal to, the tension. What I’m far less clear about is whether the structure of a proton is such that there is a net effect of this nature, and if there is, whether it could conceivably come within the range of experimental measurement. http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/2638/ lfmorgan The current best in science is clearly an House of Word Definiton Mirrors that can only be notated in meaningful way by compex problematic math —which math has completed obscured local event detailed mechanics. A comletrion of Einstein’s deterministic universe is avaiable at my website for those who would like to quit playing with words and actually mind’s eye see ir all in infinite mechanical detail. The Universal Harmony (UH)=designer God real time self assembles and unasembles visible matter (VM)— as that VM is interactively immersed by ideal fluid dark matter that fills all space-time in a “no-force-at-a-distance-way” for an infinite, stable and closed, non-problematic universe. A gross simplification of Einstein’s field Equation does the trick G = R/3(v-squared) see details at website. That UH- Designer God allows organic matter to space-time build conizance that allows itself free will — and therefore problematic, trial & error existence. Reginald Selkirk I’m a biologist. I’m glad that you are reluctant to use “God language” nowadays. Einstein used it, and look at how his quotes are misused, even in comments on this page. I hope the George Deutsch ‘Big Bang “Theory”‘ dust-up made physicists realize that the Fundagelicals are not just a threat to biology, but to all of science. gs Moshe, Can’t we take the asymptotic value of the Higgs doublet to be the order parameter? This is invariant under local gauge transformations, but I get confused about whether I should call this a “physical” quantity or not. Ellipsis Greg Egan, Although I don’t know the answer to your question, the two places I would look first are limitations to the “emittance” of proton beams in accelerator physics (a brief check there indicated that other effects are much more dominant) and formation of antihydrogen (which I didn’t check, try for example the webpages of the ATHENA and ATRAP experiments at CERN) which is extraordinarily sensitive to (anti-)proton dynamics. Good luck. If anyone knows more please correct me. Ms Chris “We do ourselves a great disservice by labeling the mysterious order of quarks and quasars with the name of a storm-bringer once worshiped on a patch of land beside the Mediterranean Sea.” Actually, the Mediterranean storm-bringer’s current followers are presumptuous to claim exclusive rights to the use of “god.” This is no more Yahweh’s name than it is Isis’ or Odin’s name. I’d think that calling it the “god particle” is irksome to fundies – though that’s not a good enough reason to keep doing it. Cecil Kirksey For any HEP type: The Higgs field is a scalar field that is suppose to permeate all of space and interact with other particles (fields) to produce mass. Now does the Higgs field have a “constant value” for all space or does it vary? If it varies what causes the variation and how is it transmitted over space and at what speed? Does the Higgs particle have a mass? If so (I believe it is suppose to) what gives it its mass? A very nonlinear interaction? http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan Ellipsis, thanks for the tips! I’ve had no luck yet, but I’ll keep looking. FWIW, a naive back-of-the-envelope calculation (in which I trust Wikipedia that the force between gluons is of the order of 100 N, and I treat the mass and radius of the proton as being the relevant parameters for determining density and tension) implies that, in geometric units, the tension-to-density ratio is about 6 parts in 10^4. But I don’t know how that would vary with direction in a proton’s ground state, or how close it is to what a genuine QCD calculation would yield. Ellipsis Cecil — please try Wikipedia and come back if you have questions. Any field that has a particle, i.e. a wave packet, associated with it, of course needs to vary in space Ellipsis Greg — if a decent calculation (even a classical mechanics one) indicates that it might be an observable effect at an experiment similar to ATRAP or ATHENA, wait a few days to think (and make sure you haven’t made a mistake), and then send an e-mail to Gerry Gabrielse or one of his colleagues. They’ll probably correct you, but that’s OK. http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan Having looked at some recent research ( Shape of the Proton , Gerald A. Miller), it seems the wave function is still so imperfectly understood that the kind of effect I’m envisaging would be swamped by the error bars in any current experiment. http://countiblis.blogspot.com Count Iblis Greg, the effect you are looking for simply doesn’t exists in a theory consistent with Special Relativity. Applying the same force in different directions for the same time will accelerate an anisotropic body to the same speeds in the respective directions, provided you start with the object at rest. The crucial thing here is that the momentum of the body is zero when you start to accelerate it… Eric Cecil, Yes, the Higgs vev can take different values at different points in space, giving rise to topological defects such as monopoles, cosmic strings, and domain walls. marc Cecil, In answer to your other question–the Higgs does have a mass, and it arises from a non-linear self-interaction John Strong Religionism, the practice of religion in order to create more religion and gain power and wealth by it, is the problem, not the institution of religion itself. And now that this religionism can be manipulated for votes increases its power to disrupt the ordinary proceedings of society. The people who created ID, coordinate attacks on science, and try to legislate the Bible have a vested interest in doing so. Cecil Kirksey Ellipsis: I read the article(s). My questions apparently can be answered in the affirmative. However, I have a more general question concerning scalar fields that are suppose to permeate all of space. During inflation when space is expanding at several times the speed of light, the accepted wisdom is that the scalar field(s) will expand allong with space and maintain the same energy density, save quantum variations. Did the Higgs field exist during inflation? If not when did it come into existance? What caused it? Is the idea of a scalar field that permeates all of space and can travel faster than the speed of light bother anyone? If not why not? I know: no information is conveyed. That seems like a copout. Where are the dynamical equations that describe this field during inflation? Not space but this field. Thanks to everyone who wants to chime in and set me on the correct path of understanding this issue, which has troubled me every since inflation was predicted. Ellipsis Hi Cecil — two of the world’s experts on that very issue are Mark and Sean (not me!) http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan Count Iblis, I’m about 80% sure I’m right, but I’m self-educated in this subject and if you can come up with a reference to a published result in relativistic continuum mechanics that contradicts my claim I’ll be very interested to read it. As I understand it, the nice simple formula they teach in elementary SR relating four-force, rest mass and four-acceleration, F=ma, is only strictly true for point particles (though in most situations it should be a very good approximation). A continuum object needs to be analysed with a stress-energy tensor, and if that tensor is anisotropic, the force needed to achieve acceleration of the body in different directions will be anisotropic too. (You emphasise the notion of “starting with the object at rest”, but that’s implicit in the whole idea of proper acceleration anyway: you measure proper acceleration in a frame co-moving with the body’s centre-of-mass.) To take one simple example, suppose you have an elastic string being trailed by a uniformly accelerating body. I’ve analysed this scenario for a simple linear model of elasticity on this page . It’s not hard to show that conservation of energy-momentum, i.e. setting the divergence of the stress-energy tensor of the material to zero, yields the equation: (1/s) [rho(s)+p(s)] + p'(s) = 0 where s is a spatial coordinate measured orthogonal to the world lines of the Rindler frame for the accelerating body, rho(s) is the proper density of mass-energy in the material (including elastic potential energy), and p(s) is the pressure (which will be negative, as the string will be under tension). Now -p'(s) gives the net force on an infinitesimal element of the string, and (1/s) gives the acceleration of the hyperbolic world lines in a Rindler frame. So this equation resembles “F=ma”, but instead of rho(s) alone — the proper mass-energy of our element of string — we have rho(s)+p(s). This is due to the fact that the pressure/tension in an accelerating body is changing direction in space-time, and contributing to the momentum density. However, if we calculate the force/acceleration relationship for an acceleration in a direction in which there is no tension, we will get a different effective inertial mass: just rho(s). So there is an anisotropic response to applied force. Another example is the case of a rotating ring of elastic material. The total mass-energy of the ring in the centre-of-mass frame will be modified by kinetic and elastic potential energy, and if you compute the force needed to accelerate the ring with a given proper acceleration, a, in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the ring, it will simply be proportional to that total mass-energy. But if you accelerate the ring in the plane of rotation, the constant of proportionality, the effective inertial mass, will be different. Another way to look at all this is to think about boosts. When you have a point particle, it simply possesses an energy-momentum vector, P, and its total energy as measured by an observer with 4-velocity u is just E=P.u. If you start with a particle at rest, E will initially equal m=\|P\|, and if you apply a boost to P then E will transform in a very simple way, which will be independent of the direction of the boost. But when you have a composite system, E is found by integrating T^{00}, the time-time component of the system’s stress-energy tensor T. You can also integrate all four time components, T^{0a}, to get a total energy-momentum vector P. But even if you start with the centre-of-mass of the system at rest (i.e. the total momentum of the body in the observer’s reference frame is zero), if you apply a boost to T, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the change in E will be independent of the direction of the boost. http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan I wrote: Another way to look at all this is to think about boosts. […] if you apply a boost to T, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the change in E will be independent of the direction of the boost. Sorry, that assertion was dead wrong. The total energy-momentum vector you get by integrating T^{0a} for a closed system will transform like an ordinary 4-vector (Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, page 145, makes this clear), so the change in E will be independent of the direction of the boost. This doesn’t change the rest of my argument. As I’ve said, I’m not 100% certain about any of this, but it seems clear that tension does modify the effective inertial mass of a composite object, and so anisotropic tension should give rise to an anisotropic effective inertial mass. http://countiblis.blogspot.com Count Iblis Hi Greg, It should be the case that the anisotropic effects are described by the angular momentum. So, mass and angular momentum are the two relevant parameters that you can extract from the energy-momebtum tensor. It may be more convenient to look at collisions instead of a steady force. It should be the case that you have conservation of momentum and angular momentum. Any anistropic effects should be a consequence of this… http://countiblis.blogspot.com Count Iblis Also, note that the angular momentum contributes to the energy. Therefore, the (invariant) mass of an object depends on its angular momentum. http://tyrannogenius.blogspot.com Neil B. Iblis: That reminds me, to ask about to what extent the energy of rotation contributes to what we’d otherwise expect (if possible/available) for the masses of various fundamental particles. It is interesting because without a specific classical type mass distribution, we can’t say that the increase is to gamma times the rest value etc. And yet, note that there’s a magnetic field for the electron, which means charge distribution has at least an equivalent “radius” and “velocity.” I wonder if that can be compared, what we get when we pretend the electron is spinning as a shell of classical radius, etc, for any of that. I suppose it could mean something, but I hear little about it. Greg: I had an article in Physics Essays years ago about the problem of accelerating a mass at the end of a long string. The wild west of extended body dynamics in relativity is one of my favorite avocations, and surprisingly it has been argued and disagreed about for years in journals. Ken Nordtvedt wrote about the equivalent gravitational situation earlier, in AJP. His effect, that a mass suspending pulls less on the holding end than the mg measured locally at the mass, didn’t get the attention it deserved (for example, it never AFAIK appeared in writings as a cute implication of GR, like “You could hold up an elephant in earth-style gravity if you had a long enough cord.”) Maybe one reason is, the increasing magnitude of the hyperbolic gravity field just cancels that “red shift” of weight, so you hold things anyway with the mg using g where your hand is! This confuses the issue and got critic Ø Grøn of Norway all worked up, and in error in my view. That guy sure was a booger for me too later, as referee of my own paper. In any case, I’m sure you appreciate that stressed bodies in motion have a correction to the usual expressions for mass and momentum. (One illustration: if co-moving observes apply forces simultaneously to a rod seen by us in motion, the rod just sits there for them and no velocity increase for us. However, we see the rear force applied earlier. That puts “extra momentum” (f delta t) and energy (f dot v delta t) into the rod. The lateral shear version really explains the infamous “right-angle lever paradox.” When you apply those corrections to moving bodies, everything is supposed to work out (and per fundamental theorems), but it does make a mess when the stuff is accelerating. I finally got things to work out OK after the paper, where I couldn’t solve it at the time. http://bjkeefe.blogspot.com/ bjkeefe In Lederman’s defense, he did say in his book that the reason he chose the title he did is that the publisher wouldn’t let him use “The Goddam Particle.” http://www.gregegan.net Greg Egan Count Iblis, Neil B., thanks for your comments. Count Iblis, I agree that if you do an experiment in which the incoming state for our system S is completely isolated from the environment, and the outgoing state for S is just a boosted copy of the ingoing state, then an identical force applied to S for an identical time will lead to an identical change in velocity, in whatever direction the force is applied. That follows from conservation of energy-momentum. Nevertheless, I believe it’s still possible to have anisotropic effects taking place during the interaction. If you imagine, say, a small square of elastic material subject to forces of 100 N and 101 N across the x-direction, and 200 N and 201 N across the y-direction, it will be subject to a net force of 1 N in both directions, but the different average tensions will give rise to small differences in its accelerations in the two directions. Given some complex anisotropic system, all that the conservation laws guarantee is an identical net effect over the course of the whole interaction, not a constant, direction-independent ratio between force and acceleration, holding moment by moment. That said, everything I’ve read about protons since first raising this question makes it seem unlikely that anyone will be measuring such an effect for a proton any time this century. http://www.scienceblogs.com/interactions Rob Knop Creationism (particularly of the Intelligent Design sort) is impoverishing our language, not religion! Religion was the source of the metaphors you were using in the first place. And, yeah, I know, I will get hammered, “religion is mostly represented at least publicly by fundamentalists in the US today, yadda yadda yadda.” I get that every time I do this. But I think it very important to emphasize that creationism is not religion. As somebody who’s religious, I want God back, dammit, too! I want to take back religion so that folks like you don’t feel the need to hate it. I’m pissed at the fundamentalists for driving us to that. My way of fighting this is reminding everybody where possible that you don’t have to be a creationist to be religious… and that if you don’t feel the need to stupidly and literally interpret your religious text, perhaps you won’t feel the need to stupidly and literally interpret every metaphor spoken by a scientist. -Rob Plato One talks about “Professor Einstein crossing the room” and I do not find it to farfetched to see this as a “intuitive principle” inherent in the term phase transition looking at our early universe. G -> H -> … -> SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) -> SU(3) x U(1). Neither would I be to upset that what was illucive in terms of energy particle discriptions in Agasa was the continued struggle to describe what mathematics was approaching in terms of these new higher energy particles. This was the original, and applying to what remains illucive until actual experimentation is just something we do in descrbing the mystery. We understand the nature of the scientists work here. Some may have other agendas? Plato The string landscape then would seem an appropriate and intuitive idea here in terms of the “hills and valleys” and what is “possible” in that early uiverse with regards to tunneling? “Mathematical building” with regards to genus figure calculated.	i don't know
The 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran overthrew a?	History of Iran: Islamic Revolution of 1979 Islamic Revolution of 1979 Ayatollah Khomeini founder of Islamic Republic Despite economical growth, there was much opposition against the Mohammad Reza Shah , and how he used the secret police, the Savak, to control the country. Strong Shi'i opposition against the Shah, and the country came close to a situation of civil war. The opposition was lead by Ayatollah Khomeini , who lived in exile in Iraq and later in France. His message was distributed through music cassettes, which were smuggled into Iran in small numbers, and then duplicated, and spread all around the country. This was the beginning of Iranian revolution. On January 16 1979, the Shah left Iran. Shapour Bakhtiar as his new prime minister with the help of Supreme Army Councils couldn't control the situation in the country anymore. Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran on February 1. Ten days later Bakhtiar went into hiding, eventually to find exile in Paris. Processes against the supporters of the Shah started, and hundreds were executed. On April 1, after a landslide victory in a national referendum in which only one choice was offered (Islamic Republic: Yes or No), Ayatollah Khomeini declared an Islamic republic with a new Constitution reflecting his ideals of Islamic government. Ayatollah Khomeini became supreme spiritual leader (Valy-e-Faqih) of Iran. Subsequently many demonstrations were held in protest to the new rules, like extreme regulations on women's code of dress. On November 4: Iranian Islamic Students stormed the US embassy, taking 66 people, the majority Americans, as hostages. 14 were released before the end of November. In November: The republic's first Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan resigned. Ayatollah Khamenei In 1980 Abolhassan Beni Sadr was elected for president. On September 22: Iraq massively invaded Iran, in the belief that Iran is too weak military to fight back. Iraq was claiming territories inhabited by Arabs (Southwestern oil-producing province of Iran called Khouzestan), as well as Iraq's right over Shatt el-Arab (Arvandroud). Some battles were won in the favor of Iraq, but a supposedly weakened Iranian army achieved surprising defensive success. In 1981, on January 20, the hostages in the US embassy were released, after long negotiations, where USA concedes to transfer money, as well as export military equipment to Iran. In June, Beni Sadr was removed from power by Ayatollah Khomeini, and fleed to France in July. Former prime minister Mohammad Ali Rajai was elected president. In August 30, President Rajai and his prime minister were killed in a bombing. In October, Hojatoleslam Seyed Ali Khamenei was elected president. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Khamenei was one of the founders of the Islamic Republican Party, which dominated the Majlis (the national legislature) after the 1979 revolution. He was appointed to the Council of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and between 1979 and 1981 he was a member of the Majlis, serving as deputy minister of defense, commander of the Revolutionary Guard, and representative on the Supreme Council of Defense. He also served several times as general secretary of the Islamic Republic Party. By summer of 1982, Iraq's initial territorial gains had been recaptured by Iranian troops that were stiffened with Revolutionary Guards. The Iraqi forces were driven out of Iran. The war extended to shooting of boats in the Persian Gulf, in an attempt to hurt the other country's oil exports. As required by the constitution, he resigned the presidency in 1989. On 20 August 1988, a cease fire was signed between Iran and Iraq. Both parties accepted UN Resolution 598. Following Ayatollah Khomeini's death on 3 June 1989 of a heart attack, Khamenei assumed the role of supreme spiritual leader. The Assembly of Experts (Ulama) met in emergency session on June 4 and elected President Khamenei the new Valy-e-Faqih (supreme spiritual leader), simultaneously promoting him to the status of ayatollah. And Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani , speaker of the Majles (parliament) was elected as a president. He graduated in the late 1950s as a Hojatoleslam, a Shiite clerical rank just below that of ayatollah. Opposed, like his mentor, to the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Rafsanjani became the exiled Khomeini's chief agent in Iran, was arrested on several occasions, and spent three years in prison (1975-1977) for his activities. Mohammad Khatami In 1990-1991 Iran condemned both Iraq's invasion in Kuwait and the allied forces actions against Iraq. Rafsanjani was re-elected in 1993 but stepped down in 1997, since the Iranian constitution limits the president from seeking a third term. From 1995 was total ban on trade with Iran by USA. In 1997 Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami was elected president by gaining almost 70 percent of the votes cast. He pursued political reform and opposed censorship. He is considered to be reformist towards democratization of Iran's society and willing to normalize the relation with west and reduce tensions in the region. Although popular among much of the Iranian public, these policies met considerable opposition from conservatives who controlled the legislature and judiciary. Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami was again re-elected as president in 2001 election by greater mandate of Iranian people (almost 78% of the vote cast). On 24 June 2005 Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as Iran's sixth president. He swept to the presidential post with a stunning 17,046,441 votes out of a total of 27,536,069 votes cast in the runoff election. See also	Shah
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) was first president and is regarded as founder of which republic?	Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 \| Britannica.com Iranian Revolution of 1978–79, also called Islamic Revolution, Persian Enqelāb-e Eslāmī, popular uprising in Iran in 1978–79 that resulted in the toppling of the monarchy on April 1, 1979, and led to the establishment of an Islamic republic. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (left) being greeted by his supporters in Tehrān, 1979. AFP/Getty Images Prelude to revolution Mounting social discontent in the 1970s in Iran, which culminated in revolution at the end of the decade, had several crucial dimensions. Although petroleum revenues continued to be a major source of income for Iran in the 1970s, world monetary instability and fluctuations in Western oil consumption seriously threatened the country’s economy, which had been rapidly expanding since the early 1950s and was still directed in large part toward high-cost projects and programs. A decade of extraordinary economic growth, heavy government spending, and a boom in oil prices led to high rates of inflation and the stagnation of Iranians’ buying power and standard of living. In addition to mounting economic difficulties, sociopolitical repression by the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi likewise increased in the 1970s. Outlets for political participation were minimal, and opposition parties such as the National Front (a loose coalition of nationalists, clerics, and noncommunist left-wing parties) and the pro-Soviet Tūdeh (“Masses”) Party were marginalized or outlawed. Social and political protest was often met with censorship, surveillance, or harassment, and illegal detention and torture were common. Iran: The Iranian Revolution, 1978–79 Many argued that since Iran’s brief experiment with parliamentary democracy and communist politics had failed, the country had to go back to its indigenous culture . The 1953 coup, backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq , an outspoken advocate of nationalism who almost succeeded in deposing the shah , particularly incensed Iran’s intellectuals . For the first time in more than half a century, the secular intellectuals—many of whom were fascinated by the populist appeal of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini , a former professor of philosophy in Qom who had been exiled in 1964 after speaking out harshly against the shah’s recent reform program—abandoned their aim of reducing the authority and power of the Shīʿite ulama (religious scholars) and argued that, with the help of the ulama, the shah could be overthrown. Similar Topics Chinese Revolution In this environment , members of the National Front, the Tūdeh Party, and their various splinter groups now joined the ulama in a broad opposition to the shah’s regime. Khomeini continued to preach in exile about the evils of the Pahlavi regime, accusing the shah of irreligion and subservience to foreign powers. Thousands of tapes and print copies of Khomeini’s speeches were smuggled back into Iran during the 1970s as an increasing number of unemployed and working-poor Iranians—mostly new immigrants from the countryside, who were disenchanted by the cultural vacuum of modern urban Iran—turned to the ulama for guidance. The shah’s dependence on the United States , his close ties with Israel—then engaged in extended hostilities with the overwhelmingly Muslim Arab states—and his regime’s ill-considered economic policies served to fuel the potency of dissident rhetoric with the masses. Outwardly, with a swiftly expanding economy and a rapidly modernizing infrastructure , everything was going well in Iran. But in little more than a generation, Iran had changed from a traditional, conservative , and rural society to one that was industrial, modern, and urban. The sense that in both agriculture and industry too much had been attempted too soon and that the government, either through corruption or incompetence, had failed to deliver all that was promised was manifested in demonstrations against the regime in 1978. Revolution In January 1978, incensed by what they considered to be slanderous remarks made against Khomeini in Eṭṭelāʿāt, a Tehrān newspaper, thousands of young madrassa (religious school) students took to the streets. They were followed by thousands more Iranian youth—mostly unemployed recent immigrants from the countryside—who began protesting the regime’s excesses. The shah, weakened by cancer and stunned by the sudden outpouring of hostility against him, vacillated between concession and repression, assuming the protests to be part of an international conspiracy against him. Many people were killed by government forces in anti-regime protests, serving only to fuel the violence in a Shīʿite country where martyrdom played a fundamental role in religious expression. Fatalities were followed by demonstrations to commemorate the customary 40-day milestone of mourning in Shīʿite tradition, and further casualties occurred at those protests, mortality and protest propelling one another forward. Thus, in spite of all government efforts, a cycle of violence began in which each death fueled further protest, and all protest—from the secular left and religious right—was subsumed under the cloak of Shīʿite Islam and crowned by the revolutionary rallying cry Allāhu akbar (“God is great”), which could be heard at protests and which issued from the rooftops in the evenings. Britannica Stories Obama Acts to Protect the Arctic During his exile, Khomeini coordinated this upsurge of opposition—first from Iraq and after 1978 from France—demanding the shah’s abdication. In January 1979, in what was officially described as a “vacation,” the shah and his family fled Iran. The Regency Council established to run the country during the shah’s absence proved unable to function, and Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar , hastily appointed by the shah before his departure, was incapable of effecting compromise with either his former National Front colleagues or Khomeini. Crowds in excess of one million demonstrated in Tehrān, proving the wide appeal of Khomeini, who arrived in Iran amid wild rejoicing on February 1. Ten days later Bakhtiar went into hiding, eventually to find exile in France. Aftermath Geography of Iran On April 1, following overwhelming support in a national referendum, Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic republic. Elements within the clergy promptly moved to exclude their former left-wing, nationalist, and intellectual allies from any positions of power in the new regime, and a return to conservative social values was enforced. The Family Protection Act (1967; significantly amended in 1975), which provided further guarantees and rights to women in marriage, was declared void, and mosque-based revolutionary bands known as komītehs (Persian: “committees”) patrolled the streets enforcing Islamic codes of dress and behaviour and dispatching impromptu justice to perceived enemies of the revolution. Throughout most of 1979 the Revolutionary Guards —then an informal religious militia formed by Khomeini to forestall another CIA-backed coup as in the days of Mosaddeq—engaged in similar activity, aimed at intimidating and repressing political groups not under control of the ruling Revolutionary Council and its sister Islamic Republican Party, both clerical organizations loyal to Khomeini. The violence and brutality often exceeded that which had taken place under the shah. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The militias and the clerics they supported made every effort to suppress Western cultural influence, and, facing persecution and violence, many of the Western-educated elite fled the country. This anti-Western sentiment eventually manifested itself in the November 1979 seizure of 66 hostages at the U.S. embassy by a group of Iranian protesters demanding the extradition of the shah, who at that time was undergoing medical treatment in the United States (see Iran hostage crisis ). Through the embassy takeover, Khomeini’s supporters could claim to be as “anti-imperialist” as the political left. This ultimately gave them the ability to suppress most of the regime’s left-wing and moderate opponents. The Assembly of Experts (Majles-e Khobregān), overwhelmingly dominated by clergy, ratified a new constitution the following month. The new constitution created a religious government based on Khomeini’s vision of velāyat-e faqīh (Persian: “governance of the jurist”) and gave sweeping powers to the rahbar, or leader; the first rahbar was Khomeini himself. Moderates, such as provisional Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan and the republic’s first president, Abolhasan Bani-Sadr , who opposed holding the hostages, were steadily forced from power by conservatives within the government who questioned their revolutionary zeal. Blindfolded American hostage with his Iranian captors outside the U.S. embassy in Tehrān, … AP More about Iranian Revolution of 1978–79 8 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References	i don't know
The Hindustani Indian instrument the dilruba, meaning 'robber of the heart', is used by a?	Indian musical instruments \| Western music instruments \| Hindustani classical music online Knowledge Base - Indian Musical Instruments & Popular / Global Instruments Music Instruments are of broadly divided into four types ï¿½ String Instruments, String Bowing Instruments, Percussion Instruments and Wind Instruments. Musicians from different cultures all over the world developed basic and advanced music technologies to devise the Indian musical instruments and Western / Global music instruments. Divya Music presents details on a few traditional and modern marvels in musical instruments available and in practice presently. Divya Music offers instrumental music training courses / lessons on regular basis and DM live core ï¿½ online instrumental music classes for learning to play the following musical instruments: String Musical Instrument Veena Veena : is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family. One who plays the veena is referred to as a vainika. Sitar Sitar : The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Indian and Pakistani classical music. It derives its resonance from sympathetic strings, a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber. Tanpura or Tambura Tanpura or Tambura : The tambura, tanpura, tamboura or taanpura is a long-necked plucked lute (a stringed instrument found in different forms and in many places). Santoor Santoor : Its origin is very old. In ancient sanskrit texts, it has been referred to as Shatatantri vina (100-stringed vina). In India, the santoor was used as an accompaniment instrument to the folk music of Kashmir. It is played in a style of music known as the Sufiana Mausiqi. The Sufi mystics used it as an accompaniment to their hymns. A typical santoor has two sets of bridges, providing a range of three octaves, which generally has 72 strings. Sarod Sarod : The sarod is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet, overtone-rich texture of the sitar, with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant, reverberant quality. It is a fretless instrument able to produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend (glissandi), which is important to Indian music. Swar Jhankar Swar Jhankar : SWAR JHANKAR is a beautiful sounding instrument shaped like a Harp of the western counterpart.It has 15 strings which can be tuned to the scale one wishes to play.The drone can be maintained by plucking the 1st string with one hand and the desired note with the other.Machine head screws are fitted for easy tuning. C-tuning is the best tuning. Swar Mandal Swar mandal : The swarmandal or Indian harp is an Indian zither that is today most commonly used as an accompanying instrument for vocal Hindustani Classical music (the classical music of North India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). The name combines swara (notes) and mandal (group), representing its ability to produce a large number of notes; it is also known popularly as Sur-mandal. Total 30 to 36 strings. Surbahar Surbahar : It is closely related to sitar, but it has a lower tone. Depending on the instrument's size, it is usually pitched two to five whole steps below the standard sitar, but Indian classical music having no concept of absolute pitch, this may vary. Professional full-size surbahar with a single gourd and 20 strings- Main-8 and Sympathetic-12 strings. Surbahar sometimes known as bass sitar. String Bowing Musical Instrument Dilruba Dilruba : The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas. Its name is translated as "robber of the heart." It has a skin head sound box with 4 main strings and 18 sympathetic strings, 20 frets with special bow and wooden box. There is also well known fact that The Dilruba originates from the Taus and some argue is the work of the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, whilst that of the Taus was the work of Guru Hargobind (the sixth guru of the Sikhs).. Esraj Esraj : The esraj is found in the east and central areas, particularly Bengal (Bangladesh and Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura) and it is used in a somewhat wider variety of musical styles than is the dilruba. Itï¿½s containing 4 main strings and 15 sympathetic strings and 20 frets. The neck is similar to a sitar in which the frets are tied with thread but it is played with a bow. Sarangi Sarangi : The sarangi is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of north India which originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition. Of all Indian instruments, it is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice ï¿½ able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamakas (shakes) and meend (sliding movements). Professional sarangi made from well seasoned tun wood with 39 strings. Percussion Musical Instrument Tabla Tabla : The term 'tabla is derived from an Arabic word, tabl, which simply means "drum." Itï¿½s a very popular Indian percussion instrument (of the membranophone family, similar to bongos), used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. Dholak Dholak : The dholak is mainly a folk instrument, lacking the exact tuning and playing techniques of the tabla or the pakhawaj. Itï¿½s a South Asian two-headed hand-drum. It is widely used in qawwali , kirtan and Bhangra. Damru Damru : A damaru or damru is a small two-headed drum, used in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. In the Hindu mythology itï¿½s known as a power drum, and when played, it is believed to generate spiritual energy. It is associated with the Hindu deity Shiva. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the damaru is part of a collection of sacred implements and musical instrument was adopted from the tantric practices of ancient India. These reached the Land of Snows from the 8th to 12th century, persisting in Tibet as the practice of Vajrayana flourished there, even as it vanished in the subcontinent of India. Mizhavu Mizhavu : A mizhav or mizhavu is a big copper drum played as an accompanying percussion instrument in the Koodiyattam and Koothu, performing arts of Kerala . It is played by the Ambalavasi Nambiar community. Mridangam Mridangam : It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. The mridangam is also played in Carnatic concerts in countries outside of India, including Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. During a percussion ensemble, the mridangam is often accompanied by the ghatam, kanjira, and the morsing. Ghungroo Ghungroo : A Ghungroo, also known as Ghunghroo or Ghungur (Bengali) or Salangai (Tamil) is one of many small metallic bells strung together to form Ghungroos, a musical anklet tied to the feet of classical Indian dancers. Ghungroos or Salangais are worn in traditional performances of the classical Indian dance forms: Bharatnatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, and Odissi etc. Ghatam Ghatam : the ghatam (Sanskrit: ghatam "pot", Tamil: katam, Kannada: ghata, Telugu: ghatat) is a percussion instrument used in the Carnatic music of South India. Its analogue in Rajasthan is known as the madga and pani mataqa "water jug". The ghatam usually accompanies a mridangam. Khartal Khartal : is found three kind of in society. 1. Kartals (blocks). It consists of a pair of wooden blocks with jingles or crotales (kartals mean crotales). One pair is used in one hand of the musician. These pieces can be clapped together at high speeds to make fast complex beats. 2. Kartals (small sheets). It consists of a pair of thin, hard wooden pieces similar to the percussion bones (instrument). These are used in Rajasthan. 3. Kartals (cymbals). The karatalas are small cymbals, also known as manjeera. These are used in devotional chants. Manjeera Manjeera : is a traditional musical instrument in India. It is also known as manjeera, taal, jalra, khartï¿½l or kartï¿½l. It is used in various religious ceremonies of India, especially with bhajans in temples. Manjira are usually made of bronze, brass, copper zinc or Bell metal and connected with a copper cord which passes through holes in their center. Jal tarang Jal tarang : It consists of a set of ceramic or metal bowls tuned with water. The bowls are played by striking the edge with beaters, one in each hand. In other words jal tarang means "waves in water" but indicates motion of sound created or modified with the aid of water. Kanch tarang or Glass Harp Kanch tarang or Glass Harp : It's not an Indian classical instrument but it's like Jal - Tarang. It is played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses. Each glass is tuned to a different pitch, either by grinding each goblet to the specified pitch, in which case the tuning is permanent, or by filling the glass with water until the desired pitch is achieved. The glass harp was created in 1741 by Irishman Richard Pockrich, who is known as the first virtuoso of the musical glasses. Loh tarang Loh tarang : It consists of a set of iron circular plates, of different sizes, held in a frame. Each plate is pitched to a note and they are struck with sticks on each hand. 'Tarang' means waves. Plates sound depends on the different size of plate and hand movement. Theory is based like Jal-Tarang. Wind Musical Instrument Shruti Box Shruti Box : A shruti box (or sruti box) is a small wooden instrument that traditionally works on a system of bellows. It is similar to a harmonium and is used to provide a dronein a practice session or concert of Indian classical music. Shennai or Mangal Vadya Shennai or Mangal Vadya : is an aerophonic (wind) instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India andPakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end. The South Indian equivalent of the shehnai is the nadaswaram. Flute or Bansuri Flute or Bansuri : The bansuri is a transverse flute of India made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with six or seven finger holes. The Bansuri is revered as Lord Krishna's divine instrument, and is often associated with Krishna's Rasa lila; mythological accounts tell of the tunes of Krishna's flute having a spellbinding and enthralling effect not only on the women of the Braj, but even on the animals and birds of the region. Keyboard Musical instrument Harmonium Harmonium or Hand pumped : It's a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion. The air is usually supplied by bellows operated by the foot, hand, or knees. In North America, the most common pedal-pumped free-reed keyboard instrument is known as the "American reed organ", (or "parlor organ", "pump organ", "cabinet organ", "cottage organ", etc.) and along with the earlier melodeon, is operated by a suction bellows where air is sucked through the reeds to produce the sound. A reed organ with a pressure bellows that pushes the air through the reeds is referred to as a "harmonium". In India, generally refers to a hand-pumped instrument. Synthesizer Synthesizer or Keyboard : A sound synthesizer (often abbreviated as "synthesizer" or "synth") is an electronic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds. Synthesizers use a number of different technologies or programmed algorithms to generate signal, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Among the most popular waveform synthesis techniques are subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, frequency modulation synthesis, phase distortion synthesis, physical modeling synthesis and sample-based synthesis.	Musician
Eiswein is wine made from grapes that have been what on the vine? Frozen; Sun-dried; Salted; or Pressed?	.: Hindu Online :. Indian Classical Music - Karnatic and Hindustani Indian Music Indian Music The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, it remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of spiritual inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects, having very distinct cultural traditions. One very popular song, "dil to bacha hai" is believed to be arabic music, but was actually written by Thomas Bandeira who traveled to India and wrote it. Classical music The two main traditions of classical music are Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions, and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central regions. Both traditions claim Vedic origin, and history indicates that they diverged from a common musical root since about the 13th century. Hindustani music Hindustani music is an Indian classical music tradition that goes back to Vedic times around 1000 BC, and further developed circa the 13th and 14th centuries AD with Persian influences and from existing religious and folk music. The practice of singing based on notes was popular even from the Vedic times where the hymns in Sama Veda, a sacred text, was sung as Samagana and not chanted. Developing a strong and diverse tradition over several centuries, it has contemporary traditions established primarily in India but also in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In contrast to Carnatic music, the other main Indian classical music tradition originating from the South, Hindustani music was not only influenced by ancient Hindu musical traditions, historical Vedic philosophy and native Indian sounds but also enriched by the Persian performance practices of the Mughal era\|Mughals. Besides pure classical, there are also several semi-classical forms such as thumri, Dadra and tappa. Carnatic music The present form of Carnatic music is based on historical developments that can be traced to the 15th - 16th centuries AD and thereafter. From the ancient Sanskrit works available, and the epigraphical evidence, the history of classical musical traditions can be traced back about 2500 years. "Carnatic" in sanskrit means "soothing to ears". Carnatic music is completely Melodic music\|melodic, with improvised variations. The main emphasis is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki. Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements: IAST\|[[raga\|rāga', the [[musical modemodes or melodic formul?, and IAST\|tala musictāḷa, the rhythmic cycles. Purandara Dasa is credited with having founded today's Carnatic Music. He systematized the teaching method by framing a series of graded lessons such as swaravalis, janta swaras, alankaras, lakshana geetas, prabandhas, ugabhogas, thattu varase, geetha, sooladis and kritis. He introduced the Mayamalavagowla as the basic scale for music instruction. These are followed by teachers and students of Carnatic music even today. Another of his important contributions was the fusion of bhava, raga and laya in his compositions. Purandara Dasa was the first composer who started commenting on the daily life of the people in compositions. He incorporated in his songs popular folk language and introduced folk ragas in the mainstream. The most important contribution he made was the fusion of bhava, raga and laya into organic units. He also composed a large number of lakshya and lakshana geetas, many of which are sung to this day. His sooladis exhibit his mastery of the techniques of music, and are considered an authority for raga lakshana. Scholars attribute the standardization of varna mettus entirely to Purandaradasa. Purandaradasa's era was probably the beginning of Carnatic music's movement towards krithi based classical music (one of its distinguishing characteristics compared to Hindustani). The peripatetic dasas who followed him are believed to have followed the systems he devised, as well as orally passing down his compositions. Purandaradasa was a performer, a musicologist and the father of Carnatic musical pedagogy. He is credited with having elevated Carnatic music from religious and devotional music into the realm of a performing art. For all these reasons and the enormous influence that he had on Carnatic music, musicologists call him the "Sangeeta Pitamaha" or the grandfather of Carnatic music. Many songs and poems and ballads supported in carnatic music are written by poets all the way back to the 14th century. Thyagaraja, Annamacharya and Bhadrachala Ramadasu have written in Telugu and most of the melodious songs from carnatic music we listen today belong to one of them. There are multiple tamil and sanskrit lyrics as well which are sung in carnatic version. Folk music A pair of Indian folk musicians performing in a rural village Main article: Indian folk music Bauls The Bauls of Bengal are an order of musicians dating back to the 17th century, who play a form of Vaishnava music using a khamak, ektara and dotara. The word Baul comes from Sanskrit batul meaning divinely inspired insanity. They are a group of mystic minstrels with a syncretic form of Vaishnavism influenced by Sufism and Buddhism. They are itinerant singer-poets whose music is earthy, and reflects on the infinite amid quotidian contexts of work and love. They have also been influenced by Hindu tantric sect of the Kartabhajas and also by Sufi sects. Bauls travel in search of the internal ideal, Maner Manush (Man of the Heart). Bhangra Bhangra are a lively form of music and dance that originated in the Punjab region to celebrate Vaisakhi, the festival of the Sikhs. As many Bhangra lyrics reflect the long and often tumultuous history of the Punjab, knowledge of Punjabi history offers important insights into the meaning of the music. While Bhangra began as a part of harvest festival celebrations, it eventually became a part of such diverse occasions as weddings and New Year celebrations. Moreover, during the last thirty years, Bhangra has enjoyed a surge in popularity worldwide, both in traditional form and as a fusion with genres such as hip-hop, house, and reggae, and in such forms it has become a pop sensation in the United Kingdom and North America. Dandiya Dandiya is a form of dance-oriented folk music that has also been adapted for pop music. The present musical style is derived from the traditional musical accompaniment to the folk dance. It is practised in (mainly) the state of Gujrat. Actually Dandiya is a kind of dance rather than a music, the music is called a Garba in local language. Ganasangeet Ganasangeet is generally sung in chorus carrying some social message. The songs are usually about Freedom, community strength, patriotism. Due to the British occupation in India, a lot of protest songs about anti-imperialism/pro-socialism has been written in India. Examples: Apni Azadi Ko Hum Hargis Mita Sakte Nahin, ajadee hoyni tor, Kadam kadam badhaye jaa, Vande Mataram, etc. Haryanavi Music The folk Music of Haryana has been spread by the Bhats, Saangis and Jogis. It is sung and played in the state of Haryana, parts of western UP and neighboring districts of Rajasthan and Punjab. The tradition of music in Haryana goes back to the Vedic times, and it is the only state in India to have towns and villages named after different ragas. Haryana is rich in folk music, whose roots are firmly entrenched in the classical music of yore. The famous Sringar rasa (based on love songs) has an indirect association with renowned ragas like Bhairavi, Jayjaywanti, Gara (a Persian style), Khamaj and Kafi. However, the folk singer has no idea what a raga is and just goes out and sings. Mainly string instruments are used to make music. The sarangi is generally preferred. For the wind instruments, the been and the bansuri provide lilting tunes in tandem with the dholak, a drum usually played with the palms or little sticks. A matka (earthen pitcher) may replace the dholak in certain areas to form the backbeat. The Jogis, Bhats and Sangis are the people who have made folk music popular in Haryana. The Jogis prefer the sarangi to form the musical backdrop to their songs which revolve around tales of chivalry and valour. There are other famous instruments which are used along with singing. The shehnai (a flute-like instrument played mainly at weddings), shankh (conch shell), harmonium, damru (a small palm-held drum with strings attached to beads which hit the sides when shaken), nagara, ghungru, tasha, khanjri and manjira. Musical genuises, these Haryanavis; they create music even with matchsticks, papaya (yes, the fruit!), the hard core of a mango and a strip of wood. Lavani Lavani comes from the word Lavanya which means beauty. This is one of the most popular forms of dance and music that is practiced all over Maharashtra. It has in fact become a necessary part of the Maharashtrian folk dance performances. Traditionally, the songs are sung by female artistes, but male artistes may occasionally sing Lavanis. The dance format associated with Lavani is known as Tamasha. Lavani is a combination of traditional song and dance, which particularly performed to the enchanting beats of 'Dholak', an drum like instrument. Dance performed by attractive women wearing nine-yard saris. They are sung in a quick tempo. The verve, the enthusiasm, the rhythm and above all the very beat of India finds an expressive declaration amidst the folk music of India, which has somewhat, redefined the term "bliss". Lavani originated in the arid region of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Popular music The biggest form of Indian popular music is filmi, or songs from Indian films, it makes up 72% of the music sales in India. The film industry of India supported music by according reverence to classical music while utilizing the western orchestration to support Indian melodies. Music composers like Naushad, C. Ramchandra, S D Batish, Salil Chowdhury, S. D. Burman, Ilaiyaraja and A. R. Rahman employed the principles of harmony while retaining classical and folk flavor. Reputed names in the domain of Indian classical music like Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pt. Ramnarayan have also composed music for films. Independent pop acts such as Asha Bhosle, Udit Narayan, Alisha Chinai, Shaan, Madhushree, Shreya Ghoshal, Nihira Joshi, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan, Alka Yagnik and rock bands like Indus Creed, Indian Ocean, and Euphoria exist and have gained mass appeal with the advent of cable music television. Recently one of the classical band Indian Ocean gave music in one of the movie called Pepli Live, which will be official entry for Oscars from India. Qawwali Qawwali is a Sufi form of devotional music based on the principles of classical music. It is performed with one or two or many lead singers, several chorus singers, harmonium, tabla, and dholak. Nowadays there are two many Sufi singers that are singing songs in movie songs. But one of the best Sufi singer is Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Rabindra Sangeet Rabindranath Tagore was a towering figure in Indian music. Writing in Bengali, he created a library of over 2,000 songs now known by Bengalis as 'rabindra sangeet' whose form is primarily influenced by Hindustani classical, sub-classicals, Karnatic, western, bauls, bhatiyali and different folk songs of India. Many singers in West Bengal and Bangladesh base their entire careers on the singing of Tagore musical masterpieces. The national anthem of India and national anthem of Bangladesh are Rabindra Sangeets. Rajasthan Rajasthan has a very diverse cultural collection of musician castes, including Langas, Sapera, Bhopa, Jogi and Manganiyar (lit. the ones who ask/beg). Rajasthan Diary quotes it as a soulful, full-throated music with Harmonious diversity. The haunting melody of Rajasthan evokes from a variety of delightfully primitive looking instruments. The stringed variety include the Sarangi, Rawanhattha, Kamayacha, Morsing and Ektara. Percussion instruments come in all shapes and sizes from the huge Nagaras and Dhols to the tiny Damrus. The Daf and Chang are a big favourite of Holi (the festival of colours) revellers. Flutes and bagpipers come in local flavours such as Shehnai, Poongi, Algoza, Tarpi, Been and Bankia. The essence of Rajasthani music is derived from the creative symphony of string instruments, percussion instruments and wind instruments accompanied by melodious renditions of folk singers. It enjoys a respectable presence in Bollywood music as well. Musical Instruments There are many musical instruments in India. Some instruments are used primarily in north Indian music (Hindustani sangeet), some are used in the south Indian music (Carnatic sangeet), while others are found in folk music. Instrumental music is usually similar to vocal music but sometimes there are distinctive instrumental styles. There is a traditional system for the classification of instruments. This system is based upon; non-membranous percussion (ghan), membranous percussion (avanaddh), wind blown (sushir), plucked string (tat), bowed string (vitat). In addition to these traditional five classes we have been forced to create a sixth class to accommodate purely electronic instruments.	i don't know
What is the singular term for one piece of data?	Data \| Define Data at Dictionary.com data [dey-tuh, dat-uh, dah-tuh] /ˈdeɪ tə, ˈdæt ə, ˈdɑ tə/ Spell 2. (used with a plural verb) individual facts, statistics, or items of information: These data represent the results of our analyses. Data are entered by terminal for immediate processing by the computer. 3. (used with a singular verb) a body of facts; information: Additional data is available from the president of the firm. Related forms data, datum (see usage note at the current entry) Usage note Expand Data is a plural of datum, which is originally a Latin noun meaning “something given.” Today, data is used in English both as a plural noun meaning “facts or pieces of information” (These data are described more fully elsewhere) and as a singular mass noun meaning “information”: Not much data is available on flood control in Brazil. It is almost always treated as a plural in scientific and academic writing. In other types of writing it is either singular or plural. The singular datum meaning “a piece of information” is now rare in all types of writing. In surveying and civil engineering, where datum has specialized senses, the plural form is datums. datum [dey-tuh m, dat-uh m, dah-tuh m] /ˈdeɪ təm, ˈdæt əm, ˈdɑ təm/ Spell Syllables noun, plural data [dey-tuh, dat-uh, dah-tuh] /ˈdeɪ tə, ˈdæt ə, ˈdɑ tə/ (Show IPA), for 1–3, datums for 4, 5. 1. a single piece of information, as a fact, statistic, or code; an item of data. 2. any fact assumed to be a matter of direct observation. any proposition assumed or given, from which conclusions may be drawn. 3. Compare ideatum . 4. Surveying, Civil Engineering. any level surface, line, or point used as a reference in measuring elevations. 5. Surveying. a basis for horizontal control surveys, consisting of the longitude and latitude of a certain point, the azimuth of a certain line from this point, and two constants used in defining the terrestrial spheroid. Origin of datum 1640-50; < Latin: a thing given, neuter past participle of dare to give Can be confused data , datum (see usage note at data ) Usage note Examples from the Web for data Expand Contemporary Examples This decrease was statistically significant because the data in that study weren't as variable. British Dictionary definitions for data Expand a series of observations, measurements, or facts; information 2. (computing) Also called information. the information operated on by a computer program Usage note Although now often used as a singular noun, data is properly a plural Word Origin C17: from Latin, literally: (things) given, from dare to give datum a single piece of information; fact 2. a proposition taken for granted, often in order to construct some theoretical framework upon it; a given See also sense datum Word Origin C17: from Latin: something given; see data Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for data Expand n. 1640s, plural of datum, from Latin datum "(thing) given," neuter past participle of dare "to give" (see date (n.1)). Meaning "transmittable and storable computer information" first recorded 1946. Data processing is from 1954. datum proper Latin singular of data (q.v.). Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Expand data, data processing, jargon /day't*/ (Or "raw data") Numbers, characters , images , or other method of recording, in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially) input into a computer , stored and processed there, or transmitted on some digital channel. Computers nearly always represent data in binary . Data on its own has no meaning, only when interpreted by some kind of data processing system does it take on meaning and become information . For example, the binary data 01110101 might represent the integer 117 or the ASCII lower case U character or the blue component of a pixel in some video . Which of these it represents is determined by the way it is processed (added, printed, displayed, etc.). Even these numbers, characters or pixels however are still not really information until their context is known, e.g. my bank balance is £117, there are two Us in "vacuum", you have blue eyes. (2007-09-10)	Datum
Using conventional tunings, what is the lowest note a symphonic orchestra can produce by bowing a stringed instrument?	Data Synonyms, Data Antonyms \| Thesaurus.com Word Origin & History data 1640s, plural of datum, from L. datum "(thing) given," neuter pp. of dare "to give" (see date (1)). Meaning "transmittable and storable computer information" first recorded 1946. Data processing is from 1954. Example Sentences for data But, as I have said, our data do not relate to some especial other world. If his data were correct—and he was certain that they were—he had found his strike. In some instances, where data were limited, the results are more or less an estimate. Besides, the data for such a volume are for the most part wanting. We have not the data necessary for obtaining anything like precise laws. It brought with it a new set of data, and a new subject-matter. He includes these data in his own summary, supplementing them by information from other sources, to the extent deemed advisable. These costs are compiled from data collected by the authors. We have not, however, the data for estimating the proportion of each. The competitive edge is provided by the intelligent use of data.	i don't know
Name the Ukrainian/Russian American engineer who was first to viably manufacture and sell helicopters?	Monday 23 november 2015 by magazineseychelles - issuu issuu 9 Days Presidential Election 2015 Presidential election Stakes are high in fast approaching election On the campaign trail, Parti Lepep supporters hurled abuse at SNP leader on Friday while Alexia Amesbury brought Victoria to a standstill on Saturday morning. T his weekend saw Parti Lepep campaigning on La Digue and Praslin while the SNP held a rally in Roche Caiman yesterday, following a door-to-door exercise on Friday in Perseverance where the SNP leader, Wavel Ramkalawan, said that there was “no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep”. Lalyans Seselwa also held a public meeting in Anse Royale while the independent candidate, Philippe Boullé, was in Les Mamelles yesterday for a rally. Meanwhile PDM’s posters have finally hit town! Sunday’s events will feature in tomorrow’s edition. See page 9 for the campaign trail and pages 2 and 12 for PPBs. 12.85 13.35 13.40 14.20 19.20 20.30 Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday morning while Wavel Ramkalawan sits with Perseverance resident on Friday. Right, Parti Lepep activists ask the SNP to leave the area which they say is the ruling party’s stronghold. To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. Read more on page 8 12.80 13.30 13.60 14.20 19.20 20.25 p2 Saving face on roads By N.Tirant R oads are a fact of modern life and cars are the new reality – traffic jams in our tiny capital are now a common day-long occurrence and as tempers shorten and alcohol fogs reason, we may see more speeding, more reckless driving and unfortunately more deaths on our road. Add election fever to the mix as we move into the Christmas season and roads that no longer show us where to go and how to drive and let’s ready ourselves for more mayhem! This year, it seems, we paid no mind to remembering those who have lost their lives in road traffic accidents even if it’s a modern day obligation. With an estimated 1.25 million people killed each year – 90 per cent of them in low-income and middle-income countries like our own, dedicating a day to the victims could remind us of our own mortality as we recall the dangers we pose to ourselves, our families and other road users by the way we drive and behave on the roads. In our earthly paradise, where the car has become king and where pedestrians all too often learn to manage without pavements,accidents on our roads claim too many lives each year. To save those lives our government promised to improve roads, enforce laws on seat-belts, motorcycle helmets and child restraints and increase punishment for speeding, reckless and drunk-driving. Even the latest Sustainable Development Goals to which we noisily subscribed in September include a target to ‘halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020’.And in case anyone should doubt our enthusiasm, before that in May 2011 we launched the UN Decade for action for road safety in even greater fanfare. That plan of action included building capacity in road safety management,improving the behaviour of road users,upgrading our road infrastructure to guarantee safety and making emergency services more responsive. Five years into that decade, election fever has clouded our perception and we’ve forgotten all about asking ourselves why too many of our citizens are still dying on our roads. But it wasn’t always like this! In December 2009 we gave ourselves a new parastatal with the bold objectives of providing ‘an efficient and adequate land transport system and infrastructure’. That statutory state-funded body, which received SCR58,377,000 from the national budget in 2015,is still trying to come to grips with the inevitable – the steady rise in the number of vehicles on a non-expandable road system. From 13,592 vehicles on our 508 kilometres of road in 2009 the number had risen to 17,592 by 2013 with only 12 more kilometres of road on which to run. That’s taken road congestion from 27 vehicles per kilometre of road in 2009 to 34 in 2013 – a figure that’s still rising as I write! Whilst the agency struggles to set those national land transport policies that could make a real difference, traffic management seems to outdo itself at each corner. As public transport fails to make the grade and meet growing demand,despite more buses on the roads(up from 269 in 2009 to 458 in 2013), people are choosing to own their own vehicle, exacerbating the problem of road congestion, and creating frustrated drivers who become reckless and dangerous as they cut corners in safety. By the law that created it, the state-financed agency has to submit an annual business plan for approval by the transport ministry each year. In view of the state of our roads, the citizen taxpayers would love to see details of that plan along with the agency’s performance indicators, “statement of the short and medium term operational objectives” and “outline of the agency’s strategies to achieve its objectives”to reassure us that our money is being well-spent. Meanwhile, the visible part of the agency’s work includes several re-surfaced roads in downtown Victoria, except that road markings are not keeping the same pace. As fresh tarmac swallows up some pavements, lanes are left to guesswork and pedestrians brave death and injury as they force their way across roads where zebra crossings once lay. With over 2,294 hired vehicles driven by unsuspecting visitors imagine the potential hazard as they are left guessing that the virgin tarmac once was a zebra crossing! Would it be too much for the agency to have a team paint lines and markings in the wake of the rollers flattening out the new surface? And what of that ridiculous “hump” of tarmac placed diagonally across the Bel Air road behind National House? Clearly not meant to slow traffic, the bump’s a band aid meant to channel excess run-off water from the mountain-side of the road where an action plan would have required that a drain be built! The agency could have saved face, avoided embarrassment and catered for the problem with a simple drain pipe under the road surface! Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPBs. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. SNP: Drugs and national institutions “I am tired of hearing the painful pleas of parents who are helpless in the face of their children’s addiction while some are becoming millionaires with the sale of drugs”, Seychelles National Party (SNP) leader Wavel Ramkalawan said on Friday in its second PPB. The SNP backed its claims with figures, saying that judiciary sources estimate at 85%, the drug-related cases that came before the court. The NDEA, it added, says that around 5000 people are drug users, out of whom some 2000 are using heroin, making Seychelles, the second country worldwide with the highest number of people using heroin via intravenous method. Since 2002, the country has recorded 528 cases of hepatitis C and 99% were infected as a result of sharing needles. Mr Ramkalawan said that parents were slaves in their own homes as their children steal and engage in other anti-social behaviours to feed their addiction. He said the SNP was committed to go after the drug traffickers who were importing heroin into the country and “we will not allow them to continue to exploit our population through their selfish acts”. Running mate Roger Mancienne said that “drug traffickers will not be protected because of their political connection and hide behind their social status”. “Surveillance will be done by the Defense Forces, meaning that their budget will be put to good use instead of just protecting the President”, he added. The SNP’s policy will b compassion “for the addicts and help them claim back their lives and punish the traffickers”, the party said. The other issue outlined in the party political broadcast was the need to strengthen national institutions. Lawyer and party member, Anthony Derjacques said the SNP will review the roles of national institutions, including the Human Rights Commission, Ethics Commission, National Tender Board and the Constitutional Appointment Authority, to make them efficient. Continued on page 12 ONE SEYCHELLES ONE DESTINY Fairer Taxes A strong platform for businesses Government has an important duty to enable people to get on in life, and to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. Our tax system has a crucial part to play in this. (However, tax should not be used to punish anybody in society or to mold society’s behavior but should only be used to raise the necessary money to meet the spending requirements of our government) 3. Close loopholes which allow large companies to evade taxes, PDM wishes to achieve a tax system that is progressive in relation to income and wealth, reduces inequality, and ensures that those earning the lowest wages are not disadvantaged by working, in which wealthy individuals and businesses make their fair contribution and where those who seek to avoid paying tax are prevented from doing so. 5. Introduce a more stable and competitive corporate tax regime to attract inward investments and give businesses the certainty it needs to make long term decisions, We also wish to achieve a tax system which raises sufficient revenue without disproportionately reducing incentives for individuals to work and save, and presents an attractive option for business investments, supporting economic growth and creating prosperity, and that is simpler and easier to understand. To achieve this PDM will: 4. Push for greater banking transparency and greater cooperation between nations to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, 6. Provide tax-incentivized investment opportunities for investors in start-up technology and green businesses, 7. Lower the rate of Vat on home renovations, 8. Administer personal income tax on a sliding scale basis (between 0% and 20%), 9. Review downwards the current road tax rates, 1 Tighten corporate tax rules to prevent large companies from reducing their tax bills by paying excessive interest to related parties overseas, 10. Remove all taxes on gratuity payments below Rs25000/-, 2. Introduce strong General Anti-Avoidance Rule outlawing any move taken by companies simply to try and avoid tax, 11. Professionalize and modernize SRC to ensure very strict and efficient collection of revenues. DAVID PIERRE FOR PRESIDENT Monday 23 November 2015 The Big Interview with Eline Moses “We urge the public to report cases of intimidation” TODAY sat down with the chairperson of Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) to find out more about the organisation’s responsibilities, issues pertaining to its credibility and the importance of making an informed decision on Election Day. W about the legal framework and code of conduct which govern the election process. Three days were devoted to election observation and the two remaining days focused on report writing and our media strategy. I would say now have a pool of well-trained professionals who are ready to observe the upcoming election. The core team has already started observing the pre-election process, including Nomination Day but some members are waiting for their accreditation from the Electoral Commission before they can start observing the elections. As mentioned earlier, the EC has to do thorough background checks on all the members before accrediting them. hat is the role of the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS)? The NGO was set up in 2011 right after the Presidential election. It came about following recommendations by international observer missions to Seychelles, which stated the country should have its own domestic observer team to oversee local elections. Our work is motivated by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 24 of our Constitution, which states that each citizen has a right to participate in his/her country’s public affairs and should be given opportunities to exercise this right. This can be through elections, where you have the right to vote or to be voted into office or when you participate in national dialogues and discussions to influence decisions and policies. At CDWS, we focus mainly on promoting democracy and good governance, and one component of that is to ensure there is free and fair elections. There is a perception that the group is active only during election time. Is this the case? The statement does not hold much weight today, although I have to admit that when we started things were a bit slow as we tried to get our footing. We are active but working behind the scenes. However, our work intensifies once an election is announced as we have to oversee the whole cycle, from the pre-election period to the big day itself and also postelection when we submit our report on the whole process to the Electoral Commission. Since the creation of CDWS, we have organized numerous training sessions for our members, some of whom are now able to observe elections internationally. We also took part in the electoral reform programme which ended in 2012. Our biggest exercise so far was last year when we carried out an internal review to reposition CDWS in order to make it more credible. We also elected a new committee. We worked on our terms of reference, reviewed our code of conduct and also relooked at our recruitment procedures. Who is eligible to join CDWS? Any Seychellois citizen who is at least 18 years-old and has an interest in promoting democracy can be a member. Since we are a non-partisan group we do not encourage any form of political activism. Our members are free to have their personal beliefs but should not in any way push their political agenda or be seen to be favouring one party. They should remain neutral at all times. A member can also choose to be an election observer. In this case, you will be asked to fill in a self-disclosure form which is submitted solely to the chairperson, for confidentiality reasons. You must not have been active in politics for the past five years or be a member of a political party. Accusations have been leveled at some of our members in the past and they are aware that any such incidents, if proven will mean the end of their membership. But as far as I know, they respect the code of conduct. And I call on other professionals who have time to devote to an organization like ours to join. Some people question CDWS’ credibility and its ability to conduct impartial and truthful observations and reporting. What are your views on this issue? We have already observed two local elections: the legislative elections in 2011 and the by-election in the Anse aux Pins district in 2012. Our reports which were presented to our stakeholders after both elections were wellreceived and were said to be true and frank. Our participation in the two elections earned us a lot of respect and made people realize the importance of having a local observer group which knows and understands the local context. We are credible and there are structures and procedures in place within the organization to ensure we remain credible. As you mentioned earlier, CDWS’ work intensifies when an election is announced. What exactly takes place during an election cycle? Being a fairly new organization we have certain limitations. I wish we could do long-term observations, even when there is no election taking place in a particular year. But due to certain constraints we have to focus mostly on short-term observations: we observe the electoral cycle from campaigning until post election when we submit our final report. However, we are slowly shifting to long-term observation. As mentioned earlier we were part of the team that took part in the electoral reform programme in 2012. Earlier this year we were able to observe voter registration and verification exercises to see whether the public was getting access to the different venues to check their names on the voters register. And we hope to continue to do this. For the upcoming elections, we observed Nomination Day and our observers are also present at the meetings and rallies of all the political parties. We will be present in all polling stations on Election Day and, postelection, we will submit our recommendations. We will not shelve the reports like most organizations do: there will be a follow-up to ensure the recommendations are implemented before the next elections. What does CDWS observe on Election Day? Pre-election, we will observe freedom of movement, whether supporters are free to assemble and support their parties or are intimated and prevented from expressing themselves freely. We will not only observe but interview some of them as well. We will also observe the candidates to see whether they are respecting the code of conduct. On Election Day we observe mainly the logistics, starting in the morning with the opening of the stations until counting ends and results are communicated to the Electoral Commission headquarters. We will observe whether polling stations are accessible to all because every person whether able bodied or not, young or old should be able to exercise this right. We will look closely at the role and functions of the Electoral Commission as the body mandated to manage the elections and whether it has respected the legal requirements of an election. For example, if voting materials are readily available to all, if special voting stations on inner and outer islands are well-equipped to cater for voters. This year we will also observe elections at the Montagne Posée prison, where for the first time those on remand will be able to cast their vote. We will also observe whether secrecy of the ballot is being respected; in the past, voters complained that people could see whom they had voted for as the booths were not shielded enough. We will look at the security forces deployed for maintaining peace and order. Most importantly though, we will observe the counting exercise and whether it is done in a transparent and fair manner. In general, we observe whether the elections are done in line with our legal framework and international conventions Seychelles has signed. Can CDWS intervene if there are cases of abuse? During an election cycle we only have an observer status. As observers we don’t have the mandate to interfere or obstruct the process. We can observe, take notes, analyze the information and report our findings in the final report. However, we can record any complaints and this time around we have a properly structured complaint procedure and we have appointed one of our members to attend to all the complaints. We urge the public to report cases of intimidation of voters, violations of the electoral code of conduct by political parties, electoral violence and also if they feel they have been deprived of their right to vote. The way it works is as follows. The informant will contact us on a hotline which is being set up for this election. The person in charge of the hotline, who is well-versed with investigative procedures, will record the complaint and carry out an investigation. We advise the complainant to provide evidence if possible, either photos or videos or a copy of their statement to the police if they have already made an official complaint to the police. The complaints will be channeled to the right authority, for example the Electoral Commission if there is a violation of the code of conduct by candidates and their supporters. These events will be documented in our final report and recommendations will be put forward to the stakeholders. Would you like to comment on what has been observed so far? I will not comment on what has been observed so far, but all the findings will be in our final report which will be published 30 days after the election. How do you work with international observers? We network a lot with international observer groups. It is mostly to share information and experience. During an election they like to get the views of domestic observers on what is actually happening when they come for the country assessment prior to the elections. So we provide them with all this information. What are some of the international observer groups CDWS is networking with? We are accredited members of the SADC Electoral Support Network (SADC-ESN) and the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors. We also network with other international institutions which support NGOs that promote democracy and encourage citizens to participate in their country’s political affairs. CDWS observers have been part of many international missions namely with the African Union (AU), Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and the Commission de l’Océan Indien (COI). Ballot papers are an important part of this exercise. What are your views on the fact that they are printed abroad? I will not comment on it at this point; any recommendations will be included in our reports. CDWS organised a workshop to train observers three weeks ago. Are you satisfied that you have a competent group of observers? It was mostly for capacity building, especially for new members. Participants learned about different methods used during election observations, How credible is the report that is published at the end of an election? Once voting ends and the results are announced, we have to present a preliminary statement, which is an overview of our observation. Then we have up to 30 days to present the final report with recommendations to the Electoral Commission. Like I mentioned earlier, we have are shifting to long term observations and when we submit the report, we will meet with stakeholders to share its content with them. And we will ensure the recommendations are followed up. The final report is an important document. In the past, many reforms of the electoral process came about as a result of recommendations made by observer missions. For example, the creation of CDWS was the result of recommendation made by international observer groups which stated that Seychelles needed its own domestic observers who are familiar with the local context. We recommended, for instance, that the Electoral Commission should make provisions for those on remand to vote and this is being done this year. It came out of our last report, and then it was also taken up as part of the electoral reform discussion which took place following the last legislative elections. It should be noted that a lot of effort is put into writing this report and it is our contribution to improving the electoral process. Do you conduct voter education and if so what is being done this year to educate voters about the election? We haven’t in the past but we plan to do it this time around. We are presently working on a project to educate voters on the importance of an election and how voting is a right and responsibility. This also came out in past reports and discussions where it was felt that there was no voter education as such, only voter information provided by the EC. We feel we should educate voters about the right to vote and the importance and value of their vote. Is CDWS already preparing for the other two other elections: the Legislative and District Administration elections? As I said, our team is ready for any elections. However prior to the parliamentary elections we are also planning on having a workshop with the National Assembly to know more about the role and function of parliament. At CDWS we want to ensure there are proper mechanisms to allow elected parliamentarians to engage with the electorate in their constituencies. In the past there have been complaints that when bills are discussed and passed into law, there was no or very little consultation with the population even though they are directly affected by these laws. We want to have this dialogue and ensure the voice of the people is heard when it comes to issues that affect their lives. So we will ensure there is a framework in place that will favour, encourage and promote dialogue. It should be consultative and participatory irrespective if you voted for or against the person; you have an opinion so you need to share this opinion. What are the biggest constraints for CDWS? I would say the mobilization of resources, both human and financial. We have really struggled during the past years in our effort to mobilize resources. We operate mainly on membership fees and on donations. For the two previous elections we observed, we didn’t receive any financial assistance. We only had support to conduct a training session for observers. But all of us had to pitch in to finance everything else including transport, uniforms, food, etc. That is why I say we have a team of committed individuals. Not having a budget does not mean that we will not be able to observe elections; in fact it makes us more determined because as volunteers we see what we are contributing to the country. However, this time around we have approached some institutions and we are appealing to organizations to assist us. It does not have to be monetary; you can assist us by printing our tshirts, providing food on Election Day. But we will not be taking donations from political parties so as not to compromise our independence. To what extent can observers be a guarantee that elections are free and fair? The presence of observers gives that confidence that procedures will be respected. It is like knowing you have a witness around. You might not be too daring to break the law if you know your every move is being observed. So we keep everybody in check. We help ensure transparency in the whole process. What is your message to the voters who, as you mentioned earlier, have an important role in deciding the country’s future? We call on all stakeholders, candidates, parties, supporters to respect each other’s opinions and be tolerant during this process so that the upcoming elections can be peaceful. Voting is very important and I therefore call on all voters to make an informed decision before casting their vote. For political parties and activists, please respect your code of conduct. And I also call on law and order groups to ensure peace and stability in order to protect citizens. And lastly, I call on everybody to respect the election results. Monday 23 November 2015 ARSU win ninth Indian Ocean Club Championship By AH B Beau Vallon lost in finals. ig celebrations were in order for the Anse Royalebased team as once again they reigned supreme in women’s volleyball by winning the Indian Ocean Club Championship for a record ninth time. ARSU beat Malagasy’s Steff Auto 3-2 in the final on Saturday in Antananarivo to win the championship which is also a Confederation Africaine de Volleyball (CAVB) Zone 7 qualifier. Under the guidance of coach Julien Onezime and with players like veteran Jerina Bonne, her daughter, former professional player, Mariel Bonne, Tina Agathine and international setter Melina Crispin, ARSU managed to again defend the title it won in Seychelles last year. But it was not an easy victory as they had to fight back to win a tight match. ARSU had taken the first set 25-20. But the Steff Auto won the next two 25-16 and 25-23. ARSU really had to dig very deep to win the fourth set which they did, 27-25, to take the match into the final decisive set which they won comfortably 15-10 to celebrate the title once again. ARSU ended the championship without a defeat. The team’s players also won some personal accolades. Veteran Jerina Bonne was named most valuable player (MVP) as well as the best defender. Mariel Bonne was named the best attacker and Melina Crispin was named best setter. As for Beau Vallon, as was the case last year in Seychelles, they fell at the last hurdle. The team were beaten 3-0 by the Malagasy champions Gendarmerie Nationale Volleyball Club (GNBC). The team apparently played the final without veteran Bernard Bijoux who injured his knee during the warm-up and had be to be rushed to hospital. ARSU is the women’s Indian Ocean queen for a record nine times. Football Foresters stop St Michel in their tracks Ten-man Foresters got the better of the Barclays League leaders at the Unity Stadium in a hard fought encounter on Saturday. By RR T Foresters midfielder Elvin Estico silenced the St Michel crowd. he Foresters coach, Rodney Choisy, was delighted with his players’ performance and told TODAY Sports that they had entered the game with the objective of claiming the scalps of the defending league champions in this match. “Our opponents were the only team we had not beaten this season so we had come all out for this victory,” explained coach Choisy. In fact, Foresters stunned St Michel as they took the lead in the 8th minute after a defensive error allowed Elvin Estico to head captain Martin William’s corner into the net. Unfortunately for Foresters though, Williams left the pitch minutes later with an injury and had to be transported to hospital and he was replaced by Francis Nourrice. St Michel huffed and puffed but could not wear down a rugged Foresters’ team who were intent on defending their advantage with all the tricks in the book. The St Michel manager, Andrew Jean-Louis, was adamant his team were denied a penalty for a foul on Gervais Waye-Hive in the second period but referee Egbert Havelock was not convinced. “We should have been awarded a penalty and I felt the official was below par in this match,” complained the St Michel manager. Foresters added a second in the 60th minute from another mistake by goalie Gino Melanie as he missed Brian Dorby’s freekick which dropped to substitute Francis Nourrice who coolly punished his former team to make it 2-1. Foresters should have killed off the match six minutes later but Ugandan Tonny Kizito hesitated and fluffed a great chance as they opened up the St Michel defence. St Michel were given a lifeline in the 75th minute as Richard Freminot handled Carl Hall’s goalbound header. Referee Havelock showed the Foresters’ winger a straight red card and awarded a penalty which Carl Hall easily dispatched. St Michel had their moments but Foresters rode their luck to dent St Michel’s title hopes and celebrated a morale boosting win. “We played well tactically but when we went down to ten, we seemed to lose our concentration though I’m still pleased with the perfor- mance,” coach Choisy said. A minute of silence was observed before this encounter as a sign of respect for the victims of last week’s callous attacks in Paris. Adeyeri grabs hattrick against Anse Reunion St Louis’ Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri grabbed a hattrick to earn St Louis to a 3-1 victory while Malagasy Estel Randrina score a consolation goal scored for the club. This win moves St Louis into second position in the league table, only four points behind St Michel. The Lions upset Cote D’Or Cote D’Or’s wretched run continued as they went down 2-1 to the Lions on Saturday on Praslin. Gerald Basset gave the home team a 1-0 lead but Collin Bibi cancelled it out for a 1-1 score at the break. Liberian Mohamed Varney scored a stunning winner in the second half to lift the Lions to fifth on the league table. p5 Suarez and Neymar unstoppable as Barcelona thrash Real Madrid in La Liga Clasico V Barcelona thrashed rivals Real Madrid at the Bernabeu to go six points clear at the top of La Liga isiting Barcelona humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 in the Spanish Liga “Clasico” to move six points clear at the top. A brace from Luis Suarez plus goals from Neymar and Andres Iniesta sealed victory for Barca against Real who had Isco sent off for hacking down the impressive Neymar. “This victory is glorious, especially in the way that it came about,” Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said. “We were the better side and the triumph is down to us. There is a long way to go but it is always important to win here. “It has been a great all-round performance. It will go down in history as a memorable game for Barcelona.” Meanwhile, the elegant Iniesta said: “We only wanted to be ourselves and we have done that. We neutralized Madrid ... It’s wonderful to win here again.” It was Barca’s seventh win at the Estadio Bernabeu in 13 visits and their most emphatic there since a 6-2 rout in 2009. “We are changing history,” Barca midfield anchorman Sergio Busquets said. “It is not easy to come here and win, but we are now doing that quite regularly, practically every season.” Barca coach Luis Enrique could afford the luxury of keeping idol Lionel Messi - back from injury - on the subs’ bench for an hour. Real’s worst home meltdown in six years led to the fans chanting for the resignation not only of coach Rafa Benitez but also of club president Florentino Perez. The result could have been even worse for Benitez and Perez, so complete was Barca’s domination - and so wasteful were they in front of goal, especially late sub Munir. “It would not be fair to criticize my players for a lack of desire,” a dejected Benitez said. “Now I just want to leave this behind and focus on the next game. I congratulate Barcelona, they were very effective today.” Benitez said he would not resign, and left-back Marcelo backed up his coach by saying: “We are with him until death. This is our fault really, rather than his.” To the chagrin of the capacity crowd, the Whites struggled to have 40 per cent possession and only managed to create four clear chances, all of which were well kept out by Barca keeper Claudio Bravo. The big game was watched by around 500 million people worldwide, and started with the singing of the French national anthem plus a minute’s silence in honour of the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris. The security measure in and around the Bernabeu were the most stringent ever seen in Spanish football. Barca went into the game without Messi, who has been out for two months with a knee injury, while Real opted for Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Karim Benzema despite their recent injuries. Barca dominated from start to finish and Suarez opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a precise angled Barca’s players walk over to thank their travelling supporters at the end of the game after thrashing their arch-rivals. Fifa FIFA reports on Blatter, Platini call for sanctions by judging body T he final reports of the FIFA investigative panel on suspended president Joseph Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini call for sanctions by the adjudicatory chamber of the organization’s ethics committee, the ruling body said Saturday. FIFA said in a statement the reports have been concluded and been presented to the judging chamber, including “requests for sanctions.” No details will be published because of privacy rights. The adjudicatory chamber said in a separate statement it “will study the reports carefully and decide in due course about whether to institute formal adjudicatory proceedings.” Hearings at the adjudicatory chamber chaired by Germany’s Hans-Joachim Eckert are expected to take place in December. Both could face bans of several years. The ethics committeee on October 7 suspended Blatter and Platini from all football-related activities for 90 days. The FIFA appeal committee upheld the suspensions on Wednesday, and Platini has now appealed again at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Both also have a right to appeal a final ethics committee ruling at the FIFA appeal committee and CAS. The suspensions came after the start of a Swiss criminal investigation against Blatter over a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs (dollars) to Platini in 2011, for work done between 1998 and 2002. Blatter is also being investigated for mismanagement. Platini and Blatter have said they did nothing wrong in connection with the payment but admitted there was no written contract. A steady drip of criminal investigations and arrests into football officials in recent months has thrown FIFA into disarray and also prompted several key sponsors to demand that football’s governing body make significant changes. Blatter was elected for a fifth term in office by the FIFA congress on May 29, two days after several officials were arrested in a Zurich hotel in connection with an American corruption probe into football. Blatter said on June 2 he will stand down at an extraordinary congress set for February 26. Platini has submitted his candidacy to succeed Blatter, but that depends on the decision by the ethics committee, and on an integrity check if the suspension is lifted. drive after being cleverly set up by the impressive Sergi Roberto. Barca had to rejig when Javier Mascherano limped off injured, but Neymar made it 2-0 six minutes before half-time despite a heavy hint of offside, with a low finish after good work by Iniesta. The impressive Iniesta scored the third in the 53rd minute following a clever one-two with Neymar. This ended a run of 18 consecutive Barca league goals from either Neymar or Suarez. Messi came off the bench and unselfishly set up Suarez for the fourth goal 16 minutes from the end, with many Real fans already heading for the exits. Those that stayed on spent the final minutes baying for the blood of Benitez and Perez. Earlier Saturday, Eusebio Sacristan started his reign as coach of Real Sociedad with a promising 2-0 home defeat of inconsistent Sevilla. The visitors did more of the attacking in the first half but Ciro Immobile had what should have been an early goal for Sevilla wrongly disallowed for offside. Sociedad gradually came out of their defensive shell towards the end and Imanol Agirretxe broke the deadlock 18 minutes from time with a first-time shot after the Sevilla defence had failed to clear a corner. Five minutes later, veteran captain Xabi Prieto made it 2-0 after a poor back-header from Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak. Sevilla’s fifth defeat left them in disappointing 11th place, while lifting Sociedad up to 14th. Later Saturday, Espanyol beat Malaga 2-0, on a brace from Hernan Perez, to move up to 10th. Deportivo Coruna moved up to eighth by beating fourth-placed Celta Vigo 2-0, with a strike from Lucas Perez and a bizarre own goal from Celta defender Jonny. Spain striker Nolito missed a penalty for Celta. Meanwhile, Valencia were held 1-1 by defiant Las Palmas. Paco Alcacer gave Valencia an early lead, only for Jonathan Viera to level for the visitors. The disappointing draw left Valencia in sixth place and Las Palmas fourth bottom. p6 Monday 23 November, 2015 Premier League round-up Reds stun City as Leicester go top Manchester United moved onto 27 points from 13 games, a point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal. M anchester City suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat by Liverpool while Jamie Vardy equalled a Premier League goalscoring record to leave Leicester as the shock leaders of English football’s top-flight on Saturday. City started the late kick-off match at their Eastlands ground knowing victory would see them go top on a day when the Premier League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks. But instead Manuel Pellegrini’s men found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes after an Eliaquim Mangala own-goal preceded two sweeping Liverpool moves finished by the Brazilian pair of Phillippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino respectively. City pulled a goal back before the interval through Sergio Aguero’s 20-yard effort, but Jurgen Klopp’s visitors had the last word when Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel struck nine minutes from time. Pellegrini was at a loss to explain his side’s defeat, City’s Chilean manager saying: “It is difficult to understand. If we meant to do it on purpose, we couldn’t have done it that badly. It is impossible to understand.” By contrast, delighted Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC: “It feels perfect! The game was not perfect but it was very good. “The boys can believe now that they are stronger than many people think,” the German added. England striker Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games for his club by netting Leicester’s opener in a 3-0 win aaway to Newcastle during first-half stoppage-time at St James’ Park. Leonardo Ulloa’s header made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute before Japanese substitute Shinji Okazaki assured Italian manager Claudio Ranieri’s side of victory seven minutes from time. Martin Skrtel slides on his knees in celebration of his side’s fourth goal at Manchester City’s home ground. Mourinho. Manchester United made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions with a 2-1 win away to Watford in Saturday’s early kick-off -- the first Premier League match since the Paris terror attacks of November 13 which killed 130 people. ‘La Marseillaise’, France’s national anthem, was played before kick-off at Vicarage Road in a gesture that was repeated ahead of all of Saturday’s Premier League matches. Watford captain Troy Deeney appeared to have gained a point for the hosts with an 87th-minute penalty only to deflect Bastian Schewinsteiger’s stoppage-time effort into his own net after United had taken the lead through Memphis Depay. “In football you always have 90-93 minutes,” said German midfielder Schweinsteiger. “You always have to believe.” Everton ensured Aston Villa stayed bottom of the table with a ‘Never say die’ For the 28-year-old Vardy, it was the perfect afternoon’s work. “I have matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record and we have got the three points and clean sheet,” he said. “We have a never say die attitude and will fight for each other until the end.” Arsenal, who could have gone top themselves, suffered a an unexpected 2-1 loss away to West Bromwich Albion. It was just their third league defeat this season and hardly ideal preparation for their must-win Champions League group match at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. The Gunners took a 28th-minute lead through France striker Olivier Giroud but found themselves 2-1 down before half-time after James Morrison and an own-goal from Mikel Arteta put the Baggies in front. Santi Cazorla had a chance to equalise late on but blasted a penalty over the crossbar. “Overall it was a bad day,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “We scored an own goal, missed a penalty and missed a lot of chances. It is very disappointing.” Champions Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho with just their fourth win in 13 league matches this season as they beat Norwich 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s 64th-minute goal at Stamford Bridge. “Me and the fans didn’t deserve to have our heart in our hands in the last four minutes. It is the pressure of the bad results, that is normal,” said Leicester striker Jamie Vardy (centre) takes his plaudits from the crowd and Riyad Mahrez after opening the scoring against Newcastle. Bastian Schweinsteiger (right) wheels away in celebration after his cross was turned into his own net by Watford striker Troy Deeney. Arteta is left flat out on his back as the Arsenal midfielder’s defensive error hands the Baggies a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute. 4-0 win at Goodison Park, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku scoring two goals apiece. Stoke striker Bojan Krkic gave his side a 1-0 win away to Southampton while Swansea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Bournemouth, a heartening result for under-fire manager Garry Monk. Tottenham play London rivals West Ham on Sunday, with Monday’s top flight match between Crystal Palace and Sunderland. Monday 23 November, 2015 p7 Automotive sector Taking the lead to stay ahead With the growing popularity of hybrid cars, a group of mechanics in Au Cap recently participated in a hybrid workshop in a bid to upgrade their skills. P.Mawanda M echanics at a locally owned car repair garage this week begun a hybrid repair course which they believe will enable them lead the way and stay one step ahead as far as hybrid c a r s a r e c o n c e r n e d . “ We l l , since there is a mass inflow of hybrid cars into Seychelles, we decided that we should have this course for us to better understand hybrid cars so that we can be in a position to help hybrid car owners repair their vehicles. Aside from the car dealerships, we shall be the first garage to offer these services in the count r y. T h e m a i n i d e a b e h i n d this workshop is to put us ahead of the game and our c o m p e t i t o r s . We a r e t h e f i r s t p e o p l e t o d o i t . We know that Seychelles has a hot climate and we foresee that people who own hybrid cars need to know how to properly run their cars. By doing this, we are getting a head of the g a m e ,” Fr a n c i s K i l i n d o , a (L-R) Mr. Port-Louis, Mr. Carter, Mr.Kilindo, Mr. Reddy and Mr. Joseph. mechanic and the organiser of the workshop said. The team of four that took part in the training work at a local garage in A u C a p c a l l e d G Te c h P r o . When TODAY reached the garage in the afternoon, the group, which was being trained by Steve Carte r, a U K - b a s e d a u t o m o tive consultant, was in the middle of the final practical exam to test everything that they had learnt in the p r e v i o u s t w o d a y s . Fo r t h e exam, each trainee, superv i s e d b y M r C a r t e r, h a d t o go through a checklist of a Lexus hybrid car that was their learning prop for the d a y. Quizzed about why he had decided to carry out t h e t r a i n i n g , Mr. C a r t e r said: “I decided to carry out the training because a friend asked me to do so and I realized the importance of carrying out one. I am currently here on holiday so I decided to spend a few days of my holiday teaching these guys what they should do to tr y and save their lives. These guys want to learn. They want to fix these cars but if they just jump into it, they will probably die due to the high voltages associated with hybrid cars. Some hybrid cars can have a voltage as high as 650 volts. So, this training is very important as far as saving their lives are concerned. Also, while this may be a business opportunity for them, you can also see that they are moved to learn because they want to acquire more knowledge about the hybrid vehicles”. At the end of the training, the participants who pass their tests will get an international accredit a t i o n f r o m t h e In s t i t u t e o f M o t o r i n g In d u s t r i e s (IMA) in the UK. While this group of mechanics took it upon Using the right armour to avoid bad surprises. themselves to learn how they can remain relevant i n t h e i r profession with the influx of hybrid cars, they told this newspaper that they would not be importing hybrid car parts. “There are no car parts in this country. If you want them, you have to import them. So, customers who will find problems with their cars will have to import the parts themselves in the future. All we shall do is inform them about what needs to be fixed or replaced and they will have to do it themselves.” The other three participants that took part in the training were Vincent Port-Louis, Henry Joseph and Ian Reddy. With this knowledge secured during the workshop, the garage will offer hybrid car owners a wid e r r a n g e o f o p t i o n s when it comes to choosing a garage. Monday 23 November, 2015 p8 To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. H ow do you view the role of the Vice President? One of the major concerns within the present regime is what I have on numerous occasions described as a “groupthink” at the heart of the administration. This has come about over years of the one-party state system whereby individuals are chosen first for the allegiance to the party and second or last on merit. This automatically binds a person to the system and the brain goes into mental freeze. Irrespective of the academic level of the individual, he ceases to think for him or herself. Or even when he disagrees with a certain position, the tongue remains in mute mode. Pragmatism and the ability to think outside the box is nonexistent. A classic example is the 100% consensus that motivated the administration to force mandatory sentences with regards to drug offences. The depth of knowledge of judges was placed second to the hasty attitudes of the juveniles in Parliament who believed that they would impress the general public with such an inflexible and dogmatic idea. Even the President went along to claim that he would once and for all deal with the Escobars. Needless to say, the Escobars had the last laugh. As Vice President, it will be my role to sound, lobby and engage our people, most importantly those out of government for their views in a frank atmosphere and bridging political boundaries. I will not refrain from advising the President what the public’s view is and what the general temperature is on all issues irrespective of whether it is totally contrary to the President’s own views. Do you think you have an important role to play even though people do not actually vote for a vice president? What I have described above is a most important role. But besides that, I have a series of personal tasks that I would like to take on which I will describe later. Why should people vote for you and your team? First of all, I must congratulate the other candidates lined up in the opposition. But as a team, in our very different lives, Alexia Amesbury and I have both made it a habit of taking on major challenges es- pecially where people’s lives, welfare and future are involved. In these situations, leadership qualities must have the indispensable ingredient of TRUST. Trust provides the platform to surmount any obstacle. that to Syria. What kind of VP do you intend to be? A passive one or one who will take an active interest in the affairs of the country? As Vice President, I intend to take on the following specifically in addition to other responsibilities. What has motivated your participation in the 2015 presidential election? I have been studying the political landscape, or may I say the “lack” of one well before February 2015 when the President proclaimed that he would win outright as the opposition was fragmented. Even well before then, when election fever was at minus zero, I proposed in one my articles that more opposition parties were necessary to provide new sprouts for our tree of democracy. I even suggested that perhaps we would end up with having primaries, if not by design then by default. This is exactly what has transpired. It is only right in our continued effort to develop and educate the electorate about democracy. Today we can pay due courtesy to SNP or Lalyans Seselwa gatherings and in the next moment strongly debate opposing ideas and solutions to better our country. Moreover, it is important that in our quest to change a corrupt system, we establish a subsequent political landscape to ensure good checks and balances. The Pres- a) Establish a special bureau to personally encourage any innovative business ideas that does not fall in any of the standard categories that exist. Today, any such new ideas is being killed at birth simply because the officials cannot rightly allocate a license. We must NEVER discourage innovation and the will to work. I will introduce the ability for any individual to flirt with an idea without him/her having to lodge all the red tape requirements of licensing. My experience tells me that most good businesses started with a simple idea that germinated into a profitable venture. Alexia with her supporters in Belombre. idential election is important, but the parliamentary elections are even more important. We must educate the population that future Presidents will not be able to rule and govern at whim. Our constitution must be respected and this is why I am a proud player on the field today, I have been lucky to have been able to establish myself well in life, and gained considerable experience of the wider world, and this is my small bit in return to show my gratitude to the motherland. Why do you think your Presidential candidate will make a good President? There will be no prefect candidate amongst all the potentials. But Alexia Amesbury will be the best President for many reasons. But most importantly, since we are transitioning from a dark past towards a chamber of light, trust of each and every one of us is most important. But it is not only trust, each and every one of the population must feel comfortable in each other’s space. Her being new to the political village makes her more acceptable to unite the different parties to work together. Secondly, the social ills that impede our nation requires a person with compassion. Mrs Amesbury is not only compassionate but she has been there in her own personal life experiences, growing up in an orphanage. With the tagline “From Orphanage to Statehouse”, Seychelles will be immediately on the global map. A direct impact on our failing tourism industry. Finally, Alexia Amesbury has one final ace for the betterment of the whole country. The concept of odious debt which will be explained in other articles and submissions is of too much importance for any other political party not to pay heed to it. In having been absent in the country’s political past, she is the only person who can wipe our national debt in one clean swipe. What is the one trait that you admire in her? Her unselfishness. Why do you think you will make a good Vice President? Other then the points mentioned above, my present participation in the election is first and foremost to remove the Lepep government from power. At this present moment, the opportunity of being a running mate provides me with the most influence to achieve that goal. Furthermore, being a Vice President will allow me to ensure the continued enhancement of our democracy and good governance in the crucial transition from one system to another. If you had to pick one issue and make it your own personal battle, which would it be? In short, it would be to achieve a totally independent state media, where journalists are allowed to demonstrate individualism in their respective submissions. Encouraging style and frankness without any doubt that quiet or subtle pressure will bear down on them. What are your views on the formation of the cabinet: should Ministers belong to a specific party, should they be chosen on merit? I have always posited that there exists no single political party that can field all ministerial posts. This has been the demise of the ruling party. Equally, the Minister must not be disingenuous in respecting the government’s policy and must administer with total impartiality. Naturally, a strict ministerial Code of Ethics must be in place from the outset. I have also always been against a government of National Unity. Not because I do not believe in unity, but I strongly feel that an arranged marriage in running a government will create fertile ground for the formation of an “elite group” prepared to solidify its existence by being “extra nice” to each other. This will very quickly turn into a corrupt regime. In the absence of tribal groups or different factions as may be the case in other countries, we do not need a government of National Unity. Leave b) Many of our families undergo immense strain when they come of age and require 24-hour care. It is a fact that as people age, they wish to remain in the area that they are used to which has become their comfort zone. As Vice President, I intend to find a suitable area, like Cap Ternay. Create retirement parcels with a small allotment for gardening. This will be sold to families only and can be used as retirement residences. Only retired persons will be allowed to reside there although they could be visited on week-ends by young members of the family who in turn will get accustomed to the place for their old age. The land will be leasehold and can be jointly owned by more than one family. A private nursing centre will offer 24-hour care depending on individual requirements. There will be a clause to discourage speculation of land. c) As Vice President I intend to encourage our young men and women to seek employment in commonwealth militaries and navies. There they can acquire training, special skills and good character development. They will be able to vote even when overseas and will be able to put their names to the land-bank register. They will also be encouraged to contribute to the Seychelles pension scheme. d) As Vice President, I intend to commission the highest bravery medal for the brave men and women who lost their lives over the past 38 years in their struggle to bring about democracy to our country. I will form a committee to design the medal and respective citation which will be represented by families of those poor souls. Monday 23 November, 2015 p9 SNP in Perseverance Lepep supporters hurl abuse at SNP leader Despite the perception that Perseverance is a “Parti Lepep stronghold”, the SNP Presidential candidate said the door to door exercise was very positive. important”. The two-hour visit could have taken a turn for the worse however, when just after 6pm, a group of Parti Lepep supporters, mostly women, who were getting ready for their party’s activity, started throwing insults at Mr Ramkalawan. The incident took place near the entrance of Perseverance 1, when Mr Ramkalawan and his team were on their way to visit a family that had personally requested to see him. Shouts of “We do not want you T here”, “what are you doing on reclaimed land” and “get out”, could be heard over loud music being played in a pick-up truck stationed nearby. One young man, in his red attire jumped right in front of Mr Ramkalawan and told him he never wanted to see him in Perseverance again. Mr Ramkalawan who was escorted out of the area by his bodyguard, told TODAY that these incidents rarely happen but that when they do, it is best to remain calm and not antagonize the op- Wavel Ramkalawan and Roger Mancienne meeting with one resident at Perseverance. he Seychelles National Party (SNP)’s door-to-door exercise in Perseverance last Friday started just after 5pm. Led by a pick-up truck blasting out popular SNP songs, the motorcade made up of a dozen cars stopped at the field facing the small beach at Perseverance 2. The activists were divided into groups of two and three and distributed leaflets of the party’s manifesto to residents of the housing estate. Wavel Ramkalawan and his run- ning mate Roger Mancienne were accompanied by Dereck Amade, who is expected to be SNP’s representative for Perseverance at the next parliamentary elections. The initial impression was how friendly everybody was, with children waving and calling out “Father Wavel” and people passing by in cars greeting and honking as Mr Ramkalawan and Mr Mancienne made their way from house to house. Some passersby also came over to greet SNP’ Presidential candi- date to express their support for the SNP, which is contesting the Presidential election for the fifth time. Mr Ramkalawan said that although it is good to have big rallies, the door-to-door exercise is as equally important, “because it brings that human contact”. He said he was familiar with some people who now reside in Perseverance and who hail from various districts but most of the time, “you do not need to know the person, it is the approach that is SPSD in town Alexia Amesbury brings Victoria to a standstill The Presidential candidate of the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy (SPSD) met with voters in town on Saturday morning. Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday. “An early bird catches the worm”, says the adage. Presidential candidate Alexia Amesbury in this spirit on Saturday joined the early morning shoppers on the third trail of her campaign. Her team was stationed at Premier Building where the voice of David Scholastique could be hard blaring. His “Vote Alexia” message together with the fliers, manifestos, T-shirts, caps, CDs and umbrellas that were being distributed made the early morning shoppers stop for a second or two to listen to the candidate’s message. While at first the people seemed a bit reluctant about walking to the pickups to obtain these free items, as the morning crowd grew bigger and traffic increased, passersby seemed to get bolder and made their way towards the pickup, declaring their support for Mrs. Amesbury and accepting her goodies. TODAY spoke to some of the people who chatted with Mrs. Amesbury and they said they will vote for the “’people’s defender’ because it is time for change. We need change and Mrs. Amesbury is that change,” a 30-year old mother said. A vegetable stall owner said that “Alexia will knock out President Michel in one round” while a shop- per asserted that “Alexia stands and represents all the women in the country. She is a symbol of how far women can go and a sign that women exist in this country and can have a choice. So instead of voting for all the other male candidates, I will vote for Alexia because she is a woman and will do more for women.” A shop owner on Market street said that “Alexia once defended me in court. I have to vote for her. Not because she defended me and fought for me but because of the way she fought. She did not give up on me even when I was tired. I had nothing but she still fought for me as if I was giving her millions. Because of that, I know that she if the right person to vote for. Seychelles needs a change. Alexia should be that change because she will fight for this country just as she fights for all the people that she defends”. A fisher seller at the market told TODAY that he will vote for Alexia Amesbury “because she knows the people. She is the only candidate that has come to the market to talk to us and greet us. I do not need a TV or a car to vote for her. I will vote for her because she is normal like us.” PDM posters finally here! Posters for the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) have finally cropped up over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning in the streets of Victoria, featuring Presidential candidate David Pierre and his running mate Hervey Anthony. The posters can be seen in central areas of the main roundabout in Victoria and the road towards Mont Fleuri as well as in Anse aux Pins. Parti Lepep supporters hurled insults at SNP team. posing supporters who he said “were clearly out for a confrontation”. Other than the unfortunate incident, Mr Ramkalawan described the activity as successful. He said a number of issues were raised during the conversations he had with the residents including poverty, health, welfare and the high cost of living. When asked whether the SNP is expected to do well in Perseverance which is considered a Parti Lepep stronghold, Mr Ramkalawan said that “there is no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep. A lot of people I have spoken to say they are wearing their Parti Lepep t-shirts but they are not supporting the party”, he said. “This time around, I feel that people are really listening and reflecting on the parties’ programmes before deciding. I firmly believe that this time, people will vote, not according to what they have received during the campaign but according to the best programmes being presented”, concluded Mr Ramkalawan. Meanwhile yesterday, the SNP held its public meeting at Roche Caiman for residents of the central region. TODAY will bring you a report in Tuesday’s paper. Monday 23 November, 2015 Advertorial Hitachi lands on local market The international brand now has an official representative in Seychelles. Coastal Seychelles intends to offer its products at competitive prices. tor design and electronics that are consistently driven by innovation to enable jobs to be safer, easier and less tiring. According to Coastal Seychelles, customers will be drawn to these the products by virtue of “Hitachi’s recog- L nised track record for reliability, the machinery’s high durability and quality”. It is to be noted that the brand previously did not officially sell to the Seychelles market prior to Coastal Seychelles filling the gap. For all your construction needs, be sure to visit the Hitachi outlet at the Neverland Complex in Providence. Alternatively, give them a call on 442 0854, 437 3542 or 271 7759, email them on [email protected] and visit the www.hitachi-koki.com website for more information. Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi. ocal company Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi power tools and spare parts in Seychelles. Presently, the company sells only power tools, with a focus on products intended for the construction sector. Despite targeting their marketing towards civil constructions for mechanical, electrical and plumbing sectors, Coastal Seychelles nevertheless will be selling products for personal home use as well. The outlet will also be your best recourse should you need quick repairs done on your machinery. The Hitachi brand manufactures industry-leading portable cordless and electrical power tools and accessories, aimed at commercial and professional applications. Hitachi power tools are world renowned for their performance, high levels of quality, durability and operability for all users across any worksite. Hitachi power tools feature the latest advancements in power tool construction, mo- Power tools and spare parts now available in the country. p11 Destination Travel Bruges This week we take you to one of the most visited towns in Belgium. age highs and average lows don’t exceed a range of 9° C (or 16° F). A large number of carriers offer direct flights to Brussels. Belgium’s main airport has its own railway station. Bruges can easily be reached through the airports of Brussels, Charleroi (Brussels South) and Lille, so getting to Bruges by train is by far the easiest way. Only one I city where cycling is familiarized and where the local government puts a lot of effort to improve cycling in this city. According to Bruges Major cycling is the main point of attention in all parts of infrastructure, city plans, permits etc. In 2012 Bruges received a nomination for ¨Belgium cycle city of the year¨. Also, for 15 years Bruges has you across Bruges highlights within a few hours. Two good bike tour companies are Baja Bikes and Quasimundo. The historical center is not so big and thus quite walkable. The only mode of public transport inside city is bus. Buses are operated by the Flemish public transport company De Lijn. Taxis on the market place and station cost about €10. Bicycles are easy to rent and make getting around the city very speedy, although the cobblestoned paths can make the rides a little bumpy and uncomfortable. Once over the encircling canal and inside the city walls, Bruges closes in around you with street after street of charming historic houses and a canal always nearby. In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land. The newly cleaned houses should however not confuse you; they are truly centuries old. And if you can get away from the chocolate-shops, you can visit some more quiet areas such as. St. Anna, and imagine what life in the late middle ages must have been like. Bruges city square. t is the capital of the province of West Flanders, and is also the seat of the Bishop of Brugge. Bruges has a population of just over 117,000, of which around 20,000 live in the old city centre, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, because of the many special buildings in that area. Most of the visitors are attracted to Bruges because of its charm. The channels sometimes make you wonder if you are not in the Netherlands. Relatively cosmopolitan and bourgeois given its compact size, it is one of the best preserved pre-motorised cities in Europe and offers the kind of charms rarely available elsewhere. Bruges is a postcard perfect stop on any tour of Europe. Even by Belgian standards, Bruges has a poor reputation for its weather. Compared to other western European cities like London and Paris, the weather in Bruges is colder and more damp. Even in July and August, average daily maximum temperatures struggle to exceed 21° C (70° F) and rainfall averages 203 mm (8 in) a month. After October, temperatures drop off quite rapidly and winter months are damp and chilly. The summer visitor should always be prepared for rain in Bruges and that warm and sunny weather is not constant during that season. Also note that the daily and monthly temperature variations are quite small. Daily differences between aver- Tempting, non? change at one of the three main stations is needed and the entire connection takes about 1:20. Cycling in Bruges is the perfect way to discover the historical centre. Bruges citizens make fanatical use of their bikes. Up to 60% of all incoming traffic in the city centre are cyclists. Bruges can be described as a been the starting point for the Tour of Flanders. When you’re planning to visit Bruges you can easily hop on a bike and start to discover the city. There are various bike rental companies spread over the city and some of them also offer the opportunity to do a guided bike tour. A local guide will take Tarte flambée with caramelized onions, Parma ham, shaved cheese and chives. And beer, of course. p12 Monday 23 November, 2015 Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPB. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. (Continued From Page 2) Mr Mancienne further elaborated on the proposal, saying that the “SNP will ensure that competent people are appointed in key positions, that institutions tasked with maintaining peace and order like the police army and judiciary are free from political interference”. He added that for the public service to function properly, it needs to be independent. “Ministers will be there to ensure that policies are implemented but will not decide who qualifies for social welfare or over- seas medical treatment, or who will be promoted in a department”. Wrapping up, Mr Ramkalawan stressed on the importance of having strong institutions to protect citizens. “How many times have we Lalyans Seselwa: The real cost of corruption “Do not make the mistake of thinking that the schools and hospitals built are a gift from the government. You are paying for everything”, Lalyans Seselwa leader Patrick Pillay said in his party’s PPB on Friday, reminding the public that corruption has throughout the campaign been his party’s main battle. He said he felt that the Seychellois people are having a hard time understanding where their money goes, perhaps because the current government says corruption is only a perception. “It’s not just about taking money that is not yours; it’s about everyday practice – favoritism, victimization, unfairness and so forth”, Mr. Pillay explained. He also explained that money used for different ministry projects do not come from Parti Lepep, but rather from citizens’ pockets. His running mate Ahmed Afif followed with a series of examples of corruption which he said he witnessed first-hand from his days working for government. He spoke of a USD50 million donation by Abu Dhabi to assist in projects in Seychelles, which was then mysteriously transferred to a Baroda bank account in England. The government said they would investigate the matter, but later stated there is not enough evidence to pursue the case. This, Mr. Afif explained, is just one of the many ways people in government can divert money for their own use without accountability. He also stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to investigate a money deal of USD5.4 million for the Plantation Club Hotel in Seychelles. Unfortunately, the investigation went nowhere due to government’s unwillingness to cooperate. He ended by stating that Sey- chelles is SCR455 million in debt this year alone, which means that each person is paying back this debt to the tune of SCR 950 per person month. Hence, Mr. Afif explained all that these bad practices must stop and that government needed to be accountable. “Government needs to change”, Mr Afif reiterated. Throughout the broadcast, supporters of Lalyans Seselwa shared their enthusiasm for the party and urged people to vote for Patrick Pillay come December. Alexia Amesbury: “The country’s development is attached to a huge debt” Alexia Amesbury focused on the country’s economy in her PPB aired on Saturday night. Among other things, she talked about why the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was called into the country in 2008 and why the electorate should vote for the opposition that has a united agenda for overthrowing the current government. “In 2008 President James Michel and his party had to call in the IMF to take us out of the hole that they had led us into because we only had three days worth of reserves left. Seychelles was bankrupt. Today President Michel says that Seychelles is the richest African country with a GDP of USD 25000 per head but that is not because of Mr. Michel, it is thanks to the IMF. The IMF had to bail us out because it did not have confidence in Parti Lepep. The development that this country has seen under President Michel is one that is attached to huge debt brought about by borrowing money to make us believe that we are developed. And yet we are not. In my party, development is not equal to debt and we do not want any more debt. Because we do not want more debt, we have a policy that will ask all debts that were incurred by Parti Lepep while they were in power to be paid by them,” Mrs. Amesbury said. While some have questioned some of her economic policies like the abolition of income tax and the refusal to repay the country’s debt, Mrs. Amesbury said that her party is being supported by qualified Seychellois who can produce an economic plan for the country that will make Seychelles a nation led by Seychellois professionals. Mrs. Amesbury also highlighted the importance of the general electorate to have a President whose mandate starts from the ballot box. “We did not elect president Mancham through a ballot box, neither did we elect President René and we all know that President Michel became President after President Rene resigned and he passed on the presidency to him. If we elect President Michel and his party, the same thing will happen because he has already ruled for 12 years and the constitution does not allow for any president to rule for 17 years. So, it means that half way into his mandate, he will hand over the presidency to Vice President Danny Faure, and we will continue to have Presidents that do not start their mandates from the ballot box”. heard people say I cannot come forward because I have applied for a loan, or a plot of land or my child is waiting for a scholarship”, he said, adding that strong and independent institutions will mean people will not be scared to support a political party of their choice. “ They will know their applications are based on merit and not politics, that when they go to court, they will get justice because everything has been done according to procedures. (...) Having strong institutions mean the government will no longer threaten and scare its people but it will be the people holding the government in check”. Parti Lepep: Experience versus inexperience On Saturday evening, Parti Lepep told voters that they basically had two options: Either they choose Parti Lepep which will take the country further, or they decide to vote for the opposition based on the manifestos they have presented but that it was something that would divide the country and plunge it into darkness. And they had a multitude of business people who testified about the progress they had made under the Parti Lepep government, while a group of first time voters explained why they will be endorsing James Michel. Incumbent James Michel again put the emphasis on his experience and said that “no one can take away what I have accomplished in the past five years”. This, he continued, meant that he had “the necessary baggage” to take the country forward for the next five years. The party’s motto, “Together”, he said, is indicative of what “we can achieve together for the next five years. I won’t make people believe that one man or party will change a country,” but rather, that it is a people working together towards a common goal that will make it happen. The incumbent then went on to say that “there is still work to be done. Today Seychelles has a modern economy, we are breaking new frontiers in business, there is support for businesses by Seychellois.” He went on to say that he wants to see the “Seychellois developing the economy and willing to take their rightful part within the economy, with special emphasis on the blue economy, which will offer more opportunities for businesses and employment,” he said. Vice President Danny Faure said that President Michel was “killing himself ” for the country. “Everywhere we look, there is success. If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that there is proof around us. The opposition can say whatever they want about him, but he is a man with Seychelles at heart,” he concluded. p13 Monday 23 November, 2015 MV Logos Hope The book fair is now open! A dreary morning on Saturday did not stop people from visiting the ship. By CM TODAY spoke to said that they were very happy to have reached Seychelles and that they were looking forward to enjoy some of the sights. Guests consisted of President James Michel, Vice President Danny Faure, Ministers Alain St. Ange, Jean-Paul Adam, Idith Alexander and MacSuzy Mondon, representatives of the police force, the Seychelles Ports Authority and local churches among others. President Michel was gifted on the occasion with a set of books by Captain Ver- beek to commemorate the launch of the book fair. The official launch of the book fair started with prayers by a crew member. He asked that God gives the leaders of Seychelles wisdom and discernment in the exercise of their duties and he also gave thanks for Seychelles as a Christian nation. This was followed by a video to explain the work that MV Logos Hope does. Alongside the book fair, the crew also give medical assistance when in port as well as guidance. Several of the crew members Captain Verbeek, daughter of the President Laeticia Michel, President Michel and Vice President Danny Faure officially launched the book fair. I t started off as a downcast morning at the port on Saturday at the official launch of the MV Logos Hope’s book fair. The toll booth had been set up at the entrance of the Seychelles Port Authority (SPA) entrance near Docklands. Despite the weather, a band had been set up for the launch to entertain guests boarding the ship and the crew stood at the ship’s entrance to welcome guests. The music started off with local séga beats but then changed to that of upbeat gospel songs that are quite popular with the Seychellois and apparently, the crew of the MV Logos Hope as well, who were dancing on and off the ship. Aboard the ship, several of the volunteers had been conscripted to welcome and attend to the guests dressed in their traditional garb and a genuine smile. It is to be noted that volunteers do not get paid for what they do on the ship and they are all contracted to do twoyear stints at a time on the ship. It is also to be noted that the majority of volunteers, who are all Christians, are not sailors by profession and as such, their six-day journey from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Seychelles was not the smoothest and many suffered from sea-sickness. Despite the rough journey, the volunteers Minister for Education, MacSuzy Mondon, rifling through the books in the shop. The doors open for the first shoppers. treated the guests to a parade of nations, despite there being over 55 different nationalities currently on the ship. Some of the countries parading were Japan, Haiti, Egypt, Brazil, Bahamas and Taiwan. Ed Verbeek, the Captain of the ship, welcomed the guests onboard the ship. He gave a brief apercu of his career and said that he began his career in 1973 as an apprentice officer, the same year that MV Logos Hope also began its sailing career. “The ship and I also share another milestone, this is our first time in Seychelles as well,” he said. After this brief introduction, it was time to commemorate the launch of the book fair. This, Captain Verbeek did by gifting President Michel with a set of books. Moving towards the book fair, Captain Verbeek, President Michel, his daughter Laeticia and Vice-President Faure cut the ribbon, officially opening the book fair. The crew took the opportunity to give the President, the VicePresident and Ministers a guided tour of the book shop. By the time the launch was over, a group of people were already amassing outside to board the ship, despite the rain. Monday 23 November, 2015 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Automatic, rear view camera, full option. Price negotiable. Call 2521474 A position exist for a live- in female carer at Sans Souci, Mahe. Ring Kathleen on 2601062 for further details. 21 Jan – 19 Feb If you are at a loss as to what to do with yourself, get together with some friends and get involved in an activity that means something to you all. The sun in Sagittarius is good for group activities of all kinds but especially those which help other people. 23 July – 22 Aug This is one of the best times of the year for those born under your sign, so forget about any setbacks you may have suffered and start looking forward to a time when everything will go right for you again – it won’t be long in coming. 20 Feb – 20 March If you have not given much thought to your status and reputation of late then maybe you should give it some thought now. With the sun moving through the career area of your chart you can, with a little bit of effort, move up in the world rapidly. 23 Aug – 23 Sept If you get the chance to prove your critics wrong this week by all means take it but don’t let the need to do so consume your every waking thought. Life is too short to waste time arguing with people who seem to be negative about everything. 21 March – 20 April This is a good time of year for you but it could be a great one if you stop worrying about things that might go wrong and give yourself over to having a good time. Remember, though, that definitions of a good time vary from person to person. 24 Sept – 23 Oct Go where you want to go and do want you want to do this week, because no one is going to stop you. The full moon on Wednesday may bring a brief interruption to your wanderings but it won’t be for long. You’ve just got to be free. 21 April – 21 May If someone avoids giving you a straight answer to a perfectly straightforward question, then be on your guard, You don’t have to be paranoid but you do have to take whatever moves you feel are necessary to protect your personal and professional interests. 24 Oct – 22 Nov Your view of reality seems to be a bit distorted at the moment and that could cause problems if you let the line between fact and fantasy get blurred. Be extra careful where money matters are concerned because if you get it wrong it could cost you. 22 May – 21 June Be more open about your feelings this week. Let those who care about you know that you care about them too. Sometimes you can be so secretive that you make it hard even for loved ones to know what is going on in your heart or your head. 23 Nov – 21 Dec You have come through a lot in recent weeks but now that the sun is moving through your own sign you can look back and see there were reasons for everything that happened. Put doubts and fears behind you and act as if all things are possible. 22 June – 22 July 22 Dec – 20 Jan There will be times over the next few days when you want to be left alone with your thoughts. Make sure those you live and work with know that you require your own space. If they are not prepared to give it to you then get up and go elsewhere. Little things can mean a lot, so don’t overlook details that may seem minor now but could be of major significance later on. Even the smallest of causes can result in major consequences, so make sure you know what is going on. The Annual General Meeting of the Marine Charter Association will be held at the VCS Building Le Chantier on Monday 14th December 2015 at 2:00pm. Down 1. A Semitic people 2. Phone 3. Jacob’s brother 4. Expends 5. Box 6. Any aromatic plant used in cooking 7. A language of Pakistan and India 8. 7th letter in the Greek alphabet 9. Consecutive 10. A disparaging remark 11. Panache 13. Stone pillar 14. Analyze chemical substances 20. Present (at a show) 21. Drink in small amounts 25. Found on old telephones 26. Boxlike 27. Offensiveness 28. About 29. It travels on rails 30. A socially awkward act 31. Dunk 33. Hearing organ 35. Mesh 37. Fool 39. Away from the wind 42. Achy 44. Package of 500 sheets of paper 47. A failure to maintain 49. A Hindu deity 52. Fathers 53. Pearly-shelled mussel 55. Native of South America 56. Obtains 57. Not fake 58. Hammer or saw, for example 59. Inactive 60. Yield 62. Which person? Yesterday’s solution Across 1. Expert flyers 5. Son of Ra (Egyptian mythology) 8. Nature of being 12. Coarse file 13. Classical music theater 15. Impart information 16. Wings 17. Poets 18. Turquoise 19. Musket 22. Vase 23. Delete (abbrev.) 24. Assistant 26. Pertaining to the universe 29. Keyboarding 31. Flop 32. Willow 34. The devil 36. Cited from the same place 38. An African livestock enclosure 40. The state of living 41. Devout 43. Shouter 45. Toward the rear 46. Dome 48. Pin 50. Latin for “Will be” 51. Anagram of “Haw” 52. A light grayish brown 54. Terse and witty 61. Afresh 63. An expression of contempt 64. Travelled on a horse 65. Plate 66. Anagram of “Cadet” 67. Cast or form 68. Neither good nor bad 69. American Sign Language 70. Downwind 1. Ipanema and Copacabana beach are parts of what famous city? 2. A rising or resurgence of the hydrosphere is more commonly known as what? 3. In medicine, the word styptic refers to something that stops what? 4. What do people normally do in a refectory: Eat; Sleep; Study; or Grow vegetables? 5. What soft gray alkaline earth metal is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust? 6. Wildfowl such as ducks, geese, swans, etc., have a nail on which part of the body: Foot; Wingtip; Beak; or Breast? 7. What is the Muslim nations’ equivalent of the Red Cross co-ordination body for the relief of human suffering? 8. Name the Ukrainian/Russian American engineer who was first to viably manufacture and sell helicopters? 9. Which Australian city is considered to have the largest Greek population outside of Greece? 10. What main religion celebrates festivals including Nuakhai, Yatra (or Zatra/Jatra), Pongal, Holi and Shigmo? Quick Quiz Answers: 1. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 2. Spring (a natural spring of water) 3. Bleeding (from Greek styphein, constrict) 4. Eat 5. Calcium 6. Beak 7. Red Crescent 8. Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972 - initial production development c.1939-42) 9. Melbourne 10. Hindu New Model Nissan X-Trial Hybrid 4x4. 9,000Km. Colour Black. Year 2015. Call Terry 2869280 Suzuki Baleno A/C power steering Fuel injec Manual Just repaint TEL: 2745251 price negotiable Published by TODAY Publishers (Seychelles) Limited, P.O. Box 999, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles Printed by “The Print House (Pty) Ltd.”, Providence Industrial Estate, Mahé, Seychelles. Tel: +248 4290 999/950/951 Fax: +248 4325999 [email protected] Grand Anse, Praslin Tel: +248 4237 441 Fax: +248 4237 442 Editor - Deepa Bhookhun [email protected] How To Play The objective is to fill the blank squares with the correct numbers •Every row of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every column of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every 3 x 3 sub-grid must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order Fill the other empty cells with numbers between 1 and 9 A number should appear only once on each row, column and 3 x 3 region Business Development Manager - Veronica Maria [email protected] ISSN: 1659-7265	Igor Sikorsky
In physics, what is the opposite of Tension?	Monday 23 november 2015 by magazineseychelles - issuu issuu 9 Days Presidential Election 2015 Presidential election Stakes are high in fast approaching election On the campaign trail, Parti Lepep supporters hurled abuse at SNP leader on Friday while Alexia Amesbury brought Victoria to a standstill on Saturday morning. T his weekend saw Parti Lepep campaigning on La Digue and Praslin while the SNP held a rally in Roche Caiman yesterday, following a door-to-door exercise on Friday in Perseverance where the SNP leader, Wavel Ramkalawan, said that there was “no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep”. Lalyans Seselwa also held a public meeting in Anse Royale while the independent candidate, Philippe Boullé, was in Les Mamelles yesterday for a rally. Meanwhile PDM’s posters have finally hit town! Sunday’s events will feature in tomorrow’s edition. See page 9 for the campaign trail and pages 2 and 12 for PPBs. 12.85 13.35 13.40 14.20 19.20 20.30 Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday morning while Wavel Ramkalawan sits with Perseverance resident on Friday. Right, Parti Lepep activists ask the SNP to leave the area which they say is the ruling party’s stronghold. To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. Read more on page 8 12.80 13.30 13.60 14.20 19.20 20.25 p2 Saving face on roads By N.Tirant R oads are a fact of modern life and cars are the new reality – traffic jams in our tiny capital are now a common day-long occurrence and as tempers shorten and alcohol fogs reason, we may see more speeding, more reckless driving and unfortunately more deaths on our road. Add election fever to the mix as we move into the Christmas season and roads that no longer show us where to go and how to drive and let’s ready ourselves for more mayhem! This year, it seems, we paid no mind to remembering those who have lost their lives in road traffic accidents even if it’s a modern day obligation. With an estimated 1.25 million people killed each year – 90 per cent of them in low-income and middle-income countries like our own, dedicating a day to the victims could remind us of our own mortality as we recall the dangers we pose to ourselves, our families and other road users by the way we drive and behave on the roads. In our earthly paradise, where the car has become king and where pedestrians all too often learn to manage without pavements,accidents on our roads claim too many lives each year. To save those lives our government promised to improve roads, enforce laws on seat-belts, motorcycle helmets and child restraints and increase punishment for speeding, reckless and drunk-driving. Even the latest Sustainable Development Goals to which we noisily subscribed in September include a target to ‘halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020’.And in case anyone should doubt our enthusiasm, before that in May 2011 we launched the UN Decade for action for road safety in even greater fanfare. That plan of action included building capacity in road safety management,improving the behaviour of road users,upgrading our road infrastructure to guarantee safety and making emergency services more responsive. Five years into that decade, election fever has clouded our perception and we’ve forgotten all about asking ourselves why too many of our citizens are still dying on our roads. But it wasn’t always like this! In December 2009 we gave ourselves a new parastatal with the bold objectives of providing ‘an efficient and adequate land transport system and infrastructure’. That statutory state-funded body, which received SCR58,377,000 from the national budget in 2015,is still trying to come to grips with the inevitable – the steady rise in the number of vehicles on a non-expandable road system. From 13,592 vehicles on our 508 kilometres of road in 2009 the number had risen to 17,592 by 2013 with only 12 more kilometres of road on which to run. That’s taken road congestion from 27 vehicles per kilometre of road in 2009 to 34 in 2013 – a figure that’s still rising as I write! Whilst the agency struggles to set those national land transport policies that could make a real difference, traffic management seems to outdo itself at each corner. As public transport fails to make the grade and meet growing demand,despite more buses on the roads(up from 269 in 2009 to 458 in 2013), people are choosing to own their own vehicle, exacerbating the problem of road congestion, and creating frustrated drivers who become reckless and dangerous as they cut corners in safety. By the law that created it, the state-financed agency has to submit an annual business plan for approval by the transport ministry each year. In view of the state of our roads, the citizen taxpayers would love to see details of that plan along with the agency’s performance indicators, “statement of the short and medium term operational objectives” and “outline of the agency’s strategies to achieve its objectives”to reassure us that our money is being well-spent. Meanwhile, the visible part of the agency’s work includes several re-surfaced roads in downtown Victoria, except that road markings are not keeping the same pace. As fresh tarmac swallows up some pavements, lanes are left to guesswork and pedestrians brave death and injury as they force their way across roads where zebra crossings once lay. With over 2,294 hired vehicles driven by unsuspecting visitors imagine the potential hazard as they are left guessing that the virgin tarmac once was a zebra crossing! Would it be too much for the agency to have a team paint lines and markings in the wake of the rollers flattening out the new surface? And what of that ridiculous “hump” of tarmac placed diagonally across the Bel Air road behind National House? Clearly not meant to slow traffic, the bump’s a band aid meant to channel excess run-off water from the mountain-side of the road where an action plan would have required that a drain be built! The agency could have saved face, avoided embarrassment and catered for the problem with a simple drain pipe under the road surface! Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPBs. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. SNP: Drugs and national institutions “I am tired of hearing the painful pleas of parents who are helpless in the face of their children’s addiction while some are becoming millionaires with the sale of drugs”, Seychelles National Party (SNP) leader Wavel Ramkalawan said on Friday in its second PPB. The SNP backed its claims with figures, saying that judiciary sources estimate at 85%, the drug-related cases that came before the court. The NDEA, it added, says that around 5000 people are drug users, out of whom some 2000 are using heroin, making Seychelles, the second country worldwide with the highest number of people using heroin via intravenous method. Since 2002, the country has recorded 528 cases of hepatitis C and 99% were infected as a result of sharing needles. Mr Ramkalawan said that parents were slaves in their own homes as their children steal and engage in other anti-social behaviours to feed their addiction. He said the SNP was committed to go after the drug traffickers who were importing heroin into the country and “we will not allow them to continue to exploit our population through their selfish acts”. Running mate Roger Mancienne said that “drug traffickers will not be protected because of their political connection and hide behind their social status”. “Surveillance will be done by the Defense Forces, meaning that their budget will be put to good use instead of just protecting the President”, he added. The SNP’s policy will b compassion “for the addicts and help them claim back their lives and punish the traffickers”, the party said. The other issue outlined in the party political broadcast was the need to strengthen national institutions. Lawyer and party member, Anthony Derjacques said the SNP will review the roles of national institutions, including the Human Rights Commission, Ethics Commission, National Tender Board and the Constitutional Appointment Authority, to make them efficient. Continued on page 12 ONE SEYCHELLES ONE DESTINY Fairer Taxes A strong platform for businesses Government has an important duty to enable people to get on in life, and to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. Our tax system has a crucial part to play in this. (However, tax should not be used to punish anybody in society or to mold society’s behavior but should only be used to raise the necessary money to meet the spending requirements of our government) 3. Close loopholes which allow large companies to evade taxes, PDM wishes to achieve a tax system that is progressive in relation to income and wealth, reduces inequality, and ensures that those earning the lowest wages are not disadvantaged by working, in which wealthy individuals and businesses make their fair contribution and where those who seek to avoid paying tax are prevented from doing so. 5. Introduce a more stable and competitive corporate tax regime to attract inward investments and give businesses the certainty it needs to make long term decisions, We also wish to achieve a tax system which raises sufficient revenue without disproportionately reducing incentives for individuals to work and save, and presents an attractive option for business investments, supporting economic growth and creating prosperity, and that is simpler and easier to understand. To achieve this PDM will: 4. Push for greater banking transparency and greater cooperation between nations to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, 6. Provide tax-incentivized investment opportunities for investors in start-up technology and green businesses, 7. Lower the rate of Vat on home renovations, 8. Administer personal income tax on a sliding scale basis (between 0% and 20%), 9. Review downwards the current road tax rates, 1 Tighten corporate tax rules to prevent large companies from reducing their tax bills by paying excessive interest to related parties overseas, 10. Remove all taxes on gratuity payments below Rs25000/-, 2. Introduce strong General Anti-Avoidance Rule outlawing any move taken by companies simply to try and avoid tax, 11. Professionalize and modernize SRC to ensure very strict and efficient collection of revenues. DAVID PIERRE FOR PRESIDENT Monday 23 November 2015 The Big Interview with Eline Moses “We urge the public to report cases of intimidation” TODAY sat down with the chairperson of Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) to find out more about the organisation’s responsibilities, issues pertaining to its credibility and the importance of making an informed decision on Election Day. W about the legal framework and code of conduct which govern the election process. Three days were devoted to election observation and the two remaining days focused on report writing and our media strategy. I would say now have a pool of well-trained professionals who are ready to observe the upcoming election. The core team has already started observing the pre-election process, including Nomination Day but some members are waiting for their accreditation from the Electoral Commission before they can start observing the elections. As mentioned earlier, the EC has to do thorough background checks on all the members before accrediting them. hat is the role of the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS)? The NGO was set up in 2011 right after the Presidential election. It came about following recommendations by international observer missions to Seychelles, which stated the country should have its own domestic observer team to oversee local elections. Our work is motivated by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 24 of our Constitution, which states that each citizen has a right to participate in his/her country’s public affairs and should be given opportunities to exercise this right. This can be through elections, where you have the right to vote or to be voted into office or when you participate in national dialogues and discussions to influence decisions and policies. At CDWS, we focus mainly on promoting democracy and good governance, and one component of that is to ensure there is free and fair elections. There is a perception that the group is active only during election time. Is this the case? The statement does not hold much weight today, although I have to admit that when we started things were a bit slow as we tried to get our footing. We are active but working behind the scenes. However, our work intensifies once an election is announced as we have to oversee the whole cycle, from the pre-election period to the big day itself and also postelection when we submit our report on the whole process to the Electoral Commission. Since the creation of CDWS, we have organized numerous training sessions for our members, some of whom are now able to observe elections internationally. We also took part in the electoral reform programme which ended in 2012. Our biggest exercise so far was last year when we carried out an internal review to reposition CDWS in order to make it more credible. We also elected a new committee. We worked on our terms of reference, reviewed our code of conduct and also relooked at our recruitment procedures. Who is eligible to join CDWS? Any Seychellois citizen who is at least 18 years-old and has an interest in promoting democracy can be a member. Since we are a non-partisan group we do not encourage any form of political activism. Our members are free to have their personal beliefs but should not in any way push their political agenda or be seen to be favouring one party. They should remain neutral at all times. A member can also choose to be an election observer. In this case, you will be asked to fill in a self-disclosure form which is submitted solely to the chairperson, for confidentiality reasons. You must not have been active in politics for the past five years or be a member of a political party. Accusations have been leveled at some of our members in the past and they are aware that any such incidents, if proven will mean the end of their membership. But as far as I know, they respect the code of conduct. And I call on other professionals who have time to devote to an organization like ours to join. Some people question CDWS’ credibility and its ability to conduct impartial and truthful observations and reporting. What are your views on this issue? We have already observed two local elections: the legislative elections in 2011 and the by-election in the Anse aux Pins district in 2012. Our reports which were presented to our stakeholders after both elections were wellreceived and were said to be true and frank. Our participation in the two elections earned us a lot of respect and made people realize the importance of having a local observer group which knows and understands the local context. We are credible and there are structures and procedures in place within the organization to ensure we remain credible. As you mentioned earlier, CDWS’ work intensifies when an election is announced. What exactly takes place during an election cycle? Being a fairly new organization we have certain limitations. I wish we could do long-term observations, even when there is no election taking place in a particular year. But due to certain constraints we have to focus mostly on short-term observations: we observe the electoral cycle from campaigning until post election when we submit our final report. However, we are slowly shifting to long-term observation. As mentioned earlier we were part of the team that took part in the electoral reform programme in 2012. Earlier this year we were able to observe voter registration and verification exercises to see whether the public was getting access to the different venues to check their names on the voters register. And we hope to continue to do this. For the upcoming elections, we observed Nomination Day and our observers are also present at the meetings and rallies of all the political parties. We will be present in all polling stations on Election Day and, postelection, we will submit our recommendations. We will not shelve the reports like most organizations do: there will be a follow-up to ensure the recommendations are implemented before the next elections. What does CDWS observe on Election Day? Pre-election, we will observe freedom of movement, whether supporters are free to assemble and support their parties or are intimated and prevented from expressing themselves freely. We will not only observe but interview some of them as well. We will also observe the candidates to see whether they are respecting the code of conduct. On Election Day we observe mainly the logistics, starting in the morning with the opening of the stations until counting ends and results are communicated to the Electoral Commission headquarters. We will observe whether polling stations are accessible to all because every person whether able bodied or not, young or old should be able to exercise this right. We will look closely at the role and functions of the Electoral Commission as the body mandated to manage the elections and whether it has respected the legal requirements of an election. For example, if voting materials are readily available to all, if special voting stations on inner and outer islands are well-equipped to cater for voters. This year we will also observe elections at the Montagne Posée prison, where for the first time those on remand will be able to cast their vote. We will also observe whether secrecy of the ballot is being respected; in the past, voters complained that people could see whom they had voted for as the booths were not shielded enough. We will look at the security forces deployed for maintaining peace and order. Most importantly though, we will observe the counting exercise and whether it is done in a transparent and fair manner. In general, we observe whether the elections are done in line with our legal framework and international conventions Seychelles has signed. Can CDWS intervene if there are cases of abuse? During an election cycle we only have an observer status. As observers we don’t have the mandate to interfere or obstruct the process. We can observe, take notes, analyze the information and report our findings in the final report. However, we can record any complaints and this time around we have a properly structured complaint procedure and we have appointed one of our members to attend to all the complaints. We urge the public to report cases of intimidation of voters, violations of the electoral code of conduct by political parties, electoral violence and also if they feel they have been deprived of their right to vote. The way it works is as follows. The informant will contact us on a hotline which is being set up for this election. The person in charge of the hotline, who is well-versed with investigative procedures, will record the complaint and carry out an investigation. We advise the complainant to provide evidence if possible, either photos or videos or a copy of their statement to the police if they have already made an official complaint to the police. The complaints will be channeled to the right authority, for example the Electoral Commission if there is a violation of the code of conduct by candidates and their supporters. These events will be documented in our final report and recommendations will be put forward to the stakeholders. Would you like to comment on what has been observed so far? I will not comment on what has been observed so far, but all the findings will be in our final report which will be published 30 days after the election. How do you work with international observers? We network a lot with international observer groups. It is mostly to share information and experience. During an election they like to get the views of domestic observers on what is actually happening when they come for the country assessment prior to the elections. So we provide them with all this information. What are some of the international observer groups CDWS is networking with? We are accredited members of the SADC Electoral Support Network (SADC-ESN) and the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors. We also network with other international institutions which support NGOs that promote democracy and encourage citizens to participate in their country’s political affairs. CDWS observers have been part of many international missions namely with the African Union (AU), Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and the Commission de l’Océan Indien (COI). Ballot papers are an important part of this exercise. What are your views on the fact that they are printed abroad? I will not comment on it at this point; any recommendations will be included in our reports. CDWS organised a workshop to train observers three weeks ago. Are you satisfied that you have a competent group of observers? It was mostly for capacity building, especially for new members. Participants learned about different methods used during election observations, How credible is the report that is published at the end of an election? Once voting ends and the results are announced, we have to present a preliminary statement, which is an overview of our observation. Then we have up to 30 days to present the final report with recommendations to the Electoral Commission. Like I mentioned earlier, we have are shifting to long term observations and when we submit the report, we will meet with stakeholders to share its content with them. And we will ensure the recommendations are followed up. The final report is an important document. In the past, many reforms of the electoral process came about as a result of recommendations made by observer missions. For example, the creation of CDWS was the result of recommendation made by international observer groups which stated that Seychelles needed its own domestic observers who are familiar with the local context. We recommended, for instance, that the Electoral Commission should make provisions for those on remand to vote and this is being done this year. It came out of our last report, and then it was also taken up as part of the electoral reform discussion which took place following the last legislative elections. It should be noted that a lot of effort is put into writing this report and it is our contribution to improving the electoral process. Do you conduct voter education and if so what is being done this year to educate voters about the election? We haven’t in the past but we plan to do it this time around. We are presently working on a project to educate voters on the importance of an election and how voting is a right and responsibility. This also came out in past reports and discussions where it was felt that there was no voter education as such, only voter information provided by the EC. We feel we should educate voters about the right to vote and the importance and value of their vote. Is CDWS already preparing for the other two other elections: the Legislative and District Administration elections? As I said, our team is ready for any elections. However prior to the parliamentary elections we are also planning on having a workshop with the National Assembly to know more about the role and function of parliament. At CDWS we want to ensure there are proper mechanisms to allow elected parliamentarians to engage with the electorate in their constituencies. In the past there have been complaints that when bills are discussed and passed into law, there was no or very little consultation with the population even though they are directly affected by these laws. We want to have this dialogue and ensure the voice of the people is heard when it comes to issues that affect their lives. So we will ensure there is a framework in place that will favour, encourage and promote dialogue. It should be consultative and participatory irrespective if you voted for or against the person; you have an opinion so you need to share this opinion. What are the biggest constraints for CDWS? I would say the mobilization of resources, both human and financial. We have really struggled during the past years in our effort to mobilize resources. We operate mainly on membership fees and on donations. For the two previous elections we observed, we didn’t receive any financial assistance. We only had support to conduct a training session for observers. But all of us had to pitch in to finance everything else including transport, uniforms, food, etc. That is why I say we have a team of committed individuals. Not having a budget does not mean that we will not be able to observe elections; in fact it makes us more determined because as volunteers we see what we are contributing to the country. However, this time around we have approached some institutions and we are appealing to organizations to assist us. It does not have to be monetary; you can assist us by printing our tshirts, providing food on Election Day. But we will not be taking donations from political parties so as not to compromise our independence. To what extent can observers be a guarantee that elections are free and fair? The presence of observers gives that confidence that procedures will be respected. It is like knowing you have a witness around. You might not be too daring to break the law if you know your every move is being observed. So we keep everybody in check. We help ensure transparency in the whole process. What is your message to the voters who, as you mentioned earlier, have an important role in deciding the country’s future? We call on all stakeholders, candidates, parties, supporters to respect each other’s opinions and be tolerant during this process so that the upcoming elections can be peaceful. Voting is very important and I therefore call on all voters to make an informed decision before casting their vote. For political parties and activists, please respect your code of conduct. And I also call on law and order groups to ensure peace and stability in order to protect citizens. And lastly, I call on everybody to respect the election results. Monday 23 November 2015 ARSU win ninth Indian Ocean Club Championship By AH B Beau Vallon lost in finals. ig celebrations were in order for the Anse Royalebased team as once again they reigned supreme in women’s volleyball by winning the Indian Ocean Club Championship for a record ninth time. ARSU beat Malagasy’s Steff Auto 3-2 in the final on Saturday in Antananarivo to win the championship which is also a Confederation Africaine de Volleyball (CAVB) Zone 7 qualifier. Under the guidance of coach Julien Onezime and with players like veteran Jerina Bonne, her daughter, former professional player, Mariel Bonne, Tina Agathine and international setter Melina Crispin, ARSU managed to again defend the title it won in Seychelles last year. But it was not an easy victory as they had to fight back to win a tight match. ARSU had taken the first set 25-20. But the Steff Auto won the next two 25-16 and 25-23. ARSU really had to dig very deep to win the fourth set which they did, 27-25, to take the match into the final decisive set which they won comfortably 15-10 to celebrate the title once again. ARSU ended the championship without a defeat. The team’s players also won some personal accolades. Veteran Jerina Bonne was named most valuable player (MVP) as well as the best defender. Mariel Bonne was named the best attacker and Melina Crispin was named best setter. As for Beau Vallon, as was the case last year in Seychelles, they fell at the last hurdle. The team were beaten 3-0 by the Malagasy champions Gendarmerie Nationale Volleyball Club (GNBC). The team apparently played the final without veteran Bernard Bijoux who injured his knee during the warm-up and had be to be rushed to hospital. ARSU is the women’s Indian Ocean queen for a record nine times. Football Foresters stop St Michel in their tracks Ten-man Foresters got the better of the Barclays League leaders at the Unity Stadium in a hard fought encounter on Saturday. By RR T Foresters midfielder Elvin Estico silenced the St Michel crowd. he Foresters coach, Rodney Choisy, was delighted with his players’ performance and told TODAY Sports that they had entered the game with the objective of claiming the scalps of the defending league champions in this match. “Our opponents were the only team we had not beaten this season so we had come all out for this victory,” explained coach Choisy. In fact, Foresters stunned St Michel as they took the lead in the 8th minute after a defensive error allowed Elvin Estico to head captain Martin William’s corner into the net. Unfortunately for Foresters though, Williams left the pitch minutes later with an injury and had to be transported to hospital and he was replaced by Francis Nourrice. St Michel huffed and puffed but could not wear down a rugged Foresters’ team who were intent on defending their advantage with all the tricks in the book. The St Michel manager, Andrew Jean-Louis, was adamant his team were denied a penalty for a foul on Gervais Waye-Hive in the second period but referee Egbert Havelock was not convinced. “We should have been awarded a penalty and I felt the official was below par in this match,” complained the St Michel manager. Foresters added a second in the 60th minute from another mistake by goalie Gino Melanie as he missed Brian Dorby’s freekick which dropped to substitute Francis Nourrice who coolly punished his former team to make it 2-1. Foresters should have killed off the match six minutes later but Ugandan Tonny Kizito hesitated and fluffed a great chance as they opened up the St Michel defence. St Michel were given a lifeline in the 75th minute as Richard Freminot handled Carl Hall’s goalbound header. Referee Havelock showed the Foresters’ winger a straight red card and awarded a penalty which Carl Hall easily dispatched. St Michel had their moments but Foresters rode their luck to dent St Michel’s title hopes and celebrated a morale boosting win. “We played well tactically but when we went down to ten, we seemed to lose our concentration though I’m still pleased with the perfor- mance,” coach Choisy said. A minute of silence was observed before this encounter as a sign of respect for the victims of last week’s callous attacks in Paris. Adeyeri grabs hattrick against Anse Reunion St Louis’ Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri grabbed a hattrick to earn St Louis to a 3-1 victory while Malagasy Estel Randrina score a consolation goal scored for the club. This win moves St Louis into second position in the league table, only four points behind St Michel. The Lions upset Cote D’Or Cote D’Or’s wretched run continued as they went down 2-1 to the Lions on Saturday on Praslin. Gerald Basset gave the home team a 1-0 lead but Collin Bibi cancelled it out for a 1-1 score at the break. Liberian Mohamed Varney scored a stunning winner in the second half to lift the Lions to fifth on the league table. p5 Suarez and Neymar unstoppable as Barcelona thrash Real Madrid in La Liga Clasico V Barcelona thrashed rivals Real Madrid at the Bernabeu to go six points clear at the top of La Liga isiting Barcelona humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 in the Spanish Liga “Clasico” to move six points clear at the top. A brace from Luis Suarez plus goals from Neymar and Andres Iniesta sealed victory for Barca against Real who had Isco sent off for hacking down the impressive Neymar. “This victory is glorious, especially in the way that it came about,” Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said. “We were the better side and the triumph is down to us. There is a long way to go but it is always important to win here. “It has been a great all-round performance. It will go down in history as a memorable game for Barcelona.” Meanwhile, the elegant Iniesta said: “We only wanted to be ourselves and we have done that. We neutralized Madrid ... It’s wonderful to win here again.” It was Barca’s seventh win at the Estadio Bernabeu in 13 visits and their most emphatic there since a 6-2 rout in 2009. “We are changing history,” Barca midfield anchorman Sergio Busquets said. “It is not easy to come here and win, but we are now doing that quite regularly, practically every season.” Barca coach Luis Enrique could afford the luxury of keeping idol Lionel Messi - back from injury - on the subs’ bench for an hour. Real’s worst home meltdown in six years led to the fans chanting for the resignation not only of coach Rafa Benitez but also of club president Florentino Perez. The result could have been even worse for Benitez and Perez, so complete was Barca’s domination - and so wasteful were they in front of goal, especially late sub Munir. “It would not be fair to criticize my players for a lack of desire,” a dejected Benitez said. “Now I just want to leave this behind and focus on the next game. I congratulate Barcelona, they were very effective today.” Benitez said he would not resign, and left-back Marcelo backed up his coach by saying: “We are with him until death. This is our fault really, rather than his.” To the chagrin of the capacity crowd, the Whites struggled to have 40 per cent possession and only managed to create four clear chances, all of which were well kept out by Barca keeper Claudio Bravo. The big game was watched by around 500 million people worldwide, and started with the singing of the French national anthem plus a minute’s silence in honour of the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris. The security measure in and around the Bernabeu were the most stringent ever seen in Spanish football. Barca went into the game without Messi, who has been out for two months with a knee injury, while Real opted for Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Karim Benzema despite their recent injuries. Barca dominated from start to finish and Suarez opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a precise angled Barca’s players walk over to thank their travelling supporters at the end of the game after thrashing their arch-rivals. Fifa FIFA reports on Blatter, Platini call for sanctions by judging body T he final reports of the FIFA investigative panel on suspended president Joseph Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini call for sanctions by the adjudicatory chamber of the organization’s ethics committee, the ruling body said Saturday. FIFA said in a statement the reports have been concluded and been presented to the judging chamber, including “requests for sanctions.” No details will be published because of privacy rights. The adjudicatory chamber said in a separate statement it “will study the reports carefully and decide in due course about whether to institute formal adjudicatory proceedings.” Hearings at the adjudicatory chamber chaired by Germany’s Hans-Joachim Eckert are expected to take place in December. Both could face bans of several years. The ethics committeee on October 7 suspended Blatter and Platini from all football-related activities for 90 days. The FIFA appeal committee upheld the suspensions on Wednesday, and Platini has now appealed again at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Both also have a right to appeal a final ethics committee ruling at the FIFA appeal committee and CAS. The suspensions came after the start of a Swiss criminal investigation against Blatter over a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs (dollars) to Platini in 2011, for work done between 1998 and 2002. Blatter is also being investigated for mismanagement. Platini and Blatter have said they did nothing wrong in connection with the payment but admitted there was no written contract. A steady drip of criminal investigations and arrests into football officials in recent months has thrown FIFA into disarray and also prompted several key sponsors to demand that football’s governing body make significant changes. Blatter was elected for a fifth term in office by the FIFA congress on May 29, two days after several officials were arrested in a Zurich hotel in connection with an American corruption probe into football. Blatter said on June 2 he will stand down at an extraordinary congress set for February 26. Platini has submitted his candidacy to succeed Blatter, but that depends on the decision by the ethics committee, and on an integrity check if the suspension is lifted. drive after being cleverly set up by the impressive Sergi Roberto. Barca had to rejig when Javier Mascherano limped off injured, but Neymar made it 2-0 six minutes before half-time despite a heavy hint of offside, with a low finish after good work by Iniesta. The impressive Iniesta scored the third in the 53rd minute following a clever one-two with Neymar. This ended a run of 18 consecutive Barca league goals from either Neymar or Suarez. Messi came off the bench and unselfishly set up Suarez for the fourth goal 16 minutes from the end, with many Real fans already heading for the exits. Those that stayed on spent the final minutes baying for the blood of Benitez and Perez. Earlier Saturday, Eusebio Sacristan started his reign as coach of Real Sociedad with a promising 2-0 home defeat of inconsistent Sevilla. The visitors did more of the attacking in the first half but Ciro Immobile had what should have been an early goal for Sevilla wrongly disallowed for offside. Sociedad gradually came out of their defensive shell towards the end and Imanol Agirretxe broke the deadlock 18 minutes from time with a first-time shot after the Sevilla defence had failed to clear a corner. Five minutes later, veteran captain Xabi Prieto made it 2-0 after a poor back-header from Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak. Sevilla’s fifth defeat left them in disappointing 11th place, while lifting Sociedad up to 14th. Later Saturday, Espanyol beat Malaga 2-0, on a brace from Hernan Perez, to move up to 10th. Deportivo Coruna moved up to eighth by beating fourth-placed Celta Vigo 2-0, with a strike from Lucas Perez and a bizarre own goal from Celta defender Jonny. Spain striker Nolito missed a penalty for Celta. Meanwhile, Valencia were held 1-1 by defiant Las Palmas. Paco Alcacer gave Valencia an early lead, only for Jonathan Viera to level for the visitors. The disappointing draw left Valencia in sixth place and Las Palmas fourth bottom. p6 Monday 23 November, 2015 Premier League round-up Reds stun City as Leicester go top Manchester United moved onto 27 points from 13 games, a point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal. M anchester City suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat by Liverpool while Jamie Vardy equalled a Premier League goalscoring record to leave Leicester as the shock leaders of English football’s top-flight on Saturday. City started the late kick-off match at their Eastlands ground knowing victory would see them go top on a day when the Premier League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks. But instead Manuel Pellegrini’s men found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes after an Eliaquim Mangala own-goal preceded two sweeping Liverpool moves finished by the Brazilian pair of Phillippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino respectively. City pulled a goal back before the interval through Sergio Aguero’s 20-yard effort, but Jurgen Klopp’s visitors had the last word when Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel struck nine minutes from time. Pellegrini was at a loss to explain his side’s defeat, City’s Chilean manager saying: “It is difficult to understand. If we meant to do it on purpose, we couldn’t have done it that badly. It is impossible to understand.” By contrast, delighted Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC: “It feels perfect! The game was not perfect but it was very good. “The boys can believe now that they are stronger than many people think,” the German added. England striker Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games for his club by netting Leicester’s opener in a 3-0 win aaway to Newcastle during first-half stoppage-time at St James’ Park. Leonardo Ulloa’s header made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute before Japanese substitute Shinji Okazaki assured Italian manager Claudio Ranieri’s side of victory seven minutes from time. Martin Skrtel slides on his knees in celebration of his side’s fourth goal at Manchester City’s home ground. Mourinho. Manchester United made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions with a 2-1 win away to Watford in Saturday’s early kick-off -- the first Premier League match since the Paris terror attacks of November 13 which killed 130 people. ‘La Marseillaise’, France’s national anthem, was played before kick-off at Vicarage Road in a gesture that was repeated ahead of all of Saturday’s Premier League matches. Watford captain Troy Deeney appeared to have gained a point for the hosts with an 87th-minute penalty only to deflect Bastian Schewinsteiger’s stoppage-time effort into his own net after United had taken the lead through Memphis Depay. “In football you always have 90-93 minutes,” said German midfielder Schweinsteiger. “You always have to believe.” Everton ensured Aston Villa stayed bottom of the table with a ‘Never say die’ For the 28-year-old Vardy, it was the perfect afternoon’s work. “I have matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record and we have got the three points and clean sheet,” he said. “We have a never say die attitude and will fight for each other until the end.” Arsenal, who could have gone top themselves, suffered a an unexpected 2-1 loss away to West Bromwich Albion. It was just their third league defeat this season and hardly ideal preparation for their must-win Champions League group match at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. The Gunners took a 28th-minute lead through France striker Olivier Giroud but found themselves 2-1 down before half-time after James Morrison and an own-goal from Mikel Arteta put the Baggies in front. Santi Cazorla had a chance to equalise late on but blasted a penalty over the crossbar. “Overall it was a bad day,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “We scored an own goal, missed a penalty and missed a lot of chances. It is very disappointing.” Champions Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho with just their fourth win in 13 league matches this season as they beat Norwich 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s 64th-minute goal at Stamford Bridge. “Me and the fans didn’t deserve to have our heart in our hands in the last four minutes. It is the pressure of the bad results, that is normal,” said Leicester striker Jamie Vardy (centre) takes his plaudits from the crowd and Riyad Mahrez after opening the scoring against Newcastle. Bastian Schweinsteiger (right) wheels away in celebration after his cross was turned into his own net by Watford striker Troy Deeney. Arteta is left flat out on his back as the Arsenal midfielder’s defensive error hands the Baggies a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute. 4-0 win at Goodison Park, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku scoring two goals apiece. Stoke striker Bojan Krkic gave his side a 1-0 win away to Southampton while Swansea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Bournemouth, a heartening result for under-fire manager Garry Monk. Tottenham play London rivals West Ham on Sunday, with Monday’s top flight match between Crystal Palace and Sunderland. Monday 23 November, 2015 p7 Automotive sector Taking the lead to stay ahead With the growing popularity of hybrid cars, a group of mechanics in Au Cap recently participated in a hybrid workshop in a bid to upgrade their skills. P.Mawanda M echanics at a locally owned car repair garage this week begun a hybrid repair course which they believe will enable them lead the way and stay one step ahead as far as hybrid c a r s a r e c o n c e r n e d . “ We l l , since there is a mass inflow of hybrid cars into Seychelles, we decided that we should have this course for us to better understand hybrid cars so that we can be in a position to help hybrid car owners repair their vehicles. Aside from the car dealerships, we shall be the first garage to offer these services in the count r y. T h e m a i n i d e a b e h i n d this workshop is to put us ahead of the game and our c o m p e t i t o r s . We a r e t h e f i r s t p e o p l e t o d o i t . We know that Seychelles has a hot climate and we foresee that people who own hybrid cars need to know how to properly run their cars. By doing this, we are getting a head of the g a m e ,” Fr a n c i s K i l i n d o , a (L-R) Mr. Port-Louis, Mr. Carter, Mr.Kilindo, Mr. Reddy and Mr. Joseph. mechanic and the organiser of the workshop said. The team of four that took part in the training work at a local garage in A u C a p c a l l e d G Te c h P r o . When TODAY reached the garage in the afternoon, the group, which was being trained by Steve Carte r, a U K - b a s e d a u t o m o tive consultant, was in the middle of the final practical exam to test everything that they had learnt in the p r e v i o u s t w o d a y s . Fo r t h e exam, each trainee, superv i s e d b y M r C a r t e r, h a d t o go through a checklist of a Lexus hybrid car that was their learning prop for the d a y. Quizzed about why he had decided to carry out t h e t r a i n i n g , Mr. C a r t e r said: “I decided to carry out the training because a friend asked me to do so and I realized the importance of carrying out one. I am currently here on holiday so I decided to spend a few days of my holiday teaching these guys what they should do to tr y and save their lives. These guys want to learn. They want to fix these cars but if they just jump into it, they will probably die due to the high voltages associated with hybrid cars. Some hybrid cars can have a voltage as high as 650 volts. So, this training is very important as far as saving their lives are concerned. Also, while this may be a business opportunity for them, you can also see that they are moved to learn because they want to acquire more knowledge about the hybrid vehicles”. At the end of the training, the participants who pass their tests will get an international accredit a t i o n f r o m t h e In s t i t u t e o f M o t o r i n g In d u s t r i e s (IMA) in the UK. While this group of mechanics took it upon Using the right armour to avoid bad surprises. themselves to learn how they can remain relevant i n t h e i r profession with the influx of hybrid cars, they told this newspaper that they would not be importing hybrid car parts. “There are no car parts in this country. If you want them, you have to import them. So, customers who will find problems with their cars will have to import the parts themselves in the future. All we shall do is inform them about what needs to be fixed or replaced and they will have to do it themselves.” The other three participants that took part in the training were Vincent Port-Louis, Henry Joseph and Ian Reddy. With this knowledge secured during the workshop, the garage will offer hybrid car owners a wid e r r a n g e o f o p t i o n s when it comes to choosing a garage. Monday 23 November, 2015 p8 To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. H ow do you view the role of the Vice President? One of the major concerns within the present regime is what I have on numerous occasions described as a “groupthink” at the heart of the administration. This has come about over years of the one-party state system whereby individuals are chosen first for the allegiance to the party and second or last on merit. This automatically binds a person to the system and the brain goes into mental freeze. Irrespective of the academic level of the individual, he ceases to think for him or herself. Or even when he disagrees with a certain position, the tongue remains in mute mode. Pragmatism and the ability to think outside the box is nonexistent. A classic example is the 100% consensus that motivated the administration to force mandatory sentences with regards to drug offences. The depth of knowledge of judges was placed second to the hasty attitudes of the juveniles in Parliament who believed that they would impress the general public with such an inflexible and dogmatic idea. Even the President went along to claim that he would once and for all deal with the Escobars. Needless to say, the Escobars had the last laugh. As Vice President, it will be my role to sound, lobby and engage our people, most importantly those out of government for their views in a frank atmosphere and bridging political boundaries. I will not refrain from advising the President what the public’s view is and what the general temperature is on all issues irrespective of whether it is totally contrary to the President’s own views. Do you think you have an important role to play even though people do not actually vote for a vice president? What I have described above is a most important role. But besides that, I have a series of personal tasks that I would like to take on which I will describe later. Why should people vote for you and your team? First of all, I must congratulate the other candidates lined up in the opposition. But as a team, in our very different lives, Alexia Amesbury and I have both made it a habit of taking on major challenges es- pecially where people’s lives, welfare and future are involved. In these situations, leadership qualities must have the indispensable ingredient of TRUST. Trust provides the platform to surmount any obstacle. that to Syria. What kind of VP do you intend to be? A passive one or one who will take an active interest in the affairs of the country? As Vice President, I intend to take on the following specifically in addition to other responsibilities. What has motivated your participation in the 2015 presidential election? I have been studying the political landscape, or may I say the “lack” of one well before February 2015 when the President proclaimed that he would win outright as the opposition was fragmented. Even well before then, when election fever was at minus zero, I proposed in one my articles that more opposition parties were necessary to provide new sprouts for our tree of democracy. I even suggested that perhaps we would end up with having primaries, if not by design then by default. This is exactly what has transpired. It is only right in our continued effort to develop and educate the electorate about democracy. Today we can pay due courtesy to SNP or Lalyans Seselwa gatherings and in the next moment strongly debate opposing ideas and solutions to better our country. Moreover, it is important that in our quest to change a corrupt system, we establish a subsequent political landscape to ensure good checks and balances. The Pres- a) Establish a special bureau to personally encourage any innovative business ideas that does not fall in any of the standard categories that exist. Today, any such new ideas is being killed at birth simply because the officials cannot rightly allocate a license. We must NEVER discourage innovation and the will to work. I will introduce the ability for any individual to flirt with an idea without him/her having to lodge all the red tape requirements of licensing. My experience tells me that most good businesses started with a simple idea that germinated into a profitable venture. Alexia with her supporters in Belombre. idential election is important, but the parliamentary elections are even more important. We must educate the population that future Presidents will not be able to rule and govern at whim. Our constitution must be respected and this is why I am a proud player on the field today, I have been lucky to have been able to establish myself well in life, and gained considerable experience of the wider world, and this is my small bit in return to show my gratitude to the motherland. Why do you think your Presidential candidate will make a good President? There will be no prefect candidate amongst all the potentials. But Alexia Amesbury will be the best President for many reasons. But most importantly, since we are transitioning from a dark past towards a chamber of light, trust of each and every one of us is most important. But it is not only trust, each and every one of the population must feel comfortable in each other’s space. Her being new to the political village makes her more acceptable to unite the different parties to work together. Secondly, the social ills that impede our nation requires a person with compassion. Mrs Amesbury is not only compassionate but she has been there in her own personal life experiences, growing up in an orphanage. With the tagline “From Orphanage to Statehouse”, Seychelles will be immediately on the global map. A direct impact on our failing tourism industry. Finally, Alexia Amesbury has one final ace for the betterment of the whole country. The concept of odious debt which will be explained in other articles and submissions is of too much importance for any other political party not to pay heed to it. In having been absent in the country’s political past, she is the only person who can wipe our national debt in one clean swipe. What is the one trait that you admire in her? Her unselfishness. Why do you think you will make a good Vice President? Other then the points mentioned above, my present participation in the election is first and foremost to remove the Lepep government from power. At this present moment, the opportunity of being a running mate provides me with the most influence to achieve that goal. Furthermore, being a Vice President will allow me to ensure the continued enhancement of our democracy and good governance in the crucial transition from one system to another. If you had to pick one issue and make it your own personal battle, which would it be? In short, it would be to achieve a totally independent state media, where journalists are allowed to demonstrate individualism in their respective submissions. Encouraging style and frankness without any doubt that quiet or subtle pressure will bear down on them. What are your views on the formation of the cabinet: should Ministers belong to a specific party, should they be chosen on merit? I have always posited that there exists no single political party that can field all ministerial posts. This has been the demise of the ruling party. Equally, the Minister must not be disingenuous in respecting the government’s policy and must administer with total impartiality. Naturally, a strict ministerial Code of Ethics must be in place from the outset. I have also always been against a government of National Unity. Not because I do not believe in unity, but I strongly feel that an arranged marriage in running a government will create fertile ground for the formation of an “elite group” prepared to solidify its existence by being “extra nice” to each other. This will very quickly turn into a corrupt regime. In the absence of tribal groups or different factions as may be the case in other countries, we do not need a government of National Unity. Leave b) Many of our families undergo immense strain when they come of age and require 24-hour care. It is a fact that as people age, they wish to remain in the area that they are used to which has become their comfort zone. As Vice President, I intend to find a suitable area, like Cap Ternay. Create retirement parcels with a small allotment for gardening. This will be sold to families only and can be used as retirement residences. Only retired persons will be allowed to reside there although they could be visited on week-ends by young members of the family who in turn will get accustomed to the place for their old age. The land will be leasehold and can be jointly owned by more than one family. A private nursing centre will offer 24-hour care depending on individual requirements. There will be a clause to discourage speculation of land. c) As Vice President I intend to encourage our young men and women to seek employment in commonwealth militaries and navies. There they can acquire training, special skills and good character development. They will be able to vote even when overseas and will be able to put their names to the land-bank register. They will also be encouraged to contribute to the Seychelles pension scheme. d) As Vice President, I intend to commission the highest bravery medal for the brave men and women who lost their lives over the past 38 years in their struggle to bring about democracy to our country. I will form a committee to design the medal and respective citation which will be represented by families of those poor souls. Monday 23 November, 2015 p9 SNP in Perseverance Lepep supporters hurl abuse at SNP leader Despite the perception that Perseverance is a “Parti Lepep stronghold”, the SNP Presidential candidate said the door to door exercise was very positive. important”. The two-hour visit could have taken a turn for the worse however, when just after 6pm, a group of Parti Lepep supporters, mostly women, who were getting ready for their party’s activity, started throwing insults at Mr Ramkalawan. The incident took place near the entrance of Perseverance 1, when Mr Ramkalawan and his team were on their way to visit a family that had personally requested to see him. Shouts of “We do not want you T here”, “what are you doing on reclaimed land” and “get out”, could be heard over loud music being played in a pick-up truck stationed nearby. One young man, in his red attire jumped right in front of Mr Ramkalawan and told him he never wanted to see him in Perseverance again. Mr Ramkalawan who was escorted out of the area by his bodyguard, told TODAY that these incidents rarely happen but that when they do, it is best to remain calm and not antagonize the op- Wavel Ramkalawan and Roger Mancienne meeting with one resident at Perseverance. he Seychelles National Party (SNP)’s door-to-door exercise in Perseverance last Friday started just after 5pm. Led by a pick-up truck blasting out popular SNP songs, the motorcade made up of a dozen cars stopped at the field facing the small beach at Perseverance 2. The activists were divided into groups of two and three and distributed leaflets of the party’s manifesto to residents of the housing estate. Wavel Ramkalawan and his run- ning mate Roger Mancienne were accompanied by Dereck Amade, who is expected to be SNP’s representative for Perseverance at the next parliamentary elections. The initial impression was how friendly everybody was, with children waving and calling out “Father Wavel” and people passing by in cars greeting and honking as Mr Ramkalawan and Mr Mancienne made their way from house to house. Some passersby also came over to greet SNP’ Presidential candi- date to express their support for the SNP, which is contesting the Presidential election for the fifth time. Mr Ramkalawan said that although it is good to have big rallies, the door-to-door exercise is as equally important, “because it brings that human contact”. He said he was familiar with some people who now reside in Perseverance and who hail from various districts but most of the time, “you do not need to know the person, it is the approach that is SPSD in town Alexia Amesbury brings Victoria to a standstill The Presidential candidate of the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy (SPSD) met with voters in town on Saturday morning. Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday. “An early bird catches the worm”, says the adage. Presidential candidate Alexia Amesbury in this spirit on Saturday joined the early morning shoppers on the third trail of her campaign. Her team was stationed at Premier Building where the voice of David Scholastique could be hard blaring. His “Vote Alexia” message together with the fliers, manifestos, T-shirts, caps, CDs and umbrellas that were being distributed made the early morning shoppers stop for a second or two to listen to the candidate’s message. While at first the people seemed a bit reluctant about walking to the pickups to obtain these free items, as the morning crowd grew bigger and traffic increased, passersby seemed to get bolder and made their way towards the pickup, declaring their support for Mrs. Amesbury and accepting her goodies. TODAY spoke to some of the people who chatted with Mrs. Amesbury and they said they will vote for the “’people’s defender’ because it is time for change. We need change and Mrs. Amesbury is that change,” a 30-year old mother said. A vegetable stall owner said that “Alexia will knock out President Michel in one round” while a shop- per asserted that “Alexia stands and represents all the women in the country. She is a symbol of how far women can go and a sign that women exist in this country and can have a choice. So instead of voting for all the other male candidates, I will vote for Alexia because she is a woman and will do more for women.” A shop owner on Market street said that “Alexia once defended me in court. I have to vote for her. Not because she defended me and fought for me but because of the way she fought. She did not give up on me even when I was tired. I had nothing but she still fought for me as if I was giving her millions. Because of that, I know that she if the right person to vote for. Seychelles needs a change. Alexia should be that change because she will fight for this country just as she fights for all the people that she defends”. A fisher seller at the market told TODAY that he will vote for Alexia Amesbury “because she knows the people. She is the only candidate that has come to the market to talk to us and greet us. I do not need a TV or a car to vote for her. I will vote for her because she is normal like us.” PDM posters finally here! Posters for the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) have finally cropped up over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning in the streets of Victoria, featuring Presidential candidate David Pierre and his running mate Hervey Anthony. The posters can be seen in central areas of the main roundabout in Victoria and the road towards Mont Fleuri as well as in Anse aux Pins. Parti Lepep supporters hurled insults at SNP team. posing supporters who he said “were clearly out for a confrontation”. Other than the unfortunate incident, Mr Ramkalawan described the activity as successful. He said a number of issues were raised during the conversations he had with the residents including poverty, health, welfare and the high cost of living. When asked whether the SNP is expected to do well in Perseverance which is considered a Parti Lepep stronghold, Mr Ramkalawan said that “there is no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep. A lot of people I have spoken to say they are wearing their Parti Lepep t-shirts but they are not supporting the party”, he said. “This time around, I feel that people are really listening and reflecting on the parties’ programmes before deciding. I firmly believe that this time, people will vote, not according to what they have received during the campaign but according to the best programmes being presented”, concluded Mr Ramkalawan. Meanwhile yesterday, the SNP held its public meeting at Roche Caiman for residents of the central region. TODAY will bring you a report in Tuesday’s paper. Monday 23 November, 2015 Advertorial Hitachi lands on local market The international brand now has an official representative in Seychelles. Coastal Seychelles intends to offer its products at competitive prices. tor design and electronics that are consistently driven by innovation to enable jobs to be safer, easier and less tiring. According to Coastal Seychelles, customers will be drawn to these the products by virtue of “Hitachi’s recog- L nised track record for reliability, the machinery’s high durability and quality”. It is to be noted that the brand previously did not officially sell to the Seychelles market prior to Coastal Seychelles filling the gap. For all your construction needs, be sure to visit the Hitachi outlet at the Neverland Complex in Providence. Alternatively, give them a call on 442 0854, 437 3542 or 271 7759, email them on [email protected] and visit the www.hitachi-koki.com website for more information. Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi. ocal company Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi power tools and spare parts in Seychelles. Presently, the company sells only power tools, with a focus on products intended for the construction sector. Despite targeting their marketing towards civil constructions for mechanical, electrical and plumbing sectors, Coastal Seychelles nevertheless will be selling products for personal home use as well. The outlet will also be your best recourse should you need quick repairs done on your machinery. The Hitachi brand manufactures industry-leading portable cordless and electrical power tools and accessories, aimed at commercial and professional applications. Hitachi power tools are world renowned for their performance, high levels of quality, durability and operability for all users across any worksite. Hitachi power tools feature the latest advancements in power tool construction, mo- Power tools and spare parts now available in the country. p11 Destination Travel Bruges This week we take you to one of the most visited towns in Belgium. age highs and average lows don’t exceed a range of 9° C (or 16° F). A large number of carriers offer direct flights to Brussels. Belgium’s main airport has its own railway station. Bruges can easily be reached through the airports of Brussels, Charleroi (Brussels South) and Lille, so getting to Bruges by train is by far the easiest way. Only one I city where cycling is familiarized and where the local government puts a lot of effort to improve cycling in this city. According to Bruges Major cycling is the main point of attention in all parts of infrastructure, city plans, permits etc. In 2012 Bruges received a nomination for ¨Belgium cycle city of the year¨. Also, for 15 years Bruges has you across Bruges highlights within a few hours. Two good bike tour companies are Baja Bikes and Quasimundo. The historical center is not so big and thus quite walkable. The only mode of public transport inside city is bus. Buses are operated by the Flemish public transport company De Lijn. Taxis on the market place and station cost about €10. Bicycles are easy to rent and make getting around the city very speedy, although the cobblestoned paths can make the rides a little bumpy and uncomfortable. Once over the encircling canal and inside the city walls, Bruges closes in around you with street after street of charming historic houses and a canal always nearby. In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land. The newly cleaned houses should however not confuse you; they are truly centuries old. And if you can get away from the chocolate-shops, you can visit some more quiet areas such as. St. Anna, and imagine what life in the late middle ages must have been like. Bruges city square. t is the capital of the province of West Flanders, and is also the seat of the Bishop of Brugge. Bruges has a population of just over 117,000, of which around 20,000 live in the old city centre, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, because of the many special buildings in that area. Most of the visitors are attracted to Bruges because of its charm. The channels sometimes make you wonder if you are not in the Netherlands. Relatively cosmopolitan and bourgeois given its compact size, it is one of the best preserved pre-motorised cities in Europe and offers the kind of charms rarely available elsewhere. Bruges is a postcard perfect stop on any tour of Europe. Even by Belgian standards, Bruges has a poor reputation for its weather. Compared to other western European cities like London and Paris, the weather in Bruges is colder and more damp. Even in July and August, average daily maximum temperatures struggle to exceed 21° C (70° F) and rainfall averages 203 mm (8 in) a month. After October, temperatures drop off quite rapidly and winter months are damp and chilly. The summer visitor should always be prepared for rain in Bruges and that warm and sunny weather is not constant during that season. Also note that the daily and monthly temperature variations are quite small. Daily differences between aver- Tempting, non? change at one of the three main stations is needed and the entire connection takes about 1:20. Cycling in Bruges is the perfect way to discover the historical centre. Bruges citizens make fanatical use of their bikes. Up to 60% of all incoming traffic in the city centre are cyclists. Bruges can be described as a been the starting point for the Tour of Flanders. When you’re planning to visit Bruges you can easily hop on a bike and start to discover the city. There are various bike rental companies spread over the city and some of them also offer the opportunity to do a guided bike tour. A local guide will take Tarte flambée with caramelized onions, Parma ham, shaved cheese and chives. And beer, of course. p12 Monday 23 November, 2015 Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPB. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. (Continued From Page 2) Mr Mancienne further elaborated on the proposal, saying that the “SNP will ensure that competent people are appointed in key positions, that institutions tasked with maintaining peace and order like the police army and judiciary are free from political interference”. He added that for the public service to function properly, it needs to be independent. “Ministers will be there to ensure that policies are implemented but will not decide who qualifies for social welfare or over- seas medical treatment, or who will be promoted in a department”. Wrapping up, Mr Ramkalawan stressed on the importance of having strong institutions to protect citizens. “How many times have we Lalyans Seselwa: The real cost of corruption “Do not make the mistake of thinking that the schools and hospitals built are a gift from the government. You are paying for everything”, Lalyans Seselwa leader Patrick Pillay said in his party’s PPB on Friday, reminding the public that corruption has throughout the campaign been his party’s main battle. He said he felt that the Seychellois people are having a hard time understanding where their money goes, perhaps because the current government says corruption is only a perception. “It’s not just about taking money that is not yours; it’s about everyday practice – favoritism, victimization, unfairness and so forth”, Mr. Pillay explained. He also explained that money used for different ministry projects do not come from Parti Lepep, but rather from citizens’ pockets. His running mate Ahmed Afif followed with a series of examples of corruption which he said he witnessed first-hand from his days working for government. He spoke of a USD50 million donation by Abu Dhabi to assist in projects in Seychelles, which was then mysteriously transferred to a Baroda bank account in England. The government said they would investigate the matter, but later stated there is not enough evidence to pursue the case. This, Mr. Afif explained, is just one of the many ways people in government can divert money for their own use without accountability. He also stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to investigate a money deal of USD5.4 million for the Plantation Club Hotel in Seychelles. Unfortunately, the investigation went nowhere due to government’s unwillingness to cooperate. He ended by stating that Sey- chelles is SCR455 million in debt this year alone, which means that each person is paying back this debt to the tune of SCR 950 per person month. Hence, Mr. Afif explained all that these bad practices must stop and that government needed to be accountable. “Government needs to change”, Mr Afif reiterated. Throughout the broadcast, supporters of Lalyans Seselwa shared their enthusiasm for the party and urged people to vote for Patrick Pillay come December. Alexia Amesbury: “The country’s development is attached to a huge debt” Alexia Amesbury focused on the country’s economy in her PPB aired on Saturday night. Among other things, she talked about why the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was called into the country in 2008 and why the electorate should vote for the opposition that has a united agenda for overthrowing the current government. “In 2008 President James Michel and his party had to call in the IMF to take us out of the hole that they had led us into because we only had three days worth of reserves left. Seychelles was bankrupt. Today President Michel says that Seychelles is the richest African country with a GDP of USD 25000 per head but that is not because of Mr. Michel, it is thanks to the IMF. The IMF had to bail us out because it did not have confidence in Parti Lepep. The development that this country has seen under President Michel is one that is attached to huge debt brought about by borrowing money to make us believe that we are developed. And yet we are not. In my party, development is not equal to debt and we do not want any more debt. Because we do not want more debt, we have a policy that will ask all debts that were incurred by Parti Lepep while they were in power to be paid by them,” Mrs. Amesbury said. While some have questioned some of her economic policies like the abolition of income tax and the refusal to repay the country’s debt, Mrs. Amesbury said that her party is being supported by qualified Seychellois who can produce an economic plan for the country that will make Seychelles a nation led by Seychellois professionals. Mrs. Amesbury also highlighted the importance of the general electorate to have a President whose mandate starts from the ballot box. “We did not elect president Mancham through a ballot box, neither did we elect President René and we all know that President Michel became President after President Rene resigned and he passed on the presidency to him. If we elect President Michel and his party, the same thing will happen because he has already ruled for 12 years and the constitution does not allow for any president to rule for 17 years. So, it means that half way into his mandate, he will hand over the presidency to Vice President Danny Faure, and we will continue to have Presidents that do not start their mandates from the ballot box”. heard people say I cannot come forward because I have applied for a loan, or a plot of land or my child is waiting for a scholarship”, he said, adding that strong and independent institutions will mean people will not be scared to support a political party of their choice. “ They will know their applications are based on merit and not politics, that when they go to court, they will get justice because everything has been done according to procedures. (...) Having strong institutions mean the government will no longer threaten and scare its people but it will be the people holding the government in check”. Parti Lepep: Experience versus inexperience On Saturday evening, Parti Lepep told voters that they basically had two options: Either they choose Parti Lepep which will take the country further, or they decide to vote for the opposition based on the manifestos they have presented but that it was something that would divide the country and plunge it into darkness. And they had a multitude of business people who testified about the progress they had made under the Parti Lepep government, while a group of first time voters explained why they will be endorsing James Michel. Incumbent James Michel again put the emphasis on his experience and said that “no one can take away what I have accomplished in the past five years”. This, he continued, meant that he had “the necessary baggage” to take the country forward for the next five years. The party’s motto, “Together”, he said, is indicative of what “we can achieve together for the next five years. I won’t make people believe that one man or party will change a country,” but rather, that it is a people working together towards a common goal that will make it happen. The incumbent then went on to say that “there is still work to be done. Today Seychelles has a modern economy, we are breaking new frontiers in business, there is support for businesses by Seychellois.” He went on to say that he wants to see the “Seychellois developing the economy and willing to take their rightful part within the economy, with special emphasis on the blue economy, which will offer more opportunities for businesses and employment,” he said. Vice President Danny Faure said that President Michel was “killing himself ” for the country. “Everywhere we look, there is success. If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that there is proof around us. The opposition can say whatever they want about him, but he is a man with Seychelles at heart,” he concluded. p13 Monday 23 November, 2015 MV Logos Hope The book fair is now open! A dreary morning on Saturday did not stop people from visiting the ship. By CM TODAY spoke to said that they were very happy to have reached Seychelles and that they were looking forward to enjoy some of the sights. Guests consisted of President James Michel, Vice President Danny Faure, Ministers Alain St. Ange, Jean-Paul Adam, Idith Alexander and MacSuzy Mondon, representatives of the police force, the Seychelles Ports Authority and local churches among others. President Michel was gifted on the occasion with a set of books by Captain Ver- beek to commemorate the launch of the book fair. The official launch of the book fair started with prayers by a crew member. He asked that God gives the leaders of Seychelles wisdom and discernment in the exercise of their duties and he also gave thanks for Seychelles as a Christian nation. This was followed by a video to explain the work that MV Logos Hope does. Alongside the book fair, the crew also give medical assistance when in port as well as guidance. Several of the crew members Captain Verbeek, daughter of the President Laeticia Michel, President Michel and Vice President Danny Faure officially launched the book fair. I t started off as a downcast morning at the port on Saturday at the official launch of the MV Logos Hope’s book fair. The toll booth had been set up at the entrance of the Seychelles Port Authority (SPA) entrance near Docklands. Despite the weather, a band had been set up for the launch to entertain guests boarding the ship and the crew stood at the ship’s entrance to welcome guests. The music started off with local séga beats but then changed to that of upbeat gospel songs that are quite popular with the Seychellois and apparently, the crew of the MV Logos Hope as well, who were dancing on and off the ship. Aboard the ship, several of the volunteers had been conscripted to welcome and attend to the guests dressed in their traditional garb and a genuine smile. It is to be noted that volunteers do not get paid for what they do on the ship and they are all contracted to do twoyear stints at a time on the ship. It is also to be noted that the majority of volunteers, who are all Christians, are not sailors by profession and as such, their six-day journey from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Seychelles was not the smoothest and many suffered from sea-sickness. Despite the rough journey, the volunteers Minister for Education, MacSuzy Mondon, rifling through the books in the shop. The doors open for the first shoppers. treated the guests to a parade of nations, despite there being over 55 different nationalities currently on the ship. Some of the countries parading were Japan, Haiti, Egypt, Brazil, Bahamas and Taiwan. Ed Verbeek, the Captain of the ship, welcomed the guests onboard the ship. He gave a brief apercu of his career and said that he began his career in 1973 as an apprentice officer, the same year that MV Logos Hope also began its sailing career. “The ship and I also share another milestone, this is our first time in Seychelles as well,” he said. After this brief introduction, it was time to commemorate the launch of the book fair. This, Captain Verbeek did by gifting President Michel with a set of books. Moving towards the book fair, Captain Verbeek, President Michel, his daughter Laeticia and Vice-President Faure cut the ribbon, officially opening the book fair. The crew took the opportunity to give the President, the VicePresident and Ministers a guided tour of the book shop. By the time the launch was over, a group of people were already amassing outside to board the ship, despite the rain. Monday 23 November, 2015 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Automatic, rear view camera, full option. Price negotiable. Call 2521474 A position exist for a live- in female carer at Sans Souci, Mahe. Ring Kathleen on 2601062 for further details. 21 Jan – 19 Feb If you are at a loss as to what to do with yourself, get together with some friends and get involved in an activity that means something to you all. The sun in Sagittarius is good for group activities of all kinds but especially those which help other people. 23 July – 22 Aug This is one of the best times of the year for those born under your sign, so forget about any setbacks you may have suffered and start looking forward to a time when everything will go right for you again – it won’t be long in coming. 20 Feb – 20 March If you have not given much thought to your status and reputation of late then maybe you should give it some thought now. With the sun moving through the career area of your chart you can, with a little bit of effort, move up in the world rapidly. 23 Aug – 23 Sept If you get the chance to prove your critics wrong this week by all means take it but don’t let the need to do so consume your every waking thought. Life is too short to waste time arguing with people who seem to be negative about everything. 21 March – 20 April This is a good time of year for you but it could be a great one if you stop worrying about things that might go wrong and give yourself over to having a good time. Remember, though, that definitions of a good time vary from person to person. 24 Sept – 23 Oct Go where you want to go and do want you want to do this week, because no one is going to stop you. The full moon on Wednesday may bring a brief interruption to your wanderings but it won’t be for long. You’ve just got to be free. 21 April – 21 May If someone avoids giving you a straight answer to a perfectly straightforward question, then be on your guard, You don’t have to be paranoid but you do have to take whatever moves you feel are necessary to protect your personal and professional interests. 24 Oct – 22 Nov Your view of reality seems to be a bit distorted at the moment and that could cause problems if you let the line between fact and fantasy get blurred. Be extra careful where money matters are concerned because if you get it wrong it could cost you. 22 May – 21 June Be more open about your feelings this week. Let those who care about you know that you care about them too. Sometimes you can be so secretive that you make it hard even for loved ones to know what is going on in your heart or your head. 23 Nov – 21 Dec You have come through a lot in recent weeks but now that the sun is moving through your own sign you can look back and see there were reasons for everything that happened. Put doubts and fears behind you and act as if all things are possible. 22 June – 22 July 22 Dec – 20 Jan There will be times over the next few days when you want to be left alone with your thoughts. Make sure those you live and work with know that you require your own space. If they are not prepared to give it to you then get up and go elsewhere. Little things can mean a lot, so don’t overlook details that may seem minor now but could be of major significance later on. Even the smallest of causes can result in major consequences, so make sure you know what is going on. The Annual General Meeting of the Marine Charter Association will be held at the VCS Building Le Chantier on Monday 14th December 2015 at 2:00pm. Down 1. A Semitic people 2. Phone 3. Jacob’s brother 4. Expends 5. Box 6. Any aromatic plant used in cooking 7. A language of Pakistan and India 8. 7th letter in the Greek alphabet 9. Consecutive 10. A disparaging remark 11. Panache 13. Stone pillar 14. Analyze chemical substances 20. Present (at a show) 21. Drink in small amounts 25. Found on old telephones 26. Boxlike 27. Offensiveness 28. About 29. It travels on rails 30. A socially awkward act 31. Dunk 33. Hearing organ 35. Mesh 37. Fool 39. Away from the wind 42. Achy 44. Package of 500 sheets of paper 47. A failure to maintain 49. A Hindu deity 52. Fathers 53. Pearly-shelled mussel 55. Native of South America 56. Obtains 57. Not fake 58. Hammer or saw, for example 59. Inactive 60. Yield 62. Which person? Yesterday’s solution Across 1. Expert flyers 5. Son of Ra (Egyptian mythology) 8. Nature of being 12. Coarse file 13. Classical music theater 15. Impart information 16. Wings 17. Poets 18. Turquoise 19. Musket 22. Vase 23. Delete (abbrev.) 24. Assistant 26. Pertaining to the universe 29. Keyboarding 31. Flop 32. Willow 34. The devil 36. Cited from the same place 38. An African livestock enclosure 40. The state of living 41. Devout 43. Shouter 45. Toward the rear 46. Dome 48. Pin 50. Latin for “Will be” 51. Anagram of “Haw” 52. A light grayish brown 54. Terse and witty 61. Afresh 63. An expression of contempt 64. Travelled on a horse 65. Plate 66. Anagram of “Cadet” 67. Cast or form 68. Neither good nor bad 69. American Sign Language 70. Downwind 1. Ipanema and Copacabana beach are parts of what famous city? 2. A rising or resurgence of the hydrosphere is more commonly known as what? 3. In medicine, the word styptic refers to something that stops what? 4. What do people normally do in a refectory: Eat; Sleep; Study; or Grow vegetables? 5. What soft gray alkaline earth metal is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust? 6. Wildfowl such as ducks, geese, swans, etc., have a nail on which part of the body: Foot; Wingtip; Beak; or Breast? 7. What is the Muslim nations’ equivalent of the Red Cross co-ordination body for the relief of human suffering? 8. Name the Ukrainian/Russian American engineer who was first to viably manufacture and sell helicopters? 9. Which Australian city is considered to have the largest Greek population outside of Greece? 10. What main religion celebrates festivals including Nuakhai, Yatra (or Zatra/Jatra), Pongal, Holi and Shigmo? Quick Quiz Answers: 1. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 2. Spring (a natural spring of water) 3. Bleeding (from Greek styphein, constrict) 4. Eat 5. Calcium 6. Beak 7. Red Crescent 8. Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972 - initial production development c.1939-42) 9. Melbourne 10. Hindu New Model Nissan X-Trial Hybrid 4x4. 9,000Km. Colour Black. Year 2015. Call Terry 2869280 Suzuki Baleno A/C power steering Fuel injec Manual Just repaint TEL: 2745251 price negotiable Published by TODAY Publishers (Seychelles) Limited, P.O. Box 999, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles Printed by “The Print House (Pty) Ltd.”, Providence Industrial Estate, Mahé, Seychelles. Tel: +248 4290 999/950/951 Fax: +248 4325999 [email protected] Grand Anse, Praslin Tel: +248 4237 441 Fax: +248 4237 442 Editor - Deepa Bhookhun [email protected] How To Play The objective is to fill the blank squares with the correct numbers •Every row of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every column of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every 3 x 3 sub-grid must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order Fill the other empty cells with numbers between 1 and 9 A number should appear only once on each row, column and 3 x 3 region Business Development Manager - Veronica Maria [email protected] ISSN: 1659-7265	i don't know
Mythological Norse 'hall of the slain'?	Valhalla: Hall of the Slain \| The Norse Gods Valhalla: Hall of the Slain In The Realms Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll,”hall of the slain”), in Old Norse mythology , the hall of slain heroes, ruled by the king of the gods, Odin , in the realm of the gods, Asgard . The hall had 540 doors, through each of which 800 heroes could walk abreast, and the roof was made of shields. The souls of heroic soldiers killed in battle were brought to Valhalla by warrior maidens called Valkyries . The heroes fought during the day, but their wounds healed before night, when they banqueted with Odin.	Valhalla
Biblical hairshirt worn with ashes?	Norse Mythology Norse Mythology Introduction These are the collective myths of the Scandinavians (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland). The main sources for Norse mythology, Indo-European in origin, are the Icelandic Eddas. The shaping of Norse mythology itself took place in Germanic Europe, including those elements of the myths which were current in Scandinavia in the millenium before that. Lindemans, M F., ed. "Norse Mythology." Encyclopedia Mythica. Encyclopedia Mythica Online. 17 Oct. 2006 < http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/norse/articles.html >. Norse Mythology is one of the most exciting and interesting mythology systems to read. These are the stories of Vikings, warriors, sailors, and kings. Students enjoy reading Norse Mythology because of its action, heroism, and similarities to popular movies like, "Conan, the Barbarian," "Lord of the Rings," and "The 13th Warrior." One popular opera, written by Richard Wagner, "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" (The Ring of the Nibelungs) contains almost every imaginable element of Norse Mythology -- from dwarves, fairies, giants, and dragons, to Valkyries, magic swords and helmets. Contemporary computer and video games such as Rune, Gothic, and Age of Mythology also highlight the Norse Mythological element. Ironically, however, it is the world of comic books that seems to best bring to life the element of mythology into our mainstream society. Marvel Comics hero, THOR, and his illustrators have brought the gods and demigods of Valhalla and Asgard to life between the covers of its magazines for decades NOTE: MANY, IF NOT MOST OF THE TEXTS AND SITES ON THIS PAGE ARE LINKS TO D. L. ASHLIMAN'S COMPREHENSIVE WEBSITE ON LEGENDS AND LORE, WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH. Ashliman, D. L. "Germanic Myths, Legends, and Sagas." Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts. 27 Sept. 2004. University of Pittsburgh. 24 Oct. 2006 <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/mythlinks.html>. Vikings in America . Information about the Norse settlement in Vinland, including photographs of the reconstructed way station at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. a well-organized collection of links from a server in Great Britain. This is the best starting point for a search of Viking material on the web. Life After Death for the VikingsFamily trees and geneologies of the Norse GodsIllustrations, stories, facts, and links concerning the ship culture of the Vikings. More about the Vikings, including the opportunity to purchase authentic scale models of their ships.a summary essay from Sweden. An extensive examination of ancient Finnish religion, including the precursors to the Kalevala. The Poetic Edda translated into English by Stephan Grundy. Also known as Edda Saemundar and as the Elder Edda, the oldest written copy of this work dates to 1270 in Iceland, about 30 years after the publication of Snorri Sturlason's Prose Edda. Still, this work is often judged to be closer to the source than Snorri's work and less colored by his clerical perceptions. The Blue Belt . A folktale from Norway, collected in the mid nineteenth century by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. The magic belt in this tale is reminiscent of the Norse god Thor's belt of strength as described in The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Stories from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. THE VOLSUNG SAGA Links To: Killings, Douglas B., ed. "THE STORY OF THE VOLSUNGS." Online Medieval and Classical Library. May 1997. 24 Oct. 2006 <http://omacl.org/Volsunga/>. THE NIEBELUNGENLIED Links To: Killings, Douglas B., ed. "THE NIBELUNGENLIED." Online Medieval and Classical Library Release. Sept. 1997. 24 Oct. 2006 <http://omacl.org/Nibelungenlied/>. CONTENTS Creation of the Gods, Giants, and the Universe -- A thorough page, but difficult to read Timeless Myths has an excellent page recounting in detail the beginnings of Norse Mythology, specifically the Norse Creation Myth . God of the Sea and Ocean Timeless Myths: Aesir Page The Major Aesir include: Odin, Ve, Vili, Thor, Tyr, Njord, Freyr, Heimdall, and Loki. Minor Aesir: Ull, Bragi, Forseti, Vidar, Vali, Balder, Hod, Hermod, Mirmir, Magni and Modi, and Mani Dwarf; robbed of gold and magic ring by Loki. Giantess; mother by Loki of Fenrir, Hel, and Midgard serpent. First man; created by Odin, Hoenir, and Lothur. Atli: Second husband of Gudrun; invited Gunnar and Hogni to his court, where they were slain; slain by Gudrun. Cow that nourished Ymir; created Buri by licking ice cliff. God of light, spring, peace, joy; son of Odin; slain by Hoth at instigation of Loki. See also: Timeless Myths -- Baldur Rainbow bridge connecting Midgard and Asgard. God of poetry; husband of Ithunn. Branstock: Great oak in hall of Volsungs; into it, Odin thrust Gram, which only Sigmund could draw forth. Brynhild: Valkyrie; wakened from magic sleep by Sigurd; married Gunnar; instigated death of Sigurd; killed herself and was burned on pyre beside Sigurd. Son of Buri; father of Odin, Hoenir, and Lothur. Progenitor of gods; father of Bur; created by Audhumla. First woman; created by Odin, Hoenir, and Lothur. Fafnir: Son of Rodmar, whom he slew for gold in Otter's skin; in form of dragon, guarded gold; slain by Sigurd. Wolf; offspring of Loki; swallows Odin at Ragnarok and is slain by Vitharr. God of fertility and crops; son of Njorth; originally one of Vanir. Goddess of love and beauty; sister of Frey; originally one of Vanir. Goddess of sky; wife of Odin. Watchdog of Hel; slays, and is slain by, Tyr at Ragnarok Home of blessed after Ragnarok. King of Nibelungs; father of Gunnar, Hogni, Guttorm, and Gudrun. Hall of gods in Asgard. Sigmund's sword; rewelded by Regin; used by Sigurd to slay Fafnir. Sigmund's horse; descended from Sleipnir. Mother of Gudrun; administered magic potion to Sigurd which made him forget Brynhild. Daughter of Giuki; wife of Sigurd; later wife of Atli and Jonakr. Gunnar: Son of Giuki; in his semblance Sigurd won Brynhild for him; slain at hall of Atli. Son of Giuki; slew Sigurd at Brynhild's request. Messenger of the Gods -- Probably survives Ragnarok Goddess of dead and queen of underworld; daughter of Loki. Hiordis: Wife of Sigmund; mother of Sigurd. One of creators of Ask and Embla; son of Bur. Son of Giuki; slain at hall of Atli. Blind god of night and darkness; slayer of Balder at instigation of Loki. Keeper of golden apples of youth; wife of Bragi. Slayer of Swanhild; slain by sons of Gudrun. The wisest of the Vanir. Kvasir was born from the saliva of the two groups of gods, Aesir and Vanir. First man and woman after Ragnarok. God of evil and mischief; instigator of Balder's death. Lothur (Lodur): One of creators of Ask and Embla. Sons of Thor: Survived Ragnarok Abode of mankind; the earth. Sea monster; offspring of Loki; slays, and is slain by, Thor at Ragnarok. Giant; guardian of well in Jotunnheim at root of Yggdrasill; knower of past and future. Nagifar: Ship to be used by giants in attacking Asgard at Ragnarok; built from nails of dead men. Dwellers in northern kingdom ruled by Giuki. Outer region of cold and darkness; abode of Hel. Father of Frey and Freya; originally one of Vanir. Njord--Giovanni Caselli Demigoddesses of fate: Urth (Urdur) (past), Verthandi (Verdandi) (present), Skuld (future). Odin (Othin): Head of Aesir; creator of world with Vili and Ve; equivalent to Woden (Wodan, Wotan) in Teutonic mythology. Otter: Son of Rodmar; slain by Loki; his skin filled with gold hoard of Andvari to appease Rodmar. Ragnarok: Final destruction of present world in battle between gods and giants; some minor gods will survive, and Lif and Lifthrasir will repeople world. Blacksmith; son of Rodmar; foster-father of Sigurd. King of Huns; son of Sigi. Rodmar: Father of Regin, Otter, and Fafnir; demanded Otter's skin be filled with gold; slain by Fafnir, who stole gold. Wife of Thor. Siggeir: King of Goths; husband of Signy; he and his sons slew Volsung and his sons, except Sigmund; slain by Sigmund and Sinflotli. King of Huns; son of Odin. Sigmund: Son of Volsung; brother of Signy, who bore him Sinflotli; husband of Hiordis, who bore him Sigurd. Daughter of Volsung; sister of Sigmund; wife of Siggeir; mother by Sigmund of Sinflotli. Sigurd: Son of Sigmund and Hiordis; wakened Brynhild from magic sleep; married Gudrun; slain by Guttorm at instigation of Brynhild. The Sigurd Portal . Carved doorposts of the medieval stave church at Hylestad, Setesdal, Norway. Although part of a Christian church, the carvings represent scenes from the heathen story of Sigurd the dragon slayer. The Sigurd Runestone at Ramsundsberget, Jäder, Södermanland, Sweden. This famous runestone illustrates the story of how Sigurd kills the dragon Fafnir and his treacherous companion Regin. Ashliman, D. L. Germanic Myths and Legends. Folklore and Electronic Texts. 24 Oct. 2006 <http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/mythlinks.html>. Son of Sigmund and Signy. Fire demon; slays Frey at Ragnarok. Svartalfaheim: Daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun; slain by Jormunrek. God of thunder; oldest son of Odin; equivalent to Germanic deity Donar. Other Links to Thor are: Thor's Home Page Thor's hammer amulets . About 50 amulets shaped like Thor's hammer have been discovered in the modern era. This site features photographs of a representative sample of these important symbolic items. Soapstone mold found in Egholm, Denmark. This mold was used to cast Thor's hammer amulets as well as small ingots of different size and value. Thor's Hammer / Christian Crucifix Mold . This tenth-century soapstone mold, found at Trendgården, Jylland, Denmark, could be used to cast either heathen or Christian amulets. Numerous sagas and historical accounts refer to the conflict between heathenism and Christianity, The hammer and the cross were very important symbols in this conflict, and the silversmith or goldsmith who used this mold could satisfy customers of either faith. God of war; son of Odin; equivalent to Tiu in Teutonic mythology. Son of Sif; stepson of Thor. Great hall in Asgard where Odin received souls of heroes killed in battle. Valkyries: Virgins, messengers of Odin, who selected heroes to die in battle and took them to Valhalla; generally considered as nine in number. Early race of gods; three survivors, Njorth, Frey, and Freya, are associated with Aesir. Brother of Odin; one of creators of world. Brother of Odin; one of creators of world. Abode of goddesses in Asgard. Son of Odin; survivor of Ragnarok. Descendant of Odin, and father of Signy, Sigmund; his descendants were called Volsungs. Yggdrasill: Giant ash tree springing from body of Ymir and supporting universe; its roots extended to Asgard, Jotunnheim, and Niffheim. Ymir (Ymer): Primeval frost giant killed by Odin, Vili, and Ve; world created from his body; also, from his body sprang Yggdrasill. Jarnsaxa or Iarnsaxa was mother of Magni and Modi , by the Aesir Thor . Not much is known about Jarnsaxa, except that she was Sif's rival for Thor's love. Jotunheim One of the nine worlds -- Home of the Frost Giants Muspelheim Thiassi, a frost giant, had the ability to turn himself into an eagle. Utgard The first primeval giant was known as Ymir. The frost-giants called him Aurgelmir. Ymir was the first creature created in the universe. Magical/Powerful Objects Used by the Gods Taken from: Joe, Jimmy. "Facts and Figures: Enchanted Objects." Timeless Myths. 1999. 22 Oct. 2006 <http://www.timelessmyths.com/norse/objects.html>. Name Gungnir Odin The spear or lance of Odin. Gungnir ("swaying one") was made by the sons of Ivaldi (4 dwarfs). Draupner Odin Draupner or "The Dipper" was Odin's Ring of Power was created by the dwarf brothers, Brokk and Eiti. Basically the ring could created nine other gold rings; each new ring was of the same size and weight of the original ring. Mjollnir Thor The warhammer made by the dwarf brothers, Brokk and Eiti, for Thor, the god of thunder. It was Mjollnir that cause the lightning and thunder. Grídarvöl Grid, Thor A powerful, magical staff that Thor possessed. The giantess Grid gave him this Grídarvöl, along with her own set of belt of power (Megingjarpar) and iron gloves. Megingjarpar Grid, Thor The Megingjarpar was also known as the "Girdle of Might", which made Thor even stronger than he was. Thor also possessed a pair of magic iron gloves, which allowed him to wield the Mjollnir. These magical items were given to him by the friendly giantess, Grid. Sword of Freyr Freyr, Skirnir The magic sword of Freyr. Freyr gave the sword to his servant Skirnir, who helped him wooed Gerd. Skidbladnir The collapsible ship of Freyr, made by the dwarfs, known as the sons of Ivaldi. Brísingamen Freyja The beautiful gold necklace of Freyja. The Brísingamen were made by four dwarfs, known as the Brisings. The Brisings refused to give the necklace to Freyja, unless she had slept with each dwarf. Odin was disgusted with Freyja's wanton behaviour and ordered Loki to steal the Brísingamen, but Heimdall recovered the necklace for Freyja. Gjallahorn Heimdall The horn that would signal the coming of Ragnarok, belonged to Heimdall, the god that guard the gates to Asgard. Gleipnir The Aesir gods A magic silk ribbon was the only thing that can bind the wolf Fenrir. It was made of "noise of a cat, beard of woman, breath of a fish and spittle of a bird". Fenrir will only break the ribbon, when the gods faced Ragnarok. Aegishjalmarr Odin, Fafnir, Sigurd, Thidrek The helm belonging to Odin, which was Aegishjalmarr or "Helm of Awe". Later Sigurd would also possessed the Aegishjalmarr, because it was part of the treasure of Fafnir, but I am not certain if it is the same helmet of Odin. Gram Sigmund, Sigurd, Hildebrand This sword, at first, belonged to Sigmund, and it had no name. Odin shattered his sword in Sigmund's last battle. The sword of Sigmund was reforged for his son, the hero Sigurd. According to the Thidrekssaga, Hildebrand (Hildebrand) received Gram, after the fall of the Niflungs. Ridill and Hrotti (Rotti) Fafnir, Sigurd Ridill and Hrotti (Rotti) were magical swords that was part of the treasure of Fafnir, which Sigurd would possess. Refil In a version of the Nibelungen legend, the sword of Regin. Balmung Siegfried, Hagen The sword that the German hero Siegfried had won in the battle against the Nibelungs (not the Burgundians). Hagen had killed Siegfried and stolen the Balmung. In the end of the Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild used the Balmung to behead Hagen, for killing her first husband (Siegfried). Shield of Nuodung Nuodung, Rudiger, Hagen The shield belonged to Nuodung, which Rudiger of Pocharn would later give to Hagen, as a guest-gift. Dainsleif Hogni In the tale of Hjadningavig – the Battle of the Hjadnings – Dainsleif is a sword belonging to a Danish king named Hogni that must kill or taste blood when unsheathe before it can be re-sheathed again. The sword was forged by a dwarf, possibly named Dain, since the sword's name means "Dain's heirloom". This is part of the story of Freyja's Brisingamen in the text known as the Sorla Thatter. Gram Gislher In the Thiðrek Saga, Roðingeir gives the sword to Gislher, his new son-in-law. Gislher was the brother of Grimhild, Gunnar and Hogni. Gislher used the sword to kill Roðingeir. Naglhring Grim, Thiðrek, Heimir In the Thiðrekssaga, the dwarf Alfrek stole the sword Naglhring from Grim, husband of Hild, and gave the sword to the boy Thiðrek. The sword was made by the dwarf Alfrek. Thiðrek later gave Naglhring to his companion Heimir, when he won another sword (Ekkisax) from Ekka. Ekkisax Ekka, Thiðrek The sword that Thiðrek had taken after killing Ekka. The Ekkisax was another sword made by the dwarf Alfrek. In the Thiðrekssaga, the sword of Thiðrek, which he used to defeat Hagen. Hildigrim Thiðrek, Hildebrand In the Thiðrekssaga, the Hildigrim was the helmet of Thiðrek. According to the Thidrekssaga, Thidrek gave this helmet to Hildibrand (Hildebrand). Lagulf Hildebrand In the Thiðrekssaga, the sword of Hildebrand, which he used to mortally wounded Gernoz (Gernot) and kill Giselher. Blodgang Heimir In the Thiðrekssaga, the sword of Heimir. In the duel against the boy Thiðrek, Heimir broke the sword over the Hildigrim, the helmet of Thiðrek. Without a weapon, Heimir surrendered to Thiðrek, and they became long-life friends. Tarnkappe Alberich, Siegfried The Tarnkappe was also known as the "Cloak of Darkness" or "Cloak of Invisibility", had first belonged to the dwarf and treasurer, Alberich. Siegfried won the Tarnkappe from Alberich, and used it several times against Brunhild. Mimung Wayland, Witga The sword that Wayland had forge for himself. Witga, wielded the sword after his father, Wayland. Nægling, Naegling The sword Beowulf used to slay the dragon. Hrunting	i don't know
Sound, hearing, and non-electric musical instruments from the Greeks?	Ancient Sound Healing Ancient Sound Healing Ancient Sound Healing By Annaliese and John Stuart Reid Most ancient cultures used the seemingly magical power of sound to heal. Sound healing had almost disappeared in the west until the 1930s when acoustic researchers discovered ultrasound and its medical properties. With this discovery, research burgeoned and today the ancient art of sound healing is rapidly developing into a new science. (For information on sound healing in modern times please see our article 'Rediscovering the Art & Science of Sound Healing.') Aboriginal Sound Healing The Aboriginal people of Australia are the first known culture to heal with sound. Their ‘yidaki' (modern name, didgeridoo) has been used as a healing tool for at least 40,000 years. The Aborigines healed broken bones, muscle tears and illnesses of every kind using their enigmatic musical instrument. Interestingly, the sounds emitted by the yidaki are in alignment with modern sound healing technology. It is becoming apparent that the wisdom of the ancients was based on ‘sound' principles. The most ancient of all sound healing instruments—the Yidaki Sound Healing in Ancient Egypt The Egyptian culture extends back to 4000 BC and they have a long tradition of vowel sound chant. A Greek traveler, Demetrius, circa 200 B.C., wrote that the Egyptians used vowel sounds in their rituals: ‘In Egypt, when priests sing hymns to the Gods they sing the seven vowels in due succession and the sound has such euphony that men listen to it instead of the flute and the lyre.' A hypothetical sound healing ritual in the King's Chamber (The recipient is lying in the sarcophagus) The Corpus Hermeticum also contains a reference to the Egyptian's use of sound as distinct from words. This book was probably redacted in the 1st century AD but it is believed to be much older, possible as early as 1400 BC: In a letter from Asklepios to King Amman [he says]: ‘As for us, we do not use simple words but sounds all filled with power.' The Egyptians believed that vowel sounds were sacred, so much so that their written hieroglyphic language contains no vowels. We can, therefore, safely assume that vowel sound chant carried a powerful significance for their priests. Egyptian priestesses used sistra, a type of musical rattle instrument with metal discs that creates not only a pleasant jangling sound but, as we now know, also generates copious amounts of ultrasound. Ultrasound is an effective healing modality and is used today in hospitals and clinics so it is entirely possible that ceremonies in which many sistra were used were not merely employed to enhance the musical soundscape but were intended to enhance the healing effect. In the wall scene below, from a building erected by Queen Hatshepsut, three priestesses play sistra, accompanying a harpist, another instrument known to have healing qualities. The healing chapel at Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, was dedicated to Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, a deified healing saint closely associated with Imhotep—who is largely recognized under the title of 'physician.' Imhotep's repute was so great that 1,500 years after his death the Greeks identified him with their healing god Asclepius. These two deified men—Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu and Imhotep—were usually worshipped together in the same Egyptian healing temples. John Stuart Reid's acoustics research in the pyramids has provided strong evidence that the Egyptians designed their chapels and burial chambers to be reverberant in order to enhance sonic-based ceremonies. Reid underwent a significant healing of his lower back during his experiments in the King's Chamber that he attributes to the resonant properties of the sarcophagus. He conjectures that the acoustic resonance was deliberately contrived by the Egyptian architects and thinks it very likely that they were aware of the healing properties of sound long before the Greeks. Sound Healing in Ancient Greece The Greek, Pythagoras (circa 500 BC) was, in a very real sense, the father of music therapy. The Pythagoras Mystery School, based on the island of Crotona, taught the use of flute and lyre as the primary healing instruments and although none of Pythagoras' writings have come down to us we know of his philosophy and techniques from many contemporary writers. With his monochord—a single-stringed musical instrument that uses a fixed weight to provide tension—Pythagoras was able to unravel the mysteries of musical intervals. Iamblichus noted that: ‘Pythagoras considered that music contributed greatly to health, if used in the right way…He called his method 'musical medicine'…To the accompaniment of Pythagoras' his followers would sing in unison certain chants…At other times his disciples employed music as medicine, with certain melodies composed to cure the passions of the psyche...anger and aggression.' In the Greco-Roman period healing temples were used for ‘incubation,' a process in which patients underwent ‘dream sleep,' among other known modalities. It seems likely that music was used therapeutically during their stay. The reverberant spaces of the healing temples and sanatoria would have enhanced the therapeutic aspects of musical instruments, mainly a function of the parallel-facing stone walls. The Sanatorium at Dendera, Egypt Note the small cells where patients would undergo dream sleep incubation and music therapy Returning to the use of vowel sound chant—the production of vocal sounds rather than words—many eastern cultures developed variations of chant for healing and for spiritual ascension. Studies have shown that vowel sound chant can bring about many positive physiological changes in the body, and create an altered state of consciousness in which the chanter becomes serene. An example, among many cultures that use vowel sound chant, are the Tibetan monks who have a tradition extending back at least a thousand years. One of the earliest western scholars to reach Cathay (modern day Tibet but then a province of China) was Sir Gilbert Hay, the architect of Rosslyn Chapel, near Edinburgh, Scotland. It is assumed that Sir Gilbert would have encountered the monks in Cathay and their now famous gong-making science. By sprinkling sand on a gong, then striking the central area, tuning in ancient times (and even today by some makers) is achieved. If the resulting sand patterns were asymmetrical the gong maker would continue to shape and beat the metal. As a musical instrument the gong has wonderful healing properties because it contains virtually the whole spectrum of audible sound. Human cells, immersed in the gong's sound field, absorb the frequencies they need—a kind of sonic food—and reject what is not needed. We cannot know for certain whether Sir Gilbert brought back this healing knowledge to Scotland but anyone who has experienced the wonderful acoustics of the Rosslyn Crypt will know that this is not accidental. It is also likely that Sir Gilbert acquired cymatics knowledge in Cathay that he employed in creation of the Rosslyn Cubes. These are cube-like carved stone structures that decorate the ceiling of the Lady Chapel and in which he embedded a sacred melody in cymatic sound symbols. Thomas and Stuart Mitchell recently decoded this music and it takes the form of the beautiful Rosslyn Motet. The Apprentice Pillar and Musical Cubes, Rosslyn Chapel In conclusion, sound healing has a rich tradition reaching back thousands of years although following the Tibetan monk's experiments with sound healing in the 1400's there is a gap of around 450 years during which this ancient art seemed to almost die out. It wasn't until 1936 that our story of sound healing in the modern era begins. Content courtesy of John Stuart and Analiese Shandra Reid Copyright (c) 2011. All Rights Reserved.	Acoustic
South Asia Muslim ruler's title, variously distorted?	ancient musical instruments \| Tumblr ancient musical instruments 2 Sumerian Silver Lyre, from Ur, southern Iraq, c. 2600-2400 BC This lyre was found in the ‘Great Death-Pit’, one of the graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. The burial in the Great Death-Pit was accompanied by seventy-four bodies - six men and sixty-eight women -laid down in rows on the floor of the pit. Three lyres were piled one on top of another. They were all made from wood which had decayed by the time they were excavated, but two of them, of which this is one, were entirely covered in sheet silver attached by small silver nails. The plaques down the front of the sounding box are made of shell. The silver cow’s head decorating the front has inlaid eyes of shell and lapis lazuli. The edges of the sound box have a narrow border of shell and lapis lazuli inlay. When found, the lyre lay in the soil. The metal was very brittle and the uprights were squashed flat. First it was photographed, and then covered in wax and waxed cloth to hold it together for lifting. The silver on the top and back edge of the sounding box had been destroyed. Some of the silver preserved the impression of matting on which it must have originally lain. Eleven silver tubes acted as the tuning pegs. Such instruments were probably important parts of rituals at court and temple. There are representations of lyre players and their instruments on cylinder seals, and on the Standard of Ur being played alongside a possible singer. Reblog Music in ancient Rome: some facts It is safe to say that Roman music was mostly monophonic (that is, single melodies with no harmony) and that the melodies were based on an elaborate system of scales (called ‘modes’) The Romans may have borrowed the Greek method of ’enchiriadic notation’ to record their music, if they used any notation at all. Four letters (in English notation 'A’, 'G’, 'F’ and 'C’) indicated a series of four succeeding tones. There were also other, non-Greek, influences on Roman culture - from the Etruscans, for example, and, with imperial expansion, from the Middle Eastern and African sections of the empire. Some roman wind instruments included: the askaules, a bagpipe; the Roman tuba, a long, straight bronze trumpet; the cornu (Latin “horn”) was a long tubular metal wind instrument that curved around the musician’s body; versions of the modern flute and panpipes. Music contests were quite common and attracted a wide range of competition, including Nero himself, who performed widely as an amateur and once traveled to Greece to compete. Mosaics depict instruments that look like a cross between the bagpipe and the organ. The pipes were sized so as to produce many of the modes (scales) known from the Greeks. It is unclear whether they were blown by the lungs or by some mechanical bellows. There are numerous references to hundreds of trumpeters and pipers playing together at massive games and festivals. Percussion instruments included drums, tambourines, cymbals, and castanets. The majority of music for which we have surviving notation was vocal, and singing was probably the most common form of musical activity. 2 Gallic Boar-Headed Carnyx (War Trumpet), Tintignac, France, 1st Century BC The carnyx was a bronze wind instrument used by Iron Age Celts to rally troops and strike fear into the heart of their enemies from around 200 BC to 200 AD. It took the form of a very elongated ’S’ shaped tube. The horn’s bell was usually shaped like an animal’s head with its mouth wide open. Seven carnyces were discovered at Tintignac; six of them have boar-shaped heads and the seventh takes the shape of a a serpent-like beast. The tall, upright carriage of the carnyx allowed it’s frightful sound to be heard over the heads of soldiers engaged in battle. The Greek historian Polybius (200-118 BC) was so impressed by the sound of the Gallic army and their carnyces that he wrote “The Romans, on the other hand, while encouraged by having got their enemy between two of their own armies, were at the same time dismayed by the ornaments and clamour of the Celtic host. For there were among them such innumerable horns and trumpets, which were being blown simultaneously in all parts of their army, and their cries were so loud and piercing, that the noise seemed not to come merely from trumpets and human voices, but from the whole country-side at once. ” (Histories II, 29) Loading... Show more notes Reblog Thalia and Erato, Muses of Comedy (c.1680). Louis de Boullogne the Younger (French, 1654-1733). Oil on canvas. Musée National du Château de Fontainebleau‎. Thalia, who holds up a comic mask, is the Muse who presides over comedy and idyllic poetry. In this context her name means “flourishing”, because the praises in her songs flourish through time. Erato, who plays a cithara, an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre family, is the Muse of lyric poetry, especially love and erotic poetry. Reblog Arched Egyptian Harp, New Kingdom, 16th-11th Century BC During the 4th Dynasty (2613 to 2494 BC) harps became popular in Egypt. Two types were common; the curved or arched-neck like this one and angular models with a perpendicular neck. The oldest forms of arched harps had four or five strings; this example however has sixteen. Very rare. Reblog Phoenician Bronze Chalcophone, 8th-7th Century BC A musical instrument composed of two vertical bars with spiraled terminals as resonators, with eleven bronze springs coiled around connecting pins. Chalcophones appear in both Phoenician and South Italian Greek contexts during the Archaic Period. They are associated with burials and funerary practices, particularly female grave sites. They are thought to have been played like a multi-toned cymbal. ( similar example ) Reblog Egyptian Faience Sistrum of the Goddess Hathor, Late 26th Dynasty c. 600-525 BC In the form of a Hathor-head capital wearing a broad collar and striated wig bound in horizontal bands, uraei on her shoulders, the rattle above in the form of a naos supported on a cavetto cornice and containing on both sides a uraeus above a frieze of smaller uraei, the faces of Hathor each with finely delineated eyebrows and cosmetic line. A sistrum is a percussive musical instrument that was played in ancient Iraq and Egypt. They were usually made of bronze and had a U-shaped frame with a few crossbars that had small metal rings on them. When shaken the small rings of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can be from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Hathor was an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood. She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. She was worshiped by Royalty and common people alike in whose tombs she is depicted as “Mistress of the West” welcoming the dead into the next life. In other roles she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and fertility who helped women in childbirth, as well as the patron goddess of miners. She is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with a uraeus. Twin feathers are also sometimes shown in later periods as well as a menat necklace. 2 Phoenician Bronze Chalcophone, c. 8th-7th Century BC A musical instrument composed of two vertical bars with spiraled terminals as resonators, with eleven bronze springs coiled around connecting pins. Chalcophones appear in both Phoenician and South Italian Greek contexts during the Archaic Period. They are associated with burials and funerary practices, particularly female grave sites. They are thought to have been played like a multi-toned cymbal. Reblog Amlash Terracotta Musical Instrument, 1st Millennium BC A very rare ancient Near Eastern Amlash (Iran) güiro or rasp-like musical instrument with a bull’s head. The hollow cylindrical body is made with numerous horizontal ribs for strumming with a stick. It has a long vertical opening with other circular holes for acoustics and a loop handle at the back for gripping. Egyptian Harp, New Kingdom, Mid 2nd ML BC From the Tomb of Ani in Thebes Reblog Egyptian Menat Necklace, Reign of Amenhotep III Excavated from the Malkata palace at Thebes, dating to the New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, circa 1390-1353 BC. Made of faience, bronze or copper alloy, glass, agate, carnelian, lapis lazuli and turquoise. A menat necklace consists of a heavy, keyhole-shaped counterpoise (menat) and many strands of beads. Although the necklace is sometimes shown being worn, it was more often carried by females participating in religious ceremonies. It functioned as a percussion instrument that was shaken to create a soothing noise that was thought to appease a god or goddess. In the New Kingdom the menat necklace and the systrum were attributes of women who held the title “Singer of Amun-Re.” Reblog youtube I can’t understand why it’s so difficult to find videos of mostly extinct ancient bowed lyres on Youtube! ^_~ However, I have scored in the talharpa deparment. This is great. “The talharpa is a four-stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It was formerly widespread in Scandinavia, but is today played mainly in Estonia, particularly among that nation’s Swedish community. It is similar to the Finnish jouhikko and the Welsh crwth, but without a fingerboard.” (Wikipedia) Ancient Egyptian Love Song “Here is something that should really set the world on fire! It is a 3000-year-old song, sung in a dead language that no one speaks or understands, accompanied on an instrument called the “djedjet” that hasn’t existed in several millennia! The words for this song are from an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll, written in a formalized version of the language of the New Kingdom (roughly 1500 B.C.). This was the era of some of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, Queen Hatshepsut and the notorious “heretic king” Akenaten and his wife Queen Nefertiti. The song itself is written in several parts as a dialog between a young man and the girl he loves. This is the first part of it sung by the young man. Although he refers to the girl as “sister”, she is not his actual sister. It was common for people in those days, as it is in some places today, to refer to one another as “brother” and “sister” when they belonged to the same community. The language of ancient Egypt died out long ago, and no one is certain exactly how it was pronounced because only consonants were written - no vowels. The song itself is surprisingly explicit and erotic. After I made the video, I decided I had better add subtitles with a translation because without that nothing made any sense. The instrument I am using to accompany myself is a reproduction of a 22 string Egyptian New Kingdom arched (‘C’ - shaped) harp called a “djedjet”. It is made entirely of cedar and animal skin, without nails or screws of any kind. It has a rich, deep tone and I placed a microphone at the bottom of the instrument to pick up the sound. There is nothing except harp and voice in this recording. Ancient Egyptians wrote out many of the words to their songs but they did not write down the music, so we have no idea what their songs or instrumental music sounded like. I have tuned the harp in this video to what is called a “double harmonic major scale”. This does not correspond to any of the “modes” of western musical theory. Did ancient Egyptians use this scale? No one knows, but it is possible. I believe that the ancient harpists tuned their instruments to suit the piece of music they were playing. Many biblical scholars have suggested that this song was the inspiration for the SONG OF SONGS, or “Song Of Solomon” from the Old Testament of the Bible because the parallels between them are striking. The Song Of Solomon would have been written down long after the period of the Egyptian New Kingdom.”	i don't know
Lord of the Flies is a devil?	SparkNotes: Lord of the Flies: Themes, Motifs & Symbols Lord of the Flies Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Civilization vs. Savagery The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil. The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through the dissolution of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects. He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power. As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow’s head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural, innate goodness. Loss of Innocence As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the guileless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow’s head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. Biblical Parallels Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as a retelling of episodes from the Bible. While that description may be an oversimplification, the novel does echo certain Christian images and themes. Golding does not make any explicit or direct connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies; instead, these biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif in the novel, adding thematic resonance to the main ideas of the story. The island itself, particularly Simon’s glade in the forest, recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine place that is corrupted by the introduction of evil. Similarly, we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of the devil, for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many critics have drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among the boys, Simon is the one who arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence of having discovered this truth. Simon’s conversation with the Lord of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels. However, it is important to remember that the parallels between Simon and Christ are not complete, and that there are limits to reading Lord of the Flies purely as a Christian allegory. Save for Simon’s two uncanny predictions of the future, he lacks the supernatural connection to God that Jesus has in Christian tradition. Although Simon is wise in many ways, his death does not bring salvation to the island; rather, his death plunges the island deeper into savagery and moral guilt. Moreover, Simon dies before he is able to tell the boys the truth he has discovered. Jesus, in contrast, was killed while spreading his moral philosophy. In this way, Simon—and Lord of the Flies as a whole—echoes Christian ideas and themes without developing explicit, precise parallels with them. The novel’s biblical parallels enhance its moral themes but are not necessarily the primary key to interpreting the story. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The Conch Shell Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them. Used in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack’s camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island. Piggy’s Glasses Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless. The Signal Fire The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, we realize that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack’s gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph. The Beast The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys’ behavior is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become. The Lord of the Flies The Lord of the Flies is the bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol becomes the most important image in the novel when Simon confronts the sow’s head in the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart and promising to have some “fun” with him. (This “fun” foreshadows Simon’s death in the following chapter.) In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name “Lord of the Flies” is a literal translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell sometimes thought to be the devil himself. Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, and Roger Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, and many of its characters signify important ideas or themes. Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Jack represents unbridled savagery and the desire for power. Simon represents natural human goodness. Roger represents brutality and bloodlust at their most extreme. To the extent that the boys’ society resembles a political state, the littluns might be seen as the common people, while the older boys represent the ruling classes and political leaders. The relationships that develop between the older boys and the younger ones emphasize the older boys’ connection to either the civilized or the savage instinct: civilized boys like Ralph and Simon use their power to protect the younger boys and advance the good of the group; savage boys like Jack and Roger use their power to gratify their own desires, treating the littler boys as objects for their own amusement.	Beelzebub
Stephen King's rabid eponymous St Bernard?	The Lord of the Flies: Satan in the Bible \| Biblepaedia The Lord of the Flies: Satan in the Bible angel of darkness , angel of light , AntiChrist , Beast , deceiver , dragon , liar , lucifer , murderer , serpent , son of perdition Many (c)hristians do not believe this being exists I have read survey’s where Christians (actually I consider them (c)hristians) say by a pretty healthy margin (74%) that Satan is not a real, existing entity, but just a “symbol of evil”. My response would be: 1. Did a “Symbol” tempt our Jesus Christ in the wilderness? 2. Did a “Symbol” fall from the sky when Jesus said he saw “Satan as lightning fall from the sky”? 3. Did a “Symbol” tempt Adam and Eve in the Garden? 4. Will a “Symbol” sit on the throne in the Holy Temple and declare himself to be God? 5. Was Jesus talking to a symbol when he said “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” I could go on, but hopefully you see my point. This post will list every reference I can think of for Satan (after he fell) or his first name, Lucifer (Before he fell) in the entire KJV Bible. Please send this post to fallen-away Christians who claim Satan is not real, and help prevent them from “returning to their own vomit”… Devil(s) in the Bible: 2 Chronicles: 11:15And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. Deuteronomy: 32:17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. 1 John: 3:8He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 3:10In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1 Peter: 5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 and 2 Timothy: 2:26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 3:6Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. 3:7Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil 4:1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Acts: 10:38How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. 13:10And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Jude: 1:9Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Leviticus: 17:7And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. Luke: 4:2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 4:3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4:4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 4:5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 4:6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 4:7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 4:8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 4:9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 4:10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 4:11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 4:12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 4:13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. 7:33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. 8:2And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 8:12Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 8:27And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 8:28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. 8:29(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.) 8:30And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. 8:31And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. 8:32And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. 8:33Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. 8:34When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. 8:35Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 8:36They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. 8:37Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. 8:38Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, 9:1Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases 9:42And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. 9:49And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. 10:17And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 11:14And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 11:15But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. 11:16And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 11:17But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. 11:18If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. 11:19And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 11:20But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. 13:32And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Mark: 1:32And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 1:33And all the city was gathered together at the door. 1:34And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. 1:35And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 1:36And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. 1:37And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. 1:38And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 1:39And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. 3:14And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 3:15And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: 5:12And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 5:13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. 5:14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. 5:15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. 5:16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. 5:17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. 5:18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 6:13And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. 7:26The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 7:27But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 7:28And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 7:29And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 7:30And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed . 9:38And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. 16:9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils . 16:17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; Matthew: 4:1Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 4:2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 4:3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4:4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 4:5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 4:6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 4:7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 4:8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 4:9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 4:10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 4:11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 7:22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 8:16When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 8:28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 8:29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 8:30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 8:31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 8:32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 8:33And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 9:32As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. 9:33And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. 9:34But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. 10:8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 11:18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 13:37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 13:38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 13:39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 13:40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 15:22And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 17:18And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 25:41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: James: 2:19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 3:15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish . 4:7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. John: 6:70Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 7:20The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? 8:44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 8:45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 8:46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? 8:47He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. 8:48Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? 8:49Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 8:50And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 8:51Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 8:52Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 10:20And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? 10:21Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 13:2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Ephesians: 4:27Neither give place to the devil. 6:11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Hebrews: 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; Psalms 106:37Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, 1Corinthians 10:20But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 10:21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Revelation: 2:10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 12:12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 16:14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 18:2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 20:2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 20:10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. LUCIFER in the Bible: Isaiah: 14:12How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 14:13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14:14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 14:15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. SATAN in the Bible: Zechariah: 3:1And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 3:2And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Romans: 16:20And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Revelation: 20:7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 20:8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 20:1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 20:2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 3:9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 2:8And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; 2:9I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. 2:10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. 2:11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. 2:12And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 2:13I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. 2:14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 2:15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. 2:16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 2:17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. 2:18And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 2:19I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 2:20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 2:21And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 2:22Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 2:23And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 2:24But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. Psalms: 109:5And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 109:6Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. 109:7When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Matthew: 16:23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 12:22Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 12:23And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 12:24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. 12:25And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 12:26And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 12:27And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 12:28But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 4:1Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 4:2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 4:3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4:4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 4:5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 4:6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 4:7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 4:8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 4:9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 4:10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 4:11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Mark: 8:33But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. 4:14The sower soweth the word. 4:15And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 3:22And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. 3:23And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 3:24And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 3:25And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 3:26And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 1:12And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 1:13And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. Luke: 22:31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 22:3Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve 13:16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 11:14And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 11:15But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. 11:16And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven. 11:17But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. 11:18If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. 11:19And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 11:20But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. 11:21When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 11:22But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. 11:23He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 11:24When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. 11:25And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. 11:26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. 10:17And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 10:18And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 4:1And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 4:2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 4:3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4:4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 4:5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 4:6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 4:7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 4:8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 4:9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 4:10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 4:11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 4:12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 4:13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. John: 13:27And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Job: 1:6Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 1:7And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 1:8And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 1:9Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 1:10Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 1:11But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 1:12And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. 2:1Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD. 2:2And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 2:3And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. 2:4And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. 2:5But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. 2:6And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. 2:7So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Acts: 26:18To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 5:3But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 2 Thessalonians: 2:7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 2:8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 2:9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 2 Corinthians: 12:7And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 11:14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 11:15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 2:11Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 1 Timothy: 5:15For some are already turned aside after Satan. Book of 1 Thessalonians: 2:18Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. Book of 1 Corinthians: 7:5Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 5:5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Book of 1 Chronicles 21:1 :And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel Dragon in the Bible: Isaiah: 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Ezekiel: 29:3Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. Revelation: 12:3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 12:4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 12:5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 12:6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 12:7And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 12:8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 12:10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 12:11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12:12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 12:13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 12:14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 12:15And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 12:16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 12:17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 13:2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 13:3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 13:4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 13:11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 16:13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 20:2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, Deceiver in the Bible: 1 Timothy: 2:14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 2John: 1:7For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Revelation: 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 13:14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 18:23And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived 19:20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone 20:2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 20:3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 20:7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 20:8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 20:10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Job 12:16With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. Liar in the Bible: John: 8:44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. Here are more titles of Satan in the Bible: (courtesy of http://www.bible-topics.com/Titles-and-Names-of-the-Devil.html ) * Abaddon – Rev. 9:11″And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.” * Accuser of the brethren – Rev. 12:10 “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. ” * Adversary (one who stands against) – 1Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ” * Angel of the bottomless pit – Rev. 9:11 “And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.” * Angel of light – 2Cor. 11:14 “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ” * Antichrist – 1John 4:3 ” And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. ” * Apollyon – (Greek Apolluwn, or Destroyer) – Rev. 9:11 ” And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon.” * Beelzebub – Matt. 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15 ” But when the Pharisees heard [it], they said, This [fellow] doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. ” (Matt. 12:24) ” And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. ” (Mark 3:22) ” But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils. ” (Luke 11:15) * Belial – 2Cor. 6:15 ” And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ” * Devil – Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:2,6; Rev. 20:2 ” Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. ” (Matt. 4:1) ” Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. . . . And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. ” (Luke 4:2,6) ” And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ” (Rev. 20:2) * Dragon – Rev. 12:7 ” And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, ” * Enemy – Matt. 13:39 ” The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. ” * Evil spirit – 1Sam. 16:14 ” But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. ” * Father (father) of all liars – John 8:44 ” Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. ” * God (god) of this world – 2Cor. 4:4 ” In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. ” * Great red dragon – Rev. 12:3 ” And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. ” * Lucifer – Isa. 14:12 ” How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! ” * Man of sin – 2Thess. 2:3 ” Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ” * Murderer – John 8:44 ” Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” * Old serpent – Rev. 12:9, 20:2 ” And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ” (Rev. 12:9) ” And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ” (Rev. 20:2) * Power of darkness – Col. 1:13 ” Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son: ” * Power of death – Heb. 2:14 ” Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; ” * Prince of this world – John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11 ” Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” (John 12:31) ” Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. ” (John 14:30) ” Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. ” (John 16:11) * Prince of the power of the air – Eph. 2:2 ” Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: ” * Roaring lion – 1Peter 5:8 ” Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ” * Ruler of darkness – Eph. 6:12 ” For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. ” * Satan – 1Chron. 21:1; Job 1:6; John 13:27; Acts 5:3, 26:18; Rom. 16:20; Rev. 20:2 ” And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. ” (1Chron. 21:1) ” Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. ” (Job 1:6) ” And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. ” (John 13:27) ” But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back [part] of the price of the land? ” (Acts 5:3) ” To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. ” (Acts 26:18) ” And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you. Amen. ” (Rom. 16:20) ” And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ” (Rev. 20:2) * Serpent – Gen. 3:4, 14; 2Cor. 11:3; Rev. 20:2 ” And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: . . . And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: ” (Gen. 3:4, 14) ” But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ” (2Cor. 11:3) ” And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, ” (Rev. 20:2) * Son of perdition – John 17:12 ” While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. ” * Tempter – Matt. 4:3; 1Thess. 3:5 ” And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. ” (Matt. 4:3) ” For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. ” (1Thess. 3:5) * Thief – John 10:10 ” The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly. ” * Wicked one – Matt. 13:19, 38 ” When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth [it] not, then cometh the wicked [one], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. . . . The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one]; ” Share this:	i don't know
Call of the Wild (novel and movie)?	View All Photos (6) Movie Info Featuring Clark Gable and Loretta Young, this loose adaptation of Jack London's classic story is one of the livelier versions of the oft-filmed tale and was shot on location on rugged, snowy Mt. Baker, Washington where cast and crew had to endure harsh winter conditions including blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and difficulty in obtaining supplies during filming. In this version, the role of Buck the dog is diminished and the main focus shifts to the romance between prospector Jack Thornton, and Claire, a young bride who is abandoned in a cabin by her gold-fevered husband. The story begins in Skagway, Alaska where impoverished prospector Thornton loses his mine in a poker game. He then buys Buck, a big dog deemed too vicious for sled pulling. Thorton feels a bond with this dog and with love and patience, earns his trust and retrains him. Buck's cruel former owner Reginald Owen is enraged by this because he wants Buck back so he can kill the dog for mangling his hand. To get him back, he bets Thornton that Buck cannot pull a half ton for one hundred yards. The devoted dog does it and the newly enriched Thorton, his pal Shorty, and Buck set out to find a claim. They run across the half-dead abandoned woman, continue on to an empty cabin belonging to her husband, and then take over his mine, finding lots of gold. Later Shorty heads back for badly needed supplies while Thornton, Buck and the girl remain behind. Romance blossoms at the cabin. Meanwhile, crooks overtake the woman's creepy husband and force him to reveal his mine. He does and they try to kill him. Then they attack the couple and steal the gold. After more excitement, the crooks leave and find final justice during their escape. Later Buck appears and helps to save the fallen husband by leading Thornton to him. After he recovers, his bride decides to return to him and Thornton and Buck are left to await the return of Shorty. Rating:	Buck
Hagrid's 'cowardly' boarhound, of Harry Potter fame?	Call of the Wild (1976) on iTunes by Rockermam The book was great. I watched a different version of this movie and it barely followed the book. This new one has only two things in common with the book the nameof the book and the name of the dog. Judging from the trailer this looks a lot like the book. I might just buy this cause I am a big fan of this book. Quite the Story by TablaRasa There is a great underlying theme in all of this....we all to some degree have a yearning for the wilderness, that is "The Call of the Wild." Jack London would be disgusted by ZachDKingNH This movie is nothing like the book. If you enjoyed the book and especially if you are a dog lover who enjoyed the book you will be disappointed. The movie does a terrible job portraying the intimate relationship between John Thornton and Buck. The acting is pretty horrible as well. Viewers Also Bought	i don't know
US Army WWI most decorated war dog, and highest ranking?	Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker 1. A Dog Has His Day On July 6, 1921, a curious gathering took place at the State, War, and Navy Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The occasion was a ceremony honoring veterans of the 102nd Infantry of the American Expeditionary Forces’ 26th “Yankee” Division, who had seen action in France during the Great War. The hall was packed with dozens of members of the 102nd—field clerks, infantrymen, generals—but one soldier in particular commanded the spotlight. The attention seemed to bother him; the New York Times reported that the soldier was “a trifle gun shy, and showed some symptoms of nervous excitement.” When photographers snapped his picture, he flinched. The ceremony was presided over by Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American forces in Europe during the war. Pershing made a short speech, noting the soldier’s “ heroism of highest caliber ” and “bravery under fire.” The general solemnly lifted an engraved solid gold medal from its case and pinned it to the hero’s uniform. In response, the Times reported, the solider “licked his chops and wagged his diminutive tail.” Sergeant Stubby, a short brindle bull terrier mutt, was officially a decorated hero of World War I. The award was not a formal U.S. military commendation, but it symbolically confirmed Stubby, who’d also earned one wound stripe and three service stripes, as the greatest war dog in the nation’s history. According to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History , he was the first dog ever given rank in the U.S. Army. His glory was even hailed in France, which also presented him with a medal. Advertisement Millions of Americans heard tales of Stubby’s courage. He had reportedly comforted wounded warriors on bullet-strafed battlefields. It was said he could sniff out poison gas, barking warnings to doughboys in the trenches. He even captured a German soldier. These exploits made the dog nothing less than a celebrity. He met three sitting presidents, traveled the nation to veterans’ commemorations, and performed in vaudeville shows, earning $62.50 for three days of theatrical appearances, more than twice the weekly salary of the average American. For nearly a decade after the war until his death in 1926, Stubby was the most famous animal in the United States. Get Slate in your inbox. Sergeant Stubby among his buddies leading a Legion parade. Courtesy of Division of Armed Forces/Smithsonian National Museum of America History “Stubby’s history overseas,” a Waterbury, Connecticut, newspaper wrote in 1922, “is the story of almost any average doughboy.” But of course Stubby was not a doughboy, and his renown was anything but average. Despite his postwar stardom, Stubby has faded from memory in the century since the war commenced. But his story is worth revisiting, and not just as a cute, curious footnote. Stubby’s tale offers a glimpse of the American Army as it prepared to fight its first modern war—and later, of a bruised nation as it commemorated a victory obtained at unthinkable human costs. 2. A Mutt Goes to Yale Stubby’s provenance is unknown. According to several news reports, he first enters the historical record in July 1917 as an ownerless stray. The journey to the theater of war has the quality of legend—a scruffy, peculiarly American brand of myth. Stubby was like a character out of Horatio Alger, or a sentimental one-reel silent movie: an orphan who made his way in the world with perseverance and pluck. Advertisement The setting for Stubby’s debut was the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University’s football stadium was the site of Camp Yale, where the soldiers of the 102nd Infantry, part of the New England–based 26th “Yankee” Division, were doing basic training prior to their deployment. Sergeant Stubby and J. Robert Conroy, March 1919. Courtesy of Division of Armed Forces/Smithsonian National Museum of America History On a steamy summer morning, news reports would later recount, Stubby wandered onto the massive field, where the soldiers were doing exercises. He was not an impressive sight: short, barrel-shaped, a bit homely, with brown and white brindled stripes. Stubby lingered around Camp Yale after that first appearance. Ann Bausum, author of Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog , writes that J. Robert Conroy, a 25-old private from New Britain, Connecticut, forged the closest bond with the mutt. The two were soon inseparable.* In September 1917, a few months after Stubby first embedded with the troops at the Yale Bowl, the 102nd prepared to ship out. Conroy faced a problem: What to do about the dog he had adopted and named Stubby? Dogs were forbidden in the U.S. military, but Conroy had managed to keep the stray as a pet throughout his three-month training in Connecticut. Getting Stubby to Europe would be a more daunting challenge. Stubby was not an impressive sight: short, barrel-shaped, a bit homely. The troops traveled by rail to Newport News, Virginia, a newly designated port of embarkation for soldiers heading to France. Here the 26th Division was slated to board one of the largest freighters navigating the Atlantic, the SS Minnesota. The New York Times describes how Conroy eluded the ship guards by concealing Stubby in his Army-issue greatcoat. He then spirited the dog down to the hold and hid him in the ship’s coal bin. Advertisement At some point during the turbulent Atlantic crossing, Stubby was found out. Here the lore of Stubby, as reported by various newspapers, takes on a suspiciously cutesy cast: The story goes that the dog charmed his way into the good graces of the officers who discovered him by lifting his right paw in a salute. Out of hiding and free to roam the freighter, Stubby proved popular with the crew. A machinist onboard fashioned Stubby his own set of metal “dog tags.” By the time the troops disembarked in the port of Saint-Nazaire on France’s western coast, Stubby was the 102nd Infantry’s unofficial mascot. 3. Dogs in the Trenches The Royal lion hunt reliefs from the Assyrian palace at Nineveh, about 645-635 B.C., housed at the British Museum. Photo courtesy Carole Raddato /Flickr Creative Commons The story of dogs in warfare is an old one, stretching back to antiquity. Persians, Greeks, Assyrians, and Babylonians all used dogs in battle. Dogs were part of Attila the Hun’s forces in his fifth-century European conquests. In the Middle Ages, knights outfitted dogs with canine armor; Napoleon used trained dogs as sentinels in the French campaign in Egypt. Many of the countries involved in World War I had war dog training schools in place prior to the conflict. France, Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Russia all recognized the value of trained dogs on the battlefield. The conventional wisdom favored pedigreed dogs: Jack Russell terriers for chasing rats out of trenches; German shepherds, Chiens de Brie, and Alsatian sheep dogs for sentry duty. Airedale terriers were considered good messenger dogs. Siberian huskies, naturally, were relied on for transport. Advertisement Dogs were also a key part of the Red Cross’ aid efforts, and every country had its own unit. Red Cross dogs, also called sanitary dogs or Sanitätshunde by the Germans, negotiated battlefields and no-man’s lands to aide wounded men. Saddlebags stocked with water and medical supplies were strapped to their backs. Because they wore the Red Cross symbol, these dogs were, in theory, protected from being shot by the enemy. Often, the dogs simply provided comfort and a warm body to dying men on battlefields. Baldy of Nome, famed Alaskan sled dog, and his owner Allan "Scotty" Allan. Baldy sired 28 of the sled dogs sent to France by Allan during WWI. Courtesy of Library of Congress Stubby remained with the 102nd throughout the training period in Neufchâteau. Initially, he didn’t serve in an official capacity, but the dog was allowed stay with Conroy, even when he went on assignment as a dispatch rider delivering messages to command posts on horseback. By February 1918, the 102nd was bunkering along the lines of Chemin des Dames, the French-held “ladies path” on the Western Front, nervously anticipating the Germans’ launch of a spring offensive. On St. Patrick’s Day, bells and klaxons, the signal of a poison gas attack, rang out along the hillside in the Marne where Stubby and Conroy were stationed. For a full 24 hours, German gas shells rained down. Somehow, the dog and his master survived. (Perhaps gas masks were to thank—man and dog alike were issued masks, though the New York Times reported that “Stubby’s physiognomy was of such peculiar contour that no mask could afford real satisfaction.”) Advertisement It was at Chemin des Dames that Stubby reportedly saved the 102nd from a gas attack. The Times describes how one morning, while most of the troops were sleeping, the division was assaulted by an early morning gas launch. Stubby first smelled the gas then ran up and down the trenches barking and biting soldiers, working to rouse them from slumber and getting them to safety. On April 5 Stubby became a private first class, his first military rank. 18th Infrantry, Machine Gun Battalion passing through Saint-Baussant, France, in advance upon Saint-Mihiel front, Sept. 13, 1918. Photo by Sgt. J.A. Marshall/U.S. Army via Wikimedia Commons The 26th Division soon moved from Chemin des Dames to nearby towns of Saint-Mihiel and Seicheprey. The 102nd Infantry headquarters were set up near a dangerous spot 1½ miles north of Mandres-aux-Quatre-Tours. Known as “Dead Man’s Curve” because the hazardous turn required oncoming vehicles to slow down, the location made easy prey for the German artillery. Stubby and company were placed in support positions to wait for a German breakthrough. Stubby’s rage at the sight of German prisoners of war was described as “savage.” On April 20, near Seicheprey, the Germany infantry led one of its first attacks against American troops. Almost 3,000 German Stoßtruppen (shock troops) fired on, and overwhelmed, a small contingent of 600 American soldiers from the 26th. Fighting was so intense that Maj. George Rau, commander of the 102nd, ordered his cooks, truck drivers , and even the marching band into the fray. The Germans claimed victory, leaving 81 Allied troops killed, 424 wounded, and 130 captured. Seicheprey sustained the heaviest losses in the Saint-Mihiel sector. Stubby got his first war wound at Seicheprey, when a German shell fragment lodged in his left foreleg. By June, however, Stubby had recovered and was back in action. When the 102nd reached Chateâu Thierry in July, the dog had evidently learned to distinguish a khaki doughboy uniform from gray serge Germany garb: He recognized a uniformed enemy soldier. Stubby’s rage at the sight of a German was reportedly so “savage,” in the words of an Associated Press account, that “it was found necessary to tie him up when batches of prisoners were being brought back, for fear that trouserless Germans would be reaching the prison pens.” In the Argonne, Stubby sniffed out a lost German soldier hiding in nearby bushes. The dog gave chase, eventually dragging the soldier back to the 102nd. To the victor go the spoils: The Iron Cross medal that had been pinned to the German’s uniform thereafter adorned Stubby’s Army “ coat .” Stubby in Beaumont, France, 1919. Courtesy of Division of Armed Forces/Smithsonian National Museum of America History Stubby later took part in the brutal offensives of Saint-Mihiel, Aisne-Marne, and the Champagne-Marne. When the war ended on Nov. 11, 1918, Stubby was in Meuse-Argonne. The process of demobilization was protracted, and troops stayed on for several months after Armistice. While waiting out the trip home from France, Stubby met his first of three presidents, Woodrow Wilson, on Christmas Day 1918 in Mandres en Bassigny. According to Bausum, the two reportedly shook “hands.” Four months later, on April 29, 1919, Stubby and Conroy were demobilized at Camp Devens, Massachusetts. 5. The Perfect War Hero After the war, Stubby was ubiquitous. He attended the 1920 Republican National Convention, which culminated in the nomination of Warren G. Harding. Harding officially received Stubby at the White House in 1921; in 1924, the dog passed review for Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, three times. When Conroy went to study law at Georgetown, Stubby became the university’s official mascot , a predecessor to the Hoya bulldog of the present day. Usually closed doors were flung open for Stubby. In December 1922, the New York Times reported that for the first time, the exclusive Hotel Majestic on Central Park had broken its own rules and allowed the dog to stay overnight. Stubby was made a member of the Red Cross and the American Legion. The YMCA conferred a lifetime membership on the dog, stipulating that he was entitled to “three bones a day and a place to sleep” for as long as he lived. Miss Louise Johnson and Sergeant Stubby in a parade, May 1921.	Sergeant Stubby
HMV (His Master's Voice) early logo?	Pit bulls as mascots and war dogs for the American military “Sergeant Stubby” Sergeant Stubby the most decorated war dog This pit bull is known as the most decorated war dog to have served the U.S. military. Served beside John Robert Conroy in the 102nd Infantry 26th Yankee division, during WWI, in the trenches in France. He entered combat on February 5, 1918. He warned his troops of incoming attacks. He captured a German spy all on his own. Was wounded in his foreleg, by a German hand grenade. Awarded the Purple Heart While recovering from injuries in the line of duty, he kept morale up among the injured soldiers and eventually returned to the trenches. After being gassed, Stubby began warning his unit of poison gas attacks. The first decorated canine war hero and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant. He was involved in 17 battles, and 4 offensives. After the battle for the French village of Domremy, the grateful women of the township fashioned a hand sewn chamois coat, to display Stubby’ s service chevrons, metals, pins and button. This became his recognized trademark, and is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum. Stubby was invited to the White house by three Presidents, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge. In 1921 John Conroy and Stubby headed to Georgetown to enroll in law school where he served several terms as mascot to the football team. Between halves, Stubby would nudge a football around the field with his nose, to the delight of the crowd. Until his death, in John Conroy’s arms, of old age, April 4, 1926, Stubby was a “True” American Pit Bull Terrier. Awards: Regimental mascot for the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. Owner- 1st Lt. William R. Terry Sallie grew up among the men of the regiment since she was 4 weeks old. She followed them on marches and into battle. At the battle of Gettysburg, July 1st – July 3rd 1863, Sallie was separated from her unit. Unable to find her way, she returned to the Union battle line at Oak Ridge, where Sallie stood guard over the dead and wounded. Sallie continued her faithful service until February of 1865 when during the battle of Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, Sallie was struck in the head by a bullet and killed instantly. Sallie was buried on the battlefield while surrounded by enemy fire. In appreciation of her loyal devotion, a monument of Sallie now stands in Gettysburg, directly in front of the monument that commemorates the 11th Pennsylvania Infantry. Was the mascot for the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry His career spanned through nearly all the regiment’s battles in Virginia and Maryland. He was present at the Wilderness campaigns, Spotsylvania, and the siege of Petersburg. Jack’s duty, was to seek out the dead and wounded of his regiment once the gunfire silenced. He was wounded severely at the battle of Malvern Hill. He was able to escape a capture by the confederate soldiers and survive the battle of Antietam in 1862, (in which 23,000 soldiers were killed or wounded,). Jack was captured twice and became the only dog to be traded as a prisoner of war. During his second capture he was exchanged, according to war time protocol, for a Confederate soldier at Belle Isle. Jack disappeared shortly after being presented a silver collar purchased by his human comrades and was believed to be a victim of theft. Old Harvey had a great love of music. Mascot for the 104th Ohio Infantry. Provided companionship and humor for the troops. Harvey would show his great love for music by swaying from side to side while the soldiers sang campfire songs in the evening. He was wounded in two different battles but, survived each time. Harvey’s tag read “I am Lieutenant D.N. Stearns’ Dog. Who’s Dog Are You?” The 104th had a portrait of Harvey commissioned so that he could still be part of their reunions after his death. Harvey is remembered by the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, where a portrait of the troop features a proud Harvey posing with his fellow soldiers. Modern Times: Unfortunately, the Pentagon approved the new pet policy that banned pit bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Chows, and wolf hybrids from military housing. Air Force and Navy soon followed and the Marine Corps issued a worldwide breed ban policy. Although some of these policies allowed dogs already living on bases to be grandfathered in, many dogs were evicted by local enforcement. As with most breed specific legislation, this policy was a reaction to dog attacks that took place on military bases. The dog attacks were rare and the result of human irresponsibility. Hopefully, the military will realize the rich history of pit bulls and bully breeds that served their country and will reverse the breed ban. Camp Sevier Danger the pit	i don't know
Milo's dog, The Phantom Tollbooth's 'watchdog'?	Tock \| The Phantom Tollbooth Wiki \| Fandom powered by Wikia The Phantom Tollbooth Wiki Guardian of Lethargarians and Kids Health Location Anywhere! Tock is the secondary protagonist of The Phantom Tollbooth. A wise and protective yet friendly biomechanical watchdog, he saves Milo in the Doldrums and accompanies him throughout his entire adventure, giving him answers to his questions and advice to fix his problems and keep him out of trouble throughout the story. He acts as a voice of reason Contents Edit Prior to his birth, Tock's mother and father had a puppy whom they named Tick, who made a "tocktocktock" noise. Likewise, when the second puppy came into their world, the mother and father named him Tock, figuring that both of their children would make the same sound. However, Tock and his brother both make the sounds opposite to their names as Tock makes a "tickticktick" sound. (Tock's family is never fully investigated throughout the novel.) He followed the family tradition of becoming a watchdog. In the film, Tock does not mention his backstory and his full name is Tik-Tok, although that was already taken by a copper man in Oz. Role in Story Edit Tock met Milo in the Doldrums. He helped Milo get out by telling him "Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking." He then hopped in Milo's car, and accompanies Milo throughout his journey, acting as a voice of reason. As Milo and Tock drive through miles of the new land, the two start to create a quite good friendship. Appearance Edit Tock is a dog with brown, ruffled fur. In the novel, he is depicted with a clock embedded on the left side of his body. However, Tock had his clock hidden inside of his belly in the film. Cleverly, the clock rings when something bad happens and it alarms him. Personality Edit Tock is a friendly and wise watchdog. Although he is a happy and playful person, he is mature, has a strong sense of morality, and often acts as a voice of reason throughout the journey. He forms a strong bond with Milo. In his opinion we should not waste time. Tock is a sweet sensitive character with a big heart. Trivia Edit Tock is the only main character to have his background told. Tock has a talent for singing as revealed in the film and in fact has his own song that he and Milo sung. In the musical, Tock is often portrayed by a girl. The reason for this is unknown. Gallery	Tock
Odysseus's faithful hound in Homer's Odyssey?	The Phantom Tollbooth - YouTube The Phantom Tollbooth Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 6, 2013 What could possibly be inside that gigantic, wrapped-and-ribboned box? A tollbooth, a toy car...and adventure! Ride with young Milo through the phantom tollbooth and into a world that combines the enchantment of Norton Juster's classic children's book with sheer visual joy spearheaded by animation immortal Chuck Jones. Bookended by live-action sequences and featuring a stellar voice cast, The Phantom Tollbooth engages youngsters' minds and imaginations in a magical musical tale of warring kingdoms (one favors words, the other numbers), fabulously weird creatures, demons, princesses and a tick-tick-ticking dog named Tock. He's a watchdog, you see! Partner rating Start within 30 days, finish within 30 days Streaming	i don't know
Mrs Pumphrey's pekingese James Herriot's vet stories?	A Collection of James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories \| Free Essay Examples at Kingessays A Collection of James Herriot’s Favorite Dog Stories .This was a wonderful passionate book about well. James. Herriots favorite dog stories. They were all true some funny some inspirational and some sad. I have picked out some of my personal favorites here. One of my all-time favorites is. Roy. From rags to riches. Its about a young almost full-grown golden retriever badly neglected and almost dead that was found in an old shack. An old gypsy woman who had just lost her terrier to a car accident claimed him when they were about to put him to sleep. For a month they were not seen anywhere until the day she brought him outside. He was pure gold healthy and loved. Although. Dr. Herriot didnt do anything it was obvious why this made it into the collection. Another great one was. Jock. Top dog. Jock was a. Border. Collie living out on a farm. By tradition he would always chase peoples cars down the long lane up to the farm. It was one of his biggest joys in life. But the farmer bought one of the healthiest bitches in the area and she had puppies with. Jock. With both of the parents health and vigor they began to outpace. Jock even in his art of car chasing. But once they were sold and gone. Jock was still. Top. Dog. A good story was. Tricki. Woo. A triumph of surgery. His name really says it all a. Pekingese extremely fat and spoiled. Trickis weight problem was really getting out of hand so much that it was dangerous. But his owner. Mrs. Humphrey couldnt stand to see him suffer so she even gave him chocolate and such she was extremely rich. One day. Dr. Herriot decided that it was so bad that he had to get. Tricki out of. Mrs. Pumphreys reach. So he cared for. Tricki for a fortnight giving him equal treatment as the other dogs. At the end he emerged a happy radiant animal. It was obvious why. James. Herriot devoted three out of ten stories to. Tricki. The last but one of the best stories was. Brandy. The dustbin dog. This was about a big happy friendly mutt who was always getting into mischief. He would rummage through trash cans get his owners clothes muddy and go swimming in subzero weather. It was the swimming that made him sick. He got pneumonia a disease usually fatal to dogs at the time. For awhile it looked grim for. Brandy but then miraculously he gradually got better. But old. Brandy was never quiet the same afterwards. He didnt want to get up be petted go for a walk anything until one day when he came bounding in with a food can stuck on his nose. Dr. Herriot simply called it. Vis medicatrix naturae the healing power of nature and thats just what it was. This book was. I think was great. It gave insights into the life of a veterinarian a subject. I have always been interested in. It was interesting seeing how the animals. Herriot spoke of seemed more people-like with their own characters and souls. This concept disagrees with the idea of mans dominion over the earth and manifest destiny and all of that. It makes you think about the morality of animal testing veal and feedlots animal abusers etc. Jane. Goodall has disproved the theory that separates us from other animals already and in my opinion all good dog books should at least try. James. Herriots other titles explain this.All. Things. Wise and. Wonderful. All. Creatures. Great and. Small etc which he got from a hymn. There is even a section in the book directly discussing this where an old lady is about to die and she has heard that animals have no souls so shes afraid that her pets wont go to heaven with her. This book however had some good and bad aspects to it all writers are human. Two of. Tricki. Woos stories were meaninglessthey didnt include. Tricki or his ailments at all. Nearly all of the stories have nice happy endings which is not real for a vet. But thats okay since his favorite ones arent probably ones where people die. The introduction was good it told about himself. James. Herriot and therefore didnt have any restrictions like the ones about other people did. From what. Ive read it seems that people telling about their own real-life experiences like. Mr. Herriot tend to do better than those who make it up or who are writing about someone else. I would recommend this book to any dog or animal lover. It can really be for any age people although the vocabulary is a little. British but what do you expect. James. Herriot is one of my favorite authors and. I think other people would like his writing too. He was no philosopher no deep ideas in his writing but its still good. Herriot was one of those people that even though he was a very good writer could have gotten famous just on plain diary entries. His life was exciting enough and so he didnt have to dramatize his life too much. There arent really many people who wouldnt enjoy this book	tricki woo
Paul McCartney, and supposedly inspiration for a Beatles song/song title?	A Collection of James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories \| Free Essay Examples at Kingessays A Collection of James Herriot’s Favorite Dog Stories .This was a wonderful passionate book about well. James. Herriots favorite dog stories. They were all true some funny some inspirational and some sad. I have picked out some of my personal favorites here. One of my all-time favorites is. Roy. From rags to riches. Its about a young almost full-grown golden retriever badly neglected and almost dead that was found in an old shack. An old gypsy woman who had just lost her terrier to a car accident claimed him when they were about to put him to sleep. For a month they were not seen anywhere until the day she brought him outside. He was pure gold healthy and loved. Although. Dr. Herriot didnt do anything it was obvious why this made it into the collection. Another great one was. Jock. Top dog. Jock was a. Border. Collie living out on a farm. By tradition he would always chase peoples cars down the long lane up to the farm. It was one of his biggest joys in life. But the farmer bought one of the healthiest bitches in the area and she had puppies with. Jock. With both of the parents health and vigor they began to outpace. Jock even in his art of car chasing. But once they were sold and gone. Jock was still. Top. Dog. A good story was. Tricki. Woo. A triumph of surgery. His name really says it all a. Pekingese extremely fat and spoiled. Trickis weight problem was really getting out of hand so much that it was dangerous. But his owner. Mrs. Humphrey couldnt stand to see him suffer so she even gave him chocolate and such she was extremely rich. One day. Dr. Herriot decided that it was so bad that he had to get. Tricki out of. Mrs. Pumphreys reach. So he cared for. Tricki for a fortnight giving him equal treatment as the other dogs. At the end he emerged a happy radiant animal. It was obvious why. James. Herriot devoted three out of ten stories to. Tricki. The last but one of the best stories was. Brandy. The dustbin dog. This was about a big happy friendly mutt who was always getting into mischief. He would rummage through trash cans get his owners clothes muddy and go swimming in subzero weather. It was the swimming that made him sick. He got pneumonia a disease usually fatal to dogs at the time. For awhile it looked grim for. Brandy but then miraculously he gradually got better. But old. Brandy was never quiet the same afterwards. He didnt want to get up be petted go for a walk anything until one day when he came bounding in with a food can stuck on his nose. Dr. Herriot simply called it. Vis medicatrix naturae the healing power of nature and thats just what it was. This book was. I think was great. It gave insights into the life of a veterinarian a subject. I have always been interested in. It was interesting seeing how the animals. Herriot spoke of seemed more people-like with their own characters and souls. This concept disagrees with the idea of mans dominion over the earth and manifest destiny and all of that. It makes you think about the morality of animal testing veal and feedlots animal abusers etc. Jane. Goodall has disproved the theory that separates us from other animals already and in my opinion all good dog books should at least try. James. Herriots other titles explain this.All. Things. Wise and. Wonderful. All. Creatures. Great and. Small etc which he got from a hymn. There is even a section in the book directly discussing this where an old lady is about to die and she has heard that animals have no souls so shes afraid that her pets wont go to heaven with her. This book however had some good and bad aspects to it all writers are human. Two of. Tricki. Woos stories were meaninglessthey didnt include. Tricki or his ailments at all. Nearly all of the stories have nice happy endings which is not real for a vet. But thats okay since his favorite ones arent probably ones where people die. The introduction was good it told about himself. James. Herriot and therefore didnt have any restrictions like the ones about other people did. From what. Ive read it seems that people telling about their own real-life experiences like. Mr. Herriot tend to do better than those who make it up or who are writing about someone else. I would recommend this book to any dog or animal lover. It can really be for any age people although the vocabulary is a little. British but what do you expect. James. Herriot is one of my favorite authors and. I think other people would like his writing too. He was no philosopher no deep ideas in his writing but its still good. Herriot was one of those people that even though he was a very good writer could have gotten famous just on plain diary entries. His life was exciting enough and so he didnt have to dramatize his life too much. There arent really many people who wouldnt enjoy this book	i don't know
Agatha Christie's novel Dumb Witness?	Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie - Agatha Christie Synopsis Dumb Witness An elderly spinster has been poisoned in her country home. Everyone blamed Emily’s accident on a rubber ball left on the stairs by her frisky terrier. But the more she thought about her fall, the more convinced she became that one of her relatives was trying to kill her. On April 17th she wrote her suspicions in a letter to Hercule Poirot. Mysteriously he didn’t receive the letter until June 28th… by which time Emily was already dead. The dog hunts rabbits. Hercule Poirot hunts murderers. Hercule Poirot, Dumb Witness More about this story Dumb Witness allowed Agatha Christie to indulge in her love of dogs. She had always had a dog since a young age and was incredibly fond of them, and Bob is directly inspired by her own pet. The book is actually dedicated to Agatha Christie's own wire-haired terrier Peter; "A dog in a thousand". This story also contains the penultimate appearance of Hastings, with several references to earlier cases including Murder on the Orient Express and Death in the Clouds. It was first published in the UK in 1937, however in 2004 John Curran discovered an early version of the story titled The Incident of the Dog’s Ball which was published in his examination of her works, Murder in the Making. In 1996 the story was adapted for TV and starred David Suchet alongside Hugh Fraser, the firmly established Hastings. The story was adapted for radio in 2007, featuring a full cast and John Moffatt reprising his role as Poirot. A graphic novel of the story was published in 2009. Did you know? Dumb Witness was first published in the US as a Saturday Evening Post serial titled Poirot Loses a Client, and later in the UK as a serialisation named Mystery at Littlegreen House.	Bob
What William S Burroughs 1961 book popularised the rock music term 'heavy metal', and provided the names for at least two rock bands of the 1970s?	Dumb Witness \| Agatha Christie Wiki \| Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The story is set in Berkshire and centers on Emily Arundell, a wealthy spinster surrounded by grasping young relatives. She is injured by falling down a staircase, and everyone believes that she tripped over a ball left by her pet fox terrier, Bob. Emily later dies of n atural causes (or so it is believed), and her estate is unexpectedly left to her companion, Miss Lawson. A letter written before her death to Hercule Poirot by Emily arrives too late to save her, but puts Poirot on the case. Plot summary Edit Emily Arundell writes to Hercule Poirot because she believes she has been the victim of attempted murder. However, unfortunately this letter is delayed and when Poirot receives it, she has been dead for some time. Her doctor says that she died of liver problems she had had for many years. The woman's companion, Miss Lawson, is the unexpected beneficiary of a substantial fortune, according to a very recent change of will. Under the previous will, Miss Arundell's nephew, Charles Arundell, and nieces Theresa Arundell and Bella Tanios, would have inherited. This gives them all motive for murder, because it is unclear who knew the will had been changed. While examining the house, under the pretense of buying it, Poirot discovers a nail covered with varnish and a small string tied to it. Before her death Miss Arundell had said something about Bob...dog...picture...ajar. Poirot concludes that this means a jar on which there is a picture of a dog who was left out all night—meaning that Bob could not have put the ball on the staircase because he had been out all night. Poirot concludes that Miss Arundell fell over a tripwire tied to the nail. On the day of her death Emily attended a seance held by a pair of local sisters, the Miss Tripps, both of whom say that when Miss Arundell spoke, a luminous figure came from her mouth. They also say that they saw Emily's "spirit" the night Miss Arundell died, billowing from her mouth in a halo around her head. Miss Lawson, who was also at the seance, similarly claims that a luminous haze appeared. Theresa and Charles want to contest the will and offer to pay Poirot, who seemingly agrees. He asks Bella, who, after talking with her husband, agrees. While at Miss Arundell's house Poirot talks to the gardener and learns that Charles talked to him about his weed killer which turns out to be arsenic. The bottle is also nearly empty — something that the gardener finds surprising. Theresa Arundell is a strong suspect because Miss Lawson can recall seeing someone through her bedroom mirror at the top of the stairs on the night of Miss Arundell's "accident". The person was wearing a brooch with the initials, "TA". After implying for a long time that he is bullying her, Bella leaves her husband, Jacob, accusing him of her aunt's murder and claiming he was trying to have her wrongly committed to a mental institution to keep her quiet. She goes to stay with Miss Lawson, but Poirot tells her to go to a certain hotel, and read some papers he has prepared for her. The next day, she is found dead. She has taken an overdose of sleeping medication. Poirot learns that Emily Arundell died of phosphorus poisoning, administered in her liver pills. The reason why the haze appeared from her mouth that the Tripp sisters described was that her breath was phosphorescent. The nature of the murder suggests a doctor. Dr Donaldson, Theresa's fiancé, and Jacob Tanios, are both doctors. At a meeting with the suspects to reveal the murderer, Poirot states that Theresa stole the arsenic. However, she could not bear to take someone else's life, so she threw the arsenic away. The real murderer was Bella. She committed the murder for money to educate her children and escape from her mundane life. She had grown to hate her domineering husband, and had already attempted to kill him as well. She took her own life to protect her children because the papers Poirot gave her described how Bella had murdered her aunt. She destroyed the papers, burning them in the fireplace as Poirot knew she would. The brooch which Miss Lawson had seen through the mirror was Bella's with the initials "AT" for Arabella Tanios; they appeared as "TA" (reversed) as Miss Lawson had been looking through the mirror. On her deathbed, Miss Arundell had asked Miss Lawson for the new will, presumably to destroy it, but Miss Lawson, thinking the will was only for a few thousand pounds, lied and claimed the will was at the lawyer's office. Upon discovering that the inheritance was much greater than she had imagined, she was racked with remorse. Respecting the original will, Miss Lawson voluntarily shares the estate with her employer's relatives, including Bella's children. The dog Bob goes to Poirot's friend, Captain Hastings. Characters Hercule Poirot, the renowned Belgian detective Captain Hastings, narrator and Poirot's friend Theresa Arundell, the victim's niece, daughter of Emily Arundell's only brother and a wife who might have murdered her first husband. Theresa likes to live high and has run through her entire inheritance. Dr Rex Donaldson, Theresa's extremely unlikely fiancé, a cool, detached and highly intelligent man. Charles Arundell, the victim's nephew, Theresa's brother, financially needy with criminal tendencies Bella Tanios, the victim's niece, daughter of Emily Arundell's sister Arabella who made a late marriage to an Oxbridge don. Unhappy in her marriage to - Dr Jacob Tanios, Bella's husband, not English and so automatically suspicious. Very charming and a good doctor. His wife seems to fear him. Ellen, a member of the victim's household staff, takes it upon herself to mail a forgotten letter. Wilhelmina Lawson, the victim's companion and heiress - to her own and everybody else's astonishment. The Tripp sisters, two eccentric spinsters and amateur spiritualists whose enthusiasm far outweighs their skill Emily Arundell, the victim, a Victorian who has no trouble believing the worst. (Edward) John Tanios, the doubly-named son of Bella & Jacob, an example of Christie having changed/forgot a character's name Bob, the victim's fox terrier and the titular dumb witness Literary significance and reception Edit John Davy Hayward in the Times Literary Supplement (10 July 1937), while approving of Christie's work, commented on some length at what he felt was a central weakness of this book: "Who, in their senses, one feels, would use hammer and nails and varnish in the middle of the night within a few feet of an open door! – a door, moreover, that was deliberately left open at night for observation! And, incidentally, do ladies wear large broaches on their dressing gowns? .. These are small but tantalizing points which it would not be worth raising in the work of a less distinguished writer than Mrs Christie; but they are worth recording, if only as a measure of curiosity and interest with which one approaches her problems and attempts to anticipate their solution." In The New York Times Book Review (26 September 1937), Kay Irvin wrote that "Agatha Christie can be depended upon to tell a good tale. Even when she is not doing her most brilliant work she holds her reader's attention, leads them on from clue to clue, and from error to error, until they come up with a smash against surprise in the end. She is not doing her most brilliant work in Poirot Loses A Client, but she has produced a much-better-than-average thriller nevertheless, and her plot has novelty, as it has sound mechanism, intriguing character types, and ingenuity. In The Observer's issue of July 18, 1937, "Torquemada" (Edward Powys Mathers) said, "usually after reading a Poirot story the reviewer begins to scheme for space in which to deal with it adequately; but Dumb Witness, the least of all the Poirot books, does not have this effect on me, though my sincere admiration for Agatha Christie is almost notorious. Apart from a certain baldness of plot and crudeness of characterisation on which this author seemed to have outgrown years ago, and apart from the fact that her quite pleasing dog has no testimony to give either way concerning the real as opposed to the attempted murder, her latest book betrays two main defects. In the first place, on receiving a delayed letter from a dead old lady Poirot blindly follows a little grey hunch. In the second place, it is all very well for Hastings not to see the significance of the brooch in the mirror, but for Poirot to miss it for so long is almost an affront to the would-be worshipper. Still, better a bad Christie than a good average." The Scotsman of 5 July 1937 started off with: "In Agatha Christie's novel there is a minor question of construction which might be raised." The reviewer then went on to outline the set-up of the plot up to the point where Poirot receives Emily Arundell's letter and then said, "Why should the story not have begun at this point? M. Poirot reconstructs it from here and the reader would probably have got more enjoyment out of it if he had not had a hint of the position already. But the detection is good, and the reader has no ground for complaint, for the real clue is dangled before his eyes several times, and because it seems a normal feature of another phenomenon than poisoning that he tends to ignore it. For this Agatha Christie deserves full marks." E.R. Punshon of The Guardian began his review column of 13 July 1937 by an overview comparison of the books in question that week (in addition to Dumb Witness, I'll be Judge, I'll be Jury by Milward Kennedy, Hamlet, Revenge! by Michael Innes, Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham and Careless Corpse by C. Daly King) when he said, "Only Mrs Christie keeps closer to the old tradition, and this time she adds much doggy lore and a terrier so fascinating that even Poirot himself is nearly driven from the centre of the stage." In the review proper, he went on to say that the dedication of the novel to Peter was, "a fact that in this dog-worshipping country is enough of itself to ensure success." He observed that Poirot, "shows all of his usual acumen; Captain Hastings – happily once more at Poirot's side – more than all his usual stupidity, and there is nothing left for the critic but to offer his usual tribute of praise to another of Mrs Christie's successes. She does indeed this sort of thing so superlatively well that one is ungratefully tempted to wish she would do something just a little well different, even if less well." In the Daily Mirror (8 July 1937), Mary Dell wrote: "Once I had started reading, I did not have to rely on Bob or his cleverness to keep me interested. This is Agatha Christie at her best." She concluded, "Here's a book that will keep all thriller fans happy from page one to page three hundred and something." Robert Barnard: "Not quite vintage for the period: none of the relations of the dead woman is particularly interesting, and the major clue is very obvious. The doggy stuff is rather embarrassing, though done with affection and knowledge. At the end the dog is given to Hastings – or possibly vice versa." References to other works Edit An adaptation of the novel appeared in 1996 as part of the television series Agatha Christie's Poirot starring David Suchet as Poirot. The film was set in England's Lake District and heavily differs from the original story. Charles Arundell is a motor-boat racer and a friend of Captain Hastings. His sister Theresa is changed from the spoiled, vain young girl in the novel to a middle-aged woman. Bella Tanios does not die in the end, and Emily Arundell actually does meet Poirot before she is murdered. Also, it is Poirot who influences the change of Emily's will. An additional murder is invented: Dr Greinger is murdered by carbon monoxide poisoning after he discovers the phosphorus poisoning and makes the mistake of alerting Bella to his suspicions. The cast includes: Ann Morrish as Emily Arundel Patrick Ryecart as Charles Arundel Kate Buffery as Theresa Arundel Paul Herzberg as Jacob Tanios Julia St. John as Bella Tanios Norma West as Wilhelmina Lawson Jonathan Newth as Dr. Greinger Graphic novel adaptation Dumb Witness was released by HarperCollins as a graphic novel adaptation on 6 July 2009, adapted and illustrated by "Marek" ( ISBN 0-00-729310-0 ). Publication history 1937, Collins Crime Club (London), 5 July 1937, Hardcover, 320 pp 1938, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1937, Hardcover, 302 pp 1945, Avon Books, Paperback, 260 pp (Avon number 70) 1949, Pan Books, Paperback, 250 pp (Pan number 82) 1958, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins ), Paperback, 255 pp 1965, Dell Books, Paperback, 252 pp 1969, Pan Books, Paperback, 218 pp 1973, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 454 pp 1975, Fontana Books, Paperback, 255 pp 2007, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1937 UK First Edition), HarperCollins, 3 January 2007, Hardback, ISBN 0-00-723446-5 The book was first serialised in the US in The Saturday Evening Post in seven instalments from 7 November (Volume 209, Number 19) to 19 December 1936 (Volume 209, Number 25) under the title Poirot Loses a Client with illustrations by Henry Raleigh. In the UK, the novel was serialised as an abridged version in the weekly Women's Pictorial magazine in seven instalments from 20 February (Volume 33, Number 841) to 3 April 1937 (Volume 33, Number 847) under the title Mystery of Littlegreen House. There were no chapter divisions and all of the instalments carried illustrations by "Raleigh". International titles	i don't know
What main religion celebrates festivals including Nuakhai, Yatra (or Zatra/Jatra), Pongal, Holi and Shigmo?	Pongal \| Article about Pongal by The Free Dictionary Pongal \| Article about Pongal by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Pongal Type of Holiday: Religious (Hindu) Date of Observation: Three days in mid-January Where Celebrated: India Symbols and Customs: Cow, Rice ORIGINS The three-day Pongal festival is part of Hinduism, which many scholars regard as the oldest living religion. The word Hindu is derived from the Sanskrit term Sind- hu (or Indus), which meant river. It referred to people living in the Indus valley in the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism has no founder, one universal reality (or god) known as Brahman, many gods and goddesses (sometimes referred to as devtas), and several scriptures. Hinduism also has no priesthood or hierarchical structure similar to that seen in some other religions, such as Christianity. Hindus acknowledge the authority of a wide variety of writings, but there is no single, uniform canon. The oldest of the Hindu writings are the Vedas. The word "veda" comes from the Sanskrit word for knowledge. The Vedas, which were compiled from ancient oral traditions, contain hymns, instructions, explanations, chants for sacrifices, magical formulas, and philosophy. Another set of sacred books includes the Pongal Great Epics, which illustrate Hindu faith in practice. The Epics include the Rama- yana, the Mahabharata, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Hindu pantheon includes approximately thirty-three million gods. Some of these are held in higher esteem than others. Over all the gods, Hindus believe in one absolute high god or universal concept. This is Brahman. Although he is above all the gods, he is not worshipped in popular ceremonies because he is detached from the day-to-day affairs of the people. Brahman is impersonal. Lesser gods and goddesses (devtas) serve him. Because these are more intimately involved in the affairs of people, they are venerated as gods. The most honored god in Hinduism varies among the different Hindu sects. Although Hindu adherents practice their faith differently and venerate different deities, they share a similar view of reality and look back on a common history. Pongal, one of the most colorful festivals observed in southern India, honors the sun, the earth, and the COW . Believed to be the survival of an ancient harvest festival because it falls around the time of the WINTER SOLSTICE, the three-day festival coincides with the harvest season and with the end of the monsoons. It is called Pongal in the state of Tamil Nadu; in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka; and in Gujarat it is known as Makara Sankranti because it takes place when the sun starts to move south in the zodiac from Cancer to the House of Makara (the Alligator), otherwise known as Capricorn (the Goat). The first day, known as Bhogi Pongal, is observed as a family festival and is usually spent cleaning everything in the house. Shops, offices, and factories are cleaned as well-a symbolic washing-away of material sins. The second day is Surya Pongal, and it is set aside for worship of the Sun God, Surya. The third day, Mattu Pongal, is reserved for worshipping cattle (see COW ). The fourth day, which is not always observed, is spent paying visits, reestablishing old relationships and forgotten connections. Orthodox Hindus make a pilgrimage to Allahabad, the holy city where the Ganges and the Jumna Rivers meet, on Makara Sankranti. Sometimes as many as a million people arrive in this northern city to have their sins washed away by bathing in the Ganges. Because the festival is a time for banishing quarrels, it is common to serve visitors sugared sesamum seed, advising them to "Eat sweetly, speak sweetly." Chewing on raw sugar cane is another favorite pastime during the festival. In some parts of India, women who want to have children take coconuts and secretly leave them in a Brahmin home-or they bring gifts of betel nuts and spices to Brahmin wives. Sometimes they take coconuts to their neighbors and exchange them for fruit, saying, "Take a boy and give a child." In Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, Makara Sankranti is a time for competitive kite-flying. Kitemakers from other cities gather here to make their kites and see whose flies the highest. As darkness falls, the battle of the kites ends. But new kites, each carrying its own paper lamp, fill the sky with flickering lights. SYMBOLS AND CUSTOMS Cow The third day of Pongal is known as the Festival of the Cow. Cows and oxen are bathed, their horns are cleaned and polished, and garlands of flowers are hung around their necks. The main event in many Indian villages is bull-chasing: Bags of money are tied to the horns of ferocious bulls, who are allowed to stampede through the streets of the town. Young men try to catch a bull by the horns and claim the bag of money. Sometimes the horns have been sharpened and painted, which makes the chase even more dangerous and exciting. Although bull-chasing is popular, Pongal is really a day to recognize the importance of cattle to the agricultural community. They are fed some of the newly harvested rice and showered with affection and attention. No cow is expected to work on Pongal; instead, they roam the countryside in all their flowers and finery (see RUNNING OF THE BULLS under SAN FERMIN FESTIVAL). Rice The most characteristic feature of Pongal in southern India, where rice is the staple food, is the cooking and eating of rice from the newly gathered harvest. On the second day of the festival, rice boiled in milk is offered to the Sun God, Surya-a symbolic expression of thanksgiving for the bounty of the harvest. Friends greet one another by asking, "Is it boiled?" The answer is always, "Yes, it is cooked." One of the literal meanings of pongal, in fact, refers to the foaming of milk without its boiling over, which is considered a very auspicious sign. FURTHER READING Bellenir, Karen. Religious Holidays and Calendars. 3rd ed. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2004. Gaer, Joseph. Holidays Around the World. Boston: Little, Brown, 1953. Henderson, Helene, ed. Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary. 3rd ed. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2005. MacDonald, Margaret R., ed. The Folklore of World Holidays. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Oki, Morihiro. India: Fairs and Festivals. Tokyo: Gakken Co., 1989. Sharma, Brijendra Nath. Festivals of India. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1978. Thomas, Paul. Festivals and Holidays in India. Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons, 1971. Pongal WEB SITE Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India www.pongalfestival.org Pongal Mid-January A colorful four-day harvest and thanksgiving celebration in southern India, Pongal honors the sun, the earth, and the cow. It is called Pongal in the state of Tamil Nadu; Karnataka in Andhra Pradesh; and Makara Sankranti in Gujarat. The first day is called Bhogi Pongal and is for cleaning everything in the house. On the second day, freshly harvested rice and jaggery ('palm sugar') are put to boil in new pots. When the mixture bubbles, people cry out, "Pongal!" ('It boils.') The rice is offered to Surya, the sun, before people taste it themselves, thus the second day is called Surya Pongal. On the third day, called Mattu Pongal (Festival of the Cow), village cows and oxen are bathed, decorated with garlands of bells, beads, and leaves, and worshipped. On the fourth day, known as Kanyapongal, the festival of Jallikattu takes place in villages near Madurai in Tamil Nadu as well as in Andhra Pradesh. Bundles containing money are tied to the sharpened horns of bulls. The animals are paraded around the village and then stampeded. Young men who are brave enough try to snatch the money from the bulls' horns. In Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, the celebration is a time of competitive kite-flying, and is termed the International Kite Festival . The skies are filled with kites, and kite makers come from other cities to make their multicolored kites in all shapes. As darkness falls, the battle of the kites ends, and new kites soar aloft, each with its own paper lamp, so that the sky is filled with flickering lights. CONTACTS:	Hindu
Which country experienced the Velvet Revolution in Nov-Dec 1989?	Monday 23 november 2015 by magazineseychelles - issuu issuu 9 Days Presidential Election 2015 Presidential election Stakes are high in fast approaching election On the campaign trail, Parti Lepep supporters hurled abuse at SNP leader on Friday while Alexia Amesbury brought Victoria to a standstill on Saturday morning. T his weekend saw Parti Lepep campaigning on La Digue and Praslin while the SNP held a rally in Roche Caiman yesterday, following a door-to-door exercise on Friday in Perseverance where the SNP leader, Wavel Ramkalawan, said that there was “no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep”. Lalyans Seselwa also held a public meeting in Anse Royale while the independent candidate, Philippe Boullé, was in Les Mamelles yesterday for a rally. Meanwhile PDM’s posters have finally hit town! Sunday’s events will feature in tomorrow’s edition. See page 9 for the campaign trail and pages 2 and 12 for PPBs. 12.85 13.35 13.40 14.20 19.20 20.30 Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday morning while Wavel Ramkalawan sits with Perseverance resident on Friday. Right, Parti Lepep activists ask the SNP to leave the area which they say is the ruling party’s stronghold. To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. Read more on page 8 12.80 13.30 13.60 14.20 19.20 20.25 p2 Saving face on roads By N.Tirant R oads are a fact of modern life and cars are the new reality – traffic jams in our tiny capital are now a common day-long occurrence and as tempers shorten and alcohol fogs reason, we may see more speeding, more reckless driving and unfortunately more deaths on our road. Add election fever to the mix as we move into the Christmas season and roads that no longer show us where to go and how to drive and let’s ready ourselves for more mayhem! This year, it seems, we paid no mind to remembering those who have lost their lives in road traffic accidents even if it’s a modern day obligation. With an estimated 1.25 million people killed each year – 90 per cent of them in low-income and middle-income countries like our own, dedicating a day to the victims could remind us of our own mortality as we recall the dangers we pose to ourselves, our families and other road users by the way we drive and behave on the roads. In our earthly paradise, where the car has become king and where pedestrians all too often learn to manage without pavements,accidents on our roads claim too many lives each year. To save those lives our government promised to improve roads, enforce laws on seat-belts, motorcycle helmets and child restraints and increase punishment for speeding, reckless and drunk-driving. Even the latest Sustainable Development Goals to which we noisily subscribed in September include a target to ‘halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020’.And in case anyone should doubt our enthusiasm, before that in May 2011 we launched the UN Decade for action for road safety in even greater fanfare. That plan of action included building capacity in road safety management,improving the behaviour of road users,upgrading our road infrastructure to guarantee safety and making emergency services more responsive. Five years into that decade, election fever has clouded our perception and we’ve forgotten all about asking ourselves why too many of our citizens are still dying on our roads. But it wasn’t always like this! In December 2009 we gave ourselves a new parastatal with the bold objectives of providing ‘an efficient and adequate land transport system and infrastructure’. That statutory state-funded body, which received SCR58,377,000 from the national budget in 2015,is still trying to come to grips with the inevitable – the steady rise in the number of vehicles on a non-expandable road system. From 13,592 vehicles on our 508 kilometres of road in 2009 the number had risen to 17,592 by 2013 with only 12 more kilometres of road on which to run. That’s taken road congestion from 27 vehicles per kilometre of road in 2009 to 34 in 2013 – a figure that’s still rising as I write! Whilst the agency struggles to set those national land transport policies that could make a real difference, traffic management seems to outdo itself at each corner. As public transport fails to make the grade and meet growing demand,despite more buses on the roads(up from 269 in 2009 to 458 in 2013), people are choosing to own their own vehicle, exacerbating the problem of road congestion, and creating frustrated drivers who become reckless and dangerous as they cut corners in safety. By the law that created it, the state-financed agency has to submit an annual business plan for approval by the transport ministry each year. In view of the state of our roads, the citizen taxpayers would love to see details of that plan along with the agency’s performance indicators, “statement of the short and medium term operational objectives” and “outline of the agency’s strategies to achieve its objectives”to reassure us that our money is being well-spent. Meanwhile, the visible part of the agency’s work includes several re-surfaced roads in downtown Victoria, except that road markings are not keeping the same pace. As fresh tarmac swallows up some pavements, lanes are left to guesswork and pedestrians brave death and injury as they force their way across roads where zebra crossings once lay. With over 2,294 hired vehicles driven by unsuspecting visitors imagine the potential hazard as they are left guessing that the virgin tarmac once was a zebra crossing! Would it be too much for the agency to have a team paint lines and markings in the wake of the rollers flattening out the new surface? And what of that ridiculous “hump” of tarmac placed diagonally across the Bel Air road behind National House? Clearly not meant to slow traffic, the bump’s a band aid meant to channel excess run-off water from the mountain-side of the road where an action plan would have required that a drain be built! The agency could have saved face, avoided embarrassment and catered for the problem with a simple drain pipe under the road surface! Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPBs. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. SNP: Drugs and national institutions “I am tired of hearing the painful pleas of parents who are helpless in the face of their children’s addiction while some are becoming millionaires with the sale of drugs”, Seychelles National Party (SNP) leader Wavel Ramkalawan said on Friday in its second PPB. The SNP backed its claims with figures, saying that judiciary sources estimate at 85%, the drug-related cases that came before the court. The NDEA, it added, says that around 5000 people are drug users, out of whom some 2000 are using heroin, making Seychelles, the second country worldwide with the highest number of people using heroin via intravenous method. Since 2002, the country has recorded 528 cases of hepatitis C and 99% were infected as a result of sharing needles. Mr Ramkalawan said that parents were slaves in their own homes as their children steal and engage in other anti-social behaviours to feed their addiction. He said the SNP was committed to go after the drug traffickers who were importing heroin into the country and “we will not allow them to continue to exploit our population through their selfish acts”. Running mate Roger Mancienne said that “drug traffickers will not be protected because of their political connection and hide behind their social status”. “Surveillance will be done by the Defense Forces, meaning that their budget will be put to good use instead of just protecting the President”, he added. The SNP’s policy will b compassion “for the addicts and help them claim back their lives and punish the traffickers”, the party said. The other issue outlined in the party political broadcast was the need to strengthen national institutions. Lawyer and party member, Anthony Derjacques said the SNP will review the roles of national institutions, including the Human Rights Commission, Ethics Commission, National Tender Board and the Constitutional Appointment Authority, to make them efficient. Continued on page 12 ONE SEYCHELLES ONE DESTINY Fairer Taxes A strong platform for businesses Government has an important duty to enable people to get on in life, and to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. Our tax system has a crucial part to play in this. (However, tax should not be used to punish anybody in society or to mold society’s behavior but should only be used to raise the necessary money to meet the spending requirements of our government) 3. Close loopholes which allow large companies to evade taxes, PDM wishes to achieve a tax system that is progressive in relation to income and wealth, reduces inequality, and ensures that those earning the lowest wages are not disadvantaged by working, in which wealthy individuals and businesses make their fair contribution and where those who seek to avoid paying tax are prevented from doing so. 5. Introduce a more stable and competitive corporate tax regime to attract inward investments and give businesses the certainty it needs to make long term decisions, We also wish to achieve a tax system which raises sufficient revenue without disproportionately reducing incentives for individuals to work and save, and presents an attractive option for business investments, supporting economic growth and creating prosperity, and that is simpler and easier to understand. To achieve this PDM will: 4. Push for greater banking transparency and greater cooperation between nations to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, 6. Provide tax-incentivized investment opportunities for investors in start-up technology and green businesses, 7. Lower the rate of Vat on home renovations, 8. Administer personal income tax on a sliding scale basis (between 0% and 20%), 9. Review downwards the current road tax rates, 1 Tighten corporate tax rules to prevent large companies from reducing their tax bills by paying excessive interest to related parties overseas, 10. Remove all taxes on gratuity payments below Rs25000/-, 2. Introduce strong General Anti-Avoidance Rule outlawing any move taken by companies simply to try and avoid tax, 11. Professionalize and modernize SRC to ensure very strict and efficient collection of revenues. DAVID PIERRE FOR PRESIDENT Monday 23 November 2015 The Big Interview with Eline Moses “We urge the public to report cases of intimidation” TODAY sat down with the chairperson of Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) to find out more about the organisation’s responsibilities, issues pertaining to its credibility and the importance of making an informed decision on Election Day. W about the legal framework and code of conduct which govern the election process. Three days were devoted to election observation and the two remaining days focused on report writing and our media strategy. I would say now have a pool of well-trained professionals who are ready to observe the upcoming election. The core team has already started observing the pre-election process, including Nomination Day but some members are waiting for their accreditation from the Electoral Commission before they can start observing the elections. As mentioned earlier, the EC has to do thorough background checks on all the members before accrediting them. hat is the role of the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS)? The NGO was set up in 2011 right after the Presidential election. It came about following recommendations by international observer missions to Seychelles, which stated the country should have its own domestic observer team to oversee local elections. Our work is motivated by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 24 of our Constitution, which states that each citizen has a right to participate in his/her country’s public affairs and should be given opportunities to exercise this right. This can be through elections, where you have the right to vote or to be voted into office or when you participate in national dialogues and discussions to influence decisions and policies. At CDWS, we focus mainly on promoting democracy and good governance, and one component of that is to ensure there is free and fair elections. There is a perception that the group is active only during election time. Is this the case? The statement does not hold much weight today, although I have to admit that when we started things were a bit slow as we tried to get our footing. We are active but working behind the scenes. However, our work intensifies once an election is announced as we have to oversee the whole cycle, from the pre-election period to the big day itself and also postelection when we submit our report on the whole process to the Electoral Commission. Since the creation of CDWS, we have organized numerous training sessions for our members, some of whom are now able to observe elections internationally. We also took part in the electoral reform programme which ended in 2012. Our biggest exercise so far was last year when we carried out an internal review to reposition CDWS in order to make it more credible. We also elected a new committee. We worked on our terms of reference, reviewed our code of conduct and also relooked at our recruitment procedures. Who is eligible to join CDWS? Any Seychellois citizen who is at least 18 years-old and has an interest in promoting democracy can be a member. Since we are a non-partisan group we do not encourage any form of political activism. Our members are free to have their personal beliefs but should not in any way push their political agenda or be seen to be favouring one party. They should remain neutral at all times. A member can also choose to be an election observer. In this case, you will be asked to fill in a self-disclosure form which is submitted solely to the chairperson, for confidentiality reasons. You must not have been active in politics for the past five years or be a member of a political party. Accusations have been leveled at some of our members in the past and they are aware that any such incidents, if proven will mean the end of their membership. But as far as I know, they respect the code of conduct. And I call on other professionals who have time to devote to an organization like ours to join. Some people question CDWS’ credibility and its ability to conduct impartial and truthful observations and reporting. What are your views on this issue? We have already observed two local elections: the legislative elections in 2011 and the by-election in the Anse aux Pins district in 2012. Our reports which were presented to our stakeholders after both elections were wellreceived and were said to be true and frank. Our participation in the two elections earned us a lot of respect and made people realize the importance of having a local observer group which knows and understands the local context. We are credible and there are structures and procedures in place within the organization to ensure we remain credible. As you mentioned earlier, CDWS’ work intensifies when an election is announced. What exactly takes place during an election cycle? Being a fairly new organization we have certain limitations. I wish we could do long-term observations, even when there is no election taking place in a particular year. But due to certain constraints we have to focus mostly on short-term observations: we observe the electoral cycle from campaigning until post election when we submit our final report. However, we are slowly shifting to long-term observation. As mentioned earlier we were part of the team that took part in the electoral reform programme in 2012. Earlier this year we were able to observe voter registration and verification exercises to see whether the public was getting access to the different venues to check their names on the voters register. And we hope to continue to do this. For the upcoming elections, we observed Nomination Day and our observers are also present at the meetings and rallies of all the political parties. We will be present in all polling stations on Election Day and, postelection, we will submit our recommendations. We will not shelve the reports like most organizations do: there will be a follow-up to ensure the recommendations are implemented before the next elections. What does CDWS observe on Election Day? Pre-election, we will observe freedom of movement, whether supporters are free to assemble and support their parties or are intimated and prevented from expressing themselves freely. We will not only observe but interview some of them as well. We will also observe the candidates to see whether they are respecting the code of conduct. On Election Day we observe mainly the logistics, starting in the morning with the opening of the stations until counting ends and results are communicated to the Electoral Commission headquarters. We will observe whether polling stations are accessible to all because every person whether able bodied or not, young or old should be able to exercise this right. We will look closely at the role and functions of the Electoral Commission as the body mandated to manage the elections and whether it has respected the legal requirements of an election. For example, if voting materials are readily available to all, if special voting stations on inner and outer islands are well-equipped to cater for voters. This year we will also observe elections at the Montagne Posée prison, where for the first time those on remand will be able to cast their vote. We will also observe whether secrecy of the ballot is being respected; in the past, voters complained that people could see whom they had voted for as the booths were not shielded enough. We will look at the security forces deployed for maintaining peace and order. Most importantly though, we will observe the counting exercise and whether it is done in a transparent and fair manner. In general, we observe whether the elections are done in line with our legal framework and international conventions Seychelles has signed. Can CDWS intervene if there are cases of abuse? During an election cycle we only have an observer status. As observers we don’t have the mandate to interfere or obstruct the process. We can observe, take notes, analyze the information and report our findings in the final report. However, we can record any complaints and this time around we have a properly structured complaint procedure and we have appointed one of our members to attend to all the complaints. We urge the public to report cases of intimidation of voters, violations of the electoral code of conduct by political parties, electoral violence and also if they feel they have been deprived of their right to vote. The way it works is as follows. The informant will contact us on a hotline which is being set up for this election. The person in charge of the hotline, who is well-versed with investigative procedures, will record the complaint and carry out an investigation. We advise the complainant to provide evidence if possible, either photos or videos or a copy of their statement to the police if they have already made an official complaint to the police. The complaints will be channeled to the right authority, for example the Electoral Commission if there is a violation of the code of conduct by candidates and their supporters. These events will be documented in our final report and recommendations will be put forward to the stakeholders. Would you like to comment on what has been observed so far? I will not comment on what has been observed so far, but all the findings will be in our final report which will be published 30 days after the election. How do you work with international observers? We network a lot with international observer groups. It is mostly to share information and experience. During an election they like to get the views of domestic observers on what is actually happening when they come for the country assessment prior to the elections. So we provide them with all this information. What are some of the international observer groups CDWS is networking with? We are accredited members of the SADC Electoral Support Network (SADC-ESN) and the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors. We also network with other international institutions which support NGOs that promote democracy and encourage citizens to participate in their country’s political affairs. CDWS observers have been part of many international missions namely with the African Union (AU), Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and the Commission de l’Océan Indien (COI). Ballot papers are an important part of this exercise. What are your views on the fact that they are printed abroad? I will not comment on it at this point; any recommendations will be included in our reports. CDWS organised a workshop to train observers three weeks ago. Are you satisfied that you have a competent group of observers? It was mostly for capacity building, especially for new members. Participants learned about different methods used during election observations, How credible is the report that is published at the end of an election? Once voting ends and the results are announced, we have to present a preliminary statement, which is an overview of our observation. Then we have up to 30 days to present the final report with recommendations to the Electoral Commission. Like I mentioned earlier, we have are shifting to long term observations and when we submit the report, we will meet with stakeholders to share its content with them. And we will ensure the recommendations are followed up. The final report is an important document. In the past, many reforms of the electoral process came about as a result of recommendations made by observer missions. For example, the creation of CDWS was the result of recommendation made by international observer groups which stated that Seychelles needed its own domestic observers who are familiar with the local context. We recommended, for instance, that the Electoral Commission should make provisions for those on remand to vote and this is being done this year. It came out of our last report, and then it was also taken up as part of the electoral reform discussion which took place following the last legislative elections. It should be noted that a lot of effort is put into writing this report and it is our contribution to improving the electoral process. Do you conduct voter education and if so what is being done this year to educate voters about the election? We haven’t in the past but we plan to do it this time around. We are presently working on a project to educate voters on the importance of an election and how voting is a right and responsibility. This also came out in past reports and discussions where it was felt that there was no voter education as such, only voter information provided by the EC. We feel we should educate voters about the right to vote and the importance and value of their vote. Is CDWS already preparing for the other two other elections: the Legislative and District Administration elections? As I said, our team is ready for any elections. However prior to the parliamentary elections we are also planning on having a workshop with the National Assembly to know more about the role and function of parliament. At CDWS we want to ensure there are proper mechanisms to allow elected parliamentarians to engage with the electorate in their constituencies. In the past there have been complaints that when bills are discussed and passed into law, there was no or very little consultation with the population even though they are directly affected by these laws. We want to have this dialogue and ensure the voice of the people is heard when it comes to issues that affect their lives. So we will ensure there is a framework in place that will favour, encourage and promote dialogue. It should be consultative and participatory irrespective if you voted for or against the person; you have an opinion so you need to share this opinion. What are the biggest constraints for CDWS? I would say the mobilization of resources, both human and financial. We have really struggled during the past years in our effort to mobilize resources. We operate mainly on membership fees and on donations. For the two previous elections we observed, we didn’t receive any financial assistance. We only had support to conduct a training session for observers. But all of us had to pitch in to finance everything else including transport, uniforms, food, etc. That is why I say we have a team of committed individuals. Not having a budget does not mean that we will not be able to observe elections; in fact it makes us more determined because as volunteers we see what we are contributing to the country. However, this time around we have approached some institutions and we are appealing to organizations to assist us. It does not have to be monetary; you can assist us by printing our tshirts, providing food on Election Day. But we will not be taking donations from political parties so as not to compromise our independence. To what extent can observers be a guarantee that elections are free and fair? The presence of observers gives that confidence that procedures will be respected. It is like knowing you have a witness around. You might not be too daring to break the law if you know your every move is being observed. So we keep everybody in check. We help ensure transparency in the whole process. What is your message to the voters who, as you mentioned earlier, have an important role in deciding the country’s future? We call on all stakeholders, candidates, parties, supporters to respect each other’s opinions and be tolerant during this process so that the upcoming elections can be peaceful. Voting is very important and I therefore call on all voters to make an informed decision before casting their vote. For political parties and activists, please respect your code of conduct. And I also call on law and order groups to ensure peace and stability in order to protect citizens. And lastly, I call on everybody to respect the election results. Monday 23 November 2015 ARSU win ninth Indian Ocean Club Championship By AH B Beau Vallon lost in finals. ig celebrations were in order for the Anse Royalebased team as once again they reigned supreme in women’s volleyball by winning the Indian Ocean Club Championship for a record ninth time. ARSU beat Malagasy’s Steff Auto 3-2 in the final on Saturday in Antananarivo to win the championship which is also a Confederation Africaine de Volleyball (CAVB) Zone 7 qualifier. Under the guidance of coach Julien Onezime and with players like veteran Jerina Bonne, her daughter, former professional player, Mariel Bonne, Tina Agathine and international setter Melina Crispin, ARSU managed to again defend the title it won in Seychelles last year. But it was not an easy victory as they had to fight back to win a tight match. ARSU had taken the first set 25-20. But the Steff Auto won the next two 25-16 and 25-23. ARSU really had to dig very deep to win the fourth set which they did, 27-25, to take the match into the final decisive set which they won comfortably 15-10 to celebrate the title once again. ARSU ended the championship without a defeat. The team’s players also won some personal accolades. Veteran Jerina Bonne was named most valuable player (MVP) as well as the best defender. Mariel Bonne was named the best attacker and Melina Crispin was named best setter. As for Beau Vallon, as was the case last year in Seychelles, they fell at the last hurdle. The team were beaten 3-0 by the Malagasy champions Gendarmerie Nationale Volleyball Club (GNBC). The team apparently played the final without veteran Bernard Bijoux who injured his knee during the warm-up and had be to be rushed to hospital. ARSU is the women’s Indian Ocean queen for a record nine times. Football Foresters stop St Michel in their tracks Ten-man Foresters got the better of the Barclays League leaders at the Unity Stadium in a hard fought encounter on Saturday. By RR T Foresters midfielder Elvin Estico silenced the St Michel crowd. he Foresters coach, Rodney Choisy, was delighted with his players’ performance and told TODAY Sports that they had entered the game with the objective of claiming the scalps of the defending league champions in this match. “Our opponents were the only team we had not beaten this season so we had come all out for this victory,” explained coach Choisy. In fact, Foresters stunned St Michel as they took the lead in the 8th minute after a defensive error allowed Elvin Estico to head captain Martin William’s corner into the net. Unfortunately for Foresters though, Williams left the pitch minutes later with an injury and had to be transported to hospital and he was replaced by Francis Nourrice. St Michel huffed and puffed but could not wear down a rugged Foresters’ team who were intent on defending their advantage with all the tricks in the book. The St Michel manager, Andrew Jean-Louis, was adamant his team were denied a penalty for a foul on Gervais Waye-Hive in the second period but referee Egbert Havelock was not convinced. “We should have been awarded a penalty and I felt the official was below par in this match,” complained the St Michel manager. Foresters added a second in the 60th minute from another mistake by goalie Gino Melanie as he missed Brian Dorby’s freekick which dropped to substitute Francis Nourrice who coolly punished his former team to make it 2-1. Foresters should have killed off the match six minutes later but Ugandan Tonny Kizito hesitated and fluffed a great chance as they opened up the St Michel defence. St Michel were given a lifeline in the 75th minute as Richard Freminot handled Carl Hall’s goalbound header. Referee Havelock showed the Foresters’ winger a straight red card and awarded a penalty which Carl Hall easily dispatched. St Michel had their moments but Foresters rode their luck to dent St Michel’s title hopes and celebrated a morale boosting win. “We played well tactically but when we went down to ten, we seemed to lose our concentration though I’m still pleased with the perfor- mance,” coach Choisy said. A minute of silence was observed before this encounter as a sign of respect for the victims of last week’s callous attacks in Paris. Adeyeri grabs hattrick against Anse Reunion St Louis’ Nigerian striker Kazeem Adeyeri grabbed a hattrick to earn St Louis to a 3-1 victory while Malagasy Estel Randrina score a consolation goal scored for the club. This win moves St Louis into second position in the league table, only four points behind St Michel. The Lions upset Cote D’Or Cote D’Or’s wretched run continued as they went down 2-1 to the Lions on Saturday on Praslin. Gerald Basset gave the home team a 1-0 lead but Collin Bibi cancelled it out for a 1-1 score at the break. Liberian Mohamed Varney scored a stunning winner in the second half to lift the Lions to fifth on the league table. p5 Suarez and Neymar unstoppable as Barcelona thrash Real Madrid in La Liga Clasico V Barcelona thrashed rivals Real Madrid at the Bernabeu to go six points clear at the top of La Liga isiting Barcelona humiliated Real Madrid 4-0 in the Spanish Liga “Clasico” to move six points clear at the top. A brace from Luis Suarez plus goals from Neymar and Andres Iniesta sealed victory for Barca against Real who had Isco sent off for hacking down the impressive Neymar. “This victory is glorious, especially in the way that it came about,” Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said. “We were the better side and the triumph is down to us. There is a long way to go but it is always important to win here. “It has been a great all-round performance. It will go down in history as a memorable game for Barcelona.” Meanwhile, the elegant Iniesta said: “We only wanted to be ourselves and we have done that. We neutralized Madrid ... It’s wonderful to win here again.” It was Barca’s seventh win at the Estadio Bernabeu in 13 visits and their most emphatic there since a 6-2 rout in 2009. “We are changing history,” Barca midfield anchorman Sergio Busquets said. “It is not easy to come here and win, but we are now doing that quite regularly, practically every season.” Barca coach Luis Enrique could afford the luxury of keeping idol Lionel Messi - back from injury - on the subs’ bench for an hour. Real’s worst home meltdown in six years led to the fans chanting for the resignation not only of coach Rafa Benitez but also of club president Florentino Perez. The result could have been even worse for Benitez and Perez, so complete was Barca’s domination - and so wasteful were they in front of goal, especially late sub Munir. “It would not be fair to criticize my players for a lack of desire,” a dejected Benitez said. “Now I just want to leave this behind and focus on the next game. I congratulate Barcelona, they were very effective today.” Benitez said he would not resign, and left-back Marcelo backed up his coach by saying: “We are with him until death. This is our fault really, rather than his.” To the chagrin of the capacity crowd, the Whites struggled to have 40 per cent possession and only managed to create four clear chances, all of which were well kept out by Barca keeper Claudio Bravo. The big game was watched by around 500 million people worldwide, and started with the singing of the French national anthem plus a minute’s silence in honour of the victims of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris. The security measure in and around the Bernabeu were the most stringent ever seen in Spanish football. Barca went into the game without Messi, who has been out for two months with a knee injury, while Real opted for Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Karim Benzema despite their recent injuries. Barca dominated from start to finish and Suarez opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a precise angled Barca’s players walk over to thank their travelling supporters at the end of the game after thrashing their arch-rivals. Fifa FIFA reports on Blatter, Platini call for sanctions by judging body T he final reports of the FIFA investigative panel on suspended president Joseph Blatter and UEFA chief Michel Platini call for sanctions by the adjudicatory chamber of the organization’s ethics committee, the ruling body said Saturday. FIFA said in a statement the reports have been concluded and been presented to the judging chamber, including “requests for sanctions.” No details will be published because of privacy rights. The adjudicatory chamber said in a separate statement it “will study the reports carefully and decide in due course about whether to institute formal adjudicatory proceedings.” Hearings at the adjudicatory chamber chaired by Germany’s Hans-Joachim Eckert are expected to take place in December. Both could face bans of several years. The ethics committeee on October 7 suspended Blatter and Platini from all football-related activities for 90 days. The FIFA appeal committee upheld the suspensions on Wednesday, and Platini has now appealed again at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Both also have a right to appeal a final ethics committee ruling at the FIFA appeal committee and CAS. The suspensions came after the start of a Swiss criminal investigation against Blatter over a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs (dollars) to Platini in 2011, for work done between 1998 and 2002. Blatter is also being investigated for mismanagement. Platini and Blatter have said they did nothing wrong in connection with the payment but admitted there was no written contract. A steady drip of criminal investigations and arrests into football officials in recent months has thrown FIFA into disarray and also prompted several key sponsors to demand that football’s governing body make significant changes. Blatter was elected for a fifth term in office by the FIFA congress on May 29, two days after several officials were arrested in a Zurich hotel in connection with an American corruption probe into football. Blatter said on June 2 he will stand down at an extraordinary congress set for February 26. Platini has submitted his candidacy to succeed Blatter, but that depends on the decision by the ethics committee, and on an integrity check if the suspension is lifted. drive after being cleverly set up by the impressive Sergi Roberto. Barca had to rejig when Javier Mascherano limped off injured, but Neymar made it 2-0 six minutes before half-time despite a heavy hint of offside, with a low finish after good work by Iniesta. The impressive Iniesta scored the third in the 53rd minute following a clever one-two with Neymar. This ended a run of 18 consecutive Barca league goals from either Neymar or Suarez. Messi came off the bench and unselfishly set up Suarez for the fourth goal 16 minutes from the end, with many Real fans already heading for the exits. Those that stayed on spent the final minutes baying for the blood of Benitez and Perez. Earlier Saturday, Eusebio Sacristan started his reign as coach of Real Sociedad with a promising 2-0 home defeat of inconsistent Sevilla. The visitors did more of the attacking in the first half but Ciro Immobile had what should have been an early goal for Sevilla wrongly disallowed for offside. Sociedad gradually came out of their defensive shell towards the end and Imanol Agirretxe broke the deadlock 18 minutes from time with a first-time shot after the Sevilla defence had failed to clear a corner. Five minutes later, veteran captain Xabi Prieto made it 2-0 after a poor back-header from Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak. Sevilla’s fifth defeat left them in disappointing 11th place, while lifting Sociedad up to 14th. Later Saturday, Espanyol beat Malaga 2-0, on a brace from Hernan Perez, to move up to 10th. Deportivo Coruna moved up to eighth by beating fourth-placed Celta Vigo 2-0, with a strike from Lucas Perez and a bizarre own goal from Celta defender Jonny. Spain striker Nolito missed a penalty for Celta. Meanwhile, Valencia were held 1-1 by defiant Las Palmas. Paco Alcacer gave Valencia an early lead, only for Jonathan Viera to level for the visitors. The disappointing draw left Valencia in sixth place and Las Palmas fourth bottom. p6 Monday 23 November, 2015 Premier League round-up Reds stun City as Leicester go top Manchester United moved onto 27 points from 13 games, a point ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal. M anchester City suffered a surprise 4-1 defeat by Liverpool while Jamie Vardy equalled a Premier League goalscoring record to leave Leicester as the shock leaders of English football’s top-flight on Saturday. City started the late kick-off match at their Eastlands ground knowing victory would see them go top on a day when the Premier League paid tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks. But instead Manuel Pellegrini’s men found themselves 3-0 down inside 32 minutes after an Eliaquim Mangala own-goal preceded two sweeping Liverpool moves finished by the Brazilian pair of Phillippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino respectively. City pulled a goal back before the interval through Sergio Aguero’s 20-yard effort, but Jurgen Klopp’s visitors had the last word when Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel struck nine minutes from time. Pellegrini was at a loss to explain his side’s defeat, City’s Chilean manager saying: “It is difficult to understand. If we meant to do it on purpose, we couldn’t have done it that badly. It is impossible to understand.” By contrast, delighted Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC: “It feels perfect! The game was not perfect but it was very good. “The boys can believe now that they are stronger than many people think,” the German added. England striker Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games for his club by netting Leicester’s opener in a 3-0 win aaway to Newcastle during first-half stoppage-time at St James’ Park. Leonardo Ulloa’s header made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute before Japanese substitute Shinji Okazaki assured Italian manager Claudio Ranieri’s side of victory seven minutes from time. Martin Skrtel slides on his knees in celebration of his side’s fourth goal at Manchester City’s home ground. Mourinho. Manchester United made it eight games unbeaten in all competitions with a 2-1 win away to Watford in Saturday’s early kick-off -- the first Premier League match since the Paris terror attacks of November 13 which killed 130 people. ‘La Marseillaise’, France’s national anthem, was played before kick-off at Vicarage Road in a gesture that was repeated ahead of all of Saturday’s Premier League matches. Watford captain Troy Deeney appeared to have gained a point for the hosts with an 87th-minute penalty only to deflect Bastian Schewinsteiger’s stoppage-time effort into his own net after United had taken the lead through Memphis Depay. “In football you always have 90-93 minutes,” said German midfielder Schweinsteiger. “You always have to believe.” Everton ensured Aston Villa stayed bottom of the table with a ‘Never say die’ For the 28-year-old Vardy, it was the perfect afternoon’s work. “I have matched Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record and we have got the three points and clean sheet,” he said. “We have a never say die attitude and will fight for each other until the end.” Arsenal, who could have gone top themselves, suffered a an unexpected 2-1 loss away to West Bromwich Albion. It was just their third league defeat this season and hardly ideal preparation for their must-win Champions League group match at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday. The Gunners took a 28th-minute lead through France striker Olivier Giroud but found themselves 2-1 down before half-time after James Morrison and an own-goal from Mikel Arteta put the Baggies in front. Santi Cazorla had a chance to equalise late on but blasted a penalty over the crossbar. “Overall it was a bad day,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. “We scored an own goal, missed a penalty and missed a lot of chances. It is very disappointing.” Champions Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho with just their fourth win in 13 league matches this season as they beat Norwich 1-0 thanks to Diego Costa’s 64th-minute goal at Stamford Bridge. “Me and the fans didn’t deserve to have our heart in our hands in the last four minutes. It is the pressure of the bad results, that is normal,” said Leicester striker Jamie Vardy (centre) takes his plaudits from the crowd and Riyad Mahrez after opening the scoring against Newcastle. Bastian Schweinsteiger (right) wheels away in celebration after his cross was turned into his own net by Watford striker Troy Deeney. Arteta is left flat out on his back as the Arsenal midfielder’s defensive error hands the Baggies a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute. 4-0 win at Goodison Park, with Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku scoring two goals apiece. Stoke striker Bojan Krkic gave his side a 1-0 win away to Southampton while Swansea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Bournemouth, a heartening result for under-fire manager Garry Monk. Tottenham play London rivals West Ham on Sunday, with Monday’s top flight match between Crystal Palace and Sunderland. Monday 23 November, 2015 p7 Automotive sector Taking the lead to stay ahead With the growing popularity of hybrid cars, a group of mechanics in Au Cap recently participated in a hybrid workshop in a bid to upgrade their skills. P.Mawanda M echanics at a locally owned car repair garage this week begun a hybrid repair course which they believe will enable them lead the way and stay one step ahead as far as hybrid c a r s a r e c o n c e r n e d . “ We l l , since there is a mass inflow of hybrid cars into Seychelles, we decided that we should have this course for us to better understand hybrid cars so that we can be in a position to help hybrid car owners repair their vehicles. Aside from the car dealerships, we shall be the first garage to offer these services in the count r y. T h e m a i n i d e a b e h i n d this workshop is to put us ahead of the game and our c o m p e t i t o r s . We a r e t h e f i r s t p e o p l e t o d o i t . We know that Seychelles has a hot climate and we foresee that people who own hybrid cars need to know how to properly run their cars. By doing this, we are getting a head of the g a m e ,” Fr a n c i s K i l i n d o , a (L-R) Mr. Port-Louis, Mr. Carter, Mr.Kilindo, Mr. Reddy and Mr. Joseph. mechanic and the organiser of the workshop said. The team of four that took part in the training work at a local garage in A u C a p c a l l e d G Te c h P r o . When TODAY reached the garage in the afternoon, the group, which was being trained by Steve Carte r, a U K - b a s e d a u t o m o tive consultant, was in the middle of the final practical exam to test everything that they had learnt in the p r e v i o u s t w o d a y s . Fo r t h e exam, each trainee, superv i s e d b y M r C a r t e r, h a d t o go through a checklist of a Lexus hybrid car that was their learning prop for the d a y. Quizzed about why he had decided to carry out t h e t r a i n i n g , Mr. C a r t e r said: “I decided to carry out the training because a friend asked me to do so and I realized the importance of carrying out one. I am currently here on holiday so I decided to spend a few days of my holiday teaching these guys what they should do to tr y and save their lives. These guys want to learn. They want to fix these cars but if they just jump into it, they will probably die due to the high voltages associated with hybrid cars. Some hybrid cars can have a voltage as high as 650 volts. So, this training is very important as far as saving their lives are concerned. Also, while this may be a business opportunity for them, you can also see that they are moved to learn because they want to acquire more knowledge about the hybrid vehicles”. At the end of the training, the participants who pass their tests will get an international accredit a t i o n f r o m t h e In s t i t u t e o f M o t o r i n g In d u s t r i e s (IMA) in the UK. While this group of mechanics took it upon Using the right armour to avoid bad surprises. themselves to learn how they can remain relevant i n t h e i r profession with the influx of hybrid cars, they told this newspaper that they would not be importing hybrid car parts. “There are no car parts in this country. If you want them, you have to import them. So, customers who will find problems with their cars will have to import the parts themselves in the future. All we shall do is inform them about what needs to be fixed or replaced and they will have to do it themselves.” The other three participants that took part in the training were Vincent Port-Louis, Henry Joseph and Ian Reddy. With this knowledge secured during the workshop, the garage will offer hybrid car owners a wid e r r a n g e o f o p t i o n s when it comes to choosing a garage. Monday 23 November, 2015 p8 To the point with Roy Fonseka “A government of National Unity has the potential to turn into a corrupt regime” The third guest in our special series of interviews is Roy Fonseka, the running mate of the country’s first female Presidential candidate, Alexia Amesbury. There are nine days left until Election Day. H ow do you view the role of the Vice President? One of the major concerns within the present regime is what I have on numerous occasions described as a “groupthink” at the heart of the administration. This has come about over years of the one-party state system whereby individuals are chosen first for the allegiance to the party and second or last on merit. This automatically binds a person to the system and the brain goes into mental freeze. Irrespective of the academic level of the individual, he ceases to think for him or herself. Or even when he disagrees with a certain position, the tongue remains in mute mode. Pragmatism and the ability to think outside the box is nonexistent. A classic example is the 100% consensus that motivated the administration to force mandatory sentences with regards to drug offences. The depth of knowledge of judges was placed second to the hasty attitudes of the juveniles in Parliament who believed that they would impress the general public with such an inflexible and dogmatic idea. Even the President went along to claim that he would once and for all deal with the Escobars. Needless to say, the Escobars had the last laugh. As Vice President, it will be my role to sound, lobby and engage our people, most importantly those out of government for their views in a frank atmosphere and bridging political boundaries. I will not refrain from advising the President what the public’s view is and what the general temperature is on all issues irrespective of whether it is totally contrary to the President’s own views. Do you think you have an important role to play even though people do not actually vote for a vice president? What I have described above is a most important role. But besides that, I have a series of personal tasks that I would like to take on which I will describe later. Why should people vote for you and your team? First of all, I must congratulate the other candidates lined up in the opposition. But as a team, in our very different lives, Alexia Amesbury and I have both made it a habit of taking on major challenges es- pecially where people’s lives, welfare and future are involved. In these situations, leadership qualities must have the indispensable ingredient of TRUST. Trust provides the platform to surmount any obstacle. that to Syria. What kind of VP do you intend to be? A passive one or one who will take an active interest in the affairs of the country? As Vice President, I intend to take on the following specifically in addition to other responsibilities. What has motivated your participation in the 2015 presidential election? I have been studying the political landscape, or may I say the “lack” of one well before February 2015 when the President proclaimed that he would win outright as the opposition was fragmented. Even well before then, when election fever was at minus zero, I proposed in one my articles that more opposition parties were necessary to provide new sprouts for our tree of democracy. I even suggested that perhaps we would end up with having primaries, if not by design then by default. This is exactly what has transpired. It is only right in our continued effort to develop and educate the electorate about democracy. Today we can pay due courtesy to SNP or Lalyans Seselwa gatherings and in the next moment strongly debate opposing ideas and solutions to better our country. Moreover, it is important that in our quest to change a corrupt system, we establish a subsequent political landscape to ensure good checks and balances. The Pres- a) Establish a special bureau to personally encourage any innovative business ideas that does not fall in any of the standard categories that exist. Today, any such new ideas is being killed at birth simply because the officials cannot rightly allocate a license. We must NEVER discourage innovation and the will to work. I will introduce the ability for any individual to flirt with an idea without him/her having to lodge all the red tape requirements of licensing. My experience tells me that most good businesses started with a simple idea that germinated into a profitable venture. Alexia with her supporters in Belombre. idential election is important, but the parliamentary elections are even more important. We must educate the population that future Presidents will not be able to rule and govern at whim. Our constitution must be respected and this is why I am a proud player on the field today, I have been lucky to have been able to establish myself well in life, and gained considerable experience of the wider world, and this is my small bit in return to show my gratitude to the motherland. Why do you think your Presidential candidate will make a good President? There will be no prefect candidate amongst all the potentials. But Alexia Amesbury will be the best President for many reasons. But most importantly, since we are transitioning from a dark past towards a chamber of light, trust of each and every one of us is most important. But it is not only trust, each and every one of the population must feel comfortable in each other’s space. Her being new to the political village makes her more acceptable to unite the different parties to work together. Secondly, the social ills that impede our nation requires a person with compassion. Mrs Amesbury is not only compassionate but she has been there in her own personal life experiences, growing up in an orphanage. With the tagline “From Orphanage to Statehouse”, Seychelles will be immediately on the global map. A direct impact on our failing tourism industry. Finally, Alexia Amesbury has one final ace for the betterment of the whole country. The concept of odious debt which will be explained in other articles and submissions is of too much importance for any other political party not to pay heed to it. In having been absent in the country’s political past, she is the only person who can wipe our national debt in one clean swipe. What is the one trait that you admire in her? Her unselfishness. Why do you think you will make a good Vice President? Other then the points mentioned above, my present participation in the election is first and foremost to remove the Lepep government from power. At this present moment, the opportunity of being a running mate provides me with the most influence to achieve that goal. Furthermore, being a Vice President will allow me to ensure the continued enhancement of our democracy and good governance in the crucial transition from one system to another. If you had to pick one issue and make it your own personal battle, which would it be? In short, it would be to achieve a totally independent state media, where journalists are allowed to demonstrate individualism in their respective submissions. Encouraging style and frankness without any doubt that quiet or subtle pressure will bear down on them. What are your views on the formation of the cabinet: should Ministers belong to a specific party, should they be chosen on merit? I have always posited that there exists no single political party that can field all ministerial posts. This has been the demise of the ruling party. Equally, the Minister must not be disingenuous in respecting the government’s policy and must administer with total impartiality. Naturally, a strict ministerial Code of Ethics must be in place from the outset. I have also always been against a government of National Unity. Not because I do not believe in unity, but I strongly feel that an arranged marriage in running a government will create fertile ground for the formation of an “elite group” prepared to solidify its existence by being “extra nice” to each other. This will very quickly turn into a corrupt regime. In the absence of tribal groups or different factions as may be the case in other countries, we do not need a government of National Unity. Leave b) Many of our families undergo immense strain when they come of age and require 24-hour care. It is a fact that as people age, they wish to remain in the area that they are used to which has become their comfort zone. As Vice President, I intend to find a suitable area, like Cap Ternay. Create retirement parcels with a small allotment for gardening. This will be sold to families only and can be used as retirement residences. Only retired persons will be allowed to reside there although they could be visited on week-ends by young members of the family who in turn will get accustomed to the place for their old age. The land will be leasehold and can be jointly owned by more than one family. A private nursing centre will offer 24-hour care depending on individual requirements. There will be a clause to discourage speculation of land. c) As Vice President I intend to encourage our young men and women to seek employment in commonwealth militaries and navies. There they can acquire training, special skills and good character development. They will be able to vote even when overseas and will be able to put their names to the land-bank register. They will also be encouraged to contribute to the Seychelles pension scheme. d) As Vice President, I intend to commission the highest bravery medal for the brave men and women who lost their lives over the past 38 years in their struggle to bring about democracy to our country. I will form a committee to design the medal and respective citation which will be represented by families of those poor souls. Monday 23 November, 2015 p9 SNP in Perseverance Lepep supporters hurl abuse at SNP leader Despite the perception that Perseverance is a “Parti Lepep stronghold”, the SNP Presidential candidate said the door to door exercise was very positive. important”. The two-hour visit could have taken a turn for the worse however, when just after 6pm, a group of Parti Lepep supporters, mostly women, who were getting ready for their party’s activity, started throwing insults at Mr Ramkalawan. The incident took place near the entrance of Perseverance 1, when Mr Ramkalawan and his team were on their way to visit a family that had personally requested to see him. Shouts of “We do not want you T here”, “what are you doing on reclaimed land” and “get out”, could be heard over loud music being played in a pick-up truck stationed nearby. One young man, in his red attire jumped right in front of Mr Ramkalawan and told him he never wanted to see him in Perseverance again. Mr Ramkalawan who was escorted out of the area by his bodyguard, told TODAY that these incidents rarely happen but that when they do, it is best to remain calm and not antagonize the op- Wavel Ramkalawan and Roger Mancienne meeting with one resident at Perseverance. he Seychelles National Party (SNP)’s door-to-door exercise in Perseverance last Friday started just after 5pm. Led by a pick-up truck blasting out popular SNP songs, the motorcade made up of a dozen cars stopped at the field facing the small beach at Perseverance 2. The activists were divided into groups of two and three and distributed leaflets of the party’s manifesto to residents of the housing estate. Wavel Ramkalawan and his run- ning mate Roger Mancienne were accompanied by Dereck Amade, who is expected to be SNP’s representative for Perseverance at the next parliamentary elections. The initial impression was how friendly everybody was, with children waving and calling out “Father Wavel” and people passing by in cars greeting and honking as Mr Ramkalawan and Mr Mancienne made their way from house to house. Some passersby also came over to greet SNP’ Presidential candi- date to express their support for the SNP, which is contesting the Presidential election for the fifth time. Mr Ramkalawan said that although it is good to have big rallies, the door-to-door exercise is as equally important, “because it brings that human contact”. He said he was familiar with some people who now reside in Perseverance and who hail from various districts but most of the time, “you do not need to know the person, it is the approach that is SPSD in town Alexia Amesbury brings Victoria to a standstill The Presidential candidate of the Seychelles Party for Social Justice and Democracy (SPSD) met with voters in town on Saturday morning. Alexia Amesbury in town on Saturday. “An early bird catches the worm”, says the adage. Presidential candidate Alexia Amesbury in this spirit on Saturday joined the early morning shoppers on the third trail of her campaign. Her team was stationed at Premier Building where the voice of David Scholastique could be hard blaring. His “Vote Alexia” message together with the fliers, manifestos, T-shirts, caps, CDs and umbrellas that were being distributed made the early morning shoppers stop for a second or two to listen to the candidate’s message. While at first the people seemed a bit reluctant about walking to the pickups to obtain these free items, as the morning crowd grew bigger and traffic increased, passersby seemed to get bolder and made their way towards the pickup, declaring their support for Mrs. Amesbury and accepting her goodies. TODAY spoke to some of the people who chatted with Mrs. Amesbury and they said they will vote for the “’people’s defender’ because it is time for change. We need change and Mrs. Amesbury is that change,” a 30-year old mother said. A vegetable stall owner said that “Alexia will knock out President Michel in one round” while a shop- per asserted that “Alexia stands and represents all the women in the country. She is a symbol of how far women can go and a sign that women exist in this country and can have a choice. So instead of voting for all the other male candidates, I will vote for Alexia because she is a woman and will do more for women.” A shop owner on Market street said that “Alexia once defended me in court. I have to vote for her. Not because she defended me and fought for me but because of the way she fought. She did not give up on me even when I was tired. I had nothing but she still fought for me as if I was giving her millions. Because of that, I know that she if the right person to vote for. Seychelles needs a change. Alexia should be that change because she will fight for this country just as she fights for all the people that she defends”. A fisher seller at the market told TODAY that he will vote for Alexia Amesbury “because she knows the people. She is the only candidate that has come to the market to talk to us and greet us. I do not need a TV or a car to vote for her. I will vote for her because she is normal like us.” PDM posters finally here! Posters for the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) have finally cropped up over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning in the streets of Victoria, featuring Presidential candidate David Pierre and his running mate Hervey Anthony. The posters can be seen in central areas of the main roundabout in Victoria and the road towards Mont Fleuri as well as in Anse aux Pins. Parti Lepep supporters hurled insults at SNP team. posing supporters who he said “were clearly out for a confrontation”. Other than the unfortunate incident, Mr Ramkalawan described the activity as successful. He said a number of issues were raised during the conversations he had with the residents including poverty, health, welfare and the high cost of living. When asked whether the SNP is expected to do well in Perseverance which is considered a Parti Lepep stronghold, Mr Ramkalawan said that “there is no district in Seychelles which is a stronghold of Parti Lepep. A lot of people I have spoken to say they are wearing their Parti Lepep t-shirts but they are not supporting the party”, he said. “This time around, I feel that people are really listening and reflecting on the parties’ programmes before deciding. I firmly believe that this time, people will vote, not according to what they have received during the campaign but according to the best programmes being presented”, concluded Mr Ramkalawan. Meanwhile yesterday, the SNP held its public meeting at Roche Caiman for residents of the central region. TODAY will bring you a report in Tuesday’s paper. Monday 23 November, 2015 Advertorial Hitachi lands on local market The international brand now has an official representative in Seychelles. Coastal Seychelles intends to offer its products at competitive prices. tor design and electronics that are consistently driven by innovation to enable jobs to be safer, easier and less tiring. According to Coastal Seychelles, customers will be drawn to these the products by virtue of “Hitachi’s recog- L nised track record for reliability, the machinery’s high durability and quality”. It is to be noted that the brand previously did not officially sell to the Seychelles market prior to Coastal Seychelles filling the gap. For all your construction needs, be sure to visit the Hitachi outlet at the Neverland Complex in Providence. Alternatively, give them a call on 442 0854, 437 3542 or 271 7759, email them on [email protected] and visit the www.hitachi-koki.com website for more information. Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi. ocal company Coastal Seychelles is now the official distributor for Hitachi power tools and spare parts in Seychelles. Presently, the company sells only power tools, with a focus on products intended for the construction sector. Despite targeting their marketing towards civil constructions for mechanical, electrical and plumbing sectors, Coastal Seychelles nevertheless will be selling products for personal home use as well. The outlet will also be your best recourse should you need quick repairs done on your machinery. The Hitachi brand manufactures industry-leading portable cordless and electrical power tools and accessories, aimed at commercial and professional applications. Hitachi power tools are world renowned for their performance, high levels of quality, durability and operability for all users across any worksite. Hitachi power tools feature the latest advancements in power tool construction, mo- Power tools and spare parts now available in the country. p11 Destination Travel Bruges This week we take you to one of the most visited towns in Belgium. age highs and average lows don’t exceed a range of 9° C (or 16° F). A large number of carriers offer direct flights to Brussels. Belgium’s main airport has its own railway station. Bruges can easily be reached through the airports of Brussels, Charleroi (Brussels South) and Lille, so getting to Bruges by train is by far the easiest way. Only one I city where cycling is familiarized and where the local government puts a lot of effort to improve cycling in this city. According to Bruges Major cycling is the main point of attention in all parts of infrastructure, city plans, permits etc. In 2012 Bruges received a nomination for ¨Belgium cycle city of the year¨. Also, for 15 years Bruges has you across Bruges highlights within a few hours. Two good bike tour companies are Baja Bikes and Quasimundo. The historical center is not so big and thus quite walkable. The only mode of public transport inside city is bus. Buses are operated by the Flemish public transport company De Lijn. Taxis on the market place and station cost about €10. Bicycles are easy to rent and make getting around the city very speedy, although the cobblestoned paths can make the rides a little bumpy and uncomfortable. Once over the encircling canal and inside the city walls, Bruges closes in around you with street after street of charming historic houses and a canal always nearby. In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land. The newly cleaned houses should however not confuse you; they are truly centuries old. And if you can get away from the chocolate-shops, you can visit some more quiet areas such as. St. Anna, and imagine what life in the late middle ages must have been like. Bruges city square. t is the capital of the province of West Flanders, and is also the seat of the Bishop of Brugge. Bruges has a population of just over 117,000, of which around 20,000 live in the old city centre, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000, because of the many special buildings in that area. Most of the visitors are attracted to Bruges because of its charm. The channels sometimes make you wonder if you are not in the Netherlands. Relatively cosmopolitan and bourgeois given its compact size, it is one of the best preserved pre-motorised cities in Europe and offers the kind of charms rarely available elsewhere. Bruges is a postcard perfect stop on any tour of Europe. Even by Belgian standards, Bruges has a poor reputation for its weather. Compared to other western European cities like London and Paris, the weather in Bruges is colder and more damp. Even in July and August, average daily maximum temperatures struggle to exceed 21° C (70° F) and rainfall averages 203 mm (8 in) a month. After October, temperatures drop off quite rapidly and winter months are damp and chilly. The summer visitor should always be prepared for rain in Bruges and that warm and sunny weather is not constant during that season. Also note that the daily and monthly temperature variations are quite small. Daily differences between aver- Tempting, non? change at one of the three main stations is needed and the entire connection takes about 1:20. Cycling in Bruges is the perfect way to discover the historical centre. Bruges citizens make fanatical use of their bikes. Up to 60% of all incoming traffic in the city centre are cyclists. Bruges can be described as a been the starting point for the Tour of Flanders. When you’re planning to visit Bruges you can easily hop on a bike and start to discover the city. There are various bike rental companies spread over the city and some of them also offer the opportunity to do a guided bike tour. A local guide will take Tarte flambée with caramelized onions, Parma ham, shaved cheese and chives. And beer, of course. p12 Monday 23 November, 2015 Party Political Broadcasts Drugs, corruption, debt and experience Wavel Ramkalawan, Patrick Pillay, Alexia Amesbury and James Michel featured prominently on Friday’s and Saturday’s PPB. Each political broadcast lasted 26 minutes. Tonight sees the PPB of Philippe Boullé and Alexia Amesbury followed by David Pierre and Patrick Pillay on Tuesday. The second part of the PPB ends on Wednesday with James Michel and Wavel Ramkalawan. (Continued From Page 2) Mr Mancienne further elaborated on the proposal, saying that the “SNP will ensure that competent people are appointed in key positions, that institutions tasked with maintaining peace and order like the police army and judiciary are free from political interference”. He added that for the public service to function properly, it needs to be independent. “Ministers will be there to ensure that policies are implemented but will not decide who qualifies for social welfare or over- seas medical treatment, or who will be promoted in a department”. Wrapping up, Mr Ramkalawan stressed on the importance of having strong institutions to protect citizens. “How many times have we Lalyans Seselwa: The real cost of corruption “Do not make the mistake of thinking that the schools and hospitals built are a gift from the government. You are paying for everything”, Lalyans Seselwa leader Patrick Pillay said in his party’s PPB on Friday, reminding the public that corruption has throughout the campaign been his party’s main battle. He said he felt that the Seychellois people are having a hard time understanding where their money goes, perhaps because the current government says corruption is only a perception. “It’s not just about taking money that is not yours; it’s about everyday practice – favoritism, victimization, unfairness and so forth”, Mr. Pillay explained. He also explained that money used for different ministry projects do not come from Parti Lepep, but rather from citizens’ pockets. His running mate Ahmed Afif followed with a series of examples of corruption which he said he witnessed first-hand from his days working for government. He spoke of a USD50 million donation by Abu Dhabi to assist in projects in Seychelles, which was then mysteriously transferred to a Baroda bank account in England. The government said they would investigate the matter, but later stated there is not enough evidence to pursue the case. This, Mr. Afif explained, is just one of the many ways people in government can divert money for their own use without accountability. He also stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tried to investigate a money deal of USD5.4 million for the Plantation Club Hotel in Seychelles. Unfortunately, the investigation went nowhere due to government’s unwillingness to cooperate. He ended by stating that Sey- chelles is SCR455 million in debt this year alone, which means that each person is paying back this debt to the tune of SCR 950 per person month. Hence, Mr. Afif explained all that these bad practices must stop and that government needed to be accountable. “Government needs to change”, Mr Afif reiterated. Throughout the broadcast, supporters of Lalyans Seselwa shared their enthusiasm for the party and urged people to vote for Patrick Pillay come December. Alexia Amesbury: “The country’s development is attached to a huge debt” Alexia Amesbury focused on the country’s economy in her PPB aired on Saturday night. Among other things, she talked about why the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was called into the country in 2008 and why the electorate should vote for the opposition that has a united agenda for overthrowing the current government. “In 2008 President James Michel and his party had to call in the IMF to take us out of the hole that they had led us into because we only had three days worth of reserves left. Seychelles was bankrupt. Today President Michel says that Seychelles is the richest African country with a GDP of USD 25000 per head but that is not because of Mr. Michel, it is thanks to the IMF. The IMF had to bail us out because it did not have confidence in Parti Lepep. The development that this country has seen under President Michel is one that is attached to huge debt brought about by borrowing money to make us believe that we are developed. And yet we are not. In my party, development is not equal to debt and we do not want any more debt. Because we do not want more debt, we have a policy that will ask all debts that were incurred by Parti Lepep while they were in power to be paid by them,” Mrs. Amesbury said. While some have questioned some of her economic policies like the abolition of income tax and the refusal to repay the country’s debt, Mrs. Amesbury said that her party is being supported by qualified Seychellois who can produce an economic plan for the country that will make Seychelles a nation led by Seychellois professionals. Mrs. Amesbury also highlighted the importance of the general electorate to have a President whose mandate starts from the ballot box. “We did not elect president Mancham through a ballot box, neither did we elect President René and we all know that President Michel became President after President Rene resigned and he passed on the presidency to him. If we elect President Michel and his party, the same thing will happen because he has already ruled for 12 years and the constitution does not allow for any president to rule for 17 years. So, it means that half way into his mandate, he will hand over the presidency to Vice President Danny Faure, and we will continue to have Presidents that do not start their mandates from the ballot box”. heard people say I cannot come forward because I have applied for a loan, or a plot of land or my child is waiting for a scholarship”, he said, adding that strong and independent institutions will mean people will not be scared to support a political party of their choice. “ They will know their applications are based on merit and not politics, that when they go to court, they will get justice because everything has been done according to procedures. (...) Having strong institutions mean the government will no longer threaten and scare its people but it will be the people holding the government in check”. Parti Lepep: Experience versus inexperience On Saturday evening, Parti Lepep told voters that they basically had two options: Either they choose Parti Lepep which will take the country further, or they decide to vote for the opposition based on the manifestos they have presented but that it was something that would divide the country and plunge it into darkness. And they had a multitude of business people who testified about the progress they had made under the Parti Lepep government, while a group of first time voters explained why they will be endorsing James Michel. Incumbent James Michel again put the emphasis on his experience and said that “no one can take away what I have accomplished in the past five years”. This, he continued, meant that he had “the necessary baggage” to take the country forward for the next five years. The party’s motto, “Together”, he said, is indicative of what “we can achieve together for the next five years. I won’t make people believe that one man or party will change a country,” but rather, that it is a people working together towards a common goal that will make it happen. The incumbent then went on to say that “there is still work to be done. Today Seychelles has a modern economy, we are breaking new frontiers in business, there is support for businesses by Seychellois.” He went on to say that he wants to see the “Seychellois developing the economy and willing to take their rightful part within the economy, with special emphasis on the blue economy, which will offer more opportunities for businesses and employment,” he said. Vice President Danny Faure said that President Michel was “killing himself ” for the country. “Everywhere we look, there is success. If we are honest with ourselves, we will see that there is proof around us. The opposition can say whatever they want about him, but he is a man with Seychelles at heart,” he concluded. p13 Monday 23 November, 2015 MV Logos Hope The book fair is now open! A dreary morning on Saturday did not stop people from visiting the ship. By CM TODAY spoke to said that they were very happy to have reached Seychelles and that they were looking forward to enjoy some of the sights. Guests consisted of President James Michel, Vice President Danny Faure, Ministers Alain St. Ange, Jean-Paul Adam, Idith Alexander and MacSuzy Mondon, representatives of the police force, the Seychelles Ports Authority and local churches among others. President Michel was gifted on the occasion with a set of books by Captain Ver- beek to commemorate the launch of the book fair. The official launch of the book fair started with prayers by a crew member. He asked that God gives the leaders of Seychelles wisdom and discernment in the exercise of their duties and he also gave thanks for Seychelles as a Christian nation. This was followed by a video to explain the work that MV Logos Hope does. Alongside the book fair, the crew also give medical assistance when in port as well as guidance. Several of the crew members Captain Verbeek, daughter of the President Laeticia Michel, President Michel and Vice President Danny Faure officially launched the book fair. I t started off as a downcast morning at the port on Saturday at the official launch of the MV Logos Hope’s book fair. The toll booth had been set up at the entrance of the Seychelles Port Authority (SPA) entrance near Docklands. Despite the weather, a band had been set up for the launch to entertain guests boarding the ship and the crew stood at the ship’s entrance to welcome guests. The music started off with local séga beats but then changed to that of upbeat gospel songs that are quite popular with the Seychellois and apparently, the crew of the MV Logos Hope as well, who were dancing on and off the ship. Aboard the ship, several of the volunteers had been conscripted to welcome and attend to the guests dressed in their traditional garb and a genuine smile. It is to be noted that volunteers do not get paid for what they do on the ship and they are all contracted to do twoyear stints at a time on the ship. It is also to be noted that the majority of volunteers, who are all Christians, are not sailors by profession and as such, their six-day journey from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Seychelles was not the smoothest and many suffered from sea-sickness. Despite the rough journey, the volunteers Minister for Education, MacSuzy Mondon, rifling through the books in the shop. The doors open for the first shoppers. treated the guests to a parade of nations, despite there being over 55 different nationalities currently on the ship. Some of the countries parading were Japan, Haiti, Egypt, Brazil, Bahamas and Taiwan. Ed Verbeek, the Captain of the ship, welcomed the guests onboard the ship. He gave a brief apercu of his career and said that he began his career in 1973 as an apprentice officer, the same year that MV Logos Hope also began its sailing career. “The ship and I also share another milestone, this is our first time in Seychelles as well,” he said. After this brief introduction, it was time to commemorate the launch of the book fair. This, Captain Verbeek did by gifting President Michel with a set of books. Moving towards the book fair, Captain Verbeek, President Michel, his daughter Laeticia and Vice-President Faure cut the ribbon, officially opening the book fair. The crew took the opportunity to give the President, the VicePresident and Ministers a guided tour of the book shop. By the time the launch was over, a group of people were already amassing outside to board the ship, despite the rain. Monday 23 November, 2015 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Automatic, rear view camera, full option. Price negotiable. Call 2521474 A position exist for a live- in female carer at Sans Souci, Mahe. Ring Kathleen on 2601062 for further details. 21 Jan – 19 Feb If you are at a loss as to what to do with yourself, get together with some friends and get involved in an activity that means something to you all. The sun in Sagittarius is good for group activities of all kinds but especially those which help other people. 23 July – 22 Aug This is one of the best times of the year for those born under your sign, so forget about any setbacks you may have suffered and start looking forward to a time when everything will go right for you again – it won’t be long in coming. 20 Feb – 20 March If you have not given much thought to your status and reputation of late then maybe you should give it some thought now. With the sun moving through the career area of your chart you can, with a little bit of effort, move up in the world rapidly. 23 Aug – 23 Sept If you get the chance to prove your critics wrong this week by all means take it but don’t let the need to do so consume your every waking thought. Life is too short to waste time arguing with people who seem to be negative about everything. 21 March – 20 April This is a good time of year for you but it could be a great one if you stop worrying about things that might go wrong and give yourself over to having a good time. Remember, though, that definitions of a good time vary from person to person. 24 Sept – 23 Oct Go where you want to go and do want you want to do this week, because no one is going to stop you. The full moon on Wednesday may bring a brief interruption to your wanderings but it won’t be for long. You’ve just got to be free. 21 April – 21 May If someone avoids giving you a straight answer to a perfectly straightforward question, then be on your guard, You don’t have to be paranoid but you do have to take whatever moves you feel are necessary to protect your personal and professional interests. 24 Oct – 22 Nov Your view of reality seems to be a bit distorted at the moment and that could cause problems if you let the line between fact and fantasy get blurred. Be extra careful where money matters are concerned because if you get it wrong it could cost you. 22 May – 21 June Be more open about your feelings this week. Let those who care about you know that you care about them too. Sometimes you can be so secretive that you make it hard even for loved ones to know what is going on in your heart or your head. 23 Nov – 21 Dec You have come through a lot in recent weeks but now that the sun is moving through your own sign you can look back and see there were reasons for everything that happened. Put doubts and fears behind you and act as if all things are possible. 22 June – 22 July 22 Dec – 20 Jan There will be times over the next few days when you want to be left alone with your thoughts. Make sure those you live and work with know that you require your own space. If they are not prepared to give it to you then get up and go elsewhere. Little things can mean a lot, so don’t overlook details that may seem minor now but could be of major significance later on. Even the smallest of causes can result in major consequences, so make sure you know what is going on. The Annual General Meeting of the Marine Charter Association will be held at the VCS Building Le Chantier on Monday 14th December 2015 at 2:00pm. Down 1. A Semitic people 2. Phone 3. Jacob’s brother 4. Expends 5. Box 6. Any aromatic plant used in cooking 7. A language of Pakistan and India 8. 7th letter in the Greek alphabet 9. Consecutive 10. A disparaging remark 11. Panache 13. Stone pillar 14. Analyze chemical substances 20. Present (at a show) 21. Drink in small amounts 25. Found on old telephones 26. Boxlike 27. Offensiveness 28. About 29. It travels on rails 30. A socially awkward act 31. Dunk 33. Hearing organ 35. Mesh 37. Fool 39. Away from the wind 42. Achy 44. Package of 500 sheets of paper 47. A failure to maintain 49. A Hindu deity 52. Fathers 53. Pearly-shelled mussel 55. Native of South America 56. Obtains 57. Not fake 58. Hammer or saw, for example 59. Inactive 60. Yield 62. Which person? Yesterday’s solution Across 1. Expert flyers 5. Son of Ra (Egyptian mythology) 8. Nature of being 12. Coarse file 13. Classical music theater 15. Impart information 16. Wings 17. Poets 18. Turquoise 19. Musket 22. Vase 23. Delete (abbrev.) 24. Assistant 26. Pertaining to the universe 29. Keyboarding 31. Flop 32. Willow 34. The devil 36. Cited from the same place 38. An African livestock enclosure 40. The state of living 41. Devout 43. Shouter 45. Toward the rear 46. Dome 48. Pin 50. Latin for “Will be” 51. Anagram of “Haw” 52. A light grayish brown 54. Terse and witty 61. Afresh 63. An expression of contempt 64. Travelled on a horse 65. Plate 66. Anagram of “Cadet” 67. Cast or form 68. Neither good nor bad 69. American Sign Language 70. Downwind 1. Ipanema and Copacabana beach are parts of what famous city? 2. A rising or resurgence of the hydrosphere is more commonly known as what? 3. In medicine, the word styptic refers to something that stops what? 4. What do people normally do in a refectory: Eat; Sleep; Study; or Grow vegetables? 5. What soft gray alkaline earth metal is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust? 6. Wildfowl such as ducks, geese, swans, etc., have a nail on which part of the body: Foot; Wingtip; Beak; or Breast? 7. What is the Muslim nations’ equivalent of the Red Cross co-ordination body for the relief of human suffering? 8. Name the Ukrainian/Russian American engineer who was first to viably manufacture and sell helicopters? 9. Which Australian city is considered to have the largest Greek population outside of Greece? 10. What main religion celebrates festivals including Nuakhai, Yatra (or Zatra/Jatra), Pongal, Holi and Shigmo? Quick Quiz Answers: 1. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 2. Spring (a natural spring of water) 3. Bleeding (from Greek styphein, constrict) 4. Eat 5. Calcium 6. Beak 7. Red Crescent 8. Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972 - initial production development c.1939-42) 9. Melbourne 10. Hindu New Model Nissan X-Trial Hybrid 4x4. 9,000Km. Colour Black. Year 2015. Call Terry 2869280 Suzuki Baleno A/C power steering Fuel injec Manual Just repaint TEL: 2745251 price negotiable Published by TODAY Publishers (Seychelles) Limited, P.O. Box 999, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles Printed by “The Print House (Pty) Ltd.”, Providence Industrial Estate, Mahé, Seychelles. Tel: +248 4290 999/950/951 Fax: +248 4325999 [email protected] Grand Anse, Praslin Tel: +248 4237 441 Fax: +248 4237 442 Editor - Deepa Bhookhun [email protected] How To Play The objective is to fill the blank squares with the correct numbers •Every row of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every column of 9 must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order •Every 3 x 3 sub-grid must include all digits 1 to 9 in any order Fill the other empty cells with numbers between 1 and 9 A number should appear only once on each row, column and 3 x 3 region Business Development Manager - Veronica Maria [email protected] ISSN: 1659-7265	i don't know
According to the UK General Teaching Council how many of the 28,000 newly qualified teachers in 2010 had a computer-related degree?	"Masterminds" - Manchester Evening News, November 7, 2015 \| Online Research Library: Questia Read preview Article excerpt 1. Playboy Russia covergirl Maria Kozhevnikova, boxer Nikolai Valuyev, and tennis player Marat Safin shared which honour in December 2011? 2. What William S Burroughs 1961 book popularised the rock music term 'heavy metal', and provided the names for at least two rock bands of the 1970s? 3. What main religion celebrates festivals including Nuakhai, Yatra (or Zatra/Jatra), Pongal, Holi and Shigmo? 4. Which country experienced the Velvet Revolution in Nov-Dec 1989? 5. According to the UK General Teaching Council how many of the 28,000 newly qualified teachers in 2010 had a computerrelated degree: 3; 30; 300 or 3,000? 6. Spell the word: Remanisence; Reminissense; Remeniscence; or Reminiscence? 7. What ancient Sanskrit word loosely meaning 'region' commonly now refers to people (and culture, products, etc) of Indian sub-continent origins? 8. Whom did Forbes Magazine list as the most powerful woman in the Southern Hemisphere in 2011? 9. Unrelated, what is a set of slats and a museum? 10. What ship, whose name means thunderbolt, was Nelson's flagship 1799-1801, and later a training ship for boys? 26 11. The Showa period of Japan coincided with what Emperor's reign? 12. Michael Morpurgo, author of the children's book War Horse, on In state Luther which the 2012 Spielberg film (of the same name) is based, held what UK position from 2003-5? 13. What fashionable Mediterranean resort hosted the G20 international economics conference at the height of the Greek Euro membership crisis? 27 14. How many cubic metres is the space in a room four metres square and three metres high? 15. Which politician bowled faster than Dennis Lillee and Andy Roberts? 16. What element is also known as hydrargyrum? David shows around 17. Whose father wrote and sang the popular Secret Lemonade Drinker song in the award-winning British 1970s-80s R Whites Lemonade TV advert ? … Subscribe to Questia and enjoy: Full access to this article and over 10 million more from academic journals, magazines, and newspapers Over 83,000 books Access to powerful writing and research tools Article details Newspapers Encyclopedia Subscribe to Questia and enjoy: Full access to this article and over 10 million more from academic journals, magazines, and newspapers Over 83,000 books Access to powerful writing and research tools Article details	three
What ancient Sanskrit word loosely meaning 'region' commonly now refers to people (and culture, products, etc) of Indian sub-continent origins?	Brief History Of Teacher Education Education Essay Brief History Of Teacher Education Education Essay Published: Last Edited: 23rd March, 2015 This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers. Education is a source of transmission of knowledge from one generation to another generation. It is basic tool which enables learners to modify and groom their personalities as well as enhances their cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills. "Standards based education, in general and teacher education particular, is part of global movement of quality assurance" (Mirza, 2009). Prayer (2010) explains that "teacher plays his pivotal role in achieving goals and objectives in class room. The teacher is real history maker". Trained and competent teacher is the key person to guide the ideas and interest of learners with his good leadership because he is the resourceful person to convey all administrative instruction and objectives for institution which prepare learners as best citizen (Noble, 1929; Kumar, 2010). It is world-wide reality that the investment in education is more beneficial and long term. For this purpose, all over the world, there is expending a large amount in public and private sector. According to World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, FBS, Ministry of education (2010), Pakistan is spending 2.1% GDP in public sector and literacy rate is 57% in 2009-10. "Pakistan assured in achieving target of universal primary education by 2015 under Education for All with minimization of drop-out rate" (National Education Policy, 2009). The Government of Pakistan is trying to improve the education system in Pakistan through sweep changes in content, teaching methodologies, quality of teachers, learning environment, training of pre-service and in-service teachers, administrative and managerial staff. National Education Policy (2009) envisages that the one of the reasons of high drop-out rate and low quality of outcomes in Pakistan, is poor structure of education system where our policy makers unable to understand professional and global standards of education and untrained Head teachers, District Education Officers (DEOs), Executive District Officers (EDOs) and Directors Public Instructions (DPIs) are working for implementation of policy. Government of Punjab is striving for the betterment of quantity and quality of education. For this purpose, Directorate of Staff Development, Lahore [DSD] is playing significant role. This apex organization is providing training to pre-service education and training at 33 Government Colleges of Elementary Teachers [GCET/GCE] and In-service Training of Teachers [INSET]. For the implementation of decisions and improvement of monitoring and evaluation system, administrative body of District Government such as Executive District Officers [EDOs], District Education Officers [DEOs], Head Designates [HD], head teachers of secondary and Higher Secondary Schools [HSS] are getting training by DSD with the cooperation of Provincial Monitoring and Implementation Unit [PITE], Science Educator Center [SEC] and Non-Governmental Organizations [NGOs]. Statement of Problem Well trained teachers are indispensable for successful teaching and learning process. Proper in-service teachers training are vital for the professional development of the teachers. DSD is the oldest and largest in-service teachers training institute in the Punjab. The study intended to evaluate different aspects of in-service teacher training programs by DSD. Objectives of the Study To find different modes of training offered by DSD. To study the working of DSD and to elaborate the benefits of training imparted by DSD. To evaluate the outcomes of training in the views of participants. To find the Satisfaction level of the participants. To suggest recommendations for the improvement of in-service teacher's training programs. Research Questions Research questions, generally require in all types of researches in social as well as natural sciences with the possible exception of descriptive, survey type studies as the present one. Therefore in such cases research questions are formulated. The following research questions have been formulated in this research. What content, material and methods are used for training? What are the facilities provided to trainers during training? How much the training is beneficial for the professional growth of in-service teachers? How much is it useful in improving their performance? What are the suggestions for improvement of training? What is level of satisfaction of the participants? Significance of the Study Education is to bring up, to lead out or develop intrinsic characteristics of pupils and way of conveying knowledge, culture according to their aptitudes and capabilities. The wide networks of schools are working for the expansion of education but unfortunately they are only increasing the quantity rather than quality of education. Quality of teaching and learning process is solely dependent on the education and pedagogical skills of the teachers. Better trained teachers can impart quality learning in a smooth way. Training is the needs of teachers remain prevalent even after the recruitment. Quality of education and product require training to fulfill the demands of current innovations and ever changing scenario. Training related to duties is beneficial for pre-service as well as in-service employees. Pre-service teacher training enables trainees to concentrate their actions and understanding of rules and regulations. In-service teacher training enhances their skills, capabilities and knowledge and leads to excellence of work. This process of in-service teachers' training is gaining importance owing to the rapid expansion in knowledge and expeditious increase in technologies. This study will be important contribution in the process of in-service teacher's training by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the ongoing process of in-service teachers' training in Punjab. Quality in-service training will enhance the professional development of Educational Managers, Heads of Primary/Elementary Schools, District Training and Resource Center (DTSC) Head/Principals Government College of Elementary Teachers (GCETs), Training of Lead Teacher Educators (LTEs) and, Induction Training of District Teacher Educators (DTEs), and Master Trainers of Secondary Educators, Training of Elementary School Teachers (ESTs). Training program is based on training objectives, selection of trainees and trainers, course material, use of audio visual aids, participations' level of satisfaction and trainers' knowledge. Therefore quality assurance is essential to evaluate training programs imparted by DSD. Research Methodology Triangulation research methodology (Questionnaire, semi-schedule interviews and schedule classroom observation as non-participant observer) is used. The respondents were selected on the basis of participants of in-service training in DSD. Questionnaire was constructed on the base of review of literature and expert opinion about the induction of training, measuring of skill levels of trainers and effectiveness of training material. Semi-schedule interviews were organized under the objectives of the study to measure the objectives of training in DSD, selection criteria of input of training such as teaching material, facilities, learning environment and monitoring and evaluation of training. Suggestions were asked for the improvement of training programs by both the trainers and management of DSD. Delimitation There are directed many pre-service, in-service teacher training and training of public institutional administrators by DSD but due to lack of time, study will focus on on-going in-service teacher training directed by DSD during the period of June to August, 2012. Chapter II Review of Literature Education is indispensable part of success of any nation. Educational system depends on its teachers. No nation can rise on the map of the world without quality education system. Quality of education can be achieved with quality teachers. Quality education needs clearly defined objectives, well prepared curriculum, equipped classrooms, learning environment and trained teachers to run the system (Khatoon, 2008). Teacher is education provider who nourishes cognitive and psychomotor skills of learners and enables them to face the challenges of academic as well as everyday life. Teacher training is essential for the preparation of teachers to attain the objectives. For this purpose, there are two types of training provided to teachers, pre-service and in-service teacher training (Aggarwal, 2010). Teaching methodology is the most important support in achieving the classroom objectives. Learning to teach is complex procedure. It is important to associate knowledge bases process in training. Teaching methodology focuses on teacher thinking, teacher cognition and pre-planning before teaching and conceptual models in planning for realization of need for training. Pre-service and in-service teacher training is essential part for effective education system (Banasal, 2007). The condition of quality and quantity of education is poor in Pakistan. The ratio of higher education is low comparatively other countries in Asia. There are problems of less qualified staff, library and research facilities, and irrelevant curriculum with market demand, financial and political crisis, and ineffective system of assessment and evaluation as par with international standards (Memon et al., 2010). Quality education in Pakistan needs quality teachers to compete the global challenges. Monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes contributes in quality assurance of education. National Professional Standards has priority to sweep changes in training and planning programs for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, teacher educators and head teachers in Pakistan (MoE, 2009). Table 2.1: UNICEF Framework of Education Quality Elements 1 Quality of learners Students' good health and nutrition, early childhood psychosocial development experiences, regular attendance, and family support for learning. 2 Quality of learning environments Physical elements (e.g. school facilities, class size etc.), psychosocial elements (e.g. safe environment, teachers' behavior, discipline policies, non-violence etc.), and service delivery (e.g. health services). 3 Quality of contents Student-centered and standard based curriculum, uniqueness of local and national content, and focus on literacy, numeracy, and life skills. 4 Quality of processes Indicators relating to teachers and teaching (e.g. teachers' competence, support for student-centered learning, participation based teaching methods, teachers' working conditions etc.), and supervision and support (e.g. administrative leadership, effective use of technology, diversity of processes and facilities etc.) 5 Quality of outcomes Students' achievement in literacy and numeracy, life skills, health outcomes, outcomes sought by parents, community participation, and learners' confidence. Source: Adapted from UNICEF (June, 2000). It can be evaluated that the scope of teacher training builds the positive attitude in teachers towards educational change. Numerous articles, papers and seminars evaluate the significance of training in every field of life for proficiency in job in all over the world. Brief History of Teacher Education Formal teacher training institutes introduced in first decade of 18th century in Germany in western history and first teacher training college established in France in early 18th century by Roman Catholic monk Jean Batiste de la Salle (Bansal, 2007). Teacher Education in sub-continent has a long history. Gurukul-centered tradition of the Vedic period and Budhistic vihara-based system continued in ancient India till 11th century A.D. Muslims introduced Maktab-based system in sub-continent under their rule. Basically Maktab-based system was the way of providing religious, moral and Arabic education in Mosque (Masjid) by Imam sahib (resource person) to learners. Both systems were popular equally till British rule. British rulers reformed education system as well as paid teacher education. British government invested funds for improvement and made documentations for the implementation and evaluation of their rules (Aggarwal, 2010). The Calcutta University Commission (1917) under the supervision of Sir Michael Sadler recommended the increase in the output of trained teachers ratio and foundation of Education departments in University of Dacca and Calcutta. Sadler Commission focused on content, teaching skills and theoretical basics of training. In 20th century, during four decades (1900-1940) more teacher training colleges established and notable ratio increased of enrolled students. Refresher courses were introduced for in-service teachers and researchers in education were encouraged (Singh & Nath, 2008). Concept and Need of Training Abdullah (2009) cited long-lasting definitions for training and development. Training was defined as a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skills through learning experiences to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organization. (The Manpower Services Commission, 1982, p.62) The quality of teacher education and training depends on the quality of trainers who should be well prepared for current challenges, able to face challenges of current scenario, master in their subjects and persistent in orientation, refresher courses and seminars etc. An effective teacher educator can prepare future quality teachers (Tamilselvi, 2010). It is admitted in Global Monitoring Report (2008) that the inevitable role of teachers to fulfill the goal of Education for All by 2015; "The quantity, quality and distribution of the teaching workforce are critical factors for reaching the EFA goals. In terms of quantity over 18 million additional teachers are needed to meet the Universal Primary Education goal alone by 2015" (p.8). Ali (2011) evaluated that globally teacher education has become central fact in educational reforms. Developed countries strengthened own teacher education for attaining quality education by focusing research on teacher learning and developments. Many countries changed their policies and teacher training system with help of research. Aspects of Teacher Education Miller and Osinski (1996; 2002) stated that designing training and development program is a systematic process that can be assembled into five parts: needs assessment, instructional objectives, design, implementation and evaluation. Needs assessment of all training programs make them effective and efficient program. The training manager must define the "who, what, when, where, why and how of training" before starting of any training. To fulfill this gap, the training manager must analyze as much information as possible about the following: â€¢ Organization and its goals and objectives. â€¢ Jobs and related tasks that need to be learned. â€¢ Competencies and skills that are need to perform the job. â€¢ Individuals who are to be trained. Government of Pakistan (2011) analyzed, teacher education enables teachers to perform their task effectively in the school and classroom with support of the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require. Teacher education is often divided into: i) Initial teacher training/education (a pre-service course before entering the classroom as a fully responsible teacher); ii) Induction (the process of providing training and support during the first few years of teaching or the first year in a particular school); iii) Teacher development or continuing professional development (CPD) (an in-service process for practicing teachers). The horizon of education has extended due to new vision of teacher education through research studies all over the world. Teacher education is becoming more strengthened with use of technology (GoP, 2011). Types of Training There are three types of training, pre-designed training, formal training and distance training. Pre-designed training is provided in teacher education institutes, colleges and universities. Formal training is usually conducted to polish skill and proficiency in job performance. Distance training is directed through video tapes, electronic or print material without contact with tutor (Khatoon, 2008). Halim and Ali (1997) discussed that training is broadly categorized in two types: pre-service training and in-service training. Pre-service training is provided by formal institutions with defined curriculum and duration to offer a formal diploma or degree (bachelor or master level). In-service training is directed by organizations from time to time for improvement of performance and skills of employees. In-service training can be categorized into five different types: Induction or orientation training. After employment, Induction training is provided immediately to introduce the new extension staff members to their positions. Foundation training. Foundation training is in-service training. Newly recruit personnel have to take it. This training is usually provided at an early stage of service life and essential to strengthen the foundation of service career. On-the-job training. The superior officer or the subject-matter specialists give on-the-job training called ad-hoc or regularly scheduled training to the subordinate field staff, such as fortnightly training. This training generally focuses on problems or technology and may include formal presentations, informal discussion, and opportunities to try out new skills and knowledge in the field. Refresher or maintenance training. The incumbents update and maintain the specialized subject-matter knowledge through refresher or maintenance. Refresher training helps employees to use their knowledge and experience in better way. Maintenance or refresher training usually provides new information and new methods, as well as review of older materials according to context. Career development training. This type of in-service training is designed to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and ability of employees to help them assume greater responsibility in higher positions. The training is arranged departmentally for successful extension workers, at all levels, for their own continuing education and professional development. Malone (1984, p.216) stated that "career development is the act of acquiring information and resources that enables one to plan a program of lifelong learning related to his or her work life." Memon, Joubish and Khurrum (2010) mentioned that the administration of teacher training in Pakistan is provincial responsibility. However, curriculum wing at federal level is also responsible for teacher education institutions. Curriculum Boards and Extension Centers are responsible for in-service training. Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs) direct the training of primary school teachers under the supervision of DSD. In addition, the provinces have assigned in-service training to one or more GCETs. There are three different types of in-service training to teacher: In-service training of untrained staff through full-time crash programs of three months duration provided by the government. Short term refresher courses for those already teaching provided by the government. Limited private sector initiatives (short as well as medium term). Different donor-funded projects directed towards in-service training of government teachers. Models of Teaching and Training Teaching is the way of establishment or design of such environment in which learners could learn. Model of teaching is picture of that learning setting including teacher attitude towards learners. Models of teaching are helpful in achieving objectives, curriculum and in building learner's behavior. Taba (1966) and many others consider that using of teaching methodology is art of teaching and models of teaching works as bridge to attain learning objectives. Inductive thinking is the ability to explore new concepts and establish relationship in set data. Therefore inductive thinking models are widely used in curriculum area and all ages of learners. The model was presented recently by Joyce and Calhoun (1996; 1998), and Joyce, Hrycauk, and Calhoun (2001) to accelerate learners ability to learn. Jerome Burner, Goodnow and Austin (1967) and variation by Lighthall and Joyce presented "Concept Attainment Model" close to inductive thinking to provide resourceful method for giving structured concepts at all ages of students. Schwab (1965), Parker and Offer (1987) and Greenwald (2001) studied "Scientific Inquiry Model" to introduce Biological Science Curriculum Study to children. David Ausubel (1963) presented "Advance Organizers Model" for students of every age to enable them in developing intellectual structure regarding provided material (Joyce et al, 2009). The members of the Holmes Partnership presented "Benedum Collaborative Model" for teacher education in 1989, for the progress of West Virginia University. Holmes Partnership is a nationwide group of more than 100 research institutions. Benedum Collaborative Model was presented to change the scenario of public schools for the betterment of education. The reforms were planned to restructure of teacher education, professionals, to fulfill the gap between research and training (West Virginia University, 2006). According to Gaible and Burns (2005) Teacher Professional Development (TPD) can be divided into three broad categories: Standardized TPD. Standardized teacher professional development is the most centralized approach. The best used to circulate information and skills among large teacher populations. Site-based TPD. Site-based teacher profession development requires thorough learning by groups of teachers in a school or region which provides support for long-term changes in instructional methods Self-directed TPD. Self-directed learning, sometimes initiated at the learner's preference, using available resources that may include computers and the Internet. Teacher training is a systematic process lead by clearly defined objectives. Teacher training can be provided through seminars, workshops, subject based knowledge and class room management. In many countries it is school based activity to enhance performance. In-service teacher usually preoccupied with their duties therefore training programs are conducted in vocations with incentives to make it attractive. In Pakistan, trained teachers are available in private sector whereas public schools need to train teachers for high literacy rate and physical, cognitive, social, moral and emotional development of the learners. Ministry of Education developed Teacher Resource Center (TRC) and circulated curriculum of Early Childhood Education (ECE) as well as teacher training material for the guidance of kachi class (pre nursery) teachers in 2003. ECE curriculum is revised in 2007 (Sindh Education Foundation [SEF], 2010). Lucas (1997) cited, "It is easily assumed that the main fault with traditional teacher-training program was its briefness. Thus the cause for the reported poor quality of teaching was shifted from the nature of training which candidates received to the shortness of the training program." (George Count. p.67) Teacher Education in 21st Century According to the publication by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2011), "Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century", many nations around the world have changed own polices and strategies in education, areas of curriculum, teaching and assessment for preparing all children to face the high educational demands of life and profession in the 21st century. What are the skills that young people demand in this rapidly changing world and what competencies do teachers need to effectively teach those skills? What can teacher preparation and continuing professional development do to prepare graduates to teach well in a 21st century classroom? What are the different roles and responsibilities of 21st century school leaders and how do countries succeed in developing these leaders? (OECD, 2011, p.3) Australia introduced the National Professional Standard for Principals in July 2011; it was based on three requirements for school leadership: knowledge, understanding, personal as well as social qualities and communication skills. These were reported five areas of professional training: teaching learning process, enhance own and others' development, improvement, innovation and change, school management and engage community (Australian Institute for School Leadership, 2011). Government of Pakistan developed The National Plan of Action (NPA) to fulfill the international commitment in the Dakar Framework (2000) for Action, Education For All (EFA). NPA covers all the dimensions of EFA and is created on Dakar Goals and Objectives. NPA is based on Education Policy (1998-2010). The Education Sector Reforms (2001-05) was developed as action plan. Education Sector Reforms (ESR) aimed at the development of education sector as a whole, with special focus on EFA, served as a foundation for the NPA. Quality education requires motivated and competent teachers at all levels. It is recommended in NPA that the qualification of teachers will be enhanced at all levels. Teacher training institutions will be effective to ensure output. The in-service teachers will be trained for professional development. Management training will be fixed for all future administrators of education from secondary school levels to higher education levels. Awards and medals will be given to hardworking and devoted teachers. The District Government (District Literacy Cells) will develop the curriculum and contents for the training of teachers and other field representatives, in collaboration with different agencies. Courses for training of Master Trainers and key employees will be held at national and provincial levels whereas the Master Trainers will train teachers at regional level (GoP, 2003). International Practices of In-service Teacher Training In-service teacher training is essential part for promoting quality of education in all over the world. Some countries conduct training program during school timing, or some after school hours. Whereas some countries arrange teacher training programs on weekend or during summer vocations. Pre-service and in-service teacher training in United Kingdom. Department for Education and Skill (DfES) is responsible for education and training in UK under Secretary of State of Education under rule of British Government. Teacher Training Agency (TTA) is legislative public body whose members are appointed by Secretary of State of Education which is accountable for initial teacher training, funding for schools, excellence of curriculum and management of training. There are two types of teachers' trainings conducted in UK. One is pre-service teacher education and other is in-service teacher training. Pre-service teacher education and training is provided in recognized campuses whereas in-service teacher training is school based. In-service teacher training is engaged on daily practices, assessment, and mastery on content and behavioral change (Bayrakci, 2009). Pre-service and in-service teacher training in Turkey. In-service training activities were planned and approved by the Department of In-Service Training in the Ministry of National Education till 1993. National Education Directorates prepared annual in-service training in all provinces at national and local level for the improvement of quantity of training courses and quality of training activities for promoting educational administration and teaching staff (Bayrakci, 2009). Teacher training in Japan. In Japan, teacher trainings are more practical and based on daily education practices, problem solving, and understanding of curriculum and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Ministry of Education is providing in-service training at national, prefectural (large area of local/self-governing unit), municipal and school level. Ministry also sends 5000 teachers abroad for getting training every year. Basic training is specified to all staff along head of school according to their experience every year. Specialized training is focused towards specific subject or subject area according to the interest of teachers and they are free to avail it. In addition, various lectures and workshops are provided by educational organization (Bayrakci, 2009). Teacher training in India. In India, in-service teacher training program is presented Kothari Commission (1964-66) and in the Chattopadhyay Commission (1983-85) for the professional development of teachers with renewal their understanding of the subject they teach and new challenges of teaching profession. All creativities were input like renewal of curriculum, in-service teacher education and implementation with involvement of public and non-formal schools with help of in-service teachers and NGOs. In several states, school clusters were created to inter-link at primary, middle, high level and delivered a structure of collaboration between teachers and professional efforts. The District Primary Education Program (DPEP, 1995-2003) setup the structure of block and cluster resource centers with instructions to provide in-service training primary school teachers to new, child-centered pedagogic methods and school based support to teachers. The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA, 2003) is the project by Govt. of India also focused on continuous teacher education with 20 days training in every year and achieving Universalization of Elementary Education in time bound manner. Teachers have involvement in academic activities, in meetings to discuss professional development, text books preparation, preparation of training modules and have chance to work in blocks and cluster centers as well as contribute to training as resource person. They are also associated in policy formulating committees and openly working inside and outside school for children (Aggarwal, 2010). Teacher Education in Pakistan The education system of Pakistan is functioning in these categories i.e. Primary, Middle, High, Higher Secondary, Inter Colleges, Degree Colleges, Technical and Vocational Institutions, Teacher Training Institutions, Non-Formal Basic Education, Deeni Madaris, and Universities. The education system of Pakistan is involved of 270,825 institutions and is assisting 40,926,661 students with the help of 1,507,100 teachers. There are 194,151 public institutions and 76,674 private institutions in Pakistan. The total enrolment of students at teacher training institutes is 0.679 million of which 0.674 million (99%) students are enroll in public teacher training institutions whereas 0.005 million (1%) are in private sector. The total male students enroll in teacher training institutes are 0.451 million (66%), whereas 0.228 million (34%) female students are enroll. There are 3,620 teachers in teacher training institutions, out of which 3,343 (92%) are in public sector whereas 277 (8%) are in private sector (GoP, 2011). According to Government of Punjab (2011), there are 36 Government Elementary Teacher's training colleges, 25 male whereas 11 are female. The total enrolment of students is 6388 with 1500 male students and 4888 are female. The strength of teaching staff is 542 with 365 male whereas 177 are female. Institute of Education & Research (I.E.R), University of Punjab, Lahore is also contributing for teacher education and training. There are 1510 students enrolled, 224 are male and 1286 are female with 53 teaching staff, 32 are male whereas 21 are female. There are 270 teacher education/training institutions in Pakistan including Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas. 227 are public and 53 are private. Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs), Colleges of Education (GCEs) and University Departments of Education/ Institutes of Education and Research (IERs) are significant government institutions that offer Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), Bachelor of Science Education (B.S.Ed.), Master of Education (M.Ed.), M.A. Education, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) programs (GoP, 2009). For the purpose of improvement, Teacher Education Provincial Department of Education and Higher Education Commission (HEC) offered Associate Degree in Education (ADE)/Bachelor in Education (B-ED. Hons) Elementary in 46 Government Elementary Colleges of Education/Regional Institutes of Teacher Education (RITEs) and 13 universities (USAID, 2011). National Education Policies and Teacher Training There were few numbers of teacher training institutes in Pakistan in 1947. Government of Pakistan tried to increase quantity and quality of education in different National Education Policies. The educational conference (1947). The Educational Conference (1947) was held in Karachi from 27th November to 1st December. It aimed the proper training of teachers and upgrading pay scales for job satisfaction in all provinces. It is suggested to adopt short-term courses for training (MoE, 1947). The Pakistan commission on national education (1959). The Commission on National Education focused on professional development of male and female teachers with respect of profession, good pay scale, and mastery on content along behavioral change (MoE, 1959). The new education policy (1970). This policy had aim to increase the strength of 1, 28,000 new teachers and training of 1, 50,000 in-service teachers. It is decided to introduce normal programs for teacher education and crash training programs for in-service teachers (MoE, 1970). National education policy (1992). Teacher training institutes were upgraded with computer labs, facilities and trained staff in all provinces as well as at Federal level. Computer literacy was recognized as essential part of teacher education. In-service teacher training programs were directed at all levels with recommendation of Computer literacy and incentives. Distance education method was applied for in-service teacher training (MoE, 1992). National education policy (1998-2010). Government of Pakistan decided to increase the effectiveness of the system by in-service training of teachers and educational administrators and aimed to develop technical and vocational education in the country for producing trained manpower (MoE, 1998-2010). Teaching Staff in Pakistan There are 26903 male and 11894 female primary schools in Pakistan. The strength of male middle schools is 5414 and female schools 2298 whereas male secondary schools are 2743 whereas female secondary schools are 1100 in Pakistan (Pakistan Statistical Year book, 2011). Pakistan has centralized provincial education system based on primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary levels. There are 270 teacher education institutions are working in Pakistan under Provincial Department of Education. The Provincial Institutes of Teacher Education (PITE) were established in all provinces for in-service teacher training and their professional growth. Private teacher training institutes, institute of education and research and university of education are providing bachelor degree programs and postgraduate degree programs teacher education. There were only 257,818 teachers with B-Ed degree and 67,143 teachers with Master in Education (M-Ed.) working as teachers or teacher educators (out of a total teaching force of 1.365) million teachers from pre-primary to higher education) (MoE-PPW, 2009). Directorate of Staff Development Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) is such organization which is working to increase the quality and quantity of competent student teacher and teacher educator. It is remarkable service provider for education department in area of teacher education and training since 50 years. It is promoting the vision of National Education Policy (2009) as well as National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education in Pakistan (NACTE, 2009). Brief history of DSD. 1959: Educational Extension Centre (EEC) established for training staff of West Pakistan. 1968: EEC chosen for modernization of curricula in math and science for elementary to degree level. 1970: Control limited to Punjab. 1993: Renamed Directorate of Staff Development (DSD). 2002: DSD with Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE) and Government College of Elementary Teachers (GCETs) incorporated into University of Education, Lahore (UoE). 2004: DSD de-linked from University of Education, Lahore under Punjab Education Sector Reforms Program (PESRP) initiative. 2006: Continuous Professional Development Framework was approved. 2006: Support Network for Primary School Teachers was established. 2006: PITE and 33 GCETs placed under the administrative control of DSD. 2009: PITE and Science Educator Center (SEC) were merged with DSD. DSD aimed to work for coordinating and ensuring teacher development in Punjab under the rule of Government. Though University of Education, Lahore established in 2002 and started work with the collaboration of Directorate for the purpose of teacher development. For the progression of DSD, it was delinked with University of Education, Lahore in 2004. Now DSD is controlling 33 Government Elementary Colleges (GCETs) for pre-service teacher education and training since 2006 and has plate forum for in-service teacher training with district network of cluster training and support centers in Punjab. In 2006, Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE) and Science Educator Center (SEC) started work under control of DSD later merged in 2009 for harmonized DSD and determination in achieving mutual goals (DSD, 2007). Vision of DSD. "A well trained, motivated, knowledgeable, competent, committed and ethically sound cadre of teachers and education personnel who understand quality education and demonstrate the capability to deliver it to government school students in the Punjab". Mission of DSD. "To establish and manage an internationally recognized but locally relevant system of quality led continuous professional development for teachers and education personnel in the Punjab". Key functions of DSD. Our main function at DSD is to provide training for capacity-building and professional development of teachers and related staff in the public sector. This includes both pre-service and in-service training. For this purpose, we offer professional courses, academic degree courses (through elementary colleges), face to face mentoring, peer coaching and teacher support materials. Provision of training is facilitating through in-service training combined with cluster and school-based teacher support systems and other innovative means, including support for continuous professional development at respective workplaces. Administration of Pre-service Teacher Education in Punjab The Directorate of staff Development is presently responsible for administration 33 Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers in Punjab (GCETs) and as such is a vital partner in this program. These colleges are offering B-Ed., B.S.Ed., Associate Degree in Education (ADE) leading to B-Ed. (Hons) and M-Ed. programs in which over 6,000 students are enrolled every year. The GCETs also act as training centers of DSD for regular training of in-service teachers and around 22 out of 33 colleges also act as District Training and Support Centers (DTSCs) for Continuous Professional Development of public sector teachers. The Govt. of Punjab has decided that there will be no other degree in teacher's training except B.Ed. Hons (4 years) after 2015. In line with the present education policy, three years Associate Degree in Education (ADE) program leading to B.Ed. (Hons) is already initiated in two GCETs in the Punjab i.e. GCET, Faisalabad and GCET (F), D.G. Khan. The ADE program in both institutions is duly affiliated by University of Punjab, Lahore and Baha-ud-Din Zakaria University, Multan, respectively. Fifty students in each college are being admitted for the course. In the coming years ADE program leading to B.Ed. (Hons) Elementary will be implemented in all GCETs replacing the existing B.Ed. (Elementary) program. The mode of teaching for this new initiative in actively based learning and there will be semester system. However, initially the students will be enrolled on annual basis (DSD, 2007). Modes of In-service Trainings Training through workshop. DSD provides training through workshop according to need and issues and it also delivered regular day-by-day on Training Need Analysis (TNA). Training through mentoring. Mentoring is essential to support on content and pedagogy therefore, DSD also focus on guidance. Trainings offered at DSD. DSD is an apex organization that ensures quality learning through: Pre-service training of Prospective teachers Induction level training Capacity building of in-service teachers Professional Development of Educational Managers and Head teachers Specialized Training Programs (ECE, SOLO, Psycho social, ICT etc.) On the basis of complete Training Need Analysis (TNA) and National Professional Standards, the following trainings are designed to enhance the quality of education in public sector education system. The following trainings are: Educational Managers - EDOs, DEOs, Deputy. DEOs, AEOs Lead teacher Educators District Teacher Educators (DTEs) (TOTs for PSTs) - Induction level training of newly recruit DTEs Master Trainers for Induction Level training of Secondary School Educators Information Technology (IT) Master Trainers Trainers for training of Teachers of English (TEs) Medium Schools. Heads of Primary and Elementary School Elementary School Teachers (ESTs) District Training and Resource Center (DTSC) Heads/Principals GCETs, Teacher Educators (TEs), Cluster Training and Support Center (CTSC) Heads Heads of high and higher secondary schools Newly Recruited Headmasters/Head mistress/Deputy District Education Officers (Dy. DEOs) for induction Newly Recruit Educators for Induction DSD conducts a variety of courses for in-service training, delivered through a number of resource persons. These courses are developed by DSD staff and instructors with continuous struggle. The training material outline does not follow a constant pattern. Moreover, although many courses have significant overlap of material, there is no single rational way of improving one of the areas through the training courses (DSD, 2011). Training and program activities. Directorate of Staff Development assigns responsibilities to personnel ensuring that they are competent on the basis of applicable education, training, skills and experience criteria (DSD, 2004). DSD prepares Master trainers to train in-service teachers at selected district, tehsil or cluster centers in field. Master trainers are specially selected as per criteria and equally distributed across districts. DSD has mission to provide support and training to in-service Primary School Teachers (PSTs). For this propose, lead trainers as Trainers of Trainers (TOT) and master trainers of PSTs get training in DSD. Therefore 6 TOTs called Lead Teacher Educators (LTEs) are selected from 35 districts. These LTEs give training to the master trainers of PSTs called District Teacher Educators (DTEs) in DSD for two weeks at the district level. In return, DTEs train all PSTs at their selected cluster centers for one week. DSD directs the following trainings under the supervision of own management: Training of educational managers. Educational Manager's training has 4 weeks duration. The course objectives are: to give a broad understanding to the educational managers of the professional context they are working in as well as to provide them some basic tools to help them to perform their jobs in better fashion. Training of Lead Teacher Educators (LTEs). The duration of the training of Lead Teacher Educators (LTEs) is 1 week. The course objectives are: to provide a complete understanding to LTEs for the improvement of quality education with local and national standards by focusing on better methodology and performance in current design & development, teaching classroom management, assessment & evaluation, and educational leadership. Induction training of District Teacher Educators (DTEs), TOTs for PSTs on job description and basic foundation Module-II (BFM-II). The duration of induction training of DTEs and Training of Trainers (TOTs) is 3 weeks. The course objectives are as: to give a broad understanding of job description and basic foundation Module-II to DTEs TOTs for Primary school Teachers (PSTs) as well as to train them with some basic teaching and learning techniques therefore, they could perform their jobs in more professional manner. Training of master trainers for induction level training of Secondary Educators. The induction training of Master trainers has 4 weeks duration. Its course objectives are: to enhance the overall professional expertise of the master trainers of secondary school educators in public sector. Training of master trainers of information technology. The training duration of Master Trainers of Information Technology (IT) is 1 week. The course objectives of the training are: to enhance access, quality, and effectiveness in education in general and to enable the development of better teacher/trainers. Training of master trainers for training of science teachers. The duration of Master Trainers for training of Science Teachers is 2 weeks. The course objectives are; to build capacity of the master trainers in the discipline of science teaching consequently they can focus on content knowledge, pedagogical tools and class room management approaches for effective training to science teachers. Introductory training program for Teachers of English (TEs) medium schools. The duration of induction training of teachers of English (TEs) Medium Schools is 2 weeks. The major objectives of the course are; to better prepare public school teachers to teach in the English medium system to improve the standard of public schools education system. Training of head of primary and elementary schools. The duration of the training of head teachers of primary and elementary schools is 2-4 weeks. The course objectives of the training are: to enhance the administrative and leadership skills of the heads of primary and secondary schools and to develop the capabilities to supervise operations of their respective institution more efficiently and promote positive learning environment. Training of Elementary School Teachers (ESTs). The training of Elementary School Teachers (ESTs) has duration of 3 weeks. The major course objectives of training are; to enhance the teaching skills of ESTs so they can focus on content, knowledge, pedagogical tools and class room management approaches for quality education. The workshop also focus on curriculum activities, lesson planning, classroom management, assessment, communication and other teaching techniques as well as covers physical training/sports and some basic IT skills. Course titles are; Modern concepts and techniques, teaching of Science, Urdu, English and Mathematics at elementary level, Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Physical Training/ Sports Sciences, study tour. Training of District Training and Resource Center (DTSC) Head/ Principals Government of College for Elementary Teacher (GCETs). The duration of the training of District Training and Support Center (DTSC) heads and Principals of Govt. College of elementary Teaching (GCETs) is 3 weeks. The core objectives of the training are: to provide deep understanding to the educational heads of the professional context in which they are performing their duties as well as to give understanding of some basic tools for support them to perform their jobs in better way. Directorate of Staff Development applies suitable methods for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the trainers and trainees at various stages during the course of his professional development, which include: Attendance result; Results of assignments and problems solving in the classroom; Evaluating presentation of trainees; Examination at various stages (DSD, 2004). Process of Material Development Figure 2.1: Process of Material Development Process of material development is based on Training Need Assessment (TNA). The material development ensures the quality process through following steps: Advisory Committee to Suggest the Content as per TNA Workshop of Experts for Material Development 1st review Workshop of Material Development Pilot Testing of Developed Material 2nd Review Workshop after Piloting Finalization of Material after inclusion of Suggested Changes Review by Advisory Committee Layout/ Designing Proof Reading & Editing of Material Printing of Material Process of material development for primary teacher's guide. Selection of Subject: English, Mathematics, Science & Computer Science (Generally difficult for student and teachers) Based on New National Curricula All Lesson Plans developed on Standard Format Simple Language and Self Explanatory Content Relevant to Local Context Based on Modern Pedagogical Approach Promotes Interactive Learning Activity based - Use of Low cost/No cost Material Selection of Material Developers and Reviewers Workshop of Experts for Material Development 1st Review Workshop of developed Material Pilot Testing of developed Material 2nd Review Workshop after Pilot Testing Finalization after inclusion of suggested changes Technical/Quality review of the developed Material Proof Reading & Editing of Material Designing of developed Material Uniformity of Urdu & English version(s) Proof Reading od designed version before printing Printing of developed Material Feedback from Participants of Training Sessions Quality Management System According to Quality Assurance administration (2011), "The Quality Management System of the Directorate is based on International Standards (ISO-9001:2008) "Guidelines for Education" (Ref. Z1.11.2000) which includes training and motivation of available Human Resource, monitoring and evaluation of all processes working for professional development of teachers and continuous enhancement of the standards" (DSD, 2004). International Organization for Standardization (ISO) originated in USA and during the World War II, it is used in Europe. ISO can be helpful for evaluation of growth of the organization and provides basis to monitor of capacity building of organization and its own requirement to meet customers (ISO 9001, 2000). The Quality Management System (QMS) of DSD has aim to convey professional development to primary, elementary and secondary school teachers through trained trainers and controlling the pre-service education. Quality System Manual (QSM) makes sure that DSD is working effectively to achieve the targets after recognizes the requirements of training through the process and activities mentioned in the quality management system. QMS of DSD is process based which uses PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle. The process engages the training of trainers who in turn assist teachers by methodology of training for professional development. Figure 2.2: Process to ensure quality by DSD (2011) Implementation of Quality of Management System (QMS) employs on the following areas: To identify the processes/activities needed and their application throughout the organization. The processes include: Process for management activities; Process for provision of resources; Process for professional development, curriculum development, purchase of materials and acquisition of tutors services; Process for evaluation.	i don't know
Whom did Forbes Magazine list as the most powerful woman in the Southern Hemisphere in 2011?	Top 10 Most Famous Women Political Leaders by Ejaz Khan Politics they say is not a woman’s cup of tea, however there have been many who have proved this stereotyping statement wrong. If you do not agree, below is a list of ten women political leaders who have been very famous for their time in the politics. Let’s get started: 10. Golda Meir Belonging to Israel, Meyerson was a teacher and a politician who was later appointed as Israel’s fourth prime minister. She was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel’s first and the world’s third woman to hold such an office, she was described as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir “the best man in the government”; she was often portrayed as the “strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people”. 9. Dilma Rousseff The current and 36th president of Brazil, Rousseff is the first woman to hold the office. She was previously the Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. She is the daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur. Rousseff became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d’état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. She was eventually captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972. 8. Johanna Sigurdardottir She is the prime minister of Ireland. Sigurdardottir has also served as the minister of social affairs and security. This woman is also known to have become Iceland’s first prime minister and the world’s first openly lesbian head of government. In 2009, Forbes listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world. 7. Yingluck Shinawatra Nicknames as PU, Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman and politician, member of the Pheu Thai Party, the 28th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. She is Thailand’s first female Prime Minister and at 45 is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years. 6. Sonia Gandhi As president of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi heads the ruling political party of the world’s second largest population. She is an Italian-born Indian politician. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family. In 2013, Forbes listed her at #21 among the most powerful people, and was ranked as the world’s 9th most powerful woman. >> Political Leaders who were Assassinated . 5. Angela Merkel The world’s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Angela Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist, who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. She was ranked as the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes magazine in 2012, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman, and is now ranked fifth. >> Powerful Female Politicians . 4. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf The 24th and current president of Liberia, Sirleaf is one of the founders of National Patriotic Front of Liberia. She is also famous for being the first female head of state in Africa. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” She was conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi Prize by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 12 September 2013. 3. Isabel Martinez de Peron Former president of Argentina, better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, spent a controversial life. She was the third wife of the former President, Juan Perón. During her husband’s third term as president from 1973 to 1974, Isabel served as both vice president and First Lady. Following her husband’s death in office in 1974, Isabel served as president from 1 July 1974 to 24 March 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere in modern times. 2. Park Geun Hye Known for being the first female in South Korean politics who was elected as a president. Hye also is the first woman head of state in modern history of Northeast Asia. Prior to her presidency, she was the chairwoman of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). She is generally considered to be one of the most influential politicians, most powerful personalities in the history of South Korea. 1. Benazir Bhutto Probably the first Muslim who came forward and became the prime minister of Pakistan not once but for two terms. She is famous for her leadership, her concern for people and her sophistication. Bhutto is also the eldest daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who also served as the prime minister of the country back in 1971. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, after leaving PPP’s last rally in the city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. >> Top 10 Pakistani Women . woohoo to all these women!! great job, let’s keep it coming! John Don’t help me kill all , please- it’s tranlsate in Russian Lang Du Peuple Generally, Park Geun Hye is know for his father who dictated Korean over 18 years disregarding Human Rights Mo Margaret Thatcher should be number 1. She took on the Soviet Union, smashed down the Iron Wall, defeated terrorists all around the world…. Thatcher has had more influence on geopolitical and human history than all of the others on this list combined. I’m not sure how this list was compiled, but it smacks of a naïve recollection of history. luke The USSR’s fall can hardly be attributed to either Thatcher or Regan. It fell mainly because Brezhnev let the economy stagnate and Gorbachev’s failed reforms. The most Thatcher did to bring down the USSR was too help the US by funding terrorists in Afghanistan who fought the communist government (which by the way was a lot better then the Taliban one that replaced it). The fall of the Iron Curtain is mainly down to John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa and Gorbachev who helped lead to the ousting the most extreme communist leaders like Honecker, Ceaușescu, and Zhivkov as well as put pressure onto the ruling communist parties to reform. As for defeating terrorists…the most notable anti-terrorist thing Thatcher did was to fund the Apartheid government of South Africa in its hunting down of members of the ANC including Nelson Mandela. She also supported the Pinochet government of Chile hunt down “terrorists” who opposed Pinochets oppressive rule, and as previously mentioned supported US funding of the Afghan Mujahideen who eventually developed into the well known terrorist groups of the Taliban and al-Qeada. Hardly defeating terrorists. Thatcher was influential – she helped reform the British economy into the horrible, horrible mess it is today and increase inequality in Britain. The only two positive things to be said about Thatcher is her role in the Falklands war and helping reduce the power of trade unions Evi_Driehn Thatcher reforming british “economy” into a mess? It was Blair and Brown who transformed the city of london into a gobal call-center, not Thatcher. Manish Indira gandhi should be in the list. She broke Pakistan into two countries. Got rid of khalistani terrorists. Was the greatest pm of India. Evi_Driehn Merkel is, by all means, the worst chancellor germany ever had. Governing constantly against her own population, selling germanys respective interests to the facist eu-government, she transformed the former conservative CDU into a social-democratic mess. Kamalnath Shenoy I thought, the names of Mrs, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Mrs. Sirimao Bandarnaike are prominent enough names. wb So a Pakistani makes a sh*ts-for-content list and puts Benazir Bhutto on the top. He forgets that the greatest female leader ever was one named Indira Gandhi, who tore up a failed cUntry called Pakistan and pulled Bangladesh out of its belly to stop a genocide where this writer’s cUntry’s army had already killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women. G-G	Dilma Rousseff
Unrelated, what is a set of slats and a museum?	Top 10 Most Famous Women Political Leaders by Ejaz Khan Politics they say is not a woman’s cup of tea, however there have been many who have proved this stereotyping statement wrong. If you do not agree, below is a list of ten women political leaders who have been very famous for their time in the politics. Let’s get started: 10. Golda Meir Belonging to Israel, Meyerson was a teacher and a politician who was later appointed as Israel’s fourth prime minister. She was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel’s first and the world’s third woman to hold such an office, she was described as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir “the best man in the government”; she was often portrayed as the “strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people”. 9. Dilma Rousseff The current and 36th president of Brazil, Rousseff is the first woman to hold the office. She was previously the Chief of Staff to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from 2005 to 2010. She is the daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur. Rousseff became a socialist during her youth, and following the 1964 coup d’état joined various left-wing and Marxist urban guerrilla groups that fought against the military dictatorship. She was eventually captured and jailed between 1970 and 1972. 8. Johanna Sigurdardottir She is the prime minister of Ireland. Sigurdardottir has also served as the minister of social affairs and security. This woman is also known to have become Iceland’s first prime minister and the world’s first openly lesbian head of government. In 2009, Forbes listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world. 7. Yingluck Shinawatra Nicknames as PU, Yingluck Shinawatra is a Thai businesswoman and politician, member of the Pheu Thai Party, the 28th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. She is Thailand’s first female Prime Minister and at 45 is the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand in over 60 years. 6. Sonia Gandhi As president of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi heads the ruling political party of the world’s second largest population. She is an Italian-born Indian politician. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family. In 2013, Forbes listed her at #21 among the most powerful people, and was ranked as the world’s 9th most powerful woman. >> Political Leaders who were Assassinated . 5. Angela Merkel The world’s most powerful woman is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders. Angela Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist, who has been the Chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. She was ranked as the world’s second most powerful person by Forbes magazine in 2012, the highest ranking ever achieved by a woman, and is now ranked fifth. >> Powerful Female Politicians . 4. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf The 24th and current president of Liberia, Sirleaf is one of the founders of National Patriotic Front of Liberia. She is also famous for being the first female head of state in Africa. She was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” She was conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi Prize by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 12 September 2013. 3. Isabel Martinez de Peron Former president of Argentina, better known as Isabel Martínez de Perón or Isabel Perón, spent a controversial life. She was the third wife of the former President, Juan Perón. During her husband’s third term as president from 1973 to 1974, Isabel served as both vice president and First Lady. Following her husband’s death in office in 1974, Isabel served as president from 1 July 1974 to 24 March 1976. She was the first non-royal female head of state and head of government in the Western Hemisphere in modern times. 2. Park Geun Hye Known for being the first female in South Korean politics who was elected as a president. Hye also is the first woman head of state in modern history of Northeast Asia. Prior to her presidency, she was the chairwoman of the conservative Grand National Party (GNP). She is generally considered to be one of the most influential politicians, most powerful personalities in the history of South Korea. 1. Benazir Bhutto Probably the first Muslim who came forward and became the prime minister of Pakistan not once but for two terms. She is famous for her leadership, her concern for people and her sophistication. Bhutto is also the eldest daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who also served as the prime minister of the country back in 1971. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December 2007, after leaving PPP’s last rally in the city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. >> Top 10 Pakistani Women . woohoo to all these women!! great job, let’s keep it coming! John Don’t help me kill all , please- it’s tranlsate in Russian Lang Du Peuple Generally, Park Geun Hye is know for his father who dictated Korean over 18 years disregarding Human Rights Mo Margaret Thatcher should be number 1. She took on the Soviet Union, smashed down the Iron Wall, defeated terrorists all around the world…. Thatcher has had more influence on geopolitical and human history than all of the others on this list combined. I’m not sure how this list was compiled, but it smacks of a naïve recollection of history. luke The USSR’s fall can hardly be attributed to either Thatcher or Regan. It fell mainly because Brezhnev let the economy stagnate and Gorbachev’s failed reforms. The most Thatcher did to bring down the USSR was too help the US by funding terrorists in Afghanistan who fought the communist government (which by the way was a lot better then the Taliban one that replaced it). The fall of the Iron Curtain is mainly down to John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa and Gorbachev who helped lead to the ousting the most extreme communist leaders like Honecker, Ceaușescu, and Zhivkov as well as put pressure onto the ruling communist parties to reform. As for defeating terrorists…the most notable anti-terrorist thing Thatcher did was to fund the Apartheid government of South Africa in its hunting down of members of the ANC including Nelson Mandela. She also supported the Pinochet government of Chile hunt down “terrorists” who opposed Pinochets oppressive rule, and as previously mentioned supported US funding of the Afghan Mujahideen who eventually developed into the well known terrorist groups of the Taliban and al-Qeada. Hardly defeating terrorists. Thatcher was influential – she helped reform the British economy into the horrible, horrible mess it is today and increase inequality in Britain. The only two positive things to be said about Thatcher is her role in the Falklands war and helping reduce the power of trade unions Evi_Driehn Thatcher reforming british “economy” into a mess? It was Blair and Brown who transformed the city of london into a gobal call-center, not Thatcher. Manish Indira gandhi should be in the list. She broke Pakistan into two countries. Got rid of khalistani terrorists. Was the greatest pm of India. Evi_Driehn Merkel is, by all means, the worst chancellor germany ever had. Governing constantly against her own population, selling germanys respective interests to the facist eu-government, she transformed the former conservative CDU into a social-democratic mess. Kamalnath Shenoy I thought, the names of Mrs, Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Mrs. Sirimao Bandarnaike are prominent enough names. wb So a Pakistani makes a sh*ts-for-content list and puts Benazir Bhutto on the top. He forgets that the greatest female leader ever was one named Indira Gandhi, who tore up a failed cUntry called Pakistan and pulled Bangladesh out of its belly to stop a genocide where this writer’s cUntry’s army had already killed 3 million people and raped 200,000 women. G-G	i don't know
The Showa period of Japan coincided with what Emperor's reign?	Showa period \| Japanese history \| Britannica.com Japanese history Edo culture Shōwa period, in Japanese history, the period (1926–89) corresponding to the reign of the emperor Hirohito . The two Chinese characters (kanji) in the name Shōwa translate as “Bright Peace” in Japanese. However, a more nuanced interpretation is “Enlightened Harmony”—with the added significance that the second character (wa) is commonly used in words that describe Japan or things Japanese. The Shōwa period was preceded by the Taishō period (1912–26) and was followed by the Heisei period (1989– ). The first part of the Shōwa, from Hirohito’s enthronement in 1926 to the end of World War II in 1945, is known as the early Shōwa period. It is noted principally for the rise of militarism in Japan, Japanese aggression in China and elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia, and the country’s wartime defeat. The postwar Shōwa decades were marked by Japan’s spectacular recovery and its rise as a global economic powerhouse second only to the United States , its former enemy and subsequent closest ally. Unlike the Meiji Restoration (1868–1912)—corresponding to the rule of the Meiji emperor and synonymous among historians with Japan’s emergence as a modern country—none of the three succeeding ruling periods is widely used to designate the 20th-century history of Japan. The term Shōwa literature, however, does denote a distinct phase in Japanese literature from about 1924 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and the Great Depression of the 1930s, which was particularly severe in Japan, is referred to as the Shōwa Depression there.	Hirohito
What fashionable Mediterranean resort hosted the G20 international economics conference at the height of the Greek Euro membership crisis?	Showa Era: 1925-1989 Showa Era: 1925-1989 After the Taisho Emperor died in 1911 the next Emperor, Hirohito (ruled 1926-1989), started the Showa Era. This was a period of great suffering for the Japanese. Economic depression spread, exports declined and bankruptcies became frequent. The U.S. tried to reign in the Japanese influence. Bills were passed to prevent Japanese immigration to the U.S. China attempted to kick out the Japanese and the main party government was unable to handle the problems. Politicians and family-controlled monopolies, interested only in financial gain, ignore the sufferings of the average person. Right-wing assassinations and military coups are staged and a policy of aggressive expansion towards China is adopted. The Japanese withdrew from the League of Nations and fell more and more under the control of right-wing militarist expansionists. Eventually this led to war with the U.S. and a temporary expansion of the Japanese Empire but eventually the defeat of the country. Particular dates of importance 1926: Emperor Yoshihito dies. Hirohito becomes Emperor. 1927: Financial crisis arises due to run on banks caused by the 1923 earthquake 1928: Japan signs Kellogg-Briand Pact which advocates the settlement of international disputes without recourse to war 1928: Mass arrests of communists and other political activists. 1929: Economic panic. 1930: Naval disarmament treaty signed by U.S., Japan, Britain, Italy and France. 1931: Japanese stage a military takeover of Manchuria. Japan abandons the gold standard. Mukden occupied by Japanese troops. 1932: Puppet state of Manchukuo is established. Japanese troops occupy chinchow. Sino-Japanese hostilities at Shanghai. 1932: the Ministry of Education begins a school lunch program to combat child malnutrition. 1933, Mar. 27: Japan withdraws from the League of Nations 1933: The USSR offers to sell C.E. Railway to Japan. 1934, Dec. 29: Japan cancels Washington naval treaty 1934: Pu Yi crowned as Emperor of the Empire of Manchutikuo. Japan's population exceeds 65 million. 1936, Nov. 25: Japan signs Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany 1936: coup attempt by military officers is foiled. 1937: Japan invades China, resulting in the deaths of millions of Chinese. 1937:League of Japanese Women's Organizations is founded. Japanese capture Shanghai. Nanking captured Dec. 13th. 1938: Japanese forces occupy Canton and Hankou. 1939: Japanese troops defeated by Russian toops in Mongolia. 1939: Religous Organizations Law extends government control over religious groups. 1940, Sept. 27: Japan, Germany and Italy sign the Tripartite Pact. 1940: The Olympics are cancelled, being originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo. 1940:Jazz performances are banned and Tokyo's dance halls are closed. Japan invades Indo-China and joins the Axis Pact. 1941, April 13: Japan and Russia sign a neutrality agreement July, 1941: Japanese troops invade Indochina. In retaliation Britain, the U.S. and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and put into effect an economic blockade. The oil supply for Japan becomes a problem; at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese possess only enough oil for a few weeks supply. 1941: Japan launches attack on Pearl Harbor and U.S. enters the war. Japanese army attacks Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya. 1941: The Japanese government labels the war the "Greater East Asia War". 1941: Potatoes begin to be used as a substitute for rice in Japan. 1942: U.S. ambassador expelled from Japan. 1942-1943: After victory after victory the Japanese are stopped at the Battle of Midway. "Island-hopping" military strategy is adopted by the U.S. and its allies. 1943: A plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto is shot down by American planes. 1944: The Cabinet decides to begin evacuation of schoolchildren from cities. 1944: Tojo resigns as Prime Minister. 1944, late: The first kamikaze pilots begin their attacks on U.S. ships.All toll around 5,000 pilots died during their missions; U.S. losses were moderately heavy. Plans existed for a type of piloted suicide rocket plane, but those were not ready in time to make a difference. 1945: The situation for Japan becomes bleak, although the truth of the military defeats is kept from the Japanese people. The Japanese media refer to the military retreats as "advances in a backward direction." (I'm not making this up; I found this in a book on the history of Japan.) 1945: Iwo Jima is taken by U.S. forces, then Manila and Okinawa. 1945: Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs. Invasion of Japan was scheduled for November of 1945 but the war ended in August.There is some reluctance to surrender by some of the Japanese ministers, but the Emperor casts the deciding vote for surrender. Allies occupy Japan. 1945, Aug. 14: Japan surrenders, ending WWII 1945, Aug. 15: Emperor Hirohito makes his first radio broadcast to the country announcing that Japan has surrendered 1945, Sept. 2: Documents of surrender signed aboard the U.S.S.Missouri 1945: The New Japan Women's League is established, and women get the right to vote. 1946-1948: Tokyo War Crimes trials. Individuals involved in Unit 731 and like groups are not put on trial. Tojo and six others are sentenced to death. State Shinto disestablished. 1947: A new democratic Constitution goes into effect. 1950: National Police Reserve is established. 1951, Sept.8: Peace treaty between Japan and the Allies and a Japan-U.S> Security Treaty is signed in San Francisco 1952: U.S. occupation of Japan ends. 1952: Japan joins the World Bank and the IMF. 1954: National Police Reserves becomes the Self-Denfense Force. 1955: The Japan Socialist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party are formed. 1955: The Bunraku Liberation League name is adopted by the former All-Japan Committee for Buraku Liberation. 1956: Japan enters the United Nations 1960: Renewal of U.S.-Japanese Mutual Security Treaty sparks protests. 1960-1970: Japan's economy grows at an annual rate of 10.4 percent. 1963, Aug. 14: Japan signs partial nuclear test ban treaty 1964: The bullet train starts its run between Tokyo and Osaka. Japan hosts the Olympics. 1965, June 22: Japan establishes diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea 1968: Japan's Gross National Product becomes the second-largest in the world 1968-1969: A decade of student unrest leads to the closing of some fifty Japanese universities. 1968, April 5: Agreement with U.S. for return of the Ogasawara Islands to Japan on June 26. 1969, Nov. 21: Japan signs joint statement with U.S> on return of Okinawa to Japan. 1970: A series of environmental laws are passed. 1970's: American fast-food restaurants begin to make inroads into the Japanese market. 1971, June 17: Treaty for return of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty is signed 1972: Japan resumes diplomatic and trade relations with China. 1972: Okinawa is returned to Japan. 1973-1974: Arab oil embargo has negative effects on Japanese economy. 1974, Nov. 18: Gerald Ford becomes the first U.S. president to visit Japan while still in office 1975, Sept. 30-Oct. 14: Emperor Hirohito pays a state visit to the U.S. 1976, June 8: Japan ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1978: New Tokyo International Airport opens. 1978: Japan and China sign a peace and friendship treaty.1980, Feb. 1: Japan protests the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and decides to boycott the Moscow Olympic Games 1982/1983: Japan is visited by a swarm of diplomats including French President Mitterrand, Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang and Ronald Reagen. 1988, April 22: Cabinet Minister Seisuke Okuno claims Japan was not the aggressor nation in the invasion of China in the 1930's nor in World War II. International protests take place. 1989: 3% consumption tax is introduced. 1989: Emperor Horohito dies.Emperor Akihito becomes the 125th Japanese emperor.	i don't know
Which politician (as at 2011) has the second-highest average for a No6 cricket test batsman (over 61 runs) and in a competition bowled faster than Dennis Lillee and Andy Roberts?	Ep11aug2014 by Pakistan Observer - issuu issuu Issuu on Google+ Bombshell development Turkey’s Erdogan takes initial lead in presidential race ISTANBUL—Tayyip Erdogan was set to be Turkey’s next president after local media credited the veteran prime minister with more than half the vote with nearly all the ballots counted. After an election on Sunday that his opponents Continued on Page 7 Musharraf : Not running away from Pakistan STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—Breaking the silence after nearly three months, former president Pervez Musharraf said he would not be running away from Pakistan. “I am not running away from Pakistan. Rather, I will defend [myself] in all cases Continued on Page 7 Sri Lanka beat Pak in first Test G ALLE —Retiring Mahela Jayawardene took on the unusual role of opening batsman to hand Sri Lanka a thrilling seven-wicket victory on the final day of the first Test against Pakistan in Galle on Sunday. The hosts, needing 99 to win in a minimum of 21 overs, beat fading light and approaching rain to cruise home in the 17th over in front of some 5,000 jubilant home fans. Detailed story on Sports Page Today’s issue of Pakistan Observer carries a 20-Page Special Report on Building a modern Sindh with an unprecedented determination!. Govt handles situation haphazardly, whimsically ................................................ Political turmoil to dent economy ................................................ US surgical strikes on ISIS See Page 04 Imran, Qadri join hands to topple Nawaz Govt Inqilab March and Azadi March to move side by side: Qadri Punjab govt registers murder cases against PAT chief COAS summons Corps Commanders meeting today LIAQAT TOOR/ SALIM AHMED Nawaz Government. Finally putting all the rumours and speculations at rest that PTI and PAT will stage demonstrations separately, the new development has changed the entire political scenario rendering a very difficult situation for PML-N with another political force of PTI now with a changed strategy. Political analysts in ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE—In a Islamabad were of the view that bombshell announcement on with this development more Sunday evening in a Youm-epolitical parties are expected to Shuhada function at Lahore, join Azadi March. PAT Chief Tahirul Qadri said Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif summoned a meeting of the corps commanders on Monday at the General Headquarters to discuss the overall security situation in the country and the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb operation against militants in North Waziristan, ISPR Spokesperson said. Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief, Dr. Tahirul Qadri Sunday announced that the ‘Revolution March’ will begin on August 14 and both Imran Khan’s ‘Azadi March’ and LAHORE: PAT Chief Tahirul Qadri addressing his party ‘Revolution March’ will be workers gathered to observe Yaum-e-Shuhda on Sunday. staged the same day. “Everyone will have to PML-Q chief Ch Shujaat is also present. come out and no one will regovernment. turn till the government is his Inqilab March and Azadi The Punjab Government toppled and the system is March of Imran will move to which was already under pres- changed,” Dr. Qadri said while Islamabad on March 14 side by sure in dealing with Youm-e- addressing the PAT workers side from Lahore to topple Shuhada will have to tackle Continued on Page 7 PTI asks PM to step down Party warns govt against Imran’s arrest I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a n ing to Islamabad to join the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would be held responsible if democracy was derailed. Speaking to media persons after party’s core committee meeting here on Sunday, PTI spokesperson Shireen Mazari said that her party would strongly resist any attempt by the government to detain Imran Khan. She demanded that government open fuel supply and remove containers. No container, she said, can stop PTI’s workers from com- Azadi March on August 14. “Nawaz Sharf will have to resign,” she said. She also urged her party’s workers to bring ration and necessary food supplies to Islamabad for the long march. Speaking on this occasion, senior PTI leader Javed Hashmi said that Khan’s arrest would be the biggest blunder of the Nawaz Sharif government. Hashmi agreed that Prime Minister Sharif would be re- Continued on Page 7 Red Zone, diplomatic enclave sealed off ISLAMABAD—The red zone and diplomatic enclave in the federal capital have been sealed off for national parade and Independence Day. Containers and barbed wires have been dropped at red Continued on Page 7 Amir Khan to be MQM new Deputy Convener AAMIR MAJEED KARACHI—Member Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) Coordination Committee Amir Khan is likely to become new Deputy Convener Continued on Page 7 PM stresses protection of democracy STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that the government will protect democracy and defeat those conspiring against it at any cost. He said those doing politics of violence and confrontation were enemies of development. In a meeting with Punjab Chief Minsiter Shahbaz Sharif to chalk out plan of action to deal with anti-government campaigns of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, the prime minister said the journey of development started after the general elec- Continued on Page 7 PTI ignoring IDPs, spending huge resources on long march: ANP Pir Sadruddin urges Imran to accept PM’s talks offer KARACHI—Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) Sindh PresiL AHORE —Awami National Pakistan dent Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi has called upon Pakistan Party secretary general Ahsaan Wyen has urged Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf to divert its energies and resources to the resettlement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) rather spending millions of rupees on staging long march and sitin. Talking to APP on Sunday, he said more than one million IDPs badly need the attention of PTI backed provincial in KPK but the PTI leadership was busy in staging a long march for the promotion of its vested interest, setting aside a major issue of helping IDPs.He said that IDPs should be special guests of the KPK Province as they left their homes for a greater cause to support Pakistan Army in the ongoing operation “Zarb e Azb” against terrorists. “ W h a t we have observed that instead of lending support to IDPs, PTI is spending millions of rupees on its long QUETTA: Activists of Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Balochistan chanting slogans against Israel during their rally in favour of Palestinian people. march and sit in which aim at derailing the present democratic system”, he asserted. He alleged Imran Khan has no time for the people of the province and he was bent upon for launching protests against the Federal Government for hiding his party’s failure in the KPK.—APP Mamnoon re-assures equal civic rights to all citizens Govt pursuing Quaid’s vision to protect minorities’ rights: Nawaz I S L A M A B A D —President Mamnoon Hussain has said that August 11 is a day to reaffirm our resolve for the protection of rights of all citizens and according them equal treatment irrespective of religion, caste or creed as upheld by nation’s great leaders. In his message on Minorities Day being observed on August 11, the President said, it is “an important day in our national calendar when we reaffirm our resolve to the ideals of the Quaid-e-Azam to continue striving for the protection of the rights of all faiths and bringing them in the mainstream of national life.” He said “On this day, we reiterate our pledge to honour the commitment made by our great leaders of according equal treatment to all citizens irrespective of their religion, caste and creed.” “The observance of Minorities Day reflects our commitment to integrate people of all faiths in the national life,” he said, adding “Let us reiterate today that we will uphold the ideals of equal rights and complete freedom to every citizen to freely profess and practice his or her religion.” The President said that it was on this day in 1947, when the Quaid in his historic ad- PPP launches CD of party songs H YDERABAD—The launching of a Compact disc (CD) of party songs of Pakistan Peoples Party was held here at Mumtaz Mirza Auditorium on Sunday. Fozia Zardari, sister of Co-Chairperson of PPP Asif Zardari was the chief guest at the launching ceremony of the CD which was prepared by Guddo Mari of SPSF. Speaking on the occasion, Fozia Zardari appreciated the efforts of bringing out a CD of party songs and said that it was the love and affection of the party workers that PPP has remained in the heart of the countrymen. She called upon the party workers to extend their full cooperation to the administration concerned and ensure resolving of people’s grievances as well as improvement of health and sanitation condition in the province particularly in Hyderabad. MNA Mir Munawar Talpur, who presided over the ceremony said that party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is fully determined to serve the people like his brave mother and he will be ready to sacrifice for the welfare of masses and democracy in the country. He said that PPP rendered great sacrifices for the restoration of democracy as it fully believed that only democracy is the solution of the problems of the people.—APP dress to the Constituent assembly outlined the contours of a modern and tolerant Pakistan in which people of all faiths would have equal rights and opportunities. He said this vision of a tolerant and modern Pakistan was also enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. “On this day let us also remember and pay homage to those courageous advocates of interfaith harmony and pledge to promote democratic values and culture as an essential tool for promoting tolerance, peace and harmony,” he added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that the present democratic government was driven by the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in protecting the rights of the minorities. In his message on the Minorities Day being observed on August 11, the Prime Minister said the observance of this day is an occasion to recognize the distinguished role played by the minorities in nation building and the sacrifices rendered by them. The day also renews our commitment to protect their rights and to promote national harmony among various faiths, he said. Patient dies in ambulance as police denie passage FEROZWALA—A 60-yearold patient died in an ambulance when he was denied access to the hospital in Ferozwala Tehsil due to security blockades erected by the police. An elderly man, whose identity could not be ascertained, suffered a cardiac arrest in Ferozwala, an administrative subdivision of Sheikhupura. He was being taken to hospital in ambulance via G.T. Road when police stopped them and denied a passage, citing security measures, a private television channel reported Sunday. The family of the patient tried to persuade the policemen to seek a passageway to hospital, but in vain. The family tried to move towards hospital through different alleys, but they were also blocked by the police. Resultantly, the patient died on the way. The ambulance was stuck near Imamia Colony. A private channel reported that similar kind of situation had developed for all the patients who are not being allowed to get it to the hospital un- He said the Quaid’s vision is contained in his historic speech on this day in 1947 that laid down the foundations of a modern, tolerant and progressive Pakistan in which everyone will have equal rights regardless of creed and gender. The Prime Minister said Quaid-e-Azam’s vision is embodied in the Constitution of 1973 that envisioned minorities to freely profess and practice their religion and culture. He said inspired by this vision, the Government of Pakistan observes August, 11 each year as the minorities day to reiterate the need to integrate people of all faiths in the national mainstream. He said the government has reserved five percent job quota for minorities in government services and provided them reserved seats in the Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies while their religious festivals are celebrated at the official level. “This day also provides us a chance to reaffirm our commitment to work hard for the betterment of humanity and for a prosperous Pakistan,” the Prime Minister added.—APP NFEH to hold Environment Excellence Award tomorrow LAHORE—National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) is holding 11th Annual Environment Excellence Awards (AEEA 2014) and conference here on August 12. This was announced by Chairman NFEH Kaiser Waheed and President Naeem Qureshi in the meeting of NFEH Advisory Committee held at NFEH Office. They said these awards have become the benchmark for the standards that needed to be followed. The NFEH Chairman said, “The AEEA are designed to recognize and promote the organizations which make an outstanding contribution towards sustainable development.” While, Naeem Qureshi said that a conference and award ceremony would be held on August 12 with Punjab Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar as chief guest.—APP Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan to show flexibility in his stance and accept the offer for dialogue extended by Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to end political uncertainty in the country. Talking to APP here on Sunday, he said that Imran Khan should positively respond to talks’ offer by the Prime Minister, as confrontation will not be in the interest of anyone. The doors for reconciliation are not closed in politics, he stressed. He also urged the PTI chief to cancel the party’s march scheduled for 14th of August in the national interest, because the country is in a state of war and all the political parties need to demonstrate harmony and boost the morale of the security forces which are fighting against terrorists in the tribal areas. The PML-F leader hailed the government’s move to hold the National Security Conference. He also described the briefing at the conference on ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb against terrorists in North Waziristan Agency as a positive development. He expressed concern that political uncertainty is disrupting development activities, and said that it may also harm country’s economy. Pir Sadruddin urged all the political forces to join hands and come forward to lessen the difficulties of the internally displaced persons (IDPs).—APP Some elements pushing country into darkness SUKKUR—President PML- N Sindh Muhammad Ismail Rahu has said that some political and non-political elements are endeavouring to push the country into darkness for achieving their nefarious designs. While talking to different delegations at PML-N house here on Sunday, he said that people are fully aware of these elements and will not allow them to succeed in their designs of derailing the country from the path of development. He said that PTI is a political party and it should refrain itself from PAT, adding that PAT workers were indulging in criminal activities, so PTI must exhibit political wisdom and keep away from the elements following foreign agenda to destabilise the country. PML-N President Sindh Chapter Rahu said that 18 crore people will foil the conspiracies against the development of the country.He further said that the people of Pakistan have given a mandate of five years to PML-N which should be respected adding that PML-N will honour its mandate and rid the country of all problems and put it on the road to progress. He said that PML-N government has started a new era of development throughout the country during last one year and mega projects of infrastructure and energy are being completed speedily.Muhammad Ismail said PTI should wait for four more years for elections instead of putting the country into mess and anarchy.—APP Bodies of six persons buried P ESHAWAR —The bodies of the six persons killed in an accident in Saudi Arabia reached to their home town Hangu and were buried in ancestral graveyard Bagha Sharif, District Hungu.—APP PTI, PAT blamed for misguiding workers, spreading anarchy Imran, Qadri hatching conspiracy against democracy: Rahu ISLAMABAD—The chairperson of Standing Com- to IDPs for providing them relief. President PML(N) Sindh said that 14th Aumittee for Information and Broadcasting, Marvi Larkana: President Pakistan Muslim Leaque (N) gust is country’s independence day that needed Memon has said that Pakistan Muslim League Sindh Chapter Muhammad Ismail Rahu has said to be celebrated befittingly insterad of organising long march and sit in to deNawaz government will constabilize the democratic govtinue working on resolving ernment and create anarchy. the issues of terrorism and He said that Prime energy besides improving Minister Muhammad Nawaz economy of the country. Sharif is seriously working on She said, “We have no strengthening the country worries about the long march and democractic system, imcalled by Pakistan Tehrik e proving economy and conInsaf.” trolling energy problems. She said that the governHe added that all ment will continue its workpro-democratic forces are in ing on August, 14 and 15 for agreement that transfer of the development and prospower should only be through perity of the country. vote. He said the country had Talking to Pakistan Teleby now undergone many vision, Marvi Memon said positive changes as an indethat Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf pendent judiciary was in place (PTI) and Pakistan Awami and taking decisions on merit Tehrik (PAT), were misguiding and not under pressure. their workers and spreading He said when the anarchy. PTI and PPP won with majorShe said that PAT is folity in the provinces, Nawaz lowing foreign agenda and Sharif let them form their govsabotaging the peace of the ernments, he added. We had country. To a question, she a majority in Balochistan, but said that some elements are creating troubles and halting PESHAWAR: MPA Javed Naseem registering people for Islamabad long march at allies were allowed to bring their chief minister he added. the process of development Hashtnagri Chowk. He termed the launched by the government. Chairperson Standing Committee for Infor- that mandate of 180 million people of country Choudhry brothers and Shaikh Rahseed as pomation said that PAT chief is supervising the can not be bulldozed on the pretext of re-verifi- litical orphans who had been rejected by the people. Criticizing Tahirul Qadri he said he had law violators.She added that PAT workers had cation of votes of four constituencies. Talking to newsmen here at the press club come here with foreign agenda and wanted to used sticks for beating and injuring policemen. Replying to another question, she said the he said present PML-N government is deter- create anarchy in the country, however, people PTI chief had showed interest in the dialogue mined to lead the country towards development, were not ready to pay any heed towards his call. Mr. Rahu dispelled the impression that Article with disgruntled Taliban but unfortunately, the peace, progress and prosperity. He said that the country was passing through 245 of the Constitution was being used against party chief was reluctant to hold talks with the government. She said that dialogue was the only critical phase as Pak Army was engaged in opera- masses adding that it has been applied purely way in the democratic and political system to tion against terrorists that required national unity for security reasons as had been done during address the issues. To a question, Marvi said but PTI and Moulana Tahirul Qadri of PTA are PPP regime. Central Vice Presidents of PML(N) Saleem Zia that security conference had discussed the op- hatching conspiracies to derail democracy. Mr. Rahu said the demands of the PTI were and Shah Muhammad Shah, Aslam Abro, Qurban eration launched against terrorists in the NWA beyond comprehension and advised it to go to Ali Abbasi and other PML(N) leaders and workand the matters of IDPs. She said that sufficient funds had provided election tribunal for redressel of its complaints. ers was also present on the occasion.—APP PML-F terms NSC a positive step Unmanned PAF plane crashes K ARACHI —The Secretary S ARGODHA —An unmanned plane of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near Sargodha town of Punjab due to technical reasons.Officials said the plane came down in Chak89 area, causing no loss of lives or civilian properties. Source in PAF said a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed due to technical reasons, as security teams cordoned off the area and collected evidences. PAF base, Mushaf, is situated in Sargodha, the town called “City of Eagles.”—NNI Arms, ammunition recovered D.I K HAN —The district police recovered suicide jackets and huge cache of arms and ammunition at Girra Jana village, Tehsil Kulchi, 45 km off here on Sunday. Addressing a press conference, District Police Officer (DPO) Sadiq Hussain Baloch at his office said acting on a tip-off, police conducted a raid in the morning on an house at fields at Girra Jana village and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition following extensive exchange of fire with five suspected terrorists including Qari Ikram who was allegedly involved in attack on a local political Jamshed Faqir . The police officer regretted that though suspects managed to escape taking advantage of thick wild bushes and trees, but he added, a huge amount of weapons including two suicide jackets, 13 remote-controlled bomb’s receivers, 17 grenades, five kilogram explosives along with ball-bearings, batteries and poisonous medicines were recovered. “Though suspects managed to escape but the good thing is that we successfully traced the case within a week’s time and saved human lives by seizing large amount of weapons and ammunition,” the DPO observed. Replying to a question, the DPO said the same notorious group including Qari Ikram was behind the attack on a local politician Jamshed Faqir. Dispelling the impression that police came into action when any high profile was attacked, the DPO said such raids were conducted from time to time.—APP CHAGHI: ASWJ’s Central Information Secretary Ghazi Aurganzeb Farooqi addressing a public gathering. Clinical researchers need of the hour MULTAN—Government should launch programmes aimed at facing any emerging viral, bacterial or fungal infections, suggested former VC Islamia University Bahawalpur, a knowned virologist, Dr Muhammad Mukhtar. Talking to APP here on Sunday, he said that the Higher Education Commission and Ministry of Science and Technology can play a major role in this regard. He added that such programmes should be part of National Defense strategies and indigenous vaccine programme is required for it as this is the best option for curtailing infectious diseases. World was becoming unsafe due to biological warfare also and developed world, besides their conventional armies, have established biodefense units for defense against bio-warfare if any, he informed. He said that The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Ebola Virus as “Global Public Health Emergency”. Ebola is a disease caused by a virus also called Ebola Virus and is believed to jump from animal to humans and once human contract this disease they have capability to transmit to other humans, he stated. Disease symptoms with Ebola virus include: headache, joint and muscle aches, coughing, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and lack of appetite, bleeding inside and outside of the body and there is no treatment for Ebola as only supportive therapy is given to patient. In the four decades history of this viral disease current outbreak in West African countries Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria Sierra Leon is sever and most complex to quarantine. Initially discovered in the year 1976 previous outbreaks have been in Congo, Sudan, and Uganda. Death toll with the current year Ebola infections is above one thousand. Several countries of the World have already initiated precautionary measures for stopping this deadly disease. All airports in neighboring India have been put on high alert and people arriving from Ebola inflicted countries have been asked to fill a mandatory form, he said. The virologist lamented that our country was producing good clinician but what is needed for today is clinical researcher capable of coping with any emerging infectious diseases like Ebola and several others. He suggested that Pakistan should follow the education system of developed World and encourage Physician-Scientist. Unfortunately, if we come across with any issue like Ebola, we lack necessary quarantine facilities and doctors trained to care for such patients, Dr Mukhtar said.—APP Torkham political tehsildar organizes Pak-Afghan musical night L ANDIKOTAL —Newly appointed Torkham political tehsildar cum-passport officer Nek Muhammad organized Pak-Afgan musical night here on Saturday. A large number of spectators both from Afghanistan and Pakistan were present who enjoyed local and Afghan traditional songs. Afghan musical group received appreciation from the spectators and paid them a huge amount. The musical program continued the whole night. Local people and religious school of thoughts criticised such an event organized by a responsible officer. They said that Pakistan was passing through a critical phase of history. They demanded of the high ups to take serious notice as it would have created law and order situation on the Pak-Afgan Torkham border if any untoward incident had happened during the musical night. On the other hand, supporters of the musical night appreciated the initiatives taken by the Tehsildar and said this reflects that the law and order situation was improving in tribal areas and people were now feeling relatively secure.—INP General of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) Sindh, Nawab Rashid Ali Khan, welcoming the government’s move to hold the National Security Conference (NSC), termed it a positive step in the prevailing situation, and said it will leave long-lasting effects. Talking to APP here, he said that the briefing on ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb at the conference held in Islamabad on Saturday, is an important step. He further said it proves that political parties are on the same page on the operation against terrorists in North Waziristan. The PML-F leader also welcomed Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s offer to PTI chief Imran Khan to settle political issues through talks. He said that Imran Khan should give a positive response to the Prime Minister ’s offer for dialogue, as the country cannot afford any confrontation at this stage. Rashid Ali Khan said that PTI’s representatives should have participated in the NSC.—APP Anti-polio drive in Balochistan’s four districts QUETTA —Balochistan gov- Siddiqul Farooq blasts Imran’s irresponsible statement Demands taking Imran into protective custody ISLAMABAD—Imran Khan has invited fatal men, he said the possible results of Ik’s futhreat to his own and Sharif’s family lives by making irresponsible statement. The government should immediately take IK into protective custody to preempt possible threat to his life. Imran Khan’s psychiatric treatment has also become essential especially in his personal interest. This was stated by Mr. Siddiq ul Farooq , the PML-N chief coordinator. He reminded that IK in his news conference on 9th Aug had said,” young men, if anything happens to me, do not spare Sharif family at any cost”. He said this very statement has made IK vulnerable and God forbid anti state elements may make fatal attempt on Imran khan’s life while rivals and enemies of Sharif’s family may also cause irreparable loss to IK. He said Imran Khan may also, as human being God forbid, face a fatal accident. If any one of these possibilities come true then how Sharif family can be held responsible for that and why lives of the family in case of such eventuality be exposed to threat, he questioned? Referring to Tahir ul Qadri’s instigating statements and consequential results of martyrdom of 3 police- rious and thoughtless statements can well be assessed. He said it is very unfortunate that IK has down graded himself and has become “junior Tahir ul Qadri.” To a question Siddique ul Farooque divulged that a member of Khan’s family has disclosed that Mr Khan since long is suffering from serious psychiatric disease. He had so many times, been advised to get himself treated but he paid deaf ear to this advice. Resultantly his decision making power has suffered seriously and he has to take frequent U-turns. To a question about IK’s rigging allegations Mr Farooq suggested that Mr.Khan must read thoroughly the final evaluation report submitted to him by party’s three members evaluation committee comprising Mr. Tasneem Noorani, Ahmed Awais and Yaqoob Azhar which has rejected IK’s allegations and attributed the failures to party’s election strategy, decision making and polling arrangements. To another question Mr Farooq said that Sheikh Rashid Ahmed by giving negative advice to IK is avenging his disgrace and insult at the hands of Mr. Khan in the near past.—INP Hot, humid weather in most parts of country ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan Meteorological persist during next 24. Mainly hot and huDepartment has forecast mainly hot and very humid weather in most parts of the country. However, isolated rain-thunder shower for Multan, Sahiwal, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Malakand, Hazara, Hyderabad, Mirpur khas, Kalat divisions, Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan during the next 24 hours. According to the synoptic situation, seasonal low was lying over north Baluchistan and adjoining areas. Weak monsoon currents from Arabian Sea were penetrating into upper and central parts of the country. A westerly wave was affecting upper parts of the country and expected to mid weather is expected in most parts of the country especially in Sindh and Balochistan during the next 24 hours. The Karachi Meteorological Department on Sunday forecast partly cloudy weather with hazy morning during next 24 hours in metropolis. According to the Met office the maximum temperature will remain between 34 and 36 degrees Celsius. Rain/thunderstorm is likely to occur at one or two places in Mirpurkhas, Kalat and Zhob divisions. Hot/very hot and dry weather is likely to prevail in the region.— APP Teenager killed in marriage firing PRs Azadi train 2 children drown in Rakh canal FAISALABAD—Two children drowned in the Rakh Branch Canal in Mansoorabad police limits. According to police, three-year-old Waris along with his brother and cousin Shabana was playing on the bank of the Rakh Branch Canal near the Kashmir Bridge where their mother was washing clothes. All of sudden, the three children fell down into canal. The woman raised a hue and cry and passersby jumped into the canal and save a child whereas Waris and Shabana drowned. In another incident a teenager was killed in firing in a marriage ceremony in Samanabad police limits. According to police, participants in a wedding ceremony at Abdullah Colony Sammundri Road resorted to firing and a stray bullet hit 13-year-old Abdullah. He died on the way to hospital. Meanwhile, a minor was crushed to death in a road traffic accident in Lundianwala police limits. According to police, 7-year-old Neehal Manzoor of Chak No.628-GB was crossing the road when a speeding car hit him. He died instantly. The police have arrested the car driver, Sajjad. Khanpur: A ten-month-old boy was killed in a road accident, some 20 kilometres from here on Saturday night. According to police, Shabbir of Farid Abad locality alongwith his son Suhail was going to Zahir Pir by a motorcycle when a rashly driven trailer hit his two-wheeler. As a result, Suhail died on the spot while Shabbir sustained serious injuries. The injured was admitted to Rural Health Centre Zahir Pir. Zahir Pir police are investigating. Unknown armed men gunned down a man at Goth Panjuk area of Jhal Magsi district on Sunday.According to Levies force, the victim Talib Hussain was on way home when armed assailants opened fire at him and fled from the scene. As a result, he died on the spot. The body of the deceased was handed over to the heirs after legal formalities. The reason of killing could not be ascertained so far. Levies force has registered a case.—APP starts today ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Railways Azadi Train will start its month-long journey from Peshawar on Monday and would reach Karachi on September 11. The train started in connection with Independence Day celebrations and to create awareness among the masses especially young generations about efforts and sacrifices rendered in creation of the motherland. The two compartments of the train have been allocated to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) to various aspects of the Freedom Movement and services of armed forces. One compartment is allocated to PR highlighting history, while another was allocated to the Ministry of Information. Six floats on the train represent culture of each province and AJK. Governors of all the four provinces and foreign diplomats will also visit. Various government departments are collaborating in preparation of Azadi train which will go all cities of the country depicting the culture of all the four provinces besides Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. It is endeavor of Pakistan Railways to get sponsorship for Azai Train instead of spending money from the national exchequer. Cultural programmes will also be presented at Azadi Train to attract more and more people.—APP ernment has rescheduled the date for launching special anti-polio drive in four most affected districts as August 18 onward. Provincial Cooridinator of Extended Programme of Immunization (EPI) Dr. Mohammad Ishaque Panezai told APP here Sunday that three-day anti polio was scheduled to commence from August 11 which had been rescheduled as August 18 next in view of the celebrations of 68th Independence in the province. “The campaign is being launched under special arrangements during which children below five year age will be administered anti-polio vaccine in Killah Abdullah, Pishin, Quetta and Zhob districts.He said the provincial government making hectic efforts to check the spread of this crippling disease among the children. He, however, said the forthcoming anti-polio drive will greatly help check polio among the children of these QUETTA: A vendor displaying different stuff to attract the customers as the nation four districts.—APP starts preparations to celebrate the I-Day. Govt handles situation haphazardly, whimsically ISIS must be defeated T S HE tone and tenor of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the high level National Security Conference was extremely positive as he extended an olive branch to the PTI Chief Imran Khan offering him negotiations on his demands including recounting in ten constituencies. The reconciliatory approach of the Prime Minister reflected his statesmanship to defuse the situation which has engulfed the country and the people feel highly perturbed as to what direction we are heading. But it is note worthy that on the whole, there is a confrontational mood as the government has started deploying law enforcement agencies and placement of containers near the main crossing points to stop movement of participants of Azadi March while the PTI Chief has vowed to reach Islamabad come what may. We believe that it is responsibility of the government to handle the critical situation with a mature approach yet what is being done gives the clear impression that those tasked to ensure peace and order during the threatened march are handling it haphazardly and whimsically and one fears this would lead to confrontation. It looks that there is still no clear policy on how to handle the March because on the face of it some decisions taken in the morning are discarded in the evening. For instance in Punjab, containers were placed in Model town and other areas which caused extreme inconvenience to the citizens and the city gave the look of a siege and then saner sense prevailed at the highest level and containers were removed giving a sense of relief to the ordinary people who had to go for their daily jobs to earn two time meal for their families. We may also point out that while opposition leaders always hurl threats and accusations, yet the statements from the government side are somewhat hollow and the situation would become dangerous if this trend continued. We would therefore recommend that government should devise a strategy in line with the demand of the time so that situation does not get out of control. For this, instead of consulting some youngsters around him, the Prime Minister should constitute an exclusive team of experienced grey haired politicians and bureaucrats who we are sure would better implement his approach of dialogue, reconciliation and take decisions after careful thought during the March to avoid uncertainty, chaos and violence. Political turmoil to dent economy I N the wake of developing political situation, the Karachi Stock Exchange100 index fell by a significant 3.1% on Saturday and there are fears that if the tension rose further, it would severely dent the economy. Chambers and Traders Associations across the country are already expressing their serious concerns over politics of agitation and demanded the government to fix protest points far away from business centres and also requested provision of security to their businesses. It is a known fact that participants of demonstrations target government and private buildings and businesses whenever there is clash with the law enforcement agencies. After the protests, it is owners of the businesses and properties who cry foul but no body pays attention to their losses. We wish that political leadership on both sides of the divide should give at least some consideration to sensitivities of the business community and realize that mother of all problems in Pakistan is weak economy. We may say that political leaders are aware, more than any body else, that their agitations are against the overall interest of the country but they are more interested in fulfilment of their lust for power. The present uncertain situation in Pakistan has led to issuance of an advisory by the US to its citizens to avoid visiting Pakistan. According to Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association chief coordinator, they have received less orders ahead of big occasions in Europe and the US like Xmas due to power crisis and political unrest as global buyers apprehend that they would not get deliveries from Pakistan on time if they place orders. Therefore we would plead political leadership to have pity on Pakistan and its poor people, give up the path of confrontation for their personal gains and let the economy, which has started moving upward to some extent to grow as only stimulus in economy would give relief to people in the form of jobs and less inflation and take the country forward. US surgical strikes on ISIS A FTER having watched merciless killings of innocent Muslims in Iraq at the hands of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for over two months President Obama authorised surgical air strikes against ISIS fighters from advancing further towards the Iraqi Kurdish region. President Barack Obama’s order for the first air strike on Iraq since he put an end to US occupation in 2011 came after fighters from the Islamic State group made massive gains on the ground, seizing a dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities including Christians. The US took no practical action when ISIS fighters occupied large swathes of Iraq and hundreds of Muslims were killed by them for fun but when they overran Christian settlements forcing thousands to flee into Irbin in the Kurdish north, the US got worried with signs of urgency in the White House for an action. President Obama immediately announced air strikes and the US fighters dropped 500kg laser bombs on positions of self-declared jihadists in northern Iraq. The attacks by American warplanes and drones put the US military back in action in the skies over Iraq less than three years after the troops withdrew and President Obama declared the war over. On the other hand ISIS fighters have declared themselves eager to take on US troops. With the Iraqi government and military seemingly incapable of stopping rapid militant advances, there are no firm indications of how and when this action would end. Details emerged on Saturday of the jihadists opening another front as they crossed into Lebanon from Syria and Obama accepted there was no quick fix. The latest US attacks to protect Christians and other minorities, raise the question are not Muslims human beings? We believe it is obligatory for head of the super power to also consider Muslims as human beings, act above board and play his role for the security of Muslims as well. HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONS Zahid Malik President & Editor-in-Chief Ph: 051-2256006 Faisal Zahid Malik Gauhar Zahid Malik Editor Ph: 021-35308445 Executive Editor Ph: 051-2853818 Islamabad Ph Exchange: 051-2852027 Reporting Desk: 051-2852028, News Desk: 051-5879329 Marketing: 051-2262254, 2852029 Fax: 051-2262258 Email: [email protected] Website: www.pakobserver.net Lahore Karachi Faisal Zahid Malik Editor Ph: 021-35308446-49 Fax: 021-35308447 Email: [email protected] Khalid Butt Resident Editor Ph: 042-37424069, 37424089 Marketing Ph: 042-37560900 Fax: 042-36300043 Email: [email protected] Quetta Resident Editor Mobile: 0333-7944760 E-mail:[email protected] Resident Editor Mobile: 0321-9001476 E-mail:[email protected] Sadia Zahid Malik Editor Weekly Magazine Ph: 2852027-8, Ext: 116 Email: [email protected] MEDIA WATCH Of fossils and beyond! help wondering how it is that they put their finger on whether the beastly thing is ten, twenty or even thirty million years old. Still, hats Khalid Saleem off to the experts! They do manage to cadge the headEmail: [email protected] lines, though, which is all that appears to matter in the glittering world of the day. The stories of fossil discoveries, OSSILS – a quick look over the shoulder will tell us – it must be noted, rise and fall with have become a big thing of the dooms-day lore, possibly because late. One may take time off to such discoveries are often linked to clarify that when one talks of fos- dinosaurs. Now, here is one species sils, one means fossils - the genu- that is not only of prehistoric origin ine variety. One does not refer, for but has actually been extinct for sevinstance, to the ones found mooch- eral million years! Yet our gallant reing around in the city’s fashion- searchers still keep on speculating able supermarkets. Discoveries of about the instance of their erstwhile these fossils are being reported appearance and eventual extinction from all around the world. What from the face of the good Earth. Each is more as soon as they are un- time the discovery of a new dinosaur earthed the archeologists, or what- fossil is announced the accepted ever they are called, promptly theory about the emergence and demise of the species is brought out class them as ‘pre-historic’. Our very own APP has put out from the dust covers and is re-asa report in the media stating that sessed, so to speak. Fairly recent studies had con“the skull and tusks of a 10,000 year old elephant has been found cluded that both the rise and fall of in the central Mexican state of dinosaurs had occurred due to asterTlaxcala”. Apparently, the news oid impacts on the good old Earth. was let out by Mexico’s National The first such impact, some two hunInstitute of Anthropology and His- dred million years ago, precipitated tory that is quoted as having vol- the climatic and environmental unteered the additional informa- changes that helped these awesome tion that “the Gomophotheres size creatures to thrive. The second one, was similar to modern elephants”. some sixty-five million years ago, triggered the changes that led to their Anthropologists should know! Not so very long ago, one had mass extinction. Fairly handy things, came across the report of a “fos- these asteroids, one cannot help nosil” having been discovered in a ticing. And mind-boggling is the remote region of China. It was ‘es- way these scientist chaps do their timated’ to be some twenty million sums and come up with all the right years old – give or take a million. statistics! Not that statistics is anyRemarkable that (is it not?) how thing one can bank on! Some years ago, when the scithese archeologist chaps manage to calculate their ages in millions of entific community had finally got years so accurately! Once they have over the millennium bug scare, it discovered their fossil, one cannot was let known by ‘usually reliable Friendly Fire F sources’ that the theories on the extinction of the dinosaurs were being researched once again. Just shows you that these researcher chaps never sit idle! They have yet to come up with an alternative theory, though. While on the subject, one may as well confess to often having had occasion to wonder why the late lamented dinosaur was chosen by nature to get it in the neck, while other species managed to scrape through with nary a scratch. The lowly cockroach readily comes to mind. This species is reputed to be the oldest one still around – having gone about their shady business for some three hundred million years! During these millions of years, they not only managed to survive the many cataclysms but also continued to go about their business as if nothing untoward had happened. One can hardly help wondering why? The answer to this conundrum, dear reader, lies not in the stars – nor, indeed in the asteroids – but in the very nature of the species itself. One lesson to be learnt from the demise of the late lamented crop of dinosaurs is that it never pays to grow too big for one’s boots. And if, for some unfathomable reason, a being is obliged to expand, it would be advisable to ensure that the growth takes place in a balanced fashion. In the particular case of dinosaurs - one learns from the fossils in question - their growth was anything but balanced. The development of the brain, for instance, failed to keep pace with that of the waist (presuming, of course, that dinosaurs had waistlines!). The resultant product - sad to report turned out to be lopsided in more senses than one. There you have the story in a nutshell, as they say. That said, one cannot but allude to another aspect of the case – this one related to the nature of the species. Given that a certain creature happens to be outsize – as was the case with dinosaurs - it would help things if it (the creature that is) adopts a benign posture rather than an aggressive demeanor; it would not pay to throw its weight around. Putting it another way, taking advantage of one’s generous girth to exhibit a threatening posture vis-àvis other species or even one’s own ilk that may be less endowed, can only lead to trouble. Having blundered thus far, one may be excused for succumbing to the temptation of taking a faltering step further and adding a word or two about the ‘application’ of what may loosely be termed as the ‘dinosaur model’ to the (living) fossils of modern civilization. Larger than life empires, fiefdoms and conglomerates continue to erupt - dinosaur fashion. Again dinosaur-like, they take pride in taking advantage of their girth and weight to become scourges for their smaller and weaker neighbors. They would do well to study the story of the dinosaur. History is witness that, sooner rather than later, such monstrosities invariably collapse under their own weight. It makes a great deal of sense to learn from past mistakes. And yet, dinosaurs of the modern era continue to insist on re-living the past – a oneway passage to disaster. That is human nature for you! All in all, fossils (whether living or dead) had more profitably be left to the researchers. Idealists will continue to pop up from time to time, unmindful of the pitfalls of yore. For the realist, the most prudent course that holds the secret of survival would be the straight and narrow! How’s that for a moral? — The writer is a former Ambassador of Pakistan. Fortifying Indo-US strategic partnership Dr Muhammad Khan Email: [email protected] J UST a few years back, Presi dent Obama while describing Indo-US strategic relationship, said that, this relationship is, “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.” In November 2010, during the Indian visit of President Obama, both countries signed a number of agreements and MoUs. It was a historic visit by any US president, where US decided to make heavy economic investment in India for the bilateral benefits of either side. In a bid to further enhance this strategic relationship, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet President Obama on September 30, 2014. After assuming power in May this year, this visit of a Nationalist Indian Premier is being considered as significant and critical. Significant, because of Indo-US strategic partnership under the contemporary security environment and critical because of the past character of Prime Minister Modi, where he was denied US visa, owing to Muslim massacre of 2002 in Gujarat. Indeed, not individuals, but the national interest matters, what a coincidence, just a few years back, a man who was considered as persona non grata in US for the obvious reasons of human rights violations in his state, is now being welcomed at White House as a guest of owner and will be given red carpet reception. In order to coordinate the formalities of this high profile strategic visit, two key policy formulators of United States, Secretary of State, John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hegel visited New Delhi on the heel of each other and assured New Delhi of US convivial mode. John Kerry, while co-chairing the 5th India-US Strategic Dialogue, stated that, for the US, “there is a real opportunity to energize the relationship and set a bigger agenda with India’s new government.” Kerry emphasized on the “strategic imperatives” of Indo-US ties and made it clear that, both countries; world’s oldest democracy (US) and world’s biggest democracy (India) have common strategic goals, thus, would pursue them collectively. In the wordings of Secretary Kerry, “This is the moment to transform our strategic relationship into an historic partnership that honours our place as great powers and great democracies. We are going to get to work now.” Following the Secretary of State, the Defence Secretary, Hegel’s visit was even more important. It was indeed, beyond arms sales, as he himself said, “We need partners. We need relationships. That’s the kind of world we live in, and that’s the kind of world that we’re going to be living in.” US considered that, at the regional and international level, there is a greater convergence in the Indo-US security interests. This strategic vision and convergence is obvious in view of Indian ‘look east policy’ and US ‘Rebalancing of Asia’, where, “things headline the convergence of interests of our two nations.” During the recent visit of Pentagon head, Secretary Hegel highlighted another dimension of this strategic partnership. Indeed, this is the expansion of this partnership to East Asia, where Japan has to be made a joint partner of India and US. In the wordings of Hegel, “India and the US should consider expanding their trilateral security cooperation with Japan. We should have trilateral defence cooperation at the ministerial level.” Without naming its peer competitor, in the global politics, U.S is working with its strategic partners for the strategic encirclement of China. Both India and Japan have territorial and historical differences with China, which can catch fire to the level of inter-state(s) conflict. United States thus, maneuvers in a way to continue engaging these historical rivals in an environment of antagonism and hostility. The strategy would engage China with its regional rivals, leaving US free to play its global power politics. At the regional level, United States, encourages India to play an intimate role in the post 2014 Afghanistan. In this regards, India has fully established herself conveniently inside Afghanistan, in the garb of its reconstruction and training missions. To undermine the Chinese role, U.S and India are enhancing their cooperation in managing the security and strategic use of Indian Ocean. Together with their regional partners, both countries have shown their concerns about Chinese domination of the South China Sea. Rather, U.S is continuously engaging and cooperation with those ASEAN states, which have disputes with China over the EEZ of South China Sea. On its part, India has started influencing its neighbours as per its own convenience and strategic needs. Modi Government has its own agenda, which of course converges with US at global level. With the aim to re-engage Nepal, Primer Modi, visited this Hindu state, turned republican after 2008. Through this visit, India wanted to give a clear message to China, which has enhanced its ties with this Himalyan state. Besides, the visit was an attempt to put greater influence on the Nepal’s leadership for their future priorities and policymaking. Bangladesh is already under the Indian influence and there is greater pressure on Sri Lanka for its re-orientation towards India. Afghanistan has literally become a satellite state of India, where India is perusing its strategic objectives, beyond South Asia. Pakistan has difficult situation to tackle with a cunning neighbor on its east and a frustrated and hostile Kabul administration. Both have the backing from their combine strategic partner. Indeed, all are united to abet and encourage instability in Pakistan through terrorists and separatists. In order to meet these complicated challenges, there is greater need to understand strategic environment and looming threats, challenging the very survival of Pakistan. The country needs a visionary leadership to tackle such a situation. To make up the deficiency of that, let us have unanimity and harmony among the masses and among the political and religious forces at home. Whereas, the armed forces are playing their part in combating the terrorism to their best, the political leadership should bring unity at home and apprise the international community about this precarious situation, facing the state of Pakistan. Pakistan has to counter Indian and Afghan strategic objectives against it, with lot of vision and foresight. — The writer is Islamabad-based analyst of International Relations. INCE the rise of the self-pro claimed Islamic State began, first in Syria and then in Iraq, President Obama has tried almost desperately to stay out of war, and he still seemed of that mindset Thursday night as he announced limited airstrikes on advancing ISIS forces. But it seems obvious now that the president’s policy has failed – undone by years of misplaced confidence in Iraqi President Nouri alMaliki, stunning speed of the ISIS advance and the unavoidably slow pace of belated diplomatic efforts to replace Maliki’s failed sectarian regime with a unity government. It is time for a recalibration – not just to protect the thousands of fleeing refugees huddled in the mountains outside Mosul, or the American contingent in the threatened Kurdish city of Irbil, but to reverse ISIS’ military momentum. Unless that happens, Obama’s effort to forge a new government in Baghdad and turn Iraq’s Sunni masses against their barbaric Islamist minority, as happened in the Iraq war, will simply run out of time. On the political front, at least, the news from Iraq looks increasingly promising. The departure of Maliki, an iffy proposition just weeks ago, now appears inevitable. Once he’s gone, the ISIS threat should serve as a powerful incentive for Iraq’s ever-feuding factions to agree on a successor and rebuild the Iraqi Army, which Maliki stuffed with cronies. ISIS, obviously, will not wait for all that, which is why both Obama and warweary Americans need to shed their reluctance to re-engage. Doing so is not just a humanitarian gesture for Iraq; it is an urgent matter of American self-interest. ISIS leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi may be a regional threat now, but, like Osama bin Laden before him, his wider ambitions are unequivocal. Al-Baghdadi’s advance in Iraq has brought him American weapons and Iraqi oil to finance further growth. The movement’s success has attracted both allies in other countries and recruits from the West, including Americans, an asset that bin Laden lacked. Nor will there be any compromise. ISIS is a primitive force bent on holy war to purge the world of nonbelievers. The Islamic State is metastasizing much the same way al Qaeda did, but on an accelerated timeline. Bin Laden’s network grew in the 1990s by recruiting foreign fighters who had battled the Red Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Islamic State has developed its own deep bench of transnational terror talent, recruiting from countries throughout the Middle East, Europe, and even the United States. Franchises are reportedly opening in Libya and Tunisia. The North African terror conglomerate AlQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has aligned with IS. Nigerian Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has sworn allegiance to alBaghdadi, as has Abu Sayaaf leader Isnilon Hapilon in the Philippines. The Islamic State currently controls more fighters, more territory, and has a vaster alliance system than alQaeda ever did. Weeks ago, it pillaged the ancient Christian community in Mosul, and it is engaged in a campaign of genocide against other minority sects that have populated the region for centuries. The thousands of refugees being aided by a U.S. airdrop fled an ISIS threat to convert or be killed. In one town, ISIS murdered the men, and gave their wives to its soldiers to do with as they wished. Now ISIS is threatening the Kurds, the proven U.S. allies in northern Iraq who’ve been seeking more American aid. ISIS is not the kind of movement that can endure. It is surrounded by hostile nations, and its brutality will eventually alienate other Sunni Muslims, who – with critical American help – crushed its predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq. But neither will ISIS collapse on its own. It must be defeated. Obama should commit fully to that goal, supplementing his diplomatic effort to strengthen the Iraqi government with a military campaign to weaken ISIS, much as he committed to the destruction of alQaeda. The risks are substantial, particularly of once again getting entangled in the region’s eternal religious conflicts. But with the rise of ISIS, the risk of doing nothing is even greater. — USA Today There were times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails. — Spencer Tracy US film star Gazing in confusion they were not really relevant and important in this regard. he and his mentors, Malik M Ashraf Probably if he has any, do not know the Email:[email protected] repercussions of this mind-set and have not learnt any thing from our painful history. T is said that even madness has He has spoken a number of times a method. But the madness that to the media but every time he has characterizes the actions of the opened his mouth he has added to the revolution mongering cleric from confusion by not being able to give a Canada and his unsuspecting diehard clear vision about how the revolution supporters, whose blind faith in him would unfold and how he contemis being exploited to destroy an es- plated to establish the new order. He tablished order, has no method. That talks about democracy, his demoreally is a very scary situation. The cratic credentials, respect for the conaplomb and surety with which he stitution and not accepting the sysclaims that his revolution would suc- tem established by the constitution in ceed and the rulers would be gone the same breath. He has been acting before 31st August and that he would like a lose cannon, using derogatory establish a new order and system of and uncouth remarks against the rulgovernance, adds more to the enig- ers, making inflammatory speeches matic situation rather than providing which could easily be characterized a clue as to what he is up to? as open defiance and challenge to the What really makes me skeptical writ of the state and the government. about his motives and agenda is that He also has been guilty of incithis movement is only restricted to ing his followers to defy law and atPunjab and it is certainly not a coun- tack the law enforcing personnel and try wide phenomenon or a spontane- even threatening the latter of dire conous uprising of the proletariat which sequences. We have already seen the are the essential propellants of a revo- ugly manifestation of his provocative lution. The message that is going out exhortations to his followers in to the other provinces is that it was Rawalpindi when they attacked the only Punjab which mattered in deter- policemen injuring dozens of them mining the future of the country and and yesterday in Lahore and other I parts of central Punjab where the PAT workers attacked police stations and burnt properties. That is an ample indication of what is going to unfurl in the run up to the beginning of his so called revolution. Anarchy, bloodshed and disorder is what we would be witnessing in the days to come. That makes the whole affair more and more doubtful reinforcing the notion that he was promoting the culture of violence and anarchy as an agent provocateur to prepare the ground for the non-democratic forces to derail democracy. The association of Chaudhry’s from Gujrat and Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed with his revolution movement further lends currency to this feeling. Because what was being said was not as important as it was who was saying it. Qadri does not have an element of legitimacy to his claims of being the leader of the masses and lacks democratic credentials. His cohorts are known self-seekers who are always ready to pounce upon any opportunity that could usher them into the corridors of power through backdoor and illegitimate means. How some good could be expected from such characterless souls bereft of any ideology and commitment to the cause of democracy. Trying to depose a legitimately elected govern- ment through violent street agitations, irrespective of its inadequacies, is undemocratic and unconstitutional. The critics of the government must not lose sight of the fact that the prime duty of the sitting government is to protect the life and property of the citizens and establish the writ of the state which were essential ingredients of peace and tranquility in a society. It could not allow free hand to the elements who were out to create a law and order situation and endanger the lives of other citizen or challenge the writ of the government through their actions. It has to act decisively to prevent anarchy and violence. And if we endorse anarchy as a way forward then God know where we are head to? There are no two opinions about the fact that the prevalent governance and electoral systems have inbuilt avenues of corruption and rigging respectively and need to be reformed to make them capable of delivering to the masses. If Qadri is really serious and honest about changing the system he must operate at the national level to convince the people about his vision and then seek their mandate in the next elections to implement his programme. There is no other way forward. — The writer is Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Objectives of NSA spying Zulqarnain Sewag Email:[email protected] E DWARD Joseph Snowden, a young computer professional a year ago revealed some important data about NSA spying which has also alerted the whole world along with protests. Daniel Ellsberg has called it the most significant leaks in the American history. In the words of Snowden, the sole purpose behind this leaking is ‘to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them’. The leaks revealed that US has spied on Brazil, Mexico, Britain, China, Russia, Germany, Spain, France and 35 world leaders notably German chancellor Angela Markel who is under surveillance at least since 2002. In Latin America it has done surveillance of Venezuela, Argentina, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and others including information about oil, energy and trade deals struck there. Der Spiegel reports that NSA has spied 122 top world leaders. It has spied on the countries of Middle East, South Asia together with Pakistan and all institutions of the world including IMF, World Bank, IAEA, and International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy, UN, OPEC, EU and G8, G20 summits, embassies etc. The course of NSA spying is very technical, tricky. Upstream is used to intercept data directly from optics fibers whereas PRISM is credited with exploiting details from Google, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, Microsoft, Apple and Youtube. NSA hacks network backbones, the internet routers that give them access to the communications of millions of computers. Through XKeyscore NSA explores everything a user performs on the internet. Tailored Access Operations (TAO) is a special team which hacks the computers worldwide when other surveillance methods are failed. Via Dishfire NSA intercepts around 200 million text messages every day worldwide. It also links Yahoo and Google data centers to access data. All phone calls in Afghanistan and Bahamas are intercepted and stored using a program named Mystic. Britain is also assisting US in this regard via its GCHQ. NSA has its corporate partners to collect data i.e. BLARNEY (AT&T), FAIRVIEW, STORMBREW and DARKSTAR. It has also targeted Tranchulas, a Pakistani computer security company. Websites encryption is rampant by NSA. It has a massive collection of phone calls. The overt objectives as said by the agency are to intercept and trace out the expected terrorists for the security of Americans but the game is not so simple. As said by Snowden ‘these programs were never about terrorism: they’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power’. There are so many covert objectives behind it. By surveillance and spying NSA is able to collect data, gather information, and intercept tapes that can possibly halt in materializing the New World Order, New Great game and the aim of international policing, ruling and superiority. Through spying NSA pre-knows what the people or contenders in the race of government are thinking and planning and which government can prove better for the Americans. On the other hand which countries are vulnerable in terms of security thus inflaming the situation sale of weapons could be multiplied. And on the other hand how and where American corporate elites can better invest and earn. As was recently known that in Pakistan NSA has spied on PPP and likely chances are that it is currently spying too not only on the PPP but other parties and sensitive places as well. The American embassy here is a place of all such exercises whose roof reportedly is used for such wicked purposes. For the safety of Pakistan and its citizens such practices must be sternly stopped. As per international law embassies are not supposed to spying. NSA spying is in all its forms and types is the breach of basic human rights of privacy, freedom of speech, expression, association, individualism and sovereignty as well as American own Bill of Rights. There is dire need of transparency and accountability of the said organization as well proper message to the American government by the members of UN General Assembly along with protests at embassies and summit level. — The writer is a freelance columnist. Views From Abroad Hope for the world Fareed Zakaria W HEREVER you look these days, the world seems on fire. New hot spots like Russia-Ukraine are competing with old ones like Gaza. Festering conflicts like those in Syria and Iraq are getting worse. Even Afghanistan, which seemed in better shape than the other places, had a setback this week. Is there any good news out there? In fact, some of the most important countries in the world are making remarkable progress, affecting at least 1.5 billion people. Let me give you the good news. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. It has more Muslims than Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and all the Gulf states put together. It is also crucially located, in East Asia where great power politics and rivalries are heating up. Only 10 years ago, the fear was that Islamic militants were taking over the country and that it was an economic mess and an unreliable crisis spot in the region. The country has defied all sceptics and last month it took a big step forward. The election of Joko Widodo marks the consolidation of Indonesia’s democracy. Jokowi, as he is always referred to at home, defeated an iconic member of Indonesia’s old guard, Prabowo Subianto, a former general and former son-in-law of President Suharto who is thoroughly enmeshed in the ways of the past. (Prabowo is contesting the result.) In his campaign, Prabowo used demagogic appeals to nationalism, populism and Islam. Jokowi, by contrast, is a businessman-turned-politician, with a reputation as a competent and honest governor and mayor. He ran on a platform of economic development with virtually no reference to religion. His first steps have been promising, tackling a taboo right at the start — the country’s huge fuel subsidies, which are inefficient, distort the market and are a crippling burden on the national budget. India’s elections could mark a turning point. The country has been mired in deadlock and paralysis for years because of a weak coalition government, ineffectual leadership and an obstructionist opposition. So people voted for a single party to take power (the first time in 30 years) and gave the new prime minister, Narendra Modi, a mandate. Modi campaigned brilliantly and effectively, and his message was unrelenting — development, development, development. Despite his party’s roots in Hindu fundamentalism, he chose to appeal to the country’s hunger for economic growth. If Modi can maintain that focus, eschew the Hindu nationalist agenda and make difficult decisions on cutting subsidies and encouraging economic competition, he will likely return India to a path of high growth, thus lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Halfway around the world, Mexico took a big, bold step this week. The Mexican Congress passed the ambitious energy reform proposals of President Enrique Peña Nieto, ending 75 years of state control of the energy sector. They have the potential to be a game changer, bringing investment, new technology and hundreds of thousands of jobs to Mexico. Since his inauguration in December 2012, Peña Nieto has pressed for educational and telecommunications reforms that have also mostly been enacted. These reforms have not been popular and have not produced quick growth. This is understandable because most structural reforms have a negative effect on the economy in the short term — they end subsidies, reduce inefficiencies and allow competition for protected companies. In the long run, however, they boost productivity and growth. If Peña Nieto continues to have the courage to enact major reforms, Mexico will slowly but surely be transformed into a middle-class country. And the result of that will be a sea change in its relations with the United States, which will finally see Mexico not as a problem but as a partner. It is already happening on the ground. Between 2005 and 2010, there was no net migration from Mexico into the United States. But perceptions take a while to change — especially in Washington. But once they do, North America — the United States, Mexico and Canada — will become the world’s most important, vibrant and interdependent economic unit. That’s what’s been happening in the world while the news about rockets, bombs, assassinations and terrorism takes up the front pages. — Courtesy: The Washington Post Live life..! E VERY once in a while I go and visit my fathers grave. My mother’s ashes are also interned in the grave, and in the monsoon quite often I feel I can hear my father chuckling as bushes and grass a mile high hide both of them from me, “Bob’s looking for us!” says dad, and my mother laughs, she always laughed at what he said. They both lived life fully; travelled extensively, lived all over the world, and enjoyed themselves. Some- times I feel I am so unlike them, and this speech by Rattan Tata to college students made me pause and ponder: ‘Don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order. There is no point in getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions. Don’t take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a prepaid card with limited va- lidity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? …It’s OK, Bunk a few classes, score low in couple of papers, take leave from work, fall in love, fight a little with your spouse... It’s ok... We are people, not programmed devices..! “Don’t be serious, enjoy Life as it comes” I don’t know about bunking classes, and scoring low, and any college students reading this piece take that bit with a pinch of salt, but otherwise isn’t it so important you have time to stand and stare? Stand and stare? I’ve always wondered about that phrase, ‘to stand and stare’: Till you go to a village or small town. Walk around in your city clothes and modern hairstyle and you will be amazed to find men and women stopping, standing and staring at you. It’s not that they have the time, it’s that they make time to stare at you, then go home and when everybody has returned from work, say, “Today I saw a man from Mars!”I walk around the graves, and hear my dad whisper, “Now he thinks he’s a Martian!” And I hear her chuckle: She always chuckled at his jokes. Do I have time to laugh? Do you? Let’s live life..! —Email: [email protected] Voice of the People Creating problems for common man NAUSHABA ABID P ML-N government has started planning to use force and containers and whatever is available to stop protests and the situation is not different all over the Pakistan. No doubt PMLN formed its government after 11th May elections as apparently through democratic process but it is also a fact that they are never happy with protests and they always tackled them in a way that invited more violence. As a democratic party and party with 2/3 of majority they should welcome people instead of complicating situation and creating problem for common public. Police has right to arrest those who violate but other than it is democratic right in democracy to protest. Although they claim they are democratic but it seems there attitudes are not democratic. The way they are restraining people remind me dictatorship of Musharaf. Democratic governments always believe in dialogue and peace making solutions but a number of times in the tenor of this government protests have turned into violence and use of unnecessary force and unnecessary statements from PML-N ministers made everything violent and even more complicated. PML-N has to review its attitude towards people in order to stop uncertainties which are prevailing before it is too late for them. —Via email March on Independence Day TAHIR IQBAL JADOON Pakistan will be entering into 68th year and nation was supposed to celebrate 68th national day with zeal and zest. Although the government has chalked out a comprehensive plan to celebrate the 68th Independence Day. But on ground the govt. seems to be in grip of PTI & PAT phobia. One wonders at the behaviour of the current government and is bound to think if all is well and things are going in the right direction than why there is disturbance at the national level (Government). Premier himself and his brother Chief Minister of the Punjab and Federal Ministers have themselves unanimously said “Pakistan is on its way to progress and prosperity”. If that is the case the government needs not to be afraid of any march or revolution. By erecting containers on the roads and blocking the motorways the government is earning nothing but bad repute. Practically on ground we have witnessed huge containers in and around the Federal Capital since August 08, 2014 and soon Petrol pumps too will be sealed. The police have been requisitioned from Punjab and Azad Kashmir for giving tough time to the workers and followers of PTI & PAT. Life in Islamabad will come to a halt due to the poor plan of action. National economy will get another blow back as major industries and markets will be closed. Model Town Lahore has been a new chapter added to the political history of Pakistan. Earlier 15 people were killed by the Punjab Police and many were deprived of their precious belongings as there were many Gullu’s in the PML N’s lines. In the name of security it is feared that some major mishap is likely to happen as the government is frirm to tackle the situation. One can only wish and pray that our Interior minister does not become General Reginald Dyer, and the Punjab Police does not behave like Gurkha riflemen this time. God forbids if another such incident takes place it is feared that the Government will loose its credibility. The electronic and print media seems preoccupied now days by the Azadi March of PTI and Revolution March of Dr. Qadri. In doing so the 14th August celebrations went into the background and nation is anxiously watching fiery speeches of our leaders. Eachone of us knows the problems and remedies but unfortunately we all are trying to pass the time. The coming generations will curse us all if we do not mend our ways. —Via email *** SYED USMAN SHAH Let us assume that both Mr. Qadri and Imran are acting under best of intentions and they truly want to change the plight of the common man. Certainly, it is hard to disagree with their criticism of the incumbent government and with most of their demands. But what if, after all this ‘political showdown’ the predicament of the common man becomes even more bleak? What if all this culminate in an anarchy? No doubt there are serious issues of governance and the current regime is not very democratic in its behavior. But, even a semblance of government is better than no government at all. What concerns me is that both Imran and Qadri don’t seem to have a clear follow up plan even if they succeed in toppling the sitting government. Whenever asked about “what next” or how they see the events unfolding after 14th August, they have failed to give any satisfactory answer. They themselves seem to be at a loss as to the consequences of this ‘political face-off’. And this is something very perturbing. Whom we, the common people, would blame if after all this drama we end up even deeper into the hole? Regardless of the earnestness of their designs and the nobility of their aims, can Imran and Tahir-ul-Qadri give us guarantee that their actions would not lead us into the quagmire. Many a times in the history of politics, actions taken with the best of intentions had ended up as disasters. Have both these political leaders given any thought to the unintended consequences of their “marches”? Truth be told, it is not their intentions or demands, but the impracticality and uncertainty of their plans that flusters and unnerves me. —Lahore *** NAEEM JAN While the captain is castigating the PML (N) government let me remind deplorable state of KPK especially Charsadda. The poor folks voted him due to juicy slogans like ‘New Pakistan’. Unfortunately, those were just slogans. In Charsadda we have no infrastructure, poor drainage and maladministration. It has been almost two years road between Tangi (district) and Charsadda is under construction, leaving people in lurch! Moreover, it is strange politics by PTI; who are delivering nothing but demanding centre to clean the mess in blink of eye! One wonders why it is holding the reign of power in KPK if elections were fraud! PTI should shun confrontation and win next pools by sheer dint of their development programs. If it does not deliver right now how can it win elections tomorrow! —Tangi, Charsadda Sea view tragedy and media role AHMED KASHIF SAEED On the delightful event of Eid, the Sea-view has always been an attraction for masses especially youngsters in a great number and it becomes difficult for them to stay away. It seems that the beautiful waves invite people towards them and ignoring all the danger, they accept their invitation. This Eid, people from all over the country, moved to the sea-view for enjoyment with the waves of the sea in this hot summer, ignoring any later consequences. The dangerous waves have claimed more than 20 lives and the enjoyment turned into mourning. The loss of precious lives in Karachi sea-view tragedy has raised several questions. Who was responsible for all these unfortunate happenings; the people, the administration or the media? One can blame the authority and people themselves but the role of independent media cannot be ruled out completely in this regard. The gathering of people in unprecedented number to sea-view is not unusual but what about the role of media in presenting attractive reports and telling them how to enjoy at sea view while ignoring the damages that can happen. Our well-informed media should be aware of the fact that during these months, the sea water is bumpy and unsafe. Instead of creating awareness, they played role completely opposite to this and thus people got excited and thought about the fun only. Better media role could have saved many lives among these….!!! —Islamabad Retired employees face new taxes BASHIR AHMAD The government has introduced new taxes for the employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and this does not discriminate between the regular and retired employees. This is a sheer injustice, for retired employees cannot afford to bear the burden of these taxes. As per the Finance Act-2014 the government has increased Federal Excise Duty (FED) rate on services provided or rendered in respect of travel within Pakistan by air as Rs 2500 for long routes, Rs 1250 on short routes, and Rs 500 on socio-economic routes, while 4 percent tax is also levied on international travelling. This is to affect the retired employees severely in today’s inflationary times because the retired employees are already under burden and this taxation is to further disturb them. From now on, the retired employees will not be able to enjoy the facility of travelling allowed to them by the airline. This taxation is adding to the woes of the retired employees at the time when there is no increase in their pensions since long. Almost every year there is plausible increase in the pensions of federal and provincial government employees at the time of budgets, but this is not the case with the retired employees of the airline despite that their pensions are very low as compare to other government departments. So the government and the airline should either increase the pensions of the retired employees in order to compensate for this taxation or spare the retired employees from this burden. —Via email Learning from past AZHAR THIRAJ Pakistani nationalism is the need of the hour. Even though Pakistan was born in 1947, its roots lay much earlier. Still Pakistani nationalism has developed slowly over the decades. This was on account of a host of factors. Today the nation state of Pakistan faces numerous internal and external challenges. Despite confusion galore, one thing is quite evident that Pakistani nationalism is the solution and salvation for the people of Pakistan. Two great rising nations China and Turkey, with fast growing economies, have clearly one common trait. Both nations are highly nationalistic! Even EU, which is facing cracks may revert to good old nationalism of key states like UK, Germany, France and others. Pakistan was created due to the just struggle of Muslims in British India, to attain an independent homeland. That much is conventional history. The Indian Mantra Myth, ‘we were one people’, is historically rejected. Pakistan was created because Muslims (later Pakistanis) and Hindus (Indians) were two different people and not only two religions. The Second Myth, ‘Indians lament is that India was divided’. The fact is that British India was divided in 1947. The British Indian Empire had in fact usurped from the Mughal Empire founded by Babur (The Tiger) in 1526, after winning first Battle of Panipat. By 1707 after death of last powerful Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire was in rapid decline. In 1761, a massive Hindu Marhatta Army which wanted to establish an Indian Empire, was destroyed in Third Battle of Panipat by Ahmed Shah Abdali from Afghanistan. Later, the British India followed which was formalized in 1857.The point of all this history is that people have a right to decide once Empires are gone and Republics emerge. Pakistan’s history is of a vision for a separate Muslim homeland, great sacrifices to reach and fortitude to elevate this Muslim State. Protection of freedom is the duty of the present generation. The promotion of nationalism and patriotism is the need of the time. Present government is trying to promote nationalism. We can see national flags on every road side hordings, every rout, on buses, offices and houses. We can call it “national spring”. In month of independence, long march, inqlab march, all are meaningless. I think, this is only propaganda against democracy, only propaganda to fail economic progress of Pakistan. This is time of unity. Politicians, please show unity for Pakistan, for the coming generation. —Lahore DISCLAIMER THE articles, columns and letters are published on these pages in good faith. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper. —Editor Email:[email protected] French FM in Iraq to boost aid efforts BAGHDAD—France’s foreign minister said during a visit to Iraq on Sunday that Paris will provide “several tons” of aid to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and called upon leaders in Baghdad to unite against Sunni militants who have seized large parts of the country. Speaking at a press conference with Iraq’s acting Foreign Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, Laurent Fabius said his visit is aimed at boosting humanitarian efforts in northern Iraq, where tens of thousands of minority Yazidis have fled into the mountains and even into neighboring Syria to escape the extremist Islamic State group. “The marching order is solidarity,” Fabius said in Baghdad. He called on Iraqis to form a “government of broad unity so that all Iraqis feel represented and together lead the battle against terrorism.” The French diplomat also met with Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki before arriving in the Kurdish regional capital Irbil. Islamic State fighters have rampaged across northern and western Iraq, and their advance on Irbil in recent days has prompted the U.S. to launch airstrikes for the first time since troops withdrew at the end of 2011 following eight years of war. The U.S. military said a third round of four airstrikes carried out by fighter jets and drones took out Islamic State armored carriers and trucks being used in an attack on civilians. U.S. Central Command said the Islamic State militants were firing indiscriminately on members of the Yazidi minority taking shelter in the mountains outside the town of Sinjar. U.S. and Iraqi aircraft have also dropped aid for the Yazidis, thousands of whom have been stranded on a scorching mountaintop since the Islamic militants seized Sinjar last week. President Barack Obama warned Americans on Saturday that the latest U.S. military campaign in Iraq will be “a long-term project,” the extent of which would depend on how soon Iraq’s feuding leaders can set aside their differences to confront the insurgency. “I don’t think we are going to solve this problem in weeks,” Obama said. The lighting advance of the Islamic State group across Iraq in June plunged the country into its worst crisis since U.S. troops withdrew at the end of 2011. Al-Maliki is under mounting pressure to step aside despite his bloc’s winning the most votes in April elections. Critics say the Shiite leader contributed to the crisis by monopolizing power and pursuing a sectarian agenda that alienated the country’s Sunni and Kurdish minorities. He has, however, insisted on remaining in his post. Obama said he spoke to French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday about joint humanitarian efforts and that both expressed strong support for his actions. U.S., Iraqi and British cargo planes dropped tons of food, water, tents and other equipment to the refugees Friday and Saturday. Iraq’s defense ministry released a video showing people in the Sinjar mountains rushing to collect food and water as Iraqi C-130 cargo planes dropped 20 tons of aid at a time. The video shows aerial views of hundreds of cars on top of the mountain and men rushing to collect the deliveries. For weeks Kurdish peshmerga fighters managed to slow the advance of the Islamic State militants in the north, but in recent days their overstretched and increasingly outgunned forces were forced to pull back, in part because of Baghdad’s delayed response. As the Kurdish forces fell back and the Islamic extremists seized Sinjar, the Kurdish-speaking Yazidis had nowhere to go but uphill, into the Sinjar mountains, where their ancient religion holds that Noah’s ark came to rest. British officials estimated Saturday that between 50,000 and 150,000 people could be trapped on the mountain. The Islamic State group views Yazidis as apostates and has vowed to kill all who do not convert to Islam. Syrian Kurdish officials told The Associated Press that thousands of Yazidis fled across the border from Iraq into Syria after coming under attack by Islamic extremists. Ekrem Hasso and Juan Mohammad said Saturday that the Yazidis fled after Kurdish fighters were able to open a safe passage into Syria following clashes with the Islamic State group, allowing them to loop back into Iraq at a safer northern crossing. Pope Francis has expressed outrage at the violence aimed at religious minorities in Iraq and said his emissary would head to the region During his Sunday blessing, Francis said the news from Iraq “leaves us in disbelief.” He cited “the thousands of people, including Christians, who have been brutally forced from their homes, children who have died from thirst during the escape and women who have been seized.” Al-Maliki on Monday ordered the Iraqi air force to support Kurdish forces, in a rare instance of cooperation between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government, which have for years been locked in disputes over oil and territory—AP. Palestinians to quit truce talks if Israel abstains CAIRO—Palestinian negotiators threatened to quit Egyptian-brokered Gaza war truce talks Sunday unless Israeli negotiators return to Cairo - the latest sign of the vast gaps between the sides on a new border deal for the blockaded territory. As the talks stalled, Israel responded to rocket fire from Gaza with at least 20 airstrikes, killing a 14-year-old boy and two other Palestinians, Gaza officials said. Israeli officials have said their negotiators, who left Egypt on Friday, only will return if the rocket fire from Gaza stops. “Israel will not negotiate under fire,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, warning his country’s military campaign “will take time.” Hamas has refused to extend a temporary truce that helped launch the Cairo talks last week, saying it wants guarantees from Israel first that Gaza’s borders will open. Israel and Egypt have enforced the blockade, to varying degrees, since Hamas seized Gaza in 2007. Since the truce expired Friday, smaller Gaza militant groups - though not Hamas, according to claims of responsibility - have fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells at Israel, including two on Sunday. “If Hamas thinks it has worn us down, it is wrong,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said. “We will return to the table only after an end to the fire. ... We are not intending to compromise.” The diplomatic standoff, coupled with the ongoing cross-border attacks, signaled that a broader deal for battered Gaza, as envisioned by the international community, likely will remain elusive. Israel has said it will not open Gaza’s borders unless militant groups, including Hamas, disarm. Hamas has said handing over its weapons arsenal, which is believed to include several thousand remaining rockets, is inconceivable—AP. Turks vote in 1st direct presidential polls ISTANBUL—Turks voted Sunday A handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD)shows humanitarian relief bound for Iraq being loaded onto a plane at RAF Brize Norton. in their first direct presidential election, a watershed event in the country’s 91-year history that could cement Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s position as Turkey’s all-powerful leader. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, is the strong front-runner to replace incumbent Abdullah Gul for a five-year term. Now in his third term as prime minister at the head of the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP, Erdogan has been a polarizing figure. He is fervently supported by many as a man of the people who has led Turkey through a period of economic prosperity. Yet critics view him as an increasingly autocratic leader bent on concentrating power and imposing his religious and conservative views on a country founded on strong secular traditions.dismissed as a coup plot by a moderate Islamic preacher and former ally living in the United States, Fethullah Gulen—AP. Putin, launching US-Russia oil Tunisia’s fishermen save project, touts ‘pragmatism’ rising tide of migrants RASHEED ABOU-ALSAMH T HE US decision to bomb targets of the Islamic State (IS) in northern Iraq, announced by a visibly unhappy Presi dent Barack Obama on Thursday night, was the right thing to do. But will it be enough, or is it too little, too late? With the terrible war between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip over the past four weeks, the world’s attention turned away from the civil war in Syria and the alarming advance of the IS extremists in Iraq. With that came the news this week that about 10,000 to 40,000 members of the minority Yazidi sect were trapped on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, surrounded by IS fighters who want to kill them because they consider them apostates and devil worshippers. Reports say that without food and water, and facing daily summer temperatures of 37 degrees, dozens of adults and children are dying every day on the mountain. The Iraqi government tried to drop bottled water to them from planes, but was unsuccessful. Residents of the town of Sinjar started fleeing there last Sunday when IS took control of the city. The UN estimates that 200,000 people have fled the city, and that 147,000 have managed to reach the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, filling refugee camps. The armed forces of the Kurds, the peshmergas, are trying to open a land route between the mountain and the town of Rabia, which straddles the border with Syria, in order to give safe passage to trapped Yazidis on the mountain, but are facing difficulties as they have to go through six villages with populations sympathetic to IS. The IS is extremely brutal, constantly posting pictures of themselves on social networks proudly displaying the chopped off heads of their victims in Iraq and Syria, which are generally Syrian and Iraqi soldiers. Their level of barbarity is such that there is no possibility of dialogue with them. Since its control of the city of Mosul in June, the IS extremists have plotted their expansion in Iraq. On Aug. 3 they took control of the Mosul dam on the Tigris River, the largest hydroelectric power supplying Iraq Mosul with electricity. It is also battling Iraqi forces 350 km south of Mosul in an attempt to take control of the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River. Experts warn that the IS could, in an act of terror, open the gates of Mosul dam and release a wall of water about five meters high that would flood the city of Mosul and possibly reach the outskirts of Baghdad. President Obama said that he had authorized the airstrikes to protect a small contingent of American officials in Irbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region and to avoid a massacre of the Yazidis. He also ordered the airdrop of food and water good enough for 8,000 on the mountain where the refugees are trapped. It is clear that Obama does not want to commit any ground troops to another military foray in Iraq. He ran for office in part on a pledge to get US troops out of Iraq, and that he has managed to do. But after the US invasion in 2003 and subsequent occupation for 10 years, it is unfair and selfish to believe that the US can just leave and allow Iraq to crumble upon itself. The US owes it to the Iraqis to help them stop the advance of the IS. Unfortunately, the Iraqis currently cannot do much themselves to stop the advance of the militants because of the political disarray in Baghdad due to differences over the successor to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, which has left the government paralyzed. The US has sent 300 military advisers to help the Iraqi government, but the long delays in deliveries of American fighter jets, now only expected to begin in December, has left the Iraqi air force hamstrung in attacking targets. —Courtesy: Arab News. Prelude to WWII: Japan’s Nomonhan debacle ZARZIS, (Tunisia)—The fish- “Who saves a life, saves all of ermen of this small North Af- MOSCOW—Russia’s President Vladimir Putin critical oil industry. “Businesses, including ma- rican port are used to catching takes part a video conference with the Arctic oil drilling platform ‘West Alpha’ from his Bocharov Ruchei residence outside Sochi, on August 10, 2014 President Vladimir Putin said Russia is still open for business with Western companies despite sanctions as he ceremonially launched a joint US-Russian oil exploration project in the Arctic. “Despite the difficulties of today’s political context, pragmatism and common sense prevail, and that is very satisfying,” Putin said as state-owned Rosneft and US oil giant ExxonMobil began exploring for oil in the Kara Sea off the northern coast of Siberia. “We welcome of course and we are open for expanding our cooperation with our partners,” Putin was said in a video link to the West Alpha oil rig, Russian news agencies reported. He was speaking just days after he ordered a ban on most food imports from the European Union and United States in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine that target several sectors of the Russian economy including its jor domestic and foreign firms, understand very well the necessity of cooperation,” Putin said. Russian analysts have said Putin needed to respond to Western sanctions for domestic reasons, while Moscow had expressed hope for a resolution of the Ukraine impasse. The Western sanctions imposed for Russia’s annexation of Crimea and alleged support for rebels in eastern Ukraine target Arctic oil projects in particular, which require Western cooperation and equipment to develop new wells as production from existing fields declines. Government officials have said the existing project, Russia’s northernmost attempt to find oil, does not fall under the sanctions. “ExxonMobil is an old partner and we value our relationship,” Putin said. Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said he hopes the Kara Sea will end up rivalling Alaska’s north slope and even Saudi Arabia. Sechin has said the Kara Sea could hold some 100 billion barrels of oil, Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported—AFP. sea bass and sea bream in their nets, but lately they’ve been hauling in something else: shipwrecked migrants fleeing war-ravaged Libya on flimsy boats. Chamseddine Bourassine, a Tunisian fisherman in his 50s, and his colleagues are on the front lines of a growing humanitarian disaster as waves of migrants take to the sea bound for Italy. They do their best to save who they can, but Bourassine says they’re quickly being overcome by this year’s flood of African and Middle Eastern migrants seeking a new life in Europe. The fishermen, who are risking both their lives and livelihoods to rescue the migrants, often cite a saying by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): humanity.” “Today I have the means to bring back 107 people, but I’ll lose 3,000 Tunisian dinars ($1,750),” Bourassine says. “Tomorrow I might not be able to. I have people who work with me. If I interrupt work once, twice, three times, it becomes a heavy burden on my shoulders.” He estimates he has saved more than 1,000 migrants on four separate occasions while out in his fishing boat, twice since the Libyan uprising in 2011. Bourassine and other fishermen don’t take any rewards for saving the migrants and he understands why they are trying to leave. But he says it’s not his job to save them and he feels there’s been a lack of support from rescue organizations and governmental authorities—AP. US seeks to safeguard progress in Burma ANNE GEARAN T We took our eyes off militants HE Obama administration claims the rapid shift away from military dictator ship in Burma as a rare foreign policy success, both for the advance of democratic principles and in the shadowy contest with China for influence and market share. But the shift is uneven and incomplete, and as Secretary of State John F. Kerry heralds the country’s progress during a two-day visit this weekend, signs of backsliding on human rights and political freedoms are mounting. Human rights groups and a growing list of congressional critics say the administration is overeager and its enthusiasm misplaced. U.S. leverage to encourage democratic advances has declined since the lifting of major punitive sanctions, although significant economic restrictions remain in place. Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote to Kerry on Thursday to warn against too warm an embrace of the nominally civilian government. The military remains largely in charge behind the scenes, and the senators charged that the ruling party has blocked meaningful constitutional reform. Without the changes, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi cannot run for president next year in elections the United States holds up as evidence of the country’s progress. A Buddhist monk walks at the shwedagon pagoda in Yangon. Myanmar faces being called to account for stalling reforms when it hosts a top global diplomats at a security forum later this week. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images) “The ruling party has opposed constitutional changes that would level the playing field head- ing into the 2015 elections,” the senators wrote. “The military controls access to all significant constitutional change, an arrangement that cannot be acceptable in any society that aspires to democracy.” As many as 70 political parties could compete in the elections next year, many of them reflecting the ethnic rivalries that have consumed Burma for generations. The main players are Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy and the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Rights groups and some congressional critics worry that a timely, if flawed, election will still be a feather in the leadership’s cap that diminishes the pressure for constitutional changes. In the meantime, progress toward greater political openness has slowed. In July, four journalists were sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. In May, a draft law was proposed that would outlaw interfaith marriage, a move that rights groups say would open Burma’s already persecuted Muslims to greater discrimination. In both instances, the Obama administration issued fairly mild denunciations. The muted responses reflected Washington’s deep investment in the new Burmese government, while new U.S.-backed governments in Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan and elsewhere falter on the path to democracy. Burma also stands as an important marker of U.S. power in a region nervous about Chinese military and territorial expansion, and a tangible symbol of the Obama administration’s foreign policy turn to Asia. “We’re here at a pivot point. The country has moved a very great distance from a point of absolute dictatorship and has done a lot of the understandably easier things that one has to do in that process,” a senior State Department official said Saturday as Kerry conducted a round of meetings with Burmese leaders and Southeast Asian diplomats. “They are now facing some of the deeper challenges — challenges that relate to the heart of what it means to change the government structure of this country,” the official said. “That has produced, predictably, some resistance and some slowdown. This visit was a chance for the secretary to raise some of those core challenges directly and very candidly with the leadership.” Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi waves to supporters as she leaves from the National League for Democracy party headquarters after she attends the 67th Martyrs’ Day in Yangon, Myanmar. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline Kerry’s visit. Kirk and Rubio asked Kerry to make clear “that the status quo in Burma is unacceptable and that meaningful and irreversible progress on these issues is necessary to further advance our bilateral interest in normalizing relations.” Other congressional critics, including many Democrats, have accused the Burmese leadership of failing to stop ethnic violence and, in some cases, encouraging it. Human Rights Watch and other rights groups say the government has turned a blind eye to land grabs by cronies of the Naypyidaw leadership. Kirk and Rubio asked Kerry to spend as much time with critics of President Thein Sein as with the leaders, which State Department officials said was impossible because of time constraints. Kerry’s trip was shortened because of an emergency trip to Afghanistan on Thursday and Friday to ride herd on that country’s feuding political rivals. Kerry was to see Suu Kyi in the commercial capital, Rangoon, on Sunday but will not meet with other political or human rights activists. Most of his visit will be in this newly constructed inland capital, where many of the gleaming buildings were built by the Chinese. Suu Kyi was released from years of house arrest and won election in 2012 as an opposition member of parliament. She was initially a cautious partner to the military-backed leadership but is now openly critical. The country of about 60 million people remains one of the poorest in the world. Although the military leadership’s decision to distance itself from China three years ago opened the door to change, Chinese investment far outpaces that of the United States — about $14 billion compared with about $243 million. The administration contends that it has eased sanctions only on a quid pro quo basis: Burma makes specific progress and gets a specific reward. Rights groups say the benefits to Burma are outpacing reforms. Burma, also known as Myanmar, seeks the lifting of remaining U.S. sanctions and the opening of military-to-military ties. The latter may be the more powerful leverage for continued change. Despite new freedom to do business in Burma, many potential investors have stayed on the sidelines, citing the uncertain political state, a lack of reliable electricity and a dearth of qualified workers. —Courtesy: Washington Post. [Anne Gearan is The Washington Post’s diplomatic correspondent]. JEFF KINGSTON T HERE has been considerable media hoopla about the cen tennial of the outbreak of World War I. The subsequent slaughter of 16 million people was prompted by the assassination of an Austrian archduke and duchess, which activated the system of interlocking alliances intrinsic to the balance of power that was the ostensible guarantee against war. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attracted a storm of unfair criticism when he suggested that World War I demonstrates there is no room for complacency about rising tensions between Japan and China over rocky islets in the East China Sea. Extensive economic relations suggest that both nations have too much at stake to risk war, but similar arguments were made about Great Britain and Germany a century ago while Europeans were sleepwalking toward the abyss. But Davos was only a few weeks after Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine, perhaps explaining why his sensible remarks were misconstrued as warmongering. In response to Abe, China dialed up a different event, the 120th anniversary of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), initiated and won by Japan. During this conflict, Japan seized control of the disputed islands known here as Senkaku and as Diaoyu in China, contending they were unclaimed. This claim is disputed by China, which refers to them as war booty and therefore should be returned under the terms of the 1943 Cairo Declaration. The complicated war of dates continues as China has now declared two “don’t forget to hate the Japanese” national holidays — Victory Day on Sept. 3 and Nanking Massacre Day on Dec. 13; splendid distractions from China’s smog, disparities and corruption. Here I want to draw readers’ attention to a little-known conflict that erupted 75 years ago in the remote borderlands of the Soviet Union, Mongolia and Japanese-controlled Manchukuo. The summer of 1939 witnessed a sharp escalation of hostilities between Soviet and Japanese forces around the inconsequential village of Nomonhan due to skirmishing over a disputed border in an area of no strategic importance that spiraled out of control. Readers familiar with Haruki Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” will recall that Nomonhan is depicted as a scene of brutal massacre and senseless violence that haunts some of the characters the protagonist encounters. The battle of Nomonhan, between the Japanese Imperial Army and the Soviet Army, had a significant impact on both countries’ diplomatic maneuvering and war planning on the eve of World War II. This “incident” was also a comprehensive defeat for Japan, one that revealed significant weaknesses in what many considered a formidable military machine. The Japanese Kwantung Army based in Manchukuo was the tail wagging the dog, provoking hostilities in an obscure backwater mostly because it was itching for action, thought the Soviet military was weak due to Josef Stalin’s extensive purge of top brass and was jealous that Japan’s China Expeditionary Army was getting all the glory and medals. Issues of pride and honor also played a key role, as initial setbacks had to be avenged, leading to an escalation for which Japan was poorly prepared. Hostilities began in May 1939 and proceeded in fitful sanguinary spurts until the Red Army launched a devastating offensive in August. At that time, Stalin was negotiating with both the Nazis and the British; toward the end of August, he finalized the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany. With victory against Japan at hand, cutting a deal with Nazi Germany protected the Soviet Union from a two-front war. It also left Poland ripe for the picking, igniting a wider war that pitted Germany against the U.K. and France, the intra-capitalist war that Stalin sought. Tokyo agreed to Moscow’s offer of a cease-fire in mid-September 1939 as German tanks advanced on Warsaw. —Courtesy: Japan Times. [Jeff Kingston is the director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan]. Red Zone From Page 1 zone and diplomatic enclave to seal them off. Sources said the security of both the locations has been handed over to the army. Independence Day parade will be held on the night between 13 and 14 August in front of the parliament house. Police personnel are however handling the routine traffic and movement of people in the area.—INP Amir Khan From Page 1 shortly. On Sunday, MQM Deputy Convener Nasir Jamal was relieved from his office because of his personal engagements. Sindh Minister for Health and Coordination Committee member Dr Saghir Ahmed has also been relieved of his post due to his ministerial responsibilities. Reports are that MQM has decided to made some structural changes in its set-up. According to reports Coordination Committee member Amir Khan would be appointed as a new Deputy Convener. Amir Khan, who parted ways with MQM founder leader Altaf Hussain on June 19, 1992, rejoined MQM in 2011 after 19 years. On May 2013, he become member of the Coordination Committee. PTI asks PM Imran, Qadri join hands to topple Nawaz Govt From Page 1 who had gathered in Lahore to observe the Yaum-e-Shuhda. Among others, Ch. Pervaiz Elahi, Sheikh Rasheed, PTI’s Mian Mehmood ur Rasheed, Mian Hamid Raza and many others spoke on the occasion. Paying rich tributes to the ‘Shuhda’ (martyrs) of his party, he said the incumbent government’s days are numbered. He said 22 workers his party had so far lost their lives since Lahore’s Model Town Tragedy. He said FIRs for four martyred party workers and 90 injured had not yet been registered. Dr. Qadri said Model Town has been turned into Gaza for the past seven days while thousands of PAT workers have been injured and hundreds still missing. He said the country had never witnessed such atrocities in its entire history and now neither the cruel nor cruelty would prevail. “Their days are numbered,” he warned. Qadri said no one should expect the revolution to be like a wreath of flowers. A bright future cannot be secured without sacrifices, he added. He said he had threats of being martyred anytime but he is not afraid of anything except Almighty Allah. He dared the ‘barbarians’ to come and kill him if they so desired. “I am not sitting in any container.” “I am fighting a war of revolution for the oppressed, traders, farmers, and the poor people of Pakistan,” he said. Dr. Qadri said baseless charges of money laundering and tax evasion were lev- Musharraf From Page 1 against me before a court of law,” General (retired) Musharraf said to supporters gathered in Islamabad as he spoke via telephone. “I have to go out of Pakistan only to see my ailing mother and will return back to you,” he said to the gathering. He said the cases against him are politically motivated and baseless. He also lamented the current economic situation and claimed that when he resigned in 2008, the country had $18 billion reserves as compared to only $4 billion to $5billion today. He condemned the Model Town incidentand condoled with the families of those who had lost their lives. Earlier, a convention of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) elected Musharraf as chairman of the party for the next term. Earlier on Sunday, a senior government leader has admitted that the government is under immense pressure to remove the name of former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf from the Exit Control List (ECL) and let him go abroad. tion of powers. Power should go to the union councils, to the districts, to the tehsils through the devolution.” He said, “We want high courts at district headquarters and magistrate courts in union councils, so that justice arrives at the doorsteps of every person living in this country. We are totally against the imposition of martial law.” The entire nation will have to step out for this revolution,” said Qadri, adding that the efforts of PAT, PML-Q, AML, SIC, PTI workers will not be enough. He said those who committed the murders of his workers on the orders of the Sharif brothers would no longer be able to hide behind Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif. “We want proper punishment through law. There is no law or democracy in Pakistan,” Qadri said. He also rejected all accusations of violence against PAT workers, saying they have never committed a single act of violence anywhere,” Qadri says. Questioning the Punjab government’s security arrangements, the PAT chief said the MQM delegation that had brought food for his supporters was not allowed to enter. “Cars of political leaders — including PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat and PMLQ Punjab president Chaudhry Pervez Elahi — were stopped on the way to my house for a few hours, so they had to walk miles to meet me. He said PAT workers did not torture Turkey’s Erdogan From Page 1 From Page 1 sponsible for derailment of democracy. The Core Committee of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has resolved that the Azadi March will take place and any attempt to arrest the Chairman or take him into “safe custody” will be resisted with full strength of the Party workers and leadership. According to a press statement here Sunday, the Core Committee also made it clear that the Party would demand Nawaz Sharif’s family must pay compensation to all those who’s livelihood was impacted by the barriers and impediments placed by Sharif govt, including the poor container owners, to stop PTI exercising its democratic right to protest peacefully. Core Committee demanded that all containers must be removed immediately and petrol stations opened. The Core Committee also demanded of the Punjab govt to immediately implement the LHC order to release the impounded motorcycles. There will be no compromise on Azadi March. Chairman will reveal the planned massive rigging that took place in May 2013 elections. Core Committee sent its workers a clear message that they must make it to Islamabad at all costs and come prepared with basic supplies. The Core Committee resolved that there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that PTI workers and leaders will come to Islamabad even if they have to walk the distance. Core Committee also resolved that if anything happened in which democracy was derailed Nawaz Sharif and his government will be solely responsible. The Core Committee offered fateha for the two PTI office bearers murdered in Karachi. —NNI elled against him but added that he had never missed paying tax over the past 30 years. He said the government has deployed the likes of ‘Gulu Butt’ all across Pakistan. However, he said, we believe in peace, tolerance, rule of law, end of terrorism and end of oppression.” Qadri said, “We will overthrow the government and we will not come back from Islamabad until we bring a revolution.” He tells his workers, “If I am killed, then don’t spare the Sharifs,” Qadri tells his workers. He said, “We will stay here for three days to pray.” He invites people from all over Pakistan to visit in those three days to offer prayers for the deceased. Urging workers to remain peaceful, he says that if anyone attacks them, they should retaliate. Qadri said, “I am a staunch believer of democracy”. “This struggle has been given the title of a revolution, and it will be non-violent and democratic,” he says. “The Sharifs are establishing global business empires while the people in Pakistan are deprived of basic necessities,” he said. Qadri said, “We want the culture of democracy which is transparent and has a system of accountability and is free of corruption.” He said, “Our struggle is for the placement of true democracy. We want devolu- say may create an increasingly authoritarian state, broadcasters said Erdogan had 52.3 per cent of the vote, 13 points more than his closest rival. Such a result would rule out a runoff round and seal Erdogan’s place in history as Turkey’s first directly elected head of state, a role expected to enhance his power. Turkey has emerged as a regional economic force under Erdogan, who, as prime minister for more than a decade, has ridden a wave of religiously conservative support to transform the secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923. But his critics warn that a President Erdogan, with his roots in political Islam and intolerance of dissent, would lead the Nato member and European Union candidate further away from Ataturk’s secular ideals. The main opposition candidate, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, was on around 38.9 per cent, while Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish left-wing People’s Democratic Party was on around 8.8 per cent, according to television stations CNN Turk and NTV. Turkey’s electoral authorities are not officially due to announce their first results until Monday, with final figures due later in the week, but Erdogan, 60, is expected to make a victory address later on Sunday. In a tea house in the working-class Istanbul district of Tophane, men watching election coverage on television praised Erdogan as a pious man of the people who had boosted Turkey’s status both economically and on the international stage. “Erdogan is on the side of the underdog. He is the defender against injustice. While the Arab world was silent, he spoke out against Israel on Gaza,” said Murat, 42, a jeweller, who declined to give his family name. “This country was ruined by the old politicians. They lied to us. They caused economic crises, the PKK violence,” he said. Erdogan has opened a peace process with Kurdish PKK militants to end a conflict which has killed 40,000 people in 30 years.—AP Microfinance reduces poverty I S L A M A B A D —Globally, Microfinance is regarded as the key instrument for reducing poverty from under developed and third world countries. The past decade has witnessed many successful examples of Microfinance being used as a source of poverty alleviation in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lankawhere both literacy and poverty rates are high. In a developing country such as Pakistan, microfinance institutions have consistently been playing a vital role in reducing poverty and are faced with the added challenge of low literacy and rural dispersion of population- over half of which is female. This feature’s case in point is TajUnNisa, who is a widow and mother of seven. As the owner of a Canteen in Govt Primary School Ali khan, Haripur, the lady is a glowing example of courage in distress. With a product range of snacks of which Samosay, Pakoray, Channa Chat are hot selling items in winter while chips, icecream, juices and cold drinks sell well in summers, Nisabibi hosts 50-60 customers a day at her establishment Watching the lady her age and no formal education at work with support of two of her eldest daughters in preparation and serving of food, we witness Nisa bravely fighting the odds. With expenses and overheads ranging from 10-15 thousand a month, she off-sets the narrow margins with her side business – the sale of household ladies items with an added option of door to door delivery. Before approaching Khushhalibank, Nisabibi was faced with the reality ofthe demise of her husband, seven dependants looking to her for supportand no appropriate source of finance. The death of her eldest daughter’s husband worsened the circumstances as she had to support her daughter and grandchildren as well. Khushhalibank furnished an initial loan of 15 thousand as startup capital. Today with a monthly net earnings of30 thousand from both her businesses combined,Nisa is now a confident woman living a life of dignity and independence.—PR Terror bid foiled From Back Page intelligence agencies and police personnel have been deployed at all the railway stations, bus stations and other key points to keep a close watch on suspected terrorists. Meanwhile, Law enforcement agencies in Dera Ismail Khan claimed on Sunday to have averted a major terrorist bid that was meant to target the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s upcoming ‘Azadi March’. Police sources said that on a tip off about the terrorists’ presence, security forces carried out a search operation in the Kulachi Tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan and arrested three terrorists. Speaking to the media at his office, District Police Officer Dera Ismail Khan Sadiq Baloch said police acted on a tip off about the presence of TTP Commander ‘Qari Ikram’ and his accomplices, who were involved in an attack on Noori Shrine’s care taker Faqir Jamshid a few days back. He said during the search operation, a group riding motorcycles opened fire on the police force. The men were chased but fled after leaving two bikes behind, he added. Sadiq Baloch said security forces carried out a search operation in Gara Jana area and destroyed at least six hideouts of the terrorist. The police claimed to have recovered two suicide vests, hand grenades, one rifle, 21 remote controls, 70 ICs used in the making of suicide jackets, 6kg of explosives, foreign currency, medicines, and chemicals. The arrested terrorists were shifted for interrogation and more raids are being conducted. The police have also arrested four relatives of Qari Ikram and are probing further.—INP PM stresses From Page 1 tions will continue. “If any body thinks that they will oust a popular government through protest or sit-in, they are mistaken,” the prime minister said. Both the leaders resolved to deal with the political situation administratively, while agreeing that the atmosphere of anarchy and lawlessness will not be tolerated in the country while the operation Zarb-e-Azb is going on. They agreed that the law enforcement will be ensured in any case. Shahbaz Sharif expressed grief and anger over death of three policemen amid violent clashes between police and PAT workers. It was decided that strict action will be taken against those who took the law into their own hands. The meeting decided that the protection of property and lives of the citizens during the long march will be protected. Sympathizing with the families of the deceased policemen, Shahbaz Sharif assured that the blood of the martyrs will not go in vain, adding that the perpetrators will meet their fate. Hillary Clinton From Back Page jihadist groups that can affect Europe, can affect the United States,” she continued. “Jihadist groups are governing territory. They will never stay there, though. They are driven to expand. Their raison d’etre is to be against the West, against the Crusaders, against the fill-in-the-blank — and we all fit into one of these categories. How do we try to contain that? I’m thinking a lot about containment, deterrence, and defeat.”—AP Streets in Lahore From Back Page He appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, federal and provincial governments to remove all the fences which really troubled the lives of the people in Lahore and its suburbs. He said that if those fences were installed for security purpose then police and other security agencies should be engaged to beef up security measures and it was not the solution to close the entire city. anyone or cause any damage, and more then 25,000 PAT workers have been arrested. He added that several of his party workers are still missing. Referring to the FIR registered against him for the death of constable Muhammad Ashraf, Qadri says his workers cannot kill anyone. “It has been proven that the constable died in an accident with a motorcycle.” Qadri claimed that the money laundering and tax evading cases registered against him are false as he does not own any property — except his house in Model Town. “I will not eat food until my workers have eaten,” says Qadri, referring to road blockages that have left his workers without basic necessities. Qadri and his supporters prayed for the soldiers who lost their lives in the operation in North Waziristan and for the prosperity of the country. The Pakistan Awami Tehreek observed Youm-e-Shuhuda Sunday while clashes between police and PAT workers continued for the third consecutive day on Sunday. Heavy contingents of police remained deployed in the Model Town area while air surveillance was also carried out. Stick-wielding workers of Awami Tehreek encircling the Minhajul Quran secretariat were also seen active. Youm-e-Shuhuda was observed Sunday to commemorate those killed during clashes on June 17 between party workers and police. The main ceremony was held in Model Town. The city police Sunday registered murder of policeman case against Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr. Tahirul Qadri, taking cases thus far registered against him to 4. The case was registered on the complaint of the father of deceased policeman Ashraf in Naseerabad police station here. Police said the case was registered under section 302 and 324 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) involving charges of terrorism and police encounter. Earlier, two cases were registered against Dr. Qadri, his party office-bearers and workers in Faisal Town police station, Lahore under sections of terrorism, violence, threats, police encounter and attempt to murder. According to reports 223 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) were arrested with bulletproof jackets and weapons in Bhakar, police claimed. Police claimed they recovered bulletproof jackets, weapons, crackers and other items from the arrested workers. Meanwhile the entry points of Lahore city were sealed on Sunday to stop the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) workers as the party observed Yaum-e-Shuhada. According to reports, Babu Sabu interchange on Motorway and Ravi Bridge were sealed. Ambulances carrying patients were also stuck as citizens were compelled to walk several kilometres on foot. Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama’s foreign policy Strongly defends Israel 14th August is the day to demonstrate unity: Abid FAISALABAD— Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali has said the country cannot afford anarchy as 14th of August is the day to demonstrate unity. Addressing a function in connection with Independence Day in Faisalabad Sunday, he said Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan are trying to dividing the nation. Abid Sher Ali said the nation is united under the leadership of Prfime Minister Nawaz Sharif and will not allow to dereail democracy.— NNI Ron Paul says US ‘likely hiding truth’ about MH17 crash WASHINGTON—The U.S. government “knows a lot more” than it’s letting on about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash and is “likely hiding [the] truth,” according to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). In an Aug. 7 post on his news site, Voices of Liberty, Paul said he believes the U.S., with all its intelligence-gathering capabilities, should have a clear idea of what happened on July 17 when MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. But much of that information, he says, has likely been withheld from the public. “The U.S. government has grown strangely quite on the accusation that it was Russia or her allies that brought down the Malaysian airliner with a buck antiaircraft missile the former GOP presidential candidate wrote. —AP Prince Harry’s new romance WASHINGTON— Prince Harry’s new beauty queen girlfriend is not wasting any time in moving forward their relationship. Just weeks after the royal ended his long-term romance with Cressida Bonas, he was spotted inviting the 25year-old Thurlow over for the night at Kensington Palace. A source said the two have been talking for some time, and have already been spotted locking lips in public. They had been spotted together in July, where they shared a meal at a Mexican restaurant, where they also engaged in some PDA.—AP Sydney resident Virginia Maddock watches the supermoon rise off the Sydney beachside suburb of Wanda, August 10, 2014. The astronomical event occurs when the moon is closest to the Earth in its orbit. Palestinians accept new 72-hour truce offer C AIRO —Palestinian negotiators on Sunday said they had accepted an Egyptian proposal for a new 72-hour truce with Israel, clearing the way for a possible resumption of talks on a long-term cease-fire arrangement in the Gaza Strip. Israel had walked away from cease-fire talks over the weekend, after militants resumed their rocket fire on southern Israel with the expiration of an earlier threeday truce. Sunday’s decision was aimed at bringing the Israelis back to the negotiations. There was no immediate Israeli response. “We are here to look for an agreement. We cannot have an agreement without talks, so we accepted an Egyptian proposal to have a cease-fire for 72 hours in order to resume the talks,” said a Palestinian negotiator. He, along with other Palestinian negotiators who confirmed the decision, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media. The Egyptian-mediated talks are aimed at brokering a long-term truce arrangement between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip following the heaviest fighting between the bitter enemies since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. In nearly a month of fighting, more than 1,900 Imran, Qadri won’t succeed in their negative politics: PR I SLAMABAD —Information adopt the path of the Prime Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said that Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri cannot get support of political forces or the people and will not succeed in their designs. In an interview with Radio Pakistan on Sunday, he said PTI has very low political representation and wants to create unrest in the country. He said the PTI’s call for long march on 14th of August will cast negative impact on happiness of the people. He said political parties having majority representation in the Parliament have rejected the negative politics of PTI and PAT. Information Minister said people have to decide whether they should adopt the way of Imran Khan and stop the process of development in the country or to Minister Nawaz Sharif for development and prosperity of the country. To a question, Pervaiz Rashid said the Government had two major challenges when it took over, that are terrorism and shortage of energy. He said the Government has taken steps to meet these challenges. Information Minister said military operation has been launched to flush out terrorists from North Waziristan. He said positive results have been achieved of the operation Zarb-e-Azb and the people have celebrated Eidul Fitr in peaceful atmosphere. To overcome energy shortage, the Minister said a number of mega projects have been initiated to generate more electricity.—INP Iran plane crashes, 50 dead TEHRAN—A civilian airliner crashed on take-off in a residential area near Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on Sunday, Iranian news agencies said, with reports that almost 50 people were killed. The plane was headed to the eastern city of Tabas, the IRNA and Fars news agencies said, and crashed at 9.18 am. The official IRINN television channel said the plane crashed in the Azadi neighbourhood, west of the airport, but did not state if fatalities were confined to passengers or if people were also killed on the ground. “All the passengers are dead,” a fire service spokesman said on IRNA. A sec- ond unnamed official said 48 people were on board the turboprop Antonov An-140 aircraft when it crashed. There were conflicting accounts of the airline that the plane belonged to, with one report saying it was a Taban Airlines aircraft while another said it was owned by Sepahan Airlines. Mehrabad is near central Tehran and is Iran’s main domestic hub and by far the busiest of the country’s airports, serving routes to all Iranian cities. Most international flights take off from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, which is located further west of the Iranian capital. Palestinians were killed, including hundreds of civilians, nearly 10,000 were wounded and thousands of homes destroyed. Sixtyseven people were killed on the Israeli side, including three civilians. The fighting ended in a temporary 72-hour ceasefire last Tuesday, during which Egypt had hoped to mediate a longer-term agreement. But when the three-day window expired, militants resumed their rocket fire, sparking new Israeli reprisals. The violence has continued throughout the weekend, albeit not as strong as at the height of the fighting. Earlier Sunday, Palestinians threatened to quit the negotiations if Israel did not return, while Israeli leaders said there would be no talks while the rocket fire continues.— AP. W ASHINGTON —Ahead of a possible presidential run, Hillary Clinton appears to be distancing herself from what she called President Barack Obama’s foreign policy “failure”: the decision not to intervene during the early stages of the Syrian civil war. In an interview with The Atlantic published on Sunday, the former secretary of state says the “failure” of the United States to those protesting the regime of Syrian President Bashar alAssad led to the rise of alQaida-inspired groups like ISIS, the militants currently creating havoc in Syria and Iraq. “The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad — there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle — that failure left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton said. The former first lady and U.S. senator said she fears the jihadist groups currently gaining strength in the Middle East will ex- Streets in Lahore be immediately opened: Altaf STAFF REPORTER KARACHI–Muttahida Qaumi Movement Chief Altaf Hussain appealed to the provincial and federal governments to immediately remove the fences from the streets of Lahore and eased the city dwellers. The MQM Chief said that the news from Lahore and other parts of the province were painful that all the ways leading to Lahore had been blocked and even the ambulances were not allowed to enter the city. He said patients especially the pregnant women suffered in traffic jam and unable to reach hospitals in time. Continued on Page 7 Terror bid foiled, 3 terrorists arrested in Rawalpindi R AWALPINDI —The sensitive organizations Sunday arrested three terrorists and recovered two suicide jackets beside explosive materials from them at Chaklala Railway Station here. Sources said that the three accused terrorists were on board a railcar about to leave Rawalpindi for Lahore. However, the sleuths of the sensitive organizations taking timely action arresting them arrested two suicide jackets and explosive materials. The accused terrorists were shifted to some unknown place for further investigation. It is worth mentioning that officials of Continued on Page 7 Published by: Zahid Malik from Ali Akbar House Markaz G-8, Islamabad and printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik at Al Umar Printers pand their sights on Europe and the United States. “One of the reasons why I worry about what’s happening in the Middle East right now is because of the breakout capacity of Continued on Page 7 Kids at high-performing charter schools make better health decisions L OW-INCOME teenagers who attended high-performing charter schools engaged in fewer risky behaviors and performed better on standardized tests, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles sought to determine whether-or-not high-performing charter schools had an effect on the behaviors of low-income minority teens. In one of the first studies of its kind, the researchers surveyed more than 500 ninth through 12th graders in Los Angeles who attended charter schools in low-income neighborhoods (where they had won admission through a random lottery), plus more than 400 students who attended other local schools. The researchers asked them about their “risky” and “very risky” behaviors. Recent use of products containing tobacco, alcohol and marijuana were defined as risky. Less common behaviors such as binge drinking, drug use (excluding marijuana), gang membership, pregnancy and sex with multiple partners were defined as very risky. Nearly 36 percent of students who attended a high-performing charter school engaged in one or more very risky behaviors, compared with 42 percent of students surveyed at the other schools. “A substantial body of evidence has shown a strong link between education and health. This link suggests that improving the education may lead to many societal benefits including better health and reduction in health disparities,” said lead researcher Dr. Mitchell Wong, a professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at UCLA, in an email to Reuters Health. “It is important for parents to know that choosing better schools may also have beneficial health consequences for their child.” Students attending the high-performing charter schools also did better on standardized tests than those who did not attend them, and they were less likely to drop-out or transfer. The researchers suggest better academic achievements helped to discourage students from taking risks that could harm their success. “Future studies will need to determine if the effects are long lasting or can be observed in other populations and school settings,” they write But there was no significant difference in the more common risky behaviors between the two groups, findings that surprised even Wong. So we were surprised not to see a reduction in more casual use of alcohol and other substances and in unprotected sex. One explanation for this lack of finding may be that students in these schools still remain in the same neighborhood and are thus still exposed to opportunities to engage in somewhat risky behaviors,” he said. Colleen Cicchetti, a pediatric psychologist with Northwestern University’s Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, said she found the study “exciting,” and hopes it will get more health care providers and policy makers talking about education and its role in public health. Jittery administration in Rawalpindi, Islamabad readying to handle Azadi March STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD—The administrations in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are readying themselves in a confused and jittery manner to cope with the “Azadi March” of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf on August 14/15th, 2014 as they are still uncertain about the size of the gathering and how to handle it. District administration in Rawalpindi has taken over hundreds of containers from their owners and parked them near all the entry and exit points, four days ahead of the march that indicates its confusion and desperation. Even entry and exit points between the twin cities have not been spared and additional containers have been parked just a few meters away so as to be placed at a short notice. People coming from Rawalpindi to Islamabad were already facing immense difficulties due to ongoing construction work for the Metro bus service but on Sunday morning, the traffic police of Islamabad closed the entry point of 9th Avenue. That forced the commuters to turn towards Islamabad to reach their destinations in Islamabad causing heavy traffic rush at Faizabad despite being Sunday. People interviewed by reporter at Faizabad said that these hurdles are uncalled for and in fact creating more problems for the residents now than they would be facing during the uncalled for Azadi March. A businessman of Aabpara, who refused to be named, said they are the worst sufferers as every political party and organisation for the attainment of petty objectives march to Islamabad or hold meeting at Aabpara and as a result shopkeepers avoid visiting the market. Some of the citizens went to the extent that political marches should be banned constitutionally as these are bring bad name to the coun- try. They said that every political party in Pakistan gives the impression that it has more popularity among the masses but during elections majority of them are rejected. They said holding of long marches has become a tradition in Pakistan which must be brought to an end. In the federal capital, Sunday gave a deserted look at most of the roads but vast majority of people were seen purchasing grocery for the coming week fearing that in case of violence, all the markets would be closed and they would have to feed the families. A sense of despair was witnessed among majority of the people over the trend of confrontation in Pakistani politics. They said issues should be resolved through negotiations instead of bringing thousands of people from every nook and corner of the country to the capital. On the other hand, it would be difficult for the PTI to manage the mil- lion march at the D Chowk in front of the Parliament as Jinnah Avenue is already closed for traffic because of the Metro bus project. It has been dug at four places including at the Faisal Avenue flyover, Kalsoom Plaza, China Chowk and just before the D Chowk. Red Zone has also been closed for ordinary traffic and containers deployed to block entry to the diplomatic enclave area. On the other hand, petrol is still in short supply in the twin cities. There were still queues at PSO stations in Islamabad while some filling stations are still closed due to lack of stock. While the citizens are readying themselves to go through the hazards of August 14/15, they have requested the governments at the Centre and in Punjab not to place indirect restrictions on their movements as daily wagers, emergency medical cases and similar other people in need of genuine travel would be the sufferers. Woman’s body recovers from Margalla Hills ISLAMABAD—Kohsar Police Station recovered unknown dead body of a woman from trial 2, jungle area of Margalla Hills. Police said the body is about 15 days old and the deceased age appears to between 30 to 35 years. The body has been sent to PIMS hospital for postmortem and DNA test for identification. Meanwhile, Shahzad Town Police Station has recovered a huge quantity of weapons that include 7 mm rifles, 8 mm rifles, 32 bore pistols and 150 rounds and arrested two people in this connection.—APP Pooks on Islamic subjects Containers have been placed on the road leading to Parliament House to stop the activists of PTI from entering the Red Zone. Cabinet Block, Parliament House illuminated for Independence Day CITY REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Capital Development Authority (CDA) had illuminated buildings of Parliament House and Cabinet Block with colorful lights to celebrate 68th Independence Day with national enthusiasm. An official of Environment Wing of CDA told reporter that on the direction of federal government to celebrate Independence Day whole of the month government and private buildings were being decorated with national flags and lights. He said buildings of Prime Minister House, President House and other blocks in red zone also had been decorated with national flags. A large flag was fixed at building of Radio Pakistan, he added. The official informed that various government & private buildings, locations, highways, intersections etc of capital were being decorated with thousands of national flags, banners and flowers to develop national harmony on Independence Day. He said a 215-foot pole was being erected in the Capital with the the Heavy Mechanical Complex, for hoisting the national flag and work on it would be completed on August 13. This was the first time in the country’s history that such a high pole for national flag was being fixed, he viewed. He further added about 15,000 badges were being prepared while flags would be hoisted at poles of 100-foot height. The official said that work on Pakistan’s map at an artificial mountain and six national flags of different sizes at Zero Point had been completed so far, saying that the map would also be viewed from the air. He said that CDA, Environment Directorate had fluttered flags at its vehicles. Moreover, the both sides of Express Highway from Zero Point to Faizabad would be decorated with flags and colorful flowers, he added. The official added that about 6 thousand flags would be fixed at various locations, intersections, including Zero Point, D-Chowk, Supreme Court Signal, Commercial Center, Kashmir Chowk, Koral Chowk, Faizabad Chowk, Airport, Khana Bridge etc. He said that 12 hundred streamers would be attached on various poles and about 25 flags with height of 100 feet would be fixed at different government and private buildings. Flags and banners would also be displayed at various bridges of Islamabad Express highway, he said. The official added that CDA every year illuminate buildings and various location with lights at the occasion of Independence Day, he, however, added that this time celebration activities would be continue whole of the month. ISLAMABAD—Islamic Research Institute (IRI) of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) has published over 250 books on different Islamic subjects dealing mostly with Islamic Laws, History, Philosophy, Education, Culture and other areas. Deputy Director General, IRI, Dr. Suhail Hassan, while talking to APP informed that these books had been equally appreciated by people belonging to different schools of thoughts and had served as good models of serious and responsible research not only in modern universities but also in the institutions of traditional religious schools. “During the last few years the Institute has made concerted efforts to improve the production and quality of its publications by ensuring better standards of printing and designing so that the books are reader-friendly and their aesthetic appeal matches the quality of their contents,” he maintained.—APP Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid addressing “Labaik Qibla Awal” rally in solidarity with Palestine organized by Jamaat-e-Islami. Water surface presents ugly look at lake view park ISLAMABAD—Water surface of the Rawal of the capital city, but the water on the to keep the park tidy and water clean. Lake View Park is presenting ugly look due to unattended garbage contamination from the lake. The lake view park management is minting money by charging entry fees of Rs 20 per adult and Rs 10 per child and hundreds of families daily visit the park, but there is no mechanism to keep the water surface clean. Najib Khan, 29, a visitor of view park said, that Lake View Park is a beautiful place in the recreational spots edge of lake is presenting a bad look due to garbage heaps visible on the surface. Another visitor, Nabeela Ahmad said that there is a dire need that the lake view park management should keep the water surface clean and beautiful, adding that particularly on the corners of lake the garbages heaps are visible. Another visitor expressed concerns over the overall cleanliness of the park, saying that the park management has failed The visitors demanded that the CDA higher authorities should take notice of the negligence and issue strict instruction to save the environment and beauty of the park. When contacted, a park official claimed that the management was keeping the surface clean, but due to on going heavy rains the garbage keep flowing towards the tail end. He rejected that it was all because of the negligence by the lake authorities.—APP Pir Naqib urges Muslims to spread message of peace OBSERVER REPORT RAWALPINDI —To invoke blessings of Allah Almighty, the Muslims will have to strengthen their bond with the Holy Prophet (Peace be Upon Him) and tell the World that he gave the message of peace to the whole World. P i r Muhammad Naqib-ur-Rehman, custodian of Eidgah Shrine, stated this while delivering his presidential address at a Milad-un-Nabi conference at the Ghausia Mosque in Slough, England, on Sunday. According to a fax message received here from England, Pir Naqib-ur-Rehman said that the message of Islam in universal and its followers must remove the misunderstandings about their religion by spreading its message of peace, harmony and respect for humanity in all parts of the globe in a befitting manner. “To overcome the agony of problems in the worldly affairs, the Muslims must promote their religious and spiritual values. The followers of Islam must abide by the teaching of their religion in their letter and spirit and must also prove themselves as caring human beings for followers of other faiths,” the custodian of Eidgah shrine said. “We have given up the path of Islam for worldly benefits and comforts, and have made material life, forgetting that on the Day of Judgment we will be held accountable by Allah Almighty for all our deeds in this World,” he added. In the end, he prayed for the tranquility and peace in the World. Earlier, on his arrival at the Heathrow Airport for a visit to the United Kingdom, a large number of his devotees received Pir Naqib-urRehman and his entourage. Growing pollution aggravates situation S TAFF R EPORTER I S L A M A B A D —Affecting human and animals, air and noise pollution of twin cities is aggravating with every passing day because of the ongoing construction work on various roads. The noise and air pollution is on the rise not only in Rawalpindi city but also in the Federal Capital, the beautiful that one’s known as peaceful city. According to a senior official within the Federal Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPAs) air pollution in Islamabad was 72 micrograms per cubic metre against the national standard level of 40 micrograms per cubic metre. “Around 3000 trees have been smashed during the construction work of the metro bus project” another official of the agency told this correspondence while commenting on the issue. Citizens of Rawalpindi are also worried about air and noise pollution caused by the said project saying that every day it is a chal- lenge for them to go out because of this dust and noise. They urged the law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to pay attention to the problem for the betterment of the passengers and nearby areas. However, on the other side constructer claimed that they are regularly watering of areas where construction is ongoing, so that fewer dust particles rise. It has also been learnt that the citizens also worried about the noise caused by traffic jam at the road sides where construction work is ongoing. The daily noise and air pollution is extremely higher than the NEQS (Nation Environmental Quality Standards) permissible limit under the Pakistan Environment Programme. The facts of increasing noise pollution can be gagged by the study of the Federal Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPAs) that revealed, among eight noise measurement locations in the twin cities, the daily maximum and equivalents were higher than the permissible limit of 85dB(A) of National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for motor vehicle noise at 7.5 meters from the source. The study also informed, the daily minimum noise level at all locations is more than 60dB(A), which clearly reflects the gravity of the problem on the roads of the major cities of Pakistan. The second highest noisy location was spotted near Churr Chowk, on Peshawar Road in Rawalpindi, where the daily maximum level was 97dB(A). Bank Road in Sadar and Melody Road Aabpara Chowk were found less noisy locations. At these locations, the daily equivalent noise levels were within the permissible limits of NEQS. PML-N govt to complete its constitutional term: Zafar ul Haq Fajar Zohr Asr 04:50 01:30 05:30 Meghrab at Sunset Isha 09:10 Brothers in Islam establish regular prayers & charity August 11 PAKISTAN Broadcasting Corporation will hold a contest of national songs at its headquarters at 6:00 p.m. The ceremony will be broadcast direct by PBC. Murtaza Abbasi calls for closer ties with Iran ISLAMABAD—Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Murtaza Javid Abbasi on Sunday called for enhanced ties with Iran. Talking to IRNA, he noted that Iran-Pakistan relations are historical and cultural. Iran and Pakistan enjoy good potentials for promoting economic cooperation and trade exchanges, the MP underlined. He praised Iran’s all-out support during natural disasters in Pakistan. After the independence of Pakistan in August 1947, Iran was the first country to internationally recognize the sovereign status of Pakistan. At present, both countries are cooperating and forming alliances in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as fighting drug trade and Afghanbacked tribal insurgency along their border.—NNI STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI—Leader of the House in Senate, Raja Zafar-ul-Haq on Sunday said that incumbent PML-N government would complete its constitutional term. He was addressing as Chief Guest at a flag hoisting ceremony held here in Quaid-e-Azam Chowk, Khayaban-e-Sir Syed in connection with the Independence Day celebrations. Raja Zafar ul Haq who is also chairman of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) said the PML-N would form next government in the country as a number of development projects had been initiated to change fate of the country. The PML-N government was committed to eliminate load-shedding, he added. Raja Zafar ul Haq said the government would change the fate of the nation within the mandated period as loadshedding, lawlessness and other ills in the society would be eliminated. He said that we were standing with Palestinians and Kashmiris. He added that politics of strikes and sit-ins was against the progress of the country and asked the political groups to let the PML-N government act upon its agenda of the country’s development. He said that some elements who wanted to take to the streets in the name of revolution, were working on the agenda to push the country back to the era of darkness and misery. On the contrary, Raja Zafar ul Haq said, the PML-N government was working on a Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafar-ul-Haq hosting a national flag during ceremony in connection with Indepen“real revolution” by making the youth a part of the dence Day celebrations at Khayaban-e-Sir Syed. CTP creating awareness about dengue virus: CTO STAFF REPORTER R AWALPINDI —City Traffic Police (CTP), Rawalpindi is creating awareness about dengue virus and larvae breeding as it brief masses on daily basis at schools, colleges, public places and bus stands said City Traffic Officer (CTO) Shoaib Khurram Janbaz. CTO informed that education wing of CTP delivered lectures about the disease to create awareness among the transporters and passengers. CTP had been educating the citizens about precautionary measures in order to avoid den- gue virus, the CTO added. Prevention was better than cure, he said adding that fatal dengue virus could be controlled by following precautionary measures and conducting anti-dengue sprays. People should fully cover their bodies especially at dawn and dusk and did not let water accumulate anywhere so as larva could not breed around their houses, he advised. Shoaib Khurram said that traffic wardens had also been advised to cover their bodies while performing duties in order to remain invulnerable from dengue mosquitoes and avoid going where there were mosquitoes. country’s development. He said, the government was working with commitment and zeal for the development of the country. There was no justification for creating hurdles on our journey of national development, he added. “We are unable to understand the agenda of the people who were agitating”. He said, Prime Minister, Muahmmad Nawaz Sharif was the only leader in Muslim world who is trusted and well respected internationally. He said that the country was passing through a critical period thus there was a greater need to forge unity by shunning all the differences. But contrary to that, he said, PAT Chief had been fuelling hatred to achieve his hidden agenda. Hanif Abbasi on the occasion asked the youth to stand with those who wanted to take the country forward on the path of peace and prosperity, and not to stand with those who wanted the nation to plunge into darkness. The people of Pakistan had voted PML-N into power as they believed that this party had the capability to deliver. He said the PML-N was working with determination to eliminate power loadshedding and the government had launched various power projects to meet energy crisis. The function was organized by former MPA, Zia ullah Shah and attended by Member National Assembly (MNA), Tahira Aurangzeb, MPA Malik Iftikhar, MPA Zaib un Nisa, PML-N leader, Rahat Quddusi and a large number of PML-N workers. Academic institutions to hold competitions on Independence Day ISLAMABAD—Academic institutions have colleges while tableaus and skits on the the whole day and flags and badges would planned a number of activities for students to create awareness regarding the importance of independence day falling on August 14. Different schools and colleges of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have planned a number of activities like essay and speech competitions, national songs competitions and other activities which would continue the whole month of August. A representative of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) informed APP that special instructions have been issued to all the colleges and schools running under the directorate to organize programmes for inculcating spirit of patriotism among students. He said essay competitions on independence movement, freedom movement leaders and renowned literary figures of the country would be held under the month-long activities. National songs would also play in the sacrifices given by people at the time of independence would also be played in which students would perform different roles. A lecturer of Mass Communication Department, Islamabad Model College for Girls (PG Margalla) F-7/4 Islamabad said, “Independence Day celebrations would start in the college from August 11 which would continue till August 30 and a series of programmes has been planned with the participation of students to commemorate Independence day. On August 11, the celebrations would start with Quran Khawani, followed by two days of cleanliness and on August 14, the day would start with a flag hoisting ceremony. Later, she added the national anthem would be played and a complete introduction of Independence day would be presented. While ‘Milli Nagmas’ would be played be distributed among college staff and students, she stated. The movie on the life of leader of the Nation titled, ‘Jinnah’ would also be screened in college on August 16 to apprise the pupils with the golden principles followed by the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for achieving success throughout his life. A number of competitions including essays, national songs, poetry recitation would also be organized and special lectures would be delivered in connection with independence movement, she said adding, all these activities would continue till August 30. “Portraits of freedom movement heros has also been displayed in the premises of the college while literature on the achievements would also be displayed for the students to get lessons from their lives and adopt such characteristics among themselves”, she said.—APP Half of construction work at Metro Bus Project completed ISLAMABAD—The construction work of cessful launching would silence its critics. Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus multi-billion mega Project is at full swing with half of the work completed and it is a well optimistic approach that the project would be completed well in time. With the completion of this mass transit project, it would help cater thousands of passengers in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The project, that was launched in March, this year and is scheduled to be completed before the end of current year. Chairman of the Project, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, in a statement has termed the project as a unique example of speed, transparency and standard claiming that its suc- Rangers and police personal standing on Faizabad Bridge to maintain law and order. Rescue-1122 seeks ambulances to set up special posts on Independence Day ing to APP. Presently, he said, only thirteen ambulances were in working condition and one ambulance was out of order for the last one year. The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) will remain on high alert in the district on the Independence Day, he added. To effectively deal with any untoward event, all emergency officers were as- stations and sensitive areas to provide swift response, rescue, emergency medical treatment and safe transportation to emergency victims. He said that fully equipped emergency ambulances, fire vehicles, rescue vehicles with all rescuers will remain alert ,as all rescuers’ holidays have been canceled. Emergency officers including trained doctors will supervise arrangements, he added.—APP With the completion of project, the temporary inconvenience of citizens in the twin cities would change into a permanent relief. The Metro Bus Service Project is a public welfare project and every effort is being made for its speedy completion, while ensuring its quality and the project will be state-ofthe-art in every respect and it will bring about a revolutionary change in the transport system. The land acquiring process for setting up 10 bus terminals for metro bus was underway. These terminals would be set up at Flashman Hotel Cantt, Mareer Hassan, Liaquat Bagh, Committee Chowk, Waris Khan, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rehmanabad, Sixth Road, Shamsabad and Faizabad.—APP AIOU offers associate degree in education and skill-based courses STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD —Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has opened admissions of Asso- RAWALPINDI—Rescue-1122 has sought any emergency,” he said this while talk- signed special duties in emergency rescue ciate Degree in education and skilled-based twenty ambulances from the district government to set up special posts for meeting emergencies in a more efficient manner on the independence day, District Emergency Officer, Dr Abdul Rehman said on Sunday. “Rescue-1122 has requested the city government to provide 15 to 20 ambulances for setting up special posts at Rawat, Katchari chowk, Faizabad and Pirwadahi Mor to effectively respond in In its latest development, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has also approved the construction of a metro bus depot worth Rs1.5 billion that would be set up at Sector H-9 near Sunday bazaar. The PC-I would get the go-ahead from the Planning Commission next week and the construction work would start the same day. The metro bus depot would be constructed on 15 acres of land while the CDA had already transferred the land to the Punjab government which would accommodate more than 64 buses besides housing a restaurant, diesel filling station, service station and workshops. courses including Commerce, Tourism Management, Hotel Management, Hospital Management, IT Management, Accounting and Finance, Banking and Finance and Human Resource Management in order to promote skill-based education. The admissions forms and prospectuses could be obtained from the Sale Points at main campus and at Regional Campuses and Coordinating Offices across the country. According to Syed Zia-ul-Hasnain, Director Admission, the admission forms along-with prescribed fee can be submitted in countrywide branches of Bank Al-Falah, Habib Bank Ltd, First Women Bank and Allied Bank and at the nominated branches of National Bank of Pakistan and Muslim Commercial Bank. The admission forms and prospectus of Matric, FA and BA level programmes for Pakistanis in the Middle-East can be obtained / download from website del.aiou.edu.pk of the University. Continuing admission forms have already been dispatched to all the continuing students, however, if somehow any of student has not received the said admission form, he/she can download the same from the AIOU website. Students complain lack of basic facilities at tuition academies ISLAMABAD—The trend of tuition academies is gaining popularity day by day in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad which are charging high fees but the pathetic condition of these centres is creating problems for students to concentrate on their studies. The owners of these academies who are mostly business minded people, hire teachers of good repute offering them high pays but their buildings do not have basic facilities in the prevailing scorching weather for students who in greed of good grades tolerate every thing. The academies continue classes throughout the year but their business is at its peak during summer vacations when students are free from schools and colleges and these institutions allure them in the name of summer camps, extra coaching classes for board exams, preparations for admission tests etc. Majority of these centres do not bother to get their out of order fans repaired, and the students are forced to sit and study in sweating condition. Clean drinking water is also not available whereas cold water is simply a dream for the students, most of them come to attend classes on their bicycles and motorcycles after covering a long distance. The condition of bathrooms is also pathetic in these tuition centres as the tabs are broken, flush system is out of order and smell is so unbearable that no one can stand there for more than few seconds. But due to lack of any regulatory body these tuition academies have a free hand to earn money, leaving the students on the mercy of harsh weather condition. Asif Ali, a student of class 10 said, “In my tuition centre there is no facility of clean drinking water, so all students bring their wa- ter bottles, because we do not have any other option”. He said they have complained to the academy administration but they simply refuse to take any responsibility and said their responsibility is to focus on education not on other trivial issues. “Its hard to keep our concentration during lecture due to hot weather but it is useless to say any word so we bear all this to get good grades in board examinations”, he stated. Aslam Zia, a father of class 8th student said, most of the children complain of poor conditions in the academic institutions but he parents persuade them to ignore everything for their safe future in the form of good academic results. He said these tuition centres charge heavy fees and raise it at their own free will, with no regulatory body or check and balance system for them.—APP Water being released in the holes dug up near the entrance of Red Zone Areas apparently to stop the activists of PTI from entering the Red Zone during their Azadi March.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir Srinagar admn running corrupt regime: Amit Shah SRINAGAR—With assembly elections bringing J&K into the national main- Narendra Modi as Prime Minister was inscheduled over the next few months in Jammu & Kashmir, Amit Shah, the new BJP party President said the conditions in Jammu & Kashmir are very sad and the current government is running an establishment filled with corruption. It is not only the responsibility of state BJP activists but every activist in every state to ensure that the BJP wins there. Both the political families of the state have misused the money meant for progress”, he said. While Shah stressed the importance of winning all four assemblies that go to the polls this year, it was Jammu & Kashmir that found special mention in his speech. One reason for this could be the BJP’s special interest in abrogating article 370 and stream. Shah launched an all-out attack on the two families which currently dominate J&K politics the Abdullahs of the National Conference and Muftis of the PDP. Though PDP has been a bit soft on the BJP after the Lok Sabha polls, Shah probably realises that no Kashmir Valley-based party can politically afford to align with the “Hindu” BJP. Hence his emphasis on the BJP achieving a majority on its own. In fact, the party must take all assembly elections seriously to win them all from the panchayat upwards to the state assemblies and finally the Lok Sabha after 10 years in opposition, he said. Calling the BJP’s Lok Sabha win as a victory for its ideology, Shah said the projection of strumental in ensuring the support of the poor for the party. However, he warned party cadres not to allow their massive win to make them complacent. In fact, this very victory had caused the party’s opponents to realise that they had to band together to challenge the BJP. He exhorted party cadres to work harder, to strengthen the BJP across the country, and take every election seriously. Shah also seemed to be extremely passionate about recording a BJP win in Jammu & Kashmir. In the Lok Sabha election, the BJP unexpectedly emerged as the single largest party in terms of vote share, and won three of the six seats (Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh).—KT Kupwara court dismisses army’s revision petition KUPWARA (IHK)—The Kupwara Sessions Court has withheld the order of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kupwara to further investigate the Kunan Poshpora mass rape case and dismissed the Army’s revision petition against it, saying it was filed on the basis of “assumptions and apprehensions.” “The order passed by the Magistrate for further investigation does not direct taking of cognisance against the revision petitioners. In case the trial Magistrate would have directed taking cognisance against the revision petitioners, the revision petitioners could have been aggrieved but not before that,” read the order. “At this stage the revision petitioners who have only apprehension can’t be allowed to stall the investigation. The revision petitioners have not till date been identified as accused in this case. In fact when the whole case is examined, the alleged accused are yet invisible as they are yet to be identified or traced,” the order added. The order also said that in case the investigating agency comes to the conclusion that the Army is involved in the case, nothing can prevent the revision petitioners from challenging the finding or the conclusion of the investigating agency in accordance with the law. “At this stage, it appears that the revision petitioners have filed the revision petition only on the basis of assumptions and apprehensions,” said the order. The Court further said that the delay in the investigation or lapse of 22 years does not debar the investigating agency to unravel the truth as the saying goes “crime never dies”. “The revision petitioners in fact should have volunteered to have participated in the investigation so that truth would come to light and it was proper for the revision petitioners to cooperate with the investigating agency and to establish their non involvement in the alleged occurrence,” said the court order. At least 30 women, including teenagers and elderly, were allegedly raped by soldiers belonging to Army’s 4 Rajputana Rifles during the night intervening February 23/24, 1991 in KunanPoshpora villages of Kupwara district. Police had filed a case but closed it later as ‘untraced’. On June 18 last year, acting on the petition of Kunan-Poshpora Village Committee, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kupwara directed the police to reinvestigate the case “to unravel the identity of those who happen to be perpetrators”.—Agencies Shabbir Shah felicitates Pakistan on Independence Day SRINAGAR—Hurriyet Conference Jammu Kashmir leader, Shabbir Ahmad Shah has felicitated the government and people of Pakistan on the country’s Independence Day, being observed on August 14.Shabbir Ahmad Shah expressed hope that the country would very soon overcome its internal disturbances and touch new heights of progress and development. Shah said Pakistan has to fulfil not only the dreams of its people but also has to meet the expectations of the Muslims of South Asia. Terming the ideologically strong and militarily powerful Pakistan as the shield of Muslims across globe, Shabbir Ahmad Shah said Pakistan always stood for the oppressed Kashmiris. “Pakistan’s contribution with regards to Kashmir issue is out of question. We are indebted to every possible support we received from Pakistan vis-à-vis freedom movement,” he said. He said Pakistan and India are two neighbouring countries, but India oppresses the people of Kashmir while as Pakistan offers every possible support to us at international level. “We believe that a strong and powerful Pakistan is the need of the hour for peace in the region and we hope that Pakistan will continue its every possible support for us,” he added.—KMS Geelani calls for strike on Friday HYDERPORA (IHK)—While appealing for complete and statewide shutdown on August 15, senior leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference Sayed Ali Geelani Sunday said that until India is forcibly occupying Jammu and Kashmir it doesn’t have any moral right to celebrate its independence within the boundaries of this state. He said that India itself has struggled and attained freedom from the British and now New Delhi by denying the same right for the people of Kashmir is following the double standards. Geelani said that ‘we do not have any enmity with India or its people and nor we want to separate any of its legal part from it’. “Jammu & Kashmir was an independent and autonomous state till 1947 and according to the principles and conditions of the partition, we were in no way going to be any part of India, but this country merely on the bases of its military might forcibly occupied this state and snatched the freedom of millions of the people of Kashmir,” he said. After that India made commitments with the people of this disputed region on both, national as well as international levels that its people will be given their right to determine their future but she backtracked from her promises, he added. “By observing complete shutdown on 15 August, we want to remind the Indian rulers its forgotten promises and we want to send a message across the world that we in no way endorse or accept the forced occupation of India,” he said.—KD SRINAGAR: APHC leaders paying tributes to martyred Kashmiri leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz at the Martyrs Graveyard on the eve of his martyrdom anniversary. Fake encounter case: Court to cross-examine 10 witnesses tomorrow BUDGAM (IHK)—A city court here is scheduled to record cross-examination statements of Investigating Officer, the last witness in Abdul Rehman Padroo fake encounter killing case on August 12. Sources in the prosecution said that the Investigating officer has been directed to appear before the court of principal district and session’s judge on August 12 and August 13 to undergo cross examination by the defense lawyers of former SSP Ganderbal Hans Raj Parihar one of accused in the matter. The court has recorded statements of all other witnesses and after IO’s statements are recorded the court will to put evidence for arguments in the matter. It may be recalled that on November 15, 2012, while terming Padroo fake encounter case, as ‘rarest of the rare’, Uttam Chand, the then SSP Budgam had prayed for death sentence to seven accused including former SSP Parihar. Chand, who headed the SIT in 2007 had deposed before the Principal District and Session’s court Srinagar that the evidence gathered by him showed the involvement of seven accused including the then SSP Parihar, DySP Bahadur Ram, ASI Farooq Gudoo, driver Farooq Ahmad Padder, Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Constable Bhansi Lal had hatched a criminal conspiracy and were involved in killing of Padroo, a carpenter from Larnoo Kokernag. Chand had also submitted a written copy of his statement before the court. As Ganderbal fake encounter surfaced in 2007, the state government to investigate the matter constituted a SIT. As soon the investigations proceeded, it came to fore that civilians were lured for jobs and were allegedly killed in cold blood. Abdul Rehman Padroo a carpenter who disappeared on December 8, 2006 was one among the victims of such an encounter which took place in Ganderbal. The SIT had exhumed Padroo’s body in Sumbal area of Baramulla district. The victim carpenter had went missing from Batmaloo bus stand on December 8, reportedly after he was taken to Waskoora in Ganderbal district during the night where he was killed allegedly in a fake encounter by the Special Operation Group (SOG) posted in Ganderbal and Sumbal camps. A body with mutilated face was later recovered from the spot whom the SOG had dubbed as Abu Hafiz besides claiming recovery of some ammunition from the encounter site, police had said.—KT Removal of security force camps from civilian areas demanded TRAL (IHK)—Fully supporting the people’s demand for removal of CRPF bunker from the main bazaar Tral, the Hurriyat Conference (G) led by Syed Ali Geelani has said that the presence of the forces camps in the civilian areas is troubling the common people. While demanding for the removal of all the camps from the civilian areas, Hurriyat said that their presence is an open violation of the international laws and due to which the common people of Kashmir are living under constant threat and fear. According to a statement, while praising the attachment and commitment of the people of Tral towards the freedom movement of Kashmir, Hurriyat said that the government forces are particularly subjecting the people of this area to the vengeance and they are harassed in every possible way. The CRPF camp which is situated in the main bazaar has become a source of tension and the personals who are present there are not only harassing the passer-byes but sometime they also beat up the local youth. The passing of the women by this camp have become a major issue and they too are facing difficulties on reaching there. Hurriyat Conference assured the pro-freedom people of Tral that they are not alone but the whole nation is on their back and at the time of need they can do anything for them.—NNI Amarnath pilgrimage ends MUZAFFARABAD: The panoramic view of Sharda vale once a Budhist University in Upper Neelum Valley. DR MUMTAZ YASEEN BALKHI A grand old party has paid for its reactionary politics but the story’s sad part is that PDP and Congress are no different T HE electoral debacle of National Conference and its subsequent di vorce from the J&K chapter of the Congress party merits debate. The results of parliamentary elections have brought into sharper focus the NC’s fast depleting popularity. The current scenario has thrown up a forecast, which suggest that the forthcoming state elections might see this grand old party down and out. Its now clearer that the National Conference is under serious threat, which is more evident from the historical defeat of the Congress and a radical shift in the national politics toward the right wing nationalism. This drifting of India’s national politics toward the Hindu nationalism seems to shatter NC’s long held belief in Indian pluralism and secular character. For past sixty-seven years of Independent India, Kashmir served as the celebrated mascot of Indian secularism; The NC, by being an unsolicited representative of this mascot, immensely benefited from it . All these decades the Congress used to lavish praise on Na- PAHALGAM (IHK)—The one-and-half month long annual Amarnath pilgrimage in Jammu and Kashmir ended peacefully Sunday, officials said. Nearly 400,000 pilgrims visited the shrine. The final ‘puja’ was offered inside the Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Sunday morning after the ‘Chahri Mubarak’ (Shiva’s mace) reached the shrine. Its custodian Swami Dipinder Giri in a procession of sadhus and other devotees carried the Chahri Mubarak from its seat here to the shrine. “The final puja has been performed today (Sunday)...with this, the year’s pilgrimage to the shrine has come to an end,” Giri said. “We will hold another puja by the banks of the Lidder stream in Pahalgam town where the sadhus will be fed after which the Chahri Mubarak will be taken back to its seat in Srinagar,” Giri added. Governor NN Vohra who is the chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) also visited the shrine. SASB manages the affairs of the pilgrimage. Officials said around 400,000 pilgrims from all over India visited Amarnath. Barring a scuffle between a community kitchen cook and a local that triggered burning of 10 community kitchens and over 300 tents at the Baltal base camp, the pilgrimage was free of any militancy related incident, officials added. The pilgrimage started June 28 from the Baltal and June 30 from the Pahalgam base camps.—KD Kashmir and fall of Abdullahs tional Conference for being the “defender of Indian secularism”. However, such unprecedented support for NC by the Indian National Congress has ended up fracturing the Kashmir’s socio-political fabric. What does the rise of Modi’s brand of Hindu nationalism mean to National Conference. The Congress has certainly faced a rout, but the NC also seems doomed. For sure, the revival may take many decades. The NC’s political elite has been so used to winning elections that the party leaders always saw their constituencies as fief bequeathed to them by their grand patriarch Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. This feudalistic politics is believed to have been the key trigger for the upheaval that Kashmir witnessed in 1989. Ironically, Peoples Democratic Party, J&K Congress and the pro-freedom leadership of the State show similar reactionary tendencies exacerbating political turmoil. A factor that chronically haunts NC’s standing and future prospects in the State politics has been its signature reactionary politics contributing to its dismal performance. NC, being in-charge of J&K for nearly forty years, had enough time to usher in an era of real development and set off a process of peaceful resolution of Kashmir dispute. On the contrary, the leaders perpetuated policies that proved inhibitory to the development and worsened political situation of the State. They did nothing to dismantle the chronic corruption in the state institutions. It’s sad to note that the culture of corruption was encouraged by setting bad precedence over placing politically connected people on the position of power resulting decline in growth. Government institutions and its employees in the face of unaccountability and lack of judicial oversight enjoyed unprecedented freedom to unleash favoritism, nepotism and red tape. Most of the so called developmental projects that NC would boast of had had devastating implications for the State and its fragile environment. It seems that every project conceived during NC rule turned into a disaster. Such is the fate of any developmental project that is conceived to benefit a cronies and executed to pamper a coterie. It is no longer a secret that even State judiciary under NC rule lost its authority on judges with questionable character, who exonerated ministers and their lackeys from offenses which are punishable by law. These judges established connections with land mafia debilitating the state’s already stretched land resources. ing numerous chaotic constructions around Dal lake, concrete structures within and around the treasured land of Sonmarg, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Yusmarg, Tangmarg, etc are few starker examples. The health and education sectors are even worse. The state funded hospitals, universities, colleges and schools suffer from all sort of problems ranging from shortage of funds, development of infrastructure, worsening of healthcare, lazy work Sheikh Abdullah with his three sons and daughter Khalida culture, lack of professionalism and corShah, his daughter’s son is his lap. ruption and scams in The major developmental projects that promotions and appointments. The land were introduced to Kashmir valley proved reforms of 1950s present the lone good disastrous for the environment. Clogging example of pro-people agenda one can relife-line of Dal by land filling the Nalamar call from the NC’s four-decade rule. The canal, construction of SKIMS hospital in approval for new administrative units for the heart of famous Anchar lake, sanction- the State and successful election of village ISIS attack on minorities un-Islamic: Geelani H YDERPORA (I HK )— Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani condemned the attacks by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on minorities, saying there was no room for such acts in Islam. Geelani, however, also slammed American strikes against the group. Addressing a press conference at his Hyderpora residence, Geelani on being asked about the “Caliphate” established by ISIS, said: “We condemn the innocent killings in Iraq at the hands of ISIS…When they kill Shias, it is wrong. We condemn it. When they ask Christians to convert to Islam by force, it is wrong. I say it publicly with full authority that they do it wrong. Islam never said to force someone to become Muslim.” “There is no compulsion in religion. If you want to create an Islamic State, your first and foremost obligation is to protect minorities that live in your jurisdiction. Even if they are Jews, you have to protect them.”—KR Two youth hang themselves to death SOPORE (IHK)—Two Kashmir youth hanged themselves to death in Sopore and Srinagar last evening, a police official said on Sunday. He said 21-year-old Javid Ahmad Khan committed suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom at Kutri Narbal by his relatives. Police was informed and the body was sent for medico-legal formalities. “The body of deceased after completing legal formalities was handed over to his relatives for last rites.” he said. Police have started investigation under section 174 CrPC in this regard. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Zahir Mushtaq Khan son of Mushtaq Ahmed Khan was found hanging with a ceiling fan in his bedroom at Badoo Bagh in Srinagar’s Old City. Police have started investigation under section 174 CrPC in this regard, the official said.—KD heads - panchs and sarpanchs- that NC boasts as its biggest achievement, may well only serve as yet another channel for corruption rather than ushering in empowerment and development. At the political level, New Delhi has always been squeezing the state. Shifting the control of the state’s premier bank to the financial oversight of RBI, and denial to curtail and regulate the annual Hindu pilgrimage Amarnath Yatra are bigger cases in point. What is worse, the Amarnath Shrine Board has now become a powerful state within the state. On the other hand, the lawlessness and denial of democratic rights is galore. The police and paramilitary forces perpetrate atrocities against unarmed civilians with full impunity. the political space for dissent is being choked and the religious freedom is restricted, particularly frequent restrictions imposed during Friday prayers have become the hallmark of NC regime. In a lighter vein, the NC government could not even save Kashmiris from stray dogs. Its hyperbole about the revocation of AFSPA adds insult to the injury. —Courtesy: Kashmir Observer [Author is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University Medical Center, Boston. Feedback: [email protected]] Currency	Imran Khan
What element is also known as hydrargyrum?	Humayun Khalid Bill Gates William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) [4] is an American business magnate , investor , philanthropist, author, and former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft , the software company he founded with Paul Allen . He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people [5] and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third. [6] During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect , and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock . [7] He has also authored or co-authored several books. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many,[ who? ] a number of industry insiders[ who? ] criticize his business tactics , which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. [8] [9] In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , established in 2000. Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie , chief software architect, and Craig Mundie , chief research and strategy officer. Gates' last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as non-executive chairman. Contents 10 External links Early life Bill Gates was photographed by the Albuquerque, New Mexico police in 1977 after a traffic violation (details of which have been lost over time). Gates was born in Seattle , Washington, to William H. Gates, Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates . His parents are of English, German , and Scotch-Irish descent. [10] [11] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way . Gates's maternal grandfather was J. W. Maxwell, a national bank president. Gates has one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or " Trey " because his father had the "II" suffix. [12] Early on in his life, Gates' parents had a law career in mind for him. [13] When Gates was young, his family regularly attended a Congregational church. [14] [15] [16] At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School , an exclusive preparatory school. [17] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy an Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's students. [18] Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC , and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly. When he reflected back on that moment, he said, "There was just something neat about the machine." [19] After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC), which banned four Lakeside students—Gates, Paul Allen , Ric Weiland , and Kent Evans—for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time. [20] At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for computer time. Rather than use the system via Teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including programs in FORTRAN , LISP , and machine language . The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc. hired the four Lakeside students to write a payroll program in COBOL , providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators became aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's computer program to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in classes with mostly female students. He later stated that "it was hard to tear myself away from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate success." [19] At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data , to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. [21] In early 1973, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives. [22] Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT [23] and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. [24] While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer , who later succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft. In his sophomore year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems [25] presented in a combinatorics class by Harry Lewis , one of his professors. Gates' solution held the record as the fastest version for over thirty years; [25] [26] its successor is faster by only one percent. [25] His solution was later formalized in a published paper in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou . [27] Gates did not have a definite study plan while a student at Harvard [28] and spent a lot of time using the school's computers. Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, and he joined him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974. [29] The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel 8080 CPU , and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company. [30] He had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how much Gates wanted to start a company. [28] Microsoft BASIC MITS Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch (200 mm) floppy disk system After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800 , Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. [31] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC . Paul Allen was hired into MITS, [32] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their partnership "Micro-Soft" and had their first office located in Albuquerque. [32] Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. [32] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies. Microsoft's BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter saying that MITS could not continue to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software without payment. [33] This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems. [32] The company moved from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue , Washington on January 1, 1979. [31] During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, Gates personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit. [34] IBM partnership In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft to write the BASIC interpreter for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC . When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system. [35] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC-DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000. Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system. [36] They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry. [37] Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board. [31] Windows Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, and in August, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2 . Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, mounting creative differences undermined the partnership. Gates distributed an internal memo on May 16, 1991, announcing that the OS/2 partnership was over and Microsoft would shift its efforts to the Windows NT kernel development. [38] Management style From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. He aggressively broadened the company's range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant position he vigorously defended it. He gained a reputation for being distant to others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls." [39] As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. Firsthand accounts of these meetings describe him as verbally combative, berating managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk. [40] [41] He often interrupted presentations with such comments as, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" [42] and, "Why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps ?" [43] The target of his outburst then had to defend the proposal in detail until, hopefully, Gates was fully convinced. [42] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend." [44] [45] [46] Gates' role at Microsoft for most of its history was primarily a management and executive role. However, he was an active software developer in the early years, particularly on the company's programming language products. He has not officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100 , [47] but wrote code as late as 1989 that shipped in the company's products. [45] On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his day-to-day role over the next two years to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two successors, placing Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy. [48] Antitrust litigation Further information: United States Microsoft antitrust case and European Union Microsoft competition case Bill Gates giving his deposition at Microsoft on August 27, 1998 Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices have had Gates' approval. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual meaning of words like "compete", "concerned" and "we". [49] BusinessWeek reported: Early rounds of his deposition show him offering obfuscatory answers and saying 'I don't recall,' so many times that even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with snippets of e-mail that Gates both sent and received. [50] Gates later said he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. As to his demeanor during the deposition, he said, "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty. Whatever that penalty is should be levied against me: rudeness to Boies in the first degree." [51] Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization and tying , and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . [51] Appearance in ads Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft in 2008. The first commercial, co-starring Jerry Seinfeld , is a 90-second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up on a discount shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes inside. The salesman is trying to sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big. As Gates is buying the shoes, he holds up his discount card, which uses a slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New Mexico in 1977 for a traffic violation. [52] As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld asks Gates if he has melded his mind to other developers, after getting a yes, he then asks if they are working on a way to make computers edible, again getting a yes. Some say that this is an homage to Seinfeld's own show about "nothing" ( Seinfeld ). [53] In a second commercial in the series, Gates and Seinfeld are at the home of an average family trying to fit in with normal people. Post-Microsoft Since leaving Microsoft, Gates continues his philanthropy and, among other projects, purchased the video rights to the Messenger Lectures series called The Character of Physical Law , given at Cornell University by Richard Feynman in 1964 and recorded by the BBC. The videos are available online to the public at Microsoft's Project Tuva . [54] [55] In April 2010, Gates was invited to visit and speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he asked the students to take on the hard problems of the world in their futures. [56] [57] Personal life Bill and Melinda Gates , June 2009 Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994. They have two daughters, Jennifer Katharine (1996) and Phoebe Adele (2002), and one son, Rory John (1999). The Gates's home is an earth-sheltered house in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina. According to King County public records, as of 2006 the total assessed value of the property (land and house) is $125 million, and the annual property tax is $991,000. His 66,000 sq ft (6,100 m2) estate has a 60-foot (18 m) swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a 2,500 sq ft (230 m2) gym and a 1,000 sq ft (93 m2) dining room. [58] Also among Gates' private acquisitions is the Codex Leicester , a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci , which Gates bought for $30.8 million at an auction in 1994. [59] Gates is also known as an avid reader, and the ceiling of his large home library is engraved with a quotation from The Great Gatsby . [60] He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis, and golf. [61] [62] Gates was number one on the Forbes 400 list from 1993 through to 2007 and number one on Forbes list of The World's Richest People from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. In 1999, Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call him a "centibillionaire". [63] Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multi-billion dollar donations he has made to his charitable foundations. In a May 2006 interview, Gates commented that he wished that he were not the richest man in the world because he disliked the attention it brought. [64] Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of $616,667 and $350,000 bonus totalling $966,667. [65] He founded Corbis , a digital imaging company, in 1989. In 2004 he became a director of Berkshire Hathaway , the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett . [66] In March 2010 Bill Gates was bumped down to the second wealthiest man behind Carlos Slim . Philanthropy Gates (second from right) with Bono , Queen Rania of Jordan , Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown , President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria and other participants in a 'Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals' during the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Further information: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Gates began to appreciate the expectations others had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller , and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world. [67] The foundation allows benefactors access to information regarding how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust . [68] [69] The generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller has been credited as a major influence. Gates and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and modeled their giving in part on the Rockefeller family 's philanthropic focus, namely those global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations. [70] As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over $28 billion to charity. [71] They plan to eventually give 95% of their wealth to charity. [72] The foundation was at the same time criticized because it invests assets that it has not yet distributed with the exclusive goal of maximizing return on investment . As a result, its investments include companies that have been charged with worsening poverty in the same developing countries where the Foundation is attempting to relieve poverty. These include companies that pollute heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing world. [73] In response to press criticism, the foundation announced in 2007 a review of its investments, to assess social responsibility. [74] It subsequently canceled the review and stood by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices. [75] Gates's wife urged people to learn a lesson from the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, which had sold its home and given away half of its value, as detailed in The Power of Half . [76] Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Gates, investor Warren Buffett , and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's CEO) signed a promise they called the "Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge ", in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time. [77] [78] [79] Recognition In 1987, Gates was officially declared a billionaire in the pages of Forbes' 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth $1.25 billion, over $900 million more than he'd been worth the year before, when he'd debuted on the list. [80] Time magazine named Gates one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th century , as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006 . Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. [81] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time". [82] Gates was listed in the Sunday Times power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998, ranked number two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999 and was included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001. [83] In 1994, he was honoured as the twentieth Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society . Gates has received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit , Breukelen , The Netherlands, in 2000; [84] the Royal Institute of Technology , Stockholm, Sweden, in 2002; invited in 2003 to deliver the keynote address [85] of the Golden Jubilee of the Indian Institute of Technology ,held in San Jose, California; [86] Waseda University , Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua University , Beijing, China, in April 2007; [87] Harvard University in June 2007; [88] the Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm, in January 2008, [89] and Cambridge University in June 2009. [90] He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007. [91] Gates was also made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, [92] in addition to having entomologists name the Bill Gates flower fly, Eristalis gatesi , in his honor. [93] In November 2006, he and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores". [94] In October 2009, it was announced that Gates will be awarded the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership of The Franklin Institute for his achievements in business and for his philanthropic work. In 2010 he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America , its highest award for adults, for his service to youth. [95] In 2011, Bill Gates was ranked as the fifth most powerful person in the world, according to rankings by Forbes magazine. [96] Investments Cascade Investments LLC , a private investment and holding company, incorporated in United States, is controlled by Bill Gates, and is headquartered in the city of Kirkland, Washington . bgC3 , a new think-tank company founded by Bill Gates. Corbis , a digital image licensing and rights services company. TerraPower , a nuclear reactor design company. Steve Jobs For the biography, see Steve Jobs (biography) . Steve Jobs Mona Simpson (sister) Signature Steven Paul Jobs ( / ˈ dʒ ɒ b z / ; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman and inventor [5] [6] widely recognized (along with his Apple business partner Steve Wozniak ) as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution . He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios ; he became a member of the board of directors of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. In the late 1970s, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak engineered one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series . Jobs directed its aesthetic design and marketing along with A.C. "Mike" Markkula, Jr. and others. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC 's mouse -driven graphical user interface , which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa (engineered by Ken Rothmuller and John Couch ) and, one year later, of Apple employee Jef Raskin 's Macintosh . After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT , a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd , which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios . [7] He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, [8] making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder at seven percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors. [9] [10] Apple's 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its interim CEO from 1997, then becoming permanent CEO from 2000, onwards, spearheading the advent of the iMac , iTunes , iPod , iPhone , and iPad . [11] In buying NeXT, Apple also "acquire[d] the operating system that became Mac OS X ." [12] From 2003, Jobs fought an eight-year battle with cancer, [13] and eventually resigned as CEO in August 2011, while on his third medical leave. He was then elected chairman of Apple's board of directors. On October 5, 2011, around 3:00 p.m., Jobs died at his home in Palo Alto, California , aged 56, six weeks after resigning as CEO of Apple. A copy of his death certificate indicated respiratory arrest as the immediate cause of death, with " metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor " as the underlying cause. His occupation was listed as "entrepreneur" in the "high tech" business. [14] Contents 11.2 Interviews Early life and education Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955, and adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs (1922–1993) and Clara Jobs (1924–1986). Clara's maiden name was Hagopian. [15] When asked about his "adoptive parents," Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and Clara Jobs "were my parents." [16] He later stated in his authorized biography that they "were my parents 1,000%." [17] The Jobs family moved from San Francisco to Mountain View, California when Steve was five years old. [1] [2] Paul and Clara later adopted a daughter, Patti. Paul Jobs, a machinist for a company that made lasers , taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. [1] Clara was an accountant, [16] who taught him to read before he went to school. [1] Clara Jobs had been a payroll clerk for Varian Associates , one of the first high-tech firms in what became known as Silicon Valley. [18] Asked in a 1995 interview what he wanted to pass on to his children, Jobs replied, "Just to try to be as good a father to them as my father was to me. I think about that every day of my life." During World War II, Paul Jobs joined the Coast Guard and "ferried troops around the world for General Patton . I think he was always getting into trouble and getting busted down to Private," [1] Jobs said. A machinist by trade, his father worked hard and was "a genius with his hands." Jobs told an interviewer, "I was very lucky. My father, Paul, was a pretty remarkable man." [1] When his son was five or six, Paul Jobs sectioned a piece of his workbench and gave it to Jobs, saying "'Steve, this is your workbench now.' And he gave me some of his smaller tools and showed me how to use a hammer and saw and how to build things. It really was very good for me. He spent a lot of time with me... teaching me how to build things, how to take things apart, put things back together." [1] Jobs also noted that while his father "did not have a deep understanding of electronics [...] he'd encountered electronics a lot in automobiles and other things he would fix. He showed me the rudiments of electronics and I got very interested in that." [1] Jobs attended Monta Loma Elementary, Mountain View , Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California . [2] He frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California , and was later hired there, working with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. [19] Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon . Although he dropped out after only one semester, [20] he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. [21] Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts." [21] Early career Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, September 1976 In 1974, Jobs took a job as a technician at Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California . [22] He traveled to India in the summer of 1974 [23] to visit Neem Karoli Baba [24] at his Kainchi Ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, an early Apple employee), Daniel Kottke , in search of spiritual enlightenment. However, when they got to the Neem Karoli ashram, it was basically deserted after Neem Karoli had died earlier in the year. [22] Then they made a long trek up a huge dry riverbed to an ashram of Hariakhan Baba . In India, they spent a lot of time on endless bus rides from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and back, then up to Himachal Pradesh and back. [22] Jobs left India after staying for seven months [25] and returned to the US ahead of Daniel Kottke , [22] with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian clothing. [26] [27] During this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics , calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life". [28] He later said that people around him who did not share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking. [28] Jobs returned to Atari and was assigned to create a circuit board for the game Breakout . According to Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell , Atari offered $100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest in or knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. According to Wozniak, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari gave them only $700 (instead of the offered $5,000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350. [29] Wozniak didn't learn about the bonus until about ten years later, but said that had Jobs told him about it and said he needed the money, Wozniak would have given it to him. [30] Jobs began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak in 1975. [2] He greatly admired Edwin H. Land , the inventor of instant photography and founder of Polaroid Corporation , and explicitly modeled his career after him. [31] [32] Career See also: History of Apple Home of Paul and Clara Jobs, on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California . Steve Jobs formed Apple Computer in its garage with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. Wayne stayed only a short time, leaving Jobs and Wozniak as the primary co-founders of the company. Jobs and Steve Wozniak met in 1971, when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. In 1976, Woz invented the Apple I computer. Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple computer in the garage of Jobs's parents in order to sell it. [33] They received funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. "Mike" Markkula, Jr. [34] As Apple continued to expand with Wozniak's next version, the Apple II , the company began looking for an experienced executive to help manage its expansion. In 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO for what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?" [35] Apple president Mike Markkula also wanted to retire and believed that Jobs lacked the discipline and temperament needed to run Apple on a daily basis and that Sculley's conventional business background and recent successes would give a more favorable image.[ citation needed ] Apple logo in 1977, created by Rob Janoff with the rainbow color theme used until 1998. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse -driven graphical user interface , which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa . One year later, Apple employee Jef Raskin invented the Macintosh . [36] [37] The following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled " 1984 ". At Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience; Andy Hertzfeld described the scene as "pandemonium". [38] The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface . While Jobs was a persuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of his employees from that time described him as an erratic and temperamental manager. An industry-wide sales slump towards the end of 1984 caused a deterioration in Jobs's working relationship with Sculley, as well as layoffs and disappointing sales performance. An internal power struggle developed between Jobs and Sculley. [39] Jobs kept meetings running past midnight, sent out lengthy faxes, then called new meetings at 7:00 am. [40] The Apple board of directors instructed Sculley to "contain" Jobs and limit his ability to launch expensive forays into untested products.[ citation needed ] Sculley learned that Jobs—believing Sculley to be "bad for Apple" and the wrong person to lead the company—had been attempting to organize a boardroom coup , [39] and on May 24, 1985, [39] he called a board meeting to resolve the matter. Apple's board of directors sided with Sculley and removed Jobs from his managerial duties as head of the Macintosh division. [41] [42] Jobs resigned from Apple five months later [39] and founded NeXT Inc. the same year. [40] [43] In a speech Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005, he said being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him; "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life." And he added, "I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it." [21] [44] [45] NeXT Computer See also: NeXT A NeXTstation with the original keyboard, mouse and the NeXT MegaPixel monitor After leaving Apple, Jobs founded NeXT Computer in 1985, with $7 million. A year later, Jobs was running out of money, and with no product on the horizon, he appealed for venture capital. Eventually, he attracted the attention of billionaire Ross Perot who invested heavily in the company. [46] NeXT workstations were first released in 1990, priced at $9,999. Like the Apple Lisa , the NeXT workstation was technologically advanced, but was largely dismissed as cost-prohibitive by the educational sector for which it was designed. [47] The NeXT workstation was known for its technical strengths, chief among them its object-oriented software development system. Jobs marketed NeXT products to the financial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting its innovative, experimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel , the digital signal processor chip, and the built-in Ethernet port. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web on a NeXT computer at CERN . [48] The revised, second-generation NeXTcube was released in 1990, also. Jobs touted it as the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace the personal computer. With its innovative NeXTMail multimedia email system, NeXTcube could share voice, image, graphics, and video in email for the first time. "Interpersonal computing is going to revolutionise human communications and groupwork", Jobs told reporters. [49] Jobs ran NeXT with an obsession for aesthetic perfection, as evidenced by the development of and attention to NeXTcube's magnesium case. [50] This put considerable strain on NeXT's hardware division, and in 1993, after having sold only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP / Intel . [51] The company reported its first profit of $1.03 million in 1994. [46] In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects , a framework for Web application development. After NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 1997, WebObjects was used to build and run the Apple Store , [51] MobileMe services, and the iTunes Store . Pixar and Disney In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar ) from Lucasfilm 's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was given to the company as capital. [52] The new company, which was originally based at Lucasfilm 's Kerner Studios in San Rafael , California, but has since relocated to Emeryville , was initially intended to be a high-end graphics hardware developer. After years of unprofitability selling the Pixar Image Computer , it contracted with Disney to produce a number of computer-animated feature films that Disney would co-finance and distribute.[ citation needed ] The first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story , with Jobs credited as executive producer, [53] brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. Over the next 15 years, under Pixar's creative chief John Lasseter , the company produced box-office hits A Bug's Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); The Incredibles (2004); Cars (2006); Ratatouille (2007); WALL-E (2008); Up (2009); and Toy Story 3 (2010). Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3 each received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature , an award introduced in 2001.[ citation needed ] Steve Jobs on computer graphics. Interview excerpt from 1995. [54] In the years 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnership, [55] and in early 2004, Jobs announced that Pixar would seek a new partner to distribute its films after its contract with Disney expired. In October 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to patch up relations with Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. When the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company 's largest single shareholder with approximately seven percent of the company's stock. [9] Jobs's holdings in Disney far exceeded those of Eisner, who holds 1.7 percent, and of Disney family member Roy E. Disney , who until his 2009 death held about one percent of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner — especially that he soured Disney's relationship with Pixar — accelerated Eisner's ousting. Jobs joined the company's board of directors upon completion of the merger and also helped oversee Disney and Pixar's combined animation businesses with a seat on a special six-person steering committee.[ citation needed ] Return to Apple See also: "1998–2005: Return to profitability" in Apple, Inc. Logo for the Think Different campaign designed by TBWA\Chiat\Day and initiated by Jobs after his return to Apple Computer in 1997. In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $429 million. The deal was finalized in late 1996, [56] bringing Jobs back to the company he co-founded. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997. He was formally named interim chief executive in September. [57] In March 1998, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated a number of projects, such as Newton , Cyberdog , and OpenDoc . In the coming months, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a whole company." [58] Jobs also changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones , making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines. With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Apple products, most notably NeXTSTEP , which evolved into Mac OS X . Under Jobs's guidance, the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful branding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO. [59] Jobs quipped at the time that he would be using the title "iCEO". [60] Jobs on stage at Macworld Conference & Expo , San Francisco, January 11, 2005 The company subsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store , the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone , a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While stimulating innovation, Jobs also reminded his employees that "real artists ship". [61] Jobs was both admired and criticized for his consummate skill at persuasion and salesmanship, which has been dubbed the " reality distortion field " and was particularly evident during his keynote speeches (colloquially known as " Stevenotes ") at Macworld Expos and at Apple Worldwide Developers Conferences . In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the US by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's Annual Meeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announced it would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. The Computer TakeBack Campaign responded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation at which Jobs was the commencement speaker. [21] The banner read "Steve, don't be a mini-player—recycle all e-waste". In 2006, he further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any US customer who buys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendly disposal" of their old systems. [62] Resignation In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained with the company as chairman of the company's board. [63] [64] Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares dropped five percent in after-hours trading. [65] This relatively small drop, when considering the importance of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that his health had been in the news for several years, and he had been on medical leave since January 2011. [66] It was believed, according to Forbes , that the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt Disney Company where Jobs served as director. [67] In after-hours trading on the day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5 percent. [68] Business life Wealth Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, [69] but held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar). [70] Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance. [71] Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd wealthiest American. [72] Stock options backdating issue Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in 2007 In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated , and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. The case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations, [73] though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted to him were returned without being exercised in 2003. [74] On July 1, 2008, a $7-billion class action suit was filed against several members of the Apple Board of Directors for revenue lost due to the alleged securities fraud. [75] [76] Management style Jobs was a demanding perfectionist [77] [78] who always aspired to position his businesses and their products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least in innovation and style. He summed up that self-concept at the end of his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference and Expo in January 2007, by quoting ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky : There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will. [79] Much was made of Jobs's aggressive and demanding personality. Fortune wrote that he was "considered one of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs ". [80] Commentaries on his temperamental style can be found in Michael Moritz 's The Little Kingdom , The Second Coming of Steve Jobs , by Alan Deutschman; and iCon: Steve Jobs , by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon. In 1993, Jobs made Fortune's list of America's Toughest Bosses in regard to his leadership of NeXT. NeXT Cofounder Dan'l Lewin was quoted in Fortune as saying of that period, "The highs were unbelievable ... But the lows were unimaginable", to which Jobs's office replied that his personality had changed since then. [81] In 2005, Jobs banned all books published by John Wiley & Sons from Apple Stores in response to their publishing an unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs . [82] In its 2010 annual earnings report, Wiley said it had "closed a deal ... to make its titles available for the iPad." [83] Jef Raskin , a former colleague, once said that Jobs "would have made an excellent king of France", alluding to Jobs's compelling and larger-than-life persona. [84] Floyd Norman said that at Pixar, Jobs was a "mature, mellow individual" and never interfered with the creative process of the filmmakers. [85] Jobs had a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell , starting[ when? ] when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beige boxes". [86] On October 6, 1997, in a Gartner Symposium, when Michael Dell was asked what he would do if he owned then-troubled Apple Computer, he said "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." [87] In 2006, Jobs sent an email to all employees when Apple's market capitalization rose above Dell's. The email read: Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve. [88] Inventions and designs His design sense was greatly influenced by the Buddhism which he experienced in India while on a seven-month spiritual journey. [89] His sense of intuition was also influenced by the spiritual people with whom he studied. [89] As of October 9, 2011, Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 342 United States patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages. Most of these are design patents (specific product designs) as opposed to utility patents (inventions). [90] [91] He has 43 issued US patents on inventions. [92] The patent on the Mac OS X Dock user interface with "magnification" feature was issued the day before he died. [93] Philanthropy Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek magazine stated that "Jobs isn't widely known for his association with philanthropic causes", compared to Bill Gates 's efforts. [94] Jobs said he does charitable acts privately. [95] After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs initially. [96] Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in Product Red program, producing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple became the single largest contributor since then. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono cited Jobs saying there was "nothing better than the chance to save lives," when he initially approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program. [97] Personal life Jobs's birth parents met at the University of Wisconsin . Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, a Syrian Muslim , [98] taught there. Joanne Carole Schieble was his student; however, they were the same age because Jandali had "gotten his PhD really young." [99] [100] [101] Schieble had a career as a speech language pathologist . Jandali taught political science at the University of Nevada [ disambiguation needed ] in the 1960s, and then made his career in the food and beverage industry, and since 2006, has been a vice president at a casino in Reno, Nevada . [102] [103] In December 1955, ten months after giving up their baby boy, Schieble and Jandali married. In 1957, they had a daughter Mona together. They divorced in 1962, and Jandali lost touch with his daughter. [104] Her mother remarried and had Mona take the surname of her stepfather, so she became known as Mona Simpson . [100] In the 1980s, Jobs found his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, who told him he had a biological sister, Mona Simpson. They met for the first time in 1985 [104] and became close friends. The siblings kept their relationship secret until 1986, when Mona introduced him at a party for her first book. [16] After deciding to search for their father, Simpson found Jandali managing a coffee shop. Without knowing who his son had become, Jandali told Mona that he had previously managed a popular restaurant in the Silicon Valley where "Even Steve Jobs used to eat there. Yeah, he was a great tipper." In a taped interview with his biographer Walter Isaacson , aired on 60 Minutes , [105] Jobs said: "When I was looking for my biological mother, obviously, you know, I was looking for my biological father at the same time, and I learned a little bit about him and I didn't like what I learned. I asked her to not tell him that we ever met...not tell him anything about me." [106] Jobs was in occasional touch with his mother Joanne Simpson, [96] [107] who lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles. [100] When speaking about his biological parents, Jobs stated: "They were my sperm and egg bank. That's not harsh, it's just the way it was, a sperm bank thing, nothing more." [17] Jandali stated in an interview with the The Sun in August 2011, that his efforts to contact Jobs were unsuccessful. Jandali mailed in his medical history after Jobs's pancreatic disorder was made public that year. [108] [109] [110] In her eulogy to Jobs at his memorial service, Mona Simpson stated: I grew up as an only child, with a single mother. Because we were poor and because I knew my father had emigrated from Syria, I imagined he looked like Omar Sharif. I hoped he would be rich and kind and would come into our lives (and our not yet furnished apartment) and help us. Later, after I'd met my father, I tried to believe he'd changed his number and left no forwarding address because he was an idealistic revolutionary, plotting a new world for the Arab people. Even as a feminist, my whole life I'd been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I'd thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother. [104] Jobs's first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs , was born in 1978, the daughter of his longtime partner Chris Ann Brennan, a Bay Area painter. [96] For two years, she raised their daughter on welfare while Jobs denied paternity by claiming he was sterile; he later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter. [96] Jobs later married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991, in a ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park . Presiding over the wedding was Kobun Chino Otogawa , a Zen Buddhist monk. Their son, Reed, was born September 1991, followed by daughters Erin in August 1995, and Eve in 1998. [111] The family lives in Palo Alto, California . [112] Jobs demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23, 2010 In the unauthorized biography, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs , author Alan Deutschman reports that Jobs once dated Joan Baez . Deutschman quotes Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs from his time at Reed College, as saying she "believed that Steve became the lover of Joan Baez in large measure because Baez had been the lover of Bob Dylan " (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). In another unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon, the authors suggest that Jobs might have married Baez, but her age at the time (41) meant it was unlikely the couple could have children. Jobs was also a fan of The Beatles . He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also was interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about his business model on 60 Minutes , he replied: My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people. [113] In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment in The San Remo , an apartment building in New York City with a politically progressive reputation, where Demi Moore , Steven Spielberg , Steve Martin , and Princess Yasmin Aga Khan , daughter of Rita Hayworth , also had apartments. With the help of I.M. Pei , Jobs spent years renovating his apartment in the top two floors of the building's north tower, only to sell it almost two decades later to U2 singer Bono . Jobs never moved in. [114] [115] In 1984, Jobs purchased the Jackling House , a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2), 14-bedroom Spanish Colonial mansion designed by George Washington Smith in Woodside, California . Although it reportedly remained in an almost unfurnished state, Jobs lived in the mansion for almost ten years. According to reports, he kept a 1966 BMW R60/2 motorcycle in the living room, and let Bill Clinton use it in 1998. From the early 1990s, Jobs lived in a house in the Old Palo Alto neighborhood of Palo Alto. President Clinton dined with Jobs and 14 Silicon Valley CEOs there on August 7, 1996, at a meal catered by Greens Restaurant . [116] [117] Clinton returned the favor and Jobs, who was a Democratic donor, slept in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House . [118] Jobs allowed Jackling House to fall into a state of disrepair, planning to demolish the house and build a smaller home on the property; but he met with complaints from local preservationists over his plans. In June 2004, the Woodside Town Council gave Jobs approval to demolish the mansion, on the condition that he advertise the property for a year to see if someone would move it to another location and restore it. A number of people expressed interest, including several with experience in restoring old property, but no agreements to that effect were reached. Later that same year, a local preservationist group began seeking legal action to prevent demolition. In January 2007, Jobs was denied the right to demolish the property, by a court decision. [119] The court decision was overturned on appeal in March 2010, and the mansion was demolished beginning February 2011. [120] Jobs usually wore a black long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by Issey Miyake (that was sometimes reported to be made by St. Croix ), Levi's 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. [121] [122] Jobs told Walter Isaacson "...he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style." [123] He was a pescetarian . [124] Jobs's car was a silver 2008 Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, which does not display its license plates, as he took advantage of a California law which gives a maximum of six months for new vehicles to receive plates; Jobs leased a new identical SL every six months. [125] [126] [127] Political activities This section requires expansion . In a 2011 interview with biographer Walter Isaacson , Jobs revealed at one point he met with U.S. President Barack Obama , complained of the nation's shortage of software engineers, and told Mr. Obama that he was "headed for a one-term presidency." Jobs proposed that any foreign student who got an engineering degree at a U.S. university should automatically be offered a green card. After the meeting, Jobs commented, "The president is very smart, but he kept explaining to us reasons why things can't get done.... It infuriates me." [128] Health issues Jobs addressing concerns about his blood pressure at a September 2008 Apple event. In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer, [129] and in mid-2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas . [130] The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor; [131] Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor . [130] Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months, [96] instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Dr. Ramzi Amir, his choice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death". [129] According to Jobs's biographer, Walter Isaacson , "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined." [132] "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004." [133] He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or "Whipple procedure") in July 2004, that appeared to successfully remove the tumor. [134] [135] [136] Jobs apparently did not receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy . [130] [137] During Jobs's absence, Tim Cook , head of worldwide sales and operations at Apple, ran the company. [130] In early August 2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference . His "thin, almost gaunt" appearance and unusually "listless" delivery, [138] [139] together with his choice to delegate significant portions of his keynote to other presenters, inspired a flurry of media and Internet speculation about his health. [140] In contrast, according to an Ars Technica journal report, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) attendees who saw Jobs in person said he "looked fine". [141] Following the keynote, an Apple spokesperson said that "Steve's health is robust." [142] Two years later, similar concerns followed Jobs's 2008 WWDC keynote address. [143] Apple officials stated Jobs was victim to a "common bug" and was taking antibiotics, [144] while others surmised his cachectic appearance was due to the Whipple procedure . [137] During a July conference call discussing Apple earnings, participants responded to repeated questions about Jobs's health by insisting that it was a "private matter". Others, however, voiced the opinion that shareholders had a right to know more, given Jobs's hands-on approach to running his company. [145] [146] The New York Times published an article based on an off-the-record phone conversation with Jobs, noting that "While his health problems amounted to a good deal more than 'a common bug', they weren't life-threatening and he doesn't have a recurrence of cancer." [147] On August 28, 2008, Bloomberg mistakenly published a 2500-word obituary of Jobs in its corporate news service, containing blank spaces for his age and cause of death. (News carriers customarily stockpile up-to-date obituaries to facilitate news delivery in the event of a well-known figure's untimely death.) Although the error was promptly rectified, many news carriers and blogs reported on it, [148] intensifying rumors concerning Jobs's health. [149] Jobs responded at Apple's September 2008 Let's Rock keynote by quoting Mark Twain : "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." [150] At a subsequent media event, Jobs concluded his presentation with a slide reading "110/70", referring to his blood pressure , stating he would not address further questions about his health. [151] On December 16, 2008, Apple announced that marketing vice-president Phil Schiller would deliver the company's final keynote address at the Macworld Conference and Expo 2009, again reviving questions about Jobs's health. [152] [153] In a statement given on January 5, 2009, on Apple.com , [154] Jobs said that he had been suffering from a " hormone imbalance" for several months. [155] On January 14, 2009, in an internal Apple memo, Jobs wrote that in the previous week he had "learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought", and announced a six-month leave of absence until the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on his health. Tim Cook, who previously acted as CEO in Jobs's 2004 absence, became acting CEO of Apple, [156] with Jobs still involved with "major strategic decisions." [156] In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee . [157] [158] Jobs's prognosis was described as "excellent". [157] On January 17, 2011, a year and a half after Jobs returned from his liver transplant, Apple announced that he had been granted a medical leave of absence. Jobs announced his leave in a letter to employees, stating his decision was made "so he could focus on his health". As during his 2009 medical leave, Apple announced that Tim Cook would run day-to-day operations and that Jobs would continue to be involved in major strategic decisions at the company. [159] [160] Despite the leave, he made appearances at the iPad 2 launch event (March 2), the WWDC keynote introducing iCloud (June 6), and before the Cupertino city council (June 7). [161] Jobs announced his resignation as Apple's CEO on August 24, 2011. "Unfortunately, that day has come," wrote Jobs, for he could "no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple's CEO". Jobs became chairman of the board and named Tim Cook his successor. [162] [163] Jobs had worked for Apple until the day before his death. [164] Death Memorial candles and iPads to Steve Jobs outside the Apple Store in Palo Alto California shortly after his death Jobs died at his California home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, due to complications from relapse of his previously treated islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer , [2] [165] [166] resulting in respiratory arrest . He had lost consciousness the day before, and died with his wife, children and sister at his side. His death was announced by Apple in a statement which read: We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today. Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts. [167] Jobs is survived by Laurene, his wife of 20 years, their three children, and Lisa Brennan-Jobs , his daughter from a previous relationship. [168] His family released a statement saying that he "died peacefully". [169] [170] According to Simpson, Jobs "looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them". His last words, spoken hours before his death, were: "OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW." (These words were capitalized in The New York Times presentation of her eulogy.) [104] For two weeks following his death, Apple's corporate Web site displayed a simple page, showing Jobs's name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait. Clicking on the image led to an obituary, which read: Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.[ citation needed ] Also dedicating its homepage to Jobs was Pixar , with a photo of Jobs, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull , and the eulogy they wrote: [171] Steve was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend, and our guiding light of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the rest of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he always said was to 'make it great.' He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity, and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be part of Pixar's DNA. Our hearts go out to his wife Laurene and their children during this incredibly difficult time. [171] Apple and Pixar's website still displays their tribute with a link to it on their respective main pages. An email address was also posted for the public to share their memories, condolences, and thoughts. [172] [173] Over a million tributes were sent, which are now displayed on the Steve Jobs memorial page. Shortly after his death was announced, ABC , CBS , and NBC interrupted scheduled programming to broadcast this news. [174] Numerous newspapers around the world carried news of his death on their front pages the next day. Several notable people, including US President Barack Obama , [175] British Prime Minister David Cameron , [176] Microsoft founder Bill Gates , [177] and The Walt Disney Company 's Bob Iger commented on the death of Jobs. Wired News collected reactions and posted them in tribute on their homepage. [178] Other statements of condolences were made by many of Jobs's friends and colleagues, such as Steve Wozniak and George Lucas . [179] [180] A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, of which details were not revealed in respect to Jobs's family. [181] Apple announced on the same day that they had no plans for a public service, but were rather encouraging "well-wishers" to send their remembrance messages to an email address created to receive such messages. [182] Sunday, October 16, 2011, was declared "Steve Jobs Day" by Governor Jerry Brown of California. [183] On that day, an invitation-only memorial was held at Stanford University . Those in attendance include Apple and other tech company executives, members of the media, celebrities, close friends of Jobs, and politicians, along with Jobs's family. U2's Bono , Yo Yo Ma , and Joan Baez performed at the service, which lasted longer than an hour. The service was highly secured, with guards at all of the university's gates, and a helicopter flying overhead from an area news station. [184] [185] Both Apple and Microsoft flew their flags at half-staff throughout their respective headquarters and campuses. [186] [187] Bob Iger ordered all Disney properties, including Walt Disney World and Disneyland , to fly their flags at half-staff, from October 6 to 12, 2011. [188] A private memorial service for Apple employees was held on October 19, 2011, on the Apple Campus in Cupertino. Present were Cook, Bill Campbell , Norah Jones , Al Gore , and Coldplay , and Jobs's widow, Laurene, was in attendance. Some of Apple's retail stores closed briefly so employees could attend the memorial. An official video of the service is available on Apple's website. [189] Jobs is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park , the only non-denominational cemetery in Palo Alto. [190] [191] Major media published commemorative works. Time published a commemorative issue for Jobs on October 8, 2011. The issues cover featured a portrait of Jobs, taken by Norman Seeff , in which he is sitting in the lotus position holding the original Macintosh computer, first published in Rolling Stone in January 1984. The issue marked the eighth time Jobs has been featured on the cover of Time. [192] The issue included a photographic essay by Diana Walker, a retrospective on Apple by Harry McCracken and Lev Grossman , and a six-page essay by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson's essay served as a preview of his biography, Steve Jobs . [193] Bloomberg Businessweek also published a commemorative issue. The cover of the magazine features Apple-style simplicity, with a black-and-white, up-close photo of Jobs and his years of birth and death. The issue was published without advertisements. It featured extensive essays by Steve Jurvetson , John Sculley , Sean Wisely, William Gibson, and Walter Isaacson . Free software pioneer Richard Stallman dissented from the prevailing hagiographic views of Jobs to draw attention to the tight corporate control Apple exercised over consumer computers and handheld devices, how Apple restricted news reporters, and persistently violated privacy: "Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died". [194] [195] Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker asserted that "Jobs’s sensibility was editorial, not inventive. His gift lay in taking what was in front of him ... and ruthlessly refining it." [196] Although reporters wrote glowing elegies after Jobs died, Los Angeles Times media critic James Rainey reported that they "came courtesy of reporters who—after deadline and off the record—would tell stories about a company obsessed with secrecy to the point of paranoia. They remind us how Apple shut down a youthful fanboy blogger, punished a publisher that dared to print an unauthorized Jobs biography and repeatedly ran afoul of the most basic tenets of a free press." [197] Apple "has taken stances that, in my opinion, are outright hostile to the practice of journalism," said longtime Silicon Valley reporter Dan Gillmor . [197] Under Jobs, Apple sued three "small fry" bloggers who reported tips about the company and its unreleased products and tried to use the courts to force them to reveal their sources. Under Jobs, Apple even sued a teenager, Nicholas Ciarelli , who wrote enthusiastic speculation about Apple products beginning at age 13. His popular blog, ThinkSecret, was a play on Apple's slogan "Think Different." [197] Rainey wrote that Apple wanted to kill ThinkSecret as "It thought any leaks, even favorable ones, diluted the punch of its highly choreographed product launches with Jobs, in his iconic jeans and mock turtleneck outfit, as the star." [197] Honors and public recognition Jobs presenting iPhone OS (now iOS ) 2 at WWDC 2008 . After Apple's founding, Jobs became a symbol of his company and industry. When Time named the computer as the 1982 "Machine of the Year" , the magazine published a long profile of Jobs as "the most famous maestro of the micro". [198] [199] 9 External links Family, education, and personal life Imran Khan was born to Shaukat Khanum ( Burki ) [5] and Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, in Lahore . A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up in an upper middle-class Niazi Pathan family with four sisters, he being the only son of his parents. [6] Settled in Punjab , Khan's father descended from the Pashtun ( Pathan ) Niazi Shermankhel tribe of Mianwali in Punjab . [7] Imran's Mother Shaukat Khanum ( Burki 's) family includes successful hockey players [5] and cricketers such as Javed Burki and Majid Khan . [7] Khan was educated at Aitchison College , the Cathedral School in Lahore, and the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford , where he graduated with a second-class degree in Politics and a third in Economics. [8] Marriage to Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith , in an Islamic ceremony in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond register office in England, followed by a reception at the Goldsmiths' house in Surrey . [9] The marriage, described as "tough" by Khan, [7] produced two sons, Sulaiman Isa (born 18 November 1996) and Kasim (born 10 April 1999). [10] As an agreement of his marriage, Khan spent four months a year in England. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the Khans had divorced because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan". [11] The marriage ended amicably. Imran has regular access to his children and his relationship with his ex-wife is friendly. Khan now resides in Bani Gala, Islamabad , where he built a farmhouse with the money he gained from selling his London flat. He grows fruit trees, wheat, and keeps cows, while also maintaining a cricket ground for his two sons, who visit during their holidays. [7] Cricket career See also: List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Imran Khan Khan made a lacklustre first-class cricket debut at the age of sixteen in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71). [12] Khan was part of Oxford University's Blues Cricket team during the 1973-75 seasons. [8] At Worcestershire , where he played county cricket from 1971 to 1976, he was regarded as only an average medium pace bowler . During this decade, other teams represented by Khan include Dawood Industries (1975–76) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–76 to 1980-81). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex . [1] In 1971, Khan made his Test cricket debut against England at Birmingham . Three years later, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Nottingham for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976-77 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia . [12] Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies , where he met Tony Greig , who signed him up for Kerry Packer 's World Series Cricket . [1] His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers of the world started to establish when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding , but ahead of Dennis Lillee , Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts . [1] As a fast bowler, Khan reached the peak of his powers in 1982. In 9 Tests , he got 62 wickets at 13.29 each, the lowest average of any bowler in Test history with at least 50 wickets in a calendar year. [13] In January 1983, playing against India , he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (ICC player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings. [14] Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second fastest record behind Ian Botham 's 72. He is also established as having the second highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 of the batting order. [15] He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad . Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England at Melbourne, Australia. [16] He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136 runs. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so. [1] In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score remains 102 not out. His best ODI bowling is documented at 6 wickets for 14 runs. Captaincy At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team from Javed Miandad . Recalling his initial discomfort with this new role, he later said, "When I became the cricket captain, I couldn’t speak to the team directly I was so shy. I had to tell the manager, I said listen can you talk to them, this is what I want to convey to the team. I mean early team meetings I use to be so shy and embarrassed I couldn’t talk to the team." [17] As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, out of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the rest of 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie. [1] In the team's second match under his leadership, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's. [18] Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981-82. [1] He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982-83, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain. [12] Imran Khan's test career bowling statistics This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984-85 season. [1] In 1987, Khan led Pakistan to its first ever Test series win in India, which was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England the same year. [18] During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President Of Pakistan , General Zia-Ul-Haq , and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team. [1] Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well". [7] He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 tests. [1] Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup . Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad , but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan scored the highest runs of all the Pakistani batsmen and took the winning last wicket himself. [12] Post-retirement In 1994, Khan had admitted that, during Test matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex were playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot." [19] In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, India Today. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago. [20] Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10-2 majority decision by the jury. [20] Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's Outlook magazine, [21] the Guardian, [22] the Independent, and the Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu [23] and the Star TV network. [24] In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports ' special live show, Straight Drive, [25] while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. [26] He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for BBC during the 1999 World Cup. [26] In November 2009 Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine. [27] Social work For more than four years after retiring from cricket in 1992, Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world. [3] Inspired by the memory of his mother, who died of cancer, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre , a charitable cancer hospital with 75 percent free care, opened in Lahore on 29 December 1994. [7] Khan currently serves as the chairman of the hospital and continues to raise funds through charity and public donations. [28] During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF 's Special Representative for Sports [29] and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. [30] On 27 April 2008, Khan's brainchild, a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College , was inaugurated. Namal College was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), as chaired by Khan, and was made an associate college of the University of Bradford (of which Khan is Chancellor) in December 2005. [31] Currently, Khan is building another cancer hospital in Karachi , using his successful Lahore institution as a model. While in London, he also works with the Lord’s Taverners, a cricket charity. [3] Political work The neutrality of this section is disputed . Please see the discussion on the talk page . Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (February 2011) In 1996, Khan founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which emphasized on anti-corruption policies. [7] [32] The newly formed party was unable to win a seat during the 1997 Pakistani general election . [33] Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, [34] believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias". [35] According to Khan, he was Musharraf's choice of prime minister in 2002 but turned down the offer. [36] The 2002 Pakistani general election were held in October across 272 constituencies. Khan anticipated doing well in the elections and was prepared to form a coalition if his party did not get a majority of the vote. [37] He was elected from the NA-71 constituency of Mianwali and being the only party member to have secured a seat, PTI won only 0.8% of the popular vote. Khan, who was sworn in as an MP on 16 November [38] , remained part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts, and expressed legislative interest in Foreign Affairs, Education and Justice. [39] On 6 May 2005, Khan became one of the first Muslim figures to criticise a 300-word Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Khan held a press conference to denounce the article and demanded that Gen. Pervez Musharraf secure an apology from the American president George W. Bush for the incident. [40] In 2006, he exclaimed, "Musharraf is sitting here, and he licks George Bush’s shoes!" Criticizing Muslim leaders supportive of the Bush administration, he added, "They are the puppets sitting on the Muslim world. We want a sovereign Pakistan. We do not want a president to be a poodle of George Bush." [17] During George W. Bush's visit to Pakistan in March 2006, Khan was placed under house arrest in Islamabad after his threats of organising a protest. [7] In June 2007, the federal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr. Sher Afghan Khan Niazi and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party filed separate ineligibility references against Khan, asking for his disqualification as member of the National Assembly on grounds of immorality. Both references, filed on the basis of articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan , were rejected on 5 September. [41] On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement , Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the Presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which General Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief. [4] On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest at his father's home hours after President Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Khan had demanded the death penalty for Musharraf after the imposition of emergency rule, which he equated to "committing treason". The next day, on 4 November, Khan escaped and went into peripatetic hiding. [42] He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab . [43] At the rally, Khan was captured by students from the Jamaat-i-Islami political party, who claimed that Khan was an uninvited nuisance at the rally, and they handed him over to the police, who charged him under the Anti-terrorism act for allegedly inciting people to pick up arms, calling for civil disobedience, and for spreading hatred. [44] Incarcerated in the Dera Ghazi Khan Jail, Khan's relatives had access to him and were able to meet him to deliver goods during his week-long stay in jail. On 19 November, Khan let out the word through PTI members and his family that he had begun a hunger strike but the Deputy Superintendent of Dera Ghazi Khan Jail denied this news, saying that Khan had bread, eggs and fruit for breakfast. [45] Khan was one of the 3,000 political prisoners released from imprisonment on 21 November 2007. [46] Ideology Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan. [16] [24] [47] Khan told Britain's Daily Telegraph , "I want Pakistan to be a welfare state and a genuine democracy with a rule of law and an independent judiciary." [16] Other ideas he has presented include a requirement of all students to spend a year after graduation teaching in the countryside and cutting down the over-staffed bureaucracy in order to send them to teach too.. [48] "We need decentralisation, empowering people at the grass roots," he has said. [49] Criticism During the 1970s and 1980s, Khan became known as a socialite due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp. though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol. [3] [7] [24] [40] He also gained notoriety in London gossip columns for romancing young debutantes such as Susannah Constantine , Lady Liza Campbell and the artist Emma Sergeant. [7] Khan is often dismissed as a political lightweight [43] and a celebrity outsider in Pakistan, [17] where national newspapers also refer to him as a "spoiler politician". [50] The Muttahida Qaumi Movement , has asserted that Khan is "a sick person who has been a total failure in politics and is alive just because of the media coverage". [51] Political observers say the crowds he draws are attracted by his cricketing celebrity, and the public has been reported to view him as a figure of entertainment rather than a serious political authority. [48] Declan Walsh in The Guardian newspaper in England in 2005 described Khan as a "miserable politician," observing that, "Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower... He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next." [52] The charge constantly raised against Khan is that of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life's "playboy to puritan U-turn." [17] Political commentator Najam Sethi , stated that, "A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn’t inspire people." [17] In 2008, as part of the Hall of Shame awards for 2007, Pakistan's Newsline magazine gave Khan the "Paris Hilton award for being the most undeserving media darling." The 'citation' for Khan read: "He is the leader of a party that is the proud holder of one National Assembly seat (and) gets media coverage inversely proportional to his political influence." The Guardian has described the coverage garnered by Khan's post-retirement activities in England, where he made his name as a cricket star and a night-club regular, as "terrible tosh, with danger attached. It turns a great (and greatly miserable) Third World nation into a gossip-column annexe. We may all choke on such frivolity." [53] After the 2008 general elections, political columnist Azam Khalil addressed Khan as one of the "utter failures in Pakistani politics". [54] Awards and honours In 1992, Khan was given Pakistan's civil award, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz In 1983, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award Khan is featured in the University of Oxford's Hall of Fame and has been an honorary fellow of Oxford's Keble College. [29] On 7 December 2005, Khan was appointed the fifth Chancellor of the University of Bradford , where he is also a patron of the Born in Bradford research project. In 1976 as well as 1980, Khan was awarded The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for being the leading all-rounder in English first-class cricket. In 1983, he was also named Wisden Cricketer of the Year In 1985, Sussex Cricket Society Player of the Year In 1990, Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year [12] On 5 July 2008, he was one of several veteran Asian cricketers presented special silver jubilee awards at the inaugural Asian cricket Council (ACC) award ceremony in Karachi. [55] On 8 July 2004, Khan was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Asian Jewel Awards in London, for "acting as a figurehead for many international charities and working passionately and extensively in fund-raising activities. [56] On 13 December 2007, Khan received the Humanitarian Award at the Asian Sports Awards in Kuala Lumpur for his efforts in setting up the first cancer hospital in Pakistan. [57] In 2009, at International Cricket Council 's centennial year celebration, Khan was one of fifty-five cricketers inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. [58] Writings by Khan Khan has published five works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. He periodically writes editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics in several leading Pakistani and British newspapers. It was revealed in 2008 that Khan's second book, Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan, had required heavy editing from the publisher. The publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, "he handed me a leatherbound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on." [59] Khan has finished writing his sixth book, Pakistan: A Personal History, and it released on 15 September 2011. [60] The book is meant to be an overview of Pakistan's history, seen through the prism of Khan's memories and recollections. He also takes a look at historic developments, such as the 1965 and 1971 wars with India, the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, and the subsequent American invasion of Afghanistan. A stated goal was to have these events viewed not only through the eyes of Westerners, but through those of ordinary Pakistanis. [60] Books Khan, Imran (1989). Imran Khan's cricket skills. London : Golden Press in association with Hamlyn. ISBN 0600563499 . Khan, Imran & Murphy, Patrick (1983). Imran: The autobiography of Imran Khan. Pelham Books. ISBN 0720714893 . Khan, Imran (1991). Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0701135271 . Khan, Imran (1992). All Round View. Mandarin. ISBN 0749314990 . Khan, Imran (1993). Warrior Race: A Journey Through the Land of the Tribal Pathans. Chatto Windus. ISBN 0701138904 . Khan, Imran (2011). Pakistan: A Personal History. Bantam Press. ISBN 0593067746 . Articles allamaiqbal.com Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( Urdu : محمد اقبال) (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938) was a poet and philosopher born in Sialkot , British India (now in Pakistan ), whose poetry in Urdu and Persian is considered to be among the greatest of the modern era. [1] He is commonly referred to as Allama Iqbal (علامہ اقبال‎, Allama lit. Scholar). After studying in England and Germany , Iqbal established a law practice, but concentrated primarily on writing scholarly works on politics, economics, history, philosophy and religion. He is best known for his poetic works, including Asrar-e-Khudi —which brought a knighthood — Rumuz-e-Bekhudi , and the Bang-e-Dara , with its enduring patriotic song Tarana-e-Hind . In Afghanistan and Iran , where he is known as Iqbāl-e Lāhorī (اقبال لاهوری‎ Iqbal of Lahore ), he is highly regarded for his Persian works. Iqbal was a strong proponent of the political and spiritual revival of Islamic civilization across the world, but specifically in India; a series of famous lectures he delivered to this effect were published as The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam . One of the most prominent leaders of the All-India Muslim League , Iqbal encouraged the creation of a "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims" in his 1930 presidential address. [2] Iqbal encouraged and worked closely with Muhammad Ali Jinnah , and he is known as Muffakir-e-Pakistan ("The Thinker of Pakistan"), Shair-e-Mashriq ("The Poet of the East"), and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ("The Sage of the Ummah "). He is officially recognised as the " national poet " in Pakistan. The anniversary of his birth (یوم ولادت محمد اقبال‎ – Yōm-e Welādat-e Muḥammad Iqbāl) on November 9 is a holiday in Pakistan . Contents [ edit ] Early life Muhammad Iqbal was born on November 9, 1877 in Sialkot, India (now in Pakistan). During the reign of Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan—according to scholar Bruce Lawrence —Iqbal's Kashmiri Pandit ancestors from Kashmir had converted to Islam . According to some sources: "The family had migrated from Kashmir where Iqbal's Brahmin ancestors had been converted to Islam." Iqbal often wrote about his being "a son of Kashmiri-Brahmins but (being) acquainted with the wisdom of Rûm and Tabriz ." [3] Iqbal's father, Nur Muhammad, was a tailor, [4] who lacked formal education, but who had great devotion to Islam and Sufism and a "mystically tinged piety." [3] Iqbal's mother was known in the family as a "wise, generous woman who quietly gave financial help to poor and needy women and arbitrated in neighbor's disputes." [5] After his mother's death in 1914, Iqbal wrote an elegy for her: Who would wait for me anxiously in my native place? Who would display restlessness if my letter fails to arrive I will visit thy grave with this complaint: Who will now think of me in midnight prayers? All thy life thy love served me with devotion— When I became fit to serve thee, thou hast departed. [3] At the age of four, young Iqbal was sent regularly to a mosque, where he learned how to read the Qu'ran in Arabic . [4] The following year, and for many years thereafter, Iqbal became a student of Syed Mir Hassan , who was then the head of the Madrassa in Sialkot, and later to become a widely known Muslim scholar. [5] An advocate of secular European education for the Muslim's of British India—in the tradition of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan —Hassan convinced Iqbal's father to send him to Sialkot's Scotch Mission College , where Hassan was professor of Arabic. [5] Two years later, in 1895, Iqbal obtained the Faculty of Arts diploma from the college. [5] That year Iqbal's family arranged for him to be married to Karim Bibi, the daughter of an affluent Gujrati physician. The couple had two children: a daughter, Mi'raj Begum (born 1895) and a son, Aftab (born 1898). Iqbal's third child, a son, died soon after birth. Husband and wife were unhappy in their marriage and eventually divorced in 1916. Later the same year, Iqbal entered the Government College in Lahore where he studied philosophy, English literature and Arabic and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, graduating cum laude . He won a gold medal for placing first in the examination in philosophy. While studying for his masters degree, Iqbal came under the influence of Sir Thomas Arnold , a scholar of Islam and modern philosophy at the college. Arnold exposed the young man to Western culture and ideas, and served as a bridge for Iqbal between the ideas of East and West. Iqbal was appointed to a readership in Arabic at the Oriental College in Lahore, and he published his first book in Urdu, The Knowledge of Economics in 1903. In 1905 Iqbal published the patriotic song, Tarana-e-Hind (Song of India). At Sir Thomas's encouragement, Iqbal travelled to Europe and spent many years studying there. Before leaving for London he visited the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi and wrote a famous poem to acknowledge the great Sufi and by doing so he confirmed his own lifelong association with Sufism . He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College at Cambridge in 1907, while simultaneously studying law at Lincoln's Inn , from where he qualified as a barrister in 1908. In Europe, he started writing his poetry in Persian as well. Throughout his life, Iqbal would prefer writing in Persian as he believed it allowed him to fully express philosophical concepts, and it gave him a wider audience. [1] It was while in England that he first participated in politics. Following the formation of the All-India Muslim League in 1906, Iqbal was elected to the executive committee of its British chapter in 1908. Together with two other politicians, Syed Hassan Bilgrami and Syed Ameer Ali , Iqbal sat on the subcommittee which drafted the constitution of the League. In 1907, Iqbal travelled to Germany to pursue a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität at Munich . Working under the supervision of Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published a thesis titled: The Development of Metaphysics in Persia . [6] [ edit ] Literary career Upon his return to India in 1908, Iqbal took up an assistant professorship at Government College in Lahore, but for financial reasons he relinquished it within a year to practice law. During this period, Iqbal's personal life was in turmoil. He divorced Karim Bibi in 1916, but provided financial support to her and their children for the rest of his life. While maintaining his legal practice, Iqbal began concentrating on spiritual and religious subjects, and publishing poetry and literary works. He became active in the Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam , a congress of Muslim intellectuals, writers and poets as well as politicians. In 1919, he became the general secretary of the organisation. Iqbal's thoughts in his work primarily focus on the spiritual direction and development of human society, centred around experiences from his travels and stays in Western Europe and the Middle East. He was profoundly influenced by Western philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche , Henri Bergson and Goethe . He soon became a strong critic of Western society's separation of religion from state and what he perceived as its obsession with materialist pursuits. The poetry and philosophy of Mawlana Rumi bore the deepest influence on Iqbal's mind. Deeply grounded in religion since childhood, Iqbal began intensely concentrating on the study of Islam, the culture and history of Islamic civilization and its political future, while embracing Rumi as "his guide." Iqbal would feature Rumi in the role of guide in many of his poems. Iqbal's works focus on reminding his readers of the past glories of Islamic civilization, and delivering the message of a pure, spiritual focus on Islam as a source for socio-political liberation and greatness. Iqbal denounced political divisions within and amongst Muslim nations, and frequently alluded to and spoke in terms of the global Muslim community, or the Ummah. [7] [ edit ] Works in Persian Iqbal's poetic works are written primarily in Persian rather than Urdu . Among his 12,000 verses of poetry, about 7,000 verses are in Persian. In 1915, he published his first collection of poetry, the Asrar-e-Khudi (Secrets of the Self) in Persian. The poems emphasise the spirit and self from a religious, spiritual perspective. Many critics have called this Iqbal's finest poetic work [8] In Asrar-e-Khudi, Iqbal explains his philosophy of "Khudi," or "Self." Iqbal's use of the term "Khudi" is synonymous with the word "Rooh" mentioned in the Quran. "Rooh" is that divine spark which is present in every human being, and was present in Adam, for which God ordered all of the angels to prostrate in front of Adam. One has to make a great journey of transformation to realize that divine spark which Iqbal calls "Khudi". A similitude of this journey can be understood by the relationship between fragrance and seed. Every seed has the potential for fragrance within it, but to reach its fragrance the seed must go through all the different changes and stages: First breaking out of its shell. Then breaking the ground to come into the light, developing roots at the same time. Then fighting against the elements to develop leaves and flowers. Finally reaching its pinnacle by attaining the fragrance that was hidden within it. Similarly, in order to reach one's khudi or rooh, one needs to go through the multiple spiritual stages which Iqbal himself went through, and encourages others to travel. Not all seeds reach the level of fragrance; many die along the way – incomplete. In this same way, only a few people can climb this Mount Everest of spirituality; most get consumed along the way by materialism. The same concept was used by Farid ud Din Attar in his "Mantaq-ul-Tair". He proves by various means that the whole universe obeys the will of the "Self." Iqbal condemns self-destruction. For him, the aim of life is self-realization and self-knowledge. He charts the stages through which the "Self" has to pass before finally arriving at its point of perfection, enabling the knower of the "Self" to become a viceregent of God. [7] In his Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (Hints of Selflessness), Iqbal seeks to prove the Islamic way of life is the best code of conduct for a nation's viability. A person must keep his individual characteristics intact, but once this is achieved he should sacrifice his personal ambitions for the needs of the nation. Man cannot realise the "Self" outside of society. Also in Persian and published in 1917, this group of poems has as its main themes the ideal community , Islamic ethical and social principles, and the relationship between the individual and society. Although he is true throughout to Islam, Iqbal also recognises the positive analogous aspects of other religions. The Rumuz-e-Bekhudi complements the emphasis on the self in the Asrar-e-Khudi and the two collections are often put in the same volume under the title Asrar-e-Rumuz (Hinting Secrets). It is addressed to the world's Muslims. Iqbal sees the individual and his community as reflections of each other. The individual needs to be strengthened before he can be integrated into the community, whose development in turn depends on the preservation of the communal ego. It is through contact with others that an ego learns to accept the limitations of its own freedom and the meaning of love. Muslim communities must ensure order in life and must therefore preserve their communal tradition. It is in this context that Iqbal sees the vital role of women, who as mothers are directly responsible for inculcating values in their children. Iqbal's 1924 publication, the Payam-e-Mashriq (The Message of the East ) is closely connected to the West-östlicher Diwan by the famous German poet Goethe . Goethe bemoans the West having become too materialistic in outlook, and expects the East will provide a message of hope to resuscitate spiritual values. Iqbal styles his work as a reminder to the West of the importance of morality, religion and civilization by underlining the need for cultivating feeling, ardour and dynamism. He explains that an individual can never aspire to higher dimensions unless he learns of the nature of spirituality. [7] In his first visit to Afghanistan , he presented his book "Payam-e Mashreq" to King Amanullah Khan in which he admired the liberal movements of Afghanistan against the British Empire . In 1933, he was officially invited to Afghanistan to join the meetings regarding the establishment of Kabul University . The Zabur-e-Ajam ( Persian Psalms ), published in 1927, includes the poems Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed (Garden of New Secrets) and Bandagi Nama (Book of Slavery). In Gulshan-e-Raz-e-Jadeed, Iqbal first poses questions, then answers them with the help of ancient and modern insight, showing how it affects and concerns the world of action. Bandagi Nama denounces slavery by attempting to explain the spirit behind the fine arts of enslaved societies. Here as in other books, Iqbal insists on remembering the past, doing well in the present and preparing for the future, while emphasising love, enthusiasm and energy to fulfill the ideal life. [7] Iqbal's 1932 work, the Javed Nama (Book of Javed) is named after and in a manner addressed to his son, who is featured in the poems. It follows the examples of the works of Ibn Arabi and Dante 's The Divine Comedy , through mystical and exaggerated depictions across time. Iqbal depicts himself as Zinda Rud ("A stream full of life") guided by Rumi, "the master," through various heavens and spheres, and has the honour of approaching divinity and coming in contact with divine illuminations. In a passage re-living a historical period, Iqbal condemns the Muslim who were instrumental in the defeat and death of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula of Bengal and Tipu Sultan of Mysore respectively by betraying them for the benefit of the British colonists , and thus delivering their country to the shackles of slavery. At the end, by addressing his son Javid, he speaks to the young people at large, and provides guidance to the "new generation." [7] His love of the Persian language is evident in his works and poetry. He says in one of his poems: [9] گرچہ اردو در عذوبت شکر است garche Urdū dar uzūbat shekkar ast طرز گفتار دري شيرين تر است tarz-e goftar-e Dari shirin tar ast Translation: Even though in sweetness Urdu * is sugar – (but) speech method in Dari ( Persian ) is sweeter * [ edit ] Works in Urdu Iqbal in Spain, 1933 Iqbal's first work published in Urdu, the Bang-e-Dara (The Call of the Marching Bell) of 1924, was a collection of poetry written by him in three distinct phases of his life. [7] The poems he wrote up to 1905, the year Iqbal left for England imbibe patriotism and imagery of landscape, and includes the Tarana-e-Hind (The Song of India), popularly known as Saare Jahan Se Achcha and another poem Tarana-e-Milli (Anthem of the (Muslim) Community), which was composed in the same metre and rhyme scheme as Saare Jahan Se Achcha. The second set of poems date from between 1905 and 1908 when Iqbal studied in Europe and dwell upon the nature of European society, which he emphasized had lost spiritual and religious values. This inspired Iqbal to write poems on the historical and cultural heritage of Islamic culture and Muslim people, not from an Indian but a global perspective. Iqbal urges the global community of Muslims, addressed as the Ummah to define personal, social and political existence by the values and teachings of Islam. Poems such as Tulu'i Islam (Dawn of Islam) and Khizr-e-Rah (Guide of the Path) are especially acclaimed. Iqbal preferred to work mainly in Persian for a predominant period of his career, but after 1930, his works were mainly in Urdu. The works of this period were often specifically directed at the Muslim masses of India, with an even stronger emphasis on Islam, and Muslim spiritual and political reawakening. Published in 1935, the Bal-e-Jibril (Wings of Gabriel ) is considered by many critics as the finest of Iqbal's Urdu poetry, and was inspired by his visit to Spain, where he visited the monuments and legacy of the kingdom of the Moors . It consists of ghazals , poems, quatrains , epigrams and carries a strong sense religious passion. [7] The Pas Cheh Bayed Kard ai Aqwam-e-Sharq (What are we to do, O Nations of the East?) includes the poem Musafir (Traveler). Again, Iqbal depicts Rumi as a character and an exposition of the mysteries of Islamic laws and Sufi perceptions is given. Iqbal laments the dissension and disunity among the Indian Muslims as well as Muslim nations. Musafir is an account of one of Iqbal's journeys to Afghanistan, in which the Pashtun people are counseled to learn the "secret of Islam" and to "build up the self" within themselves. [7] Iqbal's final work was the Armughan-e-Hijaz (The Gift of Hijaz ), published posthumously in 1938. The first part contains quatrains in Persian, and the second part contains some poems and epigrams in Urdu. The Persian quatrains convey the impression as though the poet is travelling through the Hijaz in his imagination. Profundity of ideas and intensity of passion are the salient features of these short poems. The Urdu portion of the book contains some categorical criticism of the intellectual movements and social and political revolutions of the modern age. [ edit ] Political career Iqbal with Muslim political activists. (L to R): Mohammad Iqbal (third), Syed Zafarul Hasan (sixth) (at Aligarh Muslim University , Aligarh, India) While dividing his time between law and poetry, Iqbal had remained active in the Muslim League. He supported Indian involvement in World War I , as well as the Khilafat movement and remained in close touch with Muslim political leaders such as Maulana Mohammad Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah . He was a critic of the mainstream Indian National Congress , which he regarded as dominated by Hindus and was disappointed with the League when during the 1920s, it was absorbed in factional divides between the pro-British group led by Sir Muhammad Shafi and the centrist group led by Jinnah. In November 1926, with the encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly from the Muslim district of Lahore, and defeated his opponent by a margin of 3,177 votes. [10] He supported the constitutional proposals presented by Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights and influence in a coalition with the Congress, and worked with the Aga Khan and other Muslim leaders to mend the factional divisions and achieve unity in the Muslim League. [ edit ] Revival of Islamic polity Iqbal's second book in English, the Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam , is a collection of his six lectures which he delivered at Madras , Hyderabad and Aligarh ; first published as a collection in Lahore, in 1930. These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a religion as well as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age. In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the political attitudes and conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally misguided, attached to power and without any standing with Muslim masses. Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society, but that India's Hindu -majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence. In his travels to Egypt , Afghanistan , Iran and Turkey , he promoted ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for the shedding of nationalist differences. He also speculated on different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political power; in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar , Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces as autonomous units under the direct control of the British government and with no central Indian government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim provinces in India. Under one Indian union he feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially separate entity as Muslims. [10] Sir Muhammad Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session in Allahabad , in the United Provinces as well as for the session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on December 29, 1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India: Iqbal with Choudhary Rahmat Ali and other Muslim activists "I would like to see the Punjab , North-West Frontier Province , Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire , or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India." [2] In his speech, Iqbal emphasised that unlike Christianity , Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the construction of a policy on national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable to a Muslim." [11] Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities, but the undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic principles. He thus became the first politician to articulate what would become known as the Two-Nation Theory — that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe a theocracy , even as he rejected secularism and nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was concentrated on political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political and financial support for the League, and he reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during the Third Round-Table Conference , he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces. He would serve as president of the Punjab Muslim League, and would deliver speeches and publish articles in an attempt to rally Muslims across India as a single political entity. Iqbal consistently criticised feudal classes in Punjab as well as Muslim politicians averse to the League. He fell prey to Punjabi dominated Muslims of region. Muslims across Indian subcontinent opposed the idea of two nation theory. Many unnoticed account of Iqbal's frustration toward Congress leadership were also pivotal of visioning the two nation theory. He also wanted to prove that defeat of Muslim ummat can be at least saved in this region by dividing the societies within British India in the name of Islam. [ edit ] Patron of The Journal Tolu-e-Islam The First Journal of Tolu-e-Islam He was also the first patron of the historical, political, religious, cultural journal of Muslims of British India and Pakistan. This journal played an important part in the Pakistan movement. The name of this journal is The Journal Tolu-e-Islam . In 1935, according to his instructions, Syed Nazeer Niazi initiated and edited, a journal Tolu-e-Islam [12] named after the famous poem of Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Tulu'i Islam . He also dedicated the first edition of this journal to Sir Muhammad Iqbal. For a long time Sir Muhammad Iqbal wanted a journal to propagate his ideas and the aims and objective of Muslim league . It was Syed Nazeer Niazi , a close friend of his and a regular visitor to him during his last two years, who started this journal. He also made Urdu translation of The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam , by Sir Muhammad Iqbal. The page of First Journal of Tolu-e-Islam in which Syed Nazeer dedicated this journal to Sir Iqbal In the first monthly journal of Oct. 1935, an article "Millat Islamia Hind" The Muslim nation of India was published. In this article Syed Nazeer Niazi described the political conditions of British India and the aims and objectives of the Muslim community. He also discussed the basic principles of Islam which were aims and objective of Sir Muhammad Iqbal' concept of an Islamic State. The early contributors to this journal were eminent Muslim scholars like Maulana Aslam Jairajpuri , Ghulam Ahmed Pervez , Dr. Zakir Hussain Khan, Syed Naseer Ahmed, Raja Hassan Akhtar, Maulvi Ghulam Yezdani, Ragheb Ahsan, Sheikh Suraj ul Haq, Rafee ud din Peer, Prof. fazal ud din Qureshi, Agha Muhammad Safdar, Asad Multani, Dr. Tasadaq Hussain, Prof. Yusuf Saleem Chisti. Afterward, this journal was continued [13] by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez , who had already contributed many articles in the early editions of this journal. After the emergence of Pakistan , the mission of the journal Tolu-e-Islam was to propagate the implementation of the principle which had inspired the demand for separate Muslim State according to the Quran. This journal is still published by Idara Tolu-e-Islam, Lahore. [ edit ] Relationship with Muhammad Ali Jinnah See also: Muhammad Ali Jinnah Final years Ideologically separated from Congress Muslim leaders, Iqbal had also been disillusioned with the politicians of the Muslim League owing to the factional conflict that plagued the League in the 1920s. Discontent with factional leaders like Sir Muhammad Shafi and Sir Fazl-ur-Rahman, Iqbal came to believe that only Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a political leader capable of preserving this unity and fulfilling the League's objectives on Muslim political empowerment. Building a strong, personal correspondence with Jinnah, Iqbal along with Moulana Abdur Raheem Dard (Resident missionary of the Ahmadiyya movement in London) were influential forces in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London , return to India and take charge of the League. Iqbal firmly believed that Jinnah was the only leader capable of drawing Indian Muslims to the League and maintaining party unity before the British and the Congress: "I know you are a busy man but I do hope you won't mind my writing to you often, as you are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community has right to look up for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North-West India and, perhaps, to the whole of India." [14] There were significant differences between the two men — while Iqbal believed that Islam was the source of government and society, Jinnah was a believer in secular government and had laid out a secular vision for Pakistan where religion would have "nothing to do with the business of the state." [15] Iqbal had backed the Khilafat struggle; Jinnah had dismissed it as "religious frenzy." And while Iqbal espoused the idea of Muslim-majority provinces in 1930, Jinnah would continue to hold talks with the Congress through the decade and only officially embraced the goal of Pakistan in 1940. Some historians postulate that Jinnah always remained hopeful for an agreement with the Congress and never fully desired the partition of India. [16] Iqbal's close correspondence with Jinnah is speculated by some historians as having been responsible for Jinnah's embrace of the idea of Pakistan. [17] Iqbal elucidated to Jinnah his vision of a separate Muslim state in a letter sent on June 21, 1937: "A separate federation of Muslim Provinces, reformed on the lines I have suggested above, is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from the domination of Non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North-West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are." [10] Iqbal, serving as president of the Punjab Muslim League, criticised Jinnah's political actions, including a political agreement with Punjabi leader Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan , whom Iqbal saw as a representative of feudal classes and not committed to Islam as the core political philosophy. Nevertheless, Iqbal worked constantly to encourage Muslim leaders and masses to support Jinnah and the League. Speaking about the political future of Muslims in India, Iqbal said: "There is only one way out. Muslims should strengthen Jinnah's hands. They should join the Muslim League. Indian question, as is now being solved, can be countered by our united front against both the Hindus and the English. Without it, our demands are not going to be accepted. People say our demands smack of communalism. This is sheer propaganda. These demands relate to the defense of our national existence.... The united front can be formed under the leadership of the Muslim League. And the Muslim League can succeed only on account of Jinnah. Now none but Jinnah is capable of leading the Muslims." [14] [ edit ] Final years & death Tomb of Muhammad Iqbal at the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal began suffering from a mysterious throat illness. [18] He spent his final years helping Chaudhry Niaz Ali Khan establish the Dar ul Islam Trust Institute at the latter's Jamalpur estate near Pathankot , [19] [20] an institution where studies in classical Islam and contemporary social science would be subsidised, and advocating the demand for an independent Muslim state. [21] Iqbal ceased practising law in 1934 and he was granted pension by the Nawab of Bhopal . In his final years he frequently visited the Dargah of famous Sufi Hazrat Ali Hujwiri in Lahore for spiritual guidance. After suffering for months from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21 April 1938. His tomb is located in Hazuri Bagh , the enclosed garden between the entrance of the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort , and official guards are maintained there by the Government of Pakistan . Iqbal is commemorated widely in Pakistan, where he is regarded as the ideological founder of the state. His Tarana-e-Hind is a song that is widely used in India as a patriotic song speaking of communal harmony. His birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as Iqbal Day, a national holiday. Iqbal is the namesake of many public institutions, including the Allama Iqbal Campus Punjab University in Lahore, the Allama Iqbal Medical College in Lahore , Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad , Allama Iqbal Open University , the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi. Government and public organizations have sponsored the establishment of colleges and schools dedicated to Iqbal, and have established the Iqbal Academy to research, teach and preserve the works, literature and philosophy of Iqbal. Allama Iqbal Stamps Society established for the promotion of Iqbaliyat in philately and in other hobbies. His son Javid Iqbal has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Pakistan . Javaid Manzil was the last residence of Allama Iqbal. [22] [ edit ] Influence and legacy Street named in Iqbal's honour in Heidelberg, Germany. If we are resolved to describe Islam as a system of superior values, we are obliged, first of all, to acknowledge that we are not the true representatives of Islam. —Muhammad Iqbal [23] Allama Iqbal's poetry has also been translated into several European languages where his works were famous during the early part of the 20th century.[ citation needed ] Iqbal’s Asrar-i-Khudi and Javed Nama were translated into English by R A Nicholson and A J Arberry respectively. [24] Golden ratio For the Ace of Base album, see The Golden Ratio (album) . Not to be confused with Golden number . The golden section is a line segment divided according to the golden ratio: The total length a + b is to the length of the longer segment a as the length of a is to the length of the shorter segment b. In mathematics and the arts , two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant , approximately 1.61803398874989. [1] Other names frequently used for the golden ratio are the golden section (Latin: sectio aurea) and golden mean. [2] [3] [4] Other terms encountered include extreme and mean ratio, [5] medial section, divine proportion, divine section (Latin: sectio divina), golden proportion, golden cut, [6] golden number, and mean of Phidias . [7] [8] [9] In this article the golden ratio is denoted by the Greek lowercase letter phi ( ), while its reciprocal, , is denoted by the uppercase variant Phi ( ). The figure on the right illustrates the geometric relationship that defines this constant. Expressed algebraically: This equation has one positive solution in the set of algebraic irrational numbers : [1] At least since the Renaissance , many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle , in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing (see Applications and observations below). Mathematicians have studied the golden ratio because of its unique and interesting properties. The golden ratio is also used in the analysis of financial markets , in strategies such as Fibonacci retracement . which can be rearranged to Using the quadratic formula gives the only positive solution as, [ edit ] History Mathematician Mark Barr proposed using the first letter in the name of Greek sculptor Phidias , phi, to symbolize the golden ratio. Usually, the lowercase form (φ) is used. Sometimes, the uppercase form (Φ) is used for the reciprocal of the golden ratio, 1/φ. [10] The golden ratio has fascinated Western intellectuals of diverse interests for at least 2,400 years. According to Mario Livio : Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from Pythagoras and Euclid in ancient Greece , through the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the Renaissance astronomer Johannes Kepler , to present-day scientific figures such as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose , have spent endless hours over this simple ratio and its properties. But the fascination with the Golden Ratio is not confined just to mathematicians. Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is probably fair to say that the Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics. [11] Ancient Greek mathematicians first studied what we now call the golden ratio because of its frequent appearance in geometry . The division of a line into "extreme and mean ratio" (the golden section) is important in the geometry of regular pentagrams and pentagons . The Greeks usually attributed discovery of this concept to Pythagoras or his followers . The regular pentagram, which has a regular pentagon inscribed within it, was the Pythagoreans' symbol. Euclid 's Elements ( Greek : Στοιχεῖα) provides the first known written definition of what is now called the golden ratio: "A straight line is said to have been cut in extreme and mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the greater to the less." [5] Euclid explains a construction for cutting (sectioning) a line "in extreme and mean ratio", i.e. the golden ratio. [12] Throughout the Elements, several propositions ( theorems in modern terminology) and their proofs employ the golden ratio. [13] Some of these propositions show that the golden ratio is an irrational number . The name "extreme and mean ratio" was the principal term used from the 3rd century BC [5] until about the 18th century. The modern history of the golden ratio starts with Luca Pacioli 's De divina proportione of 1509, which captured the imagination[ citation needed ] of artists, architects, scientists, and mystics with the properties, mathematical and otherwise, of the golden ratio. Michael Maestlin , first to publish a decimal approximation of the golden ratio, in 1597. The first known approximation of the (inverse) golden ratio by a decimal fraction , stated as "about 0.6180340," was written in 1597 by Michael Maestlin of the University of Tübingen in a letter to his former student Johannes Kepler . [14] Since the twentieth century, the golden ratio has been represented by the Greek letter Φ or φ ( phi , after Phidias , a sculptor who is said to have employed it) or less commonly by τ ( tau , the first letter of the ancient Greek root τομή—meaning cut). [2] [15] Timeline according to Priya Hemenway. [16] Phidias (490–430 BC) made the Parthenon statues that seem to embody the golden ratio. Plato (427–347 BC), in his Timaeus , describes five possible regular solids (the Platonic solids : the tetrahedron , cube , octahedron , dodecahedron and icosahedron ), some of which are related to the golden ratio. [17] Euclid (c. 325–c. 265 BC), in his Elements , gave the first recorded definition of the golden ratio, which he called, as translated into English, "extreme and mean ratio" (Greek: ἄκρος καὶ μέσος λόγος). [5] Fibonacci (1170–1250) mentioned the numerical series now named after him in his Liber Abaci ; the ratio of sequential elements of the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden ratio asymptotically. Luca Pacioli (1445–1517) defines the golden ratio as the "divine proportion" in his Divina Proportione. Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) proves that the golden ratio is the limit of the ratio of consecutive Fibonacci numbers, [18] and describes the golden ratio as a "precious jewel": "Geometry has two great treasures: one is the Theorem of Pythagoras , and the other the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio; the first we may compare to a measure of gold, the second we may name a precious jewel." These two treasures are combined in the Kepler triangle . Charles Bonnet (1720–1793) points out that in the spiral phyllotaxis of plants going clockwise and counter-clockwise were frequently two successive Fibonacci series. Martin Ohm (1792–1872) is believed to be the first to use the term goldener Schnitt (golden section) to describe this ratio, in 1835. [19] Édouard Lucas (1842–1891) gives the numerical sequence now known as the Fibonacci sequence its present name. Mark Barr (20th century) suggests the Greek letter phi (φ), the initial letter of Greek sculptor Phidias's name, as a symbol for the golden ratio. [20] Roger Penrose (b.1931) discovered a symmetrical pattern that uses the golden ratio in the field of aperiodic tilings , which led to new discoveries about quasicrystals . [ edit ] Applications and observations See also: History of aesthetics (pre-20th-century) De Divina Proportione, a three-volume work by Luca Pacioli , was published in 1509. Pacioli, a Franciscan friar , was known mostly as a mathematician, but he was also trained and keenly interested in art. De Divina Proportione explored the mathematics of the golden ratio. Though it is often said that Pacioli advocated the golden ratio's application to yield pleasing, harmonious proportions, Livio points out that the interpretation has been traced to an error in 1799, and that Pacioli actually advocated the Vitruvian system of rational proportions. [2] Pacioli also saw Catholic religious significance in the ratio, which led to his work's title. Containing illustrations of regular solids by Leonardo Da Vinci , Pacioli's longtime friend and collaborator, De Divina Proportione was a major influence on generations of artists and architects alike.[ citation needed ] [ edit ] Architecture Many of the proportions of the Parthenon are alleged to exhibit the golden ratio. The Parthenon's facade as well as elements of its facade and elsewhere are said by some to be circumscribed by golden rectangles. [21] Other scholars deny that the Greeks had any aesthetic association with golden ratio. For example, Midhat J. Gazalé says, "It was not until Euclid, however, that the golden ratio's mathematical properties were studied. In the Elements (308 BC) the Greek mathematician merely regarded that number as an interesting irrational number, in connection with the middle and extreme ratios. Its occurrence in regular pentagons and decagons was duly observed, as well as in the dodecahedron (a regular polyhedron whose twelve faces are regular pentagons). It is indeed exemplary that the great Euclid, contrary to generations of mystics who followed, would soberly treat that number for what it is, without attaching to it other than its factual properties." [22] And Keith Devlin says, "Certainly, the oft repeated assertion that the Parthenon in Athens is based on the golden ratio is not supported by actual measurements. In fact, the entire story about the Greeks and golden ratio seems to be without foundation. The one thing we know for sure is that Euclid, in his famous textbook Elements, written around 300 BC, showed how to calculate its value." [23] Near-contemporary sources like Vitruvius exclusively discuss proportions that can be expressed in whole numbers, i.e. commensurate as opposed to irrational proportions. A geometrical analysis of the Great Mosque of Kairouan reveals a consistent application of the golden ratio throughout the design, according to Boussora and Mazouz. [24] It is found in the overall proportion of the plan and in the dimensioning of the prayer space, the court, and the minaret . Boussora and Mazouz also examined earlier archaeological theories about the mosque, and demonstrate the geometric constructions based on the golden ratio by applying these constructions to the plan of the mosque to test their hypothesis. The Swiss architect Le Corbusier , famous for his contributions to the modern international style , centered his design philosophy on systems of harmony and proportion. Le Corbusier's faith in the mathematical order of the universe was closely bound to the golden ratio and the Fibonacci series, which he described as "rhythms apparent to the eye and clear in their relations with one another. And these rhythms are at the very root of human activities. They resound in man by an organic inevitability, the same fine inevitability which causes the tracing out of the Golden Section by children, old men, savages and the learned." [25] Le Corbusier explicitly used the golden ratio in his Modulor system for the scale of architectural proportion . He saw this system as a continuation of the long tradition of Vitruvius , Leonardo da Vinci's " Vitruvian Man ", the work of Leon Battista Alberti , and others who used the proportions of the human body to improve the appearance and function of architecture . In addition to the golden ratio, Le Corbusier based the system on human measurements , Fibonacci numbers , and the double unit. He took Leonardo's suggestion of the golden ratio in human proportions to an extreme: he sectioned his model human body's height at the navel with the two sections in golden ratio, then subdivided those sections in golden ratio at the knees and throat; he used these golden ratio proportions in the Modulor system. Le Corbusier's 1927 Villa Stein in Garches exemplified the Modulor system's application. The villa's rectangular ground plan, elevation, and inner structure closely approximate golden rectangles. [26] Another Swiss architect, Mario Botta , bases many of his designs on geometric figures. Several private houses he designed in Switzerland are composed of squares and circles, cubes and cylinders. In a house he designed in Origlio , the golden ratio is the proportion between the central section and the side sections of the house. [27] In a recent book, author Jason Elliot speculated that the golden ratio was used by the designers of the Naqsh-e Jahan Square and the adjacent Lotfollah mosque. [28] [ edit ] Painting The drawing of a man's body in a pentagram suggests relationships to the golden ratio. The 16th-century philosopher Heinrich Agrippa drew a man over a pentagram inside a circle, implying a relationship to the golden ratio. Illustration from Luca Pacioli's De Divina Proportione applies geometric proportions to the human face. Leonardo da Vinci 's illustrations of polyhedra in De divina proportione (On the Divine Proportion) and his views that some bodily proportions exhibit the golden ratio have led some scholars to speculate that he incorporated the golden ratio in his paintings. [29] But the suggestion that his Mona Lisa , for example, employs golden ratio proportions, is not supported by anything in Leonardo's own writings. [30] Salvador Dalí , influenced by the works of Matila Ghyka , [31] explicitly used the golden ratio in his masterpiece, The Sacrament of the Last Supper . The dimensions of the canvas are a golden rectangle. A huge dodecahedron, in perspective so that edges appear in golden ratio to one another, is suspended above and behind Jesus and dominates the composition. [2] [32] Mondrian has been said to have used the golden section extensively in his geometrical paintings, [33] though other experts (including critic Yve-Alain Bois ) have disputed this claim. [2] A statistical study on 565 works of art of different great painters, performed in 1999, found that these artists had not used the golden ratio in the size of their canvases. The study concluded that the average ratio of the two sides of the paintings studied is 1.34, with averages for individual artists ranging from 1.04 (Goya) to 1.46 (Bellini). [34] On the other hand, Pablo Tosto listed over 350 works by well-known artists, including more than 100 which have canvasses with golden rectangle and root-5 proportions, and others with proportions like root-2, 3, 4, and 6. [35] [ edit ] Perceptual studies Studies by psychologists, starting with Fechner , have been devised to test the idea that the golden ratio plays a role in human perception of beauty . While Fechner found a preference for rectangle ratios centered on the golden ratio, later attempts to carefully test such a hypothesis have been, at best, inconclusive. [2] [38] [ edit ] Music James Tenney reconceived his piece For Ann (rising) , which consists of up to twelve computer-generated upwardly glissandoing tones (see Shepard tone ), as having each tone start so it is the golden ratio (in between an equal tempered minor and major sixth ) below the previous tone, so that the combination tones produced by all consecutive tones are a lower or higher pitch already, or soon to be, produced. Ernő Lendvai analyzes Béla Bartók 's works as being based on two opposing systems, that of the golden ratio and the acoustic scale , [39] though other music scholars reject that analysis. [2] In Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta the xylophone progression occurs at the intervals 1:2:3:5:8:5:3:2:1. [40] French composer Erik Satie used the golden ratio in several of his pieces, including Sonneries de la Rose+Croix. The golden ratio is also apparent in the organization of the sections in the music of Debussy 's Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections in Water), from Images (1st series, 1905), in which "the sequence of keys is marked out by the intervals 34, 21, 13 and 8, and the main climax sits at the phi position." [40] The musicologist Roy Howat has observed that the formal boundaries of La Mer correspond exactly to the golden section. [41] Trezise finds the intrinsic evidence "remarkable," but cautions that no written or reported evidence suggests that Debussy consciously sought such proportions. [42] Also, many works of Chopin , mainly Etudes (studies) and Nocturnes, are formally based on the golden ratio. This results in the biggest climax of both musical expression and technical difficulty after about 2/3 of the piece.[ citation needed ] The mathematician Michael Schneider analysed the waveform of the Amen break and found that the peaks are spaced at intervals in the golden ratio. Pearl Drums positions the air vents on its Masters Premium models based on the golden ratio. The company claims that this arrangement improves bass response and has applied for a patent on this innovation. [43] In the opinion of author Leon Harkleroad, "Some of the most misguided attempts to link music and mathematics have involved Fibonacci numbers and the related golden ratio." [44] [ edit ] Industrial design Some sources claim that the golden ratio is commonly used in everyday design, for example in the shapes of postcards, playing cards, posters, wide-screen televisions, photographs, and light switch plates. [45] [46] [47] [48] [ edit ] Nature Adolf Zeising , whose main interests were mathematics and philosophy, found the golden ratio expressed in the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants and of veins in leaves. He extended his research to the skeletons of animals and the branchings of their veins and nerves, to the proportions of chemical compounds and the geometry of crystals, even to the use of proportion in artistic endeavors. In these phenomena he saw the golden ratio operating as a universal law. [49] In connection with his scheme for golden-ratio-based human body proportions, Zeising wrote in 1854 of a universal law "in which is contained the ground-principle of all formative striving for beauty and completeness in the realms of both nature and art, and which permeates, as a paramount spiritual ideal, all structures, forms and proportions, whether cosmic or individual, organic or inorganic, acoustic or optical; which finds its fullest realization, however, in the human form." [50] In 2003, Volkmar Weiss and Harald Weiss analyzed psychometric data and theoretical considerations and concluded that the golden ratio underlies the clock cycle of brain waves. [51] In 2008 this was empirically confirmed by a group of neurobiologists. [52] In 2010, the journal Science reported that the golden ratio is present at the atomic scale in the magnetic resonance of spins in cobalt niobate crystals. [53] Several researchers have proposed connections between the golden ratio and human genome DNA . [54] [55] [56] However, some have argued that many of the apparent manifestations of the golden mean in nature, especially in regard to animal dimensions, are in fact fictitious. [57] [ edit ] Finance The golden ratio and related numbers are used in the financial markets . It is used in trading algorithms, applications and strategies. Some typical forms include: the Fibonacci fan , the Fibonacci arc , Fibonacci retracement and the Fibonacci time extension . [58] [ edit ] Golden ratio conjugate The negative root of the quadratic equation for φ (the "conjugate root") is The absolute value of this quantity (≈ 0.618) corresponds to the length ratio taken in reverse order (shorter segment length over longer segment length, b/a), and is sometimes referred to as the golden ratio conjugate. [10] It is denoted here by the capital Phi (Φ): Alternatively, Φ can be expressed as This illustrates the unique property of the golden ratio among positive numbers, that or its inverse: [ edit ] Short proofs of irrationality [ edit ] Contradiction from an expression in lowest terms Recall that: the whole is the longer part plus the shorter part; the whole is to the longer part as the longer part is to the shorter part. If we call the whole n and the longer part m, then the second statement above becomes n is to m as m is to n − m, or, algebraically To say that φ is rational means that φ is a fraction n/m where n and m are integers. We may take n/m to be in lowest terms and n and m to be positive. But if n/m is in lowest terms, then the identity labeled () above says m/(n − m) is in still lower terms. That is a contradiction that follows from the assumption that φ is rational. [ edit ] Derivation from irrationality of √5 Another short proof—perhaps more commonly known—of the irrationality of the golden ratio makes use of the closure of rational numbers under addition and multiplication. If is rational, then is also rational, which is a contradiction if it is already known that the square root of a non- square natural number is irrational. [ edit ] Alternate forms approximated of golden mean by finite continued fractions The formula φ = 1 + 1/φ can be expanded recursively to obtain a continued fraction for the golden ratio: [59] and its reciprocal: The convergents of these continued fractions (1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5, 13/8, …, or 1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 3/5, 5/8, 8/13, …) are ratios of successive Fibonacci numbers . The equation φ2 = 1 + φ likewise produces the continued square root , or infinite surd, form: An infinite series can be derived to express phi: [60] Also: These correspond to the fact that the length of the diagonal of a regular pentagon is φ times the length of its side, and similar relations in a pentagram . [ edit ] Geometry Approximate and true golden spirals . The green spiral is made from quarter-circles tangent to the interior of each square, while the red spiral is a Golden Spiral, a special type of logarithmic spiral . Overlapping portions appear yellow. The length of the side of one square divided by that of the next smaller square is the golden ratio. The number φ turns up frequently in geometry , particularly in figures with pentagonal symmetry . The length of a regular pentagon 's diagonal is φ times its side. The vertices of a regular icosahedron are those of three mutually orthogonal golden rectangles . There is no known general algorithm to arrange a given number of nodes evenly on a sphere, for any of several definitions of even distribution (see, for example, Thomson problem ). However, a useful approximation results from dividing the sphere into parallel bands of equal area and placing one node in each band at longitudes spaced by a golden section of the circle, i.e. 360°/φ ≅ 222.5°. This method was used to arrange the 1500 mirrors of the student-participatory satellite Starshine-3 . [61] [ edit ] Golden triangle, pentagon and pentagram [ edit ] Golden triangle The golden triangle can be characterized as an isosceles triangle ABC with the property that bisecting the angle C produces a new triangle CXB which is a similar triangle to the original. If angle BCX = α, then XCA = α because of the bisection, and CAB = α because of the similar triangles; ABC = 2α from the original isosceles symmetry, and BXC = 2α by similarity. The angles in a triangle add up to 180°, so 5α = 180, giving α = 36°. So the angles of the golden triangle are thus 36°-72°-72°. The angles of the remaining obtuse isosceles triangle AXC (sometimes called the golden gnomon) are 36°-36°-108°. Suppose XB has length 1, and we call BC length φ. Because of the isosceles triangles BC=XC and XC=XA, so these are also length φ. Length AC = AB, therefore equals φ+1. But triangle ABC is similar to triangle CXB, so AC/BC = BC/BX, and so AC also equals φ2. Thus φ2 = φ+1, confirming that φ is indeed the golden ratio. Similarly, the ratio of the area of the larger triangle to the smaller is equal to φ, while the inverse ratio is 1 - φ. In a regular pentagon the ratio between a side and a diagonal is (i.e. 1/φ), while intersecting diagonals section each other in the golden ratio. [9] George Odom has given a remarkably simple construction for φ involving an equilateral triangle: if an equilateral triangle is inscribed in a circle and the line segment joining the midpoints of two sides is produced to intersect the circle in either of two points, then these three points are in golden proportion. This result is a straightforward consequence of the intersecting chords theorem and can be used to construct a regular pentagon, a construction that attracted the attention of the noted Canadian geometer H. S. M. Coxeter who published it in Odom's name as a diagram in the American Mathematical Monthly accompanied by the single word "Behold!" [62] [ edit ] Pentagram A pentagram colored to distinguish its line segments of different lengths. The four lengths are in golden ratio to one another. The golden ratio plays an important role in the geometry of pentagrams . Each intersection of edges sections other edges in the golden ratio. Also, the ratio of the length of the shorter segment to the segment bounded by the 2 intersecting edges (a side of the pentagon in the pentagram's center) is φ, as the four-color illustration shows. The pentagram includes ten isosceles triangles : five acute and five obtuse isosceles triangles. In all of them, the ratio of the longer side to the shorter side is φ. The acute triangles are golden triangles . The obtuse isosceles triangles are golden gnomons . [ edit ] Ptolemy's theorem The golden ratio in a regular pentagon can be computed using Ptolemy's theorem . The golden ratio properties of a regular pentagon can be confirmed by applying Ptolemy's theorem to the quadrilateral formed by removing one of its vertices. If the quadrilateral's long edge and diagonals are b, and short edges are a, then Ptolemy's theorem gives b2 = a2 + ab which yields [ edit ] Scalenity of triangles Consider a triangle with sides of lengths a, b, and c in decreasing order. Define the "scalenity" of the triangle to be the smaller of the two ratios a/b and b/c. The scalenity is always less than φ and can be made as close as desired to φ. [63] [ edit ] Triangle whose sides form a geometric progression If the side lengths of a triangle form a geometric progression and are in the ratio 1 : r : r2, where r is the common ratio, then r must lie in the range φ−1 < r < φ, which is a consequence of the triangle inequality (the sum of any two sides of a triangle must be strictly bigger than the length of the third side). If r = φ then the shorter two sides are 1 and φ but their sum is φ2, thus r < φ. A similar calculation shows that r> φ−1. A triangle whose sides are in the ratio 1 : √φ : φ is a right triangle (because 1 + φ = φ2) known as a Kepler triangle . [64] [ edit ] Golden triangle, rhombus, and rhombic triacontahedron One of the rhombic triacontahedron's rhombi All of the faces of the rhombic triacontahedron are golden rhombi A golden rhombus is a rhombus whose diagonals are in the golden ratio.[ citation needed ] The rhombic triacontahedron is a convex polytope that has a very special property: all of its faces are golden rhombi. In the rhombic triacontahedron the dihedral angle between any two adjacent rhombi is 144°, which is twice the isosceles angle of a golden triangle and four times its most acute angle.[ citation needed ] [ edit ] Relationship to Fibonacci sequence The mathematics of the golden ratio and of the Fibonacci sequence are intimately interconnected. The Fibonacci sequence is: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, … The closed-form expression (known as Binet 's formula, even though it was already known by Abraham de Moivre ) for the Fibonacci sequence involves the golden ratio: A Fibonacci spiral which approximates the golden spiral , using Fibonacci sequence square sizes up to 34. The golden ratio is the limit of the ratios of successive terms of the Fibonacci sequence (or any Fibonacci-like sequence), as originally shown by Kepler : [18] Therefore, if a Fibonacci number is divided by its immediate predecessor in the sequence, the quotient approximates φ; e.g., 987/610 ≈ 1.6180327868852. These approximations are alternately lower and higher than φ, and converge on φ as the Fibonacci numbers increase, and: More generally: where above, the ratios of consecutive terms of the Fibonacci sequence, is a case when a = 1. Furthermore, the successive powers of φ obey the Fibonacci recurrence : This identity allows any polynomial in φ to be reduced to a linear expression. For example: However, this is no special property of φ, because polynomials in any solution x to a quadratic equation can be reduced in an analogous manner, by applying: for given coefficients a, b such that x satisfies the equation. Even more generally, any rational function (with rational coefficients) of the root of an irreducible nth-degree polynomial over the rationals can be reduced to a polynomial of degree n ‒ 1. Phrased in terms of field theory , if α is a root of an irreducible nth-degree polynomial, then has degree n over [ edit ] Symmetries The golden ratio and inverse golden ratio have a set of symmetries that preserve and interrelate them. They are both preserved by the fractional linear transformations x,1 / (1 − x),(x − 1) / x, – this fact corresponds to the identity and the definition quadratic equation. Further, they are interchanged by the three maps 1 / x,1 − x,x / (x − 1) – they are reciprocals, symmetric about 1 / 2, and (projectively) symmetric about 2. More deeply, these maps form a subgroup of the modular group isomorphic to the symmetric group on 3 letters, S3, corresponding to the stabilizer of the set of 3 standard points on the projective line , and the symmetries correspond to the quotient map – the subgroup C3 < S3 consisting of the 3-cycles and the identity fixes the two numbers, while the 2-cycles interchange these, thus realizing the map. [ edit ] Other properties The golden ratio has the simplest expression (and slowest convergence) as a continued fraction expansion of any irrational number (see Alternate forms above). It is, for that reason, one of the worst cases of Lagrange's approximation theorem . This may be the reason angles close to the golden ratio often show up in phyllotaxis (the growth of plants). The defining quadratic polynomial and the conjugate relationship lead to decimal values that have their fractional part in common with φ: The sequence of powers of φ contains these values 0.618…, 1.0, 1.618…, 2.618…; more generally, any power of φ is equal to the sum of the two immediately preceding powers: As a result, one can easily decompose any power of φ into a multiple of φ and a constant. The multiple and the constant are always adjacent Fibonacci numbers. This leads to another property of the positive powers of φ: If , then: When the golden ratio is used as the base of a numeral system (see Golden ratio base , sometimes dubbed phinary or φ-nary), every integer has a terminating representation, despite φ being irrational, but every fraction has a non-terminating representation. and is a Pisot–Vijayaraghavan number . [65] In the field we have , where Ln is the n-th Lucas number . The golden ratio also appears in hyperbolic geometry , as the maximum distance from a point on one side of an ideal triangle to the closer of the other two sides: this distance, the side length of the equilateral triangle formed by the points of tangency of a circle inscribed within the ideal triangle, is 4 ln φ. [66] [ edit ] Decimal expansion The golden ratio's decimal expansion can be calculated directly from the expression with √5 ≈ 2.2360679774997896964. The square root of 5 can be calculated with the Babylonian method , starting with an initial estimate such as xφ = 2 and iterating for n = 1, 2, 3, …, until the difference between xn and xn−1 becomes zero, to the desired number of digits. The Babylonian algorithm for √5 is equivalent to Newton's method for solving the equation x2 − 5 = 0. In its more general form, Newton's method can be applied directly to any algebraic equation , including the equation x2 − x − 1 = 0 that defines the golden ratio. This gives an iteration that converges to the golden ratio itself, for an appropriate initial estimate xφ such as xφ = 1. A slightly faster method is to rewrite the equation as x − 1 − 1/x = 0, in which case the Newton iteration becomes These iterations all converge quadratically ; that is, each step roughly doubles the number of correct digits. The golden ratio is therefore relatively easy to compute with arbitrary precision . The time needed to compute n digits of the golden ratio is proportional to the time needed to divide two n-digit numbers. This is considerably faster than known algorithms for the transcendental numbers π and e . An easily programmed alternative using only integer arithmetic is to calculate two large consecutive Fibonacci numbers and divide them. The ratio of Fibonacci numbers F25001 and F25000, each over 5000 digits, yields over 10,000 significant digits of the golden ratio. The golden ratio φ has been calculated to an accuracy of several millions of decimal digits (sequence A001622 in OEIS ). Alexis Irlande performed computations and verification of the first 17,000,000,000 digits. [67] [ edit ] Pyramids A regular square pyramid is determined by its medial right triangle, whose edges are the pyramid's apothem (a), semi-base (b), and height (h); the face inclination angle is also marked. Mathematical proportions b:h:a of and and are of particular interest in relation to Egyptian pyramids. Both Egyptian pyramids and those mathematical regular square pyramids that resemble them can be analyzed with respect to the golden ratio and other ratios. [ edit ] Mathematical pyramids and triangles A pyramid in which the apothem (slant height along the bisector of a face) is equal to φ times the semi-base (half the base width) is sometimes called a golden pyramid. The isosceles triangle that is the face of such a pyramid can be constructed from the two halves of a diagonally split golden rectangle (of size semi-base by apothem), joining the medium-length edges to make the apothem. The height of this pyramid is times the semi-base (that is, the slope of the face is ); the square of the height is equal to the area of a face, φ times the square of the semi-base. The medial right triangle of this "golden" pyramid (see diagram), with sides is interesting in its own right, demonstrating via the Pythagorean theorem the relationship or . This " Kepler triangle " [68] is the only right triangle proportion with edge lengths in geometric progression , [64] just as the 3–4–5 triangle is the only right triangle proportion with edge lengths in arithmetic progression . The angle with tangent corresponds to the angle that the side of the pyramid makes with respect to the ground, 51.827… degrees (51° 49' 38"). [69] A nearly similar pyramid shape, but with rational proportions, is described in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (the source of a large part of modern knowledge of ancient Egyptian mathematics ), based on the 3:4:5 triangle; [70] the face slope corresponding to the angle with tangent 4/3 is 53.13 degrees (53 degrees and 8 minutes). [71] The slant height or apothem is 5/3 or 1.666… times the semi-base. The Rhind papyrus has another pyramid problem as well, again with rational slope (expressed as run over rise). Egyptian mathematics did not include the notion of irrational numbers, [72] and the rational inverse slope (run/rise, multiplied by a factor of 7 to convert to their conventional units of palms per cubit) was used in the building of pyramids. [70] Another mathematical pyramid with proportions almost identical to the "golden" one is the one with perimeter equal to 2π times the height, or h:b = 4:π. This triangle has a face angle of 51.854° (51°51'), very close to the 51.827° of the Kepler triangle . This pyramid relationship corresponds to the coincidental relationship . [ edit ] Egyptian pyramids In the mid nineteenth century, Röber studied various Egyptian pyramids including Khafre, Menkaure and some of the Giza, Sakkara and Abusir groups, and was interpreted as saying that half the base of the side of the pyramid is the middle mean of the side, forming what other authors identified as the Kepler triangle ; many other mathematical theories of the shape of the pyramids have also been explored. [64] One Egyptian pyramid is remarkably close to a "golden pyramid"—the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Cheops or Khufu). Its slope of 51° 52' is extremely close to the "golden" pyramid inclination of 51° 50' and the π-based pyramid inclination of 51° 51'; other pyramids at Giza (Chephren, 52° 20', and Mycerinus, 50° 47') [70] are also quite close. Whether the relationship to the golden ratio in these pyramids is by design or by accident remains open to speculation. [73] Several other Egyptian pyramids are very close to the rational 3:4:5 shape. [71] Adding fuel to controversy over the architectural authorship of the Great Pyramid, Eric Temple Bell , mathematician and historian, claimed in 1950 that Egyptian mathematics would not have supported the ability to calculate the slant height of the pyramids, or the ratio to the height, except in the case of the 3:4:5 pyramid, since the 3:4:5 triangle was the only right triangle known to the Egyptians and they did not know the Pythagorean theorem nor any way to reason about irrationals such as π or φ. [74] Michael Rice [75] asserts that principal authorities on the history of Egyptian architecture have argued that the Egyptians were well acquainted with the golden ratio and that it is part of mathematics of the Pyramids, citing Giedon (1957). [76] Historians of science have always debated whether the Egyptians had any such knowledge or not, contending rather that its appearance in an Egyptian building is the result of chance. [77] In 1859, the pyramidologist John Taylor claimed that, in the Great Pyramid of Giza , the golden ratio is represented by the ratio of the length of the face (the slope height), inclined at an angle θ to the ground, to half the length of the side of the square base, equivalent to the secant of the angle θ. [78] The above two lengths were about 186.4 and 115.2 meters respectively. The ratio of these lengths is the golden ratio, accurate to more digits than either of the original measurements. Similarly, Howard Vyse , according to Matila Ghyka, [79] reported the great pyramid height 148.2 m, and half-base 116.4 m, yielding 1.6189 for the ratio of slant height to half-base, again more accurate than the data variability. [ edit ] Disputed observations Examples of disputed observations of the golden ratio include the following: Historian John Man states that the pages of the Gutenberg Bible were "based on the golden section shape". However, according to Man's own measurements, the ratio of height to width was 1.45. [80] Some specific proportions in the bodies of many animals (including humans [81] [82] ) and parts of the shells of mollusks [4] and cephalopods are often claimed to be in the golden ratio. There is actually a large variation in the real measures of these elements in specific individuals, and the proportion in question is often significantly different from the golden ratio. [81] The ratio of successive phalangeal bones of the digits and the metacarpal bone has been said to approximate the golden ratio. [82] The nautilus shell, the construction of which proceeds in a logarithmic spiral , is often cited, usually with the idea that any logarithmic spiral is related to the golden ratio, but sometimes with the claim that each new chamber is proportioned by the golden ratio relative to the previous one; [83] however, measurements of nautilus shells do not support this claim. [84] The proportions of different plant components (numbers of leaves to branches, diameters of geometrical figures inside flowers) are often claimed to show the golden ratio proportion in several species. [85] In practice, there are significant variations between individuals, seasonal variations, and age variations in these species. While the golden ratio may be found in some proportions in some individuals at particular times in their life cycles, there is no consistent ratio in their proportions.[ citation needed ] In investing, some practitioners of technical analysis use the golden ratio to indicate support of a price level, or resistance to price increases, of a stock or commodity; after significant price changes up or down, new support and resistance levels are supposedly found at or near prices related to the starting price via the golden ratio. [86] The use of the golden ratio in investing is also related to more complicated patterns described by Fibonacci numbers ; see, e.g. Elliott wave principle . See Fibonacci retracement . However, other market analysts have published analyses suggesting that these percentages and patterns are not supported by the data. [87] Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( help · info ) ; December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was an Indian Muslim lawyer , politician , statesman and the founder of Pakistan . He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam ( Urdu : قائد اعظم — "Great Leader") and Baba-e-Qaum (بابائے قوم) (" Father of the Nation "). Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on August 14, 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from August 15, 1947 until his death on September 11, 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu - Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress ; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League . He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India . Jinnah later advocated the two-nation theory embracing the goal of creating a separate Muslim state as per the Lahore Resolution . [7] The League won most reserved Muslim seats in the elections of 1946. After the British and Congress backed out of the Cabinet Mission Plan Jinnah called for a Direct Action Day to achieve the formation of Pakistan. This direct action [8] [9] by the Muslim League and its Volunteer Corps resulted in massive rioting in Calcutta [9] [10] between Muslims and Hindus . [10] [11] As the Indian National Congress and Muslim League failed to reach a power sharing formula for united India , it prompted both the parties and the British to agree to the independence of Pakistan and India. As the first Governor-General of Pakistan , Jinnah led efforts to lay the foundations of the new state of Pakistan, frame national policies and rehabilitate millions of Muslim refugees who had migrated from India. Jinnah also assumed the role and title of 'Protector General of the Hindu Minority' during Hindu-Muslim riots after 1947. [12] Jinnah died aged 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire . After his death, Jinnah left a deep and respected legacy in Pakistan, and according to Stanley Wolpert , Jinnah remained Pakistan's greatest leader since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. [13] Contents [ edit ] Early life Jinnah in his youth, in traditional dress. Jinnah was born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai ( Gujarati : મુહમ્મદ અલી જિન્નાભાઈ) [14] in Wazir Mansion Karachi . [15] [16] [17] Sindh had earlier been conquered by the British and was subsequently grouped with other conquered territories for administrative reasons to form the Bombay Presidency of British India . His earliest school records state that he was born on October 20, 1875. However, Jinnah's first biography, authored by Sarojini Naidu , as well as his official passport state the date of birth as December 25, 1876. Jinnah was the first child born to Mithibai and Jinnahbhai Poonja. His father, Jinnahbhai (1857–1902), was a prosperous Gujarati merchant who hailed from the state of Gondal situated in the Kathiawar region province of Gujarat (present day India). He had moved to Karachi from Kathiawar , because of his business partnership with Grams Trading Company whose regional office was set up in Karachi, then a part of the Bombay presidency . He moved to Karachi some times before Jinnah's birth. [18] [15] [19] His grandfather, Poonja Gokuldas Meghji, [20] was a Hindu Bhatia Rajput from Paneli village in Gondal state in Kathiawar . Jinnah's ancestors were Hindu Rajputs ; his grandfather had converted to Islam . [19] Jinnah's family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam , [1] though Jinnah later converted to Twelver Khoja Shi'a Islam . [2] [5] [6] The first-born Jinnah was soon joined by six siblings; three brothers - Ahmad Ali, Bunde Ali, and Rahmat Ali - and three sisters - Maryam, Fatima and Shireen. Their mother language was Gujarati ; in time they also came to speak Kutchi , Sindhi and English . [21] The proper Muslim names of Mr. Jinnah and his siblings, unlike those of his father and grandfather, are the consequence of the family's immigration to the predominantly Muslim state of Sindh. Jinnah was a restless student and studied at several schools: first at the Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam in Karachi; then briefly at the Gokal Das Tej Primary School in Bombay; and finally at the Christian Missionary Society High School in Karachi, [14] where, at the age of sixteen, he passed the matriculation examination of the University of Bombay . [22] [ edit ] Years in England Jinnah was offered an apprenticeship at the London office of Graham's Shipping and Trading Company , a business that had extensive dealings with Jinnahbhai Poonja's firm in Karachi. [14] Before he left for England in 1892, at his mother's urging, he married his distant cousin – Emibai Jinnah , who was two years his junior; [14] she died a few months later. During his sojourn in England, his mother too would pass away. [19] In London, Jinnah soon left the apprenticeship to study law instead, by joining Lincoln's Inn . It is said that the sole reason of Jinnah's joining Lincoln's Inn is that the welcome board of the Lincoln's Inn had the names of the world's all-time top-ten magistrates, and that this list was led by the name of Muhammad. No such board exists, although there is a mural which includes a picture of Muhammad. [19] In three years, at age 19, he became the youngest Indian to be called to the bar in England. [19] During his student years in England, Jinnah came under the spell of 19th-century British liberalism, like many other future Indian independence leaders. This education included exposure to the idea of the democratic nation and progressive politics. He admired William Gladstone and John Morley , British Liberal statesmen. An admirer of the Indian political leaders Dadabhai Naoroji and Sir Pherozeshah Mehta , [23] he worked with other Indian students on the former's successful campaign to become the first Indian to hold a seat in the British Parliament . By now, Jinnah had developed largely constitutionalist views on Indian self-government, and he condemned both the arrogance of British officials in India and the discrimination practiced by them against Indians. This idea of a nation legitimized by democratic principles and cultural commonalities was antithetical to the genuine diversity that had generally characterized the subcontinent. As an Indian intellectual and political authority, Jinnah would find his commitment to the Western ideal of the nation-state developed during his English education– and the reality of heterogeneous Indian society to be difficult to reconcile during his later political career. Muhmmad Ali Jinnah's passport issued by the British Raj . [ edit ] Western influences on personal life The Western world not only inspired Jinnah in his political life. England had greatly influenced his personal preferences, particularly when it came to dress. Jinnah donned Western style clothing and he pursued the fashion with fervor. It is said he owned over 200 hand-tailored suits which he wore with heavily starched shirts with detachable collars. It is also alleged that he never wore the same silk tie twice. [24] [ edit ] Return to India Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a young lawyer During the final period of his stay in England, Jinnah came under considerable pressure to return home when his father's business was ruined. In 1896 he returned to India and settled in Bombay. Jinnah built a house in Malabar Hill , later known as Jinnah House . He became a successful lawyer, gaining particular fame for his skilled handling of the " Caucus Case ". [23] His reputation as a skilled lawyer prompted Indian leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak to hire him as defence counsel for his sedition trial in 1908. Jinnah argued that it was not sedition for an Indian to demand freedom and self-government in his own country, but Tilak received a rigorous term of imprisonment. [23] When he returned to India his faith in liberalism and progressive politics was confirmed through his close association with three Indian National Congress stalwarts Gopal Krishna Gokhale , Pherozeshah Mehta and Surendranath Banerjee . These people had an influence in his early life in England and they would influence his later involvement in Indian politics. [25] [ edit ] Early political career This photo shows M.A Jinnah, as a young lawyer. In 1906, Jinnah joined the Indian National Congress , which was the largest Indian political organization. Like most of the Congress at the time, Jinnah did not favour outright independence, considering British influences on education, law, culture and industry as beneficial to India. Jinnah became a member on the sixty-member Imperial Legislative Council . The council had no real power or authority, and included a large number of un-elected pro-Raj loyalists and Europeans. Nevertheless, Jinnah was instrumental in the passing of the Child Marriages Restraint Act, the legitimization of the Muslim waqf (religious endowments) and was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, which helped establish the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun . [15] [26] During World War I , Jinnah joined other Indian moderates in supporting the British war effort, hoping that Indians would be rewarded with political freedoms. Jinnah had initially avoided joining the All India Muslim League , founded in 1906, regarding it as too Muslim oriented. However he decided to provide leadership to the Muslim minority. Eventually, he joined the league in 1913 and became the president at the 1916 session in Lucknow . Jinnah was the architect of the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the League, bringing them together on most issues regarding self-government and presenting a united front to the British. Jinnah also played an important role in the founding of the All India Home Rule League in 1916. Along with political leaders Annie Besant and Tilak, Jinnah demanded " home rule " for India—the status of a self-governing dominion in the Empire similar to Canada , New Zealand and Australia . He headed the League's Bombay Presidency chapter. In 1918, Jinnah married his second wife Rattanbai Petit ("Ruttie"), twenty-four years his junior. She was the fashionable young daughter of his personal friend Sir Dinshaw Petit, of an elite Parsi family of Bombay. Unexpectedly there was great opposition to the marriage from Rattanbai's family and Parsi society, as well as orthodox Muslim leaders. Rattanbai defied her family and nominally converted to Islam , adopting (though never using) the name Maryam Jinnah , resulting in a permanent estrangement from her family and Parsi society. The couple resided in Bombay, and frequently travelled across India and Europe. In 1919 she bore Jinnah his only child, daughter Dina Jinnah . In 1924 Jinnah reorganized the Muslim League, of which he had been president since 1916, and devoted the next seven years attempting to bring about unity among the disparate ranks of Muslims and to develop a rational formula to effect a Hindu-Muslim settlement, which he considered the pre condition for Indian freedom. He attended several unity conferences, wrote the Delhi Muslim Proposals in 1927, pleaded for the incorporation of the basic Muslim demands in the Nehru report, and formulated the “Fourteen Points”. [27] Main article: Fourteen Points of Jinnah Jinnah in traditional Sherwani Jinnah broke with the Congress in 1920 when the Congress leader, Mohandas Gandhi , launched a law-violating Non-Cooperation Movement against the British, which Jinnah disapproved of. Unlike most Congress leaders, Gandhi did not wear western-style clothes, did his best to use an Indian language instead of English , and was deeply rooted to Indian culture. Gandhi's local style of leadership gained great popularity with the Indian people. Jinnah criticised Gandhi's support of the Khilafat Movement , which he saw as an endorsement of religious zealotry. [28] By 1920, Jinnah resigned from the Congress, with a prophetic warning that Gandhi's method of mass struggle would lead to divisions between Hindus and Muslims and within the two communities. [26] Becoming president of the Muslim League, Jinnah was drawn into a conflict between a pro-Congress faction and a pro-British faction. In September 1923, Jinnah was elected as Muslim member for Bombay in the new Central Legislative Assembly . He showed great gifts as a parliamentarian, organized many Indian members to work with the Swaraj Party , and continued to press demands for full responsible government. He was so active on a wide range of subjects that in 1925 he was offered a knighthood by Lord Reading when he retired as Viceroy and Governor General . Jinnah replied: "I prefer to be plain Mr. Jinnah". [29] In 1927, Jinnah entered negotiations with Muslim and Hindu leaders on the issue of a future constitution, during the struggle against the all-British Simon Commission . The League wanted separate electorates while the Nehru Report favoured joint electorates. Jinnah personally opposed separate electorates, but then drafted compromises and put forth demands that he thought would satisfy both. These became known as the 14 points of Mr. Jinnah . [30] However, they were rejected by the Congress and other political parties. Jinnah's personal life and especially his marriage suffered during this period due to his political work. Although they worked to save their marriage by travelling together to Europe when he was appointed to the Sandhurst committee, the couple separated in 1927. Jinnah was deeply saddened when Rattanbai died in 1929, after a serious illness. Also in 1929, Jinnah defended Ilm-ud-din , a carpenter who murdered a Hindu book publisher for publishing the book "Rangeela Rasool" which was alleged to be offensive towards the Prophet Muhammad . Jinnah's involvement in this controversy showed a greater inclination towards Islamic politics and a shift away from being an advocate for Hindu-Muslim unity. [31] At the Round Table Conferences in London, Jinnah was disillusioned by the breakdown of talks. [32] After the failure of the Round Table Conferences, Jinnah returned to London for a few years. In 1936, he returned to India to re-organize Muslim League and contest the elections held under the provisions of the Act of 1935. [33] Jinnah would receive personal care and support as he became more ill during this time from his sister Fatima Jinnah . She lived and travelled with him, as well as becoming a close advisor. [34] She helped raise his daughter, who was educated in England and India. Jinnah later became estranged from his daughter, Dina Jinnah , after she decided to marry Parsi-born Christian businessman, Neville Wadia (even though he had faced the same issues when he married Rattanbai in 1918). Jinnah continued to correspond cordially with his daughter, but their personal relationship was strained. Dina continued to live in India with her family. [ edit ] Leader of the Muslim League Jinnah with his sister Fatima Jinnah (left) and daughter Dina (right) in Bombay A. R. Dard, an Ahmadi missionary in London, helped convince Jinnah to return from London (where he had moved to in 1931 and planned on permanently relocating in order to practice in the Privy Council Bar) to India and politically lead Muslims of India [35] . In 1934 Jinnah returned and began to re-organise the party, being closely assisted by Liaquat Ali Khan , who would act as his right-hand man. In the 1937 elections to the Central Legislative Assembly , the League emerged as a competent party, capturing a significant number of seats under the Muslim electorate, but lost in the Muslim-majority Punjab , Sindh and the North-West Frontier Province . [36] Jinnah offered an alliance with the Congress – both bodies would face the British together, but the Congress had to share power, accept separate electorates and the League as the representative of India's Muslims. The latter two terms were unacceptable to the Congress, which had its own national Muslim leaders and membership and adhered to secularism. Even as Jinnah held talks with Congress president Rajendra Prasad , [37] Congress leaders suspected that Jinnah would use his position as a lever for exaggerated demands and obstruct government, and demanded that the League merge with the Congress. [38] The talks failed, and while Jinnah declared the resignation of all Congressmen from provincial and central offices in 1939 as a " Day of Deliverance " from Hindu domination, [39] some historians assert that he remained hopeful for an agreement. [37] Jinnah delivering a political speech. In a speech to the League in 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal mooted an independent state for Muslims in "northwest India." Choudhary Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in 1933 advocating a state called "Pakistan". Following the failure to work with the Congress, Jinnah, who had embraced separate electorates and the exclusive right of the League to represent Muslims, was converted to the idea that Muslims needed a separate state to protect their rights. Jinnah came to believe that Muslims and Hindus were distinct nations, with unbridgeable differences—a view later known as the Two Nation Theory . [40] Jinnah declared that a united India would lead to the marginalization of Muslims, and eventually civil war between Hindus and Muslims. This change of view may have occurred through his correspondence with Iqbal, who was close to Jinnah. [41] Later Jinnah went on to say that seed of Pakistan was laid the day first Hindu was converted to the religion of Islam. In the session in Lahore in 1940, the Pakistan resolution was adopted as the main goal of the party. The resolution was rejected outright by the Congress, and criticised by many Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad , Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan , Syed Ab'ul Ala Maududi and the Jamaat-e-Islami . On July 26, 1943, Jinnah was stabbed and wounded by a member of the extremist Khaksars in an attempted assassination . Muhammad Ali Jinnah founded Dawn in 1941, a major newspaper that helped him propagate the League's point of views. During the mission of British minister Stafford Cripps , Jinnah demanded parity between the number of Congress and League ministers, the League's exclusive right to appoint Muslims and a right for Muslim-majority provinces to secede, leading to the breakdown of talks. Jinnah supported the British effort in World War II , and opposed the Quit India movement . During this period, the League formed provincial governments and entered the central government. The League's influence increased in the Punjab after the death of Unionist leader Sikander Hyat Khan in 1942. Gandhi held talks fourteen times with Jinnah in Bombay in 1944, about a united front—while talks failed, Gandhi's overtures to Jinnah increased the latter's standing with Muslims. [42] [ edit ] Founding of Pakistan Jinnah with Cabinet Mission A letter by Jinnah to Winston Churchill In the 1946 elections for the Constituent Assembly of India , the Congress won most of the elected seats, while the League won a large majority of Muslim electorate seats. The 1946 British Cabinet Mission to India released a plan on May 16, calling for a united Indian state comprising considerably autonomous provinces, and called for "groups" of provinces formed on the basis of religion. A second plan released on June 16, called for the separation of India along religious lines, with princely states to choose between accession to the dominion of their choice or independence. The Congress, fearing India's fragmentation, criticised the May 16 proposal and rejected the June 16 plan. Jinnah gave the League's assent to both plans, knowing that power would go only to the party that had supported a plan. After much debate and against Gandhi's advice that both plans were divisive, the Congress accepted the May 16 plan while condemning the grouping principle.[ citation needed ] Jinnah decried this acceptance as "dishonesty", accused the British negotiators of "treachery", [43] and withdrew the League's approval of both plans. The League boycotted the assembly, leaving the Congress in charge of the government but denying it legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims. Jinnah gave a precise definition of the term ' Pakistan ' in 1941 at Lahore in which he stated: Some confusion prevails in the minds of some individuals in regard to the use of the word 'Pakistan'. This word has become synonymous with the Lahore resolution owing to the fact that it is a convenient and compendious method of describing [it].... For this reason the British and Indian newspapers generally have adopted the word 'Pakistan' to describe the Moslem demand as embodied in the Lahore resolution. [44] Jinnah issued a call for all Muslims to launch " Direct Action " on August 16 to "achieve Pakistan". [45] Strikes and protests were planned, but violence broke out all over India, especially in Calcutta and the district of Noakhali in Bengal , and more than 7,000 people were killed in Bihar . Although viceroy Lord Wavell asserted that there was "no satisfactory evidence to that effect", [46] League politicians were blamed by the Congress and the media for orchestrating the violence. [47] Interim Government portfolios were announced on October 25, 1946. [48] Muslim Leaguers were sworn in on October 26, 1946. [49] The League entered the interim government, but Jinnah refrained from accepting office for himself. This was credited as a major victory for Jinnah, as the League entered government having rejected both plans, and was allowed to appoint an equal number of ministers despite being the minority party. The coalition was unable to work, resulting in a rising feeling within the Congress that independence of Pakistan was the only way of avoiding political chaos and possible civil war. The Congress agreed to the division of Punjab and Bengal along religious lines in late 1946. The new viceroy Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Indian civil servant V. P. Menon proposed a plan that would create a Muslim dominion in West Punjab , East Bengal , Baluchistan and Sindh . After heated and emotional debate, the Congress approved the plan. [50] The North-West Frontier Province voted to join Pakistan in a referendum in July 1947. Jinnah asserted in a speech in Lahore on October 30, 1947 that the League had accepted independence of Pakistan because "the consequences of any other alternative would have been too disastrous to imagine." [51] The independent state of Pakistan, created on August 14, 1947, represented the outcome of a campaign on the part of the Indian Muslim community for a Muslim homeland which had been triggered by the British decision to consider transferring power to the people of India. [52] [ edit ] Jinnah's vision for Pakistan While giving an interview to American press representatives in July 1942, when asked by one of the journalists whether the Muslims were a nation or not, Jinnah replied: We are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law we are a nation. [53] Muhammad Ali Jinnah's will, excerpt A controversy has raged in Pakistan about whether Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be a secular state or an Islamic state (see secularism in Pakistan ). His views as expressed in his policy speech on August 11, 1947 said: There is no other solution. Now what shall we do? Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be no end to the progress you will make. I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community, because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vashnavas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on, will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long long ago. No power can hold another nation, and specially a nation of 400 million souls in subjection; nobody could have conquered you, and even if it had happened, nobody could have continued its hold on you for any length of time, but for this. Therefore, we must learn a lesson from this. You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State. As you know, history shows that in England, conditions, some time ago, were much worse than those prevailing in India today. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants persecuted each other. Even now there are some States in existence where there are discriminations made and bars imposed against a particular class. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State. The people of England in course of time had to face the realities of the situation and had to discharge the responsibilities and burdens placed upon them by the government of their country and they went through that fire step by step. Today, you might say with justice that Roman Catholics and Protestants do not exist; what exists now is that every man is a citizen, an equal citizen of Great Britain and they are all members of the Nation. Now I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State. Jinnah, August 11, 1947 – presiding over the constituent assembly. This statement cannot be taken as an indication that Jinnah wanted a secular state because he also referred to Islam and Islamic principles: The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims — Hindus, Christians, and Parsis — but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan. Broadcast talk to the people of the United States of America on Pakistan recorded February, 1948. It has been argued by many people that in this speech Jinnah wanted to point out that Pakistan would be a secular state, since many associate an Islamic state with a theocratic state, i.e., one in which the laws and constitution are written by mullahs and the legal code is based on sharia , Islamic law as proscribed by the Koran . This perception, however, is historically ambiguous; different countries, while claiming to be true Islamic states, have tried to mix religious principles with politics in varying proportions. The political caste of Islam suggests the mixing of religion and politics yet does not clearly define it. On the opening ceremony of the state bank of Pakistan Jinnah pointed out that the financial setup of the state should be based on Islamic economic system. We must work our destiny in our own way and present to the world an economic system based on true Islamic concept of equality of manhood and social justice. We will thereby be fulfilling our mission as Muslims and giving to humanity the message of peace which alone can save it and secure the welfare, happiness and prosperity of mankind. Speech at the opening ceremony of State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi July 1, 1948 It appears that Jinnah felt the state of Pakistan should stand upon Islamic tradition in culture, civilization and national identity rather than on the principles of Islam as a theocratic state. [54] In 1937, Jinnah further defended his ideology of equality in his speech to the All-India Muslim League in Lucknow where he stated, "Settlement can only be achieved between equals." [55] He also had a rebuttal to Nehru 's statement which argued that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British Raj and INC. Jinnah stated that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics. [56] [ edit ] Governor-General Muhammad Ali Jinnah with Mohandas Gandhi in Bombay, September 1944. The famous fur karakul hat worn by Jinnah came to be known as the " Jinnah cap ." Along with Liaquat Ali Khan and Abdur Rab Nishtar , Muhammad Ali Jinnah represented the League in the Division Council to appropriately divide public assets between India and Pakistan. [57] The assembly members from the provinces that would comprise Pakistan formed the new state's constituent assembly, and the Military of British India was divided between Muslim and non-Muslim units and officers. Indian leaders were angered at Jinnah's courting the princes of Jodhpur , Bhopal and Indore to accede to Pakistan – these princely states were not geographically aligned with Pakistan, and each had a Hindu-majority population. [58] Jinnah became the first Governor-General of Pakistan and president of its constituent assembly. Inaugurating the assembly on August 11, 1947, Jinnah spoke of an inclusive and pluralist democracy promising equal rights for all citizens regardless of religion, caste or creed. This address is a cause of much debate in Pakistan as, on its basis, many claim that Jinnah wanted a secular state while supporters of Islamic Pakistan assert that this speech is being taken out of context when compared to other speeches by him. On October 11, 1947, in an address to Civil, Naval, Military and Air Force Officers of Pakistan Government, Karachi, he said: We should have a State in which we could live and breathe as free men and which we could develop according to our own lights and culture and where principles of Islamic social justice could find free play. [59] On February 21, 1948, in an address to the officers and men of the 5th Heavy and 6th Light Regiments in Malir, Karachi, he said: You have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and the equality of manhood in your own native soil. With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve. [60] The office of Governor-General was ceremonial, but Jinnah also assumed the lead of government. The first months of Pakistan's independence were absorbed in ending the intense violence that had arisen in the wake of acrimony between Hindus and Muslims. Jinnah agreed with Indian leaders to organise a swift and secure exchange of populations in the Punjab and Bengal. He visited the border regions with Indian leaders to calm people and encourage peace, and organised large-scale refugee camps. Despite these efforts, estimates on the death toll vary from around two hundred thousand, to over a million people.[ citation needed ] The estimated number of refugees in both countries exceeds 15 million. [61] The then capital city of Karachi saw an explosive increase in its population owing to the large encampments of refugees, which personally affected and depressed Jinnah. [62] In his first visit to East Pakistan , under the advice of local party leaders, Jinnah stressed that Urdu alone should be the national language; a policy that was strongly opposed by the Bengali people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ). This opposition grew after he controversially described Bengali as the language of Hindus. [63] [64] He controversially accepted the accession of Junagadh —a Hindu-majority state with a Muslim ruler located in the Saurashtra peninsula, some 400 kilometres (250 mi) southeast of Pakistan—but this was annulled by Indian intervention. It is unclear if Jinnah planned or knew of the tribal invasion from Pakistan into the kingdom of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947, but he did send his private secretary Khurshid Ahmed to observe developments in Kashmir. When informed of Kashmir's accession to India, Jinnah deemed the accession illegitimate and ordered the Pakistani army to enter Kashmir. [65] However, Gen. Auchinleck , the supreme commander of all British officers informed Jinnah that while India had the right to send troops to Kashmir, which had acceded to it, Pakistan did not. If Jinnah persisted, Auchinleck would remove all British officers from both sides. As Pakistan had a greater proportion of Britons holding senior command, Jinnah cancelled his order, but protested to the United Nations to intercede. [65] [ edit ] Illness and death Tomb of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi , Pakistan Through the 1940s, Jinnah suffered from tuberculosis ; only his sister and a few others close to him were aware of his condition. In 1948, Jinnah's health began to falter, hindered further by the heavy workload that had fallen upon him following Pakistan's independence from British Rule . Attempting to recuperate, he spent many months at his official retreat in Ziarat . According to his sister, he suffered a hemorrhage on September 1, 1948; doctors said the altitude was not good for him and that he should be taken to Karachi. Jinnah was flown back to Karachi from Quetta. Jinnah died at 10:20 p.m. at the Governor-General's House in Karachi on September 11, 1948, just over a year after Pakistan's independence. It is said that when the Viceroy of India at that point of time, Lord Louis Mountbatten , learned of Jinnah's ailment he said 'had they known that Jinnah was about to die, they'd have postponed India's independence by a few months as he was being inflexible on Pakistan'.(Collins, L; Lapierra, D, 1975, Freedom at Midnight, Preface p. xvii) Jinnah was buried in Karachi. [66] His funeral was followed by the construction of a massive mausoleum , Mazar-e-Quaid , in Karachi to honour him; official and military ceremonies are hosted there on special occasions. He had two separate Funeral prayers: one was held privately at Mohatta Palace in a room of the Governor-General's House at which Yusuf Haroon, Hashim Raza and Aftab Hatim Alvi were present at the Namaz-e-Janaza held according to Shia Muslim rituals and was led by Syed Anisul Husnain , [1] while Liaquat Ali Khan waited outside. After the Shia prayers, the major public Funeral prayers were led by Allamah Shabbir Ahmad Usmani a renowned Deobandi Muslim scholar and attended by masses from all over Pakistan. Dina Wadia remained in India after independence, before ultimately settling in New York City . Jinnah's grandson, Nusli Wadia , is a prominent industrialist residing in Mumbai. In the 1963–1964 elections, Jinnah's sister Fatima Jinnah , known as Madar-e-Millat ("Mother of the Nation"), became the presidential candidate of a coalition of political parties that opposed the rule of President Ayub Khan , but lost the election. The Jinnah House in Malabar Hill , Bombay, is in the possession of the Government of India but the issue of its ownership has been disputed by the Government of Pakistan. [67] Jinnah had personally requested Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to preserve the house and that one day he could return to Mumbai. There are proposals for the house be offered to the Government of Pakistan to establish a consulate in the city, as a goodwill gesture, but Dina Wadia has also laid claim to the property, claiming that Hindu Law is applicable to Jinnah as he was a Khoja Shia. [4] [67] After Jinnah died, Fatima Jinnah had asked the court to execute Jinnah's will under Shia law. Jinnah's family belonged to the Ismaili Khoja branch of Shi'a Islam , but Jinnah left that branch in 1901. [1] Vali Nasr says Jinnah "was an Ismaili by birth and a Twelver Shia by confession, though not a religiously observant man." [2] In a 1970 legal challenge, Hussain Ali Ganji Walji claimed Jinnah had converted to Sunni Islam, but the High court rejected this claim in 1976, effectively accepting the Jinnah family as Shia. [68] Publicly, Jinnah had a non-sectarian stance and "was at pains to gather the Muslims of India under the banner of a general Muslim faith and not under a divisive sectarian identity." [1] In 1970, a court decision stated that Jinnah's "secular Muslim faith made him neither Shia nor Sunni", [1] and in 1984 the court maintained that "the Quaid was definitely not a Shia". [1] Liaquat H. Merchant elaborates that "he was also not a Sunni, he was simply a Muslim". [1] [ edit ] Legacy An Iranian stamp commemorating the centenary of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, printed in 1976. In his biography of Jinnah titled "Jinnah of Pakistan", the historian, Stanley Wolpert , makes the following observation that succinctly describes the legacy of Jinnah and his footprint on history: Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Muhammad Ali Jinnah did all three. [69] Pakistanis view Jinnah as their revered founding father, a man that was dedicated to safeguarding Muslim interests during the dying days of the British Raj . [70] Despite any of a range of biases, it almost impossible to doubt, despite motive and manner, that there is any figure that had more influence and role in the creation of Pakistan than Jinnah. [71] Jinnah is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam ( Urdu : قائد اعظم — "Great Leader") and Baba-e-Qaum (بابائے قوم) (" Father of the Nation "). His birthday is a national holiday in Pakistan. Jinnah is depicted on all Pakistani rupee notes of denominations five and higher, and is the namesake of many Pakistani public institutions. The former Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, now called the Jinnah International Airport , in Karachi is Pakistan's busiest. One of the largest streets in the Turkish capital Ankara — Cinnah Caddesi — is named after him. In Iran , one of the capital Tehran 's most important new highways is also named after him, while the government released a stamp commemorating the centennial of Jinnah's birthday. The Mohammad Ali Jenah Expressway of Tehran is also named after him. In Chicago , a portion of Devon Avenue was named as "Mohammed Ali Jinnah Way". The Mazar-e-Quaid , Jinnah's mausoleum , is among Karachi's most imposing buildings.[ citation needed ] There is a "Jinnah Tower" in Guntur , Andhra Pradesh , India, which was built to commemorate Jinnah. [72] In media, Jinnah was portrayed by British actors Richard Lintern (as the young Jinnah) and Christopher Lee (as the elder Jinnah) in the 1998 film Jinnah . [73] In Richard Attenborough 's film Gandhi , Jinnah was portrayed by Alyque Padamsee . In the 1986 televised mini-series Lord Mountbatten: the Last Viceroy, Jinnah was played by Polish actor Vladek Sheybal . Some historians like H M Seervai and Ayesha Jalal assert that Jinnah never wanted partition of India —it was the outcome of the Congress leaders being unwilling to share power with the Muslim League. It is asserted that Jinnah only used the Pakistan demand as a method to mobilise support to obtain significant political rights for Muslims. [74] Jinnah has gained the admiration of major Indian nationalist politicians like Lal Krishna Advani —whose comments praising Jinnah caused an uproar in his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). [75] Jaswant Singh likewise praised Jinnah for standing up to the Indian National Congress and the British. [76] [77] In August 2009, Singh was expelled from the BJP for writing a controversial book praising Jinnah, [78] and shortly after, the state of Gujarat banned Singh's book because of its negative statements about Vallabhbhai Patel , the first home minister of India. [79] However, Jaswant Singh's book does portray the success of Jinnah's Ideology of Indian Muslims forming a separate Kaum (Nation) not evident from the separation of Bangladesh in 1971. [ edit ] Criticism Some critics allege that Jinnah's courting the princes of Hindu states and his gambit with Junagadh is proof of ill intentions towards India, as he was the proponent of the theory that Hindus and Muslims could not live together, yet being interested in Hindu-majority states. [80] In his book Patel: A Life, Rajmohan Gandhi asserts that Jinnah sought to engage the question of Junagadh with an eye on Kashmir —he wanted India to ask for a plebiscite in Junagadh , knowing thus that the principle then would have to be applied to Kashmir , where the Muslim-majority would, he believed, vote for Pakistan. [81] Abul Ala Maududi and the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership openly criticized Muhammed Ali Jinnah , the leader of the drive to create Pakistan . Maududi later changed his view and supported the state of Pakistan, though he kept on opposing Jinnah. Jinnah believed that Pakistan should be a democratic state with the sovereignty invested in the people, a notion Maududi opposed as "western" and contrary to the sovereignty of Allah. [82] According to Akbar S. Ahmed, nearly every book about Jinnah outside Pakistan mentions the fact that he drank alcohol. Several sources indicate he gave up alcohol near the end of his life. [83] Apart from cultural legacies, it seems that Mohammad Ali Jinnah left a legacy as one of the most controversially portrayed figures in contemporary Asian history. From an Indian perspective, Jinnah tends to be depicted as a cunning and relentless force that compromised the unity of India to create Pakistan, for a range of religious, cultural, political, and personal motives; on the other hand Jaswant Singh , a member of Parliament and several times cabinet minister of the Indian government, viewed Nehru, not Mohammad Ali Jinnah, as causing the division of India into two separate states for Muslims and Hindus, mostly referring to his highly centralised policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more decentralised India. The split between the two was among the causes of two separate nations. It is believed that personal animosity between the two leaders led to the creation of two separate nations of Pakistan and India. [76] [77] Pakistan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the nation of Pakistan. For other uses, see Pakistan (disambiguation) and Pakistani (disambiguation) . Islamic Republic of Pakistan listen ) ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( Urdu : اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکِستان) is a sovereign state in South Asia . It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan lies adjacent to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor . In addition, Oman is also located in maritime vicinity and shares a marine border with Pakistan. [7] Strategically, Pakistan is located in a position between the important regions of South Asia , Central Asia and the greater Middle East . [8] The region forming modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures including the neolithic Mehrgarh and the bronze era Indus Valley Civilisation . Subsequently it was the recipient of Hindu , Persian , Indo-Greek , Islamic, Turco-Mongol , Afghan and Sikh cultures through several invasions and/or settlements. As a result the area has remained a part of numerous empires and dynasties including the Indian empires , Persian empires , Arab caliphates , Mongol , Mughal , Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire), Sikh and British Empire . Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire in 1947, after a struggle for independence led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah that sought the partition of British India and a new independent state for the Muslim majority populations of the eastern and western regions of India. [9] Initially a dominion , with the adoption of its constitution in 1956 Pakistan became an Islamic republic . [10] In 1971, an armed conflict in East Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh . [11] Pakistan has the eighth largest standing armed force and is the only Muslim-majority nation to possess nuclear weapons . Pakistan is the first nuclear power country in the Muslim world , and the second in the South Asia , the first being India . [13] [14] It is designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States and a strategic ally of China. [15] [16] It is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ) [17] and a member of the United Nations, [18] Commonwealth of Nations , [19] Next Eleven economies and the G20 developing nations . Contents The Indus Priest/King wearing a Sindhi Ajruk , ca. 2500 BC. Map of India during the Vedic period, including the modern day Pakistan. Standing Buddha, Gandhara , Pakistan, 1st century AD The Indus region , which covers a considerable amount of Pakistan, was the site of several ancient cultures including the Neolithic era's Mehrgarh and the bronze era Indus Valley Civilisation (2500–1500 BCE) at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro . [22] The Vedic Civilization , dating from around 1700-1400 BCE flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxila in Punjab . [23] The extent of the Swat and Cemetery H culture of the Rig Vedic people was in the Hindu Kush to Punjab region and the upper gangetic plains. [23] The territory of the present-day Pakistan was once the seat of the ancient Hindu civilization , and the place of origin of the Rig Veda . [24] Much of the area in which Hinduism originated is now in Pakistan, and the religion was well established in the region before the arrival of Islam in the 8th century AD. [25] The city of Multan , which was once considered an important Hindu pilgrimage centre, was known to have had Hindu shrines. [26] Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Achaemenid Persian empire around 543 BCE, [27] the Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great in 326 BCE and the Mauryan empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended by Ashoka the Great , until 185 BCE. [28] The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab from 184 BCE, and reached its greatest extent under Menander , establishing the Greco-Buddhist period with advances in trade and culture. The city of Taxila (Takshashila) became a major centre of learning in ancient times—the remains of the city, located to the west of Islamabad , are one of the country's major archaeological sites . [29] Taxila is considered to be amongst the earliest universities and centers of higher education in the world. [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] Medieval age The Rai Dynasty (c.489–632) of Sindh , at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories. [35] In 712 CE , the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab . [36] The Pakistan government's official chronology states that "its foundation was laid" as a result of this conquest. [37] This Arab and Islamic victory would set the stage for several successive Muslim empires in South Asia, including the Ghaznavid Empire , the Ghorid Kingdom, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire . During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam. British colony The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire in the early eighteenth century provided opportunities for the Afghans , Balochis and Sikhs to exercise control over large areas until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia. [38] The Indian Rebellion of 1857 , also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, was the region's last major armed struggle against the British Raj, and it laid the foundations for the largely non-violent freedom struggle led by the Indian National Congress in the twentieth century. In the 1920s and 1930s, a movement led by Congress leader Mahatma Gandhi engaged millions of protesters in mass campaigns of civil disobedience . [39] The 17th century Badshahi Masjid built during Mughal rule in Lahore The All India Muslim League rose to popularity in the late 1930s amid fears of under-representation and neglect of Muslims in politics. On 29 December 1930, Allama Iqbal 's presidential address called for an autonomous "state in northwestern India for Indian Muslims, within the body politic of India." [40] Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah espoused the Two Nation Theory and led the Muslim League to adopt the Lahore Resolution of 1940, popularly known as the Pakistan Resolution . In early 1947, Britain announced the decision to end its rule in India . In June 1947, the nationalist leaders of British India —including Jawaharlal Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs —agreed to the proposed terms of transfer of power and independence. The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947 (27 Ramadan 1366 in the Islamic Calendar ), carved out of the two Muslim-majority wings in the eastern and northwestern regions of British India and comprising the provinces of Balochistan , East Bengal , the North-West Frontier Province , West Punjab and Sindh . [41] The controversial, and ill-timed, division of the provinces of Punjab and Bengal caused communal riots across India and Pakistan—millions of Muslims moved to Pakistan and millions of Hindus and Sikhs moved to India. [42] Disputes arose over several princely states including in the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir , whose Hindu ruler had acceded to India following an invasion by Pashtun tribal militias, leading to the First Kashmir War in 1948. [43] The Working Committee of the Muslim League in Lahore (1940) Modern From 1947 to 1956, Pakistan was a Dominion of Pakistan in the Commonwealth of Nations , as West-Pakistan claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Pakistan, considering itself to be the reorganized continuation of the country in the United Nations. It became a Parliamentary Republic in 1956, but the civilian rule was stalled by a coup d’état by then- Army Commander-in-Chief General Ayub Khan , who was the first Chief Martial Law Administrator and also the President during 1958–69, a period of internal instability and a second war with India in 1965. His successor, General Yahya Khan (1969–71), also an Army Commander, had to deal with a devastating cyclone —which caused 500,000 deaths in East-Pakistan —and also face a bitter civil war in 1971. Economic grievances and political dissent in East Pakistan led to violent political tension and military repression that escalated into a civil war . [44] After nine months of guerrilla warfare between the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Indian backed Bengali Mukti Bahini militia, Indian intervention escalated into the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 , and ultimately to the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh . [45] The first Governor General Muhammad Ali Jinnah delivering the opening address on 11 August 1947 to the new state of Pakistan. Isolated and devastated, General Yahya Khan immediately surrendered his executive powers to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who became the first and to-date only civilian Chief Martial Law Administrator. Civilian rule resumed in Pakistan from 1972 to 1977 under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , until he was deposed and later sentenced to death in 1979 by General Zia-ul-Haq , who became the country's third military president and fourth Chief Martial Law Administrator. From the period of 1971 to 1977, Bhutto worked on uniting the remaining part of the country and taking initiatives to stabilizing the economy. As part of this policy, Bhutto inaugurated the country's first atomic power plant in Karachi , Sindh Province in 1972. Under Bhutto, Pakistan became first nuclear power country in the Muslim world , and also authorized the integrated nuclear weapons development the same year. As awake of Smiling Buddha , an Indian nuclear test in 1974, Bhutto intensified and accelerated the scientific research on nuclear weapons. By the 1978, this crash program had fully became mature, and Pakistan conducted a cold-test of a nuclear device (see Kirana-I ) in Kirana Hills in 1983, followed by another cold test (see Kahuta Test ) in 1984. However, another serious liberation movement took place in Balochistan Province in 1974. In response, Bhutto launched an armed operation in the province and the rebellion was successfully quelled by the Pakistan Armed Forces in 1978. Bhutto was removed in a coup d'état led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Chief of Army Staff, in 1977. The Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the execution of Bhutto after he allegedly approved the murder of political opponent. In 1979, Bhutto was executed and General Zia-ul-Haq became the Chief Martial Law Administrator and President after Bhutto's execution. General Zia's martial law and military government lasted until 1988 when he died in a plane crash in 1988. As military president, General Zia introduced the Islamic Sharia legal code , which increased religious influences on the civil service and the military. With the death of President Zia in a plane crash in 1988, Benazir Bhutto , daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Over the next decade, she fought for power with conservative leader Nawaz Sharif as the country's political and economic situation worsened. Pakistan got involved in the 1991 Gulf War and sent 5,000 troops as part of a U.S.-led coalition, specifically for the defence of Saudi Arabia . [46] Navaz Sharif secured an overwhelming victory over Benazir Bhutto in the 1997 parliamentary elections and sworned as Prime minister of Pakistan. Navaz Sharif became the second politically strongest Prime minister, only after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to have claimed and have achieved the exclusive mandate of all over the Pakistan, defeating Benazir Bhutto on a large scale margin. In 1998, tensions with India heightened, as Navaz Sharif ordered the nuclear tests in Balochistan in May of 1998 (see Chagai-I and Chagai-II ) as a reaction to that of Indian nuclear tests ( Pokhran-II ). Military tensions in the Kargil conflict with India were followed by a Pakistani military coup d'état in 1999 in which General Pervez Musharraf assumed vast executive powers. [47] [48] In 2001, Musharraf became President after the controversial resignation of Rafiq Tarar . After the 2002 parliamentary elections, Musharraf transferred executive powers to the newly elected Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali , who was succeeded in the 2004 prime-ministerial election by Shaukat Aziz . On 15 November 2007, the National Assembly, for the first time in Pakistan's history, completed its tenure and new elections were called. The exiled political leaders Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were permitted to return to Pakistan. However, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto during the election campaign in December led to postponement of elections and nationwide riots. Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the largest number of seats in the elections held in February 2008 and its member Yousaf Raza Gillani was sworn in as Prime Minister. [49] On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharraf resigned from the presidency when threatened with impeachment , [50] and was succeeded by current president Asif Ali Zardari . By the end of 2009, more than 3 million Pakistani civilians have been displaced by the on going conflict in North-West Pakistan between the government and Taliban militants. [51] Politics Aiwan-e-Sadr , the official residence of the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari is the current President of Pakistan, he has faced heavy public opposition and corruption allegations. Pakistan is a democratic parliamentary federal republic with Islam as the state religion. [52] The first Constitution of Pakistan was adopted in 1956, but was suspended in 1958 by General Ayub Khan . The Constitution of 1973 – suspended in 1977, by Zia-ul-Haq , but re-instated in 1985 – is the country's most important document, laying the foundations of the current government. [53] The bicameral legislature comprises a 100-member Senate and a 342-member National Assembly . The President is the Head of state and the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and is elected by an electoral college . The prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly. Each province has a similar system of government with a directly elected Provincial Assembly in which the leader of the largest party or alliance becomes Chief Minister. Provincial Governors are appointed by the President. [52] Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gillani . The Pakistani military has played an influential role in mainstream politics throughout Pakistan's history, with military presidents ruling from 1958–71, 1977–88 and from 1999–2008. [54] The leftist Pakistan Peoples Party , led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , won support after the loss of East Pakistan but was overthrown amidst riots in 1977. [55] Under the military rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , a politically nationalist insurgency in Balochistan was also bloodlessly quelled by military governor Rahimuddin . [56] The 1990s were characterised by coalition politics dominated by the Pakistan Peoples Party and a rejuvenated Muslim League. [52] Pakistan is an active member of the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the latter of which Pakistan has used as a forum for Enlightened Moderation, a plan to promote a renaissance and enlightenment in the Muslim world. [52] Pakistan is also a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). [52] In the past, Pakistan has had mixed relations with the United States; in the early 1950s, Pakistan was the United States' "most allied ally in Asia" [57] and a member of both the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO) and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO). After Sino-Indian War in 1962 Pakistan's closest strategic, military and economic ally is China . [58] [59] National Symbols of Pakistan [60] Flag Shalwar Kameez During the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, Pakistan was a major U.S. ally. [61] But relations soured in the 1990s, when sanctions were imposed by the U.S. over Pakistan's refusal to abandon its nuclear activities. [62] However, the American War on Terrorism , as an aftermath of 11 September 2001 attacks in New York, led to an improvement in US–Pakistan ties, especially after Pakistan ended its support of the Taliban regime in Kabul . Its positive side was evidenced by a major increase in American military aid, providing Pakistan $4 billion more in three years after the 9/11 attacks than before. [63] On the other hand, Pakistan is presently burdened with nearly 3 million displaced civilians due to the ongoing Afghan war. As of 2004, in contexts of the War on Terror , Pakistan was being referred to as part of the Greater Middle East by the US under the Bush administration. [64] On 18 February 2008, Pakistan held its general elections after Benazir Bhutto's assassination postponed the original date of 8 January 2008. [65] The Pakistan Peoples Party won the majority of the votes and formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (N) . They nominated and elected Yousaf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister. [66] On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharraf resigned as President of Pakistan amidst increasing calls for his impeachment . [67] In the presidential election that followed, Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan People's Party won a landslide majority and became President of Pakistan. [68] Administrative divisions Main articles: Administrative units of Pakistan and Districts of Pakistan Pakistan is a federation of four provinces, a capital territory and a group of federally administered tribal areas. The government of Pakistan exercises de facto jurisdiction over the western parts of the disputed Kashmir region, organised as two separate political entities; Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan . Pakistan Administrative Units – Tier 1 Prior to 2001, the sub-provincial tier of government was composed of 26 divisions with two further tiers ( districts and tehsils ) administered directly from the provincial level. The divisions were abolished in 2001 [69] and a new three-tiered system of local government came into effect comprising districts, tehsils and union councils with an elected body at each tier. There are currently 113 districts in Pakistan-proper, each with several tehsils and union councils. The tribal areas comprise seven tribal agencies and six small frontier regions [70] detached from neighbouring districts while Azad Kashmir comprises ten [71] and Gilgit-Baltistan seven [72] districts respectively. Provinces A nuclear capable Babur cruise missile with a theoretical range of 1000km Pakistani Navy during a Drill. The JF-17 Thunder is built in Pakistan in cooperation with China. The armed forces of Pakistan are the eighth-largest in the world. The three main services are the Army , Navy and the Air Force , supported by a number of paramilitary forces which carry out internal security roles and border patrols. The National Command Authority is responsible for exercising employment and development control of all strategic nuclear forces and organisations, and for Pakistan's nuclear doctrine . Pakistani defence forces has had close military relation with China and United States and predominantly imports military equipments from these two countries. [73] The defence forces of China and Pakistan also organise joint military exercises. [74] The Pakistan Army came into existence after independence in 1947 and is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani . The Pakistan Army is "the heart of power" in Pakistan who "consistently meddled in politics," as well as "run secretive industrial conglomerates". [75] It has an active force of 612,000 personnel and 513,000 men in reserve. [76] Conscription may be introduced in times of emergency, but it has never been imposed. [77] Since independence, the Army has been involved in four wars with neighbouring India and several border skirmishes with Afghanistan. It maintained division and brigade strength presences in some of the Arab countries during the past Arab–Israeli Wars , and aided the Coalition in the first Gulf War . Other major operations undertaken by the Army include Operation Black Thunderstorm and Operation Rah-e-Nijat . Apart from conflicts, the Army has been an active participant in United Nations peacekeeping missions and played a major role in rescuing trapped American soldiers from Mogadishu , Somalia in 1993 in Operation Gothic Serpent . The Pakistan military first saw combat in the First Kashmir War , gaining control of what is now Pakistan-administered Kashmir . In 1961, the army repelled a major Afghan incursion on Pakistan's western border. [78] Pakistan and India were at war again in 1965 and in 1971 . In 1973, the military quelled a Baloch nationalist uprising . In the past, Pakistani personnel have volunteered to serve alongside Arab forces in conflicts with Israel. During the Six-Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in October 1973 PAF pilots volunteered to go to the Middle East to support Egypt and Syria in a state of war against Israel, Air Force pilots shot down ten Israeli planes in the Six-Day War . During the Yom Kippur War 16 PAF pilots volunteered to leave for the Middle East in order to support Egypt and Syria but by the time they arrived Egypt had already agreed on a cease-fire. [79] During the Soviet–Afghan war , Pakistan shot down several intruding pro-Soviet Afghan aircraft and provided covert support to the Afghan mujahideen through the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. In 1999, Pakistan was involved in the Kargil War . Currently, the military is engaged in an armed conflict with extremist Islamic militants in the north-west of the country. [80] Since 2004, Pakistani armed forces have engaged in fighting against Pakistani Taliban groups . Militant groups have engaged in suicide bombings in Pakistani cities, killing more than 3,000 civilians and armed personnel in 2009 alone. [81] Internationally the Pakistani armed forces contributed to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, with more than 10,700 personnel deployed in 2009, [82] and are presently the largest contributor. Pakistan provided a military contingent to the UN-backed coalition in the first Gulf War. [83] Pakistani troops were rushed to Makkah on the Saudi Government's request and Pakistani SSG commandos led the operation of the Grand Mosque Seizure . Geography See also: Geology of Pakistan The 62-kilometre-long Baltoro Glacier , in northern Pakistan, is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions Pakistan covers an area of 796,095 km2 (307,374 sq mi), approximately equalling the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. It is the 36th largest nation by total area although this ranking varies depending on how the disputed territory of Kashmir is counted. Apart from the 1,046 km (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea, Pakistan's land borders a total of 6,774 km (4,209 mi)—2,430 km (1,510 mi) with Afghanistan, 523 km (325 mi) with China, 2,912 km (1,809 mi) with India and 909 km (565 mi) with Iran. [53] The territory it controls mostly lies between latitudes 23° and 37° N (a small area is north of 37°), and longitudes 61° and 78° E (a small area is west of 61°). Geologically, Pakistan overlaps with the Indian tectonic plate in its Sindh and Punjab provinces, while Balochistan and most of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lie within the Eurasian plate which mainly comprises the Iranian plateau . Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir lie mainly in Central Asia along the edge of the Indian plate and are hence prone to violent earthquakes. Topography of Pakistan The geography of Pakistan is a blend of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in the south to the mountains of the Karakoram range in the north. Pakistan is divided into three major geographic areas: the northern highlands; the Indus River plain; and the Balochistan Plateau. [84] The northern highlands of Pakistan contain the Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Pamir mountain ranges, which incorporate some of the world's highest peaks, including K2 (8,611 m or 28,251 ft) and Nanga Parbat (8,126 m or 26,660 ft). The Balochistan Plateau lies to the West, and the Thar Desert in the East. An expanse of alluvial plains lies in Punjab and Sindh along the Indus river. The 1,609 km (1,000 mi) Indus River and its tributaries flow through the country from the Kashmir region to the Arabian Sea. [85] Climate Main article: Climate of Pakistan Pakistan's climate varies from tropical to temperate with arid conditions existing in the coastal south, characterised by a monsoon season with frequent flooding rainfall and a dry season with significantly lesser to no rainfall. There are four distinct seasons; a cool, dry winter from December through February; a hot, dry spring from March through May; the summer rainy season or southwest monsoon period, from June through September; and the retreating monsoon period of October and November. [86] Rainfall can vary radically from year to year, and successive patterns of flooding and drought are common. [87] Flora and fauna Cedrus deodara , Pakistan's national tree The diversity of landscapes and climates in Pakistan allows for a wide variety of trees and plants to flourish in this region. The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees such as spruce , pine , and deodar cedar in the extreme northern mountains, to deciduous trees such as the mulberry-type Shisham in the Sulaiman range in the majority of the country, to palms such coconut and date in South Punjab and Balochistan and all of Sindh . The western hills are home to juniper and tamarisk as well as coarse grasses and scrub plants. Mangrove forests form much of the coastal wetlands along the coast in the south. [88] Coniferous forests in most of the northern and north-western highlands are found at altitudes ranging from 1,000m to 4,000m. In the xeric regions of Balochistan, date palms and ephedra are common floral varieties. In most of Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains support tropical and subtropical dry and moist broadleaf forestry as well as tropical and xeric shrublands. These forests are mostly mulberry , acacia , and Eucalyptus . According to statistics, 2.5% or about 1,902,000 hectares (19,020 km2) of Pakistan was forested in 2000. [89] Similar to the vegetation, the animal life in Pakistan reflects the varied climatic regions of the land. The southern plains are home to crocodiles in the Indus while boars , deer , porcupines , and small rodents are found more commonly in the surrounding areas. The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are home to a jackals , hyenas , wild cats , panthers , and leopards . Markhor , Pakistan's national animal In the north, a wide variety of animals have found home in the mountainous regions including the Marco Polo sheep , Urial sheep , Markhor and Ibex goats, black and brown Himalayan bears, and the rare Snow Leopard . Another rare species is the blind Indus River Dolphin of which there are believed to be about 1,100 remaining, protected at the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh . [90] There have been sightings of the rare Asiatic cheetahs in the southwestern deserts of Sindh and Balochistan. Apart from crows , sparrows and myna , hawks , falcons , and eagles are the more commonly found birds in Pakistan. A lot of birds sighted within Pakistan are migratory as they make their way from Europe, Central Asia and India. [91] In recent years, the number of wild animals being killed for fur and leather trading led to a new law banning the hunting of wild animals and birds as well as the establishment of several wildlife sanctuaries and game reserves. The number of hunters have greatly dwindled since then. [92] Vast sections of the Indus flood plains have been cleared of natural vegetation to grow crops. Only animals like the jackal , mongoose , jungle cat, civet cat, scaly anteater , desert cat and the wild hare occur in these areas. Hog deer are found in riveine tracts. The crop residues and wild growth support reasonable populations of black and grey partridges . [93] The lack of vegetative cover, severity of climatic conditions, and the impact of grazing animals on the deserts have left wild animals in a precarious position. Chinkara is the only animal that can still be found in significant numbers in Cholistan. [94] The blackbuck , once plentiful in Cholistan, has now been eliminated; efforts are being made to reintroduce them into the country. A small number of blue bulls are found along the Pakistan-Indian border, and in some parts of Cholistan. Grey partridge , species of sand grouse and the Indian courser are the main birds of the area. Peafowl occur in some areas in Cholistan. [95] The Kohistan region of Pakistan, Palas Velley, also has a significant population of Western Tragopan . [96] Economy Main article: Economy of Pakistan A view of the skyline in Karachi 's financial district. Pakistan has a semi-industrialized economy. [97] [98] The growth poles of the Pakistani economy are situated along the Indus River . [98] [99] Diversified economies of Karachi and Punjab's urban centres, coexist with lesser developed areas in other parts of the country. [98] Despite being a very poor country in 1947, Pakistan's economic growth rate has been better than the global average during the subsequent four decades, but imprudent policies led to a slowdown in the late 1990s. [100] Recently, wide-ranging economic reforms have resulted in a stronger economic outlook and accelerated growth especially in the manufacturing and financial services sectors. [100] Since the 1990s, there has been great improvement in the foreign exchange position and rapid growth in hard currency reserves. [100] The 2005 estimate of foreign debt was close to US$40 billion. However, this has decreased in recent years with assistance from the International Monetary Fund and significant debt-relief from the United States. Pakistan's gross domestic product, as measured by purchasing power parity , is estimated to be $475.4 billion [101] while its per capita income stands at $2,942. [101] The poverty rate in Pakistan is estimated to be between 23% [102] and 28%. [103] GDP growth was steady during the mid-2000s at a rate of 7%; [104] [105] however, slowed down during the Economic crisis of 2008 to 4.7%. [53] A large inflation rate of 24.4% and a low savings rate, and other economic factors, continue to make it difficult to sustain a high growth rate. [106] [107] Pakistan's GDP is US$167 billions, which makes it the 48th-largest economy in the world or 27th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates. Today, Pakistan is regarded as to having the second largest economy in South Asia. [108] The structure of the Pakistani economy has changed from a mainly agricultural base to a strong service base. Agriculture now only accounts for roughly 20% of the GDP, while the service sector accounts for 53% of the GDP. [109] Significant foreign investments have been made in several areas including telecommunications , real estate and energy. [110] [111] Other important industries include apparel and textiles (accounting for nearly 60% of exports), food processing, chemicals manufacture, and the iron and steel industries. [112] Pakistan's exports in 2008 amounted to $20.62 billion (USD). [113] Pakistan is a rapidly developing country. [114] [115] [116] However, the economic crisis of 2008 led Pakistan to seek more than $100 billion in aid in order to avoid possible bankruptcy. [117] [118] This was never given to Pakistan and it had to depend on a more aggressive fiscal policy, backed by the IMF . A year later, Asian Development Bank reported that the Pakistan economic crisis was easing. [119] Furthermore it is projected that in 2010 Pakistan economy would grow at least 4% and could grow more with strong international economic recovery. [120] Tourism The Deosai National Park is located in Skardu , Gilgit-Baltistan , Pakistan. K2 is the second- highest mountain on Earth after Mount Everest . With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), K2 is part of the Karakoram range, Pakistan. Despite being once listed as one of the most dangerous countries in the world by The Economist, [121] tourism is still a growing industry in Pakistan because of its diverse cultures, peoples and landscapes. [122] The variety of attractions ranges from the ruins of ancient civilisations such as Mohenjo-daro , Harappa and Taxila , to the Himalayan hill-stations, that attract those interested in field and winter sports. Pakistan also has five out of fourteen mountain peaks of height over 8,000 metres (26,250 ft), that attract adventurers and mountaineers from around the world, especially to K2 . [123] From April to September, domestic and international visitors to these areas bring tourist income to the local people. Utror , Swat Valley In Balochistan there are many caves for cavers and tourists to visit especially the Juniper Shaft Cave, the Murghagull Gharra cave, Mughall saa cave, and Pakistan's naturally decorated cave, the Mangocher Cave. Pakistan is a member country of the Union International de Spéléologie (UIS). [124] The northern parts of Pakistan are home to several historical fortresses, towers and other architecture including the Hunza and Chitral valleys, the latter being home to the Kalash , a small pre-Islamic Animist community. [125] Punjab is also the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River . The historic city of Lahore is considered Pakistan's cultural centre and has many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid , Shalimar Gardens , Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort . [126] The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation ( PTDC ) also helps promote tourism in the country. [127] However, tourism is still limited because of the lack of proper infrastructure and the worsening security situation in the country. The recent militancy in Pakistan's scenic sites, including Swat in Khybar Pakhtoon Kawa province, have dealt a massive blow to the tourism industry. Many of the troubles in these tourist destinations are also blamed on the frail travel network, tourism regulatory framework, low prioritisation of the tourism industry by the government, low effectiveness of marketing and a constricted tourism perception. [128] [129] After these areas were being cleared off the militant groups in late 2009, the government, with financial support from the USAID , started a campaign to reintroduce tourism in Swat valley. Pakistan receives 500,000 tourists annually, with almost half of them heading to northern Pakistan. [130] Transport Map of major Highways and Motorways in Pakistan The Karachi Port is the largest port in the country and one of South Asia's busiest. Rail services in Pakistan are provided by the state-run Pakistan Railways , under the supervision of the Ministry of Railways . Pakistan Railways provides an important mode of transportation in Pakistan, catering to the large-scale movement of people and freight. The railway network comprises 8,163 km [131] of which 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) (broad gauge) forms 7,718 km including 293 km of electrified track. Pakistan Railways carry 65 million passengers annually and daily operates 228 mail, express and passenger trains. Pakistan Railways also operate special trains for various occasions. The Freight Business Unit with 12000 personnel operates over 200 freight stations on the railway network. Pakistan has also planned or had many Mass Transit Systems. The Karachi Circular Railway, which opened in the early 1940s, is the only functioning Mass Transit System in Pakistan as of March 2010. In 1976, Karachi was slated to begin work on an underground metro system, but plans have been put on hold since. The Lahore Metro is another proposal still in planning and is scheduled to be completed by 2020. Pakistan has been successful in foreign trade by rail. Pakistan has successfully traded with countries such as Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Turkmenistan and China. [132] During the 1990s, Pakistan began an ongoing project to rebuild all national highways throughout the country specifically to important financial, cargo and textile centres. The National Highway Authority or NHA is responsible for the maintenance of all national highways in Pakistan. The construction of motorways began in the early 1990s with the idea building a world class road network and to reduce the load off the heavily used national highways throughout the country. The first motorway to be completed was M2 in 1997 from Islamabad to Lahore . Later on, highways such as M1 from Peshawar to Islamabad , M3 from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad , M9 from Hyderabad to Karachi , Karachi Northern Bypass from Hyderabad to Karachi , and the Lahore Ring Road [133] were completed. The waterway network in Pakistan is in its infancy with Karachi being the only major city situated next to the Arabian Sea. Plans are being proposed for the development of the waterways in the country along the Indus River and through the Punjab as it would boost employment opportunities and the economic and social development in Pakistan. [134] Pakistan has an estimated 139 airports, 10 of them international. [135] Science and Technology Main articles: Science in Pakistan and List of Pakistani inventions and discoveries Research and development forms an integral part in Pakistan's economy. [136] For the most of the 20th century, Scientific efforts were at the rising level in Pakistan, that brought international recognition in its achievements, and became a major component of Pakistan's foreign policy. [136] Pakistan is the home of Professor Abdus Salam — Pakistan's only Nobel laureate in Physics , and pioneer of the electroweak theory for which he received such honor. [137] In modern time, the work of Pervez Hoodbhoy , Ishfaq Ahmad , and Riazudding played a crucial development in particle and theoretical physics. Pakistan also produced the world class mathematicians such as Asghar Qadir and Raziuddin Siddiqui where their research played a crucial advancement in mathematical physics. Munir Ahmad Rashid became the first Pakistani mathematician to provide the another theoretical proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 2008. [138] Dr. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui was the first Pakistani scientist that bring the anthelmintic , antifungal , anti-bacterial , and antiviral constituents of the Neem tree to the attention of natural products chemists. He was preceded by Atta ur Rahman , UNESCO laureate , and Naveed Zaidi , organic chemist being the first scientist to developed first workable plastic magnet at room temperature. Each and every year, scientists from all over the world are invited by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and the Pakistan Government to participate in International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics , one of the largest seminar in Physics and Mathematics. [139] Medical scientists from Pakistan also pioneered in neuroscience . Dr. Ayub Ommaya , the inventor of the Ommaya reservoir , was one of the leading scientist in the field of Neurosciences. [140] Another medical scientist, Naweed Syed became the first scientist who managed to "connect brain cells to a silicon chip". [141] Pakistan has produced prolific technologist such as dr. Umar Saif , a pioneer in ICTD technology and Munir A. Khan , a leading figure in nuclear power technology. [142] Aerospace engineer W. J. M. Turowicz developed and supervised the launch of the Rehbar-I rocket from Pakistan soil, making Pakistan first South Asian country to launch the rocket in space. [143] In 1990, Pakistan launched its first and ingeniously satellite, Badr-I from PR China , becoming first Muslim country and second South Asian country to have put the satellite in space. [144] In 1972, with the opening inauguration of country's commercial nuclear power plant in Karachi, Pakistan became first nuclear power in the Islamic world , and second emerging nuclear power in South Asia , while her neighbor India became the first. [14] In 1998, due to amid domestic and international pressure, Pakistan became first Muslim majority and seventh country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapons . [145] Pakistan's scientists have played an influential role in advancing the economical sciences such as Akhtar Hameed Khan , pioneer of microcredit and microfinance initiatives in developing world; Mahbub-ul-Haq , creator of the Human development theory and the founder of the Human Development Report; and Agha Hasan Abedi , founder of the BCCI . [146] Demographics 166.0 Source: OECD/World Bank Population in Pakistan increased from 1990 to 2008 with 58 million and 54 % growth in population. [147] The estimated population of Pakistan in 2010 was over 170 million [2] making it the world's sixth most-populous country, behind Brazil and ahead of Bangladesh. In 1951 Pakistan had a population of 34 million. [148] The population growth rate now stands at 1.6%. [149] It is expected that by 2030, Pakistan will overtake Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world. [150] [151] [152] The majority of southern Pakistan's population live along the Indus River . By population size, Karachi is the largest city of Pakistan. [153] In the northern half, most of the population live in an arc formed by the cities of Lahore , Faisalabad , Rawalpindi , Islamabad , Gujranwala , Sialkot , Gujrat , Jhelum , Sargodha , Sheikhupura , Nowshera , Mardan and Peshawar . About 20% of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day . [154] Life expectancy at birth is 63 years for females and 62 years for males as of 2006 [155] compared to the healthy life expectancy at birth which was 54 years for males and 52 years for females in 2003. [155] Expenditure on health was at 2% of the GDP in 2006. [155] The mortality below 5 was at 97 per 1,000 live births in 2006. [155] During 1990–2003, Pakistan sustained its historical lead as the most urbanised nation in South Asia, with city dwellers making up 36% of its population. [53] Furthermore, 50% of Pakistanis now reside in towns of 5,000 people or more. [156] Pakistan is a multilingual country with more than sixty languages being spoken. English is the official language of Pakistan and used in official business, government, and legal contracts, [53] and Punjabi has a plurality of native speakers. Urdu is the lingua franca and national language in Pakistan. Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab . Saraiki is also spoken in the larger area of Punjab province. Pashto is the provincial language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Sindhi is the provincial language of Sindh and Balochi is the provincial language of Balochistan. [157] The population comprises several main ethnic groups (2009): [158] Punjabis (44.15%) 78.7 million Main article: Religion in Pakistan Pakistan is the second-most populous Muslim-majority country [12] [161] and also has the second-largest Shi'a population in the world. [162] About 97% of the Pakistanis are Muslim. The majority are Sunni , with an estimated 5–20% Shi'a . [163] [164] [165] [166] [167] 2.3% are Ahmadis , [168] who are officially considered non-Muslims since a 1974 "anti-Ahmadi" constitutional amendment. [169] There are also several Sufi and Quraniyoon communities. [170] [171] [172] [173] Although the groups of Muslims usually coexist peacefully, sectarian violence occurs sporadically. [174] The religious breakdown of the country is as follows: [163] [164] [165] [166] [167] Islam 173,000,000 (97%) (the majority are Sunni Muslims , 5–20% are Shi'a and 2.3% are Ahmadis ). National Academy of Performing Arts , Karachi . International Islamic University Islamabad. According to the constitution of Pakistan, it is the state’s responsibility to provide free primary education. [176] At the time of independence Pakistan had only one university, the University of the Punjab, founded in 1882 in Lahore. Pakistan now has more than 132 universities of which 73 are public universities and 59 are private universities. [177] [178] Education in Pakistan is divided into five levels: primary (grades one through five); middle (grades six through eight); high (grades nine and ten, leading to the Secondary School Certificate ); intermediate (grades eleven and twelve, leading to a Higher Secondary School Certificate); and university programmes leading to graduate and advanced degrees. [179] Literacy rate – Pakistan Pakistan also has a parallel secondary school education system in private schools, which is based upon the curriculum set and administered by the Cambridge International Examinations , in place of government exams. Some students choose to take the O level and A level [180] exams through the British Council . There are currently 730 technical & vocational institutions in Pakistan. [181] The minimum qualifications to enter male vocational institutions, is the completion of grade 8, and for female is grade 5. English medium education is to be extended, on a phased basis, to all schools across the country. [182] Through various educational reforms, by the year 2015, the ministry of education expects to attain 100% enrolment levels amongst primary school aged children, and a literacy rate of 86% amongst people aged over 10. [183] Pakistan also has madrassahs that provide free Islamic education and also offer free boarding and lodging to students who come mainly from the poorer strata of society. [184] After criticism over terrorists using them for recruiting purposes, efforts have been made to regulate them. [185] In 2004 only 46.6 percent of adult Pakistanis were literate. Male literacy was 60.6 percent, while female literacy was 31.5 percent. Literacy rates also vary regionally, and particularly by sex; for instance, in tribal areas female literacy is 3%. [186] The government launched a nationwide initiative in 1998 with the aim of eradicating illiteracy and providing a basic education to all children. [187] By 2013 all educational institutions in Sindh province of Pakistan will have to provide Chinese language courses. This initiative reflects China's growing role as a Superpower and Pakistan's close ties with China . [188] Culture Main article: Culture of Pakistan Rubab , a traditional instrument from Pakistan Pakistani society is largely hierarchical, with high regard for traditional Islamic values , although urban families have grown into a nuclear family system because of the socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional joint family system. [189] Recent decades have seen the emergence of a middle class in cities like Karachi , Lahore , Islamabad , Rawalpindi , Hyderabad , Faisalabad , Multan and Peshawar (now numbering at 30 million, with an average annual income of US$10,000, with another 17 million belonging to the upper and upper-middle classes [190] that wish to move in a more centrist direction, as opposed to the northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan that remain highly conservative and dominated by centuries-old regional tribal customs. Increasing globalisation has resulted in ranking 46th on the A.T. Kearney / FP Globalization Index . [191] View of Food Street in Lahore The variety of Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music, such as the synchronisation of Qawwali and western music by the world renowned Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan . In addition Pakistan is home to many famous folk singers such as the late Alam Lohar , who is also well known in Indian Punjab . However a majority of Pakistanis listen to Indian music produced by Bollywood and other Indian film industries.[ citation needed ] The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has rekindled Pashto and Persian music and established Peshawar as a hub for Afghan musicians and a distribution center for Afghan music abroad. [192] State-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation were the dominant media outlets, but there are now numerous private television channels. Various American, European, and Asian television channels and films are available to the majority of the Pakistani population via private television networks, cable, and satellite television (43 million Pakistanis have satellite television). [193] There are also small indigenous film industries based in Lahore and Peshawar (often referred to as Lollywood ). While Bollywood films were banned from being played in public cinemas from 1965 until 2008 [194] they have remained in popular culture. [195] Literature Main article: Literature of Pakistan Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a key leader in the Pakistan Movement . He is also recognised as the national poet of Pakistan. The literature of Pakistan covers the literatures of languages spread throughout the country, namely Urdu , Sindhi , Punjabi , Pushto , Baluchi as well as English [196] and Persian as well. Prior to the 19th century, the literature mainly consisted of lyric poetry and religious , mystical and popular materials. During the colonial age the native literary figures, under the influence of the western literature of realism , took up increasingly different topics and telling forms. Today, short stories enjoy a special popularity. [197] The national poet of Pakistan, Allama Muhammad Iqbal , suggested the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of India. However, Iqbal had also wrote the Tarana-e-Hind which stated the belief of a strong united India. His book The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is a major work of modern Islamic philosophy. The most well-known representative of the contemporary Urdu literature of Pakistan is Faiz Ahmed Faiz . Sufi poets Shah Abdul Latif , Bulleh Shah , Mian Muhammad Bakhsh and Khawaja Farid are also very popular in Pakistan. [198] Mirza Kalich Beg has been termed the father of modern Sindhi prose. [199] Architecture Main article: Pakistani architecture The Pakistani architecture of the areas now constituting Pakistan can be designated to four distinct periods— pre-Islamic , Islamic , colonial and post-colonial . With the beginning of the Indus civilisation around the middle of the 3rd millennium B.C., [200] an advanced urban culture developed for the first time in the region, with large structural facilities, some of which survive to this day. [201] Mohenjo Daro , Harappa and Kot Diji belong to the pre-Islamic era settlements. The rise of Buddhism and the Persian and Greek influence led to the development of the Greco-Buddhist style, starting from the 1st century CE. The high point of this era was reached with the culmination of the Gandhara style. An example of Buddhist architecture is the ruins of the Buddhist monastery Takht-i-Bahi in the northwest province . [202] The arrival of Islam in today's Pakistan meant a sudden end of Buddhist architecture. [203] However, a smooth transition to predominantly pictureless Islamic architecture occurred. The most important of the few completely discovered buildings of Persian style is the tomb of the Shah Rukn-i-Alam in Multan . During the Mughal era design elements of Islamic-Persian architecture were fused with and often produced playful forms of the Hindustani art. Lahore, occasional residence of Mughal rulers, exhibits a multiplicity of important buildings from the empire, among them the Badshahi mosque , the fortress of Lahore with the famous Alamgiri Gate , the colourful, still strongly Persian seeming Wazir Khan Mosque as well as numerous other mosques and mausoleums. Also the Shahjahan Mosque of Thatta in Sindh originates from the epoch of the Mughals. In the British colonial period, predominantly functional buildings of the Indo-European representative style developed from a mixture of European and Indian-Islamic components. Post-colonial national identity is expressed in modern structures like the Faisal Mosque , the Minar-e-Pakistan and the Mazar-e-Quaid . [204] Cuisine Main articles: Pakistani cuisine and Pakistani Chinese cuisine Known for its richness and flavour, Pakistani cuisine is a blend of cooking traditions from regions of the subcontinent . Although there are great variations from one area to another, dishes from Sindh province, and the Punjab region are identical to north Indian cuisine due to the strong similarity of culture and ethnicity. These can be highly seasoned and very spicy. Chinese migrants living in Pakistan have adopted a distinct style of Pakistani taste blend of both Chinese and Pakistani cuisine . Some of the popular Pakistani-Chinese dishes include, chicken Manchurian, Chinese basmati rice, Chinese soup and chicken chowmein noodles. [205] Sports Main article: Sports in Pakistan The national sport of Pakistan is hockey , although cricket is the most popular game across the country. [206] The national cricket team has won the Cricket World Cup once (in 1992), were runners-up once (in 1999), and co-hosted the games twice (in 1987 and 1996). Pakistan were runners-up in the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa and were the champions at the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 held in England. Lately however, Pakistani cricket has suffered heavily due to teams refusing to tour Pakistan because of terrorism fears. No teams have toured Pakistan since March 2009, when militants attacked the touring Sri Lankan cricket players. [207] Jahangir Khan , six times winner of the Squash World Open . Squash is another sport that Pakistanis have excelled in. Successful world-class squash players such as Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan have won the World Open several times during their careers. Other international players are Kiran Khan in Swimming and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in Tennis. At international level, Pakistan has competed many times at the Olympics in field hockey, boxing, athletics, swimming, and shooting. Pakistan's Olympic medal tally stands at 10 (3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze) while the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medal tally stands at 61 and 182 respectively. Hockey is the sport in which Pakistan has been most successful at the Olympics, with three gold medals in (1960, 1968, and 1984). Pakistan has also won the Hockey World Cup a record four times (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994). Among others, Association football and Polo are the more prominent sports with regular national events held in different parts of the country. Boxing , Billiards , Snooker , Rowing , Kayaking , Caving , Tennis, Contract Bridge , Golf and Volley Ball are also actively participated and Pakistan has produced notable champions in these sports at regional and international levels. In Tennis doubles, Pakistan's Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and India's Rohan Bopanna play together in many International tournaments portraying Indo-Pak friendship. Army For other uses, see Army (disambiguation) . Japanese Imperial Army (c.1900) Conscription No information An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state . It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps. Within a national military force, the word army may also mean a field army an army composed of full-time career soldiers who 'stand over', in other words, who do not disband during times of peace. They differ from army reserves who are activated only during such times as war or natural disasters . In several countries the army is officially called the land army to differentiate it from an air force called the air army, notably France . In such countries, the word "army" on its own retains its connotation of a land force in common usage. The current largest army in the world, by number of active troops, is the People's Liberation Army of China with 2,250,000 active troops and 800,000 reserve personnel followed by the Indian Army with 1,325,000 active troops and 2,142,821 reserve personnel. By definition, irregular military is understood in contrast to regular armies which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia . Contents [ edit ] History The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with Europe and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page . (June 2011) [ edit ] Sparta The Spartan Army was one of the earliest known professional armies. Boys were sent to a barracks at the age of seven to train for being a soldier. At the age of thirty they were released from the barracks and allowed to marry and have a family. After that, men devoted their lives to war until their retirement at the age of 60. Unlike other civilizations, whose armies had to disband during the planting and harvest seasons, the Spartan serfs or helots, did the manual labor. This allowed the Spartans to field a full-time army with a campaign season that lasted all year. The Spartan Army was largely composed of hoplites , equipped with arms and armor nearly identical to each other. Each hoplite bore the Spartan emblem and a scarlet uniform. The main pieces of this armor were a round shield, a spear and a helmet. [ edit ] Ancient Rome The Roman army laid the foundation of military organisation and tactics . The Roman Army had its origins in the citizen army of the Republic , which was staffed by citizens serving mandatory duty for Rome. Reforms around 115 BC turned the army into a professional organization which was still largely filled by citizens but citizens who served continuously for 25 years before being discharged. The Romans were also noted for making use of auxiliary troops, non-Romans who served with the legions and filled roles that the traditional Roman military could not fill effectively, such as light skirmish troops and heavy cavalry. After their service in the army they were made citizens of Rome and then their children were citizens also. They were also given land and money to settle in Rome. In the Late Roman Empire, these auxiliary troops, along with foreign mercenaries, became the core of the Roman Army; moreover, by the time of the Late Roman Empire tribes such as the Visigoths were paid to serve as mercenaries . [ edit ] Medieval Europe Armies of the Middle Ages consisted of noble knights, rendering service to their suzerain , and hired footsoldiers. In the earliest Middle Ages it was the obligation of every noble to respond to the call to battle with his own equipment, archers, and infantry. This decentralized system was necessary due to the social order of the time, but could lead to motley forces with variable training, equipment and abilities. The more resources the noble had access to the better his troops would be. The knights were drawn to battle by feudal and social obligation, and also by the prospect of profit and advancement. Those who performed well were likely to increase their landholdings and advance in the social hierarchy. The prospect of significant income from pillage, and ransoming prisoners was also important. For the mounted knight war could be a relatively low risk affair. As central governments grew in power, a return to the citizen armies of the classical period also began, as central levies of the peasantry began to be the central recruiting tool. England was one of the most centralized states in the Middle Ages, and the armies that fought in the Hundred Years' War were, predominantly, composed of paid professionals. In theory, every Englishman had an obligation to serve for forty days. Forty days was not long enough for a campaign, especially one on the continent. Thus the scutage was introduced, whereby most Englishmen paid to escape their service and this money was used to create a permanent army. However, almost all high medieval armies in Europe were composed of a great deal of paid core troops, and there was a large mercenary market in Europe from at least the early 12th century. As the Middle Ages progressed in Italy , Italian cities began to rely mostly on mercenaries to do their fighting rather than the militias that had dominated the early and high medieval period in this region. These would be groups of career soldiers who would be paid a set rate. Mercenaries tended to be effective soldiers, especially in combination with standing forces, but in Italy they came to dominate the armies of the city states. This made them considerably less reliable than a standing army. Mercenary-on-mercenary warfare in Italy also led to relatively bloodless campaigns which relied as much on maneuver as on battles. [ edit ] Early modern Swiss mercenaries and German Landsknechts fighting for glory, fame... and money at the battle of Marignan (1515). The bulk of the Renaissance armies was composed of mercenaries. First nation-states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire mercenaries to serve in their armies during wartime. Such mercenaries typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict, when men-at-arms were no longer needed by their respective governments. The veteran soldiers thus looked for other forms of employment, often becoming mercenaries. Free Companies would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that was not available in the form of a mobilized militia. As late as the 1650s, most troops were mercenaries. However, after the 17th century, most states invested in better disciplined and more politically reliable permanent troops. For a time mercenaries became important as trainers and administrators, but soon these tasks were also taken by the state. The massive size of these armies required a large supporting force of administrators. The newly centralized states were forced to set up vast organized bureaucracies to manage these armies, which some historians argue is the basis of the modern bureaucratic state. The combination of increased taxes and increased centralisation of government functions caused a series of revolts across Europe such as the Fronde in France and the English Civil War . In many countries, the resolution of this conflict was the rise of absolute monarchy . Only in England and the Netherlands did representative government evolve as an alternative. From the late 17th century, states learned how to finance wars through long term low interest loans from national banking institutions. The first state to master this process was the Dutch Republic . This transformation in the armies of Europe had great social impact. The defense of the state now rested on the commoners, not on the aristocrats. However, aristocrats continued to monopolise the officer corps of almost all early modern armies, including their high command. Moreover, popular revolts almost always failed unless they had the support and patronage of the noble or gentry classes. The new armies, because of their vast expense, were also dependent on taxation and the commercial classes who also began to demand a greater role in society. The great commercial powers of the Dutch and English matched much larger states in military might. As any man could be quickly trained in the use of a musket, it became far easier to form massive armies. The inaccuracy of the weapons necessitated large groups of massed soldiers. This led to a rapid swelling of the size of armies. For the first time huge masses of the population could enter combat, rather than just the highly skilled professionals. The colonels of the French Guards and British guards politely discussing who should fire first at the battle of Fontenoy (1745). [1] An example of "lace war". It has been argued that the drawing of men from across the nation into an organized corps helped breed national unity and patriotism, and during this period the modern notion of the nation state was born. However, this would only become apparent after the French Revolutionary Wars . At this time, the levée en masse and conscription would become the defining paradigm of modern warfare . Before then, however, most national armies were in fact composed of many nationalities. In Spain, armies were recruited from all the Spanish European territories including Spain, Italy, Wallonia ( Walloon Guards ) and Germany. The French recruited some soldiers from Germany, Switzerland as well as from Piedmont . Britain recruited Hessian and Hanovrian troops until the late 18th century. Irish Catholics made careers for themselves in the armies of many Catholic European states. Prior to the English Civil War in England, the monarch maintained a personal Bodyguard of Yeomen of the Guard and the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms or 'gentlemen pensioners', and a few locally raised companies to garrison important places such as Berwick on Tweed or Portsmouth (or Calais before it was recaptured by France in 1558). Troops for foreign expeditions were raised upon an ad-hoc basis. Noblemen and professional regular soldiers were commissioned by the monarch to supply troops, raising their quotas by indenture from a variety of sources. On January 26, 1661 Charles II issued the Royal Warrant that created the genesis of what would become the British Army , although the Scottish and English Armies would remain two separate organizations until the unification of England and Scotland in 1707. The small force was represented by only a few regiments. After the American Revolutionary War the Continental Army was quickly disbanded as part of the Americans' distrust of standing armies, and irregular state militias became the sole ground army of the United States , with the exception of one battery of artillery guarding West Point 's arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans , it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The first of these, the Legion of the United States , was established in 1791. Until 130 the common soldiers of Prussian Army consisted largely of peasantry recruited or impressed from Brandenburg-Prussia, leading many to flee to neighboring countries. [2] In order to halt this trend, Frederick William I divided Prussia into regimental cantons . Every youth was required to serve as a soldier in these recruitment districts for three months each year; this met agrarian needs and added extra troops to bolster the regular ranks. [3] The battle of the Nations (1813), marked the transition between aristocratic armies and national armies. [4] Masses replace hired professionals and national hatred overrides dynastic conflicts. An early example of total wars . Russian tsars before Peter I of Russia maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps ( streltsy in Russian) that were highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war the armed forces were augmented by peasants. Peter I introduced a modern regular army built on German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility , as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included a noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank. Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers. [5] The term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834 it was reduced to 20 years plus 5 years in reserve and in 1855 to 12 years plus 3 years of reserve. [5] [ chronology citation needed ] The first Ottoman standing army were Janissaries . They replaced forces that mostly comprised tribal warriors ( ghazis ) whose loyalty and morale could not always be trusted.The first Janissary units were formed from prisoners of war and slaves, probably as a result of the sultan taking his traditional one-fifth share of his army's booty in kind rather than cash. From the 1380s onwards, their ranks were filled under the devşirme system, where feudal dues were paid by service to the sultan. The "recruits" were mostly Christian youths, reminiscent of Mamelukes . China organized the Manchu people into the Eight Banner system in the early 17th century. Defected Ming armies formed the Green Standard Army . These troops enlisted voluntarily and for long terms of service. [ edit ] Late Modern Indian Army personnel during Operation Crusader in Egypt, 1941 Conscription allowed the French Republic to form the La Grande Armée , what Napoleon Bonaparte called "the nation in arms", which successfully battled European professional armies. Conscription, particularly when the conscripts are being sent to foreign wars that do not directly affect the security of the nation, has historically been highly politically contentious in democracies. Canada also had a political dispute over conscription during World War II . Similarly, mass protests against conscription to fight the Vietnam War occurred in several countries in the late 1960s. In developed nations, the increasing emphasis on technological firepower and better-trained fighting forces, the sheer unlikelihood of a conventional military assault on most developed nations, as well as memories of the contentiousness of the Vietnam War experience, make mass conscription unlikely in the foreseeable future. Russia , as well as many other nations, retains mainly a conscript army. There is also a very rare citizen army as used in Switzerland (see Swiss army ). \| [ edit ] Armies as armed services Western armies are usually subdivided as follows: Corps : A Corps usually consists of two or more Divisions and is commanded by a Lieutenant General . Division : Each division is commanded by a Major General , and usually holds three Brigades including infantry, artillery, engineers and communications units in addition to logistics (supply and service) support to sustain independent action. Except for the Divisions operating in the mountains, all the Divisions have at least one armored unit, some have even more depending upon their functionality. The basic building block of all ground force combat formations is the infantry division. A typical division would hold three infantry brigades. Brigade : A Brigade is under the command of a Brigadier General or sometimes is commanded by a Colonel and comprises three or more Battalions of different units depending on its functionality. An independent brigade would be one that primarily consists of an artillery unit, an infantry unit, an armour unit and logistics to support its actions. Such a brigade is not part of any division and is under direct command of a corps. Battalion : Each battalion is commanded by a Colonel or sometimes by Lieutenant Colonel who commands roughly 600 to 750 soldiers. This number varies depending on the functionality of the regiment. A regiment comprises either three batteries or four companies - and other arms excluding armoured units that are organized into squadrons each under the command of a major and comprising individual subunits called sections (which are further divisible into platoons and squads). [6] [ edit ] Field army A field army is composed of a headquarters, army troops , a variable number of corps typically between three to four, and a variable number of divisions , also between three to four. A battle is influenced at the Field Army level by transferring divisions and reinforcements from one corps to another to increase the pressure on the enemy at a critical point. Field armies are controlled by a General or Lieutenant General. Soldiers of the German Army Standard map symbol for a numbered Army, the 'X's are not substituting the army's number A particular army can be named or numbered to distinguish it from military land forces in general. For example, the First United States Army and the Army of Northern Virginia . In the British Army it is normal to spell out the ordinal number of an army (e.g. First Army), whereas lower formations use figures (e.g. 1st Division). Armies (as well as army groups and theaters ) are large formations which vary significantly between armed forces in size, composition, and scope of responsibility. 2/– Source: Cricinfo , 8 November 2010 Shoaib Akhtar ( Punjabi , Urdu : شعیب اختر; born 13 August 1975) is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler in cricket , who is regarded as the fastest bowler in the history of cricket. He set an official world record by achieving the fastest delivery, when he clocked in at 161.3 km/h (100.2 mph) in his bowling speed, twice at a cricket match against England . [1] His ability to bowl fast yorkers and quick bouncers have made him one of the best fast bowlers in cricket. However, he has been involved in several controversies during his career, often accused of not being a team player. Akhtar was sent home during the Test match series in Australia in 2005 for alleged poor attitude. A year later, he was embroiled in a drug scandal after testing positive to a banned substance. However, the ban imposed on him was lifted on court appeal. In September 2007, Akhtar was banned for an indefinite period for his fight with Pakistan team mate and fast bowler Mohammad Asif . [2] On 1 April 2008, Akhtar was banned for five years for publicly criticizing the Pakistan Cricket Board . [3] In October 2008, the Lahore High Court in Pakistan suspended the five year ban and Akhtar was selected in the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 Quadrangular Tournament in Canada. [4] Pakistani judge, Rana Bhagwandas stated once that, Akhtar is a legend of Pakistan cricket. [5] He retired from international cricket after the 2011 World Cup . Contents [ edit ] Early years Akhtar was born at Morgah, a small town near Rawalpindi, Punjab in Pakistan. [6] His father was a plant operator in Attock Oil Refinery , Morgah. [6] Akhtar started his studies at Elliott High School, Morgah and then took admission in the Asghar Mall College, Rawalpindi.[ citation needed ] [ edit ] International career Akhtar's run of impressive performances started in the 1990s. In 1999, during a pre-World Cup series against India, he rose to prominence. It was followed by outstanding bowling performances in Sharjah and later in 1999 Cricket World Cup . His most significant performance was in India in 1999 when he captured eight wickets in the Asian Test championship match at Calcutta – including the wickets of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid off successive deliveries. This was Akhtar's first encounter with Sachin Tendulkar, in which Akthar bowled him off the first delivery he delivered to the batsman. In 2002, he was selected for the Pakistan team against Australia and achieved success. However he performed poorly during the 2003 Cricket World Cup and after the tournament he was dropped from the Pakistan squad. He was selected back into the Pakistan squad in the 2004 Test match series against New Zealand , but struggled in a losing Test series against India in 2004. The series ended with a controversy when he left the field citing an injury leading to suspicions by former Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq , about his commitment to the team. As a result, his relationship with Inzamam-ul-Haq and former Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer deteriorated. A medical panel was set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board to investigate the nature of his injury, however Pakistan officials dispelled all suspicions. [7] In 2005, Akhtar regained his reputation as a fast bowler for his side. Playing in a three Test home series against England , he made a series of impressive bowling performances. His effective use of slower deliveries proved to be unplayable by the English batsmen. Akhtar emerged as the highest wicket taker of the series with seventeen wickets. His comeback was also remarkable as prior to his return, he had been criticized from all corners-such as by the Worcestershire chairman John Elliot for his celebrity attitude and lack of commitment to team. His performance was also acknowledged by the English captain Michael Vaughan , who remarked "I thought he (Shoaib) was a big difference between the two teams". [8] He is also known as the only bowler ever to break the 100 mph barrier in cricket bowling history, with a delivery of 100.2 mph, and this delivery at stands as the fastest recorded to date. [1] [ edit ] Struggle for form and consistent injuries (2007–2009) On 29 October 2007, Akhtar made his return to cricket, from his 13 match ban and performed well, taking 4 wickets for 43 runs against South Africa in the fifth and deciding One Day International series in Lahore in Pakistan. Subsequently, he was included in the 16 man Pakistan squad for the 2007 tour of India , which he completed successfully without further incident and injury. [ edit ] Rehabilitation and final years (2010–2011) Akhtar made a return to international cricket albeit in the shorter format of the game. In May 2010, PCB named him in a list of 35 probables for the Asia Cup . On 15 June 2010, Akhtar made his return, taking 3 wickets for 28 runs in the first match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka. [9] He narrowly missed out a spot in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in place of the injured Umar Gul. In July 2010, he was selected for the Twenty20 series against Australia but the selectors decided not to play him in the Test squad so that he would not get injured. He was subsequently selected for the ODI and Twenty20 series against England in September 2010 . [10] Akhtar returned to the national side representing the country against England in the Twenty20 International. He bowled an impressive spell and returned with figures of 2 wickets for 23 runs. [11] He continued to bowl well in the ODI series in the absence of regular fast-bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir , who were suspended by the International Cricket Council amid allegations of Spot-fixing . Despite his relatively good bowling form, Pakistani coach Waqar Younis insisted that the bowling attack must not become reliant on Akhtar, as he is 35 years of age and fitness troubles continue to affect him. [12] Akhtar was selected for the tour of New Zealand and started his campaign off well with 3 wickets on Boxing Day in the first of two Twenty20 Internationals against New Zealand. Akhtar was selected in Pakistan's 15-man squad to play in the 2011 World Cup hosted by Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka in February to March. During the tournament, he announced that he would retire from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. [13] In September, Akhtar released his autobiography, Controversially Yours . [14] [ edit ] England county cricket Shoaib Akhtar signing an autograph for his fans. Akhtar has played for three English county cricket clubs, including Somerset in 2001, Durham in 2003 and 2004 and Worcestershire in 2005. He did achieve his moments of success, such as taking 5 wickets for 35 runs for Durham against Somerset in the National League in 2003 and claiming 6 wickets for 16 runs in the same competition for Worcestershire against Glamorgan two years later, but he suffered from fitness problems, as well as a perception that he was less than interested in his task. This was particularly the case at Worcestershire: chairman John Elliott said "Players like that are no good to our club. In fact, Akhtar has been no good for any club he's been at. He's a superstar and just does what he wants." [15] [ edit ] Indian Premier League Akhtar made a successful return to cricket in his first game in the Indian Premier League , playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Delhi Daredevils . Defending a low score of 133 runs, Akhtar took four top order wickets which ultimately led to the Daredevils being restricted to 110 runs. He ended with figures of 4 wickets for 11 runs from three overs, a performance which earned him the player of the match award. [16] [17] Akhtar denied that he had any point to prove with his performance, stating, "I just wanted to win the game." Knight Riders' captain Sourav Ganguly also acknowledged Akhtar's performance, "He came to the country with lots [of things] happening behind him...But he showed a lot of character." [18] It has been widely reported that the Knight Riders have released Akhtar from his contract due to his injury history but the Knight Riders' officials have denied these reports and said they are still in talks with the fast bowler. [19] He has also played for Cyclones of Chittagong in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Bangladesh . [ edit ] Cricket controversies and injuries Akhtar's career has been plagued with injuries, controversies and accusations of poor attitude. After rising into international stardom at a young age due to his speed, due to his interesting personality and charisma glamour seemed to follow him, some say at the detriment of his sporting focus. Although he eventually crossed the 100 mph barrier, his attitude took its toll on his reputation as well as his fitness. After a poor performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, he got involved in a verbal conflict with former Pakistan captain and fast bowler Waqar Younis . Later on Akhtar was sacked along with other players, including Younis. In a triangular series in 2003 held in Sri Lanka, he was caught tampering with the cricket ball , making him the second player in cricket to be banned on ball tampering charges. The same year he was banned for one Test match and two One Day International matches for abusing South African spin bowler Paul Adams , during a match against South Africa. In the 2004 home series with India, he struggled with wrist and back injuries, which raised questions about their commitment to the team. His relationship with the captain and the coach deteriorated further partially due to team politics. He was sent back from the 2005 Australia tour with a hamstring injury amid rumors of indiscipline, lack of commitment and attitudinal complaints. He was subsequently fined by the Pakistan Cricket Board for avoiding a late night curfew. [20] The rest of his cricketing career was riddled with ankle and knee injuries which forced him to undergo a surgery in February 2006, until finally he was banned for two years for allegedly using performance enhancing drugs. In November 2006, an officer assigned to the Pakistan team in India, Anil Kaul, alleged that Akhtar had slapped former coach Bob Woolmer following a fight over the music to be played in the team bus on the eve of ICC Champions Trophy. Both Akhtar and Woolmer have strongly denied these allegations. [21] [ edit ] Drug scandal On 16 October 2006 Akhtar was suspended by the Pakistan Cricket Board , along with Mohammed Asif after the pair were tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance nandrolone . [22] They were consequently pulled out from the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 . [23] Former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman later stated that he had always suspected Akhtar of substance abuse due to his consistent "reservations" to drug tests. [24] Former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq had also previously complained about Akhtar's drug abuse but was not reported to the Pakistan Cricket Board. [25] Pakistan news reports state that federal capital police had arrested Shoaib along with drugs some three years ago. Akhtar immediately declared his innocence and he declined knowingly taking any performance enhancing drugs. In a statement issued to the press, he claimed that he could never cheat team-mates or opponents. [26] During a hearing with the Pakistan Cricket Board Anti-Doping Committee, he along with Asif maintained taking non-steroidal dietary supplements. [27] He, however, failed to convince the committee of his innocence. In its report submitted to the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Anti-Doping Committee recommended a two year ban. [28] On 1 November 2006 the Pakistan Cricket Board handed down a two-year suspension to Akhtar and a one-year suspension to Asif, banning them from professional cricket during the period. [29] Shoaib had subsequently been added to Pakistan Olympic Association list of doping offenders. [30] However, on 5 December 2006 represented by his lawyer Abid Hassan Minto , Akhtar was cleared on appeal. [31] [ edit ] Acquittal On 5 December 2006 Akhtar and Asif were acquitted by the tribunal appointed to review their appeals against the drugs ban imposed on them by an earlier committee. After a clear hearing from Akhtar's lawyer Abid Hassan Minto , the three-man committee, headed by Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim, voted two to one in favour of the acquittal. Haseeb Ahsan, former Test cricketer and Ebrahim were in favour of the acquittal while the third member, Danish Zaheer, dissented. “Exceptional circumstances” were cited including discrepancies between the instantaneous offence charges of doping that were laid and the quick delivery of a very harsh verdict. The complete drug testing procedure was concluded to have been technically flawed as it did not follow standard procedures. Other established facts by the committee included that the duo were not aware of the banned drug to be present in their supplements because the Pakistan Cricket Board itself had not informed them of the dangers of contaminated supplements. [32] [33] Both Akhtar and Asif were thankful to the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf for giving them a fair trial and their team mates, captain and coach for the moral support. However, in 2006, they did not play in the Test match series against the West Indies because the Pakistan Cricket Board has recommended that they play domestic games first to recover form and fitness. [34] However, WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency was to challenge Pakistan's decision to lift bans on fast bowlers Akhtar and Asif by taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne , Switzerland . [35] The ICC, cricket's world governing body, has supported the WADA appeal adding that it was committed to a dope free game. [36] On 1 March 2007 Akhtar and Asif were ruled out of the Pakistani squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup by team officials, minutes before the squad was to depart for the West Indies . The team management along with the Pakistan Cricket Board said their injuries were too severe to risk taking them to the Caribbean. Since neither of the two had been declared fit they had not undergone official doping tests. [37] On 2 July 2007 the Court of Arbitration for Sport dropped the case, ruling it had no jurisdiction to challenge the decision made by PCB. [38] [39] On 21 May 2009, Akhtar was dropped from his country's World Championship Twenty20 squad because of genital viral warts , previously reported as a skin infection. [40] [ edit ] Other controversies In August 2007, Akhtar was reported to have used foul language against Pakistan Cricket Board protesting the imposing of fine of Rs. 300,000 for indiscipline during the national camp in Karachi. [41] In the week before the inaugural World Twenty20 , held in South Africa, Akhtar was rumoured to have hit Pakistani team mate Mohammad Asif with a bat, leaving a bruise on his left thigh. According to sources, the two were involved in a dressing room spat which resulted in Asif being struck by a bat on his left thigh. Sources said the fight between the two started after Asif and Shahid Afridi disagreed with Shoaib that he shared the same stature as Imran Khan in Pakistan cricket and even ridiculed him for making such a comparison. [42] The injury was not thought to be anything more serious than a bruise but a team investigation into the matter was pending. [43] After the initial inquiry, it would found that Akhtar was at fault and he was subsequently recalled from the Twenty20 World Cup squad [44] and was sent home. [45] He was also banned for 5 matches by the Pakistan Cricket Board and a lifetime ban may also seem imminent. [46] Akhtar later claimed that Afridi was responsible for the fight, saying "He made some ill remarks about my family. And I could not tolerate them." Afridi however, denied these allegations adding that Asif would have suffered more injuries but for his intervention. [47] Even Asif chipped in saying that Akhtar was lying and that "Shahid Afridi had nothing to do with the fight." saying that "he has not apologised to me." [48] Akhtar later patched up with his team mates including Afridi and Asif On 1 April 2008 Akhtar was banned for five years for violating the players' code of conduct. The ban extended to all cricket for and in Pakistan. [49] Despite the ban not preventing him from playing in the Indian Premier League , the IPL governing council decided not to allow Akhtar to play in the tournament until the end of the ban or unless it is lifted. IS Bindra , a member of the council, was quoted as saying, "Even though they [the PCB] have cleared him to play for IPL, we felt that international discipline needs to be respected." [50] Meanwhile, Akhtar vowed to go to great lengths to fight the ban, "I will appeal, as is my right. If that fails I will go to court, if that fails then I will go to the Supreme Court." [51] On 3 April, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf served a legal notice on Akhtar, calling on him to retract statements he made to a news channel, alleging the ban was punishment in return for refusing to give the chairman a share of his earnings from the Indian Premier League, Ashraf also sought damages of Rs100 million (approximately US$1.6 million) for "defaming him personally" and an additional Rs100 million to the Pakistan Cricket Board for "sullying the name of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket team." [52] A three-man appellate tribunal announced on 30 April that they had temporarily upheld Akhtar's five-year ban, deciding to revist the appeal hearing in June. [53] Despite Akhtar's later retracting his claims and also issuing an unconditional apology for "any grief or embarrassment that may have been caused to the nation, particularly to the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf", Ashraf's legal counsel filed a Rs22 crore (approx US$3.37 million) defamation suit against Akhtar in a civil court in Lahore on 2 May. [54] On 4 May, the Pakistan Cricket Board's appellate tribunal suspended the five-year ban for one month, until they reconvene on 4 June, allowing Akhtar to take part in the ongoing Indian Premier League. [55] A day later, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced that they will no longer pursue the defamation suit following a reconciliation between Akhtar and chairman Nasim Ashraf at the house of Rehman Malik, a key political official, in Islamabad . "My honour has been vindicated and now the defamation lawsuit will not be pursued," Ashraf was quoted as saying. [56] On 4 September 2008, Akhtar was sent home by British immigration officials after landing at Heathrow airport without a valid working visa, authorities said he could not play without a working visa, though Akhtar had a valid visa to visit England but not a working visa, which is a prerequisite to play in county cricket. He subsequently obtained the necessary visa and returned to play with English county club Surrey. [57] Akhtar also threatened to sue the Pakistan Cricket Board after it was revealed that he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease (genital warts) and thus dropped from the 2009 world Twenty20 championship. [58] [ edit ] International bowling records [ edit ] Test cricket: Five-wickets in an innings Test cricket: Five-wickets in an innings Number As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act in 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act , the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act , the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act and the Budget Control Act of 2011 . In foreign policy, he gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq and announced that all troops would be home by the end of 2011, increased troop levels in Afghanistan , signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia , ordered enforcement of the UN-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya , and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden . In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election . [4] Contents Main article: Early life and career of Barack Obama Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now called Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children ) in Honolulu, Hawaii, [2] [5] [6] and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii. [7] His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham , was born in Wichita, Kansas and was of English [8] and Irish descent. [9] [10] His father, Barack Obama, Sr. , was a Luo from Nyang'oma Kogelo , Nyanza Province , Kenya . Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa , where his father was a foreign student on scholarship. [11] [12] The couple married on February 2, 1961, [13] separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964. [11] Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982. [14] After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian student Lolo Soetoro , who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto , a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta . [5] [15] From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School. [16] Because of his childhood background, today Obama is quite popular in Indonesia . [17] In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham , and attended Punahou School , a private college preparatory school , from the fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. [18] Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972, remaining there until 1977 when she went back to Indonesia to work as an anthropological field worker. She finally returned to Hawaii in 1994 and lived there for one year, before dying of ovarian cancer . [13] [19] Barack Obama and half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng , with their mother Ann Dunham and grandfather Stanley Dunham , in Hawaii (early 1970s) Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." [20] He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. [21] Reflecting later on his formative years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear." [22] Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind." [23] At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency , Obama identified his high-school drug use as a great moral failure. [24] Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College . [25] In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental's disinvestment from South Africa due to its policy of apartheid . [25] In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks. [25] Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City , where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations [26] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the Business International Corporation , [27] then at the New York Public Interest Research Group . [28] [29] Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland ( Roseland , West Pullman and Riverdale ) on Chicago's far South Side . He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. [29] [30] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from one to thirteen. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens . [31] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation , a community organizing institute. [32] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time. [33] He returned in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya. [34] In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School . He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, [35] and president of the journal in his second year. [31] [36] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. [37] After graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude [38] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago. [35] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention [31] [36] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, [39] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father . [39] University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. [39] [40] He then served as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law . [41] From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote , a voter registration drive with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, and led to Crain's Chicago Business naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. [42] In 1993 he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002. [43] From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago , which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project; and of the Joyce Foundation . [29] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999. [29] Legislative career: 1997–2008 Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn . [44] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. [45] He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. [46] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures. [47] Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002. [48] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one. [49] In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority. [50] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. [46] [51] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. [52] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. [53] U.S. Senate campaign See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004 In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002, and formally announced his candidacy in January 2003. [54] Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq . [55] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, [56] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally , [57] and spoke out against the war. [58] He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war. [59] County results of the 2004 US Senate race in Illinois. Counties in blue were won by Obama. Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates. [60] In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party , started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father . [61] In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, [62] and it was seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party. [63] Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan , withdrew from the race in June 2004. [64] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination to replace Ryan. [65] In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70% of the vote. [66] U.S. Senator: 2005–2008 Main article: United States Senate career of Barack Obama Obama delivering a speech at the University of Southern California , on October 28, 2006. Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, [67] becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus . [68] CQ Weekly characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency. [69] Legislation See also: List of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States Senate Senate bill sponsors Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Obama discussing the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act [70] Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act . [71] He introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons; [72] and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 , which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. [73] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper , Tom Coburn , and John McCain —introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008. [74] Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee. [75] Regarding tort reform , Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 , which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations. [76] Obama and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) visit a Russian mobile launch-missile-dismantling facility in August 2005. [77] In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. [78] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act , which was signed into law in September 2007. [79] Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act , a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, [80] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007 , [81] neither of which has been signed into law. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. [82] This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. [83] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. [84] Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program , providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. [85] Committees Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations , Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. [86] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs . [87] He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs . [88] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian Authority , and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption within the Kenyan government. [89] Presidential campaigns 2008 presidential campaign Main articles: United States presidential election, 2008 , Barack Obama presidential primary campaign, 2008 , and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008 Obama stands on stage with his wife and two daughters just before announcing his presidential candidacy in Springfield , Illinois, February 10, 2007. On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield , Illinois. [90] [91] The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858. [90] [92] Obama emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War , increasing energy independence , and providing universal health care , [93] in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change". [94] Obama delivers his presidential election victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park . A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries . The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. [95] On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama. [96] On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. [97] Biden was selected from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine . [98] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her delegates and supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in support of Obama. [99] Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the convention center where the Democratic National Convention was held, [100] but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000 and presented his policy goals; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide. [100] [101] President George W. Bush meets with President-Elect Obama in the Oval Office on November 10, 2008. During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. [102] On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976. [103] McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. [104] On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. [105] Obama won 52.9% of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7%. [106] He became the first African American to be elected president. [107] Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park . [108] 2012 presidential campaign On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission . [109] [110] [111] Presidency Wikinews has related news: Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq . [112] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "as soon as practicable and no later than" January 2010, [113] but during his first two years in office he has been unable to persuade Congress to appropriate funds required to accomplish the shutdown. [114] [115] [116] Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records [117] and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act . [118] He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions . [119] Domestic policy Barack Obama takes the oath of office as President of the United States The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 , relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits. [120] Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million children currently uninsured. [121] In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research. Obama stated that he believed "sound science and moral values ... are not inconsistent" and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research. [122] Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor , nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter , was confirmed on August 6, 2009, [123] becoming the first Hispanic to be a Supreme Court Justice. [124] Elena Kagan , nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens , was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history. [125] President Obama with former President George H. W. Bush at the "Point of Light" forum in Texas in 2009. Obama would award Bush the Medal of Freedom in 2011. [126] On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming . [127] [128] On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act , a reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act . [131] [132] In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA , the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and ended development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program . He is focusing funding (which is expected to rise modestly) on Earth science projects and a new rocket type, as well as research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars . Missions to the International Space Station are expected to continue until 2020. [133] On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 , a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces . [134] Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign . [135] [136] On January 25, 2011, in his 2011 State of the Union Address , President Obama focused strongly on the themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics in working to make the United States more competitive globally. Among other plans and goals, Obama spoke of a enacting a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, banning congressional earmarks , and reducing healthcare costs. Looking to the future, Obama promised that by 2015, the United States would have 1 million electric vehicles on the road and by 2035, clean-energy sources would be providing 80 percent of U.S. electricity. [137] [138] Economic policy On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 , a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession . [139] The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives , and direct assistance to individuals, [140] which is being distributed over the course of several years. President Barack Obama signs the ARRA into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver , Colorado . Vice President Joe Biden stands behind him. In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner , took further steps to manage the financial crisis , including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets , which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets. [141] Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry [142] in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat [143] and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60% equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government shouldering a 12% stake. [144] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment. [145] He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System , known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", that temporarily boosted the economy. [146] [147] [148] Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion, only $3 trillion had actually been spent by the end of November 2009. [149] However, Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predict that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or 10.6% of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9% of GDP. [150] [151] For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or 80% of GDP. [152] The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion was signed into law on February 12, 2010. [153] On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011 . The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings. [154] By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent an unprecendented U.S. government default on its obligations. [155] Revenue and Expense as % GDP. The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1% and averaging 10.0% in the fourth quarter. [156] Following a decrease to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year. [156] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries. [157] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a 1.6% pace, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter. [158] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. [158] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity continued to increase, its pace had slowed and its Chairman, Ben Bernanke , stated that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain." [159] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9% in 2010. [160] The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth. [161] [162] The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million, [162] [163] [164] [165] while conceding that "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package." [166] Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73% of the 68 respondents believed that the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment. [167] Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections , Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates , a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes . [168] The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010. [169] Health care reform Barack Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House, March 23, 2010 Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States , a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal. [170] He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option , to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care . It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions , and require every American carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans. [171] [172] On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009. [170] After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals. [173] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research. [174] On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House. [175] [176] On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39. [177] On March 21, 2010, the health care bill passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. [178] Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010. [179] Gulf of Mexico oil spill Main article: Deepwater Horizon oil spill On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico , causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP , initiated a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. He began a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review. [180] As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government. [181] Foreign policy Main article: Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration. [182] Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya . [183] On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran. [184] This attempt at outreach was rebuffed by the Iranian leadership. [185] In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey , which was well received by many Arab governments. [186] On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for " a new beginning " in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace. [187] On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election , Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it." [188] On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East." [189] British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama, during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit . On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council . [190] In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem . [191] [192] During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third. [193] The New START treaty was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010, and was ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010. [194] Iraq War During his presidential transition , President-elect Obama announced that he would retain the incumbent Defense Secretary , Robert Gates , in his Cabinet. [195] On February 27, 2009, Obama declared that combat operations would end in Iraq within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." [196] The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troops levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last United States combat brigade exited Iraq. The plan is to transition the mission of the remaining troops from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces. [197] [198] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over. [199] On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be, "home for the holidays." [200] War in Afghanistan Main article: War in Afghanistan (2001–present) Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. [201] He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires". [202] He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan , with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. [203] On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan. [204] He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date. [205] [206] McChrystal was replaced by David Petraeus in June 2010 after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article. [207] Israel Obama meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres , 2009 During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including a record number of U.S. troops participating in military exercises in the country, increased military aid, and the re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group. It was reported high-ranking defense officials from both countries had been making an unusual number of trips between the two countries, including Ehud Barak . Part of the military aid increase in 2010 was to fund Israel's missile defense shield. Before his retirement in September 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made four trips to Israel during his four-year tenure, two of them in 2010. Prior to 2007 no Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had done so for over ten years. [208] In 2011, Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the U.S. the only nation on the Security Council doing so. [209] Like previous American presidential administrations, Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps. [210] Libya Main article: 2011 military intervention in Libya In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya , formal calls for a no-fly zone came in from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League , and a resolution [211] passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. [212] In response to the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi [213] —announced an immediate cessation of military activities, [214] yet reports came in that his forces continued shelling Misrata. [215] The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took a lead role in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities in order to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone, [216] including the use of Tomahawk missiles , B-2 Spirits , and fighter jets. [217] [218] [219] Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector . [220] Some Representatives [221] questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath. [222] [223] Obama and the U.S. national security team gathered in the Situation Room to monitor the military operation resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011. See also: The Situation Room (photograph) Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad , Pakistan , a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad . [224] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. [224] Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs . [224] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. [225] [226] Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, [227] and buried at sea several hours later. [228] Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square . [225] [229] Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush , [230] and from many countries around the world. [231] 2010 midterm election Main article: United States House of Representatives elections, 2010 Obama called the November 2, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives, [232] "humbling" and a "shellacking". [233] He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery. [234] Cultural and political image See also: International media reaction to Barack Obama's 2008 election Obama's family history, early life and upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement . [235] Obama is also not a descendant of American slaves. [236] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong." [237] Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation." [238] Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator. [239] During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses. [240] Obama presents his first weekly address as President of the United States on January 24, 2009, discussing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 . According to the Gallup Organization , Obama began his presidency with a 68% approval rating [241] before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41% in August 2010, [242] a trend similar to Ronald Reagan 's and Bill Clinton 's first years in office. [243] He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden, which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were prior to the operation. [244] [245] [246] Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries, [247] and before being elected President he has met with prominent foreign figures including then- British Prime Minister Tony Blair , [248] Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni , [249] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy . [250] According to a May 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune , Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn. [251] Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February 2008. [252] His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video " Yes We Can ", which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month [253] and received a Daytime Emmy Award . [254] In December 2008, Time magazine named Barack Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments". [255] On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". [256] Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility." [257] The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures. [258] [259] Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office. In a 2010 Siena College poll of 238 presidential scholars, Obama was ranked 15th out of 43, with high ratings for imagination, communication ability and intelligence and a low rating for background (family, education and experience). [260] Family and personal life Barack Obama together with his family and a costumed Easter Bunny , as they wave from the South Portico of the White House to guests attending the White House Easter Egg Roll . Main articles: Early life and career of Barack Obama and Family of Barack Obama In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac , and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher ." [261] Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng , the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living. [262] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, [263] until her death on November 2, 2008, [264] two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. [265] In Dreams from My Father , Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis , President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . [266] Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf , [267] the first of the Nazi concentration camps to be liberated by U.S. troops during World War II. [268] Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. [269] Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. [270] He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team. [271] Obama taking a shot during a game on the White House basketball court, 2009 Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox , and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. [272] In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. [273] He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL , but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers , and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President. [274] In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin . [275] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. [276] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. [277] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, [278] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. [279] The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools . When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School . [280] The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo , a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy. [281] Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago . [282] The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama. [283] In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. [284] Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. [285] [286] Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy , and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking. [287] [288] Religious views As he described in The Audacity of Hope , Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change". [289] In an interview with the evangelical periodical Christianity Today , Obama stated: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life." [290] On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me." [291] [292] Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ , a black liberation church , in 1988, and was an active member there for two decades. [293] Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. [294] After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David . [295] William Shakespeare (Redirected from Shakespeare ) This article is about the poet and playwright. For other persons of the same name, see William Shakespeare (disambiguation) . For other uses of "Shakespeare", see Shakespeare (disambiguation) . William Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare (mother) Signature William Shakespeare ( baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) [nb 1] was an English poet and playwright , widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. [1] He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". [2] [nb 2] His surviving works, including some collaborations , consist of about 38 plays , [nb 3] 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. [3] Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon . At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway , with whom he had three children: Susanna , and twins Hamnet and Judith . Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men , later known as the King's Men . He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance , sexuality , religious beliefs , and whether the works attributed to him were written by others . [4] Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. [5] [nb 4] His early plays were mainly comedies and histories , genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet , King Lear , Othello , and Macbeth , considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies , also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio , a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics , in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called " bardolatry ". [6] In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. Contents Main article: Shakespeare's life Early life William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare , an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield , and Mary Arden , the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. [7] He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual birthdate remains unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George's Day . [8] This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholar's mistake, has proved appealing to biographers, since Shakespeare died 23 April 1616. [9] He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. [10] Although no attendance records for the period survive, most biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford, [11] a free school chartered in 1553, [12] about a quarter-mile from his home. Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but the curriculum was dictated by law throughout England, [13] and the school would have provided an intensive education in Latin grammar and the classics . John Shakespeare's house, believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace , in Stratford-upon-Avon . At the age of 18, Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway . The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence 27 November 1582. The next day two of Hathaway's neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage. [14] The ceremony may have been arranged in some haste, since the Worcester chancellor allowed the marriage banns to be read once instead of the usual three times, [15] and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna , baptised 26 May 1583. [16] Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith , followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. [17] Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596. [18] After the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592, and scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare's "lost years". [19] Biographers attempting to account for this period have reported many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe , Shakespeare’s first biographer, recounted a Stratford legend that Shakespeare fled the town for London to escape prosecution for deer poaching in the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy . Shakespeare is also supposed to have taken his revenge on Lucy by writing a scurrilous ballad about him. [20] Another 18th-century story has Shakespeare starting his theatrical career minding the horses of theatre patrons in London. [21] John Aubrey reported that Shakespeare had been a country schoolmaster. [22] Some 20th-century scholars have suggested that Shakespeare may have been employed as a schoolmaster by Alexander Hoghton of Lancashire , a Catholic landowner who named a certain "William Shakeshafte" in his will. [23] No evidence substantiates such stories other than hearsay collected after his death, and Shakeshafte was a common name in the Lancashire area. [24] London and theatrical career — As You Like It , Act II, Scene 7, 139–42 [25] It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592. [26] He was well enough known in London by then to be attacked in print by the playwright Robert Greene in his Groats-Worth of Wit : ...there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country. [27] Scholars differ on the exact meaning of these words, [28] but most agree that Greene is accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match university-educated writers such as Christopher Marlowe , Thomas Nashe and Greene himself (the "university wits" ). [29] The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 , along with the pun "Shake-scene", identifies Shakespeare as Greene's target. Here Johannes Factotum —"Jack of all trades"— means a second-rate tinkerer with the work of others, rather than the more common "universal genius". [28] [30] Greene's attack is the earliest surviving mention of Shakespeare’s career in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene's remarks. [31] From 1594, Shakespeare's plays were performed only by the Lord Chamberlain's Men , a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading playing company in London. [32] After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new king, James I , and changed its name to the King's Men . [33] In 1599, a partnership of company members built their own theatre on the south bank of the River Thames , which they called the Globe . In 1608, the partnership also took over the Blackfriars indoor theatre . Records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man. [34] In 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, New Place , and in 1605, he invested in a share of the parish tithes in Stratford. [35] Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in quarto editions from 1594. By 1598, his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the title pages . [36] Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of Ben Jonson 's Works names him on the cast lists for Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Sejanus His Fall (1603). [37] The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson’s Volpone is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. [38] The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after Volpone, although we cannot know for certain which roles he played. [39] In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. [40] In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. [41] Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in As You Like It and the Chorus in Henry V , [42] though scholars doubt the sources of the information. [43] Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate , north of the River Thames. [44] He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. [45] By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses. There he rented rooms from a French Huguenot called Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of ladies' wigs and other headgear. [46] Later years and death Rowe was the first biographer to pass down the tradition that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some years before his death; [47] but retirement from all work was uncommon at that time, [48] and Shakespeare continued to visit London. [47] In 1612 he was called as a witness in a court case concerning the marriage settlement of Mountjoy's daughter, Mary. [49] In March 1613 he bought a gatehouse in the former Blackfriars priory ; [50] and from November 1614 he was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, John Hall . [51] Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon. After 1606–1607, Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are attributed to him after 1613. [52] His last three plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher , [53] who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King’s Men. [54] Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 [55] and was survived by his wife and two daughters. Susanna had married a physician, John Hall, in 1607, [56] and Judith had married Thomas Quiney , a vintner , two months before Shakespeare’s death. [57] In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna. [58] The terms instructed that she pass it down intact to "the first son of her body". [59] The Quineys had three children, all of whom died without marrying. [60] The Halls had one child, Elizabeth, who married twice but died without children in 1670, ending Shakespeare’s direct line. [61] Shakespeare's will scarcely mentions his wife, Anne, who was probably entitled to one third of his estate automatically. [62] He did make a point, however, of leaving her "my second best bed", a bequest that has led to much speculation. [63] Some scholars see the bequest as an insult to Anne, whereas others believe that the second-best bed would have been the matrimonial bed and therefore rich in significance. [64] Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. [65] The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008: [66] Shakespeare's grave. Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones. [67] Modern spelling: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear," "To dig the dust enclosed here." "Blessed be the man that spares these stones," "And cursed be he who moves my bones." [66] Sometime before 1623, a funerary monument was erected in his memory on the north wall, with a half-effigy of him in the act of writing. Its plaque compares him to Nestor , Socrates , and Virgil . [68] In 1623, in conjunction with the publication of the First Folio , the Droeshout engraving was published. [69] Shakespeare has been commemorated in many statues and memorials around the world, including funeral monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey . Plays Main articles: Shakespeare's plays and Shakespeare's collaborations Most playwrights of the period typically collaborated with others at some point, and critics agree that Shakespeare did the same, mostly early and late in his career. [70] Some attributions, such as Titus Andronicus and the early history plays, remain controversial, while The Two Noble Kinsmen and the lost Cardenio have well-attested contemporary documentation. Textual evidence also supports the view that several of the plays were revised by other writers after their original composition. The first recorded works of Shakespeare are Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI , written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date, however, [71] and studies of the texts suggest that Titus Andronicus , The Comedy of Errors , The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona may also belong to Shakespeare’s earliest period. [72] His first histories , which draw heavily on the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, [73] dramatise the destructive results of weak or corrupt rule and have been interpreted as a justification for the origins of the Tudor dynasty . [74] The early plays were influenced by the works of other Elizabethan dramatists, especially Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe , by the traditions of medieval drama, and by the plays of Seneca . [75] The Comedy of Errors was also based on classical models, but no source for The Taming of the Shrew has been found, though it is related to a separate play of the same name and may have derived from a folk story. [76] Like The Two Gentlemen of Verona, in which two friends appear to approve of rape, [77] the Shrew's story of the taming of a woman's independent spirit by a man sometimes troubles modern critics and directors. [78] Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing. By William Blake , c. 1786. Tate Britain . Shakespeare's early classical and Italianate comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies. [79] A Midsummer Night's Dream is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic lowlife scenes. [80] Shakespeare's next comedy, the equally romantic Merchant of Venice , contains a portrayal of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock , which reflects Elizabethan views but may appear derogatory to modern audiences. [81] The wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing , [82] the charming rural setting of As You Like It , and the lively merrymaking of Twelfth Night complete Shakespeare's sequence of great comedies. [83] After the lyrical Richard II , written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 , and Henry V . His characters become more complex and tender as he switches deftly between comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, and achieves the narrative variety of his mature work. [84] This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet , the famous romantic tragedy of sexually charged adolescence, love, and death; [85] and Julius Caesar —based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives —which introduced a new kind of drama. [86] According to Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro, in Julius Caesar "the various strands of politics, character, inwardness, contemporary events, even Shakespeare's own reflections on the act of writing, began to infuse each other". [87] Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Henry Fuseli , 1780–5. Kunsthaus Zürich . In the early 17th century, Shakespeare wrote the so-called " problem plays " Measure for Measure , Troilus and Cressida , and All's Well That Ends Well and a number of his best known tragedies . [88] Many critics believe that Shakespeare's greatest tragedies represent the peak of his art. The titular hero of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, Hamlet , has probably been discussed more than any other Shakespearean character, especially for his famous soliloquy " To be or not to be; that is the question ". [89] Unlike the introverted Hamlet, whose fatal flaw is hesitation, the heroes of the tragedies that followed, Othello and King Lear, are undone by hasty errors of judgement. [90] The plots of Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy the hero and those he loves. [91] In Othello , the villain Iago stokes Othello's sexual jealousy to the point where he murders the innocent wife who loves him. [92] In King Lear , the old king commits the tragic error of giving up his powers, initiating the events which lead to the murder of his daughter and the torture and blinding of the Earl of Gloucester. According to the critic Frank Kermode, "the play offers neither its good characters nor its audience any relief from its cruelty". [93] In Macbeth , the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies, [94] uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth , to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne, until their own guilt destroys them in turn. [95] In this play, Shakespeare adds a supernatural element to the tragic structure. His last major tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus , contain some of Shakespeare's finest poetry and were considered his most successful tragedies by the poet and critic T. S. Eliot . [96] In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completed three more major plays: Cymbeline , The Winter's Tale and The Tempest , as well as the collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre . Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. [97] Some commentators have seen this change in mood as evidence of a more serene view of life on Shakespeare's part, but it may merely reflect the theatrical fashion of the day. [98] Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen , probably with John Fletcher . [99] Performances Main article: Shakespeare in performance It is not clear for which companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. The title page of the 1594 edition of Titus Andronicus reveals that the play had been acted by three different troupes. [100] After the plagues of 1592–3, Shakespeare's plays were performed by his own company at The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch , north of the Thames. [101] Londoners flocked there to see the first part of Henry IV, Leonard Digges recording, "Let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest...and you scarce shall have a room". [102] When the company found themselves in dispute with their landlord, they pulled The Theatre down and used the timbers to construct the Globe Theatre , the first playhouse built by actors for actors, on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark . [103] The Globe opened in autumn 1599, with Julius Caesar one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. [104] The reconstructed Globe Theatre , London. After the Lord Chamberlain's Men were renamed the King's Men in 1603, they entered a special relationship with the new King James . Although the performance records are patchy, the King's Men performed seven of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605, including two performances of The Merchant of Venice. [105] After 1608, they performed at the indoor Blackfriars Theatre during the winter and the Globe during the summer. [106] The indoor setting, combined with the Jacobean fashion for lavishly staged masques , allowed Shakespeare to introduce more elaborate stage devices. In Cymbeline, for example, Jupiter descends "in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. The ghosts fall on their knees." [107] The actors in Shakespeare's company included the famous Richard Burbage , William Kempe , Henry Condell and John Heminges . Burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. [108] The popular comic actor Will Kempe played the servant Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, among other characters. [109] He was replaced around the turn of the 16th century by Robert Armin , who played roles such as Touchstone in As You Like It and the fool in King Lear. [110] In 1613, Sir Henry Wotton recorded that Henry VIII "was set forth with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and ceremony". [111] On 29 June, however, a cannon set fire to the thatch of the Globe and burned the theatre to the ground, an event which pinpoints the date of a Shakespeare play with rare precision. [111] Textual sources Title page of the First Folio , 1623. Copper engraving of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout . In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell , two of Shakespeare's friends from the King's Men, published the First Folio , a collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. It contained 36 texts, including 18 printed for the first time. [112] Many of the plays had already appeared in quarto versions—flimsy books made from sheets of paper folded twice to make four leaves. [113] No evidence suggests that Shakespeare approved these editions, which the First Folio describes as "stol'n and surreptitious copies". [114] Alfred Pollard termed some of them " bad quartos " because of their adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, which may in places have been reconstructed from memory. [115] Where several versions of a play survive, each differs from the other . The differences may stem from copying or printing errors, from notes by actors or audience members, or from Shakespeare's own papers . [116] In some cases, for example Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida and Othello, Shakespeare could have revised the texts between the quarto and folio editions. In the case of King Lear , however, while most modern additions do conflate them, the 1623 folio version is so different from the 1608 quarto, that the Oxford Shakespeare prints them both, arguing that they cannot be conflated without confusion. [117] Poems In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague , Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece . He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton . In Venus and Adonis, an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus ; while in The Rape of Lucrece, the virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin . [118] Influenced by Ovid's Metamorphoses , [119] the poems show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. [120] Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime. A third narrative poem, A Lover's Complaint , in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the Sonnets in 1609. Most scholars now accept that Shakespeare wrote A Lover's Complaint. Critics consider that its fine qualities are marred by leaden effects. [121] The Phoenix and the Turtle , printed in Robert Chester's 1601 Love's Martyr, mourns the deaths of the legendary phoenix and his lover, the faithful turtle dove . In 1599, two early drafts of sonnets 138 and 144 appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim , published under Shakespeare's name but without his permission. [122] Sonnets Main article: Shakespeare's sonnets Title page from 1609 edition of Shake-Speares Sonnets. Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership. [123] Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, Francis Meres had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends". [124] Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence. [125] He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart". [126] The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate..." —Lines from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 . [127] It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe , whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. W.H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication. [128] Critics praise the Sonnets as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time. [129] Style Main article: Shakespeare's style Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional style of the day. He wrote them in a stylised language that does not always spring naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. [130] The poetry depends on extended, sometimes elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is often rhetorical—written for actors to declaim rather than speak. The grand speeches in Titus Andronicus , in the view of some critics, often hold up the action, for example; and the verse in The Two Gentlemen of Verona has been described as stilted. [131] Soon, however, Shakespeare began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. The opening soliloquy of Richard III has its roots in the self-declaration of Vice in medieval drama. At the same time, Richard’s vivid self-awareness looks forward to the soliloquies of Shakespeare's mature plays. [132] No single play marks a change from the traditional to the freer style. Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with Romeo and Juliet perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles. [133] By the time of Romeo and Juliet, Richard II , and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare had begun to write a more natural poetry. He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself. Pity by William Blake , 1795, Tate Britain , is an illustration of two similes in Macbeth: "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, / Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air". Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse , composed in iambic pentameter . In practice, this meant that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. The blank verse of his early plays is quite different from that of his later ones. It is often beautiful, but its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines , with the risk of monotony. [134] Once Shakespeare mastered traditional blank verse, he began to interrupt and vary its flow. This technique releases the new power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as Julius Caesar and Hamlet . Shakespeare uses it, for example, to convey the turmoil in Hamlet's mind: [135] Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly— And prais'd be rashness for it—let us know Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well... Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2, 4–8 [135] After Hamlet, Shakespeare varied his poetic style further, particularly in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. The literary critic A. C. Bradley described this style as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and, in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical". [136] In the last phase of his career, Shakespeare adopted many techniques to achieve these effects. These included run-on lines , irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. [137] In Macbeth , for example, the language darts from one unrelated metaphor or simile to another: "was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dressed yourself?" (1.7.35–38); "...pity, like a naked new-born babe/ Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd/ Upon the sightless couriers of the air..." (1.7.21–25). The listener is challenged to complete the sense. [137] The late romances, with their shifts in time and surprising turns of plot, inspired a last poetic style in which long and short sentences are set against one another, clauses are piled up, subject and object are reversed, and words are omitted, creating an effect of spontaneity. [138] Shakespeare combined poetic genius with a practical sense of the theatre. [139] Like all playwrights of the time, he dramatised stories from sources such as Plutarch and Holinshed . [140] He reshaped each plot to create several centres of interest and to show as many sides of a narrative to the audience as possible. This strength of design ensures that a Shakespeare play can survive translation, cutting and wide interpretation without loss to its core drama. [141] As Shakespeare’s mastery grew, he gave his characters clearer and more varied motivations and distinctive patterns of speech. He preserved aspects of his earlier style in the later plays, however. In Shakespeare's late romances , he deliberately returned to a more artificial style, which emphasised the illusion of theatre. [142] Influence Main article: Shakespeare's influence Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head. By Henry Fuseli , 1793–94. Folger Shakespeare Library , Washington. Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation , plot , language , and genre . [143] Until Romeo and Juliet , for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. [144] Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds. [145] His work heavily influenced later poetry. The Romantic poets attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Critic George Steiner described all English verse dramas from Coleridge to Tennyson as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes." [146] Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas Hardy , William Faulkner , and Charles Dickens . The American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick is a classic tragic hero , inspired by King Lear. [147] Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works. These include two operas by Giuseppe Verdi , Otello and Falstaff , whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays. [148] Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites . The Swiss Romantic artist Henry Fuseli , a friend of William Blake , even translated Macbeth into German. [149] The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature. In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now, [150] and his use of language helped shape modern English. [151] Samuel Johnson quoted him more often than any other author in his A Dictionary of the English Language , the first serious work of its type. [152] Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone conclusion" (Othello) have found their way into everyday English speech. [153] Critical reputation — Ben Jonson [154] Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received his share of praise. [155] In 1598, the cleric and author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. [156] And the authors of the Parnassus plays at St John's College, Cambridge , numbered him with Chaucer , Gower and Spenser . [157] In the First Folio , Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", though he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art". A recently garlanded statue of William Shakespeare in Lincoln Park, Chicago , typical of many created in the 19th and early 20th century. Between the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson . [158] Thomas Rymer , for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Nevertheless, poet and critic John Dryden rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare". [159] For several decades, Rymer's view held sway; but during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in 1790, added to his growing reputation. [160] By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet. [161] In the 18th and 19th centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writers Voltaire , Goethe , Stendhal and Victor Hugo . [162] During the Romantic era , Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge ; and the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays in the spirit of German Romanticism . [163] In the 19th century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation. [164] "That King Shakespeare," the essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible". [165] The Victorians produced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale. [166] The playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw mocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as " bardolatry ". He claimed that the new naturalism of Ibsen's plays had made Shakespeare obsolete. [167] The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the avant-garde . The Expressionists in Germany and the Futurists in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht devised an epic theatre under the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and critic T. S. Eliot argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern. [168] Eliot, along with G. Wilson Knight and the school of New Criticism , led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for " post-modern " studies of Shakespeare. [169] By the eighties, Shakespeare studies were open to movements such as structuralism , feminism , New Historicism , African American studies , and queer studies . [170] [171] Speculation about Shakespeare Main article: Shakespeare authorship question Around 150 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. [172] Proposed alternative candidates include Francis Bacon , Christopher Marlowe , and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford . [173] Several "group theories" have also been proposed. [174] Only a small minority of academics believe there is reason to question the traditional attribution, [175] but interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship , continues into the 21st century. [176] Religion Main article: William Shakespeare's religion Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics , at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. [177] Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden , certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare , found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ as to its authenticity. [178] In 1591 the authorities reported that John Shakespeare had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. [179] In 1606 the name of William's daughter Susanna appears on a list of those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. [179] Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way. [180] Sexuality Main article: Sexuality of William Shakespeare Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. At 18, he married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway , who was pregnant. Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May 1583. Over the centuries some readers have posited that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, [181] and point to them as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than sexual love. [182] The 26 so-called "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a married woman, are taken as evidence of heterosexual liaisons. [183] Portraiture Main article: Portraits of William Shakespeare There is no written description of Shakespeare's physical appearance and no evidence that he ever commissioned a portrait, so the Droeshout engraving , which Ben Jonson approved of as a good likeness, [184] and his Stratford monument provide the best evidence of his appearance. From the 18th century, the desire for authentic Shakespeare portraits fuelled claims that various surviving pictures depicted Shakespeare. That demand also led to the production of several fake portraits, as well as misattributions, repaintings and relabelling of portraits of other people. [185] [186] List of works Classification of the plays The Plays of William Shakespeare. By Sir John Gilbert , 1849. Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed below according to their folio classification as comedies , histories and tragedies . [187] Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre , are now accepted as part of the canon, with scholars agreed that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their composition. [188] No Shakespearean poems were included in the First Folio. In the late 19th century, Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances , and though many scholars prefer to call them tragicomedies , his term is often used. [189] These plays and the associated Two Noble Kinsmen are marked with an asterisk () below. In 1896, Frederick S. Boas coined the term " problem plays " to describe four plays: All's Well That Ends Well , Measure for Measure , Troilus and Cressida and Hamlet . [190] "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may therefore borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays." [191] The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though Hamlet is definitively classed as a tragedy. [192] The other problem plays are marked below with a double dagger (‡). Plays thought to be only partly written by Shakespeare are marked with a dagger (†) below. Other works occasionally attributed to him are listed as apocrypha. Works World Shakespeare Bibliography Notes ^ Dates follow the Julian calendar , used in England throughout Shakespeare's lifespan, but with the start of year adjusted to 1 January (see Old Style and New Style dates ). Under the Gregorian calendar , adopted in Catholic countries in 1582, Shakespeare died on 3 May ( Schoenbaum 1987 , xv). ^ The "national cult" of Shakespeare, and the "bard" identification, dates from September 1769, when the actor David Garrick organised a week-long carnival at Stratford to mark the town council awarding him the freedom of the town. In addition to presenting the town with a statue of Shakespeare, Garrick composed a doggerel verse, lampooned in the London newspapers, naming the banks of the Avon as the birthplace of the "matchless Bard" ( McIntyre 1999 , 412–432). ^ The exact figures are unknown. See Shakespeare's collaborations and Shakespeare Apocrypha for further details. ^ Individual play dates and precise writing span are unknown. See Chronology of Shakespeare's plays for further details. ^ The Passionate Pilgrim, published under Shakespeare's name in 1599 without his permission, includes early versions of two of his sonnets, three extracts from Love's Labour's Lost, several poems known to be by other poets, and eleven poems of unknown authorship for which the attribution to Shakespeare has not been disproved ( Wells et al. 2005 , 805) References Mary Shakespeare (mother) Signature William Shakespeare ( baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616) [nb 1] was an English poet and playwright , widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. [1] He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". [2] [nb 2] His surviving works, including some collaborations , consist of about 38 plays , [nb 3] 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. [3] Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon . At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway , with whom he had three children: Susanna , and twins Hamnet and Judith . Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men , later known as the King's Men . He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance , sexuality , religious beliefs , and whether the works attributed to him were written by others . [4] Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. [5] [nb 4] His early plays were mainly comedies and histories , genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet , King Lear , Othello , and Macbeth , considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies , also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio , a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics , in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called " bardolatry ". [6] In the 20th century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. Contents Main article: Shakespeare's life Early life William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare , an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield , and Mary Arden , the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. [7] He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual birthdate remains unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George's Day . [8] This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholar's mistake, has proved appealing to biographers, since Shakespeare died 23 April 1616. [9] He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. [10] Although no attendance records for the period survive, most biographers agree that Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford, [11] a free school chartered in 1553, [12] about a quarter-mile from his home. Grammar schools varied in quality during the Elizabethan era, but the curriculum was dictated by law throughout England, [13] and the school would have provided an intensive education in Latin grammar and the classics . John Shakespeare's house, believed to be Shakespeare's birthplace , in Stratford-upon-Avon . At the age of 18, Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway . The consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence 27 November 1582. The next day two of Hathaway's neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage. [14] The ceremony may have been arranged in some haste, since the Worcester chancellor allowed the marriage banns to be read once instead of the usual three times, [15] and six months after the marriage Anne gave birth to a daughter, Susanna , baptised 26 May 1583. [16] Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith , followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. [17] Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596. [18] After the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592, and scholars refer to the years between 1585 and 1592 as Shakespeare's "lost years". [19] Biographers attempting to account for this period have reported many apocryphal stories. Nicholas Rowe , Shakespeare’s first biographer, recounted a Stratford legend that Shakespeare fled the town for London to escape prosecution for deer poaching in the estate of local squire Thomas Lucy . Shakespeare is also supposed to have taken his revenge on Lucy by writing a scurrilous ballad about him. [20] Another 18th-century story has Shakespeare starting his theatrical career minding the horses of theatre patrons in London. [21] John Aubrey reported that Shakespeare had been a country schoolmaster. [22] Some 20th-century scholars have suggested that Shakespeare may have been employed as a schoolmaster by Alexander Hoghton of Lancashire , a Catholic landowner who named a certain "William Shakeshafte" in his will. [23] No evidence substantiates such stories other than hearsay collected after his death, and Shakeshafte was a common name in the Lancashire area. [24] London and theatrical career — As You Like It , Act II, Scene 7, 139–42 [25] It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing, but contemporary allusions and records of performances show that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592. [26] He was well enough known in London by then to be attacked in print by the playwright Robert Greene in his Groats-Worth of Wit : ...there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country. [27] Scholars differ on the exact meaning of these words, [28] but most agree that Greene is accusing Shakespeare of reaching above his rank in trying to match university-educated writers such as Christopher Marlowe , Thomas Nashe and Greene himself (the "university wits" ). [29] The italicised phrase parodying the line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide" from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3 , along with the pun "Shake-scene", identifies Shakespeare as Greene's target. Here Johannes Factotum —"Jack of all trades"— means a second-rate tinkerer with the work of others, rather than the more common "universal genius". [28] [30] Greene's attack is the earliest surviving mention of Shakespeare’s career in the theatre. Biographers suggest that his career may have begun any time from the mid-1580s to just before Greene's remarks. [31] From 1594, Shakespeare's plays were performed only by the Lord Chamberlain's Men , a company owned by a group of players, including Shakespeare, that soon became the leading playing company in London. [32] After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new king, James I , and changed its name to the King's Men . [33] In 1599, a partnership of company members built their own theatre on the south bank of the River Thames , which they called the Globe . In 1608, the partnership also took over the Blackfriars indoor theatre . Records of Shakespeare's property purchases and investments indicate that the company made him a wealthy man. [34] In 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, New Place , and in 1605, he invested in a share of the parish tithes in Stratford. [35] Some of Shakespeare's plays were published in quarto editions from 1594. By 1598, his name had become a selling point and began to appear on the title pages . [36] Shakespeare continued to act in his own and other plays after his success as a playwright. The 1616 edition of Ben Jonson 's Works names him on the cast lists for Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Sejanus His Fall (1603). [37] The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson’s Volpone is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end. [38] The First Folio of 1623, however, lists Shakespeare as one of "the Principal Actors in all these Plays", some of which were first staged after Volpone, although we cannot know for certain which roles he played. [39] In 1610, John Davies of Hereford wrote that "good Will" played "kingly" roles. [40] In 1709, Rowe passed down a tradition that Shakespeare played the ghost of Hamlet's father. [41] Later traditions maintain that he also played Adam in As You Like It and the Chorus in Henry V , [42] though scholars doubt the sources of the information. [43] Shakespeare divided his time between London and Stratford during his career. In 1596, the year before he bought New Place as his family home in Stratford, Shakespeare was living in the parish of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate , north of the River Thames. [44] He moved across the river to Southwark by 1599, the year his company constructed the Globe Theatre there. [45] By 1604, he had moved north of the river again, to an area north of St Paul's Cathedral with many fine houses. There he rented rooms from a French Huguenot called Christopher Mountjoy, a maker of ladies' wigs and other headgear. [46] Later years and death Rowe was the first biographer to pass down the tradition that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some years before his death; [47] but retirement from all work was uncommon at that time, [48] and Shakespeare continued to visit London. [47] In 1612 he was called as a witness in a court case concerning the marriage settlement of Mountjoy's daughter, Mary. [49] In March 1613 he bought a gatehouse in the former Blackfriars priory ; [50] and from November 1614 he was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, John Hall . [51] Shakespeare's funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon. After 1606–1607, Shakespeare wrote fewer plays, and none are attributed to him after 1613. [52] His last three plays were collaborations, probably with John Fletcher , [53] who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King’s Men. [54] Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 [55] and was survived by his wife and two daughters. Susanna had married a physician, John Hall, in 1607, [56] and Judith had married Thomas Quiney , a vintner , two months before Shakespeare’s death. [57] In his will, Shakespeare left the bulk of his large estate to his elder daughter Susanna. [58] The terms instructed that she pass it down intact to "the first son of her body". [59] The Quineys had three children, all of whom died without marrying. [60] The Halls had one child, Elizabeth, who married twice but died without children in 1670, ending Shakespeare’s direct line. [61] Shakespeare's will scarcely mentions his wife, Anne, who was probably entitled to one third of his estate automatically. [62] He did make a point, however, of leaving her "my second best bed", a bequest that has led to much speculation. [63] Some scholars see the bequest as an insult to Anne, whereas others believe that the second-best bed would have been the matrimonial bed and therefore rich in significance. [64] Shakespeare was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church two days after his death. [65] The epitaph carved into the stone slab covering his grave includes a curse against moving his bones, which was carefully avoided during restoration of the church in 2008: [66] Shakespeare's grave. Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones. [67] Modern spelling: "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear," "To dig the dust enclosed here." "Blessed be the man that spares these stones," "And cursed be he who moves my bones." [66] Sometime before 1623, a funerary monument was erected in his memory on the north wall, with a half-effigy of him in the act of writing. Its plaque compares him to Nestor , Socrates , and Virgil . [68] In 1623, in conjunction with the publication of the First Folio , the Droeshout engraving was published. [69] Shakespeare has been commemorated in many statues and memorials around the world, including funeral monuments in Southwark Cathedral and Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey . Plays Main articles: Shakespeare's plays and Shakespeare's collaborations Most playwrights of the period typically collaborated with others at some point, and critics agree that Shakespeare did the same, mostly early and late in his career. [70] Some attributions, such as Titus Andronicus and the early history plays, remain controversial, while The Two Noble Kinsmen and the lost Cardenio have well-attested contemporary documentation. Textual evidence also supports the view that several of the plays were revised by other writers after their original composition. The first recorded works of Shakespeare are Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI , written in the early 1590s during a vogue for historical drama. Shakespeare's plays are difficult to date, however, [71] and studies of the texts suggest that Titus Andronicus , The Comedy of Errors , The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona may also belong to Shakespeare’s earliest period. [72] His first histories , which draw heavily on the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, [73] dramatise the destructive results of weak or corrupt rule and have been interpreted as a justification for the origins of the Tudor dynasty . [74] The early plays were influenced by the works of other Elizabethan dramatists, especially Thomas Kyd and Christopher Marlowe , by the traditions of medieval drama, and by the plays of Seneca . [75] The Comedy of Errors was also based on classical models, but no source for The Taming of the Shrew has been found, though it is related to a separate play of the same name and may have derived from a folk story. [76] Like The Two Gentlemen of Verona, in which two friends appear to approve of rape, [77] the Shrew's story of the taming of a woman's independent spirit by a man sometimes troubles modern critics and directors. [78] Oberon, Titania and Puck with Fairies Dancing. By William Blake , c. 1786. Tate Britain . Shakespeare's early classical and Italianate comedies, containing tight double plots and precise comic sequences, give way in the mid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatest comedies. [79] A Midsummer Night's Dream is a witty mixture of romance, fairy magic, and comic lowlife scenes. [80] Shakespeare's next comedy, the equally romantic Merchant of Venice , contains a portrayal of the vengeful Jewish moneylender Shylock , which reflects Elizabethan views but may appear derogatory to modern audiences. [81] The wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing , [82] the charming rural setting of As You Like It , and the lively merrymaking of Twelfth Night complete Shakespeare's sequence of great comedies. [83] After the lyrical Richard II , written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare introduced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 , and Henry V . His characters become more complex and tender as he switches deftly between comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, and achieves the narrative variety of his mature work. [84] This period begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo and Juliet , the famous romantic tragedy of sexually charged adolescence, love, and death; [85] and Julius Caesar —based on Sir Thomas North's 1579 translation of Plutarch's Parallel Lives —which introduced a new kind of drama. [86] According to Shakespearean scholar James Shapiro, in Julius Caesar "the various strands of politics, character, inwardness, contemporary events, even Shakespeare's own reflections on the act of writing, began to infuse each other". [87] Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus, and the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. Henry Fuseli , 1780–5. Kunsthaus Zürich . In the early 17th century, Shakespeare wrote the so-called " problem plays " Measure for Measure , Troilus and Cressida , and All's Well That Ends Well and a number of his best known tragedies . [88] Many critics believe that Shakespeare's greatest tragedies represent the peak of his art. The titular hero of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies, Hamlet , has probably been discussed more than any other Shakespearean character, especially for his famous soliloquy " To be or not to be; that is the question ". [89] Unlike the introverted Hamlet, whose fatal flaw is hesitation, the heroes of the tragedies that followed, Othello and King Lear, are undone by hasty errors of judgement. [90] The plots of Shakespeare's tragedies often hinge on such fatal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy the hero and those he loves. [91] In Othello , the villain Iago stokes Othello's sexual jealousy to the point where he murders the innocent wife who loves him. [92] In King Lear , the old king commits the tragic error of giving up his powers, initiating the events which lead to the murder of his daughter and the torture and blinding of the Earl of Gloucester. According to the critic Frank Kermode, "the play offers neither its good characters nor its audience any relief from its cruelty". [93] In Macbeth , the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies, [94] uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth , to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne, until their own guilt destroys them in turn. [95] In this play, Shakespeare adds a supernatural element to the tragic structure. His last major tragedies, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus , contain some of Shakespeare's finest poetry and were considered his most successful tragedies by the poet and critic T. S. Eliot . [96] In his final period, Shakespeare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completed three more major plays: Cymbeline , The Winter's Tale and The Tempest , as well as the collaboration, Pericles, Prince of Tyre . Less bleak than the tragedies, these four plays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s, but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of potentially tragic errors. [97] Some commentators have seen this change in mood as evidence of a more serene view of life on Shakespeare's part, but it may merely reflect the theatrical fashion of the day. [98] Shakespeare collaborated on two further surviving plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen , probably with John Fletcher . [99] Performances Main article: Shakespeare in performance It is not clear for which companies Shakespeare wrote his early plays. The title page of the 1594 edition of Titus Andronicus reveals that the play had been acted by three different troupes. [100] After the plagues of 1592–3, Shakespeare's plays were performed by his own company at The Theatre and the Curtain in Shoreditch , north of the Thames. [101] Londoners flocked there to see the first part of Henry IV, Leonard Digges recording, "Let but Falstaff come, Hal, Poins, the rest...and you scarce shall have a room". [102] When the company found themselves in dispute with their landlord, they pulled The Theatre down and used the timbers to construct the Globe Theatre , the first playhouse built by actors for actors, on the south bank of the Thames at Southwark . [103] The Globe opened in autumn 1599, with Julius Caesar one of the first plays staged. Most of Shakespeare's greatest post-1599 plays were written for the Globe, including Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. [104] The reconstructed Globe Theatre , London. After the Lord Chamberlain's Men were renamed the King's Men in 1603, they entered a special relationship with the new King James . Although the performance records are patchy, the King's Men performed seven of Shakespeare's plays at court between 1 November 1604 and 31 October 1605, including two performances of The Merchant of Venice. [105] After 1608, they performed at the indoor Blackfriars Theatre during the winter and the Globe during the summer. [106] The indoor setting, combined with the Jacobean fashion for lavishly staged masques , allowed Shakespeare to introduce more elaborate stage devices. In Cymbeline, for example, Jupiter descends "in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an eagle: he throws a thunderbolt. The ghosts fall on their knees." [107] The actors in Shakespeare's company included the famous Richard Burbage , William Kempe , Henry Condell and John Heminges . Burbage played the leading role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including Richard III, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. [108] The popular comic actor Will Kempe played the servant Peter in Romeo and Juliet and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, among other characters. [109] He was replaced around the turn of the 16th century by Robert Armin , who played roles such as Touchstone in As You Like It and the fool in King Lear. [110] In 1613, Sir Henry Wotton recorded that Henry VIII "was set forth with many extraordinary circumstances of pomp and ceremony". [111] On 29 June, however, a cannon set fire to the thatch of the Globe and burned the theatre to the ground, an event which pinpoints the date of a Shakespeare play with rare precision. [111] Textual sources Title page of the First Folio , 1623. Copper engraving of Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout . In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell , two of Shakespeare's friends from the King's Men, published the First Folio , a collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. It contained 36 texts, including 18 printed for the first time. [112] Many of the plays had already appeared in quarto versions—flimsy books made from sheets of paper folded twice to make four leaves. [113] No evidence suggests that Shakespeare approved these editions, which the First Folio describes as "stol'n and surreptitious copies". [114] Alfred Pollard termed some of them " bad quartos " because of their adapted, paraphrased or garbled texts, which may in places have been reconstructed from memory. [115] Where several versions of a play survive, each differs from the other . The differences may stem from copying or printing errors, from notes by actors or audience members, or from Shakespeare's own papers . [116] In some cases, for example Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida and Othello, Shakespeare could have revised the texts between the quarto and folio editions. In the case of King Lear , however, while most modern additions do conflate them, the 1623 folio version is so different from the 1608 quarto, that the Oxford Shakespeare prints them both, arguing that they cannot be conflated without confusion. [117] Poems In 1593 and 1594, when the theatres were closed because of plague , Shakespeare published two narrative poems on erotic themes, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece . He dedicated them to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton . In Venus and Adonis, an innocent Adonis rejects the sexual advances of Venus ; while in The Rape of Lucrece, the virtuous wife Lucrece is raped by the lustful Tarquin . [118] Influenced by Ovid's Metamorphoses , [119] the poems show the guilt and moral confusion that result from uncontrolled lust. [120] Both proved popular and were often reprinted during Shakespeare's lifetime. A third narrative poem, A Lover's Complaint , in which a young woman laments her seduction by a persuasive suitor, was printed in the first edition of the Sonnets in 1609. Most scholars now accept that Shakespeare wrote A Lover's Complaint. Critics consider that its fine qualities are marred by leaden effects. [121] The Phoenix and the Turtle , printed in Robert Chester's 1601 Love's Martyr, mourns the deaths of the legendary phoenix and his lover, the faithful turtle dove . In 1599, two early drafts of sonnets 138 and 144 appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim , published under Shakespeare's name but without his permission. [122] Sonnets Main article: Shakespeare's sonnets Title page from 1609 edition of Shake-Speares Sonnets. Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership. [123] Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, Francis Meres had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends". [124] Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence. [125] He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart". [126] The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate..." —Lines from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 . [127] It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe , whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. W.H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication. [128] Critics praise the Sonnets as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time. [129] Style Main article: Shakespeare's style Shakespeare's first plays were written in the conventional style of the day. He wrote them in a stylised language that does not always spring naturally from the needs of the characters or the drama. [130] The poetry depends on extended, sometimes elaborate metaphors and conceits, and the language is often rhetorical—written for actors to declaim rather than speak. The grand speeches in Titus Andronicus , in the view of some critics, often hold up the action, for example; and the verse in The Two Gentlemen of Verona has been described as stilted. [131] Soon, however, Shakespeare began to adapt the traditional styles to his own purposes. The opening soliloquy of Richard III has its roots in the self-declaration of Vice in medieval drama. At the same time, Richard’s vivid self-awareness looks forward to the soliloquies of Shakespeare's mature plays. [132] No single play marks a change from the traditional to the freer style. Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with Romeo and Juliet perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles. [133] By the time of Romeo and Juliet, Richard II , and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare had begun to write a more natural poetry. He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the drama itself. Pity by William Blake , 1795, Tate Britain , is an illustration of two similes in Macbeth: "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, / Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd / Upon the sightless couriers of the air". Shakespeare's standard poetic form was blank verse , composed in iambic pentameter . In practice, this meant that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. The blank verse of his early plays is quite different from that of his later ones. It is often beautiful, but its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines , with the risk of monotony. [134] Once Shakespeare mastered traditional blank verse, he began to interrupt and vary its flow. This technique releases the new power and flexibility of the poetry in plays such as Julius Caesar and Hamlet . Shakespeare uses it, for example, to convey the turmoil in Hamlet's mind: [135] Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting That would not let me sleep. Methought I lay Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly— And prais'd be rashness for it—let us know Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well... Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 2, 4–8 [135] After Hamlet, Shakespeare varied his poetic style further, particularly in the more emotional passages of the late tragedies. The literary critic A. C. Bradley described this style as "more concentrated, rapid, varied, and, in construction, less regular, not seldom twisted or elliptical". [136] In the last phase of his career, Shakespeare adopted many techniques to achieve these effects. These included run-on lines , irregular pauses and stops, and extreme variations in sentence structure and length. [137] In Macbeth , for example, the language darts from one unrelated metaphor or simile to another: "was the hope drunk/ Wherein you dressed yourself?" (1.7.35–38); "...pity, like a naked new-born babe/ Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, hors'd/ Upon the sightless couriers of the air..." (1.7.21–25). The listener is challenged to complete the sense. [137] The late romances, with their shifts in time and surprising turns of plot, inspired a last poetic style in which long and short sentences are set against one another, clauses are piled up, subject and object are reversed, and words are omitted, creating an effect of spontaneity. [138] Shakespeare combined poetic genius with a practical sense of the theatre. [139] Like all playwrights of the time, he dramatised stories from sources such as Plutarch and Holinshed . [140] He reshaped each plot to create several centres of interest and to show as many sides of a narrative to the audience as possible. This strength of design ensures that a Shakespeare play can survive translation, cutting and wide interpretation without loss to its core drama. [141] As Shakespeare’s mastery grew, he gave his characters clearer and more varied motivations and distinctive patterns of speech. He preserved aspects of his earlier style in the later plays, however. In Shakespeare's late romances , he deliberately returned to a more artificial style, which emphasised the illusion of theatre. [142] Influence Main article: Shakespeare's influence Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head. By Henry Fuseli , 1793–94. Folger Shakespeare Library , Washington. Shakespeare's work has made a lasting impression on later theatre and literature. In particular, he expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation , plot , language , and genre . [143] Until Romeo and Juliet , for example, romance had not been viewed as a worthy topic for tragedy. [144] Soliloquies had been used mainly to convey information about characters or events; but Shakespeare used them to explore characters' minds. [145] His work heavily influenced later poetry. The Romantic poets attempted to revive Shakespearean verse drama, though with little success. Critic George Steiner described all English verse dramas from Coleridge to Tennyson as "feeble variations on Shakespearean themes." [146] Shakespeare influenced novelists such as Thomas Hardy , William Faulkner , and Charles Dickens . The American novelist Herman Melville's soliloquies owe much to Shakespeare; his Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick is a classic tragic hero , inspired by King Lear. [147] Scholars have identified 20,000 pieces of music linked to Shakespeare's works. These include two operas by Giuseppe Verdi , Otello and Falstaff , whose critical standing compares with that of the source plays. [148] Shakespeare has also inspired many painters, including the Romantics and the Pre-Raphaelites . The Swiss Romantic artist Henry Fuseli , a friend of William Blake , even translated Macbeth into German. [149] The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud drew on Shakespearean psychology, in particular that of Hamlet, for his theories of human nature. In Shakespeare's day, English grammar, spelling and pronunciation were less standardised than they are now, [150] and his use of language helped shape modern English. [151] Samuel Johnson quoted him more often than any other author in his A Dictionary of the English Language , the first serious work of its type. [152] Expressions such as "with bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) and "a foregone conclusion" (Othello) have found their way into everyday English speech. [153] Critical reputation — Ben Jonson [154] Shakespeare was not revered in his lifetime, but he received his share of praise. [155] In 1598, the cleric and author Francis Meres singled him out from a group of English writers as "the most excellent" in both comedy and tragedy. [156] And the authors of the Parnassus plays at St John's College, Cambridge , numbered him with Chaucer , Gower and Spenser . [157] In the First Folio , Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the "Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage", though he had remarked elsewhere that "Shakespeare wanted art". A recently garlanded statue of William Shakespeare in Lincoln Park, Chicago , typical of many created in the 19th and early 20th century. Between the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the end of the 17th century, classical ideas were in vogue. As a result, critics of the time mostly rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson . [158] Thomas Rymer , for example, condemned Shakespeare for mixing the comic with the tragic. Nevertheless, poet and critic John Dryden rated Shakespeare highly, saying of Jonson, "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare". [159] For several decades, Rymer's view held sway; but during the 18th century, critics began to respond to Shakespeare on his own terms and acclaim what they termed his natural genius. A series of scholarly editions of his work, notably those of Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in 1790, added to his growing reputation. [160] By 1800, he was firmly enshrined as the national poet. [161] In the 18th and 19th centuries, his reputation also spread abroad. Among those who championed him were the writers Voltaire , Goethe , Stendhal and Victor Hugo . [162] During the Romantic era , Shakespeare was praised by the poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge ; and the critic August Wilhelm Schlegel translated his plays in the spirit of German Romanticism . [163] In the 19th century, critical admiration for Shakespeare's genius often bordered on adulation. [164] "That King Shakespeare," the essayist Thomas Carlyle wrote in 1840, "does not he shine, in crowned sovereignty, over us all, as the noblest, gentlest, yet strongest of rallying signs; indestructible". [165] The Victorians produced his plays as lavish spectacles on a grand scale. [166] The playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw mocked the cult of Shakespeare worship as " bardolatry ". He claimed that the new naturalism of Ibsen's plays had made Shakespeare obsolete. [167] The modernist revolution in the arts during the early 20th century, far from discarding Shakespeare, eagerly enlisted his work in the service of the avant-garde . The Expressionists in Germany and the Futurists in Moscow mounted productions of his plays. Marxist playwright and director Bertolt Brecht devised an epic theatre under the influence of Shakespeare. The poet and critic T. S. Eliot argued against Shaw that Shakespeare's "primitiveness" in fact made him truly modern. [168] Eliot, along with G. Wilson Knight and the school of New Criticism , led a movement towards a closer reading of Shakespeare's imagery. In the 1950s, a wave of new critical approaches replaced modernism and paved the way for " post-modern " studies of Shakespeare. [169] By the eighties, Shakespeare studies were open to movements such as structuralism , feminism , New Historicism , African American studies , and queer studies . [170] [171] Speculation about Shakespeare Main article: Shakespeare authorship question Around 150 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. [172] Proposed alternative candidates include Francis Bacon , Christopher Marlowe , and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford . [173] Several "group theories" have also been proposed. [174] Only a small minority of academics believe there is reason to question the traditional attribution, [175] but interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship , continues into the 21st century. [176] Religion Main article: William Shakespeare's religion Some scholars claim that members of Shakespeare's family were Catholics , at a time when Catholic practice was against the law. [177] Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden , certainly came from a pious Catholic family. The strongest evidence might be a Catholic statement of faith signed by John Shakespeare , found in 1757 in the rafters of his former house in Henley Street. The document is now lost, however, and scholars differ as to its authenticity. [178] In 1591 the authorities reported that John Shakespeare had missed church "for fear of process for debt", a common Catholic excuse. [179] In 1606 the name of William's daughter Susanna appears on a list of those who failed to attend Easter communion in Stratford. [179] Scholars find evidence both for and against Shakespeare's Catholicism in his plays, but the truth may be impossible to prove either way. [180] Sexuality Main article: Sexuality of William Shakespeare Few details of Shakespeare's sexuality are known. At 18, he married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway , who was pregnant. Susanna, the first of their three children, was born six months later on 26 May 1583. Over the centuries some readers have posited that Shakespeare's sonnets are autobiographical, [181] and point to them as evidence of his love for a young man. Others read the same passages as the expression of intense friendship rather than sexual love. [182] The 26 so-called "Dark Lady" sonnets, addressed to a married woman, are taken as evidence of heterosexual liaisons. [183] Portraiture Main article: Portraits of William Shakespeare There is no written description of Shakespeare's physical appearance and no evidence that he ever commissioned a portrait, so the Droeshout engraving , which Ben Jonson approved of as a good likeness, [184] and his Stratford monument provide the best evidence of his appearance. From the 18th century, the desire for authentic Shakespeare portraits fuelled claims that various surviving pictures depicted Shakespeare. That demand also led to the production of several fake portraits, as well as misattributions, repaintings and relabelling of portraits of other people. [185] [186] List of works Classification of the plays The Plays of William Shakespeare. By Sir John Gilbert , 1849. Shakespeare's works include the 36 plays printed in the First Folio of 1623, listed below according to their folio classification as comedies , histories and tragedies . [187] Two plays not included in the First Folio, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre , are now accepted as part of the canon, with scholars agreed that Shakespeare made a major contribution to their composition. [188] No Shakespearean poems were included in the First Folio. In the late 19th century, Edward Dowden classified four of the late comedies as romances , and though many scholars prefer to call them tragicomedies , his term is often used. [189] These plays and the associated Two Noble Kinsmen are marked with an asterisk (*) below. In 1896, Frederick S. Boas coined the term " problem plays " to describe four plays: All's Well That Ends Well , Measure for Measure , Troilus and Cressida and Hamlet . [190] "Dramas as singular in theme and temper cannot be strictly called comedies or tragedies", he wrote. "We may therefore borrow a convenient phrase from the theatre of today and class them together as Shakespeare's problem plays." [191] The term, much debated and sometimes applied to other plays, remains in use, though Hamlet is definitively classed as a tragedy. [192] The other problem plays are marked below with a double dagger (‡). Plays thought to be only partly written by Shakespeare are marked with a dagger (†) below. Other works occasionally attributed to him are listed as apocrypha. Works World Shakespeare Bibliography Notes ^ Dates follow the Julian calendar , used in England throughout Shakespeare's lifespan, but with the start of year adjusted to 1 January (see Old Style and New Style dates ). Under the Gregorian calendar , adopted in Catholic countries in 1582, Shakespeare died on 3 May ( Schoenbaum 1987 , xv). ^ The "national cult" of Shakespeare, and the "bard" identification, dates from September 1769, when the actor David Garrick organised a week-long carnival at Stratford to mark the town council awarding him the freedom of the town. In addition to presenting the town with a statue of Shakespeare, Garrick composed a doggerel verse, lampooned in the London newspapers, naming the banks of the Avon as the birthplace of the "matchless Bard" ( McIntyre 1999 , 412–432). ^ The exact figures are unknown. See Shakespeare's collaborations and Shakespeare Apocrypha for further details. ^ Individual play dates and precise writing span are unknown. See Chronology of Shakespeare's plays for further details. ^ The Passionate Pilgrim, published under Shakespeare's name in 1599 without his permission, includes early versions of two of his sonnets, three extracts from Love's Labour's Lost, several poems known to be by other poets, and eleven poems of unknown authorship for which the attribution to Shakespeare has not been disproved ( Wells et al. 2005 , 805) References	i don't know
Which Australian city is considered to have the largest Greek population outside of Greece?	What city has the largest Greek population in the world outside of Greece? What city has the largest Greek population in the world outside of Greece? 2 Answers 0 I first thought this was going to be Tarpon Springs, Florida, as I visited there with some Greeks that I work with and the town was VERY Greek. But no, it's apparently Melbourne, Australia, which is home to 300,000 Greeks, making it the largest Greek population outside of Greece itself. I also know that Merrillville, Indiana, just outside of Chicago, has a large Greek population. "Although most Greek immigration to Melbourne was post-WWII, the town’s Mediterranean roots go way back. The Greek Community of Melbourne & Victoria was established in 1897 and is one of the oldest ethnic organizations in Australia. Each March, it sponsors the annual Antipodes Festival, a celebration of Greek culture which includes the widely-attended two-day street party. Local artists perform at the event, and popular musicians such as Alkisti Protopsalti are brought in from Greece. " Sources: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.goworldtravel.com/ex/aspx/articleGuid.bd4eba5e-272d-46e2-a5d9-a7e5996f22b0/xe/ ... askville.amazon.com	Melbourne
What French term refers in English (contracts especially) to an unforeseeable factor preventing the fulfilment of an agreement?	Greece country brief - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Greece country brief Greece country brief Greece country brief Located in Southern Europe, Greece shares a border with Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the east. The country is also bordered by the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Greece has a population of 11 million (2014), approximately 4 million of whom reside in the capital, Athens. Greece joined the European Union (EU) in 1981 and adopted the Euro in 2001. Bilateral relations Australia and Greece have had consular relations since the 1920s and have exchanged resident Ambassadors since 1965. Australia has an Embassy in Athens and an Honorary Consulate in Thessaloniki. Greece has an Embassy in Canberra and Consulates or Honorary Consulates in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. People to people links Greece and Australia enjoy a close and constructive relationship based on strong community ties. The 2011 Census recorded 99,938 Greek-born people in Australia and 378,267 people who claimed Greek ancestry. The Greek-born population in Australia is largely concentrated in Victoria and New South Wales. Melbourne is Sister City to Thessaloniki. Australia and Greece also share an enduring historical link as a result of the involvement of Australian troops in the defence of Greece during the two World Wars. During World War I, the Greek island of Lemnos was the base for over 50,000 Australian soldiers, sailors and nurses who fought and served in the Gallipoli campaign. In the Battle of Crete (May 1941) during World War II Australian soldiers fought alongside Greek, New Zealand and British troops to defend the island against German invasion. The battle is still commemorated annually. Trade and investment In 2014-15, Greece was Australia's 63rd largest merchandise trading partner. Two-way merchandise trade was approximately $217 million. Australian exports to Greece totaled $13 million and consisted mainly of non-ferrous waste and scrap, and fruits and nuts. Goods imported from Greece totaled $204 million, including medicaments, vegetables, cheese and curd, and aluminium. Two-way services trade between Greece and Australia is heavily weighted in Greece's favour. The export of Australian services to Greece was worth around $75 million in 2014-15, while services imports from Greece totaled $441 million. Our services trade consists mainly of personal and education-related travel. Australia’s stock of investment in Greece as at the end of 2014 totaled $287 million. Investment in Australia from Greece was $263 million. Bilateral agreements In May 2014, Australia and Greece signed a Work and Holiday Visa Arrangement. The arrangement was approved by the Greek Parliament on 9 December 2015. In 2007, Australia and Greece signed a bilateral social security agreement to provide improved social security protection to people who have lived and/or worked in both Australia and Greece. High level visits Positions indicated in the list below were held at the time of the visit. To Australia May 2014: Greek Minister of Tourism, Ms Olga Kefalogianni March 2014: Greek Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Kyriakos Gerontopoulos March 2013: Greek Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Konstantinos Tsiaras May 2007: Prime Minister of Greece, Mr Kostas Karamanlis, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Dora Bakoyannis To Greece September 2015: Ms Anna Burke, MP and former Speaker of the House of Representatives April 2015: Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice-Admiral Tim Barrett AO, CSC, RAN, attended Centenary of ANZAC events in Lemnos and Athens November 2014: President of the Senate, Senator The Hon Stephen Parry April 2014: Australia’s Deputy Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Michael Van Balen, RAN, attended ANZAC Day events in Lemnos and Athens April 2013: Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice-Admiral Ray Griggs AO, CSC, RAN, attended ANZAC Day events in Lemnos and Athens May 2012: Governor of New South Wales, Professor The Hon Dame Marie Bashir AD, CVO June 2011: Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers, Senator The Hon Jan McLucas, visited Greece for the Special Olympic Games May 2011: Minister for Veterans' Affairs, The Hon Warren Snowdon MP, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Crete April 2011: A parliamentary delegation led by the President of the Senate, Senator The Hon John Hogg February 2011: Minister for Foreign Affairs, The Hon Kevin Rudd MP 2008: Governor of Western Australia, The Hon Dr Kenneth Comninos Michael AC Political overview Greece is a Parliamentary Republic. The President, elected by Parliament every five years, is Head of State. The current President, Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, was sworn in on 12 March 2015. The unicameral parliament consists of 300 members, elected for a maximum of four years. The Prime Minister is Head of Government. The SYRIZA party was first elected in January 2015, and was re-elected in September 2015 in snap elections. On both occasions, SYRIZA has formed a coalition government with the Independent Greeks party (ANEL). The government is led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Foreign policy Greece's foreign policy agenda has traditionally focused on the European Union (EU), the Balkans and its near neighbours (in particular Cyprus and Turkey). Greece held the rotating Presidency of the EU in 1983, 1988, 1994, 2003 and 2014. Greece is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which it joined in 1952, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Economic overview The Greek economy grew on average by over 4 per cent per year between 2003 and 2007, but lost a quarter of GDP in the prolonged recession which followed the global financial crisis in 2009. According to the International Monetary Fund, Greek general government net debt is forecast at 194 per cent of GDP in 2015 and is predicted to rise to almost 197 per cent in 2016. Unemployment was projected to be almost 27 per cent in 2015. To stabilise the economy and address unsustainably high levels of public debt, Greece is undertaking a wide-ranging program of economic reforms and fiscal consolidation supported by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund. Trade and industry profile The main engine of the Greek economy is the services sector comprising 83.3 per cent of GDP, followed by industry at 9.4 per cent and agriculture at 3.8 per cent (2014). Tourism is important for the Greek economy, contributing around 18 per cent of GDP. Greece's other industries include food and tobacco processing, textiles, chemicals, metal products, mining and petroleum. Greece has little heavy industry, with its once-substantial ship building industry in decline over recent years. Greece nonetheless still has one of the largest registered merchant marine fleets in the world. Agriculture is of major socio-economic importance to Greece (constituting 3.8 per cent of GDP in 2014), with 12.9 per cent of the workforce employed in the sector. Almost 20 per cent of the land is arable and almost 9 per cent has permanent crops. The main agricultural products are wheat, corn, barley, sugar beets, olives, tomatoes, wine, tobacco, potatoes, beef and dairy products. Last Updated: 3 February 2016	i don't know
Forbidden, unmentionable - from Tongan?	taboo - definition of taboo in English \| Oxford Dictionaries Definition of taboo in English: taboo noun 1A social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing: ‘many taboos have developed around physical exposure’ ‘the use of violence must remain a taboo in our society’ [mass noun] ‘Freud applies his notion of taboo in three ways’ More example sentences ‘The thrill is in breaking taboos, and that is why taboos are fun to have around.’ ‘The thing is that they're also trained to violate the ultimate taboo of society - to kill people.’ ‘Breaking cultural taboos in this attempt to make money does not seem to matter.’ ‘Through mythology, one is able to violate the taboos of society without the guilt.’ ‘Many people are too scared to risk pursuing a homosexual relationship, with all the social taboos attached to homosexuality.’ ‘All of these are thought to be dependent on the ability to observe taboos.’ ‘Cultural taboos surrounding sexuality and pregnancy also contribute to the low rates of health service access.’ ‘Many in India are reluctant to talk about Aids and prevention because of societal taboos about discussing sex.’ ‘Our country has substantial number of disabled people who have excelled in various walks of life, overcoming poverty and social taboos.’ ‘The members of one clan from northern Kenya observe a taboo on eating fish.’ ‘What drove him to shatter taboos and invite hatred for his conclusions?’ ‘The strategy broke powerful religious taboos against suicide and the murder of innocents.’ ‘Both Islam and the Orthodox Christian tradition require rigorous observance of fasts and food taboos.’ ‘There are no food taboos, although Buddhist monks may practice vegetarianism and observe other food taboos.’ ‘I'm surprised because the film wasn't about breaking taboos.’ ‘During the Civil War, hungry Northern soldiers, unaware of the social taboo surrounding peanuts, began eating them.’ ‘Accurate statistics are hard to come by, especially in a country where social taboos and threats keep many victims silent.’ ‘For her, the relaxing of rules and taboos about sex have been pivotal in changing the way we think.’ ‘The Communist Party decided to dramatise its rather unique willingness to challenge taboos.’ ‘The cabaret performers and their audiences shared a more or less hidden opposition to social taboos and censorship.’ Synonyms 1.1 A practice that is prohibited or restricted by social or religious custom: ‘speaking about sex is a taboo in his country’ More example sentences ‘To talk favourably of the Enlightenment has become something of a taboo in recent years.’ ‘Now the Internet comes along, letting you circumvent one of the strictest taboos of all: It lets you talk to strangers.’ ‘Because of the taboo associated with this topic no real dialogue can take place.’ ‘The breakdown of the politically correct liberal open-mindedness into frenzied intolerance of criticism and the taboo of peace was dramatic and instantaneous.’ ‘Until we get rid of the taboo of simply talking about it, we're not going anywhere.’ ‘The taboo of speaking about colonial sex is often at the heart of many of her images, which often resemble fashion photography.’ ‘Is there a taboo against the use of weapons of mass destruction?’ ‘I'm just puzzled why he put himself at risk by breaking probably the biggest taboo in US politics, i.e. criticising the Jewish community or Israel.’ ‘The incident drew national media attention and ignited a public debate over the ancient taboo of black men having sexual relations with white women.’ ‘We are now violating an even deeper family taboo.’ ‘The media taboo against naming "victims" is also weakening.’ ‘The Communist Party decided to dramatise its rather unique willingness to challenge taboos.’ ‘Knowing incest is an "unclean" act heightens the awareness of the taboo she is violating.’ ‘The taboos regulating the sight of bare flesh are further determined by wider cultural considerations.’ ‘Most importantly to feminism, do not support commercial manufacturers who use menstrual taboos to help sell their products.’ ‘Yet for all their attempts to break taboos, what makes Americans most uncomfortable is the portrayal of intimacy between men.’ ‘Prostitution is in this country a taboo; people don't like to admit that it exsists.’ ‘He was referring to the postwar taboo in official political circles on justifying Japan's wartime actions or advocating militarism - publicly at least.’ ‘The 1992 elections changed the taboo associated with Zionist parties relying on the Arab parties to form a government.’ ‘The court cases have undoubtedly had the merit of removing the taboo over reporting excision by the populations concerned and among doctors, social workers, etc.’ adjective 1Prohibited or restricted by social custom: ‘sex was a taboo subject’ More example sentences ‘But his live show is much more casually cruel, and no matter how sensitive a subject, nothing is taboo for his one-liners.’ ‘Al-Jazeera gives air-time to their Arab leaders' opponents and to ordinary viewers and discusses taboo political and social topics.’ ‘Hearing them talk, you'd have thought the very subject was taboo: awe, wonder and, yes, fear crept into their voices.’ ‘For many it is a taboo subject which leaves people feeling isolated and vulnerable.’ ‘Our culture has become distinctly sexualised over the past 20 years, and subjects that were once taboo are now openly discussed.’ ‘On a day for women, culturally taboo subjects like female sexuality can be openly acknowledged.’ ‘As a writer, he comes across as someone who feels that by trumpeting loudly about a taboo subject he is breaking down social barriers.’ ‘The fact that the subject is taboo also means that a man who is traumatized by the experience may be retraumatized again and again, with each child born to him.’ ‘Certain subjects are taboo, or too emotive to be examined with objectivity.’ ‘Previously taboo areas were opened for examination, and laws and legal attitudes were modified.’ ‘Why do you think sex is still so taboo in the U.S.?’ ‘In the not too distant past, talk of sex was strictly taboo.’ ‘The topic is so taboo that it almost can't be talked about.’ ‘In front of the big screen this behaviour is generally considered taboo.’ ‘As society engages in dialogue on these issues no subject will be taboo.’ ‘Divorce is still taboo in some cultures - find an immigrant family that has been rocked by one.’ ‘Information and counseling on once taboo subjects are now freely available, yet traditional mores still predominate.’ ‘Contraception and abortion - once taboo topics - have been enshrined into law.’ ‘Once taboo, birth control and family planning are quietly available to discreet couples.’ ‘But whether it should be taboo even to discuss such issues, as some are arguing, is another question.’ Synonyms forbidden, prohibited, banned, proscribed, vetoed, ruled out, interdicted, outlawed, not permitted, not allowed, illegal, illicit, unlawful, impermissible, not acceptable, restricted, frowned on, beyond the pale, off limits, out of bounds unmentionable, unspeakable, unutterable, ineffable, censored rude, impolite, indecorous, dirty	Taboo
Seasonal South Asia wind and accompanying rainfall - from Dutch?	Taboo - Pondok Maya Bersama Mohd Roslan Bin Abdul Ghani Pondok Maya Bersama Mohd Roslan Bin Abdul Ghani The pondokmayacom site is entirely supported by individual donors. If you are a regular user of the site please donate generously by following this link . 2210days since Taboo taboo adj dilarang + approp v: the inner room of this temple is ~ for women, wanita dilarang masuk ke dlm bilik bahagian dalam kuil ini; these words were once ~ in society, pd suatu masa dahulu, perkataan-perkataan itu dilarang digunakan dl Kamus Inggeris-Melayu Dewan taboo ~ subject,perkara larangan, kepantangan: when you visit her don’t mention the will, it’s a ~ subject, apabila kamu melawat dia, jangan sebut ttg surat wasiat itu, itu menjadi satu kepantangan; Kamus Inggeris-Melayu Dewan taboo n1. sacred prohibition, pantang larang: many more ~s affect women than men in that society, lebih banyak pantang larang mengenai wanita drpd mengenai lelaki dlm masyarakat itu; a study of the rites and ~s of the tribe, k Kamus Inggeris-Melayu Dewan taboo 2. word, action that is socially unacceptable, larangan: Saunders, don’t you know there’s a ~ on drinking during office hours?, Saunders, tidakkah kamu tahu bahawa menjadi larangan meminum arak dlm waktu pejabat?. Kamus Inggeris-Melayu Dewan tabu taboo, tabu - a prejudice (especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands) that prohibits the use or mention of something because of its sacred nature taboo, tabu - an inhibition or ban resulting from social custom or emotional aversion forbidden, out(p), prohibited, proscribed, taboo, tabu, verboten - excluded from use or mention "forbidden fruit"; "in our house dancing and playing cards were out"; "a taboo subject" taboo, tabu - forbidden to profane use especially in South Pacific islands taboo - declare as sacred and forbidden Taboo : adjective : a supject etc that people avoid because they think it is offensive or embarrassing إِثْم، إِصْر، جُنَاح، حِجْر، حَرَام، حَرَم، رِجْس، مُحَرَّم، مَحْظُور، مَمْنُوع too holy or evil to be touched إِثْم، إِصْر، جُرْم، جَريرَة، جَرِيمَة، جُنَاح، حِجْر، حَرَام، حَرَم، خِطْء، خَطِيئَة، ذَنْب، قُدُس، قُدْس، مَحْرَم، مقْدِس Taboo : noun : a religious custom that forbids a particular activity because it may offend God تَحْرِيم، تَحْظِير، حَرَج، حَظْر، ناهِيَة، نَهْي a social custom which means a particular activity or subject must be avoided تَحْرِيم، تَحْظِير، حَرَج، حَظْر، ناهِيَة Taboo : verb : put (a thing، practice، etc) under taboo or exclude by authority or social influence أَحْرَجَ على، حَرَّجَ، حَرَّمَ، حَظَرَ، حَظَّرَ، مَنَعَ ta·boo also ta·bu (t -b n. pl. ta·boos also ta·bus 1. A ban or an inhibition resulting from social custom or emotional aversion. 2. a. A prohibition, especially in Polynesia and other South Pacific islands, excluding something from use, approach, or mention because of its sacred and inviolable nature. b. An object, a word, or an act protected by such a prohibition. adj. Excluded or forbidden from use, approach, or mention: a taboo subject. tr.v. ta·booed also ta·bued, ta·boo·ing also ta·bu·ing, ta·boos also ta·bus To exclude from use, approach, or mention; place under taboo. [Tongan tabu, under prohibition.] Word History: Among the many discoveries of Captain James Cook was a linguistic one, the term taboo. In a journal entry from 1777, Cook says this word "has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.... When any thing is forbidden to be eat, or made use of, they say, that it is taboo." Cook was in the Friendly Islands (now Tonga) at the time, so even though similar words occur in other Polynesian languages, the form taboo from Tongan tabu is the one we have borrowed. The Tongans used tabu as an adjective. Cook, besides borrowing the word into English, also made it into a noun referring to the prohibition itself and a verb meaning "to make someone or something taboo." From its origins in Polynesia the wordtaboo has traveled as widely as Cook himself and is now used throughout the English-speaking world. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company . All rights reserved. taboo, tabu [təˈbuː]	i don't know
Long wrap-around skirt meaning sheath or quiver - from Malay?	Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:25:00 +0000 Universally Challenged - the early rounds <p><strong><u><font color="#000000"><font class="single_document"></font>Round 1</font></u></strong></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>So, the ‘Universally Challenged’ Inter-House Quiz started today with Belling (U6th) Vs Trew Day Girls (L6th).</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Many thanks to those of you who came to support your House, or (as was the case for most of the spectators) eat the vast array of e-numbers which were on offer!</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>It was a bit of a shaky start; Trew Day at one point having no team members turn up to participate, then being one short; but thanks to Chloe Spires a complete team was eventually prepared.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>The quick fire, first General Knowledge round was less a case of ‘fastest- finger- first’; halted by Belling’s buzzer having ‘technical difficulties’ (and nothing at all to do with Victoria and Rebecca bashing it repeatedly <b>ahem</b>)</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Jocelyn impressed by correctly answering a question on international vehicle registrations for Trew, but sadly the Language Diversity bonus questions proved a little too baffling until Harriet’s wild guess at a Monsoon being a ‘Seasonal South Asia wind and accompanying rainfall’! Sadly this turn of good fortune was not to last. Harriet then attempted an answer to the question: ‘An eccentric or crazy person is informally referred to as having ‘(What?) in the belfry’. Clue- an animal. Harriet’s answer- A racoon???!!!!!!!!!</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Belling fought back fiercely, despite Mrs Tarrega forgetting to keep score for both teams! </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Victoria’s startling knowledge of anatomy and Rebecca’s knowledge of weaponry put them back on track, despite the fact that Stephanie couldn’t tell a hexagon from a dodecahedron! </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Unfortunately neither side could recall several key events from 2013- including the death of Nelson Mandela </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">L</span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'> </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Although moaning constantly that the questions were “Much harder than last year”, Belling were victorious with a 6 / 5 win against Trew Day girls. </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"> <span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Tomorrow sees the tension mount as Senior battle it out with Lower Trew</span></font></p><p><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><strong><u><font color="#000000">Round 2</font></u></strong></span></p><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><p><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">After Trew Day girls’ narrow defeat on Tuesday you could tell that the L6<sup><font size="2">th</font></sup> Team were feeling the pressure. Even Mrs Brown heroically sacrificed part of her day off to lend support to her girls…</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">The quick-fire rounds were certainly more that today- thanks to the yellow buzzer’s 24 hour recovery period after the pounding (literally) taken the day before at the hands of Victoria and Rebecca B!! Questions were asked, buzzers were pressed and answers were given- woohooo!</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Unfortunately though, not all of the answers were correct; Grace Kweller- a keen addition to the team seemed to think that ‘Buddhism’ was the religion with five pillars! (Islam/Buddhism- easy mistake to make, eh?!). </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Neither team had any knowledge of famous bomb names (which can only be positive!). Millie Norton appeared to be guessing most of the answers but to her credit- usually with success (except for thinking that Stephen Spielberg directed Psycho?!) and Viola seemed more surprised than anyone when she correctly answered a question on the relationship between the number of protons in an atom and its atomic number (they are equal). Anyone would think she was studying sciences at A2?!</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">As Senior successfully secured two rounds of bonus questions, the pressure on the Lower Trew team’s faces was clear; Amber seemed truly baffled by the whole experience and it was all too much for poor Megan who started randomly hitting the buzzer having no idea of the answer…or indeed, the question! For example ‘Where is the Amazon delta?’ The answer- Brazil. As Megan hit the buzzer she realised she was unsure of the question and a mad episode of squawking “Where is the Amazon? Where is the Amazon?” ensued, making her sound like a homesick parrot!!</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>It was a brave attempt by the Lower Trew team but sadly for them, </span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Senior</span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'> were victorious with an 8-4 win and go through to the semi- finals.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"><strong><u>Round 3</u></strong></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Like locusts devouring crops, the lure of e-numbers proved irresistible and meant that the audience for this event was similar to that of a Wimbledon final. A rowdy bunch they were, having to be hushed on several occasions as the tension mounted.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Both, impressive-looking teams; you could sense that Upper Trew (</span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;'>Izzy Fernandes, Toluwa Agboola and Emma Poppleton) </span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>knew that they were up against some serious Bridge brain power </span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;'>(Jessica Chong, Haruka Akimoto, Rukky Harriman)</span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>. </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>The warm-up questions were answered in record time; almost entirely by Upper Trew whose ‘Buzzer-reaction’ was lightening quick. As quiz-master I was a little concerned that telepathy was being employed as they were on the buzzers even before the questions had left my lips!</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Toluwa impressed with her knowledge of the song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, managing to answer ‘Eight maids a-milking’ without having to sing the first 7 days first! Similarly, Emma knew how many white squares there were on a chess board- also without having to count them. </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Bridge were scuppered by a tree-based question as they had not heard of a ‘conker’ which was unfortunate. Their motto-based questions also caused problems; Rukky, Haruka and Jessica seemed to think Google was the answer to every motto! Thankfully, Jessica did persevere with this theme as the answer to ‘Don’t be evil’ was indeed Google- phew!</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Izzy identified a ‘long wrap-around skirt, also meaning ‘sheath or quiver’ from Malay’ as a sarong but sadly neither team knew the infamous family who reside at 742 Evergreen Terrace. At this point the audience had to be kept calm as angry looks and expletives were exchanged between spectators who most certainly knew the answer. Most noticeable of these spectators was Asha Booth who was jumping around as if she had stuck her fingers in the nearest electrical socket and simultaneously was desperate to go to the toilet! (Sorry Asha- it was very amusing </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>)</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>After order was restored, Rukky successfully answered a tricky Biblical question on the First Letter to the Corinthians, which reinforced her attentiveness in chapel recently- well done! </span></font></p><p><font color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Unfortunately, even this was not enough against the mighty Upper Trew, who shall henceforth be known as the ‘Buzzer-Bandits’! With an outstanding 12 points to 4, </span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>Upper Trew </span><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'>were victorious.</span></font></p><p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">So, the winning teams this week who have successfully secured a place in the semi- finals are: Belling, Senior, Upper Trew and in a twist of fate- Trew Day girls have the final place as the highest scoring losing team. The excitement continues this week on Tuesday, and Friday and the teams will need your support more than ever.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"></font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><strong><u><font color="#000000">Semi-Finals #1</font></u></strong></span></p><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">On Tuesday we saw the start of the Semi-Final rounds with Belling (U6th) taking on Upper Trew (L6th) in an action-packed 15 minutes. </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">With some strategic team changes, Belling had the wits of Victoria Fishpool, and Deputy Head Girl duo- Jemima Wolstencroft and Hattie Hillard. Upper Trew decided to stay with their original team comprising of Izzy Fernandes, Toluwa Agboola and Emma Poppleton. </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">The poor buzzers didn’t quite know what had hit them; Questions were being answered at such an alarming pace that Mrs Merrell had concerns she may run out of them and would have to start making them up herself! Had the teams been practising? Or was the sugar-rush of consuming two enormous bags of sweets and popcorn the reason for these super-quick reaction times? Izzy impressed everyone in her knowledge of the meaning behind several South American countries and Belling knew their facts when it came to Suffragettes.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">No all the answers were correct, however- Please don’t ask the Lower 6<sup><font size="2">th</font></sup> to deal with any electrical problems (as they don’t know what colour the ‘live’ wire is) and Hattie seemed to think that the answer to ‘What have mammals and birds got that reptiles and fish haven’t?’ was “Wings!” (Not unless they have been drinking Red Bull, anyway). Answer: Warm blood. Hattie did try to redeem herself by singing the theme tune to ‘Chariots of Fire’ and miming actions as well as (eventually) answering the question!</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">The round ended in a nail-biting finish. Although they fought a brave fight, sadly Upper Trew were defeated by Belling with incredibly impressive scores- 20/17 - the highest in the history of Universally Challenged. </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"> </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font><b><u><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000"> Semi-Final #2</font></span></u></b></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">After the excitement of Wednesday’s round, you could smell the tension in the air (and the heady aroma of yet more sugar!). </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Senior (U6th) were forced to make some substitutions due to previous team members being absent. The impressive line-up was now: Millie Norton, Levina Chow and Sylvia Zhang. Trew Day girls- Harriet (don’t mention Racoons) Walton, Jocelyn Preko and new addition Grace Oliver looked nervous, as they had only narrowly gained this place by being the highest scoring losing team.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">The buzzers braced themselves for another pounding as the warm-up starter questions were asked. However, it was less a case of ‘warming up’, more ‘cooling down’. The teams looked baffled for at least 10 questions and I started to wonder if I was asking the questions in English! Thankfully, I was able to quickly rule this out as audience members were leaping about like frogs in a bucket in a bid to answer what Elizabeth Ross deemed “Very easy questions!” For example- The seats in the House of Lords are red, not green. Stephen Spielberg directed ‘ET’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">In the end, both teams took to guessing the answers; this had mixed success- more so for Trew Day girls than Senior. </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Millie correctly guessed where the TV shows ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘Lewis’ were set but then sadly forgot that Palm Springs in in Florida, not Arizona, even though she has been there… she thinks…</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Trew Day did well to recall that Jon Snow is a character in ‘Game of Thrones’- especially as there were threats of ‘lynching’ from the audience if they did not get that correct! Harriet randomly guessed that a Bronte sister was the author of the lesser-known novel ‘Villette’ but then sadly reverted back to form with the comment “Is Estonia an actual place?” !!!!</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">Despite this, Trew Day girls managed to secure victory with a 9/5 defeat of Senior.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">As is the case in this ‘Circle of life’ we are back to the beginning. Trew Day have risen like a triumphant phoenix from the ashes of defeat, as they were the highest scoring losing team and are now in the final. In a bizarre twist of fate, they will face the team that knocked them out in the very first round.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">And so, just as Simba returned to his rightful place on Pride Rock; Trew Day Girls will meet Belling in the Final on Tuesday.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">You will all be able to support them as this will take place during Assembly.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">The battle for the trophy and the Krispy Kremes continues. </font></span></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">There will be buzzers…</font></span></b></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">There will be random answers…</font></span></b></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><b><span style='font-family: "Comic Sans MS";'><font color="#000000">There will be a winner! </font></span></b></p><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p></span><p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><font color="#000000"></font></p><p><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p></span><p></p><p> </p> http://www.queenswood.org/Universally-Challenged---the-early-rounds Tue, 09 Dec 2014 09:23:00 +0000 UCAS deadline & L6th House Supper <p>Good evening Parents and Guardians,</p><p>Last Friday marked two important occasions for Q Sixth Formers. </p><p>For the L6th, we attended a quite unusual House Supper. I note 'unusual' as traditionally, the Sixth Form House Suppers have been quite sophisticated affairs; girls, and their parents, taking the opportunity to dress up in the most glamorous way possible.</p><p>This year had a Disney theme.</p><p>Enough said, I think. (other than to note that there are some incriminating photographs available on @QSixthform)</p><p>Very well done to Mrs Brown and the Trew Social Committee for an excellent event.</p><p>For the U6th, however, last Friday marked a very important moment - our internal deadline for UCAS. Offers are already starting to come in for girls from places such as Exeter, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham - on top of requests for work from Oxford, Cambridge and UCL - so we would strongly encourage girls to ensure they have uploaded to UCAS as soon as possible.</p><p>We know this is a stressful time for students and parents alike, so do please be in touch if we can help put any anxieties to bed.</p><p>To that end, this week's Lecture of the Week is on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg&list=PL46E54F6D91F61D14&feature=player_detailpage">how we can use our time wisely to minimise stress</a>.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/UCAS-deadline-L6th-House-Supper Tue, 11 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Welcome back! <p>Good morning all,</p><p>A hearty welcome back to all our Sixth Formers - I hope everyone is feeling refreshed and excited for the challenges ahead as we approach Christmas?</p><p>Without question, I think the term ahead is the most important for our girls. They have settled on subjects and have a large block of time to obtain mastery in their chosen areas - with the Christmas break on the horizon with which to consolidate. </p><p>Hopefully you all found Parents' Evening a fruitful experience - please do be in touch with your daughters' tutors f you would like any further information from subject staff. </p><p>Lastly, I look forward to seeing those parents of the Lower 6th that will be attending the forthcoming House Supper. I am informed the dress code is 'Disney' - I have no idea what to say about that . . .</p><p>Our lecture of the week is entitled '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoIqkQuxAJc">Mind Change</a>' from leading neuroscientist Susan Greenfield. I hope you enjoy it.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell </p> http://www.queenswood.org/Welcome-back Mon, 03 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Progress Checks and Parents' Evening <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>Apologies for the slightly late weekly summary - I was finally struck down by the cold that seems to be making its way around the site! </p><p>As I mentioned to the Sixth Form girls in Tuesday's assembly, staff are putting together their progress checks at the moment - in advance of the Parents' Evening on Friday 17th October. Hopefully, your daughters took my rather broad hint that last week was an excellent time to ensure they made a good impression on staff. Tutors will be reviewing effort and achievement marks this week and will be forwarding their thoughts on to you. Please do be in touch if there's anything you would like to discuss further here. If not, I look forward to seeing you shortly at the Parents' Evening.</p><p>It has been another extremely busy week - not least with the Boarding Inspection taking place Monday to Wednesday. We've had excellent team success in Golf, Hockey and Cross Country, with outstanding news for Chrissy Horn, Alice Wills and Hannah Williams over their individual progress towards international honours. We wish them all well.</p><p>Wednesday evening was an extremely busy time: 6th Form girls were guides and advocates for their A Level subjects in the 'Into the Sixth Form' event. Then, seamlessly, we celebrated Nigerian Independence day - girls cooked and prepared a wide variety of Nigerian delicacies. I worry that there was a video camera near me when I tried something especially warm ....</p><p>We will be hearing about how to go about preparing for American university in 6th Form assembly this week and Mrs Tarrega will also be talking about the forthcoming interview practice sessions for the Upper 6th. Hopefully your daughters will find both experiences useful.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p><p></p> http://www.queenswood.org/Progress-Checks-and-Parents-Evening Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000 An extremely busy week <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>It's been a rather busy week in the Queenswood Sixth Form. </p><p>From a demonstration by the local Fire Brigade, to an inspiring talk from an ex-Head Girl, Lucy Pickworth, to the forthcoming Fulbright conference on USA universities, and ending up with a rehearsal of the School Song this morning, there's really been something to pique the interest for everyone.</p><p>We're well into the swing of things now - the pace of lessons picks up, co-curricular activities are well established and the daily life of the school becomes a very pleasant background buzz of energy. There are upcoming Progress Checks and a forthcoming Parents' Evening on the horizon which will give an excellent early indication of life at Q - but please do not hesitate to be in touch if you have any worries or concerns.</p><p>I thought that this week's <a href="http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UIg00a_CD4&feature=player_embedded">'Lecture of the Week' </a>on the future of intelligence well married the sense of exploration we've been mining this week. It's a fascinating talk from Professor Nick Bostrom on the way in which the brain works and, perhaps more interestingly, the way in which it may work in the future . . .</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p><p>Head of Sixth (@QSixthForm)</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Lecture-of-the-Week-The-Future-of-Intelligence Fri, 26 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 OQ Ventures Award <p><img width="653" height="650" style="width: 506px; height: 528px;" src="http://www.queenswood.org/Mainfolder/sixth-form/images/Lucy---Peru.jpg"></p><p></p><p>On Tuesday, we were fortunate enough to hear from OQ Lucy Pickworth (Head Girl 2012-2013) about the OQ Ventures Award and the use she made of the grant she received.</p><p>Lucy spoke with passion about the Old Queenswoodians' Association and their worldwide network. Finally, she outlined the way in which current Queenswood girls could access the OQ Ventures Award during both their Gap Year and also when at University. As an example, Lucy took us through some of her travels in Peru.</p><p>All in all, this looks like a fantastic opportunity for Q girls - past and present - and we will be encouraging all girls to consider putting themselves forward for the OQ Ventures Award when applications open in January.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/OQ-Ventures-Award Tue, 23 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Study Skills & UCAS <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>This week's focus for the Sixth Form girls has been on Study Skills - the Lower 6th received a talk on the Growth Mindset and the Upper 6th heard all about the mind and memory works.</p><p>We think these sessions are hugely important. </p><p>It is very easy for us to think that all our girls have excellent study habits - witness their outstanding GCSE results. However, in preparing themselves for AS and A2 study, they need to move beyond learning habits that have served them well lower down the school. It is my constant mantra to them that they should be spending as long working on their subjects outside of their lessons as they do within a classroom.</p><p>That means <strong>five hours</strong> of private work per <strong>subject</strong> per <strong>week</strong>.</p><p>And they need to approach this study in a more independent way than they will have experienced at GCSE. Hopefully, the sessions Elevate run for them - alongside all the support from their academic and House Staff - help them to begin to see this.</p><p>Outside of study skills, we hope that all of the Lower 6th have now firmed up their AS choices - we gave them a fortnight to 'trial' things - and that they are now well underway. </p><p>For the Upper 6th, it's all about UCAS at the moment - meeting with personal tutors, discussing personal statements etc etc. I wrote to all Upper 6th parents in the middle of the week to share some of the information we are currently giving the girls - if you would like me to resend it to you, please do not hesitate to be in touch.</p><p>Our 'Lecture of the Week' has been posted for girls - this week it is focusing on the way in which the City of London was designed and developed. For your interest, you can follow this lecture <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33e0yvFYf5s&feature=player_embedded">here</a></p><p>I wish all of you a happy Exeat weekend.</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Study-Skills-UCAS Fri, 19 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 A week in . . . <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>So, the first week has flown by and - hopefully - your daughters have begun to settle into something of a routine. An awful lot has been going on in and around the site with rehearsals for the Barbican and the Scholars' Play picking up pace, and excellent sporting success - both home and away.</p><p>All of our Lower 6th Girls have now received notice of their personal tutors - these members of staff have been carefully selected as we feel they will be best able to support, challenge and guide your daughters through their two years in the Sixth Form. They will be in touch shortly to introduce themselves.</p><p>For the Upper 6th , we are very much in UCAS territory now. For those that are Oxbridge, Medics or Vets, our deadline for the personal statement is very much on the horizon, but we would hope most girls have met with their tutor and discussed how things are going.</p><p>As always, do not hesitate to be in touch with the Sixth Form team if we can offer any help or advice or answer any questions you might have in these early weeks.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell (@QSixthForm)</p> http://www.queenswood.org/A-week-in Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Lecture of the Week #3 <p>Good morning Parents and Guardians,</p><p>This week's 'Lecture of the Week' asks the question: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=D6hBQtajewk">'Can Corporations be a Force for Good</a>?'</p><p>I hope you find it interesting!</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p><p> </p> http://www.queenswood.org/Lecture-of-the-Week-3 Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Welcome! <p>Dear girls and parents,</p><p>I wish a hearty welcome to all our new L6ths joining us today (and a fond welcome back to the U6th).</p><p>You return to a Q Sixth Form that is as big - and successful - as it has been for many a long year. Alongside outstanding results at AS and A2, with record numbers of girls achieving places at the top universities in the UK and the USA, we have sporting stars earning national and international recognition, and actors and musicians that regularly hold their own with the best in the field.</p><p>As our outgoing Head Girl - Abi Williams - noted in her closing address to the school: "Queenswood is a place where it's cool to be smart. Where it's good to succeed. Where you will be supported - whatever your interest - in achieving your potential."</p><p>I - alongside all the other members of the Sixth Form team - look forward to helping you achieve that potential over the coming year.</p><p>There will lots of communication in coming weeks and months but I thought I'd take this opportunity to briefly share something I'll be doing each week: posting 'lecture of the week' on something that students (and parents) might find interesting and inspiring.</p><p>This week, an apt one I thought - Tristram Hunt MP on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSamflBIA48&feature=player_embedded">the nature of the school curriculum</a></p><p>Kind regards,</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Welcome Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Lecture of the Week #1 <p>Dear Parents,</p><p>I thought you might enjoy (!) access to some of things we offer to your daughters as part of their enrichment programme in the Sixth Form. </p><p>Next year, I will be sending the girls a 'lecture of the week' on something I hope they might find interesting and I'll also post it here for you to review: and hopefully talk about over the dinner table.</p><p>Firstly, is Ian Leslie on <a href="http://www.thersa.org/events/video/vision-videos/ian-leslie-curiosity"><strong>'Why our Future Depends on Curiosity'</strong></a></p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Lecture-of-the-Week Mon, 30 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Choosing Universities: Advice for Parents <p>Dear Parents,</p><p>Mr Sheldon and the Sixth Form team are spending quite some time at the moment helping the L6 girls make the most appropriate choice for their post-Queenswood existence. </p><p>Today, we took all the girls off-timetable to help them fill in the 'nuts and bolts' of the UCAS form. They were also fortunate to be offered some Personal Statement advice from James Luckhurst of Interview Guru: which we hope will prove invaluable! You get access to some of the <a href="http://www.queenswood.org/Mainfolder/sixth-form/documents/Personal-statement-advice-2014-15.docx"><strong>advice here </strong></a>if you would like to review it - likewise, if you get in touch with your daughter's tutor they will be able to fill you in more fully.</p><p>However, obviously, we know that this is a very tense time, not just for the girls, but for parents too. To that end, might I suggest that <a href="http://www.parentadviser.co.uk/?dm_i=BEM,2L8CJ,GKJ5HA,9GDDP,1"><strong>this</strong></a><a href="http://www.parentadviser.co.uk/?dm_i=BEM,2L8CJ,GKJ5HA,9GDDP,1"><strong> website</strong></a> might be a really useful resource for any parent feeling nervous about the process.</p><p>On top of this, we're all here to help and answer any questions you might have - so please, do not hesitate to be in touch!</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell </p> http://www.queenswood.org/Choosing-Universities-help-for-parents Wed, 25 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Driver Safety <p>Dear Parents,</p><p>As we know many of our girls will be seeking to learn to drive over the summer, Mrs Sanders - the Senior Mistress - will be speaking to girls today about the school's driving policy. </p><p>I'm sure they will fill you in on all the relevant details. It is an Upper Sixth privilege to bring a car on site and one our senior girls take very seriously. Driving is an excellent way for girls to build independence and I'm sure you will all be very relieved when your 'taxi' services are no longer required. </p><p>We know that your daughters learning to drive will be a stressful time for you, though. If you have time, I'd encourage you to have a look at <a href="http://www.driveiq.co.uk/"><strong>this website </strong></a>which has excellent information for new drivers (and their parents). Likewise, we will be running some lectures at school next year about the importance of driver safety to ensure girls are getting the right message.</p><p>If you have any worries at all, please do be in touch.</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Driving-Safety Tue, 24 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Oxbridge Conference 2014 <p>Dear Parents,</p><p>I've just contacted the girls about an Oxbridge Conference taking place at St Albans on September 11th. It's going to be a good opportunity for them to hear about the process of the application, some key advice over the personal statement and also meet with others from the county similarly interested. </p><p>Numbers are quite tight and the response has been very positive from girls. If your daughter is in any way interested in Oxbridge entry for 2015, make sure they let me know as soon as possible!</p><p>Kind regards</p><p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Oxbridge-Conference-2014 Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #7 (3 March - 9 March) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>I hope everyone enjoyed the mini-heat wave we seemed to have experienced yesterday? Certainly, the girls were very keen to inform me of all the places in the world that the UK was hotter than on Sunday. To hear tell of their weekends, it sounds like the whole of Hertfordshire was filled by Q girls furiously revising outside in the sun . . . </p><p>On Tuesday, Mrs Scrivens and Mr Kelly accompanied a group of girls to a Q Networking event at Newnham College, Cambridge. This was an excellent opportunity to meet up with Old Queenswoodians and also a chance to see Cambridge University in a slightly different light. This event was hosted by Lucy Pickworth, our ex-Head Girl, and reports were of a very pleasant evening with much swapping of contact details.</p><p>We wish the AS Drama groups the best of luck for their performances on Monday and Tuesday evening. Rehearsals have been underway for some time now - supplemented by a rigorous weekend programme - so I'm sure we will once again witness more excellence in Theatre.</p><p>Obviously, we are into the serious business of exam preparation now - I almost feel like we have a minute-by-minute countdown taking place. If any parents would like any advice on how best to assist their girls to revise at home, please do not hesitate to be in touch. Mr Sheldon has organised several sessions for the girls focusing purely on this matter - and subject staff will be, of course, highlighting techniques for their individual subjects - however, we know that sometimes parents might want a bit more information themselves!</p><p>I wish you all a pleasant week - and long may this weather continue!</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-7-3-March---9-March Mon, 10 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #6 (24 February - 2 March) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>This is just a quick 'welcome back' and I hope everyone had a pleasant half-term break?</p><p>After the wettest winter on record, it is lovely to see the sun starting to show its face and I'm sure the girls are going to appreciated not having to run the gauntlet of driving wind and rain as they move around campus!</p><p>Last week was important in the Sixth Form for two major events. Firstly, well done to the Hockey team for all the efforts at the National Finals. There's an excellent report elsewhere on this site, so I just want to express my own pride in how well our girls performed. It is no small thing for a school our size to so consistency reach this standard and everyone involved - staff and pupils - should be very proud indeed. </p><p>Secondly, last week was the occasion of the dreaded Mocks examinations. In the absence of January modules, these take on an especial importance - allowing girls and subject staff to take stock of knowledge and understanding before a big final push as we approach Easter. I'd like to commend the majority of our girls on their efforts and performance and, from looking at early results, there's an awful lot of which to be proud. For those that found the experience more challenging, there will be lots of support offered in coming weeks in order to ensure that all girls are able to reach their potential.</p><p>We are about to embark on a more 'normal' week with the resumption of lessons and I will be speaking to the girls in our assembly on Tuesday about how little time we all have left! It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the weeks run away from us.</p><p>I wish you all a happy (and dry) week!</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-6-24-Feb---2-March Mon, 03 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #5 (3 February - 9 February) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>All hail Rebecca Batcup - Queen of the John Fry!</p><p>Thursday night witnessed yet another fantastic evening of public speaking - judged by author Freya North - where some of the key issues of the day were discussed. All the topics were selected by the 2013 winner, Emma Neville, and their controversial nature certainly challenged the six speakers.</p><p>Each girl spoke with fluency, energy and great persuasiveness, with our guest judge finding it an almost impossible task to differentiate between them. However, it was Rebecca, and her thoughtful meditation on the 'The Veil Empowers Women', who finally won the day. I think you can watch her excellent speech elsewhere on this website: I would, if you missed it, urge you to do so!</p><p>A huge well done to her, and we very much look forward to seeing what she suggests as questions in 2015. Thank you so much for all of you that supported the event - this is an outstanding tradition for the Sixth Form (and the Academic Scholars) and one which really shows Q girls off at their best.</p><p>I was delighted to have been asked to contribute to the Sixth Form lecture programme that is currently being constructed by our Senior Scholar, Izzy Hadjisavvas. Apparently, I can talk about "anything that interests me." I can hear the groans already . . . Having given it some thought, I think I might spend my hour lecturing on our society's fascination with Vampire fiction and why the image of the immortal bloodsucker casts such a shadow over, especially, teen culture. (I'm Team Edward, by the way . . .)</p><p>As we approach half-term, I am beginning to feel a little like a broken record on the topic of the Mock Exams that will take place the first week back. However, what better way can there possibly be to stay out of the appalling rain that is currently plaguing us than to sit down, with a cup of tea, and reflect upon all that has been learned this year? </p><p>Certainly, I cannot think of one.</p><p>I always think this half-term break is a significant one - marking as it does the beginning of the end of the A2 and AS courses. With the 'real' exams appearing so quickly after Easter, the precious few weeks left to us as pupils, teachers and House staff take on a new importance. We remain so impressed by the focused and diligent attitude of our girls in taking advantage of their teachers' support at this crucial time- long may it continue!</p><p>This will be my final post of this half-term - I wish you all a relaxing, though not <strong>too</strong> relaxing break. The next time I post, I will - hopefully - be reflecting on how very well the Mock Exams have gone for our girls . . .</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-5-3-February---9-February Mon, 10 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #4 (28 January - 2 February) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>Thursday night was the occasion of our social over at Princess Helena College.</p><p>We took a coach of L6 and U6 girls to quiz against a range of schools - including, crucially for our girls, some young gentlemen from Hitchin Boys, St Columba's and Bedford School.</p><p>A very pleasant, and entertaining, night was had by all. I personally managed to get only one question right, so it was good to see the Queenswood Sixth Form well represented in the winning team - 'Anonymous' - through Victoria Fishpool, Alex Chrysanthou and Rebecca Batcup. Our Head Girl, Abi Williams, has already spoken to me about how we could, perhaps, go about hosting such an event in the future - so watch this space!</p><p>A very big 'well done' must go to Senior International Prefect, Esta Qi, for organising a Chinese New Year meal in the Pizza Hut on Friday night - I know everyone who added to the giant order from our local takeaway was very grateful. So, too, must huge respect be given to Senior Prefect for House Activities, Sarah Hills, who orchestrated an excellent evening of fun and games for the girls pre-House Drama. Both girls set excellent examples of our Prefect system in action!</p><p>Speaking of which . . .</p><p>Senior Academic Scholar, Izzy Hadjisavvas, took charge of Sixth Form Assembly for the Lower 6th on Tuesday to answer questions for those interested in Oxbridge entry next year and to give the benefits of her experience in successful negotiating the university process. There will be many such university and UCAS based talks for the L6 in coming months, but we thought it was useful to take advantage of the very recent experience of the recent applicants.</p><p>Finally, we wish all of those taking part in the John Fry Public Speaking competition on Thursday - judged by Freya North - the very best of luck. It is always an excellent occasion and I look forward to seeing as many parents and guardians there as possible. It should be a controversial and interesting evening!</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-4-28-Jan---2-Feb Sun, 02 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #3 (20 - 27 January) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>The week began with some outstanding news from our girls hoping to undertake Art Foundation courses. Yasmin Munro and Natalie Oon attended their interviews and - on the basis of the quality of their portfolios - were offered places on the spot! Outstanding news, well deserved, and showing the huge breadth of talent in our Sixth Form.</p><p>We're all very much looking forward to the upcoming social quiz at Princess Helena College next Thursday. I would like to think that it was the opportunity of testing their minds against the best and brightest quizzers in Hertfordshire that has led to such big numbers coming with us - however, it may have something to do with three boys' schools also in attendance . . . I hope to report back on great success next week.</p><p>The John Fry opening round was run this week, and I hear back from Miss Severino and Mr Daughton that the standard was hugely high. I look forward to seeing who makes it into the final six and what they make of the questions set by last year's winner, Emma Neville.</p><p>Finally, obviously, we like to highlight the huge benefits that exist in boarding in the Sixth Form. I was going to spend some time today waxing lyrical on that very topic - however, it occurred to me that some words from one of the students would be far more pertinent. I asked Lauren McBride, a very recent convert from a Day Girl to a Boarder, to comment on her experience post-Christmas:</p><p>"I have been a Day Girl at Queenswood since Year 7 and had never spent a night at school. After deliberating whether I wanted to board or not for the first time in L6th, I decided to stick to what I knew and stay as a Day Girl for the first term. </p><p>However, this term I have changed to a Boarder, and after a few weeks of boarding I can say that it was the right decision. There is so much more time to keep on top of your work and socialise with your friends in the additional hours in the evening - I feel I'm getting so much more done that I was in the first term. So, even in this very short space of time, I think that boarding has made a difference and I am pleased with my choice!"</p><p> I wish you all a pleasant and fulfilling week.</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-3-20---27-Jan Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #2 (13-19 January) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p><p>So, Friday night marked the occasion of the Lower 6th House Supper.</p><p>Despite our best attempts to persuade the girls towards something more glamorous, the theme of "the Sixties" seemed to be unshiftable hence some . . . unusual costumes. </p><p>Well done to Zoe Lykourgou and Victoria Fishpool who shared the award for Best Student Costume (as a Lichtenstein paining and Jacque Kennedy Onassis, respectively) and Mrs Davidson, in her splendid Hippy attire, for winning Best Staff Costume. They were a sight to behold.</p><p>A fantastic night was had by all: with well over a hundred people in attendance, this was one of the biggest L6 Suppers in years! A huge thanks must go to all in Trew who worked tirelessly to make the event such a success, the staff who gave of their time to support their tutees and, especially, to Mrs Merrell for overseeing the planning of the evening. </p><p>Mr Shaw's musical talents aren't too bad either . . .</p><p>Moving beyond the House Supper, it has been another excellent week in the Sixth Form with yet more University offers pouring in and lots of girls off on interviews and preparing portfolios. There's a lovely buzz around the Houses at the moment: the girls are just beginning to realise that the end is in sight, and yet there's still time to take stock and enjoy what Queenswood has to offer. </p><p>Applications are coming in thick and fast from girls keen to take place in the John Fry Public Speaking competition - for those of you who have not attended the event before, it is a fantastic opportunity to hear some of Qs finest public speakers deal with a range of complex topics. This year, we are fortunate to have the author Freya North as our VIP judge. </p><p>The initial rounds will happen in the coming week - trimming down to a final six. I hope to see many of you there!</p><p>A huge well done on the sporting front for several of our Sixth Form girls - Megan Crowson and Alice Wills have had great success in the Daily Express 'Hockey Writers Youth Awards' and will attend a ceremony in Knightsbridge on Tuesday. Likewise, we congratulate Katty Weymouth in being accepted to two ITF competitions in Kenya at the end of the month - hopefully, the temperatures will be more clement than those seen at the Australian Open!</p><p>All in all, a very busy and satisfying week </p> http://www.queenswood.org/Week-2-13th-19th-Jan Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000 Week #1 (6–12 January) <p>Dear Parents and Guardians,</p> <p>One of my (many) New Year’s resolution is to keep a weekly blog of things happening in the Queenswood Sixth Form so that parents can see the huge range of achievements that their daughters are probably not sharing with them! Hopefully, this resolution will stick slightly longer than my attempt to go for a run every morning….</p> <p>At the start of each term, I like to remind girls that one of the very best things about the first day back (indeed, perhaps the only good thing) is that it is a fresh start and an opportunity to move on from all that has gone before. This is especially true this term as it is also the beginning of the calendar year and pupils have returned fresh from their holidays fully laden with Christmas gifts and New Year’s resolutions. It is an opportunity to dazzle staff with all the work they have completed over the break, to hand in all those assignments that never quite made it in pre-Christmas and to drive forward with renewed vigour as we approach the Mock exams towards the end of February. </p> <p>I should note that these exams are especially significant as, without January modules, they take on especial import as guides for the summer. We are urging girls to prepare themselves diligently for the last week in February and would encourage you to view them as key indicators of your daughter’s current progress.</p> <p>On a similar note, this term, under the direction of Mrs Scriven – Head of Government and Politics and Senior Tutor for the Upper Sixth – we are placing great emphasis on the importance of understanding current affairs. We have recommended simple ways for sixth form students to engage regularly and meaningfully with the world around them:<font color="black" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" dir="ltr"></span></font><font color="black" face="Tahoma" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt;" dir="ltr"></span></font></p> <ul><li>Watching current affairs shows such as Newsnight, Question Time and the Andrew Marr show on Sunday mornings.</li><li>Waking up to the Today programme on Radio 4</li><li>Reading the daily newspapers in House or the copies of The Week that we supply to them.</li></ul> <p>We feel that any girl undertaking any of the above can certainly think themselves well-informed on the events of the day!</p> <p>Early in the week there was excellent news for Emma Neville, Abi Williams and Izzy Hadjisavvas to start the New Year as all three of them received Oxbridge offers; this is an excellent achievement and testament to their hard work over the past few years. There are a few other girls awaiting Pool offers and we have all of our fingers (and toes) crossed for them. Offers continue to flood in for the Upper 6<sup>th</sup> girls – and I hope the Lower 6<sup>th</sup> take inspiration from seeing what they themselves will be experiencing in twelve months’ time.</p> <p>Outside the classroom, this weekend I went to watch the National Indoor Finals for Hockey at my old place of work, Bromsgrove School. I enjoyed seeing my first game of Indoor Hockey and, although things did not work out the way we hoped, I’m sure we learned an awful lot from the experience. Well done to Megan, Chrissy, Alice, Yasmin, Victoria, Amy, Naomi and Gina!</p> <p>Likewise, I was encouraged by the number of Sixth Formers involved in the running of co-curricular clubs for girls in the younger years. There can be few better examples of selfless leadership than those that give of their time for others. Well done to all of those that encouraged, enticed and bribed the 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s to join their activity.</p> <p>It’s the Lower 6<sup>th</sup> Supper on Friday and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible – I have no idea what I own that could reasonably be considered 60s, but I’ll do my best. My next blog post will, I fear, contain a few images from this event . . .</p> <p>I think that’s enough for now: all the best for the coming week, the term and for 2014.</p> <p>Paul-James Merrell</p> http://www.queenswood.org/Hello	Sarong
Clumsy awkward person, whose earlier root gave us also 'clot' in English - from Yiddish?	Sarong : definition of Sarong and synonyms of Sarong (English) Javanese men often wear sarongs during religious or casual occasions. Surabaya , East Java , Indonesia . A sarong or sarung ( / s ə ˈ r ɒ ŋ / ; Indonesian and Malay : [ˈsarʊŋ] ) is a large tube or length of fabric , often wrapped around the waist and worn by men and women throughout much of South Asia , Southeast Asia , the Arabian Peninsula , the Horn of Africa , and on many Pacific islands . The fabric most often has woven plaid or checkered patterns, or may be brightly colored by means of batik or ikat dyeing . Many modern sarongs also have printed designs, often depicting animals or plants . Contents Sundanese sarong weaver in Bandung , West Java , Dutch East Indies , 1900–1940. In strict usage, sarong or "sarung" ( Indonesian and Malay , "sheath") denotes the lower garment worn by the Malay (and other Maritime Southeast Asian ) people, both men and women. This consists of length of fabric about a yard (0.91 m) wide and two-and-a-half yards (2.3 m) long. In the center of this sheet, across the narrower width, a panel of contrasting color or pattern about one foot wide is woven or dyed into the fabric, which is known as the kepala or "head" of the sarong. This sheet is stitched at the narrower edges to form a tube. One steps into this tube, brings the upper edge above the level of the navel (the hem should be level with the ankles), positions the kepala at the center of the back, and folds in the excess fabric from both sides to the front center, where they overlap and secures the sarong by rolling the upper hem down over itself. Malay men wear sarongs woven in a check pattern; women wear sarongs dyed in the batik method, with, for example, flower motifs, and in brighter colors. However, in Javanese culture , the wearing of batik sarung is not restricted to women on formal occasions such as weddings. The sarong is common wear for women, in formal settings with a kebaya blouse. Malay men wear sarongs in public only when attending Friday prayers at the mosque , but sarongs remain very common casual wear at home for men and women of all races and religions in Brunei , Indonesia , Malaysia , Singapore , Sri Lanka , Northeast Part of India, in which Sarong is known as Phanek in Manipuri [1] and most parts of Southern India where it is called mundu or lungi in Myanmar. Regional variations Arabian Peninsula Yemeni men in traditional loincloth. Yemeni man tying his futah (sarong). Sometimes people keep money and other small utensils in the folds of the futah. Sarongs known under a variety of local names are traditionally worn by the people of Yemen and elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula . Local names for the garment include futah, izaar, wazaar and ma'awiis. In Oman , sarongs are called wizaar and are often white in color, similar to the Keralan mundu of South Asia and it is usually worn under the Thawb . In Saudi Arabia , sarongs are known as izaar. Designs can be checkered or striped as well floral or arabesque , but double plaid (i.e. a vertical section of the izaar with a different plaid pattern) designs from Indonesia are also very popular. In southwestern Saudi Arabia, tribal groups have their own style of unstitched izaar, which is locally weaved. This are also worn in northern Yemen. However, the tribal groups in Yemen each have their own design for their futah, the latter of which may include tassels and fringes. It is thought that these tribal futah resemble the original izaar as worn on the Arabian Peninsula since pre-Islamic times. They are generally worn open and unstitched in such a way that the loin cloth does not reach over one's ankles. Other izaars, often imported from Bangladesh, are also the traditional clothing of Arab fishermen of the Persian Gulf , the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea . It was the traditional garment for men prior to the introduction of pant-like pyjamas and kaftans during the Turkish and European colonial periods. Tube-stitched as well as open sarongs are both worn, even in formal dishdasha -wearing countries, as casual sleep wear and at home. South Asia Main article: Lungi Sarongs are widespread in the Northeast part of India – in the state of Manipur , where they are called phanek , in the South Indian states of Kerala , where they are called mundu (if fully white or fully black) and lungi or kaili if coloured, and Tamil Nadu , where they are called sarem or veshti or lungi and are usually worn at home. A standard lungi measures 2.12 by 1.2 metres. Unlike the brightly coloured Southeast Asian sarongs, the Kerala variety (the mundu) is more often plain white and is worn for ceremonial or religious purposes. In Kerala, the brightly coloured sarongs are called kaily and the white ones are called mundu. The more formal, all-white Dhoti , is worn for formal and religious occasions. While there are also dresses based on the mundu which can be worn by women, they more commonly wear the sari . Somalia Somali man wearing a macawiis sarong. Sarongs are ubiquitous in Somalia and the Muslim -inhabited areas of the Horn of Africa . Although both nomadic and urban Somali men have worn them for centuries in the form of a plain white kilt , the colorful macawiis (ma'awiis) sarong, which is the most popular form of the garment in the region, is a relatively recent arrival to Somalia courtesy of trade with the Southeast Asian islands and the Indian subcontinent . Prior to the 1940s, most macawiis were made of cotton . However, since the industrialization of the market for sarongs, they now come in many different fabrics and combinations thereof, including polyester , nylon and silk . Designs vary greatly and range from checkered square motifs with watermarked diamonds and plaid to simple geometric lines. The one constant is that they tend to be quite colorful; black macawiis are rare. Sarongs in Somalia are worn around the waist, and folded several times over to secure their position. They are typically sold pre-sewn as one long circular stretch of cloth, though some vendors offer to sew them as a value-added service. Sri Lanka A Sri Lankan man wearing a sarong. Sarongs are very common in Sri Lanka , and worn only by men. (A similar garment is worn by women. However, the women's garment is not called "sarong" but "redda", which is wraparound skirt.) It is the standard garment for most men in rural and even some urban communities. However, most men of upper social classes (whose public attire is trousers) wear the sarong only as a convenient night garment, or only within the confines of the house. Statistically, the number of people wearing sarong as their primary public attire, is on the decline in Sri Lanka ; the reason being that the sarong carries the stigma of being the attire for less educated lower social classes. However, there is a trend towards adopting sarong either as a fashionable garment, or as a formal garment worn with national pride, only on special occasions. [2] Political and social leaders of Sri Lanka whom want to portray their humility and closeness to "common man" and also their nationalism, choose a variation of the sarong nicknamed the "national" as their public attire. Western world In North America and Europe, hip wraps are worn as beach wear, or as a cover-up over swimwear . The wrap is often made of a thin, light fabric, often rayon , and may feature decorative fringing on both sides. They may also have ties, which are long thin straps of fabric which the wearer can tie together to prevent the wrap from falling down. These wraps are almost exclusively worn by women, and do not usually resemble a traditional African or Asian sarongs. They do not resemble traditional sarongs as used in Africa or Asia, neither in size, pattern or design. Securing Numerous tying methods exist to hold a sarong to the wearer's body. In some cases, these techniques customarily differ according to the gender of wearer. If a sarong has ties, they may be used to hold it in place. If no ties exist, a pin may be used, the fabric may be tightly tucked under itself in layers, the corners of the main sheet may be around the body and knotted, or a belt may be used to hold the sarong in place. Similar garments A traditional Khmer dancer wearing a sampot in Cambodia The basic garment known in English most often as a "sarong", sewn or unsewn, has analogs in many regions, where it shows variations in style and is known by different names. Africa In East Africa , it is called either a kanga (worn by African women), or a [[kikoy], traditionally worn by men and used with much simpler designs, however, it is used more frequently in high fashion.Kangas are brightly coloured lengths of cotton that incorporate elaborate and artistic designs and usually include the printing of a Swahili proverb along the hem. See Kanga in fashion [1] See Kikoy in fashion [2] In Madagascar it is called a lamba . In Malawi it is called a chitenje . In Mauritius they are called pareos. In Mozambique it is called a capulana. In South Africa it is called a kikoi and commonly used as a furniture throw or for going to the beach. In Zimbabwe they are known as Zambias. Indian subcontinent In Southis called a phanek or lungi . It is most often sewn into a large cylindrical shape, so there is no slit when the phanek or lungi is tied. In India similar articles of clothing are the [phanek] in Manipur, dhoti (or dhuti in West Bengali , veshtti in Tamil , pancha in Telugu ,panche in Kannada and Mundu in Malayalam ). In the Maldives , and Indian state of Kerala , it is known as a mundu , feyli [3] or neriyathu. In Punjab it is a called Chadra.(from chadar=sheet). In Sri Lanka it is called Sarong in English and in Sinhalese it is known as the Sarama Southeast Asia In Cambodia it is used as an alternative to sampot . In Indonesia it is generally known as a kain sarung ('sarong cloth') except for in Bali where it carries the name 'Kamben'. In Malaysia it is known as a kain, kain pelikat, kain sarung, kain tenun, kain batik, or kain sampin (specialised sarong worn by men with Baju Melayu ). In Myanmar , it is known as a longyi . In the Philippines it is also known as a malong (in Mindanao ) or patadyong (in Visayan ), often used as a cloth for making household "pang bahay" or outdoor shorts. A similar wrap-around worn by Tagalog women is called the saya or tapis, and is half of the Baro't saya . In Thailand , it is known as a pa kao mah (Thai: ผ้าขาวม้า) for men and a pa toong (Thai: ผ้าถุง) for women. Polynesian Hiva Oa dancers dressed in pāreu around 1909 In Papua New Guinea the Tok Pisin term is lap-lap . Worn by men and women. In Rotuma , it is known as a "hạ' fạli" In Samoa it is known as a lavalava (also lava-lava). In Tahiti it is known as a pāreu . In Tonga it is known as tupenu . Motion pictures The American public is most familiar with the sarong for the dozens of motion pictures set in the South Seas, most of them romantic dramas made in the 1930s and 1940s. Dorothy Lamour is by far the actress most linked with the garment, which was designed by Edith Head . Lamour starred in multiple films of this genre, starting with The Hurricane in 1937. In fact, Lamour was nicknamed "The Sarong Girl" by the press and even wore a sarong on occasion in more traditional films. Among the other actresses to don the sarong for film roles are Maria Montez , Gilda Gray , Myrna Loy , Gene Tierney , Frances Farmer and Movita . Male stars who wore the manly sarongs on film include Jon Hall , Ray Milland , Tyrone Power , Robert Preston , Sabu Dastagir and Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener (film) . The sarong was also worn by Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair . In documentary movie, we can see soldiers in Sarong directed by Lokendra Arambam. [4] See also	i don't know
Ghost or spirit, typically unseen and moving things - from German?	Paranormal & Ghost Society Artificial Ghost Animal Ghosts Remember that these are just labels for convenient use, and it is not to say that any of these particular entities/events actually exist. They may also be known by other names, belong to more than one group or subgroup, and be in flux or in conjunction with other types of paranormal activity. GHOST HUNTING TERMINOLOGY This is a minor listing of terms ghostbusters will use. I know there probably is 100 more out there but this will give a general idea if you need to refer to something in general that we talk about or cover when investigating. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agent: A human being, typically a teenage female, who unknowing directs poltergeist energy. Altered State of Consciousness (ASC): Any state of consciousness that is different from "normal" states of waking or sleeping. Amulet: An object that has the power to ward off ghosts and evil spirits. Angel: Benevolent spiritual beings who help and watch over people. Apparition: The disembodied soul or spirit that can be seen visually. Apport: When a solid object seemingly appears from out of nowhere, with the help of the spirits in the presence of a medium. Asport: When a solid object is teleported to a different location with the help of the spirits in the presence of a medium. Astral Body: The soul of an individual projected outside of their bodies. Astral Projection: See Out-Of-Body (OBE). Atmospheric Apparition: Not actually a ghost or spirit, but instead a "visual imprint" of people and events that was left behind in the environment that continues to replay. Aura: A field of energy believed by some to surround living creatures. Automatic Writing: A type of communication with ghosts or spirits where they take control over the writer's hand and write out a message. Automatism: An unconscious or spontaneous muscular movement caused by ghosts or the spirits. Automatic Writing is one form of Automatism. Banshee: Omen spirits of Scotland and Ireland. Channeling: A form of spirit communication where an unseen entity possesses a medium in a controlled environment to impart guidance, wisdom or future events. The channeled entity could be a deceased human being, an Angel, Demon, Elemental or other higher plain spirit. Charms: A spell or object possessing magic power. Clairaudience: A persons ability to hear spirits. Clairvoyance: Either an internal or external vision of present or future events, spirits, objects, places, and people. Cold Reading: A psychic reading given with no prior knowledge of the sitter. Collective Apparition: A ghost or spirit sighting simultaneously by more than one living person. Collect Unconscious: Form of analytical psychology developed by Carl lung. It is the collective memory of all the humanity's past and is held somewhere inside the unconscious mind. Crisis Apparition: Ghosts that appear to loved ones and close friends just before or soon after their death. Cross Correspondence: Information received from the spirit world. Crossroads: Point where two roads intersection. Said to be a focus point of supernatural energy. Death: The grim reaper perhaps the spirit that is behind your fate or guides your soul after death to where its going. Death Bed Apparitions: See Crisis Apparition. Demon: Fallen angels associated with evil. Direct Voice Phenomenon (DVP): The voice of a ghost or spirit being spoken to the sitters of a seance. The voice usually comes from some point near the medium, but not through the medium. Sometimes a spirit horn or trumpet is used. Direct Writing: When ghost or spirit's handwriting appears directly on a previously unmarked, unwritten surface. Drop-In Communicator: A ghost, spirit or entity that makes its presence known at a seance. Dowsing: The paranormal detection of underground water or mineral deposits ( or lost persons and objects) using a divining rod or pendulum. Dybbuk: A Jewish legend. The restless soul of a deceased human being that enters the body of a living person and takes possession. Earth Lights: Luminous phenomena typically shaped in ball form or irregular patches of light appearing randomly and defying explanation. Ectoplasm: Ectoplasm can be either a solid, liquid or vaporous substance produced by ghosts or spirits, It is usually a milky white color and has an ozone smell. Some forms of ectoplasm are known to move in lifelike patterns. Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP): EVP is the attempt to capture a ghost or spirits voice on audio recording tapes. Typically there is no voice heard to the people present in the recording but after reviewing the tapes there are strange voices recorded. Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) Detectors: Handheld scientific instruments that can pick up electronic and magnetic fields over different frequencies. They can read changes and distortions in the normal electro-magnetic fields. Elemental Spirit: A spirit associated with one of the classical four elements (fire, earth, air and water). Energy Vortex: see Ectoplasm. Extrasensory Perception (ESP): The acquisition of information by means beyond the five human senses. Exorcism: A religious rite used to cast out a ghost, spirit or entity from a living persons body or a particular location. Exorcist: A religious "holy man" who conducts an exorcism. Fairy: Small, human-like mythical being. May be benevolent or malevolent. False Awakening: An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming. Family Apparitions: Ghosts that haunt one particular family. Their appearance usally means that someone within the family is about to die. Focal Person: Person who is at the center of poltergeist activity. Ghost: The visual appearance of a spirit or soul of a deceased being, human or animal. The disembodied soul or lifeforce. Ghost Catcher: A wind chime like device that makes noise as a ghost or spirit passes by it. Ghost Hunt: An attempt made by the living to find and see a ghost or spirit. Ghost Hunter: A living individual who searches out and sometime finds and identifies ghosts and spirits. Ghost Investigation: A scientific endeavor, in a controlled environment, set up to communicate, record, and capture visual evidence of the existence of ghosts. Ghost Lights: See Earth Lights. Ghostbuster: A living person who can remove an unwanted ghost, spirit, entity or poltergeist activity from a particular location. Ghoul: Evil spirit or monster that robs graves and feeds off of the flesh of the dead. Gray Lady: The ghost of a woman who has died at the hands of a lover or waits for the return of a loved one. Guardian Angel: An angel believed to protect the individual. Halloween: All Hallows Eve, is the night of October 31 st when the spirit and nor- mal world allegedly become one. Hallucination: A false and distorted perception of reality. Haunt: A place where a ghost or ghosts frequently return. Haunting: The continuous manifestation of inexplicable phenomena associated with the presence of ghosts or spirits attached to a particular location. Haunted Objects: Jewelry, furniture, clothing, etc, that seem to be haunted by a past owner or have been cursed. Hypnotism: An induced trance or sleep state. Ley Lines: Invisible lines that run between sacred objects or locations. Levitation: The paranormal raising or suspension of an object or person. Lucid Dreams: A dream where the dreamer does not know that they are dreaming. Luminous Phenomena: The experience of strange lights or glows, often around objects or people. Magnetometer: A technical device used to study the strength, direction and fluctuation or magnetic fields. Marian Apparition: The appearance of the Virgin Mary. Materialization: The manifestation of physical objects, animals or people. Medium: A person with a gift to communicate with ghosts and spirits on behave of the living. Modern Apparitions: "New" Ghosts of deceased individuals. They appear in fashion from the current time. Near-Death Experience (NDE): A phenomenon in which a person clinically dies or comes very close to death only to be revived and then can recall in great detail stories of spiritual worlds and other supernatural events. Necromancer: A person usually considered a wizard or sorcerer, who can raise the dead and command the spirits to obtain information about the future. Necromancy: A form of prophecy preformed by a necromancer. Omen: A foretelling of a future event. Oracle: A seer who can communicate with ghosts, spirits and Gods to obtain information. Orb: A mass of energy in the shape of a ball, there are several classifications depending on size, ghostly appritions are usally always associated with an orb and are present. Ouija Board: A board with letters and numbers used by people who are attempting to communicate with ghosts or spirits. Out-Of-Body (OBE): Also called Astral Projection. The phenomenon in which a living person's spirit can exit their body, travel the earth and other spiritual worlds and then return back to their bodies. Paranormal: Beyond the normal. Parapsychology: The scientific study of unusual events associated with the human experience and PSI subjects. Percipient: A living person who sees a ghost, spirit or paranormal event. Phantom Animals: Ghosts of deceased animals. Phantom Hitchhiker or Traveler: A ghost or spirit that haunts a particular stretch of road or route. Phantom Hitchhikers ask for rides only to suddenly disappear when they reach their destination. Photographic Apparitions: Ghosts and spirits that you can't see, but appear in photographs after they are developed. Planchette: A pointer used with a Ouija Board to communicate with ghosts, spirits or higher plane entities. Poltergeist: "Noisy Ghost." Poltergeists are invisible masses of spirit energy that may or may not be connected to a living human Agent. Some of the most common poltergeists activities include loud unexplained noise, levitations, the moving of objects, and electrical problems. Possession: When a persons mind and body are taken over by ghosts, spirits or other supernatural entities such as demons. Precognition: The paranormal awareness of future events. PSI: A general term used to denote the unknown factors responsible for a variety of paranormal phenomena. Psychic: Popular term used to denote a person who regularly uses, or who appears to be especially gifted with, psi abilities. Psychic echo: When sounds from the past have mysteriously recorded themselves into the natural environment. Psychokinesis (PK): Mind Movement. Psychokinesis (PK) is the apparent ability to influence the environment by intention alone. Purgatory: The place where the souls of those who have died must go to be cleansed of all their sin before they can be admitted to Heaven. Radio Voice Phenomenon (RVP): The voice of a ghost or spirit communicating through a regular radio. Reciprocal Apparition: An experience where both the agent and the ghost or spirit see and react to each other. Recurring Apparitions: Ghosts or spirits that appear in regular cycles, usually once a year, on the anniversary of their dead for example. Reincarnation: The belief that a soul can be reborn into a new body after death. Repressed Psychokinetic Energy: A theoretical psychic force unconsciously produced by an individual while undergoing a physical or mental trauma. Retrocognition: Paranormal knowledge of past events. Scrying: A type of prophecy where an individual can see future events by staring into a shiny or reflective surface, such as a mirror or crystal ball. Seance: The gathering of a group of individuals for the purpose of communicating for the ghost of the dead. Sensitive: Someone who is aware or can detect paranormal events beyond the range of their five human senses. Screaming Skulls: Human skulls that protest with poltergeist activity when their final wishes are not fulfilled. Shaman: A witch doctor or medicine man who communicates with spirits while in a trance and who has the power of healing. Sixth sense: Popular term for ESP. Sleep Paralysis: A frightening state of seeming to being awake but unable to move. Soul: The spiritual life force or essence, carrying an individual's personality and consciousness of all actions. Spectre: A ghost or apparition. Spirit: Often used to define the soul of a person, but it can also be used to represent places such as sacred lakes or objects, shrines, and elemental entities. Spirit Detection: The reading made by scientific equipment (EMF Detectors, Temperature changes, etc.) when a ghost or spirit is present. Spirit Photography: Photographs of figures or faces, believed by some to be those of deceased persons. Spirit Profile: Researching the background and history of the ghost or spirit, then determining it's consistent patterns as a result of the findings. Spiritualism: Belief systems that ghosts and spirits can and do communicate with the living. Spook Lights: See Earth Lights. Stigmata: Unexplained markings on a person's body that correspond to the wounds of Christ. Super-ESP: A more powerful form of telepathy that allow certain individuals to pick up information about a deceased person from other living people. Supernatural: Something that exists of occurs through some means other than any know force in nature or science. Time-Slips: Moments where the past and present collide at one point. Telepathy: Mind-to-mind communication. Telephone Calls From The Dead: When a person receives a telephone call from someone who is dead. The person may or may not know that the caller is deceased. Teleportation: Paranormal transportation of an object from one location to another, even throgh solid objects. Transportation Apparitions: The appearance of ghostly cars, trucks, ships, bicycles, carriages, trains, airplanes and anything else that carry people. They haunt their old routes. Vampire: A supernatural creature (undead) that can only come out at night and lives by drinking the blood of the living. There are pyschic vampires as well. Vortex: A opening or doorway between our world and the spirit world. Wild Hunt: A group of ghost horsemen or packs of ghostly dogs see at night. Witch: A women with supernatural powers. Wraith: A ghost that comes back to avenge its own death. Considered an omen spirit. Types of Hauntings by Dave Juliano There are basically three types of hauntings. The first type of haunting is exactly like a video playback of a historic or tragic event. This is called a residual haunting. The event unfolds in front of you and there is no interaction between you and the ghosts. They seem to not notice you and go through the motions of the event that occurred in the past. This event has been imprinted on the area or building and is replayed back later when conditions are right. The ghosts that you see in this type are not earthbound spirits, they are just visual play backs. Since everything is made up of energy, the theory is that some of the energy from an event can be recorded by certain materials and played back when the atmosphere triggers it. Remember that video and audio tape is just oxidized (rust) film that enables the images and sounds to "stick" to it. This type may be frightening when you see it, but you are in no danger so enjoy the experience. The second type of haunting is an interactive spirit that manifests in many ways. You may see a full bodied or partial bodied apparition. More frequently than that, you may here voices, music, footsteps, etc. You may also smell odors which sources cannot be found (i.e. pipe tobacco when no one smokes). You may also see orbs, mists and other light effects. You may feel touches, cold spots, and other light physical contact. This ghost is the spirit of a deceased human being. They may be stuck here (earthbound) for reasons such as tragic sudden death, fear of moving on, guilt or unfinished business. They also could be here visiting loved ones or to warn or pass along a message. These human spirits are the same as they were in life, so they may be good or bad, but not really evil. Think of all the people you know, probably a bit of good and bad, some worse than others. This type can cause some scary situations but you must think about the situation they are in, you don't see them but they see you. They will try to get your attention any way they can. Many times this is the terrifying event people will write to me about like the lights going on and off, items moving, noises, etc. For the most part these are just attention getters and nothing more. There are a few more mischievous human spirits that will do these things to bother you and scare you on purpose. They may just be a prankster or maybe they want you to leave the old home or not to change something in the home. They have all the same motivations you and I would have. These human spirits account for a majority of the hauntings we encounter and are relatively harmless. Yes, there are extreme cases and sometimes they can cause dangerous situations, but this is not the norm and is rare. The third type of ghost you may encounter is not a rare one, but is rare that they interact with the living. They are non human spirits, commonly known as demons and devils. They are mentioned in the bible numerous places in both the old and new testaments. People like Ed and Lorraine Warren have been dealing with this type of spirit for years. This type is dangerous and can cause you harm. I believe that if there is good, there must be a counter balance, evil. These non human spirits often disguise themselves and friendly and helpful human spirits. They often appear in cases dealing with Ouija boards, black magic and satanic worship. This is why I recommend not trying to contact spirits and doing ghost hunts without some understanding of what's out there. It's also why I recommend you go with or learn from experienced people before hand. That way you can ghost hunt with relative safety from these entities. In order to help a digital camera adjust the white balance, on some cameras a "hot mirror" is placed on top of the CCD array to block IR light and ease the compensation these cameras make. Not all cameras will have this "Hot Mirror." When using this device for the photography of anomalous activity, you want a camera that does not have the "Hot Mirror" installed on the CCD array. The Toshiba brand digital cameras do not have the "Hot Mirror" installed. If you are uncertain if your digital camera has the "hot mirror" there is a simple test you can conduct. Turn your Digital Camera on as if you are going to take a picture. Point a remote control for a TV or VCR at the lens of the camera. When you press the button if you can see the blinding white light from the remote your camera does not have the "Hot Mirror" on the CCD array and is sensitive to IR light. "Orbs" are infrared in nature, and most digital cameras are designed to capture IR light. It is only logical to use a device designed to capture IR light for anomalies that are IR in nature. This is simply using the right tool for the job. Considering all CCD arrays are IR sensitive Sony has used them in ALL of their Night Shot products. A Sony "Night Shot" camera, both analog and digital are based on Digital Camera technology.	Poltergeist
Isolation, quarantine, or secrecy - from Persian/Urdu?	Paranormal Definitions by Long Island Paranormal Investigators - Ghost Haunted Demonic Investigation Ghost Hunter New York NY Paranormal Terms And Definitions There are many terms used to describe the paranormal and paranormal investigations. Some of the phrases and abbreviations can be very confusing to someone unfamiliar with ghosts and the paranormal. This list is provided by Long Island Paranormal Investigators to help you understand some of the more common terms, phrases, and acronyms commonly used to describe ghosts, spirits and paranormal activity. If there is a term or phrase you think we should add to this list please contact us. APPARITIONS: The supernatural appearance of a deceased person or animal. It is often too distant to be in the normal range of a persons view and is uncommon to see an appearance. A full bodied apparition shows the entire body of an animal or person. A partial bodied apparition are shown more often but only show part of a body such as; torso or arms. They often appear as white (or various shades of white/gray) or solid black. Usually apparitions can appear to hover in the air. It is rare that apparitions show their legs or feet. AUTOMATIC WRITING: The ability to write intelligible messages without conscious control of what is being written. Often used in conjunction with trying to channel a spirit or entity into yourself. This can be a very dangerous method! As with all channeling methods (Ouija boards, crystals, etc.) you are opening a door way and have no control over who or what may come through, and no way to be sure to make it leave and "close the door". COLD SPOT: A small, defined area of intense cold (at least 10 degrees colder than the surrounding area) that can not readily be explained by other natural or mechanical causes (e.g. air conditioning, a drafty window, ice or snow). In paranormal research the prevailing theory is that when an entity is trying to manifest itself it draws on many sources of energy. One of those sources is the heat energy in the air. As the entity draws the heat out of the air the area in that specific immediate location becomes unusually cold. See our article on Paranormal Temperature Theory. CLAIRAUDIENCE: The ability to hear things not audible within normal hearing ranges. This is an example of Extra sensory perception. (ESP) It includes the audible perception of ghosts, spirits, and those who are on the astral realm. Clairaudience is essentially the ability of hearing the paranormal as opposed to seeing it. DEBUNK (DEBUNKING EVIDENCE or PARANORMAL ACTIVITY): Reported paranormal evidence or paranormal activity is said to be "debunked" when a simple, logical and non-paranormal explanation can account for the reported event(s). Even if the activity is genuinely paranormal, if a simple and reasonable explanation can also be applied, because of this ambiguity a prudent paranormal investigator has to side with the debunking explanation until further evidence of paranormal activity can be obtained. Care has to be used since it is easy to be skeptical of any report or evidence. Usually if the non-paranormal explanation is complex or requires many assumptions it may be over analyzing the situation. See our article on Occam's Razor and the Paranormal Investigator . DEMON: According to the Catholic faith demons are angels that were cast out of Heaven by G-d during the rebellion against G-d lead by Lucifer. There are several levels or hierarchies of demons, each with different powers. Other faiths may have different concepts of what demons are. DEMONIC HAUNTING: A haunting by a nonhuman entity. Can be very dramatic, even violent. Demonic hauntings often start out with subtle and relatively simple paranormal activity, then quickly increase to stronger activity. Most often effects people or families that are already under great personal stress from conditions such as alcohol or drug use, psychological or emotional problems, family or marital problems, etc. It is believed the nonhuman entity takes advantage of people in such weaken psychological and emotional condition. Persons who believe they and/or their families are the subject of a demonic haunting should immediately seek both professional paranormal assistance and counseling help. Click Here to read more about demonic hauntings. DEMONOLOGIST: A person who actively pursues demons and other nonhuman entitles both for study and to help people rid them from their lives. Usually demonologists are very religious people as they believe strongly that only faith has the power to combat a demon. They are also usually schooled and or experienced in the field of psychology and mental health. IMPORTANT: Active pursuit of demons and demonology is not something to be tried for fun or kicks. Serious injury - both physical and mental - can occur! Please read out article on Demonology 101 . DOWSING (aka DIVINING): The ability to use a pair of rods (often metal) held in the hands to locate objects, most commonly water. A Y-shaped tree branch can also be used fro finding water. In the paranormal investigation field Dowsing Rods are sometimes used to locate energy sources that could be paranormal in nature. ECHOLALIA: A professional clinical word that means to repeat back what you hear. As applied to the paranormal field it means when a ghost or spirit repeats back something you have just said in order to show they are there and are trying to communicate with you. The words repeated back could be EVP questions or just casual conversation. It is not clear why an entity might repeat back your words rather than respond on their own. Perhaps it is easier/simply for an entity to repeat what it has heard rather than form new words. ECTOPLASM: The substance left behind when an entity tries to manifest itself. Although still largely theoretical (none has yet been collected for chemical analysis) it has been photographed on many occasions. Ectoplasm often appears in photographs as a thick white mist or smoke in nearly straight lines. Vapor and humidity is often mistaken for ectoplasm. It is rarely seen with the naked eye. It can, however, be felt as a dense area of cobweb-like strands. EMF - Electro Magnetic Field: In it's natural form it is the natural electric field (sometimes thought of an an aurora) that is generated by all living things and many inanimate objects such as metals and certain minerals. EMF is also generated by man-made electric sources such as lights, radios and wires. In paranormal investigations the theory is that entities are largely composed of energy which may be electrically based. By trying to detect EMF it may be possible to locate an otherwise unseen entity . The stronger the EMF detected the potential greater the paranormal phenomena. See our article on EMF Theory . EMPATHS - EMPATHIC ABILITIES: Some people are sensitive to the typically stronger feelings a paranormal entity gives off. They may also be able to see people and events that have occurred years in the past at a given locations. While feelings are hard to confirm or deny, when recorded along with other paranormal evidence that can be documented, empathic ability can be a helpful investigation tool. ENTITY: A generic all-encompassing term used to describe a paranormal object/being that is presumed to be a ghost or spirit. Since no one is yet 100% sure what paranormal objects really are the term "entity" is used as a pronoun to include any and all possible things such as ghosts , spirits, poltergeists , non-human spirits etc. EVP - Electronic Voice Phenomena: The hearing of unexplainable voices during the playback of a recording made on a electronic recoding device. The voices can not be readily identified as persons speaking or events (mechanical sounds, background noise etc) that took place while the record was being performed. Can be encountered on both tape and digital recorders. Sometimes also found on video recorders (not film however). See our articles on EVP theory and classification . FEAR CAGE: A term used to describe a confined area such as a walk in closet, hallway or basement with very high EMF readings. The combination of being close and confined with in an area of strong EMF often brings out extremely great feelings of uneasiness, anxiety, paranoia and/or uncontrollable fear. When this occurs the best thing is to quickly and calmly leave the area and go to a more open area with lower EMF. GHOST: A spirit or shade of a dead person believed to haunt people or previous habitats/locations. The spirit remains of a living being, strongly attached to the living realm by some form of emotional force. Often ghosts do not realize that they are in fact dead. Others live out the routine of the day they died, and continue this in a cycle. Other ghosts interact with everyday life of the living. HALF REAL OBJECTIVE: When you perceive nothing subjectively but obtain objective documentation. HALF REAL SUBJECTIVE: When you subjectively perceive something that was not documented via objective means. IMPRINT (IMPRINTING): It is theorized that events and strong feelings/emotions can leave a copy or record of themselves on places (tunnels, rooms, fields etc) and objects (furniture, buildings, personal affects etc). Most notably this occurs when a sudden and violent death occurs such as a powerful accident, a murder or other crime, a war or battle area etc. The energy that is left can result in a non-intelligent haunting, usually a residual haunting . In these cases people often report seeing and hearing the same thing over and over like a tape playing, rewinding and playing again. Sometimes the event seems to be recorded on the specific location rather than a building, room or object. There have been cases reported where an imprint haunting has occurred in a building, the building is later totally demolished and a new one built (or the area just left vacant) but the haunting still continues. In the situation of imprinting on an object the haunting can follow the object through several owners. This is often reported with items purchased at a yard sale or flea market. IR (INFRARED): Infrared light is light from the lower end (long wave length/low frequency) of the electromagnetic spectrum (between the visible light spectrum and microwaves). IR light is not visible to the naked human eye without the use of special equipment. IR is not to be confused with thermal imaging. While IR and thermal energy are both on the short end of the electromagnetic spectrum they are not the same thing. There is evidence that ghosts/spirits and other paranormal entities may be more susceptible to being viewed (including video and image photography) using the IR light spectrum. IR sensors are also often used for measuring temperature and detecting movement. Click here to read our article about using alternate light spectrums for paranormal investigations. KINETIC ENERGY: Energy needed to force an object at rest into motion. Objects in motion have kinetic energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. As the kinetic energy diminishes it changes into potential energy. LEY LINES (aka LEY): The theoretical lines that can be drawn to connect ancient (and some modern) sites across a country, even around the world. The term "Ley Line" ("Ley" being a Saxon word meaning meadow or cleared strip of ground) was first coined by Alfred Watkins in the early 1920's. He noticed that many ancient and prehistoric structures (e.g. mounds, stone circles, temples, river crossings, ceremonial hilltops, etc.) could be connected by straight lines. Often these lines exactly fit compass directions, and sometimes at certain times of the year match up with star alignments. He also noticed that many of these lines intersect and where they intersect are significant other structures such as churches, temples, and burial grounds. Some people believe Ley Lines also follow the natural magnetic forces of the Earth and therefore are very powerful for spiritual and mystic activity. Ley lines are also known as corpse ways, church paths, church lines, and coffin lines. "LIGHTS OUT" INVESTIGATION: A paranormal investigation, usually conducted indoors and at night, where all the light sources and other electronic devices in the building have been turned off. The equipment used for paranormal investigations is typically more sensitive at night and in the dark. Having lights off reduces the possibility of false or misleading evidence caused by reflections and glares. LIVING GHOST: The manifestation of a ghost or entity , usually a living close family member or friend, that appears a long distance (sometimes hundreds or event thousands of miles away!). This event usually coincides when the other person (the one manifesting) is facing an immediate great stress or life-threatening danger. Examples include a aircraft pilot or crew flying through a storm, a soldier on the battle field, an automobile driver or passenger during a sever accident, etc. Some believe this is related to astral projection and out-of-the-body experiences. This phenomena is related to the moment of mortality manifestation. LOST TIME: With paranormal ghost/spirit activity it is possible that a small concentrated area of high paranormal activity may briefly alter the physical environment (see Warp ) such that time slows down or stops altogether. For example, a person in such an effected area may be in the area for 20 minutes as measured by a clock outside the area. But the person's watch only shows them in the area for 15 minutes. What happened to the 5 minutes difference? This phenomena is similar to what sometimes in reported UFO cases. MANIFEST or MANIFESTATION: The act of an entity trying to make it self appear in our world. Entities are believed to exist mainly as energy with no physical form. When an entity is trying to make itself appear or make it's presence known in our world it is said to be manifesting itself; trying to make itself into some form of physical state. MIST: An energy field that looks like a cloud or haze but has a paranormal ectoplasm substance. There may or may not be any particular shape, color (typically white or light colored), thickness, or consistency. MOMENT OF MORTALITY: A ghostly manifestation that occurs when someone is at the exact moment of their death. A ghost, spirit or other apparition appears to a close friend or family member. Can happen over great distances (hundreds, even thousands, of miles away). This phenomena is similar to the living ghost and Death Bed Visions phenomena. NECROMANCY (NECROMANCE): The attempt to conjure, summon or raise the dead in order to learn secrets and insights from the spirits. Usually intended to gain personal advantage or fortune over others. The person who is trying to perform the necromancy process is called a Necromancer. This deals heavily into the unsavory realm of magic, spells, and dark/forbidden witchcraft rituals. Can also be attempted with Tarot cards and Ouija boards. Regardless of the process used, necromancy is highly dangerous from the point of view that you are opening a doorway and have no idea what thing may come through and into your life! NIGHT SHOT: A setting common on hand held video cameras. Originally it was a term used to describe the night vision (total darkness) recording capability of the Sony Handicam series of camcorders. This term has since become synonymous with meaning any night vision/total darkness video camera or recording device regardless of the manufacturer. The night shot feature uses a built-in IR (infra red) illumination source. An external IR illuminator can often be attached for additional viewing range. Click Here to read our discussion of using alternate light spectrums for paranormal investigations. NONHUMAN or INHUMAN SPIRIT: An entity (ghost or spirit) that is not the result of a human person that once lived on Earth. This category also includes angels, demons, devils etc. It is not known exactly where these kinds of entities come from but it is reasonably well accepted by the paranormal community these spirits are not from people who had lived on Earth and have since died. Encounters with non-human spirits is rare and usually dramatic. Extra care should always be used if dealing with a potential inhuman spirit! ORB: Orbs appear to be a form of energy of an unknown origin. An orb can take different shapes. They can also be seen by the naked eye, but most of the time you only get orb sightings in photographs, and on video tape (VHS). They seem to defy gravity and change directions quickly. They seem to also twinkle. The presence of people make them react. They appear both indoors and outdoors. False orbs tend to be transparent and pale white, or blue. Real genuine orbs tend to appear dense or brighter on film. To increase the probability of you getting a photograph of a genuine orb, it is good to take the photograph at the same time as other unusual phenomenon are experienced, such as sharp changes in temperature, and increases in electromagnetic energy. In a genuine orb there is a nucleus. It has concentric circles or bands within. It can be active in visible realm, but more active in infrared. They appear abundantly in supposed haunted locations. Drops of rain, specks of dust, insects, reflections, as well as many other things can be mistaken for orbs. Read our discussion of False Evidence . PARANORMAL: Events above the normal or everyday experiences. Events that can not be readily explained by known conventional reasons and/or commonly accepted science. Not to be confused with Supernatural that implies a deity explanation. POLTERGEIST: Term is German for "noisy ghost". It can be dependant on a certain individual or group of individuals. They usual make the biggest impact on physical objects. They tend to be temporary. In some instances a poltergeist can appear as the psychic extension of a person, usually most common in adolescent females. Tend to be mischievous and like to play pranks. More recently developed theories move away from ghost activity to the realm of spontaneous and unconscious (unintended) telekinesis . RESIDUAL HAUNTING: Non conscious and unintelligent (no thought or purposely actions), usually appear as person but can sometimes be a group of people, and animal or any non living thing. An example is the famous "Flying Dutchman" legend. There are no interactions with observers. They stay in same location replaying the same event over and over usually on some rhythmic cycle or pattern (though what the pattern is can be hard to determine). Sometimes causing electrical environment interference to occur. Often compared to a video recording that automatically plays itself over and over. SHADOWS: (Shadow Beings, Shadow Entities) Shadows refer to the possible paranormal apparition which appears as a dark human-form manifestation. We say "possible" paranormal apparition since the true nature of this type of paranormal event is still unknown and the subject of much research. Click Here for more information about shadows. STREAK: An unusual line of light, often comet-like, that appears on photographs taken in potential paranormal activity areas. Happens with both 35mm film and digital cameras . Occasionally seen on video cameras and DVR units as well. Can often be the result of a shaky camera especially when using a digital camera. SUPERNATURAL: Events or happenings generally attributed to the will of a deity. Usually includes the concept of angels, demons/devils, and other G-d-like creatures. TELEKINESIS: (Telekinetic power) The ability to manipulate physical objects using the bodyï¿½s static electrical charges. Chi is the Asian term for telekinesis. Psychic extension of the person transported through the electrical field surrounding the individual. More commonly known as a persons' ability to move object with just their mind and thoughts. TOUCHED: The act of experiencing physical contact from a ghost , spirit or other paranormal entity . Can be as simple as a tug in your shirt or pressure on a part of your body to scratches, burns or being pushed/shoved. However, serious physical injury is very rare. ULTRAVIOLET (UV): Ultraviolet light is light from the upper end (long wave length/low frequency) of the electromagnetic spectrum. As with Infrared light , UV light is normally not visible to the naked human eye without the use of special viewing or photography equipment. Some paranormal investigators have experimented with using UV light to take video of ghosts and other paranormal entities . The results have been indeterminate. Other paranormal investigators have claimed UV light is an effective barrier to block demonic entities . Click here to read our article about using alternate light spectrums for paranormal investigations. VORTEX - Vortices, Vortexes: A concentrated yet brief area of high electromagnetic energy often found in photographs taken at paranormally active locations. The often appear as sold (opaque) white or silver tubes, rods, or elongated ovals. They can also appear to be braided like a rope or chain (care has to be take to ensure it is not a rope, chain, camera strap etc). A vortex is not an entity . However, some paranormal researchers believe a vortex is a momentary doorway or portal to another realm that allows entities and other paranormal phenomena to come into our world. Some researchers also believe vortexes are linked to the Earth's own electromagnetic field which at least in part help determine when these portals open/close. It is also believed that some locations are more prone to having active vortices due to the alignment of the Earth's magnetic field and local geological structure. WARP: Two possible meanings: Areas where conventional laws of physics can break down, linear time may not always apply. They can be locations infested with entities, imprints, and barrage of other paranormal activities. They may be unpredictable areas that can twist perceptions beyond the understanding of logic. Areas of paranormal activity so intense that time itself changes. Time may speed up, slow down ( Lost Time ) or briefly stop altogether. The area effected is very small and of short duration. WHITE NOISE: White noise is the random non-descript static sound produced by various electronic devices. The sound covers and combines all wavelengths and frequencies. In this way it is like the color white which is really a combination of all colors. Hence the name white noise ï¿½ the combination of all sounds. Examples of common white noise sources are the radio or television static when set to an empty channel, the hum of an electric fan motor and the babbling sound of a fast moving stream or brook. Click here for our article that discuss using white noise for paranormal investigations. WHOLE REAL: When you are able to document an experience both objectively and subjectively. There are three different types of whole real: Type I: When the subjective and the objective appear at the same time. Type II: When the subjective and the objective appear at different times. Type III: A combination of types I and II when the subjective and objective match but additional information is documented on either side. long island new york ny paranormal ghost spirit investigation demonic evp haunting ghost haunted investigators group paranormal This site is Copyright © Long Island Paranormal Investigators 2003-2017, All Rights Reserved	i don't know
Beer brewed for storing/keeping - from German?	German Beer Primer for Beginners Brewing Basics The most important raw material for making any alcoholic beverage, including beer, is yeast, a single-cell organism that is responsible for all fermentations. The other key ingredients are grain (usually barley; often wheat; rarely rye, emmer, or dinkel) and water (beer is about 90% water) as well as flavorings nowadays almost exclusively hops, the bitter-aromatic female flower (below) of a creeping vine related to canabis. Before the discovery of hops for beer-making in the late eigth century A.D., brewers used just about any flavorings in their brews, including herbs, leaves, rushes, bark, or even oxen gall. Though man has been brewing for millennia, strangely, yeast (below, right) was the very last beer ingredient to be recognized for the vital function it performs. The workings of yeast were discovered only in the 19th century, notably by the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur and the Danish botanist Emil Christian Hansen. Until that time, most brewers considered yeast not the agent of fermentation, but its waste product. Though yeast is probably the single most importantbeer ingredient, brewers had simply failed to grasp that, without it, there would be no beeror wine and distilled spirits, for that matter. Technically, fermentation is the conversion by yeast of sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. Sugar is a type of carbohydrate, which yeast "eats" (or "metabolises"). As a "metabolic byproduct," yeast then releases alcohol and carbon dioxide into the brew. The former, of course, gives our fermented beverage its kick, while the latter, if trapped under pressure, gives it its effervescence. Malting The process of beer-making is much more intricate than that of wine-making, yet most anthropologists are convinced that beer-making came before wine-making, maybe even before bread-making. While wine is simply fermented grape juice, beer is a fermented extract made from grain in a lengthy process. Grape juice, like all fruit juices, already contains natural sugars, a simple carbohydrate, so all you need to do when making wine is press out the juce and add yeast. Beer-making, on the other hand, is a much more complicated because grain does not contain suagars, but starches. These are complex, unfermentable carbohydrates. These becomes suagrs only after they have undergone a process called enzymatic conversion. Fortunately, all grain kernels contain enzymes (types of natural proteins), that are capable of converting starches into fermentable sugars. This conversion, however, can take place only in a moist, warm environment of roughly 145 to 165°F or 63 to 74°Cthe same conditions the kernel would you would encouinter in the soil on a warm spring day. The maltster, therefore, purposefully imitates these "field" conditions in the malting plant, as does the brewer in the mash tun. The maltster first steeps the grain in water, imitating the melting snow that is needed to hydrate the kernel. The moist grain is then allowed to germinate in a warm chamber until the kernel begins to sprout a new shoot. If germination were left unchecked, this shoot, called an endosperm, would consume all the sugars converted earlier by enzymes. To save these surgars for the yeast instead, the maltster kiln-dries the grain, killing the sprout. At this stage, the grain is called brewers malt. The longer and hotter the grain is dried the darker and more flavorful it getsfrom caramel, to chocolate to roasted. The darker the malt, the darker and more aromatic will be the beer made from it. Nowadays, most most beers, including the very dark ones, are made from a base of at least 50% pale malt. The brewer then adds slightly to severaly toasted or even roasted malts to achieve the desired beer and flavor required by the style defintion. Mashing The brewer mills and remoistens the malt with warm water in the mash tun. This reactivates the enzymes and completes the starch-to-sugar conversion. (The ancient Mideastern and Germanic brewers, incidentally, had figured out this same process by trial and error. When they half-baked their moist loaves of bread, made from coarsely ground grains, the kernels' enzymes became active in the bake ovens of antiquity as they now do in modern malting chambers and mash tuns.) There are two traditional ways of mashing malt, either by just steeping grain in hot (but not boiling) water or by first steeping and then boiling the mash. The former is called infusion mashing, the latter, decoction mashing. British ale brewers never use decoction mashing, while German lager brewers have always used it until very recently, that is. Decoction, like enzymatic conversion, can break down starches into sugarsa useful technique especially for enzyme-poor grains. Modern brewing grains, however, are especially bread for high enzymatic strength. Most German breweries, therefore, now use just infusion mashing. Because boiling the mash is also very energy-intensive, infusion-mashing has the added advantage of cost savings and energy conservation. After the grain is mashed, either by infusion or decoction, the brewer then strains off the sugary liquid, much the way we make filtered coffee. It is no accident that we "brew" both coffee and beer. The process of washing the sugars out of the grain bed is called "lautering." The brewer calls the extract that results "wort." The wort is collected in the brew kettle. Boiling Before the wort can be fermented into beer, however, it must be boiled for at least an hour to drive off unpleasant volatile substances leached out of the grain husks. Boiling also coagulates and precipitates any gummy grain residues that may have found their way into the brew. To balance the sweetness of the wort with some bittering, the brewer adds hops at the boiling stage, much like a cook might add a flavorful bone to a boiling soup. There are hundreds of hop varieties. Hops grows all over the world, but there are only a few places where hops has evolved to deliver superior and delicate flavors: Most noteably among them are Germany, England, the Czech Republic, and the United States. Each of these growing regions produces hops with particular flavors. The United States is known for very zesty, pungent, aggressive hop varieties. Britain is more known for its floral varieties. The Czech Republic produces the most aromatic hops, while Germany produces varieties that seem to combine the best traits of all of the other hops. They are at once citrusy, floral, and aromatic. The brewer refers to the typically "German" hop flavor as "noble." Fermenting After the boil, the wort is cooled and drained into a temperature-controlled fermentation vat, where it is finally introduced to a thick slurry of active yeast. It takes about a quart (one liter) of yeast slurry to ferment 15 U.S. gallons (about 50 liters) of beer which is the equivalent of one standard keg. There are literally hundreds of yeast varieties in the environment, but only two of them are suitable for brewing beer. Brewers call one "top-fermenting" yeast (technically known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which means "beer yeast"), and the other "bottom-fermenting" yeast (technically known as Saccharomyces uvarum, which means "clump-like yeast"). Brewers call all other strains "wild" yeast. Top-fermenting yeast is so named because it rises to the top of the beer and forms a rocky layer during fermentation. Bottom-fermenting yeast, on the other hand, sinks to the bottom of the beer and forms a thick slurry near the end of fermentation. Yeast, and yeast alone, is responsible for the difference between ales and lagers. All top-fermenting strains make ales, all bottom-fermenting strains make lagers. There are many differences between ale and lager yeasts, but their working temperatures and their flavor-full fermentation by-products are of greatest importance for beer-making. First, ale and lagers yeasts prefer to work at different temperatures. Ale yeasts produce the best beer flavor at an ambient temperature of 59 to 77°F (15 to 25°C). This allows brewers to make beer year-round in most climates and it explains why ales have been the standard brew almost everywhere throughout human history, before the invention of refrigeration in the late 19th century. Lager yeasts, on the other hand, produce the best beer flavor at a low ambient temperature of 41 to 50°F (5 to 10°C). Before refrigeration, lager yeasts, therefore, were unsuitable for beer-making in much of the earth's temperate zone for most of the year. Second, ale and lager yeast impart different trace elements to the fermenting beer, in additional, of course, to alcohol and carbon dioxide. As a general rule, ale yeasts produce more flavorful trace elements, and more of them, than do lager yeasts. As a result, ales tend to taste fruitier and more complex than lagers. Conversely, lagers tend to taste cleaner and crisper than ales. Conditioning Fermentation is usually finished within a few days to a week, after which the yeast-turbid, almost still, beer is allowed to mature in so-called conditioning tanks. Depending on beer type, the brew may mellow in the tank for one week to six months. It is during the conditioning stage that the tank is usually capped to build up carbonation produced by any remaining yeast buds finishing off any residual sugars in the brew. Ales usually mature within no more than two weeks at cellar temperature, while lagers take at least twice as long near the freezing point. The need for such long, cold storage is precisely the reason why bottom-fermented beers are called lagers. "Lagern" is the German word for to store, to warehouse. Packaging After conditioning, the ale or lager is ready for packaging into bottles, kegs, or cans. Most beers nowadays are filtered before packaging to remove any yeast cells left in suspension; but there are several beer styles, such as Weissbier (a German wheat-based ale) or Kellerbier (a German barley-based lager), that are usually sold unfiltered and that look yeast-turbid when poored into a glass. (Reinheitsgebot) De-Mystified German beer labels always carry the inscription "Gebraut nach dem deutschen Reinheitsgebot" or "Gebraut nach dem Bayerischen Reinheitsgebot von 1516" (brewed according to the German Purity Law or the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516). This "beer purity" law is one of the most remarkable and perhaps most misunderstood pieces of legislation. The original law was a ducal decree issued on April 23, 1516, by the Bavarian co-rulers Duke Wilhelm IV and Duke Ludwig X (below). It was introduced at a meeting of an assembly of the Estates of Bavaria, at Ingolstadt, some 60 miles north of Munich. Initially only in feudal Bavaria, but later in all of Germany, the Reinheitsgebot gave government the tools to regulate the ingredients, processes and quality of beer sold to the public (and to levy taxes on beer!). The Reinheitsgebot is the oldest, still valid food safety law in the world. The 1516 Reinheitsgebot simply stipulated that only barley, hops, and water may be used to make the brew. The existence of yeast had not yet been discovered. The intent of the law was to keep beer "pure" by feudal decree, that is, to keep cheap and often unhealthy ingredients such as rushes, roots, mushrooms, and animals products out of the people's drink. In medieval times, brewers often used such ingredients to raise their profits by lowering their standards. The word "Reinheit" (purity), however, did not appear anywhere in the original text. It only started to make its appearance in German legal texts around 1918. Until then, the law was usually referred to as the "surrogate prohibition." In modern times, the purity law is part of the German tax code. It states that, in bottom-fermented beers, that is, lagers, brewers may use only barley malt, hops, yeast and water. Specifically, this rule forbids the brewing in Germany of lagers containing spices (as do many Belgian beers), corn or rice (as do virtually all mass-produced industrial beers in the rest of the world), sugar (to be found in many Belgian and British beers), un-malted grains (required for many Belgian and British beer styles), as well as chemical additives and stabilizers. For ales, that is, for top-fermented beers, which hold about 10% of the German market, the Reinheitsgebot is somewhat more generous in terms of allowable ingredients, in part to accommodate an ancient and varied, mostly barley-based ale-brewing tradition in northern Germany, in part to accommodate the centuries-old, entirely wheat-based Weissbier (wheat beer) brewing tradition in Bavaria. German ales may contain next to barley malt, hops, yeast, and water "other" malted grains (including, of course, malted wheat for Weissbier), as well as various forms of sugar (derived cane or beet) and sugar-derived coloring agents but still no chemicals or other processed compounds. Curiously, this wording of the purity law almost inadvertently forbids the brewing of wheat-based lagers. This is so entirely for reasons of tradition, not logic. Though called the "purity" law, its regulations do not imply that beers made by other nations are "impure." Rather, the significance of the Reinheitsgebot lies in the fact that German beer is all natural! It may not contain any chemicals, preservatives, or artificial process enhancers (such as artificial enzymes or yeast nutrients) nor may it contain any cheap and flavorless sources of starch (such as rice and corn). This means, a beer made in Germany is always a wholesome and flavorful product. It is the art and craft of the brewer that turns the Reinheitsgebot's simple and restrictive list of ingredients into a cornucopia of beer styles, from blond to black, from light to heavy. Over the centuries, acceptance of the Reinheitsgebot spread gradually from Bavaria northwards to other German states. By the time Bismarck (right, at his desk in 1886) forged the Second German Empire in 1871, the Reinheitsgebot was in force in many of the kingdoms and principalities that formed the new union. By 1906, it became the official law in all of the realm of the German Kaiser, with the addition of yeast as a basic ingredient and malted wheat as an allowable component in top-fermented beers, such as Alt, Kölsch and Weissbier (Hefeweizen). With the formation of the Weimar Republic in 1919, the old Bavarian beer ingredients law, now renamed the Reinheitsgebot, became firmly anchored in the German beer tax law, in part, because the Free State of Bavaria, a large region in the south of Germany (bordering Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic), declared that it would not join the new Republic unless the Reinheitsgebot was enforced in the entire country! The Reinheitsgebot survived the upheavals of recent German history, remained on the books during the Third Reich, and is still part of the tax code of the current Federal Republic. Even brewers in Norway, Switzerland and Greece have since embraced the cannons of the German purity edict. However, all good things must come to an end. International trade and the global economy have finally after almost 500 years got the better of the Reinheitsgebot. To the dismay of German brewers, the Reinheitsgebot, with its narrow selection of ingredients, was struck down by the European Court in 1987 as a restraint of free trade. The restrictions it contained were held not permissible in the newly integrated European market. After centuries of ensuring beer quality, the Reinheitsgebot, therefore, fell victim to the triumph of form over substance. Since the ruling, it has been legal to import beers into Germany that are brewed with adjuncts (corn, rice, non-malted grains and sugar) and treated with chemicals for an artificial head and a longer shelf life. German brewers, however, still adhere fiercely to the Reinheitsgebot as a matter of pride and tradition. German beer labels and advertisements still proudly proclaim the purity of the local brew, and many a German imbiber would not think of letting anything but a "pure" beer pass his or her lips.	Lager
Long story - from Old Norse?	history Three Millennia of German Brewing Note, this panel is a work in progreess! Introduction Beerany beeris such a simple beverage: All you need is some malted grain, a good dose of water, a smidgen of flavorings, a bit of yeast, and, voila, you've got beer. It is the brewer's art, and a true art it is, that turns these simple materials into a sheer endless variety of divine gustatory pleasures. Beverages, like food, are always symbols of the culinary culture in which they emerged. The greatest drinks are pearls of civilization that have matured over centuries. When we think of Champagne, Cabernet Sauvignon or Cognac, for instance, we conjure up images of the joie de vie of the French. When we savor a Sherry or a Malaga, we are partaking in the mystery that is southern Spain. How could a frozen Vodka be anything but Russian or a Tequila anything but Mexican? Likewise, when we drink a Munich Helles or an Oktoberfestbier, we are vicariously transported into the lederhosen-slapping land of the Bavarians. The character of the drink seems always a reflection of the character of the people who created it. At the Beginning There Was Ale It may come as a surprise to modern beer enthusiasts, to learn that the history of German beer has been, for the most part, one of ale, not lager--in spite of the present-day preponderance of blond lagers, which currently hold well over two-thirds of the German beer market. But if you scratch the surface of the German lager veneer, what you'll find is a bed rock of solid ale traditions. Until the 16th century all German beer was ale. Until about the eighth century, it was brewed almost exclusively in the home, by tribal hausfraus. By the 11th century it was brewed mostly by professional brewmonks and brewnuns, until feudal lords took over most institutional brewing in southern Germany, while burgher-merchants did the same in northern Germany. Germans have been brewing ales for at least three thousand years, but lagers (specifically: brown lagers) for only five centuries. The blond, crisp, clean lagers, for which Germans have become so famous in our age, have been around for a scant 150 years. The now ubiquitous hoppy Pils started its conquest only about 30 years ago. Thus, do not judge history by the most recent past, lest you take as fact what might be a fad or a short-term trend. Decades, even centuries, do not mean all that much in a country, where a traveler can eat and drink in places that were already old when Columbus sailed the seas and discovered that there was an entire continent blocking his route to the orient. There are pubs in Germany, where centuries of stolid bums have rubbed cozy, indelible hollows into wooden benches, from which a contemporary imbiber can take unobtrusive support and comfort as he settles in for an evening of delectable degustation.. Beer, Politics, Economics and Religion In Germany, the fortunes of beer have always been intimately intertwined with the ups and downs of the country's political and religious history, but the secular and the sacred have been strange bed fellows, each with the capacity to reach down into the everyday life of common man and to regulate his existence from cradle to grave. The secular authorities build roads, collect taxes, train armies, mete out justice, mint coins, finance welfare and organize the police, while the churches preach morals, baptize babies, bury the dead, set up schools and hospitals and give to the poor. But at certain times in history, religious leaders, in competition with their secular counterparts, also had their own armies, sources of tax revenue, courts of law, territorial claims and commercial enterprises. What does this have to do with German beer, you may ask? The answer is: everything! In a culture where beer defines part of the national character, the question of who controls the brew is paramount. He who has his hand on the levers of power, also has his thumb in the people's beer mug. One can trace the roots of German beer making back to the tribal Germanic marauders of yore. These inhabitants of the dark Teutonic forests used to menace the poor Roman legionnaires who were sent there to do Caesar's bidding. As we know from Roman reports, Germanic hausfrau-brewsters minded the kettle in the forest clearings. Yes, home brewing had been a venerable tradition on this earth long before February 1979, when Jimmy Carter repealed its prohibition in the United States. Between the 6th and the 9th centuries, the tribal societies of central Europe became both Christianized and organized into countries united by language and customs. This set the stage for a power struggle between the secular feudal lords and the Christian bishops and monks for control over all facets of life--including beer making! By the 11th century, monastic breweries, run mostly by Benedictine monks and nuns, enjoyed an almost exclusive right to brew and sell beer. By the 12th century, the feudals, possessed by greed and envy and always strapped for revenues, began to take back most of the brew privileges they had granted so generously to the religious orders during the previous centuries. Many a lord started his own Hofbräuhaus (court brewhouse). While the struggle between the feudals and the clerics over the spoils of power was at its most ferocious, both parties seemed to have missed the rise, at the beginning of the second millennium, of a new, third force in society, which was ultimately to snatch the economic prize out of both their clutches. This emerging new force were the enterprising city burghers, who quietly created a new prosperity based on industry, commerce and technological innovation. Within a few centuries they had all but monopolized the making of top quality beers with great taste and keeping qualities. They erected private trading empires that spanned most of the known world of the time, and beer, next to minerals, furs and dry goods was among their most profitable commodities. Through their ventures, these free-spirited burghers planted the seeds of our modern civilization that would, in due course, limit the clergy to its spiritual purpose and relegate the nobles to the historical junk heap. The development of German beer as we know it today was virtually finished by the time the 20th century rolled around--as were the struggles for political and economic power between church and state and between the common people and the aristocrats. But for about a thousand years, the question of who ran the country and owned the beer--monks, lords, merchants, guilds--had determined which beers were brewed and distributed, where, in which quantity and of which quality. Church, state and free enterprise each had its fair share in either furthering or retarding the progress of German beer. From (literally) murky beginnings at the dawn of European civilization, German beers have evolved into mature, sophisticated brews with an unmistakable character that stems from a unique combination of ingredients and processes. Let this website take you on a journey of discovery so that next time you pop open a bottle of German beer, you can savor not only its sublime complexity, but also the story behind it. The Dawn of German Beer The tribal inhabitants of northern and central Europe started to make beer from wheat, barley or any other grain that grew wild and was considered of not much use for anything else, as early as the latter part of the Bronze Age, probably before 1000 B.C. This we know from their sagas and myths. At that time, Celtic and Germanic tribes were competing for control over patches of inhabitable space in the forests. The struggle between the two groups lasted until about the fourth century B.C., when the Germans had either ousted the Celts from the continent or had assimilated them. Only on the British Isles and along the Atlantic coast of present-day France did the Celts remain the dominant cultural force for another millennium or so. The tribes of central Europe, spread out over such a large territory and with very little communication among them, naturally were less homogeneous than the collective term "German" implies. The Danes, Norwegians and Swedes of Scandinavia evolved their distinct "Norse" culture, while the inhabitants of Caesar's gallia (roughly modern France and Belgium) developed their "Gallic" ways. Only the tribes in the very center--prominent among them the Alemans, Swabians, Bavarians and Saxons--created a culture that we now associate with the term "German". But no matter where the Germans lived and what their customs, they were brewers all. The pagans of northern Europe called their beer öl, which is the root of the modern word "ale". But since these folk could neither read nor write, we have no firm documentary evidence of the beginnings of their ale. We do know for sure, however, that the Germans were already regular ale brewers by about 800 B.C. Archaeologists have uncovered the burial site of a well-to-do German of that time, near the Franconian village of Kasendorf, seven miles from Kulmbach, in northern Bavaria. The grave not only contained the remains of the deceased gentleman but also the provisions his contemporaries had generously supplied for his trip into the realm of the spirits. Among these were crocks of beer, which, when unearthed almost 3,000 years later, still contained traces of bread--the standard raw material for the mashes of ancient times. Today, Kulmbach is home to many famous brews, including the Kulmbacher Mönchshof Kloster Schwarzbier, a malty black lager. Founded as a monastery brewery in 1349 and secularized in 1791, the Mönchshof brewery is still going strong as part of the Kulmbacher Reichelbräu conglomerate. Surely, almost 3,000 years of virtually uninterrupted brewing in the Kulmbach region must constitute a world record! Early beers were usually dark brews "mashed" from half-baked loaves of bread made from coarsely-ground barley or wheat. The gentle, moist baking of the loaves probably had a similar effect on the grain as today's malting, that is, of activating the enzymes required for the conversion of starches into fermentable sugars. This "modified" bread was then soaked in crocks filled with water, where it fermented. The result was a murky and sour ale, full of floating husks and crumbs--a far cry from the clean and crisp beers made in Germany today. The first truly historical accounts of beer making among the Germans came from their Roman conquerorsthose literate, wine-drinking military men and imperial officials, who reveled in exposing the deplorable predilection of the barbarian germanii for their inferior "barley wines." These, by Roman standards, were second-rate beverages, often flavored with such unspeakables as oak bark, aspen leaves or even the content of an oxen's gall bladder. At the time of the first Roman contact, the Germans were already producing beer in large quantities. Thus wrote the Greco-Roman geographer Strabo (around 63 B.C. - 21 A.D.), when he reported that one tribe, the Cimbri, used bronze brew kettles capable of holding about 500 liters. Today, we would call this a 4¼-barrel brewhouse. A remarkable metallurgical achievement for that time! Some historians speculate that Julius Caesar and his legions learned about beer making from the Germans and introduced it to the British Isles in 55 or 53 B.C., but other historians insist that the Celts had mastered the art of ale making on their own, long before the Romans had figured out how to cross the British Channel in boats. Suffice it to say that, around the birth of Christ, ale was the most popular drink of all the Europeans north of the Alps. Eins, Zwei, G'suffa ... 2000 Years Ago The best description of tribal Germanic drinking habits has come to us from the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus. In his De origine et situ germanorum (About the origin and location of the Germans), which he completed in 98 A.D., Tacitus asserted, with some contempt, that the Germanic folk were proficient imbibers, who sought out even the slightest excuse for having a drinking party. No other people, he wrote, were inclined to enjoy so much the art of banqueting and entertaining as the Germans, and it was customary for them to invite strangers into their homes to share a meal and a brew. "The germanii," he said, "serve an extract of barley and rye as a beverage that is somehow adulterated (presumably he means: fermented) to resemble wine." Perhaps, the cartoon cliché of raucous tribesmen, frolicking on their bear skins in front of a camp fire and passing, from one eager mouth to the next, their richly ornamented aurochs horns filled with intoxicating liquids, is not too far fetched after all. Tacitus was impressed by the vigor and energy of the Germans. He described the country as rough and crude, the air as unpleasant, but the people as pure and unspoiled. He observed that the men were capable of withstanding cold and hunger and were always ready to attempt feats of daring. There was one deprivation, however, the Germans apparently could not bear: THIRST! No wonder that both honey beer (mead) and grain beer always flowed in copious quantities at important tribal gatherings, where the Germans discussed such weighty matters as war and peace or the betrothal of a chieftain's daughter. The Germans sure knew how to have fun and, contrary to current perceptions of their 20th century descendants, were none too eager to do heavy work. At least this is what Tacitus wanted us to believe. He even suggested that it might have been easier to conquer the germanii by shipments of cerevisia (beer) than by force of pilum (lance) and gladius (sword): "If we wanted to make use of their addiction to drink, by giving them as much of it as they want, we could defeat them as easily by means of this vice as with our weapons...They cultivate the grains of the field with much greater patience and perseverance than one would expect from them, in light of their customary laziness." In Roman high society, German beer was held in such disdain that even the Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus (331 - 363 A.D.) felt himself called upon to rhyme a silly ditty about the superior virtues of wine compared to beer. In his poem, he likened the smell of wine to that of nectar and the smell of the Germanic "drink from grain" to that of a billy goat. Julianus had come to know the Germans and their beer from his many battles against the Franks and Alemans. Unimpressed by the highbrow Roman attitude, however, the tribal marauders of the Gallic and Teutonic forests continued to down their indigenous beverages just as they continued to menace the poor legionnaires sent from the Apennine peninsula to keep an eye on them. The sylvan primitives proved to be intrepid warriors, who were as fond of draining the life blood out of their sophisticated, wine-drinking oppressors as they were of draining their aurochs horns of murky quaff. For the emissaries of mighty Rome, life was never safe at such camps as colonia claudia ara agrippinensium (today's Cologne), castra novesia (today's Neuß, outside Düsseldorf), castra xantippa (today's Xanten, on the Rhine, near the Dutch border) or treveris (today's Trier at the Moselle River, near Luxembourg).. The Romans had brought the grape to central Europe so that they could indulge in the drinking habits to which they were accustomed at home. But it is obvious that eventually they developed a taste for the "inferior" beverage of their Germanic underlings. How else are we to interpret the tomb stone of a Roman merchant, who died in treveris (Trier) on the Moselle River, in 260 A.D.? The epitaph on his stone identifies him as a cervesarius, a beer merchant. Founded by Emperor Augustus in 15 B.C., treveris was the capital of the western part of the Roman Empire and served as administrative headquarters of the Roman territories from Spain to Britain. In this great city of the world, our cervesarius had his liquid wares privately brewed by German ladies in the neighborhood and sold the merchandise at a fine mark-up to his civilized Roman customers. The Romans even learned to brew themselves, as is evident from a complete Roman brewery discovered in 1983 near the Bavarian city of Regensburg, on the banks of the Danube. This brewery dates from the 2nd or 3rd century A.D. and was part of a canaba, a settlement of craftsmen, that had sprung up within the walls of a fortification called castra regina (hence the modern name of the city: Regensburg). Castra regina was built in 179 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Because of its strategic location along the north-eastern flank of the empire, it became the largest Roman camp in what is now southern Germany, housing some 6,000--obviously thirsty--legionnaires as well as scores of administrators and support personnel. It is apparent from the construction of the kiln and mash tun of the Regensburg brewery that German beer making had, by that time, progressed from the primitive bread beer found in the grave near Kulmbach to the mashing of malted grains as we practice it today. Evidence of another Roman brewery in Germany, a fermenter with residues of black beer, was found in 1911 during the excavation of a Roman camp near Alzey, in Germany's largest wine-growing region, in the state of Rhineland-Palatine. Apparently, the fermenter and its contents were hastily abandoned by the Romans sometime in the year in 353 A.D., during a surprise attack by the Alemans. The Romans' ultimate embrace of the barbaric beverage is also reflected in their language. They came to regard beer as a gift from Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and treasured it as a strength-giving potion (vis = strength). Hence their term for beer: cerevisia. . Of Hausfrau-Brewsters, Vassals, Monks and Nuns We are now peeking into the sixth century A.D. The Roman Empire had crumbled and the Germanic way of life had flourished in the clearings of the Teutonic forest and along the river banks. For the next three centuries, life, when not interrupted by raiding Huns, Vikings or Saracens, would generally be peaceful in the little farming villages up and down the lands of the Franks, Alemans, Saxons, Swabians, Thuringians and Bavarians. Indigenous civilizations, no longer under the yoke of Latin legions and their pax romana, began to take shape. While the man of the house was out tending his fields of barley and wheat or chasing the stag in the woods, the lady of the house was busy at the domestic hearth making the bread, the stew and the brew. In German families of that period, home brewing was as ubiquitous as home cooking and baking, and the brew kettle was as important a part of a maiden's dowry as were her cooking pots and pans. It was customary for a brewster-hausfrau to invite her neighbors to a round of afternoon beer. The ladies took the beverage with pieces of bread dunked into it--perhaps a forerunner of the modern coffee-klatsch? This was the epoch when two influences of tremendous impact on the fate of German brewing began to emerge: feudalism and Christianity. Feudalism established controls from above that changed brewing in Germany from a household activity of the common folk into a privileged commercial activity of a favored few, practiced first mostly by monks and nuns and, since the 12th century, more and more by secular court breweries and mercantile enterprises. The other influence, Christianity, brought with it the emergence of monasteries not only as beneficiaries of the privileges doled out by the secular lords, but also as centers of education and learning, where brewing knowledge could accumulate, quality standards could improve, and the craft of brewing could evolve, for the first time in Europe, into a true profession.. Enter the Feudal Beer Drinker Feudalism began to replace the loose social organization of the Germanic tribes, as their ancient customs and practices became codified into coherent bodies of law. Ironically, these new laws were written in Latin, the language of the just-ousted oppressor. The Goths and Burgundians both made new laws in 506. The Franks compiled theirs between 508 and 511. The Alemans got theirs in 719, the Bavarians, in 743. These laws granted every household the right to brew beer. They also specified the tributes each had to render as a tax unto the authorities: a certain amount of wood, meat, hemp, grain, honey, wool--and beer. Under feudalism, money was scarce. Some historians argue that the lack of coinage was one of the main reasons why feudalism took hold in the first place. The Roman system of central administration and taxation had disappeared as had the benefits that came with it: educational institutions, road and bridge maintenance, trade, a uniform currency. With the Romans gone, most wealth-creating activities ceased, the economy reverted to barter as Europe entered the Dark Ages, and for several centuries, there was a great and universal decline in population. The principal values in the economy were labor and produce--and the land needed to turn the former, of the which the people had plenty, into the latter, of which the king took plenty. The impetus that made the system work was the people's need for security and protection and the king's ability to grant it. Effective power in the Dark Ages resided in local dukes, appointed by the king and pledged to him by a personal oath of fealty. These vassals were charged with raising armies for defense and public safety and carrying out administrative and judicial duties. In exchange, the local lords received land, which they, in turn, subdivided into smaller holdings run by subvassals and worked by serfs. The vassals owed their immediate overlords obedience, war service and a prescribed number of soldiers, usually recruited from the ranks of the serfs. The bold and strong eventually rose to become noble knights and the weak sank to become toiling peasants. In time, social positions became hereditary and the system evolved into pure feudalism, a static, money-less form of exchange, in which the folks at the bottom traded their labor and their freedom for security and protection provided by those at the top. . Charlemagne Makes Beer Official Such was the system that Charlemagne found, when he started his reign in 768. With few means of transportation and communication, an emperor rarely stayed put for long in the capital, which was Aachen (or Aix-la-Chapelle), about 40 miles west of Cologne. Rulers looked after the realm and local matters by traveling from one castle or crown estate to the next. Without much money in circulation, taxes were in the form of the fruits of the land. The emperor traveled to his revenues in order to consume them on location, since he could not have them travel to him in the form of coins for his treasury. Charlemagne's empire was organized into great estates, each with a master's house, church, grain mill, forge, bakery, stables, barns, workshops, peasant's cottages and, of course, a brewery. Charlemagne was a great supporter of the brewing craft and insisted that there be a brewery in each of his estates. For his vassals, he wrote an elaborate set of economic ordinances, entitled Capitulare caroli magni de villis (The main points about running Charlemagne's estates), in which he gave rather detailed instructions about almost any aspect of management, including that of the brewery. Whenever he showed up, paragraph 61 kicked in: "We wish that the intendant on duty bring before Our Person samples of beer. We also wish that they bring along their brewmaster so that they can brew for Us good beer in our presence." In paragraph 34, he instructed brewers about hygiene: "The administrators have to make sure that workers who use their hands in the preparation of beer, keep themselves especially clean." He also insisted on annual reports (paragraph 62): "We also wish that our intendants compose an annual inventory ledger at Christmas time. We also want a list of the beers they brew so that we know which quantities of the different products are available." In these ordinances lie the seeds of institutional, commercial brewing in central Europe, an activity in which the monasteries were soon to become the most successful players. If You Got the Gruit, You Got the Beer In the feudal system of land control with a clear division of rights and obligations between lords, vassals and serfs, all land not specifically granted to a vassal belonged to the crown. And the crown land held a most important resource for the hausfrau-brewster of the age: Remember, we are still in the pre-hops era. We know that hop gardens were cultivated in the Hallertau region of Germany as early as the 730s, but, for centuries to come, beer generally continued to be spiced mostly with gruit (old German for "wild herbs") such as yarrow, bog myrtle, or juniper. Thus the quality of the beer you could make depended on your access to suitable herbs, and these grew mostly on crown lands. Though everybody was allowed to brew, not everybody was allowed to pick gruit. This gave the crown almost accidental control over the quality of the beer in the land. Initially, the crown reserved the gruit privilege only for its own estates, although it later granted it to churches and monasteries as well. Eventually, the term gruit came to mean not only the herbs brewers used to flavor the beer but also the taxes they had to pay for their brewing privilege. To Preach and to Brew... At the time of Charlemagne, monasteries were a recent innovation. Outside Italy, the first people to be Christianized were the Irish and the Britons, early in the fifth century. Imbued with missionary zeal, the new converts set out to save continental pagans from damnation. By the beginning of the sixth century, Irish missionaries had started to penetrate the heathen Teutonic forests in search of souls. They founded small monasteries from which they spread the gospel. A particularly successful missionary was the Irish Saint Columban, who, with his band of followers, planted the seeds of the new creed in parts of present-day France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. At St. Gall, in Switzerland, a disciple of his founded the famous monastery that was to become by far the largest brewery of the Dark Ages. Another famous missionary/brewer was the Franconian monk Corbinian, who, in 724, built a simple chapel on Weihenstephan Mountain, north of Munich. He must have picked a great spot, since the little religious outpost grew into a Benedictine Abbey, which, in 1040, obtained, from Bishop Engilbert of Freising, official brewing privileges and the right to sell its beer for profit. Today, the brewery at Weihenstephan is owned by the State of Bavaria and is the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world. Like all Germanic households, the good brethren of the early Middle Ages grew their own grain and made their own brew. They soon discovered that beer, if made strong enough and from the best grains, was not only thirst quenching but also very nourishing, a veritable "liquid bread". This was important to the monks because of their penchant for periodic fasting, when no solid food was permitted to pass their lips. Liquids, however, did not break the fast, at least according to ecclesiastic doctrine, which was made up by the church fathers in Rome. The Holy See, of course, knew little about German beer. Nunneries, too, became centers of institutional brewing. After all, their inhabitants would have become secular beer-making hausfraus had they not chosen the nun's habit. Naturally, the monks and nuns made more beer than they needed just for their own consumption. As part of their charitable works, they liberally shared both their bread and their beer with the poor and with any traveler or pilgrim who might ask for shelter. Soon, monastery beer gained quite a reputation for quality. As the demand increased, so did the size of the monastic breweries, and some brothers and sisters began to specialize in brewery work. The Discovery of Hops Being well-educated people, the friars and nuns took a scientific approach to brewing. They experimented with new techniques and ingredients and created systematic records of the results. In the process, they discovered the virtues of hops as a bittering and preserving agent--though nobody is quite sure exactly when--and probably developed the first beers of consistently high quality. We know that, already in the eighth century, the monastery of Weihenstephan was surrounded by hop gardens, and it is doubtful that the friars cultivated the vine merely for aesthetic reasons. In a book entitled Physica sacra (Sacred world), we can find the first written description of the preserving and healthful effects of hops in beer. The book's author is Hildegard von Bingen (1098 - 1179), a Benedictine abbess, brewnun, physician, natural scientist, and advisor to Emperor Frederick I (a.k.a. Barbarossa). Hildegard drank beer regularly and lived to be 81 years old, an incredible age for that time. It is not surprising that some people like to see a causal connection between her longevity and her dedication to beer. Beer Privilege - a Tool of Governance Upon his death in 814, Charlemagne left to his heirs a vast empire. By 962, the Germanic tribes in the eastern portion of the that land had become firmly united in the first empire officially called "German". At its head was the Saxon Otto I (912 - 973, a.k.a. Otto the Great). Realizing that the parishes, monasteries and nunneries represented the only network of public institutions in his realm, he firmly allied himself with the church. Since central government was weak in the feudal system, the church and its bishops took over many governmental functions. Bishops doubled as judges, they organized public works and, if need be, even buckled on their swords and rode into battle to protect their flock against foreign invaders or local robber bands. From kings to serfs, the inhabitants of the feudal world eventually grew to fear the material and spiritual weapons of the church. Otto strengthened the church's position by granting it feudal lay rights and privileges, including the gruit right. Soon, the monastic brewers of the early Middle Ages began to enjoy connections in high places. We know that in 947, for instance, Otto I himself conferred the gruit right upon the church of Liége (in present-day Belgium). Higher-up ecclesiastics became themselves grantors of the gruit right to their subordinates, as did the Bishop of Metz (in present-day France), when he conferred the gruit right onto the nearby monastery of St. Trond, and the Bishop of Cologne, whe he gave it to the church of Neuß (near the present-day Alt beer home of Düsseldorf). . Beer for Commerce and Salvation After the demise of Rome, it fell upon the Christian monks to hold the Western world together. Sheltered behind their monastery walls, reflecting on man's soul, virtue and destiny, the friars created little paradises-- refuges in the wilderness, where they copied old books, wrote new ones, conducted almost the only schools and, generally, preserved culture and learning during the five centuries of economic and cultural stagnation that we call the Dark Ages.. Like the feudal manors around them, medieval monasteries were virtually self-sufficient. They grew their own grain, raised their own meat, baked their own bread, brewed their own beer. The earliest monasteries in Germany--a few cloister cells grouped around a wooden chapel--typically had their humble beginnings in small missionary outposts, often built by Irish monks. Many of these posts were placed strategically along well-traveled routes, such as around Lake Constance, which served as the pilgrims' gateway to the Alpine passes into Lombardy and the city of Rome beyond. Initially run by men with the impulse to escape the world, life in a monastery was harsh and simple. St. Columban had prescribed six lashes for a monk who forgot to say Amen or sang out of tune, ten for one who notched a table with his knife. He had decreed that meals should be simple and never large. Food and drink should sustain life, not harm it. Drunkenness was forbidden and the monk who spilled beer had to stand upright and still for an entire night. Trade in the Dark Ages was mostly carried out by itinerant peddlers who visited settlements on foot or with pack animals. But they had much to contend with: horrible roads, inclement elements, thievish landlords, piracy, brigands. The monasteries were often the safest refuge for a weary traveler. With Christian fervor on the upswing, pilgrimages, too, became very popular, with Rome and Jerusalem claiming the top of the charts for holy destinations. The hooded fishermen of souls, with hostels and breweries already in place along the old Roman roads, went into the hospitality business with gusto. As the flow of pilgrims and other traveling folk increased on the highways and byways of the empire, so did the monasteries' operations. The food, drink and shelter the monks used to share out of charity with anyone who came, soon became a commodity offered to the dusty travelers for profit. Not surprisingly, the observance of ascetic rules began to take a back seat to the chores of providing for the itinerant customers. After a day of hard work in the monasteries' fields, kitchens and breweries, many a monk naturally found more solace in the merry company of his guests than in the austere cloister regimen prescribed by that seemingly so un-Irish Irishman St. Columban. Shielded by feudal rights and privileges and confronted with an ever increasing demand for their brews, many an abbot eventually succumbed to the commercial temptation and started to sell beer for profit. Cloister inns and pubs began to do a roaring business. Every monastery brewed a different beer and tried to corner the market. The spiritual comrade in the good lord's army soon became the commercial competitor in the beverage business down the road. Economically, monastic breweries were much like secular businesses, but with several competitive advantages: cheap or free raw materials, cheap or free labor and exemption from all taxes. Monastery beer was good and it was cheap. No wonder that some of these breweries became truly gigantic. The cloister inn at Nürnberg, it is chronicled, eventually made as much as 4,500 buckets (about 2,500 barrels) of beer per year! Another in Bavaria served close to 10,000 guests a year. The 10th and 11th centuries were the heyday of monastic brewing in Germany. In a country of perhaps nine or ten million inhabitants, there were some 500 monastery breweries (300 of which in Bavaria alone) producing beer in unsurpassed quantity and quality. And all the beer was ale. . The Monks Had Fun, but the Lords Were Jealous The commercialization of the monastic brew not only propelled it to high standards, but also lead to its eventual downfall. Ultimately, the monasteries became victims of the envy and opposition that their own successes had bred. The riches garnered from the brewing trade enabled the cloistered community to have a comfortable, secular and, on occasion, even decadent life style. This became a source of concern to those among the friars who took their vows of poverty, chastity, abstinence and obedience seriously. It also aroused the envy of the secular lords who, after all, had granted the monks and nuns exclusive brewrights in the first place. The initial opposition against the secular life style practiced by some of the friars started in the Benedictine abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, founded in 910. It spawned a movement that quickly spread to almost 1,500 affiliated houses all over the realm. The Carthusians at Chartreuse, in the French Alps, started a second monastic revival movement in 1084. The Cistercians at Cîteaux, near Dijon, started a third one in 1098. By the 12th century, a new, purist, anti-secular fervor had taken hold in central Europe and led to a gradual redirection of all facets of monastic life. Once again, piety, poverty and pastoral duties were in, while the secular and profane arts of brewing, commerce and frolicking were out. On the political side, too, it seems that the church had overplayed its hand. The struggle between church and state intensified once it became apparent that cloister breweries and pubs, founded under the protection of the secular lords, had generated great riches. Christian philosophers such as Augustine (354 - 430) had provided the doctrinal underpinnings of the church's claim of preeminence over the state. The church owned about one third of the land of the realm and the pope crowned the emperor. Locally, the bishops were not just the spiritual but also the effective civil authorities in the empire. They raised most of the emperor's revenues. To no one's surprise, the emperor finally insisted on his right to investiture, i.e., of appointing his own vassals to the all-important posts of bishop. He could not possibly allow these great officers to be selected by the pope, which would turn the Holy Roman Empire into a hollow shell and the emperor into a mere puppet of an extra-territorial power. The show-down over investiture came in 1077, between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV, when Gregory finally played his trump card: he excommunicated Henry. If the Holy See couldn't bask in the temporal glory of earthly might and wealth, the emperor would not be permitted to bask in the eternal glory of heavenly salvation in the hereafter. Henry had no choice but to make a pilgrimage to Italy and beg for forgiveness. The two men met at the castle of Canossa, near Parma in northern Italy. With Henry on his knees, Gregory reversed the excommunication in exchange for Henry's abandonment of all claims to investiture. The temporal power of the Holy See--and with it the brew power of the Benedictine monks and nuns--had reached its zenith. The pope had won, so it seemed, and henceforth, power and wealth in Germany were to be his to skim off. But Henry was back in Italy, only seven years later, this time not on his knees but with an army. He captured Rome, forced Gregory into exile, and appointed a new pope. He who laughs last ... ! . The waning of the pope's power that followed Henry's victory had a profound influence on a society run by the church. Where there is a power vacuum, somebody is bound to fill it. The feudal lords, once the benevolent supporters of monastic brewing rights, now became increasingly eager to cash in for themselves on the riches that could be gained from the brew industry. They started to create their own court brewhouses (Hofbräuhaus) with exclusive privileges, enforced by the sanctions of the law, over which, of course, they had total control. As a result, many monasteries lost the right to brew commercially, though some retained permission to continue to brew for their own consumption.. One natural--rather than social or political--cause also contributed to the waning of monastic dominance in the brew industry and to the decline of beer consumption in general. This was a climatic accident that occurred in the first few centuries of the second millennium. The earth underwent a warming trend that allowed wine growing to spread rapidly into ever more northern areas. Especially in southern Germany, cheap and plentiful good wine became available and finally rose to a serious competitor of the once-dominant drink from grain. Interestingly, as the monasteries started to lose their beer privileges, they quickly capitalized on the new wave and, once again, became the leaders, both professionally and commercially, in the emerging wine industry and in the production of wine-based distilled spirits and liqueurs. The Struggle for Purity--But Where's the Yeast? By the 12th century, feudal aristocrats, especially in southern Germany, began to take over the brew business from the monasteries and convents. A lord would build his own Hofbräuhaus (court brewhouse) and, if he was charitably inclined, issue a license to a secular private brewery--for a hefty fee, of course, but not always with the desired result. As it turned out, the brewing privileges of the monks and nuns were much more easily transferred than their brewing expertise, and beer quality usually declined. In northern Germany, the story was slightly different. There, forward-looking mercantile entrepreneurs rather than feudal nobles challenged the church for its brew monopoly. The enterprising free burghers usually were fast studies. Eventually they triumphed over the men of the cloth and surpassed them in the quality of the beers they produced. Most of the brews that were en vogue in the High Middle Ages in southern Germany had very little resemblance to the beers we know today. Water may have been the only ingredient we could still recognize with certainty. Brewers used barley, wheat, rye, and oats, even millet, peas, beans, or any other starch-containing kernels in their mash tuns, as long as they could be malted or converted into sugars. Though hops had been known as a flavoring for beer since the eighth or ninth century, any number of herbs such as caraway or juniper, even salt, pith, soot, chalk or hard-boiled eggs were used to "improve" the flavor of beer or to cover up off-flavors.. As beer quality fell off, so did beer consumption. This called for intervention, if need be at the highest level, lest profits for the noble coffers should suffer. It should come as no surprise then that the noble rulers of the day as well as the civil authorities in the cities suddenly developed a keen interest in preserving the public health--or so they claimed--by regulating the quality of beer. Emperor Frederick I himself was the author of the first known secular beer regulation in Germany. It dates from 1156 and was part of the first city code of law, the Justitia civitatis Augustensis, which Frederick gave to the city of Augsburg. The emperor decreed that "a brewer who makes bad beer or pours an unjust measure shall be punished; his beer shall be destroyed or distributed at no charge among the poor." The punishment for a violation was five guilders. After the third offense, the perpetrator lost his brewing license. To control the quality (and revenues) of the local suds, the cities started to issue strict and often silly regulations. The tyranny of bureaucracy, in many instance, replaced the tyranny of aristocracy. In 1293, the city council of Nürnberg tried to improve the beer brewed within its walls by issuing a straightforward ordinance, in which it insisted that only barley be used to brew beer. Other beer ordinances, however, were not so simple or rational. We know of an early, pesky, lengthy and meddlesome ordinance that dates from 1351. Issued by the magistrate of the city of Erfurt in Thuringia, it states: "A calibrated tankard must always be filled to the mark. The beer in it shall cost 4½ pfennigs and 8 groschen. No burgher or councilor may brew more than two beers per year, nor may he make half a brew, nor may he mill less or more than three boxes of malt to brew with. Only on Wednesday evening, and not before the beer bell is rung, may he start a fire under the tun and start brewing. But nobody may brew who does not possess containers, tuns, kilns and casks. The beer must be an entire brew. The amount to be brewed must be announced on Walpurgis Day (February 25), and the precise amount announced must then be brewed. Nobody may brew with straw and twigs for fire." "Anybody who breaks an innkeeper's beer mug or runs away without paying, will pay a 10-groschen penalty or must leave town. Anybody who buys hops may not touch the measuring jar until the vendor has filled it and has removed his hand from it. (In those days, brewers bought hops by volume, not by weight!) In the countryside, nobody may sell beer from another region nor may he brew without the knowledge of the town. Any burgher caught brewing in the countryside will no longer be considered a burgher of the town." Here we find an early version of Bierzwang (literally: beer coercion), the parochial practice of the local authorities to permit only those beers to be served within their walls and in the surrounding countryside that were brewed (and taxed) within their own jurisdiction. The Bierzwang remained common in many parts of Germany until 1803, when, under the influence of the Napoleonic conquest of central Europe, Bierfreiheit (beer freedom) was finally established as a matter of law in much of Germany. In 1250, the good citizens of Regensburg, the town where the Romans had already brewed beer some 1,000 years earlier, received their brew privileges from Emperor Frederick II. As business thrived, the brewers found it difficult to resist the temptation to raise their profits by lowering their standards. After a disastrous harvest in 1433 and its resulting grain shortage, the local beer became so scarce that the city fathers permitted the importation of brews from as far away as Hamburg and Dortmund. By 1447, the Regensburgers finally had enough of substandard local brew. They appointed their city doctor, Konrad Megenwart, as the official beer inspector, and, six years later forbade brewers within their city walls to use "seeds, spice, or rushes" as flavorings. (Hellex 1981) To ensure that the citizens would get their money's worth, the city fathers also outlawed the brewing and selling of thin beers made from the final runnings of the mash. In Munich, too, regulating brewers and their craft was of apparent and perpetual concern to the city fathers of the day--and a clear indication that not all was well with the Bavarians' national beverage. In 1363, to guarantee quality, the 12-member city council itself assumed the duty of overseeing all beer production. By 1372, there were only 21 brewers left in Munich, not even two for every councilor, and the demand of the people for beer kept these brewers so busy that their brew was consumed almost as soon as it was fermented. In 1420, the city fathers tried to decree from above what the market would not do on its own. They insisted that all beers must be aged for at least eight days before they could be sold. In 1450, the number of brewers had risen to only 30, and the Bavarian ruler, Duke Stephan II, tried to redress the beer shortage by issuing an appeal to his subjects. He implored them to brew more at home so that beer would not be so terribly scarce all the time. It was to take another couple of centuries, before the brewers of southern Germany finally caught up with their northern German brethren. In the 15th century, however, brewing clearly was not an attractive profession in Munich, the city that was destined to become the beer capital of the world.. In areas with an emerging wine industry, the answer to declining beer quality was often sought in outlawing beer making altogether. Such was the case in the Franconian city of Würzburg, where the magistrate, in 1434, after due consultation with the duke and the bishop, forbade brewing "for ever". Only three years later, however, the climate of central Europe, which had undergone a warming trend for a few centuries, experienced a sudden reversal. Harsh and long periods of frost decimated almost all the vineyards in southern Germany. Wine had to be imported from south of the Alps, and the price jumped accordingly. Consequently, beer, which had been out of favor with the populace made a quick comeback. The authorities, however, with the timeless arrogance of the mighty, stubbornly clung to their prohibition ignoring both the popular will and the clandestine brewing that it spawned. But greed, as always, got the better of them and they decided to profit for themselves from what they had so miserably tried to suppress. In 1642, Johann Philipp von Schönborn, the Würzburg duke and bishop himself, started his very own Hofbräuhaus. Thus, in Würzburg, "for ever" lasted exactly 208 years. The climatic reversal of 1437 turned out to be long lasting. It brought about a permanent shift in market forces and gave a much-needed boost to the secular brew industry in southern Germany--and, in its wake, spawned even more regulation.. Beer "Purity" In 1447, the Munich city council issued an ordinance demanding that all brewers use only barley, hops and water for their beers. This was the forerunner of what was to become, half a century later, the famous all-Bavarian beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot. By 1487, the Bavarian Duke Albrecht IV forced all brewers in the city of Munich to take a public oath of faithful allegiance to the 1447 ordinance. Furthermore, the Duke introduced beer price controls: in winter, a Maß (approximately 1 liter) would cost one silver pfennig, in summer, two. This price difference was to compensate brewers for the extra grain and long storage (lagering) required for stronger summer beers. One of Albrecht's successors, Duke Georg the Rich, in 1493, extended the 1447 ordinance to the duchy of Landshut in central Bavaria. Clearly, a regulatory clean-up was afoot in Bavaria. The Reinheitsgebot was issued on April 23, 1516. Initially only in feudal Bavaria, but later in all of Germany, it gave government the tools to regulate the ingredients, processes and quality of beer sold to the public. It was drafted by the Bavarian co-rulers Duke Wilhelm IV and Duke Ludwig X and introduced at a meeting of the Assembly of Estates of the Bavarian Realm, at Ingolstadt, some 60 miles north of Munich. The 1516 Reinheitsgebot stipulated that only barley, hops, and water may be used to make the brew. The existence of yeast had not yet been discovered. The Reinheitsgebot is the oldest, still valid food quality law in Germany.. Lager, an Accident? Until the invention of refrigeration in the 1870s, our forebears could not brew what they wanted, but only what nature let them. Only gradually did they gain an empirical, trial-and-error understanding of the factors that influence fermentation. They realized that the ambient temperature in the cellar had something to do with the type of beer they got from the wort. They also noticed that there were two types of fermentation. It would take scientists almost another 300 years to unravel the mystery of these two fermentations. The crafters of the Reinheitsgebot did not know that the key to pure beer is the yeast. Yeast are airborne, single-cell fungi that are literally everywhere in the environment. They like to hide out in dank, dark places. The cobwebs in the grain-dust-laden rafters of steamy brewhouses made for an ideal yeast habitat. There yeast could idle away its time until luck and a hefty breeze would swish it down into an open fermenter for another sugary meal of sweet wort. There are two broad families of yeasts that make great beers: ale yeasts and lager yeasts, each with their own very specific thermal comfort zone. Ale yeasts like a cozy, warm environment, somewhere around 59° to 77°F (15° to 25°C), in which they become most active and produce the best-tasting beer, while lager yeasts do their best work, when it is a cool 39° to 48°F (4° to 9°C) or even below. Ale yeasts lose their appetites at lower temperatures and go to sleep, leaving the field for the lager yeasts. Lager yeasts, on the other hand, can still ferment wort at higher temperatures, but then produce off-flavors that tend to be undesirable in beer. Fortunately for the medieval, who had no pure yeast strains to work with, the two yeasts, when present in the same brew, each become dominant in their respective temperature ranges. Both ale and lager yeasts are in suspension in the wort, while they munch their way through the sugars deep inside the fermenter, but only ale yeasts throw up thick, frothy layers of foam at the top of the brew. Ale yeasts, therefore, are also called "top-fermenting". Lager yeasts, by comparison, are much less exuberant surface fermenters and are thus often referred to as "bottom-fermenting". After they have done their job of turning wort into beer, both ale and lager yeasts take a nap (go dormant), and generally sink to the bottom. Because of the temperature-sensitive nature of yeast, the beer the Reinheitsgebot originally sought to control, was not necessarily a lager. Unbeknown to the medieval brewer, it was probably a lager during the cold Bavarian winters, but it was most certainly an ale in the summer, when demand was greatest. A Munich town council record mentioned cold-fermented beer as early as 1420. Again in Munich, in 1551, a city ordinance implied that fermentation was not an accidental process but that it could be managed to produce a definite result. It stated that "barley, good hops, water and yeast (sic!), if properly mashed and cooled, can also produce a bottom fermenting beer." What tantalizing hints at an early awareness of the difference between ales and lagers! In 1553, summer brewing was outlawed altogether in Bavaria. By then the authorities--always worried about the supply of healthy summer beer--had obviously learned that cold fermentation yielded a purer beer with better keeping qualities than possessed by those unwittingly brewed and probably bacterially infected top-fermented beers of summer. The official brewing season was, therefore, restricted to between St. Michael's Day (September 29) and St. George's Day (April 23). From spring to fall, brewers had to seek alternate employment. It is obvious that this kind of brew schedule, decreed from above, favored the production of lagers. In many breweries, you simply could not make ales in the cold Bavarian winters. The importance of the two regulations, the Reinheitsgebot and the prohibition against summer brewing, could not be overstated. These laws caused Bavaria to depart from what had been a common German beer culture. They created a north-south schism between a "new" lager culture and the "old" ale culture. Henceforth, Bavarian brewers would chart their own course, moving firmly in the direction of cold-fermented, malted-barley-based lager beers--a style in which, by happenstance and skill, the Bavarians have, some would argue, remained unsurpassed to this day.. Free Burgher Brewers By about the 12th century, we observe the birth of a new class of meritorious city burghers linked in trading associations and employing free, wage-earning tradesmen organized in professional guilds. Feudalism, born out of a scarcity of education, money and commerce, in which land and serfs as the only sources of wealth were divided between the learned (the clergy) and the mighty (the lords), soon became an anachronistic shell for a society whose material basis was shifting from land to industry and commerce. Social control over beer making, henceforth, was not so much a struggle between the lord and the monk as one between the lord and the citizen. As the monks and nuns were losing their brew privileges, merchants in the cities, perhaps more faithful to their own fortunes than to God and emperor, knew a good thing when they saw one. They latched on to the brewing trade wherever possible, and soon found themselves in conflict with church and state alike. Especially in northern Germany, where, as a general rule, the hold of church and state over society was less smothering, free merchants, not feudal lords, emerged as the greatest competitors to the cloistered brewers. The worldly merchants opened up new markets by setting up far-flung trading organizations, most famous among them the Hanseatic League, for the exchange of all sorts of goods from spices, to salted fish, to silk, to beer. The first cracks in the feudal order occurred as early as 924, when King Henry I was forced to built forts and walled towns to protect the eastern flank of his realm against the raids of marauding Magyars. Not getting much help from the noble lords in his fight against the invaders on horseback from the east, the king turned to the ordinary folk and encouraged them to become "burghers" (from the German "Burg" for fort). With this act, Henry had not only created a new word, but an entirely new class. As he built defensive bastions in the frontier regions, he ordered its inhabitants to lay in stores of food for emergencies and to train for combat in marching formations and on horseback. On these burghers, the king also conferred the right to brew beer and to sell it within a mile from the fortifications. These military centers soon became the hubs of judicial, commercial and social activity for the surrounding areas. In these settlements, the new class, the middle class, was, in time, to tear asunder the very foundations of the social order that had evolved in Germany after the collapse of the Roman Empire some five hundred years earlier. Initially, city brewing, like country brewing, took place only in the home, where it would have stayed had it not been for one problem: In those days, all buildings except for churches, forts and castles were made of wood, and occasionally an entire town would burn down merely because a hausfrau had forgotten to tend the fire under the brew kettle or the bake oven. Many city fathers, therefore, out of concern for public safety, simply forbade home brewing and home baking. They erected communal stone bake-and-brew-houses in which every household had to take turns making its daily bread and beer. Such communal bake and brew facilities created the physical conditions for both the commercialization and the regulation and taxation of city brewing. As these early city breweries began to hire staff, bakers often doubled as brewers. They already had all the required ingredients on hand. A warm medieval bakehouse was an ideal habitat for airborne yeast cells performing their daily work both as leveners of bread and as fermenters of brew. More often than not, certain yeast strains became dominant in such an environment, as still happens in the rafters and cobwebs of some Belgian lambic houses today, and medieval bakers' beers were usually of consistently good quality. Thus it was only natural that bakers became the local source of both solid and liquid bread and many a city authority gladly granted its bakers the exclusive right to make beer. One fabled such baker-brewer even made it into the Grimm Brothers' early 19th century collection of folk tales (Jacob Grimm 1785-1863; Wilhelm Grimm 1786-1859). Sings Rumpelstiltskin, while he dances around the fire in gleeful anticipation of his blackmail prize, "Today I bake, tomorrow I brew, the day after tomorrow I'll fetch the queen's child." . It was inevitable that, sooner or later, many communal brewhouses evolved into real businesses, with inns attached, where artisans and servants could forget the toil of the day over a mug of ale, and where enterprising burghers could congregate to hatch their profitable little deals. Like the monasteries in the countryside, the burgher breweries in the city became thriving businesses, as many a brewpub is today. In time, the interests of the more successful burghers, the patricians of wealth, would collide with those of the feudal holders of power and privilege, including the beer privilege. The feudal lords, whose only claim to fame was that they had been born into the right families, were not part of the cash economy of the entrepreneurs and were eventually reduced to relying on the generosity of the cities for the financing of their wars and their luxurious life style. One such successful band of medieval burgher entrepreneurs was the Fugger family of Augsburg. The Fuggers had amassed such wealth through banking and trading in real estate, copper, silver, and mercury that, by the 15th century, they were by far the richest family in Europe. Emperor Maximilian I (1459 - 1519) relied on immense Fugger loans to finance his foreign wars, and in 1519, when it was time to choose Maximilian's successor, the Fuggers secured the election of their man, Charles V, as emperor by bribing the electors. It was Charles V (1500 - 1558), ruler of most of Europe, including Austria and Germany as well as Spain and her colonies around the globe, who could claim, as the first monarch in history, that in his empire "the sun never set," but it was the rising sun of the merchant class that had put him on the throne in the first place. For such support, of course, the titled rulers had to pay a hefty price. They were forced to grant the cities virtual self-government and an ever increasing share in the government of the realm. In 1521, at the Diet of Worms, Charles conferred upon the city of Augsburg the right to mint its own coins. It is hard to imagine that such favors were not in repayment to the Fugger family of Augsburg to whom he owed so much. Cities, in effect, became "free". In their charters, they received the right to make laws, mint coins, levy taxes and run their own commercial and political affairs without interference from the nobles. "Stadtluft macht frei" (city air liberates) was the slogan of the burghers, and it enticed many a serf to slip away by night and escape feudal oppression. Where he came from, the serf was owned, literally, by the feudal master, who gave him no other reward for his labors but the rations needed for his family's subsistence. Once in the city, a serf became a free person, who could hire himself out in exchange for wages. He could finally make something of himself. The burghers made good use of the growing labor pool that was fed from the country side. They organized manufactures, employed the serfs as free craftsmen, established trading networks, and built store houses and retail outlets. Their commercial activities brought ever more wealth and power to the cities, until the might of the cities surpassed that of the official feudal system and its agrarian-based economy. As no-nonsense merchants, the city burghers plied any trade that offered up the promise of profit. And, as the monks and nuns had demonstrated before, one could get rich on beer, especially on top-quality beer. Thus the most consequential challenge to the brew monopoly of the medieval church came ultimately not from the nobles, but from the rising class of patrician city burghers, especially in northern Germany. To be sure, there were plenty of arrogant aristocrats and pampered bishops in northern Germany, as there were many enterprising merchant burghers, like the Fugger family, in southern Germany, but, as a general rule, the northerners pursued their aim of civil and economic freedom more aggressively, sometimes even by force of arms, than did their southern counterparts, and, between the 13th and the 16th century, while beer production and beer quality declined in the south, beer became mostly a northern German affair. The city burghers and their councils had gained virtual control over the brewing industry within their walls by the end of the 12th century. Like the nobles before them, city governments often declared that they alone owned the exclusive right to brew. The nobles, harkening back to a world order that was no more, were powerless to stop them. A Trading Empire Built on Beer By the 13th century, many merchants had fully understood that the feudal state could no longer adequately protect their interests at home or abroad. Especially in the towns involved in trade with the Baltic lands, civic associations and merchant guilds joined forces to form trading eagues. The merchants of Bremen and Hamburg, for instance, set up a joint representation in Novgorod, Russia, to deal with the Czar. In London, King Henry II granted German city merchants special licenses and privileges as early as 1157. He even gave them a special residence, a guild hall, later to be called the Steelyard House on the Thames. In 1194, King Richard I granted the Steelyard merchants from Cologne freedom from all tolls and customs in London and the right to trade at fairs throughout England. These rights were later extended to the other members of the Steelyard. Soon, the Steelyard became a whole, walled-in community, with its own warehouses, weighhouse, church, offices and residential quarters. It spawned affiliated houses in many other English ports. Political impotence within the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation as well as difficulties experienced by its seafaring merchants from pirates, feudal regulations against foreign trade, and excessive customs, fostered an ever closer union among the leading German trading cities. In 1241, Lübeck and Hamburg, on either side of the Danish Peninsula, concluded a treaty of mutual protection, a patrician alliance. In 1266, King Henry III of England gave the Steelyard merchants of Hamburg and Lübeck their own, separate charter, making them the most powerful merchant colony in London. Other German cities soon joined the protective association of Hamburg and Lübeck, and a strong formal alliance, the Hanseatic League, grew up among them, with Lübeck, the center of the Baltic trade, as its hub. The League eventually included some 200 cities. It fought and won its own wars, as, for instance, in 1368 - 1369, against the Danish King Waldemar IV, whose countrymen, reminiscent of Viking times, had taken to piracy and helped themselves regularly to "free" beer from the League's freighters. The League signed its own peace treaties with foreign governments. One such was the Treaty of Stralsund (1370), which gave it a virtual trade monopoly in all of Scandinavia. Henceforth, no Danish king could be crowned without the League's formal approval. The League traded in almost any type of commodity, including wine, oil, grain, leather, cloth, copper, iron, salt and beer. Thanks to the League, a consumer could buy Polish mustard in England, Turkish raisins in Flanders, Italian figs in Norway, and German beer in Russia. By cutting out the feudals, the League had created, in effect, the first European common market, free of tariffs and artificial trade restrictions. Not just port cities like Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck were part of the Hanseatic League. Cities further inland, such as Einbeck, Brunswick, Breslau, Magdeburg, Dortmund, and Cologne, too, were eager to join the new network and supply the growing trading empire with goods, of which beer became one of the more important export commodities. Soon wagon loads of export ales would rumble down the dusty northern highways on their way to the harbor storehouses of the Hanseatic merchants. Bremen took the early lead in beer exports sending casks of German ale as far as Flanders, England and Scandinavia. The Brunswick Mumme, a brown, very hoppy barley ale was so strong that it remained palatable almost for ever and made its way on sailing ships around to globe, even to the hot East Indies. The golden age of the beer trade was made possible not only by the ever increasing keeping qualities of the northern beers, but also by momentous advances in animal traction and harness. Improvements in these fields were first reported in the ninth century, but came into wider use only around the 13th century. Before that time, a horse was hitched to its dray by traces fastened to a yoke on its withers and anchored by a strap around the breast. The harder the horse pulled, the more the strap choked it. The rigid collar changed all that. It put the strain on the horse's shoulders instead on its windpipe, thus increasing the animal's "horsepower" almost fivefold. Only then became the transport of heavy casks of beer over rutty roads possible.Horses employed in freight hauling were also susceptible to slipping, hoof breakage and foot injuries. Because of frequent breakdowns of the hey burners, delivery schedules for trading goods were notoriously unreliable. It was not until the arrival of the nailed-on, iron horseshoe, which kept the animals sound and sure-footed, that trade, especially in semi-perishable goods, could be conducted on anything resembling a time table. How the Bock Got to Bavaria Another Hanseatic city that had been thriving on beer since the middle of the 13th century was Einbeck. Early users of hops instead of gruit, Einbecker brewers made a strong, cold-conditioned brown ale from barley and wheat, not unlike today's Alt, with excellent keeping properties. Eventually, there would be several hundred breweries in Einbeck, all strictly regulated--and taxed--by the city fathers. Einbeckers shipped their brew by wagon trains to Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck, from where it sailed in the holds of Hanseatic ketches to places like Amsterdam to the west and Reval to the east, and even to Jerusalem, where it may have quenched the thirst of a crusading knight. Perhaps the most important destination of Einbecker beer, at least from hindsight, was Munich. Bavarians who could afford it--especially the nobles--would drink the ale from Einbeck before they would swig the lower-quality local brew. The Bavarian answer to the competition was twofold. They issued the Reinheitsgebot and started to imitate the northern brews locally, but, at first, to no avail. The imports from the north kept on coming. They remained the most popular drink in Munich, and, by 1569, there were still only 53 small breweries in the entire city. The beers from the north were good, but expensive and a constant drain on Bavaria's money supply, much to the chagrin of Duke Wilhelm V. He ran his own brewhouse in Landshut, where, in 1590, he had a new beer brewed, a strong brown to red lager, which he hoped would finally recapture the market lost to the northern brewers. A year later, he completed a new brewhouse in Munich, on the site of the now famous Hofbräuhaus. By 1610, that Munich court brewhouse made its first deliveries to local innkeepers and private households. But it was Wilhelm V's successor, Maximilian I, who landed a grand coup that finally spelled an end to the dominance of northern beers in Munich. In 1612, he enticed one Einbecker brewmaster, Elias Pichler, to come to Munich and create an authentic copy of the famous original Einbecker beer. Once there, poor Elias was not allowed to leave town for purpose or pleasure. He had become too valuable a state asset to be let run free. The Bavarian dialect soon mangled the name Einbeck to ayn pock and, eventually, to ein Bock. The beer itself metamorphosed, under Bavarian influence, from a strong ale into a strong lager, which is what we know as Bock beer today. The popularity of Elias' beer became so great that Maximilian was able to finance most of his military expenditures during the Thirty Year's War out of the revenues from the brown lager made by this transplanted brewmaster. Bavaria was finally on its way to becoming the beer stronghold it is today.. The Cool North, a Hot-Bed of Brewing As more and more beer passed through the Hanseatic port city of Bremen, its merchant burghers soon figured that they could make more money by making the beer themselves instead of just buying it from others and trading in it. By the end of the 13th century, thanks to the skills of Bremer brewers and to the sheer size of the markets of the Hanseatic League, no beer was more popular and plentiful in Europe than that brewed in Bremen. The Hamburgers, too, soon entered the international beer business and, during the 14th century, started to eclipse their rivals from Bremen. Hamburg emerged as the brewing city of the League, though Bremen continued to be the premier export harbor for beers from Einbeck, Göttingen and Brunswick. By 1376, Hamburg recorded 457 burgher-owned breweries, by 1526 there were 531. Together, they brewed almost 25 million liters per year (more than 200,000 barrels) and employed almost half the city's wage earning population. Their most famous brew was Keutebier, a hopped, reddish to dark-brown wheat beer with an up-front sweetness and a viniferous aftertaste. One of the more ardent lovers of Hamburg beer was Luther's reformer cohort and confidant, Philipp Melanchton. Even on his death bed, in Wittenberg, in 1560, Philipp asked for a bowl of beer soup. Knowing that it would be his last meal, he specified that it be made with Hamburg suds. How is that for brand loyalty? The Hannoverians developed their own version of a wheat ale, the Broyhan beer, so-named after Cord Broyhan, a Hannoverian native who had left his home town to apprentice with a Hamburg brewer. There he learned the secrets of Hamburger beer. When he returned home, in 1526, he started his own brewery and made his variation on the Hamburg theme, a well-hopped, light brown ale, mashed from one third wheat and two thirds barley. Soon other entrepreneurs jumped on the Broyhan bandwagon. In 1609, the city council of Hannover regulated the quality and brew techniques of the local Broyhan beer, limited the number of brewer burghers to 317, combined all of them into one guild, and incorporated the guild as a company. The guild brewery still exists today as a stock holders' company and is the oldest enterprise in Hannover. It was the Thirty Year's War that was the death knell of the Hanseatic League and, with it, the glory of northern brewing. After the war's disruptive turmoil, which pitted the Protestant against the Catholic countries of Europe, Germany was devastated. Its cities were plundered, its fields lay fallow, its soil was blood-soaked, its commerce was at a standstill, and the Holy Roman Empire was reduced to a mere shell of its former greatness. Many monasteries and feudal castles lay in ruin as did their breweries, never to be rebuilt. Germany was split into 370 semi-autonomous states and statelets, all with their own trade restrictions and with borders and customs duties that made trade well neigh impossible. The Hanseatic League formally dissolved in 1669, but its lasting legacy was a change in the economic balance of power in Europe away from the landed feudals to the city-dwelling bourgeoisie. In its wake, the war left behind a vacuum waiting to be filled by new social organizations and a new, more liberated mindset with an openness to new ideas that would bring progress in all facets of life. . Wheat Ales: an Upper Crust Quaff Makes a Flip-Flop The old feudal rulers of the Dutchy of Bavaria, the House of Wittelsbach, came to power in 1180. Whatever their political fortunes, as guardians of their subjects' beer, they have a lot to answer for. For the first 300 years of their reign, they tried to keep the brewing of ales and lagers--and the profits that came with it--out of the hands of the monks and the burghers and reserved it for themselves and their cronies. Then, for the next 100 years or so, they almost wiped out ale brewing by passing regulations that favored lager making in general and strengthened the market position of their own court breweries in particular. In the end, though, they reinstated ale making, but only as wheat beer--and monopolized it completely, after it became clear how much money they could make from it. Today, when we think of ales, we picture in our mind a beer that is hearty, full bodied, satisfying, nourishing and substantial. When we think of lagers, by comparison, we picture a beer that is delicate, subtle, dainty and gentile. Not so in the Bavaria of the 16th century. After the beer purity law of 1516 (the Reinheitsgebot) and the summer brew prohibition of 1553, barley-based lagers were brown and smoky, while wheat-based ales were "white beers" (Weissbier) that were crisp and delicious.. Wheat Beer Is a Useless Drink! In Bavaria, as in the rest of Germany, any grain was acceptable for beer brewing, until our buddies, the Wittelsbacher co-dukes Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X, proclaimed that wheat would not make "pure" beer. That assertion must have been a kick in the teeth for the Degenberg clan, a noble family from the village of Schwarzach, near Munich, which had been brewing wheat ales for decades. The Degenbergers considered themselves the sole owners of the privilege to make and sell the brew in Bavaria. The notable omission by the dukes of wheat as a legitimate raw material for beer in the original Reinheitsgebot is probably no accident, but a combination of vanity, paternalism, politics and fiscal avarice. The dukes considered Weissbier too gentile a beverage for the vulgar masses, for whom the brown lagers of the time were deemed good enough, especially, after the dukes had decreed that they be pure. Also, there were frequent wheat shortages in medieval Bavaria, and the dukes, well-acquainted with their subjects' nefarious habits, feared that the good Bavarians would rather forego their daily bread than not have their daily brew. Since it was the God-given duty of the feudal lords to look after the welfare of their subjects, they held, in their paternal wisdom, that wheat would best serve the common good if it were consumed in solid rather than liquid form. The dukes considered wheat beer "a useless drink that neither nourishes nor provides strength and power, but only encourages drunkenness"--unless, of course, it was destined to slacken a noble thirst! (Lohberg, no date) By 1566, fifty years after the Reinheitsgebot, wheat beer making by the ordinary brewer was outlawed altogether.. Wheat Ale Becomes a Political Football On the political side, the dukes had to respect the inherited monopoly of wheat beer brewing enjoyed by the House of Degenberg. Blatant revocation of a feudal privilege was unthinkable in an era when the power of the state to make war depended on the willingness of the landed gentry to supply the infantry with serfs. The local lords, who owned the serfs, traded the military services of their subjects for rights and privileges. They usually drove a hard bargain, exacting advantages for themselves in perpetuity. While Wilhelm IV confirmed and even extended the Degenbergers' right to brew and sell Weissbier, his successor, Duke Abrecht V, however, was not so generous. He tried to make life and business as difficult as possible for the Degenbergers by putting a sales tax on their suds, thus provoking a feud between the two houses, the Wittelsbachers and the Degenbergers, that lasted until 1602. In that auspicious year, happily for the dukes, the line of Degenbergers became extinct, when its last progeny, Baron Hans Sigmund of Degenberg, died without leaving an heir. By the rules of the day, the wheat beer privilege automatically reverted to the house of the Bavarian dukes. Now that the dukes, instead of the Degenbergers, could make money from wheat beer, there was a sudden reversal of official Bavarian policy. Duke Maximilian I, great-grandson of Wilhelm IV, of Reinheitsgebot fame, built a new court brewhouse in Munich, right next to the brown lager brewery built by his father Wilhelm V. Both breweries were, incidentally, on the site of the now-famous Munich Hofbräuhaus at Am Platzl Square. Maximilian I brought the Schwarzach brewmaster to Munich and dedicated the new brewery exclusively to Weissbier making. Over the years, he added more and more wheat beer breweries to his brew conglomerate. He also continued to prevent anybody else from brewing wheat beers and, thus, granted to the line of Wittelsbachers the only exception from the barley-only provisions of the Reinheitsgebot. Do as I say, not as I do ...! Not only was wheat beer now permitted to be dispensed to the masses, in fact, every innkeeper had to pour it, next to the standard brown lager, and purchase it directly from the crown! If he refused, he lost his license. This new twist in Bavarian beer policy not only kept the wheat beer flowing in the land but also the coffers swelling in the ducal treasury. . A Useless Drink Earns Useful Revenues The Weissbier monopoly remained with the Wittelsbachers until well into the 19th century, by which time the Bavarian rulers had earned sheer astronomical sums from the sale to the humble masses of the erstwhile upper crust quaff. They even issued a wheat beer quality ordinance, in 1803, in which they specified that the brew should "be bubbly and foamy, contain the bitterness of the hops, leave a cooling and refreshing sensation on the palate, and impart its prickly flavor to its bouquet as well." Thus, in spite of the Reinheitsgebot, which put lagers on the map, Bavaria became also the cradle of German wheat ales, by decree from above, not by democratic market forces from below ... simply because there was money in it for the nobles.. Wheat Beer's Death and Resurrection Eventually, though, the brown lager of Bavaria improved and made a comeback. By 1808, the ducal brown beer brewery incorporated the adjacent wheat beer brewery into its operations. By the mid 1800s, wheat beers had become just a curiosity from the past. In 1872, the Wittelsbachers sold the Weissbier privilege to a private brewing company and thus ended two-and-a-half centuries of the ducal wheat beer monopoly. In the decades that followed, wheat beer sales stabilized.. Though the Reinheitsgebot has changed in modern times and now allows for malted wheat in certain beers, the Weissbier has not. It's still an ale. There is no lager wheat beer in Germany. It would be against the law! All beers called Weizen or Weissbier must be made with top-fermenting yeast and at least 50 percent malted wheat. Furthermore, the addition of unmalted wheat--or unmalted anything, for that matter--is verboten. Today, dozens of private breweries turn out wheat ales in all shades of color and alcoholic strength--from clear, blond, filtered Kristallweizen, to pale, unfiltered Hefeweizen, to dark Dunkelweizen, to strong Weizenbock and even Weizendoppelbock. Ales made from wheat now comprise a some 10 percent of German beer consumption and are available in stores and pubs across the country from Hamburg to Munich, from Düsseldorf to Dresden.. Here Come 'de Yeast ...and Modern Brewing Even after the demise of the Hanseatic League and the stagnation of the brew industry in the north, free brewing continued in Germany. In Bavaria, monastery and court breweries were being replaced by commercial ones. While between the 12th and 16th century, much of the top-quality brew consumed in Bavaria had to be imported from northern Germany, by 1750, some 4,000--mostly very small--commercial breweries had sprung up in Bavaria, all making excellent, mostly lager, beer. Every little village and hamlet had its own brewery, usually protected by local monopoly ordinances and supplying its tiny patch of the universe with brew. In some areas in Bavaria, the prohibition against drinking beer from another town remained in force until about 200 years ago. The political and economic victory of the bourgeoisie ultimately proved lasting, even in Bavaria. After the French Revolution (1789), rumblings of freedom were heard even in the most staunchly conservative and reactionary regions of Europe. In 1797, the French, imbued with democratic fervor, occupied the Rhineland, including Düsseldorf and Cologne. By 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte ruled most of Europe. In that year, the German Emperor, Francis II, who was also the king of Austria, resigned, and the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which Otto I had founded in 962, was formally dissolved. According to Francis II, it was no longer worth governing.. The French Revolution: Vive la biére libre In an effort to maintain social control of the conquered Rhineland, the newly-instated governor and brother-in-law to Napoleon, Joaquim Murat, forbade all trade and professional associations. This was the end of the brewers guilds in Düsseldorf, Cologne and most anywhere else in Germany. Even in Bavaria, in the year 1800, local beer sale monopolies were abolished and every subject was allowed to drink whichever beer he wanted, even if it was from the next town instead of the local brewery. After 1805, country breweries were allowed to brew as much beer as their city competitors, and all breweries could own and operate brewpubs. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo (1815) and the peace treaty hammered out during the Vienna Congress that same year, the Rhineland became a province of Prussia. The Prussian rulers confirmed the abolition of the guilds, arguing that their rules of admission had been too restrictive. Henceforth, there was to be Gewerbefreiheit, the freedom of every Prussian subject to choose his own profession or trade, unhampered by the closed-shop restrictions of the guilds. In the early 19th century, protectionism in the beer business slowly fell by the wayside and competition became the rule. Brewing in most parts of Germany had become unshackled from its traditional limitations--except taxes, of course--and had been tossed into the treacherous waters of the open market. In Munich, for instance, in 1790, there were 60 breweries supplying the city's 40,000 inhabitants. By 1819, there were only 35 left, and by 1865, no more than 15. The market place eliminated inefficient enterprises, but those that survived the shake-out became bigger.. Brewing Turns Science Freed from the constraints of religious dogma and feudal backwardness, critical free thought and scientific inquiry also took off. The changes in the intellectual world had started in the 17th century, after the Thirty Years' War, and had a profound impact on beer and brewing. Since Sumerian and Egyptian times, beer had been made by spontaneous, uncontrolled fermentation. The ancients dropped a loaf of half-baked bread into a jar filled with water. They waited a few days, then took a straw and imbibed. The monks, nuns, vassals, housewives and craftsmen of the Middle Ages refined the techniques, but still had no clue which processes they actually set in motion. The result of their efforts was, more often than not, an ale, rarely a lager, but always chancy. Only with the rise of commercial freedom, intellectual enlightenment, and science and technology could beer making reach new heights. It was not until the 19th century that beer began to taste reliably and ubiquitously good. To reach the level of proficiency of a modern brewer, man had to figure out what actually happened in the fermenter. Man needed to see, to understand and to control. That development took roughly from the start of the 17th to the end of the 19th century. It was driven by discovery and innovation, and, within the span of a scant 250 years, man moved from brewing by the seats of his pants to a scientific understanding and to technological control of the processes required for beer quality and consistency. . From Putrefaction to Fermentation Until the 16th century, government regulations like the Reinheitsgebot and the summer brewing prohibition were the driving forces behind the changes in brewing practices, particularly in Bavaria. But even after 1516, when only barley, hops and water were used, the result of the brewing process was still a matter of luck. Fermentation was commonly regarded as a mystical and spontaneous process, a form of putrefaction. The milky substance that settled out at the bottom of the fermenter or formed a flocculent layer at the top of the brew was not recognized for what it was (yeast). Instead, it was considered an impurity, a by-product of putrefaction that better be discarded. It was not known that this very "by-product" made alcoholic fermentation happen. In practice, any number of airborne yeast strains, from lager yeasts (saccharomyces uvarum) to ale yeasts (saccharomyces cerevisiae) to wild yeasts, could be--and probably were present in any given brew and, most likely, all were infected with bacteria. Which yeast became dominant and defined the character of the beer depended largely on the ambient temperature. The warmer the cellar, the more likely the beer would be an ale. Off-flavors in beer and a short shelf life were probably the rule rather than the exception, especially for beers brewed during the hot summer months. A theoretical understanding of the metabolism of yeast, of the differences between warm and cold fermenting yeasts--and of the differences between the beers they produce--had to wait until the late 19th century. It was the German physician and chemist Andreas Libau, a.k.a. Libavius (around 1560 - 1616), who was the first to point out that fermentation and putrefaction were different processes. He knew about carbon dioxide (CO2) and was the first to describe a method of distilling alcohol. It is doubtful that any brewer of Libavius' time read his heavy tome, Alchymia (published in Latin, in 1606), which was the first systematic text book of chemistry, but later scientists did. Libavius laid the conceptual foundation for all subsequent discoveries about the true nature of fermentation.. I Can See Clearly Now The Thirty Years' War had not only devastated central Europe physically, it also had brought most scientific work to a halt. Progress started to pick up only towards the 18th century, when the Age of Reason ushered in a new wave of intellectual, political, social and economic change and propelled the Western world towards democracy, industrialization and a secular lifestyle. Although Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) appears to have had no interest in brewing, he was, without realizing it, the instrument for the research that would ultimately solve the mystery of fermentation. Van Leeuwenhoek was a draper-turned-natural-scientist-and-microscope-maker. As a draper apprentice in Amsterdam, in 1648, young Antony often had to check the quality of cloth under a lens. This helped spark his interest in optics. By 1871, he had constructed his first microscope. He assembled at least 242 of them in his lifetime, some with a magnification of as great as 270 times. We know that Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch spectacle maker, had theorized about magnification before van Leeuwenhoek and had made a primitive model of the microscope around 1590 (as had Galileo in 1610), but van Leeuwenhoek's was the first truly usable device. In 1674, it helped him to see yeast cells, bacteria, and other protozoa (single-cell animals) as well as red blood cells for the very first time. He also described the reproduction of microorganisms and thus refuted the theory of spontaneous generation, which, thus far, had furnished the accepted explanation for the cause of fermentation and putrefaction. Finally, there was the yeast! . Controlling Time and Temperature Have you ever thought what brewing would be like without a thermometer or even a clock? The invention of the first mechanical clock is credited to a learned monk, Gerbert, who later became Pope Sylvester II. His contraption dates from around 996, but mechanical clocks did not come into wider use until the late Middle Ages. Imagine controlling the mashing time or the boil in the brew kettle by keeping a watchful eye on an hourglass or maybe a sundial. Great variation in extract efficiency and beer quality must have been the order of the day, when time was more a matter of guesswork than measurement. The thermometer was not invented until a mere 250 years ago. The first usable thermometers were developed by a German named Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, in 1714, by a Frenchman named René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur, in 1731, and by a Swede named Anders Celsius, in 1742. This new little gadget finally allowed brewers to control mash temperatures without having to mix fixed volumes of grain and water at either well water temperature or at a boil. . Ethanol and CO2 The French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743 - 1794) made the next giant leap forward in fermentation knowledge. In 1789, he discovered that CO2 and ethanol are the products of alcoholic fermentation. He also explained the role of oxygen in the respiration of both plants and animals (see highlight) and thus contributed to our understanding of the carbon cycle that turns the barley on the stalk into the brew in our glass.. New Kiln - Clean Grain After 1818, the taste of beer improved greatly as indirect hot-air kilning of malted grain gradually replaced the traditional direct-smoke kilning. Instead of sending hot, dirty smoke over the moist bed of malted grain, in an indirect system, the fuel heated a stream of clean air that was blown through the grain. Thus the grain no longer picked up smoky residues from coal or wood, flavors that used to be passed on to the beer. The new kilns also allowed for more precise temperature control of the drying grain and thus gave the brewer for the first time dependable pale malt as well as malt with predictable mashing qualities.. At the Beginning There Was Ale It Who Done It? The Sugar Fungus! By the beginning of the 19th century brewers knew that fermentation had nothing to do with rot, that yeast played an important role, and--thanks to Lavoisier--that fermentation produced alcohol and CO2. Now it was time for someone to put it all together and to explain the mechanisms at work in detail. Along came the German physiologist and histologist Theodor Schwann (1810 - 1882). Schwann discovered that the cell is the building block of all plant and animal tissue. He was also the first to recognize, in 1837, that the yeast cell, which was first seen by van Leeuwenhoek under his microscope, is a living organism. Noting that the little critter had a sweet tooth, he called it "sugar fungus", hence the Latin name saccharomyces. Schwann also discovered that the munching of sugars by saccharomyces, which we call fermentation, occurs only when there is no air, i.e., that fermentation is an anaerobic process. Wort - How Sweet It Is In 1843, only one year after the first Pilsner Urquell was brewed, the Bohemian chemist Carl Joseph Napoleon Balling invented the hydrometer. His gravity spindle measured the amount of dissolved substances in the wort--mostly sugars, but also proteins, minerals, vitamins and aromatics--and thus allowed for the quantitative determination of extract strength and of the progress of fermentation (which brewers call attenuation). Brewing science was finally getting somewhere! The milky by-product of medieval putrefaction had by now become firmly established as a living, single-cell creature that converted sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide and thus turns the brewer's wort into beer. Brewers could control the color of the grain that they fed the yeast, they could measure the yeast's temperature while it was at work in order to predict if they were producing a lager or an ale, and they could check the progress of the yeast's labors with a hydrometer. But if they wanted to tame the yeast, they had to find out what made it tick. The French chemist Louis Pasteur was the one to furnish that answer.. At the Beginning There Was Ale It	i don't know
Joy in the misfortune of others - from German?	Schadenfreude \| Define Schadenfreude at Dictionary.com schadenfreude satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune. Origin of schadenfreude 1890-95; < German, equivalent to Schaden harm + Freude joy Dictionary.com Unabridged Examples from the Web for schadenfreude Expand Lord Tony's Wife Baroness Emmuska Orczy British Dictionary definitions for schadenfreude Expand German: from Schaden harm + Freude joy Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for schadenfreude Expand n. "malicious joy in the misfortunes of others," 1922, German Schadenfreude, literally "damage-joy," from schaden "damage, harm, injury" (see scathe ) + freude, from Old High German frewida "joy," from fro "happy," literally "hopping for joy," from Proto-Germanic *frawa- (see frolic ). What a fearful thing is it that any language should have a word expressive of the pleasure which men feel at the calamities of others; for the existence of the word bears testimony to the existence of the thing. And yet in more than one such a word is found. ... In the Greek epikhairekakia, in the German, 'Schadenfreude.' [Richard C. Trench, "On the Study of Words," 1852] Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper	Schadenfreude
Hot steam bath - from Finnish?	Schadenfreude \| Psychology Wiki \| Fandom powered by Wikia ( help · info ) ) is a German word meaning 'pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune'. It has been borrowed by the English language [1] and is sometimes also used as a loanword by other languages. It derives from Schaden (damage, harm) and Freude (joy); Schaden derives from the Middle High German schade, from the Old High German scado, and freude comes from the Middle High German vreude, from the Old High German frewida, from frō, (happy). In German , the word always carries a negative connotation . A distinction exists between "secret schadenfreude" (a private feeling) and "open schadenfreude" (Hohn, a German word roughly translated as "scorn") which is outright public derision. Usually, it is stated that Schadenfreude has no direct English equivalent. For example, Harper Collins German-English Dictionary translates schadenfreude as "malicious glee or gloating ." However, an apparent English equivalent is epicaricacy , derived from the Greek word ἐπιχαιρεκακία, epichaerecacia. This word does not appear in most modern dictionaries , but does appear in Nathaniel Bailey 's Universal Etymological English Dictionary ( 1727 ) under a slightly different spelling (epicharikaky), which gives its etymology as a compound of epi (upon), chara (joy), and kakon (evil). A more common English equivalent than 'epicaricacy' might be the expression 'Roman holiday', which means pleasure derived from watching someone else's suffering, and is derived from the delight of Roman citizens' at the gladiatorial spectacles in the Colosseum . Another phrase with a meaning similar to Schadenfreude is "morose delectation" ("delectatio morosa" in Latin ), meaning "the habit of dwelling with enjoyment on evil thoughts". [2] The medieval church taught morose delectation is a sin. [3] [4] French writer Pierre Klossowski (1905-2001) maintained that the appeal of sadism is morose delectation. [5] [6] In English , the word sometimes is capitalized , because of the German spelling convention of capitalizing all common nouns in addition to proper nouns ; however, as a loanword in English, it is typically left uncapitalized, following the rules of English orthography . The Buddhist concept of mudita , "sympathetic joy" or "happiness in another's good fortune," is cited as an example of the opposite of schadenfreude. [7] [8] Expressions and the term in other languages Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed . This article has been tagged since November 2007. Neid zu fühlen ist menschlich, Schadenfreude zu genießen teuflisch: "To feel envy is human, to savour schadenfreude is devilish." ( Arthur Schopenhauer ) Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude.: "Schadenfreude is the best form of joy." Often used ironically to criticize somebody's display of schadenfreude. Lachen heißt: schadenfroh sein, aber mit gutem Gewissen: "Humour is just Schadenfreude with a clear conscience." ( Nietzsche ) Dutch : Geen schoner vermaak dan leedvermaak: "No entertainment more beautiful than enjoying someone else's suffering." ( Proverb , often used ironically ). The French proverb: Le malheur des uns fait le bonheur des autres: "One person's misfortune is another's happiness". However, the equivalence here is inexact, as the proverb really means that only that one person would benefit from another's misfortune, not actually find pleasure in misfortune for its own sake. A better expression would be "Se réjouir du malheur d'autrui" ("to gloat"). Similar terms in other languages: Albanian : inat (inat or inad, spite, ill will, resentment) Arabic : shamaatah شماتة (shamtan, taking pleasure in the misfortune of others) Bulgarian : злорадство (зло, evil or harm, радост, joy) Chinese : Template:Zh-st (幸 enjoy[ing]; 災 [other's] calamity; 樂 be happy for/laugh at; 禍 [other's] misfortune/suffering) Czech : škodolibost (škoda, damage, harm, or loss, libost, pleasure) Danish and Norwegian : skadefryd (skade, damage, injury or harm, fryd, glee) Dutch : leedvermaak (leed, suffering or sorrow, and vermaak, entertainment) Esperanto : malica ĝojo (malica, wicked, and ĝojo, joy) Estonian : kahjurõõm (kahju, damage or harm and rõõm, joy) Finnish : vahingonilo (vahinko, accident or damage, ilo, joy or happiness) Greek : χαιρεκακία (χαρά, joy or delight and κακία, spite or ill will) Hebrew : שמחה) : שמחה לאיד, joy, איד, misfortune, based on Proverbs 17:5) (simcha la'ed), also: " מתכבד בקלון חבירו " (see Mishneh Torah , the laws of Teshuvah chap. 4:4). Hungarian : káröröm (kár, loss or damage, öröm, joy) Lithuanian : piktdžiuga (piktas angry, džiaugsmas joy) Macedonian : злорадост (зло, evil or harm, радост, joy) Russian : злорадство (зло, evil or harm, радость, joy) Scots Gaelic : aighear millteach (aighear, delight or joy, millteach, malicious or destructive) Serbian and Croatian : злурадост/zluradost (zlo, evil, radost, joy) Slovak : škodoradosť (škoda, damage, harm, or loss, radosť, joy) Slovenian : škodoželjnost (škoda, damage, harm, or loss, želeti, to wish) Swedish : skadeglädje (skada, damage, glädje, joy or happiness) In Swedish and Norwegian, there is also the saying: skadeglädjen/fryd är den enda sanna glädjen/fryd ("schadenfreude is the only true joy"). A Finnish variant is: vahingonilo on aidointa iloa, sillä siihen ei sisälly tippaakaan kateutta ("schadenfreude is the most genuine kind of joy, since it doesn't include even a drop of envy"). A Slovak variant is: škodoradosť je najväčšia radosť ("schadenfreude is the greatest joy"), similar in meaning to the Hungarian variant: legszebb öröm a káröröm, and the Estonian: kahjurõõm on kõige suurem rõõm. In Hebrew the saying is: 'אין שמחה כשמחה לאיד' ("There is no joy like schadenfreude"). In Danish, the saying is: Egen lykke er at foretrække men andres ulykke er dog ikke at foragte, and translates to "(One's) own happiness is to be preferred, but the misfortune of others should not be scorned." In Dutch the saying is: Er is geen beter vermaak dan leedvermaak ("There's no better entertainment than schadenfreude"). The German version reads: Schadenfreude ist die schönste Freude. ("Schadenfreude is the greatest joy.") In Thai , the phrase สมน้ำหน้า, som nam na, can be interpreted as: "You got what you deserved"; "Serves you right"; or "I'm laughing at your bad luck". In Malay , the phrase padan muka literally means "fits your face" but the more appropriate English translation is: "You got what you deserved"; In Korean , the phrase 고소하다, go so ha da, literally translated means "to smell sesame oil", because in Korea the smell of sesame oil is regarded as very pleasant, this phrase also is used when one is pleased about a particular event. It is especially used when one is pleased about an event involving the misfortune of another. In Chinese , the phrase xìngzāi lèhuò ( Template:Zh-st ) is an old idiom that directly translates to "enjoying (other's) calamity (and) laughing at (other's) misfortune". In Japanese , the phrase 他人の不幸は蜜の味, tanin no fukou wa mitsu no aji, translates literally as "others' misfortunes are the taste of honey ". memoirs, Inside the Third Reich , Albert Speer described Adolf Hitler 's sense of humor as almost entirely based upon schadenfreude. Some examples were mean-spirited jokes played on ministers such as Joachim von Ribbentrop , many initiated by Hitler or his friends. References	i don't know
Happiness or blissful death through elightenment (literally 'blowing out') - from Sanskrit?	Glossary of Buddhist Terms Glossary of Buddhist Terms A Abhijina Six Supernormal powers usually possessed by Buddha, bodhisattvas or arhant. These powers include magical powers,divine ears,penetration of the mind of others,divine eye, memory of former existence and knowledge of the exitinction of moral impurities. Ahimsa Blessed liquor and spiritual intoxication. Apsara A type of demon. Arhat Literally, "foe destroyer." A person who has destroyed his or her inner enemy, the delusions, and attained liberation from cyclic existence. Asanga A fourth century Buddhist teacher, one of the founders of the Yogacara School of Buddhism. Avadhuti The central nadi of the illusory body Avalokiteshvara The buddha of compassion. A male meditational deity embodying fully enlightened compassion. An opening at the crown of the head at the top of avadhuti. Bodhi A Sanskrit term used for enlightenment. The term is generally applied to those individuals who have understood the effectiveness of four noble truths and achieved the results of completing the eightfold path. Bodhicitta The altruistic determination to reach enlightenment for the sole purpose of enlightening all sentient beings. Bodhisattva Someone whose spiritual practice is directed toward the achievement of enlightenment. One who possesses the compassionate motivation of bodhicitta. Buddha A fully enlightened being. One who has removed all obscurations veiling the mind and has developed all good qualities to perfection. The first of the Three Jewels of refuge. See also enlightenment. Buddha Field The realm of existence of a buddha Often used in a technical sense to refer to the primary centers of the illusory body Celestial Realm A realm pf the dakinis. Chang A more common term used to refer to the robes worn by monastic community. Compassion The wish for all beings to be separated from their mental and physical suffering. A prerequisite for the development of bodhicitta. Compassion is symbolized by the meditational deity Avalokiteshvara. A male being who helps arouse blissful energy in a qualified tantric practitioner. Dakini A female being who helps arouse blissful energy in a qualified tantric practitioner. Delusion An obscuration covering the essentially pure nature of the mind, being thereby responsible for suffering and dissatisfaction; the main delusion is ignorance, out of which grow desirous attachment, hatred, jealousy, and all the other delusions. Deva The God realm. Dharmachakra This term is used as in dharmacakra pravartana ( turning the wheel of Dharma), which refers to teaching the dharma. Dharmadhatu All encompassing space, unconditional totality - unorigination and unchanging in which all phenomena arise, dwell and cease. Dharmakara Primary figure in the Larger Sukhavativyuha-sutra. He was a monk who desired to become Buddha and was successful in doing so after countless lifetime. He came to be known as Buddha Amitabha. Doha A type of verse of song spontaneously composed by vajrayana practioners as an expression of their realization. Dorje The magical weapon of the Vedic god Indra, made of metal and very sharp and hard; adamantine. A thunderbolt. A tantric implement symbolizing method (compassion or bliss), held in the right hand (the male side), usually in conjunction with a bell, which symbolizes wisdom and is held in the left hand (the female side). Manjushri, Vajrapani, Avalokiteshvara, Ksitigarbha, Akashagarbha, Sarvanivaranavis Kambini, Maireya and Samantabhadra. Empowerment Transmission received from a tantric master allowing a disciple to engage in the practices of a particular meditational deity. It is also referred to as an empowerment. Emptiness The absence of all false ideas about how things exist; specifically, the lack of the apparent independent, self-existence of phenomena. Sometimes translated as “voidness.” Enlightment Full awakening; buddhahood. Equanimity Absence of the usual discrimination of sentient beings into friend, enemy and stranger, deriving from the realization that all sentient beings are equal in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering and that since beginningless time, all beings have been all things to each other. An impartial mind that serves as the basis for the development of great love, great compassion and bodhicitta. A spiritual guide or teacher. Guru Yoga The fundamental tantric practice, whereby one's guru is seen as identical with the buddhas, one's personal meditational deity, and the essential nature of one's own mind. H Hayagriva A wrathful heruka of the padma family belonging to the anuyoga tantra of the Old Translation School. He is depicted with three faces, six arms and four legs with the wings of a heruka. His special attribute is a horse's head surmounting his principal head. Hearer One branch of the Hinayana. Practitioners who strive for nirvana on the basis of listening to teachings from a teacher. Solitary realizer. Heruka Male meditational deity from the mother tantra class of highest yoga tantra. He is the principal deity connected with the Heruka Vajrasattva practice. Hevajra A semiwrathful heruka. He transforms sense pleasure and form into joy through realizing the identity of form and emptiness. Hinayana Literally, Small, or Lesser, Vehicle. The first of the three yanas . An honorific Tibetan term apploed to revered teachers. Jina A term in Sanskrit which means 'conqueror' or 'victorious one'. It is one of the epithets used for the Buddha. Jnana The wisdom activity of enlightenment, transcending all dualistic conceptualization. K Kalachakra A bahuvrihi term used in Tantric Buddhism that means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles". It refers both to a Tantric deity (Tib. yidam) of Vajrayana Buddhism and to the philosophies and meditation practices contained within the Kalachakra Tantra and its many commentaries. Karma According to the doctrine of action and result, one's present experience is a product of previous actions and volitions and future conditions depend on what we do in the present. Kriya First of the four classes of tantra - action tantra. Kundalini Blissful energy dormant within the physical body, aroused through tantric practice and used to generate penetrative insight into the true nature of reality. Kusha Grass Kind of long-stranded grass used under the retreat seat, during tantric initiations, and for making brooms in India. Shakyamuni Buddha made a seat out of kusha grass when he meditated under the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya and attained enlightenment. L Lam-Rim A presentation of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings in a form suitable for the step-by-step training of a disciple. The lam-rim was first formulated by the great Indian teacher Atisha (Dipankara Shrijnana, 982-1055) when he came to Tibet in 1042. See also three principal paths. Lama A spiritual guide or teacher. Liberation The state of complete liberation from samsara; the goal of a practitioner seeking his or her own freedom from suffering . Lower nirvana is used to refer to this state of self-liberation, while higher nirvana refers to the supreme attainment of the full enlightenment of buddhahood. Lotsava M Mahamudra The great seal. A profound system of meditation upon the mind and the ultimate nature of reality. Mahasiddha A term for enlightened master in tantric tradition. Mahayana The Great Vehicle. It is one of the two general divisions of Buddhism. Mahayana practitioners' motivation for following the Dharma path is principally their intense wish for all mother sentient beings to be liberated from conditioned existence, or samsara, and to attain the full enlightenment of buddhahood. The Mahayana has two divisions: Paramitayana (Sutrayana) and Vajrayana (Tantrayana, Mantrayana). Mandala It means center and periphery in tibetan word. It is usually represented by a diagram with a central deity, a personification of the basic sanity of buddha nature. The outer world, ones body and state of mind, and the totality can all be seen as mandala. Mantra Literally, protection of the mind. Mantras are Sanskrit syllables recited in conjunction with the practice of a particular meditational deity that embody the qualities of that deity. Merit Positive imprints left on the mind by virtuous, or Dharma, actions. The principal cause of happiness. Accumulation of merit, when coupled with the accumulation of wisdom, eventually results in rupakaya. Mudra Hands or body gestures meant to depict some aspect of Buddhist teachings in a symbolic manner N Ngondro Preliminary practice found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, usually done 100,000 times each; the four main ones are recitation of the refuge formula,mandala offerings,prostrations, & Vajrasattva mantra recitation. Nirvana The state of complete liberation from samsara; the goal of a practitioner seeking his or her own freedom from suffering. An act that establishes membership in the monastic component of the Buddhist samgha. Offering The principal of offering has several level of application, generally based on generosity and surrendering one ego's clinging. P Palden Lhamo The dark blue protector and only female among the Eight Guardians of the Law, is also Mahakali. Paramita Generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiastic perseverance, concentration and wisdom. Prajna The natural sharpness of awareness that sees, discriminates and also sees through conceptual discrimination. Prajñaparamita The perfection of wisdom. The prajñaparamita sutras are the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha in which the wisdom of emptiness and the path of the bodhisattva are set forth. The basis of Nagarjuna's philosophy. Puja The feminine counterpart of sukra. It is symbolic of bodhicitta. Red Loma Gyonma Female Deity specially powerful to protect and cure epidemics and contagious disease Refuge The door to the Dharma path. A Buddhist takes refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, fearing the sufferings of samsara and believing that the Three Jewels have the power to lead him or her out of suffering, to happiness, liberation, or enlightenment Rejoicing The attitude of appreciating and feeling happy about positive, virtuous actions, both one's own and others'; taking delight in others' good qualities, success, good fortune, and so on. S Sadhana Method of accomplishment; the step-by-step instructions for practicing the meditations related to a particular meditational deity. Samsara Cyclic existence; the six realms of conditioned existence, three lower -hell, hungry spirit , and animal and three upper -human, demi-god, and god. It is the beginningless, recurring cycle of death and rebirth under the control of delusion and karma and fraught with suffering. It also refers to the contaminated aggregates of a sentient being. Six Ornaments Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga,Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. Shamatha Meditation This is basic sitting meditation in which one usually follows the breath while observing the workings of the mind while sitting in the cross-legged posture. The main purpose of Shamatha meditation is to settle or tame the mind so that it will stay where one places it. Stupa Buddhist reliquary objects ranging in size from huge to a few inches in height and representing the enlightened mind. T Tantra Literally, thread, or continuity. The texts of the secret mantra teachings of Buddhism; often used to refer to these teachings themselves. Tara Female bodhisattva, who, it is believed, was born from the two tear drops shed by Avalokitesvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Tara, whose name means savioress, is immensely important in Tibetan Buddhism. Three Bodies of Truth Body, Enjoyment Body and Emanation Body. Torma An offering cake used in tantric rituals. In Tibet, tormas were usually made of tsampa, but other edibles such as biscuits and so forth will suffice. Tsampa Roasted barley flour; a Tibetan staple food. Tsog Literally, gathering—a gathering of offering substances and a gathering of disciples to make the offering. U Upaya It conveys the sense that enlightened beings teach the dharma skillfully, taking into consideration the various needs, abilities, and shortcomings of their students. Upasaka A term used for male Buddhist lay disciple. Upasika A term used for female Buddhist lay disciple. Ushnisha Vijaya A peaceful white deity and an emanation of Vairochana Buddha. She has three faces, ten eyes and eight hands. Her right hands hold a lasso, bow, and vase with the nectar of immortality; her fourth right hand bears an eye in the palm and is in the mudra (posture) of generosity. Her left hands hold a miniature Buddha image, a double (crossed) vajra, and an arrow; the fourth left hand is held in meditation posture in her lap. Ushnisha Sitatapatra This white-coloured deity, a form of Tara, is a female counterpart of the thousand-armed form of Avalokiteshvara. She has one thousand faces, arms and legs; each face has three eyes, and she has one eye in the palm of each hand and the sole of each foot, showing that she watches and protects sentient beings. Her central faces are white (as is her body); her right faces are yellow, the faces at the rear of her body are red, and the left faces green; there is also a tier of blue faces at the top of her head. Her right hands hold wheels of the Dharma (dharmachakra) and her left hands hold arrows; one of her other left hands also holds aloft a white parasol which also symbolises her protection. The sambhogakaya buddha of the buddha family. Vajradhara The name of the dharmakaya buddha. He is depicted as dark blue, and is particularly important to the Kagyu Lineage as it is said that Tilopa received the vajrayana teaching directly from Vajradhara. Vajrapani Associated with the vajra family. It is said to be the lord of mantra, also called Lord of Secret. He is a bodhisattva and is depicted in both peaceful and wrathful form. Vajrayogini Female meditational deity from the mother class of highest yoga tantra; sometimes a consort of Heruka. Vajrasattva Male meditational deity symbolizing the inherent purity of all buddhas. A major tantric purification practice for removing obstacles created by negative karma and the breaking of vows. Vipashyana Meditation Sanskrit for “insight meditation” This meditation develops insight into the nature of reality.	Nirvana
What capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh became famous for the 1984 gas poisoning disaster at Dow Chemicals' Union Carbide plant?	Nibbana - definition of Nibbana by The Free Dictionary Nibbana - definition of Nibbana by The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Nibbana n. 1. often Nirvana a. Buddhism A state in which the mind, enlightened as to the illusory nature of the self, transcends all suffering and attains peace. b. Hinduism A state in which the soul, having relinquished individual attachments and recognized its identity with Brahman, escapes samsara. 2. An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy. [Sanskrit nirvāṇam, a blowing out, extinction, nirvana : nis-, nir-, out, away + vāti, it blows; see wē- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] nirvana (nɪəˈvɑːnə; nɜː-) n (Buddhism) Buddhism Hinduism final release from the cycle of reincarnation attained by extinction of all desires and individual existence, culminating (in Buddhism) in absolute blessedness, or (in Hinduism) in absorption into Brahman [C19: from Sanskrit: extinction, literally: a blowing out, from nir- out + vāti it blows] nirˈvanic adj (nɪrˈvɑ nə, -ˈvæn ə, nər-) n. 1. (often cap.) (in Buddhism) the final release from the cycle of reincarnations as a result of the extinction of individual passion, hatred, and delusion. 2. (often cap.) (in Hinduism) salvation through the union of Atman with Brahma. 3. a place or state characterized by freedom from pain and worry. [1830–40; < Skt nirvāṇa] nirvana 1. A state of ultimate wisdom and blessedness. 2. A state of release from the cycle of reincarnation and absorption into the universal reality. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:	i don't know
"What, according to Forbes magazine in 2011 ""...achieved in 7 years what the CIA could not in 60, i.e., knowing what 800million people think, read and listen to..."" ?"	Issues & Alibis Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wins the coveted "Vidkun Quisling Award!" John Nichols visits, "In The Courts Of Fitzwalkerstan." Glenn Greenwald reviews, "Primitive Muslims' Unique Love Of Violence." And finally in the 'Parting Shots' department The Onion finds, "Even Newt Gingrich A Little Depressed By Prospect Of Him Running For President" but first, Uncle Ernie is, "Giving Medicine To The Dead." This week we spotlight the cartoons of Gary Markstein , with additional cartoons, photos and videos from Derf City, Married To The Sea, Bill Day, Jim Morin, Mario Piperni.Com, Stuart Carlson, Chicago Ray, A.P., Columbia Pictures Corporation, You Tube.Com and Issues & Alibis.Org. Plus we have all of your favorite Departments... (All together now) All Together Now ~~~ The Beatles To be honest politically these daze one can not be either a Rethuglican or a Demoncrat as there is really no difference between the two; they both work for our corpo-rat masters and couldn't give a rat's ass about we the people. The trouble is their followers haven't a clue that this is so. The Matrix is so warm, fuzzy, and comforting--and to think outside of it is very scary and delusional, indeed. Waking up to "Everything You Know Is Wrong," can be a bit disquieting! It's been obvious to me for years that the Rethuglican camp followers were this way, brainwashed and totally ignorant of reality, but in the last few years I found it to be exactly the same for Demoncratic camp followers, too. Although they had no problem seeing the treason, sedition, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, not to mention crimes against the Constitution, done by the Bush Junta, one would've thought they could see the exact same crimes, whether committed by Slick Willie or Obamahood, too; but, apparently, they can't. It's as simple as they see things as good or evil with no shades of grey. They were against Bush who was evil; ergo, they are good and their candidate is good, too, by association. After all, he said he was for all the things that I believe in. Yes, it's really that simple. Symbolism! It's also true that Symbolism is for the symbol-minded, please excuse the pun, but it's true. We come by it honestly as we've been fooled by our government since our first revolution. A revolution that brought democracy to this land; except, of course, that it didn't, nor was it ever meant to. It was our corporations rebelling against the British corporations; King George and democracy never entered into it! A school system that has never taught what children need to know, i.e., how to think, but instead a fantasy history complete with morals that enslave instead of liberate! You don't need to know the truth about the world; all you need to know is how to be a good little robot and fill your cog in the wheel of industry! This has been reinforced by the family, the schools, the churches and mass media. So I'm not surprised by our incredible blindness of the big picture; what I am surprised by is how many people have unhooked themselves from the Matrix, and have the guts to speak out about it! When I started the magazine my hope was to unhook as many folks from the Matrix as I could and show them the facts, but that never really worked as the truth is scary, and being plugged in can be so nice, and reality is such a bitch! Therefore, over the years, I stopped trying to save the Sheeple, but sought out others, who, like myself, knew the score and had the courage to say so. These are the people I reach out to for a chance to teach them, and, more importantly, a chance to learn from them. I learned a long time ago if you just shut the fck up and listen, you just might learn something! While it's true that you can't put two leftists in the same room for ten minutes without an argument breaking out, that's just a sign of a healthy mind. Asking, questioning, arguing and picking nits is a good thing! Those who never question authority, go along with the party, and never even think, end up wearing brown shirts and Jack Boots! So it may be best to try and stay out of their way. As I'm fond of saying, "You can expound the wisdom of the universe to a fence post, but it just ain't gonna sink in, even if the fence post has ears!" In Other News I see where Obamahood and Eric Holder are doing an about face on the fate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. You remember Khalid? He was the so-called mastermind behind 9/11 which surprised me because I, like most folks, thought 9/11 was masterminded by PNAC and carried out by the Crime Family Bush!™ You'll recall that back in 2009, Barry and Eric made much ado about giving Khalid and four others a fair trial in New York, to show the world they'd get justice in a court of law! So much for that bright idea! Khalid will now face a kangaroo court down in Gitmo, where the verdict has already been arrived at! Finally, after at least 183 torture sessions (that we know about), he finally confessed to whatever it was they wanted him to say. They still didn't have the evidence to prosecute him legally so it's off to Gitmo for Khalid and American Justice behind closed doors, just like when they were torturing him. Why didn't they just shoot this poor smuck in the head and be done with it to begin with? It would have saved us a few billion, our "boy's next door" wouldn't be having nightmares for torturing him, and the end result would be the same, and we wouldn't have to pretend that this was all aboveboard when it was below board, a water board that is! If you have good evidence, then you can take it to trial in New York, but if they had any evidence, why torture him at all--much less 183 times! If you tortured me, I'd tell you I sank the Lusitania and confess that I killed Cock Robin, too, and so would you, folks; have no doubt of that! There must be scapegoats to cover our government's tracks in this. C'est la guerre, Khalid! Of course, as bad as this is, it pales by comparison to Obamahood's new power to keep people in prison forever without any evidence, not even a sham trial. The next step on this slippery slope is that Barry will be able to kill anybody, for any reason, on his say-so alone! No, wait a minute, he's already had that power for over a year! We are so screwed, America! And Finally Seems there always something new from those irascible knuckleheads in Wisconsin, maybe there is something in their drinking water that causes human beings to regress to a regressive state of being? A good example of this might be in Paul Ryan's bright idea to balance the budget, "The Roadmap For America's Future." This is the same turkey that the Rethuglicans have been pushing for years with no luck. It's just chock full of facts and figures, not a single one of which is verifiable or true, imagine that! If you're thinking that Paul has plans to tax the uber-wealthy and the mega-corporations that make billions in profits, but don't pay a penny in tax, then think again! Paul has no intention of taxing the ones who caused this Depression, that not only deserve to be taxed, but who could afford to pay an honest tax without the slightest bit of worry! Guess who Paul wants to stick the tab for bailing out the banks and giving trillions of dollars to our elite, not to mention picking up the tab for six costly wars on? If you guessed the elderly, the sick and the working poor, you may stay after class and clean the erasers! Just like old Yogi, "I'm having a deja vu, all over again!" Are you, too? Paul's bright idea is to do away with Medicare and Medicaid and replace them by programs that force seniors, the poor and sick to buy coverage from the insurance goons or die, preferably the latter, since these oldsters have quit working and feeding the corpo-rat gravy train, and are therefore worthless. They can spend all that money they saved for their retirement on medical bills, so much for those taxes they paid to fund Medicare and Medicaid for all those decades! Don't have any savings, then remember the Rethuglican Health Care plans that say, "...in that case, die as quickly and quietly as possible!" Are you homeless, then don't fret, they've got that covered, too! Did you think all those new Happy Camps™ being built were for Mexicans and Liberals? Paul, no doubt, has a modest proposal and a final solution to the seniors' question! Paul and his fellow Tea Baggers also have plans for that socialist Social Security; they're called "Retirement Camps.™" They're just like the summer camps of your childhood, except that the bread is made out of sawdust, and you don't ever get to go back home! How long can you make popsicle stick-picture frames, America? Oh, brave new world, indeed! Keepin' On Thank Zeus for good ole Ernie from Ontario, he's like a one man crusader to keep Issues & Alibis coming to you every week. While Ernie swears that he doen't wear blue tights and a red cape with a big "S" across his chest, I'm guessing that's because there are no phone booths anymore for him to change in! Thanks so much, Ernie! As the Beatles song says, "All together now" and, for emphasis, they repeat it 16 times, with 8 times being a refrain. They, unlike me, really knew how to get the message across! I'm still learning, folks! We've had millions of hits over the years and if just 1% of them had sent in a $20 in support, just one time, not only wouldn't I be here now, hat in had, but we could have set up a trust fund to keep this service going, long after I'm gone. Imagine that! A free source for news and reality even when everywhere else is bullsht and charging you for the information. If you've been searching hither and yon for that liberal press, look no more, you've found it, whether or not we keep publishing it, is entirely up to you! ***** So how do you like Bush Lite so far? And more importantly, what are you planning on doing about it? Until the next time, Peace! (c) 2011 Ernest Stewart a.k.a. Uncle Ernie is an unabashed radical, author, stand-up comic, DJ, actor, political pundit and for the last 10 years managing editor and publisher of Issues & Alibis magazine. Visit me on Face Book . Follow me on Twitter . Statement of Cynthia McKinney Newseum Press Conference on Libya By Cynthia McKinney Thursday, 31 March 2011 I am pleased to stand with my colleagues today who are outraged at Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama’s decision to wage war on Africa in Libya. At the outset, let me state that Libya is home to tens of thousands or more of foreign students and guest workers. The students come from Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. The messages I have received from concerned Africans state that these young innocent people, inaccurately labeled by the U.S. press as “black mercenaries,” have been trapped in hostile territory and are hated by the U.S.-allied Al Qaeda insurgents. The press forgot that Libya is in Africa and that Libyans are Black, too! I would also like to acknowledge the outrage of the Women International Democratic Federation of Brazil that repudiates the invasion of Libya. They point specifically to the depressed state of women in pre-Qaddafi Libya and how women now have positions that had once been denied to them. They note in their communiqué that the National Front of the Salvation of Libya has been financed by the C.I.A. since 1981 and that its headquarters is in Washington, D.C. In fact, I have received messages and phone calls from people literally all over the world who are outraged at this action. And because the media cannot be relied upon to tell the truth, I repeat the call that I received directly from Libya yesterday for international observers to go to Libya to tell the world the truth. I would go. Sadly, President Obama’s justification for war provides answers that don’t answer, explanations that don’t explain, and conclusions that don’t conclude. Reports continue to emerge of the US ties to the so-called rebel leaders: the latest being that Khalifa Hifter, latest leader of the rebel army, spent much of the past 20 years in Langley, Virginia. He didn’t even move to Baltimore to disguise the relationship! Moreover, General Wesley Clarke told us that Libya was on the U.W. hitlist ten years ago! This is nothing new. This operation smells very much like so many other Africa operations fueled by U.S.-supported individuals who become a rebel force able to threaten an inconvenient leader who stands up to the U.S. This particular play has been repeated in Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, and Angola and Mozambique before them. We are not blind; we recognize this play. And the use of depleted uranium will cause health effects for generations to come. Pentagon Secretary Gates said “Libya is not part of our vital interest.” Then why are we there? Herein lies the conundrum. President Obama has authorized secret support for its rebels in Libya, just like Miami’s Cuban community has received for decades. Sadly, our President has chosen to spend $600 million per week in addition to other war costs at a time when the Black community is melting. As of the most recent Economic Policy Institute study, average Black family wealth was $2,000 while that of Whites was $94,600. President Obama has done nothing to address the disparities that have existed in this country since slavery. Clearly, our President should focus on home and improving the lot of the people of this country before launching another war. Finally, I must say something about the ugly hate language that is emanating more and more from Black political voices. Any politician seeking votes by exacerbating divisions in our country does not deserve our votes. I’m speaking specifically about the unfortunate remarks of Herman Cain who should know better. I stand with those who support the right of self-determination of the Libyan people, including their right to resolve differences without interference from outsiders. ----- http://www.youtube.com/runcynthiarun Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction. (c) 2011 Cynthia McKinney is a former U.S. Congresswoman, Green Party presidential candidate, and an outspoken advocate for human rights and social justice. The first African-American woman to represent the state of Georgia, McKinney served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1993-2003, and from 2005-2007. Napoleon’s Dictum By Uri Avnery IT WAS Napoleon who said that it is better to fight against a coalition than to fight as part of one. Coalitions mean trouble. To conduct a successful military operation, one needs a unified command and a clear, agreed upon aim. Both are rare in coalitions. A coalition is composed of different countries, each of which has its own national interests and domestic political pressures. Reaching an agreement on anything needs time, which will be used by a determined enemy to his own advantage. All this has become very apparent in the coalition war against Muammar Qaddafi. THERE IS no way to get rid of this “eccentric” tyrant but by sheer military force. This seems to be obvious by now. As the Hebrew joke goes, Qaddafi may be mad, but he is not crazy. He perceives the rifts in the coalition wall and is shrewd enough to exploit them. The Russians abstained in the Security Council vote – which in effect meant voting for the resolution – but since then have been carping about every move. Many well-meaning and experienced leftists around the world condemn everything the US and/or NATO do, whatever it is. Some people condemn the “Libyan intervention” because there is no similar action against Bahrain or Yemen. Sure, it is a case of blatant discrimination. But that is like demanding a murderer go unpunished because other murderers are still free. Two minuses make a plus, but two murders do not become a non-murder. Others assert that some of the coalition partners are themselves not much better than Qaddafi. So why pick on him? Well, it’s he who provoked the world and stands in the way of the Arab awakening. The need to remove others must be dealt with, too, but should not in any way serve as an argument against solving the present crisis. We cannot wait for a perfect world – it may take some time to arrive. In the meantime, let’s do our best in an imperfect one. EVERY Day that passes with Qaddafi and his thugs still there, the coalition malaise gets worse. The agreed aim of “protecting Libyan civilians” is wearing thin – it was a polite lie from the beginning. The real aim is – and cannot be otherwise – the removal of the murderous tyrant, whose very existence in power is a continuous deadly menace to his people. But that was not spelled out in coalitionese. It is clear by now that the “rebels” have no real military force. They are not a unified political movement and they have no unified political - let alone military - command. They will not conquer Tripoli by themselves, perhaps not even if the coalition supplies them with arms. It is not the case of an irregular force fighting a regular army and gradually turning into an organized army itself – as we did in 1948. The fact that there is no rebel army to speak of may be a positive phenomenon – it shows that there is no hidden, sinister force lurking in the wings, waiting to replace Qaddafi with another repressive regime. It is indeed a democratic, grassroots uprising. But for the coalition, it creates a headache. What now? Leave Qaddafi, a wounded and therefore doubly dangerous animal, in his lair, ready to pounce on the rebels the moment the pressure is off? Go in and themselves do the job of removing him? Go on talking and do nothing? One of the most hypocritical – if not downright ridiculous – proposals is to “negotiate” with him. Negotiate with an irrational tyrant? What about? About postponing the massacre of the rebels for six months? Creating a state which is half democratic, half brutal dictatorship? Of course there must be negotiations – without and after Qaddafi. Different parts of the country, different “tribes”, different political forces yet to rise must negotiate about the future shape of the state, preferably under UN auspices. But with Qaddafi?? ONE ARGUMENT is that it should all be left to the Arabs. After all, it was the “Arab League” that called for a no-fly zone. Alas, that is a sad joke. That Arab League (actually the “League of Arab States”) has all the weaknesses and few of the strengths of a coalition. Founded with British encouragement at the end of World War II, it is a loose – very, very loose – association of states with vastly different interests. In a way, it represents the Arab World as it is – or was until yesterday. It is a world in which two (and perhaps three) contradictory trends are at work. On the one hand, there is the perpetual longing of the Arab masses for Arab unity. It is real and profound, nourished by memories of past Arab glories. It finds its most concrete current expression in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Arab leaders who have betrayed this trust are paying the price now. On the other hand, there are the cynical calculations of the member states. From the very first moment of its existence, the League has reflected the labyrinthine world of mutually antagonistic and competing regimes. Cairo always vies with Baghdad for the crown of Arab leadership, ancient Damascus competes with both. The Hashemites hate the Saudis, who displaced them in Mecca. Add to this the myriad ideological, social and religious tensions, and you get the picture. The first major undertaking of the League – the 1948 intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian war - ended in an Arab disaster, largely because the armies of Egypt and Jordan tried to forestall each other, instead of concentrating their energies against us. That was our salvation. Since then, practically all Arab regimes have used the Palestinian Cause each for its own interests, with the Palestinian people serving as a ball in this cynical game. The present Arab Awakening is not led by the League, by its very nature it is directed against everything the League is and represents. In Bahrain the Saudis are supporting the same forces the rebels are fighting against in Tripoli. As a factor in the Libyan crisis, the League is best ignored. There is a third level of inter-Arab relations – the religious one. Islam has a strong hold on the Arab masses almost everywhere, but like every great religion, Islam has many faces indeed. It means quite different things to Wahabis in Riadh, Taliban in Kandahar, al-Qaeda people in Yemen, Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, royalists in Morocco and the simple fellah on the shores of the Nile. But there is a vague sense of community. So any Muslim Arab feels that he or she belongs to three different but overlapping identities, with the borders between them ill-defined – the “wotan”, which is the local nation, like Palestine or Egypt, the “kaum”, which is the pan-Arab identity, and the “umma”, which is the all-Islamic community of believers. I doubt whether there are two scholars who agree on these definitions. SO HERE we are, people of March 2011, after having followed our basic human instinct and pushed for armed intervention against the threatened disaster in Libya. It was the right, the decent thing to do. With due – and sincere - respect to all those who criticized my stand, I am convinced that it was the humane one. In Hebrew we say: He who starts doing a good deed must finish it. Qaddafi must be removed, the Libyan people must be given a decent chance to take their fate into their own hands. So, too, the Syrian people, the Yemenites, the Bahrainis and all the others. I don’t know where it will lead them – each of them in their own country. I can only wish them well - and hope. And hope that this time Napoleon’s dictum will not be proven right. Two Unreasonable Women As George Bernard Shaw noted a century ago, "All change comes from the power of unreasonable people."Sheila Bair and Elizabeth Warren I think Shaw would agree to one small addendum to his sage observation, which is that such people are considered unreasonable only by the entrenched powers that always oppose change. Let me offer two examples of people today who deserve our applause for rankling the establishment and, in turn, enduring its furious abuse: Sheila Bair and Elizabeth Warren. Both are daring to bring a stronger consumer and public-interest voice into the closed, cliquish, and often self-serving world of banking. Bair heads the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which gives a big helping hand to banks by insuring their customers' deposits. The FDIC is also supposed to help consumers and taxpayers by regulating banks. And – my goodness – unlike some of her predecessors, she has chosen to do both jobs, including providing tough enforcement of regulations to prevent bank failures, foster real competition, and deter banker finagling. At a recent meeting, financial chieftains showed their appreciation for her work (and their ugly side) with a cascade of catcalls, guffaws, snorts, and boos as she spoke. Booed by bankers. I'm sure that's unpleasant at the moment – but what a badge of honor! Likewise, Elizabeth Warren is under constant attack by Wall Street bosses and the flock of Republican Congress critters who shamelessly serve them. She helped create and is now setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a watchdog over banker abuses. To show their gratitude, the bankers got their GOP maddogs to slash the bureau's budget and simply eliminate Warren's salary. (c) 2011 Jim Hightower's latest book, "If The Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates," is available in a fully revised and updated paperback edition. Obama Takes A Stand On Libyan Revolt By Helen Thomas President Obama has finally taken a stand in favor of the revolt of the masses in Libya. It's good and wise, but not, he said, a stand to depose of Muammar Gaddafi by military means. Obama hopes to force his ouster by other means. Obama's goals - using jet air strikes and missiles to help the out-gunned - is aimed at saving lives. "Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries," Obama said in a national televised address Monday night, "but, the United States is different." He also noted that he was not acting alone, and he appeared happy to turn over the command of the NATO-run coalition. "In such cases we should not be afraid to act - but the burden of acting should not be America's alone," he said. Obama's strong words may come back to haunt him. The whole Arab world is engulfed in popular protests seeking democracy. "I believe this moment of change cannot be turned back," he said, "and that we must stand alongside those who believe in the same core principals that have guided us through many storms, our opposition to violence directed against one's citizens; our support for a set of universal rights, including the freedom to express themselves and choose their leaders; our support for governments that are ultimately responsible to the aspirations of the people. ... Gaddafi has not yet stepped down from power and until he does, Libya will remain dangerous." Obama made it clear we are involved in a partnership with the other nations to save civilian lives in Libya - not to depose Gaddafi, the strongman who has threatened house to house reprisals against the rebels. The opposition represents grass-roots forces that are fighting for liberation from the fear and tyranny of one-man rule - under Gaddafi, who has been in power 40 years. Obama went on the offensive after being pushed by congressional critics. He wanted to get on the right side of history. But in the case of his opposition, it was "damned if you do, and damned if you don't." Obama can't win in the case of opponents - many who are hoping to be his opposition GOP candidate in 2012. Some of the critics compared the intervention to the U.S. Bush-led debacle in Iraq. But it's no such thing. In 2003, the U.S.-Iraqi war, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Al Qaieda terrorist networks - all lies. The individual invasion has been going on for eight years at a horrendous cost. Thousands of Americans and Iraqis were killed. The war was touted to last two to three weeks, and Iraqis were to greet the invaders with flowers and candy. Dictator Saddam Hussein was hanged, and to this day former President George W. Bush has yet to explain why he invaded Iraq. The most devastating destruction was in the town of Falluga - so devastating it can be compared to the leveling of Carthage. The President made his remarks to a military audience Monday evening. He was flanked by American flags on the stage. He began his remarks defending his leadership in this world crisis, using many "I's". "I refused to wait for images of slaughter and new mass graves before taking action," he said. In support of his policy on Libya, Obama said removing Gaddafi from power "would splinter the coalition and would be a step too far ... to be blunt, we went down the road eight years ago" (in Iraq) and noted that "regime change cost thousands of American and Iraqi lives and nearly a trillion dollars. That is something we cannot afford in Libya," Obama declared. "We should not be afraid to act." Libya has put Obama to the test of his leadership. The President now faces more decisions in terms of the uprisings in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and other possible upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa. But Obama has made it clear that he does not intend to intervene on behalf of other rebellions. The Arab World is in turmoil and the strong men who have ruled for decades are running out of time. The other world is transfixed on the surprise revolutions, and faces uncertainty on how to help to promote the goals of democracy and freedom without stepping on too many toes. Throughout the region, the leaders and potentates are quaking in their boots. It's about time. The Arab people have had enough, and have obviously reached a point of no return. No concessions. No reforms are enough. The people in the Arab World have suddenly awakened to their own power - at last. Despicable Lies, Delusional Recovery By Joel S. Hirschhorn The US government lies. Sure looks like most Americans gobble up false and misleading information that is nothing less than political propaganda. Take the highly hyped unemployment number for March, 2011 of 8.8 percent that moved like a tornado through the media and was praised by Democrat politicians and the White House. As if that number is accurate, as if it fairly describes unemployment. It does not. What is called by experts, such as Leo Hindery, as the real unemployment number was actually 17.7 percent, which is remarkably higher. To appreciate that much higher number is to throw a large bucket of cold water on all the political spin on the economic recovery. The official government unemployment figure has been carefully crafted to intentionally underestimate actual unemployment. The way the data are collected through a survey of homes intentionally ignores a number of unemployed and underemployed Americans. The latter includes those who have stopped looking for a job because it has become crystal clear to them that there are no jobs for them, as well as those working part-time when what they really want is a good full time job. Similarly, Gallup polling which takes into account these other factors found the total number for March up slightly to 20.3 percent of the US workforce. As if this sham game is not bad enough, what the government also does not reveal with hard information is that most new jobs being created now are low wage ones often without any good benefits. Another reason to see how delusional the economic recovery is. To get back to a low unemployment level characteristic of a good economy could take up to ten years. The federal lie includes 13.5 million unemployed workers but the real number is more like 28.2 million. That means a lot more hardship and suffering in the fictional recovery than the government wants the public to know about. The number of real unemployed workers has increased by 11.5 million since the start of the Great Recession, and just since December 2008 by 3.7 million. The economy must add 13 million private sector jobs over the next three years-360,000 each month-to bring unemployment down to 6 percent. There is no possible or imaginable way for this to happen. So real unemployment will remain terrible. All this plus the fact that real wages have stagnated for many years means that the middle class in the US is in dire shape. The most important implication of this is that there is no good reason to think that the deeply depressed housing market stands any chance of recovery for many years. There are not enough people with enough money and financial security to buy even low priced houses. There simply are too many empty houses and even more coming from millions more foreclosures. Without a healthy housing market it is inconceivable that a true economic recovery and meaningful growth are possible. In other words, contrary to all the blabber from politicians and pundits, the current recovery is largely delusional as far as the vast majority of Americans are concerned. Of course, the rich Upper Class is doing just fine. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The richest 20 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively hold just 12.8 percent. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion. Odds are that you, dear reader, are in the bottom 80 percent, which means you should have the good sense to see how delusional the current economic recovery is and that you should have little hope for doing well in the future. Remember also that state and local governments facing budget shortfalls will surely layoff many more people and those congressional attempts to address the horrendous national debt and deficit will surely mean cuts in many government programs that many in the bottom 80 percent depend on. Companies will continue to make huge profits, pay little in taxes and continue to manipulate government policies through lobbying and campaign contributions so that they keep getting away with murder of the middle class. Corporate bigwigs and Wall Street fat cats will continue to grab incredible amounts of money. And hardly any of the corporate crooks that have screwed most of us will get prosecuted or jailed, as they should. Nor will there be any true, badly needed reforms of the financial sector. Banks will continue to financially rape Americans. Lies will keep coming from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress as well as President Obama. Do you want to believe them? Or can you accept the painful truth about our bleak national condition and stop voting for lying politicians that keep the corporate dictatorship in power? (c) 2011 Joel S. Hirschhorn observed our corrupt federal government firsthand as a senior official with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association and is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government. To discuss issues write the author. The author has a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering and was formerly a full professor of metallurgical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Truth, Still Inconvenient By Paul Krugman So the joke begins like this: An economist, a lawyer and a professor of marketing walk into a room. What’s the punch line? They were three of the five “expert witnesses” Republicans called for last week’s Congressional hearing on climate science. But the joke actually ended up being on the Republicans, when one of the two actual scientists they invited to testify went off script. Prof. Richard Muller of Berkeley, a physicist who has gotten into the climate skeptic game, has been leading the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, an effort partially financed by none other than the Koch foundation. And climate deniers — who claim that researchers at NASA and other groups analyzing climate trends have massaged and distorted the data — had been hoping that the Berkeley project would conclude that global warming is a myth. Instead, however, Professor Muller reported that his group’s preliminary results find a global warming trend “very similar to that reported by the prior groups.” The deniers’ response was both predictable and revealing; more on that shortly. But first, let’s talk a bit more about that list of witnesses, which raised the same question I and others have had about a number of committee hearings held since the G.O.P. retook control of the House — namely, where do they find these people? My favorite, still, was Ron Paul’s first hearing on monetary policy, in which the lead witness was someone best known for writing a book denouncing Abraham Lincoln as a “horrific tyrant” — and for advocating a new secessionist movement as the appropriate response to the “new American fascialistic state.” The ringers (i.e., nonscientists) at last week’s hearing weren’t of quite the same caliber, but their prepared testimony still had some memorable moments. One was the lawyer’s declaration that the E.P.A. can’t declare that greenhouse gas emissions are a health threat, because these emissions have been rising for a century, but public health has improved over the same period. I am not making this up. Oh, and the marketing professor, in providing a list of past cases of “analogies to the alarm over dangerous manmade global warming” — presumably intended to show why we should ignore the worriers — included problems such as acid rain and the ozone hole that have been contained precisely thanks to environmental regulation. But back to Professor Muller. His climate-skeptic credentials are pretty strong: he has denounced both Al Gore and my colleague Tom Friedman as “exaggerators,” and he has participated in a number of attacks on climate research, including the witch hunt over innocuous e-mails from British climate researchers. Not surprisingly, then, climate deniers had high hopes that his new project would support their case. You can guess what happened when those hopes were dashed. Just a few weeks ago Anthony Watts, who runs a prominent climate denialist Web site, praised the Berkeley project and piously declared himself “prepared to accept whatever result they produce, even if it proves my premise wrong.” But never mind: once he knew that Professor Muller was going to present those preliminary results, Mr. Watts dismissed the hearing as “post normal science political theater.” And one of the regular contributors on his site dismissed Professor Muller as “a man driven by a very serious agenda.” Of course, it’s actually the climate deniers who have the agenda, and nobody who’s been following this discussion believed for a moment that they would accept a result confirming global warming. But it’s worth stepping back for a moment and thinking not just about the science here, but about the morality. For years now, large numbers of prominent scientists have been warning, with increasing urgency, that if we continue with business as usual, the results will be very bad, perhaps catastrophic. They could be wrong. But if you’re going to assert that they are in fact wrong, you have a moral responsibility to approach the topic with high seriousness and an open mind. After all, if the scientists are right, you’ll be doing a great deal of damage. But what we had, instead of high seriousness, was a farce: a supposedly crucial hearing stacked with people who had no business being there and instant ostracism for a climate skeptic who was actually willing to change his mind in the face of evidence. As I said, no surprise: as Upton Sinclair pointed out long ago, it’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. But it’s terrifying to realize that this kind of cynical careerism — for that’s what it is — has probably ensured that we won’t do anything about climate change until catastrophe is already upon us. So on second thought, I was wrong when I said that the joke was on the G.O.P.; actually, the joke is on the human race. "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." ~~~ Benjamin Franklin ~ Poor Richard's Almanack, 1758 ~~~ A woman who sympathizes with people who have been foreclosed on is arrested outside a Chase bank in Los Angeles, where she and other protesters gathered to express themselves. This Is What Resistance Looks Like By Chris Hedges The phrase consent of the governed has been turned into a cruel joke. There is no way to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs. Civil Disobedience is the only tool we have left. We will not halt the laying off of teachers and other public employees, the slashing of unemployment benefits, the closing of public libraries, the reduction of student loans, the foreclosures, the gutting of public education and early childhood programs or the dismantling of basic social services such as heating assistance for the elderly until we start to carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience against the financial institutions responsible for our debacle. The banks and Wall Street, which have erected the corporate state to serve their interests at our expense, caused the financial crisis. The bankers and their lobbyists crafted tax havens that account for up to $1 trillion in tax revenue lost every decade. They rewrote tax laws so the nation’s most profitable corporations, including Bank of America, could avoid paying any federal taxes. They engaged in massive fraud and deception that wiped out an estimated $40 trillion in global wealth. The banks are the ones that should be made to pay for the financial collapse. Not us. And for this reason at 11 a.m. April 15 I will join protesters in Union Square in New York City in front of the Bank of America. “The political process no longer works,” Kevin Zeese, the director of Prosperity Agenda and one of the organizers of the April 15 event, told me. “The economy is controlled by a handful of economic elites. The necessities of most Americans are no longer being met. The only way to change this is to shift the power to a culture of resistance. This will be the first in a series of events we will organize to help give people control of their economic and political life.” If you are among the one in six workers in this country who does not have a job, if you are among the some 6 million people who have lost their homes to repossessions, if you are among the many hundreds of thousands of people who went bankrupt last year because they could not pay their medical bills or if you have simply had enough of the current kleptocracy, join us in Union Square Park for the “Sounds of Resistance Concert,” which will feature political hip-hop/rock powerhouse Junkyard Empire with Broadcast Live and Sketch the Cataclysm. The organizers have set up a website , and there’s more information on their Facebook page . We will picket the Union Square branch of Bank of America, one of the major financial institutions responsible for the theft of roughly $17 trillion in wages, savings and retirement benefits taken from ordinary citizens. We will build a miniature cardboard community that will include what we should have—good public libraries, free health clinics, banks that have been converted into credit unions, free and well-funded public schools and public universities, and shuttered recruiting centers (young men and women should not have to go to Iraq and Afghanistan as soldiers or Marines to find a job with health care). We will call for an end to all foreclosures and bank repossessions, a breaking up of the huge banking monopolies, a fair system of taxation and a government that is accountable to the people. The 10 major banks, which control 60 percent of the economy, determine how our legislative bills are written, how our courts rule, how we frame our public debates on the airwaves, who is elected to office and how we are governed. The phrase consent of the governed has been turned by our two major political parties into a cruel joke. There is no way to vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs. And the faster these banks and huge corporations are broken up and regulated the sooner we will become free. Bank of America is one of the worst. It did not pay any federal taxes last year or the year before. It is currently one of the most aggressive banks in seizing homes, at times using private security teams that carry out brutal home invasions to toss families into the street. The bank refuses to lend small business people and consumers the billions in government money it was handed. It has returned with a vengeance to the flagrant criminal activity and speculation that created the meltdown, behavior made possible because the government refuses to institute effective sanctions or control from regulators, legislators or the courts. Bank of America, like most of the banks that peddled garbage to small shareholders, routinely hid its massive losses through a creative accounting device it called “repurchase agreements.” It used these “repos” during the financial collapse to temporarily erase losses from the books by transferring toxic debt to dummy firms before public filings had to be made. It is called fraud. And Bank of America is very good at it. US Uncut, which will be involved in the April 15 demonstration in New York, carried out 50 protests outside Bank of America branches and offices on Feb. 26. UK Uncut, a British version of the group, produced this video guide to launching a “bail-in” in your neighborhood. Civil disobedience, such as that described in the bail-in video or the upcoming protest in Union Square, is the only tool we have left. A fourth of the country’s largest corporations—including General Electric, ExxonMobil and Bank of America—paid no federal income taxes in 2010. But at the same time these corporations operate as if they have a divine right to hundreds of billions in taxpayer subsidies. Bank of America was handed $45 billion—that is billion with a B—in federal bailout funds. Bank of America takes this money—money you and I paid in taxes—and hides it along with its profits in some 115 offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. One assumes the bank’s legions of accountants are busy making sure the corporation will not pay federal taxes again this year. Imagine if you or I tried that. “If Bank of America paid their fair share of taxes, planned cuts of $1.7 billion in early childhood education, including Head Start & Title 1, would not be needed,” Zeese pointed out. “Bank of America avoids paying taxes by using subsidiaries in offshore tax havens. To eliminate their taxes, they reinvest proceeds overseas, instead of bringing the dollars home, thereby undermining the U.S. economy and avoiding federal taxes. Big Finance, like Bank of America, contributes to record deficits that are resulting in massive cuts to basic services in federal and state governments.” The big banks and corporations are parasites. They greedily devour the entrails of the nation in a quest for profit, thrusting us all into serfdom and polluting and poisoning the ecosystem that sustains the human species. They have gobbled up more than a trillion dollars from the Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve and created tiny enclaves of wealth and privilege where corporate managers replicate the decadence of the Forbidden City and Versailles. Those outside the gates, however, struggle to find work and watch helplessly as food and commodity prices rocket upward. The owners of one out of seven houses are now behind on their mortgage payments. In 2010 there were 3.8 million foreclosure filings and bank repossessions topped 2.8 million, a 2 percent increase over 2009 and a 23 percent increase over 2008. This record looks set to be broken in 2011. And no one in the Congress, the Obama White House, the courts or the press, all beholden to corporate money, will step in to stop or denounce the assault on families. Our ruling elite, including Barack Obama, are courtiers, shameless hedonists of power, who kneel before Wall Street and daily sell us out. The top corporate plutocrats are pulling down $900,000 an hour while one in four children depends on food stamps to eat. We don’t need leaders. We don’t need directives from above. We don’t need formal organizations. We don’t need to waste our time appealing to the Democratic Party or writing letters to the editor. We don’t need more diatribes on the Internet. We need to physically get into the public square and create a mass movement. We need you and a few of your neighbors to begin it. We need you to walk down to your Bank of America branch and protest. We need you to come to Union Square. And once you do that you begin to create a force these elites always desperately try to snuff out—resistance. (c) 2011 Chris Hedges , the former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times, spent seven years in the Middle East. He was part of the paper's team of reporters who won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for coverage of global terrorism. He is the author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America . His latest book is, "“Death Of The Liberal Class.” When Pigs Rule Imagine you were a pig. As a pig, you would care about nothing besides getting fat. If you could get fat by eating the food shares of other animals, you would readily do so. If you could get fat by eating up your own little piglet children’s future, you would do so. If you could get fat by eating your whole farm into ruin, you’d munch right through it without another thought. Indeed, if you could get fat by scarfing up so much food that you literally imperiled the entire planet, you would not only do so, but you would criticize and mock those who had the temerity merely to point out the consequences of your actions and thereby interfere with the conquering of your global comestible empire. For those of you, like me, who too often find themselves aghast at the state of our nation, jaws dropped to the floor in wonder at the astonishing capacity for American self-destruction, befuddled by the acquiescence of the victims of this pillaging, there’s your answer: If you can imagine what it would be like to be an amoral, sociopathic, singularly focused, devoted consumption machine – that is, to be a pig – then you get it. And then you get our America, too. I can’t tell you how it pains me to write these words. It pains me in two senses, in fact. First, as a matter of personal character and conduct. I think it’s fair to say that the people who know me would report that I am a fairly gentle soul. I don’t prefer conflict, I almost never seek it out, and I will even sometimes avoid it when it’s stuck in my face – at least under certain conditions and in the short term. I’m not, that is, the kind of person who feels at all comfortable referring to other people as pigs. But I do so because I believe emphatically that it needs to be done. I do so because of the second sense of how I am pained – for my country and for the world. I do so, with regret for having to, and yet with even more regret that we all aren’t doing the same thing, and doing it with a fierce urgency. For, is there any question of what has become of us? Is there any question that the pigs now rule? No, there is not. Indeed, the only serious question is why we are so severely detached from reality that this society is really not even conscious of what has happened in any serious respect. But happened it has. The top one percent in this country used to, before the regressive onslaught that began with the Reagan election thirty years ago, account for twelve percent of all national income. Today, they pull down more than twice that, 25 percent. They used to control a third of all national wealth. Today they control forty percent. That’s just one percent of us, one person out of one hundred. How could this have happened? Is it possible, for example, that the wealthiest amongst us are working twice as hard as they used to? Is it possible that all the rest of us have grown vastly lazier over the course of this past generation? Yeah, it’s possible. Just like it’s possible that Newt Gingrich is not a sick sociopath, or that Sarah Palin speaks for Jesus. It’s possible, in the technical sense of the term, it’s just – how can one say this gently? – um, not real, real probable. What is far more likely – and, indeed, what is precisely the case – is that the rich bought off lawmakers to make laws that favored their interests. At precisely the same time that the rich got infinitely richer and the rest of us got steadily poorer, darned if a whole boatload of regressive-backed public policies didn’t change in exactly the way that would lead to just that outcome. Tax burdens have been shifted from rich to poor. Services provided by the government have been slashed. Trade policies that undermine the bargaining power of American workers have been adopted. Labor relations policies have decimated unions, such that where a third of workers used to be represented by organized labor, now about seven percent are. Privatization has given away publicly-owned assets. The well-connected have written into law gigantic subsidies, creating corporate welfare on a massive scale. Wars based on lies have enriched the few while saddling the rest of us with trillions of dollars in debt. Deregulation followed by taxpayer-financed bailouts have allowed any plugged-in economic actor to do just about anything, including crash the global economy in the raw pursuit of unfathomable greed, and never pay a penalty for their actions. If you were asked to predict, thirty years ago, just what the adoption of such policies would produce, the American political economy of 2011 is exactly what you would have predicted. It’s a complete no-brainer. Anyone could guess the effect from this cause. Throw a rock at a window. Toss a match on gasoline. Adopt these policies. You know what will happen. People can think, if they want, that it’s all a random coincidence that all these policy changes just happened to happen at exactly the same time the rich were growing vastly richer and the rest of us have been struggling. I’m sure many do think that way, and that is precisely why so many fools also play their state lottos. But that don’t make it so. Incomes for the top one percent have risen 18 percent over the last decade, while for all the rest of us, they’ve been falling. The United States today has a Gini coefficient – the standard measure of national income inequality, where zero is perfectly equal and 100 is perfectly unequal – clocking in at 40.8. That means we’re tied with Turkmenistan and Ghana when it comes to the inequality of the distribution of wealth in America. I’m not shitting you about this. These are real numbers. The good news is that we came in (just slightly) ahead of Senegal and Cambodia. Whew! There’s a relief! We wouldn’t want to be like some sort of banana republic or anything, would we? The bad news? There is less income inequality today in Mali, Malawi and Burkina Faso than in the good old US of A. Oh, and about 70 other countries in the world (out of about 195 or so, total), too. How’s that for your American exceptionalism, eh pal?! I don’t know if the rich are working twice as much as than they used to (just a wild hunch, but I suspect not), but what I do know is that the non-rich are working a lot more than they used to. It takes two incomes today to support a middle class family that could be supported by one back when “Leave It To Beaver” was on the air. And many people are working more than forty hours a week – indeed, a lot of people, working a lot more hours – in an increasingly desperate attempt to stay one step ahead of their creditors, one step ahead of medical insolvency, one step ahead of (the new, draconian) bankruptcy laws, one step ahead of foreclosure, one step ahead of eviction, one step ahead of living out of their cars, presuming they’re lucky enough to be one step ahead of repossession, and one step ahead of all the damage these horrible strains do to marriages and families. In short, there is a massive, protracted, patent crime taking place, right before our eyes. It’s the crime of the millennium, a crime that literally produces death and destruction on a grand scale, a crime with victims beyond count. And no one in our political class is talking about it. Certainly not the worst offenders on the right. We’d be shocked were that otherwise. Indeed, almost all of what defines them as the worst offenders on the right is precisely this issue. Don’t kid yourself, brother. John Boehner doesn’t give a shit about aborted fetuses. Dick “Dick” Cheney couldn’t care less about WMD. George W. Bush is no more a genuine Christian than I am, and I assure you that’s the last thing I am. No. It’s all about the freakin’ money, man. But neither are the so-called liberals of the Democratic Party talking about this issue, nor our socialist president, who, according to Rush “Dick” Limbauchery and Glenn “Dick” Pecker, et al., is reportedly seeking to sneak up on poor unsuspecting America, in a foreigner sort of way, and drive it into the ruin that has befallen Western Europe. (Don’t worry that you can’t actually see that ruin in actual Western European places like Germany or France or Sweden. Our friends on the right are glad to assure us that it’s there – it’s just cleverly hiding under the peace, prosperity, extended longevity, world-class healthcare, and humane standards of living people have long enjoyed in these countries.) No one in our political class is saying these things. You almost literally have to resort to comics like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart to hear this most urgent and fundamental critique. And, really, how screwed is your country when only the comedians tell the truth? I am willing to use ugly words and to name names, not because I want to – far from it – but because I am sickened by the fact and the scale of this crime. The wonder is not that jerks like me are throwing around inflammatory terms. The wonder is that lots more people aren’t doing so. But the real wonder is that we’ve stood by, and continue to do so – watching this crime unfold, watching it crush our friends, family and neighbors, watching it harm us and our children personally, watching it produce the first generation of Americans to be worse off than their parents. And there we are just staring in silence. Silence is far too generous a label of contempt to apply to the Democratic Party. We are well past the point of acknowledging their complete complicity in the crime. Hardly anyone noticed in the 1990s, when New Democrats (a euphemism for old Republicans) stopped talking about the plight of the poor, even before Bill Clinton finished the job by killing welfare, reaching into the mouths of America’s impoverished and removing the food that was once there, all for purposes of guaranteeing his second term as president (and, boy wasn’t it worth it, too – look at all he achieved!). If you weren’t alive in the 1960s and 70s, you might never have realized that there was once a party in America that was rather seriously devoted to fighting a war against poverty. By the 1990s the poor became an embarrassment, and among slick New Democrats in Washington only gauche political retreads continued to remind us of their existence and plight, becoming every bit as welcome among the elites as Grandpa’s incessant flatulence at a formal dinner party. Ah, but that was the golden age, when only the poor were forgotten about. And who cares about them, anyhow? Nowadays we’re not noticing as ‘the party of the people’ gives the same treatment to the middle class as well. I’m sorry, have I fallen through the looking glass, or are we not in the middle of an economic crisis of vast proportions? And where is the Democratic Party’s program for creating jobs? It would too generous to say that it is nowhere. More accurately, it just isn’t. The reason that you don’t know what the president’s plan to create jobs in America is, isn’t because you’re ignorant. It’s because he doesn’t have one. And no one seems to care or notice. Instead, as usual, as is the case in all political ‘debates’ these days, the question is not will Republicans win on this issue, but rather merely by how much. Even that is not really the question, however, since that formulation presumes that Democrats are actually fighting Republicans, and since it conveniently omits mention of the fact that all such ‘debates’ always happen on Republican (more accurately, Republican/Democratic) turf. Our whores in Washington are not, for example, fighting right now over whether we should spend money to create jobs, versus slashing spending to reduce the deficit. No, rather, they are simply disagreeing over how much social spending should be slashed. The real ideological war over policy was lost before it was ever even engaged, because that’s precisely what Democrats do nowadays. Since 1980 (or perhaps 1972), they retreat, they deceive, and they sell out their constituents. That is the case in almost every policy domain, from Middle East foreign policy to global warming to civil liberties to health care. If that latter claim sounds ridiculous, remember that Barack Obama’s much derided health care plan was essentially the same one proposed by Bob Dole in 1996, and virtually the same one implemented by Ken Doll “Dick” Romney in Massachusetts just a few years back. And remember that the president began the process by cutting a secret deal behind closed doors with the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. And remember that that deal called for them to profit massively, for the president to renounce single payer, and for him to lie outright (as was documented by his pal, Tom Daschle) to his liberal base, pretending to favor a public option while actually scuttling it from the get-go. And so our political class today is comprised of two types: vicious predatory marionettes, on the one hand, and vicious predatory marionettes who smile a bit more than the first batch, on the other. Really, increasingly, you can hardly tell the difference. New York is one of the bluest states to be found in the country. It has a Democratic governor. He is the son of a former Democratic governor, a man who could well have been president had he run, and one of the outstanding liberal figures of the twentieth century. And yet this governor is running a program that might make Ronald Reagan blush, for all its ugly draconian regressivism. The state has a fiscal problem. He is solving it by slashing funding to education and health care, and laying off state employees. He refuses to raise taxes. The wealthy in New York will actually be getting a tax cut next year under the terms of Governor Cuomo’s new budget. Then there’s Barack Obama, the man hated by the right for his evil socialist policies. Newsweek magazine – not exactly widely known for its Trotskyist political commitments, is currently running an article entitled thusly: “Obama’s War on Schools: The No Child Left Behind Act has been deadly to public education. So why has the president embraced it?” I dunno, Newsweek. Because Bush was a socialist too, maybe? You could ask the same question, however, about Afghanistan, Iraq, defense spending, Guantánamo and civil liberties, tax policy, health care (yes, health care), global warming, government spending, Wall Street bailouts, and really just about anything government does. Like just about every other Democrat running around these days, Obama is almost entirely as regressive as the monsters of the Republican Party. There’s the answer to your question, Newsweek. It’s about time that you figured out what the rest of us have learned the hard way over the last two years: that, policy-wise, Barack Obama is George W. Bush. The reduction of the American voter’s choices down to two options – catastrophic or catastrophic with nice words – has very real consequences. This game is played for keeps. People are not making it anymore. The middle class has been shrinking for three decades. Foreclosures are off the charts. People are literally dying from lack of health care. Children are literally dying from lack of health care. And every day, we in the richest polity that ever existed on the planet not only fail to address those crimes, we exacerbate them with the actions of the Walkers and Christies and Cuomos and Obamas of this country. It’s no longer a question of whether we’ll adopt the destructive policies of the regressive oligarchy, merely a question of how fast we do it. A recent report entitled “The Basic Economic Security Tables for the United States” finds, according to the New York Times, that a single worker (no partner, no dependents) “needs an income of $30,012 a year – or just above $14 an hour – to cover basic expenses and save for retirement and emergencies. That is close to three times the 2010 national poverty level of $10,830 for a single person, and nearly twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. ... [But] The most recent data from the Census Bureau found that 14.3 percent of Americans were living below the poverty line in 2009.” Imagine how many were living below the real minimum threshold three times higher than the official poverty level. Fortunately, however, there is still some good news out there. The number of billionaires in the world grew by 199 in the past year, according to Forbes magazine's annual survey. Now there are 1,210 of them. And they possess a combined wealth of $4.5 trillion. Awesome, dude! The even better news is that that figure is up from $3.6 trillion – a mere 25 percent growth – in just one year’s time. And what a year, too! Who says there’s a massive, devastating, killer recession going on? Sounds to me like it’s nothing more than a boatload of whining from a bunch of lazy, low-achiever, can’t-cut-it, non-billionaires! What amazes me the most about this disaster is that it is the biggest single political story of our era, and simultaneously the tiniest. Of course, that’s not a coincidence either. You hardly want the media or social critics covering you when you’re in the midst of committing the crime of the millennium. We have witnessed what is undoubtedly the greatest redistribution of wealth in all of human history. As importantly, the public face taken for the process facilitating this mass rape has been a lie. Oligarchs didn’t tell us they were buying our politicians in order to take our money. They told us instead that “free” trade is good, but that unions, queers and Middle Eastern bogeymen are bad. Very bad. They told us they were lowering our taxes, when in fact they were simply transferring their tax burden onto us and onto our children. They’re telling us now that it is fiscally irresponsible to properly fund public education, health care and pensions, yet humongous corporate subsidies and a military the size of the entire rest of the world combined are completely necessary. You don’t dare call them out on it, either. If you mention any of this, you get accused of engaging in class warfare. Even though, as Warren Buffett has pointed out, that war is already over, and his side won. And even though such an accusation is tantamount to accusing Martin Luther King of having engaged in race warfare for pointing out the perfectly obvious moral crimes that whites had long been committing against blacks, with the full blessing of the law, no less. Telling the truth is the worst crime you can commit, as an incident in New Hampshire this week well proves. The Catholic church has, by all appearances, been little short of a rape factory for decades if not centuries now, and yet conservatives can hardly run fast enough to defend it against the slightest attempt by its victims to gain some meager measure of justice in compensation for the damage done to them. They’ll defend it, that is, unless anyone in the church should make the foolish mistake of speaking truthfully about the effects of regressive policymaking upon the poor and downtrodden. Bishop John McCormack did just that with respect to draconian Republican-proposed state budget cuts in New Hampshire. That caused D.J. Bettencourt, the House Majority Leader there, to call the good bishop a “pedophile pimp”. Which is probably precisely what he is, but just the same – wow. In case you were wondering what’s really sacred amongst regressives, now you know, pal. Ca-ching, ca-ching. We must face it. These are the pigs in our society, and they are doing what pigs do. They grow fatter each day, and they do so by nothing less than removing food from the mouths of babes and stuffing it into their own, even though it can hardly fit there anymore, so overflowingly full have those orifices and bellies become. This is a crime against humanity, and it will not end. Until we end it. (c) 2011 David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive readers' reactions to his articles, but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net . Scott gives the corporate salute Heil Obama, Dear Gouverneur Walker, Congratulations, you have just been awarded the "Vidkun Quisling Award!" Your name will now live throughout history with such past award winners as Marcus Junius Brutus, Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold, George Stephanopoulos, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Prescott Bush, Sam Bush, Fredo Bush, Kate Bush, Vidkun Quisling and last year's winner Volksjudge Elena (Butch) Kagan. Without your lock step calling for the repeal of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, your bustling the unions and getting rid of the middle class in Wsconsin, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and those many other profitable oil wars to come would have been impossible! With the help of our mutual friends, the other "Rethuglican Whores" you have made it possible for all of us to goose-step off to a brave new bank account! Along with this award you will be given the Iron Cross 1st class with diamond clusters, presented by our glorious Fuhrer, Herr Obama at a gala celebration at "der Fuhrer Bunker," formally the "White House," on 07-04-2011. We salute you Herr Walker, Sieg Heil! Signed by, Prosser calls his boss Chief Justice Abrahamson a bitch! In The Courts Of Fitzwalkerstan April 5 Judicial Election Could Renew Checks & Balances in Wisconsin By John Nichols A hand-painted sign highlighting Wisconsin’s April 5 state Supreme Court election declares: “This May Be the Most Important Vote You Ever Cast.” That’s a bold claim. But it won’t be dismissed by many observers of the six-week long struggle between Governor Scott Walker and the public-employee unions he seeks to dismantle with aggressive anti-labor legislation and tactics. The Supreme Court election in Wisconsin—one of a number of Midwestern states that elect jurists, in keeping with the progressive tradition that said all powerful officials should be accountable to the people—will provide the first real measure of the strength of the mass movements that have developed to challenge Walker, his agenda and his political allies. The Wisconsin Supreme Court currently has a 4-3 conservative majority that is expected to be sympathetic to Walker’s agenda as it faces extended litigation. But one of the conservative justices is facing an unexpectedly hard re-election fight. If he loses, the balance on the court will tip toward a majority that is more likely to check and balance the governor who has emerged as the authoritarian face of the national push by conservatives to break public-sector unions. As such, the Wisconsin race is being watched closely by the governor’s critics—who have taken to calling the state “Fitzwalkerstan,” a combination of the governor’s name and that of his legislative consigliere, Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald—and by Walker’s allies in corporate boardrooms and right-wing think tanks far from Wisconsin. On Friday, Sarah Palin endorsed the conservative incumbent, Justice David Prosser [1], who has also benefitted from expensive television advertising campaign’s funded by corporate donors. But Prosser, a veteran political player and jurist who was expected until just a few weeks ago to coast to victory, appears to be in serious political trouble—at least in part because he has aligned himself so closely with the controversial governor and the Republican right. On Thursday, his campaign co-chair, a popular former governor, abruptly quit [2] the campaign and endorsed Prosser’s challenger. That’s unprecedented. But so, too, is Prosser’s determination to politicize what is supposed to be a nonpartisan judicial position. Prosser has departed from the state’s best judicial values and traditions to identify himself as a conservative who will make decisions based on his political ideology and his political associations—particularly his association with Governor Walker—rather than the law. His opponent, veteran Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, [3] has done the opposite, positioning herself as a rule-of-law contender who would serve as an independent jurist rather than an ally of the governor. If that sounds like a stark choice, it is. And Prosser is the one who has made it so. In announcing his candidacy for a new term, the justice identified himself as a conservative judicial activist who intended to use his position on the court to advance Walker’s agenda. In the first announcement from his re-election effort, the message was clear: “Our campaign efforts will include building an organization that will return Justice Prosser to the bench, protecting the conservative judicial majority and acting as a common sense complement to both the new administration and Legislature.” Months later, when that line began to stir controversy, Prosser attempted to step back from the statement. But then his campaign said that the April court election is about locking in a “conservative majority” on the court “and nothing more.” These are unprecedented statements in the history of the Wisconsin judiciary. And they have caused former Prosser backers to distance themselves from the justice, as have recent revelations that suggest the justice has abandoned any pretense of respect for judicial integrity. (Newspapers reported in late March that he had called the chief justice of Wisconsin’s high court, Shirley Abrahamson, a “bitch” while threatening to “destroy” her.) Forner Governor Pat Lucey, [2] who agreed last year to serve as Prosser’s campaign co-chair, announced Thursday that he had had it with the justice. “I can no longer in good conscience lend my name and support to Justice Prosser’s candidacy,” explained Lucey. “Too much has come to light that Justice Prosser has lost that most crucial of characteristics for a Supreme Court Justice—as for any judge—even-handed impartiality. Along with that failing has come a disturbing distemper and lack of civility that does not bode well for the High Court in the face of demands that are sure to be placed on it in these times of great political and legal volatility.” “At the very same time that my confidence in Justice Prosser has waned, I admire and have continued to be impressed with Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg. She has adhered throughout the campaign to even-handedness and non-partisanship and has exhibited both promising judicial temperament and good grace even in the heat of a fierce campaign,” wrote Lucey in a statement broadly circulated in Wisconsin. “For these reasons I have today resigned as Honorary Co-Chairman of Justice Prosser’s campaign, and I endorse Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg for the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 5, 2011.” Lucey’s move highlights the seriousness with which Wisconsin’s approach judicial elections, a tradition that places critical choices about how to constitute the courts in the hands of citizens. The point of this tradition, which is deeply rooted in the state’s history and values, is to take politics out of the process. Unlike in other states, where politicians and legal insiders cut backroom deals to pick jurists, Wisconsin’s judicial elections let the people choose justices and then hold them to account. April 5 will be Prosser’s accountability moment. And it is his partisanship—as well as his link to a very controversial Republican governor—that has gotten him in political trouble. A former Assembly speaker, Prosser mentored Walker after the younger man was elected to the Assembly. Wisconsin is not a large state, so relationships of this sort frequently develop. Most judges resolve conflicts of interest by recusing themselves from specific cases and establishing strict standards. Unfortunately, Prosser has not done this. Instead of abandoning his past role as a partisan legislative leader, he has now positioned himself as a partisan leader on the court. Consider his involvement in the legal wrangling over Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s violations of the state’s code of conduct for jurists. The Wisconsin Judicial Commission determined that Gableman and his campaign purposely engaged in actions that violated the Code of Judicial Conduct and that “the prosecution of this matter was appropriate and a constitutional application of that valid rule.” However, Prosser blocked that prosecution. Why? Prosser and Gableman have each benefited from the aid of the out-of-state political interests that backed Walker’s election. Acting as a partisan, Prosser provided Gableman ethical cover in order to tip the balance of the court so as to align it with the Washington-based interests that have guided Walker’s agenda. Prosser’s moves suggest a steady determination to make the high court a judicial rubber stamp for the governor. For Wisconsinites who prefer the ancient model of governing that put all power in a monarch, Prosser is the right choice. He is running as an explicit supporter of the governor. That is his right. But it is also the right of the voters to set a higher standard. And they have an opportunity to do so by electing Kloppenburg, who would re-establish the court as an independent branch of government [3]. Kloppenburg is not a politician. She is an experienced and well-regarded prosecutor; an instructor at the University of Wisconsin Law School; and an advocate with a distinguished record of arguing cases before circuit courts, the Court of Appeals and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. But her real strength is her nonpartisan record and commitment to judicial integrity. Kloppenburg offers a reminder that it is still possible to disregard politics and to respect, honor and maintain the rule of law. As a litigator and prosecutor with the Wisconsin Department of Justice since 1989, she has served with two Democratic attorneys general (Jim Doyle and Peg Lautenschlager) and two Republican attorneys general (Don Hanaway and J.B. Van Hollen). In the course of the current campaign, Kloppenburg has gone out of her way to reject special-interest money and to highlight her commitment to judicial ethics and the code of conduct. She says: “Supreme Court justices should not act as advocates for any cause or group nor as legislators. Rather, Wisconsin residents deserve to have confidence that judges are impartial and independent decision-makers who apply the law fairly and clearly based on the law and the facts. That is what my background and broad legal experience have prepared me to do. That is the kind of justice I will be.” This is the traditional Wisconsin view, and the standard that voters have respected and defended through most of the state’s history when electing judges. Now they have an opportunity to defend that standard once more. The April 5 Supreme Court vote provides a stark choice between a partisan judicial activist who would make the court an extension of the governor’s office and a respected legal scholar, litigator and prosecutor who would restore the court’s independence. JoAnne Kloppenburg has embraced the higher and better standard that Wisconsinites have always demanded of their Supreme Court justices. If she wins her uphill race, in which she has enjoyed strong support from the governor’s critics, it will signal that the hundreds of thousands of citizens who have rallied in the streets are becoming a potent new force in the politics of the state—and, perhaps, of the nation. (c) 2011 John Nichols writes about politics for The Nation magazine as its Washington correspondent. He is a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and dozens of other newspapers. Primitive Muslims' Unique Love Of Violence By Glenn Greenwald * University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds , today, echoing so many by lamenting the compulsive violence of Muslims: It’s hard to keep track of all the barbaric behavior emanating from that part of the world. Glenn Reynolds, November 23, 2010, on his prescription for dealing with North Korea : If they start anything, I say nuke ‘em. And not with just a few bombs. They’ve caused enough trouble -- and it would be a useful lesson for Iran, too. Glenn Reynolds, November 4, 2006, on how to deal with the Muslim world : It's also true that if democracy can't work in Iraq, then we should probably adopt a "more rubble, less trouble" approach to other countries in the region that threaten us. Glenn Reynolds, February 13, 2007, on how to deal with Iran : We should be responding quietly, killing radical mullahs and iranian atomic scientists . . . Glenn Reynolds, September 11, 2001, on responding to the 9/11 attacks : GEORGE BUSH IS NOW THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD:. . . Now, if he wants to nuke Baghdad, there is nobody to say him nay -- and damned few who would want to. Boy, those primitive, dirty, lowly Muslims sure do have a bizarre, unique cultural compulsion toward violence and barbarism, don't they? Reynolds is highlighted here not because he's unique but because he's so drearily common. Behold the spectacle of those who cheered for the attack on Iraq (resulting in the deaths of at least 100,000 innocent people), who casually call for massive first-strike nuclear attacks on other nations (certain to vaporize hundreds of thousands or millions of human), who loyally marched lockstep behind a leader who instituted a worldwide torture and disappearance regime, lamenting how those grimy, backward Muslims over there have a disturbing and incomparable affinity for violence (and for examples of religious-motivated violence among Christians and Jews, see here ). Nuke 'em. Invade 'em. Torture 'em. Occupy 'em. Murder their scientists and religious leaders. Put 'em in cages for life without due process. Reduce 'em to rubble. Why? Because Muslims are so prone to violence and barbarism! That's a fairly succinct summary of America's political culture for the last decade at least. (c) 2011 Glenn Greenwald. was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. He is the author of the New York Times Bestselling book " How Would a Patriot Act? ," a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, released in May 2006. His second book, " A Tragic Legacy, " examines the Bush legacy. 'Cos I'm living my life like a good homosapien But all around me everybody's multiplying Till they're walking round like flies man So I'm no better than the animals sitting in their cages In the zoo man 'Cos compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees I am an ape man I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilized 'Cos I'm a strict vegetarian But with the over-population and inflation and starvation And the crazy politicians I don't feel safe in this world no more I don't want to die in a nuclear war I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, Oh I'm an ape man I'm a King Kong man I'm ape ape man I'm an ape man 'Cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky Compared to the clouds as they roll by Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies I am an ape man In man's evolution he has created the cities and The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance And I'd be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle 'Cos the only time that I feel at ease Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man I'm an ape, I'm an ape ape man, Oh I'm an ape man I'm a King Kong man, I'm a voo-doo man I'm an ape man I look out my window, but I can't see the sky 'Cos the air pollution is fogging up my eyes I want to get out of this city alive And make like an ape man Come and love me, be my ape man girl And we will be so happy in my ape man world I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, I'm an ape man I'm a King Kong man, I'm a voo-doo man I'm an ape man I'll be your Tarzan, you'll be my Jane I'll keep you warm and you'll keep me sane And we'll sit in the trees and eat bananas all day Just like an ape man I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, Oh I'm an ape man I'm a King Kong man, I'm a voo-doo man I'm an ape man. I don't feel safe in this world no more I don't want to die in a nuclear war I want to sail away to a distant shore And make like an ape man. © 1970/2011 The Kinks The former House Speaker says this is just about the last thing Americans need to see on their TV screens. Even Newt Gingrich A Little Depressed By Prospect Of Him Running For President WASHINGTON—Expressing a reaction similar to millions of other dismayed Americans, Newt Gingrich admitted Monday that he too was feeling "pretty bummed out" about the prospect of a Newt Gingrich presidential campaign. Gingrich calls talk of a Newt Gingrich presidential campaign "pathetic, frankly." While confirming his ardent desire to be president, the former Speaker of the House told reporters the mere fact that American voters were seriously considering Newt Gingrich to be a viable Republican candidate in 2012 was a fairly distressing development that made him question the direction the country was moving in. "Even when I see my name on a list of potential candidates, I think, you gotta be kidding me—Newt Gingrich?" said Gingrich, frowning and shaking his head in disbelief. "People are actually getting excited about the guy who engineered the 1995 government shutdown? I'm sorry, but that's just sad." "It's 2011, for God's sake," Gingrich added. "Can't we get a fresher name to represent the Republican Party in the 21st century than Newt Gingrich?" Though he acknowledged a Gingrich candidacy would definitely fire up certain segments of the conservative base, and likely build up a fair amount of momentum on name- recognition alone, Gingrich said that knowing we lived in a world where these kinds of political realities existed at all was a rather grim and sobering thought. In addition, the retired Georgia representative expressed a sense of deep disappointment that people actually seemed this willing to throw their support behind a past-his-prime reactionary with an anti-everything stance and a history of marital infidelity. "Hell, look at me: I'm a public relations nightmare," said Gingrich, adding that, for many years in the late '90s and early 2000s, his name was basically a punch line. "Remember that whole thing with me divorcing my wife while she was still in the hospital recovering from cancer? For my campaign's sake, I hope people have forgotten about that. But c'mon, it's a pretty bleak political landscape when the presidential campaign of a known philanderer is actually getting off the ground." While Gingrich maintained that he does indeed want to win the presidency, he said that actually deciding to form a presidential exploratory committee and working on a campaign strategy for the election of Newt Gingrich made him slightly sick to his stomach. Contemplating dozens of dreary appearances at political rallies in early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, Gingrich told reporters that he could already feel his soul "dying a little inside" every time he thought of going out there and delivering overly rehearsed speeches about the burden on American taxpayers, Obamacare, and his national security qualifications. Gingrich also claimed he was dreading the inevitable prospect of Newt Gingrich launching pointed yet patently unfair attacks on Obama's lack of clear leadership in the economic crisis, while simultaneously having to repeat some stupid campaign slogan like "Taking Back America's Future" over and over until he was completely sick of "everything coming out of Newt Gingrich's fat face." "Oh, God, I don't even want to think about all the awful things I'm going to have to say," said Gingrich, adding that he cringed when imagining the "unbelievably phony" patriotic rhetoric that he would likely be uttering constantly. "All those empty promises and misinformed statements used to mask a selfish agenda or stir up people's fears. I already want me to just shut the fuck up." "To be fair, I guess it's possible that I'll force some of the younger candidates to step up their game and once again generate some real interest in the core values of the Republican Party, but…ugh, who am I kidding?" Gingrich continued. "I'm the worst." Mark Kebler, campaign strategist and loyal aide to Gingrich for the past 20 years, strongly agreed that a Newt Gingrich presidential run "would be some really depressing shit, for sure." "Interestingly enough, it's not just about Newt's slim chances, polarizing character, irritating voice, or lack of charisma," Kebler said. "When you get right down to it, Newt Gingrich just kind of sucks. When I tell people I work for him, they give me this look, and I'm just like, 'Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know.'" Even winning the Republican nomination would be "a downer," Gingrich said, since he would then have to select a running mate every bit as lame as he is, such as Tim Pawlenty or Michele Bachmann. Like much of the voting public, Gingrich also expressed concerns about an unlikely yet disturbing scenario, one that ends with Newt Gingrich in the Oval Office. "What if I win? Do I really want to live in a country where I'm president?" Gingrich said. "Obviously, yes, but it doesn't mean I should be." The Gross National Debt Issues & Alibis Vol 11 # 14 (c) 04/08/2011 Issues & Alibis is published in America every Friday. We are not affiliated with, nor do we accept funds from any political party. We are a non-profit group that is dedicated to the restoration of the American Republic. All views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of Issues & Alibis.Org. In regards to copying anything from this site remember that everything here is copyrighted. Issues & Alibis has been given permission to publish everything on this site. When this isn't possible we rely on the "Fair Use" copyright law provisions. If you copy anything from this site to reprint make sure that you do too. We ask that you get our permission to reprint anything from this site and that you provide a link back to us. Here is the "Fair Use" provision. "Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include: (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."	Facebook
The French term ligne (equating to 'line' in English) is used by makers of watches, buttons and hats as an expression of?	BRICS Business Magazine No.2 (EN) by ezman - issuu issuu brics business magazine · #2 · 2013 The World and BRAZIL · RUSSIA · INDIA · CHINA · SOUTH AFRICA BUSINESS MAGAZINE THE emerging future shibulal Leading Nations There are certain topics on which a meaningful discussion is difficult due to having been reduced by overuse to little more than a series of declarations. Among them – though unquestionably deserving a better fate – is the idea of innovative development. Of course there can be no doubt that those countries which have produced the bulk of new technology have pulled quite far ahead of the rest. And the pessimistic medium-term scenarios which are inevitably thrust upon the public do not provide the complete picture, and in fact can even create a feeling of hopelessness. It is our deep conviction, however, that the prospects of those lagging behind are underestimated. The transformative power of finding a new approach or new solution – not unlike the power of new technology itself – is within the grasp of all of us, regardless of which country we live in. Evidence of this can be found in the twenty-five businessmen from Africa who cast their lots with innovation – and did so in the most diverse fields. We tell their story not only because they achieved success, but because they helped break down the existing stereotypes of their continent. And this is important because a positive example makes any endeavor more productive. Ruben Vardanian, Chairman of the Editorial Board of BRICS Business Magazine 2 BUSINESS MAGA ZINE Chairman of the Editorial Board Ruben Vardanian Managing Editor Evgeny Arabkin Creative Director Igor Borisenko Publisher Arman Jilavian Business Development Director Alexei Medvedev Senior Editors Vladimir Volkov Tatiana Tkachuk Photos & Illustrations by: East News, AP/Fotolink, Fotobank, ITAR-TASS, DepositPhotos, Reuters, Fotobank Lori, Russian Look, MEDIACRAT Registered as № ФС77-51070. 19,000 copies. BRICS Business Magazine is a registered trademark of MEDIACRAT. © 2013 MEDIACRAT. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any language, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission. The views expressed in articles are the authors’ and not necessarily those of BRICS Business Magazine. Best endeavours have been taken in all cases to represent faithfully the views of all contributors and interviewees. The publisher accepts no responsibility for the content of advertising materials, errors, omissions or the consequences thereof. 5/11 Nizhniy Susalniy Lane Moscow, Russia 105064 Tel/Fax: +7 (495) 280 0031, Tel.: +7 (495) 979 5246, 979 5586 [email protected] www.mediacrat.com Persons and companies mentioned in the issue Abbas, Youssouf Saleh Acquah, Hannah Adeyemi, Kunlé Amorim, Celso Bekker, Koos Bonsu, Henry Buffet, Warren Chua, Amy Cruise, Rupert Dangote, Aliko De Montgolfier, Joëlle Deming, Chen Elegbe, Mitchell Foster, Norman Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Gates, Bill Gates, Melinda Hassan, Abdiqasim Salad Ho Park, Seung Hofstede, Geert Ibrahim, Mo Kirubi, Chris Kourouma, Nvalaye Kress, Viktor Kuenyehia, Elikem Lalor, Michael Leterme, Yves Lu, Yonghua Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio Mandela, Nelson Masiyiwa, Strive Mbeki, Thabo Meacham, Matthew Medvedev, Dmitry Mehta, Nitin Mengi, Reginald Miller, Alexey Milner, Yury 92 62 62 98 62 62 62 16 62 62 104 112 62 92 62 62, 104 104 92 122 21 62 62 62 56 62 88 38 122 98 62 62 92 104 116 88 62 92 56 Moolman, Tiaan 104 Motsepe, Patrice 62 Moyo, Dambisa 62 Mubarak, Hosni 92 Mujawamariya, Jeanne d’Arc 92 Mwangi, James 62 Nazarbayev, Nursultan 34 Nsue, Ruben Maye 92 Obi, Henry 62 Okunlola, Remi 62 O’Neill, Jim 24, 28 Onwubiko, Emmanuel 62 Opeke, Funke 62 Palin, Michael 28 Pohamba, Hifikepunye 92 Putin, Vladimir 92 Robertson, Charles 88 Rogoff, Ken 40 Rousseff, Dilma 98 Saraiva, Sombra 98 Sawiris, Naguib 62 Shetty, Devi 50 Simons, Bright 62 Singh, Manmohan 118 Solodovsky, Mikhail 92 Soros, George 62 Sy, Hapsatou 62 Sylla, Abdraman 92 Tinubu, Wale 62 Touré, Amadou Toumani 92 Toure, Mamadou 62 Tymms, Andrew 104 Ungson, Gerardo R. 122 Usmanov, Alisher 56 Xuejun, Tian 112 Zedong, Mao 16 Zhou, Nan 122 Afric Xpress 62 Africa 2.0 62 African Rainbow Minerals 62 Airtel40 Amoo Venture Capital Advisory 21 Andrade Gutierres 98 Aravind Eye Care 50 Asia Paints 122 Bain & Company 104 Barrick Gold Corporation 62 BYD40 C&K Mining 92 Camargo Correa 98 Capital Group 62 Celtel62 Citibank62 Coca-Cola 62, 104 Colourful Radio 62 Consolidated Breweries 104 Coopers & Lybrand Tanzania 62 Cowbell104 Dangote Group 62 Deutsche Bank 88 Diageo104 Econet Group 62 Equity Bank 62 Equity Building Society 62 Ernst & Young 16, 34, 62, 122 Esmaltec122 Ethnicia/Hapsatou Sy 62 ExxonMobil62 Facebook40 Gazprom92 Goldman Sachs 28, 34, 62 Google56 Haco Tiger Industries 62 Heineken104 Helios Investment Parners 62 Huawei112 IBM21 IDT & DSTV 62 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 112 Infosys40 InterSwitch62 Investment South Africa (TISA) 114 IPP Group 62 Lâ€™OrĂŠal122 Life Spring 50 Linyang Group 122 Lodestone40 Lufthansa Cargo 38 Mail.ru Group 62 Main One Cable Company 62 Marcopolo98 Mindray Medical International 122 Mo Ibrahim Foundation 62 mPedigree62 Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital 50 Naspers62 Natura122 Nle Works 62 Oando62 Observer Research Foundation 118 Ocean and Oil Limited 62 Odebrecht98 Oerlikon24 Olam104 Orascom Telecom Holding 62 Oxford & Beaumont 62 Parallels56 Penguin Press 16 Perchstone & Graeys 62 Petrobras98 Promasidor104 PSG Asset Management 62 Quieroz Galvao 98 Renaissance Capital 88 Renova24 Ricoh40 Rosneft38 RVC56 SABMiller 62, 104 SeaWolf Oilfield Services 62 Shankar Nethralaya 40 Shell International 62 Standard Bank 112 Sulzer24 TechnoServe104 Tencent Holdings 62 Texchange62 The Knowledge Channel 62 The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation 116 Titan122 Transalloys24 Transparency International 92 TriMedx50 Txtnpay62 UBS12 United Manganese of Kalahari 24 Vale98 Velkom122 Vneshekonombank22 Vodafone62 Walmart 112 WBD122 Wind Telecom 62 World Bank 62, 88, 92, 98, 114, 118 Yandex56 ZTE112 EXPERTS AND CONTRIBUTORS	i don't know
Who wrote The Stepford Wives, Rosemary's Baby, and The Boys from Brazil?	Ira Levin, of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ Dies at 78 - The New York Times The New York Times Books \|Ira Levin, of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ Dies at 78 Search Continue reading the main story Ira Levin, a mild-mannered playwright and novelist who liked nothing better than to give people the creeps — and who did so repeatedly, with best-selling novels like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Stepford Wives” and “The Boys From Brazil” — died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 78. No specific cause of death had been determined, but Mr. Levin appeared to have died of natural causes, his son Nicholas said yesterday. Mr. Levin’s output was modest — just seven novels in four decades — but his work was firmly ensconced in the popular imagination. Together, his novels sold tens of millions of copies, his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, said yesterday. Nearly all of his books were made into Hollywood movies, some more than once. Mr. Levin also wrote the long-running Broadway play “Deathtrap,” a comic thriller. Combining elements of several genres — mystery, Gothic horror, science fiction and the techno-thriller — Mr. Levin’s novels conjured up a world full of quietly looming menace, in which anything could happen to anyone at any time. In short, the Ira Levin universe was a great deal like the real one, only more so: more starkly terrifying, more exquisitely mundane. Continue reading the main story In “Rosemary’s Baby” (Random House, 1967), a young New York bride may have been impregnated by the Devil. In “The Stepford Wives” (Random House, 1972), the women in an idyllic suburb appear to have been replaced by complacent, preternaturally well-endowed androids. In “The Boys From Brazil” (Random House, 1976), Josef Mengele, alive and well in South America, plots to clone a new Hitler from the old. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Few critics singled out Mr. Levin as a stylist. But most praised him as a master of the ingredients essential to the construction of a readable thriller: pace, plotting and suspense. Reviewing “Rosemary’s Baby” in The New York Times Book Review, Thomas J. Fleming wrote: “Mr. Levin’s suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents; the delicate line between belief and disbelief is faultlessly drawn.” Mr. Fleming was less impressed, however, with the novel’s denouement: “Here, unfortunately, he pulls a switcheroo which sends us tumbling from sophistication to Dracula,” the review continued. “Our thoroughly modern suspense story ends as just another Gothic tale.” Mr. Levin’s other novels are “A Kiss Before Dying” (Simon & Schuster, 1953); “This Perfect Day” (Random House, 1970); “Sliver” (Bantam, 1991); and “Son of Rosemary” (Dutton, 1997), a sequel in which Mama’s little boy is all grown up. The film versions of his books include “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes; “The Stepford Wives” (1975), starring Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss; and “The Boys From Brazil” (1978), starring Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason. There was also a spate of made-for-TV sequels: “Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby” (1976), “Revenge of the Stepford Wives” (1980) and “The Stepford Children” (1987). A big-screen remake of “The Stepford Wives,” starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick, was released in 2004. Ira Marvin Levin was born in Manhattan on Aug. 27, 1929. Reared in the Bronx and Manhattan, he attended Drake University in Iowa for two years before transferring to New York University, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in 1950. From 1953 to 1955, he served in the Army Signal Corps. Photo Ira Levin wrote the novels The Stepford Wives and The Boys From Brazil. Credit Associated Press, 2003 As a college senior, Mr. Levin had entered a television screenwriting contest sponsored by CBS. Though he was only a runner-up, he later sold his screenplay to NBC, where it became “Leda’s Portrait,” an episode in the network’s anthology suspense series “Lights Out,” in 1951. While continuing to write for television, Mr. Levin published his first novel, “A Kiss Before Dying,” when he was in still his early 20s. Widely praised by critics for its taut construction and shifting points of view, the novel tells the story of a coldblooded, ambitious young man who murders his wealthy girlfriend, gets away with it, and becomes involved with her sister. “A Kiss Before Dying” won the 1954 Edgar Award for best first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It was filmed twice, in 1956 with Robert Wagner; and in 1991 with Matt Dillon. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Mr. Levin, who won a second Edgar in 1980 for “Deathtrap,” was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2003. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Before returning to fiction with “Rosemary’s Baby,” Mr. Levin focused on writing for the stage. His comedy “No Time for Sergeants” (1955), which he adapted from the novel by Mac Hyman, was a hit on Broadway. (The play, and the 1958 film of the same title, starred a young actor named Andy Griffith.) Mr. Levin’s later Broadway outings, among them “Drat! The Cat!,” a musical that ran for eight performances in 1965, were less successful. (A song from the musical, “She Touched Me,” with lyrics by Mr. Levin and music by Milton Schafer, did go on to become a hit for Barbra Streisand as “He Touched Me.”) Then came “Deathtrap.” The tale of an aging dramatist who plots to kill a young rival and steal his new play, “Deathtrap,” ran on Broadway for 1,793 performances, from 1978 to 1982. It became a Hollywood film in 1982, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Mr. Levin’s two marriages, to Gabrielle Aronsohn and Phyllis Finkel, ended in divorce. He is survived by three sons from his marriage to Ms. Aronsohn: Adam Levin-Delson of Bothell, Wash.; Jared Levin and Nicholas Levin, both of Manhattan; a sister, Eleanor Busman of Mount Kisco, N.Y.; and three grandchildren. If Mr. Levin never achieved renown as a literary novelist, that, judging from many interviews over the years, was perfectly fine with him. It tickled him that the phrase “Stepford wife,” and even “Stepford” as an adjective (denoting anything robotic or acquiescent), had entered the English lexicon. Mr. Levin was less pleased, however, at the tide of popular Satanism his work appeared to unleash. “I feel guilty that ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ led to ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘The Omen,’” he told The Los Angeles Times in 2002. “A whole generation has been exposed, has more belief in Satan. I don’t believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn’t been so many of these books.” “Of course,” Mr. Levin added, “I didn’t send back any of the royalty checks.” A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: Ira Levin, 78, of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ Dies. Order Reprints \| Today's Paper \| Subscribe	Ira Levin
The European/Asian slow worm (Anguis) is what sort of animal?	Ira Levin, 78, Revived Horror in 'Rosemary's Baby' - The New York Sun Ira Levin, 78, Revived Horror in 'Rosemary's Baby' Staff Reporter of the Sun \| November 14, 2007 http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/ira-levin-78-revived-horror-in-rosemarys-baby/66439/ Ira Levin, who died Monday at 78 of an apparent heart attack at his Park Avenue penthouse, helped revive gothic horror in novels and films including "Rosemary's Baby." A triple threat with credits as a novelist, scriptwriter, and director, Levin's work found its widest distribution in film, a medium he did not practice. It fell to others to adapt "Rosemary's Baby," "The Boys From Brazil," "Sliver," and "The Stepford Wives." One of his proudest achievements was adding to the language the word "Stepford," which has come to mean something like robotic. "This made-up name 'Stepford' is now a popular adjective," he told Opera News during a 1997 interview conducted at a matinee of the opera "Faust." "You know, 'Stepford marines,' 'Stepford killers,' 'Stepford children,' that sort of thing. Who knew?" Another runaway success was the play "Deathtrap," which ran for 1,793 performances starting in 1978 and succeeded in fulfilling for Levin an ambition of one of the play's main characters: making $2 million from a Broadway play. It was hardly the first time the furniture of Levin's life was recapitulated with an evil twist in his art. Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx and on the Upper West Side, Levin attended Horace Mann High School. He was the son of a successful toy maker, but resisted his father's expectations that he would take over the business. Instead, he asked his father for a loan to support him as a writer. He won an NBC-sponsored screenplay-writing competition and completed his first novel before being drafted into the Army in 1953. While working as a writer on training films, he managed to sell the manuscript for "A Kiss Before Dying," which appeared while he was still in uniform. It was a murder mystery told in multiple voices and set on a campus "pretty much like Drake," the Des Moines, Ill., university where Levin spent two years before transferring to New York University. The novel won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America and was turned into a 1956 film starring Joanne Woodward and Robert Wagner. Also while in uniform, Levin began working on adapting Mac Hyman's novel "No Time for Sergeants" for the Broadway stage. His agent got the Army to let Levin leave early to complete the play, which ran for 796 performances starting in 1955 and helped launched the career of its star, Andy Griffith. With a best-selling novel, a film, and a Broadway smash to his credit, Levin's career was sailing as well. He chose to continue writing plays and Broadway ï¿½ his "mistress" as he once said ï¿½ proved fickle. "Interlock," a melodrama starring Celeste Holm and Maximilian Schell, opened February 6, 1958, and closed three days later. Similar runs awaited "General Seeger" (1962), "Drat! The Cat" (1965, a musical comedy), and "Dr. Cook's Garden" (1967), about a homicidal physician with Burl Ives as the lead, much to Levin's consternation. To make matters worse, Levin ended up as director of "Cook's Garden" after the original director, George Scott, showed his displeasure by pushing Levin down a flight of stairs during an out-of-town tryout. Levin fared a bit better with "Critic's Choice," his 1960 play directed by Otto Preminger and starring Henry Fonda as a reviewer who must critique his own wife's play. But his next foray into writing about critics, "Break A Leg" (1979), closed after a single performance. Perhaps smarting from Broadway's slaps, he went back to novel writing with "Rosemary's Baby" (1967), which became a best seller and was adapted for the screen by director Roman Polanski. The film was a smash hit, too, and was released to near-universal huzzahs. Levin's technique of placing the ancient themes of magic, possession, and deals with the devil in the context of contemporary New York made it sing. Rosemary's infant is born, for example, just nine months after Pope Paul VI's 1965 visit to the city. The realism was enhanced, Levin later conceded, by the fact that his wife was pregnant at the time he wrote it. He refused to let her read it while pregnant, he later told Publishers Weekly. But "the obstetrician did read it and loved it." (He was divorced from both his first wife, Gabrielle Aronsohn, and his second wife, Phyllis Finkel.) Both the novel and film inspired dozens of imitators. It is hard to imagine "the Exorcist" or the career of Stephen King without them, but Levin quickly moved from pure horror to dystopian futurism with the novel "This Perfect Day" (1970) ï¿½ Huxley meets Orwell ï¿½ and the neological "The Stepford Wives" (1972), which made a better adjective than film. The Nazi fantasy "The Boys from Brazil" (1976) likewise spawned imitators, although by now critics had turned against Levin's novels, too. Wrote Time magazine, "Exploiting such a monster for entertainment and profit is enough to give evil a bad name." (The show "Break a Leg," with its imagined violence against reviewers, emerged not long after.) In the 1980s, Levin mined his own Jewish heritage for "Cantorial" (1988), about a haunted synagogue. The play has been produced dozens of times around the country although it had only a brief off-Broadway run. Levin described it as "the Amityville synagogue." His penultimate novel, "Sliver" (1991), concerned a landlord addicted to spying on his tenants with hidden video equipment. (Levin's penthouse featured a telescope that some speculated he used for inspiration for the book.) The 1993 film, adapted by Joe Eszterhas and starring Sharon Stone, was a bust, and "bore absolutely no resemblance to the book," he told the London Evening Standard. His final novel was a sequel, "Son of Rosemary" (1997), set in 1999, when its hero is exactly 33. Levin had slowed down in recent years, his long-time agent, Phyllis Westberg, said. He had recently been working on a revival of "Deathtrap." Ira Levin Born August 27, 1929, in New York; died November 12 at his home in Manhattan; survived by three sons, Adam Levin Delson, Jared Levin, and Nicholas Levin. To contact obituaries editor Stephen Miller Phone: 212-901-2638 E-mail: smiller@nysun receive the latest by email: subscribe to the new york sun's free mailing list	i don't know
Piscine Molitor Patel is better known by what highly abbreviated name, being the central character of an eponymously titled novel?	2016-10-13T12:30:52.145-07:00 John's Immortal Evening <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjf8q10PBPw/Vussea3pzHI/AAAAAAAAAac/QlkdSp2lQNQ-cpRYHyuInXmMHGm_3S7ag/s1600/Being%2BMortal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Being Mortal Atul Gawande" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjf8q10PBPw/Vussea3pzHI/AAAAAAAAAac/QlkdSp2lQNQ-cpRYHyuInXmMHGm_3S7ag/s1600/Being%2BMortal.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />The meal John prepared on Tuesday would rank among our top five--if we had such rankings.  Aided by Dean, Tom, and Mark, John prepared and named the following courses, each reflecting a different sentiment evoked by our book:<br /><br /><i>Blood, heart, and liver</i>.  Essential to our circulation, blood was transfused as bloody martinis, served from a hanging IV drip bag.  Our most important muscle, heart was rendered into skewered calves hearts sourced from a grass-fed beef producer in West Marin.  And liver was transformed into a foie gras brought in fresh from Sonoma and served on toast. A fine starting course.<br /><i></i><br /><i>Eat Your Veggies</i>.  With this life-enhancing mandate, we weren't allowed to be choosy.  John served us a soup pureed from his own selection of organic vegetables from the farmers market.<br /><i></i><br /><i>Last Supper</i>.  When confronted with one's mortality, only the best will do.  John obliged with a filet mignon, <i>sous vide,</i> accompanied by mashed cauliflower and bacon jam and smashed potatoes with caramelized shallots.<br /><br /><i>Brain Brownies</i>.  What else but scratch brownies and vanilla ice cream topped with a bourbon and orange bitters drizzle?  Well, here's what else: for a touch of verisimilitude, mini brain lobes in the form of walnut halves atop each brownie.<br /><br />Thank you, John, and we hope you enjoy your well-deserved trip to Iceland.  We also owe thanks to Paul (and his ever-patient and absent wife Jane) for allowing us, our guests, and a photographer to take over his beautiful home for a night.  <br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Atul Gawande's <i>Being Mortal</i> is one physician's attempt, in plain English, to expose our frequent resort to aggressive medical intervention as we approach the end of life.  Whether through experimental therapies, life-sustaining assistance, or institutional confinement, we too often seek to extend life without understanding the implications or the alternatives.<br /><br />Gawande's presentation was disturbing and enlightening at the same time. I felt that his book was a barometer (measured by one's level of unease while reading it) for our readiness to make the hard decisions that lie ahead. Almost everyone shared his own story of family illness and death to illustrate our collective discomfort with what may be an unclear or even false choice as the end nears (i.e., quality over quantity).  While Armando, always the naturalist, read <i>Being Mortal</i> as a field guide to getting old, the scientist in Roy wasn't persuaded.  He found Gawande's prescriptions premature in a world of constant innovation and advancement.<br /><br />Gawande's recurring question to end-stage patients is:  what do you most want and what are you willing to give up in order to get it? Illustrated by the stories of his patients, Gawande claims that quality of life is desired most and that, surprisingly, less intervention can prolong rather than shorten life.  We discussed his premise and the anecdotes sprinkled through the book (guest Mark declared the book a sales pitch for hospice care; guest Keith noted his personal connection to Sara Monopoli, one of Gawande's featured patients).  In the end, Paul pronounced <i>Being Mortal</i> the "most relevant" book we've read given its insistence that we set clear expectations for the end of our lives.  Tom then exhorted us to have our affairs in order by year end (with a current estate plan and advance healthcare directive).  Amen, Tom!<br /><br />More disturbing than the book's focus on mortality (and Glenn's recent brush with same) was the tragic coincidence that longtime MBC friend and guest, Charlie, was killed and his wife Dorothy injured in an auto accident that same afternoon in New Jersey.  Present at our progressive holiday party in December, Charlie was a thoughtful, artistic man whose presence will be sorely missed.  Recover quickly, Dorothy.  Charlie remains in our thoughts.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GSgjX3uqAeI/Vux6LuNwH6I/AAAAAAAAAaw/NGRwPza0Be453hy75VG7Q_l2lYvHAJaNg/s1600/Xmas2016%2528Charlie%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GSgjX3uqAeI/Vux6LuNwH6I/AAAAAAAAAaw/NGRwPza0Be453hy75VG7Q_l2lYvHAJaNg/s320/Xmas2016%2528Charlie%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RIP Charlie Kleiman</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />For April, Larry made us choose between several outstanding writers: Adam Johnson (new to MBC), Annie Proulx (gasp! a woman!), E.L. Doctorow (the title--<i>Andrew's Brain</i>--gave it zero chance), and David Lipsky (recounting his five days with David Foster Wallace).  We went with Johnson's 2013 Pulitzer winner, <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i>. Here's to an evening of political and social repression, Pyongyang-style.  I trust Larry, our Dear Leader for the evening, will not visit famine upon us. andrew 2016-10-13T12:30:03.021-07:00 2015 Redux <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Redux notwithstanding, I'll start with our early <b>January</b> 2016 ski trip.  The point is, after years of terrible conditions, we finally had enough snow for good skiing.  A day at Sugar Bowl and, for some, a day of cross-country at Royal Gorge, were appropriately exhausting.  They were also necessary, as they provided the spacing between Tom's lasagna, Peter's ribs, Dean's chicken piccata, and endless bottles of wine. Below, we tuck into that famous lasagna....<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVt8cbjg0kg/VuYcIK30l7I/AAAAAAAAAY8/Ia8heAiNFRkJSLnV00oRjm4sHH_zPxcpA/s1600/2016-01-09%2B19.43.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVt8cbjg0kg/VuYcIK30l7I/AAAAAAAAAY8/Ia8heAiNFRkJSLnV00oRjm4sHH_zPxcpA/s320/2016-01-09%2B19.43.37.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L to R: Moguls, Aussie, Crash, Steeps, Hydro, 2XC4US)</td></tr></tbody></table>Apologies to "Crash," who finally made our ski weekend only to have his wife's beautiful red SUV scarred by an errant (but honest) snowplow driver.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzPYkremNyQ/VuYiY9ia3HI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/61OZDMI3QEY7wON2Q3IvfJaAd6eh87g8Q/s1600/Financial%2BLives%2BPoets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review The Financial Lives of the Poets Jess Walter" border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzPYkremNyQ/VuYiY9ia3HI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/61OZDMI3QEY7wON2Q3IvfJaAd6eh87g8Q/s1600/Financial%2BLives%2BPoets.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Our ski trip was only slightly consumed with reading.  We had a too-abbreviated conversation about Jess Walter's <i>The Financial Lives of the Poets</i>.  Proposed by Terry, and inspired in part by our appreciation of Walter's short story, <i>Anything Helps</i>, Walter's novel about one man's midlife travails was a comic if bittersweet glance back at the Great Recession.  His protagonist felt a little too like any of us:  middle-aged man (check), with kids (check), and beautiful wife whose fidelity is suspect (hmm...not going there), making bad decisions (sometimes), aware of those bad decisions (always), and with an epiphany at the end (time will tell).  We truncated our discussion to avoid spoiling it for those who hadn't yet finished.  But the consensus seemed to be one of great ambivalence.  Sort of funny, sort of painful, sort of true, sort of compelling.  An emailed rating later of 7.0 was surprisingly good for all the sort ofs.<br /><br />In <b>December</b>, after a 6-year hiatus, we reprised our progressive holiday party. As before, we started at Larry's for appetizers (thank you for the fried lumpia, Larry!), had our entrees and sides at yours truly, and finished with dessert, mulled wine, and more at Terry's.  As usual, every man did more than he was asked to pull off this moving feast for 35 guests.  Special thanks to Tom (two days spent preparing Julia Child's boeuf bourgignon!), Peter (who, too sick to attend, still dropped off his slow-cooked ribs), and John (whose flourless chocolate cake was to die for, but who also sent each of us home with an individually-wrapped persimmon loaf from his kitchen).  <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU40N-eFOhA/VuY8tnw8I-I/AAAAAAAAAZk/S9XXzXPGHv4kl5w6d9kdiXmfQ_I7z4BNQ/s1600/Heart%2Bof%2BDarkness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU40N-eFOhA/VuY8tnw8I-I/AAAAAAAAAZk/S9XXzXPGHv4kl5w6d9kdiXmfQ_I7z4BNQ/s1600/Heart%2Bof%2BDarkness.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We traveled up to Petaluma in <b>November </b>for a midday meal with Glenn.  Ostensibly, we were there to discuss Conrad's <i>Heart of Darkness</i>, but most of us were happy touring Glenn's new/old house and listening to his plans for the barn (built, we were told, before Conrad penned his <i>magnum opus)</i>.  Since he had no recipes from the Congo, and since Belgian food is French food ruined, Glenn turned to <i>Apocalypse Now</i> for inspiration and prepared an excellent <i>dejeuner Indochine.</i> With guest Rob contributing, we shared our thoughts on Marlow's tale of his quest for Mr. Kurtz. Despite the fact that everything has already been said about this story (most of it by college freshmen), our discussion was lively. Was the journey simply one long acid trip (Rob, speaking metaphorically, I think), intentionally purposeless (Terry), exploring darkness in the map's white spaces (Glenn), an indictment of corporatism (or was that mercantilism, Paul?), or just a vehicle for terrific writing (most of us)?  Regardless, our own quest to find Glenn up in Sonoma County left us amply (ful)filled. Enough so that, for the second month running, we lifted a title into our current top five, with an 8.4 rating.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tk079y9XU_o/VuZDfWZW9WI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/M-XuFNS1fhgeJxmL60IyZwYwqhjhwLEuA/s1600/Lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff Christopher Moore" border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tk079y9XU_o/VuZDfWZW9WI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/M-XuFNS1fhgeJxmL60IyZwYwqhjhwLEuA/s1600/Lamb.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In <b>October</b>, we repaired to Dan's for dinner <i>al fresco</i> and an opportunity to discuss one of the more original works we've read to date.  Violating our selection protocol by offering us only one title, Dan had us read Christopher Moore's <i>Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal</i>.  The title was incongruous, but the book managed to capture our collective fancy.  Whimsical, comic, irreverent--none of these does justice to Moore's re-creation of the Christ story with Biff as his cartoonish narrator.  Like Aslan's <i>Zealot</i>, Moore's <i>Lamb</i> acknowledges that so little is known about Christ's upbringing.  But in Moore's telling, absolutely anything is fair game.  Our comments ranged from "sophomoric" (Doug) and "juvenile" (me) to "refreshing" (Peter) and "meaningful" (Tom).  Quibbles aside, almost everyone found Moore funny and highly creative.  And that, to my surprise, propelled Dan's solo title into our current top five with an 8.7.  Creativity was also to be found on our vino, courtesy of San Marino Cellars' Label Division:<br />  <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VuAQI9mjfjY/Vvq5fXj4S4I/AAAAAAAAAbE/4eDBfPcyutA3yAjbr-sJ0aOnfARUOI2bg/s1600/Last%2Bsupper%2BMBC%2BDeFrank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VuAQI9mjfjY/Vvq5fXj4S4I/AAAAAAAAAbE/4eDBfPcyutA3yAjbr-sJ0aOnfARUOI2bg/s320/Last%2Bsupper%2BMBC%2BDeFrank.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan and his Disciples</td></tr></tbody></table> (P.S.:  Dan, your Jerusalem-inspired meal of lamb and chicken shawarma more than compensated for your rules violation.  But don't tell anyone I said that. Otherwise, I'll let the world know that your own guest, Miguel, confessed that while <i>Lamb</i> may have been funny, it had "no depth.")<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpYtAU4xGHc/VwCX9nrOPuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/ZCIWjHLrtlMR2dyHsGBdhemp1ZfoY5YtA/s1600/31f9eGIHj3L._AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussioni review The Onion Field Joseph Wambaugh" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpYtAU4xGHc/VwCX9nrOPuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/ZCIWjHLrtlMR2dyHsGBdhemp1ZfoY5YtA/s1600/31f9eGIHj3L._AA160_.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We convened in <b>September</b> wondering what Paul had in store for us.  In fairness, we'd been warned that our book's title should be taken literally.  And it was.  Paul's dinner dropped us right into the onion field described by Joseph Wambaugh. Seated outside and in the dark, we all took notice of the table's centerpiece, which was an artful arrangement of planted onion bulbs.  To make sure we got the point, each part of our meal featured onions, starting with an onion dip, then onion soup, and continuing with a delicious onion quiche.  The food unfortunately outdid the book.  Perhaps we were spoiled by Truman Capote, but everything about Wambaugh's true crime account suffered in comparison to <i>In Cold Blood</i>.  Most disappointing was the writing.  Plodding and tedious, the book's best moment was the actual homicide in the onion field north of Los Angeles.  While we all decried the writing, Larry further complained that the story had no protagonist worth caring about.  Indeed, had we cared more, we might not have been content to rate <i>The Onion Field</i> a 5.5. andrew 2016-10-13T12:28:57.072-07:00 Chez Stan, Blind But Not Hungry <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SDPLkJTIPII/AAAAAAAAACI/2GpvvlnZnmo/s1600-h/Blindness.jpg"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Blindness Jose Saramago" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202725816374934658" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SDPLkJTIPII/AAAAAAAAACI/2GpvvlnZnmo/s320/Blindness.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" title="" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Stan’s baronial residence could not have contrasted more sharply with the rapid physical decay depicted in Jose Saramago’s <i>Blindness</i>. Had we a stronger sense of justice last night, we would have given our beef tri tip and roasted new potatoes to the cyclone victims in Myanmar. Instead, we tucked in, helped ourselves to ice cream, and promised to support Garth’s upcoming Burmese fashion show fundraiser. (Although his daughter may be worried about his preference for fem couture, we know Garth’s intentions are honorable.)<br /><br />Stan, thanks for feeding the 14 of us as we sorted through the pain and triumph of <i>Blindness</i>. However, your insistence that we complete our roundtable discussion with our eyes closed may have overly stimulated certain other senses. When I opened my eyes, my plate was empty. The obvious suspect was the man seated to my left, who arrived with a see-through gauze blindfold and a tendency to thievery. If I had one of Garth’s stiletto heels, I might have planted it in John's thigh.<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Although Saramago’s plot is compelling (an epidemic strikes a city, renders its inhabitants blind, and creates a profound loss of social order), several in the group complained that the book was slow going. The absence of conventional punctuation, the elliptical dialogue, and the intentional omission of character names made the act of reading more challenging.<br /><br />While Roy criticized the writing as “mechanical” and Doug was surprised at his own lack of progress, Jack praised the book as an excellent sleeping aid. (I noted, with obvious insight, that the removal of punctuation was a conscious attempt by Saramago to eliminate visual cues for his readers. But I was quickly informed that all of his books are written this way. That ended my insight for the evening.)<br /><br />Most of us, however, got used to the narrative style and were absorbed by the story and its parallels to the Holocaust and any number of other fascist and authoritarian-inspired tragedies of the last century. Armando and Glenn both read this novel in overtly political terms, with Glenn (or was it Armando?) discovering a cautionary tale perfect for the current election cycle. Glenn’s disclosure that Saramago is an atheist with a pessimistic view of mankind came as no surprise, particularly given the jarring revelation during the novel's scene in the church. Doug, who admitted his bias against political fiction, was intrigued by the plot but underwhelmed by Saramago’s delivery.<br /><br />The interesting result of our discussion was how highly we rated this book despite a few strong dissents (Roy felt generous giving it a 3!). Even with conservative numbers from Dean, Jack, and Doug, the book drew more 9's and 10's than any book to date. Stan, Terry, Glenn, and Larry all ranked it as their book of the year. With an 8.3 rating, <i>Blindness</i> has overtaken <i>The Great Gatsby</i> and <i>Tortilla Curtain</i>. Beyond its high rating, <i>Blindness</i> also seemed to provoke more topical discussion than any other book on our list. </div><div><br /><b>Next Up</b></div><div>For next month, Jack asked us to consider <i>The Spectator Bird</i> by Wallace Stegner, as well as McGuane’s <i>The Bushwhacked Piano</i> and O’Brien’s <i>The Things They Carried</i>. The virtue of each choice, as we enter the summer season, is its brevity. So, in gratitude, we agreed to take up Stegner’s 1976 National Book Award winner. For the ambitious engineers in our group, extra credit will be awarded if you also read <i>Angle of Repose</i> and come prepared to explain the title.</div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:28:23.082-07:00 Roy Prepares a Capital Meal <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SwoDBapIXdI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/uk_F8ofxdaY/s1600/In+Cold+Blood.jpg"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of In Cold Blood Truman Capote" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407137625478290898" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SwoDBapIXdI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/uk_F8ofxdaY/s320/In+Cold+Blood.jpg" style="float: left; height: 134px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 86px;" title="" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Dinner last night was a superb feast of midwestern fusion. With a nod to <i>In Cold Blood’s</i> western Kansas setting, but with a decided bias towards his own state of Indiana, Roy delivered roast chicken, roast pork, and roast ribs—all Manhattan style. The accompanying sides were tastily updated renditions of 1950’s staples: green beans, spinach, and scalloped potatoes. Out of fidelity to our book, Roy’s selection of beverages naturally included Orange Blossoms (orange pop and vodka)—a road trip favorite of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. But it was Roy's grappa (distilled using grapes skins and stems from Tom J) and house bourbon that provided the end-of-evening lubricant. Sorry, Paul, but your bottles of Gallo (however clever in the pun department) never made it to the table.<br /><br />We were missing a few men last night, including our good friend John, whose daughter was undergoing corrective surgery for scoliosis. While he sat at the hospital keeping vigil, we kept one for him (aided by the grappa and bourbon). With Cat’s surgery over and an excellent prognosis ahead, we look forward to having John back in our midst. As for Tom A and Garth, your absences were barely excusable. Next time, when forced to choose between MBC and your children, remember that a high school concert is as easily recorded as attended. And, as for Peter, if you missed our dinner in pursuit of your dream to run a 5-minute mile at age 50, please hang up your spikes and return to the fold at once. A cold, dark high school track is no place for an effete bookman.<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Truman Capote confirmed his reputation as a serious writer with the 1965 publication of <i>In Cold Blood</i>. His so-called “nonfiction novel” about the killings in Holcomb, Kansas mesmerized the nation during its serialization in <i>The New Yorker</i> and divided many on his particular approach to “reportage” (thanks for that reference, Stan). Some objected to his artistic license, and others were offended by his easy familiarity with his subjects. But, for many Americans in 1965, Capote’s gravest offense was to humanize two killers as a rejoinder to (and critique of ) society’s resort to capital punishment. To his critics, the book's title was devoid of its intended irony.<br /><br />As a group, we were not so divided. Capote’s original take on the Kansas killings was compulsively readable and a fascinating study of time and place. Maybe, as some suggested, we’re too inured to the kind of violence depicted by Capote to be offended by his narrative. Or, like Terry, we’ve read enough true crime (good and bad) to appreciate what a stunning achievement <i>ICB</i> represented in 1965. As for Capote’s politics, his concerns about capital punishment have become today's orthodoxy. Whether we agree with Roy’s fantastically bleak assessment of our penal system, many of us still have stronger misgivings about the execution of criminals than did our parents in 1965.<br /><br />Capote's novel drew praise from all quarters except Paul, who felt that Capote's account was emotionally flat. Nevertheless, Paul seemed pleased that <i>ICB</i> represented a return to our usual fare of misogynistic, deeply flawed primary characters. During our roundtable rating, it was noted that <i>ICB</i> had the potential to steal top honors from <i>Blindness, </i>our highest rated book to date. So as not to taint the outcome (<i>Bindness</i> was his selection, you may recall), Stan initially abstained from voting only to belatedly insist that his 8 had been ignored. The upshot: <i>ICB</i> tied <i>Blindness</i> during our meeting, but overtook it when I later received Tom A's email giving it a 9. Even counting Stan's 8, Capote's true crime classic eked out an 8.4 and now holds the pole position in the Man Book Club ratings contest.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Our next meeting is a joint affair with the women's book group to which some of us are affiliated (by marriage only). Given the choice of reading Truman Capote's enduring novella, <i>Breakfast at Tiffany's</i>, and Bill Bryson's memoir, <i>The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid</i>, the women ignored one of America's foremost humorists in favor of a book whose brevity and title reference to expensive jewelry seem apt as we enter another holiday season.</div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:27:39.396-07:00 Love Requited, at George's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rajFYkO9dkk/VaG8B5DFFvI/AAAAAAAAAWo/EUQkq7dxTGE/s1600/Love%2Bin%2BTime%2Bof%2BCholera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group review Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez" border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rajFYkO9dkk/VaG8B5DFFvI/AAAAAAAAAWo/EUQkq7dxTGE/s1600/Love%2Bin%2BTime%2Bof%2BCholera.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acknowledgments</span></b><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">George deserves kudos on several fronts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>First, when his proposed titles were challenged, he promptly offered us an alternative that met with our approval. Second, the title he proffered had so much personal meaning that he had us close to tears when he recounted why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Finally, his eggplant parmesan would have joined Fermina Daza and her mother-in-law in gustatory harmony, and his chess pie might well have convinced Dr. Juvenal Urbino that dessert is better than the game itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One Hundred Years of Solitude</i> put Gabriel Garcia Marquez on the map, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i> cemented his stature as one of the greatest novelists of the 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our 7.9 rating confirms how easily we were persuaded by the exquisite storytelling that is the hallmark of Garcia Marquez’ writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Set in a fictional city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i> tells the compelling if convoluted story of unrequited love, with Fermina Daza at the middle of the triangle formed by her husband, Dr. Juvenal Urbino, and her first love, Florentino Ariza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite our collective thumbs up, our individual reactions were anything but uniform. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, many were quite cryptic—according to my paltry notes. Here are some examples:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>the book “wrote itself” according to Larry, who nevertheless labored to finish it; the female protagonist wasn’t sufficiently endearing and neither were the long paragraphs (Jack); the plot benefited from “parallel male characters” (Doug, to whom I do no justice with this paraphrasing); the book “mesmerized” Roy until he reached the halfway point (or was it the halfway point of his family vacation in Southeast Asia?); the repeated use of symbols fascinated Stan, who still puzzled over the significance of the birds and refused all of our explanations; and, finally, the book seduced Glenn from the very first paragraph, even though he’d read it before. As for me, yes, I spiked the ratings with a 10, but I had to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The characters are unforgettable, but it was the extraordinary dialogue—with all of its insight into human relationships—that had me from the beginning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Next Up</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jack gave us the chance to step further back in time and read one of the few American novelists who compares closely (and favorably) to F. Scott Fitzgerald.  We'll see in July if John O'Hara deserved the accolades he received upon the publication of his first and arguably best novel, <i>Appointment in Samarra</i>.</span></div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:26:31.451-07:00 A Make-Up for 2012 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>As club secretary, I must fall on my sword for my repeated failure, over the last year or more, to regularly post summaries of our meetings. I blame Tom A. for initially stepping in to save me, only to later step out and expose my lack of constancy. With that <i>mea culpa</i>, herewith a very quick summary of our meetings since January's <i>A Sport and a Pastime</i>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaqwA34CzeU/UJcwGMDeWyI/AAAAAAAAARQ/7p9ActIPuzM/s1600/Ghosts+of+Everest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Ghosts of Everest" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaqwA34CzeU/UJcwGMDeWyI/AAAAAAAAARQ/7p9ActIPuzM/s1600/Ghosts+of+Everest.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In February, Paul fed us victuals from the Kashmir as we considered the story of the 1999 expedition that discovered the remains of legendary British mountaineer, George Mallory.  In <i>Ghosts of Everest</i>, Hemmleb et. al. chronicle their successful attempt to re-trace Mallory's fateful route in 1924 in order to figure out what exactly happened to Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine.  Less successful was the manner in which Hemmleb and his co-authors joined their account with Mallory's.  The story of each expedition was fascinating, but the book's split narrative was awkward and resulted in a modest 6.7 rating. Maybe it was the intimidating presence of our guest and published author/teacher, Andy, that made us extra critical.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MQpB3zUuHY/UJcwT2Rr4NI/AAAAAAAAARY/fYXmrIphuok/s1600/Reservation+Blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Reservation Blues Alexie" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MQpB3zUuHY/UJcwT2Rr4NI/AAAAAAAAARY/fYXmrIphuok/s1600/Reservation+Blues.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In March, we convened at Stan's (yes, another outstanding meal of grilled meat and roast potatoes!) to consider Sherman Alexie's modern-day account of life on the rez in <i>Reservation Blues</i>.  We split over the dream sequences and mystical moments, but were taken by the honesty with which Alexie paints his characters.  Alternatingly sympathetic and scathing, Alexie depicts life on and off the reservation (and his characters' infatuation with music) with a remarkable vividness, especially for those us for whom the BIA is just another acronym.  The 7.0 rating understated the generally positive tenor of our discussion.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqyfISWvMVc/UJcw38UjqMI/AAAAAAAAARg/AAtSGSjCSjI/s1600/Sweet+Promised+Land.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Sweet Promised Land Laxalt" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqyfISWvMVc/UJcw38UjqMI/AAAAAAAAARg/AAtSGSjCSjI/s1600/Sweet+Promised+Land.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Armando hosted us in April with an ethnic feast that complimented Robert Laxalt's beautifully drawn memoir set in pre- and post-war Nevada.  As men of a certain age, perhaps we were predisposed to fall hard for <i>Sweet Promised Land</i> and its elegiac re-telling of a quintessentially father-son story.  The father, Dominique Laxalt, is a hard-working immigrant (herding sheep in the foothills near Carson City) whose sons achieve fully the American dream (one as a US senator, another as a university professor) but whose heart can't quite forget the family he left behind in a small town in the Pyrenees.  His return home with his younger son is both reunion and closure. Several guys commented that this story continued to resonate long after the pages were turned.  It certainly did for me.  For that reason, it earned an 8.3 rating and climbed into our current Top 5.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_EebSUX3CZE/UJcxY4UvouI/AAAAAAAAARw/WJQU6SwAXvY/s1600/Unbroken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Unbroken Hillenbrand" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_EebSUX3CZE/UJcxY4UvouI/AAAAAAAAARw/WJQU6SwAXvY/s1600/Unbroken.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We met next in June at my house and enjoyed plenty of sushi and sake as we considered Louis Zamperini's unforgettable odyssey from Torrance, CA to the Berlin Olympics to a POW camp in Japan.  Laura Hillenbrand is a shameless crowd-pleaser whose recreation of the Zamperini story engendered questions from us (and others) about its authenticity of detail. That aside, most of us felt uplifted and exhausted by Zamperini's extraordinary resilience and will to survive.  Our conclusion was to forgive the sometimes tedious and occasionally hyperbolic passages and celebrate--with a 7.4 rating--an amazing story of survival. <br /><br />In July we declared a bye and instead appeared with spouses and no books at Doug's house for his second annual summer party.  After commiserating with him over his recent burglary, we tucked in and stuffed ourselves.  Thanks again, Doug.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqC6iJcwzY/UJcxh3Gj5fI/AAAAAAAAAR4/1Ts1AcA62Zs/s1600/Surely+You%27re+Joking,+Mr+Feynman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqC6iJcwzY/UJcxh3Gj5fI/AAAAAAAAAR4/1Ts1AcA62Zs/s1600/Surely+You're+Joking,+Mr+Feynman.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Our last meeting was delayed to September, when Glenn hosted us at Roy's house.  With food from Sol, we were all ears as Ralph Leighton regaled us with stories about Richard Feynman, the Nobel physicist who was also his father's colleague at CalTech.  Glenn had proposed and we picked <i>Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!</i>, unaware that Ralph Leighton was Roy's brother-in-law.  The book was filled with the infectious humor and antics of a renowned physicist who related his personal story to Leighton in a series of recorded conversations over the space of several years.  From those recordings, Leighton produced this delightful memoir.  Even those of us with little interest in applied physics found in  Feynman (via Leighton) a riveting storyteller indeed.  andrew 2016-10-12T12:09:13.855-07:00 A Moonshine Evening at Roy's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jn4rdtZYN-U/V_pznUIsU8I/AAAAAAAAAe0/sdzh9q_kqWEk1_-KeZPO34hwh9TeukuRQCLcB/s1600/Moonshine%2BWar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group review discussion The Moonshine War" border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jn4rdtZYN-U/V_pznUIsU8I/AAAAAAAAAe0/sdzh9q_kqWEk1_-KeZPO34hwh9TeukuRQCLcB/s200/Moonshine%2BWar.jpg" title="Elmore Leonard The Moonshine War" width="123" /></a></div><b>Dinner and Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />We gathered at Roy's house last Tuesday for a novel combination (pun intended):  we got to drink several varieties of Roy's bespoke moonshine while discussing Elmore Leonard's 1969 classic, <i>The Moonshine War</i>.  Accompanying the gin, rye, and corn liquor was a sampling of white lightning (near-pure grain alcohol).  In keeping with the novel's backwoods locale, Roy treated us to venison, boar, and goose--all hunted and dressed by the man himself.  His black-eyed peas and bourbon ice cream were added evidence of Roy's commitment to a true moonshine evening.  Bravo, Roy!<br /><br /><b>Our Review and Discussion of <i>The Moonshine War</i></b><br /><b><i> </i></b> <br />Set during Prohibition, Leonard's novel centers on an impoverished town where the main source of income for many is distilling or bootlegging liquor.  With the arrival of a crooked internal revenue agent, everyone's livelihood is threatened, especially Son Martin's, as he's sitting on 150 barrels of the best hooch in western Kentucky.  The story's "explosive" climax is foreshadowed the moment agent Long is discovered with a Remington in his valise.  As Larry noted, Leonard presents the reader with an overt illustration of the literary principle known as Chekhov's Gun (i.e., if Act I features a gun hanging on the wall, Act III will invariably have it go off).<br /><br />Though predictable in form, most agreed that Leonard's mastery of the genre (spare dialog, sharply-etched characters, a reluctant hero) makes his story both timeless and compulsively readable. According to Terry, <i>The Moonshine War</i> was the perfect summer read for our group.  We agreed and readily voted  7's across the board.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br /><br />Our next meeting is an evening BBQ at Tom's with spouses and significant others invited.  Eschewing our democratic tradition, Tom has directed us to immerse ourselves in the purest of literary forms:  the cowboy short story.  And who better to render it than Annie Proulx!  Next up is her acclaimed collection, <i>Close Range: Wyoming Stories</i>, featuring among other titles <i>Brokeback Mountain.</i> andrew 2016-10-12T12:06:58.772-07:00 Tom's Wyoming Evening <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7vUFLH1-cfY/V_qGjjc1LEI/AAAAAAAAAfY/rFr80tlQu7c2zYr5pyIVdGx9cQALmLHNgCLcB/s1600/Close%2BRange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club group review discussion" border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7vUFLH1-cfY/V_qGjjc1LEI/AAAAAAAAAfY/rFr80tlQu7c2zYr5pyIVdGx9cQALmLHNgCLcB/s200/Close%2BRange.jpg" title="Annie Proulx Close Range: Wyoming Stories" width="130" /></a></div><b>Dinner and Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />No one caters western barbecue like Tom.  Last Saturday, he invited 35 of us to his house for an evening of smoked chicken, barbecued ribs, and a very tender brisket.  The eating was spectacular and so was the setting.  With tables set outside (for sunset views over Peacock Gap) and inside (to avoid the evening chill blowing in from the Bay), and too many side dishes and beverages to count, we were overwhelmed by Tom's generous hospitality.  We were also delighted to see Dorothy, whose recovery we've been cheering these last few months. Thanks for a fine evening indeed, Tom.<br /><br /><b>Our Discussion and Review of <i>Close Range:  Wyoming Stories</i></b><br /><br />A <i>mea culpa</i> is in order.  In my zeal to catch up with with several men and their spouses, I set aside my notetaking, asked few questions, and came away with only fragments of conversations about Proulx's most famous short story collection.<br /><br />The common refrain of those at my table was the repeated reference to the quality of Proulx's writing.  Her turn of phrase, her uncanny eye for detail, her ear for dialog, her evocation of a fragile masculinity--all were enjoyed in this stunning collection of stories about life on the range.  Naturally, most of us commented on <i>Brokeback Mountain</i>, whose famously homosexual story line obscures a larger, deeper narrative about love, loss, aging, and other age-old themes.  Everyone was moved by the joy and sadness of the story and the despair of its principal character, Ennis.  One of my many favorite lines was Proulx's quick description of the failure of Ennis' marriage:  "A slow corrosion worked between Ennis and Alma, no real trouble, just widening water."<br /><br />Among the other stories mentioned by many was <i>Blood Bay</i>, the story of a cold winter night, a pair of finely-tooled boots, two amputated legs, a trio of cowpunchers, and a nervous host.  Everyone was taken by the story's spare dialog and abbreviated ending.  And almost everyone found in the opening story, <i>The Half-Skinned Steer</i>, the gradually building suspense that is the hallmark of fine short form fiction.  For her confident prose and relentless insight, we gave Proulx a much-deserved 8.4, which puts her in the Man Book Club pantheon of greats (well, our current Top Five list).<br /><br /><b>Next Up:  <i>The North Water </i>by Ian McGuire</b><br /><br />For September's meeting, Armando, ever the water wonk, gave us several choices but winnowed them to two:  <i>The Water Knife</i> and <i>The North Water</i>.  While the former is explicitly set in a warming world with severe water shortages, the latter is its near opposite, with a cast of murderous sailors hunting whales off the coast of Greenland in 1859.  We chose Ian McGuire's cold, harsh world of predators--both natural and man-made.  Let's hope this most manly of adventure stories lives up to the hype that accompanied its publication earlier this year. andrew 2016-10-12T12:05:20.641-07:00 Glenn's Hiro <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SIg3DC6dtFI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DBLF_W4RR7M/s1600-h/Snow+Crash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226487893024683090" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SIg3DC6dtFI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DBLF_W4RR7M/s200/Snow+Crash.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Approaching the dog days of summer, with several of us already gone on vacation, Glenn readied his home and welcomed a smaller-than-usual contingent Tuesday night. Well, on second thought, he apparently didn’t ready his home. With his nicely furnished patio still awaiting its bluestone installation, and with a step riser that would have intimidated a Chinese gymnast, Glenn dared us to complain. And none did, as we were much too preoccupied with his food and drink and company to care. Thank you for hosting, Glenn.<br /><br />Without our resident chemist (Roy went to Hawaii to avoid reading this month’s selection), the drink was merely fine. The food, however, deftly mirrored Uncle Enzo’s fare in <i>Snow Crash</i>. But with delivery by Pico instead of Hiro, taste and texture were both outstanding. As were the vanilla and blueberries suffused with raspberry liqueur. Not content with these <i>amuse bouches</i>, Glenn introduced us to his excellent friend, Judd, an import from Mill Valley who admitted to a fondness for SciFi but who proved to be no Stephenson apologist.<br /><br />These acknowledgments wouldn't be complete without saluting George's impromptu discourse on the re-creation of an ancient Athenian trireme. He promises more at his upcoming lecture at the St. Francis Yacht Club. And we remain impressed by Glenn's passionate embrace of all things robotic (and that is NOT a reference to Jana, his lovely and intelligent wife).<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Stephenson’s first breakthrough novel, <i>Snow Crash</i>, challenged us. Ostensibly about a not-too-distant society whose culture and institutions have been overtaken by monopolists and hegemonists, <i>Snow Crash</i> describes a real world that is threatened by its parallel, virtual world. The book is long, peopled with techno-thrill junkies, freighted with a mixture of tech talk and Sumerian myth, and it features a plot that could have been served up in half the pages. Did I say it was long? (Editor’s Note: Having read only 230/470 of this novel, I’m still confident I absorbed enough.)<br /><br />Let’s start with the positive. First, George read it and then convinced his 14-year old son to read it. As a group, we weren’t as impressionable as Evan, but several of us felt rewarded by the effort. Those who liked it tended to be steeped in SciFi, although some had their quibbles with Stephenson’s lengthy, digressive, and slightly baroque style and structure. Larry, who proudly read this precocious digital age novel on his Kindle, described it as “<i>The DaVinci Code</i> on steroids.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement (though Larry might try re-reading <i>The</i> <i>DaVinci Code</i> on his Kindle to see if it's the digital medium that adds the steroids). John, on the other hand, was impressed with Stephenson’s ability to construct a virtual world that extends and distorts our physical world (e.g., the actual replication and manipulation of viruses, language, and even human behavior by virtual means). Judd, who confessed to reading Stephenson’s massive <i>Cryptonomicon</i> (easily twice the length of <i>Snow Crash</i>) and also meeting Stephenson at Book Passage, admitted that Stephenson’s writing has matured since his early efforts. Indeed, Judd’s assessment of SciFi literature validated my own sense of the genre: despite a soaring imagination, the writing quality can be quite uneven.<br /><br />Everyone who read <i>Snow Crash</i> (and that includes Jack and Dean, who each claimed to have reached p. 63) found Stephenson's 1992 novel amazingly prescient. His Metaverse is eerily similar to the virtual worlds that now populate the cyberspace we’re familiar with. As Glenn noted, the avatars adopted by our children in Club Penguin are just a half step away from the characters’ avatars that fill Stephenson’s Metaverse. And the regular blurring of Metaverse and Reality in <i>Snow Crash</i> is not only intentional, but may be yet another example of Stephenson’s prescience.<br /><br />In the end, <i>Snow Crash</i> had its adherents but it failed to stimulate a strong response. Our rating of 5.8 puts it below the middle of the pack.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Since we are taking August off, we agreed to Doug’s suggestion that we share titles that make for ideal summer reads. No literary awards, no moody narrators, no big words—just easy, uncomplicated stories that read well on the beach or in the mountains. I wish I could capture some of what was said about the titles that were proffered, but instead I’ll trust you to remember and reach for the books that you found most intriguing. So, in no particular order and without referencing authors, here are the titles I was able to scribble onto my Post-It: Any book by Lee Child, <i>The Alchemist, Blood Sucking Fiends, God’s Middle Finger, The Call of the Wild, The Old Man and the Sea, Into the Wild, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Nature Girl/Tourist Season, Blink, North Dallas Forty, Richistan, Stiff, Bonk, Peyton Place, Endurance, Into the Void</i>, and <i>Three Cups of Tea.</i><br /><br />For September, Terry gave us three distinct choices: <i>Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail</i> (Hunter S. Thompson), <i>Ironweed</i> (William Kennedy), and <i>High Jinx</i> (William F. Buckley). Without Terry present to both defend and proselytize, we bickered over page length, topicality, relevance, and even (sacrilegiously) asked ourselves if we could pick a different book altogether. Tom rushed to defend the integrity of Terry’s list and we quickly fell in line. By the narrowest of margins, Kennedy’s 1984 Pulitzer winner won out over Thompson’s 1972 political screed. Ironically, Kennedy and Thompson were quite close friends. Maybe that’s why we had such difficulty picking one over the other. We’ll find out in September if our choice is vindicated.</div> andrew 2016-06-07T16:46:57.869-07:00 An Apologia <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i></i></span></span></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>[Reader's Note:  The NYT gave you a small glimpse of the Man Book Club.  Please read below for the rest.  Spoiler Alert:  We do read books by women.]</i></span></span></b><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHsZ2zcSlBI/Vy7Z3_ji6oI/AAAAAAAAAdk/P6NXewCMKUUKEnanmuWc1977an2dK1rjwCLcB/s1600/File%2BMay%2B07%252C%2B11%2B15%2B07%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Man Book Club article New York Times" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHsZ2zcSlBI/Vy7Z3_ji6oI/AAAAAAAAAdk/P6NXewCMKUUKEnanmuWc1977an2dK1rjwCLcB/s320/File%2BMay%2B07%252C%2B11%2B15%2B07%2BPM.png" title="" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New York Times Interviews<br /> Man Book Club</td></tr></tbody></table><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our Interview with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we were approached by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i>, we were flattered but never expected to end up in print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nevertheless, we gave a phone interview and provided additional information by email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>When the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/fashion/mens-style/mens-book-clubs.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0" target="_blank">article</a> came out on May 4, we were dismayed that so little of what we prize about our close-knit group was mentioned or explained.  </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Article's Angle</span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> article opened with our name (manifestly masculine), our location (an affluent county), and our experience eating Rocky Mountain Oysters (aka, calves’ testicles).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>These details provided the hook for anyone mildly curious about all-male book clubs.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After such a lead-in, most feature articles would step back and provide context, the very context we’d provided during our interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But this wasn’t a feature article; it was a “trend piece.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And, as in all trend pieces, provocation is better than explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don’t blame the writer.  This was her assignment and nothing she wrote was incorrect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But, by omission, the details and quotes in her piece implied that our book club has zero regard for women's contributions to literature.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nothing c</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ould </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">be further from the truth</span>.</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>A Critical Reaction</b></span></span></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While most pundits <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">had fun with the machismo story line, and understood that we and the other book clubs in the article weren't seeking to be taken seriously,</span> there were some who averred that we were shockingly narrow-minded in our book selection criteria and that as rich white men we were modeling abhorrent behavior. One writer even said book clubs like ours perpetuate “<a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/2016-05-04/thank-god-theres-a-book-club-just-for-men-because-thats-what-the-world-needed/" target="_blank">the patriarchy’s continued dominance</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To address these concerns, a little explanation is in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why “Man Book Club”</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “Man Book Club” was intended as a riff on the "Man Booker Prize." It referred to our original selection criterion, which mandated shortlisted or award-winning authors only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  Like Booker Prize winners, for example.  Except the Booker Prize bec<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a</span>me t</span>he Man Booker Prize when it was "bought" by the Man Financial Group (a UK hedge fund).  So our name was a jab at Man’s cynical entry into the rarefied world of literary awards.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who We Really Are</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Residents of Marin County?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Rich?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We all have to work, unfortunately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All white?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Another no. Anyone who reads our website can see that our so-called "patriarchy" includes men of Mexican, Japanese, and Filipino descent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why We Came Together</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We came together for two reasons:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>a desire to form a men’s group and a concomitant desire to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In 2007, all of us had young kids and our lives were going nonstop. We were busy doing lots of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But we weren’t reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Half of us had stopped after college; the other half only read intermittently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Amid all this action (and inaction), we were also seeking more contemplative fellowship with other men.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Learning from Women’s Book Clubs</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we formed our book club, an online search indicated that the vast majority of book clubs were women-only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Many of these clubs read widely, but others were quite specific:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>there were book clubs that read only gothic romance, fantasy, young adult, Jane Austen (yes, only Jane Austen) or other subgenres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  This gave us an idea for our book club:  we would focus on male-themed literature.  </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Call it our Jane Austen approach to reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our Book Selection Criteria</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our longstanding rule—“No books by women about women”—has apparently caused the most consternation among our critics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And confusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Virtually every<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> critic</span> read our rule as forbidding any books by women. Or any books about women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  Neither is true.  We read books by women and we read books about women.  Confusion over our rule led one critic to claim--incorrectly--that our criteria would exclude <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anna Karenina.</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our rule helps us <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">avoid </span>overtly feminine titles that may not appeal to the entire group of us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a way to rule out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eat, Pray, Love</i>, but rule in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unbroken</i>.  And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anna Karenina</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It’s not perfect and in fact we’ve strayed from it, like when we read Patti Smith's memoir, <i>Just Kids</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A final and obvious note about our reading.  Once a month we gather to eat and discuss a book that usually emphasizes male themes.  The rest of the month we can and do read anything.  And that includes women's fiction.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">  </span></span></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Conclusion…</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are a group of middle-aged men who have re-discovered the joy of reading after a long hiatus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Our efforts to read should be encouraged, even if our material isn't <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">as eclectic as some would like</span>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Slate</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> got it right when it called out the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> and others for grossly distorting the import of our book club.  Its headline read:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“<u><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/05/05/men_only_books_clubs_are_not_as_worthy_of_eye_rolling_as_the_times_styles.html" target="_blank">Feminists Shouldn’t Roll Our Eyes at Men-Only Book Clubs. We Should Applaud Them</a>.</u>”</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thank you, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Slate</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We couldn’t have said it better.</span></span> andrew 2016-06-02T11:55:07.952-07:00 All Heart and No Fist at Peter's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WLd__9Oc9zg/V0yiKqyvfHI/AAAAAAAAAeY/_mW40165umcpBJF23BL4el7IzEResQtzACLcB/s1600/Your%2BHeart%2Bis%2Ba%2BMuscle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa" border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WLd__9Oc9zg/V0yiKqyvfHI/AAAAAAAAAeY/_mW40165umcpBJF23BL4el7IzEResQtzACLcB/s200/Your%2BHeart%2Bis%2Ba%2BMuscle.jpg" title="" width="129" /></a></div><br /><b>Peter's Dinner </b><br /><br />Oh, what to say about a man who assembles his menu from the Food section of <i>The New York Times</i> even after enduring its less-than-flattering portrayal of the Man Book Club?  Poor Peter.  He simply couldn't shake his affection for Melissa Clark's timeless recipes.  Fortunately for us, her <a href="http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017359-roasted-chicken-with-potatoes-arugula-and-garlic-yogurt" target="_blank">curation</a> and Peter's execution last Tuesday of a one-pan entrée of roast chicken, potatoes, and arugula, paired with roast carrots and Brussels sprouts, made for an almost perfect springtime meal.  <br /><br />The only misstep came at the end.  Thanks to a minor oversight, the organic berries were topped with crème fraiche instead of vanilla ice cream.  Most of us would never have noticed the substitution had the cold vanilla-flavored cream not been dispensed from refrigerated Three Twins pint cartons!  <br /><br /><b>Our 2016 Quiz</b><br /><br />Before we turned our attention to Yapa's debut novel, we all submitted to the Man Book Club 2016 Quiz, which was designed to test how closely we've been listening to one another since our last quiz in 2008. 15 questions were administered, with three guys given chances at each unanswered question.  (Paul was absent; he'll get number 16.)  <br /><br />The questions were challenging, but men you should still be ashamed!  How many times have we heard Armando talk about his other men's group and George talk about US Rowing?  Maybe our poor performance will make us more sympathetic the next time we see our children's progress reports.  Kudos nonetheless to Terry and Glenn, who showed real test-taking mojo, and honorable mentions to Roy and Doug, whose correct answers to some questions kept them from disgracing themselves.  The rest of you ARE disgraced, so start taking notes.  I'm not waiting 8 years before administering the next quiz.<br /><br /><b>Other Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />We should also acknowledge Peter's daughter, Lulu, whose presence during dinner tempered our outbursts and improved our table manners.  While only an 8th grader, she can already outrow George and outswim Larry.  A low bar, but impressive.  Speaking of impressive, John's daughter Ali was named CWPA player of the year as Michigan headed into the NCAA tournament earlier this month.  John was too shy to share this, so I'm giving Ali the plug she deserves.<br /><br /><b>Our Review and Discussion of <i>Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist</i></b><br /><br />Sunil Yapa's 2016 novel about the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle had us polarized from the start.  Perhaps it was his ambition (the same event witnessed simultaneously by 7 different characters) or his craftsmanship (there were more than a few clunker sentences--"florid" according to Doug), but his street-level narrative didn't quite work for many of us. <br /><br />It's hard to summarize Yapa's novel without trivializing his efforts.  The story centers on 12 hours of scripted yet chaotic protest and an ineffectual and at times violent police response.  Through the lens of his various characters, Yapa opines on globalization, illegal immigration, poverty, drugs, family dysfunction, homelessness, and much more.  And therein lay the problem for many of us.  Was the book as simple as its title suggested--an examination of the conflict between love and violence?  I posed the question but no one saw it in such easy terms.<br /><br />Instead, we argued about Yapa's self-conscious character study and split over whether Victor, Julia, John Henry, Park, et al. were principled in their passion (Peter and Terry seemed to think so; I didn't), reflected a black-and-white clarity (Tom felt they did; Larry felt they didn't), presented as vivid and compelling (John) or muddled and unresolved (Larry and Jack).  <br /><br />Most of us conceded the novel had its moments, especially in the way its shifting points of view reflected the chaos surrounding the characters (Armando) and captured the same events seven different ways (Glenn).  But if his characters' anguish was palpable, so was Yapa's prose.  He caromed between casual unfinished sentences and digressive high-pitched ones, often in the same scene.  In the hands of a surer stylist, it might have worked.<br /><br /><b>Rating the Book</b><br /><b> </b> <br />Rarely has our post-discussion rating been so polarized.  With two 8's (Peter and Armando) and two 4's (Stan and George), Yapa squeaked by with a passable 6.0 and our grudging recognition of  his undeniable talent.  As Terry noted, if we rated on discussion quality alone, Yapa's number would have risen considerably.<br /><br /><b>Next Up: <i>The Moonshine War</i> by Elmore Leonard</b><br /><br />Roy offered us an interesting set of choices for our reading in June.  Bill Bryson's sentimental favorite <i>A Walk in the Woods</i> was first, followed by Emily Mandel's much-touted <i>Station Eleven</i>, and finally Elmore Leonard's 1969 mass market classic, <i>The Moonshine War</i>.  Many of us had already read Bryson's comedic Appalachian meditation and a few bristled at the idea of reading Mandel lest it be taken as a conciliatory gesture.  Our misgivings were mooted when Roy promised a fine selection of distilled spirits if we chose Leonard's Prohibition era narrative.  An easy choice indeed.  We'll convene next month with our used paperbacks and shot glasses in hand.  andrew 2016-05-13T08:35:42.748-07:00 Our Appointment at Jack's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B5omREqC1xc/VaLUP1qJbkI/AAAAAAAAAXE/G11ypefceyQ/s1600/Appt%2Bin%2BSamarra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club review Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B5omREqC1xc/VaLUP1qJbkI/AAAAAAAAAXE/G11ypefceyQ/s1600/Appt%2Bin%2BSamarra.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />As Dean observed, Jack treated us to the "two-fifty dinner" last Wednesday with his chopped iceberg salads and surf and turf entrees.  The ambience was further enhanced by the bottles of Speakeasy beer and small batch rye whiskey that made the rounds.  With a black tie optional dress code, it was as close to O'Hara's fictional Lantenengo Country Club as this group will ever see.  Special thanks to Jack's guest, also named Jack and also a Cantab, who good naturedly played along--sartorially and otherwise.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaP2YkP0lkY/VaM03IHH5KI/AAAAAAAAAXY/Fr4R3l7jFGk/s1600/Black%2BTie%2BOptional%2Bat%2BJack%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaP2YkP0lkY/VaM03IHH5KI/AAAAAAAAAXY/Fr4R3l7jFGk/s320/Black%2BTie%2BOptional%2Bat%2BJack%2527s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Note to photo ed.: Photoshop trousers onto Jack R before publishing)</td></tr></tbody></table><b>The Book</b><br />Published in 1934, <i>Appointment in Samarra</i> was John O'Hara's first novel and was an immediate literary and commercial success.  With both the Great Depression and Prohibition as its backdrop, O'Hara's novel exposes the social pretensions and economic friction of Gibbsville's <i>arriviste</i> country club set by charting the tragic downfall of its protagonist, Julian English. His demise is foretold in the book's title, which is taken from the book's epigraph by Somerset Maugham.  (Thanks to Doug for letting us in on the licensing fee O'Hara paid, and then passed on, in order to use this excerpt from Maugham's 1933 play, <i>Sheppey</i>.)<br /><br />Despite my misgivings that O'Hara might read as a lesser Fitzgerald, none of us felt let down.  Instead, we enjoyed dissecting the social stratification at the heart of the novel and, as Tom put it, found a little of everything for the Man Book Club.  Several noted that the principal characters were irredeemable (Jack, Doug, Tom), and Paul--with his commentary about deception--found a suitably twisted/misogynistic cast of characters among the Lantenengo set. I was struck by the anti-Catholic bias that animated much of the story (and suffused so much of O'Hara's later writing). For Stan and Terry, it was the setting (Depression/Prohibition) that was especially vivid.  For Larry, it was Julian's impulsive act with the ice cube.  As the novel's set piece, this breach of decorum sets in motion the events that lead to Julian's suicide.  Finally, in a shameless display of male sensitivity, our guest noted that O'Hara's story features unusually strong, sexy female characters.  I'd accuse Jack of pandering, but who among us didn't love Caroline?!<br /><br />There were some protests (our host openly admitted he liked <i>Ten North Frederick</i> better and George walked out when we told him the ending), but unlike one critic's headline reaction to O'Hara's next novel (<i>Butterfield 8)</i>, our consensus 7.7 rating showed no "Disappointment in O'Hara." By the same token, none of us was willing to agree with Stan's conclusion that <i>Appointment in Samarra</i> is our best read to date. (But it was better than <i>Hunger</i>, Stan!)<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We read next Joseph Wambaugh's powerful true crime work, <i>The Onion Field</i>.  Paul couldn't persuade us to orient our moral compasses thru martial arts, nor could he nudge us back to Afghanistan with <i>The Kite Runner</i>.  So we will meet in September to discuss Powell and Smith's notorious 1963 police kidnapping.  Extra credit will be awarded to those who also watch the movie, starring James Woods and--in his film debut--a young Ted Danson. andrew 2016-05-13T08:32:12.855-07:00 Dean Delivers, Mongolian Style <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DpU2DuhtOUs/VttrWrShbTI/AAAAAAAAAYE/yMf3oSExtuk/s1600/Genghis%2BKhan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club review Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Weatherford" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DpU2DuhtOUs/VttrWrShbTI/AAAAAAAAAYE/yMf3oSExtuk/s1600/Genghis%2BKhan.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Tuesday's dinner was an impressive act of culinary celerity.  Dean rushed back from a father-son ski trip at Kirkwood to research and prepare an all-Mongol feast. (Meaning the food, not the guests--or not all of them anyway.)  With Mongolian beef and scallions accompanied by buuz (those delicious steamed dumplings) and a Mongolian carrot salad, Dean met his own--and our--high standards.  The Tsingtao beer and San Marino Cellars washed it all down nicely.<br /><br />The only false note, Dean, was the pure butter shortbread in your yogurt dessert.  Unlike the rest of your menu, it wasn't home-made and its provenance was disturbing.  (Did I see a Walker's box in the trash? You know Genghis never made it past Gaul!)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Jack Weatherford's history of Genghis Khan makes a bold claim:  that as Khan and his progeny advanced westward, and established their dominion throughout the Caucasus, the Middle East, and into central Europe, their ideas and technology helped produce the Age of Enlightenment.  Who knew that this barbarian on horseback had such a civilizing effect? <br /><br />We didn't, and so we questioned Weatherford's thesis and wondered if his research was as rigorous as it purported to be.  (His constant references to the so-called Secret History and his refusal to footnote any of his conclusions didn't inspire confidence.)  Our most reliable cynic--who shall go unnamed--offered an alternate sub-title:  "...<i>and the Great Mongolian Blow Job</i>."<br /><br />Cynicism aside, we were treated to a litany of fun facts by Weatherford.  The Mongols were the first all-cavalry warriors and their speed accounted for much of their success.  They were the first to use gunpowder and shrapnel-laden projectiles in war.  They invented paper currency and standardized monetary units of measurement throughout their empire. They institutionalized diplomatic immunity, eschewed torture, guaranteed freedom of religion, created a professional class of administrators, and offered advancement based on merit not family. Among those they conquered, they decapitated the aristocracy and created new democratic structures loosely modeled after their <i>khuriltai</i>.  They invaded and united China, laid out modern Beijing, and built the Forbidden City.  Whew! But, as Larry notes with ethnic pride, they never conquered Japan.  (Editor's own ethnic observation:  nor did they take the Philippines, leaving that task for Larry's ancestors some 500 years later.) <br /><br />Weatherford posits that the Mongolian empire was brought down by the lowly Chinese rat and its rapid transmission of the bubonic plague.  Wait, what?  Oh, who cares.  A fascinating story--albeit one laced with repetitive details and dubious scholarship--prompted us to give Weatherford a decent 6.5. <br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />John hosts us in March and, in light of his mother's recent diagnosis, asked us to select from several titles about the very difficult subject of death and dying.  We picked Atul Gawande's <i>Being Mortal</i>.  Until our next meeting, we'll continue to keep John's family in our thoughts.  andrew 2016-05-13T08:27:17.053-07:00 Dinner at the Orphanage with Larry <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u80I1s0dwek/Vx2OqIpZGUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/KRuIq5VGsN8CbJkrhs2V7bhM2S7gm0P6QCLcB/s1600/Orphan%2BMasters%2BSon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club the orphan master's son" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u80I1s0dwek/Vx2OqIpZGUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/KRuIq5VGsN8CbJkrhs2V7bhM2S7gm0P6QCLcB/s1600/Orphan%2BMasters%2BSon.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />If Larry's intent last Tuesday was to serve us something that approximated--in tone or taste--the cuisine of Adam Johnson's North Korea, he did a terrible job.  There was no fresh bird's breast, no toxic peaches, no purloined shrimp, and thankfully no ox secretions.  Larry instead took us south of the 38th parallel so we could feast guilt-free on bulgogi, salmon, rice, kimchi (homemade), and mochi (also homemade).  Well-nourished, and with guest Stuart at our table, we looked across the DMZ and wondered about the strange world that inspired <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i>.<br /><br />(A special acknowledgment is owed to Tom and Dean, who transported Stan and his new wheelchair to Larry's and back.  Stan's recent motorcycle accident in Mexico and his return odyssey--10 hours to the border in the back of a pickup, and another 9 to the hospital in S.F.!--are quite the story.  Stan, we wish you a fast recovery.)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Johnson's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is, on its surface, the story of an Everyman character (named Jun Do) who while navigating the absurdity of modern-day North Korea becomes a symbol of its extremes.  Born to an orphan master, raised among orphans, and later working variously as a kidnapper and an intelligence officer, Jun Do's early years are full of the contradictions of North Korean society.  Johnson ups the ante in Part 2 of the book when the reader realizes that the Commander Ga character from Part 1 has disappeared and Jun Do has assumed his identity.  No longer Everyman, Jun Do's real identity is open to question (literally, as his interrogation spans all of Part 2).<br /><br />Our positive rating (7.6) belied the mutterings of some (Roy and Dan, I'm talking about you), whose forward progress suffered during the book's transition to Part 2.  With its confusing character changes and relentlessly shifting point of view (back and forth from a literarily omniscient third person to a politically omniscient second person--speaking from a state loudspeaker--to the first person Interrogator posing as our protagonist), not everyone was impressed by Johnson's virtuosity.  Nor was everyone satisfied by the novel's fanciful detour to Texas and that state's later role in the story's climax.<br /><br />We were all, however, entranced by the many sordid DPRK details extracted (or manufactured) by Johnson.   Replete with gulags, prison mines, foreign kidnappings, widespread hunger, self-criticism sessions, and several Potemkin-style communist paradoxes (e.g., the handmade vintage Mustang using a Lada chassis and Mercedes engine!), Johnson's imagination soars.   Yes, the story is dark (Dean), dystopian (Larry), and surreal (Peter), the narrative saunters (Stan), the "truthiness" quotient is high (thanks for that Colbert reference, Glenn), and there's more than a little misogyny (duly noted by Paul), but many of us thought Johnson did a superb job in grappling with our often conflicting notions of truth, identity, and the nature of power and relationships.  As Doug also noted, Johnson beautifully fictionalizes a society whose reality is already stranger than fiction.   For Terry and me and a couple others, <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i> landed at or near the top of the MBC booklist.  <br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Peter challenged us with his offerings for next month.  With two (!) titles about racism and a failed criminal justice system, another about disease and mortality, and a fourth about Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, we shuddered and instead picked <i>Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist</i>.  A novel centered around the WTO protests in Seattle, <i>YHMSF</i> has landed on many recent Best Picks lists.  We'll see if it makes ours. andrew 2016-05-08T16:19:35.587-07:00 Just Men and Dogs at George's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuBopkObU04/TwohIu-U-fI/AAAAAAAAAQI/1jP2jRWT754/s1600/Just+Kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuBopkObU04/TwohIu-U-fI/AAAAAAAAAQI/1jP2jRWT754/s1600/Just+Kids.jpg" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Our dinner on Dec. 13 presented our host with a thematic challenge:  how to evoke the art scene of Patti Smith's 1970's New York without ignoring Mapplethorpe's enormous presence in her memoir.  With a little help from Armando, George succeeded quite nicely.  He presented us with a Coney Island menu (chili dogs and homemade Moon Pies) and a background soundtrack that was vintage Patti Smith.<br /><br />As we reached for second helpings of Moon Pie, Armando set up an impromptu studio in the living room.  Backed by hot lights and a Hasselblad with a Polaroid back, Armando shot instant B&W head-and-shoulders portraits of all of us.  The more adventurous (or exhibitionist, in the case of Stan and John) pulled off their shirts.  The results: amusing, artistic, but hardly Mapplethorpe.  For that, Armando will need more capable subjects.  (Garth, where are you?)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Patti Smith's highly-acclaimed memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and her own coming of age as an artist in New York City in the 1960's and 70's was an unusual choice for us.  Written by a woman and mostly about a woman, it very nearly violated our cardinal rule (its focus on Mapplethorpe saved it from disqualification).  And while she won the National Book Award for <i>Just Kids</i> in 2010, Patti Smith was known to us as a rocker, not a writer.<br /><br />Perhaps with these reservations in mind, I came to this book with a bias that I couldn't shake.  My distaste only grew as I recoiled from Smith's incessant name-dropping, her simplistic writing style (like Paul, I hated its staccato rhythm), and her tedious invocations of Rimbaud and Baudelaire as inspirations for her own nascent artistic sensibility.  So imagine my surprise when I showed up at George's and learned that everyone else found plenty to like in <i>Just Kids</i>.   <br /><br />George and Dean were enthralled by the 1970's New York art scene described by Smith.  For his part, Doug felt that her name-dropping was simply part of the bohemian currency of the era.  Like Dan and Stan, he was drawn to her memoir partly out of a fondness for her music as a teenager in the 1970's--a style of music he contrasts with the "vapid, corporatized" rock music of today.  <br /><br />Even those of us less attuned to her music found something to like in Smith's narrative.  Terry was impressed by her and Mapplethorpe's single-minded devotion to their work, Armando admired her strength and resilience as an artist (and was reminded of working in a music store and constantly re-stocking her debut album, <i>Horses</i>), and Paul (who joined us from Kansas City!) found the modest lives of 1970's rock stars, <i>sans entourages</i>, appealing.  For John and Larry, the strength of the book was its devotion to Smith's and Mapplethorpe's relationship as young artists.<br /><br />For her story (but not for her writing), we awarded Patti Smith a 6.1, which puts her only a little below average in our ratings.  While I'm tempted to accuse others of praising Smith's memoir out of nostalgia or sympathy, my own rating (a 1) was a little unfair.  To make up, here is a stock photo of Smith:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvGXExApwlo/Twogpfo0fbI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jFdfxtWnfFE/s1600/PattiSmithHorses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvGXExApwlo/Twogpfo0fbI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jFdfxtWnfFE/s200/PattiSmithHorses.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patti Smith, then</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We leave for our ski sojourn in the Sierras in January and return to a new selection of titles in February.   Until then, good reading!  [Ed. Note:  With no snow in the mountains, we've reversed course:  Jack has kindly agreed to host in January and we'll see if February delivers enough snow to make a weekend out of it.] andrew 2016-05-01T21:01:15.770-07:00 2013 Redux <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kXAlvD8Ghew/VyaDKvA3XLI/AAAAAAAAAcE/eYBVeDBVnvkPDAXRkYnA5EPigpVVzRrSQCLcB/s1600/cat%2527s%2Btable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kXAlvD8Ghew/VyaDKvA3XLI/AAAAAAAAAcE/eYBVeDBVnvkPDAXRkYnA5EPigpVVzRrSQCLcB/s1600/cat%2527s%2Btable.jpg" /></a></div>In <strong>June</strong> we gathered at Roy's, ate well from his table loaded with food from Sol, and discussed Michael Ondaatje's second-most famous novel, <em>The Cat's Table</em>. Recalled from a much later vantage point, Ondaatje's narrator describes his journey as an 11-year old from Ceylon to England.  Ostensibly an account of 21 days aboard ship, the novel proved to us to be so much more.  Ondaatje gave us a beautiful examination of wayward youth, lost innocence, misplaced recollections, and the pain of  friendships also misplaced. With no one dissenting, we happily awarded Ondaatje an 8.1 for a story so well told.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ3sl0ZcRJo/VyacAspy4dI/AAAAAAAAAcY/oaKTgWckH5Msjk0sANXAMSnu14b2oUkfwCLcB/s1600/Hologram%2Bfor%2BKing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ3sl0ZcRJo/VyacAspy4dI/AAAAAAAAAcY/oaKTgWckH5Msjk0sANXAMSnu14b2oUkfwCLcB/s1600/Hologram%2Bfor%2BKing.jpg" /></a></div><strong>July</strong> arrived and, instead of simple afternoon cocktails at Doug's, we dined and discussed Dave Eggers' <em>A Hologram for the King</em>.  Surprisingly, we were to a man slightly underwhelmed by a novel that otherwise boasted so many of the elements necessary for our approval.  Eggers' protagonist, Alan Clay, an American businessman in his mid-fifties, has bottomed out financially and is desperate to redeem himself with a sales commission on a deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The product:  a holographic telecommunications system.  The client:  King Abdullah.  The setting:  a speculative city waiting to be built in the desert. With a huge nod to <em>Waiting for Godot</em>,  Eggers' story of ambition and failure, of a father's love and a spouse's betrayal, of a disappearing old economy and a mystifying new economy unfolds in a series of reflections and diversions as Clay waits and waits for the King to appear for a promised presentation of the hologram. We found Clay alternatingly pathetic and sympathetic, and perhaps because none of us has suffered so keenly the emotional toll of middle age, we couldn't quite forgive Clay his inability and unwillingness to move ahead.  A mildly pessimistic novel tempered our optimism and produced merely a solid rating (6.5).  Like Eggers' protagonist, our rating could and should have been better.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UN5Vc-7NQFk/Vyalj5qiaGI/AAAAAAAAAcs/hs2GDOM4UQwSD7Y9nX3Qg67gjN7w9_5CwCLcB/s1600/Book%2Bthief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UN5Vc-7NQFk/Vyalj5qiaGI/AAAAAAAAAcs/hs2GDOM4UQwSD7Y9nX3Qg67gjN7w9_5CwCLcB/s1600/Book%2Bthief.jpg" /></a></div>We declared a bye in August and reconvened in <strong>September</strong> at George's house for a fine German dinner, with schnapps from Roy and a drinkable Malbec (with an Urban label!) from Doug.  We had to decide whether we erred in selecting <em>The Book Thief</em> as our reading for the month.  Amid criticisms that Zusak's novel was written for young adults, boasts a female protagonist, and exceeded our 500-page limit, we nevertheless concluded that it was well worth the extra pages.  Set during WWII in Munich, and told from Death's perspective (yes, Death is the first-person narrator), Zusak's story centers on young Liesel Meminger, a girl whose poverty combined with her fondness of reading compels her to steal books.  With heartbreaking commentary on Jews, Jesse Owens, hunger, schoolyard bullies, bombs, Nazism, heroism and selflessness, and above all parental love, Zusak had us early in his story.  We all but admitted that our 7.7 rating would have been higher but for the book's YA designation.  Shame on us!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKmWSYxP3fQ/VyayuhMO8aI/AAAAAAAAAdA/LiFJ1oEPhMUIjFsaK-NJr28s2JWonUjywCLcB/s1600/Miracle%2BLife%2BEdgar%2BMint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKmWSYxP3fQ/VyayuhMO8aI/AAAAAAAAAdA/LiFJ1oEPhMUIjFsaK-NJr28s2JWonUjywCLcB/s1600/Miracle%2BLife%2BEdgar%2BMint.jpg" /></a></div>We met at Jack's in <strong>October</strong> and, with mouthfuls of tri tip and roasted autumn root soup, we dug into <em>The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint</em>.  Written by Brady Udall (to us baby boomers, better known for his relationship to Reps. Morris and Stewart Udall), <em>Edgar Mint</em> is about as bleak a novel as we've read to date.  Yes, there is redemption and closure (of sorts) at the end, and more than a little black humor en route, but Edgar's journey is filled with so much pain that the reader can only cringe as the obstacles mount. His story begins when, while living with his alcoholic mother, his head is run over by a mail truck.  He is taken to a hospital where his only solace is--you're not going to believe it--a urinal puck! Thence to an Indian reservation reform school where bullying and beatings are routine and supervision absent.  And then to the dysfunction of an adoptive Mormon family.  And all the while, in the background lurks the strange and seemingly predatory surgeon to whom Edgar owes his life.  We argued over the transitions between first and third person POV (Doug and Stan), we agreed that Udall is wildly imaginative (Paul and Larry), we found in Edgar the consummate survivor (John), and generally marveled at the co-existence of stereotypes and eccentrics in this coming-of-age/survival/nativist tale.  Udall really made us work for it, so we gave him a solid 6.8 for his and our combined efforts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFlwUnxeJqc/Vya1jMQcQJI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Gkb46_8ONL0T4Hr5xLLnCUxHhB4xQyXqwCLcB/s1600/Maltese%2BFalcon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFlwUnxeJqc/Vya1jMQcQJI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Gkb46_8ONL0T4Hr5xLLnCUxHhB4xQyXqwCLcB/s1600/Maltese%2BFalcon.jpg" /></a></div>We bypassed November and met at Paul's in <strong>December</strong>. In recognition of Dashiell Hammett's role in the development of the <em>noir</em> genre (both book and film), Paul's menu went berserk.  Starting with a black truffle brie and black olives, then to an entrée of black rice, black beans, and blackened chicken, Paul had us wash it down with sips of Johnnie Walker Black. Dessert, naturally, featured blackberries.  Way to go, Paul!  As for Hammett, his <em>The Maltese Falcon</em> managed to stand up to the passage of time.  But since the entire genre has been co-opted, adapted, and reinvented many times over, the novelty was absent.  Dean felt it read a little like a <em>Law & Order </em>episode.  Moreover, the dry, potboiler writing felt stilted when compared to the sharp dialog we recalled from the movie.  Several of us (Larry, Tom, and Paul) found ourselves mentally toggling back and forth between Hammett's original tough-talking Spade and Bogart's archly classic cinematic version. All of us, though, enjoyed the 1920's San Francisco backdrop, from old street and hotel names to the city's colorful and checkered history as a port of embarkation to the far east.  As a quick read and a sentimental mood piece, we favored <em>TMF</em> with a 6.9 rating. andrew 2016-04-26T15:51:01.902-07:00 Dan Celebrates Black History Month With Onion and Joy Juice <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2jjew1uvtw/UwKq2j52znI/AAAAAAAAATE/mV-LKPir9NI/s1600/Good+Lord+Bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2jjew1uvtw/UwKq2j52znI/AAAAAAAAATE/mV-LKPir9NI/s1600/Good+Lord+Bird.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b><i>  </i></b><br /><b><i>Acknowledgments</i></b><br />Dan spared neither effort nor expense to ensure a satisfying evening last Tuesday. Hard spirits came first, with an assortment of whiskies that included a bottle of Joy Juice with Little Onion on the label. Once we tucked in to dinner, several John Brown-inspired varietals were poured, courtesy of the graphics arts division of San Marino Cellars.<br />  <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXpCNO_qcAc/UwKxfgpiMFI/AAAAAAAAATU/Y4CUwxz_5WA/s1600/Little+Onion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXpCNO_qcAc/UwKxfgpiMFI/AAAAAAAAATU/Y4CUwxz_5WA/s1600/Little+Onion.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strong stuff, but a suspect likeness</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9aIEzwuzdGY/UwKxiUOZfLI/AAAAAAAAATc/Bm9QtQiL2bg/s1600/John+Brown%27s+Wine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9aIEzwuzdGY/UwKxiUOZfLI/AAAAAAAAATc/Bm9QtQiL2bg/s1600/John+Brown's+Wine.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Brown: A Family of Vintners</td></tr></tbody></table>Even with so much "giddy water" lubricating our evening, none of us missed the chance to fill up on Dan's tri tip and jambalaya. We did leave room, though, for a slice of pie that was 9 parts Jack Daniels to 1 part pecans. Eyes watering and throats burning, we turned our attention to the book that inspired such hospitality. <br /><br /><b><i>The Book</i></b><br />Most know James McBride for his deeply affecting memoir, <i>The Color of Water</i>, in which he examines race relations in the 50's and 60's through his own mixed-race upbringing. Our McBride selection, <i>The Good Lord Bird</i>, presents a different segment of black history, but also with a mixed-race child as narrator. Seen through the eyes of a slave boy involuntarily rescued (and thereafter dressed and addressed as a girl) by John Brown, the story is both poignant and hilarious as Brown and his outlaw band ultimately meet their destiny at Harper's Ferry two years later.<br /><br />As a group, we were divided in our impressions of McBride's latest novel. Roy took issue with its historical accuracy, complaining that the pre-war reference to eating pheasant was sloppy (since pheasant wasn't introduced to America until the 1880's) and the caricature of John Brown as a nutcase fails to acknowledge that Brown was demonized by post-war historians with an axe to grind. Peter found the story slow and purposeless, but (like Dean) he enjoyed reading it in conjunction with seeing <i>12 Years A Slave</i>. Most of the rest of us were less critical. John enjoyed the colorful vernacular, Doug and others appreciated the mixed motives of both Free Staters and Pro Slavers, Glenn and Paul remarked on Onion's story as a narrative of disguise, hiding, and survival (yet failed to mention <i>The Book Thief</i>!), and Jack and George (with murmurs from the rest of us) enjoyed a novel they might not otherwise have selected on their own--although George loudly objected to the cross-dressing conceit at the heart of the novel.<br /><br />One indicator of a book's popularity is how many of us are able to finish it in time. In this case, 14 of us did, including Larry <i>in absentia</i>. Kudos to McBride. Unfortunately, his talents couldn't overcome the vote-canceling antics of Dean and Roy, who were egged on by Doug's pre-emptive 10. With a 7.6 average rating, McBride still produced a superior contribution to the MBC booklist.<br /><i><br /></i><b><i>Next Up</i></b><br />Due to Stan's upcoming travels, it fell to me to propose titles for our next dinner.  Because I pressed hard for my favorite read of 2013, the group graciously turned down Ishiguro's <i>Remains of the Day </i>and Walter's <i>Beautiful Ruin</i>s in favor of <i>The Dog Stars</i> by Peter Heller.  Next month we'll find out if others are as intrigued as I was by Hig, the protagonist at the center of a world undone by disease. andrew 2015-07-14T17:30:16.319-07:00 The First Trimester of 2015: No Snow But Some Diverting Reads <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a class="a-link-normal a-text-normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Horseback-London-Irving-Stone/dp/0451075781/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430199325&sr=1-1&keywords=sailor+on+horseback" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Product Details" class="s-access-image cfMarker" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518eXU8fajL._AA160_.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Like last year, January’s ski trip was a bust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Too little snow too early in the season canceled our Sierra excursion. Instead we met in February at Tom’s to see if Irving Stone’s 1938 work of biographical fiction (think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Agony and the Ecstasy</i>, only much earlier and mercifully shorter) justified its selection as our first title of 2015. The verdict on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sailor on Horseback</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>with a middling 6.4 rating, it didn’t quite deliver the goods. It certainly wasn’t the subject matter, as we all have a soft spot for local favorite and hero of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tales of the Fish Patrol</i>, Jack London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Indeed, Irving Stone himself was a San Francisco native.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Maybe it was the dated writing, the clutter of detail, or—as Stan put it—the fact that Stone “kept droning on,” but no one was actively applauding when the votes were tallied (except perhaps Tom, our resident Jack London fan).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>No matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All in attendance enjoyed Tom’s food and wine pairings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Was it really Mondavi, Tom?)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a class="a-link-normal a-text-normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/Log-Sea-Cortez-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140187448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430199775&sr=1-1&keywords=log+from+the+sea+of+cortez" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Product Details" class="s-access-image cfMarker" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/412udKFUzCL._AA160_.jpg" height="160" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">March had us only two years removed from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sailor</i>, as we brought back another local writer and past MBC author, John Steinbeck, but this time on an adventure down to Baja with his 1940 travelogue, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Log from the Sea of Cortez</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With fellow traveler and field biologist Ed Ricketts providing some of the narration, Steinbeck took cover from the furor over <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grapes of Wrath</i> by embarking on a collecting expedition to Baja California with a notebook in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  H</span>is descriptions of marine life were frequently interrupted by a variety of philosophical and humanistic meditations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Stan called them rants, and for once I had to agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While I criticized his constant riffing as self-indulgent and repetitive, others were much more forgiving. Larry and Glenn found the digressions refreshing, and Paul who likened these digressions to those in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moby Dick</i> found enough to keep himself reading the interesting parts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us, however, enjoyed Armando’s stories of his field work in the Sea of Cortez and especially the slide show of his most recent trip just a week before our dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>As an added touch, Armando’s main course (blue fin tuna) was caught, cleaned, and packed in the very locale described by Steinbeck. For that we gave Mando a huge thumbs-up and Steinbeck a very respectable 6.8.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">For April, Doug convinced us to give short form fiction a try, and he sealed the deal when he offered to prepare and email us a packet of short stories with a combined page count of less than 100!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Not only were we engrossed by his selected stories (George Saunders’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sea Oak</i> took top honors in the length-of-discussion category), but every one of us claimed to have done the reading (impressive, even if some were embellishing a little).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With selections from Jess Walters (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anything Helps</i>), Tom Perrotta (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face</i>), Dennis Lehane (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Until Gwen</i>), Steve Almond (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched</i>), and others, there was something for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With such impressive writing, I had high hopes our next selection would be from one of these men, but George tortured us and then steered us back to Gabriel Garcia Marquez (recall, we read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">News of a Kidnapping</i>) and the work that sealed his Nobel Prize, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i>. In June, we'll find out whether a 50-year deferred romance in the Caribbean piques our interest as much as Bernie's lost appendages did in <i>Sea Oak</i>.</span></div> andrew 2015-04-27T19:22:25.609-07:00 2014 In Review <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">With apologies, here’s a belated summary of our meetings in 2014, following our evening imbibing Joy Juice with Dan:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDIwrLHtkLg/VT19KIswzfI/AAAAAAAAAVI/n0EMi5y3WJw/s1600/Dogs%2BStars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDIwrLHtkLg/VT19KIswzfI/AAAAAAAAAVI/n0EMi5y3WJw/s1600/Dogs%2BStars.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In March, I hosted and had the highest hopes for my favorite novel of 2012, Peter Heller’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dog Stars</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This first-person narrative chronicles the post-apocalyptic angst of a pilot (Hig) holed up in a rural Colorado airport with an ornery fellow survivor (Bangley), an aging dog (Jasper), and miles of open (and threatening) prairie around the airfield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I thought Hig’s obsession with and eventual exploration of the world beyond would capture everyone’s imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It did, but with reservations about Heller's plot contrivances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At rating time, we gave the novel a modestly positive 7.1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>At least the Filipino food from Ma’s was a hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2kqmBGCP-qg/VT19We9CZaI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/3GfyCpoM-kw/s1600/Canticle%2Bfor%2BLeibowitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2kqmBGCP-qg/VT19We9CZaI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/3GfyCpoM-kw/s1600/Canticle%2Bfor%2BLeibowitz.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Glenn hosted us in April, with Rory graciously providing the venue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The dark interior of the McNear House dining room was the perfect atmosphere as we ate stew and discussed Miller’s Cold War classic, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Canticle for Leibowitz</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Most were glad they read (for the second month in a row) this post-apocalyptic novel, but some quibbled with the narrative’s intentionally slow progression (yes, it took centuries before those monks figured out the meaning of a grocery list).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The church/state tension and the hostility towards science were fascinating, as was society's fate in repeating its cycle of self-destruction (barring a technological, not spiritual salvation at the novel's end). Were it not for the novel’s plodding pace, we might have rated it higher than 6.7.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t57OcfCuG9w/VT19d5ZJe-I/AAAAAAAAAVY/DdoCxj5x_bg/s1600/Quiet%2BAmerican%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t57OcfCuG9w/VT19d5ZJe-I/AAAAAAAAAVY/DdoCxj5x_bg/s1600/Quiet%2BAmerican%2BII.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In May, Terry had us reading another period piece, this time from the French Indo-Chinese conflict in the 1950’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Graham Greene’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Quiet American</i> generated ambivalence, as we struggled with the opium-laced duplicity of the English correspondent, Fowler, and the implausibly naïve American diplomat, Pyle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The book had no likeable characters and instead was an interesting, if disturbing harbinger of the war that followed a decade later in Vietnam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Following Stan’s loud protestations that Greene’s novel was “not a war book” (no one said it was, Stan), we gave it a thumbs-up rating of 7.1.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkavheq1sBE/VT19mXKXmUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/6dvKqZ_tOaU/s1600/Cain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkavheq1sBE/VT19mXKXmUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/6dvKqZ_tOaU/s1600/Cain.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Stan hosted us for a twofer in June.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our chosen book, Saramago’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i>, was (thanks to the sudden generosity of Random House) twinned with a pre-publication edition of Alan Furst’s latest novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Midnight in Europe</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Those of us who read Furst’s pre-WWII spy thriller were disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Thin, poorly plotted, and with unfinished characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Enough said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i>, on the other hand, was a provocative read for even those whose recollection of the Old Testament had grown dim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>From the Garden of Eden through Cain’s lengthy exile, Saramago's final novel moved along with an almost mystical hum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Impressed but unpersuaded that Saramago had achieved anything close to the standard he set with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blindness</i>, we gave him the benefit of the doubt with a 6.5 rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkR79Qw-Cs/VT19su2docI/AAAAAAAAAVo/nwZX70cb_QQ/s1600/Zealot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkR79Qw-Cs/VT19su2docI/AAAAAAAAAVo/nwZX70cb_QQ/s1600/Zealot.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Following Doug’s summer party in July (thanks again, Doug), we met at Dean’s in August to chew over Reza Aslan’s critically-acclaimed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zealot</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It was mere coincidence that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zealot</i> picked up where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i> left off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And while no one was pining at the end of the meal for yet another story about the Bible, we were all quite taken by the extraordinary research Aslan poured into this latest account of the story of Jesus of Nazareth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>His thesis that Jesus was less a proselytizer than an overt revolutionary provided plenty of conversation to accompany our meal and as a story was impressive enough to earn a 7.6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And about that meal, Dean did a superb job replicating the cuisine of Israel while operating with a balky hip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Glad the bionic version is working well, Dean.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TiCI9RZYQfo/VT19zhECTDI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2rutGhPJWq0/s1600/Rise%2Bof%2BSuperman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TiCI9RZYQfo/VT19zhECTDI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2rutGhPJWq0/s1600/Rise%2Bof%2BSuperman.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In September, Larry persuaded us to read Steven Kotler’s controversial work examining the state of “flow.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rise of Superman</i>, Kotler posits that today’s generation of extreme athletes is achieving extraordinary success by hacking (his term) flow and that this state of being holds promise for all manner of human endeavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>As a group, we weren’t buying it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And I mean that literally, as some of us felt that Kotler’s book-length exposition was designed in part to sell his accompanying workshops, seminars, and the like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While some felt that a state of flow was achievable (Stan and Dan, in particular), no one was willing to defend Kotler’s view that flow is the <em>sine qua non</em> of ultimate performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The anecdotes were interesting, but the hyperbole relegated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rise of Superman</i>to a subpar 5.7.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGFeERqJbog/VT196EJ5x5I/AAAAAAAAAV4/rwGnABB0drc/s1600/Boys%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBoat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGFeERqJbog/VT196EJ5x5I/AAAAAAAAAV4/rwGnABB0drc/s1600/Boys%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBoat.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">With the arrival of rain and colder weather, we convened at Peter’s to mull over Dan Brown’s best-selling account of the University of Washington’s 1936 Olympic rowing team, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Boys in the Boat</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>To a man, we enjoyed the core story with its (obvious) themes of teamwork, redemption, sacrifice, honor, and the like. But, led by Larry, we panned Brown for larding up a compelling story with extraneous detail and trying too hard to eulogize an entire generation (yes, THAT generation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We also decried the formula: part Laura Hillenbrand, part Erik Larson, Brown doesn’t quite do justice to either. George shared his early rowing experience in Pocock shells and that rowing gradually disappeared from the national consciousness not only because of the rise of televised sports, but also due to the taint of too many betting scandals. Notwithstanding our quibbles, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Boys in the Boat</i> generated a healthy 7.1 in our final rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFEAMVAD8vI/VT1-MGO3dyI/AAAAAAAAAWA/INaIPo9U1mA/s1600/Super%2BSad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFEAMVAD8vI/VT1-MGO3dyI/AAAAAAAAAWA/INaIPo9U1mA/s1600/Super%2BSad.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Roy hosted us—well most of us—in December to share reactions to Gary Shteyngart’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Super Sad True Love Story</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Ok, let’s cut to the chase. Since I didn’t attend, I can’t do justice to the conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But I did collect the votes afterwards and was surprised that Shteyngart, whose peculiar brand of Russian émigré satire isn’t for everyone, managed to pull down a 7.5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Either Roy’s distillations were especially powerful or I misjudged my fellow MBCers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Regardless, kudos to Roy for a fine meal (according to my sources), and that’s a wrap for 2014!</span></div> andrew 2014-08-09T14:39:10.801-07:00 September Book Selections Having survived MBC's theological period -- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Cain, and Zealot -- my offerings for September's meeting are, for a change, agnostic although still philosophical.   They include: Two fiction and two non-fiction; Something new and something old:  Two sport themed  and two not; Two new authors, two not so new.     Here they are in no particular order:<br /><br /><ol><li><b>The Rise of Superman;</b></li><li><b>The Art of Fielding;</b></li><li><b>A Tibetan Peach Pie; or</b></li><li><b>Moby-Dick.</b></li></ol><br /><b>The Details:</b><br /><br /><b>(1) The Rise of Superman -- Steven Kotler, 198 page</b>s -- I always worry about reviews that use hyperbole like "ground breaking", but having read the book, my summary (note -- I 've summarized each of the four reviews below as these book reviewers must get paid by the column inch) of the Goodreads review is not far off the mark:<br /><br /><i>An exploration of how extreme athletes break the limits of ultimate human performance and what we can learn from their mastery of the state of consciousness known as “flow” In this groundbreaking book, New York Times–bestselling author Steven Kotler decodes the mystery of ultimate human performance. Building a bridge between the extreme and the mainstream, The Rise of Superman explains how these athletes are using flow to do the impossible and how we can use this information to radically accelerate our performance in our own lives. At its core, this is a book about profound possibility, what is actually possible for our species, and where—if anywhere—our limits lie.</i><br /><br /><b>(2) The Art of Fielding -- Chad Harbach, 512 pages </b>-- This book was previously proposed by another MBC member.  At that time, I had not read it.  Last Christmas, my daughter gave it to me and I enjoyed it enough to offer it again to MBC.   My summary -- so we don't transition too quickly from our recent fascination with biblical references --  of the Chicago Tribune review of this book is<br /><br /><i>There should be a Biblical saying — For if a new novel, for which the publisher has paid an enormous amount of cash, lives up to its hype, all shall considered themselves blessed — and if that novel cometh from the Midwest, homeland to Floyd Dell and Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Harrison, then all shall be twice blessed. This should apply to "The Art of Fielding," which Little Brown had much bruited about and whose hefty hardcover we can now hold in our hands. It's a baseball novel, meaning it's a novel from which one can extrapolate about all life on earth. It's a college novel and thus a coming of age novel. It's a novel about families, by birth and by life-choices, and a novel about how to live, how to love and how to die. It's a novel about how to read and how to write, and it's all in all the most delightful and serious first book of fiction that I have read in a while. </i><br /><br /><b>(3) A Tibetan Peach Pie, Tom Robbins, 362 pages </b>-- This is Tom Robbins recently published memoir.  I read Still Life with Woodpecker and may have read his more famous book, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (but that part of my college life is a little hazy).  For sure, I have not read this book (but will), so to give it its due, here is my summary of the New York Times review:<br /><br /><i>The story of how Tom Robbins became Tom Robbins is a pretty good one, and in relating it, he’s written his best book in many years. “Tibetan Peach Pie” should be sold in one of those marijuana vending machines now extant in Colorado. Like them, it provides an afternoon’s affordable buzz.</i><br /><i><br /></i><b>(3) Moby-Dick -- Herman Melville  640 pages --  </b>Alright, so the length is probably a "bridge too far" for  MBC.  I've included it because I'll now read it after not so subtle references in The Art of Fielding (see above). I assume no review of this book is needed.<br /><br /><b>Do I have a suggested favorite?</b>  <b>Yes</b>.  My suggested read is the first book -- The Rise of Superman.  While Stephen Kotler is probably not a Pulitzer candidate, The Rise of Superman should lead to a lively MBC debate around the book's premise -- that extreme athletes can attain a state of consciousness (he calls the "flow) that allow them to push beyond what was thought to be the limits of human performance. Further, how can we mortals (sorry Stan) tap into this state of consciousness or do we already do so without realizing it. Oh, BTW did you notice -- its 198 pages (not counting the bibliography).<br /><br />Voting begins now.  As my Chicago brethren  might say -- vote early, vote often.  -- Larry<br /><br /><br /> LAndow 2014-02-23T20:38:08.912-08:00 Middle America, Middlesex, and an Ending <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOlN_l-0nUY/UwrJ61NvVfI/AAAAAAAAATs/JI0LeEPvMZ4/s1600/Thunderbolt+Kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOlN_l-0nUY/UwrJ61NvVfI/AAAAAAAAATs/JI0LeEPvMZ4/s1600/Thunderbolt+Kid.jpg" /></a></div>With apologies to John, Larry, and Peter, here is an abbreviated and belated summary of three outstanding evenings in the preceding months.<br /><br />Last December, we arrived at John's house with exceedingly low expectations.  With 1950's Iowa as his backdrop, and knowing that Roy had already mined the era to produce his Midwestern Manhattan-style sandwiches for our discussion of <i>In Cold Blood</i>, John's menu choices appeared limited. Or so we thought. John surprised us by pulling from his warming oven individual foil boxes he'd hand-filled with gourmet meat loaf, organic spuds, and fresh veggies.  Not Swanson's.  Not Hungry-Man.  Just outstanding!<br /><br />Our reaction to <i>The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid</i> was more muted. We enjoyed Bryson's many references to a childhood that resembled our own.  From Glenn's memory of the x-ray measuring machines in shoe stores, to Larry's recollection of hi-fi cabinets and early color TV's, to our collective memories of delivering newspapers and driving to Disneyland--Bryson had us reminiscing about simpler times.  But it wasn't enough to achieve more than a middling 7.0 rating.  As noted by Paul, Bryson's memoir, while funny and evocative, is a book about not very much.  There is an aimlessness to the narrative that left many of us wanting more.  So we helped ourselves to dessert, talked about growing up, and relaxed in the company of John's excellent guests, Mark and Don.<br /><br />In early January,  we went skiing.  And a good thing, too.  By late January the snow in the Sierras was declining fast and very little more came our way.  Fortunately, our bye month gave us an extra 30 days to finish reading Jeffrey Eugenides' best known work, <i>Middlesex</i>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWQMPbJm_t0/UwrJ89EX9iI/AAAAAAAAAT4/BM3swecRE7U/s1600/Middlesex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWQMPbJm_t0/UwrJ89EX9iI/AAAAAAAAAT4/BM3swecRE7U/s1600/Middlesex.jpg" /></a></div>When we met in February, Larry's dinner nicely captured the Greek immigrant story at the heart of <i>Middlesex </i>with servings of lamb and beef gyros (on two types of homemade pita bread!) followed by  assimilationist brownies a la mode (yes, the vanilla ice cream was also homemade).  The book was received almost as well as the dinner. <br /><br />Many considered it a rich, evocative tale (multi-layered, according to John) that suffered from a single, significant distraction:  the lengthy revelation that the main character, Callie, is a hermaphrodite.  Doug, who was born only 5 miles from Greek Town, wasn't convinced of its import but figured it was Callie's fate given the secret of her forebears. Contrast that with Paul who, having read the novel on his iPhone, complained that the first 2100 pages were mere foreplay to the main act (presumably the reader's epiphany about Callie, but as usual Paul wasn't saying). From there our discussion evolved into commentary about the Greek  diaspora (who knew Peter's hometown of Melbourne boasts the second largest expat Greek community?) and of course hermaphrodites (Terry warned us not to research the subject via Google images; Armando noted that post-coital snails eat their penises to separate). (Editor:  My notes are quite specific on this last point.)  Our 7.5 rating was boosted by Stan who proclaimed the novel "a brilliant work of art," despite having read it over five years ago and retaining only the dimmest recollection of the story line.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FR_HCOpGaLU/UwrJ-NoE7AI/AAAAAAAAAUA/4WxP99JvnGo/s1600/Sense+of+ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FR_HCOpGaLU/UwrJ-NoE7AI/AAAAAAAAAUA/4WxP99JvnGo/s1600/Sense+of+ending.jpg" /></a></div>Peter's dinner on March 19 was a well-conceived and even better executed St. Patrick's Day meal, replete with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and competing apple and rhubarb pies.  Maybe it's his Commonwealth upbringing, but leave it to Peter to serve up Irish food to accompany our discussion of Julian Barnes, an oh-so-English contemporary novelist.<br /><br />Barnes' <i>The Sense of an Ending</i> generated an unpredictable reaction.  Unlike Banville's <i>The Sea</i>, an equally introspective novel that had most of us on the fence, we all genuinely liked Barnes' effort.  Like Banville, Barnes delves deeply into the fissures of unreliable memory, in this instance through the perspective of Tony Webster, a retiree who discovers a painful part of his past.  For most of us, the pleasure of this novel was the gradually building suspense that precedes the narrator's realization of the pain he'd caused his school friends long ago.  But not quite all were entranced by Barnes' skillful prose.  Paul, always the contrarian, found the characters uniformly unlikable. His dissenting 5 failed to keep this gem of a novel from pulling down a very respectable 7.5 (an above average rating, especially for a Booker Prize winner). Acme 2013-04-30T09:07:52.165-07:00 Tom Takes Us Down the Colorado <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ifQiSSAzCU/UX30SOi-jKI/AAAAAAAAAAY/PnciRxRFwEM/s1600/Exploration+of+Colorado+River+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ifQiSSAzCU/UX30SOi-jKI/AAAAAAAAAAY/PnciRxRFwEM/s200/Exploration+of+Colorado+River+book+cover.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Last Monday, Tom did what John Wesley Powell was unable to do:  he fed his men exceedingly well as he took them on a journey down the Colorado River.  How?  He prepared Julia Child's ineffable boeuf bourguignon, paired it with roasted potatoes and two salads (thanks to John for contributing the garlic radicchio), and concluded with man-size helpings of his legendary strawberry shortcake.  With bottles of the always drinkable San Marino Cellars followed by Roy's distilled spirits, the meal washed down well.  As for the book, well...see below.<br /><b><br /></b><b>The Book</b><br />Powell's account of his 1869 expedition down the unexplored canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers made for tough reading.  According to Wallace Stegner, Powell publicized his expedition hoping Congress would appropriate funds for further exploration of the Colorado River.  But to broaden its appeal (and, I dare say, extend its serialization in <i>Scribner's</i>), Powell prefaced his account with a lengthy exposition on the geology of the region, inserted pictures and commentary on random native artifacts, and embellished his diary notes with details from later expeditions. <br /><br />Our 4.3 rating says it all.  Those who read all of the 400-page Penguin edition (fewer than half the group) were disappointed to learn that Dean and Dan had managed to find a 135-page hardcover edition containing only Powell's account of the actual expedition.  Gentlemen, thanks for sharing. <br /><br />Bitterness aside, we were taken by the arduousness of Powell's trip (how many times did they lose their oars and have to fashion new ones from downed trees?), the primitive instruments (who knew you could calculate altitude with a barometer?), and the meager rations they subsisted on (only tobacco and coffee were in generous supply; Powell's men had their priorities).   As a self-funded, one-armed Civil War veteran supported by a ragtag group of men, John Wesley Powell's exploration of the Colorado frontier was truly remarkable.  His account, however, wasn't.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We dine next at Roy's, armed with (unabridged) copies of <i>The Cat's Table</i>, Michael Ondaatje's recent follow-up to his Booker Prize-winning novel, <i>The English Patient</i>.  We will decide if this novel is--despite the afterword's disclaimer--a thinly-disguised memoir of Ondaatje's boyhood journey from Ceylon to England. Acme 2013-04-22T18:42:17.262-07:00 Roy's Picks for May <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">For our consideration in May, Roy offers us the following titles, all thematically linked (in various ways) to the colonial legacy still connecting South Asia and Africa.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Cutting for Stone</i>, by Abraham Verghese (667 pages), 2010.<span>  </span></b> </span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction, mining his own life and experiences in a magnificent, sweeping novel that moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel.<span>  </span>(Publisher’s Weekly)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>The Cat’s Table</i></b><b>, Michael Ondaatje (290 pages), 2011.<span> </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Michael Ondaatje's finely wrought new novel chronicles a young boy's passage from Sri Lanka to London onboard the <em>Oronsay</em>, both as it unfolds and in hindsight. Glancing off the author's own biography, the story follows 11-year-old Michael as he immerses himself in the hidden corners and relationships of a temporary floating world, overcoming its physical boundaries with the expanse of his imagination. The boy's companions at the so-called cat's table, where the ship’s unconnected strays dine together, become his friends and teachers, each leading him closer to the key that unlocks the <em>Oronsay</em>'s mystery decades later. Elegantly structured and completely absorbing, <em>The Cat's Table</em> is a quiet masterpiece by a writer at the height of his craft.<span>  </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>A Bend In the River</i></b><b>, V.S. Naipaul (288 pages), 1989.<span>  </span> </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">A Bend in the River tells the story of an Indian man whose family has lived on the coast of Africa for three generations. He travels to an unnamed country in the interior to open a store, at the bend of the river. The town there has been a thriving European-run city, but is now largely ruins after a revolution, which put "The Big Man" in power. The protagonist's life there is a cycle of fairly stable times with rebuilding, and times of fear and dread, as counter-revolutions and government crack-downs repeatedly threaten the area. He encounters other Indian businessmen, young Africans trying to find a place in their new world, Europeans trying to adapt themselves to the new order. It is basically a story told through the eyes of an outsider of a country trying to find a balance between the modern world and the past and traditions of Africa, where tribal warfare is an inescapable fact of life.<span>  </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Life of Pi</i></b><b>, Yann Martel (326 pages), 2003.<span>  </span> </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Piscine Molitor Patel, named after a French swimming pool, grew up in a Zoo in India. One would think that would be enough to make him unique, but there is more, much more.<span>  </span>He survives the sinking of a ship that killed his entire family and most of the zoo animals, he lived for 227 days in the company of a bengal tiger named Richard Parker, discovers a carnivorous island populated by meerkats. Eventually he lands in Mexico. Sounds insane? Pure fiction? Read the book, then you decide. A beautiful, terrible story, a glimpse inside the mind of a truly unique person, richly detailed, you will have difficulty putting it down. <span> </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></span> andrew 2012-12-02T10:55:59.054-08:00 Larry's Suggestions for February <div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Below are the proposed titles for February (with January reserved for snow sports):</span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(1) Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder -- 277 pages</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- I offer this as a juxtaposition to the Thunderbolt Kid.  After reading about growing up in rural America in the 1950s, I thought I would offer the story of a young man growing up and then escaping war-torn Burundi (to New York City) in the late 1980s. The book meets MBC requirements as Tracy Kidder won the Pulitzer for “Soul of a New Machine”  (BTW -  a good read about the “art “required to build a new computer/technology). The NY Times review below is a bit of an oversell in my opinion, but Kidder does have a writing style that brings the reader into the very narrative of the story. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- NY Times 2009 -- </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That 63-year-old Tracy Kidder may have just written his finest work — indeed, one of the truly stunning books I’ve read this year — is proof that the secret to memorable nonfiction is so often the writer’s readiness to be surprised. . . . .  .Kidder has become a high priest of the narrative arts by diving deep into an improbable subject or character with little more than a hunch as to what he might eventually find.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(2) The Signal and the Noise -- Nate Silver -- 534 pages (but we have 2 mos to finish)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- I’m curious to know what if anything is behind all the “noise” around media hype that surrounded Silver’s NY Times Blog site -- 538 -- before and right after the presidential election.  An example is this snippet from Reuters:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“After correctly predicting the results in 49 of the 50 states that have been called in the U.S. election (Florida remains too close to call), Nate Silver, the statistician behind the popular FiveThirtyEight blog, woke on Wednesday to find himself the poster child of what is sure to be a new data-driven approach to politics.  While Obama was declared the winner of the election, Silver won the polling race. Television anchors from Rachel Maddow on the left-leaning MSNBC, to Bret Baier on the right-leaning Fox News, praised his accuracy. A comedian on Twitter called him "The Emperor of Math." Silver's publicist said he had been so inundated with requests she had been unable to reach him.”</span></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So no Pulitzer here (yet) but I thought it would be insightful to read his book (particularly after reading the final paragraph of the LA Times review that follows).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- LA Times 9-30-2012 --  . . . . . . . . </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The people who follow Silver for his political work — or for his insights on baseball — may be disappointed to see that there's not all that much of either in "The Signal and the Noise." But a book about politics is only about politics. Silver's aiming for something bigger here: He wants to change how we think about predictions in every aspect of our lives. (In one memorable section, he demonstrates how an algebraic equation used to determine probability can be employed to determine the likelihood that a woman's partner is cheating on her if she comes home to find another woman's underwear in his drawer. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(3) Middlesex -- Jeffrey Eugenides -- 529 pages  (Hey 2 months -- that is less than 10 pages a day).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- This continues on my theme of well regarded new authors -- e.g. Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Jonathan Franzen’s  Freedom.  Eugenides book has a little something for everyone as is described in the NY Times review below.  Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2003 for this book.  I would have suggested another young (now dead) author -- David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest -- but with a page count of about 1,000, felt is was a streeeeeech for all of us, even in 2 months.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- NY Times 9-15-2002 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">'' . . . .  .Middlesex'' is also a coming-of-age story, albeit an exceptionally fraught one, as it gradually dawns on the adolescent Callie that there's something seriously odd about her body -- and that she's besotted with a female classmate. There's a bit of road novel as well, when, enlightened as to the actual state of his chromosomes, Cal hitchhikes to -- where else? -- San Francisco. And, finally, there's the sliver of a love story, as the now 41-year-old Cal, ensconced in a safely nomadic State Department career, gingerly courts a Japanese-American photographer, wondering if he can trust her with the surprise between his legs.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">”   <br class="kix-line-break" />  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ll stop the review there as I don’t think I need to go further for this crowd.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(4) Zone One -- Colson Whitehead -- 259 pages</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- Zombies!  Need I say more.  Well OK,  while not a Pulitzer Prize winner -- although his book “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John Henry Day</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">s” was on the Pulitzer short list in 2002 -- Whitehead is a MacArthur fellow (and apparently as I have only started the book in audio format, writes like one).   Whitehead is one of those young authors I have been meaning to read -- John Henry Days and Sag Harbor -- but never quite did.  So finally he comes out with a book about zombies in New York City after a plague.  I couldn’t not (double negative) try that one.  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review -- NY Times</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">   October 28, 2011    “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star. It invites forgivable prurience: What is that relationship like? Granted the intellectual’s hit hanky-panky pay dirt, but what’s in it for the porn star? Conversation? Ideas? Deconstruction? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> .. . . . . . </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Colson Whitehead is a literary novelist, but his latest book, “Zone One,” features zombies, which means horror fans and gore gourmands will soon have him on their radar. He has my sympathy. I can see the disgruntled reviews on Amazon already: “I don’t get it. This book’s supposed to be about zombies, but the author spends pages and pages talking about all this other stuff I’m not interested in.” Broad-spectrum marketing will attract readers for whom having to look up “cathected” or “brisant” isn’t just an irritant but a moral affront. These readers will huff and writhe and swear their way through (if they make it through) and feel betrayed and outraged and migrained. But unless they’re entirely beyond the beguilements of art they will also feel fruitfully disturbed, because “Zone One” will have forced them, whether they signed up for it or not, to see the strangeness of the familiar and the familiarity of the strange.”  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, as my Chicago friends say, vote early and vote often.  See you Tuesday -- Larry.</span></span> andrew	Pi
The Venetian island of Murano is noted for its centuries-old traditional manufacture of what material in decorative form?	2016-10-13T12:30:52.145-07:00 John's Immortal Evening <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjf8q10PBPw/Vussea3pzHI/AAAAAAAAAac/QlkdSp2lQNQ-cpRYHyuInXmMHGm_3S7ag/s1600/Being%2BMortal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Being Mortal Atul Gawande" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gjf8q10PBPw/Vussea3pzHI/AAAAAAAAAac/QlkdSp2lQNQ-cpRYHyuInXmMHGm_3S7ag/s1600/Being%2BMortal.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />The meal John prepared on Tuesday would rank among our top five--if we had such rankings.  Aided by Dean, Tom, and Mark, John prepared and named the following courses, each reflecting a different sentiment evoked by our book:<br /><br /><i>Blood, heart, and liver</i>.  Essential to our circulation, blood was transfused as bloody martinis, served from a hanging IV drip bag.  Our most important muscle, heart was rendered into skewered calves hearts sourced from a grass-fed beef producer in West Marin.  And liver was transformed into a foie gras brought in fresh from Sonoma and served on toast. A fine starting course.<br /><i></i><br /><i>Eat Your Veggies</i>.  With this life-enhancing mandate, we weren't allowed to be choosy.  John served us a soup pureed from his own selection of organic vegetables from the farmers market.<br /><i></i><br /><i>Last Supper</i>.  When confronted with one's mortality, only the best will do.  John obliged with a filet mignon, <i>sous vide,</i> accompanied by mashed cauliflower and bacon jam and smashed potatoes with caramelized shallots.<br /><br /><i>Brain Brownies</i>.  What else but scratch brownies and vanilla ice cream topped with a bourbon and orange bitters drizzle?  Well, here's what else: for a touch of verisimilitude, mini brain lobes in the form of walnut halves atop each brownie.<br /><br />Thank you, John, and we hope you enjoy your well-deserved trip to Iceland.  We also owe thanks to Paul (and his ever-patient and absent wife Jane) for allowing us, our guests, and a photographer to take over his beautiful home for a night.  <br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Atul Gawande's <i>Being Mortal</i> is one physician's attempt, in plain English, to expose our frequent resort to aggressive medical intervention as we approach the end of life.  Whether through experimental therapies, life-sustaining assistance, or institutional confinement, we too often seek to extend life without understanding the implications or the alternatives.<br /><br />Gawande's presentation was disturbing and enlightening at the same time. I felt that his book was a barometer (measured by one's level of unease while reading it) for our readiness to make the hard decisions that lie ahead. Almost everyone shared his own story of family illness and death to illustrate our collective discomfort with what may be an unclear or even false choice as the end nears (i.e., quality over quantity).  While Armando, always the naturalist, read <i>Being Mortal</i> as a field guide to getting old, the scientist in Roy wasn't persuaded.  He found Gawande's prescriptions premature in a world of constant innovation and advancement.<br /><br />Gawande's recurring question to end-stage patients is:  what do you most want and what are you willing to give up in order to get it? Illustrated by the stories of his patients, Gawande claims that quality of life is desired most and that, surprisingly, less intervention can prolong rather than shorten life.  We discussed his premise and the anecdotes sprinkled through the book (guest Mark declared the book a sales pitch for hospice care; guest Keith noted his personal connection to Sara Monopoli, one of Gawande's featured patients).  In the end, Paul pronounced <i>Being Mortal</i> the "most relevant" book we've read given its insistence that we set clear expectations for the end of our lives.  Tom then exhorted us to have our affairs in order by year end (with a current estate plan and advance healthcare directive).  Amen, Tom!<br /><br />More disturbing than the book's focus on mortality (and Glenn's recent brush with same) was the tragic coincidence that longtime MBC friend and guest, Charlie, was killed and his wife Dorothy injured in an auto accident that same afternoon in New Jersey.  Present at our progressive holiday party in December, Charlie was a thoughtful, artistic man whose presence will be sorely missed.  Recover quickly, Dorothy.  Charlie remains in our thoughts.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GSgjX3uqAeI/Vux6LuNwH6I/AAAAAAAAAaw/NGRwPza0Be453hy75VG7Q_l2lYvHAJaNg/s1600/Xmas2016%2528Charlie%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GSgjX3uqAeI/Vux6LuNwH6I/AAAAAAAAAaw/NGRwPza0Be453hy75VG7Q_l2lYvHAJaNg/s320/Xmas2016%2528Charlie%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RIP Charlie Kleiman</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />For April, Larry made us choose between several outstanding writers: Adam Johnson (new to MBC), Annie Proulx (gasp! a woman!), E.L. Doctorow (the title--<i>Andrew's Brain</i>--gave it zero chance), and David Lipsky (recounting his five days with David Foster Wallace).  We went with Johnson's 2013 Pulitzer winner, <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i>. Here's to an evening of political and social repression, Pyongyang-style.  I trust Larry, our Dear Leader for the evening, will not visit famine upon us. andrew 2016-10-13T12:30:03.021-07:00 2015 Redux <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Redux notwithstanding, I'll start with our early <b>January</b> 2016 ski trip.  The point is, after years of terrible conditions, we finally had enough snow for good skiing.  A day at Sugar Bowl and, for some, a day of cross-country at Royal Gorge, were appropriately exhausting.  They were also necessary, as they provided the spacing between Tom's lasagna, Peter's ribs, Dean's chicken piccata, and endless bottles of wine. Below, we tuck into that famous lasagna....<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVt8cbjg0kg/VuYcIK30l7I/AAAAAAAAAY8/Ia8heAiNFRkJSLnV00oRjm4sHH_zPxcpA/s1600/2016-01-09%2B19.43.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AVt8cbjg0kg/VuYcIK30l7I/AAAAAAAAAY8/Ia8heAiNFRkJSLnV00oRjm4sHH_zPxcpA/s320/2016-01-09%2B19.43.37.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(L to R: Moguls, Aussie, Crash, Steeps, Hydro, 2XC4US)</td></tr></tbody></table>Apologies to "Crash," who finally made our ski weekend only to have his wife's beautiful red SUV scarred by an errant (but honest) snowplow driver.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzPYkremNyQ/VuYiY9ia3HI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/61OZDMI3QEY7wON2Q3IvfJaAd6eh87g8Q/s1600/Financial%2BLives%2BPoets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review The Financial Lives of the Poets Jess Walter" border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lzPYkremNyQ/VuYiY9ia3HI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/61OZDMI3QEY7wON2Q3IvfJaAd6eh87g8Q/s1600/Financial%2BLives%2BPoets.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Our ski trip was only slightly consumed with reading.  We had a too-abbreviated conversation about Jess Walter's <i>The Financial Lives of the Poets</i>.  Proposed by Terry, and inspired in part by our appreciation of Walter's short story, <i>Anything Helps</i>, Walter's novel about one man's midlife travails was a comic if bittersweet glance back at the Great Recession.  His protagonist felt a little too like any of us:  middle-aged man (check), with kids (check), and beautiful wife whose fidelity is suspect (hmm...not going there), making bad decisions (sometimes), aware of those bad decisions (always), and with an epiphany at the end (time will tell).  We truncated our discussion to avoid spoiling it for those who hadn't yet finished.  But the consensus seemed to be one of great ambivalence.  Sort of funny, sort of painful, sort of true, sort of compelling.  An emailed rating later of 7.0 was surprisingly good for all the sort ofs.<br /><br />In <b>December</b>, after a 6-year hiatus, we reprised our progressive holiday party. As before, we started at Larry's for appetizers (thank you for the fried lumpia, Larry!), had our entrees and sides at yours truly, and finished with dessert, mulled wine, and more at Terry's.  As usual, every man did more than he was asked to pull off this moving feast for 35 guests.  Special thanks to Tom (two days spent preparing Julia Child's boeuf bourgignon!), Peter (who, too sick to attend, still dropped off his slow-cooked ribs), and John (whose flourless chocolate cake was to die for, but who also sent each of us home with an individually-wrapped persimmon loaf from his kitchen).  <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU40N-eFOhA/VuY8tnw8I-I/AAAAAAAAAZk/S9XXzXPGHv4kl5w6d9kdiXmfQ_I7z4BNQ/s1600/Heart%2Bof%2BDarkness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OU40N-eFOhA/VuY8tnw8I-I/AAAAAAAAAZk/S9XXzXPGHv4kl5w6d9kdiXmfQ_I7z4BNQ/s1600/Heart%2Bof%2BDarkness.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We traveled up to Petaluma in <b>November </b>for a midday meal with Glenn.  Ostensibly, we were there to discuss Conrad's <i>Heart of Darkness</i>, but most of us were happy touring Glenn's new/old house and listening to his plans for the barn (built, we were told, before Conrad penned his <i>magnum opus)</i>.  Since he had no recipes from the Congo, and since Belgian food is French food ruined, Glenn turned to <i>Apocalypse Now</i> for inspiration and prepared an excellent <i>dejeuner Indochine.</i> With guest Rob contributing, we shared our thoughts on Marlow's tale of his quest for Mr. Kurtz. Despite the fact that everything has already been said about this story (most of it by college freshmen), our discussion was lively. Was the journey simply one long acid trip (Rob, speaking metaphorically, I think), intentionally purposeless (Terry), exploring darkness in the map's white spaces (Glenn), an indictment of corporatism (or was that mercantilism, Paul?), or just a vehicle for terrific writing (most of us)?  Regardless, our own quest to find Glenn up in Sonoma County left us amply (ful)filled. Enough so that, for the second month running, we lifted a title into our current top five, with an 8.4 rating.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tk079y9XU_o/VuZDfWZW9WI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/M-XuFNS1fhgeJxmL60IyZwYwqhjhwLEuA/s1600/Lamb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff Christopher Moore" border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Tk079y9XU_o/VuZDfWZW9WI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/M-XuFNS1fhgeJxmL60IyZwYwqhjhwLEuA/s1600/Lamb.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In <b>October</b>, we repaired to Dan's for dinner <i>al fresco</i> and an opportunity to discuss one of the more original works we've read to date.  Violating our selection protocol by offering us only one title, Dan had us read Christopher Moore's <i>Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal</i>.  The title was incongruous, but the book managed to capture our collective fancy.  Whimsical, comic, irreverent--none of these does justice to Moore's re-creation of the Christ story with Biff as his cartoonish narrator.  Like Aslan's <i>Zealot</i>, Moore's <i>Lamb</i> acknowledges that so little is known about Christ's upbringing.  But in Moore's telling, absolutely anything is fair game.  Our comments ranged from "sophomoric" (Doug) and "juvenile" (me) to "refreshing" (Peter) and "meaningful" (Tom).  Quibbles aside, almost everyone found Moore funny and highly creative.  And that, to my surprise, propelled Dan's solo title into our current top five with an 8.7.  Creativity was also to be found on our vino, courtesy of San Marino Cellars' Label Division:<br />  <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VuAQI9mjfjY/Vvq5fXj4S4I/AAAAAAAAAbE/4eDBfPcyutA3yAjbr-sJ0aOnfARUOI2bg/s1600/Last%2Bsupper%2BMBC%2BDeFrank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VuAQI9mjfjY/Vvq5fXj4S4I/AAAAAAAAAbE/4eDBfPcyutA3yAjbr-sJ0aOnfARUOI2bg/s320/Last%2Bsupper%2BMBC%2BDeFrank.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan and his Disciples</td></tr></tbody></table> (P.S.:  Dan, your Jerusalem-inspired meal of lamb and chicken shawarma more than compensated for your rules violation.  But don't tell anyone I said that. Otherwise, I'll let the world know that your own guest, Miguel, confessed that while <i>Lamb</i> may have been funny, it had "no depth.")<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpYtAU4xGHc/VwCX9nrOPuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/ZCIWjHLrtlMR2dyHsGBdhemp1ZfoY5YtA/s1600/31f9eGIHj3L._AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussioni review The Onion Field Joseph Wambaugh" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpYtAU4xGHc/VwCX9nrOPuI/AAAAAAAAAbc/ZCIWjHLrtlMR2dyHsGBdhemp1ZfoY5YtA/s1600/31f9eGIHj3L._AA160_.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We convened in <b>September</b> wondering what Paul had in store for us.  In fairness, we'd been warned that our book's title should be taken literally.  And it was.  Paul's dinner dropped us right into the onion field described by Joseph Wambaugh. Seated outside and in the dark, we all took notice of the table's centerpiece, which was an artful arrangement of planted onion bulbs.  To make sure we got the point, each part of our meal featured onions, starting with an onion dip, then onion soup, and continuing with a delicious onion quiche.  The food unfortunately outdid the book.  Perhaps we were spoiled by Truman Capote, but everything about Wambaugh's true crime account suffered in comparison to <i>In Cold Blood</i>.  Most disappointing was the writing.  Plodding and tedious, the book's best moment was the actual homicide in the onion field north of Los Angeles.  While we all decried the writing, Larry further complained that the story had no protagonist worth caring about.  Indeed, had we cared more, we might not have been content to rate <i>The Onion Field</i> a 5.5. andrew 2016-10-13T12:28:57.072-07:00 Chez Stan, Blind But Not Hungry <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SDPLkJTIPII/AAAAAAAAACI/2GpvvlnZnmo/s1600-h/Blindness.jpg"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Blindness Jose Saramago" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202725816374934658" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SDPLkJTIPII/AAAAAAAAACI/2GpvvlnZnmo/s320/Blindness.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" title="" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Stan’s baronial residence could not have contrasted more sharply with the rapid physical decay depicted in Jose Saramago’s <i>Blindness</i>. Had we a stronger sense of justice last night, we would have given our beef tri tip and roasted new potatoes to the cyclone victims in Myanmar. Instead, we tucked in, helped ourselves to ice cream, and promised to support Garth’s upcoming Burmese fashion show fundraiser. (Although his daughter may be worried about his preference for fem couture, we know Garth’s intentions are honorable.)<br /><br />Stan, thanks for feeding the 14 of us as we sorted through the pain and triumph of <i>Blindness</i>. However, your insistence that we complete our roundtable discussion with our eyes closed may have overly stimulated certain other senses. When I opened my eyes, my plate was empty. The obvious suspect was the man seated to my left, who arrived with a see-through gauze blindfold and a tendency to thievery. If I had one of Garth’s stiletto heels, I might have planted it in John's thigh.<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Although Saramago’s plot is compelling (an epidemic strikes a city, renders its inhabitants blind, and creates a profound loss of social order), several in the group complained that the book was slow going. The absence of conventional punctuation, the elliptical dialogue, and the intentional omission of character names made the act of reading more challenging.<br /><br />While Roy criticized the writing as “mechanical” and Doug was surprised at his own lack of progress, Jack praised the book as an excellent sleeping aid. (I noted, with obvious insight, that the removal of punctuation was a conscious attempt by Saramago to eliminate visual cues for his readers. But I was quickly informed that all of his books are written this way. That ended my insight for the evening.)<br /><br />Most of us, however, got used to the narrative style and were absorbed by the story and its parallels to the Holocaust and any number of other fascist and authoritarian-inspired tragedies of the last century. Armando and Glenn both read this novel in overtly political terms, with Glenn (or was it Armando?) discovering a cautionary tale perfect for the current election cycle. Glenn’s disclosure that Saramago is an atheist with a pessimistic view of mankind came as no surprise, particularly given the jarring revelation during the novel's scene in the church. Doug, who admitted his bias against political fiction, was intrigued by the plot but underwhelmed by Saramago’s delivery.<br /><br />The interesting result of our discussion was how highly we rated this book despite a few strong dissents (Roy felt generous giving it a 3!). Even with conservative numbers from Dean, Jack, and Doug, the book drew more 9's and 10's than any book to date. Stan, Terry, Glenn, and Larry all ranked it as their book of the year. With an 8.3 rating, <i>Blindness</i> has overtaken <i>The Great Gatsby</i> and <i>Tortilla Curtain</i>. Beyond its high rating, <i>Blindness</i> also seemed to provoke more topical discussion than any other book on our list. </div><div><br /><b>Next Up</b></div><div>For next month, Jack asked us to consider <i>The Spectator Bird</i> by Wallace Stegner, as well as McGuane’s <i>The Bushwhacked Piano</i> and O’Brien’s <i>The Things They Carried</i>. The virtue of each choice, as we enter the summer season, is its brevity. So, in gratitude, we agreed to take up Stegner’s 1976 National Book Award winner. For the ambitious engineers in our group, extra credit will be awarded if you also read <i>Angle of Repose</i> and come prepared to explain the title.</div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:28:23.082-07:00 Roy Prepares a Capital Meal <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SwoDBapIXdI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/uk_F8ofxdaY/s1600/In+Cold+Blood.jpg"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of In Cold Blood Truman Capote" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407137625478290898" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SwoDBapIXdI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/uk_F8ofxdaY/s320/In+Cold+Blood.jpg" style="float: left; height: 134px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 86px;" title="" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Dinner last night was a superb feast of midwestern fusion. With a nod to <i>In Cold Blood’s</i> western Kansas setting, but with a decided bias towards his own state of Indiana, Roy delivered roast chicken, roast pork, and roast ribs—all Manhattan style. The accompanying sides were tastily updated renditions of 1950’s staples: green beans, spinach, and scalloped potatoes. Out of fidelity to our book, Roy’s selection of beverages naturally included Orange Blossoms (orange pop and vodka)—a road trip favorite of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. But it was Roy's grappa (distilled using grapes skins and stems from Tom J) and house bourbon that provided the end-of-evening lubricant. Sorry, Paul, but your bottles of Gallo (however clever in the pun department) never made it to the table.<br /><br />We were missing a few men last night, including our good friend John, whose daughter was undergoing corrective surgery for scoliosis. While he sat at the hospital keeping vigil, we kept one for him (aided by the grappa and bourbon). With Cat’s surgery over and an excellent prognosis ahead, we look forward to having John back in our midst. As for Tom A and Garth, your absences were barely excusable. Next time, when forced to choose between MBC and your children, remember that a high school concert is as easily recorded as attended. And, as for Peter, if you missed our dinner in pursuit of your dream to run a 5-minute mile at age 50, please hang up your spikes and return to the fold at once. A cold, dark high school track is no place for an effete bookman.<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Truman Capote confirmed his reputation as a serious writer with the 1965 publication of <i>In Cold Blood</i>. His so-called “nonfiction novel” about the killings in Holcomb, Kansas mesmerized the nation during its serialization in <i>The New Yorker</i> and divided many on his particular approach to “reportage” (thanks for that reference, Stan). Some objected to his artistic license, and others were offended by his easy familiarity with his subjects. But, for many Americans in 1965, Capote’s gravest offense was to humanize two killers as a rejoinder to (and critique of ) society’s resort to capital punishment. To his critics, the book's title was devoid of its intended irony.<br /><br />As a group, we were not so divided. Capote’s original take on the Kansas killings was compulsively readable and a fascinating study of time and place. Maybe, as some suggested, we’re too inured to the kind of violence depicted by Capote to be offended by his narrative. Or, like Terry, we’ve read enough true crime (good and bad) to appreciate what a stunning achievement <i>ICB</i> represented in 1965. As for Capote’s politics, his concerns about capital punishment have become today's orthodoxy. Whether we agree with Roy’s fantastically bleak assessment of our penal system, many of us still have stronger misgivings about the execution of criminals than did our parents in 1965.<br /><br />Capote's novel drew praise from all quarters except Paul, who felt that Capote's account was emotionally flat. Nevertheless, Paul seemed pleased that <i>ICB</i> represented a return to our usual fare of misogynistic, deeply flawed primary characters. During our roundtable rating, it was noted that <i>ICB</i> had the potential to steal top honors from <i>Blindness, </i>our highest rated book to date. So as not to taint the outcome (<i>Bindness</i> was his selection, you may recall), Stan initially abstained from voting only to belatedly insist that his 8 had been ignored. The upshot: <i>ICB</i> tied <i>Blindness</i> during our meeting, but overtook it when I later received Tom A's email giving it a 9. Even counting Stan's 8, Capote's true crime classic eked out an 8.4 and now holds the pole position in the Man Book Club ratings contest.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Our next meeting is a joint affair with the women's book group to which some of us are affiliated (by marriage only). Given the choice of reading Truman Capote's enduring novella, <i>Breakfast at Tiffany's</i>, and Bill Bryson's memoir, <i>The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid</i>, the women ignored one of America's foremost humorists in favor of a book whose brevity and title reference to expensive jewelry seem apt as we enter another holiday season.</div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:27:39.396-07:00 Love Requited, at George's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rajFYkO9dkk/VaG8B5DFFvI/AAAAAAAAAWo/EUQkq7dxTGE/s1600/Love%2Bin%2BTime%2Bof%2BCholera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group review Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez" border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rajFYkO9dkk/VaG8B5DFFvI/AAAAAAAAAWo/EUQkq7dxTGE/s1600/Love%2Bin%2BTime%2Bof%2BCholera.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Acknowledgments</span></b><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">George deserves kudos on several fronts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>First, when his proposed titles were challenged, he promptly offered us an alternative that met with our approval. Second, the title he proffered had so much personal meaning that he had us close to tears when he recounted why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Finally, his eggplant parmesan would have joined Fermina Daza and her mother-in-law in gustatory harmony, and his chess pie might well have convinced Dr. Juvenal Urbino that dessert is better than the game itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Book</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One Hundred Years of Solitude</i> put Gabriel Garcia Marquez on the map, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i> cemented his stature as one of the greatest novelists of the 20<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our 7.9 rating confirms how easily we were persuaded by the exquisite storytelling that is the hallmark of Garcia Marquez’ writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Set in a fictional city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i> tells the compelling if convoluted story of unrequited love, with Fermina Daza at the middle of the triangle formed by her husband, Dr. Juvenal Urbino, and her first love, Florentino Ariza.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite our collective thumbs up, our individual reactions were anything but uniform. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, many were quite cryptic—according to my paltry notes. Here are some examples:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>the book “wrote itself” according to Larry, who nevertheless labored to finish it; the female protagonist wasn’t sufficiently endearing and neither were the long paragraphs (Jack); the plot benefited from “parallel male characters” (Doug, to whom I do no justice with this paraphrasing); the book “mesmerized” Roy until he reached the halfway point (or was it the halfway point of his family vacation in Southeast Asia?); the repeated use of symbols fascinated Stan, who still puzzled over the significance of the birds and refused all of our explanations; and, finally, the book seduced Glenn from the very first paragraph, even though he’d read it before. As for me, yes, I spiked the ratings with a 10, but I had to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The characters are unforgettable, but it was the extraordinary dialogue—with all of its insight into human relationships—that had me from the beginning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Next Up</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jack gave us the chance to step further back in time and read one of the few American novelists who compares closely (and favorably) to F. Scott Fitzgerald.  We'll see in July if John O'Hara deserved the accolades he received upon the publication of his first and arguably best novel, <i>Appointment in Samarra</i>.</span></div> andrew 2016-10-13T12:26:31.451-07:00 A Make-Up for 2012 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>As club secretary, I must fall on my sword for my repeated failure, over the last year or more, to regularly post summaries of our meetings. I blame Tom A. for initially stepping in to save me, only to later step out and expose my lack of constancy. With that <i>mea culpa</i>, herewith a very quick summary of our meetings since January's <i>A Sport and a Pastime</i>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaqwA34CzeU/UJcwGMDeWyI/AAAAAAAAARQ/7p9ActIPuzM/s1600/Ghosts+of+Everest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Ghosts of Everest" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaqwA34CzeU/UJcwGMDeWyI/AAAAAAAAARQ/7p9ActIPuzM/s1600/Ghosts+of+Everest.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In February, Paul fed us victuals from the Kashmir as we considered the story of the 1999 expedition that discovered the remains of legendary British mountaineer, George Mallory.  In <i>Ghosts of Everest</i>, Hemmleb et. al. chronicle their successful attempt to re-trace Mallory's fateful route in 1924 in order to figure out what exactly happened to Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine.  Less successful was the manner in which Hemmleb and his co-authors joined their account with Mallory's.  The story of each expedition was fascinating, but the book's split narrative was awkward and resulted in a modest 6.7 rating. Maybe it was the intimidating presence of our guest and published author/teacher, Andy, that made us extra critical.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MQpB3zUuHY/UJcwT2Rr4NI/AAAAAAAAARY/fYXmrIphuok/s1600/Reservation+Blues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Reservation Blues Alexie" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MQpB3zUuHY/UJcwT2Rr4NI/AAAAAAAAARY/fYXmrIphuok/s1600/Reservation+Blues.jpg" title="" /></a></div>In March, we convened at Stan's (yes, another outstanding meal of grilled meat and roast potatoes!) to consider Sherman Alexie's modern-day account of life on the rez in <i>Reservation Blues</i>.  We split over the dream sequences and mystical moments, but were taken by the honesty with which Alexie paints his characters.  Alternatingly sympathetic and scathing, Alexie depicts life on and off the reservation (and his characters' infatuation with music) with a remarkable vividness, especially for those us for whom the BIA is just another acronym.  The 7.0 rating understated the generally positive tenor of our discussion.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqyfISWvMVc/UJcw38UjqMI/AAAAAAAAARg/AAtSGSjCSjI/s1600/Sweet+Promised+Land.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club discussion review of Sweet Promised Land Laxalt" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yqyfISWvMVc/UJcw38UjqMI/AAAAAAAAARg/AAtSGSjCSjI/s1600/Sweet+Promised+Land.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Armando hosted us in April with an ethnic feast that complimented Robert Laxalt's beautifully drawn memoir set in pre- and post-war Nevada.  As men of a certain age, perhaps we were predisposed to fall hard for <i>Sweet Promised Land</i> and its elegiac re-telling of a quintessentially father-son story.  The father, Dominique Laxalt, is a hard-working immigrant (herding sheep in the foothills near Carson City) whose sons achieve fully the American dream (one as a US senator, another as a university professor) but whose heart can't quite forget the family he left behind in a small town in the Pyrenees.  His return home with his younger son is both reunion and closure. Several guys commented that this story continued to resonate long after the pages were turned.  It certainly did for me.  For that reason, it earned an 8.3 rating and climbed into our current Top 5.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_EebSUX3CZE/UJcxY4UvouI/AAAAAAAAARw/WJQU6SwAXvY/s1600/Unbroken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Unbroken Hillenbrand" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_EebSUX3CZE/UJcxY4UvouI/AAAAAAAAARw/WJQU6SwAXvY/s1600/Unbroken.jpg" title="" /></a></div>We met next in June at my house and enjoyed plenty of sushi and sake as we considered Louis Zamperini's unforgettable odyssey from Torrance, CA to the Berlin Olympics to a POW camp in Japan.  Laura Hillenbrand is a shameless crowd-pleaser whose recreation of the Zamperini story engendered questions from us (and others) about its authenticity of detail. That aside, most of us felt uplifted and exhausted by Zamperini's extraordinary resilience and will to survive.  Our conclusion was to forgive the sometimes tedious and occasionally hyperbolic passages and celebrate--with a 7.4 rating--an amazing story of survival. <br /><br />In July we declared a bye and instead appeared with spouses and no books at Doug's house for his second annual summer party.  After commiserating with him over his recent burglary, we tucked in and stuffed ourselves.  Thanks again, Doug.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqC6iJcwzY/UJcxh3Gj5fI/AAAAAAAAAR4/1Ts1AcA62Zs/s1600/Surely+You%27re+Joking,+Mr+Feynman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group discussion review of Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman!" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uyqC6iJcwzY/UJcxh3Gj5fI/AAAAAAAAAR4/1Ts1AcA62Zs/s1600/Surely+You're+Joking,+Mr+Feynman.jpg" title="" /></a></div>Our last meeting was delayed to September, when Glenn hosted us at Roy's house.  With food from Sol, we were all ears as Ralph Leighton regaled us with stories about Richard Feynman, the Nobel physicist who was also his father's colleague at CalTech.  Glenn had proposed and we picked <i>Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!</i>, unaware that Ralph Leighton was Roy's brother-in-law.  The book was filled with the infectious humor and antics of a renowned physicist who related his personal story to Leighton in a series of recorded conversations over the space of several years.  From those recordings, Leighton produced this delightful memoir.  Even those of us with little interest in applied physics found in  Feynman (via Leighton) a riveting storyteller indeed.  andrew 2016-10-12T12:09:13.855-07:00 A Moonshine Evening at Roy's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jn4rdtZYN-U/V_pznUIsU8I/AAAAAAAAAe0/sdzh9q_kqWEk1_-KeZPO34hwh9TeukuRQCLcB/s1600/Moonshine%2BWar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club group review discussion The Moonshine War" border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jn4rdtZYN-U/V_pznUIsU8I/AAAAAAAAAe0/sdzh9q_kqWEk1_-KeZPO34hwh9TeukuRQCLcB/s200/Moonshine%2BWar.jpg" title="Elmore Leonard The Moonshine War" width="123" /></a></div><b>Dinner and Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />We gathered at Roy's house last Tuesday for a novel combination (pun intended):  we got to drink several varieties of Roy's bespoke moonshine while discussing Elmore Leonard's 1969 classic, <i>The Moonshine War</i>.  Accompanying the gin, rye, and corn liquor was a sampling of white lightning (near-pure grain alcohol).  In keeping with the novel's backwoods locale, Roy treated us to venison, boar, and goose--all hunted and dressed by the man himself.  His black-eyed peas and bourbon ice cream were added evidence of Roy's commitment to a true moonshine evening.  Bravo, Roy!<br /><br /><b>Our Review and Discussion of <i>The Moonshine War</i></b><br /><b><i> </i></b> <br />Set during Prohibition, Leonard's novel centers on an impoverished town where the main source of income for many is distilling or bootlegging liquor.  With the arrival of a crooked internal revenue agent, everyone's livelihood is threatened, especially Son Martin's, as he's sitting on 150 barrels of the best hooch in western Kentucky.  The story's "explosive" climax is foreshadowed the moment agent Long is discovered with a Remington in his valise.  As Larry noted, Leonard presents the reader with an overt illustration of the literary principle known as Chekhov's Gun (i.e., if Act I features a gun hanging on the wall, Act III will invariably have it go off).<br /><br />Though predictable in form, most agreed that Leonard's mastery of the genre (spare dialog, sharply-etched characters, a reluctant hero) makes his story both timeless and compulsively readable. According to Terry, <i>The Moonshine War</i> was the perfect summer read for our group.  We agreed and readily voted  7's across the board.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br /><br />Our next meeting is an evening BBQ at Tom's with spouses and significant others invited.  Eschewing our democratic tradition, Tom has directed us to immerse ourselves in the purest of literary forms:  the cowboy short story.  And who better to render it than Annie Proulx!  Next up is her acclaimed collection, <i>Close Range: Wyoming Stories</i>, featuring among other titles <i>Brokeback Mountain.</i> andrew 2016-10-12T12:06:58.772-07:00 Tom's Wyoming Evening <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7vUFLH1-cfY/V_qGjjc1LEI/AAAAAAAAAfY/rFr80tlQu7c2zYr5pyIVdGx9cQALmLHNgCLcB/s1600/Close%2BRange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club group review discussion" border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7vUFLH1-cfY/V_qGjjc1LEI/AAAAAAAAAfY/rFr80tlQu7c2zYr5pyIVdGx9cQALmLHNgCLcB/s200/Close%2BRange.jpg" title="Annie Proulx Close Range: Wyoming Stories" width="130" /></a></div><b>Dinner and Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />No one caters western barbecue like Tom.  Last Saturday, he invited 35 of us to his house for an evening of smoked chicken, barbecued ribs, and a very tender brisket.  The eating was spectacular and so was the setting.  With tables set outside (for sunset views over Peacock Gap) and inside (to avoid the evening chill blowing in from the Bay), and too many side dishes and beverages to count, we were overwhelmed by Tom's generous hospitality.  We were also delighted to see Dorothy, whose recovery we've been cheering these last few months. Thanks for a fine evening indeed, Tom.<br /><br /><b>Our Discussion and Review of <i>Close Range:  Wyoming Stories</i></b><br /><br />A <i>mea culpa</i> is in order.  In my zeal to catch up with with several men and their spouses, I set aside my notetaking, asked few questions, and came away with only fragments of conversations about Proulx's most famous short story collection.<br /><br />The common refrain of those at my table was the repeated reference to the quality of Proulx's writing.  Her turn of phrase, her uncanny eye for detail, her ear for dialog, her evocation of a fragile masculinity--all were enjoyed in this stunning collection of stories about life on the range.  Naturally, most of us commented on <i>Brokeback Mountain</i>, whose famously homosexual story line obscures a larger, deeper narrative about love, loss, aging, and other age-old themes.  Everyone was moved by the joy and sadness of the story and the despair of its principal character, Ennis.  One of my many favorite lines was Proulx's quick description of the failure of Ennis' marriage:  "A slow corrosion worked between Ennis and Alma, no real trouble, just widening water."<br /><br />Among the other stories mentioned by many was <i>Blood Bay</i>, the story of a cold winter night, a pair of finely-tooled boots, two amputated legs, a trio of cowpunchers, and a nervous host.  Everyone was taken by the story's spare dialog and abbreviated ending.  And almost everyone found in the opening story, <i>The Half-Skinned Steer</i>, the gradually building suspense that is the hallmark of fine short form fiction.  For her confident prose and relentless insight, we gave Proulx a much-deserved 8.4, which puts her in the Man Book Club pantheon of greats (well, our current Top Five list).<br /><br /><b>Next Up:  <i>The North Water </i>by Ian McGuire</b><br /><br />For September's meeting, Armando, ever the water wonk, gave us several choices but winnowed them to two:  <i>The Water Knife</i> and <i>The North Water</i>.  While the former is explicitly set in a warming world with severe water shortages, the latter is its near opposite, with a cast of murderous sailors hunting whales off the coast of Greenland in 1859.  We chose Ian McGuire's cold, harsh world of predators--both natural and man-made.  Let's hope this most manly of adventure stories lives up to the hype that accompanied its publication earlier this year. andrew 2016-10-12T12:05:20.641-07:00 Glenn's Hiro <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SIg3DC6dtFI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DBLF_W4RR7M/s1600-h/Snow+Crash.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226487893024683090" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C_lqx4Veev4/SIg3DC6dtFI/AAAAAAAAADQ/DBLF_W4RR7M/s200/Snow+Crash.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br /><div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Approaching the dog days of summer, with several of us already gone on vacation, Glenn readied his home and welcomed a smaller-than-usual contingent Tuesday night. Well, on second thought, he apparently didn’t ready his home. With his nicely furnished patio still awaiting its bluestone installation, and with a step riser that would have intimidated a Chinese gymnast, Glenn dared us to complain. And none did, as we were much too preoccupied with his food and drink and company to care. Thank you for hosting, Glenn.<br /><br />Without our resident chemist (Roy went to Hawaii to avoid reading this month’s selection), the drink was merely fine. The food, however, deftly mirrored Uncle Enzo’s fare in <i>Snow Crash</i>. But with delivery by Pico instead of Hiro, taste and texture were both outstanding. As were the vanilla and blueberries suffused with raspberry liqueur. Not content with these <i>amuse bouches</i>, Glenn introduced us to his excellent friend, Judd, an import from Mill Valley who admitted to a fondness for SciFi but who proved to be no Stephenson apologist.<br /><br />These acknowledgments wouldn't be complete without saluting George's impromptu discourse on the re-creation of an ancient Athenian trireme. He promises more at his upcoming lecture at the St. Francis Yacht Club. And we remain impressed by Glenn's passionate embrace of all things robotic (and that is NOT a reference to Jana, his lovely and intelligent wife).<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Stephenson’s first breakthrough novel, <i>Snow Crash</i>, challenged us. Ostensibly about a not-too-distant society whose culture and institutions have been overtaken by monopolists and hegemonists, <i>Snow Crash</i> describes a real world that is threatened by its parallel, virtual world. The book is long, peopled with techno-thrill junkies, freighted with a mixture of tech talk and Sumerian myth, and it features a plot that could have been served up in half the pages. Did I say it was long? (Editor’s Note: Having read only 230/470 of this novel, I’m still confident I absorbed enough.)<br /><br />Let’s start with the positive. First, George read it and then convinced his 14-year old son to read it. As a group, we weren’t as impressionable as Evan, but several of us felt rewarded by the effort. Those who liked it tended to be steeped in SciFi, although some had their quibbles with Stephenson’s lengthy, digressive, and slightly baroque style and structure. Larry, who proudly read this precocious digital age novel on his Kindle, described it as “<i>The DaVinci Code</i> on steroids.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement (though Larry might try re-reading <i>The</i> <i>DaVinci Code</i> on his Kindle to see if it's the digital medium that adds the steroids). John, on the other hand, was impressed with Stephenson’s ability to construct a virtual world that extends and distorts our physical world (e.g., the actual replication and manipulation of viruses, language, and even human behavior by virtual means). Judd, who confessed to reading Stephenson’s massive <i>Cryptonomicon</i> (easily twice the length of <i>Snow Crash</i>) and also meeting Stephenson at Book Passage, admitted that Stephenson’s writing has matured since his early efforts. Indeed, Judd’s assessment of SciFi literature validated my own sense of the genre: despite a soaring imagination, the writing quality can be quite uneven.<br /><br />Everyone who read <i>Snow Crash</i> (and that includes Jack and Dean, who each claimed to have reached p. 63) found Stephenson's 1992 novel amazingly prescient. His Metaverse is eerily similar to the virtual worlds that now populate the cyberspace we’re familiar with. As Glenn noted, the avatars adopted by our children in Club Penguin are just a half step away from the characters’ avatars that fill Stephenson’s Metaverse. And the regular blurring of Metaverse and Reality in <i>Snow Crash</i> is not only intentional, but may be yet another example of Stephenson’s prescience.<br /><br />In the end, <i>Snow Crash</i> had its adherents but it failed to stimulate a strong response. Our rating of 5.8 puts it below the middle of the pack.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Since we are taking August off, we agreed to Doug’s suggestion that we share titles that make for ideal summer reads. No literary awards, no moody narrators, no big words—just easy, uncomplicated stories that read well on the beach or in the mountains. I wish I could capture some of what was said about the titles that were proffered, but instead I’ll trust you to remember and reach for the books that you found most intriguing. So, in no particular order and without referencing authors, here are the titles I was able to scribble onto my Post-It: Any book by Lee Child, <i>The Alchemist, Blood Sucking Fiends, God’s Middle Finger, The Call of the Wild, The Old Man and the Sea, Into the Wild, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Nature Girl/Tourist Season, Blink, North Dallas Forty, Richistan, Stiff, Bonk, Peyton Place, Endurance, Into the Void</i>, and <i>Three Cups of Tea.</i><br /><br />For September, Terry gave us three distinct choices: <i>Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail</i> (Hunter S. Thompson), <i>Ironweed</i> (William Kennedy), and <i>High Jinx</i> (William F. Buckley). Without Terry present to both defend and proselytize, we bickered over page length, topicality, relevance, and even (sacrilegiously) asked ourselves if we could pick a different book altogether. Tom rushed to defend the integrity of Terry’s list and we quickly fell in line. By the narrowest of margins, Kennedy’s 1984 Pulitzer winner won out over Thompson’s 1972 political screed. Ironically, Kennedy and Thompson were quite close friends. Maybe that’s why we had such difficulty picking one over the other. We’ll find out in September if our choice is vindicated.</div> andrew 2016-06-07T16:46:57.869-07:00 An Apologia <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i></i></span></span></b><br /><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>[Reader's Note:  The NYT gave you a small glimpse of the Man Book Club.  Please read below for the rest.  Spoiler Alert:  We do read books by women.]</i></span></span></b><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHsZ2zcSlBI/Vy7Z3_ji6oI/AAAAAAAAAdk/P6NXewCMKUUKEnanmuWc1977an2dK1rjwCLcB/s1600/File%2BMay%2B07%252C%2B11%2B15%2B07%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Man Book Club article New York Times" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHsZ2zcSlBI/Vy7Z3_ji6oI/AAAAAAAAAdk/P6NXewCMKUUKEnanmuWc1977an2dK1rjwCLcB/s320/File%2BMay%2B07%252C%2B11%2B15%2B07%2BPM.png" title="" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New York Times Interviews<br /> Man Book Club</td></tr></tbody></table><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our Interview with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we were approached by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i>, we were flattered but never expected to end up in print.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Nevertheless, we gave a phone interview and provided additional information by email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>When the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/fashion/mens-style/mens-book-clubs.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0" target="_blank">article</a> came out on May 4, we were dismayed that so little of what we prize about our close-knit group was mentioned or explained.  </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Article's Angle</span></span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> article opened with our name (manifestly masculine), our location (an affluent county), and our experience eating Rocky Mountain Oysters (aka, calves’ testicles).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>These details provided the hook for anyone mildly curious about all-male book clubs.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After such a lead-in, most feature articles would step back and provide context, the very context we’d provided during our interview.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But this wasn’t a feature article; it was a “trend piece.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And, as in all trend pieces, provocation is better than explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> <span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don’t blame the writer.  This was her assignment and nothing she wrote was incorrect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But, by omission, the details and quotes in her piece implied that our book club has zero regard for women's contributions to literature.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nothing c</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ould </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">be further from the truth</span>.</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>A Critical Reaction</b></span></span></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">While most pundits <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">had fun with the machismo story line, and understood that we and the other book clubs in the article weren't seeking to be taken seriously,</span> there were some who averred that we were shockingly narrow-minded in our book selection criteria and that as rich white men we were modeling abhorrent behavior. One writer even said book clubs like ours perpetuate “<a href="http://www.thefrisky.com/2016-05-04/thank-god-theres-a-book-club-just-for-men-because-thats-what-the-world-needed/" target="_blank">the patriarchy’s continued dominance</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To address these concerns, a little explanation is in order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why “Man Book Club”</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> “Man Book Club” was intended as a riff on the "Man Booker Prize." It referred to our original selection criterion, which mandated shortlisted or award-winning authors only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  Like Booker Prize winners, for example.  Except the Booker Prize bec<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a</span>me t</span>he Man Booker Prize when it was "bought" by the Man Financial Group (a UK hedge fund).  So our name was a jab at Man’s cynical entry into the rarefied world of literary awards.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Who We Really Are</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Residents of Marin County?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Rich?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We all have to work, unfortunately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All white?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Another no. Anyone who reads our website can see that our so-called "patriarchy" includes men of Mexican, Japanese, and Filipino descent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Why We Came Together</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We came together for two reasons:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>a desire to form a men’s group and a concomitant desire to read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In 2007, all of us had young kids and our lives were going nonstop. We were busy doing lots of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But we weren’t reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Half of us had stopped after college; the other half only read intermittently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Amid all this action (and inaction), we were also seeking more contemplative fellowship with other men.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Learning from Women’s Book Clubs</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When we formed our book club, an online search indicated that the vast majority of book clubs were women-only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Many of these clubs read widely, but others were quite specific:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>there were book clubs that read only gothic romance, fantasy, young adult, Jane Austen (yes, only Jane Austen) or other subgenres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  This gave us an idea for our book club:  we would focus on male-themed literature.  </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Call it our Jane Austen approach to reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our Book Selection Criteria</span></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our longstanding rule—“No books by women about women”—has apparently caused the most consternation among our critics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And confusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Virtually every<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> critic</span> read our rule as forbidding any books by women. Or any books about women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  Neither is true.  We read books by women and we read books about women.  Confusion over our rule led one critic to claim--incorrectly--that our criteria would exclude <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anna Karenina.</i><span style="font-family: "times new roman";"> </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Our rule helps us <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">avoid </span>overtly feminine titles that may not appeal to the entire group of us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a way to rule out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eat, Pray, Love</i>, but rule in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unbroken</i>.  And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anna Karenina</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It’s not perfect and in fact we’ve strayed from it, like when we read Patti Smith's memoir, <i>Just Kids</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A final and obvious note about our reading.  Once a month we gather to eat and discuss a book that usually emphasizes male themes.  The rest of the month we can and do read anything.  And that includes women's fiction.</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">  </span></span></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In Conclusion…</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are a group of middle-aged men who have re-discovered the joy of reading after a long hiatus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Our efforts to read should be encouraged, even if our material isn't <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">as eclectic as some would like</span>.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Slate</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> got it right when it called out the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> and others for grossly distorting the import of our book club.  Its headline read:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“<u><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/05/05/men_only_books_clubs_are_not_as_worthy_of_eye_rolling_as_the_times_styles.html" target="_blank">Feminists Shouldn’t Roll Our Eyes at Men-Only Book Clubs. We Should Applaud Them</a>.</u>”</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thank you, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Slate</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We couldn’t have said it better.</span></span> andrew 2016-06-02T11:55:07.952-07:00 All Heart and No Fist at Peter's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WLd__9Oc9zg/V0yiKqyvfHI/AAAAAAAAAeY/_mW40165umcpBJF23BL4el7IzEResQtzACLcB/s1600/Your%2BHeart%2Bis%2Ba%2BMuscle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa" border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WLd__9Oc9zg/V0yiKqyvfHI/AAAAAAAAAeY/_mW40165umcpBJF23BL4el7IzEResQtzACLcB/s200/Your%2BHeart%2Bis%2Ba%2BMuscle.jpg" title="" width="129" /></a></div><br /><b>Peter's Dinner </b><br /><br />Oh, what to say about a man who assembles his menu from the Food section of <i>The New York Times</i> even after enduring its less-than-flattering portrayal of the Man Book Club?  Poor Peter.  He simply couldn't shake his affection for Melissa Clark's timeless recipes.  Fortunately for us, her <a href="http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017359-roasted-chicken-with-potatoes-arugula-and-garlic-yogurt" target="_blank">curation</a> and Peter's execution last Tuesday of a one-pan entrée of roast chicken, potatoes, and arugula, paired with roast carrots and Brussels sprouts, made for an almost perfect springtime meal.  <br /><br />The only misstep came at the end.  Thanks to a minor oversight, the organic berries were topped with crème fraiche instead of vanilla ice cream.  Most of us would never have noticed the substitution had the cold vanilla-flavored cream not been dispensed from refrigerated Three Twins pint cartons!  <br /><br /><b>Our 2016 Quiz</b><br /><br />Before we turned our attention to Yapa's debut novel, we all submitted to the Man Book Club 2016 Quiz, which was designed to test how closely we've been listening to one another since our last quiz in 2008. 15 questions were administered, with three guys given chances at each unanswered question.  (Paul was absent; he'll get number 16.)  <br /><br />The questions were challenging, but men you should still be ashamed!  How many times have we heard Armando talk about his other men's group and George talk about US Rowing?  Maybe our poor performance will make us more sympathetic the next time we see our children's progress reports.  Kudos nonetheless to Terry and Glenn, who showed real test-taking mojo, and honorable mentions to Roy and Doug, whose correct answers to some questions kept them from disgracing themselves.  The rest of you ARE disgraced, so start taking notes.  I'm not waiting 8 years before administering the next quiz.<br /><br /><b>Other Acknowledgments</b><br /><br />We should also acknowledge Peter's daughter, Lulu, whose presence during dinner tempered our outbursts and improved our table manners.  While only an 8th grader, she can already outrow George and outswim Larry.  A low bar, but impressive.  Speaking of impressive, John's daughter Ali was named CWPA player of the year as Michigan headed into the NCAA tournament earlier this month.  John was too shy to share this, so I'm giving Ali the plug she deserves.<br /><br /><b>Our Review and Discussion of <i>Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist</i></b><br /><br />Sunil Yapa's 2016 novel about the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle had us polarized from the start.  Perhaps it was his ambition (the same event witnessed simultaneously by 7 different characters) or his craftsmanship (there were more than a few clunker sentences--"florid" according to Doug), but his street-level narrative didn't quite work for many of us. <br /><br />It's hard to summarize Yapa's novel without trivializing his efforts.  The story centers on 12 hours of scripted yet chaotic protest and an ineffectual and at times violent police response.  Through the lens of his various characters, Yapa opines on globalization, illegal immigration, poverty, drugs, family dysfunction, homelessness, and much more.  And therein lay the problem for many of us.  Was the book as simple as its title suggested--an examination of the conflict between love and violence?  I posed the question but no one saw it in such easy terms.<br /><br />Instead, we argued about Yapa's self-conscious character study and split over whether Victor, Julia, John Henry, Park, et al. were principled in their passion (Peter and Terry seemed to think so; I didn't), reflected a black-and-white clarity (Tom felt they did; Larry felt they didn't), presented as vivid and compelling (John) or muddled and unresolved (Larry and Jack).  <br /><br />Most of us conceded the novel had its moments, especially in the way its shifting points of view reflected the chaos surrounding the characters (Armando) and captured the same events seven different ways (Glenn).  But if his characters' anguish was palpable, so was Yapa's prose.  He caromed between casual unfinished sentences and digressive high-pitched ones, often in the same scene.  In the hands of a surer stylist, it might have worked.<br /><br /><b>Rating the Book</b><br /><b> </b> <br />Rarely has our post-discussion rating been so polarized.  With two 8's (Peter and Armando) and two 4's (Stan and George), Yapa squeaked by with a passable 6.0 and our grudging recognition of  his undeniable talent.  As Terry noted, if we rated on discussion quality alone, Yapa's number would have risen considerably.<br /><br /><b>Next Up: <i>The Moonshine War</i> by Elmore Leonard</b><br /><br />Roy offered us an interesting set of choices for our reading in June.  Bill Bryson's sentimental favorite <i>A Walk in the Woods</i> was first, followed by Emily Mandel's much-touted <i>Station Eleven</i>, and finally Elmore Leonard's 1969 mass market classic, <i>The Moonshine War</i>.  Many of us had already read Bryson's comedic Appalachian meditation and a few bristled at the idea of reading Mandel lest it be taken as a conciliatory gesture.  Our misgivings were mooted when Roy promised a fine selection of distilled spirits if we chose Leonard's Prohibition era narrative.  An easy choice indeed.  We'll convene next month with our used paperbacks and shot glasses in hand.  andrew 2016-05-13T08:35:42.748-07:00 Our Appointment at Jack's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B5omREqC1xc/VaLUP1qJbkI/AAAAAAAAAXE/G11ypefceyQ/s1600/Appt%2Bin%2BSamarra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="men's book club review Appointment in Samarra John O'Hara" border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B5omREqC1xc/VaLUP1qJbkI/AAAAAAAAAXE/G11ypefceyQ/s1600/Appt%2Bin%2BSamarra.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />As Dean observed, Jack treated us to the "two-fifty dinner" last Wednesday with his chopped iceberg salads and surf and turf entrees.  The ambience was further enhanced by the bottles of Speakeasy beer and small batch rye whiskey that made the rounds.  With a black tie optional dress code, it was as close to O'Hara's fictional Lantenengo Country Club as this group will ever see.  Special thanks to Jack's guest, also named Jack and also a Cantab, who good naturedly played along--sartorially and otherwise.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaP2YkP0lkY/VaM03IHH5KI/AAAAAAAAAXY/Fr4R3l7jFGk/s1600/Black%2BTie%2BOptional%2Bat%2BJack%2527s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaP2YkP0lkY/VaM03IHH5KI/AAAAAAAAAXY/Fr4R3l7jFGk/s320/Black%2BTie%2BOptional%2Bat%2BJack%2527s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Note to photo ed.: Photoshop trousers onto Jack R before publishing)</td></tr></tbody></table><b>The Book</b><br />Published in 1934, <i>Appointment in Samarra</i> was John O'Hara's first novel and was an immediate literary and commercial success.  With both the Great Depression and Prohibition as its backdrop, O'Hara's novel exposes the social pretensions and economic friction of Gibbsville's <i>arriviste</i> country club set by charting the tragic downfall of its protagonist, Julian English. His demise is foretold in the book's title, which is taken from the book's epigraph by Somerset Maugham.  (Thanks to Doug for letting us in on the licensing fee O'Hara paid, and then passed on, in order to use this excerpt from Maugham's 1933 play, <i>Sheppey</i>.)<br /><br />Despite my misgivings that O'Hara might read as a lesser Fitzgerald, none of us felt let down.  Instead, we enjoyed dissecting the social stratification at the heart of the novel and, as Tom put it, found a little of everything for the Man Book Club.  Several noted that the principal characters were irredeemable (Jack, Doug, Tom), and Paul--with his commentary about deception--found a suitably twisted/misogynistic cast of characters among the Lantenengo set. I was struck by the anti-Catholic bias that animated much of the story (and suffused so much of O'Hara's later writing). For Stan and Terry, it was the setting (Depression/Prohibition) that was especially vivid.  For Larry, it was Julian's impulsive act with the ice cube.  As the novel's set piece, this breach of decorum sets in motion the events that lead to Julian's suicide.  Finally, in a shameless display of male sensitivity, our guest noted that O'Hara's story features unusually strong, sexy female characters.  I'd accuse Jack of pandering, but who among us didn't love Caroline?!<br /><br />There were some protests (our host openly admitted he liked <i>Ten North Frederick</i> better and George walked out when we told him the ending), but unlike one critic's headline reaction to O'Hara's next novel (<i>Butterfield 8)</i>, our consensus 7.7 rating showed no "Disappointment in O'Hara." By the same token, none of us was willing to agree with Stan's conclusion that <i>Appointment in Samarra</i> is our best read to date. (But it was better than <i>Hunger</i>, Stan!)<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We read next Joseph Wambaugh's powerful true crime work, <i>The Onion Field</i>.  Paul couldn't persuade us to orient our moral compasses thru martial arts, nor could he nudge us back to Afghanistan with <i>The Kite Runner</i>.  So we will meet in September to discuss Powell and Smith's notorious 1963 police kidnapping.  Extra credit will be awarded to those who also watch the movie, starring James Woods and--in his film debut--a young Ted Danson. andrew 2016-05-13T08:32:12.855-07:00 Dean Delivers, Mongolian Style <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DpU2DuhtOUs/VttrWrShbTI/AAAAAAAAAYE/yMf3oSExtuk/s1600/Genghis%2BKhan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club review Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Jack Weatherford" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DpU2DuhtOUs/VttrWrShbTI/AAAAAAAAAYE/yMf3oSExtuk/s1600/Genghis%2BKhan.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Tuesday's dinner was an impressive act of culinary celerity.  Dean rushed back from a father-son ski trip at Kirkwood to research and prepare an all-Mongol feast. (Meaning the food, not the guests--or not all of them anyway.)  With Mongolian beef and scallions accompanied by buuz (those delicious steamed dumplings) and a Mongolian carrot salad, Dean met his own--and our--high standards.  The Tsingtao beer and San Marino Cellars washed it all down nicely.<br /><br />The only false note, Dean, was the pure butter shortbread in your yogurt dessert.  Unlike the rest of your menu, it wasn't home-made and its provenance was disturbing.  (Did I see a Walker's box in the trash? You know Genghis never made it past Gaul!)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Jack Weatherford's history of Genghis Khan makes a bold claim:  that as Khan and his progeny advanced westward, and established their dominion throughout the Caucasus, the Middle East, and into central Europe, their ideas and technology helped produce the Age of Enlightenment.  Who knew that this barbarian on horseback had such a civilizing effect? <br /><br />We didn't, and so we questioned Weatherford's thesis and wondered if his research was as rigorous as it purported to be.  (His constant references to the so-called Secret History and his refusal to footnote any of his conclusions didn't inspire confidence.)  Our most reliable cynic--who shall go unnamed--offered an alternate sub-title:  "...<i>and the Great Mongolian Blow Job</i>."<br /><br />Cynicism aside, we were treated to a litany of fun facts by Weatherford.  The Mongols were the first all-cavalry warriors and their speed accounted for much of their success.  They were the first to use gunpowder and shrapnel-laden projectiles in war.  They invented paper currency and standardized monetary units of measurement throughout their empire. They institutionalized diplomatic immunity, eschewed torture, guaranteed freedom of religion, created a professional class of administrators, and offered advancement based on merit not family. Among those they conquered, they decapitated the aristocracy and created new democratic structures loosely modeled after their <i>khuriltai</i>.  They invaded and united China, laid out modern Beijing, and built the Forbidden City.  Whew! But, as Larry notes with ethnic pride, they never conquered Japan.  (Editor's own ethnic observation:  nor did they take the Philippines, leaving that task for Larry's ancestors some 500 years later.) <br /><br />Weatherford posits that the Mongolian empire was brought down by the lowly Chinese rat and its rapid transmission of the bubonic plague.  Wait, what?  Oh, who cares.  A fascinating story--albeit one laced with repetitive details and dubious scholarship--prompted us to give Weatherford a decent 6.5. <br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />John hosts us in March and, in light of his mother's recent diagnosis, asked us to select from several titles about the very difficult subject of death and dying.  We picked Atul Gawande's <i>Being Mortal</i>.  Until our next meeting, we'll continue to keep John's family in our thoughts.  andrew 2016-05-13T08:27:17.053-07:00 Dinner at the Orphanage with Larry <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u80I1s0dwek/Vx2OqIpZGUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/KRuIq5VGsN8CbJkrhs2V7bhM2S7gm0P6QCLcB/s1600/Orphan%2BMasters%2BSon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Men's book club the orphan master's son" border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u80I1s0dwek/Vx2OqIpZGUI/AAAAAAAAAbw/KRuIq5VGsN8CbJkrhs2V7bhM2S7gm0P6QCLcB/s1600/Orphan%2BMasters%2BSon.jpg" title="" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />If Larry's intent last Tuesday was to serve us something that approximated--in tone or taste--the cuisine of Adam Johnson's North Korea, he did a terrible job.  There was no fresh bird's breast, no toxic peaches, no purloined shrimp, and thankfully no ox secretions.  Larry instead took us south of the 38th parallel so we could feast guilt-free on bulgogi, salmon, rice, kimchi (homemade), and mochi (also homemade).  Well-nourished, and with guest Stuart at our table, we looked across the DMZ and wondered about the strange world that inspired <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i>.<br /><br />(A special acknowledgment is owed to Tom and Dean, who transported Stan and his new wheelchair to Larry's and back.  Stan's recent motorcycle accident in Mexico and his return odyssey--10 hours to the border in the back of a pickup, and another 9 to the hospital in S.F.!--are quite the story.  Stan, we wish you a fast recovery.)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Johnson's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is, on its surface, the story of an Everyman character (named Jun Do) who while navigating the absurdity of modern-day North Korea becomes a symbol of its extremes.  Born to an orphan master, raised among orphans, and later working variously as a kidnapper and an intelligence officer, Jun Do's early years are full of the contradictions of North Korean society.  Johnson ups the ante in Part 2 of the book when the reader realizes that the Commander Ga character from Part 1 has disappeared and Jun Do has assumed his identity.  No longer Everyman, Jun Do's real identity is open to question (literally, as his interrogation spans all of Part 2).<br /><br />Our positive rating (7.6) belied the mutterings of some (Roy and Dan, I'm talking about you), whose forward progress suffered during the book's transition to Part 2.  With its confusing character changes and relentlessly shifting point of view (back and forth from a literarily omniscient third person to a politically omniscient second person--speaking from a state loudspeaker--to the first person Interrogator posing as our protagonist), not everyone was impressed by Johnson's virtuosity.  Nor was everyone satisfied by the novel's fanciful detour to Texas and that state's later role in the story's climax.<br /><br />We were all, however, entranced by the many sordid DPRK details extracted (or manufactured) by Johnson.   Replete with gulags, prison mines, foreign kidnappings, widespread hunger, self-criticism sessions, and several Potemkin-style communist paradoxes (e.g., the handmade vintage Mustang using a Lada chassis and Mercedes engine!), Johnson's imagination soars.   Yes, the story is dark (Dean), dystopian (Larry), and surreal (Peter), the narrative saunters (Stan), the "truthiness" quotient is high (thanks for that Colbert reference, Glenn), and there's more than a little misogyny (duly noted by Paul), but many of us thought Johnson did a superb job in grappling with our often conflicting notions of truth, identity, and the nature of power and relationships.  As Doug also noted, Johnson beautifully fictionalizes a society whose reality is already stranger than fiction.   For Terry and me and a couple others, <i>The Orphan Master's Son</i> landed at or near the top of the MBC booklist.  <br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />Peter challenged us with his offerings for next month.  With two (!) titles about racism and a failed criminal justice system, another about disease and mortality, and a fourth about Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, we shuddered and instead picked <i>Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist</i>.  A novel centered around the WTO protests in Seattle, <i>YHMSF</i> has landed on many recent Best Picks lists.  We'll see if it makes ours. andrew 2016-05-08T16:19:35.587-07:00 Just Men and Dogs at George's <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuBopkObU04/TwohIu-U-fI/AAAAAAAAAQI/1jP2jRWT754/s1600/Just+Kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iuBopkObU04/TwohIu-U-fI/AAAAAAAAAQI/1jP2jRWT754/s1600/Just+Kids.jpg" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Our dinner on Dec. 13 presented our host with a thematic challenge:  how to evoke the art scene of Patti Smith's 1970's New York without ignoring Mapplethorpe's enormous presence in her memoir.  With a little help from Armando, George succeeded quite nicely.  He presented us with a Coney Island menu (chili dogs and homemade Moon Pies) and a background soundtrack that was vintage Patti Smith.<br /><br />As we reached for second helpings of Moon Pie, Armando set up an impromptu studio in the living room.  Backed by hot lights and a Hasselblad with a Polaroid back, Armando shot instant B&W head-and-shoulders portraits of all of us.  The more adventurous (or exhibitionist, in the case of Stan and John) pulled off their shirts.  The results: amusing, artistic, but hardly Mapplethorpe.  For that, Armando will need more capable subjects.  (Garth, where are you?)<br /><br /><b>The Book</b><br />Patti Smith's highly-acclaimed memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe and her own coming of age as an artist in New York City in the 1960's and 70's was an unusual choice for us.  Written by a woman and mostly about a woman, it very nearly violated our cardinal rule (its focus on Mapplethorpe saved it from disqualification).  And while she won the National Book Award for <i>Just Kids</i> in 2010, Patti Smith was known to us as a rocker, not a writer.<br /><br />Perhaps with these reservations in mind, I came to this book with a bias that I couldn't shake.  My distaste only grew as I recoiled from Smith's incessant name-dropping, her simplistic writing style (like Paul, I hated its staccato rhythm), and her tedious invocations of Rimbaud and Baudelaire as inspirations for her own nascent artistic sensibility.  So imagine my surprise when I showed up at George's and learned that everyone else found plenty to like in <i>Just Kids</i>.   <br /><br />George and Dean were enthralled by the 1970's New York art scene described by Smith.  For his part, Doug felt that her name-dropping was simply part of the bohemian currency of the era.  Like Dan and Stan, he was drawn to her memoir partly out of a fondness for her music as a teenager in the 1970's--a style of music he contrasts with the "vapid, corporatized" rock music of today.  <br /><br />Even those of us less attuned to her music found something to like in Smith's narrative.  Terry was impressed by her and Mapplethorpe's single-minded devotion to their work, Armando admired her strength and resilience as an artist (and was reminded of working in a music store and constantly re-stocking her debut album, <i>Horses</i>), and Paul (who joined us from Kansas City!) found the modest lives of 1970's rock stars, <i>sans entourages</i>, appealing.  For John and Larry, the strength of the book was its devotion to Smith's and Mapplethorpe's relationship as young artists.<br /><br />For her story (but not for her writing), we awarded Patti Smith a 6.1, which puts her only a little below average in our ratings.  While I'm tempted to accuse others of praising Smith's memoir out of nostalgia or sympathy, my own rating (a 1) was a little unfair.  To make up, here is a stock photo of Smith:<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvGXExApwlo/Twogpfo0fbI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jFdfxtWnfFE/s1600/PattiSmithHorses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FvGXExApwlo/Twogpfo0fbI/AAAAAAAAAQA/jFdfxtWnfFE/s200/PattiSmithHorses.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patti Smith, then</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We leave for our ski sojourn in the Sierras in January and return to a new selection of titles in February.   Until then, good reading!  [Ed. Note:  With no snow in the mountains, we've reversed course:  Jack has kindly agreed to host in January and we'll see if February delivers enough snow to make a weekend out of it.] andrew 2016-05-01T21:01:15.770-07:00 2013 Redux <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kXAlvD8Ghew/VyaDKvA3XLI/AAAAAAAAAcE/eYBVeDBVnvkPDAXRkYnA5EPigpVVzRrSQCLcB/s1600/cat%2527s%2Btable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kXAlvD8Ghew/VyaDKvA3XLI/AAAAAAAAAcE/eYBVeDBVnvkPDAXRkYnA5EPigpVVzRrSQCLcB/s1600/cat%2527s%2Btable.jpg" /></a></div>In <strong>June</strong> we gathered at Roy's, ate well from his table loaded with food from Sol, and discussed Michael Ondaatje's second-most famous novel, <em>The Cat's Table</em>. Recalled from a much later vantage point, Ondaatje's narrator describes his journey as an 11-year old from Ceylon to England.  Ostensibly an account of 21 days aboard ship, the novel proved to us to be so much more.  Ondaatje gave us a beautiful examination of wayward youth, lost innocence, misplaced recollections, and the pain of  friendships also misplaced. With no one dissenting, we happily awarded Ondaatje an 8.1 for a story so well told.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ3sl0ZcRJo/VyacAspy4dI/AAAAAAAAAcY/oaKTgWckH5Msjk0sANXAMSnu14b2oUkfwCLcB/s1600/Hologram%2Bfor%2BKing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ3sl0ZcRJo/VyacAspy4dI/AAAAAAAAAcY/oaKTgWckH5Msjk0sANXAMSnu14b2oUkfwCLcB/s1600/Hologram%2Bfor%2BKing.jpg" /></a></div><strong>July</strong> arrived and, instead of simple afternoon cocktails at Doug's, we dined and discussed Dave Eggers' <em>A Hologram for the King</em>.  Surprisingly, we were to a man slightly underwhelmed by a novel that otherwise boasted so many of the elements necessary for our approval.  Eggers' protagonist, Alan Clay, an American businessman in his mid-fifties, has bottomed out financially and is desperate to redeem himself with a sales commission on a deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  The product:  a holographic telecommunications system.  The client:  King Abdullah.  The setting:  a speculative city waiting to be built in the desert. With a huge nod to <em>Waiting for Godot</em>,  Eggers' story of ambition and failure, of a father's love and a spouse's betrayal, of a disappearing old economy and a mystifying new economy unfolds in a series of reflections and diversions as Clay waits and waits for the King to appear for a promised presentation of the hologram. We found Clay alternatingly pathetic and sympathetic, and perhaps because none of us has suffered so keenly the emotional toll of middle age, we couldn't quite forgive Clay his inability and unwillingness to move ahead.  A mildly pessimistic novel tempered our optimism and produced merely a solid rating (6.5).  Like Eggers' protagonist, our rating could and should have been better.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UN5Vc-7NQFk/Vyalj5qiaGI/AAAAAAAAAcs/hs2GDOM4UQwSD7Y9nX3Qg67gjN7w9_5CwCLcB/s1600/Book%2Bthief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UN5Vc-7NQFk/Vyalj5qiaGI/AAAAAAAAAcs/hs2GDOM4UQwSD7Y9nX3Qg67gjN7w9_5CwCLcB/s1600/Book%2Bthief.jpg" /></a></div>We declared a bye in August and reconvened in <strong>September</strong> at George's house for a fine German dinner, with schnapps from Roy and a drinkable Malbec (with an Urban label!) from Doug.  We had to decide whether we erred in selecting <em>The Book Thief</em> as our reading for the month.  Amid criticisms that Zusak's novel was written for young adults, boasts a female protagonist, and exceeded our 500-page limit, we nevertheless concluded that it was well worth the extra pages.  Set during WWII in Munich, and told from Death's perspective (yes, Death is the first-person narrator), Zusak's story centers on young Liesel Meminger, a girl whose poverty combined with her fondness of reading compels her to steal books.  With heartbreaking commentary on Jews, Jesse Owens, hunger, schoolyard bullies, bombs, Nazism, heroism and selflessness, and above all parental love, Zusak had us early in his story.  We all but admitted that our 7.7 rating would have been higher but for the book's YA designation.  Shame on us!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKmWSYxP3fQ/VyayuhMO8aI/AAAAAAAAAdA/LiFJ1oEPhMUIjFsaK-NJr28s2JWonUjywCLcB/s1600/Miracle%2BLife%2BEdgar%2BMint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UKmWSYxP3fQ/VyayuhMO8aI/AAAAAAAAAdA/LiFJ1oEPhMUIjFsaK-NJr28s2JWonUjywCLcB/s1600/Miracle%2BLife%2BEdgar%2BMint.jpg" /></a></div>We met at Jack's in <strong>October</strong> and, with mouthfuls of tri tip and roasted autumn root soup, we dug into <em>The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint</em>.  Written by Brady Udall (to us baby boomers, better known for his relationship to Reps. Morris and Stewart Udall), <em>Edgar Mint</em> is about as bleak a novel as we've read to date.  Yes, there is redemption and closure (of sorts) at the end, and more than a little black humor en route, but Edgar's journey is filled with so much pain that the reader can only cringe as the obstacles mount. His story begins when, while living with his alcoholic mother, his head is run over by a mail truck.  He is taken to a hospital where his only solace is--you're not going to believe it--a urinal puck! Thence to an Indian reservation reform school where bullying and beatings are routine and supervision absent.  And then to the dysfunction of an adoptive Mormon family.  And all the while, in the background lurks the strange and seemingly predatory surgeon to whom Edgar owes his life.  We argued over the transitions between first and third person POV (Doug and Stan), we agreed that Udall is wildly imaginative (Paul and Larry), we found in Edgar the consummate survivor (John), and generally marveled at the co-existence of stereotypes and eccentrics in this coming-of-age/survival/nativist tale.  Udall really made us work for it, so we gave him a solid 6.8 for his and our combined efforts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFlwUnxeJqc/Vya1jMQcQJI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Gkb46_8ONL0T4Hr5xLLnCUxHhB4xQyXqwCLcB/s1600/Maltese%2BFalcon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFlwUnxeJqc/Vya1jMQcQJI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/Gkb46_8ONL0T4Hr5xLLnCUxHhB4xQyXqwCLcB/s1600/Maltese%2BFalcon.jpg" /></a></div>We bypassed November and met at Paul's in <strong>December</strong>. In recognition of Dashiell Hammett's role in the development of the <em>noir</em> genre (both book and film), Paul's menu went berserk.  Starting with a black truffle brie and black olives, then to an entrée of black rice, black beans, and blackened chicken, Paul had us wash it down with sips of Johnnie Walker Black. Dessert, naturally, featured blackberries.  Way to go, Paul!  As for Hammett, his <em>The Maltese Falcon</em> managed to stand up to the passage of time.  But since the entire genre has been co-opted, adapted, and reinvented many times over, the novelty was absent.  Dean felt it read a little like a <em>Law & Order </em>episode.  Moreover, the dry, potboiler writing felt stilted when compared to the sharp dialog we recalled from the movie.  Several of us (Larry, Tom, and Paul) found ourselves mentally toggling back and forth between Hammett's original tough-talking Spade and Bogart's archly classic cinematic version. All of us, though, enjoyed the 1920's San Francisco backdrop, from old street and hotel names to the city's colorful and checkered history as a port of embarkation to the far east.  As a quick read and a sentimental mood piece, we favored <em>TMF</em> with a 6.9 rating. andrew 2016-04-26T15:51:01.902-07:00 Dan Celebrates Black History Month With Onion and Joy Juice <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2jjew1uvtw/UwKq2j52znI/AAAAAAAAATE/mV-LKPir9NI/s1600/Good+Lord+Bird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2jjew1uvtw/UwKq2j52znI/AAAAAAAAATE/mV-LKPir9NI/s1600/Good+Lord+Bird.jpg" /></a></div><br /><b><i>  </i></b><br /><b><i>Acknowledgments</i></b><br />Dan spared neither effort nor expense to ensure a satisfying evening last Tuesday. Hard spirits came first, with an assortment of whiskies that included a bottle of Joy Juice with Little Onion on the label. Once we tucked in to dinner, several John Brown-inspired varietals were poured, courtesy of the graphics arts division of San Marino Cellars.<br />  <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXpCNO_qcAc/UwKxfgpiMFI/AAAAAAAAATU/Y4CUwxz_5WA/s1600/Little+Onion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXpCNO_qcAc/UwKxfgpiMFI/AAAAAAAAATU/Y4CUwxz_5WA/s1600/Little+Onion.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strong stuff, but a suspect likeness</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9aIEzwuzdGY/UwKxiUOZfLI/AAAAAAAAATc/Bm9QtQiL2bg/s1600/John+Brown%27s+Wine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9aIEzwuzdGY/UwKxiUOZfLI/AAAAAAAAATc/Bm9QtQiL2bg/s1600/John+Brown's+Wine.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Brown: A Family of Vintners</td></tr></tbody></table>Even with so much "giddy water" lubricating our evening, none of us missed the chance to fill up on Dan's tri tip and jambalaya. We did leave room, though, for a slice of pie that was 9 parts Jack Daniels to 1 part pecans. Eyes watering and throats burning, we turned our attention to the book that inspired such hospitality. <br /><br /><b><i>The Book</i></b><br />Most know James McBride for his deeply affecting memoir, <i>The Color of Water</i>, in which he examines race relations in the 50's and 60's through his own mixed-race upbringing. Our McBride selection, <i>The Good Lord Bird</i>, presents a different segment of black history, but also with a mixed-race child as narrator. Seen through the eyes of a slave boy involuntarily rescued (and thereafter dressed and addressed as a girl) by John Brown, the story is both poignant and hilarious as Brown and his outlaw band ultimately meet their destiny at Harper's Ferry two years later.<br /><br />As a group, we were divided in our impressions of McBride's latest novel. Roy took issue with its historical accuracy, complaining that the pre-war reference to eating pheasant was sloppy (since pheasant wasn't introduced to America until the 1880's) and the caricature of John Brown as a nutcase fails to acknowledge that Brown was demonized by post-war historians with an axe to grind. Peter found the story slow and purposeless, but (like Dean) he enjoyed reading it in conjunction with seeing <i>12 Years A Slave</i>. Most of the rest of us were less critical. John enjoyed the colorful vernacular, Doug and others appreciated the mixed motives of both Free Staters and Pro Slavers, Glenn and Paul remarked on Onion's story as a narrative of disguise, hiding, and survival (yet failed to mention <i>The Book Thief</i>!), and Jack and George (with murmurs from the rest of us) enjoyed a novel they might not otherwise have selected on their own--although George loudly objected to the cross-dressing conceit at the heart of the novel.<br /><br />One indicator of a book's popularity is how many of us are able to finish it in time. In this case, 14 of us did, including Larry <i>in absentia</i>. Kudos to McBride. Unfortunately, his talents couldn't overcome the vote-canceling antics of Dean and Roy, who were egged on by Doug's pre-emptive 10. With a 7.6 average rating, McBride still produced a superior contribution to the MBC booklist.<br /><i><br /></i><b><i>Next Up</i></b><br />Due to Stan's upcoming travels, it fell to me to propose titles for our next dinner.  Because I pressed hard for my favorite read of 2013, the group graciously turned down Ishiguro's <i>Remains of the Day </i>and Walter's <i>Beautiful Ruin</i>s in favor of <i>The Dog Stars</i> by Peter Heller.  Next month we'll find out if others are as intrigued as I was by Hig, the protagonist at the center of a world undone by disease. andrew 2015-07-14T17:30:16.319-07:00 The First Trimester of 2015: No Snow But Some Diverting Reads <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a class="a-link-normal a-text-normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/Sailor-Horseback-London-Irving-Stone/dp/0451075781/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430199325&sr=1-1&keywords=sailor+on+horseback" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Product Details" class="s-access-image cfMarker" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518eXU8fajL._AA160_.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Like last year, January’s ski trip was a bust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Too little snow too early in the season canceled our Sierra excursion. Instead we met in February at Tom’s to see if Irving Stone’s 1938 work of biographical fiction (think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Agony and the Ecstasy</i>, only much earlier and mercifully shorter) justified its selection as our first title of 2015. The verdict on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sailor on Horseback</i>:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>with a middling 6.4 rating, it didn’t quite deliver the goods. It certainly wasn’t the subject matter, as we all have a soft spot for local favorite and hero of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tales of the Fish Patrol</i>, Jack London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Indeed, Irving Stone himself was a San Francisco native.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Maybe it was the dated writing, the clutter of detail, or—as Stan put it—the fact that Stone “kept droning on,” but no one was actively applauding when the votes were tallied (except perhaps Tom, our resident Jack London fan).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>No matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>All in attendance enjoyed Tom’s food and wine pairings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Was it really Mondavi, Tom?)</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a class="a-link-normal a-text-normal" href="http://www.amazon.com/Log-Sea-Cortez-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140187448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430199775&sr=1-1&keywords=log+from+the+sea+of+cortez" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Product Details" class="s-access-image cfMarker" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/412udKFUzCL._AA160_.jpg" height="160" width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">March had us only two years removed from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sailor</i>, as we brought back another local writer and past MBC author, John Steinbeck, but this time on an adventure down to Baja with his 1940 travelogue, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Log from the Sea of Cortez</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With fellow traveler and field biologist Ed Ricketts providing some of the narration, Steinbeck took cover from the furor over <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Grapes of Wrath</i> by embarking on a collecting expedition to Baja California with a notebook in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  H</span>is descriptions of marine life were frequently interrupted by a variety of philosophical and humanistic meditations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Stan called them rants, and for once I had to agree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While I criticized his constant riffing as self-indulgent and repetitive, others were much more forgiving. Larry and Glenn found the digressions refreshing, and Paul who likened these digressions to those in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Moby Dick</i> found enough to keep himself reading the interesting parts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us, however, enjoyed Armando’s stories of his field work in the Sea of Cortez and especially the slide show of his most recent trip just a week before our dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>As an added touch, Armando’s main course (blue fin tuna) was caught, cleaned, and packed in the very locale described by Steinbeck. For that we gave Mando a huge thumbs-up and Steinbeck a very respectable 6.8.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">For April, Doug convinced us to give short form fiction a try, and he sealed the deal when he offered to prepare and email us a packet of short stories with a combined page count of less than 100!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Not only were we engrossed by his selected stories (George Saunders’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sea Oak</i> took top honors in the length-of-discussion category), but every one of us claimed to have done the reading (impressive, even if some were embellishing a little).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With selections from Jess Walters (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anything Helps</i>), Tom Perrotta (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face</i>), Dennis Lehane (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Until Gwen</i>), Steve Almond (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Donkey Greedy, Donkey Gets Punched</i>), and others, there was something for everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>With such impressive writing, I had high hopes our next selection would be from one of these men, but George tortured us and then steered us back to Gabriel Garcia Marquez (recall, we read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">News of a Kidnapping</i>) and the work that sealed his Nobel Prize, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love in the Time of Cholera</i>. In June, we'll find out whether a 50-year deferred romance in the Caribbean piques our interest as much as Bernie's lost appendages did in <i>Sea Oak</i>.</span></div> andrew 2015-04-27T19:22:25.609-07:00 2014 In Review <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">With apologies, here’s a belated summary of our meetings in 2014, following our evening imbibing Joy Juice with Dan:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDIwrLHtkLg/VT19KIswzfI/AAAAAAAAAVI/n0EMi5y3WJw/s1600/Dogs%2BStars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDIwrLHtkLg/VT19KIswzfI/AAAAAAAAAVI/n0EMi5y3WJw/s1600/Dogs%2BStars.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In March, I hosted and had the highest hopes for my favorite novel of 2012, Peter Heller’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dog Stars</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This first-person narrative chronicles the post-apocalyptic angst of a pilot (Hig) holed up in a rural Colorado airport with an ornery fellow survivor (Bangley), an aging dog (Jasper), and miles of open (and threatening) prairie around the airfield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>I thought Hig’s obsession with and eventual exploration of the world beyond would capture everyone’s imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It did, but with reservations about Heller's plot contrivances. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At rating time, we gave the novel a modestly positive 7.1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>At least the Filipino food from Ma’s was a hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2kqmBGCP-qg/VT19We9CZaI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/3GfyCpoM-kw/s1600/Canticle%2Bfor%2BLeibowitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2kqmBGCP-qg/VT19We9CZaI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/3GfyCpoM-kw/s1600/Canticle%2Bfor%2BLeibowitz.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Glenn hosted us in April, with Rory graciously providing the venue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The dark interior of the McNear House dining room was the perfect atmosphere as we ate stew and discussed Miller’s Cold War classic, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Canticle for Leibowitz</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Most were glad they read (for the second month in a row) this post-apocalyptic novel, but some quibbled with the narrative’s intentionally slow progression (yes, it took centuries before those monks figured out the meaning of a grocery list).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The church/state tension and the hostility towards science were fascinating, as was society's fate in repeating its cycle of self-destruction (barring a technological, not spiritual salvation at the novel's end). Were it not for the novel’s plodding pace, we might have rated it higher than 6.7.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t57OcfCuG9w/VT19d5ZJe-I/AAAAAAAAAVY/DdoCxj5x_bg/s1600/Quiet%2BAmerican%2BII.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t57OcfCuG9w/VT19d5ZJe-I/AAAAAAAAAVY/DdoCxj5x_bg/s1600/Quiet%2BAmerican%2BII.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In May, Terry had us reading another period piece, this time from the French Indo-Chinese conflict in the 1950’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Graham Greene’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Quiet American</i> generated ambivalence, as we struggled with the opium-laced duplicity of the English correspondent, Fowler, and the implausibly naïve American diplomat, Pyle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The book had no likeable characters and instead was an interesting, if disturbing harbinger of the war that followed a decade later in Vietnam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Following Stan’s loud protestations that Greene’s novel was “not a war book” (no one said it was, Stan), we gave it a thumbs-up rating of 7.1.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkavheq1sBE/VT19mXKXmUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/6dvKqZ_tOaU/s1600/Cain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nkavheq1sBE/VT19mXKXmUI/AAAAAAAAAVg/6dvKqZ_tOaU/s1600/Cain.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Stan hosted us for a twofer in June.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Our chosen book, Saramago’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i>, was (thanks to the sudden generosity of Random House) twinned with a pre-publication edition of Alan Furst’s latest novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Midnight in Europe</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Those of us who read Furst’s pre-WWII spy thriller were disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Thin, poorly plotted, and with unfinished characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Enough said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i>, on the other hand, was a provocative read for even those whose recollection of the Old Testament had grown dim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>From the Garden of Eden through Cain’s lengthy exile, Saramago's final novel moved along with an almost mystical hum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Impressed but unpersuaded that Saramago had achieved anything close to the standard he set with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blindness</i>, we gave him the benefit of the doubt with a 6.5 rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkR79Qw-Cs/VT19su2docI/AAAAAAAAAVo/nwZX70cb_QQ/s1600/Zealot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EZkR79Qw-Cs/VT19su2docI/AAAAAAAAAVo/nwZX70cb_QQ/s1600/Zealot.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Following Doug’s summer party in July (thanks again, Doug), we met at Dean’s in August to chew over Reza Aslan’s critically-acclaimed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zealot</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>It was mere coincidence that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zealot</i> picked up where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cain</i> left off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And while no one was pining at the end of the meal for yet another story about the Bible, we were all quite taken by the extraordinary research Aslan poured into this latest account of the story of Jesus of Nazareth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>His thesis that Jesus was less a proselytizer than an overt revolutionary provided plenty of conversation to accompany our meal and as a story was impressive enough to earn a 7.6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And about that meal, Dean did a superb job replicating the cuisine of Israel while operating with a balky hip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>(Glad the bionic version is working well, Dean.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TiCI9RZYQfo/VT19zhECTDI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2rutGhPJWq0/s1600/Rise%2Bof%2BSuperman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TiCI9RZYQfo/VT19zhECTDI/AAAAAAAAAVw/2rutGhPJWq0/s1600/Rise%2Bof%2BSuperman.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In September, Larry persuaded us to read Steven Kotler’s controversial work examining the state of “flow.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rise of Superman</i>, Kotler posits that today’s generation of extreme athletes is achieving extraordinary success by hacking (his term) flow and that this state of being holds promise for all manner of human endeavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>As a group, we weren’t buying it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>And I mean that literally, as some of us felt that Kotler’s book-length exposition was designed in part to sell his accompanying workshops, seminars, and the like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While some felt that a state of flow was achievable (Stan and Dan, in particular), no one was willing to defend Kotler’s view that flow is the <em>sine qua non</em> of ultimate performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The anecdotes were interesting, but the hyperbole relegated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rise of Superman</i>to a subpar 5.7.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGFeERqJbog/VT196EJ5x5I/AAAAAAAAAV4/rwGnABB0drc/s1600/Boys%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBoat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yGFeERqJbog/VT196EJ5x5I/AAAAAAAAAV4/rwGnABB0drc/s1600/Boys%2Bin%2Bthe%2BBoat.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">With the arrival of rain and colder weather, we convened at Peter’s to mull over Dan Brown’s best-selling account of the University of Washington’s 1936 Olympic rowing team, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Boys in the Boat</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>To a man, we enjoyed the core story with its (obvious) themes of teamwork, redemption, sacrifice, honor, and the like. But, led by Larry, we panned Brown for larding up a compelling story with extraneous detail and trying too hard to eulogize an entire generation (yes, THAT generation).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>We also decried the formula: part Laura Hillenbrand, part Erik Larson, Brown doesn’t quite do justice to either. George shared his early rowing experience in Pocock shells and that rowing gradually disappeared from the national consciousness not only because of the rise of televised sports, but also due to the taint of too many betting scandals. Notwithstanding our quibbles, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Boys in the Boat</i> generated a healthy 7.1 in our final rating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFEAMVAD8vI/VT1-MGO3dyI/AAAAAAAAAWA/INaIPo9U1mA/s1600/Super%2BSad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mFEAMVAD8vI/VT1-MGO3dyI/AAAAAAAAAWA/INaIPo9U1mA/s1600/Super%2BSad.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Roy hosted us—well most of us—in December to share reactions to Gary Shteyngart’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Super Sad True Love Story</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Ok, let’s cut to the chase. Since I didn’t attend, I can’t do justice to the conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But I did collect the votes afterwards and was surprised that Shteyngart, whose peculiar brand of Russian émigré satire isn’t for everyone, managed to pull down a 7.5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Either Roy’s distillations were especially powerful or I misjudged my fellow MBCers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Regardless, kudos to Roy for a fine meal (according to my sources), and that’s a wrap for 2014!</span></div> andrew 2014-08-09T14:39:10.801-07:00 September Book Selections Having survived MBC's theological period -- A Canticle for Leibowitz, Cain, and Zealot -- my offerings for September's meeting are, for a change, agnostic although still philosophical.   They include: Two fiction and two non-fiction; Something new and something old:  Two sport themed  and two not; Two new authors, two not so new.     Here they are in no particular order:<br /><br /><ol><li><b>The Rise of Superman;</b></li><li><b>The Art of Fielding;</b></li><li><b>A Tibetan Peach Pie; or</b></li><li><b>Moby-Dick.</b></li></ol><br /><b>The Details:</b><br /><br /><b>(1) The Rise of Superman -- Steven Kotler, 198 page</b>s -- I always worry about reviews that use hyperbole like "ground breaking", but having read the book, my summary (note -- I 've summarized each of the four reviews below as these book reviewers must get paid by the column inch) of the Goodreads review is not far off the mark:<br /><br /><i>An exploration of how extreme athletes break the limits of ultimate human performance and what we can learn from their mastery of the state of consciousness known as “flow” In this groundbreaking book, New York Times–bestselling author Steven Kotler decodes the mystery of ultimate human performance. Building a bridge between the extreme and the mainstream, The Rise of Superman explains how these athletes are using flow to do the impossible and how we can use this information to radically accelerate our performance in our own lives. At its core, this is a book about profound possibility, what is actually possible for our species, and where—if anywhere—our limits lie.</i><br /><br /><b>(2) The Art of Fielding -- Chad Harbach, 512 pages </b>-- This book was previously proposed by another MBC member.  At that time, I had not read it.  Last Christmas, my daughter gave it to me and I enjoyed it enough to offer it again to MBC.   My summary -- so we don't transition too quickly from our recent fascination with biblical references --  of the Chicago Tribune review of this book is<br /><br /><i>There should be a Biblical saying — For if a new novel, for which the publisher has paid an enormous amount of cash, lives up to its hype, all shall considered themselves blessed — and if that novel cometh from the Midwest, homeland to Floyd Dell and Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Harrison, then all shall be twice blessed. This should apply to "The Art of Fielding," which Little Brown had much bruited about and whose hefty hardcover we can now hold in our hands. It's a baseball novel, meaning it's a novel from which one can extrapolate about all life on earth. It's a college novel and thus a coming of age novel. It's a novel about families, by birth and by life-choices, and a novel about how to live, how to love and how to die. It's a novel about how to read and how to write, and it's all in all the most delightful and serious first book of fiction that I have read in a while. </i><br /><br /><b>(3) A Tibetan Peach Pie, Tom Robbins, 362 pages </b>-- This is Tom Robbins recently published memoir.  I read Still Life with Woodpecker and may have read his more famous book, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (but that part of my college life is a little hazy).  For sure, I have not read this book (but will), so to give it its due, here is my summary of the New York Times review:<br /><br /><i>The story of how Tom Robbins became Tom Robbins is a pretty good one, and in relating it, he’s written his best book in many years. “Tibetan Peach Pie” should be sold in one of those marijuana vending machines now extant in Colorado. Like them, it provides an afternoon’s affordable buzz.</i><br /><i><br /></i><b>(3) Moby-Dick -- Herman Melville  640 pages --  </b>Alright, so the length is probably a "bridge too far" for  MBC.  I've included it because I'll now read it after not so subtle references in The Art of Fielding (see above). I assume no review of this book is needed.<br /><br /><b>Do I have a suggested favorite?</b>  <b>Yes</b>.  My suggested read is the first book -- The Rise of Superman.  While Stephen Kotler is probably not a Pulitzer candidate, The Rise of Superman should lead to a lively MBC debate around the book's premise -- that extreme athletes can attain a state of consciousness (he calls the "flow) that allow them to push beyond what was thought to be the limits of human performance. Further, how can we mortals (sorry Stan) tap into this state of consciousness or do we already do so without realizing it. Oh, BTW did you notice -- its 198 pages (not counting the bibliography).<br /><br />Voting begins now.  As my Chicago brethren  might say -- vote early, vote often.  -- Larry<br /><br /><br /> LAndow 2014-02-23T20:38:08.912-08:00 Middle America, Middlesex, and an Ending <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOlN_l-0nUY/UwrJ61NvVfI/AAAAAAAAATs/JI0LeEPvMZ4/s1600/Thunderbolt+Kid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OOlN_l-0nUY/UwrJ61NvVfI/AAAAAAAAATs/JI0LeEPvMZ4/s1600/Thunderbolt+Kid.jpg" /></a></div>With apologies to John, Larry, and Peter, here is an abbreviated and belated summary of three outstanding evenings in the preceding months.<br /><br />Last December, we arrived at John's house with exceedingly low expectations.  With 1950's Iowa as his backdrop, and knowing that Roy had already mined the era to produce his Midwestern Manhattan-style sandwiches for our discussion of <i>In Cold Blood</i>, John's menu choices appeared limited. Or so we thought. John surprised us by pulling from his warming oven individual foil boxes he'd hand-filled with gourmet meat loaf, organic spuds, and fresh veggies.  Not Swanson's.  Not Hungry-Man.  Just outstanding!<br /><br />Our reaction to <i>The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid</i> was more muted. We enjoyed Bryson's many references to a childhood that resembled our own.  From Glenn's memory of the x-ray measuring machines in shoe stores, to Larry's recollection of hi-fi cabinets and early color TV's, to our collective memories of delivering newspapers and driving to Disneyland--Bryson had us reminiscing about simpler times.  But it wasn't enough to achieve more than a middling 7.0 rating.  As noted by Paul, Bryson's memoir, while funny and evocative, is a book about not very much.  There is an aimlessness to the narrative that left many of us wanting more.  So we helped ourselves to dessert, talked about growing up, and relaxed in the company of John's excellent guests, Mark and Don.<br /><br />In early January,  we went skiing.  And a good thing, too.  By late January the snow in the Sierras was declining fast and very little more came our way.  Fortunately, our bye month gave us an extra 30 days to finish reading Jeffrey Eugenides' best known work, <i>Middlesex</i>. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWQMPbJm_t0/UwrJ89EX9iI/AAAAAAAAAT4/BM3swecRE7U/s1600/Middlesex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWQMPbJm_t0/UwrJ89EX9iI/AAAAAAAAAT4/BM3swecRE7U/s1600/Middlesex.jpg" /></a></div>When we met in February, Larry's dinner nicely captured the Greek immigrant story at the heart of <i>Middlesex </i>with servings of lamb and beef gyros (on two types of homemade pita bread!) followed by  assimilationist brownies a la mode (yes, the vanilla ice cream was also homemade).  The book was received almost as well as the dinner. <br /><br />Many considered it a rich, evocative tale (multi-layered, according to John) that suffered from a single, significant distraction:  the lengthy revelation that the main character, Callie, is a hermaphrodite.  Doug, who was born only 5 miles from Greek Town, wasn't convinced of its import but figured it was Callie's fate given the secret of her forebears. Contrast that with Paul who, having read the novel on his iPhone, complained that the first 2100 pages were mere foreplay to the main act (presumably the reader's epiphany about Callie, but as usual Paul wasn't saying). From there our discussion evolved into commentary about the Greek  diaspora (who knew Peter's hometown of Melbourne boasts the second largest expat Greek community?) and of course hermaphrodites (Terry warned us not to research the subject via Google images; Armando noted that post-coital snails eat their penises to separate). (Editor:  My notes are quite specific on this last point.)  Our 7.5 rating was boosted by Stan who proclaimed the novel "a brilliant work of art," despite having read it over five years ago and retaining only the dimmest recollection of the story line.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FR_HCOpGaLU/UwrJ-NoE7AI/AAAAAAAAAUA/4WxP99JvnGo/s1600/Sense+of+ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FR_HCOpGaLU/UwrJ-NoE7AI/AAAAAAAAAUA/4WxP99JvnGo/s1600/Sense+of+ending.jpg" /></a></div>Peter's dinner on March 19 was a well-conceived and even better executed St. Patrick's Day meal, replete with corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and competing apple and rhubarb pies.  Maybe it's his Commonwealth upbringing, but leave it to Peter to serve up Irish food to accompany our discussion of Julian Barnes, an oh-so-English contemporary novelist.<br /><br />Barnes' <i>The Sense of an Ending</i> generated an unpredictable reaction.  Unlike Banville's <i>The Sea</i>, an equally introspective novel that had most of us on the fence, we all genuinely liked Barnes' effort.  Like Banville, Barnes delves deeply into the fissures of unreliable memory, in this instance through the perspective of Tony Webster, a retiree who discovers a painful part of his past.  For most of us, the pleasure of this novel was the gradually building suspense that precedes the narrator's realization of the pain he'd caused his school friends long ago.  But not quite all were entranced by Barnes' skillful prose.  Paul, always the contrarian, found the characters uniformly unlikable. His dissenting 5 failed to keep this gem of a novel from pulling down a very respectable 7.5 (an above average rating, especially for a Booker Prize winner). Acme 2013-04-30T09:07:52.165-07:00 Tom Takes Us Down the Colorado <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ifQiSSAzCU/UX30SOi-jKI/AAAAAAAAAAY/PnciRxRFwEM/s1600/Exploration+of+Colorado+River+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7ifQiSSAzCU/UX30SOi-jKI/AAAAAAAAAAY/PnciRxRFwEM/s200/Exploration+of+Colorado+River+book+cover.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><b>Acknowledgments</b><br />Last Monday, Tom did what John Wesley Powell was unable to do:  he fed his men exceedingly well as he took them on a journey down the Colorado River.  How?  He prepared Julia Child's ineffable boeuf bourguignon, paired it with roasted potatoes and two salads (thanks to John for contributing the garlic radicchio), and concluded with man-size helpings of his legendary strawberry shortcake.  With bottles of the always drinkable San Marino Cellars followed by Roy's distilled spirits, the meal washed down well.  As for the book, well...see below.<br /><b><br /></b><b>The Book</b><br />Powell's account of his 1869 expedition down the unexplored canyons of the Green and Colorado Rivers made for tough reading.  According to Wallace Stegner, Powell publicized his expedition hoping Congress would appropriate funds for further exploration of the Colorado River.  But to broaden its appeal (and, I dare say, extend its serialization in <i>Scribner's</i>), Powell prefaced his account with a lengthy exposition on the geology of the region, inserted pictures and commentary on random native artifacts, and embellished his diary notes with details from later expeditions. <br /><br />Our 4.3 rating says it all.  Those who read all of the 400-page Penguin edition (fewer than half the group) were disappointed to learn that Dean and Dan had managed to find a 135-page hardcover edition containing only Powell's account of the actual expedition.  Gentlemen, thanks for sharing. <br /><br />Bitterness aside, we were taken by the arduousness of Powell's trip (how many times did they lose their oars and have to fashion new ones from downed trees?), the primitive instruments (who knew you could calculate altitude with a barometer?), and the meager rations they subsisted on (only tobacco and coffee were in generous supply; Powell's men had their priorities).   As a self-funded, one-armed Civil War veteran supported by a ragtag group of men, John Wesley Powell's exploration of the Colorado frontier was truly remarkable.  His account, however, wasn't.<br /><br /><b>Next Up</b><br />We dine next at Roy's, armed with (unabridged) copies of <i>The Cat's Table</i>, Michael Ondaatje's recent follow-up to his Booker Prize-winning novel, <i>The English Patient</i>.  We will decide if this novel is--despite the afterword's disclaimer--a thinly-disguised memoir of Ondaatje's boyhood journey from Ceylon to England. Acme 2013-04-22T18:42:17.262-07:00 Roy's Picks for May <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">For our consideration in May, Roy offers us the following titles, all thematically linked (in various ways) to the colonial legacy still connecting South Asia and Africa.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Cutting for Stone</i>, by Abraham Verghese (667 pages), 2010.<span>  </span></b> </span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Verghese turns his formidable talents to fiction, mining his own life and experiences in a magnificent, sweeping novel that moves from India to Ethiopia to an inner-city hospital in New York City over decades and generations. Sister Mary Joseph Praise, a devout young nun, leaves the south Indian state of Kerala in 1947 for a missionary post in Yemen. During the arduous sea voyage, she saves the life of an English doctor bound for Ethiopia, Thomas Stone, who becomes a key player in her destiny when they meet up again at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa. Seven years later, Sister Praise dies birthing twin boys: Shiva and Marion, the latter narrating his own and his brothers long, dramatic, biblical story set against the backdrop of political turmoil in Ethiopia, the life of the hospital compound in which they grow up and the love story of their adopted parents, both doctors at Missing. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel.<span>  </span>(Publisher’s Weekly)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>The Cat’s Table</i></b><b>, Michael Ondaatje (290 pages), 2011.<span> </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Michael Ondaatje's finely wrought new novel chronicles a young boy's passage from Sri Lanka to London onboard the <em>Oronsay</em>, both as it unfolds and in hindsight. Glancing off the author's own biography, the story follows 11-year-old Michael as he immerses himself in the hidden corners and relationships of a temporary floating world, overcoming its physical boundaries with the expanse of his imagination. The boy's companions at the so-called cat's table, where the ship’s unconnected strays dine together, become his friends and teachers, each leading him closer to the key that unlocks the <em>Oronsay</em>'s mystery decades later. Elegantly structured and completely absorbing, <em>The Cat's Table</em> is a quiet masterpiece by a writer at the height of his craft.<span>  </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>A Bend In the River</i></b><b>, V.S. Naipaul (288 pages), 1989.<span>  </span> </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">A Bend in the River tells the story of an Indian man whose family has lived on the coast of Africa for three generations. He travels to an unnamed country in the interior to open a store, at the bend of the river. The town there has been a thriving European-run city, but is now largely ruins after a revolution, which put "The Big Man" in power. The protagonist's life there is a cycle of fairly stable times with rebuilding, and times of fear and dread, as counter-revolutions and government crack-downs repeatedly threaten the area. He encounters other Indian businessmen, young Africans trying to find a place in their new world, Europeans trying to adapt themselves to the new order. It is basically a story told through the eyes of an outsider of a country trying to find a balance between the modern world and the past and traditions of Africa, where tribal warfare is an inescapable fact of life.<span>  </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>Life of Pi</i></b><b>, Yann Martel (326 pages), 2003.<span>  </span> </b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Piscine Molitor Patel, named after a French swimming pool, grew up in a Zoo in India. One would think that would be enough to make him unique, but there is more, much more.<span>  </span>He survives the sinking of a ship that killed his entire family and most of the zoo animals, he lived for 227 days in the company of a bengal tiger named Richard Parker, discovers a carnivorous island populated by meerkats. Eventually he lands in Mexico. Sounds insane? Pure fiction? Read the book, then you decide. A beautiful, terrible story, a glimpse inside the mind of a truly unique person, richly detailed, you will have difficulty putting it down. <span> </span>(Amazon Review)</span></span></span> andrew 2012-12-02T10:55:59.054-08:00 Larry's Suggestions for February <div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Below are the proposed titles for February (with January reserved for snow sports):</span><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.40161836473878143" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(1) Strength in What Remains - Tracy Kidder -- 277 pages</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- I offer this as a juxtaposition to the Thunderbolt Kid.  After reading about growing up in rural America in the 1950s, I thought I would offer the story of a young man growing up and then escaping war-torn Burundi (to New York City) in the late 1980s. The book meets MBC requirements as Tracy Kidder won the Pulitzer for “Soul of a New Machine”  (BTW -  a good read about the “art “required to build a new computer/technology). The NY Times review below is a bit of an oversell in my opinion, but Kidder does have a writing style that brings the reader into the very narrative of the story. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- NY Times 2009 -- </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That 63-year-old Tracy Kidder may have just written his finest work — indeed, one of the truly stunning books I’ve read this year — is proof that the secret to memorable nonfiction is so often the writer’s readiness to be surprised. . . . .  .Kidder has become a high priest of the narrative arts by diving deep into an improbable subject or character with little more than a hunch as to what he might eventually find.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(2) The Signal and the Noise -- Nate Silver -- 534 pages (but we have 2 mos to finish)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- I’m curious to know what if anything is behind all the “noise” around media hype that surrounded Silver’s NY Times Blog site -- 538 -- before and right after the presidential election.  An example is this snippet from Reuters:</span></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“After correctly predicting the results in 49 of the 50 states that have been called in the U.S. election (Florida remains too close to call), Nate Silver, the statistician behind the popular FiveThirtyEight blog, woke on Wednesday to find himself the poster child of what is sure to be a new data-driven approach to politics.  While Obama was declared the winner of the election, Silver won the polling race. Television anchors from Rachel Maddow on the left-leaning MSNBC, to Bret Baier on the right-leaning Fox News, praised his accuracy. A comedian on Twitter called him "The Emperor of Math." Silver's publicist said he had been so inundated with requests she had been unable to reach him.”</span></span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So no Pulitzer here (yet) but I thought it would be insightful to read his book (particularly after reading the final paragraph of the LA Times review that follows).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> -- LA Times 9-30-2012 --  . . . . . . . . </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The people who follow Silver for his political work — or for his insights on baseball — may be disappointed to see that there's not all that much of either in "The Signal and the Noise." But a book about politics is only about politics. Silver's aiming for something bigger here: He wants to change how we think about predictions in every aspect of our lives. (In one memorable section, he demonstrates how an algebraic equation used to determine probability can be employed to determine the likelihood that a woman's partner is cheating on her if she comes home to find another woman's underwear in his drawer. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(3) Middlesex -- Jeffrey Eugenides -- 529 pages  (Hey 2 months -- that is less than 10 pages a day).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- This continues on my theme of well regarded new authors -- e.g. Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Jonathan Franzen’s  Freedom.  Eugenides book has a little something for everyone as is described in the NY Times review below.  Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2003 for this book.  I would have suggested another young (now dead) author -- David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest -- but with a page count of about 1,000, felt is was a streeeeeech for all of us, even in 2 months.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- NY Times 9-15-2002 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">'' . . . .  .Middlesex'' is also a coming-of-age story, albeit an exceptionally fraught one, as it gradually dawns on the adolescent Callie that there's something seriously odd about her body -- and that she's besotted with a female classmate. There's a bit of road novel as well, when, enlightened as to the actual state of his chromosomes, Cal hitchhikes to -- where else? -- San Francisco. And, finally, there's the sliver of a love story, as the now 41-year-old Cal, ensconced in a safely nomadic State Department career, gingerly courts a Japanese-American photographer, wondering if he can trust her with the surprise between his legs.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">”   <br class="kix-line-break" />  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ll stop the review there as I don’t think I need to go further for this crowd.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">(4) Zone One -- Colson Whitehead -- 259 pages</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why An Option </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-- Zombies!  Need I say more.  Well OK,  while not a Pulitzer Prize winner -- although his book “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">John Henry Day</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">s” was on the Pulitzer short list in 2002 -- Whitehead is a MacArthur fellow (and apparently as I have only started the book in audio format, writes like one).   Whitehead is one of those young authors I have been meaning to read -- John Henry Days and Sag Harbor -- but never quite did.  So finally he comes out with a book about zombies in New York City after a plague.  I couldn’t not (double negative) try that one.  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mini-Review -- NY Times</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">   October 28, 2011    “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star. It invites forgivable prurience: What is that relationship like? Granted the intellectual’s hit hanky-panky pay dirt, but what’s in it for the porn star? Conversation? Ideas? Deconstruction? </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> .. . . . . . </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Colson Whitehead is a literary novelist, but his latest book, “Zone One,” features zombies, which means horror fans and gore gourmands will soon have him on their radar. He has my sympathy. I can see the disgruntled reviews on Amazon already: “I don’t get it. This book’s supposed to be about zombies, but the author spends pages and pages talking about all this other stuff I’m not interested in.” Broad-spectrum marketing will attract readers for whom having to look up “cathected” or “brisant” isn’t just an irritant but a moral affront. These readers will huff and writhe and swear their way through (if they make it through) and feel betrayed and outraged and migrained. But unless they’re entirely beyond the beguilements of art they will also feel fruitfully disturbed, because “Zone One” will have forced them, whether they signed up for it or not, to see the strangeness of the familiar and the familiarity of the strange.”  </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, as my Chicago friends say, vote early and vote often.  See you Tuesday -- Larry.</span></span> andrew	i don't know
'Guerilla' street art attributed to 'Banski' became a notable feature of what capital city in 2012?	American \| Art Blart \| Page 2 Art Blart Exhibition dates: 16th May – 30th October 2016 The best fun I had with this posting was putting together the first twelve images. They seem to act as ‘strange attractors’, a feeling recognised by the curators of the exhibition if you view the first installation photograph by Anders Jones, below. Marcus . Many thankx to photographer Anders Jones and the Duggal website for allowing me to publish the installation photographs in the posting. See their posting about the exhibition . Artists have always turned to dreams as a source of inspiration, a retreat from reason, and a space for exploring imagination and desire. In the history of photography, dreams have been most closely associated with the Surrealists, who pushed the technical limits of the medium to transform the camera’s realist documents into fantastical compositions. Whereas their modernist explorations were often bound to psychoanalytic theories, more recently contemporary photographers have pursued the world of sleep and dreams through increasingly open-ended works that succeed through evocation rather than description. This exhibition takes a cue from the artists it features by displaying a constellation of photographs that collectively evoke the experience of a waking dream. Here, a night sky composed of pills, a fragmented rainbow, a sleeping fairy-tale princess, and an alien underwater landscape illuminate hidden impulses and longings underlying contemporary life. Drawn entirely from The Met collection, Dream States features approximately 30 photographs and video works primarily from the 1970s to the present. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945) Brünnhilde Sleeps Acrylic and gouache on photograph 23 x 32 7/8in. (58.4 x 83.5cm) Denise and Andrew Saul Fund, 1995 © Anselm Kiefer Near the end of Wagner’s second opera of the Ring Cycle, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, having attempted to help the sibling lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde against their father’s wishes, is punished for her betrayal. Wotan puts her to sleep and surrounds her with a ring of fire (she will be awakened in turn by her nephew Siegfried, the incestuous son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, in the third opera of the cycle). Kiefer portrays the dormant Brünnhilde as French actress Catherine Deneuve in François Truffaut’s film Mississippi Mermaid, using a photograph he snapped in a movie house in 1969. In the film, Deneuve plays a deceitful mail-order bride who comes to the island of Réunion to marry a plantation owner, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Aside from the parallels of love and betrayal in both the Ring Cycle and Truffaut’s film, Kiefer thought the choice of Deneuve for Brünnhilde both ironic and amusing: she was for him “the contrary of Brünnhilde. Very slim, very French, very cool, very sexy,” hinting that no man would go through fire to obtain Wagner’s corpulent, armored Valkyrie. Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902-2002) La Buena Fama Durmiendo (The Good Reputation Sleeping) 1939, printed c. 1970s Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1973 Eugène Atget (French, Libourne 1857-1927 Paris) Versailles Salted paper print from glass negative Image: 17.5 x 21.9 cm (6 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.) Sheet: 18 × 21.9 cm (7 1/16 × 8 5/8 in.) Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 From 1898 until his death in 1927, Atget exhaustively documented the remains of Old Paris: the city’s streets, monuments, interiors, and environs. Among the last entries in this self-directed preservationist effort was a series of images of landscapes and sculpture in the parks of Saint-Cloud and Versailles. Here, the photographer records a statue of a sleeping Ariadne, the mythical Cretan princess abandoned by her lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Atget’s simultaneously realistic and otherworldly photographs inspired the Surrealist artist Man Ray, who reproduced four of them in a 1926 issue of the journal La Révolution Surréaliste, thus presenting the elder photographer as a modernist forerunner. Robert Frank (American, born Zurich, 1924) Fourth of July, Coney Island 1958 Image: 26 x 35.6 cm (10 1/4 x 14 in.) Mat: 18 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (47 × 57.2 cm) Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2002 © 2005 Robert Frank As he traveled around the country in 1955-56 making the photographs that would constitute his landmark book, The Americans, Frank’s impression of America changed radically. He found less of the freedom and tolerance imagined by postwar Europeans, and more alienation and racial prejudice simmering beneath the happy surface. His disillusionment is poignantly embodied in this image of a disheveled African-American man disengaged from the crowd and asleep in a fetal position amid the debris of an Independence Day celebration on Coney Island. This was one of the last still photographs Frank made before he devoted his creative energy to filmmaking in the early 1960s. As such, it may be interpreted as an elegy to still photography; the lone figure functions as a surrogate for Frank himself, as he turned his back on Life – like photojournalism to concentrate on the more personal, dreamlike imagery of his films. Shannon Bool (Canadian, born 1972) Vertigo Image: 7 13/16 × 11 13/16 in. (19.8 × 30 cm) Gift of Shannon Bool and Daniel Faria Gallery, 2015 © Shannon Bool This photogram – made without a camera by placing a collage of transparencies on a photosensitive sheet of paper and exposing it to light – is part of a series portraying psychoanalysts and their patients. Here, a patient on a Freudian couch is seen from above; the figure, sheathed in patterns of Maori origin, appears to come apart at the seams under the analyst’s scrutiny. Nan Goldin (American, born Washington, D.C., 1953) French Chris on the Convertible, NYC 1979 50.8 x 61cm (20 x 24in.) Mat: 25 × 32 in. (63.5 × 81.3 cm) Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2001 © Nan Goldin Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery Following in the tradition of Robert Frank and Helen Levitt, Goldin is her generation’s greatest practitioner of the “snapshot aesthetic” in photography-the intimate, diaristic mode that yields images that, in the right hands, are both spontaneous and carefully seen, tossed off and irreducibly right. In this early work, the artist has captured her friend as a Chatterton of the Lower East Side, lying across the back of a blue convertible with shirt open, eyes closed, and an empty can of Schaeffer beer by his side instead of arsenic – a contemporary vision of glamorous surrender for our own time. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940) Boy in Flood Dream, Ocean City, New Jersey 1972 Mat: 18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm) Gift of the artist, 1973 In the late 1960s, Tress began audio-recording children recounting their dreams and nightmares. He then collaborated with the young people, who acted out their tales for the camera, and published the resulting surreal images in the 1972 book The Dream Collector. Many of the children shared common nightmare scenarios such as falling, drowning, and being trapped, chased by monsters, or humiliated in the classroom. Here, a young boy clings to the roof of a home that has washed ashore as if after a flood. The desolate landscape evokes the sort of non-place characteristic of dreams and conveys feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring at lower right, Nan Goldin’s French Chris on the Convertible, NYC (1979) Photo by Anders Jones Sophie Calle (French, born Paris, 1953) Gloria K., first sleeper. Anne B., second sleeper 1979 12.6 x 18.4cm (4 15/16 x 7 1/4in.) Mat: 14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm) Gift of the artist and Olivier Renaud-Clement, in memory of Gilles Dusein, 2000 © Sophie Calle While obviously indebted to the deadpan photo-text combinations of Conceptualism, Calle’s art is as purely French at its core as the novels of Marguerite Duras and the films of Alain Resnais – an intimate exploration of memory, desire, and obsessive longing. The artist’s primary method involves a perfectly calibrated interplay between narrative and image, both of which steadily approach their object of desire only to find another blind spot-that which can never be captured through language or representation. This work is the first segment of Calle’s first work, The Sleepers (1979), in which the artist invited twenty-nine friends and acquaintances to sleep in her bed consecutively between April 1 and April 9, during which time she photographed them once an hour and kept notes recording each encounter. All the elements of Calle’s art-from the voyeuristic inversion of the private sphere (rituals of the bedroom) and the public (the book or gallery wall) to the use of serial, repetitive structures-are present here in embryonic form. Paul Graham (British, born 1956) Senami, Christchurch, New Zealand Chromogenic print Image: 44 1/4 in. × 59 in. (112.4 × 149.9 cm) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel and Hideyuki Osawa Gift, 2015 Graham’s series, Does Yellow Run Forever?, juxtaposes three groups of photographs: rainbows arcing over the Irish countryside, the facades of pawn-and-jewelry shops in New York, and tender studies of his partner asleep. The thematic links between the images (the rainbow’s mythical pot of gold, the sparkling objects in the Harlem window display, and a sleeping dreamer) may seem obvious, even pat, but Graham’s photographs transmute those clichés into a constellation of deep feeling. These luminous vignettes evoke a sense of longing and pathos, the quest for something permanent amid the illusory and devalued. Peter Hujar (American, Trenton, New Jersey 1934-1987 New York) Girl in My Hallway Image: 37 x 37.1 cm (14 9/16 x 14 5/8 in.) Mat: 25 × 25 in. (63.5 × 63.5 cm) Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2006 © The Peter Hujar Archive, L.L.C. Brassaï (French (born Romania), Brașov 1899-1984 Côte d’Azur) A Vagrant Sleeping in Marseille 1935, printed 1940s 17.2 x 23.3cm (6 3/4 x 9 3/16in.) Mat: 17 × 14 in. (43.2 × 35.6 cm) Gift of the artist, 1980 Photograph by Brassaï. Copyright © Gilberte Brassaï The inevitable suggestion that the homeless, hungry man sprawled on the sidewalk might be dreaming of a finely dressed and improbably large salad links Brassaï’s photograph to the work of the Surrealists. Although he frequently depicted thugs, vagrants, and prostitutes, he did so without judgment or political motive; his were pictures meant to delight or perplex the eye and mind-not to prompt a social crusade. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring at left, Paul Graham’s Gold Town Jewellery, East Harlem, New York (2012) and at right, Paul Graham’s Senami, Christchurch, New Zealand (2011), both from the series Does Yellow Run Forever? Photo by Anders Jones “The psychological fluidity of the medium has been noted before by the Met. In 1993, to celebrate its purchase of the Gilman Collection, the curator Maria Morris Hambourg chose to call her exhibition The Waking Dream. The title came from Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” and suggested, in Hambourg’s words, “the haunting power of photographs to commingle past and present, to suspend the world and the artist’s experience of it in unique distillations.” Conceptual latitude can benefit curators, giving them plenty of room to maneuver in making their selections, or it can be a detriment if a loose framework has so many sides that it won’t support an argument. Dream States suffers from the latter, even though the leeway of the title allows splendid pictures in disparate styles to be displayed together. Organized by associate curator Mia Fineman and assistant curator Beth Saunders around a theme that isn’t notably pertinent or provocative, the show has no discernible reason for being. It isn’t stocked with recent purchases – fewer than ten of the works entered the collection in this decade – and it isn’t tightly edited. To quality for inclusion here a photograph need only depict someone lying down or with eyes closed. A “dream state” seems to be loosely defined. It can be as a starry or cloudless sky; a tree-less landscape; inverted or abstract imagery; or something blurry.” Richard B. Woodward. “Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video @Met,” on the Collector Daily website July 11, 2016 [Online] Cited 06/10/2016 Jack Goldstein (American, born Canada, 1945-2003) The Pull Chromogenic prints Frame: 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30 x 40 in.) each Purchase, The Buddy Taub Foundation Gift and Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2009 © The Estate of Jack Goldstein Born in the postwar baby boom, Goldstein grew up surrounded by the products of the rapidly expanding media culture-movies, television, newspapers, magazines, and advertisements of all kinds. Young artists such as Goldstein went on to be educated in the rigorous and reductive principles of Minimal and Conceptual art during the 1970s but knew from personal experience that images shape our sense of the world and who we are, rather than vice versa; they made their art reflect that secondhand relationship to reality. In this early work, Goldstein has lifted, or “appropriated,” images of a deep sea diver, a falling figure, and a spaceman from unknown printed sources-isolating them from their original contexts and setting them at a very small scale against monochromatic backgrounds (green for sea, blue for sky, and white for space), as if the viewer were seeing them from a great distance. Because the viewer is unlikely to have seen such figures firsthand, that distance is not merely spatial but also epistemological in nature-the images trigger memories based not on original encounters but on reproductions of experience. The Pull – Goldstein’s only photographic work in a career that spanned painting, performance, film, and sound recordings – was included in “Pictures,” a seminal 1977 exhibition at Artist’s Space in New York, which also introduced the public to other young artists making use of appropriation, such as Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, and Troy Brauntuch. Sarah Anne Johnson (Canadian, born 1976) Glitter Bomb Chromogenic print with glitter and acrylic paint Sheet: 29 7/8 in. × 53 in. (75.9 × 134.6 cm) Purchase, Funds from Various Donors in memory of Randie Malinsky, 2016 © Sarah Anne Johnson Johnson works primarily with photography but also employs a variety of other media – sculpted figurines, dioramas, paint, ink, and bursts of glitter – to amplify the emotional power of her images. Glitter Bomb belongs to a series exploring the bacchanalian culture of summer music festivals. At once ominous and ecstatic, the image evokes the blissed-out mind-set of young revelers taking part in a modern-day rite of passage. Oliver Wasow (American, born 1960) Float Frame: 17.3 x 22.3 cm (6 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.) Overall: 116.8 x 152.4 cm (46 x 60 in.) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2010 © Oliver Wasow Wasow has a long-standing fascination with science fiction, apocalyptic fantasies, and documentation of unidentified flying objects. In his many pictures of mysterious floating disks and orbs, the artist courts doubt by running found images through a battery of processes, including drawing, photocopying, and superimposition, to create distortions. The resulting photographs play with the human propensity to invest form with meaning, offering just enough detail to spur the imagination. Fred Tomaselli (American, born Santa Monica, California, 1956) Portrait of Laura Gelatin silver print with graphite Image: 16 in. × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.6 cm) Mat: 24 3/4 × 25 3/4 in. (62.9 × 65.4 cm) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2016 © Fred Tomaselli This “portrait” of the artist’s wife, Laura, belongs to an ongoing series he calls “chemical celestial portraits of inner and outer space.” Tomaselli creates likenesses based on each sitter’s astrological sign and the star map for his or her date of birth. Placing sugar and pills on photographic paper and exposing it to light, he produces a photogram of the corresponding constellation and names the stars after the various drugs the subject remembers consuming, from cold medicine to cocaine. The result is an unconventional map of identity that cleverly weds the mystical and the pharmacological. Bea Nettles (American, born Gainesville, Florida, 1946) Mountain Dream Tarot: A Deck of 78 Photographic Cards 1975 Purchase, Dorothy Levitt Beskind Gift, 1977 The idea to create a set of photographic tarot cards came to Nettles in a dream during the summer of 1970, while she was on an artist’s residency in the mountains of North Carolina. She subsequently reinterpreted the ancient symbolism of the traditional tarot deck, enlisting friends and family members as models for photographs that she augmented with hand-painted additions. In 2007 the image Nettles created for the Three of Swords card was used as the disc graphic for Bruce Springsteen’s album Magic. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring Bea Nettles’ Mountain Dream Tarot: A Deck of 78 Photographic Cards (1975) Photo by Anders Jones “Artists often turn to dreams as a source of inspiration, a retreat from reason, and a space for exploring imagination and desire. In the history of photography, dream imagery has been most closely associated with the Surrealists, who used experimental techniques to bridge the gap between the camera’s objectivity and the internal gaze of the mind’s eye. While those modernist explorations were often bound to psychoanalytic theories, other photographers have pursued the world of sleep and dreams through deliberately open-ended works that succeed through evocation rather than description. The exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photographs and Video presents 30 photographs and one video drawn from The Met collection, all loosely tied to the subjective yet universal experience of dreaming. The exhibition is on view at the Museum from May 16 through October 30, 2016. Many of the works take the surrender of sleep as their subject matter. In photographs by Robert Frank, Danny Lyon, and Nan Goldin, recumbent figures appear vulnerable to the wandering gaze of onlookers, yet their inner worlds remain out of reach. Images of bodies floating and falling conjure the tumultuous world of dreams, and landscapes are made strange through the camera’s selective vision. Highlights include photographs by Paul Graham from his recent series Does Yellow Run Forever (2014); images from Sophie Calle’s earliest body of work, The Sleepers (1979), in which she invited friends and acquaintances to sleep in her own bed while she watched; and Anselm Kiefer’s Brünnhilde Sleeps (1980), a hand-painted photograph featuring French actress Catherine Deneuve recast as a Wagnerian Valkyrie. Also featured are recently acquired works by Shannon Bool, Sarah Anne Johnson, Jim Shaw, and Fred Tomaselli. Dream States: Contemporary Photographs and Video is organized by Mia Fineman, Associate Curator; and Beth Saunders, Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Grete Stern (Argentinian, born Germany, 1904-1999) Sueño No. 1: “Articulos eléctricos para el hogar” (Dream No. 1: “Electrical Household items”) c. 1950 Image: 26.6 x 22.9 cm (10 1/2 x 9 in.) Frame: 63.5 x 76.2 cm (25 x 30 in.) Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2012 In 1948 the Argentine women’s magazine Idilio introduced a weekly column called “Psychoanalysis Will Help You,” which invited readers to submit their dreams for analysis. Each week, one dream was illustrated with a photomontage by Stern, a Bauhaus-trained photographer and graphic designer who fled Berlin for Buenos Aires when the Nazis came to power. Over three years, Stern created 140 photomontages for the magazine, translating the unconscious fears and desires of its predominantly female readership into clever, compelling images. Here, a masculine hand swoops in to “turn on” a lamp whose base is a tiny, elegantly dressed woman. Rarely has female objectification been so erotically and electrically charged. Adam Fuss (British, born 1961) From the series “My Ghost” 1999 184.9 x 123.3 cm (72 13/16 x 48 9/16 in.) Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2000 © Adam Fuss With his large-scale photograms, Fuss has breathed new life into the cameraless technique that became the hallmark of modernist photographers such as Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy in the 1920s. He created this image by blowing thick clouds of smoke over a sheet of photographic paper and exposing it to a quick flash of light. Evoking the wizardry of a medieval alchemist, Fuss fixes a permanent image of evanescence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street New York, New York 10028-0198 Phone: 212-535-7710 Tuesday – Thursday: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm* Friday and Saturday: 9.30 am – 9.00 pm* Sunday: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm* Closed Monday (except Met Holiday Mondays**), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day Exhibition dates: 21st July to 23rd October 2016 Curator: Phillip Prodger, Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery Just look. Really look. And then think about that looking. Minute, democratic observations produce images which nestle, and take hold, and grow in the imagination. No words are necessary. This is a looking that comes from the soul. “A lot of these pictures I take are of very ordinary, unremarkable things. Can one learn to see? I don’t know. I think probably one is born with the ability to compose an image, in the way one is born with the ability to compose music. It is vastly more important to think about the looking, though, rather than to try to talk about a picture and what it means. The graphic image and words, well, they are two very different animals.” ~ William Eggleston Marcus . Many thankx to the National Portrait Gallery, London for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. William Eggleston is a pioneering American photographer renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images. This exhibition of 100 works surveys Eggleston’s full career from the 1960s to the present day and is the most comprehensive display of his portrait photography ever. Eggleston is celebrated for his experimental use of colour and his solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976 is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of colour photography as a contemporary art form. Highlights of the exhibition will include monumental prints of two legendary photographs first seen forty years ago: the artist’s uncle Adyn Schuyler Senior with his assistant Jasper Staples in Cassidy Bayou, Mississippi, and Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi. Also on display will be a selection of never-before seen vintage black and white prints from the 1960s. Featuring people in diners, petrol stations and markets in and around the artist’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, they help illustrate Eggleston’s unique view of the world. (Text from the NPG website) “Eggleston is someone who has always tried to maintain emotional detachment in his work, photographing landscapes and inanimate objects with the same attention he would apply to people. He does not believe a photograph is a ‘window on the soul’ as we so often have it, nor does he think a viewer can ever truly understand a photographer’s thoughts and feelings from the pictures they make. Instead, he photographs ‘democratically’, which is to say, he gives even the smallest observations equal weight. His usual method is to capture people going about their business unawares, often performing ordinary tasks like eating in a restaurant or pumping petrol at a filling station. He photographs everyone the same, whether they are a celebrity, a member of his family, or a stranger.” . For Eggleston this photo is highly personal. Jasper Staples, the figure on the right, had been around him for his whole life as his family’s “house man”. Here he is next to his employer, Eggleston’s uncle, at a funeral. His exact mimicking of his boss’s posture and their shared focus on an event happening off-camera gives them a moment of unity. Yet the composition of the shot, with their balance and the open car door suggesting some ongoing action, is highly theatrical and might even put us in mind of a TV detective show. (Text by Fred Maynard ) One of Eggleston’s most famous images, this pictures shows why he is known as the man who brought colour photography into the artistic mainstream. The subject, Marcia Hare, floats on a cloud-like bed of soft-focus grass, the red buttons on her dress popping out like confectionary on a cake. The dye-transfer technique which Eggleston borrowed from commercial advertising and turned into his trademark gives such richness to the colour that we are brought out of the Seventies and into the realm of Pre-Raphaelite painting. The ghost of Millais’s “Ophelia” sits just out of reach, a connection which the inscrutable artist is happy, as ever, to neither confirm nor deny. (Text by Fred Maynard ) “This is Devoe, a distant relative of mine (although I can’t remember exactly how), but also a friend. She is dead now, but we were very close. She was a very sweet and charming lady. I took this picture in the yard at the side of her house. I would often visit her there in Jackson. I remember I found the colour of her dress and the chair very exciting, and everything worked out instantly. I think this is the only picture I ever took of her, but I would say it sums her up. I didn’t pose her at all – I never do, usually because it all happens so quickly, but I don’t think I would have moved her in any way. I’m still very pleased with the photograph.” ~ William Eggleston “These two are strangers. I happened to be walking past and there it was, the picture. As usual I took it very rapidly and we didn’t speak. I think I was fortunate to catch that expression on the woman’s face. A lot of these pictures I take are of very ordinary, unremarkable things. Can one learn to see? I don’t know. I think probably one is born with the ability to compose an image, in the way one is born with the ability to compose music. It is vastly more important to think about the looking, though, rather than to try to talk about a picture and what it means. The graphic image and words, well, they are two very different animals.” ~ William Eggleston Stranded in Canton Video In 1973, photographer William Eggleston picked up a Sony PortaPak and took to documenting the soul of Memphis and New Orleans. “A previously unseen image of The Clash frontman Joe Strummer and a never-before exhibited portrait of the actor and photographer Dennis Hopper will be displayed for the first time in the National Portrait Gallery this summer. They will be included in the first museum exhibition devoted to the portraits of pioneering American photographer, William Eggleston it was announced today, Thursday 10 March 2016. William Eggleston Portraits (21 July to 23 October) will bring together over 100 works by the American photographer, renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images of people in diners, petrol stations, phone booths and supermarkets. Widely credited with increasing recognition for colour photography, following his own experimental use of dye-transfer technique, Eggleston will be celebrated by a retrospective of his full career, including a selection of never-before seen vintage black and white photographs from the 1960s taken in and around the artist’s home in Memphis, Tennessee. The first major exhibition of Eggleston’s photographs in London since 2002 and the most comprehensive of his portraits, William Eggleston Portraits will feature family, friends, musicians and actors including rarely seen images of Eggleston’s own close relations. It will provide a unique window on the artist’s home life, allowing visitors to see how public and private portraiture came together in Eggleston’s work. It will also reveal, for the first time, the identities of many sitters who have until now remained anonymous. Other highlights include monumental, five foot wide prints of the legendary photographs of the artist’s uncle, Adyn Schuyler Senior, with his assistant Jasper Staples in Cassidy Bayou, Mississippi and Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi from the landmark book Eggleston’s Guide (1976). Since first picking up a camera in 1957, Eggleston’s images have captured the ordinary world around him and his work is said to find ‘beauty in the everyday’. His portrayal of the people he encountered in towns across the American South, and in Memphis in particular, is shown in the context of semi-public spaces. Between 1960 and 1965, Eggleston worked exclusively in black and white and people were Eggleston’s primary subject, caught unawares while going about ordinary tasks. In the 1970s, Eggleston increasingly frequented the Memphis night club scene, developing friendships and getting to know musicians and artists. His fascination with club culture resulted in the experimental video ‘Stranded in Canton’, a selection of which will also be on view at the exhibition. ‘Stranded in Canton’ chronicles visits to bars in Memphis, Mississippi and New Orleans. Eggleston’s 1976 show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of colour photography as a contemporary art form. His work has inspired many present day photographers, artists and filmmakers, including Martin Parr, Sofia Coppola, David Lynch and Juergen Teller. Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, says: “William Eggleston makes memorable photographic portraits of individuals – including friends and family, musicians and artists – that are utterly unique and highly influential. More than this, Eggleston has an uncanny ability to find something extraordinary in the seemingly everyday. Combining well-known works with others previously unseen, this exhibition looks at one of photography’s most compelling practitioners from a new perspective.” Curator Phillip Prodger, Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery says, “Few photographers alive today have had such a profound influence on the way photographs are made and seen as William Eggleston. His pictures are as fresh and exciting as they were when they first grabbed the public’s attention in the 1970s. There is nothing quite like the colour in an Eggleston photograph – radiant in their beauty, that get deep under the skin and linger in the imagination.” Press release from the National Portrait Gallery, London According to Eggleston talking on this video , this was his first successful colour negative. The photo that made Eggleston’s name, this image of a grocery-store boy lining up shopping carts is a prime example of his ability to capture the humdrum reality of life in mid-century America. Yet it is also something more: the delicacy of his motion, the tension in his posture, the concentration on his brow evoke a master craftsman at work. Despite Eggleston’s presence, he seems entirely unselfconscious: caught in perfect profile and sun-dappled like a prime specimen of American youth. Eggleston, hovering between documentarian and sentimentalist, creates a semi-ironic paean to America. (Text by Fred Maynard ) The closest Eggleston came to taking traditional portraits was in a series he shot in bars in his native Memphis and the Mississippi Delta in 1973-4. The sitters in his Nightclub Portraits – anonymous figures plucked, slightly flushed, from their nights out – are not posing but instead are photographed mid-conversation, Eggleston capturing them at their most unguarded. What is remarkable about this example is the strange composure of the subject, the slightly ethereal sheen as the flash from the camera is reflected by her make-up. Eggleston’s precise focus picks out the individual threads of her cardigan. Something hyper-real and statuesque emerges from an ordinary night out. (Text by Fred Maynard ) “Refusing to be pinned down to any viewpoint or agenda, Eggleston’s greatest strength is his almost enraging ambiguity. He is neither a sentimentalist nor a documentarian, neither subjective nor objective: he somehow captures that ephemeral moment we experience when we’re not quite sure why a memory sticks with us, why an otherwise mundane glance from a stranger seems to take on a greater significance. His refusal to think of himself as a portraitist is what gives this exhibition such wry power. Here is a photographer who makes no distinctions, viewing every subject from cousins to coke cans with the same inscrutable gaze. When approached about the idea of a portrait show, the NPG’s Philip Prodger recalls, Eggleston expressed surprise because he didn’t “do” portraits. Prodger reframed the exhibition as a series of photos that just happened to have people in them. “That makes sense”, Eggleston deadpanned. The unvarnished Americana for which he is so famous – brash logos and a hint of rust – can contain something uneasy, even threatening, precisely because Eggleston maintains a blithe poker-face about his feelings on his subjects. Walking through this exhibition is to meet more placards marked “Untitled” than you can handle. The names of previously anonymous sitters, revealed specially for this exhibition, are hardly likely to make things much more concrete for the viewer. Rather we are let in on an extraordinary experience, moving between the mysterious faces of a transitional moment in American history, not quite sure whether some greater revelation is bubbling under the surface.” Extract from Fred Maynard. “William Eggleston, the reluctant portraitist,” on the 1843 website July 26, 2016 [Online] Cited 30/09/2016 Exhibition dates: 27th July – 23rd October 2016 ‘I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’ Former New York slave Sojourner Truth (which literally means “itinerant preacher”) strategically deployed photography as a form of political activism. This deployment is part of a long tradition of photography being used in the African American struggle for political change, from before the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. Standing six feet tall and speaking with a thick Dutch accent (due to her having been born of slave parents owned by a wealthy Dutch patroon in Ulster County, New York) Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883), the name she adopted on June 1, 1843, devoted her life to women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. Driven by a deep religious conviction she was a evangelist, feminist and abolitionist who possessed enormous charisma – “Harriet Beecher Stowe attested to Truth’s personal magnetism, saying that she had never “been conversant with anyone who had more of that silent and subtle power which we call personal presence than this woman.”” During the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) after the American Civil War, “Truth barely supported herself by selling a narrative of her life as well as her “shadows,” photographs of herself.” ( Sojourner Truth, Black History ) What is interesting, as author Nell Irvin Painter observes in the accompanying video in this posting, is how Truth controlled the dissemination of her own image – her shadow – as a means of self promotion. As the press release states, “Truth could not read or write, but she had her statements repeatedly published in the press, enthusiastically embraced new technologies such as photography, and went to court three times to claim her legal rights. Uniquely among portrait sitters, she had her photographic cartes de visite copyrighted in her own name and added the caption ’I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’. Sojourner Truth, foregrounding her self-selected proper name, her agency, and her possession of self.” As the exhibition brochure observes, “Sojourner Truth’s very terms, “substance” and “shadow,” were economic as well as photographic metaphors in the fierce debates about money: shadow was aligned with the abolition of slavery, substance with proslavery and anti-black sentiment. Sojourner Truth knew this opposition very well.” Her speech, authorship, and recourse to law coexist with her image. Her possession of self is intimately tied to the photographic depiction of her bodily form. She sells the photograph to support the body and, as her agency, the images become a form of self-actualisation. In this sense the image that she controls becomes her holistic body, for she never displays her injured hand or the scars on her back that she were inflicted on her during slavery. These photographs are how she would like to see herself, how she portrays and promotes herself to others and for this reason they are amazing documents to study. What a human being, to have that perspicacious nature – from Latin perspicax, perspicac- ‘seeing clearly’ – to clearly see her place in the world and to clearly understand how to project her image into the world using new technologies such as photography. For someone who could not read or write this clear seeing in the use of photography at such an early time in the history of photography is almost incomparable. Marcus . Many thankx to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. Cicely Tyson performs Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t that a woman?”, originally delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Unknown photographer (American) Carte de visite of Sojourner Truth with a photograph of her grandson, James Caldwell, on her lap 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby On July 4, 1863, in the National Anti-Slavery Standard, Truth announced her grandson’s enlistment in the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first all-black volunteer infantry. “Her faith is strong that God’s hand is in this war, and that it will end in the destruction of slavery, which day she hopes to live to see. The enlisting of the colored people she considers the most hopeful feature of the war.” Truth was very proud of her grandson James Caldwell, whom she described as “a tall, able-bodied lad” determined to redeem white people from God’s curse and to save the nation. Truth also expressed her frustration that she herself could not lead “the colored troops”; instead she “can only send you her shadow.” Even at this early date, Sojourner Truth conceived of her “shadows” as the means to raise money. The article ends: “We are sure that many of our readers will thank us for informing them that Sojourner will send her photograph by mail to any one who will write her enclosing 50 cents and a 3-cent stamp. Letters to be directed to Battle Creek, Michigan.” Sojourner Truth believed in paper and words: the paper currency created by the Federal government to support the war; the newspapers in which she had her letters published; the cartes de visite that she sold to support herself, labeled and copyrighted; the stamps that could send her paper photographs across the country to supporters; the tax stamps that the government required again to raise funds on behalf of the Union cause. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Sojourner Truth: Quotes, Speech, Biography, Education, Facts, History (1996) Synopsis Born in New York circa 1797, Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. Her best-known speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Born into slavery Born Isabella Baumfree circa 1797, Sojourner Truth was one of as many as 12 children born to James and Elizabeth Baumfree in the town of Swartekill, in Ulster County, New York. Truth’s date of birth was not recorded, as was typical of children born into slavery, but historians estimate that she was likely born around 1797. Her father, James Baumfree, was a slave captured in modern-day Ghana; Elizabeth Baumfree, also known as Mau-Mau Bet, was the daughter of slaves from Guinea. The Baumfree family was owned by Colonel Hardenbergh, and lived at the colonel’s estate in Esopus, New York, 95 miles north of New York City. The area had once been under Dutch control, and both the Baumfrees and the Hardenbaughs spoke Dutch in their daily lives. After the colonel’s death, ownership of the Baumfrees passed to his son, Charles. The Baumfrees were separated after the death of Charles Hardenbergh in 1806. The 9-year-old Truth, known as “Belle” at the time, was sold at an auction with a flock of sheep for $100. Her new owner was a man named John Neely, whom Truth remembered as harsh and violent. She would be sold twice more over the following two years, finally coming to reside on the property of John Dumont at West Park, New York. It was during these years that Truth learned to speak English for the first time… Fighting for abolition and women’s rights On June 1, 1843, Isabella Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth, devoting her life to Methodism and the abolition of slavery. In 1844, she joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts. Founded by abolitionists, the organization supported a broad reform agenda including women’s rights and pacifism. Members lived together on 500 acres as a self-sufficient community. Truth met a number of leading abolitionists at Northampton, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and David Ruggles. Although the Northampton community disbanded in 1846, Sojourner Truth’s career as an activist and reformer was just beginning… Advocacy during the Civil War Sojourner Truth put her reputation to work during the Civil War, helping to recruit black troops for the Union Army. She encouraged her grandson, James Caldwell, to enlist in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. In 1864, Truth was called to Washington, D.C., to contribute to the National Freedman’s Relief Association. On at least one occasion, Truth met and spoke with President Abraham Lincoln about her beliefs and her experience. True to her broad reform ideals, Truth continued to agitate for change even after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. In 1865, Truth attempted to force the desegregation of streetcars in Washington by riding in cars designated for whites. A major project of her later life was the movement to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She argued that ownership of private property, and particularly land, would give African Americans self-sufficiency and free them from a kind of indentured servitude to wealthy landowners. Although Truth pursued this goal forcefully for many years, she was unable to sway Congress. Death and legacy Sojourner Truth died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, on November 26, 1883. She is buried alongside her family at Battle Creek’s Oak Hill Cemetery. Until old age intervened, Truth continued to speak passionately on the subjects of women’s rights, universal suffrage and prison reform. She was also an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, testifying before the Michigan state legislature against the practice. She also championed prison reform in Michigan and across the country. While always controversial, Truth was embraced by a community of reformers including Amy Post, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony – friends with whom she collaborated until the end of her life. Truth is remembered as one of the foremost leaders of the abolition movement and an early advocate of women’s rights. Although she began her career as an abolitionist, the reform causes she sponsored were broad and varied, including prison reform, property rights and universal suffrage. Abolition was one of the few causes that Truth was able to see realized in her lifetime. Her fear that abolitionism would falter before achieving equality for women proved prophetic. Captioned carte de visite of Sojourner Truth (front) 1864 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby In 1864 Truth began to inscribe her cartes de visite with a caption, her name, and a copyright: “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance. SOJOURNER TRUTH.” Truth’s use of the first-person present tense “I sell” declares her ownership of her image: to sell it, she must own it. Most significantly, by using this caption Sojourner Truth knowingly aligned her photographs with paper money. Sojourner Truth’s very terms, “substance” and “shadow,” were economic as well as photographic metaphors in the fierce debates about money: shadow was aligned with the abolition of slavery, substance with proslavery and anti-black sentiment. Sojourner Truth knew this opposition very well. She was making cheap paper notes, printed and reproduced in multiples, featuring her portrait. She had invented her own kind of paper currency, and for the same reasons as the government: in order to produce wealth dependent on a consensus that representation produces material results, to make money where there was none, and to do so partly in order to abolish slavery. During the Civil War, a ferocious debate raged about whether paper could represent value like coin. Paper greenbacks – the first federally issued banknotes in American history – were attacked by those who believed that money was not a representation but a “substance.” Hard money advocates (naively) believed that gold was value, not its representation…. Like paper bills, cartes de visite functioned during these years as currency and as clandestine political tokens. The photographs of Sojourner Truth register only her appearance, not her commanding presence. They are shadows, and some are more elusive and mute than others. Yet the printed words – name, caption, and copyright – remain forthright: her speech, authorship, and recourse to law coexist with her image. Those printed words force us to acknowledge the illiterate woman’s authorship, as well as her eloquence, her agency, and her legal claim to property, even as we value these humble objects. [The image above and verso below] is one of two known cartes de visite of Sojourner Truth that bear not only the caption, name, and copyright, but also a tax stamp that dates the photograph to 1864. Tax stamps were created to raise money for the Union cause, although they were attached to only a very small percentage of purchased photographs. In all her seated portraits, Truth carefully chose the items she held in her lap: initially, the photograph of her heroic missing grandson and thereafter, her knitting. We must take her choices seriously. During the Civil War knitting acquired new patriotic connotations. No longer merely a feminine domestic art, knitting had become a public duty; newspapers published pleas for sewing and knitting societies to devote themselves to serving the cause. During the Civil War, Truth was determined to teach her skills to the emancipated slaves, often Southern field hands, living in Freedmen’s Villages. A Union officer reported that Truth would say, “Be clean, be clean, for cleanliness is a part of godliness.” He paraphrased Truth’s beliefs: “[T]hey must learn to be independent – learn industry and economy – and above all strive to show people that they could be something. She urged them to embrace for their children all opportunities of education and advancement. In fact, she talked to them as a white person could not, for they would have been offended with such plain truths from any other source […] She goes into their cabins with her knitting in her hand, and while she talks with them she knits. Few of them know how to knit, and but few know how to make a loaf of bread, or anything of the kind. She wants to teach the old people how to knit, for they have no employment, and they will be much happier if usefully employed.” Truth associated knitting with industry and advancement, not gentility. With real savvy, she informally introduced the craft to freed slaves by demonstrating the skill, not just telling her audience to learn it. The many cartes de visite that feature her knitting sustain this demonstration. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite of Sojourner Truth c. 1864-65 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby “The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents , on view July 27 through October 23, 2016. The exhibition features a large selection of photographic cartes de visite of the famed former slave, as well as other Civil Warera photographs and Federal currency, none of which have been exhibited before. The exhibition is organized by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley and author of “Enduring Truths. Sojourners Shadows and Substance” (University of Chicago Press, 2015), the first book to explore how Truth used her image, the press, the postal service, and copyright laws to support her activism and herself. Many of the photographs included in the exhibition were a recent gift from Professor Grigsby to BAMPFA. Runaway slave Sojourner Truth gained renown in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator. This exhibition showcases the photographic carte de visite portraits of Truth that she sold at lectures and by mail as a way of making a living. First invented by French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri in 1854, cartes de visite are similar in size to the calling cards that preceded them, approximately two-and one-half by four inches, and consist of albumen photographs made from glass negatives glued onto cardboard mounts. By the end of the 1850s, the craze for the relatively inexpensive cartes de visite had reached the United States. Americans who could never have afforded a portrait could now have their likeness memorialized. Combined with the emergence of the new US postal system, these cards appealed to a vast nation of dispersed peoples. Truth could not read or write, but she had her statements repeatedly published in the press, enthusiastically embraced new technologies such as photography, and went to court three times to claim her legal rights. Uniquely among portrait sitters, she had her photographic cartes de visite copyrighted in her own name and added the caption ’I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’. Sojourner Truth, foregrounding her self-selected proper name, her agency, and her possession of self. This exhibition places Truths cartes de visite in context by reconstructing the flood of paper federal banknotes, photographs, letters, autographs, stamps, prints, and newspapers that created political communities across the immense distances of the nation during the Civil War. Like the federal government that resorted to the printing of paper currency to finance the war against slavery, Truth was improvising new ways of turning paper into value in order to finance her activism as an abolitionist and advocate of womens rights. Sojourner Truth, Photography, and the Fight Against Slavery is organized by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley, with the assistance of UC Berkeley undergraduate Ryan Serpa. The photographs included in the exhibition were a recent gift from Professor Grigsby to BAMPFA.” Press release from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Carte de visite of Frederick Douglass c. 1879 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement from Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings. In his time he was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. Douglass wrote several autobiographies. He described his experiences as a slave in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became a bestseller, and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). After the Civil War, Douglass remained an active campaigner against slavery and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, it covered events during and after the Civil War. Douglass also actively supported women’s suffrage, and held several public offices. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket. Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, and in the liberal values of the American Constitution. When radical abolitionists under the motto “No Union With Slaveholders”, criticized Douglass’ willingness to dialogue with slave owners, he famously replied: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” (Text from the Wikipedia website ) Frederick Douglass was also a runaway slave and eloquent abolitionist. Douglass and Truth both believed in the liberatory power of modernization and both were confident that the new medium of photography would contribute to their society’s redefinition of the status of black men and women. Of all modern inventions, photography, Douglass argued, would have the most far-reaching impact. He devoted two public lectures to photography, in 1861 and 1865, arguing that self-possession requires recognition from others. Douglass had 160 portraits made between 1841 and 1895. Like most sitters and unlike Truth, Douglass allowed the photographer’s name to be printed at the bottom of this carte de visite instead of his own. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite of John Sharper c. 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby John N. Sharper, a printer by trade, enlisted in the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment (Colored) at Providence, Rhode Island on October 30, 1863. He was listed as being 5-foot8, of “dark complexion,” with black hair and black eyes. He was born in New York State about 1841. He signed his own enlistment papers. The 14th Rhode Island was later re-designated the 11th U.S. Colored Artillery. Sharper was born at Herkimer, New York (west of Albany) on May 24, 1841. In 1860, at age 18, he was still living in Herkimer with his parents, Samuel and Jane, and working as a printer’s apprentice. Sharper’s unit was assigned to the Department of the Gulf, where its elements were stationed in New Orleans, Port Hudson, Brashear City (now Morgan City), Louisiana and Fort Esperanza on Matagorda Island, Texas. In the winter of 1864-65 Sharper was detached from his unit to work at post headquarters as a printer. Sharper was discharged for disability at New Orleans on September 11, 1865 for phthisis pulmonalis, another term for consumption or tuberculosis. He died on April 5, 1866, and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Herkimer. His parents, Samuel and Jane, applied for a pension on as dependents of his. There is a page on Ancestry that shows Sharper married to an Esther Thomas (c. 1846 to c. 1929), but cites no documentation. (Text from the Civil War Talk website ) . The Bureau of United States Colored Troops was established as a separate office within the War Department on May 22, 1863. Maj. Charles W. Foster was appointed the bureau chief, with the title assistant adjutant general. African-descent regiments organized before the new bureau was established were not the first regiments mustered into the Bureau of United States Colored Troops. Most would retain their state designation until 1864, when they would be designated United States Colored Troops. In June 1863, the first regiment was officially mustered into the Bureau of United States Colored Troops. Organized in Washington, D.C., the regiment was designated the 1st United States Colored Infantry. (Text from the Civil War Trust website ) . According to government archives, by the end of the Civil War some 179,000 black men had served in the US Army (constituting 10% of the Union Army) and 19,000 had served in the US Navy. 40,000 died during the war, often from infection and disease. When Sojourner Truth made the photograph in which she displays a framed portrait of her grandson, who had just joined the first all-black regiment, she offered an alternative to images, such as Nast’s, that mocked and emasculated the black men and boys who fought to end slavery. Photographic portraits made counterarguments, showing us alert and serious black men, even boys, who were determined to fix their likenesses as soldiers willing to lose their lives to win the war against slavery. Portraits can socially elevate but painted portraits were not affordable for the majority of Americans. Nineteenth-century photography, especially cartes de visite and tintypes, brought portraiture within the reach of many more people. African Americans seized the opportunity to have their “likeness” made. Tintypes also made it possible to adorn sitters with precious gold jewelry applied as strokes of paint. Glistening paint ornamented sitters with sparkling accessories – gold rings, necklaces, buttons, military belt buckles – and fancy ornamental enclosures framed persons as worthy. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite of amputee on chair late-19th century Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby J. W. Black (American, photographer) Captioned carte de visite of Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence 1863 Several extensive series of cartes de visite were made of rescued slave children, especially those who appeared to be white like this child, Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence. In the cartes de visite of the “redeemed slave child” Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, captions make claims to possession of the child and her portrait, claims problematically resem- bling slavery. If Sojourner Truth boldly filed a copyright in her own name, the 1863 copyright on these photographs is in the name of the child’s “redeemer,” Catherine S. Lawrence, who gave the fair-skinned little girl her surname (and also had her baptized by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother, Henry Ward Beecher). Catherine Lawrence had Fannie photographed at least a dozen times in a wide range of costumes and settings. Although most cartes show her lavishly dressed, one unusual example shows the little girl barefoot, as if in transition from her status as poor slave to affluent and “passing” adoptee. Like the word “redeem” itself, this carte de visite combines Christian, economic, and legal claims. Its extremely unusual copyright betrays the financial transaction that redefined the “redeemed” slave child as adoptee. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite of Frank, Frederick, and Alice 1865 On back: “The CHILDREN OF THE BATTLE FIELD. This is a copy of the Ferrotype found in the hands of Sergeant Humiston of the 154th N.Y. Volunteers as he lay dead on the Battle Field of Gettysburg. The copies are sold in furtherance of the National Sabbath School effort to found in Pennsylvania an Asylum for dependent Orphans of Soldiers; in memorial of our Perpetuated Union. Wenderoth, Taylor & Brown, 912-914 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. This picture is private property, and can not be copied without wronging the Soldier’s Orphans for whom it is published. Philadelphia, Sept. 23, 1865. J. Frances Bourns. As the text on the back of this card makes clear, this portrait of beloved offspring had initially been found without names on the body of an unidentified fallen soldier. The photograph was reproduced and circulated as a carte de visite in order to determine the soldier’s identity. This early form of mass communication ultimately worked and his family was found. Subsequently, new cartes de visite included the children’s names, Frank, Frederick, and Alice, and were circulated in order to raise money on behalf of a school for orphans. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Portrait of a Marshall Bachelder and Cornelia (Weatherby) Bachelder c. 1865 6 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby “Marshall Bachelder was born in Holly, Orleans, NY state, August 31, 1835, and died July 30, 1921. He came to Michigan at the age of 17 with his parents and settled on a farm in Greenbush township, Clinton County. He enlisted in the 8th Michigan Infantry in 1861 and served until the end of the war. He was married to Cornelia Weatherby in 1864, who survives him.” (as of 1921). . Cartes de visite were multiples and allowed sitters to share their portraits with others, sometimes sending them by mail. By contrast, tintypes were unique images like daguerreotypes, but far less expensive. This haunting hand-colored tintype portrait of a couple contrasts a remarkably vivid young woman with a pale ghost-like soldier whose body, hair, and eyes have been drawn in. Whether his image was radically retouched in order to dress him in uniform is unclear from the photograph itself. Tintypes were made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal covered with a dark lacquer or enamel – they were unique direct images (no negatives were used). (Text from the exhibition brochure) The Innocent Cause of the War (stereo view detail) c. 1865 Courtesy of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Stereo view A Union soldier looks at a young black boy in tattered clothing leaning on a pole at left. The caption turns the boy into “the innocent cause” for which the Civil War was fought. Stereo views were two photographs made from slightly separated lenses, reproducing the two-and-one-half-inch distance between our eyes; when seen through a viewer, they suggest three-dimensional space. Fairly inexpensive, they were very popular from the Civil War era through the early twentieth century. Stereo views were collected by individuals, and they also served as educational tools in schools and libraries. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite (Donation Cake) late-19th century Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Little is known about this Civil War carte de visite except that it commemorates fundraising, a bake sale from one hundred and fifty years ago. Sayre and Chase (Newark, Ohio) Pro-Union carte de visite commemorating the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Generals Charles Robert Woods and William Burnham Woods c. 1865 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Most cartes de visite were portraits but some represented the war, depicting landscapes, battle sites, military prisons, and still lifes. This carte, made by Sayre and Chase of Newark, Ohio, displays the scarred battle flag of the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as well as a sword, scabbard, and officer’s sash hanging from a line perfunctorily stretched across the studio. Leaning against the floorboards are two large, framed albumen photographs of Union generals, Charles Robert Woods (at right), who organized the 76th Ohio, and his brother William Burnham Woods. Both survived the war, and astonishingly both became Supreme Court justices. Within this scene, the framed photographic portraits are not cartes de visite but larger prints deemed worthy of frames, not merely inclusion in an album. Photography’s registration of “what has been” (its indexicality) serves as a form of evidence: here scarred inanimate objects testify to the violence of war and connote both courage and suffering. (Text from the exhibition brochure) The 76th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 76th OVI) was an infantry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served in the Western Theater, primarily as part of the XV Corps in the Army of the Tennessee. During its term of service, the 76th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry participated in forty-four battles. While 270 men, including five officers, died from disease or accidents, an additional ninety-one men, including nine officers, received mortal wounds. Beyond these deaths, another 241 men suffered battlefield wounds but survived. Charles Robert Woods (February 19, 1827 – February 26, 1885) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He is noted for commanding the relief troops that first attempted to resupply Fort Sumter prior to the start of the conflict, and served with distinction during the war. William Burnham Woods (August 3, 1824 – May 14, 1887) was a United States Circuit Judge and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court as well as an Ohio politician and soldier in the Civil War. Captioned carte de visite (Emancipation) c. 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby The women abolitionists of Indiana who selected the costume Truth wears in the adjacent photograph (no. 5) may have been inspired by pictures of female personifications carrying flags. For example, this carte de visite, entitled Emancipation, personifies the nation as a white woman who wraps an immense flag around two kneeling slaves. The printing press During the Civil War, the printing press itself came to stand for the Republican cause. The printing of money was even represented in a number of cartes de visite. Rightly paranoid that his paper reproduction could be mistaken for a counterfeit bill despite its smaller size, the printer of the “Twenty-Dollar Bill” fills the card’s back with text establishing its credentials as an authorized – and copyrighted – “souvenir.” In The Northern Star, four photographically reproduced, wrinkled one-dollar bills and one two-dollar bill rotate around the mirroring heads of Salmon Chase – Secretary of the Treasury, Republican, and abolitionist – and Abraham Lincoln. Between the two men’s heads at the center of the card is a barely comprehensible poem that ends with the line: “And Chase the money makes you know.” In the spatial configuration of the image, Chase is the Northern Star, the moneymaker, yet the inverse is true as well: the money makes you know Chase. Each one-dollar bill spinning around the central axis features his profile portrait. By contrast The Southern Cross mocks the Confederacy for its lack of “change” to “meet their bills.” Sojourner Truth was making a form of paper currency and her cheap paper notes, printed and reproduced in multiples, featured her portrait. This was no insignificant achievement. Like Chase she had put her face on paper that stood for economic value; like Chase she was publicizing her self and her politics with her portrait. Truth had invented her own kind of paper money and for the same reasons as the Republican government: in order to produce wealth dependent on a consensus that representation produces material results, to make money where there was none, and to do so partly in order to abolish slavery. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite (Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca & Rosa, Slaves from New Orleans) c. 1864 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Part of the fundraising series devoted to the freed slaves of New Orleans, this carte de visite poses the formerly enslaved adult Wilson Chinn reading to Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa, freed children. Especially poignant is another paler, most likely later version, in which the caption is misspelled as ‘Lerning is Wealth’. Wealth, the caption proposes, derives from literacy, not slavery. Other cartes de visite of Wilson Chinn emphasize his abuse under slavery, displaying menacing chains at his feet and branded letters on his forehead, his former owner’s initials: “V. B. M.” The letters on Chinn’s forehead turn him into surface on which is inscribed the literacy of others. In this carte Wilson’s head is turned so we do not see that the man who reads from a book is likewise inscribed as a text; none of the children look to the alternative printing on his forehead. Exhibition dates: 17th June – 25th September 2016 Curator: Julian Cox This man is a living legend. What a strong body of socially conscious work he has produced over a long period of time. Each series proposes further insight into the human condition – and adds ‘value’ to series that have gone before. It is a though the artist possesses the intuition for a good story and the imagination to photograph it to best advantage, building the story over multiple encounters and contexts to form a thematic whole. In a press release for a currently showing parallel exhibition titled Journey at Edwynn Houk Gallery the text states, “Continuing in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Lyon forged a new style of realistic photography, described as “New Journalism,” where the photographer immerses himself in his subject’s world.” This reference to immersion is reinforced by the second quotation below, where “the power of Lyon’s work has often derived from his willingness of immerse himself entirely in the cultures and communities he documents.” While the observation is correct that the artist immerses himself in the cultures and communities he documents, this is different to the tradition of Robert Frank and to a lesser extent, Walker Evans. Frank was a Swiss man who imaged his impressions of America on a road trip across the country. His “photographs were notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society” which pictured the culture as both alienating and strange, “skeptical of contemporary values and evocative of ubiquitous loneliness”. This is why The Americans had so much power and caused so much consternation when it was first released in 1959 in America, for it held up a mirror to an insular society, one not used to looking at itself especially from the position of an “outsider” – where the tone of the book was perceived as derogatory to national ideals – and it didn’t like what it saw. The American Walker Evans was also an outsider photographing outsiders, journeying through disparate towns and communities documenting his impressions how I can I say, subjectively with an objective focus, at one and the same time. He never immersed himself in the culture but was an active observer and documenter, never an insider. Lyon was one of the first “embedded” social documentary photographers of the American street photography movement of the 1960s who had the free will and the social conscience to tell it like it is. His self-proclaimed “advocacy journalism” is much more than just advocacy / journalism. It is a vitality of being, of spirit, an inquiry of the mind that allows the artist to get close, both physically and emotionally, to the problems of others through becoming one with them – and then to picture that so that others can see their story, so that he can “change history and preserve humanity.” But, we must acknowledge, that humanity is mainly (good looking) males: outlaw motorcycle clubs, mainly male prisons, mainly male civil rights, tattoo shops, and male Uptown, Chicago. Women are seemingly reduced to bit-players at best, singular portraits or standing in the background at funerals. This is a man’s world and you better not forget it… Having said that, can you imagine living the life, spending four years as a member of the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. How exhilarating, how enmeshed with the culture you would become – the people, the travel, the ups and downs, the life, the danger – and then when you get photographs like Funny Sonny Packing with Zipco, Milwaukee (1966, below) with the manic look in Funny Sonny’s eyes, how your heart would sing. If I had to nominate one image that is for me the epitome of America in the 1960s it would be this: Crossing the Ohio River, Louisville (1966, below): all Easy Rider (an 1969 American road movie) encapsulated in one image. The structure and modernism / of the two bridges frames / the speeding / wicked bike / helmet lodged over the headlight; the man / wearing a skull and crossbones emblazoned jacket / helmet-less / head turned / behind / hair flying in the wind / not looking where / he is going / as though his destiny: unknown. Danny Lyon IS one of the great artists working in photography today. He is a rebel with his own cause. Through his vital and engaging images his message to the future is this: everyone has their own story, their own trials and tribulations, each deserving of empathy, compassion, and non-judgemental acceptance. Prejudice has no voice here, a lesson never more pertinent than for America today as it decides who to elect – a woman who has fought every inch of the way or a narcissistic megalomaniac who preaches hate to minorities. Dr Marcus Bunyan . Many thankx to the Whitney Museum of American Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. “Closeness, both physical and emotional, is a recurring theme throughout the 175 works in “Message to the Future,” Lyon’s Whitney Museum retrospective, a quietly brilliant affair curated with panache by Julian Cox. (Later this year, the show will travel to the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, which organized it; Elisabeth Sussman oversaw the Whitney installation.) We see here a photographer who was witness to a changing America and, occasionally, other places in the world. Since the early ’60s, Lyon has been infiltrating outsider groups – talking to and photographing bikers, Texas prison inmates, and hippies, and learning from them by becoming close with them. It’s as if Lyon has no sense of personal space. That, as this revelatory show proves, is his greatest attribute… Lyon is a deft stylist who cares deeply about his subjects, to the point of exchanging letters with them for years after taking their pictures. What results is something more intimate, more political, and, in some ways, better than traditional photojournalism – a fuller portrait of America since the ’60s.” . In his 1981 book, “Danny Lyon: Pictures From the New World,” he wrote of starting out in the early ’60s. “Photography then seemed new and exciting, and all America, which I regarded with mystery and reverence, lay before me.” That sense of newness and excitement fills the show. What we’re discovering now, Lyon was discovering then – not just seeing or observing, but discovering, with the sense of revelation that brings. Mystery and reverence are here, too, but complicatedly. Framing them – debating with them? – are the clarity of precision the camera affords and a skepticism born of a forthrightly ’60s sensibility. Several photographs of the Occupy movement attest to how vigorous that sensibility remains… He was working as a documentarian but not a photojournalist. That’s an important distinction. These images are implicitly polemical – inevitably polemical, too. Rarely in our nation’s history has the distinction between what’s right and what’s wrong been as clear cut. Yet then as now, people matter more to Lyon than any ideological stance. Outsiders attract Lyon and populate the show: civil rights demonstrators, transgender people (in Galveston, Texas, of all places), lower Manhattan demolition crews, inmates, undocumented workers, Indians, Appalachian whites transplanted to Chicago, motorcycle gangs… Enclosure and entrapment are not for Lyon – nor, for that matter, is the absence of people (a very rare condition in his work). A larger restlessness in Lyon’s career reflects the energy so often evident within the frame – within the frame being another form of enclosure and entrapment. The South, Chicago, lower Manhattan, Texas, New Mexico, China, Haiti, Latin America share space in the show. Even so, sense of place doesn’t signify as much for Lyon as a sense of a place’s inhabitants. More likely he’d say that the two are indistinguishable. Looking at his pictures, you can see why he’d think so.” Mark Feeney. “Outsiders fill compelling Danny Lyon photography show,” on the Boston Globe website 8th July 2016 [Online] Cited 10/09/2016 18.2 x 12.2 cm (7 3/16 x 4 13/16 in.) Collection of the artist “The most comprehensive retrospective of the work of American photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon in twenty-five years debuts at the Whitney on June 17, 2016. The first major photography exhibition to be presented in the Museum’s downtown home, Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where it will make its West Coast debut at the de Young Museum on November 5, 2016. The exhibition assembles approximately 175 photographs and is the first to assess the artist’s achievements as a filmmaker. The presentation also includes a rare look at works from Lyon’s archives, including vintage prints, unseen 16mm film footage made inside Texas prisons, and his personal photo albums. A leading figure in the American street photography movement of the 1960s, Lyon has distinguished himself by the personal intimacy he establishes with his subjects and the inventiveness of his practice. Photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon (b. 1942) has over the past five decades presented a charged alternative to the sanitized vision of American life presented in the mass media. Throughout, he has rejected the standard detached humanism of the traditional documentary approach in favor of a more immersive, complicated involvement with his subjects. “You put a camera in my hand,” he has explained, “I want to get close to people. Not just physically close, emotionally close, all of it.” In the process he has made several iconic bodies of work, which have not only pictured recent history but helped to shape it. Lyon committed intensively to photography from the beginning. In 1962, while still a student at the University of Chicago, he hitchhiked to the segregated South to make a photographic record of the civil rights movement. He went on to photograph biker subcultures, explore the lives of the incarcerated, and document the architectural transformation of Lower Manhattan. He has traveled to Latin America and China, and has lived for years in New Mexico; the work he has made throughout these journeys demonstrates his respect for the people he photographs on the social and cultural margins. Message to the Future, shaped in collaboration with the artist, incorporates seldom-exhibited materials from Lyon’s archive, including rare vintage prints, previously unseen 16mm film footage made inside the Texas prisons, his personal photo albums, and related documents and ephemera. In his roles as a photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Lyon has reinvented the expectations for how the still photographic image can be woven together with journalism, books, films, and collage to present a diverse record of social customs and human behavior. His work, which he continues to make today, reveals a restless idealist, digging deep into his own life and those of his subjects to uncover the political in the personal and the personal in the political.” Text from the Whitney Museum of American Art Civil rights In the summer of 1962, Lyon hitchhiked to Cairo, Illinois, to witness demonstrations and a speech by John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the most important organizations driving the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. Inspired to see the making of history firsthand, Lyon then headed to the South to participate in and photograph the civil rights movement. There, SNCC executive director James Forman recruited Lyon to be the organization’s first official photographer, based out of its Atlanta headquarters. Traveling throughout the South with SNCC, Lyon documented sit-ins, marches, funerals, and violent clashes with the police, often developing his negatives quickly in makeshift darkrooms. Lyon’s photographs were used in political posters, brochures, and leaflets produced by SNCC to raise money and recruit workers to the movement. Julian Bond, the communications director of SNCC, wrote of Lyon’s pictures, “They put faces on the movement, put courage in the fearful, shone light on darkness, and helped make the movement move.” Pumpkin and Roberta, Galveston, Texas 1967 Gelatin silver print Image 23.8 x 16.1 cm (6 3/8 x 9 3/8 in.); sheet 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 in.) Collection of the artist Prisons In 1967, Lyon applied to the Texas Department of Corrections for access to the state prisons. Dr. George Beto, then director of the prisons, granted Lyon the right to move freely among the various prison units, which he photographed and filmed extensively over a fourteen-month period. The result is a searing record of the Texas penal system and, symbolically, of incarceration everywhere. Lyon’s aim was to “make a picture of imprisonment as distressing as I knew it to be in reality.” This meant riding out to the fields to follow prisoners toiling in the sun, as well as visiting the Wynne Treatment Centre, which housed primarily convicts with mental disabilities. He befriended many of the prisoners, listening to their stories and finding the humanity in their experiences, and still maintains contact with some of them. Two Inmates, Goree Unit, Texas 1968 Gelatin silver print Image 16.8 x 24 cm (6 5/8 x 9 91/6 in.); sheet 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 in.) Collection of the artist The destruction of Lower Manhattan In late 1966 and into the summer of 1967, starting from his loft at the corner of Beekman and William Streets near City Hall Park, Lyon documented the demolition of some sixty acres of predominantly nineteenth-century buildings below Canal Street in lower Manhattan. With funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, he photographed most of the buildings that would be torn down to make way for the World Trade Center. Lyon recalled later: “I wanted to inhabit [the buildings] with feelings and give them and their demise a meaning.” Moving from the outside of the buildings to their deserted interiors, Lyon also took pictures of the workers involved in the demolition. The photographs, together with Lyon’s journal entries, became a book, published by Macmillan in 1969 and dedicated to his close friend, sculptor Mark di Suvero. The volume’s significance lies in part in its depiction of a city – and, more broadly, a culture – cannibalizing its own architectural history for the sake of development. Ruins of 100 Gold Street, New York 1967 23.6 x 23.4 cm (9 5/16 x 10 7/16 in.) Collection of Melissa Schiff Soros and Robert Soros The Bikeriders Lyon purchased his first motorcycle – a 1953 Triumph TR6 – in 1962, after spending weekends watching college friend and motorcycle racer Frank Jenner compete at informal dirt track races across the Midwest. When he returned to Chicago in 1965 after leaving SNCC, Lyon joined the hard-riding, hard-drinking Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club and began making photographs with a goal to “record and glorify the life of the American bike rider.” With clubs like the Hells Angels making headlines for their criminal and vigilante activities at the time, bikeriders were simultaneously feared for their anarchism and romanticized for their independence. Riding with the Outlaws, Lyon attempted to capture their way of life from the inside out. Their unapologetic pursuit of freedom and libertine pleasures compelled him to get close to them as people. Lyon’s images are intimate and familiar, whether taken during rides or at clubhouse meetings. He also used a tape recorder to document the bikers speaking for themselves, unobtrusively capturing their collective voice. The resulting photographs were gathered into the now classic book of the same name, published in 1968, combining his pictures with an edited transcription of the interviews. Benny, Grand and Division, Chicago 1965 Image 24.5 x 17.2 cm (9 5/8 x 6 3/4 in.) Collection of the artist New Mexico and the West Lyon headed west from New York in 1969. Tired of the hectic pace of the big city and in search of new surroundings, he settled in Sandoval County, New Mexico. He developed a great admiration for the region’s close knit communities of Native Americans and Chicanos. Lyon’s photographs and, increasingly, his films reflected his growing understanding of the cross-cultural flow between these disparate groups and how they interacted with the geography of the Southwest. With the help of his good friend, a migrant laborer named Eduardo Rivera Marquez, Lyon built a traditional adobe home for his family in Bernalillo, in the Rio Grande Valley just north of Albuquerque. As Lyon’s family grew, his children also became a frequent subject, often depicted against the dramatic Western landscape. Though Lyon moved back to New York in 1980, New Mexico would remain a center of gravity for the artist, who returned every summer with his family to photograph and make films. Films and montages Lyon started making 16mm films in earnest in the 1970s, focusing on marginalized communities and injustice as he had in his photographs. His subjects included Colombian street kids in Los Niños Abandonados (1975) and undocumented workers from Mexico in El Mojado (1974) and El Otro Lado (1978). Lyon has explained that after leaving the Texas prisons he struggled to move forward, feeling that there were “no more worlds to conquer” in creating photography books. Filmmaking became the means by which he could continue to make sense of the beauty and inequality he saw in the world around him. Lyon did not give up photography completely, however. He turned to assembling family albums and creating collaged works that he describes as montages, referencing the filmmaking practice of juxtaposing disparate images to form a continuous whole. Lyon’s montages combine multiple images and materials sourced from his archives. Initially meant as vehicles for reflection and, in the case of the albums, as family heirlooms, these deeply personal works bridge past generations of his family with his present. 1966 (printed 2008) Cibachrome print Image 25.7 x 25.7 cm (10 1/8 x 10 1/8 in.); sheet 35.6 x 27.9 cm (14 x 11 in.) Collection of the artist “The most comprehensive retrospective of the work of American photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon in twenty-five years debuted at the Whitney on June 17, 2016. The first major photography exhibition to be presented in the Museum’s downtown home, Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where it will make its West Coast debut at the de Young Museum on November 5, 2016. The exhibition assembles approximately 175 photographs and is the first to assess the artist’s achievements as a filmmaker as well as a photographer. The presentation also includes many objects that have seldom or never been exhibited before and offers a rare look at works from Lyon’s archives, including vintage prints, unseen 16mm film footage made inside Texas prisons, and his personal photo albums. A leading figure in the American street photography movement of the 1960s, Lyon has distinguished himself by the personal intimacy he establishes with his subjects and the inventiveness of his practice. With his ability to find beauty in the starkest reality, Lyon has presented a charged alternative to the vision of American life presented in the mass media. Throughout, he has rejected the traditional documentary approach in favor of a more immersive, complicated involvement with his subjects. “You put a camera in my hand,” he has explained, “I want to get close to people. Not just physically close, emotionally close, all of it.” In the process he has made several iconic bodies of work, which have not only pictured recent history, but helped to shape it. “We are delighted to partner with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on Danny Lyon: Message to the Future,” stated Adam D. Weinberg, the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. “Since the early 1960s, Lyon’s photographs and films have upturned conventional notions of American life. The Whitney has long championed Lyon’s work and we are thrilled to present this retrospective, which encompasses more than half a century of important work.” In 1962, while still a student at the University of Chicago, Lyon hitchhiked to the segregated South to make a photographic record of the Civil Rights movement. His other projects have included photographing biker subcultures, exploring the lives of individuals in prison, and documenting the architectural transformation of Lower Manhattan. Lyon has lived for years in New Mexico, and his commitment to personal adventure has taken him to Mexico and other countries in Latin America, China, and the less-traveled parts of the American West. “Danny Lyon is one of the great artists working in photography today,” said Julian Cox, Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Chief Curator at the de Young Museum. “Lyon’s dedication to his art and his conviction to produce work underpinned by strong ethical and ideological motivations sets him apart from many of his peers.” Press release from the Whitney Museum of American Art Ongoing activism Lyon’s first encounter with Latin America was through a trip to Colombia in February 1966, during which he photographed extensively in and around Cartagena. In the 1970s and 1980s, Lyon’s self-described “advocacy journalism” took him to Bolivia, where he captured the hard lives of rural miners; Mexico, where he photographed undocumented workers moving back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border; back to Colombia, where he made the film Los Niños Abandonados, chronicling the lives of street children; and to Haiti, where he witnessed firsthand the violent revolution overthrowing Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship. More recently, Lyon made six trips between 2005 and 2009 to Shanxi province in northeast China. Aided by a guide, he photographed the people living in this highly polluted coal-producing region. As in his work in the civil rights movement and the Texas prisons, Lyon’s photographs from his travels are examples of his advocacy journalism, part of his effort to “change history and preserve humanity.” Tags: A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus , allegory and myth , alvin langdon coburn , Alvin Langdon Coburn Leicester Square , Alvin Langdon Coburn Regent's Canal , Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age , Arthur Hacker , Arthur Hacker A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus , Atkinson Grimshaw , Atkinson Grimshaw Bowder Stone , Atmosphere and Effect , Autochrome , autochrome process , autochromes , Beata Beatrix , Bowder Stone , British art , British painting of the 19th century , British photography , British Pictorialist photography , British Victorian photography , Call I Follow I Follow Let Me Die! , Camera Club , Carnation Lily Lily Rose , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Beata Beatrix , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Mariana , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Proserpine , Decorative Study , early British photography , Edward Linley Sambourne , Edward Linley Sambourne Ethel Warwick , Ethel Warwick Camera Club , Fred Holland Day , Frederick Goodall , Frederick Goodall The Song of the Nubian Slave , French realism , French realism and impressionism , Glacier of Rosenlaui , Haymaker with Rake , Henry La Thangue , Henry Wallis Chatterton , Impressionism , In the Studio , Into Light and Colour , James Abbott McNeill Whistler , James Abbott McNeill Whistler Three Figures Pink and Grey , James Robinson The Death of Chatterton , John Brett , John Brett Glacier of Rosenlaui , John Cimon Warburg , John Cimon Warburg Peggy in the Garden , John Cimon Warburg The Japanese Parasol , John Everett Millais , John Everett Millais The Woodman's Daughter , John Singer Sargent , John Singer Sargent Carnation Lily Lily Rose , Julia Margaret Cameron , Julia Margaret Cameron Call I Follow I Follow Let Me Die! , Julia Margaret Cameron Whisper of the Muse , Leicester Square (The Old Empire Theatre) , Life and Landscape , Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads , Marcus C. Stone Two's company and three's none , Mariana , Minna Keene , Minna Keene Decorative Study , Oscar Wilde , Out of the Shadows , painting with light , Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age , Peggy in the Garden , Peter Henry Emerson Haymaker with Rake , Peter Henry Emerson Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads , Peter Henry Emerson Setting the Bow-Net , photographic archives , Pictorialist photography , Pre-Raphaelite art , Pre-Raphaelite circle , Pre-Raphaelites , Proserpine , Regent's Canal , Roger Fenton , Roger Fenton The Water Carrier , Setting the Bow-Net , Sir George Clausen , Sir George Clausen Winter Work , Tableaux Vivants Devonport , Tate Britain , The Bow Net , The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes , The Death of Chatterton , The Hay Field , The Japanese Parasol , The Odor of Pomegranates , The Old Empire Theatre , The Song of the Nubian Slave , The Water Carrier , The Woodman's Daughter , Thomas Armstrong , Thomas Armstrong The Hay Field , Thomas Frederick Goodall and Peter Henry Emerson , Thomas Frederick Goodall Setting the Bow-Net , Thomas Frederick Goodall The Bow Net , Thomas Ogle , Thomas Ogle The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes , Three Figures Pink and Grey , Two's company and three's none , Walter Pater , Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde , Whisper of the Muse , Winter Work , Wordsworth Yew-Trees , Yew-Trees , Zaida Ben-Yusuf , Zaida Ben-Yusuf The Odor of Pomegranates Exhibition dates: 11th May – 25th September 2016 Curators: Dr Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915 at Tate Britain, and Dr Hope Kingsley, Curator, Education and Collections, Wilson Centre for Photography, with Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain An interesting concept for an exhibition. I would have liked to have seen the exhibition to make a more informed comment. Parallels can be drawn, but how much import you put on the connection is up to you vis-à-vis the aesthetic feeling and formal construction of each medium. It is fascinating to note how many of the original art works are photographs with the painting following at a later date, or vice versa. Photographically, Julia Margaret Cameron and John Cimon Warburg are the stars. Photographs have always been used by artists as aide-mémoire since the birth of photograph. Eugené Atget called his photographs of Paris “Documents pour artistes”, declaring his modest ambition to create images for other artists to use as source material … but I take that statement with a pinch of salt. Perhaps a salt print from a calotype paper negative! Marcus . Many thankx to the Tate for allowing me to publish the art work and photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. Tate Britain presents the first major exhibition to celebrate the spirited conversation between early photography and British art. It brings together photographs and paintings including Pre-Raphaelite, Aesthetic and British impressionist works. Spanning 75 years across the Victorian and Edwardian ages, the exhibition opens with the experimental beginnings of photography in dialogue with painters such as J.M.W. Turner and concludes with its flowering as an independent international art form. Stunning works by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, JAM Whistler, John Singer Sargent and others will for the first time be shown alongside ravishing photographs by pivotal early photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, which they inspired and which inspired them. Zaida Ben-Yusuf (21 November 1869 – 27 September 1933) was a New York-based portrait photographer noted for her artistic portraits of wealthy, fashionable, and famous Americans of the turn of the 19th-20th century. She was born in London to a German mother and an Algerian father, but became a naturalised American citizen later in life. In 1901 the Ladies Home Journal featured her in a group of six photographers that it dubbed, “The Foremost Women Photographers in America.” In 2008, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery mounted an exhibition dedicated solely to Ben-Yusuf’s work, re-establishing her as a key figure in the early development of fine art photography… In 1896, Ben-Yusuf began to be known as a photographer. In April 1896, two of her pictures were reproduced in The Cosmopolitan Magazine, and another study was exhibited in London as part of an exhibition put on by The Linked Ring. She travelled to Europe later that year, where she met with George Davison, one of the co-founders of The Linked Ring, who encouraged her to continue her photography. She exhibited at their annual exhibitions until 1902. In the spring of 1897, Ben-Yusuf opened her portrait photography studio at 124 Fifth Avenue, New York. On 7 November 1897, the New York Daily Tribune ran an article on Ben-Yusuf’s studio and her work creating advertising posters, which was followed by another profile in Frank Leslie’s Weekly on 30 December. Through 1898, she became increasingly visible as a photographer, with ten of her works in the National Academy of Design-hosted 67th Annual Fair of the American Institute, where her portrait of actress Virginia Earle won her third place in the Portraits and Groups class. During November 1898, Ben-Yusuf and Frances Benjamin Johnston held a two-woman show of their work at the Camera Club of New York. In 1899, Ben-Yusuf met with F. Holland Day in Boston, and was photographed by him. She relocated her studio to 578 Fifth Avenue, and exhibited in a number of exhibitions, including the second Philadelphia Photographic Salon. She was also profiled in a number of publications, including an article on female photographers in The American Amateur Photographer, and a long piece in The Photographic Times in which Sadakichi Hartmann described her as an “interesting exponent of portrait photography”. 1900 saw Ben-Yusuf and Johnston assemble an exhibition on American women photographers for the Universal Exposition in Paris. Ben-Yusuf had five portraits in the exhibition, which travelled to Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. She was also exhibited in Holland Day’s exhibition, The New School of American Photography, for the Royal Photographic Society in London, and had four photographs selected by Alfred Stieglitz for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901, Scotland. In 1901, Ben-Yusuf wrote an article, “Celebrities Under the Camera”, for the Sunday Evening Post, where she described her experiences with her sitters. By this stage she had photographed Grover Cleveland, Franklin Roosevelt, and Leonard Wood, amongst others. For the September issue of Metropolitan Magazine she wrote another article, “The New Photography – What It Has Done and Is Doing for Modern Portraiture”, where she described her work as being more artistic than most commercial photographers, but less radical than some of the better-known art photographers. The Ladies Home Journal that November declared her to be one of the “foremost women photographers in America”, as she began the first of a series of six illustrated articles on “Advanced Photography for Amateurs” in the Saturday Evening Post. Ben-Yusuf was listed as a member of the first American Photographic Salon when it opened in December 1904, although her participation in exhibitions was beginning to drop off. In 1906, she showed one portrait in the third annual exhibition of photographs at Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, the last known exhibition of her work in her lifetime. Text from the Wikipedia website In the Studio Many photographers trained as painters. They set up studios and employed artists’ models, skilled at holding poses for the time it took to take a picture. Later in the century, improved photographic negatives required shorter exposure times and it became easier to stage and capture difficult positions and spontaneous gestures. Painters and illustrators used photographs as preparatory studies and as substitutes for props, costumes and models, and art schools created photographic archives for their students. Photographs commissioned and sold by institutions such as the British Museum made classical sculpture and old master paintings more accessible, inspiring both painters and photographers. Support: 622 x 933 mm frame: 905 x 1205 x 132 mm Tate Bequeathed by Charles Gent Clement 1899 Chatterton is Wallis’s earliest and most famous work. The picture created a sensation when it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856, accompanied by the following quotation from Marlowe: Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough. . Ruskin described the work in his Academy Notes as ‘faultless and wonderful’. Thomas Chatterton (1752-70) was an 18th Century poet, a Romantic figure whose melancholy temperament and early suicide captured the imagination of numerous artists and writers. He is best known for a collection of poems, written in the name of Thomas Rowley, a 15th Century monk, which he copied onto parchment and passed off as mediaeval manuscripts. Having abandoned his first job working in a scrivener’s office he struggled to earn a living as a poet. In June 1770 he moved to an attic room at 39 Brooke Street, where he lived on the verge of starvation until, in August of that year, at the age of only seventeen, he poisoned himself with arsenic. Condemned in his lifetime as a forger by influential figures such as the writer Horace Walpole (1717-97), he was later elevated to the status of tragic hero by the French poet Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863). Wallis may have intended the picture as a criticism of society’s treatment of artists, since his next picture of note, The Stonebreaker (1858, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery), is one of the most forceful examples of social realism in Pre-Raphaelite art. The painting alludes to the idea of the artist as a martyr of society through the Christ-like pose and the torn sheets of poetry on the floor. The pale light of dawn shines through the casement window, illuminating the poet’s serene features and livid flesh. The harsh lighting, vibrant colours and lifeless hand and arm increase the emotional impact of the scene. A phial of poison on the floor indicates the method of suicide. Following the Pre-Raphaelite credo of truth to nature, Wallis has attempted to recreate the same attic room in Gray’s Inn where Chatterton had killed himself. The model for the figure was the novelist George Meredith (1828-1909), then aged about 28. Two years later Wallis eloped with Meredith’s wife, a daughter of the novelist Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866). Text from the Tate website The Death of Chatterton (detail) 1859 Two photographs, hand-tinted albumen prints on paper mounted on card Collection Dr Brian May THIS STEREOCARD IS NOT IN THE EXHIBITION One of the most famous paintings of Victorian times was Chatterton, 1856 (Tate) by the young Pre-Raphaelite-style artist, Henry Wallis (1830-1916). Again, the tale of the suicide of the poor poet, Thomas Chatterton, exposed as a fraud for faking medieval histories and poems to get by, had broad appeal. Chatterton was also an 18th-century figure, but Wallis set his picture in a bare attic overlooking the City of London which evoked the urban poverty of his own age. The picture toured the British Isles and hundreds of thousands flocked to pay a shilling to view it. One of these was James Robinson, who saw the painting when it was in Dublin. He immediately conceived a stereographic series of Chatterton’s life. Unfortunately Robinson started with Wallis’s scene (The Death of Chatterton, 1859). Within days of its publication, legal procedures began, claiming his picture threatened the income of the printmaker who had the lucrative copyright to publish engravings of the painting. The ensuing court battles were the first notorious copyright cases. Robinson lost, but strangely, in 1861, Birmingham photographer Michael Burr published variations of Death of Chatterton with no problems. No other photographer was ever prosecuted for staging a stereoscopic picture after a painting and the market continued to thrive… Robinson’s The Death of Chatterton illustrates the way this uncanny quality [the ability to record reality in detail] distinguishes the stereograph from even the immaculate Pre-Raphaelite style of Wallis’s painting of the same subject. The stereograph represented a young man in 18th-century costume on a bed. The backdrop was painted, but the chest, discarded coat and candle were real. Again, the light and colour appear crude in comparison with the painting but the stereoscope records ‘every stick, straw, scratch’ in a manner that the painting cannot. The torn paper pieces, animated by their three-dimensionality, trace the poet’s recent agitation, while the candle smoke, representing his extinguished life, is different in each photograph due to their being taken at separate moments. The haphazard creases of the bed sheet are more suggestive of restless movement, now stilled, than Wallis’s elegant drapery. Even the individuality of the boy adds potency to his death. Extract from the essay by Carol Jacobi. “Tate Painting and the Art of Stereoscopic Photography,” on the Tate website 17th October, 2014 [Online] Cited 14/02/2015 support: 864 x 660 mm frame: 1212 x 1015 x 104 mm Presented by Georgiana, Baroness Mount-Temple in memory of her husband, Francis, Baron Mount-Temple 1889 Rossetti draws a parallel in this picture between the Italian poet Dante’s despair at the death of his beloved Beatrice and his own grief at the death of his wife Elizabeth Siddal, who died on 11 February 1862. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) recounted the story of his unrequited love and subsequent mourning for Beatrice Portinari in the Vita Nuova. This was Rossetti’s first English translation and appeared in 1864 as part of his own publication, The Early Italian Poets. The picture is a portrait of Elizabeth Siddall in the character of Beatrice. It has a hazy, transcendental quality, giving the sensation of a dream or vision, and is filled with symbolic references. Rossetti intended to represent her, not at the moment of death, but transformed by a ‘sudden spiritual transfiguration’ (Rossetti, in a letter of 1873, quoted in Wilson, p.86). She is posed in an attitude of ecstasy, with her hands before her and her lips parted, as if she is about to receive Communion. According to Rossetti’s friend F.G. Stephens, the grey and green of her dress signify ‘the colours of hope and sorrow as well as of love and life’ (‘Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’, Portfolio, vol.22, 1891, p.46). In the background of the picture the shadowy figure of Dante looks across at Love, portrayed as an angel and holding in her palm the flickering flame of Beatrice’s life. In the distance the Ponte Vecchio signifies the city of Florence, the setting for Dante’s story. Beatrice’s impending death is evoked by the dove – symbol of the holy spirit – which descends towards her, an opium poppy in its beak. This is also a reference to the death of Elizabeth Siddall, known affectionately by Rossetti as ‘The Dove’, and who took her own life with an overdose of laudanum. Both the dove and the figure of Love are red, the colour of passion, yet Rossetti envisaged the bird as a messenger, not of love, but of death. Beatrice’s death, which occurred at nine o’clock on 9th June 1290, is foreseen in the sundial which casts its shadow over the number nine. The picture frame, which was designed by Rossetti, has further references to death and mourning, including the date of Beatrice’s death and a phrase from Lamentations 1:1, quoted by Dante in the Vita Nuova: ‘Quomodo sedet sola civitas’ (‘how doth the city sit solitary’), referring to the mourning of Beatrice’s death throughout the city of Florence. Text from the Tate website Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die! 1867 © Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library In late 1865, Julia Margaret Cameron began using a larger camera. It held a 15 x 12 inch glass negative, rather than the 12 x 10 inch negative of her first camera. Early the next year she wrote to Henry Cole with great enthusiasm – but little modesty – about the new turn she had taken in her work. Cameron initiated a series of large-scale, closeup heads that fulfilled her photographic vision. She saw them as a rejection of ‘mere conventional topographic photography – map-making and skeleton rendering of feature and form’ in favour of a less precise but more emotionally penetrating form of portraiture. Cameron also continued to make narrative and allegorical tableaux, which were larger and bolder than her previous efforts. In this image, Cameron concentrates upon the head of her maid Mary Hillier by using a darkened background and draping her in simple dark cloth. The lack of surrounding detail or context obscures references to narrative, identity or historical context. The flowing hair, lightly parted lips and exposed neck suggest sensuality. The title, taken from a line in the poem ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ from Alfred Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of the King’, transforms the subject into a tragic heroine. New truths Mid-nineteenth century innovations in science and the arts became part of intense debates about ‘truth’ – variously defined as objective observation and as individual artistic vision. Inspired by artist and critic John Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite circle took a new approach to nature, discovering meaning in details previously overlooked, ‘rejecting nothing, selecting nothing’. As the quality of paints and lenses improved, painters and photographers tested the bounds of perception and representation. They moved out of the studio, to explore light and other atmospheric effects as well as geological subjects, landscape and architecture. New photographic materials like glass plate negatives and coated printed papers offered greater accuracy and photography became a valuable aid for painters. Thomas Ogle The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes, Mountains and Waterfalls as seen by William Wordsworth by A.W. Bennett Published 1864 View taken by Thomas Ogle of the Bowder Stone in Borrowdale, Cumbria, illustrating ‘Our English Lakes, Mountains, And Waterfalls, as seen by William Wordsworth’ (1864). The book juxtaposes photographs of the Lake District with poems by the English Romantic poet. The Bowder Stone, an enormous boulder, was probably deposited by glaciation during the last Ice Age. It rests in Borrowdale, a valley of woods and crags in the Lake District whose scenic beauty inspired artists, writers and poets of the Romantic Movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Wordsworth (1770-1850) was among them, and the photograph of the Bowder Stone accompanies his poem, ‘Yew-Trees’ (1803), from which the following passage is taken: “…But worthier still of note Are those fraternal four of Borrowdale, Joined in one solemn and capacious grove; Huge trunks! – and each particular trunk a growth Of intertwined fibres serpentine Nor uninformed with phantasy, and looks That threaten the profane; – a pillared shade, Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue, By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged Perenially – beneath whole sable roof Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked With unrejoicing berries, ghostly shapes May meet at noontide – Fear and trembling Hope, Silence and Foresight – Death the skeleton And Time the shadow…” Text from the British Library website support: 400 x 536 mm frame: 662 x 709 x 100 mm Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1983 “Tate Britain uncovers the dynamic dialogue between British painters and photographers; from the birth of the modern medium to the blossoming of art photography. Spanning over 70 years, the exhibition brings together nearly 200 works – many for the first time – to reveal their mutual influences. From the first explorations of movement and illumination by David Octavius Hill (1802-70) and Robert Adamson (1821-48) to artful compositions at the turn-of-the-century, the show discovers how painters and photographers redefined notions of beauty and art itself. The dawn of photography coincided with a tide of revolutionary ideas in the arts, which questioned how pictures should be created and seen. Photography adapted the Old Master traditions within which many photographers had been trained, and engaged with the radical naturalism of JMW Turner (1775-1851), the Pre-Raphaelites, and their Realist and Impressionist successors. Turner inspired the first photographic panoramic views, and, in the years that followed his death, photographers and painters followed in his footsteps and composed novel landscapes evoking meaning and emotion. The exhibition includes examples such as John Everett Millais’s (1829-96) nostalgic The Woodman’s Daughter and John Brett’s (1831-1902) awe inspiring Glacier Rosenlaui. Later in the century, PH Emerson (1856-1936) and TF Goodall’s (c1856-1944) images of rural river life allied photography to Impressionist painting, while JAM Whistler (1834-1903) and Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) created smoky Thames nocturnes in both media. The exhibition celebrates the role of women photographers, such as Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933) and the renowned Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79). Cameron’s artistic friendships with George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1830-94) are recognised in a room devoted to their beautiful, enigmatic portraits of each other and shared models, where works including Cameron’s Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die and Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix are on display. Highlights of the show include examples of three-dimensional photography, which incorporated the use of models and props to stage dramatic tableaux from popular works of the time, re-envisioning well-known pictures such as Henry Wallis’s (1830-1916) Chatterton. Such stereographs were widely disseminated and made art more accessible to the public, often being used as a form of after-dinner entertainment for middle class Victorian families. A previously unseen private album in which the Royal family painstakingly re-enacted famous paintings is also exhibited, as well as rare examples of early colour photography. Carol Jacobi, Curator British Art 1850-1915, Tate Britain says: “Painting with Light offers new insights into Britain’s most popular artists and reveals just how vital painting and photography were to one another. Their conversations were at the heart of the artistic achievements of the Victorian and Edwardian era.” Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age is curated by Dr Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915 at Tate Britain, and Dr Hope Kingsley, Curator, Education and Collections, Wilson Centre for Photography, with Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue from Tate Publishing and a programme of talks and events in the gallery.” Press release from Tate Britain ‘Whisper of the Muse’ As the nineteenth century progressed, some artists moved away from the clarity and detail that had been the aim of earlier Pre-Raphaelite art, turning instead to a search for pure beauty. The aesthetic movement, as this tendency came to be known, emphasised the sensual qualities of art and design and explored imaginative themes and effects. In London and on the Isle of Wight, a community of artists forged closer links between the visual arts, music and literature. This circle included the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, painters George Frederic Watts and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the poet Alfred Tennyson. Rossetti and Cameron worked with similar subjects, many inspired by Tennyson’s poetry. Together with Watts they developed a newly-intimate form of portraiture, exploring emotional and psychological states. They also shared models, whose striking looks introduced new types of modern beauty. Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum Collection Into Light and Colour In the second half of the nineteenth century Japanese culture became an important influence in Britain. Japanese goods were sold in London in new department stores such as Liberty, while the Japanese Village, established in Knightsbridge in 1885, attracted more than a million visitors. Japanese props and motifs appeared in art and design and the vogue for Japanese prints inspired painters and photographers. Painters experimented with new colour palettes, flattened picture planes and condensed, cropped formats, innovations also important to later British impressionist works. Such experiments in light and colour were paralleled in photography with the 1907 introduction of the autochrome, the first practical colour photographic process. Photograph, transparency on lightbox from autochrome Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum / Science and Society Picture Library John Cimon Warburg (1867-1931) British photographer born to a wealthy family dedicated his whole life to photography. In 1897, he joined the Royal Photographic Society. During his photographic career, John Cimon Warburg used a wide range of photographic processes, but excelled especially in autochromes. Best known for his atmospheric landscapes and its fascinating studies of his children, Warburg lectured and written about the process and explained his autochromes the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society. (Text from the Autochrome website ) Patented by the Lumière brothers in 1903, Autochrome produced a color transparency using a layer of potato starch grains dyed red, green and blue, along with a complex development process. Autochromes required longer exposure times than traditional black-and-white photos, resulting in images with a hazy, blurred atmosphere filled with pointillist dots of color. (See some fantastic images on the Mashable website ) Tate. Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1887 The inspiration for Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose came during a boating expedition Sargent took on the Thames at Pangbourne in September 1885, with the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey, during which he saw Chinese lanterns hanging among trees and lilies. He began the picture while staying at the home of the painter F.D. Millet at Broadway, Worcestershire, shortly after his move to Britain from Paris. At first he used the Millets’s five-year-old daughter Katharine as his model, but she was soon replaced by Polly and Dorothy (Dolly) Barnard, the daughters of the illustrator Frederick Barnard, because they had the exact hair-colour Sargent was seeking. He worked on the picture, one of the few figure compositions he ever made out of doors in the impressionist manner, from September to early November 1885, and again at the Millets’s new home, Russell House, Broadway, during the summer of 1886, completing it some time in October. Sargent was able to work for only a few minutes each evening when the light was exactly right. He would place his easel and paints beforehand, and pose his models in anticipation of the few moments when he could paint the mauvish light of dusk. As autumn came and the flowers died, he was forced to replace the blossoms with artificial flowers. The picture was both acclaimed and decried at the 1887 Royal Academy exhibition. The title comes from the song The Wreath, by the eighteenth-century composer of operas Joseph Mazzinghi, which was popular in the 1880s. Sargent and his circle frequently sang around the piano at Broadway. The refrain of the song asks the question ‘Have you seen my Flora pass this way?’ to which the answer is ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’. Text from the Tate website Unknown photographer H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, H.R.H. Princess Victoria & Mr. Savile, “Two’s company and three’s none” in Tableaux Vivants Devonport c. 1892-1893 Bound volume. Displayed open at Marcus C. Stone’s ‘Two’s Company, Three’s None” Photograph, albumen print on paper 360 x 480 x 58 mm – book closed Wilson Centre for Photography Unknown photographer H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, H.R.H. Princess Victoria & Mr. Savile, “Two’s company and three’s none” in Tableaux Vivants Devonport (detail) c. 1892-1893 Bound volume. Displayed open at Marcus C. Stone’s ‘Two’s Company, Three’s None” Photograph, albumen print on paper 360 x 480 x 58 mm – book closed Wilson Centre for Photography Three Figures Pink and Grey 1868-78 Support: 1391 x 1854 mm frame: 1701 x 2158 x 75 mm Tate Purchased with the aid of contributions from the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers as a Memorial to Whistler, and from Francis Howard 1950 This picture derives from one of six oil sketches that Whistler produced in 1868 as part of a plan for a frieze, commissioned by the businessman F.R. Leyland (1831-92), founder of the Leyland shipping line. Known as the ‘Six Projects’, the sketches (now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington) were all scenes with women and flowers, and all six were strongly influenced by his admiration for Japanese art. Another precedent for these works was The Story of St George, a frieze that Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98) executed for the artist and illustrator Myles Birket Foster (1825-99) in 1865-7. The series of large pictures was destined for Leyland’s house at Prince’s Gate, but never produced, and only one – The White Symphony: Three Girls (1867) was finished, but was later lost. Whistler embarked on a new version, Three Figures: Pink and Grey, but was never satisfied with this later painting, and described it as, ‘a picture in no way representative, and in its actual condition absolutely worthless’ (quoted in Wilton and Upstone, p.117). He followed the original sketch closely, but made a number of pentimenti which suggest that the picture is not simply a copy of the lost work. In spite of Whistler’s dissatisfaction, it has some brilliant touches and a startlingly original composition. Although the three figures are clearly engaged in tending a flowering cherry tree, Whistler’s aim in this picture is to create a mood or atmosphere, rather than to suggest any kind of theme. Parallels have been drawn with the work of Albert Moore, whose work of this period is equally devoid of narrative meaning. The design is economical and the picture space is partitioned like a Japanese interior. The shallow, frieze-like arrangement, the blossoming plant and the right-hand figure’s parasol are also signs of deliberate Japonisme. Whistler has suppressed some of the details in the oil sketch, effectively disrobing the young girls by depicting them in diaphanous robes. The painting is characterised by pastel shades, a ‘harmony’ of pink and grey, punctuated by the brighter reds of the flower pot and the girls’ bandannas, and the turquoise wall behind. It has been suggested that Whistler derived his colour schemes, and even the figures themselves, in their rhythmically flowing drapery, from polychrome Tanagra figures in the British Museum, which was opposite his studio in Great Russell Street. Text from the Tate website © Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum/ Science & Society Picture Library Life and Landscape The 1880s brought a renewed interest in landscape. Rural scenes provided common ground for British painters and photographers. Their distinctive style derived from French realism and impressionism, which had been introduced by independent galleries, and by artists such as George Clausen and Henry La Thangue who studied in Paris. This new approach was shared by their friend and fellow painter Thomas Goodall, and influenced his collaboration with the photographer Peter Henry Emerson. Emerson and Goodall’s first project, a photographic series on the Norfolk Broads, focused on the life of working people, as described in their album Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, published in 1887. frame: 1075 x 1212 x 115 mm support: 775 x 921 mm Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1983 © The estate of Sir George Clausen In the 1880s Clausen devoted himself to painting realistic scenes of rural work after seeing such pictures by the French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-84). In this picture he shows a family of field workers topping and tailing swedes for sheep fodder. It was painted at Chilwick Green near St Albans, where the artist had moved in 1881. He uses subdued colouring to capture the dull light and cold of winter, and manages to convey the hard reality of country work. Such unromanticised scenes of country life were often rejected by the selectors of the Royal Academy annual exhibitions. Thomas Frederick Goodall (1856-1944) and Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936) Setting the Bow-Net, in Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads 1885, published 1887 Book – open at The Bow Net Photograph, platinum print on paper 300 x 420 mm (book closed) Private collection The Song of the Nubian Slave 1863 71.20 x 92.0 x 2.30 cm Oil on canvas Photo credit: © Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: John Hammond Out of the Shadows In the late nineteenth century, painters and photographers pursued the representation of an idealised beauty, inspired by Italian Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Themes of allegory and myth were widely explored in the arts at this time, particularly in Britain in the writings of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde. At the turn of the century painting and photography were part of a wider artistic search for harmony between subject matter and expression. Artists found inspiration in each other’s practice and continued to share ideas through illustrated books and journals. This spirit of collaboration and interchange led photographer Fred Holland Day to claim that ‘the photographer no longer speaks the language of chemistry, but that of poetry’. Exhibition dates: 27th May – 7th September 2016 To understand the production of art at the end of tradition, which in our lifetime means art at the end of modernism, requires, as the postmodern debate has shown, a careful consideration of the idea of history and the notion of ending. Rather than just thinking ending as the arrival of the finality of a fixed chronological moment, it can also be thought as a slow and indecisive process of internal decomposition that leaves in place numerous deposits of us, in us and with us – all with a considerable and complex afterlife. In this context all figuration is prefigured. This is to say that the design element of the production of a work of art, the compositional, now exists prior to the management of form of, and on, the picture plane. Techniques of assemblage, like montage and collage – which not only juxtaposed different aesthetics but also different historical moments, were the precursors of what is now the general condition of production. Fry, Tony. “Art Byting the Dust,” in Hayward, Phillip. Culture, Technology and Creativity in the Late Twentieth Century. London: John Libbey and Company, 1990, pp. 169-170. . Many thankx to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. In order to understand the present we must link it to the self transforming urges of the past. We must see it as an evolutionary urge toward a transformation of all traditional notions, as a gradual process of growth in which several earlier currents have penetrated one another and thus have changed their very essence. . Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection © 2016 Hattula Moholy-Nagy/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Photo: Kristopher McKay © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York From May 27 to September 7, 2016, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the first comprehensive retrospective in the United States in nearly fifty years of the work of pioneering artist and educator László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946). Organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Moholy-Nagy: Future Present examines the full career of the utopian modernist who believed in the potential of art as a vehicle for social transformation, working hand in hand with technology. Despite Moholy-Nagy’s prominence and the visibility of his work during his lifetime, few exhibitions have conveyed the experimental nature of his work, his enthusiasm for industrial materials, and his radical innovations with movement and light. This long overdue presentation, which encompasses his multidisciplinary methodology, brings together more than 300 works drawn from public and private collections across Europe and the United States, some of which have never before been shown publicly in this country. After its debut presentation in New York, the exhibition will travel to the Art Institute of Chicago (October 2, 2016 – January 3, 2017) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (February 12 – June 18, 2017). Moholy-Nagy: Future Present provides an opportunity to examine the full career of this influential Bauhaus teacher, founder of Chicago’s Institute of Design, and versatile artist who paved the way for increasingly interdisciplinary and multimedia work and practice. Among his radical innovations were his experiments with cameraless photographs (which he dubbed “photograms”); use of industrial materials in painting and sculpture that was unconventional for his time; researching with light, transparency, and movement; his work at the forefront of abstraction; and his ability to move fluidly between the fine and applied arts. The exhibition is presented chronologically up the Guggenheim’s rotunda and features collages, drawings, ephemera, films, paintings, photograms, photographs, photomontages, and sculptures. The exception to the sequential order is Room of the Present (Raum der Gegenwart) in the High Gallery, a contemporary fabrication of a space originally conceived by Moholy-Nagy in 1930 but never realized in his lifetime. Constructed by designers Kai-Uwe Hemken and Jakob Gebert, the large-scale work contains photographic reproductions, films, slides, documents, and replicas of architecture, theater, and industrial design, including a 2006 replica of his kinetic Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Lichtrequisit einer elektrischen Bühne, 1930). Room of the Present illustrates the artist’s belief in the power of images and his approach to the various means with which to view them – a highly relevant paradigm in today’s constantly shifting and evolving technological world. Room of the Present will be on display at all three exhibition venues and for the first time in the United States. The Guggenheim installation is designed by Kelly Cullinan, Senior Exhibition Designer, and is inspired by Moholy-Nagy’s texts on space and his concept of a “spatial kaleidoscope” as applied to the experience of walking up the ramps. Born in 1895 in Austria-Hungary (now southern Hungary), Moholy-Nagy moved to Vienna briefly and then to Berlin in 1920, where he encountered Dada artists, whose distinctive visual attributes of the urban industrial landscape had already entered his work. He was also influenced by the Constructivists, and exhibited work on several occasions at Berlin’s Der Sturm gallery. During this time, Moholy-Nagy experimented with metal constructions, photograms, and enamel paintings. At the same moment, in his ongoing quest to depict light and transparency, he painted abstract canvases composed of floating geometric shapes. While teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar and then Dessau, he and Walter Gropius pioneered the Bauhaus Books series, which advanced Moholy-Nagy’s belief that arts education and administration went hand in hand with the practice of art making. Around this period, the artist became temporarily disenchanted with the limitations of traditional painting. Photography took on greater importance for him, and he described the photogram as “a bridge leading to new visual creation for which canvas, paint-brush and pigment cannot serve.” He fashioned photomontages by combining photographs (usually found) and newspaper images into absurd, satirical, or fantastical narratives. When he moved back to Berlin in 1928, he enjoyed success as a commercial artist, exhibition and stage designer, and typographer, examples of which will be on display in Moholy-Nagy: Future Present. Adolf Hitler’s rise to power made life increasingly difficult for the avant-garde in Germany; thus, in 1934 Moholy-Nagy moved with his family to the Netherlands and then to London. Once he moved to Chicago in 1937, he never returned to Europe. Moholy-Nagy immigrated to Chicago to become founding director of the New Bauhaus, known today as the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also made some of his most original and experimental work during this time, pursuing his longtime fascination with light, shadow, transparency, and motion. He continued to make photograms, created his Space Modulators (hybrids of painting and sculpture made from Plexiglas), and pioneered 35 mm color slide photography, shown as projections in the exhibition. He gave his full attention to American exhibition venues before his untimely death of leukemia in 1946, showing nearly three dozen times across the United States – including in four solo shows. Moholy-Nagy was a central figure in the history of the Guggenheim Museum. His work was included in the museum’s founding collection, and he held a special place at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, the forerunner of the Guggenheim Museum. He was among the first artists director Hilla Rebay exhibited and collected in depth, and the museum presented a memorial exhibition shortly after his death. Moholy-Nagy: Future Present highlights the artist’s interdisciplinary and investigative approach, migrating from the school to the museum or gallery space, consistently pushing toward the Gesamtwerk, the total work, which he sought to achieve throughout his lifetime. Press release from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Exhibition dates: 25th March – 4th September 2016 Curator: Christine Macel Artists include: Pawel Althamer/ Maja Bajević / Yto Barrada / Jean-Michel Basquiat / Taysir Batniji / Christian Boltanski / Erik Boulatov / Mohammed Bourouissa / Frédéric Bruly Bouabré / Sophie Calle and Greg Shephard / Mircea Cantor / Chen Zhen / Hassan Darsi / Destroy All Monsters / Atul Dodiya / Marlene Dumas / Ayşe Erkmen / Fang Lijun / Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujica / Samuel Fosso / Michel François / Coco Fusco und Paula Heredia / Regina José Galindo / Kendell Geers / Liam Gillick / Fernanda Gomes / Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster / Felix Gonzalez-Torres / Renée Green / Subodh Gupta / Andreas Gursky / Hans Haacke / Petrit Halilaj / Edi Hila / Gregor Hildebrandt / Thomas Hirschhorn / Nicholas Hlobo / Carsten Höller / Pierre Huyghe / Fabrice Hyber / Isaac Julien / Oleg Kulik / Glenn Ligon / Robert Longo / Sarah Lucas / Gonçalo Mabunda / David Maljković / Chris Marker / Ahmed Mater / Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy / Annette Messager / Rabih Mroué / Zanele Muholi / Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba / Roman Ondák / Gabriel Orozco / Damián Ortega / Philippe Parreno / Nira Pereg / Dan Perjovschi / Wilfredo Prieto / Tobias Putrih / Walid Raad / Sara Rahbar / Tobias Rehberger / Nick Relph und Oliver Payne / Pipilotti Rist / Chéri Samba / Anne-Marie Schneider / Santiago Sierra / Mladen Stilinović / Georges Tony Stoll / Wolfgang Tillmans / Rirkrit Tiravanija / Danh Vo / Marie Voignier / Akram Zaatari / Zhang Huan Take your pick: some interesting, some not. My favourite: Annette Messager Mes voeux (1989, below) … such a strong, creative and inspiring artist. I’m not writing so much as I have bad RSI in my left wrist at the moment. Marcus . Many thankx to Haus der Kunst for allowing me to publish the art work in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. In 2016, two prominent exhibition projects explore the pressing question of which factors remain relevant to the writing of art history. While “Postwar – Art between the Pacific and Atlantic, 1945-1965” concentrates on the time immediately after World War II, “A History: Contemporary Art from the Centre Pompidou” provides an overview of contemporary art since the 1980s with 160 works by more than 100 artists. The year 1989 marked a break with the past and the start of a new era. The fall of the Berlin Wall toppled divisions in the world of European art, while the events of Tiananmen Square focused attention on a new China. The ongoing globalization allows for an unprecedented mobility. The static understanding of identity, once based on origin and nationality, has since given way to a more transnational and variable narrative. Contemporary artistic proposals, which arise from the new “decolonized subjectivity”, are also based on a new understanding of site-specificity. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the protagonists of Land Art still understood landscapes primarily as post-industrial ruins. In contemporary artistic practice, however, space is defined above all socially and politically – by traumatic historical events, home country, exile, diaspora and hybrid identities, such as African-American, Latino, Turkish-German, African-Brazilian, and so forth. The new presentation of the Centre Pompidou contemporary collections at Haus der Kunst focuses particularly on this altered geography, notably the former Eastern Europe, China, Lebanon, and various Middle Eastern countries, India, Africa, and Latin America. This is the first time such a large-scale view of the Centre Pompidou collection has been presented outside France. 355.6 x 609.6 x 152.4 cm Fibre de verre, photographie, isorel, tissu polyester, aluminium, peinture acrylique Fronton en fibre de verre, 1 plaque en fibre de verre avec texte en anglais, 1 photographie noir et blanc en 5 parties contrecollées sur isorel, 3 bannières en tissu synthétique polyester montées chacune sur 2 tubes en aluminium: à gauche et à droite 2 bannières bleues avec texte en anglais (lettres en tissu polyester blanc découpées et cousues), au centre 1 bannière marron avec agrandissement photographique en tissu découpé et cousu et texte en anglais), estrade en 8 éléments de fibre de verre peinte à l’acrylique Achat en 1988, Ankauf / Purchase Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle Crédit photographique: © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. RMN-GP Copyright de l’oeuvre: © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 Marche de soutien à la campagne sur le SIDA 1988 Huile et paillettes sur toile préparée Achat en 1990 Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle © Chéri Samba, photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Philippe Migeat/Dist. RMN-GP Haus der Kunst is pleased to present A History: Contemporary Art from Centre Pompidou, an exhibition originally curated by Christine Macel at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. With approximately 160 works by more than 100 artists from across the world, “A History: Contemporary Art from the Centre Pompidou” provides an incisive overview of artistic positions since the 1980s in painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography, and performance. The Centre Pompidou’s collection of contemporary art has rarely been presented so comprehensively outside France. The selected works on view date from the 1980s to the present raising two significant questions: What factors are relevant for ensuring that art history is written in a specific way, and what does an ever changing understanding of the term ‘contemporary’ mean for public museums and their collections? Still, the concentration on Euro- American domains, which many museums formerly pursued in the acquisition of works for their collections, can hardly be sustained today and is no longer the aspiration of most museums. Globalization, with its expanded narratives, has recently become too determining for the position of contemporary art to ignore. Curator Christine Macel defines her intention accordingly: to present ‘one’ among many possible histories of contemporary art. With the progression of globalization – understood here as the consolidation of economic, technological and financial systems, but also the questioning of linear history, and hegemonic cultural narratives – our perception of identity has changed. Since the first globally-oriented biennial in Havana in 1986, exhibition organizers and larger museums in Europe and North America have strived to display art created beyond the Western artistic circuit. The static understanding of identity as something based in origins and a “home base” has largely given way to a transnational and variable one. The turning point for Centre Pompidou was its 1989 exhibition “Les Magiciens de la Terre”, in which curator Jean-Hubert Martin aimed to confront the problematic phenomenon of “one hundred percent of exhibitions that ignore eighty percent of the world.” Half the participating artists came from non-Western countries, while the other half came from the West. In addition, all exhibiting artists were – without exception – still active, making the presentation truly contemporary. Since then, the Centre Pompidou, like many large museums, has had to confront the reality of the expanded circuits of contemporary art. Over the years the museum gradually changed its acquisition practices and has increasingly opened its focus toward Eastern Europe, China, Lebanon, the Middle East, India, Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Mexico and Brazil. Meanwhile, our understanding of the term “origins” has continued to evolve. Consequently, the definition of “site-specific” has also changed. In the 1960s and 70s, artists of the Land Art movement still essentially regarded landscapes as post-industrial ruins. By contrast, Okwui Enwezor, director of Haus der Kunst believes that, in today’s artistic practice, space is defined by impermanence, by the mutability of politically and socially grounded positions, by aesthetic pluralism, and by cultural differences. Furthermore, colonial and postcolonial experiences shaped by traumatic historical events, home, exile, diaspora produced hybrid identities – such as African-American, Euro- American, Latino, Turkish-German, French-Arabic, African- Brazilian, etc. Consequently new forms of cosmopolitanism and provincialism jostle next to one another. It is no coincidence that the exhibition practice of today can already look back on a number of shows that focused on borders and issues of migration. Against this backdrop of dynamism and permanent transition the exhibition is divided into seven chapters: The Artist as Historian An interest in the historical document and a more general obsession with the past, have led to the nostalgic excavation and re-enactments of existing works of art. Artists from the Arab speaking world are increasingly present in the art world; having borne witness to the Gulf War in 1991, these artists have developed new practices around the examination of history. The Artist as Archivist A passion for the archive initially led to a demand for completeness and later to an acceptance of the fragmentary, resulting on the one hand in concurrence of taxonomic efforts and endless accumulation, and, on the other, in an insight into the accelerated loss of memory. On a higher level, both coincide: Archives are especially useful in helping to identify and address wounds in the collective memory. Sonic Boom Trying to capture the sensation of listening to music in an image has a long tradition. Yet, even for artists who take their works to the edge of physical dissolution, listening often moves to the fore. Further, changes in the music industry and music production have reinforced the permeability of art and composition. The Artist as Producer: The “Traffic” Generation The concept of artwork is transformed through its dematerialization. An awareness of temporality, volatility, and process shifts to the foreground. Artists develop new forms of collaboration and collective creation, and make aesthetic use of clips, sampling, and film narrative (which is also regarded as an exhibition platform). As a result, copyright as an object of reflection has come into focus. The Artist as Documentarist: As Close as Possible to the Real The proliferation of the Internet in the context of a market economy and consumer society has led to a greater interest in the real, in the status quo of the observer and the reporter and generally in an engagement with all areas of human life. The artist takes on the role of a witness who accepts the subjectivity of his observations. Artist and Object Between 1980 and 1990, artists turned to an exploration of the everyday and the object; the 1990’s can be considered as the ultimate epoch of the aesthetic of the mundane. The now-famous video, “The Way Things Go” by Fischli and Weiss (1986-87) sings this song of songs to the everyday. No less iconic is Gabriel Orozco’s modified Citroën (La DS, 1993). The confrontation with consumer society is manifested in photography in detailed and richly colored compositions like Gursky’s 99 Cent (1999), and in sculpture with the integration of found objects. The common denominator is the attention artists pay to excessive consumption – as an opportunity or as a fact. The Artist and the Body Video and photography seem to be particularly fitting mediums for artists whose works include a performative element. The theme of the human body – wounded or damaged by oppression – returns as a theme with a vengeance. Many works with erotic and sexual overtones emerge. New technical possibilities, either through plastic surgery or image manipulation, bring the grotesque into the fold. Press release from Haus der Kunst Centre national des arts plastiques, FNAC 94003 © Gabriel Orozco/CNAP, courtesy photo Galerie Crousel-Robelin-Bama Gonçalo Mabunda O trono de um mundo sem revoltas (Le trône d’un monde sans révolte) (The throne of the world without revolt) 2011 79 x 88 x 49 cm Fer, armes de la guerre civile au Mozambique recyclées Don de la Société des Amis du Musée national d’art moderne, 2012. Projet pour l’art contemporain 2011, avec le soutien de Nathalie Quentin-Mauroy Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle Crédit photographique: © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. RMN-GP Copyright de l’oeuvre: © Gonçalo Mabunda	Moscow
The fashionable Belstaff clothing label was founded in Staffordshire UK in 1924 initially to produce protective waterprooof clothing for?	American \| Art Blart \| Page 2 Art Blart Exhibition dates: 16th May – 30th October 2016 The best fun I had with this posting was putting together the first twelve images. They seem to act as ‘strange attractors’, a feeling recognised by the curators of the exhibition if you view the first installation photograph by Anders Jones, below. Marcus . Many thankx to photographer Anders Jones and the Duggal website for allowing me to publish the installation photographs in the posting. See their posting about the exhibition . Artists have always turned to dreams as a source of inspiration, a retreat from reason, and a space for exploring imagination and desire. In the history of photography, dreams have been most closely associated with the Surrealists, who pushed the technical limits of the medium to transform the camera’s realist documents into fantastical compositions. Whereas their modernist explorations were often bound to psychoanalytic theories, more recently contemporary photographers have pursued the world of sleep and dreams through increasingly open-ended works that succeed through evocation rather than description. This exhibition takes a cue from the artists it features by displaying a constellation of photographs that collectively evoke the experience of a waking dream. Here, a night sky composed of pills, a fragmented rainbow, a sleeping fairy-tale princess, and an alien underwater landscape illuminate hidden impulses and longings underlying contemporary life. Drawn entirely from The Met collection, Dream States features approximately 30 photographs and video works primarily from the 1970s to the present. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Anselm Kiefer (German, born Donaueschingen, 1945) Brünnhilde Sleeps Acrylic and gouache on photograph 23 x 32 7/8in. (58.4 x 83.5cm) Denise and Andrew Saul Fund, 1995 © Anselm Kiefer Near the end of Wagner’s second opera of the Ring Cycle, Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, having attempted to help the sibling lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde against their father’s wishes, is punished for her betrayal. Wotan puts her to sleep and surrounds her with a ring of fire (she will be awakened in turn by her nephew Siegfried, the incestuous son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, in the third opera of the cycle). Kiefer portrays the dormant Brünnhilde as French actress Catherine Deneuve in François Truffaut’s film Mississippi Mermaid, using a photograph he snapped in a movie house in 1969. In the film, Deneuve plays a deceitful mail-order bride who comes to the island of Réunion to marry a plantation owner, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Aside from the parallels of love and betrayal in both the Ring Cycle and Truffaut’s film, Kiefer thought the choice of Deneuve for Brünnhilde both ironic and amusing: she was for him “the contrary of Brünnhilde. Very slim, very French, very cool, very sexy,” hinting that no man would go through fire to obtain Wagner’s corpulent, armored Valkyrie. Manuel Alvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902-2002) La Buena Fama Durmiendo (The Good Reputation Sleeping) 1939, printed c. 1970s Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1973 Eugène Atget (French, Libourne 1857-1927 Paris) Versailles Salted paper print from glass negative Image: 17.5 x 21.9 cm (6 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.) Sheet: 18 × 21.9 cm (7 1/16 × 8 5/8 in.) Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm) Gilman Collection, Purchase, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Gift, 2005 From 1898 until his death in 1927, Atget exhaustively documented the remains of Old Paris: the city’s streets, monuments, interiors, and environs. Among the last entries in this self-directed preservationist effort was a series of images of landscapes and sculpture in the parks of Saint-Cloud and Versailles. Here, the photographer records a statue of a sleeping Ariadne, the mythical Cretan princess abandoned by her lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Atget’s simultaneously realistic and otherworldly photographs inspired the Surrealist artist Man Ray, who reproduced four of them in a 1926 issue of the journal La Révolution Surréaliste, thus presenting the elder photographer as a modernist forerunner. Robert Frank (American, born Zurich, 1924) Fourth of July, Coney Island 1958 Image: 26 x 35.6 cm (10 1/4 x 14 in.) Mat: 18 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (47 × 57.2 cm) Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2002 © 2005 Robert Frank As he traveled around the country in 1955-56 making the photographs that would constitute his landmark book, The Americans, Frank’s impression of America changed radically. He found less of the freedom and tolerance imagined by postwar Europeans, and more alienation and racial prejudice simmering beneath the happy surface. His disillusionment is poignantly embodied in this image of a disheveled African-American man disengaged from the crowd and asleep in a fetal position amid the debris of an Independence Day celebration on Coney Island. This was one of the last still photographs Frank made before he devoted his creative energy to filmmaking in the early 1960s. As such, it may be interpreted as an elegy to still photography; the lone figure functions as a surrogate for Frank himself, as he turned his back on Life – like photojournalism to concentrate on the more personal, dreamlike imagery of his films. Shannon Bool (Canadian, born 1972) Vertigo Image: 7 13/16 × 11 13/16 in. (19.8 × 30 cm) Gift of Shannon Bool and Daniel Faria Gallery, 2015 © Shannon Bool This photogram – made without a camera by placing a collage of transparencies on a photosensitive sheet of paper and exposing it to light – is part of a series portraying psychoanalysts and their patients. Here, a patient on a Freudian couch is seen from above; the figure, sheathed in patterns of Maori origin, appears to come apart at the seams under the analyst’s scrutiny. Nan Goldin (American, born Washington, D.C., 1953) French Chris on the Convertible, NYC 1979 50.8 x 61cm (20 x 24in.) Mat: 25 × 32 in. (63.5 × 81.3 cm) Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2001 © Nan Goldin Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery Following in the tradition of Robert Frank and Helen Levitt, Goldin is her generation’s greatest practitioner of the “snapshot aesthetic” in photography-the intimate, diaristic mode that yields images that, in the right hands, are both spontaneous and carefully seen, tossed off and irreducibly right. In this early work, the artist has captured her friend as a Chatterton of the Lower East Side, lying across the back of a blue convertible with shirt open, eyes closed, and an empty can of Schaeffer beer by his side instead of arsenic – a contemporary vision of glamorous surrender for our own time. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940) Boy in Flood Dream, Ocean City, New Jersey 1972 Mat: 18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm) Gift of the artist, 1973 In the late 1960s, Tress began audio-recording children recounting their dreams and nightmares. He then collaborated with the young people, who acted out their tales for the camera, and published the resulting surreal images in the 1972 book The Dream Collector. Many of the children shared common nightmare scenarios such as falling, drowning, and being trapped, chased by monsters, or humiliated in the classroom. Here, a young boy clings to the roof of a home that has washed ashore as if after a flood. The desolate landscape evokes the sort of non-place characteristic of dreams and conveys feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring at lower right, Nan Goldin’s French Chris on the Convertible, NYC (1979) Photo by Anders Jones Sophie Calle (French, born Paris, 1953) Gloria K., first sleeper. Anne B., second sleeper 1979 12.6 x 18.4cm (4 15/16 x 7 1/4in.) Mat: 14 × 17 in. (35.6 × 43.2 cm) Gift of the artist and Olivier Renaud-Clement, in memory of Gilles Dusein, 2000 © Sophie Calle While obviously indebted to the deadpan photo-text combinations of Conceptualism, Calle’s art is as purely French at its core as the novels of Marguerite Duras and the films of Alain Resnais – an intimate exploration of memory, desire, and obsessive longing. The artist’s primary method involves a perfectly calibrated interplay between narrative and image, both of which steadily approach their object of desire only to find another blind spot-that which can never be captured through language or representation. This work is the first segment of Calle’s first work, The Sleepers (1979), in which the artist invited twenty-nine friends and acquaintances to sleep in her bed consecutively between April 1 and April 9, during which time she photographed them once an hour and kept notes recording each encounter. All the elements of Calle’s art-from the voyeuristic inversion of the private sphere (rituals of the bedroom) and the public (the book or gallery wall) to the use of serial, repetitive structures-are present here in embryonic form. Paul Graham (British, born 1956) Senami, Christchurch, New Zealand Chromogenic print Image: 44 1/4 in. × 59 in. (112.4 × 149.9 cm) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel and Hideyuki Osawa Gift, 2015 Graham’s series, Does Yellow Run Forever?, juxtaposes three groups of photographs: rainbows arcing over the Irish countryside, the facades of pawn-and-jewelry shops in New York, and tender studies of his partner asleep. The thematic links between the images (the rainbow’s mythical pot of gold, the sparkling objects in the Harlem window display, and a sleeping dreamer) may seem obvious, even pat, but Graham’s photographs transmute those clichés into a constellation of deep feeling. These luminous vignettes evoke a sense of longing and pathos, the quest for something permanent amid the illusory and devalued. Peter Hujar (American, Trenton, New Jersey 1934-1987 New York) Girl in My Hallway Image: 37 x 37.1 cm (14 9/16 x 14 5/8 in.) Mat: 25 × 25 in. (63.5 × 63.5 cm) Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2006 © The Peter Hujar Archive, L.L.C. Brassaï (French (born Romania), Brașov 1899-1984 Côte d’Azur) A Vagrant Sleeping in Marseille 1935, printed 1940s 17.2 x 23.3cm (6 3/4 x 9 3/16in.) Mat: 17 × 14 in. (43.2 × 35.6 cm) Gift of the artist, 1980 Photograph by Brassaï. Copyright © Gilberte Brassaï The inevitable suggestion that the homeless, hungry man sprawled on the sidewalk might be dreaming of a finely dressed and improbably large salad links Brassaï’s photograph to the work of the Surrealists. Although he frequently depicted thugs, vagrants, and prostitutes, he did so without judgment or political motive; his were pictures meant to delight or perplex the eye and mind-not to prompt a social crusade. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring at left, Paul Graham’s Gold Town Jewellery, East Harlem, New York (2012) and at right, Paul Graham’s Senami, Christchurch, New Zealand (2011), both from the series Does Yellow Run Forever? Photo by Anders Jones “The psychological fluidity of the medium has been noted before by the Met. In 1993, to celebrate its purchase of the Gilman Collection, the curator Maria Morris Hambourg chose to call her exhibition The Waking Dream. The title came from Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” and suggested, in Hambourg’s words, “the haunting power of photographs to commingle past and present, to suspend the world and the artist’s experience of it in unique distillations.” Conceptual latitude can benefit curators, giving them plenty of room to maneuver in making their selections, or it can be a detriment if a loose framework has so many sides that it won’t support an argument. Dream States suffers from the latter, even though the leeway of the title allows splendid pictures in disparate styles to be displayed together. Organized by associate curator Mia Fineman and assistant curator Beth Saunders around a theme that isn’t notably pertinent or provocative, the show has no discernible reason for being. It isn’t stocked with recent purchases – fewer than ten of the works entered the collection in this decade – and it isn’t tightly edited. To quality for inclusion here a photograph need only depict someone lying down or with eyes closed. A “dream state” seems to be loosely defined. It can be as a starry or cloudless sky; a tree-less landscape; inverted or abstract imagery; or something blurry.” Richard B. Woodward. “Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video @Met,” on the Collector Daily website July 11, 2016 [Online] Cited 06/10/2016 Jack Goldstein (American, born Canada, 1945-2003) The Pull Chromogenic prints Frame: 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30 x 40 in.) each Purchase, The Buddy Taub Foundation Gift and Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2009 © The Estate of Jack Goldstein Born in the postwar baby boom, Goldstein grew up surrounded by the products of the rapidly expanding media culture-movies, television, newspapers, magazines, and advertisements of all kinds. Young artists such as Goldstein went on to be educated in the rigorous and reductive principles of Minimal and Conceptual art during the 1970s but knew from personal experience that images shape our sense of the world and who we are, rather than vice versa; they made their art reflect that secondhand relationship to reality. In this early work, Goldstein has lifted, or “appropriated,” images of a deep sea diver, a falling figure, and a spaceman from unknown printed sources-isolating them from their original contexts and setting them at a very small scale against monochromatic backgrounds (green for sea, blue for sky, and white for space), as if the viewer were seeing them from a great distance. Because the viewer is unlikely to have seen such figures firsthand, that distance is not merely spatial but also epistemological in nature-the images trigger memories based not on original encounters but on reproductions of experience. The Pull – Goldstein’s only photographic work in a career that spanned painting, performance, film, and sound recordings – was included in “Pictures,” a seminal 1977 exhibition at Artist’s Space in New York, which also introduced the public to other young artists making use of appropriation, such as Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, and Troy Brauntuch. Sarah Anne Johnson (Canadian, born 1976) Glitter Bomb Chromogenic print with glitter and acrylic paint Sheet: 29 7/8 in. × 53 in. (75.9 × 134.6 cm) Purchase, Funds from Various Donors in memory of Randie Malinsky, 2016 © Sarah Anne Johnson Johnson works primarily with photography but also employs a variety of other media – sculpted figurines, dioramas, paint, ink, and bursts of glitter – to amplify the emotional power of her images. Glitter Bomb belongs to a series exploring the bacchanalian culture of summer music festivals. At once ominous and ecstatic, the image evokes the blissed-out mind-set of young revelers taking part in a modern-day rite of passage. Oliver Wasow (American, born 1960) Float Frame: 17.3 x 22.3 cm (6 13/16 x 8 3/4 in.) Overall: 116.8 x 152.4 cm (46 x 60 in.) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2010 © Oliver Wasow Wasow has a long-standing fascination with science fiction, apocalyptic fantasies, and documentation of unidentified flying objects. In his many pictures of mysterious floating disks and orbs, the artist courts doubt by running found images through a battery of processes, including drawing, photocopying, and superimposition, to create distortions. The resulting photographs play with the human propensity to invest form with meaning, offering just enough detail to spur the imagination. Fred Tomaselli (American, born Santa Monica, California, 1956) Portrait of Laura Gelatin silver print with graphite Image: 16 in. × 19 15/16 in. (40.6 × 50.6 cm) Mat: 24 3/4 × 25 3/4 in. (62.9 × 65.4 cm) Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2016 © Fred Tomaselli This “portrait” of the artist’s wife, Laura, belongs to an ongoing series he calls “chemical celestial portraits of inner and outer space.” Tomaselli creates likenesses based on each sitter’s astrological sign and the star map for his or her date of birth. Placing sugar and pills on photographic paper and exposing it to light, he produces a photogram of the corresponding constellation and names the stars after the various drugs the subject remembers consuming, from cold medicine to cocaine. The result is an unconventional map of identity that cleverly weds the mystical and the pharmacological. Bea Nettles (American, born Gainesville, Florida, 1946) Mountain Dream Tarot: A Deck of 78 Photographic Cards 1975 Purchase, Dorothy Levitt Beskind Gift, 1977 The idea to create a set of photographic tarot cards came to Nettles in a dream during the summer of 1970, while she was on an artist’s residency in the mountains of North Carolina. She subsequently reinterpreted the ancient symbolism of the traditional tarot deck, enlisting friends and family members as models for photographs that she augmented with hand-painted additions. In 2007 the image Nettles created for the Three of Swords card was used as the disc graphic for Bruce Springsteen’s album Magic. Installation view of the exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photography and Video at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring Bea Nettles’ Mountain Dream Tarot: A Deck of 78 Photographic Cards (1975) Photo by Anders Jones “Artists often turn to dreams as a source of inspiration, a retreat from reason, and a space for exploring imagination and desire. In the history of photography, dream imagery has been most closely associated with the Surrealists, who used experimental techniques to bridge the gap between the camera’s objectivity and the internal gaze of the mind’s eye. While those modernist explorations were often bound to psychoanalytic theories, other photographers have pursued the world of sleep and dreams through deliberately open-ended works that succeed through evocation rather than description. The exhibition Dream States: Contemporary Photographs and Video presents 30 photographs and one video drawn from The Met collection, all loosely tied to the subjective yet universal experience of dreaming. The exhibition is on view at the Museum from May 16 through October 30, 2016. Many of the works take the surrender of sleep as their subject matter. In photographs by Robert Frank, Danny Lyon, and Nan Goldin, recumbent figures appear vulnerable to the wandering gaze of onlookers, yet their inner worlds remain out of reach. Images of bodies floating and falling conjure the tumultuous world of dreams, and landscapes are made strange through the camera’s selective vision. Highlights include photographs by Paul Graham from his recent series Does Yellow Run Forever (2014); images from Sophie Calle’s earliest body of work, The Sleepers (1979), in which she invited friends and acquaintances to sleep in her own bed while she watched; and Anselm Kiefer’s Brünnhilde Sleeps (1980), a hand-painted photograph featuring French actress Catherine Deneuve recast as a Wagnerian Valkyrie. Also featured are recently acquired works by Shannon Bool, Sarah Anne Johnson, Jim Shaw, and Fred Tomaselli. Dream States: Contemporary Photographs and Video is organized by Mia Fineman, Associate Curator; and Beth Saunders, Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Grete Stern (Argentinian, born Germany, 1904-1999) Sueño No. 1: “Articulos eléctricos para el hogar” (Dream No. 1: “Electrical Household items”) c. 1950 Image: 26.6 x 22.9 cm (10 1/2 x 9 in.) Frame: 63.5 x 76.2 cm (25 x 30 in.) Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2012 In 1948 the Argentine women’s magazine Idilio introduced a weekly column called “Psychoanalysis Will Help You,” which invited readers to submit their dreams for analysis. Each week, one dream was illustrated with a photomontage by Stern, a Bauhaus-trained photographer and graphic designer who fled Berlin for Buenos Aires when the Nazis came to power. Over three years, Stern created 140 photomontages for the magazine, translating the unconscious fears and desires of its predominantly female readership into clever, compelling images. Here, a masculine hand swoops in to “turn on” a lamp whose base is a tiny, elegantly dressed woman. Rarely has female objectification been so erotically and electrically charged. Adam Fuss (British, born 1961) From the series “My Ghost” 1999 184.9 x 123.3 cm (72 13/16 x 48 9/16 in.) Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2000 © Adam Fuss With his large-scale photograms, Fuss has breathed new life into the cameraless technique that became the hallmark of modernist photographers such as Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy in the 1920s. He created this image by blowing thick clouds of smoke over a sheet of photographic paper and exposing it to a quick flash of light. Evoking the wizardry of a medieval alchemist, Fuss fixes a permanent image of evanescence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street New York, New York 10028-0198 Phone: 212-535-7710 Tuesday – Thursday: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm* Friday and Saturday: 9.30 am – 9.00 pm* Sunday: 9.30 am – 5.30 pm* Closed Monday (except Met Holiday Mondays**), Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day Exhibition dates: 21st July to 23rd October 2016 Curator: Phillip Prodger, Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery Just look. Really look. And then think about that looking. Minute, democratic observations produce images which nestle, and take hold, and grow in the imagination. No words are necessary. This is a looking that comes from the soul. “A lot of these pictures I take are of very ordinary, unremarkable things. Can one learn to see? I don’t know. I think probably one is born with the ability to compose an image, in the way one is born with the ability to compose music. It is vastly more important to think about the looking, though, rather than to try to talk about a picture and what it means. The graphic image and words, well, they are two very different animals.” ~ William Eggleston Marcus . Many thankx to the National Portrait Gallery, London for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. William Eggleston is a pioneering American photographer renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images. This exhibition of 100 works surveys Eggleston’s full career from the 1960s to the present day and is the most comprehensive display of his portrait photography ever. Eggleston is celebrated for his experimental use of colour and his solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976 is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of colour photography as a contemporary art form. Highlights of the exhibition will include monumental prints of two legendary photographs first seen forty years ago: the artist’s uncle Adyn Schuyler Senior with his assistant Jasper Staples in Cassidy Bayou, Mississippi, and Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi. Also on display will be a selection of never-before seen vintage black and white prints from the 1960s. Featuring people in diners, petrol stations and markets in and around the artist’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, they help illustrate Eggleston’s unique view of the world. (Text from the NPG website) “Eggleston is someone who has always tried to maintain emotional detachment in his work, photographing landscapes and inanimate objects with the same attention he would apply to people. He does not believe a photograph is a ‘window on the soul’ as we so often have it, nor does he think a viewer can ever truly understand a photographer’s thoughts and feelings from the pictures they make. Instead, he photographs ‘democratically’, which is to say, he gives even the smallest observations equal weight. His usual method is to capture people going about their business unawares, often performing ordinary tasks like eating in a restaurant or pumping petrol at a filling station. He photographs everyone the same, whether they are a celebrity, a member of his family, or a stranger.” . For Eggleston this photo is highly personal. Jasper Staples, the figure on the right, had been around him for his whole life as his family’s “house man”. Here he is next to his employer, Eggleston’s uncle, at a funeral. His exact mimicking of his boss’s posture and their shared focus on an event happening off-camera gives them a moment of unity. Yet the composition of the shot, with their balance and the open car door suggesting some ongoing action, is highly theatrical and might even put us in mind of a TV detective show. (Text by Fred Maynard ) One of Eggleston’s most famous images, this pictures shows why he is known as the man who brought colour photography into the artistic mainstream. The subject, Marcia Hare, floats on a cloud-like bed of soft-focus grass, the red buttons on her dress popping out like confectionary on a cake. The dye-transfer technique which Eggleston borrowed from commercial advertising and turned into his trademark gives such richness to the colour that we are brought out of the Seventies and into the realm of Pre-Raphaelite painting. The ghost of Millais’s “Ophelia” sits just out of reach, a connection which the inscrutable artist is happy, as ever, to neither confirm nor deny. (Text by Fred Maynard ) “This is Devoe, a distant relative of mine (although I can’t remember exactly how), but also a friend. She is dead now, but we were very close. She was a very sweet and charming lady. I took this picture in the yard at the side of her house. I would often visit her there in Jackson. I remember I found the colour of her dress and the chair very exciting, and everything worked out instantly. I think this is the only picture I ever took of her, but I would say it sums her up. I didn’t pose her at all – I never do, usually because it all happens so quickly, but I don’t think I would have moved her in any way. I’m still very pleased with the photograph.” ~ William Eggleston “These two are strangers. I happened to be walking past and there it was, the picture. As usual I took it very rapidly and we didn’t speak. I think I was fortunate to catch that expression on the woman’s face. A lot of these pictures I take are of very ordinary, unremarkable things. Can one learn to see? I don’t know. I think probably one is born with the ability to compose an image, in the way one is born with the ability to compose music. It is vastly more important to think about the looking, though, rather than to try to talk about a picture and what it means. The graphic image and words, well, they are two very different animals.” ~ William Eggleston Stranded in Canton Video In 1973, photographer William Eggleston picked up a Sony PortaPak and took to documenting the soul of Memphis and New Orleans. “A previously unseen image of The Clash frontman Joe Strummer and a never-before exhibited portrait of the actor and photographer Dennis Hopper will be displayed for the first time in the National Portrait Gallery this summer. They will be included in the first museum exhibition devoted to the portraits of pioneering American photographer, William Eggleston it was announced today, Thursday 10 March 2016. William Eggleston Portraits (21 July to 23 October) will bring together over 100 works by the American photographer, renowned for his vivid, poetic and mysterious images of people in diners, petrol stations, phone booths and supermarkets. Widely credited with increasing recognition for colour photography, following his own experimental use of dye-transfer technique, Eggleston will be celebrated by a retrospective of his full career, including a selection of never-before seen vintage black and white photographs from the 1960s taken in and around the artist’s home in Memphis, Tennessee. The first major exhibition of Eggleston’s photographs in London since 2002 and the most comprehensive of his portraits, William Eggleston Portraits will feature family, friends, musicians and actors including rarely seen images of Eggleston’s own close relations. It will provide a unique window on the artist’s home life, allowing visitors to see how public and private portraiture came together in Eggleston’s work. It will also reveal, for the first time, the identities of many sitters who have until now remained anonymous. Other highlights include monumental, five foot wide prints of the legendary photographs of the artist’s uncle, Adyn Schuyler Senior, with his assistant Jasper Staples in Cassidy Bayou, Mississippi and Devoe Money in Jackson, Mississippi from the landmark book Eggleston’s Guide (1976). Since first picking up a camera in 1957, Eggleston’s images have captured the ordinary world around him and his work is said to find ‘beauty in the everyday’. His portrayal of the people he encountered in towns across the American South, and in Memphis in particular, is shown in the context of semi-public spaces. Between 1960 and 1965, Eggleston worked exclusively in black and white and people were Eggleston’s primary subject, caught unawares while going about ordinary tasks. In the 1970s, Eggleston increasingly frequented the Memphis night club scene, developing friendships and getting to know musicians and artists. His fascination with club culture resulted in the experimental video ‘Stranded in Canton’, a selection of which will also be on view at the exhibition. ‘Stranded in Canton’ chronicles visits to bars in Memphis, Mississippi and New Orleans. Eggleston’s 1976 show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of colour photography as a contemporary art form. His work has inspired many present day photographers, artists and filmmakers, including Martin Parr, Sofia Coppola, David Lynch and Juergen Teller. Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, says: “William Eggleston makes memorable photographic portraits of individuals – including friends and family, musicians and artists – that are utterly unique and highly influential. More than this, Eggleston has an uncanny ability to find something extraordinary in the seemingly everyday. Combining well-known works with others previously unseen, this exhibition looks at one of photography’s most compelling practitioners from a new perspective.” Curator Phillip Prodger, Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery says, “Few photographers alive today have had such a profound influence on the way photographs are made and seen as William Eggleston. His pictures are as fresh and exciting as they were when they first grabbed the public’s attention in the 1970s. There is nothing quite like the colour in an Eggleston photograph – radiant in their beauty, that get deep under the skin and linger in the imagination.” Press release from the National Portrait Gallery, London According to Eggleston talking on this video , this was his first successful colour negative. The photo that made Eggleston’s name, this image of a grocery-store boy lining up shopping carts is a prime example of his ability to capture the humdrum reality of life in mid-century America. Yet it is also something more: the delicacy of his motion, the tension in his posture, the concentration on his brow evoke a master craftsman at work. Despite Eggleston’s presence, he seems entirely unselfconscious: caught in perfect profile and sun-dappled like a prime specimen of American youth. Eggleston, hovering between documentarian and sentimentalist, creates a semi-ironic paean to America. (Text by Fred Maynard ) The closest Eggleston came to taking traditional portraits was in a series he shot in bars in his native Memphis and the Mississippi Delta in 1973-4. The sitters in his Nightclub Portraits – anonymous figures plucked, slightly flushed, from their nights out – are not posing but instead are photographed mid-conversation, Eggleston capturing them at their most unguarded. What is remarkable about this example is the strange composure of the subject, the slightly ethereal sheen as the flash from the camera is reflected by her make-up. Eggleston’s precise focus picks out the individual threads of her cardigan. Something hyper-real and statuesque emerges from an ordinary night out. (Text by Fred Maynard ) “Refusing to be pinned down to any viewpoint or agenda, Eggleston’s greatest strength is his almost enraging ambiguity. He is neither a sentimentalist nor a documentarian, neither subjective nor objective: he somehow captures that ephemeral moment we experience when we’re not quite sure why a memory sticks with us, why an otherwise mundane glance from a stranger seems to take on a greater significance. His refusal to think of himself as a portraitist is what gives this exhibition such wry power. Here is a photographer who makes no distinctions, viewing every subject from cousins to coke cans with the same inscrutable gaze. When approached about the idea of a portrait show, the NPG’s Philip Prodger recalls, Eggleston expressed surprise because he didn’t “do” portraits. Prodger reframed the exhibition as a series of photos that just happened to have people in them. “That makes sense”, Eggleston deadpanned. The unvarnished Americana for which he is so famous – brash logos and a hint of rust – can contain something uneasy, even threatening, precisely because Eggleston maintains a blithe poker-face about his feelings on his subjects. Walking through this exhibition is to meet more placards marked “Untitled” than you can handle. The names of previously anonymous sitters, revealed specially for this exhibition, are hardly likely to make things much more concrete for the viewer. Rather we are let in on an extraordinary experience, moving between the mysterious faces of a transitional moment in American history, not quite sure whether some greater revelation is bubbling under the surface.” Extract from Fred Maynard. “William Eggleston, the reluctant portraitist,” on the 1843 website July 26, 2016 [Online] Cited 30/09/2016 Exhibition dates: 27th July – 23rd October 2016 ‘I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’ Former New York slave Sojourner Truth (which literally means “itinerant preacher”) strategically deployed photography as a form of political activism. This deployment is part of a long tradition of photography being used in the African American struggle for political change, from before the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. Standing six feet tall and speaking with a thick Dutch accent (due to her having been born of slave parents owned by a wealthy Dutch patroon in Ulster County, New York) Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883), the name she adopted on June 1, 1843, devoted her life to women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. Driven by a deep religious conviction she was a evangelist, feminist and abolitionist who possessed enormous charisma – “Harriet Beecher Stowe attested to Truth’s personal magnetism, saying that she had never “been conversant with anyone who had more of that silent and subtle power which we call personal presence than this woman.”” During the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) after the American Civil War, “Truth barely supported herself by selling a narrative of her life as well as her “shadows,” photographs of herself.” ( Sojourner Truth, Black History ) What is interesting, as author Nell Irvin Painter observes in the accompanying video in this posting, is how Truth controlled the dissemination of her own image – her shadow – as a means of self promotion. As the press release states, “Truth could not read or write, but she had her statements repeatedly published in the press, enthusiastically embraced new technologies such as photography, and went to court three times to claim her legal rights. Uniquely among portrait sitters, she had her photographic cartes de visite copyrighted in her own name and added the caption ’I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’. Sojourner Truth, foregrounding her self-selected proper name, her agency, and her possession of self.” As the exhibition brochure observes, “Sojourner Truth’s very terms, “substance” and “shadow,” were economic as well as photographic metaphors in the fierce debates about money: shadow was aligned with the abolition of slavery, substance with proslavery and anti-black sentiment. Sojourner Truth knew this opposition very well.” Her speech, authorship, and recourse to law coexist with her image. Her possession of self is intimately tied to the photographic depiction of her bodily form. She sells the photograph to support the body and, as her agency, the images become a form of self-actualisation. In this sense the image that she controls becomes her holistic body, for she never displays her injured hand or the scars on her back that she were inflicted on her during slavery. These photographs are how she would like to see herself, how she portrays and promotes herself to others and for this reason they are amazing documents to study. What a human being, to have that perspicacious nature – from Latin perspicax, perspicac- ‘seeing clearly’ – to clearly see her place in the world and to clearly understand how to project her image into the world using new technologies such as photography. For someone who could not read or write this clear seeing in the use of photography at such an early time in the history of photography is almost incomparable. Marcus . Many thankx to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. Cicely Tyson performs Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t that a woman?”, originally delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Unknown photographer (American) Carte de visite of Sojourner Truth with a photograph of her grandson, James Caldwell, on her lap 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby On July 4, 1863, in the National Anti-Slavery Standard, Truth announced her grandson’s enlistment in the famous 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the first all-black volunteer infantry. “Her faith is strong that God’s hand is in this war, and that it will end in the destruction of slavery, which day she hopes to live to see. The enlisting of the colored people she considers the most hopeful feature of the war.” Truth was very proud of her grandson James Caldwell, whom she described as “a tall, able-bodied lad” determined to redeem white people from God’s curse and to save the nation. Truth also expressed her frustration that she herself could not lead “the colored troops”; instead she “can only send you her shadow.” Even at this early date, Sojourner Truth conceived of her “shadows” as the means to raise money. The article ends: “We are sure that many of our readers will thank us for informing them that Sojourner will send her photograph by mail to any one who will write her enclosing 50 cents and a 3-cent stamp. Letters to be directed to Battle Creek, Michigan.” Sojourner Truth believed in paper and words: the paper currency created by the Federal government to support the war; the newspapers in which she had her letters published; the cartes de visite that she sold to support herself, labeled and copyrighted; the stamps that could send her paper photographs across the country to supporters; the tax stamps that the government required again to raise funds on behalf of the Union cause. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Sojourner Truth: Quotes, Speech, Biography, Education, Facts, History (1996) Synopsis Born in New York circa 1797, Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. Her best-known speech on racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Born into slavery Born Isabella Baumfree circa 1797, Sojourner Truth was one of as many as 12 children born to James and Elizabeth Baumfree in the town of Swartekill, in Ulster County, New York. Truth’s date of birth was not recorded, as was typical of children born into slavery, but historians estimate that she was likely born around 1797. Her father, James Baumfree, was a slave captured in modern-day Ghana; Elizabeth Baumfree, also known as Mau-Mau Bet, was the daughter of slaves from Guinea. The Baumfree family was owned by Colonel Hardenbergh, and lived at the colonel’s estate in Esopus, New York, 95 miles north of New York City. The area had once been under Dutch control, and both the Baumfrees and the Hardenbaughs spoke Dutch in their daily lives. After the colonel’s death, ownership of the Baumfrees passed to his son, Charles. The Baumfrees were separated after the death of Charles Hardenbergh in 1806. The 9-year-old Truth, known as “Belle” at the time, was sold at an auction with a flock of sheep for $100. Her new owner was a man named John Neely, whom Truth remembered as harsh and violent. She would be sold twice more over the following two years, finally coming to reside on the property of John Dumont at West Park, New York. It was during these years that Truth learned to speak English for the first time… Fighting for abolition and women’s rights On June 1, 1843, Isabella Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth, devoting her life to Methodism and the abolition of slavery. In 1844, she joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts. Founded by abolitionists, the organization supported a broad reform agenda including women’s rights and pacifism. Members lived together on 500 acres as a self-sufficient community. Truth met a number of leading abolitionists at Northampton, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and David Ruggles. Although the Northampton community disbanded in 1846, Sojourner Truth’s career as an activist and reformer was just beginning… Advocacy during the Civil War Sojourner Truth put her reputation to work during the Civil War, helping to recruit black troops for the Union Army. She encouraged her grandson, James Caldwell, to enlist in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. In 1864, Truth was called to Washington, D.C., to contribute to the National Freedman’s Relief Association. On at least one occasion, Truth met and spoke with President Abraham Lincoln about her beliefs and her experience. True to her broad reform ideals, Truth continued to agitate for change even after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. In 1865, Truth attempted to force the desegregation of streetcars in Washington by riding in cars designated for whites. A major project of her later life was the movement to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. She argued that ownership of private property, and particularly land, would give African Americans self-sufficiency and free them from a kind of indentured servitude to wealthy landowners. Although Truth pursued this goal forcefully for many years, she was unable to sway Congress. Death and legacy Sojourner Truth died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, on November 26, 1883. She is buried alongside her family at Battle Creek’s Oak Hill Cemetery. Until old age intervened, Truth continued to speak passionately on the subjects of women’s rights, universal suffrage and prison reform. She was also an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, testifying before the Michigan state legislature against the practice. She also championed prison reform in Michigan and across the country. While always controversial, Truth was embraced by a community of reformers including Amy Post, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony – friends with whom she collaborated until the end of her life. Truth is remembered as one of the foremost leaders of the abolition movement and an early advocate of women’s rights. Although she began her career as an abolitionist, the reform causes she sponsored were broad and varied, including prison reform, property rights and universal suffrage. Abolition was one of the few causes that Truth was able to see realized in her lifetime. Her fear that abolitionism would falter before achieving equality for women proved prophetic. Captioned carte de visite of Sojourner Truth (front) 1864 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby In 1864 Truth began to inscribe her cartes de visite with a caption, her name, and a copyright: “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance. SOJOURNER TRUTH.” Truth’s use of the first-person present tense “I sell” declares her ownership of her image: to sell it, she must own it. Most significantly, by using this caption Sojourner Truth knowingly aligned her photographs with paper money. Sojourner Truth’s very terms, “substance” and “shadow,” were economic as well as photographic metaphors in the fierce debates about money: shadow was aligned with the abolition of slavery, substance with proslavery and anti-black sentiment. Sojourner Truth knew this opposition very well. She was making cheap paper notes, printed and reproduced in multiples, featuring her portrait. She had invented her own kind of paper currency, and for the same reasons as the government: in order to produce wealth dependent on a consensus that representation produces material results, to make money where there was none, and to do so partly in order to abolish slavery. During the Civil War, a ferocious debate raged about whether paper could represent value like coin. Paper greenbacks – the first federally issued banknotes in American history – were attacked by those who believed that money was not a representation but a “substance.” Hard money advocates (naively) believed that gold was value, not its representation…. Like paper bills, cartes de visite functioned during these years as currency and as clandestine political tokens. The photographs of Sojourner Truth register only her appearance, not her commanding presence. They are shadows, and some are more elusive and mute than others. Yet the printed words – name, caption, and copyright – remain forthright: her speech, authorship, and recourse to law coexist with her image. Those printed words force us to acknowledge the illiterate woman’s authorship, as well as her eloquence, her agency, and her legal claim to property, even as we value these humble objects. [The image above and verso below] is one of two known cartes de visite of Sojourner Truth that bear not only the caption, name, and copyright, but also a tax stamp that dates the photograph to 1864. Tax stamps were created to raise money for the Union cause, although they were attached to only a very small percentage of purchased photographs. In all her seated portraits, Truth carefully chose the items she held in her lap: initially, the photograph of her heroic missing grandson and thereafter, her knitting. We must take her choices seriously. During the Civil War knitting acquired new patriotic connotations. No longer merely a feminine domestic art, knitting had become a public duty; newspapers published pleas for sewing and knitting societies to devote themselves to serving the cause. During the Civil War, Truth was determined to teach her skills to the emancipated slaves, often Southern field hands, living in Freedmen’s Villages. A Union officer reported that Truth would say, “Be clean, be clean, for cleanliness is a part of godliness.” He paraphrased Truth’s beliefs: “[T]hey must learn to be independent – learn industry and economy – and above all strive to show people that they could be something. She urged them to embrace for their children all opportunities of education and advancement. In fact, she talked to them as a white person could not, for they would have been offended with such plain truths from any other source […] She goes into their cabins with her knitting in her hand, and while she talks with them she knits. Few of them know how to knit, and but few know how to make a loaf of bread, or anything of the kind. She wants to teach the old people how to knit, for they have no employment, and they will be much happier if usefully employed.” Truth associated knitting with industry and advancement, not gentility. With real savvy, she informally introduced the craft to freed slaves by demonstrating the skill, not just telling her audience to learn it. The many cartes de visite that feature her knitting sustain this demonstration. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite of Sojourner Truth c. 1864-65 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby “The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presents , on view July 27 through October 23, 2016. The exhibition features a large selection of photographic cartes de visite of the famed former slave, as well as other Civil Warera photographs and Federal currency, none of which have been exhibited before. The exhibition is organized by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley and author of “Enduring Truths. Sojourners Shadows and Substance” (University of Chicago Press, 2015), the first book to explore how Truth used her image, the press, the postal service, and copyright laws to support her activism and herself. Many of the photographs included in the exhibition were a recent gift from Professor Grigsby to BAMPFA. Runaway slave Sojourner Truth gained renown in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator. This exhibition showcases the photographic carte de visite portraits of Truth that she sold at lectures and by mail as a way of making a living. First invented by French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri in 1854, cartes de visite are similar in size to the calling cards that preceded them, approximately two-and one-half by four inches, and consist of albumen photographs made from glass negatives glued onto cardboard mounts. By the end of the 1850s, the craze for the relatively inexpensive cartes de visite had reached the United States. Americans who could never have afforded a portrait could now have their likeness memorialized. Combined with the emergence of the new US postal system, these cards appealed to a vast nation of dispersed peoples. Truth could not read or write, but she had her statements repeatedly published in the press, enthusiastically embraced new technologies such as photography, and went to court three times to claim her legal rights. Uniquely among portrait sitters, she had her photographic cartes de visite copyrighted in her own name and added the caption ’I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance’. Sojourner Truth, foregrounding her self-selected proper name, her agency, and her possession of self. This exhibition places Truths cartes de visite in context by reconstructing the flood of paper federal banknotes, photographs, letters, autographs, stamps, prints, and newspapers that created political communities across the immense distances of the nation during the Civil War. Like the federal government that resorted to the printing of paper currency to finance the war against slavery, Truth was improvising new ways of turning paper into value in order to finance her activism as an abolitionist and advocate of womens rights. Sojourner Truth, Photography, and the Fight Against Slavery is organized by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Arts and Humanities at UC Berkeley, with the assistance of UC Berkeley undergraduate Ryan Serpa. The photographs included in the exhibition were a recent gift from Professor Grigsby to BAMPFA.” Press release from the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive Carte de visite of Frederick Douglass c. 1879 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement from Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writings. In his time he was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example to slaveholders’ arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had once been a slave. Douglass wrote several autobiographies. He described his experiences as a slave in his 1845 autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became a bestseller, and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition, as was his second book, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). After the Civil War, Douglass remained an active campaigner against slavery and wrote his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. First published in 1881 and revised in 1892, three years before his death, it covered events during and after the Civil War. Douglass also actively supported women’s suffrage, and held several public offices. Without his approval, Douglass became the first African American nominated for Vice President of the United States as the running mate and Vice Presidential nominee of Victoria Woodhull, on the Equal Rights Party ticket. Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all peoples, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was also a believer in dialogue and in making alliances across racial and ideological divides, and in the liberal values of the American Constitution. When radical abolitionists under the motto “No Union With Slaveholders”, criticized Douglass’ willingness to dialogue with slave owners, he famously replied: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.” (Text from the Wikipedia website ) Frederick Douglass was also a runaway slave and eloquent abolitionist. Douglass and Truth both believed in the liberatory power of modernization and both were confident that the new medium of photography would contribute to their society’s redefinition of the status of black men and women. Of all modern inventions, photography, Douglass argued, would have the most far-reaching impact. He devoted two public lectures to photography, in 1861 and 1865, arguing that self-possession requires recognition from others. Douglass had 160 portraits made between 1841 and 1895. Like most sitters and unlike Truth, Douglass allowed the photographer’s name to be printed at the bottom of this carte de visite instead of his own. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite of John Sharper c. 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby John N. Sharper, a printer by trade, enlisted in the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery Regiment (Colored) at Providence, Rhode Island on October 30, 1863. He was listed as being 5-foot8, of “dark complexion,” with black hair and black eyes. He was born in New York State about 1841. He signed his own enlistment papers. The 14th Rhode Island was later re-designated the 11th U.S. Colored Artillery. Sharper was born at Herkimer, New York (west of Albany) on May 24, 1841. In 1860, at age 18, he was still living in Herkimer with his parents, Samuel and Jane, and working as a printer’s apprentice. Sharper’s unit was assigned to the Department of the Gulf, where its elements were stationed in New Orleans, Port Hudson, Brashear City (now Morgan City), Louisiana and Fort Esperanza on Matagorda Island, Texas. In the winter of 1864-65 Sharper was detached from his unit to work at post headquarters as a printer. Sharper was discharged for disability at New Orleans on September 11, 1865 for phthisis pulmonalis, another term for consumption or tuberculosis. He died on April 5, 1866, and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Herkimer. His parents, Samuel and Jane, applied for a pension on as dependents of his. There is a page on Ancestry that shows Sharper married to an Esther Thomas (c. 1846 to c. 1929), but cites no documentation. (Text from the Civil War Talk website ) . The Bureau of United States Colored Troops was established as a separate office within the War Department on May 22, 1863. Maj. Charles W. Foster was appointed the bureau chief, with the title assistant adjutant general. African-descent regiments organized before the new bureau was established were not the first regiments mustered into the Bureau of United States Colored Troops. Most would retain their state designation until 1864, when they would be designated United States Colored Troops. In June 1863, the first regiment was officially mustered into the Bureau of United States Colored Troops. Organized in Washington, D.C., the regiment was designated the 1st United States Colored Infantry. (Text from the Civil War Trust website ) . According to government archives, by the end of the Civil War some 179,000 black men had served in the US Army (constituting 10% of the Union Army) and 19,000 had served in the US Navy. 40,000 died during the war, often from infection and disease. When Sojourner Truth made the photograph in which she displays a framed portrait of her grandson, who had just joined the first all-black regiment, she offered an alternative to images, such as Nast’s, that mocked and emasculated the black men and boys who fought to end slavery. Photographic portraits made counterarguments, showing us alert and serious black men, even boys, who were determined to fix their likenesses as soldiers willing to lose their lives to win the war against slavery. Portraits can socially elevate but painted portraits were not affordable for the majority of Americans. Nineteenth-century photography, especially cartes de visite and tintypes, brought portraiture within the reach of many more people. African Americans seized the opportunity to have their “likeness” made. Tintypes also made it possible to adorn sitters with precious gold jewelry applied as strokes of paint. Glistening paint ornamented sitters with sparkling accessories – gold rings, necklaces, buttons, military belt buckles – and fancy ornamental enclosures framed persons as worthy. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite of amputee on chair late-19th century Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby J. W. Black (American, photographer) Captioned carte de visite of Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence 1863 Several extensive series of cartes de visite were made of rescued slave children, especially those who appeared to be white like this child, Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence. In the cartes de visite of the “redeemed slave child” Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, captions make claims to possession of the child and her portrait, claims problematically resem- bling slavery. If Sojourner Truth boldly filed a copyright in her own name, the 1863 copyright on these photographs is in the name of the child’s “redeemer,” Catherine S. Lawrence, who gave the fair-skinned little girl her surname (and also had her baptized by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother, Henry Ward Beecher). Catherine Lawrence had Fannie photographed at least a dozen times in a wide range of costumes and settings. Although most cartes show her lavishly dressed, one unusual example shows the little girl barefoot, as if in transition from her status as poor slave to affluent and “passing” adoptee. Like the word “redeem” itself, this carte de visite combines Christian, economic, and legal claims. Its extremely unusual copyright betrays the financial transaction that redefined the “redeemed” slave child as adoptee. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite of Frank, Frederick, and Alice 1865 On back: “The CHILDREN OF THE BATTLE FIELD. This is a copy of the Ferrotype found in the hands of Sergeant Humiston of the 154th N.Y. Volunteers as he lay dead on the Battle Field of Gettysburg. The copies are sold in furtherance of the National Sabbath School effort to found in Pennsylvania an Asylum for dependent Orphans of Soldiers; in memorial of our Perpetuated Union. Wenderoth, Taylor & Brown, 912-914 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. This picture is private property, and can not be copied without wronging the Soldier’s Orphans for whom it is published. Philadelphia, Sept. 23, 1865. J. Frances Bourns. As the text on the back of this card makes clear, this portrait of beloved offspring had initially been found without names on the body of an unidentified fallen soldier. The photograph was reproduced and circulated as a carte de visite in order to determine the soldier’s identity. This early form of mass communication ultimately worked and his family was found. Subsequently, new cartes de visite included the children’s names, Frank, Frederick, and Alice, and were circulated in order to raise money on behalf of a school for orphans. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Portrait of a Marshall Bachelder and Cornelia (Weatherby) Bachelder c. 1865 6 1/2 x 8 3/8 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby “Marshall Bachelder was born in Holly, Orleans, NY state, August 31, 1835, and died July 30, 1921. He came to Michigan at the age of 17 with his parents and settled on a farm in Greenbush township, Clinton County. He enlisted in the 8th Michigan Infantry in 1861 and served until the end of the war. He was married to Cornelia Weatherby in 1864, who survives him.” (as of 1921). . Cartes de visite were multiples and allowed sitters to share their portraits with others, sometimes sending them by mail. By contrast, tintypes were unique images like daguerreotypes, but far less expensive. This haunting hand-colored tintype portrait of a couple contrasts a remarkably vivid young woman with a pale ghost-like soldier whose body, hair, and eyes have been drawn in. Whether his image was radically retouched in order to dress him in uniform is unclear from the photograph itself. Tintypes were made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal covered with a dark lacquer or enamel – they were unique direct images (no negatives were used). (Text from the exhibition brochure) The Innocent Cause of the War (stereo view detail) c. 1865 Courtesy of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Stereo view A Union soldier looks at a young black boy in tattered clothing leaning on a pole at left. The caption turns the boy into “the innocent cause” for which the Civil War was fought. Stereo views were two photographs made from slightly separated lenses, reproducing the two-and-one-half-inch distance between our eyes; when seen through a viewer, they suggest three-dimensional space. Fairly inexpensive, they were very popular from the Civil War era through the early twentieth century. Stereo views were collected by individuals, and they also served as educational tools in schools and libraries. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Carte de visite (Donation Cake) late-19th century Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Little is known about this Civil War carte de visite except that it commemorates fundraising, a bake sale from one hundred and fifty years ago. Sayre and Chase (Newark, Ohio) Pro-Union carte de visite commemorating the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and Generals Charles Robert Woods and William Burnham Woods c. 1865 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Most cartes de visite were portraits but some represented the war, depicting landscapes, battle sites, military prisons, and still lifes. This carte, made by Sayre and Chase of Newark, Ohio, displays the scarred battle flag of the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as well as a sword, scabbard, and officer’s sash hanging from a line perfunctorily stretched across the studio. Leaning against the floorboards are two large, framed albumen photographs of Union generals, Charles Robert Woods (at right), who organized the 76th Ohio, and his brother William Burnham Woods. Both survived the war, and astonishingly both became Supreme Court justices. Within this scene, the framed photographic portraits are not cartes de visite but larger prints deemed worthy of frames, not merely inclusion in an album. Photography’s registration of “what has been” (its indexicality) serves as a form of evidence: here scarred inanimate objects testify to the violence of war and connote both courage and suffering. (Text from the exhibition brochure) The 76th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry (or 76th OVI) was an infantry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment served in the Western Theater, primarily as part of the XV Corps in the Army of the Tennessee. During its term of service, the 76th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry participated in forty-four battles. While 270 men, including five officers, died from disease or accidents, an additional ninety-one men, including nine officers, received mortal wounds. Beyond these deaths, another 241 men suffered battlefield wounds but survived. Charles Robert Woods (February 19, 1827 – February 26, 1885) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War. He is noted for commanding the relief troops that first attempted to resupply Fort Sumter prior to the start of the conflict, and served with distinction during the war. William Burnham Woods (August 3, 1824 – May 14, 1887) was a United States Circuit Judge and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court as well as an Ohio politician and soldier in the Civil War. Captioned carte de visite (Emancipation) c. 1863 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, gift of Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby The women abolitionists of Indiana who selected the costume Truth wears in the adjacent photograph (no. 5) may have been inspired by pictures of female personifications carrying flags. For example, this carte de visite, entitled Emancipation, personifies the nation as a white woman who wraps an immense flag around two kneeling slaves. The printing press During the Civil War, the printing press itself came to stand for the Republican cause. The printing of money was even represented in a number of cartes de visite. Rightly paranoid that his paper reproduction could be mistaken for a counterfeit bill despite its smaller size, the printer of the “Twenty-Dollar Bill” fills the card’s back with text establishing its credentials as an authorized – and copyrighted – “souvenir.” In The Northern Star, four photographically reproduced, wrinkled one-dollar bills and one two-dollar bill rotate around the mirroring heads of Salmon Chase – Secretary of the Treasury, Republican, and abolitionist – and Abraham Lincoln. Between the two men’s heads at the center of the card is a barely comprehensible poem that ends with the line: “And Chase the money makes you know.” In the spatial configuration of the image, Chase is the Northern Star, the moneymaker, yet the inverse is true as well: the money makes you know Chase. Each one-dollar bill spinning around the central axis features his profile portrait. By contrast The Southern Cross mocks the Confederacy for its lack of “change” to “meet their bills.” Sojourner Truth was making a form of paper currency and her cheap paper notes, printed and reproduced in multiples, featured her portrait. This was no insignificant achievement. Like Chase she had put her face on paper that stood for economic value; like Chase she was publicizing her self and her politics with her portrait. Truth had invented her own kind of paper money and for the same reasons as the Republican government: in order to produce wealth dependent on a consensus that representation produces material results, to make money where there was none, and to do so partly in order to abolish slavery. (Text from the exhibition brochure) Captioned carte de visite (Learning is Wealth. Wilson, Charley, Rebecca & Rosa, Slaves from New Orleans) c. 1864 Albumen print mounted on cardboard 4 x 2 1/2 in. Courtesy Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby Part of the fundraising series devoted to the freed slaves of New Orleans, this carte de visite poses the formerly enslaved adult Wilson Chinn reading to Charley, Rebecca, and Rosa, freed children. Especially poignant is another paler, most likely later version, in which the caption is misspelled as ‘Lerning is Wealth’. Wealth, the caption proposes, derives from literacy, not slavery. Other cartes de visite of Wilson Chinn emphasize his abuse under slavery, displaying menacing chains at his feet and branded letters on his forehead, his former owner’s initials: “V. B. M.” The letters on Chinn’s forehead turn him into surface on which is inscribed the literacy of others. In this carte Wilson’s head is turned so we do not see that the man who reads from a book is likewise inscribed as a text; none of the children look to the alternative printing on his forehead. Exhibition dates: 17th June – 25th September 2016 Curator: Julian Cox This man is a living legend. What a strong body of socially conscious work he has produced over a long period of time. Each series proposes further insight into the human condition – and adds ‘value’ to series that have gone before. It is a though the artist possesses the intuition for a good story and the imagination to photograph it to best advantage, building the story over multiple encounters and contexts to form a thematic whole. In a press release for a currently showing parallel exhibition titled Journey at Edwynn Houk Gallery the text states, “Continuing in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Lyon forged a new style of realistic photography, described as “New Journalism,” where the photographer immerses himself in his subject’s world.” This reference to immersion is reinforced by the second quotation below, where “the power of Lyon’s work has often derived from his willingness of immerse himself entirely in the cultures and communities he documents.” While the observation is correct that the artist immerses himself in the cultures and communities he documents, this is different to the tradition of Robert Frank and to a lesser extent, Walker Evans. Frank was a Swiss man who imaged his impressions of America on a road trip across the country. His “photographs were notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society” which pictured the culture as both alienating and strange, “skeptical of contemporary values and evocative of ubiquitous loneliness”. This is why The Americans had so much power and caused so much consternation when it was first released in 1959 in America, for it held up a mirror to an insular society, one not used to looking at itself especially from the position of an “outsider” – where the tone of the book was perceived as derogatory to national ideals – and it didn’t like what it saw. The American Walker Evans was also an outsider photographing outsiders, journeying through disparate towns and communities documenting his impressions how I can I say, subjectively with an objective focus, at one and the same time. He never immersed himself in the culture but was an active observer and documenter, never an insider. Lyon was one of the first “embedded” social documentary photographers of the American street photography movement of the 1960s who had the free will and the social conscience to tell it like it is. His self-proclaimed “advocacy journalism” is much more than just advocacy / journalism. It is a vitality of being, of spirit, an inquiry of the mind that allows the artist to get close, both physically and emotionally, to the problems of others through becoming one with them – and then to picture that so that others can see their story, so that he can “change history and preserve humanity.” But, we must acknowledge, that humanity is mainly (good looking) males: outlaw motorcycle clubs, mainly male prisons, mainly male civil rights, tattoo shops, and male Uptown, Chicago. Women are seemingly reduced to bit-players at best, singular portraits or standing in the background at funerals. This is a man’s world and you better not forget it… Having said that, can you imagine living the life, spending four years as a member of the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club. How exhilarating, how enmeshed with the culture you would become – the people, the travel, the ups and downs, the life, the danger – and then when you get photographs like Funny Sonny Packing with Zipco, Milwaukee (1966, below) with the manic look in Funny Sonny’s eyes, how your heart would sing. If I had to nominate one image that is for me the epitome of America in the 1960s it would be this: Crossing the Ohio River, Louisville (1966, below): all Easy Rider (an 1969 American road movie) encapsulated in one image. The structure and modernism / of the two bridges frames / the speeding / wicked bike / helmet lodged over the headlight; the man / wearing a skull and crossbones emblazoned jacket / helmet-less / head turned / behind / hair flying in the wind / not looking where / he is going / as though his destiny: unknown. Danny Lyon IS one of the great artists working in photography today. He is a rebel with his own cause. Through his vital and engaging images his message to the future is this: everyone has their own story, their own trials and tribulations, each deserving of empathy, compassion, and non-judgemental acceptance. Prejudice has no voice here, a lesson never more pertinent than for America today as it decides who to elect – a woman who has fought every inch of the way or a narcissistic megalomaniac who preaches hate to minorities. Dr Marcus Bunyan . Many thankx to the Whitney Museum of American Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. “Closeness, both physical and emotional, is a recurring theme throughout the 175 works in “Message to the Future,” Lyon’s Whitney Museum retrospective, a quietly brilliant affair curated with panache by Julian Cox. (Later this year, the show will travel to the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, which organized it; Elisabeth Sussman oversaw the Whitney installation.) We see here a photographer who was witness to a changing America and, occasionally, other places in the world. Since the early ’60s, Lyon has been infiltrating outsider groups – talking to and photographing bikers, Texas prison inmates, and hippies, and learning from them by becoming close with them. It’s as if Lyon has no sense of personal space. That, as this revelatory show proves, is his greatest attribute… Lyon is a deft stylist who cares deeply about his subjects, to the point of exchanging letters with them for years after taking their pictures. What results is something more intimate, more political, and, in some ways, better than traditional photojournalism – a fuller portrait of America since the ’60s.” . In his 1981 book, “Danny Lyon: Pictures From the New World,” he wrote of starting out in the early ’60s. “Photography then seemed new and exciting, and all America, which I regarded with mystery and reverence, lay before me.” That sense of newness and excitement fills the show. What we’re discovering now, Lyon was discovering then – not just seeing or observing, but discovering, with the sense of revelation that brings. Mystery and reverence are here, too, but complicatedly. Framing them – debating with them? – are the clarity of precision the camera affords and a skepticism born of a forthrightly ’60s sensibility. Several photographs of the Occupy movement attest to how vigorous that sensibility remains… He was working as a documentarian but not a photojournalist. That’s an important distinction. These images are implicitly polemical – inevitably polemical, too. Rarely in our nation’s history has the distinction between what’s right and what’s wrong been as clear cut. Yet then as now, people matter more to Lyon than any ideological stance. Outsiders attract Lyon and populate the show: civil rights demonstrators, transgender people (in Galveston, Texas, of all places), lower Manhattan demolition crews, inmates, undocumented workers, Indians, Appalachian whites transplanted to Chicago, motorcycle gangs… Enclosure and entrapment are not for Lyon – nor, for that matter, is the absence of people (a very rare condition in his work). A larger restlessness in Lyon’s career reflects the energy so often evident within the frame – within the frame being another form of enclosure and entrapment. The South, Chicago, lower Manhattan, Texas, New Mexico, China, Haiti, Latin America share space in the show. Even so, sense of place doesn’t signify as much for Lyon as a sense of a place’s inhabitants. More likely he’d say that the two are indistinguishable. Looking at his pictures, you can see why he’d think so.” Mark Feeney. “Outsiders fill compelling Danny Lyon photography show,” on the Boston Globe website 8th July 2016 [Online] Cited 10/09/2016 18.2 x 12.2 cm (7 3/16 x 4 13/16 in.) Collection of the artist “The most comprehensive retrospective of the work of American photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon in twenty-five years debuts at the Whitney on June 17, 2016. The first major photography exhibition to be presented in the Museum’s downtown home, Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where it will make its West Coast debut at the de Young Museum on November 5, 2016. The exhibition assembles approximately 175 photographs and is the first to assess the artist’s achievements as a filmmaker. The presentation also includes a rare look at works from Lyon’s archives, including vintage prints, unseen 16mm film footage made inside Texas prisons, and his personal photo albums. A leading figure in the American street photography movement of the 1960s, Lyon has distinguished himself by the personal intimacy he establishes with his subjects and the inventiveness of his practice. Photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon (b. 1942) has over the past five decades presented a charged alternative to the sanitized vision of American life presented in the mass media. Throughout, he has rejected the standard detached humanism of the traditional documentary approach in favor of a more immersive, complicated involvement with his subjects. “You put a camera in my hand,” he has explained, “I want to get close to people. Not just physically close, emotionally close, all of it.” In the process he has made several iconic bodies of work, which have not only pictured recent history but helped to shape it. Lyon committed intensively to photography from the beginning. In 1962, while still a student at the University of Chicago, he hitchhiked to the segregated South to make a photographic record of the civil rights movement. He went on to photograph biker subcultures, explore the lives of the incarcerated, and document the architectural transformation of Lower Manhattan. He has traveled to Latin America and China, and has lived for years in New Mexico; the work he has made throughout these journeys demonstrates his respect for the people he photographs on the social and cultural margins. Message to the Future, shaped in collaboration with the artist, incorporates seldom-exhibited materials from Lyon’s archive, including rare vintage prints, previously unseen 16mm film footage made inside the Texas prisons, his personal photo albums, and related documents and ephemera. In his roles as a photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Lyon has reinvented the expectations for how the still photographic image can be woven together with journalism, books, films, and collage to present a diverse record of social customs and human behavior. His work, which he continues to make today, reveals a restless idealist, digging deep into his own life and those of his subjects to uncover the political in the personal and the personal in the political.” Text from the Whitney Museum of American Art Civil rights In the summer of 1962, Lyon hitchhiked to Cairo, Illinois, to witness demonstrations and a speech by John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), one of the most important organizations driving the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. Inspired to see the making of history firsthand, Lyon then headed to the South to participate in and photograph the civil rights movement. There, SNCC executive director James Forman recruited Lyon to be the organization’s first official photographer, based out of its Atlanta headquarters. Traveling throughout the South with SNCC, Lyon documented sit-ins, marches, funerals, and violent clashes with the police, often developing his negatives quickly in makeshift darkrooms. Lyon’s photographs were used in political posters, brochures, and leaflets produced by SNCC to raise money and recruit workers to the movement. Julian Bond, the communications director of SNCC, wrote of Lyon’s pictures, “They put faces on the movement, put courage in the fearful, shone light on darkness, and helped make the movement move.” Pumpkin and Roberta, Galveston, Texas 1967 Gelatin silver print Image 23.8 x 16.1 cm (6 3/8 x 9 3/8 in.); sheet 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 in.) Collection of the artist Prisons In 1967, Lyon applied to the Texas Department of Corrections for access to the state prisons. Dr. George Beto, then director of the prisons, granted Lyon the right to move freely among the various prison units, which he photographed and filmed extensively over a fourteen-month period. The result is a searing record of the Texas penal system and, symbolically, of incarceration everywhere. Lyon’s aim was to “make a picture of imprisonment as distressing as I knew it to be in reality.” This meant riding out to the fields to follow prisoners toiling in the sun, as well as visiting the Wynne Treatment Centre, which housed primarily convicts with mental disabilities. He befriended many of the prisoners, listening to their stories and finding the humanity in their experiences, and still maintains contact with some of them. Two Inmates, Goree Unit, Texas 1968 Gelatin silver print Image 16.8 x 24 cm (6 5/8 x 9 91/6 in.); sheet 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 in.) Collection of the artist The destruction of Lower Manhattan In late 1966 and into the summer of 1967, starting from his loft at the corner of Beekman and William Streets near City Hall Park, Lyon documented the demolition of some sixty acres of predominantly nineteenth-century buildings below Canal Street in lower Manhattan. With funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, he photographed most of the buildings that would be torn down to make way for the World Trade Center. Lyon recalled later: “I wanted to inhabit [the buildings] with feelings and give them and their demise a meaning.” Moving from the outside of the buildings to their deserted interiors, Lyon also took pictures of the workers involved in the demolition. The photographs, together with Lyon’s journal entries, became a book, published by Macmillan in 1969 and dedicated to his close friend, sculptor Mark di Suvero. The volume’s significance lies in part in its depiction of a city – and, more broadly, a culture – cannibalizing its own architectural history for the sake of development. Ruins of 100 Gold Street, New York 1967 23.6 x 23.4 cm (9 5/16 x 10 7/16 in.) Collection of Melissa Schiff Soros and Robert Soros The Bikeriders Lyon purchased his first motorcycle – a 1953 Triumph TR6 – in 1962, after spending weekends watching college friend and motorcycle racer Frank Jenner compete at informal dirt track races across the Midwest. When he returned to Chicago in 1965 after leaving SNCC, Lyon joined the hard-riding, hard-drinking Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club and began making photographs with a goal to “record and glorify the life of the American bike rider.” With clubs like the Hells Angels making headlines for their criminal and vigilante activities at the time, bikeriders were simultaneously feared for their anarchism and romanticized for their independence. Riding with the Outlaws, Lyon attempted to capture their way of life from the inside out. Their unapologetic pursuit of freedom and libertine pleasures compelled him to get close to them as people. Lyon’s images are intimate and familiar, whether taken during rides or at clubhouse meetings. He also used a tape recorder to document the bikers speaking for themselves, unobtrusively capturing their collective voice. The resulting photographs were gathered into the now classic book of the same name, published in 1968, combining his pictures with an edited transcription of the interviews. Benny, Grand and Division, Chicago 1965 Image 24.5 x 17.2 cm (9 5/8 x 6 3/4 in.) Collection of the artist New Mexico and the West Lyon headed west from New York in 1969. Tired of the hectic pace of the big city and in search of new surroundings, he settled in Sandoval County, New Mexico. He developed a great admiration for the region’s close knit communities of Native Americans and Chicanos. Lyon’s photographs and, increasingly, his films reflected his growing understanding of the cross-cultural flow between these disparate groups and how they interacted with the geography of the Southwest. With the help of his good friend, a migrant laborer named Eduardo Rivera Marquez, Lyon built a traditional adobe home for his family in Bernalillo, in the Rio Grande Valley just north of Albuquerque. As Lyon’s family grew, his children also became a frequent subject, often depicted against the dramatic Western landscape. Though Lyon moved back to New York in 1980, New Mexico would remain a center of gravity for the artist, who returned every summer with his family to photograph and make films. Films and montages Lyon started making 16mm films in earnest in the 1970s, focusing on marginalized communities and injustice as he had in his photographs. His subjects included Colombian street kids in Los Niños Abandonados (1975) and undocumented workers from Mexico in El Mojado (1974) and El Otro Lado (1978). Lyon has explained that after leaving the Texas prisons he struggled to move forward, feeling that there were “no more worlds to conquer” in creating photography books. Filmmaking became the means by which he could continue to make sense of the beauty and inequality he saw in the world around him. Lyon did not give up photography completely, however. He turned to assembling family albums and creating collaged works that he describes as montages, referencing the filmmaking practice of juxtaposing disparate images to form a continuous whole. Lyon’s montages combine multiple images and materials sourced from his archives. Initially meant as vehicles for reflection and, in the case of the albums, as family heirlooms, these deeply personal works bridge past generations of his family with his present. 1966 (printed 2008) Cibachrome print Image 25.7 x 25.7 cm (10 1/8 x 10 1/8 in.); sheet 35.6 x 27.9 cm (14 x 11 in.) Collection of the artist “The most comprehensive retrospective of the work of American photographer, filmmaker, and writer Danny Lyon in twenty-five years debuted at the Whitney on June 17, 2016. The first major photography exhibition to be presented in the Museum’s downtown home, Danny Lyon: Message to the Future is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, where it will make its West Coast debut at the de Young Museum on November 5, 2016. The exhibition assembles approximately 175 photographs and is the first to assess the artist’s achievements as a filmmaker as well as a photographer. The presentation also includes many objects that have seldom or never been exhibited before and offers a rare look at works from Lyon’s archives, including vintage prints, unseen 16mm film footage made inside Texas prisons, and his personal photo albums. A leading figure in the American street photography movement of the 1960s, Lyon has distinguished himself by the personal intimacy he establishes with his subjects and the inventiveness of his practice. With his ability to find beauty in the starkest reality, Lyon has presented a charged alternative to the vision of American life presented in the mass media. Throughout, he has rejected the traditional documentary approach in favor of a more immersive, complicated involvement with his subjects. “You put a camera in my hand,” he has explained, “I want to get close to people. Not just physically close, emotionally close, all of it.” In the process he has made several iconic bodies of work, which have not only pictured recent history, but helped to shape it. “We are delighted to partner with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on Danny Lyon: Message to the Future,” stated Adam D. Weinberg, the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. “Since the early 1960s, Lyon’s photographs and films have upturned conventional notions of American life. The Whitney has long championed Lyon’s work and we are thrilled to present this retrospective, which encompasses more than half a century of important work.” In 1962, while still a student at the University of Chicago, Lyon hitchhiked to the segregated South to make a photographic record of the Civil Rights movement. His other projects have included photographing biker subcultures, exploring the lives of individuals in prison, and documenting the architectural transformation of Lower Manhattan. Lyon has lived for years in New Mexico, and his commitment to personal adventure has taken him to Mexico and other countries in Latin America, China, and the less-traveled parts of the American West. “Danny Lyon is one of the great artists working in photography today,” said Julian Cox, Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Chief Curator at the de Young Museum. “Lyon’s dedication to his art and his conviction to produce work underpinned by strong ethical and ideological motivations sets him apart from many of his peers.” Press release from the Whitney Museum of American Art Ongoing activism Lyon’s first encounter with Latin America was through a trip to Colombia in February 1966, during which he photographed extensively in and around Cartagena. In the 1970s and 1980s, Lyon’s self-described “advocacy journalism” took him to Bolivia, where he captured the hard lives of rural miners; Mexico, where he photographed undocumented workers moving back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border; back to Colombia, where he made the film Los Niños Abandonados, chronicling the lives of street children; and to Haiti, where he witnessed firsthand the violent revolution overthrowing Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship. More recently, Lyon made six trips between 2005 and 2009 to Shanxi province in northeast China. Aided by a guide, he photographed the people living in this highly polluted coal-producing region. As in his work in the civil rights movement and the Texas prisons, Lyon’s photographs from his travels are examples of his advocacy journalism, part of his effort to “change history and preserve humanity.” Tags: A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus , allegory and myth , alvin langdon coburn , Alvin Langdon Coburn Leicester Square , Alvin Langdon Coburn Regent's Canal , Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age , Arthur Hacker , Arthur Hacker A Wet Night at Piccadilly Circus , Atkinson Grimshaw , Atkinson Grimshaw Bowder Stone , Atmosphere and Effect , Autochrome , autochrome process , autochromes , Beata Beatrix , Bowder Stone , British art , British painting of the 19th century , British photography , British Pictorialist photography , British Victorian photography , Call I Follow I Follow Let Me Die! , Camera Club , Carnation Lily Lily Rose , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Beata Beatrix , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Mariana , Dante Gabriel Rossetti Proserpine , Decorative Study , early British photography , Edward Linley Sambourne , Edward Linley Sambourne Ethel Warwick , Ethel Warwick Camera Club , Fred Holland Day , Frederick Goodall , Frederick Goodall The Song of the Nubian Slave , French realism , French realism and impressionism , Glacier of Rosenlaui , Haymaker with Rake , Henry La Thangue , Henry Wallis Chatterton , Impressionism , In the Studio , Into Light and Colour , James Abbott McNeill Whistler , James Abbott McNeill Whistler Three Figures Pink and Grey , James Robinson The Death of Chatterton , John Brett , John Brett Glacier of Rosenlaui , John Cimon Warburg , John Cimon Warburg Peggy in the Garden , John Cimon Warburg The Japanese Parasol , John Everett Millais , John Everett Millais The Woodman's Daughter , John Singer Sargent , John Singer Sargent Carnation Lily Lily Rose , Julia Margaret Cameron , Julia Margaret Cameron Call I Follow I Follow Let Me Die! , Julia Margaret Cameron Whisper of the Muse , Leicester Square (The Old Empire Theatre) , Life and Landscape , Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads , Marcus C. Stone Two's company and three's none , Mariana , Minna Keene , Minna Keene Decorative Study , Oscar Wilde , Out of the Shadows , painting with light , Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age , Peggy in the Garden , Peter Henry Emerson Haymaker with Rake , Peter Henry Emerson Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads , Peter Henry Emerson Setting the Bow-Net , photographic archives , Pictorialist photography , Pre-Raphaelite art , Pre-Raphaelite circle , Pre-Raphaelites , Proserpine , Regent's Canal , Roger Fenton , Roger Fenton The Water Carrier , Setting the Bow-Net , Sir George Clausen , Sir George Clausen Winter Work , Tableaux Vivants Devonport , Tate Britain , The Bow Net , The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes , The Death of Chatterton , The Hay Field , The Japanese Parasol , The Odor of Pomegranates , The Old Empire Theatre , The Song of the Nubian Slave , The Water Carrier , The Woodman's Daughter , Thomas Armstrong , Thomas Armstrong The Hay Field , Thomas Frederick Goodall and Peter Henry Emerson , Thomas Frederick Goodall Setting the Bow-Net , Thomas Frederick Goodall The Bow Net , Thomas Ogle , Thomas Ogle The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes , Three Figures Pink and Grey , Two's company and three's none , Walter Pater , Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde , Whisper of the Muse , Winter Work , Wordsworth Yew-Trees , Yew-Trees , Zaida Ben-Yusuf , Zaida Ben-Yusuf The Odor of Pomegranates Exhibition dates: 11th May – 25th September 2016 Curators: Dr Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915 at Tate Britain, and Dr Hope Kingsley, Curator, Education and Collections, Wilson Centre for Photography, with Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain An interesting concept for an exhibition. I would have liked to have seen the exhibition to make a more informed comment. Parallels can be drawn, but how much import you put on the connection is up to you vis-à-vis the aesthetic feeling and formal construction of each medium. It is fascinating to note how many of the original art works are photographs with the painting following at a later date, or vice versa. Photographically, Julia Margaret Cameron and John Cimon Warburg are the stars. Photographs have always been used by artists as aide-mémoire since the birth of photograph. Eugené Atget called his photographs of Paris “Documents pour artistes”, declaring his modest ambition to create images for other artists to use as source material … but I take that statement with a pinch of salt. Perhaps a salt print from a calotype paper negative! Marcus . Many thankx to the Tate for allowing me to publish the art work and photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. Tate Britain presents the first major exhibition to celebrate the spirited conversation between early photography and British art. It brings together photographs and paintings including Pre-Raphaelite, Aesthetic and British impressionist works. Spanning 75 years across the Victorian and Edwardian ages, the exhibition opens with the experimental beginnings of photography in dialogue with painters such as J.M.W. Turner and concludes with its flowering as an independent international art form. Stunning works by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, JAM Whistler, John Singer Sargent and others will for the first time be shown alongside ravishing photographs by pivotal early photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, which they inspired and which inspired them. Zaida Ben-Yusuf (21 November 1869 – 27 September 1933) was a New York-based portrait photographer noted for her artistic portraits of wealthy, fashionable, and famous Americans of the turn of the 19th-20th century. She was born in London to a German mother and an Algerian father, but became a naturalised American citizen later in life. In 1901 the Ladies Home Journal featured her in a group of six photographers that it dubbed, “The Foremost Women Photographers in America.” In 2008, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery mounted an exhibition dedicated solely to Ben-Yusuf’s work, re-establishing her as a key figure in the early development of fine art photography… In 1896, Ben-Yusuf began to be known as a photographer. In April 1896, two of her pictures were reproduced in The Cosmopolitan Magazine, and another study was exhibited in London as part of an exhibition put on by The Linked Ring. She travelled to Europe later that year, where she met with George Davison, one of the co-founders of The Linked Ring, who encouraged her to continue her photography. She exhibited at their annual exhibitions until 1902. In the spring of 1897, Ben-Yusuf opened her portrait photography studio at 124 Fifth Avenue, New York. On 7 November 1897, the New York Daily Tribune ran an article on Ben-Yusuf’s studio and her work creating advertising posters, which was followed by another profile in Frank Leslie’s Weekly on 30 December. Through 1898, she became increasingly visible as a photographer, with ten of her works in the National Academy of Design-hosted 67th Annual Fair of the American Institute, where her portrait of actress Virginia Earle won her third place in the Portraits and Groups class. During November 1898, Ben-Yusuf and Frances Benjamin Johnston held a two-woman show of their work at the Camera Club of New York. In 1899, Ben-Yusuf met with F. Holland Day in Boston, and was photographed by him. She relocated her studio to 578 Fifth Avenue, and exhibited in a number of exhibitions, including the second Philadelphia Photographic Salon. She was also profiled in a number of publications, including an article on female photographers in The American Amateur Photographer, and a long piece in The Photographic Times in which Sadakichi Hartmann described her as an “interesting exponent of portrait photography”. 1900 saw Ben-Yusuf and Johnston assemble an exhibition on American women photographers for the Universal Exposition in Paris. Ben-Yusuf had five portraits in the exhibition, which travelled to Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. She was also exhibited in Holland Day’s exhibition, The New School of American Photography, for the Royal Photographic Society in London, and had four photographs selected by Alfred Stieglitz for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1901, Scotland. In 1901, Ben-Yusuf wrote an article, “Celebrities Under the Camera”, for the Sunday Evening Post, where she described her experiences with her sitters. By this stage she had photographed Grover Cleveland, Franklin Roosevelt, and Leonard Wood, amongst others. For the September issue of Metropolitan Magazine she wrote another article, “The New Photography – What It Has Done and Is Doing for Modern Portraiture”, where she described her work as being more artistic than most commercial photographers, but less radical than some of the better-known art photographers. The Ladies Home Journal that November declared her to be one of the “foremost women photographers in America”, as she began the first of a series of six illustrated articles on “Advanced Photography for Amateurs” in the Saturday Evening Post. Ben-Yusuf was listed as a member of the first American Photographic Salon when it opened in December 1904, although her participation in exhibitions was beginning to drop off. In 1906, she showed one portrait in the third annual exhibition of photographs at Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, the last known exhibition of her work in her lifetime. Text from the Wikipedia website In the Studio Many photographers trained as painters. They set up studios and employed artists’ models, skilled at holding poses for the time it took to take a picture. Later in the century, improved photographic negatives required shorter exposure times and it became easier to stage and capture difficult positions and spontaneous gestures. Painters and illustrators used photographs as preparatory studies and as substitutes for props, costumes and models, and art schools created photographic archives for their students. Photographs commissioned and sold by institutions such as the British Museum made classical sculpture and old master paintings more accessible, inspiring both painters and photographers. Support: 622 x 933 mm frame: 905 x 1205 x 132 mm Tate Bequeathed by Charles Gent Clement 1899 Chatterton is Wallis’s earliest and most famous work. The picture created a sensation when it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1856, accompanied by the following quotation from Marlowe: Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough. . Ruskin described the work in his Academy Notes as ‘faultless and wonderful’. Thomas Chatterton (1752-70) was an 18th Century poet, a Romantic figure whose melancholy temperament and early suicide captured the imagination of numerous artists and writers. He is best known for a collection of poems, written in the name of Thomas Rowley, a 15th Century monk, which he copied onto parchment and passed off as mediaeval manuscripts. Having abandoned his first job working in a scrivener’s office he struggled to earn a living as a poet. In June 1770 he moved to an attic room at 39 Brooke Street, where he lived on the verge of starvation until, in August of that year, at the age of only seventeen, he poisoned himself with arsenic. Condemned in his lifetime as a forger by influential figures such as the writer Horace Walpole (1717-97), he was later elevated to the status of tragic hero by the French poet Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863). Wallis may have intended the picture as a criticism of society’s treatment of artists, since his next picture of note, The Stonebreaker (1858, Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery), is one of the most forceful examples of social realism in Pre-Raphaelite art. The painting alludes to the idea of the artist as a martyr of society through the Christ-like pose and the torn sheets of poetry on the floor. The pale light of dawn shines through the casement window, illuminating the poet’s serene features and livid flesh. The harsh lighting, vibrant colours and lifeless hand and arm increase the emotional impact of the scene. A phial of poison on the floor indicates the method of suicide. Following the Pre-Raphaelite credo of truth to nature, Wallis has attempted to recreate the same attic room in Gray’s Inn where Chatterton had killed himself. The model for the figure was the novelist George Meredith (1828-1909), then aged about 28. Two years later Wallis eloped with Meredith’s wife, a daughter of the novelist Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866). Text from the Tate website The Death of Chatterton (detail) 1859 Two photographs, hand-tinted albumen prints on paper mounted on card Collection Dr Brian May THIS STEREOCARD IS NOT IN THE EXHIBITION One of the most famous paintings of Victorian times was Chatterton, 1856 (Tate) by the young Pre-Raphaelite-style artist, Henry Wallis (1830-1916). Again, the tale of the suicide of the poor poet, Thomas Chatterton, exposed as a fraud for faking medieval histories and poems to get by, had broad appeal. Chatterton was also an 18th-century figure, but Wallis set his picture in a bare attic overlooking the City of London which evoked the urban poverty of his own age. The picture toured the British Isles and hundreds of thousands flocked to pay a shilling to view it. One of these was James Robinson, who saw the painting when it was in Dublin. He immediately conceived a stereographic series of Chatterton’s life. Unfortunately Robinson started with Wallis’s scene (The Death of Chatterton, 1859). Within days of its publication, legal procedures began, claiming his picture threatened the income of the printmaker who had the lucrative copyright to publish engravings of the painting. The ensuing court battles were the first notorious copyright cases. Robinson lost, but strangely, in 1861, Birmingham photographer Michael Burr published variations of Death of Chatterton with no problems. No other photographer was ever prosecuted for staging a stereoscopic picture after a painting and the market continued to thrive… Robinson’s The Death of Chatterton illustrates the way this uncanny quality [the ability to record reality in detail] distinguishes the stereograph from even the immaculate Pre-Raphaelite style of Wallis’s painting of the same subject. The stereograph represented a young man in 18th-century costume on a bed. The backdrop was painted, but the chest, discarded coat and candle were real. Again, the light and colour appear crude in comparison with the painting but the stereoscope records ‘every stick, straw, scratch’ in a manner that the painting cannot. The torn paper pieces, animated by their three-dimensionality, trace the poet’s recent agitation, while the candle smoke, representing his extinguished life, is different in each photograph due to their being taken at separate moments. The haphazard creases of the bed sheet are more suggestive of restless movement, now stilled, than Wallis’s elegant drapery. Even the individuality of the boy adds potency to his death. Extract from the essay by Carol Jacobi. “Tate Painting and the Art of Stereoscopic Photography,” on the Tate website 17th October, 2014 [Online] Cited 14/02/2015 support: 864 x 660 mm frame: 1212 x 1015 x 104 mm Presented by Georgiana, Baroness Mount-Temple in memory of her husband, Francis, Baron Mount-Temple 1889 Rossetti draws a parallel in this picture between the Italian poet Dante’s despair at the death of his beloved Beatrice and his own grief at the death of his wife Elizabeth Siddal, who died on 11 February 1862. Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) recounted the story of his unrequited love and subsequent mourning for Beatrice Portinari in the Vita Nuova. This was Rossetti’s first English translation and appeared in 1864 as part of his own publication, The Early Italian Poets. The picture is a portrait of Elizabeth Siddall in the character of Beatrice. It has a hazy, transcendental quality, giving the sensation of a dream or vision, and is filled with symbolic references. Rossetti intended to represent her, not at the moment of death, but transformed by a ‘sudden spiritual transfiguration’ (Rossetti, in a letter of 1873, quoted in Wilson, p.86). She is posed in an attitude of ecstasy, with her hands before her and her lips parted, as if she is about to receive Communion. According to Rossetti’s friend F.G. Stephens, the grey and green of her dress signify ‘the colours of hope and sorrow as well as of love and life’ (‘Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti’, Portfolio, vol.22, 1891, p.46). In the background of the picture the shadowy figure of Dante looks across at Love, portrayed as an angel and holding in her palm the flickering flame of Beatrice’s life. In the distance the Ponte Vecchio signifies the city of Florence, the setting for Dante’s story. Beatrice’s impending death is evoked by the dove – symbol of the holy spirit – which descends towards her, an opium poppy in its beak. This is also a reference to the death of Elizabeth Siddall, known affectionately by Rossetti as ‘The Dove’, and who took her own life with an overdose of laudanum. Both the dove and the figure of Love are red, the colour of passion, yet Rossetti envisaged the bird as a messenger, not of love, but of death. Beatrice’s death, which occurred at nine o’clock on 9th June 1290, is foreseen in the sundial which casts its shadow over the number nine. The picture frame, which was designed by Rossetti, has further references to death and mourning, including the date of Beatrice’s death and a phrase from Lamentations 1:1, quoted by Dante in the Vita Nuova: ‘Quomodo sedet sola civitas’ (‘how doth the city sit solitary’), referring to the mourning of Beatrice’s death throughout the city of Florence. Text from the Tate website Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die! 1867 © Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum / Science & Society Picture Library In late 1865, Julia Margaret Cameron began using a larger camera. It held a 15 x 12 inch glass negative, rather than the 12 x 10 inch negative of her first camera. Early the next year she wrote to Henry Cole with great enthusiasm – but little modesty – about the new turn she had taken in her work. Cameron initiated a series of large-scale, closeup heads that fulfilled her photographic vision. She saw them as a rejection of ‘mere conventional topographic photography – map-making and skeleton rendering of feature and form’ in favour of a less precise but more emotionally penetrating form of portraiture. Cameron also continued to make narrative and allegorical tableaux, which were larger and bolder than her previous efforts. In this image, Cameron concentrates upon the head of her maid Mary Hillier by using a darkened background and draping her in simple dark cloth. The lack of surrounding detail or context obscures references to narrative, identity or historical context. The flowing hair, lightly parted lips and exposed neck suggest sensuality. The title, taken from a line in the poem ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ from Alfred Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of the King’, transforms the subject into a tragic heroine. New truths Mid-nineteenth century innovations in science and the arts became part of intense debates about ‘truth’ – variously defined as objective observation and as individual artistic vision. Inspired by artist and critic John Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite circle took a new approach to nature, discovering meaning in details previously overlooked, ‘rejecting nothing, selecting nothing’. As the quality of paints and lenses improved, painters and photographers tested the bounds of perception and representation. They moved out of the studio, to explore light and other atmospheric effects as well as geological subjects, landscape and architecture. New photographic materials like glass plate negatives and coated printed papers offered greater accuracy and photography became a valuable aid for painters. Thomas Ogle The Bowder Stone in Our English Lakes, Mountains and Waterfalls as seen by William Wordsworth by A.W. Bennett Published 1864 View taken by Thomas Ogle of the Bowder Stone in Borrowdale, Cumbria, illustrating ‘Our English Lakes, Mountains, And Waterfalls, as seen by William Wordsworth’ (1864). The book juxtaposes photographs of the Lake District with poems by the English Romantic poet. The Bowder Stone, an enormous boulder, was probably deposited by glaciation during the last Ice Age. It rests in Borrowdale, a valley of woods and crags in the Lake District whose scenic beauty inspired artists, writers and poets of the Romantic Movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Wordsworth (1770-1850) was among them, and the photograph of the Bowder Stone accompanies his poem, ‘Yew-Trees’ (1803), from which the following passage is taken: “…But worthier still of note Are those fraternal four of Borrowdale, Joined in one solemn and capacious grove; Huge trunks! – and each particular trunk a growth Of intertwined fibres serpentine Nor uninformed with phantasy, and looks That threaten the profane; – a pillared shade, Upon whose grassless floor of red-brown hue, By sheddings from the pining umbrage tinged Perenially – beneath whole sable roof Of boughs, as if for festal purpose, decked With unrejoicing berries, ghostly shapes May meet at noontide – Fear and trembling Hope, Silence and Foresight – Death the skeleton And Time the shadow…” Text from the British Library website support: 400 x 536 mm frame: 662 x 709 x 100 mm Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1983 “Tate Britain uncovers the dynamic dialogue between British painters and photographers; from the birth of the modern medium to the blossoming of art photography. Spanning over 70 years, the exhibition brings together nearly 200 works – many for the first time – to reveal their mutual influences. From the first explorations of movement and illumination by David Octavius Hill (1802-70) and Robert Adamson (1821-48) to artful compositions at the turn-of-the-century, the show discovers how painters and photographers redefined notions of beauty and art itself. The dawn of photography coincided with a tide of revolutionary ideas in the arts, which questioned how pictures should be created and seen. Photography adapted the Old Master traditions within which many photographers had been trained, and engaged with the radical naturalism of JMW Turner (1775-1851), the Pre-Raphaelites, and their Realist and Impressionist successors. Turner inspired the first photographic panoramic views, and, in the years that followed his death, photographers and painters followed in his footsteps and composed novel landscapes evoking meaning and emotion. The exhibition includes examples such as John Everett Millais’s (1829-96) nostalgic The Woodman’s Daughter and John Brett’s (1831-1902) awe inspiring Glacier Rosenlaui. Later in the century, PH Emerson (1856-1936) and TF Goodall’s (c1856-1944) images of rural river life allied photography to Impressionist painting, while JAM Whistler (1834-1903) and Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) created smoky Thames nocturnes in both media. The exhibition celebrates the role of women photographers, such as Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933) and the renowned Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79). Cameron’s artistic friendships with George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1830-94) are recognised in a room devoted to their beautiful, enigmatic portraits of each other and shared models, where works including Cameron’s Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die and Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix are on display. Highlights of the show include examples of three-dimensional photography, which incorporated the use of models and props to stage dramatic tableaux from popular works of the time, re-envisioning well-known pictures such as Henry Wallis’s (1830-1916) Chatterton. Such stereographs were widely disseminated and made art more accessible to the public, often being used as a form of after-dinner entertainment for middle class Victorian families. A previously unseen private album in which the Royal family painstakingly re-enacted famous paintings is also exhibited, as well as rare examples of early colour photography. Carol Jacobi, Curator British Art 1850-1915, Tate Britain says: “Painting with Light offers new insights into Britain’s most popular artists and reveals just how vital painting and photography were to one another. Their conversations were at the heart of the artistic achievements of the Victorian and Edwardian era.” Painting with Light: Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age is curated by Dr Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art 1850-1915 at Tate Britain, and Dr Hope Kingsley, Curator, Education and Collections, Wilson Centre for Photography, with Tim Batchelor, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue from Tate Publishing and a programme of talks and events in the gallery.” Press release from Tate Britain ‘Whisper of the Muse’ As the nineteenth century progressed, some artists moved away from the clarity and detail that had been the aim of earlier Pre-Raphaelite art, turning instead to a search for pure beauty. The aesthetic movement, as this tendency came to be known, emphasised the sensual qualities of art and design and explored imaginative themes and effects. In London and on the Isle of Wight, a community of artists forged closer links between the visual arts, music and literature. This circle included the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, painters George Frederic Watts and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the poet Alfred Tennyson. Rossetti and Cameron worked with similar subjects, many inspired by Tennyson’s poetry. Together with Watts they developed a newly-intimate form of portraiture, exploring emotional and psychological states. They also shared models, whose striking looks introduced new types of modern beauty. Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum Collection Into Light and Colour In the second half of the nineteenth century Japanese culture became an important influence in Britain. Japanese goods were sold in London in new department stores such as Liberty, while the Japanese Village, established in Knightsbridge in 1885, attracted more than a million visitors. Japanese props and motifs appeared in art and design and the vogue for Japanese prints inspired painters and photographers. Painters experimented with new colour palettes, flattened picture planes and condensed, cropped formats, innovations also important to later British impressionist works. Such experiments in light and colour were paralleled in photography with the 1907 introduction of the autochrome, the first practical colour photographic process. Photograph, transparency on lightbox from autochrome Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum / Science and Society Picture Library John Cimon Warburg (1867-1931) British photographer born to a wealthy family dedicated his whole life to photography. In 1897, he joined the Royal Photographic Society. During his photographic career, John Cimon Warburg used a wide range of photographic processes, but excelled especially in autochromes. Best known for his atmospheric landscapes and its fascinating studies of his children, Warburg lectured and written about the process and explained his autochromes the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society. (Text from the Autochrome website ) Patented by the Lumière brothers in 1903, Autochrome produced a color transparency using a layer of potato starch grains dyed red, green and blue, along with a complex development process. Autochromes required longer exposure times than traditional black-and-white photos, resulting in images with a hazy, blurred atmosphere filled with pointillist dots of color. (See some fantastic images on the Mashable website ) Tate. Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1887 The inspiration for Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose came during a boating expedition Sargent took on the Thames at Pangbourne in September 1885, with the American artist Edwin Austin Abbey, during which he saw Chinese lanterns hanging among trees and lilies. He began the picture while staying at the home of the painter F.D. Millet at Broadway, Worcestershire, shortly after his move to Britain from Paris. At first he used the Millets’s five-year-old daughter Katharine as his model, but she was soon replaced by Polly and Dorothy (Dolly) Barnard, the daughters of the illustrator Frederick Barnard, because they had the exact hair-colour Sargent was seeking. He worked on the picture, one of the few figure compositions he ever made out of doors in the impressionist manner, from September to early November 1885, and again at the Millets’s new home, Russell House, Broadway, during the summer of 1886, completing it some time in October. Sargent was able to work for only a few minutes each evening when the light was exactly right. He would place his easel and paints beforehand, and pose his models in anticipation of the few moments when he could paint the mauvish light of dusk. As autumn came and the flowers died, he was forced to replace the blossoms with artificial flowers. The picture was both acclaimed and decried at the 1887 Royal Academy exhibition. The title comes from the song The Wreath, by the eighteenth-century composer of operas Joseph Mazzinghi, which was popular in the 1880s. Sargent and his circle frequently sang around the piano at Broadway. The refrain of the song asks the question ‘Have you seen my Flora pass this way?’ to which the answer is ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’. Text from the Tate website Unknown photographer H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, H.R.H. Princess Victoria & Mr. Savile, “Two’s company and three’s none” in Tableaux Vivants Devonport c. 1892-1893 Bound volume. Displayed open at Marcus C. Stone’s ‘Two’s Company, Three’s None” Photograph, albumen print on paper 360 x 480 x 58 mm – book closed Wilson Centre for Photography Unknown photographer H.R.H. Princess Alexandra, H.R.H. Princess Victoria & Mr. Savile, “Two’s company and three’s none” in Tableaux Vivants Devonport (detail) c. 1892-1893 Bound volume. Displayed open at Marcus C. Stone’s ‘Two’s Company, Three’s None” Photograph, albumen print on paper 360 x 480 x 58 mm – book closed Wilson Centre for Photography Three Figures Pink and Grey 1868-78 Support: 1391 x 1854 mm frame: 1701 x 2158 x 75 mm Tate Purchased with the aid of contributions from the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers as a Memorial to Whistler, and from Francis Howard 1950 This picture derives from one of six oil sketches that Whistler produced in 1868 as part of a plan for a frieze, commissioned by the businessman F.R. Leyland (1831-92), founder of the Leyland shipping line. Known as the ‘Six Projects’, the sketches (now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington) were all scenes with women and flowers, and all six were strongly influenced by his admiration for Japanese art. Another precedent for these works was The Story of St George, a frieze that Edward Burne-Jones (1833-98) executed for the artist and illustrator Myles Birket Foster (1825-99) in 1865-7. The series of large pictures was destined for Leyland’s house at Prince’s Gate, but never produced, and only one – The White Symphony: Three Girls (1867) was finished, but was later lost. Whistler embarked on a new version, Three Figures: Pink and Grey, but was never satisfied with this later painting, and described it as, ‘a picture in no way representative, and in its actual condition absolutely worthless’ (quoted in Wilton and Upstone, p.117). He followed the original sketch closely, but made a number of pentimenti which suggest that the picture is not simply a copy of the lost work. In spite of Whistler’s dissatisfaction, it has some brilliant touches and a startlingly original composition. Although the three figures are clearly engaged in tending a flowering cherry tree, Whistler’s aim in this picture is to create a mood or atmosphere, rather than to suggest any kind of theme. Parallels have been drawn with the work of Albert Moore, whose work of this period is equally devoid of narrative meaning. The design is economical and the picture space is partitioned like a Japanese interior. The shallow, frieze-like arrangement, the blossoming plant and the right-hand figure’s parasol are also signs of deliberate Japonisme. Whistler has suppressed some of the details in the oil sketch, effectively disrobing the young girls by depicting them in diaphanous robes. The painting is characterised by pastel shades, a ‘harmony’ of pink and grey, punctuated by the brighter reds of the flower pot and the girls’ bandannas, and the turquoise wall behind. It has been suggested that Whistler derived his colour schemes, and even the figures themselves, in their rhythmically flowing drapery, from polychrome Tanagra figures in the British Museum, which was opposite his studio in Great Russell Street. Text from the Tate website © Royal Photographic Society / National Media Museum/ Science & Society Picture Library Life and Landscape The 1880s brought a renewed interest in landscape. Rural scenes provided common ground for British painters and photographers. Their distinctive style derived from French realism and impressionism, which had been introduced by independent galleries, and by artists such as George Clausen and Henry La Thangue who studied in Paris. This new approach was shared by their friend and fellow painter Thomas Goodall, and influenced his collaboration with the photographer Peter Henry Emerson. Emerson and Goodall’s first project, a photographic series on the Norfolk Broads, focused on the life of working people, as described in their album Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, published in 1887. frame: 1075 x 1212 x 115 mm support: 775 x 921 mm Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1983 © The estate of Sir George Clausen In the 1880s Clausen devoted himself to painting realistic scenes of rural work after seeing such pictures by the French artist Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-84). In this picture he shows a family of field workers topping and tailing swedes for sheep fodder. It was painted at Chilwick Green near St Albans, where the artist had moved in 1881. He uses subdued colouring to capture the dull light and cold of winter, and manages to convey the hard reality of country work. Such unromanticised scenes of country life were often rejected by the selectors of the Royal Academy annual exhibitions. Thomas Frederick Goodall (1856-1944) and Peter Henry Emerson (1856-1936) Setting the Bow-Net, in Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads 1885, published 1887 Book – open at The Bow Net Photograph, platinum print on paper 300 x 420 mm (book closed) Private collection The Song of the Nubian Slave 1863 71.20 x 92.0 x 2.30 cm Oil on canvas Photo credit: © Royal Academy of Arts, London; Photographer: John Hammond Out of the Shadows In the late nineteenth century, painters and photographers pursued the representation of an idealised beauty, inspired by Italian Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Themes of allegory and myth were widely explored in the arts at this time, particularly in Britain in the writings of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde. At the turn of the century painting and photography were part of a wider artistic search for harmony between subject matter and expression. Artists found inspiration in each other’s practice and continued to share ideas through illustrated books and journals. This spirit of collaboration and interchange led photographer Fred Holland Day to claim that ‘the photographer no longer speaks the language of chemistry, but that of poetry’. Exhibition dates: 27th May – 7th September 2016 To understand the production of art at the end of tradition, which in our lifetime means art at the end of modernism, requires, as the postmodern debate has shown, a careful consideration of the idea of history and the notion of ending. Rather than just thinking ending as the arrival of the finality of a fixed chronological moment, it can also be thought as a slow and indecisive process of internal decomposition that leaves in place numerous deposits of us, in us and with us – all with a considerable and complex afterlife. In this context all figuration is prefigured. This is to say that the design element of the production of a work of art, the compositional, now exists prior to the management of form of, and on, the picture plane. Techniques of assemblage, like montage and collage – which not only juxtaposed different aesthetics but also different historical moments, were the precursors of what is now the general condition of production. Fry, Tony. “Art Byting the Dust,” in Hayward, Phillip. Culture, Technology and Creativity in the Late Twentieth Century. London: John Libbey and Company, 1990, pp. 169-170. . Many thankx to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. In order to understand the present we must link it to the self transforming urges of the past. We must see it as an evolutionary urge toward a transformation of all traditional notions, as a gradual process of growth in which several earlier currents have penetrated one another and thus have changed their very essence. . Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection © 2016 Hattula Moholy-Nagy/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Photo: Kristopher McKay © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York From May 27 to September 7, 2016, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the first comprehensive retrospective in the United States in nearly fifty years of the work of pioneering artist and educator László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946). Organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Moholy-Nagy: Future Present examines the full career of the utopian modernist who believed in the potential of art as a vehicle for social transformation, working hand in hand with technology. Despite Moholy-Nagy’s prominence and the visibility of his work during his lifetime, few exhibitions have conveyed the experimental nature of his work, his enthusiasm for industrial materials, and his radical innovations with movement and light. This long overdue presentation, which encompasses his multidisciplinary methodology, brings together more than 300 works drawn from public and private collections across Europe and the United States, some of which have never before been shown publicly in this country. After its debut presentation in New York, the exhibition will travel to the Art Institute of Chicago (October 2, 2016 – January 3, 2017) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (February 12 – June 18, 2017). Moholy-Nagy: Future Present provides an opportunity to examine the full career of this influential Bauhaus teacher, founder of Chicago’s Institute of Design, and versatile artist who paved the way for increasingly interdisciplinary and multimedia work and practice. Among his radical innovations were his experiments with cameraless photographs (which he dubbed “photograms”); use of industrial materials in painting and sculpture that was unconventional for his time; researching with light, transparency, and movement; his work at the forefront of abstraction; and his ability to move fluidly between the fine and applied arts. The exhibition is presented chronologically up the Guggenheim’s rotunda and features collages, drawings, ephemera, films, paintings, photograms, photographs, photomontages, and sculptures. The exception to the sequential order is Room of the Present (Raum der Gegenwart) in the High Gallery, a contemporary fabrication of a space originally conceived by Moholy-Nagy in 1930 but never realized in his lifetime. Constructed by designers Kai-Uwe Hemken and Jakob Gebert, the large-scale work contains photographic reproductions, films, slides, documents, and replicas of architecture, theater, and industrial design, including a 2006 replica of his kinetic Light Prop for an Electric Stage (Lichtrequisit einer elektrischen Bühne, 1930). Room of the Present illustrates the artist’s belief in the power of images and his approach to the various means with which to view them – a highly relevant paradigm in today’s constantly shifting and evolving technological world. Room of the Present will be on display at all three exhibition venues and for the first time in the United States. The Guggenheim installation is designed by Kelly Cullinan, Senior Exhibition Designer, and is inspired by Moholy-Nagy’s texts on space and his concept of a “spatial kaleidoscope” as applied to the experience of walking up the ramps. Born in 1895 in Austria-Hungary (now southern Hungary), Moholy-Nagy moved to Vienna briefly and then to Berlin in 1920, where he encountered Dada artists, whose distinctive visual attributes of the urban industrial landscape had already entered his work. He was also influenced by the Constructivists, and exhibited work on several occasions at Berlin’s Der Sturm gallery. During this time, Moholy-Nagy experimented with metal constructions, photograms, and enamel paintings. At the same moment, in his ongoing quest to depict light and transparency, he painted abstract canvases composed of floating geometric shapes. While teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar and then Dessau, he and Walter Gropius pioneered the Bauhaus Books series, which advanced Moholy-Nagy’s belief that arts education and administration went hand in hand with the practice of art making. Around this period, the artist became temporarily disenchanted with the limitations of traditional painting. Photography took on greater importance for him, and he described the photogram as “a bridge leading to new visual creation for which canvas, paint-brush and pigment cannot serve.” He fashioned photomontages by combining photographs (usually found) and newspaper images into absurd, satirical, or fantastical narratives. When he moved back to Berlin in 1928, he enjoyed success as a commercial artist, exhibition and stage designer, and typographer, examples of which will be on display in Moholy-Nagy: Future Present. Adolf Hitler’s rise to power made life increasingly difficult for the avant-garde in Germany; thus, in 1934 Moholy-Nagy moved with his family to the Netherlands and then to London. Once he moved to Chicago in 1937, he never returned to Europe. Moholy-Nagy immigrated to Chicago to become founding director of the New Bauhaus, known today as the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He also made some of his most original and experimental work during this time, pursuing his longtime fascination with light, shadow, transparency, and motion. He continued to make photograms, created his Space Modulators (hybrids of painting and sculpture made from Plexiglas), and pioneered 35 mm color slide photography, shown as projections in the exhibition. He gave his full attention to American exhibition venues before his untimely death of leukemia in 1946, showing nearly three dozen times across the United States – including in four solo shows. Moholy-Nagy was a central figure in the history of the Guggenheim Museum. His work was included in the museum’s founding collection, and he held a special place at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, the forerunner of the Guggenheim Museum. He was among the first artists director Hilla Rebay exhibited and collected in depth, and the museum presented a memorial exhibition shortly after his death. Moholy-Nagy: Future Present highlights the artist’s interdisciplinary and investigative approach, migrating from the school to the museum or gallery space, consistently pushing toward the Gesamtwerk, the total work, which he sought to achieve throughout his lifetime. Press release from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Exhibition dates: 25th March – 4th September 2016 Curator: Christine Macel Artists include: Pawel Althamer/ Maja Bajević / Yto Barrada / Jean-Michel Basquiat / Taysir Batniji / Christian Boltanski / Erik Boulatov / Mohammed Bourouissa / Frédéric Bruly Bouabré / Sophie Calle and Greg Shephard / Mircea Cantor / Chen Zhen / Hassan Darsi / Destroy All Monsters / Atul Dodiya / Marlene Dumas / Ayşe Erkmen / Fang Lijun / Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujica / Samuel Fosso / Michel François / Coco Fusco und Paula Heredia / Regina José Galindo / Kendell Geers / Liam Gillick / Fernanda Gomes / Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster / Felix Gonzalez-Torres / Renée Green / Subodh Gupta / Andreas Gursky / Hans Haacke / Petrit Halilaj / Edi Hila / Gregor Hildebrandt / Thomas Hirschhorn / Nicholas Hlobo / Carsten Höller / Pierre Huyghe / Fabrice Hyber / Isaac Julien / Oleg Kulik / Glenn Ligon / Robert Longo / Sarah Lucas / Gonçalo Mabunda / David Maljković / Chris Marker / Ahmed Mater / Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy / Annette Messager / Rabih Mroué / Zanele Muholi / Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba / Roman Ondák / Gabriel Orozco / Damián Ortega / Philippe Parreno / Nira Pereg / Dan Perjovschi / Wilfredo Prieto / Tobias Putrih / Walid Raad / Sara Rahbar / Tobias Rehberger / Nick Relph und Oliver Payne / Pipilotti Rist / Chéri Samba / Anne-Marie Schneider / Santiago Sierra / Mladen Stilinović / Georges Tony Stoll / Wolfgang Tillmans / Rirkrit Tiravanija / Danh Vo / Marie Voignier / Akram Zaatari / Zhang Huan Take your pick: some interesting, some not. My favourite: Annette Messager Mes voeux (1989, below) … such a strong, creative and inspiring artist. I’m not writing so much as I have bad RSI in my left wrist at the moment. Marcus . Many thankx to Haus der Kunst for allowing me to publish the art work in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. In 2016, two prominent exhibition projects explore the pressing question of which factors remain relevant to the writing of art history. While “Postwar – Art between the Pacific and Atlantic, 1945-1965” concentrates on the time immediately after World War II, “A History: Contemporary Art from the Centre Pompidou” provides an overview of contemporary art since the 1980s with 160 works by more than 100 artists. The year 1989 marked a break with the past and the start of a new era. The fall of the Berlin Wall toppled divisions in the world of European art, while the events of Tiananmen Square focused attention on a new China. The ongoing globalization allows for an unprecedented mobility. The static understanding of identity, once based on origin and nationality, has since given way to a more transnational and variable narrative. Contemporary artistic proposals, which arise from the new “decolonized subjectivity”, are also based on a new understanding of site-specificity. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the protagonists of Land Art still understood landscapes primarily as post-industrial ruins. In contemporary artistic practice, however, space is defined above all socially and politically – by traumatic historical events, home country, exile, diaspora and hybrid identities, such as African-American, Latino, Turkish-German, African-Brazilian, and so forth. The new presentation of the Centre Pompidou contemporary collections at Haus der Kunst focuses particularly on this altered geography, notably the former Eastern Europe, China, Lebanon, and various Middle Eastern countries, India, Africa, and Latin America. This is the first time such a large-scale view of the Centre Pompidou collection has been presented outside France. 355.6 x 609.6 x 152.4 cm Fibre de verre, photographie, isorel, tissu polyester, aluminium, peinture acrylique Fronton en fibre de verre, 1 plaque en fibre de verre avec texte en anglais, 1 photographie noir et blanc en 5 parties contrecollées sur isorel, 3 bannières en tissu synthétique polyester montées chacune sur 2 tubes en aluminium: à gauche et à droite 2 bannières bleues avec texte en anglais (lettres en tissu polyester blanc découpées et cousues), au centre 1 bannière marron avec agrandissement photographique en tissu découpé et cousu et texte en anglais), estrade en 8 éléments de fibre de verre peinte à l’acrylique Achat en 1988, Ankauf / Purchase Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle Crédit photographique: © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. RMN-GP Copyright de l’oeuvre: © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2016 Marche de soutien à la campagne sur le SIDA 1988 Huile et paillettes sur toile préparée Achat en 1990 Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle © Chéri Samba, photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Philippe Migeat/Dist. RMN-GP Haus der Kunst is pleased to present A History: Contemporary Art from Centre Pompidou, an exhibition originally curated by Christine Macel at the Centre Pompidou, Paris. With approximately 160 works by more than 100 artists from across the world, “A History: Contemporary Art from the Centre Pompidou” provides an incisive overview of artistic positions since the 1980s in painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography, and performance. The Centre Pompidou’s collection of contemporary art has rarely been presented so comprehensively outside France. The selected works on view date from the 1980s to the present raising two significant questions: What factors are relevant for ensuring that art history is written in a specific way, and what does an ever changing understanding of the term ‘contemporary’ mean for public museums and their collections? Still, the concentration on Euro- American domains, which many museums formerly pursued in the acquisition of works for their collections, can hardly be sustained today and is no longer the aspiration of most museums. Globalization, with its expanded narratives, has recently become too determining for the position of contemporary art to ignore. Curator Christine Macel defines her intention accordingly: to present ‘one’ among many possible histories of contemporary art. With the progression of globalization – understood here as the consolidation of economic, technological and financial systems, but also the questioning of linear history, and hegemonic cultural narratives – our perception of identity has changed. Since the first globally-oriented biennial in Havana in 1986, exhibition organizers and larger museums in Europe and North America have strived to display art created beyond the Western artistic circuit. The static understanding of identity as something based in origins and a “home base” has largely given way to a transnational and variable one. The turning point for Centre Pompidou was its 1989 exhibition “Les Magiciens de la Terre”, in which curator Jean-Hubert Martin aimed to confront the problematic phenomenon of “one hundred percent of exhibitions that ignore eighty percent of the world.” Half the participating artists came from non-Western countries, while the other half came from the West. In addition, all exhibiting artists were – without exception – still active, making the presentation truly contemporary. Since then, the Centre Pompidou, like many large museums, has had to confront the reality of the expanded circuits of contemporary art. Over the years the museum gradually changed its acquisition practices and has increasingly opened its focus toward Eastern Europe, China, Lebanon, the Middle East, India, Congo, Nigeria, South Africa, Cameroon, Mexico and Brazil. Meanwhile, our understanding of the term “origins” has continued to evolve. Consequently, the definition of “site-specific” has also changed. In the 1960s and 70s, artists of the Land Art movement still essentially regarded landscapes as post-industrial ruins. By contrast, Okwui Enwezor, director of Haus der Kunst believes that, in today’s artistic practice, space is defined by impermanence, by the mutability of politically and socially grounded positions, by aesthetic pluralism, and by cultural differences. Furthermore, colonial and postcolonial experiences shaped by traumatic historical events, home, exile, diaspora produced hybrid identities – such as African-American, Euro- American, Latino, Turkish-German, French-Arabic, African- Brazilian, etc. Consequently new forms of cosmopolitanism and provincialism jostle next to one another. It is no coincidence that the exhibition practice of today can already look back on a number of shows that focused on borders and issues of migration. Against this backdrop of dynamism and permanent transition the exhibition is divided into seven chapters: The Artist as Historian An interest in the historical document and a more general obsession with the past, have led to the nostalgic excavation and re-enactments of existing works of art. Artists from the Arab speaking world are increasingly present in the art world; having borne witness to the Gulf War in 1991, these artists have developed new practices around the examination of history. The Artist as Archivist A passion for the archive initially led to a demand for completeness and later to an acceptance of the fragmentary, resulting on the one hand in concurrence of taxonomic efforts and endless accumulation, and, on the other, in an insight into the accelerated loss of memory. On a higher level, both coincide: Archives are especially useful in helping to identify and address wounds in the collective memory. Sonic Boom Trying to capture the sensation of listening to music in an image has a long tradition. Yet, even for artists who take their works to the edge of physical dissolution, listening often moves to the fore. Further, changes in the music industry and music production have reinforced the permeability of art and composition. The Artist as Producer: The “Traffic” Generation The concept of artwork is transformed through its dematerialization. An awareness of temporality, volatility, and process shifts to the foreground. Artists develop new forms of collaboration and collective creation, and make aesthetic use of clips, sampling, and film narrative (which is also regarded as an exhibition platform). As a result, copyright as an object of reflection has come into focus. The Artist as Documentarist: As Close as Possible to the Real The proliferation of the Internet in the context of a market economy and consumer society has led to a greater interest in the real, in the status quo of the observer and the reporter and generally in an engagement with all areas of human life. The artist takes on the role of a witness who accepts the subjectivity of his observations. Artist and Object Between 1980 and 1990, artists turned to an exploration of the everyday and the object; the 1990’s can be considered as the ultimate epoch of the aesthetic of the mundane. The now-famous video, “The Way Things Go” by Fischli and Weiss (1986-87) sings this song of songs to the everyday. No less iconic is Gabriel Orozco’s modified Citroën (La DS, 1993). The confrontation with consumer society is manifested in photography in detailed and richly colored compositions like Gursky’s 99 Cent (1999), and in sculpture with the integration of found objects. The common denominator is the attention artists pay to excessive consumption – as an opportunity or as a fact. The Artist and the Body Video and photography seem to be particularly fitting mediums for artists whose works include a performative element. The theme of the human body – wounded or damaged by oppression – returns as a theme with a vengeance. Many works with erotic and sexual overtones emerge. New technical possibilities, either through plastic surgery or image manipulation, bring the grotesque into the fold. Press release from Haus der Kunst Centre national des arts plastiques, FNAC 94003 © Gabriel Orozco/CNAP, courtesy photo Galerie Crousel-Robelin-Bama Gonçalo Mabunda O trono de um mundo sem revoltas (Le trône d’un monde sans révolte) (The throne of the world without revolt) 2011 79 x 88 x 49 cm Fer, armes de la guerre civile au Mozambique recyclées Don de la Société des Amis du Musée national d’art moderne, 2012. Projet pour l’art contemporain 2011, avec le soutien de Nathalie Quentin-Mauroy Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Musée national d’art moderne – Centre de création industrielle Crédit photographique: © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Georges Meguerditchian/Dist. RMN-GP Copyright de l’oeuvre: © Gonçalo Mabunda	i don't know
What mixed drink takes its name from the Spanish for 'bleeding'?	8 Classic Spanish Drinks you Must try this Summer! 8 Classic Spanish Drinks you Must try this Summer! leahwarner Being Spanish , Food & Drink , Hints & Tips , Live & Enjoy Madrid 22/05/2015 Can you believe that it is almost summer? If you weren’t in summer mode already, you must be thinking about it now! Its officially time for BBQ’s, days at the beach and long relaxing meals on the many sun drenched terraces around Madrid – or maybe somewhere along the coast if you’re lucky. One of the most rewarding things about the summer is sitting back and sipping a refreshing summer drink, don’t you think? Well Spain is no stranger to such drinks, so we’ve put together a delicious list of typical “bebidas de verano” so you can start the summer off right! If you’re looking drinks without alcohol, check out our traditional non-Alcoholic Spanish drinks blog. If you’d like to get down to the basics and learn about some of Spain’s most favoured liquors and siders, take a look at our article “Alcohol made in Spain – Typical Spanish Alcohols! ” Sangría Everyone around the world has heard of Sangría. It is a true staple in Spanish culture and you must try it at least once while here! It’s best to order this drink in a large jug so that all of the fruits and flavours can sit and mix with each other while you eat and chat with your friends. If you want to make it yourself, in the true Spanish fashion you must pay attention to all of the details. Mix it yourself: 1 bottle of red wine, 2 oranges thinly sliced, 1 lemon thinly sliced, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 cinnamon stick. If you want to add a little kick to the mixture, add a small amount of lemon flavoured gas water. It is important to let the mixture sit undisturbed for at least 2 hours before enjoying! Agua de Valencia This drink offers a twist on the traditional mimosa, mixing together cava or champagne, orange juice, vodka and gin. It was created in the coastal city of Valencia and the drink reflects the beautiful sun-filled coastline as well as the famous oranges from the region. Perfect for your next brunch or midday party; mix together all the ingredients in a large jug or pitcher and share with all your friends! Mix it yourself: Add 250ml cup orange juice, 2 shots of gin, 2 shots of vodka, and one 700ml bottle of cava into a large pitcher. Mix in sugar and lemon slices until you reach your desired sweetness! Rebujito If you find yourself in Andalucía during the festival season in spring/summer, you will most likely see everyone drinking a light carbonated drink called Rebujito. Rebujito is a mixed drink made of white sherry and lemon soda or Sprite. The lemon-lime flavor combined with the dry sherry creates a crisp and refreshing drink for the heat of the Andalusian sun. Tinto de Verano This is what we like to call “a poor man’s Sangría“. Tinto de Verano is a simple yet amazingly refreshing drink that can be found literally everywhere! The name itself means Wine of Summer! Tinto refers to the red wine – but in all honestly, when making this at home you can use whatever wine you want! Traditionally the beverage is mixed with with lemon juice or gas water. Clara de Limón If you talk to the locals, lots of them will tell you that this is a girls drink. Whether you care about these stereotypes or not, Clara de Limón is the most refreshing alternative to a simple pint of beer. And, lets face it, if it tastes good who cares! It’s also incredibly easy to make at home – simply mix your favourite beer with a lemon soda (typically Lemon Fanta or Lemon Schweppes). Cava You don’t need to be celebrating to drink Champagne! And the same goes for the Spanish equivalent called Cava. Cava is a refreshing, bubbly beverage that can be served in white or rose. The drink is served cold and is commonly mixed with a variety of fruits. In fact, some recipes suggest that you add Cava to your Sangría recipe to give it an extra kick! Kalimotxo If you are looking for a simple mixed drink that is very unique to Spain, look no further than Kalimotxo. Originally made popular in the Basque country, Kalimotxo is a mix of red wine and Coca-Cola. The drink has a distinct sweet and tart flavor, and is common among young Spaniards for the popular Botellón, a large get-together outside meant for dancing and drinking. It is also super easy to make at home, so grab some cheap wine and bottle of coke and get mixing! Queimada Queimada is a drink with a spooky and magical background. Traditionally from Galicia, the drink is a mix of orujo, sugar, lemon peel, and spices that is then lit on fire. While the drink cooks, more brandy is poured into the punch to make it even stronger. To top it off, a spell is recited so that the special powers of the drink are transferred to the person drinking it! The spell references witches, demons, and devils, which makes Queimada the perfect drink for any spooky occasion! Your friendly neighbourhood travel guide, – Leahxx Abroad advice advice blog art art and culture article blog christmas citylife citylife madrid cooking cuisine culture english erasmus Erasmus Madrid europe explore festival food guide history language languages Live & Enjoy Madrid living abroad living in madrid Madrid madrid blog madrid guide museum party salamanca Spain spain blog spain guide spanish spanish cooking student study abroad travel travel abroad travel blog travel guide travel Spain About Citylife Madrid Citylife Madrid is a company made by international people for international people, created with the idea of bringing the many cultures in the city together to establish one, united community for young people of all different backgrounds. It is our goal here at Citylife Madrid to help you integrate into Spanish (and specifically Madrid) life. Whether you are looking for accommodation, cultural experiences, internships, travel opportunities or even just meeting new people from around the world! Make Citylife Madrid your one-stop provider and friend here in Madrid. Citylife Madrid, be part of it!	Sangria
What instrument is the basis of the occupational name for a stringed instrument maker, notably of violins and guitars?	World's 50 most delicious drinks \| CNN Travel In case you get impatient, read here: World's 50 most delicious foods . For now, the drink list has arrived. Take a swig, or the chug the lot in one. Then let us know which drinks you love by voting on our Facebook poll . 50. Mango lassi, India 50. The coolest thing in India? Some of India’s lucky workers have migrated into the air-conditioned confines of its call centers and IT offices. For the rest, and for travelers there, reprieve comes in the form of a cooling, sweat-beating summer drink that acts like an internal sun screen. Mango, yogurt and milk combine in creamy harmony making those sweltering afternoons fighting stray dogs for the shade almost something to look forward to. 49. Red Bull, Austria 49. Feels like you're getting smacked in the brain by a fizzy caffeine wave. OK, Red Bull is an acquired taste even on a good day. But nothing else in the history of drinks and beverages has made deadlines more hittable than this energy drink. It doesn’t really help you grow wings, but when served chilled its fruit-punch flavor explodes in your face like a slap from a sugary, caffeine-marinated cod. 48. Yakult, Japan 48. If they were really that friendly, wouldn't they come in bigger packages? Drinking a carton of bacteria is hardly one of the world’s most marketable activities, however friendly they might claim to be. But if you can get over that, a vanilla tongue soak awaits that’ll make you wish each serving was more than just 100 milliliters. 47. Guinness, Ireland 47. Impossible photo: no such thing as just one pint of Guinness. When you’re talking Guinness, perfection is 119.5 seconds. That’s how long it takes for a perfect pint of this ruby red (not black) nectar to be poured according to brand owner Diageo. It’s packed with iron, it’s healthy (no really) and is one of the beer world’s smoother, earthier characters. 46. Pina colada, Puerto Rico 43. Rich with sugar, and history. So good, someone wrote a song about it . Just looking at the drink brings you closer to a beach and sipping this mixture of coconut milk, pineapple juice and rum will send you directly to a hammock between palm trees in the Caribbean. 45. Cendol, Indonesia Strictly speaking this is more of a watery dessert than a drink, and is served in a bowl, but at least that way you get to take bigger gulps. The mixture of creamy coconut milk and sweet palm sugar chilled by shaved ice will is the perfect antidote to the hawkers on Kuta beach. 44. Sujeonggwa, Korea Made from dried persimmons, cinnamon, ginger and peppercorn, sujeonggwa is essentially a liquid made of spices, boiled and steeped in a cup. The cooking and cooling processes mean it can be hours before the final spicy, sweet and tangy flavors are ready for you. The brick-red extract is fragrant and appetizing, making the hours of preparation as agonizing as the result is rewarding. 43. Fanta, Germany Created in Nazi Germany by an enterprising German Coca-Cola executive when shipments of Coca-Cola ingredients were halted during World War II, Fanta was so popular with Germans that three million cases were produced in 1943 -- enough to keep the company’s German operations afloat during the war. The brand’s workhorse is Fanta Orange, a soda marketed under campaigns sunny enough to brighten away its shadowy past. Also on CNNGo: 15 romantic castle hotels 42. Shikuwasa juice, Japan For a fruit relatively unknown in the West, the Japanese shikuwasa has a familiar look about it. In fact, its sometime name of “flat lemon” reveals that it shares several characteristics with that yellow citrus, including an acidic punch. The Okinawa native, scientifically called Citrus depressa, yields a sharp juice that’s best diluted or added to a cocktail. 41. Raksi, Nepal Made from millet or rice, Raksi is strong on the nose and sends a burning sensation straight down your throat that resolves itself into a surprisingly smooth, velvety sensation. Nepalese drink this home brew to celebrate festivals, though we think that the prized drink itself is the reason to celebrate. 40. Coconut water, Global 40. One of the freshest fruit juices (look it up) on the beach. You can eat its flesh raw or flaked and cook with its oil, but the best way to ingest the star of so many tropical scenes is to stick a straw inside and drink. Coconuts, technically a fruit, may kill more people each year than sharks, but they taste a whole lot better, too. 39. Scotch whisky, Scotland 39. Warning: the consumption of Scotch may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your pants. We don’t like to be snobbish, but if you’re going to drink whisky you have to do it right. Whether single malt or blend, the favored drink of such eminent names as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher has kept men and women warm and interesting for many decades. Don’t dare taint it with ice. 38. Mojito, Cuba 36. "The only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" - H.L. Mencken. It’s named after a Cuban seasoning, or an African amulet; it was invented by the Cubans, or in honor of Sir Francis Drake; it should be made fresh and simple, or you can change it up whatever your whim. All depending on who you ask. Everyone has their own take on the mojito, reportedly Ernest Hemingway’s favorite drink, so that the mix of white rum, lime, sugar, mint and soda water, can turn you into the life of the conversation, or a flailing, wailing drunk. 37. Cider, England 35. Plastic straw = childish. Metal straw = must try. A glass of genuine farmhouse cider is about as similar to the mass-produced stuff in cans as apples are to horse manure. Steeped in cinnamon and cloves and swirling with unfiltered apple bits, a room-temperature mug of the real deal lends a warming, fragrant note to cruel winter days. 36. Martini, United States 34. Can you market your way to global domination? While we decide let's pop another cork. You could try bastardizing this sacred cocktail with various pollutants -- Appletinis? Chocolate martinis? Please stop! -- but nothing is ever going to change the magic that gin, vermouth and olives do to a long day. 35. Yerba Mate, South America Made by steeping the leaves of the South American rainforest holly tree in hot water, yerba mate ranks among the traveling world’s most surprising and pleasing discoveries. Served in a hollow gourd with a metal straw, the caffeinated bevvie is so much a part of the South American scene -- popular in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil-- that drinking it there instantly turns you into a debonair local. 34. Champagne, France You may love F1 drivers for their glamorous lifestyles, but you have to hate them for wasting all that Champagne every fortnight. Champagne is the diamond of the drink world, taking its place on the podium as the beverage to have when celebrating pretty much anything. In fact, take a gulp and you could almost imagine that a thousand little diamonds are bursting on your tongue, as the crisp, light fizzy beverage gets to work. 33. Carrot juice, Global Healthy enough to feature in diet plans, but sweet enough to be enjoyed by kids, carrot juice is a jack of all trades. Don’t get too attached though. Drinking too much carrot juice has been known to turn the skin orange. Also on CNNGo: The best hotels for pets 32. Baileys Original Irish Cream, Ireland The benevolent wizards who make Baileys credit “38,000 of the top-bred Irish dairy cows grazing on approximately 1,500 selected Irish farms mainly on the east coast of Ireland” for producing the rich cream that makes their god-like elixir the top-selling Duty Free liqueur brand in the world. Complements everything from coffee to Cointreau, but mixes best with the opposite sex. 31. Tequila, Mexico If Tequila says to you hot, hazy nights with salt, lime, buxom waitresses and facial grimaces all blurring together, this entry’s not for you. The 100 percent blue agave Tequila requires no accessorizing; just sip, savor and repeat. 30. Sparkling water, Global 29. More intoxicating than Giselle Bundchen in a two-piece. Tap water? What else you got on the menu tonight, monsieur, boiled hot dogs and bread crumbs? Sparkling, carbonated, fizzy, with gas … whatever you call it, the mere addition of bubbles transforms plain old H2O into a stylish “beverage,” conferring upon you instant élan. At least till you start burping it all back up. 29. Caipirinha, Brazil 28. Thick and sweet -- the Goldie Hawn of milkshakes. Brazil’s national drink is a modern take on the Daiquiri and brings a refreshing base of lime together with a hint of Brazilian sugarcane rum. Garnish with a wedge or slice of lime, slurp, then beam like Ronaldinho after scoring a hat trick. 28. Chocolate milkshake, United States 27. World's biggest "tea bag"? This artery-clogging third musketeer (after burger and fries) of the fast-food world gives a sweet ending to all family meals out. And it may not even be as fattening as you think -- the amount of energy spent trying to slurp this thick sludge up the straw must burn off at least a few of those calories. 27. Thai iced tea, Thailand 23. Funny how the human variety is the one that makes us squirm. The best tea is served in a plastic bag from street carts, and looks bright orange, but in a good way. It’s a strong, sweet caffeine kick, made from strong-brewed black tea and then mixed with condensed milk and spices. If it wasn’t any good Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants wouldn’t bother stealing the recipe. 26. Irish car bomb, United States 22. In sports drinks, success is 75 percent. The smooth sucker-punch of the ICB’s three ingredients has made it a let’s-get-ready-to-rumble guy’s-night tradition. Ritual is the key: float a half shot of Irish whiskey atop a half shot of Irish cream. Drop the glass into a half-pint of Irish stout, down quickly and wait for the bro hugs to begin. (Use Jameson’s, Baileys and Guinness for the classic version). Too bad the Irish have never heard of it; like most offensive Irish sacraments, the drink was invented in the United States . 25. Bubble tea, Taiwan More bubble than tea, this is a tea-slash-milk-slash-fruit drink and its most famous variety includes chewy “pearls,” resembling oversized frogspawn, at the bottom that you suck up with an oversized straw. It sounds weird, but it has become a favorite drink snack among Asia’s millions of young shoppers. 24. Raki, Turkey Dubbed "lion's milk,” raki is a potent liquor made from grapes or figs, but when diluted with water turns milky white and becomes a much tamer, licorice flavored aperitif. It is popular as a seafood accompaniment, alongside mezze, before dinner, after dinner, with cheese, kebabs and melon. Basically anytime, anywhere, is good time for raki. 23. Milk, Global Where would the breakfast cereal business be without milk? The only drink millions of people deliberately mix with their food every morning, milk is also the child’s bone-strengthening beverage of choice. Throw in the "Jackass" pranks involving liters of milk and vomiting, and you have a drink that’s funny as well as tasty. 22. Gatorade, United States Gatorade makes you run faster, we heard, because losers could miss out on the after-race drinks. Bad jokes aside, the sports drink originally created to replenish the water, carbs and electrolytes lost by athletes at the University of Florida has become a global success, with a 75 percent share of the sports drink market in the United States. 21. Eggnog, England Bring in the eggnog and the otherwise long and torturous family gathering where everyone wears hideous sweaters turns into a joyous Christmas dinner. Or that’s the idea, anyway. This sweetened beverage of milk and beaten eggs tastes like an alcoholic creamy egg custard. Best served warm. 20. Sex on the beach, United States 20. If this cocktail's also your pick-up line, you'll be drinking it alone. When a young Florida barman entered a competition to sell the most cocktails, he called his peach schnapps, orange juice, cranberry juice and vodka concoction Sex on the Beach. Now he's also responsible for the most juvenile of bar orders: “I’ll have Sex on the Beach, please,” snort snort. 19. Es kelapa muda, Indonesia 18. Nearly US$30,000 a glass. Better not be corked. This popular Indonesian drink loved by kids is essentially chilled young coconut juice with colored-syrup and coconut slices. Fresh on the taste that lasts through your whole meal, es kelapa muda is Indonesian tradition at its finest and purest. 18. White wine, Global 16. The irresistible temptation of drinking without paying. At least immediately. You know when someone pays US$117,000 for a single bottle and stores it in a bullet-proof case that will only open to his fingerprint, the drink you’re talking about is something special. Christian Vanneque, owner of the SIP Wine Bar in Bali, forked out for a bottle of 1811 Chateau d’Yquem earlier this year to fulfill a lifelong dream. White wine may not be the most delicious drink in the world, but it appears to attract the most ardent fans. 17. Lemonade, Egypt 13. Got to hand it to the guy who created a best-selling drink by taking out the water. Lemons, water and sugar. Doesn’t sound like much, but this summer refresher, first documented in Egyptian writings around 1,500 years ago, turns kids into happy angels and adults into happy kids. If you can ignore the five spoons of sugar in your glass, it can even be considered healthy: it’s been said to aid digestion, relieve heartburn and control diarrhea and constipation. 16. Anything from a hotel mini-bar, Global 11. Rich but fun, kinda like George Clooney in a glass. It’s one in the morning and you’re dying for some bottled water. Or apple juice. Or a Heineken. Whatever it is, when you’re willing to shell out US$8 for a lousy drink in an undersized can, it damn well better be one of the most satisfying chugs you’ve ever had. 15. Sake, Japan If you fancy a laugh, watch the look on a diner’s face when they see a first-time sake drinker “shoot” a small cup of sake. Served chilled, hot or room temperature, depending on your mood or meal, sake is stronger than wine and weaker than vodka. No matter the temperature though, sake has a cool dry flavor, and like wine, flavor accents vary with quality and type. 14. Pastis, France Although not as exciting, or as hallucinogenic, as its reckless cousin, absinthe, which in its true form is banned from civilization, the potent licorice-like pastis has just the right dash of floral and herbal qualities to make it a signature French drink. Served with chilled spring water at a strict ratio of five-to-one, pastis tastes like mellowed liquor with an appetizing anise flavor. 13. Kool-Aid, United States Kool-Aid revolutionized powder mix drinks and sets the benchmark for kids in North America regarding the taste of flavored water. Its mascot, a jug, has perhaps the world’s worst slogan: “Oh yeah!” Luckily the drink tastes better. Also on CNNGo: 10 adventures for chocoholics 12. Watermelon cucumber punch, Global Take two of the world’s most refreshing fruits, throw them into a blender, add lime juice and syrup and you have the makings of what, on a sweltering day in the sun, can taste like a life-saving beverage. 11. Sangria, Spanish So your parents-in-law pay you a surprise visit, and all you’ve got in the cupboard is a cheap bottle of red and some half-rotten fruits. Not to worry. The Spanish came up with sangria, a sweet, carbonated wine punch that has entertained guests from all nations and tax brackets. Splash some brandy over it to bring out that spicy kick. 10. Hot chocolate with marshmallows, United States 8. One of the best ways to ingest your fruit quota each day. If piña colada equals tropical beaches, then hot chocolate with marshmallows equals extra-thick mitten socks and couch loafing inside ski resorts. This drink is your only legitimate excuse to stay indoors when in the Alps. The rich and aromatic hot chocolate also makes gloomy winter mornings worth looking forward to. 9. Gin and tonic, England 7. The drink that made "with bits" a desirable quality. Trust the Brits to make a medicine (the quinine in tonic water was used by the British East India Company to prevent malaria) more palatable by throwing in some booze. Still, we’re glad they did, as the clink-clink, glug-glug, fizzzz of a gin and tonic being poured is about as perfect an introduction to a balmy evening as it’s possible to find. 8. Red wine, Global 4. If your beer is pale and tasteless, your glass may be empty. Order another. What sound does a fermented grape make? None, it just lets out a little wine. And thank God for that. Or rather, thank the Georgians. The region in what is now known as Eurasia is credited with the first wine production 8,000 years ago. Thanks to them we now have such enjoyable pairings as beef and Merlot, tuna and Pinot Noir and drunk Scottish students and Buckfast. 7. Orange juice, United States 3. The first defense and final attack against the evil of the morning after. O.J. earns a spot on our list just for reminding us of our childhoods. The refreshing, tangy, wholesome drink, first mass-produced and distributed in the United States around 1915, has always reigned king over its try-hard cousins, apple, watermelon, pineapple and tomato. 6. Air mata kucing, Malaysia 2. A cola trinity. Malaysians have figured out the golden formula for making a delicious drink -- make it sweet, cold and toss in some tropical fruits. Air mata kucing, or longan drink, is exactly that. Sweetened by rock sugar and dried longan, it also comes with winter melon and a cheap price tag. 5. Tea, Global 1. No one crawling through a desert ever hallucinated wine, right? In Tibet the butter version keeps cold bodies warm and lips chap-free. In India it provides a sugary boost and a break from street chaos. In Japan it's consumed in an elaborate ritual. In England it's accorded magic potion status. Nothing seems quite so bad when you hear the words, “What you need’s a nice cup of tea.” There’s no arguing with the world’s second-most widely consumed drink (after water). 4. Beer, Global Sure, the wheel was a great invention; so too the computer chip. But they don’t go nearly as well with pizza. Whichever trooper first had the courage to drink steeped and fermented barley had to be a bit of a loose cannon, but thanks to him or her we now have such luminary beverages as Kronenbourg 1664, Weihenstephaner Vitus (winner of World’s Best Beer ) and the unforgettable Santa’s Butt Porter, all of which are, as Homer Simpson puts it, "the cause of and solution to all life's problems!" 3. Coffee, Ethiopia There’s a reason coffee, said to have been discovered in Ethiopia, is one of the world’s most traded commodities -- Monday mornings happen to all of us. This little green bean arguably deserves more than one entry in this list, but for all the various modes of ingestion -- latte, cappuccino, mocha, American -– you only need to know one thing to start your day off well -- there’s more where it came from. Also on CNNGo: Bluffer's guide to Asia 2. Coca-Cola, United States Invented by a pharmacist as a remedy to headaches in 1886, the world’s most popular carbonated soft drink is like the American dream in a can -- from nothing, 85 eight-ounce cans of Coke were consumed globally per capita in 2008 -- more than any other soda. The drink has gone through various manifestations, including Diet, Cherry, Lemon and Zero, but it’s the original, with a brain-freezing, nasal-passage-penetrating kick that keeps ‘em coming back for more. 1. Water, Global It’s great for washing cars, and when it falls from the sky it’s a perfect excuse to stay home and watch a war movie. But as the base of every other drink on this list, of every food in the world and indeed of all life, nothing beats a glass of pure, unsullied water for its thirst-quenching, revitalizing, life-giving properties. Especially when it comes in a shapely glass bottle with a fancy label and hefty price tag. The best part, you can make it even better on a hot day by just adding more water, frozen.	i don't know

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.